It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day. Now here's Nick Coffee. All right, let's finish strong here our
final hour here on a hump day edition of Coffee and Company, fueled by
Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety Nick Coffee. That's me the company
manage on all alongside today two hours in with one more to go, and
as I mentioned, we're going to try to finish strong. We did talk
about the Rick Bettino tweet. We've actually talked about that quite a bit today
and what I said to start the show I feel like has kind of proven
to be at least somewhat true, and that is that in radio, regardless
of what type of radio you do as a broadcaster, you could be playing
music, you could be news talk, sports talk, whatever, play the
hits like that's one of the cliches you hear. That is legit. Like
even if you feel as if you've talked about it enough, you feel like
you've been repetitive as a host. You know, the audience changes over and
if there's a big talking point out there, you got to play the hits.
You got to keep hammering it. And this is not a big story
by any means, but Rick Patino always was a hit in radio because when
Rick talked, it would get reaction out of people because he just had that
impact. Caliperi was the same way, and honestly, they still are.
They're just not here anymore. So Rick Patino after making Louisville fans sad after
going on pardon my Take without realizing that he was actually on Kentucky Sports radio
and just talking about how much he loved it's time at Kentucky and loves the
fans and understands why they were, you know, feeling the way they felt
about him when he was coaching at Louisville and he donated money to the Kentucky
football program with nil, which is just weird like that. That really bothered
some Louisville fans and some of them said they're done with Rick. And I'm
not at all saying that you are out of line or that's an un that's
a normal reaction. It's a guy who brought a national championship here to Louisville,
and Louisville fans really, you know, defended him to Kentucky fans and
to people who you know, claimed he was a dirty cheater that needed to
be fired. But like Rick doesn't think about that, most coaches don't.
So again, I think it's a normal reaction for fans to not like hearing
that him gush about his time in Kentucky. But if you you know,
as I said at the time when this became a thing a couple weeks ago,
if you really think about it, and if it's possible for you to
put hit pause on the you know, the rivalry emotion that is flowing through
us twenty four seven, three sixty five is a very normal thing for him
to feel that way about Kentucky when you consider his career. I mean,
even if he didn't get fired at Louisville and he retired or something, I
don't think he would have said anything different about his time in Kentucky because he
loved it there and when he was there he was a king. Heck,
he might have even said it whenever he was at Louisville if it wasn't been
if it wouldn't have been for Cali Perry, who was there for a good
chunk of Rick's time as the Louisville coach. So I think blinders were on
even for me at the time, because the rivalry was so intense during the
Rick and Calier. We'll never get that again, at least I don't think.
I can't see a scenario where we will. That was a personal rivalry
between those two guys that just was again intense. So I don't know if
Rick even knew Louisville fans were mad about what he said about UK fans and
him donating to the UK football program in il collective. But today he puts
something out there on social media that I mean, judging from the reaction that
I've heard from you guys and seen on the text line, I mean,
I think people are acknowledging that, like it was nice for him to do
that, but like some people are just still done with him because of what
he said about UK. And again, as much as I think that's kind
of crazy, I get it, because again that's how crazy this rivalry is.
But here's what Rick posted earlier that has seemed to have put him at
least back in the good graces of some Louisville fans, and that is a
tweet that includes a picture. I'll read the tweet first before I share what
is in the picture. But a lot of you probably aren't seen him by
now, but it says warms my heart to see my guys together. Let's
win this thing. He's talking about the TVT by the way, and then
he mentioned Resticulous, and I say resticulous because that's Russ's Twitter handle. Resticulous
says, sell your great bourbon, no drinking it? Like that's a funny
dad joke. Right. The kids are back together having a good time.
They're gonna go compete to try to win some money as grown ups with families
and children, like they've all grown up and moved on, but now they're
back together for a run here in the TVT and Rick's telling them, hey,
guys, go get it done. Let's win this thing. But don't
you don't you be drinking that bourbon now? Like it's such a dad joke
and it's wholesome, and you know, I'm a sucker for that kind of
stuff, I guess, right, Like I'm a Louisville fan like everybody else.
