Kentucky Sports Radio (KSR) – Hour 1

Date: December 16, 2025
Host: Matt Jones
Co-hosts/Guests: Myron Metcalf (ESPN), Shannon

Overview

This episode of Kentucky Sports Radio kicks off with Matt Jones broadcasting from Lexington and welcoming ESPN’s Myron Metcalf (also his co-host on Sunday mornings) as a special guest. The hour blends KSR’s trademark humor with a deep dive into Kentucky basketball’s current struggles, the dynamics of team chemistry, the challenges of play-by-play broadcasting, and the unique culture of Kentucky fandom. The episode stands out for its playful banter—especially around the broadcast pairing of Matt and Myron for an upcoming bowl game and Myron's notorious, peanut butter-themed catchphrases—balanced by candid basketball analysis.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Broadcasting Banter & Prepping for the Bowl Game

• KSR Crew Updates: Ryan and Drew are both out—Drew due to back trouble, so Myron steps in. Adam Luckett slated for Hour 2.
• Play-by-Play Firsts: Jones and Metcalf discuss prepping for their first national football game broadcast together—neither has done this exact pairing before.
  • Matt reveals he's never done play-by-play. Myron admits his color commentary is mostly in basketball, not football.
  • Myron shares his workshopping of catchphrases, most involving “peanut butter and jelly,” to the crew's amusement.
• Practice Makes Perfect: Matt’s been practicing play-by-play at home muted during Monday Night Football, finding it awkward at first (22:06).
• Anecdote from the Pros: Myron tells a story about seeing Gus Johnson loudly practicing in a parking lot before a game to get into the groove (22:51).

Memorable Quotes:

• "I've watched football. I've seen plays happen. One after another." — Matt Jones (06:05)
• "That ball stuck to his hands like peanut butter to jelly..." — Myron Metcalf, testing catchphrases (09:02)
• "A lot of my catchphrases involve peanut butter and jelly. Should I change that up?" — Myron Metcalf (09:44)
• "This isn't going to go well. I mean, that's just kind of... This is not going to go well." — Matt Jones on their upcoming broadcast (10:08)
• "Matt wants to take phone calls during a play by play call of a game. That's... You can't take a phone call, mention that game." — Shannon (48:05)

2. Kentucky Basketball: Chemistry, Assembly, and Identity Crisis

• Kentucky is College Basketball's "Cowboys": Myron draws a parallel to the Dallas Cowboys, noting that Kentucky hoops drives disproportionate national media attention (11:17).

• Team Critique: Disconnection & Undefined Roles:

  • Myron: "They just seem disconnected... It feels like there are seven guys that think they're the number one or two option, and that just never works. No team has ever had that situation and won big." (11:53–12:43)
  • Discussion about basic, fundamental lapses—rebounding, defense—being more critical than mere shooting woes (12:52).
  • Emphasis on "vibes": Teams that like each other tend to play better. Myron notes he's not seeing Kentucky “vibe” (13:31–14:36).

• Questions of Assembly:

  • Matt asks if the team is “poorly assembled.”
  • Myron: The portal/transfer era makes it hard for any team to get all the right pieces, even with resources (13:35).
  • The real issue is intangible: teams that “don’t vibe” behind the scenes tend to underperform.

• Mark Pope Under Pressure:

  • Pope claims the team will still be a great shooting team and addresses his lack of sideline energy as medically ordered voice rest.
  • Shannon is skeptical: “We can’t have a coach on vocal rest. He’s not Mariah Carey.” (16:15)
  • Myron suggests Pope’s intellectual tone sometimes rubs fans the wrong way: “Without even trying, you can sound like you’re trying to be smarter than everybody else.” (16:23)

3. Roster Construction & Recruiting in the Portal Era

• Pope’s Recruiting Woes:
  • No commitments for the upcoming year; concern among fans about whether the next wave of top players can be secured (28:49).
• Freshmen vs. Transfers:
  • Myron and Matt discuss the shift: only genuinely top-tier freshmen (top six or so) can carry a modern power program. Most successful teams blend kept veterans with premium newcomers (38:49–39:28).
  • “Depth is the most overrated thing in our sport. Once you get to mid-January, you got six or seven guys who are really playing for every team in America.” —Myron Metcalf (50:27)

4. Baked Bean Bowl & Comic Relief

• Louisville’s Boca Raton Bowl:
  • The oddity that fans can enter with a can of Bush’s baked beans (26:12).
  • “I do like the idea that if you bring a can of beans to the game, you get in for free... They were like, thought they were going to the playoff. They’re literally playing Toledo for beans.” —Matt Jones (27:00, 30:14)
  • Shifts to a playful debate about commodity prices, bowl game relevance, and crowd quality.

5. Listener Interaction & Call-in Comedy

• “Jish” and “Cadence” Calls: Rapid-fire name confusion, birthday shout-outs, playful grilling of Myron's Louisville (“Lou-uh-vull”) pronunciation, and discussions about team depth and elite players (47:44–49:53).
• Call-ins highlight: Multiple listeners bring up nuanced statistical points (e.g., rebounding context), while some ramble long, to the amusement of the hosts.
• Shannon to caller Will: "Maybe take a day off, Will." (38:04)

6. Behind-the-Scenes at KSR

• Chemistry with Myron:
  • Matt hints at strong but sometimes combative behind-the-scenes energy: “We could sometimes be yelling at each other, and then they go '30 seconds' and we turn it off, and we'd be fine.” (24:48)
  • The running joke about Myron’s peanut butter obsession is punctuated by a listener text: "Peanut butter doesn't stick to jelly. It actually sticks to bread." (25:40)

7. Miscellany & End-of-Hour Banter

• Catchphrases Revisited: Myron continues workshopping peanut butter and jelly lines, to increasing skepticism and laughter from the crew (46:19).
• Gift-Giving and Wrapping Disasters: Matt, Shannon, and Myron laugh about not knowing how to wrap gifts, defaulting to bags (“bags are informal”) (41:57).
• Idioms Gone Awry: A running gag about "different ways to cook a pie" instead of "skin a cat" (40:12).

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Kentucky Basketball’s Identity Problem
  “I don't think, in my time covering basketball, that I've ever covered a team where you didn't know definitively who your number one, number two, number three options were… It feels like there are seven guys that think they're the number one or two option, and that just never works." — Myron Metcalf (11:53–12:43)

• On Mark Pope’s Coaching Style
  “We can't have a coach on vocal rest. He's not Mariah Carey.” — Shannon (16:15)

• On Roster Building in the Portal Era
  “There’s five guys you want every year and beyond that… once you get outside the top five, you have a better chance of getting somebody in a portal who's as good or better than that player coming in.” — Myron Metcalf (39:28)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Meet the Fill-In Crew & Intro to the Hour: [03:34]
• Myron’s Catchphrases & Broadcasting Banter: [05:03] – [10:13]; [46:19] – [47:44]
• Kentucky Basketball’s National Status & Team Chemistry Critique: [10:39] – [14:36]
• Mark Pope’s Challenges (Shooting, ‘Vocal Rest’): [14:36] – [17:13]
• Louisville’s Baked Bean Bowl and Banter: [26:12] – [30:09]
• Broadcasting Practice, Gus Johnson Story: [22:06] – [23:36]
• Listener Calls & Listener Questions: [27:46] – [28:49]; [47:44] – [50:48]
• Roster Construction & Portal/Freshman Debate: [28:49] – [39:40]

Conclusion

This KSR hour is a quintessential example of the show’s charm: sports talk laced with inside jokes, self-deprecating humor, and genuinely insightful basketball analysis. Matt, Myron, and Shannon let listeners in on both the pressures and the fun of live sports radio and broadcasting. From concerns about Kentucky basketball’s disjointedness, Pope’s voice woes, and recruiting vacuums, to lighthearted riffs on baked beans and peanut butter, the episode offers fans both catharsis and entertainment as the Cats’ season unfolds.