It's time for coffee and Company, Fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day, Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think when we
are get off our show. Idiots, The kids are crying or tearing off,
crying. The 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. So in the tweet that
I just sent out, I send it out every day to start the show,
just to remind people that are lost in the toxic wasteland that is Twitter,
now referred to as X by some you know, let them know we're
here. And I said, it's Friday because it feels like a Friday.
I mean, it kind of is a Friday for for most I know,
some people probably actually have to work tomorrow because of the type of career they
have, and I bet a lot of places aren't open on Friday, but
there are some, right, I mean, I guess technically for our company,
it's a workday, Edna John, like we're doing the comp day kind
of thing. Yeah, moving Friday. We're moving some stuff around, you
know, to make it. Yeah, so it's a Friday. I'm ready
for a long weekend. Nothing better than a long weekend. And I really
felt like, well I felt stupid, which that happens often. That's not
a new feeling for me, but to really make me realize how checked out
I already am for this week, because it just kind of felt like a
whatever week right, Like I I mean, I've been here and I've had
I've actually enjoyed the shows the last couple of days, and we're gonna have
some fun today. But you know, it's the holiday coming up, it's
summer, there's nothing going on in sports, so you know, it's just
kind of been whatever. But I guess my mind was so focused on this
long weekend that I'm looking forward to that. Whenever I pulled into the garage,
John Uh, instead of grabbing the paths that we have here that we
swipe the key card that lets us in, I kept pushing the garage door
opener on my on my visor in my car, and I was why isn't
it opening? What's going on here? It took me like three times and
I realized Okay, yeah, what are you doing? So I asked myself
that a lot. I'm surprised that that's the first time you've done that.
I don't it just I guess instincts like I didn't think like here, I
am, I better push the button. I just I got to the to
the you know, the gate, and I kept pushing the button above me
instead of grabbing this thing that I keep on my dash the key card.
So uh yeah, not a great start, but hey, that's in the
past. Now we have the next three hours to have some fun and we're
gonna do exactly that. At least we're gonna try. It's coffee in Company.
My name is Nick Coffee. The company man John all On alongside today
and we are fueled by Thornton's. Make sure if you are heading out of
town, maybe you're heading to the lake, maybe you're going on a trip.
I don't know if the fourth of July typically is a big travel holiday.
I felt a lot of people. If you can get away and get
to the lake, then I imagine people will do that. I guess it
really depends on when the when the holiday falls. I mean, this would
be a good good year for you to take a trip for the Fourth of
July, because I would imagine a lot of folks, even if they didn't
get off work because of their company observing a holiday, they decided to,
you know, take advantage of you know, the Thursday, you're gonna get
off and then Friday and you got a four day weekend. So again,
whatever you're doing, if you're traveling, even if you're not traveling and you
need, you know your you're mindful of what it cost to put fuel in
your car. Just know that if you sign up to become a member of
the Refreshing Awards program at Thorntons, you're gonna save money every time you're at
the pumps. So again, we appreciate our friends over there at Thornton's.
All right, if you guys want to take us with you wherever you go
today, you can do exactly that. You can listen live on the iHeart
Radio app listen live at seven ninety Louisville dot com. And we'll be interactive
today. I mean, I'll give you guys a chance to contribute to the
show if you'd like. It's not gonna be one of those shows where I'm
just hunting for reactions to hot takes that I've got because again, we are,
i mean, the biggest sporting event going on, you know, right
now this week it seems like, I mean really just I mean probably for
the next few weeks, to be honest with you, is the Nathan's annual
fourth of July Hot Dog in Ey contest, which really lost its luster when
they banned our man, Joey Chestnut Joey Jaws. He's out, although I
don't know if you've heard John because I'm sure you keep your ear to the
ground for all the rumors in the hot Dog in competition, of course,
but they think this might have all been a pr thing, and then he's
going to show up, which that wouldn't shock me. But I also feel
as if you really didn't execute well, if you were trying to do some
kind of a stunt to bring more viewership and whatnot. I mean, there's
gonna be a lot of people not watching because he's not in it. So
I don't know if that worked out well for you, but you know that
events lost its luster. And yet last night Kaitlyn Clark played the Las Vegas
Aces. It was Kaitlin Clark, and of course you know she's got more
momentum, more hype than anybody in sports seemingly. I mean that's the way
it feels. And obviously she's a rookie in the WNBA and she's she's had
off nights and last night was one of them, but she was going up
against Asia what is her name, Asia, Asia Dirt? No, Asia
Dirt played a little. Yes, her name is Asia. I can't think
of her last name. She's two time MVP, she's phenomenal. She plays
for the Aces and they're good. So that was like a hyped game last
night. I think it started at non thirty or maybe yeah, non thirty
on ESPN, which you don't typically see w NBA games get that kind of
a push on ESPN. So again, I'll bring all that up to say
when it comes to sports, like one, there's nothing going on, but
two, even the things we care about, Like I don't want to go
ahead and say we've exhausted all different angles, all different talking points on the
college football season that's approaching and you know, Louisville basketball their new team,
because that's not the case. But I just feel like with with it being
such a blah week for a lot of people, meaning you know, they're
probably just ready to you know, get by a pool, go to the
lake, chuck some beer, be a badass American, and celebrate freedom.
