It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think when we.
Are get off our show, idiots, the kids are crying or trail off. The countries are screwing it up. Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play Inner Murals. They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not. Who's the kid here? Who's the kid? Here? Are you kidding me?
Now?
Here's Nick Coffee.
There's a lot that can be said about this show, Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's that comes to you live every day here on Sports Talk seven ninety. And I hope when things are said it's good stuff. But I know if you listen even a little bit, you know that I'm really transparent sometimes maybe a little bit too much, and I'm a little distracted by myself as as we get the show started today because self deprecation, clearly.
I use it.
It's a thing, and it's always worked seemingly, but sometimes I even really just surprise myself about how.
Stupid I can be. And today is one of those days. Because I was I was.
Carrying my my headphones in my in my hand because I knew I was a little bit short on time, and sometimes it quite literally because I use these old earbuds, these like original iPhone earbuds. In fact, these might have these might have been around when when the iPod came out, maybe they weren't even making iPhones. Like these are really really old, but I love them. I only use them for the for the show. And I mean I've tried other earbuds and they're just not the same. So they're old.
They get really tangled up. And I was holding a monster Energy drink in in the hand that the that the the wire the headphones were also in, and I reached over with my other hand once I got my backpack on in here to try to you know, to try to untangle it. And it wasn't even like crazy tangled, but I just, I guess, for a brief second, forgot that I had an open drink in my hand, so I just, without thinking, turned my hand upside down and just spilled my drink all over myself, which ch agin like,
who does that me? Sometimes I can just be a dumbass in a way that really amazes me. But I've got no I tick. I'm not gonna take my pants off. That'd be weird, could get in trouble. I don't really know if we have an HR department here internally, but you know, probably probably not worth the risk. But anyways, that can't keep me down having Monster Energy drink all over my pants and my socks and shoes. Because today's a special day, and I mean a really special day.
We've got the return of the company man here producing the show, mister John Alden, I mean, welcome back.
I'm very happy to be back.
I'm I'm happy that you're happy to be back. It's gonna be a little bittersweet though, because obviously this is just a rare occurrence for us, And I mean, I'm sure at some point we'll be working together on the air here elsewhere, who knows. And I don't mean, like you know, different employers, but we do have a lot of live broadcasting that goes on within this with this, with this company, I heart Louisville, and we don't have as many people as we did many years ago.
In fact, we don't have as many people as we did a few.
Months ago, so you never know, but it's always great to work with you and not only do we not work together on the same show anymore, like we never see each other because you get here at like four o'clock in the morning.
I woke up twelve hours ago at three am. So does that ever get easier? I'll tell you the one thing that has gotten easier is my body has at least adjusted to going to bed early, but it has not adjusted to waking up that early. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean I don't know if I don't know if if it would ever be something. I'm just like, all right, here we go, ready to start the day. But God bless you, because I mean, I feel like most people like you when you consider when they start their.
Day, I mean where we are now, I.
Guess more so by the time we get to six o'clock, you'll be finishing up, you know, the show with me. And you know, if you got up at the same time a lot of people did, you'd be going to bed at that time because you know, it's a hell of a day. But yeah, I listen every morning. I don't get to hear a big part of the show, but I do listen to you on with Tony Cruz and the crew, and you know you're doing a good job.
I feel I feel like like a proud uncle or something whenever I hear you have especially when you put Cruse in check. Sometimes you know, not necessarily you know, body bagging, but you know, you hold your own and you know.
Usually when it comes to college sports, a feeling well, yeah, of course, I mean, I know Cruz, he's a sportsman. He used to be.
Uh he's one of the legendary hosts that hosted a legendary show. What was it over like fifty plus years there was sports talk on HAS from six to eight and you had Van Vance, you had Tony Cruz and Lachlan McClain. I mean, last I checked, those guys are legendary. So anyways, happy to have the company man back and we're with you for the next three hours. So stick around, taking you up till six o'clock. Take us with you wherever you go. Listen live on the iHeartRadio app. Also
listen live at seven ninety Louisville dot com. And then we will let you guys be a part of the show today because I have I have a question for for both fan bases, and I think it's pretty fitting.
I don't I don't you know, I don't think I'm really having to go out and go out of my way to throw something out there to see if we can get some interaction from listeners, because I think if you're a Kentucky fan, you clearly in the last I don't mean maybe it's been something you've been thinking about longer than the last forty eight hours, but especially since the Tennessee game's out of the way in Cala, Perry's coming into Lexington on Saturday for his return, and of
course it's been a big topic this week or fan's gonna boo. I've seen a lot of infighting within BBN about if you boo, you're a piece of scum or you know the hell them, And I mean, I've got thoughts on I mean, people.
Can do it.
First of all, people can do whatever the hell they want. And I would never and would never be able to really understand why I would never do it. And I don't understand why others feel the need to like tell tell people how they should and shouldn't be a fan.
Now.
You know, sometimes if somebody's gonna do something that's that's over the top, you're not really telling them not to be You're not really telling them how to be a fan or how to not be a fan. You're really just telling them, like not to be a scumbag, right, Like if John Calipari's walking to this bench and somebody throws a you know, full play to nachos at him, I mean, that's not don't be a bad fan, that's don't be an a hole. Like that's just don't be
a piece of garbage. So that's a big thing. So I mean, I guess if you are against people booing, I want to know something other than well he did he did good for us, because like who's disputing that. I mean, I I'm looking at it from a little bit of a different lens because I I think on Cali Perry as a human being, I would never know if he's a good or bad man. I think he's
done some good things. I also have wondered if you know he did it to try to, you know, look like a good guy, or if he really is a good guy. And at the end of the day, if you're doing a good deed, you're doing a good deed.
And that's good.
But you know, I think Cali Perry, I mean I've seen some things. Again, would never claim to know him, but I know some things about him from some people who do that.
I don't think he's a great dude.
I mean, I just don't, so like, yeah, he did some good stuff for you, but like he hated you all towards the end, and he may not show that now. He's really doing a good job of being cal and acting like you know, it's going to be emotional and so many great times, so many great friends, and he's been the night. I mean really since he left, he's been the nice guy. And I think he was always
going to do that until he couldn't. And I'm not sure if he ever will be able to be the heel as far as like in your face, look at me now, because I mean, let's be real, this thing has I mean, this thing is is falling off the rails pretty early in Fadeville. I mean, they're not a good team, and I mean I don't They'll probably be better during his time there than they are this year,
but the ceiling's not super high for them there. And I think if Cal was in the same position as Kentucky, you know, with a bunch of really good wins, looking like a surefire bet for the tournament, he might.
Be a little like if the roles were reversed, he.
Might do like the sympathy thing and talk about how Mark's really I mean, he's doing a phenomenal job, but he'd also be real like arrogant about it because he would feel like, look at you guys, he wanted me gone. But he can't do that because his team's terrible and he's doing everything he did in Lexington, but you know, he doesn't have the good will built up there. He doesn't have the resources to where even when things are not going as good as they should, they still aren't terrible.
Because you know, you can roll out of bet It Canentucky and be a recruiter like he is and at least be decent to good. And I don't mean you could mean cal Perry deserves all the credit for being an elite recruiter, but I mean, if you bring in that kind of talent and you've got Kentucky behind you, you can be you can be good enough to you know, not get canned because you don't have good excess. And o's because your players alone are going to do enough
to where you're not, you know, terrible. So anyways, I just I'm not saying Kentucky fans should boo him because I don't know. There's people that I don't like that I genuinely, you know, in life, I don't want I don't want to give them the energy or I don't want to give them my energy and make it seem as if they they've won to where I'm thinking about
them a whole lot. But yeah, there's people if they come up in conversation, people that I've had, you know, history with, yeah, I would tell you I don't like them, you know, And I not to say that I'm hoping on their downfall, but you know, maybe I am. I don't try to think about it, but if I did, maybe I would end up at the end of that thought thinking, you know what, Hell, yeah, I hope they've rotten.
Hell.
I mean, I would never want to be that way, because you know, I try not to be a bad person, but you know, I just I wouldn't boo anybody just because that's not my personality. Like booing a person is weird to me. Doing it at a game, it's totally different because you know, you're you're in the moment, Like sports makes this crazy people and booing at a game is such a normal thing, right, Booing the refs, that kind of stuff, Booing a bad call or booing the opposing team, that's just normal.
But it really isn't anyway normal. Like imagine just being.
Upset at your food when you go to Chipotle, just boo. I mean, like it's not normal. So, like that's one thing I thought about on the way in. Is there's so much talk about it. Are you gonna boo? Should you boo? You better not boo. I'm gonna boo. Like it's a silly thing overall, But no doubt, regardless of what you do, if you're somebody that's like, Nope, I would never boo him because I appreciate him. He brought it to a title. Or if you're somebody that is
going to, you know, say the hell with him. I mean it, but it's an emotional thing, and I'm just I guess if you are somebody that's gonna be bothered by the fan base booing him, and if it seems as if there's more booze than cheers, I just wonder why is it because you just love cal that much or because not to say you should hate the man, but he is at a different school that you compete against. You're playing him Saturday. And also he wasn't good to you towards the end. Not only did he not sustain
success that he needs to sustain. And I'm not talking about like going to final fours every year like he did in his first five years, like he was, I mean two of the most two of the most embarrassing losses Kentucky's ever had. The NAA Tournament came in two out of three years with him coaching, when he had a National Player of the Year one year, and you know, three of the best guards in college basketball, three of
the best shooters that ever played a Kentucky. And he was never humble like he never, I mean he always, you know, acted like I don't who do we play next? I gotta go home and pet my dog like.
He would he would.
He was an a hole to you guys, And what I think is wild. And I'll give Shannon the dude some credit. I heard him briefly this morning mention this on the pre show, and He's right. Cal never really changed. He's been the same guy to you guys from start to finish. He just stopped winning and then he started to really kind of dip and then he became you know, if anything, I guess he became more stubborn, and you
get that way when things aren't going well. But at the end of the day, I kind of feel like he was consistent.
It's just man.
Whenever he's not on top of the world and he's acting like that, you know. I don't want to say you grow to despise him, but I mean, I look at it like this. It was a I well, I was going to talk about something personal, but I shouldn't
do that because it's not my business. But I'm sure there's people out there that know of a marriage or maybe it was them in their previous marriage, that the divorce when it actually happened wasn't as hard as you thought, because like the years leading up to knowing you're falling.
Apart, that's the hardest that is. That is what that is.
When you're real, really struggling because you know this isn't gonna work. We're not we're not in sync anymore, we're not in love anymore. And you know, you just go through the sadness and then you know, you break the ice and then you go through the process and it's still not something that you enjoy or that's fun, but like the hardest part's kind of out of the way. I kind of feel like that happened with Kentucky. They knew, even if they didn't tell you, but they knew Cal's
best day. I mean, I probably didn't know we're gonna lose to Oakland. It was that guy's name who went off for him, Golki. Yeah, I always forget his name, and I should remember him forever. I should get his I should get his name tattooed on my body.
But you need to expect that.
However, I mean, you knew, like you knew that that that your team was not going to be as good as they should be with him towards the end, and he was never gonna change. He was gonna be stubborn, not adapt to the new times and all that kind of stuff. So I don't know, I've I've found myself kind of interested in the whole dynamic here. But anyways, we'll let you guys react to it. And by the way, I mentioned something in a moment ago that that I
need to correct. I don't think you're gonna see I guess maybe more so here a good mixture of cheers and booze. I think that the the audio like what you're gonna hear hether you're there or it's on television, it's gonna be a negative thing for col because I would be willing to bet those that aren't gonna boo, A lot of them aren't gonna cheer, right, like not
gonna root him on. They're just kind of sitting silence, like okay, yeah, you know what I'm saying, Like, I don't think you're gonna get a mixture of cheers and booze. I think you're gonna get a mixture of cheers, silence, and then a little bit of I'm sorry booze silence, and then some applause and cheer. But I think, you know, I don't think it's I don't think it's this or that.
I don't meaning I don't think you're if you if you're not booing your cheer, and I think if you're not, if you're not booing, you're probably just gonna sit there like you typically do whenever they announce the opposing coach, for you know, for Kentucky basketball games. So what I wanted to bring in Louisville fans with this is who are you cheering for? And I kind of think I know the answer, But I have found it pretty pretty
easy to continue to hate watch Cali Perry coach. Right, Like Arkansas winning in Kentucky fans being sad about it, I feel like would have been something that I as a Louisville fan that is very much invested in the rivalry, I feel like that would have been something I would have enjoyed. But I mean, I'm still loving seeing cal choke and lose games that he probably shouldn't lose with a bunch of really talented players. And I'd be a
liar if I told you I don't know this for sure. Right, Maybe I'll go see a therapist and they'll tell me why I have these thoughts. In fact, that's a pretty helpful thing if you've never done it before.
Right.
I learned a lot about why I think the way I do when talking to a therapist. But I don't think that the reason I'm still rooting for Caw to lose is because Kenny Paine's on his bench. Like I'm not mad. I mean, it's still crazy that it happened, but it's in the past. Like I still think Kenny Payne is a bomb as a coach, I mean, and I thought he really handled him self very poorly as a human with the whole situation here. I mean, that's my thoughts, But like it's not something I sit around
and stew on. Again, as I've said many times, the only time I think about Kenny Paine and his two years here as a coach is when it hits me how great things are going now.
And yeah, I mean, but.
The for it to be as bad as it was, as consistently awful as it was from start to finish, I mean, that's how you ended up in the situation where you get Pat Kelsey and you know, here we are, none of us knew if it was gonna work out. That's like I think if Rick Bettino was at Iona earlier than he was and he was having great success and Chris Mack stunk in his first two years.
We'd be real bitter towards Rick.
But because Mack was winning pretty early and the success was there in his first couple of years, he didn't, you know, it wasn't even.
Something you thought about.
Like if Louisville was in a terrible position and let's say Pat Kelsey was awful and we got like five wins. Right now, I think all the anger would be honestly towards a variety of people, but Kelsey be one of them, Heard would be one of them, but probably more so Kenny like now just comes up in conversation like did that happen?
Is that real?
So that's why I'm asking Louisville fans, do you do you want to see Cal and Kenny Payne lose? Like
would that give you anything? Or are you still going to be I would say the common Louisville fan which doesn't know how to not root for the team playing Kentucky because that's me, right Like, I think I'm going to be cheering for Arkansas and it'd be the first time ever in my life as a Louisville fan if Kentucky basketball is on and I'm you know, not up yelling or hooting and hollering, but like I'm I'm wanting
them to win and not the opponent. So maybe this is going to be a real learning experience for me, right Like, maybe Pope is going to be that hard to dislike to where I'm still just gonna prefer to see you know, Cal lose and Kenny Payne.
Lose, but I don't know.
I just I don't think that it necessarily deserves game day like Kentucky fans did. But if they got it, I wouldn't complain. And if there's anybody to blame for it not getting maybe more attention from ESPN.
It's that Arkansas sucks. That's what it is.
I mean, and he's at Arkansas, Like Arkansas is a good program, certainly a really good program when it comes to fans support, they've got more history. Eric Musselman reminded people that Arkansas in fact was a basketball school and can be a basketball school, but you know it's not Kentucky, right, So certainly a big matchup on Saturday, and I have no doubt Kentucky will win, but it's because Arkansas is
just not any good all right. Some other things we'll get into today, certainly a lot that we need to run through, and I mean a whole lot. I mean some I mean some nonsports stuff that, of course, you know, we'll have some fun with. But obviously the tragic situation last night where the collision at the Reagan National Airport with the hellic I mean, I don't even really know
how to talk about it right, like I could. I could be straight newsman and read you the news reports and updates, but I'm sure you already have that information, and that's not really what we do here. But something like that, I mean, that's my biggest fear about flying, something like that happening, and it's such a rare thing, it's I mean, but man, the amount of people who have lost, I mean, who are dead from this, It's just it's horrific. It's one of those things that doesn't
seem real and leaves your speechless. So I didn't want to ignore that, and I'm not really sure what I can add to it, but what a horrific situation. Some other things we'll get into. I don't know if we have a whole lot of details just yet, but not
a great look for Terry Rozier. I don't mean, I don't want to accuse him of something that, you know, maybe he is not involved in, but it now has at least gotten out to I think it was the Wall Street Journal who broke the story that federal prosecutors have been investigating Rosier because he might have been involved in the John tay Porter point shaving situation. So there's a ring of people accused of conspiring with Porter, and there's I guess, I mean, there's belief enough to have
a law. Again, this has been a long term investigation that that that they believe Rose is a part of that. So again, I hope that's not true for a variety of reasons, but man, Terry may be the ultimate guy that that that that at this point if he is, if he is involved in something, you know, if he ends up impacting his livelihood where he's held accountable legally
and loses his career in the NBA. Love Terry, Love his story, and we'll expand on him a little bit later in the show because I actually think there's some things about Terry that a lot of people don't know. But he'll go down as the biggest dumbass ever. Terry Ro's here, one of the highest paid guards of the NBA. What the hell's he doing now? If it's to help out a buddy, I mean, that would make it make
more sense, But you're still going to be categorized. This is an insanely foolish person that did something really stupid that that like good, ruin your life, ruin other people's lives, so again, I don't think we're gonna get any new information today, but it is out there, and uh yeah, not a good look. We talked about this yesterday and I'm not really sure what else we can we can add. But the love fest for Tyler Shuck continues, as he's
looking really good at the Senior Bowl. And I don't know what his ceiling is as far as the draft, right, I don't know how early he can go. But other than just being a guy who's older that did have injury issues early in his career, I'm not really sure what they're what there is to not like, And I don't mean that he's got the ceiling as if some of the as some of these other young quarterbacks who are going to go first round. But you know, Shuck's got a really good arm, he's got a good feel.
You know, he seems to be pretty clutch too, and and he put together a really good season for Jeff Brohms. So I uh, I love to see that he's getting a lot of love, but I'm I'm more so anxious to see, Okay, how much is he really improving his draft stock here? Because he's been talked about more than any quarterback there and and that can only that can only mean good things. But again I don't know where you know where that could put him as far as
what round he could be expected to be taken. Also, last thing I want to mention before we take a time out is I continue to try to at the table here. Big news for the ACC as ESPN has picked up their option for the TV deal. The network granted rights. All that you know, the grant of rights ending in twenty thirty six was a known thing for many years, but it became a bigger conversation once lawsuits were filed by Clemson and Florida State, Because until I think, yeah,
until February first, the ACC hadn't Yeah, I'm sorry. ESPN had until February first to decide are they going to opt in for the remaining years? So if they decided not to, the deal would end in twenty thirty seven, and that's when if it's fallen apart, nobody's held to it.
Therefore the ACC would die.
Right it falls apart, there clearly would be some value in the league.
But you worry about are we going to be one of the leftovers? Right?
Are we going to be in one of these newly formed conferences. That's just essentially the has beens of the ACC. Well, the acctill stood on in great shape, but this means that this won't happen and the league's not going to
fall apart. And I do think you're going to see other conferences maybe take some things that the ACC and ESPN are doing moving forward, because let's be real, not everybody's getting what they earn, right, Bandy's getting the same rev share in football as you know Georgia, and it's been that way forever. Well, now the ACC to keep the big dogs happy. They're gonna get a little more on their plate if they're out there doing the work. And that makes sense, right, You get what you earn.
And just imagine how much more money could be brought in by the big dogs and the big conferences. You know, Rutgers, You think they're entitledly of the same money that Ohio State is. I don't think so. All Right, we're loaded today and it's a fun day, an emotional day. I say, we've got the return of the comp of the company man, mister John Alden, so stick with us again. We'll take gyptil six o'clock. Phone lines are open five oh two,
five to seven one seventy nine hundred. It's right, It's coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's here on sports Talk seven ninety. Thanks for hanging out with us. Five oh two five seventy nine hundred is the number if you want to give us a call. Phone lines are open. You can also text in on the L and N Federal Credit Union text line five two six five three zero seven ninety speaking of our friends, our partners over
at LLENN Federal Credit Union. It was actually part of the of In fact, I wouldn't have known this had it not been for the crew that John is a part of in the mornings on Whas because there was a vehicle that drove into an LNN branch here in Louisville, and I mean I.
Believe, I believe.
I read that the driver had a seizure, which of course a very scary thing that could happen, so no control over the vehicle obviously, and ended up driving through one of their branches. So it does sound like for the most part, everybody is okay, safe, but man a scary situation. I saw a video on I guess it was TikTok because really, that's that's my life. Seemingly, I didn't realize how much I liked TikTok and used TikTok until you know, there was a chill was nearly gone.
It was gone for a couple of days, then it
came back. But there's a video of a guy at a car dealership and I don't remember the con text or I don't know if we've got context, but I'd never seen someone just get that kind of footage of all right, I'm sitting here in the showroom at a desk that is I don't know, maybe ten yards from the from the front the entrance, where of course it's just a big glass wall window where you can see all the fancy cars, and I think somebody was upset about something so they just I think they tried to
bring a car back and had issues saying that, you know, you can't return this car on it, so they just drove it through. And man, that would I mean talk about especially if you're just I just being in there and not, you know, not not paying attention to what's around you just hear a vehicle ram through of business. It happens, probably more often than than I would realize. But yeah, hopefully our our friends over at Ellen and
FCU are doing okay. All right, So big news this morning from from the ACC and ESPN as they have decided to meeting. ESPN has decided to pick up the
back half of the contract. The grant of rights was signed roughly gosh, maybe eight nine years ago, and I didn't even realize there was this, And I imagine a lot of these, a lot of these contracts, grant of rights deals that had well, never mind, I was gonna say, they probably have similar, similar clauses or I guess, you know, just things within the within the contract that allows the you know, the investor, somebody that's given you all this
money to put your your content, your games on their network. You know, they'll have an opportunity to reset and see if they want to pick up the rest of it. But all other conferences not only do they, I mean they don't.
They don't have a.
Deal that is locked in for what was it twenty straight years? I mean that's I mean twenty thirty six, So it's actually longer than twenty years, I believe. So that was silly and we all know that now, but it became a bigger talking point because the acc I mean, I don't know if I ever really believed it was on his deathbed, because I just assumed that there could be a whole lot of people complaining out here and you know, claiming that they're owed more money and they're.
Going to file lawsuits.
But you really don't, you know, you sign a contract, right, I mean, like Clemson in Florida State, which by the way, I do love Clemson. Now now that this is probably you know, they're going to both Clemson and Florida State and other programs too. I'm sure that didn't file a lawsuit will love the idea of being able to bring in more money based off of what they produce for the league.
That's the way it should be.
So Clemson now is like, well, just so you know, our lawsuit wasn't about us wanting to leave.
It was about us.
We just wanted to We wanted to be able to get to actually see the grain of rights and understand what our options were. They're trying to play nice now we're Florida State. I mean, I think they looked foolish doing it at the time, and man did they look bad after they claimed they were so much better than everybody in the league, and they were the most disappointing team in college football maybe in a decade this past season. I mean, they were one of the worst teams all together.
And you know, they here they are whole than now, and yet they fell on their face. So but if anything, they were at least upfront, like you know, you heard quotes from Florida State board members that were, you know, acting as if everybody else in the league is poverty programs and their superior. And then you know, it didn't didn't play out that way. But what feared me about the future of the ACC was ESPN not picking up this this next I guess back half of the contract.
And I really had no reason to think that they wouldn't, but Florida State and Clemson's suing, I mean, that was a bad look. Like I think ESPN probably is. I mean, the ACC network is such a I mean, think about who owns ESPN, Disney. I mean, the ACC network is a big deal to us, and clearly it's a it's
a property that they're investing a lot in. I mean again, it's a big investment from ESPN and Disney to work with with with the ACC Like they have, but it's probably not top tier on their priority list, so they're fine with leaving it as is. But I just, you know, I worried about everybody. If other schools would have felt fear enough to take an illegal move, like Florida State and Clemson, then maybe it would have been Okay, this is a mess, like there's no there's no real continuity here.
Not everybody's on the same page. And because of that, you know, we're out. And if that happens again, that would mean that in twenty twenty seven you you would be auditioning to get an invite to the Big Ten, the Big twelve, or the SEC and I think louisvill would have ended up probably in one of those. But I mean maybe I'm wrong, And to be one of those left out, I mean you'd be in a different world, you really would be. So all in all, it's good news.
And the I think what makes it absolutely innovative if I can it sounds like I'm that sounds like a stretch when I use that word innovative. However, I think be you know, and it wasn't probably by design. It's probably what they felt like they had to do to get everybody on the same page to all be good, you know, members of the team.
Of course, the.
Team meeting the ACC giving schools a bigger share based off of what they do and earn. I mean, that's just how things should be in life. And this is like the first time the ACC's done something that I feel like other leagues are going to say, you know what, that makes a lot of sense, why aren't we doing that? And I doubt they even can because I'm sure as
of now. I mean, if you're in the Big Ten and you're Rutgers, or if you're in the SEC and you're I don't know, Mississippi State or Kentucky and football, you sign something claiming that until this date, this is what it is, we're getting an equal share. So maybe it's something that does get discussed by the SEC, the Big Ten, maybe even the Big twelve whenever they're getting closer to working on a new deal with their TV partner.
But that's the way that it should be.
And I think in a perfect world you'd have a bunch of real big time brands that are doing a whole lot to bring value to your league. But that's not the ACC. So I mean, Boston College, Wake Forest, who else give me some bums from the ACC, John.
Those are I won't say Virginia Tech, but they're not a bomb.
Well, Virginia Tech is a bum but they have history, so they don't look at they're like the they're they're the nicer of the bumps. Col' oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Cal And really any of any of the newbies. I mean, look Stanford, yes, Stanford, Cal And again they're in especially SMU and and Stanford. They're in markets or near markets
that are big. But you know, they also don't have like a whole lot of I mean, the ACC having roots in those areas has some value to it, maybe more value than I want to give it credit for. But like, it's not as if you've just brought in this massive audience that's going to watch SMU and Stanford football. Because where you're located, you are, i mean, especially Stanford football, Like where are they at on the pecking order of entertainment when it comes to sports in the Bay Area.
Probably not anywhere near the top seven or eight. So what I'm getting at is these schools out here, they're they're gonna think, Okay, this is still good for us, because we you know, will take what we can get. We know who we are, right, there's no they have no argument. So if the ACC fell apart, those would be the teams that like who knows what kind of because you already see at this point they don't have the same money to invest in their programs like other
schools do within their own league. Right, Like Boston College, they like their share of the ACC's network revenue is got to be easily the biggest payday they have every year. Like where I mean, they don't sell out football or basketball, Like they're not monetizing their properties when it comes to Boston College athletics in a way that others can.
So yeah, it might make it.
A little stressfulter where they got to get more creative, but their best case scenario is always going to be a bottom feeder and a power for a league. Right, you get to Conference USA, you get to the American Even, you know you're you're entering a different neighborhood and it's
not a better neighborhood. So if you can have you know, the shack in the neighborhood that maybe was able to not be demolished because of some hoa stipulation, you know, you just kind of keep to yourself, right, I mean, and I think that's what most of the most of the ACC members at the bottom will do. And it gives you know, for example, SMU, they they are rare in kind of in their own world when you think
about how much money they have. But it's not from any review, But I'm just if SMU was this newbie that took a big jump up here to the ACC and they didn't have all the money coming from boosters and they can just round up funds like nobody else, it's really rare.
But let's just.
Say they entered the ACC this year and everything was the same other than that component, no one they got money falling out the rear end.
Well they would have.
They would have changed everything for them, right, they would have been able to take advantage of Okay, not only are you going to get a share of the ACC, because you remember you were a big part of the value. You made the college football playoff. So again, it's good news overall. I'm happy that the ACC, I guess you know, is not dying and you'll see nobody leave but at least not you know, anytime soon. But we got to get better. We got to get better in basketball. We
got to get better in football. I mean, I never thought i'd say it a few years ago because the ACC in football for a while has kind of been falling. It was, you know, Clemson and everybody else, and now Clemson's not what they once were, and nobody's come close to where Clemson was at that time when they were on top. So it's wild to say it, but I believe it. The ACC and football, even knowing what it is objectively, it's in a better spot than I think
basketball is. I mean, I know I talk about it probably more than anybody wants to hear, but it's.
Just wild to know.
Louisvell's in a conference and they have no games left on the schedule in January, meaning it's January still and they have no games left until early March to get any wins of value. They played a fifteen and five team and beat them by double digits two days ago, and they fell in the metrics. Like that's where we are, folks,
And again we can't do anything about it. But maybe with some continuity now and some togetherness, everybody getting on the same page, maybe that'll help with you know, because what they need to do, especially in basketball, like there needs to be a real message to athletic directors, presidents and coaches you have to schedule a certain way.
I mean, we're not gonna.
Want to lie, and hey, they had to do it in football. Do you remember when the ACC was going on the road to play at places like APP State or East Carolina?
What are you doing?
I mean you're just asking to get embarrassed, and look, you should win. But if you go there and win by forty, what did you get out of it? It was a charitable act. That's not what this is. This is high stakes business. And I remember it being a real message might have been from Swafford right before he left, like hey, you we.
Can't do that.
I know you got fans of NC State that are in boone and whatnot, but like, no, like you're just giving charity away and then we would the acc'd mess around and lose some of those games if you remember. Which again, that's what just makes it so frustrating, is that when the league is in a tough spot because teams are just down, and you know, things that just happen, that's one thing, but whenever there are avoidable things happening that continue to make the acc in basketball and football.
Look the way it looks like, that's just like, what are we doing here? What we're doing is going to take a quick break. We'll come back on the other side. I'll get to some of these texts that have come in. I asked the question, if you're a Lois a fan, who do you want to win?
Cal?
And Kenny Payne or Mark popa Kentucky And if you're a Kentucky fan, I did get some interesting responses as far as why would you be so against somebody booing Cal? And we'll get to all that and more. Stick with us right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. That's right, it's Coffee and Company Field by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Let's go to the time.
X line five two six five three zero seven ninety is the len N Federal Credit Union text line. Members get more at Ellenn Federal Credit Union. You can learn more and open your accounts today at LNFCU dot com. I was hoping to not slip up there because since you since you left us for h AS or we lost you to HS however you want to look at it, I've gotten better at the credit union you can you know what I mean at the Ellen in Federal Credit Union,
you can learn. You know that they used to used to trip me up a lot, but I've gotten better at it. But I was thinking, oh, I'm over, I'm going to try to here, I am trying to show off in front of the company man because he's back, and maybe I stumble, but I was able to.
Get through it. But this text was this text was super Kentucky.
Fan who says that essentially they're not going to boo cal because they actually feel sorry for him. And then they agreed with me and saying that Nick, you're you're spot on. I don't know why anybody would tell fans they can't boove. You don't want to boo, you don't have to boo. But it They went on to kind of talk about it's a long and I appreciate the long text, and I do read them. It's just I'm not going to read every one of them word for word when they're a little bit on longer side.
But yeah, I mean, I I.
Feel like a phony trying to act like I have, you know, the same kind of perspective you could have because not only I'm not a Kentucky fan, I want you all to lose, Like I mean, so it's quite the opposite. But I think in a way, right know your enemies pretty well. That's what you want to do, right, You gotta be prepared for the ops. I feel like I have a perspective. That doesn't mean I'm you know,
looking out for your best interest. But if I'm just being real, like your coach was not good to you guys, and I'm not even talking about like winning and losing. So again, here's where I'm at with it. If you don't want to boo, cool, If you want to cheer, do whatever you want, that's cool too. But I have just been kind of surprised by those that have made it such a big thing to just tell everybody you better not boo if you do your your your scumbag.
That's what I just don't get. And it's not because i'm you know, it's not because I think he deserves to be booed. But I just like, what other than him being your coach and having some good success and by the way, that doesn't matter, right, he had some great years, just some great things. He brought you back as far as relevance at a time that you needed it more than you ever did Tubby. That just kind of got stale. Good coach, no doubt, but Kentucky wasn't Kentucky.
They were recruiting players that you really had no business being there, and they'd slipped far enough to where like you knew you had to do something.
Well, then you hired Billy. That was a joke.
You were relevant for all the wrong reasons for that two year debacle. Well, Calc comes in. He's on top of the world, so like that has value.
He did good things. I'm not saying that you should boo him.
Because he was a terrible coach, but to me, it's just more about It pains me to say it, but I've said it many times. It's the truth. Kentucky's the best basketball job in the country. There's not a better head coaching job in college basketball than Kentucky, and I I'm being honest, I don't think I don't think it's close. There's a lot of factors that come to play with that. I mean, one, you have every resource she'd ever need. Five different coaches have won titles there, which I think
tells you they got three sources. If you can coach a little ball you can win. And I'm not kidding you. The only two people that coached at Kentucky that did not win championships clearly weren't great coaches, but they also had drinking issues that absolutely got in their way. So like, maybe if they didn't have that, they didn't have to
be elite. They could still win. So for cal to have that have a passionate fan base that still would get behind him and support him even whenever he would mock them and talk down to them as if they didn't know Basketball, would quite literally go out of his way to do things that he knew the fans didn't like because he was that stubborn. Like, I just think he had the best job in the sport, a lifetime contract,
a salary that nobody else would pay him. I mean, he took a pay cut to go to Arkansas, not by much, but still he took less money, and he gave up a lifetime contract. So he had all that, and yet he didn't have any humility at all to kind of say, all right, I got it pretty good here and things kind of falling apart. Things are kind of rapidly declining for me, I should buckle down.
I should.
I should, you know, not reinvent yourself, but maybe you know, get some hunger back to kind of get this thing back on track, because man, I got the best thing going right now and I don't want to lose it. He never really seemed to have the appreciation for it. He felt and this is this text just came in said, I'm gonna boom my ass off because he's the only coach the coached here that I truly believe felt like he was bigger than Kentucky basketball.
I totally get it like that. That's what I was.
That's literally what I what I was getting at is that he felt like it was Cal and not Kentucky. And it look it can be both. I think Pope is intentionally, but also I think it's genuine. I think it's just his nature. But also I think Pope knows the their fan base, not that they need the healing process that Louisville fans need after the insane Kenny Payne era, but they had taken steps back. They were underwhelmed, and their coach didn't hit. He didn't check boxes that Pope
can can check and clear. Some of that's unfair to Cal because cal didn't play there. Pope played there when a national championship as a team captain. Like that's just that's something that you could have the biggest bankroll in the world to go hire anybody. They nobody else can give you that, because I mean it's a rare thing. But he also knows and understands and like is super humble and always puts Kentucky in the fans above everybody, and you know, that's the way.
To do it.
So I don't know, I just feel like to just treat it like any other game. If you're a Kentucky fan, props to you, because I just I don't know if I be I would be able to. But you know, again, I can't put myself in your shoes. But for me, I mean, I just think it comes down to maybe he'll one day be humble and admit that he was stubborn on the way out and things weren't working, and he did say that you know, time for a new
voice or you know, something like that. But I mean, even after he took the deal at Arkansas, he tried to come back and walk his dog like it was any other day to maybe get to maybe like.
Oh, he hasn't left yet. He's still here. Can we go beg him to stay?
And they showed up to tell him that, Like, no, if you don't, I mean, if you're not taking the job, you've violated your contract. You spoke to another job, you spoke to another school about a job without getting approval or consent to the school. That's part of your contract. So I just feel like he was humble. He was not humble in any way. All right, let's talk about
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around right here. It's coffee and company fueled. But Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety