KSR - 2025-12-09- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

Matt, Ryan, Drew, and Shannon talk Kentucky Basketball vs. NC Central, Will Stein's new contract, and take your calls.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 I-Heart 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 And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Clivert 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? Time out.

Quarterback on office blue 42. A rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's he at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifferts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam?

It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming until he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. From hit podcasts to late night TV, comedy of Broadway and Lexington, welcomes Joe List, December 4th through the 6th. Then from her podcast, Disgraceful, catch Grace O'Malley December 11th through the 13th,

and December 18th through the 20th from the FX Comedy Series. English teacher, don't miss Sean Patton. For tickets to all comedy off-Broadway shows, call 859-271 joke or visit Comedyoff-Broadway.com. Comedy off-Broadway. This is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now, here's Matt Jones. Welcome, everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio Tuesday.

December the 9th. I am Matt Jones. You can give us a shout on the Clark's Puppet Shop phone line 859-280-2287. Vision Auto Glass Tax Machine is 772-745254. And this is sponsored by the T.J. Smith Law Office, we call T.J. He'll make them pay. Kentucky plays the powerhouse, North Carolina Central tonight. In Rupp Arena, in a game that after the debacle in Nashville,

hopefully the cat should have a little problem with. You can just give a shout, 859-280-2287. Ryan Drew and Shannon are with me. Ryan, North Carolina Central, one time, I think I've told the story a couple times on here about when I spoke about the death penalty at North Carolina Central many, many years ago. Basically, that's predominantly an all-African American college, and I got up and spoke about it and proceeded to get peppered with questions for an hour and a half. And that's my one interaction with North Carolina Central, and it was a positive one.

hopefully tonight will be positive with basketball as well. I remember you telling that story. I had no idea. It was North Carolina Central. North Carolina Central. Yeah, we spoke. I spoke at like four colleges around North Carolina. And there was somebody that would speak with me at all of them.

And then he skipped the one at North Carolina Central. And that was the one they invited their entire freshman class to. So there were like 2,000 students in the room. And that was, it was good, but it was quite intimidating. as you had to sit there and speak about a controversial issue, Ryan, in front of a mass crowd. I don't think Kentucky will have that many much problem tonight. So they asked questions for that long. Were they, like, legit, good questions?

Yeah, so, I mean, it was, this is not how I thought we'd start to show, Drew. But it was, yeah, I was talking about how I was against the death penalty, and I was talking about my client's case. There were two people who were going to be executed, the first two in North Carolina in, like, 25 years. and I was expressing talking about their cases and then while I was against the death penalty and then they just were asking questions most of which Drew were like hypotheticals of the same thing

they'd be like so this wasn't long after 9-11 they'd be like if somebody did 9-11 should they get the death penalty and it would just be increasing difficult like increasingly worse things and I'd have to go well I'm still against the death penalty then too and they just asked me kind of the same thing over and over I didn't know you had this big connection

to our big opponent tonight I remember that story but never placed that was NC Central. It's on U.S. Carolina Central. So I haven't thought about that school since then, but they'll come in tonight. And Ryan, I think the cats, I mean, I don't know. There's really nothing they can do tonight that's going to change anything going forward. Would you agree?

I guess it's Saturday will be their next chance to do that. Yeah, there's absolutely not one thing I think they can do tonight to improve the attitude of Big Blue Nation. Not until Saturday. What if they go out and like don't miss a three, Drew? They hit like 25 in a row. Would that help? Well, actually, I wrote a blog post of what they need to do tonight,

and it actually doesn't even involve a basketball. I think fans just want to see them act like they like each other. Like, go out there, have fun, celebrate your teammate, help them up off the floor. If God forbid they dive on the floor, but just show some togetherness. I think that will, because they need to hit a reset. After last Friday, there needs to be a full reset. Maybe just have some fun tonight, and we'll go from there with Indiana on Saturday. Shannon, what's the best way for them to act like they like each other?

Like walk out hand in hand? Yes. I want to see them like hugging each other, like, you know, conga line. The whole thing, man. Oh, you want them to do a conga line. That would be. Is this a nursing home where they're coming from? Limbo.

Okay. Recreate the football picture where you hold hands and jump up and kick your legs up in there. That didn't work for the football team either, though. That's what we need. Yeah. Togetherness. We took a little grief for that. picture. I think wondering about that picture was probably still fair. So yesterday, it seemed to me,

the conversation around Kentucky World has been really two things. One, the question of, is it acceptable to boo? Which we talked about a lot about yesterday. And it seems like most fans, It's almost, right, if you had told me 10 years ago that this fan base would be in a place where I would see even little old ladies saying, yes, you can boo. I would have been shocked. But it seems like most of the fans believe that's okay. We put a video up yesterday on social media. Mario did of our discussion and surprisingly little pushback from people about it. I think the new age of college sports, which I think has a lot of positives, also, though, has led to a viewpoint of fans with a professionalism of, okay, that's what it is.

So now, like the guy who called Shannon and Billy's show, it's like if I fire my gardener, although I didn't realize he would go around and boo his gardener. I would. Hey, you're screwed up the edges. I think, Ryan, that's just how it is now, is that that's part of the tradeoff of guys making money. It is. It's a different era. Now you're not necessarily a college student athlete. You're a professionally trained, professionally paid athlete now. And I think people take that attitude. I never thought I would ever see it. Kentucky fans would boo their own team the way they did in Nashville the other night.

But I think that's the age we live in now. But you took the view of the, like you're becoming Mr. Old School. You're like, we shouldn't boo. But you kind of got shouted down yesterday. Did you find a lot of people after the show that agreed with you on that? Very few. I mean, I got some, very few. Okay. All right. And like I said the other day, I understand why they were booing.

I just wouldn't do it myself. I just think that's a bad look. Now, Drew, the next part of the conversation then went to what is the cause of the problem. And on this point, I don't think we're talking about the basketball cause, because I think there's a lot of basketball causes. But people then go to, well, what's the cause of the team either not caring or not liking each other? and there are two things that come up the most. The first one is people want to point to some event. And, I mean, if you've been around this fan base at all, everyone has, I think I've said, I've been sent over a thousand times.

All right, Matt, don't get put this on me, but my friend is related to and blah, and they all tell some version of, if not the same story, some version of a story that I just have to tell you, from my perspective, I think is. likely not the case. I think any time a story gets that far out, it's likely not the case. But there is this desire to find an event that caused it. Do you think, Drew, that there is an event or a something that caused it, whether it be in the Louisville locker room or something before that, or do you think it could just be, you know, sometimes people just don't get along and sometimes people just don't like each other? What do you think is the more likely scenario?

I still struggle with this because if it was one event and we've heard plenty of rumors, that should only affect a few people. The whole team is playing bad. Not to just rag on everyone, but I feel like some of these rumors we've heard, okay, why does that keep Brandon Garrison from jumping for a rebound? Or why does that keep Trent Noah from making a three? So that's why I sure maybe something happened, but that still doesn't explain why the whole team looks bad to me.

because if it is a one-off, you know, teammate versus teammate on something, that shouldn't affect everybody. And if it does, then Pope needs to do a better job of getting that out of the locker room and getting everybody on the same page. So I'm still perplexed of how the whole team is so bad if it was one thing. You know, there's always been over the years. And sometimes in the Cal years this was me, and sometimes it was Kyle Tucker. And then sometimes it would be like with Cal, it might be like Mike DeCorsi or,

whatever. There's always somebody who, when they say something, you kind of know, okay, this is the message that the staff wants to get out. Ryan, I don't think Pope has that guy, meaning like there's nobody that talks that I say, for sure, that came from Mark Pope. Probably the closest one is Matt Norlander. And probably Jeff Goodman, although even then, I don't think it comes from Pope. I think it comes from assistance. I don't really think Pope talks to anybody. So because of that,

I keep waiting to see from Jeff Goodman or Matt in Orlando the signal of what's really going on. And nothing comes out, right? Which makes me even more confused because it does seem like maybe it's just that the coaches are perplexed and they have no idea why this is happening, which is right,

ways even worse than if we had an explanation. I am still on the boat that something happened before that Louisville game because, you know, Pope is honest to a fault. I don't think he would have even said that if something, something didn't happen. But what if it's coming to both? But he's trying to play that down. You don't think that that matters? No, I think something happened.

I don't know, like I said, I don't know what it was. Do you think something happened because it's like logical deduction or do you like, is there a little rind lemon scoopiness? No, no scoop. I'm basing it all on what I feel. about Mark Pope. I don't think he would have said that if something didn't happen. So what if it's a combination of both? Maybe something did happen and maybe something that some of these guys just don't like each other. It did look to me though. Okay, so the little bit

I was around the team, which included some of those preseason practices and Media Day and even some of the preseason events, Drew, I will say it looked to me like they got along then. So, I mean, you know, I don't know. And maybe when adversity hit something, we will always wonder what happened in that locker room. And I think if you were going to point to a singular event, I think that would be when it made the most sense. But now, you know, I don't know.

