Party Time In KY! Calipari's A Cat!

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Little Ricky - Shaking In His Gucci Shoes

I have to apologize but it's like Christmas in Lexington right now. KY basketball is back! Pitino & Calipari - Click For Great Story

KY's Next Coach ? I Think So

John Vincent Calipari (born February 10, 1959, in Moon Township (a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a former professional and current college basketball coach. Since 2000, he has been the head coach of the University of Memphis men's basketball team. Though he did not invent it, Calipari is famous for popularizing the dribble drive motion offense which is popularly known as the Memphis Attack. Calipari lettered two years at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington before transferring to Clarion State, where he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Marketing. He played point guard at Clarion during the 1981 and 1982 seasons, leading the team in assists and free throw percentage. Calipari and his wife, Ellen, have two daughters, Erin Sue and Megan Rae, and a son, Bradley Vincent. From 1982–85, he was an assistant at the University of Kansas under Ted Owens and Larry Brown. From 1985–88, he was an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh under Paul Evans. From 1988–96, he was head coach at the University of Massachusetts. From 1996–99, he was head coach and Executive VP of basketball operations for the NBA's New Jersey Nets. During the 1999–2000 season, he was an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers under coach Larry Brown, before moving on to his current position at the University of Memphis. NEXT STOP - KENTUCKY!

Good Billy / Crazy Billy (calling his therapist)

He's gone and I'm glad. Weird things were going on behind the scenes with Billy Gillispie. Based on everything I have read, heard and seen in the past few weeks, UK's administration did the right thing by cutting their losses now. Why did they let him go?
Crazy Billy - His players no longer respected him or enjoyed playing for him. He would treat his players like dirt one minute and then praise them the next. All coaches do this to a certain extent - Billy took it too far. He insisted Miller play through a possible concussion in practice, ran Patterson until his feet bled, left Miller behind on the way to the SEC tourney (His parents had to get him there) threatened to kick Jodie Meeks off the team and told him (the #6 scorer in the country) not to shoot. He snubbed boosters, and important advertisers, said he was not an ambassador for the university, and is rumored by several people to be found drunk in public. He also embarrassed UK with his stupid halftime antics with ESPN reporters and insulted Tom Leach (UK's play by play guy) on the air. Not to mention he lost to Gardner-Webb, VMI and other lowly teams at home.
Good Billy - signed autographs for fans, gave some money to charity, teared up when talking about UK's tradition and seemed like a good ole boy.
Who is next? Today - I think it's John Calipari. Could definitely change tomorrow. Stay tuned. READ MORE

A Great US Representative From The Great State of Florida

I don't know how I missed this after football season but I did.

Why Basketball Is King In KY

It's been an exciting couple of days of basketball in Rupp Arena with day two of the boys sweet 16. And it's been a record-setting tournament as well with the most fans ever to watch the first round with more than 21,000 people in attendance for the fourth session. Those games featured Shelby Valley against Mason County, followed by Elliott County against Anderson County. Many schools sold their entire allotment of tickets in less than one hour. Tickets in Anderson County sold out in just 15 minutes. Elliott County, the smallest school in the tournament, and the Cinderella story in the Sweet Sixteen, is hoping its third trip in a row to the tournament will be the charm. The school with just 392 students has gained national attention this year. It has been on ESPN, in USA Today and Sports Illustrated. The largest crowd to ever watch a Sweet Sixteen game was set in 1987 when some 24,000 people packed Rupp Arena.

NIT

(Click on photo to enlarge the best dunk of the year) Cheered on by a raucous crowd in MEMORIAL COLISEUM , Kentucky outlasted UNLV 70-60 Tuesday night in the National Invitation Tournament first-round game. KY was still playing in Memorial Coliseum when I was a freshman at UK in 1975-76, the last year before moving into Rupp Arena. The Coliseum was a great place to attend games. I remember watching coach Dale Brown from LSU take his sport coat off, walk out to mid-court, throw it down on the UK logo and stomp on it. You talk about the roof coming off. KY fans are trying to do their best to get excited about the NIT. The first round NIT game being played in Memorial Coliseum was pretty cool. Rupp Arena is booked for KY's High School Sweet 16. Rumors are rampant about Billy being replaced at the end of the season. Something tells me that even when the season finally ends, we're going to be in for an interesting off season. Louisville being named the number one overall seed in the NCAA and Minnesota making it into the NCAA sure hasn't helped UK fans cope with the post season.

Priorites....

Sometimes, you just have to eat your WHOPPER

Poor Ruth

Your husband is off to prison for life for ripping of thousands of people for a total of a billion dollars. You must be devastated. If we weren't living in Bizarro World, the property you bought with all that stolen money would need to be sold so that the victims could at least get a little restitution. Well, Ruth Madoff is retreating to a $9.4 million beach side compound on Palm Beach in Florida that the feds will be powerless to seize from her, where she will relax, sun herself, and cackle at her husband's victims. Ruth recently declared their Palm Beach home to be her primary residence, for the same reason O.J. Simpson moved to Florida. Florida law protects homes from being seized to pay off creditors or the government. Prosecutors are in the process of seizing the Madoff's $7 million New York City apartment, and they will try to go after the Palm Beach home. The house in 1994 sold for $3.8 million, so it's skyrocketed nearly 150 percent since them. Poor Ruth. At least she'll be able to hang out with neighbors - probably some of the AIG executives. It's just another day in BIZARRO WORLD

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Bush makes good on promise to visit 8-year-old Lexington girl

Annie Toffey received the thrill of a lifetime this week when she got a visit from her favorite president: former President George W. Bush. Bush joked around with Annie, 8, during his stay at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington. He was nicer than she thought he'd be, she said. "It was awesome." Bush's visit to Kentucky was his first trip out of Texas and his first flight on something other than Air Force One since he left office, said Annie's dad, Ned Toffey. He arrived in Lexington on Tuesday afternoon and REST OF STORY

March Sadness

KY was knocked out of the SEC Tournament today by LSU and therefore I'm 99% sure we were knocked out of a chance at the NCAA tourney. First time in 17 years. It's just not the same. We'll probably be in the NIT. I guess that's better than nothing.

How To Get Your Dog To Entertain Themselves & You

Take a cone shaped Kong toy and insert a dog biscuit into the little round hole. Then, sit back and enjoy hours of watching your dog try to get the biscuit out. Gracie has figured out how to get three out in the last few days. I'm still not sure how she does it. Part of her technique includes laying on her back (See photo) like a bear cub and using gravity to her advantage. Smart dog. (Click on photo to enlarge)

It's Official - We Are Now Living In Bizarro World

ESPN All Access - Georgia Game

All Is Not Well In Cat Land

UPDATE - KY loses at Florida - 60-53. As my 2 readers may have noticed, I have not been posting about KY basketball recently because THEY SUCK! Last place Georgia beat us at home last night. They said it best on the KSR Blog. "I have watched a lot of basketball and I have questioned a lot of coaching moves. But I have never seen a more bizarre decision than the mass substitution to start the second half. For reasons that only he knows, Gillispie took out four of his five starters (leaving Porter) and put in Harrellson, Galloway, Miller and Slone into the game, with the contest close and momentum very much up in the air. Over the course of two minutes, that lineup took a 2 point lead and turned it into an 8 point deficit from which UK never came back. In so doing, Georgia got the confidence it needed to pull through to the end and UK found itself dug deep in a hole that could end its NCAA Tournament chances. Lots of people take up for and try to understand Billy Gillispie’s mind games…..this is one that is incomprehensible to me." I stayed up and listened to the post game radio show and Gillispie had the audacity to attack my buddy Tom Leach and accuse him of trying to get Gillispie to talk bad about his players. "You can't get me to talk bad about my players Tom, you just can't, I won't do that." Right after the encounter with Tom, he proceeded to throw his players under the bus. Although KY pays him 2 million dollars a year I'm beginning to think someone from Louisville is paying him 3 million to screw up the program. March Madness has turned in to Gillispie madness here in KY.

American Idol "Pick That Song" Competition

I thought it was supposed to be about singing but according to the judges, it seems to be more about the songs the contestants choose. My pick to win it all - Alexis Grace. Yeah, we're hooked again. BTW - I'm still keeping up with 24 but we have fallen behind with Lost.

Everyone Should Do It Once

In February I was called for jury duty. I actually enjoyed going and I recommend that everyone do it at least once. I was chosen to be a juror on a trial where the defendant was accused of shooting the plaintiff in the foot and robbing him of $400 and two gold chains. The plaintiff and his witness were from Honduras so we had an interpreter involved in the trial which slowed the process down. When we reported for duty the morning of day 2 of the trial, the defendant (A white guy probably in mid 30's) pleaded guilty to a lesser charge so the trial ended. Darn, I was hoping to see exactly how the sentencing part of the trial worked. The judge was a friend of mine. We have been in BSF together and a Sunday school class together years ago. It's refreshing to see a strong Christian judge on the bench. He was actually pretty funny and had everyone laughing during the jury selection process. I have often thought I would have been a good attorney and found myself daydreaming of nailing the defendant and the prosecuting attorney just like Matlock would. But then the thought of going back to school snapped me back to reality. I think we have a good judicial process and I found the quick civic lesson to be refreshing. I also made some friends with the other jurors. It reinforced the fact you can go anywhere in the state of KY, mention KY basketball and immediately have a room full of friends. I love it.

"Hello Americans - It's Time For News"

Paul Harvey could say more in fewer words than anyone I have ever heard. I often keep him in mind when writing radio scripts; trying to choose words carefully. I made quite a bit of money in the 90's selling his newscasts and features on WVLK. He was a radio voice who made you stop and listen whenever you heard him. I remember when Tom Martin, a radio news anchor for the ABC radio network in New York came back home to KY. WVLK hired him to do afternoons. He was still a fill-in for Paul Harvey when Mr. Harvey was off. I remember watching Tom do Paul Harvey News from the WVLK studios in downtown Lexington. I looked over his shoulder as he wrote the stories he would be using for that broadcast. He faxed the copy to an editor in Chicago who then faxed back any changes. I remember how exciting it was to watch Tom do the newscast that was broadcasting on close to 1000 other radio stations across the country. Many of us stood outside the studio as Tom turned the mic on and said: "Hello Americans, it's time for news. I'm Tom Martin for Paul Harvey. In Washington today...."
I'm having lunch with Tom next week. It will be interesting to hear him tell his Paul Harvey stories. I'll miss Paul Harvey's voice and his ability to capture my attention unlike anyone else I have ever heard. He was a class act who changed the radio industry.

Enjoying The Snow - Gracie & Her Buddy Roxanne