5.6: Love Your City - Hour 3

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Coffee.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
All right, five o'clock here on a Tuesday afternoon, it's
Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.
I don't know if this is going to be truly
a rapid fire type of segment, because you know, when
I think rapid fire, I think just you know, a
new topic every thirty seconds. We're not doing that. But
I'm on the clock here. I've got until five thirty

(00:38):
five where we hand it off to the Bats, So
I'm gonna get in as much as we can before
the other Nick takes over. That's Nick Current again. He's
the voice of the lovel Bats. They're set for a
Current and Company, Current Coffee Company. Everybody, I mean, we're all,
I mean we're all. We're all family here, right, So
just a couple Nicks, that's right, that's right. So I'll
start with just, I guess the big news the day,

(01:01):
just two days after winning the Kentucky Derby, we now
know that Sovereignty will not be a triple crown winner
because Sovereignty is not going to run in the Preakness.
And I started the show by sort of just referencing, like,
you know, it seems as if in every aspect. This
is the decision of the trainer, Billmont, and the ownership

(01:21):
trusting his decision, his judgment. And it's unfortunate because you know,
it's good for horse racing if there is at least
the belief that you can have a potential Triple Crown winner,
because it happens so rarely. Will now as we have
weeks that lead up to the Preakness, we know that
there's certainly no possibility because there's gonna be no Preakness

(01:41):
race for sovereignty. They're going to get prepared for the Belmont,
which will take place, as you know, in the third
leg of the Triple Crown here. So I mean, it's unfortunate,
but I keep hearing about horse racing and how it's
you know, it can't get out of its own way,
and it's a sport that is, you know, in the
eyes of some it's struggling. In fact, this is from

(02:04):
Eric Crawford over the weekend, and I'm not picking on
Eric at all. I'm just referencing, and again this is
what I do. I'm well aware of sort of where
I stand when it comes to my knowledge and horse
racing the sport. So I'm trusting people who I know
are in fact much more knowledgeable of it. But here's
what Eric said on This was Sunday, day after Derby.

(02:27):
Derby Day delivers NBC record seventy more seven million average
viewership and the peak was twenty one point eight million
that watched at racetime. And a sport that is struggling
what is fueling Derby's increasing appeal? So he mentions the
sport is struggling. And then today when the news broke
about Sovereignty not being available to run in the Preakness.

(02:50):
This is from Pat forty Kentucky, deby Winter. Sovereignty is
skipping the Preakness, according to a release from the company
that runs Peblical race Course and the Preakness. Last sentence
here was what stood out to me. Quote horse racing
is the king of self inflicted wounds? End quote. Is
the self inflicted wound based off of the schedule, meaning

(03:10):
there's not enough time between these these races? Or is
it just because because I highly doubt that Pat would
insinuate that, like the self inflicted wound is the decision
to keep the horse safe. I mean, I doubt, highly
doubt that's what he's inferring to But I'm just saying, like,
if horse racing would benefit from making a slight adjustments

(03:31):
to the schedule of these races, and there'd be more intrigued,
more interest to see if we could potentially get a
triple Crown winner, Like, why would you not do that?
To me, it seems like kind of a no brainer.
So it's a bummer, no doubt, But like it's one
of those things to me. And I'm well aware that
I'm out of my comfort zone here talking about horse
racing decisions that are made that I you know, I
wouldn't even begin to know the half of what goes

(03:52):
into those decisions. But just an outsider's perspective here, this
is a bummer. But who's at fault? If anything, it's
the schedule more than anything else. And I would assume that, like,
if they really felt like a change to that was needed,
they would have done it. But then again, horse racing
to me, has a little bit of the golf element
where it's just the purest it's just how it's always

(04:15):
been done and that's the way it's always going to be,
you know, I think that's why there was such a
I mean, I get there's another element to it that
I totally understand, but like the Live Golf Tour, Like
you remember how big of a deal that became, Like again,
some of it's understandable, but like it became a bigger
deal just because, like I think an element of like

(04:36):
snob right, Like you know, there's no competition for the PGA.
What are you talking about, like horse racing would what
would make any change to this schedule that's been in
place since you know, nineteen nineteen, which I'm sure it's
been even longer than that, because wasn't that the year
that was the first triple crown winner? I think is
what was was what Austin looked up a little bit earlier.
So that's the nineteen There you go. That's the news

(04:58):
that that came out today. No no shot at a
triple crown winner, which again is a bummer, but I'm
not really sure who is to blame for that. We
also talked about the college football Playoff because a decision,
well I guess a scheduling decision that was made by
Clemson and Notre Dame just got me thinking about there's
got to be like going into the playoff last year

(05:21):
and seeing how things played out, I think you would be.
I mean, I think a takeaway from some programs would be,
we don't really need to go out there and play
the toughest teams in the country, because if in fact,
we take care of business in the league that we're in,
we're gonna give ourselves a chance to get in because
we're gonna have a chance to win our conference and
get that automatic spot. Or if we're playing in the

(05:43):
conference championship game and we've done enough elsewhere, they're letting
twelve teams in, so we got a shot. Let's just
win as many games as we can, and you know,
and really just focus on taking advantage of the opportunities
against the big boys, like leave us little room for
a drop, and then just try to make sure we
can capitalize when you play in the big games that

(06:03):
can help you win your league. But I think what's
happening is that the ACC Clemson is the example here.
They're aware that the SEC is fighting for automatic bids,
four of them being for their league. And this, of
course is if it's an expanded playoff. And I think
it was fourteen or sixteen, I don't remember which number
it was, so and I think what Clemson's doing here

(06:25):
is that they realize, Look, we can't just beat up
on the ACC and expect to get in because we
don't get the benefit of the doubt. The SEC usually
does more often than not, and the Big Ten certainly
what over the ACC. I'm not even saying that that's
wrong because those leagues are better than the ACC. But
it shouldn't just be about your league being better. And again,
your league's value matters to you because it's the only

(06:46):
way to really judge how good you are. And you
know it shouldn't say it's the only way, but it's
the biggest way in how you're judged. But just the
thought of auto bids just I don't know why it
hasn't gone off like a light bulb in other people's head,
or you know, maybe a red flag. Maybe that's the
better way to describe it, because you have no clue

(07:08):
how any league or any team's gonna be any given year.
You just don't know. So if you're just gonna automatically
say the SEC and the Big Ten get four each,
what if those leagues fall apart. I don't think that
they will, that's not realistic, but like just knowing that
no matter what they get four, it totally defeats a
huge element of competition and you know, playing games and

(07:30):
winning and getting results that end up earning you a
spot there. So Clemson deciding the schedule Notre Dame and
for those who missed it, their schedule, I mean, this
is maybe this is now the new norm, but this
is a lengthy schedule. It's a twelve year series from
twenty twenty seven to two thousand and thirty eight. Notre
Dame is gonna play each other. You have to keep
in mind this was put on the schedule knowing that

(07:50):
in that twelve years, with the way the ACC and
Notre Dame have their partnership, you were gonna get Notre
Dame regardless at least a few of those years because
of just you know, pure numbers. So Clemson, I feel like,
is putting themselves in a position to where if the
ACC doesn't get better, or maybe it gets worse, we're
gonna always have Notre Dame. They look like they're not
going anywhere with Marcus Freeman and the non conference game

(08:12):
that now currently does give them a chance to you know,
add some value in the non conference portion. That's South
Carolina that game will probably go away because if the
SEC does go to nine, I mean, I think it's
clear they're gonna tell their league members, meaning Greg SANKI,
you don't need to go out and play somebody in
the non conference that that matters, because we're gonna play

(08:34):
each other, and you're gonna have nine of your twelve
games in the prestigious Southeastern Conference, and that just is
so much tougher than anything anybody else will do. That's
why there's real belief that Kentucky and Louisville will not
play if it goes to nine. I'm sure South Carolina,
I don't know. Beamer seems built a little different, but
you know, maybe they maybe the league, maybe maybe they

(08:54):
follow marching orders of of the of the league commissioner.
So I just you know, the college football playoff, it's
now become a realistic thing for so many programs that
are good. They can now realistically get there. When it's for,

(09:15):
it's much harder, and when it's for, you're much more
in need of getting some kind of a benefit of
the doubt and a break to go your way that
maybe you weren't expecting when there's twelve, fourteen or sixteen,
Like you can know you're not realistically a national championship contender,
but you can get to the playoff. And I believe
that has value to programs that will be remembered forever.

(09:38):
Like I think playoff appearances for certain programs like a
Louisville or a Kentucky in Indiana who just made one
like that will be viewed as it's the equivalent of
a Final four in football, and that matters. That has value,
and that's now made it to where there's so many
more teams that at least feel like they're they're in

(10:01):
the mix, and who knows, it's not like, let's let's
be real, if Louisville ends up in the next couple
of years in a situation where they're eleven and one,
then they're twelve and one because they won the ACC,
it might be a realistic thing that they're still a
long way away from, you know, knocking off a team
like a Georgia in the national championship or knocking off

(10:23):
a Ohio State something like that. But I but you know,
it'd be fun to get lost in that race to
the playoff, right and just think, who knows, man, we're
gonna line up and if we get them, we might
we might drop them. Like now you can at least
kind of live in that world with some level of
realism knowing that like, hey, you know, we're not We're

(10:44):
not McNee State, an FCS team that's just hoping to,
you know, pull off the biggest upset in the world
when we get that Payday game in September. So I
just there's gonna be changes made. That's why they've had
these College Football Playoff spring meetings. And the more I
hear about what's being proposed by the SEC when it
comes to auto bids and TV viewership being a part

(11:04):
of the criteria, it just makes me sick because I mean,
take away like the Louisville component of it, I'm not
coming you, I'm not coming to you from that. But
like if there's automatic slots just based on conference affiliation,
like you're just you're you're fully confirming something that I
kind of already know is happening, is that at the
top of college football, Greg Sanke his league and I

(11:25):
guess the Big Ten two they don't really care about results.
They just they know that they have big brands with
big reach, and they just just they want that to
matter more than what you do on the field, which
is just gross, if you know, if I'm being honest
with you. Also, we talked about the updated rankings from ESPN,
the college basketball rankings for next season. There's still some

(11:46):
pieces out there that could certainly help a team in
a big way if they were to land the available
players that are there, because there's still some good guys
out there, But I'd say the biggest moves have already
been made, and I'd say, honestly, the biggest change as
far as how a how a team is viewed right
like a team if a team makes a big drop
or a big jump, actually I guess the big jump.

(12:09):
To me, it seems kind of like, again, there's good players,
but I can't think of anybody that's left right now
that would drastically change how a team is it's expected
to do next season. I mean, PJ. Haggert, he's out there.
He's a really good guard in the portal, but I
feel like if he's going, if he's down to the
two teams everybody says he's down to going back to
Memphis or going to NC State, that'll help them, no doubt,

(12:32):
but not to the point where they would end up,
like being preseason top ten. I wouldn't think so. Anyways,
I'd say the biggest moves have kind of already taken place. Therefore,
there's updated rankings out there from Jeff Borzello and he
has Louisville at number seven in Kentucky at number eleven. Now,

(12:52):
real quick, this isn't something we talked about much today,
but it's certainly been a talking point the last couple
of weeks. James Scott's decision to enter the transfer portal.
I was pretty pretty direct, Like I was downright stunned initially,
just because I assume he'd be the last guy that
would ever look to leave, because I just assumed he'd
always want to play for Pat Kelsey given how close
they are. But he did decide to leave, and uh,

(13:15):
he may have. He may have learned the hard way
about the portal. Like you, you kind of run a
risk of, you know, maybe learning and realizing something that
you didn't didn't expect. And I only say this based
off the latest report, and that is that Auburn has
kind of backed off like yeah, we we you know,
we're good. And I don't know if it's because he's

(13:36):
asking for too much money. But apparently n C state
who those are the teams, by the way, that have
been just viewed as the most interested teams in James Scott,
because you got to give mind, there's a lot of
teams out there. They don't have room or money left
because the majority of their roster's already in place. So,
you know, James Scott hit the portal late and at
times that can help you. Right, if you've if you
if you've fit a specific like if you if you

(13:58):
hit the portal and you are the guy, the type
of guy that they missed out on twice elsewhere, you
may be able to get a bigger price tag because
they now are more desperate than ever and you've become available,
they could really fill that void. James is different. James
is not a guy that's going to score a lot
of points. He's he's you know again, I'm not gonna
knock him. You guys heard me gass him up when

(14:19):
he decided to leave, and I was the one, I
think in the minority claiming that this guy is lost
will actually be a bigger deal than people realize, not
because you just can't replace him, but like he did
some things that I think it's hard to go sell
a guy on the portal to do right. You want
to come here and play and not take a shot
unless you're dunking it and give us, you know, twenty
minutes and four fouls and you know, run, you know

(14:39):
rim run, and you know, just be a great energy guy.
I mean, that's not a terrible role. But like a
lot of guys in the portal are looking for a
bigger role, which is why they're leaving the school they
were at. So the latest is that there's waning interest
from Auburn and NC State. Apparently they did have a
big price tag that they you know, they could match
or they could meet for James. But now apparently they're

(15:01):
getting PJ. Haggerty from Memphis, which again we're talking about
a point guard in a center. But the money I
think that initially was going to be coming towards James
Scott if he took the offer, is now not there
to the same extent because they're having to dig deep
in those pockets to give p. J. Haggerty the point guard.
So I mean, I don't look at this as hey,

(15:22):
you should have realized how good you had it, because
that you know, I don't knock anybody for hitting the
portal and seeing what the value is, But like, you know,
would he want to come back to Louisville, Would Louisville
want to have him back? I mean, no clue if
that's even like an option. But if he didn't get

(15:43):
the money or the role that he thought he might
get from somebody in the portal, and he decided his
best option was come back to come back to Louisville.
Who says no? Like who says no? Because there's not
anybody out there right now that you feel like you're
going to replace him with. That's like a net positive.
And I know some people are saying Bobby Miller, who,

(16:04):
by the way, is available still, but I just I
feel like I don't. I don't know, I've no clue
about which way he's leaning, but I feel like he
would look at Louisville's current put it this way, reasons
James Scott probably decided to leave role and money, Like
I don't know if Boba Miller would get like I
think he would be hesitant to go to Louisville because

(16:27):
he also wouldn't be walking into the role and maybe
the same kind of money that he would get elsewhere,
because again, Louisville's already pretty set in the front court.
So we'll see what happens. But yeah, it looks as
if the two schools that were believed to be the
likely leaders now are no longer really as I shouldn't
say they're not as interested, because I don't know that
for certain, but like he's not a priority to them,

(16:48):
maybe the way he was initially, and maybe it's because
they realize good at like good kid, good like he's
a guy we'd like to have. But if he wants
that kind of money, he's he's he's not justified in
asking for that kind of price because that's not who
he is as a player. And it's it's just my

(17:08):
curiosity because I love James Scott and I'm bummed that
he moved on push the best for him, but I
would love to know what ultimately led to him like
deciding all right, I'm going to hit the portal and
test the waters because sometimes timing is just too there's
no Sometimes timing is telling and it's not a coincidence.
So therefore, like maybe he did hear that prior was

(17:30):
coming back and he decided nope, I'm out, But like,
didn't everybody think Prior was coming back because it was
the day after that Pryor announced it that he that
we found out that James did into the portal. So
all right, real quick, and by the way, do we
have are we do we need to? Like? Should we
can we take this up until we hand it off you? Yes?
Okay to sell your textion Starry till the twenty three okay? Perfect?

(17:51):
All right, so real quick. I mentioned this yesterday. Cities
that are kind of like Louisville in this way they
embrace an event that they're known for, because I think
that's what we do with the Derby. And I was
kind of blanking on some of them and a few
people texted in and I thought had some had some
good uh, had some good responses. One of some good

(18:14):
recommend you mentioned Daytona, right, and that's a great one. Yes,
I didn't realize this, and this like this city is
known for more than this, but I totally understand it.
One is that like Boston is like a it's like
a holiday in Boston when they have the Boston Marathon.
Sure I would have never got that, I would ever
thought about that, but like it makes total sense because
you know it's it's it's I mean, our horse race

(18:36):
is the prestigious one, right, their marathon is the prestigious rise.
So like it makes makes total sense horses humans running. Yeah.
So and then another one was we talked about Omaha
with the Little League World Series and then uh, a
big one that I can't believe I blanked on because
at times they compare themselves to us for their event

(18:58):
and act like it's the same thing. And that's Indianapolis
for the NDY five hundred. Yeah, like it's I mean,
I know it, it's got its own like like clearly
there are people across the planet that love that kind
of racing that will come because it's the freaking DY
five hundred, But I don't mean does it do the
same level of viewers. I mean, like I know, here
we are just knowing how big the Derby is, assuming

(19:20):
there's no chance that like people tune in for the
NDY five hundred like they do. I mean, first of all,
the N five hundred it's not a two minute race
like the Derby is. But yeah, like I I completely
blanked on that. And again I'm not saying it's I
don't think the two are comparable as far as like
interest in overall viewership. But I could be totally wrong,
but no doubt Indy embraces that they have that. It's

(19:40):
every like you go to our airport at at Muhammad
Ali Airport, like there's a ton of stuff that lets
you know you are in the home of the Kentucky Derby.
Same exact thing at Indy, Like they embrace that in
a big way. But I was thinking when it comes
to college events, like the NCAA rotates everything, right, and
the in the conference tournaments rotate quite a bit too,

(20:02):
so it's hard for a college Like the one that
came up when I was just doing some digging was
the Rose Bowl. Sure, and that has history, but you know,
like I don't think that event specifically is like, oh man,
we got to stop what we're doing. The Rose Bowls
about to take place, the Bowl parade and stuff like that.
What about another one? I just kind of thought of,
Marty Gross, Yeah, but that's not sports, right, Well, yeah,

(20:26):
I guess you're right. I mean, that's I guess it's
just more or less diving outside the No. No, but
that and that's the perfect one because who can claim
that they have something that is so specifically connected to
their city, like Marty Grass, like New Orleans, right, Like
I mean, I know, I mean, and and yesterday when

(20:47):
I got back to the text line, I was like, yeah,
you know what, I should have definitely definitely thought about
that one because it's an obvious one. And I did
a little quick chat GPT search here and the first
one that comes up Austin, New Orleans and already grow.
Oh wow, so you were onto something. Ndy five hundred
with Indianapolis comes up here. The Derby is also on
the list. So we were in the same I mean,

(21:09):
according to Chad GPT, we were in the same Oh
this is this is music film. But I do know
it's a big deal Austin with the Southwest Southwest events.
That's true, that's a big yes. There you go. All right,
we're out of time. The voice of the Louisville Bats
coming up next. That's Nick Current Bats action on It's
It's now right here on Sports Talk seven ninety