Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Sortins on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 2: Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think? Well,
Speaker 2: we are get off our show, idiot.
Speaker 1: The kids are playing or tail off.
Speaker 2: Their countries are.
Speaker 1: Screwing it up. Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play
Speaker 1: Inner Murals. They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're
Speaker 1: really not. Who's the kid here? Who's the kid here?
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: Here's Nick coffee.
Speaker 3: You know what I was worried would happened last night
Speaker 3: actually ended up happening. And I'm not talking about, you know,
Speaker 3: the game itself. My worry was that at nine o'clock tip,
Speaker 3: been a while since Lovell had a nine o'clock tip
Speaker 3: when the team was good and there was a momentum.
Speaker 3: So my worry was, Man, it's gonna be tough for
Speaker 3: me to fall asleep. And that's exactly what happened. I'm
Speaker 3: running on about I don't know three hours, but don't
Speaker 3: care because last night was awesome and we're going to
Speaker 3: talk about it today, and of course we'll talk about
Speaker 3: a lot of other things here on a Wednesday.
Speaker 2: Thanks for hanging out.
Speaker 3: It's coffee and company fuel about Thornton's here on Sports
Speaker 3: Talk seven ninety Take us with you wherever you go.
Speaker 3: Listen live on the iHeartRadio app. Also listen live at
Speaker 3: seven ninety Louisville dot com. There'll be plenty of ways
Speaker 3: for you guys to participate on the show today, and
Speaker 3: I want to hear from you because you know, we've
Speaker 3: had more caller interaction as of late, and we always
Speaker 3: want you guys to be a part of the shows.
Speaker 2: That's sort of how this works.
Speaker 3: But days where we had really NonStop interaction where I
Speaker 3: had to kind of remind myself, hey, don't be so
Speaker 3: caller driven. I mean, there are certain days where that
Speaker 3: makes total sense, But in recent years when that's happened,
Speaker 3: it's been because there's a lot of panic going on.
Speaker 3: There's real concern about really the basketball program. Right We've
Speaker 3: had our moments in football where things weren't and great,
Speaker 3: there was some worry, but really, like I just I
Speaker 3: want to get back to having a super interactive show,
Speaker 3: and it's because fans are excited. I don't want to
Speaker 3: turn this into Homer Radio, but I kind of don't
Speaker 3: really know how else to do it. When it comes
Speaker 3: to talking about this Louisville basketball team. So again, what
Speaker 3: a what a night last night. I didn't know what
Speaker 3: to expect from SMU, and I was kind of spending
Speaker 3: my wheels yesterday during the show because you know, I
Speaker 3: wasn't going to make it a pregame show, but obviously
Speaker 3: it was. It was the last opportunity for Louisville to
Speaker 3: get a quad one win. SMU was kind of a
Speaker 3: mystery and Louisville was riding some momentum eight game winning streak,
Speaker 3: and I was confident. But I guess maybe that's just
Speaker 3: I guess that's part of this process. And what I
Speaker 3: mean by that is the process of, you know, remembering
Speaker 3: what it's like to kind of be in situations like.
Speaker 2: This, to where you feel pretty good about your team.
Speaker 3: You've got into a point where you're I guess near
Speaker 3: the back half, well, I guess the backstretch of your schedule.
Speaker 3: I think you're clearly halfway through the season at this point,
Speaker 3: but still, you know, like I felt really confident, but
Speaker 3: in recent weeks when I was confident, it was really
Speaker 3: just because I felt like, Hey, I know.
Speaker 2: They can win.
Speaker 3: I know that they they you know, have played well
Speaker 3: and they they are good enough to do it, but
Speaker 3: I kind of felt like against some of these teams,
Speaker 3: I was just you know, not as confident because I know,
Speaker 3: I don't know. I guess what I'm getting at is
Speaker 3: I felt good yesterday, but it was almost like I
Speaker 3: wasn't convincing myself that Louisville was gonna go win. And
Speaker 3: it was more to do with just not really knowing
Speaker 3: how good SMU was. And I don't really know how
Speaker 3: good they are right now. I don't really care, to
Speaker 3: be honest with you. What I do know is that
Speaker 3: Louisville was a lot better than them. And I mean
Speaker 3: last night was that the best performance you've seen from.
Speaker 2: A Louisville basketball team? And how long? I mean, they
Speaker 2: weren't perfect. You never are going to be perfect.
Speaker 3: I mean, they miss shots, they made me stakes, But overall,
Speaker 3: I mean that that was a game that I think
Speaker 3: was relatively close or maybe that.
Speaker 2: Is sort of the ceiling for this group.
Speaker 3: I mean, you could look at the stats and there's
Speaker 3: certainly some things they could have been better at.
Speaker 2: We all know that.
Speaker 3: But I mean, just an absolute ass whipping in Dallas.
Speaker 3: And I know I'm not alone as far as thinking Okay,
Speaker 3: how good can this team be? I mean, ninety eight
Speaker 3: to seventy three against a team that probably you know,
Speaker 3: has a lot of work to do to end up
Speaker 3: making the tournament. But still, I mean they're not I mean,
Speaker 3: last night really wasn't about SMU, and clearly they didn't
Speaker 3: play well, but like Louisville had a lot to do
Speaker 3: with that. I mean they had. I mean, I think
Speaker 3: they were the biggest factor in that. SMU never really
Speaker 3: got comfortable. They missed some shots around the rim because
Speaker 3: I think they were a little bit caught off guard
Speaker 3: by the pace. I mean, clearly they want to score
Speaker 3: and they don't like to play like slow, but that
Speaker 3: game got away from them pretty quick and it was
Speaker 3: just an absolute beat down. Louisville wins ninety eight to
Speaker 3: seventy three. They've now won nine consecutive games. Joel and
Speaker 3: already just put out an updated bracket in Bracketology, he
Speaker 3: has Louisville as a five seed, and I'm starting to
Speaker 3: wonder what is the ceiling for this group as far
Speaker 3: as seed line. I mean, you don't have many opportunities.
Speaker 3: In fact, you have very few opportunities left in the
Speaker 3: regular season to get wins that are going to have
Speaker 3: really any value. I mean, you can look at you
Speaker 3: have pitt that comes to your place. They'll have to
Speaker 3: be back in the top thirty through outside of it.
Speaker 3: Right now, I guess that gives you an opportunity for
Speaker 3: another quad one win. And who knows what happens in
Speaker 3: the in the ACC tournament. It's impossible to know exactly
Speaker 3: how this thing's going to finish. But like I can't
Speaker 3: be the only one that feels like the expectation is
Speaker 3: that they're going to maybe win the rest of their games.
Speaker 3: I know I said yesterday that they may slip up,
Speaker 3: and certainly that could still happen, but this team really
Speaker 3: the last six games, because they're on a nine game
Speaker 3: winning streak right now, and I feel like it was
Speaker 3: I guess the last seven games because obviously the Florida
Speaker 3: State game and the and the EKU game, those were wins,
Speaker 3: and you know you'll take them, especially when you only
Speaker 3: had eight of them last year and four of the
Speaker 3: year before that. But I'm telling you, guys, in that
Speaker 3: Carolina game, when they came out once the year twenty
Speaker 3: twenty five had started at the beginning of January here
Speaker 3: and they've just been a team that has been so
Speaker 3: phenomenal defensively. I mean, that's what really has has I
Speaker 3: think been the big difference maker defense is creating offense.
Speaker 2: I think they.
Speaker 3: Realized that they've got they've got to They got the
Speaker 3: personnel to go out there and guard anybody, and that's
Speaker 3: going to give them a chance against a lot of teams.
Speaker 3: And I just think they've really built a lot of confidence.
Speaker 3: And last night, I mean as soon as the game started,
Speaker 3: you know, I'm thinking to myself, Yeah, this this like
Speaker 3: this team every night, especially in the last you know,
Speaker 3: this month, They've they bring it and.
Speaker 2: What I don't like And again I'm not complaining.
Speaker 3: Trust me, this is a great position to be and
Speaker 3: this is awesome, especially when you consider where things were
Speaker 3: the last couple of years. So this has just been
Speaker 3: an unbelievable ride and I am. I am loving every
Speaker 3: second of it. And I know I'm not alone. But
Speaker 3: what I say, I just don't I don't like not
Speaker 3: knowing at all, like what I should realistically expect. And
Speaker 3: then I think to myself, like I'm going, I'm trying
Speaker 3: to revert back to like what life used to be
Speaker 3: like before we had that traumatic three to four year
Speaker 3: stretch because you would you know, you would be thinking
Speaker 3: about seed line, you'd be thinking about losses that might
Speaker 3: have really hurts you as far as you know, taking
Speaker 3: you from a potential three seed to maybe a four
Speaker 3: or five seed, And like those things are coming back.
Speaker 3: I'm starting to do that again. And you know that
Speaker 3: that feels good. That's what you want to do. That's
Speaker 3: what makes this exciting, That's what makes all this fun.
Speaker 3: Like the things that come with college basketball, we eat
Speaker 3: that stuff up. But I'm having like a blockage, if
Speaker 3: you will, mentally, because I keep telling myself, hey, no,
Speaker 3: let's not even go there. Let's not think about seed line,
Speaker 3: let's not think about how far they could go in
Speaker 3: the tournament. Let's just enjoy this. But I don't. I
Speaker 3: don't think I need to do that anymore. I think
Speaker 3: I can. I can comfortably embrace this team having some
Speaker 3: real expectations the rest of the way. None of us
Speaker 3: know how this is going to finish. But I mean,
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't care that the ACC is as
Speaker 3: down as it is. I mean, I'm not going to
Speaker 3: tell people that they're wrong when they when they act
Speaker 3: like the ACC is is, you know, a bad league,
Speaker 3: especially for what it once was and what it's supposed
Speaker 3: to be. Like, they're not wrong, it's true, but I
Speaker 3: think Louisville is is is playing basketball at a high
Speaker 3: level to where they could be in other leagues. And yeah,
Speaker 3: they probably would have more losses in league play, but
Speaker 3: I feel like they can compete with just about anybody. Again,
Speaker 3: I don't know that we'll find out if they do,
Speaker 3: in fact make a run in the tournament and end
Speaker 3: up playing a really, really good team. So maybe I'm wrong,
Speaker 3: But I mean, I think you're starting to see some
Speaker 3: others out there, not Louisville fans, but people that are objected,
Speaker 3: people that cover college basketball in a major way. They
Speaker 3: are willing to now embrace the Yes, the ACC is
Speaker 3: what it is, but Duke one of the best teams
Speaker 3: in the country, maybe the most talented team out there.
Speaker 3: They're in a league of their own within college basketball
Speaker 3: maybe when it comes to talent, and certainly they are
Speaker 3: in a league of their own within the ACC. But
Speaker 3: I think you're starting to see, well, Louisville, Yeah, they're
Speaker 3: taking advantage of the down league, but they're also a
Speaker 3: pretty damn good team. And last night for me, seemed
Speaker 3: like the moment where it kind of hit me like
Speaker 3: I'm breaking free of the shackles as far as just
Speaker 3: you know, having these tempered expectations and trying not to
Speaker 3: get my hopes up because you know, just making the
Speaker 3: tournament this year, if I'm being honest with you, would
Speaker 3: have been awesome. And clearly they're going to do that.
Speaker 3: Now that's happening. They're going to be a tournament team.
Speaker 3: And now I'm thinking, Okay, what's the highest seed weeking
Speaker 3: get and you know, where are these first and second
Speaker 3: round games being played? Those kind of things, and man,
Speaker 3: it's just it's just been it's just been fun and
Speaker 3: I'm loving every minute of it. And it's been it's
Speaker 3: been a fun ride so far. So you know, we'll
Speaker 3: talk about some other things today, but obviously, whenever you've
Speaker 3: got this kind of momentum in Louisville basketball, and you
Speaker 3: can just tell, the vibes are off the charts right now.
Speaker 3: I see people out wearing their U of L gear
Speaker 3: and they've got a little bit of an extra pep
Speaker 3: in their step. They look to be a little bit
Speaker 3: more happy than maybe, you know, maybe others, and it's
Speaker 3: because they're they're loving this and not right now a
Speaker 3: non game winning streak and easily the second best team
Speaker 3: right now in the ACC.
Speaker 2: And look, SMU, they weren't. They didn't scare me by
Speaker 2: any means.
Speaker 3: But that was really the last team on your schedule
Speaker 3: that I mean, Look, it's crazy to say this now,
Speaker 3: but Louisville was an underdog last night and they could
Speaker 3: have won the game by thirty plus and they won
Speaker 3: by twenty five, like they were an underdog. The kim
Speaker 3: pump for me projected that they would lose that game.
Speaker 3: And that's not like, I mean, I don't think that's
Speaker 3: a crazy thing to put out there. It sounds like
Speaker 3: it now. But to be able to dominate that SMU
Speaker 3: team the way that you did, I mean, how can
Speaker 3: I I can't with a straight face look at the
Speaker 3: rest of the schedule here and say that every single
Speaker 3: one of these games are not games that you should win.
Speaker 3: They are these are games you should win. Doesn't mean
Speaker 3: it's gonna happen, but it's just it almost doesn't seem real.
