Shag On Sports

January 23rd, 2011

2011-01-22T09:29:00.007-05:00

Dude, Where’s My Car???

Someone stole our 1995 Honda Civic right off the Repair Shops lot last Tuesday night… We have used this ship for fourteen years and have never had any issues… They still had the key inside the building so it looks to be a professional job (believe it or not the 1995 Honda Civic has ranked second on the list of cars most stolen in the US the last two years) and is in a chop shop somewhere (there was glass all over the ground where they broke the window…

I am trying very hard to have a sense of humor about all of this… The car was priceless to us because we bought it new, had it serviced like clock work and planned on driving it several more years… By having this type of vehicle it helped the value of our other vehicles because we did not have to drive them as much… Really sucks!!!

Hoping to come to an agreement with the owner of the Repair facility since the car was in there possession when it happened… Know the laws so you can to protect yourself…

More Comments from the Masses:

I left the spelling alone…

UK should be proud. They are a welfare program that does pretty good. If you live in Louisville you pay 2 seperate income taxes to help fund programs in Lexington and around the state. So when your next paycheck comes you can say you are part owner of UK. We pay our players better than any NCAA basketball team in the country at U of L light. BTW what I said is all factual.

My comment: I do not think he gets it but he thinks he does…

UK wants a football stadium expansion.... HHHMMMMMM I wonder if they are going to ask for anymore welfare from the good people of LOUISVILLE to build it? Maybe they could ask the KKK for donations? God knows if your a UK fan you are a member.

My comment: Like the new chicken bucket a new or improved football stadium at UK and the new basketball arena that the city of Lexington is likely to build will be paid for mostly with bonds and money from the athletic fund (Rupp is owned by the city of Lexington)… Also did not know that being a UK fan made me also a member of the KKK… Must have missed that somewhere along the way… I would like to think he is joking about this but I am confident he is serious…

So if a man and a woman get divorced in Kentucky are they still considered brother and sister?

My comment: Always someone throws this one out there…

well since ky is the leading state for incest,this will be a special day for ky fans,and nine months from today a whole new breed of ky fans........

My comment: Again another common comment… Shows a very high level of intelligence, not…

they forgot to point out that calipari was leading the charge. i seem to recall the cameras catching calipari telling one of our players that he was going to kick their a** after the game. go cards they are ours this year.What a joke, Ky is a bunch of thugs and they make out like Louisville is the problem. Louisville didn't have any other confrontations the rest of the year and Cousins and his thug punk pals were in trouble every other game.Cousins throws the first (and the second and the third swing) and the Cards are just suppose to put up with their punk as%&#. Give me a break. Ky hasn't been relevant outside of Lexington in years. I can't see that changing anytime soon with the present AD and coaching staff at Ky.

My comment: Hmmmm… If the irrelevant team has beaten the chickens the last two years than what does that make them??? Or the fact the UK is 18 and 10 against the chickens and has been in five final fours and has three championship game appearances to chickens two final four appearances and one championship game appearance since the regular season series started back means again, using his analogy, that the chickens are below the Cats…

Props to UK, mad props( as they say in the hood) for beating also ran LSU today. Honestly Kentucky has become as irrelevant as LSU in college hoops. They had their a$$ kicked this year by the varsity, Uconn won by thirty, UNC toyed with the 'Cats, even the JV(Georgia) drilled UK by double digits. The program hasn't won a national championship in a generation, or been to a final four. The Lexington school switches coaches like the Raiders do. UK has always been corrupt(Eddie Sutton, 50's point shaving scandal), but now they have the king of the cheaters, Calipari is the only coach to have two final fours vacated by the Ncaa for cheating. Yeah you have alot to be proud of these days if you're a Kentucky hoops fan! LOL!

My Comment: Again… Kelvin Sampson, Jim Harrick, Bruce Peral and Todd Bozemen who have been banned or suspended for cheating at some point… Where is Cal’s ban??? As for the cheating comments those are easy targets and for sure UK is guilty but if you go look at the back story for the 50’s stuff they did not LOSE games only made sure they stayed inside the spread, no excuse but the men who did this all became very reputable people and paid dearly for that mistake…

SEC bball what a laugh- back to the Maravich rupp days- bet if barkey had to do it over again he would never go to an sec school . Who is the only KY coach who didnt cheat or was a sleezebag- anser: Rick P. that kind of cheating is something irrelevant to the game . A Rupp the woody hayes of bball. E. Sutton lol Tubby lllllooll. and ur current coach . Chaney should have beaten him to death and ask derrick rose his own player about him . Rose is great DESPITE him . LOSERS. osu is 8 deep and u finally figure out who sullinger is maybe ull know who thomas is in a few weeks and matta is class and a great recruiter even at xavier. assure u that program will never have a tough of scandal and even though a mich guy (we are young and improving ast least in bball no more 1 on 1 Harris) have to respect classy guys like matta and Lighty plus OSU educated their bball players- look at kellogg and jackson articulate as anyone doing college sports on TV. and even oden went back for his degree. This is their year also see purdue as a possible final 4 team if they start using JuJuan more in the last 5 minutes- he is a beast as is Sullinger both will be top notch NBA players- neither wall or ET are really NBA franchise playrs though ET singlehandly got that team pretty far lst year. This year everyone handles the bll even Duiebler plays defense and u pick up poison. even if dukie have refs in their pockets and an easy regional anyone can take them out. Syracuse is nice but far more holes than osu and i think purdue is better. Big 10 is tough MSU might actuall be a middle of the pack team.

My Comment: Again I would like to say I just made this up but this is an actual comment… The biggest thing I have seen what Cal has done with Brandon Knight this year, Wall and Cousins last year and with Jorts this year and say this guy can develop talent… UK has many articulate graduates and I am guessing that reading between the lines here is an OSU fan and bet he would not want to discuss anything about his football team… As for the only coach who did not cheat that is false!!! I do not remember Joe B, Rick or Tubby ever having any sanctions laid upon the program and the 50’s incident was a PLAYER issue not a Coach issue so that would mean, if you are keeping score one of five of six coaches have had no sanctions leveled against them in their tenures…

Stanford Band

Where has you sense of humor gone??? The Stanford band was barred from playing at halftime of the Orange Bowl because of some past ‘fun’ they have had with pop culture… The fear was something directed towards Lebron and company like the list of things they have done in the past… Really good stuff… This came from Yahoo Sports…

• Once mocked the kidnapping of Cal alum Patty Hearst in Berkeley;• Commemorated the anniversary of UCLA alum Jayne Mansfield's (falsely rumored) decapitation in a car accident by playing "Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Body" at the Rose Bowl;• Was banned from Oregon for 11 years for making fun of the pending extinction of the state's spotted owl during a conservation fight;• Received a lifetime ban from Notre Dame in 1997 for playing with a conductor in a nun's habit and a wooden crucifix as a baton during a show titled "These Irish, Why Must They Fight?" which featured jokes about the 19th century Irish Potato Famine and reportedly prompted a fan to charge the field screaming "You're all going to hell!";• Had members skip rehearsal to play outside the O.J. Simpson murder trial;• Employed five members of the dance team, the Stanford Dollies, to mock polygamy at BYU.

UK Football

It is very simple… This was a very disappointing season for UK… UK should have gone 7 and 5 or 8 and 4 during the regular season and been in a much better bowl than they ended up in this year…

The coaching was horrible throughout the year and the coaching in the bowl game this year was the worst coaching job of the year…

- Cobb hardly ever touched the ball…

- Newton obviously cannot throw the ball down the field even to a 6 foot 6 inch receiver (I do not think he ever threw a ball in his direction)…

- Special teams, as they were all year, were atrocious!!! Blocked punt and fake punt that was pitiful!!!

- The defense actually played well in the first half for once and then was awful in the 2nd half…

Joker’s tenure could be a short one unless he can improve the record next year and win more than six games… No bowl next year means he must go to a bowl the next or he will be out!!!

I still say that a pro style offense is never going to work at UK… Have to have a gimmick because UK players in general are always going be a little smaller and a little slower than the rest of the SEC…

UK Vs. Georgia

This was one of the games I thought UK would lose… Georgia is tough at home, has some good inside players and a new point guard… UGA always plays UK tough so again myself and really no one else is surprised…

I still think UK will lose to Vandy on the road and somewhere in there schedule is two other losses just not sure where they will come from… The lack of depth will hurt this team and hamper them in the SEC and NCAA tournaments…

At this point in the year I think Cal has a done a very good coaching job considering all the new players he has on the team… He needs at this point to get something out of Vargas and Stacey Poole and continue to press Jones so he gets better…

UK Vs LSU

Wow that was over quick…

UK Vs Bama

Another game that I was extremely concerned about. Bama has a coach… A really good coach who I think can do some great things their if they can hold on to him… Just like the coaches at Auburn…

Problem in this game is the youngsters just do not realize you have show up big on the road because you are going to take that SEC road teams best shot they will give all year… UK just went to sleep from the after about the first five minutes of the game to about eleven minutes to go in the 2nd half…

Allot of this looks to have to do with Brandon Knight… He did not even show up until about the eleven-minute mark when Kentucky was down twenty… He started leading the team, made some shots and got some help from the other disappearing act known as Darius Miller… Once they both picked it up things started to flow on both ends of the floor…

I thought Coach Cal did a great coaching job in the 2nd half by recognizing that Jorts was just not getting it done on offense and he put his unit in who can score… The run UK made was tremendous but a little problem with spacing at the end of the game cost UK a chance to win… You hear the commentators and coaches talk allot about spacing and if you watch Lamb and Knight at the end of the game you see what bad spacing can do…

Am I concerned??? I thought this team would lose four or five games in the conference… If the lose to South Carolina than the concern meter will be pegging the area of concern… They have to show up…

Football Playoff

Another NCAA hypocrisy…

Yes I am for a playoff but it has to be done in a way that protects the other bowls…

You have to do something that leaves the regular season very meaningful and you also have to have guidelines in place that if you are not a conference champion you are not eligible for a playoff (Yes that means only one SEC, Big 10, Pac 10, ACC, Big East and Big 12 teams get in)… This give you six schools and than two at large picks from the other conferences or independents…

A playoff this year would have included Va Tech, UCONN, Oklahoma, Auburn, Wisconsin, Oregon, TCU and Nevada… I am an SEC fans but I do not buy the argument that an LSU or any other team belong in a playoff this year because they are not a conference champ!!!

This year you would have had:

Game 1:UCONN (8) at Oregon (1)
Game 2: Oklahoma (5) at Wisconsin (4)
Game 3: Nevada (7) at Auburn (2)
Game 4: Va Tech (6) at TCU (3)

Second Round

Game 5: Game 1 winners Vs Game 2 winner (BCS Bowl)
Game 6: Game 3 Winner Vs Game 4 winner (BCS Bowl)
Game 7: Game 2 loser Vs Game 2 loser (BCS Bowl)
Game 8: Game 3 Loser Vs Game 4 loser (BCS Bowl)

Final

Game 5 Winner Vs Game 6 Winner

Random

- A Jets player who was mouthing about Tom Brady and the Patriots and calls them cheaters needs to look in the mirror… He has nine kids by six different women in six different states and is named in five other paternity suits… What a fantastic role model!!!

- The Kanter ruling is just a crying shame…

- Bears and Packers have never met for a Conference Championship before in their long history of playing each other… What a stage and what a game that will be!!!

- I am for anyone as long as it is not the Jets…… or the Cowboys!!!

- Man do I miss college football already…

- Congrats to Mark Pruitt for wining the Bowl Game Pick’em and to Sam Nation for winning the college football regular season Pick’em… If you are keeping score my wife beat me in Regular Season pick’em but I got revenge on her in the bowl games as we finished #1 and #2 at the bottom of the pile…

- Watched UK recruit play against Duke recruit on Friday night… They both looked very good on the court…

- KSR did a poll of who is UK’s best rival in basketball and IU did not even make the list… My how times have changed… That to me was/is UK’s greatest non conference rival in basketball with Chickens next…

- Coach Cal called T Jones a selfish Mother expletive during the game… I have no issue with that… During a game I was at a few weeks ago Cal met Jones at half court during a timeout and just looked at him and screamed…

- I loved Cal looking at Vargas also during the Bama game after he screwed up three times in about fifteen seconds to set the expletive down…

- What UK will do as the season progresses will be interesting… I think they will and should get better… Lack of bench players will hurt… No predictions at this point…

12.31.2010 Happy New Year

2010-12-31T10:03:00.004-05:00

Above are some Great Photos from KSR that prove a few points and one of Big Cuz retaliating to the thugs last year…

Red Sox Vs Yankees

In my opinion the UK and U of L basketball game is not Red Sox Vs Yankees, Cardinals Vs Cubs, Bama Vs Auburn or Army Vs Navy as many fans on both sides believe… Not even close!!! If you want to hear some fans hate on each other find the Paul Finebaum show out of Birmingham as Bama and Auburn fans make UK and U of L fans look soft…

For me UK is playing another non conference opponent in basketball and Louisville is playing their biggest game of the year based on the chatter I hear from their fan base… Don’t get me wrong there are for sure UK fans who feel this is the biggest game of the year…

In my opinion the football game is an opposite mindset… UK because of the conference they play in for football makes the U of L game HUGE and for U of L because of the conference they play in it is just a non conference game…

I said it last year and I will say it again… It would not matter to me if these two teams ever played each other in basketball again… After the shit that the coach that came after Eddie pulled last year (street/thug ball and not even have his players come out for introductions) that put the icing on the cake for me (of course the Marvin Stone thing also)… I cannot imagine what it is like for that guy (the coach that came after Eddie) to go to the place where he had his greatest success as a coach and literally be hated more and more each year by the fan base!!! Has to be pure hell for the guy and that is a crying shame but he only has himself and his ego to blame…

Maybe it is not all U of L fans but I have to tell you it is a large portion of them in my opionion that have an elitest attitude and look down their noses at UK fans when it at the end of the day U of L fans mixture is no different than UK’s… What I mean is that with both fan bases and really with fan bases of any schools you have a minority who are lumped in as the majority (the complete rabid, idiotic, without reason crazies)…

People in Louisville in general look down at the rest of the Commonwealth and I was always told that was the case but after living here 16 years I see it and hear it allot but it does not bother me because I love the Commonwealth and I love living in it’s largest city and all the city has to offer… I do not let it bother me because I have as much or more culture than the majority of the native Louisvillians I know… Does not mean I am better than them but I also know that I am not below them as they sometime wish you to believe…

Despite what they think U of L fans are no different that UK’s fan base… Just come with me to work one day and I will introduce you to the guy in one of the buildings who wears a U of L sweatshirt or T shirt and a hat every day he has worked the last eight years (in the summer he wears Jorts and in the winter he wears Mom Jeans)… Any and every conversation I have ever heard him engaged in the breakroom is nothing but UK sucks, blah, blah, blah… I will then take you to two other buildings and show you two other guys who could be his twin brother…

Bottom line is both fan bases have their share of charecters… Like Auburn fans and Bama fans they in general do not like each other and sometimes it gets very personal… Does not need to be that way but unfourtunatly today that is the way it is and you can blame the Coach that Came After Eddie (or Denny in their case) for where the classlessness of the rivalry today…

In general for me I have to say that college basketball does not mean what it used to… I watch UK play on TV and attend five to six UK games per year… Of course I want them to win every game not just this one game and the only time I watch U of L play is on the day they play UK… I guess you could call me a UK elitest!!!

I do like the attending the Final Four, no matter what teams are there, but I am not nearly as big a basketball fan or junkie as I used to be… I have very little interest in watching other teams play on TV (allot of that has to do with the aounnouncers) but last year I did start watching Patriot League Games (that is Navy’s conference) when they were on TV…

I am just a college football junkie and of course love baseball in the summer…

The point to me is whether U of L fans want to admit it or not you are all from the great Commonwealth of Kentucky and you are all a bunch of Rednecks!!! Just see the comments below (love the spelling in the first one):

Comment 1:

Good luck you redneck cats fans. Make sure your bring some money to spend in my city. You wiskey chuggin, sister loving hicks should have a good time and pay for some new roads for me. Bring your best flannel button up with your holy overalls too. Trust me...we can spot a kitty cat fan a mile away and we have been ready for you since last year. I am glad we LOUSIVILLE have the best coach in the country and we dont have to worry about the freshman leaving every year. We can actuly coach them up and prepair them for their futures insted of haveing MASSIVE turn over every year!!!! Good luck kitty cats on even getting to the turnament!!! If you loose your best players every year you will NEVER EVER go far in the turnament with that lack of experence!!!!! Coach CAL.....you will get skeeted on for the new year!!! HA

My comment: Guy has some serious flashes of ignorance… Spelling is marginal at best and he misspells the city he lives in also… He is not a redneck though… LMAO!!!

Comment 2:

It's gonna be a sad new year's Eve in Lexington. Who cares about a bunch of pig farmers anyway? Your players are overrated and selfish and your program was founded on bad sportsmanship & Racism. How bad do you rednecks miss john wall? Id rather lose with players who are proud to wear our Jersey then win with super freshman only concerned with their NBA stock. That said get ready to leave birdtown with an L.

My comment: Regardless of the outcome of the game by midnight I will have forgotten about the game… I would take five new guys every year if they were as good as the ones last year and be in the mix Vs not having a chance when the tourney starts… As for turning them over every year I see TJ going pro after this year but I think the rest stays…

Comment 3:

Nick Chapman (The Flash) 22 - Male - Louisville, Kentucky... (guy was crazy enough to have his real name and address visible)… Comment: What's the difference between the Holocaust and Kentucky winning it all?.....Hitler

My Comment: This guy is out of control and demonstrates all that is wrong with people posting their thoughts on message boards…

Here is another display of class: KSR reported that on a U of L site they were rating what would be the best signs at the game this year and they were leaning towards, ‘Hey Calipari, how is your mother???”

This game and the fans have become ridiculous as you can see with the comments above… Do UK fans post these types of things on U of L sites or after an internet story about U of L??? I have no idea because the last thing I take time to do is go to one of their sites…

I only wish that the people of the Commonwealth could celebrate these games as the teams from Army and Navy do when the compete against each other but ignorance will not ever allow that to happen…

U of L is not the benchmark for UK and UK is not the benchmark for U of L whether you believe it or not!!!

UK and U of L Stats (pulled from KSR)

You know when these teams started playing on a regular basis I thought that the style that U of L traditionally played would have an edge over UK… Of course the 86 Rex Chapman breakout game at Freedom Hall was a huge turning point… UK has literally dominated the series since the 1983 NCAA tournament game (which was as fine a basketball game as was ever played)… Check out the stats below that were posted on KSR:

Games at Rupp Arena:

Kentucky 10, Louisville 4

Largest UK Win: 1999 (76-46) Largest UL Win: 2008 (89-75) Average Score: Kentucky 76, Louisville 68

Games at Freedom Hall

Kentucky 7, Louisville 6

Largest UK Win: 1986 (85-51) Largest UL Win: 1988 (97-75) Average Score: Kentucky 74, Louisville 71

Largest Margins of Victory 34: Kentucky 85, Louisville 51 (1986)

30: Kentucky 76, Louisville 46 (1999)

23: Kentucky 89, Louisville 66 (1995)

22: Louisville 97, Kentucky 75 (1988)

20: 3 instances (2001, 1996, 1992) *All UK Wins

Wow… In seven games that have been decided by 20 or more points UK owns six of those victories… Interesting…

My thoughts on Message Boards

I am of the opinion that only sites like KSR should have comments because they invite comments…

Yahoo, CBS Sports and on line Newspapers need to get rid of comments on a sports article or summary for a game or another team because it is just a place where complete idiots make random and absolutely insane comments… I would support comments however if someone is forced to use their real names with a real address in order to post (like you have to if you send a letter to the editor of a newspaper)…

The comments are funny at times but they are also a great representation of what is truly wrong with people in this country whether they are commenting on something political or something sports related… Just a sad statement of our blame everyone else for your problems society…

The standard comment is your team sucks, your team cheats, your coach blows and your fans suck, etc, etc…

Random

- My New Years Resolutions as related to sports are to stop reading the post at the end of articles on any site except KSR, to lay off of Joker and give him four years (three now) with no negative thoughts or comments and go to more pro baseball games…
- By now I would think most U of L fans thought the coach that came after Eddie (or Denny for them) would have won at least one National Championship… I am not sure how much longer he coaches (not sure after his activities last year how he survived) but I am not sure a championship happens…
- I have created a monster with my three year old niece… Any time she sees a Redbird she calls it a Chickenhead… Chickenheads are Cardinals with teeth only…
- The celebration penalty against K State against the Cuse is very very questionable call… Next year with a rule change they call that penalty the TD is nullified…
- HBO Real Sports took two pop shots at Coach Cal during their end of year broadcast… Both were unjustified and both were incorrectly stated… Kelvin Sampson + NCAA Violations = banned from coaching… Jim Harrick + NCAA violations = banned from coaching… Coach Cal + NO NCAA violations = coaching in NCAA… Do your homework people and you will find PLAYER violations NOT coaching violations at UMASS and Memphis caused wins to be vacated… I have written the show and recommended they do a story next season and let Cal tell his side of the story instead of just slamming him for something they have not done their homework on…
- I saw a comment somewhere that said something to the effect they hope Urban Myers wife and kids have cable TV… Great comment but I understand why Urban is getting out…
- I was at the game where they honored Joe B Hall… Very nice production and Jack Givens did a great job…
- This just in… Colin Cowherd Sucks and he is one ugly mother!!! I have totally sworn off terrestrial radio and my life is much better for it… As for TV sports shows I do like PTI and watch it when I can…
- I am supposed to believe that Cam Newton’s father did not get some cash for his son to go to Auburn??? I cannot imagine that the Auburn season will be vacated because of a PLAYER issue later this year but at this point who knows…
- FREE ENES, Please!!!

12/16/2010

2010-12-16T06:00:00.021-05:00

Pictures

- Pylon from the Army Navy Game...
- Pitching Great Bob Fellar...
- At the top pitching great Satchel Paige...

UK Football

I have said it… Other people continue to say it…….. “Kentucky cannot recruit the same level of athletes or talent that the other SEC schools recruit because the Commonwealth does not produce near the division one talent as other states (meaning they do not have a significant enough recruiting base)… UK does not have a large enough recruiting base and because high school football is not the same level here as it is in other states and surrounding states it hampers the UK program…”

I see it and understand it but I look at Bama, Auburn, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Ms State, Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee and Virginia Tech and see schools that have winning programs with a very similar in state population and very similar competition for recruits…

Without a doubt with Bama, Auburn, Arkansas, Tennessee and Va Tech pump allot of money into their programs that Kentucky does not do in football and without a doubt the state of Alabama produces allot better football talent because high school football is stronger in Alabama than it is in the Commonwealth of Kentucky… With WVA I am not as sure about the money but high school football is also very strong in that area and they have a much larger recruiting base…

So truly what is it???

I look at schools like Navy and Air Force and say well how do they maintain the high level of play they have demonstrated the last ten years???

I know Navy and Air Force do not play in the SEC but they do play some quality opponents and they are in general not as talented as many of their opponents… I look at ACC schools as some of the other examples and although the ACC is not the SEC I particular pay close attention to Virginia Tech (funny BTI on KSR made a similar comparison) who fields a national contender in allot of years and rarely falls below an eight win season… I cannot find one reason why UK should not compare themselves to this school (Va Tech) and expect similar results…

Facilities. What UK has to do regardless of what they do with coaches, schemes, etc… it is time to spend some damn money to get Commonwealth Stadium upgraded, build a recruiting room, upgrade Nutter and some of the other practice facilities to get things on a similar level of the schools they are recruiting against… Facilities go along way and if you have nicer facilities you should be able to attract better people for your football program… Football pays for all the non-revenue sports and the non-revenue sports are prospering at UK right now…

Coaching… Rich Brooks was a stopgap!!! Rich was needed to come in and clean things up, get some discipline in the program and get the program to a competitive level… He basically got the job because no one else wanted the UK Job much to the chagrin of Mitch Barnhart who wanted to hire his own man and bypassed Guy Morris who has just finished the magic number 7 and 5 (note that Brooks never surpassed Guy Mo in wins in the regular season)…

Brooks (as I predicted) was never a guy that was going to get UK over the seven win hump or finish in the top of the SEC based on his record at Oregon and proved that during his tenure (he was 13 and 19 in the SEC during his last four years and if you look at his record at Oregon, throwing out his first five years there, it was nothing much to brag about and under .500)… Rich did what we he was asked to come in and do and I am glad for what he was able to accomplish… Joker was named coach in waiting because Rich knew he was leaving soon and did not want to impact recruiting in a negative way because UK is behind the eight ball in that arena any way… These are not slams on Brooksy but I believe are the facts…

Joker may yet prove everyone wrong but based on what I have seen in year one of Operation Win I have my doubts but I am not going to beat them to death… As for hiring Joker, yes that was the right thing to do at this point to keep continuity in the program…

So my point is if UK is truly at a large disadvantage in recruiting because of the lack of talent in the Commonwealth than what should they do???

I am of the opinion that running the current offensive scheme (a pro style set) is not going to consistently work at UK… Using the theory or fact (whichever you choose) that Kentucky ‘cannot’ recruit or attract the same level of talent that the other SEC school attract means you have to do something different in order to bridge the talent gap (on offense and defense)… Whether you buy the UK cannot recruit thing or not it is a fact that it is difficult for UK to have equal talent on both sides of the ball in the same year (proven to be true the last five years)…

So what you do is you either run an offense like Mumme used or run one or what Navy, Army or Air Force run on offense (each is called the triple option but each Service Academy runs a different version of this offense)…

Yes for sure Hal was a train wreck but he had the right idea on offense and look at the success that his long-time OC Mike Leach (who was with him all the way back to Iowa Wesleyan) had with this type of offense including a National Championship at Oklahoma as their OC and a consistent and exciting top 20 team at Texas Tech as their head coach… Also look at the success Kansas had for a few years running this same offense (their coach was QB coach at Okalahoma for the National Championship season and was OC for their other Championship runs)…

At Navy they run the Flexbone that utilizes a speedy undersized fullback (sound familiar), very fast and undersized half- backs (something Joker said on his show last night UK has) and slot backs and a leader at QB who can make very quick decisions on offense… The splits amongst the offensive line is a little wider and helps creates gaps and angles for the running game… It is also a very intelligent offense that requires a QB to read the defense and go to the line with the ability to check to different sets if needed and read the defense at the snap to determine, hand it off, keep it or pitch it… You have to be able to throw the ball 10 to 15 times a game to keep a needed balance and to keep the defense on their toes… Very exciting offense to watch!!!

At Army they run allot of the same thing as the Flexbone but what they do is closer to the Wing T (allot like today’s Wildcat offenses)… Army’s QB has to do allot of reads at the line of scrimmage and after the ball is snapped but they utilize allot more miss-direction and before the snap motion of their slots and half-backs… Army does not pass as much but you can throw out of this offense as well…

At Air Force they are allot closer to what Navy runs but they also utilize formations that put their Quarterback in a shotgun formation that they both run and pass out of on occasion… Some of their sets are more towards a true spread offense like Meyer ran at Utah and at Florida with Tebow (his spread is more like a triple option attack)…

All of these offensives help mask one of UK’s biggest issues which is size on the offensive line and put an emphasis on speed and discipline (not behavioral discipline but football discipline)… You can continue to recruit speed (Joker has indicated that is what he wants to do) and athletes and speed will go along way at the skill positions but when you have undersized linemen you need to do something non traditional…

Defensively UK has similar issues… Their line is undersized and it makes it difficult to match up with the other SEC teams year in and year out … So what you do is recruit speed and your base defense is either a 3 4 4, 3 3 5 or a nickel package (of course you run them all but one is your base)… This keeps speed on the field and in a year where you have a better secondary or depth at secondary than linebackers you run a 3 4 4 vs. the 3 3 5 as your base defense… Again these defenses utilize speed…

In any of these schemes you have to have extremely disciplined football players… Watch Navy, Army and Air Force play… You very rarely see these teams get penalized or miss assignments on either side of the ball because they are so well coached and drilled to execute the schemes…

In my opinion this is also what Vanderbilt, Duke and Indiana need to do in order to be competitive in their conferences… This is of course utilizing the theory that these schools cannot recruit either… I for one hope Vandy and Indiana (IU did not) do this because if they do in three years you will have a great comparison or benchmark for UK football against two programs with similar conditions in recruiting, etc… Only way I will ever be proven right or proven wrong…

I am just not buying that UK can only be a .500 football team almost every year and that they cannot once every three or four years win 8 or 9 games and on occasion be in a position to challenge for an SEC title… The last time UK did these two things was 1977 and 1978 and what kind of offense did they run???

People want to see aggressive and I am not always sure being aggressive on defense will work… A defense that has speed, a great scheme, players who execute these schemes and are good tacklers (watch Navy, Air Force, Army or Boise State tackle) can be a very good defense year in and year out in the SEC…

If UK wants to step up the level of football they play they need to upgrade facilities and they need change schemes in my opinion…

More Comments from the Masses

People love to hate on Calipari here we go… Remember I do not correct the spelling, etc… on these… Some of these are in reference to Cal's mother who recently passed away...

“Better go ahead and order your Duke back to back t-shirts now boy. Duke is about to pass the Cayuts as the best team of all time. You can’t live on all those titles you won back in black and white TV days. Plus, UK racked up a lot of those titles when blacks were not allowed to play and guys were wearing nut hugger shorts. UK was also famous for beating up on teams like the YMCA and bought their players with $50 handshakes. Suck it!!!”

My comment: I thought people that went to Duke were supposed to be really smart!!! Obviously not this one… Duke, like UK, did not have African Americans until after 1966 (UK beat an all white Duke team in the 1966 Final Four and I wish UK would have lost that game)… When UK beat Duke in the 1978 championship game Duke had one African American who started, and UK had two and Duke had one African American on the bench and UK had five… Today Duke starts three white guys and UK starts one… So my guess is that makes Duke racist (LMAO)!!!

Some additional info:

1965-66 Teams: UK – No African AmericansDUKE – No African Americans

1977-78 Teams: UK - Seven whites and six African AmericansDUKE – Nine White and three African Americans

1991-92 Teams: UK – Five whites, eight African Americans, One HispanicDUKE – Seven whites, five African Americans

2010 –11 Teams: UK – Three whites, One Hispanic, Six African AmericansDUKE – Six whites, Six African Americans

calapari is terrible...wake up sec with the exception of florida and vandy[copy duke and north carolina] recruit a mixture of whites...the fans want to see at least 2 or 3 white starters..they demand it.....look how empty the arenas are at bama,auburn and ole miss.that is for a reason..calapari cannot win anything big for the same reason....why does the lakers keep winning [pau gasol].heat won in 06 because of jwill......list goes on and on.

My comment: And Kentucky is racist… OK sure… Rupp Arena is filled to the rafters for every game…

Kentucky cheaters----stfu---youy bunch of loudmouth trash talkers just see what you want--- the facts are you are a young teaam with no chance to win it all this year and you will get rolled in the touurney this year jsut like last year----Thats right last year you bunch of pathetic losers were chanting championship like everyone was supposed to just give it to you and you CHOKED--HAHAHAHHAHAHHA----fact-----your coach is a proven CHEATER AND LIAR-----PROVEN CHEATER AND LIAR---you turdballs suck and you can all watch while someone else lifts the trophy --------you guys have no shot-----and we all know the countdown is on for coach cheaters next probation----it will be soon----count oin it losers COUNT ON IT----

My comment: Wow… All I can say is Wow!!!

Coach Cal will bring Kentucky a good well-deserved sanction =] We will all see him fall. And we will laugh.

My comment: Unfourtunatly this is what charges allot of people is other people failing…

You azzes talking day in -day out and still you think we care kentucky wildcats forever biches! pussie-cats growing strong -- that is what we do and it gets better and this is not a mak-a-believe --> it is live ------------> ggggooo wildcats

My comment: In the sake of fairness… Yes UK has them too…

Huskies will win and show the world what the sham system Calipari is promoting at UK is all about.

My comment: You lost…

Bring in a bunch of talented freshmen, watch them get picked by every equally talented team, send em to the NBA draft. Repeat.

My comment: This is the landscape… Duke will have one this year and that will change people’s minds… NBA is trying to do away with this rule (I hope they do so kids that want to go straight to the pros can go)…

Every once in awhile UK will win something big, but a few years later those victories will be wiped out.

My comment: Again someone else motivated by someone’s potential failure…

haa haa haa look at all the crybabies we won you lost sux to be you! yeah no hansbros no m.jordans 6 to 7 thousand students no taxpayers money just a 4 time national champ, olympic gold ,world champ !! and you punks hate us why because we win you loose you dont like it try to stop them oh thats right you cant !! you know why cause your loosers !!! haahaahaahaahaahaahaahahha etc. etc. K IS THE MAN !!!

