10.4: It's Not a Game - Hour 2

Michigan State, Oregon SYRAQSUNLV, I mean Qson UNLV. I don't think maybe some don't think these are big matchups, but you know, for somebody who does like to get the weekend started on a Friday betting on some college football, these are decent games. I mean UNLV. They've got a lot of momentum right now. For those who don't know.

Once that quarterback left because he didn't get his money, they put the backup in and they look better than they have all year last week, so that should be a big game, and if you know, if you care about the ACC, which not saying you should or you know you should root for Syracuse, but you know I lost to UNLV, here would probably be another bad look

for the league, and we really can't control that. But I'm still not to the point where I can just acknowledge that who cares what they think about the ACC because if you win, you're in. And that's still the case now and I can't see a scenario where there's ever a college football playoff where they take away the auto bids from leagues like the ACC or the Big Twelve.

But I wouldn't put it past Sanky if he tried to do something like that, because you know, he's shown that he you know, the fact that they're fighting for four automatic bids anyway really is in my opinion, I think it's kind of a waste of time because if you really think about it, in most years like that could happen without them getting automatically but without those spots being automatically slotted for a certain conference, right because more often than not, you know there's going to be teams

that the resume despite it. You know, when you get to the teams that don't get in because they were the best one loss team. And then of course the teams that do get in automatically are the ones who wins win their conference. But when you look at the pool of teams and you look in at a bunch of two loss teams and maybe a one loss team, maybe a three loss team, although I don't know, I find that to be pretty, you know, unlikely. You'd be

unlikely to make it if you've got three. But if you're going to try to determine which are the most it'll be the teams that you know have losses against the really good teams in their league, and it just so happens that in league play their league schedule presented a challenge to where they play maybe you know, three of the top seven teams in the country. So anyways, tonight, I'm actually I'm you want you want my first pick, John, I'll give it to you.

Clearly not very successful at doing that. But there are two games played this year where in fact it is teams playing each other that are in the same conference, but because it was scheduled before realignment happened, it doesn't count as a conference game, which is really really weird. So yeah, I mean Houston to your point, Houston's really bad. They didn't score against Cincinnati, they didn't score against Iowa State, and it was Oklahoma that used to be a conference game,

but now it's not. So they're one and four. Their only win is against a really bad Rice team. They're coming off of two straight weeks without scoring a point. Lost twenty to nothing to Iowa State, lost thirty four to nothing to Cincinnati. However, you know, their defense has been solid and they do a pretty good job at slowing teams down. And I think at this point they've learned our best chance to not win but to not

get embarrassed is to slow the game down. So I actually think, you know, again, they've they've held two top twenty teams, Iowa State and Oklahoma. It's under twenty points or twenty or under twenty was what Iowa State scored, and they played Oklahoma on the road and lost twelve to sixteen. So unders aren't fun. If you don't want to do it because you just don't like totals and you don't like unders for sure, then I get it.

But I'm gonna go un fifty two here because TCU can score, but I think Houston's gonna be able to mean, wouldn't be shocked if I mean this no joke. I wouldn't be shocked if if this is a forty four to three game, because Houston's not gonna do much scoring at all. So fifty two may seem like a high number, but you got to keep in mind it'd be very very I mean again, I mean this is crazy. Outside of their game against Rice, which Rice must really suck.

They they've they've scored twelve points since September seventh. I mean, that's very bad. That's very sad. So maybe you hear all this and you say, look, I'm gonna take I'm gonna take TCU minus sixteen and a half and maybe that's maybe that's maybe that's the play. I kind of I'm kind I was kind of leaning that initially, but just looking at how bad Houston is offensively, I feel like the safer play, at least in my opinion, is to just take the under. But again, I know unders

aren't fun for a lot of people. All right, speaking of fun, Tonight Louisville Live should be a lot of fun. You don't have to worry about losing to an exit ABI opponent. You have to worry about losing it all. It's not a game dunk contest three point shootout. They'll do a little three on three action with members of both the It's not gonna be, by the way, should have clarified earlier. The three on three is not gonna be three from the men's team three from the women's team.

