Trip to T-ville

Well folks, the Misses and myself are shoving off for T-ville. Expect a full report tomorrow (hopefully with some pics). I have been told Bama fans are like UK B-ball fans coming off a 5 day meth binge, so we will see. We are heading down with no idea where to park and tailgate, so we are hoping for some Southern Hospitality and good Southern Tailgatin'. No time to break the game down, but my prediction is Cats 21 Tide 17.

Post Game Wrap-Up

I promised the lovely post-game wrap up on my re-welcome to blogging post. In this space I usually love to quote numerous delusional Card fans and their feelings about the game. However, this year I will refrain from quoting such delusional fans and preventing you from having to bathe yourselves, and only tell you that their only response in last year's basketball score.

This just in Card fan: your monopoly in football and basketball is over in this state. Feel better for a while, but Billy G and Rich B are on the scene and it is O-V-A!

For more info check the website: www.firekragthorpe.com for more info(it was launched after the game.

That's all I have for now, SEE YA LATER!

Football Time in the Bluegrass!

I have been overcome by a surprising combination of laziness and business during the last couple of months and have neglected the blog, thus losing my loyal following. Hopefully this is over with, and I will be able to keep the blog cruising along, but I will dedicate this short post to the big event of the day: the Cats taking on our dirty rivals to the west.

This game will come down to one thing: the battle in the trenches. The Cards do not have a linebacker that has recorded a D-1 tackle and are painfully thin at some positions on the D-line. With temperatures reaching over 100 on the field-turf expect depth to play a big role in this game. Folks will be cramping up all over the place, and fans will be dropping in the stands. Hopefully the Cats can avoid the big mistake and gradually wear them down with the ground attack. Coach Durbin's lock it down prediction: Cats 31 Cards 20.

Well Well Well

It has been a number of months since my last post. There is a reason for that: I was not ready to post my feelings. I come to you a humble and broken man. Let not the be a deterrent to what I have to say. "Beware the Ides of March." That's what the soothsayer said to Julius Cesar before his eventual demise and betrayal. Well, that is what was said to me before my life change. Let us please analyze the happenings after the Ides of March.

• During the second round of the SEC Tournament, a tornado struck the Georgia Dome and all of its in habitats were put at danger. It was not the first time I have been in a Tornado, but I hope it was the last. During Tornado 2K0 I was in Pep's Burritos, and it was not a pleasant experience.
• Fast Forward 2 more days: The Match results are coming out. For those of you not familiar with the match, it decides which sites a potential Pharmacy Resident will spend the next year of their life. In my case, I was hoping to find out I would be spending the next year as a hopeful resident at one of the 2 major academic sites in the city of Atlanta: Emory or Grady.
• Of these 2 sites, I was hoping for Grady. I interviewed at both places, and I hoped for a spot at one. Yet, March 15th came and went and I did not match with a residency program.
• At this point, I began the scramble for a pharmacist position at any hospital in Atlanta.
• Kelly Smith offered her assistance, and all Residency programs I applied to "were shocked I did not match anywhere."
• In the meantime, my beloved University of Kentucky Wildcats lost for the first time in the First Round of the NCAA tournament to our beloved douche bags of the North, the Marquette Golden Worthless Sacks of Garbage (Eagles).
• Apparently not shocked enough to accept me for their program, but so shocked that they did not want to accept me. This was obviously a low point in my career.
• Well, with the help of Dr Kelly Smith and others I was offered multiple opportunities in my career. One of these opportunities was to accept a staff pharmacist position at Grady Health System. I accepted the position, and here I am. Not where I want to be, but not that far away. Remember, if you want me, you better bring your A game.

Coach

W O W!

That's about all can be said about the performance this week. So instead of analyzing it, I prefer to simply ignore it and not acknowledge that it happened. Despite the bad week, it doesn't compare to the one our basketball obssessed brothers to the north are having. Is there any chance Robert Montgomery Knight makes a push to be back in Bloomington? If so, his reputation as the biggest horse's ass in the history of coaching would be cemented. On to today's game:

• All those "pundits" calling the John Brady firing a disgrace feel kind of stupid now don't they? If a real coach ever shows up down there, they will be a perrinial NCAA team and challenge for the SEC West yearly. What do Tasmin Mitchell, Big Baby Davis, Brandon Bass, Tyrus Thomas, Darnell Lazare, Garret Temple, and Bo Spencer have in common? They are all big time recruits signed by LSU in the last 5 years FROM BATON ROUGE. Not their home state, their home city. You could argue that NY or LA hasn't put out that much talent in the last 5 years. If someone who can coach his way out of a paper bag gets there, they will make more than the occasional lucky NCAA run that Dale Brown and John Brady did. Quick fact: did you know that Dale Brown had Chris Jackson, Shaq, and Stanley Roberts on the same team (all first round picks) and didn't make it to the sweet 16.
• LSU is long and has some shooters. This could give the Cats some fits. However, the Cats are motivated after getting embarassed and have an angry Ra Smoove comin' down to the Bayou. Will the rock make its reapearnce today? Time will tell.
• P Pat is angry. You won't hear him say it, but he is. He was dominated by the boomerang-throwing center from Vandy and embarassed on national TV. Look for him to bounce back in a big way today. The tigers have a big-time freshmen big man themselves in Anthony Randolph and if he can win the head-to-head it will go a long way for his confidence.
• It's always tough to play in the Maravich center. However the Cats have something to prove today and an angry Billy Clyde on the sideline. I say they take it 68-56.

State of the Union Part Deux

I know everyone has been anxiously awaiting the second part of my State of the Union. Despite the common belief that I waited just because I was too lazy to update in the last couple of weeks, that is in fact not the case. I was waiting for a big win by the Cats (like the one to Tuesday) so we can have a bit of a positive update. Before getting to the current status of the Cats, we will give a little review of the season.

As everyone knows, the Cats opened with 2 home games for the 2K Sports College Classic. HOWEVER, despite what the national media (idiots) believe, Kentucky did not "open up the season with a loss to Gardner Webb." They did however lose to the runnin' bulldogs in the second game of the season, perhaps one of the worst in Rupp Arena history. Maybe this would feel better if G-W continued to have a great season. However, they currently stand at 9-11 on the season. It wouldn't, unfortunately, be the low point of the season.

With a loss to G-W on the books, the season continued with a number of disappointments after that. For starters, the Cats are still without a road win, and losses to IU, UL, San Diego (Yikes!), UAB (in which Robert Vaden played one of the best halves of basketball I have ever seen), Houston, Miss St and Florida.

At points, I have doubted my man crush Billy G. We have been decimated by injury, and have lost several games that we should not have. However, it appears that it is possible we have turned it around. We have competed in all our SEC games and came through the first 4 SEC games against the best competition with a 2-2 record. Recently rivals wrote at article about Billy Clyde's season thus far. Here is the link: http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=766158 It talks about how hard CBC is on his players, but how powerful it was once they bought in. My favorite quote is from a role player on his A&M team: "But once Antoine and Acie bought it, it became contagious and we all bought in. Once the season began we started seeing that it was all worth it. I hated how hard it was at times but, looking back, I wouldn't trade it for the world." Folks, Joe and Ra Smooth have bought in, and it is gonna get nasty. Expect a prediction for the rest of the season after the Cats put a whoopin' on the Cocks 78-59 today.

**************BREAKING NEWS******************* Joe C will not play in today's game, I still feel confident the Cats winning but maybe by not as much.