I mean this that was cool to see because everybody that's in this picture
is most of them are very memorable Louisville players. For some of them are
different reasons, but all of them had a big impact at Louisville. Luke
Kencock, MP, Russ Smith, one of the all time great players ever
to play here. The best player I ever watched play in a Louisville uniform,
Shane Behannon live. It doun't beat Michigan without but without Shane Behannon's contribution
in twenty twenty. In twenty thirteen, especially in the game again, you
know against Mitch McGarry, I think was the guy who was the big for
Michigan at that time. I haven't said that name in forever. I forgot
about him, but Shane was a was a monster in that game. Or
Clark, you know, one of the first real big recruits for Rick at
Louisville, and those those years were successful. Back to back Elite eights.
Peyton Siva, one of the best point guards ever won you at championship.
Chris Jones not a highlight in his career that I can think of, but
he was certainly a good player. Rehees Gaines, first round draft pick,
one of the all time greats to play here as far as production, scored
a ton of points and really he was the star player for Rick's first good
run here, which was I guess his second season and then David Johnson and
Dylan Avar. David Johnson didn't play for Rick, but Rick recruited him.
He committed to Rick at Louisville and still ended up playing here. So you
know, it's good to see that. So I don't bring this up to
like tell people, Hey, everybody lighting up on Rick because you can think
what you want. I don't care. He's not the coach here. It
really doesn't matter, right, Like, once Louisville basketball season starts, we're
not going to be fun. If Louisville gets rolling and Pat Kelsey gets off
to a great start and they have a good season, make the tournament and
there's a lot of momentum after just one year, people are going to be
ecstatic, not just because you know, it's been a little while since we've
had that and we were so bad in the last few years, but also
like it's just it's it'll be it'll be awesome, and you won't think about
Rick ever. I mean you won't. I mean maybe here and there,
but like you know, you're gonna be focused on Louisville. So I do
think one day Rick will be back and be honored, and I think it'll
have to include these guys, maybe not all of them, but those that
were a part of that championship team. They were really, really special to
Rick. And I'm sure a lot of these players, all of them are
special in a certain way, but Luke Hancock, Russ Smith, Payton,
Siva, those are guys that I feel like if there's a time when that
group is honored once again, like let's say they bring the banner back,
which eventually they probably will. I don't know when that is, but let's
just say it's around the time of the fifteen year reunion for that team,
and if you're close to it, like if it's you know, I don't
know. There's a part of me that says, if they get clearance to
do it, they'll do it that day, or maybe they get clearance to
know that they're allowed to do it, and they keep it under wraps,
and then they make it official that when they honor that twenty thirteen team,
which I guess would be in twenty twenty eight, they you know, at
that point, they bring Rick and if those guys asked him to come and
he's not currently coaching somewhere and you know he's available, I think he would
do it for those guys, and this is probably I mean, I think
Rick liked his time at Louisville. I mean he had a lot of success.
I mean, Louisville's just like Kentucky. I mean Rick was able to
utilize a great programs with great resources, and he's a hell of a coach.
Right, That's a good recipe to have a lot of success. So,
you know, I'm sure Rick, in his mind probably thinks that it
was mostly him, And maybe it was. I don't know, but I
don't think he feels as if, like, you know, he wants Louisville
to be terrible, but he's still better about everything that happened. And I
think that's more of a normal reaction than people realize. So I think he'll
eventually be be back and it'll be you know, it'll be a good day
when that happens. Maybe I'm wrong. Only time will tell. Here's what
I could see happening, and maybe it does. Like because Rick is stubborn,
if he's asked to like be a part of it, I bet he
tries to, like parlay Jurich being involved to because he's still I mean,
wasn't in just a year ago, he randomly tweeted out like Tom Jurich,
I neededn't say like, hey, Tom Jurch needs a job, but kind
of something along those lines. So I don't know, somebody made a good
point earlier on the text line, and I don't have it in front of
him anymore. But whenever, whenever, like the coach in the in the
ad or like two, it kind of feels like your parents are fighting,
right, Like if as a fan, you know you want you want everybody
to be on the same page, right, especially former players because like if
you, I can't think of any great examples, to be honest with you,
but like when former players are bothered by the current team or the coach,
like that's just like that. Nobody wins in that situation. Fans,
I guess honestly, fans don't win because you know you want to take sides,
right, you love everybody the same way. Now, clearly, at
this point, I think all Louisville fans would take the sides of these players
because you know they're still around. In fact, this isn't quite what he
did. In fact, it's not really close as far as what he did
for Mark Pope. Whenever, Rick, you know, went out of his
way to film a video posted congratulating Mark Pope, saying he'd give him an
asle money and how happy he is for him. But you know, Peyton
Sevas should have gotten some level of like congratulations from from from Rick Patino in
my opinion, for being on the staff. He's not the head coach here
like Mark Pope is. But that did seem a little petty on Rick's part.