Speaker 3: Like last night seeing rain Smith break taekwon Dean's record
Speaker 3: ten three point field goals made in a game. I
Speaker 3: mean unbelievable ten of seventeen from three last night for
Speaker 3: rain Smith. Taekwondan's record of nine was broken, of course
Speaker 3: with the ten, and I love that they were out
Speaker 3: there wanting to break those records, right. I loved that
Speaker 3: Pat Kelce not only was keeping these guys in to
Speaker 3: where they could potentially break some records, but they were
Speaker 3: gunning for it. I mean, it's not something that you know,
Speaker 3: it doesn't make this team any better, but like what
Speaker 3: it made me realize is that they understand that breaking
Speaker 3: that kind of a record at a place like Louisville
Speaker 3: is a pretty big accomplishment. That's a pretty impressive thing
Speaker 3: to have on your resume. And by the way, the
Speaker 3: two guys that had records broken last night just so
Speaker 3: happened to be two of the best players that have
Speaker 3: ever played here. So it's Taekwon Dean who had the
Speaker 3: three point record, and I feel like Taekwon has every
Speaker 3: three point record threes in a career, three's made in
Speaker 3: a game, three's made in a season, three is attempted
Speaker 3: in a career, three is attempted in a season. And
Speaker 3: in rain Smith, of course, when it comes to career,
Speaker 3: he's not going to be able to come close to
Speaker 3: Taekwon because Rain's only here one year. But as far
Speaker 3: as those records for single season, I mean, I think
Speaker 3: Rain's coming for him. He already broke the single game record.
Speaker 3: And what's awesome about rain Smith is that he could
Speaker 3: go off at any given night and get ten. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's not crazy.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 3: Expecting that to happen again is not realistic. And I
Speaker 3: don't anticipate they'll have another game where he makes ten,
Speaker 3: but like he could make six and it would just
Speaker 3: be another day at the office for him. And that's
Speaker 3: such a weapon that you have. The other record that
Speaker 3: was broke Chucky Hepburn. I mean, I remember thinking to myself,
Speaker 3: wait a second, Like Louisville, they've not they've not had
Speaker 3: a bucket, a basket, three point shot, layup, whatever. They
Speaker 3: have not scored where it wasn't from an assist. And
Speaker 3: I feel like Chucky has a lot of them. So
Speaker 3: sure enough, I pull up stat broadcast on my phone
Speaker 3: while I'm watching the game last night, and he's got
Speaker 3: eight assists very early in the game, and sure enough,
Speaker 3: he went to halftime none assists, and I'm thinking to myself, Okay,
Speaker 3: I mean non assist at halftime's crazy.
Speaker 2: Not assists in.
Speaker 3: A game overall in forty minutes of play is impressive.
Speaker 3: He had it in about fifteen minutes of action, seemingly,
Speaker 3: and I'm thinking, okay, can.
Speaker 2: He break this record?
Speaker 3: Like he'll have to play, you know, a lot in
Speaker 3: the second half, but he probably will, And you know,
Speaker 3: I wonder, I just I thought to myself, will.
Speaker 2: They even really like chase that? Because it's doable?
Speaker 3: But sixteen assists is a lot, And sure enough, Chucky
Speaker 3: gets seventeen, breaking Francisco Garcia's record of assists in a
Speaker 3: single game. So to do that in conference play against
Speaker 3: a team that, look, even if SMU doesn't end up
Speaker 3: making the big Dance, I mean, it's not like you
Speaker 3: did it against Bellerman or a you know, low level
Speaker 3: three hundred's net ranking team. You did it against an
Speaker 3: SMU team that was coming off of one hundred point
Speaker 3: performance against Miami and only had one loss in league play.
Speaker 3: I can't lie to you and tell you that after
Speaker 3: last night, I think SMU is good, but who knows,
Speaker 3: Maybe they are not good, but you know, maybe they
Speaker 3: are a bubble type team that finds their way in
Speaker 3: But Louisville was just able to flat out expose them
Speaker 3: and just you know, beat them that bad. So I
Speaker 3: just I can't get enough of this Louisville basketball team.
Speaker 3: And usually when it comes to how we remember teams,
Speaker 3: like down the line many year, like your legacy as
Speaker 3: far as teams, it's what you do in the tournament,
Speaker 3: and that'll never change, and I don't want it to.
Speaker 3: Like college basketball, it really is stupid if you think
Speaker 3: about it, not the sport.
Speaker 2: I love the sport, but.
Speaker 3: It's kind of stupid that if you have a phenomenal season,
Speaker 3: but yet you slip up early in a tournament that
Speaker 3: has sixty eight teams in the field, Like that's all
Speaker 3: people really remember. Now, if you make it a point
Speaker 3: to go back and reflect on a season and think
Speaker 3: about the good the bad like you remember it, it's
Speaker 3: not like it gets. It's not like men in Black
Speaker 3: where they put that thing in front of front of
Speaker 3: your eyes and zap you and you don't remember anything
Speaker 3: at all like you remember it. But like the lasting
Speaker 3: thing that sticks with any team is what they did
Speaker 3: in the tournament when it came to an end, or
Speaker 3: maybe you know, whenever they won it all, which of course,
Speaker 3: has only happened once in my lifetime. So we'll see
Speaker 3: what this team does. They've unfortunately showed that they can
Speaker 3: be a good enough team to wear fans. I think
Speaker 3: now not only expecting them to me may mean they're
Speaker 3: gonna make the tournament. Like there's no scenario I can
Speaker 3: see happening where they're not in the tournament, And I
Speaker 3: really think they've got a good chance to keep winning.
Speaker 3: And if they keep pounding these teams, they're gonna keep
Speaker 3: bumping up in the formula, the net, the kin palm
Speaker 3: and all that, and that of course gives them a
Speaker 3: better chance to get a good seed. So like, if
Speaker 3: you're in that position, which is where they're headed, they're
Speaker 3: probably gonna gonna get a good enough seed to where
Speaker 3: we're gonna maybe expect and maybe expects the wrong word,
Speaker 3: because you never know. But like Sweet sixteen, like that's
Speaker 3: kind of where I'm at right now, and I keep thinking, Okay,
Speaker 3: pump the brake, snick, what are we doing here?
Speaker 2: This is crazy? This team.
Speaker 3: Just a month ago it looked like they were not
Speaker 3: gonna be able to make the tournament. It took a
Speaker 3: Noah Waterman desperation falling over bucket to avoid a disastrous
Speaker 3: loss to EKU. But man, once she got to January
Speaker 3: here in twenty twenty five, things have changed, and I'm
Speaker 3: now gonna only think about this team and the way
Speaker 3: I've seen them since then, because they've been consistent and
Speaker 3: they just keep winning, and the likelihood of going undefeated
Speaker 3: is still just I mean meaning the rest of the way,
Speaker 3: it still just seems unlikely.
Speaker 2: But I mean maybe it's not.
Speaker 3: I mean the teams that they have played and beat
Speaker 3: in the last you know, really this month. I mean,
Speaker 3: take away Syracuse, who's not very good. Take away Virginia,
Speaker 3: who's not very good. I mean the other teams, Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3: You know, Carolina lost last night to Wake Forest. But
Speaker 3: Carolina has talent. I mean, they're always going to be
Speaker 3: a talented team. And I don't think they're bad. They're
Speaker 3: certainly not as good as they should be and as
Speaker 3: good as they typically are. But like they're doing this
Speaker 3: against teams that again, let me make sure I'm putting
Speaker 3: this out there the way I want to these teams
Speaker 3: that I'm just mentioning that Louisvill's knocked off like SMU, Pittsburgh, Clemson.
Speaker 3: I'm not telling you those teams are elite North Carolina.