State of the Union, Part 1

Well folks, I am sure everyone has been anxiously awaiting my take on this years Basketball Cats. It has been a rough couple of years for those of us in the "Roman Empire," but this season has the makings of the worst since Eddie "He who must not be named" Sutton attempted to drive the death nail into our beloved basketball coffin. Fortunately for Kentucky Fans, Rick "He who must not be named #2" Pitino rescued the Cats and put us back in the National Spotlight. Before season's end, is it going to be Tubby "He who must not be named #3" around the Bluegrass or will Billy Clyde be able to turn it around for the Cats? In fact, if Billy Clyde can't turn it around, he might become Billy "He who must not be named #4" around the Bluegrass. (That's right I just made a Harry Potter reference). Today's State of the Union will be more of a retrospective look at what got the Wildcats tho this particular state of Affairs. I write this on the Eve of the "Dream Game" as a a way to get everyone prepared for the big game. We depart for the big Honeymoon tomorrow, so expect post-game analysis and the other parts of the State of the Union at a later date.

• You probably never thought you would see the day where a picture of Rick Pitino (aka Slick Rick, aka Traitor Rick, aka Benedict Arnold, aka That piece of crap that had the audacity to coach for Little Brother after leading us back the promised land, aka "Cleveland Clinic" Rick, aka 3 game losing streak to Dayton Rick, etc) on derekaburden.blogspot.com did you? Well here it is, and for good reason. Despite the fact that I despise what he did when taking the Little Brother job, he should be credited for bringing the Cats back to dominance in the '80s. Also of note, the 1996 Kentucky Basketball team has to be the best team assembled since Walton or Alcindor roamed the court in Westwood. This team would absolutely destroy people, once notching 86 points in a half. 86 POINTS IN A HALF! And no it wasn't against souteast northern missiouri technical college, it was against an SEC opponent.
  
  Rick deserves his credit for turning us around. We went from a team full of no-talents with one Superstar (the Unforgettables) to a team full of superstars in 1996. The only problem was, he had no intentions of staying. Thinking he would hit the lottery with Tim Duncan, Tricky Dick bolted for Boston. The rest, as they say, is history. He instead got Chauncey Billups (pre Mr. Big Shot era) and tried to run a full court press in the NBA. This doesn't work in a league where 6'8" men dribble like they are 5'10" point guards. Humiliated, rich, and with his ego beaten down he stepped down (got fired) from the Celtics. In a whirlwind move, he accepted the job with little brother and found the college game much harder the second time around. Players no longer listened to their coach, and not everyone wanted to play on a campus whose most attractive feature is a series of silos proclaiming it "The best college sports town in America". The little known fact about this sign is that in small print at the bottom it says : "and by best in America, we mean second best in the state." Little Brudder fans proclaimed that they would be a "top 5 program in no time." This has not occurred, and despite the fact that Rick has a final 4 on his resume for the Tards, it is the only season he has played in the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.
  
  We have digressed a bit into the struggles of Traitor Rick, but who doesn't enjoy reveling in his misery? Moving on to the relevance of our current struggles, here was our recruiting class that Traitor Rick worked so hard to get us while negotiating with the Celtics prior to the 1998 season: Micheal Bradley (who transferred, Myron Anthony (who stole a car), and Ryan Hogan (who transferred). Well, one could excuse that, he was job shopping. So how did he do the year after winning it all in 1996 and sending four (4!) players to the NBA? His recruiting class was: Jamaal Magloire (all time great) and Steve Massiello (greatest ball boy ever). So in Ricks final 2 years while being atop the College basketball universe, he still somehow only got 1 impact recruit in 2 years. The effects of this would be seen a couple of years into Coach Smith's tenure

• So that leads us into the Tubby Smith era. As mentioned previously, the Tubster was left with an absolute ton of talent on his squad, and promptly took that squad to the National Championship in his first year. This calmed some people's fears about having an African-American as a head coach at the University of Kentucky. However, with Saint Rick (as he was known at the time before coaching for da Ville) going to 2 consecutive championship games, Tubby had one more year to live up to his mentor.