I'm gonna use today to just do whatever the hell I want and not even
think about sports. I mean, we are going to talk about some things
when it comes to the world of sports. But this is one of those
shows where I'm just you know, I'm just riffing man, and we're gonna
have some fun. I mean, believe it or not, say it often,
I do prepare for this show, and I am prepared, you know,
to uh to go there if we need to. But I mean,
I think we're just gonna let loose today have some fun. So if you've
already, if you're already off work, maybe you took the week off,
maybe you're just now getting off work. Maybe you just walked in the door
at the house, I mean fire, maybe you're on your way home.
Fire up the iHeartRadio app. When you get there, crack open a beer,
and we'll get Fourth of July started today with us right here Coffee and
company. So again, if you'd want to join us, you can five
oh two five to seven seventy nine hundred is the number to give us a
call. Five oh two sixty five three zero seven ninety. That is the
L and N Federal Credit Union text line. I did give John a heads
up, and I'm sure he was already gonna do it anyway, because that's
how good he is at his job. But we're doing nothing but American patriotic
songs today. I've already got them all lined up. Love it, love
it. I mean, we don't want more commercial breaks than we already have.
But you know, there's all you got to leave a lot out that
are great, right? We only got six, is that right? Yeah,
there's there's too many to choose from. Yeah, So again, you
know, everybody, uh you know, tune in and we'll feel patriotic throughout,
uh throughout these next next three hours. All right. So, uh,
this is something I wanted to bring up yesterday and I didn't get to
it. But it was not something that was, you know, high on
my list. It wasn't something that uh, you know, that I felt
like really needed to be emphasized and discussed in each hour of the show.
So it wasn't as if I, you know, I just forgot about it.
But I don't really know what I mean, it's been sent in on
the text line at least three four times this week, and it's just another
reminder of how underwhelming and really just pitiful the last two years of Louis of
Basketball was. But I have a question because it maybe maybe I'm going to
expose this is like not real, or maybe somebody can help me understand this
list that has now gone viral. It's got one point three million impressions on
Twitter, and it's a list of the most revenue generated in men's college basketball
in the year twenty twenty three. And I would not claim that some I
mean, I'm just I'm not saying somebody's just gonna make this up, because
I mean, who would do that. Like, you know the graphic.
Have you seen this, John, I'll send it your way if you have,
you have seen it? Yeah, I mean, like this is a
this is a well made graphic and it's from that CBK report Twitter account.
It's one of those And by the way, man, those things that I
used to knock those and I still do, cause it's it's you know,
you're hiding on the internet, like you can share opinions and not really stand
by them, and it's really what those accounts are. And it's not just
on Twitter, it's on TikTok, it's on Facebook, Come sure, Instagram,
where they do what's called engagement farming to where they are going to post
something video picture, could just be a status, it could just be text.
And you know what you're doing, right, Like it's you're not saying
something that's completely crazy, but you know you've got something. And I guess
that's really what social media is, honestly, Like, I guess they're using
it the way that it's supposed to be used. But and it's savvy.
But the reason I mentioned like the financial component of it. If you put
something out there that shows the top fifty highest revenue generators in college basketball from
twenty twenty three, you know you're going to have potentially a bunch of fans
from fifty different programs sharing it talking about it, either being upset that they
fallen or bragging about where they stand, or in the Louisville side of it,
acknowledging that despite how awful and just pathetic LOUISVILLEASKETBA was for three years,
they still are a big money maker. So the amount of engagement that you're
getting, meaning responses on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the amounts of impressions
you're getting, like this CBK report account is probably going to see a pretty
good fat payday just from this specific post alone. But I don't know where
he's getting the information from. Like I don't think there's nothing on the graphic
that cites where the info is coming from. And I don't think they just
made it up. But I don't really understand. So Louisville came in at
number one, and I've seen a lot of people have seen this if you
haven't. In twenty twenty three, yes, that was during the Kinny Payne
era. Louisville generated thirty eight point four five million dollars, which is more
than six million or six million more, I should say, than the second
place program, which was Kentucky, who produced thirty two point twelve million dollars.