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't think those teams are that good,
Speaker 3: but I'm just pointing out the fact that those are
Speaker 3: the best teams that you play in your league, and
Speaker 3: you've already gotten it out of the way, and I
Speaker 3: just think to expect them to win every game the
Speaker 3: rest of the way, although they might slip up, Like,
Speaker 3: I don't think you're you're out of line to expect that.
Speaker 3: So again, I'm almost in disbelief, Like I woke up
Speaker 3: this morning thinking did that really happen last night? I mean,
Speaker 3: it used to be something that I don't know. Maybe
Speaker 3: actually let me back up the records being broken, just
Speaker 3: the amount of the amount of points they scored, the
Speaker 3: domination that you can see within the stat sheet here
Speaker 3: or the box score. Like, I think, no matter what
Speaker 3: Louisville team, it was right, no matter what, no matter who,
Speaker 3: Like it could be a team that had preseason top
Speaker 3: ten ranking and was still top ten as of now.
Speaker 3: I think fans would still be really really excited about
Speaker 3: what they saw last night. But obviously you factor in
Speaker 3: that we haven't really had a game like that. I mean, again,
Speaker 3: two records that you know, if you'd have told me
Speaker 3: that those records would never be broke in my lifetime,
Speaker 3: I would have believed you, and both of them were
Speaker 3: broke last night in the same game. So again, what
Speaker 3: I was getting to when it comes to like how
Speaker 3: you remember it as a team, this team, like, I
Speaker 3: hope that regardless of what happens in the tournament. And
Speaker 3: this isn't like, hey, we shouldn't embrace expectations. We should
Speaker 3: just be happy to be there. That's not what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: But I think fans loved this team, maybe not more
Speaker 3: than they've loved any other team, but in a way
Speaker 3: they've never loved any other team, and it's just made
Speaker 3: it such a special and fun ride. And the only
Speaker 3: negative thing I'll say here as we wrap up our
Speaker 3: first segment.
Speaker 2: Is that we got to wait a week. They're off
Speaker 2: this weekend.
Speaker 3: They don't play again until next Tuesday, which will be
Speaker 3: an opportunity for them to take out one of the
Speaker 3: hottest teams in the ACC. I mean, there's still a
Speaker 3: bubble team that's on the outside looking in. It seems
Speaker 3: like wake Forest, but they're hot. They've got just one
Speaker 3: loss in league play. They beat Carolina last night, so
Speaker 3: they'll be playing Duke on Saturday. I think they're hosting Duke,
Speaker 3: so who knows. I doubt they beat Duke because I
Speaker 3: think Duke's playing insanely well right now, but I cannot
Speaker 3: I mean, I could be wrong. And I know Tuesday
Speaker 3: night's probably going to be freezing out because it's just
Speaker 3: been so cold around here lately. Like, I don't know
Speaker 3: what what the crowd's going to be like, and I'm
Speaker 3: not gonna get caught up in it one way or
Speaker 3: the other, because I mean I never do anyway. But
Speaker 3: I wouldn't be shocked if, like next Tuesday, just because
Speaker 3: of just the run this team is on, because there's
Speaker 3: there's you know, there's you're gonna have to wait a
Speaker 3: week to see him play, Like, I wouldn't be shocked
Speaker 3: if it's a sneaky, really good crowd, and I hope
Speaker 3: it is and it should be. And again if people
Speaker 3: don't go and I'm wrong and it's not a great crowd, whatever,
Speaker 3: it's not going to keep me from being happy about
Speaker 3: this team and and and you know, celebrating their success,
Speaker 3: because I mean, at this point, I have no reason
Speaker 3: to think they won't continue to be really successful. The
Speaker 3: rest of the way, and it's just it's awesome. Imagine
Speaker 3: where we were a year ago. I mean, in fact,
Speaker 3: I think it is exactly a year ago today. Something
Speaker 3: happened on this show. I'll tell you what it is
Speaker 3: on the other side. Also, we will open up the
Speaker 3: phone lines now if you guys want to give us
Speaker 3: a call. Mister radio Rick Ryder is with us today.
Speaker 3: So if you guys want to give us a call,
Speaker 3: you can. Five seventy nine hundred is the number. You
Speaker 3: can also text in on the Ellen and Federal Credit
Speaker 3: Union text line five h two six five three zero
Speaker 3: seven ninety. A lot to get into today, And I
Speaker 3: apologize for just, you know, doing nothing but Louisville hoops
Speaker 3: here in the first twenty minutes. But I think you know,
Speaker 3: you were probably expecting that right like that. That was
Speaker 3: probably something you were anticipating. And uh, I mean, I just,
Speaker 3: I mean, this is obviously what I do for a living,
Speaker 3: and I'm I'm very blessed to be in this position,
Speaker 3: and I'm a very very lucky guy. But you know,
Speaker 3: it is work, but it doesn't feel like it in
Speaker 3: a major way. I just want to walk up to
Speaker 3: strangers and talk about Louisville basketball.
Speaker 2: I was at Cracker Barrel this.
Speaker 3: Morning and I just, you know, I'm thinking this, this, this
Speaker 3: this family walking in. Maybe they just got off the
Speaker 3: Interstate on sixty five right there at the Brooks exit
Speaker 3: in Bullock County, and I'm thinking, you know what, they're
Speaker 3: probably just passing through. I want to go talk to
Speaker 3: him and sit down and say, hey, do you know
Speaker 3: have you heard about pack Kelset? What this guy's doing?
Speaker 3: Took over the job. The team was awful last year,
Speaker 3: we had the worst coach that ever existed, and now
Speaker 3: this guy's kicking ass. And they probably would have thought
Speaker 3: I was a psychopath and one be removed from the restaurant.
Speaker 3: But that like, I'm a psycho now for Louisville basketball.
Speaker 3: And it's and it's because I'm happy. It's because this
Speaker 3: is this is intoxicating. It's not because you know, I'm
Speaker 3: a lunatic, because I can't believe that that you know,
Speaker 3: we're terrible, which was which was the case two years straight,
Speaker 3: three years really if you think about it.
Speaker 2: But not anymore.
Speaker 3: And man, I'm loving every second of it. All right,
Speaker 3: quick break, don't go anywhere. We'll take you up till
Speaker 3: six o'clock and also, don't forget you could take us
Speaker 3: with you wherever you go. Listen live on the iHeart
Speaker 3: Radio app. Listen live at seven ninety Louisville dot com.
Speaker 3: It's Coffee and Company Field by Thornton's right here on
Speaker 3: Sports Talk seven ninety. So it was exactly a year
Speaker 3: ago today that I had Jeff Goodman college Basketball Insider.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think that's probably what he goes by
Speaker 3: his official title, but somebody, I mean, he's got better
Speaker 3: resources and access to information in college basketball honestly than
Speaker 3: anybody in my opinion, and he's pretty great at what
Speaker 3: he does. I understand why certain people don't like him.