And maybe this, I don't know, maybe if that's the way you
think, maybe this, I mean, maybe this tweet that he sent out
today changes things for you. But all right, we'll let you hear more
of the Pat Kelsey interview with Andy Katz. So if you guys are just
now joining us, Andy Katz got about a sixteen minute interview with Pat Kelsey
earlier this week. I think it was I don't know it was filmed,
but it was made public today at the NABC website. We played the first
half of it. We'll let you guys hear the other half of it once
we get to our first break here in the five o'clock hour. But something
that I've brought up a couple things on many coet do before we get there,
A couple things I've brought up when it comes to the tvt as Montrez
Harrel situation, Like I just kept assuming, like, hey, it'd be
great for trees to play. I love that he wants to play. He's
going to really give Louisville a good chance here in the TBT to make a
deep run. But I just kind of felt like there's no way he'd be
available because he's proven to be a really good NBA player. In last year
he did not he didn't play, was not a roster and I just assumed
it was because you know, and it was he was injured. But I
thought now that he's healthy and in good shape that like somebody would pick him
up, like him just not being in the NBA makes no sense to me.
Well, now apparently he's opened up as to what he believes is a
factor in him being left out of the NBA. It was a Player's Tribune
interview where he was pretty I mean, I'm gonna read some quot here from
this interview, but you know, there's a lot of words I can't say
because you know, he was pretty I mean, dropped some cuss words that
maybe that's just treesby and Trez but I think he's pretty emotional about it,
and some of the things he shared are just him sharing what happened. But
apparently Paul George was, you know, a big factor in Trees seemingly being
blackballed by the NBA. And I'll read, I don't want to read like
an entire article, but I'm going to try to get you to give you
the full breakdown here. But when Trees was at the Clippers, they went
to the Bubble, and if you remember, in the Bubble, they got
upset by Denver. Denver was not the Denver that you know was a title
contender at that point. That was a big upset. I mean, in
fact, Utah should have beat Denver. In the first round of those Bubble
playoffs. It was Donovan Mitchell and the Jamal Murray Show, and Murray and
the Nuggets got passed, which, by the way, at that point,
I mean, I feel like Murray was a bigger star in that postseason.
But nonetheless, Murray and the Nuggets got past Utah and then they upset the
Clippers. That was the Clippers' best window to actually win a title, and
they came up short. And Trees was a big factor on the team.
That's the year he won six Man of the Year. But in the bubble
he got into it with Paul Pierre, or not Paul Pierce, but Paul
George, and apparently that's frowned upon. So here's the article. It says,
I get back. We're basically in the playoffs. Fast forward and we're
in the middle of a game versus Denver, which, by the way,
I forgot about this component. I think it was Trees's grandmother who passed away,
so he was late arriving for the posts for the playoffs because he was
attending her funeral and he was very close with his grandmother. But he says,
I get back. We're basically in the playoffs. Fast forward. We're
in the middle of a game versus Denver. We set up a play.
Everybody says they're switching one through five type of bleep. Everybody knows coverage.
Then in the game the situation comes. It's in the pick and roll with
PG Jamal Murray, Yokich and me. Screen comes, I yell switch,
we switch it. He's still fights over the screen. Yokic slips down in
the middle of the lane, Boom shoots, gets the points, and Doc
calls a time out just like that. So miscommunication between Tres and Paul George.
They go to the huddle because Doc called the time out. And this
is, according to Tres, the exchange between him and Paul George on the
way to the huddle. I said, Bro, that's a switch. Pee.
He's like, no, I thought, and I'm like, Bro,
ain't no. I thought it's a switch. Bro. Everybody in this bleep
knows the coverage, but you. He was like, Hey, who are
you talking to? Okay, time out. I'm simple. I'm a real
m effort. That's why a lot of people, I think don't like me.
At the end of the day. Everybody's out here in between these lines
because we're trying to one feed our family, but to do some s you
know, some bleep for the team, the organization for the city. Real
talk. So he says, I came back to the bubble for this after
having to bury my grandma on the ground, Bro, the person who raised
me, the reason I play this game. I was so effed up ment
more than I ever knew. All Right, with that in mind, I
told Pee right then and there in front of the coaches and everybody, quote,
I will knock you the f out, Bro, you're tripping. You
was wrong, Bro, you was wrong. Now this is trest saying I
can look back on that now and realize I went too far in the heat
of the moment, I realized this is a business and you can't talk like
that to the star player. But when you're going through grief, you only
see what's right in front of you, and it was just all bad from
there. We lost in the second round to Denver in seven games. The
next summer, the Clippers sent me a text message saying something like, thank
you for everything you did for us, but we're going to go in a
different direction. I was in the conversation for six Man of the Year three
straight years, a two year finalist, and I won it in the third
year. But I didn't get an offer to resign with the Clippers after that,
So that actually explains things as to why it's soured in LA. I
mean, Paul George at that time, and until just a couple of weeks
ago, he was the franchise player for the Clippers, even honestly, probably
of Kawhi, because Kawhi was actually I mean, those guys are always hurt,
but Kawhi has hurt more so, here's the guy who has soured his
relationship with the star player. And as good as Tres was, they're not
gonna if they're gonna keep Paul George happy. And Paul George was bothered by,
you know, a bench player tell him he's gonna knock him out,
which you know is Trev's acknowledged, like you can't do that, right,
So you know, I'm sure that happens more often than than you know,
just this. I'm sure this is not like an isolated thing where nobody's ever
done that. But you know, Trez really believes that that that's that's what's
led to him not being able to get an opportunity. And I don't know
if that's true or not, but like this at least makes it make sense,
because again, you can't look at Montrez Harrel's production in the NBA and
say that at the age of thirty, that he's that he's done, like
you know, if he's washed up and he can't provide value to a team.
Because here's here's the great thing for Tres. What Tres does is always
going to have value to a team. He's going to play with a motor
that never stops he's going to be more intense than anybody else on the floor,
and he's going to run rim to rim and dunk the ball if it's
a if it's if he's near the room, he's gonna dunk on somebody or
or he's going to try and he's going to outwork you. And by the
way, he's a really good player. He's a smart player, he's skilled.
I mean, I think he worked on a lot of things to get
to the NBA that really weren't needed, right, He worked on his three
point shot. He shot a lot of threes his last year here. But
what made trez a you know nearly nearly eight seven, eight year pro and
again he won the NBA six Man of the Award was was really what made
him a great player from the time he was in high school. A guy
who has a relentless motor, never stops, freakish athletic, freakish athletically and
you know, has a wingspan that like doesn't even seem real. So,
you know, the last time he played in the league and was getting you
know, legitimate minutes was in twenty twenty two, so that was two seasons
ago. You know, he played twenty five games in that in that he
played twenty one minutes per game and averaged eleven points, five rebounds, two
assists in half a block. That is efficient and productive in your That is
a phenomenal stat line in that amount of time. And keep in mind,
this is a guy who are not They're not running things for him. He's
just getting what he's earned. I mean, he's working his ass off and
producing. So I mean in his career twelve points, five boards in twenty
minutes per game. Maybe he's hit a wall and father time got him early,
but I don't believe that. So I hate that that could potentially have
kept him from having a longer NBA career. But at this point, the
fact that he's not even being mentioned for free agency and he's playing in the
TBT, I mean, it's unfortunate. I mean, I think it's at
this point, like I think, just looking at what we know, I
think it'd be a shocker to see that if he would be a shock to
see if he gets a chance to come back to the NBA. Which again
I'm clearly biased here because I love Tres and I think he's a great player,
But like the results speak of themselves, like he's he's been a good
player. All right, quick break, we'll come back on the other side.
Let you guys hear the second half of that Pat kelcey Andy Katz conversation.
And then before we get out of here, I saw something that I
want to share with you guys, because as much as Bronnie James has been
discussed, as far as Lebron and the nepotism that's going on, there's a
component you can throw out there then nobody's talking about that actually makes it even
worse when it comes to Lebron and this whole thing. So we'll get to
that before we run out of time. Stick with us right here on Sports
Talk seven ninety all right, So for the sake of time here, let's
just jump right into it. This is the second half of the conversation between
Andy Katz and Pat Kelsey. Again. I know we've heard from Pat Kelsey
quite a bit, and I'd never get tired of it. He's the new
coach. It's the honeymoon phase and we're still getting to know this guy.
And yes, a lot of the things that he has been asked if has
been you know, he's been asked a lot of the same questions. But
again I thought this was still worth you guys hearing with Pat Kelsey and Ady
Cats. So here's the second half of it right here. I'm not putting
you on equal footing here, but in terms of you know, when I
think of you, and I think of Dan Hurley and I think of Mark
few in different ways. And now Mark's not as like out there like you
know, passionate energy, but he's got great life balance. And that's the
thread I see with the three of you, You and Dan. I think
you know, obviously it's on your sleeve. You're out there, you're running
around, you have passion. Life balance has been incredibly important to you,
which I love and I admire. How do you balance, though, everything
you've done with your family to keep everyone locked in in terms of like making
sure you're present and taking over a program where you've got to be present,
how do you do the two? Well, gosh darned to even mention my
name in any type of sentence or paragraph with those two guys who are future
Hall of famers is a little humbling. It's funny you mentioned coach Hurley,
who's obviously won back to back national championships. He is a huge Bengals fan,
and I am a huge Bengals fan. I have no idea why he's
a Bengals fan because he's not from Cincinnati. So every time I walk past
him, we just have this thing. I don't even like stop and talk
to him. So we don't know each other that well, but we just
walk, like if I see him in rock Hill in a couple of days
or wherever we're going in Augusta or in Atlanta, we just say huday to
each other and just keep walking. And then obviously coach FU. So yeah,
faith family and who faith family and who faith family and who? And
I don't have the bandwidth between these ears to be able to focus and be
passionate about a lot of other things. But man, every single day,
I'm gonna pour into those three things. And there's no such thing as true
balance. There's not. Your professional life and your personal life have to kind
of mix. Gosh, my son Johnny is every time he's not in school
or he's not doing something, he's in the practice facility or he's at practice
and he's rebounding for guys and he's sitting in film sessions and tell me what
I'm doing wrong? On the ride home. So it's pretty cool. You
know, I'm moving two teenage girls from Charleston here, so it'll be in
a little bit of an adjustment. Is they have kind of their friend groups
all set there, so you know, I pray every day that their transition
will be smooth and I know they're going to adjust and love this place.
This is a special community. One thing that I've really found out is just
how passionate people are about the city of Louisville, how much pride they have
in this place. Obviously for the Louisville Cardinals and the twenty two thousand at
the Young Center, but this community is very, very tight knit, and
there's great pride in this place. Man. I don't know if you've ever
been to the Kentucky Derby, but that is Louisville's event. Yeah, I
don't. I have not stained yet. One of the coolest things I've ever
been to. So unbelievable city, and they've been They've been crazy welcoming to
me and to my family, and this is home now and we're proud and
we're blessed to be here. Last two things for you. First, again,
you're coming in at a pretty unique time. Because Mark Pope's coming into
Kentucky. The two programs have always been linked to some degree obviously in the
Great Commonwealth there. You know, what are you looking forward to in this
rivalry where you're both sort of fresh into this. Well, rivalries are what
makes college basketball great, man, It's what makes sports great. I mean,
on a on a different scale. I grew up in Cincinnati, and
there's an unbelievably bitter rivalry. I don't know if you want to say better,
because it's it's homes divided, kind of like it is with South Carolina
and Clemson in the state of South Carolina. But Ohio State Michigan. I'm
from Ohio, Louisville, Louisville and Kentucky. Man, it's it's it's one
of the greatest rivalries in our sport. This is a this is a basketball
mad state, basketball crazy state. Uh. I've learned more about bourbon uh
since I've been here, more about horse racing, and more about the Kentucky
Louisville rivalry uh than than anything since I've been here. I know you know
that the I know how how bitter it is, and I know how important
it is here. And I'm so excited to be a part of it.
