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 when we.
Are get off our show, idiot. The kids are playing or turn off. The countries are screwing it up.
Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play Inn 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?
All right? Are we ready to do this or not? It's a Friday afternoon, folks, best day of the week. Getting the weekend started here, I mean technically for us, we are still working. We're on the clock. When I say we, it's because it's not just me. I am Nick Coffee. I hope you knew that. If not, now you do the company man to John all on alongside today as mentioned, getting you set for the weekend, taking you up until six o'clock. So hang out, make yourself
at home, get comfortable. It was real gloomy when I was walking in here, but I've learned, you know, don't just expect that to be the conditions outside when we leave here in three hours, John, because you never know, I mean.
It changes all the time. In this cave and the two caves that we're in. We have no idea what may be going on with the weather outside.
No idea at all. Have you seen some of the It's happened many times over the years, but I think it might have been recently. In the last week or so at ESPN, there was a earthquake that took place like while people were live on air. Have you seen that.
I haven't.
So for the most part, it usually is not even something that like maybe even the audience would notice because things aren't falling over, you know, it's just people who were sitting there. I've never I mean I've never heard. I mean, I've never been somewhere where an earthquake took place. Obviously they don't happen very often around here, and I've
never been to California. But you know, I would imagine it's probably just like a millisecond or maybe a little longer of like wait a second, am I am I drunk, I'm about to fall over or something like that, and then it stops. So, uh, I think it might have been leak Andrews fre ESPN, who was the live host at the time when it happened, and it kind of
went many viral. Wasn't anything crazy, but it's just not often you see somebody live on television and you realize they're kind of pretty, they're a little they're a little distracted because they realized there is a earthquake going on. But it got me thinking, you know, in this building, I mean, would we know if any I mean I would imagine an earthquake, we'd feel it.
Yeah, But honestly, I don't really like it where we're at. Oh, earthquake was.
Here, and we've had a couple of days where we're like, is everything okay? And then you know, you're you're here in these caves and we look at social media and we hear during you know, the commercial breaks with our weather reports about like crazy conditions, and I'm like, well, you know what I'm We're in like a very tall building. I mean, you would think the ructure of something like this would be uh, you know, not something that would
fall over. But I don't know. You never know, But I would not like to test myself as far as how I would react live on air broadcasting while there's like severe weather going on, meaning like if we ever got an earthquake here and we started rocking a little bit, I would, you know, if I didn't turn my microphone off in time, I would probably squeal and yell and just embarrass myself. I'd be a big scaredy cat.
When you jumped out of the elevator, Oh yeah, life in it.
Yeah, it'd be like, you know, all of a sudden in fifteen twenty seconds, I would I would like, you know, snap out of it, and I'd realize, oh, wow, you've ran a block away. You've abandoned all your you know, if you've abandoned all your men, your your coworkers, your team. Because I was scared. For those who don't know that story, I'll never live it down, and I shouldn't. It's embarrassing.
But I got stuck on an elevator in Mexico one time, and we had to like pry the door open just long, just enough to get out and climb up and out of the elevator because it was stuck, like it went down but got stuck you know, midway you know, to where that you know the opening is. And I was I was full blown panic attack. It probably took me fifteen twenty seconds to pry that door open, but it felt like I was in there for two hours because
I'm already scared of elevators anyway, I'm claustrophobic. So I pried the door open, climbed myself out, and just ran off, and then realized, oh yeah, I should probably go back and help my wife out, you know, not leave her in there. But you know, you live and you learn, and you know, what I learned from that is that I'm not built for stuff like that. I'm not very tough. But anyways, hopefully you guys are enjoying your Friday. I've already got some fomo. I'm seeing people posting their pictures
at the state Fair. I'm a big state fair guy. I'm going tomorrow. John gonna take the kids.
Oh yeah, you excited?
Oh yeah, Moose is fired up. He likes to see the animals. Ma Maya, she is excited for the rides, and she's going to put away some fair food. I'm sure she. I mean, that girl can eat. I mean she and she ain't bashful, she ain't shy. You know, John, if if if you're ever around and you're eating, don't be surprised if my daughter walks up and you know, asks if she can have some of your food. That's oh yeah, she'll, she'll get she'll she'll put some food away.
In fact, whenever she was really young, kindergarten, I think it was which gosh, that was so long ago. It's sad to say because she's eight years old now, but she would get breakfast in the morning with either her mother or her her nana, her grandmother, in fact, her great grandmother. Another thing about it, because we didn't have like any type of like plan for her to eat at school, you know what I mean, Like we just you know, we don't need to she doesn't need to
do breakfast. We'll just give her breakfast at home. Well, little did we know that she'd been going through line
every day at breakfast, eating too breakfast. She'd eat at home with us, and then she'd go to school and eat and then they told us that the I think it might have been like during the Christmas break her teacher was like, yeah, soud, you know, it's not a big deal, but do you want to like set up a plan for like, you know, you can just put money on the thing, because you know, she didn't qualify to get to get free to free food, so you know,
we have to pay like most people. And we felt terrible because she'd just been stealing food from the school system for half of the year, double dip and eating breakfast at home, eating breakfast at school. I mean it's it's actually pretty savvy move, to be honest with you. But anyways, looking forward to the weekend, it will be our last weekend folks without college football.
I am so excited. I mean, we're finally talk about being bricked up. We're finally at the tail end of talking season as well.
Yeah, I mean like I kind of feel like given the fact that we're eight days away from a game, I mean, isn't talking season kind of over right? Like we still got to wait eight days to get the action. But we can talk about games and not feel as if they're two months away, right, I Mean, I told you guys a couple of weeks ago. When it comes to week zero, folks, the dogs are barking, baby, I got a two leg parlay with the dogs. That's right.
George's plus eleven and a half. I just I mean, Florida State good team, will be good, deserving to be the preseason favorite to win the ACC They are loaded with talent. But if you guys, and I shouldn't say like I'm talking about somebody specifically out there, I guess I just mean, like, if Jordan Travis was so important to what made Florida State great, which he was, like I'm not, I don't think that's debatable, but man, did that has any college players value ever been kind of
out of nowhere? Looked to be unbelievably high whenever him getting hurt just simply meant that nobody felt like Florida State needed to be even in the conversation for the college football Playoff. Now again, I'm sure people to this day still think it was a travesty to not put them in there and they were screwed. But you know, didn't that speak for like, man, without that guy, I mean, come on, like you know, and by the way, without him,
they were terrible. I mean they beat Louisvill which was unfortunate, but like Louisville, you know, would it could have should have give him credit, but like, had Louisville been able to do something offensively and maybe if a different quarterback was out there, Louisville might have been able to win that game. In fact, they easily could have won the game.
I don't know if they would have, but either way, So like again, my point is this, if Jordan Travis is that important and we now know he's gone, right, he's in the NFL, you're telling me dj Egal Leiley like that, that's the same thing. Like that guy stunk at Clemson and at Oregon State. I gotta be honest with you. I don't feel like he was great and there wasn't noise about him being you know, underwhelming because he was at Oregon State where nobody watched him play.
So I'm buying Georgia Tech as being a middle of the pack team in the ACC. And I happen to think that Florida State will win and they are going to be a good team. But I think for an opener, when you've got a bunch of new players, you know, Georgia Tech, they bring back a lot from last year. They hit the portal like everybody else. Florida State similar situation. They brought in some really good players in the portal
and they have talent back. But I just feel like big spread in Week one in this new era of college football where there's so many moving part and moving pieces. Like I just feel like you got to keep that in mind, right if a team, you know is maybe twenty four points better, but the spread is you know, set it, you know twenty one. Like I just I think teams will have big dogs, will have a better chance of covering early on because even though they're outmatched
and they're not as good as their opponent. I just think you're going to see these teams cruise potentially, but also still be working through some things because again, so many teams, in fact, just about every team when they go out there for their first game this season is going to have a good chunk of the guys on the field that, yeah, they've been practicing in fall camp, maybe they arrived in January in the from the portal, but it's still they're getting acclimated. So I think eleven
and a half is too much. And then the other game that I'm all in on is Nevada plus twenty seven and a half. I mean, look, SMU coming off a pretty good season in last year in the American one of the better teams in that league. Maybe they do transition without much trouble here to the ACC, but that's a lot of points, and I you know, my most recent memory of SMU was when I bet on them in their bowl game against Boston College and they got they got smoked. Yeah, the Fenway Bowl, which lousvill
played in a couple of years ago. But yeah, I mean twenty it was twenty three to fourteen. But I remember sweating that out because I took SMU to cover and they were like, I'm pretty sure they were not huge favorites, but they were certainly favored by a touchdown if my memory is correct, and sure enough they I mean they I think they actually had a late score to make that game not look as lopsided as it was.
And really, I guess lopsided is a stretch. We're talking about a twenty three to fourteen game, but I feel like there was a late score there. So again, that's what I'm doing. So if you want to get in on, you know, a week zero two leg parlay, the dogs are barking plus twenty seven and a half Nevada and plus eleven and a half Georgia Tech. Is that's the first time we've really got into some sports wagering here, really is.
We teased it a couple of weeks ago but I think this is the first time where it seems like the hype is kind of getting real.
Oh, I can't wait again. This is your last weekend, folks without without college football, and that uh, and that it's not just great because hey, from here on out, man, we got a full slate of games every week, a lot to bet on, and of course we're gonna follow and see how the teams around here do locally. But it's the it's when it really gets started for me.
And I'm only speaking from my personal perspective, which nobody probably gives a damn about, but for me, once we get college football rolling, I mean it's September, October, November, December, January, February, March, and a little bit of April. I mean that's an eight month window, ladies and gentlemen, to where like anything in my life that does give me stress, anxiety, sadness, whatever, you know, like life, we all have life that we deal with, and some go through harder things than others.
And I would never paint myself as someone who's got
it rough, because you know, I'm very fortunate. But like sports is such a distraction to like everything, Like I sports is my escape and I've been fortunate to where I'm able to, you know, make a living where sports is a huge part of it, because we talk sports sometimes on this show, right, But like that eight I'm in my comfort zone John, when we get we're when we're in that eight month window, you know, like I, it's just there's nothing better.
And I love how you refer to it as kind of the unofficial beginning of the years.
Yeah, and I'm telling you again, just me. From the time I was a kid, I always looked at a new year being when school starts. And usually when school starts, what starts football season, and then you kind of roll along and then you get to spring and then you know there's no sports going on, but you only have, you know, a month or two of school left. And I don't want to sound like a degenerate gambler, although I may be, because I mean it when I say it. I don't bet on sports to try to, you know,
have a second income. I do it for fun. Now at times when you make money, it's great, it's awesome, but it's really just for entertainment. But now when I think about this, this new year starting, I think a lot about knowing every day I can find something to bet on, and that you know, that's probably not the right way to to, you know, to to look at it, right, because there's days where I don't and I don't bet
every single day, trust me. And if I go through a stretch where I'm losing, losing, losing, I'll take a week off just to kind of reset. And I never bet more money than, you know, than I can afford. But this is still new, you know what I mean. Like I've loved this time of the you know, this this period of the year every you know, for as long as I can remember. But man, somebody asked me this the other day, and I couldn't. I couldn't really pinpoint when it was. I guess if I really thought
about it, I could figure it out. But like, I haven't betting on sports that long. Like it's been legal here in Kentucky for almost a calendar year now right at it. And before that, I was, you know, I was still betting going across the you know, state line, which I'm telling you, I love that we have it here. It's so convenient. But there was something about crossing the state line to lay down a bed because it just felt like you know, you weren't allowed to do it
where you're from. Kind of like those pyromaniacs that drive to Tennessee to get their fireworks and bring them back. Like I guarantee you, Billy, and your local community has the same fireworks, but it doesn't feel the same right when you bring them back across state lines in the back of your truck. You just feel like you did something something dirty. Like whenever I would drive this is
this is wild. But whenever I whatever, I would drive to do remotest at FanDuel Sports Book up there at Bilterra, you know, because at that time the marketing for the marketing wasn't as much because we you know, we would we were iHeart would be would be in a business relationship with our partners in the sports betting world to encourage people to cross the state line and go bet. Now, obviously there's plenty of people who listen to Indiana, but like,
you know, it's much different back then. But we would go do shows at at at bel Tero, of course, because that's where the fan the FanDuel Sports Book was, or is, I should say. And I remember like the drive there, like thinking about like I just felt like I was having to leave the country to go do bad things, like I was some kind of like a smuggler because I would leave, I would leave the sports book.
And I didn't even know this at the time, but like you can, even if you're in a state where you can't bet, you can still like deposit money and withdraw your money. But I didn't know that, John, So like if I would go and know that I wasn't going to be back at that specific sports book for a while, you know, I would, you know, take I'd show the app and walk up to the cash here and be like, yeah, I'm gonna cash out, and I'd leave.
You know, I had a good run there for a couple of different NCAA tournaments where I'd leave feeling like, you know, I cleaned up again. I felt like Leonardo DiCaprio and catch me if you can, Like I would, like everything I was doing was super legal, and it really wasn't anything that was badass in any way, and it really wasn't that much money, but there was something about that whole thing that made it feel like I was on some kind of a mission with like a
heist or something. You know what I'm saying.
I can see it feeling like that. I didn't participate in the offshore betting or even the going across the state lines betting, but there's a couple of buddies of mine that partook in it, and it did kind of feel like they were in a whole nother world of their own participating in that type of stuff.
And that's the best way to describe it, because I would butcher it, because yes, it does. It feels as if you're just like in this. I don't want to use the word like criminal organization, but like it just gives you somewhat of a sense of like, you know, yeah, I bet I legally offshore. What's it to you? You better not tell anybody because I'm dangerous. I'm such an idiot. I'm sorry, all right. By the way, I teased this
yesterday speaking of sports betting. We'll get to it later and it's not something crazy, but I don't want to give you a breakdown that I read on USA today that does that does sort of warn sports betters that you know your winnings are about to be taxed, and that will make everybody upset. Doesn't mean that people won't still bet, but that that'll be annoying, right, like the exact money that you won, especially if you're somebody that's a small better, you know, and you get taxed on
a ten dollars win, like that sucks. But you know what, these these sports books they're got it. They're gonna do something to offset those huge tax bills that they get. So anyways, we'll get back into that a little bit later on throughout the show today, we are going to have a couple of guests that are going to join us. We're gonna be joined coming up at around four o'clock by the one the Only, doctor Eric McElroy from pro Rea Physical Therapy. Looking forward to catching up with doctor McElroy.
And then at five o'clock we're bringing in Zach Barnett FootballScoop dot com. He of course, is our official college football correspondent here Coffee and Company, which I'm sure is something he is very proud of. He probably walks around in Ditton, Texas, where he's from, and letting people know. I don't know if you guys are aware of it, I am the official college football correspondent Coffee and Company Sports
Talk seven ninety. Yeah, yeah, you probably knew, but if not, now you do, so check me out each week we're talking college football. So I'm sure Zach's proud, We're proud to have him, and we're looking forward to chatting with him. Coming up here at five o'clock. I'm going to get his thoughts on some teams he thinks are getting way too much love, some teams that maybe aren't getting enough love,
and also his thoughts on how this new change. Right, there's all there's already a ton of changes in college football with with college sports in general, right with NIL and the portal and all that. But once we get to whenever it is, because I'm not exactly sure when it's going to happen, but the House Anti Trust Settlement, once it's finalized, schools are going to be permitted to
pay twenty two million dollars annually to their student athletes. So, you know, you've always had to be mindful of expenses when it comes to athletic departments, but now it's just a different world. I mean, it's really not going to be sustainable for a lot of programs. It just isn't. So what I'm what I want to get his thoughts on is a recent column that was put together, and it's really been an ongoing conversation. It doesn't have to be anything specifically related to this piece I read from
Ross Ellinger. But with college football coaches in the hot seat, are those seats being cooled down knowing that you can't afford like Billy Napier, that dude his buyout twenty five to twenty seven million dollars? Can you pay that knowing you'd have to? Then, like think about this Florida, which you know, I feel like they're one of those schools that could come up with a lot of money if need be for football twenty five twenty seven million dollars
to get rid of a guy. Let's say it's Lane Kiffin. Lank Kiffin ain't coming for cheap and lank Kiffn's got a big buyout at ole Miss. You know, think about that bill just for the transaction, let alone twenty two million that you're going to be required to have on hand to distribute to your student athletes. Like if billion Napier goes six and six, that's never good at Florida, But like do they ride it out until that buyout
gets smaller? Because that's just insane money. So really the question is moving forward, are these coaches going to still get these insanely idiotic contracts. Look, if these guys are worthy, well put it this way, if these guys are getting you know, eight ten MILLI year to coach, by definition, they're worth it because the school chose to pay them that, right. I don't really think coaches are overpaid when it comes to like the big jobs, because again they're making eight
ten million year. Do you know what their program is probably making from that sport football? Like you know, again it does sound crazy somebody's making that much money to coach football, But still, like you know, think about how much money is involved in the world of college football at the highest level. So you know, I don't think
I'm not surprised guys get that. But the contract itself, the buyout where you can suck and be terrible, not win a game, but you're entitled to every penny that's on that that that just doesn't make any sense at all, never has So now there's no I mean, what idiots
out there would do this? Meaning still give these like it should This whole shift in college athletics should make it to where collectively everyone involved, administrators athletic directors, agents and coaches should just now collectively go, yeah, that was great, but it's over. You're not getting those kind of deals to where you can be awful at your job and
still walk away with generational wealth potentially. Like it just you can't like it's and I've always thought it was stupid because a lot of these guys who get extensions, they're not warranted, Like who's gonna come, Like why you know they're gonna quit and retire like they you know, by the way they're on contract. So like if they leave, like they're threatening too. If they don't get a new deal, somebody's have to pay you. And here's something nobody wants
to say a lot. Nearly most of college football's coaches are replaceable at good schools. They are, so only time will tell if there is a big shift in how these contracts are put together. But even since this has been known, meaning like schools are going to have twenty two million dollar bills essentially for their players every year, Like that's been known for a while now, I mean, you know, six months or so, it's been building. In fact,
it's been inevitable for a long time for years. But you still have a couple of coaches out there that have got an extension since then, and I'm like, what do we what are you doing? So we'll talk some college football today again, get your set for the weekend. A lot of other stuff we'll get into, but let's get to a quick break so I can keep this thing on track. Make sure the clock management is where it needs to be. And if you want to join us on the show, fire Away, five oh two five
seven seventy nine hundred is the number. If you want to giveus a call. You can also text in on the LNN Federal Credit Union text line five O two six five three zero seven ninety. Again, it's Coffee and Company on a Friday. Field about Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety Little Lenny Kravitz.
I'm digging it on a Friday.
Oh yeah, Lenny Kravitz, super talented. I kind of feel like he he's got like a larger than life kind of like I feel like, you know, he's a very well known guy, but I don't really know a ton of his music, you know what I mean. I'm with you there, Like he's an artist with like an image that like just people remember it stands out and yeah, I was gonna look this. He has looked the same
for like ever. I you know, I think he's looked the same since the first time I saw him, like when he was you know, I don't know when when that was, but you know, he's been around a long time, been pretty relevant for you know, many many years. But he's sixty years old, and like, I would never guess that. So shout out to Lenny Kravitz here on a Friday, all right. Also shout out to Thornton's. You know, we are fuel about Thornton's. Make sure you sign up to
become a member of the Refreshment Awards program. If you haven't already, go to Refreshment Awards dot com, download the app on your Android or your iPhone and you'll be good to go. Also, keep in mind they got good food, folks. I mean, I know, gas station convenience store type food is you know, used to be viewed as all goodness. You only eat it if you have to, there's no other options, nothing else is open. Well that's different now, and I credit Thornton's. I think they changed the game.
They changed the stigma because they don't just have you know, something sitting under a lamp that's been there for forty eight hours. They've got people whose jobs are specifically to put together great food items. They got a great team that you know, creatively thinks of different food items to add to the mix, and they've put together some really good stuff over the years. Still missed the pizza wedge.
I don't why they're going to bring that back. It's like a pizza Casa Da is so good, so damn good, John, But to pass out thinking about.
It, you should be the one to promote it.
If they do bring it back, I'll pay me in pizza wedges and you got a deal. I mean, come on now. But they also have some pretzel bites that are are becoming more and more popular among other items. And again, best breakfast sandwich you will find and is the sausage, egg and cheese croissant at at Thornton's. I'm telling you, you don't believe me. Tried for yourself and you'll be thinking, oh my god, I want another one. And oh yeah, Nick was right. That's not am not
often am I right? But I feel like I'm right about that. In fact, I know I'm right about that. So shout out to Thornton's all right, five two six five three zero seven nineties the number if you guys would like to text in Ellen and Federal Credit Union
text on. This is the second person that is chimed in here to say they have seen, and one person actually sent a picture earlier this week of the uniforms that are being sold for Louisville football that have the gold and I will I don't know if somebody did some editing. I still think they're not Louisville colors. I don't like them. They're not as hideous because I don't think of Ronald McDonald as much when I see it.
But the first picture that that we saw a couple of weeks ago, maybe it was last week, that had you know, it looking like it was bright yellow for the lettering on these uniforms, I mean it looked like ron McDonald. But now I've seen pictures that somebody has sent in, and there's also some others that have that have been put out there. I think Uni swag, which is like a Twitter account that covers nothing but uniforms,
is actually pretty cool if you're into uniforms. But uh, they're clearly gold like gold gold like think Uh.
You know, like there's a shininess to it.
Oh yeah, I'll send you this. I'll send you a picture of them really quick.
Here.
What was the character in Austin Powers? Is it gold Member?
I haven't seen Austin Powers.
Oh dude, you yeah, I mean this is I'm asking the wrong guy. Uh, there was like three or four different Austin Powers and and you know, Mike Myers played a bunch of different characters within it. So you know, think think gold.
Uh, this looks a lot better than Yes, I mean it still isn't Louisville's k is gold members Austin Power's gold think think that gold.
But yeah, they're not Louisville colors at least I don't think they are. And it's it's I don't know why, why the why it being gold and not yellow? Does it make it look so less obnoxious because of the brightness of the yellow or something?
Yeah, because it did. It had that golden arch type of you know, the McDonald's field.
I mean, you look like Ronald McDonald out there, that's what you work like. Yeah. So I'm not like a traditionalist. I'm not somebody that's like afraid to throw different uniforms together that are a little bit different than what we typically see. But I also like, there's got to be a line, doesn't there. And what I mean by that is there's got to be a line of like, Okay, that's different, that's certainly not what we're used to. Oh,
that's cool, that's innovative. And then there's the line that you cross and you're like, that's not our colors, that's not that's not us. So I don't feel like that's the case here as much. But still the gold is just you know, not my thing. But hey again, Adidas, Uh, they give a lot of money to the University of Louisville, and if they want to throw some weird stuff out there, I think U of l will certainly, you know, be a good partner and you know, and uh do whatever
they want. I would love to know the balance there, because I know it's not like Adidas doesn't just say, hey, here's what you're wearing, shut up and accept it. But like, for example, when Charlie Strong was here, Charlie Strong would never let would never wear black. Louis will never wore a black uniform. Whenever Charlie Strong was here, he was
a traditionalist. He didn't like it. Adidas wanted them to wear black and encouraged them to and had black uniforms, but Charlie would wear so Like, it's not as if they have the full say so, but you know you should be you should be a good a good partner and you know, not let them have full control. But if they want to throw something out there, they think's cool that they've got some promotion behind and you know,
throw it on and we've seen it over the years. Yeah, it just reminded me the and by the way, we should do whatever the hell Adida says, because again, money has become even more of a mean, Money's always a necessity in everyday life, but I mean with twenty two million now going to be needed to pay these student athletes, like you should look at your Adida's deal and worship it and maybe do whatever the hell they say, because you know, they might have been able to get out
of this contract and not pay a dime because of what Nolan Smith and Kenny Payne's staff decided to do wearing Nike. For like, it's one thing, one thing to wear Nike when you're walking to the end of the driveway to pick up your trash cans. It's actually nothing to wear Nike if you're going to Kroger to pick
up milk for the family. But if you're wearing Nike and posting social media content while you work for an Adida school, who, by the way, Adidas pays a little more than they pay any school, Like, what are you doing? Real quick before we move on, I just remembered the whole black uniform thing during Charlie Strong's era. I can't think of which player it was, but back, you know, gosh, it's so crazy to say this was. This was easily
ten eleven years ago. But back when I was heavy in the blog game, you know, I was always amazed by what would get the most traffic, you know, in my era of running the dot com, and you know, really just it consumed every second of my life, it seemed like. But it was my baby. It was something i'd you know, put together, built, and you know, it was my life for a long time, and it helped me, you know, create this type of ca that I have
for myself. But nonetheless, it always irritated me. If we had writers or I would put something together, it wouldn't like I was cranking out a column as a as a Capital Jay journalist, but you know, just you know, long form, longer form content thoughts, that kind of stuff, like we did it well enough in traffic to where I had I had full time writers or one full time writer, a couple of part time writers, and you know,
it was it was a profitable thing for me. Was I was able to you know, I was able to leave a job because of it. So what I'm getting at is, you do you'd see good traction, good good traffic reaction on certain post, but like things about uniforms and helmets that you know, all you all you're doing is basically sharing an image with a couple of sentences and that would be your biggest post of the week. And it would be like damn, like all that work. And you know it was a little demoralizing at times,
but people love that kind of stuff. And I remember on a Friday night before a game, a Louisville player, I think, on Instagram maybe posted a picture of them in a black uniform because Adita's again they supplied black uniforms. They were there if they needed them, but Charlie would never let them wear them. And I don't remember who. I feel like it might have been Andrew Johnson, former defensive back, and he posted just a picture of him
in the jersey. They didn't have full pads on, but like he had access to a jersey, and it lit the internet on fire because everybody thought, oh my god, they're gonna wear black tomorrow. And I'm not kidding you. I think that football season me just simply embedding the Instagram post on the Cardinal connect dot com. I think for the month that that specific, that specific page post had more traffic than anything we did. And there's a little bit of a I mean, it's still crazy to
think about. But the reasoning also is because, I mean, Louisvill had to wear black since Bobby was here and Louisvill was good, and you know, people got when Bobby put the black on his first time around during the brom Era, that stuff like we never wore black before, at least not that I know of, and it looked bad ass, and then it just went away because you know, the Strong era didn't have it, so it was such
a tease. And I'm pretty sure you know whoever posted it, I'm not sure if it was Andrew Johnson or not. They ended up getting in trouble because everybody was because it meant Charlie was gonna be asked about uniforms and he didn't want to talk about that. All right, So Mark Stoops landed what I think is his biggest commitment, no pun intended, since he's been at Kentucky from the high school ranks. Again, I say Stoops again, thank you,
thank you. Next time, just run in here and hit me over the head with something, because I'm gonna I think I'm gonna do that a lot. What I need to start doing is not even mentioning Mark in just say last name, because when I do, when I say Mark, it's gonna. First of all, I'm gonna mix it up again like I just did there, and I'm gonna overthink it now. So Pope, he had I mean I said it's his biggest commitment. I mean it's his first, is it not? I mean they had I.
Guess of you about Travis Perry, right, wasn't that he was already committed?
He was okay, yeah, like he committed and signed with Kentucky for cal and stayed around and stuck around and they did get the Trent Noah guy. But like that was I mean that, I mean that was I mean, the kid knew he would never snif a Kentucky scholarship with cal there, and then he realized, oh there's there's there's been a change. Let me, let me reopen my recruitment and see what happens. And you know, it all worked out.
Uh.
And then the other, I mean, the other freshman is a guy who is actually not a freshman. He's just been away for two years at a Mormon thing. So you know, it's a good sign if you're Kentucky. The first high school kid that commits to Mark Pope happens to be a five star or four star, but top you know, one of the best, if not the best, true centers in the twenty twenty five class. His rankings are kind of all over the place from I from what I gather, But Malacamorino from Scott County. I say
Scott County because that is where he's from. I know, That's not where he goes to school. He goes to Greater Crossings, which did not exist in in you know when whenever I was in high school. But it sounds like they have now become the dominant program in that County where Scott County used to be dominant, and now I don't even I've not heard anything about their program in a long time. So anyways, he picks Kentucky over Indiana, Arkansas, North Carolina. Who else was viewed to be like in
the mix. I know he had a bunch of schools the.
Ohio State, ok Iowa I believe were on there. There was eight total, but the two favorites, the two front runners for the longest time, were Kentucky and Indiana.
Yeah, and I actually I played against and sometimes within the summers with a guy who is no longer on the Greater Crossing staff, but was like affiliated with their program for a little while. He played at Scott County when we were growing up. But he had told me, and I actually told this to John earlier this week, that he felt like Kentucky was always going to be
where he ended up for a variety of reasons. Meaning and this is not a knock at all on Pope, but whoever the coach was there, he was probably going to go to Kentucky just because you know, he wants to stay close to homies. A Kentucky guy, which a lot of guys are like that, but my buddy had told me that he's always felt like Indiana, like if for some reason he doesn't go to Kentucky. Indiana's in great shape and like Mike Woodson has done and his
staff have done a really good job. You know, he's close with some guys that play for the is it Indiana Elite?
Yeah, Trent Cisly and Braylan Multi.
Yeah. So there's a couple of other kids from Indiana that played for the Indian Elite, AAU program, one of the best programs out there that are all I mean, it's not they're not committed, are they. But they're going to Kentucky, right, I'm sorry, going to Indiana.
Right, there's a good chance apparently they're like Sicily.
And Mullins are going to you, right, Yeah, yeah.
I would think. So Cisly went to he just transferred to Mountain verd And obviously Woodson's got good connections down there, and I would hope that that results of him going to Indiana.
So you know, it's a good I mean, again, you're foolish if you're Mark Pope and you don't go after this guy. And he had offers from some pretty big time schools. Depending on where you look, he's a top twenty five player. So I've actually I've been familiar with with with Malachi for a long time since he was like in fifth grade, just because he's been a giant. I mean, he's one of those kids that you know
many many years ago. I'm pretty sure he went viral because he's playing basketball against young children and he's two feet taller than everybody. Like he's been a giant for a long time, and with that comes, you know, like your awkward frame kind of growing into your body. So I think for a long chunk of his childhood, even middle school, early high school, he is somebody that was really effective. But because he was so tall doesn't mean
he didn't have talent or ability. But like you know, any kid at that age that's that big, it's an adjustment, I mean, and it's awkward, like it just is. So he's really worked his ass off to polish up his offensive skills. I mean, I still think you're going to see him as a rim protector, a guy that dunks things around the rim, block shots. But he's got some decent touch and I think he's gonna be a good player. I really, do you know, he's one of those guys
that is truly a true center. He's a straight five like you know, that makes sense because he's you know, seven foot something. So anyways, good addition for Mark Pope, no doubt, good start for their twenty twenty five class. And you know, if they can get Jasper Johnson to stay home, I know that's the kid. I mean, he's
at overtime this year. Was at a prep school last year that I'm not familiar with which one it was, but originally from Woodford County, played at Woodford County and in fact, it was a big time football recruit as a kid before he was a bas I mean, I shouldn't say big time he was young, but his first you know, recruiting visits as a kid took place on the football side, and then he decided to switch to basketball. And he's one of the best players in the country
right now. So it sounds like and by the way, Louisville, I mean Louisville continues to be mentioned as far as just you know, one of the handful of schools that he's still you know, I guess considering, but by all accounts, I mean, it sounds like Jasper Johnson is going to end up going to Kentucky, Alabama or North Carolina, so
you know, we'll see. I mean, I wouldn't hold out hope if I'm a Louisville fan, But if you're a Kentucky fan and Mark Pope ends up getting Jasper Johnson and Malachai moreno, I mean that's that's like, is that not the best of both worlds for BBN, because every fan base loves homegrown talent, right, Like, it's just different, right, you want the best players. You're not going to only
recruit local guys. But if you've got a guy that's good enough to play at that level and can be a you know, can be a good player, or even just a guy that's in the rotation and he's from your area, there's just something special about that. You don't
want to cater to those guys. But we all know it just it's different, So you know this could be like I don't want to act like it's like a you know, fairy tale kind of thing, but Cali Perry, I feel like at times recruited kids from Kentucky out of spite, and once they got there, he couldn't wait for Sometimes like Derek Willis and Dante Allen, and I think even even a little bit of Read until he
realized how good Read was. But like he couldn't wait for these guys to have struggle so he could look at the fan base and say, see, you guys wanted me to take this guy because he's from Kentucky. So like that's just cal in the stubbornness. But this time around, these two guys are two of the top twenty five players in the country. Cal would have recruited both these guys.
I think maybe he wouldn't have all of he is recruiting of Jasper Johnson down there at Arkansas, So you know, Pope gives you that nostalgia from an era that was specially won a title and there were many more Kentucky players on those Kentucky teams in the nineties. And I just feel like, you know, it'd be the best of both worlds for Kentucky fans because you still can say you're recruiting at a high level if you get Jasper Johnson and you already have Malac II Moreno, and then
you throw in the fact that they're from Kentucky. Like I just, you know, I feel like this. Those two recruits could really be special for the Kentucky fan base as the Pope era gets started. But again, it sounds like Jasper Johnson is leaning towards Alabama. But who knows. I have no clue that's true. Now, that's just the latest that's out there on the you know, on Twitter. All right, don't go anywhere. We'll come back and wrap at the three o'clock hour on a Friday. It's coffee
and company feel. But Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety Zach Brown, correct, Okay, I was. I was struggling there for a second. I thought that's who it was, but I wasn't quite sure. All right, So not a whole lot of time left here in the three o'clock hour.
But what a wild story from Sports Illustrated. Notre Dame has suspended their men's swimming program for the entire twenty twenty four to twenty five academic year after the investigation that they had revealed that their swimmers created an internal sports book to gamble on their performances, plus other corrosive culture issues. So, I mean, what's wrong with the fellas getting in on some friendly wagering. I mean, I tell you.
We're getting more and more of these stories about student athletes and doing things are not supposed to be doing, even if it does seem harmless, I guess it is technically against the rules. But how much more of this is going on that we just don't know about this because it hasn't been caught yet.
This to me, see, I mean, look there they're I mean, these are just I mean from when I gather here, this isn't I mean, this is an internal sports book where they're betting with each other, like, hey, I'm gonna bet you that in this race what they call it in swimming, that I'm going to have a better time than you. We're gonna put you know, like, I think this is harmless. This is their own money and they're not betting again, they're not throwing performances because they want
to make money. This is like again, it still is against the rules. And you're gonna see schools probably in the early stages of this, and we still are in the early stages of sports betting being so prevalent within the world of college athletics, you know, because it wasn't very I mean, it wasn't in your face at all. Five six years ago. Now it's everywhere and most states have legal sports betting. So I think you're gonna see the first five ten years, maybe not even that long.
I guess we're they're going to make examples of people who who break rules just to let everybody know, hey, we knew going in because there's again I say this all the time, but those that brought up, well, what are you going to do? And now that you know these these college kids they could they could they could start throwing games, you could have point shaving and all that which we have had that. I mean there's been
people that have been in trouble for that. I mean the story of the Alabama baseball coach, I mean that was wild. So there's nobody involved in the decision. You know, the powers that be that really can make it to where your state has legal sports betting, they knew and everybody involved in sports gambling at these sports books knows that, Yeah, there's no scenario where this will happen. You will see people betting, stutch, student athletes betting and probably doing things
they're not supposed to do. But what we have to do is have a plan for action when it happens, make examples and just you know, scare people to where they know, hey, you do this, you're in big trouble. And here's the thing, this is what I would always say to people about those who didn't want sports gambling in their state, Well, you make it legal here, it's only going to benefit the state from a financial perspective.
I'm gonna do it regardless. You might as well benefit from me and the millions of others that are going to do it. That's the way I see this. If you're somebody that understands the risk of having it more accessible for student athletes that are living in states where it's legal, they could do it anyway. They could cross state lines and download and out. They could do it on bet now, which is an offshore book. Like people
are gonna do what they're gonna do. So having it legal, regulating it and punishing that those because again, if it's not legal in your state and they're doing it like offshore,
you never find out right. And what I really found to be impressive and just kind of insane, to be honest with you, was whenever the outlet, I think I might have been Pat forty who broke the who not broke the story but had a really good, really good bind the scenes right up about the guy who was there at the Reds game a great American ballpark making the wager on Alabama that flagged everybody within the sports book of like, this is totally like, by the way,
he wasn't even careful about it. He was just he was an idiot, by the way. I think that got it a being from Louisville or he lived in Indiana, butod he played baseball at UFL for a year or something like that. But anyways, the ability that the people that work like the sports books have to investigate lines and like investigate activity like it is crazy. I mean, like when you walk into a sports book, they got eyes on you at every second other than maybe when
you're in the urinal. I mean, so like, you know, you're doing shady stuff, you're gonna likely get caught. But this to me again, and maybe there's more to it than than what I gather. I don't know what the corrosive culture issues are, but these are dudes like, you know, hey, we're both you know, racing in this race. I'm gonna let me put fifty bucks that I beat you. Like if it's something like that again. You still, I guess technically can't do that, but to suspend the entire season
a little much in my opinion. All right, two more hours left. Stick around right here, It's a Friday on Sports Talk seven ninety