L Yes: My Louisville Primer

A happy New Years Eve to all! It's been a great week. For starters, I unwrapped my MacBook Air which is freaking sweet. It's a joy to be back on the keyboard again! A lot of exciting things are happening as the new year begins. Yesterday I ran into a good friend while shopping with Rachel and am SERIOUSLY considering taking up him up on his offer of a new direction. My fiancee Rachel is leaving for Africa in two days which promises to be an awesome trip for her and a lot of worrying for me. All of that can wait though for today is a very special day. Today is Louisville game day!

All the build up to this game got me thinking. What does Louisville mean to me? We all know the rivalry and its key moments, but growing up in Eastern Kentucky it wasn't that big of a deal to most of us. Yeah we knew the Cardinals, we knew the city, so on and so forth. Truth of the matter is, I didn't REALLY care about this rivalry until I got to college at UK. Even then it took some time.

Growing up on the Ohio and West Virginia border meant that trips to Louisville were very rare. Why go? Cincinnati and Columbus were easier to get to and bigger. The only time we really went to Louisville was for KYA or Key Club events. The point- we had no reason to even care about them.

We all thought of Louisville as a separate entity that clashed with the very core of Kentucky. I am not saying that I don't enjoy big cities- I do! I've been to some of the worlds best. We just viewed Louisville as an outlier in our state. Because of our location so far east, I considered Louisville to be Western Kentucky. It was 3 plus hours away and culturally divided from us.

Once I got to UK I started to go to Louisville more. I enjoy the city of Louisville very much. Coming from a baseball family made me appreciate the Slugger Museum and its history in the sport that built my family. I appreciate the role the city played in Western Expansion. I LOVE the water front walking trails and the cleaned up downtown. It's a nice place to visit. It just doesn't feel "Kentucky".

So what of the school? I of course visited Louisville's campus when in high school along with all the other state schools. I had a very open mind. I knew that Louisville had a top tier Poli Sci program and offered many scholarships particularly to those from back home. I wanted to check it out. Upon arriving, I knew this place wasn't for me. The campus was atrocious. They were doing a lot of renovating and such, but the idea of an urban campus wasn't for me. It just didn't feel right.

The rest is history- I chose the school I was going to go to all along and had a great ride there. It was there that my hatred for the Cards began. Being at UK was awesome- minus the TERRIBLE basketball during my tenure. Every university has students that are fans of other schools. I would proudly rock Nebraska red during football season. Did I love the Cats football team? Of course, but family first! I would also notice a lot of other red walking around too. Ohio State scarlet was everywhere. That's ok though. When is the last time UK played OSU or Nebraska? Another shade of red caught my eye though...

CARDS

There was a significant population of Louisville fans at UK which always confused me. They would rock their gear even when we weren't playing. They were especially annoying when we did play them. Student tickets for solid blue fans were wasted on L fans. I always wanted to ask them why they just didn't go to Louisville. It would make sense right? If you are a fan of terrible Big East football and Cards basketball why come to UK? Seeing them and hearing them just infuriated me.

Over time you started to learn more about them and what they thought of the Kentucky fan base. They love to call us hillbillies, rednecks, inbred, degenerates, etc. I'm used to that. Anytime I say I'm from Ashland I get looked at as if I am those things. Comes with the turf. Louisville fans kick it into overdrive. I wish they could see their own fan base and the ridiculousness of it.

Let's use an analogy- Kentucky is Panem from The Hunger Games. Louisville is the "Capitol". They view the rest of the state as inferior to them. It's true though- when people think of Kentucky they think of Bourbon, KFC, and The Derby. Industries that are located in Louisville but forged throughout our state.

They love to point out that basketball is also synonymous with our state and take credit for that too. They must be thinking back to the old ABA days when the Kentucky Colonels played in Louisville. No offense to the sane Cardinal fans, but when people think about basketball in this state one team ALWAYS comes up and it's not the Cards.

It's nice to be passionate about your team. It's great to love your city. The way they do it is almost cult like though. The Big Blue Nation has its nuts too, but we don't claim to be better than what we are. Louisville is a nice city, but it's not New York. The way that they look down upon the rest of the state is why I can't stand them. We may be redneck and dumb but they parade around with a bird that has teeth and throw up the international symbol for being a loser. Let's embrace our faults and move on because we are all Kentuckians and we are all in this together.

