Matt Jones (2:16)

Way to go. Thank you and for Shady Rays here, while you're here during the show today In Louisville, buy one, get one 50% off in shady Rays here in Louisville. But it's only during the show. Buy one, get one 50% off. They just me they have a new bourbon, Drew sunglasses. And if you get it, the case comes with the UK state flag on it, which I think is very nice.

Shannon Ragland (2:37)

Got the handshake going on there.

Matt Jones (2:38)

How are you doing? I feel like I've talked to you because of COVID 0, although I feel like I've not talked to anyone else in the world except you.

Shannon Ragland (2:45)

I've tried to give them updates. I. I feel like I've had stolen mat time with our Cover zero twice a week. So I've tried to let them know how things have been going, but I know you have a lot of stories to tell.

Matt Jones (2:53)

Well, I'll do it through the course of the show. I got back last night after a 16 hour flight from Johannesburg, New York and then New York to Louisville. Awesome trip. I'm sure over the course of the next week or two I will tell stories about it, but overall, absolutely awesome. South Africa was. Was great. It is beautiful. I would say Cape Town is probably the most beautiful city I've ever been to in the world. Just, just visually, mountains surrounding it, ocean, it's just absolutely beautiful place. Went on a safari, which was unbelievable. You know, had an elephant from me to you sitting there staring at me. Made me a little nervous a couple times, but that was all right. Lions, you know, rhinos, hippos. And like, not just seeing them, but they're right next to you and there's nothing in between you and them, which is. Which is a lot.

Drew Franklin (3:47)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (3:48)

And then Johannesburg, you know, might be the most chaotic place I've ever been on earth. Without question. You know, statistically, it's one of the most dangerous cities in America. And while I didn't feel danger necessarily, I can totally see why that is the case. But overall, one of the best trips I've been on in my life. Ryan, I absolutely loved it.

Ryan Lemond (4:12)

Like I said, we've got a million questions, but I think one thing everybody wants to know is did you really sleep in a tent? Was that.

Matt Jones (4:18)

I did sleep in a tent. Now if you watch the video on Instagram, it does. It looks a little more sparse than it was, but it was a tent, you know, I mean, it had just a lining on. It was a nice tent. I'm not gonna act like was roughing it. It was. It was a nice tent with a nice bed. But I did sleep in the, in the, as they call it in the bush out there, Drew with, with the animals. There was an electric fence between us and them so they couldn't come into our, our rooms. But I, I got up one day, looked outside and there were they, you know, these little, they call them springboks just running around like, like right up next to your tent.

Shannon Ragland (4:50)

I think they call that glamping. It's in the camp.

Matt Jones (4:52)

It is.

Shannon Ragland (4:53)

You just have a nice thread count on your sheets.

Matt Jones (4:55)

But you were still out there in the wild.

Shannon Ragland (4:58)

Did you repel? I know that's one thing you were worried about.

Matt Jones (5:00)

Well, I did not repel, but the reason is what was the bigger theme of the trip, which is I broke my phone quickly into it. Now, if you didn't listen to Cover zero, I broke my phone by spilling coke on it in my pocket while going to Nelson Mandela's prison. Shannon. That was. Which is not how most people lose their phone.

Drew Franklin (5:21)

A pocket Coke. I've never heard.

Matt Jones (5:23)

I had a pocket. I had a pocket Coke. I'll tell you the story in a minute. But I had a pocket Coke. But what it led to is, you know, I was there 18 days starting on day five. I didn't have a phone and when. And you know, it's not crazy to say I'm pretty reliant on my phone. But I would argue even if you all aren't as addicted to your phones as I am, it is a nerve wracking experience to be in a country you do not know in places that you do not know. Some of which are places that are a little sketchy without a phone and really no way to communicate. Because when I tried to log into things, they would all send verifications to the phone that I could not get to. So the only thing I couldn't send text messages. The only thing I could do is I could imessage. But I could only imessage people who I talked to on my iPad before, which was only like a handful of people. It was like my mom drew, you know, probably 10 people total. So if you weren't one of those 10, I could not communicate with you couldn't get into any apps, any social media, except for some reason Instagram and otherwise was just kind of cut off from the world. I had no ability to communicate. And that is when you are in a place that you do not know. Just think about like Uber. If I had to go out, I had to figure out how am I going to get home? I can't call a Taxi. I don't have a phone. Right. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Drew Franklin (6:50)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (6:50)

There was just no. Like, you literally had to sit and think, okay, if I go there, how am I going to get back? And that was the whole thing, because I like to just roam. Couldn't quite do.

Drew Franklin (6:59)

This is the first time I've communicated with you since you left. And to your point, I don't even want to be in St. Matthews without a phone, let alone South Africa. So I can't even imagine how it would be without your phone for that long.

Matt Jones (7:09)

Being in Johannesburg without a phone is. Is probably one of the few times I've ever been where I was like, at every move, trying to think, okay, what do we do here? What do we do here? So that. And I'm with a group of people. The second half of the troop, though, at the eight women. I don't know those people, really, you know, so that also made it. Ryan. Different.

Ryan Lemond (7:27)

I think it would rattle anybody to be in a foreign country with no access to the people, in case you need to reach somebody. Yeah, I guess. You told the story to Drew about the yogurt shop. I mean, that was early on. That was.

Matt Jones (7:36)

By the way. Then when I went back, I saw that I could have gone to the yogurt shop on my own. Drew, I think I would have been fine. I don't think anything would have happened to me in that neighborhood.

Shannon Ragland (7:44)

Well, that was like, when you first got there. You're still on high alert, but.

Matt Jones (7:49)

But it was an awesome trip. Those of you that do, follow me on Instagram, which is KY Sports Radio. Thank you, guys. You were my. Honestly, my connection back home. People were sending, like, dms and messages, and. And it was great. So I want to tell stories as we go. I missed. I didn't get to watch Ryan any of. The. Of any of the Kentucky games. Didn't see any of Eastern Michigan, didn't see any of South Carolina. On the flight home yesterday, I watched the first half of the South Carolina game, and I was so disgusted somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean that I stopped it at the end of the first half. So that's kind of where I am on having watched the games.

Ryan Lemond (8:28)

I think it's fair to say that second quarter of the South Carolina game was one of the worst quarters of UK football in a long, long time. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Offense couldn't move. The football. Defense, well, the defense had a couple short touchdowns. I gave up. But what do you expect? You know, Tom. Tom Hart did reference seeing that I.

Matt Jones (8:44)

Heard he made a lot of references to my trip. Is that right? Yeah.

Ryan Lemond (8:47)

He said it's like seeing a giant tortoise on the beach one day and penguins on the beach the next day.

Matt Jones (8:51)

Did see penguins? Let me tell you something. When you're with a group Drew. Of eight women, they get very excited about the penguins. I mean, who doesn't get excited? Very excited about the penguins. I mean, I didn't realize penguins were as big a deal to people. They were very excited about the penguins.

Shannon Ragland (9:07)

Did you have an animal that you were really excited to see? Did you freak out over, like, a hyena or you told a story about. And bamboos.

Matt Jones (9:13)

Yeah. So, you know, when the elephants get so close to you. I don't know, Shannon. That's kind of cool. Yeah. I mean, those are massive. You know, anything. They also. Those are massive beans. And when they come up right next to you and their little snout comes out, and it's probably from me to you. Yeah. And you just go, wow.

Drew Franklin (9:32)

Did you give us some peanuts?

Matt Jones (9:33)

Supposed to. No. I mean, they were very adamant about. Do not stick your hands out.

Drew Franklin (9:37)

There was a story. I don't know if you're aware of this. There was a world story about somebody in South Africa just a couple of days ago that got attacked by an elephant in South Africa. And I thought, I hope that's not bad.

Matt Jones (9:48)

But I can totally see how it happens, because you get. You start thinking about them like they're toys.

Drew Franklin (9:53)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (9:53)

You know, because they're just right there, and you're like a. Isn't that sweet? Yeah, but they're not sweet.

Drew Franklin (9:58)

You don't want to cuddle up with an elephant.

Matt Jones (9:59)

They're not. And then the. The hippo, now, we were farther away, but, you know, I don't know if you've ever seen videos of hippos. Like, those are. It's not like the little hungry, hungry hippo. Like. Like, those are hungry. Those things will come after you.

Shannon Ragland (10:13)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (10:14)

And so I. Yeah, I mean, it was very cool. But, you know, there's a lion from, like, me to that woman right there. Those kind of things are.

Drew Franklin (10:21)

What kind of defense did you have?

Matt Jones (10:22)

You don't you really. I mean, the woman that was driving us around, I think she had a gun. So if, like, things got. But you know, where you go. I don't know if a gun stops an elephant, to be honest with you. Well, outfits are big.

Drew Franklin (10:37)

You're not gonna outrun it.

Matt Jones (10:39)

So. No, not me. Especially the old line.

Shannon Ragland (10:43)

You just got to be faster than those eight Women. You're not faster than the elephant.

Drew Franklin (10:46)

Or at least one of them.

Matt Jones (10:47)

Yeah. Yeah. So the eight women that. So first of all, the first eight or nine days was me on my fellowship.

Ryan Lemond (10:53)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (10:53)

It was all in Cape Town. That was great. You know, that was. I love those people. They've become good friends of mine. And then it was me and eight women for the next 10 or 11 days that I did not know ended up really liking all of them. But that was a transition, being one man with eight women, you know, you have to. You had to get used to it. They ended up being great, and I liked all of them, and they. They're from all over, but, you know, I was. I was like, it's weird to be them. I don't know that I was the manliest person, to be honest with you. Right. Just because, you know, I'm. I'm not. I'm not that alpha. But I. But I kind of had to be for this trip.

Ryan Lemond (11:30)

Well, that's what I was going to ask you. Did they hold your hand and walk you through?

Matt Jones (11:34)

Know, it's. South Africa is like a very patriarchal society. Like. Like, everyone talks to the man, which is. You know, that's weird. Like, everyone talks to the man. So, like, I had to. People would come to me. Like, I was a spokesperson for the group, and I wasn't. I mean, I. I learned when you went through, you're like, where y' all want to go, that's where I'll go. Right. I sound like you, Ryan. But that's true. When I have eight of them, wherever you all want to go, I'll go. So I ended up being very differential. I probably talked less on the second half than you. You wouldn't recognize.

