12.16: Christmas Shoes - Hour 3

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So we were talking earlier about the most annoying Christmas
songs out there. I did not agree with the survey
that we discussed, but you know, everybody's got their own opinions.
But I will say this, I'm going to share this
opinion with you. Any Christmas song with a saxophone emphasis.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm here for any song with the sacks.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Yeah, yeah, more sacks is always is always the wise move.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
I think, give me all the sacks. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
I asked for a saxophone for Christmas like two years
ago for my wife because I was like, I want
to I want to learn how to play. And she
she's like, you're so stupid, You're just joking.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
I'm like, no, I'm serious. So she didn't take me
up on it.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Maybe I'll ast for it again this year, because it
would be like if you just if you all think
of that being something you pull out to, like not
the saxophone, like specifically, but like you have that as
like a hidden talent, and then you show.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Them and they're like just you.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
I mean, I'm jealous of those one that can play
any musical instrument and do it well, because I can't
do that at all, but saxophone love it. If I
could go back in time, I'd be in the band
and I'd learn how to play sax.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
All right, it's coffee and company.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
We are fiel about Thorton's here at news ready to
eat forty whas appreciate you hanging out with us. Been
a busy morning so far, and a lot of news
to get to this morning, and we've done a lot
of it so far. Obviously, we talked about the big
news yesterday as we've learned that the well, we learned
last week that the partnership was ending between Ford and

(01:21):
in Blue Oval sk And now those jobs, of course,
are are are in jeopardy. You've got sixteen hundred employees
that are now kind of left in limbo, and obviously
that's that's scary. You've got basically two months to figure
something out, because you get two months with sixty days

(01:43):
with full pay and benefits, but there's no long term
timeline for what's next. And yes, there are going to
be twenty one hundred workers added down the line here,
but the sixteen hundred that are going to be laid
off in two months, they're not guaranteed any job. They're
just guaranteed an opportunity to an opportunity to apply like

(02:04):
everybody else. And also keep in mind this shift that
they're making where they're going to no longer again. The
plan clearly is changing to where now Ford's going to
run this thing itself and they're going to convert that
plant to manufacture battery energy storage systems. So that's now
the new plan, but that isn't expected to start until

(02:26):
late twenty twenty seven. So even if you are somebody
that may end up being able to work there as
one of those twenty one hundred workers that are going
to be needed, that's not for quite some time. So
tough news yesterday, no doubt, especially for that area of
Kentucky that has been banking on this being such a
big boom for them. And I guess growth still certainly possible,
but nothing to the extent I don't think is what

(02:46):
they were initially expecting. So we'll talk a little more
about that later on. I want to bring John Shannon
in a little bit later because he's somebody that's actually
from close to this area and can give us a
little bit of a rundown as far as just the
impact in this community, not only that was expected long term,
But I mean this has been out there for many
years now and a lot of folks who did have

(03:06):
one of these sixteen hundred jobs, and now as we
get close to Christmas, they're going to be looking for
more work. So again, tough situation all the way around.
And obviously there's some factors and we can discuss it
as far as why the electric vehicle thing just did
not take off quite like people were expecting. Also tonight,
we did discuss it a little bit earlier when we

(03:28):
had one of our sports updates with Scott Fitzgerald. But
Louisville and in action tonight on the road taken on Tennessee,
and as a Louisville fan myself, I just look at
this as a really good opportunity to see where you stand.
A loss to a Tennessee team in Knoxville wouldn't mean
that this team can't still accomplish some big things. It's
just you know, you haven't gotten that road win. You've
only played one road game, so this is your second

(03:49):
road game. So it's not as if there's been a
bunch of missed opportunities. But this team right now, they
look the part their loss they have to Arkansas was
a game where I think we know they could have
been better in certain areas and they did claw back
and make it competitive. But also Arkansas, that loss looks much.
I mean, it didn't look bad at the time, and

(04:10):
but it looks even better now because Arkansas has been
or been on a tear. They had a good win
against Texas Tech. So yeah, it's just nice as a
Louisville fan to go through. You know what we went
through for years, and specifically the two years where Kinny
Payne was here, and it was just not only were
you not excited about like games like you were just dead.
The program was lifeless. And you know now it's not.

(04:35):
Pat Kelsey's brought things back to life in a major way.
And I don't think it's not that I am thankful
for the era that was the Kinny Payne era, because
it's just been so great since Kelsey's been here that
most people don't even really think about it or talk
about it. But one thing I would say about it
is that I think it has given us the ability

(04:56):
to appreciate things more because of that awful to three years, right,
I mean, being excited about a big game used to
just be the norm. And now it's not it doesn't
feel like unfamiliar. But yeah, when you go through the
tough stretch you went through, you can start to appreciate
things that you know you just used to just take

(05:18):
for granted.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
I guess, all right, let's bring you in.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
He's doctor Eric McElroy from Pro Rehab Physical Therapy. Doctor McElroy.
I want to start with this. We had a conversation
a few weeks ago on the show just about parents
having unrealistic expectations with their with their children who play sports,
and the conversation was mostly just about they believe that
their kids are a lot better athletes than they typically are,

(05:42):
and that's not uncommon, but it really floored me to
see that. You know what, was it like thirteen fourteen
percent of might have been more than that believe their
kid is going to go pro in sports.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
And I just I thought that was that was jarring.
But you and I.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Chatted and it is a different, different element of parents
having sort of I guess maybe unrealistic expectations about their
children playing sports.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
But it's also when it comes to recovery.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
I'm not gonna ask you to share any huge stories
or anything like that, but just your perspective on the
parents side of it, when you're treating their daughter or
son who's playing high school sports or middle school sports
and they're dealing with an injury they've got to recover,
but obviously the parent's the one responsible for them. I
guess just tell us a little about that process. I'm
sure it's a mixed bag as far as different results,
but I'm sure parents can be a little bit a

(06:26):
little bit much in your industry as well.

Speaker 3 (06:29):
Absolutely, Nick, you know, I tell everybody you know, I've
been blessed in my career to work from athletes from pros,
college and of course high school and even in the
U sports and by far youth sports and high schools
athletes are the most challenging to work with, and a
lot of it is related to a lot of outside noise,

(06:51):
if you will, and always say, college athletes everything tainted
to them. They're told what to do, when to do it,
what to eat, when to eat, all that of pros
or pros. They understand the importance of recovery and being healthy.
High school kids are going through a huge and even
you know, seventh and eighth grade, you know they're they're
in puberty, they're developing. They're all developing at different rates

(07:14):
and speeds. You know, it's it's there's a lot of
going on. But yet, you know, parents, coaches have access
to the internet, which is fine, except you can you know,
what we get is, hey, you know, so and so
plays in college or NBA had the same injury and
they got back in six months. How come my daughter's
taking nine months or ten months? And so we're constantly

(07:37):
getting bombarded with questions on you know, you know, how
come the recovery process is slower? How come my daughter's injured?
She's only fourteen, twelve, And I'm like, well, you know,
she hadn't taken a break in a year. She's been
playing sports at a high level. Injuries happen. That is normal.
It's not abnormal to get injured, especially when we're talking

(07:57):
about developing kids, as long as those injuries are correlated
to that age group generally speaking. So you know, by
far the most challenging. It's more and more and more.
You're young, you're green. You know, you should be able
to handle this. I mean, and then it's their peer group.
You know. The last thing I talk about is it's
everything to these kids. It's their peer group, it's their friends,

(08:17):
it's who they hang out with, is what they do.
So if they're missing the emotional side, they're also very
emotionally immature, sure, and so from that standpoint, they're just
they're stress and anxiety and emotions about missing time or
missing games or missing practice or whatever it may be
is higher than ever and a lot of it is

(08:38):
just related to that fear of losing their spot or
not being around their buddies, or feeling disconnected from the
team and so on and so forth. So tons of
challenges and that age demographic.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
Yeah, when you lay it out like that, it's not
a surprise at all to I just had never really
thought about it from that perspective. But really, with these
being children and all the different variables here, I mean,
the parents have to be such a big part of
your all's process to get to get the kids back
to one hundred percent, because again, these are still children.
The parents are responsible. They've got to to buy into

(09:09):
what playing you guys have in place, and certainly that's
you're not always gonna get that full cooperation right right,
And you know exactly.

Speaker 3 (09:17):
I mean, I'll give you an example. I had a
high school, a basketball player several years ago, high level
basketball player, college recruit toward her acl Unfortunately she was
around fourteen. You know, it's immediately questions of like when
is she gonna be able to come back? What's the
time frame? You know, so and so I read that,
you know, and this is like a normal conversation. I

(09:40):
read that so and so got back in you know,
six months, seven months, and you know, I had to
look at the parents, say, you know, so and so
plays in the WNBA. She's a full grown woman with
all the resources in the world, like, this isn't the same.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
I shouldn't laugh. I'm sorry you got you guys, but.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
You know, you guys come three times a week and
your daughter's tons of anxiety. She barely does her home program,
like you know, and that's fine. I mean that's what
I tell people, Like, you know, it's expensive and there's
a lot of challenges for them to be able to
get access. But you know, if I'm got a WNBA player,
I'm going to see him six days week, five days week.
You know, it's not it's it's a different animal all together,

(10:17):
as you can imagine. But those are the examples of
questions we get pretty frequently, and you know, I love it,
to be honest with you, It's makes it more challenging.
But at the same time, the expectations are just unrealistic
a lot of times, and you can, you know, you
can't put a timeframe on kids, and parents don't want

(10:37):
to hear that, but that's sure of it.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, And it's you know, it's one of those things
where you've got you know, the average Joe that tears
his ACL playing tennis and if he's never gone through
the process before he made it to say, well, hey,
I saw Lebron James came back from an ACL in
this amount of time, Well, Lebron James has won Lebron James.
But also like his job is to literally just get
better because that's his craft.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
That's what he does for a living.

Speaker 4 (11:00):
You know.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
It's just it's such a different world for those that
are you know, the average athlete or just you know,
the average joe or a high school kid who again
you've got all the you've got puberty as you mentioned,
and just other things going on. So yeah, I mean,
the more I think about it, that's got to be
such a huge component that you guys have within within
what you provide when it comes to, of course, the
younger student athletes that you that you treat now, speaking

(11:22):
of that, right now, we've got a lot of high
school boys that are transitioning from football, high school football
right into basketball because they do overlap briefly there, I
know a lot of kids that do it. I would
encourage kids just hey, from the experience standpoint, play as
many sports as you can. I don't think you're going
to regret it when you get older, because it's such
a valuable experience that you'll cherish. But what advice would
you give parents as far as just things they could

(11:43):
maybe tell their kid or maybe ask them to do
to just to try to just try to, you know,
prevent injuries as best you can. There's no perfect way
to do that. But obviously that's a lot of constant
activity for these kids to go from these two sports.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
It's back to.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
Back, right nig And I will tell you it's recovery
that let your kids talk to your kids about how
they feel, and don't judge how they feel. You can
tell whether they're you know, well, first of all, a
lot of times if the kids just whining and complaining
or they don't want to go or not showing any
kind of you know, eagerness to go play, there's probably

(12:17):
a reason. And that's a conversation that means that he had. Generally,
kids are excited about getting into another sport, they're ready
to go, they're amped up, they're kind of a little
burnt out or kind of ready to get through the
other sport. But listen to your kids and talk to
them about it. It's okay to take time off, even
a little bit of time off. It's totally in fact,
it's extremely healthy for them to do that to allow

(12:40):
their bodies to recover. And that way it'll one, it'll
allow them to perform better, which is what everybody wants,
right and then two, it'll prevent injuries as they transition
to a sport that may have different challenges and dynamics.
You know, basketball is a lot more conditioning than say
football is if you're going from there, If your kids
moving from soccer season in basketball, that's a ton of

(13:02):
you know, conditioning and running and they're also probably trying
to jump into some club practices still, so there's a
lot of challenges depending on what sports they're moving from
to the to say basketball, which is a predominant winter sport,
or even wrestling for that matter. Let the kids take
some time off, talk to the coaches, listen to them,
you know, and if they are dealing with some aches
and pains, do not let that compound. It'll just impact

(13:23):
their performance. They won't, it'll drag on longer and it'll
be more of an issue into the season than it
should be. So it's okay. I think That's another thing
is we try to encourage parents, ain't kids one us
seventy percent is at this age is not good enough
generally speaking. That's that's the other. That's one thing too.
If the kids are hurt, it doesn't matter. They're not

(13:45):
going to play. So it's better off taking a letting
them miss a game or two and get them their
bodies right and get back acclimated to that sport than
it is trying to push them to do something they're
not prepared for.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
Doctor mclroy's always appreciate your time. Great to catch up again,
my friend, and we need to do it soon.

Speaker 3 (14:01):
All right, awesome, man, y't'll see it again. Talk to
you suit Nick.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
All right, that's doctor Eric McElroy from pro Rea Physical Therapy.
Always appreciate his time and his insight. Yeah, as a kid,
you know, you just want to play, and I'm sure
your parents are feeling the same way. But you know,
they're the ones who are responsible for making these decisions.
And you know, at the end of the day, the
parents are responsible for the kids because they're still kids.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
But yeah, very very.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
Interesting stuff that I hadn't really thought about as far
as just that level of where parents being a little
too much when it comes to their kids' sports. It's
not just refs and coaches, it's injury recovery, that kind
of stuff. All right, quick time outstick with us right here?
Who's ready to wait? Forty whas I've got some good
Christmas trivia. I want to do it at some point.
I don't want to do it right now, but I

(14:42):
also need to realize we're only, what do we not,
nine days away from Christmas? And of course I've got
some more vacation time before we get there, so we'll
have to get to it at some point.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
I've done that before.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
I've had some idea, of course, not it was before
I was in this position, but you know, Christmas things
to bring to the table on the air that I
just end up waiting too long, and you can't do
it after Christmas, right, So anyways we bring him in.
You just heard him delivering a news updatings John Shannon.
And for those who don't know John, he is from
just south of Louis, well, he's not from there, he's
from Texas, but he lives resides in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. And

(15:14):
yeah you are, Yeah, you're one of us the process,
it's official. You are your Texas made, but your Kentucky.
You're Kentucky and we're happy to have you. But what's
been the reaction, I guess just in real time here
in the last couple of days. The big news was yesterday,
but it was late last week we learned about this
partnership between Skoval and Ford essentially coming to an end.

(15:34):
And what's been the noise in your area Eattown there
as far as just what this could mean that for
community mean for the community, of course, a lot of
people expecting to eventually be employed, maybe not so now,
And of course people who already have jobs now worried
what's going to happen after sixty days.

Speaker 4 (15:50):
Here, it's a mixed reaction. Mayor Gregory down there and
State Center Matt Deden, both sounding optimistic that there will
be a partnership going forward with Ford and that there
will be some kind of of jobs at that at
those two facilities in Glendale that will bring some economic
boosts to Harden County as well as the city. Then

(16:11):
you have, you know, Representative Bracher, Steve Bratcher, he's like
a lot of people in Glendale, the cinnamon in Glendale.
He speaks kind of for them that all this money
that's been invested, the taxpayer money, the land that was
given up for this, the things that were promised coming along,
not just the five thousand jobs that were going to

(16:31):
be at these two battery plants, but all the subsidiary
automotive jobs, all the expansion of the city, the tax base,
everything else that's not going to happen. There's a lot
of people upset, a lot of people. I have friends
and some people I've worked with that live in Glendale
that are not happy at this news. They weren't happy
with the construction of the plant down there, but this
all of a sudden, this seeming pull out and pulling

(16:52):
the rug out from under them down there on what
was promised back in twenty twenty one has got them
very upset.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
So let's go back in time to when the plant
was was was built. What was the pushback from the
community there? They just didn't They just thought it was
it was what was the what was the resistance? And again,
whatever that may be, I guess you'd get over it
with the thought of, Okay, this could really transform our
community and be something that really because that's what I
think of the coverage of this when it was announced,

(17:17):
it was presented in a way, and maybe my memory
is wrong, is that this was going to essentially change substantially.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
That area of Kentucky.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, that's gonna you know, there's gonna be schools that
need to be you know built, all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 4 (17:28):
Right, Yeah, there was, I mean, and we were reporting
on this here last year. The expansion of the schools
there was gonna you know, they were looking at anywhere
between two and three thousand new students coming in because
on top of the five thousand employees, you had their
family members, so you may and maybe fifteen thousand people
total if you look at it coming in, plus the
jobs that were going to be at the headquarters there
in Elizabethtown for Blue Oval SK. Glendale's a sleepy little town.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
It's a nice little place to go.

Speaker 4 (17:53):
It's got a lot of little arts and crafts, festive
stores to go to. We go down there and do
some shopping when we need stuff for Halloween decorations or Christmas.
Whistle Stop Cafe is a great place, a legendary place
to eat down there. I just don't think they liked
having it. Having that small little cottage town atmosphere.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
Very much stand out is a way different.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
It would stick out like a sore thumb as far
as everything else that that community looks like.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
But again, I think the.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
Pitch would be, hey, this is going to be great
for the community long term, and I suppose it still
can be. But man, with yesterday's news, it just feels
as if whatever your level of expectation was long term,
it's hard to see it reaching that now.

Speaker 4 (18:30):
Right. Yeah, it's definitely in doubt. It's definitely in flux.
A neighbor of mine has a job at Blue Oval
SK that pays very well, and now he's fixed to
be out of a job in sixty days and not
know what he's going to do. I just think a
lot of people feel like now they've been sold to
Bill of Goods. I mean, yeah, the first understandable the
first plant wasn't even at full production capacity or employment capacity.

(18:50):
They had sixteen hundred of the twenty five hundred people
that were supposed to run that building. They were supposed
to be building a second plant the same size. And
when you drive down sixty five heading towards Bowling Green,
those two battery plants at the park down there stick out.
I mean, oh, just all of a sudden, it's like
it's the largest largest buildings in Hardened County pretty much.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
And what's unfortunate for those that are after sixty days
going to have to find new work if they are
some if they are able to become part of this
new workforce of the twenty one hundred, that's not until
late twenty twenty seven, right. The only guarantee you have
is really no guarantee you're gonna be able to apply,
just like you and I would be able to apply.
So that's that's tough, no doubt. And I think the

(19:32):
capacity that that's another factor here, because whenever this is
in full go late twenty twenty seven is the battery
production plant. The twenty three percent of the overall original
capacity is going to be used, So there's a lot.
I mean, I guess they could do certain things with
that space, but that's a lot of wasted space.

Speaker 4 (19:51):
Yeah, that's a lot because those two buildings are massive.
You you could put a couple football fields in both
of those and have room for the seats, I think.
But you know a lot of things too. There's a
lot lot of people down there. They're saying, well, what
did our tax money go for? And there was a
lot of state tax money. You know, Ford was investing,
you know, like five point eight billion dollars in the plants.
But at the same time, the taxpayers are now on

(20:11):
the hook for a two hundred and fifty million dollars
zero interest forgivable loan that was given to Ford, a
fifteen hundred acres of land down there that was given
to them for free. There was thirty six million dollars
of tax payer money that was put in for training
and twenty five million dollars of taxpayer money to build
a training center at the Elizabethtown Community Technical College.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
I would imagine that a lot of the reaction.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
There's one word that's probably used a lot throughout, and
that's waste, right, I mean, that's that's what it seems
like real quick. It sounds like when it comes to
just the EV industry here in America taking a big hit,
the tax credit coming to an end. That's got to
be a big fact that, right, you're no longer incentivized
now with seventy five hundred bucks to go towards it,
And makes total sense that you wouldn't You would say, okay, yeah,
I'll wait and maybe get one down the line. But yeah,

(20:56):
just it loses its appeal a little bit when you
don't have that tax.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
Credit, right, it does.

Speaker 4 (20:59):
There's nothing to soften the blow of the price of
an EV, a brand new EV these days when the
seventy five hundred dollars tracks credit that ended October thirty first, yep.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
Thank you, John.

Speaker 1 (21:09):
It's seven forty two. Let's get a check a traffic
in weather. Shall we stick with us right here? It's
coffee and Company field about Thorton's at news Radio eight
forty whas it is seven forty seven here at news
Radio eight forty whas coffee and Company with you, We
are fueled about Thornton's want to give a big shout
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(21:33):
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(21:54):
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(22:17):
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(22:37):
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that time whenever obviously you've got to make a decision,
it's near the end of life for your pet. And

(22:59):
that's a difficult and heavy, just a sad process, right,
It's part of life, but man, it's tough. And I've
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(23:20):
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All right, let's get to a quick time out. We've

(23:40):
got trafficking weather updates on the way. We'll have another
sports update to get to, so stick with us right here.
News Radio eight forty whas