But they've split it up and that should be pretty competitive. I'm sure it won't be like that serious because you know, you don't want anybody get hurt out there, and that's what tonight is. It's just to have fun and to get fans excited, to let all the newcomers, which, by the way, and the Portal Era, especially with this Louisville men's team a lot of newcomers, no doubt, so they're gonna get a chance to be out in front of fans for the first time. And I assume the fans

will be there. Not to say it's gonna be a sellout by any means, but I mean, for what this is, the atmosphere will be will be hopefully great. I'm going taking the family. I told Moose, we're gonna go watch the go karts practice and try to explain to them what they're gonna do. And he was like, well, it doesn't sound like a practice. I'm like, you gotta just you gotta wait and see, son, Like, you'll have to

see what it is. But like, but this being such a big show with like them turning the lights out, all the introductions, probably a lot of dancing and whatnot, Like this is the p I think it's the perfect thing to take your kids to who don't have the patience to sit through an entire game. And hopefully my son will be you know, he'll be able to go to a game with me this year and we can

watch it together. And he's he's not far off. But like, for what this is, he's gonna love it, like he's gonna see these guys out there duncan and you know he'll he'll have a ball.

is Trev's gonna be there? Montres Harrall was was his guy Trees is in Australia playing professionally now, so he won't be there. I had to let him know. But he was like, but he's he's the dunker. And I'm like, I know, son, but other people con dunk too. You'll see tonight. It's not just Montrez Harrel. Others can dunk. Although he is the all time leader in dunks at Louisville. And I have a feeling that brickerd will never be broken, all right. So Pat Kelsey yesterday hosted any former player

that could be there for their practice. And I don't want to act as if nobody else has ever done that before. In fact, I think it's something that the last two coaches really knew they needed to do. I mean, Kenny obviously was a former player himself, but Chris Mack and I want to you know, things just went really bad at the end with coach Mack for reasons that

you know, we all know. Not to say that he didn't make mistakes, not to say that he was perfect, but like you know, he was ready to move on and the guy they replaced him with clearly was awful, and he blamed a lot of his failure on Mac, which was nonsense. However, one thing Mac really did go out of his way to do that kind of gets

just lost. And not to say we need to be talking about it now, but like he did try to you night, the former players of different eras, because as much as Rick Patino was a phenomenal coach here, he didn't do that. He didn't embrace the former eras. He didn't really embrace Denny and access was really not there for former players the way you see it in other programs,

And obviously that's changed since Rick moved on. And I know Pat Kelsey has talked to a lot of these former players before yesterday, but had a lot of them there at practice and they got to see what he's like as a coach and just you know, those things are healthy for a program. And this is what he had to say when I guess, you know, talking to everybody in attendance. Rather this is before the practice started.

This was when you know, he was talking to his players and of course all the guys that are there that played for Louisville, some many many years ago, some not that long ago. But you know, I thought this was really really cool to hear and I wanted you guys to hear it. Hear it as well. Let me back it up.

we are family. I appreciate you guys being here, appreciate what you've done to pour into this program and like I said, to make it mean something special.

at this level? I've see no reason why he can't, but obviously that remains to be seen. He hasn't coached a game yet. But Josh, I would assume new little things were gonna be really really important until you can get there, and even whenever you get there and you win, and then all of a sudden, maybe you hit a wall and you have some rough times, you have some struggles, maybe a setback, maybe a year where it's not anything like what we had the last two years or even

three years, but it's below the standard. You know, Let's say a few years in you've made the tournament every year and and you've gradually gone a further round. Let's say you're a tournament team around a thirty two. Then you get to the sweet sixteen, and then maybe that next year things don't work out, you got a bad

batch in the portal or something. If you have a guy that you feel like gets this job, gets the fan base is appreciative of the job he has this fan base, will we'll ride with that guy, We'll complain, We'll do postgame shows where people lose their mind because that's in the moment, that's the raw, and I mean that's just because we're crazy about college basketball. But that's also what makes Louisville basketball great is that we are

we're crazy about it. So again, I'm aware and I hate doing the disclaimer as much as I as much as I have been, and I'm doing right now. But nobody knows exactly how this play out. But so far, I think pat has done a great job at really delivering in every way you can until you can actually coach a game. And I learned a lot throughout the last few years as a level basketball fan myself, because you often hear you know, he doesn't get it, he's not built for it. And I'm not talking about Pat Kelsey.

He was talking about when when fans complain about a coach, you know, or being relatable, likable, all that kind of stuff. And one thing that's never changed is that winning at the highest level matters. Rick Patina wasn't relatable. He was a robot. He talked down to us quite a bit. He's he's maybe one of the most unrelatable humans I've ever been around. And I don't mean like I've been around him a lot, because I'm beneath through Patino. He'd

never let me around him. He you know, it's ree Pertino. But he wanted a really, really high level and you never had to question if you had a coach like that, was that was good enough for your job? We were really really spoiled. We went for Denny crumbed to Rick Patino. Are you kidding me? And that's what like fifty years. Collectively we had some great times and for some bad times, but really for the most part, maybe towards the end of the Dinny era, whenever you felt like, you know,

his best days were clearly in the rear view. And maybe that brief stretch for Rick before they made that run to the Final four and twenty twelve, and I mean a really brief stretch. Other than that, throughout that what fifty years, even through the good and the bad, you knew you had a coach that was capable and was you know, good enough to be your coach at a place like Louisville. I mean, Denny made Louisville what

it was. Rick came in at a very critical time and within a few years took it to a Final four and really got you elevated back to where you belong. So with Mac, you know, we loved the things that were so different than Rick until he lost. Right, I always use this line because it was, you know, seeing it play out in real time was just you know, something I'll always remember. We talked about how Chris Mack was one of us. Right, you'll see him at roosters

drinking a beer having wings. He gets the same wings

you get. Remember when they toilet paper at each other's house to like joke on, you know, to to rip each other because Sat won ACC Coach of the Year and then they were neighbors and Mac went over there and t Pete his house, maybe just his mailbox or something to kind of like, you know, I don't know how that would be, like giving him a gift or something, but like we thought it was so awesome because one, it was cool to see these guys show that they're

human beings. We had Bobby Patrino and Rick Patino the most non human beings that have ever coached any sport, I think, So we loved it. We embraced that they were more relatable, they were more like normal humans. But then as soon as that they stopped winning at a super high level, which Sat never really did. We weaponized that against him, right, like, you better get off the lake talking about Mac and get out there and recruit. We got to get this thing turned around with Sat.

You know. We loved that he was loving them up right, talking about loving on his players, just loving on those kids, loving all those boys whenever Bobby was mean. And then when he lost to Kentucky and he cried at midfield, the stoops about elsdown, like, Nah, get that guy the hell out of here. He's not built for this. So what you really want is somebody that wins at a

really high level, regardless of the other stuff. Now, you don't want scandals, and we've certainly had a fair share of that, but we've also accepted scandals around here because we had a coach that was really, really good and we accepted it a little too long, I think, But nonetheless, I mean, what you really really want and what you really care about deep down is results. It's a results based business. As a fan, and if your coach wins at a high level, you can accept not everything but

most everything. But until you get there, like the other stuff matters, and if you do have a setback, or you have, you know, maybe a stretch of play where you start to question your coach and his ability to be the guy. If he's somebody that you feel like gets it, you know, and you know, you think he is willing to acknowledge when he makes mistakes and basically be the opposite of Kenny Payne who blamed everybody else like that stuff. There's value there. It matters as well,

it doesn't matter more than winning. But Pat Kelsey, I'm sure by design. I don't know if it was just him knowing the situation, him being him, or if it was maybe a talk a conversation he had with Josh Hurd and the athletic department, But I think he's done a lot of little things that have really sped up this process. Not necessarily for winning, because again we don't know how many games they're going to win this year.

We'll have to wait and see, but it has sped up the process for fans to go from being completely dejected, not even realizing when Louis played, not going to a game, and maybe two years or something. I think the little things Pat's done since he got hired has sped up the process to get those people back engaged, to get those people involved, to get those people making it a priority to be at Louisville Live tonight, and we all knew no matter who they hired, it was going to

be much better than what we had before. And as a fan base, I think we all know we were going to embrace it. But I don't know if there were other coaches out there that would have kind of gotten us excited in this way and really generated this momentum within the fan base. Maybe I'm wrong. We'll never know. It doesn't matter, but it's been awesome. All right, let's do this. On the other side, we're gonna be joined by mister Jeffrey Greer to talk a little footy as

racing Louisville. They've got a big match tomorrow night Star Wars Night out there, so we'll talk to jeff get his thoughts on a lot of things. Love catching up with mister Greer, so we'll do that. On the other side, it's coffee and company. Feel about Thort's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. That's right, we're about halfway through

here on a Friday afternoon. Coffee and company fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety appreciate you hanging out with us, and we also appreciate the one and only mister Jeffrey Greer who joins us now. Jeff, longtime, no talk, my friend. How you been. How's life?

probably adjust a little bit better. I'm much more of a man a man defense guy anyway, so I think this is a good swap for us.

playing well in front of a home crowd. But you know, I would assume that the home crowd can take a little bit of you know, maybe not the credit, but like atmosphere matters in a major way for all for for every team, high school, you know, youth league, professional. So I'm sure for you guys to know that, you know, you got a chance to potentially get a third straight winning home in front of the fans like that, that's something special. Not that you guys are playing for other

things as well. I know you've still got plenty of season left. But should be a good crowd out there tomorrow for you guys.

to both. We got the football game at twelve and then if you show up at the racing game at Lynn Family Stadium, just walk over to the box office, excuse me and show them here U of L football ticket. You get in for free to our game. So we're just trying to get as many people into the into the stadium because it's right. We hear about this all the time, and I used to kind of roll my eyes as a reporter, but now that now that I'm working on this side, like it actually is a thing.

Like you sleep in your own bed, you have your morning routine at home, You see familiar faces over and

over and over again. And you know, any sport you always talk to people who they get to know a season ticket holder, they get to know, you know, a big corporate partner, but they get to know the diehards too, And I think that's really important with the home crowd, and it does make a huge difference in these games, because the bottom line is, Nick, when we're going on the road, we're playing in San Diego, they've got thirty thousand people right on top of you snap Dragon Stadium

out there. They've got twenty thousand in Portland, twenty five thousand in La. Kansas City's home games are nuts twelve thousand or so packed in. So it makes a big difference. And we need a big, a big crowd tomorrow and a big win for sure.

your fan base. I mean, they're probably wearing purple at every game, so you wouldn't know for sure, but like I would imagine a lot of the of the core, big of the big fans for for for the club, are either red or blue. Right, I'm just curious, do you get a sense for is there more red? Is it more blue? Again, you'll take either either or right.

really I'm just kidding. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but but no, I I uh, yes, that is a it's a great question, and it's and it's true, it's definitely, I mean, it's Skew's probably red just because of us being a Louisville based team, but we've got a lot of Indiana fans also nice a fair amount of like of tops, w k U tops and of course Bellerman here in town, like license plates and stuff like that in the parking lots of games, so it's widespread. There's

a reason why our teams are purple. That's what you get when you combine red and blue. So I mean, it's it's kind of a fun chance to be the team for everybody, right, And and you know, I think people kind of put away their swords, at least I hope put away their swords for two hours rooting for the same team, and then after that they can go

back to the fistfights and the dialysis clinic. But but yeah, it's it's kind of a fun side note of of being a team here that's not connected to UK or U of L. You know, we're friends with both, and we welcome everybody to these games, so it's a fun mix. There's only one pit fan in the stadium for each game, though.

you guys could capitalize on. Obviously, they're a good team, they're they're they're sitting ahead of you guys in the standings, But I think the first match shows that you guys clearly can compete with them, and it wouldn't be a big shocker if you were able to pull off the victory.

the whistle. Uh, Savannah Demelo or start midfield. They're dribbled through like five players and scored and the whistle blew like I think literally right after she scored. So this pretty wild game there that the fans were chanting refuse suck, thirteen thousand strong or whatever the number is there as we're walking off, I mean you could feel the field vibrating as people were shouting. People didn't leave their seats,

and that's awesome when you're on the road. I mean, what an awesome feeling is, Like everybody's angry about the result that your road team just pulled, and it's in that case we travel with twenty plus our staff, So it was like thirty five forty strong louisvillions in the middle of this just rowdy, angry place. It was pretty fun. But yeah, they are a very very fun team to watch. Hate to admit it, but they're very fast. They're very up and down. They score a ton of goals. They

lead the league in goals. They've got the league's leading goal scorer, a player from Malawi in Africa. She's unbelievably fast. We've got our work cut out for us, so it's not going to be easy. But like you said, it was a draw in the end. We've never lost to them at home before in the six games that we've played them here in Louisville, so this would be a monster, monster win for us. Late in the season, we got four games left and we're still pushing hard for our

first playoff appearance. So if you want to get into the playoffs, you've got to beat the teams that are already qualified for it and are expected to be championship contenders, and.

works out perfect. As you mentioned, the noon game for football and then you guys get it started at seven point thirty and I expect you will have a good crowd on a beautiful night out there on a Saturday. Let me ask you on a real quick question. I know, before you were in the soccer world as your gig, you obviously covered U of L for a long time. Louisville Live. That became a thing during the Chris Smack era. I think they did it one year when Kenny was

here for his two years. Any thoughts on you know, not what we're going to see tonight, but like you've all didn't have one of these for a really long time when Rick was here. Obviously you were here for a great chunk of his tenure and we didn't have this kind of an event I mean, you don't really get to learn a whole lot about the team. It's not a competitive thing. But like, I'm really glad. I know,

you know, college troops really well. There were so many programs of Louisville's caliber that had an annual thing for decades where they kind of tip it off and really just party and introduced the team and whatnot. So this year they're doing it at the Yum Center tonight. I mean, I know, you know, this is a brand new team here where we've only seen just two games in the Bahamas,

but you know, Louisville Live. I'm not surprised to see it's become a big thing for Louisville fans, given you know that we don't have to worry about losing to Kentucky Westling. You just can go watch them, you know, dunk and shoot three pointers.

it kind of reminded me. It was very similar to the Four Street Live Louisville Live that they did with Chris Mack and I just look, I think it's just such an important thing for a team in modern college sports, and you really can't I mean, basketball is the one you can really do it for because it is a smaller space, but it's such an important marketing tool. It just gets people kind of hyped up for the season. And then on top of that, of course it's a

big recruiting tool as well. And I'm sure you remember the signs for aidany Gahon and and you know all the different signs that the yeah, the Irish Hohole. Can you know, you can you know, insert recruit here. You know your students are going to show up and have some signs for them and stuff. So yeah, I think

it's really important. I know the Young Center is probably a more traditional venue for it than you know, do in the quirky different Churchill Downs or Four Street Live or whatever, But I just think it's I think it's a really essential item to have, as you mentioned, for a program of Louisville's caliber, and even if you're not like a fan of that team, like I've wanted to go to Kansas their little I don't know what they're.

strong here in the five o'clock hour. Been pretty guest heavy thus far, but we're wide open in the five o'clock hour, and there's a lot I want to get to before we get out of here for the weekend, including a slate of games on Saturday. Overall, that is not I mean, it's probably the most underwhelming schedule of the season in regards to like big matchups. But hey, I think now that people can not everybody bets on games.

I get it, but like I've never really felt like, okay, like, for example, some of the biggest games where you really don't know what's going to happen, because like Alabama Georgia,

I didn't touch that one. In fact, I did take I ended up taking Georgia plus twenty one and a half when they were getting hammered and I ended up it was a very small play, so it wasn't like a big win or anything like that, but like move though, well they were getting killed and I just felt like they'll end up keeping it closer than that, you know what I mean? Yeah, so true, they were down twenty one.

They had just scored. I'm sorry, I think they scored to make it twenty eight to seven, and then the line in live was twenty one and a half. And I feel like, Okay, you know, they're not going to win, but I have a feeling that they'll be able to at least make I thought at that time, they're probably gonna lose by seventeen, but you know, put a small

play on it, you know, and it worked out. But some games that would not be interesting as far as entertainment, can be really intriguing for you because you might you might have a certain feel for a team, Like there's always a team every year, and I haven't figured out that team yet this year, maybe I don't. Maybe maybe the street comes to an end. But there's a team every year that I end up betting on more than like half of the season, and I went every time.

Last year. Uh it was Ole Miss actually Lane Kiffin. I mean, they were they were really good at covering spreads as favorites, and they were really good at covering spreads as dogs where they wouldn't went out right, but they'd keep it competitive. Year before that it was like Boston College, I think. And then there's some teams like that, you that you really fade, which depending on what happens tonight in that non interesting game between Houston and TCU.

But if if if Houston continues to be, you know, the team they've been in the last few weeks, they just they may be a team we just fade, right, John, because they're really really bad. Like there are teams that you look at the record and think like, wow, man, they must they must really just really stink, and then you go look a little further at the numbers and you realize, oh, they're they're god awful. I mean, Houston plays TCU tonight, Houston hasn't scored a single point in

three weeks. I mean, that's and it's weird. He crazy is normally a good, formidable program. Yeah, and they've got resources too. So whoever whoever took over for Dana, Dana Holgerson, he'll get he'll get it. He'll get a couple of years for sure. But they won't. They won't let somebody be this bad very long because they've got again, just like SMU SMU in fact, the state of Texas. Every school in Texas for the most part, has you know, Texas oil money from some of their boosters in alum

or just fans that have the ability. SMU raised one hundred million dollars to go to the ACC so they could say, yeah, well we'll, we'll, we'll. All we need is an invite. We don't need any money from you right now. Well we'll wait years down the line to get some some of that revenue share. We've got people who will support us in this transition to where we're not going to be dependent upon TV money, which not many schools can do that, to be honest with you.

So yeah, Houston sucks, and tonight I'm taking them. The more I think about it, John, the more I'm thinking I need to just take TCU to cover. But I don't trust them a whole lot either. So the Unders player, I think you just don't like Unders. The Unders Unders are just I mean again, like it's what.

bad they get beat. But the books are looking at Okay, yeah, we know they're down, but they got Bobby Patrino, They've got some decent players. I mean, yeah, Louisville Kenny Payne's the worst coach of all time. But you know they're playing UNBC. Well, they're looking at it from you know, an aerial view far away. We're looking at it right in front of the car wreck, and we know, yeah, yeah, they're they might win, but they're not covering eleven against anybody.

So anyways, real quick, before we get to the top of the hour, here, let's talk once again about my friends over at the Jefferson Animal Hospital. I'm sure you guys listening many of you have pets. I used to say, I don't have a pet because, like I feel like I would be lying because we have a dog, but like it's because my wife when got a dog. I have very little to do with said dog. However, you know, he's he's a good dog. Like he he doesn't get my way, he doesn't annoy me, so I care for him.

He's part of the family. You know, he's you know, he's not he's not like my kid. But you know, I now feel comfortable in saying, yes, I have a dog and he's my pet. Are you proud of me? John? I am proud of you. I mean not that I'm like ever anti animal, It's just I've never had the relationship with a pet that a lot of people have had, growing up with one when they were kids and whatnot. So but I understand how important your pets are to you.

They're they're part of your family. They're a big part of your life. So that's a bit, that's that's something you want, that's something you take serious. So if something is to happen to them, you need to know what you're gonna do. Well, I telling you what you're gonna do. You're gonna reach out to Jefferson Animal Hospital, on outer loop because they're open twenty four hours, three hundred and sixty five days a year, every day, even Christmas. They've got a doctor

on site in case of an emergency. But it doesn't have to just be an emergency. Let's just say you want to get your pet checked out, make sure they're healthy, make sure there's not something that you need to get you know, need to need to be treating, whether it be some kind of condition or something like that. So you can give them a call anytime. Five O two nine hundred Pets is the number. Jefferson Vets dot com is the website, and they'll be happy to hear from you.

That's what they do, right, They they put you at ease knowing you're gonna do the best, knowing that they're gonna do the best they can. They keeping your pet healthy and uh, they've been doing it for a long time, folks, since nineteen eighty that's forty four years. So again, Jefferson Animal Hospital, Jefferson Vetts dot com is the website. You

can give them a call. Easy number to remember, it's five O two nine hundred pets all right, five o'clock hours next as we keep this thing rolling along getting your set for the weekend. It is coffee, any company, feel both Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety