4.21: Lucky Easter Weekend - Hour 2

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's time for coffee and company.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety Holy crap, I.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Don't know who the hell we think when we.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Are get off our show, idiot, the kids are crying
or turn off crying.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
A country are screwing it up.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play Inner Murals.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Who's the kid here? Who's the kid here? Are you
kidding me? Now? Here's Nick coffee?

Speaker 3 (00:38):
So during the during the break there, I uh, I
popped open to uh, to Facebook. And of course I
don't know why I ever do that. Facebook's a useful
tool when it comes to, you know, keeping up with friends, family,
that kind of stuff. But you know a lot of
times on Facebook, you just you know, it's really just
turned into nothing but like ads. And I don't know

(00:59):
how DU like this, but I now see when I
scrolled through Facebook Austin a bunch of groups that I'm
not a part of. Oh yeah, they like that that.
I guess the algorithm thinks that I would like to
join in. And and like you, I don't know why there,
I don't know. Facebook's the one place that I feel
like the algorithm doesn't quite get me as good as
you know, the others, especially Instagram and TikTok. But I

(01:21):
was a little distracted because it's just something that I
can't quite process that this still happens. But apparently at
a middle school here in Louisville. And I don't want
to put anybody you know, uh, nothing's happening. And I'm
not even gonna say name of the midd school because
I don't know. I don't want anybody freaking out. But
somebody posted a video a picture that said, hey, what's
going on at this school? There's a bunch of cars

(01:42):
outside or a bunch of police cars outside school. And
within you know, seconds, they wrote back and said or
minutes they wrote back and said they're leaving.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
Looks like everything's okay. But somebody, I guess the comments
were spent. And again this is all speculation, but this
has happened. In fact, it happened a few weeks ago,
maybe a month ago or so. And I believe more
high school where like a student did the whole fake
like you know, prank call. I guess that somebody was
shooting up the school, and I don't think there can

(02:12):
be many punishments that are too strong when it comes
to making an example of somebody who does that to
think that that's funny, because with how often that happens
in society in America, to do that as like a gag,
you deserve to be punished substantially. And it really isn't

(02:33):
just about I mean, I think making an example needs
to happen to where people realize, yeah, if we're gonna
get our jokes off, let's not do that. I mean
it's a no brainer, but I mean take away just
the example, but like that should be considered like a
crazy level offense to where even though nobody was actually
physically hurt, you know. I mean, it's like somebody who

(02:54):
goes into rob a bank that doesn't have a gun,
but they have put somebody in fear of their life
telling them they have a gun. That's why those people
get charged even though they didn't have a weapon. And clearly,
you know you can't rob a bank. You're gonna clearly
get in trouble for that. But when you even if
you don't have a weapon, but you you, I mean,
I'm gonna get too you know, sidetracked, We keep talking

(03:14):
about this, but nonetheless like that, I just I don't
know even if you are a teenager, let alone an adult,
and you are, I mean, you're able to understand that
what you like, if there becomes an alert that there
is an active shooter at a school where someone's children
go like you are a grade a piece of trash,

(03:35):
And again, I don't think there's many punishments that that
that could be too severe for you. But again it's
it sounds like everything's okay. And if that ends up
being true and somebody did put in a prank call,
I hope they get caught, and I hope they get
punished in a major way, because I mean there's I mean,
that's happened. What they call it, like there's something where

(03:56):
there's like a documentary I watched where it wasn't necessar
nearly like that there was like an active Anyways, we'll
move on because I could, I could talk about it
for a long time, and I know nobody tunes into
this show to hear that kind of stuff. What is
it called?

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Though?

Speaker 3 (04:12):
Help me out here, Austin on the spot. You don't
even know what I'm talking about. Help me find this word,
because it was you get caught because people are like
addicted to it, like they can't help themselves. They'll have
their location and call in like a bomb threat somewhere. Yeah,
and I'm gonna have to do it. Now, what do
What is it referred to to when someone fake calls

(04:35):
a bomb threat? Because I bet false flag swatting that's
what it is. Area, I was gonna say squatting, but
it's swatting. Swatting is a fake bomb threat, and look,
bomb thread is just as scary, right, But like.

