Kentucky Sports Television's Tuesday News and Views

by:Matt Jones11/29/10
kstv For many years, we have made it our modus operandi to make fun of those reporters who cover sports on television in the state of Kentucky. Countless jokes have been made at the expense of Alan Cutler, Rob Bromley, Dick Gabriel, etc and the idea of UK sports television has existed on this site primarily as the setup to a punchline. No more. Because beginning tonight, our nightly sports television show takes the air on CN2. Kentucky Sports Television begins for those Insight customers in Lexington, Louisville, Northern Kentucky, Bowling Green and various other state locales and we bring the KSR world to the last medium that has long avoided us, the world of television. KSTV will be a nightly show, running at 7:30 and 11 pm, looking at the world of Kentucky Sports from a different, fan-oriented perspective and will hopefully give you a type of coverage that you have never before seen. Every night I will be joined by a different co-host as we review the news of the day, do in-depth features on the world of UK athletics and generally do our best to pass 30 minutes in "the most ridiculous manner possible." We start tonight at 6:30 pm on CN2 (channel 2 on your television dial) for a special Boston U preview show and then go to our normal schedule on Wednesday. Former Cat Mark Krebs will join me as a regular co-host, along with former Card Perrin Johnson, Tony Vanetti, Terry Meiners and others. It should be a lot of fun and I am excited to get started. Some of the best clips will be available here and I hope you will check out the show when you can. After this experience, I will never again make fun of those who do television (well actually I will, but work with me here). It is MUCH harder than I ever imagined, but I am excited to be a part of this new venture and I hope if you can, you will check out KSTV. To the quick hitter notes: --- The biggest news today is also the saddest, as John Calipari's mother passed away after a battle with cancer. Calipari made the announcement on Monday morning, and he will coach on Tuesday against Boston U, and will also be there in Chapel Hill on Saturday when the Cats play against North Carolina. In an attempt to honor Calipari's mother, a group of students and administrators are urging people going to the game to wear black. If you are going to the game, please try and participate and join all of us at KSR as our prayers go out to John Calipari and his entire family. --- There was some talk today about the UK performance in Maui and the word that kept being associated with the game was "selfish". John Calipari said that he didnt believe his players shared the ball enough and that their play was too focused on the individual. During the Boston game, I will be focused on seeing whether UK improves in this area and kicks out to open shooters after penetration to the basket in the DDO. These players are not individually selfish, but they played in a selfish manner and that will be issue #1 that the coaches will be focusing on for Tuesday night. --- It was disappointing to hear today that Demarcus Cousins was kicked out of practice in Sacramento by Coach Paul Westphal, who refused afterwards to comment on the situation. Cousins' time in Sacramento has been bumpy and this is the culmination of a number of whispered issues there between Boogie and the coaches. As we have said on here, the key for Cousins is to be in a situation where he those around him set things up for him to flourish. It looks like that needs work in Sac-town. --- TCU joining the Big East makes the conference marginally less awful in football, but does hurt the overall basketball strength. A theme that was brought up a number of times by UL callers on my radio show was how the Big East "tests" teams and is great top to bottom. Well with TCU joining Seton Hall, South Florida, Depaul, Rutgers, etc, it is hard to argue that the very bottom of the Big East is anything but atrocious. --- The Stevie Johnson story just kept getting bigger today, as his Tweet in which he seemed to blame God for his missing the catch against Pittsburgh became a topic on everything from TMZ to the Morning Joe. Stevie responded to the madness later today by saying that he wasnt blaming God and was rather simply venting frustration and that his comments were similar to those made by everyone at some point in their life. The difference of course for Stevie is that when he makes those comments, they make national news. One thing is clear however...Stevie Johnson is now a national name and is probably the most famous football player from the University of Kentucky. Who would have ever imagined? --- Lots of people are up in arms about the UK football staff's decision to pull the offer for Blake Terry from Texas, primarily due to the unexpected commitments of a couple of higher ranked players. A couple of the people who have written me about it are also the ones mad that UK is not a "big time" football program. You cant have it both ways...."big time" programs pull offers all the time...this one was done because UK has actually done better than it expected in football recruiting. With that, comes pulling of offers of those who accepted early and have been recruited over. That doesnt mean that I think it is a good practice...in fact, I dont like it at all. I believe if you make a kid an offer, you owe it to the kid to hold true to your commitment. However on the big time college football level, that isnt what it is done and what happened with Terry is the norm. For better or worse, it is just the way it goes and in a perverse and unfortunate way, showcases the improvement of Joker's recruiting at Kentucky. --- Lots of people believe that there could be a change at the Defensive Coordinator position and that Steve Brown might not return next year. If that happens (and I have no idea if it will, although the speculation is heating up), I think Joker would go internal and put David Turner in the position. Chatter about national big names is just that...random chatter. --- On a side note, Joker Phillips today said that Ryan Mossakowski has a weaker arm than both Hartline and Morgan Newton. This certainly goes against the fans' perception of Mossakowski and his "Cannon arm", but then again, almost no fan has seen Ryan play, so it isnt shocking. I was however surprised to see Joker say that publically...but it is something to file away for the inevitable QB battle this Spring. --- Kentucky is #10 in the new AP poll, falling only one spot after the loss in Maui. UCONN went from unranked to #7, the highest jump for any team since 1989. We will spend today getting ready for the Boston U game here on KSR. Today also brings forth the first LIVE STREAMING OF KSR RADIO ON THE INTERNET, as you can listen to the show live on your computer at TalkRadio1080.com. Please check it out as we will be giving away front row tickets for the Boston U game during the 11 am hour. It is a huge day here on KSR, with radio streaming and tv show beginnings. Stick around and lets beat up on some BU Terriers.

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