• So that takes us to the 1999 NCAA tournament. This is one that really sticks out to me, and I am quite bitter about because I witnessed it in person. In the round of 16, the Cats faced Miami (OH) and Wally's world. What I remember from that game is this: there were about 50 Miami fans there, but they were the 50 loudest and most obnoxious people you will ever meet. It seems like the same cars were doing loops around downtown St. Louis with "Wally's World" flags hanging out of their cars. I must give them props, because they really brought it. The next game we played the Spartans of Michigan State to give Wayne Turner his fourth final 4 in four years. That would have been a helluva accomplishment. It wasn't meant to be as the Cats took at early double digit lead, but fell to the dancing leprechaun, Mateen Cleaves. I hate that man to this day.
  
  Well at this point, the slim recruiting by Mr. Pitino in the last 2 years of his tenure began to show, as the Junior and Senior class was lacking (sound familiar?). The Tubster lost in the second round of the NCAAs to Syracuse, preventing a rematch with Michigan State. This was Coach Smith's first 10 loss season, leading to the moniker "10 loss Tubby."
  
  Contrary to popular belief, Coach Smith landed several good recruiting classes in these early years, but was never able to deliver with a good run in the postseason. Disappointing losses to Southern Cal and Maryland ended the next 2 seasons before Cats' fans would like them to. Then came 2003.
  
  2003 is all the evidence that you need Tubby Smith is a great coach. In 2003 everything clicked. We had a Bona Fide Star (Keith Bogans), surrounded by a bunch of unselfish role players willing to do whatever it took to win. A perfect record in the SEC and a 26 game win streak, the Cats appeared to be the team to beat, after being discarded at the beginning of the season. Looking ahead, it appeared odd that 2 lower seeded teams were playing closer to home than the #1 overall seeded Cats, but that didn't matter.
  
  Then came the Wisconsin game. Wisconsin is perennially one of those Big Ten teams that wins games by just beating up the other team, or boring them to the point where they don't care and just let them score so they can have the ball back. Fortunately this type of game was right up the Tubster's alley, and the Badgers played the Cats close, but finally succumbed under to the much superior Cats. 'Quis played the best game of his career and finished with 28 of the teams 63 points. This was not the story of the game, though. The story of the game was Keith Bogans sustaining a sprained ankle early in the game and only playing 15 minutes. The injury was of the dreaded "high ankle sprain" variety which one time caused football-cat and SEC defensive player of the year Dennis Johnson to miss an entire season. It looked liked the Cats would have to challenge Marquette without their best player. Shouldn't be a problem, though, they only have 2 white kids who can shoot it, some fat guy that transferred from Miss State, and some kid named Wade who can't shoot it from the outside.
  
  Well, we all know what happened. However I feel like a couple of key details from this game are often overlooked. First of all, D Wade did murder us with a triple double totaling 29 11 and 11, but that was not the main factor that killed us. We got behind big in the first half due to some strong shooting from Novak, and Robert Jackson (the fat guy from Miss State) held us off late with some key low post scoring. On the UK side, 2 factors really affected this game other than Bogans' injury. First off, Chuck Hayes picked up 2 fouls about 2 minutes into the game, and Marquis Estill followed his career best game up with an absolute stinker. Jackson dominated him the whole game, and in a situation where the Cats needed Estill to step up he could not produce. Had Hayes been able to stay in the game, he might have been able to slow down Wade. Had Estill not had his head up his butt, he might have been able to be the go-to-guy the Cats were missing with Bogans out.
  
  


• That takes us through the "successful" part of the Tubby Smith era. He tried to get it together with a good run in 2004 (#1 overall seed) but suffered a shocking 2nd round loss to UAB. He also tried to get it going again in 2005 with an Elite 8 run, but could not get a rebound in overtime to make a trip to the Final Four
  
  It has been lamented enough that I need not discuss the next 2 seasons and the messy exit for Coach Smith (including the entire national media calling Kentucky a bunch of racist idiots). This brings us to The Billy Clyde Era which we will touch on in the next post.