It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think when we are
get off our show. Idiot. The kids are playing or tail off countries
are screwing it up. Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play Inner
Murals. They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not. Who's
the kid here? Who's the kid here? Are you kidding me? Now?
Here's nick coffee? All right, let's get it started. Ladies and
gentlemen, welcome into a shortened edition of Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's
here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Getting it started at four o'clock rather than
three due to a UK baseball game, which is kind of weird. I
guess this is this is the UK Baseball postgame show. Let's load them up?
Five two, five seventy nine hundred. Can this What do they call
themselves the Batcats? I've never heard that, but that might be it.
I mean it's probably something I've heard that before. It's I don't know who
else the bat Cats would be. Yeah, but yeah, this is a
really weird week. I mean, it's a super short week. We had
Monday off because of the holiday, and then today just two hours and Tuesday
it was your first day back from vacation. That's right, So haven't really
got the groove back just yet. And what I mean by that is like
it just still hasn't felt like a normal like as much as I like short
weeks, and to be honest with you, I'm not like upset that you
know, I didn't have to do an hour today. I mean I would
have rather had a full show. But either way it works, right,
I mean, now I can do about it, no reason to be mad
or be worked up or anything. But yeah, I'm actually looking forward to
a regular week, getting back to the routine, getting back to you know,
structure. Not that I'm like want in the weekend to go about super
fast, but you know what I mean. But then what happens after that,
because then I'm gone for another week. You're here next week, though,
right, correct, So I get a full normal week with you before
you head out, before you had out of the week. So hey,
this is the time of the year where we got to get in our vacation
at least, you know, that's what I choose to do. I mean,
technically, you can take your vacation whenever you want, as long as
they approve it. But I'll have another week off in July, and I
got to figure out something to do to burn up some days. I'm gonna
save some for maybe some long weekends during the fall, and of course I
like to take off some time near Christmas. But last year, if you
remember, I was burned. I mean I was actually those two years ago
that I ended up literally not using some of the vacation that I had because
I didn't want't. I didn't want to because of the timing of the year.
It's college basketball season. I mean I think Brahm had just got hired
in December. Kenny Paynes first year, things were terrible, so like I
didn't want to be away because I felt like there'd be some strong listenership just
given what was going on. So last year, I took three weeks off
in like a six week period. I think I went to I remember that,
Yeah, it was like April, May and July or something. Yeah,
So I did. I went to Georgia in June, Cabo a month
or so before that, and then I did our We did our July trip
to Destin, So I may go to Charleston at some point in the next
couple of months for like maybe a long weekend, maybe Thursday, Friday,
come home Sunday or something like that. But yeah, I gotta, I
gotta get these because there's nothing worse than like knowing you had time off and
you didn't take it and they don't you know, they don't pay you for
that, which I'm not sure many companies do that anymore at all. It
used to be a thing to where if you didn't take your vacation at the
end of the year, howvery much time you had that you didn't use,
they'll pay you for it. So, I mean, I get what they
stopped doing that, but man, that would have been sweet back in the
day, because I'm sure there's a lot of people who didn't take. If
you if you've been somewhere a long time and you didn't take the five six
weeks that you that you were getting, let's say you just took two or
three, which a lot of people can probably get by with. Just that,
that's a pretty good I mean, heck, that's like a bonus,
a pretty decent I would say. So anyways, let's let's jump right in.
Actually, before we do that, how can we get people to stop
walking in on you whenever we're on the air. I think the idea that
you threw out a couple of weeks ago this was off the air, that
you told me if I left my microphone on but turned down when I wasn't
saying something, it may indicate to people who were standing outside of the production
studio that maybe they shouldn't come in. Yeah. So for those who don't
know, we are not in the same I mean, we're probably, you
know, twenty feet from each other. But I am in Studio B and
he is in Studio E. Is that right? Yes, So he is
in what I guess you can call you'd call the control room, where you
know, he runs the show, and it is paired with my studio in
here. And how we see each other old day. I mean, I'm
sure there's still plenty of studios across the country elsewhere that do it where you're
in two rooms but there's just a big piece of glass between you. We
don't have it set up that way here, but we so we see each
other on monitor, And honestly, it didn't take long to get used to
that, Like I'm totally fine with that being how we communicate. But because
John is in the studio the control room, which isn't technically where you would
host a show, out of nobody ever like looks to see if the on
air light's on. And to John's credit, he's a pro. He's been
trained, so when he is not speaking, his microphone is off, which
you know typically that I mean, that makes total sense, you know for
me, I, you know, I turn my mic off when we go
to break because usually even if I'm not talking, if it's a guest or
if it's John, I don't need to turn my mic off. But John,
you know, as a producer, always turns it off when he's not
talking, which again is totally normal. But that leads to people just assuming
he's not involved in the show. So we could be doing a back and
forth where I talk twenty seconds, John talks twenty seconds, but in the
twenty seconds if his microphone is off, that on air light and sign outside
of his door is not on, so people just barge in. And here's
what's unfortunate. Even if it was on, there are still people that would
just barge in and assume that you don't have that you don't have a role
on the show, and that pisces me off, but I don't really know
what you can do about it. Pitches me off for a couple of reasons.
One, I feel like it's I'm just assuming, well, there's no
way you'd be talking on the air. But also people don't listen to you
know. And again, if you're working and you're doing your own stuff,
like I get it, but if you've listened to this show at least a
little bit and you work here, you would know that my producer always has
been an integral piece to what is going on. So nobody does it to
be a jerk, but it just I see it. So I'm looking at
the screen and somebody barges in without any and just starts yapping. It startles
me. If yeah, so if you're not talking, I mean, it's
happened when you're on the air and talking before too. It's just nobody,
you know. All you have to do is look in there and see if
it looks as if he's speaking or not. So I think the best way
is to do what I mentioned, if you can get used to it,
where instead of turning it off and on, you just turn the level up
and down, but there'll still be people that just kind of to barge in.
And I am someone who would you know, like if it was me,
I would just hold my hand up like this with one finger, like
hang on a second, like we're on the air here, because it's like
the it's like the ultimate sin, at least how I was trained. And
in my experiences, if you walk in on somebody who's on the air,
like you know, it's, oh my gosh, I'm sorry. I didn't
know you were on the air. And that's why they have those lights and
those signs that say on air. And you know, people hover around this
door every now and then because this is like the host studio. But like,
does that happen. There's no way that happens to Shannon Grigsby. There's
no way. Yeah, I wouldn't think so. And even whenever, like
because people know he's a part of the show. If I go down to
talk to Ian who works with eight for whas, I always peek in his
window even if his light's not on. You can you can visually see and
we can get away from this, but you can see whether or not I
want to complain about it. More so, yeah, So I mean it's
I don't know, it's a pet peeve for me and if if you know,
because at times John and I will literally be having a conversation where our
listeners are listening as we go back and forth, and because somebody has walked
in there we it ends like I just have to I have to kind of
just you know, move on to something else, like the conversation just didn't
happen, because you know, And to be honest, you do, you
but don't be afraid to tell people like not right now, like hang on
a second, because I know sometimes people don't. They're not they're not aware,
and they'll walk in and just hover around and just and just shit shat
you. And I swear it pisses me off because it just they don't you
know, they're not they don't care what's going on. This show? The
hell this show we play such a pushover to and we don't need this show.
I mean, that's that's what it That's what it comes down to.
So I just got to stop being a push over. And if and if
we're in, if we're conversing about something right now, I'm telling you don't
and you don't have to like, I know you want to answer the phone,
and having people not you know, get a get an answer when they
call us. Fine, but if you and I are in the middle of
a segment and you are part of it, don't answer one thing the other
day and I guess I just did it now as well. Is if I
see somebody's calling, I'll answer, put him immediately on screen, and then
talk to him after I'm talking. So when you do that, they hear
the show, right, yes, so that means they know they've been picking
just say what I just said, gotcha? Okay, So anyways, we'll
move on. That was probably five minutes of conversation that didn't need to happen,
and I'm sure none of you care, but it's it's already irritating knowing
that this is just a weird show because we didn't get the full three hours
and then you get it rolling and then somebody just pop in there, Hey,
d just not even you know, And even if you're not like going
back and forth with me, let's just say you didn't want to talk.
There are people here who produce shows that are in the production side of things
that have made it clear do not talk to me. I don't want to
be on the air. I don't. It just it's you know nothing at
all. I'm just going to run the show, produce it, get you
on air, get you in and out of breaks. But you don't I
don't want to talk. And that's fine. But even if that was the
case, you still need to know what's going on on the show to where
you need to hear, Like if I send it to break and you're not
listening, Not that you'd ever do that, but like, producers should be
left alone while they're producing a show just as much as a host, I
swear, In fact, maybe more if you think about it. So anyways,
let's dive in, shall we. So I guess we'll start with something
that I still don't know if it's worth getting your hopes up about, if
it's worth really putting a lot of energy and excitement as a fan into.
But if it is real and there's a potential chance that could happen, it
would be huge. And that is the Coleman Hawkins situation. So let's back
up to yesterday. He shared a tweet I'm sorry. Yeah, He shared
a tweet from Frank, Big Frank. We're just gonna call him Big Frank,
and in fact, I do think that's kind of what the fans is.
The fans have already started to refer to him as on Twitter and even
like the Trillie Donovan discord Big Frank. The guy who transferred last week played
at Your played a Ques. He was teammates with Colemanhawkins at Prolific Prep.
Frank shared the official announcement, the official release that he had signed with Louisville
and Coleman Hawkins quote tweeted it and shared a picture of the two of them
playing together in high school. And I think he just said, hey,
Frank. Well he quickly deleted it, and you know, I thought that
that meant one of two things. Either he's just trying to get people,
you know, he's he's hinting that, you know, he's he's noticing what's
going on at Louisville. He's letting fans myself included know of a connection that
I didn't know existed, meaning that he played high school ball with one of
Louisville's new players. And he could just be doing the you know, because
he's pretty, you know, he's pretty. I can't think of the right
word because I don't I want to say maybe savvy. He's pretty savvy on
social media. Some would say maybe he's just a troll. I'd say the
best way to describe it is he likes to have fun with people on social
media, meaning you know, he'll go back and forth with fans. Yesterday
he actually shared his venmo once it became public that he was coming back to
school, and now you know, he keeps people are paying him money too,
by the way. So anyways, it was either him kind of just
you know, wanting to get Louisville fans excited and maybe there is some interest
there and he's you know, letting us know that that Wolfe was one of
the schools he's interested in and they're interested in him, or he's just having
fun on the internet and trying to potentially raise the price for what it would
cost to get him through NIL. So I have no clue. However,
Louisville is trying to get him to visit Louisville would make this work, and
I wish I had specifics, but I don't. But I remember hearing this
a few weeks ago, and I talked a little bit a little bit about
it yesterday, and that is that if they got to thirteen and there was
still talent available, guys they feel like could really help them. They will
make it work, and it's not necessarily. They'll find a way. I
think they have a way and know what way they would go about it,
but I don't know what that is. So you've got two guys that are
gonna be here that are not playing. They're gonna red shirt because of injuries.
That's Kobe and Khalifa. Now I assume you don't get like an extra
scholarship because a guy that you have on scholarship is hurt. In fact,
I know that's not the case. Also with Nil, I'm not sure if
this is the case. I guess it's the same. I don't know why
you would do one and not the other. But these guys will get in
IL, but they won't be getting in IL while they're not playing, which
I guess that's kind of fair, right, although you're injured, right,
it's like if you play. I mean, if you're a professional player and
you're injured, you still get your paycheck. But again, these are you
know, these aren't professionals. You know, at least that's what they're we're
told to believe. So I'd say by Monday, we'll figure out if there's
any traction here to where maybe he is going to come and visit. Louisbell
has an I own money. Now, I don't know if they have enough
left or if they would even be willing to pay what he's going to try
to get, because it sounds like he's gonna want a lot of money,
and it sounds like Arkansas is you know, believed to be the school that's
willing to pay the most, and you know, they're they're probably gonna have
a pretty good team, but there is at least some some mutual interest there.
But I get the sense from the folks I've talked to that at this
point, I think they're I mean I say they I guess, I mean,
you know, the entire staff, they're probably still kicking tires here with
him to just see, all right, are we gonna, like, do
we really feel like his interest is truly genuine or is he just trying to
you know, get his name out there attached to schools that have paid a
lot of money in an il to see if he can get a you know,
I don't think you'd go after this guy and you know, try to
bring bring him in for a visit unless you felt like, you know,
he's truly wanting to potentially be a part of your program, and obviously Nil
would have to be a big part of that. But you know, I
don't know if they got played by Olsabor and really doesn't matter because in the
end they saved money and they ended up getting case In Prior, who I
really really like. But I'd say, at this point, you already have
thirteen. So even if he you know, even if you find out down
the line he is just kind of trying to take you up on your visit
to raise the price elsewhere, I think the risk is worth taking because again,
you know, he would be just an added piece that is not just
an extra player. It's I mean, you're talking about one of the best
players available in the portal. In fact, not even just available, but
of all the players that have entered the transfer portal in college basketball. I
don't know where he ranks, but he's got to be top twenty, is
top thirty ish, I would think. I'm sure I could find him in
a lot of different places, given how different these rankings are depending on where
you look. But you know, again, I'll go back to how I
started the conversation about this guy. I still don't know if it's worth really
getting your hopes up or getting excited or you know, anticipating a real race
here to see who can land him. But I would say by Monday,
there'll be something out there as far as which which schools he's prioritizing, which
schools he's going to visit, and if Louis's one of them, I mean,
i'd say they have a chance now when it comes. I mean,
you gotta keep in mind, this guy did not want to come back to
college, and it took him going through the NBA draft process to figure out
that he wasn't going to be drafted and going back to college is probably going
to be best for him. So I don't think he's visited any schools.
I know he's talked to some. I mean, Louis has already had conversations
with him before. I don't know the extent of that. I just know
they were, you know, involved in some way, and that could mean
a lot of different things, right. Being involved could mean they DMed him.
It could mean that they've talked on the phone. You just really don't
know. But yeah, we'll see again, I'm not getting my hopes up
just yet. But if he's got like three visits that are scheduled by the
end of the weekend and Louis was one of them, at that point,
I'll say, look, do what you gotta do. You know you've already
got everybody you need as far as thirteen and this is really just kind of
an added bonus. I mean, you know the Big Ten better than I
do. John Colmenhawk's a good player, right. Yeah. I find it
interesting too that Coleman Hawkins doesn't want to play in the Big Ten too.
I think it's good because he's somebody's he's a bigger guy, and usually the
Big Ten is a conference for the bigger guys, but he's kind of a
non traditional big and I think he kind of sees he's hot. Happened with
the fact that you haven't had a national champion from that conference since the year
two thousand, maybe things he can't win one there. Yeah, So he
was on or this was at the NBA Draft combine. He was talking about
if he ends up at a new school and this was his answer, and
yeah, he doesn't want to play in the Big Ten. I would never
play in the Big Of course it's doing that same thing, isn't it.
He says, I will never play in the Big Tit again, I wouldn't
play in the Big East. I would go somewhere where I can enjoy a
football game. Like what do you? What do you? What do you
make of that? Of that comment? So the Big Ten I already laid
out what I just said about that the Big East is interesting. I don't
know why wouldn't want to play in the Big East. Maybe it's television And
that's what he said because he wants to be Ah, that's right, there's
no football but that. But that, Come on, don't insult us,
like you would not pick your next college based off of their football program?
Like what are you talking about? Dude? Is his whole personality? Like
I think I think that you know that. I think that that's sort of
his brand, right, like to just be kind of I don't know,
he's the kind of guy like if if if he's going to continue to be
this way on social media and he's not on your team, you're not gonna
I think that I think that's already the case. I feel like right now
it's different because he's available and he would help any team, but no,
he's and I think he would embrace that. I think he would absolutely embrace
being a villain by everybody, maybe even everybody even fans of his own team.
I don't know. But if you ever want to check him out on
Twitter, it's easy to find. Just search his name Coleman Hawkins but cole
Hawk twenty three And if you go look at like his replies, like he'll
go back and forth with trolls, you know. Again, he he tweeted
out his Venmo and uh, forty one dollar and fifty three cents has come
his way from a few different fans. So I don't know if it's weird.
Yeah, know why I feel like it's just weird. Yeah, because
it's like these guys are getting paid. Well, I think he's doing it
to try to be funny. Yeah, but also you know, like I
think there's a good chance that maybe he actually thought somebody would just start throwing
like hundred bucks here, a hundred bucks there, and like you know,
it would be like it's free money for him, right, Yeah, I'm
putting my vemo out there. You know, on Twitter, you can you
can you can edit your profile to have a tip jar Oh really, Well,
people can like tip you because they tweet they appreciate your your your content,
which I mean that's I mean, like I just you know, like
asking for tips on social media just to me seems very It would be very
uncomfortable. It's just as weird as a tip in the drive through. Yeah,
that is odd. You know, you can monetize your Twitter now,
I saw that. I haven't looked into, but i've I wouldn't tell anybody
any So the verification for the blue check it is now where you are a
premium member of Twitter, and I have that and I use it because it
lets me post like longer videos. It gives you more capability within your account,
and I do a lot of video stuff. So that was the main
reason why once they went away from the standard verification process, I still needed
those resources that I used to have because of content within within the platform.
Well that's been how long over a year now, I mean how long has
Elon Musk been involved in Twitter? Easily a year? Right, Yeah,
it's about a year believe, So I've had that, but I didn't really
know anything about like what the premium you know options were. So you can
now turn on like monetization and it's like ad sharing revenue. So I turned
it on like maybe four or five weeks ago, and it was like for
the last I think it might have been for like the last couple of weeks,
maybe like the last ten days of April. It was on and I
didn't you know, I don't even know what it means. So because I
have so because I have the premium service with with with X and or Twitter,
I don't see ads, you know what I'm saying, So like it's
pretty so so when I go to my thread and there's I don't know,
let's say, like for example there and I want to get to this later.
But the I talked about it on the show a couple of days ago,
and I threw it out there on Twitter. Former level basketball players that
made little to no impact on the court, but we'll be remembered for decades
for other reasons. We mentioned Andrew McGee, Brian Bowen, and then I
said, I think you could throw Kron Davis in there, just because of
the whole scenario, the shenanigans that took place, and you know, and
that's no knock on him. I mean that's just like it was wild.
How that whole thing played out. So you know, that had fifty seven
responses, fifty seven thousand views on the thread, twelve retweets, one hundred
and fifty eight likes or favorites or whatnot. So within that, like you'll
see ads between responses. I don't see those, so like I'm you know,
I'm thinking, how do they monetize this? There's no ads? Well,
it's because I don't see them. So, you know, long story
short, after like ten days of April, I ended up getting a payout
and it's not like life changing money, but like I couldn't believe like that
that mean I do have thirty or not thirty twenty. Let's see, I
have twenty seven thousand, three hundred followers. But I've just always assumed that
like most people who followed me many many many years ago on Twitter, like
aren't on the platform anymore. But one thing that is important to note is
just because they're not active on their meaning they're not tweeting, doesn't mean they're
not checking it. Like Twitter is really a sports information resource for a lot
of people, and they still use it in that and as long as they're
on and they're you know, getting impressions and views to certain things. So
like, I have no clue what to expect as far as like money,
but like I kind of feel like, damn, during the coaching search if
I would have had that on like, because I had, I got a
notification that I had the most impressions within my account that I've ever had during
the you know, during the searching. So I'm sure that would have been
some you know, some money. So hey, for those who like clown
people for blue check buying or whatever, I mean, I would if you
have a good, good following. And I don't mean twenty seven thousand,
I mean like, you know, a few thousand or something, maybe even
the letter off. You know, if you have people that you know engage
your content, you tweet a lot, you can make some money. All
right, quick break, we'll come back on the other side. Keep this
thing rolling along. Let you hear from Pat Kelsey. He did one of
his social media shoutouts last night to the fan base. We'll let you guys
hear that Lenardi has given us his first bracket, which I think is really
stupid. But you know what, we'll talk about it. Why not.
It's the UKBA small postgame show folks. That's right, Coffee and Company rolling
along here. Short show today just two hours because of the the baseball game,
which I guess we could still potentially run into. Uh, I don't
know if you have. If you it's regional, then super regional, and
I guess super Regionals could still take place during the day during the week.
Yeah, so I already looked ahead. If they make the super Regional,
it could eat the series will either be a Thursday through a Saturday or a
Friday through a Sunday next week, and if the regional goes to the extra
game on Monday, that could potentially become a problem. Yeah, that's true.
So super Regional is just it's it's two teams, right, Yeah,
it's two out of three. Yeah, so I would assume that they'd play
those during the evening and not during the day. But then again, if
there's a bunch of them and they're yeah the TV and those are all on
tv C. Yeah, I guess, I guess there's still a chance.
But you know, out of our control, out of our control, and
I'm you know, I'm a company man myself, right, so I mean
got it. I mean, if they want me to, if they want
this to be the UK a UK Coffee and Company show. You know,
I'll do what the company wants, right, What am I gonna do?
I gotta I got no, Uh, I've got no. Uh. There's
no power here. That's why we call it Coffee and Company because we're both
company men. That's that's right, right, Masville is just called the Company
Men, the company Men. That's not a bad name for the show.
To be honest with you, I actually kind of like that. I mean,
limiting my name wouldn't be wouldn't be ideal for me for brand. Yeah,
but the company men, I mean, yeah, I don't. I
don't mind that at all. Uh, there is there's Actually I used to
be a real nerd for this, and I would look in different markets and
find uh names of shows and like think of who had like the most creative,
And then I realized, like it doesn't matter. You do not need
to aim for creativity. You need to aim for what is very easy for
people to remember. And it needs to include your name, not because you're
obsessed with yourself and your ego, but because it's it's it's another chance for
people to remember who you are. If the name has nothing to do with
your show and you're resetting all the time and not mentioning your name. It
just you know, people should still remember you if you give if you give
him a reason too, and you still mention your name here and there.
But the name being in your show is strategic for you know, reasons other
than just maybe wanting to to, you know, inflate your own ego.
But there was a show that I think it may still be on the weekends
on Fox Sports Radio. It's just called The Fellas, and I love that,
like it's it's subtle. Yeah, it's simple, but you know it
works. There's another Fox Sports one that's kind of the opposite of subtle.
It's two pros and a cup of Joe worst a lot worst name I've ever
heard for a radio show. Wouldn't tell you who hosts it either. The
pros are Brady Quinn and I think LeVar Arrington. And then is the cup
of Joe a guy named Joe? I would think so because I thought,
Oh, Jonas Knox, I think is the guy who hosts that and Jonas
I guess that's what it is. I mean, not Joe Jonas of the
Jonas Brothers. But you know what I mean, Joe is short for uh
for for Jonas. Yeah, that name, that name is is terrible.
But and there's a lot of companies too, by the way, and like
just like this, like I trust me Coffee and Company. There's there's a
there's other something in companies across the country. And it's for strategic reasons again,
because I don't want it to just be the Nick Coffee Show, because
I want people to, you know, to feel as if you're gonna you're
gonna hear from other people like the company man or any guest or callers or
whatnot. So anyways, I like this better than the Red Zone. The
red Zone it was it was just too generic. It's the most overused name
for for teams that have read in their yeah colors. Yeah. I remember
our former big boss, meaning like he was he was high up within iHeart.
I don't mean just here in Louisville, but he used to he was.
He doesn't work here anymore. But whenever I got hired, it was
me Kelly Carl's who hired me and then later retired within like a couple of
months. And how we I think was around. It's I mean how he
was around, but I think the four of us were kind of just going
back and forth discussing what the name of each show that was debuting should be
called. And of course, you know, I was starting at noon,
how he was on in the mornings at seven, and our boss was throwing
out different names for this show for my show, and they were all terrible,
and I was like, godly, like, I can't I just got
hired, haven't even actually started the show yet, Like, I can't tell
him that name sucks. I don't want it. I'm gonna have to just
deal with whatever. But man, these names he's throwing out here are awful.
So he just finally went, h you know, red Zone, the
red Zone. I'm like, oh yeah, let's do that. Yep,
the red Zone. We're gonna go with the red Zone. I love it.
That's great, and you know, and it you know, it was
fine name. But man, some of the other ones, it was do
you remember them? Or can you even say them? Like the Cardinal Club
or something. Was like they wanted it to be very specific about U of
L, which I understand that was our brand at the time, but it's
hard to do that without it being you know, corny. I throughout the
idea of making it, you know, naming it sort of after at that
time the website that I ran, But they weren't really you know, they
that would have that would have only helped me and not really them specifically.
So there were names that I didn't love. And I heard that and I
said, let's just let's just go with it, you know what. The
first, uh, in fact, the first radio show ever did it was
like twice weekly at a smaller station that first hired me, and it was
just called The Cardinal Connection. Like the Cardinal It was just based after I
took my podcast to a radio station, like that's how I first ever got
a start in radio. And then whenever I started doing afternoon Drive from five
to seven, uh, the show was called Inside the press Box, Which
what do you think of that, honest thoughts? Inside the press Box it's
not a bad name, but it sounds like a very informational show. Yeah.
I liked being able to come in and out of a break or start
a show and tell them this is where you are. You are in the
press You are inside the press box, like kind of like you are in
the red Zone. I like that that makes it seem natural here you know,
you're in the red zone, you're in the press box. It's like,
you know, it flows good. Now I don't get to say that.
I just say this is Coffee and Company, you know, which is
fine. But I remember thinking that's the perfect name for a show inside the
press box, which now many years later, I'm like, yeah, I
don't if that was great, the press box would have been fine. But
as you said, John, and you're right, it just seems boring,
informational, very vanilla, very poindexter, if you will. And that's the
last kind of radio who I want to do. But anyhow, let's take
a look here at Joe Lenardi's first bracket, shall we, And it is
silly, trust me, And I make fun of Joe. Actually I don't
make fun of Lenardi a whole lot. I make fun of how ESPN and
everybody else treats it as if he does, in fact decide who makes the
tournament, when we all know that he doesn't. And Jim Phillips bringing Lenardi
to the ACC meetings a couple of weeks ago to try to tell ACC basketball
coaches how they can get more teams in the tournament is hilarious. I mean,
now that a couple of weeks have passed. It's even funnier now than
it was when I heard about it, because it's so stupid. I mean,
even if Flint like, here's the thing, like Lenardi actually did really
good last year. I don't know if we talked about it or not.
Usually I'll rail on him, but I'll be honest with you, he was
phenomenal at knowing what the committee was going to do last year. But he
doesn't have say so, so like, how are you going to take advice
from somebody who does not actually determine who makes it and doesn't have anything to
do with the process. And you could make the case at times that like
he should have, like you know, or someone who legitimately lives in Breeze
college basketball analytics and resumes should be the you know, there should be a
committee of objective, unbiased, experienced bracketologists who have been very good at,
you know, putting it together and have been pretty accurate with what the NSAA
actually does. Those of the people that should, I think be a part
of who decides to make the tournament, because when it's like athletic directors assistant
ads from all over the country, like they're not like they're just crunching numbers
at the end of the season. They're not watching a ton of college basketball
elsewhere they're watching. They're they have they have a full time job, which,
by the way, if you're an athletic director, that's a very busy
and very important job. But anyways, Leon already put it out today and
Louisville first team out. Top overall seat is Kansas. Last team in is
Nebraska and Kentucky. They are a seventh seed I believe here, Yeah,
seven seed for Kentucky and Indiana. There are four yeah, four seed,
So one seeds are Kansas, Houston, Yukon, and Duke, which I
kind of feel like, I mean, Houston's gonna keep being Houston and they'll
probably end up having a really good record, so I guess it's I can't
say that'd be like that, that's a fraudulent one seed. Yukon makes total
sense, Kansas makes total sense. Duke, I you know, I don't
you know, Duke. Duke should be good. They always are. But
I wouldn't be shocked if Duke is once again like the five to six seed
that they were last year, whatever it ended up being. I mean,
Duke was mid all year. I think they ended up getting a pretty good
seed, but I don't think Duke was I mean Duke gond of losing two
who was in the Elite eight. Yeah, I think you should put Alabama
on the one. Yeah, that's the one because that's the one team and
they're on the two line. So it's not like they're being like totally disrespected.