My comment: Wow!!!

U of K is like all of the big colleges. They "HIRE" a bunch of pampered-fanny tall morons to perform while the school makes millions and tolerates the goons until the NBA gets them.

My comment: We go from racist university to now one who has a bunch of goons!!! Plus now we are paying players…

Go Duke. Screw cheatucky

My comment: My favorite type of comment… Where I have respect for the other top notch programs this is a classic your team sucks my team is great post…

The Worst Comments Ever

“The Wildkitties played as lifless in the 1st half as Calapari’s mother…”

My comment: This comment came from a U of L fan who was smart enough and kind enough to have his name available on Yahoo… Later that day his name, address and telephone number was posted on Kentucky Sports Radio along with his comment… To be honest I would not believe anyone would make sure a comment until I saw the next one...

Satan is boning calipari's mom tonight huh?Hee Haw,Just saying!!

My comment: Came from a Louisville fan who lives in PRP who was also smart enough to have his Yahoo account where you could get his real name and phone number… It all ended up on KSR…

wrong Calipari

My comment: Wow

Couldnt buy or talk your way out of this one..........God is the ultimate NCAA infraction committee.
My comment: Wow

Tiger Comments

Wow!!! These are off the charts… Tiger of course did all this to himself but none of the comments are justified… For sure Tiger really messed up and is paying a heavy price for that pain but I still do not wish any ill will upon him because as you can see he is getting punished enough… Just like Ricky P if you continue to make bad decisions in your life bad things will happen… Tiger has owned his and it is unfortunate that people have these types of takes… As Don Henley sang, “People love it when you lose” and that is sad but that is the society we live in…

Did anyone seen Elin and the kids in the crowd. Oh, that’s right. cheatah double bogeyed that hole.

Tigger has ZERO wins in 2010; he can't even win his "made for TV, silly season event".What a loser.

well maybe woods should learn to douch.. so there is no poopdick..lol.. anyway... only Yahoo would show Tiger instead of the winner.. congrats Yahoo... you really show your not racis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! show the winner fools... yahoo like woods is second rate. ..

Serves him right!!! Loser that he is and always will be!!!!

I am so happy that the DOG Woods blew it and has still not won. He does not deserve to ever win another game. I wish he would retire or be kicked out of the game and never heard from again...He is a total dog!!!!!

Tiger is a complete LOSER .

Lee Westwood = winner and number one golfer in the world.Tiger Woods = ... hold on while I recover from laughter....

Graeme McDowell, 2010 major winner and great golfer.Tiger Woods, 2010 winner at nothing and great choker.

Great he is a piece of TRASH !!!!!! I wish he would never win again .... go to your new $54m pad with ur whores !!!!

TigDaChoker is one ugly ape

AYU and Friends have just named Graeme McDowell as MAN OF THE YEAR,due to his GLORIOUS VICTORY over TiggyNiggy

Army Vs Navy

This is one of the oldest and most passionate rivalries in sports… A rivalry that all of other teams could learn from in the sporting world today… A rivalry where the two teams competes but have a great deal of respect for each other and their fans…

I love Navy football and I love that Air Force has a good team also and I especially glad to see Army on their way back… These teams all do it the right way with hard-nosed and very disciplined football…

If you missed this year’s edition of Army Vs Navy you missed a really competitive football game where one play (a fourteen point swing) changed the entire game in the 3rd quarter. You missed a Navy team who is known for running the ball pass their way to victory.

This year all three service academies are going to bowls and that is reason enough the blow structure in place (even with a four to six team playoff)…

Random

- UK will go as far as TJ and BK can take them...

- Congrats to Randell Cobb being named First Team All American… One incentive to coming back next year would be that he would be a Playboy Pre-Season All American and get a visit to the mansion…

- Mike Hartline royally screwed up!!! About all I can say about that one…

- Cam Newton was the best offensive player in college football and deserves the Heisman trophy but my guess is he will eventually have to give it back. His dad has all but admitted shopping his son around to the highest bidder and how would Auburn not have been the highest bidder???

- The SMU 30 for 30 was another good program in that series…

- Metrodome collapse is fitting for the Minnesota franchise with all their strife this year… They want a new stadium or they may end up in LA... NFL = General Hospital...

- South Carolina beats Bama, Tennessee, Florida and Georgia in the same year and loses to Kentucky… Who could have predicted that one!!!

- Joker wasted little time in making coaching changes for UK football… UK will get a new backfield coach on both sides of the ball and will get a co-offensive defensive coordinator (means this new coach and Brown will also be position coaches)…

- Hate to see highly recruited running back Donald Russell leave the UK football program… He was very talented but apparently was very high maintenance and any time you mom is quoted as saying you should play more, whether she is right or not, is never a good sign…

- Went to a Titans game and we were sitting right behind the Jacksonville bench… I watched the kicker on the sideline (he was usually right in front of us) and he never sat down… He was walking, stretching and kicking into a net constantly the entire game… Those dudes really do earn their keep or at least he did (FYI, he still missed two)…

- For me I loathe Tennessee football, Tennessee basketball and UNC basketball… That is not enough however for me to go on their fan sites and post some hideous comments, etc… UK fans also do the same I am sure (I do not out and look) and I am sorry there is just no reason or place for these things…

- Always the refs cost UK the games!!! Please!!! UK made only two FG’s the last ten minutes against UNC… There are allot of UK fans (like with any fan base) that are just whiny bitches!!!

- I found it funny that Ian Poulter’s made a comment to Tiger Woods on the putting green at his charity tournament when he told him, “Pipe down #2”…

- Mike and Mike in the morning = AWFUL!!! Just do not get it!!!

- Pitt football the last five years 35 and 25… UK football the last five years 33 and 27… Any questions???

- Pitching great Bob Fellar passed away... Bob had a high leg kick thing like the great Satchel Paige did... I have a PS2 baseball game where when you build a player you can give him that wind up as a pitcher...

- The Orange Team from down south lost to Oakland... Not sure if it was the Raiders or the A's... They play the Chicago Cubs next...

11.28.2010

2010-11-27T22:29:00.008-05:00

UK Football

I was OK with Papaw Brooks ‘building’ for a few years during and after probation but three of the last four years (this year counts as one) UK has underachieved PERIOD and someone needs to be held accountable!!! If that is the product UK is going to put on the field year in and year out (since the 1960’s I might add) than just disband football and all the non-revenue sports it supports and just be a basketball school period (men’s and women’s)…

UK is 15 & 25 against the SEC in the last five years in football and 12 and 23 when you throw out Vandy (3 and 2 against Vandy is also PATHETIC)… That would get any other coach in the SEC or any other conference fired, PERIOD!!! WTF!!! Bunch of Bullshit!!! If that is the best you can do than YOU DO NOT DESERVE TO BE IN THE SEC IN FOOTBALL!!!

Spend some damn money on getting the facilities upgraded and then bring in an experienced head coach or DISBAND the damn program!!! Does not have to be high paid coach but a coach with experience as a head coach at a lower level like Dooley at The Orange Team down south would work (that guy is going to do a good job at UT)… Gotta go into it telling the fans to COMPETE IN THE SEC IT IS GOING TO COST MORE MONEY FROM THE FANS because it IS so they need to understand!!!

No way UK or any 6 and 6 teams deserves a bowl game!!! Very pitiful year for the Operation Win crew whatever that BS was Joker tried to sale the fan base…

Prove me wrong Joker, Prove me wrong!!! I dare you to prove me wrong!!!

A TDC to Remember

In the 21 years the TDC golf tournament has been held there have been some unique situations… We have had injuries, a no show or two (I am guilty of one of those via an administrative error), near arrests, substitution players for said injuries and even once had a sub because one of our players was best man at a Caribbean island wedding… This year we had a first…

With Thanksgiving Day you never know what type of weather conditions you are going to get at the golf course… We have played through some very cold conditions, some very wet conditions (with some light rain), light sleet and snow and even a couple of times where it was actually warm enough for short sleeves… It is interesting to note that the temperature at tee off and the highs for the day are almost the same for the 21 years we have played…

The talk this year prior to the tournament was weather and the surgically repaired defending champs (both were coming off major surgeries)… It looked like it was going to be a bit warmer than usual, was going to rain on Wednesday all day and than have thunderstorms on Thursday… Possible contingency plans were put in place that included all of the following possibilities:

1. Go to one of the par threes and the winner would be a closest to the pin shot
2. Have a chip off around one of the greens (possibly even a multiple spot chip shot from nine different locations with a putt included and low score wins)
3. A 100 yard dash relay race
4. A three legged race
5, A Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament

In the end weather was not the issue (it did rain all day Wednesday and all day on Thursday)… We arrived at Audubon at 8:00 AM and waited around until 9:00 AM and no one ever showed up to open the golf course for us… At that point we had no contingencies in place for a no show… As luck would have it Craig’s neighbor had opened up The Players Club on this day and he said come on over… We convoyed right on over and prepared to play…

Once we finally teed off it was raining very hard and the course in general was a muddy, watery mess (I have never played golf in this type of conditions)… It was as wet as I had ever seen a golf course in my life!!! We discussed playing only six holes but decided that as long as there was no lighting we would play nine (good call)…

The event kicked off with another successful hitting of the ceremonial gold golf balls (successful means we did not lose either ball once again) and than off we went…

The weather did not seem to impact the scores as four of the six teams shot a 40 in those conditions… I cannot speak for the other teams but I know with my team we could have easily shot three to four strokes better if we would have only made putts and made some better chip shots… The wetness did not seem to impact our drives or approach shots to the greens and I was surprised in general how far the ball traveled in such wet conditions (there was not allot of wind in general)…

As always the tournament was very competitive event… Kevin and Paul secured the first three skins on #3 (a par five) with a par… According to Kevin the drive they had to use was not even passed the women’s tee on the hole so to make a par was quite an accomplishment and the other five teams should be completely embarrassed that they did not make a par on that hole…

The next five holes were a push with pars and again I cannot speak for the other teams but I know that Bolin and I missed a great birdie opportunity on hole number fifteen from just inside 15 feet and it is unfortunate that neither one of us even scarred the hole on our putt attempts (we missed an earlier birdie putt from about the same distance on #11)…

The tournament victory was secured on hole #17 when Scott and Craig teamed up to get to the green in three and Craig drained an eight foot putt to secure the championship... The final hole was a push and the skin money for this hole was donated to the course for letting us get out and play and continue our tradition… Congrats again to the victors and congrats to Craig for becoming a multiple championship winner…

Now moving forward we had two items to make some decisions… Do we move back to Players Club??? The advantages there are we can have breakfast catered to the course, there is no threat from Robo Cops (the tournament participants are the only ones who will understand that one), we have eighteen holes to choose from (I like playing the back nine at Players), we can start on the back nine and not interfere with other people who may be playing that day and they are an alcohol friendly facility…

The other is what to do with the trophies that have been retired… My vote is we move back to the Players Club and that we purchase two large shadow boxes that are capable of holding six trophies… We would place one of those shadow boxes at Gene’s Restaurant and the other at the Players Club (or an alternate location)…

Best line of this years TDC that I heard??? My partner Steve Bolin forgot his rain jacket and I had an extra so here is Mr. Indiana Hoosier wearing a UK jacket… About three quarters of the way through the event he said, “Man I know why this UK Jacket is so waterproof and keeping me dry… It keeps UK Fans dry from all the crying you all do…” Pretty good one…

Pro Football

I have not had a favorite team or watched allot of pro football since the mid 80’s… I like the playoffs and the Super Bowl each year but the regular season just literally bores me to tears… If I did not have a fantasy football team each year I would probably not pay any attention at all…

Pro football is just completely high drama to me and has turned almost into reality type TV show or a Soap Opera which is why I think so many more people follow the sport and why I do not (of course this is media driven)…

Brett Favre, Brad Childress, Vince Young, Jeff Fisher, Jerry Jones, Chad Ocho Cinco, TO, Mike Vick (although is a good story at this point) and Al Davis, just to name a few are all the things that I see wrong with Pro Football in my eyes… At this point I would rather watch paint dry than watch a pro football game, read a story about Pro Football or watch a program about pro football… Yuck, Yuck, Yuck…

Of course TV coverage and the internet has allot to do with the coverage and drama that is presented with today’s NFL and the fact that there are allot of Americans that this type of drama appeals to makes it must see TV… Again, YUCK, YUCK, YUCK…

Boise State and TCU

Look in a one game situation any team can win… Villanova basketball in 85, Jets in 69, Utah in the Sugar Bowl and Boise a few years back in the Fiesta are some of the greatest examples of this in sports…

Facts are facts and although some of this is my opinion I think most reasonable college football fans will admit that if Boise State or TCU played an SEC schedule that they would finish with more than one loss (Of course Nevada took care of Boise)… Probably would be the same if they played in the Big 12 or the Pac 10 but in my opinion they could possibly run the table in ACC and I believe with little they would go undefeated against a Big East schedule this year but or course anything could happen in a one game situation…

So the question is if two teams like Boise and TCU end up undefeated will they get or deserve a shot??? Not this year for Boise… I personally do not believe that either team deserve a shot unless Auburn and or Oregon end up with a loss than they could be in… I believe that a one loss SEC team (although I think if South Carolina beats Auburn than both Auburn and LSU are out this year), a one loss Big 12 Team (there will be not be one this year) or a one loss ACC team (there will be one this year) or a one loss Pac 10 or Big 10 deserves a shot over an undefeated Boise State or TCU type team (this is why a small playoff is needed)…

Put it this way if you think Boise or TCU deserve a shot this year as an undefeated team than that means you think an undefeated Akron, Marshall, Western Kentucky, Alabama-Birmingham, Troy State, New Mexico, Louisiana-Monroe, Navy, Wyoming, or Army deserve a shot if they go undefeated… Look I am a Navy fan and if they ever go undefeated they do not deserve a shot at a National Championship…

Please do not use the NCAA Basketball tournament argument... Name me a small school that has won the NCAA Championship since the tournament expanded to 64 teams??? Please do not use the argument that the big schools will not play these two schools in football in a home and home situation… Look if you are an SEC Team or Big 10 team why would you schedule either one of these teams when you already have a difficult schedule already...

There are two options I see…

Option 1... On the second weekend in December this year you have the following seeded match ups:

Big East Winner(8) at Oregon(1)
At Large (6) at TCU(3)

ACC winner(5) at Big Ten Winner (4)
Nebraska(7) if they win the Big 12 at Auburn, if they win the SEC Championship Game(2)

No conference can have more than two participants in the eight team tournament…

From there the four winners move to the next round and the four losers also move New Years Day bowl games (The Rose, Sugar, Fiesta and Orange would be the bowls)… The two winners from the winners bracket than play a National Championship Game ten days later at a Neutral site (I say the same site every year)…

The other option is the Big 12, Big 10, SEC, ACC, PAC 10 and Big East break away from the NCAA, form their own Football League and form there own playoff format… The other schools would than do the same (the smaller schools)… This is the format I prefer because it would create three leagues with playoffs (besides D2 and D3)…

Either way I think it is a great idea to leave all the other bowl games in place… It is a great thing that 64 teams get extra practice and play extra games and it is also great for the fans and the cities who host these other bowls…

Regardless there is going to be some change in this format in the next few years… The one thing that I know for sure is the Federal Government needs to stay the HELL OUT OF THIS PERIOD!!!

Random

- The Big East conference for football is awful this year!!! I am not sure they deserve an automatic BCS bid…

- I have decided that not only is Colin Cowherd a complete turd but so is Skip Bayless… These type of journalist are just as bad as the people who post the idiotic negative banter on opposing teams message boards… Saying something negative or taking a negative just to get people fired up is irresponsible…

- Way to early to tell much about UK Basketball… What I think to this point is UK does not look like they are very good unless both Knight and Jones are on the floor… I do think there is allot of room for improvement with this team but without Kanter I am not sure they can make a deep run in the tournament but the names Carmelo Anthony and Syracuse come to mind… Jones is for sure the type of player Anthony was in college and there are some shooters on this team also…

- The recent drama in the NCAA with Cam Newton has an NFL feel to it for sure... I am not naïve enough to think that the Cam situation (if it is true) does not happen more than just this instance… Happens all the time within the rules and outside the rules in all college athletics…

- The Miami Heat… WOW… No one expected this… Could they be cursed??? Could Lebron have cursed himself??? Will be interesting to see how all this plays out the next six years…

- At the end of the first quarter I wrote… Looks like Auburn was/is a pretender… Hell UK almost beat them… Wrong……….. If Auburn beats South Carolina than they will play for the National Championship… BTW how did UK play with Auburn??? Auburn go pass happy for a while in the second half…

- I turned off the Boise and Nevada game at half time because I thought it was over… Thought the Bama Auburn game was over in the 1st quarter but when Mark Ingram fumbled in the 2nd quarter you could feel the momentum shift…

- Bama fans have to be crying the blues… I know I am disappointed but as a Bama fan outsider I thought their defense was a step or two below last year…

- Look SEC fans love him or hate him (I am not a fan) it is good for Pearl to be coaching for the Orange Team down south… It is good for the SEC that this school has a good basketball team each year…

11.13.2010

2010-11-12T19:13:00.004-05:00

Something I Like to See

This is your top four schools for graduating Student Athletes:

1. Notre Dame-99%

2. Duke-97% and Northwestern-97%

4. Navy-96% and Boston College-96%

Another reason I like Navy Athletics is look at where they rank in graduation rates for all D1 sports… Pretty impressive… This is also why I respect the Duke and Notre Dame programs because of what their kids do in the classroom…

Really gets into the argument over the one and dones in college basketball and whether or not you want your school to recruit these types of kids (who are going to only stay one year)… I DO NOT like that Kentucky had so many one and done’s last year but I think at the end of the day most schools would have taken those kids (although UNC said no to John Wall and Duke said no on Bledsoe)…

In the long haul I would like to see Kentucky recruiting kids who are going to stay around four years in most cases but I realize you are going to have to mix in some one or two year players and cannot restrict your recruiting in that way I guess…

Although the Bledsoe thing is over I hold Kentucky accountable for allowing the recruitment of Bledsoe and Orton who proved to be not very good in the classroom… I DO NOT want to see that type of trend continue at Kentucky… This year with the signing of Brandon Knight and even last year with John Wall (who proved to be a good student) encourages me that this is not the case… UK should have taken a pass on Bledsoe and Orton in my opinion… Cal did nothing wrong in recruiting these players and it is up the University to say no!!! A coach is there to win and he is going to recruit the best players he can with the Universities stamp of approval…

Q and A from KSR With My Answers

1) Which player is the most IMPORTANT for this UK Basketball team?a. Brandon Knightb. Enes Kanterc. Darius Millerd. Deandre Liggins

Kanter… With Kanter this is a Final Four type team… Without him they are Sweet 16 or with some luck Elite Eight…

2) Can this team make the Final Four WITHOUT Enes Kanter?a. Yesb. No

No… Next year but this year no…

3) Who will go down as the FAN FAVORITE of this year’s team?a. Josh Harrellsonb. Brandon Knightc. Terrence Jonesd. Jarrod Polson

Knight because he can do it all…

4) Are the constant negative stories concerning the UK program lower your opinion of Coach Cal?a. Yesb. No

People migrate to negative… Look at a UK story on Yahoo and compare the amount of comments to any other school… Cal has a bad rap… He does allot of great things for the community and the commonwealth outside of basketball and he if he was guilty of anything he would be banned from coaching (like Kelvin Sampson)…

5) What is the MOST LIKELY final outcome of this season?a. 1st or 2nd round Exitb. Sweet 16c. Elite 8d. Final 4e. National Championship

Sweet 16…

6) What Joker Phillips the right hire for the progression of the UK football program?a. Yesb. Noc. Too Early to Tell

Yes… Will it work or not is the question…

7) What is MOST IMPORTANT for the Kentucky football program?a. Making Bowlsb. Beating Louisville on a Regular Basisc. Beating Tennessee on a Regular Basisd. Competitive in the SEC

Making Bowls and winning eight or nine games every three years or so…

8) What has been the BIGGEST ROADBLOCK to Kentucky becoming a consistent football power?a. Talent Gap in SECb. Basketball Schoolc. Lack of Huge Coaching Hired. General Attitude of Fans/Playerse. Destiny

Talent pool across the state is thin. Facilities need upgraded, fans that do not understand football and talent gap going up against Bama, Florida, UT, etc… are all factors. Yes UK has beaten every other school in the SEC the last five years (except UT, Bama and Florida) but they are 9 and 23 combined against Teams other than Vandy since 2006 in the SEC…

9) What is your general attitude of the football program for the next 5 years?a. Positiveb. Negativec. Indifferent

Positive… I am an eternal optimist… They need to spend some money on facilities and I am not sure that money is there… Many people did not renew season tickets this year and if prices go up they are going to drive more people out…

10) Are fans justified to boo their team during poor performances?a. Yesb. No
Fans can boo officiating and they can boo a bad play call (a quick slant on 3rd and 20 or pitch play inside the 10 yard line but do not boo players…

Enes Kanter

No surprise to me that he was ruled ineligible… Tough decision for the kid but he was only going to be a one year player anyway… He would have been a great one and could have possibly led UK to the Final Four (he has that much talent based on what I have seen)… He is Dirk Nowitzski with an inside game and will excel in the NBA…

As for the people bashing on UK and Coach Cal over this… You are all IDIOTS!!! This was a no brainer to take a chance on this kid… The worst thing that happens is he cannot play and you move forward and that is what UK will do… Same with the appeal process… You appeal it and the worst thing that happens is they (The NCAA) says no…

As for the people who thinks this is some kind of conspiracy against UK you are also wrong… The decision would have been the same had he gone to Washington but it would just have not gotten as much press coverage… There are also some who question why you would waste a scholarship on this kid who had a slim chance of ever playing and I still say UK lost nothing by taking this chance…

UK has the #1 recruiting class coming in next year and as for the one and dones I do not see any of the freshmen leaving UK after one year this year so HATE on that HATERS!!!

Comments From the Masses

Don't pretend that Enes was planning on staying 4 years to get an education. It was reported last year that Wall, Cousins and the rest of the freshman class bound for the draft stopped going to class in the 2nd semester last year and focused 100% on basketball.

My comment: Daniel Orton stopped going to class after the tournament was over... All the other guys finished... Stop spewing @#$%!!!

The bad thing is the way Calipari recruits they may always have good teams but neverbwin a National Championship because most of these kids are "one and done" so they never mature to win a National title which usually comes with experience.

My comment: He has not won one yet… Since 1998 (UK’s last title year) Nine teams have won National Championships so that means that including Kentucky around 300 other D1 schools have not won an NCAA Championship…

To all you jerks who tried to compare Jim Calhoun to this idiot. I tried telling you Calipari is the biggest cheater in the game but you didn't believe me. Well, here's more proof! The guy is a scumbag! In addition, North Carolina's football program was caught and it's just a matter of time before their basketball program is exposed as well.

My comment: Another Idiot… Calipari or the University is not implicated in any way shape or form… Kanter just like every other player has to be cleared by the NCAA and in this case he was not… No harm done on taking a chance on this talented player…

Get this article off the web page. no one outside of the state of kentucky much cares about uk or their illustrious coach. let the uk people deal with this issue on their own. they should be used to it by now. it will only get worse in "big blow" country.

My Comment: Of all the Sports articles posted on Yahoo today the article about Kanter had the most comments and 90 percent were people from other schools bashing UK… No one cares???

It's not cheating unless you get caught!! Cal got caught this time... (like the time before that, and the one before that)

My Comment: Another idiot… No one cheated…

You cant get them all through Crimiapri LOL Atleast he got caught cheating before the season started. There is nothing that this guy will not do.

My Comment: Another Idiot… No one cheated…

By the way, with Wall and Cousins tearing up the NBA, how is it Kentucky did NOT win the national championship last season?

My comment: Of the 300 plus schools in D1 only nine have won championships since 1998… You tell me??? Hardest thing to do is win that tournament…

Good, hopefully this will take the cats and Calamari down a notch. Can't wait until the whole program is given the death penalty by the NCAA for all of Calamari's cheating.

My Comment: When is that going to happen???

kentucky is a scummy deal. Can't win the big one in modern times. They bring these punks to campus and they don't graduate. Yuk!

My comment: Since 1998 (UK’s last title year) Nine teams have won National Championships so that means that including Kentucky around 300 other D1 schools have not won an NCAA Championship… Since 1995 11 teams (including UK) have won the NCAA Tournament… That means since 1995 300 plus D1 schools in basketball have not…

UK Football

I am thinking about changing my blog name to the “Life of a UK Football Fan” or “Wait until next year” but the Cubs fan have the market cornered on that one…

Expectations… Is it wrong to have a higher expectation??? Should UK fans just be satisfied with a competitive team that is 6 and 6 or 7 and 5 at best??? Should we not expect that every three or four years UK has an experienced team that can win 8 or more games??? Should we expect them to compete year in and year out for an SEC football title??? What is the right set of expectations to have???

I think this year’s team could have gone 8 and 4 and I have no doubt that the 2007 and 2009 should have both gone 8 and 4… That is all I ask just throw me a bone every couple of years and win eight regular season games…

Ugh… This year has been frustrating… Easy year to go 8 and 4 with the way the schedule set up… Will Joker make any changes at the end of the year??? Can UK beat Vandy and UT to get to 7 and 5??? Will UK get over the hump next year???

I am going to do a study this winter and do some real analysis of programs like WVA, Va Tech, UNC, NC State, Boise State, Pitt, Rutgers and Maryland to see how UK football stacks up against these schools and whether or not UK being in the SEC for football is just to tough to overcome… Put it this way if UK were in the Big East or ACC they would compete for the conference titles as they stand today!!! If UK played Boise State’s schedule this year they would easily finish 10 and 2 or 9 and 3…

As for whether or not Joker was the right guy for UK??? He was!!! Although I am disappointed about this year to this point a three game winning streak at the end of the year will go along way for next year… Give the man three years to prove what he can do and prove me and the critics wrong…

The university also needs to step up and spend some money on facilities and that will only come thorough donations or raises in season ticket prices…

Random

- The Cam Newton thing is going to get ugly…

- I think that if Boise State or TCU played in the Big East they could go undefeated this year… That conference is bad!!! Good thing for U of L because there road back to the top of that conference will be an easy and short one…

- Bama will still play a major role in what happens with the National Championship picture… I say they beat Auburn (knocks Auburn out of National Championship Game) and than Auburn will lose to Florida in the SEC Championship Game… I thought Bama would win out and the defeat to LSU was a shocker to me…

- I heard a Bama fan say on the radio the other day that there were allot of high school teams in Bama who could beat Oregon… That is a bit over the top…

- I think TCU is better than Boise State although I know Boise State beat them last year… If Boise State played in the SEC they are a two loss team right now and I think TCU would be at one or two losses also if they played in the SEC... I hope that TCU or Boise gets a shot at Oregon or an undefeated Auburn in the Championship Game…

- Colin Cowherd recently called John Wall (on consecutive days), selfish, all about himself, not a team guy and he will never win a championship… All because he did the “Dougie Dance” during his opening night (Mr. Selfish did set a Rookie Record for assists in game by his third game)… Why Cowherd would spew such a DEAD WRONG characterization of Wall is beyond me… This guy was the ultimate team player and a model student during his only year at UK… I have banned myself from listening to Cowherd… Check this months Sporting News and you will find a different profile of John…

- The Heat are the best five and five team in the NBA… Not really where they thought they would be… Pat Riley put this team together maybe he should be coaching the team also…

- Love the rebuttal by Cleveland fans on the Lebron commercial… Check the link below…

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh9O4Wu59OJfq5T5FK

October 29th, 2010

2010-10-29T09:46:00.004-04:00

UK vs. Georgia

How disappointed am I that UK lost??? Extremely disappointed!!! Even worse when you look at the final stats… UK had more first downs, more total net yards, ran more plays but were outrushed by 100 yards and had three fumbles and interception and fourth turnover, in my opinion, on a 4th down play that I thought was a bad play call at that time in the game (I would have played the field position game at that point and punted)… They also of course gave up a special team’s touchdown (our kickoff coverage continues to be horrible)… UK only punted once during the game!!!

This loss is not really one you can hang on the defense or you can hang on the coaches… I love the people that are doing this (this would be the fans that Randell Cobb was talking about in his tweet)… The defense needed to hold UGA to at least a field goal on one of those drives… I did not like the 4th down call early in the game and I did not like the quick pitch play that UK ran inside their own ten yard line that resulted in a fumble.

Let’s analyze some of the comments people are making:

Let’s be real. We suck as a football team. We come into SEC play every year with an unblemished record because we play cupcakes and try to convince ourselves that Louisville is good. We are a bball school and need to quit letting this football nonsense mess w/us. We’re fighting an uphill battle and will continue to do so. Heck…do you see Duke trying to make excuses for their football team? Nope. Because they know they suck. Blue/White Scrimmage is the next bit of excitement or frustration I will endure. And I don’t tell a Lie.

My comment: We do not suck!!! Vandy sucks, Minnesota sucks, New Mexico sucks, Akron sucks, Bowling Green sucks, Memphis sucks, Marshall sucks, New Mexico State sucks, Western sucks… We used to suck like these teams do… We have been to four straight bowl games and have won three… UK is four and four which is about where I thought they would be (I thought they could be 5 and 3)… Football is not nonsense and it pays for all the non revenue sports… It is an uphill battle at UK and I have detailed why many times before… F*ck Duke!!!

There is no way we win 7 games and maybe not even 6 so get your head out of the clouds. This team has no defense simple as that and when the offense gives up the ball like last night this team is just simply terrible. Poor coaching plain and simple.

My comment: Poor coaching plain and simple??? That is an insane statement… Four turnovers is not poor coaching… 4th and 1 call and the pitch play UK fumbled were poor calls but I have little issues with coaching in this game… I think they can still win seven and I have not given up on eight yet… This is a year though I think they should have won eight games but I had no idea we were so down from a talent perspective on defense… Youth, inexperience and lack of talent on defense is killing this team… It is not coaching…

we suck and if we ever get 8 wins it will be a miracle. sec east is down this year and we cant even get a sniff. red lobster lady was right. sorry randall. and i would not want to play louisville right now. i think we would get beat. the years when we lost to them were before kragthorpe and thank god he was at ul for our sake or we would even be having tougher recent years

My comment: Who gives a rats ass about U of L or any other team we have played already… Two of our losses are due to turnovers plain and simple… Yes the east is down for sure and this year and three of the last four years (including this year) I expected eight wins…

anyone notice we always tackle the opposing running back from behind, pushing and riding him forward for an additional 5-7 yards ? who runs at the opposing player and turns at the last minute launching their back into him, with your arms no where near him in an attempt to tackle ? that said, the first half was an offensive disaster. watched this same garbage for about 32 years now, and i dont need a college kid telling me i need to support the team. how about they actually go to practice and maybe absorb something. Mark your calendar. I’ll be here with bells and whistles listening to the same ole sob story. Cobb this….Brown that….get outta here. Quit fooling yourself and admit it. Our football program sux

My comment: The defense is just down from a talent perspective this year plain and simple… Brown has had good defensive teams the last three years so I am not hanging this on him…

How does the prospect of 7 wins make this season depressing? What kind of talent do you people think we have? We schedule the non-conference cupcakes that we do so we can try to get bowl eligible. We have one of the lowest ranked recruiting classes in the SEC each year. Despite that reality, we are expecting 8 or 9 wins now? Really? Winning 7 games at Kentucky is never depressing. Look at our historic record, seven wins (even acknowledging the increased number of games) is an above average to great season for us. If this team can win 7 games and finally beat UT, I will take it.

My comment: Finally someone with a dose of reality… I will take seven wins just throw me a bone every couple of years and win eight or nine…

I feel bad for Cobb. I know how he feels today. Like..Dang.. maybe the fans got a reason to be so pissed off if this is how it’s been the last 20 years…..I’m not mad today though. Saw it coming. KNEW it was coming. Hey, It’s UK football. Big win then 3 let downs……

My comment: I cannot disagree with this comment… UK can never validate a big win!!!

The tackling is unbelievably poor and they overpursue so much and do not stay in their lanes. Their idea of tackling is to dive towards the player. They never seem to use their feet and run thru the player and wrap up. This is just basic tackling skills. This is a coaching issue. Start benching the players who do not tackle properly. Of course the four turnovers were very disappointing. A “pitch” play on your own 3 yard line is a recipe for diaster.

