8.6: Summer's Over? - Hour 3

hundred meter in Paris. And now two Americans are on the podium because Cole Hawker won gold, and I'm not sure of the name of the young man who won bronze, but this is the first time since nineteen twelve that two Americans have of have gotten two of the three medals here. So middle distance running mark that down as one of the new strings here of the United States

in the in the Olympics. I haven't seen an updated, you know, medal count in the Olympics since earlier this morning, but I do know that as of yeah, twenty one gold medals. That was as of this morning. I'm sure it's probably changed since then because I just mentioned a gold medal that the United States just won, but they were tied with China at the end of yesterday for the lead on overall medals or as I'm sorry is

for gold. As for the overall medal count, you know, they're running away with it and that's that's you know, that's what you'd expect. And apparently there's another record that's going to be snapped. And I don't know if they consider that a record, but for the United States again, to know that it's been since nineteen twelve, I mean, that just sounds insane. But it's been since nineteen twelve that the United States had two of those three medals

in the fifteen hundred. But today this record as not as not something going as far back as nineteen twelve, but a thirty six year record could could be broken because there I think the record for the two hundred meter is twenty one point three four and the belief is that Julian Alfred and Gabby Thomas are potentially gonna maybe shatter that today. So that record has been in

place since the nineteen eighty eight Olympics. So records being broken, which you know, records are meant to be broken, aren't they at least that's that's what I think. And I haven't watched nearly as much of the Olympics as I told myself I was going to do whenever we got closer. But in the last couple of days now that I've been back from vacation, I've at least been keeping up

with other things when it comes to the Olympics. And there's a video that always surfaces sometimes when we're you know, getting close to the Olympics, or when the Olympics are going on, or just randomly. And I will never not cry when I see this video. That's probably not something

I should admit, but it's just the truth. There's a British runner, Derek Redman, who tore his hamstring in the four hundred meter semifinal back in nineteen ninety two, and I mean, he's just in agony out there after tearing his hamstring in the race, and he can barely move,

but he's still trying. He's limping, and then his father somehow manages to make his way onto the track and gives him, you know, some guided assistance and helps him complete a full lap of the track as the crowd you know, goes crazy standing ovation, and it's just it's such the visual of that, it's insane. And my favorite part is that you see people who I guess work

for the grounds crew. They work for the Olympic. I mean, they're there to keep people from, you know, running out there, and two or three different people throughout the entire thing try to stop this man from helping his son limp towards the end of the finish line and he's just looking at him like, you're not I'm not going anywhere. I'm gonna help him, And it's just so cool, so cool to see one of the coolest things I've ever seen and gets me every single time. And we don't

have that same thing happening right now. But I did just see a video of Cole Hawker's father who was witnessing. Again. I mean, this guy, this wasn't expected at all, but

he ends up winning it. And there's somebody showing his dad in the crowd as he's seeing his son out there representing the United States pull off what is now being described as one of the biggest upsets for the United States in the in the current Olympic Games that are going on right now, and his dad is just in disbelief, and he keeps saying, what the F But you know, he doesn't say F. He says the actual F word, which is like, that's that's such a raw

and real like emotion, like hopefully his son doesn't see it and think like, is he's surprised? Did he not think that I could? You know that I could pull it off? But here is what the here's what the victory sounded like for a Cole Hawker, who definitely became a lot more famous today than he was an hour ago.

went to Notre Dame. And I've yeared now Goosey. I'm sure I'm saying that incorrectly, but I've seen a lot of coverage here locally about because he's one of the few Louivillions that is in fact in the Olympics. But shout out to him. He's going to be a part of history as well, because again, these two Americans finishing, you know, with the gold and the bronze. That has not happened for the United States again since nineteen twelve. That's insane, insane stuff. All right, it's Coffee and Company.

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bad look for this, for this football coach. Let me pull up the actual make sure I get the name correct here, because I would assume that if you you have a family member, brother, sister, son, daughter, cousin, even like somebody that you know you are close with, that is competing in the Olympics, like it would be a known thing that you're gonna watch it, Like you're gonna maybe take off work, right, I mean, you're gonna do whatever you gotta do to watch it. Maybe you can't

be there, but you're gonna watch it. It's a big deal. Well, Navy's head coach Brian Newberry is getting a lot of heat because apparently he's not letting one of his players take a brief break from practice to watch his sister potentially win Olympic gold. Like I mean, can't we like,

can't we agree? That's that's that's a jerk move, right, Like, I know, you got to be a badass football robot to where nothing in the world matters because it's just about it's just about being out there on the field getting better and working hard for the upcoming season all you know, all that stuff. But like, you know, one of his players has a sister who did, in fact eventually win gold, and you know he couldn't He wasn't

even watching it on TV. I mean, and I think they thought they did something cool here and maybe we'll find out that, like he didn't want to watch it, but there's no way that this could comes out. I was like, yeah, they told me I could watch it on TV, but I didn't want to. Like, I think the Navy football Twitter account thought they did something cute here and it says, the moment you find out your sister won a gold medal of Olympics, congratulations to theo la fond but I guess this.

he's so happy. I'm proud of his sister. I mean, have one of the countless people on your staff that are just out there at practice doing whatever you yell at him to do, have them monitor it, and when you get close, let the head coach know, gather the entire team around to support this guy as he watches his sister. Now you know, maybe she wasn't a favorite, and like it would have been sad and he didn't

want to he'd be distracted. But I don't know if that's me and my sister is about tonticipate in the Olympics and potentially win a gold medal. I mean, it'd be all I was thinking about. Anyway, I wouldn't be able to practice.

bit different. So I'm glad to see that Navy football's getting getting.

Olympic action, and that is Kevin Durant, he passed. It looks like, let's see, he passed Lisa Leslie for the most points ever from a men's and women's player for Team USA. And I will admit I did not realize how successful Kevin Durant has been in the Olympics. I know he's always he's been a part of these teams for the United States for many Olympics now, and he's one of the best players ever of all time, so

I guess it shouldn't really shock me. But then again, like I just the only guy that I feel like I've heard about that just seems to always turn it on in Olympic play and be really really good was Carmelo Anthony. Like I feel like his career was like on the downtick twice seemingly and then Olympic action going on, Boom, He's out here, you know, Olympic mellow, and it never really translated because he didn't have a strong finish to

his career. But nonetheless, Kevin Duran is now your easier leader. And there was a lot of talk about Team USA as far as their close game against South Sudan and the you know, the the games, the warm up games, essentially, and at times they looked like maybe they should be blowing out some of these other teams a little more than what they were, but they've kind of they've quietly been really really impressive. In fact, I guess they're playing

right now or they just wrapped up. But as I think, as of this morning, they were three three wins away from the gold which is certainly the expectation. And you know, just looking at the personnel on this team, I mean, there's no doubt that they are. They are. I mean, I can't think of an Olympic team we've had in the last two three Olympics that was as loaded as

this one. I still think when it comes to like talent, as far as guys that are not playing that you know are up there, as far as the best that you know, the United States has to offer as basketball players, as far as skill, talent, athleticism, I think John Morant, when healthy, is worthy of that. Obviously, he's had a rough couple of years with injuries and of course just

him being quite frankly a domas about some stuff. But I mean he is, He's one of the best players on planet Earth as far as just what he's able to do. And then I'm biased with this one, but I still think Zion Williamson is a guy that went healthy, which of course that's not often. He's I mean, he's just he's special. And then Kawhi was a part of the team, and then they didn't want Hi to be a part of the team, which was kind of odd.

But yeah, this this US men's basketball teams has been sensational, to be honest with you, which is again what we expect. All right, So we've got some news coming out of the SEC is It sounds like they are going to move forward and add a mandatory injury report by the start of this upcoming season. The Big Ten has done that, I believe, is it last year? Maybe before? Yeah, so

this is apparently. I mean again, I don't I don't think anybody's going to going to make you do this, but they're looking into having all and I guess it sounds like they're actually gonna do it. But they're gonna have mandatory injury reports before games are played. So CBS Sports Is Alex Scarborough and John Talty are the ones who first put this out there. But here this is

from their article. Quote a mandatory injury report hasn't been officially approved, but multiple sources indicate the details are close to being finalized and are expected to be in place at the start of the twenty twenty four season. A decision could be made as early as next week, when

league athletic directors are scheduled to meet. The Big Ten became the first Power five conference to institute a game day availability report during the twenty twenty three season, a move designed to protect the integrity of the game with respect to gambling. The league's weekly report had two categories for injured players, questionable or out. Some a sc scols like LSU and Florida released weekly injury reports last season,

but the majority opted against the practice. So, I mean, there's always going to be a level of gamesmanship even with this in place. But I do think if you're gonna have gambling be such a huge component to the sports entertainment world, I think this is a no brainer. I mean, makes total sense. Again, it probably won't be, you know, one thousand percent honest. Although wasn't there some controversy last year with the Big Tens where somebody was accused of not being truthful on it was that a

horrball thing? Maybe wouldn't be shocker.

technically maybe break a rule. But you know, I think this makes this makes sense. I mean, Kirby Smart. This is a quote when he was asked about this at the SEC Media Days last month. He says, if it helps with gambling, that I'm all for it. If it's geared to getting knowledge out there that people are trying to get from our student athletes and it protects them, I'm certainly for that. So this is Sam Pittman, another another SEC coach. Personally, it wouldn't be a bother to me.

If they want to know exactly what our injury report was, you're going to find out before the game. Anyway, if you're at the game, you're going to see who's suited out and who's not, who's limping and who isn't. But I understand that if it would help our players not

get needled for information, I'd be all for it. So that's that is another component as far as you know, players being reached out to by I mean again, that's like some of the injury injuries in college sports have probably surfaced from some random student who saw a player with a boot on his foot or something, you know what I mean. So you know, I I think it makes total sense to be transparent with this and I've never really Again, there's gamesmanship within football and there's always

going to be that. Just nobody wants to give anybody any chance to get an edge and see, you know, to get it. I mean, hick, there's still coaches that don't let people film their spring games or their spring I mean he Jeff Brown doesn't let anybody take any picture or video when you come to the open practices that they have. So that's just how coaches are wired.

But when it comes to gambling, I mean, as someone who gambles myself, all know going in that these may not be, you know, one thousand percent honest, but I will also appreciate there's at least some level of like a reference point that you can see who's seemingly banged Because if a guy's questionable but you think he's gonna play, you may think, okay, well, if he's been banged up, he may not be one hundred percent. That could that could make an impact on what you want to do

when it comes to when it comes to wagering. So if you guys missed this news earlier, I know our five o'clock crowd probably wasn't with us at three o'clock, But if you were, then you heard this this big announcement from Pitt Bull, the entertainer, the mogul. He has partnered with FIU in Miami to seemingly pull off the first ever naming right sponsorship for a college football program that is for an individual, not a brand or a corporation.

So he has purchased the naming rights to Florida International's football stadium and a five year, six million dollar deal and it will now be known as pit Bull Stadium. And as part of this agreement, pit Bull will pay FIU one point two million annually. He's also going to be named the official Entrepreneur of FIU Athletics, and he will have the opportunity to use the stadium for up to ten days each year without having to pay any rent. He also can promote his new vodka brand at the

games and sell it. He's going to create an FIU anthem, and he also gets two suites for up to forty people at all football games. So you know, you're seeing you're going to see sponsorships much more than you ever have in college athletics, because I'm not really sure you ever have, right, Like, we haven't seen anybody have a sponsor on their jersey yet, but that's coming. I mean

that'll be because they're going to need money. And there's some schools that will have the ability to choose whatever they want to monetize with a sponsor and a logo, and they'll be able to get insane money for because that's how important that brand is to people. Right Like Ohio State, their athletic director mentioned that they're going to look into a stadium naming rights deal. If you know, in fact, the quote was, we have to put everything

on the table. Naming rights of the stadium, the Jersey patches of conversation that's from the ohouse that at the Ohio State Athletic Director when it comes to evaluating all new revenue opportunities, and Ohio State don't even really need it, right because I think they'd have the money to foot the bill for all this much more than most. But hey, if you have unlimited money, you can seemingly go get any player you want. But I do wonder, and this is something for way down the line. We won't know

for many years to come. I would say, if you have all this money, like we talked about this a few weeks ago, Dan Lanning at Oregon. The belief is that Dan Lanning at Oregon literally has unlimited money from Phil Knight of Nike to go get any player he wants. And I feel like that's a good thing to have, no doubt, you don't have to worry about inil resources. Right Mark Stoops is still crying himself to sleep every night because he's got to do all this on his own.

I don't know, Lord Wryan do this. He's just crying about it. Whereas Dan Lanning doesn't have to cry because he's got the bag from Phil Knight, which is good

to have. You would always rather have that as a coach, But you also have pressure because you can't use the excuse that other coaches can, like Dan Lanning, can't go to a coaches show like Mark Stoops and say pony up, because if you're an Oregon fan and he says that I don't need a pony up, Phil might is worth a gazillion dollars and he's willing to pay whatever, so

we don't have to. So if you are one of these schools like Ohio State and it becomes clear that like you're never not getting players because of lack of money, that adds more pressure I think too, the coach and everybody involved to win and get results with that money that you're using. Because like some play, we'll never know if it's really an excuse or not. But like when you're Stoops and you're Kentucky, it's never anything your fans

want to hear. But like you can claim, well, if you don't like it, pony up, we need your money. And yet you know it's not the right thing to do. It's a bad look. But you know what, like maybe that is the reason you can't win because you don't have the money. Well, if it's clear that you do have the money and you don't win, like that sucks for everybody involved. I do feel like there's it you work, like when your team stinks and you are underperforming, like

that sucks for everybody involved, fans included. But if I'm a fan, I think it'd be even worse to know that, like my team actually had all the resources, went out and bought a damn good team and we still stump. That'd be worse than like knowing, well, hey, what are you gonna do? These are the guys we had to take because we're such and such school and not Bama or Ohio State or Oregon. All right, quick break will come back on the other side. Keep it rolling along.

It's coffee and Company. Philbeth Thorton's are on Sports Talk seven ninety. That's right, coffee and company rolling along here on a Tuesday afternoon. Appreciate you guys hanging out with us. Five two six five three zero seven ninety is the number. If you guys want to text into the llen N Federal Credit Union text line members get more at Ellenn Federal Credit Union. You can learn more and open your

account today at LNFCU dot com. All right, so we had somebody ask earlier on the text line, who I think Pat Kelsey's first freshman commit is going to be. Well, he already has one. That was Kahani Rus who was impressive in their two games in the Bahamas. And you can tell, you know, that's a guy who is young compared to the rest of this roster. He's an eighteen year old kid, whereas you got some fifth six year

seniors on this team. For Pat Kelsey, but you could also see why he was viewed as a top thirty player nationally. He's gonna be pretty good and wouldn't be shocked if he has, you know, a meaningful role this year. Probably not a guy that's going to lead you in minutes or anything like that. But you know, I was really impressed with what I saw. But again, it's crowded.

There's a lot of there's a lot of guy I mean, that's something already new on paper when looking at this roster once it was completed and then seeing this team in action, even though it was against lower level competition, Like, there's gonna be guys that like one day they may have the bulk of the minutes and put up eighteen and then this a guy that's set their exact same position.

It may be their night the next night. And it's just that's a good that's a I wouldn't say it's a good problem to have because it's not a problem. It's a good thing. It's it's a I mean, you have options, you have depth. You can you know, have a guy go out with foul trouble and go to the bench and you know, you not dropping off really at all. You might get better just depending on who's

playing better at that time. But to your question, I'm glad you actually brought that up because high school football, high school basketball recruiting hasn't really been a big talking point around here for quite some time because, you know, the team's been so bad and towards the end of the MAC era they were still dealing with the cloud

that did hurt them in recruiting. And then when Kenny Payne came in, you know, he did actually recruit a pretty good class, but there was not a whole lot of I mean, that was a class that honestly, on paper, and it's crazy to say this out loud, but it's the truth. That class was, depending on where you look, one of the best classes in school history when it

comes to rankings when these guys arrive. Now again, Trent Flowers never played its second here and he left, but you know he was counted in the class whenever it was all said and done. Caleb Glenn, I mean, that was a guy who was a top fifty player. Dennis Evans was a five star by rivals. Tyler Johnson was a high four star. Curtis Williams Junior was a top thirty forty player I think in the country. So you know,

you had a good class. But because of what we already knew, even if you didn't want to admit it, you deep down knew that this was gonna end poorly with Kenny Pani as the coach. It just led to you not really being as juiced about a recruiting class when you again deep down knew the team was probably gonna be pretty lousy, and they were. So it's been a while and the portal now being a very beneficial tool for coaches to use to not have to rely on freshmen as much right away, Like there's just not

gonna be as many spots being taken. But by all accounts. Pat Kelsey and his staff are still going to I mean, they're gonna build this program, not with transfers every year. I think you're gonna see And again I always talk about the formula. I think if you are really for football and basketball, right, I a lot of different There's way more numbers right than in football than basketball, way

more players. But if you can keep the majority of the guys you want to keep, and I hate to say this, but kind of weed out guys that it's that it looks as if you know they probably will they've probably hit their ceiling it where they are with you, and they are probably going to look to leave for a bigger role elsewhere, maybe drop down a level or something,

playing for a mid major. That opens up spots for you to go get good players in the portal that are better than the guys that are choosing to leave. And you're always gonna lose maybe one or two that you don't want to lose, but that's just that's the new world. And you hope that when that person leaves, you go get a player that's better in the portal.

And you also bring in freshmen, not as many as maybe you did pre portal, and maybe there's one of them that has the talents Kahani Roost that's a top thirty player. Those guys are more often gonna be ready to give you something as a first year player than a kid who you know isn't in the top one

fifty two hundred. So that's the formula, right, retain as much as you can realize, you're gonna have some spots open, most likely because guys are gonna look to leave because they're gonna want more money or they're gonna want more playing time, and you're gonna know, hey, it's best for

both of us to just mutually split here. And then of course, you know you always you're gonna go out in the portal, and that's really just gonna depend on all right, do we really need to go get some some role players, guys who can fill this void that we have and guys that can give us this or that or is it okay, Look, we got a pretty good core. Man, if we go out here and get this guard who's one of the five best guards in the portal, that really can put us over the humps.

So it will it will vary, but again, you're always gonna have true freshmen coming in this year. They only had one because of obvious circumstances. But they're recruiting a lot of kids in the twenty twenty five class that they appear to be in good shape with. You're gonna get some official visits from these players, so you know, to answer your question, Pat Kelsey's already landed his first high school signee with with Ruths And now you know,

we'll see who ends up. Like these commitments are gonna be coming before too long, right, you know, they'll make their visits. Usually these guys do official visits for football games. They'll hear whatever NIL packages are out there, and they'll they'll base their decision off of that. So I won't pretend to be a recruiting insider that has all the intel as far as where Louisville stands with all these

players in the twenty twenty five class. But given the guys they're in on and how many of them have scheduled visits and you know, trim their list with Louisville included, I mean they have to. They have to have some pretty bad luck go their way to not land a few of those guys. And if it's and if it's the caliber players that I'm seeing out there that are interested in Louisville and they're going to visit, You're probably gonna have a pretty damn good class. Which that was

the question, right can Pat Kelsey? You know, he's not recruited at the highest level as a head coach when he's at Charleston and he's at Winthrop. But I remember two of the guys who cover recruiting. One of them is Rob Cassidy from Rivals, who joins us on the

show from time to time. When you got down to the mid major caliber coaches, even Dusty May along with Josh Shirtz and uh and and Pat Kelsey, you know, he said, without question, the coach whould have the best ability to really basically utilize what he brings to the table with his energy, enthusiasm, his his selling ability. We learned about that in his press conference when he was introduced.

So take all of that that he brings to the table, and now you throw in him selling Louisville, the brand, the anile resources, the tradition, the NBA arena, the huge fan base, all that kind of stuff, and it's got a chance to be super successful. So you know, he hasn't landed, you know, any of these guys just yet, but I'm I'm confident that I'm confident that he will. And a man, it has been a while since we were tracking an incoming freshman to see if they would

they would pick Louisville up. I mean, it happened briefly with Jaden Quaints if you remember a few months ago. But you know, he ended up going to UH to Arizona State, and you got to wonder if Pat Kelsey let's and maybe Kelsey's I don't. I don't even want to use him as an example because I don't want to act like I'm speaking for him, because I'm not. I have no clue. But maybe coaches try that way to where they're going to always continue to recruit high

school kids. But maybe they went from trying to bring in three to four to two to three. But then there's gonna be coaches who realized, look, I don't I don't want to develop a freshman he might leave in a year or two. Like I'm just gonna only bring in players from the portal, and that's far from the conventional way to do it, especially considering that the portal is a brand new thing and the grand you know,

in the in the history of college basketball. But like, who's to say that would be the wrong thing to do. Like every kid that you have on your team started elsewhere and some of them are here for a couple you know. Again, if you if you end up, if you did it, you know, Pat Kelse is gonna lose a lot of these guys to graduation, right, I mean, I guess technically they could still use a fifth year maybe or is that out is the COVID year over.

know when eligibility runs out for these college athletes. But you know, it's kind of it's crazy to say it, but I wouldn't be shocked if in ten years, you know, you have the elite freshmen out there that are still

being recruited by the big brands in the sport. But then all the other coaches are like, look, my best chance to win is to go get players from the portal and not have a guy play for me for two three years, and by the time he becomes a good college player, then he bolts because you know, he's developed into a pretty good player. But now you can go play in the SEC or the ACC or the Big ten or something like that. The future is it?

I mean, I have no clue what it'll look like really with anything and college athletics that are being honest. The amount of change just in the last four or five years and the amount of change that's coming in the next two years is crazy when you consider where we were, you know, ten years ago. All right, quick break, we'll come back on the other side. Keep this thing rolling along. It is coffee and company fuel. About Thorton's

right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. That's right, we're wrapping up a Tuesday at Ish Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Appreciate you guys hanging out with us. Don't forget if you ever miss anything on the show. I know you're worried and you're probably gonna spend a lot of time just kicking yourself from missing any of this three hour program that you get each and every weekday here on Sports Talk

seven ninety. But don't worry. We'd rather have you live. But you can listen after the fact with the podcast. Find it on Apple Podcasts and also on the iHeart Radio app. All right, so, John, you mentioned Week zero and the games that are there the other day when we were talking. I mean, would you judge me if I told you that I'm already like building parlays for Week zero.

This was just this is this will be his third year. So he goes uh seven and six last year five and three in the ACC. That's not anything to brag about. But it is a big improvement for them and maybe they you know, I mean, right now, since we're talking about it, I'm I'm I'm leaning taking the dogs here. I hear the dogs barking from over there in Ireland, baby, Georgia Tech plus thirteen. That's right, you hear them. They're

far away, but they're they're barking. But outside of that, is there any other game that like is, so.

I don't know if there's any trends as far as, uh, you know what, what usually happens for favorites and dogs in week zero, But just knowing that we can look and we're only two and a half weeks away, three weeks away. Whatever it is from a game like that that gets me. It gets me super excited.

against the Patriots. And Andy Dalton, who's the backup, he's having some kind of a quad issue. So Jack Plumber is expected to get most of the work against the Patriots. What if he goes out there and just carves up the New England secondary and just you know, looks like a way different quarterback than what we saw last year. Because I think Jack Plumber is a tough guy to talk about at quarterback because you won enough games to where you know, if his job is to lead a

team and win, he won. Now rarely was he like a huge part of it. But also at times you could you would see him make good plays and then you'd see him, you know, make bone headed mistakes. And it seemed like his bone headed mistakes at times would turn into three bone headed mistakes like he was trying to like he was pressing to try to overcome an earlier set back with an interception or something like that.

But man, like, when I go to the Panthers tweet that says this, like there's a ton of Louisville fans responding, like just completely crushing Jack Plumber, and I'm like, look, I mean, he wasn't great. I still feel like it's accurate to say he was the weakness of the offense. But you know, we almost had way worse quarterbacks than Jack Plummer. For being honest with you, So I hope he does well. I really do. All Right, we're at

a time you guys enjoy your evening. We're back at it tomorrow for a Humpday edition of the show, and I hope you guys will join us right here on Sports Talk seven to ninety