Congratulations Mimi!

Mimi wins her first Derby!

Congratulations Mimi! 

FINAL RESULTS

Order of Picks and Horses Drawn

The names were drawn randomly to determine the order the of the picks. 

Below is the order of the picks along with your horses and here are are the ODDS. Good Luck! TV coverage begins at 4pm Saturday on NBC. Post time for the Derby - approx 6:30pm.  The weather should be perfect. 75 and sunny. 

Debbie - My Man Sam

Rick - Mor Spirit

Gabe - Outwork

Justin Danzing Candy

Lyndsey - Mo Tom

Mary - Nyquist

Anna - Creator

Jack - Lani

Levi - Oscar Nominated

Kay - Whitmore

Mike - Gun Runner

Clay - Tom's Ready

Luke - Exaggerator

Kate - Majesto

Andrew - Trojan Nation

Mama Donna - Shagaf

Kacey - Moyhaymen

Ted - Destin

Raegan Durfee - Suddenbreakingnews

Abby - Brody's Cause

Derby 2016

The 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby is this Saturday, May 7th. You can GO HERE to learn all about the KY Derby. I need to to know if you would like to participate. The sweepstakes is only open to "The Fam." (which includes extended Fam) I will be randomly putting the entries into a hat with randomly assigned numbers. Mary & and I will then draw numbers alphabetically by the first name of each participant until all horses have been chosen. You could possibly have more than 1 horse to cheer on to the finish line! Please comment below if you would like to be included and stay tuned for updates. The field should be ready to go by Thursday of this week. Last year's winner - JACK CORNELL with "American Pharaoh." The winner gets a big congratulations from the rest of us and bragging rights for 1 year! 

You must let me know in the comment section if you want to be included.

My Favorite UK Player of All-Time

Gabriel Kane Cornell

Anna Laine West

Congratulations Jack!

Jack wins his first Derby!

Final Results

Picks - Derby - 2015

The names were drawn in alphabetical order by first name with the youngest getting an extra pick. 

Below are your horses and here are are the ODDS. Good Luck! TV coverage begins at 4pm on NBC. Post time for the Derby - approx 6:24pm. 

Luke – Ocho Ocho Ocho

Levi – Carpe Diem

Abby (West) – Far Right
Justin - Frammento

Kacey – Upstart

Andrew – It’s a Knock Out

Lyndsey – Dortmund

Kate (Cornell) – War Story

Jack – American Pharoah and Danzing Moon

Rick – Keen Ice

Debbie – Frosted

Clay – Mr. Z

Ted – MubTaaqhij

Allie – Stanford 

Kate (West) – Firing Lane

Regan – International Star and Tencendur

Mary – El Kadier
Mike – Bolo

Derby - 2015

The 141st running of the Kentucky Derby is this Saturday, May 2nd. You can GO HERE to learn all about the KY Derby. I need to to know if you would like to participate. The sweepstakes is only open to "The Fam." (which includes extended Fam) I will be randomly putting the entries into a hat with randomly assigned numbers. Mary & I will then draw numbers alphabetically by the first name of each participant until all horses have been chosen. You could possibly have more than 1 horse to cheer on to the finish line! Please comment below if you would like to be included and stay tuned for updates. The field should be ready to go by Thursday of this week. Last year's winner - ABBY with "California Chrome." The winner gets a big congratulations from the rest of us and bragging rights for 1 year! 

You must let me know in the comment section if you want to be included

Whip-Around Fishing

Turtling - 4th of July Weekend

This is a spoof of a TV fishing show. Insider info. "Ricky Joe" is my brother Rick. "Snook" was the nickname for Rick and mine's Dad. "Paul Meadow" is where I thought Ted lived years ago. He actually lives in Palmetto, FL. "Debbie's Cafe" is the made up name for Rick's wife's kitchen where a lot of tasty food is prepared and served. "The Florida Club" is where Rick lives.

Abby Wins! A Great Sports Story

And the winner in the 2014 West Family Derby Sweepstakes is...
Abby!
And it's her very first Derby! Justin finished in second with Commanding Curve and Clay finished third with Danza. Final Results

This is a great sports story.  California Chrome's owners, Steve Coburn and Perry Martin, are no Kentucky blue bloods. They're a couple of working stiffs who live near Reno, Nevada.

A trainer called them "dumb asses" for getting into the racing game, inspiring the duo to put the letters DAP on their silks, which stands for Dumb Ass Partners.

"We're going to go down in history," Coburn predicted.

Derby Picks - 2014

Here's the random order in which the names were drawn along with the horse/horses picked. The first 3 names drawn out (Me, Mary and Clay) get 2 picks. I know what you're thinking, but I swear it was a random draw witnessed by Mimi.
And here are the ODDS.

Mike - Wildcat Red and Vinceremos
Mary - Uncle Sigh and Medal Count
Clay - Chiti and Danza
Abby - California Chrome
Rick - Dance with Fate
Levi - Candy Boy
Debbie - Wicked Strong
Luke - Samraat
Jack - Vicars in Trouble
Kate - Harry's Holiday
Ted - We Miss Artie (He didn't opt in - I just put him in)
Justin - Commanding Curve
Andrew - General A Rod
Lyndsey - Ride on Curlin
Kacey - Tapiture
Kay - Intense Holiday

Good luck!

KY Derby 2014

The 140th running of the Kentucky Derby is this Saturday, May 3rd. You can GO HERE to learn all about the KY Derby. I need to to know if you would like to participate. The sweepstakes is only open to "The Fam." (which includes extended Fam) I will be randomly putting the entries into a hat with randomly assigned numbers. Mary & I will then draw numbers alphabetically by the first name of each participant until all horses have been chosen. You could possibly have more than 1 horse to cheer on to the finish line! Please comment below if you would like to be included and stay tuned for updates. The field should be ready to go by Thursday of this week. Last year's winner - Clay West with "Orb." (I'm still not sure if he knows he won)The winner gets a big congratulations from the rest of us and bragging rights for 1 year! 

You must let me know in the comment section if you want to be included.

KY Basketball - An Empire in the Making?

KY's run through the NCAA Tournament was the greatest run I've ever seen a KY team make.

UK Defeats Louisville 73-66 Dec 28th

Welcome to This World Abigail Leigh West!

The newest member to the West family. Abigail Leigh West born 5:27am on Sept 30th, 2013 - 1 hour after Kacey and Justin arrived at the hospital. 8lbs 3oz and 20.5".  Thanks God!
Amazingly - Mary and I were in Altus when she was born. We had made our travel plans weeks in advance around the due date and "it just so happened" that she arrived the Monday after the Thursday that we arrived.

Abby's First Meet and Greet from M West on Vimeo.

35 Years? That's Crazy!

from our cruise to Cozumel....

A Great Visit!

And This Year's Winner Is...

CLAY is this year's winner with Orb and gets a BIG CONGRATULATIONS from the rest of us for his win in this year's West Family KY Derby Sweepstakes! My guess is he didn't even know he was entered but that's OK. Cadets are busy and they deserve to win.

She-Dub came in second with Golden Soul and I'm sure she didn't know she was entered. And a fun fact is that Rick's horse has finished last the past 2 years. 

REPLAY

Order of Finish: 

The Greatest 2 Minutes in Sports

The post positions for the horses have been drawn and I am now pleased to announce the order of The West Family Derby Sweepstakes drawing for horses as well as the corresponding picks. The order that players pick their horses was determined through a random drawing and here is the order in which the picks were made along with your horse/horses as drawn by Mimi.
*We added Clay into the running although we did not receive confirmation. He is a very busy cadet.
Good luck!

Meet Your Horses

Ted – Will Take Charge – 20-1

Ted – Black Onyx – 50-1 - SCRATCHED

Pops – Vyjack – 15-1

Pops - Palace Malice – 20-1

Mimi – Frac Daddy – 50-1

Mimi - Normandy Invasion – 12-1

Levi – Charming Kitten – 20-1

Levi – Revolutionary – 10-1

BDub – Golden Soul – 50-1

BDub – Goldencents – 5-1

Andrew Verrazano – 4-1

Kacey – Overanalyze – 15-1

Debbie – Mylute – 15-1

Luke – Lines of Battle – 30-1

Rick – Falling Sky – 50-1

Kate – It’s My Lucky Day – 15-1

Lyndsey – Giant Finish – 50-1

Justin – Oxbow – 30-1

Jack – Java’s War – 15-1

Clay – Orb – 7-2

TV coverage begins 4pm eastern on NBC - Post time is approximately 6:24pm.
Last Year's Race

The West Family KY Derby Sweepstakes - Derby 139

The 139th running of the Kentucky Derby is this Saturday, May 4th. You can GO HERE to learn all about the KY Derby. I need to to know if you would like to participate. The sweepstakes is only open to "The Fam." (which includes extended Fam) I will be randomly putting the entries into a hat with randomly assigned numbers. Mary & I will then draw numbers alphabetically by the first name of each participant until all horses have been chosen. You could possibly have more than 1 horse to cheer on to the finish line! Please comment below if you would like to be included and stay tuned for updates. The field should be ready to go by Thursday of this week. Last year's winner - Andrew Cornell with "I'll Win Another." The winner gets a big congratulations from the rest of us and bragging rights for 1 year! 

You must let me know in the comment section if you want to be included.

Happy Birthday Jack! The Big 1!

Phil's Story

The Stoops Era Begins

Happy Birthday Levi!

Great Trip to WHOOK!

The Thanksgiving Jar - A West Tradition

Here's how it works. Post something you're thankful for throughout the day on Thanksgiving via the comment section and I will add your note in the jar. As new notes are added, more notes will show up in the jar. See how it works? The tradition started when the kids were small. We would put a jar on the counter on Thanksgiving morning and as thoughts of things we were thankful for would pop in our heads, we would put a note in the jar. Then we would pull all the notes out at the end of the day and read them. We have much for which to be thankful!

Free-Will Thing Keeps Disappointing God

From Leonard Pitts Jr. Miami Herald Columnist. He won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2004.

I threw down the newspaper in disgust. God, who was sitting in the recliner next to mine watching the baseball playoffs, glanced over.

"Relax," He said, "the campaign will be over in a few days." "It's not that," I said. "Then what?" I handed God the newspaper. He put on his reading glasses and spent a few minutes studying the page. Finally, He shook His head.

"Oh," He said as he laid the paper aside. "'Oh?' Is that all you can say? Didn't you read the story? These rebels in Uganda, they're kidnapping children and forcing them to be soldiers and sex slaves! It says here they've killed 100,000 people, displaced 1.6 million over the last 18 years. Doesn't that bother you?"

 "It bothers me," said God. "I would think so. Especially since ... " God arched His brow. "Especially since what?"

It took me a second to gather my courage. "Especially since they're doing it in your name," I said finally. "It's bad enough they call themselves the Lord's Resistance Army, but did you see this part here? According to the United Nations, these monsters say they're kidnapping kids in order to set up a new government based on the Ten Commandments."

"They forgot No. 8," said God. "Beg pardon?" "No. 8," said God. "'Thou shalt not steal.' Also No. 6, of course. 'Thou shalt not kill."'

"Why don't you stop them then? Send a plague. Destroy the rebels." "Is that what you think I should do?" "You weren't shy about it in the Old Testament." God sighed. "You send a little too much rain one time and they never let you forget." "It's not funny!" To my surprise, I shouted it. "You're angry with me," said God. I swallowed hard. "I guess I am. It shouldn't be this way. It doesn't have to be."

"Well, we agree there." "Then make it stop. You could." "I could," He agreed. "Maybe I will. But it will just start again somewhere else. You know that, don't you? That's the problem with that free will thing I gave you all."

"Yeah, yeah," I said. "We can choose to do right or we can choose to do wrong. I know all about that."

"Don't give me 'yeah, yeah,"' God said sternly. "And for the record, that's not what I meant. What I'm saying is that you people, you're all like that Jim Carrey fellow in that 'Bruce' movie. You all think you can be a better God than I can. Some awful thing happens to you, or some bad person isn't instantly struck down by lightning bolts and you figure it must be because God is slipping. You figure he needs your help.

 "So you decide to play God. And you use my name to sanction your meanest and most narrow impulses, like I'm a moral Get Out of Jail Free card or something. You say you're doing my will, then you steal babies and make war. You say you're doing what God said, then you kill one other. I told you to 'love' one other. How do you get from 'love' to 'kill?"'

"But how are we supposed to have faith in you when you let so many bad things happen?" I asked.

"I could ask you the same question," said God. "You know why I gave you free will? I wanted you to surprise yourselves sometimes. Surprise me, too. I knew you'd do things that disappointed me, but I thought you'd make me proud more often. I thought you would find more opportunities to do good. Instead, you find opportunities to break my heart.

 "And yet I keep giving you chances, don't I? Keep giving you sunrises, keep giving you babies, keep giving you breath, waiting for you to surprise me."

I picked up the paper and looked at the awful story again. "Lord, have mercy," I said.

God gave me a wan smile. "I know," He said. "You think it's hard believing in me? Think how I feel, trying to believe in you."

Sad But True

as posted by Clay West via facebook...thanks

There is a point beyond which they must not advance.

as posted by Rick West via facebook in honor of Veterans Day - thanks