Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick Coffee.
So tomorrow we're gonna find out the NFL schedule in totality, and that's exciting. I mean, I know the NFL is king, and we talked a lot yesterday about all the different networks that you're gonna need in order to, uh to watch every NFL game if you'd want to. And I'm a sucker really more than anything. It's not like I'm bragging log Oh, you know I've got I've got all of it. I've got Peacock, I've got Hulu, I've got Amazon, which I do.
But it's really just because I, at.
One point or another needed one of those I needed all those services at one point because there was like one show that I had to watch, so I signed up and you know, just never went back to cancel it, and I probably don't use it enough to justify the cost.
But again, I know I'm not alone.
In fact, there's businesses out there now that have that have created this service to where they monitor that's they monitor that stuff for you as far as you know, knowing that you forgot to cancel a trial or knowing that you know you're paying nine to ninety nine a month for something that you just forget about and you
haven't used it in two years. Like knowing that there are companies that have launched to help people with that situation makes me feel better knowing I'm not alone, because clearly if they see a market, then they know that you know, there's a lot of people out there like me.
But anyways, ESPN they're going to have their.
Own new streaming app that is I think just going to be called like yes, like they're not calling it ESPN plus, it's not ESPN three, it's not watch ESPN.
It's ESPN's new and.
A loan streaming app that'll cost you. Have you seen the price for this, Austin, I have not. I had no clue that they were doing. I thought that they already had apps.
Yeah, so like I don't.
I guess they're gonna make it to where you can have ESPN and access to it without having because like right now, if I want to watch something on ESPN, the way that I obtain the ability to watch ESPN with with a subscription is.
That what I pay YouTube TV gets me ESPN.
Right, And if you have Hulu Live or if you have Direct TV or Time Warn or whatever it may be, like, you pay them and that gives you access to ESPN. So when you go to ESPN's app on your Roku or your Smart TV or whatever it is on your phone, that's why it redirects you to that.
Login for your cable provider.
Well, I guess now what ESPN's doing is they're going to give you everything that ESPN has and you can just get it directly from them.
You don't have to pay for you know, you don't have to use your your TV subscription.
So let me guess it sounds they sound like they would price gouge you a little bit. I'm gonna say, fourteen dollars a month a month.
Double it twenty nine to ninety nine a month.
Goodness.
Yeah.
So ESPN's new streaming app, it's gonna launch this fall. It's gonna cost you twenty nine to ninety nine a month for an unlimited plan with all ESPN networks. But you can also bundle with Disney Plus and Hulu oh for thirty five ninety nine a month.
Oh what a steal?
And it says dropping to twenty nine ninety nine for the first year if you sign up at launch, so you can get it for twenty nine ninety nine a month, which honestly that is for twenty nine to ninety nine a month. I feel like that's not a bad price if if it includes the Disney Plus and Hulu.
But Hulu with a what is Hulu with ads?
Meaning you get Hulu that's Hulu content, but there's commercials built in, but it's not hululav TV right.
No, it's like if you're watching what's one of their shows, like Cammaid's Tale, Yeah, then you get interrupted with that.
So you know, this this pricing strategy, I mean, it's this is what ESPN's doing. They're pivoting to direct to consumer service here that will you know, they're basically trying to get away from having to get their product everybody via a standard cable subscription. So you know, forty seven thousand live events yearly is what ESPN has. But again it's it's I mean, it's not a crazy amount when you hear twenty like honestly, like, here's what I oftentimes
think of. But I mean it's just my way of in my own It's not like when I hear that they're gonna it's gonna cost me twenty nine to ninety nine a month to watch anything on ESPN. You can tell me that it's more expensive than any of the
other streaming platforms, which apparently it is. I mean, I'm reading here that the twenty nine ninety nine a month is the most extreming, the most expensive streaming app that you could that you could technically get right now without any kind of like big add ons, which that to me that sounds cheap because I imagine there's some that
are more than that, but I don't know. I mean, let's be honest, if you look at the twenty nine nine and nine a month, that's that's you know, for you know, you add that up annually, that's not a
super cheap thing. But anyways, what I'm getting at is, you know, if you told me it was fifty nine to ninety nine a month, and I knew that I had to pay that in order to watch the sports that I really like, I mean, I would pay it, not because I'm rolling in money or anything like that, just because like it's such an important thing to me. It really just depends on how much you like, if you if you're somebody who's out here claiming that you
you can't justify and you're not going to pay for ESPN. Well, like, let's see if there's ever a time wherever, like the only way you could watch the sports that you like is on ESPN. Like eventually, I mean, maybe you will stick to your guns. But there's a lot of folks that act like the streaming platforms and all the different
networks that have games. You know, it's it's it's it's I'm mocking people in a way when I do this because it is a little I mean, it's different now than it used to be, right, Like you don't just turn on your television with your remote and go to the three stations that you know would have a game. Now it's much more complex because there's a lot more
networks competing to get property here. Meaning when I say property, you know they're buying the rights to air an NFL game on a Thursday or a Sunday night, and you know they pay a lot of money for that and they monetize it. The NFL, the NBA, whoever, I mean, the SEC network acc Like it's a business. They'd be foolish not to try to get the best deal possible.
To where you know it's the most lucrative.
And if that means that people who want to watch might have to jump through a hoop they didn't used to have to jump through, I'm sure they're sleeping well at night knowing that. So I think more than anything, it's just to me all the complaining about how difficult it is to watch sports now, it's just because it's
not what it used to be. I think claiming that it's difficult and it's a it's it's a problem as if like there's an issue and you need troubleshooting and you need to talk to tech support, Like that's not the case. I mean that can happen certainly, and I'm sure there are issues. Yeah, we know there's hiccups, and
it's not been completely flawless by any means. But you needing to go to a smart TV and download an app, whether it be you Roku that's connected to your smart TV or it's your smart TV itself, that's that's nobody see like anybody making these decisions, they don't see that as an issue. That's just how you're gonna get their product. But yet there's this, there's there's noise out there, and there has been for years that it's just too hard,
itch to just too complicated. It's not there's a little bit more to it, yes, but it I think the root of all the uproar is just because it's not what it used to be for fifty sixty years, when you could just literally turn on your TV and there it was. Now you've got to do something that might take you five to ten seconds to get to and you know, if that alone, along with you know, the added price, keeps you from watching sports, then you know,
do whatever the hell you want. You know, you're entitled to do whatever you want. But I just think a lot of people are lying when they're like, oh, yeah, I'm not paying for that, because I just think sports is a bit is a big enough priority to enough people to where you know, they could probably justify the expense and they'll do it. They may not like it,
but I don't know. Like the ESPN announcement today has led to a lot of people acting as if they're in the you know, not only are they in the wrong, but they're going to learn the hard way that people aren't willing to pay this and their price point is too expensive.
Maybe maybe maybe.
They will learn it the hard way, But I don't necessarily I mean, I don't, I don't necessarily see that as I mean, just you know how many people The reason that these networ Right Peacock, Amazon Prime, Netflix, I mean, Apple TV is even broadcasting live games too. Like, the reason that they're paying an insane amount of money in order to have exclusive rights to broadcast something is so they can then monetize it and make an insane amount of money. Because an insane amount of people watch sports
and love it. It's the and it's the only real thing you have in live television anymore. I mean, I know there's a live TV on all day, but when you consider the most watched things that are live on television, whether it be you're watching it on your TV with cable or you're watching it on TV with the streaming app like YouTube TV or whatever, the vast majority of those nearly all of them. In fact, every year it's a live sporting event because nothing else do you really
have to watch live now to enjoy it. There's the occasional show that, like, is such a popular show that there's so many people talking about it that you feel like if you don't watch it live, you're going to get a spoiler or something like that. But like presidential debates, that kind of stuff. I guess there are some award shows that occasionally will will crack the top one hundred.
But when you can guarantee essentially that this many millions of people will be watching live on this network, advertisers will pay a lot of money to reach those people. And you know, I just think if you're somebody that's gonna that's gonna truly say yeah, I'm out.
This is just gets just caught. It's just it's just cost too.
Much money now to watch sports on all these different platforms. I'm just gonna not do it anymore. Well, I think they'll be okay without you.
Now.
I guess the worry would be that enough people do that to where you now really have Again, that's not the case because you know, the big events in this country when it comes to live sports, people still watch it, you know, at a at.
A big, big, big number.
But yeah, the ESPN app, which again like they got to work on the on the brand here because I mean they just want to call it ESPN, which you know that's technically what it is. But like they also still are going to have the ESPN channel that is available on your YouTube TV, on your on your spectrum cable or whatever it is. But yeah, twenty nine ninety
nine a month is the is the price. And you know, I I'll probably end up signing up for just because There'll be something that I need to watch and I realize I don't have the I don't have access to it, so I'm gonna watch.
Now.
This is something I probably should have looked into ahead of time. But I would imagine that this just gives you the ability to and this is where it could get. This is where it could get and maybe this is actually where the real complaints are coming from as far as the price. Because if I'm paying twenty nine ninety nine a month and all that does is give me everything that's under the ESPN umbrella again, like that sounds like I'm getting a lot of access to sports and
it's not crazy expensive at twenty nine ninety nine. But also like some people I don't know, like I don't know what I pay for YouTube TV right now, let me look up the app.
Me.
I'm gonna look this up. The price for the most, you know, because I think there are different types of let's see average price. Actually I guess average price wouldn't be it. But I'm trying to find the price for YouTube TV because I don't and I should know what I pay, but I don't. But like am I paying is twenty nine ninety nine. That's probably just under fifty percent of what I pay a month to have everything
that I have within YouTube TV. But again, I think ESPN is aware that when it comes to live television and access to channels people want to watch. They they know that like this will lead to people like me who because right now there's really not much I can't watch on all these different apps that's not sports related, right, Like I you know TV shows that are part of like FX, they're on Hulu all the time. You know HBO Max, Like anything that's on HBO, I can watch
it on Max. I don't have to watch it live. So maybe ESPN's looking at it from this perspective, knowing right now there's a lot of people who the only reason they pay for a live TV service, whether it's cable, YouTube TV, Hulu Live, whatever it is, is because of sports.
Well we're going to give them that at twenty nine nine to nine a month and then they won't need But then again, like if I I guess, yeah, when I watch Hulu and I watch HBO Max and when I watch Peacock, you know, I'm not signing into a TV subscription to watch those that content. It's because I pay the monthly price to have access to everything that's within those within those platforms. So anyways, I only time
will tell. But I happen to think that this this is going to be actually a big step in the direction of a lot of people realizing they don't need YouTube TV, they don't need Spectrum TV, they don't need direct TV because you know, you can actually have all the apps and you know, get everything you need. Now again, is the price when it's all added up? Are you actually saving any money? Are you paying more now than before you cut the cord ten years ago and went to,
you know, one of these streaming services. All right, let's do this, Let's take a quick break. We'll come back on the other side. Mark Pope, he talked to the media today in Lexington. Was asked about the Louisville, Kentucky basketball game taking place in November. We'll let you hear what he had to say, but I'm not gonna mislead
you as if this is something substantial. But it just reminded me that as much as we want there to be some real animosity between the two coaches here because this is the biggest and best rivalry in college basketball in my opinion, clearly I'm biased, but we all know what the rivalry is around here. Like it would be a little bit, it would feel good if there was some clear tension and you know, animosity between the two coaches.
But I just think it happened to play out to where unless something changes, I think these dudes, Mark Pope and Pat Kelcey legitimately like and respect one another, and I anything can can change, but like, I don't foresee anything changing to where they're going to end up, you know, at each other's necks like we are.
And that's okay.
The rivalry can still be great, but we were really spoiled and we didn't know it. When it comes to just how contentious it was between Patino and Cawboll, We're never getting that again, all right, Keiva locked right here, It's coffee and company. Phil about Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Now back to coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day.
So as you could expect, we talked a little bit about the Dallas Mavericks being the winner of last night's NBA Draft lottery, which coming up at the five o'clock hour. There's a lottery story I want to talk about because it's got to be one of these things that we'll eventually see in some type of like a Netflix documentary. But anyways, the Mavericks, they've got some good pieces, some big names, but after trading Luca, all the pieces are old or a bad combo of old and often injured.
The perfect piece would be a young, potential superstar who that wouldn't even like. If Cooper Flag is close to what they claim he will be based off potential, he'll be much bigger than just a superstar. He may be one of the best that's ever played the game. That's the kind of hype this guy has. So after losing Luca and you know, trading him away to get an old and often injured Anthony Davis who's already playing alongside
Klay Thompson who's older, and Kyrie Irving who's older. I mean the way in which you could get some more life out of these guys if the franchise is essentially run by the young star, and that's how guys like Kyrie Clay and even Ad maybe can stick around and have a you know, a long and potentially successful finish to their NBA career. During that conversation, I was thinking about the average age of an NBA player, just because I feel like, if you're thirty two, you know you're
you're old in the NBA. You're not old in life. In fact, I would hope not, because you know, I'm I'm ancient. If that's the case, I'm about to be thirty two. So thanks to somebody who sent this in. The average age in the NBA is let's see, they have it broke down by position. So the average age for guards in the NBA twenty five point seven. The average age for forwards is twenty five point nine. The average age for big guys centers is twenty seven point one,
so you know, roughly the average age. Yeah, it says you're The average age going into this season in the NBA was twenty six years old. So I'd say if you're if the average is twenty six and you're thirty two, you're old in the NBA. I mean, I think gets if you're six years older than the average age and you know, the average you know, the overall age range of an NBA player is what eighteen to Lebron, who's
got to be the oldest player in the NBA. Which I feel like if he was the oldest player in the NBA, like it would be something that people would say because it would just be an added thing, you know, to his to his legacy well before he retired.
Wasn't like you Donnis Haslam, like the oldest player loves around.
The Lebron is the oldest player in the NBA right now. Wow, the oldest player is Lebron who was born December thirtieth, nineteen eighty four. He'll be forty one this December. So yeah, outside of outside of that, I mean, yeah, so he is just a little bit older than Chris Paul. Here are your five oldest players.
In the NBA.
This is crazy to me because this this makes me feel old. Lebron is the oldest, Chris Paul's the second oldest, ky Kyle Lowry is the third oldest.
PJ.
Tucker is the fourth oldest. Mike Conley is the fifth oldest. Like I played against Mike Conley.
Oh oh yeah, I didn't know that. Yeah, And well him and.
He was from Indy and they had a special special team that that you know, him and him and Greg Odin came up together and were this duo that was you know, they were they were the the stars of of the class that I was in. And you know, there was a couple of tournaments we played in where their team was there, and you know.
It was it was what I expected.
It was like when Lebron was coming up, if that makes sense, just because I mean Odin more than than than Conley.
But both were elite recruits.
But KD is the sixth oldest oldest, Jeff Green is the seventh oldest. Wow Al Horford is the eighth oldest, Thady Is Young is the ninth oldest, and then Nicholas Bettom is the tenth oldest. So those are your oldest players in the NBA, which again makes me feel very old because you know, I mean Jeff Green, I would have for some reason I thought Jeff Green was a lot older than than he he actually is. But saying that he's still the seventh oldest player, in the NBA.
So went the Yukon right, Jeff Green? Yeah close, Big East but Georgetown, Georgetown. Okay, he was on those teams at Georgetown. Remember Louisville playing Oh yeah, Roy Hibbert.
Remember Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green. You know those were some good, good matchups in the UH, in the in the old Big East days.
All right, it's coffee and company. Feel abouth.
Thorton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Appreciate you guys hanging out with us here on a Tuesday afternoon. So earlier today, Mark Pope had what I believe is his first press conference since the season came to an end. Uh, and he was asked a lot of things as you could expect, about his roster, about the portal, about players
that transferred out, that kind of stuff, and uh. He was asked about the Louisville Kentucky game, which we learned a week ago is going to be played on November eleventh, much earlier than what we're used to.
And you know, it'll be weird the lead up, but we'll get used to it.
And when the game happens, we'll meaning when it tips off, I think we won't know what planet we're on, or what day of the what what day of the week, or what month we're actually in, because you know, that's what the game can do to us, because we just you know, it's that big of a deal, but it is weird, and just knowing they're playing before the football game is just what really, of all things, that's just one. Okay, this doesn't seem right, but anyways, here's what Mark Pope had to say.
Here we go, we increasingly complicated, and so I think it was I think it was I think it was what what worked out best is there? I heard there might be a push people wanted that in December. Is that true? So blame Louisville for that? Okay, I actually I actually don't know how we got to the date. You know, there's more important people are dealing with those those issues than me. But but I'm sure it's Louisville's fault.
I said, So, I mean, take of that whatever you want.
I mean.
Seeing him say it and then hearing the you know, the audio like he's clearly making a joke. And I'm sure he wants to beat Louisville more than he does a lot of teams on their schedule because obviously it's a rival. He understands what it is. But the two here, meaning Pat Kelcey and Mark Pope to see the reaction. There's a couple of I guess guys who cover UK that are at the press conference that understandably so they didn't.
They didn't they weren't streaming it live or maybe if they were, they you know, they didn't have the the thirty second clip that gave us that they were just sharing what it was that he said. And I don't know, I'll give maybe some of these guys.
The benefit of the doubt. They were just quite literally sharing what was.
Said and they didn't they didn't include context because they couldn't write, or maybe some people were trying to, you know, make it appear that Mark Pope was out there, you know, saying he wanted the game in December and Loville it's at their place this year, so that's why they moved it there. But like, let's not force it. Like nothing irks me more than whenever they're because it doesn't take much for there to be like a jab. Right, it's
a rivalry. It's very contentious. It's a big deal, especially in the Louisville area. Because there's so many fans on both sides, But like, let's not force it. And I think anything at this point between these two that is being positioned as rivalry, banter or animosity anything like it, it's a force because I think the truth is both guys genuinely like each other and both guys genuinely respect
each other as coaches. And you know, it didn't play out as much last year visibly because of the injuries to both teams, actually Louisville more so early on, but Kentucky obviously had some injuries that that really hurt them throughout the year.
But like they.
Actually play, they like to do a lot of the same stuff they really do. Like that may make you feel weird. They want to play like one another. Not that Pope's going to practice saying he wants to be like Pat Kelcey as far as style or vice versa.
But they both are in the world of.
Fast a lot of possessions in rhythm threes. We don't care if we shoot way more threes per game than we do any other shot. If it's a good look and it's in rhythm, that's what we want. Like they are very similar in that aspect. I think Pope, from what I gather, is a little more analytically driven, but both rely a lot on analytics, the new world of we want layups, free throws or three point shots. Like
these two guys are cut from that cloth. And they don't have any history as far as you know, coaching together, or that they didn't come from the same coaching tri or anything like that. But I think, you know, I think they and I get why they like each other. The only thing that would make you think that these guys are different is one coach is Louisville, one coach Kentucky. One is very tall, one is very not tall. I mean,
that's that's really what it comes down to. And there is a part of me that kind of at times, dare I say, I like the the place, like the the you know, the uh. I wouldn't call it a friendship, but you know, it's just it's a change of pace. We went from Rick and col which was just, you know,
something we'll never see again. And unfortunately for Louisville, you know, there weren't many wins within that run there when it was Cal and Rick, Louisville got a couple, maybe three wins, right, But not many.
I mean.
Cal got the best of Rick, and it's crazy to think that that's how his first big season at Saint John's ended, where they were a two seed, and then Cal is a ten seat at Arkansas gets them. So the Cal Rick thing, I mean, that's really a life
of its own. But my point is, like we've had a lot of different different vibes, Like I don't remember much about Denny and Rick because I was too young, Like I remember Rick being at Kentucky and having that program on top of the world at the time when I really started to like understand college basketball and understand the rivalry. And then it went from Denny and Rick to Denny and Tubby, and I don't remember much about that.
I do remember there were some teams that Tubby had that I don't think we're supposed to be great that ended up beating Louisville or vice versa.
Maybe it was the other way around.
And then once it became Rick and Tubby, it was really just Rick, like Rick was the story because Tubby of course just was elevated to be the head coach or not elevated. Was he was he he didn't. This is something that's totally not relevant. But Tufby, was he a head coach elsewhere before he got the Kentucky job.
I think was he at Georgia? Is that right? Yeah, he was at Georgia, but.
He was previously an assistant at Kentucky before he got hired in ninety seven at Kentucky. So when he got hired at Kentucky, you know, him being the guy taken over for Patino, and then Patino coming back, but two years later, three years later, whatever it was, four years later. I mean, there really wasn't much of a rivalry between
the two. It was really just all about Rick, Like can you believe that Patino had Kentucky on top of the world, goes to the Celtics, it falls, you know, he fails there, and then he's back in college and he comes to the rivalry Like that really was the big storyline of the whole rivalry at that time in that era. And then Cal got hired, and you know,
it was very, very contentious. I remember, I guess it was the first year they played, or maybe the second year now John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Blood, So that was Cal's first year, right, Yeah, it was when that game tipped off like first thirty forty five seconds, like I could feel the tension sitting on my couch like it was. In fact, there's no way I was sitting.
I think I was standing like it was just you could just tell it was if you were remember might have been Reggie Delk who got chest to chest with Eric bledsoe On like a you know, ball went out of bounds. It wasn't like they were fighting, but they just happened to get close to each other. They were chest to chest.
You know that.
You guys know what I'm talking about, right when basketball players act like they're gonna fight but they're not gonna fight, and then they get close and you think, a wait a second, they're not gonna fight. Are they gonna kiss? Like that kind of stuff like that happens every now and then. That's what That's what it was. And all of a sudden, Cal gets right in Reggie Delk's face and was like, you're efin, But he didn't say f and he said the actual word with the wrong guy.
Like it was so amped and so contentious, and yet I mean, sorry about that noise.
By the way. It it just.
You know, we'll never get that again, because I just don't know what would what would play out in the rivalry for it to get there.
But that's gone.
And then we had the Mac and cal Era and really that I kind of feel like Mac was was was really kind of playing into it in a good way right before things kind of fell apart.
Givem meer that video he did that are you Chicken? Are Your chicken?
Like that, because you know that took place when we're trying to play a rivalry game during a global pandemic, and like, you know, I mean that was like that that's kind of an easy thing to forget for a variety of reasons, but that was like, like that was a good move I feel like by by Chris Mack because fans loved that. Like Mac was on top of the world when that happened, I feel like just because
everybody was, you know, so he was. Because what was happening behind the scenes is Kentucky and cal were clearly trying to move the date of the game a bunch of different times, and you know, they Lord just wanted it on the schedule, and uh, you know, then obviously Ma's out and then the Kenny Payne thing, like that's a that whole experience with Kenny is a mess and a nightmare for a lot of reasons.
But one of those.
Reasons is because he didn't, you know, he loved Kentucky. He didn't, you know, he said it publicly, he did not want to beat Kentucky unless it was by one, and he knew that they wanted to kill him. Like that's the kind of stuff that he said. So you know, now that we have these two here, I just something's gonna have to transpire for I think there'd be any real feeling as if these two guys are a part
of the rivalry. I mean they are because they're coaching the programs, but like I genuinely think and understand also why they like and respect one another. And I think it would be very unlike both of them to do something to disrespect the other one just to play the role of, Hey, I gotta do this because we're in a rivalry. I just don't think these guys are built like that.
Are you scared?
Are you a chicken? I miss my guy Mac.
But he's by the way, if you haven't paid attention, not that you probably would, He's he's crushing it at Charleston with their roster. I mean, he's put together a roster that you know isn't going to get a lot of love in the portal as far as portal rankings compared to programs in like the ACC, SEC, Big Ten and whatnot. But for who they are, you know, they should be far and away the top team in their conference next year. Which I now, I'm kind of thinking that he might, like he might stay put.
Where he's at. I see both sides of it.
I see him having enough success to where he could get an opportunity to come back up to the higher level of college basketball, and him just thinking, look, all right, I want to challenge myself.
I want to compete.
I want to show that despite it falling apart at Louisville like it did, I had success there early and before that I was on top of college basketball to an extent, not necessarily with you know, a bunch of final fours or anything, but like he was building a great, great resume as a coach before and he started off good here and you know, then it fell apart. So I could see him maybe taking advantage of an opportunity
outside of Charleston at some point. But I could also see him being like, yeah, you know what, I got it good here, Like, I'm not gonna I'm not going to. I'm not going to. I'm not gonna change things up. I'm gonna I'm gonna keep it here until I don't you know, I'm gonna stay here, and it'll take a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to leave because Charleston's a beautiful place to live. He makes enough money, his family's there now, his girls are playing volleyball there.
So anyways, quick break, we'll come back on the other side, wrap up the four o'clock hour right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Now back to coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's On Sports Talk seven nine day, We've.
Got some breaking news from Shams Cherania. As as everybody feared, it is a torn right achilles tendon for Jason Tatum. So Shams broke the news about five six minutes ago that he's already actually underwent surgery to repair the Achilles tendon. And there's no report about timeline anything like that, but I believe the expectation is that he's gonna miss the
entire Yeah, Shams has a follow up here. It's Hiss Tatum has played the most regular season and playoff contests of any player in the NBA since entering the league in twenty and seventeen. He's played seven hundred and six games and led the Celtics and total points, rebounds, and assist over the last two postseason runs, including the entire twenty twenty four finals en route to that championship they won last year. So tough news. And again I would
imagine he'll probably miss all of next season. And I tuned in late, so I didn't see it. But once I did tune in, I knew he was in the midst of having a special night. But I mean forty two points, eight rebounds, four steals, four assists in two blocks on sixteen to twenty eight from the field before he had the injury, And of course it looked it looked severe. The non contact. I mean, it could be an ACL, it could be I mean, it could be a variety of things, I believe when it comes to
injuries that are non contact. But you know, I mocked the Twitter doctors, but I think, uh, in all in all honesty, we've seen enough injuries just like that to where that has nothing to do with anything we know about the medical world. It's just three four guys we've watched probably in our lifetime as basketball fans. You knew that they felt the same way. The pain seemed to be the same, the same thing, and uh, you know, here we are, that's that's what's happened here.
I remember Kobe's.
Was it was it KD that had it happen with the Warriors, right like, that was probably the most talked about one that I could think of. Again, Yeah, that's the most talked about one that I could think of in my time as an you know, as a basketball fan watching somebody get hurt and then just knowing that that's that's that's what it was. And uh yeah, tough tough break. I mean, you can clearly come back from this kind of an injury. I mean, he's twenty seven years old, so he's still very I mean I was
gonna say he's very young. But then again, as we as we just talked about, technically, I think he's probably average age now. But I mean he's been in the NBA since twenty seventeen. And you know that if you play in the NBA and this is your you're finishing up your eight season in the league, like you're a veteran now.
I don't know.
I guess probably just because it doesn't seem that long ago when I watched him play at Duke, like, it doesn't to me really feel I guess it kind of does at times, but more so just because of how much has changed. I mean the last time, I mean, Donovan Mitchell and Jason Tatum came out in the same year, and Jason Tatum to me doesn't seem like it's been as long since he's played at Duke, but with Donovan it does. But I think it's more so just because
Donovan played for Patino here. Think about how much has changed in every aspect of Louis of basketball since then. So, yeah, tough news, but it does seem as if everybody last night kind of just assumed the worst, and you know,
that's that's that's where we are. When I think of an achilles tendon or a ruptured achilles, I always go back to high school because I remember this was in the spring of This was in the spring of I guess, going into my junior year, I was I was going through you know, like individual workouts with my high school basketball coach, and he was. You know, he always he coached me really hard, and I'm very thankful for that.
But you know, he he would have me come I was coming off screens and he would just hug me, not for love, but like, you know, just hang all over me and guard me really hard. And he was
young at the time, in great shape. He's still in great shape, by the way, but you know, he was a really good person to do that because he was physical, and you know, he knew what I needed to go through to get better when it comes to kind of working off ball screens, that kind of stuff moving without the basketball, and you know, he put me through probably one of the best workouts I'd ever had as far as just you know, realized it was difficult, but you know,
I felt like I was getting better, making progress, and it was really really intense. Well, I curled a screen and he was behind me, and I don't know how our legs got locked or what it was, but he fell, and I think him falling might have actually led to us kind of tripping each other up.
But as soon as he went down, he was in a lot of pain.
And before I could even like ask him, are you okay, I guess I kind of knew that he wasn't, but he told me it's an achilles. It's an achilles, And I'm like, what, Like I thought he was telling me to get somebody. I didn't know what an achilles was. I was fifteen years old, Like, I'm like, what's he talking about? And then he, you know, I help him go get to the stage and he diagnosed himself with a with a torn or ruptured achilles a man, and
I'm like, what's that? Young naive, I guess, insensitive me, like, what's that? And you know, he told me it was the injury that essentially ruined Dominique Wilkins's career because once that happened in the early nineties, Dominique was never the guy that was as bouncy as he once was. He just you know, wasn't as you know, I guess we've come a long way when it comes to treating those injuries. But sure enough, next day at school, you know, he
he wasn't there. And then I talked to him after school and you know, he confirmed, yep, it was an achilles.
But he had he had he had no doubt in his mind that's what it was.
So I guess It's one of those things like if you know what it is, Like I kind of feel like if it happened to me, I would probably know that that's what it was, because again, it's a lot of times on a non contact or if you get like hit in it, uh and you just you know.
You lose the abill. I mean, was it KD who did it? Or Kobe who did it?
And then like kind of kept going and then realized the tendon was ruptured to where like they couldn't move, like it wasn't even like a painful thing one of I get those two mixed up, not as players, but ever.
Remember Kobe, Kobe did it and then he went to shoot the freak.
Yes that's what it was. Yeah, yeah, and uh it might have been KD who did it. And then like as soon as he tried to put weight on it, then he realized, Okay, something's really wrong here. So yeah, souf for Tatum. But he'll get back, he'll be healthy, and I mean hard to you know, know where he
goes after that. But like as good as he is and as well run as the Boston Celtics are as an organization, I mean, I wouldn't I wouldn't expect this to to automatically kind of end their their their run, because they are in the midst of a run by the way, you know, they've been really good for a while. They've been knocking on the door and they made it to the finals at least a couple of times. Then of course they got one last year. So yeah, tough news.
But again, I can't remember an injury that you that we watched to such a star in a in a in a pro sport to where like it was just I mean it was a given that that's what it was. And uh, you know, it's not good, but he'll get healthy. Are we got to run five o'clock hours next Keep it locked right here on Sports Talk seven to ninety