Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick coffee.
Speaker 2: All right, five o'clock here on a Thursday afternoon. I
Speaker 2: mentioned at the beginning of the show, but it doesn't
Speaker 2: feel like a Thursday. It feels it feels like a Monday.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: We had Wednesday or tim start Tuesday, Wednesday off for
Speaker 2: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and kind of feel like
Speaker 2: I'm getting another week started after a nice little break.
Speaker 2: But tomorrow's Friday, and then we get another weekend, and
Speaker 2: then we have another weird week where it kind of
Speaker 2: sets up exactly the same, I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 4: And we're trying to figure out what we're.
Speaker 2: Gonna be doing for the Bowl game, because Louisville plays
Speaker 2: at two o'clock on New Year's Eve. We are not
Speaker 2: I don't believe we were going to going to be
Speaker 2: doing a show that day because of me filling in
Speaker 2: on Whas in the mornings. But we also have the
Speaker 2: postgame show that we are we're going to do, so
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 4: We'll have that.
Speaker 2: I just don't know what we'll be doing before that,
Speaker 2: because while the game's going on, I wouldn't want to
Speaker 2: be on the air because you know, I woul want
Speaker 2: to be watching the game, and I feel like a
Speaker 2: lot of people who listen to this show would also,
Speaker 2: you know, be probably watching the game. But regardless of
Speaker 2: what we're doing before that, we'll have postgame show and
Speaker 2: react to whatever happens Louisville and Washington, which still Man,
Speaker 2: this is the first time I feel like it's really
Speaker 2: a collective thing within like the entire fan base, that
Speaker 2: like people are seeing this for what it is. And
Speaker 2: I hate using the glorified exhibition because you know that
Speaker 2: that that's I mean, that's kind of what it is,
Speaker 2: but it just sounds like, you know, it's I was
Speaker 2: gonna say, it sounds like it's a waste of time,
Speaker 2: and technically it kind of is. But there's value with
Speaker 2: guys getting more practice reps, and it's kind of something
Speaker 2: you have to do, right because these Bowl tie INDs,
Speaker 2: of course, are tied to conferences, and you know the
Speaker 2: conferences have you know, if everybody just opted out for
Speaker 2: a Bowl game and the ACC couldn't fill one of
Speaker 2: their spots, that would be an issue, right, So, like
Speaker 2: there's a lot of money still made from these Bowl
Speaker 2: games when it comes to TV, and as long as
Speaker 2: that's the case, they're they're still gonna happen. But it
Speaker 2: does seem as if like nobody's trying to convince themselves
Speaker 2: or anyone else that this is just a whatever game
Speaker 2: because you don't even know, like you know, whatever happens
Speaker 2: will not be in any way a like.
Speaker 4: Global gets killed.
Speaker 2: That'll suck and we'll have to react to it, but
Speaker 2: it will know that it didn't really matter because it's
Speaker 2: not the team that you watched all year. It's a
Speaker 2: team that's missing, you know, their best players for the
Speaker 2: most part, that are going to be moving on to
Speaker 2: the NFL, or at least hope to move on to
Speaker 2: the NFL. You're still gonna have, you know, I mean,
Speaker 2: Colin Lacey's playing, and that's awesome. You're gonna have a
Speaker 2: different quarterback. That's something that'll be interesting to see because
Speaker 2: we only saw Tyler Shuck this year for the most part.
Speaker 2: You're gonna have your freshman running backs. But you know,
Speaker 2: Jacorey Brooks, Tyler Shuck, Ashton Jilatio they're not playing for
Speaker 2: for obvious reasons. So it's not like I'm dreading it.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm gonna watch it, and I hope they win.
Speaker 2: But like I, just as as somebody who you know,
Speaker 2: my mood and my morale, my overall well being seems
Speaker 2: to be impacted substantially in a good way when Louisville wins,
Speaker 2: in a bad way when they lose. It's just very
Speaker 2: weird for me to know that, Like I really couldn't
Speaker 2: if Louisville gets beat bad. I wouldn't even be able
Speaker 2: to make myself really that upset, because you know, it's
Speaker 2: not the same it's not the same thing. But there
Speaker 2: are actually some Bowl games going on later tonight, which
Speaker 2: maybe we'll get into that later, maybe give out some picks.
Speaker 2: I know Austin's been In fact, you haven't shared any
Speaker 2: recent wins to me. That doesn't mean that you're not
Speaker 2: winning though, right like you, I want to act like
Speaker 2: anytime you, oh you haven't so ye that then we'll
Speaker 2: change that.
Speaker 5: A little unluck I'm a little unlucky today with Toledo
Speaker 5: just kind of blowing a toe.
Speaker 4: Oh did they Yeah?
Speaker 5: Now Pittsburgh is up thirty to twenty. They scored twenty
Speaker 5: the answered points.
Speaker 4: Is it in the fourth quarter yet?
Speaker 6: Yes, it's a fa third quarter, I.
Speaker 2: Think, Man, I I didn't see that coming, but it's
Speaker 2: a fourth court, and I hate that you're losing this bet.
Speaker 4: You know, it look good early.
Speaker 5: All those bonus bets from other people's accounts.
Speaker 4: My man is still hustling.
Speaker 2: And you know, if somebody catches on to it and
Speaker 2: they boot you out, there's another sports book you can
Speaker 2: try with, right thing.
Speaker 4: I like it. Man, good stuff, all right. So hopefully everybody.
Speaker 2: That's tuning in now had a good Christmas. I know
Speaker 2: I certainly did. I did talk about it at the
Speaker 2: beginning of the show that I did feel a little
Speaker 2: empty on Christmas morning realizing that, like there was no
Speaker 2: gifts that were being opened by my wife that I got.