It's been a month. It has been a month. It really has. If it truly was like a teammate on teammate thing, figure it out, it's been a month. Call them in your office, throw the boxing gloves down and say, y'all work it out. We got bigger goals than whatever you all have going on.

It has been a month since that locker room. and it's just getting worse. If something like that happened, it should linger a little while, get it out of their system, and then let's go win some basketball games. That's why you're here. We've seen Ryan lose it before, right? Yeah. He gets that, and then he gets, he's sometimes fine later that day.

Yeah, but then he holds a grudge against people, too, though. But he doesn't hold a grudge against us. He holds a grudge against, like, two people. Right. Well, maybe that's the two people that are locked in. What makes it, Ryan, where you can't get over that? Because that has to be what this team is like. They're holding a grudge they can't get over.

being disloyal, lying to my face, that'll get you on my black list. Lifetime ban. It is. He is a lifetime ban. All right. So then the second thing that people say is, okay, the problem is all these guys are making money and so they don't care anymore. Willie Collie Stein, Drew, of all people, of all people put out a post almost suggesting that this morning. saying, well, now all these guys

got cars and stuff and so they don't care as much. I find that funny considering really calling Stein's time here. Would you agree with that, Drew, that's at least amusing coming from him? Yeah. Trying to be careful here. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

You've got to be careful. I will say the cars have even improved since the Calipari Airs have improved. The cars have improved. Now it's even Maseratis. I think back then it was just like a BMW. Now it's Maseratis. They weren't driving around pentos back then. It's just the way they were still driving good cars.

But that doesn't explain, though, Drew, these other teams that are making money and doing well. Like, if you want to say it's cause of the money, then you have to explain to me why these other teams do well. More specifically, if you want to say it's because the money, how do you explain when these dudes in the NBA, you know, throw their bodies on the line? Like, it cannot be that it is just the money. Now, some people don't react well to money, but some people were selfish when they were getting nothing. Like, human nature can be selfish. So I personally do not blame the money because there are others. I mean, Michigan's getting paid more than anybody, and they're playing great.

I don't think it's the money, Drew. I think it's the people, not the money. Do you disagree? I'm with you on that because there's schools that have had some high-paying athletes who are doing exactly what they're paid to do. and also if you got money and like oh if I play well I get money that would make you want to play more to get more money like I look at Oway and people say oh his mind's on the NBA I don't know I'm watching him lose money by the second every time he gets on the basketball court because if I'm watching him pout and give no effort I'm not drafting him so if if money was the motivation I would almost think they'd be they'd be selfish but they'd at least be playing hard yeah I mean look Shane I think there was a philosophy that said, mo money, mo problem. That's right. Yeah.

But if you have it, you're going to keep trying. I just, Ryan, I don't believe the money thing at all because I'll give you, I use example of Michigan. Let's use Texas Tech. Okay, Texas Tech through massive amounts of money in their football and basketball program. They have that booster who does all those stupid score act commercials. And he's put all this money into Texas Tech. And guess what?

They're number four in the football playoff rankings and they're in the top 10 in basketball. Why? He went out and got dudes with money and they wouldn't play hard. So that clearly worked for him. It's not working here. And so I don't blame the money. I blame us, our guys, our coaches. Yeah. If the money is a factor, if whatever happened before the little game is a factor,

it all comes down to that roster construction and who you have on the floor. And you're returning guys, you're two big guys you're counting on. Garrison and Otega have done nothing really to help you much all this season. You blame them the most, don't you? I do. Yeah. They're supposed to be your leaders, your stars, your starters. But then, you know, you heard Pope last 90s coach's show,

Oteg he just had the best practice he's had in two years this week. I have to say the relentless positivity is like, would be like listening Shannon to Ted Lassow after a seven-game losing street. Like I love Ted Lassow, but sometimes I need you to like not tell me things are positive. Not everything in life is beautiful. Sometimes there's some ugly in there. Sometimes there's some hidden. And we saw it.

That's exactly right. I booed the call-in show last night. What'd you say? I booed the call-in show last night. Had Kevin Grevy over 30 minutes. 30 minutes of Kevin Grevy telling stories. And that's another thing. When they start doing that, when they start bringing on players and doing 30-minute

interviews instead of taking calls, you've already given it away right there where we are. Yeah, let's talk about the good old days when we actually won games. Let's talk about, I like Kevin Grevy. But when you bring on Kevin Grevy right after a 35-point loss, You are saying that you don't want to talk about it. And that's the worst way to do it with fans. I'm just telling you, they've never learned this lesson going back to Tubby Smith when he would brought on Jeff Shepard right before he left.

Like, you can't do it like that. They still do it. They always make them a same mistake and nobody ever learns. 859-280-2287. We'll take a break. Be right back. This is 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 athlete 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. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway 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. Trip 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.

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, as 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, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. 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? Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam, Ms. Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about Defendant. find 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 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 Nass would get that thing.

That man, hell get the flying. He run under 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. Oh, yeah. 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. Speaking to somebody who ended up with Mo Problems, Shannon, after their Mo Money,

the singer of this song, right? That's right, yeah. That didn't work out too well, did it? Have we watched that documentary yet? I hear it's good. I'm all the way through it. Already done. Went straight to it and binged it.

Was it interesting? We used to have rap song dizzes. They've just dissed each other with music. Now we have full-blown documentaries dissing each other. I love it. Who made this one? 50 cent. Bought the footage from Diddy's people.

and then use it against him. Oh, I didn't know that. 50 cent bought the footage from, oh, I didn't know that. Did he hire the company to follow him and then he didn't pay him? Yeah, 50 cents swooped in and did it. So it's kind of like a disc documentary. Okay. Disse docks.

Is it on Netflix? Is it on Netflix? Yeah, it's not a great look for, not that any of this has been a great look for Diddy, but somehow it gets much worse for him with this documentary. Really? All right. Well, there you go. One person.

So I've compiled Ryan just a partial list of the various people who people have texted the text machine and said they told them the story of what's actually going on. All right. So these are people. I'm not going to say what they said, Shannon, but these are people who people have said have told them what's really happened. I don't believe it. Don't believe any of it. I agree with you. But the question is, which of these people do you think has the best chance of knowing?

Okay. This is just in the last 24 hours. Kenny Walker, do you think he would know? He would know? He is everywhere. Yeah. All right. Jackson Robinson, do you think he would know?

I'm going to say no. Where is he not even around? Is he right now, is he? Linda Gorton's top aide. Drew's a big Linda Gordon fan. You think Linda Gordon's top aide would know? She's the top aides, the leader in the clubhouse so far of what you've sent. All right.

Robert Stivers. The state senator. And then finally, my favorite, this one just came this morning, Steve Botman of Botman Chevrolet. Not a sponsor. Now you said Paul Miller, Paul Miller for now we think he would be. Maybe we had to talk about it. These are just the people that people have written the text machine to say they know what's going on with the players. I'm going to say of all those,

Shend, I'm going to say Steve Bachman of Bachman. You think so? Yeah, more so than Kenny Walker. Well, I mean, when it says, well, Kenny's not like he's not at practice. I mean, Linda Gordon's top aide. Well, we don't know. The guy's like taking a break from selling cars to go watch the practice and get in the locker room. Well, I mean, I didn't even have Linda Gordon's top aide's name.

So how am I supposed to believe that they know? They operate in the shadows. Maybe the Bogman guy selling them cars. or something. I don't know. Maybe even if you're on to something here. Jackson Robinson is still around a lot. He has former teammates that are on the team. Jackson Robinson would have seemed like, you know, he would know. That's exactly right. Drew's right. Wouldn't Jackson Robinson know Ryan because he was on the team? And not just the current players that are back. You know, they have 40 grad assistants and managers over there.

He probably could still talk to. Where is Jackson Robinson now? Is he in the G League somewhere? Not sure. He was in the cab system. I don't know if he's still part of it. I haven't heard about him in a long time. All right, we also got yesterday, Ryan, the contract for Will Sott. Yep. $5.5.5 million for five years. Basically, it's $5.5.5.5 and 5.6 and 5.7 and 5.7. So it ended up averaging between 5.7 and 5.8 for his career.

If he gets fired during that time, he gets 70% of the contract paid out in the time frame. it would be paid. So we didn't make the mistake of doing the lump sum due within 60 days. Yeah, maybe I learned our lesson over that. This has kind of become the base pay, Ryan, for new coaches with no experience. I think a lot of these other guys, he'll be now one of the lower paid coaches in the SEC, but it's kind of commiserate with his experience. Seems like to me a pretty good deal.

The 70% is kind of standard now across college football. so less than the total but still a significant amount of money. What did you think of the Will Stod deal? Well, hearing you say that's kind of standard, I had no idea if that was a 70% if that was kind of the standard buyout. At big schools, that's become kind of the standard of the big schools if you don't have any leverage. Now, when you resign, they end up taking that out,

but for new coaches, that's kind of become standard. So hearing all that, I absolutely have zero problem with it, you know. Kentucky got a basketball coach and a football coach at a much cheaper rate than they had the previous two guys. So saving some money, I guess, all the way around. Drew? Yeah, I immediately just went to the buyout situation, making sure we didn't get God again. Paid out monthly, that's much better than 60 days. Stein actually owes a lot, as you said, if he were to leave.

So that was the thing I went to first. Also noticed that the extension, you know, his incentives, he's got to make the playoff, not just make a bowl game as, you know, with Stoops was so long, it was win six games or seven games. Stein's get to the playoff bracket. He gets a big bonus, but it starts with the playoff. So it's not just about making a bowl. Now, the second part of that is Mark Stoops.

Mark Stubes, it turns out, extended his deal. So rather than have to pay it immediately, they paid him $4 million immediately. And they will pay him over the next four years, $1.7 million every three months, Shannon, to not coach for the next four years. That's a great deal. But it's also nice of him to do what he did for Kentucky because he could have, you know, all that money, think about the interest he could have made if he had all that money up front versus spreading it out.

$1.7 million every three months for the next four years, that totals the 37 million. But as Shannon points out, he didn't have to do that. he could have demanded it immediately. And instead, he spread it out like that. So they gave him $4 million a day he did it, and then $1.7 every three months going forward. It's a lot of money.

It's especially a lot of money not to coach. But at the same time, he didn't have to do that. Nope. And oddly, they will now end up paying him, like that 1.7, it will make it to where financially it's not that bad for Kentucky. and Stoops didn't have to do that. We'll take your calls right for this, KSR. 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. So, Shannon, guys, I need to just, before we go the calls, one little nerve-wracking thing. All right, during the break, I just got a text message from a guy at ESPN. Okay? And it says, Matt, do you want to meet?

this afternoon to talk about the New Orleans Bowl. So, by the way, I am doing the ESPN radio broadcast, Ryan, for the New Orleans Bowl, which is two weeks from today. Yep. Two weeks from today. And apparently I'm doing the play-by-play, which is, I've never done the play-by-play. So, I mean, of course, Drew, perfect time to debut is on national radio, right? To have.

Post-season? A trophy on the line? When's the best time to learn to do live play-by-play, the national radio with a bowl game? Perfect time. With somewhat of a local team playing the wall, be listening to West Kentucky. Had my Sunday morning radio boss say to me the other day, Shannon, excited to listen to you, do the New Orleans bow. Don't know how that's going to go. That's exactly what he said to me.

I mean, he does realize you have never done this before, so I would expect. Don't know how that's going to go. The bar is probably pretty low. I don't think he's got a lot of expectations. But let me just say, you know, play by play is a whole other thing. Yeah, it's not easy. And so the game gets announced it's Western Kentucky and Southern Miss. I think Ryan pretty good draw for me, right?

Western Kentucky. Couldn't have been any better for you, really, to get WQU. I honestly couldn't have been any better. Southern Miss, as a side note, one of the guys in my fellowship is one of Southern Miss's biggest boosters. Oh, so I feel like I can get some information on Southern Miss. And then Western's Western. So he writes me during the break and he goes, I'm so-and-so. I'm your producer for ESPN for the New Orleans Bowl.

Do you know who your stats and spotter are yet? Don't know what that means. Drew. I've been wondering why strangers have been writing me offering to be my spotter. Because I was like, Shannon, how do these people know who I am? Why do they keep writing me? How do they even know I need a spot? All they need is binoculars.

Get somebody with binoculars who can see the game. Turns out ESPN has a database where they say, hey, spotters, here's who where we need them for. So that's why people are riding me. I've been wondering. I'm going to figure on that. Shouldn't they provide the spotter? You're the talent. You get to go get your spotter.

Oh, okay. Apparently I get to pick because I get to pick one I'm comfortable with. Here's the problem. I don't know any of these people. So how am I going to be comfortable with any of them? How do I pick? This is a problem.

Who wants to be my spotter, like a contest? So I've already decided my stats guy, I'm going to pick Billy. Was he an option? I don't think Billy was on the list of, the SPN. Well, he may not be on the list, but he's going to be on the list. Because he went to Western, right, so he can handle that.

Big deal, yes. And I'm comfortable with Billy. Billy knows how to work with me now after the last couple years. But I don't think Billy can spot. So how do I pick Drew who to spot? I mean, you're just going to have to get some one-on-ones and FaceTime with these people, get to know them. Can we learn about their families?

You need to trust this person. They're going to be in the foxhole with you. Hold on now. If you can get Billy, you can get Ryan as your spot. But I need at least one person in this operation to know what the hell they're doing. I would definitely get sidetrack watching something else than the game. The Ryan has done like high school football games and stuff. Ryan is literally the worst choice for the exact reason he just said.

The spotter has to see a number on a jersey immediately know who that is. You got to know formations. The spotter has to be like, yes, exactly. They're in a, you know, 481 wide. Like, you got to do all that. And you know, I don't know what any of that stuff means, Shannon. Yeah. So that person, I'm going to be relying heavily on that.

Here's the great thing about doing radio. If you get it wrong, nobody can call you on it because they can't see it anywhere. Nobody's going to know. You're going to be fine. But the producers are going to know. Well, they don't have to tell anybody. But this is like, this is two weeks from today. Are you practicing?

What are you doing to get ready? I've practiced a little bit, but, you know, I've had some stuff come up, so I've been a little distracted. Now, my plan is to watch. I asked an ESPN person. I'm going to talk to Tom Hart this week. And they said, what are you laughing? That might be a good start. Talk to somebody who does this for a living.

Tom Hart, Tom Leach. They said to me, Tom has written me about it too. I'm going to rely on the Tom's. They said to me to watch like the last three or four games of these teams. So I'm going to watch Western and Southern Miss. What I've always wanted to do. Sure. Watch Western and Southern Miss football.

Western, you know, almost beat LSU a couple of. weeks ago. There's a good place to start. Western's got a good team this year. That's the kind of fact I can say on the radio show. Yeah. Western almost beat LSU a couple weeks ago. Now you get three more hours to fill. Now what time Kentucky plays that day, Kentucky plays Bellarmine, I believe, I've looked at the time, Ryan, I believe the post-game show will be ending right as this broadcast comes on the air. Perfect. See if that's correct. What time is the Belarman? That's at one.

One o'clock. Exactly. So that means post-game show starts about four. The New Orleans Bowl starts at five. Oh, perfect. Perfect. We can guide everybody to turn over. And go lead right into it.

Yeah. Well, you don't need to be doing the post-game show. You're not doing that, I hope. No, I'm not doing the post game show. Somebody else is going to be doing that. I got a post. Yeah. Yeah, this is the 25th anniversary of the New Orleans Bowl.

It's in any New Orleans Bowl. This is 25 years. New Orleans Bowl. And you've been to Southern Miss. Yeah, you can talk about the restaurant, Haddysburg. I've been to the western. I could talk about how Nick Rouse got drunk and we had to try to get him home at the end of the night in Haddysburg.

No, that's what the color commentator does. You're the play-by-play guy. You've got to stick to play-by-play. You can't have personality. You've got to be play-by-play. I think we're going to have a lot of color commentary from this broadcast. I think so. No, very little play-by-play.

You just be telling stories, but guys, there's a game going on. What's happening in the game? Yeah, this may be less play-by-play-play. more color for most of the game. So, yeah. Stats, spotter. You wait. Two weeks.

I'm going to need your all support, though. I need you building me up. I already had my boss look at me and go, well, this will be interesting. I need you all building me up, not bringing me down. Tom Leach has this big board that he puts together with all these stats and everything. You need something like that in front of you. Yeah.

Is there somebody that can do that? Yeah. You're spotter. Billy. You know, Corey Price does stats for the UK people. I got my stats guy. I got Billy. I need a spotter.

And I need to figure out these people that write me. I don't know how to pick which one. I can't believe you're supposed to get something. You shut up. It's going to be good. No, it's going to be great. It's just it may be a less traditional broadcast than what they're used to in the New Orleans Bowl. But at least people are entertained.

How many people are listening to the New Orleans Bowl? ESPN radio. It can't be a tough, right? It's going to be more now. I think that's why they put us on because they think we can bring an audience and then we'll hopefully not bomb it completely.

Who's the first? Harold. Harold. Go ahead, Harold. Yes, my call is concerned about yesterday. Kentucky, several years ago, got beat at Kansas 50 points.

Yes, they did. Yes, so that was the worst loss. I was just asking you. I don't know who the coach was. It was Patino. It was Petino's first year. I think they went down there. Am I right about that, Ryan?

Wasn't it Petino's first year? They went down there and just got obliterated. And he kept pressing. He wasn't going to change his style. He kept doing the same thing. And they just kept getting their brains beating in that day. Yes. Yeah.

Okay. Well, thinking about your dad, I hope he gets better. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Appreciate the call. Yeah, I believe that was the scenario. Yeah, they kept pressing, kept shooting threes. They didn't change their style of play at all. Yeah, I wish I had to say. I mean, that was his first year. This is a second year, so it is a little bit different different year. So it is a little bit of, Dan, go ahead, Dan. Hey, I think on the basketball front, it's a little bit of a search for an emotional holy grail that's not going to be found. So I wanted to use a different analogy. I think you four, Billy and Mario, make a really, good team and I think that in the summer, your all content's probably the best. Now imagine for two months when the games get started, three of you are out and IHeart radio executives are

crap in their pants because they're trying to get the same level of quality that they would have had if three of you are in. And so they're finding some other people to fill it and they're expecting the same quality, the same pacing, the same content. And I just don't think that's a realistic thing. That doesn't mean that those people aren't talented. That doesn't mean that those people don't care. That doesn't mean that those people aren't doing it for the money. It just means that they aren't up to the talent of what the OG team would be. That's not a terrible analogy. But here's what I would say about that. That's not a terrible analogy. And I think that's correct. However, at the center point of that is, you know,

you would have your main returner, right? Like your centerpiece of the whole thing it's built around, which in this case might be me. And in the basketball case, Otega. It's one thing if Otega is not there, but Otega is there, right? And while it's never going to be as good without the full complimentary of things, if Otega is there, and let's say Ryan is Brandon Garrison, because he's been around for a long time, and we're back, we should be able to not produce a clunker every single big show, because at least the two returning stalwarts are there. Yeah, we might not have Drew and Shannon and Mario, and we're going to get them. But we at least got those two that was the whole centerpiece of what we brought

back. And if that doesn't work, then I do think you have to go, wait a minute, what's going on? I think that's fair. But I mean, what if you had to set up all the electronic stuff that Billy does and some of these other paths? That's a really good point. That's a really good point. It'd be a disaster. At some point, well, at some point there'd be like a sacrificial nature to it, right? And like, it would be really frustrating. And you wouldn't be, your strengths wouldn't be at your highest. So I think to expect Otega to every game give 115% and think that he's just going to be smooth, I think it's a little bit short-sighted. Fair enough.

I appreciate the call. And that might not be nice, Drew, to call Ryan, Brandon Garrison. He's been better than Bryce. I see it a little bit. In their strengths. We're similar in our size. Okay. That's probably not completely.

Do you hear any of the scuttle butt from the open practice they had yesterday from the BV& United People? Do you have some scuttle butt? Yes. Okay, well, let's save ride and scuttlebutt, but how about we first, Don, we now are year-end savings at Don Franklin's family of dealerships? Choose from over 6,000 new and certified pre-owned vehicles, go the distance with power train protection and more. It's Don Franklin quality with Don Franklin's peace of mind.

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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 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. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway 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.

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Search learn the hard way and listen now. 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 walks up to me, he goes,

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I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great

run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcast wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back to Tegi Sports Radio. all right drew people are suggesting that we have the spotter tryouts on air what do you think about i said you should have a who wants to be my spotter contest but i need somebody with experience

what's what i mean they got to they got to make their case they got to come on maybe give their background what they're looking for when they're spotting what kind of binoculars they use all that stuff the long time spotter uk is a big fan of this show listens all the time text me like almost every day during the show has he texted you about this not yet feels like this would have been a good time to text. If I was a long-time listener of this show, like literally, if I listen this show all the time, and I was a spotter for UK, and I texted Ryan every day during the show, feels like Shadden, this would have been the day to text.

Yeah. If you ever wanted to do it right now. Maybe he just doesn't want to do it. Yeah, exactly. He's like, I don't want to go down with that ship. I don't want to tie my good name to this. Train wreck of a show. I'm making this good no matter what, even if it just has to be me and Myron taking calls during the game.

I don't think it works that way. Why not? You're the ones you're supposed to be giving a call. What if we completely revolutionize the way they call football games? Yeah, we just completely act like the game's not even going on. We completely ignore the game. I mean, honestly. We'll give you a score update every now and then.

I can hear it now in the second half. Matt turns to Myron and says, So who are the famous athletes from New Orleans And all the usual things we do on the show when we're in new cities? Hattiesburg. You know, we're friends about me. It's going to be Myron. That's true.

That is my mind. I'm going to go, you know, Montana Grill and Bowling Green, I really like it to eat there sometimes. Corvette Museum, right? Should I bring up that Bowling Green has more people per capita on the Ozympic? We got to work that in. That is important. I feel like that should be on there. don't you?

We need to know the cities. We need to know the cities that are playing. You got to know the places. Yeah. Fruit of the looms in Bowling Green. You can talk about some Mondys. Bring in special guests from all these hillbilly jims from Bowling Green, right? Oh, that true.

Yeah. Bring him on. Don't go miss out the country boy. Country boy. It's just going to be a great game. You can just bust into song of all those films. The New Orleans Bowl has never seen anything like this. Who's next?

Pete. Pete, go ahead, Pete. Hey, guys. got a little story about North Carolina Central. I'm originally from Owensboro, went to go play soccer to tiny college in Front Row, Virginia, and ended up playing basketball there as well. Tiny school, like 500 undergrad. My junior year, we play at North Carolina Central, and we lose 116 to 38.

Well, you're going to be on the schedule next year. Your team's going to play. Mark Pope's going to play you guys next year to make sure that we win. I had two threes that game in Durham. So if the cats need me tonight, I can come by and probably toss up a few. Well, I appreciate to call. Do we know anything, Drew? You're pretty good about knowing these teams.

What do we know about North Carolina Central tonight? What do I not know about North Carolina Central, Matt? I actually got a little bit scared. I saw they beat Carolina by 40 points, 109 to something. But I realize it's not North Carolina. There's a school just called Carolina. Did you know that? They don't even have a page on ESPN.

There's a school just called Carolina and not even which state? No. NC Central. Where is that? I think it's, I'll have to look that up. Carolina, you can't even click on their page on ESPN.com. Wow. I mean, I lived there.

I didn't know there was a school just called Carolina. Beat them by 45. Our common opponent is. It's in Winston Salem. Yeah. I'd been driven through Winston-Salem a thousand. I didn't know that, but go ahead. Really threw me off too.

They played UNC and lost by 44. That's our common opponent. They do have a star player. Ladamore, I believe, is his name. Shooting like 45% from three and getting 20 points a game. I actually wonder, well, I was wondering if he could just maybe come over to our team. I don't know. There's not really rules anymore, but he's a bucket.

Feels like Gage Latimore. We could use him. Yeah, they go as he goes. He's first time at this level. he was at another school that doesn't even have an ESPN page last year from like D3. So he's the name to watch. But they're not good. Rake 350th out of 365 teams on Ken Palm.

We are a 45 and a half point favorite. I mean, we have scheduled the lowest of the low this year. It would be interesting to see, Ryan, what would happen if we played like Minnesota, right? I mean, because all the teams we've played have been top 20 or awful. Yep. Like we've not played So it's hard for me to know How are we going to do in the SEC

Against teams like Mississippi State? Because everybody we've played Is either really good or awful And so, you know This is going to be And that's all we're playing until not Until conference play So I know when we play Alabama

We're going to struggle But how are we going to do against like Ole Miss Or how are we going to do against Vandy? That's the thing we don't know yet. You're exactly right. And our sample size we have to go on is not good. The teams you're supposed to beat, you're beating them bad. The teams that are pretty competitive, you're getting drilled.

But the teams that we're getting drilled by are really good teams. Michigan State ends up being fantastic, and we thought that might be the easiest of the six games, remember? And three of our five wins, they're ranked 320th or worse. Like, that's hard to get a read on anything. They're on a little bit of a skid, though. They've had two bad losses, and they're starting at the panic. They got me kind of bad by Louisville Saturday, too.

Yeah, they did. It will not be good if we don't. Now, you've got a doctor's appointment here, right? So you're leaving, correct? Correct. We thought I'll throw a scuttle butt. Yes, what was it? They had Big Blue United in for an open practice yesterday.

I'll give you the quick three hits. One, you never could tell they don't like each other. They seem like they 100% liked each other and got along well. Two, Cam Williams and Trent Noah did not miss a shot the entire practice. That doesn't help. Did not miss. and three, Jaden Quaintens practiced a lot against Reese Potter going one-on-one with him, and he looks like a man-child.

I mean, those are all good things, but I don't know. Is that encouraging? I wish they would make them in the games. Saving all their misses for tonight. Maybe so. Pre-game show starts at 4.30. 4-30. And Ryan will be back for that.

We will come back. Hour number two. This is 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. 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 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 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 SportsSlic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the 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 guy, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Come on. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her.

What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was funny. You just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to you, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. your ball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.