2026-07-20- KSR - Hour 1

Summary

Kentucky Sports Radio (KSR) – Hour 1 – July 20, 2026

Main Theme:
Billy Rutledge hosts alongside the KSR crew, diving into Kentucky sports news from a packed summer weekend. The episode covers the TBT showdown between Kentucky and Louisville, SEC Media Days preview—including expectations for new coach Will Stein—and classic KSR banter about grilling, trash talk, and media behind-the-scenes.

---

Episode Highlights and Key Discussion Points

1. Weekend Recap and Host Rotation

• [02:45] Billy Rutledge sits in for Matt Jones. Light ribbing about “how hard” Billy is working covering multiple shows that day.
  • Shannon the Dude: "You actually had to work today?" [03:28]
  • Billy Rutledge: "I took that personally and decided to host every show today.” [03:37]
• Crew updates—Drew Franklin attended back-to-back weddings, discusses marital fashion plans (matching brown suit), and the KSR gang's collective preparation for Billy’s upcoming wedding.
  • Drew Franklin: "It would be cheating, Billy, if I debuted that at another wedding." [04:30]

---

2. Barbecue, Grilling Skills & Friendly Roasting

• [06:01] The team jokes about Matt Jones’s supposed kitchen skills (or lack thereof).
  • Billy: "Do you think he could put some burgers on the grill?" [06:19]
  • Shannon/Drew: "Not a chance." [06:26]
• Billy goes on a “victory lap" about his best cookout yet—lamb, brats with sauerkraut, grilled veggies.
• Shannon confesses to a grilling disaster: “I set your grill on fire” [08:14], and Drew shares his freestyle grilling playbook—pineapple skewers, multiple pork tenderloins, Thanksgiving turkey.
• The group debates the merits of electric carving knives on Thanksgiving, and their various roles (Billy and Drew: grillers, Shannon: sides maker).

---

3. TBT Tournament: Kentucky vs. Louisville Recap

• [11:17] Celebratory discussion of Kentucky (“La Familia”) defeating Louisville in the TBT at Memorial Coliseum.
  • Shannon: "After we kind of owed ‘em, you know—they kind of got us football and basketball, so we kind of owed them." [13:26]
• Drew reflects on the shockingly rowdy crowd and the importance of the TBT experience for fans who can't usually attend Rupp Arena games.
  • Drew: "It was a reminder… there are people who aren’t as lucky that get to go to Rupp Arena basketball games." [11:47]
• Game moments: Non-UK players made big contributions, including Daryl Morsell with a game-winning dunk.
  • Billy: “Daryl Morsell hit the game-winning dunk. The baseline walk-off dunk.” [12:40]
• Elam Ending discussion—the unique, sudden-death format of TBT. Everyone acknowledges it leads to “hero ball” moments.
  • Drew: "Everybody wants to be the hero... you saw it last year when they were jacking up threes when they had the lead and lost the game.” [13:18]
• Liggins’s highlight reel play: behind the back pass to Khalil Whitney for a corner 3-pointer excites the team.
  • Billy: "That got me off my couch. That was... the highlight of the game." [14:12]

---

4. Looking Ahead: TBT Round Two at Freedom Hall

• Kentucky faces Louisville again at Freedom Hall; Louisville is favored by 1.5 on DraftKings.
  • Drew: "Absolutely not. I’d rather Pete Rose slide naked on gravel than walk back into that building." (On not attending in Louisville) [15:01]
• Team health is a concern—Archie Goodwin set to return, but Willie Cauley-Stein’s health will be key.
  • Drew: “Willie is very key tonight... So I hope Willie's able to go.” [15:32]
• Discussion of Kentucky's roster depth and the impact of missing big men (Marcus Lee, Reed Travis).

---

5. SEC Media Days Preview

• Will Stein’s first big podium moment as Kentucky’s coach; fans and media eager to see if his bravado holds up nationally.
  • Shannon the Dude: "When Matt asks him questions, he usually is not afraid to pound his chest a little bit: ‘We ain’t scared.’ I hope he takes that same attitude down there." [17:25]
  • Drew Franklin: “See if his confidence travels down there. He did it at his press conference here and when he hopped on KSR... but this is a different animal.” [17:40]
• The uniqueness of UK opening SEC Media Days (rather than the typical last-in-slot).
  • Drew: "We're leading off this year." [17:01]
• Kenny Minchey is flagged as a major interest—backup QB at Notre Dame and now possible face for UK.
• Behind-the-scenes stories: Drew and Ryan debate whether Media Days is worth attending in-person ("great content” vs. “all canned remarks”).

---

6. Trash Talk (On and Off the Field)

• Trash talk in TBT: Louisville players were much more vocal; Andrew Harrison provided subtle jabs for UK.
  • Drew: “Louisville was by far talking the most trash, which is funny, knowing the outcome.” [21:30]
• Billy and Drew share stories of golf course trash talk in high school and casual sports.
• Media world: playful rivalries and thin-skinned media personalities—impressions, stories, and some friendly jabs.

---

7. Fan Calls and KSR Community

• [25:40] Brandy calls in: raves about the TBT environment with her son, how the UK program is a “family,” and how approachable the players—and Drew—were.
  • Brandy: "It was an awesome environment... It's a perfect name for our team because once you're a Cat, you're always a Wildcat." [25:44]
• [34:17] Marcia calls, recaps friendly trash talk with former Louisville player Russ Smith, and receives KSR crew’s praise as a "fearless BBN leader.”
  • Marcia: "Players are not the only ones that do a little trash talking...I looked at Russ and I said, 'His banner stayed up.'" [34:27]

8. Media and Listener Interaction

• Lighthearted look at historic calls to TV stations about programming changes: soap opera interruptions, anchor attire, and fan criticism ("Bishet happens" home run call story).
• Dealing with criticism: Shannon shares a three-page hate letter he received, telling Billy to "have thick skin." [40:11]

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Billy Rutledge on grilling for the family:
  "I had the family over, so I had seven people I needed to feed at the Rutledge house...I put some lamb on the grill...It all came out perfect. So I do want to take this time for my victory lap." [07:40]

• Drew Franklin on TBT crowd:
  "I couldn't believe how rowdy that place was...the lower bowl and most of the upper level on both sides were full. And people were going out absolutely crazy." [11:47]

• Shannon the Dude on Matt Jones's cooking:
  "If you set the ground beef in front of him, he wouldn't even get the burger patted out, and he certainly wouldn't turn the grill on. So we're eating raw beef with a spoon if we're relying on him feeding us." [06:34]

• Drew Franklin on SEC Media Days:
  "We would go out, stay out all night, get a couple hours of sleep, wake up, drink every cup of coffee we could find at media days and do it all again. I had a blast. I loved it." [30:23]

• Brandy (Caller) on the TBT experience:
  "The old players just reminded me of how this is a family. It's a perfect name for our team because once you're a cat, you're always a wildcat." [25:44]

• Drew Franklin on attending Louisville TBT rematch:
  "I’d rather Pete Rose slide naked on gravel than walk back into that building and around those bums." [15:01]

---

Important Segments (Timestamps)

| Timestamp | Segment/Content | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------| | 02:45 | Show launch – Billy fills in for Matt Jones | | 06:01 | BBQ cookout debates/roasting Matt Jones | | 11:17 | TBT: Kentucky beats Louisville, crowd analysis | | 13:08 | Elam Ending/“hero ball” moments | | 14:40 | TBT preview: rematch at Freedom Hall | | 17:01 | SEC Media Days preview (Will Stein) | | 21:30 | Trash talk recap (TBT and in golf) | | 25:40 | Brandy's call, UK basketball as family | | 28:55 | Why SEC Media Days is "boring" for TV guys (Ryan)| | 34:17 | Marcia's call, BBN pride, Courtside trash talk | | 40:11 | Dealing with criticism/hate mail |

---

Tone & Style

• Conversational, blend of humor, nostalgia, and sports insight
• Playful teasing and inside jokes among hosts
• Plenty of crowd engagement—listeners are part of the KSR “family”

---

Summary

This KSR episode is a classic blend of Kentucky sports analysis and locker-room camaraderie. The crew celebrates a fan-fueled TBT victory over Louisville and previews the anticipated rematch, mixes in colorful stories about cookouts gone wrong, and debates the relevance of SEC Media Days. Whether they’re roasting Matt Jones for his kitchen incompetence or reliving media war stories, it’s an hour focused on what makes Kentucky sports—and its fandom—unique, passionate, and just a little bit rowdy.