Speaker 2: We decided not to do gifts this year, and I
Speaker 2: know a lot of couples do that from time to time,
Speaker 2: and I didn't think it would matter at all. I
Speaker 2: felt like, Okay, that saves me that last minute rush
Speaker 2: shopping that I typically do, and you know, it'll be
Speaker 2: better and we'll save money. And you know, I missed
Speaker 2: a little bit. I missed the madness that comes with it, right,
Speaker 2: like the scrambling at the last minute to make sure,
Speaker 2: you know, I feel like when she opens up presents
Speaker 2: on Christmas morning, she'll say that I did great and
Speaker 2: I went above and beyond. But we decided not to
Speaker 2: to do gifts this year, and I've told her no more.
Speaker 2: We're gonna have to. We're gonna need to. You know,
Speaker 2: we don't have to go all out and buy each
Speaker 2: other ten gifts a piece or anything like that. But
Speaker 2: you know, I missed that part of it. But everything
Speaker 2: else with Christmas was great. Got to spend some good
Speaker 2: time with family, and with that, it feels like I
Speaker 2: haven't been here in a long long time. It feels like,
Speaker 2: you know, the last time we were on the air,
Speaker 2: which was Monday, was like two weeks ago. So it'll
Speaker 2: be probably next weekend. I guess when you feel like
Speaker 2: you're finally I don't know. I guess Louis of Basketball
Speaker 2: is back in action on Saturday, and then they'll play
Speaker 2: on New Year's Day against UNC, which of course we
Speaker 2: won't be.
Speaker 4: Here because that's a holiday.
Speaker 2: So you know, I was gonna say, we'll feel like
Speaker 2: we're back in rhythm with our normal, you know sporting
Speaker 2: calendar where you have a couple of basketball games, you
Speaker 2: know a week, you've got a couple more NFL Sundays
Speaker 2: before the season comes to an end, or a few
Speaker 2: of them, and you know, but with the holiday, it
Speaker 2: just kind of feels like, you know, and it's a
Speaker 2: good thing because it's downtown, right, Like, no, there's no
Speaker 2: there's no way that many people have been pretty deductive
Speaker 2: at work this week, right, Like even if you did
Speaker 2: work Christmas Eve half day, you work Monday, and maybe
Speaker 2: you're working today and tomorrow, like it just you know,
Speaker 2: it's downtime. And I know certain industries don't have it downtime,
Speaker 2: so I guess I'm not really talking to those of
Speaker 2: you that are in those industries, but for a lot
Speaker 2: of us, like it's just kind of you know, even
Speaker 2: when we are working, we're kind of on holiday break.
Speaker 4: It feels like, yeah, office is like, yeah, nobody's here today.
Speaker 2: And next year, Christmas will fall on a Thursday, with
Speaker 2: Christmas Eve being Wednesday, that Friday, nobody's working, right, Like
Speaker 2: that's going to be known as like the most like
Speaker 2: that'll be everybody will use whatever vacation they have left
Speaker 2: if they have any, uh, to make sure that you know,
Speaker 2: they get off that day because it's just I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't know I used to work with somebody that
Speaker 2: would know and this was a good strategy. I want
Speaker 2: to see what you would do, Austin, because I didn't
Speaker 2: do this, but I oftentimes when I used to work
Speaker 2: my mother job before I was able to do this
Speaker 2: full time, like it was a known thing. I used
Speaker 2: to work in for a software company. We're talking typical,
Speaker 2: you know, cubicle office life. And you know, same thing
Speaker 2: with us, like even though we have to work like
Speaker 2: Christmas week, when we got off Christmas, even Christmas Day,
Speaker 2: like that week, we would have been working, but you know,
Speaker 2: it would have been downtime as I just mentioned.
Speaker 4: Ye, so my buddy would know, like, hey, I'm not
Speaker 4: going to take.
Speaker 2: The day off after Christmas or the day before Christmas
Speaker 2: Eve because I kind of know it's already gonna be
Speaker 2: somewhat of an off day anyway. Yeah, and then I
Speaker 2: can save those vacation days or that PTO. And I
Speaker 2: always thought, you know what, that's not a bad idea,
Speaker 2: Like would it be that bad to come in knowing
Speaker 2: you really aren't going to have the full work day
Speaker 2: because nobody's really working all that much, and.
Speaker 4: Save those days.
Speaker 2: But I don't know, I just the thought of knowing
Speaker 2: like I don't have to get up and like and
Speaker 2: I'm off Like that's I still I think I probably
Speaker 2: would always prefer that route, but say saving up days
Speaker 2: for you know, basically getting kind of an off day
Speaker 2: that doesn't count against you.
Speaker 4: There's some value there as well.
Speaker 5: Of course, Well I do a lot of other things
Speaker 5: like promotions and other programming too, and not a lot
Speaker 5: has been going on. So usually I'm here in the
Speaker 5: office at like eight o'clock. So now I didn't do
Speaker 5: that today. So I just came in probably about like
Speaker 5: a couple hours ago, like two hours before we started
Speaker 5: the show. And it's I mean, it's good when I
Speaker 5: can just consider this my job because I love coming
Speaker 5: over here.
Speaker 6: I love being a part of the show.
Speaker 5: So like the biggest part is sleeping in for me,
Speaker 5: So sleeping in just more or less felt like an
Speaker 5: off day and I get to come in here and
Speaker 5: have fun.
Speaker 2: So this this is work. They pay you, man, They're
Speaker 2: not paying me. I need to talk to who do
Speaker 2: I need to talk to?
Speaker 4: Yeah, at the HR.