Uh. I want to not like Mark, but it's hard not to because
he's a really good dude, you know what I mean. Like, he
came up to me, introduced himself, We start talking, and I walked
away. I was like, Louisville fans might not want me to say this,
so I apologize. I'm like, that's a really good dude. But
you know, listen, Skip Prosser and and Bob Huggins had a very very
close relationship in one of the nastiest rivalries in the country was Avier and Cincinnati.
So I think there's a possibility to have honor among thieves. Maybe off
the floor we can. We can like each other and then try to tear
each other's face off when we when we go, when we square up head
to head. Last thing, Pat, we're in summer here. As we're
talking, it just feels different because of the portal and il everything. Another
last year of the COVID year. Where do you think we are with summer
basketball in twenty four, twenty five and beyond well, I mean, you
mentioned how different our business is. I mean, the biggest seismic shifts in
the history of college basketball has happened here over the last couple of years,
and I think the key to all of that is be nimble and be willing
to adjust and run toward change and not away from it, because in every
industry, major shifts happen. And I guess one thing Pat I was thinking
is that you want to be It feels like you want to be with your
team more in July than on the road, which used to be the It
used to be the reverse. You know, everyone was on the road the
home month, but now you gotta let you put your team together in July.
Yea, That to me seems like the biggest difference. What about you?
Yeah, I think what I think I'm used to now, and I
would think most coaches are used to, is the craziness and the ferocity of
our responsibilities and our schedule and what we do doesn't stop. It doesn't and
you need to accept that and be okay with it. And it needs to
be the new norm until changes happen in the calendar or things like that with
the portal, and maybe it never can. That's just the new normal.
Put a smile on your face and deal with it and adjust and adapt and
and and just understand that's you know, what do they say and the Godfather,
this is the life we have chosen. It's kind of just how it
is. But yeah, I mean, when you're on the road, that's
really really important. But gosh darn, you're thinking about getting back and being
with your guys and coaching them up. And then you know the season,
right, the season is hectic and it's pressure packed, and it's NonStop,
and there's games, and there's travel, and there's academics. But buzzer sounds
portal whoom, it goes into overdrive. There is no such thing as like,
ah, the season ended. Let's take a you know, back in
the day, July was like on fire. July was NonStop on the road.
But you know, you had May where really nothing was going on.
Every coach got married in May or in August because May and August were just
normal months where we could be normal people. That's not happening anymore. So
welcome to the new age of collegiate athletics. I love it. Get into
that weight room and now fire off. Those guys appreciate it. So a
lots unpacked there. I do think it'll eventually wear off. I don't know
if there's gonna be any real personal animosity between Mark Pope and Pat Kelsey.
But I think the same thing. I've never met Mark Pope, but I
do think he seems like a very genuinely likable guy. You know, I'm
gonna want Kentucky to lose every game that he coaches, but Cal was a
great villain, I mean, a great villain, and Mark Pope I don't
think will be now. If he's great and he's mauby about it, then
maybe some things will come natural. But you know, I think I think
Kentucky's had coaches that you know, I gotta be honest, I didn't I
didn't dislike them. I didn't want him to win. I wanted him to
lose. But you know, like Tubby Smith, like he seemed like a
really genuinely awesome guy. And I did later meet him after he no longer
was coaching at Kentucky, and he was I mean, in fact, I
met him whenever I was at a camp, whenever I was when I was
in high school, and he, you know, like Tubby's one of those
guys that I've never really heard anybody say anything about his character that is anything
other than how great of a guy. He is. In fact, you
know, he he would talk to my high school coach at our at a
team camp when to or coaching Clint, I think it was, and you
know, he would he would sit and let and let coaches like my high
school coach at the time was like thirty years old, who let him like
talk. He would ask him questions about his team, meaning like our team,
the high school team, and like, I don't know if it was
genuine, but it seemed like he was genuinely interested and wanted to talk ball
with him and just was a very you know, down to earth, relatable
guy. And you know, to this day, I think he was in
town not that long ago, running around town with Scotti d and you know
Tubby's Tubby's a very well liked guy. But when he coached at Kentucky,
I wanted to lose every game, just like oh, will Mark Pope.
I think Mark Stoops. Like I'm not saying I like Mark, like Mark
Stoops a little bit different, but I don't really think Mark Stoops is like,
you know, as far as the rivalry, like his his teams do
l's down and like that's corny, but that doesn't bother me. Like I
don't think he cal was a next level villain and it was great. And
to be honest with you, Rick was too when he was at Kentucky when
I was young. I mean his was a little like his was a little
more arrogant to in a different way, Like he wouldn't go out of his
way and take cheap shots at Louisville. He would just, you know,
act as if like he you know, it's not really a rivalry because he
just doesn't have rivals because he's Rick Patino and he's the greatest thing that's ever
happened at the sport of basketball. So I think it's good for your rival
to be unlikable, but it doesn't matter. At the end of the day.
You can still you know, the rivalry because the rivalry is all about
fans. Nobody says that enough. It's what it's all about, especially in
basketball in this state. It's bragging rights. This game does very little to
hurt or help your season. At times, it can give you an added
win as far as value on your resume, But it's a random game in
December that is not a conference game. It's even so relatively early in the
season that like once that game's out of the way, you can still kind
of find your way and if you lose, still be good. Like it
really just comes down to bragging rights in this state, especially in this city
where so many of both sides coexist. So you know, it's about us,
not about them. Because here's the thing, no matter what happens with
Mark Pope and Pat Kelsey, we're going to be around here longer than they
are involved in this, right, Like I hope Pat Kelsey retires here after
winning national championship after national championship, and you know he'll be clearly they'll a
Louisville guy, but like you know, it'll be different for him, he's
a former coach. All right, quick break, we'll come back on the
other side, finish strong here. We're not going to talk politics, but
we're gonna let the politicians, if we can call them that talk Because Donald
Trump challenging Joe Biden to to an eighteen whole round of golf. I mean,
I just think the fact that that happened is not a surprise when you
consider where we are. But like, why is everybody else afraid to say,
like this needs to happen. It would be highly highly entertaining and he
could not be political. These guys are characters, Like this is almost like
out of a movie script, right, these two guys being the ones who
were gonna, you know, ty Gilmore three. Yeah, like fight for
votes to you know, to win the election. It's crazy. And again,
I promise I'll share that Brownie James thing that'll make Lebron look even worse.
So stick with us right here again on Sports Talk seven to ninety.
You know, it's never ending when it comes to people at each other's next
about politics. And I feel for pretty good not to say that. Trust
me, this isn't not something I'm saying to brag, But I feel pretty
content with the way we've discussed the Trump Biden stuff with really not making it
political. So but I also know that there are people that are so into
it that like, it's not even really about each of these candidates anymore.
It's just about the radical left the radical right and how awful they are and
they make stuff up and they're delusional in the ruining of the country, and
it's just you know, you know, it's it's to be expected, I
suppose. But Trump challenging Biden to an eighteen hole golf match and says he
will give Biden twenty strokes and if he loses, he's going to donate a
million dollars to a charity. It's a perfect move because Trump knows it's not
going to happen, and he wouldn't do it. But I'm this needs to
happen, Like the amount of money that could be raised for a good cause,
like if you you know, if you pay people, if you made
people pay to watch it, they would pay. I mean a lot of
people would do it from a political standpoint. Others would do it just for
entertainment, like myself. I'm off so officially challenging crooked Joe Joe an eighteen
hold match right here, right under OUs Blue Monster. Considered one of the
greatest tournament golf courses anywhere in the world, one of the great courses of
the world. It will be among the most watched sporting events in history,
maybe bigger than the Ryder Cup or even the Masters. And I will even
give Joe Biden ten strokes aside. Ten strokes that's a lot. That's means
twenty strokes. In case you don't play golf. I will give him ten
strokes aside, and if he wins I will give the charity of his choice,
any charity that he wants, one million dollars, and I'll bet you
he doesn't take the offer. Of course he's not, and he knew that
before he threw the invite out there. This will just turn into the wwe
Oh it is it is. I mean like at times you just think to
yourself, like is this real? And it is and it's it's crazy,
but I choose to find ways to have fun with it and see the entertainment
that is there. I mean, it's it is kind of sad that we're
here, but you know, I often wonder why we are. People who
live in other countries think about all this nonsense over here in the United States,
because surely they hear of this stuff. I would imagine that they probably
make fun of both guys. Oh yeah, you know what I mean.
Like, I would imagine they probably make fun of both candidates and just make
fun of the country that we're in this position. That's probably what happens here,
all right. So you guys may not remember the name Stephen Hunter.
I do because I you know, I'm a basketball nerd. But he played
the NBA for about nine years, retired in twenty ten, played it to
Paul, but he was just a journeyman. I don't really know where his
best season came, but he lasted in the league for quite some time,
played for a handful of teams. He posted something on Instagram that had started
to get a lot of traction, and it is posting, you know,
his outrage that you know, Lebron is abusing his power in the NBA,
which we all know that's happening, but he chose to highlight the fact that
Michael Jordan could have done the same thing if he wanted to with his son,
but he didn't because I think him Jay is you know, he's built
different, Like he would never want his kid to be in the NBA if
he didn't earn it, because that's just not how Michael's wired. I also
can't fault Lebron for wanting to help his son, but there is some level
of to where like, again, he just got his guy drafted, his
son drafted, and they're gonna play together like that is at the end of
the day, regardless of how it came about. That's a cool moment.
But also I think he's he's not He's not helped Bronni in variety. I
mean he has with just again, I mean Bronnie was helped when he was
born by being the son of Lebron James. Right, But all this attention
that's there is is because of Lebron. But here's here's what it's. What
it says if for those that don't know, late second round picks don't get
guarantees, especially before Summer League. Typically late second round picks don't get four
years. Yeah, don't get four year guaranteed roster spot deals either. This
wasn't earned. I'm sorry, and it's egregious. It's an egregious abuse of
power from Lebron James and Rich Paul. It's a slap in the face to
all the kids out there who work their asses off to get to the league.
It's sneaky Hollywood bleep like this that turns a lot of people off about
Lebron. That's just another example of what they talk what they talk about when
you try, when you try to like him, I'm not sure what that
means. This is why most people prefer MJ or Kobe over him, because
you know, at least MJ or Kobe gonna be straight shooters. Trust me,
MJ could have gotten one of his sons in the league if he chose
to, if he chose to abuse his power like that, But he didn't
because mj stands on and earned, not given, and he wouldn't. He
would never give his son a sense of entitlement, which is what lebron James
has done with Bronnie. Not taking anything away from Bronnie or nor am I
upset at Bronnie, Just know that this is a manipulation of our league in
the integrity of what it truly takes to get there. Couldn't have said it
better. And to be fair, Bronnie's a better prospect, better player than
Michael's kids were. But Michael Jordan would have got his kid drafted if he
wanted to. If Michael Jordan, you know, even at the age those
guys would have been entering pro sports. I mean, if they came straight
out of high school. I think that still would have been when Michael Jordan
was done playing basketball. But Michael Jordan is different than nearly any athlete on
the planet, and he could be He could come out right now and say
he wants to make a return, and because of everything that would come with
it, somebody would sign him. I mean, it would be kind of
a circus because he is getting up there in age and I don't think he
could play at a high level right now at all. But still, like
it's Michael Jordan and it just wasn't thought of and we all knew it was
crazy. And I think what Lebron did that's even deeper is Lebron like clearly
worked some people, maybe not him directly, but probably Rich Paul and you
know, the handlers, those associated with Lebron James and his camp as they
call it, like there's no way. Jonathan Gavoni, NBA draft analyst,
truly believe last year in his mock draft that the Bronni James had the ability
to be a lottery pick, and he put him in there, and that
really started to wear, Okay, at least now the comment like this is
an NBA draft, this is ESPN's official NBA analyst. He's saying, Bronnie
James has lottery pick talent. And then the rankings. I mean, I
give some of the guys who cover high school recruits credit, like they some
guys never had Bronnie as a top one hundred player. Some of them had
him, like you know, about eighty between eighty and one to twenty,
which is probably realistic. But you know what, Bronnie James still made the
McDonald's American Game because Lebron was going to do anything he could to pull strings
for his son, and that that's actually put him in a bad spot.
And really the Lakers just allowing it to happen is really the most shameful thing
because you could have just said, look, that's a conflict of interest.
We cannot have we can't do that. But you know what, Lebron gets
what he wants. And it's different if some rando says that that's a guy
who played in the NBA for nearly ten years, who has a pension from
the league, that he's, you know, somebody who you know, put
a lot into the league. He's not a star, but clearly he and
he's been a part of it. All Right, we're out of time,
you guys, enjoy your evening. We'll be back at it tomorrow right here
on Sports Talk seven ninety