And really just some quick math here, the difference is that what Lowell
Hall was paying Kenny Payne and what Kentucky was paying Caliperry. I mean that
that that alone probably eliminates the difference. Carolina came in at number three thirty
one point seven. Illinois really surprised me there twenty seven point four. Although
Illinois in basketball, like they have some tradition they do and they care about
basketball. But yet when they're not, like when they're when they're irrelevant and
just kind of whatever, like you never think about them. But you know,
when they are good, you can tell that they do have a following
and a and a huge fan base. I mean, again, I've learned
this over the years, and it's it's evident that you know, the SEC
and the Big Ten, when their teams are good, you realize how big
their fan bases are. And that's really a huge part in how they're able
to be in those conferences that have those revenue sharing arrangements grant of rights with
networks because they know they're reaching a ton of people, because even if it's
not a you know, even if it's not like Champagne Illinois, Like I'm
sure there's a lot of Illinois fans in Chicago, which is one of the
biggest cities in the country, but like Illinois a humongous state as far as
population, and you know that matters, there's a lot of reach there.
Indiana came in just behind them at number five at twenty six point nine.
So my question is, is this for the calendar year of twenty twenty three
or are we Is it just for the season right, like are you looking
at I mean, I'm sure it's the calendar year because you can still bring
in revenue even when your team's not playing. I mean technically, you know,
the money that you send in for season tickets probably isn't coming in during
the season obviously, So I'm sure it's just for the calendar year of twenty
twenty three, which would be the entire January on of Kenny Payness first year,
and then of course, you know until December of last year. So
to see the Louisville made thirty eight point four or five million dollars, it's
not crazy because we've known for a long time Louisville basketball. I mean,
they make a lot of money. I mean, Louisville basketball fans have often
bragged about being the highest revenue generator in college hoops. I mean they were
for a long long time, and even if they weren't number one, they
were close to it. And it I guess it does speak to how much
people care. And that's a good thing, right, Like people will pay
and invest and and and do what they got to do to make ends.
Meet, but also give money to this, you know, give money to
the university to support the basketball program, whether it be whether it be donations,
season tickets, that kind of stuff, sweets, whatever, whatever.
You know, there's a lot of different ways to do it. But it
also it's also a way of just being like, yeah, you know,
we we over. You know, I don't know, I just never understood
why that was something to like throw in a fan's face from another team.
But you know, I guess if you think about it, fans do that
up just about everything, right, Like all, I bet our coach could
beat your coach in a in a beard chugging contest, Like you're like,
you're gonna really go. I mean, it's a competitive thing, especially when
you're talking about your rival. But I'm just gonna be honest, I don't
know if I believe it like that. Just to me, that doesn't sound
realistic. I'm not claiming that somebody's making it up out of thin air.
But like even if Floiville was decent, like that's a lot thirty eight point
four or five million dollars, Like that's crazy, and even think about I
remember when Josh Hurd did one of his press conferences earlier in the year.
He wouldn't mention the amount that they had lost from lack of attendance at games
and stuff like that, from concessions and all that kind of stuff. So
it makes you wonder, like, look, I don't get where they're pulling
any of this from. Yeah, same here, I you know, it
could just be somebody trolling though, And to be fair this account, they're
not known for trolling. You know, they're not Big Game Boomer. Yeah.
Who By the way, I think he mastered this, Like Big Game
Boomer was an og when it comes to just creating these graphics that have these
lists that are not even something anybody genuinely put thought into it, just to
get people, right, you know, it's trolling people and getting people to
react as if it's you know, as if you're being serious and it's worked
out. I mean, I think Big Game Boomers, still unidentified as a
human being, has like landed with some some network doing some kind of like
online thing, and then true Donovan had made Yeah, I mean, so
shout out shout out to those guys. But like when you see the you
know, when I when I see that that was the revenue that was generated
like it makes me wonder, okay, like do you really like, is
it going to be that difficult for you to uh, you know too,
is it going to be that difficult for you to pay players? I mean,
obviously you've got to pay the entire athletic department or over the Yeah,
the entire you know, the entire all the programs. You know. When
I say the department, I guess that would it makes it sound like I'm
talking about employees. But that's all I mean. That's insane to me,
which makes me again kind of not believe it. Like I'm almost I'm half
tempted to like send this graphic to somebody at u of L and the side
department. I got a couple people that I could ask that would either tell
there's two people I could reach out to. One person would just tell me,
hey, I'll see what I can find out for you. The other
person, if it wasn't true, would say, that's absolutely not true,
that's nonsense. So I don't know, I don't know if anybody else cares,
but I I mean, that's that makes you realize that there's really nothing
Louisville basketball could do to make people not support it. Right, people weren't
going to games, but they were still paying for tickets. They still kept
their season tickets because you know, be honest with you, that would be
an overreaction to get rid of your season tickets. I mean, if you
don't want to have season tickets, I would totally understand because that's a I
mean, I know I would never be able to afford that. It's a
big expense. And you know, people work hard for their money. You
got to be you know, you got to be careful about what you spend.
And I think the younger generation just realizes that they can go to any
game they want and not have season tickets, and it would be much cheaper
because you don't have to do the donation and it would just be a cheaper
way to go about it. And you and a lot of people don't want
to go to every single game and really can't go to every single game because
of their schedule. So what I'm saying is, think about how bad it
was last two years, and we don't need to go down that path.
We're not. We're not We're gonna We're gonna pump breaks here and you know,
not go any further because trust me, the vibes are good for louis
of basketball. And another way to look at this is seeing is if damn
imagine, if Louisville ends up being pretty damn good under Pat Kelsey, that
that number is going to probably grow substantially. But if you were ever going
to, you know, throw in the towel as a fan when it comes
to the monetary investment, you'd have done it during the Kinney payn era,
and a lot of people probably did, but clearly enough did not, and
therefore they still apparently breaked in an insane amount of money. So here's another
So apparently Sportico. If you heard of sportico, that is the database for
money from professional sports in college sports. So like Sportico is actually what I
use yesterday to reference the South, so you can just go and look at
the highest paid players in every professional league and that where I was. That's
what I was using the reference. Okay, Lamar Jackson makes makes this much
is going to make this much money annually next season. Max Struss is going
to make this much more. Which, by the way, if you missed
that conversation, Max Struss, which a lot of you've probably never heard of,
would know him if he walked in your home right now, he will
make more money to play basketball in the NBA than Lamar Jackson will make in
the NFL based off their base contract, which again is still crazy to me.
But according to Sportico, the revenue from college basketball ticket sales during for
the twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three season, So that's Kenny's first year,
Kentucky twenty two plus million dollars, Carolina fifteen plus million dollars. That's
number two, and then there's a tie for third place. Louisville, Indiana
and Kansas sall had twelve million dollars in ticket sales. So you know,
despite how I mean, think look at those four teams and think about how
different their seasons have been, or think about there's one that does in the
last couple of years, especially that season alone. I mean, you buy
season tickets before the season starts, so therefore it's not like, you know,
nobody who bought season tickets thought can you payn would win four games in
year one. But more than anything, yeah, it's just I'm trying not
to like think like damn, like, how could we invest so much as
a fan base into something we love so much and it get to as bad
as it was the last couple of years, Like it's still insane to me
that that happened. But I'm choosing to look at it the entire opposite way,
entire look at it in the entire different direction, which is that I
mean, if this thing starts rolling once again, like why can't we get
back to having you know, full game, you know, maybe not a
full crowded every single game, but like the goal that u Havel had after
their one of their goals from the athletic department from their budget meeting they had
a couple of weeks ago, if you remember, it was to get one
home basketball game ninety percent capacity. I think it was. And I just
felt like, man, like, I know, you want to aim low
considering where you've been the last couple of years and all that, and you
don't want to, you know, set set sites too high that are unreachable.
But I mean, I know all of that money is not just from
the casual fans spending their salary. You know, the revenue A lot of
it comes from corporations who buy suites and all that kind of stuff. And
there's season tickets that are purchased by companies that are not just for individuals.
But still there's a lot of people who probably don't make you know, a
million dollars. They're probably doing okay. I mean, if I would say
you're doing okay financially if you can afford season tickets or you're sacrificing a lot
because they're not that cheap. But I guess I need this every now and
then to see these kind of things, even though it you know, it
doesn't have anything to do with winning and losing, it doesn't have anything to
do with what's going to happen in the future. But it's just a reminder
that Louisville basketball is still a program, even after the last couple of years,
that that is is up there. I mean, the talk of Louisville
turning into De Paul or what was the other school that kept getting mentioned,
Georgetown, I mean, like that's just not nowhere, nowhere close, I
mean, no way, And this is crazy. And I was talking about
talking to somebody about this the other day and they asked me a really good
question that I couldn't give an answer to. And I didn't even want to
go down that path because it almost gives me PTSD a panic attack because we
were talking, my buddy of mine, were talking about those numbers and how
like, you know, Canny win four games, and yet people still did
try to find a way to believe that it was going to be a lot
better. Even if they didn't really believe it, they wanted to be optimistic
and they would just hold out, you know, they would just you know,
hold out hope that it would be great, even though the first season
really told us exactly what we had. But if in fact he was retaining
we're going into year three. I mean again, I can't even go there
mentally to try to envision what life would be like for me. I mean,
I'd be okay as far as you know my health and you know,
big picture, I would be okay, like I would die, but like
it would be impossible to talk about a little basketball or he already was last
year. But I also so will acknowledge that because of how much people care
and they and they want this to work out so bad, there'd be enough
people that you know, would would still you know, hold out hope that
maybe it'll work out. I don't know, though, I mean to see
the numbers, meaning the revenue and visually see the amount of people who shut
up to the games. Like again, doesn't that mean a lot of people
had tickets and just didn't go. I mean, that's that's that's what that
tells me. All right, keep it locked right here. We got to
talk about Bronnie James on the other side, which I'm sure you're tired of
hearing about Bronnie James. He's been one of the most talked about humans on
the planet, seemingly in the last week or so. And I've always defended
Bronnie James because I feel like he's always, you know, not been like
his dad carried himself professionally not You really got caught up in all the hype
and all the nonsense that comes with being the son of lebron James. But
his press conference yesterday was was I mean, he's a chip off the old
block, as they say, he's just like his dad. All right,
don't go anywhere. It's coffee and Company. We are feel about Thorton's right
here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Get much better in this one, John,
It's a classic love it. In fact, he doesn't get much better
than Bruce Springston. If I'm being honest, he really is one of the
Like he just screams America when it comes to his music in general. And
I'm sure you'll find if you look hard enough, somebody maybe isn't a fan.
But like, even if it's like this isn't your jam, meaning like
his kind of music, I mean, you probably aren't rushing to change the
station when his hits are on. Like he's great. He is great.
Shout out to Bruce Springsteen and shout out to America. I was born in
the USA, and I'm proud of it. Man. I sound like a
real patriot there, didn't I The music stopped right when I said it,
as if like we were trying to get serious for a second, which I
am serious, serious as a heart attack. All right. So a couple
of people have asked this throughout the week, and I don't have an answer
for you, and you know I hate that, but I'm I'm as curious
as you. So I guess I'll go check the press release here that UL
sent out, because again they now know who they're playing in their trip to
the Bahamash. We talked about it yesterday and it is going to be two
opponents. One is a team from Canada college that I guess does this annually.
They go on they go to these trips in other countries and play Division
one programs from America. But the other team is just is just called Bahamas.
So I mean, it's just called Bahamas. So I don't, you
know, I don't know if if if that, if that means the Bahama
the Bahamian national team or not. I mean again, I'm looking at the
graphic because U of L has not actually they haven't actually put out a release
on their website, at least not that I can see. And if you
look at the graphic that really was the announcement yesterday. This is from Baja
Marhops their official Twitter account. Uh bead Global Sports is the marketing company that
put this, puts this whole thing on every year, and it just says
Bahamas. It just says Bahamas. The the other team it says UH Dinos
and that's the Dinos that are you know, from the University of Calgary.
So like, at least there's some level of identification there. So I don't
I don't think it's the national team from the Bahamas. But I don't don't,
I don't know. I just don't think they would be there. Like
put it this way, if you consider like who, let's look at who's
on the national team. We talked a little bit about this yesterday, but
one of the guys who's who's apparently crushing it in the Olympic qualifiers that are
going on right now is VJ. Edgecombe, the UH the freshman to be
a Baylor. He's going to be phenomenal. But yeah, so right here
we go. This is the current national team from the Bahamas that is currently
playing UH in the in the Olympic qualifiers. DeAndre Ayton, Eric Gordon,
Buddy Healed, VJ. Edgecombe, and then there's some other names, you
know. Tom tum Narren. We talked about him yesterday briefly. He's from
Michigan State, played there years ago but was a good player. Donnie Freeman
a guy that I actually do you know, I know of the name.
He's He played at IMG and he is currently he's currently a freshman at Syracuse.
I think he was a pretty highly regarded recruit. So I if they
if they qualify for the Olympics, which it looks like they're going to,
and they play later in the month, meaning like the game Love was going
to play against whatever this team that's labeled Bahamas. They'll be you know,
three three weeks roughly from you know, in the Olympics start later in August.
Their game will be played. I believe it is the beginning, very
beginning of August. So the schedule wouldn't wouldn't conf There's not a con the
schedule is not going to matter. But it comes down to like why would
they do that? Like, I mean, they're already in the Bahamas,
cool, but like are they in Nassau? Like to me, it just
seems like a random thing for a team that's about to play in the Olympics
to go to this resort and play an exhibition game against a college team,
Like what if somebody gets hurt? You know, Like I just think that
just seems far fetched. But then again, I've seen a lot of people,
even some folks who I know that cover Louisville, that are referring to
this as the like this is who they're gonna play. And it started with
everybody sharing highlights of that freshman VJ. Edgecomb who's just been dunking on fools
over there in the Olympic qualifiers, And I just I don't you know,
maybe it ends up being a lot of these guys that like, we haven't
heard of and they throw it up. But let me tell you, it
wouldn't shock me if it ends up just being a bunch of basketball players that
still live in the Bahamas that are sort of you know, maybe they play
professionally in the pro league that's in the Bahamas, but they're nowhere near NBA
caliber and they didn't play Division on basketball in America like that. That's what
I think will likely be the squad they play. But again, maybe I'm
way off, and you know, again, I'm gonna pick your brain a
little bit on this, John, wouldn't you expect that if that was the
case, there'd be a whole lot more like, damn, they're gonna play
it the because I just mentioned a national team that has you know, known
Buddy Heal, DeAndre eight and and Eric Gordon are all notable NBA players.
And I've been trying to do some digging while you've been talking about it,
and it's very difficult any real information. Like you look at the logo,
is the is the logo they use the same one for the Bahamas men's basketball
team. That's one thing I was trying to figure question, figure it out.
It's a good question. Let just go Bahama's national basketball team. I
mean, I don't know if they have official website. Do they? I
mean, here we go. The Wikipedia page should include a website. But
you know, of course, if the logos are the same, I would
assume that that means, yes, it is the national team. But there's
a Bahamas Basketball Federation website and it is that logo since in the dependance in
nineteen So sorry about that. That's appreciate their independence. That's what happens when
you leave a It is going to be Independence Day tomorrow. So I guess
it's halfway appropriate. Yeah it wasn't you know, somebody cursor or anything like
that. True, So yeah, I mean I maybe it is. I
don't know. I just it would be way more believable for me if they
weren't potentially going to be playing in the Olympics just weeks later. That's to
me what makes it seem off. But I'll ask, you know, I
mean, I'm sure somebody will tell me because I think it's an easy answer.
But then again, they're not. I mean, there's also a chance,
I say, it should be an easy answer. But you know,
the folks that uve L don't have any say so and who they play.
It's it's the it's Baha Ma or the Bahamar Resort. Well, I guess
no, it's it's probably here are probably the two people that are putting this
together, the Bahamas Basketball Federation and also the BDG or the bd Sports Global
Company, the marketing group that's putting these that's putting this event on, and
they also put on the Baja Baja Mar Classic, which is the event louisvill
played in a couple of years ago at the same resort. I don't know.
I mean, again, I could be way off, but I just
have a hard time believing that the actual team that is going to potentially represent
their country in the Olympic Games in Paris just a few weeks down the line
there would would be playing in this game. I mean, wouldn't it more
than likely be like an under twenty team or an under eighteen could be?
Yeah, that could be. Yeah, Actually here's what it could be the
Yeah, that's a good point. So they have it looks like they have
a roster that is currently representing them in the Olympic qualifying tournament, right now,
and that's a lot of the guys we just talked about. I see
past rosters here. You know, maybe they've got like an under twenty team
or a junior team because Edgecombe could play on that team if he wanted to.
I don't know if he'd want to be there, because again he you
know, I don't know how beneficial it would be for him considering he's,
you know, gonna be playing a Baylor next year. But yeah, there's
been enough people talking about it and then some that have asked about it,
and I wish I could clarify, but I'll ask. But yes, you
don't make me feel as dumb, John, because you've you've confirmed what I
what I looked at and saw too, is that as Vegas can be.
It just says Bahamas. So I don't I don't really know, all right,
real quick before we get to our next break. Sticking with basketball,
Kimba Walker announced his retirement yesterday, and I feel like it's turned into the
retirement that a lot of people feel old after hearing about because they remember Kimba
Walker playing. It didn't feel like it was that long ago. And although
I, you know, I the fact that that Kimba Walker is retiring and
he's just done playing after a twelve year NBA career. Yeah that sounds I
mean that, you know, it does make you realize he's been in the
league that long. I feel like he just played five six years ago.
But you know, Kimba Walker is let's see, he's thirty thirty four years
old, right, so you know that's not I mean, there's a lot
of guys who have ten yre tend to I mean, look at this.
I mean, Gorgey Jane just retired from the NBA. I mean that made
me feel older than Kimba Walker. And Gorgey Jane played in the NBA for
ten years. Devonte Parker just retired from the NFL. Like, those are
the things that make me feel old. So but Kimba, I think the
Internet, you know, obviously it was around, but Kimba would I think,
would have been a much bigger would have been a much bigger star than
he already was. And he was a star by the way. I mean,
he was one of the best players in the country. But he was
so good. And when I think of the Big East at its very best,
when it really was just I mean, like something I don't think we'll
ever see again. I mean, you had nine to ten teams in that
league in a few different seasons throughout like a five to six year window that
were all Final four caliber teams, like they could get there and it would.
I mean, maybe that's why I'm so underwhelmed by the ACC because when
the Big East was really really rolling, I mean, it was unbelievable.
I mean, you had legitimately half your league. You felt like if they
got in the tournament and made it, like they could make make the Final
four. But Kimba Walker is one of those players that always comes to mind
for me when I think of the Big East being great, because honestly because
his performance in the Garden when they won the tournament there in twenty twenty eleven,
I think it was, Yeah, it was twenty eleven, whenever you
know, they started I'm not even sure what seed they had in that tournament,
and he broke somebody's ankle. I think the guy's name was Larry McGee,
played for Pittsburgh, and I mean it was one of the more embarrassing
things you've ever seen a player go through, just getting completely crossed up,
falling over Kimba stepping back knocking it down, but you know, he went
on a hell of a run and he was a hell of a player.
I remember Louisville, of course, in twenty eleven. That's the forgotten a
year because they lost to more Head State. But they had a very very
solid season, a good season in fact, and they were better than most
expected. That's the year. Rick Patino called it a bridge year if you
remember, and they ran into Kimba Walker in the championship game of the ACC
Tournament. I believe it was that year, and it was one of those
games whereas much as I was disappointed, because you never want your team to
lose, like I couldn't really be mad at anybody from the Louisville side because
I'm thinking, all right, what are you gonna do? Like Kimba Walker,
a Brooklyn, New York guard in Madison Square Garden for Yukon, like
just completely stealing the show, Like you know that was gonna be his moment.
Excuse me, he's from the Bronx now Brooklyn, and you know,
trust me, I would imagine that's not something you want to you know,
we want to get mixed up with people who you know, the people in
New York are proud of the of the bureau. They're from Borrough, They're
from so he's from the Bronx. But yeah, happy retirement. Congratulations on
a great career, Kimba Walker. All right, let's get to a quick
break. We'll come back on the other side. Keep this thing rolling along.
I meant to do this earlier in the week, but you know,
I didn't get around to it. With the ACC now having three new family
members, Smu, Stanford and Cal, I got some some random facts and
trivia about these institutions that are now I guess, you know, like our
brothers, and some weird things about these schools that you probably wouldn't expect.
So we'll get to that. We'll let you hear Bronnie James show us that
he is, in fact, just like his dad, which I don't say
that as a compliment. Uh, And you know who knows, who knows
what else we're gonna get into the rest of the way. It's coffee and
company again. We're feielbouth Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety Little John
Michael Montgomery. This song, I mean, I don't know if it's it's
it's it's about us, So it's about soldiers getting letters from home when they're
when they're you know, away at war or deployed. And it mean this
this counts right. Like I started, I started a second guest like does
this one really fit? But it does. It's still yeah, it's really
like it's deep is if you ever like this is? And I don't know,
I'm sure this still exists in modern country music. I just don't listen
to it as much, but like this is a story, you know what
I mean, Like this song is a story and it'll I mean, I
remember hearing this song when I was a kid, you know, like uh,
I feel like I was in late middle school, early high school,
and I remember like, damn, I'm gonna cry. It's deep man,
It's it's uh, it's it's good stuff. John Michael Montgomery, Kentucky's own
all Right Coffee and Company. That's us. We are fueled by Thornton's here
on a Sports Talk seven ninety. Hopefully you guys are getting set for the
fourth of July weekend. I'm sure there are some that still have to work
on fourth of July and of course on Friday as well, but we have
a long weekend, so just a reminder, we will not be back on
the air until Monday. Do you have any annual plans, like do you
you you have a Fourth of July event that you that you know is your
go to that you that you do routine or anything like that. No,
not really, it's whenever it falls on a weekend, which I guess we
do technically get the four day weekend based on what we're doing. But I
used to frequently go to my parents' lake place in Patoka Lake, and we
have I still go there, not as regular because obviously I don't live with
there any good spot that was that was where we used to go. Yeah,
Potoco Lake's a good spot. I've been there a few times when I
was younger. Yeah, I don't like fireworks, and I don't really have
like an annual party that that I go to a thing that I do every
year for the Fourth. So you know, maybe I'm not as patriotic as
I as I thought I was. But uh, yeah, the weather doesn't
look great right, Like think we do have some rain coming in tomorrow or
tonight or something like that. That's no good. And we've actually had pretty
good luck with I mean, the weather's not been super pleasant with the humidity
and the heat. In fact, it's ninety four degrees and I think the
heat in Decks is going to have it above one hundred today. But yeah,
tomorrow looking like a fifty five percent chance of rain, which you know
isn't isn't good. I mean, I'm sure plenty of people will still you
know, be outside covered of course, but hey, with it being fourth
of July, maybe there'll be people that won't care, and they're going to
celebrate how they typically celebrate, and they're not gonna let rain stop them,
because that's how big of American badasses they are. Little rain's not going to
keep us from you know, grilling out, although they could get could get
difficult, it could, I would imagine. So yeah, hopefully you guys
have a good fourth of July. I'm certainly looking forward to it. All
right, Uh, real quick, the the We'll start with SMU so I
mentioned this before we went to break with Louisville, not Louisville and the ACC
adding three new members to the to the league. Earlier this week, we've
known these these three schools were coming to the ACC. I guess today,
you know, earlier this week was the official day where they join the league.
We'll start with SMU. Just some random facts about SMU. We'll start
with this. They actually have a campus in Tiles, New Mexico, which
I didn't I mean that to me. That didn't seem that close to where
they're located. But it's built on the site of a pre Civil War fort
and where a thirteenth century Indian pueblo was was uh excavated. Can you name
their school colors? John, It's like a pinky red and a blue.
Yeah, it's red and blue. They just they just identified as that.
But I feel like their colors are kind of awesome. Red and blue.