Drew Franklin (12:10)

Maybe we need to add some females to ksr, man. I think that's how we get Matt to finally stop talking as much.

Matt Jones (12:15)

But I would say, though, you know, okay, welcome back.

Drew Franklin (12:19)

No, if I walked around, though, and I saw one guy with eight women surrounding him, I'd be like, high five, man.

Matt Jones (12:24)

Way to go, man.

Drew Franklin (12:25)

You had to be the most popular guy in South.

Matt Jones (12:27)

There is no doubt that some people talk to me like, these were my eight wives.

Shannon Ragland (12:33)

You're a reality show.

Matt Jones (12:34)

No, I mean, they did. Some people would talk like that, and I'd be like, no, it's not like that. Which is.

Shannon Ragland (12:41)

They're just teaching me how to repel.

Matt Jones (12:44)

But I didn't get to repel, to answer your question. I didn't get repelled, because that was the day I was trying to get My phone fixed. Ah. And. But I broke my phone. If you didn't listen. To Cover zero, I told this story on there in more detail. We got on a boat to go to where Nelson Mandela was held in prison. It's called Robin Island. And if you ever get to go, highly recommend going. I mean, Nelson, 27 years in prison is one thing to hear about. Hear about, another thing to see. And it's an island about 4 miles off the coast of Cape Town. You have to take. You have to take a boat. It's very rocky weather. So, like, this is where the Pacific Ocean, the. Excuse me. Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean come together, and it makes it very bumpy and rocky. The boat trip was very, very rocky. And they said, make sure you sit down so that you don't fall. So I had a seat, right? And then this woman comes over to me. She's nine. She's probably in her 80s, 90s, from the rural parts of South Africa. She was with a group of 10 women who were coming to Robben island from the. For the first time. It was clearly very special to them, right? These 10. These 10 or 20 women, you know, they're like grandmas. And, you know, I have a soft spot, Ryan, for grandma. Yeah, you really do, right? I have a soft spot for grandmas. And if 10 or 20 women are coming from rural South Africa to see Nelson Mandela's prison for the first time, Drew, that's a heartwarming story. And who am I to get in the way of that? So I help these women on the boat. I help because it wasn't. Safety is not a thing. They're big on a lot of stuff. So helping these women on the boat, etc. Well, we're out on the boat. This woman's sitting over here. I'm here. She just gets up in the middle of the boat ride, looks at me and goes. Looks at me, points and goes, get up out of that chair. I just looked at her. She said, get up. And I was like, well, okay, whatever you say. Whatever you say, Auntie. Like, right? And then someone takes her chairs. The point is, now I gotta stand during this thing. No. And I was drinking a Coke, and I was having a hard time having balance. This was the rockiest water I've ever been in. So I put my Coke in the pocket of my jacket. I forgot my phone was in there too. And so when it started rocking, I got thrown into a wall, Coke poured over my phone. And Drew, that's how I ended up ruining my iPhone in. In South Africa.

Shannon Ragland (15:04)

I love the trust in an open coke in the pocket. Without a phone though. Like that's just gonna stay.

Matt Jones (15:09)

It did not work. It. And that's Shannon how I ended up without it.

Drew Franklin (15:13)

You didn't have another pocket on the other side that you did.

Matt Jones (15:16)

But I was trying not to throw up.

Drew Franklin (15:18)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (15:19)

So there's probably very few people who can say they ruined their iPhone. Ryan. At the island where Nelson Mandela was held for 27 years. But I actually was one who did that. On a boat with pocket coat. On a pocket. With a pocket coat. Yeah.

Ryan Lemond (15:31)

Did it. So was it a little liberating though you're not attached to your phone 24 hours a day.

Matt Jones (15:36)

It was. But it was first of all, yes. Like. And you know, we. Here's one of the things I think that I realized from it. A lot of the BS that we take in every day, we don't need to do.

Shannon Ragland (15:48)

Sure.

Matt Jones (15:49)

We really don't. It's so that arguing and we really don't need it. Like you can really cut that out of your life. And it can be. There's no reason to sit there and watch people scream at each other. We choose to do that. We don't need to do that. So that was good. But what I did miss was communicating with people. And I did feel detached from like this world, this big blue nation world. And I. And I missed that. But I didn't miss a lot of the other stuff.

Shannon Ragland (16:12)

Well, last Saturday during the game I poured Diet Coke on my phone and my TV trying to not watch that. So you were in a good spot.

Matt Jones (16:18)

Well, I want to talk about that because I do think there's a lot to talk about about the status of UK football. The Athletic. A writer for the Athletic called me and I think after the Georgia game the Athletics doing a pretty big feature on will Mark Stoop survive at Kentucky. And we taught for a long time. I want to talk about that. And I also have to note while I was gone, the Reds made the playoffs. We will do all of that and be right back here in Louisville. This is Kentucky Sports Radio.

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Matt Jones (17:44)

Welcome back. It is Kentucky Sports Radio APAB 928-02287. Text machine. 772-774-5254. So I don't have access to text machine, so I can't read questions. So I'm gonna give a couple that people wrote me on Instagram that I'll answer real quick. One person writes, Matt, what would you recommend coming back, Going to South Africa on a trip for other people? Yes. I think it's awesome. A lot of the stereotype, you know, people got me worried before I left Drew because everybody was going, oh, it's dangerous. They don't, they're gonna, you know, it's, it's fine. Like, you do have to keep your, I'm not gonna lie, you have to keep your wits about you. Like, there are parts of town that the locals said to me, I wouldn't go in those parts. So it's just, you have to, you have to know where you are. But in general, I definitely would go. I think a lot of the stereotypes that I'd heard before were not true at all. I think we just, we just sort of take it for granted that whatever we hear from media about the rest of the world, well, that has to be how it is. I didn't find that to be the case. Although I will note the Johannesburg is chaotic and wild, so. But if you went, if you just went to Cape Town, you'd have an amazing blast.

Shannon Ragland (18:57)

I'd rather go to Johannesburg. That sounds more fun to me. If only you had pictures to show us of all this. I would like to have middle images in your brain.

Matt Jones (19:05)

No pictures. I did ask some of the women with me if they would take pictures so that I could have them when, so that I could prove to people I went, there's one of you standing.

Ryan Lemond (19:15)

On the, the shores of what, Cape Fear.

Matt Jones (19:17)

Cape Fear is. No, that's a movie. And that's, that would have been cool if you'd gone, that's a movie and that's in North Carolina. Sorry, close. The Cape Of Good Hope.

Ryan Lemond (19:28)

Cape of Good.

Matt Jones (19:29)

I stood on the edge which. Which was maybe the most beautiful view I've ever seen in my life. Cape of Good Hope. Right. The southwest tip of Africa where you look out into the ocean. That was very. I did get a video, but again, I didn't take that, Shannon. I had to get somebody to take it for.

Drew Franklin (19:43)

I understand. Now, going back the yogurt story real quick, because this is the one I want to focus on for just a second. When the guy said that you need a chaperone across the street.

Matt Jones (19:51)

Yes.

Drew Franklin (19:51)

Did you not think that maybe this guy, he lives there, he knows what he's talking about. Maybe I should take him up on that.

Matt Jones (19:58)

Well, so I drove in in the middle of the night or had a Uber, so I couldn't see the surrounding neighborhood.

Drew Franklin (20:03)

Right.

Matt Jones (20:04)

But there was, like, I could see across the street a mall. So I thought, you know, I can get that yogurt. And turns out, he was ridiculous. Right next to the yogurt store was a Rolex place. I would have been fine.

Drew Franklin (20:18)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (20:18)

But there are parts of the. I will say, yeah. To be fair to the guy, there are parts of that city that I wouldn't have gone without a. Like, we. So I went to a park called Soweto, and if you get the chance, you ought to look it up sometime. It's called Soweto for southwest territories. Basically, during apartheid, the government, any African American that was living in parts of the city, they just moved them all out. They made them all leave and go out, and they created these shanty towns on the outside of town, and they made them all move there. They basically. This is like, in the 50s and 60s, just completely moved out, millions of people. So we went walking through one of those places, and I mean, I'll. I'll remember it forever. It's the worst poverty I've ever seen in my life. You know, there's a lot of times I'm the same way. We complain about how bad things are and this and that. There's a lot I complain about in America. There's a lot other people complain about. You guys should say a prayer every single night of thanks. Because you, like, you can't. You can't picture how some people in this world have to live. Some of the saddest scenes that I've ever seen. And we went walking through them. And I've been to the poorest parts of Appalachia up in the hollers, and I've seen some places that are very, very sad. Now imagine you Take those places and you put a million people and you make them live on top of each other, right? Like on top of each other. Eight people in a room the size. Fifteen people in the room of the size of this shady rays right here. So when you see that, it's, it's disheartening and it's tough and it's, you know, it's nerve wracking. Listen, when you're 6 foot 4 and you look like me and you're white and you're walking through these places, you start to like, you can't help but feel like everyone's looking at you and you can't help it. But I'm so glad I did it because there will be a time where I will have something that I'm really upset about and I'll be ready to complain and I will just sit and think of that image, Ryan, and go, you know what? Things are pretty good here. There's. I'm standing here in a city where everyone here has access to pretty much everything. Even if they're not, if they don't have money, a lot of money, you can get by. Like it's a different thing over there. Sad.

Ryan Lemond (22:37)

Just hearing you talk about it breaks your heart.

Matt Jones (22:39)

Listen, that society is. Got the greatest wealth disparity of any society in the country. You can see some of the nicest mansions you've ever seen in your life. Drive four blocks and people are living in absolute squalor. And it's four blocks away and you just go, good grief. How in the world does this happen?

Ryan Lemond (22:57)

Was this part of your, the fellowship? Were you guys. It was part of the group field trip.

Matt Jones (23:01)

It was actually part of the second part they wanted to see. They want us to see the actual local community. And I'm glad we did it. And then, you know, because the history there, like, it's a lot of lessons for here and I don't want to get into all that. I may do that on the Matt Jones podcast sometimes, but a lot of lessons. But the thing I learned the most, I'm coming out of there saying I'm going to be more appreciative even in the worst time, Shannon, for what life is like for all of us as opposed to, you know, it's one plane trip away. People who share the same earth as us, same God, etcetera, Who live a completely different existence than we can even.

Drew Franklin (23:40)

Imagine gives you a whole new perspective that you weren't even really truly aware of. I mean, you see these things, I'm sure. But then when you see them in person. It's got a, you know, change you for the better. And it sounds like you took that away from your trip.

Matt Jones (23:50)

I hope so. Yeah. And also by not having a phone.

Drew Franklin (23:53)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (23:53)

Drew, you're living in the moment, walking there. And there's also not. Because there's nothing else to look at.

Shannon Ragland (23:58)

Yeah. I mean, it stinks. We need those reminders. But thanks for sharing that because we all need to realize how lucky we are.

Matt Jones (24:03)

But I do want. I do want to make it overall very positive because I did have a great time. Let's talk UK football when we return. 859-280-2287. Very disappointing week in the Georgia coming tomorrow. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. TJ Smith, personal injury attorney.

Ryan Lemond (24:20)

Call tj.

Drew Franklin (24:21)

He'll make him pay. Now more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones.

Matt Jones (24:27)

Welcome back, Kenny Sports Radio. I'll start to remember the cues here in a minute. We are here at shady rays. Buy one, get one off, 50 off two or more during the show today. They also have the new Wildcat blue colorway shaves. They have Kentucky shades in there. Make sure you get them during the show or right after the show today. 859-280-2287. Independent American owned company here at Shady Race. Quickly tell me the summary because I don't know the specifics. What? Because this was the day I lost my phone. Did Mark Pope and Pat Kelsey get in a fight?

Ryan Lemond (24:59)

Didn't get into a fight. It was Tay Kenny visiting him and the period to visit him started at midnight. So apparently Pope had scheduled like 12 midnight to 12:15 and Kelsey was coming in right behind him at 12:15 to 12:30. Well, traffic, things got happened. It was down in Atlanta. Pope got there late, so Kelsey went in a little early.

Matt Jones (25:19)

Okay.

Ryan Lemond (25:20)

So when they came back out, they had a little. Had some words. No, nothing physical. And apparently even hugged it out when it was over.

Matt Jones (25:26)

But they had words like in his yard.

Ryan Lemond (25:28)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (25:28)

That's kind of awesome. Franklin. I like. I would imagine you're a high school recruit and two of the biggest coaches in the country. At least one of the biggest. And the other one really tiny. Getting a fight right in your yard.

Shannon Ragland (25:39)

Yeah, it's the visual, I think. I think the height differential makes this so much more entertaining. When this first leaked out on message boards, the Internet, it was like Tay Kenny's dad is pulling him off of each other and there were baseball bats. It was like greatly exaggerated there for a little bit, but it does. It seems like the consensus has come out that they were yelling at each other pretty good outside.

Matt Jones (25:58)

People were writing me, Shannon going, what do you think about Mark Pope beating up Pat Kelsey? And I was like, what? Yeah. What? I didn't. I had no context because, like, I only had access to the news and it was like that wasn't on the news. So I. I go, did that really happen? I was getting excited, but it sounds.

Drew Franklin (26:14)

Like maybe it was greatly ex. The most embarrassing part of the story, though, is that Tay Kenny didn't pick either one of them.

Matt Jones (26:20)

He went to Kansas.

Drew Franklin (26:21)

After all of that, he ended up picking Kansas.

Matt Jones (26:23)

All right, let's talk UK football. I watched the first half of South Carolina disaster. Everything, you know, everything that's frustrated me about the last few years of Stoops era kind of summed up there into the first half problems again. Two turnovers that end up in touchdowns, an offense that looked completely lost to me. So I had a lot of time to sit and think about it. And Drew, here's where I am. You Mark's got to finish the season and I think fans should support the team. I know I'm going to be watching the game tomorrow. Hopefully people come out to KS bar and root like heck for him. Everybody did against South Carolina. We were full for the South Carolina game of people being excited. Look, we got seven, have what, eight games left. We might as well. Might as well cheer and be excited. With that said, you. You can't. This can't continue to go on like this. Kentucky football is a. And I said this to the Athletic yesterday. Right now, to me, it's a terrible combination of not good and boring, which is an awful conversation offer. Awful combination. Not only do we really not. Does it not feel like we have a chance to win these games, they're also awful to watch. Our offense is just a complete disaster. I don't blame Cutter Bowley. I got to be honest with you. I don't really blame Zach Calzada. And I'm now going back and not blaming Brock Vandergrift and not blaming even Devin Leary. At some point, when you bring in four high profile quarterbacks and none of them work, you have to sit there and go, all right, maybe it's. Maybe it's us. Not that. Right. At some point you have to say that. I also would say when you have an offensive coordinator that was here and is now three and one in the NFL and it's kind of the toast of the NFL and here the offense sputtered, you do have to sit here and Ask. Well, maybe it's not them. Maybe it's us, right? When we have guys that are playing in the NFL who were free agents that played here and yet were part of defenses or part of offenses that didn't have success, at some point you have to sit here and say, maybe it's not them, maybe it's us. There's only one common denominator in all this. Honestly, it's Mark. And for me, Mark's got eight games or seven games, whatever, left for me to see if I have any confidence. But at this point, if it doesn't get better, Drew, you can't bring this back next year. You cannot. You. You cannot. If the program is not significantly better in November, Drew, you can't run this back again.

Shannon Ragland (28:57)

No, this is kind of the. We're running it back this year because they went and got 40 new or 50 new players and you hit the reset button and it's like, now show us that you've got this back on track. And so far, it's not looking to be back on the track or even near a track at all. I can't even see a track. I hate how. You know, the two defensive touchdowns, that. That's awful. You're not going to win a game ever like that. But Even then, it's 21 to 10 in the second quarter. Yes, but when you're Kentucky football, 21 to 10 is lights out. It should not be the case that you're an SEC football team and it's over a top 10 paid coach, and if you're down 10, it's like, well, what could we possibly do down 10? There's just. They're not able to create explosive plays or come from behind in a gap whatsoever. If they don't get that first touchdown, which they did Saturday, if they don't just hang on to that with good defense, then they just can't outscore teams.

Matt Jones (29:47)

For me, it's a very simple question. And let's. I mean, we. We got a huge crowd here today. I mean, let me just ask. Is anyone in this crowd looking forward to watching that game tomorrow? One guy. You okay? Two guys. That's good. We've got 100 plus people here. There's two guys raising their hand.

Shannon Ragland (30:05)

They have Georgia cover.

Matt Jones (30:07)

I'm watching it, Ryan. I want us to win, but I'm not looking forward to it because I know what's going to happen. Here's what is going to happen tomorrow. We're going to be oddly more competitive than you think, but never have a chance to win the game and really never. So we're going to lose like 30 to 13 and it's going to be like we've always kind of been in it, but there's never going to be one moment in this game where anybody thinks we had a chance to win the game. That's going to be what it is. Tomorrow the final score will be. Maybe it'll be 37, 13, but it was like 20 to 13 halfway through the third quarter and we had the ball with a chance to tie and then we just got two yards and punted. And then that was it. Right. Grind. That's going to be the game. We've seen it a million times. I think it's going to happen again.

Ryan Lemond (30:56)

I think you're probably right. You know, I got to admit last weekend that we took the first drive and we got a touchdown. Second drive, we got a field go. I think, okay, they've got the offense figured out and then just nothing after that. And then, you know, Coach Dupes on his coaching show this week didn't offer any excuses, but he also didn't offer any solutions.

Matt Jones (31:12)

But he also had one phone call, from what I understand.

Shannon Ragland (31:15)

Yeah, 30 minutes in and.

Matt Jones (31:17)

And not because he wouldn't take them because no one's calling. Like that's the problem. Is apathy. The thing that kills your program, Shannon, is apathy. Yeah, we were getting towards the end of Cal with a little bit of apathy. I was. You can't have that. We are in apathy. And next week, Big Blue Madness is happening on an off week of UK football. At that moment, this show will only be talking about basketball. Let's be real. I mean, I'm not saying that's what it should be, but that's what it'll be. Every single one of you all will be asking me questions about basketball. We'll be talking about the roster, we'll be looking at the schedule. It's going to be like, it's going to be out of mind. And then Texas is going to come, right?

Drew Franklin (32:03)

Tennessee.

Matt Jones (32:03)

And then Tennessee is going to come. And then by the time we get to games that in theory we could be competitive against Auburn. Vandy, we're gonna be playing basketball against the number one team in America, Purdue. We're gonna have Louisville just around the corner and those bat football games are going to be like, well, they're on. I guess I'll watch it. But Shannon, Apathy is going to hit and you in 2025 when nil and everything is so important, you cannot have apathy in your football program. And we have it.

Drew Franklin (32:32)

You know, I think back to the Joker Joker Phillips era, the first couple of years of the Mark Stoops era. About this time of year we all shift our attention to basketball. But then Stoops kind of took that away for a while when they had success. But now I feel like we're trending back to those early Mark Stoops years to where we're now to the point where we don't care and we're ready for basketball October 3rd.

Matt Jones (32:51)

There's one more thing that and this when I was talking to the athletic yesterday, they were talking Drew about and they pointed this out because they were asking, they asked me a question about it, but then he pointed it out and I went, man, that's a good point. All right, so what teams, Drew Ryan, are on our level in theory in the SEC as programs? What are the teams on our level?

Ryan Lemond (33:13)

Mississippi State.

Matt Jones (33:14)

Mississippi State. Mississippi State beat a team that was in the playoff last year at home this year, nearly beat Tennessee at home last week. Mississippi State I think we would all say is clearly on the rise. Who else?

Shannon Ragland (33:26)

Missouri.

Matt Jones (33:27)

Missouri two years ago went is 110 plus games would have been in the playoff if we had the current playoff system and is five and oh, right now it's another one.

Ryan Lemond (33:36)

You think Vandy.

Matt Jones (33:37)

Vandy is in a game today, that score game tomorrow, that's game day against Alabama with a chance to really, if they win tomorrow, have a shot at going to the playoff. Vanderbilt football, what else?

Ryan Lemond (33:51)

Well, South Carolina was in South Carolina.

Matt Jones (33:53)

We are uncompetitive against South Carolina the last two years.

Ryan Lemond (33:56)

They've won the last four in a.

Matt Jones (33:57)

Row and we have not been competitive in the last two games. Who else?

Ryan Lemond (34:02)

Arkansas.

Matt Jones (34:03)

Arkansas just fired their coach and decided we're not going to be on this level anymore and they've decided to make a change. Now you just hit the five teams that I think are on Kentucky's level and Drew, every single one of them, every single one of them is either much better and on the rise or has made a coaching change. We are definitively 16th out of 16 in the SEC. We are literally definitively. There's not even an argument. We are 16th out of 16. Drew, you just can't be that. You just can't be that.

Shannon Ragland (34:35)

And that's why if you want to talk, pony up and nil. And the things for Kentucky's at a disadvantage. I'll hear you when we're having a conversation about trying to knock down the Georgia wall or get to you know, an SEC championship. But these other schools have just as many disadvantages. Vandy even more. And they figured it out. You can go outside the conference. Look at Indiana right now. I mean, they went and got a coaching hire who has completely turned a program that was nothing into a contender and a playoff contender. So I, you know, we can talk all day about, well, he doesn't have enough money. Well, he has enough money to be better than 16th in the country. We'll talk to the money. When you're trying to get to fourth, fifth in the conference right now we just need to not be dead last.

Matt Jones (35:17)

So our goal here is to at least we'll. We make. We will never be on the level of Alabama, Georgia, LSU and like Texas in terms of resources. But our goal was to get to a level that was like the Tennessee, Florida, Ole Miss. That level. Well, that level. Forget that. We're now in the last level. That Mississippi State, South Carolina, Vandy, Arkansas, Missouri. And within that level, we are definitively the worst situation. Definitively. It's not even arguable. We're definitively the worst situation. And Ryan, you can't keep that up. When they go into this off season, if they're going to fix this, they're going to need $20 million worth of players. Who's given that money? Who's giving that money? If you don't have a change, we, we have to either improve exponentially or this is going to have to switch.

Ryan Lemond (36:16)

I think what hurts us as a fan that I think we had fought and clawed our way back up to get into that middle tier a little bit. We were ahead of these five schools you're talking about, but now we've dropped. Not just with them, we're below them.

Matt Jones (36:26)

Yeah, you got an Auburn hat on, sir. We were SP last year. That was a game. If you want to be successful in the sec, you have to beat Auburn at home. You have to. You have to. And not only did we not win, I think we got dragged. If I remember correctly. Now we're going. Now we're going there. Now we're going there. I just don't have any confidence. So I, I hate it. I like Mark Stoops and I will say this. Mark Stoops is, in my opinion, the best coach Kentucky has had in modern college football in my lifetime. The best. And if he. And one day when he's gone, everyone should applaud him and one day we should honor him in the way we've done Tubby Smith and Rick Patino, etc. But it's not about what you did in the past, Ryan. It's about the future. And I don't see a way that this fan base can continue on the trajectory it is.

Ryan Lemond (37:17)

No, because there's no answer for this season. I think we're in just for a long, hard, ugly season. The rest of the way we bought in. You know, they were so quiet this spring. Maybe that's why they were quiet. Maybe they knew we were gonna have a bad season.

Matt Jones (37:27)

You think they were quiet because they knew we were gonna stink?

Ryan Lemond (37:28)

Maybe so.

Matt Jones (37:30)

No.

Shannon Ragland (37:30)

Then they checked out on the offseason completely, even though they deny it. They did.

Matt Jones (37:34)

They did a spring game.

Shannon Ragland (37:35)

They didn't even act like there was a spring game. But part of that was, you know, you talk to people in the circle, you're like, well, it's a quiet confidence. They're just going to catch everyone off guard, right?

Matt Jones (37:44)

Well, they did.

Shannon Ragland (37:44)

So now they're here and there's nothing. It's like, well, what did we just do all year?

Matt Jones (37:48)

I said, during the off season, if you're going to be like this, well, you better be good. You know, if you're not going to get fans engaged, well, you better be good. And they weren't good. UK Federal Credit Union if you would like to join, you do not have to be UK graduate. You don't have to be a part of UK to join. That is a myth. Joining is not an ordeal. Right now you can go UK Federal Credit Union. Seven local local branches are online in under three minutes. You can sign up whether you wear blue or not, white or not. It is UK Federal Credit Union membership eligibility required. Federally insured by ncua. We'll take a break and be right back. This is Kentucky Sports Radio.

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Matt Jones (39:23)

Welcome back. It is Kentucky Sports Radio here at Shady Rays. By the way, I actually got it wrong at Shady Rays. If you buy two in there today, the entire purchase is 50% off. It's not buy one. The second one's 50% off. The entire purchase is 50% off.

Ryan Lemond (39:38)

Wow.

Matt Jones (39:38)

So that's pretty good. They got sunglasses in there you can get. Basically, if you get two of the same one, you get two for the price of one. So that's during the show today and after the show in store right here. So make sure you do that. 859-280-2287. I want to talk some basketball in the second hour. Before we get to that, let's go to a couple other things. Bruce Pearl is no longer the coach Drew Franklin. I have some strong thoughts about that, but what do you think about him resigning? Apparently, he's not going to run for Senate, so I don't know what he's going to do, but my guess is he's going to end up with a conservative political talk show. That's my guess. But what do you think about him not being a coach?

Shannon Ragland (40:14)

I was surprised he actually did it. You know, it was rumored for a few weeks that he was considering stepping away for a Senate run. But I thought, you know, he has the political interest. He's very open about it. I thought that was just him being a part of the conversation, not that he would actually retire a year removed from what? Winning in Rupp arena, winning the regular season, making the Final Four. I thought he'd still try to go a little bit longer to try to actually get a national championship since he's been so close. So I was shocked.

Matt Jones (40:40)

What an absolutely Ryan completely selfish action by Bruce Pearl. No, it is. It's completely selfish. Wait till two weeks before the year. Your players cannot transfer. Right. You put the school in a position. I mean, they can, but they can't really, because where are they going to go? Like, everybody else has already filled their rosters. I mean, maybe the top guy could go, but most the guys are going to be stuck there. Plus, the semester's already started. Like, he went. He waited until they got till the end of this. Like, you can't even enroll at some of these schools this late. Then you make it to where the school has to pick your son. Now, they were probably going to pick his son anyway, but you wait till right before the season and they have to pick your son. So you end up with a situation like Villanova did with Jay Wright where he did it to where they had to pick the assistant and then that guy ended up not being very good. So you're coming completely selfish. You spent the last few months basically saying you didn't want to be the coach, but you didn't have the guts to actually do it. Instead, you trapped everybody and waited until the last minute to do it. Bruce Pearl's a great coach. I think Bruce Pearl's really funny. I've really. I like Bruce Pearl. If he came here right now, I'd say, hey man, great to see you. You've done great. We, we're. We. We can be friendly. But that was a completely selfish action that now he's done the Jay Wright did, Tony Bennett did. I think these coaches, it is unbelievable to me that they would do that and put their teams in that position.

Ryan Lemond (42:10)

Yeah. You know, I'm a Bruce Pearl supporter. I've always liked Bruce Pearl, but the timing of it, he. He put the Auburn basketball program put. Put him in handcuffs. There's nothing they could do.

Matt Jones (42:18)

Nothing they could do, nothing they could do. And they've made it. I think Shannon, he doesn't even help his son because rather than his son getting an off season to build the team in his image and to get some time now if they don't succeed, they'll be. They'll put it on his son. He didn't even get that long to do it. He didn't even get to establish he's. Now he's got his dad's culture with the team. I just. I see. And I know we have an Auburn fan. You might disagree with me, but I just think that was just a completely selfish act by him for an otherwise great coach who really has built something awesome at all.

Drew Franklin (42:47)

I agree with you. You should have announced that last March. I was also shocked to see the news. Also kind of surprised they signed Stephen Pearl to a five year deal if.

Matt Jones (42:55)

They really didn't want.

Drew Franklin (42:56)

I mean. Yeah, exactly. And I think Bruce Pro. They said he's going to be like an ambassador to the program. I'm not really sure what that even would you.

Matt Jones (43:02)

But if you were Stephen, would you want him around? No, no, I wouldn't want my dad over there. Like, like if you're going to make it on your own, you need to establish. I mean I could see Bruce showing up at practice and telling Stephen to shut up and start the coach.

Drew Franklin (43:15)

He's the ambassador. I Guess he could do that.

Matt Jones (43:17)

You know what I mean? Like, I wouldn't want that if I was Stephen, to be honest. No.

Shannon Ragland (43:21)

I expect Bruce sitting in the corner at practice with a whistle and a clipboard and he won't chime in a lot, but his presence is just enough that it's a distraction and it won't feel like they've really handed things over. I, I feel like now that we've seen Tony Bennett just do it last year you mentioned Jay Wright. There's probably others at other levels. We don't even know. These are three high profile schools. Is this like a move that coaches will start doing without question? Like, is this because there is no doubt back programs? Because I don't think anyone expects that it's going to work for Steven and it probably won't work at Virginia and it didn't work at Villanova.

Matt Jones (43:53)

It's been pretty clear for a while. And by the way, this is fine. He's a grown man. Like he has a right to do whatever. It's been clear for a while. His mind is on a different world. He wants to be involved in politics. It's clear. He does interview after interview after interview about politics, which is totally fine. But if you want to do that, Bruce, go do it. Right? Go do it. Maybe you'll be successful, maybe you won't, but go do it. But this, I think Auburn basketball is going to take a step back and they didn't need to and they're going to because of his selfishness. Yeah.

Ryan Lemond (44:24)

Bruce Pearl built Auburn basketball. One of the best teams in the conference. One of the best teams in the country. Stephen Pearl didn't even get the Murray State job.

Matt Jones (44:32)

That's a really good point.

Ryan Lemond (44:33)

He was runner up for Murray.

Matt Jones (44:33)

He was right. Well, you know, now I'll be coaching Auburn. We'll take a break, come back, talk some UK basketball next.

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