Happy Beat Louisville Day! Ky Wins - 69-62

Gratitude

Welcome To This World Levi!

Welcome to the world, Levi Deason West!!! Born 12/6/11 at 12:25 PM. 6 lbs, 8 oz...20" long.

Classic Game

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!
Side note: This is our fourth year of doing this via the blog. It's kind of neat to go back and look at the previous posts. Just type thanksgiving in the search window in the upper left hand corner.

A State of KY Basketball History Lesson

Fun Trip To The North

First stop - Charleston for some "rafting" and last minute cleanup.
Second stop - a trip to Keeneland for burgoo, horses and jocularity.
Third stop - UK Football - where we saw a rarity this season - a win. 38-14 over Jacksonville State.
Great time for us with Justin, Kacey & Luke! We wish you well in your new home in Altus, OK!

This Calls For A.....

Our Lives Can Change Quickly

Hank Fights Back - Click For Download

Days after being dropped from ESPN's "Monday Night Football," Hank Williams Jr. fired back at that network, "Fox and Friends" and what he called the "United Socialist States of America" in his signature style -- a song bellowing biting lyrics in between guitar licks.
"This country sure as hell has gone down the drain," Williams sings in a tune posted Monday on his official website. "We know what we need. We know who to blame."

Clever

Our Time Is Almost Here

Time To Move On?

Last week, FL destroyed us 48-10 and we have #1 ranked LSU on Saturday. So, emotionally, I have decided to move on to basketball where we have the best fans in all of college basketball!

The tents started going up before sunrise outside Memorial Coliseum Wednesday as University of Kentucky basketball fans started the campout for Oct. 14 Big Blue Madness tickets. The free tickets will be distributed at 7 a.m. Saturday for the first open practice for the men's and women's teams.

Not Much To Dance About "After" The Game....

KY goes down to it's arch-nemesis and loses at home to Louisville - 24-17. It's going to be a looooooong season.

This Year's Governor's Cup Goes To....

Both teams basically suck so far. KY is 2-0 with hard fought victories over the Hilltoppers of WKU and the mighty Chippewas of Central Michigan. Loserville - slipped by the mighty Racers of Murray State and lost to Florida International? But, it is still a huge rivalry as far as I'm concerned and once again the Wildcats will prevail over the dirty birds. My pick - KY - 10 - Loserville - 7. ESPNU - 7pm Saturday Night.
Go Cats!

And I Thought We Were Ready...

Check out some of the great plays from the QB position. Especially his "drop back" move. We're lucky we snuck by with an 11 point victory. 14-3. The 1st quarter was so bad I went to bed when it ended.

UK vs Western KY - Thursday 9:15 (Really) ESPNU

GO CATS! I believe we're ready....

And I Thought He Was Dead (Ray)

Call His Bluff

More great stuff from the smartest man in the world.



All of a sudden Obama is a born-again budget balancer prepared to bravely take on his own party by making deep cuts in entitlements. Really? Name one. He’s been saying forever that he’s prepared to discuss, engage, converse about entitlement cuts. But never once has he publicly proposed a single structural change to any entitlement.
MORE

Great Song from Laura Story

Me with Laura Story at the ICRS  Conference in St. Louis June 2013

4th of July Trick Shots

Andrew Cornell....

Bush Continues To Do The Right Thing

In Your Face Gaga

Good kids win the big one! It was refreshing to see the two finalists and their families in the finals. I already knew there are still great kids doing great things because of our two kids. But I saw this finale as a victory over the ridiculous, costume-wearing, sex-laden pop culture of today's music world. Are Lauren and Scotty a couple?

KY Derby Order of Finish

I wish the track announcer had a "KY accent."
The final order of finish for the 137th Kentucky Derby was:

1 -- Animal Kingdom
2 -- Nehro
3 -- Mucho Macho Man
4 -- Shackleford
5 -- Master of Hounds
6 -- Santiva
7 -- Brilliant Speed
8 -- Dialed In
9 -- Pants on Fire
10 -- Twice the Appeal
11 -- Soldat
12 -- Stay Thirsty
13 -- Derby Kitten
14 -- Decisive Moment
15 -- Archarcharch
16 -- Midnight Interlude
17 -- Twinspired
18 -- Watch Me Go
19 -- Comma to the Top

Here's Your Picks For The Run for the Roses!

You can start watching endless coverage at 5pm EST, Saturday on NBC. The post time for the Derby will be at 6:15pm EST. The race is going to be a wide open field. Uncle MO is the favorite right now, but this really could come down to anyone’s race.



