2026-03-26- KSR - Hour 2

Summary

KSR - Hour 2 (March 26, 2026): Summary

Main Theme / Episode Overview

The KSR crew broadcasts live from Great American Ballpark to celebrate Reds Opening Day, providing Kentucky sports fans with a lively mix of baseball talk, Kentucky basketball debate, and special guest interviews. This hour centers on an in-depth conversation with esteemed announcer Tom Brennan, candid discussions about post-9/11 sports, the current state of Kentucky Athletics, and audience interaction around UK basketball, March Madness, and Opening Day optimism.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Special Guest Interview: Tom Brennan

• Background: Brennan discusses his storied broadcasting career, his family legacy (his father is legendary Reds announcer Marty Brennaman), and personal stories covering major sports moments.
• On Post-9/11 World Series Experience: Brennan recounts the profound atmosphere during the 2001 World Series in New York, less than two months after 9/11, offering a vivid, emotional perspective on the intersection of sports and national healing.
• Insight on Broadcasting: Talks about his approach to broadcasting—even "lesser" games receive his full effort and passion, and he shares advice given to his son following in his footsteps.
• Reds Season Outlook: Skeptical of overhyping young star Elly De La Cruz, Brennan stresses the need for the team’s promising group to prove their worth—drawing parallels to the 1990 championship roster.

Memorable Quote:
“Trying to describe what that was like standing on a street corner where right in front of you... That is what is in front of you. And the whole world watched on television when that happened. And to be standing there, it was just, it's indescribable.”
— Tom Brennan, on Ground Zero after 9/11 [06:22]

Memorable Quote:
“Listen, until you go out and hit 40 bombs and go steal 70, 80 bases in a season, you know, then come talk to me about it and play Gold Glove defense.”
— Tom Brennan, on comparisons between Elly De La Cruz and Eric Davis [12:24]

Timestamps:

• Brennan’s post-9/11 World Series story: [04:03] – [09:43]
• Broadcasting advice and reflections: [10:03] – [11:53]
• Reds and Elly De La Cruz discussion: [12:03] – [13:50]

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2. Reaction & Reflection on Tom Brennan’s Interview

• Hosts and callers praise the depth and insight of Brennan’s stories, especially about the emotional post-9/11 games.

“Listen to him talk about that...these are big league baseball players, but they're Americans...it affected all of us.” — Mario [17:13]

Timestamps:

• Immediate reaction: [16:33] – [17:28]

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3. Kentucky Basketball Hot Takes & March Madness Conversation

• Discussion of fan rooting interests—Kentucky, Arkansas, and St. John’s in the NCAA Tournament.
• Speculation about coaching carousel moves (e.g., Billy Donovan to North Carolina, John Shire to the Bulls) and their implications for rivalries and UK’s future.
• Bracket picks and opinions on high-profile NCAA games.

“At this point I'm just pulling for the Johnny’s. They're my team from here on out.” — Shannon [18:41]

Timestamps:

• March Madness and UK fan rooting: [18:14] – [20:14]

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4. UK Basketball Coaching: Pope, Comparisons, and Concerns

• Callers and hosts weigh in on the Mark Pope era—his record, fan worries he may be "just good enough," and whether that meets UK’s sky-high standards.
• Debate over former players or legends (like Rajon Rondo) joining staff as a value-add and the potential pitfalls of nostalgia-based hires.

“Consistently, 21-12 is about the worst thing that could happen for Kentucky because...it makes you look unreasonable to fire him, but also isn’t successful.”
— Ryan Lemond [26:07]

“If you look at Rajon Rondo, interview him, talk to him, and you feel like he's the best candidate, then hire him. But it can't just be because he went here. Because that's what gets us in trouble.”
— Matt Jones [37:43]

Timestamps:

• Pope’s record debate: [25:16] – [27:27]
• Nostalgia hires and Rondo talk: [37:27] – [39:59]

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5. Red Hot Reds Talk & Fan Calls

• Season predictions and opening day enthusiasm for the Cincinnati Reds.
• Fun banter over worn-out Reds apparel, opening day nostalgia, and fans previewing breakout players.

“If this shirt makes it through the end of the day, Mario, look at all the deformities this shirt has already. I don't know if it's going to make it through the day, do you?”
— Ryan Lemond, on a caller’s old Joe Morgan jersey [24:13]

Timestamps:

• Wear-and-tear jersey debate: [23:42] – [24:58]
• Reds fan calls: [21:00] – [24:15]

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6. Donor Activism & UK Administration Critique

• Ongoing saga: Donor Brett Setzer’s public beef with Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart and President Capilouto over contract transparency.
• Analysis of how pressure from donors and media shapes university athletics decisions.

“He will absolutely not drop it. Like we said this week, you take. It's gonna take somebody with a little power to kind of make something happen. He is that guy.”
— Mario [29:44]

Timestamps:

• Donor pressure and activism: [29:17] – [31:09]

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7. Kentucky Basketball Brand Power

• Notable ratings for Kentucky’s NCAA games—second most-watched in first and second rounds—demonstrate the program’s enduring draw.
• Discussion on CBS/ESPN scheduling and what being “the needle” really means in college hoops.

“What makes you a marquee program is that teams want to see you look, fans want to see you lose. Why do people watch the Yankees? They want to see them lose... That's part of it.”
— Ryan Lemond [32:41]

Timestamps:

• Brand appeal and TV ratings: [31:09] – [34:09]

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8. Insider UK Drama: ‘Wild Doge’ Twitter Account

• Hosts discuss the anonymous 'UK Wild Doge' account, which claims insider knowledge of UK Athletics and health system.
• Speculation ramps up due to cryptic tweets and responses to local media.

Timestamps:

• UK ‘Doge’ debate: [44:01] – [45:29]

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9. Other Notable Topics

• Debate over Mark Pope’s transparency and approach with the media.
• The UK assistant coaching staff discussion: game prep, possible staff turnover.
• Gambling and bracket betting insights ahead of the night's NCAA games.

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Notable Quotes & Moments (With Timestamps)

• “Trying to describe what that was like...it's indescribable.” — Tom Brennan, on Ground Zero [06:22]
• “Right now, he can't carry Eric Davis's jock.” — Tom Brennan on Elly De La Cruz [12:03]
• “Consistently, 21-12 is about the worst thing that could happen for Kentucky...” — Ryan Lemond [26:07]
• “We still are the, I would say, number two marquee program in college basketball. I wish it was number one, but if I’m being honest, it’s number two now.” — Ryan Lemond [32:57]
• “If we're going to add Rajon Rondo, we should add Rajon Rondo. Even if ...he went to Georgia...but it can't just be because he went here.” — Matt Jones [37:43]

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Segment Timestamps (Selected Highlights)

• [02:44] Show proper begins, live from Great American Ballpark.
• [03:54] Tom Brennan joins; 9/11 World Series discussion.
• [12:03] Reds’ season preview, Elly De La Cruz hype.
• [16:33] Immediate reaction to Brennan interview.
• [18:14] March Madness picks and UK fan rooting dilemmas.
• [25:16] Caller debate: Mark Pope’s coaching and what’s “good enough.”
• [29:17] Donor pressure and the Barnhart/Satzer saga.
• [31:09] Kentucky’s TV ratings and college basketball “brand” power.
• [44:01] UK ‘Wild Doge’ Twitter account mystery.
• [37:27] Coaching staff nostalgia hires (focus on Rondo).
• [47:00] Rapid-fire: Show schedule, future fill-in hosts, gambling picks.

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Tone & Style

The episode retains KSR’s trademark blend of sharp sports analysis, good-natured jabs, Kentucky fandom, and irreverent storytelling. Listeners get big-event optimism (Reds Opening Day), candid debates about Kentucky basketball, doses of nostalgia, and community engagement through live calls and speculation on hot topics.

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For Listeners: Why This Episode Matters

• Unprecedented insight via Tom Brennan on post-9/11 sports and the demands of sports broadcasting.
• Assessment of UK basketball’s present and future—warts and all—from fans, media, and insiders.
• Sense of Kentucky sports community—from grown men in junior league jerseys to debates on who really “moves the needle."
• Lively banter and honesty—equal parts fun and real talk, for diehards and casual fans alike.

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End of Hour 2 Summary – KSR, March 26, 2026

Transcript

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[Shannon]

welcome to hour two of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones.

[Matt Jones]

Welcome back.

[Ryan Lemond]

It is Kentucky Sports Radio here, our number two at great American ballpark. Holy GR Reds opening day. Ryan Lemon and been joined.

[Mario]

Happy to be joined by Tom Brman

[Ryan Lemond]

who stayed with us through the break. I gotta tell you, Tom, two things.

[Mario]

One, I got a text on the

[Ryan Lemond]

text machine that says tom Bran is

[Mario]

proof Matt, you do not have a voice for radio.

[Ryan Lemond]

Right.

[Mario]

About that. Very true. Because you have the voice for radio.

[Tom Brennan]

Well, thank God for it. Still hanging in there after 62. We'll see what happens.

[Mario]

We've been very lucky though, for a terrible voice. We've been able to make it work here for a few years, but.

[Ryan Lemond]

And then this guy right here.

[Mario]

Tom, there is no bigger fan, your dad than this dude right here. Like, he geeks out at just the mention of it.

[Caller or Guest]

I sent your dad a text message while ago. They said he may be here. I have his number. He texts me back.

[Ryan Lemond]

I'm like, yes, Marty Brennan text me.

[Tom Brennan]

Why is he coming, by the way?

[Ryan Lemond]

He's in the parade.

[Tom Brennan]

Well, I know he's in a parade.

[Caller or Guest]

Yeah, he apologized. He liked. He said he listens to our show. Oh, my goodness. Marty Brennaman listens to our show. I'm. I'm set for life now.

[Tom Brennan]

Absolutely.

[Ryan Lemond]

Have you ever done a Kentucky game?

[Tom Brennan]

No, never done a Kentucky game. Done the Big Ten games, ACC games, Pac 12 games, the old Pac 12, but never an SEC game.

[Ryan Lemond]

I want to go back to that

[Mario]

911 thing you were stored.

[Ryan Lemond]

I mean that I remember that World Series very distinctly. You, you called through the whole thing

[Tom Brennan]

on the Arizona Diamondbacks radio because on television it goes to the network.

[Ryan Lemond]

So tell me, you go into New York Post 9 11, and that takes a big symbol, that series. Almost like America has persevered and we're going to keep. What was that like, New York?

[Tom Brennan]

We played the first two games in Arizona. We won the first two games. You know, we have Randy Johnson and Kurt Schilling and we got. We Got a really good team. And so now we come in and so Rudy Giuliani is the mayor of New York at the time. And we're roughly at this point about a month and a half removed from 9, 11. It's like late October because the World Series started a little bit late. Yes, very late October. And so he was looking at that, at that particular point in time with anybody that had any sort of celebrity to come down to Ground zero and just to try and cheer up the guys that are literally digging through rubble, £10, 10 stories of rubble, to try to find bodies. And so he had asked the Diamondbacks if the team would come down there. So we landed in New York after an all night flight after game two, and we, we get off the plane and the buses take us directly to Ground Zero.

[Mario]

Yeah.

[Tom Brennan]

And man, I mean you couldn't believe it. And.

[Ryan Lemond]

Well, I mean, what was it like? Could you. Was it still in the air?

[Tom Brennan]

Oh yeah, and smoke coming up. Still, still. And, and the, the, the, the building where it had been blown up and subsequently collapsed, the Twin Towers, it was probably eight to 10 stories high of just the rubble from the buildings.

[Mario]

Oh my goodness.

[Tom Brennan]

And there are people climbing those 10 stories, dogs, people trying to see if there's anybody under there still alive. I mean, hour after hour, day after day. And this was six, seven weeks after

[Ryan Lemond]

the actual explosion to process. I mean, you can hear it, but what was it like to see it,

[Mario]

smell it, be there?

[Tom Brennan]

You know, Matt, it's like the old Jimmy Buffett side about, you know, don't try to describe the ocean if you've never seen it. Right. You know, trying to describe what that was like standing on a street corner where right in front of you. That is what is in front of you. And the whole world watched on television when that happened. And to be standing there, it was just, it's indescribable. And you know, a lot of our players, well known guys, and we had a bunch of them because we had a very much a veteran team of guys that had been great players. Cy Young Award winners, Randy Johnson, Mark Grace. Mark Grace. We had Luis Gonzalez, Steve Finley, Matt Williams, we had J. Bell, I mean, we had a veteran team and, but, but none of those guys had won a World Series before. So, you know, they put the team together, cost a lot of money to come in there and try to win one. And even those guys, and most of them at that point were in their mid to late 30s, you know, and, and I think everybody in the traveling party and then so you Know, you do that, you're off day. The next night we come back, and you got to remember, I mean, everything is pretty much still at, by and large shut down in New York.

[Ryan Lemond]

Are you nervous? I mean, there were people who thought

[Tom Brennan]

that might be a place for never, never for a second. But then we had a police escort, our buses to go to Yankee Stadium, and you're driving down some of the busiest streets in America, you know, midtown New York, to get to the Bronx, and just going through the streets and looking around, and it's still almost kind of a borderline ghost town. It was just weird. And. But then when we got in the stadium at night, the atmosphere, the energy of people in that town that just needed that game for. Just to feel better for a little while, you know, and. And then, like you said, President Bush comes out, throws a strike. You know, I mean, that pitch, I

[Mario]

say this all the time, and the listeners know, politically I couldn't be less

[Ryan Lemond]

aligned, but that pitch, I remember, yep, America needed that. They needed that. And then he threw a strike.

[Tom Brennan]

Well, I mean, perfect.

[Mario]

Perfect.

[Tom Brennan]

And what a lot of people don't, don't know unless you've seen that documentary, there have been a number of them about it. And so some people are aware of it now, but when he went out there, he had on a bulletproof vest underneath his jacket. So, I mean, it wasn't like just you or me walking out there and trying to do it in the nerves and so on and so forth, but he was walking out there with this, you know, really heavy, thick jacket, which is going to limit, you know, how well he was going to be able to actually move. And I mean, he delivered a strike. And then you look up, the crowd is going crazy. I mean, I can see it like it happened 10 minutes ago. And you look up and that eagle is flying around the stadium, and the emotion and the crowd. And then they went and had a real eagle.

[Mario]

They actually did it.

[Tom Brennan]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. They. The next three games, they won for the first time in the history of the World Series, they won after trailing at the end of the eighth inning in all three games. They won all three games in their lasted bat.

[Ryan Lemond]

But you all won the World Series,

[Tom Brennan]

came back and beat him two in a row.

[Mario]

Yeah, that was the one the storybook didn't quite. Yeah, didn't quite get there.

[Ryan Lemond]

All right, so now you've done that, right? You've done game seven, World Series, right?

[Mario]

You've done.

[Ryan Lemond]

Boys, you've done one of the most famous college football games of all Time.

[Mario]

The Boise State. Oklahoma.

[Tom Brennan]

Yeah.

[Ryan Lemond]

It's Clemson versus Boston College. How do you get yourself up for it?

[Tom Brennan]

Oh, man, are you kidding? When you don't work. And it wouldn't have mattered if I didn't have a job for four years. I mean, I've always, and maybe it's from growing up and, you know, understanding how precious and few those jobs are. I mean, they really are. You know, I tell my son, and he's in broadcasting at Indiana University, and he got a chance to broadcast all three of their games in the College Football Playoff on radio, student radio. And, you know, I, I, I've always tried to tell him, dude, I don't care if you're doing, you know, forget Clemson and Boston.

[Mario]

I'm in basketball.

[Tom Brennan]

Well, I know, but I don't care if you're doing whatever it is, man, almost all the people that are watching that game wish they had your job.

[Mario]

That's true.

[Tom Brennan]

Almost every one of them.

[Mario]

That's right.

[Tom Brennan]

Not everyone, but a lot of. And so to get those kind of opportunities, never for a second do I look at it like, to step down from what I used to do and why am I doing this? And all those not, not a chance in this world.

[Mario]

Your dad's a legend. What's it like to be a kid that then tries to follow a legend in the same profession?

[Tom Brennan]

Never. Never thought about it for five minutes.

[Mario]

Really.

[Tom Brennan]

Not one time. And I've tried to say the same thing to my son. You're your own guy, whatever you like. I can help you with some little things. Like my dad would me if there were things about actually broadcasting I needed to ask him about, you know, would you think of that or would you have done that a little bit different, that kind of thing. But no, never for a second thought about, oh, I got to live up to this or live up to that. And I give a lot of that credit to my mom, you know, rest her soul. But, you know, she wanted to make sure that, hey, don't get wrapped up in all of this kind of thing. And, and my wife, I think, does the same thing with our son in the same regard.

[Mario]

All right, before I let you go, I am a red season ticket holder. Yeah. What do we think about this season? Is it going to be what I hoped last year would be? The summer of Ellie? Are we going to have a big year?

[Tom Brennan]

Well, it's time, I mean, it's time for him to do it. You know, I want to get sick to my stomach. When I've heard people around here on Local radio, talking about, you know, Ellie's the next Eric Davis. Well, right now, he can't carry Eric Davis's jock. So far. So far. I'm not saying he won't be able to.

[Mario]

Yeah.

[Tom Brennan]

But I mean, listen, until you go out and hit 40 bombs and go steal 70, 80 bases in a season, you know, then come talk to me about it and play Gold Glove defense.

[Mario]

Yeah.

[Tom Brennan]

Which Davis did in center field. So I'm. I have no doubt Crew De La Cruz is capable of doing it. But now's the time that you got to put it together. And you could say the same thing, not only just about him, but about three or four other of those young guys that have come up at the same time. Because, you know, you go back to that group that won the World Series in 1990. I mean, they had Paul O', Neill, they had Chris Sabo, they had Barry Larkin, they had. I'm forgetting another Eric Davis. They had all these guys that had come up, you know, had their highs and lows for about two, three years. And then all of them collectively and individually, bang. They all arrive, really at the same time. They put it all together, and the team subsequently wins a World Series. Well, this group has a little bit of that in them. You know, you've got Marte to a lesser extent. Shorter amount of time. Nonetheless, third year now to big leagues. You've got McLean, who looked really good. Steer. You've got Stevenson. You've got Ladola. You've got Ladola. Well, yeah. Lodolo and Green. That's a whole different topic. But, but, but, yes, it's time now for those guys to live up to all the potential. Quit talking about the potential and make it into reality.

[Ryan Lemond]

Tom, thank you very much for doing this.

[Mario]

I'm glad to have you on.

[Tom Brennan]

Thank you.

[Mario]

Look at how excited this man is.

[Ryan Lemond]

You just made a fish.

[Tom Brennan]

You guys got the best seat in the house.

[Mario]

We do have the great seat.

[Ryan Lemond]

This is a great seat. Appreciate it.

[Mario]

Great to see. See you.

[Ryan Lemond]

Nice to see you.

[Tom Brennan]

We're gonna take a break.

[Ryan Lemond]

Be right back.

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[Mario]

That was an awesome interview. Listen to him talk about the.

[Ryan Lemond]

I didn't know that he did the

[Mario]

911 and I didn't either. I had no idea that that's, you know, that's.

[Ryan Lemond]

I was just telling Mario the story story the other day about, about the last, about the last plane in the air.

[Mario]

You know, we've talked about that over there that there was a plane in the air on 911 where they didn't know whether or not it had been hijacked and they were trying to decide whether shoot it down.

[Caller or Guest]

Right.

[Mario]

I was telling Mario that story. I just, I'm always fascinated by all those stories.

[Ryan Lemond]

Probably because I end up going to

[Mario]

New York a lot and I know, I now know that area really well. So listen to himself say that. I, I thought was really great.

[Caller or Guest]

I loved hearing him tell the stories how, you know, the whole team went down there because they wanted to see it. You know, these, these are big league baseball players, but they're, they're Americans, you know, and it affected all of us. I thought he was really open and vulnerable too. Talking about his time away from broadcasting off the air.

[Mario]

I'd never met him before.

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[Mario]

I don't know if it's going to be quite Shannon. As lovey dovey as that one was.

[Ryan Lemond]

No, but, but we'll see. We'll have to figure out what, figure

[Caller or Guest]

out what can bond over both being big reds fans though today.