Transcript

[Announcer]

Hey everybody.

[Lady Luck]

Lady luck here and we're celebrating America's 250th birthday. Now all summer long I'm going to be celebrating by playing on spinquest.com which is an American owned social casino. It obviously features over a thousand slot games and live blackjack, live craps, live bubble craps. Head on over to spinquest.com get yourself a 30 coin pack for just 10 bucks.

[Announcer]

Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[HeroBread Advertiser]

Bite into a stack sandwich made with herobread and the only thing you'll think is delicious. You won't think it has up to 19 grams of protein, 11 to 32 grams of fiber or just 0 to 5 grams net carbs.

[Billy Rutledge]

But it does.

[HeroBread Advertiser]

HeroBread. No compromises, just loaves, buns, tortillas, bagels and noodles packed with flavor. Right now get 10% off at Hero Co with code iHEART. That's H E R O CO iHEART all figures per serving of HeroBread. See Nutrition Facts on Hero Co.

[Tab Ramos]

This is Tab Ramos from inside American Soccer. And this summer topgolf is turning into the ultimate soccer destination. They've got a new soccer themed game you can play with your group, exclusive food and drink items. They've even installed full size soccer goals so you can try to hit golf balls right into the net. And every match all summer long will be on throughout the venue. And if you want to keep the fun going all summer, you can get the topgolf Summer Fun Pass which lets you play every single day and bring up to five guests every visit. Get yours [e-mail] funpass John Daly here.

[John Daly]

You know what day it is. Neither do I. I live life daily. That's why I only spend on MotoCasino. Moto's got daily free bonuses, daily tournaments, new slots added daily and the best part, guaranteed daily jackpots. You can't beat that. So today's the day you grip it and spend it with me on Moto Americas Social Casino. Play for free on Moto Us Moto

[Moto Casino Announcer]

Casino is the social casino. We're prohibited in the purchase necessary. Visit Moto Us for more details. Download the Moto Casin app.

[Bluff]

Today must be 21/ Moto Casino America

[Announcer]

Social Casino Comedy Up Broadway in Lexington welcomes Dale Jones June 25th through the 27th. Then catch Ariel Elias July 10th and 11th and don't miss Brian Bates July 17th and 18th. Comedy Off Broadway opened in downtown Lexington in 1987, and they're still bringing the best in Stand up comedy to the area 39 years later. For tickets, call 859-271 joke or visit comedyoff broadway.com comedy

[Matt Jones]

this is Kentucky Sports Radio, presented by Stockton Mortgage and the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety Safe Summer Driving Tour. Now here's Matt Jones.

[Billy Rutledge]

Welcome, everyone, to Kentucky sports radio, Monday, July 20. I am not Matt Jones. I am Billy Rutledge filling in once again here in the big seat. You can give us all a call today on the Clark's Puppet Shop phone line. That's 859-280-2287. Today, the a Vision Auto Glass text machine is 502-265-6656. And if you call TJ, he'll make him pay. Back from a busy weekend of Kentucky sports, we've got TBT to talk about. The SEC media days are today, and Joe Exotic has been moved to a federal prison in Lexington. But my guys are in studio. Ryan Lemon and Drew Franklin. Shannon, the dude is in Louisville. What's up, guys? How was your weekend?

[Bank of America Advertiser]

Good.

[Shannon the Dude]

You're pulling a marathon today? I turned on in the shower this morning expecting to hear the golden tomes of Tom Leach. You're hosting Leech Report, then you do pre show, now you're doing ksr. You actually had to work today?

[Billy Rutledge]

Well, I heard you say that I only work one hour of day. Well, you don't know what I do afterwards, so I think I took that personally and decided to host every show today.

[Shannon the Dude]

What are you doing? Traffic report later this afternoon, Officer Don.

[Billy Rutledge]

I'll get up in the helicopter, give you some reports from four to six.

[Matt Jones]

You want to do double Q qmf? I'll just let you take over mine, too.

[Shannon the Dude]

Shannon says hold my beer. I do this every day.

[Billy Rutledge]

No, that's fine. I don't need to do that. Shannon's got that on lock. But, Drew, what about you? How was your weekend?

[Drew Franklin]

It was wonderful. I was part of the festivities at Memorial Coliseum. Watched a lot of golf and soccer yesterday. Had a good weekend?

[Matt Jones]

Nice.

[Shannon the Dude]

Went to another wedding.

[Drew Franklin]

Went to another wedding. Back to back weddings. I got four this summer. I thought I had outgrown that phase. Yeah, with Billy's being the last one of the four. I'm looking forward to that. But I thought those days were way behind me. But it's just one after another lately.

[Matt Jones]

Did you give the brown suit a trial run? You know, like, wear the brown suit to this wedding? Checks it. No, no.

[Drew Franklin]

It would be cheating, Billy, if I debuted that at another wedding. We have to save that for when we can all match. Coming up in August.

[Billy Rutledge]

Save that for August, where you're sweating through your clothes out there in the outdoor ceremony, we're working on getting us

[Shannon the Dude]

a van to take the crew to your wedding.

[Drew Franklin]

Mystery van.

[Matt Jones]

Like, Scooby Doo.

[Shannon the Dude]

Scooby Doo mystery van. Yeah, we've got it. We just got to get people to commit to do it.

[Drew Franklin]

I'm committed. I'll throw in whatever it takes.

[Shannon the Dude]

You and I and our dates are committed.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah. Responsibility, responsible. Getting home. No. No driving vehicles. Whatever I need to thr to get us home safely. Count me all the way in.

[Billy Rutledge]

Well, I'm excited. Did they ask you to wear anything specific at this wedding?

[Drew Franklin]

They did not.

[Billy Rutledge]

Shoot.

[Drew Franklin]

Wasn't nearly as many as instructions. Congratulations to Eric and Yasmine. She's Brazilian, so they had, like, a translator and, oh, her family. Brazilians. They can they dance and have some fun? It was a fun wedding, but no instructions of what to wear or anything like that.

[Billy Rutledge]

Well, I will rely on you guys to keep the party going. I hope, Ryan, that you can not only last throughout the reception, but you can dance and get people dancing when that. When the time comes.

[Shannon the Dude]

I was ready to dance. I just didn't make it to the dancing part of Drew's wedding.

[Billy Rutledge]

You made it to the table?

[Shannon the Dude]

Made it to the table.

[Drew Franklin]

Well, one of the guests at the wedding I was at, I sat by her. She is who? Ryan knocked the table over on my wedding. Dr. Mike's wife. It was a big part of the conversation. Dr. Mike was there, and we were reminiscing on Ryan, covering her with everything that was on that table.

[Matt Jones]

Ryan looked like Dominic Mysterio getting choke slammed through a table by Carl Anthony Towns over the weekend. That's what he looked like at the end of Dre's wedding.

[Billy Rutledge]

That was another bizarre thing that happened this weekend. A lot of, you know, newsy things that we'll get to throughout the show today. And obviously, if you'd like to join us. 859-280-2287. Remember when Matt told us he was going to cook?

[Shannon the Dude]

Yes. And we all. We all privately said that ain't never gonna happen.

[Billy Rutledge]

What do you think the update is on that? Because he's got a new house now. We're gonna have a pool party soon. Do you think he could put some burgers on the grill?

[Shannon the Dude]

Not a chance.

[Drew Franklin]

No chance.

[Shannon the Dude]

Not a chance.

[Drew Franklin]

No chance.

[Billy Rutledge]

So, like, nothing. Like, do you think he could make ramen noodles? Like, our guy is, like, basic level.

[Shannon the Dude]

No.

[Drew Franklin]

If you set the ground beef in front of him, he wouldn't even get the burger patted out, and he certainly wouldn't turn the grill on. So we're eating raw beef with a spoon. If we're relying on him feeding us

[Shannon the Dude]

at a cookout, he'd immediately call, hubby, hubby, what do I do?

[Matt Jones]

How do I turn on the propane tank?

[Shannon the Dude]

Second calls to Mario, Mario, you come over here and do this for me. No way. It's not. Well, you know, we had. When you talk about cooking, we had people contact us. Hey, I have a cooking school. I'll be glad to help. And I told everybody, don't waste your time. Don't waste your time. It's not going to happen.

[Billy Rutledge]

Well, he told us on Cover Zero, he had bought a couple of books, like he was going to read about the science of the food.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, usually a start button helps.