Speaker 2: So again, the holiday schedule has has just made things
Speaker 2: you know, different for us on this show, with us
Speaker 2: being off Christmas, even Christmas day and then I didn't
Speaker 2: mention it earlier for those of you that weren't with us, though,
Speaker 2: But I'll be filling in on has in the mornings,
Speaker 2: just one station up from your dial, you go up
Speaker 2: from you go from seven ninety right up to eate forty.
Speaker 2: It's the next station in line. And I'll be filling
Speaker 2: it for Tony Cruz tomorrow morning, Monday morning, and I
Speaker 2: believe Tuesday morning. So with that, you know you won't
Speaker 2: be hearing me for a full three hours. I think
Speaker 2: some days I'm just gonna out. I don't really mind
Speaker 2: doing six hours, but they don't like the idea of
Speaker 2: me doing six hours because I guess, you know, technically,
Speaker 2: they feel like I'm being overworked and like the you know,
Speaker 2: the product, if you can call this a product, would suffer.
Speaker 2: But like the thought of doing one hour just to like,
Speaker 2: you know, have a short show. Because I did the
Speaker 2: earlier shift, I feel like once I started, I would
Speaker 2: just want to keep going, Like I would be like,
Speaker 2: why not just take it up till six o'clock.
Speaker 4: So I don't know who.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure exactly what we're going to have in
Speaker 2: store for you next week during the holiday week, once again.
Speaker 2: But you know you'll get you'll get me in some
Speaker 2: form or fashion. It just probably won't be, you know,
Speaker 2: three hours every day live because one we were going
Speaker 2: to be off on New Year's Day, which I assume
Speaker 2: most people are anyway. All Right, So this is some
Speaker 2: big news that we did discuss earlier for those of
Speaker 2: you that are just now joining us here in the
Speaker 2: five o'clock hour, our five o'clock crew, Some big news
Speaker 2: in college basketball that you know, somebody would have told
Speaker 2: me this was gonna happen two years ago or a
Speaker 2: year and a half ago, I would have said, that's crazy.
Speaker 2: But Jim Laernega is stepping down at Miami mid season
Speaker 2: because they are laugh out loud bad like they are.
Speaker 2: They're probably see if I can pull it up here.
Speaker 2: They might be dead last in the ACC when it
Speaker 2: comes to ken Palm rating. In fact, no they're not.
Speaker 2: They're not even close to it because they've actually played
Speaker 2: a competitive schedule where other teams have happened. But right
Speaker 2: now Miami is sitting at four and eight. They've got
Speaker 2: losses to Mount Saint Mary's, they lost to Charleston Southern
Speaker 2: and VCU, a bad Oklahoma State team.
Speaker 4: Got them.
Speaker 2: They're only their best win on the season comes against
Speaker 2: Presbyterian and it's actually the only win that they've got
Speaker 2: since November twenty first, so in a month's time, and
Speaker 2: I guess this is the last month of his time there,
Speaker 2: And clearly it did not end well for Jim Layernega.
Speaker 2: But from November twenty first until December twenty first, they
Speaker 2: played it looks like nine games and he went one
Speaker 2: in eight in the only was against Presbyterian. So with that,
Speaker 2: you know, they had a long break here. They had
Speaker 2: looks like ten days off. They don't play again until
Speaker 2: New Year's Day. So clearly Miami found this long window
Speaker 2: of time here as as as their time to take
Speaker 2: to make them move and get and move on from Larnega.
Speaker 2: He's gonna step step down, But I mean, I highly
Speaker 2: doubt this was something he just randomly decided to do.
Speaker 4: So you know, that's big news. That's a good job.
Speaker 2: And I think there are many ACC coaches right now
Speaker 2: that won't be ACC coaches after this year. I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't know that for certain, And in fact, I
Speaker 2: think if then, if if you see some of these
Speaker 2: guys stick around, we may be getting our answer as
Speaker 2: far as is the rest of the ACC going to
Speaker 2: commit to making this basketball conference much better than it
Speaker 2: is now and getting it back to you know, we
Speaker 2: can even recognize what it once was because it's fallen
Speaker 2: off substantially. So Miami's open, Virginia's open, you know, I
Speaker 2: don't don't. I don't see Red Autry surviving its Syracuse
Speaker 2: because they were terrible last year and they're even worse
Speaker 2: this year. I mean, I feel like Syracuse is a
Speaker 2: good example. Syracuse in Virginia are two schools that you
Speaker 2: feel like they value basketball. They prioritize it. It's clearly
Speaker 2: what they're known for in sports more than football. Therefore,
Speaker 2: they will, you know, go you know, they're gonna go
Speaker 2: whatever route they They're gonna take whatever route they have
Speaker 2: to to get the best coach possible to where they
Speaker 2: can win at a high level. Now, some don't have
Speaker 2: the money that you know, these SEC schools have. But
Speaker 2: I mean, I just can't see Syracuse. And again, I
Speaker 2: don't know, maybe I'm wrong about us, because let's keep
Speaker 2: in mind, Syracuse is really only is only Jim Behim right,
Speaker 2: and he was there forever he was there too long
Speaker 2: to be honest with you, so, like, maybe we'll learn
Speaker 2: that this new sea, you know, Syracuse post Beheim doesn't
Speaker 2: value basketball like they once did because it wasn't as
Speaker 2: if they ever really had to go out there and
Speaker 2: do anything crazy to make a splash higher before they
Speaker 2: had one guy who kind of built them up and
Speaker 2: stayed for seemingly one hundred years. But it's a good
Speaker 2: job that I feel like a lot of people would want. Therefore,
Speaker 2: I I mean, I can see them attracting some names,
Speaker 2: and you know, they're a program that I don't think
Speaker 2: it would take that long to get them back. Same
Speaker 2: thing with the Virginia I mean, they're going they're going
Speaker 2: to need to go through like a rebranding obviously because
Speaker 2: Tony Bennett had a very unique style and whatnot. But
Speaker 2: you know, that's a good job Miamis, as I mentioned,
Speaker 2: that's now open. Like other coaches that may not be,
Speaker 2: I mean, who knows Hubert Davis this year Carolina's seven
Speaker 2: and five. I mean, he's one of them, he's one
Speaker 2: of their own, and he did take them to the
Speaker 2: National Championship Game in his first season I think it was.