My comment: I have to agree with this statement… A fan that actually has a great analogy…

Not having Derrick Locke against UGA really showed up (Joker says it did not which is concerning)… Although UK ran the ball better in the 2nd half there lack of being able to run the ball showed up for sure in my opinion… Mike Hartline played another stellar game… He did take some sacks but he also stepped up and made some great throws in pressure situations… The early turnover he had was costly and the interception was a bad throw but not like a couple of his other interceptions this year…

I do not know at this point… Did I really think we were going to beat UGA??? Yes I did!!! I will say that UGA is the best team I have seen us play this year (at least they were on this night)… They (UGA) could still win the East with some help…

As for this week at Mississippi State… Without Locke it will be another tall task… Mississippi State runs the ball extremely well and UK does not defend the run well!!! The Bulldogs have a really good defense at times but UK should be able to score… I have no idea about this one… This is a BIG BIG Game for the UK program!!! A road win would be nice.

Notre Dame

They were 5 and 7 in 2009, 6 and 6 in 2008, 3 and 9 in 2007, 10 and 2 in 2006, 10 and 2 in 2005, 7 and 5 in 2004 and 5 and 7 in 2003… Can they climb back to football relevance??? Losing three of four to Navy is unacceptable at Notre Dame but this is not the Navy of the 70’s, 80’s or 90’s… This is a Navy team that can play with just about anyone because of the way they scheme on both defense and offense (Solid coaching for the last ten years at Navy)…

I have said it before but I think Paul Hournung hit the nail on the head when he said that Notre Dame is at a disadvantage when recruiting because of tougher academic standards… Something they should not back off of for sure but it does put them at a disadvantage…

Would they be better off in the Big Ten??? Not now unless the Big Ten expands to the Big 14… Big East??? No way as that has turned into a horrible football conference (they have no teams ranked in the top 25 for the 2nd time this year)…

As for Navy… They could win out… Now that Ricky Dobbs is no longer ‘hogging’ the ball on offense and handing it off more they should have 8 to 9 wins in the end…

More Comments from the Masses:

Ø Dude, anyone who doesn't admit Calipari has cheated hasn't either been born more than 6 months or has no idea what he did at UMass, Memphis and soon to be Kentucky. It isn't an opinion. It is a fact.

Ø Calipari is a cheater & scum bag, but Kentucky players are all queers! (FYI this comment was removed by Yahoo)

Ø I hope coach Cal gets ass cancer. (FYI this comment was removed by Yahoo)

Ø Yes, Harrellson has never "dealt with how to handle success." He is only playing at Kentucky... Calipari might add "dumbest college coach" to the mantle currently holding "sleeziest college coach." I'm sure Harrellson is deeply saddened that he did not "succeed" at the likes of Clarion University... Calipari is a chump...

Ø Its funny that Coach Cal gets all this talent, and he still has never gone to a Final Four (FYI he has been to two Final Fours)

Ø Woah woah woah, who is John Calipari to talk about anyone not being able to do something, "until he's responsible enough to handle success & failure." John you are one of the most scandal plagued coaches in NCAA history, every program you go to ends up the subject of an NCAA investigation.If colleges applied this same logic to the hiring of their coaches you wouldn't be coaching even a D-III, let alone Kentucky.Don't need a crystal ball to see what's coming for this program in about 4-6 years.

Ø Calipari was a terrible NBA coach also… Look what he did to the Warriors and Latrell Sprewell… (FYI that was PJ Carlisimo)

Ø coach cal has been busted for cheating everywhere he has been-UMass and then Memphis. i dont think its jealousy but fact! now if you are a coach cal fan, thats kool-but you have to know that he has cheated.

The bottom line is get your facts straight… Kelvin Sampson (as an example) is banned from coaching at an NCAA school because of his guilt… Cal turned in Marcus Camby and the NCAA found no issues with anything he did… Rose was cleared to play at Memphis and than the NCAA came back after the season was over and said, “We were wrong, He was not eligible”… That meant they used an ineligible player and had to forfeit these wins… In both cases Cal was deemed innocent by the NCAA so how is he a cheater or guilty??? If he is such a cheater why is he not banned by the NCAA from coaching??? Bobby Knight agrees with you people that he should but Bobby Knight is an Ass Clown and who cares what he thinks (Knight will not even show his face in Lexington because he is a coward)!!!

Random

- The difference in UK and Auburn or Gerogia??? UK beats Auburn last year on the road, has a chance to beat them at home this year and UK is now 4 and 4 Auburn in #1 in the BCS… With Georgia in a down year they still have a great opportunity to win the SEC East. That is first tier vs. second or third tier my football friends…

- Boise State sure had allot of empty seats for their game on Wednesday night… Not sure what to make of that one… You never see empties at Bama, Auburn, Ohio State, Michigan, LSU, Texas, Nebraska, etc…

- Wow I actually watched part of a regular season pro basketball game… Celtics, Heat and Magic will have some great battles this year…

- Don’t count me as someone who thinks the Baseball playoffs need to be expanded to include more teams (The season is to long now)!!! They simply need to move the Diamondbacks to the AL West, The Astros to the NL West, create a balanced schedule, play mainly games against teams in your division the last month of the season, cut the schedule to 154, make the first round seven games with no days off during the first series and play a 2 3 2 format…

- As I said last week this thing is really setting up for Bama to end up in the Championship Game… I hope it is Boise State and Bama!!! Gives opportunity of a statement to be made!!!

- I personally think the ACC, Big 10, SEC, Big 12, Pac 10, Big East (some teams not all of them) and Notre Dame (only if they agree to join the a conference) should break away from the NCAA and form their own sanctioned football body… A playoff would work at that point… Get rid of the pretenders!!!

- If UK back up receiver Matt Roark did get a DUI than he should be suspended for the rest of the year not just one game…

- I like the new Lebron James commercial… That is a much better way to defend his decision and how he handled his move to the Heat!!!

- Why I like baseball stats… Bengie Molina will get a World Series championship ring regardless of whether the Texas Rangers or San Francisco Giants win it all. He is about to become the first catcher in baseball history to appear in the Fall Classic against a team he played for earlier in the season.

- Maybe it is time to let go and just take UK football for what it is… A competitive team that plays in a very tough conference that will always be second or third tier in the SEC… I give Joker four years to prove me wrong or right…

- I love, “Well, UK would not want to have to play Louisville right now…” What do you think U of L’s record would be if they had played UK’s schedule??? Throw out the UK game (they cannot play themselves) and they are 2 and 5… If UK played U of L’s schedule they would be??? 5 and 1 or 4 and 2…

- Who are Bob Domine, Fred Cowgill and Kent Taylor??? They are local sportscasters on the local networks in Louisville… I have no idea who the Fox affiliate Sportscaster is at this point… Point being I have not watched a local Sports cast in years… They are irrelevant as is their opinions about anything to do with Sports!!! Rumor is the news channels are going to do away with the nightly Sports Reports and cut them to one story per broadcast… I love the new sports media…

- Hats off to the NCAA for making the U of L player Gorgui Dieng eligible on his appeal… He is apparently a good kid, very intelligent, speaks multiple languages and is the type of kid that should be eligible…

- Rick Pitino and Tom Jurich need to get over themselves… Banning Terry Meiners from being the sideline reporter because of the way WHAS handled the Karen Sypher thing and also not allowing Terry to host the local TV Ricky P TV show… Let me check this but I think Ricky P screwed this woman on top of a table in a restaurant and gave her money for ‘health insurance’ and Terry Meiners is somehow the bad guy??? I am not a Meiners fan but that is ridiculous!!! I have lost all respect for Ricky P!!! In other words he is ZERO!!!

- Loved to see the FREE ENES sign at ESPN Game Day in Colombia, Missouri… I am not as optimistic as most people about whether or not he will play for UK… I think it will be a stretch…

- Cut and paste for Bubba Watson as Hot Dog Man… http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/Bubba-Watson-may-finally-have-lost-his-freaking-?urn=golf-280108

- Check this one out also… What a meltdown… http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/FAU-announcer-will-fight-entire-press-box-over-t?urn=ncaaf-280428

10.22.2010

2010-10-22T07:51:00.007-04:00

Life Goes On

This week I was a pallbearer at Sam, Jonna, Holly and Carla Gibbs mother Faye’s funeral… Faye and my Mom were great friends all the way back to their high school years (they were co captain cheerleaders) and Mom was friends with Sam’s late father John since she was about five years old (my grandfather used to say he thought Johnny was going to eat him out of house and home)… The entire family was like a second family to me for sure and I was extremely honored to have served as a pallbearer…

As I drove to Henderson for the funeral I reflected on the many events I had experienced with this family and wanted to share some of them…

Sam and I of course competed with each other in organized sports throughout our youth and I remember my last year of playing baseball I struck out only two times the entire year and Sam did it to me both times… We also played youth football against each other and my team got the best of Sam’s team both years we played…

What I remember the most though is our backyard battles… When Sam and got together we were going to compete at something… Sam had a great Nerf Basketball court in his living room… We spent countless hours playing horse and where Sam had the goal positioned you could get a double bank from over top the front door and the top of the closet door… You could also hit a flying jumper down the hall by banking it from the top of the front door to into the side of the goal… We had some one on one battles on this living room court and those close quarters battles resulted in someone usually getting hurt…

We also used the same room for a game we invited called knee ball (at least we take credit for it)… The way the game worked is we took a nerf ball and than one of those little bats like you get at a baseball game or the Louisville Slugger Museum… There was a pitcher and a batter only (another one on one battle)… First base was the corner of the couch, second was end table, third was another end table and home was the TV stand… There was a point high on the back wall that was a home run and the ball was in play off the furniture or off the wall (barring it was not a home run)… The game was played from your knees… I still remember the first time we did this Johnny came bursting out of the bedroom late one night after we had played for about five minutes because running around on your knees made one hell of a racket throughout the house…

Our favorite thing to compete at was one on one football… Something I never played with anyone else but Sam and I am not sure I have ever seen anyone else do it… It was simply what is said, football one on one… You had to kick off, punt, play defense and run your offense… It was all about putting moves on your opponent… My favorite play was to step back, then throw the ball in the air over top Sam, put a little spin move on and than catch the pass on the back side of him… Of course he would do the same to me also… I still remember one night being at his house and watching the news and they said it was snowing and we were going to get allot of snow that night… Sam and I proceeded outside and played one on one football the entire night in the snow…

Faye always looked after us and made sure we all stayed fed and Johnny always made sure we stayed in line… I remember Holly and a girlfriend of hers taking me and Sam to see Saturday Night Fever in the Theater (in the brown car) which made me think I was big time (I was probably 13 or 14 at the time)… Carla always looked after us and she never ever bought us beer before we were 21 years old, never… Me, Sam, Jonna and all our friends hung out together all through high school and had our own little click and was and it was nice for us to hang out with a bunch of good looking Conelettes… Holly babysat me and my sisters when we were little and Jonna took over and kept my sisters after that so as I said this is a second family to me…

One other memorable trip for me and Sam was Johnny taking us to St Louis to see the Redbirds play on a charter bus… They had a custom built crap table that fit perfect over the back eight seats of the bus and Sam and I made a few dollars that day running to the front and getting them cold beers…

I also have a host of nicknames from the family also, Sug, Barry Neal and Barr which I am still called by all of them today…

You are always sad to see people move on but for me it usually helps stir up some good memories of things we all did in the past…

I Love It Sometimes When I Am Wrong

Yes I said it, I did… UK will NOT beat South Carolina and Visor Guy and they proved me wrong…

Am I one of the fans that Mr. Everything Cobb tweeted about on Sunday??? I am not… My criticism is usually constructive and I do not boo players… I have been critical of coaching decisions and yes I was always very critical of Brooksy… The thing I am most critical about is our record against SEC opponents not named Vanderbilt which over the last five years has not been very good at all…

I do however understand what Cobb is saying and now that he has apologized I hope it fires the fans ups… There are multiple people in the stands who leave EVERY week at halftime or at the end of the 3rd quarter no matter what is going on (there are four right beside me who do it every week)… Have I ever left early??? Yes twice… Once when UK was losing 49 to 7 at halftime to the Gators and also during Hartline’s sophomore year when he lead them on two late TD drives to beat Arkansas when it looked liked all was lost… Both times I was in the parking lot until the game was over but in fourteen years of going to games that is the only two times I have left games early…

Yes there were fans that were openly upset on Saturday night in the first half and some of that was for good reason and some of it was not for good reason… For example I have new guy sitting behind me last night who is now a season ticket holder… Last night was the first time he was there that I remember… He kept yelling, we never blitz, how come we never blitz, Brown sucks, blah, blah, blah… I finally turned around and said, “Dude we have jam blitzed on almost every play in that drive…” My way of saying shut the hell up!!! UK actually blitzed about 80% of their defensive plays in the first half and you saw twice why this team does not blitz allot…

You see when you blitz you end up with a defensive end in coverage with a running back and Stephen Garcia on both occasions read it perfect and put the ball right in Latimore’s hands for huge gains when pass plays were called… UK just does not have the athleticism to do allot of pass blitzing this year and their secondary is very young and inexperienced… In the 2nd half UK did not blitz as much and look what happened…

So for the guy that set behind me in the first half who kept saying, “What can Brown do for you???” He can make adjustments at halftime and hold South Carolina to a goose egg even with a young and not as talented defense as he has had in the past…

Personally I am tired of people trashing Steve Brown for what has happened on defense this year… He has made nice adjustments two games in a row and his defensive team is learning the art of execution… Give the guy a damn break!!! For those who still trash Hartline (the guy behind me again) he is up for National Player of the Week this week…

So back to the game…

The first half was disappointing for sure… UK, which had not blitzed much this year, took a page out of Mummer’s guy, Mike Major, and was trying to blitz from somewhere on almost every play in the first half… Did not have allot of success with this but they did get some pressure on Garcia… The offense was obviously adjusting to life without Derrick Locke…

Our halftime conference under the stands centered very much around the defense once again, like the week before we could just not stop our opponent… Allot of poor and missed tackles, some great blocking by the Gamecocks offensive line and of course South Carolina’s stud running back was gapping UK for big gains and on rushing and pass plays… UK offensively was for sure out of sync without Locke and they could not run the ball at all in the first half at all…

Things do not appear to be much better after UK goes three and out but than a funny thing happened on the way to a loss… South Carolina loses their stud running back and the UK defense stuck with the Nickel Package (which I think they should do to get more speed on the field) and all the sudden UK is shutting South Carolina down…

The offense finally got moving in the 2nd half after the teams exchanged punt… With 10:18 to go in the 3rd Quarter UK went on a 95 yard drive (actually 110 with a 15 yard penalty in the drive) knocking six minutes off the clock… The key plays in the drive were UK converting on four third down plays with the biggest being 3rd and 10 on the sixth play of the drive on a completion to Chris Matthews who had a career game…

UK than got the ball back and this time Hartline hooks up with Matthews for another TD with Matthews putting a good move on his man after the catch to scoot to the end zone… Look out we have a ball game…

UK defense then holds again and UK, like Auburn did the week before, marched down the field to score the winning TD in a nice long time consuming drive… How did Cobb get so open??? They bit on Matthews on the underneath route and allowed Cobb to set the all time UK touchdown record with ease… I was actually closer to Cobb on that play than any Carolina defender…

Of course South Carolina then drives down the field with a chance to win the game (that was frustrating to watch)… I for one have no problem with Spurrier’s strategy at the end of the game… You have 11 seconds left, plenty of time to run a play to the end zone so you use a timeout to set up something that you think will work (I watched a replay of the game and you see why Bob Davie is an announcer and not a coach)… You have to make sure your QB throws the ball to the end zone only and either you get a TD, an incompletion but you risk an interception… I think it was a good call by Spurrier and just at bad throw by Garcia and UK intercepts the pass and the celebration begins…

I for one wish the fans would not have rushed the field… Let’s act like we have been there before folks and we have!!! We are 4 and 3 and we just beat a top ten team… Like South Carolina was trying to do this week UK now has to validate the win by beating Georgia…

The celebration in the stands after the game was really cool and I was glad to see those that stuck around for the entire game stick around a bit longer to celebrate… The parking lot was pretty electric after the game and that was also a great thing to see… Although we do not have any video (I wish we did) Mark Sheets had a great we beat South Carolina dance that was a complete riot… As for me, my buddy CT’s wife Shannon, said look at the twinkle in Barry’s eye!!! That is a twinkle I hope to have some more this football season…

I am not going to what if because now we are where I think we should have been at this point of the season and that 4 and 3… UK now once again has a chance to win eight games and the Georgia game would be a great start down that path… All their remaining games are winnable games (I think they will win three more but hoping for four)…

Now validate what you did against South Carolina young men!!!

UKIT Part Deux

Coach Cal recently stated that he does not care much about going to the Maui Classic… I am not for sure completely of his reasoning as I though these tournaments were always a good time for a team to bond…

What Kentucky actually needs to do in my opinion is just take the bull by the horns and start their own three day tournament each year in Lexington… Think of the benefits to the city if you bring in eight teams for three days of basketball (three games a day) on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday to kick off the season… With eight teams you guarantee each team gets three games… You could call up the old UKIT name of you could get creative and call it the Adolph Rupp Classic sponsored by someone and award the Bill Keightly trophy to the tournaments MVP…

I do not think it would be hard to get seven other teams to do this each year and you could always ensure that you have two of the in state teams (WKU, Morehead, Murray or EKU) participate so you are spreading the wealth a bit also… This would mean you would only need to find five other teams to come in and play… It would be like the Kentucky State High School Basketball Tournament is every year…

This tournament would not be any part of the season ticket package (I would hope) and give some additional people a chance to purchase tickets… First game is at 11:30 PM EST each day which would guarantee you would be done by the dinner hour…

If eight teams is too many you could just do a four team two day event but make sure you bring in some good competition not just two guaranteed wins…

Any seconds on this idea???

Paying college athletes

I for one say no… At a major university the a college athletes room and board, tuition, healthcare and three squares a day (think about how good these kids eat on game days) is worth at least $25,000 to $30,000 a year…

The argument seems to be to look at the money that the university is making off of said athlete which is true but a large portion of the money made by division one basketball and football programs is the major way that the non revenue or non profit making sports are being funded… That to me is also another reason the athletes do not need to get paid to play because you have to pay them (the non profit or revenue sports) equally (Basketball, Football, Soccer, Gymnastics, Softball, Baseball, Field Hockey, Rifle Team, Cheerleaders, Dance Squad, etc...)!!! …

So how do they get walking around money??? If there parents cannot afford to float this than the athlete needs to work in the summer… I remember when a former UK Basketball Player, NBA Veteran who is now an NBA assistant worked for me for two summers when he was at UK… He served as a bundle boy during his first tenure (feeding work to the inspectors on the floor) and during his second summer he served as a janitor for the facility… He worked hard and did not get any special privileges and I guarantee that helped build the character that the man has today… My point is if he can do it so can these athletes…

Paying players is not just something that will ever happen in my opinion… I think they (the universities) can expand the service offered to include legal advice, career counseling, etc… which will help with some of the issues around agents, etc…

More comments from the masses:

I really just love reading these comments about UK Basketball… People love to name call, spew and just in general make comments that if anything lacks much intelligence… People say things on these boards that I guarantee you they would not say directly to a person if they were in conversation… My favorite comments are UK choked last year or UK has not done anything in years which is simply not true or UK has always cheated…

UK hit a rough patch at the end of the Tubby era and BCG was a complete train wreck for two years but UK had a great season last year and made it to the final eight after winning the conference championship and the conference tournament championship… They should win the conference again this year and I doubt you will see three or four guys go pro after one year off of this team so that will make them even better next year also…

The comment from the person below who lives in Maysville is classic…

For sure UK fans are rabid and some are extreme to a fault like Bama football fans but that is what fans do… Every fan base has extreme fans if you branch out and look at other fan bases across the country… My thing is support your team and quit bashing or worrying about what other teams are doing… Worry about the team you are playing this week!!!

Anyway I love the fact that when a story is posted on Yahoo about UK people who hate UK obviously read it and are compelled to make comments where a story about Duke, Kansas or any other school gets about 10% of the comments... Anyway let the hate hate haters just hate hate on… The comments are not edited…

Ø Well you just keep drinking the "Cal-the-Lip" "Bluegrass Kool-Aid" ... time will tell ... a leopard cannot change his spots ... neither can a dirty coach!!!
Ø And I know that Thad Matta has never formally been charged, but that whole Greg Oden recruitment stank like something Calipari would do.
Ø "Turn the page" Wouldn't that require Kentucky fans to understand the concept of "a book"?
Ø John Calipari,is a microwave coach, he trying too win a with all frist yr pros on his team...He's an OVER-RATED coach,he does everything with smoke and mirrors...the only the that KU Fans are going to get is 3 yrs probation...
Ø He wants them to "turn the page" and forget he had the best team money could buy, and couldn't make it to the Final Four. And exactly what are the people who are sick of UK's cheating ways suppose to be jealous of anyway? UK hasn't accomplished anything in years.
Ø Calipari is a snake!!!
Ø C-H-E-A-T-S! Cheats! Cheats! Cheats! Cheats! Yeah, go Coach Cal!!!!
Ø "Turn the page!" Forget UK choked last year!
Ø God I hate Kentucky. Everything about that state reeks of hillbillies, backwardness, cheating, and idiocy. I live in Maysville myself, and I constantly run into people with poor hygiene, terrible body odor, and most of all, CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT UK BASKETBALL! Seriously, there are other things in life besides your stupid wildcats! Mix that with the fact that they are utterly delusional and believe they're the center of the basketball universe makes them completely intolerable. Multiply that by 5 million and that's what it's like to live in Kentucky. I'd move out of this state in a heartbeat if it weren't for my job (my boss is only one of the few rational folks I know around here, and he hates kentucky basketball too).
Ø If I coached in the Atlantic 10, Conference USA, and the SEC with Cal's bankroll I could win 30+ games every year. Worldwide Wes says thank you UK.
Ø No matter what page you look at, it still says "Calipari is a cheater". His forfeited wins fill an entire book, and that book is still being written.

Random

- Don’t count me as one who is excited that Tony Larussa is coming back to manage the Redbirds… Let’s hope Mark McGwire hangs up his ‘hitting’ coach title up and that the Redbirds hire Larry Walker…
- My prediction of Yankees and Phils in the World Series looks to be wrong… Something else I have no issue with being wrong about…
- Check out UK’s new point guard Brandon Knight’s academic record… He has not made less than an A on his report card since second grade and is fluent in Spanish… He can also shoot and play point guard... I thought only the smart guys go to Duke and Cal recruits only ‘bad’ people… Hmmmmmmmmmmm…
- As for what Cobb did with the tweet… Now that the national media has picked up on it (as in the case of Jessie Palmer at ESPN he is completely wrong, no one booed Randell Cobb) I believe it will have an impact on recruiting and be used against Joker… Joker is a great recruiter so I think the impact will be minimal but their will be an impact… I do not disagree with why Randell did it but sometimes you should just keep quiet… If Randell and company want to prove a point than win eight games this year!!!
- If Bama wins all it’s remaining regular season games and wins the SEC championship game and Oregon and Oklahoma both lose along the way they (Bama) will no doubt play for the National Championship whether Boise State or TCU or lose or not… There schedule is awesome from hear on out!!! Fair??? That will be a significant argument…
- If LSU or Auburn win out same thing!!!
- I did not watch Midnight Madness… To much hype for me… Great event for the fans though who decide to attend…
- If you are going to bitch and gripe about what is going on during the football game at least educate yourself on formations, blitz schemes, etc… before you start spewing out your opinions… Obviously allot of peoples opinions are formulated by what they are reading on websites (some of which have accurate and good information and some are just spewing)…
- Glad to see UK run allot of Nickel packages during the South Carolina game… We need speed on the field on defense… I would like to see us run a 4 2 5 scheme (four down linemen, two linebackers, two strong safeties on the corners two corners and a free safety)… This is the scheme that TCU uses and it is hard to stop a blitzing safety off the corner from the line of scrimmage…
- Glad to see when I watched the replay of the Kentucky game that it was mentioned that three D1 football programs in the commonwealth have African American head coaches… No other state can make such a claim… Pretty good for a bunch of racist, backward ass, non bath taking, smelly, inbred hillbillies…
- I like the KSR website in general and but they spend way to much time on the negatives associated with other programs which is exactly what they and other people (like me) bitch about people doing to UK… Let them make their bed and let’s sleep in our own… It is OK to defend your school but constantly taking pop shots at other schools in low class!!!

10.10.2010

2010-10-10T14:55:00.010-04:00

UK Football

So the question has been asked why after five games into the Joker era has a portion of the fan base turned with such discontent???

The answer is the team appears to be stuck in the same place it has been for the lost four years… Competitive against most SEC Teams but a team that cannot get over the hump for an entire season and that carry’s over to Joker and was the baton passed by Brooksy…

Take 2007… A team that should have gone into the LSU game undefeated but had a Brooksian implosion at South Carolina (something we do every year against USC) and lost a game they should have won (Brooksy went zero wins against USC in his tenure)… A team that then upsets #1 LSU and a week later nearly upsets Florida and is poised with the schedule to win 8 or 9 games… A team that ends up losing to a bad Mississippi State team at home, almost loses to Vandy and than loses a heart breaker to UT at home (a game they should have won) to finish 7 and 5 and return the Music City Bowl… Two bowls in a row yes but this was a year that my expectations were to take a step forward…

Take 2008… A team that struggles against Norfolk State and MTSU than goes to Bama and plays a great game that they COULD have won but DID not (respectable but a loss is a loss and there are no moral victories)… They almost beat Georgia and than drop a home game to Vandy (Ugh!) and finish 6 and 6 and head to the Liberty Bowl (stuck in the same gear and maybe even a step back although I will admit 6 and 6 was pretty good for this team)… I give them a pass for 2008…

Last year (2009). After some injuries, etc… derail the season early UK is once again in position to win eight or nine games but they lose to Mississippi State and UT at home once again to finish the magical 7 and 5…

This year… After staring out 3 and 1 the team blows a game they SHOULD have won at Ole Miss… Yes they SHOULD have won and we have to as fans change our mindset and expect to win games we SHOULD win if we are going to step up!!! With a win and Georgia and UT both down the schedule sets up for this team to win eight games by winning three of five home games and winning one of two games on the road… The most favorable schedule that UK will see over the next four or five years sets up perfect…

So now the question is can this team turn this season around and win eight games… Auburn and USC are losses (write that down)… UK should be able to beat Vandy and Charleston at home and they HAVE to beat UT on the road… Now you are at six wins… This means you have to beat Georgia at home and Mississippi State on the road and I say that will not happen (not both) so you are looking at the standard of 7 and 5 or 6 and 6, which puts UK back in the Music City Bowl or the Liberty Bowl…

So when you going get over the hump is the question that allot of the fan base has??? Probation is over and every other excuse Brooksy used has worn out… Beating Louisville every year (reality is you are not going to do that every year) and going 7 and 5 or 6 and 6 is not getting us over the hump folks…

I have written before that it will be tough for UK to compete year in and year out in Football in the SEC (because of the recruiting base inside the commonwealth is not that strong due to shear numbers) but asking for an 8 and 4 or 9 and 3 season every three years or so should be an expectation that has to be met in my opinion… If you want to keep 65,000 to 70,000 people week in and week out in the stands for home games throw us a bone and win 8 or 9 once every three years and maybe just maybe throw in a back to back 8 or 9 win season…

Basically my chain for Joker is three years… I give him three years to put his stamp on the program and get this team over the hump… Year three is the key year from a win and loss standpoint but what he does this year and next year will greatly impact what he does in year three so he has to display some success this year and next…

At year three if we are still not better than 7 and 5 should we just accept that UK Football is mediocre at best??? I am not buying that but it appears that allot of UK fans do buy that philosophy and maybe we are just going to forever be a basketball school…

Low expectations will always produce low results!!!

UK vs. Auburn

Here we go… “I am proud of our boys”… “They fought hard to the end”… “We did not win but it is a moral victory”… Horseshit I say… Last week UK should have won and this week after tying the game late they could have won a game I did not think they had a chance to win going into the contest (man was I wrong)…

Basically the way I see it is after you converted on 4th and 1 in the 4th quarter you now put the ball in Randall Cobb’s hands three times and let him try to make a play… Instead he touches it on the first play, loses two yards and than you run the ball dead up the middle for no gain and Hartline than overthrows his receiver (Cobb) on 3rd down and you kick a field goal to tie the game…

You then kick off to Auburn and they drive the ball from the own seven to kick a field goal and win the game… A 19 play drive, 2nd longest in Auburn history, which was basically their quarterback running left, right or up the middle… He did convert a big 3rd and 7 pass play early in the drive…

With two minutes to go, Auburn is in field goal range and you are still holding two timeouts let them score!!! You than get the ball back and you have an opportunity to drive down the field and tie the game or possibly win the game with a TD and a two point conversion… I know that is not easy but that is better than just watching a team drive it down the field and leave you with nothing…

It is a matter of playing the percentages and I think the percentage is higher if you let them score vs. the ultimate end result…

If you do not like that idea than try a surprise on side kick and maybe you recover but if you do not maybe you stop Auburn or if you do not and they score (touchdown or a field goal) than you still have plenty of time to drive down the field and score a touchdown and either go …

I for one am tired of losing; I am tired of 7 and 5 or 6 and 6… This is a team that with a win last week, a loss last night and win over USC next week could be in contention for the East Title… COULD BE!!!

Mike Hartline played a great game last night… I have no problem with him at all… As for Steve Brown and the defense… There is to much youth, to much inexperience and an overall lack of talent at this point on that side of the ball… Sure Brown could call some better schemes but he does not have the personal he has had the last two years… Terrible defensive schemes in the first half but the second half UK adjusted well until the final drive by Auburn…

I am tired of could be!!!

Ryder Cup

The last day was phenomenal!!! The entire event comes down to the last match…

Grame McDowell was clutch and Hunter Mahan somewhat succumbed to the pressure but I do not pin this on Hunter at all… This was just the Euros playing better this time throughout all the matches (especially on day 2)…

If you want to pin this on anyone look no further than Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson… Two guys who failed to win a point the first two days… These are two of the top players in the world and failure to even get a half point on either day is not acceptable… That is where the US lost the Cup!!!

Stewart Cink also missed a putt he should have made on the final day on the 17th hole that would have gotten the US a half point but I do not put any blame on him either because of the way he putted during the matches (he made some clutch putts)…

Ian Poulter played great… Rory Mcillory may be a little too cocky… Tiger showed them all why he was picked (although him and Stricker getting beaten badly was somewhat of a surprise but Westwood and Donald are two top ten players in the world also and they were just on for that match)…

If there would have been one more Molinari brother than maybe the US could have won (loved watching young Ricky Fowler storm back on brother #1 the last day)…

All in all this was a great event once again… Corey Pavin and Monty did a good job but Corey Pavin needed to be a little more Rah, Rah to me and his wife’s selection of the US Teams outfits is about the only criticism I have in the end…

As for the identity of the now famous "cigar man" in the photo of Tiger shanking a chip shot he has been revealed at the link below… Turns out he was trying to do his best dress up of the man Johnny Miller said could be “the most interesting man in the world” (best line of the entire Ryder Cup) Miguel Angel Jimenez, aka The Mechanic…

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/golf_experts/post/Mystery-solved-At-last-Cigar-Guy-s-secret-iden?urn=golf-275853

Comments from the Masses (unedited)

- calipari is a sleazeball. he's worse than any greedy tort lawyer on the planet. of course the father is gonna lie for his son about taking money. most fathers would if it meant his kid getting more money in the states or if he has to go back to europe for a few years and make less money. but the whole let's blame it on some xenophobic reverse-psychology scare tactic just sounds like something johnnie cochran would come up with...
- Why go to a place where your wins are likely to be wiped out by the NCAA in a few years? (Comment made about why UK stopped recruiting Tony Wroten)
- If you insult Kentucky.......the whole trailer park will be after you.
- God, I hate kentucky. Aside from their no ethics coach, they have the most delusional, hillbilly fanbase ever
- UK, here's a thought, have you ever tried not cheating?
- Capone, Gotti, Sutton, Tark, eventually you pay the piper. Cal's day is coming! Then we will ALL AGREE on how much he sucks!
- I'm not surprised that Calipari has that comment "Im sure he'll play this season". Becuse you know he'll do something somewhat shady as usually. Two time cheater...!!!!!!!
- Kentucky is dirty. We all know it. The only people that can't see it are the Kentucky fans. They are the lemmings that will soon fall off the cliff.

People just love to hate on the Blue and White of Kentucky!!! I have still not seen much written in the national media about what is going on with Josh Shelby at Kansas or multiple other schools who have players that have eligibility issues but hey that is not Kentucky or Calipari… Also what about UCONN???

Random

- Rolled Tide… Wow… Did not see that one coming… I thought Bama was the real deal… Early enough loss though they are not out of the National Championship picture yet… Ohio State and Oregon loses one a piece and Bama runs the table and wins the SEC Title than you will still see Bama play for the National Championship… Could it be against Boise or TCU???