[Billy Rutledge]

More books like he's at a Reds game. But I bring that up because I probably had the best cooking performance of my life.

[Shannon the Dude]

I heard you bragging about this on the Leech Report.

[Billy Rutledge]

My life now, normally I cook for maybe two or three people. It's just usually me and the fiance. But I had the family over, so I had seven people I needed to feed at the Rutledge house as they walk through my lawn to get to my front. Front door to hang out the jungle. Yeah.

[Drew Franklin]

They have machetes out cutting their way to your front door.

[John Daly]

Yeah.

[Billy Rutledge]

They may get a tick or two on their ankles, but I put some lamb on the grill. Some lamb. You want to put that on high heat and not too long. It's really, like two or three minutes aside. Okay, I've got brats with sauerkraut and mustard on the grill.

[Drew Franklin]

There you go. That's how you do brats.

[Shannon the Dude]

There you go.

[Billy Rutledge]

And then I'm putting veggies right on the grates. Talking squ. Squash, zucchini, asparagus. It all came out perfect. So I do want to take this time for my victory lap of my best.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yeah, very good.

[Billy Rutledge]

Of all time.

[Shannon the Dude]

Very good.

[Billy Rutledge]

So I'd like to ask you, Ryan, the last thing I heard about you cooking was you set your grill on fire.

[John Daly]

I did?

[Shannon the Dude]

Yeah. That happened one time. You know, sometimes it happens. You get a little grease fire on your grill. You just got to put it out. No big deal. Happens once in a while.

[Billy Rutledge]

But not by throwing water on it, right?

[Shannon the Dude]

Well, it was in the grease pan, so, yeah, you can throw water on it, and it'll take. Take it out.

[Billy Rutledge]

Okay, but you've been doing that. Take the grease pan out While it's on fire, throw water on it.

[Shannon the Dude]

So, you know, after the fire

[John Daly]

marshal

[Shannon the Dude]

would say otherwise, took the grease pan off, cleaned it all out.

[Moto Casino Announcer]

So there won't.

[Shannon the Dude]

There won't be any fires this summer. It was just, you know, grease pan got a little full that day.

[Billy Rutledge]

You also had aluminum foil on your grates, like on your grill? Yeah, I've never seen that before either.

[Shannon the Dude]

Well, my grates are pretty awful looking.

[Billy Rutledge]

Is that pretty common, Shannon? Is that something?

[Matt Jones]

Yeah.

[Drew Franklin]

Especially if you put aluminum foil on your grates.

[Matt Jones]

If. Yeah, well, yeah, if you're using the public ones. Yeah. Maybe not at home, but if you're using, like, a public grill, you definitely want to do that because everybody else's stuff's been on there.

[Billy Rutledge]

So I've done a radio show brush

[Drew Franklin]

that'll take it right off.

[Announcer]

The brush.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, just crank it up.

[Billy Rutledge]

That's what I was. Put on high heat for six minutes, and then you use a brush and get most of it off. You know, Drew, I've done a show with Shannon for five years. I know he can't cook, so he's not going to have anything to offer here. But, Drew, I need to grill a little bit.

[Matt Jones]

Wash your mouth.

[Billy Rutledge]

What's that? You know how the propane tank starts?

[Matt Jones]

What do you want? You want propane or do you want charcoal?

[Drew Franklin]

Okay.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, yeah.

[Billy Rutledge]

Okay.

[Matt Jones]

I get a little corn on the cob. You know, don't get too sophisticated with it.

[Billy Rutledge]

We're talking to the guy that bought green beans to the Thanksgiving potluck, though. I mean, you. You couldn't be bothered to cook anything there, so I just figured you weren't.

[Matt Jones]

I thought they were going to take care of that part.

[Tab Ramos]

Okay.

[Caller Marcia]

Yeah.

[Billy Rutledge]

All right. Well, Drew, what are you cooking? Like, what is. If I were to ask Drew to cook something for the seven people that came over. What. What's kind of on the. On the menu?

[Drew Franklin]

Oh, cooking is one of my skills. I don't have many skills. I've done many, many hosting parties. Just did one last month. Eight people. I think we went with four different pork tenderloins, grilled pineapple. Listen, Billy, you're grilling the veggies. Skewer some pineapple. Put that on the grill. That's about as good as it gets.

[Matt Jones]

Yep.

[Drew Franklin]

And what else did we have about round of baked potatoes? I think with that. I can't remember exactly. It's been a month, but. Yeah, yeah, I. I've. I've been known to be in charge of the food a time or two. I do the Thanksgiving Turkey.

[John Daly]

Every year.

[Drew Franklin]

You want to talk about pressure, this responsibility. That is pressure. Like, if you mess up a summer cookout, in the back of your mind, you're like, look, we'll order pizza. If this goes wrong, we're fine. Everybody's happy, but we're in. When you're in charge of the turkey, that. That'll mess with you. There's. There's some nerves there, especially with timing. And then you get to where everyone's like, where's the turkey?

[Billy Rutledge]

We're hungry.

[Drew Franklin]

Food's getting cold. So, yeah, that's. That's the toughest I've done.

[Billy Rutledge]

I haven't taken that job over yet. My dad or mom would always use an electric knife on Thanksgiving. Oh, yeah, like, that was cheating a little bit. Ryan, that's not.

[Shannon the Dude]

Oh, no.

[Billy Rutledge]

Actual knife.

[Shannon the Dude]

That's. The only time you use that knife to. That knife is on Thanksgiving day. Cutting the turkey.

[Lady Luck]

That's.

[Shannon the Dude]

There's no problem with that. Are you.

[Billy Rutledge]

Are you ever cooking Thanksgiving meal?

[Shannon the Dude]

I do the sides. I don't do the turkey. Usually my mom does the turkey, but I do like the mashed potatoes and stuff. Like, help with the deviled eggs, things like that.

[Billy Rutledge]

Okay, well, if we do a KSR cooking class, we all know where we stand.

[Shannon the Dude]

There we go.

[Billy Rutledge]

When it comes to the summer barbecues, Drew does.

[Drew Franklin]

It sounds like we're in charge. Billy the grill.

[Billy Rutledge]

It does.

[Drew Franklin]

Try that pineapple, though. It's my protest.

[Billy Rutledge]

Sounds like a good idea. What sounds like a good idea is Kentucky beating Louisville in the tbt.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yes.

[Billy Rutledge]

How about that?

[Shannon the Dude]

Nice. After we kind of owed him, you know, they kind of got us football and basketball, so we kind of owed them.

[Billy Rutledge]

In this situation, in the meaningless game.

[Drew Franklin]

All square.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah, it counts.

[Shannon the Dude]

It definitely counts. It matters.

[Billy Rutledge]

We really needed it. Well, I'm looking forward to when Mario comes in. He's not here right now, but I know he was at the event. Drew was courtside. No punches thrown. At historic Memorial Coliseum, obviously, on Saturday, right?

[Drew Franklin]

No. But I will say the head of TBT La Familia, came over right before tip off and said, keep your head on a swivel. You know, don't get punched this year. So it was acknowledged. I gotta say, I. Looking at how tickets were sold, I figured it'd be a good crowd. I couldn't believe how rowdy that place was. Wouldn't call it a complete sellout. Like, the top corners of Memorial had some empty spots, but the lower bowl and most of the upper level on both sides were full. And people were going out absolutely Crazy. I kind of, I told Stephen and some of the KSR guys, you know we get spoiled. We get to go to everything. We don't miss a football game, a basketball game. We're at everything. But that was a reminder that there are people who aren't as lucky that get to go to Rupp arena basketball games. And I think it was a bunch of people like that, a lot of kids and it made for a great environment. People want to mock tbt. Why do you care about these washed up players? Sure you can have that opinion but the people in Memorial were really into it and it made for a lot of fun.

[Billy Rutledge]

Or athletes who aren't lucky enough to play for the University of Kentucky they can play on the La Familia team. And Ryan, a lot of non Kentucky athletes were really crucial in the win. Daryl Morsel hit the game winning dunk. Dunk the baseline walk off dunk.

[Drew Franklin]

Love it play by John Hood. I'm clapping again.

[Shannon the Dude]

Great blob calling up an out of

[Billy Rutledge]

bounds play that he said he learned from Cal.

[Shannon the Dude]

Oh, I'm sorry I had something caught my throat right there that was.