Unless you want to leave the Commonwealth and join Indiana because we will totally help you move.

Prediction:

Kentucky 82 Louisville 68

A Funny Thing Happened in Virginia...

Well what a weekend.....

Over the weekend Rachel and I traveled to Williamsburg, VA for a small holiday vacation. Williamsburg has always been a special place for me and I have frequented it many times over the year. It also a place of shear beauty. The plan had been in the works for a couple of months. Secrecy was the name of the game. I was in love with the plan I had created and could not wait to implement it! Of course, the plan did not go as according to plan. A few hiccups caused a quick audible that actually worked out well. In the end, the play was a success and we got engaged. The following is a recap of the proposal day.

The day began at home in Ashland. We stayed in Ashland Friday night to cut down on the drive Saturday. I thought the jig was up Friday night as my parents passed on the ring behind closed doors. When we opened the door, Rachel was standing there. I quickly had to hide the ring in my back pocket. I played pretty good prevent defense to keep her from finding the ring which was quite noticeable in my pocket.

We met up with Ranjo and his fiance at their hotel on our way out of town. Rachel was the only person in the room who did not know what was coming which in itself was kind of fun! From there we began our MUCH easier drive to Williamsburg. Last year we were delayed by a massive snow storm. Our 7 hour drive ended up being a 13 hour nightmare. This year we were met by warm sunny skies. Everything was going as planned.

We arrived on time to our condo in the city. They tried to rope us into some real estate meeting to perhaps one day purchase a condo there. They quickly became disinterested in us when we laughed at them for asking us if our income was at least $50,000. Relieved though, we headed to our condo and changed for our evening.

The plan was simple: Busch Gardens Williamsburg is transformed at Christmas time into Christmastown. Christmastown takes FULL advantage of a park that is annually voted as the most beautiful theme park in North America. No rides were open as Busch Gardens becomes one big experience full of international foods, world class entertainment, and of course international shopping. It would be the perfect primer for our evening.

As Rachel was getting ready I went over the handling of the ring box. I knew I couldn't take it into the park- security would have asked me to empty my pockets or felt it and inquired about it. I knew I had to leave it in the car somewhere safe and out of view. I also had to be careful about the walk to the car. She can't feel the box. I decided to hide in my left jacket pocket which is easily accessible to me. As I opened the door I took the box out slowly, using my body to disguise my action and dropped it into the little compartment on the driver side door. Step one complete...

We began our drive to Busch Gardens by just talking. I don't remember about what- I was focused on the task at hand. We approached Busch Gardens and immediately something seemed wrong. I noticed that the area was quite dark. I was put at ease when I saw a massive light display. Whew. Ok, calm it down, right? Wrong. There was a huge road sign saying that the park is temporarily closed due to it being at capacity. We get up to the gate and the lady tells us that they are closed and that we need to turn around. I was furious because now we were off plan. I didn't know what to do. I could not have anticipated this. I have been coming to this park since I was 12 and NEVER once been turned away due to a crowd. It was bizarre. It was time to scramble.

I DID NOT want to go into Colonial Williamsburg this early. There would still be a lot of people there. I needed at least two more hours. My first thought was a movie? It was a risky play but it hit me that Williamsburg had a Movie Tavern and Sherlock Holmes had just opened. I threw that out to her and she said sure. Ok, audible in motion. In the end though it fit because Movie Tavern is where we went on our first date which also on the 17th of the month. All is well.

I told Rachel when the night was over that I remembered nothing about the movie. I couldn't really tell you what happened which is a shame because I wanted to see it! The movie ended around 9:45 which put us on schedule. We made the short drive to Colonial Williamsburg and parked the car. We parked on the far end of the Duke of Gloucester Street and began the walk. We walked down the cauldron fire lit streets and admired the crystal clear sky and scenery. It was a perfect night to say the least. Not to cold at all.

I was freaking the hell out as we walked closer to the objective. Ground zero was to be the apothecary shop. It seemed appropriate considering Rachel's field of study. There of course was a photographer taking professional pictures of the store fronts and he was at that end of the street taking pictures of the apothecary store! Audible number two was in the works. The closest unique building was the capitol. Luckily it was lit up by fire cauldrons so the scene looked really good. I decided that was going to be the new target.