But like Alabama, now that they got Mark Sears back and Grant Nelson
back, they've been tabbed as like on paper, this team is the best,
which you know, they made a final four last year. The found
I mean, I shouldn't say they finally broke through. Natoates has only been
there a handful of years and didn't take them too long to make them relevant
and successful. And now again that's a breakthrough moment for a coach like Natoate's
to make it all the way to the final four. So yeah, I
mean Duke being a number one seed, could you know? I just have
a hard time thinking that Lenardi's factoring this in when he's putting together a bracket
in May. But like maybe Cooper Flag like is that guy right? Like
we talk all the time about how freshmen don't impact the way they used to,
not only because there's a lot more old guys playing college basketball now,
but it's just there's been a drop off, like you don't have to be
young if you don't want to be young. And I'll tell you what,
there aren't many college coaches that'll that'll decide to be young when they have the
option to go to the portal and not be young. But if Cooper Flag
is as good as advertised, like he could be the next freshman that really
is the most talked about player in the country throughout the entire season, and
they'll They'll probably be other players in college that are on teams that are better
than Duke, that have maybe had a better run as a in their career,
like maybe they've had like let me give an example, Hunter Dickinson,
Hunter Dickinson. Let's just say Kansas ends up being as good as advertised and
he has his best year ever, which is not you know, not much
different than what he's done recently. But maybe he just is having a more
efficient season, more productive. He's in the never and they're really winning at
a high level. He's looking like he's probably gonna be a National Player of
the year, and he'll get notoriety he's playing for Kansas, But when it
comes to like the mainstream national attention that gets, you know, that that
college basketball gets, it'll all go to Cooper Flag if he's really good,
like if he's an Anthony Davis, if he's a Zion Williamson, a Trey
Young, And I mean, to be honest with you, that's putting high
expectations on him. But by all accounts, like I think it's I think
it's been a while since there's been a number one player in the country entering
college that you know, had this kind of hype. I mean, you're
right, and he reclassified too, didn't he? I don't know. I
believe he did. And I feel like that's I don't want to say it's
part of the problem, but I feel like when you have so many of
these freshmen reclassifying that and some of them are ready, but you get guys
And I'm just gonna use Indian as an example. Christian Lander reclassified and he
was one of the most underwhelming guys. He was a five star. I
think he was a fringe five star. He's now Western Kentucky. He's a
bench player there. Yeah, I mean, he was. He's somebody that
I feel like there's He's not the only example, I'm sure, but there's
plenty of guys with this whole reclassifying to get to college earlier so you can
get to the NBA. It's it's hurting some of these players. Yeah.
Last year, I'm trying to see who the number one freshman in America was,
Wagner, was it not? Uh No, we ended up being Ron
Holland, Okay, and then Isaiah Collier, by the way, who was
really good at USC. Didn he go to He went to USC, right,
yeah, really good at USC. I mean he's I don't know where
he's gonna end up going in the draft. But like he was the number
two player, number one actually depending on he's actually number one in the twenty
four to seven Sports rankings, but the Composite had it the other way around.
But nobody talked about him all that much. You know why because of
Bronnie James. He was also at USC as a freshman, and he was
going to get more attention. Justin Edwards was the number three player in the
class for Kentucky. Like that's wild. Brad Shall number five, Wagner number
three, and what's crazy about that is that Kentucky still had two of the
very best freshman in the country in Dillingham and Read, but Wagner, Bradshaw
and Justin Edwards were all top six, and those three guys you could not
have them on the floor laid in games when you were playing good teams,
not because you felt like they were going to screw it up, but it
was quite clear that at those positions you had other guys that were just better.
Like it'll be, you know, if Kentucky ends up thriving with Mark
Pope. I'm not sure how many people go back and look at Cal's last
year because why would you but that team. It's just odd how it all
played out. Like Reeves, I think was their best player, but he's
not a great pro prospect, therefore he got like no attention. Wagner was
nowhere near as good as he needed to be, Bradshaw probably even worse,
Edwards even worse than all three of them, and yet they were still really
good, Like they still should have had a really good season and should have
made a deep run. But you know, it's just broken. It was
broken for Cal. All right. Let's get to a lot of our last
break here in the four o'clock hour. It feels weird saying four o'clock as
it feels actually like, you know, three o'clock because we just started essentially,
But we'll take you up till six o'clock. Get yourself for the weekend.
If your weekend has already started, congratulations to you, Cheers to you.
Hopefully you've already cracked open a cold beer. Beautiful weather, beautiful weekend
for some cold beer. I'm looking forward to it. Is it frown?
Actually, I'll say this for the other side. I got a question for
parents out there. You need some feedback. Stick with us right here on
Sports Talk seven ninety. Keep the bush Lights in your thoughts this weekend because
they're gonna get ambushed. You're gonna get completely demolished. Won't even see it
coming. Just part of life, part of life. I like this song.
Is this Luke Combs with Jamison Rogers or the other way around it is?
I've never heard this before. Yeah, there's songs that context and you
know substance story that if a lot of the bro pretty boys sang it,
I would say change it because my ears are going to bleed. But Luke
Combs can sing it, and I'm like, hell, yeah, I want
to be a redneck son of a bitch, you know what I mean,
not saying he is that, but like, you know, yeah, yeah
exactly. But if it's not an exactly style of song, I shouldn't have
said that. But you know, when this music is getting the best of
me, and I'm ready for the weekend. It's almost five o'clock on a
Friday. Cut me a little bit of slock here, all right. So
tomorrow is my son's birthday party. In fact, it's his actual birthday,
which works out well. So his party is going to be on his actual
birthday and he'll be four years old, and we're having a pool party at
my mother and stepfather's house, which works out perfect. We have a lot
of our kids parties out there, my kids. My nephew has his party
out there usually every year, and it's a lot of fun and we certainly
appreciate them for hosting us each and every year. But now that Moose is
a little bit older, he's made some friends rather be baseball or at daycare,
and he's got one buddy of his, Scotty, who's been his closest
friends. I mean, they started at the daycare together when they were infants
and they are inseparable. But then there's other kids that have that he's you
know, gotten closer to, and we've invited them, and I think their
parents are going to bring some of them. So it'll be cool to see
him hanging out with his bros. And he said he has a girlfriend too.
I don't matter yet, but oh said she's coming to to the birthday
party. But my question, like, I don't know these parents other than
you know, seeing them at pick up or drop off and saying hello.
Is it frowned upon to crush beers at your kids for you at both the
birthday party? Like, I'm not gonna get hammered. I mean at least
not until after the party maybe, but like I'm not gonna be obnoxiously drunk
and make a fool of myself. But like, you know, if if
it's just right outside and the party's going good, like they may see me
inhale and go through plenty of bush lattes throughout the afternoon, and I just
don't want them thinking, Man, I'm never letting my kid hang out with
this with this mason cake because his dad's just a you know, he's a
problem. If you're on your own property, you have the right to do
whatever you want. And I'm gonna do whatever I want. But what I
worry about it's like, will people view me like, come on, man,
can you not wait till the kid's birthday party ends to start pounding beers?
Which, to be honest, now that I say that out loud,
it's a reasonable it's a reasonable question. It's just that's kind of you know,
like a lot of my friends who are now you know, old like
me, we all have kids, multiple kids. So when we get together,
when schedules permit and we've got a cookout at somebody's house or you know,
just getting together, everybody bring the kids over. Like that's that's our
new social part of life. Like you know, we all we don't we
don't go out to the bars very often. We don't, you know,
we rarely and honestly if we don't really want to. And we have families,
we you know, we've we've evolved into being you know, the olds.
But one way for us to socialize, let loose, have some drinks
and just you know hang out, is to let our kids all play together
and us just you know, hang out by a pool or you know,
grill out or whatnot. So that kind of happens at my kids' birthday parties.
But then again, we've got some newcomers, people who don't know us,
and they may think, like, what are you doing drinking beer at
your kids four year old birthday party? And again like that's as it's a
good question. I mean, it's not a I mean, it's not a
crazy thing to say if you're not doing anything wrong. I mean, you
know exactly what you're doing. You're a professional. Yeah. After, hey,
guys, after we have Mason opens his gifts, we're gonna go play
some beer pong. I'll show you guys how to play. It's a lot
of fun. They would love. That's a fun game too, to be
honest with you. But all right, real quick, before we get to
the top of the hour, let's talk about something that is usually not a
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we got one hour left, five o'clock on a Friday. Let's get
it started, folks, I mean for this break. You know what I mean.