Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick coffee.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get it start at five o'clock here
Speaker 2: on a game day Tuesday, Louisville, Syracuse tonight seven o'clock,
Speaker 2: Kentucky will be taken on Mississippi State at seven o'clock,
Speaker 2: and both teams favored here and both teams coming off
Speaker 2: wins that had some real value. I mean, Kentucky, they're
Speaker 2: gonna have a lot of chances to get wins with
Speaker 2: value in the SEC. But that Lass said Georgia, probably
Speaker 2: maybe there's a reason Kentucky was underdogs in that game.
Speaker 2: But they played well like they seemingly do pretty often,
Speaker 2: and that's a big win for him. And now they've
Speaker 2: got A and M at home, and A and M's
Speaker 2: without their best players. So I don't say that to
Speaker 2: try to discredit a potential win before it happens. But
Speaker 2: when you play in such a tough conference, I feel like,
Speaker 2: you know, you take advantage of the of the breaks
Speaker 2: that you get. And I don't think anybody wants way
Speaker 2: Taylor to be hurt, but clearly you could take advantage
Speaker 2: of him not being there about beating this team and
Speaker 2: here's something that can help that that that is another
Speaker 2: beneficial factors that despite him being hurt, the formulas don't
Speaker 2: know that, right, the net rankings don't know that you're
Speaker 2: taking on this A and M team without their best players.
Speaker 2: So Louisville much different situation. They're coming off a win
Speaker 2: where it was the win left on the schedule at
Speaker 2: that point that had the most value, and of course
Speaker 2: with that comes a real challenge. But they were able
Speaker 2: to get it done knocking off Pittsburgh. And if you
Speaker 2: can play the way you've played the last five games
Speaker 2: and just being in a position that you're in right now,
Speaker 2: you've now got a Syracuse game on the road where
Speaker 2: you are understandably favored by eight points, and there's a
Speaker 2: real level of expectation in regards to, yeah, you should
Speaker 2: win the game.
Speaker 3: You could lose.
Speaker 2: It wouldn't be the biggest shocker in college basketball. Certainly
Speaker 2: wouldn't be a humongous deal. But I think to us,
Speaker 2: and I guess to the credit of Louisville's team, Pat
Speaker 2: Kelcey and his crew, they've now put themselves in a
Speaker 2: position to where if they do have an off night.
Speaker 3: I hope nobody bails on them.
Speaker 2: I hope that the criticism and then the concern isn't
Speaker 2: next level, although wouldn't shock me if it is, because
Speaker 2: I know our fan base. But you know, they've played
Speaker 2: well enough to where this is. This is a weird game,
Speaker 2: but it's another sign meaning that, hey, they've shown how
Speaker 2: good they can be. We know who they are, we
Speaker 2: know who Syracuse is. It's January fourteenth, it's not late
Speaker 2: in the season, but it's damn sure not early. So
Speaker 2: with that, go take care of business, Go get a
Speaker 2: road win in conference play. And since we started the
Speaker 2: segment here in the five o'clock hour, there's been some
Speaker 2: movement or Louisville now favored by eight and a half
Speaker 2: against against Syracuse. It was within like the last five
Speaker 2: minutes Kentucky. They are seven point favorites in this matchup.
Speaker 2: And let me just check here again the net rankings.
Speaker 2: And I hate nerd adding nerding out on these numbers
Speaker 2: and saying formulas, Ken Palm, net ranking, all that stuff,
Speaker 2: but it matters.
Speaker 3: It does.
Speaker 2: And even if you don't agree with it, because I've
Speaker 2: been pretty vocal that I think the formulas out there
Speaker 2: they get referenced the most ken palm in the net.
Speaker 2: Although I look at them all the time, I factor
Speaker 2: in the net whenever whenever i'm making you know, a
Speaker 2: factor in ken palm quite a bit whenever I'm making wagers,
Speaker 2: and sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't, So you know,
Speaker 2: I reference them. But clearly there's not as much factored
Speaker 2: in when it comes to winning and losing games. And
Speaker 2: that's how you've been in this position to where you
Speaker 2: can be a team that's barely above five hundred overall,
Speaker 2: have a losing record in your league, but if you're
Speaker 2: competitive every night despite losing in a good league, you'll
Speaker 2: have a much better number than you should. But Syracuse
Speaker 2: right now, they are sitting at where are they, Syracuse?
Speaker 2: I'm still scrolling here. Damn, Syracuse is one forty seven
Speaker 2: in the net. They're eight and eight overall, and gosh,
Speaker 2: I'm still scrolling here. You got to go down to
Speaker 2: the So there's three hundred and sixty four teams here
Speaker 2: in Division one college basketball, and Boston College is the
Speaker 2: worst team in the.
Speaker 3: Net at nine and eight. Miami is next in line
Speaker 3: at they're four and twelve.
Speaker 2: So Boston College is at two twenty eight, Miami's at
Speaker 2: two oh nine, Virginia Tech is at one seventy six,
Speaker 2: Georgia Tech is one forty eight, and Syracuse is one
Speaker 2: forty seven. Virginia is at one thirty eight. So the
Speaker 2: bottom of the ACC is bad, real bad. So again
Speaker 2: qs is. I was thinking maybe q S could end up,
Speaker 2: you know, inching towards the top one hundred, and this
Speaker 2: would maybe be a quad two opportunity, But I don't
Speaker 2: think that's going to happen if you're entering well, if
Speaker 2: you're four games into conference play without any non conference
Speaker 2: games left, and you're eight and eight and one seven overall. Again,
Speaker 2: I stand by what I said a moment ago. We
Speaker 2: know who Syracuse is, so mean Louisville can go in
Speaker 2: there and play poorly and still win. We know that,
Speaker 2: But we also know that they should be able to
Speaker 2: take care of business and get another victory tonight. So
Speaker 2: I was not aware of this, but thank you to
Speaker 2: the text line for letting me know. Tonight on the
Speaker 2: call on the ACC network, you will have Eric Dievendorf
Speaker 2: as your color analyst, and I'm assuming Louisville fans listening
Speaker 2: know that name when I say Eric Dievendorf. You know
Speaker 2: who I'm talking about. Pretty a pretty memorable name, just
Speaker 2: because it's not that common, and he was a pretty
Speaker 2: memorable player for a variety of reasons. One, he was
Speaker 2: pretty good, but also, you know, he was he was
Speaker 2: kind of a villain, was he not?
Speaker 3: I mean, I feel like he was.
Speaker 2: I feel like he was a villain, one of those
Speaker 2: guys that was good enough to be arrogant at times,
Speaker 2: and a guy that you know, was a part of
Speaker 2: some good Syracuse teams. And I'm sure Syracuse fans loved him,
Speaker 2: but they understood why every other fan base didn't like him,
Speaker 2: just because you know how he played. But he's now
Speaker 2: in the broadcast world and he is going to be
Speaker 2: the color analyst, which I'm not surprised, Like I think,
Speaker 2: I don't know if the text that I got telling
Speaker 2: me that he was going to be on the broadcast,
Speaker 2: I didn't look to just confirm that that was correct.
Speaker 2: And you are correct, And I would imagine if it's
Speaker 2: something Louisville fans are discussing, maybe they're just acknowledging that,
Speaker 2: like he was a villain and now he's going to
Speaker 2: be on the call, or maybe they're claiming that he
Speaker 2: shouldn't be a part of the broadcast because he will
Speaker 2: not be able to be unbiased due to the fact
Speaker 2: that he played at CUES. I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't have much of a reaction to it. But
Speaker 2: I used to think that this was just something that
Speaker 2: would never end up happening. But if you are, I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm trying to think of other examples than just this one.
Speaker 2: But like Katie George, she is, she's I mean, she's
Speaker 2: clearly a big deal at ESPN for or colleague of
Speaker 2: ours here at seven to ninety and she's a part
Speaker 2: of ESPN's top coverage of sports, including the NFL, including
Speaker 2: college football. And she also is a huge part of
Speaker 2: volleyball for ESPN because you know, she was a volleyball
Speaker 2: star here at Louisville, so she's in that space and
Speaker 2: she gets to do Louisville games despite her being a
Speaker 2: U OFL alum. So Jay billis, he's always been able
Speaker 2: to do duke games from what I can tell, So
Speaker 2: I think it's like the top level. If you're you know,
Speaker 2: I think you get the benefit of the doubt that
Speaker 2: you're going to be professional and not let your favoritism
Speaker 2: play out in the broadcast. So again, there's probably more
Speaker 2: examples that I'm just blanking on. So I guess if
Speaker 2: it's you feeling like he shouldn't be able to do
Speaker 2: it because he's going to just be slobber and all
Speaker 2: over Syracuse, I mean get I get your concern, but
Speaker 2: typically those broadcasters that end up in these positions, they're
Speaker 2: well aware that they need to need to balance that
Speaker 2: and not be partial to one team. So I don't
Speaker 2: I knew that he was working for the ACC network,
Speaker 2: but I did not. I don't has he done it.
Speaker 2: I feel like he's done a Louisville game before and
Speaker 2: and I can't remember which one it was, So maybe
Speaker 2: we've had him before and he was fine. But now
Speaker 2: he's going to be on the call, and of course
Speaker 2: it's for his his alma mater. But I would be
Speaker 2: shocked if he's, you know, glazing Syracuse one, because as
Speaker 2: a former player, he can't be happy, he can't feel
Speaker 2: like they're in a good spot. In fact, if I
Speaker 2: was Deevendorf, and look, maybe they play well tonight beat Louivell,
Speaker 2: I hope that doesn't happen. But if I was Deevendorf.
Speaker 2: My my worry would be about not being, you know,
Speaker 2: a Homer. But if in fact this QS team shows
Speaker 2: up tonight and they're the same Q's team they've been
Speaker 2: and they maybe get blown out or something, I would
Speaker 2: have a hard time in his position not making it
Speaker 2: clear that I'm upset, which again is the same thing.
Speaker 2: But the opposing fans would not care, and the fans
Speaker 2: of Syracuse would probably support him and agree with him,
Speaker 2: so it wouldn't be as big of a deal. But
Speaker 2: if if bias is showing and it's because they're loving
Speaker 2: on the opponent, it would make the other fan base
Speaker 2: certainly feel a certain way. But yeah, it's it's more
Speaker 2: so common than I would have ever expected. And again
Speaker 2: I think if you're in that position in broadcasting, they
Speaker 2: assume that you'll be able to handle that, although there's
Speaker 2: also really no scenario, Like there are some announcers you
Speaker 2: probably could guess, but you wouldn't really know if they
Speaker 2: have root like you would never know if they have
Speaker 2: rooting interests. You would never know when they sit down
Speaker 2: to call a game if in their mind they have
Speaker 2: a preference in who wins or loses. But they're humans,
Speaker 2: they probably do to an extent. So you know, like
Speaker 2: with these situations where you've got Dieveendorf or Billis, you
Speaker 2: know that their preference is that they they it's impossible
Speaker 2: for them to be truly like who cares. Now, you
Speaker 2: can still do your you can have rooting interest and
Speaker 2: do your job and be objective and not make it
Speaker 2: sound like you care about either team. But the question
Speaker 2: is is already answered with certain athletes because again they
Speaker 2: are a part of said program. They if you end
Speaker 2: up being a broadcaster calling a game for the sport
Speaker 2: you played, you know what, that probably means you were
Speaker 2: really good at that sport. So you know you clearly
Speaker 2: care about the program. But you can still do your
Speaker 2: job effectively, and and you know it's no big issue
Speaker 2: in fact, Billis to me, and maybe I'm wrong here, Bill,
Speaker 2: and I still think Jay billis Is is good at
Speaker 2: what he does.
Speaker 3: And I'm I'm I'm not. I don't know if I
Speaker 3: would say I'm like a big fan of J. Billis.
Speaker 2: I mean, I like him well enough, but like he's
Speaker 2: kind of become miserable at times. And I think we
Speaker 2: used to think him complaining about officiating and reviews and
Speaker 2: about the nc DOUBLEA. It used to be edgy billis
Speaker 2: like he's not afraid to call him out and and
Speaker 2: I don't know why. I don't know why, but like
Speaker 2: now it just kind of sounds like, all right, dude,
Speaker 2: we get it, we get it. You don't respect the NCAA. Geez,
Speaker 2: can we give you the one eight hundred number to
Speaker 2: leave a message that you're unhappy? Like we don't want
Speaker 2: to hear about it NonStop during the game. I feel
Speaker 2: like that's been the shift to an extent. It used
Speaker 2: to be like, oh yeah, this guy will tell you
Speaker 2: that's a bad call, and now we're like, come on, billis, geez,
Speaker 2: we get it. So he's always been, I think, really
Speaker 2: good at what he does. He's just kind of become
Speaker 2: not annoying, but just I don't know, it's a little stale,
Speaker 2: I suppose, but when it comes to others that are
Speaker 2: in this position, he's clearly one of the best. But
Speaker 2: I feel like I can like I'll never know, so
Speaker 2: maybe this is just me giving myself credit for something
Speaker 2: I'll never be able to actually prove that I can do.
Speaker 2: But I feel like I would know that Billis had
Speaker 2: a duke affiliation by listening to him consistently called Duke
Speaker 2: games if I was completely unaware of his resume. And
Speaker 2: it's not because he's he's gushing, because because he's careful,
Speaker 2: like he will at times make it clear and say
Speaker 2: something that maybe a Duchy would be upset about. It's
Speaker 2: probably true, but he'll he'll take advantage of giving you
Speaker 2: an example of where he'll he'll say that maybe Duke
Speaker 2: got a favorable call or something like that. But then
Speaker 2: he'll also at times and just how he says it
Speaker 2: to where I can tell like he's not so happy
Speaker 2: with something that went against Duke, or or he'll do
Speaker 2: at times lightly what I just mentioned you may see
Speaker 2: from Debendorf if of course, you know he slips up,
Speaker 2: and that is that like when Duke is not playing
Speaker 2: well and Duke is struggling, or a player like Jay
Speaker 2: Billis took it personal when Grayson Allen was out there
Speaker 2: tripping people, right, because you know, anybody who supports that
Speaker 2: is a loser, and I don't think anybody does. But
Speaker 2: if there was going to be somebody defending Grayson Allen
Speaker 2: and his addiction to tripping people, it would be Duke fans,
Speaker 2: because you know it's their guy.
Speaker 3: I get it.
Speaker 2: Billis though, like he's having to talk about it and
Speaker 2: he's embarrassed. He wouldn't be embarrassed about it as much
Speaker 2: or mabe at all if it's any other program. So yeah,
Speaker 2: we've got ACC Network tonight, and it looks like the.
Speaker 3: Let's see it looks like.
Speaker 2: Who's the play by play Doug Sherman, So Doug Sherman
Speaker 2: and Eric Devendorf tonight. This question came in on the
Speaker 2: text line earlier and I totally missed it, and I'm
Speaker 2: glad I was just scrolling through here and found it
Speaker 2: because it's a good question, and I'm buying some time
Speaker 2: here to try to give you an answer. But the
Speaker 2: question is, well, I guess the text was. Nick helped
Speaker 2: me out. My buddy and I at work are in
Speaker 2: an argument. He claimed Syracuse is a mini rival of Louisville.
Speaker 3: Do you agree? I think I'll put it this way.
Speaker 3: I think we use the.
Speaker 2: Word rival and rivalry, which, of course you know we
Speaker 2: know what it means. Those are technically two different words,
Speaker 2: but we use that way too loosely. Because you could
Speaker 2: have history with a program, you cannot like them more
Speaker 2: so than another team. Maybe there's a team you don't
Speaker 2: really care about. Beating them is like beating anybody else
Speaker 2: other than your rival. But like, you can have history
Speaker 2: and you can dislike a team. But I think again,
Speaker 2: we use that way too loosely because I have, like,
Speaker 2: I have no energy or emotion towards anything with Syracuse
Speaker 2: basketball at all. I don't wish that they stink. Certainly
Speaker 2: don't wish that they succeed. I don't have any real
Speaker 2: care about them. But yes, Louisville does in fact have
Speaker 2: history like they've had some. In fact, we see if
Speaker 2: I can pull up the game notes here, because I
Speaker 2: would imagine historically speaking that the all time record between
Speaker 2: these two teams is pretty competitive. And I think Patino
Speaker 2: and Beheim, their connection, their history together, I feel like that,
Speaker 2: you know, that was a talking point in the ACC.
Speaker 2: So there's history. It's been competitive usually. Beating them is
Speaker 2: valuable this year not so much, to be fair, than
Speaker 2: beating us recently wasn't super valuable as well. So you know,
Speaker 2: I don't have the number in front of me as
Speaker 2: far as yeah, here he goes says, I'm looking at the
Speaker 2: lois of game notes, and it doesn't give me anything
Speaker 2: specific about the Syracuse matchup here. I know there's something
Speaker 2: out there, I just don't I don't have it in
Speaker 2: front of me, but I'm dying to know what.
Speaker 3: Yeah, here we go, Here we go. Dana Brown, how
Speaker 3: about her?
Speaker 2: She's the sid for UL basketball, took over for Zach
Speaker 2: Greenwell who left us to go to LSU.
Speaker 3: But she's doing a great job.
Speaker 2: And I found her game notes, and again, this is
Speaker 2: where I just got to get better. I am stuck on,
Speaker 2: not being able to move on until I actually see
Speaker 2: a number that is really not relevant to the conversation,
Speaker 2: that really isn't even relevant to the show. It's useless
Speaker 2: information at this point, but I can't let it go.
Speaker 2: I'm dying to find out what the all time record
Speaker 2: is between these two teams when they play each other,
Speaker 2: and it's in here somewhere. But regardless, what I was
Speaker 2: getting at is, despite there being history and despite there
Speaker 2: used to be a game where there'd be a lot
Speaker 2: of value, I don't feel any rivalry energy emotion to
Speaker 2: where I would say there are a mini rival or
Speaker 2: any type of rival at all. I think Kentucky and
Speaker 2: Louisville are such big rivals within with each other that
Speaker 2: anybody that you loosely call a rival. I mean it's
Speaker 2: on another planet, you know, in a lower level compared
Speaker 2: to the rivalry that you have, like when you have
Speaker 2: a big time rival, especially when you're around here in
Speaker 2: Louisville where we all coexist together and there's so many
Speaker 2: Louisville fans, there's so many Kentucky fans. You probably are
Speaker 2: related to somebody from the other side. You might work
Speaker 2: with somebody from the other side, you might have you
Speaker 2: might have had kids with somebody from the other side,
Speaker 2: and you know, like trust me, we were all. That's
Speaker 2: why I think that it's so special and different here
Speaker 2: than anywhere else in the state of Kentucky, you're really anywhere.
Speaker 2: It's because there's so many of both sides here, So
Speaker 2: when it's that heavy, I rarely ever even think of
Speaker 2: any other program that is technically considered a rival to me,
Speaker 2: I just don't think of them that way. But like
Speaker 2: Cincinnati is a rival in basketball, Memphis is a rival historically.
Speaker 3: But not in alone long time.
Speaker 2: And then outside of that, like you had like Marquette,
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like there was some rivalry energy
Speaker 2: there from a basketball standpoint, But again, those are nothing
Speaker 2: close to Kentucky. So I don't, you know, like people
Speaker 2: used to say that Louisville and Clemson there was like
Speaker 2: a they were a rival like that kind of died quickly,
Speaker 2: my memory is correct, but it used to come up
Speaker 2: and it would irritate me because I would think, why
Speaker 2: are we rivals? Like we've never beat them until this year.
Speaker 2: Same thing Wake Forest. I don't know where that thing.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's not.
Speaker 2: Exactly a good look for Louisville football to claim that
Speaker 2: they ar rivals with Wake Forest. You don't want to
Speaker 2: rival with a program of the wake Forest level. But
Speaker 2: I guess because of the history, because of you know,
Speaker 2: when I say history, I think everybody knows what I'm
Speaker 2: referring to. But obviously they played in the Orange Bowl.
Speaker 2: There was the Waking League situation, there was the Matthew
Speaker 2: Colburn situation. The kid who got gray shirted by Bobby
Speaker 2: went to Wake and led us up. I mean, there,
Speaker 2: you know, there's history to an extent, But like that
Speaker 2: doesn't make them a rival Virginia, Like I don't. I
Speaker 2: kind of feel like somebody said Virginia was a rival
Speaker 2: one time.
Speaker 3: They're not.
Speaker 2: I mean in basketball, they have got our number they've
Speaker 2: been a thorn on our side. But there I mean,
Speaker 2: And I'll give you an example. Tennessee and Kentucky are
Speaker 2: close to each other. That's the only layer between the
Speaker 2: two that gives them any ability to claim.
Speaker 3: That their rivals.
Speaker 2: I guess if you're in southern Kentucky and you live
Speaker 2: near Tennessee the border, then I guess it's the same thing.
Speaker 2: There's probably a lot of Kentucky fans and Tennessee fans together,
Speaker 2: but Tennessee doesn't consider you arrival. They consider Alabama the
Speaker 2: arrival or Vandy even I guess actually Tennessee considers Alabama,
Speaker 2: and I feel like there's somebody else in the SEC
Speaker 2: that they claim to be a bit like. So I
Speaker 2: think for any rivalry to be truly a rivalry in
Speaker 2: my eyes, And again, I'm sure people see it differently,
Speaker 2: and that's fine. I'm not the ultimate decider on how
Speaker 2: this works, but I think it makes sense.
Speaker 3: It's got to be a two way street. It's gotta be.
Speaker 2: And I don't even mean from a competitive standpoint, that
Speaker 2: certainly helps, right, there's no doubt Louisville needs to be
Speaker 2: a little more competitive in the rivalry in basketball, and
Speaker 2: you know, we all know that, but it's a two
Speaker 2: way street in regards to the hatred, and that's what
Speaker 2: makes it a rival. That's what makes it a great rival,
Speaker 2: that's what makes it one of the best. So, you know,
Speaker 2: with all that said, I don't. I don't think that
Speaker 2: Syracuse fans think much about Louisville, and I know I don't. Again,
Speaker 2: your buddy, I'm gonna say that if again, I don't
Speaker 2: know if you yeah, I think you were on. I
Speaker 2: think I gave you the answer you were wanting for.
Speaker 2: I don't know if your buddy cares or not. I
Speaker 2: think I get where he's coming from as far as
Speaker 2: the history, but as far as Syracuse.
Speaker 3: Being a mini rival, I don't.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't claim that they are, and I don't if
Speaker 2: I'm claiming many rivals, it's actual rivals, but they're just
Speaker 2: so far and away different than Kentucky. And those are
Speaker 2: the schools I mentioned, Cincinnati, Marquette, Memphis, maybe West Virginia.
Speaker 2: So I hope, I hope my answered. You know, you
Speaker 2: helped your argument with your buddy. I doubt you can
Speaker 2: bring this to him and he'll say, Okay, well, I'll
Speaker 2: admit it. Nick Coffee said it, so I was wrong.
Speaker 2: I'm sure he'll probably make his own case, and you
Speaker 2: know he has every right to do that. And speaking
Speaker 2: of rivals, this this story, this is a little bit old,
Speaker 2: but it's got me thinking because I think, honestly, when
Speaker 2: it comes to college basketball, the most comparable rival to
Speaker 2: Louisville Kentucky is Xavier Cincinnati. Seriously, I think it is.
Speaker 2: And Duke and Carolina will always be viewed as the
Speaker 2: best and biggest rivalry in college basketball, and I get it.
Speaker 2: I can't really argue against that because when it comes
Speaker 2: down to it, North Carolina and Duke are two of
Speaker 2: the best programs in the history of the sport. They
Speaker 2: have a ton of accolades, they're clearly rivals, and they've
Speaker 2: been both super successful. And the competitiveness, I mean, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna pull it up here because the time record between
Speaker 2: North Carolina and Duke and basketball just a few years ago,
Speaker 2: they played countless times and it was like fifty to fifty,
Speaker 2: like they'd split it. And that's just I mean, that's
Speaker 2: that's crazy. Or actually, I'm sorry, let me back up.
Speaker 2: North Carolina still holds the edge one forty three to
Speaker 2: one seventeen, but in the past fifty years. Yeah, in
Speaker 2: the past fifty years. This was from February of last year.
Speaker 2: In the last fifty years, Duke and Carolina have split
Speaker 2: their one hundred and fourteen meetings, with each having fifty
Speaker 2: seven wins to fifty seven losses. Again, that is why
Speaker 2: that is. You know, it's super competitive. They're always really
Speaker 2: good in their huge programs. Like that's why they're always
Speaker 2: going to have the edge over Louisville Kentucky, and I
Speaker 2: don't have a problem with it, but I think what
Speaker 2: makes the rivalry what it is is fans, not history.
Speaker 2: I mean, history is a part of it, but like
Speaker 2: fans are the ones who really players in college don't
Speaker 2: decide what a rivalry is. They don't stick around that long. Right,
Speaker 2: Maybe there's history between the two teams, but like teams
Speaker 2: change over the years, it's the fans that make it
Speaker 2: a rivalry. The energy and the emotion from a fan
Speaker 2: is what makes rivalries exist, and they clearly have that there.
Speaker 2: But I just think we're on a different level for
Speaker 2: a variety of reasons. But again I'm biased, but Xavier
Speaker 2: and Cincinnati is really really intense, and that's those aren't
Speaker 2: as big a programs. But man, that's I think you
Speaker 2: don't even have to follow college basketball that closely to
Speaker 2: know that. And the reason I bring them up is
Speaker 2: because it's one of the old time rivalry troll moves
Speaker 2: that it's just so elite. I mean, I got to
Speaker 2: tip my cap to Xavier here. So apparently there was
Speaker 2: a middle school here in Kentucky, I believe in Taylor
Speaker 2: County that got sent a cease and assist in regards
Speaker 2: to their logo. I guess they're the bear Cats and
Speaker 2: Cincinnati told them that they can't use that logo because
Speaker 2: of copyright. And that's not that uncommon. But when I
Speaker 2: understand you can you can sign something acknowledging that, you know,
Speaker 2: like it's just a paperwork kind of thing to where
Speaker 2: Cincinnati is gonna give you the pass and tell you
Speaker 2: that one you're good. We don't believe we're going to
Speaker 2: lose value of our logo because you're middle school in Kentucky.
Speaker 2: Or they can say you're good, but you have to
Speaker 2: make this change or that change. Well, apparently Cincinnati told
Speaker 2: them they needed to change something, and this middle school
Speaker 2: did not have the resources to go through, you know,
Speaker 2: updating their logo. So they just decided to say, let's
Speaker 2: let's rebrand and start from scratch. We don't you know,
Speaker 2: that'll be easier than having to you know, because what
Speaker 2: they'd have to do is not only not only would
Speaker 2: they have to just make a correction to a graphic
Speaker 2: in regards to what they can show as far as
Speaker 2: the bear cats, they'd also have to like no longer
Speaker 2: use any gear that had the previous version of their
Speaker 2: bear cat. So like, it wasn't just an easy thing
Speaker 2: to do. If they'd have told them they were good,
Speaker 2: then it would have been fine. So I don't even
Speaker 2: know if they fought back, but it became a thing,
Speaker 2: and you know who found out about it, Xavier. So
Speaker 2: Xavier gave them some kind of an investment to help
Speaker 2: them with their rebrand. When it comes to guess resources
Speaker 2: that needed, right cost and graphics, and I mean probably
Speaker 2: a lot that goes into it. Xavier foot of the
Speaker 2: bill and made this middle school. Now the Musketeers just
Speaker 2: like Xavier, and they did it, of course, you know,
Speaker 2: to spite their rival. And that's that's great rivalry heat
Speaker 2: right there. Man's that's even if you're Cincinnati, you tip
Speaker 2: the cap there and you feel you feel a level
Speaker 2: of like camaraderie, like all right, yeah, score one of
Speaker 2: those guys. We'll get them back and we'll be even
Speaker 2: better because that's how much we hate each other like it.
Speaker 2: It's kind of crazy, at least I think it is.
Speaker 2: But anyways, let's get to a quick break. I'm a
Speaker 2: one man operation right now, so I just realized, oh yeah,
Speaker 2: I probably need to get to commercial break soon. It's
Speaker 2: five twenty seven, So anyways, we will take a quick
Speaker 2: time out come back on the other side. Keep this
Speaker 2: thing rolling along. A lot more to get into, so
Speaker 2: stick with us. Right here, it's Coffee and Company. Phil
Speaker 2: about Thornton's on Sports Talk seven to ninety.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Coffee and Company with Nick Coffee on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 2: That's right, it is Coffee and Company. We got about
Speaker 2: twenty five minutes left here on a Tuesday afternoon, a
Speaker 2: cold Tuesday. In fact, it's getting dark outside. It's probably
Speaker 2: evening in the eyes of most now, but it is
Speaker 2: cold and it's going to be even colder tomorrow, which
Speaker 2: I feel like today, and I guess even even yesterday
Speaker 2: at times like it felt way colder than it was
Speaker 2: when we had all that snow, so stay warm today.
Speaker 2: I was on sixty five right before I got to
Speaker 2: I'm really good at getting anywhere I need to go downtown,
Speaker 2: especially for some who you know, didn't spend a lot
Speaker 2: of time downtown growing up or anything like that. But
Speaker 2: I'm so bad at knowing the name of the streets.
Speaker 2: I can give you, Muhammad Ali, I know Brook Street,
Speaker 2: but I don't know where I was. But I was
Speaker 2: getting ready to get off whatever exit I get off of,
Speaker 2: and there was a vehicle to my right that was
Speaker 2: slightly behind me, and I put my blinker on, and
Speaker 2: you know that was they acknowledged the blinker and they
Speaker 2: were going to do one of two things, slow down
Speaker 2: and let me over stay where they were. I guess
Speaker 2: three things, slow down and let me over, speed up
Speaker 2: and get out of my way and let me over,
Speaker 2: or be an a hole and just kind of, you know,
Speaker 2: block me. But they sped up and it was a
Speaker 2: decent I mean, it was a new ish vehicle. I
Speaker 2: don't think it was brand new. It was like a
Speaker 2: white I want to say, maybe like a mid size suv.
Speaker 2: I think it was a Hyundai. And it looked like
Speaker 2: a newer vehicle. And they had the window in the
Speaker 2: back seat on the driver's side down and the window
Speaker 2: on the on the passenger seat in the front down.
Speaker 2: I noticed it once when she sped past me and
Speaker 2: let me over. I know, I noticed that the back
Speaker 2: window was down on the driver's side, and then once
Speaker 2: I got over.
Speaker 3: And I got off the exit, I saw the other side.
Speaker 3: So this is it's been.
Speaker 2: It drove me crazy, thinking there's got to be a
Speaker 2: malfunction here, Like nobody would choose to have the windows
Speaker 2: down in this weather, and nobody would choose for those.
Speaker 3: Windows to be down, So.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's I'm probably something nobody else would have given
Speaker 2: any thought or even noticed. But it made me think, like,
Speaker 2: if you're driving with the windows down, it has to
Speaker 2: be because there's something wrong with your window and it's broke,
Speaker 2: because I mean, you would freeze to death. I mean
Speaker 2: not literally, but like who would want to do that?
Speaker 2: Like there are some people who don't have air don't
Speaker 2: have air conditioning in the car when it's one hundred
Speaker 2: degrees outside, and obviously that that stings, and if their
Speaker 2: windows are down, you're assuming that they have no AC
Speaker 2: and that's that's that's what they're doing to you. Know,
Speaker 2: not suffocate inside a hot car with no AC in
Speaker 2: the middle of the summer. But when I see it
Speaker 2: be you know, when it's when it's a bazillion degrees outside,
Speaker 2: and it would it would be a rare situation for
Speaker 2: like a Newish car to not I AC. It could
Speaker 2: be broke, I suppose, But like when people choose windows
Speaker 2: down in the extreme conditions. But and it's a choice thing,
Speaker 2: like I just I'll never understand it. It also makes
Speaker 2: me realize I'm really soft because I know back in
Speaker 2: the day there wasn't heat in AC in vehicles. In fact,
Speaker 2: some homes didn't have it. So I'm very fortunate and
Speaker 2: I guess spoiled to have had those amenities. And I
Speaker 2: went one summer without having AC in my car, and
Speaker 2: I was probably like twenty two, twenty three years old,
Speaker 2: and it was I mean, it was a time in
Speaker 2: my life where I had just gotten started in a
Speaker 2: career that I'm not in now, and I was getting
Speaker 2: married and I felt like, Okay, I've become a grown
Speaker 2: up here, like grown up things are happening to an extent,
Speaker 2: and I need to be responsible with purchases. I need
Speaker 2: to be responsible with money. I need to, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean, we moved into a house, we had a mortgage,
Speaker 2: but like I knew, I needed to do something to
Speaker 2: put myself in a situation where financially I could get
Speaker 2: a different car because I couldn't do it anymore. And
Speaker 2: trust me, I'm not doing a pity me because I'm
Speaker 2: sure there are people listening right now that have that.
Speaker 2: Maybe they've never had a vehicle with AC, so like,
Speaker 2: I get it, I'm soft.
Speaker 3: I'm a diva in the eyes of some.
Speaker 2: But here's why it was even worse for me than others,
Speaker 2: because of the car. I had, a Mitsubishi Eclipse two
Speaker 2: was it a two thousand and one or something, and
Speaker 2: it was a convertible and nobody told me until like
Speaker 2: I got rid of the car that everybody thought that
Speaker 2: was like a super like that's a that's.
Speaker 3: A girl car. And I never even thought of it.
Speaker 2: But you know what, once somebody told me that, I
Speaker 2: was like, you're right, nine out of ten people I'll
Speaker 2: see driving this kind of vehicle, it's a woman. But anyways,
Speaker 2: I liked it when I got it, and you know,
Speaker 2: the AC went out. Wasn't going to pay to get
Speaker 2: it fixed because I knew eventually I would just want
Speaker 2: to get a new car.
Speaker 3: But it was a convertible.
Speaker 2: It had black leather, It had a rag top like
Speaker 2: a like a soft top, which was also black. And
Speaker 2: because it's a small car, like, the windows are tiny.
Speaker 2: So if I was with no AC and it's one
Speaker 2: hundred degrees outside, I could leave the windows down and
Speaker 2: the top up, but then I'm just baking with that
Speaker 2: black leather top or whatever.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I don't know what the material was, but obviously, I
Speaker 2: mean it was. It made it even hotter. And because
Speaker 2: of how small the windows were, there's no wind coming in,
Speaker 2: Like there's no I mean, there's there's ventilation, but like
Speaker 2: I'm not getting anything from the wind because of just
Speaker 2: how small the car is, So that sucked. Or I
Speaker 2: could take the top down and if the sun's out,
Speaker 2: I'm just sitting there baking on black leather. I mean
Speaker 2: it was Again, I know it sound like a poor
Speaker 2: me guy, but it was a time in life where
Speaker 2: I'm like, you'll you'll work hard, Dick, and you'll be
Speaker 2: able to no longer, you know.
Speaker 3: Be in this position at some point. But eventually I did.
Speaker 2: I got rid of that car, and since then, I've
Speaker 2: I've been blessed to be able to have heat in
Speaker 2: the cold winter and uh ac in the in the warm,
Speaker 2: warm summers that we get around here. All Right, we
Speaker 2: talked earlier about sports gambling, and I was just sharing
Speaker 2: sort of what I've been doing lately when it comes
Speaker 2: to betting on college basketball, I've been really interested in
Speaker 2: betting on games live, which was new to me, and
Speaker 2: a lot of you on the text line have let
Speaker 2: me know that you only bet live games, and I
Speaker 2: get it. I mean, I don't know why you would
Speaker 2: only do it, but I used to not even touch
Speaker 2: a game if I if it had already started, and
Speaker 2: I will now, like if I knew that there was
Speaker 2: a certain line that clearly is going to be different now,
Speaker 2: then I'll stay away. And there's nothing worse than knowing
Speaker 2: that you just missed the bet and you would have
Speaker 2: got the line that you knew was going to be
Speaker 2: a good play for you, and then clearly the game started.
Speaker 2: They they've adjusted and now you know you're kind of screwed.
Speaker 2: But when it comes to athletes getting getting in trouble,
Speaker 2: getting caught doing things they're not supposed to be doing,
Speaker 2: there have been some pretty mild examples, and I think
Speaker 2: anybody that was in favor of this being a thing
Speaker 2: where sports gambling is legal just about everywhere. I mean
Speaker 2: not everywhere, but in most places. I mean an amount
Speaker 2: of in the amount of seven years or so, it
Speaker 2: is become legal. I mean in a ton of states,
Speaker 2: the way more states you can bet legally now than
Speaker 2: you can't. And anybody that is in a position of
Speaker 2: like power, anybody that works within these leagues like the NFL,
Speaker 2: the NBA, Major League Baseball, they're clearly in business with
Speaker 2: these sports books. Everybody's making a ton of money because
Speaker 2: sports betting is legal. They knew when they move forward
Speaker 2: with this that there would be examples, there would be
Speaker 2: situations where they've got to they've got to make an
Speaker 2: example out of somebody and hold them accountable to let
Speaker 2: you you know, because there's no scenario that you you
Speaker 2: could ever claim that this would never happen. In fact,
Speaker 2: it can be legal in every place other than Vegas
Speaker 2: and still happen. That happened in previous you know, eras
Speaker 2: of college sports. So anyways, there's no bigger example in
Speaker 2: my opinion right now than John tay Porter, who was
Speaker 2: the NBA player who of course has been banned for
Speaker 2: life from the league and is now facing federal charges.
Speaker 2: Obviously he's in, you know, he's in. He's he's gonna
Speaker 2: go to prison because you know he wasn't just I mean,
Speaker 2: there's some guys that, like, for example, who is at
Speaker 2: Calvin Ridley, the receiver who was with Jacksonville maybe or
Speaker 2: maybe it was I don't know who was with, but
Speaker 2: maybe Atlanta. Anyways, he got suspended for a whole year,
Speaker 2: but it was because he was just betting on games
Speaker 2: the had nothing to do with Like, again, the issue
Speaker 2: there is you just knew you weren't supposed to do it,
Speaker 2: and I don't even think what you're doing is really
Speaker 2: gonna harm anybody, but it's silly to think you would
Speaker 2: get away with it. And the risk as an NFL
Speaker 2: player given that salary, Like I love the action, it's
Speaker 2: fun for me, but like the risk is nowhere near
Speaker 2: the reward for somebody in that position. So some of
Speaker 2: these guys that you know that get criticized, it's not
Speaker 2: that they're doing something awful, it's just that they're stupid.
Speaker 3: That's what it comes down to.
Speaker 2: And clearly that's the case with John Tay Porter, but
Speaker 2: like what he's doing is also stupid and awful because
Speaker 2: he was betting. I mean, he was shaving points. And
Speaker 2: the story is not I mean, it's been out there
Speaker 2: for a long time, but there's now an updated article
Speaker 2: here in The New York Times that features some of
Speaker 2: the text messages that he would send to bets during games,
Speaker 2: Like this, dude was texting people what to do when
Speaker 2: it comes to betting while playing, Like not while he's
Speaker 2: in the league, but like while the game's going on,
Speaker 2: when he's on the bench or he's in the locker
Speaker 2: room at halftime.
Speaker 3: One of them says.
Speaker 2: Here, there are four quotes from this article that share
Speaker 2: the exchanges between John say Porter and Better's during games.
Speaker 2: Here's the first one quote, I went back to the
Speaker 2: locker room to get my eye checked on. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's probably him letting them know that no worries, I'm
Speaker 2: buying time. Or maybe I don't know, maybe he did
Speaker 2: get his eye hurt and he's telling them, I can't
Speaker 2: shape points for you right now. My eyes hurt. They
Speaker 2: may not put me back in. This one says, I
Speaker 2: don't know if I'm gonna play much more. This one
Speaker 2: says I'm not starting the second half. The last one
Speaker 2: here is is is great.
Speaker 3: But if it's.
Speaker 2: Garbage time, I will shoot a million shots. So I
Speaker 2: mean that that's that's just one really stupid. But also
Speaker 2: like I feel like anybody who's in like if you're
Speaker 2: a basketball player in the NBA, I mean, clearly, it's
Speaker 2: your job, it's your it's how you make a living,
Speaker 2: but there's also a level of integrity and like that's
Speaker 2: the kind of thing that if this got wide. The
Speaker 2: NBA is already not. By the way, look like the
Speaker 2: NBA is not in trouble, like their viewership is down.
Speaker 2: They just signed it insanely lucrative new media rights deals.
Speaker 2: So like the NBA, the NBA is fine. They just
Speaker 2: have seen a ratings drop. And I think one of
Speaker 2: the factors is that it's just not a it's not
Speaker 2: serious when it comes to competition. When you have guys
Speaker 2: that just sit out because they want to rest when
Speaker 2: they're perfectly healthy, and you're playing eighty two games, Like
Speaker 2: you're not serious about competing. You can't tell me that
Speaker 2: games matter when teams knowingly just let guys rest and
Speaker 2: you know basically except that they're probably gonna lose like that,
Speaker 2: that's just not good for your product. So you know,
Speaker 2: if there was more, which I think this is going
Speaker 2: to be a real rare exception to see the level
Speaker 2: of what went on here with John tay Porter. But like,
Speaker 2: if that was to be a bigger issue where other
Speaker 2: we're doing it, that could ruin the NBA, Like that
Speaker 2: could absolutely destroy an employer that you know is pretty
Speaker 2: special to a lot of people, especially those that you know,
Speaker 2: create generational wealth for working within the league. So I mean,
Speaker 2: I think there's some guys that have gotten in trouble
Speaker 2: with it where their teammates or their peers within the
Speaker 2: league probably just look at them like what are you doing?
Speaker 2: Don't be such an idiot, But like this is like okay,
Speaker 2: you're you're jeopardizing like everything for everybody with this kind
Speaker 2: of stuff. Which again, you do this kind of stuff,
Speaker 2: you go to prison. And I'm sure, I mean, I
Speaker 2: know it wasn't worth it for John tay Porter, but
Speaker 2: they got to make examples out of people, both the
Speaker 2: NBA and of course you know prosecutors. All right, quick break,
Speaker 2: we'll come back on the other side and wrap this
Speaker 2: thing up.
Speaker 3: It's Coffee and Company.
Speaker 2: Feel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Coffee and Company with Nick Coffee on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: Just a few minutes left here as we wrap it
Speaker 2: up on a Tuesday afternoon evening. I feel like it
Speaker 2: was somebody I'm a textallan to mention this a while
Speaker 2: back that when I was stuck on is this do
Speaker 2: I say afternoon or do I say evening?
Speaker 3: And they were right.
Speaker 2: They made a good point that it actually starts in
Speaker 2: the afternoon, but like when you get to the five
Speaker 2: o'clock hour and it starts getting dark outside, I'm not
Speaker 2: sure if that is evening, but it certainly doesn't feel
Speaker 2: like afternoon, so it's fair enough. I feel like whenever
Speaker 2: it's you know, summertime, and it's not dark by the
Speaker 2: time I walk out of here, it's a little bit different.
Speaker 2: But we started the afternoon and we pretty much end
Speaker 2: in the evening. And we appreciate you for hanging out
Speaker 2: with us. And if you ever miss anything, don't forget.
Speaker 2: You can always go check out the podcast on the
Speaker 2: out radio app also anywhere you get podcasts, but I
Speaker 2: think they tell us to recommend you get it on
Speaker 2: the out radio app or on Apple podcasts, So it'll
Speaker 2: be up shortly after we wrap this thing up. So
Speaker 2: just a few minutes left Louisville Syracuse tonight.
Speaker 3: I mean, I.
Speaker 2: It's kind of awkward here because Louisville I feel like
Speaker 2: it's still a team that I believe needs to do
Speaker 2: certain things well if they want to win games on
Speaker 2: the road in ACC play. And again that is true,
Speaker 2: but also I kind of feel like I'd be a
Speaker 2: liar if I said, well, they better do this or
Speaker 2: that or this, because if not, there's no way they win.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: They've shown that they can still win and beat good
Speaker 2: teams when certain things don't necessarily go their way, and
Speaker 2: that's why they're favored by eight and a half points.
Speaker 2: And that's why this is a game to where I
Speaker 2: feel like this is the first ACC game. And trust me,
Speaker 2: I'm not getting cocky, and it wouldn't matter if I was,
Speaker 2: because you know, I don't play.
Speaker 3: I don't I don't have a I don't you know,
Speaker 3: I'm not a.
Speaker 2: It's you know, it's a little different. So even if
Speaker 2: I was getting ahead of myself, it wouldn't matter. But
Speaker 2: they have played well enough, not just with the wins,
Speaker 2: but how they've played to where this is a game
Speaker 2: you should go win, and I think they will, So
Speaker 2: I would say what's important tonight is, you know, just
Speaker 2: continuing to bring the energy, intensity, effort, physicality. I mean,
Speaker 2: I think defense has been the biggest factor in why
Speaker 2: this team has been so good in the last five games.
Speaker 3: They've they've seemed to be as good or.
Speaker 2: Better than everybody they've played when it comes to, you know,
Speaker 2: being on the floor for loose balls, hustle, plays those
Speaker 2: kind of things, and yeah, despite at times shots not
Speaker 2: falling and despite Tom's free throws just have been an issue,
Speaker 2: they've been able to still you know, I guess some
Speaker 2: would say they're getting by and maybe it'll bite you
Speaker 2: at some point, and you know what, you're probably right,
Speaker 2: But there's also a different way to look at it.
Speaker 2: They're not they're not you know, avoiding a disaster. They're
Speaker 2: they're still finding ways to win. And I think both
Speaker 2: things can can be true. But the Syracuse team, I
Speaker 2: talked about it a little bit earlier, they're they're not good.
Speaker 2: They're not they're not having a good season. They're eight
Speaker 2: and eight, which again I think that speaks to our
Speaker 2: Louisville is nearly favored about double digits on the road,
Speaker 2: but a big part of their season they were without
Speaker 2: their player who is really good. He's proven to be
Speaker 2: pretty good and that is JJ Sterling. But he is,
Speaker 2: he is, he's back, and you know, he's he's he's
Speaker 2: having a phenomenal season when it comes to you know, production,
Speaker 2: He's twenty points a game. And since they since he
Speaker 2: has returned this year, they are there. Well, yeah, he's
Speaker 2: played in there. Let's see, he's played in their last
Speaker 2: three games and they are there two and one in
Speaker 2: those three games, and they've won their last two and
Speaker 2: he's been a big part of that. Twenty six points
Speaker 2: against Boston College the other night, twenty one against Georgia Tech.
Speaker 2: So he's he's on a tear right now. So obviously
Speaker 2: containing him is going to be key. But I feel
Speaker 2: like I'm I'm justified in being confident that this team's
Speaker 2: going to be able to do that.
Speaker 3: But we shall see.
Speaker 2: All Right, we're out here, you guys, enjoy your evening,
Speaker 2: and we'll be back at it tomorrow right here on
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 3: This report is sponsored by Ono Zone, Getting the Zone