Speaker 1: All right, two more hours left before we get out
Speaker 1: of here.
Speaker 2: For the weekend. I'm sure for many of you the
Speaker 2: weekend has already started. If so, hell yeah, salute. We
Speaker 2: were out on Monday. I'm assuming most people are aware
Speaker 2: of that. If not, now you know, So after we
Speaker 2: wrap up the show today, we'll be back on Tuesday,
Speaker 2: and then it's Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I'm going
Speaker 2: to see. I don't I don't have a whole lot
Speaker 2: of confidence that they'll be able to make this happen.
Speaker 2: And it really won't be anybody's fault. It's just you know,
Speaker 2: kind of how things are. But I'm going to see
Speaker 2: if I can get the show on the road at
Speaker 2: some point next week to you know, just have a party,
Speaker 2: as it'll be the last week for me here at
Speaker 2: seven ninety and if not, we'll still have a party
Speaker 2: here via the airwaves. But I am going to try
Speaker 2: to see if I can make something happen, and if so,
Speaker 2: I'll let you know as soon as I can, and
Speaker 2: maybe you can come out and and you know, celebrate
Speaker 2: with us. I don't really know what we're celebrating. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's actually kind of sad be honest with you, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna miss being a being a part of the station.
Speaker 2: I've been a part of this station for over nine
Speaker 2: years now, and it still doesn't seem real that I'm
Speaker 2: not only going to be able to make the move
Speaker 2: to eight forty whas and step in for Tony Cruz
Speaker 2: who's retiring, but it also doesn't seem quite real that
Speaker 2: I've been able to do this for as long as
Speaker 2: I have, and it's been a lot of fun. Really,
Speaker 2: you know, not to overdo it and be you know, dramatic,
Speaker 2: but it really has been a dream for me, and
Speaker 2: I am going to make the most of these last
Speaker 2: these last shows that I have and again reminder, I'm
Speaker 2: not I'm not I'm not moving away. I'm not really
Speaker 2: going anywhere other than just down the hall and up
Speaker 2: your radio dial right seven ninety to eight forty.
Speaker 1: It's just just.
Speaker 2: Really one station up. I don't know if there's a
Speaker 2: station that's AM that's between seven ninety and eight forty.
Speaker 2: I'm as I'm going to assume that there's not. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I hope a lot of you will be able to
Speaker 2: join me in the mornings and still be able to
Speaker 2: get a little bit of what you get here not
Speaker 2: going to be the same thing, certainly, but I'm sure
Speaker 2: there will be some nonsense here and there in a
Speaker 2: good way. Maybe I shouldn't say that. Maybe they'll change
Speaker 2: plans and not give me the opportunity, so I'll just
Speaker 2: shut up, all right. It's Coffee and Company we are
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Speaker 1: All right, So the.
Speaker 2: College football offseason content is in full force right now.
Speaker 2: We've talked a lot about that throughout the last couple
Speaker 2: of weeks. The CBS Sports College Football Coaching Rankings as
Speaker 2: they rank power coaches from sixty eight. From one through
Speaker 2: sixty eight, Jeff Bromp came in at number seventeen, Mark
Speaker 2: Stoops at number thirty six, Kurt Signetti was inside the
Speaker 2: top twenty five as well, And then we also talked
Speaker 2: a little bit earlier about the Pro Football focus. Running
Speaker 2: back rooms is what they describe it for those who
Speaker 2: don't really understand what that means. Your running back room
Speaker 2: is just your running back position, meaning how good you are,
Speaker 2: how good your running back room is meaning how good
Speaker 2: you are top to bottom at that position. And Louisville
Speaker 2: came in at number four, which isn't a big shocker.
Speaker 2: Considering the two true freshmen last year both coming back,
Speaker 2: Duke Watson and Isaac Brown. I know Louisville has continuously
Speaker 2: done well in the portal this new world, but getting
Speaker 2: guys back is just as much, if not more valuable
Speaker 2: than who you can bring in via the portal. And
Speaker 2: I probably shouldn't say this, but it's just the truth.
Speaker 2: It's just my honest opinion, and I'm glad I was wrong.
Speaker 2: But if you'd have told me towards the end of
Speaker 2: last season that Louiville would be able to bring back
Speaker 2: both Duke Watson and Isaac Brown, who clearly could have
Speaker 2: got a lot of money elsewhere, and I'm sure they
Speaker 2: got a lot of money here and they deserve it,
Speaker 2: but they also probably could have I mean Duke Watson specifically,
Speaker 2: I mean he's already behind a guy as far as
Speaker 2: reps and production as a true freshman to where it
Speaker 2: would just think I think most would assume like he
Speaker 2: could love Louisville, he could have a big offer as
Speaker 2: far as money, which he probably did, and it wouldn't
Speaker 2: have shocked me if he decided to leave, because you know,
Speaker 2: he wants to be the guy and look who knows
Speaker 2: maybe he is the guy this year and he steps
Speaker 2: ahead of Isaac Brown. Who knows how that shakes out.
Speaker 2: But both are proven to be really good running backs,
Speaker 2: and I think getting both the them to come back
Speaker 2: and not leave else to go elsewhere for maybe a.
Speaker 1: Bigger payday or a bigger role.
Speaker 2: That speaks to the culture that Jet Brohm has in
Speaker 2: place right now. And again, getting a new weapon, a
Speaker 2: new player I should say, not a weapon, but a
Speaker 2: new player in the portal rather it be basketball, football, whatever,
Speaker 2: it's really exciting because it's new and it's you know,
Speaker 2: it's somebody that you know, you hope can really really succeed.
Speaker 2: But sometimes getting good players back is a bigger deal
Speaker 2: than anything, and Louisville has been able to do that.
Speaker 2: I mean, there have been some guys that did leave
Speaker 2: in the portal that I didn't want to leave, and
Speaker 2: that's just where we are right now in college athletics.
Speaker 2: But getting Watson and Brown back certainly a big deal.
Speaker 2: But what I want to look at now is the athletics.
Speaker 2: Stewart Mandel's then want to put this together the top
Speaker 2: twenty five college football programs of the two thousands, so
Speaker 2: really the last twenty five years Louisville, Kentucky, nobody locally
Speaker 2: came in. And the reason I bring this up is
Speaker 2: because I'm just curious where Louisville may may have fallen
Speaker 2: if they went to thirty, like would they be in
Speaker 2: the top thirty. And it doesn't look as if I'm
Speaker 2: scrolling through here at the Athletic it is behind a paywall.
Speaker 2: But I do have a subscription here to The Athletic.
Speaker 1: Not to brag.
Speaker 2: I mean it's not like it's you know, but it's
Speaker 2: worth it. I say that to let you know you
Speaker 2: should sign up and subscribe to because they do really
Speaker 2: good work.
Speaker 1: But they have the top.
Speaker 2: Twenty five, and again Louisville's not in it. But when
Speaker 2: you look at twenty through twenty five, at twenty you've
Speaker 2: got Boise State. They have an eighty percent win percentage.
Speaker 2: Since two thousand, they have been ranked as high as
Speaker 2: number two. They have no losing seasons, and they have
Speaker 2: spent forty three point three percent of the last twenty
Speaker 2: five years in the top twenty five. They have eighteen
Speaker 2: top twenty five wins. They have four top ten wins
Speaker 2: and thirteen conference titles and four BCS Slash New York
Speaker 2: six New Year's six Bowl games, not New York New
Speaker 2: Year's Sorry, I saw in why and just said New
Speaker 2: York apologies. So at number twenty one is Oklahoma State.
Speaker 2: They won sixty three percent of their games, They had
Speaker 2: four losing seasons. They spent forty seven percent of the
Speaker 2: of the last twenty five years. In the top twenty five.
Speaker 2: Utah is at number twenty two, Iowa is at twenty
Speaker 2: three with just two losing seasons, Washington is twenty four,
Speaker 2: and Michigan State is twenty five.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to run through all the.
Speaker 2: Numbers for each of those five, but when it comes
Speaker 2: to Louisville, they're winning percentage in the last twenty five
Speaker 2: years is let me see, I just had it pulled
Speaker 2: up sixty seven point five. That's pretty good. In fact,
Speaker 2: as you can tell, that's better than some of these
Speaker 2: teams that are ranked in the top twenty five. So
Speaker 2: my gut as far as losing seasons, how many losing
Speaker 2: seasons as Louisville had, I'm gonna guess they've had in
Speaker 2: the last twenty five years. Since two thousand, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: guess they've had eight losing seasons and I'm just completely guessing.
Speaker 1: I could be way off.
Speaker 2: Let's see if And by the way, this is the
Speaker 2: power of chat GPT because you can simply put this
Speaker 2: in there and they'll tell you which. By the way,
Speaker 2: I'm embarrassed how wrong I was. Louisville's only had four
Speaker 2: losing seasons in the last twenty five years two thousand
Speaker 2: and eight, two thousand and nine, and then twenty and eighteen, which.
Speaker 1: Was Bobby's last year. That really was a bad, bad year.
Speaker 2: And then in twenty twenty they went four and seven,
Speaker 2: was probably one of the more underwhelming years based off
Speaker 2: of what expectations were. That was the year where Louisville
Speaker 2: was coming off of the first season of sadderfield. They
Speaker 2: went eight and five with that win against Mississippi State
Speaker 2: and the Music City Bowl brought back a lot of players,
Speaker 2: and Sat was hyped, as you know, I mean, he
Speaker 2: won ACC Coach of the Year in his first year,
Speaker 2: you remember, and then obviously never really took off after that,
Speaker 2: and in fact, his worst season was his second season
Speaker 2: where they only played ACC teams along with that one
Speaker 2: game I think it was against WKU. So when it
Speaker 2: comes to what Louisville could have done to get in
Speaker 2: the top twenty five. I mean, they have four losing seasons.
Speaker 2: The only teams in the ranked twentieth through twenty five
Speaker 2: that have less losing seasons is Boise State, who I mentioned,
Speaker 2: And I'm just going to say it like they're not.
Speaker 2: It's hard to look at them the exact same way
Speaker 2: that you look at everybody else. Now you can also
Speaker 2: say the same thing about Louisville. You got to keep
Speaker 2: in mind a little it and enter the Big East until
Speaker 2: what two thousand and five. I think it was so
Speaker 2: those first four years of the twenty of the two thousands,
Speaker 2: Louisville was in Conference USA, although Conference USA wasn't great
Speaker 2: and also wasn't terrible. In fact, I think you could
Speaker 2: make the case that it's better than what Boise He's
Speaker 2: played in the last couple of years. Maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 2: A long time ago so I feel like we could
Speaker 2: have been in this top twenty five and it would
Speaker 2: not have been viewed as like how the hell they
Speaker 2: put them there? And again maybe I'm biased in saying that.
Speaker 2: Now we don't have actually do we have any conference titles?
Speaker 2: I mean we have I'm sure the Conference USA titles
Speaker 2: in the late years of Louisville's time there top ten wins. Again,
Speaker 2: when you look at the criteria that would have left Louisville,
Speaker 2: it's got to be top top top ten wins. It's
Speaker 2: got to also be maybe the percentage of the weeks
Speaker 2: that you've been ranked. But I feel like if Stuart
Speaker 2: Mandel was to give us top thirty, Louisville would have
Speaker 2: to be there. Maybe I'm wrong again When it comes
Speaker 2: to BCS in New Year's Eve, New Year six Bowls,
Speaker 2: I mean, you've got the two BCS Bowls, and then
Speaker 2: I guess, really that's it because you didn't play in
Speaker 2: and you haven't played in one since the Sugar Bowl.
Speaker 2: But also you look at you know, you look at
Speaker 2: other teams. I mean, Iowa only has three, Oklahoma State
Speaker 2: has three. So I guess that's probably where you really
Speaker 2: fell short of those that just made the top twenty five.
Speaker 2: Is that? And by the way, I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 2: guess that Louisville also does not have have that many
Speaker 2: top twenty five wins. I mean, I can think you know,
Speaker 2: and again what what you never know? And it's a
Speaker 2: very important factor when you talk about ranked wins wins
Speaker 2: against the top twenty five some people. I feel like
Speaker 2: most people count if you played them and they were
Speaker 2: ranked and you beat them, and they then that that's
Speaker 2: what counts. But I mean, you could also get credit
Speaker 2: for beating a team in Week three that was ranked
Speaker 2: in the top ten and get a top ten win,
Speaker 2: and that team might finish three and nine. And if so,
Speaker 2: what did you actually like? What did you actually accomplish?
Speaker 2: So says your Louisville In the last since two thousand,
Speaker 2: Louisville has let's see, they beat West Virginia, Wake Forest,
Speaker 2: NC State, Notre Dame, So yeah, that would probably that
Speaker 2: would probably be one of the factors that that that
Speaker 2: kept you out. And look, who knows what they would
Speaker 2: have done had they played a lot more ranked teams.
Speaker 2: But I think in your time in the in Conference USA,
Speaker 2: in the Big East and in the ACC even like,
Speaker 2: you really haven't played that many ranked teams. So here's
Speaker 2: what's probably likely. Would Louisville have more ranked wins than
Speaker 2: they currently have right now had they played a tougher schedule, Yeah, probably.
Speaker 2: They also probably wouldn't have the sixty seven point five
Speaker 2: winning percentage though, So look, lou I feel like, I
Speaker 2: have no identity crisis when it comes to Louisville football,
Speaker 2: and I've been pretty content for many years. I know
Speaker 2: some people get mad when you see empty seats at
Speaker 2: the stadium.
Speaker 1: And what happened with Louislle football.
Speaker 2: We got thrown in the microwave. I mean we did
Speaker 2: we were. I mean when Tom took over Tom Jurch,
Speaker 2: I mean that was around the time where Conference USA
Speaker 2: was about to kick us out of the league because
Speaker 2: of just how bad football resources were. Obviously, they were
Speaker 2: independent for a long time, and clearly Schnellenberger didn't want that.
Speaker 2: He wanted to or he wanted to stay independent. He
Speaker 2: din't wanted to join the league, which was a big
Speaker 2: factor in him leaving Louisville. But nonetheless, we went from
Speaker 2: being a team that played in a baseball stadium that
Speaker 2: almost got kicked out of Conference USA to.
Speaker 1: I guess.
Speaker 2: I mean, there was many winning seasons since that happened
Speaker 2: before we got to two thousand and four. But in
Speaker 2: two thousand and four, I still maybe this's just a
Speaker 2: kid in me because I love watching that team, and
Speaker 2: I wasn't I wasn't a little kid. I was, I guess,
Speaker 2: like a teenager at the time, but Louisville's two thousand
Speaker 2: and four team still feel like that was Louisville's best
Speaker 2: team they ever had. I know a lot of people
Speaker 2: would say, how could it be? They played in you know,
Speaker 2: Conference USA, and you know, the schedule wasn't great, and
Speaker 2: you're right, there's really no way to know. But I
Speaker 2: watched that team and they were really, really, really special,
Speaker 2: and that was a conference championship.
Speaker 1: By the way.
Speaker 2: They went eight to zero league play and the only
Speaker 2: loss they had was of course that loss at Miami
Speaker 2: when Miami was you know, the U Legitimately that game
Speaker 2: in October of twenty twenty four felt just felt just
Speaker 2: I mean that had you won that, I mean, you
Speaker 2: would have been undefeated, and you probably would have still
Speaker 2: been on the outside looking in when it comes to
Speaker 2: a chance to play for the BCS National Championship because obviously,
Speaker 2: you know, you were in Conference USA, but you had
Speaker 2: them beat and that team had how many NFL players.
Speaker 2: It's gonna make me sad going back thinking about that.
Speaker 2: But nonetheless, I feel like if we did get a
Speaker 2: top thirty, Leisvelle would probably appear so where between twenty
Speaker 2: six and thirty. But as far as the most successful programs.
Speaker 2: It's hard for me to say I totally agree with this,
Speaker 2: but it's also hard for me to look at the
Speaker 2: numbers and say that this is incorrect. But stru Mandel
Speaker 2: has Ohio State at number one because they have three
Speaker 2: national titles, nine Big Ten Conference titles, thirty nine Top
Speaker 2: ten wins, only one losing season, which I'm not even
Speaker 2: sure when that was. That had to be around the
Speaker 2: time that Tressel was on his way out or something.
Speaker 2: So he's got Alabama number one. I'm sorry, Ohio State
Speaker 2: number one, Alabama number two, and Oklahoma number three, Georgia
Speaker 2: number four, LSU number five, Clemson is at number six,
Speaker 2: Oregon is number seven, USC is eight, Texas is nine,
Speaker 2: and Florida is ten. And I would say just judging
Speaker 2: from the comments at the Athletic and just looking at
Speaker 2: the comments on Twitter, I would guess that Oregon is
Speaker 2: probably the most controversial, which I don't know. It's like
Speaker 2: it kind of reminds me of Gonzaga, and maybe they're not.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's not a great comparison, but like Gonzaga, not
Speaker 2: as much now, but for a while they were clearly
Speaker 2: in the top tier of the college Basketball world. They
Speaker 2: just hadn't broke through and won a national championship. So
Speaker 2: I understand if you don't want to put somebody as
Speaker 2: a top tier program until they've actually broken through and
Speaker 2: won at all. But I mean, they were right there
Speaker 2: and you know, just fell short a couple of times.
Speaker 2: But Oregon, they don't have a national championship, but they
Speaker 2: have been to ten BCS New Year six Bowl games,
Speaker 2: They've won eight conference titles, all those being in the
Speaker 2: Pac twelve. So I really don't have much of a
Speaker 2: problem putting Oregon number seven. But again, if you do,
Speaker 2: I can't say I'm surprised. All right, let's get to
Speaker 2: a quick break. We'll come back on the other side.
Speaker 2: Something that came out. I believe that they see the
Speaker 2: last week of the week before, which was just really
Speaker 2: exciting news. And I can't wait for the NBA to
Speaker 2: return to NBC. But Michael Jordan is going to be
Speaker 2: a part of the NBC coverage of the NBA, which
Speaker 2: will just be so nostalgic for somebody like myself. And
Speaker 2: I kept thinking, Okay, this is awesome. I'm not complaining,
Speaker 2: but man, what's making Michael Jordan want to emerge from
Speaker 2: the background. He's never he's Michael Jordan. He's never going
Speaker 2: to be you know, off the radar and unknown like
Speaker 2: he's Michael Jordan. But he's really been in the background
Speaker 2: in every aspect since he stopped playing basketball. Right He's
Speaker 2: owned an NBA team, but he's not real visible. You
Speaker 2: don't hear from him a lot. He doesn't do much
Speaker 2: of anything. He stays to himself. He's heavily involved in
Speaker 2: like NASCAR and whatnot. So I kept thinking, Okay, wonder,
Speaker 2: I wonder what made Jordan decide to do this, given
Speaker 2: the fact that he could have done this at any
Speaker 2: time and he never did. What's changed things now and
Speaker 2: we now have the answer. We'll talk about that next
Speaker 2: Right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. It is four
Speaker 2: thirty two here on a Friday afternoon and coffee and company,
Speaker 2: fueled by Thornton's. We're halfway through and then we're out
Speaker 2: of here for the long weekend, the holiday week and
Speaker 2: hopefully everybody has a good weekend, stay safe and enjoys themselves.
Speaker 2: So the Michael Jordan addition to the NBC NBA coverage
Speaker 2: was I feel like one of the biggest surprises we've
Speaker 2: had in I guess broadcast additions, right, like former players
Speaker 2: celebrities are really just you know, broadcasters. You know, I
Speaker 2: feel like it was kind of a big deal. Maybe
Speaker 2: I'm just nerding out on it because you know, I'm
Speaker 2: a nerd for sports broadcasting or whenever the whenever the
Speaker 2: was it the NBC crew that essentially got traded to
Speaker 2: Monday Night Football. Either way, it's it's not important, but
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan really doing anything on camera on Mike is rare,
Speaker 2: and he's never needed to because he's printing money. I mean,
Speaker 2: he's a billionaire. Obviously, he's throughout his career which ended
Speaker 2: long ago, that he's I mean, he's the best basketball
Speaker 2: player of all time. So he's never, to my knowledge,
Speaker 2: shown any interest in doing anything when it comes to broadcasting.
Speaker 2: But whenever NBC announced that he was going to be
Speaker 2: one of their contributors to their coverage and sort of.
Speaker 1: What that looks like.
Speaker 2: He'll be in studio, I think he may do some
Speaker 2: stuff at games. You know, I was excited, certainly, not complaining,
Speaker 2: but wondering what made Michael Jordan want to do this?
Speaker 2: What made Michael Jordan decide that he, you know, wanted
Speaker 2: to be a part of covering the sport that he
Speaker 2: is probably the best that's ever played it. And it's
Speaker 2: money again, He's he's certainly not in need of money.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't imagine. I mean, I don't know his spending
Speaker 2: habits or his lifestyle, but he could spend a lot
Speaker 2: of money every day, an insane amount of money, and
Speaker 2: probably still not run out because you know, he's Michael Jordan.
Speaker 1: But there are some new details.
Speaker 2: That have emerged in regards to the contract that NBC
Speaker 2: offered him, and they're gonna give him forty million dollars.
Speaker 2: He has become the highest paid sports analyst in history,
Speaker 2: and it's not really a surprise. That's you know, that's
Speaker 2: that's how you that's how you get Michael Jordan to
Speaker 2: decide to do something that he's probably never wanted to
Speaker 2: do and may not even want to do now. But
Speaker 2: you know not, I mean, how many people are turning
Speaker 2: down forty million dollars to do anything. I mean, I
Speaker 2: say that tongue in cheek, but forty million dollars can
Speaker 2: have you considering doing things you would never do, I'm sure.
Speaker 2: And this is Jordan just you know, talking about the
Speaker 2: game that he clearly knows and loves, and he could be.
Speaker 2: Here's here's what's so different about Jordan than anybody else.
Speaker 2: I think, because he's been away so long, we've all
Speaker 2: like the Jordan we think of, meaning people like my
Speaker 2: age who are old enough to remember him playing. And
Speaker 2: obviously there's people older than me that remember him playing.
Speaker 2: And if you're younger than me, maybe you do remember.
Speaker 2: But I feel like my age range is right around.
Speaker 2: Like I was pretty young during his heyday with the Bulls.
Speaker 2: I was under ten years old or right around ten
Speaker 2: years old whenever he got finished with his tenure with
Speaker 2: the Bulls. So I'm very lucky that I have the
Speaker 2: And again, it's weird for me because, as I've talked
Speaker 2: about a lot this week, I'm a big Pacers fan,
Speaker 2: but Jordan was Jordan, So I pulled from my Pacers
Speaker 2: when they would play against Michael and the Bulls in
Speaker 2: the Eastern Conference finals or the Semis whenever we got there.
Speaker 2: But like, it was impossible I think for kids to
Speaker 2: not like Michael Jordan because he was Michael Freakin' Jordan.
Speaker 2: So forty million dollars, I mean, it's probably something that
Speaker 2: was hard for him to turn down because again, forty
Speaker 2: million is a lot to anybody. But it's not like
Speaker 2: he's having to do something that's considered you know, painful
Speaker 2: or a lot of work. I mean, he's Jordan. Therefore,
Speaker 2: I think he could show up and by every aspect
Speaker 2: as far as how we judge and evaluate who is
Speaker 2: good and who is not at broadcasting, Jordan could do
Speaker 2: whatever and we're going to say it's great because he's
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan. That's just that's the effect that someone of
Speaker 2: that status can have. And while we're talking about Jordan,
Speaker 2: this is another story that I wanted to mention, so
Speaker 2: his longtime agent, David Falk, He was, I think doing
Speaker 2: an interview with the Sports Business Journal recently about the
Speaker 2: goat debate, which is a never ending, really stupid debate.
Speaker 2: And I shouldn't say stupid, because it's not. I mean,
Speaker 2: if you go back and forth and you know, you
Speaker 2: debate folks about it, or maybe you just debate yourself
Speaker 2: internally thinking about who you consider the goat, Jordan or
Speaker 2: Lebron or maybe somebody else. I mean, it's really just
Speaker 2: there's no way to prove it.
Speaker 1: Like some of.
Speaker 2: The most I shouldn't even say controversial, but some of
Speaker 2: the most talked about, and I guess, I guess they're
Speaker 2: called debates, I suppose, but it's really just your opinion,
Speaker 2: it's your preference. There's no official way, there's no scientific
Speaker 2: way to determine who, in fact is the best at
Speaker 2: really anything. I mean, obviously there's there's some real obvious
Speaker 2: results that do factor in, and both of these guys
Speaker 2: have a lot of rings, right, I mean, that counts.
Speaker 2: They've also I mean, no matter how you look at it,
Speaker 2: both Jordan and Lebron are, in my opinion, the top
Speaker 2: two based off of what most would assume are the
Speaker 2: most important factors in how you determine this rings. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Jordan's got more, but Lebrons has plenty, and individual accolades,
Speaker 2: they both have a lot. I mean, they've both been
Speaker 2: insanely successful. But I do think David Falk again, the
Speaker 2: former agent of Michael Jordan, when he was asked about it,
Speaker 2: he made a pretty obvious observation that for me really
Speaker 2: kind of not that I've ever really debated it. I've
Speaker 2: always felt like Jordan was the best of all time,
Speaker 2: and I think you can have the best of all
Speaker 2: time and a guy that I think is the most
Speaker 2: talented of all time. I think Lebron James is the
Speaker 2: most talented athlete I've watching any sport. And that's just
Speaker 2: my opinion. Clearly, I'm sure there's many of you that
Speaker 2: don't agree, and I'm content with that, I understand. But
Speaker 2: I just think as far as what he's been able
Speaker 2: to do at the age that he is now, how
Speaker 2: long he's been able to do it, and the fact
Speaker 2: that he's a physical specimen, I mean, like, I think,
Speaker 2: I think Lebron James is the most talented athlete I've
Speaker 2: ever watched in anything. But I think Michael Jordan is
Speaker 2: the best basketball player I've ever watched, just because of
Speaker 2: his accomplishments, his competitiveness, and clearly he's pretty talented too.
Speaker 2: But this quote, really, I think, does make it to
Speaker 2: where it's hard to claim that anybody could say Lebron
Speaker 2: had a better career, at least as of right now.
Speaker 1: Quote.
Speaker 2: This is from David Falk, again, the former agent of MJ.
Speaker 2: I really like Lebron, but I think if Jordan had
Speaker 2: cherry picked what teams he wanted to be on and
Speaker 2: two other superstars, he would have won fifteen championships. We'll
Speaker 2: never know but I can't say that that's a wild
Speaker 2: thing to say. Maybe it's just my childhood, my era.
Speaker 2: But like in the nineties, there were a lot of
Speaker 2: really really good players. In fact, I believe there are
Speaker 2: NBA players who are legends, but they don't have many,
Speaker 2: if any rings to show for it because at the
Speaker 2: time they were at their best and the franchise they
Speaker 2: played for was in their window of potentially winning an
Speaker 2: NBA title. They had to face Michael Jordan and the
Speaker 2: Chicago Bulls. Now, clearly Jordan had some help, but the
Speaker 2: older I get and this is just my opinion alone,
Speaker 2: Jordan benefited from good players, including Scottie Pippen, but they
Speaker 2: also benefited from Jordan being on their team, you know,
Speaker 2: taking away attention from them because everybody had to focus
Speaker 2: on Jordan. Phil Jackson is a great coach, but I
Speaker 2: think also Phil Jackson, you know he I mean, he's
Speaker 2: he coached the team.
Speaker 1: That was built by is it Jerry Krause?
Speaker 2: Is that his name? The former GM of the of
Speaker 2: the Bulls, which, by the way, the Last Dance documentary
Speaker 2: was a really great watch.
Speaker 1: But that what I.
Speaker 2: Learned that I had really no awareness of it all
Speaker 2: in watching that ten episode documentary was that you know,
Speaker 2: Jerry Krouse built the Bulls. He built the nineties Bulls.
Speaker 2: That was, of course, you know, the best dynasty I've
Speaker 2: ever seen in basketball. And what was his downfall is
Speaker 2: that he wanted to break it up because he wanted
Speaker 2: to show that he's the factor in their success.
Speaker 1: And it's you know, he is a GM in sports.
Speaker 2: I think you have to you have to understand that
Speaker 2: it's a pretty self it's a pretty I don't say selfless,
Speaker 2: but you're never gonna be the guy that's on billboards
Speaker 2: in your market. You're never gonna be I mean, you
Speaker 2: may be a guy that, like, people won't even know
Speaker 2: you when you walk into the room, but you built
Speaker 2: the team they cheer for. Because gms a lot of
Speaker 2: times aren't really in More often than not of a
Speaker 2: GM is out in front of a fan base a lot,
Speaker 2: and they're talked about a lot within their fan base.
Speaker 2: That's usually because people are complaining about them and they
Speaker 2: want them byed. Now again, if you have a good
Speaker 2: GM and things are going well, clearly people know who
Speaker 2: you are as far as your name, and you get credit,
Speaker 2: but never to the extent that players and coaches get
Speaker 2: and I think you just have to you have to
Speaker 2: be able to accept that. And I think Jerry Krause
Speaker 2: is somebody that was so badly bothered by the fact
Speaker 2: that everybody thought that that great phenomenal dynasty that was
Speaker 2: the nineties Bulls was Jordan and Phil Jackson, and it
Speaker 2: was those guys were clearly a part of it. But
Speaker 2: you know, he built it, and that's why he wanted
Speaker 2: the Bulls run to come to an end because he just,
Speaker 2: you know, he wanted to move on from Phil Jackson,
Speaker 2: and you know, that thing, it just it could have
Speaker 2: gone on for many years longer. Maybe I always give
Speaker 2: this guy a lot of credit because I'm not comparing
Speaker 2: the Warriors in their run, their dynasty to the Bulls,
Speaker 2: although some probably would. I wouldn't, But it's just me.
Speaker 2: Bob Myers. You now see him on television. He's part
Speaker 2: of he's part of ESPN's NBA coverage. He's a studio
Speaker 2: analyst and does a good job. But Bob Myers is
Speaker 2: the GM that built the Warriors and drafted phenomenally with
Speaker 2: Steph when others passed on Steph. By the way, Draymond
Speaker 2: a second round pick, Klay Thompson. I mean, I don't
Speaker 2: know if he deserves all the credit, but hey, he's
Speaker 2: the GM and he got it done. They pulled off
Speaker 2: signing Kevin Durant away from the Thunder, but he was
Speaker 2: somebody that like a lot of people, even the NBA
Speaker 2: fans that aren't necessarily big Warriors fans. They may not
Speaker 2: know Bob Myers if he walked into a room, but
Speaker 2: yet he's the one who kind of put it all together.
Speaker 2: So anyways, back to the conversation about the goat, I
Speaker 2: think Jordan clearly benefited from having good players around him.
Speaker 2: But imagine if you put Jordan alongside Shack in the
Speaker 2: Orlando Shack, or maybe he had a big man like
Speaker 2: a Keem or even Ewing for that matter. I mean,
Speaker 2: no offense to the to the big fellas that played
Speaker 2: for the for the Bulls in the nineties, Will Purdue,
Speaker 2: Luke Longley. I mean, they had good players. And I
Speaker 2: was about to say, well, and those guys didn't do
Speaker 2: anything after Jordan, but that's not really fair because back
Speaker 2: then players didn't run the league. Players didn't just up
Speaker 2: and leave all the time like they do now. Players
Speaker 2: have so much control, and I like to believe that
Speaker 2: back in my day when I watched the NBA as
Speaker 2: a kid growing up watching it in the nineties on NBC. Man,
Speaker 2: it's nostalgic thinking about it, but I like to think
Speaker 2: that they were just built different to where there was
Speaker 2: never it was such a competitive thing, to where there
Speaker 2: was never any thought about, hm, we fell short in
Speaker 2: the playoffs, let me go join this team that just
Speaker 2: beat me. I like to believe that they were just
Speaker 2: build different. They were so competitive they would never do
Speaker 2: it ever. But I don't know. Maybe if the league
Speaker 2: was then what it is now as far as players
Speaker 2: having all the power, all the control, maybe they would have.
Speaker 2: I don't know, but you probably didn't need any added
Speaker 2: factor to determine Michael Jordan as the goat over Lebron,
Speaker 2: because I still think Jordan, probably, especially people my age
Speaker 2: and older, they just they're always going to probably side
Speaker 2: with Jordan more often than not. But it doesn't make
Speaker 2: Lebron any less of a great player. But you know,
Speaker 2: if Lebron stayed in Cleveland throughout his entire career and
Speaker 2: just had to deal with you know the way it
Speaker 2: was back then, where you know, you could make trades
Speaker 2: and you had free agency, But really rosters were mostly
Speaker 2: built by who you drafted and developed. If Lebron never
Speaker 2: left Cleveland and he had as many rings as he
Speaker 2: does now, I think it would be a different conversation.
Speaker 2: But he obviously bailed on Cleveland after not being able
Speaker 2: to get him a ring, went to Miami, and Miami
Speaker 2: Lebron was scary. That was when I think Lebron was
Speaker 2: actually at his very best kind of embracing a villain role,
Speaker 2: I think, for the first time in his career at
Speaker 2: a young age. Then of course he realized, oh yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm I'm not mister popular right now. People think I
Speaker 2: was a real scumbag for the decision and how that
Speaker 2: played out. But he got a couple of rings in
Speaker 2: Miami and then obviously got the one in Cleveland won
Speaker 2: the bubble ring in LA. But had he stayed in
Speaker 2: Cleveland the whole time and he had four, he probably
Speaker 2: still wouldn't be viewed as the goat compared to Jordan,
Speaker 2: because some people are just gonna never look at anybody
Speaker 2: being better than Jordan as any possibility. But I do think,
Speaker 2: you know, if Jordan was bouncing around, I mean again,
Speaker 2: maybe this is just the kid in me thinking about
Speaker 2: Jordan in the nineties, I feel like if Jordan could
Speaker 2: pick a different team every few years, whoever got him
Speaker 2: was going to win a title. I mean, that's just
Speaker 2: the way I's That's how I remember Jordan and just
Speaker 2: how dominant he was. Believe it or not, he did misshots.
Speaker 2: He wasn't perfect, but he was special. And he's gonna
Speaker 2: make forty million dollars to talk about the NBA next year,
Speaker 2: and I'm looking forward to to to to. I mean, again,
Speaker 2: as I said a moment ago, he could be terrible,
Speaker 2: but I don't know if I would even notice it
Speaker 2: because he's Jordan.
Speaker 1: It's Michael Jordan.
Speaker 2: All right, quick break, we'll come back and wrap up
Speaker 2: the four o'clock hour as we take you up till
Speaker 2: six o'clock before we get out of here for the
Speaker 2: holiday week, and keep it locked right here on Sports
Speaker 2: Talk seven ninety. If you've listened to this show even
Speaker 2: a little bit, you probably know that I'm not somebody
Speaker 2: that really keeps up with baseball a whole lot. But
Speaker 2: even if you don't keep up with baseball really at all,
Speaker 2: there's certain teams that are on such a great streak,
Speaker 2: having such success that it's at least on your radar
Speaker 2: because you follow sports and you're gonna hear about it.
Speaker 2: The same thing could be said for teams that are really,
Speaker 2: really bad, and that's what's happening with the Colorado Rockies,
Speaker 2: who are eight and twenty four, I'm sorry, eight and
Speaker 2: forty two to start this season here in their first
Speaker 2: fifty games. That, of course, is one of the worst
Speaker 2: starts you'll ever see in baseball. In fact, it's the
Speaker 2: worst MLB start in one hundred and thirty years. And
Speaker 2: as somebody who, again not a baseball guy, but I
Speaker 2: do you know, I love sports, and I'd like to
Speaker 2: think I'm at least pretty knowledgeable when it comes to
Speaker 2: sports in this city, in this area. I did not
Speaker 2: know that there was ever an MLB team in the
Speaker 2: city of Louisville. Am I the only one that didn't
Speaker 2: know that? I can't be the only one? Right? Maybe
Speaker 2: I am? But apparently back in let's see what year
Speaker 2: was it. It was a long, long, long time ago,
Speaker 2: but this is the worst start in Major League Baseball.
Speaker 1: Eight and forty two.
Speaker 2: Since looks like nineteen I'm sorry, not nineteen, It was
Speaker 2: since eighteen ninety five. In the Louisville Colonels. They started
Speaker 2: seven and forty three. That's worse, of course than eight
Speaker 2: in forty two, so we still have that. I mean,
Speaker 2: I was gonna say going for us, but I didn't.
Speaker 2: I literally didn't even realize that there was a Louisville
Speaker 2: Colonel's baseball team. And it's probably because again, it was
Speaker 2: a long long time ago. I didn't even realize Major
Speaker 2: League Baseball has existed this long. But the Colonels they
Speaker 2: played in the American Association of the MLB, and they
Speaker 2: were in existence for ten years from eighteen eighty two
Speaker 2: to eighteen ninety one. And yeah, they weren't very good.
Speaker 2: I'm looking here at old like pictures. I mean, again,
Speaker 2: I probably shouldn't admit this, but like, I didn't even know.
Speaker 2: I mean, I didn't know anybody was playing baseball in
Speaker 2: the eighteen eighties. But it's America's pastime, right, I guess
Speaker 2: there's a reason they call it that. But yeah, the
Speaker 2: Louisville Colonels started seven and forty three and eighteen ninety five,
Speaker 2: which is the worst fifty game start still, so they
Speaker 2: hold that record, and the Colorado Rockies just ahead of
Speaker 2: them at eight and forty two. Yikes says here that
Speaker 2: the Rockies are on pace to lose one hundred and
Speaker 2: thirty six games this season, which would pass the eighteen
Speaker 2: ninety nine Cleveland Spiders, who were twenty and one thirty four.
Speaker 2: That was the most losses ever by a Major League
Speaker 2: baseball team.
Speaker 1: So there's that. All right, let's do this.
Speaker 2: Let's go ahead and get the tables set here for
Speaker 2: the five o'clock hour. A lot I want to run
Speaker 2: through before we get out of here for the weekend.
Speaker 2: We'll let you hear what Mark Pope had to say
Speaker 2: when he was talking with Matt and the KSR crew
Speaker 2: about Pat Kelsey, because I think it's just more evidence
Speaker 2: that you're really going to have to force it if
Speaker 2: you want there to be a rivalry between the coaches here,
Speaker 2: because I think Mark Pope and Pat Kelsey really just
Speaker 2: have that much respect for one another. I have no
Speaker 2: issue with that because for me, it's really all about fans.
Speaker 2: Fans are what makes rivalries great. Because we are fans.
Speaker 2: Forever coaches players they come and go. We'll never get
Speaker 2: it to the level it was with Rick and Cal
Speaker 2: and that's just something that we all need to accept.
Speaker 2: But Mark Pope. You know, he tried to really exaggerate it,
Speaker 2: but he you know, he respects Pat Kelsey, and Pat
Speaker 2: Kelsey respects him. And it's not even that they respect
Speaker 2: each other, because I think even between like believe it
Speaker 2: or not, there's probably a respect level between cal and Rick,
Speaker 2: but they also just hate each other. These guys, they
Speaker 2: don't hate each other. Also, we can take a look
Speaker 2: at the first school at least that I've seen from
Speaker 2: the power level that has come out and said, because
Speaker 2: there's going to be revenue sharing moving forward in college athletics,
Speaker 2: they're going to have to trim their athletic department. And
Speaker 2: you've got Oklahoma in the SEC for that matter, laying
Speaker 2: off staffers, and I would imagine and they won't be
Speaker 2: the only school to do that. And then also at
Speaker 2: some point I want to try to get to these
Speaker 2: anonymous quotes from SEC football coaches about Kentucky's upcoming season,
Speaker 2: which I would imagine, regardless if you're a Kentucky fan
Speaker 2: or not, with these coaches in the league have said
Speaker 2: about Kentucky in this twenty twenty five season. For Mark Stoops,
Speaker 2: it probably probably won't surprise you. And last, but not least,
Speaker 2: we may start off the five o'clock hour with this,
Speaker 2: but with high school coming to an end for a
Speaker 2: lot of people, in fact, I know there's a lot
Speaker 2: of graduations going on. In fact, I think some have
Speaker 2: already taken place. There are some senior pranks that are
Speaker 2: making the news, and I think, if you're really really delicate,
Speaker 2: a fine line, I should say, as far as a
Speaker 2: senior prank being just good enough to wear, okay, not controversial,
Speaker 2: not dangerous, probably something that would be against the rules,
Speaker 2: but it's a senior prank, so everybody's cool with it.
Speaker 2: And then there's some that have just like what are
Speaker 2: you thinking, Like, yeah, that's that's a prank, I suppose,
Speaker 2: but you know it's also illegal. So we can get
Speaker 2: into all that. We'll finish strong here in the five
Speaker 2: o'clock hour. It's coffee and company. Feel about Thornton's right
Speaker 2: here on Sports Talk seven ninety