Speaker 3: But Jeff has joined us on the show from time
Speaker 3: to time over the years. And it was a year
Speaker 3: ago today I had him on and we were talking
Speaker 3: about the coaching search, which technically the job was still
Speaker 3: was still taken by Kenny Payne, but we all knew
Speaker 3: that there was going to be a change made, and
Speaker 3: at that time there were a lot of names being discussed.
Speaker 3: Mick Cronin, I clearly was a big fan of of
Speaker 3: Jerome Tang, Dusty May. I'm trying to think back to
Speaker 3: which names we talked about the most. I kind of
Speaker 3: think those that's it, but I don't really remember. I'm
Speaker 3: sure I'm missing some that were talked about, and it's
Speaker 3: just because you at this point, it just seems crazy
Speaker 3: that you know that Pat Kelsey wasn't a name that
Speaker 3: we were really talking a lot about. But it was
Speaker 3: a year ago today when Jeff was on and I
Speaker 3: asked him, you know, outside of I think I asked
Speaker 3: him about Chris Beard. That's right, Chris Beard was somebody
Speaker 3: we talked about because of the uh, because of you know,
Speaker 3: the situation at Texas is the only reason why he
Speaker 3: is not still a Texas where you know, he's a
Speaker 3: guy that the only reason you would even be able
Speaker 3: to get him is because of what happened. So nonetheless,
Speaker 3: Goodman ended up recommending Pat Kelsey. And I'm really glad
Speaker 3: that I didn't, that I didn't laugh at him, but
Speaker 3: I also, you know, can't deny that I thought it
Speaker 3: was insane. I mean, I did, I remember kind of
Speaker 3: like in fact, if my memory is correct, this is
Speaker 3: how it played out. He mentioned Pat Kelsey, I let
Speaker 3: him continue to talk, and if I remember correctly, he
Speaker 3: talked about like all the things about Pat, that that
Speaker 3: that we're seeing every day now and we're realizing those
Speaker 3: are big time factors and why this is working, among
Speaker 3: other things. But like, you know, his energy, his work
Speaker 3: at that kind of stuff. Like I'm kind of just thinking, Okay,
Speaker 3: that's great, Like those things are important, but like Louisville
Speaker 3: needs to get a proven name and a proven winner
Speaker 3: because we're so bad now we can't take a risk
Speaker 3: on a guy who's never succeeded at this level. Like
Speaker 3: that was really my mindset. But sure enough, that's who
Speaker 3: Louisville ended up hiring. And I'm not sure if Jeff
Speaker 3: believed that Pat would be in the mix, because there's
Speaker 3: certain guys that he's that he's close to and I
Speaker 3: shouldn't say close to, because I don't know how close
Speaker 3: they are, but he knows Pat. Jeff lived in Charleston
Speaker 3: for a while when Pat was the coach there, and
Speaker 3: you know, there's certain guys you can tell that the
Speaker 3: Jeff has a relationship with to an extent, and Pat
Speaker 3: was one of them. So I'm not sure if he
Speaker 3: really believed that he'd be in the mix or not.
Speaker 3: I for he just wanted to throw him out there
Speaker 3: because he thought he would be a good fit here
Speaker 3: and he wanted to, you know, try to maybe just
Speaker 3: get that out there to where maybe he does get
Speaker 3: a shot. And Pat was the first coach that Josh
Speaker 3: heard talked to. I think it took place in DC maybe,
Speaker 3: and from then there was other conversations, obviously other candidates
Speaker 3: in the mix, but clearly there was something that Josh
Speaker 3: Hurd really liked about Pat Kelsey. And kudos to him
Speaker 3: because I know I've said this before and it's not worth,
Speaker 3: you know, mentioning over and over, but I'm telling you,
Speaker 3: if Louisville was in the same position, and I mean
Speaker 3: the same position, same roster, same record, like the only
Speaker 3: thing different is it's a different coach doing it, we'd
Speaker 3: still be happy, we'd still feel really good about where
Speaker 3: things are going. But I don't think it would be
Speaker 3: as enjoyable because you know, you can just tell Pat
Speaker 3: Kelsey is a guy that appreciates being here. And although
Speaker 3: we feel like anybody should appreciate being here, anybody, players, coaches,
Speaker 3: they should consider it a privilege every day of their
Speaker 3: life if they're able to represent this program, because you know,
Speaker 3: we're fans, we're full of our program.
Speaker 2: Like that that's what we do. We're fanatics.
Speaker 3: But to see it and feel that it is in
Speaker 3: fact genuine like that just makes it even more enjoyable.
Speaker 3: And I'm loving every minute of it. All right, it's
Speaker 3: coffee and company. We are feel about Thornton's here on
Speaker 3: Sports Talk seven ninety. Appreciate you hanging out with us.
Speaker 3: If you want to give us a call, you can
Speaker 3: five oh two five to seven one seventy nine hundred
Speaker 3: is the number phone lines are open. You can also
Speaker 3: text in on the Ellen and Federal Credit Union tax
Speaker 3: line five oh two six five three zero seven ninety one.
Speaker 3: Thing I did not mention in the first segment, which
Speaker 3: is just insane to say, but that's kind of what
Speaker 3: last night was like. Louisville is the only Division One
Speaker 3: team this century to have a player with ten threes
Speaker 3: and a player with fifteen or more assists in the
Speaker 3: same game. The last NBA team to do it was
Speaker 3: the Warriors, with Klay Thompson making ten three pointers and
Speaker 3: Steph Curry having fifteen assists on November twenty at the
Speaker 3: twenty twenty two And by the way, that's not a
Speaker 3: that's not a state that you really had to dig
Speaker 3: up something crazy to make it look impressive from a
Speaker 3: Louisville fan. That is a platform called Opta Stats that
Speaker 3: has over one hundred thousand followers on social media. So
Speaker 3: clearly Louisville having a dominant performance last night and the
Speaker 3: statistical breakdown that they came with it, I mean, it
Speaker 3: caught a lot of attention. And that's why you know,
Speaker 3: you can play a team that isn't necessarily great when
Speaker 3: it comes to I mean, like SMU, let's be real,
Speaker 3: they're not ranked and they probably have a much tougher
Speaker 3: time making the tournament after what happened last night. So
Speaker 3: like I'm not acting like they went out there and
Speaker 3: did it against you know, some insanely phenomenal team, But
Speaker 3: when you beat somebody down the way they did, I
Speaker 3: mean you can climb substantially. Louisville right now after last night,
Speaker 3: they're up to number let's see, Louisville now is up
Speaker 3: to number twenty two in the net and they're at
Speaker 3: twenty three in Ken Palm, so a pretty significant jump.
Speaker 3: They were right around the top thirty. I think they
Speaker 3: were twenty nine and thirty yesterday and now they're up
Speaker 3: to twenty two and number twenty three.
Speaker 2: So if you continue to.
Speaker 3: Win and win big, that's where when it comes to
Speaker 3: the metrics, Like, it's not just a win in the
Speaker 3: win column, it's a metric win where you're really going
Speaker 3: to get some benefit there. And I feel like they're
Speaker 3: not really trying to run up a score on anybody.
