Tyson Foods shipped chicken nuggets to KSR for all of that chicken talk on Monday

Monday morning’s KSR was one of the most listened-to shows in KSR’s history as John Calipari’s time at Kentucky appeared to be coming to a surprise end. Among those listeners was someone at Tyson Foods, eavesdropping on the radio conversations in Kentucky about John Calipari leaving the Wildcats for Arkansas. Tyson is a proud supporter of the University of Arkansas and the reported connection between Calipari and the Razorbacks.

Tyson is also an opportunist because, on Wednesday, a package from Tyson arrived at KSR’s doorstep. In the gigantic box were several bags of Tyson’s frozen Dino Fun Nuggets, Arkansas-shaped cutting boards, and Tyson-branded swag, including t-shirts and tumblers, with a note directed to Matt Jones, Ryan Lemond, and Billy Rutledge, the three KSR personalities on Monday’s show.

Matt read part of the note on air: “Hey Matt, Ryan, and Billy, we listened to your show and loved hearing your take on Coach Cal’s move to Arkansas. We’re excited to have Coach make his move to Hog Country and create some energy here and continue to help the program. Even if our headquarters is in Arkansas, we love Kentucky food,” followed by a mention of Tyson’s manufacturing operations throughout Kentucky.

@KySportsRadio , @DrewFranklinKSR , and @ryanlemond received a friendly gesture from @TysonFoods this morning on the KSR show! Nothing like some playful trolling 😭 pic.twitter.com/lnXGR7blb5

— Mario A Maitland (@MarioMaitland_3) April 10, 2024

Whether brilliant marketing to promote Tyson’s Kentucky ties (the likely option) or elite-level trolling (the fun option), the unexpected cardboard box of chicken feels like a preview of a Kentucky-Arkansas rivalry set to explode. It hadn’t been 24 hours since Calipari told Big Blue Nation he was leaving the program before a box of nuggets arrived in Lexington from the Arkansas chicken factory.

Meanwhile, BBN is looking up tail numbers and flight patterns, and calling restaurants in Waco, Texas, to speculate on the whereabouts of the top candidates to replace Calipari in Lexington. All we are missing is a live stream of a door we can watch for hours at a time because this feels like 2009 around here with the future of Kentucky unclear.

I wanted to mail the chicken back, by the way. Return to sender.