And the picks are:
Andrew - Mucho Macho Man & Brilliant Speed
Clay - Pants on Fire
Debbie - Dialed In & Decisive Moment
Justin - Twice the Appeal & Soldat
Kacey - Shackleford & Stay Thirsty
Kate - Midnight Interlude & Toby's Corner
Luke - Nehro & Master of Hounds
Lyndsey - Comma to the Top & Twinspired
Mary - Santiva
Mike - Animal Kingdom
Rick - Uncle Mo SCRATCHED - courtesy of Clay - Archarcharch
Ted - Watch Me Go

The West Family KY Derby Sweepstakes

The 137th 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 & 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. Ted West had last year's winner - Super Saver. The winner gets a big congratulations from the rest of us!

Powerful

thanks to Clay West who shared this on Facebook

It's Official - We're Back - UK Headed to The Final Four After Defeating North Carolina 76-69! But Loses to UConn 56-55 Finishing 29-9

Calipari my "Coach of the Year"

HUGE win last night; one of the most memorable ever for this fan of 43 years. Cats take out the # 1 seeded Ohio State Buckeyes 62-60.

Good Weekend for the Cats!

"Freshman" Brandon Knight broke away from WV's and Bob Huggin's typical physical play and dropped 30 on the Mountaineers, as KY got revenge from last year's Sweet 16 loss - 71-63.
We were operating on about a 30 minute delay as the game tipped off at 12:15 due to Kacey attending a baby shower but the magic of the DVR made everything work just fine as the dogs and burgers were grilling out by the pool. Once the computers were synced up with the West Household in SC, we were ready for a fun afternoon.
Next up for the Cats - Ohio State, the overall # 1 seed. We are not skeered of the buckeyes. Should be another fun game but the late tip Friday evening (9:45pm) presents yet another dilemma for game time festivities. Do we all try to stay up late or do we tape the game and plan the game around a big game day breakfast on Sat morning? What say you?

March Madness Gets Off To A Glorious Start

Not because of KY's 2 point win over Princeton(59-57) but because of Morehead's defeat of the dirty Cards and Little Ricky - 62-61. Up Next WVU. Go Cats!

The Party Is Over

I have been in radio for 21 years and worked for an NPR funded station for 3.5 years. I have never understood the need for taxpayer dollars to go toward the funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting of which NPR falls under. The private sector can handle all the broadcasting needs of the public just fine. $422 million dollars goes to CPB - $93 million of it goes to NPR. The supporters will say "it's just a drop in the bucket." I for one, add up all the unnecessary "drops in the buckets" which when added together, equal buckets overflowing with waste. If your programming is good enough, the public will support it without the government's help. It's time we let CPB and NPR make it on their own, if they can.

This Pretty Much Sums It Up

A Wildcat / Gator Memory

UPDATE: UK WON 76-68!
Cats & Gators tomorrow at Rupp on CBS - 4pm.
I will be busy at a conference in Nashville and will not get to see the Cats win live.
Mike's Pick - UK 82 - UF 72.
(we won't talk about their game earlier in the season in Gainesville slthough the trip up was fun)

What's Going On In Minnesota?

Bruce Pearl Ends 8 Game SEC Suspension With A Loss At KY

guess they just didn't have enough weapons....
UK - 73 - UT - 61
He also lost his neck while he was off work.

Big Game Tomorrow!

UPDATE
Cats lose 70 -68 after coming from 13 down in the second half and then miss a last second shot that would have won it. We had fun anyway....

Tomorrow - ESPN - 9pm - KY and Florida at Florida.
Mike's Pick - KY 78 - FL - 70.
Lyndsey, Andrew an myself will be in Gainesville for this one along with Mike & April Brunjes - UF fans extraordinaire. Should be a very interesting day. UK is coming off one of it's worst losses in the past 4 years - losing to Ole Miss at Ole Miss. FL is coming in after defeating Vandy in overtime at Florida. It should be a barn burner. We need this one bad!
I give you an oldie but goodie - one of Florida's finest.

UK Basketball Back on Track

After a loss to Alabama at Alabama, there were a lot of doubts about what this team could do. Back on the road Saturday in Columbia, SC however put some of those doubts to rest as UK rolled to victory after SC closed to within 5 late in the GAME.

Kids Having Kids

We had a great time last week when Justin, Kacey and Luke were here for Christmas - Round 2! Lots of food, sports and ping pong. I just wish we could all get together more often. The babies are growing so quickly.

BBVA Compass Bowl Prediction

KY - 35 - Pitt - 21
Noon - Sat Jan 8th - ESPN. Go Cats!

Happy Birthday Mary!

This is one day a year you don't have to cook.
Love ya and thank you for all you do!

Why We Can't Stand Louisville And Love Beating Them

Great way to bring in the New Year as UK defeats UL - 78-63. UK lead almost the whole way and put a sound beating on LITTLE RICKY PITINO.


KY now leads the series 28-14.