ADVERTISEMENT

A Word on Football Coverage

Like I said in a previous thread earlier..Have always loved the show and website. You, Ryan, Drew and others (Shannon!) all do a great job.

The football coverage has indeed gone up, especially on the website. My only wish is that the coverage on the radio show was a little more in depth, and frankly better. Maybe take the time to learn the roster, and just learn more about the game itself in general. Obviously you're doing the tour thing now, but in the future..

My last question...especially once camp/season starts, what about having Freddie on for atleast a few segments throughout the week? The podcast will be great too, but would love to hear his takes throughout the work week too.

Again, thanks for all you do, seriously, and good luck with everything moving forward.
 
Matt,

I think you're moving in the right direction. While you're still learning basic football stuff, by and large you do ok. I can tell basketball is your passion but I can also tell you bleed blue and want UK to win in all sports. Bringing Freddie onboard was a great choice and Tyler does a great job with her posts. Your Wiggins-miggins slip up was funny, but good info for the casual fan.

My biggest recommendation would be to have Freddie on twice a week from now until the end of football season. It'll give you someone who can break down the game for the diehards and still give you the chance at the entertainment angle as well.

Thats my two cents from one of the "55 homers" ;)
 
I listen sometimes when I'm driving and Matt seems to be mostly an entertainer with some UK football and basketball facets. I enjoy it and think criticism of him is over the top. I really like adding Freddie Maggard. That was a great move. Matt's found a niche. He has his own unique personality, like he yells at anyone who disagrees with him, but that's just Matt. He gets excited and he's a very successful entrepreneur. I congratulate him.
 
I'm no fan of Matt personally, goes back years to message boards before KSR, but the hate for his show is silly. It's 1000 times better than other local sports radio. As much as I love UK football it's not a money maker for media, no reason to blame Matt.

Personally I'm impressed and jealous, I wish I could make my living talking about UK sports.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bigblueforever
Two segments on a basketball player's Twitter account goes over better with the average UK fan (and KSR listener) than dissecting the strengths and weaknesses of the UK Defensive Line...and I would go further and say turn on and watch PTI...they do the same type of thing...they talk about that which is frivolous VASTLY more than breaking down action...because that is what most fans want.

If we knew our FB players like we know our BB players, that would be different...but we don't and for many, many reasons it will be hard to ever do so (that is a topic for a different post). Personality drives talk radio and UK fans care more and know more about basketball personalities on the players


I don't think anyone has an expectation of you breaking down D-line play on the radio show. I would think there are several exit ramps between "there's nothing football to talk about" and something as in-depth as dissecting the strengths and weaknesses of the defensive line.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: JohnnyinShelbyville
I have been a long time listener of KSR. I find the show very entertaining. Matt, Ryan, and Shannon compliment each other well. As much as I wished they talked more football, I do understand that they need to play to their strengths. It's evident that they have more passion and knowledge for basketball so that's why the show always goes back to BB when all the headlines of the day have been mentioned. While i am a bigger football fan than basketball I will continue listening to KSR. I am really looking forward to the football podcast. I don't understand why everyone complains so much. No one makes you turn on your radio and forces you to listen. Matt keep up the good work.
 
Two segments on a basketball player's Twitter account goes over better with the average UK fan (and KSR listener) than dissecting the strengths and weaknesses of the UK Defensive Line...and I would go further and say turn on and watch PTI...they do the same type of thing...they talk about that which is frivolous VASTLY more than breaking down action...because that is what most fans want.

If we knew our FB players like we know our BB players, that would be different...but we don't and for many, many reasons it will be hard to ever do so (that is a topic for a different post). Personality drives talk radio and UK fans care more and know more about basketball personalities on the players

This is very true. You have to talk about what the majority of the listening audience wants. I live in Nashville, TN, and Clay Travis used to respond to the people who wanted more Nashville Predators coverage on 3hl with a "Not enough people care, so we talk about that according to the level of how much people care...which is not a lot" and that is why they talked so much football, basketball during college hoops season, and honestly a bunch of random non-sports topic at times. Of course Clay is long gone from that show now, but the point stands. I think winning cures all...if UK football wins 8 games this regular season we might have more casual fans care about UK's D-Line in 2016 and wanting it broke down instead of some walk-ons twitter. I'd rather hear about the former now, but I know most are not as hardcore as I am so they prefer the latter.

