KSR - 2025-10-07- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

KSR is Live at KSBar & Grille talking Mark Pope's press conference and player interviews from Kentucky Basketball Media Day.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to The Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The story I've told myself can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month,

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offBroadway.com. This is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now, here's Matt Jones. Welcome, everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio Tuesday, October the 7th. I'm Matt Jones here on a rainy, nasty, nasty day in Lexington, Kentucky. but we're at the KS Bar and Grill and got a bunch of folks here this morning, ready to go. I haven't been here in three and a half weeks, but I'm here today and be here tomorrow on Thursday.

You can shout at Clark's Puppet Shop phone line 859-280-20287. A Vision Auto Glass text machine is 772-7524, and this is sponsored by the T.J. Smith Law Office. Call T.J.L. Make them pay. All right, so we got folks here from, I think, Mount Sterling, E-Town, Kingsport, in all parts around the state. Kingsports Tennessee. That's a Kentucky and Tennessee fan. You know what they said to me, Ryan?

What they say? One of them's a Kentucky fan and one of them's a Tennessee fan. The Kentucky fan gets so nervous during games, can't watch it, which I've been there. I know what that's like. That sounds familiar. But when they go to Kentucky Tennessee football games at Neon Stadium, they take two cars

so he can leave Ryan if Kentucky's losing, which is almost every single time. That's a brave man sitting there, Mary, doing something with the big orange. She didn't have me chewing tobacco in her mouth. What is it with you in the chewing tobacco? I knew he was going to say that. He has like six things that come out in those situations.

He's a rare Tennessee fan. Shut up. Do you like the, do you like the having to go in separate cars? I do. I love that, actually. And I parked next to them here, and they have a license plate that's divided. It's a half Tennessee logo, half UK. So I didn't even know we were going to bring this up,

but I know exactly which vehicles there's outside too. Half Tennessee, half Kentucky. license plate. That's, well, that's devotion. Love conquers all, doesn't it? It is a terrible day outside. Absolutely terrible, but that's all right, because I hear you all had great weather while I was gone.

Drew and I did Media Day yesterday. We'll talk about that in a minute, Drew. Overall, this team, very likable guys, maybe the most talkative guys that I can remember in a long, long time. Yeah, and that's the nature of the team just getting a little older. You know, we loved a lot of cows players, but they were freshmen and weren't ready to have cameras put in their faces. Scared to death, usually.

You know, we're getting used to one, two-sentence answers, which is fine. You know, not a huge deal. But now we're getting all these old heads. You ask them a question, and it's five minutes for it. It's time to ask another one. They're very, very fun to talk to. Well, even last year, I mean, those guys were all older and nice, but they just kind of tended to be quiet.

This group is a talkative group with, I mean, interest ranging from chess to anime, to poetry, to Yugi. You can tell Mark Pope is, he recruits a different kind of guy. Like, I mean, literally, I asked all of them, give me something interesting about you outside of basketball. And the answers were anime, Spider-Man, Yu-Gi-Oh, poetry, and chess. That is not what you think of when you think of a basketball team, right? But they were all, but that's unique. It's a very mature bunch.

They're all probably. If curfews 11, they're all probably home by 9.30 asleep. It's just a different game these days with it being much older across the board. And this group seems as fun as any we've had in a long time. It's good to see you. How are things in your world? Can we talk about you guys yesterday on the show? You can't if you want.

You guys were funny. It's like you were at the end of a week-long road trip. You were slap-happy, tired, and it was just – the thought of the two you sitting in Memorial Colsoning with nobody else in there. You guys just – Well, I mean, they told us. the night before, by the way, we're not going to be able to get you anybody. And so it was like, well, okay.

Your media day would. Basketball media day, but there's nobody there. So, you know, you make the best of it, Drew. You and I had been up talking literally to each other eight hours before. Just took a couple hour a nap, just turned the mics back on. Yeah. It helped that Billy was wearing khaki pants keeping us professional. Billy literally is going to cost us, Darren Ripon.

He was sitting there walking with his khaki pants. I mean, if Darren R. Jr. doesn't come, it's Billy R. Sports, because I looked at him, he had a look of awe in his face, at the building, the coaches, and then the moment he saw Billy's khaki pants, he was like, uh-oh.

He thought he was in North Carolina. This is not what we're supposed to do. It was also fun. I love awkward moments. The more awkward and uncomfortable, I love to live in that. I'm weird. You like that. So being critical of the athletic department, when I know a lot of them listen,

and we're just on the other side of the wall, that was kind of fun too. It was tough stuff because you had to talk about the football situation. Speaking of the football situation, I've spoken about it multiple times, so is Drew. You have not because you have not been on the broadcast since we lost to Georgia. Where are you on all things UK football right now? Really, from the Georgia game, I saw a big step up in cutter bowling. I mean, I know there's a lot of negative to talk about, but I saw a big step up in him

going against one of the best teams in the country, and he seemed like just grow as the game went on. Now, defense is a different story. I thought our defense was going to be elite this year, and they could not get off the field on third down. Just could not get off the field on third down. What about overall, though? Like, what about overall with the, you know,

your guy, cut man had reports that got refuted? What do you think about overall with the program? I kind of agree with you guys said yesterday. They go three and nine, you have to make a decision. Four and nine. Four nine. four and eight but then if you get to five and seven then it gets a little dicey and where the program is right now it's not it's not gone forward in two and a half years

I mean this is not just a one-year thing this has been coming coming for the last three seasons one of there there's what two and 14 in their last 16 SEC game that's not good that's crazy yeah that haven't had two touchdowns in 12 games so this is not just a one-off thing this is the program issue so uh yet we we we nobody lost their job yesterday. Correct. So right now, everybody is still employed. I'm assuming, I mean, don't they do football practice in the morning? So if anything was happening with being a buy. By the way, we didn't get touched this. Stoop's not doing his calling show last night. You know, I mean, I was critical of Cal. Are we repeating the Cal for anything? You got to do

the call. You got to read the room. I know it's a by week and you've done this in the past. You even had Bush Hamden do it a few weeks ago during that by week. But you got to look around at the situation and know that people don't want to hear. So this is like repeating, I mean, the Caliperi formula is being repeated. 100%. Detached. Loses contact with fans, retreats. I mean, we're basically getting the Calipari formula again, and we saw how it worked out,

and Caliperi had had a lot more success than Stoops. It's just, this is a terrible way to do it, Ryan. It is too eerily familiar. We saw the Calipari's legacy kind of tarnished his last couple of years, and I'm my heart hurts because we're seeing the exact same thing with stoops right now it is the exact same thing and it and i don't know i just don't know how it how it switches and i think the fact that we had basketball media day afterwards honestly was like oh this is how it's supposed to be okay let's go back to football media day that was the first time we'd seen any of the players first time i'd

heard of most of the players we had a great interview with shiage pete that was good yesterday though two things first of all what an engaging group this this fan base is going to fall in love with his basketball team i i mean they're going everybody's going like jalen low such a likable kid jaden quaintance such a likable kid mohammed diabate kind of feels older than he is but seems smart and mature cam williams is kind of a wild card i think he's going to be funny to see i think he's going to end up saying something crazy some game and that's going to be exciting like all i just thought man, this fan base is going to love this group. And then we find out when it's over that UK is doing something that I can't believe they're doing

and congrats to them. I've been preaching about this stuff for years. Saturday before Big Blue Madness, they are going to have a fan fest that is free. You do not have to pay. You do not have to donate to NIL. But down there at Rupp Arena from noon to 4.30, the men's basketball team, Pope, the women's basketball team, Kenny Brooks, free autographs, meet the, get to meet the players, hopefully meet the coaches, depending on how many people come.

Free for the people who can't get into Big Blue Madness. I mean, like, I've been saying stuff like this for years, and they're doing it, and then you sit there and think about what football did. Like basketball didn't even need to do that, and they're doing it, and then football, we had nothing like that. It's awesome that they're doing that, especially at a time now where every direction you look, somebody has got their handout asking fans. That's exactly right. Asking for another dollar, for them to have a free event like that.

That's just awesome, awesome, awesome for them to do that. I really am. I am very critical and have been critical of the fan engagement part of UK athletics, and I've talked about how Mitch I didn't think was connected to the average fan. They deserve all the praise for this. I hope people go. I mean, one of the things is if we're going to say they need to do stuff like this, people need to go when they do it.

But I think they will. And, you know, this is a great chance wherever you are in the state. Like this is a time you don't have to spend a dollar beyond the gas money to get here and you can actually meet your basketball team and you can potentially meet your coach. I don't know how you can be anything but happy about that. Earlier in the show you said something about reading the room. Basketball team reads the room.

They really do. They really, they get it. That fan engagement. This is exactly what the football team should have done this year of all years with the apathy setting in. They should have done something like this. Why are you sitting on the floor? What's he doing over there?

Okay, what have we talked to, but Mario, about angle? High angle. I always say to you shoot from either eye level or high angle, and you're down on the floor. You're literally, first of all, you're sitting on the floor, and are you trying to give us triple chins? Like, what is your goal? I'm worried about a basic instinct situation here. He's so low. Keep it above the table, Mario.

It's the first time I've ever seen you sit on the floor. But yes. So 859-280-2287. Have you met one person since the game Saturday that's excited about potentially running it back next year with this coach and stuff? No. No.

Not at all. And like I said, it breaks my heart. I mean, I love Coach Stoops. He's the best coach we've ever had here. I agree. It's just kind of sad to see the way it's kind of falling apart here right now. Outside of the people that are just ugly and nasty online, I mostly hear that. Like I hate that I'm this way because he did so much, but it just has to happen.

It's like they're sad saying it, but they're saying it. It's like a breakup. Well, okay, so everybody breaks up in divorces in different ways, right? I know people who, when they break up, like, you have to hide the furniture because they're throwing it at each other. But oftentimes, at least in my life, the breakups have just been like, we have to do this, but it's sad. Like, like, it's sad. Like, it's not going to work. but it's sad.

I kind of feel like that's what this is. It's a relationship that I don't think there's any animosity, at least in most crowds, but it's sad. And I think unless you win three games outside of Tennessee Tech the rest of the year, it's going to be one of those. It's not you, it's me, but we have to do it, right? Yep. I think I said this off the air yesterday, not on the air,

but I think the best case scenario, I'm assuming they don't get an SEC loss is fire up the victory cigar in Louisville's locker room one last time and win the governor's cup and then that's the that's the send-off you beat Vince you beat Vince you walk down you give us you give us one more else down we all get to we won't be there but we also know stoop's a lot he's not walking that's true I mean the thing the thing this is where personality comes in right so the difference between cow and stoops is cow was going to go out defiantly Right. He wanted to be one of those, I'm breaking up with you. Right.

That was Calgary. You don't fire me. You don't get to fire me. I'm breaking up with you. And that's why it worked out so well that Arkansas came because he got to walk away and said, I broke up with you. Stoops is not going to be like that. I don't think he's going to have any vengeance.

But I do think there's going to be a sense of Stoops very much takes the view of, all right fine but I'm getting my money like that's going to be his view do you agree with that? Yeah I mean we joke about it I always says back to work but he's just going to keep showing up at work until there's

Yeah no I think you're right He's going to be like George Costanza he's just going to keep Coming into the Like this is my job This is my job and we agreed You're going to give me this money And I think that's its own kind of difficulty All the pressure about the future of this program

is shifted from Mark Stoops, I think, now to Mitch Barnhart. What is he going to do? Mitch Barnhart didn't show, I mean, no appearance yesterday. And there have been media days where he's there. There have been media days where he's not. So I'm not saying that that's, but I didn't even see his face in the building yesterday. Usually, at least in me, like he'll just sit and watch the press conference at least to see his coat. Like he'll come in there and just want to see how Mark didn't see him yesterday.

And I don't think you're going to see him at all. I mean, Mitch talks to the media, what, twice a year? maybe once a year he'll do the football media day that's usually the one we know is on the schedule but you know i mean that's i've always thought that was poor for him because you know or he'll do an official one with the jama broadcast but no one's going to ask a tough question in that scenario i think Mitch probably ought to talk now he can't there's not a lot he can say right now i get it but people you know there's a lot happening in college sports and it would be nice to hear what his take is on some of it right

I can only imagine what his inbox looks like recently from what's been going on over here at the football stadium, too. So he knows, we don't think he engages with the fans much, but he knows right now how mad people are. He does. Well, we're going to talk a little basketball media day. I thought there were some interesting things that came up. Mark Pope seems, well, we'll talk about. Mark Pope, I don't know him well, but I think I could read some of his comments yesterday, and I think he's pretty excited about this group.

We'll take a break. Be right back. Kentucky Sports Radio. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo.

Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial, calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking.

Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

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Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and our students. and finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall.

And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stopped by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, I said.

You figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliver Show,

I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her.

What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you can. get your podcast. My man, Conway Twitty in the house. How you, Shannon? You know.

It's been a while since we play some Conway on this show. It's true. Well, because it creeps everybody out when we play it. This is one of his ones that's not really creepy. I don't think. That's my job. Yeah. Yeah, I think that one's pretty normal.

It's about like his dad or whatever, right? 859-28027. We were back at KS Bar. Since I've been gone, you know, I didn't have a phone. I came home to all these messages on the text machine. Lots of really good messages. You know, when we were open before we took our summer break, we sold like wings to burgers was like three to one.

So like 75% wings, 25% burgers. Now it's 50-50. And the burgers just keep growing. Like people seem to, like people, the wings are the same. So like they're, but the burgers are taking over. Steve Grissom. Noce Linda Farms. Shout out.

Y'all did it. And our new smash burger technique. So try it. Now, I do need to apologize to people for a second. Here we go. Okay? I think it's very important when you're in charge of something to acknowledge when we had a mistake, and it's going to be rectified.

But there are paper straws right now. Boop boop-boop-y-do. At KS bar. They sent us the wrong ones. Listen, I know a lot of people like, oh, Matt, you dirty liberal. My liberalness stops at straws. I'm a maga straw. person. So they made a mistake. So we have to run through these. Then we'll be back to the plastic

ones. But I don't want y'all to think, like I've gotten, I'm hippie, liberal on a lot, but not on this, plastic straws. So that was one screw up, just so people know it's not a, this is it's, this is hopefully we'll be through the paper ones by the, by Big Blue Madness. I saw, uh, last Wednesday morning is when I first saw the first paper straw in here and I immediately went to Monique and was like, we cannot have this. We have to get all of these out of the building before he lands from South Africa. So just now, when I went to get my drink, I casually knocked one of the boxes in the trash can, just to put on the spill sheet. Whoops. Hopefully my big blue baddits will be through with those. We can get back to the plastic ones.

Like I said, plastic, I know, it's not great, but paper straws are just a non-go for me. It's almost a blessing in disguise that you didn't have your phone because if you had known that, I would have enjoyed the trip. I would have spent all 16 hours on the flight going, where do we have plastic straws somewhere? All right, let's talk about the team for a second. When Cal was here, I used to kind of be, I thought, like a Cal Whisperer Ride. I could hear his comments, and I could tell how good he really thought the team was. I mean, he would always say, I love this group, Burba, but especially in the preseason,

you could see when he thought he was sitting on a Ferrari and when he thought he was sitting on a fixer-upper, you know, Camry, right? Like, he knew. And generally speaking, he was right, with a couple of exceptions. I'm not a Pope whisperer yet. I can't read everything he says. But I can tell you this. I was there last year, and I'm there this year. And it's clear he thinks his team's a lot better than last year.

Like you can just tell. I mean, you can tell he thinks I have got a group, and he says it in so many words, but you can also just see it in his actions. Like a couple people brought up things like, are you worried about this? And he was just like, no. No, I'm not worried.

I think Ryan, he thinks he's got a chance. to have a powerhouse squad. Just listening to him yesterday, it's almost like he looked at what was missing from last year's team, the weaknesses of last year's team, and then went and got somebody to fill those voids on this team. Like there was no missing link at all in this year's team. He said something like Drew, last year we were kind of able to scheme our way defensively to hide some of our problems, and then he was like, and then all of a sudden that went

away when we played more. He basically was like, when we got to the SEC, they were too athletic for us. And I think he took the view of, I ain't letting that happen again. and I think he thinks he's got a lot of guys who can play defense. Definitely. You mentioned to Camry. That was my first car. Camrys are great.

I drove a Camry out throughout law school, so I'm good to Camry. Shout out Georgetown and Toyotathon. To your point about him being a little more excited, I asked Oway directly, I was like, you were on both the Pope's teams at this point. Oh, you did? What do you think? And he was like, we're a lot more competitive right now than last year. Not his exact words, but he was kind of saying they're a little bit walk-on egg

shells are a lot of guys that were older they didn't know where they were getting into pope was new i don't want to say they were timid but he said it wasn't like we were just showing up and going to war every morning that's kind of what he said this group's like the moment they got on campus it was just every single practice they're going at it i think they intentionally leave up their little shot chart things for the media to see i mean some of these dudes shoot an insane percentage like like their little shot chart things come on you know they had a warm up session where like the team shot like 78 percent from three. Now, I know nobody's guarding you, but 78% when guys are like, you know,

some people may be like half doing it and what, that's still pretty good for an entire team, right? Yeah, that's not an accident. They left that up for you guys to see the media. If the 3% have been bad, it would have been just, it would not have been up there. They put that up there because they want you to see how good of a shooting team they've got this year. And by the way, today, the, today is pro day. Yeah. Now, here's an interesting thing about, again, difference in the way people do stuff. If you remember when Cal did Pro Day, there was a lot of like, like the stuff that happens at a combine, right? Like they would do the sprinting and jumping and the three. Apparently

they're doing all that this afternoon. So at 530 today on the computer, when Pro Day is on the computer, they're going to have like a real practice. Like you are going to be able to watch an actual practice of Kentucky at 530. I don't know how many of our fans realize that's happening today at 530. But if you get on the computer on ESPN Plus, Drew, you can see that. I think that's kind of cool. I wish it was on something that was easier, more easily accessible for people,

but you'll be able to watch a live practice. I'm going to go, just because that was when I discovered how much Mario liked Ansley Almanor last year. I remember that well. So I'm going to do that as well. And I hope they have a goose and Dick Gabriel on this one. In the past, when ESPN would have it, I felt like we just

watched a tight shot of Seth Greenberg, was there talking the whole time, but really it was like two hours of talking. I hope that they actually show us some stuff this time. And with it being a little more locally produced, I think they will. I think they will too. Because there's a couple of those that year. It's like you're like trying to look in the background to see what the actual basketball was. But you got the sense like I did that he is supremely confident, right?

Yeah, and I agree that he got to SEC play last year and was like, uh-oh, my model isn't really equipped for this. And he went and fixed a lot of things. Now, I don't think they're going to shoot as well. but I think you're going to see a lot more. I mean, I love that team last year, but you can just stand next to these dudes and see the difference in athleticism. You can just stand that.

You can see, like, this is a faster team, a team that can jump higher, a team that's quicker. I mean, you can just see it just standing next to. It's physically more mature. Yes. And James Quaintance, I think I thought he was like a stick man. No. Oh.

Tell you, that's a lottery pick. That is a lottery pick. A lottery pick that, well, we talk about anime. And he's so nice. His voice doesn't fit his appearance. It's like talking to a little kid. I completely saw his appearance and thought he'd be one. He's the nicest dude in the world.

Yeah. I'm a big Jaden Quentin's guy. All right, we'll take your calls where we come back. This is KSR. T.J. Smith, personal injury attorney. Call T.J. He'll make him pay. Now, more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones.

Welcome back. Sports Radio here at KS Bar and Grill. I'm going the phones. 859-2-80-2287. Got a couple open lines. I want to hear what you all think about stoops, about the basketball program. Let's quickly go through what I made it a point to interview all the new guys that were transfers. Here's what they said.

First of all, Jalen Lowe, I asked all of them, what's something you like outside of basketball? Jalen Lowe's answer was Spider-Man. And he said specifically Andrew Garfield Spider-Man. He doesn't want Toby McGuire. He wants Andrew Garfield. Do you agree with him on Spider-Man? Sure. I'm trying to think of what other Spider-Man options there are,

but I guess Garfield was a good one. That's probably the last I've seen. I didn't see the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man, but I did see Toby McGuire Spider-Man, so I've got to vote for him. Maybe he'll play like Spider-Man a little bit. But there's an interesting answer, Spider-Man. Then I went over to Jay and Quaintance.

He said his interest is, we talked about chess. He named a move for his chess. It was like the Gucci-O-something. And then he said he liked anime, which is the one form of entertainment I do not understand. So I said to him, give me an intro to anime, and he said something called Death Note. I looked last night, Death Note is on Netflix. It is 37 episodes. That's a lot.

But that's only one season. So, man, they put out a lot of episodes. I'm going to watch, at least the first couple of episodes of Death Note, to try to figure. You're out. Shannon, are you in with me on the Death Note anime? No, but you can watch it and report back to me and let me know how terrible was. You're not going to watch it with me? No, absolutely not.

Okay, but I'm going to try it. For Jaden Quince, if he can come here and play, I can watch one episode of Death Note. I'll try a little Death Note with him. I years ago tried to get into Dragon Ball Z. Didn't stick, but I gave it an effort. Yeah. So, you know, I'm willing to try again. Then I went to Cam Williams.

He said he was a big gamer. He and Reese Potter were arguing over who was the best at 2K. but they play videos. And I said to Cam Williams, I was like, hey man, you ought to challenge the Big Blue Nation to an NBA 2K online battle, and he told me he's going to do that before the season starts. So for those of you that play NBA 2K, maybe you watch Cam Williams, you can go and go one-on-one with him. A guy we don't talk a whole lot about, but everybody else talks about him. The guy I think is going to surprise a lot of people this year.

Mohamed Diabate is the first player in the history of UK basketball that I have interviewed at a media day to bring up my Angelou. That has never happened. I'm sure there were others that were wanted to, but he was the first one. I said, what is something people don't know about you? And he said, I'm a poet. So I suggested he should have the nickname, the poet.

We can just start calling that? And he said he's going to go, I think Pope had told him you need to be motivation. That's a terrible one. We already have one motivated on campus. We can't have all that motivation. It's too much motive. The poet's a great nickname.

It is. And I said, who's your favorite poet? it and he said, I got to go way back. So when he said way back, I'm thinking he's going to say Walt Whitman or something. He says, Maya Angelou. My Angelou, like, read at Clinton's inauguration. You were talking about feeling old. I'm going to go way back.

I'm going to go to My Angelou, who I think died like five years ago. That interview you do with him, it's just so refreshing. You know, so many times you get these kids, they have trouble making sentences sometimes, and he's very highly intellectual into poetry. Yeah, very smart. Yeah. We call him Edgar Allan Moe. I like that.

Edgar Allen Moe is a great nickname. Just running through some of my head. That's good. Thank you. Even if no one else calls him that, I think Edgar Allen Moe is a really good name. Big brains always took him. Do you know who Edgar Allan Poe is, Mario?

There you go. See, that's the problem with the nickname. My jokes are getting too old. You and I may be the only ones that laugh at it. And then Yellovich from Croatia says he plays Yu-Gi-O, Shannon. Is it a good sign that our big man from Croatia plays Yu-Gio? No, it sounds very soft to me, but as long as he can score and he can block, you know, I don't really care what he plays in his spare time.

He also told us why Big Z got sick last year from food. You have the school. Yeah, Cal always said Big Z's got buzzard luck, struggling with the American food. Remember Big Z kept missing games for stomach issues. A lot of them, yeah. And they would never spill the beans on what Big Z was eating. Well, Andre Yovitch told us yesterday.

What did he say? He said, Big Z gave him advice. Apparently Big Z when he first got here, ate Papa John's pizza every day for two weeks. And that's what made him sick. That hurts most of him too sometimes. So his advice to Yellovich, come into Lexington to play for the cats,

was don't eat Papa John's for two weeks. He ate Papa John's every day for two weeks. Well, they have that one literally right outside the lodge. I mean, you could throw a ball and hit it from the lodge. So I guess Big Z found his pizza he loved, better ingredient, it's better pizza. but he ate it every day for two weeks.

So that was the buzzard's luck that Big Z had. That'll do it to you, Ryan. You've got to vary your diet. That's a lot of cheese. That's sad. The man has all that access to the proper diet in the lodge. It's going to walk across the parking night and eat Papa John's every day for two weeks. Also, like, that Yellivich, you know, asking for advice, he could have told him anything,

but his big advice was don't eat pizza for two weeks. I did ask, I was a little worried about Yelovich when I said, what's your favorite food native Croatia? And he said, lasagna. And I said, I don't know if that's native Drew to Croatia, actually, but that's okay. We can find him some lasagna around here. Yeah. Where is the best lasagna in Lexington?

I made some last night. In my fridge. Fazoles is not the best lasagna in Lexington, Janet. I'm sorry. What is it besides Drew's house, since we can't all go there? You all can go there. I would say, I've had it at Guseppies. I've had it, Guseppies is really good.

Okay. I could see that being really good. It's Alex sponsors the pre-show, so we can shout them out. Yeah. But I did like your conversation with him about the Yu-Gi-O card. You could tell, I mean, he just plays it. He's very serious about it. This is, so this is a team of dorks.

I just want to be clear. Like, this is a team of dorks. I love dorks. You are talking to a dork. But we have Yu-Gi-O, anime, poetry. Chess. Chess. This is a team, we're a team of dorks.

Could it just be. But athletic dorks. Could it be. be this is just the generic like duke had the tick tocker yeah that would that seemed a little little you know not common you imagine demarcus cousins

saying i play i watch anime his favorite his favorite poet was kodak black i think the closest thing we had to this was Willie Colley Stein no Willie Colley Stein was like that the sidewalk chart

coloring on the sidewalk that's Brandon Knight read Shakespeare that's true that he would be a great pope play He would have been playing chess in Pope's office. That's true. Brandon Knight would have been Mark Pope and Brandon Knight would have really hit it off. That's exactly right.

All right. Who's up first? Jackie. Jackie. Jackie. Good morning, everybody. I was in the other night, and I'm not the least bit surprised that these young men are standing out in front of people. Coach Brooks did a little breakout session, and they are literally graded on how they interact with each other.

Oh, really? Okay. And if they're not shown, yeah, so if they're not shown enthusiasm on the floor, they're not going to get any points. But let's say OA has a three-pointer, and Jason Lowe runs up in high fives them, that's worth two points. Or if somebody looks at them in points, that's worth one point. So they get scored.

The players get scored based on how much they encourage each other? 100%. And they are then, Coach Brooks did a great job, and he did this. Baylor evidently and he said this is something the NBA also looks at and before the event really got started coach Pope had each player and it was mostly a group of women say something that they loved about their mother half of us were crying before it was over I mean these are the he he recruits that certain personality but then he helps to mold them to be better and it was the real deal but they have a guy that watches all the practice tapes and all

all the games, one guy, and he ranks them on their team support. Well, that's interesting. I didn't know that. Well, Jackie, thank you very much. Apparently, we grade our – appreciate the call. We grade our players on enthusiasm. I can see it, though. I mean, we're going to have a pope archetype of player.

I can just tell. I mean, I'm just talking personality, not even, like, on the floor. We're going to have that. I think it's clear. Well, he's even said there's so many times we don't even know. where he's gone into a recruitment and they've just mutually walked away. What was the kid, the kid from Georgia last year? What was the point guard?

What was his name? What was it? Silas Demery. Demery. Yeah. So he, Pope went to his house. That's the one where he was like, what are you having for dinner off? Come now.

Yeah, Pope went to his house. And then when he left just said, yeah, I don't know if this will be good for us. Which, you know, I don't know. I'm not saying anything bad happened, but Pope just decided. after going to dinner in his house, I just don't think we're, we are a fit. So, so many kids will say, I need 15 shots or I need this or I need this many minutes. And it sounds like Pope's going to be the type that, you know, if you're not fitting into what he's, the message at Kentucky, he'll shake your hand and say, let the next coach come in and talk to you.

I don't know if people realize, by the way. Let me just go over some schedule. Saturday is big blue. Okay, first, today is pro day. So you can watch a UK basketball practice today at 530. Saturday is Big Blue Madness at Rupp Arena and an all-day fan fest.

The next Saturday is the blue-white game. The next Saturday, Purdue is coming to Rupp Arena, the number one team in the country to play an exhibition. Basketball Ryan is here, folks. Like, I don't know, maybe because I was gone,

it didn't process, but I was thinking there yesterday, basketball is here. Snuck up on me, like even Media Day yesterday. Like, where did that come from out of nowhere? The fact that they played Purdue in, what, two and a half weeks is amazing.

Yes. I mean, every Saturday, just so you know, every Friday or Saturday, from now until Christmas, there's a basketball. Here we go. Every Friday or Saturday from now until Christmas, really, I think we have one week off between Christmas and New Year, but really every Friday or Saturday now through hopefully April, there's basketball. I know football enthusiasm isn't that high right now, but blue-white game is the night before

we play Texas over here. That's a heck of a double-header. and then Purdue's the night before Tennessee plays at Krogerfield. So both those are huge weekends. Blue White game, Keenland, Parents Weekend, and Texas. I hope you have your hotel rooms if you're coming to Lexington, because that is going to be one of those like this place is going to be absolutely insane that entire weekend. 859-28027.

Well, first, I got to tell you about Don Franklin. Tell me about it. Do you drive? I drive occasionally. No, not well. Then you're going to need a car. And Don Franklin Auto's got 70 different types of vehicles, locations all around the state, and the best price is the best selection,

the best service. It's Don Franklin. They treat you like family at Don Franklin. Good. Way to keep that excitement up. It's Don Franklin Auto.com. Don Franklin, driven by family. We still have to talk about Ryan.

We mentioned on the pregame show. You know you're looking at a national endorser right here. That's right. And the big money that comes with it. And I'm not just looking at here. I'll look at him anytime I'm plop my phone. Everywhere I go is Big Money Ryan. That's next here on KSR.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise.

Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff, nobody gets to. to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsLice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicleaf 12

and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast. Learn the Heart the way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and, losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth,

fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, Our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano and our podcast, Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before.

And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing.

That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Cliver Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.

Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. A rep. My mama wants you to wave at her.

What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back, Tucky Sports Radio. All right, a couple things first. Thank you to the young man here who brought me the new, there's two different kinds of new nerd gummy clusters. First of all, nerd gummy clusters. Stop sending me the TikTok video that says they're made of ants.

That's not true. What? I keep getting, I keep getting TikTok videos. somebody's like, you know there's little pieces of bugs in there. Stop sending that to me. First of all, even if it is true, then I'll just eat the bugs. I don't want to know about it. They're good bugs.

All right, it's fine. But there's two different kinds, one of which is cherry lemonade blitz. I haven't eaten that one yet. But he gave me, what's your name again? Declan, Declan. He gave me, this is juicy gummy clusters. All right, if you had the gummy clusters and he thought needs more juice, listen, you know, this is the best candy that has ever existed.

And I tried to get an endorsement because I mean it, but they have it. But that's okay. It's the best candy. Because you're doing it for free. That's fair point. Why do I need to? Why do they need to pay? Why do they need to pay if I'm just going to do it for free?

It's the best. And now it's got juice in it, which is good for you. We all need to juice. It sounds gross when I say it, but trust me, it's good. And so I'm very excited. I've already eaten a couple of them. They're bigger because they've got all that juice. As if the nerd gummy cluster wasn't sweet enough, they added juice to the middle of it.

That's right. I see no problem with it. Wow. Also on the text machine, 772-77-4-5-254. Somebody writes, Matt, I have lasagna is my favorite food. I have the definitive ranking of lasagna's in Lexington. Oh, I'm very interested in this. Okay, definitive ranking.

Third place, Sutton's on Richmond Road. I forgot about that one. That's a good one. It's a good spot. I didn't know that was a place. It's called Sutton's. Sutton's right in front of the Kroger shopping center. Is it a chain or is it local?

Local. Family Italian. Yeah. All right. I may have to go there to some. Second. Is it Ital X? Yeah.

That's the pre-show sponsor. I shouted them out. That's right. Yeah. Okay. And then. They're our neighbor at I-Hard downtown. Oh, that really, like, fancy-smancy place.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'd love to, I want to go in there sometimes. It's a nice little environment. And then number one, Giuseppies in Al-Ale-Nichlville. That's, according to this person, the definitive range. So Shannon's choice of Fazzolies didn't make it?

Fazzleys did not make it. It's a bad list. That'd be number four. honorable mention bad list 859 280 2287 somebody also

remind me Derek Willis played YuGio and Deer and Fox loved anime that's right he did I mean he's

swipe of the Fox I think was his nickname that's right it was yeah who's up next Shannon he's going to Brent Brent

go ahead Brent hey so I've got a couple small things first anime is really slow and the episodes don't follow in normal structures so be careful man

you're probably going to get bored. Okay, if I get bored, I'll move on. I still have Black Rabbit and the task, so if the death note can't keep my attention, we'll move on. It's a really good show. It takes its time and anime's weird, man. But my second thing, I was randomly thinking about it, and if they had any plans to bring out Stoops for Madness,

I'm sure they're canceled by now. Yeah, I don't think they're bringing Stoops out for madness. I don't think, Ryan, that would be smart. I, you know, I don't, there's a lot of things you could do to get to, crowd excited. I don't think bringing out Stoops for Madness is one of the things. No, you're trying to get everybody excited and on their feet, and that might do the exact opposite to bring him out during Madden. That's what's kind of sad about the football program.

Here it is the struggling. It's a byweek, and Madness hits during the by week. I mean, the schedule could not be worse for the football program. One of the best parts of last year's Madness, remember they turned the court into a football field and Stoops came out and they had just beat Ole Miss. And he was like, oh, this is what Madness is like, I've never made it over here, gets that big round of applause, and then they haven't won meaningful games. It really was the last moment. That is true.

Because he got a huge ovation, and they had just beat Ole Miss. They had that screen on the court that made a football field that looked awesome. I completely forgotten that. And then it just plummeted from there because he was a little cocky, a little swaggy stoop. He's definitely cocky. A little bit of a cow jab there in Rupp Arena, and it's just all been downhill. What's your second thing? He's gone.

Oh, he's gone. Okay. Did I appreciate the call on him? No, I think he appreciated his own call. Oh, okay, gotcha. Hockey. I know we do a lot of hockey on here. The hockey season starts tonight.

I don't know if people realize that. It feels like the other one just ended, but the hockey season starts tonight. I'm actually wearing a maple leaf shirt because they didn't get Connor McDavid yesterday, and I feel bad for them. So we do this every year. I don't think we've been right one time yet.

Who is going to be in the Stanley Cup finals, Ryan? I did correctly pick the Tampa Bay Lightning one year, so I'm going to pick them again this year. Against who? Colorado Avalanche. Well, they are in different conferences. I just got lucky there. I was lucky, total lucky guess.

I was almost certain you were going to pick a team that was not in the same conference. That's what I'm going with then. Tampa Bay Lightning and the Colorado Avalanche. Yes. All right. What about you? Both nicknames who do not end in an S, a unique feature there. There aren't many nicknames that don't end in an S.

Do you know the team in Utah? Do you know what they're called? No. Yeah, what they had to decide on. Did they know, anybody, Shannon? Were they like the coyotes or something? No, that was Phoenix. Oh.

They took over with them. It's the mammoth, right? The mammoth. The Utah mammoth. Didn't Yeti win the vote? They did, and they just said, no, we're doing the mammoth. I wanted Yeti. I love what people have votes and then go, eh.

We were just, I mean, we'll probably do that in America soon. But, like, well, you have votes and then go, ah, who cares? All right. What about you? The Florida Panthers had been extremely hot. It wasn't what, two in a row. I was actually down. when they won it a few years ago.

It was awesome watching the celebration. So I'm going to say they're back. They're going to three-pe. Well, they're not going to win, but they're going to be back in it. And then I'm pretty sure this team is in the West or whatever the other conference is called. Okay. My Nashville Predators are going to shock the world. Aren't they awful?

Yeah. Oh, horrible. I think they were dead last last year, close to it. That's why we're going to shock the world. That'll be a shock. So they're going to go from dead last to winning the whole thing. It's going to be an unbelievable rebuild that our coach. Our coach, who's name, he's such a great coach.

He's going to have it turn around. What about you, Shannon? Give me the Bruins who are probably terrible. They are terrible. Yeah, the Boston Bruins are terrible. And the Cracken. The Cracken are okay, but not great. So you're going Bruins and Cracket.

How do you know they haven't played a game yet? That's true. Everybody's going to go. We know one of your teams. I'm going to go with Carolina Hurricanes again. They're great in the regular season, struggle. They can't beat the Panthers. That's the problem.

They keep losing the Panthers. but I'm going to take the Hurricanes, and I'll say they'll play the Edmonton Oilers with Connor McDavid, who's the best player, and he resigned yesterday. Took less money to stay in Edmonton. Does Wayne Gretzky still play for the Edmonton? Wayne Gretzky is 60 years old, so no. But Edmonton and the Carolina Hurricanes. We had our picks, our hockey picks.

I think the year we won it, Carolina, we beat Edmonton in the finals. So I think we're going to do it again this year. We'll take a break. Come back. Hour number two, KSR. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guide. 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.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments

in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicalife Life 12 in the 2. TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th.

And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to

wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue of 42. A rep. My mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss. Parker.

Listen to the Cliverts show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The story I told myself can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.