I've always felt like is it's hard to mess up. But I also kind
of feel like underwhelmed at times with teams that are just red. I can't
mean, how many schools can be just overused as a school color. I
was gonna say the opposite. I can't think of that many that are just
straight red and blue. Oh, I just met red in general. Excuse
me, red and blue like De Paul. Yeah, and and DePaul at
times, like I wish to Paul. Of course, we know DePaul for
being De Paul. But I feel like at times They've looked great with how
they do red and blue. Like again, it's hard to screw it up,
and there's such power dominant colors. Therefore, you rarely, I think
it's rare you see teams go there like well, I can't think of any
other school that has a similar color scheme as SMU. I mean, now
I'm having to do a little Google search here. Yeah, let's see,
because some of them have a red and blue shade, but like it's not
your typical you know, red and blue. Yeah, all these schools I'm
looking at are not well known schools. I see DePaul is in here,
Gonzaga. Gonzaga is a good Gonzaga is is it kind of a deep navy
right with the red that is a little bit darker, but it's still technically
in that in that ballparks. Yes, Samford wouldn't have thought of that,
but they're but they're red and blue. Again, there's other schools that like
Saginaw Valley State, I don't know anything about them. Robert Morris, I
can confirm that the only reason I know about is because I remember when they
played Kentucky and beat him in the tournament. Decane wouldn't have known that although
kind of can visual, I can kind of get a visual of what their
uniform looks like. Oh, this is a good one. And sometimes these
uniforms football and basketball for this school are badass. Liberty, liberty frame,
liberty flames. I know why I can't speak today. Let's see this old
miss, Yes, ole miss is red and blue, but it's baby blue.
It's like teal and and that you know, ell miss when they I
mean or I really really do like their their color scheme. Oh fau,
that's a good I wouldn't have thought of that, but yeah, flord Atlantic
is is you know their their their primary colors are a red and blue.
So yeah, SMU, let's see what else we've got here of note from
the SMU Mustangs. How about uh they let's see, come on, here
we go. So their mascot is a live miniature Shetland pony that is named
Purana and it's named after an early twenty It's named after an early twenty twentieth
century medicine. I wouldn't have guessed that a live horse though. Yeah,
and I'm all for colleges that have a live mascot. I mean, I
don't it's not doable in most situations, but like if you can pull it,
like you know, Texas and Colorado, who else comes to mind,
Like, yeah, Butler the Georgia Bulldog as well, like having a having
a live mascot. We have to play that later, the Mike Leach,
you know, describing which which live mascots would you know outlast the other when
it comes to like survival thought, Yeah, I've always thought a lot of
the Mike Leach stuff was never as funny as everybody else did. But that
one really did make me laugh. They also have a notable alumni named Laura
Graham, who plays a character on The Gilmore Girls. So there's that they
also have. Let's see here, looks like they are one of very you
didn't say the It looks like they're the only school in Texas, which,
by the way, there's a lot of a lot of big colleges in Texas.
UH that has on their board of trustees like their board of regents whatever
they call it. They keep an active student at all times on that board
that has just as much influence as any other member. That's pretty cool.
That is cool. I like that, So welcome aboard SMU. I'm not
really sure, if you can, you know, make the league much better
than it is now. But for what it's worth, they are the best
team entering as we speak. Right, they're coming off a decent season.
You can't say the same for for cal Or Stanford and uh well it was.
What do you think of when you think of SMU. I think of
their basketball coach. I can't recall his name. I mean he's retired now.
Oh Larry Brown. Yeah, Larry Brown. Gosh, that's a that's
a good age age gap thing for you and I Because Larry Brown, I
think of so many other jobs he's had, Like SMU is where he went
to. I mean, that's where he ended his career and he you know,
he wasn't that good when he was there, but yes, he did
coach there, and honestly, that's probably what made you know what SMU was
as a school because they were at lower level. I mean they're not you
know, D two, but they weren't ever in a big conference and Larry
Brown going there to coach is wild. But when I think of SMU,
I think of money. They have money. They were paying players before it
was cool to pay, you know, before it was allowed, Like is
that where George Bush is from too, or went there or something. Maybe
maybe I'm there could be some kind of a connection there. But like they
got the death penalty, Like they got the death penalty many many years ago,
and you know they were able to say, okay, you'll take us
in the acc We don't need money right away. We'll be all right.
They raised enough money from supporters, donors however, fundraising and it was you
know, over one hundred million dollars to where like they're not worried about the
share that you're supposed to get in your conference. They can wait a few
years. They're fine with that because they they got money. They got money
falling out through were in. They were also the first school in the NIL
era to have enough money of NIL in place to where every single player on
the men's basketball, football and women's basketball team all had a guaranteed salary of
like forty thousand dollars. That's pretty I mean, they got money, man,
they got a lot of money. All right, we got to get
to a break, So let's do that. We got two more hours to
go as we get just set for a fourth of July weekend. It's a
Friday of me Hopefully the Friday vibes are with you guys as well, because
feeling good. Ready to get out of here honestly, but hey, we'll
make the most of these next two hours, so stick with us right here
on Sports Talk seven ninety