We approached the west wing of the capitol which looks like the front of it due to its location on the long street. We held each other for a few moments and admired the stars. I was delaying it as long as I could. Not because I didn't want to, but because I was so nervous and timid. I bit down and told her that I loved her very much. She was looking up at the stars when I said that so I took that moment and fell to one knee. I told her I had a question to ask her. She turned to look at me and saw I was on one knee. She then said...

"Right now??"

I asked her to marry me and then she dropped this one...

"Are you sure??"

Needless to say I had achieved my goal of total surprise. She of course said yes. She reached out for the ring and then proceeded to drop my great grandmothers ring. Of course there was little light so we had to look for the ring. Typical though! We found the ring and we worked to place it on her finger. To achieve TOTAL surprise we had to forgo ring sizes. Luckily we got it on, but it needs to be sized.

We agreed upon a 2 day blackout period. We would go dark and not tell anyone about this until we left so that we could enjoy the trip. All in all, it was a heck of a night.

So there you go, the plan, the story, the outcome. It was a great weekend. I didn't know that the Colts won their first game, the Packers lost, Jones got hurt in our game, and that Kim Jong Il died. For me, that's saying something. It was the best vacation I have ever been on.

Sappy post complete. As the week goes on I will get back to the things that aren't as important as marriage- sports. The new MacBook is coming soon! For now, I am very happy to be engaged to an amazing woman!

Indiana. Yup. It Happened.

It was an interesting weekend in the world of college hoops. The top 2 teams fell, there was a brawl, and the NBA Commissioner became the evil emperor. With that little primer, let's dive into it...

Kentucky @ Indiana: Many people were worried about this game when the schedule was released. Were we worried that we WOULD lose? No. Were we worried that we COULD lose? Most definitely. Kentucky had to play its first true road game of the year in front of a raucous and blood thirsty crowd on Saturday and left with a hard loss. Gone was the undefeated season, the number one ranking, and reason. Many fans went into freakout mode after the loss. The fact is Indiana out played us. For one game, Indiana played better. Does that mean that they are the better overall team? No!

Give credit where credit is due though. Tom Crean has done a heck of a job in rebuilding the Indiana program. A few years ago they were playing with just one player who had any starting experience. Now they were able to keep a Zeller home and have landed a top recruiting class for next season. Indiana is certainly on its way back and this win helped to notify the world that Hoosier Hysteria coming.

For the Cats, it was a different story. Individually, certain players shined and redeemed themselves while others just added fuel to the fire of a rabid fan base.

Praise:

Marcus Teague: Teague was TERRIBLE in the first half. His Indiana homecoming was anything but memorable. Coach Cal lashed out at Teague in front of the cameras which meant that his playing time was going to be severely restricted in the second half. Instead, Teague came out firing in the second half and helped to keep us in this game. Teague showed a lot of maturity when faced with adversity.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist: MKG again played like a crazy man and showed tremendous leadership on the court. When we needed a key layup or shot, MKG went out of his way to take over the game. He continues to shine as a special UK player.

Eloy Vargas: ELOY! Davis being in foul trouble and Jones being non-existent provided us the opportunity to sweat nervously as Eloy stumbled onto the court. The Eloy we saw was not the bumbling Centaur we are all so used to. Eloy put in great minutes and played stellar defense. This could be a special year for him as well.

Darius Miller: Senior leadership came through in the second half. He had a mistake on the last play that we can overlook, this time...

Jeers:

Terrance Jones: What was going on there? His lack of production on the court didn't bother me as much as his lack of enthusiasm on the bench. The camera caught him too often hunching over in his chair, looking apathetic, and lost in space. Everyone has bad days on the court, that is still no excuse to look like you don't care on the bench. Not every team will have UNC on their chests. Hopefully it was a fluke. Let's hope the Jones we all love shows up next time.

Kentucky fought back in a hostile environment when down by 10. They showed a lot of poise and determination. The free throws hurt as did the lack of a foul on the last play. However, this YOUNG team showed a lot of growth in Bloomington. This is a good loss. It's one that we can all dissect and then ask the question, "Ok, how do we not let that happen again?"

Polls

Polls are worthless in basketball. It doesn't matter what you are ranked. Kentucky fans are sometimes too caught up in the vanity of a high ranking. Being ranked number 1 is nice, but not important. The new polls came out today and the pollsters had us ranked number three behind Syracuse and Ohio State. Cuse is undefeated and OSU lost on Saturday. Wait... Don't complain. Ohio State went to Lawrence to play a tough Kansas team without Jared Sullinger. Understandable loss. With that said, don't be bitter about it. We beat Kansas, remember that. RPI is very important. Even with our loss, our RPI remains solid. One last thing- We are still ranked higher than Louisville. Boom.

The Brawl

Xavier and Cincinnati decided to beat the hell out of each other in a fight that called their annual crosstown rivalry short on Saturday afternoon. The suspensions came down for the UC players that threw sucker punches and the Xavier players who too were involved in the fight. Throwing sucker punches is inexcusable UC. However, going on national TV and telling the nation that you were going to "zip them up" is also moronic Xavier. Mick Cronin made it clear that the punishments would be severe. He also expressed sincere apologies to anyone who would listen. The punishments came out today... 6 games maximum. Geez. Charges need to be filed and Yancey needs to be booted from the team. This is one rivalry that needs to be put on ice for a while.

All in all, another great weekend of college hoops. Don't jump UK fans, it will all be ok come March. Maybe.

The Big East (South, North, West)

Some notes before I go off on a tirade. The old trusted HP computer has been out of commission for the last few weeks. A new computer is coming on Christmas Day. It's been hard being quiet during a fun and controversial regular season. I hope to be back to full speed before the BCS Bowls. I will be blogging more religiously during the college hoops season. With that said- there is ONE story that has gotten me to a keyboard. ONE story that makes my blood boil. ONE conference. The Big East.

The Big East is one of the lucky six to control an Automatic Qualifying (AQ) bid to a BCS bowl. The winner of this conference goes to a multi million dollar BCS bowl no matter what its record is. The Big East is the worst conference in football. Three teams are defecting from the Big East, 2 of which are considered to be the perennial powers. Every conference has dabbled in expansion during 2011. Every conference has then made moves to ensure survival. For a while it was the Big 12 that appeared to be on the verge of extinction. After all, the Big East poached TCU when they were hot. Then Oklahoma and Texas decided to stay, Pitt, Cuse, and WVU decided to go and just like that the Big East was on life support. The dilemma became too big to ignore. In the end, the Big East chose to expand- a lot. They added a lot of quantity, but did they add quality? The answer is no. The Big East also chose to throw its basketball tradition down the drain too. So what did they do? Observe...

Where?

Football and Basketball Big East States: Ohio, Kentucky, Connecticut, New Jersey, Florida, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, D.C, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Texas, Idaho, California.

Makes sense right?

Let's break it down...

Football

The sport that drives the madness. The Big East is losing WVU, Syracuse, and Pitt. They will be adding (In Football Only) Boise and San Diego State. They will also be adding in both sports Houston, UCF, and SMU. They could potentially be adding Air Force or Navy. So what does it all mean? Nothing.

Boise State: This is the ONLY good thing about this expansion. Boise gets into a (for now) BCS AQ conference. Boise does lift the profile of the league a little bit. Will they keep winning without Moore? Will they be able to compete against "better" competition week after week? I guess we will see.

Houston: Coach Sumlin has done a GREAT job over the last four years at Houston. However, he has done all that with his standout quarterback Case Keenum. Good things are happening at Houston under Sumlin. Except now Sumlin appears to be heading to the SEC with Texas AM. What happens to Houston now?

SMU: The Pony Express. Remember them? The school made headlines in the 80's for its NCAA violations and were levied with the death penalty. SMU has been irrelevant ever since. June Jones has done a hell of a job with the Mustangs taking them to consecutive bowl games after starting his first season 1-11. He has rebuilt the Stangs and has made them a force in the CUSA. This could be a competitive team in the Big East moving forward. HOWEVER, June Jones is rumored to be heading to the PAC12. So what happens to SMU now?

San Diego State: Brady Hoke is at Michigan now but Rocky Long has picked up the pieces and is actually doing quite well. The Aztecs are a competitive team in the Mountain West and actually could compete in the Big East. Maybe.

Central Florida: UCF has actually been on the uptick lately under head coach George O'Leary. The Knights have been to several CUSA title games and have appeared in bowls on a yearly basis. This year was the first losing season in some time. From a facilities standpoint, The Knights are on a BCS level. New football and basketball facilities have sprung up on campus and are considered to be some of the best in FBS and D1 athletics. The talent level has also gone up. The Knights tried to get into the Big East before but were overlooked for USF. The Knights now have the chance to compete in a BCS league and look to be ready. The only problem is that the NCAA is sniffing around campus and they might be onto something. Welcome to the big time boys...

Basketball

The Big East IS a basketball conference. The size of the league makes it so strong. The quality of the teams makes it stronger. Top to bottom the Big East is a basketball FIRST league. The new expansion does not help its basketball image. Instead, it deeply hurts the league. Losing Pitt, Syracuse and WVU hurts a lot. Adding SMU, Houston, and UCF doesn't replace the loss. Even if they get Navy or Air Force, you aren't adding ANYONE of the caliber of the teams that you are losing. San Diego State would have been a good addition but they are only coming in football. The only decent team you are adding is UCF, but again, they are under investigation by the NCAA. So instead of drudging through the terrible teams the Big East is adding in basketball, let's look at who they should have gone after in basketball only.

Memphis: Pitino kept them out when the league expanded a few years ago and now it has come back to haunt him. Memphis brings instant credibility to a league desperately looking to hold onto a little dignity. Josh Pastner is young and looks to be building his own program there. This would have been a slam dunk pickup.

Xavier: Would they have left the A10? Maybe, maybe not. Xavier is a good fit for the league- a BASKETBALL school in Cincinnati. It fits geographically and culturally. More so then Houston.

Temple: Oh Temple, the team you dumped already. Temple basketball (and football) is back on the rise. The thing is, would they want to come back? It would be nice to get the old Philly teams back together again.

Reality: They never would have accepted any of those teams. Memphis maybe, but Memphis football is terrible. Conference expansion is all about football. The league is going to take a backseat in basketball because of the economics of college football which is a shame.

But there is more...

The New Big East

The Big East is a joke. The new expansion is a joke. You want to give a BCS bowl bid to the winner of the league whose teams are Louisville, Rutgers, Connecticut, Cincy, Boise, SMU, Houston, San Diego State and forgive me if I forgot another mediocre team over a third more deserving team from the Big Ten or the SEC? It doesn't make sense. Especially to the BCS who seem to worship at the church of money. Connecticut could not sell out their allotment of tickets to the Fiesta Bowl last year. They had to eat the bill. Louisville v Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl... who remembers that? The ratings for games involving Big East teams are the lowest of the BCS bowls. Who is going to tune in to watch SMU play Oregon?

They better pray that when the BCS meets next year to determine their next evolutionary step that they vote to keep the Big East AQ bid. If they don't, they are going to be hurting for cash. BCS bowls bring in A LOT of money to a league. Those new Big East schools are going to need it. Why?

Boise to South Florida: 2,628 miles

San Diego State to Rutgers: 2,740 miles

Houston to Cincinatti: 1,056 miles

It REALLY hurts to be San Diego State...

to Boise: 954 miles

to Houston: 1,469 miles

to SMU: 1,361 miles

to Cincinnati: 2,170 miles

to Louisville, 2,074

to Orlando: 2,431

to Connecticut: 2,518 miles

The Big East was a joke in football before and will probably be more of one now. Losing Pitt, WVU, and Cuse hurts a lot because you lose a healthy football fan base. The rest of the schools are basketball schools (Hell Pitt, WVU, and Cuse are too). UConn, Cincy, and Louisville have all been to BCS bowls but are more known for their basketball programs. Ask the fans, they will agree. Basketball is the life blood in Storrs. I say it again, they better pray that they hold on to their AQ bid because if they don't, they are in trouble.

Poor Boise State. They can NEVER catch a break. Maybe they should get a deal like Notre Dame and get an AQ Bid if they finish ranked 14 or higher. Then again, we wouldn't be looking to hard at crazy expansions had Notre Dame just decided to bring their football team into the Big East with their other athletic programs.