7.17: Break the Record - Hour 3

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.We're actually in I think the busiest part

(00:35):
of the NBA Summer League, becauseyou've got the Vegas League, which every
team participates in the league that wasin Salt Lake City, and I feel
like there's another another city that's hostingSummer league games in the NBA, and
you know, it's not something manypeople really care about. Obviously, Brownie
James has been the most talked aboutplayer in the Summer League, I feel

(00:57):
like, and certainly it's been thebiggest storyline and we all saw it coming,
and even though it's continued to betalked about nationally, I think a
lot of folks, myself included,have some fatigue over the Ronnie James stuff
because you know, it's pretty clearwhat's going on here, and you know,
every time he goes out there andcontinues to look as if he's not
as good as anybody else out thereand he's just not an NBA caliber player,

(01:19):
I mean, the shock value wearsoff every time. In fact,
there may not have ever been anyshock value. The shock would have been
if he went out there and lookedlike he belonged, And unfortunately for him,
he just hasn't done that. Imean, he's putting up numbers and
looking like a guy that ends upjust being one of the last dudes that
gets a spot on an NBA SummerLeague team that you know rarely gets a
whole lot of run. So,you know, I get it, nobody

(01:44):
really cares about the summer League.But I mean, what is worthy of
a little more attention than it's getting, at least from what I can gather,
is the number two pick overall,Alex Sar who last night in the
Summer League had quite literally one ofthe worst performances as you'll ever see as
far as a stat line. Imean, have you seen this yet,

(02:04):
John, I haven't. This guyplayed a total of thirty minutes last night.
Again, he was the number twopick overall. Zero points, oh
for fifteen from the field, ohfor seven from three, oh from two
from the free throw line, threeturnovers and five ouls. That was his
stat line. And he's the secondpick in the draft. And again it's

(02:25):
not getting a ton of attention becauseit you know, this is somebody that
was the number two pick and nobodyreally knew who he was, right like,
those two guys, and I've alreadyforgot the name of the first guy.
His name it's a little it islike zach something, yeah, Zachary
Richie or something something like that.And it's not because they're you know,

(02:47):
they're terrible players. It's just becausethey're not They're not anybody that the Basketball
aheads were that familiar with. Imean, I think we knew there was
a chance that these two guys couldbe, you know, picked pretty high,
and the draft is believed to bevery long. But you know,
even in like if you look atAlex Saar's stats in Perth, Australia last

(03:07):
year in the NBL, I mean, he averaged non points a game.
I mean, so to expect himto be a non point a game guy
and right away be a really successfulNBA players a little and realistic. And
there have been guys that you know, don't have a great stat line leaving
a European or a professional cunt,you know, leaving a pro team across
the Pond or somewhere else, oreven the G League for that matter,

(03:28):
that once they end up getting tothe NBA, it does take a little
time and they eventually become really good, and that may happen with these guys,
but you know, there there weresome guys that can't think of the
guy for Kansas, what is hisname? Goodness, gracious, he was
in the league not even that longago. Might be Devonte Graham or maybe
Frank Mason. A former Kansas guardplayed against one of these guys, either

(03:51):
Risa Schet or if I'm saying hisname right, or Sar and you know,
came out and said, look,if that guy's got the upside of
the number one, number two pickin the NBA draft, the NBA's in
trouble. And I don't Again,there have been plenty of performances of Summer
League that seemed phenomenal and it endedup meaning nothing. And there's been performances
where it looked concerning as if theguy may be a bust and it doesn't

(04:12):
mean anything. You just never know. In fact, Victor um Mignyama,
I mean last year his first SummerLeague game, everybody was watching, there
was so much hype, and Ituned in to watch it live. He
looked like he didn't belong on thefloor with everybody else. He looked completely
uncomfortable with any physicality, couldn't finish, just looked, I mean again,
And there's the reminder that he's eighteenyears old, and it's pretty normal for
a guy to be a little bit, you know, deer in the headlights,

(04:34):
a little overwhelmed, even if itis the summer League. So I
don't want to claim that this guyis going to be a bum. But
man, a not a good showingfor a guy who was just drafted with
the second overall pick. Because usuallyguys that are you know, picked that
high, they're gonna play a goodamount of minutes. But you know,
it's not I think there are oftentimeseither just smart enough to know this or

(04:55):
they're encouraged to do this, andthat's just to not try to take over,
right like, you know, whatgame come to you. It's an
old cliche, but it's a clichefor a reason. If you're picked that
high, you're gonna have eyeballs onyou and everybody's gonna expect you to come
out there and you know, putup forty shots in a game, and
that's just you know, that's probablynot the right way to go about it.
But to see that he played thirtyminutes and missed all fifteen of his
shots. I mean, goodness,gracious, that's not a not a good

(05:18):
look, not a good look atall. All right, it's I say,
let's get it started. We're sevenminutes into the five o'clock hours,
so we're a little late coming backbecause you know, my clock management once
again was not good today and I'lltry to do better. But it is
the five o'clock hour and you arelistening to Coffee and Company fuel by Thornton's.
Make sure you sign up to becomea member of the Thornton's Refreshman Awards

(05:38):
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All right, so we've been we'vebeen pretty busy throughout the first couple of
hours here once again, I've doneit each hour. Why not do it

(06:20):
here again. I'm encouraging. I'mnot demanding, but I'm encouraging you to
go buy tickets to the TBT gamecoming up on Saturday at one o'clock if
you haven't yet, they, Ibelieve are close to breaking the record.
I mean, maybe that's maybe I'mgetting a little bit ahead of myself,
but all I can do is baseit off of what tickets you can see
are available. So earlier today itwas announced that all tickets in the one

(06:44):
hundred and two hundred levels at theat Freedom Hall have been are sold out.
So the lower bowl at Freedom Hallcompletely sold out. That's approximately forty
five hundred I think. So youcan now get tickets in the sections that
they have opened in the three hundreds, which is the upper area, and
they don't have the entire place stagedas if you're going to you know,
potentially have a full crowd because they'renot going to have that. But they've
got what looks to be like tensections up there in the three hundreds that

(07:09):
you can purchase tickets in, andif you double click on each section,
it'll show you which seats are availablein each of those sections. And just
by the view that I'm looking at, I feel like they've got to be
close to, you know, maybesix thousand. I mean, maybe I'm
you know, maybe maybe my roughestimate is way off. But again,
forty five hundred is the lower bowl, and if you look at the entire

(07:30):
availability that's upstairs or at upstairs,at the at the upper level, you
know, I'd be a lot tosay that there's not many tickets left.
But you know, the sections thatare in the middle of the upper level,
I mean, the majority of thoseare gone. Now you get a
little bit to the left and theright, where you don't have as good
of a view, there's more available, but still even some of those are
gone. And by the way,they don't have like if you're if you're

(07:51):
getting a ticket, if you like, if you're turned off by the idea
of going, because you now knowyou can only get a ticket in the
upper level they don't have. They'renot even opening the section that don't have
like the view from you know,center court. Now again you'll have some
that's closer to one goal and youhave the others that are closer to the
other side. But like you,you won't be in a seat where you're

(08:13):
sitting like directly behind with a terribleview. So I'm hoping they can break
the record again. The record isseven two, d and two and they
were not far from it last year, and I think there's even more anticipation
for it this year. One becausethis team is going to be really good
again. I think they could beeven better. And also I think last
year there were people that didn't gobecause they didn't really know. They didn't

(08:33):
know what it was, they didn'tknow what to expect. They just,
you know, it's like, yeah, okay, I'll watch it on TV
if it's on ESPN Plus, butyou know, I'm not. Yeah,
you know, they just didn't makeit a priority because it's not normal to
go watch Louisville basketball in July.But here we are. And I think
those who went last year, Ican't imagine there's anybody that took in the
experience at Freedom Hall and didn't enjoyit. I mean it was, it
was awesome, and I expect it'llbe the exact same thing coming up on

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Saturday. So tip offs at oneo'clock and it'll be on five. So
if you can't make it, youcan watch it on Fox, not FS
one, not FS two, noton some stream like the actual Fox channel.
WDRB here locally will have this gamelive. So these guys, I
mean, to be honest with you, outside of outside of Tres, I

(09:16):
mean, I know Peyton played inthe league for a little while, Russ
as well, Nanu played for Ithink a couple of years, so some
of these guys spent some time inthe NBA. But like they'll be on,
they'll be watched. They'll be playingin front of a live audience and
a television audience that's as big asthey've played in front of since they played
at Louisville. And I say playbecause obviously Tres is different by the way,

(09:41):
Trees played in playoff games and wasa part of some really good teams,
So Tres is the outlier. Butlike Nanhu, he never played big
minutes when he was with the Rocketswhen they were in a big Game,
Like, I don't even think hespent much time there. I think he
spent most of it in the GLeague. Peyton, you know, he
was with the Pistons when they wereterrible, and he did get some run
in his first couple of seasons,but I don't think those games were you
know, highly watched. And Iknow that, like nationally, the TBT

(10:01):
is not going to be an appointmentviewing thing for some people. However,
it is on Fox, and that'sjust one of those stations that like people
leave on because it's it's a nationalnetwork. So I'm curious if there'll be
some nerves for these guys. Thismay be a dumb question, but is
there betting for this? Can youbet on the tvt That's a great question.

(10:22):
I don't know. I haven't lookedat it. I'm going to be
really tough to predict spreads. Partof me, part of me, feels
like I bet on it last year, But maybe I'm just dreaming that.
But yeah, that that'll make iteven more fun, like player props and
stuff that could be. That couldbe a lot of fun. Hey,
I want to quickly give a shoutout to the Indiana team John because I

(10:43):
didn't realize it. They put togethera really good group, they did,
and they also have a lot ofyouth. So Yogi Ferrell, which I
wouldn't consider him on the place six. Yeah, but I mean, you
know, he's still a good player. Miller Cop played what just a couple
of years ago ago. Devonte Greenhe's the only name I don't recognize.
He's from the Archie Miller era.Okay, don't recognize him at all.
And then Troy Williams. That's aguy who played during that Tom Crean era

(11:05):
when they had some good teams UKin the round of thirty two with him,
Jordan Holes, he was a partof that twenty thirteen team that had
a number one seed. Jowan Morganwas drafted and played in the NBA briefly.
Race Thompson played recently. Is heon last year's team? Yes or
not? Not this past season,but before Oka, same with Miller Cop
and then no of von Lee.He played in the league for a while

(11:26):
and most recently was playing in inChina and one of the more forgotten players
from recent history. That he wasa big get for Tom Crean. But
that team was terrible. Yeah,they were really bad. Julian Gamble.
Don't know that name, do you? He's not an Okay, yeah,
because just like Louisville, there's guysthat aren't. Like Christian Doolittle, I
don't is that a name? Yeah, I think he might. There's a

(11:46):
couple. There's a guy from Miamion there. Okay, there's a guy
from I think Hornsberry is a shooterwho played at LSU. Okay, and
I feel like he's on the olderside, but if he can shoot it
like he did in college, he'llbe a good asset. So it is
fun to look at these teams.And I mean again, like the Yukon
team, Ryan Boatwright, DeAndre Daniels, Jeff Adrian, Jerome Dyson, Rodney

(12:11):
Purvis, Elijah tom I mean,these are like this is nostalgic in a
different way because like it's not asif I'm thinking, oh my god,
I can't wait to watch, youknow, the Kansas team that has Thomas
Robinson and Silvio Desusa, Frank Mason, Kevin Young, Billy Preston, Brandon
Rush, Ben Macklamore, Like,you know, I don't care about those
guys, but you know, itis wild to think that you're watching a

(12:35):
bunch of guys you're at least familiarwith that you know, you watched play
in hell, your team played againstthem. I'm sure. So, I
mean, Duke has a team,I think, or you know, never
mind, Duke, Duke's got acouple of guys. There's a lot of
teams out there that aren't that aren'tmade up of you know, ninety percent
one school and honestly, those areusually the teams that are pretty good.

(12:56):
You know, they usually end uphaving a lot of success because sometimes you
can you can just go with abunch of dudes that you played with,
but like you could know that,hey, we could probably go get dudes
who nobody's ever heard of that justput up you know, twenty a game
in Europe last year. But youknow, there's a lot that goes into
this, and that's getting you're morelikely to get sponsors, corporate sponsors locally
to support you if it's mostly madeup of guys they're familiar with, if

(13:20):
they watched play. It's just kindof how it works, and you need
that because if not, you know, you won't be able to have a
team because again, it's not justlike these guys aren't getting paid to,
you know, go out there andplay, you know, a certain amount
of minutes. They're they're but they'rethey're being taken care of to be a
part of set event, if thatmakes sense. And I think there are
some like gms and investors that doin fact help fund it. Like if

(13:43):
you don't have put it this way, if you don't have the corporate sponsors
that u L has. I'm prettysure Planet Fitness is one for their TVT
team. There's also a waste Ithink it's called Wasteology that is a sponsor
once again this year for the secondtime. So like if you're a team
that doesn't have that, you probablyhave somebody that it invested money to fund
hotels and you know, meals forthese guys while they are there and while

(14:05):
they're training to get ready for thegames. And I'd say those investors probably
have a little bit of a buyin as well that where if they end
up winning, you get not onlya return of what you paid, but
get you get a little piece ofthe pie as well. So I'm fascinated
by it. I've always felt likeit was something that was more of like
a niche like basketball. I mean, I sometimes will you know, on

(14:26):
NBA TV, they'll occasionally they'll occasionallyshow games from professional leagues overseas, and
I'll watch that just because I likebasketball and it's always cool to see dudes.
So you forgot about that are stillplaying at a high level overseas.
So again that's more of a nichething. But I think now that we
have Louisville with a team for thesecond year, Kentucky has a team,
Like I've said it since last year, this should be our thing. Like
Louisville and Kentucky every year could havereally good teams based off the dudes who

(14:50):
play there, and they should havecrowds that really nobody else can match,
because we would care about this morethan most. So again that's why I've
been throughout the last couple weeks andespecially today just encouraging people to go go
buy tickets. I mean, ifyou can only make it to one game,
make it to the first game,because you know, I'd see that's
the best chance to get a hugecrowd Saturday at one o'clock in the afternoon,

(15:13):
and no better way to get itstarted and to really establish some momentum
by knowing that you you know,hopefully you get win. Of course the
Spellerman team, they may have somethingto say about it. But to know
that you open the doors of FreedomHall for the first day of your playing
and you broke the record, Imean that would be I mean, there's
no better way to start it,of course, unless you know you lose,
which hopefully that hopefully that doesn't happen. Real quick, last thing on
the tv TA and then we'll moveon. They are having an autograph session

(15:37):
tomorrow from six to seven thirty,and that'll be at the popular level Planet
Fitness that's next to Kroger. Sofrom six to seven thirty, the guys
will be there signing autographs. Soyou know, if you got a little
one who ended up idolizing Russ andPeyton and Shane and those guys, and
you know, maybe even Nan whoor even Rees Gaines who's coaching this team,

(15:58):
you know you can you can goout and get an autograph. And
I'm sure there are countless pieces ofmemorabilia across the city of Louislle that are
in basements of Louisville fans, pictures, plaques, you know, maybe a
jersey, just something that you purchasedto kind of remind you every time you
walk in your man cave that Louisvillewon a national championship in twenty thirteen,

(16:18):
will go get some of that stuffsigned? I mean, I think that
would mean that would I don't meanthat would clearly make it a little more
valuable, which, by the way, that reminds me. I do want
to get to something about the priceof autographs and pictures with athletes, because
Darren Rivell, although he is adork, he does put out some informative
stuff at times that I think isinteresting. So I want to get to

(16:40):
that later. I would have neverthought of it, but telling you guys
to go get autographs reminded me ofsomething he posted earlier that I want to
get to before we run out oftime. But anyways, let's quickly get
back to Let's get back to thethe hot seat rankings we talked about earlier.
So there's no coach in this areathat is on the hot seat or
even close to it. We talkedabout that in the four o'clock hour.
Jeff, I mean, I can'teven see a scenario where he'd ever be

(17:02):
on the hot seat. Same thingwith Mark Stoops. More so, just
because even if they do struggle evenif they do, you know, just
kind of plateau, and you know, their best days with Stoops are in
the rear view, and now thatTexas and Oklahoma are in the league,
they just become a consistent six andsix team. I think Kentucky fans would
understandably be frustrated, and they wouldwant to aim higher. They would have

(17:25):
proof that they, you know,have been better than that. But the
actual like the actual heat to bethere to fire Mark Stoops is just something
that is that as of now Ican't see happening. I think he'll be
the coach there until he doesn't wantto be the coach there anymore. And
honestly, given where Kentucky was beforehe got there, it's probably justified.

(17:45):
So we didn't bring up the hotseat stuff because of you know, anything
locally. However, it just remindedme that this this new world. I
mean, we already are in anew world with nil and the portal being
in place for at least the lastfew years, but it's going to be
an even different mess whenever you havethe colleges these having to pay the players

(18:07):
directly, I mean, and bythe way, that's not going to as
we've discussed. That's not going toeliminate nil. But if you are,
you know, I mean, ifyou want to compete and you want to
be good in sports at the highlevel of college athletics, you will You're
going to need to make sure youhave twenty million to twenty two million dollars
available for you to pay student athletes. I mean, that's what you're going

(18:27):
to have to do, and that'snot easy to do. Nobody just has
that sitting around. I think theonly school that has come out and acted
like it's going to be no problemis Ohio State. But everybody else they
got to find ways to cut costs. They got to find new revenue streams,
Like it is Superman. It's alwaysimportant when it comes to finances.
But you know, there's clearly goingto be some sacrifices made, and I

(18:48):
think one of those sacrifices is allowingcoaches to ride out their contract even if
you know they stink, and youknow, maybe you'll have a little bit
more belief in the fact that theycould have success because you know, you
know your school can't pay an eightmillion dollar buyout. I also think it'll
change moving forward, like I thinkthese coaches will not get the same deals

(19:10):
they used to get because you know, it's just reckless. However, since
then, there's been at least twoPower five coaches that got unnecessary extensions and
raises with for no reason. Andagain I thought, because you and here's
here's what blows my mind. Guyshave been getting raises and extensions for no

(19:30):
real reason forever. Like that's notnew to college athletics at all. But
I felt like, you know,that would that would come to an end
now that you know you're going toreally be scrambling for money, and it
just you know it, Like Ithink Oklahoma's coach who did have a better
year last year than his first year, Brett Vennables, he's been there two

(19:52):
three years. I think this isgoing to be his third year. But
like he got an extension. Ibelieve it was not that long ago.
And again it's just like not youknow, like why, like who's gonna
go? Like the way these agentscan basically put a ski mask on and
go rob athletic directors is a talent. It's a gift, because who's going
to hire the coach? Like,like why do you have to get it

(20:14):
just because you just because your client, the coach, wants more money.
Like I'd love to be a flyon the wall and some of these negotiations
because I'm sure they want to putfear in you if you are, if
you're an athletic director right, theagent's going to tell you, oh,
you better, you better make itright, or all the recruits are gonna
not commit because they because they theydon't believe that the coach is going to

(20:36):
stick around. Why would they notbelieve that? I mean, just because
they're not getting a new extension doesn'tmean that they're going to be up and
gone, especially if they're successful,and who's going to like For like Scott
Saderfield when he left Louisville, JoshJosh Heard clearly played a game of chess
effectively with him because Sat wanted anextension, he wanted more money, He
wanted more money for his coaching staff, and it just wasn't warranted. He

(21:00):
wasn't gonna get fired, he wasn'teven on the hot seat. But they
weren't going to give. They stillwanted to see more, and I say
they, I guess I mean JoshHurd, he wanted to see more before
he reinvested in Sat and kept himaround long term, and you know,
would be on the like if yougive him, if you give him an
extension after that season, and hecomes out and wins three games the next
year, two games the next youstill, I mean, you would have

(21:22):
been wrong in your investment and youwould have been on the hook for even
more money. I'm sure. SoSat was told no, and his agent
was effective in going and you know, completely ransacking Cincinnati and convincing Cincinnati that
this is the guy they needed tohire. And I'll never forget I did
like three radio hits that day.One of the Cincinnati shows played my reaction

(21:45):
to Sadderfield leaving on the show becauseit was like I was like an out
of body experience. I couldn't believeit happened. So, you know,
like nobody that I talked to couldactually come up with any reason as to
why he made sin. The onlything he brought up, the only thing
they brought up was the fact thathe has taken another school, like they
were transitioning to the Big twelve,and he helped transition app State to FBS

(22:11):
from FCS. Like that's other thanthat is resume Louisville wasn't good. It
wasn't good at all. So Iactually saw this list because of a Cincinnati
Beat writer that I that I thatI follow, had penned an article basically
acting like, well, you knowwhat, maybe Sadderfield will work out long
term because you know, Fickle lefthim a bad roster that he inherited.

(22:33):
And then they just mentioned that ifthey fire him after the next year,
if he goes three to nine againor four and eight and they want to
get rid of him, it's eightmillion dollars. If they want to do
it the next year, it's fourmillion dollars. And you just can't make
that kind of expense. You can'tjustify that kind of expense when you have,
you know, twenty two million dollarsyou got to come up with annually
that you didn't have to produce.I see no scenario. Sadderfield is like

(22:57):
a successful coach at Cincinnati to wherelike they're competitive at the top of the
Big twelve. Maybe I'm wrong,All right, quick break, We'll come
back on the other side. Keepthis thing rolling along. Believe it or
not. One of the wildest storiesin sports right now is probably something you've
not heard anything about, but it'sa wild situation going on with the Arena
Football League, which, yes,if you didn't know it still exists,
at least you know for now itdoes. You may not know it,

(23:19):
but the Arena Football League is stillaround. They had a hiatus, I
believe after a great I mean,they used to be relatively popular. I
mean, Louisville had a team,the Louisville Fire AF two that was like
the minor league of the AFL ifyou remember, Jeff Brown was their coach,
which was kind of wild, butso many years ago. But yeah,

(23:42):
they had their developmental league from twothousand and two thousand and nine,
which is when, of course,the louis of Fire played at Freedom Hall.
So I don't really know when itbecame just, you know, a
sport that nobody really talked about.But they're alive as of right now.
But they've got an unbelievable situation currentlygoing on with the championship game, the
Arena Bowl, which again is theirsuper Bowl. So so the Arena Bawl

(24:03):
is slated for Friday night at theMall, which is next to Yeah,
by the way, I love anarena football game at a mall is just
so fitting. But it's next toMetLife Stadium, and the AFL CEO was
voted out today and he's barred fromre entering the United States, and now
the mall is refusing to host theirchampionship game. So Chris Chetty is the

(24:29):
former CEO chairman of the Arena FootballLeague and he was voted out unanimously by
the eight team owners earlier today dueto financial fraud allegations. Apparently he stole
over one hundred thousand dollars from theleague. Actually he says here he stole
over one hundred thousand dollars from anemployee's credit card, leading the AFL officials

(24:52):
to step in and address the situation. And now it's left him in a
tough spot. So it's not justthe the fact that he stole money from
an employee's credit card. I guesshe's also mismanaged funds as the CEO,
and they're now in debt to AmericanDream Entertainment retail Center, which I guess

(25:14):
is what that mall is. Sothey're not gonna host it anymore of their
own money, and they don't andthey don't have it, so right now
they're scrambling to try to get anotheranother spot to play this championship game,
the Arena Bowl. Possible locations areapparently Albany, New York, or Billings,
Montana, or Nashville, but youknow, the dates aren't locked in,

(25:37):
so like, they may play thegame on Friday in Albany, they
may play it in Billings down theline, or they may play it next
next Saturday in Nashville if they can't. So it's been a tumultuous situation for
the AFL for quite some time,which is probably why you haven't heard much
about it, but it is stillit does still exist. You know,
this level is the level of professionalarena football that you can, at least

(26:00):
you used to be able to makea decent living. You're not making,
you know, millions of dollars likethe guys in the NFL are, But
I mean it used to be agood secondary option for guys, you know,
at the actual AFL level, notthe af two. And you know,
now I don't know if that's thecase, but yeah, they've had
a lot of different unstable ownership,not only within the league but within the

(26:22):
teams that are in the league.And now is they're about to wrap up
a season, it may not actuallyend up happening and they may not exist
anymore. So yeah, so fromthey reorganized in twenty eighteen nineteen, it
was before the pandemic because they fileda second bankruptcy, and they relaunched in
twenty twenty three, which is thisis now their second season, and yeah,

(26:48):
they're struggling. Which one thing I'venever really understood is is why.
And I'm not a businessman. I'venever owned a business, and you know,
I'm not somebody that knows the truepotential in certain industries. But I
feel like every semi pro sport inAmerica, like arena football, even like

(27:15):
a the USL here in Louisville,Yeah, soccer, Yeah, but I
mean but they I mean they makemoney. I mean they're good, right,
Like I don't I don't know thefinancial situation you're talking about Louisville City.
Yeah, they're in the second tier. Yeah, but that to me,
so that's that's still like is thatsemi pro? Like I'm being honest,
like, I know it's not.I mean, I think that is
truly professional. It's just not theprofessional. It's not the highest one.

(27:38):
That's how most people look at liketo me, to me, if you
like there was a Louisville team thatwas an arena team that somehow got a
lease with the Young Center right afterCOVID, So I can't think of what
they called it. And they theylasted like two three games and folded and
know what, everybody money like itwas a complete but and and I'm thinking
to myself like, like I couldhave told you that that was gonna happen,

(28:02):
Like there's just not enough money tobe made. It's it's it's a
it. You're not gonna make money, you're gonna lose money, and eventually
it's going to go under. Andthere's so many examples of it. I
just I don't know. Maybe somepeople have a different plan in mind to
where they think they could make itwork. But anytime I hear of a
of a semi pro soccer, semipro football, which is usually arena football,

(28:22):
or even basketball, because there arelike a Koya gal I love Akoi,
but he he launched a Kentucky Ithink it was the Distillers team,
which was a semi pro basketball team. They had tryouts, they were in
some kind of league, and youknow, I don't know if they're still
around. I don't think they are. But last I heard they you know,
they they owed a lot of peoplemoney because again they're not they're not
making any money. Yeah, somaybe someday somebody will be able to,

(28:48):
uh, you know, make itsuccessful. But I think there's been enough
failed situations. I'm not just talkingabout anything a little, but just all
over the place to where like it'sjust hard to If you're doing it for
fun, that's one thing. Butif you've got you know, people,
you owe money too, because they'reeven if you're not playing your if you're
not paying your players much money atall, but you'd be you got to
you got to pay for a placeto play, You got to play league

(29:11):
league fees, as far as tobe in whatever league you're in. Like,
it's just it's really really hard tomake that a profitable thing, and
more often than not it ends upin these things folding and owing people money
and it and it's a big losswhoever invested to try to, you know,
to try to make it happen.All right, Uh, this text

(29:32):
is funny. It came in earlierin the show. We were talking about
the NCAA UH college football game thathas been easily one of the biggest things
going right. I mean, Idon't even know how to describe it because
it's weird. It's is it fairto call it a sports story, like
it's a story, it's a sportsstory. Yeah, but it but it's
just not real, you know whatI mean? Yeah, but it pertains

(29:52):
to sports, and it's kind ofbecome a phenomenon, at least for the
last week. Yeah. But thisperson texted in earlier and said that he
was playing last night when he gotoff of work, and he ended up
with a bummer of a first season, and he missed a field goal that
would have that would have had himgoing to a bowl game. And he
ended up, you know, goingeating dinner with his wife and he was
sad, and she asked what waswrong, and he told her that it

(30:15):
was because you know, he's hada rough season, and he said before
she could say anything, I quicklyrealized I need to not take it so
personal that it's not real. Andwith how realistic this game apparently is,
like I think it can be hardat times to not take it serious and
personal because you know, there's somany components to this that like it is
real. I need to find afriend who has it and just play a
game and see how how it feelscompared to how it used to be.

(30:37):
So just playing a regular game,like if you do. Because when I
play video games, it wasn't allabout let's go start a dynasty like it
was like, Hey, I'm gonnapick this team and I'm gonna pick that
team as the opponent, and I'mgonna knock a game out before I go
to school or when I get homefrom school, and that, you know,
I'm sure game, the actual gameplayitself, I mean, that is
the game. It's fun. Butto me, I've heard way more about

(31:00):
everything else than that. I've heardabout the you know, the Road to
Glory mode and Transfer portal, andit's more of an immersive experience, yes,
than just a traditional video That's That'sthe best way to describe it.
Couldn't have said it better. ButI mean I'd like to play it.
I mean, I don't, youknow, I don't know of a situation
where I ever will play it.But like I had two buddies of mine,

(31:22):
who have you know, and againI think they're just having fun with
me, but you know, theytold me they feel better about Louisville football
this year because of how good theoffensive weapons are in this game, and
I'm thinking, you realize that'll haveno impact on what happens, Like there's
that gosh, and there are peoplewho are going to look at that though,
and think that that's all expectation forthe time. I mean, I

(31:45):
mean again, I don't say thisto mock anybody or make fun of them,
but it's just it's something I can'trelate to. You know. I
see people sharing highlights of Quincy Rileygetting pick sixes in the video game and
sharing it as if like that's aboutto happen in in September, and look,
it might because he's really good.He's one of the best defensive backs
in the country. But it won'tbecause of anything in the video game.

(32:07):
I'm curious if some of these playersare so caught up with it that they'll
feel like they need to live upto these expectations. I'm sure, yeah
game, and then they won't performas well necessarily. Oh, I mean,
I think it's good that they gotit out of the way before the
season actually started, you know,because here's the thing, and there was
a coach that was quoted in thearticle. I referenced earlier when we were
talking to Kendrick Haskins that you know, if you're a coach, that's you

(32:29):
know, on the younger side ofthe of the range. I guess of
Kyle. And by the way,a lot of like assistant coaches position coaches,
those guys, you know, they'renot all young, but some of
them are you know John's age oryou know, thirty. So when they
were growing up, just like youknow everybody else in that age range,
they probably played this game NonStop.So they're excited about it too. But
one coach went on to say that, like he knows it's already been a

(32:52):
distraction, but he's glad that theyhaven't started you know, fall camp yet,
and when they do, he's goingto make it clear that, you
know, if you're going to playthe game, don't let it, you
know, don't. I don't know, I don't have the quote in front
of me exactly what he said,but you know, if you are a
player and it is your life everyday and then you do the same thing
with a video game, man,that would be where it would actually be

(33:15):
tough to like balance what's real lifeand what's not right. If I were
a coach, and obviously I'm not, so take this with a grain of
salt if you will, but Iwould if as soon as we get to
fall Camp, I would say nomore game, no more video games,
no this one specifically. And Iknow there's no way to really truly monitor
that, I guess, but Iwould try to make it to where I
wouldn't want my team playing at leastduring the season because it just seems like

(33:36):
it can't benefit you. I wouldnot at all, you know, expect
this to happen. But maybe it'smore realistic than I'm giving it credit for,
because this game is just so realistic. But like, maybe you aren't
as worried about falling on the depthchart because you know, when you go
home and you fire up the sticks, you're an all American. Like that

(33:57):
sounds crazy, like nobody would dothat, but I don't, no,
man, Like video games are importantto people, and this one seemingly is
as realistic as any game that's everthat I've ever heard of, And I
do love this. By the way, CBS Sports, thank you for sending
this to me. John. Thisis I can't think of his name,
Chris something, but he works forCBS Sports and he's He's made a lot
of funny videos over the years forCBS Sports and he is a real life

(34:20):
college football reporter for the CBS SportsHQ, and he is covering college football
like he always does, but it'sbased off of just what's happening in video
games, and I thought it waspretty funny. We have breaking news Nebraska,
just rage quick. The Cotton Bowlquarterback Arch Manning has transferred to sam

(34:43):
Houston State. The dynasty continues.Akron has completed and historic ten peat.
Texas A and M accidentally simmed theirWeek three game and lost. They'll look
to bounce back next week. CarsonBeck has been benched after pressing square when
he meant to press circle. NortheastArkansas Community College has defeated Alabama. Congratulations

(35:06):
to the Delta Dogs. The pursuitof Toledo head coach Mom Spaghetti four twenty
is heating up his revolutionary four vertsoffense has taken the nation by storm.
Acc Powerhouse UNLV and reigning SEC championIdaho are believed to be the front runners
once again, Utah State proving whythey're known as Heisman U fans are calling

(35:27):
last night's Rose Bull an Instant Classicafter the game ended with a user pick
and a broken controller. The noonkickoffhas been delayed by a system update,
and you better get comfortable because thatdownload speed is horrendous. Handsome Squidward has
won his third straight Heisman Trophy.Coach Prime has been bested on the recruiting
trail yet again by his arch nemesis, Coach Booger Brains McGee. Actually,

(35:52):
we're getting word now that Coach BoogerBrains just suffered a major power outage and
he hadn't hit safe since last season. So forget everything. I just said,
Do you have to save it orit's got a back up on its
own? I would assume, man, that I forgot you even had to
save a game, like if youget to a certain level in some game,

(36:14):
like you know, when I wasplaying Crash Bandicoot or something like if
it was dude, it was horrendous. If you remember memory cards that you'd
stick it. Oh my god,I forgot about that. Friends houses,
Yeah, man, that's that's man. Just even talking about it is nostalgia
for me, and I'm somebody thatdidn't spend as much time gaming as as
as a lot of the hardcore gamersout there, all right, quick break,
We'll come back on the other side. Wrap it up, stick around

(36:35):
Coffee and Company. That's us.We are fueled by Thornton's right here on
Sports Talk seven to ninety. That'sright. We're putting the finishing touches here
on a Wednesday edition of Coffee andCompany. Appreciate everybody hanging out with us.
Uh. So I'm trying to runthrough this list again about the coaches
on the hot seat because uh andthe reason that came up earlier today is
just because I think the hot seatit'll still be a thing. Coaches will

(36:57):
have pressure to win. But Ijust think the universities, because of contracts
put in place before they realize they'regoing to be on the hook to pay
student athletes themselves, it's just goingto be harder to justify making a change
because you know, if you know, like nobody's coming to a game,
like you'd have to bottom out.But a lot of coaches don't bottom out
right like they don't. They theyend up going mediocre, bad, mediocre,

(37:22):
and then bad again. I guessthat could be potentially bottoming out,
but a lot of coaches get firedand it's not because they came off of
a two or three win season.Now that makes that is probably putting you
in a position to where you know, it's probably putting you in a position
to where you know you need toyou know. Sorry, And I'm totally

(37:45):
distracted here. I'm trying to minimizethis window that it popped up here.
But anyways, back back to thislist real quick because we don't have much
time, and I wanted to mentionwho is on certain you know, who
is on the the the hottest ofthe hot seats. Uh. And let's
see. So if you are afive, it's Winner be Fired. And
if you go down this list there, I mean I think there might only

(38:06):
be let's see, let me bedouble check here. Do you ever do
the uh you ever search for acharacter or a word within like a web
browser? I know what it is. I don't think I've ever done that.
I used to do it all thetime, and uh now I can't
because if I if I search forsomething and it, you know, it
doesn't appear, it gives me thatwhich it comes across the area, because
I have my board on it.Anyway, Sam Pittman at Arkansas is in

(38:29):
the Winner Be Fired and I totallybelieve that because again I feel like if
if their offense is improving and theylook decent on that side of the ball,
but like he wins four games,five games, I swear I think
they're gonna make Bobby Petrino the headcoach because you know, he's not a
sexy name anymore, and they couldeasy go. They could probably go get
an up and come, or theygot sec money. However, Bobby's the

(38:52):
only guy that certain Arkansas fans haveever seen succeed. And if he's you
know, calling plays, I mean, I don't think that's a crazy anything
to happen. But again, Pittmanis the only guy of the Power five
that is in that is in thatrange. Actually I'm sorry, Well Neil
Brown was five, now he's fourfrom last year's improvement. All right,
thanks for hanging out with us,even if you got to only listen for

(39:14):
a little while, or if you'vegot to listen to the entire show,
we appreciate you. If you missedanything, make sure you check out the
podcast. We're back at it tomorrowat three o'clock right here, and I
hope you are with us on SportsTalk seven ninety