8.22: Nerves - Hour 2

So I've thrown out the first pitch at the Bats game tonight, and I just happened to see something they're doing that I think is I think is pretty cool, and I'm just curious to see how effective it is

in regards to season ticket sales. So apparently they sent out an email to their season ticket holders that they're going to have a renewal party on September fourteenth, uh to you know, for their season ticket holders to renew and it's really just a big party, and you know, they do it, do it, do it big for those that support them by purchasing season tickets, which of course I'm sure the Bats greatly appreciate those that they purchase season tickets, But you can RSVP for the you know,

for the for the party and missus wild that if you hit a home run, they're gonna let you. Yes, it's take the field for your very own batting session while you're there at the party, and if you hit a home run, your twenty twenty five season tickets are on them. I'm cure. And again, maybe I can ask the folks at the Bats tonight whenever I get out there to to slug or field. But I'm curious have they done this before, and as anybody ever got free season tickets because they were able to hit one out

of the park. I mean, I feel like they'd be really hard to do for anyone. But I don't know, like if it's just if somebody's just loft in it to you and it's not like you got to actually take a pitch from somebody that you know is within the Reds organization pitching for the bats. But you know, I wouldn't be shocked if there's a couple of people maybe that that could could do that. I mean, I would assume they'd have to play baseball, meaning like they

probably have had a career playing baseball in college. I don't know, maybe even semi you know, professionally in the minor leagues or whatnot. But I think it's cool when when professional sports franchises do things like that, because even if it's not like, even if they know, hey, nobody's gonna hit it out, there's enough people that will give it a shot and try and if you got him there, you know, and they're around, you know, even if they don't hit a home run, maybe they'll still end up

buying and renewing their season tickets. Of all the things in sports that like I know I can't do, which I can't do much of anything, to be honest with you, but like hitting a hitting a baseball from a you know, legitimate pitcher, the guy that's you know, pitching for the for the bats, I don't think I would ever be

able to make contact with the ball. And I don't think that's I don't feel like I'm in the minority if like most people who have never played baseball even you know, I mean, I've never played baseball at any level competitively. But like I think even if you played baseball, like in high school twenty years ago, fifteen years ago. I feel like that would be really hard to do, scoring on like a G League player, Like, if a

G League player is guarding you, like, could you score? Like, you know, trying to the normal average joe that might have played sports competitively, but not at a level where you're, you know, chasing a career in that sport. I feel like there's a lot of average jos that you know, back in their day, probably were not nearly as good as they thought they were, but they feel like they

could do that, and I think they'd be humbled. I'm somebody that is well aware if I tried to step onto the field the court with an athlete that you know, that's their livelihood, that's what they do, I would be embarrassed in a major way, and I think most people would. But John, don't you think there's some people out there that just assume they could do it.

could beat him in a race. And I don't remember if it ever happened. And think it might have been Ryan Timms, who, by the way, was like a speedster. So I don't know. And by the way, if Billy did in fact try this and beat him, we'd all know about it because he'd still be talking about it right now.

think he's been around that long. But now he's got his own show with Shannon, and he works his ass off, and you know, you have to do that in order to get an opportunity like he has right now. So it's not like I'm jabbing at Billy. He would tell you straight up. He's got a lot of belief in himself. He's very very confident, and he was filling in or

not filling in actually what he was doing. He was producing, but it was more so just like on a trial basis, Like my producer at that time was still there, but they were just kind of seeing if Billy could run the board. And he did a fine job at that. But at that time, Jennifer Lawrence was coming into the studio across the hall to be on with Terry Miners. As Terry Miners is I think close family friends with Jennifer Lawrence's parents, and she knows Terry and I think

she's been on a few times over the years. I think it's been a long time since it happened, But in twenty sixteen, I think it was she. She was coming in studio and at that time, you know, she comes in with like security that looks like the Secret Service, right, I mean, she's she's senter for Lawrence, So you know, I knew she was here. I saw her through the window when I was walking out of the building and I can see through the window there in the has studio.

But like, you know, I wasn't trying to like, hey can I can I sneak in and get a picture? You know, it's not really my personality anyways, but even if I try, they wouldn't let me. Well, Billy, he was gonna try, but I told him, like no, like you had to realize you're not just gonna walk past her in the hallway. You know, it's like not really how it works, you know, she's And then he said, well, I know, if I do get a chance to talk to her, I guarantee I could get he phone number.

And I'm like, Billy I'm pretty sure she's married. It's like, I don't care, it doesn't matter. And I couldn't believe that he wasn't joking. He was quite serious that if he had a chance to be in the same room with Jennifer Laurence. I guess that Billy Ruttledge charm would just be oozing to where he could get the digits and she would forget. She might have been married at the time. I don't know if she was married, but she was with somebody. And oh, by the way, she's

Jennifer Lawrence. He's fresh out of college training to be a producer on AM radio, like a little bit of a different stratosphere when it comes to status. But he he wasn't joking. He believed it. And I know that story has been told before on KSR, and I'm the one who told Mad about it because Billy was filling in and they were learning this guy, this guy really he's awesome. But man, he's really, really, really a fan of himself. But actually, let me back up, I don't

think Billy's like it's yes, it's not. I mean, it is arrogance, but it's not like in your face, right, It's not like he's not a showman.

But yeah, you know, there's certain people that are you know, big time celebrities that that have made their way into studio and been on with you know, mostly with has to be honest with you, mostly Terry Minors because you know he's Terry Miners. But yeah, Jennifer Lawrence is one that you know, you're not just gonna casually run into her in the hallway, and if you do, you know you're gonna be told to get away because she's Jennifer

Lawrence and you're not. And I don't mean that she would say that to you, but you know she's I mean, I think it's safe to say is she's still probably currently the most globally famous person from Louisville, like right now, Like obviously people know Muhammad Ali from Louisville, and there's

others that are known from being from Louisville. But when it comes to like, I mean, she's still an active a lister when it comes to Hollywood and Jack Harlow, I mean, he's he's a big time for sure, but I don't know if he's I mean maybe their neck and neck, I'm not sure.

on people. And to this day, there is there's never been you know, I've worked here for gosh, going on nine years now, and there's never been someone who was making an appearance in at Ihart Louisville that generated the aura and the you know, the attention. Then Mason Ramsey, the kid who yeldled at Walmart and went viral.

They showed up to iHeart and it's a it's like an I mean, a nine year old kid who just was yodeling at Walmart and became like the biggest thing on the internet. Oh that he was inside the last home day she said, good an, well a lot I thought of the dry Should do me?

He gained international fame from a viral video of him yodling. And now he's like, you know, now he's grown up and his voice has changed, and you know he doesn't he doesn't sound.

the world. I don't think anybody would want that, but if you would have, I mean, it's almost like magic how the internet can just like because if you just describe a kid wadling yodling in Walmart who sounds pretty you know, pretty good, and he's kind of a because he's, you know, a little kid, like telling somebody that, even having somebody kind of visualize that, they would never expect

that to be a viral story. Same thing with Hawk to a girl like what she said, you know, and she's cute, she's young, she's you know, there's some sexual innuendo there with what she's talking about, you know, just spitting on that thing. We all know what that was, but nobody would have believed beforehand that that specific clip would would be the biggest that was the biggest clip of the summer, was it?

So she she gets invited throughout the first pitch, she's just catching strays from the Yankees because they're like, yeah, we actually have real celebrities to throw out our first pitch. Maybe that happens tonight whenever, you know, Pat Kelsey gets introduced because he's thrown out of first pitch too. He's got the basketball fan base excited and energized for the

first time in years. He's going to get a standing. Oh, people on the Interstate sixty five might just pull over because they're gonna think, what's going on here?

move on. This is one of those segments where I don't even know what we've accomplished, but you know what it's right, So anyways, this is a random a random celebri that that that I that I ended up encountering it the old office.

thing because the pandemic hadn't happened yet. Like you'd see a ton of cars in the parking lot and that was only for like three months for me. Yeah, and then everything kind of you know changed in a major way.

So this guy was there and again i'd heard the name, and then I ended up it was just awkward, Like I was walking into the bathroom he had just gotten done washing his hands, and we kept doing like the face to face dancing thing to where like we're trying to get out of each other's way, but when he

moves right, he moves to his right. I ended up moving the same direction to where we just keep like so finally I was like, hey, sorry, man, and I like you know, ended up moving around him and I patted him on the back, and I thought it was somebody who worked in sales because I didn't know, and he was kind, but he was very very surprised I touched him and I don't and I don't usually touch, like I'm not that's not normal for me, but because of what had happened, like I just like Okay, let

me you know, sorry about that buddy, like hit him on, you know, hit.

and I ended up after the first break. I checked my email and they were announcing that he was about to start his performance, and I'm like, who Charlie Pooth?

don't have that anymore, man. I miss that, like the days of like just having a full building where you never know who's going to pop in.

you know he is different to you. Well, because it's hard for me to sometimes realize, Like again, it's normal now, but you know now every day almost if I pop up and then if I pop on the news when we're eating dinner or something and I leave it on it in its entirety, there's a good hands I'm gonna see him twice on there because he's the mayor of Louisville.

So anyways, yeah, I just I miss when we used to just have the you know, you never know who's And there's also been people who've been around that were a big deal but they thought they were a bigger deal than they really were. And I've only heard stories about this, but I think Tom Green, do you even know who that is?

up on over the years with this show. But either him or his like agent or bodyguard or security or something i'd heard was like as bad as anybody when it comes to just you know, like all right, dude, you're like, we know who you are, but like if you're gonna be like this, we don't need you here, Like you don't have to be here, Like you're not doing us any favors, that kind of stuff. So anyways, let's get to a quick break. We'll come back on

the other side. Keep the party rolling a lit. I want to talk about about NFL Sunday ticket because you know, I don't need Sunday ticket. I am not interested in purchasing it because I can do NFL Red Zone and you know, be fine. But a lot of people love Sunday ticket. But I am so curious to see in you know, three or four months, if the price increase really did an impact, did have an impact on people?

Will you know people? Because NFL is king, But when you know the minimum price that you can get Sunday ticket, like, I don't know if it's worth it for a lot of people. So we'll get to that and a lot more. It's coffee and Company. We are fueled by Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.

money on is their choice, and there are expends. I mean, everybody's financial financial situation is different. And season tickets specifically, like if you if you pay that donation and you pay whatever it called, like that's a big expense, Like that's that's a sacrifice to where if you didn't, I mean, you could use that money annually and go on a couple vacations, maybe three vacations, just depending on you know,

what it is you actually spend. Obviously, the donation is a set price, but if you get season tickets and they're really good seats, then obviously that's a much bigger price tag.

NFL games, meaning your team. Like let's say John is a big Broncos fan, and you know, if he doesn't have Sunday ticket or the red zone, or he's not illegally streaming at somewhere else, like obviously the Broncos games are not always going to be on TV around here. But if he had this plan, this package that ESPN put together, he could pay seventy bucks a year and watch all of his games. I think that is a good I think that would be a fair price and a lot of people would do that. But the NFL

said no. The league is being greedy, it seems. So. This was from NFL Chief Media and Business officer Brian Rollout. This was a couple months ago. He said in a published interview quote, we try to think about what the fan wants and get as much distribution as possible, which you know, that's just a canned answer. Where it sounds like you are looking out for, which is again, that's

what that's what you'd want to hear if you're a fan. Well, you got owners like Robert Kraft, who later said in an interview quote, We're not looking to get lots of people. We want to keep it as a premium offering, meaning we'll charge whatever, and the people who pay it will feel as if they are super elite status because and by the way, that is a that's a that's a

way to do business. Right, Like you, there are people who are more interested in spending if it's really expensive because they want to feel like they're they want to you know, they want to show off that they have the ability to pay for that, or they just feel better about themselves knowing that they did. I mean, everybody's different as far as how they spend money. So I just don't know how you could justify paying Again, if

you've got money out your rear end, then whatever. But I'd say the average you know, the average person that maybe isn't living check to check to the point that if you know, they don't get a check, they're going to be homeless. But obviously times aren't great financially right now in this economy. I mean again, I'm sure some people have never had to worry or stress about money, and God bless you if that's the case. But that's

not a lot of peop people. So you know, if you pay three hundred and eighty bucks for the Sunday ticket, like I just again, it's it's all your perspective in regards to it being worth it. But I've never understood the obsession with the Sunday ticket because being able to watch any NFL game, Like, you can't watch them all at the same time. Now, if you're at a sports bar and you're operating a bar, yeah, it makes total sense.

She wouldn't be able to put every game on. But if you're at home and you're because I would say most NFL fans have a team and they're gonna watch other NFL football games because the NFL's king, but like the game they really care about is their team. So like, if you get Sunday ticket for that, like you're you're paying a lot of money and you have accessed all these other games, but there's no way you're watching them

all the way through. And even if you just here's the scenario, let's say, in the one o'clock slate, you're watching Colts Jaguars, and you know that on the Sunday ticket you can switch over to watch Chiefs Raiders, But you don't want to watch Chiefs Raiders because you're so focused on the Colts Jags, So you're gonna you're gonna DVR it and come back to it later. Well, if you're watching Colts Jags, you're not gonna be able to avoid knowing what's happening in the other games, because they're

gonna show you. Like that's how this works, like the halftime show when they come back from break, like on the bottom of the screen they're showing scores. So I think it's totally understandable to get it at a sports bar where you're gonna want to where you are trying to make it to where you can get any game

anybody would want because you have that. But as far as like I remember the first time I signed up for direct TV back in like two thousand, gosh, I guess it was probably around like twenty twelve, maybe when we moved into our home, maybe closer to twenty eleven. Because of the promo for direct TV, we got Sunday ticket for free, and I think we referred enough people to sign up for Direct TV That next year, I

got Sunday ticket for free twice. I've never paid for it, but I had it and it felt awesome, Like I liked sitting on the couch knowing I can go to any game I want, but I didn't fully you to where I could ever justify the expense for it. So I love the red zone. It's a little hectic for me at times, but the red zone, you know, it's it's it's great. It's how I consume the NFL for the most part, especially when I'm trying to figure out

if my bets are going to hit or not. And I got four leg parlays going and all that kind of stuff. But you also can't really just get into one game because they're throwing back and forth. And again, I'm not criticizing the red zone. I think the red zone's great. That's that's what I do pay for and it's worth it. Although they're raising the price on that too, and I still think it's gonna be worth it, but

I don't know. I just the three hundred and eighty bucks being the lowest the lowest best case scenario right now for somebody to get Sunday ticket. I just think that that's greedy from the NFL. Like you could make it one hundred bucks and your greedy billionaire owners would still be able to return some kind of a profit on it. And I just think holding that. I mean again, it's business right. You know, you could you charge whatever you want right you own the league you are in.

You know, the NFL can charge whatever they want. The owners can collectively discuss what they think is fair, and they can you know, they have a right to do it. It's just I feel like if you made it one hundred bucks, you'd actually end up getting way more money from it because people would buy it. So I don't know, I just I know the Sunday ticket is a is

a big deal to a lot of people. But I'd love to be a fly on the wall with someone who because even if you even if you are someone that does go back and forth throughout the one o'clock to four through the whole day of football on Sundays and you've got fantasy players you're tracking, you're tracking your bets, and you have the ability to go to do a

live check in anytime you want. Like, that's cool, but are you really you Like, how could someone truly say I need every single game accessible when they're all on at the same time. I just that to me is a little bit of a head scratcher. But hey again, people will spend money on what they want. You have Hula Hulu right, Yes, Do they give you the option to add like red Zone or anything?

makes your YouTube TV build more expensive. I just didn't know if the other streaming services offered that, I would I'd be shocked if Hulu doesn't, because it's probable I think right now, as far as cord cutters live, and by the way, a lot of people have cut the cord and they don't have a YouTube TV or a Hulu TV or a direct TV now or whatever it's called, or what else is there? If gone?

And then you realize there's a lot of people that don't like when you see the like when you realize that more than half of America is not watching or slightly above half of America is watching the Super Bowl? Am I the only one? Like every single Like I know that's a fact, but every single time we get to Super Bowl Sunday, I think to myself, who in the hell's not walking in the Super Bowl?

rating is, meaning it's probably more than half. But again, just seeing those numbers always reminds me that, yes, I'm obsessed with sports in a way that a lot of people aren't. And there are people out there, believe it or not. It's crazy to think about, but like, there are people that are out there that sports is not in any way a component to their life and I can't even process that. But hey, it's a free country.

You can do whatever you want. Real quick speak, speaking of money, I just found this to be somewhat interesting. If you are, you know, curious about what it costs to go to college football games across the country, just know that Louisville is on the very cheap side. So bookies dot Com calculated the cost to the cheapest available ticket for every home game of all seventy power for conference teams including Notre Dame and then Washington State and

Oregon State. So the prices were acquired from Ticketmaster and seat geek, which more than one hundred schools use to sell their tickets. So the average lowest ticket price for a Louisville home game this year is eleven dollars and sixty seven cents, so you're certainly on the cheap side. So you could attend again. Like this is if you just want to get the bare minimum, you can get in to every home game this year for seventy bucks. Now, big kicker here is that Louisville's homeslate. We get a

huge turnout at every game. And yes, I said we because you know I might walk on the team or something like I'm Mariy Huggins, Bruce, you know, but the home slate sucks, like any game that you're juiced about is not at home other than Miami, and that will be a big game. So that I mean that that's that, that is a big game. But like the other ones, like let's just be real, Jacksonville State and Austin P.

I was gonna say, Butthole State, Butthole Tech. It should have been Indiana the Hoosier should have been on the schedule. But we know how that on the me too. So you've got Jacksonville State, Austin p, Georgia Tech, Miami, SMU, and Pitt those are your I mean that that's a stinky home slate. So that's why it's so cheap. It wouldn't be like that if you had, you know, the Kentucky game at home this year, or Notre Dame at home like you did last year, that kind of stuff.

So Louisville is certainly on the cheaper side. Uh, the most expensive average ticket price. This just makes me want to puke. John. It's Colorado and they've got a huge stadium, by the way, and like they a huge fan base. Certainly they're a state school.

they have six of them. The average is one hundred and seventy two dollars one hundred and fifty six dollars Tennessee, one hundred and forty dollars Texas A and M one hundred and forty dollars at Florida State and then Georgia is at number five with one hundred and twenty eight The one team in the top twenty. That makes no sense to me, and I think we did kind of figure out why they're there. That is Northwestern at number seven, and it's because they're playing in a tiny stadium.

come back wrap at the four o'clock hour. On the other side, it's coffee and company fuel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. That's right, Coffee and company fueled about Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Appreciate you hanging out with us on a Thursday afternoon. Wrapping up the four o'clock hour. I we'll let you know for those of you that missed our conversation with Kendrick Haskins earlier, well you missed out because it was great,

but you're in luck. We are gonna let you hear it once again in the five o'clock hour. I got to get out of here a little bit early, just a little earlier than usual, because I got to make sure I can get to Slugger Field in time to throw out the first pitch and you know, try not to embarrass myself. You got a hot date with the mound, that's right, that's right. I like that is that I've never heard that before, but that you know, I don't know baseball lingo or I've never heard it before either.

I'm giving you credit because I think that's an original line there from the One and the Only the Company Man, and I think it's great. I might, I might, I might start using that good stuff, all right, So real quick, I am always reminded when it comes to how popular soccer is when you see the fame that Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have. I mean, John, you know soccer, so you know that those the two most famous athletes on the planet Kings, and they have been for a

long long time. But I'm going to tell you something that I think puts in perspective just how insanely famous they are, the reach they have, and how much like they're really on a different planet when it comes to any other athlete. I mean Ronaldo for sure, because he

launched a YouTube channel earlier. Let's see, he launched his YouTube channel yesterday and it was yesterday morning, so within seven hours seven hours of launch, like creating the channel and sharing on social media that he has a YouTube channel, encouraging his followers to subscribe in seven hours he had seven He surpassed seven million subscribers.

far as you know monetization, that kind of stuff. I mean, everybody who has a big, big following online is starting their YouTube channel, Like Tom Brady created a YouTube channel the other day. Now you've got Ronaldo, Like these people don't need it. But YouTube has to be becoming like the place for content over everything.

that we have for our children. I could probably sing a lot of these cocomel and songs, not that anybody would want to hear that. And then there's another kid's channel like that stuff I get because your kids will watch the same thing over and over and over, which I guess that doesn't really speak to the subscribers. It's

more so just in fact. That's what's wild, is that, Like my kids have probably watched Coco Melon videos a billion times, but they're not subscribed to it like we just like That's another thing, like I oftentimes use YouTube and watch content on YouTube, but I rarely subscribe to a channel Like I.

all that kind of stuff. But you know, like I don't know who any of these people are, and they've got hundreds of millions of subscribers. Like I just feel like I'm so out of touch with like the digital world, which is not a good thing for somebody who you know, works in a works in an industry where digital is in fact going to it is has taken over. So maybe I need to get hip to the you know, the Vladin Nikki channel or.