2026-02-27- KSR - Hour 1

You can scroll the headlines all day and still feel empty. I'm Ben Higgins, and If You Can Hear Me is where culture meets the soul. Honest conversations about identity, loss, purpose, peace, faith, and everything in between. Celebrities, thinkers, everyday people, some have answers. Most are still figuring it out. And if you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to If You Can Hear Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Special Agent Regal, Special Agent Bradley Hall. In 2018, the FBI took down a ring of spies working for China's Ministry of State Security, one of the most mysterious intelligence agencies in the world. The Sixth Bureau podcast is a story of the inner workings of the MSS and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets. Listen to The Sixth Bureau on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby we unpack the story of an unimaginable tragedy that gripped the UK in 2023 but what if we didn't get the whole story the moment you look at the whole picture the case collapsed what if the truth was disguised by a story we chose to believe oh my god, I think she might be innocent listen to Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Nancy Glass, host of the Burden of Guilt Season 2 podcast. This is a story about a horrendous lie that destroyed two families. Late one night, Bobby Gumpright became the victim of a random crime. The perpetrator was sentenced to 99 years until a confession changed everything. I was a monster. Listen to Burden of Guilt Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tickets to all Comedy Off-Broadway shows. Call 859-271-JOKE or visit ComedyOffBroadway.com. Comedy Off-Broadway. This is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now, here's Matt Jones. Welcome, everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio Friday, February the 27th. I am Matt Jones here live in Madisonville, Kentucky, at the Hopkins County Kentucky Sports Factory, where we have an absolutely massive crowd. Let me hear from this crowd this morning. I want everybody to listen around the state. We have been doing KSR on the road, I would say, for 15 years, and I think there is a decent argument that this might be the largest crowd for a remote that we've ever had. So shout out to Hopkins County. The only thing that would compete with this is the tin roof in Nashville, but you might have more people packed into here at the Hopkins County Kentucky Sports Factory. You can give a shout out to Clark's Puppet Shop phone line, 859-280-2287, A-Vision Auto Glass text machine, 772-774-5254. And this dish is sponsored by the T.J. Smith Law Office. You call T.J. on Make-Em-Pay. You know, I pulled up here and I thought to myself, there are way too many cars in that parking lot. There are about 75 Ford White F-150s. So I'm going to assume this is actually people where they keep the city cars. There can't be that many people in there. And now Ryan Lemon there are. And what an amazing crowd here at the Sports Factory. We always talk about that great crowd at the SEC tournament. But as far as a location in the city, well, it's been, what, over 10 years since we've been here. It's been a long time. It's been a long time. We used to come here every year, and it's been a long time. We've one time lost our equipment here where it didn't work, but we are in Drew Franklin's hometown. And how about giving your native son here a big round of applause? He is a living legend in this town, we found out. I don't know about all that, but, Matt, it doesn't shock me we have the best turnout. They don't call us the second best town on earth, Matt. We are the best town on earth. And this is the kind of turnout I expected. Everybody's been so hospitable so far. We had a great night last night, so welcome to Madisonville. That's right. TBTOE, the best town on earth here in Madisonville. And this place is unbelievable. The Hopkins County Kentucky Sports Factory, 92,000 square feet. And just looking around, basketball courts, volleyball courts. What is this? Tell me that's not pickleball. That is pickleball. We got that. Yes, I thought we could do it today. Volleyball, soccer over here. Never mind. I'm not a fan of this place anymore. No, I'm just kidding. Pickleball is here. This is an amazing – this would be an amazing facility, Ryan, anywhere. And to have this in Madisonville and Hopkins County, what an amazing blessing for the community. It's unbelievable. They've got a turf field over there. They can do soccer and indoor baseball. They've got to do archery in here. They're going to do wrestling. I mean, outside of Lexington and Louisville, this is the best basketball facility in the state, no doubt about it. Probably – definitely better than one in Louisville too. You say, wait a minute, best basketball facility in the state? You're going on record for that. There is no doubt. I mean, there's some new ones that popped up, but this is the best one. The one in Lexington and this one are the two best in the state by far. I tried to get you all here last night. There were six basketball games, soccer and volleyball, and you couldn't find a parking spot, and it was a Thursday in Madisonville. But, look, that is awesome. And a great crowd. How many Kentucky fans are here today? So this is definitely big blue territory. Shannon, I could tell when we walked in. Sometimes I see it in Ryan Lemon's face. Ryan Lemon was scared. You could just tell with this bigger crowd, Ryan Lemon was nervous. He looked at me and he goes, this is a big crowd. And I was like, I'm aware. I can look at it. I don't know how to eyeball it, but I would say 300 to 400 people probably, and Ryan is nervous. Sounds about right. I don't know why he would be nervous. We've done hundreds of remotes over the years. This is a great crowd, though, but you'll be okay, Ryan. You are a little nervous. I'm very nervous. We had the big crowd that one time at Paducah, but this is bigger than that crowd. This is much bigger than that crowd. Yeah. So tell me you're good at one. But, Drew, you can chip in on this too. Madisonville, give me famous Madisonville athletes. Frank Ramsey is probably the one that comes to mind at first. You know, NBA Hall of Famer. That's pretty good for any town to have an NBA Hall of Famer. Travis Ford, John Hood, Sonny Collins, UK football legend. Those are my top four probably. Who am I missing? You said all the – you said Travis Ford, John Hood. Frank Ramsey, Sonny Collins. I mean, I could name drop all the legends from my era. We had the 0-2 soccer team was the best of all time, led by Michael Duggar. My golf team also pretty historic. I feel like Sonny Collins is a little more impressive, but, you know. I don't remember your golf team. 26-2, 26-2. That's pretty good. You got the flag at home. I didn't know that that was one. I got one more. One of the rough fronts, Gary Gamble's from here in an Erlington. Gary Gamble getting a pop. How about that? Who are we missing? How about currently on the team? Zach. Zach Cowell. Yes, it's a current Kentucky player. His sister could also hit a softball pretty far. She went to Alabama. She was at Alabama, right? Okay. So anybody we're missing? Mike Phillips. Mike Phillips. How did you forget Mike Phillips? Absolutely. Well, that's a lot of athletes from one area, and we've always enjoyed our time here, and it's great to be here today. 859-280-2287. Now, one of the things we're doing, Shannon, is at the end of the show, So someone is going to shoot from right here for $10,000. That's right. $10,000 for one half-court shot. We will draw a name, and they will be shooting. The only rule is no current high school or college players, but a chance to win a massive prize. And earlier today, you hit one of those. I was going to tell you, I hate to give you the bad news, but the contest is already over because I already hit the half-court shot. Nice. So I was just warming up the rim, just proving that it was possible. It was like when Bob Barker would take that putt for his contestants in the hole-in-one golf game on the prices, right? But somebody here is going to do it. I have confidence in them. Whoever shoots it, you're going to do it. Well, I'm looking forward to it. $10,000 on the line towards the end of the show, and it could be any of the people here. I hope everybody has signed up. And I hear there's a big game tonight, too. Who's playing here for the district title? Well, it's a rivalry game, Madisonville versus Central. That was a big deal when I was in school. I assume it hasn't changed, and Maroons are going to do what they always do. Central Hopkins County? Yes. So it's Mattisville, North Hopkins. No storm tonight, only sunshine. Versus Central. Put that on a post. That was terrible. But we are going to win. Did you say no storm, only sunshine? Yeah, we're going to gloss over that, but we're going to beat Central tonight. Let's make Matt a shirt. No storm, only sunshine. No storm, only sunshine. How about this coal, by the way? Let's talk about this. Okay, so there is. Straight from a Joe Craft. This fuels Kentucky basketball, Matt. Touch this coal. You talk about East having all the coal, and they have a lot of coal. But let's put some respect on the West coals. You guys stole a lot of it. A lot of it's now out here. We used to have it in my end, and now it's moved out here. So this is literally what paid for Malachi Moreno. Is that what you're telling me? Cool money. Tyron Stokes right here. We need to see a few more Ziploc bags of this, and we'll get them. All right, there you go. So Shannon was about to take a bite of it. I thought somebody brought us bonbons. I was excited for a minute. Well, one of the changes in the state is a lot of the state's coal production has moved out this way from the eastern part, and it has fueled a boom out here. And that's right. A lot of it kind of can connect to Kentucky basketball. That's royalty then. That's Joe Craft Cole. I'm going to put that in my mantelpiece when I get home. Yeah, you definitely should. Now, Kentucky, one of the things about Madisonville, you guys are actually closer to Nashville than you are to Lexington. And on Saturday, Kentucky plays tomorrow one of the biggest games of the season, in my view. If they win, I think it's very, very likely they get a bye in the SEC tournament and they'll end up getting – they'll probably play on Thursday. It also, I think, would make them highly advanced in their seeding. They're 3-7 in quad 1A games. But the good thing is they have three of those coming in the next few days. And if you're 5-8 or 6-7, looks a lot better. Tomorrow, Vanderbilt – is it spread out yet? Ooh, probably is and I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it yet. I'm going to guess Vandy's probably a three-and-a-half point favorite. That's just going to be a guess completely. But what do you think of the Cats' chances? Got blown out by them just a few weeks ago in Nashville. That's where pride's got to come into it. These Cats need to look themselves in the mirror and realize they got embarrassed. They got punked down in Nashville when Vanderbilt just ran them off the court. Man, they're better than that. They're a better team than that. And they're on their home court at Rupp Arena. You can't let that happen. You owe them one, man. You've got to be more physical. I mean, that's what Vanderbilt did really well was just physical with Kentucky. And if you're Kentucky, you've got to match that. They out-rebounded Kentucky as well. I mean, that was something that was really surprising, considering that Vandy really doesn't have that much height. Kentucky has that advantage. The thing that stuck out to me about that game in Nashville was completely out-physical. It was really the first game we had seen where it felt like it wasn't just an effort thing. It was a strength, et cetera. Now, they've been much better about that. And I actually think that was – Kentucky has played pretty physical in a lot of games. They just didn't in that one. I'm kind of with Ryan. Ryan loves to say pride, and I think that's not always the answer. In this game, I do think it is because you did get punked down there. That game at Nashville was over from the beginning. We were never in that. Down 20 at halftime. Yeah, I mean, we were just never in it. We have to come out and play and get some pride back. Yeah, if these guys have any fight in them, that game adds some extra momentum to this. Vandy, we all know, is not 25 points better. Kentucky just had an awful game, and Vandy took advantage of it, and it just started spiraling for UK. I know times have changed in the SEC, but for me at the end of the day, this is the Vanderbilt logo walking into Rupp Arena. Just get the job done. I mean, you cannot lose this team. I know it's not the Vandy of old, and they've got some scores, but this is Kentucky basketball hosting Vandy with March around the corner. Just win the game. You think about the Vandy game. How many of you all, by the way, go to the Road Vandy games regularly? This is the kind of place where people go. All right, who was at the game a couple weeks ago? Anybody? A couple people. A couple people. That was embarrassing, wasn't it? It was embarrassing to go down there. You had a lot of Kentucky fans there, and you got absolutely embarrassed. There are three games left, Ryan. Yep. We have – it is clear if you look at the numbers. We have like six guys that when you play, Kentucky plays well. And then we have three guys that they just don't. If I'm Mark Pope, especially when you look at next week where you've got to play Florida at A&M, this is the game to win. I'm going all out. I'm playing my guys 38 minutes, and I'm trying to steal this win tomorrow because this win tomorrow has a huge impact on March and your tournament season What does it say about us when we sitting here talking about not playing in the first game on Wednesday by beating Vanderbilt at home Well, it says bad things, but you know what? Who cares? You've got to win, right? You've got to win. You can sit and say... I think there's two different conversations you've got to have about Kentucky basketball. One is the big picture. Who's going to be on our roster next year? I think Mark Story at the Herald-Leader wrote this morning, the next month, and I actually agree with this, He said the next month will determine whether or not Mark Pope is successful at Kentucky as a coach. His premise was what we do in the tournament this year and then what recruits we bring in off the portal. He's like, if Mark doesn't get this next month right, he's not going to get it. But this is a huge part of that, Drew. Winning this game, I think it will affect your seeding in the NCAA by one or two lines and it will affect what happens in the SEC tournament. And it will just keep the fan base and everything together a little bit longer and try to get some optimism and excitement going. I mean, I think we all admit if we lose to Vandy tomorrow and you're looking at going to A&M and Florida in the year, we're all not going to be feeling good. So for the confidence in the team and just the fan base having something to look forward to, just keep stacking wins and we'll see what happens when you get to the tournaments. Denzel Aberdeen has been great recently. He has. He was interviewed, I think, yesterday and basically said he feels like the team is right here from turning the corner. He was on a national championship team last year. I'm not saying that we're that, but do you think we could be right here from turning the corner? I know that sounds weird considering we lost three straight before the last game, but do you think so? It does seem weird to say that because we didn't even play well in our win against South Carolina. But he's the guy. I mean, he had a great game offensively, but he had zero turnovers in like 38 minutes. If they're going to make a run and be successful, I'm always going to have to have a big game, but it may all depend on how Denzel Aberdeen plays the rest of the season. Those two guys were your only offense in the first game against Vanderbilt. Nobody else, I don't think, even scored more than three points. Is that right? Yeah. Owe and Aberdeen were the only offense Kentucky had, those two guys. They've got to have more than that tomorrow. Well, they won a game last on Tuesday where Owe didn't play well. Yeah. That really has not happened all year. But they did it on Tuesday, and now they need to get that tomorrow. We are here in Madisonville. Travis Ford, by the way, what's your favorite Travis Ford memory from UK? when he snuck in and shot the free throw at Vanderbilt when he wasn't supposed to and got in trouble. Vandy week. Was that at Vandy or Tennessee? I think it was Vandy, but it may have been Tennessee. I think it was Vandy and he got suspended for Tennessee. I think it was Tennessee and he got suspended for Vandy. Either way, smooth move. We'll see. We'll see. I don't want to dispute you, but I think it was – Madisonville, was it Tennessee or Vandy? It's your home guy. Travis Ford also was SEC tournament MVP two years in a row, back-to-back years. Only Kentucky player to do that. Look at that. All these facts here in North Hopkins County. We're going to take a break. 859-280-2287. Listen to this group here in Madisonville. I hope it's coming through on the radio how many people are here. We'll take a break and be right back. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. In 2023, a story gripped the U.K., evoking horror and disbelief. The nurse who should have been in charge of caring for tiny babies is now the most prolific child killer in modern British history. Everyone thought they knew how it ended. A verdict, a villain, a nurse named Lucy Letby. Lucy Letby has been found guilty. But what if we didn't get the whole story? The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapses. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast, doubt the case of Lucy Letby, we follow the evidence and hear from the people that lived it to ask what really happened when the world decided who Lucy Letby was. No voicing of any skepticism or doubt. It'll cause so much harm at every single level if the British establishment of this is wrong. Listen to doubt the case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton Eckerd, and in 2022, I was the lead of ABC's The Bachelor. Unfortunately, it didn't go according to plan. He became the first Bachelor to ever have his final rose rejected. The internet turned on him. If I could press a button and rewind it, all I would. But what happened to Clayton after the show made even bigger headlines. It began as a one-night stand and ended in a courtroom, with Clayton at the center of a very strange paternity scandal. The media is here. This case has gone viral. The dating contract. Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you. Please search warrant. This is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. This season, an epic battle of he said, she said, and the search for accountability in a sea of lies. I have done nothing except get pregnant by the f***ing. Razzler! Listen to Love Trapped on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Nancy Glass, host of the Burden of Guilt Season 2 podcast. This is a story about a horrendous lie that destroyed two families. Late one night, Bobby Gumpright became the victim of a random crime. He pulls the gun. tells me to lie down on the ground. He identified Jermaine Hudson as the perpetrator. Jermaine was sentenced to 99 years. I'm like, Lord, this can't be real. I thought it was a mistaken identity. The best lie is partial truth. For 22 years, only two people knew the truth until a confession changed everything. I was a monster. Listen to Burden of Guilt Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. NLP, aka Neuro Linguistic Programming, is a blend of hypnosis, linguistics, and psychology. Fans say it's like finally getting a user manual for your brain. It's about engineering consciousness. Mind Games is the story of NLP, its crazy cast of disciples, and the fake doctor who invented it at a new age commune and sold it to guys in suits. He stood trial for murder and got acquitted. The biggest mind game of all? NLP might actually work. This is wild. Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. It is Kentucky Sports Radio here live in Madisonville. That is the theme for NBC basketball, 859-280-2287. Kevin, some more folks from Hopkins County. Michael Eves that's on SportsCenter is a Hopkins County person. Kentucky had a basketball player, Harry Todd. He was the 1958 Kentucky Mr. Basketball, was from Erlington. That's Hopkins County. Am I right about that? Oh, yeah. And then UK, somebody wrote me from UK, had a softball player, Mallory Payton, who was from here as well. So I'll give a shout-out to all the Madisonville people. We had a great softball run not too long ago, too. Yep. 859-280-2287. One person writes, Matt, tell Ryan Cole is flammable. He should not keep it on his mantle. Maybe on my kitchen table. That's still flammable. Maybe outside. There we go. Why did you think your kitchen table would be safer? Just because it's such a beautiful piece of artwork there. I wanted to have everybody to enjoy it. All right, well, good. Conversation piece, right? Yeah. That's exactly right. Like, what the heck is this? So, we are here at the Kentucky Sports Factory. By the way, yesterday, where's Mario? He broke some scoop online, I don't think, intentionally. Mario was – Shaden Sharp was listed in a post, and Mario retweeted that while Shaden Sharp was at U.K. and not playing for the U.K. basketball team, that he would play basketball in the rec center against students. And he goes, couldn't play for UK but could play against us. What's interesting is not just that Mario wrote it, but a couple of people that were on that team liked his tweet. Ty Ty Washington. Ty Ty Washington and included a couple other people. So we've always wondered over the years, could Shane Sharp have played? Not only did Mario for the first time say that he was seeing Shane Sharp play, but players on that team, Shannon, were saying the same. Mario could tell you firsthand how good he was, but all we got was Shaden Sharp in the layup line. But I did think the players on the team liking the tweet, Drew, does suggest that maybe there was some, hey, why is this guy not on the court? Let's not forget that backcourt was pretty banged up. It's not that they just wanted a better player with them. They needed bodies. So to hear he was at the rec center playing that, fans had known that at the time, that would not have gone over well. I don't think it would have. ESPN, I can't remember the personality. They went to a practice, and I guess Shaden was doing stuff, and they were basically like, that guy's the best player in the gym. Why are they not making him play, or why is he not out there? Yeah, well, that's important. By the way, you were correct. It was against Vandy that they did the free throw, and Tennessee was the game that they set out. I thought it was the other way around, so you were right, Ryan. Well, I did sleep next to a Holiday Inn Express last night. You did? Oh, he was sitting on that one. We slept at the Hampton Inn. But it's next to the Holiday Inn Express. I understand, but that's – You're getting the vibe from it. Yeah. And next to Fazoli's, Shannon. The brand-new Fazoli's. Oh, I've got to stop there for lunch. Well, they put a Fazoli's here. I love it. It's not brand-new, but as others are closing, we are welcoming Fazoli's into our community. It's been a while. Move the Lexington Fazoli's to here. We'll just move right here. I'm glad to hear it. All right, before we go to phones, 859-280-2287. Mark Pope was asked again yesterday at his pre-press conference about a GM. They asked him, what do you look for in a GM? and he said, I'm looking for someone who can get us all the players for $0. Which he was trying to make a joke. It got the same reaction it got right here, which was sort of awkward silence in the room. We found out yesterday, Drew and I were talking to a couple people. They have actually spoken, Ryan, to a couple of people about the job. Sources tell KSR none of them got the job. So now do you feel more confident that they will actually hire someone? After hearing that for the first time, to answer your question, yes, that they're actively kind of interviewing people. I don't know about that. We just know that there's a couple people that in the recent past they have spoken with. Well, those couple people are better than zero people, so that's what I said. At least they're trying to maybe looking into doing and finding the right guy that might fit to what they want that GM person to do. When you heard that, Drew, do you think it makes it more likely that they hire someone? I'm still pretty concerned. One, I feel like he'd be a little more urgent about it and would say, because people have asked 30 times this season. And he won't just say yes. Yeah, right. He won't just say yes. He'll always go, well, we're having conversations and we're doing this. He makes the joke he made yesterday, which the whole room was like, all right, anyway, so are you going to do it or not? So I'm still worried because I feel like he would have at least said, I'm actively searching or something. It seems like he's really fighting against it behind the scenes and wants to control it, which I think is a terrible idea. We just have to do it because we have to have players next year. And my worry, Shannon, you know, like Bill Self does not have a GM as far as I can tell. But he also has multiple players committed. He's been getting great players. We don't have them. And, you know, this season is going to end in three or four weeks. And then they will literally have one month to get a roster. So if you're going to do that, you would think you would want to have someone in play. After hearing Pope talk about that yesterday, I'm actually less confident because I don't even think he's taking it seriously. I just don't think that he wants to give up that power to somebody else to go out and recruit these players. I think that he wants to have that control himself. I just don't see him giving it up. Well, someone wrote on the board this week that, you know, they claimed they knew some stuff behind the scenes that said that Pope and their argument would be that, like, Most of the kids in this class went to their home state school, and you can go and look that up. And my counterpoint was, well, there are two in Kentucky and we're not getting them. So if they're truly saying that as an excuse, then that's not a good excuse at all. That's actually the worst excuse. Yeah, if that's their excuse, I haven't heard that. That's a bad excuse, though. 859-280-2287. Who's up first, Liam? John. John go ahead John Hey old man Jones Welcome to town man Nice to hear from you John I was going to say you keeping Drew straight We're doing what we can. Go ahead, John. I'm just going to ask you, who comes out the winner tomorrow on the game? Well, I appreciate the call, John. I hope Kentucky does. Who feels confident we win? Let me ask the crowd. I'm predicting it. I wouldn't call it confident. If I put all of you all, not who you hope will win, but who you think will win, how many of you think we're winning tomorrow? There we go. Big majority. We should just play the game here. How many of you think Vandy's winning tomorrow? See, now that actually – you can't – listen, young man, Mr. Gold Chain over there, you can't clap as you're registering the vote. but it was it's about 90-10 I hope that's probably wishful thinking I think we I genuinely think we can win I think Vandy's good but we can beat them Vandy has struggled on the road yes and I don't think you're going to have another game like we just talked about earlier where only two guys are your main offense I think you're going to get more contributions from guys off the bench and the other guys in the rotation Tanner just had a game he's called called awful but he had like four points last week. I mean, he's been great all season. They just lost to Tennessee this week at home. So, what do you think? Last game out, you didn't play well. Last home game, you didn't play well. But you owe Vanderbilt, damn it. You owe them a win. Damn it? Yes. There are children here. I mean, look. You see these impressionable young things? Well, they need to get fired up. Look at that man in that hat right there. Do not cuss in front of that man. We'll take a break. We'll be right back. It's KSR. TJ Smith, personal injury attorney. Call TJ. He'll make them pay. Now, more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones. Welcome back. It is Kentucky Sports Radio. All right, now, I have a challenge for the folks here in Madisonville. I got this text message. One person writes, Matt, I've been listening to you since the first day. A couple weeks ago, you were in Radcliffe, and I told you that that was the loudest crowd I'd ever heard. I see the videos, and I see that there are more people in Madisonville. However, I don't think it was as loud as it was in Radcliffe. Can you tell the people in Madisonville to step up? All right. You guys probably have three times more people than we're in Radcliffe. So I'm going to give you a chance to show it right here. One, two, three. There we go. Yeah. Hold on a second. That was all we needed. Now go ahead. Go ahead. O-C-A-T-S-S-S-S-S There you go. That's all we needed. Now, no offense to our good friends in Radcliffe, but I think you all just took the crown right there. 859-280-2287. A couple of non-Madisonville, Hopkins County things. First of all, Webster County is sitting right over here. Give a big shout-out to our friends from Webster County. They do a broadcasting class, and they brought their – is that right, a class? Then they brought their class here to Hopkins County. Good to see you all. Secondly, I want to give a shout-out. In E-Town, I stopped last night to eat at this place called, like, the Social Food Hall. And I just want – every small town, although people in E-Town got mad that I called E-Town a small town. I still think it's a small town. Or town should send a representative from their town to go look at this place. It was like a community food hall that had like six or seven different local restaurants that were in booths, communal seating. It had like bowling, video games, beer taps. I was there at like 530, and it was full of people. And I was just thinking, man, if you lived in a smaller place, this is such a cool thing for a town to have. So I just wanted to give it. I think other towns in Kentucky could follow that. I thought it was really neat. Yeah, I saw your picture last night. It does look really cool. like communities like Madisonville, Hopkinsville, some of these towns. Yeah, it sounds like that size. Yes, absolutely. I thought it was cool. Then, if you've listened to this show a long time, you've heard me talk about, Shannon, the Bath County meat shower. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I remember. You remember the Bath County meat shower one day in Bath County, like back in the 30s, all of a sudden meat just came pouring from the sky. And nobody knows, still doesn't know why. They have different theories like birds were vomiting them or whatever. But it has been the Bath County meat shower has been a mystery for 100 years. Well, apparently, I guess it took place in 1926 because this is the 100th anniversary of the Bath County meat shower. And tomorrow at 4 o'clock, they are going to recreate it in Bath County. What? How are they going to do this? I do not know. We put Ryan underneath of it. I don't know. But apparently tomorrow at 4 o'clock, meat is going to rain from the sky in Bath County. How? What are they going to do? I don't know. But they also don't know how it happened 100 years ago. So tomorrow at 4 o'clock, I mean, I'm not going to be able to go because we have the post-game show for the game. But it is an interesting idea. Tomorrow, if you're in Bath County, you're going to look up and meat is going to be falling from the sky. I hope they give people a warning, first of all. And I would not want to be underneath of that. I mean, they're just going to drop it on people's houses? I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen. Somebody needs to be rolling with video. I need to see this. But I do like the idea of recreating the 100th anniversary of one of the more sort of infamous Kentucky events of all time. Kind of bummed it during the game. I've known that story for a while. It's fascinating, and I'd like to go be a part of the anniversary. I have this image of, like, there's something in a helicopter chucking, like, ground beef out and landing on everybody. I don't know what else you could possibly do. Of all the things to recreate, that is one of the strangest ones I can think of. Well, but when you tell me Bath County, that's what I think of. I always think of the meat shower, so why not embrace it? Also, they announced this morning on the pre-show here in Madisonville, on July 3rd and 4th and 5th, you all are having the fourth annual Madisonville Fest and Praise in the Park. It's the fourth fest. Fourth of July. Fourth fest. Okay, fourth fest. That makes sense since it's on the fourth of July. But here's who's coming and playing here in Madisonville. I want you to listen to this lineup. Yeah. Let's start with the band Perry. Okay, my friend is in the band Perry. Jason Fitz, he also does sports, so he will be here. But listen to this group. Quad City DJs. You remember Quad City DJs? What was their song? Come on and ride. Come on and ride. Okay. Wow, nailed it. Sugar Hill Gang. Yeah. Billy can do that one. Yes. Yeah. Now, I can't believe you are getting these groups. All for one. Oh, big time get. I want you to know I do it all for love. You know that one? Yeah. Was that their biggest one they had? They did I Swear, too. Okay, that's the one I was thinking of, yes. And then Color Me Bad. Let's go. Who knew? Dude, for Madisonville. Madisonville's going to be sexing everybody up here on the 3rd of July. Y'all want to come back? I think so. Who knew? Madisonville bringing Color Me Bad here. Listen, Ryan, that's a heck of a lineup. Those are like five groups that had big-time hits. I just know when you said Color Me Bad and Sex Me Up, A couple grandmas in the front row got a little smile on their face right there. Look at them. They're still smiling. Don't call people grandmas. You know, back in their day, did you ever think those bands, though, would play Madisonville? No. They had Brent Michaels a few years ago. This was a while back, but, Matt, your boy Tyler Childers played Madisonville. I mean, he was still pretty new at the time. Not now, but I think it's a lot of good artists around here. Well, so that should be exciting. That's the July 3rd, 4th, and 5th. 859-280-2287. Who's up next, Liam? Joey. Joey, go ahead, Joey. Matt, I'm very frustrated with Pope's press conferences, man. Everybody says he gets it, but we're a serious fan base. And some of the things he says, like the GM joke, like if you want to be a comedian, go do stand-up comedy. We want a straight answer. This is for real, you know. And as far as Tyron Stokes thing, I heard that he didn't even want to come to Kentucky now. So how do you feel about that? Well, I mean, we talked about that yesterday. First of all, on the jokes, you know, sometimes people are awkward when they make jokes, and I think Pope was yesterday, but I don't read too much into that. He was just trying to be lighthearted. The Tyron Stokes thing, we talked about it yesterday. We are his second choice now, but if he wants to come here, I'm still going to take him. I mean, it is clear they screwed this class up. I don't think there's any doubt, but if for some reason, Kansas isn't able to put it over the top, and the number one player in the country wants to come here, you take them. I mean, you don't sit there and say, I mean, you know, look, I'm sure there's somebody in here that's married to a woman that you were their second choice. Wow. I mean, I'm not pointing any of you out. I'm not making eye contact. I'm not pointing anybody out, but there's some women in here that are a lot more beautiful than the man they are with, and you were probably the second choice. But that's okay because you all still may be in love and have the best relationship in the world. So if Tyron Stokes wants to come here, if we were his second choice, Ryan, I am fine with that because we don't have any players committed right now. I don't care if Tyron Stokes were his third choice, fourth choice, or fifth choice. He's the number one player in America. If he decides to come to Kentucky, you welcome him with open arms. I'm going to tell you, though, if I'm somebody's second choice, I don't want to hear about it. I don't want to know. I'd rather not know that was the second choice. Well, that's a good choice. You don't want him to say. Well, he did say. Well, no, he didn't say it. It was somebody around him gave an anonymous quote. But, I mean, originally he wanted to come here. Then he flips to Kansas. Kansas didn't go, oh, we're the second choice, right? If you have confidence, take them. I mean, we've lost teams. Like, we lost to Caden Lewis to his second choice. So, I'm fine. You just need the players. How they got here is kind of irrelevant to me. Yeah, apparently we were his first choice in October there for a while just to get it done. I mean, think back, like Terrence Jones picked Washington back in the day. That's right, I forgot about that. Then the next day he picked us. We were cool with that. Yeah, and he won a title here. So we're cool with it. Who's up next? Kevin. Kevin, go ahead, Kevin. Yeah, I just wanted to make a quick comment about the GM situation. So I think if Pope doesn't hire a GM by March 7th, I don't think he's going to do it. So same kind of thing we were saying with Quaintance. If he doesn't show up by – or if he doesn't play by a certain date, he won't play. And I also think Pope is being vague because he's not going to hire one. So that's all I got. Well, look, this is my PR advice. I used to give – so when Mark Stoops was here, I would say, especially in the early days, he would call me sometimes and talk about, look, I'm going to have to – this is going to happen. What do you think is the best way to get this out? And I always would say, if it's bad news or it's news the fans aren't going to like, just get it out and don't let it linger. And if it's good news, get it out. Because when it lingers, people assume bad news, right? I would say if Mark Pope is not going to hire a GM, you might as well say it now. Because if you wait until after the season and then you say it, then we have all off season to talk about it. So I just think he should say, I'm going to hire one. I'm not going to hire one. But just letting it. The worst thing you can do with bad news, Shannon, is drip, drip, drip, pull the Band-Aid off, and just go. Because the dripping, it's like a Band-Aid. You sit there and do it softly. It just hurts over and over and over. Just pull it. And if you're silent, somebody's going to fill that void for you. And that's the other thing. We're going to speculate. Fans are going to speculate, have questions. Silence is always filled by the void. and the void is people who don't know what they're talking about like us. So, Ryan, I would say you just do it. You know, when he keeps saying stuff like we're discussing it or, you know, the little things he says, that just makes it worse, man. This whole PR, this whole season, whatever happened at the Louisville game, like now this has kind of been the thing with Jaden Quaid. It's like it's been bad the whole year. Yes, it has. Don Franklin, if you need a vehicle, what are you going to do? I'm going to call you and you're going to pick me up. That's right. I don't know. Go to DonFranklinAuto.com. That's exactly. There's the answer. Go to DonFranklinAuto.com. There are locations, 27 all around the state. There's one near you, best selection, best prices. It is around you with a family of services. Go to DonFranklinAuto.com. Great warranties, great service at Don Franklin. We are here at the Hopkins County Kentucky Sports Factory. Ryan Lemon says the best one in the state, and he's been to all of them. We'll take a break and be right back. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. In 2023, a story gripped the UK, evoking horror and disbelief. The nurse who should have been in charge of caring for tiny babies is now the most prolific child killer in modern British history Everyone thought they knew how it ended A verdict A villain A nurse named Lucy Letby Lucy Letby has been found guilty. But what if we didn't get the whole story? The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapses. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby, we follow the evidence and hear from the people that lived it. to ask what really happened when the world decided who Lucy Letby was. No voicing of any skepticism or doubt. It'll cause so much harm at every single level if the British establishment of this is wrong. Listen to Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Nancy Glass, host of the Burden of Guilt Season 2 podcast. This is a story about a horrendous lie that destroyed two families. Late one night, Bobby Gumpwright became the victim of a random crime. He pulls the gun, tells me to lie down on the ground. He identified Jermaine Hudson as the perpetrator. Jermaine was sentenced to 99 years. I'm like, Lord, this can't be real. I thought it was a mistaken identity. The best lie is partial truth. For 22 years, only two people knew the truth. Until a confession changed everything. I was a monster. Listen to Burden of Guilt Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton Eckerd, and in 2022, I was the lead of ABC's The Bachelor. Unfortunately, it didn't go according to plan. He became the first bachelor to ever have his final rose rejected. The internet turned on him. If I could press a button and rewind it all, I would. But what happened to Clayton after the show made even bigger headlines. It began as a one-night stand and ended in a courtroom, with Clayton at the center of a very strange paternity scandal. The media is here. This case has gone viral. The dating contract. Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you. Please search for it. This is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. This season, an epic battle of he said, she said, and the search for accountability in a sea of lies. I have done nothing except get pregnant by the f***ing bachelor. Listen to Love Trapped on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What if mind control is real? If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have? Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings. Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. NLP, a.k.a. Neuro Linguistic Programming, is a blend of hypnosis, linguistics, and psychology. Fans say it's like finally getting a user manual for your brain. It's about engineering consciousness. Mind Games is the story of NLP, its crazy cast of disciples, and the fake doctor who invented it at a New Age commune and sold it to guys in suits. He stood trial for murder and got acquitted. The biggest mind game of all? NLP might actually work. This is wild. Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. It is Kentucky Sports Radio here live in Hopkins County. Thank you to Toyota Madisonville that is here with us as well. and health care education in the community. Baptist Health Deaconess serves 11 counties and more than 275,000 people here in Madisonville. You also have a regional community college. Is this the community college that you failed a bunch? No, it didn't fail, Matt. We have such great English 101 teachers. I wanted to have the experience with all of them, so I took a couple laps around the campus. Great place. You have to be one of the most successful writers in history to fail English 101 multiple times. Yeah, I hate the word fail, but I guess technically I did fail it. I mean, you can hate it, but it's also objectively correct. Yeah, my mom actually ran into my English teacher several years later at Kroger here, and he's like, what's Drew doing these days? And she said he's a writer, and she had to pick him up off the floor. There's hope for everybody. That's right. I enjoyed my MCC days. Well, I do want to say this since we're in his hometown. so it was a little over 15 years ago that I met a then I think senior in college on the six-year plan, Drew Franklin. I think that was the seventh year. Seventh year in college, Drew Franklin, and brought him on board, and he's been with us ever since and was without question the biggest factor to KSR taking a leap. So you all should be very proud. of your hometown guy who, you know, they say Pikeville to Paducah, but Drew Franklin through connected Middlesbrough to Madisonville to help make Kentucky Sports Radio happen. You know, they had an evening with Drew Franklin here at the Sports Factory last night to honor their favorite son. I heard that, yeah. Had a good time. Not to get emotional, but all these people here I recognize, I think everyone. This knucklehead was in a lot of these people's homes, so happy to shine a good light on this community with our platform because this is a great place that I'm proud of. There you go, 859-280-2287. I also want to note one of your neighbor towns, probably one of your rivals, Hopkinsville, tonight for the last time ever, Ryan. Yes. The last time it will ever happen, Hopkinsville is playing Christian County in basketball, a rivalry that goes back I don't know how many years but has produced an insane amount of basketball talent. And if you throw in UHA, like a ridiculous amount of basketball talent over the years, the final ride tonight is Hopkinsville and Christian County play one more time before they merge for bragging rights for eternity, Ryan, tonight. I guarantee you there won't be an empty inch of space in that gymnasium tonight. Everybody will go. I mean, it's a big game anyway. But for this, Matt, like you said, to be the last one, I would love to be there. But there's no way we'll be able to get in. And it's amazing that communities they're going to combine and join a new school next year. I mean, you may remember when Mike Krzyzewski retired at Duke. Do you remember the team that ended his career? Anybody? North Carolina. It was North Carolina in the Final Four. And Duke was a huge favorite. And North Carolina beat them, and Krzyzewski went out on a loss to North Carolina. Shannon and I have always thought that had to be like the worst way for him to go out. that'll happen for one of these teams tonight with Hopkinsville and Christian County. Listen to everybody clapping because Mike Krzyzewski lost. I mean, of all the ways you could go out against your biggest rival, I mean, that would be like, you know, Kentucky going out or one of the coaches at Kentucky losing to Louisville on the way out. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing who wins today. Last thing, so I don't know if you saw tomorrow for the Kentucky-Tennessee game, they're having a blue and white out. So if you are going to the game, you should look online. They've divided the arena in half, one side white, one side blue, and they're asking you to look and see where your ticket is and to wear white if you're on the one side and to wear blue if you're on the other side. It's not going to work. Why do you always say that? It could work. It's always a hodgepodge of blue and white, which is what we have every game. I like that when Vanderbilt comes to town, it's now a T-shirt game. That is kind of true But alright So I want to be positive I'd like it to work It'll kind of work It'll sort of work Some people won't even be aware that it's even going on That's the problem A lot of people won't even know that it's happening Which hurts it I don't understand Ryan why don't they just give the t-shirts away That's the easiest way to do it The easiest way to do it is to give the t-shirts away and then people will know what to wear. And the white section put the white T-shirts in the chair when they get there. The blue section put the blue shirts in the chair when they get there. Kentucky's tried this many times. It never seems to work. And if you're looking at the diagram, you're going to have white shirts. White people. White shirts. And then blue avatar people. On the other side. You know what I'm trying to say. There's going to be flip-flop reverse. There's going to be chaos. Good luck. I want it to work. I want it to work. I think it can work. I think doing the half and half makes it easier. When they try to do it like checkerboard, I think that's a lot harder. That's a lot. But when you do blue, it could work. And I say this when they do it with football, too. They wait too late to tell people. Like, say this a week ago or a week and a half ago. Give a heads up to let people, you know, don't have to plan too hard to have a blue or white shirt, but at least know what you need to be going into. All right, who's up next? Liam. Jared. Jared. Go ahead, Jared. Hey, Jared. Sorry. Hey, Matt. This is Jared. I'm the principal at Webster County High School. I want to give a shout-out to our student group that's there today. They're a bunch of great kids. They're mortified right now. Look at them. Look how red they've turned. Surely not. Because their principal, I mean, literally, you just embarrassed you, Jared. They're so mortified. But it is nice to have them here. But go ahead. Yeah. Now, my son got sick yesterday, so I had to stay home. I planned on coming up there with him. But I just wanted to call and give him a shout-out. They're a great group. They do a lot of good things for our school. And our staff is with them with the school broadcasts, the news and the athletic events and stuff. So I appreciate you giving them a shout-out. and welcome them there today. Glad to do it. Thank you very much, sir. Who's up next, Liam? Tony. Tony. Go ahead, Tony. Wait a minute. Hang on just a second. Before you go, Tony, you do a school broadcast. Who's the anchor? Do we have an anchor? Okay. All right. Well, we may see that maybe they might anchor the shot up here in a minute. All right. Go ahead. Who's next? Hey, man. Hope your dad's doing okay, first of all. Thank you very much. You're welcome. In one of the recent Coach Pope postgame or interviews, he said something about Malachi having some issues. Do you know what's going on there and why does he take him out so early in the game? Yeah, let me ask Drew that question. I appreciate the call. He did insinuate Malachi was going through some sort of injury, but we didn't hear anything else about it. What is he talking about? I mean, he turned his ankle early in the Auburn game, but he came back. I don't know. Maybe they got home and that swelled up a little bit, but that's the only thing I would know of. I mean, he's still playing, so the injury can't be that bad. But he did insinuate that he was going through some kind of injury. We're going to take a break. Come back. Hour number two. Talk more about the game, and somebody's going to shoot for $10,000 here in Mattisville's KSR. You can scroll the headlines all day and still feel empty. I'm Ben Higgins, and if you can hear me is where culture meets the soul. Honest conversations about identity, loss, purpose, peace, faith, and everything in between. Celebrities, thinkers, everyday people, some have answers, most are still figuring it out. And if you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you. Listen to If You Can Hear Me on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Special Agent Regal, Special Agent Bradley Hall. In 2018, the FBI took down a ring of spies working for China's Ministry of State Security, one of the most mysterious intelligence agencies in the world. The Sixth Bureau podcast is a story of the inner workings of the MSS and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets. Listen to The Sixth Bureau on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby we unpack the story of an unimaginable tragedy that gripped the UK in 2023 but what if we didn't get the whole story I've just been made to fit the moment you look at the whole picture the case collapsed what if the truth was disguised by a story we chose to believe oh my god, I think she might be innocent listen to Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton Eckerd. In 2022, I was the lead of ABC's The Bachelor. But here's the thing. Bachelor fans hated him. If I could press a button and rewind it, all I would. That's when his life took a disturbing turn. A one-night stand would end in a courtroom. The media is here. This case has gone viral. The dating contract. Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you. This is unlike anything I've ever seen before.