[Mario]

What is this thing right over here? Oh, the Florence Yalls.

[Ryan Lemond]

I was like y.

[Mario]

What is that head?

[Caller or Guest]

Just like the, the water tower. Painted like the water tower.

[Mario]

All right. 859-280-2287.

[Ryan Lemond]

Are you watching Kentucky?

[Mario]

Are you watching Arkansas tonight? Are you watching.

[Ryan Lemond]

Are you pulling against Cal? Pulling for Cal? Not watching. What are you doing?

[Caller or Guest]

I'm, I'm pulling against Cal. But you said the spread was eight and a half. That's, that's a lot of points.

[Mario]

Really hard to.

[Caller or Guest]

That's a lot of points.

[Ryan Lemond]

So I'm doing Shannon, a classic moneyline hedge tonight.

[Shannon]

There you go.

[Ryan Lemond]

Taking a rooting against Arkansas but putting a significant amount of money on Arkansas.

[Mario]

So if they win, I feel better.

[Shannon]

I'm with you.

[Mario]

That's what we're doing tonight.

[Shannon]

And at this point I'm just pulling for the Johnny's. They're my team from here on out.

[Ryan Lemond]

St. John and you know I'm going

[Mario]

to that game tomorrow night.

[Shannon]

Oh yeah.

[Caller or Guest]

It's amazing how all of big blue nation is now on board with St. John's because of Patino.

[Ryan Lemond]

I'm, I'm going to. At St. John's Duke. I'm not only going I'm wearing a St. John's hat. I'm wearing a St. John'S hoodie. I don't know why. I don't know what's gotten into me. But I'm like. Especially since it's against Duke.

[Caller or Guest]

You've got to.

[Ryan Lemond]

What about the reports that if Donovan takes the Carolina job, John Shire might become coach of the Bulls? That's.

[Caller or Guest]

Well, you said it could.

[Ryan Lemond]

That would be interesting. I mean that could flip that rivalry on its head.

[Caller or Guest]

No doubt.

[Ryan Lemond]

You could go from it looks like they found a coach who could replace Shashevsky who's actually good and then you

[Caller or Guest]

could lose him just a couple years later.

[Ryan Lemond]

You don't know what's next. And then Billy Donovan's at North Carolina. That would be amazing.

[Caller or Guest]

That would be kind of. Well, you said it could start a snowball from Chicago.

[Mario]

I think.

[Caller or Guest]

Aha. Probably grew up a Bulls fan then.

[Ryan Lemond]

Without question.

[Caller or Guest]

That'd be a big dream job for

[Ryan Lemond]

him and I would think he'd be a good hire for them because I think he's smart and it seems like pretty good and he's. He's basically dealing with pros now and clearly it's working. Yeah, I mean the amount of guys who can coach pros and make it work. Cal was clearly one. Looks like John Shire might be one too.

[Caller or Guest]

And you know, kind of that Brad Stevens mold where you know, the coaching is not in your face. It's more analytics and kind of calm. I could see him working there.

[Mario]

Do you. So you're pulling for Arizona.

[Caller or Guest]

I am pulling for Arizona, but Arizona.

[Mario]

Shannon, we're not pulling for Arkansas.

[Shannon]

No, no, I've got Arizona for no other reason my bracket. But yeah, I don't want to hear.

[Ryan Lemond]

I'm going to tell you this though.

[Mario]

You write this down.

[Ryan Lemond]

If, if Arkansas wins tonight, they're going.

[Mario]

I think they're going to the championship game. I do, I.

[Ryan Lemond]

And I don't want that. But they will win the next game.

[Mario]

They will beat the winner of Purdue in Texas.

[Tom Brennan]

Yeah.

[Mario]

So I, I need Arizona to win

[Ryan Lemond]

tonight just for me, you know, because I'm, I'm not, not trying to be a hater but I don't think it

[Mario]

does Kentucky basketball any good. Every game he wins.

[Caller or Guest]

I, I'm pulling for Arizona but I may bet Arkansas just to me that's a lot of points.

[Mario]

I think that's a lot of points. Especially when the Arkansas's got dude as good as a. Who's next?

[Shannon]

Bob and Jamestown.

[Mario]

Oh great.

[Ryan Lemond]

859-280-2287 Bob, it's opening day.

[Caller]

I know, man. The side show of the big shows going on down there on the Riverback. They're tearing down Longworth. All make room for that new bridge going up. Anyway, you know, you got. Talking to Tom. That's Tom with an H. You know, he spells his name with four letters, not three. Anyway, there's a statue of Marty, his dad, and some kid broke the microphone off. But they're gonna get the new one for $37,000. Recast a new mold. Anyway, we're gonna see the Ellie get some home runs today and beat the.

Beat the sock.

[Mario]

All right. I appreciate it.

[Caller or Guest]

That's a classic.

[Ryan Lemond]

It really was. Shannon in the realm of Bob and Jamestown calls.

[Mario]

That was about as Bob and Jamestown call as you get right there.

[Shannon]

Took a lot of turns, a lot of things.

[Ryan Lemond]

He talked about the bridge being open, a microphone broken. A microphone broke.

[Mario]

And what was the middle thing he said something in between.

[Shannon]

I don't know.

[Ryan Lemond]

It was also nonsensical.

[Shannon]

Forgot about it.

[Mario]

Yes.

[Caller or Guest]

What the heck did he say?

[Ryan Lemond]

Oh, he said Tom with an H.

[Mario]

Which, by the way, I knew. It's like no one's ever seen that guy.

[Caller or Guest]

You know, he spells it with four letters instead of three.

[Ryan Lemond]

I've heard. I'm glad to hear.

[Shannon]

Almost like it's short for Thomas or something, you know?

[Mario]

Yes. Bob and James down. Who's next?

[Shannon]

Rick.

[Mario]

Rick.

[Ryan Lemond]

Go ahead, Rick.

[Caller]

Hey, guys. Happy opening day.

[Tom Brennan]

I'm.

[Caller]

We're on our way up from Louisville. We're getting ready to hit Cincinnati here in about 15 minutes. Really great interview with Tom. Really enjoyed that.

[Mario]

Thank you.

[Caller]

As big as a Kentucky fan as I am, I'm a bigger Reds fan, and I absolutely just love opening day. And this might be the most excited I've been for the Reds in a really long time. I think a lot of people are really undervaluing how big a deal it is with Terry Francona being in his second year, coming off his first year of making the playoffs. I. I think there's three keys to this team. I think three guys are going to have absolutely breakout seasons. Nobel Marte, Sal Stewart and Matt McLean. I think those three guys are going to have just unbelievable seasons as long as our bullpen can hold up. I really like this team's chance to go a long way this year.

[Mario]

All right.

[Ryan Lemond]

I appreciate the call.

[Mario]

Thank you very much. I didn't expect a Reds preview there, but that's okay. I won't go into my thoughts. We'll probably. I got plenty of time to be disappointed. As the season goes on. By the way, where'd you get that jersey? Just out of curiosity, like, that's not. First of all, what is it? What number is it?

[Caller or Guest]

It's number eight, Joe Morgan.

[Mario]

Okay.

[Caller or Guest]

But it was my son Michael's little league jersey when he was 12 years old. 12 years ago.

[Ryan Lemond]

Shannon. It kind of looks like a 12 year old's jersey. Both in the.

[Caller or Guest]

Yeah, this is definitely.

[Ryan Lemond]

The fit is not ideal.

[Caller or Guest]

Yeah, it's definitely 12 years old.

[Ryan Lemond]

The stitching looks to be coming apart. Shannon. It is three or four different places where they get those clothes at the toilet store. I mean, it is. I. I just.

[Mario]

I'm gonna.

[Ryan Lemond]

I'm gonna. If you don't mind, I'm gonna touch

[Mario]

your body here a second. Okay.

[Ryan Lemond]

Right there is a. A hole for me. Right here is a hole for me. Right here is a hole for me. And right here, the stitching seems to become undone. If this shirt makes it through the end of the day, Mario, look at all the deformities this shirt has already. I don't know if it's going to make it through the day, do you?

[Caller or Guest]

But we've missed the best part. It's got my name on the back. It's got.

[Ryan Lemond]

Oh, my goodness. It's worse in the back.

[Mario]

Shannon, how many deformities?

[Ryan Lemond]

Oh, my. Like, there are multiple threads coming out of it. 1, 2, 3, 4. There's no way this shirt is making it through the day.

[Shannon]

They'll be taking it off anyway.

[Ryan Lemond]

Right here is laughing at you, and she doesn't even know you.

[Caller or Guest]

I know.

[Ryan Lemond]

Let's.

[Caller or Guest]

I mean, I used to play for the Reds. This is my jersey when I played.

[Mario]

Okay, who's up next?

[Shannon]

Let's go to Brent.

[Caller or Guest]

She totally believes.

[Ryan Lemond]

She does not.

[Mario]

Thank you.

[Ryan Lemond]

Hey, man.

[Caller]

I was. Yeah, man. I was looking at something on Twitter and it said, Mark post average wins for the last 10 seasons. He's won 21 games and he's lost 12. Don't you worry that. That he will be just good enough not to get fired, but not to be able to take Kentucky to a. To the level that he needs to take us to. To get back to Final Fours and championships? Because I just can't imagine him coaching us to. To a championship game. I'll hang up and listen. Thank you.

[Ryan Lemond]

Well, that's a great question. Now, I. I actually can imagine him

[Mario]

getting us to a championship game, but

[Ryan Lemond]

I will tell you consistently, 2112 is about the worst thing that could happen

[Mario]

for Kentucky because you're.

[Ryan Lemond]

Because he's right. That's the kind of thing that makes you look unreasonable to fire him, but also isn't successful. Do you know what I mean?

[Caller or Guest]

Yes. That's why.

[Ryan Lemond]

That's what Tubby was doing at the end.

[Caller or Guest]

Exactly. Right.

[Ryan Lemond]

You know, it was like just good enough, but not what we want.

[Caller or Guest]

And when Pope went on his coaching show the other night and compared his record to the last four years of the cow era, I didn't like. That's just kind of what the caller was saying. That's just, you know, good enough. We don't want just good enough. We want better than that.

[Ryan Lemond]

It's tough because I don't want it to be the case. Like, we've asked him to be more open, and you can't be the kind of people that are like, we want you to be more open. And then when you're open, go.

[Mario]

We don't like what you said. Yeah, right. So this is our server if you want something.

[Ryan Lemond]

So I didn't like, though, the comparison to Cal because he was acting like mediocre is good. Yeah. Like saying, this is not good enough. He did. Kept saying that, but I don't know, he got. Did you see Seth Greenberg blasted him for it?

[Caller or Guest]

I didn't see that.

[Tom Brennan]

Did you see?

[Ryan Lemond]

Did you see Seth Greenberg absolutely blasted him.

[Caller]

And.

[Ryan Lemond]

And I don't like Seth. I'll take Mark over Seth. But he was kind of. I was like. He was like, you know, if you're going to pick cows last four years, why don't you pick the 10 before that, huh? And there's something to that.

[Caller or Guest]

There is. Yes.

[Ryan Lemond]

So 859-280-2287.

[Mario]

We're gonna see if we can get our guy Bill Cunningham to come screaming in a minute. We'll be right back.

[Ryan Lemond]

TJ Smith, personal injury attorney. Call tj. He'll make him pay.

[Shannon]

Now more of Kentucky Sports Radio, presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones.

[Mario]

I picked the wrong apparel for today, Shannon.

[Ryan Lemond]

I didn't think.

[Mario]

I didn't realize it was gonna be 80 degrees.

[Shannon]

Oh, yeah. It's supposed to be like 86. Later.

[Mario]

Yeah. So I'm gonna have to go in the Reds team shop and get a new shirt because I'm wearing a black hoodie.

[Shannon]

Yeah.

[Caller or Guest]

Sitting in the sun.

[Mario]

I couldn't have picked the worst thing. So I'm gonna have to go in the Reds team shop and get something new.

[Ryan Lemond]

You might. You know what I'm gonna do for

[Mario]

you because I love you even through all your youness. Ryan, I just realized the buttons on this shirt are broken.

[Ryan Lemond]

I'm gonna buy you a new shirt. Well, you and I are gonna both

[Mario]

and Mario has no reds gear. So I'm gonna buy us all reds gear. Which is probably Gonna cost me $600 to buy three red shirts in the Reds team shop. But I'm gonna do that for you and Mario because Mario right now is wearing camouflage pants and a black T shirt. We need to get him in the spirit.

[Caller or Guest]

We do. I appreciate it but you know I'm not a reds fan.

[Ryan Lemond]

I know.

[Mario]

But I can't keep seeing you wear this.

[Shannon]

This.

[Caller or Guest]

But this is kind of means a lot to me. This shirt does.

[Mario]

Cuz it's your sun shirt. I won't buy your shirt. I offered. I wish I brought my Shady Rays cuz it's sunny.

[Ryan Lemond]

Our Shady Rays. Basically the same quality as those 200 sunglasses you used to buy because it's

[Mario]

made with the same stuff but it is just cheaper.

[Ryan Lemond]

Premium is the expensive brands, but a lot less expensive. Shady Rays.

[Mario]

Shady Rays dot com.

[Ryan Lemond]

They got it at Fritz Farm in Lexington, Oxmoor center in Louisville.

[Mario]

Or go to shadyrays.com the way you get with Shady Rays is to get great sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated by five stars with shady rays Ryan and shadyrays.com.

[Ryan Lemond]

let's go over a couple of other little notes. Brett Setzer, the. The donor who's been going after Mitch Barnhart. He's one of the knuckleheads about the contract. Really not even so much. Mitch Barnhart. Eli Capilouto. He tweeted. I still haven't heard from President Capilouto since sending my letter this past Monday. And then he has a lot of emojis.

[Caller or Guest]

Crickets.

[Ryan Lemond]

Cricket Setzer. Yeah. It sounds like he ain't gonna drop this.

[Caller or Guest]

He will absolutely not drop it. Like we said on the show this week, you take. It's gonna take somebody with a little power to kind of make something happen. He is that guy. He's gonna keep pushing it to try to make something happen.

[Mario]

Yeah, I listen.

[Ryan Lemond]

I said this the other day. It ain't going away.

[Caller or Guest]

Nope. You know it's not gonna let it go away.

[Ryan Lemond]

We were the first ones to mention it. Then Linda Blackford made a big deal about it. I don't think she's done.

[Caller or Guest]

She's not gonna let it go.

[Ryan Lemond]

She's not done. And I don't think Brett Setzer's done. And I do think Brett has given permission for other people who are UK donors to speak. I think now the question will be will any of them do it right. So I do think in order.

[Mario]

If you.

[Ryan Lemond]

I do think other ones are going to need to speak. I don't think it can just be be Brett, but he is kind of almost now given permission. Okay, the rest of you can now speak and let's see if they end up doing it.

[Caller or Guest]

You know, he's a guy all of a sudden just said, okay, I'm not going to give my money to UK football anymore. You can't use my plane to fly your teams there anymore.

[Ryan Lemond]

But I don't even know if that's what it is. I think it's just he's the kind of dude that likes to raise a ruckus. You know, he's a Kentucky fan, but he. Some people are not Ruckus racers. I'm a ruckus racer.

[Caller or Guest]

You are really?

[Ryan Lemond]

He's a ruckus race.

[Spin Quest Promoter]

He is.

[Ryan Lemond]

And so I could see him continuing to down this path.

[Caller or Guest]

Yeah. Like I said, he's not gonna let it, let it die. Somebody that's maybe leading the charge for other donors to follow.

[Mario]

Yeah.

[Caller or Guest]

Other donors that will follow.

[Ryan Lemond]

Other piece of news I thought was interesting, the ratings for the first round and second round. The NCAA tournament came out. NCAA tournament, first round, Kentucky, Santa Clara, the second most watched game of the entire first round, which is crazy to me considering it was on at noon. On a Friday.

[Mario]

It was on at noon and still

[Ryan Lemond]

number two, number one was Duke, Sienna,

[Mario]

of course, which is cuz Duke almost got beat. Yes.

[Ryan Lemond]

Then in the second round, Kentucky, Iowa State, second most watched game next to Kansas, St. John's which of course had Ray Patino and Bill Self. I bring that up as to say it doesn't, it doesn't take over, like obviously we'd rather win, have national championships, etc. But Ryan, anybody who wants to say, and I don't care who it is that says it, anybody that wants to say Kentucky is not a marquee program or not a brand, I'm just going to say to you, go look at that. We were the second biggest game in the second round and the second in the first round and we're the only team that was in both.

[Mario]

Okay.

[Caller or Guest]

And both games were at noon and

[Ryan Lemond]

we were the only ones in both. Duke had the biggest first round game, but the third biggest second round game. Kansas had the biggest second round game, but like the 25th biggest first round game. We are the only team that was in both. And our second round game wasn't even that close in the second half and we're still in it. And People can say, well, they're watching, hoping Kentucky will get beat. But that's what makes you a marquee program.

[Caller or Guest]

Yes.

[Ryan Lemond]

What makes you a marquee program is that teams want to see you look, fans want to see you lose. Why do people watch the Yankees? They want to see them lose.

[Caller or Guest]

Right.

[Ryan Lemond]

Why do people watch the Cowboys? Because they want to see him lose. That's part of it. Why do you want. Why do we watch Duke? We want to see him lose.

[Caller or Guest]

So are we the needle?

[Ryan Lemond]

Duke is probably the needle now, if I'm being honest. We have dropped the needle to Duke, but we're second still, and we're second without having made a Final Four in a decade. If we can ever get back to doing that, we'll pass Duke. But I still, I. Sometimes it's our fans that say it. Sometimes it's fan of other teams. But we still are the, I would say, number two marquee program in college basketball. I wish it was number one, but if I'm being honest, it's number two now. If Carolina hires Billy Donovan, they're going to join us. Kansas is probably just a notch below that, but we're still there. So I. I do think that's important for people to understand. Yes, I'd rather win, but we will not stop mattering.

[Caller or Guest]

Is that why CBS and the network put Kentucky's.

[Ryan Lemond]

That first game when the CAA tournament bracket comes out? Let me tell you what happens at cbs. CBS says, who is Duke playing? Who is Kentucky playing? All right, let's place those in the slots that we want people to watch.

[Caller or Guest]

Yep.

[Ryan Lemond]

Let's place those in the slots on CBS in the afternoons.

[Caller or Guest]

Yes.

[Ryan Lemond]

And then they go, okay, where's Carolina now? Let's put them up there. And then they start going, all right, let's see, matchups. Oh, Bill Self versus Rick Patino.

[Mario]

That's big.

[Caller or Guest]

That's a good one.

[Ryan Lemond]

But before they do anything, where's Duke? Where's Kentucky? And that's what they do. It's what ESPN does. Why do you think these national shows spend so much time talking about us? It's not because we're great. It's because we care and we're marquee. And that's why you're never going to convince me, at least now, that we're not. We're not Indiana. When's the last time you've seen an Indiana game in a prime slot anywhere? 1980, but we still are.

[Mario]

So that's what I think is important

[Caller or Guest]

for people to realize, and that's why Want to kick off the NCAA tournament? Put. Put Kentucky in that spot.

[Ryan Lemond]

I think what they've realized is cuz, cuz I saw this thing that Duke and Kentucky more and more in the

[Mario]

last few days have been playing the day games on Thursday and Friday because

[Ryan Lemond]

they take the mindset we're going to get people in the pattern of watching the games all day by kicking it off with Kentucky and Duke and then everybody.

[Caller or Guest]

And then you keep them.

[Tom Brennan]

You.

[Mario]

And then you keep them throughout the day is. Is I think the mindset. Who's next?

[Shannon]

Pat.

[Mario]

Pat. Go ahead, Pat.

[Ryan Lemond]

Hey, how you guys doing?

[Caller]

I'm just, actually, I just moved back into town. Hey, but watch UK every game this week.

For the first time in a long

time, let's admit it, hope is just not it. He looks too much at numbers and he can't even. I mean my fiance was watching the game and we're sitting double team and nobody, nobody would even come up. He's like, why don't they come up and help him?

[Ryan Lemond]

He knows nothing.

[Caller]

I mean we. He doesn't have any game plan. I mean, I know he had those comebacks and that's great, but they were comebacks we should never had to come back from. I agree, they weren't. We should have been beating all those teams. So yeah, great comeback, but he's too busy putting it and look at the court and figure out who should be in that game and who shouldn't. So I mean, we can say everything we want and okay. And everybody I know say okay, he played for us.

[Tom Brennan]

Great.

[Caller]

That's fantastic. But Matt, I've heard you say a thousand times, don't pick somebody because they play for us. Kentucky coach and I went, you know,

[Ryan Lemond]

I went against my, my thing. I've been saying for 15 years on this and I still look even our coach.

[Mario]

So I'm going to support him. I appreciate the call and I think

[Ryan Lemond]

he's going to have another year and I hope it succeeds. But it's the thing about falling down early in the games. Ryan, it's not just this year. We did it last year too. Like this isn't just this year that we fell down. It's last year. We, we had huge comebacks last year too, if you remember. Not more this year, but we had a lot last year.

[Caller or Guest]

So I had a coach point out to me, you know, the assistant coaches are responsible for the game prep for getting ready for the game.

[Mario]

Well, maybe we need to replace them all.

[Caller or Guest]

That was their point.

[Mario]

We are, it sounds like, I don't

[Ryan Lemond]

know if it's going to be all. But I think there's going to be a decent amount replaced, and maybe that's the correct thing to do.

[Caller or Guest]

That was his point. You know, the assistant coach get you ready for the game. Head coach then makes the adjustments at halftime a lot of times.

[Mario]

Oh, look at these nachos.

[Ryan Lemond]

Look, Delaney.

[Mario]

Thank you. Look at this. Can I get another diet, please? I'm sorry, we're ordering on the air, but we don't have a choice. Who's up next?

[Shannon]

Let's go to Swag Sandwich.

[Mario]

Swag Sandwich.

[Ryan Lemond]

How are you? I'm doing good.

[Matt Jones]

Guys, I just wanted to say this,

[Ryan Lemond]

and I've not heard anyone say it yet.

[Caller]

Why don't. Why don't we look at, like, Rajon Rondo, like,

[Ryan Lemond]

for the exact same reason that we just said about the former players. Why now is Rajon Rondo potentially a good coach? Maybe. And if. If. If Mark Pope believes he is. But what I would say to you is, if we're going to add Rajon Rondo, we should add Rajon Rondo. Even if we would have added him if he went to Georgia. If you. If you look at Rajon Rondo, interview him, talk to him, and you feel like he's the best candidate then hiring. But it can't just be because he went here. Because that's what gets us in trouble. I think when we do that. Well, I just think he would help

[Tom Brennan]

a lot with recruiting.

[Ryan Lemond]

Like, you know, you say that, but how do you know? I mean, like, has he ever recruited before? Maybe he would. I'm not saying he wouldn't, and I'm certainly willing to give him a chance. But if I'm the coach, let's say I was the coach, I'd talk to Ran Rondo, but Raon Rondo would have to convince me that he would do better than anyone else. It can't. It can't just be because he went here. Like, that's why I love the idea of, like, T.A.

[Mario]

prince when we were talking about him

[Ryan Lemond]

as GM, because it wouldn't be just

[Mario]

because he went here.

[Ryan Lemond]

He's gone and had success in the NBA. He knows the Joby Muhammad was the same way. When we talk about a guy like Ran, who might be awesome, but he's never done that before. So we're only bringing up his name, Ryan, because he went here, the one

[Caller or Guest]

hooked to get him. Maybe you get early recruitment of his son.

[Ryan Lemond]

Well, now that's maybe a reason. And if they wanted to bring him on, that was a point of mine. Too. Yeah, no, that's a fair. I really think that.

[Caller]

No, I. I think that he could just get involved in some way, contribute.

[Tom Brennan]

I'm not saying.

[Caller]

I mean, you know, you see Po

[Ryan Lemond]

on the sidelines, you see self on the sidelines.

[Caller]

You see these guys with these faces.

[Ryan Lemond]

And we don't have one.

[Caller]

We don't have Rick on our sidelines or sitting in the bit, you know, in the sand.

[Ryan Lemond]

We don't have. If it's not an assistant coach, though,

[Mario]

and I appreciate the call.

[Ryan Lemond]

Let's say he's in, like a player development role, you know, because there are all these people on the staff we

[Mario]

don't even know, like, random guys.

[Ryan Lemond]

If you hired him for that, then sign me up. I'm for that.

[Caller or Guest]

That's a different animal.

[Ryan Lemond]

That's a different animal. But you only get so many assistant coaches, so I want to be careful with that. But if you're talking about just one of the player development roles, sure.

[Caller or Guest]

Yes.

[Ryan Lemond]

He'd be great. For sure.

[Caller or Guest]

Who wouldn't want to have a guy like that on your bench?

[Tom Brennan]

NBA champion.

[Mario]

Yeah.

[Ryan Lemond]

Because, like, I don't think Tyler Eulis is an assistant.

[Mario]

Is he?

[Caller or Guest]

I don't know what exactly what his role is now in Arkansas, but, like,

[Ryan Lemond]

what Tyler Eulis did, did here. Yeah, I'm for.

[Mario]

I'm for it if they wanted to have him in, in that role.

[Ryan Lemond]

859280, 2287 all right, I'm gonna go

[Mario]

see if I can find Bill Cunningham. Shannon. I don't totally know what he looks like, but I'm going to look like.

[Ryan Lemond]

See if it's an old man yelling

[Mario]

at the garage and if so, I'm going to try to bring him over here. We'll see what we can do. We'll take a break and be right back.

[Tyler Reddick]

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[Ryan Lemond]

Welcome back. It is Kentucky Sports Radio. This lady just came over here and said here's a picture we took nine years ago. And then she goes, you look so young. The implication of course is that I don't look that young anymore.

[Mario]

But you're right. But that's okay.

[Caller or Guest]

Well, nine years ago you were in your 30s. 50s.

[Mario]

Now I'm in my 40s, so it's a little different. Bill Cunningham doesn't get here till 12:30, unfortunately.

[Caller or Guest]

So I was kind of looking forward to that. That'd be a good. Been a good segment. Little back and forth.

[Mario]

I keep scaring this guy. I'm sorry, it's my Bill Cunningham. What do you.

[Ryan Lemond]

One person writes. Matt, what do you think about Buzz Baker tweeting the UK Doge account? Do you know about this whole thing?

[Caller or Guest]

Oh yes.

[Ryan Lemond]

So there's a Twitter account called like UK Wide Doge yes. It ignores the fact that the original

[Mario]

doge was a failure. There's my little political comment.

[Ryan Lemond]

But the, the, the premise of it is he's giving the behind the scenes of, like, stuff that he alleges is happening at uk.

[Tom Brennan]

Oh, yes.

[Ryan Lemond]

He, he seems to be on the academic side. He seems to be very focused on the UK healthcare.

[Caller or Guest]

Yes, Big time. That's why I thought maybe we were talking about that.

[Ryan Lemond]

So he tweeted something yesterday and he starts analogizing what's happening with UK athletics with UK healthcare. And then Dave Baker responds and goes, can you tweet talk?

[Mario]

Which makes me wonder if, like, cuz this is an anonymous person, nobody knows who this is. I've tried to figure out who it is and no one knows.

[Ryan Lemond]

Like, all the journalists in Kentucky are behind the scenes going, who is this person?

[Mario]

Like, I know.

[Ryan Lemond]

I mean, I, I've heard a lot of them asked. No one seems to really know Dave Baker.

[Mario]

For whatever reason, he's publicly trying to talk to the person.

[Caller or Guest]

It's definitely somebody that's on the inside. And he's got some really, really good inside information.

[Mario]

It seems like it.

[Ryan Lemond]

I mean, I don't know.

[Mario]

You know, I haven't. I'm not sure if it's real or not.

[Caller or Guest]

But when Dave reached out to him. Can we talk the guy?

[Ryan Lemond]

I think people think that that makes

[Mario]

it seem legit, the fact that Dave reached out to him.

[Tom Brennan]

Yeah.

[Caller or Guest]

And then the response was, I am Batman. I think that was.

[Ryan Lemond]

Oh, is that what his response was? I didn't see that meme.

[Caller or Guest]

And like, I don't think.

[Ryan Lemond]

I think this person's just gonna stay anonymous.

[Caller or Guest]

I do too.

[Ryan Lemond]

Kind of, Kind of intriguing, isn't it? Who is the anonymous person?

[Caller or Guest]

I just found it like a week or so ago, and I immediately called Drew. Are you aware of this?

[Ryan Lemond]

It started a long time ago, but it has really picked up steam.

[Caller or Guest]

Oh, my goodness.

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[Mario]

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[Ryan Lemond]

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[Mario]

They continue to expand. It's Cornbread Hemp.

[Ryan Lemond]

Do I need a napkin? Why is everybody. Why is he giving me napkins?

[Caller or Guest]

I don't know.

[Mario]

Everybody's got me worried.

[Ryan Lemond]

Okay. All right, well, Cornbread Hemp. Cornbread Hip dot com.

[Mario]

I thought you. You got me worried about what I spilled.

[Caller or Guest]

You were good.

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Go to Cornbread Hemp. Use the code ksr.

[Ryan Lemond]

We'll do Dr. We'll do our picks in a minute. We got time to take a call.

[Mario]

Who's next?

[Shannon]

Let's go to Hunter.

[Ryan Lemond]

Hunter. Go ahead.

[Tom Brennan]

Hunter.

[Ryan Lemond]

Hey, Hunter. Hey, Matt.

[Matt Jones]

So I wanted since with all the Billy Donovan talk, I wanted to remind everyone why Mitch Barnhart could not wait for Billy Donovan. That Friday the swim coach allegation story was coming out so he needed a hire to bury that story by Friday. That's how we ended up with Mark Pope.

[Mario]

I appreciate the call. There have obviously been people over the years that have made that argument. Argument. Only Mitch would know the timing of it.

[Caller or Guest]

But.

[Mario]

But yeah. Who's next?

[Shannon]

Let's go to Willis.

[Ryan Lemond]

Willis. I got about a minute.

[Mario]

Go ahead.

[Matt Jones]

Just want to thank Brad Setzer for calling out the administration. I think he did.

[Tom Brennan]

He, he.

[Matt Jones]

Other people need to step up. Also I want to touch on. I hope North Carolina does not hire Billy Donovan because that's who we need. Thank you.

[Mario]

Appreciate the call.

[Ryan Lemond]

Yeah, I mean listen, people can get on the media. There's two ways things happen. People in media say it or people

[Mario]

in important places say it.

[Ryan Lemond]

The media did it with Mitch. Now it's up for people in important places. Brett Setser did it and now we'll

[Mario]

see if somebody else does as well.

[Ryan Lemond]

Let me go over a couple things real quick for this week. I am off tomorrow and next week

[Mario]

just taking a few days of vacation.

[Ryan Lemond]

Billy is going to be on the show tomorrow at various points. I'm letting Ryan drive for a couple days. Drew is going to drive for a couple days. We're even going to let Billy drive for a day and then Jack Pilgrim and Nick Roush will be on various

[Mario]

days as co host. So we'll hear a bunch of variety of voices and we'll have people on

[Ryan Lemond]

here who know what they're talking about

[Mario]

as opposed to just me and Ryan.

[Caller or Guest]

Yeah, I look forward to having Jack and Nick on because they're kind of more in the weeds of some stuff we've been talking about.

[Mario]

So be watching for that.

[Ryan Lemond]

So that'll be tomorrow and next week. Go to KS Bar. Watch the games for this weekend. Starting tonight.

[Mario]

We'll have them.

[Ryan Lemond]

We got a lot of specials going on and I'll be back after that.

[Mario]

So I've got like I'll be gone for six shows and then I'll be back for. For quite some time.

[Caller or Guest]

Look for you at the St. John's Duke game.

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[Ryan Lemond]

All right, he's good at Arkansas and Arizona.

[Mario]

Arizona.

[Ryan Lemond]

It's now only a seven and a half point favorite.

[Mario]

Who you got?

[Caller or Guest]

I'm still taking Arkansas to cover. I think Arizona wins. I'm taking Arkansas all to cover.

[Mario]

Purdue and Texas.

[Caller or Guest]

Yeah. I can never bet on Purdue.

[Tom Brennan]

What's.

[Caller or Guest]

I don't even know what the spread is.

[Tom Brennan]

I don't. I can't.

[Shannon]

Seven and a half Texas covers.

[Ryan Lemond]

I. I like Tex.

[Mario]

I like both Texas and Arkansas to cover.

[Ryan Lemond]

Maybe even to both win. Certainly both to cover, I guess. What? Houston, Illinois. Is that right?

[Shannon]

Yep. Houston, Illinois, two and a half point favorite.

[Mario]

I like Houston.

[Caller or Guest]

I got Houston winning.

[Ryan Lemond]

Remember, they're on home.

[Mario]

Their home court.

[Caller or Guest]

That's right.

[Ryan Lemond]

It's at Houston.

[Shannon]

Nebraska, Iowa. Nebraska is a 1 1/2 point favorite.

[Ryan Lemond]

Give me Iowa.

[Caller]

Iowa.

[Mario]

Yeah.

[Caller or Guest]

Somehow the bright.

[Ryan Lemond]

I like the underdogs in all these except Houston. See you later. This has been Kentucky Sports Radio live and opening day. Go Cats and go Reds.

[Mario]

We'll see you later.

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