It's time for Coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick Coffee. All right, our number two here on a hump day, thanks for hanging out with us. Here on Sports Talk seven ninety it is Coffee and Company, fuel by Thornton's Nick Coffee, the company man, mister John all on alongside, taking you up until six o'clock. Hopefully everybody is having a good day.
I'm sure there are some that are having really good days, days where they're you know, a day where they feel like they're you know, in celebratory mode. And then there's some that are probably really bummed and probably surprised. I guess maybe they didn't they didn't see it playing out the way that it did. But yeah, I'm just glad that it's over. And clearly there's still going to be some lingering things that they take place throughout the process when you do, in fact, you know, put a new
president in office. But I don't know. Am I crazy to think that maybe the process will be a little quick because this is a guy that you know, has been president before, which makes the whole thing kind of weird, But yeah, I could as the day went on yesterday, not even like even when I'm not around people, I could I could just feel tension and just people a
little bit uneasy. In fact, I know some people who just you know, they didn't want to consume any of it, so they just tried their best to distract themselves from it. And if that's how you know that, if that worked for you, then you know, good for you. All right, let's bring him in. He is Zach Garnett of FootballScoop dot com. He joins us each week to talk some some college football before we get into the first look
at the college football playoff ranking. Zach, So, I was a little surprised, and maybe it's just because I'm an idiot, but they gave us rankings and then a bracket. However, the rankings it isn't the exact bracket because of how it's laid out, Like, could they have done that better? Would it? Would it have been weird to give us the bracket and then rank everybody else after that that's still in the top twenty five?
Uh yeah, I think so, to be honest with you, I did. I was following via Twitter last night, so I.
Was there something else going on other than the college football playoff rings.
Yeah, so I actually I had nothing to do with that, but anyways, Yeah, I don't think you were alone in being confused. And how ESPN presented.
That, Yeah, I mean, I don't know, but I just thought it was it could have been like because if you were wanting to bring you know, people into college football because of a of a new bracket and all the suspense, I feel like, you know, it made sense once you give it some thought. But I was like, wait a second, how could this work because you can't have two Big ten teams and you know, the top four seeds.
Yeah. No, I think that there's been a lot of public education about how this is going to work, and they're continuing. There needs to be more, and I'm sure on selection Sunday there will be a lot of people still confused about how this thing is gonna work. So it's a job of all of us really to educate the public on how this is gonna work.
Well, I'm hopeful that the twelve team playoff ends up. You know, obviously, if you've got a team that you're a big fan of. Obviously, if your team's alive and they're in the race, like Obviously, that's gonna be a fun thing for you, and it'll be a heartbreaker if
you don't end up getting in. But I think, just from the average college football fan out there, I'm starting to wonder if this thing is couldn't meet the hype that's there, because I feel like when you think of home games in college football that are part of the new college football Playoff, you actually have a legitimate bracket now, Like, I feel like this is going to be something that everybody thinks, Man, they should have done this from the jump.
Twelve teams makes it so much more exciting. I mean, I don't know if you're hearing the same thing or if you feel the same thing, but I think this is gonna be awesome.
Yeah.
And I think I think, combined with two other topics that are divisive and no one really wants to give them credit for, I think the poral in NIL, combined with the twelve team playoffs have all kind of hit at the perfect time to give us what's looking like
it's going to be a wide open playoff. Like for years and years and years it was, you know, there's only really five teams competing for four spots, and then when the playoff was announced, it was like, well, we know the same teams are gonna win the national championship, but at least it'll put more teams in the conversation. And now I don't know who's gonna win this thing.
Ohio State and Georgia are the most talented teams, but in a lot of ways, especially in Georgia, they're winning in spite of their quarterback, not because of their quarterback. And there's not I guess, other than cam Wardon maybe Sheder Sanders, there's not a transformational quarterback out there. And if the right quarterback on the right team gets hot, then that team could come from anywhere to win this thing.