I enjoy the site. Then again I am a UK SPORTS FAN...not just a "football fan" like that one poster talking about having to sift through all the "non-basketball stories" to get to the football news. It's funny, the same guys who bitch about sifting through those "non-stories" in b-balls offseason that they do not think should be there are the ones who think you should post more football stuff in March when not much is going on football wise instead of talking about UK's 34-0 record heading into the NCAA Tournament. You are enver going to please football only or basketball only fans Matt. I guess the b-ball only ones get more as b-ball is probably the slight dominant facet of the site/radio, although that has gotten closer to 50/50 recently. They want to hear b-ball all the time, which is stupid, and you have the f-ball only one wants wanting f-ball all the time...which is clueless.

It is almost impossible to find the balance to please most people, but I think you guys do hit the target majority. Overall, a good job, not perfect, but good entertainment and UK sports' news. Some people get too jealous and take sports way too seriously.
 
One thing we all can agree on...Louisville sucks!..... Amirite?!?

I've said it a million times, college football is the craps table at the casino... When one person's winning-everyone is winning. Further it's most fun in the joint. A winning UK FOOTBALL team would captify a fan base better than 38-1. Hop aboard... It's coming.
 
I understand sports media is a business and a business has to serve it's customers tastes and interests. That's fine. But as some have already expressed the flavor of KSR is definitely basketball. Since I'm much more oriented towards football I don't listen very often unless they have someone of interest from the football side on.

I will say that I like Matt's demeanor . He comes across as very upbeat, and excited about the topic being discussed which makes the show pleasant and interesting to listen to. Therefore the Finebaum comparison is a bit puzzling. as PF is about as exciting as a 3 day old Thanksgiving day turkey.

If anything this discussion underlies a negative situation that we all recognize and that is the rivalry that seems to be forming between those that are all in for basketball vs. those that are all in for football. As football's popularity continues to grow, sports media like KSR is compelled to provide it more coverage, but I sense that some of the more loyal, basketball first and only types are starting to feel that the spotlight might be moving off of them a bit and if basketball is your bread and better you have to make sure your audience realizes that you still are promoting it that way. I find that very unfortunate becasue in reality each sport can and often does help the other. The other side of the picture is football first types like me are sensitive for being dissed in favor of basketball, and may at times be overly sensitive. None the less the feelings are there.

I would hope at some point that Kentucky's sport media outlets could feel comfortable and enthusiastic about promoting both major sports without having to worry about someone's toes being stepped on, and not having to apology for giving 5 more minutes coverage to football then basketball on a given day or vice versa.
 
Matt Jones and KSR is something i am very fond of. I think he does a great job personally and also KSR is the best site on the internet for UK Athletics. If i want to find out what is going on, I open up the KSR website and start reading. But to each his own.
 
K. I'll admit I've listened to you maybe all of twice. I tend to find the whole thing amusing, and laugh at it from both sides. I think we do share one thing though, I'm a fan of the University of Kentucky. First and foremost. I'll admit I'm a dire hard, long time UK basketball fan though I've noted in recent years the Bronco's are pulling along side. That said, like you I'm excited by Stoops and pulling for him. I want to see UK football succeed as an extension of UK, and I recognize that in the big picture football dwarfs basketball in popularity. Success there would give my beloved UK more exposure than 10 national titles in basketball. So keep doing what your doing. Maybe I'll listen a 3rd time.
 
I'm no fan of Matt personally, goes back years to message boards before KSR, but the hate for his show is silly. It's 1000 times better than other local sports radio. As much as I love UK football it's not a money maker for media, no reason to blame Matt.

Personally I'm impressed and jealous, I wish I could make my living talking about UK sports.

Why would a Kentucky fan hate a true Kentucky Sports Radio man is crazy?
 