Speaker 2: But since then, like when you consider all the talent
Speaker 2: they've had, I think, you know, to say that that's
Speaker 2: been a failure would.
Speaker 4: Be a lie. And there's a lot of ball left
Speaker 4: this year.
Speaker 2: But like if they end up being like a bubble
Speaker 2: team this year, I kind of doubt that they would
Speaker 2: do it, But I also wouldn't be shocked if they did,
Speaker 2: because you know, it's Carolina. They don't want to stay
Speaker 2: down that long. So like, if that job opens up,
Speaker 2: who else is maybe going to be looking for? I mean,
Speaker 2: there's no doubt Mike Young at Virginia Tech could lose
Speaker 2: his gig because they're they're really bad right now. And
Speaker 2: I don't know how good of a job that is,
Speaker 2: to be honest with you, So that's probably not a
Speaker 2: good example. That's a job that's gonna open up. But
Speaker 2: I doubt that they're gonna be able to go out
Speaker 2: there and find some big name. The only coach that
Speaker 2: brought them legitimate success they lost quickly to Texas A
Speaker 2: and M. That was when Buzz Williams was there. Leonard
Speaker 2: Hamilton Florida State. You know, Leonard Hamilton's been there a
Speaker 2: long time. That's a good job that I think a
Speaker 2: lot of people would want. And who they hire, you know,
Speaker 2: like all these other schools I mentioned, you know, Boston College,
Speaker 2: maybe they make a change.
Speaker 4: I don't know. I doubt it.
Speaker 2: Earl Grant. I think it is in like his third
Speaker 2: or fourth year. But like Boston College and Virginia Tech
Speaker 2: are jobs that when they open up, like, I don't
Speaker 2: really expect them to go out there and you know,
Speaker 2: make a big splash and spend a ton of money
Speaker 2: and go pluck somebody's coach. But those other schools, I
Speaker 2: kind of feel like, this is what we're gonna learn. Okay,
Speaker 2: are they committed to like getting this thing fixed, not
Speaker 2: only for the conference because they're not required for the
Speaker 2: conference to be good. I mean that's not something that
Speaker 2: they can control. But collectively, you're gonna see some some
Speaker 2: I mean there's already been a lot of changes made.
Speaker 2: Right You've lost the legendary coaches and that's a big
Speaker 2: factor in why the league has dropped so much when
Speaker 2: it comes to basketball. Meaning coach k moved on and
Speaker 2: you know they've actually been able to stay pretty good. Carolina,
Speaker 2: they took a step back, not a huge step back,
Speaker 2: but clearly a step back after Roy Williams moved on.
Speaker 2: Patino Louisville clearly has never been the same since Patino
Speaker 2: left Tony Bennett, he slid pretty far. And you know
Speaker 2: then he quit on his guys, you know, at the
Speaker 2: beginning of the year, or I guess really before the
Speaker 2: season started.
Speaker 4: Ques.
Speaker 2: You know, again we just mentioned Behem was there forever
Speaker 2: well they you know, because you get what you pay for,
Speaker 2: and I don't. I have a hard time seeing you
Speaker 2: being able to go get coaches that are at like
Speaker 2: if you are if you're at an SEC school that
Speaker 2: clearly is known, like for example, Buzz Williams. Buzz Williams
Speaker 2: is a is at Texas A and M. They've got
Speaker 2: a lot of money resources, they can pay him whatever
Speaker 2: because you know they have the money, and to them,
Speaker 2: it's not like, oh we really got to you know,
Speaker 2: they're not hurting for money. Therefore, whatever they spend on
Speaker 2: a basketball coach is not going to be a sign
Speaker 2: that there they love basketball. It's just gonna because they
Speaker 2: have the means to do so. So he's always a
Speaker 2: good he's always going to be at a place where
Speaker 2: they're not. They're not a basketball school, and football is
Speaker 2: always gonna matter way more. And you could be good
Speaker 2: at Texas A and M. But like do you sell
Speaker 2: out games regularly when it's not a big team in town? Like,
Speaker 2: probably not because that's just not a basketball school. So
Speaker 2: what I'm getting at is, let's say Syracuse opens up,
Speaker 2: and like Syracuse was willing to pay Buzz Williams.
Speaker 4: Syracuse is a better job because of the basketball.
Speaker 2: Tradition, because of their humongous fan base, and it's just
Speaker 2: a basketball school to be honest with you, Like it's
Speaker 2: not an elite place, but like it's a when we're
Speaker 2: talking about what's the better basketball job when it comes
Speaker 2: to tradition, history, proven fan base that will support you,
Speaker 2: it's it's qs.
Speaker 4: Over A and M all day.
Speaker 2: But in this new world where A and M has
Speaker 2: you know more, I guess financial security. Like the SEC
Speaker 2: in the Big Ten, there's no concern about their league,
Speaker 2: you know, losing money or dissolving. In the ACC, I
Speaker 2: don't believe will ever dissolve, But the ability for the
Speaker 2: ACC to ever get close to the amount of money
Speaker 2: that the Big Ten in the SEC are gonna or
Speaker 2: that they have now and that they're gonna have moving forward,
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't think that's possible for the ACC.
Speaker 2: So like maybe the money's the same, but overall you're
Speaker 2: in a weaker league, Like would you well, I'm not
Speaker 2: even saying that they would go after Buzz Williams. I'm
Speaker 2: just thinking like, if you want to go make a
Speaker 2: big splash and you're willing to pay and you're in
Speaker 2: the ACC, who would you go get that?
Speaker 4: Where? Who would you go get? Where?
Speaker 2: The scenario is played out like that where they think, Okay, wow,
Speaker 2: that's a commitment that they are gonna They're gonna go
Speaker 2: get whoever they want. And despite you know, the ACC
Speaker 2: no longer having the momentum that it once did, this.
Speaker 4: Guy was still willing to go there.
Speaker 2: Like, I just don't know, I don't know how it happens, Sarah,
Speaker 2: I am harpin on the leagu theyve got to go
Speaker 2: out there and improve the the product of basketball, and
Speaker 2: they do, but I don't, you know, I don't think
Speaker 2: there's there's it's a risk regardless because I'm not sure
Speaker 2: who the names are that you feel like, Okay, this
Speaker 2: league's gonna be really really good because they went out
Speaker 2: and got I think when Bruce Pearl came back to
Speaker 2: Auburn and Cali Perry left Kentucky to go to Arkansas,
Speaker 2: I mean Rick Barnes goes to Tennessee.
Speaker 4: Those are the type.
Speaker 2: Of moves that, like you could see, oh yeah, there's
Speaker 2: they may be pretty good. And sure enough, now as
Speaker 2: we speak, the SEC is the best league in the country,
Speaker 2: and I don't think it's close. All right, quick break,
Speaker 2: if you're on hold, stick with us, We'll get to
Speaker 2: you on the other side. You can also text in
Speaker 2: so again five O two five seven, one, seventy nine
Speaker 2: hundred boone lines are open. Keep a lock right here
Speaker 2: on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 2: So we talked about this a lot in the in
Speaker 2: the three o'clock hour, and I've been nerding out on
Speaker 2: just numbers because I think Netflix having the NFL on
Speaker 2: Christmas Beyonce at halftime, I mean, they didn't need to.
Speaker 2: Everybody's aware that the NFL is in a league of
Speaker 2: its own when it comes to the amount of viewers
Speaker 2: that they have for their product. And again, it wouldn't
Speaker 2: shock me if they continue to get more and more
Speaker 2: dominant and separate themselves from every other league because the
Speaker 2: NFL is just different. We all knew that but I
Speaker 2: think Netflix on Christmas Day with everything that came with it,
Speaker 2: I mean, they were just they were flexing. So to
Speaker 2: see you, I'm trying to find some numbers as far
Speaker 2: as just how many people signed up, and I don't
Speaker 2: maybe that's out there. I just I haven't seen it yet.
Speaker 2: But there is a antenna. There is an outlet that
Speaker 2: covers like television and streaming, and they've got a chart
Speaker 2: here that shows from December twenty three to November twenty four,
Speaker 2: meaning December last year till this past November. They show
Speaker 2: the daily sign ups that Netflix, Paramount Plus, and Peacock
Speaker 2: have and clearly there's huge spikes on certain dates where
Speaker 2: they get way more people signing up. I mean the Netflix.
Speaker 2: The biggest day for Netflix to have new sign ups
Speaker 2: was probably not a coincidence and not a surprise that
Speaker 2: it was the day that Jake Paul and Mike Tyson
Speaker 2: were fighting. So here I am thinking that everybody has Netflix.
Speaker 2: I could you not have Netflix? Well, a lot of
Speaker 2: people didn't have it, so they signed up for because
Speaker 2: they wanted to watch Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. You know,
Speaker 2: the day where Peacock had the most sign ups in
Speaker 2: one day just so happened to be when they had
Speaker 2: exclusive NFL AFC wild Card games, to where if you
Speaker 2: did not have Peacock, you were not watching. So it
Speaker 2: makes sense to do this with you know, with your
Speaker 2: one offs, because you're not making as big of a
Speaker 2: financial investment in getting one game or two games.
Speaker 6: I mean, if you.
Speaker 2: Wanted to just say, hey, we want to have weekly
Speaker 2: NFL games every week and we want to you know,
Speaker 2: in the NFL wanted to entertain that, that's clearly a
Speaker 2: really really big commitment. And I mean it's just a
Speaker 2: huge I mean, I'm not saying Netflix would ever do that.
Speaker 2: But one of the things I talked about earlier is
Speaker 2: that I don't know why ESPN or why Disney doesn't
Speaker 2: try to sell ESPN the Netflix one. They could make
Speaker 2: a ton of money on it. Also, the brands don't
Speaker 2: seem to they don't need to be aligned, but they
Speaker 2: kind of are. And I think ESPN, despite it being
Speaker 2: dominant and being the worldwide leader in sports, I think
Speaker 2: the one thing that could that holds them back a
Speaker 2: little bit is that they're underneath Disney, because I just
Speaker 2: you know, I think they've got to be a little
Speaker 2: bit PC more so.
Speaker 4: Than people want them to be.
Speaker 2: And I mean, I just clearly they're their livelihood as
Speaker 2: a company is way more based off of Disney than
Speaker 2: it is ESPN.
Speaker 4: You spend's just just a component of what they do.
Speaker 2: And again it's it's not like it's nothing, but like Netflix,
Speaker 2: I thought showed us a little bit that, you know,
Speaker 2: if they wanted to, I feel like they would have
Speaker 2: the resources to make it to where everything that's currently
Speaker 2: under ESPN or that that is technically under Disney, if
Speaker 2: it was all within Netflix, like I think that would
Speaker 2: be phenomenal. I doubt it will ever happen, but I
Speaker 2: was really impressed with the production and everything that came
Speaker 2: with watching the NFL yesterday on Netflix. And I don't
Speaker 2: really know what to expect, but I thought it was awesome.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure that doub will continue to uh to
Speaker 2: try to get as much live sports, maybe not as
Speaker 2: they can, but just you know, continue to kind of see, Okay,
Speaker 2: did we you know is this working right? We are
Speaker 2: we getting a lot of new sign ups? Are we
Speaker 2: getting you know? Do we have the right production crew
Speaker 2: on hand? That kind of stuff? All right, let's go
Speaker 2: to the pone one five two is the number if
Speaker 2: you want to jump in and join us. This person
Speaker 2: has been waiting patiently. Let's go to Randall. Randall, you're
Speaker 2: on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 3: What's happening, hey, Nick k Austin. For a second there,
Speaker 3: I thought I was on a waiting list for my
Speaker 3: student loans. But thanks for taking my call. Happy holidays,
Speaker 3: it did brother. So about the Netflix thing, man, I
Speaker 3: don't have it. It's one of the only streaming services
Speaker 3: I don't have. Still kept up with games, you know,
Speaker 3: love seeing Baltimore route Houston. I guess we're learning that
Speaker 3: Houston is not as good as they seemed earlier in
Speaker 3: this season. I did expect Pittsburgh to play a closer
Speaker 3: game against Casey. Me too, thought maybe case that would
Speaker 3: be their final or or one of the games that
Speaker 3: they dropped this year. But apparently not. But it got
Speaker 3: a little bone to pick with you on the quality
Speaker 3: of the games. I know viewership is what's most important,
Speaker 3: but we had five NBA games yesterday and four out
Speaker 3: of five were one of two possession games at the end,
Speaker 3: and I thought they were just actually more exciting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were more exciting than then then. I feel
Speaker 2: like most NBA games are in the regular season. Uh,
Speaker 2: and that that's good for the NBA. I just feel
Speaker 2: like where it would have been a bit I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm sure plenty of people still watched it, but I
Speaker 2: feel like the NF if the NFL didn't decide to
Speaker 2: have games on Christmas Day, yesterday could have been a
Speaker 2: lot better day for the NBA, because I just don't
Speaker 2: think many people noticed that the product was as good
Speaker 2: as it was because they were just more so locked
Speaker 2: into the NFL.
Speaker 4: But yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2: Actually ended up later in the evening watching the second
Speaker 2: the last two games, and yeah, they were they were
Speaker 2: for NBA games. I was more entertained than I've been
Speaker 2: in a long time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Lakers Warriors one was especially fun. But yeah,
Speaker 3: just thanks to taking our call, no problem cards. I
Speaker 3: hope we win this weekend against ku hopefull. Yeah, whole game,
Speaker 3: no matter who's playing. And I met you in public, man,
Speaker 3: you're you're a great guy, failing man, just like myself.
Speaker 4: And okay, thank you, love your love.
Speaker 3: Your co hosts. Austin, I mean Austin, that's one of
Speaker 3: my favorite cities, Austin, Massachusetts. So y'all have a good night.
Speaker 2: Thank you really appreciate that. Yeah, the NBA. I mean
Speaker 2: I I've been This kind of speaks to where I'm
Speaker 2: at with the NBA because it's been something that's been
Speaker 2: out there to discuss on this show. We never make
Speaker 2: it like the lead, and it would never be something
Speaker 2: that we spend a ton of time on, but it's
Speaker 2: it's been a national storyline here lately.
Speaker 4: That the NBA does have.
Speaker 2: Actually, what I think made it a story is they
Speaker 2: finally acknowledge that they have the people aren't watching like
Speaker 2: like they need them to. And it's been like that
Speaker 2: for a few years to where if you really looked
Speaker 2: at where NBA regular season games ranked as far as
Speaker 2: viewership compared to like some of the most random college
Speaker 2: football games you can think of, among like Power four,
Speaker 2: Power five programs, you'd be surprised. The NBA does not
Speaker 2: do great and viewership for their games. Now they do
Speaker 2: really well everywhere else because there's so much drama in
Speaker 2: that league.
Speaker 4: But I kind of haven't really wanted.
Speaker 2: To discuss the NBA like as a topic because I
Speaker 2: just feel like nobody. I just feel like the NBA,
Speaker 2: if you're not really into it, it's just kind of
Speaker 2: background noise anymore, and maybe you tune in when he
Speaker 2: gets closer to the postseason because that is a better product.
Speaker 2: But even then, in the seven game series that they have,
Speaker 2: I mean, you got teams that come out and just
Speaker 2: know not our night. Well we'll we'll tank and we're
Speaker 2: we're gonna know that this is just one loss and
Speaker 2: we've got three more games to you know, to play
Speaker 2: or whatever.
Speaker 4: It is, Like that's just you know, it's been that
Speaker 4: way for a long time.
Speaker 2: But as society evolves, I think sports needs too as well.
Speaker 2: Like the NBA in a eighty two game regular season
Speaker 2: with their really not being like just the competitive nature
Speaker 2: is so visibly not what it once was. And I
Speaker 2: know I sound like a boomer, like back in my day,
Speaker 2: you know, they would fistfight.
Speaker 4: These guys could never.
Speaker 2: Hang in the in the you know, the nineties NBA
Speaker 2: where they were bullies out there. Like it's that's not
Speaker 2: at all where I'm coming from, And I don't want
Speaker 2: to sound like that, but the NBA is not to me.