-I feel sorry for the Reds… That was some bad luck drawing the Phillies in a short series… No hit by Roy!!! WOW…

- Yankees own the Twins… Yankees own the American League period… Easy run for them in my opinion…
- If you are UK back up QB Morgan Newton are you thinking about transferring??? If I were him I would be gone in a minute…

- Whatever happened to Aaron Boyd and Dequin Evans???
- Watched the Sportscentury once again about Secretariat… I agree this horse was not just a horse but also a great athlete and actually one of the greatest… If you have not watched the Preakness or the Belmont from 1973 or never seen it head to You Tube and give it a watch… I am looking forward to seeing the new movie…
- Redbirds invited Larussa back… I am a bit shocked by that one… Is 2011 Puljos last hurrah in a Redbird uniform???
- UK’s home basketball schedule is pathetic this year…
- So I see where Lebron is throwing out the race card with how he is being viewed now by people and the media… Nice… If the owners did what Bosh, Wade and Lebron did they would be fined or sued for collusion!!! Thumbs down on that one King James…

- I have been hit with the Twitter craze… I am following Bubba Watson, Ian Poulter and Will Leitch (the Deadspin guy)… Have them linked on My Yahoo page… Poulter posted some great pictures and video from the Ryder Cup celebration in the Team Room…

10.02.2010

2010-10-03T12:14:00.011-04:00

Rule Are ‘Not’ Meant to Be Broken

The casual golfer of casual fan will never understand golf or the rules of golf and therefore never understand completely what happened to Dustin Johnson at this years PGA on the final hole…

Golfers are the only sport where the player calls a penalty on themselves because in most instances they are the only ones who know the penalty has occurred… In major golf tournaments only the last six groups each day have officials assigned and their roles are to answer questions about rules not be a referee in a match…

Many times, as in this instance, TV coverage plays a role in rules violations… Had Dustin been in the first group of the day instead of the last he may very well have committed the same penalty but because the shot was not on TV the penalty would have not been called…

First let’s get this straight… If Dustin Johnson hits a better drive on the 18th hole at Whistling Straits meaning in the fairway and not up in an area where no one has hit a drive all week than he may be the PGA Champion today… He is responsible and he is a class act that showed that when the tournament was concluded… Just like John Van de Velde at The Open a few years back he made a couple of bad decisions that impacted his score on the final hole…

If you hit a ball into a hazard whether it was marked as a hazard, meaning inside yellow or red stakes, or it was in a sand area that the tournament directors had made very clear at the start of the tournament that these areas off the fairway and outside the ropes were to be treated as sand traps than you as a professional golfer and better yet your caddie have to know the rules or you will be penalized… Whether you agree with the rule or not it was the rule for this tournament…

Again, golf is the only sport where a player can call a penalty on themselves… Most penalties are called by the player and as earlier stated the rules official is only there to answer questions not rule on every shot… It is left up to the players and there playing partner or partners to police themselves with the rules… This is why golfers and people who play golf normally have a high level of integrity and I am not saying that those who do not play do not have a high level of integrity…

Golf is the only sport where the player keeps there own ‘official’ score and is responsible for that score so hearing the talking heads saying that at the end of the Super Bowl if Sean Payton does not sign his scorecard than the Saints lose… Ludicrous comparison!!! In a basketball, football, baseball, soccer, hockey, field hockey, etc… the action is right in front of everyone including fans and officials… In golf the action is spread across 18 holes over several hours between players so there is no comparison…

I love golf for several reasons but also because I love the rules and as a person who “play’s it where it lies” I know that the rules and I know when a rule has been broken… I have more that once called a penalty on myself even when I was playing by myself… That is the integrity and character building that golf gives an individual…

Any way… Glad to see Johnson recover from this and his US Open meltdown and I think as he learns to win he can be a very dominant player on this level… Let’s hope he brings his ‘A’ game to the Ryder Cup (he did not)…

Enes Kanter

Free Enes!!!

Not really much of a story because if he is ruled ineligible it has no impact on UK…

Pete Thamel of the New York Times wrote and article that stirred all the national media attention up over this event but the thing is he did not report anything that has not already been known for months…

No one is denying that Kanter took money (although Cal did make a concerning statement early on in this saga around that subject) from the Turkish club team he played for but the question is at this point was it for living expenses or did it include a salary??? If any portion was deemed to be a salary than the case is closed he is not eligible…

As for the people that are saying, see Kentucky cheats and they got caught; see Cal is a crook, blah, blah, blah, blah… This has nothing to do with UK or Cal in this case or in the case of Bledsoe!!! All of these items happened before anyone at UK or Cal knew anything about this kid…

Cal took a flyer on this kid knowing that he may not be eligible but if he is he knew this kid was a game changer so he had NOTHING to lose… I doubt the kid gets to play and I think based on what I saw of him he can be a star in the NBA like Nowitzski is for the Mavs...

As for Pete Thamel… He has an obvious ‘hard on’ for bringing down UK and Calipari and is trying to make a name for himself and be the guy that breaks the story that bring sown Cal (he is also the guy that was ‘investigating’ Eric Bledsoe)… Nice Job Pete!!!.

Bledsoe

After it is all said and done and it appears that Bledsoe’s grades will remain but there are still two issues to me…

If the NCAA clears a player to play, as they did with Eric Bledsoe, than how can they come back later and say, well because we were wrong and we should not have cleared the player your team has to forfeit all of it’s victories??? Who is accountable here or better yet where is the accountability??? The NCAA has to be held accountable if they are the ones who ultimately make these decisions on eligibility!!!

I still say that the University of Kentucky has some responsibility here also… Whether the NCAA clears someone or not a University has some responsibility to question a transcripts or grades especially if the person has some questionable course work…

I love Coach Cal as a person just based on what he has done with local charities, charities in Memphis and the Hati thing last year but I think that the University has to step up a bit here and not take chances on a player with questionable academic no matter who or how he has been cleared… The University has to sometimes say no…

Nothing wrong with having some higher standards especially when the NCAA can come back after clearing a player and say wait a minute we were wrong!!!

UK Football

The Louisville game played out about like I thought it would… UK’s has experience and continuity and that overcame all the issues that U of L has at this point… U of L surprisingly though has 27 seniors which are the 2nd most of any NCAA D1 school…

UK offense played a very solid first half and Joker did the right thing by taking the ball to start the game (something my wife told him he should do every time he has the chance when she attended the UK coaching clinic)… He did not do this in the 2nd game and WKU scored right out of the gate…

The offense sputtered in the 2nd half and penalties cost the team another seven to ten points…

The UK defense, despite giving up a big play in the 2nd half, actually played a pretty solid game and pretty much shut U of L down for the entire game… They had some costly penalties though which need to be cleaned up moving forward…

Four in a row!!! Who would have ever thought that against a national championship caliber program (sense the sarcasm here)…

U of L does have a good head coach but he, like Joker, is unproven at this point and I think it will take him a few years to turn things around… The advantage he has is playing in the Big Least in Football… Should not take much to get them competitive again in that league…

C O B B, Cobb, Cobb, Cobb was what it was about in the WKU game… That was the type of game he is so capable of having week end and week out… A special teams score, a passing TD and a caught a TD…

Mike Hartline again played a very good game… He managed the game very well once again and like the U of L game made some good throws down the field (The UK passing game is more than a screen pass…

The defense did not play well in this game… They kind of gave up (that is what it looked like to me) on two of Westerns drives but Western’s tailback, Rainey also gapped Nebraska for 155 yards (he had 185 against UK) so this is going to be one of the better backs UK will face all year…

Very light crowd for this game... I think the ticket hikes caused allot of people to not renew their tickets this year (or at least that is what I am hearing)…

For UK and Akron although it was a good size crowd for the game I am always a bit disappointed with the crowd and how they are not as into the game as they should be… Folks this is SEC football and we are competitive so let’s get it rolling!!!

Part of the problem is the University needs to play some really good up beat and music that gets everyone fired up especially when the team comes out of the tunnel… The new format for this event (coming out of the tunnel) is disappointing and does not get the job done… My wife has complained about this for years and now Matt Jones at KSR is also complaining and they may get something changed… Go Matt!!!

As for the game… UK started out very slow, no fire on offense and I personally thought that UK were trying to pass to much vs. just running it down this teams throat at the start of the game… Once UK started running the ball on a consistent basis the game was over…

Defense!!! Big corrections to make after this game… Akron should have scored three or four more times with long passes and the UK coverage was just inept… To win eight or nine games this has to change immediately…

Locke ran great and the other running backs that got in the game played well… Hartline managed the game well and had another very good game… You cannot even suggest anymore that he is not the right guy at QB for UK… He continues to play mistake free football, looks really great in the pocket (has a nice pocket presence) and is reading the defenses well and making the right checks…

Akron is not a very good football team and in the end UK did what it should have against this team…

For the Florida game the score was about as I expected it to be (I predicted 45 to 10)… Speed, Speed, Speed!!! Florida makes UK look like a high school team from a speed standpoint…

Hartline was trying to make throws that worked against the slow teams but will not work against the faster teams… I figured he would throw at least two interceptions and he threw two in the first half… Hartline with a nice throw for a TD to Matthews and if Hartline does not throw the pick six the game is possibly allot more interesting…

Trevathan being out in the 1st quarter hurt the UK defense but by not putting any pressure on the quarterback at all UK just gave Brantley all day to pick the UK defense apart it was like we never gave ourselves a chance… The UK linebackers could not keep up with the Florida Tight Ends or backs in coverage and they killed UK with underneath routes… Very poor defensive play calling in my book by Coach Brown!!!

Urban Meyer stuck it in Joker’s face in this game with Florida’s version of Randell Cobb who looked allot better than Randell Cobb tonight although Cobb had a pretty good game… Cobb is a Superstar but that star would shine brighter if he played at Florida… I mean their guy scores six touchdowns with five coming on the same play (very poor defensive effort)… Cobb should always be the QB when UK is inside the 10 yard line period…

Ole Miss was a complete debacle… Again no aggressiveness on defense and when UK has a chance at the end of the game the defense gives up on 3rd and 19 a 24 yard gain… Pretty much summed it up from a defensive effort…

Turnovers… The Hartline pick was just awful and a throw a senior QB should never make. No excuse… Cobb and Matthews fumbles were killer but I am not sure they could have been prevented…

From a football standpoint UK did battle back but Ole Miss kind of went into a prevent defense and how the UK defense could have held them after they got to 42 points is beyond me…

Not much else to really say beyond that about this game…

So here is my where I stand… My group wants to know why we should continue to support coaching staffs that cannot win more than six or seven games or should we just accept that it will never be any better???

UK should have won 8 or 9 games two to three times during the Brooks era and there is no reason that expectations should not be high for this year based on the favorable schedule...

We realize the season is not over but I think 8 wins now is a tall task...

I refuse to accept mediocrity or that UK is a basketball school… Look at the top 25 and you find names teams like Boise State, Stanford, Iowa, Arkansas, Utah, NC State and Nevada so UK should be able to field a team that can win 8 or 9 games on occasion… I am not buying that UK is in the SEC anymore…

What do I think it is going to take??? More of an investment in the facilities… UK needs a recruiting room and they need to update Commonwealth… Although I am willing to give Joker this year and next year I think it is ultimately going to take an investment in a quality, proven football coach who brings a scheme that will work at UK Vs the current pro style offense that UK has been running…

UK should look at a coach who runs a flexbone formation that works in some spread or something like Texas Tech has run (which is Mumme's offense) so they can compete in the SEC… Takes too many great skill players to run this type of offense at UK and with no better than 7 and 5 seasons on the books since the probation era ended I am saying that what they are doing is not working…

Navy Football

Against Maryland:

Five times in the red zone no points…
Twice should have gone for field goals and did not…
Undersized defense made nice adjustments throughout the game…

Ricky Dobbs had a chance today to show his stuff on this day and he just did not show up (actually his stats were great but the turnovers and failures in the red zone were disappointing)…

I talked up Navy and Ricky Dobbs to anyone who would listen before the season started… A couple of National Sportswriters were on that bandwagon also before the season started… I thought he could bust through and even be at the Heisman ceremony in New York… First two games have killed that chance but he still can have a nice season…

Navy still has an opportunity to have a great season… They could end up 10 and 1 but based on the first two games I am thinking 8 and 4 or 9 and 3 which is a great year for the Academy…

Go Middies!!!

Here is the best post on a message board ever:

University of "A" fan when he hears of investigation of rival........."University of "B" is being investigated!!!! They are crooked as they can be...How else do they win ? Their coach is scum !!!!University of "A" fan when he hears of investigation of HIS school........"That scum coach at University of "B" turned us in...he is a cheater...We never do anything wrong..."This is repeated over and over and over in these threads....Some of you people are naive fools...

Random

- UK football team for sure has a discipline problem and for me it starts with the behavior of the coaching staff outside of football… First thing I would do is set a dress code that includes military style haircuts vs. the flowing locks many of the players have…

- Ryder Cup… Almost at a point where the home team should always win… I think Corey Pavin’s captaincy has been a complete disaster to this point… You have to build a team like Azinger did in 2008 and you cannot discount the psychological methods Zinger employed… The outfits chosen by Corey Pavin’s wife are also a complete train wreck (including the all black for Monday)... The USA is Red, White and Blue not aqua or lavender or any of the other nasty color choices she made…

- Count me as one who puts Rory Mcillroy on my shit list… Way to cocky for a guy who has no majors!!! As for Phil Mickleson defending him with his comments about Tiger I say that just goes to show that Phil has no ‘like’ for Tiger at all and I think it was a bad move by Phil to say anything at all much less defend your opponent…

- Love to watch Team #3 on my favorite list put it to Florida for the 2nd time in two years… That my friends a real football team…

- At the Western Game UK honored two former UK football players which was the first African American football player to play in the SEC and also the first African American captain of an SEC team…
- About all I can say about the St Louis Cardinals is they have had no team chemistry and it is time for allot of changes to be made in the management sector… Larussa needs to go and hiring Mark McGwire turns out to be a horrible move for the team and the franchise… Most disappointed I have ever been with this team!!!
- On July 8th I posted the following on Yahoo…Stick a fork in them (St Louis)... They are done!!! Very disappointing season...

The Reply from another Redbirds fan was: How are they done? Also you can't call it a disappointing season b/c......... THEY HAVEN'T PLAYED THE FULL SEASON DUMB!@#. They have had a disappointing half yes...... So please shut up and talk what you know..........

Looks like I am not such a DUMB!@# after all although I would have been OK with being wrong... Hey Ho Larussa must go!!!

- Congrats to the Reds although their fan base is acting a little cocky… I have watched allot of those players come through Louisville so I naturally have a vested interest in that team…

- For those Reds fans out there it is allot tougher to win the 11th World Series or the 9th Central Division Title than it is to win your 6th Series title or your 2nd Central Division Title vs. you 9th… Don’t act like Cubs fans!!!!

- Boise State claims they will play anyone, anywhere, anytime but they also charge the highest fee for a non conference opponent so that makes it tough for teams to schedule them when they can pay about half that fee to schedule someone else something UK hater John Feinstein left out of his article in the Sporting News this month about Boise State…

- It was only a matter of time before the Bruce Pearl bomb exploded… I do not wish that on any coach at any school whether I like them or not… UK needs UT to be relevant in basketball as they need Florida, Vandy, USC, LSU, Bama, Arkansas, Georgia, Ole Miss, Miss St, etc, etc… The SEC needs it!!!

- John Clay of the Lexington paper called KSR a rah, rah Kentucky site… To some level it is but Matt Jones is doing a great job with that site, his daily show and his after the football game one hour shows on WHAS… I never go to the Lexington paper website anymore which means I do not read John Clay or Mark Story (I do like Mark Story) and last time I checked it is Matt Jones and not John Clay who has two radio shows… KSR is the type of media outlet that will flourish in the future much like Will Leitch’s Deadspin site… Newspapers are DOA…

- Speaking of Matt Jones and KSR he did a great job on the ESPN show ‘Outside the Lines’ about Kanter and Bledsoe… He got his point across very well and made it clear that when the word “KENTUCKY” appears on something that is controversial with basketball the story moves straight to the top of the page…

- It will take a Bama or Ohio State loss to get Boise State in a National Championship game… Could Boise and TCU go undefeated and play in the Championship Game??? Will need to see how this plays out but it could happen…

- Good argument on Matt Jones’ radio show today about whether the older baseball players could be stars in the current era… I say yes!!! Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, Rogers Hornsby, Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio just to name a few could have hit well in any era… Hank Aaron had such great wrist speed he would have no trouble and I am sure if you go back and watch the swings of some of the players I mentioned they had great wrist speed also… Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snyder, Willie Mays, Stan the Man could also star today… I do not by into the pitching is that much different today it would have an effect on the batters theory for one minute…

- I predict a Yankees Vs Phillies World Series this year once the playoffs are done…

- All great athletes stage a comeback at some point and I think Tiger will stage his at some point next year… As for Tiger’s Ryder Cup selection he will finish 3 – 1 – 0 when single conclude so the justified his pick and he will use Lee (zero majors) Westwood and Luke (zero majors) Donald smirking during their match as more motivation to bury them both next year on tour…

June 5th, 2010

2010-06-05T15:15:00.008-04:00

More From the Masses (this does not even include the ridiculous comments this past weekend about Cal and Bledsoe)

Is Coach Cal leaving UK??? Who knows??? He says no but anything could happen when that much money is on the table and with some of the other items that he has to put up with in the national media, although I think he is pretty thick skinned…

Coaches have egos and since Cal and Lebron have such a close relationship this could occur know matter what Cal or Lebron says… There is a perfect storm for any situation and we will see how this plays out…

The following are some of the comments from the story that was posted on a Sports Page on the internet about this very subject… At last check there was over 325 comments to the story…

People love to hate on Cal and on UK now like it is their job!!!

Here are a few of my favorite comments:

Yahoo User Comment: Why would he leave? I got two reasons, first off they have not been caught cheating YET. We all know his track record. Second if he cant win the big one with a team that has five first round picks on it, then how is he gonna win in the NBA? Stop and think about that for a minute, how many NBA teams have five first round picks in their starting lineup? The guy is not a good technical basketball coach. His team never shoots free throws good, they all play backyard basketball. He is a awesome recruiter, but heck if everyone else cheated they would be good also. The guy is a snake and the funny thing is KY sold their soles and legacy to the devil when they brought this guy in.

My Comment: Has he never been in trouble with the NCAA or found guilty of anything??? No coach could have won with that much youth last year where not just the freshmen were new but all the players were new to a new system and new coach... You keep saying he cheated what evidence do you have that the NCAA does not have??? Show your cards since you seem to have all the facts so everyone else can see them...

Yahoo User Comment: i think uk does not need john calipari they can win without a cheating coach his bad for the ncaa and his players cant keep a good gpa

My Comment: UK had two people below 2.0 and both players are no longer on the team ... Two guys did also graduate early... This person is cherry picking their information...

Yahoo User Comment: I was a UK fan till they hired this cheating hack of a coach. I can't wait to see UK have another early tourney exit.

My Comment: Until the NCAA finds him guilty like a Jim Harrick, Eddie Sutton, Kelvin Sampson or Tim Floyd than he cannot be labeled in this way… Early exist??? I do not see losing in a regional championship game as an early exit…

Yahoo User Comment: UK is far from the best job in the country. Uk is a once proud program that has fallen to the way side. UK has not had a sniff of a Final Four/National Title in over 10 years.

My Comment: You can argue all day long as to which job is the best job in the country… There are about eight to ten that are elite and Kentucky is one of them… Yes it is true UK is in its longest streak ever of not making it to the final four... UK has made it to the regional finals four times in that period so that is far from being irrelevant!!! How many teams out there have never won a title, been to the final four, etc...

Yahoo User Comment: Coach Calamari won't leave until the recruiting violations get uncoverred. Then he'll make like a calamari and wave to the Wildcat suckas.

My Comment: Again where is the proof of these violations??? When are they going to come out??? Show me your cards…

Yahoo User Comment: Kentucky being investigated for recruiting violations....is what the headlines will read in a couple of years.

My Comment: Again where is the proof of these violations??? When are they going to come out???

Yahoo User Comment: It's funny to see all the UK fans care about nothing other than winning when it's going to be stripped eventually anyway. It's no coincidence that every school he goes to has this happen. I'm going to laugh forever when both Wall and Cousins are deemed ineligible whether it be now or retroactively in the future.

My Comment: Again where is the proof of these violations and the eligibility issues that this person knows is coming... When are they going to come out for Wall and Cuz???

Yahoo User Comment (His name is CardCarryingKentuckyHater)
Q: How do you know that John Calipari is lying?A: Because his lips are moving.

My Comment: Jealous, Jealous again!!! I am guessing that “The Coach that came after Eddie” tells the truth all the time and the entire Karen Sypher thing never happened… First of all this guy is an Ass Bag… How could you hate the own state that you live in??? I would move… I love my adopted home of Louisville and I love the Commonwealth… There are unfortunately some Louisville natives who believe for some reason they are on a higher plain socially, economically, etc… than those of us who are from the other great parts of the Commonwealth… Sad for them they live in such a small world…

Yahoo User Comment: Gotta love KY fans. I beiieve they actually believe that people are jealous of that basketball team and Cal. The most rediculous fan base in sports! Legends in their own minds! Youll never win squat with Cal. Of course, you are used to it by now! You can always look at those dusty Rupp books and dream off years gone by cuz Cal wont get you nothing but trouble. Its already starting! Open your eyes if you can get the moonshine smoke outta your eyes idiots!

My Comment: Based on the spelling here I would say this guy has been drinking moonshine… Last check was since 1975 UK has played in seven final fours, at least ten regional championships, won the SEC Conference Tournament and regular season title in excess of fifteen times for both and all of this came after the legendary coach…

More Cal

From KSR:

News agencies should be fair. We know they are not, but they should be. In such a spirit, this story about a recent $1 million donation to a Memphis charity should get more national and local press. A group that helps underprivileged children in the Memphis area, a place where I remind everyone that he does not even live at this point, received the donation (payable over the next few years) from Calipari. The news story above highlights the work Calipari has done with the organization and what the donation will mean to the group.

From Me:

Find this in the national media!!! I dare you!!!

Redbirds

Let me say I will call always call it as I see it… I said before the season started it did not matter to me that the King of PED’s would be the Redbirds hitting coach… What he did in the past was in the past and if he could improve the hitters after last years complete collapse at the end of the year… The players like him (I guess they still do) and their performance would dictate that success…

So what do I think now???

To this point in the season St Louis is in second place after two weeks ago being five games up and looking to be on a roll… Many people were calling them the best team in baseball but I thought that a was a little premature… They played went 500 on mini west coast road trip, came back to St Louis and won three and than went on the road to Philly and lost 3 of 4 and have gone down hill from there… Why??? No offense…

- They are hitting .257 as a team which is in the bottom rung…
- They are at the bottom in runs scored…
- Middle of the pack in Home Runs
- Top of the pack in doubles…
- Bottom in triples
- Bottom in RBI’s
- Middle in OBP and Slugging

What does all of this mean???

Well I was not someone who was singing the praises when they winning because they were scoring off the long ball and not so much manufacturing runs… I did not see them however giving up a five game lead this early in the season and thought because of solid pitching and some timely hitting (not good hitting) they would be in good shape…

Pitching wise this team is 2nd in ERA, at the top in hits against and batting average against, not giving up allot of walks, not getting allot of strikeouts and are at the top in WHIP… Pitching can win you a championship but for sure you have to get into the playoffs before that can happen… Can a team that cannot score runs and get the timely hits make the playoffs??? Hmmmmmmmmmmm….

Right now Puljos, Freese, Ludwick, Holiday, Rasmus and Molina are doing there part although Rasmus and Puljos has fallen off quite a bit the last two weeks and Holiday is getting allot of criticism and with only 14 RBI’s to this point (even with a .299 average) he is not earning his new paycheck (St Louis had to sign him but they over paid for him)…

Schumaker and Ryan are not hitting at all and with Lopez hurt (more to do with having him pitch than anything in the extra inning game) the options are limited…

I am very disappointed in this team to this point in the year and not very impressed with the results that McGwire is getting from the team at this point… Did Larussa put his own Mark McGwire agenda ahead of the teams??? There were for sure some better options out there for hitting coaches… Is a career home run hitting and a guy that never hit for average the guy you want for hitting coach??? In my book, he would not have been who I would have hired for that spot (not that what I think matters and Larussa has one a few more games on the diamond than I have)??? There is NO improvement over what happened last year at the end of the year…

It is this simple… St Louis has a two year window to win the World Series… This year and next… After that there is not much chance they are going to keep Puljos, Wainwright, Rasmus, Molina and one Jamie Garcia if he keeps pitching the way he is today… Not saying they are going to not compete but they are do for a 1969 to 1982 drought so I am a little concerned at this point…

As for the Reds… The Reds are good and should be in the position they are in at this point… I have watched most of those players come through triple AAA here in Louisville and they have some great young talent that should be producing at the level they are today…

The Reds are going to hang around for the long haul so the Redbirds need to get it together and get it together quick… How big of a disappointment it would be to me if they did not win the division this year??? BIG, BIG…

St Louis cannot go out and buy a team or buy players to fill the holes they have so they better start getting some production from the hitters and their hitting coach or this season could quickly become a bust…

Redbirds Part 2

I still just do not know… They took 2 of 3 from the Cubs and 2 of three from the Reds (should have swept the Reds)…

As for the Reds… They are here to stay… They have great pitching and a great group of young players… I have watched most of these guys come up through the Bats team here in Louisville… I keep thinking the Dusty Baker factor will kick in at some point in the season and that will help get the Redbirds over the top…

McGwire goes on leave from the team and Redbirds score 24 runs in three games… Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!

Eric Bledsoe

Here is a good summary to read about this:

http://www.sbnation.com/2010/6/1/1496089/john-calipari-kentucky-allegations-eric-bledsoe

I am not sure if there is a story here or not… It is starting to look like nothing… From what I have gathered here is how it goes:

- Bledsoe transferred high schools before his senior year…
- His grades were not the best and he needed a much higher GPA than what he had been achieving overall in his senior year to be eligible for college… The Alabama high school athletic association investigated the transfer (not the transcript) and it was legit…
- There is a claim from a landlord that the rent where he was living was paid by the high school coach at the new school (his new residence allowed him to play at the new school)…
- An un-named college coach says that the high school coach was selling Bledsoe to the highest bidder…

All of this happened prior Kentucky or John Calipari actively recruiting Eric… There are members of the media and other people of course taking the items listed above and using the I told you so analogy, told you this guy (Calipari) was crooked… Ludicrous!!! Did he and the university recruit a player that was declared eligible by the NCAA??? Yes they did…

The second part of the story is that now Eric’s eligibility is in question once again (that is according to the New York Slimes)… Like Derrick Rose, Bledsoe was cleared by the NCAA clearinghouse as “eligible to play” based on his final transcripts and overall GPA and his test scores… UK investigated, the NCAA investigated and they came to the same conclusion… Not to mention the other schools, including Duke, who were also recruiting Eric had no issue with his grades… Check one of Duke’s most recent recruits and you will find a very similar GPA but hey it’s Duke so why would anyone want to slam on them…

It appears that Pat Forde at ESPN was trying to find a story here (with Eric) several months ago and the team at ESPN pulled Forde off the story… Forde then passed the information to a friend at the New York Slimes and the Slimes published that story on Sunday this past weekend… We all know Forde’s story and if you do not you should find out!!!

What now appears a possibility is that Bledsoe could be declared ineligible after the fact if in fact the NCAA is investigating him again and if in fact their were some improprieties that occurred at the school that would impact his eligibility… The NCAA may have been and still may be looking into this but at this point UK has not been notified and released a statement that the NCAA cleared Bledsoe to play as earlier stated… If they NCAA clears the person to play what else is required…

Whether you like Cal or not you have to do the diligence to understand that he was not in any way linked to what happened with Derrick Rose and that Memphis not Cal was penalized for using a player that was originally declared eligible by the NCAA only to later be declared ineligible… Look no further the case of Corey Maggette at Duke and you will find the NCAA has a double standard in this area or has had a change of heart since that episode occurred…

To me what Calipari and now the University of Kentucky could be guilty of is possibly bad judgment… For me personally I would like to the see the University raise it’s standards above the NCAA standard for a player to gain eligibility into the University and of course use the same standard for the entire student body (which I think they already do today and if not they should)… This would of course squeeze them out of some players but they could set a standard that has been set by other schools (No Duke, No Carolina you are not in that mix)… I am not sure how many D1 schools do this but I am for sure that Stanford, Vandy, Northwestern and Notre Dame are four who have higher admission standards than what the minimum requirement is put forth by the NCAA (Just ask Paul Hourning as he can tell you how this has impacted Notre Dame)…

Anyway, there is nothing about Bledsoe’s recruitment that is in question here at all and that is the point that people are conveniently missing… I hate to keep beating the drum but the same applies to the University of Memphis and UMASS where they used ineligible players and had to vacate wins and final fours… Cal is not Todd Bozeman or Kelvin Sampson who were both banned from coaching in college for a period of time due to their improprieties…

The NCAA is a fickle bunch for sure… Just look at the Reggie Bush saga at USC and Corey Maggatte at Duke as examples… They could do just about anything…

If Kentucky is guilty of something than they should be punished…

If Bledsoe is declared ineligible after he was declared eligible by the NCAA than just like the Memphis situation that is a total crock no matter what team you are a fan of or whether you hate Calipari or Kentucky… The NCAA equals hypocrisy!!!

Mike Freeman

I wrote about Mr. Freeman (an admitted fraud) a few months back… He is back at it again this weekend after the Bledsoe story broke… He slammed on the boys at KSR pretty hard for no reason at all even blocking them from posting on his twitter account…

Mr. Freeman once again should shut his trap and stay on the sidelines… What a loser!!!

From KRS:

I continue to find it fascinating how those who make a living criticizing others completely lose their minds when it is turned back upon them. Case in point, Mike Freeman of CBS’s freak out on Twitter last night. In case you missed it last night, I used Freeman as an example of the type of reporter that drove me crazy…one with ethical problems in his past (in Freeman’s case, lying on his resume that led to a termination from the Indianapolis Star) who nevertheless feels he is the ethical judge of others. Freeman holds others to a standard that he can not meet and I pointed that out in a column that was primarily about Pat Forde.

Well unlike Forde, Freeman responded on Twitter via his previously little read account. He first wrote:

The Coach Cal apologists are out in full force attacking the media. Attack away. We can take it, the apologists are cowards who can’t.

I (KSR) then questioned to what extent I (KSR) was a coward and said I (KSR) would be glad to debate the issue reasonably with him, and he responded directly to me:

you’re an apologist and a coward. Why would I debate an apologist and a coward?

Freeman then blocked me from Twitter and spent the rest of the night ranting at UK fans, claiming that there were many sending him Direct Messages that were racial taunts (I don’t believe that, but one guy did send him a public racial slur…but that guy is a moron, and slowly losing his mind). The meltdown is actually interesting to look at and not what you would expect from a national writer.

The most baffling thing to me is Freeman’s inexplicable notion that I am a coward. Call me a homer if you like, an apologist if you feel the need, but I would suggest coward is the most inexplicable. Writing the piece about Freeman certainly doesn’t help our relationship with CBS (for whom four of us from the site did work this past winter), makes my existence at all media rooms even more awkward (which was tough to do) and puts myself out there for criticism from all. In what respect is that being a coward? One might argue that the person showing much more cowardice is the one who doesn’t address the issue, calls the individual names instead of arguing the point and the blocks any further communication with him. But hey, that’s just me.

Either way, it is interesting to see how my point in last night’s piece was made. Had Calipari or any other coach responded to criticism the way Freeman did, he would have blasted and ridiculed them. So maybe I should give Freeman credit…his actions last night proved my article to be correct. Thanks Mike.

From Me:

Well said by KSR… Backs up what I wrote a few months back listed in this link…

http://shagonsports.blogspot.com/2010/03/march-29th-2010.html

Mike Freeman is a hack!!!

Hey Mike how come nothing on your Tweets or in your writings about the situation with Mizzou or the Duke recruit who has a similar academic background as Bledsoe??? Because you are a Hack, Hack, Hack!!!

Random

- Hats off to my friend Scott McMillan and his daughter Katelyn who helped lead her high school team to the regional finals in softball… As an eighth grader to boot… Scott said if he can keep her ego in check she can go along way…

- Also hats off to Bruce Bailey who’s son Dylan helped lead his high school boys baseball team to the region final… This team was hoping to top off a trip to state after three years ago the majority of this team went to the Babe Ruth world series and finished in the top four in that event…

- I have written many times about things that were going on at UCLA during the John Wooden that in today’s world of media ‘everywhere all the time’ and a ‘vicious media’ who no longer write about feel good stories would be major headlines… It is has been said of these situations, as reported by HBO there is a 900 pound elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss… With that said I have never questioned Wooden’s coaching ability nor what he was able to accomplish… His theory (ala Norman Dale) was pass first and play good defense which were trademarks of his teams… His teams also worked hard and knew they had no other choice… Hard work is the path to great success, period and that is what coach Wooden taught and is still true to today in sports and in life!!!