You just laid out what makes this all as far as timing really exciting that I haven't heard many people bring up. I don't remember being this late into the year where you get your first look at the college football playoff rankings and nobody really having a clue who, in fact, this national championship is to lose, if you know what I'm saying. And for I feel like for well over a decade, like you have a good idea at this point in the season who the two best
teams are. It's gonna come down to these two. It's gonna come down to these three or maybe hey, it's just this team and if they somehow mess up, you know, if they don't mess up, then then they're gonna win it. I think it's you're right. I mean, I don't remember what it's been this wide open.
Yeah, I think Ohio State and Georgia certainly have the highest ceilings. You can maybe throw Texas in there as well, although we saw Georgia at their best was much better than Texas on that night. Oregon probably has the highest floor. Dylan Gabriel is not the most talented quarterback that's going to be in this field, but he plays close to his best more often, and that offense is kind of like starting every inning on second base, so that gives
them an advantage. But I mean, the most talented quarterbacks in this just in terms of raw talent are Nico. I mean, if Tennessee gets hot at the right time, making when this thing, if Lsu gets hot at the right time, making when this thing same. I mean saying for Texas, Miami looks like they're gonna be in a great spot where they would have to win three games.
Instead of two.
To win the national championship. So it is kind of the perfect storm.
Yeah, I mean Indiana, I mean, their schedule is what it is. But like if Kurt Signetti just keeps beating everybody's ass, can we say we're shocked at the end of the year when they've got hardware. I mean, I'm not saying I expect it, but each week it kind of feels like maybe they'll have a letdown. They don't.
Yeah, everyone was kind of waiting for that to happen this week because you're playing, You're coming off of two emotional home games, now you're going on the road.
It just felt like the leadown game.
Yeah, and for a moment there it did. It was ten to nothing, and then it was forty seven to ten. And once again I repeat my talking point that if Indiana was wearing Michigan's uniforms, they would have been ranked number two in the.
No doubt about it. And I don't know how anybody. I mean, if you asked the committee that they would say no, but I think every other human being would say, yeah, there's no doubt about it. That would be that would be the case. Speaking of the committee, if you got one one question, you know you only had one team you could present to them and say, tell me how you did this, tell me what you used upstairs in
your brain to put this together? Where this team would be ranked here, Rather it's somebody who's ranked way too low or somebody ranked way too high. Who do you what? What did you see last night as it was unveiled that you just think, Okay, why the hell the hell they come up with that?
It was pretty frustrating to see Penn State at six. That's a program that for years has existed on a non existent metric of the quality loss.
They continue to make you look smart, Zach.
Yeah, they don't win any games that matter, and yet they're ranked number six. They're going to make the playoff and quite possibly host a playoff game. Uh, and their best win will probably be a Wisconsin that finishes what eight and four? At best, they're not going to have even they did beat Illinois, but I mean that's gonna
be their best win. And I know you can make the same argument right now about Texas, but at least Texas has the opportunity to win their way in at Texas A and M and possibly the Big twelve, the Big feve the SEC championship. Penn State's not making their conference championship game. They're going to win with a pillowsoft
schedule and be rewarded for it. The other team, I think is BYU and Warren Manuel was asked about them and he said, the eye test is why they were ninth in Miami's fourth Well, the eye test saw me saw I. BYU went on the road at SMU, which no one else has done. They beat the tar out of Kansas State at home, and I know those aren't blue blood programs. With their both top twenty teams in the committee's own estimation, which is more than like the decks five teams have in front of them combined.
I'll give word Manuel some credit because he actually at least he's wrong, but like at least what he provided is the reason. Like you can't like you can say you disagree, but like he's just our I test. You just throw the eye test out there. People. You know, there are some times where they give an answer that makes no sense when it comes to their you know, being questioned about certain certain teams being ranked at certain spots. But I'm with you BYU.
I mean.
They've they've had a I mean if BYU had a different brand, maybe in a different conference, I think it would look a little bit different. What do you think of SMU. I mean, I don't want to sound like an ACC hank here because I think, honestly, like Clemson shouldn't be ranked right now. But when it comes to SMU, I mean, their only loss is a team that the Committee tells us is a top ten team, and they
lost to them in a close game. They beat Louisville at Louisville, a team the committee thinks is a top twenty two team. They beat Pitt, who's ranked eighteenth. Like, I think SMU again they're at number thirteen, but like, how how are they behind Boise?
Yeah? I think this is a complete team.
And I mean they didn't just beat Pitt. They beat the dog at a pit.
Yeah, and they lost that YU game.
They made a quarterback change since then and are undefeated. And on the one hand, the committee's in an impossible spot because if you're going to do human rankings, there's no way to rank twenty five teams in an entirely logically consistent way. On the other hand, they just don't think SMU is that good, largely because they're SMU.
Yeah, but they never say it, but I guarantee that's exactly it.
Yeah, And I mean I had SMU in the top ten on my own ballot. They weren't, you know, number five or anything like that. I think they're eight or nine or something like that. But I think from what we've seen so far, this is the top ten team.
Yeah. I hadn't thought about it until earlier this earlier today. I was just looking at some of the reaction out there and you mentioned it a moment ago. SMU since they made a quarterback change, is undefeated and like they look, they look, they look pretty complete. You know, we'll see if they get humbled at some point throughout. But I think the ACC, you know, having what is it, four or five teams ranked, I mean again, they're probably only
going to get one team in the playoff. I would imagine. Maybe I'm wrong, But is an ACC fan, meaning my team that I'm a fan of is in the ACC as of now? Is it safe to say that the league did get better this year? Maybe not by much, but like it's it's it's improving.
Yeah, I think that's fair.
Imagine if Florida State was at least decent oh yeah.
And then another note on SMU, just because it's it's uh topical here is I don't think people are mad enough about what RTT lastly did to bench his quarterback Preston Stone. That was a a lot of what what Teddy Bridgewater meant to Louisville.
That's that was Preston Stone, at least for a time.
Yeah, he had a lot of hype heading into this first year in the ACC.
Yeah.
He he's a Dallas area kid, and I know Kevin Jennings as well, but he's from Dallas proper. He committed to SMU as a junior on the Army you know the US Army National All American Game broadcast as a junior, like he was their franchise quarterback and led them to a conference championship and then h RTT Lashley bench them. That could not have been easy. That took some real Stones to do that. And since then they're undefeated.
So I think.
They've certainly helped the ACC's brand. Clemson, Uh, I don't think he is a top twenty five team, as you as you said, but Louisville's a good team. Miami and cam Ward and Mario Cristobal have done a lot of good for the ACC. I think Syracuse has played really good football so far this year as well. Although that pit loss was awful.
Yeah, that was a disaster. That was actually that was one of those things you couldn't stop watching. I mean it was not competitive, but man, it was like a car wreck. You just couldn't you couldn't, couldn't look away. All right, I've got some rapid fire questions for you before we say goodbye here, Zach thoughts on Kirk kurb Street taking his dog everywhere? Are you are you over it? Do you think it's adorable?
Are you?
Do you not care at all?
I'm in the middle of not caring, Anthony. It's adorable. I have two dogs, two pugs, and they're they're God's worst creations. But if they weren't, if I could get away of taking them everywhere, I would.
Okay, that's a good answer. I think it's it's sweet, but I think at times it's like a little too proppy, if that makes sense, Like we get it, like you know, I don't disagree with that, all right? Will we see at the end of this year. And I think we've already discussed this a little bit earlier in the season. But when it comes to coaching turnover, do we see
do we see an unexpectedly light year with that? And what I mean is I feel like before the season started, man, there was a handful of coaches that you just thought, Okay, they need to be really, really good or they're going to lose their job. But as the season's played on, I don't. I don't feel like there's there's been a coach from a big program, especially that you're like, well, it's about to happen in any moment. Obviously Billy and Napier it could still happen, but they've been They've been
rather competitive in some of their games. So do you think we'll end up with a pretty active coaching caroussel or maybe maybe not as much.
I've kind of thought that things would be light for a few.
Years in a row, and I've been proven wrong at every turn. But at the same time, we did set a record last year. I don't know the number, but I do believe we set or tied a record last year, So that would tell you that this year has to be a little bit lighter. I think it'll be a
lot quite a bit delayed. I mean it's already been delayed, but I think we'll continue to see that, just because we're going to have more teams playing in delay to sidburn games that matter, more teams playing January games no matter, and even into January twentieth.
I think that's going to slow things down and draw them out quite a bit.
Well, we see any coaches from the Power four level, and again this is just a guess, I'm asking you to just guess, but you'd be more plugged in to make a more educated guests than most of us. Power for coaches that just kind of walk away, not because their seats super warm, not because they're ancient in age, but the job has changed a lot. You're seeing coaches not really be able to hide the fact that they're miserable and look, a lot of it's because the results
aren't there, but again, the job has changed. I don't have a lot of sympathy for them. They make a whole lot of money. They can lose every game and still take millions. But do you think we'll see We've seen it in basketball more frequently, and obviously Tony Bine just did it. But that's something that you don't really ever think about happening. But when it does happen this day and age, with there being so much change in college sports, you think, well, okay, I guess it kind
of makes sense. You think we see that in the power for somebody just kind of unexpectedly saying yeah, I'm out. I don't want to do this anymore.
I know Oklahoma State is praying that Mike Gundy walks away. Interested in twenty twenty four started with admitting that he's driven drunk a thousand times.
I've done it a thousand times.
And he had to move a press conference to zoom because he got, I believe, headbutted by one of his cows during his off week, and then this past week he said that he or he said that all of his critics are poor.
Yeah, poverty, poverty people. They don't know anything.
And in the meantime, all he's done is complain about the portal and nil, which on the one hand, I get. On the other hand, it's your way of life now, in your chosen profession that you're paid a lot of money to do.
And he's also lost six.
Games in a row and staring at its season ending nine game losing streaking face.
Man, they're easily the most disappointing team outside of Florida State, right, like they have to be. I forgot that they had some real momentum heading into this year with Ali Gordon back and everything. They're terrible.
They played for a conference championship last year and beat Oklahoma, and it seems like Mike Gundy spit all of his juice that he had left on beating Oklahoma and is now just kind of quite quit.
Yeah. Mark Stoops is somebody around here. I don't see it happening, but there are some Kentucky fans that just believe that he's he's just burned out and really and he's somebody that I can actually I appreciate his honesty about the whole thing, Like he didn't even had it at SEC media days that he's burned out. I mean he flat he flat out said it in a different way.
And obviously they're having a season that's you know, they've had seasons like this before in their in their existence, but not with Stoops in this position where they clearly just should be better than they are. I mean, you think there's any chance that would have I just think it's unlikely for somebody, even though it's been difficult and they've gone through a rough stretch here, do they just you know, they decide to call it quits.
Well, I know, Bob walked away out of the blue when he I don't know the exact age gap between Bob and Mark off the top of my head, but they were around the same age, and Bob walked away because their dad died of a heart attack when he was that same age. So obviously they had a profound effect on Bob and one would assume it would have an effect on Mark. So if he did, it would
not surprise me. All though at the same time, eleven months ago or whatever it was, he was the Texas A and M head coach for like two hours.
I mean, he committed to them, he was on his way out, and then you know he got told sorry, we're not gonna be able to make it happen. So, yeah, he's just a year. We're not even a year removed from him committing to a whole new adventure that would really be a different world for him compared to where he is in Lexington.
Yeah, and I certainly he wouldn't be walking away if that were to be the case. But you know, things change and if he did walk away, it would not it would not stun me.
Interesting, Zach, you are the man. Appreciate you making time for us as always. Keep up the great work and we will talk soon. My friend.
Thank you.
Take care. That is Zach Barnett FootballScoop dot Com. Always enjoy the conversation. Good stuff, good stuff with our man Zach. Quick break, We'll come back on the other side. Keep this thing rolling along. It's coffee and Company. Feel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. That's right, Coffee and Company rolling along here on a Wednesday afternoon,
fueled by Thornton's. Keep Thorntons in mind, not only for you know the obvious reasons, right, you need to put fuel in your car unless you've got one of those electric vehicles. And if you're a member of the Thornton's Refreshment Awards program, then you're going to save money. So that's why you keep them in mind. But also keep them in mind if you need something to eat, maybe a quick lunch, but you also want something that's really good, delicious.
They've got a lot of delicious options and the new Taketos did I say it right. I think last time I said Tweedo's and that was not the right way to say it. But Taketo's, man, you can get three of them for three bucks right now. Very delicious. And I love how they'll just randomly, you know, we'll throw a new item out there. Sometimes I don't like when they just throw a new item out there that I love and then I never see it again. That's what
happened with the pizza wedge. But look, it's okay. They've made it up by new delicious items like the taketos. So again, we appreciate our friends over there at Thornton's. All right, So Louisville, Tennessee at noon on Saturday. I said this earlier in the show, and I'll reset it later because I didn't want to get a little bit and I want to get into a little more later
on the five o'clock hour. But I was expecting to do a not deep dive, but I was expecting to look at Tennessee and realize, Okay, look this Tennessee team. They're gonna be favorites for obvious reason. I hope Louisville's competitive. Maybe they do win, but if not, if they just they play hard, and if they you know, they look the part just come up short. That'll be you know, disappointing because you never went your team to lose, But you know, overall, that'll be a that'll be okay, because
you know Tennessee's good. They're they're they're just that good, and you're still putting it together. And and after looking at them, and I don't even mean like the one game they played, because they they were pretty you know, pretty unimpressive in their loss to Indiana. It sounds like and then they you know, they won the first half by I think twelve against Gardner Webb and they won the second half by four, So they won by sixteen. But the kin Pom projection, which probably doesn't mean much
of anything when you've never played a game. Until these two teams played, it was expected to be a bigger victory.
But when I look at their players, I just, you know, I think the best way to describe it is, I think this Tennessee team is the best example you'll find when it comes to teams that just get slotted in the preseason rankings where they're slotted based off of where they finished last year, because look, their roster it's pretty mid I mean, and I don't think that's like a hot take, that's not a homer thing like for Louisville.
I just I was expecting to look at Tennessee and just think, Okay, look if they play well meaning Louisville and they're competitive, and that's still you know, a potential positive because you know, Tennessee's a top twelve team. Most teams who are putting a brand new team together from scratch don't start off with their second real game being against the top twelve team. But I don't think the case can be made that Tennessee is a top twelve team.
Here's what I think, and I'll kind of give you the reason as to why I believe this about Tennessee. One of these two things is going to happen. They're going to take a rather big step back this year and not be a tournament caliber team, or they end up being like borderline top twenty five because they fit what Rick Barnes really wants to do. And when I think of Rick Barnes, he's never made it, He's never
made well, he hasn't. He made an Elite eight last year and lost to to Purdue with Dalton Connect and then he did make a Final Four with TJ. Ford at Texas. So he's made deep runs, but some of his best teams have never made deep runs. But he also was really good in the regular season more often than not. I think he's a really good coach. I think what Pat Kelsey said the other day is true. Like I think he can absolutely be a Hall of
Famer and probably will be a Hall of Famer. But I feel like some of his best teams weren't filled with like NBA talent or a Dalton Connect who's NBA player and also you know, an All American. You know, some of his best teams, I feel like they're just guys that really fit his style. They're tough defensively, they play well within his system and it works out. I mean the team that had had Schofield and Grant Williams.
I mean, I know Grant Williams is still hanging out in the NBA and probably won't be for long, to be honest with you, but like that was just a really good Rick Barnes type team. I think that's the ceiling for this group because I don't really know like
where their great players are. I mean, I'll start with their their top transfer as a guy named Chas Lanier, and he is somebody that if you remember, Kentucky was interested in him, and I'm pretty sure they wanted him, but I feel like Kentucky ended up getting better guards to where they don't they're not going to miss this guy, and you never know, Man, he's played one game at this level and he had eighteen points against Gardner Webb. But at North Florida for three straight seasons, he never
averaged more than four points. And then last year he had a huge year out of nowhere and average under twenty, just under twenty. So you know, if he's their best player, I mean, he was North Florida's best player and they weren't very good. And then I'm thinking, Okay, well, maybe they've got a guy back that's you know, that's that's really coming off of a special season. No, not really. I mean Zekai Ziggler is the one guy that they bring back who has been good for them for a while.
But he, you know, he's always been kind of a role player, a good role player. I mean, in fact, he averaged you know, he averaged you know, eleven points and six assists last year. He's a good point guard. So he's somebody that I should you know, he is somebody that is back after proving for really his whole career that he's a good player. But like, is he good enough to where you feel like they're going to
be a top fifteen team. I mean, maybe I'm under selling him a little bit, but I feel like his value is mostly on defense and you know, assists. But I don't think he's got a Dalton connect to, you know, to to lean on when it comes to really carrying the load when it comes to scoring. They've got a guy named Jordan Gainey who is a senior who's starting, and he played two years at USC Upstate, transferred to Tennessee last year and was a role player, played, you know,
average about six points a game. So they've got a guy named Jemi Mushak And these are starters. By the way, this is a six to four guard. He's also a senior, an older guy. He's been at Tennessee his whole career, never averaged more than four points a game, never played a whole lot either. Well, now he's a starter. So again I'm not trying to present this as this Tennessee's the most overrated team in the country and they're going to be terrible this year. I mean they might be,
but like they're a new team, just like Louisville. They're putting things together. And Louisville's roster, you know, of those guys I just mentioned, I'm sure there are some that are going to take Zachai Ziggler over any guard on both teams. And if you do make that decision, I get it. But you know what, Chucky Heburn's pretty good too, Korin Johnson's pretty good, Terrence Edwards, Chucky Hepburn, Koran Johnson.
I mean, I think that trio is better than any trio you could put together with the guards that Rick Barnes has, And that doesn't mean you're gonna win. But like I'm not worried about louis Like the number twelve team in the country is what's kind of like, Okay, here we go, man, a top twelve matchup in game two. We better buckle up. Pat Kelsey, he's getting challenged big
time early on. But when you look at who it is and how they're put together, like I'm not I mean, in clearly big step up from everybody you've played, but I'm not. I mean, I don't think it could be any team that's of like the Power five level. And I wouldn't look at Tennessee and feel like that there's
certain to be anybody, because you just don't know. And again, they've got guys back playing much bigger roles that were there a year ago and even two years ago, and they were you know, there's a reason they weren't playing a whole lot. They weren't good enough. And yeah they've lost Dalton connect but it's not as if they were sitting behind a bunch of future NBA players. I mean, same thing. Cason Pryor, I mean I think you know, he probably wouldn't be taken over the big for Igor Millichick.
