5.16: Tipping - Hour 2

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
It's time for Coffee and Company,fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day. Now here's Nick Coffee.If you are here to get an update

(00:28):
on the PGA Championship over in Valhalla, Apologies, I'm not one that would
be able to give you that,but we are going to talk to Ken
Spencer coming up here at w has eleven. I mean, we're not
going to talk to him there.That's where he that's where he works,
but he's gonna be vis at fourthirty and he is there at Valhalla covering
it, and I'm obviously not gonnaask him a ton of questions about you

(00:49):
know. I mean, we'll getan update as far as how how the
event's going, as far as youknow, who's who's off to a great
start. But I'm more interested justbecause I'm not like a super golf fan.
I'm more interested in just how arewe doing a good job as a
city as far as like showing thePGA that we should get more of these
kind of events, and it seemslike we are. But again, Kent
will be with us to discuss thatin about thirty minutes or so. It

(01:11):
is Coffee and Company. We arefuel about Thornton's heirero on Sports Talk seven
ninety. We did talk a littleearlier about the addition. That was yesterday,
about twenty four hours ago. Iguess it became official that Connie Ruth's
the Kahani Ruths. I should saynot Connie, but Kahani Ruths is in
the mix here, the only freshmanat this point that's committed to Pat Kelsey

(01:32):
and they have, I believe nowjust two scholarships left, and he's the
eighth highest ranked recruit to ever committo Louisville. Which I bring that up
for a couple of reasons. One, if you had a guy like this
pre portal, that world of collegebasketball that no longer exists like this would
be monumental and it is a goodget that people are excited about. But
now it's about getting guys in theportal that have played college basketball that you

(01:55):
kind of have a better feel forwhat you're gonna get. But it also
reminds me of like I mean,Louisville has had many guy like Louisville's a
program that I would say the dudeswho were ranked really really really high coming
out of high school. The majorityof them didn't you know, didn't have
I mean some of them didn't playhere because they went to the NBA,

(02:19):
and then some of them. Youknow, we're good players, but far
from great. So I am alittle curious to see when we get,
you know, seven eight years intothe portal, just how different it is
when it comes to recruiting freshmen,because it's going to play out to where
there's going to be I mean,there's going to be a case study,

(02:42):
right, like, hey, werecruited a top ten class for seven straight
years, but did we get anythingout of it? Right? As a
freshman? Could they compete and helpus right away? And if they did
help us a little bit, butnot a whole lot, we were hoping
that the next year they'd be abig time player, but nope, they

(03:02):
hit the portal or they went tothe NBA. Like, I can't imagine
there's ever going to be a timewhere you don't recruit freshmen. But I
just you know, if I wasa coach, I mean, I would
make it to where, you know, at least a third of my roster
every year is guys that I wentout and recruited as free agents essentially,

(03:27):
all Right, so we played somesound just a moment ago from the ACC
spring meetings where Pat Kelsey did acouple of interviews and this I don't know
if this was yesterday. I thinkI think it was yesterday because Daboswinny was
making his rounds and you know,Dabo's Dabo, and I actually forgot to
get to this yesterday. But nowwe actually have some sound from it,

(03:51):
so I guess we'll back up towhat he said two days ago on ESPN
about I mean, this is harmless. We know dabo stance on the portal.
He's been very, very upfront.He does not believe in it.
He's not ever taken a kid fromthe portal. So it's not like he's
saying something that you you know,your jaw hits the floor. But just
think about if another coach said thislike what they're what his fan base would

(04:15):
would how they would react. Well, it wasn't really necessarily like an intentional
thing. There's a couple of guyswe looked at, but you know,
they got to love you too.But it also tells us you like where
you're around, You like, yeah, that's what That's what the other part
of it. And and honestly,every player is technically a transfer. You

(04:36):
know, we just signed a wholeclass of guys transferred from high school.
Like that's I mean, that's againbecause it's Dabbo. You know, that's
just like his nil response from afew years ago. It's Dabbo being Dabbo.
But again, Clemson, it's likea cult man, like they're weird.
Every fan base of college football knowshow important the portal is. They

(04:59):
may it, they may you know, wish that it wasn't allowed. And
there are many coaches, there aremany, you know, fans of college
sports that think that nil and theportal has ruined everything. But you know,
regardless of what you think about it, you know it's important you have
to do well in that in thatworld, meaning maintaining your roster, keeping
guys that you want that have value, not letting them get away, and
going out and filling spots when guysleave. So, I mean, this

(05:21):
is Dabo, just flat out.And it's still new, So I don't
think it's it seems as out.You know, two reasons why it doesn't
seem as crazy to some as itdoes to me is that it's still new.
Also, it's dabos so you're notsurprised. But this is a guy
basically admitting he's not going like he'snot doing part of his job, and

(05:43):
he's stubborn and consistent. There's nodoubt about that. And then he said
this, and again, I justthink Dabo's still saying things like he's coming
off of, you know, twonational championships in a row or something,
which he never did that. ButI mean, they won two titles in
what three four years, and theywere really rolling and now you know,
there's still good, Like it kindof wowed me a little bit when I
looked at their their I mean,they've had double digit winning season. They

(06:05):
didn't last year they went nine andthree or nine and four, I don't
know what. I think it mighthave been nine and four. It was
the first time in like eleven twelveyears they didn't win double diggit games.
So, like, they're still verygood, but they're not in the elite
tier and they're not really close andthey're not going to get back there.
They're probably going to keep falling.With the way he with the way he
handles this, but he talks asif he's got you know, five rings

(06:31):
on his hand that were recent nationalchampionships because this is I mean, he
says, most of the guys inthe portal aren't good enough to play for
Clemson. There's three types of playersin the portal. I mean, it's
really pretty simple. Most of theguys in the portal aren't good enough to
play for us. Yeah. Yeah, that's just like, that's just the
reality of it. I mean,we have guys that are backups at Clemson

(06:55):
that go in the portal because theyjust want to have an opportunity. And
most of them are graduates, bythe way, but have guys that are
backups or you know, they wanta chance to go play And I got
no problem with that, and sorarely do we have a starter leave Clemson.
Uh So, you know, that'syou've got the majority of the guys,
they're guys that are in the portalbecause they want to have a chance

(07:18):
to go start somewhere. They're notplaying where they are. I mean,
it's such a small minded way tolook at it, because that's actually not
like when you think about how manyplayers enter the portal, it's probably true
to say that most of them aren'tgood enough to be a you know,

(07:39):
to be an impact player for youat a power power four level, Like,
I don't think that's crazy. Buthe doesn't even look at the port
He doesn't he's he's he It's onething if he evaluates it, says he's
open to it, but doesn't decideto take guys. I mean that that
would also be really stupid. Butyou know, you think there aren't guys
that are in the portal that couldhelp you and and and you know,

(08:01):
could participate in your four and fourseason that you just had in the ACC.
I mean, that's just he's notsaying anything like totally controversial. He's
not, you know, being ana hole, But he's just such a
unique character within college football. Ithink that's the best way to describe it.
If he ever falls far enough tobe let go by Clemson, obviously

(08:22):
there will be coaches or schools thatwant Demo Swiney to be their head coach.
But do you think at that pointhe would adjust or what they would
be dab but they would do itthinking well, I mean if we can
get him, we have to.But yeah, I mean, we know
we're not getting what you know,he's not. It's like Cal, you
know Cal, you know, didyou know lean on the portal this year,

(08:43):
and you know he did last yearto a little bit. But you're
you know, cal Perry bringing inthe number one class in the country every
year. It's not doesn't mean nowwhat it used to because things have changed.
So Dabo, he's still doing thingslike it's twenty and seventeen and it's
not. And you know, yeah, he'd land somewhere. And I will
never know this, but I believethat if he would have adjusted an adapted,

(09:05):
just like everybody else in college footballdid, right, Nick Saban Kirby
smart Right, things changed and thoseguys didn't miss a beat. Had Dabo
done that, I believe they stillwould have been at the higher that they
would have been in the elite tierwith more playoff appearances. Right. I
don't know if they won another championship, but they'd still be a frequent participant

(09:26):
in the playoff in the last threefour years. I believe that. And
if that's the case, he's Alabama'scoach. I agree with you because he
played there and he he you know, for for a little while. There
wasn't a long run. But youknow, right before things shifted with Portland
and il some would have some peoplewould have told you that Dabo Dabo had
had surpassed uh Nick Saban. Soyou know, I just have a hard

(09:50):
time like they're never gonna be terrible. They're never gonna be you know,
IM not gonna fall off a cliff. But if I'm a Clemson fan,
like, I don't know, ifyou, I don't know how you would
like not want this guy. Hewon you two national championships, but it
would be alarming to see that he'sjust clearly not adjusting and adapting. And

(10:11):
usually when you don't do that,especially when things drastically change, it's it's
it's it's gonna bite you. Allright, Let's talk about something that makes
people uncomfortable, at least some people, tipping at restaurants, gratuity. I
think it's always a sensitive subject withcertain people because there are some that are

(10:31):
tipping elitists. That's what I callhim John. They may they probably don't
tip as well as they claim,but they're always always like, if you
can't tip twenty five percent, thenyou don't even need to be going out
to eat. You know, somebodycan you know, take your cup,
turn around, fill up the fountain, drink, give it back to you

(10:54):
and if you didn't tip. I'mlike, we're the tipping elitists. Never
consider the fact like okay, isthis something that should be tipped for?
They just assume, like why wasyou even question that? Did you see
how hard they're working? There wasa pandemic like they're just trying to make
a look like those I don't knowif you know any of those people,
but they're out there and they annoyme. And I am somebody that I

(11:20):
usually tip at least twenty percent andI sometimes probably shouldn't. I am also
willing to admit that I would neverwant to be known as the guy that
people claim is not like I don'tthink of people are out, you know,
having a small talk at a bar. Did you hear nick coffee doesn't
tip? But like I'm aware,like you know, I don't want people
to think that I'm like, youknow, not taking care of servers who

(11:41):
work hard and do a good job. And for the most part, I'm
not that tough to please, LikeI rarely would ever feel like, well,
I need to consider how much I'mgoing to tip here because they didn't
do a very good job. Soit's not that I'm anti tipping, but
I get annoyed whenever it just becomeslike a you know that no matter what,

(12:03):
you have to do this, andif you don't, you aren't.
You're not like you're you aren't worthyof even being in a restaurant and having
a server. And one conversation that'sbeen had many times that I don't know
if there's no like I guess,I mean, everybody has their own opinion
of it. But if I goto pick up carry out and you hand
me the bag and you have,you know, put the food in the

(12:26):
bag and I never get carry out. We did it during like COVID a
few times because it's all we coulddo. But I don't think the food's
ever as good when you take ithome after you get it, like a
sit down restaurant, it's just notworth it for me, especially what it
costs now. But should they isit? Like when did it become a
thing to where you're asked to tipthem because you know, in my opinion,
like if you tip them whatever,that's cool. I feel the pressure

(12:48):
to tip them at times and Ithink, like I guess I'm gonna be
that. I don't want to bethat guy to not tip so by getting
it to go. You've kind ofchosen to take out what you would then
tip for, which is being takencare of. Am I making sense here?
Perfect? I've I can. I'venever tipped carry out, and I

(13:09):
do carry out a lot compared toactually going and sitting down. I do
tip every time, like you wheneverI'm going to sit down restaurant. But
I believe during COVID, whenever,there was no way to really tip people.
That's why that became a thing.And it became a thing where like
you would get it and add likea very generous tip, But it wasn't
because it was because that was theonly way they could make moneys. And

(13:31):
that made sense back, Yeah,it did. But this is no different
than going up to a drive through, which is also something that sometimes,
depending on where you're at, they'llgive you the receipt and they'll give you
a kid to sign something. Areyou kidding me? Dead? Seriously?
Not every place, geez, Andthis I don't even know if this really
qualify. Actually, here's what Igot two and I don't I don't want
to. I don't want to talkbad about these places, so I won't

(13:52):
give their names. There's a placein he'llvy and there's a place in Mount
Washington that do it? Is itfast food? One of them is a
coffee shop, and one of them'sa pizza place. Okay, yeah,
I mean I just think putting likeif it if putting the tip on the
receipt when it's never something anybody'd evertip before. To me, just screams,
we'll see if they're suckers and doit. That's that's and that bothers

(14:16):
me. But you know what,I'm a sucker, I guess because occasionally
I feel bad now. Also,I you know people who who serve at
restaurants and I don't even mean likefine dining. You can make a really
good living. I'm not sure you'renot. You know, it's not like
you're living, you know, ina million dollar home, but like you

(14:37):
can make a like it's to saythat, you know, And that's what
I mean by some of the tippingelitists. They act as if like why
would you not be very generous?They're working hard, Like it's almost like
you're you're trying to belittle them,so then people should give Like no,
you don't need to do that.Like and here's the other thing. If
if these people are working so hard, which most of them are. The

(15:00):
companies that they work for need topay them better because the problem is a
lot of these workers at these restaurantsdon't get paid very well. They were
lost so heavily on tip. Imean, they make like two bucks an
hour. Here's the thing. AndI've never been a server, and I
know it's it's I mean, Iwouldn't be good at it, and it
is a hard job. It's notsomething that like anybody can just do and
be good at it. So II understand that. But I know a

(15:22):
few of them that have said thatif it ever was a thing where tips
were not it and you were justan hourly employee, they wouldn't do it
because they wouldn't make near the money. So, you know, I bring
all this up because of something thathappened last night at a restaurant that I
went to. And I'm not goingto mention where it is. And I've
had complaints about this place before,and yet I still go every now and
then because it's good. I'll startwith what happened a few years ago,

(15:45):
and I still maintain this is insane. We ordered an appetizer and it was
chips and Q so it is nota Mexican restaurant. But they offered,
like a lot of places offered chipsand kso that's not a Mexican restaurant,
right, Like many places, it'san appetizer on a lot of places that's
not just for Mexican or text mexor whatever. So we ordered KSO and

(16:07):
you know, they give you thetypical you know, actually what they did
here is that it's a basket ofchips and in the middle of the basket
is like, you know, thething of the cheese. So you know,
there's there's enough chips, but youknow, we ran out of chips
and we asked for more chips andit was a four dollars charge for more
chips. That insane to me,absolutely insane. Of so, we talked

(16:29):
about it on the show years agowhen it happened, and I don't think
anybody took the side of the restaurantas if, like, you know,
that was normal, although you knowa lot of people were like, give
them a break, they're just tryingto make a living. And I'm like,
well, okay, I mean thatthat doesn't have anything to do with
what I'm talking about. But likethat's just not normal. So what you're
paying for is the cheese. Sothe one excuse was that, well,

(16:52):
because they don't sell a lot ofthat, they need to charge for the
chip. Well, then don't offerit, like you know what I'm saying,
Like, don't offer tab chips andcase. So if you're gonna charge,
because I would be willing to betthat that most people would not order
that if they knew that was thecase, because you oftentimes, especially if
you're sharing the case, so withyour table, you're gonna run out of
the chips fairly quickly. I mean, like, if my wife and I

(17:14):
go and we get a small caseso somewhere that's will probably not need more
chips. Now, if there's saltsthere too, maybe we will. But
like that was insane to me,Like the first time I feel like I
was ever Like, you can't beyou're you're you're not real. It's not
you're not You're not being serious,are you. So we went there last
night with my with my mom,my stepdad, my two kids, and

(17:34):
me and my wife. So there'ssix of us, you know, two
two of the two of the peopledon't order the food themselves, their children
and they split a kid's meal.That's usually what our kids get at dinner.
They'll they'll split something on the kidsmenu and they'll be that'll be just
enough food for them. So that'ssix people total. Technically, they don't

(17:57):
tell you, but if you havesix people there, they automatically include your
tip and it's nowhere where you cansee it without looking at the fine print.
I think that's deceiving. I thinkthat's misleading. I think that's lame
because the majority of the people wouldnot know that you've already included you tip

(18:18):
unless they're looking at it, unlessyou're and look, maybe I mean,
I'm probably the idiot. In factI am. I rarely look. I
look at the bill and you know, make sure nothing really stands out,
but rarely will I go, youknow, line by line and see if
they were charging me correctly. Ihave a feeling John does the opposite,
because yeah, it depends on whatI've ordered. But you know, it's
it's like an it's like an abbreviation. It doesn't say that that's the tip.

(18:42):
You ask them and then and thenthey'll tell you. And then you
go to the menu and you'll seein the fine print at the bottom of
the first page of their menu.Parties of six gratuity will already be inclosed.
I just think that that's that's asmall amount to have an auto gratuity.
Not only that, but we havetoo, I mean again, like
we only mean we only ordered six, true, we only ordered we only

(19:03):
ordered six. Like you're not like, my kids aren't asking you for anything.
The only thing you're doing is bringingtheir kids meal and you know,
their their drink. Not to saythat you're not, you know, not
to say that you're not like theydon't matter, but like two parts of
that one, it's just lame tokind of sneak that in there. Also
also the you know, I justyou know, six is not a big

(19:27):
group of people. It's just notthat's three. I mean that's a family,
honestly, Like I think ten ormore is the minimum for I could
do eight, depending on where youare, Like I could see that being
you know, I can understand that. But you know, at Churchill Downs
opening night, one of my buddiesDad's was there, and he went and
bought a big round of drinks forpeople. It was we were celebrating somebody's

(19:49):
birthday, so he bought the firstround of drinks. So it was like,
I don't know. At the barthere at Churchill, he bought like
eight beers like or maybe like fivebeers a seltzer wine and they didn't tell
him, but he got the bill, and like, when you get alcohol
at a place like Churchill Downs onDerby week, like you're probably probably gonna

(20:12):
take a substantial number for you tobe like, damn, that can't be
right because again, like alcohol isexpensive at those kind of events or that
in that week it's opening night.Well then you know he tipped on like
the receipt because you know that's whatyou should do. But he doesn't get
back to you know, he getsback and he's thinking, like, man,
that really was expensive. He getsout the receipt and sure enough,

(20:33):
at the very bottom, the smallesttext on the receipt, it shows that
he was charged gratuity because of howmany how many drinks he was sort of
ordered. There's one dude ordering itand you know you're walking to the refrigerator
and pulling out it, like they'renot even serving you draft beer. So
I just I don't know, likeat the end of the day, like

(20:53):
it's not a substantial amount of money, but it's just seems deceiving. It's
robbery. Yeah, maybe that's beingtraumatic, but no, but I think
a lot of people would say thesame thing. So I don't know.
I just I said that yesterday wheneverI realized that they like that, that
that the tip was already included.And I'm like, I'm talking about this

(21:15):
on the show because I will saythis, I feel like gratuity and tipping
is something that regardless of where youstand, I think a lot of people
have strong opinions on it one wayor the other. And again for those
just not joining us, you shouldalways tip well if you're taking care of
and you should understand that like thatis how people make a living. And
fortunately for me, I've usually hadpretty good service to great service to where

(21:37):
like I'm happy to tip because theexperience was good because of said server or
bartender or whatever it may be.And and by the way, all these
things, it's not the people whoare serving you. It's the court,
it's the restaurant. It's the corporationsthat are doing that are doing this lame
stuff, you know, because theydon't want to pay it. Yeah,
all right, quick break, we'llcome back on the other side and try
to catch up with our man,mister Kent Spencer of WHS eleven, who's

(21:57):
live at the PGA Championship right hereon Sports Talk seven ninety. It's right
Coffee and Company Field by Thornton's hereon Sports Talk seven ninety, rolling along
about halfway through here on a Thursdayafternoon, and we now bring in our
special guest, mister Kent Spencer fromw h AS eleven, Kent. How
are we doing today, brother buddy. I'm hanging out at Mahall at the

(22:19):
PGA Championship. I don't know ifI could be doing much better. I
was hoping you'd say that because Iwas going to ask you. I know,
as someone who played sports, I'msure your whole life growing up and
now you have a successful career wheresports is a big part of it,
you know. I know, youknow you're fortunate, but when it comes
to events that really you know youjust enjoy, you know, covering,

(22:40):
I'm sure there's many of them,but where does this one rank for you?
I know you're a big golf guyyourself, and obviously this is a
big, big deal, you know, honestly, like when people say what
is the best event you've ever coveredin your life. I always tell people
that it was the two thousand andeight Ryder Cup, and that occurred before
or I ever ever even picked upa golf club and started trying to play

(23:03):
it on a regular release. Yeah. No, it was just like,
you know, imagine like the mostraucous college football atmosphere that you can think
of, and just put it ona golf course. That was that oa
Ryder Cup. You know, teamUSA versus Team Europe and the passion and

(23:23):
you know, back in the day, you know, we had all kinds
of access where you could, youknow, you could kind of you know,
move around a lot, a lotbetter than you can nowadays. But
yeah, and it's not even like, to be honest with you, like,
there's not even a close second likethat. It was that fun to
cover that event. Well, Ithink it's even cooler to hear that like

(23:44):
that got you more interested in thesport to where you decided you were gonna,
you know, pick up a club, start playing and stuff. So
that is cool, buddy, Itwasn't It wasn't even that event. Like
I didn't even start playing after thatevent. I just enjoyed it so much.
But then now that the twenty fourteenPGA was when like, all right,
I'm I've got a little bit ofthe bug and I need to get
better. I'll tell you a story. I was so bad at golf,

(24:07):
and sometimes, you know, youget invited to play in these these golf
scrambles for events, and people wouldshake your hand and be like, oh,
great, a, we're gonna havea lot of fun. And then
you start hitting shots and they're like, well, this isn't so much fun
because you're not gonna help us today. Oh do do you just dis That's
happened to me enough to where nowI just have to say, look,
I appreciate it. I can't I'mnot gonna be in Volde. I can't
do it. I'm not good.It will be bad experience for everybody involved.

(24:30):
I was playing in a golf scrambleone time and Denny Crumb was in
our group, but coach at thetime he couldn't play because he had some
sort of an injury. He stillplayed golf, but he just didn't play
at that particular time because he hadan injury. And we're probably on the
back nine of this round and Iam just awful. I would describe myself
as the worst golfer on the planetat the time. And he says to

(24:52):
me, he goes, now,can't what you want to do is you
just want to hit it to theback of that green and that slope will
just bring it right down to theto the hole. As I'm standing over
top of it and I and Icouldn't take it anymore. I literally come
up. I look at him.I said, coach, you've been with
me all day. You know,I don't know where this is going to
go. If he looked at me, and he laughed and he goes,
I know, he goes, Ijust got to do what I gotta do.

(25:15):
Man, how did you I mean, you know, from I understand,
I know you guys, you knowthe the you guys are technically competitors,
but you know, the guys inthe TV market that do sports,
you guys are also friends in golftogether. People tell me, you're like,
really good. When did it?When did it kind of click for
you where you felt like, youknow, you really turned the corner.
I don't know if I'm I don'tknow if I'm really good. I have

(25:37):
I have good days. Well comparedto those guys, than you are.
I guess I still have awful days, but it's it's kind of one of
those things where I just really enjoyedit and just kind of started putting some
time on it. I got somelessons and and when I'm hitting it good,
can I hit it pretty good?Yeah? I can get it out
there a little bit. Yeah.I I usually play a few times each

(26:00):
year, and each time I geta little more comfortable. Even if I
you know, don't have a scorethat I'm proud of and it's maybe not
as good as the last time.It's just, you know, the more
repetition, the more the more comfortableyou get with it. But no doubt
golf fans for me, For me, as somebody you know who play sports
growing up, a good golf shotnowadays it replaces sometimes a big basket I

(26:26):
would hit in the game, andsometimes it replaces, you know, the
big catch I had in a footballgame. Does that make sense? Absolutely?
And I'm sure there's many people thatplay the play golf for that.
But it's something yeah, and youcan compete with yourself. Yeah, totally
with you. So before we getto the early results here, how would
you say you know the city isdoing as a host here because you know,

(26:48):
obviously I'm a little bit biased,but I feel like, you know,
from all the coverage, rather itbe locally from you guys or the
national folks that are here. Imean, I feel like we're kind of
doing doing our thing to show thePGA that they know that it's good for
them to bring an event like thisto Valhalla. Well, here's what I
here's what I think. I think, once again, I think we've knocked
it out of the park. Andand so I've been here every day since

(27:11):
Monday, and this is obviously thebusiest day that it's that it's been.
But I personally think, and i'mbiased to I think we've knocked it out
of the park. And look,if they don't want to bring one back
here, that's fine, that's fine, but at least make it a very
difficult decision, because obviously, whenit comes to these things, you know
they're decided so far in a dance. I mean, I think right now

(27:36):
they only have two open dates,which is twenty thirty two and twenty thirty
three. I mean, at themoment, twenty thirty four is already spoken
for, so you know, thewindows are windows are small man just make
it hard for him. Yeah,I I mean that reminds me of when
you don't see it as much anymore. I think COVID changed it a little
bit when people realized, you know, in college sports, you don't need

(27:56):
to schedule a game fifteen years out. But yeah, that's yeah, And
I guess that's what's led to sortof that being a talking point is you
know, hopefully they'll come back,but as you mentioned, there's not a
whole lot of spots, uh thatare open. But uh, the how's
it been for for Justin Thomas?Obviously that's one of the storylines here.
He's, you know, a verysuccessful golfer from Louisville, just recently had

(28:17):
the hometown banner put up here inLouisville and was very emotional. Has there
been a lot of folks there thatare that you can since are just really
you know, obviously there's a lotof stars there and Tiger's going to move
the needle like nobody else. Butcan you sense the hometown love for Justin
Thomas? There? Oh, look, one hundred percent. You know it
started during the practice round days,but even on on on today and he

(28:40):
said that this has been so muchcooler and so much more enjoyable than he
anticipated. And I think that hethought it was going to be really cool
and it's and it succeeded the expectationsso far. Obviously, he would have
liked to have played just a littlebit better in the first round. You
know, he shoots a he shootsa two under. He played alongside the

(29:00):
guy who broke the course record andeven a PGA Championship record for the lowest
round ever was Xander Schoffley, whoshot at nine under sixty two. But
here's the thing, it's the firstround. You can play yourself out of
a tournament, but you can't winit. Justin didn't play himself out of
a tournament. He's seven shots back, but he's very much still in the
thing. So I saw your story. He really enjoyed it the Tiger Woods,

(29:23):
being back here at Louisville, andobviously things are a lot different now
than many many, many years ago. But I like when there are quotes
from Tiger and soundclips that kind of, you know, humanize him a little
bit. I think that's sort ofbit. He's been a polarizing figure in
sports for quite some times, butI feel like his legendary status has led
to a lot of people just kindof finding maybe I'm wrong. I know,

(29:45):
I know our friend Lockla McCain willnever liked Tiger Woods, but I
do think it seemed very genuine thathe does now so not take he doesn't
take for granted the fact that heis a larger than life star within the
sport, and no matter where hegoes or how he plays, he's going
to have fanfare that nobody else has. And I just I enjoyed hearing that
he has kind of learned to appreciatethat over the years, because you know,

(30:06):
for the most part, he's nowherenear what he once was, but
because he's Tiger, nobody will everfully count him out. And I think
I think a big part of thatis he understands the window is closing and
the opportunity to play in these kindof things for him, just the way
that his body is made up,you know, he doesn't have much time
left, and so I think hekind of sees the end of the road.

(30:32):
And I also see like when youactually see it is when you appreciate
the things around you, when youactually can kind of look around and be
in the moment a little bit morethan he was in the past. I
mean, you can imagine, youknow, whether it was ten years ago
or two thousand when he played here, he probably never thought that was ever
going to end, like it wasjust going to be this way his entire

(30:52):
life. And now that he kindof realizes that it's not and then it's
coming close to an end, youdefinitely do get the sense of that he
appreciates things more. At least that'swhat he says to the outside world.
So in your in your career,obviously you've been around some legendary athletes before
they became stars, right, guyswho played here locally Louisville and UK or

(31:14):
you know other events that you've thatyou've covered. You know, Tiger's just
different. I've never been around himin person, probably never will be.
You know, this may be acorny question, but like what's it.
I mean, you can probably sensethat he you know, not just from
yourself, but just everybody there thatlike Tiger Woods is kind of one of
one, Like I'm you know,I don't think there's ever anybody that has
been to their sport what Tiger isto golf. And you know, just

(31:37):
knowing he's been in Louisville for overa week now, Like it's just it's
different. Yeah, and and youknow, like on Monday, his practice
round day, it was it wascrazy to see the flock of people that
just rushed to the eighteen green tosee him kind of finishing up to be
there, or the sea of peoplethat followed around on a Monday of a

(31:59):
practice round, and so you canimagine what today look like now. The
only person, honestly this week thatis kind of trump Tiger a little bit
was Rory McElroy when he showed upand definitely for his presser the other day,
only because first off, you know, Rory is that other guy in
the sport that like he truly movesthe needle. And also he's got you

(32:21):
know, he's got some things goingon kicking around with his personal life nowadays.
That that everybody you know, andit's weird. You know, so
so many other sports you know thatthat that doesn't even matter, but it
feels like golfers and like NFL quarterbacks, that stuff really matters. What what
happens outside of of the ropes areoff the plane. I've never thought about

(32:43):
that, but that's absolutely right.I've got an NBA player unless you know,
unless you're like a super superstar,Like that's something that you know,
people may know if they follow closely. But yeah, golferga, you think
it's because on the golf side thatit's just it's an individual thing to where
you know, you're not part ofan eight man team, it's just you
and if you are, I mean, as you mentioned, Roy Rory is
a star. But yeah, weactually talked about that on the show the
other day, Like there's a lotof things that come with being famous that

(33:06):
are beneficial that you know, youyou probably enjoy that someone that's not famous
wouldn't. And there's obviously some constoo, but like your divorce being a
big part of the cop I justthat feels gross to me. I don't.
I mean, I'm sure they they'renot surprised, meaning celebrities of that
status have their personal life stuff becomepublic, But I don't know. That's
there's a level of the TMC stuffthat I'm just like, man, that's
I would I would hate to bethat person. Yeah no, no,

(33:30):
no, no, I mean,and that's why it is so different.
But in golf, it's that individualthing and everybody kind of wants to know,
Hey, you know, if thingsaren't going well off the golf course,
how does that affect you on it? Because you know, in a
in a team sport, if thathappens, you've got other dudes that can
pick you up. In golf,you're solely the guy. You are solely

(33:52):
the person. Whether it's a whetherit's somebody on the on the PGA Tour,
plan in the Major Championship, LPGA, whatever, you are solely the
person. All right, one morefor you can't I know, heading into
the pg Championship, Scottie Scheffler hasjust been on fire, and today it
sounds like Xander Schoffley got off toa great star. What are some other
takeaways thus far? I know it'searly here to get this thing started,

(34:13):
but maybe some guys do you feellike have gotten off to a better stret
than you'd expected, or maybe somebodystruggling more than you would have expected.
Well, you know, look,I think you know when you look at
the leaderboard right now. You know, we just talked about Rory mcaway,
right, he's at five under parand he said after his round he just
felt like he scrapped it around,so he scrapped out at five under par.

(34:35):
Or Xander Schoffley is four shots aheadand didn't miss a shot. All
I'm saying is this, if ifRory gets hot, you know what's gonna
happen. What's gonna happen. Thenanother storyline that I find to be really
cool, to be honest with you, is Adam Hadwin, the former U
of L playing in the PG Championshiphere back in Louisville. He's currently tied

(34:57):
for tenth three under par. Andyou know, I talked to the other
day and we did an interview andhe said, look, I hope I've
got a few fans this week andthrew it and said, you know,
just straight up go cards. Ilove it, good stuff, can't I'll
let you get back at it andenjoy the beautiful Is it still beautiful weather
out there? I'm in a cavehere in the studio. I'm assuming it's
still sunshine out there. You know, it's a little cloudy there. There

(35:22):
was just a few sprinkles, butI think the rain is kind of held
off. But yeah, I knowtoday has been a picture perfect day.
Well, we'll let you get backat it and appreciate you making time for
us. Thanks Kent. Appreciate youman, Hey Broll, appreciate it all
right. That's Ken Spencer from wh AS eleven. Always good stuff there.
Kent's the best sor Ry quick break. We'll come back and wrap up
the four o'clock hour. Keep thisparty roll and it's coffee and company.

(35:43):
Feel about Thornton's right here on SportsTalk seven ninety so. I mentioned here
and there over the last few weeksthat it's always nice when you've got you
know, a lot of eyeballs onthe city of Louisville, and it's for
good things, right the Derby.You know, I feel like this year's
Derby with the epic finish and itjust felt like, you know, it

(36:04):
was once again another great event that'llhave more and more people coming back for
another time next year. And obviouslythe PGA Championship that doesn't happen that often.
But we just talked to Ken Spencer, who's live there on site at
Valhalla, and he says, youknow, we couldn't be doing better as
far as you know, a hostcity bringing a good atmosphere and a lot
of fans. But another story,I guess that has nothing to do with
sports, where I think it endedup being a good look for Louisville.

(36:28):
Was a scary situation. If youremember when the eighteen wheeler, the semi
truck was hanging off of the SecondStreet bridge, just the I mean,
it became instantly a global story justbecause of the optics. To see that,
I mean, it's like something yousee in a movie. And to
know that there were first responders thereas quick as they were and they pulled

(36:51):
the woman from the from the Imean, it's crazy. It's still wild
to look back and think that thathappened and it worked out to where she
was rescued, and Okay, wellit's now we now have the dashcam footage
for when the wreck happened, andI have a tough time watching it,

(37:13):
like it's one of the scariest thingsI've ever seen. And again I'm not
surprised that it's that. I mean, I mean again, imagine being the
woman driving the the eighteen wheeler andending up dangling from the bridge. I
mean, the fear that you wouldhave, I mean, it's just it's
crazy. So there was a driverof a of a I'm not sure what

(37:34):
kind of it was, a truck. It was a pickup truck that you
know, kind of caused this wholething, and they're being charged with I
don't know if it's I know oneof the charges is driving on a suspended
license or a revoked license. Butman, that is just absolutely crazy.
And this is the first time thatthe woman in the truck or you know,

(37:55):
the eighteen wheeler has has has talkedpublicly. So yeah, just a
just an absolutely just a miracle really. I mean it's a miracle that like
she was able to survive that andfirst responders, you know, saved your
life and she's she's healthy. Butyou know, I mean, I think

(38:16):
I would have just died like Iwould have. I would have just completely
I mean I would hope that i'dhave the ability to I just know my
anxiousness, in my anxiety like Iwould think. I mean, I think
I could just pass out of fearand shock that I'm in that I'm in
that in that situation. Have youseen it yet, John, Yeah,

(38:36):
I just watched it about two orthree times while you're isn't that crazy?
Man? That is I think,like you said, I don't know what
I would do. I'd like tothink that I would have the willpower to
to you know, get through somethinglike that. But you'll you would never
know unless you went through it.Oh yeah, and I wouldn't want to
know exactly. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, that's that's wild to

(38:58):
see. And I'm not sure whatlevel of life you know, trouble that
this this this. I think it'sa uh you think it's a man who
was driving that truck that again washas since been. I think I think
he's the Jeffersonville native. But Imean again, I don't I don't know
the specifics, so I don't wantto talk out of my rear end here
anymore than I typically do. Butlike, you know, if you are

(39:20):
some somebody who just maybe were drivingand didn't realize your license lapsed and it
was just an honest mistake to whereyou lost control of your vehicle and it
caused that, then you know,imagine knowing that and then seeing the fear
of that. I mean, itjust would be be terrible. But I
can't imagine being the car that sawthe semi get in front of them go
off the bridge. And you know, this is awful to say, but

(39:45):
like I think instincts for me andI guess it's not awful I just I
would have been trying to get offthat bridge as soon as I could because
seeing that, I mean, Iwould just just you know, I would
assume the bridge is just going tocollapse, even though it's not the case.
And they opened it back they openedit back up, not that you
know, not that long after thathappened, but like I would be thinking,
Okay, this is thing because Ialready have a fear anyway of bridges,

(40:06):
especially the Sherman Mitten Yeah, andI don't know why, but I
the Second Street bridge is small,I mean, and it's old. It's
honestly a surprise that more accidents don'thave it. But I'm less scared on
that bridge. And I don't knowwhy you can get I guess maybe you
have to go slower on it.Maybe, yeah, Like but but the

(40:28):
big why just how wide open theSherman Mitton bridges and how you know?
To me just doesn't seem like there'sa whole lot of like barriers, like
I don't know, I I have. I wouldn't say it's a phobia,
but I have a fear of ofof bridges, and that I mean,
I think most people would believe withoutknowing the story. Would think like that's

(40:52):
got to be photoshop right like thatthat that's that's just dangling from the from
from the from the bridge. It'scrazy, crazy stuff, all right.
We got to get to the topof the hour break here. We'll come
back with another hour to go.Finish strong here in the five o'clock hour.
Keep it locked with us. Coffeeand company. Feel but Thornton's on
Sports Talk seven to ninety