Matt,

I agree with the other posters suggesting you try to get Freddie Maggard on the show a few times a week. Tom Leach has done this and it's always interesting to hear his take. He's knowledgeable, passionate and honest about UK football and I like listening to him. This would go a long way in satisfying those who want more substance in terms of football talk and may get more of your listeners interested in football. My 2 cents.
 
@homerblue, @Levibooty, @ShoesSwayedBlue, and @vhcat70

Let me preface my post by saying that I do not listen to KSR. I choose not to, not because of Matt or his colleagues, I merely don't follow KSR.

Now, that said..

I'm assuming that all of you are grown a** men who merely choose to act like children. You don't have to like his content, and you don't have to even listen to his content. Kentucky has a huge fan following, and if you think that his voice is the only voice you have the choice in hearing in regards to Kentucky athletics, you're wrong.
If you don't like the content that's being produced, and think you could do a better job (or can't find somebody doing a better job than he is right now), then you need to start your own website/radio station.
He doesn't owe anybody an explanation, he didn't have to post here to address this displeasure that has been brought up numerous times today (Really, some of you guys crying about Matt Jones has become a nuisance).
None of you are in the place to criticize the work that he does, because you're not doing the work that he's doing. Grow a little more, quit acting catty because the man doesn't share views with you all. You see the exact same stuff on this website every single day, but 50x the amount of people put him on blast because his voice is heard more frequently.




You like Louisville fans too? Most of them are Kentuckians. If you don't mind yankees bashing yankees, then you shouldn't mind Kentuckians bashing Kentuckians. It's human nature in the north just as much as it is in the south, east, and west.

What utter claptrap. You call people out for having and expressing their opinions on a discussion board? An opinion about a paid public figure no less? You posit we have to like Matt Jones or else start a show to compete with him? We cannot have a critical opinion about Matt Jones and some of the things he has said and done in the past? Why is that? Did you listen to the interview of him at the Fancy Farm picnic?

Like him or shut up?????

Sir with all due respect you are the one that sounds like an emotional teenager trying to formulate an argument to resolve your own insecurity.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pikespeak1
I understand sports media is a business and a business has to serve it's customers tastes and interests. That's fine. But as some have already expressed the flavor of KSR is definitely basketball. Since I'm much more oriented towards football I don't listen very often unless they have someone of interest from the football side on.

I will say that I like Matt's demeanor . He comes across as very upbeat, and excited about the topic being discussed which makes the show pleasant and interesting to listen to. Therefore the Finebaum comparison is a bit puzzling. as PF is about as exciting as a 3 day old Thanksgiving day turkey.

If anything this discussion underlies a negative situation that we all recognize and that is the rivalry that seems to be forming between those that are all in for basketball vs. those that are all in for football. As football's popularity continues to grow, sports media like KSR is compelled to provide it more coverage, but I sense that some of the more loyal, basketball first and only types are starting to feel that the spotlight might be moving off of them a bit and if basketball is your bread and better you have to make sure your audience realizes that you still are promoting it that way. I find that very unfortunate becasue in reality each sport can and often does help the other. The other side of the picture is football first types like me are sensitive for being dissed in favor of basketball, and may at times be overly sensitive. None the less the feelings are there.

I would hope at some point that Kentucky's sport media outlets could feel comfortable and enthusiastic about promoting both major sports without having to worry about someone's toes being stepped on, and not having to apology for giving 5 more minutes coverage to football then basketball on a given day or vice versa.


This is spot on as is the observation that the radio show is completely biased towards basketball. It's clear that the casual UK fan that KSR caters too is predominantly basketball centric and the reality is that pays the bills. You are a business first and foremost. All that is undetstandable.

The issue I have is that KSR has an enormous bully pulpit and historically has undermined the football program. Even if the undermining has been unintentional. Matt, I vividly remember you speaking on numerous occasions, as little as a couple of years ago, about what we as UK fans should accept as "reasonable" expectations. The occasional bowl, etc, but being seriously competitive in and possibly winning the SEC is fantasy. Even in this thread you have spoken of the long running drought for UK football to have a winning SEC record and need to be realistic about this season's expectation.

Those are true historical comments and I agree with you on managing expectations for this year. But I would be interested in hearing what you think the "ceiling" is for UK football under Stoops and what it will take to reach that ceiling? What needs to happen to win the SEC? To compete for a National Championship? It's easy to point to the lack of success you mentioned in UK football and immediately turn to the bread and butter of basketball. How about a question of what needs to happen NOW that was happening in the 70's and 50's even when UK was competing with anyone in the nation. I think that type of discussion and presenting a positive thought process with a high end football goal in mind would contribute to a self fulfilling prophecy.

Otherwise, you are continuing to contribute to the "Kentucky is always going to be a football first school" mantra. Our rivals use it against us. And eventually it will be a negative selling point of a historically football first school trying to hire Stoops away from us.

We as a fan base need to transform our core though process and beliefs around what football can be. Given your standing within our fanbase, especially so with the "casual" UK football.....You can be a leading voice in that transformation or you can be just another obstacle even if that is the not your intention. Show the same passion for football (or somewhere in the ballpark)
 
This is spot on as is the observation that the radio show is completely biased towards basketball. It's clear that the casual UK fan that KSR caters too is predominantly basketball centric and the reality is that pays the bills. You are a business first and foremost. All that is undetstandable.

The issue I have is that KSR has an enormous bully pulpit and historically has undermined the football program. Even if the undermining has been unintentional. Matt, I vividly remember you speaking on numerous occasions, as little as a couple of years ago, about what we as UK fans should accept as "reasonable" expectations. The occasional bowl, etc, but being seriously competitive in and possibly winning the SEC is fantasy. Even in this thread you have spoken of the long running drought for UK football to have a winning SEC record and need to be realistic about this season's expectation.

Those are true historical comments and I agree with you on managing expectations for this year. But I would be interested in hearing what you think the "ceiling" is for UK football under Stoops and what it will take to reach that ceiling? What needs to happen to win the SEC? To compete for a National Championship? It's easy to point to the lack of success you mentioned in UK football and immediately turn to the bread and butter of basketball. How about a question of what needs to happen NOW that was happening in the 70's and 50's even when UK was competing with anyone in the nation. I think that type of discussion and presenting a positive thought process with a high end football goal in mind would contribute to a self fulfilling prophecy.

Otherwise, you are continuing to contribute to the "Kentucky is always going to be a football first school" mantra. Our rivals use it against us. And eventually it will be a negative selling point of a historically football first school trying to hire Stoops away from us.

We as a fan base need to transform our core though process and beliefs around what football can be. Given your standing within our fanbase, especially so with the "casual" UK football.....You can be a leading voice in that transformation or you can be just another obstacle even if that is the not your intention. Show the same passion for football (or somewhere in the ballpark)

I'm not Matt, but I feel the ceiling for Stoops/UK depends purely on if he can maintain his high recruiting level and improve it even more so (as he appears to be doing with some of these 2017/2018 signees especially), and finally start to win some games on the field that matter more often like SC last season. UK has to continue to narrow the gap in recruiting, but even doing that...the UT's, Alabama's, UGA's, FL's, Auburn's, etc, are still going to have better players/depth overall, at least based on recruiting rankings (which are usually pretty correct overall). That means you have to outcoach them to win some of those games...can Stoops do that at a SEC East/SEC Title level? That remains to be seen, but in a couple of years we will find out once he has had 4-5 years to get a whole team of his guys in here.

Just guessing I'd say Stoops can win 6-9 games a year if he keeps recruiting at the high level he is at. Playing in the SEC will make it very tough to go beyond that except on rare occasion. As someone on the SEC Network said "any other conference and UK is in a bowl last season" and I agree with that. Good times are coming for UK football fans, but it remains to be seen just how high those good times will be. And all UK would have to do to win a natty title is navigate a vicious SEC slate of 8 games, then beat an Alabama or Auburn or whoever in the SEC Title game, and then beat an OSU,FSU, Oregon, etc, type team in the national semifinal...and then another team of that caliber in the final. No sweat lol but we can hope.
 