[Billy Rutledge]

I kind of like the Elam endings. Like maybe not for games that mean anything but Shannon and I were talking about it on the pre show. Everybody just kind of puckers up a little bit when the Elam ending comes like you said.

[Shannon the Dude]

I think you said everyone wants to be the hero and wants to hit the shot to end the game. It's a game, you know, it's a game winning shot. Everybody's going to jack one up. So I think that's why we saw it last year when they were, you know, jacking up threes when they had the lead and lost the game.

[Drew Franklin]

It almost cost us Maynard Bell who played pretty well. One of the non alums. We needed one point and he just called ISO and took a horrible three. That's where it shows people want to be the hero. They had lost. I would have been pretty mad at that shot. In fact I was sitting next to. Y' all know Terrence Mann from the NBA was there place for the Nets After Maynard Bell took that shot Montrez walked over to him and was yelling who the bleep does this guy think he is taking that shot for the mending. So I think maybe the, the wanting to be the hero can. Can impact the offense because I did not like that shot but luckily I still got it done.

[Billy Rutledge]

Really impacted him last year when they went out when they had where they were like up eight and only needed a three Pointer to win.

[Shannon the Dude]

Everybody jacking up shots.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah. Because they want to be that game winner. But they do get the win. We had a Liggins behind the back pass to Khalil Whitney for three. I mean that got me off my couch. That was.

[Shannon the Dude]

That was the highlight of the game.

[Billy Rutledge]

That was. Yeah. And that's kind of why you have this tournament, right. Is for moments like that and for what Drew alluded to the great crow at historic Memorial Coliseum that was able to watch this game and. And now we get to do it again tonight at 7pm at Freedom hall as the two teams will take. We'll play again.

[Shannon the Dude]

I can't go but I admire all the Kentucky fans that will go tonight because this is where we need you.

[Moto Casino Announcer]

This.

[Shannon the Dude]

We got to fight the good fight. You're playing on, you know, opponents home court. It'll be packed with red. Those blue people that get in blue will get in. You got to fight the good fight tonight.

[Drew Franklin]

As a father of one, I just can't be putting myself in those situations anymore.

[Billy Rutledge]

So are you. Are you not going to Freedom all tonight?

[Drew Franklin]

Absolutely not. I'd rather Pete Rose slide naked on gravel then walk back into that building and around those bums. But I will be rooting from home. I'm very excited about it. But I know I will not be making the trip this year.

[Billy Rutledge]

Well, I know Louisville is a point and a half favorite on DraftKings right now. I saw you post that this morning, Drew. And this is what the TBT wants, right? This is why the matchup is is taking place this year is for the environment we saw at Memorial and what we'll get at Freedom Hall. So a little travel reaction.

[Shannon the Dude]

Dickie gets Archie Goodwin back tonight though. That's got to help. That's got to bring him make a difference.

[Billy Rutledge]

Can we work out his travel plans?

[Drew Franklin]

He's expected. The key to the game is Willie's health. The reason La Familia didn't blow out the ville because it was looking like a blowout in the third quarter is when Willie got hurt. They just don't have any size for Montrez and they were just giving it to Montrez. Kentucky's got five guards out there doing their best. So Willie is very key tonight. Looks like Marcus Lee, maybe he's going

[Shannon the Dude]

to try to join the team. I think.

[Drew Franklin]

No, I don't think he's going to be there. And I mean Reed Travis was supposed to be your size. He backs out. So it's like Willie, we got to have you tonight. So I hope Willie's able to go

[Billy Rutledge]

and you need all the other Kentucky guys or non Kentucky guys to step up once again if Lee is not going to be there. But yeah, they were up like 17 in the game, weren't they? Like this was going to be a coast victory. I mean, the second quarter they were playing great defense and hitting open threes and then apparently it just became a game right at the end.

[Drew Franklin]

So yeah, wisely they just started feeding the paint when Willie was was out with an egg. He missed most of the second half and then in the fourth quarter, La Familia only scored three points before they set the Elim ending. I mean the offense went ice cold and defensively they had inside. So it'll be be important to have him back, get some help inside.

[Billy Rutledge]

Well, we'd like to hear from you. Did you go to the game? 859-280-2287 what do you think happens versus the Ville later tonight? These are all things that we're talking about here on a Monday in the middle of the summer. We have SEC media days on our television screen right now. So Ryan, it'll be the first time we hear from Will Stein in kind of an official capacity with the conference.

[Shannon the Dude]

It was he take the podium at like what, 1:30 or something like that?

[Billy Rutledge]

1:30, 1:30, first up.

[Drew Franklin]

That's unique for UK. We're usually on the back end where everybody's gone home. We're leading off this year.

[Shannon the Dude]

And who do you take? Kenny Minchi, Ty Bryant and Willie Rodriguez. Willie Rodriguez, that's right.

[Billy Rutledge]

So I'd like to hear a little bit about what fans want to hear from Will Stein. And you know, it's kind of odd because we've heard so much from him.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yeah, right.

[Billy Rutledge]

Like usually it's a off season where you have some big questions that need to be answered at something like this, but it feels like all the questions have already been asked.

[Shannon the Dude]

Well, and you know, when the local media ask him questions and when Matt asks him questions, he usually, you know, is not afraid to pound his chest a little bit. You know, we ain't scared. I hope he takes that same attitude down there today at the podium. You know, you can't all of a sudden be soft, be that guy that we've heard you be the last couple months.

[Drew Franklin]

That's what I'm looking forward to the most. See if his confidence travels down there where you've got all the media around. He did it at his press conference here and when he hopped on ksr when he famously told Matt if You're scared, go to church. But this is a different animal here. And I wonder if he'll take that same swag down there. I hope he does.

[Shannon the Dude]

I do too.

[Drew Franklin]

That seems to be his personality. And we've loved it so far.

[Billy Rutledge]

So we'll touch on that a little bit. I want to hear some. I'm sure Ryan and Drew have some favorite moments from the SEC media days as well. And Ryan's such a reporter at heart that you've been to one of these before, right?

[Shannon the Dude]

I went to one time and vowed I would never, ever go.

[Drew Franklin]

I loved it. I'd love to be down there right now.

[Billy Rutledge]

Okay. That's a great tease, Ron. I'd love to hear why you would never want to go back. So we'll take a break and be right back here on Kentucky Sports Radio.

[Bluff]

What's going on, everyone? It's bluff here. And you know what's more American than America's 250th birthday? Supporting American owned companies like Spinquest, America's number one social casino with over a thousand games like live dealer blackjack and craps. They're offering new users a 30 coin package for just $10. Go to spinquest.com and sign up Today

[Announcer]

Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

[iHeartMedia Advertiser]

These days it's getting harder and harder to trust what you're seeing. Who made it? Is it real? But with iHeart, everything you hear is guaranteed human. That's why 78% of listeners trust their favorite radio host's product recommendations. And if you own or manage a business here or need to drive sales, that trust goes a long way in creating your Future customers. Make iHeartMedia a part of your 2026 plan today. Visit iHeartAdvertising.com Again, that's iHeartAdvertising.com Wait, I came in for two things.

[Billy Rutledge]

How is this $47? All right, we're gonna need a plan here.

[Bank of America Advertiser]

Just start simple with bank of America Advantage Safe Balance Banking. No overdraft item fees, no monthly maintenance fee if you're under 25 as a new checking customer, you can earn $100 when you open an account and make qualifying Zeller debit transactions.

[Caller Jeff]

Oh, that's actually really simple.

[Bank of America Advertiser]

Safe Balance Banking. One less thing to figure out. Learn [e-mail] earn 100. Terms and conditions apply. Bank of America NA member FDIC.

[Moto Casino User]

10 hours on my feet Traffic noise Everybody needs something from me My head is spinning I just need the world to stop for One second. But then I get home, shoes off, phone out, and I open Modo casino. Hundreds of slots, classic table games. It's my instant reset, the variety I want in the quiet.

[Moto Casino Announcer]

I need Moto Casino, the social casino. Prohibited and purchased necessary. Visit Moto Us for more details. Download the Moto Casino app.

[Bluff]

Today must be 21/ Moto Casino America Social casino.

[Matt Jones]

Welcome back.

[Billy Rutledge]

This is Kentucky sports Radio. Billy Rutledge, Shannon the dude, Drew Franklin and Ryan Lemon in studio. It's always good to do a show with people in person. Me and Shannon do one over zoom every day, and it's just. It's easier to look people in the eye and talk.

[Shannon the Dude]

Well, in this day and age where, you know, it wasn't that long ago we were all in our homes doing the show and you never get to see anybody. You know, we did that for a year. So it is kind of nice to come in studio studio now and see you guys.

[Billy Rutledge]

I did Dick Gabriel show for three years while he was in his garage lap studio. That's right. One person on the text line today, which is 502-265-6656. A lot of praise for pineapple on the grill, Drew, so be on to something. One person also says, grilled peach halves on a grill are great.

[Shannon the Dude]

I've never had that. That sounds good.

[Billy Rutledge]

I have to expand my horizons with fruit on the grill, but it sounds like there's a whole new category. One person says, I was at the la Familia game Saturday, and Montrez Harold was jawing the whole night. We can get him in foul trouble and maybe get him a tech. Drew, who was talking the most trash for Kentucky during the game, who's kind of like the heartbeat of the team right now.

[Drew Franklin]

Louisville was by far talking the most trash, which is funny, knowing the outcome. I don't know if, you know, Montrez is loud about it. I feel like Andrew says a lot under his breath or little things here and there. Like he hit a three and turned and said something to the bench. I was on the opposite end and he had his back to me. I couldn't make out what he said, but I saw him do it. So I think it, even though it's subtle, Andrew will talk his trash. I saw a lot of that.

[Shannon the Dude]

Deandre Ligum is always famous for talking trash. Did he? Did he. Is he mouthing?

[Drew Franklin]

I didn't see much of it. I'm sure he did, though, because that's part of his personality. But the Louisville in seemed to have a lot more to say well, you

[Billy Rutledge]

can find trash talk on all levels of sports, But, Ryan, you might be surprised to know how much trash talking goes on during high school golf matches throughout the state of Kentucky.

[Shannon the Dude]

Thought it was a gentleman's game. You don't talk trash during a game.

[Billy Rutledge]

Not the kids. Not the kids. These bratty, snobby country club kids from, you know, different schools. They'll come in, you hit like, one into the woods or hit it one into the festival, they say. Might say, nice shot afterwards. Trash. Well, time. Trash talk, there's nothing like it. And I know there's been some great Kentucky trash talkers back in the day, but, Ryan, you were breaking records when it comes to stealing bases. Did you ever trash talk during your collegiate days?

[Shannon the Dude]

Actually, I didn't. My dad was a coach.

[Billy Rutledge]

I've heard that.

[Shannon the Dude]

And he brought us up where, you know, you don't do that. You don't boast. You don't act like you've been there before. You know, you really don't. So I never, ever, ever did. Even though, like, a guy would hit me, you know, purposely hit me. I get on first base, next pitch, I'm stealing it, you know, But I'm not talking anything. I just let my play speak for myself, Billy.

[Billy Rutledge]

Okay, well, when your dad's the coach, I can understand that.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yeah.

[Billy Rutledge]

Drew, you weren't doing any trash talking for the Madisonville Maroons back in the day, were you?

[Drew Franklin]

We had some pretty competitive golf matches. I wasn't much of a trash talker, though. I was more like, I'm not that competitive. I'd be like, whatever, man. Like Jeff, four or five, I don't care. Whatever you want. Like, I was pretty relaxed. I did get kicked out of a match one time, though.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yes.

[Drew Franklin]

I wasn't playing well and my ball was in. I wouldn't even call it like a. It was basically a little puddle. I mean, it didn't even cover the full ball, but I should have pulled it out of there and taken a drop. And because I was goofing off and was already out of it, I tried to hit it and it just splashed water. And I tried to hit it again, it splashed water, and then I found it funny and kept doing it. And my coach said, I've seen enough. Get over here. I wasn't the most locked in. Probably should have been a little more locked in than I was, but I had lots of fun out there.

[Billy Rutledge]

I've seen people take the shoes off and get into the creek to try to make a hero shot. You were doing that in High school.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, whatever. I don't care. It was, it was region two golf. Life was going to go on. Whether I shot a. Those were matches, so whether I shot a 36 or 56.

[Billy Rutledge]

Now, Ryan, is there any trash talk when it comes to the journalism world, like media guys?

[Shannon the Dude]

Oh, yes.

[Billy Rutledge]

Oh, yes.

[Shannon the Dude]

Oh, yes.

[Matt Jones]

We already had some last week right

[Billy Rutledge]

here on the show and some impressions.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yeah, there's definitely some thin skinned dudes in this media. You guys know this in the media world. And once you say one about, well, the weather guys are the perfect example, you say one thing, boom, it's a war immediately, you know, it's on. So yeah, there's, there's definitely some.

[Drew Franklin]

You were telling us during the break, though Cutler enjoyed our bit. You were hung out with him this weekend.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yeah, he loved it. He loved it. And his wife confirmed that he loved it and he laughed the whole time, so. But he still swears he didn't cut on Shannon. And you and I both heard it. We heard it.

[Drew Franklin]

I actually, I'm not saying it didn't happen. I don't remember it. So I'm pulling myself out of this conversation. But you all insist that it happened.

[Matt Jones]

I know Ryan said something to me. Billy came in, said Cutler's cutting a promo on you on his show.

[Shannon the Dude]

It wasn't brutal, it wasn't mean or nasty.

[Matt Jones]

Like Shader doesn't know what he's talking about.

[Shannon the Dude]

He's just disagreeing with something that you said.

[Matt Jones]

Depending on what you're talking about, that may or may not be true.

[Billy Rutledge]

I mean, you know, unfiltered really is. That's what it was. Yeah, but he loved it.

[Shannon the Dude]

He loved our impersonations and we told the, the same stories we've told for 25 years, told some new stories that will not ever get repeated, and had a good time.

[Billy Rutledge]

859-280-2287. Let's take a call before we hit this hard break. Who's up first? Shannon.

[Matt Jones]

All right, let's go to Brandy.

[Billy Rutledge]

Hey, what's up, Brandy?

[Caller Marcia]

Hey.

[Caller Brandy]

I was calling to say I was at the game with my teenage son and it was an awesome environment. And the old, the old players just reminded me of how this is a family. It's a perfect name for our team because once you're a cat, you're always a wildcat. My son got to talk to Austin and Shigari and, you know, several people he met. Milan, Malachi, Moreno. I mean, they, they could not have been nicer. All these people. And he got some signatures and Harrison Harrison signed, went down the line, and I think he signed every single person that waited. Maybe C.L. whitney, too. They. They took a long time to make sure that everybody who wanted to speak to them take a picture, whatever, got to. And I thought that was pretty cool. And lastly, I want to brag on Drew. So my kid met all these players and thought it was awesome, but he excitedly was like, mom. I also met Drew from ksr.

[Shannon the Dude]

Nice.

[Drew Franklin]

He made my day, too.

[Caller Brandy]

So Drew got up there with all the other players.

[Billy Rutledge]

Brandy, thank you so much. It's great to hear the report. We got much more on the way here on Kentucky Sports Radio.

[iHeartMedia Advertiser]

T.J. smith, personal injury attorney.

[Billy Rutledge]

Call T.J. he'll make him pay.

[Matt Jones]

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

[Billy Rutledge]

The Billy songs are back. Enjoyed those last week when I filled in on the big chair.

[Matt Jones]

It's amazing how many Billy songs there are. Songs that just say Billy in them. I'm going to see if I can get through the entire show today with just Billy songs with.

[Billy Rutledge]

With different songs than the ones that were played last week, too.

[Matt Jones]

No repeats. I did an entire show last week.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yeah, you did.

[Matt Jones]

All billy songs were two for two.

[Billy Rutledge]

Impressive. And that's why you're the best at it. Shannon 859-280-2287. We'll take some more calls here in just a second. I also enjoyed the on Friday, our little business takeover remote and the great food that we had. And then that AI photo of me and Mario.

[Drew Franklin]

Great.

[Shannon the Dude]

It was not AI. I was there. Yeah, I witnessed it.

[Matt Jones]

Mario pulls off the brown dress very well. He wears a dress better than I could.

[Billy Rutledge]

Mario was more impressed by the size of his biceps in that picture. He's like, hey, it looks like I've been in the gym. But that was not what got my attention. Drew, I don't know why you decided to post that photo. Because you knew what was gonna happen.

[Drew Franklin]

Well, I didn't make it. I just shared it. But I shared it to raise awareness that people shouldn't look at it or shared it. You know, I didn't want that getting out because you were just being a good friend. You were like, let me show you how to foxtrot. So you're ready for the wedding. I took a regular photo and then of it because again, look how nice Billy's being to Mario. And then someone on the Internet took it too far and went to AI it's funny that we need data centers because we have to get more bandwidth to create things like that.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah. That's what AI is being used for. For things like that, Ryan, that you have to wash your eyes out after watching.

[Shannon the Dude]

But I loved it. I think you're doing a beautiful job teaching Mario how to do the foxtrot.

[Billy Rutledge]

He was not about it. He didn't want anything to do with it. I guess he's just going to do whatever he normally does when he gets on the dance floor. I want to ask you, Ryan, though, you said you would never go back to SEC Media days. What happened?

[Shannon the Dude]

It was just boring. I mean, it was awful. You know, for, from, for the TV guys purposes, you don't get anything new. You get the same comments from your coaches that you just got a week ago and then you're going to get the next week. Nothing new comes out of this. And everything you need, you can get on the satellite feed. There's really no need to go down there other than just do a stand up to show you're there for TV guys purposes now for like bloggers and newspaper guys and Internet guys, they have to write longer stories. TV, we've got, you know, 30 seconds to play a Will Stein sound bite. He's gonna say the same thing today that he said last week that he says next week. It's not gonna, you know, no breaking news is gonna happen today.

[Drew Franklin]

Don't you need summer content though? What else would you show without media days right now?

[Shannon the Dude]

What else would we show like if

[Drew Franklin]

you didn't do media days?

[Shannon the Dude]

Well, since we can get everything from the satellite feed, right. They uplink everything.

[Drew Franklin]

So you're not against the event, your event, you're just again being there.

[Shannon the Dude]

Correct? Yeah, the event is good and gives us a lot of content but no reason to go there.

[Billy Rutledge]

Well, let everybody else do the work.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yes.

[Billy Rutledge]

You can just get the stuff 100%.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yes. Save your money, hotel, staying up late, drinking, getting up early in the morning, you know, that sort of thing.

[Billy Rutledge]

But no story like the Kentucky Derby where you're slammed into a puddle of. You say you'll never.

[Shannon the Dude]

No, I went one time and I said I'm never coming down.

[Billy Rutledge]

Just sounds like he's a little lazy, Drew. It's just like he could go down there and work.

[Drew Franklin]

But yeah, when I went, I had a blast. Now we did work from sunrise to sundown. It is a lot of work. But we were in Nashville. It was me, Nick Roush, Adam Luck at Steven Peak and our guy Freddie was with us too. And you know, you don't just clock out when you're in Nashville. So we would go out Stay out all night, get a couple hours of sleep, wake up, drink every cup of coffee we could find at media days and do it all again. I had a blast. I loved it. There's one. It's just, there's a lot of running into media, meeting people that cover other teams, learning what it's like. Like at a lot of schools you just get to go to practice almost whenever you want. And you know, we're like, well, we don't get to go to practice ever. So you're. And they're like, what?

[John Daly]

That's great.

[Drew Franklin]

You know, so we're just learning how other sides do it. And then at night, there's always events in Nashville, they had a big event at the Titan Stadium. So I liked that we got to go get a tour. And then John neighbors from Arkansas, I know, rubbed people the wrong way since Cal's been there, but he, he always throws a karaoke event at a bar at one night. So we had a blast. It's non stop, but it's fun.

[Billy Rutledge]

Sounds like a fun time for the media brethren to get together and celebrate.

[Shannon the Dude]

But Adam, see, he was in Nashville. We were in Hoover, Alabama.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah, that's a big difference. Well, it's not like Tampa now where you can just go out and go visit the bay or go on a beach.

[Drew Franklin]

Ybor City, that's your spot, right?

[Shannon the Dude]

Ybor City, yeah. Tampa, that sounds better. You're a great city. But in Hoover, which is right outside of Birmingham, and then we were all spread out all over the place. It just wasn't fun.

[Drew Franklin]

I had a fun moment. I don't know that I've ever talked about, but Kyle Tucker and I were talking. It was towards the end of the Caliper era. So, you know, there's rumors everywhere and this isn't working. That's not working. And we're sitting, we're just standing in the common area talking. We're revealing a lot to each other because I have pieces of the puzzle that he doesn't know and he has that I don't know. So I'm like, have you heard this? He's saying, have you heard that? We're trying to fit the pieces together to find out what's true and what's not. And we look up and Fein Bomb is live and there's like a mic right next to us. And we were in the shot and we were both stunned. Like, has this gone out as background noise in Fine Bomb? Because we've said some things that didn't

[Announcer]

need to be public.

[Drew Franklin]

And I mean we quickly went our separate ways and sat down and went to Twitter. Like please don't get lit up with comments we were saying. But we were so worried we had said directly into the big boom mic that was next to us that we didn't see.

[Billy Rutledge]

Or lip readers too. Just on.

[Drew Franklin]

We had a lot to say.

[Billy Rutledge]

Well, see, Ryan, that's the fun that you can have at a media day when you put the effort in. But sounds like you're not going to be back soon.

[Shannon the Dude]

No, like Drew said, it's sunrise to sundown. You working. Because they have these different teams coming in now. There's what, 16 teams on even more than it was when I was down there. So yeah, I'll just let, let the TV guys do the, do the work now.

[Drew Franklin]

And we have to have a correction. Will Stein wasn't first. First. Venables let us off. I thought there was a gap after Sankey, but he'll be third still at 1:30. But they started a little earlier.

[Billy Rutledge]

Will Stein at 130. We'll wait for the comments there along with Ty Bryant, Kenny Minchi and Willie Rodriguez who are going to be speaking as well. So we'll see. We'll stay.

[Shannon the Dude]

Kenny Minchi is the guy that really interests me the most. We don't really know nothing about this guy other than he was the backup at Notre Dame with a little bit. We saw him in the spring. He's, we know about this guy. He needs to come on this show. He needs to get, they need to promote him and get him out there because he's the face of the program right now.

[Drew Franklin]

I also want to see what they're wearing because Friday after the show I went out to Logan's to check on my tan suit.

[Billy Rutledge]

Oh yeah.

[Drew Franklin]

And the guys had just been there, Will Stein and the players and they got, they went through the same thing we did. Custom buttons, monogram. So they'll be. Maybe they're wearing the tan suits we got. But I'll be looking forward to that. I just missed them when they were there.

[John Daly]

Wow.

[Drew Franklin]

I could have gotten scoop on what we're wearing.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yes.

[Billy Rutledge]

Maybe they're in a brown suit. That'd be something.

[Drew Franklin]

Hope they're all matching.

[Billy Rutledge]

Well, Logan's did set us up and we're thankful for them as well. But we'll, we'll see. I mean it's SEC media day today, so we'll have reaction to all the comments tomorrow. 859-280-2287. Shane, let's take another call. Who's up next?

[Shannon the Dude]

Hey, Marcia, Hey, Marcia, we called that. Yeah, we. We call him. I said. I said, I hope Marcia calls today. I know she's going to the game tonight.

[Caller Marcia]

Yes, I am. And I was there this weekend. And, you know, players are not the only ones that do a little trash talking. I was as. As I was leaving, saw Duron Lamb in the parking lot. Of course, I have to go give him some love. And Russ Smith was standing there talking to him, and I, you know, loved on Duron. And then I looked at Russ and I said, his banner stayed up.

[Matt Jones]

Careful now. Don't be getting punched.

[Caller Marcia]

Oh, well, I wish they would. Okay. That's all I got.

[Drew Franklin]

Marcia was next to me when I got hit.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yes, she was.

[Drew Franklin]

That's who I was talking to when I. When I got blindsided.

[Shannon the Dude]

It's one person. Big Blue Nation at Freedom hall tonight. You want stand behind Marcia? She'll lead the charge.

[Drew Franklin]

No doubt that she'll be there. There was also a moment before the game at Memorial. I didn't witness it, but I just walked up after it happened. There's a Cards chant in the parking lot of Memorial, and apparently Kentucky fans surrounded him and put a stop to that real quick. So we were defending our home court. Didn't lead to any fist, but we let them know that's. That's not going to fly on campus in Lexington.

[Shannon the Dude]

How many Cards fans were in the Memorial Coliseum last night?

[Drew Franklin]

I really didn't see that many. And a lot of them were like, house divided. I saw a woman whose kids were in Kentucky gear and husband was Kentucky gear. I didn't see any truly rowdy Louisville fans. Somebody tweeted me there was a guy in the upper level trying to be a problem. But. But overall, it was mostly. Almost said blue, white. Because it was a white out.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yeah.

[Billy Rutledge]

Which was also a little confusing because they had a release on Friday that said to wear blue.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah. After we promoted a whiteout all week, the email said, be sure to wear

[Billy Rutledge]

blue, which that's about par for the course. But you know what? I think everybody got the message and did wear white. Ryan, we could have used Marcia in a parking lot in South Carolina all those years ago.

[Shannon the Dude]

No kidding. I would have been behind Marsha. I trust her. She's a good bodyguard. She's the person you want with you in an opposing field, though, for sure. Because she's not afraid to say what she feels and represent Big Blue Nation.

[Billy Rutledge]

Well, it'll be a road game tonight for many Kentucky fans. 7pm at Freedom Hall.

[Shannon the Dude]

Is it televised?

[Drew Franklin]

FS1 FS1. It was on the Big Fox on Saturday. Tonight's FS1.

[Shannon the Dude]

Okay.

[Billy Rutledge]

You're damn right it's televised. I mean, they're probably making all their money back. Just be bringing in Kentucky and Louisville.

[Shannon the Dude]

This has to be the biggest attended TBT game. Kentucky, Louisville, games, right. No, they're. All their games are getting that big crowd.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, that's why I heard them last year. They moved it up in the brackets. What would happen in the quarterfinals and then both teams lose. So this year they're like, we're not even rolling the dice. Round one, we're putting out there. That's the cash cow.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah, exactly right. Let's take another call here, dude. Who's up next?

[Matt Jones]

Clarence.

[Billy Rutledge]

Good morning, Clarence.

[Caller Marcia]

I was just. Good morning. I was just wanting to find out exactly, you know, what station is the game on tonight?

[Caller Jeff]

Yeah.

[Billy Rutledge]

So That's Fox Sports 1 is where you can watch the TVT game later tonight.

[Caller Marcia]

Sports 1.

[Matt Jones]

Fox Sports 1. FS1.

[Caller Marcia]

Fox Sports 1. Okay. Thank you so very much. It's all I needed.

[Matt Jones]

There you go. Check your local listings.

[Billy Rutledge]

Thank you. Yeah, the TV Guide comes in the mail. Ryan, that used to be the only call people got to TV stations, right. Was what time's this going to be on non stop. How come my show's not on non stop?

[Shannon the Dude]

And if we had a weather alert or a special program or a Billy Graham concert, religious event, phones would light up for hours. Hours.

[Billy Rutledge]

Well, I understand. I mean, you take something off the air, you want their program and. And it's not there.

[Shannon the Dude]

But especially if you're interfering with the daytime soap operas.

[Billy Rutledge]

Oh, really?

[Shannon the Dude]

Oh, my goodness. Back in the day, you interrupt their stories. Yeah, that. Then you're really gonna get a bunch of grandmas upset.

[Matt Jones]

I don't care if it's a tornado warning. The town's about to get ripped apart.

[Shannon the Dude]

I want my General Hospital.

[Matt Jones]

That's right. Don't interrupt.

[Billy Rutledge]

Young and I've watched Young and the Restless every day for 30 years. What do you mean it's not Luke

[Shannon the Dude]

and Laura's in a fight. I got to see what happens.

[Drew Franklin]

I didn't realize this until we did. Hey, Kentucky and I somewhat worked at 18 in town, had a good time working there, but I didn't realize how much people reach out about TV stuff. Whether they're complaining about a news anchor's dress or changing a channel. TV viewers, they will complain. And it'll be about the smallest things.

[Shannon the Dude]

And see, like being the sports guy, a lot of times the newsroom's empty except for sports Guys. So you get stuck answering the phone and you gotta just try to be nice. You can't be a jerk to everybody. But you're right. They just call non stop and complain.

[Drew Franklin]

Why did so and so change her hair? What are you calling a news station?

[Shannon the Dude]

Why is she wearing that necklace?

[Drew Franklin]

It's crazy what they think they do.

[Shannon the Dude]

Tell her her haircut does not make her look very good.

[Drew Franklin]

It's insane.

[Billy Rutledge]

Obviously a little different with radio, but. But 840 will get some calls when Sean Hannity or Clay and Buck gets knocked off.

[Shannon the Dude]

Oh, see, same thing.

[Announcer]

Yeah.

[Billy Rutledge]

Terry has shown me some letters that he's gotten in the past. Just some brutal, like mean spirited letters.

[Shannon the Dude]

I would post them in our sports edit bay. Like a wall of fame. Like the bad letters. We did post them up on the wall. Yeah.

[Drew Franklin]

Ron Lemon's gaining weight. Tell him to run. You know, it's like, how do. What makes you think you just call him to complain about someone's appearance for giving the news.

[Shannon the Dude]

I got a great story. I guess I can tell it.

[Billy Rutledge]

We got time.

[Caller Marcia]

Yeah.

[Shannon the Dude]

Dante Bichette, his son now plays, but his back in the day was Dante Bichette and he had a play for the Reds and he had a home run. I said, bishet happens.

[Drew Franklin]

That's a great one. That's a great line. Yeah.

[Shannon the Dude]

Guy wrote a letter to the TV station complaining. My boss made me call that guy. He said, here, you call him and you apologize for offending him and his family.

[Drew Franklin]

Seriously.

[Shannon the Dude]

Made me call the guy. Apologize.

[Drew Franklin]

That's a great line. That's like old school sports center in the 90s line.

[Billy Rutledge]

Chris Berman might work that line. And that was so.

[Shannon the Dude]

I thought it was perfect, but I

[Billy Rutledge]

didn't see it that way early on in my KSR radio days. You know, sometimes you get some criticism if you talk confidently like I do about Jennifer Lawrence or other topics. So I asked Shannon one day, I was like, how do you handle all the negative criticism sometimes? And he was like, come here. And he walks into the studio and he hands me a three page typed letter. Shannon, do you remember this?

[Matt Jones]

Oh yeah.

[Billy Rutledge]

3 page type letter of this guy just going in on Shannon, ksr, his QMF and his rock duty stuff.

[Matt Jones]

Oh, yeah, Yeah. I just appreciate that somebody's got that much time in their day that they wasted on me. But I mean, we all get forms of this on Twitter. I mean, gets it. Ryan gets it. At some point, you know, people just prefer to type their letters to me and send it to my house.

[Billy Rutledge]

Shannon just threw this in My face. He's like, don't worry about it, dude. I get this.

[Shannon the Dude]

Gotta have thick skin, man.

[Billy Rutledge]

Oh, yeah.

[Shannon the Dude]

Can't please everybody.

[Billy Rutledge]

No, yeah, yeah. Exactly right? All right, let's take a break. 859-280-2287. We've got some people on the line. We'll get to you next here on Kentucky Sports Rare Radio.

[Bluff]

Forget whatever plans you have this weekend because you're staying at home and playing on Spin Quest. And there's never been a better time to sign up than right now. New users get 30 coin packs for just $10. All the table games you love. With hundreds of slot games and real cash Prizes. That's at spinquest.com S P-I-N Q U-S-T.com

[Announcer]

Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more detail.

[John Daly]

Details.

[iHeartMedia Advertiser]

These days, it's getting harder and harder to trust what you're seeing. Who made it? Is it real? But with iHeart, everything you hear is guaranteed human. That's why 78% of listeners trust their favorite radio host's product recommendations. And if you own or manage a business here or need to drive sales, that trust goes a long way in creating your Future customers. Make iHeartMedia a part of your 2026 plan today. Call 844-844-iHeart. Again, that's 84484 for iHeart. Wait, I came in for two things.

[Billy Rutledge]

How is this $47? All right, we're gonna need a plan here.

[Bank of America Advertiser]

Just start simple with bank of America Advantage Safe balance Banking. No overdraft item fees, no monthly maintenance fee if you're under 25. Plus, as a new checking customer, you can earn 100 when you open an account and make qualifying Zeller debit transactions.

[Billy Rutledge]

Oh, that's actually really simple.

[Bank of America Advertiser]

Safe balance banking. One less thing to figure out, you're out. Learn [e-mail] earn 100. Terms and conditions apply. Bank of America and a member FDIC.

[Moto Casino User]

10 hours on my feet. Traffic noise. Everybody needing something from me. My head is spinning. I just need the world to stop for one second. But then I get home, shoes off, phone out, and I open Moto Casino. Hundreds of slots, classic table games. It's my instant reset. The variety I want in the quiet.

[Moto Casino Announcer]

I need Moto Casinos. The social casino prohibited. Not just necessary to Moto us. For more details, download the Motor Casino app. Today must be 21 plus.

[Bluff]

Moto Casino America Social casino.

[Billy Rutledge]

I love the Billy songs.

[Shannon the Dude]

I've not heard the last two but

[Billy Rutledge]

it was kind of crazy digging deep

[Matt Jones]

into the Billy archives of songs. This is PJ Harvey.

[Billy Rutledge]

PJ Harvey.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah.

[Billy Rutledge]

Getting us right. Coming back from break. Ryan telling more stories during the break. You can't tell on the air.

[Shannon the Dude]

No. Can't tell those stories.

[Billy Rutledge]

My God.

[Shannon the Dude]

Calling the newsroom room.

[Billy Rutledge]

So enjoyed that. Shannon, tell us about one of the

[Matt Jones]

sponsors here on Kentucky sports, of course, DraftKings sportsbook. This summer, whether you're watching baseball, Golf, soccer, racing, DraftKings has you covered for every single moment of it. The DraftKings app is live and you can bet it with promo code KSR. For new customers sign up, use the promo code KSR. When you do that, you spend five bucks. You're going to get 150 in bonus bets with live bets, same game parlays, player props, all on DraftKings promo code KSR. If you have a gambling problem, call 1-800- GAMBLER21/ Kentucky only eligibility restrictions apply. 50$50 in non withdrawable bonus bets issued every 7 days via click to claim for 14 days. Bonus bets expire 7 days after issuance. For additional terms, responsible gaming resources, see sportsbook.draftkings.com promos Limited time offer.

[Billy Rutledge]

We had some people patiently waiting. So let's get back to the phone lines here. Who's up next?

[Matt Jones]

Dude, let's go to Jeff.

[Billy Rutledge]

Hey, good morning, Jeff.

[Caller Marcia]

Hey, Shannon.

[Matt Jones]

Hey.

[Drew Franklin]

Hey, I got a question.

[Caller Marcia]

65 south shut down or 65 shut down? How the heck I get in Freedom all tonight?

[Matt Jones]

Well, it's not shut down all the way like you can get to Freedom Hall. It's just there's certain parts of it. So you can reroute it. You can go critten it. Critten and drive. Crittenden Drive is a good way to get there, but you know, just throw it into the ogps. It'll take you right to it.

[Drew Franklin]

There's still downtown access. Yeah, as normal.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah.

[Caller Marcia]

Okay. Thank you.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, buddy. Traffic report concerns. Just send them my way.

[Billy Rutledge]

Look, they know Shannon's lane. It's how he starts a pre show with the weather and traffic update.

[Moto Casino User]

He just.

[Billy Rutledge]

We didn't get that this morning.

[Matt Jones]

That's what. That's what the people want to know.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah, don't. Don't hold it out.

[Shannon the Dude]

I suspect there'll be a large UK contingent at the game tonight. Just because it's Louisville. You know, no matter what you're playing and you're playing Louisville, you're. They're going to show up.

[Drew Franklin]

Something to do. It's a good chance for people Kentucky fans in Louisville to go to something on their home floor, get to get to where they're blue, show out against Louisville fans. I think Louisville have a good turnout though.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah, I don't think the UK men's team will be in Louisville tonight to watch.

[Shannon the Dude]

They were there Saturday.

[Billy Rutledge]

They were.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yeah.

[Billy Rutledge]

A couple observations from that. Cam Williams in a boot.

[Drew Franklin]

Still big boot, big boot, still scoop.

[Shannon the Dude]

But it does seem to be a long time in that boot.

[Drew Franklin]

He's had it on all summer. Need to get that off soon. It's fine right now, but eventually if he's going to make the jump from year one to year two that need him to make a jump, he should literally be able to jump in the summer. I mean, if he goes all the way up until madness and he hasn't practiced, that would be a concern.

[Billy Rutledge]

There's some high expectations on him this year as a returning guy to continue to space the floor, be a 3D kind of guy. But also, Justin McBride wasn't there in attendance at the TBT game. His dad commented on Instagram with a reasoning why? Because people were curious why he wasn't in the Vegas pictures either.

[Bluff]

Ryan?

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah, he said, my son has been under the weather for the past week and he was in Vegas. The summer flu bug got him. He's fine with my Aaron Rodgers voice. R E L A X what to

[Shannon the Dude]

eat at Taco Bell. Maybe that's what is wrong with him.

[Drew Franklin]

No, no. Taco Bell slander people who can't handle it have weak stomachs.

[Matt Jones]

When the dad tweeted out wow. And then wow a second time, that tells me that the reaction from the fans, it must have been just crazy, the stuff that he was hearing, you know, the rumors. Because why else would you start a tweet with wow, wow and then say,

[Billy Rutledge]

yeah, I omitted the wow, wow in his comments, but he did start the tweet with double wows.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah.

[Billy Rutledge]

Do you think the what the speculation of where Justin might be got a little out of hand for bb?

[Matt Jones]

You know, you see, it's summer. You see that picture of the team, he's not there. Everybody's like, what's going on? What's happening? And then you don't know. So then as we've said before, if you don't have answers, people start making up their own answers. Next thing you know, there's these rumors flying around and I don't know, I haven't seen them all, but apparently Dad's heard quite a few of them. Otherwise I don't think he would have reacted that way.

[Billy Rutledge]

Oh, that's the microscope of Kentucky basketball. So that's nothing new. But that is.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yep. Who we are. We're break down, analyze, overanalyze every video, every picture, everything we can see.

[Drew Franklin]

But one of those random Facebook groups made a big graphic. You know, like when there's breaking news. It was like Justin McBride where so I guess he felt like he had to chime in when that's going around.

[Billy Rutledge]

Oh well that's, we talked about those Facebook groups and, and not just the, the, the UK ones, just Facebook groups in general get a little out of hand.

[Matt Jones]

They're ready to put his face on the side of a milk carton. You've seen me call 1-800-Missing- well, I'm

[Shannon the Dude]

not concerned about him, but the Cam Williams thing has been going on a long time.

[Drew Franklin]

Big Frank still hadn't practiced a couple kepnang.

[Tab Ramos]

Okay.

[Drew Franklin]

A couple other guys right now. Well, Tom Leach is going to have to suit up to finish summer practice.

[Billy Rutledge]

Everybody get healthy and we'll get ready for the next season. We got hour two coming up next here on ksr.

[Bluff]

You know what? It sucks to be bored. But when I get on my phone and play real casino games on spinquest.com the time flies by. That two hour wait at the DMV seems like 10 minutes. Play your favorite slots, live blackjack, live craps with a live dealer. New players $30 coin packs are on sale for 10 bucks. Play spinquest.com and you'll never be bored again.

[Announcer]

Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spendquest.com for more details.

[Ally Bank Advertiser]

Maintenance fee Overdraft fee Minimum balance fee Maximum balance fee. Banking fees are just a part of modern life. Or are they? They're not at Ally Bank. At Ally bank, there are no tricks, no hidden fine print or jumping through hoops for better rates. They just want to help you save automatically while you spend with spending accounts and savings tools with great rates. No tricks, no hidden fees. Banking built for life today. Learn [e-mail] Ally bank member FDIC.

[Caller Jeff]

I'm US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. We all get distracted when we drive, whether it's from our phones or kids in the backseat bickering. But how we handle these distractions can be a matter of life or death. Before you get on the road for your next road trip, please put your phones on silent and take a mental note to focus on driving. Paid for by nhtsa.

[Moto Casino User 2]

Every dating app swat is another loss. Jim Bros. Fake CEOs. Straight up losers. So now the only app I open is Moto Casino. Because at least there I'm surrounded by winners. Real winners. Thousands of them. While everyone else is in the same single swamp, I'm at home relaxing while stacking bonuses, hitting wins, and playing all my favorite Vegas style games. Moto Casino the only app worth your time.

[Moto Casino Announcer]

Moto Casino Casino Point with prohibited the purchase necessary. Visit Moto Us for more details. Download the Moto Casino app today must

[Bluff]

be 21 Moto Casino America Social Casino.