Speaker 2: More often than not, it's not just about where the
Speaker 2: game's competitive, right, did somebody keep it within four or
Speaker 2: five points or do they get be bout thirty. I mean,
Speaker 2: I just mean, like play by play the game, it's
Speaker 2: just like it's at times it seems unserious. And that
Speaker 2: sounds crazy because we're talking about, you know, the National
Speaker 2: Basketball Association guys who are the best players on the
Speaker 2: planet to get paid millions and millions of dollars because
Speaker 2: you know they're great. But as a as a sports
Speaker 2: fan and a basketball super fan, basketball is my favorite sport,
Speaker 2: always has, always will be.
Speaker 4: I just don't think that the NBA product is I mean,
Speaker 4: is very good at all.
Speaker 2: And I used to be the guy that would tell you, yeah,
Speaker 2: the NBA is actually you know, whenever people used to say, well,
Speaker 2: I don't watch NBA because they let them walk or
Speaker 2: they don't call travel, they don't play no defense. Like
Speaker 2: I used to be the guy that would bark back
Speaker 2: at people and be like, do you realize that these
Speaker 2: are the best players on the planet at the sport
Speaker 2: And it may not look like a college game and
Speaker 2: you may not care because you know it's an NBA team,
Speaker 2: not your college team. But like, the product of basketball
Speaker 2: is elite. I used to be able to say that
Speaker 2: and feel like it was real. Now I can't even lie.
Speaker 2: I can't lie to myself. I can't lie to anybody.
Speaker 2: The NBA is just not you know, it's a rare
Speaker 2: occasion where like you can tune in to watch a
Speaker 2: game and it feel like, oh, wow, there's a big
Speaker 2: game here because they play eighty two of them and
Speaker 2: you know, any this is something that's been going on
Speaker 2: for a long time, so this isn't new. So I
Speaker 2: can't necessarily claim that this is why they've had such
Speaker 2: a drop in viewership in recent years. But maybe this
Speaker 2: was like the starting point because people love competitiveness, competition,
Speaker 2: that's that's what's the entertainment part of it, right, Like,
Speaker 2: if you're a die hard fan of your team, you're
Speaker 2: gonna watch regardless NBA, college football, college basketball, because that's
Speaker 2: just you know, it's part of your culture as a
Speaker 2: sports fan, like that's your team, your ride or die.
Speaker 2: You know, they could have a team that's really boring
Speaker 2: to watch play, but you're gonna you're gonna still watch.
Speaker 2: Sometimes they may have a really exciting team, so that's
Speaker 2: a little bit different. But when you when it comes
Speaker 2: to you not having a dog in the fight and
Speaker 2: you not even really like let's say, you can't even
Speaker 2: bet on it, what do you want if you like
Speaker 2: if you like the sport, you want competitiveness. You want
Speaker 2: to see a good game. When you get to the
Speaker 2: end of a game and somebody says, wow, that was
Speaker 2: a great game, you know what, when it usually ends
Speaker 2: up being a really competitive game. In the NBA, there's
Speaker 2: just not that competitiveness. And when you have guys who
Speaker 2: you know are healthy, meaning like they're not hurt, they're
Speaker 2: not like nursing an injury, they're not trying to get
Speaker 2: back to one hundred percent. When you have guys that
Speaker 2: are just not playing in games because the team decided
Speaker 2: they need rest and they're doing load management, like that's
Speaker 2: the telltale sign like this is an unseerious league. If
Speaker 2: you're not out there every single night trying to win
Speaker 2: and prioritizing every game as if it's really important, it's
Speaker 2: not competitive. It's lightly competitive. And I just think enough
Speaker 2: people have realized, like they may still keep up with
Speaker 2: it because you can keep up with it and not
Speaker 2: watch it, because I think that's what actually happens.
Speaker 4: In the NBA.
Speaker 2: The NBA is very big as far as the culture
Speaker 2: has been for a long time. You know the fact
Speaker 2: that these guys now team up all the time, the
Speaker 2: fact that their players are very visible and their social media,
Speaker 2: like people keep up with the NBA stars and who's
Speaker 2: good and who's not and the drama and everything that
Speaker 2: comes with it, And as long as people are doing that,
Speaker 2: the NBA is going to be just fine. However, I
Speaker 2: don't see with the way the league currently is as
Speaker 2: far as just the competitiveness of the eighty two game
Speaker 2: regular season and how long it lasts. I just can't
Speaker 2: see a scenario where they keep doing what they're doing
Speaker 2: and the viewership does anything but continue to drop. And again,
Speaker 2: maybe that ends up not being as important, because again,
Speaker 2: if they're still talked about in a major way, the
Speaker 2: TV networks are still willing to pay billions of dollars
Speaker 2: for their rights to broadcast their games, then the NBA
Speaker 2: will be just fine. But like it makes me sad
Speaker 2: because I feel like the NBA used to be something
Speaker 2: much different than it is now. And I guess the
Speaker 2: only reason it's kind of become a story lately is
Speaker 2: because I think it's for the first time the NBA,
Speaker 2: they can't run from it. They're acknowledging that they they're
Speaker 2: not people aren't watching their product they like they used to.
Speaker 2: It's actually impressive to know that. And yet you know,
Speaker 2: because of their partnership with the ESPN, I mean it's
Speaker 2: constantly in your face, meaning the NBA, but like not
Speaker 2: a ton of people are watching it, like you might think,
Speaker 2: real quick, this is something I didn't realize. But this
Speaker 2: is from Chrispinini of The Athletic just more from the
Speaker 2: Netflix NFL Games yesterday. This makes sense Netflix. They are
Speaker 2: clearly getting some good results and some good feedback is
Speaker 2: they dip their toe in live sports, but they don't
Speaker 2: actually produce any of it. So yesterday's NFL Games was
Speaker 2: produced by CBS and the NFL Network collectively. When Raw
Speaker 2: comes there, it's going to be completely WWE Raw, it's
Speaker 2: going to be WWE's production crew, nothing net Netflix produces.
Speaker 2: Jake Paul's company produced the Mike Tyson Jake Paul Fight
Speaker 2: and the Women's World Up. It was on an international feed,
Speaker 2: so you know, that makes it to where they don't
Speaker 2: have to do a whole lot of spend as far
Speaker 2: as you know, production, and that makes me think they're
Speaker 2: going to continue to do it the way they're doing them,
Speaker 2: because if they ever did try to, you know, have
Speaker 2: a weekly schedule of live sports, or maybe they bought
Speaker 2: ESPN like I threw out there, they would have to
Speaker 2: have their own I guess they could just absorb the
Speaker 2: ESPN production, to be honest with you. But anyways, quick break,
Speaker 2: we'll come back on the other side, wrap it up,
Speaker 2: keep it locked right here on Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 1: Ninety now back to coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's
Speaker 1: on Sports Talk seven nine.
Speaker 2: Day good stuff here as we wrap it up on
Speaker 2: a Thursday afternoon. And I love seeing my man Austin
Speaker 2: and they're riding a bet that I don't know if
Speaker 2: it's I can't hear him unless he hits the there's
Speaker 2: a button that we have to hit to communicate with
Speaker 2: one another whenever we're not on the air, and I'm
Speaker 2: just I'm not hearing what's happening. But I'm seeing him
Speaker 2: into this game and I'm locked down. I'm kind of
Speaker 2: living through you.
Speaker 1: Are you?
Speaker 4: I mean, did you get overtime?
Speaker 5: We're gett We're getting overtime now. So the plus six
Speaker 5: and a half is still looking good in college football,
Speaker 5: it's it starts going to the two points like after
Speaker 5: like a certain overtime, right hole.
Speaker 2: Over time, No, it's I think after the first two
Speaker 2: then you have to start going for two or something
Speaker 2: like that. And I kind of feel like that's awesome
Speaker 2: in theory, but I've watched games where I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 2: this shouldn't be how it's decided.
Speaker 6: Yeah, the Georgia Georgia Tech game.
Speaker 4: Yes, exactly so. But over time in a bowl game, hey,
Speaker 4: I mean.
Speaker 2: That's it's entertaining. The line and you've got Toledo. Did
Speaker 2: you go money line Toledo?
Speaker 6: I just went, uh, spread.
Speaker 4: Were they what was it? What was the line?
Speaker 6: You got six and a half?
Speaker 4: Okay, Uh so you're in good shape, right, Yeah.
Speaker 5: We're looking good and I still have well it's still
Speaker 5: a part of a parlay. It's one leg down. And
Speaker 5: we had the Rutgers Kansas State game that just started.
Speaker 5: I did not following that right now, but I have
Speaker 5: Rutgers plus seven and in that one.
Speaker 2: It's Kansas State three. Nothing early on at the live
Speaker 2: line is plus nine and a half. So you know,
Speaker 2: I like, I like your chances there. Again, I don't
Speaker 2: know enough about who's playing and who's not. But yeah,
Speaker 2: we've got one more bowl game later tonight, Arkansas State
Speaker 2: and bowling green.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I have I have Bowling Green minus n
Speaker 5: nice nice on.
Speaker 2: Hey, hey you you you're looking you're looking good in
Speaker 2: the first one right now. And then I mean, and
Speaker 2: what's what I can tell just by seeing you go
Speaker 2: through this this bet is that you know, for a
Speaker 2: while you felt good, then you thought you were dead,
Speaker 2: and then now you're back alive, and now it's overtimes.
Speaker 4: So that's the that's what makes it. That's what makes
Speaker 4: it a lot of fun.
Speaker 6: Imagine not having gambling.
Speaker 2: I know, it's it's it has enhanced the overall experience
Speaker 2: of being a fan of watching sports because you can
Speaker 2: quite literally, you know, make yourself pull for anybody that
Speaker 2: you bet on because you want to win. And uh yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a lot of fun. I don't looks like tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Yeah tomorrow, I mean I I because of what everybody knows,
Speaker 2: these bowl games that aren't part of the college football
Speaker 2: playoff have become you know, you just never really know
Speaker 2: what you're gonna get. And I would be liar if
Speaker 2: I told you that I had a good feel for
Speaker 2: like which teams have the most opt outs, but just
Speaker 2: the teams themselves playing tomorrow. I mean Georgia Tech and
Speaker 2: Vander But that should low key be a good game.
Speaker 2: Those are two teams that, like, they'll be happy to
Speaker 2: be there because that's not something they've done in a while,
Speaker 2: at least, you know, have the seasons they had where
Speaker 2: they were you know, as good as they were, especially Vandy,
Speaker 2: Texas Tech and Arkansas, Like that's kind of a rivalry matchup.
Speaker 2: I think there's a ton of opt outs because if
Speaker 2: there's a ton of guys in the portal from Arkansas,
Speaker 2: but and then Texas A and m USC. I mean again,
Speaker 2: who knows who's playing, But those are like, those are
Speaker 2: games people will watch. We'll mock them probably and act like,
Speaker 2: you know, what are we doing here, but people will
Speaker 2: tune in, people will bet on it, and it'll be fun.
Speaker 2: All Right, we're out of time, you guys, enjoy your
Speaker 2: evening and have a good one.