KSR - 2024-05-01- KSR - Hour 2

Episode Date: May 1, 2024

Matt, Ryan, Drew, and Shannon are joined by Jerry Tipton to talk about new book.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Stockton Mortgage, NMLS 8259 Equal Housing Lender, NMLS Consumer Access.org. Welcome to Hour 2 of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones. Welcome back. Hour number two, Kentucky Sports Radio here at the KS Bar and Grill. Wings Day, Dollar Wings all day and night here. Come on out for lunch. Absolutely perfect day. Couldn't ask for a perfect day.

And we are now happy to be joined by Beat Rider for the Lexington Herald Leader for 41 years. Jerry Tipton. First of all, Jerry, thank you very much for coming. We appreciate it. Well, thank you. I appreciate you having me.

I don't know that I ever would have thought this would ever happen, so I'm really glad it did after all those years. I, you know, like I tell people all the time, I like feedback, positive, negative, or whatever. And sometimes you were negative from what I heard. Probably sometimes. I just assumed you were kidding. But. I want you know what I was but I was I would like to start by saying this to you during that period of time I had no idea what I was doing you know we were just kind of getting started and we were hard on you not just me Drew was but other of our people too and what's funny is as I got older I greatly appreciated your role more than I did at the time like I actually think teams

need someone like you asking hard questions. I don't know that I thought that when I started. And so I actually, I sort of regret some of the things we used to say because as I got older, I started to realize you need people like Jerry Tipton honestly to do it. I mean that. Yeah, I mean, I did a chapter on quote unquote hard questions in my memoir that's coming out. And, you know, I tell people I wasn't trying to ask quote unquote hard questions. I was trying to ask good questions. I was thinking of the reader and what questions the reader might have reading the story.

And so, I mean, that's where I was coming from. It wasn't any sort of attempt to, you know, press somebody against the wall and, you know, make them uncomfortable. I mean, it might make them uncomfortable, but I was trying to ask good questions. Now, your memoir is called Deja Blue. Drew and I have both read part of it already. It's very interesting.

and I want to go over some of the stuff in your career. The first thing I saw you say in the book I really liked, you said, I didn't root four or against Kentucky, contrary to what people think. I rooted for good stories. And you talked about how we hadn't been to a final four in like 13 years. We went in 2011, and you were excited because it was a good story. Well, it was 13 years, I believe, is the longest Kentucky's ever gone without going to a final four. And I, you know, I was just there in the work room at the site of the,

Final Four, and it was the day before the interviews the day before. So I'm just sitting there kind of relaxed, and all of a sudden I just sort of am aware, I've got this big smile on my face, and I can't remove it. I can't stop smiling. I'm just happy that, you know, that I'm here in the grand stage, and we'll see what happens. There's going to be a good story, no matter what, on that kind of platform. That was a great run that year, all the way around. But in a regular game, you know, I might.

I would be sitting there watching it, not rooting one way or the other, but rooting for a story idea that would work for the game. And then I would be rooting for an ability to execute whatever the game is. So say somebody like Nick Richards, if you remember him, say he was slumping or whatever, but he was coming out of it in this game. I might be sitting there thinking, boy, I hope he makes a key shot late in the game, or he blocks a shot.

So it'll help the story of Nick Richards, you know, rallying from his slump or whatever. Makes sense. You covered the team through five coaches. So I want you to give me a six. Six. All right. I want you to give me a quick, that's right, six. I always forget about Billy.

Give me just a quick thought on each one. Start with Joe B. Hall. Well, Joe B, it was, you know, it was a brand new thing for me. So I had a lot to learn. 81, 82 was my first season. And Joe B had had some issues with the. hair leader prior to be getting there. And so I think he, I represented what the things that he didn't like.

So he kind of, you know, kind of poked and so on. You all had a little bit of a back and forth. Yeah, back and forth. But it was such a different time back in the early 80s where the media could go to every practice. And, you know, you got to know each other better. It was more than just, you know, a byline in the paper and just the press, formal press conference. So you got to know him better. And you all became friends later in life, right?

Yes. After he retired, if I thought a story could, he could give perspective to what the story was, I would call him up. And we usually ate lunch. Who paid? I can't remember. So probably he did. All right. What about Eddie? Eddie, very human, I thought.

