11.12: Respect the Rivalry - Hour 1

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, let's get this thing started. Shall we welcome
in coffee and company here at news Radio eight forty
whas we are fueled by Thornton's and we appreciate you
joining us here. It is five oh six on a Wednesday,
Nick Coffee. That's me, Scott Fitzgerald alongside, and the Johns
John Alden back with us, also John Shannon full crew here,
and we'll start with what was the best atmosphere I

(00:22):
can think of for a basketball game around here in
a long long time. I really can't remember the last
time the young Ciner had that kind of juice, that
kind of energy, just the feel of a very very
big game. And before we talk about the result, which
is a Louisville fan, I was very very pleased to see.

(00:44):
I just think a lot of yesterday's conversation about the
rivalry being renewed. It's game two here in this new
era Pat Kelsey and Mark Pope, and clearly Louisville has
shown that Kentucky's going to have to respect them, and
they've they've taken a step forward and doing their part
and making this a more competitive rivalry overall. But again,

(01:07):
just to echo yesterday, we should be in an era
right now again should be we'll see. You never really know,
but this thing could be really competitive between these two
teams for a good stretch here, because I think both
programs are still going to be in really good shape.
But last night it was Louisville that simply was just better.

(01:27):
They certainly made an interesting late with a bunch of
missed free throws, and Kentucky put together a couple runs
to quickly erase leads. They got up to eighteen and
twenty points, but in the end, Louisville was just better.
They had the best player on the floor who happened
to be a true freshman. And imagine ten years ago
saying that in the Louisville Kentucky rivalry, the best player

(01:48):
on the floor as a freshman, but he plays for
Louisville and not Kentucky. Not something I'm used to seeing.
But again, as a Louisville fan myself, it was awesome
to see and it was a long time coming. But again,
what I mean, I was not there in attendance. I
didn't have to be, though, in order to just get
a sense for how rockin that atmosphere was and just

(02:08):
how electric it was. And I actually, and again this
is this is something convenient for a Louisville fan to
say after his team is able to get the win.
But I think nationally this game got more attention because
it was so early. This wasn't lost in the in
the bowl schedules, it wasn't lost in a college football Saturday.
It seemed like last night there was really no competition.

(02:31):
It led into yeah, the game right after the college
football playoff rankings, which can only help. So again, if
louis would have lost, maybe I'd be saying, yeah, they
should's because they played it too early. I mean it,
it's just too early. It's before the football game, and
it's just too early. But they came out on the
winning side, and obviously a game that at times it
kind of looked like Lowell was gonna run away with
it and win this thing by thirty.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, I know what was interesting to your point. I
said the same thing to my wife.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
I looked there when in the pregame first one, it
was Dan Shumlin, who I bragged down this show before
he calls Toronto Blaja games, and then you know, you
put his voice together with I said, anybody looking at
this right now that is even remotely considering going to
the University of Louisville for basketball has to look at
that and go, are you kidding me? I mean that
was to your I told my honestly, there's nothing else

(03:15):
on tonight. Everybody's watching this game. Louisville looks darn good.
The shots always from across the river show a beautiful arena.
You can say what you want about THEYM Center, but
it's here. It's a beautiful thing.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
I'm telling you.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Talent is looking at that, going if this is what
they're doing in Louisville, That's got my attention. As you
and I were talking off the air, when I was
talking to my son at a place like Xavier where
they were almost on top, they were doing well with
Sean Miller there he left.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
They're horrible.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
Now there's nothing there. Remember those days Louisville when Kenny
Payne was here and there was nothing there, And so
I'm I.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Was hoping we didn't have to bring that name up.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
No, I'm so happy because I'm so happy for Louisville
fans in the fact that you deserve this, those of
you who hung in there, and my buddy Joey knows
who I'm talking about you know, you're there through the
thick and thin. You've been there through the thick and
thin with this Louisville team. And for Kentucky fans, I mean,
all good things must come to an end. We talked
about that yesterday, Robert Domit look at Alabama football fans.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah, I mean Alabama is still still a great program
and a great spot. But the standard that was set
by saving of course tough to maintain. But for Louisville,
it really both teams this was This was certainly a
big game because of what's at stake when it comes
to the rival rebragging rights, that kind of stuff. But
also it was an early chance to really see where

(04:31):
you were. You played competitive teams, good teams, I should say,
an exhibition play and each of you lost one. Now
wasn't a real game, and you would hope that it
gave you a chance to work on some things and
get an early, an early, I guess, snapshot of where
you are. And mckel brown was darn near unplayable at
times against Kansas in the exhibition and the last night,

(04:54):
clearly the best player on the floor who twenty points
in the first half. They had really no answer for him,
and different kind of player than we've had around here
in a long time. And again, Louisville in the other
exhibition and in the other games they've played that were
against a lesser competition look good, but it's tough to
really know what you have in those kind of games. Well,
last night, Louisville, again, their backcourt wasn't just better last night.

(05:17):
I think it's a backcourt that I now can say,
okay now, because I was a little bit hesitant to
say what some of the college basketball talking heads were saying,
which is that Louisville may have the best backcourt in
the country with the trio of Isaac Brown, Ryan Conwell
and Isaac McNeely. And last night, again, those guys looked
pretty good. In the front court. I had no clue

(05:37):
what to expect with Louisville. But Sonny Freu, Sonanda Fru,
he was a grown man. I mean he was. I
mean he made the front court for Kentucky absolutely invisible.
Brandon Garrison just almost unplayable at times.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
So the way they.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
Shut down Oway, Yeah, the SEC preseason player of the Year.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
That's encouraged. That's probably the biggest takeaway from Kentucky.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Is that.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
You know, they did go out and get a guy
in the portal that was, Oh wow, that's gonna be
somebody that every night when we go out there, that
whoever we play, they're gonna have a tough time accounting
for this guy. They didn't go get him, But that
wasn't that big of a worry because you brought back
a player in a way that would have been one
of the best players in the portal had he gone.
But he stayed. But he was he was not right.

(06:20):
He is coming off an injury, but he just doesn't
look comfortable out there. And he he was.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
He was.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
When he's on the floor, you're you're gonna see him
create and try to do the things he's known to do.
But it wasn't working last night, and he was he was.
I mean, he probably should not have played the minutes
that he got. But uh, yeah, overall, Louisville, uh courage.
First of all, they they at least got one back
on the rivalry and and and it's a step towards
making this thing a little more competitive. But uh, it's

(06:47):
nice to know. As from a Louisville fense perspective, I
didn't feel like anything last night was fluky. I don't
think anything last night was solid.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
That was a solid performance.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
And I'll talk a little more later as far as
how the let up happened, how they let them back
in the game, because I just think to keep it simple.
When you play the way they play that style and
you become briefly inefficient, it's just an invitation for your
opponent to get back in a game because it's fast paced,
a lot of possessions. And credit to Kentucky, they never fully,

(07:19):
you know, just let up. But in the end, they
just they they were outmatched. Right, all right, good stuff,
let's keep this thing rolling along. It is five thirteen
here on a Wednesday morning. It is Kentucky in this
morning news news Radio eight forty whas, it is Coffee
and Company, and we are fueled by Thornton's. Here at
news Radio eight forty whas. Keep Thornton's in mind for

(07:40):
your breakfast. They've got a lot of good options, including
an option I didn't even know about until yesterday, and
it's because it's brand new. You ready, biscuits and gravy
at Thornton's that's now part of the breakfast lineup. So again, donuts,
biscuits and gravy, breakfast sandwiches, breakfast tacos, So a lot
of good options for you. And there's there's one near
you if you are in Kentucky, in a nearly fifty

(08:02):
locations here in the area. So again we are proudly
fueled by Thornton. So Mary Greenberg has been has been
a busy, busy man in the last week for obvious reasons,
and he talked to our partners over at WLK Y
yesterday to give an update on the victims' families from
the plane crash. Again, we now know that fourteen total victims,

(08:24):
fourteen lives lost and thirteen bodies recovered, but the process
of identifying each one of those individually is still is
still ongoing for some and it sounds like that could
wrap up pretty soon. So I think knowing the knowing
that the news you feared, of course probably still doesn't

(08:45):
seem real to some of these families, but at least
there's that step in this process of knowing what you
feared and hoped and really couldn't believe I'm sure is
actually what's happened. But the and it just sounds just
so cold to even to even think of it this way,

(09:07):
but when it comes down to is actually having which
you knowing which body is which, and then going through
the process of a formal burial and and that kind
of stuff. But here's Mary Greenberg yesterday with our partners
at w OKA, why just give an update on the
victims' families a week after this tragic situation.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
You know, on Tuesday night, they were still in a
state of shock, which is totally understandable and normal. Just
lots of questions that at that time we could not answer.
We've been able to provide some answer since then. Hopefully
once they have finality of that final confirmation from the coroner,
they can then begin the healing process.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
So again, that final confirmation from the coroner is is
coming soon, I would imagine, and at that point I
believe the coroner with then it'll be public and it'll
be public information as far as h who who the
victims were, And we know for the most part, just
because families have come forward and talked to different media

(10:08):
entities in town to share the stories of some of
these people who lost their lives. So again, still an
ongoing story, if you will, I mean, it'll be something
we remember remember around here forever, but still something to
uh to to to you know, those those that are
going to go through something that none of us would
ever have ever thought could happen. Uh. The steps in

(10:32):
this process again, it's it's something I can't imagine and
hope to never ever experience anything quite like it. But
there is that final step, and that's getting the info
from the corner and then going about with whatever whatever
the families plan as far as funerals that kind of stuff. So, uh,
these names of these victims will we'll hear a lot
about them. And it's just a tragic situation to uh,

(10:53):
to to lose your life in what is just a
tragic accident. And this was talked about a lot last week,
and I keep thinking about it whenever I think of
this situation. It's just the randomness of life at any
moment can be a factor in you living and dying,
which is a scary thing to think about. Out of
your control, certainly, but still scary and tragic, no doubt.

(11:15):
All Right, let's get an update of traffic and weather.
We'll see how the roadways are looking as we get this.
Wednesday started gonna warm up today. Sixty one is the high.
We'll see what the rest of the day looks like
when it comes to conditions with Matt Melosavich of WOK
why and then Scott is back with a sports update
as I would imagine he'll give us. We'll probably spend
some time talking Louisville, Kentucky, as Louisville was finally able

(11:37):
to get a win, first time in a long time,
long time coming for them.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
No doubt.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
Stick with us right here at NewsRadio eight to forty
whas as you heard there in the phenomenal news update
from John Shannon, there are resources out there for those
that might need to talk to somebody might need some
help just dealing with everything that happened last week in
the ups plane crash. So the call center has been

(12:00):
launched and the number to call is A five ZO
two four seven three five two seven one from seven
am to nine pm daily. If if you don't remember
that number and you're driving, you don't want to write
it down, understandable, you can go to our website, our
partner's website, I should say WOKY and you'll you'll see
that info there. But I'm sure it's a it's a

(12:22):
it's an unusual feeling to be someone that is fortunate
to be alive, because again, the little random things that
you don't even think about every day in life can
be a can be a factor and you being somebody
that survives or you being somebody that unfortunately loses your life.
So if that's you, it's probably a it's probably a

(12:43):
normal feeling to think, why would I need to talk
to anybody. I'm the lucky one, I'm alive and and
they're not. You're still a victim. You are a victim
of an insane amount of trauma and something that could
impact you in a big, big way. I would say
it's impossible for it not to impact you to some extent.

(13:04):
But everybody's different, everybody deals with things in a different way.
But my first inexperience is the questioning myself, what's wrong
with you? Are you ungrateful? You're okay, but you still
also went through something that that can be really impactful
in a negative way. So the resources are there, and

(13:25):
I'm glad to see that the Mary Greenberg has put
this in place because there's more and more stories every
day you hear from folks that are now sharing their
story about that day and being close or maybe they
were supposed to be there that day or in the
area and they weren't, and for whatever reason, they were
blessed beyond belief that some little thing that there's no

(13:49):
rhyme or reason it happened, a schedule change for you
that just was random. It could be why you're alive.
And again that's a blessing, but it's also a scary
thing that can absolutely give you traumatic, traumatic experience that
can have an impact on you. So again there are
resources available for those and we'll we'll probably by the

(14:12):
end of this week, maybe even by today, get confirmation
from the coroner that each of the bodies that they've
recovered has been has been formally identified as as which
of these folks are missing, and of course now presumed
presumed debt. All right, it's Coffee and Company and we
are Field by Thornton's here at News Radio eight forty

(14:33):
Whas appreciate you hanging out with us. Nick Coffee. That's
me John All on the alongside Scott Fitzgerald'll be back
in with some sports coming up a little bit later on.
You just heard John Shannon, So we've got our full
crew in the house this morning, and you guys can
take us with you wherever you go. Listen live on
the iHeartRadio app. Also listen live at whas dot com
and if you want to interact share some thoughts, you

(14:54):
can do it. It's the talkback Line, presented by Alex R. White,
PLLCSU Distracted Driver dot com. If you're listening on the app,
just click that microphone button and you'll be You'll be
good to go. You'll get thirty seconds to uh to
chime in and share whatever it is you want. We
have somebody here that's already used the talk back Line,
and I'll let you hear what with this listener had

(15:15):
to say from what I can tell as far as
just what it shows me here in our talkback portal.
It's somebody wanting to talk about last night's game.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
Mister coffee, last night your cards were percolating.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
Ah.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
I know, I'll give you a lot of crap on here.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
I've called two or three times and.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
Said you percolate talking about my cats. But man, the
cards looks strong.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
Put that whooping on us.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
But you know last nine times we won.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (15:52):
I think our young team. That's where the thirty second
shot clock just gets you out. Of nowhere because it'll
cut you off. But uh, thank you for being with
us early this morning. And I wouldn't have thought of
the word percolating to describe it, but I can't say
that they weren't percolating. But nobody wants to hear this

(16:12):
on the Kentucky side, and I totally would be right
there with you because I said this yesterday. There's no
better time than now to bring it back up, because
if you're a Kentucky fan, you're going You're going through it.
The emotional the emotional high and low. The stronger of
the two feelings is the low you enjoy winning. I mean,

(16:36):
for Louisville fans, I'm one of them. Felt good last
night to finally get one and look really good doing it.
But the satisfaction, more than anything as soon as the
clock hit zero, was the relief of knowing you don't
have to have that experience of what it's like to
lose to them. Started to become a little numb to it,
just because Louisville has come out on the losing end

(16:58):
of this matchup quite a bit in recent year, as
you all know. But felt good last night, but the
feeling that Kentucky fans have when they lose one is tough.
Same thing for Louisville fans. But long story short, if
this thing is competitive, which it should be, that's good
for everybody around here. It's also just good for college basketball.

(17:20):
And we'll never be able to, I think, get the
level of just hatred that was there during the Patino
and Caliperi era because those two guys were individual rivals.
I mean, they hated each other personally, and that added
a different element that we'll probably never see again because
you can't force it. I think Mark Pope and Pat
Kelsey have a lot of genuine respect for one another.

(17:40):
But as far as the rivalry being competitive, where both
teams maintain really good rosters, really good teams annually and
it goes back and forth, obviously, you don't want it
to go back and forth. You want your team to
win every year. And even if louisvoll was to go
on a big here, if both teams annually are in

(18:03):
a good spot to where the expectations are are high
and the teams are good, that's that's ultimately good for
everybody around here. Young Center was something like I hadn't
seen in a long time last night, and it was
it was a beautiful sight, that's for sure. All right,
let's get a quick time out out of the way.
We will get an update on traffic and weather. We've
also got Rory O'Neil set to join us on the

(18:25):
other side, So stick around right here. It's news Radio
eight forty whas. It's news Radio eight forty whas Nick
Coffee with you and Rory O'Neal joins us. Rory. Flight
cancelations sounds like they're gonna linger even after the government
shutdown comes to an end. What's the situation here? Most
would just assume that government shutdown means everything's back up

(18:48):
and running.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, it's gonna take a hot minute. And it's gonna
depend on the airline as well, because in many cases,
the pilots, the co pilots, the flight attendants. You know,
if they've been on a canceled flight, that means they're
probably in the wrong city. So now you've got to
get them back to where you need them to be.
You've got to get the plane back to where it
needs to be. So all of that is back and forth,

(19:09):
and some of the airlines will get this done faster
than others. But we also heard from Transportation Secretary Duffy
in Chicago yesterday saying that you know, they're seeing also
a lot of not incidents, but there are obvious signs
that the air traffic controllers who are still on the
job are getting maxed out. Their language is sloppier, some

(19:30):
runway connections are a bit too close, and that kind
of a thing. So he said, it's going to be
data driven. If they see that the normal safety protocols
are being followed and things are safe enough, then they'll
start to ramp up those flight operations on their end.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
On true social Trump said that all air traffic controllers
must get back to work now, went on to say
that anybody who doesn't could be substantially docked. I know
Sean Duffy has expressed some disappointment in those that have
just to not show up to work, you sick town,
whatever it may be. Have we heard any any response
from the industry on that it's it's not at all

(20:07):
a surprise that folks not getting paid would find a
way to not come to work.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
Well, right or they have because they need to drive
uber or deliver pizzas or do something because they got
to put food on the table and pay the rent
and you know, put a roof over their head.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
Yeah, they got to survive without a paycheck, right.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
So for a month, you know, and they just missed
their second paycheck this week. Now, Secretary Duffy did say
that since this announcement of a deal happened, we saw
a lot more air traffic controllers return to the job
this week. I think he said that if the government
officially reopens, as it's expected to do by midnight midnight tonight,
they expect that seventy percent of back pay will show

(20:46):
up in their bank accounts within twenty four to thirty
six hours, So they're going to be made whole very quickly.
So they're hoping to be able to ramp up and
begin the return to normal operations in the next couple
of days and in time for Thanksgiving.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
That should definitely help. That's a good way to incentive
folks to get back to work is to pay them.
So that's got to be encouraging to hear if you're
one of those that's gone without. So we've got a
new holiday shopping report that says consumers are tightening their belts.
Is this the granch economy. Folks just not going to
be as generous because of the financial situation here.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
And it is because things are a little bit awkward, right,
And even those federal workers must be like, well, wait
do I have Christmas? What's going on? Right? So if
you talk to them about the anxiety these past forty
two or three days of cause this is filtering throughout
the economy. Nearly two and three Americans say the economy
will make the holidays a bit less fun this year.
Eighty five percent expect to spend the same amount as

(21:44):
they did last year, perhaps even a little bit less.
But this wallet Hup survey had the best statistic. I thought.
Sixty one percent of Americans said they'd enjoy the holidays
a whole lot more if we didn't exchange gifts at all.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
I guess that speaks to just the stress of of
having the funds needed to get everybody a gift that
you feel like is worthy of getting a gift. I
get it doesn't seem like it would be the same
thing without gifts, but still I get it.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
And getting them something they'd like, right, I mean, they're like,
oh gosh, oh thanks for the car charger. More socks,
more and more socks and underwear terrific. Yeah, they are
saying this is going to be a more practical Christmas
perhaps as well, but warnings too that the charitable giving
may also suffer as a result of the higher costs
to buy those gifts.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
Any stores or sectors that are going to specifically be
hit harder than expected to be hit harder than others.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
They didn't get into specific stores. They did say that
practical presence were more likely to be front and center
this year because maybe people have delayed buying their own
underwear and socks of fair while and maybe that will
make it the bigger gift this year. One of the
red flags from the National Retail Federation I thought, though,
was that holiday hiring, those temp jobs way way down

(22:58):
to like a fifteen year low. That's a trend that
continues to go down. You know, the malls ain't what
they used to be. And yes, Amazon will be hiring
more delivery drivers and warehouse workers, but even a lot
of that is becoming automated. So we're seeing a big
drop off in holiday hiring, and a lot of people
take those extra jobs for a couple of weeks or
you know, a month or two that's how they get

(23:18):
their Christmas spending money in the first place. So it's
a cycle that may be broken.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
Rory is always appreciate your time and enjoy your day.
My friend will talk tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
Thanks Nick, I'll send you all my sizes just so
to buy me from my eye.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
Let me know the shopping starts soon. I got to
get Rory O'Neil on the list. Good stuff. Thank you, sir.
It's Roy O'Neil in BC News. Always appreciate his time
and yeah, I'm sure for many when it comes to
just the overall challenge of having funds available to do
Christmas the way you want to, to get folks the
gifts that you feel like they deserve, I'm sure for

(23:54):
many it's been picking up second jobs during the holiday
season and using the funds for that. Well, if those
jobs aren't available as much anymore, that could be a
real issue. So just something to be mindful of. Let's
get to a quick time out. We'll check on the roadway,
see how traffic is looking on this Wednesday morning. We're
gonna warm up today. I have sixty one. Matt Melosovitch
will give us the details on the forecast and Scott's

(24:15):
back with the sports update right here at news radio
eight forty whas