It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think we are.
Get off our show, idiots. The kids are playing a trail off countries.
Are screwing it up.
Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play Inner Murals.
They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not.
Who's the kid here?
Who's the kid here?
Are you kidding me? Now? Here's Nick Coffee?
Well not quite Nick Coffee. One more day with the arms scuff Fitzgerald together with John Alden, and then the afternoon Underdog is gonna take you out the rest of the week, Nick and join himself a good vacation.
Hey, welcome in. We're gonna take you on this ride home. Pretty crazy weather out there. I started to see some severe thunderstorm watches and warnings, and as we continue on in this muggy, humid summer. Now big news if you're like me. As soon as I get off here, I'm heading over to Lynn Family Stadium to take in lu City tonight.
You don't have to be necessarily worried about it, but go a little bit further south. You know down in Bullock County Breckinridge County there might be a little something going on there, so we'll keep you posted right here at Sports Talk seven ninety. Should there be anything that you need to know, John Alden, good afternoon, till you, my friend, Good afternoon.
It did look a little spooky driving into day.
I meant to ask you because I've been in these four walls here this afternoon. I didn't get a chance to see anything out there. I just saw some of the weather, noticing the watches and warnings that were out there, so I looked pretty crazy.
Yeah, we had a little bit at least I had a little bit of rain driving in, but it was one of those things that once you got through it, that was kind of it. But like you said, there could be some more stuff later this evening and I'm out in Bullet County, so okay effect me tonight.
Okay, Yeah, Now it looked like at least when I checked the weather app because going to see I rocked Frankfurt take on lou City tonight, looks like we're gonna be okay for the match. So we'll see what happens. But again, keep with us at iHeart level. We'll keep you out today. Man, do we have a lot to unpack this afternoon. We've got it. Spent a crazy day at the Olympics. I've had them on all day. Lots of stuff going on there. Spoiler alert if you want to tune out.
For a little bit, go ahead.
I know a lot of people are primetime in gymnastics tonight. We're going to talk about that. The US men's volleyball team got a five set victory over Germany, but big start the USA rugby. The women shock Australia to win bronze. What they're calling I don't even know if I can say this right. Nadala Crez. They're combining Carlos Alcarez and Rafe on the doll because they're playing now and so they're making some noise in doubles.
So we've got that to talk about obviously.
And if you've been living under a rock, we're going to talk about TVT the fallout from TBT. The Reds are active in the trade deadline. We've got a lot going on in minor league baseball and college football. We got preseason honors going out to the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and the Louisville Cardinals as they get ready to open camp training camp rolling along for the Bengals. Fans are breathing a sigh of relieve. We'll talk about why that
was as well. So a lot of them moving parts there, John, as we were talking about on the show this morning, and that is.
When we flipped this calendar. Tomorrow's the last day of July. When we flipped this calendar and go to August, dude, and once the Olympics are over, it's game on. I mean we're getting there. It is game on for sports, dude.
But yeah, big story last night and it's been the a story talked about all day. That of course, was talking about the thriller that was TBT last night, and I'll at John fan to tell you about it.
From FS one, what's so with harolinum trying to break the hearts of Louisville fans? Plus attacks, catch it shootings.
Yeah, well that wasn't it.
Andrew Harrison dropped that three pointer to send La Familia the uklum. They hit the target score seventy to what you talked about yesterday, John. Where you end the games, of course, is with the net scoring. They're gonna go on the beat.
They beat the bill seventy to sixty one, but it was what happened afterwards that has everybody's attention.
We've got some extra curriculars on the floor here now, two teams going after it. Not surprising they got police here on the floor. You knew it would be personal. Leave it to a Harrison to knock down the game winner. And now pensions are rising here and now this is a scene you do not want.
Nobody wanted it, and you had police on the floor and John, when we met twenty four hours ago, we were just raving at what a great matchup this was.
Yeah, when we were talking about how this is kind of a precursor to the renewal of the Louisville versus Kentucky basketball rivalry, it's kind of been. I don't want to say it's been non existing because the games were played with Kenny Payne and John Caliperry, but those are some of the least exciting games you've ever seen. And really, with the terrible seasons that Louisville had as a whole,
there was just not a lot on the line. And getting to have this matchup in July is something that the fans, the alumni, everybody he's been super excited about, and things were chippy pretty much throughout the entire game. And to see everything come to a head the way that it did once La Familia got the victory, it was it was definitely, I want to say, it was surprising in the fact that I didn't really expect it
to really get to that level. I did expect some chippiness, as I'm sure a lot of people fans of this rivalry might have thought as well. But to see it escalate the way that it did, it was, that was something that was something else well.
And here's how it According to Nate Custina, who led a lot familiar with twenty two points last night, he was directly involved with it, and here's how he said.
It all went down.
Emotions ran high. It's what this game does to people. It had been great chatter the whole game, nothing crazy, nothing personal, and then it got personal. Obviously ELL's down versus L's up. It's what this game is. He was just like, don't do L's down in here. I was just like, all right, like ELL's down always, and then he walked away and then stepped at me. Whatever my back was turned and then you know, and then he spit in my face. Mister owaku, I'm gonna leave it
at that. Nothing crazy spit at me. That's on him, of course.
So he's talking about his chinhuanu on a walk who says he accuses him of spitting at him. And I know people on social media have been calling for some sort of evidence that that actually happened. I don't think and I don't have a dog in this fight because you know, I know there's there's Kentucky haters out there.
And I know there's Louisville haters out there. I don't have a dog in this fight. I'm just strictly impartial because we cover both of them here at iHeart Louisville. I don't know that anybody's gonna have it.
But I don't think Cistina is going to make that allegation if that didn't happen. I don't think you're going to see though that sort of escalation unless there's legitimacy to it. I'm gonna tell you what it was though. It was embarrassing. It was embarrassing on both sides. It was embarrassing for the TBT. It was because I'm gonna tell you, and I heard from folks who live out of town. Who I mean, if you live here in Louisville,
you totally get it right. People Louisville fans hate the l's down, just like in Texas and Oklahoma they hate the horns down. That gets you going, it gets under your skin. But I'm gonna tell you that the look it had because let me just be totally honest with you, people outside of the cities that are still alive in the TVT do not care about the TVT are not watching it.
They're they're just not.
It's it's it's not it's It's like, why would you watch a soccer match going on the West Coast between you know, you see College of this choice versus you see College of that choice, you wouldn't watch it, but folks out west would watch that.
So, but what folks are seeing now.
Is an embarrassing melee at the end of the game because someone spit in someone's face.
Allegedly what are we twelve? And that's what fans are hearing and there's no evidence for it. I mean, we now spitting in people's faces. So what is that say about the environment?
And then I'm sure, John, you've seen the social media videos of the fans. I think Nick retweeted the fans that were flipping the crowd off and using a few I guess well oiled language. Yes, and that's what the rest of America is seeing. Because it's bad enough you've got to fight that stereotype here in Kentucky already, but
now that's what the rest of the nation sees. So you took And that's why I'm glad you said what you said, John, because you took what yesterday was an absolute just a titanic setup to have a lot of fun, and within a matter of seconds you turn it into probably one of the most embarrassing moments in sports for this area, in an area that prides itself on basketball.
You know, people here don't like it when they say, hey, you got tobacco road, but this is Kentucky, which I totally get, by the way, because I think one of the first things I think of when I hear Kentucky before I moved here some twenty almost thirty years ago, was I thought about basketball.
I'll be honest with you.
I remember growing up in the days and I hear in al Maguire and NBC Sports and seeing the dark backdrop of Freedom Hall and seeing the red Louisville on the court and Denny Crum on NBC Sports. That's what I thought of when I heard Kentucky, because I hadn't never been to the state before, and that's what I thought of.
But within.
Within just a matter of seconds, we have now taken that. And now let me back up, this too will pass. Okay, It's not like Kentucky's forever going to be tarnished by this. I don't want that to be insinuated here. I totally get that.
There's a lot of good things happening in this state that you know, we've got too, as John, as we talked about yesterday, we got two great coaches coming into the mix. Now that when this rivalry it's back to the regular basketball. I think we're gonna have something special here. I think this is I mean, you always you're gonna have the rivalry. You need the rivalry. And look, Gible fans, I know the l's down gets under your skin. Let it go, Let it go. I was telling Tony today
on the show. Remember Will Clark when he worked here, Yes, he would get hate mail and he got a couple of emails one time, and you know he would tell me, I just can't stop reading that I kiss, I said, Willie. When you get hate mail, dude, take the email, read it if you want. I don't ever read them. I just I can tell right away by the subject like what they are. I just delete them, I.
Said, But then immediately go to your recycle bent and delete it out of there. Otherwise you'll keep It's like when you lose a tooth and you keep putting your tongue in where that tooth is missing.
You'll keep doing that. Mobile fans, You're just gonna have to learn to deal with the L's down. I mean, I don't know what else to tell you. It's not going away. And the more you let it get under your skin, the more some cats some and I want to say some, because there are good cat fans out there, just like there's good and bad fans. Everywhere there's good, there's good UO of L fans, there's bad U of
L fans. But until you learn to let the L's down thing go, they're going to continue to put that in your face.
And I've had to deal with that. I've I've been to the Michigan Ohio State game. I traveled to the belly of the Beast, and I've sat in Columbus amongst those fans. Now, I wasn't stupid enough to wear Michigan gear because you're just it's just a miserable experience.
Oh, I want to ask you about that skut. So you go to Ohio Stadium for the big game. Yeah, yeah, and you're not wearing Michigan gear. But I'm assuming you're wearing something neutral. Is that kind of just yeah? I just I just put on clothes. I just I feel like, do people still assume that you might just be a Michigan fan in disguise or maybe just a casual person. You're not at the Michigan and Ohio State game by accident.
I feel like you're either wearing Ohio State gear or you're trying to not look like you're a Michigan fan, one of the two.
Right.
No, And you bring up a great point.
Let me tell you how that all went down and the reason why I went two years. Because we know somebody who works through Huntington Mortgage. They're a big sea bus business and good good friends of ours, just really good friends He's like, look, I got tickets from Michigan Ohio State or you're a Michigan guy, you want to.
Come down watch the game? So of course I do.
So I got down there, and I've done Michigan Ohio State before, and it's just it's it's ugly.
It's I'm going to a Bengals game one time wearing a Michigan jersey and couldn't enjoy the Bengals game.
So so what I did was is that go. And what was really funny about this. I snuck a flaskin and I had some makers and there was a guy sitting next to me, and he goes, what you got there? And I said, got a little makers. He goes, where are you from?
I sai, I'm from Kentucky, live in Louisville. You would you like something?
Go?
Sure.
So we sat there and we shared my Flaska Makers and he's just carrying on about dropping f bombs about Michigan and going on and on and on and on, and I'm just kind of like, okay, all right. But because I wasn't adorned all in Michigan gear one, I didn't have to deal with whatever it was he wanted to say. The equivalent to L's down. But I also could sit and enjoy the game. Ohio State won the game far and square. It was well played by Ohio State. But to me, that game was more of the It
was more the experience of Michigan and Ohio State. I wasn't fixated in the wind. It would have been nice for Michigan to win. I guess call me crazy, but I sort of respect that rivalry in the tradition, and I wanted to take that in while I was there because I've seen the game so many years on TV.
Would I've liked to have seen it in nan Arbor?
Absolutely, I still haven't seen a Michigan Ohio State game in nan Arbor.
Would I'd liked to have seen it there?
Yeah?
But Plus, my buddy from Huntington Mortgage was nice enough to offer tickets. I wasn't gonna embarrass him, and so I'm gonna go and relax and enjoying.
I'm glad I did. I had a great experience. This guy was so nice. I have the heart to tell him I was a Michigan fan. It sounds like getting ready to leave.
So when I watched what happened last night, and I don't want to paint everyone at that game with that brush. By the way, I'm sure it was a few select fans where it got going. What started It sounds like it started between Sustina and and Waku and then before that and started to interrupt, but there was no it's okay, go ahead. The beginning of the chippiness. Really where you first saw some player interaction was with Chris Jones, and I don't think I don't know remember if it was
with Sustina, I don't think it was. I don't remember Chris Jones put his face into somebody's chest. At that point you had a double technical and that was early on in the game.
Okay, because I didn't see it. I had to get to bag.
There was kind of the dirty The dirty play began pretty early on.
And I don't know.
If it's all this is just because these guys, they they know what it's like to you're part of this rivalry, but they're so far removed from it that maybe just the nerves are a little bit different. I don't want to assume anything about any of these players and how they may have been feeling going into the game, but when you're in that kind of environment, and all of this is based on nostalgia, as we've talked about yesterday and even the weeks doing this knowing that this.
Matchup could happen.
Yeah, sometimes maybe the motions get the best of these guys, especially when you're not used to playing them this anymore.
It's been so long you don't have this like professionally.
You may have some rivalries, but it's not at all the same thing that you get at the collegiate level. And so when you're around these rabid fan bases once again for the first time and who knows how many years for some of these guys, it doesn't surprise me that some of these guys let the emotions get the best of them. It doesn't excuse it, yeah, but it doesn't surprise me that it happened.
And what do you think, I mean, how many exploratives do you think we're being hurled from the crowd from both sides, and.
That just probably way too many. And it just goes to show again what we talked about yesterday.
The fans want this back.
They wanted to know, and I know you've got to be able to control yourself, but there hasn't been a truly exciting moment for between the Louisville and Kentucky basketball rivalry and quite some time that this was kind of their fix for it. And I'm sure a lot of people didn't know how to handle themselves and that's a shame.
Great point, but that point, but.
That's that's where we're at right now.
John, you bring up an awesome point, and that's why, because that's my question.
And I hate because I'm going to Lowi City game tonight. I'm not gonna be on with Tony tomorrow morning. I just can't cooperate and then try to get up and go in in the morning. But doctor Charles Pemberton, he's our our licensed clinical psychologist that comes on with with Tony every couple of weeks. They're going to talk about sports fandom. So that's that's my question. We all want the rivalries we do. I love the rivalry rivalry with
Ohio State, especially that it's good again. I don't expect to win every year, But what is it about this craziness, this this belonging, this this need for identity, And John, I think you and I have been there. You know, you have Saturday afternoons where your team goes out and they they lose a game, and you're.
Not exactly in a chipper mood.
I mean you're not going home and kicking the dog or anything, but you're not in a chipper mood. And then you go and then and then there's times where your team does win that game and you're on cloud nine. I mean, nobody can do any wrong around you. And doctor Pemberton's going to join Tony tomorrow to talk about why we function that way?
Why is that? Why?
Why is it that it's easy for me to say, hey, Louis fan, let the L's down thing go, But when emotions are running this high, like you just mentioned, and you throw that in there, and I'm sure Texas fan we probably said the same thing when they see the horns down.
But why do we do that? Why? What drives that train? Now?
I'd like to say since being in the media, I've been able to kind of, I don't know, soften the edges a little bit when it comes to stuff like that, because I'm able to be a little bit more objective. My son is a big yo l fan, and but yet and I'm kind of quase impartial again just because I you know, I'm in the media. So when UK was having their success at at baseball, I was trying to bring that up to my son and trying to talk about some of the guys that played UK baseball.
And I could tell my son was just he was being nice, but he didn't want to He didn't want a part of that because UOL had been so good at baseball for so long. And so now suddenly UK's going to the College World Series and u of L's at home, and I could tell my son had a real problem with that. And then you throw in to your point, John on top of that, because now I
did feel this with Michigan Ohio State. When you constantly lose the rivalry game and it's year after year, you just feel like your gut punched, you.
Know, you're just kind of like damn.
And so finally Michigan got that off their back over the last couple years of Ohio State. But part of me gets where ul Fan is, but also the human side of me goes, Okay, when the eel's down starts getting thrown around, maybe it's time I gotta I gotta come back from the ledge a little bit.
Now I've had to do that after a couple of games.
I mean there's times where I've just had to turn the TV off. As funny as my son used to tell me all the time to be like, because I'd be watching Michigan Ohio State and you can tell right away where that game was going.
He's like, where are you turning off? Game's not over? Well, then he's got ul on we can time. I'm like, why you turn the game off? Game's not over? But but why live in that way? If you know the game is over, why subject yourself to that?
You have to remove yourself from the situation, right and that that may sound juvenile, but then I'll tell you it's not, because there are so many games when I growing up being an Indiana fan being upset about whatever the result may be, the mental anguish if you are a true fan of a team, of just sitting there and forcing yourself to suffer through it, yeah, that could There could be I guess maybe some honor with that if that's something you want to wear a badge ass.
But in regards to being able to be healthy mentally with it but still enjoy your team, what I've learned from what works for me is you have to either turn off the TV. If you're at the game and you know the game is over, you've got to get up out of your seat and leave. And again, people may say you're a fake fan or not a true fan for doing that, but I'm here to tell you I think it's it's just a way to take care of yourself.
It is, it is, And you're right, John, I've had to do that at games I've went to. Now, you got to get up. I don't necessarily sometimes I don't leave.
Sometimes I just get up and walk away, do something else, go to the concession of standing, go to the bathroom.
Right. And I'm saying too, you know, And I'm sure and this is believe me.
I'm all for beer sales of the game. I'm all for beer and alcohol. I'm so glad colleges are selling beer and alcoholic games. But I guarantee a lot of that last night came out of beer and alcohol too. I mean it was that was probably a well oiled crowd at the end. So it won't be the last time that we see this. And it's not just with Kentucky and Louisville. We're going to see this at other games. In fact, I was watching that specially with Ryan.
Reynolds to Welcome to Wrexham where they talk about Rexm in soccer, they do a whole segment devoted to hooliganism, and that's a whole other stratosphere. If you want to get into that, I mean, you start getting into soccer hooliganism, which is a culture. By the way, that makes what happened at Freedom Hall last night looked like Ropper Room. I mean, it's so so. I don't want to act like the world is ending because of what happened last night.
I'm just saying it was. It was embarrassing on a number of levels for both both people. Hopefully everybody's learned from this. I'm sure if the players could.
Take it back, if we could rewind and go back in time, folks would would do it differently. But it is a rivalry, nothing wrong.
I don't hear me out the rivalry or hear me out the rivalry is awesome and John and I think you're right. It's I think fans are excited that it's going to come back. I think it's going to come back between both schools. It needs to come back. We need to put that game back on during the break
none of this. Get this Kentucky Louisville game off a weeknight game, because one of the things I used to love doing when I first moved here was we as an entire family would go out and watch the game, Like we would make it a point to go out to watch the game because we like being with.
The crowd and the fans. And then it just started getting real ugly.
It's like, over the last five ten years, it just wasn't fun anymore, and fans were getting nasty with each other in bars and they were getting nasty, and even restaurants, they were getting nasty with each other.
So we just quit doing it.
But now I want to go back to that, and I'm hoping that we all learned our lesson and we can somehow get back to that point. We got two great coaches coming in for Kentucky and Louisville, and let's bring Indiana into the mix, and let's get that thing going to throw coach d in there with Bellerman. Let's have some fun, because yeah, basketball in these parts, that's what it's about. And we're getting ready to come up by all right, let's take a quick break. A lot
to unpack today. Great show today, John Alden is with you. I'm Scott Fitzgerald. We're gonna take you all way up ttil six o'clock and then I'm gonna have at Lynn Family Stadium and watch me some good footy tonight. So we'll talk about that and more coming back on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Very nice.
Who do we have here?
Mister Alden got a little green Day? Oh nice? I didn't recognize that as being green Day.
This is a newer song from their latest record. I believe it's called Dilemma. Pretty catchy time. I like, guess reminds you of their older style tunes. I wanna say a little bit heavier though, which is nice. That's what I like.
Wow, good stuff, John Alden playing the tunes for us here on this thirtieth day of July. So we get ready to flip the calendar. Active weather out there today, especially to our South folks, So keep up with us here at iHeart.
Louisville and Sports Talk seven ninety.
Even our friends across the hall at news Radio eight forty WHS.
We'll keep an eye on that weather for you. The lightning show woke me up last night. It wasn't the thunder it was the lightning that got me as I was getting ready get up and come in the station. So we're in that pattern where we're gonna have We're just gonna have this kind of weather.
It's it's summertime, right. Keeping an eye on the Olympics as well. Lots of high drama unfolding there. As you heard, the USA women's rugby team shocked Australia. I just reposted on my x feed some of the highlights from that match. They win bronze, and of course the big news I can tell you because iheart's telling you some own biles in Team USA reclaimed the US women's Olympic team title, the US totaling a one to seventy one point ninety six,
well clear of the silver medalist. Italy won sixty five point four nine four. Brazil wins the bronze, a historic first with a final score of one sixty four to forty four ninety seven. It's the fourth US win in the event, having taken titles in Atlanta in nineteen ninety six, London twenty twelve, Rio in twenty sixteen. And as I'm watching now, we got tea, we got Olympic basketball on right, now it is Germany up on Brazil twenty six to seventeen.
This in the.
Second quarter, team USA winning on the pitch today they beat a guy I always say it wrong.
I don't know why.
I always have a hard time saying it. But they went over Guinea or Guinea, however you want to say it, three nil.
Speaking of as soon as we leave here, I am heading out and I'm gonna go down to Lynn Family Stadium. Big night tonight for the boys in Purple, that is untracked. Frankfurt, out of Germany's Bundesliga, will take part. Dino top Moler is the Frankfurt head coach and he admits he's impressed well with the facilities here in Louisbow.
It's impressive, but I mean if you compare to Germany, I think it's the same. Also in the second division they have also top facilities. But like I said before, it's amazing here and I think the coach here and also the team, they have a very good opportunities here to train.
And so for a guy like Wilson Harris, one of the top scores in the USL, what does he expect of the match tonight?
I mean, we're gonna compete like any any other day. I think we compete during training, we compete during friendlies, and we compete during the weekend. So I'm looking forward to it. It's gonna be awesome playing with some of those players, and well, I'm sure, I'm sure we'll distribute minutes just to save some legs. But yeah, it's gonna be a good day.
It should you bet, Wilson John. Have you been to any of the friendlies yet that they played the international friendlies?
I have not, but I know that they've played a different German team over the past couple of years. I think it's pretty cool, especially when you have a team coming from the Bundesliga at the top of the German the German the hierarchy of soccer, if you will.
Yeah, and for.
Them to be complimentary of the facilities and that type of stuff. Now, some of that may be some gamesman ship, but at the same time, I'm sure they mean what they say, and it's exciting to have them in town.
It is.
I went to the Mexican Friendly last year, and I'm an international kind of guy. I lived overseas for years and I was just wanting I was still single at the time, so I was never home on the weekends. I would always get up and travel and I love traveling, and especially when it came to Europe.
I love different cultures.
I wholeheartedly believe that Anthony Bourdain is my spirit animal. And it's just I just love when you can mix international in with with the regular.
It's nice to have that feel.
And when you get somebody like like Introcked Frankfurt coming in and plus they're giving it. I think they're plastic they' but they're giving away beer steins today.
Okay, so I take that.
But it's just it's an exciting time.
And right now it's exciting because lou City is a point up on the Charleston Battery in the USL for the best record in the conference, and they have forty four points. Charleston has forty three. And now you couple that with the Olympics, and I mean, it's it's pretty special. And if you're sitting around tonight and you're thinking, hey, what do we do? I just checked the weather app looks like we're gonna be okay to get this match in tonight.
And if you're sitting around going, eh, what do you want to do? Give it a shot. Come down, take a look part, take of it. You know you'll be able to catch some of this, Like you said, some these folks coming out of the Bundesliga.
Robin Cook a member of this team as well. If you watch the UEFA Euro this year, he played for team Germany. Mario Gutsi is coming in. He scored the World Cup winning goal for Germany in twenty fourteen.
So there's a lot to keep an eye on. So come on down. If you just go get yourself some dinner. You got time. What is it you run out there? You got plenty of time.
From taking some libations.
I mean, Germany isn't known for the beer, right, So I come out and have a couple of drinks. You know, be responsible about it, but you know, enjoy yourself.
Of course, come on out and enjoy and get yourself in that Olympic mode. You know, the Olympics are only here for a couple of weeks. So and now I remember John, I think last week talked you were a big soccer guy, right, Yes.
So I played in high school. I wasn't great per.
Se we actually fun fact, so last week I played in my annual high school's alumni soccer game, which is kind of cool to reconnect with some guys I played with in high school. And it was a good match with play me one or not one. We drew three to three, and you know, it's fun. I mean, I know a lot of people don't necessarily appreciate or I want to say appreciate, but they don't understand soccer or like soccer as much around here.
But it's fun.
I enjoy it and I enjoy watching as much as I did play in it. And lu City puts on a good product. And I know it's not what you get with, you know, the Premier League or even at the upper level here in the United States is the major league soccer. But to have this team be around for ten years and never do worse in the postseason than make the Eastern Conference finals, that definitely shows or semi finals.
Excuse me.
That just goes to show what we've invested here with this, with this franchise, and I'm glad to see it thriving the way that it is.
Yeah, to your point, John, it's a great observation. I think Louisville is a soccer town. I think it's here. I mean, it's like we talked about last segment, is basketball always will be basketball, the basketball and horses. But I'm gonna tell you right now, you don't get a facility like Lynn Family State. If you look at some of these other clubs, all these other places they play now Detroit, they just got to prove for.
A new stadium.
Are playing right now in a high school stadium that Franklin Deleanor.
Roosevelt dedicated in Detroit.
So, I mean, you look at some of these places they play, Hartford, Miami plays.
I don't know what that is that Miami plays. And a lot of people don't think they're gonna be They only have eight points in the league. They don't a lot of people don't think they're gonna be around.
But to see the money that's invested here, And as we were mentioning yesterday, when the FIFA World Cup comes in, Louisville's gonna be one of the cities where you know, teams camp out in, where they're gonna call home.
It's going to be their home base if they choose.
There's a bunch of cities out there, and then the teams come over and they just choose which one they'd like to to reside in but because the facilities and as you heard, you know, Top Moler talk about how
these facilities equate that with those in Germany. It's impressive because I mean, I'm sure when they come over, when they come over state side, they're probably going it's kind of like what we did when when we try to get football going over there with the the NFL Europe or the World League, and it was it kind of was.
It was there, but it wasn't really there, and so you come over.
So I think tonight, folks, if we can get this rain to push through, maybe cool things off.
But you know, again, it's July, right.
So come on out. I'll be out there. I'm looking forward to it. Stand up in the end zones and have a good time. So that's just one of the many things that are going on, just one of the many things we're talking about here. Of course we're talking about TBT, we're talking about baseball too.
The Louisville Bats are out of town.
They had a disastrous trip to Toledo there in Scranton tonight to take on the rail Riders. They'd come into that pretty much in the running for the iOS second half title. There now six games back after being swept by the mud Hens.
Are you a big baseball guy, John.
You know?
So again I was talking about people who don't appreciate soccer, so I can appreciate what baseball is and you know, being America's pastime, that type of a thing. But for me, it's just never. It's never, I guess wetted the whistle that it does. That's some other sports do for me, sure, and I can enjoy a baseball game now and again, but I don't really have a team that I follow. A lot of people around here are Reds fans. Obviously we have the Bats, the Triple A affiliate here in town, but it's.
Tough to I think what it's always been for me. Scott, and I think.
We've talked about this before. Yeah, at least I've mentioned it to you before, whether it be on the show we're in passing, but the amount of games that there are in Major League Baseball, and I'd say the same thing about the NBA as well, I just think it's
way too much. And again that's a personal preference. I'm sure that I don't speak for the majority of people when I say that, but I find it hard to get into leagues and teams when there's so many games played, and it feels like that there may be isn't as much on the line an individual game as there is for the entirety of the season.
And I know I'm kind of digging into the weeds.
Of this a little bit, but that's just what's always bothered me about Major League Baseball, and I mean even really with the NBA as well. I feel like there's just an oversaturation of the product.
Yeah, I think what you're bringing up is a great point, and I think you echo what a lot of people think. That This is what I love about sports and what I love most and why I've kept such an open mind when it comes to sports because sports means so many different things to so many different people.
And to your point, you know, I see people that go to some sports and I'm like, how do you sit and watch this? But then some people say to me, how do you sit and watch what you watch? For example, when I lived in San Diego, is down the street from the old Qualcom Wellcombe Stadium so Friday. In fact, my younger brother, who he and I shared an apartment in San Diego, he's a pilot for American. Now he's
actually here in louisvillevernight. He's going to join us here when he comes to stand down at the Brown Hotel before he flies out tomorrow, he's gonna come and join us. We used to go to the Padres games on a Friday night.
Now for me, the ballpark is almost a religious experience. It's not necessarily I like the game. I love the sound of the game.
In fact, did you know that the bats sometimes will run a game without an organ or announcer or anybody?
Really, I did not know that.
Because people want to come and enjoy baseball in its purest form. So I would go to the ballpark. I would knock off work on a Friday. At the time, this was before we had phones and stuff like the way we don't. We had them, but we didn't use them the way we use them now. I'd grab a newspaper, I'd sit at the ballpark, grab a beer, just sit unwind after work, taking the sights, the sounds, the smells
of the ballpark. That's why I always it always used to crack me up when I saw like families would come in and you know, you see these families and when they have young kids, and you know, the dad looks like a packing mule, you know, walking across the tundra to the beach with all the beach toys and everything. You see these families come into the ballpark with these kids, and the moms and the dads would be like scrambling to get the sunscreen on. Settle down, you just get
settled in. They'd want to get up and go get something to eat. You could do anything, but it felt like enjoy yourself. I would come to the ballpark, open up the paper, have my beer, have my bag of peanuts, read the paper, look up at the game, see some of it, look down, read the paper, look back up at the game, and really just kind of enjoy the It was relaxing to me, is what it was.
And I feel like that's where the term America's pastime comes from. Yeah, because it's just you're you're there. Not that you don't enjoy the game, because I'm sure there's you know, there's noons of people who do. But if you're just if you just want to take in the atmosphere per se, that's a whole other experience in and of itself.
And right, and what I would do is and I and I love that people still do this. I would keep score on the scorecard, even though you have this million dollar scoreboard and all these jumbo draws that have every stat you can imagine, I would still be writing it out on the scoreboard, and so and then and then what would happen is is I would purposely stay away from the ballpark on Saturday night because that was like beach towel giveaway. That was like whatever giveaway night.
So nothing against families coming to the ballpark. They need to come to the ballpark. I don't want to poo poo that. Don't hear what I'm saying here.
But when you're somebody like me who's kind of a baseball purist, who could almost go to the ballpark by myself and just be comfortable, you just have all these families racing around, and like I was talking about, and they're there for the free stuff.
That's all the there for becomes a tourist attraction of sorts, bingo.
And so I would stay away on Saturday night and that it was nice as I go back down on Sunday afternoon. And when you live in San Diego, you go to a Sunday afternoon baseball game. Dude, it's nice and there were some hot days, but it was nice
and in the midst usually Sunday afternoons. I would buy like a I would buy a ticket right next to the bullpen, and I would take my camera down there with me, And that's where I got pictures like the greats John Smoltz, every time the Braves came to town, sit right on the bullpen.
I got some great pictures of John Smoltz. You know. But then some people say the same thing when, like when I go to a Louisville basketball game, and we usually sit up top because we just can't afford to sit downstairs. You see people that come into the game. You could tell the there because they love basketball. I see it all the time at Bellerman games, Dude. I'll go to a Bellerman.
Game and I'll see someone up at a Freedom Hall and they're sitting in the upper deck and they're sitting way away from everybody else, but they're watching that game.
And I see them at the um Center, and I think that is too cool that fans love the game of basketball so much that that they want to go see it live. They don't need the greatest seats they can go down, they can sit down there and appreciate the game. And you know, I think sometimes one gets lost in I guess in modern day media, et cetera.
You know, you go to a place like Cardinals Stadium in the flight deck upstairs, which is really cool by the way that fans can stand up and have live It's a party deck, and there's nothing wrong with that. But in this day and age where it feels like these stadiums are being built as entertainment complexes. I mean, look at Allegiance Stadium and then Churchill Downs. They have that same sort of nightclub kind of seating, like Churchill Downs has it down on the on the track there,
or Allegiance Stadium has that as well. You're seeing more and more of these football stadiums with the boxes built on field level. There's still folks that go to these games that go because they just want to sit and enjoy a game and watch a game, and they don't necessarily have a bunch of people around them. And then and then ultimately, dude, you got ballpark food. I mean, come on, what a culture that is.
Dude.
I mean, I go to a Padres game and have me a Rubio's Fish Taco Those were amazing. But you go through and now the ballpark food has just gone off the chain.
Man.
I mean, it's tell you you keep talking loose city. Lynn Family Stadium has some of the best session stand food that you could ask for. Yellow expensive, and that's the same with any ballpark. Yeah, but it's it's definitely you have a big variety at Lynn Family Stadium for sure.
Well that and they bring in I just now got to ten twenty browing, and everybody knows me, knows me. I'm a beer snob and I just went to ten twenty for the first time just a few months ago.
But I had been drinking their beer when I go to Lynn Family Stadium because I gotta pale. It's just to die for them. An IPA guy.
But what I love, how Lind to your point, what I love what Lynn Family Stadium did, and you're seeing more and more of Thisten stadiums, is that section right behind where folks stand in the end zone, big long bar. Okay, rarely do I have to wait at Lynn Family Stadium to buy a beer.
That is a plus.
I mean I know that if I'm watching a match, I can get up and in all fairness, though soccer is not like most sports. Like in basebail, everybody gets up at the end of an inning. Football everybody gets up at the end of a quarter. But it's designed in a way where I'm not standing in a long line to try to get something to eat. Now, I'm not saying there are lines there, but I can walk up and grab the beer that I want, et cetera. So in this day and age, sports is all about entertainment. Though,
it's all about entertainment. It's how you entertain your guests. You gotta keep them fed, You got to keep them you gotta quench that thirst. And you gotta sell souvenirs too. That's what it's all about. So I get it all right, Hey, listen, we're gonna take a break when we come back. We're just rolling on here.
In the first hour plenty to talk about NFL training camps are in full speed, Bengals fans getting some good news as well. So we'll talk about how the NFL is doing and take a look because first preseason games a week from Saturday, I believe it or not. Well, I'm Scott Fitzgerald, He's John Olden, we're back after this on Sports Talk seven ninety.
All right, now I want to run out of the tunnel. Now, I want to runt of the tunnel. Let's go, let's make this happen. Getting excited for the match tonight. I'm Scott Fitzgeril, He's John Alden.
As soon as we knock off here in a couple hours, I've been head of Lynn Family Stadium watching me a little footy action. Hey, we're just getting go. We've got a couple hours to go.
When we come back, we'll talk a little NFL and college football. Some preseason honors being handed out. Training camps opening up a lot of teams breathing a sigh of relief because it is that time where you know you want to go, and you want to go in camp, but you don't want to go too hard that you cause an injury that can put you out. So some teams are already getting scares at camps. We'll talk about those, non non I'm looking it's up, dude, I'm looking at
some of these menu items. Bad time to be doing that. Four o'clock's my hungry time. Man, It's right before dinner, and so bad time to be looking at some of these.
We'll talk to this, Oh afternoon munchies, Yes, that's what I'm saying, dude. We'll talk about some of these foods that are available at these ballparks, some of these creative recipes that people come up with. How cool is that to be the guy or gal at a stadium that gets to come up with different foods that people can eat. You get to try throws, throw whatever up against the wall and see if it with sticks.
There's some good stuff out there if you go to ballparks. We'll have some fun with that. Talk about more. We're just getting going here. We've got a couple hours left here as we're driving you home for Nick Coffee is on vacation. I'm Scott Fitzgerldy Afternoon Underdog is going to take you home the rest of the week. We're back after this on Sports Talk seven ninety