And, you know, we heard all the rumors about drinking and drinking problems. but, you know, I don't want to, I don't think the media should write stories based on rumors. How did you handle that? Because, I mean, him and Billy, there were similar stuff where you would certainly hear things. Did you ever think about trying to report them or you didn't think that's what you were supposed to do? Well, I thought about it, certainly. But you, again, I didn't feel like, and this is probably bad on my part, I didn't think of just asking. I, you know, I just felt like.

if there was no incident, there wasn't nothing to build the story around, then I shouldn't do it. I don't know if that's right. No, I understand that. I think that makes sense. All right, what about Rick? That had to be a huge change when Rick shows up. Yes, Rick, yeah.

Yeah, very much so. And that was one of the good things about covering Kentucky that long was that every time there's a new coach. It's almost a new beat. Yeah. So, you know, it's kind of refreshing in a way. And he was, you know, things got more controlled by the program when he came. You know, before you could just kind of, you know, go into the outer office there.

And if the coach was free, you could go in and, you know, ask him some questions about your story. But with Rick Petino, it became more of a formal thing where, okay, at the press conference. Did you feel like with Rick, and I'd say this probably with Cal too, I always kind of felt like press conferences were performances for them in some ways. Did you feel that? The thing I, you know, yeah, probably so to some degree. And, you know, Rick, you know, he had a history. He knew what he was doing.

I remember they played a, I think I put this in the memoir. They played a media. They had the coaches play the media in the game. Yeah. I don't think I got to that. The coaches played the media in basketball. And I thought, you know, how? How serious could this be?

You know, you know. And Tubby Smith scored 36 points in the game. Really? Yes. Wow. Yeah. I didn't get to that part. So the coaches, who played for the media team?

Well, I think. Did you play? Yeah, I played. And Rock Oliver guarded me. And that got my attention. Yeah. Tubby had 36? He had 36.

And you could tell. Cut one must have been guarding here. Cutter. Got to be Culler. Yeah. Yeah. That's a straight line. right, who guarded him.

And you could tell, I knew he had been a college player, and, you know, I figured he was especially against the media, he would be pretty good. Yeah, but 36. That's amazing. So what about Tubby? You write the book about what a nice man you just thought he was. The humanity of the person stood out, I thought.

And he was thoughtful of the other person. It wasn't just about the coach and the coach's agenda. And I wrote it for the Herald Leader more than once about an incident when they played at Georgia. And his, I'm forgetting, Ron Jerza became the Georgia coach. He left Georgia to come here. He was Tubby's number one guy.

So he's coaching, and it's like the second year when they go down there. And Ron Jerza is already on the hot seat. And so they play. And really good game, goes into overtime. Georgia changes defenses going into overtime. And Kentucky seizes on that. And wins. and pulls away and wins.

So in the post-game press conference, a reporter for the Georgia student paper, asked Tubby, you could hear nervousness in his voice, and he asked him, boy, did you think Ron Jerser or the Georgia coach, whichever he said, really screwed up when he changed defense. Well, you know, Tubby didn't want to hear that about his good friend. So he kind of chastised the student. And I remember he said, he asked the student,

what team have you ever coached? And so, yeah. And so we go to the next question from somebody else. Tubby's answering it, but you can tell there's something on his mind. You know, you could just see it. So anyway, he finishes responding and then he turns back to the student and apologizes. Is that right? Yes, and says, I didn't answer your question correctly.

Ask me again. Well, that's not. You know, how many coaches would do that? Not very many. That's exactly right. It's tubby. So that, yes. Thank you.

That was tubby. What about Billy? You know, Billy, I always thought that Billy, because that's when I really started, Billy was very troubled off the court, but I actually thought in there somewhere was a good heart. Did you? Yeah, I mean, I was expecting the worst. I just had heard that it could be not combative, but could get contentious. Yeah.

And you always felt like he didn't know what he was getting into. It wasn't just another coaching job at Kentucky. you're, you know, you're the Kentucky coach, you're a celebrity. Everywhere you go, you're recognized and so on. That was hard on him. Yeah. I don't think that fit his personality. And I remember after his last, I think it was the SEC tournament, I was talking,

I got him aside and was talking to him, and I asked him about being a celebrity, and he objected to that. Well, I thought you asked him the question that maybe ended his career. Maybe it was going to end it anyway, but you said to him at the SEC tournament something like, are you an ambassador? Are you, what was the, whatever the word was. I think I said celebrity. Something like.

And he said no. But he got upset. And he was like, that's not why I'm here, right? And I just, yeah, I know he was fired or dismissed, whatever the word they want to use shortly thereafter. And I wondered if there was a connection. I was standing in the back. I've said this on the radio. I was standing in the back next to Mitch Barnhart and Larry Vaught,

when you asked that. And when he answered that question, Mitch shook his head and went, oh, and then that was, and I, at that moment, right, remember we talked about it? It was like, I don't think this is going to work. What about Cal? Well, you know, I, you know, I, you know, I long, not I shouldn't, I started to say, I had a long history with him, but that's not really true. But I remember him with, as the UMass coach playing against Kentucky. And I really was taken aback in an admiration kind of way of what he did at UMass. I don't know. Maybe is that unprecedented?

To take a team or a program that's a non-entity, except for Dr. Jay. And then make it a final four. Yeah. And then final four, number one ranked. Yeah. And I remember they came here and played early in his UMass. They came coming from Alaska, which is a long trip.

And then the next night they play at Kentucky. I wonder if Kentucky's schedule. But, and they played really competitive. First half, it was like a four or five point game at halftime. And they got, Kentucky took charge in the second half. I wondered if UMass lost their legs or whatever in the second half. But I really liked him there. And of course, it.

But you guys had, I mean, you guys went back and forth. One of my favorite lines ever was on Media Day when you said, he wouldn't answer your question. And you said, this is Media Day, not Coach's Day. He would pick on you, though, a little bit. Did that annoy you? Well, I didn't know how to take it at first. I just was like, you know, what's going on here?

You know, you wonder, is it a put-down, a meaningful kind of thing trying to make you get away, go away? And I was talking to John Clay about it, and he thought it was a good thing. And he thought it was a playful kind of thing. And so, okay, yeah, I mean, so I took it that way, and I think that was the right way. But you were not happy when you said it's Media Day, not Coach's Day. I just thought I do have the right to ask the question.

And I think I was happy that I told him during that, that I said, you don't have to answer. Yes, you did say that. And I have to accept it. But I have the right to ask the question. So let me ask you, give me one or two of your favorite players to cover over those years. Wow. You know, and there have been so many. You know, and I always feel like it's like asking somebody who's better, Magic Johnson or Larry Bird.

And whichever one you pick, the listener is going to assume you don't think as much of the other. No, no, they're both, really. So anyway, gee, I tell you, I talked to over 40 people for the memoir because I didn't want it to be just me. And so I talked to several players and Sam Bowie stood out. I always, you know, kind of had a, I don't want to overstate this, but, you know, I kind of had sympathy for him. My first two years were the two years he sat out. Yeah. And he always had to deal with that Michael Jordan thing after being picked a pad of him.

I always wondered what that was like for him. I asked him about that for a story. And he, you know, he didn't get upset. And he, you know, because I wondered too. And I remember also asking, what's it like in the NBA? Like, you're back on defense. you're the only guy back on defense and here comes Michael Jordan on the fast break.

And he responded, I don't remember what he said. Go ahead. But there's been a number of guys over the years. I always wanted or hoped that there would be people on the team that you could, I wanted to have a conversation with the player. I didn't want it to be question response, question response, like it was with the Zoom. Oh, that's right.

Yeah, you went through the Zoom. But Kenny Walker was good. Mark Pope was good. I thought about that when the UK hired him as the coach. You know, you felt like you were talking to an adult. You know, you were having a conversation. And the herald leader re-ran a story recently. They did, yes. And I re-the only part of that I remembered for sure was when he said being a Mormon that he didn't believe in premarital sex. And my immediate thought was, boy, this is, you know, it's going to make a good story. You know, it's going to grab the reader. Yes, no, that makes sense. All right, I have some other questions. We'll take a break real quick. Can you do another segment with us?

Sure. I'd like to ask you a little bit more. We'll take a break. Be right back here with Jerry Tipton at KS Park. Welcome back, Tucky Sports Radio. I want to take just a second to congratulate the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame announced their new class today. Teddy Bridgewater, Tony Delk, Roy Pickrell, and Oscar Combs.

Oh, nice. Congrats to Oscar. I'm very excited. Pickerel's Kentucky Wesley and Sports Information Director. So happy for Roy. Of course, we all love Oscar, Tony Delk. I mean, that's a great class you got right there. It is a great class.

All right, I just got a few minutes. So I want to say, the book is called Deja Blue. It's Jerry Tipton's memoirs. You can get it on Amazon. You can get it in other places. You can Google Jerry Tipton and Kentucky basketball and get it. I highly recommend it for those of you that like, first of all, that remember all those days or somebody like Mario who'd like to learn about them,

you've experienced them all. So I want to ask you a personal question. I know at times this fan base was hard on you. What was that like to go through? Well, I did a chapter on fans in the book, and I did a lot of chuckling as I did it, remembering things. And it was fine. I mean, I think any reporter, I'm being serious here,

wants to know, what wants to cover something that the readers or the listeners or the viewers are really into. Yes. And so I never had to worry about that. They, you know, they were into it. And they felt like, I may have written, but they felt like copy editors. You have thousands of copy editors just waiting, you know,

looking for spelling mistakes. And they're going to be mistakes, unfortunately, in time to time. And so, but no, I mean, like I say, I, you know, it was fine. and no incidents. Well, good, good. All right, so I had a couple of your former colleagues write me with some tidbits I like about it.

Nice. Let's hear. I heard you went to the Maui Invitational and the Bahamas multiple times, but never stepped foot on the beach. Is that right? No, that's not true. Oh, you did go on the beach. Okay. You're there.

It was like going to another planet because you're totally removed from the reality. I'm talking about Maui now. But so I would take a while. walk on the beach. But you'd never get in the water? No. Okay, I heard when you all would go traveling that sometimes you would stop and you would go to McDonald's and you would only order a plain hamburger, nothing on it, no fries. Is that right? Boy, who have you talked to? He's got sources. Are these people making this up about you? No, there's a lot of truth to that. I prefer to think of it as I'm a creature of habit. Okay. That sounds a little better. So you did only get plain hands.

hamburger, no fries. You know, that could be some, it depends. I may get hamburger here, and I'll get everything but cheese. No cheese. So maybe I'm growing. All right. You know, I think our lasting image of Jerry Tipton is with that yellow legal notepad in front of a coach or a player scribbling a thousand miles an hour.

But my favorite thing you ever did, and my favorite thing any sports writer has ever done ever was your Sunday column. I did like yours. I'd like that. That was, I would, I kept my subscription to the Harold Leader just to get your Sunday column. I loved it. Well, I did a chapter in the memoir, uh, in the Sunday notebook style. Of course, it's long, the notes are longer because it's a book. But, uh, yeah, I, I remember, uh, just, I, before I came to Lexington, I looked at the

Boston Globe and they had Sunday notes columns, Bob Ryan was one and others, Peter Jamans baseball. And then, you know, back then we would travel, fly to all the away games here for covering Kentucky, except Vandy and Tennessee. And so if it was a Saturday away game, Sunday I'd be flying through Atlanta. I'd get the Atlanta paper, and they had notes columns. And I liked them. They were fun reads.

And I came to really like it as a way to move beyond just the routine. Well, and you would put people's birthdays. I was always interested in how old they were and that kind of stuff. I really, I always enjoyed that. I agree. It was a good way to get some. I thought that was a way to humanize them. That makes sense.

Sam Bowies turning 60. Yeah. You know, it would be a way to kind of put it in perspective. They were more than just basketball players. Now, for younger fans, they know you as the guy who before the game would take a picture of Rup Arena and show the crowd. That kind of became your thing. Somebody actually joked when I said you were going to be on the show. You were going to come into the bar when it was empty and then take a picture and show the crowd.

How did you end up doing that? Well, again, the definition of news is one of the definition, something different, and, you know, that doesn't just, not just part of the routine. Well, Kentucky, every year of Rupp Arena, they've ranked first or second in the nation in average attendance. So I thought if you saw a bunch of empty seats, that was newsy in a way. It said something, I don't know what exactly. I just pointed it out. And so that's kind of where that came from.

It wasn't any sort of like that's insult Kentucky or fans or something. And the cover of the memoir shows me with a lot of empty seats. Somebody thought that this was some sort of an intentional thing. The picture was taken at the Coliseum on and off. There was no game going on. It was when I retired from the Herald Leader and they wanted a picture to go with the story. So it was totally incidental. Nothing to do.

Well, looking back on your career, we got about a minute left. If you could pick one moment that you think was like your favorite moment as covering University of Kentucky, what would it be? Wow. I always felt like one of the many great things about covering Kentucky was every once in a while you witnessed history. You saw something that would be remembered for decades or be written about for longer than that. And I hate to say this, but the one thing that immediately jumps to mind is the Leitner game. Yeah. Just not because of, I mean, it was such a fantastic game.

The greatest game of all time. Yeah, might be the greatest college game ever. Of course, it ended the wrong way for Kentucky fans, but it almost had to end with the last second shot, the perfect punctuation to a tremendous game. Well, Jerry, I want to, I think you've done an amazing job in your, career. I appreciate you staying true to everything you did throughout the whole thing. The book is Deja Blue on Amazon. And if I can, the launch for the book is May 14th from 5 to 7 7 p.m. at the Carnegie Center. T.J. Smith, personal injury attorney. Call T.J. He'll make them pay.

Now more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones. Welcome back, Tegis Sports Radio. Cornbreadhip.com. If you need to rest and relax, go to Cornbread Hemp, promo code KSR. After reading Ryan's tweet yesterday, I needed to fall asleep. So cornbread help me rest and relax. Full spectrum, flour-only hemp, CBD, 30% off with the promo

code KSR. Check it out. Cornbread hemp, once you do it, it makes you relax, really change the way I'm able to sleep. So I think cornbread hemp, not just for the ads, but also for my ability to rest. All right, 859, 280, 2287. Let's go over,

couple other things. How about Tyrese Maxie last night? Just absolutely destroying. I mean, down six, 30 seconds to go, or hits a, actually down seven with third, no, six. Down six, 30 seconds to go, gets a three and a foul, then comes down and hits like a 35 footer to send it to overtime. There's a great picture of Tracy Morgan flipping him off and Ben Stiller looking like he wants to punch him. Ryan, how about Tyrese Maxie? In the garden, He did this against Michigan State. He's the man. That shot he hit was almost from the logo.

You talk about it, crunch time, a superstar making a super play. That guy is on his way to being a perennial all-star. He just gets better and better and better. He and Murray just rotating nights shining, being stars in these playoffs, but especially Maxie last night. I'm going to say that's up there with my boy Reggie Miller giving him the choke years ago. I was hoping Maxie would do the choke and do a callback for the greatest basketball player of all time. But it kind of had shades of that.

And that three he took at the end, like Ryan said, if it doesn't go in, that's probably a bad shot. He had eight seconds left. He shot from the E in New York on the logo. Well, Penn, he said after the game, he shot from there because he knew they would foul him because they were, I mean, some coaches foul, up three. He knew they would foul, and so he wanted to shoot before they could foul, right? And so that was actually ended up being a smart play.

He was like, I knew if I waited any longer, they'd foul me, so I wanted to get it off. The Sixers to win in New York at the Garden after they just, you know, we just talked about the game at Philadelphia where New York kind of took over. That was a huge win for the 76ers last night. They might not win the series, but that's now his team. I mean, that's been a Bede forever, and B's got some things going on. And Bid had 10 turnovers, too, during the game. He's got them health things, too.

I think the Sixers just handed the keys to Maxie if he didn't already have them in this series. All right, Shannon, Dave and Busters announces that when you come to Dave and Busters now you can bet on ski ball and the other games. They'll have a system where you can challenge strangers to pop a shot, ski ball, and all of those events, and they'll let you bet up to $5, probably against little children gambling. Does this make you more likely, Shannon, to go to Dave and Busters? I will definitely go there just to watch, though, because I would imagine there's ringers who know this, who are just waiting for people who can't shoot to show up and just take all their money.

But I like this idea, though. You like it, Ryan? I'm hearing this for the first time. I love it. Go to David Busters now, have a few drinks, and you're out there shooting Pappasad, betting your buddy $5. I love it.

Well, see, you could bet you. If you think about it, you could have bet your buddy before, but this allows you to bet strangers, right? This allows you to, like, go, all right, you want some? Here we go. To a bar late at night and playing a game of pool.

I love it. I don't know how it's legal, because it feels like there should be some law involved, but maybe there's not. If not, I'm pulling. putting a pop a shot here. Can you imagine having like just people go at each other? But I love it. I do too.

Five dollar maximum, but nevertheless, I still think it's exciting. I'm looking at it a little differently. I don't want to be a competitor. I want to camp out there and scout people and then back them. And I'm going to be the money guy. My shooters up against whoever walks to the door. I look, I, first of all, Dave and Busters is not the kind of place that I feel like I ever think about going. Now you might want to go to David Busters.

I think I'll go now. Have you never been? I mean, I've been to equivalence. Do they still do the tickets? We're like they print off all those tickets and then you. Yeah, yeah, they do all that. And you can win all that stuff? Yep.

They do. They've got the one who used to be in northern Kentucky. Is that the only one in Kentucky? Louisville doesn't have one. That's where Tall goes like every Monday. Yeah, my friend Tall goes to David Busters all the time. He absolutely loves it. 859-28027.

Also, KSR Golf Scramble went on sale this morning. I think it will probably sell out quickly. So get your spot. I will tweet out the link after the show, but if you search it, you'll be able to find it. You ready for the scramble in August? This is the Lexington. Okay, I was going to say people are asking me. The only one for sale right now is Lexington.

Lexington, Louisville, be in sale in about two weeks. Somerset, I think, goes on sale while I'm in Europe. So all three of them will be in August this year. We always say Somerset's the one that you've got a good chance to get in that field. It's a beautiful little course down there on the lake. Go try that one out. Yeah. Lexington ones at Boone's Trace again this year.

It should be a lot of fun. All right, who's up next year? Aaron. Aaron, go ahead, Aaron. Okay. So first I was saying Lamont Butler was a surprise. Now I'm saying Brandon Garrison is a surprise. And whenever he committed it is a major shock.

And I want to know who else is out there besides. Well, I know one other name. I know one other name that they want, but they don't want people to know. they want them yet. So I'm not going to ruin it. I mean, that's not because I, just because I want them to be able to get the kids they want, because I want us to be good. So there is at least one other name that I know they want, but I don't think they want America to know they want them yet. So, so we'll see. And then as I said, there's also a person who is not in the portal that I think Kentucky believes if they get in the portal, they'll try to go get. But next step is find out do

you get Kobe Brea, right? And then I think Kentucky has to sort of decide what do we do on Jackson-Robinson? I mean, there's going to be a spot for him no matter what, Drew. But do you go get a backup plan in case he doesn't come? I think that's probably where they are right now. Yeah, hopefully Robinson's giving them a pretty good idea because same case with Great Osmore, you don't want to give them three weeks to mull it over and see the things. Then in those three weeks, they changed their mind.

Yeah. So it's a difficult process. I'm still hitting refresh on Kobe Bray. I want that so bad. He was just here late last night. Visit should be over about this point. They should be able. This needs to happen today.

Now, he's still, I think he was going to be on campus through lunch. So somebody out there's going to know where they go to lunch because I'm getting meal updates every day. I know they ordered the Louis Vuitton cake last night. Maybe it was a celebration cake. I mean, who gets that cake on a Monday at dinner? Wait a minute. They ordered the Louis Vuitton cake. You know, CCTV out there downtown, let me know what's going on.

So, yeah, a little Louis Vuitton cake at dinner. at Carson's. But Great Osbour was also there. I just got to say, Mark Pope's eating good. They went to Carson's, then they went to Jeff Rubies at night. Like, that's a lot of, he's getting the tour. That's eating good in the neighborhood, isn't it a little bit? A couple trips to Palomar Harries.

I think maybe you saw Dudley's for a second. They're hitting all the spots. Yes, they are. But Kobe Braya, here's how I look at the roster right now. If you get Kobe Bray, you got eight guys. You got a couple shooters. I think you've got a young guy and Colin Chandler who can be a star. I think you got your bigs.

I'm not really worried about the bigs so much. What I think we need is we need a wing score, which would be Jackson-Robinson, and we need some kind of point guard. Lamont Butler is a point guard, but I need a point guard. Maybe you could shoot a little too. So I think those are the two spots, Ryan,

that I still want to see them get. Jackson-Robinson would be one of them, and then you go find a point guard somewhere as well. Yeah, I guess if you're just looking at the moment, the roster is right now, you need to get some shooters. You've got to get some guys, some wing guys that can shoot. That's what's definitely missing. I think Braya takes care of a lot of that.

First of all, a lot of it depends on if you think Travis Perry's going to play. I mean, if Travis Perry can play, that's a shooter. He's a shooter. And then Colin Chandler wasn't a great high school shooter, but I think can be better. Like, you know. I think people were sleeping on him a little bit. I kind of forgetting he's even on the team. Now, he had the two-year gap, but, I mean, I still expect him to contribute.

I'll remind you that if Colin Chandler had committed to Kentucky, he would be, again, it was two years ago, but he's ranked pretty much right where the guys that Cal took with him to Arkansas are. Like they're all kind of in that exact same. I mean, the Boogie Flan and those guys were a little bit higher, but not crazy higher. So, I mean, as long as he can number come stepping away

for a couple of years, I think he's going to be a good player. He gets past the half-court basketball part. I think we'll be in pretty good shape. Who's next? Wayne. Wayne, go ahead, Wayne. Hi there. First-time caller, just retired.

Now he's chance to listen. to KSR. So clarify one point. Dave and Busters, they don't have the actual paper tickets anymore. It's on a card. Oh, okay. All right, so one suggestion

and one comment. Suggestion is, I know I listened to Mark Pope's interview earlier this week, and he had talked about having some type of rally at Kroger Field, you know, for NIL. And I think that would be a great idea considering that, you know, you could have former players there, you could charge 10-buck

admission, have the men's and women's team there, get corporate sponsors. And if we had over $25,000 for the press conference for Mark Pope, I think what we could do to fill the stadium for a pep rally. I don't know that a pep rally would work, but I do think there's an argument that you could have Big Blue Madness in something like Commonwealth Stadium. If it was the right situation, the right day, you got the right weather.

I think it would be cool. I mean, I don't know if they'll do it. But I also would note, and I appreciate the call, This will be my ad, but also a promotion for it. Commonwealth, the Club Blue, Commonwealth Causes. They are going to have a men's basketball meet and greet with the players and the coach. This is a pretty cool thing they're doing. If you are a subscriber to Club Blue before May 15th, you will get a ticket to be able to come.

It is ClubBlue.nil.com. The event is on June 15th, but you have to be a subscriber by May 15th. And so club blue, nil.com, your chance to meet the team and meet Mark Pope before the season starts. I think it's very cool they're doing that. You know, like I said, NIO-wise, I think Kentucky's fine this year, but long term, the club blue and that stuff's going to have to be successful, I think, for Kentucky basketball to be able to compete in kind of the new space. We'll take a break and be right back. This is KSR. Welcome back.

It is Kentucky Sports Radio. A couple things here. First of all, happy birthday to Billy R. Sports. Billy Rutledge turned 72 years old today. We appreciate all he does for the show. On the OVW side, Brian Kinnison's birthday is today, too. I don't know what his age is, but happy birthday to Brian. And then this is your anniversary with KSR.

Your what? 13 years. 13 years with KSR today. So congratulations. It's always Wednesday of Derby Week. You brought me in to fill in for Mark Krebs one time, and I never left. And thank goodness for that. I'm glad.

I love the story where I stayed up all night studying the horse because I knew you had a sports talk show in Louisville. You were going to talk derby for two hours. And I did not. Didn't come up one time. As of yet, we haven't even mentioned the derby. We will. UT Big Hair may come on tomorrow. At which point he'll tell you who to bet on.

And what's your horse, rag a muffin? It's lemon muffin. The Oaks. Lemon muffin and the Oaks. Oh, yeah, guaranteed winner. My horse to the Derby was Encino, and then it scratched. So I think the KSR occurs is. Why did you like Encino?

Because it's Brad Cox's horse, Louisville guy. I was trying to pick who, what his best horse was, gone. Gotcha. I will say last night, I don't know if you all watched either on TV or on social media, what was going on there in New York at Columbia. That was a crazy thing for me to watch because, you know, my ex went there for journalism school when when and I would I was on that campus a lot and like they were showing videos of those like military not you know police I don't want to call them tanks but those

vehicles rolling down Amsterdam which is a street I walked every day and like it was just you know you see scenes like that and you're like there's an apple store right across the street like It was so surreal for me to watch something like that in a place that I kind of know pretty well. Like it's a really nice campus. And, you know, as I was watching it, I just was like, man, this is wild. And it looks like nobody got hurt. So I'm glad to see that. But that was, I was worried that like something bad would happen when I watched it.

I really was. And it doesn't look like it did. So that's good. I've actually thought about her in this. That's kind of the only connection I have. I've walked through there once, but, you know. Well, I thought, I mean, like, when she was in school, like, she would have been covered it. You know?

Scary, man. But. Is it still ongoing, or do they kind of calm it down? I think people had gone into a building. I think they got them out of the building. But I don't really know. I have to tell you, when it comes to all that, it's like, it's almost overwhelming. So I don't really.

You know what I mean? Yeah. So much of it, it almost is like I don't really follow it quite like maybe other people do. Who's up next? Jared. Jared. Jared. Go ahead, Jared. Hey, Matt,'s Jared Quillan.

How are you doing, man? Hey, Jared. Good to hear from you. Hey, so I was just going to say, I've been living in England for the last year. And when I heard that we got this calling Chandler, I thought, well, I bet I can find this guy. So I did, and I talked to him. He gave all the right answers. I said, I asked him, what do you?

sure you'll be as you go to Kentucky once you heard. What do you mean you talk to him? Hang on just a second. What do you mean you talk to him? Colin Chan. Yeah, I found him. I found him, and, you know, I hung out with him a couple times. So just talking basketball, really, more than anything. What do you mean you talk?

Like, where did you find him? Well, I knew some people that I thought might know him, basically. And I said, hey, do you know this guy? And he said, yeah, it was another missionary because he's a missionary right now. Oh, you were? Yeah. But I thought he was in Sierra Leone. no he was only there a little while and it got dangerous they shipped him out so he's in london

and are you in london yeah oh see i didn't make that connection all right so this is jarekwell and you you part of the blogger's stuff yeah so you actually hung out in london and you are you are a missionary am i correct yeah yeah so i mean i i know exactly what he's doing every day okay so Well, that's actually good information. So you met him and hung out with him. What was he like? At first, Jared, I have to tell you, the context took me a second to understand. But that's right.

So you're a missionary in the same city, Colin Chandler, is. So you did see him. So what's he like? Well, I wasn't a mission. I am no longer, but I knew a missionary. And I said, hey, do you know this guy, this Colin Chandler? I heard he's maybe here in London. They said, yeah, I know that guy.

Missionary is working too. They're called companions. He said, yes, he jumped over my companion yesterday and dunked over him. So I think he still got the hop. And I met his companion. He's not a six foot, but he jumped over him, you know. Is he still there? Is he still in London?

He's getting home like tomorrow. Oh, okay. So, I mean, but I talked to him and I said some of the concerns and said, well, look, you know, people are obvious concern. You've been gone a couple years at what's your physical condition. He says, well, I've lost a little bit of muscle math, but the skills I'm not really worried about. I can still jump a little bit, but he's like, you know, we'll get to work. Pope's been at BYU, so he knows how to train up these guys who have been gone for two years. This is what he's been doing.

He's going to the perfect coach for that kind of thing. That's probably true. I'm sure that is true. Well, Jared, nice to hear from you. What are you doing in London? Well, my wife got a job in London, so we moved over about a year ago. but I mean, we're actually moving to Orlando now, so we get out of there. Okay, well, nice to hear from you, Jared.

Let me know when you're in Lexington, okay? Hey, let me tell you my favorite part. I asked him why he's going. He said two words, it's Kentucky. That was the best answer. He gave the right answer. That is a great answer. Appreciate the call.

Why are you going to Kentucky? Well, it's Kentucky. I think that kid, I don't know what it'll be like when he first starts, but I think that Colin Chandler edition is overlooked by people. I think that kid, people don't realize how talented. He was the number 33 ranked recruit two years ago. Like that is a super talented guy. It's just because we didn't recruit him because he went to BYU, Ryan.

I just don't think people realize that. Yeah, even if it takes him a little time to knock the rust off, I still think he's talented enough that he'll get there sooner than later. Tell me about Stockton Morgan. Stockton Morgan, you know, if you just saw on Zillow this morning, that there's a new house for sale on Old Richmond Road, maybe it's around $4 million range. Richmond Road. You may want to try to get qualified.

Well, the people you need to talk to is Stockton Mortgage. They'll take your application. You'll run your financials. They'll see if you can qualify for that $4 million listing over there. If they do, call me. I want to be your realtor. Stockton Mortgage, NMLS, 8259, Equal Housing Lender. Look at that guy right there.

Look at that. Drew's dad. That's a dude. Looks like he's ready to go play some golf, I think. That's what he does. He takes care of our local golf courses. That's exactly right. Hey, all day, all night, you got Dollar Wings here.

Tomorrow I will not be here But then we will be here Friday big weekend UK Arkansas baseball Yes UK graduation Yes For those of you asking We are selling our

Parking for Railbird That'll go on sale probably next week Because I know I get asked a lot about that For the Who's the headliners at Railbird this year? I think we got a little Stapleton Noah Kahn I haven't got my ticket yet

So I'm a little behind on my real bird. I believe those are correct answers. Okay, well, good. Well, that will go on sale next week. And thank you to Jerry Tipton. The book is called Deja Blue. Like I said, I'm not a big, like, read people's memoirs of their time working, but it's actually very interesting because, as he said on the show,

Jerry actually tells you a little bit of how things were. I can't wait to get back to the book. I do like your hat. That's a nice hat. Shout out to Oneness. Shout out to onus. All right. We'll see you later.

This has been Kentucky Sports Radio. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

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