1.7: Still Snowed In - Hour 1

gonna have fun. But I'll explain myself. So I made the decision today to leave the house in my vehicle, and I had not done that since the snowing on Saturday, Like a Sunday morning, so again, I have a driveway that anybody who ever comes to my home for the first time probably pulls in or chooses not to pull in, and then they walk up to the home, or maybe they did pull in and they just think, man, it would suck to live here. This driveway sucks and it it You're You're not wrong.

So I thought I left enough traction area to where if I get some decent speed, I've now got some spots to kind of, you know, take off from. And I tried, and I got even closer. But what happened is once I once I started sliding back down, my vehicle completely slid to the left.

mean it's my wife's fault. I'm not gonna blame her, but I'm just gonna tell everybody that listens to my radio sure that it's her fault because I said, look, honey, I don't think it's a good idea for me to be out uh and in risk not having because we've got enough snow here now to where they're the the the community that I live in, I'm not sure if it's like the government city the city if I don't know who does it, but we get our like the community,

we live in plows our roads. So you know what's happened is that like every but the end of everybody's driveway is just a big wall of snow because they're just pushing it to the side. Right, So I don't even like, I don't even have the ability to leave my vehicle in the road. So I did not want to get my car out. I wanted to say, look,

I'll just work from home. We're gonna go to the game tonight, Like, well, you know, I'll just meet you meet me here after you get off work and when I'm done with the show, bull head down and we'll go because I don't trust my vehicle.

like I'm worried. I mean, I'm gonna have to literally either pay somebody to come and completely clean off the driveway or I'm gonna have to do it myself because if not, like we're not getting me we're not getting below freezing anytime soon, and we're gonna get more of this you know, wintery mix or whatever. Maybe it's snow, maybe it's ice. I haven't followed, but I know Friday we're supposed to get more winter weather. So I got

to figure something out. But I just now know that with the vehicle that I have, I'm just gonna have to leave it in the garage if in fact we get weather like this, because it's it's a it's a nightmare scenario for me. But hey, at least have electricity. There's still people out there that they don't have power, which would be a real issue. Apparently some folks in Oldham County are still dealing with some power outages, So godspeed, that would be that would be the worst uh being

being stuck in with no electricity. And I mean even if you could find a way, like if you have a fireplace or you've got like a generator, like obviously you know that could that that could help you get by to where you're not gonna freeze to death. Maybe you can keep your fridge on that kind of stuff. But still, like that's such an inconvenience and it and it, you know, I mean, if you don't have those resources, like a generator, that kind of stuff, it can be

more dangerous. But yeah, if if the only thing I gotta deal with is making the decision myself to leave and then not be able to get up my driveway, then I'd say I'm doing okay compared to some Because again, I'm sure there are many of you right now that may not even be listening because you don't have electricity.

I've already wasted nine minutes of the first hour here discussing my personal issues, which I'm sure none of you care about, but Louisville Clemson's and eight Can I say it kind of feels like a big game, like it kind of feels like, you know, it kind of feels like something we haven't had in a while. And when I mean by that is a conference game where you have momentum and you realize you're playing well enough to where you should win.

really been very gracious with tickets. I mean, he's purchased I'm not sure how many in total, but I know a lot of folks were able to secure a couple of tickets, and I think even earlier today. I don't know if they're still available now, but I know he did a giveaway yesterday, last night and even earlier today, So I'm sure if you want to try to find some tickets for free, it wouldn't be that difficult to do. Maybe I'm wrong, but either way, the folks that are

there like this is where we're at now. And I know I'm setting myself up here to say something that gets used against me, to make fun of Louisville basketball and all that kind of stuff, and I know people are going to hear what they want to hear and take it in whatever direction they want to take it.

it'll be much of an issue. So I know that that's not ideal, meaning where Louisville basketball just becomes a program that you know, for games that have value, they're at least filling up the lower bowl. Like I know we want to get back to twenty two thousand plus and all that, and maybe we will one day when

it comes to the big games. But I mean, I bring all this up to say, I still feel like, even though the number may not be impressive on the box score or whatever they announce, maybe you'll go tonight and you'll look up, you'll look upstairs and see that it's not full.

I even brought up attendance. I really didn't want to do that, but I started talking about how the tickets could still be available, and I just, you know, I can't help myself.

to how they spend their money, how they spend their time. So, you know, Louisville basketball and even Kentucky ran into this at some point, and I'm not sure if it's still the case or not, but the lower level people would be dressed like you know, business first class, and they wouldn't necessarily be into it as much, and it would be a complaint because you know, there'd be you know,

it's funny how things evolve. The conversation about a crowd and attendance this day and age is now about like way, there's many people go into games like, well, can you believe there's empty seats? That kind of stuff, but you know, not even I guess maybe right around ten years ago, the conversation was about not about the people who went, because you had people that went, but it was about who they were, right, like why can't we get more or the high energy fans down there instead of the

red sweater vests that have their arms crossed. You know, why is the students section not a bigger representation? Why isn't our student section better? Because years ago we didn't leave that many seats for the students because you know, there were other people that will be paying top dollar to get season tickets in that spot because that was kind of a thing to do. So look, I think the whole you know, the generational aspect of it is

is a bigger deal than people realize. But to your point, the people that are down there now in those lower seats, I mean, I feel like more often than not, it's not just like what they show on the big screen or what you see on television, but like if you're there, like it's a good atmosphere. The people that are there clearly are all.

the holiday has passed. So you're gonna start seeing every Tuesday, every you know, every Wednesday, the occasional Thursday, like the college basketball we got conference games from the Power five leagues. Really Monday through I mean, it's all week, to be honest with you, but I think Tuesdays are going to continue to be the big days where.

thoughts as to where it is right now. Bracketology is something that I oftentimes kind of laugh at, and I still think it is funny that we look at it so much, because you know, we know there's gonna be a lot of games played, and whatever your resume looks like now may not look that way. In fact, there's a good chance it doesn't look exactly the same when you get to selection Sunday. But I've just been able

to ignore bracketology in recent years for obvious reasons. But now I'm looking everywhere any you know, anybody that's got to that's got a bracket that they've put together that partakes in bracketology. I'm wanting to see where Louisville is. And it's just nice to know that, like, hey, we're we're able to kind of right now. No guarantee they make it, but right now looks like they're probably in.

And to know that, you know, you're alive when we're you know, a couple of months away from from from selection Sunday. We don't want to feel like this is like a reason to party, but it kind of feels like a reason to party because of how bad things have been in recent years. And we got a lot of other things we'll get into today, so stick around. It's Coffee and Company. We are fuel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety from the Fox Sports

Studios in Los Angeles. You're listening to Coffee and Company with Nick Coffee on Sports Talk seven nine day. So no movement yet in the point spread. Louisville still favored by three and a half. That is what I saw is the opening line yesterday. Not a not a real surprise, probably probably a game that you know makes sense that there wouldn't be much change before you get to actual tip off. And I'm just looking here at all the

games that we have tonight. Kentucky's taking on Georgia at Georgia clearly a road game in the SEC, with the league being as good as it is. I mean one, I don't know if there's anybody in the SEC this year that you look at a road game and think, you know, well, let's just go in there and get it over with because we know we can play subpar.

Pitt will play. Pitt will go to Duke, and I cannot believe Duke's a fourteen and a half point favorite. I guess, I guess that makes sense. Duke's a really good team. You know, they have a great, great resume right now. I mean, their losses are too good teams, and they actually have decent wins. They're really really favorable in both the Ken Palm and the nets.

college basketball season. So maybe I shouldn't be surprised, because look, the ACC stinks, but Duke's an elite team this year that nobody'd be shocked if they end up winning the national championship. Therefore, Pittsburgh clearly being the second best team in the ACC, them being you know behind, you know, them being favored by fourteen and a half, I guess really isn't that big of a that big of a surprise. But according to Ken Pom, Pittsburgh seventy eight. I'm sorry,

Duke will win seventy eight to sixty six. So if you for somebody that wants to get in on some action there, the Kin Palm formula would tell you that Pittsburgh should be able to cover that big number there. But yeah, I mean, let's just get into it. Because bracketology, you know, everybody's aware that it's really not worth a

whole lot. And the reason I guess I feel the need to kind of remind people all the time about that is because I feel like a hypocrite because I've always fought anytime I see a bracketology link, rather it be from Lenardi or some of the other college basketball outlets out there that do bracketology.

big companies. But you know, whenever you've got a team that, of course you know, is looking like they're safely in the tournament, looking like they're going to be on the bubble, you know, you find yourself looking pretty often because you just want it's a reference point, right You know that whoever's putting that out there, it's not the real bracket. You also know that college basketball still has plenty of

time to go before we get there. So you know, I think we can acknowledge that it doesn't mean a whole lot, but also, you know, it gives you at least a reference point because more often than not, in bracketology right now as it stands, with what fourteen to fifteen games for everybody that's that's played, and you still have your entire conference slate to go for everybody, it's not it doesn't take that hard to kind of really, you know, it wouldn't be easy to just snap your

fingers into. But if you look at generally where teams are in the kin palm and the net, you could even reference the AP if you want, you can probably get a feel for like the range of whatever seed certain teams would be. And at this point in the game, that's what at least I'm looking at, right, I'm not looking at who they're against, what region they're in, because that is the ultimate toss up that really you can't predict. That's just that's that's not based off of you know,

resume quite as much. So again there's my claimer. Yes, I have oftentimes talked about how silly bracketology is, but it probably.

So anyways, right now, Louisville according to Lenardi, And I mentioned this yesterday with bracket guy Dave, and I always shout him out because he's just a regular dude who just decided he wanted to get in that game, if you can call it a game, the bracketology game, and every year Bracketmatrix dot coms allows anybody to be a part of it and share you know, their updates and far as far as what they project, and you know, they don't treat anybody any different, right, And That's why

I always make funnel Nardi because this is you know, he's Joey Brackett's he's in his bracket bunker whenever they've got college basketball going on in February. And yet he's not even like for years, he wasn't even a top fifty guy as far as being accurate when it comes

to how the field looks. So anyways, but the one that everybody looks at more often than than you know, than others, and it's reference more than any than any place on ESPN and Leonardi, So I'll use is just because I realized that's the one that you know, even if he's not the most accurate, it's the one that

most people are probably gonna reference. If you google bracketology or if you ask somebody have you seen the latest bracketology, They're probably gonna think you're talking about the one and only Joey Bracketts. So LOUISVI right now, according to Lenardi, would be in as a ten seed, and they are one of five ACC teams that would be in today. So again this goes back to the conversation about the ACC.

They have wins against West Virginia, LSU, Ohio State, you know, and then the rest of the way they're gonna play ACC teams, So tonight this is their biggest chance to kind of show who they are a road game at Duke, but like if they end up getting blown out, wouldn't be a big shock. And then the rest of the way, like they could end up going let's just let me throw it. Let's say Pittsburgh goes sixteen and four. Seventeen and three in the ACC. That I mean that that

would put them at twenty six and five. Like you would think typically an ACC team with that kind of record would get a really good seed, but at this point, like I don't know if they would. They're gonna clearly they'd make the tournament and they'd have a fine seed, but like the I think right now seeing sort of where And this isn't just Leonardi again, nobody's picking on the ACC. Anybody claiming that college basketball nerds and bracketology

folks are you know, just they're biased against the ACC. No, like pay attention, wake up. The league has fallen off in hoops in a major way. And yes, I'm aware Louisville had a big role in that they were really bad for a long time and they used to be counted on as a program to support the belief that the ACC is a really good league. But you know what, like they're probably well, they could finish in the top

five of this league this year. And you know, I think that's say a lot about Pat Kelse, but let's be real, it also say a lot about the league as far as what it is now compared to what it wants. To be what it once was, I should say, so Pittsburgh is a sixth seed safe and then after that you gotta go down to a non seed. That's where Clemson is. Louisville is a ten seed, Carolina is an eleven seed, which actually puts them on the bubble, and technically Louislle could be on the Louis's on the

bubble as well. I guess they're not the They're not the.

So here's your chance. You play another team of your caliber that's fortunate to be here, and your gift is having to play one seed in the second round, and that'll be where you really get a chance to show if you're good or not. Like, in fact, the eight nine games typically I feel like feature at least two or three, in fact, four of the overall eight seeds that go out to the eight or nine seeds that are out there, if you know what I'm saying. And I think I may not have worded that the way

I wanted to, but you know what I mean. Right, there's four eight seeds and four nine seeds at least half of each are teams that, like you kind of know should have been better than they were, but like you know, you understand why they're seeded where they are. But if they get hot, like maybe they could end up really challenging that one seed in the round of thirty two. I'm just getting I'm just getting lost here

talking bracketology because it's been a long time. It's kind of like I forgot how good a drug was then I was away from it for a while and now it's kind of back, like I'm just want to talk brackets.

you're one with Pat Kelsey. And I think you know tonight like Louisville to me with the way they played against Carolina, And I know Carolina is way down, like they're not safely in the tournament, no doubt, trust me. I know all that, but I still believe despite that,

they're one of the more talented teams in the conference. Therefore, like if you can beat Carolina, beat Virginia about twenty, and then take care of business and beat Clemson at home, a team that right now is in the tournament, and if you beat them, it probably doesn't remove it won't remove them from the tournament. Therefore, like I feel like the rest of the way, not to say you can just put it on cruise control and not worry about

anybody else, because you could lose to anybody. We learned that against Utel, we learned that against EKU, So like they're gonna have to come ready to play. They have very little room for error when it comes to poor play and still expecting to win. But just given where the league is, you've already played Duke, that's out of the way. They're clearly in a world of their own when it comes to this league right now, and you

don't play Carolina again. If Clemson is like these two, these next two games Clemson and Pitt, those are your opportunities to get wins of value. Now Pitt will be here at home at some point later in the year, so you'll have an opportunity for them twice. You will play SMU at their place, and that'll be a quad one win, but not like a valuable win. So I kind of feel like these next two games, not to say that they're going to really decide where this team goes.

giving them the benefit of the doubt. I felt like, Okay, yeah, losing always sucks, but man, I think they're starting to get a little more comfortable each game with this new version of themselves without Prior, without Korn, and they're gonna get Trey ou Ray back, and at that point, who

knows what the ceiling is. But man, I still feel like this team, despite these losses piling up pretty early in the season one, it's been a really challenging schedule, and the rest of your schedule is really not all that tough considering how down the ACC is. So like, I don't want to act like I'm gonna, you know,

turn heel and start, you know, crushing this team. But I think if you win one of these next two, and hell if you win two of them, both of them, I should say then, like, there's really no excuse for you to not do what's needed the rest of the way to make the tournament, because, you know, unless you have an injury, unless somebody, you know, unless something happens like that, like you've told on yourself to an extent.

And I don't want to act like I'm setting them up for I got your moment where hey, I propped you guys up and you let me down.

And obviously tonight's a much more winnable matchup than it is on Saturday, because at pitt you got to go there, and they're better than Clemson. I feel like, maybe even a lot better now that I consider, because I've watched both these teams play at least a couple of games, so you know, you still have to go out there

every night. You can't take any buddy lightly just because you know, Louisville basketball used to be in a world where you could have a C plus game and yet still win by double digits against a lot of the teams you play in your league because you were in the elite standard of your conference, and you know, like I remember winning ugly against like teams that were like right outside the top twenty five and being upset on a post game show. What a world? What a what

a wake up call? I received over these last few years. And I know that sounds crazy. It wouldn't like I was calling for anybody's head, but like we we used to have a I mean, think about what we used to call a down year for louisvill basketball. Think about that, Like I remember Rick getting in the tournament with what team was it. I feel like the twenty eleven team was like a down year. Oh yeah, and yet they actually and they lost to more Head State, but that was kind of a fun ride and they got a

four set. You know, they were one of the best teams in the Big East that year when the Big East was on steroids. So like, I'm not bringing it up to say, look at where we are now. Hahalat's laugh at us. But I'm just like, you know, life has a funny way working out to where now it's not even something I even think about anymore. I'm not

I don't have any radar upstairs to tell me. Wait a second, Nick, you can't celebrate beating this team because they're bums in Louisville is a three time national championship program.

Like I'm just now like, hell, yeah, we beat Bellerman, Like it's just life can be tricky like that, to where you find yourself in a much different situation than you were years prior, and it really it really gives you a chance to have some some different perspective on things, like I mean, imagine telling us, I don't know seven eight years ago that there'd be a home game in January with snow on the ground and it's Clemson coming to the im Center, and it's one of the few

opportunities left for Louisville basketball to get a resume win against Clemson. Nobody believe you, Nobody would. But that's where we are, unless, like, is this the twilight zone? I don't think it is. But yeah, tonight, seven o'clock espn U is where the game will be and I'm hoping the Card's gonna pull it off.

out of here. At six o'clock. Wwe debuted Monday, night were all last night on Netflix, right, I've got to get Austin's thoughts on that, because hul Cogan got booed and I'm learning that the Hulkster is a villain.

stuck with me. And then there was the first And I don't know if this was I know it wasn't what my dad purchased, but I think there was some kind of a special going on when he got me my first PlayStation. The only it came with a game, and the game it came with was Nascar. I knew nothing about Nascar at that time, but it was like the EA Sports Nascar game. Yeah, and there was the song. There was a song that played like NonStop, like.

sports or you know, whatever you want to call wrestling. Wrestling is entertainment. It's clearly choreographed and all that, but you know, it's got a huge audience and.

if you love it, you love it. And there's clearly platforms and big audiences that that that you know, go to the events and talk shows, podcast all that kind of stuff, like, but it doesn't intertwine with a lot of the other things, you know what I'm saying, Like wrestling is huge on its own and kind of stays in its lane to where the people who aren't into it, don't care about it, don't don't look for it, they have no clue how massive it is, if that makes sense,

whereas those that are into it, you know, like there's people that I've met along the way just because of my uh work with ov W over the years that I never knew, like I've known this person for a long time, rather it be from a professional standpoint or from you know, just being friends with them socially, whatever

it may be. And like I didn't realize that, like they're really into wrestling, you know what I'm saying, because you could, you know, And I kind of wonder, is it because people like you're clearly very visually, you're visible within your world of wrestling, you host podcast to you go to WWE events with credential, like clearly like you're

you're covering the business in that aspect. But but you know, why is it that that that it's just such a I don't know, Like I was blown away to see once I once I kind of realized how big it was this day and age because I was so out of it for so long and I technically still am. But I don't know, Like wrestling is very unique and rare when it comes to just what it is, but also the community and people who love it, like it's it's just a different thing, man.

fans there are of this show. And it's just a tight knit community. A lot of people have just like opinions, and now with social media, it's easier than ever to share your opinions, whether you want to go do a podcast or you can make like a quick reel and get interactions. You have your good guys, you have your bad guys. It's just classic storytelling. And when shows are hot, especially like when Game of Thrones was a big thing, people are having watch parties and people are having trivia

nights and stuff like that. And the thing is is those kind of shows aren't continually running at the same pace at WWE's on in professional wrestling is run. WWE, if you remember, was like one of the only live things still going on for most of COVID when the whole world shut down, it was to a lot of people's despair and they didn't like it, and of course for the safety of other wrestlers and workers, but like

they were there for a lot of other people. And even though that that was tumultuous time, really not a great time in terms of storytelling, and some of the product may have just been bad. And it comes to those they have their eras where it's loyalty testing eras. They're in a good era right now now that the cross the cross platforming that they do. Like last night they had Travis Scott and he's coming down.

did the wrestling world. And I'm sure there's many with type with different takes, but like was that viewed as like they met the bar as far as debuting on a new platform really getting people to tune in because I feel like more than anything I'm seeing is about Hogan getting booed, but also people kind of being underwhelmed about it.

was as a it was a huge raw one. It was the most viewed raw ever, obviously because it's easier just to get on Netflix and stream it, so it had a lot of attention.

out just baby facing it up. Last time we see him, he was whopping Cody Roads with the Mama Roodes belt and coming after him saying he wants a championship. But it's almost like they said, scrap that, We're getting a brand new audience and we're gonna remind everyone who this is and then we're going to jump to the new era of it. There were some good matches, but in terms of storylines, there wasn't a lot of like real

investment and a lot of hardcore people. They there are some people online that will just tune into hate WW or Monday Night Ron and say on a on a three hour show, there was a total of fifty two minutes and thirty six seconds of wrestling. And I've never been a huge fan of the fake fighting and all that. I'm more invested in the stories, and when there's stories and a reason to have a confrontation, then I'll get invested.

But just pulling up matches just to have them and people wrestle for thirty minutes with like no story and like, Okay, what's up for this guy?

it makes total sense. Now will that work out? I guess only time will tell, but we'll let you hear whole Cogan getting booed That's what I wanted to bring this up, but we didn't save enough time for it because I just never thought i'd ever see the day where hul Cogan like would be booed like that, because when I was growing up, like he'd kind of already had his biggest run, but he was still.