- The umpire who missed the call the other night to cost the pitcher a perfect game should hopefully get replay implemented in MLB… Worst call since the 85 World Series… Like the fact that the pitcher and the umpire have handled themselves well in how this played out… I like the pitchers comment of, “First 28 batter perfect game ever…” Also like the fact that Jim Leyland sent the pitcher out the following day to deliver the line up card to the plate umpire who was the umpire who blew the call the previous day…

- Memphis will get there day in court at some point and when they do I predict the NCAA will be over ruled and Memphis will get it’s wins and it’s money back from the NCAA… If they NCAA states a player is eligible then how does that not mean he is eligible… If they are the governing body and they say eligible than how can that mean anything other than eligible… Who’s on first??? What’s on second and I don’t know is on third…

- A story about a kid not being eligible coming out of high school posted at 3:16 PM on Wednesday on Yahoo only has one comment (two now because I posted one)... If this story had the word 'Kentucky' or 'Calipari' than it would get allot more play but a player who may not be eligible who is going to Mizzou just does not pack the same punch for the opportunist to pile on... How come the New York Times or Pat Forde at ESPN is not doing a story about this???"Coach Mike Anderson likely knew he was taking a risk signing an elite recruit other top programs had shied away from out of concern over his academics, but recent reports had made it seem like Mitchell would be eligible next year." MEDIA DOUBLE STANADARD!!!

- Bobby Knight does not have the nads to show up with ESPN in Lexington for a game day or any other event… He can dish it out but he cannot take it!!! What an ass!!! Time for this ass bag to be put out to pasture!!! I refuse to watch anything that he is a participant in on ESPN…

- Looking at Lucky was the best horse in the Derby (a horrible trip and finished 6th)… I had no doubt this horse would win the Preakness…

- There will never be a triple-crown winner until Churchill knocks the Derby field down to fifteen horses… Twenty is just too many… Churchill as much as any track needs a Triple Crown winner…

- I have watched a few pro games as of late… The Celtics look good as the whipped Cleveland and destroyed the Magic… As for Lebron… I think the Lebron outside of basketball is hurting the Lebron that plays basketball… He needs to focus on basketball vs. all the other stuff… I think Phil Jackson is arrogant and I hope Boston kicks their (the Lakers) ass in the finals…

- Just finished up watching the mini series “The Pacific” on HBO… It was about the Marine’s fighting in WW2 on the islands in The Pacific… The series was of course based on real events and the basis was two books written by veterans… The last episode did a fantastic job of capturing what it was like for the Soldiers coming home… I cannot wait to read the two books it was based on…

- It was a pre drawn conclusion by many that Tiger Woods would break Jack’s all time record for major championship won and be crowned the greatest golfer ever… Does not now look like such a firm bet!!! I think it is a matter now of CAN Tiger come back and dominate like he once did Vs. WHEN… I think Tiger underestimated how his life was going to change and what all of this meant to his future… Jack said at one time that a wife and kids would slow Tiger down (as it did him) but I do not think anyone saw this coming… I once said Tiger would win a major in his 50’s and now I am not sure if he will be playing competitive golf at that point… I think if Tiger breaks Jack’s record he will retire and ride off into the sunset… If he does not I think you could see him done by age 40… For a guy who had the moxie, competitive edge and mental strength to accomplish anything on the course and was once positioned for the majors mark and all time wins mark I am now longer sure he has that edge it will take to get him there… No matter what Jack, Bobby Jones, Tiger and Ben Hogan are the four guys that I believe have dominated the game like no other players have in their own time periods…

Music

Went to see Neil Young… He was great but he did not sing A Man Needs A Maid or The Needle and The Damage Done… He did not play long enough either… Just about 1 hour and 10 minutes… Only a one song encore… Expected a bit more

2010-05-02T18:46:00.006-04:00

College Football Realignment

I am hearing more and more about Super conferences in college sports… I think it could look like this:

SEC

- All the current schools with the addition of Texas, Texas A & M, Baylor and Texas Tech

Big 10

- All the current schools with the addition of Syracuse, Missouri, Pittsburgh, Nebraska and Notre Dame (maybe Rutgers instead of Notre Dame)

ACC

- All the current schools with the addition of WVA, South Florida, Rutgers and UCONN (ECU if Rutgers goes Big 10)

Big 12

- All the current schools with the addition of Louisville, TCU, Memphis, Cincy, Houston, Tulsa, Colorado State, Rice and Tulsa… Not sure about this one…

Pac 10

- All the current Teams with the addition of Boise State, Utah, BYU, New Mexico St, New Mexico and San Diego St… Not sure about this one either…

After this is complete the remaining teams would combine into the Sun Belt/Conference USA for one conference and the Mountain West/Western Athletic for another… The MAC stays intact at this point but they could also add Army and Navy, which would put them just short of having sixteen teams so they would probably add one more…

What happens from there??? Who knows??? There are rumors that the big five Super Conferences would break off from the NCAA completely (I do not see that happening) and I am not sure how that would work…

Now you are poised for a football playoff but how would that work??? Would it be the top five teams and than two at large teams get into a playoff??? I do not like that idea because a team could lose a conference championship game and still win a National Championship…

Do the newly formed Sun Belt/Conference USA, Mountain West/WAC and MAC get in and you now have an eight-team playoff??? Sounds logical but I do not see the Super Conferences allowing that to happen…

An eight team playoff could be conducted based off of seeding, 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5 for the qualifiers but what happens if and LSU goes 12 and 0 and loses in the SEC Championship game to a Florida team that is 10 and 2 (they would finish 11 and 2)??? LSU would get squeezed out the big bowl games for say an undefeated Temple from the MAC or ECU from the Conference USA/Sun Belt League??? That is the problem today and the problem tomorrow… A team is getting punished for being really good and playing in a good conference…

The bowl games are going to stay intact for sure because they mean too much financially to TV and the towns that host these games (F the people that say there are too many because that is total BS… Post Season college football is great!!!) I am not sure though how the playoff thing shakes out…

With a Super conference format you would have to play every team in your division (that puts you at seven games) and than I am not sure how you could rotate through and play one of the teams on the other side of your conference other than you alternate home and home meaning you would play every team on the other side over a sixteen year period (not sure that works out very well but that is the only way to balance it out)…

Take for example University of Kentucky… They would play seven SEC East teams and one game against an SEC West Opponent… That leaves them four games to play against other conferences… You would get four home games and four road games each year in your conference… UK would than stick with U of L and play them in a home and home and than play three non con games at home (that would be against the MAC, C-USA/Sun Belt or the WAC/Mountain West)…

Or you have these Super Conferences and you ditch the entire National Championship thing for football and go back to the format that was in place before the BCS where the conferences make their own agreements with the bowl games… Don’t see that one happening either…

KSR on a Covert Mission

Kentucky Sports Radio recently did a piece where they went to a U of L message board and extracted some comments… The article is linked below… I still do not understand why any teams fans (I know UK Fans do it too as do Bama to Auburn, Red Sox to Yankees, Cubs to Cardinals and vice versa) worry so much about what their rival is doing especially enough to make that the conversation on their own message boards or to maybe do a cover mission or to post that covert mission on your blog (yes I am guilty also)…

http://kentuckysportsradio.com/?p=50235

My favorite two posts from this article are below…

makwalker: If your fed up with this slime ball please contact the NCAA
Write letters, call, and email. Maybe the NCAA will do something about this. He is making a mockery for kids that go to school to get an education. He is recruiting kids that go to school for a semester and then jump ship. The NCAA is not a feeder system to the NBA.
We all know he’s a crook as does KY fans. Something has to be done about this guy and NOW.

Point is once again how is it that Cal and Cal alone is making this a mockery??? There are at least five other freshmen, besides the one’s from UK that are planning on turning pro so are you also calling these coaches out as “making a mockery for kids”… Cal did not make the rule!!! The NBA made the rule and it is a bad rule but to blame Cal is C R A Z Y!!!

NurseCard: I honestly do NOT think that I would be happy if I were a UK fan right now.

For me… I am thrilled to death to be a UK fan today and for the my entire life… That is and will always be my team… As for right now… I say it again: 35 and 3, SEC Champs, SEC Tournament Champs, Won the Cancun tournament and made it to the final eight!!! I am pretty happy and even more excited about the players that Cal has brought in for next year… One and done is not going to be an every year occurrence at UK but I will take a John Wall and Demarcus Cousins for one year every year.

As for Cal… The guy who has got to be one of the greatest recruiters ever now has a top five-college basketball program to use as a tool to recruit with!!! Back in the conversation!!! We wanted to be back in the conversation and we are there but……………………………

Grades for UK Basketball Team

As reported by Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Paper…

Not really what I wanted to see from this team… A 2.02 GPA for the fall semester…

http://www.kentucky.com/2010/05/02/1248238/uk-basketball-low-on-the-gpa-scale.html

Per information released by the University, the UK players' individual GPAs in the fall semester ranged from 3.59 to 1.67… Four were at 2.0 or lower and two were better than 3.0… The three below 2.0 should have been suspended for the Spring 2010 semester in my opinion but the NCAA does not require that to be done…

Two first year players are apparently below the minimum eligibility requirement for the next semester though (Fall of 2010) unless they bring their grades up in the spring or they leave for the NBA… This means that two other players are just above the minimum requirement of 1.8 to be eligible for the fall of 2010…

It is duly noted that that freshman John Wall had all A's and B's in the fall semester, and UK touted three seniors plus junior Patrick Patterson on target to graduate this spring (Ramon Harris is actually graduating early)… Those are good things…

If a person is not cutting it academically they will and should suffer the consequences… I will defend Calipari and the University on most things but this is unacceptable to me!!! No matter how many games you win, what you do for the community, etc… this is NOT acceptable!!!

I will be keeping a close eye on this one…

UK Spring Football

I did not get to attend this year so I really have no insight to offer… I like the things I read about the defense and the I like that we have a couple of running backs who sound like they will be a great compliment to Derrick Locke…

I think that UK has three very capable quarterbacks and with Newton and Massokowski you could have some stars in the making but they are one to two years away from that for sure… Hartline is capable so we will see because I am sure he will be the starter although I expect the other two guys to play…

The key to UK on offense is the development of their receiving group… They need a go to wide receiver and they for sure need the tight ends or a tight end to step up next year…

I like the coaching changes that Joker put in place with the offensive line and defensive line and those are two areas that we should have been better last year even though we were pretty good…

One thing is for sure… Even though UK is in the SEC we do not draw for Spring Practice like the rest of the SEC does… Kind of a shame in my opinion but we will forever be a basketball fan base unless Joker can take this program to the next level in the SEC… I hope he can but reality is reality and I think we are who we are on the gridiron…

Redbirds

The St Louis pitching staff is awesome to this point… The hitting is doing well but they are living by the home run a bit too much to this point…

It is great to see the young players doing so well to this point on offense… Colby Rasmus is a star in the making and has a chance to be one of the all time St Louis greats (I like that he leads the team in walks)… Freese is doing quite well at third base and his defense will get better as he progresses through this season I think…

Matt Holiday is not producing to the pace he did last year and I am anxious to see him come around… I still think that St Louis paid to much for him but I also think they had to have him so time will tell on that one… He has a great work ethic so he should be fine as the season goes…

Lopez is a nice utility player and when he comes off of the DL his playing time may increase if Brendan Ryan is not handling the bat a little better…
Ludwick has very solid consistent numbers to this point but Molina and Schumaker are not giving St Louis the punch they need to on offense…

Puljos… Well he is off to another great start… I would say with Ryan Howard signing a five year $125 million dollar contract Puljos will get about either an eight to ten year contract for the same per year amount… My guess is eight with two one-year options… That would just about guarantee he finishes his career in St Louis…

Here are their numbers through the Atlanta series:

Player AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB AVG OBP
Albert Pujols 84 15 28 6 0 7 19 12 14 1 0.333 0.417
Colby Rasmus 59 15 19 5 1 6 12 15 20 3 0.322 0.459
Ryan Ludwick 80 12 24 3 1 4 10 10 18 0 0.300 0.385
David Freese 61 3 18 2 0 0 8 5 18 1 0.295 0.353
Bryan Anderson 7 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0.286 0.286
Matt Holliday 80 14 22 4 0 4 8 4 12 2 0.275 0.326
Felipe López 44 6 12 4 0 1 4 5 12 2 0.273 0.347
Nick Stavinoha 11 1 3 0 0 1 2 0 4 0 0.273 0.273
Yadier Molina 71 5 17 2 0 2 13 6 9 2 0.239 0.313
Skip Schumaker 77 14 17 4 0 1 3 10 11 0 0.221 0.318
Joe Mather 16 0 3 1 0 0 0 1 3 0 0.188 0.235
Brendan Ryan 63 5 10 1 1 0 4 9 19 0 0.159 0.264
Allen Craig 18 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 5 0 0.056 0.150
Jason LaRue 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.000 0.000
Jon Jay 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.000 0.000
Totals 677 91 176 33 3 26 84 79 148 11 0.260 0.317

Pitching through the Atlanta Series:
Player GS W L SV BS H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP BAA
Dennys Reyes 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 5 0 0.83 0.056
Blake Hawksworth 0 0 0 0 0 10 2 0 0 2 7 0 1.64 0.323
Brad Penny 4 3 0 0 0 25 4 3 0 3 15 0.94 0.98 0.24
Jaime García 4 2 1 0 0 16 5 3 0 9 17 1.04 0.96 0.176
Adam Wainwright 4 3 1 0 0 20 7 6 1 6 26 1.69 0.81 0.187
Jason Motte 0 1 1 1 0 8 2 2 1 4 7 2.08 1.38 0.242
Trever Miller 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 1 0 2 5 2.45 1.09 0.167
Kyle McClellan 0 0 1 0 0 10 4 3 1 5 9 3.24 1.8 0.294
Chris Carpenter 5 3 0 0 0 25 15 12 5 10 31 3.48 1.13 0.216
Ryan Franklin 0 0 0 7 0 11 4 4 0 0 3 3.6 1.1 0.282
Mitchell Boggs 0 0 1 0 0 9 4 4 1 4 8 4 1.44 0.257
Kyle Lohse 4 0 1 0 0 26 16 16 0 9 7 6.55 1.59 0.306

What stands out here is a team ERA less than 2.6, WHIP of 1.17 and that BAA is .233 to this point… Brad Penny was a great pick up as a number three starter and he has the lowest ERA on the team (another great job by Pitching Coach Dave Duncan), Lohse has thrown well but has nothing to show for it and his BAA and ERA are a bit deceptive and rookie Jaime Garcia is fantastic although I bet his numbers tell off a bit his second time around the league…

Carp has pitched well but he has given up five home runs (three in one game) to this point… Wainwright is setting himself up for Cy Young run again this year and has been just awesome to this point… He gets better as the game goes on when he pitches…

The bullpen has performed well to this point but I am not sure I like the fact that the closer has only three strikeouts but he does force the opposing batters into hitting allot of ground balls… Management may have some worked to do yet in the bullpen…

St Louis is capable of winning this division by double digits if the pitching continues at this pace… Go Redbirds!!!

NBA Draft (Early Entries Only)

Wow… What a list… I did not know that Coach Cal, the guy who is ruining college basketball, had this much influence over this many players at this many schools… Besides the four freshmen from UK you have at least six other freshmen on this list from five other schools…

One and done or two and done (look at the list of Sophomores) is not just a Kentucky thing folks… If you want a good rule than two and done or go with the Baseball rule…

Player, School, Status

Solomon Alabi, Florida State, Sophomore
Cole Aldrich, Kansas, Junior
Lavoy Allen, Temple, Junior
Al-Farouq Aminu, Wake Forest, Sophomore
James Anderson, Oklahoma State, Junior
Kevin Anderson, Richmond, Junior
Luke Babbitt, Nevada, Sophomore
Armon Bassett, Ohio, Junior
Talor Battle, Penn State, Junior
Keith Benson, Oakland, Junior
Eric Bledsoe, Kentucky, Freshman
Anatoly Bose, Nicholls State, Junior
Dee Bost, Mississippi State, Sophomore
Craig Brackins, Iowa State, Junior
Avery Bradley, Texas, Freshman
Carlon Brown, Utah, Junior
Derrick Caracter, UTEP, Junior
DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky, Freshman
Jordan Crawford, Xavier, Sophomore
Ed Davis, North Carolina, Sophomore
Mike Davis, Illinois, Junior
Paul Davis, Winston-Salem State, Junior
Malcolm Delaney, Virginia Tech, Junior
Devin Ebanks, West Virginia, Sophomore
Kenneth Faried, Morehead State, Junior
Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech, Freshman
Courtney Fortson, Arkansas, Sophomore
Jimmer Fredette, BYU, Junior
Keith “Tiny” Gallon, Oklahoma, Freshman
Charles Garcia, Seattle, Junior
Paul George, Fresno State, Sophomore
Anthony Gurley, Massachusetts, Junior
Manny Harris, Michigan, Junior
Gordon Hayward, Butler, Sophomore
Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall, Junior
Xavier Henry, Kansas, Freshman
Darington Hobson, New Mexico, Junior
Adnan Hodzic, Lipscomb, Junior
Armon Johnson, Nevada, Junior
JaJuan Johnson, Purdue, Junior
Ravern Johnson, Mississippi State, Junior
Wesley Johnson, Syracuse, Junior
Cameron Jones, Northern Arizona, Junior
Dominique Jones, South Florida, Junior
Mac Koshwal, DePaul, Junior
Sylven Landesberg, Virginia, Sophomore
Gani Lawal, Georgia Tech, Junior
Kenny Lawson, Creighton, Junior
Tommy Mason-Griffin, Oklahoma, Freshman
Demetri McCamey, Illinois, Junior
Elijah Millsap, Alabama-Birmingham, Junior
Greg Monroe, Georgetown, Sophomore
E’Twaun Moore, Purdue, Junior
Arnett Moultrie, UTEP, Sophomore
A.J. Ogilvy, Vanderbilt, Junior
Daniel Orton, Kentucky, Freshman
Patrick Patterson, Kentucky, Junior
Rico Pickett, Manhattan, Junior
Eniel Polynice, Mississippi, Junior
Herb Pope, Seton Hall, Sophomore
Jeff Robinson, Seton Hall, Junior
Samardo Samuels, Louisville, Sophomore
Larry Sanders, Virginia Commonwealth, Junior
John Sloan, Huntingdon (AL), Junior
Tracy Smith, North Carolina State, Junior
Lance Stephenson, Cincinnati, Freshman
Lazar Trifunovic, Radford, Junior
Evan Turner, Ohio State, Junior
Alex Tyus, Florida, Junior
Ekpe Udoh, Baylor, Junior
John Wall, Kentucky, Freshman
Willie Warren, Oklahoma, Sophomore
Quinton Watkins, San Diego State, Freshman
C.J. Webster, San Jose State, Junior
Terrico White, Mississippi, Sophomore
Hassan Whiteside, Marshall, Freshman
Elliot Williams, Memphis, Sophomore
Stevy Worah-Ozimo, Slippery Rock, Junior
Chris Wright, Dayton, Junior
Jahmar Young, New Mexico State, Junior

Oaks Day At Churchill Downs

Louisville’s day at the races has almost become as big as Derby day… The crowds are large and there is just as much mass chaos around CD as there is the first Saturday in May… Maybe I should go to the races on the Thursday before Derby…

I am really not a big fan of the track on either day anymore mainly because they (CD) gouge the common folks to death!!! For Oaks Day a reserved seat even down in the far reaches of turn four is $60 per person and the accommodations in the area are quite pathetic… You would think they would put one or two jumbo trons in the area from section 124 to 128 so people can watch the race and also be able to keep track of the current betting odds… Instead we get a betting window 300 yards away with a fuzzy TV that you cannot see anything on…

They keep the booze flowing with plenty of vendors in the area but $8 for a large beer and an even more ridiculous amount of money for a mint julep or the Oaks Lilly drink (even with the souvenir glass) is just outrageous…

The food… Awful!! They have hot dogs ($4 for the worst hot dog ever) and the only other food booth in the area is a bar b q place that is basically serving some shaved heated up processed pork (was cooked in a bag) with some nasty sauce on it (I watched multiple people take a couple of bites and just toss it away)…

You would think that at such a marquee event Churchill Downs would make an effort to bring in some really good food vendors and serve some great Kentucky Bar B Q (the real stuff), Kentucky’s famous Burgoo Dish, have some grilled hamburgers or even grilled hot dogs, brats, etc… Pathetic…

That is the problem that the folks at Churchill Downs just do not understand… Their whole deal is to cater to the money people for two days a year and than think it is ok to gouge the other folks that keep the track going the rest of the year… It is of course my choice to go and know one is holding a gun to my head to make me go but my point is Churchill is really missing out on an opportunity to make even more revenue off of this event and give it a much better flavor…

Don’t get me wrong I love the track and the races but throw me a bone with some decent food at a decent price and I could see me and my wife out their during the Spring and Fall Meet allot more… They need me more than I need them and they are not going to get me there with expanded gaming!!!

Churchill needs to take a page from the folks at Augusta, Georgia when it comes to the food that is served and the price of the food… The patrons for that event literally pay nothing for food and beverage items which of course frees up dollars to buy more Master’s swag…
But that is Churchill Downs way and why I do not support any expanding gaming at the track period!!! They just do not get it and that is sad for the Commonwealth… They are their own worst enemy…

This is why I rarely go to Churchill Downs… I choose to spend my entertainment dollars in other places that offers a little bit more than what the track offers…

As for yesterday… Thanks to my wife the whole day was on them… After paying for tickets, beer, water, a hot dog and a pretzel we left with more money than we came in with and that is always a good day at the track… Gave a little back on the Derby bets today but money wise we did well…

I will give CD props for the new $.50 trifecta wagers… Nice value at $12 for four horses…

Random

- You just can’t bet against Calvin Borel in the Derby… He is hot for sure and not really just the derby the Triple Crown races period…

- You may NEVER have another triple-crown winner until Churchill Downs (The ‘Greedy’ Churchill Downs) cuts the filed to 15 horses… There are five horses in the race that have no chance and they are hurting the field… None of the Triple Crown winners had to fight through this many horses in the Derby… Point is how many great horses got shut out in the Derby and than skipped the next race and won the Belmont, won the Preakness and skipped the Belmont or skipped the next two races all together… Two of the better horses clearly got boxed in today at the Derby and that impacted their final finish less than the condition of the track did…

- Nice pick to the guy who won the opportunity to bet $100,000 on the race and won… Not sure how that will be taxed (whether you add the $100,000 to what he won or not)… Either way the government will take 40% right off the top so his net take home is going to be $500,000 to $600,000… I am going to refrain from the hair jokes about the guy…

- Nice job by the NCAA to only add three teams to the basketball tournament… Four play in games is a nice touch to kick the tournament off… Do not go any further than that with expansion…

- DH will now always be a part of the all-star game… I am OK with that and I am OK that they are playing for home field advantage because it makes the game mean something and forces the managers to manage… Free agency and league jumping took allot away from that game for many years and this added something back to it so I am for the format… I am not however someone who wants to see the DH in the National League… I have said it before… I like that the two leagues are somewhat different…

- Heard John Saunders on ESPN talk about it is time to pay NCAA players… The problem is you have to pay them all John… That means the archery team, the soccer team, the tennis team, the track team, field hockey team, the golf team in addition to football and basketball… The second problem with this is of course is there is not enough money to go around to be able to do this for every athlete in division one evenly (some schools departments struggle to turn any kind of profit at all so they cannot do this)… Bottom line is you cannot pay the athletes in college sports… They are paid with full ride scholarships, meals, a place to live, travel, etc… That is compensation enough…

- As for the issue with the video games using likeness of the college athletes (most of the video games do not use an exact likeness or image) and the suit by college athletes they should get paid for using the likeness they have a good argument there to me… Not sure how that one plays out in court… The game, I play, EA Sports PS2 football, for sure uses the exact set of players to their skill level for each team although it is not an exact likeness or by their name you are playing with Colt McCoy, Eric Berry, Trevard Lindley, Tim Tebow, etc… They may need to be paying a royalty to these players after they graduate…

Music

XMU is the new channel we are listening to allot… Nice variety and much different than XM 44, 47 or 54… Also on digital cable we are listening to allot of the channel Dream Sequence…

One and Done

2010-04-18T09:42:00.012-04:00

by shagonsports

I have to say how quickly some people have turned on Coach Cal since it now appears that UK will lose five underclassmen including four of the freshmen to the NBA (they are back in though we the recruiting class he is assimilating)… I have even heard some comments from people as to why can’t UK be more like Butler this year or like Duke… The Duke comparison I can somewhat understand but we were like Butler under Tubby and people did not like how that was turning out…

First of all if you had some fantasy that UK was going to win the NCAA tournament this year than you set the bar to high and set yourself up for disappointment… There was no way a team with that much youth was going to win it all… It has never been done before by a team that was this young… For me I was hoping UK could once again be competitive and be back in the national picture I would have to say that in Cal’s first season my expectations were greatly exceeded…

You have to remember where we came from since 2004… Tubby had failed to have us in the mix for the top recruits in the country during his last five years at UK… Was still able to field one great team (2004) and a couple of very good teams… Number on complaint was talent he was recruiting followed by no final fours since 1998 although I have to say the 2003 team was an ankle sprain away from not only making the final four but also probably winning the whole thing…

Enter the train wreck BCG… Although Clyde was able to recruit some talent his off the court behavior was just unacceptable and he failed to understand what being the CEO of UK Basketball meant…

What Cal did was go out and sign four of the best freshmen in the country to come to UK and they came in a made an immediate impact… Wall was fantastic, Bledsoe showed signs of greatness and an ability to play some great defense, Cousins developed footwork and skills similar to NBA great Kevin Mchale and Orton showed he could defend anyone, anywhere and that came from going against the best center in college basketball day in and day out…

What else do these guys have to prove??? Nothing in my opinion… I think if they all go to the NBA and work hard they all the potential to be really solid NBA players… If Wall learns how to play defense and develops a better outside shot than he will be one of the greats in the game…

What are the guys doing in college anyway??? As much I loved having them the one and done rule is for shit… I believe in free markets and I believe that anyone at any level should have the ability to earn a living as they see fit… If a kid thinks he is ready to go to the NBA right out of high school than he should be able to go to the NBA right out of high school… The one and done rule is hurting college basketball not just the University of Kentucky… Look at Ohio State, UNC, USC and a host of others who have been impacted by this rule…

So if you are a college coach what do you do??? Would you rather have four years of Edgar Sosa or one year of John Wall??? One year of DeMarcus Cousins or four years of Kyle Singler??? Three years of Patrick Patterson or four years of Gordon Hayward??? What I think is you have to recruit and sign the best talent that is out there which means you are going to get some one and done guys…

What you however have to do as a coach is mix that talent with some guys who are going to be at the school for four years… Duke got stung in the late 90’s through the first part of this decade with early defections and I guess Coach K changed his recruiting style and that is why he got back to the Championship level… Let’s face it folks no matter what if you are going to win at this level you have to have a mix of talent and upper classmen and for sure both Duke and Butler filled that role this year…

As for the rule… It is complete bullshit in my opinion… If the NBA wants to institute a good rule follow baseball where a kid can be drafted right out of high school but if he chooses to not sign with the pro team an go to college than that kid is not eligible to be drafted again until after his junior year of college… Drop out of school before that and you are still not eligible until after that year… This to me would accomplish what the NBA is trying to accomplish for it’s league and would have a positive impact on the kids and the schools…

I still say this was a great year for UK and I have allot of confidence that Cal can keep this team competitive on a national level each and every year… Can he win a national championship or two at UK??? I would think so but that is a tougher task than one thinks… Look at The Coach That Came After Eddie as an example… Most people thought that once he returned to college basketball he would dominate once again… Has not happened… How many coaches have had great teams year in and year out but have not won a championship or even made it to the final game??? Look at the list of those who won just one…

Folks it is one year… Only once in college basketball has a team had this much freshmen talent and that team did not win it all either… There were also a few other teams that started three freshmen in the National Championship game if you go back and check the records and they did not win it all… I doubt very seriously you see another class like this one this year at UK where four of the five freshmen turn pro after one year… If you do than I would say that team will have had similar success like the one we saw this year…

More Comments from the Masses

Adolph Rupp once told his players “do not speak unless you can improve the silence…” I will use the same analogy for the comments below… These were listed after the AP’s story about the boy’s moving on to the NBA… It is pretty sad first of all that people choose to attack these players, coach Cal and the university in this way… In the end you can say what you want but they are all good kids who loved to compete…

As for the people below… There IQ is probably somewhere around my golf handicap of nine… I still cannot imagine what motivates people to post such nonsense on a message board… For what it is worth also, there was also a story about Evan Turner, Lance Stephenson, Derrick Favors and Xavier Henry turning pro and that story had about 75 comments… The UK story had over 500 the last time I checked and about 90% were just people hating on UK… These comments are not edited…

the players are leaving because they know coach cal can't lead them to the land of milk and honey....turns out he is not the next messiah.

My comment: After one year at UK he is declared not to be the next Messiah… I think he did well enough he will get another year…

UK fans uuderstand this. What has happen is. You guys are about to get a taste of what Memphis got. Then some of you fans talk about how good your team was, and now you fans want these players to go to the nba and fell. Everybody in Memphis knew that UK wasn't going to win it, and if you fans thougt that, then you guys should go to class. What goes around comes around.

My comment: Not sure about this one… Guy has issues with sentence structure and spelling for sure…

WAS being empathetic to UK situation. I personally think it sux for UK fans....'cause you'll never win a champioship with the loser as coach. But after reading some of these repsonses....hahaha!...you guys deserved this loser!!!! ONE AND DONE...get used to it. Fla, Vandy, Miss St, LSU(among others)are going to FN OWN you guys next year. Have fun with your all-freshmen team! LOL

My comment: Again I think he did well enough to deserve another year… He did really well with a bunch of freshmen this year… UK will be fine…

thats what uk gets for hiring the crook. he should be on probation not the universitys
he was at, take the money and run, thats why duke and carolina have good programs
they go to class for 3 to4 years. thats what you get uk

My comment: The NCAA bans coaches who are found guilty of violations… Cal has not been found guilty by the NCAA and been cleared at Memphis and UMASS of any wrong doing…

Ha! Ha! I told the Kentucky fans about their one and dones all year! Guess they all are afraid they might have to face might "DUKE" next year. Greedy kids and I guess you Kentucky fans better jump on the Blue team of mighty "DUKE" for a winning and graduation college of kids. Ha! Ha! Ha!

My comment: Greedy kids… Anyone who would not jump ship for this type of money is foolish… Sure they should stay in school and finish their degrees but in a free market society they should be allowed to make their own choices and they have and I wish them the best…

Dumb kids and probably received even dumber advice. forrest gump would be proud.

My comment: Although I do not know any of them personally (I guess maybe this guy does) I do not think they are dumb… Kids yes, but the dumb comment is a bit harsh…

I hope they ALL end up out of the league in 3 years BROKE and a JOKE!

My comment: I do not… I do not wish anything bad on any of these kids… I hope they are all very successful at the NBA level… This guys IQ is probably equal to my golf handicap of nine…

Crap coming back to haunt UK. That's what happens when you sell out for a few wins. Recruit good student/athletes, maybe even White boys too, and you can keep a team together for a few years. I love it. The other N lover in louisville started this crap at UK.

My comment: There has never been a team lose four freshmen and one other underclassmen to the NBA… This is the first and only time I see this happening… Sounds like the guy above is a bit of a racist also…

Wow!! Surprise...Surprise they are all going pro and I hope they get beat again next year in the tournament. The biggest cheater in NCAA basketball Calipari probably told them to go since he always has his players best interest right? lol I can't stand him and any school who decides to hire him, he is one of the people who ruins college basketball.

My comment: If Cal was the guy who decided to put the rule in place than yes he is ruining college basketball… You have to recruit the best players…

Although this was very predictable. I will say that they may as well go now because they can't graduate anyway with any real education. They only know basketball and that is it. They have no classroom smarts. All they know how to do is play basketball. If they had to graduate to go Pro they would never make it. They probably don't even know basic elementary skills. It is pitiful as hell what has become the normal thing for these kids to do.

My comment: Again I do not know these kids personally but this person seems to know them well enough to accuse them of lacking intelligence… They were all good students… Wall the highest GPA on the team (3.4) and Patterson graduated in the three and a half years…

It doesn't take a genius to know that he does this by cheating. Look at his background. Cal cheats. It's easy when you cheat.

My comment: If he cheats than why has the NCAA not banned him from coaching…

Cal is not a good coach he has never been past the elite 8 and every UK fan act like he is God. Plus UK will probably have a ad down low next season with Orton COusins and Patrick leaving they only return one guy over 6-8 and only 2 players on their list are taller than that so they will not be near as good next year as they were this year

My comment: For the record Cal has been to the final four twice… As for next year we will see…

I don't get it. I really don't understand how you can praise a guy who constantly brings in players he has a good idea will only stay a year or two. Four "one and done" players... are you kidding me? That's just like slapping post-secondary education in the face. Of course you want to win and you want to bring in players to win, but shouldn't coaches have some sort of ethic codes? Shouldn't coach want to win AND build a strong foundation of kids with solid characters rather than playing shoot and reload every year? College is about growing up and building a strong character, it's not a try-out for the NBA.

My comment: The NBA forced the one and done rule on the NCAA… The NCAA does not like the rule… Cal is on record that he hates the rule… This is why you see so many kids this year testing the NBA waters after their freshmen year… If you look around the country Cal was lucky to have four of these players where many other schools just had one… The reason UK had four is because the hole they were in from the last two years of Tubby (he stopped recruiting) and two years of Clyde so they had allot of open holes…

Jim Nantz talks Kentucky

KSR called Jim Nantz the Forrest Gump of Sports… He is truly everywhere… Nantz recently set down with Bill Simmons for a pod cast and the result was some very shoddy journalism with guys just spewing information without checking out the facts… I am not a Nantz fan and it is horrible that Gus Johnson is not the lead play-by-play man for CBS on college basketball… Nantz is always looking for his opportunity to feed in the back-story on a player or person in an event vs. focusing on the event and I do not like that style…

Jim Nantz comments about UK and the players going to class:

“It raises some great questions, like, is it really worth it if you are Kentucky? Is that really something you are proud of? To say those kids came in here and they played for Kentucky for one year. I mean, anything short of a championship, to me, is almost a failure because they weren’t a part of your team, they don’t become a part of the heritage of your team. They are just mercenaries who come in for a year and play.”

A quote from KSR that is very true: “Anybody that followed this UK team knows that Kentucky fans are proud of this team… These players certainly were not mercenaries and were able to create a bond with the fans and the school… It is somewhat telling that Nantz has such a definitive opinion on the subject when he clearly hasn’t been exposed to the connection that this particular group of freshmen had with the fans and the University…’

My comment: This is a very true statement by KSR about this team and the connections with the fans… I loved this team!!!

Nantz continues:

“And really, if you knew, and it is probably a dirty little secret, how much work did they really do for the second semester of their freshman year? “If you are John Calipari and you miss one year of a recruiting class like that, you’re dead...

My Comments: First of all John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, and DeMarcus Cousins have continued to go to class in the spring semester… Daniel Orton is reportedly finishing his semester via correspondence in California (this has yet to be confirmed or is difficult to confirm)...

These guys are doing this not only because they like UK and don’t want to hurt the school’s scholarship availability, but because they are really good people...

If you do your homework and find out some of the things these guys did in the community this year especially the story about the birthday party they happened upon for a little girl at PF Changs in Lexington and of course what they did before, during and after the telethon coach Cal did for Haiti...

You can criticize all these kids (not just the UK kids) who are passing up an opportunity to earn a college degree and to continue to mature before jumping to the NBA… For the UK kids it was widely reported during allot of the nationally televised UK basketball game this year that John Wall is an excellent student, always attends class and has a better than 3.2 GPA...

One really gets ms is the slander towards these young men is unfair, unkind and lazy journalism by people in the media (I am not sure what to day about the people who write on the message boards) and just completely uncalled for in my opinion... For Jim Nantz and the guy who hosted this pod cast I listened (two guys who follow college basketball closely) it is unforgivable and very shoddy journalism... Please be fair to these kids and do not just pile on them like so many people are doing...

More from the Masses this time about the Brandon Knight

He will do one season and leave... Just like all players that go to Kentucky do. It really means nothing
The home of 1 Year One-ders!

My Comment: Kentucky has had one player since the late 60’s leave after his freshmen year and go to the pros… ONE in 30 plus years… That is right ONE and none before this year since the rule was changed back in the 90’s and modified again in two years ago… “Now all the Kentucky players leave after one year or we are the home of the one and done’s…” PLEASE!!!

I hope he can pass a test and how much money did he get from Cal

My Comment: Brandon Knight is a 4.0 student and has been his ENTIRE LIFE!!! I believe he can pass about any test put in front of him…

why in the hell would any black man play at Kentucky? They made it clear long ago they wanted no blacks playing for them. ever!

My comment: UK not wanting African American players is such a farce and I cannot believe this person is living that far in the past... For god’s sake our football coach is African American and UK was the first SEC football team to have African American players… Rupp considered pressuring the school to leave the SEC in the late 50's so he could recruit black players but did not want to take such a stand because that was just not his personality and he just wanted to be coach not a civil rights activist... He recruited Butch Beard very hard before the SEC was integrated and Beard did not come to UK because Rupp told his parents he could not guarantee their sons safety when they played at Ole Miss or Miss St, etc... He was just being honest!!! The fans on the sidelines would try to pluck the hairs off of the UK players in those gyms during games on out of bounds plays and the UK players were all white guys... If this person basing your information on the 1966 Championship game they should know that the other two teams that were at the final four that year beside UK and TW had all white players... If you are basing your information off of the movie Glory Road then you should know that movie is not very factual towards the actual event and even the late Don Haskins of TW said as much!!! The biggest hypocrisy of that movie was showing the crowd waving rebel flags during the game and that simply just did not happen…

These people are not students, and most could not pass a 8th grade competentcy exam. They are paid ballplayers, and the manner of payment is different from the NBA.

My comment: Untrue… They have to pass the SAT to get in to college… Have some cheated??? Yes… Do MOST cheat… No way…

He be looks like he shoulda be playing at a school like Kentucky . . .

My comment… Again, Brandon Knight has a 4.0 GPA and these comments are just awful…

Weekend at the Final Four

This is such a great event to attend…

On Friday we went to open practice and realized very quick that the set up for Lucas Oil Field was awful for watching a basketball except for about 10000 of the 70000 seats… They basically stuck the court in the middle of the football field vs. cutting the stadium in half and selling 40000 tickets with 30000 good for viewing… That meant without UK there I was not going to pay more than $200 bucks for one of the 10000 good seats…

Going in the games is not really what this event is about… What this event is about is basketball fans… There are so many people that just attend the final four because it is the final four… This event is about sports and nothing but sports…

On Friday after we went to the practice we found our way to a bar called Rock Bottom to have some beverage and food… We sat down at the down stairs bar next to three guys from Wisconsin who were there just because it was the final four… We cussed and discussed basketball, baseball and got into some college football… The biggest laugh we got was when I told them that it had come out that day that in the Fisk home run game in the 1975 Series that Bernie Carbo who hit a game tying three run pinch hit home run came out and said he was stoned to the bone during the at bat… Bernie claimed he had smoked a couple of J’s, drank about six beers and had done a handful of amphetamines according to the Yahoo Blog Big Stew.com… Not exactly role model material but a good back story to the Fisk home run… Made me think of this clip:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/update-all-drug-olympics/1198068/

Also check out “batting stance guys” recreation of the Fisk home run as well as other Series Walk Offs…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B34vVWisTPQ&feature=fvw

For two days and nights we talked basketball and sports in general with High School Basketball coaches, AAU coaches their trying to get their players recruited, college assistants who are there trying to upgrade their job (they are the really great guys to talk with) and rub elbows with Bill Self, Jim Boheim, Darrin Horn, Tom Crean, Denny Crum, Gene Keady, Jim Harrick (we set with him and one of his buddies on Friday night for a couple of hours), Mike Brey and a host of others… Of course there are also the two stalwarts for the final four Henderson’s own Billy T Haynes (aka Boog Alou) and Ken “Scoops” Lawson…

We watched the games on Saturday in the Hyatt on the big screens with a great group of people from Chicago… They were high school coaches, small college coaches and some people who worked for ESPN… Really a great time!!!

Butler gave it a run for sure… They did get some favorable calls against MSU but they were clearly the better team… WVA shot their wad against UK and Duke was very impressive in winning it all…

Final Four is something I would love to do every year as long as I do not have to share a suite with the Kings of Snore, Brad Jarrett and Scott McClure!!!

Random

- The Masters was once again an awesome event… Phil’s charge on Saturday was amazing with two eagles and a birdie in a three-hole stretch… The shot on 13 was amazing on Sunday but the risk to me was not worth the reward… If that balls goes in the water it is up to a two shot swing… I was pulling for Westwood (not against anyone) but I am happy for Phil… Tiger’s performance after a layoff was pretty solid also…

- Tiger made a mistake saying his on the course behavior would change… You cannot take the compete gene out of a competitor… There is nothing wrong with showing a little fire when competing… It happens in all sports but in golf it is a little easier to here… I have been to enough tournaments to know that Tiger is not the only one who drops F bombs, etc…

- Baseball has arrived… Love the weather and love listening to the games… Redbirds are off to a great start…

- Derrick Jeter is a free agent after this year… Can you see him next year playing for the Red Sox??? Me neither that would be like Dean Smith coaching Duke, Coach K at UNC, Bobby Bowden at Florida, Joe Pa at Pitt, Denny Crum at Memphis or The Coach After Eddie at Louisville… So you see “Coach That Came After Eddie” why UK fans have turned on you… It is nothing against Louisville as I do not blame them for hiring you but for you to take that job and think in your arrogance that it would be OK just shows even more about who you are… It is like Jeter going to play for the Red Sox!!! Someone told me at the Final Four that you always think you are bigger than the program or position you are in at the time… Love what you did for UK in your tenure but………..

- Go Joker!!! I am anxious to get to football season… Not real anxious though about the price of my tickets going up 30%… I think that is a stretch but according to UK they have people lined up for tickets if people do not take there’s (I bet the line is shorter though with this increases)… If I lived in Lexington I would not buy tickets but would just go to a select number of games as you can always find a ticket… I think this increase is a bit stiff and rumor is there is going to be a big increase also for basketball… The dollars are important to help pay for the non-revenue sports!!!

- Just to show you it is not a UK or Cal thing... Selby heads off to Kansas... He made this quote last night per the Yahoo Blog The Dagger... "Every kid's goal is to play in the NBA," Selby said. "They want the fame, they want the celebrity status, they want to be on TV and they want to do what they do best. One-and-done, I think all of us hope that we can be one-and-done but we don't know what God's plan is for the future."

- If you saw the end of the Golf Tournament this weekend than you saw one of the great things I love about golf... The players police themselves when it comes to the rules... Brian Davis hit an errant shot on hole 18 into the hazard beside the green... He could take a drop and try to chip in and tie Jim Furyk or he could play the ball from the hazard (it was playable), get the ball on the green and try to make a putt... He struck a good shot but alerted the rules official that he believed he committed a violation when on his back swing he hit a loose impediment before coming through and strking the ball... You cannot ground your club in a hazard except on your down swing (you cannot even touch it to the ground in the hazard before or after the shot)... They looked at the tape and sure enough ever so slightly he had struck a twig which was a two stroke penalty therefore handing the tournament to Furyk...

- Derby time approaches… I am going with Looking for Lucky because of course I have a cat named Lucky… Derby always makes me think about the Great Secretariat… Here are the clips of those three races… Watch the bold move in the Preakness… I still remember how significant the win in the Belmont was and is to this day one of the greatest sports performances period!!! I love the call in the Belmont, “He is moving like a tremendous machine!!!” Makes my hair stand on ends every time I watch it…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyqllleV6WA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEOlWDz2KBw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS4f6wiQJh4

Music

Really listening to allot of music on my IPOD… I like doing the random play option because I get to hear allot of the ‘B’ sides of the CD’s I have bought over the years… I am still a buy the CD guy and my downloads are centered around one hit or hits type of groups… Also of course my favorite rap tunes as yes I do have a few…

March 29th, 2010,

2010-03-29T08:22:00.002-04:00

Hate on Haters

I am sure the local UK haters will be out in full force today ripping on Kentucky… Not sure how you can rip on a team that had a new coach, a new system, six new players, started three freshmen and a sophomore all year, went 35 and 3, won the conference regular season title, the conference tourney title, went to a regional championship game and had two first team and one second team All Americans but they will find a way… That is what these haters do…

They are more concerned about seeing Kentucky lose than they are seeing their own team win… That is both local haters and the national haters and as you read on below you will find a “fake” hater is even in the mix…

Go Lady Kats!!!

Update to my tournament predictions I published two weeks ago:

I have first listed what I wrote before with an update to each below…

Why Kansas could win it… Depth, Experience, Senior Leadership, Coaching… Although not as talented through the entire roster this team resembles Kentucky in 1996…

Update: This team more than any of the #1’s who lost is probably the most disappointed… This team like Louisville last year should have walked to the Final Four and had the right recipe of seniors, leadership and talent that a bow out in the 2nd round is more than crazy…

Why The Cuse will not win… Early season loss to a Division two team (it was an exhibition game, but) two losses to Louisville, 1st round loss in conference tourney and Zone Defense only just does not do it for me even if Boheim’s wife if from Kentucky…

Update: I guess they were a little deceptive by saying that their big center would play and he did not… Would have hurt their seeding for sure… Even if he would have played I think they would have been bounced for the very reasons listed…

Why Villanova will not win… They appear to have gaps of inconsistency… They do have great guard play though and that could spell a deep run… Finished mediocre…

Update: Pretty much as predicted…

Why Duke will not… Quickness… When they match up against a quicker team they will have problems… They shoot the ball really well actually very well… Their big men are good but not great and they have some depth…

Update: Looks like I was wrong here also… Duke went up against a more athletic team in Baylor with more quickness yet they survived… Question is can they do it against WVA… I am going to say yes… WVA I think played their best game against UK…

Why Ohio State or Purdue will not win… Purdue is injury related and Ohio State just does not have the depth to pull it off as they only play six… They do have a super start who could take them on a deep run…

Update: Pretty much as predicted although I thought Ohio State would make the final four after what all happened the first weekend of the tourney…

Why WVA will not win… Bob Huggins… Huggy can coach with the best but seems to flame out in the tournament… No offense Huggy but you do not look healthy either…

Update: Wrong on this one… Against UK they failed to make a 2-point field goal in the first half and the book on them was make them shoot perimeter shots and they knocked them down… They played great defense and the 1 3 1 was awesome!!!

Quote below from WVA player putting the cart a little bit before the horse while showing great respect to Kentucky this was not the national championship game… -shag

“Apparently caught up in the emotion of Saturday's admittedly impressive Elite Eight victory over top-seeded Kentucky, forward Wellington Smith was quick to label West Virginia as favorites to cut down the nets in Indianapolis.

"There was always Kentucky looming," he said. "Now that we've played Kentucky, that basically was the national championship game. We have a chance at this, we could win going away."

Why UNC will not win… Cause they will not even make the tournament!!! LMAO!!!

Update: How are they doing in the NIT (not in tournament tournament)… In the semis...

Why UK could win… A will to win… A veteran leader like Pat Patterson can take a team a deep… Youth with no fear is a good thing… This team has as much talent as the UK 1996 champs but they lack the experience that team had…

Why UK will not win (I am going to get a rash of shit for this one)… Youth… Intangibles such as free throw shooting, defensive lapses that allow teams to climb back in games (a lapse like this early in a game like they have done a few times could lead to a double digit loss), understanding how to play with a lead, turnovers, poor shooting from the arc and to many three points shots taken… The second round match up against Texas is scary… If they make it by this game they could run to the final four…

Update: The book on WVA was push them outside and make them make threes… UK played great defense in the first half and held WVA without a 2-point field goal and they made a bunch of 3’s (they were 25% from the last four games)… In the 2nd half UK’s defense was awful, WVA’s was great!!! UK shot 55% from the free throw line for the game and their three point shooting was gross (at one point they were 0 for 20) yet with 25 seconds to go they had the ball and were down five but yet again gunned a three point shot…

If you look at my statement from two weeks ago about Youth and Intangibles such as free throw shooting, defensive lapses, turnovers and poor shooting from the arc, all of those things showed up in this game… Credit WVA and their 1 3 1 defense for and also Coach Huggins for coaching a game that I did not think he had in him… For UK Bledsoe’s early foul trouble (my wife pointed out during the game that from that point we went down hill) also got the UK team out of sync… There was some questionable officiating but it was on both ends for the floor and I guess that is at least consistent…

Sleeper or Cinderella… Everybody likes Cornell but I like Butler and I like the region they are in for sure… Cornell looks like a nice team though…

Update: I had Butler in the Final Four and like me they will be there to… Since they will be there and I need a rooting interest I will be wearing a Butler Shirt on Saturday… On Friday I will have my UK shirt on that displays the seven championship banners… That eighth one is sure tough win!!!

I have picked Kansas to win it in the Pools I am in and have Kentucky in the final…

Update: Busted but I am in first place in the pools I am in after Saturday because of my Butler pick… Actually one them after Sunday…

Post-Game Views from The Dagger On Yahoo Sports

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/In-defeat-Kentucky-shows-dignity-disappointmen?urn=ncaab,230648&post_comment=1&success=1

The article:

If you took the time to watch the press conference after the game you will see a coach and three kids who are very disappointed about losing, who blamed no one but themselves and paid great compliments and respect to the WVA coaches and players… Please read on… - shag

“Some may consider John Calipari an infraction-drawing opportunist. John Wall has about 11 million reasons not to care about losing an NCAA tournament game. And DeMarcus Cousins is a bit of a head case. Yet those things are what made their post-game press conference last night after Kentucky's regional final loss to West Virginia so refreshing and compelling.

Wall, who could theoretically leave Lexington tomorrow, looked devastated. Cousins, who snaps at coaches and often makes it seem as if he cares about little other than himself, looked like he felt he had let the team down. And Calipari was gracious and introspective in defeat. All of Kentucky's panel (which also included Patrick Patterson) was the definition of class, even after a great disappointment.

And this is part of the reason I love college basketball. Say what you will about the one-and-done guys and how they don't care and how they treat college as a momentary stepping-stone en route to NBA riches. I won't disagree with the latter, but look at Wall, Cousins and Patrick Patterson at this press conference and tell me they don't care. Big-time college athletics, for all its faults, is still played by people who want to win. There are plenty of professional athletes who do too, but just as many who are more interested in cashing that paycheck.

Than there are guys like Mike Freeman at CBS Sports.com

Mike shows a classic example of a journalist spewing utter nonsense and trying to make something up so he has a story (as you will find out this is just apparently something he does)...

Kentucky did not hire Cal to win a national championship this year… They hired Cal to rebuild this program and in one year he took a host of new and young talent, blended it with some experience, went 35 and 3 and won an SEC Regular Season Championship and another SEC Tourney Title for UK… Please make sure you read my summary of Cal in my last post...

For this team to go from five years of a downward trend to one of the elite programs this year in college basketball and make it to a regional final great exceed any expectation I had for this program this year… Please read his article below and then read some additional information I found about Mike Freeman who I admit I have never heard of until this morning…

In his article below Mike total miss characterizes the UK coach and the UK players and had he watched them play all year he would know this is an emotional bunch who more than anything wanted to win and was a great team not a great group of individuals…

His story line about what the players had to say after the game about WVA is complete hogwash and a guy just trying to make a story where there is no story…

Mike’s Take from CBSSports.com:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/13123295/kentucky-doesnt-get-its-moneys-worth-out-of-calipari/rss

“When you sell your soul, as Kentucky did to get John Calipari, there are supposed to be riches and fame and rainbows, not an embarrassing butt whipping with the Final Four on the line.

It's not just that Kentucky lost to West Virginia 73-66. It's how the Wildcats lost: whining, complaining, gyrating, crying, flailing and temper tantrum-ing over almost every call the game officials made. One outburst led to a technical foul. They seemed more obsessed over officiating than they were about playing ball.

At one point John Wall was so angry over calls he had to be calmed by DeMarcus Cousins, which is like man biting dog.

The anger soon turned to outright shock as West Virginia shut down Kentucky's shooters and as the Mountaineers made their own baskets. Kentucky was 0 for 20 at one point in the game from 3-point range.

After shock came the outright refusal to admit that the Wildcats actually lost. A good 20 minutes afterward, Wildcat players sat at their lockers with towels draped over their heads. Some had tears in their eyes while others stubbornly refused to give the Mountaineers credit.

"I feel like we beat ourselves more then they beat us," said guard Ramon Harris. He added: "I still think we're the best team in the country, hands down."

At no point in this game did they look it.

This is what happens when blue collar meets white collar. One team, the Mountaineers, played gritty and earthy basketball, relying mostly on calm nerves and defensive rigor. The other, the tradition rich one-and-doners, waited for a bailout. It never came.

The Final Four may be the Final Snore but the Mountaineers are still a great story. Butler will be all Cinderella-y but the Mountaineers should now earn the mantle as America's blue-collar darlings after what can be argued is the most important win in school history.

"Forty-nine states picked us to lose," said West Virginia's Da'Sean Butler. "Obviously we wanted to make everybody upset. We went out there and played our game. We grinded it out. We won. I knew we were going to win ... It was a matter of how we were going to do it." It'll be stated and written that this isn't such a momentous upset since West Virginia is a two seed and Kentucky a one. Yet let's not forget that Wildcat players might go first and second in the next NBA Draft. West Virginia is no slouch but Kentucky is clearly the most physically gifted team in the tournament and they were completely and utterly outclassed. The score doesn't indicate how badly they were beaten.

If you can't see that, you don't know basketball.

In the end, this game came down to an undeniable fact. Quite simply, Bob Huggins outsmarted and out-coached his good friend Calipari. It's an embarrassing truth but it's a truth and this isn't the first time. Huggins is 8-1 all-time versus Calipari. When Huggins was at Cincinnati, he was 2-0 versus Calipari's Massachusetts teams and 5-1 versus Calipari's Memphis teams.

Huggins knew that Kentucky's inside size would be highly problematic so a team that normally runs a more patient offense took more outside shots.

The strategy seemed to totally backfire early. Kentucky took a 16-9 lead because West Virginia couldn't make a basket, going 0 for 16 on two-point shot attempts in the first half.

But Huggins didn't panic and as Kentucky began to self-annihilate, the West Virginia shots started to fall. And fall. And fall. The Mountaineers' eight first-half threes were a season high for the opening 20 minutes.

When Butler got going the entire West Virginia team followed. That Kentucky lead evaporated and the Mountaineers led by two at halftime. Butler finished with 18 points and guard Joe Mazzulla had a career-high 17. The latter destroyed Kentucky by making several easy layups right down the heart of that Wildcats defense.

What did Calipari do to energize his team and slow West Virginia? Nothing. While Rome, Ky., burned, Calipari fiddled. Again, the Wildcats started 0 for 20 from 3-point range, which begs the question why didn't Calipari have the Wildcats go inside and use their size advantage with Cousins once the shooting went cold? It was a huge tactical error.

Kentucky never figured out West Virginia's 1-3-1 zone and as a result the Mountaineers stayed in it nearly the entire game. "The 1-3-1 bothered us," Calipari said. "We tried different things and it bothered us more than I thought it would."

Calipari also did nothing to refocus the Wildcats from officiating to the game itself. These are the reasons why Kentucky got Calipari. But he did zippo. Not a doggone thing.

The Wildcats have three players who will probably declare for next season's NBA Draft. Wall and Cousins are definitely goners. That is an unbelievable amount of talent.

And what do Calipari and Kentucky have to show for it?

They'll be watching the Final Four on television just like the rest of us

Additional Analysis on this article from me:

The anger described is competitive spirit… All year these guys played hard and expected to win and there was more than one occasion that that gritty attitude pulled out victories from the grasp of defeat… If he would have watched this team as many times as I did he would no that…

No doubt Kentucky got beat and that beating had allot to do with three point shooting, free throw shooting and some lapses on defense but also give allot credit to WVA for their stingy defense…

As for the UK players not giving WVA credit that is absurd… At the press conference after the game Cal, Wall, Patterson and Cousins gave nothing but praise for the WVA team (just go watch it)… And as far as the quote from Harris (By the way Ramon Graduated in 3.5 years with his degree Mike) of course that is somewhat the sentiment of the players but that is not taking anything away from WVA… These are kids and they are learning…

Very shoddy journalism in my opinion from a guy who is a national sportswriter but not surprising now that I know his background (see below)… Just trying to pile on and make a story out of something that there is not story… Can you say Hater!!!

As for Huggins he does seem to have Cal’s number and it came threw in this game… That is just the way it works some times in the world of coaches…

As for watching the final four on TV… Not me Mike I will be Indy watching the games… Where will you be??? Hopefully doing a little more research so you do not spew so much nonsense…

More on Mike Freeman

This guy is throwing darts at Cal, the UK program and the players… Please!!! Look in the mirror…

From Sherdog.net

A longtime New York Times sportswriter who left to join the Indianapolis Star has resigned from his new job after admitting that he falsified his résumé.

Mike Freeman, who covered professional football and basketball and did investigative reporting at the Times, apologized for telling the Star that he was a graduate of the University of Delaware. He said he attended the school for four years but did not graduate.

"These were lies," Freeman, 37, said in a statement posted on the Web site SportsPages.com. He added: "This was a terrible and unforgivable manipulation of the facts. . . . It was the only time I have told such falsehoods and no other deceptions have ever appeared in any of my newspaper stories or two books at any time in my 16 years of practicing journalism. Nevertheless, the information I gave the Star was wrong and I will be punished with the loss of my newspaper career."

Star Editor Dennis Ryerson said in an interview yesterday that he had accepted the resignation, although this was "a bit awkward" because Freeman had not yet started his job as a columnist.

"The message is, he will not be working at the Star," he said. "I'm very sorry about the way it turned out." Ryerson added that a college degree is not required to work at the Star, and in fact, he does not have one.

Ryerson disclosed the news to readers through the paper's Web site yesterday afternoon.

Freeman worked for The Washington Post in 1988 and again from 1990 to 1992, covering pro football. He has also written for the Dallas Morning News and Boston Globe. Freeman is the author of "Bloody Sundays: Inside the Dazzling, Rough-and-Tumble World of the NFL," published last year, and the 2000 book "ESPN: The Uncensored History."

In July, he reported for the Times on allegations of academic misconduct involving Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett.

In his statement, Freeman said, "there are no excuses or alibis" for misrepresenting his résumé. "This is my fault and my fault alone. Most of all, I have hurt and disappointed close friends and family, particularly my wife, and for this I am truly sorry. I also want to apologize to the Star."

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f2/mike-freeman-cbs-sportsline-busted-lying-about-resume-562992/

Apologies to Bruce Pearl

Wrong again I was… Bruce beat an Ohio State team that I did not think he would beat and made it further than I ever thought they would… He is still my least favorite coach in the SEC and nothing sucks like a big orange but props to him and his crew… I am glad that Sparty beat them…

Kentucky Season

What Coach Cal was able to do with this team and the growth they showed throughout the year was just incredible… It was very fun to watch this team mature, begin to play together and put together a run that greatly exceeded any expectations I had and most of what a rational UK fan had…

It is just about impossible for a team this young to win it all and that showed against WVA… As coach Cal said in his post game review the team had had lapses before during the season where they did not shoot well and played spotty defense and they go away with it… No team can ever go up against another top ten team and play the way UK did and expect to win…

With that said I am very proud of 35 and 3, SEC Regular Season Champs, SEC Tourney Champs and making it to the regional championship game in Cal’s first year… Oh and yes they are State Champs this year also…

UK hired Coach Cal to rebuild the program and put some life back in it that had not been there in a while and he was able to get off to a great start this year… I truly believe he will win a national championship at UK before he is done and for sure will have this team competing for one every year…

Despite what the national media may report this was a team in every since of the word… If you are not familiar with what they did one night for a birthday party that they happened upon while out to eat in Lexington you should do the work and find out… Great story!!!

Random

- I entered three bracket challenge groups with individuals and won all three of them… I would have much rather lost all three…

- Brad Jarrett and I will be at the final four next weekend… On our list is to find Seth Davis, John Feinstein and now Mike Freeman… We will then go from there, which of course will be nothing but maybe, some verbal abuse depending on our state of sobriety… I threatened the same one-year with Billy Packer and at about 2:00 AM the night of the championship game we ran into him and I had my picture made with him and made a face like it was killing me…

- I will be wearing my UK championship Banner T-shirt in Indy so when someone reads the front and has a comment I will quickly then turn around and show the back of the shirt and say, “How many of these do you have???”

- The tournament has been great… College Basketball has lots of Parody and a tough road to win a National Championship… Not like college football where next year you will see why a playoff that includes a team like Boise State would be unfair… If Boise State beats Va Tech to start the year they will run the table and make the championship game… If they played in the SEC, Big 12 or the Pack 10 they would be a really good 8 and 4 or 9 and 3 team… There is no way a team that plays a weak schedule like Boise State or Utah should be allowed in any type of Championship Game in college football period…

- If Orton and Bledsoe stay in school than I think UK will make another run next year… If they do not I still they will be a very good team… Wall and Cousins are crazy to stay but Patterson may fool everyone and come back yet again… He has nowhere to go but up in my book…

- Watching John Wall and Cousins grow and mature this year was really fun… Does not change my mind though that these players should be allowed to go straight from high school the NBA… Let these guys make their own decisions…

- Go Lady Kats…

Music

Going to see Neil Young this summer… Just Neil by himself solo… Always have wanted to see this guy in this type of performance… I remember him on Saturday Night Live one night do just that and it was fantastic…

03.18.2010

2010-03-18T18:09:00.002-04:00

How I See This Years Tourney

Why Kansas could win it… Depth, Experience, Senior Leadership, Coaching… Although not as talented through the entire roster this team resembles Kentucky in 1996…

Why Villanova will not win… They appear to have gaps of inconsistency… They do have great guard play though and that could spell a deep run… Finished mediocre…

Why WVA will not win… Bob Huggins… Huggy can coach with the best but seems to flame out in the tournament… No offense Huggy but you do not look healthy either…

Why UNC will not win… Cause they will not even make the tournament!!! LMAO!!!

Why UK could win… A will to win… A veteran leader like Pat Patterson can take a team a deep… Youth with no fear is a good thing… This team has as much talent as the UK 1996 Champs but they lack the experience that team had…

Sleeper or Cinderella… Everybody likes Cornell but I like Butler and I like the region they are in for sure… Cornell looks like a nice team though…

I have picked Kansas to win it in the Pools I am in and have Kentucky in the final…

UK Basketball Summary

I am very much pleased with Coach Calipari’s first year at Kentucky no matter what happens from this point forward…

Like most fans I had questions about what happened at UMASS and Memphis with the vacated Final Fours and was very scared that Kentucky has sold its soul in hiring Cal…

When I did the homework I found that he was never implicated by the NCAA for any wrong doing at all (he was actually the person who turned in the UMASS player to the school for the improprieties uncovered so they could investigate and at Memphis they were given approval by the NCAA to play the player who had had his SAT questioned and were never told they were at risk for playing this player throughout the year)…

I also had the good fortune of (before Cal’s name was even mentioned as a candidate) to be working with a guy from Memphis who was a Memphis fan and asked him to give me the lowdown on Cal… He came back with nothing but high praise for him, thought he had a bar rap from the national media in some areas and said he was most impressed with how Cal conducted himself off the court… He said he was not only an ambassador for the school, but for the entire city… He told me about how both Coach Cal and his wife donated allot of money out of their own pockets to local charities and were very generous with their time in supporting local charities in Memphis…

What I have found in Coach Cal’s first year at Kentucky is all of the things this gentlemen described (the Haiti telethon effort in itself told me allot about his character) but also a guy who knows not on the history of basketball and understands he is to value and carry on this history of this sport… He has is also person who has done his homework to understand the history of Kentucky Basketball all the way back through UK’s first All American Basil Hayden…

Probably one of the most amazing things I heard him talk about was how he discovered that allot of the practice techniques, methods coaching points he used were also ones that a basketball innovator had used years before by a very successful coach named Adolph Rupp… One of the classiest things he did was actually take the UK team to Adolph Rupp’s gravesite along with Joe B Hall to pay their respects, explain what he meant to basketball and the programs and ensure that the team understand how in allot of ways coach Rupp was misrepresented in today’s media…

With all of that said he developed a very young and inexperienced team into SEC Regular Season Champs, SEC Tourney Champs with a 30 and 2 overall record… The team is once again very fun to watch (I love the style of play) and exceeded my wildest dreams to this point as to how successful they can be… I cannot wait until year 3, 4 and 5 when he has more experienced players for his system mixed in with the talent level of player that he will continue to recruit I think Kentucky is in great shape and Cal is set to leave a nice legacy behind…

I also truly believe he is trying to build men of character not only with the players but within the coaching staff and the people associated with the coaching staff… He also thinks allot of Kentucky’s rabid fan base and understand what this program means to these fans… When he had the players and himself deliver food to the people waiting in line for Midnight Madness and then both he and his son went down and camped out one night with these fans to me also says allot about his character…

I hope Kentucky makes a deep run in the tournament and of course win it all but I am a realistic person and know it will take some luck along with some great skills to do that this year… The main thing is Kentucky is back in the conversation, back with the elite teams and will be competitive year in and year out… Like the coach that came after Eddie when he does leave he will leave the program in great standing and I truly believe that not matter what his transgressions may or may not have been in the past…

Maybe Coach Cal is like me and maybe he made some mistakes in his life and had some transgression along the way but one thing I have learned about myself as I have grown older and wiser is a truly good person learns from their mistakes, treats ALL people with respect and dignity no matter who they are or where they came from… The truly golden people in life that are successful in all facets of their lives are people who practice these things and are good to others… I see this same character in Coach Cal today and I can relate to this… We have all for sure made mistakes in our lives but the question is what has one learned from those mistakes and what are you doing now???

And by the way... Nice 29 point whipping on Bruce Pearl and that Oragne Team from down south...

Mason Dixon Games

My buddy Sam Gibbs daughter Jaci was in three events for Henderson County… She was in a relay race, the 60 meter dash and the long jump… She was the anchor leg in the relay race and she came from behind to win that heat… Nice Job…

I was very impressed with this event, how the event was managed, etc… There used to be a college portion to the event but it died several years ago and I am not sure why… I had not been to a track meet in a long time and we enjoyed attending and will attend again…

New Baseball Alignment

There has been some talk in baseball lately about some type of crazy re-alignment that makes no sense at all (teams would choose what division they were in based on whether they chose to be competitive that year)…

All baseball needs to do is the following:

- Shorten the season to 154 games or have each team play eight double headers somewhere in the June and July timeframe… I like the double header idea…

- Move the Houston to the NL West and Arizona to the AL West… This balances out the leagues…

- The last month of the season form the schedule where most of a team’s games are within their own division…

- If you are going to play interleague than each in each division team gets 15 at home and 15 on the road and they rotate divisions each year…

- Expand the first round of the playoffs to seven games playing a 2, 3, and 2 scenarios with only one off day in between the shifts to the other city…

- Championship series is also a 2, 3, and 2 scenarios following the same off day schedule…

- World Series starts on a Saturday and they play day games on Saturday and Sunday of the first weekend and night games the last…

Random

- The goverment now wants to step in and dicate what schools get in the NCAA Tournament based on graduation rates for basketball... First of all GET THE F### OUT OF OUR LIVES and leave these organizations alone... The data they are discussing is flawed because it counts early departures and transfers as well as people who did not graduate... Mens Basketball with the new forced one rule is greatly impacted with early departures... When you look at graduation you need to review all sports not just Mens Basketball... Also compare it to the percentage of incoming freshmen and what happens to them in four years... Not allot of difference in mens basketball at most schools and the overall graduation rates...

- Ryan Howard for Albert Puljos… Not in your wildest dreams… Ryan Howard is great player but he is not Albert… Remember no player in baseball ever has done what Albert has done at this point in their career from an offensive production stand point…

- Don’t count me as a person who thinks that the NCAA tournament should expand to another 32 teams… The format they have is perfect and the conference tournaments are fantastic that feed the tournament the week before… Bigger is not better folks and I am 3000% sure on that one… The bubble teams that do not get in have no chance to win the tournament or make a deep run so why would you add 32 teams who have no chance…

- People are questioning Duke’s and the Cuse easier draw of the four number one seeds… With the Cuse I am not sure why they are even a number one (I thought Ohio State should be the fourth number one)… Duke is a CBS thing because they move the needle when they play on TV and CBS has a big stake in the tournament… I thought Kentucky should be the #1 in the south and Duke #1 in the east, Ohio State #1 in the West and Kansas right where they landed…

- Ben Roethlisberger is for sure guilty of making some bad decisions… Maybe he has a different thing going on than Tiger does which could be a problem… Let’s hope he can get his behavior in line… A very talented player…

- The Fan that Roy Williams had kicked out of UNC game earlier in the year for rooting for the other team at the Dean Dome got a free ticket to Duke vs. UNC at Cameron Indoor… Nice job Duke of rubbing that shit in their face…

- Shake up at the top in Fantasy Golf the last few weeks… Two weeks ago the third and fourth place teams became the First and Second Place teams… My team scored a season high 234 points while the previous leader only got 68 points this week (a season low)… With two weeks to go I am in first place… Luck, Luck and more luck…

- Regardless if UK makes it or not I will be in Indy for the Final Four… They are a great host city for the event and with it this close to hard to pass up…

- I personally think that Tiger is coming back to fast… He has to much to clean up at home in my opinion to come out and try to play golf… Makes me wonder how committed he is to what he needs to overcome in his life… Still rooting for him though and not against him…

- The coach that came after Eddie is poised to take the St Johns coaching job... Let's see what happens...

Music

Going to see Tom Petty this summer… Always wanted to see him even if he is vintage Tom at this point…

03.01.2010

2010-03-01T14:01:00.001-05:00

Lets Not Jump Off the Bridge

Per Gary Parrish at CBS Sports about UT:

“So the past five seasons now feature wins over an undefeated and eventual national-title-winning Florida team (2006), a fourth-ranked Florida team that also won the national title (2007), a Memphis team that was ranked No. 1 and eventually played for a national title (2008), a Kansas team that was ranked No. 1 (last month), and a Kentucky team that was ranked No. 2 (Saturday).”

Per Me:

And how far has UT gone in the Big Tournament??? Not past the sweet 16!!!

A good season for UT (straight from the mouth of Bruce Pearl) is beating UK, which he had not done in his last four tries before today… A good season for UK is winning the SEC and then going to the final four and UK is half way home… See the difference???

Don’t give me the bullshit football comparison either of UK fans just being happy to go to any bowl game vs. what UT fans want like in basketball just to beat Kentucky… The people I tailgate and go to the games with want and expect more out of football just like basketball…

Per some crazy on a UT Web Site:

You have to choose one college basketball coach to lead your team in a big game against a heavyweight opponent. Who ya got? Bill Self? John Calipari? Roy Williams? Mike Krzyzewski? Me, I'll take Bruce Pearl, as long as it's not a regional semifinal in the NCAA Tournament.

Per Me:

The ONLY big games are the regional finals and the two after that… There are games and there are big games…

Anyway…

On a weekend where the number 1, number 2 and number 3 teams are beaten there will be a shake up at the top and Purdue with the injury to Hummel will probably drop allot further than KU and UK will… UT??? Even with victories over number 1 and number 2 this year at home they will be done by the second weekend of the tournament (actually by the first weekend I predict)…

Bruce Pearl has made UT competitive once again but that and $1.65 will get them a tall coffee at Starbucks… He won three SEC tittles when UK was down and has not gotten his team past the sweet 16 and until he does I say he is second tier… His program is toxic… Just look at the issues he has had and the team has had off the court… I just do not ever seeing him getting UT to the final four!!!

As for UK… A loss in this games does not hurt UK at all (probably helps) and was predicted by allot of people so know one should really be surprised… After playing the late game on ESPN Thursday night and then turning around for Noon road game on Saturday I thought UK showed well in this game (they did not in the fist half) and had a chance to win in the 2nd Half… I admit it looked bad for a while and I was frustrated with how the team was playing but they showed me something with how hard they finally played in the 2nd half on the defensive end…

Coach Cal was very upset after the game with effort and I think this weeks practices are going to be rough on some of the guys… He called out a few (not by name) for effort… My guess is Bledsoe and Dodson who have not played well at all (although Bledsoe played pretty good defense yesterday in the 2nd half)…

Bottom line is this… UK can win it’s 44th SEC Championship by winning one of the last two and UT can finish as high as third after beating UK today…

By the way I disagree with Coach Cal by a large margin about the importance of conference championships... They are very very important... I do think his point was UK is not satisfied with just a conference championship and this program is about final fours and championship banners... I agree but you get those by winning your conference...

A Championship Run for UK

Has to start this week against UGA… UK needs to win the last two and at least one in the conference tournament to secure a number one seed… A loss in the last two and early SEC tournament exit spells number two seed with the movement you are going to see this week in the polls…

Any road game in any conference is tough and at this point and two road losses by this team is tolerable… Two losses period is tolerable… The one coming up at UGA is going to be a tough one (they have only lost once at home all year)… Anyone who though that UK would only have two losses at this point in the season please stand up!!!

UK shot free throws at a level on Saturday that they will need to shoot in tournament (78%) but they have to have more assists and less turnovers… Defense is the key!!! UK played good defense and sometimes-great defense in the 2nd half against UT and that should show well when they watch film of this game to prepare for the next… The first half defense was the example of what not to do and the 2nd half was an example of how to play lock down defense… They also did a great job of attacking the zone in the second half and proved the point that you do not have to shoot and make threes to beat a zone you just have to find the seams and hit the jump shots…

As for three-point shooting Bledsoe, Miller and Dodson are just cold as ice to this point… Bledsoe has hit a wall on the offensive end and on the defensive end (a few good moments on Saturday in the 2nd half) and Dodson has not shown up for several games… You cannot shoot 2 for 22 from the arc and win games but you can shoot 2 for 10 from the arc and win games if you make half the other twelve shots taken inside the paint (that equals a win yesterday)… You do not have to be a perimeter team when you are as capable as this team is in the paint… Attempt 12 three pointers a game not 15, 20 or 22…

I of course am pulling for my team (not against other teams) as I always do and think they are capable of doing just about anything… They could end up in the final four and they could lose in the second round because of the youth on this squad… Flip a coin at this point…

Either way I am proud of the way this team has played this year and the excitement that coach has brought back to the program… Kentucky is back in the conversation and I believe they will be for a the next several years under the leadership of John Calipari…

Random

· At this point I cannot decide if the SEC is just weak, mediocre, pretty good or what… We will see how the conference fairs in the big dance before passing judgment…

· TheVilleHatesUK… This is a person screen name I saw on CBS Sports.com… Wow… Now that is excessive…

· I have enjoyed what I have been able to watch from the Winter Olympics… Curling has been really fun to watch but I need to research the rules and the strategy some more… Just when I think I have it figured out I don’t… Did not matter to me that most of the events were shown taped and not live by NBC… I missed the hockey final but from the highlights it looks like something I should have watched…

· Are the natives getting restless a little at IU??? I think Tom Crean has to show a turnaround or some progress next year and the success that Steve Alford is having at New Mexico will also have people what “iffing” in Indiana… Of course outdate Assembly Hall is not helping Crean recruit… IU like UK has to address their outdated game day facility…

· How long before the SEC Tournament is in Louisville??? The new arena here is going to be awesome… Go on line and check it out… Very well done… Should mean the city will get some early round tournament games and I see some better music acts showing up in the new venue…

· Are you thinking baseball??? I am for sure… Really excited about St Louis chances this year… They have to address the bullpen and closer role, as I do not think Ryan Franklin is a championship style guy for this position… He is really their only option at this point…

· Tiger’s road is a long one back… He had a long way to fall and I believe he fell all the way to the very bottom right next to the Titanic…

Music

Not much to report in the area of music… Have been downloading a few “one” songs from I Tunes where all I really want is a song not an album… My wife and I did go to the Titanic exhibit that is here in Louisville this weekend… Very cool to see the film they showed and get an up close view of the artifacts they had on display… They provide lots of information about passengers, crew, the builder of the ship, etc… I was always fascinated as a kid that they could not find this great ship…

February 21st 2010

2010-02-21T10:43:00.022-05:00

Payton Manning

I could have predicted that a guy like Jim Rome, along with a host of others would start calling Payton Manning over-rated, not as good as we thought, blah, blah, blah… That is just bullshit and an example of these talking heads just wanting to pile on somebody who was not able to do what most everyone thought his team was going to do… Rome is at the top… Hope Payton goes Jim Everett on Rome…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uczUKTwgqeY

I believe that the interception is the only mistake that Payton made and give credit to the defense for reading that play… A couple of questionable running calls also played in to that mix and I guess you could say that Payton takes the hit for those also… Payton certainly did not drop passes that his receivers should have caught…

I think that Joe Montana is the greatest QB ever because of the Super Bowls he won… Montana was money in the big games but it also had much to do with the support he had and around him during those runs… The Niners roster was littered with Hall of Fame players for each win… I do not see this years Colts team littered with Hall of Famers (maybe Jeff Saturday)…

I put Brady, Bradshaw, Staubach, and Aikman. Elway, Tarkenton and Kelly right up there and Brady, like Payton, has done more with less in my opinion… How can someone not see this??? My guess is it does not make for good radio to recognize greatness but better to tear someone down… That is classic Jim Rome!!!

Mike and Mike (aka Dumb and Dumber part 3) blasted Manning for not seeking out and congratulating Drew Brees and other Saints players… If you go back and look at Championship events this rarely occurs once the event is complete… Just another example of talking heads trying to pile on a guy and tear him down…

Fact is Payton took a good team and made them great, period!!! He is a great quarterback period, end of story!!! Best Ever??? In sports you cannot label a player best ever but you can group them in one of the best ever and Manning qualifies… As for Sportsmanship, arrogance, etc… I just do not get a negative rub from him at all… Great competitor, great teammate and great opponent in the highest regard…

Breaking the Huddle

This is a great documentary on HBO that covers integration of Football at Southern Colleges… The story focuses on Bear Bryant and how he was able to finally bring African American Players to Bama… Really a well put together show and sheds a great light on integration on the football fields…

It also has a great story inside the story about the first SEC Football Team to have African American players… The University of Kentucky!!!

Bama was two time defending National Champions and was undefeated in their run for a

third title but finished 3rd in the polls behind two one loss teams… For sure it had something to do with strength of schedule but the fact that Bama did not have any African American players also played in that vote to send a message according to the documentary…

What Bear Bryant did was schedule a game with USC the next year and USC came into legion field and beat them handily… This was then the final approval for the football programs in the Deep South to get with the program and recruit African American players because of what one Sam “the Bam” Cunningham was able to do on the field that day…

You see the story line goes that up until 1963 the ACC, SEC and Southwest conference did not have any African Americans on any Rosters… Maryland was the first to do it in the ACC and the other schools in the ACC and the other conferences were slow to respond and took several years to do so… These three conferences were not fully integrated until after 1970 (meaning all the schools had African American Players) and several of the schools (Kentucky was NOT one of them) were not fully integrated until 1971… Very good and in depth program about the integration of college football...

Also an update about something that is not getting enough play in the National Media… Name the only state in the United States where all of the division one football programs have African American head coaches??? That would be the Commonwealth of Kentucky…

Coach Cal Leaving UK???

Quote from A CBS Sports Writer:

“Nobody would deny that the Kentucky job is better than the Memphis job, but I'm not sure the UK job is better than the Nets job, particularly if the Nets get the No. 1 pick and have a chance to lure James. What Calipari would be comparing is having to recruit 17-year-olds while opposing fans call him a cheater and columnists raise doubts about the legitimacy of any accomplishments, to perhaps coaching John Wall (possible No. 1 pick in the 2010 NBA Draft) and LeBron James (possible Net via free agency) in the New York market for an owner who has deep pockets and is determined to win.”

What I would say to this is bullshit but……. In today’s world anything is possible and there is not loyalty… I am not one who thinks that Coach Cal will be at UK for fifteen years or that this is his last stop in coaching but I also think that it could be depending on the level of success he has over the next five years…

It is to early for him to leave UK (after one season) but for the reasons mentioned above anything and everything is possible…

Is the Nets Job a better job than the UK job??? I would say NO WAY because of how the revolving door of players works for teams in the NBA and how you get such a great level of effort from a portion of your NBA roster while players eight through twelve are usually a combination of underachievers and some over achievers that are still not good enough to crack one through seven in the rotation… If you look at it NBA rosters are filled with players that are one through five players that are underachievers and some over achievers…

My evaluation would be that a job could be a better job than any other job for a period of time but in the sports world as in the private world you have to look at what that job has been historically over long periods of time… For that reason I would say that the UK job is by leaps and bounds a better job than the New Jersey Job…

That is the reason I stay with the company that I work for and have no plans to leave… Historically my company has survived every down turn thrown at it for the last 100 years so why would I choose to go somewhere else… Although not an apples to apples comparison I would say the same for the UK coaching job…

With all that said is coach Cal going to leave for the Nets after one year at UK??? Only time will reveal that answer… If he does there are plenty of people out there who would like to be the CEO of Kentucky Basketball for a period of time…

Mississippi State Game

From KSR:

“Anyone and everyone ever associated in any way with Mississippi State should be absolutely horrified and embarrassed right now. What started as posters all over campus with DeMarcus Cousins’ phone number and turned into racially motivated hate calls, ended up taking the form of bottles being thrown on the court at the end of the game. The administration said they’ve reached out to UK to get the numbers from Boogie’s phone in order to find out which one’s were students, which is a nice gesture, I guess. What they need to focus more on, it seems, is the apparently rampant backwoods buffoonery that is now synonymous with the Bulldog fan experience. What happened this week with that program is an absolute disgrace…” Big Cuz got the last laugh when after a rebound dunk he put is fingers to his face like a phone and said, “Call me” which I am sure they did after the game with more racially motivated voice mails…

I agree 100%… You could see fans walking behind UK’s bench as OT was winding down mouthing to the UK players… They continued to throw water bottles on the court even when the game was over and Cal was being interviewed… When UK Players left the court they apparently left to allot of racial slurs which is just unacceptable behavior for any fan base…

Guess they are still fighting “The War of Northern Aggression” in Starkville, LOL… Sad for their program and for coach Rick Stansbury who is a really good guy and a pretty good basketball coach… There were some questionable calls down the stretch and for sure the fact that Mississippi State got called for the last ten fouls alone (they are the least fouling team in the country) with a few blown calls looks bad on the referees but there is not an SEC conspiracy…

Big Cuz, P Pat and J Wall had monster games and although Wall ended up with some nice numbers his defensive effort was disappointing to me (I re-watched every defensive possession of the 2nd half and he just does not play defense)… He fails to even get in a defensive stance when UK is on that end of the floor and tries to do too much from the weak side… I want him to be Michael Jordanish on defense and play hard like he does on the other end of the court… I still do not think that P Pat is touching the ball enough in my opinion and last night is a game where he should have had 25 or 30… Big Cuz is starting to throw some nice passes from the block and his footwork on offense continues to look very Kevin Mchale like…

Mississippi State fans are complaining loudly that the referees gave UK special treatment and I am just no seeing it… Vanardo’s 5th foul was questionable to me because of where it occurred but the replay shows it was foul… They did miss a goal tending call on John Wall late in OT and Patterson got a call that could have been a charge but the replay reveals the guy just flopped…

I just do not see UK or any team getting favorable treatment on the road but UK did shoot 15 more free throws and State had 11 more fouls called against them than Kentucky Did… Point is who knows???

On to Vandy where we will see another slow down to get a shot late in the shot clock two three zone festival… BIG GAME!!! Win this one and you are on your way to the SEC Regular Season Title, which still means something…

UK and Vandy, Briefly

AJ Ogilvy can now sit down and shut up… He tried to talk trash to Cuz… Funny man really funny… Vandy is a solid team and like UK on this night could not hit the basket… They shot a whopping 9% from the three-point line…

UK did it again and won another ugly game on the road… Is the SEC really weak??? Is Kentucky just that good??? A little bit of both??? I think a little of both… The SEC overall is improved from last year and obviously Kentucky is stacked with talent and that talent is winning close basketball games…

Wall played a great defensive possession on the next to last Vandy possession but on the possession before he left his man and allowed a three point look (contested one but he should have never left his man)… I watch Wall on the defensive end every time and against Vandy he played much better… If he wants to be one of the greatest ever at the next level he will do it through defense and I hope Coach Strickland and Coach Cal continues to push him to play defense…

Ugly game against an NCAA tourney team… A win is a win…

Next up South Carolina and I want to see UK run this team out of the gym…

Can UK Win It All???

- 12 Assists, 15 Turnover and 18 for 30 at the free throw line is not going to win a league championship much less a national championship and that was the final numbers against UT… 14 assists, 12 turnovers and 21-31 at the free throw line against State… 9 assists, 14 turnovers and 17 of 30 at the free throw line against Vandy…

- Value the ball and make clear and crisp passes… Need to have 20 assists and 10 turnovers per game…

- The free throw debacle is very concerning at this point… Have to shoot better than 70% as a team in every game of the NCAA to win it (you may get away with it in the first two rounds but not the last three if you look at history)… Three games in a row UK has shot below 70% at the line (well below)…

- Not understanding how to attack a zone defense although one loss to this point kinds of mutes my point but again if a teams makes it to the sweet 16 this becomes a major factor… Put a shooter in the post in a 2, 1, 2 offense and see what happens… You do not bust a zone by just shooting three pointers…

- Youth my friends, Youth is the major concern… Bledsoe is showing it, Cuz is not, Wall is showing it on defense and although they are winning they are still taking possessions off on defense…

- Close the season with only one additional loss and UK is a number one seed in the big dance and you just build from there…

Tiger Woods

So let’s revisit… Tiger Woods burst on the scene and the PGA Tour explodes to a popularity level never seen before… For the players this means instead of 25 guys making all the money year in and year out the sponsorship money for tournaments and for endorsements goes through the roof and the players at a deep level of players and people around golf become wealthy and the mini tours (like the US Amateur did) explode also… That my friend is the Tiger factor!!!

Like him or not he elevated the tour to a new level and go to a new level world wide… Hell he and he alone is the reason there is a Golf Channel… Like him or not he is still one of the best ever also period even if he never plays again…

Arrogant??? I always appreciated Tigers knowledge of the history of the game and like Jack Nicklaus appreciated Tiger’s competitive nature… He was not out there for top tens but to win and win big… I think his confidence and competitive nature has been mistaken by some people as arrogance or incorrectly labeled that way but for sure there is an air to him that rubs people the wrong way (Jack had that air early in his golfing career also if you know anything about him and he reinvented himself) and Tiger obviously became very full of himself and thought he was invincible and invisible…

As I have always said people do not like winners (sometimes myself included as with golf I was never a big Greg Norman fan in his hey day) and there were and still are people who do not like Tiger because he has an African American bloodline… Lots of people glad to see him fall and fall as hard and far as he has to this point…

Now you have some fans and some media piling on him for something that most of them (media and people) do not understand, Addiction… Like they do not understand taking care of money, having a financial plan, a life plan and making well thought out and good decisions a large portion of the population do not understand addiction, what addiction means, how it relates to character and how one is treated for addiction… I am going to try and make some effort to explain it as I see it (addiction)… If you have not experienced addiction in some way shape or form or have an addiction and do not recognize it than you have very little idea what all of this means at this point for Tiger Woods…

One can be addicted to alcohol, drugs, sex, golf, running, exercise, playing poker, pornography, money, work, physical abuse (giving and receiving), cars, hunting, fishing and a multitude of other things if you think about it and put excess in perspective… Everyone, I mean everyone has excesses and if most people will look within they will see what I mean… I have them, recognize them and make sure that I do things to try and control of them on daily basis…

With that said I do not condone what Tiger Woods did to his family, friends, co-workers, etc… but I will tell you what I saw in his presentation yesterday… I saw a guy who is confused, emotionally and physically drained, full of regret, trying to figure things out, trying to take ownership of his wrong doings and really does not have allot of idea where or what is next which is typical for a person who has chosen the path of character recovery… I saw in his speech a guy who is working the steps listed below and his talk yesterday showed he was for the first time he is at step eight and at the start of step nine…

12 Steps of Addiction:

Step 1 - We admitted we were powerless over our addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable

Step 2 - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity

Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God

Step 4 - Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves

Step 5 - Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs

Step 6 - Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character

Step 7 - Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings

Step 8 - Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all

Step 9 - Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others

Step 10 - Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it

Step 11 - Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out

Step 12 - Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs

He has a long way to go and must live the rest of his life by the moniker of one day at a time… If he can successfully control the excesses in his life and become a person of better character and a person who makes better decisions it will be because he will have a solid support structure and has changed the people, places and things necessary in his life to over come his excesses and addictions …

As a person who fights excesses every day I can understand where Tiger is and truly understand where he was yesterday… I am pulling for him and for anyone who admits their problem and is starting the effort to try and do something about it no matter who that person is and what they are trying to over come… I fully support anyone who is making an effort to make their life better, learn from their mistakes and make better choices in their life and have better character… People who recognize these things and are successful at dealing with these things (the excesses) are in general some of the finest people I know…

Twelve steps programs are not religious in nature… The God references in the steps do not necessarily have to do with a Christian God unless that is the God you understand (in Tigers case his is Buddha)… At one point in my life I was addicted to a stair master exercise machine and later in my life my god was a stair master exercise machine… Some of you will get that and some of you will not and it is to complex to explain…

I find that allot of people are to narrow minded to understand addictions and what they mean and fail to make an effort to understand when this happens to person they know or to a loved one in their life and that is exactly what some people and the media are doing to Tiger Woods… It is a tough one for sure but I am a better person for knowing people in these programs, making an effort to understand these programs and supporting people who are in these programs…

If every person in the world did Step 4 at the end of every day and acted on what they found the world would be a much better place…

I do not see Tiger becoming a spoke person for addiction… That is not what these programs are about but I can see the media down the road piling on him once more for not doing this (sharing his story)… He may decide to do it some day when he has a period of recovery under his belt but he may not and that is his business and no one else period…

Tiger may return to golf this year but he also may not… I believe if he is serious about his recovery and serious about his saving his marriage (I do not see his wife taking him back after what he has done to her) he may not play this year at all but as I said, “One Day at A Time!!!”

Jack Nicklaus was correct several years ago when he said a wife and kids would slow Tiger down but I do not think Jack or anyone else saw this scenario… I wish the man well… He has hurt allot of people and has allot of things to correct…

Random

- Have been watching the Olympics… Saw a little bit of the men’s Luge, some snowboarding and figure skating to this point and allot of Curling…

- NBA All Star Game… I do not know what to even say about this event… I just have no interest in the league at all… I think over time it is a result of I cannot keep up with it all so baseball, college football and UK basketball (not all college basketball I mind you) is where I devote my sporting interests…

- Golf is starting to heat up… As we roll towards The Masters you are going to see interest peak in the sport… Tiger at the Masters??? I am going to say no… I believe it will be later in the year if he plays at all in 2010…

- Scuffletown Country Club Fantasy Golf has heated up… So far this year we have had five different leaders at the top and this week the Rubbersoul team moved up and a little bit away from the field… Hoping for a close race this year all the way through… NCAA Pick’em will be on line soon…

- UK’s football recruiting class looks pretty good and the list of next year’s probables looks even better… Tee Martin gives us another solid assistant coach and it looks like UK is going to hold onto defensive coordinator Steve Brown for another year (he was rumored for the Florida defensive job)…

- Going to miss out on my regular trip to Florida and the Honda Classic this year… Hate to miss but a break was necessary at this time… Hate to fall off that horse but will get back on it next year…

Music

My how times have changed… My favorite music store in Louisville, Ear X Tacy is on the verge of closing… The IPOD generation is just ripping a hole in store sales (and their prices have always been a little high)… Place has a great atmosphere… I think what they need to do is re-invent and put a coffee shop upstairs, have more live music up there on the weekends, drop their prices a bit, etc… Business and people need to re-invent themselves about every five years so they are passed due… Check out the Crooked Vultures...

02/09/2010

2010-02-09T07:06:00.008-05:00

Kentucky Wildcats

At this point I had really no idea what The Cats record would be… New coach, new system, new players (young players) and some crazy hype surrounding three of the freshmen… I thought UK would have lost some games early that they should have not lost and then the one game they lost they should have won (at USC) to this point…

If you examine the early part of the schedule and put some reality into I figured that 18 and 3 would be pretty good and even 17 and 4 would not be bad… To this point they are 4 and 0 against teams that were in the top 25 when they played which is a testament to talent and some great coaching… They probably should/could have lost the Miami of Ohio game, the Stanford game and I thought that because of youth they would lose to either UNC of UCONN…

With that said we are getting ready to find out just what this team has… The schedule starting today is pretty tough…. Four of the next eight are on the road… All very tough places to play no matter what the talent level is at the schools… Yes only three of eight are against ranked opponents but with two of those three on the road wins will again be tough… They could finish anywhere from win them all (highly unlikely), lose two or three (at UT, at Ms St, at Vandy) which I see as likely or even go 5 and 3 to finish 27 and 4… If you told me 26 and 5 or 27 and 4 as their final record at the start the year I would have said, “book that gain…”

No matter how UK finishes if they win the SEC Tourney they should be at a minimum at two seed… If they finish the regular season at 27 and 4 or 28 and 3 and win the SEC they could be a one seed…

Bama, UT, at Ms State, at Vandy, USC, at UT, at UGA, Florida… Tough stretch…

What I see is this:
- You have to figure out where Patrick Patterson fits in the offense… He is the key to a championship run because of experience…
- Wall has to be a point guard first… He can do allot of things but getting other people involved is a key and that will open things up more for him…
- Wall and Bledsoe have to stop trying to make every pass a spectacular pass or a spectacular play… If these guys play good fundamental basketball they are unstoppable…
- Cousins needs to become a better passer out of the post… As teams collapse on him this will not only help free him up but make teams pay for the double and triple teams… His low post moves are Kevin McHale like at this point…
- Ramon Harris and D’Andre Liggins need more playing time… Harris may be a liability on offense but he can guard any two guard of swing forward in the country… His defensive footwork is awesome… Harris and Liggins both remind me of Billy King who was great defensive player at Duke in the mid 80’s… Liggins does not give away as much on offense as Harris does…
- Perry Stevenson needs more playing time… He has great experience, is a good defender and shoots free throws well… He could benefit greatly from some low post passing by Cousins… Just ten minutes or so a game…
- Team has to shoot better free throws and need more assists per game…
- Play 40 minutes of choke down defense every game, which they are capable of doing…

Without a doubt Cousins and Wall will be top five draft picks in next years NBA draft… Patterson will fall somewhere after that and Bledsoe could go early and be somewhere in the top 15… If Bledsoe and Patterson both stay in school after this year than they will be top five picks in 2011… This is the most talented team UK has had since the 1996 Champs but they are so young and youth is good and youth is bad…

The Era of Technology and the Impact on Fans

A couple of years ago I blogged about how cool technology advancements were and how much I enjoyed being alive in this era to be able to enjoy these items… Allot of the things are “Star Trek” as I like to call them or things you used to see on the Jetsons cartoon when I was a kid…

At work this week we had an issue with an order that was flowing through our automated warehouse… When we tracked down what had happened we determined that the first system (the warehouse management system) had passed some bad information to the second system (the warehouse control system), which caused the order to flow incorrectly… It blows my mind that we have one system talking to another like they are alive and my comment was “wonder which transformer or cyborg this thing is going to turn into one day…”

As for communication I love texting because it is quick and to the point especially during the day in communicating with my wife or my friends… Texting during sports games while you are watching them in your home is great because with my texting circle it is like watching the games with ten or twelve people… The takes, as we call them, are anywhere from funny (like the alien/predator player for Florida basketball, USC;s coach which the comments are censored) to some good in game analogies… Lots of emotions flowing for sure at times also…

I still like to have the occasional phone conversations with people I do not see as often (the ones who live out of town) because you cannot talk in depth when texting or at least that is not what I use it for… I DO NOT TEXT WHEN I AM DRIVING OR TALK ON THE PHONE WHILE DRIVING OR EVEN LOOK AT MY PHONE WHILE DRIVING…

Without going into allot of detail technology and ease of communication has improved doing business in a very positive way… Email, cell phones, texting, file sharing, net meetings and conference calls allow people to do business without sometimes ever even leaving there house… And as mentioned personal communication has improved also…

I think that blogging is a great thing and allows people to have a voice in Sports and other topics they did not have before whether anyone reads what you write or not… However, message boards on blogging sites or comments that can be left after reading columns on line from your favorite writers or on your favorite team or internet sports pages is literally out of control…

These message boards allow a forum for absolutely spewing of ignorance that is unparallel in the age of technology… I have finally decided that reading these comments can only be amusing and any other emotion they stir up within me should just be ignored…

I am guilty of leaving some “emotional” opinions after some articles I have read and from comments that have been left by fans or opposing fans on one of the sites I read but have recently decided that if I am going to make a comment to make sure it is something that is adding intelligence…

As for me I read my teams sites and boards (Kentucky, St Louis and Navy) and never read the sites of other teams… I do read articles about big games that do not involve any of my teams and but hardly ever ready any of the comments left on the message boards after these articles (I have recently and not read anything like what I am going to show below)…

What I am trying to figure out is what type of person sets around and spends a portion of their time making some insane, negative and ignorant comments about another team, another coach or another teams players on a message board after an article that was written… Trust me I know that there are some Kentucky fans who do this and other fans who do this on other teams sites but I have not seen this to the level I have after articles I have read recently about Kentucky basketball…

Just see the comments I pulled below from articles in the last week that were written about a Kentucky game on a popular Internet news site and the subsequent comments that were left behind…

I start out with a couple of items I read after an article about Tiger Woods that are rather amusing… All of these comments lack intelligence…

For sure it is not all fans or even a large percentage of fans but WOW… WOW, WOW!!!

To be fair the last comment is a WTF posted by a Kentucky fan… These comments have not been edited…

- That Sucks! Tiger Woods is a disgrace as a human being. He is even more of a disgrace to the game of golf. The bottom line is always money. Tiger Woods will bring a lot of money to the PGA. Welcome back Tiger, You piece of **** of a human being.

- I am tired of reading about Tigers rehab and his sex life. I couldn't care less. Just like I couldn't care less if his gold digging wife stays married to him.

- To all of you!! Tiger did wrong and will reap what he sowed when judgement day comes for him. None of us are the judge or the jury . GOD, Almighty will be the judge on judgement day!! Let's not forget - We all have sinned and still are! We can not get into heaven unless you learn how to forgive.

- all you cats enjoy the talent this year..wall is gone next year as is the biggest crybaby since big baby from lsu..cousins constantly has a look of utter bewilderment on his face. me? nooooo not me? i didnt foul that guy!!!! thats bull@#$% ref!!!! i cant wait for 5 years down the road to find out wall and cousins were actually academically ineligible and that they accepted money from god knows who..btw ur loving coach wont be at kentucky in 5 years. he is the lane kiffin of college bball and notorious for giving a @#$%..so grats on ur few years untill the ncaa shames you with season forfeitures..there is a reason roy williams didnt want john wall..we all know wall wanted to go to unc but roy snubbed and i dislike unc..what could that reason be? no money was offered is my guess

- Kentucky fans hating Louisville goes back to the racist Adolph Rupp days when Louisville had African-American players and Kentucky didn't. Look how UK treated Tubby Smith.

- Better hope that Kentucky has good lawyers to clean up the mess after he leaves for the NBA.This guy is a climber.....chumps every school he is at. About time people wake up and see the guy for what he is......Can't deny Calipari's past.......seen this garbage before with UNLV's Tarkanian.

- unanimous #1? dont make me laugh. kentucky hasnt been to a final four in ages and they think that all of the suddent they can talk a bunch of sh*t. Hey kentucky fans do you recall what team gave you your worst lost in history ? that would be the kansas jayhawks when we demolished you 150 to 95. We will do it again when we get the chance. Ku will be voted the real number one come monday.

- "The New York Knicks announce John Calipari as the new head coach.""The NCAA has announced forfiture of the 2011-12 basketball season of the Kentucky Wildcats."No amount of short term gain can erase long term shame...........

.
- MSU still is better then Kensucky what have they done all year zilch their conference sucks yea they might have beaten a team who beaten a team that beat Kansas but that dont mean they will MSU just had a bad game thats all UK would have more too if they didnt have a cupcake schedule or a cupcake conference

- Don't waste your time talking to UK fans about basketball. UK will do anything to win, they have had a scandal in every decade. UK fans will deny that Rupp was a racist bigot but everyone else in the world knows better. UK fans think that J Cal is clean and innocent when he has had wins erased at two different schools. If J Cal pulled out a damn shotgun and shot the opposing team's best player, UK fans would not think anything about it. Some of the things UK fans deny about their program and their coaches is similar to those people who deny the holocaust took place. UK did have a nice win against an overrated Ole Miss team. I still think UK is unproven given that they have only played 4 road games and have not beaten any premier teams.

- I love how you guys throw John Wall's 3.2 GPA out there like it matters. Truth is I'm a student that goes to a huge basketball school and I know the kinds of "classes" that some of the players take. I guarantee you he's in some classes where there are no tests, no homework, and the only grades he receives are on in class projects (gauranteed A). Not all basketball players take these bs classes but usually the superstars do, only because without a decent enough GPA they can't play. So they need classes that will automatically give them good grades so they can still take the court. The student athlete is an illusion, especially when referring to players that will obviously go to the NBA after one semester in college. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think a player does not actually have to be enrolled in the spring semester in order to still play basketball for the year.

- Wall does not have a 3.2 GPA. Where r u getting your facts at? You must of went to kentucky! Wall does not need to try in his classes because he knows that he it going to the NBA. How can Kentucky as a University let this go on? Here is a fact- Kentucky does so great at home but when they dont play at home in the NCAA tournament, they suck and are normally 2 and done. Here is a fact- John Wall has a 1.0 GPA Here is a fact- the combine GPA on Kentuckys team is a 1.45 Here is a fact- John Calipari has many sanctions against him and he is looked at as a cheater. I think Bob Knight said it best.

- Way to go Kentucky ! Kentucky needs to run the table because only one SEC team will get invited to the Big Dance. With the strength of the ivy league and at least thirteen Big East teams getting in its going to be either Vandy or Kentucky. It would be nice to see Kentucky do well in the NIT if it is the last NIT if they don't make the dance. Go Blue.

My Comments about these Posts

WOW… That is just about all I can say… WOW!!!

Random

- Two weeks to get ready for Peyton Manning is the key… Two weeks for both defenses to get ready at the NFL level really showed in this game…
- The over under in the Super Bowl was 55 and I thought for sure over was the bet… See the comment above…
- The onside kick was a well executed play… When New Orleans went for it on fourth and goal and did not make it that also is a huge play although the Saints recovered and got the three points this way… If these plays work out the other way the ESPN Talking Heads are calling Sean Payton names other than Brilliant this week…
- I think that Payton Manning has to win more than one Super Bowl to be considered the best quarterback of all time, which I still say is Joe Montana… There are allot of really great QB’s who have won just one or played in the game and won none… You will now hear allot of people began to question Payton and the fact that his team has only one won Super Bowl and only been to two… The comparisons will be to Montana, Elway, Brady, Aikman and Bradshaw with Kelly, Staubach and Tarkenton added to that list…
- A portion of U of L Fans are now starting to turn on “The Coach That Came After Eddie”… Fair??? I do think you can criticize him for not winning the whole thing last year but I am not sure if the game has past him by as some people are saying… I think the outside distractions are catching up but still believe he can coach if he can focus… As I have said before the move to the Big East to me hurt U of L basketball because of how tough and brutal that conference is to play in weekend and wee out (like the SEC in football)…
- Does Charles Barkley need money maybe??? The Taco Bell commercials as really bad…
- John Daly needs cash for sure… John does a great job hosing the sports version of talk soup and maybe that should be his career move…
- The NIKE commercial with Lucas Glover and Stewart Cink is fantastic… There were some good ones during the Super Bowl but this one (it was on during golf on Sunday not the Super Bowl) was is great…
- Minnesota basketball fans are getting a little anxious… Will they be labeled racist soon???

Music

Still finishing up loading the IPODS… Nothing really new at this point that I am listening to… We did go see Calexico and then headliner the Airborne Toxic Event both backed up by the Louisville Orchestra… It was and excellent concert and both bands were incredibly complemented by the Orchestra… Calexico has a southwestern sound and A T E is a very different sounding progressive or alternative style band… The orchestra just did a great job of backing both bands up…

January 16th 2010

2010-01-16T14:12:00.003-05:00

My journey to 2000 wins

I was very fortunate to be at the game against Drexel when UK won it's 2000-basketball game… Since my ticket connection of the past five years failed to deliver on my face value season tickets (I am assuming demand was up once again for some reason and he got shorted 15 tickets) this year it was a fluke that I was even there for this game…

Earlier in the year a buddy at work who gets his tickets like I used to get tickets (in a round about way for face value) offered for me to buy about six or eight games against some of the marginal competition and I chose to attend only this one having no idea I would witness this history… Made me think about some of the things that I remember about UK basketball from a won loss perspective that had they gone the other way would have meant I was just attending another game…

- UK accepts a bid to the NCAA tournament vs. not going in 1952 and wins a number of games in the tourney...
- Vernon Hatton misses the long-shot to keep the win streak alive in the 50’s
- UK wins the 1966 title instead of losing to Texas Western
- UK loses to IU 92 to 90 vs. winning 92 to 90 in 1975
- UK beats UCLA instead of loses to UCLA to win the Championship in 1975
- UK loses the NIT Final in 1976
- UK beats UNC in a regional final in 1977 playing basketball instead of the four corners version of basketball that day
- UK loses to Duke in the 1978 Final
- UK beats Duke in the 1979 tip off classic (Bowies first game)
- UK beats Louisville in 1983 in Knoxville
- UK beats Georgetown in the 1984 Final Four and then Houston to win it all
- UK’s Cedric Jenkins misses a tip in against U of L in 88…
- UK is not matched up against an SEC team in the NCAA tourney for a second game in a row in 1986 forcing UK to have to beat a team for the fourth time in a row twice in one year (cause a rule change in the tournament) and wins that game vs. losing…
- Rex Chapman goes to U of L and lights up UK for two or three years…
- Eddie Sutton never coaches at UK
- “The coach that came after Eddie” never coaches at UK
- Lattner misses
- The Mardi Gras miracle against LSU never happens
- Brassow misses the tip in at the Maui classic
- UK beats Arizona in OT in 97 Championship Game
- Keith Bogans does not sprain his ankle before the Marquette game
- Billy G never coaches a game at UK
- UK does not hire John Calipari and this team is rebuilding for a few years vs. re-loaded in one

At the end of the day the 2000 win thing gets you nothing… It is just a nice celebration to be the first team to get there… It is also nice to reflect on some of those wins and losses over the years and think how that night could have been different…

The NFL in general

Boring, boring, very boring this year for me… I just could not get into it at all even playing two fantasy teams… I finished first in one league and then lost both playoff games… Eighth in the other league and then won the consolation bracket…

If I had a team I followed then maybe but I can’t like the Colts because they are Indiana and not Baltimore and they have that former UT quarterback… I try to be a Bears fan but that does not work either… I used to be a Dolphins fan but there is just nothing there for me and although I like the Giants a little they are still not a team that I follow on a regular basis… The Titans are in Tennessee, the Raiders suck (I liked them in the 70’s) and the Rams are in St Louis, that you think would make me like them but I do not… Liked them when the were in LA… Never have liked the Bengal’s (hate their uniforms and colors)…

Maybe next year I am going to select a team and follow them all year like I follow UK and Navy in football… At this point I am not sure what team it will be but I am going to pick one that is not a popular pick, buy some gear, etc… and see what happens… Well no I am not going to that… Sounded exciting for a minute…

As for the playoffs I will be watching after wild card weekend and for sure my wife will be watching because she is pulling for the Colts…

Tiger

My disappointment with Tiger is that I thought he was as good a person as he was a golfer… Turns out that he was marginal as a person because of what he did to his family…

Unlike the Tiger haters I am disappointed in Tiger the person where they are rejoicing in Tiger failures… I feel sad for people who it takes things like this to make them feel good or for some reason they feel good about these types of failures in people…

I hope that Tiger gets his life together and figures out the demons that lead him to this behavior pattern but at the end of the day if Tiger were not married these transgressions would no longer be transgressions and their would be no story… His image is damaged for sure but he is still one hell of a golfer…

One thing is for sure (are you listening Mike Wilbon???) There was a PGA tour before Tiger and there will be one after Tiger… Like John Daly when he was playing well Tiger brought the casual golf fans to the table when he was in contention… Without a doubt the golfers owe allot to Tiger in the fact that they are all very, very wealthy and that is about 90% Tiger… The tour will survive without him…

As for where Tiger is right now… Trust me I know where Tiger is for sure… He is out on his boat in the middle of the ocean trying to figure out what he is going to do…

Hate on Tiger Haters… Hate on…

Mike Leach

I very much like the guy and I love the offensive scheme he ran at Tech… For those of you who do not know Leach came up with one Hal Mumme in the coaching ranks… He was with Mumme at Iowa Wesleyan, Valdosta State and spend one year with at Kentucky…
He then became offensive coordinator at Oklahoma (they won a national championship with that offense) before moving on to Tech…

I am guessing the Adam James is pretty much a prima Madonna but I think that what Leach did to him was a friable offense… If you have problems with this kid then remove him from the team, suspend him or something… Confining him to a shed is just not a good move and I do not blame Tech for removing this coach… I do think they were without a doubt just looking for a reason but I also think there is a reason the Leach did not get interviews for the name jobs that have been opened in the last two years…

Leach is quirky but he will show up somewhere down the road and will be a winner…

Texas Tech is crazy to hire Tommy Tubberville… Three yards and a cloud of dust is not going to work at Texas Tech so he better hire someone who runs a similar offense as his coordinator (looks like he did)…

UK Football

Hail to Brooksy!!! I think you did a fantastic job and in a year where I had my doubts… You won big road games at Auburn and Georgia for the first time in a long time and the team overcame allot with injuries… Thought for sure after the Auburn win that this was the year UK could go 8 and 4 or 9 and 3 but that did not happen again… The 2006 and 2007 teams should have won eight or nine games with the talent level they had but for some reason they could just not get it done so there was somewhat of a pattern here…

Coach it has been great having you around and you have turned the attitude of the program around where our players are expecting to win… To me that speaks volume for the job you have done…

I know you did not get this team to the level you wanted and missed some wins you wanted but you brought us back to the conversation and with four straight bowls at UK this is nice way to ride off in the sunset… Wish we could have gotten that last win but you still leave on a good note…

I am now happy to get the Joker Phillips era started at UK… Like what happened at Oregon after you left (perennial top 25 team) I am hoping for much of the same here at UK… Best of luck to you and your family…

UK needs to raise the money and get a recruiting room added on to the stadium, make updates to the Nutter and some renovations to Commonwealth to help get this thing over the top… If you want to compete with the big boys in the SEC you have to have the facilities to do just that or you are fighting an uphill battle…

As for Joker he has three to four years in my opinion to show what he can do for this program… You cannot lose any ground… If he has three losing seasons in a row than he will be done quick… Two in a row and in my opinion he is done… Many of the insiders at UK say that Rich had more control of the play calling than people understood and made allot of the personnel decisions about who played where… Cobb could be your full time starting QB next year for one… I really would like him to continue to operate in the role he played this past year but he can play QB for sure…

I do like Jokers first two moves with the line coaches… I thought both lines played under their potential even though they (the lines) were pretty good…

As for the season… It was quite and accomplishment to beat Georgia and Auburn on the road but the clunkers thrown up at home against Mississippi State and Tennessee canceled out those great wins… Who knows what happens if Hartline does not get hurt this year… He was looking pretty solid (he will not ever be great) and that experience was a solid factor… Getting to a fourth bowl game was a great accomplishment also and a level that in my opinion UK football should be at every year (6 pr 7 wins minimum)…

Micah Johnson, Trevard Lindley and multiple members of the offense line being lost to graduation is going to be tough on this team next year for sure… The big boys in the SEC struggle when they lose that many linemen in one year so that will be an interesting area to watch next season…

College Football and BCS

I truly thought the BCS system for college football got it right this year… The two best teams were Bama and Texas with all due respect to Boise State, Cincy and TCU… To go undefeated in the SEC or the Big 12 is significant and they deserved the chance…

As for Cincy look at what happened against Florida… As for BSU and TCU… Weak conferences kept them from moving one step forward to the championship game but BSU will have a shot next year based on the players they have coming back and how high they will be ranked when the Season starts…

As for a full-blown playoff I am completely against this period… I would however like to see four teams selected and then the winners of the two games between these teams play an extra game (plus one they call it) to settle the dust… You add another BCS game (Make the Cotton Bowl a BCS affair) so ten teams are BCS bound and the top four play (one vs. four and two vs. three) for the championship…

As for the bowl game nay Sayers… The bowl games are fantastic for the fans of each bowl team first and foremost, the cities these games are played in for another and is a large advantage for the teams that qualify because they get extra practice time and a chance to finish on a positive note… If you are a fan of college football you have to be a fan of the bowl games…

Look at some of the great bowl games this year from teams that would not qualify for a sixteen team playoff… Would be tragic for these teams not to get an extra game…

Navy beats Missouri
Air Force beats Houston
Auburn and Northwestern
Central Michigan and Troy
Okalahoma and Stanford
Fresno State and Wyoming
Penn State and LSU
Idaho and BGU
MTSU and Southern Miss
ECU and Arkansas

These were all great games to watch and it was great to see the service Academies win bowl games… What a great honor for kids who football is the easiest part of their day… Keep the Bowls!!!

As for the Championship game… Another exciting affair from the post season… As a fan of the SEC and a fan of Bama (they are who I follow after UK and Navy) I was upset for Colt McCoy and Texas… If McCoy stays in that game it is a different game for sure for Texas and they may have won based on what happened on the field in the first quarter… I give the Texas team allot of credit for hanging in though and having a chance to come back and win the game in the end…

Very exciting year for College Football and next year should be even more exciting…

UK Basketball

I have finally figured it out… Nobody likes a winner including me if it is not my team… Why are their teams that every time they play I root against them???

Why do I dis-like the Yankees??? The Cowboys and The Steelers??? North Carolina??? Tennessee??? UCLA Basketball???

If the Yankees were the Indians and the Indians were the Yankees then myself along with allot of people would not dislike the Yankees we would dislike the Indians… I dislike the Yankees because they are winners and that to me is a sign of respect… Not respect a Yankee fans wants but it is a sign of respect…

If the Dolphins (my favorite team growing up) had beaten these the Cowboys and the Steelers and won more Super Bowls in the 70’s then I doubt I would dislike these teams the way I do in general although since I have not favorite NFL team and really only watch the playoffs this has kind of faded…

North Carolina… UK is something like 12 and 20 against UNC all time for starters… The 1977 regional semi-final where UNC played four corners vs. real basketball against UK and UNC is close behind UK in total wins and total championships (total wins in nothing more than a fan thing)…

UCLA… My god do I have to go into any detail here…

Tennessee… That Orange Team from down south… This is more of learned behavior more than anything plus the fact that we have not beaten them in football since 1984 is in my crawl…

UK Basketball has been and is a hated program throughout the country and people loved it when we were down and out the last couple of years… This has nothing to do with Adolph Rupp or any of the fabricated bullshit about the 1966 championship game that never happened or was portrayed in that go awful movie Glory Road… This has to do with UK Basketball is historically a winner and people have a tendency to dislike a winner (except in horse racing)…

I never really knew until I was in the Navy and mixed with allot of people from other states how Kentucky Basketball topped the list of peoples two favorite teams (their own team and whoever UK was playing)…

I really think that college basketball fans in general who pull against UK with a passion got a big smile on their faces when the UK program could not make it back to the final four after there three year run from 96 to 98… Hell I know they did… They really enjoyed see this program down to the level it was the last two years and even more so when UK hit the skids after the Eddie Sutton debacle in the late 1980’s…

Now UK is back… They are back in the discussion… They are winning… They are having fun doing it… They are winning close games, blowout games, physical games, games where they do not shoot well, games where they play poor defense… Bottom line is they are winning… Allot earlier than I expected…

For sure allot of the early season hype around John Wall was questionable by any college basketball fan but he has proven his worth to this point and as predicted is one of the best college basketball players in the land… My grandfather who has seen allot of hoops over the years says Wall is one of the best he has ever seen play…

UK should have lost several games early… A young team with a new coach, a new style, four new starters and eight new players (five of them being freshmen and one of them being a sophomore) should not be undefeated at this point in the season… They won some games early that they just should have not won but they did…

The early hype was UK is over-rated, dribble drive will not work at UK, to many new players, new coach, etc, etc, etc… Had UK lost three of our games to his point and were 10 and 5, 9 and 6 or 11 and 4 then the media heads would be saying and writing, “I told you so”… They love I told you so and they hate a winner…

UK’s team is scary good… Scary thing is as “The coach that came after Eddie” said yesterday is they (UK) will get better… I also like the Bruiser Flint comment of remember they are young and youth will bite you at some point…

This year’s team is being compared to UK’s 96 team… This is not the senior laden UK 1996 team that compares to the 91 and 92 Vegas teams, the 1980 Louisville team or the 1976 Indiana team because of experience… This years UK team from an overall talent and NBA talent standpoint does however compare to those great teams… These teams were destined to win a championship because of talent and experience… This UK team lacks that experience but they do not lack talent…

Will this team go undefeated??? No way… Will they win it all??? Anything could happen… A team with this much talent could walk right through the tournament… A team with this much youth could get bounced in the second round…

Stay tuned because they will make it interesting…

Coach Cal

The hating on Coach Cal is very old… Yes he has coached two teams that had final fours vacated… Each time for different reasons…

I believe Memphis will win the appeal and have the wins and recognition of their final four appearances reinstated… If not by the NCAA then it will go to federal court where the evidence will be obvious (NCAA cleared the player to play and then later came back and said he was not eligible and made them forfeit the games)…

Here is the deal folks… We love Coach Cal and he truly loves the fan base and understands what it means to be coach of this storied program... Billy G was a train wreck and Tubby (who was the right choice at the time) just wanted to be a basketball coach and not the CEO and face of the program and that is why he left (we love Tubby despite what the national media reports and respect his reasons for departure)...

Do your homework before you rip on Cal and know what he and his wife do for the charitable community in the great Commonwealth of Kentucky just as he did at Memphis and UMASS... He is very generous with his time and money... He also appreciates the history of basketball as a whole not just the history of our program....

If you listen to the things he has gone back at studied about Rupp and how Rupp’s teams played and practiced and how he has befriended Joe Hall and other great people associated with this basketball program you will understand what I mean… He talks allot and yes is somewhat full of it but that is OK because it is not vicious or contrite just a guy who loves basketball, loves the fans and wants very badly for the program to succeed and continue it’s legacy…

I like the guy, period and I am moving past any pre-conceived issues that I had about him…

As for his Salary… Once again it is important to note that his salary is not funded by one single taxpayers dollars… It is off of receipts from an extremely profitable Athletic Department that is seeing profit rise in the last year and that has much to with Cal… UK Athletics also is a large donor of cash back to the University and that donation amount will increase as the profit for the department increases… Look at that the big picture before you slam the university…

Also on Sunday, January 17th Coach Cal worked with a team of ogranizers to co host a telethon for the relief effort in Hati... They raised about $150,000 in a little more than an hour (Final total is over a million after the match)... Cal has also arranged for the amount to be matched so double that number... He had all of the players also participate by answering the phones and appearing on the telethon...

Nice job coach...

St Louis Cards Baseball

Very, Very disappointing year for the Redbirds in the end after walking away with the NL Central… The moves they made in the stretch set this team up for World Series run and they just peaked too soon… Without a doubt things may have been different had Matt Holiday not booted a routine line drive in the NLDS against the Dodgers but without Holiday the team would have not been in that position…

St Louis ownership has now shown how committed they are to winning by re-signing Matt Holiday to a record contract and to me that speaks volumes… Now the organization must re-sign Puljos to an extension that makes him a Cardinal for life… Albert should get somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million per year… For sure I think Albert wants to stay in St Louis and that will help in the negotiations…

Speaking of Albert… To this point he has not been linked in any way to HGH or any steroid although many members of the media seem to be foaming at the mouth just waiting for any link at all so they can pounce and say I told you so… I for one hope that for baseball, not my Redbirds bias that Puljos is never linked and is clean for his career… To this point he has been unbelievably special to watch and at bat and in the field…

I am already giddy waiting for baseball to start this year and as always I am hoping for a Redbirds vs. Yankees World Series showdown…

As for the Mark Mcgwire and steroids… This is not news… Everybody knew this… As for Big Mac being the hitting coach I will side with the players who say he is very helpful every year in Spring Training with hitting… As for the Hall of Fame I vote no… He should not get in…

Bonds should get in or I would vote for him because of what he did pre PED use (his numbers are great) and I am on the fence on Roger Clemons… I would vote yes for Rose but below his plaque I would detail out his gambling issue…

The UK vs. UL basketball series

After this years version of this game I say it is time to suspend this series… Unlike football there is no benefit to playing this game for either team… It has almost zero impact on recruiting and the way the fans from both sides of the aisle act about this is just unacceptable and beyond ridiculous…

The game this year was ridiculous and the officials are to blame for this game getting out of hand although there is no doubt that “The coach that came after Eddie” strategy was to play it rough and tumble (Big East Style) because he knew if he just played straight up basketball UK would blow them out (just like he tried and failed to do against Nova in a recent game)…

What could have happened is both Swopshire and Cousins should have been ejected from the game… Swopshire throws a knee to Cousins head with intent and Cousins give Swopshire and elbow with intent and that is exactly why the referees called a double technical foul… The media is of course piling on Kentucky and Cousins with one of the CBS guys actually telling me in an email that Swopshire’s knee to the head was just part of the play… I have watched it multiple times at multiple speeds and Swopshire like cousin cocks his body part back before thrusting forward with the contact… That is intent my friends on both sides…

After calling technical fouls on the two players Tony Green should have then t’d up both coaches and told them to call the dogs off and clean it up or they would go… That would have gotten control of the game and forced the game to be a basketball vs. a Big East hack fest…

Rumor is Reginald Delk made some comment to Bledsoe about his mother or something ridiculous that started the BS on the court… Louisville’s players behavior during this game was despicable as one some of the behavior from a few of the UK players…

During warm ups the U of L players were mouthing heavy to the UK team and to the UK Cheerleaders… That is right the UK Cheerleaders… Now that is a demonstration of class… Also the U of L starting five did not leave the bench during introductions which to me is classless… I have never seen or heard of a team doing that before…

Of course I think that allot of this started back a few weeks ago when during an open practice at Freedom Hall some of UK’s players stomped on the Chicken in the middle of the floor as a way to fire up the UK fans… Youthful but disrespectful and uncalled for by the UK players…

The game was a complete embarrassment to the entire Commonwealth although I know some people in Louisville maintain they are not really a part of Kentucky, which is another level of ridiculousness I hear from time to time… This has been an attitude of Louisvillians for many, many years according to people I have talked to who through politics or business have experienced these types of attitudes and behaviors… I still remember the U of L baseball announcer (before U of L had any success in baseball and me and about five other people were listening to the games) saying how much more worldly and educated people in Louisville are vs. people from out in the state which of course is complete hogwash but a great demonstration of the elitist attitude that many native Louisvillians have (not all but many)…

I blame “The coach that came after Eddie” for coaching his team to come out and do the things they did with trash talking, etc… and I blame the officials for letting things get out of control… I really think that Cal did not want this type of game and is not that type of guy but he is intense for sure and told his players not to back down… I just believe that from his post game comments there is going to be some internal discipline put down on his (Cals) players for some of the behavior that occurred… Nothing on Pitino’s side because hey that is the way they Big East basketball… Trust me I intended many Big East games while stationed on the East Coast in the Navy and witnessed it first hand…

I recently watched the 1983 game between UK and UL that started the current series (I was in Navy boot camp and had never seen the game before)… It was a hard fought, well coached and well played basketball game that lacked showboating, trash talking, etc… Just guys playing very hard basketball… Teams and coaches to me that after that game was over had a new found respect for each other’s programs…

Until I moved to Louisville in 1994 I had little idea how vicious some of the fans were about this game and how there are people in Louisville (born and raised here) that do not want Louisville lumped into the rest of the commonwealth… They are Louisvillians and not Kentuckians… Very ridiculous to me!!! Hell I was a UL fan right behind UK until I moved here and most of my friends I grew up with in Western Kentucky are still to this day fans of U of L when they are not playing UK… Now the only two days a year I care anything about U of L is the day UK plays them in football and the day UK plays them in basketball…

There is also some very ridiculous behavior from people on my side of the aisle that is also unacceptable… The street runs both ways…

I am all for dropping this game from the schedule… It is a fan game and a game in my opinion the fans do not need any more… The game has very little national impact and has very little influence on recruiting because both teams recruit on a national level more than on a state level…

“The coach that came after Eddie” becoming UL’s coach was a slap in the face of UK fans that started allot of the craziness that I see and here now and for sure there is some behind the scenes items with Cal and Pitino… To much drama that takes focus away from what should be a basketball game nothing more nothing less…

As for the modern series (meaning since 1983)… Based on all the hype at the start of the modern series most people felt that UK’s style would never be able to match U of L and that UK would never have the athletes to match U of L… I think that if most people would have written the script for how this played out it would be slanted to U of L and not UK…

UK is 18 and 11 against U of L since 1983… In seven of the 18 wins UK has defeated Louisville by 20 or more points and on two occasions by over 30… U of L has defeated UK by more then 20 points only one time… Since 1983 game (not counting that years final four), UK has appeared in three championship games, won two and appeared in five final fours… U of L has one won Championship and appeared in two final fours…

Time to lay this series to rest of a while…

Here is an excerpt from an article by John Clay of the Herald Leader that describes the Cousins incident the best… To back up John’s statements below I talked to two people this week who are officials and they both said there is an unwritten rule that you do not throw a player out of the game in the first five minutes unless the transgression is so obvious, aggressive and one-sided that you have no choice… This incident was not obvious, was aggressive and for sure not one sided…

“Apparently, the officials used the sideline monitor to see the entire replay of first Louisville's Jared Swopshire (inadvertently?) kneeing DeMarcus Cousins in the head, before Cousins retaliated with a forearm shiver to Swopshire's neck as the two were on the floor wrestling over a loose ball.
Kellogg said Cousins could have been ejected, apparently without seeing Swopshire's knee-action. Brando called it "unconscionable" that Cousins wasn't tossed.

Instead, the officials made the right call — teeing up Swopshire and U of L's Reggie Delk, and then after viewing the replay, Cousins. No one got tossed, nor should they have been. It was 45 seconds into the game, and no official wants to eject a player that early, especially in an important game, unless the transgression is so egregious it cannot be ignored.”

My Players of the Year in the Sports I Follow for 2009

Baseball, Position Player – Albert Puljos, St Louis Cardinals
Baseball, Pitcher – Tim Lincecum, Giants and Adam Wainwright, St Louis Cardinals (tie)
College Football Offense – Toby Gerhart, Stanford and Ricky Dobbs Navy (tie)
College Football Defense – Domican Sue, Nebraska
College Basketball – Blake Griffin, Okalahoma
Pro Golf – Kenny Perry and Steve Stricker (tie)

Random

- Bobby Knight needs to shut the hell up… A guy who chokes players, gets in fights with the local Police during the Pan Am games (even though he was defending Kyle Macy), throws a chair and then pulls his team off the floor during an exhibition game has zero room to comment on any coach or anything the NCAA does or does not do to said coaches…

- Seth Davis and John Feinstein also need to shut the hell up… Their Duke bias is so obvious and they live to pounce on the University of Kentucky… Feinstein has managed to slam UK in his last four Sporting News columns... Hater!!!

- Clark “Bagel and Three as a player against UK” Kellogg was so biased during the game towards U of L… He was openly rooting for U of L much like Billy Packer used to do when an ACC team was playing anybody… He and Jimmy “I Am Bitter for being on Eddie Suttons Staff at UK and nobody likes me here” Dykes should not be allowed back in Rupp Arena… EVER!!!

- How sad for “The coach that came after Eddie” that in the place where he had his most success as a coach he was booed so badly and the distaste for him continues to grow and grow… After the way he coached his team up for the most recent UK vs. UL game I think that distaste will grow even further… Without a doubt everyone thought he would have at least won one championship at UL by now but that has not happened… I do not see him being the Y at any future UK games (when the cheerleaders bring someone out of the stands to complete spelling Kentucky)… Can’t wait for the day that we have Tubby in the house to do this because you will see how truly loved he was by UK fans and still is to this day…

- For NFL Player Howie Long as the pitchman for Chevy (aka US Government Car Company) to me just makes no sense… His condescending attitude alone would keep me from ever buying one of their cars… He says in the commercial that Honda does make something that Chevy does not and they then show a Honda lawnmower… Actually there is one other thing Honda makes that Chevy does not and that is a profit…

- The Urban Meyer thing still has me scratching my head…

- Let’s see we have gone from Tiger to Urban to Kelly to Leach to McGuire to Carroll to Kiffin to ??? Who will be the next big headline maker in sports… As for ESPN coverage of Leach fair or unfair??? Look at the Leavitt coverage and he may have struck a player or players… You tell me whether or not an employee of ESPN influenced that (Texas Tech) coverage….

- By the way Lane Kiffin is a real piece of work in my book… Guy has zero maturity and that is going to bite his ass… Spell check tries to change is name to coffin so there you go…

- Prayers to my sister Jayne and her dog Albi… Albi had to have some surgery this week and for a dog here age that is a tough one for sure… She is doing well so far…

Music

Finally broke down and replaced our MP3 players… We spent the last several weeks loading our CD’s to the new music format (we still have a ways to go) and I finally have my music with me again at work… Did not realize how bad I missed not having it with me to listen to… Life is better with a soundtrack… I am going to start downloading some songs from I Tunes that I am just looking for a song vs. the entire CD or Album…