I mean, this is a guy who he's not done it at Tennessee. He just transferred in from Charlotte. He averaged twelve points a game at Charlotte last year. Well now he's their starting big. He was a six to ten big at Charlotte seven points two years ago, twelve points, thirteen points last year, and now he's a starter at Tennessee. I think if you look at what Caseon Pryor did at a higher level South Florida last year, a team
that won their league. Like, again, I'm not saying these numbers prove it that Louisville's got better players, but like, I think, if Loisvill plays well, they win, and I wouldn't shock if they know if they win the game, you know, by seven eight points, like I'll think they're gonna need some kind of a miracle. And look, what this ultimately did is remind me that it's impossible to
rank college basketball teams in the preseason. Right now, you can base it off of like I think you could give us a top ten and I would think, Okay, I see how you came there. But after that, man, it's just anybody's guess how you pieced together eleven through twenty five, because there's no way you're not basing it off of just well, they're typically good. And that used to matter because there used to be teams that you just knew, and there still are teams that, like, if
they're not good, it's a real surprise. But moving forward, there's going to be teams that do really fluctuate from one year to the other. Because of the new world that is college athletics. The portal and I al that kind of stuff. So I've been excited for Saturday, but I'm even more excited now because I if they end up losing and it's a close scan, like, I don't know, I'm not going to tell you what my reaction is going to be for a result that hasn't happened yet,
but like I expect them to win. Maybe I'll learn the hard way that I got my hopes up and I really, you know, lifted my belief up for this team based off of a fifty point beat down to
a morehead state team. But if you go look at Tennessee's personnel, I mean, the twelve ranking is because of what they've done really for the last I don't know, however many years under Rick Barnes, they're more often the top twenty team than they're not under Barnes, it seems, but this person like, I don't think that you could look at their roster and say that they were winners
in the portal. And I also don't look at I don't think you can look at the guys that they brought back and feel like they should just be walking Like I wouldn't be shocked if they're not in the top six of the SEC or even worse than that. Now, again, I realize everything I just said in the last ten minutes or so can be completely, you know, used as as material to make fun of me, because maybe Tennessee kicks the Louisvel's ass on Saturday and they end up
being really, really good this year. And it was one of the worst takes I've ever had. And if that's the case, I'll live with it. I've been wrong many times, but I'm just telling you what I think. I don't. I don't look at this Tennessee team and think that they're they're anything anybody should really be scared of. And again, Louisville's got good players, now, I mean they've they've got
I mean, I don't know what their ceiling is. But I'll say what I've said really since the roster was put together before we saw these guys play, and that is that Pat Kelsey has a roster on paper that we are not out of line to expect this to be a tournament team. Now, if they don't get there, doesn't mean that there's some epic failure, but like there's a tournament team when it comes to personnel and now we've seen them play mostly exhibitions in one regular season game.
But I since the roster came together, I've just been more and more confident that this is a tournament caliber team. So that's what the expectation should be at minimum in my opinion, So exciting times, no doubt, quick break will come back on the other side. Wrap up the four o'clock hour. I do need to share a story about something that happened with me earlier today. That isn't like, you know, it's not mean. It's not like it's some crazy story you're.
Gonna God blessed Nana caliber. No, but it is kind of related to that. Oh okay, it made me feel old, but it also was I don't know, just stick around. That's a way to really leave you hanging and suspense.
Oh what could it be? Well, you'll find out. On the other side, you'll probably be underwhelmed, but hey, stick around and find out for yourself right here on Sports Talk seven ninety So earlier today, I was out, just dropped both kids, both of my kids off. One went to went to school, one went to daycare, and then a light went off in my car like a warning, and I thought, oh, my god, because if you don't know the story, I'm not going to get into it.
I've had some really bad car issues, one real big car issue that wasn't my fault or my car'spault. Took my car to AutoZone to get a battery swapped out, and they broke it and left me without my vehicle
for about a month. So, you know, I'm a little bit sensitive to just any little problem with my car because I'll, you know, it'll it'll if I have something else wrong with it, like big, like a big problem, I'll probably just put it up for sale and just try to get rid of the bad energy that that that has been caused not by the vehicle but by AutoZone. So the light that went off was was was minor. It was that I need to replace the battery in my key. That makes sense. When I saw battery on there,
I was like, oh my god. And then it was it was just a warning that like the battery you know that that that the auto Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I needed to replace it, and I think I've already yeah, I had done that once before. And here's what happened. We got two keys when we bought the car. When the battery started giving me trouble last time, I just used the backup key, and now I don't know where
that one is. But anyways, I remember when I was at AutoZone for five and a half hours over two days time, while they couldn't figure out that they were putting my battery on backwards, that there was like a little section of little batteries that were for that, Like it's a known thing. I guess at auto part stores like that people sometimes need to replace those. But do you think I'm going back to autos? I'm hell no. So there's an O'Reilly's that is not that far away.
It's actually across Preston Highway down a little bit. So I go in there and I'm walking around and I'm actually on the phone at the time, and I found the right battery that I needed, and I ended up walking up to the register and I could kind of feel that the guy that was there knew me or recognized me or something. And you know, they the community
that I live in. It may not be that he recognizes me because of anything in regards to like what I do, but just because you know, where I grew up is where I live and a lot of people know a lot of people, right, I'm sure a lot of you can relate to that. And it turns out
he did. This is what the guy told me. First of all, he said, I thought that was you, and then and then and then he and then I realized how insane it is that you're here, probably because of the story that I listened to on your show for for quite some time. And I was like, oh yeah, I said, I wasn't going to go back there. And it turns out that he his I think he said his brother or his stepbrother went to school with me and is relatively close to my age, but he's a
little bit younger. But the guy I talked to this is what made me feel old. He said, he remembers listening to me, to my to my podcast, like you know, whenever, when I was on a different station many many years ago. And now he's like, you know, he said, at that time, he was he was just finishing high school. But he's
like a big Louisville fan or whatever. And he went on to tell me that, you know, he's been listening to me ever since, and he's like grown with kids, and he's married and like he's a manager of a business. And this is somebody that, like, you know, was a young teenager at the time that they were I guess introduced to me, and like it really made me. I would have guessed the guy was like close to my age, but no, he's probably like you know, John's age, or
a little bit older than John. It made me feel really really old. But then he wanted he wanted to play by play like he was trying to. He wanted some inside info. He wanted to know how that happened. And I explained it to him, and he was like, I thought maybe you were embellishing a little bit for the story. And I'm like, oh, no, you can't, I said. I told him, I said what I said on the show many times is what I said every day. You can't make this up, Like, how did this happen? How
did AutoZone go? You know, how did I go give them business and pay two hundred plus dollars for a battery and they broke my car and left me without one for about a month and had no urgency or no apology. They did pay to get it fixed, but that was a whole hassle on because of them, And I was like, well, you know, we'll take your business any time. And I'm like, you're gonna get it. I'm never walking back. I've never walking back in there again.
But yeah, made me. It made me feel old. And then I saw a story later today that made me realize this. Despite how frustrating the auto's owne experience was for me, it could be worse. I mean, check check this out. There is a let me pull it up here. There is a guy who is suing a I guess an ambulance company. Let me pull up the story here
just to get get the specifics. But can you imagine riding your bike on the street and getting getting hit by a car, in fact, getting run over by an ambulance, only for them to then put you in the back of the ambulance, take you to the hospital, and then give you a bill for the ambulance ride. Like that's that That's what happened apparently in Oregon. Yes, so an
Oregon cyclist I'm reading here from Oregon Live. An organ cyclist who was struck by an ambulance that made a right turn into him, fracturing his nose, leaving him with scrapes and other injuries across his body. Has followed a nine hundred and ninety thousand dollars lawsuit against the ambulance provider after it scooped him up, drove him to the hospital,
and then build him for the service. His attorney says the ambulance provider sent the client a one thousand and eight and sixty two dollars bill for the ambulance ride, and it says that's among about forty seven thousand dollars in medical expenses that this person has racked up so far and another fifty thousand of medical costs he expects for the rest of his life. So I mean, that's got to be like I mean, if it's a lawsuit, I assume that that means who you're suing is sticking
by that you owe them. I don't know. I guess maybe they could have said, oh, we didn't mean to bill you for that, but then you could still sue him, But I don't know. Man, Like that made me realize, yeah, they did get my car fixed and I was without it, and that still sucks. It was a frustrating experience, but at the end of the day, you know, at the end of the day, like that's nowhere near as bad as having to need medical, medical healthier. Yeah, I mean,
here's what I believe. The bill was just a processed thing they do without realizing. Yeah, we probably shouldn't build this guy because we're the reason he was in the ambulance. But either way, if they build him or not, I would imagine he'd probably still have a lawsuit here. Just my guess. All right, we got one more hour to go. I can't believe I've fast the show's gone by today, but we're foot a strong here in the five o'clock hours,
So stick with us. Coffee and company. Feel by Thorton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety