Speaker 1: Fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 2: Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think
Speaker 2: we are. Get off our show, idiot. The kids are
Speaker 2: playing or trail off punctures are screwing it up.
Speaker 1: Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play Inner Murals.
Speaker 3: They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not.
Speaker 2: Who's the kid here?
Speaker 3: Who's the kid here?
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2: Now? Here's Nick Coffee?
Speaker 1: All right, let's get the party started, shall we welcome
Speaker 1: in to a game day kind of a snow day
Speaker 1: edition of Coffee and Company, fuel by Thornton's here on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 3: There's still snow on the ground there.
Speaker 1: The temperatures are still very very cold, and roads are
Speaker 1: kind of you know whatever, I was distracted, we were
Speaker 1: we were sweating there at the end because we couldn't
Speaker 1: figure out why we couldn't connect and hear each other,
Speaker 1: meaning myself and the one and only Austin Montgomery, who's
Speaker 1: back at the iHeart studio.
Speaker 2: What's up?
Speaker 3: I figured out what the issue was.
Speaker 2: Oh what happened?
Speaker 3: It wasn't me right, I didn't have my microphone plugged in.
Speaker 2: Oh well that's important.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that matters. That's actually you know, I can give
Speaker 1: you guys. Sometimes I do give you guys a little
Speaker 1: bit of inside info and a little bit of some
Speaker 1: secrets of the biz. And when it comes to radio,
Speaker 1: the microphone does need to be plugged in. Yes, I
Speaker 1: can confirm. And now you guys know that too.
Speaker 4: So there was a sweat when I heard you say
Speaker 4: that I'm talking and I'm like, oh boy, yeah, i
Speaker 4: know I'm connected.
Speaker 2: Everything's here. But you're a smart man. I knew you'd
Speaker 2: figure it out.
Speaker 1: Well. I could hear the station and he couldn't get
Speaker 1: me in, and I'm thinking, what's going on? And then
Speaker 1: I realized, oh, yeah, you unplugged your mic because you
Speaker 1: were I was using it for a different piece of
Speaker 1: equipment earlier today. So it was on me and the
Speaker 1: reason that I was not ready to go, and I
Speaker 1: had a very unfortunate start to the show. We're going
Speaker 1: to get this thing back on the rails and we're
Speaker 1: gonna have fun. But I'll explain myself. So I made
Speaker 1: the decision today to leave the house in my vehicle,
Speaker 1: and I had not done that since the snowing on Saturday,
Speaker 1: Like a Sunday morning, so again, I have a driveway
Speaker 1: that anybody who ever comes to my home for the
Speaker 1: first time probably pulls in or chooses not to pull in,
Speaker 1: and then they walk up to the home, or maybe
Speaker 1: they did pull in and they just think, man, it
Speaker 1: would suck to live here. This driveway sucks and it
Speaker 1: it You're You're not wrong.
Speaker 3: It's not ideal. I mean we're used to it now.
Speaker 1: And uh when when whenever we don't have ice on
Speaker 1: the driveway, it usually is something that you know, that's
Speaker 1: that's not not much of an issue for us. But
Speaker 1: my wife, she has a newer vehicle. She's the you know,
Speaker 1: she's she's the one with all the money. Well, actually,
Speaker 1: if we have any money, it's because of her, That's
Speaker 1: what I'll say, because I don't even know.
Speaker 3: Again, I got this plastic card.
Speaker 1: I swipe it when I need to survive with gasoline
Speaker 1: and food and that's where and it works. Got got
Speaker 1: it connected to my FanDuel sports book accounts, so you know,
Speaker 1: it's all I need.
Speaker 3: I'm a simple man.
Speaker 4: She doesn't get mad when she sees a fandel deposit,
Speaker 4: does she?
Speaker 1: Oh, no, no, okay, yeah, she knows if that's all
Speaker 1: he's gonna If that's all he's gonna be worried about,
Speaker 1: then I think I'll you know, I don't have some
Speaker 1: coke habit or anything like that that she's got to
Speaker 1: worry about. So she lets me. She lets me get
Speaker 1: away with, you know, depositing some money here and there
Speaker 1: to get the action.
Speaker 2: She sounds like a keeper.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she's great. And again that's why she's got the newer,
Speaker 1: nicer vehicle. And it has one of those uh you know,
Speaker 1: you can go into like off road mode, you can
Speaker 1: go into snow mode. And I've been driving her vehicle
Speaker 1: yesterday in this morning to take the kids to get
Speaker 1: him out of the house. And she went to work
Speaker 1: today and then I had to had to run an
Speaker 1: errand so I left and I felt not great, you know,
Speaker 1: because I was I mean, I didn't have to do anything.
Speaker 3: Other than just have it and drive.
Speaker 1: I didn't puts the gas and as soon as we
Speaker 1: hit the driveway hill going down, it was it was
Speaker 1: a smooth slide to or you know, just ice. So
Speaker 1: I come back and it's about two fifteen and I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: all right, let's make sure you know, we're not coming
Speaker 1: in crazy hot, but let's get some speed because I'm
Speaker 1: gonna need to really test this twenty nineteen Volkswagen Atlas
Speaker 1: to see if it's gonna be able to get up
Speaker 1: this hill.
Speaker 3: And it did not.
Speaker 1: I got close to close to the top and then
Speaker 1: just kind of slid down, got out of the vehicle,
Speaker 1: started doing some shoveling, had the not only the snowshovel,
Speaker 1: but the actual shovel. I just to crack the ice,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Yeah, and get it out
Speaker 1: of the way. And I thought I'd given myself a
Speaker 1: pretty you know, pretty decent amount of space for the
Speaker 1: for the tires, and my tires are new new ish,
Speaker 1: I should say, there were less than a year old.
Speaker 1: So I thought I left enough traction area to where
Speaker 1: if I get some decent speed, I've now got some
Speaker 1: spots to kind of, you know, take off from. And
Speaker 1: I tried, and I got even closer. But what happened
Speaker 1: is once I once I started sliding back down, my
Speaker 1: vehicle completely slid to the left.
Speaker 3: So right now I'm in the middle of my.
Speaker 1: Driveway, which is a big hill, and my vehicle is
Speaker 1: facing the street. It's if I'm driving down the street,
Speaker 1: but I've just been driving through yards, not you know,
Speaker 1: the actual road itself. So uh, that's you know, I
Speaker 1: tried to And now now I'm worried if I've run
Speaker 1: out there during the break, like did you know, did
Speaker 1: the momentum of my vehicle did it make some of
Speaker 1: that ice melt to where my vehicle is just gonna
Speaker 1: flip over?
Speaker 3: Like it's not not ideal?
Speaker 2: Wow, but you know that's what is your battery on?
Speaker 2: Not backwards?
Speaker 3: Oh no, we don't. We're at that. It's okay, no
Speaker 3: battery issue here.
Speaker 2: But I think that's important too.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And and I'll tell you what had had had
Speaker 1: I not had to go run an errand and I
Speaker 1: mean it's my wife's fault. I'm not gonna blame her,
Speaker 1: but I'm just gonna tell everybody that listens to my
Speaker 1: radio sure that it's her fault because I said, look, honey,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a good idea for me to
Speaker 1: be out uh and in risk not having because we've
Speaker 1: got enough snow here now to where they're the the
Speaker 1: the community that I live in, I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: it's like the government city the city if I don't
Speaker 1: know who does it, but we get our like the community,
Speaker 1: we live in plows our roads. So you know what's
Speaker 1: happened is that like every but the end of everybody's
Speaker 1: driveway is just a big wall of snow because they're
Speaker 1: just pushing it to the side. Right, So I don't
Speaker 1: even like, I don't even have the ability to leave
Speaker 1: my vehicle in the road. So I did not want
Speaker 1: to get my car out. I wanted to say, look,
Speaker 1: I'll just work from home. We're gonna go to the
Speaker 1: game tonight, Like, well, you know, I'll just meet you
Speaker 1: meet me here after you get off work and when
Speaker 1: I'm done with the show, bull head down and we'll
Speaker 1: go because I don't trust my vehicle.
Speaker 3: And she's like, no, but we need to meet for lunch.
Speaker 3: We need to go to lunch.
Speaker 1: I want to go to lunch, and I mean, story
Speaker 1: of my life, right, women, women can't get enough. My
Speaker 1: wife can't get enough of that's right. So you know
Speaker 1: I ended up meeting for lunch. And I knew whenever
Speaker 1: I made the trip back here that it was gonna
Speaker 1: be tough.
Speaker 3: And now here we are so sounds.
Speaker 4: Like she's already stir crazy. Once you get out for lunch,
Speaker 4: get out of the house.
Speaker 1: It sounds too Yeah, yeah, I was stir crazy myself,
Speaker 1: and it was it was nice to to to you know,
Speaker 1: to to leave and actually you know, see other humans
Speaker 1: and that kind of stuff. But I just I now,
Speaker 1: you know, I knew when we moved in the hill
Speaker 1: was an issue. And we had one little weather weekend
Speaker 1: where it was just really and we got a little
Speaker 1: bit of something to where it was, you know, for
Speaker 1: one night, I couldn't get up the driveway and now
Speaker 1: like I'm worried. I mean, I'm gonna have to literally
Speaker 1: either pay somebody to come and completely clean off the
Speaker 1: driveway or I'm gonna have to do it myself because
Speaker 1: if not, like we're not getting me we're not getting
Speaker 1: below freezing anytime soon, and we're gonna get more of
Speaker 1: this you know, wintery mix or whatever. Maybe it's snow,
Speaker 1: maybe it's ice. I haven't followed, but I know Friday
Speaker 1: we're supposed to get more winter weather. So I got
Speaker 1: to figure something out. But I just now know that
Speaker 1: with the vehicle that I have, I'm just gonna have
Speaker 1: to leave it in the garage if in fact we
Speaker 1: get weather like this, because it's it's a it's a
Speaker 1: nightmare scenario for me. But hey, at least have electricity.
Speaker 1: There's still people out there that they don't have power,
Speaker 1: which would be a real issue. Apparently some folks in
Speaker 1: Oldham County are still dealing with some power outages, So godspeed,
Speaker 1: that would be that would be the worst uh being
Speaker 1: being stuck in with no electricity. And I mean even
Speaker 1: if you could find a way, like if you have
Speaker 1: a fireplace or you've got like a generator, like obviously
Speaker 1: you know that could that that could help you get
Speaker 1: by to where you're not gonna freeze to death. Maybe
Speaker 1: you can keep your fridge on that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: But still, like that's such an inconvenience and it and it,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, if you don't have those resources,
Speaker 1: like a generator, that kind of stuff, it can be
Speaker 1: more dangerous. But yeah, if if the only thing I
Speaker 1: gotta deal with is making the decision myself to leave
Speaker 1: and then not be able to get up my driveway,
Speaker 1: then I'd say I'm doing okay compared to some Because again,
Speaker 1: I'm sure there are many of you right now that
Speaker 1: may not even be listening because you don't have electricity.
Speaker 3: Maybe your phone.
Speaker 1: Died, I don't know, or maybe you're in your car
Speaker 1: driving around staying warm because you have no heat in
Speaker 1: your home.
Speaker 3: Which that's right, that's the case.
Speaker 1: I feel sorry for you, but at least you know
Speaker 1: we're here and hopefully we can distract you from from
Speaker 1: those from those inconveniences. So anyways, we got we got
Speaker 1: a big afternoon for you, guys. I was gonna say
Speaker 1: three hours, but I've already wasted eight hours or not.
Speaker 1: I've already wasted nine minutes of the first hour here
Speaker 1: discussing my personal issues, which I'm sure none of you
Speaker 1: care about, but Louisville Clemson's and eight Can I say
Speaker 1: it kind of feels like a big game, like it
Speaker 1: kind of feels like, you know, it kind of feels
Speaker 1: like something we haven't had in a while. And when
Speaker 1: I mean by that is a conference game where you
Speaker 1: have momentum and you realize you're playing well enough to
Speaker 1: where you should win.
Speaker 3: You're on your home floor.
Speaker 1: And also it's a win that has value, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: this one has more value than the Carolina one. I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe that won't be the case at the end of
Speaker 1: the season. And look, I'm well aware that even the
Speaker 1: wins that we are claiming have some type of value
Speaker 1: in the acc those that value is not very much,
Speaker 1: but at least it's something. So I don't know what
Speaker 1: the crowd's gonna look like. I know Rick Kieber has
Speaker 1: really been very gracious with tickets. I mean, he's purchased
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how many in total, but I know
Speaker 1: a lot of folks were able to secure a couple
Speaker 1: of tickets, and I think even earlier today. I don't
Speaker 1: know if they're still available now, but I know he
Speaker 1: did a giveaway yesterday, last night and even earlier today,
Speaker 1: So I'm sure if you want to try to find
Speaker 1: some tickets for free, it wouldn't be that difficult to do.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm wrong, but either way, the folks that are
Speaker 1: there like this is where we're at now. And I
Speaker 1: know I'm setting myself up here to say something that
Speaker 1: gets used against me, to make fun of Louisville basketball
Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff, and I know people
Speaker 1: are going to hear what they want to hear and
Speaker 1: take it in whatever direction they want to take it.
Speaker 3: So I'll live with it.
Speaker 1: But right now, if you have the Lower Bowl rocking
Speaker 1: and there's good basketball being played, there are plays where
Speaker 1: there's clearly some momentum being shifted, like the atmosphere is
Speaker 1: gonna be good and it'll look good on TV. And
Speaker 1: unless the players themselves are looking up to the upper
Speaker 1: level and noticing some empty seats, like I don't think
Speaker 1: it'll be much of an issue. So I know that
Speaker 1: that's not ideal, meaning where Louisville basketball just becomes a
Speaker 1: program that you know, for games that have value, they're
Speaker 1: at least filling up the lower bowl. Like I know
Speaker 1: we want to get back to twenty two thousand plus
Speaker 1: and all that, and maybe we will one day when
Speaker 1: it comes to the big games. But I mean, I
Speaker 1: bring all this up to say, I still feel like,
Speaker 1: even though the number may not be impressive on the
Speaker 1: box score or whatever they announce, maybe you'll go tonight
Speaker 1: and you'll look up, you'll look upstairs and see that
Speaker 1: it's not full.
Speaker 3: Maybe it'll be the leading.
Speaker 1: Topic on KSR tomorrow if there's some empty seats like whatever,
Speaker 1: I just know that the crowd tonight that is gonna
Speaker 1: be there. There'll be enough of them to where again,
Speaker 1: if there's good basketball being played, that place is gonna
Speaker 1: be an atmosphere where you have an advantage. If you're
Speaker 1: Louisville now doesn't mean you're gonna win. And I know
Speaker 1: some people have complained about this team maybe not playing
Speaker 1: as well at home and all that nonsense. But I'm
Speaker 1: pumped for tonight, I really am. And I hate that
Speaker 1: I even brought up attendance. I really didn't want to
Speaker 1: do that, but I started talking about how the tickets
Speaker 1: could still be available, and I just, you know, I
Speaker 1: can't help myself.
Speaker 3: Like Austin, you and I were.
Speaker 1: There along with Mercedes on on Sunday for the sorry
Speaker 1: on New Year's Day for the Carolina game, and at
Speaker 1: no point did I ever even look or think or
Speaker 1: let alone speak about crowd or seats and the amount
Speaker 1: of people because Louisville was playing well and really led
Speaker 1: for what the nearly the whole game, yeah, to where
Speaker 1: like it just you know, the energy was good, Like
Speaker 1: you know, I just I hate that it's still a topic.
Speaker 1: But that's that I guess that's really just a rivalry.
Speaker 3: Thing, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we're having a good time. We're vibing.
Speaker 4: And honestly, as I've gotten older and have gone to
Speaker 4: these games, as long as especially at the Young Center,
Speaker 4: as long as like the lower bullpart is packed, then
Speaker 4: that's where like all the enthusiasm comes from.
Speaker 2: It's awesome.
Speaker 4: Whenever you could get was a young center hold like
Speaker 4: about is it twenty thousand and twenty two, twenty two thousand,
Speaker 4: and I would I would at least say an extra
Speaker 4: eight to ten thousand is probably up at the top,
Speaker 4: but it was pretty still lively and kicking in the
Speaker 4: lower bowl air. I feel like that always makes a difference.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I go back to the whole
Speaker 1: generational conversation because I think it's really just an example
Speaker 1: of how different generations, different eras of society developed different
Speaker 1: habits as far as what they do when it comes
Speaker 1: to how they spend their money, how they spend their time. So,
Speaker 1: you know, Louisville basketball and even Kentucky ran into this
Speaker 1: at some point, and I'm not sure if it's still
Speaker 1: the case or not, but the lower level people would
Speaker 1: be dressed like you know, business first class, and they
Speaker 1: wouldn't necessarily be into it as much, and it would
Speaker 1: be a complaint because you know, there'd be you know,
Speaker 1: it's funny how things evolve. The conversation about a crowd
Speaker 1: and attendance this day and age is now about like way,
Speaker 1: there's many people go into games like, well, can you
Speaker 1: believe there's empty seats? That kind of stuff, but you know,
Speaker 1: not even I guess maybe right around ten years ago,
Speaker 1: the conversation was about not about the people who went,
Speaker 1: because you had people that went, but it was about
Speaker 1: who they were, right, like why can't we get more
Speaker 1: or the high energy fans down there instead of the
Speaker 1: red sweater vests that have their arms crossed. You know,
Speaker 1: why is the students section not a bigger representation? Why
Speaker 1: isn't our student section better? Because years ago we didn't
Speaker 1: leave that many seats for the students because you know,
Speaker 1: there were other people that will be paying top dollar
Speaker 1: to get season tickets in that spot because that was
Speaker 1: kind of a thing to do. So look, I think
Speaker 1: the whole you know, the generational aspect of it is
Speaker 1: is a bigger deal than people realize. But to your point,
Speaker 1: the people that are down there now in those lower seats,
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like more often than not, it's
Speaker 1: not just like what they show on the big screen
Speaker 1: or what you see on television, but like if you're there,
Speaker 1: like it's a good atmosphere. The people that are there
Speaker 1: clearly are all.
Speaker 3: In on this team.
Speaker 1: Not to say they think they're going to be, you know,
Speaker 1: phenomenal and make a deep run in the tournament. But
Speaker 1: I think those that are showing up, maybe not every game,
Speaker 1: but those that do make it a point to be there,
Speaker 1: especially for a night like tonight where the weather sucks
Speaker 1: and it's convenient to just not go because of how
Speaker 1: cold it is, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: Like, the people that are going to be there, they
Speaker 3: made the decision.
Speaker 1: They're excited about this game, and they're expecting Louisville to
Speaker 1: to continue to ride that momentum that they have. So
Speaker 1: I'm excited. And it's not just Louisville that's got a
Speaker 1: big game tonight. There's a lot of really good college
Speaker 1: basketball games. We are only seven days into January and
Speaker 1: really just kind of getting into the year now that
Speaker 1: the holiday has passed. So you're gonna start seeing every Tuesday,
Speaker 1: every you know, every Wednesday, the occasional Thursday, like the
Speaker 1: college basketball we got conference games from the Power five leagues.
Speaker 1: Really Monday through I mean, it's all week, to be
Speaker 1: honest with you, but I think Tuesdays are going to
Speaker 1: continue to be the big days where.
Speaker 3: You see more college basketball games than any other day.
Speaker 3: Of the Yeah, any other.
Speaker 1: Weekday, I should say, So we'll get into all that
Speaker 1: also some of the things I want to spend some
Speaker 1: time on before we wrap it up here and get
Speaker 1: out of here at six o'clock.
Speaker 3: I do want to talk. I'll give you you know
Speaker 3: where Louisville is right now.
Speaker 1: And I hate acting like I'm about to provide information
Speaker 1: that you guys probably don't already have or you clearly
Speaker 1: you know you just don't utilize this show to get
Speaker 1: your information. But they're starting to run out of spots,
Speaker 1: I feel like in the portal for Louisville. So we've
Speaker 1: got a pretty good feel for what the class looks
Speaker 1: like right now, and I'll give you kind of my
Speaker 1: thoughts as to where it is right now. Bracketology is
Speaker 1: something that I oftentimes kind of laugh at, and I
Speaker 1: still think it is funny that we look at it
Speaker 1: so much, because you know, we know there's gonna be
Speaker 1: a lot of games played, and whatever your resume looks
Speaker 1: like now may not look that way. In fact, there's
Speaker 1: a good chance it doesn't look exactly the same when
Speaker 1: you get to selection Sunday. But I've just been able
Speaker 1: to ignore bracketology in recent years for obvious reasons. But
Speaker 1: now I'm looking everywhere any you know, anybody that's got
Speaker 1: to that's got a bracket that they've put together that
Speaker 1: partakes in bracketology. I'm wanting to see where Louisville is.
Speaker 1: And it's just nice to know that, like, hey, we're
Speaker 1: we're able to kind of right now. No guarantee they
Speaker 1: make it, but right now looks like they're probably in.
Speaker 1: And to know that, you know, you're alive when we're
Speaker 1: you know, a couple of months away from from from
Speaker 1: selection Sunday. We don't want to feel like this is
Speaker 1: like a reason to party, but it kind of feels
Speaker 1: like a reason to party because of how bad things
Speaker 1: have been in recent years. And we got a lot
Speaker 1: of other things we'll get into today, so stick around.
Speaker 1: It's Coffee and Company. We are fuel about Thornton's right
Speaker 1: here on Sports Talk seven ninety from the Fox Sports
Speaker 1: Studios in Los Angeles. You're listening to Coffee and Company
Speaker 1: with Nick Coffee on Sports Talk seven nine day. So
Speaker 1: no movement yet in the point spread. Louisville still favored
Speaker 1: by three and a half. That is what I saw
Speaker 1: is the opening line yesterday. Not a not a real surprise,
Speaker 1: probably probably a game that you know makes sense that
Speaker 1: there wouldn't be much change before you get to actual
Speaker 1: tip off. And I'm just looking here at all the
Speaker 1: games that we have tonight. Kentucky's taking on Georgia at
Speaker 1: Georgia clearly a road game in the SEC, with the
Speaker 1: league being as good as it is. I mean one,
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's anybody in the SEC this
Speaker 1: year that you look at a road game and think,
Speaker 1: you know, well, let's just go in there and get
Speaker 1: it over with because we know we can play subpar.
Speaker 3: But they're so bad.
Speaker 1: I mean, I believe george is a team that is technically,
Speaker 1: when it comes to the numbers, the metrics, the formulas,
Speaker 1: if you will, they're one of the worst teams in
Speaker 1: the SEC. But I think that probably says something if
Speaker 1: I'm being honest. So Kentucky favored about two and a half.
Speaker 1: I think that's also the line that opened up yesterday.
Speaker 1: But yeah, just conference matchup after conference matchup, and a
Speaker 1: really big one tonight in the ACC because Duke and
Speaker 1: Pitt will play. Pitt will go to Duke, and I
Speaker 1: cannot believe Duke's a fourteen and a half point favorite.
Speaker 1: I guess, I guess that makes sense. Duke's a really
Speaker 1: good team. You know, they have a great, great resume
Speaker 1: right now. I mean, their losses are too good teams,
Speaker 1: and they actually have decent wins. They're really really favorable
Speaker 1: in both the Ken Palm and the nets.
Speaker 3: So you know, Duke is good.
Speaker 1: But I guess what's crazy and scary is that Duke's
Speaker 1: a team that already has put themselves in a position,
Speaker 1: as we get January, started to be one of the
Speaker 1: best teams in the country, a number one seed right
Speaker 1: now if the tournament started today. And yet the scary
Speaker 1: thing is that they're supposed to be a lot better,
Speaker 1: probably in like six weeks or two months, because you know,
Speaker 1: they got freshmen that you know will no longer be
Speaker 1: freshmen by the time you get to later in the
Speaker 1: college basketball season. So maybe I shouldn't be surprised, because look,
Speaker 1: the ACC stinks, but Duke's an elite team this year
Speaker 1: that nobody'd be shocked if they end up winning the
Speaker 1: national championship. Therefore, Pittsburgh clearly being the second best team
Speaker 1: in the ACC, them being you know behind, you know,
Speaker 1: them being favored by fourteen and a half, I guess
Speaker 1: really isn't that big of a that big of a surprise.
Speaker 1: But according to Ken Pom, Pittsburgh seventy eight. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: Duke will win seventy eight to sixty six. So if
Speaker 1: you for somebody that wants to get in on some
Speaker 1: action there, the Kin Palm formula would tell you that
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh should be able to cover that big number there.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, let's just get into it. Because bracketology,
Speaker 1: you know, everybody's aware that it's really not worth a
Speaker 1: whole lot. And the reason I guess I feel the
Speaker 1: need to kind of remind people all the time about
Speaker 1: that is because I feel like a hypocrite because I've
Speaker 1: always fought anytime I see a bracketology link, rather it
Speaker 1: be from Lenardi or some of the other college basketball
Speaker 1: outlets out there that do bracketology.
Speaker 3: There's Jerry Palm from CBS.
Speaker 1: I always mention bracket guy Dave, who used to work
Speaker 1: for NBC Sports and now he's doing his own thing,
Speaker 1: and he is when it comes to bracket Matrix. He
Speaker 1: is one of the most accurate at predicting the bracket
Speaker 1: every year. He just doesn't work for one of the
Speaker 1: big companies. But you know, whenever you've got a team that,
Speaker 1: of course you know, is looking like they're safely in
Speaker 1: the tournament, looking like they're going to be on the bubble,
Speaker 1: you know, you find yourself looking pretty often because you
Speaker 1: just want it's a reference point, right You know that
Speaker 1: whoever's putting that out there, it's not the real bracket.
Speaker 1: You also know that college basketball still has plenty of
Speaker 1: time to go before we get there. So you know,
Speaker 1: I think we can acknowledge that it doesn't mean a
Speaker 1: whole lot, but also, you know, it gives you at
Speaker 1: least a reference point because more often than not, in
Speaker 1: bracketology right now as it stands, with what fourteen to
Speaker 1: fifteen games for everybody that's that's played, and you still
Speaker 1: have your entire conference slate to go for everybody, it's
Speaker 1: not it doesn't take that hard to kind of really,
Speaker 1: you know, it wouldn't be easy to just snap your
Speaker 1: fingers into. But if you look at generally where teams
Speaker 1: are in the kin palm and the net, you could
Speaker 1: even reference the AP if you want, you can probably
Speaker 1: get a feel for like the range of whatever seed
Speaker 1: certain teams would be. And at this point in the game,
Speaker 1: that's what at least I'm looking at, right, I'm not
Speaker 1: looking at who they're against, what region they're in, because
Speaker 1: that is the ultimate toss up that really you can't predict.
Speaker 1: That's just that's that's not based off of you know,
Speaker 1: resume quite as much. So again there's my claimer. Yes,
Speaker 1: I have oftentimes talked about how silly bracketology is, but
Speaker 1: it probably.
Speaker 3: Came from a sad place.
Speaker 1: It came from a place of me just missing being
Speaker 1: you know, able to look at bracketology and want to
Speaker 1: see where Louisville is and either be pleased with that
Speaker 1: potential scenario or yell about Joe Lenardi not being credible.
Speaker 1: So anyways, right now, Louisville according to Lenardi, And I
Speaker 1: mentioned this yesterday with bracket guy Dave, and I always
Speaker 1: shout him out because he's just a regular dude who
Speaker 1: just decided he wanted to get in that game, if
Speaker 1: you can call it a game, the bracketology game, and
Speaker 1: every year Bracketmatrix dot coms allows anybody to be a
Speaker 1: part of it and share you know, their updates and
Speaker 1: far as far as what they project, and you know,
Speaker 1: they don't treat anybody any different, right, And That's why
Speaker 1: I always make funnel Nardi because this is you know,
Speaker 1: he's Joey Brackett's he's in his bracket bunker whenever they've
Speaker 1: got college basketball going on in February. And yet he's
Speaker 1: not even like for years, he wasn't even a top
Speaker 1: fifty guy as far as being accurate when it comes
Speaker 1: to how the field looks. So anyways, but the one
Speaker 1: that everybody looks at more often than than you know,
Speaker 1: than others, and it's reference more than any than any
Speaker 1: place on ESPN and Leonardi, So I'll use is just
Speaker 1: because I realized that's the one that you know, even
Speaker 1: if he's not the most accurate, it's the one that
Speaker 1: most people are probably gonna reference. If you google bracketology
Speaker 1: or if you ask somebody have you seen the latest bracketology,
Speaker 1: They're probably gonna think you're talking about the one and
Speaker 1: only Joey Bracketts. So LOUISVI right now, according to Lenardi,
Speaker 1: would be in as a ten seed, and they are
Speaker 1: one of five ACC teams that would be in today.
Speaker 1: So again this goes back to the conversation about the ACC.
Speaker 3: Like Duke is e lead.
Speaker 1: Duke right now is a one seed and I don't
Speaker 1: I would. I don't think many would disagree that they've
Speaker 1: qualified to be a one seed. And then after that,
Speaker 1: you've got four teams that are projected to make it
Speaker 1: and one on the bubble. The best seed currently and
Speaker 1: I you know, you can't really dispute this, but the
Speaker 1: best seed outside of Duke is Pittsburgh as a sixth seed.
Speaker 3: So I mean, I think Pittsburgh's good.
Speaker 1: But even if they end up like being as good
Speaker 1: as I think they are, because right now they're sitting
Speaker 1: at twelve and two and they have two losses to
Speaker 1: two teams that are both currently in the top twenty,
Speaker 1: Wisconsin and Mississippi State, So I think Pittsburgh's actually really good.
Speaker 1: They have wins against West Virginia, LSU, Ohio State, you know,
Speaker 1: and then the rest of the way they're gonna play
Speaker 1: ACC teams, So tonight this is their biggest chance to
Speaker 1: kind of show who they are a road game at Duke,
Speaker 1: but like if they end up getting blown out, wouldn't
Speaker 1: be a big shock. And then the rest of the way,
Speaker 1: like they could end up going let's just let me
Speaker 1: throw it. Let's say Pittsburgh goes sixteen and four. Seventeen
Speaker 1: and three in the ACC. That I mean that that
Speaker 1: would put them at twenty six and five. Like you
Speaker 1: would think typically an ACC team with that kind of
Speaker 1: record would get a really good seed, but at this point,
Speaker 1: like I don't know if they would. They're gonna clearly
Speaker 1: they'd make the tournament and they'd have a fine seed,
Speaker 1: but like the I think right now seeing sort of
Speaker 1: where And this isn't just Leonardi again, nobody's picking on
Speaker 1: the ACC. Anybody claiming that college basketball nerds and bracketology
Speaker 1: folks are you know, just they're biased against the ACC. No,
Speaker 1: like pay attention, wake up. The league has fallen off
Speaker 1: in hoops in a major way. And yes, I'm aware
Speaker 1: Louisville had a big role in that they were really
Speaker 1: bad for a long time and they used to be
Speaker 1: counted on as a program to support the belief that
Speaker 1: the ACC is a really good league. But you know what,
Speaker 1: like they're probably well, they could finish in the top
Speaker 1: five of this league this year. And you know, I
Speaker 1: think that's say a lot about Pat Kelse, but let's
Speaker 1: be real, it also say a lot about the league
Speaker 1: as far as what it is now compared to what
Speaker 1: it wants. To be what it once was, I should say,
Speaker 1: so Pittsburgh is a sixth seed safe and then after
Speaker 1: that you gotta go down to a non seed. That's
Speaker 1: where Clemson is. Louisville is a ten seed, Carolina is
Speaker 1: an eleven seed, which actually puts them on the bubble,
Speaker 1: and technically Louislle could be on the Louis's on the
Speaker 1: bubble as well. I guess they're not the They're not the.
Speaker 3: Last four in. They're that next group.
Speaker 1: So you know, they are the number thirty nine overall
Speaker 1: seed according to Lenardi's projections. Here, so you got Louisville, Carolina,
Speaker 1: and smu are are all bubble teams. Two are projected
Speaker 1: to be in now one is not. But man, I
Speaker 1: feel like even Clemson is a nine seed, Like I
Speaker 1: kind of feel like you could make the case that
Speaker 1: they would be a bubble like a non seed.
Speaker 3: I feel like maybe you're flirting with the bubble.
Speaker 1: I kind of have always viewed that as like you
Speaker 1: were on the bubble and it's like a gift that
Speaker 1: you got in. Like anytime I see an eight or
Speaker 1: a non seed, I typically think, well, okay, what they're
Speaker 1: doing here is just saying, hey, we don't really think
Speaker 1: you're good enough, but you know, you barely made the cutoffs.
Speaker 1: So here's your chance. You play another team of your
Speaker 1: caliber that's fortunate to be here, and your gift is
Speaker 1: having to play one seed in the second round, and
Speaker 1: that'll be where you really get a chance to show
Speaker 1: if you're good or not. Like, in fact, the eight
Speaker 1: nine games typically I feel like feature at least two
Speaker 1: or three, in fact, four of the overall eight seeds
Speaker 1: that go out to the eight or nine seeds that
Speaker 1: are out there, if you know what I'm saying. And
Speaker 1: I think I may not have worded that the way
Speaker 1: I wanted to, but you know what I mean. Right,
Speaker 1: there's four eight seeds and four nine seeds at least
Speaker 1: half of each are teams that, like you kind of
Speaker 1: know should have been better than they were, but like
Speaker 1: you know, you understand why they're seeded where they are.
Speaker 1: But if they get hot, like maybe they could end
Speaker 1: up really challenging that one seed in the round of
Speaker 1: thirty two. I'm just getting I'm just getting lost here
Speaker 1: talking bracketology because it's been a long time. It's kind
Speaker 1: of like I forgot how good a drug was then
Speaker 1: I was away from it for a while and now
Speaker 1: it's kind of back, like I'm just want to talk brackets.
Speaker 3: It's January seventh. I feel good, dude, January seventh.
Speaker 1: I want to talk selection Sunday like that's It's kind
Speaker 1: of where I'm at right now. So anyhow, the ACC's
Speaker 1: it's not in a good place, and that is not
Speaker 1: a good thing overall. But I knew as soon as
Speaker 1: Pat Kelsey got hired and as soon as he started
Speaker 1: putting together the key pieces to this team. It's never
Speaker 1: an ideal situation for your conference to be falling off
Speaker 1: a cliff like this one is in basketball, However, you
Speaker 1: could take it. You could take advantage of that, and
Speaker 1: you're one with Pat Kelsey. And I think you know
Speaker 1: tonight like Louisville to me with the way they played
Speaker 1: against Carolina, And I know Carolina is way down, like
Speaker 1: they're not safely in the tournament, no doubt, trust me.
Speaker 1: I know all that, but I still believe despite that,
Speaker 1: they're one of the more talented teams in the conference. Therefore,
Speaker 1: like if you can beat Carolina, beat Virginia about twenty,
Speaker 1: and then take care of business and beat Clemson at home,
Speaker 1: a team that right now is in the tournament, and
Speaker 1: if you beat them, it probably doesn't remove it won't
Speaker 1: remove them from the tournament. Therefore, like I feel like
Speaker 1: the rest of the way, not to say you can
Speaker 1: just put it on cruise control and not worry about
Speaker 1: anybody else, because you could lose to anybody. We learned
Speaker 1: that against Utel, we learned that against EKU, So like
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to come ready to play. They have
Speaker 1: very little room for error when it comes to poor
Speaker 1: play and still expecting to win. But just given where
Speaker 1: the league is, you've already played Duke, that's out of
Speaker 1: the way. They're clearly in a world of their own
Speaker 1: when it comes to this league right now, and you
Speaker 1: don't play Carolina again. If Clemson is like these two,
Speaker 1: these next two games Clemson and Pitt, those are your
Speaker 1: opportunities to get wins of value. Now Pitt will be
Speaker 1: here at home at some point later in the year,
Speaker 1: so you'll have an opportunity for them twice. You will
Speaker 1: play SMU at their place, and that'll be a quad
Speaker 1: one win, but not like a valuable win. So I
Speaker 1: kind of feel like these next two games, not to
Speaker 1: say that they're going to really decide where this team goes.
Speaker 3: But I feel like if you if you go.
Speaker 1: One and one, there's really no scenario where you can
Speaker 1: look at the rest of the schedule and feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, you can't take care of business and make
Speaker 1: the tournament. Now again, if your bubble team, I guess
Speaker 1: it really comes down to how they view the ACC
Speaker 1: and maybe you have a dud Knight and lose to
Speaker 1: somebody you're not supposed to.
Speaker 3: But I just feel like.
Speaker 1: As much as I was giving them the benefit of
Speaker 1: the doubt, kind of giving them a pass when some
Speaker 1: fans weren't. When they got blown out by Ole Miss,
Speaker 1: when they were leading for thirty percent of the for
Speaker 1: thirty minutes of the game against Duke and then lost
Speaker 1: by eleven. They competed but still lost to Kentucky and
Speaker 1: gave up nearly one hundred points. Like I wasn't as
Speaker 1: critical as some fans were, and it's because I was
Speaker 1: giving them the benefit of the doubt. I felt like, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: losing always sucks, but man, I think they're starting to
Speaker 1: get a little more comfortable each game with this new
Speaker 1: version of themselves without Prior, without Korn, and they're gonna
Speaker 1: get Trey ou Ray back, and at that point, who
Speaker 1: knows what the ceiling is. But man, I still feel
Speaker 1: like this team, despite these losses piling up pretty early
Speaker 1: in the season one, it's been a really challenging schedule,
Speaker 1: and the rest of your schedule is really not all
Speaker 1: that tough considering how down the ACC is. So like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to act like I'm gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: turn heel and start, you know, crushing this team. But
Speaker 1: I think if you win one of these next two,
Speaker 1: and hell if you win two of them, both of them,
Speaker 1: I should say then, like, there's really no excuse for
Speaker 1: you to not do what's needed the rest of the
Speaker 1: way to make the tournament, because, you know, unless you
Speaker 1: have an injury, unless somebody, you know, unless something happens
Speaker 1: like that, like you've told on yourself to an extent.
Speaker 1: And I don't want to act like I'm setting them
Speaker 1: up for I got your moment where hey, I propped
Speaker 1: you guys up and you let me down.
Speaker 3: I'm not, I'm not. I'm not looking for that.
Speaker 1: But I feel like they've at least eighty percent of
Speaker 1: the way confirmed kind of what I thought, meaning, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're still losing to these teams, but these teams are
Speaker 1: really good, and once they get an acc play. If
Speaker 1: this is the team I think it is, they should
Speaker 1: be able to be one of the top four teams
Speaker 1: in this league. It'd clearly make the tournament. And I
Speaker 1: think they've They've shown me enough to where I feel
Speaker 1: like I can expect them to win one of these two.
Speaker 1: And obviously tonight's a much more winnable matchup than it
Speaker 1: is on Saturday, because at pitt you got to go there,
Speaker 1: and they're better than Clemson. I feel like, maybe even
Speaker 1: a lot better now that I consider, because I've watched
Speaker 1: both these teams play at least a couple of games,
Speaker 1: so you know, you still have to go out there
Speaker 1: every night. You can't take any buddy lightly just because
Speaker 1: you know, Louisville basketball used to be in a world
Speaker 1: where you could have a C plus game and yet
Speaker 1: still win by double digits against a lot of the
Speaker 1: teams you play in your league because you were in
Speaker 1: the elite standard of your conference, and you know, like
Speaker 1: I remember winning ugly against like teams that were like
Speaker 1: right outside the top twenty five and being upset on
Speaker 1: a post game show. What a world? What a what
Speaker 1: a wake up call? I received over these last few years.
Speaker 1: And I know that sounds crazy. It wouldn't like I
Speaker 1: was calling for anybody's head, but like we we used
Speaker 1: to have a I mean, think about what we used
Speaker 1: to call a down year for louisvill basketball. Think about that,
Speaker 1: Like I remember Rick getting in the tournament with what
Speaker 1: team was it. I feel like the twenty eleven team
Speaker 1: was like a down year. Oh yeah, and yet they
Speaker 1: actually and they lost to more Head State, but that
Speaker 1: was kind of a fun ride and they got a
Speaker 1: four set. You know, they were one of the best
Speaker 1: teams in the Big East that year when the Big
Speaker 1: East was on steroids. So like, I'm not bringing it
Speaker 1: up to say, look at where we are now. Hahalat's
Speaker 1: laugh at us. But I'm just like, you know, life
Speaker 1: has a funny way working out to where now it's
Speaker 1: not even something I even think about anymore. I'm not
Speaker 1: I don't have any radar upstairs to tell me. Wait
Speaker 1: a second, Nick, you can't celebrate beating this team because
Speaker 1: they're bums in Louisville is a three time national championship program.
Speaker 1: Like I'm just now like, hell, yeah, we beat Bellerman,
Speaker 1: Like it's just life can be tricky like that, to
Speaker 1: where you find yourself in a much different situation than
Speaker 1: you were years prior, and it really it really gives
Speaker 1: you a chance to have some some different perspective on things,
Speaker 1: like I mean, imagine telling us, I don't know seven
Speaker 1: eight years ago that there'd be a home game in
Speaker 1: January with snow on the ground and it's Clemson coming
Speaker 1: to the im Center, and it's one of the few
Speaker 1: opportunities left for Louisville basketball to get a resume win
Speaker 1: against Clemson. Nobody believe you, Nobody would. But that's where
Speaker 1: we are, unless, like, is this the twilight zone? I
Speaker 1: don't think it is. But yeah, tonight, seven o'clock espn
Speaker 1: U is where the game will be and I'm hoping
Speaker 1: the Card's gonna pull it off.
Speaker 3: I'll be there.
Speaker 1: That won't make an impact on the game at all,
Speaker 1: but looking forward to to catching a vibe. I think
Speaker 1: the folks that are gonna be there are gonna be rowdy,
Speaker 1: and that that should be a lot of fun. All right,
Speaker 1: quick break, We'll come back on the other side. A
Speaker 1: lot more I want to get into before we get
Speaker 1: out of here. At six o'clock. Wwe debuted Monday, night
Speaker 1: were all last night on Netflix, right, I've got to
Speaker 1: get Austin's thoughts on that, because hul Cogan got booed
Speaker 1: and I'm learning that the Hulkster is a villain.
Speaker 3: I wasn't, but not in a good way, like not
Speaker 3: in like, oh he's got good heat. You like that termino.
Speaker 1: You like what I'm talking away heat, Yeah, he's got
Speaker 1: like get the hell out of here.
Speaker 3: We hate you.
Speaker 1: We're not even booing as part of like you know,
Speaker 1: like this is you know, this is no k fabe here, right,
Speaker 1: like this is.
Speaker 3: We hate you, which I've did.
Speaker 1: I'm not a work brother exactly, It's not a work
Speaker 1: there you go, thanks for picking me up there, So
Speaker 1: we'll get into that. Also, this Fox Sports lawsuit, I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know what's true and what's not, but that's
Speaker 1: that's juicy, no pun intended, right, quick break, don't go anywhere.
Speaker 3: It's Cofee and Company.
Speaker 1: Feel abou Thorton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 3: You're listening to Coffee and Company with Nick Coffee on
Speaker 3: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Man, it would be awesome to have been alive when
Speaker 1: this was the vibe. I mean, it's still a today
Speaker 1: but oh yeah, stuff, good stuff. You've been You've been
Speaker 1: kind of low key crushing it with the music lately.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're like if you're if you
Speaker 1: cause you're given Like we got a lot of latitude here,
Speaker 1: we can go in a lot of directions and it
Speaker 1: still kind of fits.
Speaker 3: Like you know, it's good stuff, So thank you.
Speaker 4: I just master flash. It's old vice City used to
Speaker 4: be an old grant the thought of Vice City. That's
Speaker 4: how I learned a lot of my music was through
Speaker 4: video games, Grant Theft, auto wrestling video games. That's how
Speaker 4: I kind of learned my rock and indie hard rock
Speaker 4: and like Guitar.
Speaker 1: Hero like got me feeling some nostalgia right now because
Speaker 1: there are certain songs that like I didn't like, I
Speaker 1: didn't know what it was, but I heard it NonStop
Speaker 1: because I played the video games so right that I
Speaker 1: just like it stuck with me. Like there was a
Speaker 1: Tony Hawk video game that like in the first two
Speaker 1: I guess like gosh, I'm not even.
Speaker 3: Sure what they're calling.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Tony Hawk's pro skater.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but like did you have like different courses like
Speaker 1: different like different uh, yeah, Like I know the one
Speaker 1: when you start when you're in that like dark warehouse
Speaker 1: kind of plays in the hangar and you jump through
Speaker 1: the glass or whatever, and the upstairs like at the roof,
Speaker 1: near the roof or whatever the story I should say,
Speaker 1: like there was a song that played that like just
Speaker 1: stuck with me. And then there was the first And
Speaker 1: I don't know if this was I know it wasn't
Speaker 1: what my dad purchased, but I think there was some
Speaker 1: kind of a special going on when he got me
Speaker 1: my first PlayStation. The only it came with a game,
Speaker 1: and the game it came with was Nascar. I knew
Speaker 1: nothing about Nascar at that time, but it was like
Speaker 1: the EA Sports Nascar game. Yeah, and there was the song.
Speaker 1: There was a song that played like NonStop, like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: I'm sure I'm not doing a great job with the rendition,
Speaker 1: but like, yeah, I kind of forgot about how there
Speaker 1: are there were songs that just kind of stuck with
Speaker 1: me because of video games. So exactly we've got, you know,
Speaker 1: I just I'm just catching a vibe. But it's been,
Speaker 1: it's been, it's been noticed by myself and others that
Speaker 1: listen to the show that we've had some good tunes lately,
Speaker 1: thank you.
Speaker 4: And some grand Master fly for you. That's a kind
Speaker 4: of like that's back in like the hell. I think
Speaker 4: this was maybe even like the seventies early eighties where
Speaker 4: guys are just walking around with the froze and they
Speaker 4: had the boombox right next to their ears, just catching
Speaker 4: a vibe, dude.
Speaker 3: And they weren't distracted by devices.
Speaker 2: And oh yeah, not a phone inside.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, they were just they were just vibing.
Speaker 2: Man, cango hats.
Speaker 3: We should rock kangle hats.
Speaker 2: I'd be down for that.
Speaker 3: Like we need like we.
Speaker 1: Need we need a remote where like anybody who shows
Speaker 1: up wherever we are has to wear a cagle.
Speaker 2: That would be nice. That'd be something that was such
Speaker 2: a style back then, dude.
Speaker 1: Oh and it's funny because it's one of those things
Speaker 1: and I'm sure this is this is one of many
Speaker 1: style things that catch on and in the moment you're like, damn, man,
Speaker 1: why have we not been rocking kangle hat since the
Speaker 1: beginning of time? And then twenty years goes by and
Speaker 1: you look back and you're like.
Speaker 2: What were we doing right?
Speaker 1: Man? It's it's it's wild how fast style of you know,
Speaker 1: goes in different directions, but last night this was this
Speaker 1: was a big deal in and I will say the
Speaker 1: world of uh sports, uh entertainment, because the w w
Speaker 1: E is not like the you know, it's not like
Speaker 1: the NBA of the NFL and you know, college football
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff, but it is I mean, they're
Speaker 1: both under the same the same business model, and that
Speaker 1: is that they are live entertainment for people who enjoy
Speaker 1: sports or you know, whatever you want to call wrestling.
Speaker 1: Wrestling is entertainment. It's clearly choreographed and all that, but
Speaker 1: you know, it's got a huge audience and.
Speaker 3: It's one of it's one of the rare.
Speaker 1: Things that that I don't I don't know, I don't
Speaker 1: know what a comparison is out there, because it is
Speaker 1: a niche thing, meaning that if you're really into it,
Speaker 1: like it's just kind of part of you in a
Speaker 1: way that makes sense. However, the people that like aren't
Speaker 1: into it, they they look at it as if it's
Speaker 1: like something for into them, Like it's something that like
Speaker 1: they could never comprehend and it's just like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what the hell is that wrestling? So silly?
Speaker 1: But the people, but the amount of people who are
Speaker 1: kind of into that niche. There's a billion of them,
Speaker 1: Like you know what I'm saying, Like it's it's a
Speaker 1: huge world.
Speaker 3: But I think they they just and.
Speaker 1: It's really a respect to to to wrestling because they're
Speaker 1: aware of like where they fit socially where you're not. Like,
Speaker 1: if you love it, you love it. And there's clearly
Speaker 1: platforms and big audiences that that that you know, go
Speaker 1: to the events and talk shows, podcast all that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff, like, but it doesn't intertwine with a lot
Speaker 1: of the other things, you know what I'm saying, Like
Speaker 1: wrestling is huge on its own and kind of stays
Speaker 1: in its lane to where the people who aren't into it,
Speaker 1: don't care about it, don't don't look for it, they
Speaker 1: have no clue how massive it is, if that makes sense,
Speaker 1: whereas those that are into it, you know, like there's
Speaker 1: people that I've met along the way just because of
Speaker 1: my uh work with ov W over the years that
Speaker 1: I never knew, like I've known this person for a
Speaker 1: long time, rather it be from a professional standpoint or
Speaker 1: from you know, just being friends with them socially, whatever
Speaker 1: it may be. And like I didn't realize that, like
Speaker 1: they're really into wrestling, you know what I'm saying, because
Speaker 1: you could, you know, And I kind of wonder, is
Speaker 1: it because people like you're clearly very visually, you're visible
Speaker 1: within your world of wrestling, you host podcast to you
Speaker 1: go to WWE events with credential, like clearly like you're
Speaker 1: you're covering the business in that aspect. But but you know,
Speaker 1: why is it that that that it's just such a
Speaker 1: I don't know, Like I was blown away to see
Speaker 1: once I once I kind of realized how big it
Speaker 1: was this day and age because I was so out
Speaker 1: of it for so long and I technically still am.
Speaker 1: But I don't know, Like wrestling is very unique and
Speaker 1: rare when it comes to just what it is, but
Speaker 1: also the community and people who love it, like it's
Speaker 1: it's just a different thing, man.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a television show basically, and it's a television
Speaker 4: show that you're so that's just what it is. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it's it's what you're invested in. My lovely fiance, by
Speaker 4: the way, we went to WrestleMania a couple of years ago,
Speaker 4: our very first one, and she's also in that minority
Speaker 4: where she's like she doesn't really get it. So she's
Speaker 4: looking around at Sofi Stadium. There's thousands, thousands, thousands of
Speaker 4: people there, and she's like, I can't believe how many
Speaker 4: fans there are of this show. And it's just a
Speaker 4: tight knit community. A lot of people have just like opinions,
Speaker 4: and now with social media, it's easier than ever to
Speaker 4: share your opinions, whether you want to go do a
Speaker 4: podcast or you can make like a quick reel and
Speaker 4: get interactions. You have your good guys, you have your
Speaker 4: bad guys. It's just classic storytelling. And when shows are hot,
Speaker 4: especially like when Game of Thrones was a big thing,
Speaker 4: people are having watch parties and people are having trivia
Speaker 4: nights and stuff like that. And the thing is is
Speaker 4: those kind of shows aren't continually running at the same
Speaker 4: pace at WWE's on in professional wrestling is run. WWE,
Speaker 4: if you remember, was like one of the only live
Speaker 4: things still going on for most of COVID when the
Speaker 4: whole world shut down, it was to a lot of
Speaker 4: people's despair and they didn't like it, and of course
Speaker 4: for the safety of other wrestlers and workers, but like
Speaker 4: they were there for a lot of other people. And
Speaker 4: even though that that was tumultuous time, really not a
Speaker 4: great time in terms of storytelling, and some of the
Speaker 4: product may have just been bad. And it comes to
Speaker 4: those they have their eras where it's loyalty testing eras.
Speaker 4: They're in a good era right now now that the
Speaker 4: cross the cross platforming that they do. Like last night
Speaker 4: they had Travis Scott and he's coming down.
Speaker 2: Smoke in a joint and.
Speaker 3: Let's paid a ton of people to be there, be visible.
Speaker 2: Vanessa Hutchins is there.
Speaker 3: Bill Simmons, which was which was weird.
Speaker 4: I thought, I think he's a big wrestling Macaulay Culkin,
Speaker 4: Mcaulay Colchin was.
Speaker 3: I guess that's probably what it is, is they know,
Speaker 3: like they're aware.
Speaker 1: Of like big because again that speaks to kind of
Speaker 1: how like a lot of people would never know where
Speaker 1: gets that mccaullay Cochin is a huge wrestling fan, but
Speaker 1: he is because like you just wouldn't know unless you
Speaker 1: asked it, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: Because it's those people that are really into it.
Speaker 1: They they they stay in that world to themselves, right,
Speaker 1: And it's I guess just because in a way like
Speaker 1: socially maybe it's just not as I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: they're aware that there are people that you could mention
Speaker 1: the biggest rest and I'm one of these people you
Speaker 1: could mention currently like the five wrestlers that have the
Speaker 1: most momentum right now that are like rising stars, and
Speaker 1: I wouldn't know them if they walked in the room.
Speaker 3: Sure, so a lot of wrestling fans are.
Speaker 1: Aware that there's people like that that are just not
Speaker 1: into it, don't really know to where like you're not
Speaker 1: really going out of your way to talk unless you're
Speaker 1: aware that somebody's got you know, the chops to do it,
Speaker 1: meaning they follow it.
Speaker 3: They follow it as well.
Speaker 1: So Netflix purchasing the rights to have Monday Night Raw
Speaker 1: Live every Monday the most long with the longest it's
Speaker 1: the longest standing television live television show es. So the
Speaker 1: fact that they purchased it, they saw the value and
Speaker 1: last night it debuted. And before we get into Houlk
Speaker 1: Cogan really quickly here, that's right, what all right brother
Speaker 1: did the wrestling world. And I'm sure there's many with
Speaker 1: type with different takes, but like was that viewed as
Speaker 1: like they met the bar as far as debuting on
Speaker 1: a new platform really getting people to tune in because
Speaker 1: I feel like more than anything I'm seeing is about
Speaker 1: Hogan getting booed, but also people kind of being underwhelmed
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: I think it was in terms of well, WW has
Speaker 4: like the best production live production like ever. It's it's
Speaker 4: very spectatical than anything. It's on par with the NFL.
Speaker 4: It's it's it's amazing the stuff that they do live.
Speaker 4: There's no waste of movement with anything, timing camera shots,
Speaker 4: and you know, on a smaller scale of working in
Speaker 4: the bowels of OVW and that's that's where they kind
Speaker 4: of trained, the smaller, minimal scale of that. But I
Speaker 4: was as a it was a huge raw one. It
Speaker 4: was the most viewed raw ever, obviously because it's easier
Speaker 4: just to get on Netflix and stream it, so it
Speaker 4: had a lot of attention.
Speaker 2: I thought it was just like a reset it was
Speaker 2: for to.
Speaker 3: Do that that made sense, right with the debut on.
Speaker 4: For people that haven't watched wrestling in such a long time,
Speaker 4: for them kind of to come back because, like like
Speaker 4: I was said a couple of weeks ago, the Rock
Speaker 4: last time we saw him on television was a bad
Speaker 4: guy and he is like a real shoot in real life.
Speaker 4: A TKO board member TKO and Endeavor now owned WW
Speaker 4: their partners same people that own UFC, But that was
Speaker 4: part his final boss gimmick was derived off of him
Speaker 4: being a power hungry boss basically, And yesterday he came
Speaker 4: out just baby facing it up. Last time we see him,
Speaker 4: he was whopping Cody Roads with the Mama Roodes belt
Speaker 4: and coming after him saying he wants a championship. But
Speaker 4: it's almost like they said, scrap that, We're getting a
Speaker 4: brand new audience and we're gonna remind everyone who this
Speaker 4: is and then we're going to jump to the new
Speaker 4: era of it. There were some good matches, but in
Speaker 4: terms of storylines, there wasn't a lot of like real
Speaker 4: investment and a lot of hardcore people. They there are
Speaker 4: some people online that will just tune into hate WW
Speaker 4: or Monday Night Ron and say on a on a
Speaker 4: three hour show, there was a total of fifty two
Speaker 4: minutes and thirty six seconds of wrestling. And I've never
Speaker 4: been a huge fan of the fake fighting and all that.
Speaker 4: I'm more invested in the stories, and when there's stories
Speaker 4: and a reason to have a confrontation, then I'll get invested.
Speaker 4: But just pulling up matches just to have them and
Speaker 4: people wrestle for thirty minutes with like no story and like, Okay,
Speaker 4: what's up for this guy?
Speaker 2: Now? That doesn't really interest me.
Speaker 4: So they were like completely resetting and they had a
Speaker 4: bunch of people come back, Hulk Hogan obviously the rock
Speaker 4: John Cena is now starting his retirement year. They just
Speaker 4: had a few blowoff matches from the last era that
Speaker 4: needed to be put to bed, and I think going
Speaker 4: on from here on out with Netflix are going to
Speaker 4: start building on that. But yes, yesterday was a complete reset,
Speaker 4: welcoming in a whole new audience if you haven't watched
Speaker 4: for a while, like this.
Speaker 3: Is what was?
Speaker 1: That was their chance to make a splash, and really,
Speaker 1: I mean probably the first time in a long time
Speaker 1: they had a moment like that where they could say, Okay,
Speaker 1: we have a chance here to get a ton of
Speaker 1: new people who've.
Speaker 3: Never really experienced what this is.
Speaker 1: Let's try to make it as welcoming and as understandable
Speaker 1: in inviting as possible. So if that was their goal,
Speaker 1: it makes total sense. Now will that work out? I
Speaker 1: guess only time will tell, but we'll let you hear
Speaker 1: whole Cogan getting booed That's what I wanted to bring
Speaker 1: this up, but we didn't save enough time for it
Speaker 1: because I just never thought i'd ever see the day
Speaker 1: where hul Cogan like would be booed like that, because
Speaker 1: when I was growing up, like he'd kind of already
Speaker 1: had his biggest run, but he was still.
Speaker 2: I mean, he was he was the American hero.
Speaker 3: He's whole coging baby, that's right.
Speaker 4: He was beating down the Iron chic and and and
Speaker 4: everybody back in the day.
Speaker 1: He was like he was like a real life superhero
Speaker 1: to kids like me, Like it was crazy.
Speaker 3: All right, quick break, two hours left. It's game day.
Speaker 1: We'll get into Louisville Clemson as well as we move
Speaker 1: forward here. Stick around on Sports Talk seven ninety