Speaker 3: But if they continue to win and win big, even
Speaker 3: if it's a bad team, you know that can help you. Now,
Speaker 3: I think you also need to keep that in mind
Speaker 3: as well, because you've got some some wins out there
Speaker 3: that you know, they're on the border right Like you've
Speaker 3: got like Florida State right now, Florida State is right
Speaker 3: around like the top seventy I think or seventy five,
Speaker 3: and they need to be there.
Speaker 2: They need to stay in the.
Speaker 3: Top seventy five for Louisville to be able to claim
Speaker 3: that that is a quad one win. Now, what I
Speaker 3: often wonder is if you've got three quad ones and
Speaker 3: they're all wins, that like maybe if there's another week
Speaker 3: in the season, you would have one quad win because
Speaker 3: they're barely you know, they're right there on the And
Speaker 3: by the way, quad ones are neutral site wins. Again, Well,
Speaker 3: I'll start at the beginning it's a home win against
Speaker 3: a team that's in the top thirty of the net.
Speaker 3: That's a quad one. A neutral site win against a
Speaker 3: team that's in the top fifty, that's a quad one.
Speaker 3: So think the West Virginia game, in the Indiana game
Speaker 3: in the Bahamas, and then a road win against the
Speaker 3: top seventy five team that gives you a that's also
Speaker 3: a quad one win. So right now Louisville has four
Speaker 3: quad one wins. Their best win I think as of
Speaker 3: right now, I mean, I mean, what is it. I
Speaker 3: guess it would be. I mean, their win against Oklahoma
Speaker 3: is currently Let's see where's Oklahoma at? Because I mean,
Speaker 3: when I think about the best team they've beat, I
Speaker 3: don't really know who it is, and I don't really care,
Speaker 3: to be honest with you. They've played a really tough schedule,
Speaker 3: and yes, the good teams, the teams that are in
Speaker 3: a little bit of a different tier compared to you know,
Speaker 3: the other teams that are qualifying quad win wins. For Louisville,
Speaker 3: you know, maybe if they played them again, it wouldn't
Speaker 3: go as well as I think it would.
Speaker 2: But my point is this.
Speaker 3: You need to really try to get value in the
Speaker 3: games against the bad teams as best you can. And
Speaker 3: I don't mean make it a quad one and there's
Speaker 3: no way you can control that, But what I mean
Speaker 3: is just beat them bad enough to where regardless of
Speaker 3: where it falls in the quadrant system, it's still going
Speaker 3: to give you some juice in the net rankings. So again,
Speaker 3: right now Louisville, so let's see, Florida State is at
Speaker 3: sixty six, So if they keep it under seven, if
Speaker 3: they stay within the top seventy five, that'll remain a
Speaker 3: quad one win. That's one that you really just don't know.
Speaker 3: Maybe Florida State loses to a couple of teams and
Speaker 3: it puts them in the eighties. SMU fell from thirty
Speaker 3: six to forty four last night, so they'd have to
Speaker 3: fall out of the top seventy five. Because again that's
Speaker 3: a road game, Carolina, that's no longer a quad one
Speaker 3: win because they're now sitting at thirty eight after last
Speaker 3: night Pittsburgh, they're sitting at thirty two. That's a quad
Speaker 3: one because they'd have to fall out of the top
Speaker 3: seventy five. And then the Umson game they're at thirty one.
Speaker 3: So if Clemson can get to thirty and stay within
Speaker 3: the top thirty, which I think they can. At that
Speaker 3: point you can claim that that wins a quad one win.
Speaker 3: So teams that I feel like we probably need to,
Speaker 3: you know, certain there's nothing you can do about it.
Speaker 3: You can't control it. But Oklahoma right now is sitting
Speaker 3: at number forty nine. I don't even know if I
Speaker 3: don't even know if Oklahoma plays tonight, but if they
Speaker 3: do and they lose, or maybe even if they win,
Speaker 3: like they're one or I guess they're two spots away
Speaker 3: from falling out of the top fifty. So maybe we
Speaker 3: wake up tomorrow, maybe they don't play tonight. Louislle, of course,
Speaker 3: has already played this week, then a plaguing until next week.
Speaker 3: Just because of what other teams are doing, Oklahoma could
Speaker 3: fall out of the top fifty, which means that's no
Speaker 3: longer a quad one win. So because these things are,
Speaker 3: you know, in the balance, like you may end up
Speaker 3: where a couple of these wins right now that are
Speaker 3: quad one, maybe they're not that on selection Sunday, And
Speaker 3: again you can't control that, but you might as well
Speaker 3: beat down these teams as best you can, especially they're
Speaker 3: really bad acc teams to where even if your quads
Speaker 3: don't look great and you don't have as many as others,
Speaker 3: you're still gonna have a good net and a good
Speaker 3: kin palm because of how you're playing. In fact, yeah,
Speaker 3: Oklahoma is Oklahoma's number forty nine, and then Indiana they're
Speaker 3: sitting at number sixty three, so that's a Quad two.
Speaker 3: And I don't anticipate that Indiana is going to jump
Speaker 3: up thirteen spots before the season ends. I could be wrong,
Speaker 3: and I hope that they do, because again, it could
Speaker 3: help Louisville. But yeah, right now, as it stands, Louisville
Speaker 3: has a Let's see, Louisville right now is sitting at four.
Speaker 3: The other four and five in Quad one games. So
Speaker 3: every loss they have is against is a Quad one game.
Speaker 3: So even though some of them were blowout losses, you know,
Speaker 3: they're not too bad teams. And they have four Quad
Speaker 3: one wins, which matches the amount they have in any
Speaker 3: of the quads one through four. So they're four and
Speaker 3: oh in Quad two, three and oh in Quad three
Speaker 3: and four and oh in quour So you know, just
Speaker 3: just comparatively speaking, teams ahead of Louisville, you've got Mississippi State,
Speaker 3: and you've got Gonzaga. I mean, Louisville has as many
Speaker 3: quad one wins as Mississippi State. They have two more
Speaker 3: than what Gonzaga has. And that's one of those things
Speaker 3: that like, I mean again, Louisville could could easily slip
Speaker 3: up and not have two of the quad one wins
Speaker 3: they have right now if teams start, you know, struggling
Speaker 3: that they've played. But now now now I'm in my
Speaker 3: own head here because what's happening is I'm thinking, Okay,
Speaker 3: maybe maybe we are getting a little ahead of ourselves
Speaker 3: when it comes to like seating, because yeah, they've got
Speaker 3: quad ones, but you know, not every quad one win
Speaker 3: is going to be valued the same way. Yes, it
Speaker 3: falls in the same quadrant system. However, you know, beating
Speaker 3: a team that is in the top five and beating
Speaker 3: a team on the road that's in the top seventy
Speaker 3: five closer to seventy five, like, those aren't.
Speaker 2: The same things. They're just not.
Speaker 3: All right, Let's go to the text line five O
Speaker 3: two six five three zero ninety. It's the L and
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Speaker 2: This tech says Nick.
Speaker 3: I keep thinking this team is going to hit a
Speaker 3: wall and come back down to reality. But it's not
Speaker 3: happened yet, and I have no reason to think that
Speaker 3: it's going to happen. I really do believe that they
Speaker 3: will finish the season without another loss. That's something that
Speaker 3: instincts kicking for me to tell me to have you
Speaker 3: calm down, pump your brakes. But I'm kind of with you,
Speaker 3: and it's it's because of both things. One, Louis was
Speaker 3: playing really basketball right now, and also, I mean, the
Speaker 3: rest of the schedule is what it is, and there's
Speaker 3: not a whole lot you know, you can you can
Speaker 3: do about it. I mean, there's nothing you can do
Speaker 3: about it, to be honest with you. But I mean, well,
Speaker 3: I'll save this for later because I don't have enough
Speaker 3: time left in this segment. But I'll just save it
Speaker 3: because I've noticed lately, whenever I realize that I don't
Speaker 3: have like enough time to really get into something the
Speaker 3: way I want to, I'll give like a brief tease
Speaker 3: and then it'll turn into where I just actually I
Speaker 3: just you know, I give you a worse version of
Speaker 3: the segment than I was, than I was than I
Speaker 3: was probably gonna do anyway, just because I wrote I'm
Speaker 3: just trying to speed through it. So anyways, what I
Speaker 3: want to get to coming up here on the other
Speaker 3: side will continue to take your calls and take your
Speaker 3: and retext.
Speaker 2: That come in.
Speaker 3: But I go back to Sunday night, where I was
Speaker 3: just so so bitter about the Raven's losing and how
Speaker 3: it happened, and Lamar once again having to have a
Speaker 3: long off season of hearing that yeah, he's a great
Speaker 3: regular season quarterback, but man, he's just not the same
Speaker 3: in the playoffs. Like that was such a painful feeling
Speaker 3: that I was thinking, Man, I hope Buffalo gets blown
Speaker 3: out by by Kansas City, which again I talked about
Speaker 3: this yesterday. I don't that tells you how much I
Speaker 3: want Lamar to be successful, because the Bills are a
Speaker 3: really likable team, a likable French I think, and the
Speaker 3: Chiefs are like the enemies. The Chiefs are like you know,
Speaker 3: I think everybody, if you don't have a team left
Speaker 3: and you're not a Chiefs fan, you're probably thinking the
Speaker 3: rest of the way here. Anybody but Kansas city, and
Speaker 3: I'm with you. So I'm now all in on the
Speaker 3: bills for obvious reasons. But there's one reason that I'll
Speaker 3: tell you about here on the other side that made
Speaker 3: me even a bigger fan of Buffalo at least you
Speaker 3: know the rest of the way. They're fan base, man,
Speaker 3: They're rare, and I mean that in a good way.
Speaker 3: All right, quick break, don't go anywhere. We'll come back
Speaker 3: and wrap up the three o'clock hour. We will also
Speaker 3: start off the four o'clock hour with the one and
Speaker 3: only Cel Brown of the Courier Journal get his thoughts
Speaker 3: on this team. Been a while since we talked to
Speaker 3: cl Obviously, we've had some weird weeks here so far
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty five with the schedule and with the
Speaker 3: weather and that kind of stuff. But we're getting back
Speaker 3: on track bringing in our regular guest and cl will
Speaker 3: join us at four h five, so stick around again.
Speaker 3: It's coffee and company. We are fel about Thornton's right
Speaker 3: here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
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Speaker 3: so the Ravens loss on Sunday night, I feel like
Speaker 3: overall was a collective effort, right. I mean, Lamar had
Speaker 3: his struggles, and I know acknowledging that even is tough
Speaker 3: for some Louisville fans, and it's just because you know,
Speaker 3: we want him to be successful so bad, and he
Speaker 3: I mean, I feel like I can say it because
Speaker 3: I'm one of you. Now, maybe you guys don't agree
Speaker 3: and don't see it the exact same way, but I
Speaker 3: know I'm not the only one that is in fact triggered.
Speaker 3: It's hard for people to sometimes admit when they're triggered.
Speaker 3: I'm triggered by people who try to run with things
Speaker 3: that I'm not even sure they believe, like that Lamar
Speaker 3: Jackson is not is not an elite legendary type quarterback
Speaker 3: because you know of the postseason stuff. Now, I'm not
Speaker 3: saying he's the best of all time, and I think
Speaker 3: you do probably have to have some more playoff success
Speaker 3: to be able to be included in that top tier.
Speaker 3: But anyways, like I'm triggered by Lamar and and and
Speaker 3: it's just a it's an unusual feeling as a fan
Speaker 3: because when it comes to the Ravens, man, I wanted
Speaker 3: them to win so bad, but only for him, So
Speaker 3: he was a factor in the struggle. Had he come
Speaker 3: out and not made some of those mistakes, who knows,
Speaker 3: maybe things would be different. But in the second half,
Speaker 3: really they got more comfortable, they settled in, and they
Speaker 3: had a chance to come to come back, and they
Speaker 3: did come back, they just you know, couldn't convert on
Speaker 3: the two point conversion. And Mark Andrews has been a
Speaker 3: really big target as far as where people are throwing
Speaker 3: all the blame and I get it. But Lamar Jackson
Speaker 3: last night, I'll play this for you guys in the
Speaker 3: in the five o'clock hour. Maybe maybe I'll do before then,
Speaker 3: but there is there's footage. I think this is from
Speaker 3: the Hard Knocks special they're doing on on the Division,
Speaker 3: the on on on the Ravens Division where they they
Speaker 3: have each week they give updates and follow the Ravens,
Speaker 3: the Bengals, the Browns and the Steelers, and I think
Speaker 3: that's where this clip surfaced. But it's it's a you know,
Speaker 3: being the great leader that he is and letting Mark
Speaker 3: Andrews know it's all of us, it's not just you know,
Speaker 3: it's not just one one guy. You know, we lose
Speaker 3: as a team, and you know, you know, basically trying
Speaker 3: to pick up his teammate, who knows he just had
Speaker 3: a drop that unfortunately, he'll probably remember forever. Unfortunately, it'll
Speaker 3: probably be a big factor when people talk about Mark
Speaker 3: Andrews for the rest of his career and even after,
Speaker 3: so just good to see that. But anyways, what I
Speaker 3: wanted to bring the reason I wanted to bring this
Speaker 3: up is because the Bills they do something that I
Speaker 3: don't know and I don't think any other fan base
Speaker 3: has ever done, at least not the way that they do.
Speaker 3: But they know how strong they are. They're an army,
Speaker 3: they are you know, they're they're they're deep. Right, Buffalo
Speaker 3: is not a huge market when it comes to professional
Speaker 3: sports here in America, but man, Bill's mafia, they're deep,
Speaker 3: they're passionate, and they seem like good people. Maybe when
Speaker 3: you see him, you know, throw in other fans through
Speaker 3: tables at tailgate spots where they've got you know, feet
Speaker 3: of snow on the like, maybe you wouldn't assume that
Speaker 3: those are the best people. But man, they just love
Speaker 3: their Bills and they have a lot of fun celebrating
Speaker 3: their Bills. And honestly, they celebrate and party regardless because
Speaker 3: they've been doing that long before the Bills became a
Speaker 3: good team. But they also will unite and raise a
Speaker 3: bunch of money for those in need, like charities, foundations,
Speaker 3: things like that, and they ended up I guess just
Speaker 3: because they felt bad for Mark Andrews for you know,
Speaker 3: having that kind of be the uh you know, I
Speaker 3: mean clearly that that's the play that people will remember
Speaker 3: on the Ravens side more than any from that game
Speaker 3: on Sunday. So I guess they felt bad for him.
Speaker 3: So what they decided to do was, I guess put
Speaker 3: the message out. I'm not sure how they communicate with
Speaker 3: each other other than other than you know, the Internet,
Speaker 3: but somehow the message got out and enough people stepped
Speaker 3: in to donate money to a charity that Mark Andrews
Speaker 3: is connected to and affiliated with. Yeah, this is from
Speaker 3: Bleacher Report says Bill's Mafia with a classy move. They
Speaker 3: donated to a charity Mark Andrews supports pushing to find
Speaker 3: a cure to type one diabetes. So the Bills fans
Speaker 3: have donated over forty five thousand dollars after his of
Speaker 3: course big drop in that divisional game. So again, like
Speaker 3: that's the power of a fan base that is so
Speaker 3: passionate using that power to do something good. And I
Speaker 3: remember the first time I think they did it, and
Speaker 3: maybe they did it before this and I just wasn't aware,
Speaker 3: but it was Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton ended up with
Speaker 3: the with the Bengals, of course, I mean they were
Speaker 3: not in the playoff race if my memory is correct,
Speaker 3: But if they were able to win, then it would
Speaker 3: mean the Bills get into the playoffs I think for
Speaker 3: like a really really long time. I mean, I don't
Speaker 3: know what the drought was for the Bills, but it
Speaker 3: was probably a long time. So there was a charity
Speaker 3: that Andy Dalton was really closely connected with, affiliated with
Speaker 3: if you will, and the Bills decided to step up
Speaker 3: and done it a bunch of money, basically thanking him, Hey,
Speaker 3: we really appreciate you coming through and winning and now
Speaker 3: we're in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: So here we go.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: There's more of this from.
Speaker 3: NFL dot Com says here that the Bill's fan Nicholas
Speaker 3: Howard kicked off a gofundmet back breakthrough t one D,
Speaker 3: a global Type one diabetes research organization that Mark Andrews
Speaker 3: has supported. Quote, as many of you know, Raven the
Speaker 3: Ravens Titan wasn't able to catch the game time two
Speaker 3: point conversion and upset Ravens fans. On top of that,
Speaker 3: the titand has been receiving death threats and nasty comments
Speaker 3: after his performance last night. We want Bill's Mafia to
Speaker 3: donate to March charity for Type one diabetes, and as
Speaker 3: of this morning, it's now above fifty thousand dollars. And
Speaker 3: Mark Andrews, I'm sure really appreciates that. So good stuff. Now, yeah,
Speaker 3: to go back, this is when it started, back in
Speaker 3: twenty eighteen, my memory was correct, it was Andy Dalton.
Speaker 3: Then I'm reading here again from NFL dot Com and
Speaker 3: says it's not the first time that the Bills have
Speaker 3: donated to the cause of a non Buffalo player. Back
Speaker 3: in January of twenty eighteen, Buffalo fans famously donated to
Speaker 3: the charity of former Sincenty, being a quarterback Andy Dalton
Speaker 3: had for his win over Baltimore helped Buffalo make its
Speaker 3: first playoff appearance in nearly two decades. So again, but
Speaker 3: Bill's Mafia continuing to show they will, uh, they'll support
Speaker 3: a good cause, you know, despite probably you know, and
Speaker 3: it's a passionate thing when it comes to being an
Speaker 3: NFL fan. I'm sure there's there's a nasty side of
Speaker 3: Bill's Mafia, for sure, but they also can can do
Speaker 3: good and you know, like that's just not something you
Speaker 3: see other fan bases do.
Speaker 2: And it's a good thing.
Speaker 3: Speaking of NFL fans, there is a documentary on Amazon
Speaker 3: Prime that I watched earlier today when I was on
Speaker 3: the treadmill. I haven't finished it just yet, but it's
Speaker 3: about a chief super fan who ended up, you know,
Speaker 3: being a bank robber and he was doing all this
Speaker 3: just just to just to fund this lifestyle of being
Speaker 3: an insanely obsessed Kansas City Chiefs fan who travels the
Speaker 3: country going to all the games. Well he was he
Speaker 3: was footing the bill for all those travel expenses by
Speaker 3: robbing banks and being a degenerate gambler. And it was
Speaker 3: just a fascinating and very odd look at super fans,
Speaker 3: like it's probably not worth making a segment or anything
Speaker 3: like that, but these fans of the Chiefs, there's a
Speaker 3: lot of them, and they're like they were interviewing the
Speaker 3: other fans that that were blown away to learn that
Speaker 3: the one of the one of the biggest fans that
Speaker 3: actually has a little bit of like fame and notoriety
Speaker 3: within the Kansas City Chiefs fan fan base, the Chiefs kingdom. Essentially,
Speaker 3: he was he wasn't who he said he was. He
Speaker 3: was out here Robin Banks. But you know, they're talking
Speaker 3: about how you get to that status as being a
Speaker 3: super fan, and you would think that they're talking about
Speaker 3: being an NFL All Pro player. Like there's a guy
Speaker 3: dressed up like an absolute lunatic, like paint in his face,
Speaker 3: like he's I mean, he's dressed up in in cosplayer,
Speaker 3: dressed up like he's, you know, being something for Halloween.
Speaker 3: And he's being interviewed in this documentary and he says,
Speaker 3: you know, sometimes you know, you can get to your head.
Speaker 3: You got to you gotta be humble, you gotta you
Speaker 3: gotta you know, you gotta, you gotta stay true. And
Speaker 3: I'm like, dude, you're not on the team man, Like
Speaker 3: I don't know if you are. I don't know if
Speaker 3: you have the reputation that you think you do. You know,
Speaker 3: it's one of those things, where are they laughing with
Speaker 3: you or at you? I mean, again, there are super
Speaker 3: fans that that you know, dress up and really go
Speaker 3: above and beyond, and that happens. And I'm not saying
Speaker 3: we should laugh at them, but to hear these fans
Speaker 3: act as if they're like as famous as the players,
Speaker 3: it was wild. But anyways, let's get to a quick
Speaker 3: break We've got two more hours to go. As we
Speaker 3: continue to roll along here, Seel Brown of the Courier
Speaker 3: Journal going to join us. Coming up here on the
Speaker 3: other side.
Speaker 2: Stick with us. It's coffee and company. Phil about Thornton's
Speaker 2: on Sports Talk seven ninety