Speaker 4 (04:48):
When you know, I'm glad you found that because I heard, Yes,
I remember, that's what people call it.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yeah, so swatting, I mean it is, it is, it
is clearly and it's it's because sometimes use the swat team.
I guess it says here that you know, making a
fake bomp betters often times referred to as swatting. This
term describes making malicious hoax calls to emergency service, falsely
reporting a serious crown like a bomb threat, hostage situation,
or murder. The goal is to trigger and over the
top police response, potentially including a swat team. So yeah,

(05:16):
I mean people who do that really suck at life,
and you know, are awful but I don't know it
just guess just because I have a child in school
and I know what that would be as far as
fear that something like that's going on, because talk about
a helpless feeling. You're at work and there's you know,
and this is where it really is. Just I mean,
I don't even know the word to use. It's beyond sad,

(05:36):
it's beyond awful. It's just I mean, it leaves you
speechless to know that when you hear of a school
getting shot up, it's not a surprise anymore. And that's horrific,
Like that is that is terrifying. But that's quite literally
where we are. And I don't have the perfect fix
to it. I'm just you know, I'm just speaking on

(05:57):
it as somebody who realizes, like that's where we are
in America. Whenever we get you know, whenever you stereotype
or mahen you make fun of other countries for things,
and you know, you play the hits as they say,
right like just what's an easy what are we an
easy target for? And this is awful that anybody would
do it. But like I'm not surprised that like in

(06:17):
other countries they make fun of us for school shootings
because they can't quite comprehend how that happens, but it does. Yeah,
and also being really fat. We're really fat too. So anyway,
sorry to be so serious here as we get the
four o'clock hour rolling, But I just I mean, I'm
sitting here thinking, like, man, I want I'm gonna I'll
help them find this person whatever I can do to
hold somebody accountable for being a real piece of trash.

(06:38):
And I'm saying those words because you know there's words
I want to use that I can't say, or you
know I wouldn't be able to be on the air.
So anyways, it's coffee and company fuel about Thornton's here
on Sports Talk seven ninety. Make sure guys keep taking advantage.
Clean them out, Clean out all the Monster Energy drinks
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(07:00):
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you haven't yet to become a member of their Refreshing
Rewards program. All Right, So a lot of talk about
the NFL Draft earlier, still a lot of love out
there for Tyler Shuck, and that has led me to
just being so anxious to see what happens on Thursday night,
because I mean, I feel like all this love is

(07:22):
mostly genuine. It doesn't mean he's certain to be taken
really early, but you know, I think given the noise
about Shuck for the last I don't know, six weeks
or so, I feel like anything happening can't be considered
like a big shock. And I mean that, you know,
in like a pot like if he goes in the
top fifteen and he's the third quarterback taken, and there's
just a team out there that says, look, we know

(07:44):
we don't need a quarterback right now, but man, we
love this guy, and we know assume we're going to
need a quarterback maybe in a year or two. We're
not going to let this guy slip past us. Like
that's that's something I think that is potentially realistic to happen.
So good stuff. We'll get back into the draft later.
In fact, we got all week to talk NFL Draft,
and we will certainly do that, but some acquisitions made,
if you will. I don't think they've ever been referred

(08:06):
to as that in the college level, but that's what
it is, right like the transfer portal has given you
free agency and you go sign players and buy them
just like you know you do in the NBA in
the NFL. And we'll start with Louisville football because they
landed a commitment over the weekend from Dacari Collins, who
has a lot of experience in the ACC with a
couple of different schools. So he started his career at

(08:26):
Clemson and ended up at n c State. Last year
he had fifty five catches, seven hundred and fifty five
yards four touchdowns. In fact, I'm sorry that was his
numbers total, not just last year. So he was at
Clemson a year, then n c State, and you know,
now he's coming to Louisville. Clearly, Louisville needs some talent receiver,

(08:47):
and I don't mean to say that they're there, but
I just think they need they needed one more weapon,
and hopefully this is that guy. I still think we're
getting the biggest I mean again, it's hard to say
that this was the biggest get for Louisville, but kind
of was Colin Lacey coming back was huge and you
had to rerecruit him. You had because and by the way,
I understood every bit of emotion that came with everybody's

(09:10):
reaction to him deciding to opt out during the season,
and I you know, I get it, especially if you're
like Jeff brom like, you know, what are we supposed
to do now? But if you had the chance to
take advantage of a situation that is best for you
and your career in your life, a lot of us
would do it. And that's what Colin did. He decided

(09:30):
to go ahead and sit, get healthy fully and utilize
a chance to play college football for another season and
of course make a lot of money. And he chose
to do that at Louisville. So re recruiting and getting
a guy that you know was going to have a
lot of other options that that was a good win.
So he's going to be your your your top playmaker
on offense at receiver, I believe. And then Chris Bell,

(09:51):
I mean last year, you know, at times you could
see some immaturity from him, a guy kind of still
when I say immaturity, I just mean, you know, letting
his emotions get the best of him and making some
boneut head it plays. But he's got a lot of
talent and he finished strong. I think he had a
breakthrough a year, and I expect him to have a
good season this upcoming year. So you know, there's other
guys that you know, you feel pretty good about, but
this is a talented kid here, Collins, who's from Atlanta.

(10:14):
And I mean, yeah, let's see trying to see how
many touchdowns I feel like. I feel like what I
read over the weekend included more touchdowns than what I'm
seeing here. But you know, he's played again at both
Florida State, or not Florida State, but Clemson and at
NC State. And I guess most of the right up
here that I'm referencing, as far as like the accolades

(10:36):
it is, it is from when he was in high school.
But you know, I feel like if Jeff Brown thinks
this guy is good enough, that's good enough for me.
And I mean, I think we've seen that Jeff brom
is able to take guys that maybe wouldn't be stellar
in other offenses and he can make them not only
productive and valuable pieces, but you know, make them look
good enough to where they can go and have an
NFL career. I mean, I don't know if the guy's

(10:56):
still with the Bengals, but the what's the guy's name
is his white guy named Charlie who transferred from transferred
from Iowa after not really being a big factor in
the Iowa offense, and then at Jeff with Jeff Brom
at Perdue, he was phenomenal and was like an All
American Charlie Jones that's his name, and I think he was.

(11:19):
He ended up going to the fourth round of the
draft by the by the Bengals, and lest I checked,
he's still there. So I've only referenced him just as
he's somebody who at I mean while at Iowa, I
mean he didn't do much and he hit the portal
because he probably wanted more opportunity, and sure enough he
he had a breakout year at Purdue and now he's
still playing in the NFL. So if you are somebody

(11:41):
that has yet to really break through, but you believe
in your talent, your ability, you're just looking for an
offense that you could really shine in. I mean that
Jeff Brom is that guy. So a good pick up
But the reason I wanted to bring this up and
talk about a little bit more than just you know,
sharing the information that you probably already knew that they
added this young man is the reporting that times when
it comes to the portal. And I don't know why

(12:04):
I've become a little sensitive this. Maybe it's just because
you know, I'm a sensitive fan like a lot of people. Right,
but when this news broke, this was let's see when
was this. This news came down on Saturday afternoon, and
for some reason, I can't seem to find the original.

(12:25):
Uh yeah, So Brad Crawford, who covers I guess, you know,
college football and recruiting for twenty four seven sports in
NBC Sports. I mean, I'm sure I seemed a little
triggered here with my response to him, but it just,
you know, became annoying to me. When announcing that Dacaari
Collins had committed Louisville. Here is how he worded it.
Louisville is spending money in the spring cycle, just got

(12:47):
a commitment from NC state wide receiver toe Dacaarie Collins.
So that's not an insult, that's not I mean, that's
just sharing news. But I've seen it enough to get
the sense that when Louisville does land certain places, nobody
can just acknowledge that, you know, they'd want to play
for Louisville had to be had to be a big
spend because you know he's going to Louisville, and you

(13:09):
know that that makes sense with certain situations, but not
this one, because again, I don't even know what this
young man cost, but I would imagine the fact that
you know he was available and he's not like, I mean,
I hope this guy's great. Maybe he ends up being
an All American, who knows. But it's not as if
like Louisvill would had to pay an insane amount to
get this guy. I mean, he clearly had some other options,

(13:30):
especially those that really know they need a receiver post
spring because of a guy hitting the portal or whatever.
But I mean, last I checked, you know money's going
to be a factor. But players, I mean, I feel
like you should know this as somebody who covers college football.
Offensive players would want to play for Jeff brom Who
I mean, I don't know why you mean to me,

(13:51):
that's a no brainer. So the constant insinuation it's not
just Louisville but like elsewhere, when you see certain guys
make a decision, well, I mean it's got to be money,
and sometimes that's true. But when are we going to
get to a point to where we just realize that's
now a big factor if you want to get players.
We're still we still have some fans out there, and

(14:12):
I guess those that cover the sport college football in
college basketball that they just use that as the crutch.
Well I mean, yeah, just big spend. I mean that's why.
I mean, we just want to justify spending. And you
you all had to spend that amount of money because
you could only get him if you spend a lot
of money on him. We wouldn't you know, Like the
portal in a way can become the ultimate excuse for

(14:33):
anything for coaches, right like, well, hey, you know we
need money because you know, you want you want to win,
and we got to get money. I mean, we were
trying out here, but you guys got to donate more
money to the collective because we you know, we need
money to get players. It's like if if you stink,
you can just blame it on that. So same thing
with like fans, right, well, you know we wanted him
but not for that price. It's not your money, but

(14:54):
he care you wanted him. And sometimes you really will
get to a point where you'll say, Okay, we were
in on you for one hundred and fifty thousand, but
not two hundred and fifty thousand, So best of luck.
And that's just how this works now, Like there's I
do think eventually we'll get to a point where there's
so many players that hit the portal annually that it'll

(15:15):
become more of a rarity to see people lose their
mind about not getting a certain guy in the portal,
because if you give it a little bit of time,
you know, like a day or two, another player will
probably hit the portal and you can go after him.
So you know, money's always going to be a factor.
But I just don't I don't know. I'm a little
sensitive to well, the only reason and that's not what

(15:36):
this guy said, but there's been enough implying of that
that's just been irritating to me that you know, because
let's be honest, this is a good situation to be in.
I mean, wouldn't you agree. Also when it comes to
the coverage of nil both Louisville basketball and football, if
there's any coverage of their nil resources. It's been good. Yeah,
people talk about that they have money. There was that
nonsense last year about Penny boone checks not clearing, which

(15:57):
you all remember that had nothing to do with that.
I wanted more money, and quite literally, he wasn't deserving
of it, because you know what ended up playing out
was exactly what Jeff prom realized. I got two true
freshmen that are way better than you. I don't need
to give you any more money. You're already here. He
decided to take his ball and go home and couldn't
find a home and was the third best running back
at Central Florida year ago. So, like, you know, life

(16:20):
comes at your face. That's the only thing I can
think of as far as where there was any noise
out there about Louisville in IL basketball or football, and
it wasn't positive. For the most part, has been positive,
and that's what you want. But the insinuation that like, well,
that's the only reason that that you know, I don't
know why that triggers me a little bit. But day
basketball coach not even using that IL last year, Oh god, yeah,
I mean that's talk about malpractice, you know, And I

(16:43):
know they're not. I mean, they aren't going to do it,
and they shouldn't. But when I heard that, he left
a lot of money just available and not you like
Kenny Payne used private funding from like his you know,
his his his networking in his basket all people, yeah,
to give him money about players. He didn't use the
FAVO two circle like I'm sure they wouldn't do it.

(17:06):
And again, putting this out there makes it sound like
I'm saying they should. But is it crazy to think
that that could be used against him? Like, hey, man,
like we're not like your your buyout is not going
to be paid in full because you didn't actually you know, yeah,
we can't. We can't necessarily, you know, hold you accountable
for winning and losing. Because that's crazy that that's the case,

(17:27):
that you can be terrible at your job and yet
that's not cause to fire you. Crazy that that's how
coaching contracts have always worked out. But anyways, not using
resources we give you to try to do your job, like,
that's a little bit of a different situation. Again, I
don't think you'll ever see any school fight that. But
if Louva fought it, I know they'd have a lot
of support from the fans, that's for sure. All Right,
quick break, we'll come back on the other side, kind

(17:47):
of continue the conversation because it sounds like Kentucky's last
piece as their roster is reportedly set for year two
with Mark Pope. Apparently it was a big spend and
we'll see if it's worth it. I mean, none of
us know. But when it comes to guys that you
won't spend a lot of money on meeting Kentucky, I
was kind of questioning, well, why wouldn't. You're Kentucky, you

(18:08):
have the money. But this guy that they added, good player,
for sure, but I'm not sure this would be the
one that I would have spent a ton of money on.
But hey, it's not my money. I'd stick with us
right here on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
Ninety Now back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's
on Sports Talk seven nine day.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
All right, so this was reported by Matt Norlander of
CBS Sports. He put this out earlier today and it
says that barring any portal defections, Kentucky has ended its
pursuits of all other portal targets. So they got a
commitment today from Florida. Yes, Florida's national championship six man

(18:53):
Denzel A. Bearding, he decided to commit to Kentucky. And
you know this means not I'm just giving you my
just being honest with you. I'm sure anything I say
about Kentucky is going to be viewed by some as
me being like, you know, a backhanded compliment or some
kind of a slight And it's really not that at all.
But when I think of Florida, I didn't know who
this guy was. Now I see his picture, I recognize him.

(19:14):
But you know, he's somebody that was a role player.
You know, he was a guy who came off the
bench and again he had a really important role. He
helped win a national championship. But you know he also
averaged seven points a game and shot at thirty five
percent from three. And you know he finally was going
to be in line to be the guy at Florida.
Maybe not their their main guy, meaning like the guy

(19:35):
they run everything through. But he's been a reserve, averaging
three minutes a game two years ago as a freshman.
Last year as a sophomore, averaged nine minutes a game,
and then nineteen minutes a game. So he's been taking
steps and it was going to be his time, but
he hit the portal because he got word that he
could get a big payday, and that payday came from Kentucky.

(19:57):
So again I don't want to s even if I
was really heavy handed, like, man, I don't know what
Kentucky fans are smoking because they think this roster is
so impressive and everybody scared. Nah, Like even if I
thought that, which I kind of do, I would be
willing to tell you none of us know. We have
no clue how portal guys are gonna work out. There's
so many examples of guys that you would have never

(20:19):
been excited about that changed everything for a team. And
there's guys that you thought were gonna be, you know,
a big deal in there underwhelming You just don't know.
And again there's countless examples on both sides of that.
But I mean Jeff Goodman, who again say what you
want about him, he is somebody that absolutely, I mean
absolutely would know more than anybody that this is just

(20:42):
this was this was simply a money thing. And look
that's where we are now. This is from Rob douster
Field of sixty eight Denzel a beerdein and am I
saying that? Right? Aberdeen? Yeah, I'm sorry. Denzel Aberdeen is
a Florida native that won a title playing a role
for the Gators, was slated to step into a starting
darring role, and opted to transfer in a conference to
a team where he'll likely be playing a role behind

(21:05):
Jalen Lowe, otega Oway and Jasper Johnson. So what could
lead to that money? And if that's what he wants
to do, he has every right to do it. And honestly,
maybe Kentucky ended up benefiting from this because he's gonna
take that secondary role, it seems, and those are guys
that are hard to get because again, who wants that, Well,

(21:27):
somebody will want it if it's if it's that big
of a payday, right, I'll be a role guy again.
Pay me this much money? Sure, I thought I wanted
to start. I was pretty content being a backup last year,
and now I'm gonna make a lot more money. Why not?
So maybe, in a way like that's impressive for Kentucky
to know that their guards are pretty much said with
Oway back, because here's the thing it is with O

(21:48):
take Oway in the end of take Away, I don't
know what I said. That's so weird. He's clearly in
the NBA draft right now, but doesn't seem like he's
going to stay there and he'll come back. So when
you're in limbo like that, you're not really in limbo.
Like for Kentucky to go out there and get another
big guard, it probably would be pretty tough to do
because you know, any really big guard that's available that

(22:09):
everybody would want would look at Otaga away and realize, yeah,
I'm really good. I know that I can compete with anybody.
But this guy, if he was in the portal, he
would probably be ranked right next to me, or maybe
even ahead of me, because he's that good of a player.
So now that their roster is essentially set, I just
I don't know. I I can't really tell if I

(22:29):
think that on paper that they're going to be close
to as good as they were last year. Now, again,
they didn't have a team fully healthy towards the end
of the season, and we all know that, and that
of course is a factor. But you know, like who
on their team, right, I mean o Take always going
to be their best player and getting him back again,
that's weird. We don't really know how to celebrate that
fully yet, because you know, we want to think about

(22:49):
the portal and all the new pieces, the new weapons
that you got to get better. But as much as
we like the new shiny pieces that you know are
exciting because you watched them play elsewhere or maybe you
just looked at their gaudy stats at their previous school,
it's not as exciting and it's not as you know new.

(23:10):
But just look at this way. If a player was
to hit the portal on your team, and you know
they'd be ranked really highly, and those guys don't decide
to leave and they decide to come back, that's still
a really big win. Kind of feels weird because you
already have the guy, but still, you know it's it's
a huge addition. So they're not as they don't need

(23:31):
to go out there. Because I've said this all year.
There was so much talk about Lamont Butler and about
Jackson Robinson, who were good players. Clearly that helped Kentucky,
but even if they stayed healthy, I think their best player,
their best guard, was O take Away, like there's to me,
there's just no way around that. So you know, getting
him back is huge for them. And Jalen Lo's a
really good piece, good talent, although not a shooter, and

(23:54):
that just seems to be a weird fit. But he's
talented and Pope is a good enough coach to he'll
probably figure out to a way to make it work.
But they took Low who was really really you know,
good player but not efficient, but he also played on
a really bad team. That's a factor. And they also
have Mo Diabatee, the big for Alabama, who's a good,

(24:16):
good piece, but like he's leaving Bama because he couldn't
play a lot of minutes there, Like that's that's why
he's leaving Bama. He was never going to be the
guy there. Well, if he can't be the guy at Bama,
but he can be the guy for you, is that
a great thing? You know, Jaden Quainton's still living off
of the five star billing he got coming out of
high school. Maybe he ends up really turning into an

(24:36):
effective and consistent player in college, or maybe he's another
eight and seven guy and just goes pro next year.
Because you know, he's still going to be able to
live off that potential. You know, Brandon Garrison, big athlete,
I mean he didn't even play for them at times
this year because he was so far behind, and he
just the so far behind guys like Andrew Carr and

(24:58):
who's the other big guy, Mary Williams. Is that his
name something? Yes? Yes, So you know they've got good,
talented pieces and maybe Pope is just making a real
obvious shift here to where at Byu, I did it
and it worked for the most part. Last year at
Kentucky we did it, and you know, it kind of worked.

(25:18):
But I realized I need more athleticism and not as
much shooting, because that could be the case here. That
could be the cell, because guys who you've always felt
like are really good fits for what Mark Pope wants
to do offensively, Specifically, we're talking about shooters and big
men that are versatile, that can also shoot a little
bit but pass None of these guys are that that

(25:39):
they've picked up. I don't know much about the Jelivick
that came in from the Croatia, so I mean, maybe
he's that guy. I don't know of about him. I've
never heard of him til comitted, So I maybe this
team's elite. When it's all said and done. None of
us know if you've got super strong opinions about this
team being mid or this team being great, none of
us know. But I just, you know, I'm trying to

(26:00):
tell myself, well, maybe it's just because I haven't watched
these guys enough, but like, I mean, I know who
Jalen Lowe is. I know who Modiabatte is. I know
Jaden Quayton says, I know Brandon Garris says, I know
who Denzel Aberdeen is. And I just don't feel like
if that's like you're starting five, I don't know how
good that team is. You know, A taga Oway is
the main guy, and by the way, I should have

(26:21):
mentioned him, he'll certainly start. But Jasper Johnson really good freshman,
but how much do you really get out of freshman anymore?
As far as right away, Colin Chandler, maybe he makes
a big jump after two years off of basketball where
he was kind of shaking off the rust last year.
Cam Williams used the shoot her from Tulane Malacamorino four

(26:43):
star big man, But you know, how much is he
going to be able to really play right away? So again,
I'm not setting this whole thing up to.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
You.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
Know act like anybody thinking this Kentucky team is great
is just lying to themselves. But when I see the
report from Norlander that they're set and I look at
all their pieces, I just, you know, I don't I
don't really know if they're even close to as good
as they were last year. Like is is diabate? I mean,
is he gonna be a better piece for you than

(27:13):
a Jackson Robinson at wing? Maybe? I don't know, we'll
find out. The one thing that wou that would worry
me is that your bigs last year were really skilled
that could pass it a lot. I mean, you know
that that was a matchup problem for a lot of teams.
Mary Williams was a really tough matchup because when he's
just a physical monster, he's skilled around the rim, and
he's a really good passer. I mean, Brandon Garrison and

(27:34):
Jaden Quainton's don't do any of those things. They're just big,
physical athletes, which again there's value there. It's just not
something I've ever watched Mark Pope teams really you know, utilized.
But again maybe it's that he learned. Okay, this year
in the SEC especially, we were skilled, but we did
not have the athletes. I need the athletes. Maybe that
was the emphasis with this roster, and if that's the case,

(27:54):
certainly they made a big update when it comes to
athleticism with guys like low Aberdeen, the Abata quaintance. For sure,
Garrison is already a really good athlete. Away is a
good enough athlete.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
So.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
That could be it.

Speaker 3 (28:07):
But also with respect to Mark Pope, I actually I
like that he's one of those coaches that is going
to I mean, I don't see him being somebody that
would really adjust who he is as a coach because
he believes in his style, his system, and he's a
very very smart guy. He's very analytical, and I know
sometimes you know people say, oh, it's just nerds, I
mean analytics. Man. Some like them and value them, use

(28:30):
them more than others. But if you don't, if you
ignore them and just lack like they don't exist and
they don't matter, you're gonna get You're gonna get lapped
in this in this industry of basketball, because there's a
reason that that analytics are relied on as much as
they are. All right, quick break, we'll come back on
the other side of wrap up the four o'clock hour
keep it rolling along. It's Coffee and Company, and we
are fuel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
Now back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Sports Talk seven nine day.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Last night was the annual Super Bowl of Professional wrestling.
In fact, this weekend was with WrestleMania taking place in
Las Vegas. And I think I've watched WrestleMania one time
when I was in like middle school. One of my
buddies got it on pay per view and we went
and watched it. So even when I was even when
I was a kid and I was really into wrestling,
I was fortunate to be into it. I feel like

(29:21):
at the best time that was the Attitude era, Sure,
but it still wasn't. I mean we didn't. I oftentimes
didn't get to watch the pay per views, which you know,
kind of made it seem more like it. When I
did get to watch him, I felt like, really specially
you know what I mean. Yeah, Austin is a wrestling
fan but also somebody who covers the industry. He's got
a podcast called the Babyfaces Podcast. It's an iHeartRadio podcast

(29:44):
covering again professional wrestling. So I wanted to get your thought,
because WrestleMania is the event that wrestling has the regardless
if you're into it, you like it, you don't like it,
you don't want to see anything about it. It's hard
to miss because it's that. It's again, it's the super
Bowl of that, of that a sport industry, whatever you
want to call it. So to me, here's here's what
I've gathered as far as just the noise I've been

(30:05):
hearing about. Okay, that's what happened that night one. Eh,
but the main event was great. Yep. Night two was good,
but the main event sucked. Yes, how you nailed it? Okay, yeah,
you nailed it. I had to make it sound so simple,
but you know that. That's what I've gathered is that
they really loved the uh, the the ending on Saturday,

(30:28):
but Sunday apparently something at the end was just it
just seemed like a real head scratch as to why
would the WWE do this?

Speaker 4 (30:34):
Yeah, it went off. It went over like what they
say a fart in church would, just because it was
I mean, you had this culmination of John Cena finally
becoming a bad guy.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
All of his career, he's been the white Meat, baby Face,
you know.

Speaker 4 (30:48):
The the Make a Wish kids and everything like that.
But the whole story centered around this is because well
The Rock is kind of back too, because he's fully
port he's fully portrayed the villain role of being the
final Boss. He's a he's on the board member of
t KO that owns WWE. So the thing is is

(31:10):
the story started with John Cena selling his soul to
the devil, to the final boss that is the Rock,
because it's his last go around, this is his last
WrestleMania and going up against the guy who he has
very parallel careers careers with, Cody Rhodes, also a super
over Babyface, super white Meat, You're you're good guy, someone
that John Cena has been his whole you know, career,

(31:31):
but he turned on him a few months ago and
he joined the Alliance of the Rock. And I guess
Travis Scott. I guess somehow Travis Scott is all a
part of that.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
So that's what I don't again, like you don't need
to explain the whole thing. And I'd be a liar
if I said I'm truly interested, But like, what about
Travis not not just not with what you're saying, but like, no, no,
I get it. What makes Travis Scott like? Why him?

Speaker 4 (31:52):
There's no like story like lore to it, just more
or less like WWE is gone. You know they're on
Netflix now that like the I guess that's this is
their chance at the main crossover. A peer's appeal is
with Travis Scott because he is popular and pop culture is.

Speaker 3 (32:08):
Still But they don't need that, do they? Does wrestling
need to not to to maybe potentially? And again what
do I know? But it seems like your opinion and
all those that really do value and appreciate the WWE
and they're great storytelling and content that they they let
that take a hit in order to potentially reach some
people that might not have been interested unless Travis Scott

(32:30):
was involved. Is that right? Yes, they don't need that,
They're gonna they would have had a better show and
just as much viewership. Agree, Yeah, I just is this
a triple H kind of thing where maybe he's going
to be more influenced by that kind of stuff more
than his father.

Speaker 4 (32:42):
In law with it, it's the new ownership just because
they got taken over by TKO groups and endeavor that's
owning so.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
That's what people mean when they talk about like the UFC,
people who own it kind of like take shots at
the like they don't you know, like they.

Speaker 4 (32:55):
Yes, so they're and and wrestling and especially WrestleMania has
always been built off the the crossover appeal of mainstream artists.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
Of course it's been a lopper back in the day
Muhammad employee they had. That makes the Treviscott thing make
more sense.

Speaker 4 (33:09):
Actually, yes, but like usually you would in that situation,
you would like to see them be a bad guy
in the world that is wrestling, Like, what's your story?

Speaker 3 (33:17):
Why did you align with this person?

Speaker 4 (33:19):
Because that's what it's all about at the end of
the day, is storylines and getting you invested and suspending
the disbelief that, oh my god, these guys really aren't fighting.
It's finding the heat in the rivalry, finding like what
these guys are fighting for, what these guys are aligned for.
And it was it's been really weird with you know,
with the whole John Cena thing. It ended very badly

(33:41):
with some very bad acting and it just just kind
of fell flat. Everybody was kind of like expecting the
Rock to show up because that was a main set
point and John Cena turning heel in the first place,
but I don't know. And then the night one, the
triple threat match was amazing with my guy Roman Reigns,
Seth Rollins and See Them Punk. It was great and
there was a fun angle that ended that because Paul Haman,

(34:03):
I don't know if you're a Paul Hamon guy, but
he turned on Roman Reigns.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
He's been aligned with him.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
The last five years and he he turned on to
go with the Seth Rollins. But even then that was
the main event that had no title implications. It was
just more of they were going off the three stars
as some of their three biggest stars, Roman Range, Seth
Rollins and See Him Punk, but there was no title implications.
The work rate was good and the story that was
being told, but usually, you know, you like to end

(34:29):
both nights on you know, titles, so there was really
no stipulation whatsoever. I don't know, it just it just
fell kind of flat. The lackluster builds this year's mane
I was just spoiled from the last two because there
was really good storytelling going into both of them. In Yeah,
last year would have been hard to top with all
the run ins and everything. And I know this is
me extremely geeking out, so I appreciate you listening, but

(34:51):
it was just it was it just it just fell flat.
But for all it's worth, Vegas looked fun. I know,
the promotion there was. I heard on the radio show
Activations Everywhere WWE. As soon as you landed in Vegas,
it was WWE everywhere. And they also do like that's
where all the indie promotions going on.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
A lot of there's like there's I mean, it becomes
not just the big event, but the entire city seems
to become nothing but WWE and wrestling whenever they whatever
city hosts WrestleMania, that's just what the event is. So
you said something a moment ago that did that that
that stood out to me. How do you enjoy or

(35:31):
how would you watch wrestling if it's not all about
the story and the creative, Like can you get into
wrestling if it's just watching? I mean again like not
to act as if it's not an impressive thing to
be able to do, to sell and to work a match,
but like from an entertainment standpoint, I mean, I don't
really know how anybody would. It's got to be the stories.

Speaker 4 (35:50):
Yeah, I mean wrestling is I love it to death,
but wrestling. Wrestling is kind of silly, you know, it's
based off of carne nature.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
Well that's like the indies. Like I don't understand like
the indies, Like the people who love the indies are
just like you know, they just love wrestling exactly because
there's no it's a one off show. There's no like storyline,
right yeah, and you can see, you know, you can
have a you can you can do something within a
night to like build up a main event early on
on your card and whatnot. And that's really how that works.

(36:16):
There's really no other way to do it. But like
I don't know anybody would ever get into wrestling if
it wasn't because of like the stories and the characters
that are created. Yes, and that's a WWE does so
great with.

Speaker 4 (36:26):
And you can well actually recently before Peacock because now
you have to add tears to the Peacock to where well,
they usually had the pre match promos that gets you
hype for the match it's.

Speaker 3 (36:35):
About to come on. Usually they do a good job
of catching you up.

Speaker 4 (36:38):
For the casual viewers that haven't watched, you could sit
down and watch wrestling, and they do the video packages
they do backstage. They do a good job of letting
you know, okay, what's going on right now. But now
with the Peacock, which we just found out last night,
me and I got Billy, we're texting about it.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
It's just adds now.

Speaker 4 (36:53):
So you unless you have Peacock's subscription, when that break.
Whenever they goes all right, here's our next match, does
the pre match promo for it? They don't show you
that pre match promo. They get you hyped for it
unless you're a premium subscriber. If you're not, then you
get all their ads like the TurboTax and all their
other what And you've noticed that the ring, I don't

(37:14):
know if you've seen it, it's full of advertisement now
it looks like a boxing ring.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
Well so like anything in society these days, that's entertainment
if you like. There's so much people can easily like.
You don't have people as long as you're used to,
as far as for them to see if they're interested
to consume your content or not. And what I mean
by that is, if you're not doing the best you

(37:38):
can to let people know who are just joining the content,
the programming, know what's going on. They may it may
not even be something that in mind they're like, Okay,
the hell with this, I'm out, but they will absolutely
just tune out and move on to something else that'll
get their attention. So I agree, even if it's the
best thing going, if you're not in some way letting

(38:00):
new viewers you know, kind of know what's going on
without starting all over from the beginning, right, you're just
not gonna have And that's what you always have to do.
Like that, Like there's certain sports and certain again, all
this is entertainment sports everything. I mean, that's why wrestling
is kind of it's clearly it's different than the NFL
and the NBA because it's choreographed and whatnot. But it's entertainment.
So therefore, you know, no matter if you're really playing

(38:23):
you know, basketball, which you know you're competing and nobody
knows who's gonna win at the end of the day,
you're competing with it, with it, with the entertainment world. Yeah,
and man, at any moment now with these devices in
our hands, their cell phones, like if you're not if
you're not picking up on it early, you'll do something else.

Speaker 4 (38:42):
Yeah, so I like you, you're all in love with
the characters. You fall in love with what angles that
they're doing, and that's what gets you invest. For me,
the matches have never meant anything, even when I love
Stone Cold and the Rock back then, Like there may
be like a twenty thirty minute match just to bell
to bell action, but I was more interested and let
me see my favorite superstar come out, hit the hit,
the hit the cameras well. The mic work is what

(39:03):
I love to do, the mic work, and let me
see how the match finishes. Let me see you guys
hit your stuff on one another, and then let me
see what the story is coming out of this match.
I can care for less for the twenty thirty minutes
of wrestling in between.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
Yeah. I can't remember a whole lot of specific things
that took place in matches when I watched when I
was a kid during the Attitude era, but man I
remember and remember the moment, I remember everything that came
with it. Yeah, and it was it was a fun,
fun fun.

Speaker 4 (39:29):
See stone Cold was on one last night he crashed
his ATV. Did he like miss the Egg?

Speaker 3 (39:34):
Like I saw somebody statement saying that like the delay
for him getting out there. Was he missed he was
he missed the ramp, Yeah, completely, he would have expected
Stone Cold to do. But you know, maybe again it
was the Steve Wiser So.

Speaker 4 (39:47):
Then crashed into the barricade and knocked a lady down,
and I'm pretty sure she's probably gonna get ringside seats
and free merch for a long time.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
I mean, the amount of people that were there that
are like legends. I mean, again, it's WrestleManias. If you're
gonna bring them all out, that's you do it. But
I mean talk about the longevity of guys like Sena
in the Rock, you know, to still be able to
and of course Stone Cold. I mean it's that was
a hell of an era, still be relevant. People know
who they are, no doubt are we got another hour
left stick with us. I was wrong. I thought, you
know what the portal, Yeah, you were going to hit

(40:16):
the portal. You already done, You would have already done it. No,
as we speak, there's been a few additions to the
portal that I think are worth mentioning that have happened,
you know, just in the last couple of hours. So
we'll get to that. And many had much more right
here on Sportsbok seven ninety