Speaker 1: It's on ko v O Provo k U d d
H D two one O three, nine ninety eight three
ESPN The Band stream us live on ESPN, theban dot com.
What's going on in the world of Cougar Athletics Here
from players, coaches, and experts on all the latest happenings
with the Cougars.
Speaker 2: Welcome Back Cougar Sports one of three, nine ninety eight
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and notes of the day, as well as talk about
Game Day mans Health. We got Layanallo, the owner operator
of the Pleasant Grove location. Laye, how that heck? Are
you man? Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3: Good. I'm doing good then.
Speaker 4: Kind of a cold and dreary day here, but trying
to just stay warm inside.
Speaker 2: Much needed moisture though we needed this moisture. We need
the high desert in which we live. Many we are
grateful most definitely for the moisture. You mentioned cold. Mentioned cold,
and I want to talk coop with you. I kind
of previewed it a little bit, but there was a
tweet I thought it was hilarious. About fourteen hours ago.
I woke up in the middle of night, you know,
due to unexpected circumstances, and I was like, I can't
go back to sleep. I'm just gonna go on Twitter.
Like that's that's what you do, right, I see what's
going on? Tour Trey Alexander tweet quote tweeted, Uh this
West Coast College sports guy that was featuring war remort
War Memorial Stadium, Laramie, y Owming And like, I played
it at Laramie, Wyoming. Cameron, you you played there? How
would you? How did you? Cameron Jens in November? You
played at night in November? And lem, why would you
describe that? Because, like, I mean, Lane just said it's
cold here? How cold was it?
Speaker 5: Well? Our plane got struck with lightning on the way there.
It actually like it did, but I guess that happens. Oh,
that was miserable. It was windy at our hotel, the
hotels out in the middle of nowhere. That cold night
game it was it was. It was not fun. Yeah,
I was not one of my most memorable experiences. But
we got but we were bull eligible after that. Okay,
what you was that so fine?
Speaker 2: I think Lavelle once said it's better I would rather
lose and live and probe with than than win and
live in Laramie. What an iconic quote that was. But
check this out. So Trey Alexander quote tweets this featured
post of War Memorial Stadium, and there's actually some good
photos here. I actually got to play at Laramie in
the daytime. It wasn't as cold. It was a little
bit windy and blustering, and I had to run out
the flag and so that was a little bit difficult.
But this is what Trey said. And I want to
get your reaction to this lane. The lieutenant damn, the
lieutenant Dan said, ask him why is it so bad?
Trey Alexander b way defensive back replies, there are no good,
good hotels within like an hour of the school. The
food out there is terrible. The visiting locker, remember the
visiting locker really small. Is the size of a small
that shin stand and we were sitting knee to knee.
Plus it's wyoming. Have you ever been out to War
Memorial Lane? Have you been out to Larai before?
Speaker 4: I've been to Laramie. So I drove through Laramie years
and years ago, and it was during the middle of
winter and it was quite blustery. I have never been
to a game out there, but I have to be
careful what I say. One of my neighbors is actually from.
Speaker 3: Laramie, and I love it.
Speaker 4: However, I have heard the horror stories of playing there,
and I love that quote from Lavell.
Speaker 3: Such a funny, funny quote, it right, that said it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Lavell said it once upon a time.
Speaker 3: It was so fantastic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just a great one. Yeah, we need a little
levity before we start talking about this BAU basketball team
prepping for Texas Tech. We hope we pray fingers crossed,
everyone praying fast for a victory over the Red Raiders
so that we you know, we're not having to send
out welfare checks for all of Cougarnation quite honestly, because
they're in dire straits right now. They're mentally and emotionally fatigued,
as with all the losses. But give me your purview,
give me your from your purch what you're seeing from
this Boa basketball team. Why has everything gone awry with
this hoops team?
Speaker 4: I mean it's it's what everyone else has said, right,
it's the injuries. I think this team was built very
top heavy, and the supporting cast just isn't up to
par with what we've had in years past, and so
we're asking guys that probably weren't going to have a
lot of playing time, we're asking them to do a
lot more than what they anticipated doing, right, And so
I honestly think that's what it is. It's the roster composition,
it's the injuries, and hopefully it's something. I mean, we
have to give some grace to Kevin Young, Right, this
is only the second ever roster that he's put together
at the college level. The first one even last year,
he had a very abbreviated time to actually put something together.
To really give them, you know, give them some grace
and hopefully we learn from this in the future.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope that they figure it out right the
construction of uh, I think you bring up the best
point here. Like I do feel like yu fans is
it's gotten like worse down the back end of the schedule.
They haven't had as much grace for the season ending
injuries because the effort hasn't been there. Like fans are
willing to give grace, right, as long as there's a
fervent effort of trying offensively, defensively, reboundingly, right and that's
the issue right now. It's the lack of effort. It's
the body language collectively as a team. And you're a fan,
you're a contributor. We all buy tickets, we all show up,
you know, Cougar Club and all that stuff. Like you know,
as a fan, isn't that what drives you a little
bit crazy and you begin your your patience where stand
if the effort's not there?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, And I think it comes that like we can
place blame on the coaching. I mean, obviously they take
a percentage of that blame, but I'm not sure there's
a guy on this roster who is holding the other
players accountable. I mean to some to some degree, you
can say that Richie potentially was doing that before the
injury happened, but even then, like, I don't know who
who the guy is this year. That's like kind of
rallying the troops, is it? Aj?
Speaker 3: Is it Rob?
Speaker 4: I have a hard time believing that it's well, I
have a hard time believing it certain players, but it's
it's I wonder who is that player who's trying to
to rally the troops now to get through the remainder
of this regular season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know if they have somebody. I think,
I don't know if they really can lean on anybody
think is trying the best that he can. You know,
I don't know. I'd have to lean in on on Ronald.
I think I saw like a video post pregame. Uh
you know, I think the night before this last game,
and it was like Rob Wright, kJ Perry, Xavieran State
and aj Debonsa. They were playing this like this hand
karate on air game where you have to like turn
or like you miss, and and so like bau fans
see that it's on TikTok or it's on Instagram, and
they're like, these guys don't care. These guys don't care.
They're playing games before a big game. They don't care.
And then you see the lack of effort, like you know,
and you wonder, like, you know, money is a big
thing here. Okay, So money is is a driving force
right now in the college athletics game, and you wonder
how sustainable it is. You We thought for a moment,
with the house settlement and these universities being capable of
allocating twenty million dollars in payroll to the team the players,
that this would we're kind of put a cap on it.
We wouldn't have like this like arms race not so fast.
That's not what happened. Collectives are still chipping in pay
rolls for basketball teams, like you're like, you know major
basketball teams. I mean it's ten million plus now it
and it's going to continue to go up eventually, right,
Like donors may get donor fatigue. Do you think that
will happen or do you think they'll continue to just
throw cash at these uh, these universities and try to
figure out some sort of tax deduction along the way
with it.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean that that's the component right there that I'm
less familiar with, just understanding what the incentive is for
some of these like super high donors. Why why they're paying,
like what's in it for them? But I do think
that like if the product that they're putting out on
the court isn't delivering, yeah, they're gonna look for other
other means or other other ways to get those tax deductions.
Like you can't think that like they're going to be satisfied.
I mean, first of all, these are people who have
excelled in whatever field of life they're in, and so
if they see something like like some of the stuff
that you were talking about and just a poor basketball product.
Speaker 3: You have to.
Speaker 4: Assume that eventually they're gonna be like, yeah, I think
I'm gonna hold off this year. I mean, we're seeing
that with other schools in the area.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And this is the thing, are you are we
seeing a little bit of lack of effort from players
around the country because they are getting paid and that's
all they really set out to do is get paid
rather than win. They're getting paid, then they may they
like winning, but they don't hate losing. Are we seeing
a little bit of that? Uh uh? That that that
that I don't know, that element of the game showcasing
itself even at a at b YU right.
Speaker 3: Now, potentially.
Speaker 4: I mean it's it's hard to say. I think that's
more of a case by case basis with some of
these athletes. But I think that there absolutely are players
out there who couldn't have ever dreamt of making a
million dollars in college or or whatever. And for those individuals, yeah,
I mean we see it all the time. Even in
the NBA. You see a guy get his first major
contract or whatever, and all of a sudden he disappears
into the you know, into the abyss, and you never
see him perform at the same level that he did
when he was like working towards that contract. And for
some of these athletes, they know, like you know, they
might not project to the next level or whatever, and
so they're kind of just like enjoying their times, you know.
But like I said, you can't make a blanket statement
across all players.
Speaker 3: I think that might be.
Speaker 4: True for some if it's I don't know if it's
true for some of the individuals on our team. But
I mean, one thing's for sure is we're obviously struggling,
no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: Lane, tell us a little bit about you know, maybe
we got to send this be with your basketball team
into game day, men's health, maybe they got low te
maybe that's know I'm kidding.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we don't.
Speaker 4: We don't mess with any of that stuff. We let
the athletes they work with their traders and all that
kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: But we do we do want to see guys, right.
Speaker 4: We we we at a certain age thirty thirty five forty,
guys start getting older, right, and we have a lot
of services to help them, whether that's look better, perform better.
Speaker 3: Feel better.
Speaker 4: And so if you're if you're thinking to yourself, hey,
that sounds a lot like me. I after lunch, I
take a nap every day, or I'm just not feeling
the recovery after the workouts like I once did.
Speaker 3: Come in.
Speaker 4: There's lots and lots of different services that we provide
that help you be your the best version of yourself
or feel younger again. And it typically it starts with
just a routine blood test. So come in, get that free,
a lab work done, see where you're at, talk to
us about your goals, and we'll figure out a game
plan for you.
Speaker 2: Give them a call, set up appointment. You get VIP products,
VP service, VP discounts. Whenever you mentioned myself or ESPN
the Fan, my guy Lane Alo, thanks so much, Lane,
appreciate you hopping off for a little world to b
YU Sports.
Speaker 4: I thanks done, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Man is always a pleasure, always a blessing talking about
with Lane Alo. Go in there, get back into the game,
ladies and gentlemen. Any thoughts Cameron Jensen about kind of
the state of college athletics. We thought that the house
settlement would would would put us in a good position
payroll keeps going up. You know, we thought that would
be a cap It is an arms race, There's no
doubt about it. And then furthermore, we when you see
maybe lack of effort as a fan, as an investor
of the program, maybe you're investing in nil, you're kind
of supporting an aiding in that that payroll. That may
get you to retract those funds and you may look
for other possible tax deductions. L that's whey, rather than
allocating it two guys that don't seem grateful for the
filthy luker that you bestowed on them.
Speaker 5: No, it's already happened. I remember Troy Aikman would donate
to UCLA and he said, I donated the guy transfer,
you know, and he said, I'm not doing that anymore
now we don't have a transfer problem. But I think
that does you know how the team performs. And I
thought he made a great I'm gonna kind of do
a tangent. Bind made a great point on who is
the guy holding him accountable on the team. I believe
that was Richie. I think k Young's tried to get
aj and Right to take that role, but that's just
not kind of who they are at this point, and
so I think there's I thought that was a great
point he made. But then going in with this money, Ben, Yeah,
I mean that's just human nature. You're getting paid and
it doesn't matter if you win or lose. That's you know,
that's a motivation. Obviously you want to win, but you
made a great hate to lose. There's a big difference
to that, and so I think it does create a
little bit of complacency with it. At the same time,
though you're still a competitor. It doesn't matter. You know,
the greats are competitive no matter or how much is
going in their wallets or not. And so there is
that passion in that that you want to see. But
it is an interesting dynamic. I can't even imagine Van
playing and getting the checks these players are as wild
going back to our years, what that would have been
like for us and how would would that have affected
in certain ways because it wasn't there a scholarship. Checks
were fairly enough to get us get us through the
first of the week of the.
Speaker 2: We were living big with our nine hundred dollars checks.
Speaker 5: You know that included rent and food every We weren't
getting all the free meals. We couldn't get free meals.
Speaker 2: No free meals, Yeah no, And I think the like
compliance would come in everybody, no meal, don't take anything
from fans or donors or routes.
Speaker 5: We couldn't even work football camps.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you couldn't. You couldn't work Yeah, these like extracurricular
jobs and stuff like that.
Speaker 5: So it's a different world. But I think the greats
compete and you don't want to do it, but yeah,
it's it's it's a unique that I'm still wrapping my
head around looking at what these kids are making and
how it how that implements everything.
Speaker 2: Did you agree though the pendulum did need to swing it? Did?
I wish?
Speaker 5: I'm not. I'm like I it did need to and
I'm glad and I'm not one of those Oh I wish.
It's just hard for me to understand as a player
what that would have been like at that point in
our career. So yeah, I think I'm glad it did.
I'm so happy because I know what it does to
your body and what the players are doing and the
value that they're creating in a lot of ways for
the university, and then that value needs to be shared
with those that are creating it. So I'm a big
advocate for it, but it's still hard for me to
comment on it like that. What would that have done
to change? You know? So?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean what would you have done with the money?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 2: What do you think you would have done with the money?
Speaker 5: I don't know, you don't know. I again, yeah, I'm
a saver, you know that bad. I would have bought
a probably car Like these guys go down to practice,
I see a lot of my raptor. There's a lot
of raptors out there. I'm like, man, it's it's a look.
This wasn't the car lot when we were playing. I'm like,
this is an NFL.
Speaker 2: A lot of scooters, a lot of like some bikes,
some bikes, uh, some used four cylinders.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm seeing all these raptors that.
Speaker 2: Some beaters, some beat trucks. Everyone could hop into the
back of the beat like the beat trucks, like those
like toyotas that don't have they have they got the bed,
but they don't have like the cab.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, I mean they're making more than a
lot of the coaches are. And it's yeah, and I
know they probably have resources around Hey, you know, this
might not be what you get paid every year after
you get done playing, but let's be smart with it. Yeah,
no doubt, but it's a great thing.
Speaker 3: Then.
Speaker 5: I think it's a great thing, and I think it
needed to is bound to. I wish it would have
happened sooner. Yeah, you know, around around two thousand and
one two. I thought it would have been a great
year for that to be implemented.
Speaker 2: It would have been great, Like yeah, I mean, I
mean I if I looked at you know, hours allocated.
I looked at it at one point and I said, like,
what is the scholarship in in monetary value?
Speaker 5: I remember, forget, but you've done that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I mean at the time tuition and granted
b YUS tuition is cheap, but I think it was
around I want to say it was around like twenty
five hundred per semester or something like that, super duper cheap.
But let's like for the the the education you get.
Like I'll do another little mathematical equation on this too,
but anyway, twenty five hundred bucks you know, per semester,
which is great. We did have like food during fall camp, right,
we had.
Speaker 5: Donuts in the morning before fall Campay, there was bagels.
Speaker 2: There's apples and oranges and bananas. You just chose the donuts. No,
I remember there being donuts. I don't remember seeing all that.
That might have been the year after it was all
cars on like chocolate milk, chocolate milk and donuts.
Speaker 5: No, but anyway, I know we did have some meals
and after practice we had after food and so then
and then if you made the travel squad you'd get
fed at those great by the way we did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was good stuff. But anyways, like I I
looked at it with like, you know, your strength conditioning
and lifting and cardio stuff. You're probably making at BYU
about thirteen to fourteen dollars an hour at the time,
which everyone that's like a student that's working is like, well,
that's a great job. In two thousand and five, that's
a great to thirteen fourteen dollars an hour, that's really good.
You know, it's really good. Now other schools, like if
you had to like three x that with the education
against then yeah, you're looking at you're looking at you know,
sixty thousand dollars you know, value seventy thousand dollars value
for the hours allocated because it was a full time job.
I mean you got to realize too, like all your tasks,
your tasks, You're like, you go to football practice, you
get in thirty car accidents, literally thirty car accidents, you know,
especially if you're a linebacker, running back or an offensive
defensive line and then you'd have to go ahead and
compete in the classroom.
Speaker 5: And by us, no, no joke, man.
Speaker 2: It was you were on such a like like a
mis leveled playing field, you know what I mean, just
weren't there so anyway that was the cash equivalents, so
you would have been it like that twenty twenty five
hour you know.
Speaker 5: I'm not complaining. We got a SCHOLARGI. I guess it
was a blast to play.
Speaker 2: Your education though, was not the same as the individuals
that you were in class with. It was not no,
because it no, it wasn't. It was not the same.
It was not the same. It was like, well, no,
you went to class. I was like, yeah, yeah, but
I was not spending three hours in the library and
in the lab because I was watching film because the
back of my name said Crittle on it, and I
was gonna go after play in front of a million people,
and if I sucked, everyone's gonna remember that I suck,
and they were gonna remember that I got an A
plus on this test rather than a B minus.
Speaker 5: You did just enough to kind of get by during
those during the season, you.
Speaker 2: Had to have some come to Jesus talks with your
your your teacher's like, look, there's a lot of pressure
on me this week. Anyway, we'll go to break. Guys,
don't go anywhere. That segment was brought to you by