8.21: Hot & Ham - Hour 3

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
There was a trial that took place, I believe in yea.
It was in Georgia, in Fulton County. This was a
slip of the tongue in Fulton County that has made
some national headlines just because it's not something typically see,
but a Georgia judge managed to turn the most consequential
two words a man could ever hear as he is
awaiting his fate when it comes to the criminal justice system,

(00:20):
guilty or not guilty. And it was an awkward awkward situations.
Judge Henry Newkirk initially told a twenty four year old
by the name of Alton Oliver he would spend the
rest of his life in federal prison, before quickly correcting himself, whoops,
just kidding, I misspoke. So this individual wasn't facing, you know,

(00:42):
something minor. He was facing and he's on trial for
murder of an off duty deputy. And this dates back
to December of twenty twenty two when a deputy was
found shot in his car and this individual testified that
Thomas repeatedly solicited him for sex and allegedly drove at him,
prompting Oliver to shoot out of fear. So prosecutors prosecutes

(01:04):
even offered a plea deal for life in prison, and
of course he declined and went to defend himself, and
he heard initially guilty, but in fact the judge meant
to say not guilty.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
And I'm just thinking.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
About what maybe those three ish seconds felt like, I mean,
probably felt like three hours of just like it all
the realization that that you are going to be spending
the rest of your life in federal federal prison, only
then find out Oh sorry, I just misspoke.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
But yeah, what a I mean, wow.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
You mean not just not just the person that was
on trial here, but you know those that are you know,
the family members that are there. I mean, again, it's
good news as far as what you wanted. You didn't
want to be found guilty, obviously, but I don't know.
I'm just the mind's a powerful thing, and what the
mind can do in that situation for even probably three
to five seconds, I mean, I mean I would have

(01:59):
blocked out.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
I was gonna say, have you ever been in a
position where you got some some bad news that just
really and I hate to use the expression because it
sounds cliche, where your heart sank? Oh yeah, isn't that crazy?

Speaker 1 (02:10):
But it goes down to the pit of your stomach
and you yeah, and that is such a distraction for
me when that happens, and it's not rare, but you
remember when it does happen because it's it's a memorable feeling.
But I that is such a distraction that I don't like,
I don't even know what my mind's thinking, but.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
But it it's it's like a chain effect.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Once once, once I'm there with that stomach dropping feeling. Yeah,
I know that what gets me there is something really
really scary. But more often than not, I don't know,
maybe it's now you got me thinking, here, Scott. Usually
when that happens, I realize that even if it is
something to be concerned about, that it's not as it's
almost like a mechanism internally that I have. That that

(02:49):
is that is good because I instantly realize, Okay, it's
not as bad as I thought it could be worse,
but that that that moment with it where it just
drops is is scary for sure.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
Wow, just to have a judge tell you guilty.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Oh no, I'm sorry, yeah, I mean and just but
then you have that great sense of elation after you.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Here of course, Yeah, and I mean there's always the
and I believe in this, by the way, and a
lot of aspects of life. Prepare for the worst, hope
for the best, because then you will not be totally
totally shocked by the bad news, and the good news
will feel even better because maybe in a way you
truly weren't expecting it. But when it comes to being
told by a judge if they have found you guilty

(03:26):
or not guilty for murder, I don't I don't know
if I could do the whole well, I'll just expect
that I'm gonna be here there.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
I don't want to expect that. I don't want to
think about it, right and I don't.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
Want to have that realization that that's what's happening. But yeah,
and I'm sure the judge was well aware that of
what they did, because you know, I can't imagine. But anyways,
we'll get to an update of traffic and weather coming
up right here right now, and then we'll talk about
the cracker Cracker barrel situation on the other side, as
they're going for a rebrand essentially a new logo all that,
and it just looks weird and I'm I'm sure there's

(03:55):
some some data they have that supports this decision or
they wouldn't do it. But I don't I don't, you know,
I don't really understand how they feel like this is
going to benefit them in the long run.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
But we'll see. Don't go anywhere.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Keep it locked right here on his radio eight forty whas.
We are up and running here on a Thursday morning.
It is seven sixteen here at Kentucky and his morning
News Coffee and company with you on news Radio eight
forty whas. So I'll admit when I saw this yesterday,
it was one of those things that I just thought, Okay,
that's a good photoshop.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
This isn't real.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Not because it's just like unheard of news that you
would just never expect. It's just not something I would
have expected, because I'm not sure it was needed. But
Cracker Barrel is going through a rebrand. I guess, the
southern style restaurant chain known for the country store charm
and I think rocking chairs and checkers of course, and

(04:45):
the old pictures.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
And of course the food.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
They They're at the center of a couple of controversies here,
because one is a new look and another is just
about I guess a new brand strategy. Maybe, so we'll
start with a logo. After fifty years, they've unveiled a
new text only logo and they're dropping the iconic barrel
and man image logo, which is just I mean, it's

(05:09):
what was wrong with that.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
It's working.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
In fact, I think now you're really benefiting. I think
if you've been able to stick with your logo and
never change it over the years, because right now, when
it comes to logo design, most of it is digitally
done and or AI generated, and you can get some
really cool stuff, but you're now noticing logo that's what
vintage is cool, like logos of like old sports teams

(05:33):
that were hand drawn by artists. Those pop now is
clearly being different than what's new. And I just think
if you can stick with the logo that for fifty
years is known and it's clearly pop. Me. I don't
know what the numbers tell you about Cracker Barrel as
far as their sales and if it's up and down,
but I mean, I just I wouldn't have expected them
to feel like they need to change their logo. But anyway, anyway,

(05:54):
now they have decided to. I mean, I'm trying to
find the right way to word it without getting myself
in trouble here. I'm not at all trying to be insensitive,
but they're making a real big push to I guess,
just be make it.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Well known that they're all about.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
The LGBT community, which you know, there's nothing wrong with
with making it clear that you support everybody, and you are,
you know, you're all about inclusion regardless of people's lifestyle
and whatnot. But I just when I think Cracker Barrel,
I just don't know what, like why that would be
necessary right now in the grand scheme of things to
make this shift, Right, what's the end goal here?

Speaker 2 (06:32):
Right?

Speaker 1 (06:33):
Do you feel like this is going to make you
more popular? Do you feel like this is going to
make you Is it going to bring you more sales?
I just to me, it's not even about what the
changes are.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
I guess it is. I was gonna lie to you
and say it's not, but because.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
It is, because I just don't think that like this
is going to be a completely different thing than what
they've always done. And I don't mean that Cracker Barrel
has been known historically as being very anti LGBTQ.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
It's just it seems like a real.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Force that comes from the CEO that I happened to.
Just think she wants to make it her personal brand
almost and I just again, she's got the ability to
do that, I suppose because she's in that position. But
I just to me, this seems like a real force
and almost a desperation kind of thing. And maybe it's
because they're in more danger as a company than I
was aware of, but yeah, this is not something I

(07:18):
was expecting to see. Cracker Barrel just waking up and
deciding to really be an entirely different brand.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
Well, and you're talking about Julia Feie Messino. She was
the CEO. You remember she came out what was.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
It last year?

Speaker 3 (07:28):
It was the last year last year, and she was
talking about how she said openly, and I quote her,
we're just not as relevant as we once were.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
I said, that makes sense, yeah, and so she has
a younger crowd and whatnot.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
Bingo and then she said some of the recipes and
processes haven't involved in decades, is what she went on
to say.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
So I don't know.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
In fact, it's funny you brought that up because we
were driving home from the Natty this weekend. And even
my wife said, you know, it's been a while since
we've been in Cracker Barrel and so have we not
just eaten? We were probably gonna pull off and roll
through there. But I don't know, Nick, I don't know
what to tell you.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
I think what still makes people go to Cracker Barrel
today is because of that nostalgia.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
Feeling and just what it is. It's a comfort field.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, And I mean there's no doubt industries need to
understand that if you are catering to an older demo,
there's benefit there, there's value, right because they're the people
who are still concerned that are still coming to your product,
coming to your restaurant, giving it business and whatnot. But
if you don't have a strategy as far as how
you can reel in some of the younger generation and

(08:31):
get them exposed to what you do, you're going to
die out, just like the people that are supporting you
that are on the older end. However, this is such
a drastic move, I'm not really sure. Like I guess
they just believe that this will be an eye opening
thing that'll get the younger crowd there to support them,
and I'm sure there will be some that love what
they're doing and really want to make it a point.
I'm going to go and support them because I like

(08:51):
that they're about this. I just don't think as far
as the sheer numbers, it makes sense to where this
is just such an emphasis for you. But again, there
are people in these positions that are way were qualified
to make these decisions than myself. But this just again
when I said that it was it almost seemed like
fake news as soon as I saw it, because I
just when I think Cracker Barrel their their longevity to

(09:12):
me is sticking with that what's always been that country
southern charm and the rock and chair and the old
Tom photo and now they're going away from that. And
again I guess it's to appeal to a younger crowd
that maybe doesn't appreciate it. But I wouldn't be shocked
if this backfire is in a major way for them.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
I think you're right well and truest Analyst Jake Bartley
went on to say that they found out post pandemic
about ten to fifteen percent of the seniors who you
just spoke about did not return to their traditional dining habits,
and that led to Cracker Barrel's bottom number, and not
just Cracker Barrel, many other restaurants falling beneath that, and
maybe that helps.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Did you know they sell booze? Now, yes, yes, we.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Went to Florida a few years ago and but we
stopped in. My wife got glass whine at Cracker Barrel.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
She goes, this is odd.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
Don't knock getting drunk at Cracker Barrel on a Saturday
morning until you done it. I mean, that is a
great way to get the vibes going and starting your weekend.
I've done a couple of momosas at Cracker Barrel to
start the Saturday Come on now.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Hey, we just said it.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
My wife and I just sat at a bar in
Kroger over the weekend when we were up in Cincinnati.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
There's something awesome about drinking in a place that you
typically would never drink at it. For some reason, the
experience is enhanced whenever it's like, yeah, I don't typically
drink booze at the grocery store, but I'm at a
bar seat.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
This is awesome. Good stuff.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
All right, We've got an update of traving a weather
coming your way. Also another update on sports. We're gonna
be joined coming at seven forty five by my good buddy,
doctor Eric McElroy, Prori of physical therapy. I'm gonna ask
him some questions that can help parents get off to
a good start here with football season, just some things
that they need to know about rest recovery for their
athletes that are getting ready to get the season. Started
to stick with us right here our News Radio eight
forty whas I know. One of the things that has

(10:47):
come up quite a bit when we talk college sports
is just how different it is now compared to what
it used to be it, I mean college sports as
far as just the imagurism model for from the NCAA,
it went unchanged for generations and their model, of course,
their amateurism model they tried to stick with was archaic

(11:08):
and them never budging at any point is what led
to it really just blowing up in their face to
where now it's tough to really regulate anything because it's
now pro sports. And it went from again never changing
forever until now it changes every day seemingly, and it
is almost unrecognizable now compared to what it was five
six years ago. And it's just because players now have

(11:29):
all the power and they can make a lot of money,
And I get it if you're somebody that has been
turned off to what college sports used to be. I'm
somebody that loves it so much that I'm not really
sure they could do much of anything that would make
me not love it, right. I mean, I'm sure there
were things that were better as far as the fan
experience prior to the current era that we're in right now.

(11:51):
But I choose to just embrace the positives because I mean,
I'll always love college sports. And I'll give you an EXAs
sample of why it's better now for Louisville fans, specifically,
because you may still be sitting with Kenny Payne as
your head coach if you did not have NIL and
you didn't have the transfer portal, Because it's clear you

(12:13):
can build a team in one year at a place
like Louisville. Pat Kelsey did it last year. Had you
not be able, you weren't able to do that, there
would be built in legitimate excuses that would give a
coach like Kenny Payne a lot of time. And if
you didn't have the portal and NIL, if you did
make a change, even if you did move on from
Kenny Payne, when you did which was, of course the
right move. Kelsey wouldn't have the ability to just go

(12:35):
build a team from scratch. You would have to probably
rely on walk ons to an extent just because of
how bad things were. So again, there are other examples though,
where you can say it's not as beneficial because of
certain things. But anyways, the reason I'm bringing this up
is because we have a story that reminds me of
the good of college sports that really just gets people
fired up because of I guess maybe the old school

(12:57):
component here. But North Texas they have named red shirt
freshman Drew Messtamaker their starting quarterback, and I love this
guy's story and it's not something you see really that
much anymore at all. He is the starting QB at
North Texas, a team that is pretty good by the way,
I believe they're in the Sun Belt, and he's got
a hell of a story. He was a walk on

(13:19):
last year, and he'd until their bowl game last season,
he hadn't started a game at quarterbacks since the ninth grade,
and now, as a red shirt freshman, he's been named
the starter at North Texas.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
So here's his story.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
In the bowl game last year, he broke out four
hundred and forty eight yards, earning himself, of course, a
scholarship and removed from the walk on status and now
he's the starter. So he beat out a couple of
transfers that came in for that job. He's now the guy.
So here's why he's not played quarterback as far as
a starter since he was a freshman in high school.
So originally he was a safety and he ended up

(13:53):
switching positions to quarterback and walked on at North Texas
just hoping that would be his best bet to at
least be to be on the roster as a walk on.
But that alone is an unconventional thing to do, right,
transition to being a quarterback when you're entering college as
a walk on, that alone is crazy. But to do
it and do it well and then earn the starting

(14:13):
position is wild. But their head coach, Eric Morris, he's
known for having a reputation of finding sort of hidden
gems at this position, and he has certainly found it here.
But again, a guy just walking on and then not
only earning a scholarship, that alone is something I just
can never get enough of those videos. I'll watch every
one of them where a walk on is surprised by

(14:35):
his coach that he's on scholarship. He's overwhelmed with emotion
knowing that he really worked for it and it paid off.
And then all of his teammates, who of course are
on scholarship, they see the sacrifices that those guys make
and they're paying their own way. They're not even able
to live like I mean, honestly, there's second class citizens
when it comes to being able to travel what they're
entitled to when it comes to like meals and stuff.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
So it's awesome to see and.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
This guy walked on and not on, you know, earned
a scholarship, but now he's their starting quarterback and he
hadn't been a starter at that position since his freshman
year of high school. So those are stories I feel
like I'm going to pay attention to more so because
I think they're going to become more rare because nowadays,
the chances of a walk on getting a starting spot
at quarterback is rare because of coaches can just go

(15:18):
look at the portal and see an endless amount of
names they can just go bring in. So good stuff there,
All right, quick break, we'll come back after an update
on trafficking weather. And we're going to be joined by
doctor Eric mcclroy, pro REP Physical Therapy right here on
news radio eight forty whas seven forty six here Kentucky
in this morning news coffee and company with you on
news radio eight forty whas, and we are now joined
by doctor Eric McRory of pro REAP Physical Therapy and

(15:41):
Eric as a high school sports are getting underway, obviously
a big night tomorrow night for high school football in
the area. And I was thinking back to the many
many years ago when I.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Was in high school.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
I did not notice really many schools that we played,
and certainly we didn't have it at my school. The
access to the trainers that are now available on the sidelines,
not only for football.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
But for other other fall sports.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
In your industry, physical therapy, what has it been like
to see that seemingly rapid growth in the last fifteen
to twenty years to where now it's much more common
for there to be those kind of resources for these
student athletes.

Speaker 4 (16:13):
Well, I think it's huge to me. I think it's
one of the most important things in sports, to be
honest with you, and obviously I'm biased, but you know,
if our athletes want aren't healthy, They're not going to
play well. So if you just want to look at
it purely on a performance side, you know, I always
tell young athletes, you at seventy percent or you at

(16:34):
you know, whatever, is not going to really cut it
at the level you expect. So we got to make
sure that these athletes, especially that they're growing, developing, they're
not fully mature. They need these resources, maybe even more
in a lot of ways than our older athletes, if
you will. But I love it. I love that they
that these districts are putting more you know, money and

(16:58):
finances and resources to this to make sure this is
something that is common and not you know, an outlier,
because I think that the help of these and the
safety of these athletes is paramount, which is obviously number one,
especially when you look at you know, the heat we've
had and all the things that have gone you know,
as practices are going on. You know, years ago, as
you know, Nick, we wouldn't have called practice for some

(17:19):
of these attempts, right, I mean, we were out there
with told towels and all this stuff, and and you
know we can say all this like are they not
as tough or whatever? It's a safety thing we don't want,
you know it truly is their studies and research that
backs it, and we want to make sure that these athletes,
whether whatever sport it is, if the kids are safe,
they're getting the treatment. And we saw the ways to go.

(17:40):
We saw some things we need to do better, but
overall it is great to see when.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
You treat student athletes that are of the high school level.
When you get to this time of the year, are
are you seeing athletes that still decide to play multiple
sports if they can make it work. Obviously, there are
certain sports that are gonna that are gonna go on
at the same time. You could be soccer player and
a football player. That'd be really tough to do. But
I know some are really passionate about both sports and
they want to play as much as they can. Have

(18:06):
you noticed any change as far as kids still wanting
to just play any and all the sports they can.

Speaker 4 (18:13):
Yeah, I think where we see the change really is
you know it used to be, Yeah, the biggest fear
was you don't want kids to specialize too early, right,
And you've seen all the studies and data and discussion
around that, and that is true. And then what we've
seen though, is with the with the growth of club sports.
You know, even football has seven on seven club you know,

(18:35):
there's not We're seeing kids playing sports a year round,
and now we have the extreme the other way where
we'll say, well, you know, I don't want my kids
just to specialize. Well, now they're just going to play everything,
and they're going to play at club. And it used
to be you know, you played basketball and you had
a season for that, or baseball at the end of
season for that, and football you had a season, or
soccer you had a season, whatever it was. But now

(18:55):
it's like, well, I'm playing this club sport, which there
is no really I mean, there's a little micro off season,
but you're playing year round, baseball year round, and I'm
gonna jump into football and basketball overlaps and I play AAU.
So that what we're really identifying is that there are
too much they're overtraining, they're overworked, there is no recovery
in rest even though they're moving from sport to sport.

(19:17):
There's too much overlap. And so, you know, though I
love that the kids are still participating multiple sports, they
need to be doing that, but we need to also
think about what does that look like in what framework?
Because every club, you know, has a monetary incentive for
you to continue and not take a break. And so
and I'm dealing with it now, you know, as a parent,

(19:37):
and so I think that those are things that we
need to look out for because when we're looking for kids,
if I have a football player who's been playing baseball
all summer and he hasn't had a rest and maybe
he's a quarterback and he's been throwing like crazy and
he hasn't had any kind of rest in school baseball either,
you know, is he really truly recovered? Is he able
to come into that sport and perform at a level.
Is he at risk? You know, those are things that
we're really looking out for and making s or that

(20:00):
these kids are getting, you know, the appropriate rest and
recovery that they need, no matter what the you know,
it could be multiple sports, it doesn't have to be
are they playing that one sport too much?

Speaker 1 (20:10):
Doctor Eric Micro Appropriate physical therapy is our guest joining
us here on news radio eight forty w h as
any advice you have for parents out there, as the
practices have of course been going on for these fall sports,
but the season getting underway, and some are already underway,
but just some things maybe parents could could spot that
might be a signed that maybe their their kids need
a little bit more rest in recovery than maybe the

(20:31):
kids realize themselves. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (20:34):
Absolutely, I mean I think the first thing is is
chronic fatigue. You know, are they are they having trouble
you know, getting up in the morning. I mean, I
know kids do that in general, but you know, more
than normal, you know, we usually know our kids and
their tendencies. You know, are they having trouble at school
staying focused or they're fatigued all the time, they starting
to lose desire to go to practice? I mean, practices

(20:55):
can be a bear anyways, But you know, are they
really just checking out? You know? I think that those
are things that you want to look for. Performance at
school obviously is a big one because they usually generally
there when they're in like kind of more of a
sedentary environment, they have a harder time staying focused. You know,
are they you know, showing signs of injury? Uh, you know,

(21:16):
where they're limping around? Kids generally tell parents all the time,
they don't hide things well, uh, and so you know
they're gonna if it really hurts, they're going to favor it,
and they're gonna favor it for a while as impacting
their ability to obviously perform, you know, you know, I
get the whole idea of you've heard or you're injured,
but at the same time, you know, any injury to

(21:37):
grow into something where it's become more and more of
a problem, and then what are we doing with that?
Or are we forcing the kid to play through something
that is really impacting performance, which is going to neglarly
impact impact the team. So I think those are things
that we need to make sure that we're paying attention
to sleep habits number one, performance at school number two,
and then their ability to and then just looking for

(21:58):
Nick Knack injury are build up and then on the
flip side of that, Nick, to be honest with you,
you know, are they kind of coming up with injuries
that don't match what they're able to do?

Speaker 1 (22:07):
You know?

Speaker 4 (22:07):
Are they saying, well, I'm hurting really bad, but then
they're out there jumping on their trampoline or whatever it
may be. Those may be things that we need to
look for make sure that burned out. And I think
that that's you know, things like that or we see
all the time and believe it or not, and they're
not going to tell their parents or coaches or peers
because they don't want to disappoint them. But what we

(22:28):
have them doing the clinic and what they're saying they
can or can't do outside of the clinic don't match up.
So we need to make sure we're looking for those things.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
Great stuff Eric is always appreciate the time and enjoy
the rest of your day.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
We'll talk to my friend awesome Nick. Have a good
one that is doctor.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
Eric McElroy pro reap physical therapy. Good stuff there.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:44):
When I hear him lay out all those things that
are something that parents should be paying attention to, it
just reminds me you got to pay attention to these
kind of things because you know your kids aren't right,
they're just being kids as they should be. Good stuff
from doctor McElroy. There, quick break, We got trafficking weather
on the way. Also some sports coming up too. Right
here News radioaight forty whis