Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's.
Speaker 2: On Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick.
Speaker 3: Coffee, Well not exactly Nick Coffee. I'm Scott Fitzgerald.
Speaker 1: He is John Alden. I'm filling in one hour.
Speaker 3: To go here before we knock off and head over
Speaker 3: to Little Bro's in town. You're gonna go get some
Speaker 3: dinner and then I'm gonna go over to the Lynn
Speaker 3: Family Stadium watch me some footy. Night gonna be fun.
Speaker 3: I'n rock Frankfurt is the team that is in town.
Speaker 3: Pot of Bundesliga. Get me in that soccer sort of mood.
Speaker 3: International friendly tonight would have many held at Lynn Family Stadium.
Speaker 1: The Ladies played Theirs already Kaisersladen was in town last year.
Speaker 3: Lots of good things happened in Loui City's sitting up
Speaker 3: point above Charleston in the USLS Prince Performance standings.
Speaker 1: With that, what is it? I think it's all.
Speaker 3: I'll get the exact day for it, but it's coming
Speaker 3: up in August, that all important showdown with Charleston at
Speaker 3: Lynn Family Stadium. It's gonna have a lot ride now
Speaker 3: that that's for sure. But Luke City with the best
Speaker 3: record in the us L. John, you were sitting with us,
Speaker 3: and we're sitting here, we're talking with my brother, he's
Speaker 3: a pilot for American Airlines, and we're getting a little
Speaker 3: insight into the airline, and so we had a question
Speaker 3: for what was your question?
Speaker 1: I did?
Speaker 4: I know you were talking about the craziness of the
Speaker 4: airports and that type of thing with different airlines.
Speaker 1: And one thing I've kind of wanted.
Speaker 4: Since we do have a pilot with us, what is
Speaker 4: the craziest experience that your little bro has had as
Speaker 4: an airline pilot with the.
Speaker 1: Patron or somebody question, it's a great question. Oh, let
Speaker 1: me turn your mic on there. Yeah, there you go,
Speaker 1: Now you're good.
Speaker 2: Or fortunately unfortunately, I don't know which way you want
Speaker 2: to look at it.
Speaker 5: I haven't had anything where somebody's video and me, you know,
Speaker 5: and it's going on tack or YouTube, yeah, whatever, But
Speaker 5: I have had you know, you'll have people getting off
Speaker 5: the plane and they'll just say thank you, thank you.
Speaker 5: And I've had customers say, hey, use a little too
Speaker 5: much break on that landing.
Speaker 2: Oh thanks for the flying tip.
Speaker 1: John. Let me let me ask you this.
Speaker 3: Do you do you still get people that clap when
Speaker 3: planes land.
Speaker 5: I've heard it as a passenger and then uh, but
Speaker 5: but you don't hear it from from the front. I mean,
Speaker 5: you pretty much just land. And usually when I'm landing,
Speaker 5: I'm just closing my eyes and hoping for the best.
Speaker 2: Anyways, So that's that's encouraging. It's the American way. I
Speaker 2: get it. Now.
Speaker 4: Do you kind of feel like you're in your own
Speaker 4: little world, separated from the passengers while you're up there.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna lie to you. Sometimes I do, and
Speaker 2: sometimes I enjoy it.
Speaker 1: Okay, that makes sense.
Speaker 4: I'm not a pilot, obviously, but I feel like i'd
Speaker 4: be the same way I'd want to feel in a
Speaker 4: totally different environment than them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's yeah.
Speaker 5: Once the door shuts, you know, we're just in our
Speaker 5: own little closet up there, and and and then occasionally
Speaker 5: they'll get somebody call up, hey, we got this going
Speaker 5: on back here, or somebody's getting rowdy, but nothing where
Speaker 5: we got to get crazy or anything. I did just
Speaker 5: recently have my whole family fly with me from Miami
Speaker 5: to San.
Speaker 3: Francisco, just so just does Amy's wife. By the way,
Speaker 3: my sister, who we love dearly. She is a beautiful,
Speaker 3: beautiful person. Did she sitting back and go shut? She
Speaker 3: did get first class?
Speaker 5: She sat up and she does enjoy wine, so yes,
Speaker 5: yes she does. There was no Luckily I could not
Speaker 5: hear through the door. Although when you have to use
Speaker 5: the bathroom, you come out, you know, and they block
Speaker 5: off the entrance.
Speaker 2: H yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I got to see her and talk to her.
Speaker 5: But I did have a customer. When we come out
Speaker 5: of the bathroom, the flight attendants block off that first
Speaker 5: roll and first class, and so we come out there
Speaker 5: and a customer first class is wearing Ohio State shirt
Speaker 5: and she was she was talking to me about football,
Speaker 5: and you know, I told her I was a Michigan fan.
Speaker 5: And it doesn't happen very often, but sometimes you got
Speaker 5: to get into it with the customers a little bit
Speaker 5: and let them know.
Speaker 1: You know, play played the victors over the PA announcements.
Speaker 1: You do that.
Speaker 3: Let me ask you, now, you've traveled along those lines,
Speaker 3: You've traveled a lot, You've been around a lot of
Speaker 3: different places. Do you get you currently live in Florida,
Speaker 3: Pennscola right, yes, yeah, I didn't know that, right.
Speaker 1: Do you get it?
Speaker 3: Do you get adapted to the Florida sports scene at all.
Speaker 5: I think no, you know, we live in Pensacola, which
Speaker 5: is about as close to Alabama as you can get.
Speaker 5: We're right on the So now we've got but we're
Speaker 5: kind of we're in this weird place where you've you're
Speaker 5: three hours from Tallahassee, you're four hours from Tuscaloosa. You're
Speaker 5: probably four hours from from Baton Rouge. So you're in
Speaker 5: like sec country there.
Speaker 1: So no Florida, no Florida state.
Speaker 5: Now well we're about three hours from Florida state, so
Speaker 5: you got you got Florida state. Those are the three
Speaker 5: and then all learn I guess, oh yeah, and so
Speaker 5: we're in this in the southeast and then and then
Speaker 5: some Florida fans, some some Miami fans. My daughter, by
Speaker 5: the way, Molly is a huge Alabama fan, only because
Speaker 5: we got her a stuffed elephant when she was little.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's a huge role Tide.
Speaker 1: So but that went in the house. Well this year,
Speaker 1: didn't it?
Speaker 2: Not so much? Right, We didn't talk. We actually flew
Speaker 2: out to Colorado when we were watching the game out there.
Speaker 5: But yeah, so it's an interesting sports mix and I'm
Speaker 5: not you know, we didn't really grow up in the SEC. Yeah,
Speaker 5: I'm more of a big ten, you know, But now
Speaker 5: what is the big ten?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: What is anyone? What is anyone anymore?
Speaker 5: Yeah, looking at the schedule, you know, Michigan's got USC
Speaker 5: Washington and it's just crazy.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I will say along those lines.
Speaker 3: And the reason I asked you that question was because
Speaker 3: you and I grew up in the same environment. But
Speaker 3: our travels have taken us all over the world and
Speaker 3: all over the country. Living here now for close to
Speaker 3: thirty years, I've become in John, You and I were
Speaker 3: just having this conversation when we came on the air.
Speaker 3: The beauty of working in sports media is I've learned
Speaker 3: to become so objective, unlike what sometimes happens to people
Speaker 3: that get into this business, especially sports talk business. And
Speaker 3: it almost makes you Homer to some degree. Which don't
Speaker 3: get me wrong, people like Homer. You need Homer in
Speaker 3: this business. I want to make that clear. You need
Speaker 3: Homer hosts in this business. But in the same token,
Speaker 3: this has made me objective because I don't know if
Speaker 3: you you saw, we opened the show talking about the
Speaker 3: TVT Tournament and we had a big dust up here
Speaker 3: last week yeah, and I saw both sides of the coin.
Speaker 3: I mean, it was embarrassing for both sides, is what
Speaker 3: what I was going for. But you know, you know
Speaker 3: my son, your nephew, Brogan, he is a big Louisville fan.
Speaker 3: And John and I were talking on the air when
Speaker 3: we came on that this year in baseball Kentucky went
Speaker 3: pretty far in baseball louis fans. Louisville dominates baseball pretty much,
Speaker 3: and they're always the top dog, the big brother, to
Speaker 3: use the term. And now the table's returned. So I
Speaker 3: was trying to talk objectively with your nephew about that,
Speaker 3: and he wanted nothing to do with it. And because
Speaker 3: but we get into those modes. We're fans and that's why,
Speaker 3: you know, being in this business for a while, and
Speaker 3: you were around when I did my college football show
Speaker 3: nine years that taught me to be a little bit
Speaker 3: more objective when it came to Michigan. Ohio State didn't
Speaker 3: get me wrong, I still don't like Ohio State, but
Speaker 3: but you do get a chance to be objective to it.
Speaker 3: And John and we're talking a couple of times. I've
Speaker 3: been to Columbus to see that. It's ironic I've never
Speaker 3: seen Michigan play Ohio State in ann Arbor.
Speaker 1: I've seen him twice in Columbus. Yeah, yeah, that is weird.
Speaker 3: I didn't know that, right and so, but in the
Speaker 3: same token, John was. I was telling John the story
Speaker 3: about how I went down there and I didn't put
Speaker 3: any Michigan gear when I went on because I just
Speaker 3: want to enjoy the game.
Speaker 5: So well, I think the the being objective because I
Speaker 5: feel the same way in Pensacola. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 5: we good buddy of mine's an Auburn family might go
Speaker 5: up to an Auburn game just to take my son
Speaker 5: who's ten, and his son.
Speaker 1: And great experience.
Speaker 5: I think it'll be awesome because we're not we don't
Speaker 5: have a dog in the fight, but you can just
Speaker 5: take in the atmosphere.
Speaker 2: And we've done that. We went well. We went to UCLA, right,
Speaker 2: Ucla was great. We went to the Rose Ball and
Speaker 2: saw UCLA play. We went to We.
Speaker 1: Said to Oakland, remember going to open Yeah, we went
Speaker 1: to Oakland.
Speaker 3: John, Yeah, there is no fear like, dude, when you're now.
Speaker 3: Oakland was the one game I was stupid enough to
Speaker 3: wear Lions gear too, And I'm staying at the urinal
Speaker 3: behind a bunch of Raider fans. And dude, these aren't
Speaker 3: the Las Vegas travel We'll show up Raider fans. These
Speaker 3: are the Oakland hear, the real ones? Yeah, I mean
Speaker 3: Oakland is I mean people in Detroit are scared to
Speaker 3: go to Oakland. Well, put it that way, and so
Speaker 3: we go there and I remember that day. Now we
Speaker 3: did see we saw UCLA play Miami. We saw him
Speaker 3: play Michigan, but not the Rose Bowl game itself. Right,
Speaker 3: But you don't have to go to the Rose Bowl
Speaker 3: game to appreciate the venue.
Speaker 4: Well, I want to ask you this, Scott too. Yeah,
Speaker 4: so Indiana travels to UCLA this year playing in the
Speaker 4: Rose Bowl. Right, is the environment a little difference? I know,
Speaker 4: UCLA the fan base isn't necessarily what it is in
Speaker 4: football compared to what it is in basketball.
Speaker 1: Is it a little more sleepy?
Speaker 2: Is it not?
Speaker 4: It probably doesn't live up to what yep, maybe somebody
Speaker 4: would expect out of a stadium that has that much history.
Speaker 3: Yeah, USC fans a little bit more hard. In fact,
Speaker 3: if you watch an early UCLA game. I got one guy,
Speaker 3: he's one friend of mine. He's an Ohio State fan.
Speaker 1: He's that fan.
Speaker 3: If you watch a UCLA game early in the season,
Speaker 3: there's nobody there. That's because the students are all gone.
Speaker 3: They don't go back to school at UCLA till way later.
Speaker 3: So for the first couple of games, there's this big
Speaker 3: empty section in the Rose Bowl and people just think
Speaker 3: it's Califans not showing up. And here's the hardest thing
Speaker 3: I tried to explain to people living on different coasts.
Speaker 1: When it comes to sports.
Speaker 3: What we loved was one when we got we could
Speaker 3: watch the NFL afternoon games and be done with the
Speaker 3: late games by what four o'clock, and then go up
Speaker 3: to the little Asian fast food place up the corner
Speaker 3: and get some dinner.
Speaker 1: It was such a chill lifestyle. Dude.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Well the Rose Bowl too, is just you know,
Speaker 5: for it being La and LA is a Southern California.
Speaker 2: Is a lot going on outside of the sports.
Speaker 5: It's not like you know, Lambeau and Green Bay, where
Speaker 5: that's the attraction, right right. But the Rose Bowl was
Speaker 5: such a great venue because you got the backdrop of
Speaker 5: the mountains and when you go in there, it's a
Speaker 5: bowl style stadium, so you really don't have you don't
Speaker 5: have an obstructed seat, and it's just one huge crowd.
Speaker 5: And I thought that was really awesome as compared to
Speaker 5: I've been to a couple of USC games and you
Speaker 5: go there and that's like situated right in.
Speaker 1: You know, that's a rough part of town.
Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly, And so there's not a whole lot of
Speaker 5: places to tailgate, and there's not a whole lot of
Speaker 5: places to kind of hang out to the Rose Bulls.
Speaker 2: And it's the granddaddy of them all. You know, there's
Speaker 2: so much history there.
Speaker 3: So it's beautiful. It's a beautiful. The San Gabriel Mountains
Speaker 3: are so beautiful in the backdrop. And I will say
Speaker 3: this our neighbors when we lived in our apartment in
Speaker 3: San Diego, our neighbors were Laker fans.
Speaker 1: And you know, I.
Speaker 3: Will say this for the LA sports scene. Laker fans
Speaker 3: are dedicated. Yeah, Laker fans. I think Lakers in Laker
Speaker 3: fans own Southern California. So for people that say the
Speaker 3: So Cal sports scene is two blase, it's too quiet,
Speaker 3: it's too Baker fans would beg to differ.
Speaker 1: I mean this team you.
Speaker 3: Look any I mean, the Lakers sneeze out of the
Speaker 3: left nostril, and that's headline news.
Speaker 1: That's headline news with everybody.
Speaker 2: But again, there's so much tradition with the Lakers.
Speaker 5: Two, every time I fly into Los Angeles, you fly
Speaker 5: right over, you fly right over Sofa Stadium and it's
Speaker 5: right next to the form. You want to talk about
Speaker 5: a pass versus the President Mohment, you fly with the
Speaker 5: form and it just looks.
Speaker 2: But that's what the eighties was.
Speaker 5: It was this small little venue and now you got
Speaker 5: so fine. And then you got Staples Center right next door.
Speaker 5: But you fly right over all three of them, and
Speaker 5: it's pretty pretty amazing.
Speaker 3: So let me get your take without putting in and
Speaker 3: give me an honest opinion. And because you're you're from
Speaker 3: out of town and you come in in like today,
Speaker 3: you're crashing in the Gold House and the pillows set
Speaker 3: horses on them.
Speaker 1: When you see NBC paint that picture in Derby Town.
Speaker 3: Now, you were here one year for the Derby But
Speaker 3: that was an unfair I think that was an unfair
Speaker 3: assessment because you all drove literally the night before you
Speaker 3: show up and you go straight to turn three in
Speaker 3: the infield, and this was long before.
Speaker 1: As you get.
Speaker 3: Older and you mature some what do you think of
Speaker 3: when you see maybe horses or you see a Santa Nita,
Speaker 3: or you see a track or del Mar even.
Speaker 5: Yeah, West, well it was you know, even just walking
Speaker 5: up here from the gulhouse and seeing all the signs
Speaker 5: for the you got the bourbon and the horses, and
Speaker 5: bourbon and horses is a tradition unto itself.
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 5: And yeah, I remember that weekend. I think that was right.
Speaker 5: I don't even think I was married then. And we
Speaker 5: loaded up two SUVs full of guys and we said
Speaker 5: let's go to the derby and we were driving from Norfolk, Virginia.
Speaker 5: I think I forget what it was, an eight hour
Speaker 5: drive straight to the infield. We crashed with you guys,
Speaker 5: But it was an experience that I was just telling
Speaker 5: the guy I was flying with today.
Speaker 2: I said it was awesome because it was one of
Speaker 2: those things you do.
Speaker 5: Now what I want to do it right now as
Speaker 5: a guy approaching fifty with the kid, I don't know.
Speaker 5: I would definitely love to go down there and be
Speaker 5: part of the atmosphere.
Speaker 2: I've been to del Mar.
Speaker 5: I like to place bets on the ponies, but that history,
Speaker 5: that that exists.
Speaker 2: There is amazing. I was telling you guys, like we
Speaker 2: were on the infield, you didn't.
Speaker 1: See horse racing, right.
Speaker 2: That was one thing that surprised me. You're you're betting
Speaker 2: on the horses and you're looking at the screen.
Speaker 5: But but I think it's a great tradition. It seems
Speaker 5: like what this city is all about. And it's a
Speaker 5: great identity, I think. And we've taken tours down there
Speaker 5: with you guys, and uh, every year I get excited
Speaker 5: and I get my kids in there.
Speaker 1: Yeah you do it. Call me who you got, who
Speaker 1: you got?
Speaker 3: And I think you see for and for me, I've
Speaker 3: okay every This Derby was so much fun this year
Speaker 3: and John John helped me out in Oaks Day, I
Speaker 3: was up under the grand stand.
Speaker 1: I was able to broadcast and sit there and be
Speaker 1: part of this. I can go.
Speaker 3: I love going to the track every year. I love
Speaker 3: doing that. That's we don't get any extra money for
Speaker 3: doing it. That is just that's a perk of the job.
Speaker 3: That's all it is. And it still cracks me up
Speaker 3: John that there are some people that say I'm not
Speaker 3: getting paid for this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, this is a privilege of the job.
Speaker 4: It's probably I mean, I hate to say, it's probably
Speaker 4: just people, the olds, the people who've been around while
Speaker 4: they've covered up their entire life, and maybe it's just
Speaker 4: old hat to them.
Speaker 1: Right right.
Speaker 3: I mean you you were such an awesome part of
Speaker 3: Oaks Day and we were able to sit there and John,
Speaker 3: John just kept me going and the boss threw me
Speaker 3: and he goes, hey, look you're gonna sit under the
Speaker 3: grand stand. You're gonna You're gonna do Oaks Day. And
Speaker 3: I was like okay, and John made that so easy.
Speaker 3: And after the day was done, I sat there and
Speaker 3: I'm like, I am so lucky to be able to
Speaker 3: do this. Now, I just need to talk to the
Speaker 3: company and to let me go to sant Anita.
Speaker 1: That's what I want to do.
Speaker 3: I want to get out west and go to Santa
Speaker 3: I've never been to sant Anita. In fact, I don't
Speaker 3: think I've ever been to del Mar.
Speaker 1: Oh really no.
Speaker 3: And I think del Mar's where they host the California
Speaker 3: Stay Fair, isn't it.
Speaker 2: I think so it's it's been a while now. We
Speaker 2: just went out there or.
Speaker 1: San Diego State San Diego County Fairs.
Speaker 5: I think I believe so yeah, but del Mar is
Speaker 5: great because it's right there on the ocean's where the
Speaker 5: Breeders Cup.
Speaker 3: I think the Breeders Cup is coming there. I had
Speaker 3: to wait before I open my mouth and double check
Speaker 3: this stuff. But you know, to your point, you know
Speaker 3: what's funny you mentioned that about how how now when
Speaker 3: you're pushing fifty, you don't.
Speaker 1: Know if you can go to the derby and do that.
Speaker 3: Do you find yourself maybe? Like for me, like, Okay,
Speaker 3: I got a night. I don't have to get up
Speaker 3: and go to work tomorrow. I'm going to lose city.
Speaker 1: I can rock.
Speaker 3: Frankfurt is here. They're giving away free beer, s dines.
Speaker 3: I should be out there pounding studs like there's no tomorrow,
Speaker 3: and yet I'm sitting here going not.
Speaker 1: On drink during the week. I'm like, what is happening?
Speaker 1: What kind of weird universe are we in?
Speaker 4: Now?
Speaker 5: But no, Yeah, we went to We just recently went
Speaker 5: with our son out to Disneyland for a day and
Speaker 5: we flew out there, you know, flew out their standby,
Speaker 5: dealt with the crowds and stuff.
Speaker 2: And as I get older, I'm like, I'm all set.
Speaker 3: I think, what what is your What's your you've been
Speaker 3: to Disney which I hear so many stories about Disneyland.
Speaker 3: What are your impressions? You don't I think do we
Speaker 3: take you when we went when we were younger.
Speaker 2: I don't we. I think we went out there once.
Speaker 5: Maybe, Okay, I want to, yeah, but I you know,
Speaker 5: as I get older, and I hate to be the
Speaker 5: ba humbug, but I'm not a Disney guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think there are adults who are Disney people, all right.
Speaker 4: Those are people my age, the Disney adults. That is
Speaker 4: not me specifically, but my generation. There are so many
Speaker 4: people friends of mine even that like their number one
Speaker 4: vacation destination's disney World or Disneyland whatever.
Speaker 1: They because they grew.
Speaker 4: Up watching the movies and now all the different rides
Speaker 4: that they've added on that type of stuff. It's it's
Speaker 4: a lot more newer, like they still have the classics
Speaker 4: and that type of thing, but it fits what.
Speaker 2: They grew up doing.
Speaker 4: And I don't know what it is about the marketing
Speaker 4: that they've done, or you know, just the overall experience
Speaker 4: of it. But my generation, people between twenty and thirty
Speaker 4: years old, those are the Disney adults. People going without
Speaker 4: kids and just taking it in for themselves.
Speaker 1: It's that type of crowd. Oh, I see.
Speaker 5: It's crazy that people will wait two hours in a
Speaker 5: line for a four minute ride. That's just I don't
Speaker 5: understand it. And maybe again, maybe I'm just getting old
Speaker 5: and I'm becoming that guy. But yeah, for vacations like
Speaker 5: I enjoy going skiing, I like something where you get outdoors,
Speaker 5: you tire yourself out, and you go back to the
Speaker 5: hotel room, you have a drink, and you know, you
Speaker 5: call it a day.
Speaker 2: But waiting in a two hour line while everybody's just sweating.
Speaker 5: You just look around at everybody and they all look miserable, right,
Speaker 5: and you go.
Speaker 2: What we what do we do?
Speaker 5: They've done marketing has I don't know how Disney, what
Speaker 5: their marketing team looks like, but they and they keep.
Speaker 2: Raising their prices.
Speaker 5: I know, hey, how about you pay more money to
Speaker 5: come be miserable.
Speaker 2: All day long? Again, maybe I'm just being a little
Speaker 2: negative Nancy there, But.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, you're not alone, dude. I just don't
Speaker 3: do amusement parks. I'd like to because I don't mind
Speaker 3: roller I went through the stage in my life where
Speaker 3: I loved roller coasters.
Speaker 4: Then I hated them, then I loved them again. I've
Speaker 4: been that way before, right to your point in Ohio. Yeah,
Speaker 4: oh yes, I mean that's if you're into roller coasters,
Speaker 4: that's the place to be. But the same thing though,
Speaker 4: if you're if not in the lines, either find go
Speaker 4: during the off season or you got to get one
Speaker 4: of those fast passes or whatever they call them nowadays,
Speaker 4: that type of stuff.
Speaker 5: Right right Amy. My wife she had this plan. I
Speaker 5: mean she must have spent weeks concocting this plan for
Speaker 5: the ass passed. It's a whole system now. And we
Speaker 5: did find something out on Disneyland. If you go into
Speaker 5: a single rider line, it's.
Speaker 2: So much quicker.
Speaker 5: Really, it's a little hack if you're if you're okay,
Speaker 5: all right, Well.
Speaker 3: The by the way, the Breeders Cup is it del
Speaker 3: Mar this year, So you can go to del Mar
Speaker 3: if you if you want to go.
Speaker 1: So I did see that, Sorry.
Speaker 3: Squirrel, uh but no, it's we're visiting with my little bro.
Speaker 1: He's in town. He's flying for American and this just
Speaker 1: happened to work out.
Speaker 3: He just happened to be the day that that I
Speaker 3: was sitting in here with John filling in for Nick coffee,
Speaker 3: having a little conversation with him as he travels the
Speaker 3: world and gets out.
Speaker 1: So let me ask you, you leave here tomorrow, where
Speaker 1: are you off to?
Speaker 5: I go back to Miami and then I do a
Speaker 5: flat of Cuba.
Speaker 1: Back and what's like flying into Cuba?
Speaker 5: It's uh, you just you land and it is kind
Speaker 5: of funny. They do have a truck that follows you
Speaker 5: out to make sure nobody's attached to your gear landing gear,
Speaker 5: trying to really jump onto your plane. It's but no,
Speaker 5: it's it's it's it's nothing different really than any other place.
Speaker 2: When we go down there. We just we just go
Speaker 2: down there, unload and load up and get back up.
Speaker 1: Do you guys are a lot of people going to Cuba?
Speaker 2: As far as I know, I don't really. Yeah, are
Speaker 2: your flights full of flints? Are pretty full? Usually?
Speaker 5: So yeah, it's uh.
Speaker 3: Since they opened it up for people, I guess maybe everybody.
Speaker 3: Everybody goes down and then you go to Cuban and
Speaker 3: then you come back to Miami.
Speaker 1: Is that what you do? You spend the night in Miami?
Speaker 2: No, then I'm done. Then I go home and hang
Speaker 2: out with a family for how long you're home for?
Speaker 5: I'm actually home for three weeks because I've got some
Speaker 5: military duty to do there. So yeah, so I've got
Speaker 5: some reserve stuff to do. So so's your three weeks.
Speaker 1: So is the family ever?
Speaker 3: Say, do you spend a lot of time in the road,
Speaker 3: like a lot of people listening probably do. Whether they're
Speaker 3: truck drivers, whether they're transported, whatever they do, they spend
Speaker 3: a lot of time on the road. How is it
Speaker 3: when you come home? Is the family having to get
Speaker 3: used to you again being there? Do you have to
Speaker 3: get used to them?
Speaker 5: You know, I think it's different as the kids get older,
Speaker 5: there's definitely a different dynamics. So you know, sometimes they're like, hey,
Speaker 5: when are you leaving again? It's usual. It's usually after
Speaker 5: I told them, hey, why are there? During dishes in
Speaker 5: the same right right. But no, I've always since my
Speaker 5: kids have been young, my only thing about this job
Speaker 5: is being away. So I try to minimize the time
Speaker 5: away and and I try to maximize my time at home.
Speaker 2: Because it is a different job.
Speaker 5: I mean, you're you're I'm gone for maybe twelve, thirteen,
Speaker 5: fourteen days a month, but when I'm home, I'm home.
Speaker 5: It's a different job. You know, when they wake up.
Speaker 5: I'm taking them to school and I'm getting them breakfast.
Speaker 5: And you haven't lived life until you've been in a
Speaker 5: carpool full of teenage girls and you're taking them through
Speaker 5: the Starbucks line, going.
Speaker 2: What do you want to order?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 5: And I'm like what, I don't even know what they're
Speaker 5: ordering anymore. It's a yeah, but so so it's a
Speaker 5: little bit different lifestyle. But I always you know, I've
Speaker 5: coached their their sports teams and stuff, so I try.
Speaker 3: To even while you're on that, even while you're flying
Speaker 3: yes to coach, it wouldn't that a challenge.
Speaker 5: It was considering coaching basketball and I've never played organized basketball.
Speaker 1: And that's funny to see the same thing happened to me.
Speaker 3: I was picking my daughter up from tryouts over at
Speaker 3: Saint Martha one year and the ad comes out to me.
Speaker 3: He goes, hey, coach. I go, no, I'm not coaching
Speaker 3: this year. He goes, yeah, you are. What are you
Speaker 3: talking about? He goes, I need coaches. You're coaching your daughter? Like, man,
Speaker 3: so I got to coach, and I mean, like you,
Speaker 3: I don't know how to coach basketball. You're basically glorified
Speaker 3: babysitter at this point is what you are. And then
Speaker 3: you always get that one parent that goes, hey, it's
Speaker 3: my coaching. I'll give you a hand man, and that
Speaker 3: time you're on an ego trip. At that time you're like, no,
Speaker 3: I can do this. I got this, you asked me.
Speaker 3: Now I'm like, hell, yeah, take over the team, will
Speaker 3: you plase?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Do you have effy deal with people or parents saying
Speaker 4: their kid wasn't playing enough?
Speaker 2: I haven't.
Speaker 1: Oh, I got a story five too, John, good question.
Speaker 5: I coached middle school girls basketball and the first I've
Speaker 5: done it two years now. The first year I said, Hey,
Speaker 5: everybody's gonna play. This is gonna be awesome. Everybody's gonna
Speaker 5: get equal amount of playing time. And then the next
Speaker 5: year I was like, well that's not fair, Like we
Speaker 5: need to start winning.
Speaker 2: Games, right, So then I was like, hey, not everybody's.
Speaker 5: Gonna be get the same playing time and nobody said
Speaker 5: anything to me. Though nobody was like, hey, my daughter's
Speaker 5: not playing or anything like that, and so it was.
Speaker 2: It was pretty interesting.
Speaker 5: It was it's a private girls it's not private girls school,
Speaker 5: but it's a private Christian college. And it's funny cause
Speaker 5: we did play a team where the girls would come
Speaker 5: off the court and they'd be like, hey, they're cussing
Speaker 5: this out there.
Speaker 2: They're they're they're getting a little rough. And and we
Speaker 2: did have to speak to the other coach about stuff.
Speaker 5: Oh, I say, but now I didn't really have to
Speaker 5: deal with too much parent drama. Everybody was pretty you
Speaker 5: know you did in middle school, middle school girls.
Speaker 2: I totally underestimated what it would take to coach.
Speaker 3: It's a lot. That's how old Kayla was when I
Speaker 3: coached your team. It's a lot.
Speaker 1: Dude.
Speaker 2: Well, i'll tell you.
Speaker 5: I coach Cameron, who's my son, his his flag football team.
Speaker 2: It's like, this is gonna be awesome.
Speaker 5: I spent hours, at not hours, maybe like an hour
Speaker 5: drawing up all these plays.
Speaker 2: And I go to them they're probably in third grade,
Speaker 2: and I go, all right, guys, here's what we're gonna do.
Speaker 2: See this play.
Speaker 5: Let's let's line it up. You got two receivers, a quarterback,
Speaker 5: a center. And they go to line up and I says, kids,
Speaker 5: stand around, what are you doing? He goes, what's the
Speaker 5: last scrimmage?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 1: No, oh no? A lot more share.
Speaker 3: I'll have to share a story that I had one
Speaker 3: parent and then we'll go to break because I know
Speaker 3: we're getting over on break here.
Speaker 1: I had. I had one parent when I was coaching Broken.
Speaker 3: Your nephew his soccer team, actually make a lineup and
Speaker 3: hand it to me before a game.
Speaker 1: Because her kid wasn't playing.
Speaker 3: She goes, I've taken the liberty to draw your lineup,
Speaker 3: and thank goodness we had like two games left in
Speaker 3: the season, because I would have literally just walked off
Speaker 3: after that. So here you go, mom, have at it.
Speaker 3: You can coach. So yeah, I had great question, John.
Speaker 3: I'm glad you brought that up because I'll tell you what.
Speaker 4: Obviously, I've never been a coach, but I feel like
Speaker 4: if I was in that position that you were just
Speaker 4: talking about in the parents up and does that and
Speaker 4: I hate to to kind of punish the kid for that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is.
Speaker 4: There is kind of association. You almost don't want to
Speaker 4: play the kid at all for that.
Speaker 1: That's exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I didn't want to say that, but I'm glad you did,
Speaker 3: because Yeah, that's kind of where I was going with that. Hey,
Speaker 3: when we come back, we got about a half, we're
Speaker 3: gonna wrap things up. We're actually gonna talk some sports.
Speaker 3: We're gonna get my little bro's take on some of
Speaker 3: the teams here and get John to jump in here.
Speaker 3: Just having a ball today. But this has been a
Speaker 3: lot of fun. This has been a treat to have
Speaker 3: everybody here and just kind of yip yap around. Glad
Speaker 3: you're along with us too as well, Tony and Tony
Speaker 3: Vanetti and Dave Jennings is gonna take you home the
Speaker 3: rest of the week, and I'm gonna head over to
Speaker 3: lou Cities game after this too, So it's a good time.
Speaker 1: We're back after this on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 3: Now you're playing my music there, mister John Alden, little Fogerty.
Speaker 1: Big baseball guy. I am.
Speaker 3: I know it's not unpopular take, but if you listen
Speaker 3: to Tony Cruz in the morning, baseball is my forte
Speaker 3: and I love me some baseball and I can do it.
Speaker 3: The first thing, in fact, when I get I get done,
Speaker 3: my day basically goes. I work with Tony, go to
Speaker 3: the other gig, I get home, well, I go to
Speaker 3: the gym. After that, I get home, probably around six,
Speaker 3: I go upstairs, take a shower.
Speaker 1: First thing goes on the MLB network.
Speaker 3: I just have to have it on his background noise
Speaker 3: because they do a great job because they bunce around
Speaker 3: ballpark cam etcetera.
Speaker 1: And I just love to have that on.
Speaker 3: Then I sit on the couch at night and and
Speaker 3: pretty much if I'm not watching pressure luck because I'm
Speaker 3: old and I watch game shows. Now I've got the
Speaker 3: ballgame on, and so I pick a ball game because
Speaker 3: I got the MLB TV app, which is fantastic on
Speaker 3: every level. So little brother Sean is in studio with
Speaker 3: John Alden and I. He flies for American Airlines. He's
Speaker 3: in town and louisvan a layover. We're gonna go get
Speaker 3: some dinner soon as we leave here, and then I'm
Speaker 3: gonna head off to the game and You're gonna go
Speaker 3: home get some sleep because if people are flying American tomorrow,
Speaker 3: they don't want a tired pilot.
Speaker 2: No, they do not.
Speaker 3: You probably said this before, but my Add's and Flago.
Speaker 3: Are you back to Charlotte tomorrow morning, Miami, Miami.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. Okay, So, uh, Sean,
Speaker 1: we were talking a little bit. Sean. Let's let's talk
Speaker 1: some sports now.
Speaker 3: And John, you feel free to jump in here when
Speaker 3: you can we've got the new look Big ten. You're
Speaker 3: a Michigan guy, John's an Indiana guy. Indiana's got a
Speaker 3: new coach. John's Signetti. He is uh, he's fiery. I
Speaker 3: don't know how much he is, but he means business.
Speaker 3: He's expecting to or he's already raised expectations without even
Speaker 3: coaching a game for the Hoosiers. The guy has never
Speaker 3: had a losing season as a head coach. He's been
Speaker 3: at three different places, never been at the power four,
Speaker 3: power five level.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 4: But I think this will be a very good experiment
Speaker 4: for Indiana to see if they can, you know, kind
Speaker 4: of get out of the cellar. They did it for
Speaker 4: a while and or Tom Allen a couple of years
Speaker 4: they had some success, but they haven't found sustained success.
Speaker 4: And Signetti maybe the guy to potentially get in there.
Speaker 4: We'll have to wait and see.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 3: And that's why I was going to ask you what
Speaker 3: your comfort level was with him, because not only do
Speaker 3: you have a new coach coming in now, but you
Speaker 3: have a new coach who's coming into a new Big ten.
Speaker 1: I think it was the perfect time to do it.
Speaker 4: I said last year, whenever Tom Allen, whenever it was
Speaker 4: kind of his time to go. I'm like, if you're
Speaker 4: going to make the move, you want to do it now.
Speaker 4: Whenever everything's changing in the Big Ten, because it's going
Speaker 4: to be new for everybody. Yeah, you have the experienced
Speaker 4: guys like Ryan Day and that Krew, Kirk Farnce, that
Speaker 4: type of stuff, but it's still going to be new.
Speaker 4: With all the traveling to the West Coast, all four
Speaker 4: of those teams out there, it's gonna be way different
Speaker 4: for them, and really it's it's just gonna be a
Speaker 4: totally different game. I mean, the game will be the same,
Speaker 4: but like it's gonna feel different. Whenever you're watching these
Speaker 4: teams play that have never played each other, you're gonna
Speaker 4: have some of the jet lag issues with the West
Speaker 4: Coast and you know the Midwest teams they travel to
Speaker 4: each other's home stadiums. So it's a lot of different
Speaker 4: stuff coming to college football and the Big Ten specifically
Speaker 4: this year.
Speaker 3: To your point, first, get you got FIU at Home
Speaker 3: Western Illinois. Then they go to UCLA. Go to Ucla.
Speaker 3: That is a primetime game on NBC.
Speaker 1: Bro. I'm at So's that's actually gonna be fun.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna tune that one in and then the only
Speaker 3: other former Pac twelve opponent they have is Washington coming
Speaker 3: to Bloomington.
Speaker 4: So you avoid the USC's, you avoid the organ You're
Speaker 4: probably playing more than likely the two weaker teams of
Speaker 4: the four that are coming.
Speaker 1: From the West Coast.
Speaker 4: And UCLA is kind of in a weird position this
Speaker 4: year because they had to get a new head coach
Speaker 4: in the middle of the off season and Chip Kelly
Speaker 4: jump to be the offensive coordinate at Ohio.
Speaker 1: State, which is a very weird move.
Speaker 4: But in college football you're seeing a lot of weird
Speaker 4: moves now with coaches who don't want to mess with
Speaker 4: the nil and the transfer portal as much and have
Speaker 4: less responsibility and that type of a thing. So Deshaun
Speaker 4: Foster comes in for UCLA, and again, you probably didn't
Speaker 4: pay a lot of attention to Big ten media days,
Speaker 4: and I wouldn't blame you, but Deshaun Foster kind of
Speaker 4: embarrassed himself at the podium whenever he was speaking to
Speaker 4: the Big tim media for the first time.
Speaker 1: He got up there to do his opening statement and
Speaker 1: he just froze. He said a few things.
Speaker 4: And then he got starstruck or stage fright, whatever, you
Speaker 4: want to call it, and kind of just made a
Speaker 4: fool of himself. Wow, I didn't see the entirety of
Speaker 4: his statements, so he might have picked himself back up,
Speaker 4: as I'm assuming you might have. But that's not a
Speaker 4: good look whenever you're introducing yourself to a brand new
Speaker 4: conference and really to your fan base like that for
Speaker 4: the first time. So it'll be interesting to see what
Speaker 4: UCLA doesn't really all these new teams do.
Speaker 1: But I'm obviously super.
Speaker 4: Intrigued by Indiana traveling out to the West Coast taking
Speaker 4: on UCLA because to me, that's a turning point game
Speaker 4: for Indiana and Kurtzignetti's first year.
Speaker 1: Absolutely it is.
Speaker 3: And the nice thing for IU this year, bro, you
Speaker 3: get a little time in between Michigan and Ohio State. Yes,
Speaker 3: Michigan comes into Bloomington on November ninth, then you don't
Speaker 3: face Ohio State until November twenty third. You've got a
Speaker 3: bye weekend between, yes, so which is nice. And speaking
Speaker 3: of remember we were visiting last time and I was
Speaker 3: trying to remember that place in Bloomington that we always
Speaker 3: go to, and I was on with Joe Lincoln on Saturday.
Speaker 3: He's not you guy, like you Sells and I remember
Speaker 3: what it was. It was Buffalouis. Okay, that's the place
Speaker 3: to go. The Wings were amazing, a bit pricier in Bloomington.
Speaker 1: But definitely take all the recruits. Is it that they
Speaker 1: think go there?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 3: Sean, you obviously no secret you're a Michigan fan. What's
Speaker 3: your take on the new Big Ten?
Speaker 2: What do you think I think it's gonna be.
Speaker 5: I think college football in general, we're going to see
Speaker 5: a lot of different a lot of different looks because
Speaker 5: now you've got you know, obviously the two power Power conferences.
Speaker 5: I'm what I'm more curious about is is the l
Speaker 5: nial stuff. Do you guys think that's going to make
Speaker 5: players stay longer in college football because now they they're
Speaker 5: making more money here will have a positive effect on
Speaker 5: college football? Or will you still see one and done's
Speaker 5: people you know, jump into the NFL quicker.
Speaker 1: That's a great question. I think the one thing.
Speaker 4: I think one thing that you're going to see, And Scott,
Speaker 4: I can't remember if you and I talked about this
Speaker 4: or if I mentioned it with a Nick whenever he
Speaker 4: was on here, but I think one thing you're going
Speaker 4: to see in the near future, probably maybe not this year.
Speaker 4: But I think one thing that's been one of the
Speaker 4: biggest issues is players opting out of playing in bowl
Speaker 4: games because they they'd rather not risk getting injured and
Speaker 4: get ready for the NFL.
Speaker 1: That type of stuff.
Speaker 4: I think you're going to start seeing NIL incentives or
Speaker 4: maybe maybe even requirements from whoever's paying these players to
Speaker 4: force them to participate in these bowl games, because it
Speaker 4: kind of whenever your your stars for your teams aren't
Speaker 4: playing in the postseason, it kind of ruins the product
Speaker 4: in a sense, and it almost becomes more of a
Speaker 4: tryout for the second string, you know, your lower tier
Speaker 4: players to get ready for the next season. So I
Speaker 4: think that's one thing you'll you'll see be a positive
Speaker 4: change when it comes to NIL down the road. I
Speaker 4: don't know when that type of stuff would go into effect,
Speaker 4: but I think that's one way you could you can
Speaker 4: definitely see improvement in a positive way for these players,
Speaker 4: these players to get played paid.
Speaker 3: Excuse me, you know, I had a chance to talk
Speaker 3: with Chancellor Douge and the women's basketball coach A Bellaman.
Speaker 3: They just signed it to an extension and we had
Speaker 3: that conversation. You heard it here on this station. Here's
Speaker 3: what she had to say quickly about Nil.
Speaker 6: No, I've gone through and seen everything, you know. I never,
Speaker 6: in my wildest dreams would have thought that the NCAA
Speaker 6: would have given so much autonomy, because it's like the
Speaker 6: Wile Wall West. Yeah, I mean the rules change and
Speaker 6: update daily.
Speaker 3: I do think that they need to reel in an
Speaker 3: il to some degree. I think the NCAA could do
Speaker 3: a much better job at that. I don't want to
Speaker 3: critique them because I don't I don't live in that world. No,
Speaker 3: they get paid a lot more money and have a
Speaker 3: lot more education than I do. I constantly remind mister
Speaker 3: Cruz about that in the morning. You know this, It's
Speaker 3: like so funny. Everybody wants to a d but nobody's
Speaker 3: ad in and everybody seems to have the answers. It's
Speaker 3: just like in our business, everybody wants to coach, they
Speaker 3: have all the answers, but nobody's coaching Colin Coward And
Speaker 3: just saying that, I do think that they need to
Speaker 3: reel in Nil to some degree and give places like
Speaker 3: a Bellerman kind of a fair shot because right now,
Speaker 3: let's be honest, Bellerman can't run with who is it
Speaker 3: that the Texas there was at NC State one of
Speaker 3: the softball players send a million dollar anil deal.
Speaker 1: I mean, Bellaman can't run with that, you know. So
Speaker 1: this is really gonna be college athletics.
Speaker 3: So to your All's point, this is going to be
Speaker 3: very interesting to see how this shakes out. Sean, you
Speaker 3: were telling me off the air. Now, Michigan in defense
Speaker 3: of their national championships. By the way, they're getting ready
Speaker 3: to issue there. I guess their nose of allegations is
Speaker 3: coming out from the sign stealings.
Speaker 1: They're gonna have to deal with that.
Speaker 3: But they have Texas at home on September seventh, and
Speaker 3: you looked into September twenty first.
Speaker 1: USC is coming to town. Yeah, what were the ticket
Speaker 1: prices going for that?
Speaker 5: They were two hundred dollars minimum, is what you're looking at,
Speaker 5: And of course it goes up from there.
Speaker 2: And then Texas is going to be an.
Speaker 5: Interesting battle because they got their quarterback back, Irwin or
Speaker 5: drown a plank on his name. But Steve Sarkejian's put
Speaker 5: together a pretty good product out there. So now you
Speaker 5: got Texas in the SEC, and then where's Alabama going
Speaker 5: to come into play there because they're, you know, a
Speaker 5: new head coach. That's the other thing is how are
Speaker 5: the head coaches going to handle this whole It just
Speaker 5: seems like a whole different landscape, and it seems like
Speaker 5: it's a new now. I mean before recruiting was tough.
Speaker 5: Now you got to deal with the nil, you got
Speaker 5: to deal with money, you got to deal with boosters.
Speaker 5: So I think we're dealing with a whole new, whole
Speaker 5: new game here. But and you add in the twelve
Speaker 5: team playoff. Now you've got a team like say a
Speaker 5: top mid mid tier team, say in the Big Ten,
Speaker 5: like in Indiana or Nebraska that normally would all right,
Speaker 5: you had a decent year, maybe it got you know,
Speaker 5: eight or nine wins, but you're certainly not going to
Speaker 5: be in the hunt. Now you're in the hunt because
Speaker 5: all you got to do is get to that top
Speaker 5: twelve position. So how many teams are we going to
Speaker 5: see that? You know what we see in basketball where
Speaker 5: it's you know, a number seven team goes all the
Speaker 5: way or so it'll be interesting to see how that
Speaker 5: plays out and does that lever like kind of lower
Speaker 5: the competitive field as far as it's not going to
Speaker 5: always be Alabama always going to be, you know, the
Speaker 5: big name team, so well.
Speaker 3: You know, it will be interesting to see how the
Speaker 3: college football landscape shakes out. It's going to be a
Speaker 3: very interesting year, to say the least. I know a
Speaker 3: lot of people are looking forward to it. Switch gears
Speaker 3: while we have a little bit of time left, Fellas.
Speaker 1: I can tell you.
Speaker 3: When I was in Detroit for the NFL Draft, I
Speaker 3: saw firsthand what a massive beast this machine really is.
Speaker 3: You have no idea of what seven hundred thousand people
Speaker 3: feels like until you're in the middle of all of them.
Speaker 3: And I don't think i've ever seen you know, Detroit
Speaker 3: was such a ghost town for so long, and I
Speaker 3: remember going over to Greektown the night after the draft.
Speaker 3: You could not move in the street. I mean people
Speaker 3: were everywhere. They came from all walks of life, every
Speaker 3: fan if you were listening to Terry Miners. I had
Speaker 3: a chance to interview fans from all different teams that
Speaker 3: right now, the NFL is a machine and it's only
Speaker 3: getting bigger, it's only getting better. How do you see
Speaker 3: it shaken out? John, I never did get a read
Speaker 3: on where you're at when it comes to the NFL.
Speaker 3: Do you have a team, So I buy association.
Speaker 4: I have a team, and it's I have a family
Speaker 4: member up in Buffalo and whenever, whenever we went and
Speaker 4: visited them. A couple of years ago, my wife took
Speaker 4: a big liking up for the Bills. We went to, Yeah,
Speaker 4: we went to a bar that was a Bills centric bar.
Speaker 4: And so my wife decides she's gonna be a Bills fan. Like,
Speaker 4: you know what, I don't have an NFL team, Let's
Speaker 4: just be Bill's fans. And so I'm not you know,
Speaker 4: it's not like something I grew up watching being a
Speaker 4: fan of the Bills, that type of a thing, but
Speaker 4: it is. It is fun to be a part of
Speaker 4: kind of a crazy, you know, group of group of people.
Speaker 4: And I know you're I'm sure you're familiar with the
Speaker 4: Bills mafia. Yeah, I'm obviously not that type of person.
Speaker 4: I could never be out in the tailgate grounds, jumping
Speaker 4: on tables, that type of thing, breaking tables. But that's
Speaker 4: kind of where I'm at with with the NFL.
Speaker 3: And they're building that new stadium form now too, and
Speaker 3: it's not a dome, right, It's still going to be
Speaker 3: out there. It's crazy That's where I respect Bill's mafia.
Speaker 3: Yes you had like Minnesota build a dome stadium. Yes,
Speaker 3: Bill's Mafia said, no, none of that noise. We're going
Speaker 3: out in the cold. We're going to do miss the Bay.
Speaker 1: They'll never change.
Speaker 3: Exactly, dude, exactly. And Sean, you and I are both
Speaker 3: Lions fans. We saw they got so close. The proof
Speaker 3: is going to be in the pudding to see if
Speaker 3: they can do it again in year two. That was
Speaker 3: probably the most frustrated I've been. That was almost at
Speaker 3: the NFC Championship. Was almost as frustrating as the Owen
Speaker 3: sixteen years to get that close.
Speaker 1: And sure, I think it.
Speaker 5: Would have been better if that game was just a blowout,
Speaker 5: if it was just the forty nine ers rolled over them.
Speaker 5: But if you look at the Lions coming back this year,
Speaker 5: they got a lot of returning players. They've got a
Speaker 5: lot and both coordinators are coming back, which I think
Speaker 5: they interviewed but didn't take jobs. And so you've got
Speaker 5: this like, and I travel a lot. Obviously, I talked
Speaker 5: to a lot of people and they're like, oh, you're
Speaker 5: a Lions fan. Oh I was rooting for the Lions.
Speaker 5: Oh I didn't know you're a Lions fan.
Speaker 2: Oh, I was. Really everybody seems to be pulling unless
Speaker 2: you're a.
Speaker 5: Diehard, you know San Francisco or a Bills or but
Speaker 5: a lot of people in the country are really pulling
Speaker 5: for They like Dan Campbell as they should.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a blue collar guy, he's in a blue collar city.
Speaker 5: But then I was just looking at the odds to
Speaker 5: win the championship and I saw right behind them, just
Speaker 5: behind them, as the Bengals, and so.
Speaker 1: It gied you went there, because that's where I was
Speaker 1: going next.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it seems like behind the Bills, the forty nine
Speaker 5: Ers and the Chiefs, you got the Lions, and then
Speaker 5: you got the Bills or the Bengals are right there
Speaker 5: in the hunt.
Speaker 3: Well, that's where our house is. My son is a
Speaker 3: huge Bengals fan, and so it's very interesting. My son,
Speaker 3: born and raised here in Louisville, is kind of fit
Speaker 3: that mold. He loves the Reds, he loves the Bengals.
Speaker 3: He's a big Louisville fan.
Speaker 1: He's into it.
Speaker 3: So it's funny with the Bengals one because I cover
Speaker 3: him in the mornings here. I covered the Bengals, Colts
Speaker 3: and the Titans. Which is a lot of fun. It
Speaker 3: really is, because those are the geographical teams here. But
Speaker 3: you know, the Bengals, I find myself rooting for him
Speaker 3: because my son does. In fact, when they went to
Speaker 3: the super Bowl that year when they won the AFC Championship,
Speaker 3: we were coming home from a hockey tournament in Ohio
Speaker 3: and I will never forget us sitting in the car
Speaker 3: driving along when Dan Horne announced they were going to
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl and it was just like, what I mean,
Speaker 3: I was excited for him. Yeah, I didn't grow up
Speaker 3: a Bengals fan, but I was excited for him. And
Speaker 3: so they got a lot coming into The Bengals got
Speaker 3: a lot coming back. And you know, sometime and when
Speaker 3: I feel and again we'll talk more about the NFL.
Speaker 3: But the Colts there's high expectations with Shane Steichen, and
Speaker 3: of course the Titan have the Bengals old offensive coordinator
Speaker 3: Bill Callahan and former Kentucky quarterback Will Levis. The Titan's
Speaker 3: gonna try to put this thing together. So if you're
Speaker 3: an NFL fan and you're living here in Louisville, you're
Speaker 3: in prime real estate. There's some good NFL action all
Speaker 3: around you, right here. So hey, we're gonna wrap things up.
Speaker 3: There's been a lot of fun. We're gonna wrap things
Speaker 3: up when we come back in just a bit. I'm
Speaker 3: Scott Fitzgerald. He's John Alden. That's my little bro Seawan.
Speaker 3: We're back after this on Sports Talk seven ninety all right,
Speaker 3: great song. As we're wrapping things up here. Boy, this
Speaker 3: has been a lot of fun. John Olden, you always
Speaker 3: make this so much fun. Buddy, Thank you.
Speaker 1: I will take you any day, Oh brother.
Speaker 2: I love this.
Speaker 1: And I know Nick's gonna be back. He's probably not
Speaker 1: gonna take any vacation.
Speaker 3: For a while because it's coming up on his This
Speaker 3: is his sweet spot now as we get into football
Speaker 3: season in basketball season.
Speaker 4: To him, this is the beginning of the calendar year,
Speaker 4: whenever sports really get back into play.
Speaker 1: Right, the big sports right.
Speaker 3: And I did want to say that imparting to I
Speaker 3: just wanted to give Nick a lot of love because
Speaker 3: he's one of the best we have in this building,
Speaker 3: if not the best, when it comes to of sports.
Speaker 3: And I don't think that gets set enough around here,
Speaker 3: and it doesn't get acknowledged by people in our own house.
Speaker 3: But if you're a fan of Nick Coffee. You know
Speaker 3: what I'm talking about. If you're not dial him up.
Speaker 3: My man is so dilled him when it comes to
Speaker 3: Cardinal sports. He's critical of the Cardinals when he needs
Speaker 3: to be, but also at the same time he's not
Speaker 3: a homer either, So you know, take it for what
Speaker 3: you will. Nick Coffee, Love you, brother, Appreciate you letting
Speaker 3: me on. John, love you too, Man, Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Look forward to whenever it is you come on again.
Speaker 1: All right, And Sean, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3: Bro.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this has been fun.
Speaker 5: That's a great, great sports city. I love Louisville every
Speaker 5: time I come here.
Speaker 1: So if you fly American, ask for Sean Fitzgerald, then
Speaker 1: give him. Hell.
Speaker 2: I don't ask for peanuts, right for peanuts, all right?
Speaker 3: For John Alden, my little brother Sean. I'm Scott Fitzgerald.
Speaker 3: Make it a great day, everybody. I'm off to Lynn
Speaker 3: Family Stadium. We'll talk to you next time.