Hey Matt, i started one of those threads. And while my thread itself was never directed towards you directly, i would like to say with 100% respect that if you dont necessarily know about football then we should leave the commenting to Freddie and so on. Besides that thread i have never talked down KSR in my life. But it seems almost insulting at times when you are on there and i can almost hear the "well when does the basketball games start?" in your voice. And how itskind of like your old highschool basketball team where youre o ntheir side but it doesnt make a difference to you if they win or not.

You are great at what you do and when it comes to bball ill listen all day long. But if you can admit that you dont exactly know much when it comes to football, then let someone else talk about it, nothing wrong with being a fan, at all. Im all for you but your thread here if anything made me more doubtful, ecspecially the part about you all will post and talk more about football the better they do. Thats not how being a fan really works. All in all glad about Freddie, and you all have tried improving, but seems like the business aspect is outruling the sports aspect. I wanna hear about Kentucky Sports. And considering its football season i believe football deserves to be atleast a little dominant. Considering its Americas sport. Basketball will have plenty of love come Dec-March...trust me...basketball can go a couple of months off so that football can have the hype built around it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: STUCKNBIG10
Show is great, and obviously a great resource for UK fans.

Only thing I would like as a fan to see improve his accuracy of information when it comes to football. On Monday's show you mentioned football practice started, then yesterday you said well Monday they did some things but the first real practice was Tuesday, when in fact the first practice inst until 8/6 at the earliest.

Also the arrival of Wiggins and Ball on campus [laughing]
 
I go on KSR web site several times a day. I'm not a fan of talk radio, so not into that at all. I like KSR more during BB season because I'm into BB and want too see what's going on. I follow the blogging during most games too. However, I'm one of the few avid fan's that's not a Cal fan. I just can't handle his BS.

Now I go on looking for FB news and can easily skip the stuff I'm not interested in reading. It's not rocket science, some you like and some you don't care about at the time. Look forward to seeing the Freddie Maggard reports and a couple others are doing a good job also.

I would miss KSR if it no longer was there.
 
If you did one thing, just one, never, ever ever ever quote anything that Saturday Down South says as some kind of accurate measure of anything. They are terrible. Might as well be quoting World Net Daily or Daily Kos.
 
If you did one thing, just one, never, ever ever ever quote anything that Saturday Down South says as some kind of accurate measure of anything. They are terrible. Might as well be quoting World Net Daily or Daily Kos.
This exactly. If you are quoting SDS you know nothing about the current state of UK football. The articles they post always paint UK in a bad light and they do not do their homework. Also, take it FWIW, the political commentary is truly turning people off. When I post this on KSR they immediately take it down so I'm not really sure what KSR's agenda is anymore. I can assure you that if the agenda becomes political then I am done.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JohnnyinShelbyville
This exactly. If you are quoting SDS you know nothing about the current state of UK football. The articles they post always paint UK in a bad light and they do not do their homework. Also, take it FWIW, the political commentary is truly turning people off. When I post this on KSR they immediately take it down so I'm not really sure what KSR's agenda is anymore. I can assure you that if the agenda becomes political then I am done.

Love or hate Matt/KSR, I would bet he is more plugged in to what is and isn't helping/hurting KSR's business. I'm sure he appreciates the commentary, but the two articles written Sunday/Monday about Fancy Farm (which was a big honor for Matt personally) probably don't impact the bottom line too much. You and some of your buddies may not like it, and that's fine, but I doubt it's affecting site hits too terribly much or Jones wouldn't put it out there. Again, that's how he makes a living.
 
funny thread, actually series of them. KSR & Jones are trying, they are not a cause of not enough attention or interest given to football by a lot of UK fans. truth be told they give more reporting & time & space to UK football than several other large websites & local media outlets in this state.

Matt's not a bad guy because he is primarily a basketball person anymore than I am for being a primary college football follower.
 
Look forward to the podcast!

In fairness, I've heard Anthony White say some crazy nonsensical stuff too.

Regardless, love the show and I'll keep listening.

This was going to be my take here. Love Matt's show, love Mark and Anthony's show on Sunday mornings, too. Often times, there is very little difference between the two in the order of silliness, calling the overzealous Ky fan contingent onto the carpet and, yes, labeling the football program for being exactly what it is and always has been. However, I don't see the barn-burning, pitchfork-packing, lynch mob hatred for Mark Buerger here that I do for Matt, which leads me to conclude that some folks just like to complain, albeit selectively.

Keep up the good work, Matt!
 
Jones is without a doubt the most thin-skinned media type I've ever seen. Most of these egocentrics could care less what you and I think, Jones feels he must explain every move he makes. He must be a very insecure person.
 
Some people just like to bitch. Some people base their whole way of thinking in everyday life to their political views. That is just myopic.

It's hard for me to comprehend why someone gets upset with anyone who is providing a service to UK fans. Yeah, he makes money off of it, but we reap the benefits.
 
Jesus. I made it ten posts itt. Some of you are just moronic. X's and O's in any sport is boring on the radio. Matt and Ryan are the most entertaining radio show going right now (that's including national shows).
There are a lot of kentuckians that need to be made fun of. This state is pretty comical.

He has a great show and great site. Some of you are clowns.
 
it is a funny show at times. I'm glad our fan base has it. i don't even care about the football ignorance as much as the lack of interest in it. and, in all fairness, he knows his customer base better than i do. i have to assume he puts on the air what will pay the bills.
 
The print, radio and TV media coverage has always been a reflection of Lexington's size and resources. Particularly bad and astonishingly good works have been done covering UK sports but it's rather inconsistent and often biased. If your institution has achieved great things in basketball then the focus should shift in creating an equal atmosphere for football. Basketball goals met....on to football. However, resources are donators, fans and corporations wanting sponsorships and Lexington has its limitations as a smaller city with one of the smaller statewide populations around it. It's no secret that donors want to contribute to a winning program receiving whole scale media coverage. UK football fans receive what the Lexington media market produces.......better coverage of a championship basketball program. Football has to win some games with bowl trips to level the media's attention. Kentucky competing in SEC football will be big news. Maybe it's coming.
 
I talked briefly with Matt at the All-tech Symposium and he was a nice guy. I think a lot of what he does on air is showbiz. KSR is part of my UK info routine along with this site. What news or info one doesn't offer, I cover with the other site.
 
It's the flippant attitude by some of the people at KSR that annoys many, including me. It speaks to not only a lack of understanding of the game but also an underlying indifference to UKs program and an air of belittlement. It's patronizing. Personally, Maggard and maybe Roush, although his enthusiasm doesn't outweigh his lack of understanding at times, are the only ones who need to write about football because they're the only ones who aren't so obviously put off by having to mention it.

This echoes how I feel. I don't expect smoke blown up my backside, but I do expect some passion and some knowledge and understanding. Kudos to Matt for increasing the football coverage and getting knowledgeable guys on the site and air. Lorenzen is GREAT radio, above and beyond just football.

Two segments on a basketball player's Twitter account goes over better with the average UK fan (and KSR listener) than dissecting the strengths and weaknesses of the UK Defensive Line...and I would go further and say turn on and watch PTI...they do the same type of thing...they talk about that which is frivolous VASTLY more than breaking down action...because that is what most fans want.

If we knew our FB players like we know our BB players, that would be different...but we don't and for many, many reasons it will be hard to ever do so (that is a topic for a different post). Personality drives talk radio and UK fans care more and know more about basketball personalities on the players
Deep in my heart I have to come to grips that I am a Kentuckian and my fellow fan just doesn't care about football like myself or the the entire South does. I feel like KSR and other media outlets play a large part in getting the casual can to give a hoot about football. So when you perpetuate negative attitudes by saying things like "We ain't beating Alabama this year," you're unnecessarily denigrating the program. A. We know we're not, mainly because they're not on our schedule which goes back to what I would consider basic knowledge, and B. Does zero to benefit the program. It's commendable that you're open and honest about not knowing anything about football, and that ratings are up, but that doesn't exonerate you from lack of football coverage in the past or taking it seriously. Frankly, until the recently increased focus from KSR, you could get more competent football coverage from Chris Cross. If that doesn't say it, I don't know what will. Bottom line, if the casual fan wants to hear what the best cereal or fast food is instead of talking football, the dial turns in my car.
 
Last edited:
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT