Coach Joe B. Hall

Just after I woke up Saturday, I got the news that former Kentucky Coach Joe B Hall had passed away at the age of 93.  That was a big deal to me.  Why do you ask?  Coach Hall was the UK coach when I first started rooting for the Wildcats in 1974.  He had a great team that year with guys like Keven Grevey, Jimmy Dan Conner, Rick Robey and Jack Givens.  A couple of games that year I remember particularly well were two with Indiana.  Early in the year, Indiana was totally blowing out Kentucky at Assembly Hall.  The Indiana Coach Bobby Knight began complaining about a call.  Coach Hall make a joking comment to Knight.  Next thing you knew, Knight slapped Hall across the back of the head.  Cooler heads prevailed and nothing else happened.  But, you knew Kentucky wouldn’t forget that.  Indiana ended up facing Kentucky again in the Mideast Regional Finals.  Kentucky played a lot better and beat Indiana.  That would be only game Indiana lost over a two year period.  Kentucky got to the finals but lost to UCLA.  I won’t even go into how John Wooden was allowed to run on the court to complain about a call and not get Teed up.  😊

 Coach Hall was the coach when I was at UK from 1981-1983.  My dad and I went to the SEC tournament at Rupp in 1982.  Kentucky beat an Auburn team led by some guy named Charles Barkley and lost in the finals by two points to Alabama.   One of the worst losses of his career was in the first round of that year’s NCAA Tournament to Middle Tennessee.   I remember catching all sorts of grief from my friends at Murray State since they were in the OVC together and Murray had beaten them that year.  The next year, Kentucky lost in the NCAA tournament to Louisville in their first meeting in over 20 years.   Coach Hall took Kentucky to the Final Four the next year losing to Patrick Ewing’s Georgetown team.  He coached one more year at UK.  In one of his finest coaching jobs, his 12^th seeded Wildcats beat 5^th seeded Washington and 4^th seeded UNLV before losing to the Region’s top seed – St John’s. 

 I remember Coach Hall took a lot of grief in his career.  First, he had to follow the legendary Adolph Rupp as coach.  Secondly, he was always accused of not being that good of a coach.  I don’t understand that one.  He made it to three Final Fours and won the National Championship in 1978.  He always carried a rolled up program in his hand when he coached.  He often ran a defense you rarely see today – the 1-3-1 zone.  I remember when we played pick up basketball games, we’d try to run that defense. 

He didn’t just fade away after he retired.  He was a wonderful ambassador for the University of Kentucky.  He would go to practices.  He was seen all over Lexington and always had time for an autograph and to talk with fans.  John Calipari speaks fondly of how Coach Hall was encouraging when he first arrived at UK as coach in 2009.  He considered Coach Hall his mentor.  By the way, never leave out his middle initial (which stands for Beasman).  He was born in Kentucky in the little town of Cynthiana.  He played for Adolph Rupp in 1949 and was his assistant.  He’s the only player to play for a National Champion and coach a National Champion. 

As I’ve said before when people that were a big part of my youth die, it makes you feel your mortality.  I certainly have fond memories of him.  The first time I ever saw UK play was in Starkville in 1975 with my mom and dad and brother and sister.  My final memory I’ll share is when my brother Kevin and my cousins Tony and Neal Snelling would go to UK games with our dads to either Oxford or Starkville Mississippi.  We’d meet up with my Uncle Reggie in Jackson Tennessee and go to a game every year.  Those were certainly good times.  Coach Hall was the coach then too and the fans there would always yell at him to “Sit down!” as he paced the sideline.   Thanks for the memories Coach.

 

UK Weekend

When Josh was at UK, I started what has become a tradition (in 2010). I end up going to the first UK home game of the year. It’s become my birthday present each year since it’s always close to my birthday. The earlier games in the season are generally easier to get tickets to. Josh was able to swing tickets for me the years he was there. Last year, I was able to get Lower Level seats via Ticketmaster. This year, Josh’s former roommate (the recently married Bryant Clemons) got tickets for us. This year for the first time I ever remember, UK had two home games on two consecutive days to start the season. Bryant got us tickets for both games so we were set! Josh and Shelby would get there Friday and Jonathan and Cheyenne on Saturday, so we’d get to have our whole family together.

Donna and I left out Friday morning. The trip up was pretty uneventful. The one big change on the trip is the interchange for the Western Kentucky Parkway and the Pennyrile Parkway (well, now it’s called I-69). I don’t really know how to describe it other than to say it’s no longer a simple interchange and you should really pay attention when you get close to make sure you go the way you want to go. There was some road construction and New Circle Road was busy as usual, but we made it fine. I had found a new Towneplace Suites over in the Hamburg area that I decided to try. It was about 15 minutes from Rupp Arena and about 5 minutes from where we’d be going to church Sunday. I rented a two room suite so we’d enough room for Donna and I, Jonathan and Cheyenne and Josh (Shelby would be visiting with friends and her parents). The hotel was very nice but the suite only had one bathroom which concerned me a bit for getting ready Sunday morning. Josh and Shelby got there about 4:45 and we headed out to eat dinner. We went to one of my favorite places to eat – BDs Mongolian Grill. You fill up a bowl with as much stir fry stuff as it’ll hold. I usually go heavy on the meat, but there are vegetables and sauces you can add as well. You then take it to be grilled and take it back to your table. The server brings rice and tortillas to wrap your food in. I had a coupon for a free bowl for my birthday so it was even better. We got done eating and headed for the game.

Our hope was to park in our usual spot at Memorial Coliseum. When we got there, the lot was completely full and we didn’t know why. We ended up having to park over by the K-Lair, so it would be about a mile walk. Fortunately, the weather was fine for walking and a lot of the walk was through campus. I found out later that the Lady Kats had a game at Memorial that night as well. We managed to make it to Rupp Arena a few minutes before tipoff. Our seats were excellent. We settled in to enjoy the game against the Albany Great Danes. Kentucky played OK but you could tell they weren’t a cohesive unit yet. They won by 13. We stayed for the Star of the Game interview (Derek Willis) and for Coach Cal’s post game show and then headed back. Josh took Shelby to a friend’s house to spend the night and we went back to our hotel for the evening.

We got up the next morning to have the hotel breakfast. I was not impressed by the choices so I made a side trip to Krispy Kreme. Jonathan and Cheyenne had left early that morning and got to Lexington after noon. We decided to go to Canes for chicken tenders. Bryant met us there. We had a really enjoyable time catching up with him. We went back to the hotel to rest a bit. There was a Culver’s within walking distance of our hotel so we went out for ice cream later. I kept up with the UK Vandy game on WatchESPN (amazingly enough I couldn’t find it on any of the cable channels in the room). It was just as well, UK played pretty poorly. Jonathan, Cheyenne, Josh and I headed to Chick-Fil-A to eat and then to the game. We were able to park in our usual Memorial Coliseum spot this time. Kentucky played NJIT this time. They had beaten Michigan last year and were one of the top three point shooting teams in the NCAA last year. They jumped on top 16-10 in the first four minutes hitting just about every shot they took. UK came back and ended up by 8 at the half. UK played much better in the 2nd half and ended up winning by 30. We didn’t stay for the post game shows since the game started so late (8) so we went back to the hotel.

The next morning we got up and went to North Lexington church of Christ (sharing the bathroom to get ready didn’t end up being an issue like I feared). This is where Josh attended while he was at UK. It’s a special place to us; they took really good care of Josh while he was there. It was good to see many of our friends there – it had been two years since we last visited there. One of Josh’s buddies – Davey Moster – came down from Cincinnati to see us. His brother Jake is a current student at UK and attends there. After services and taking with several people, we decided to go to one of our eating institutions – Five Guys. We had a great time there and posed for our usual Five Guys photo. But alas, all good things had to end. We all had to head for home. Our trip home was uneventful and we got back in plenty of time to go to services at our home congregation.

We had a great trip as usual, I am already looking forward to next year.

Blue Orleans...

As I watched UK's game with Baylor in the Elite Eight, I began to get more and more excited. Not only was UK winning with ease, I knew something special was going to happening again. By some amazing chance, I had been selected again in August for Final Four Tickets. I never dreamed UK would go two years in a row. But things were falling into place for us. I had reserved hotel rooms last summer in New Orleans just to be safe. Josh had already worked things out with his company to be off to go. Unfortunately, Jonathan could not go. He is an officer in his local American Institute of Chemical Engineers and had to go to a conference at Clemson (obviously Clemson assumes they will never have to worry about the Final Four). I had already sold his spare ticket on Stubhub the week before. Josh's roommate Curtis was wiling to buy the other ticket. The game ended with a Kentucky victory and we would be going to the Final Four!

The plan was for Josh and Curtis to meet me on the way. They drove down from Lexington on Friday. I had decided the best place for them to leave their car was at the Memphis Airport. I met them there and we headed out. I had decided to stay in Canton Mississippi at a Hampton Inn. I got a fabulous deal on two rooms with my Hilton Points. We went to eat at KFC close by. We almost had a horrible incident right at the start. As we pulled into the restaurant/gas station, a car backed out quickly as we drove behind it. Josh yelled and I dodged it fortunately (shhh.. don't tell Donna). We ate and went back to the hotel to rest and prepare for the final 3 hours of driving the next day.

We got up the next day and headed out. The drive went fine. I had set us up rooms that night at the New Orleans Airport Hilton. It was about 15 minutes from the Superdome plus it was close to where we'd planned to go to church the next morning. The checkout time was also 1:00pm. We grabbed lunch at Denny's near the hotel and checked in. Curtis and Josh were very impressed with the place. It was a very nice hotel and not really expensive either. We rested a bit and since Kentucky played Louisville in the first game, we headed out. I had tried something for parking I'd read about online called ParkWhiz. I reserved a parking spot a week before in a lot close the Superdome. You print out your parking pass and then just show it to the attendant. We headed out. I had a little trouble getting to the lot because of some closed streets in downtown New Orleans. Once we got there, the pass worked like a charm and we parked with no problem.

It was only a one block walk to the Superdome. There were people everywhere of course, but it didn't take that long to get in. I was a bit concerned about our seats though. Last year in Houston, we were in the middle tier. This year, we were in the 600 level which is the top tier. It took quite a while to go up the circular ramps to our seats. When we got to them, I was pleasantly surprised. We could see pretty well especially considering how high we were. I talked to the guy who bought the extra ticket from us on Stubhub. He was from Lafayette and had decided to come since he was so close. Kentucky played OK in the first half. However, it seems like anytime UK made a strong move to the basket, they were whistled for a charging call. UK got up by 12 early in the second half, but Louisville came back to tie it at 49 with about 9 minutes to go. I started to worry. But Michael Kidd-Gilchrist got a couple of buckets. Terrence Jones hit a jumper and Darius Miller hit a huge three and Kentucky ended up winning by 9. We stayed for about half the Ohio State-Kansas game. It looked like Ohio State was going to win. We got some food at McDonalds on the way back. I watched the rest of the game at the hotel. Kansas came back to pull the game out at the end.

We knew we'd get to see the championship game! I'll finish the tale of our trip in the next blog post.

Bad Knight....

Bobby Knight is woven into the fabric of UK basketball as few others are. When I think of that the big rival game was when I first started rooting for the Wildcats, it was Indiana and UK. They were always good and ran a brutal picking offense that was tough to guard. I remember the first season I really got into UK basketball in 1974-75. Kentucky won its first few games and then traveled to Bloomington to play the Hoosiers. They lost by 24 but it wasn't even that close. Indiana mopped up the floor with UK. But that isn't what UK fans remember about they game. Late in the game, Bobby Knight was screaming at the refs about a call that went against his team (probably the only one in the game). Coach Joe Hall said something like "Go get 'em Bobby". As Joe turned back to the UK bench, he felt a blow across the back of his head. Bobby Knight had come after him trying to fight him. Knight was pulled away. I am sure UK used this as encouragement (along with the help of sharpshooting guard Mike Flynn who ironically was from Indiana) to upset the undefeated Hoosiers in the finals of the NCAA Southeast region.

I remember having a level of respect for Coach Knight at one point. He was the coach of the USA team in the 1979 Pan-American games. UK's Kyle Macy was a point guard on that team. A Cuban player suckered punched Macy and broke his jaw. The player received a one game suspension. Macy couldn't play for the rest of the games (which the US won). Knight traveled to Macy's home to give him his gold medal. Of course, Bobby Knight left the games on bail after being accused of a scuffle with a policeman.

Coach Knight ended up doing various things such as throwing a chair, choking one of his own players, and launching profanity laced tirades against refs, announcers and fans. He was eventually fired from Indiana. Now he's incurred the ire of UK fans.

A few days ago, Bobby Knight stated on ESPN that "none of UK's players in the 2009-2010 season went to class". His data was immediately protested by UK AD Mitch Barnhart, as well as Patrick Patterson and Demarcus Cousins. Even fellow ESPN commentators spoke against him. He followed up with a half-hearted apology saying he shouldn't have personnally mentioned UK. He didn't apologize at all for falsely accusing the players. I can offer eye-whiteness proof for at least three players.

Josh called me very excitedly at the start of the 2010 Spring Semester to tell me that all of the UK Freshmen players were in his Geology class. He said they attended regularly. Eric Bledsoe, Demarcus Cousins and John Wall were in there. They even attended after the season ended and even while signed up for the draft. We held out hope that they would return since they were still going to class (but of course they didn't).

I hope UK keeps the heat on Knight and ESPN for an actual apology stating he put out totally erroneous and unsubstantiated information against UK.

Houston, we have a problem.

We left Friday for our trip to Houston within minutes of Josh's arrival home from Lexington. We did not plan to go the whole distance on Friday. We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Arkadelphia Arkansas.

I got an incredible deal there. I am a Hilton Honors member. The rooms were only 7500 points apiece (generally a Hampton runs 20k to 30k points). I was able to get a room for Jonathan and Josh and one for Donna and I for 15k points each. The hotel was just as nice as any other Hampton I've ever stayed in.

We left that morning. We got off I-30 after reaching Texas. It was very interesting to drive on Texas roads. Highways similar to New Highway 60 here have a speed limit of 70. You slow down to 55 to 60 upon entering towns. We stopped at a Whattaburger. I've always wanted to try one of these after seeing them on "King of the Hill". I was not disappointed, the burgers were excellent.

We made great time. We got to our hotel outside of Houston about 3:00pm. Again, I got a deal. I got two studio suites at the Towneplace Suites for 70.00 each. We rested for a bit and headed out to the game (leaving Donna there). It was about a 30 minute drive to Reliant Stadium. I had bought a parking pass already and there was plenty of parking so we had no trouble. We even had time to walk to Jack in the Box to eat. We got into the stadium in plenty of time for the Butler VCU game.

Our seats were on the 2nd level. It was a very bizarre looking setup. I'd never seen a basketball court in a football stadium. It wasn't even in the center of the stadium. We were further away on our end than people on the other end. But all in all, our seats were fine. The people in the lower arena in the end zones had it worse. The seats were not tiered so the people had to stand up the whole time.

The first game started. It was close the whole way. Butler finally pulled away at the end to win. There were quite a few VCU and Butler fans. UConn had the fewest. Of course, UK had the most. I would guess over half the stadium was UK fans. The guy next to me actually lived in Houston and was there simply to "see good basketball"

The UK UConn game finally started. It was a bad omen when UK won the tip. They had lost the tip in the other games they'd won in the tourney. They forced numerous turnovers but had trouble scoring. They had a slight lead but finally UK got down by 10 at the half. They rallied to take a lead by two on some decent three point shooting. They missed numerous opportunities to pad their lead and UConn took the lead. Even with all that, UK never wilted. They stole the ball with 16 seconds left down two. Alas, they couldn't get off a decent shot. UConn hit two foul shots and UK a three at the buzzer to lose by 1. It was very sad. They reverted to old form where the three freshman scored most of the points and the three upper classmen did little.

We had already decided to go home if UK lost. Fortunately, the guy next to me wanted to bring his fiancee to the championship game. He bought my ticket. I sent Josh and Jonathan to the car to get it. I threw in my Monday parking pass. He was a very nice guy and enjoyable to talk to. When I got to the car, Josh informed my that he had manged to sell our other two tickets! I had however made a deal with Josh that he'd get 50% of any tickets he sold, so that worked out for him at least.

Leaving the stadium was tough. The roads around it aren't built to handle the sudden out flux of 75,000 people (a new NCAA record). It took us almost 45 minutes to go 1 mile to the bypass. We got back about midnight. I cancelled our hotel reservations for the next two nights and went to bed.

We got up the next morning and I made the decision to not drive the whole way the next day. The boys weren't really thrilled at first, but finally agreed. We went to 249 church of Christ in Houston. The brethren there were very nice and hospitable. We left and ate lunch on the way. We got to Prescott Arkansas and went to church at the Prescott congregation. The people there were very hospitable as well. We had a hard time getting out of there in fact. They were mostly Arkansas fans and told us they had rooted for UK last night and were sorry to see them lose. We drove on to Arkadelphia and stayed at the Hampton again.

We got up the next morning and headed out. As we hit I-55 in West Memphis, it started to rain and rained on us the whole rest of the way home. We were fortunate as it turned out. There were tornadoes in Ballard County. Several buildings were damaged and a person hurt pretty bad. When we got home, Josh hopped in his car and headed home. We tracked him on Google Latitude to make sure he made it.

The trip didn't turn out as well as I hoped (no final for UK). We had a good time together though. I've already applied for tickets for next year...

Kentucky Wildcats

The Kentucky Wildcats are highly ranked and are having one of their best seasons in years. They are a lock for getting an NCAA tournament bid after not getting in last year. They are eagerly awaiting a game with highly ranked Tennessee. But, I but you didn't realize I am talking about the WOMEN's team.

The women's team is now ranked 17th in the country with a stellar record of 20-3. Matthew Mitchell has coached this team to 2nd place in the very competitve SEC. Victoria Dunlap is being mentioned as a possible SEC player of the year. But, with the great season the men are having, the women's team isn't getting much publicity. They haven't has this good of a team in years.

When I was at UK from 1981-1983, UK had excellent women's teams (they were called the Lady Kats then). I used to see several of the players at the cafeteria at Blazer Hall when I ate dinner. They were not thronged like the male players were of course (Melvin Turpin, Sam Bowie, Jim Master, etc). They were congenial and would talk to anybody. Lea Wise was one of the guards, she was easy to spot with her blonde Farrah Fawcett hair-do. Her running mate was PJ Hedges. Their top scorer was Valerie Still. She was the younger sister of all-time UK football defensive great Art Still (the 2nd pick in the 1978 NFL draft). She is the actual answer to the trivia question "Who scored the most points in their UK basketball career?". Most people answer "Dan Issel". They were actually ranked #4 in the nation my junior year. They lost to eventual National Champion Louisiana Tech in the Elite Eight.

They play Tennessee in a couple of weeks. UT is to women's basketball what UK is to men's in the SEC. Pat Summit has coached them for over 30 years winning numerous SEC championships and NCAA titles. She has the most NCAA wins as a basketball coach (not that obnoxious guy who used to wear those red sweaters). They've already named the court after her at UT ("The Summit").

It's nice to see other sports excel at UK (football, women's basketball, not to mention gymnastics, soccer, baseball and even softball)

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

Josh hasn't been home since he headed off to UK for his freshman year. We've been up there a few times to visit. We looked forward to him getting here. He said that he'd be home Monday night or Tuesday depending on what he could work out with his professors.

Sunday morning, I got up and prepared to run. As I looked out our computer room window, I saw a car in the driveway. Upon closer inspection, it was Josh's. I presumed that one of his friends drove it home for him. Donna then said "His bedroom door was shut!". At this point, we ran to his bedroom and found him asleep in his bed. Turns out he left work and just drove home on Saturday night getting there about 11:30pm. I hadn't even been asleep that long (I stayed up listening and reveling in this). Jonathan was in on the secret (which is amazing since he is usually terrible at keeping secrets). It was so good to see him. I hated to leave but I ran and got back as quick as I could.

When we got to church Sunday morning. He said one of the big reasons he headed home early was so he could go to church at home. What a great thing!

Donna never looked so happy doing somebody's laundry in all her life.

I should have remembered Occam's Razor when I saw the car..

Random thoughts

I haven't had anything happen in the last few weeks to merit a full blog entry. Therefore, here are a bunch of random thoughts.

• I've seen UK's football team play twice this year. They look OK, but they are nowhere hear upper SEC eschelon yet. However, they could easily be 8-2 and a top 25 team if they had not blown games to South Carolina and Mississippi State.
  
  
• UK is bowl eligible. Unless they pull an upset in the next two weeks, it's looking like the Independence Bowl in Shreveport (and a long drive). I've read UK wouldn't want the Liberty or Papajohn's.com (yes we've come to that in names) since they are on January 2nd. Uk plays UL on that date and it's like the Super Bowl of Kentucky.
  
  
• Arizona looks like two different teams. They win on the road and lose (to SF and Carolina) or almost lose (Houston and Seattle) at home. This is a complete reversal from last year.
  
  
• The New York Giants have collapsed. They should have won their last game but not being able to score a TD when they ran an INT back to the San Diego 4 yd line near the game's end bit them. I hate it for Jonathan because of the abuse he gets, but you take the bad with the good as a diehard fan.
  
  
• I've eaten at the K-Lair twice this year. It's pretty good and reasonably priced. I'd recommend it if you go to a UK Football game. Its ironic that I never went there the whole time I went to UK.
  
  
• My wonderful wife sat through an entire football game with me. It was the first date I ever took to a UK game.
  
  
• I would have never thought she'd be so into sports now when we first got married. Last Sunday, I heard someone say from the living room "That's not a catch!!". Who would have ever dreamed that would not be Jonathan or me but Donna..
  
  
• I watched more NFL football last Sunday than I had in a long time. Two observations. One, it's a rare punt return that doesn't get called back for a penalty. Two, it's seemed like any time a receiver didn't catch a pass, he was pleading for pass interference. It's like a batter thinking any pitch he takes is automatically a ball since he didn't swing.
  
  
• The beltway around Lexington is still called New Circle Road. It was called that when I lived in Lexington. Still haven't located Old Circle Road.
  
  
• Went to BD's Mongolian Restaurant in Lexington. It was excellent. You load up as much meat and veggies as you can in a bowl and they cook it for you and give it back. You can put it over rice or in a tortilla. It's great.
  
  
• We went to Stone Cold Creamery afterwards. I should learn that even it's only a dollar more for the huge size than the small, I need to resist the temptation.
  
  
• The same lady has been cutting my hair now for over 25 years. I told her that she cannot ever retire because I don't think I can ever get someone to cut my hair as well as she does.
  
  
• We've been taking our cars to Mansfield's for over 20 years now. They do a great job and are reasonable in their pricing. I don't know what I'll do if they ever close.
  

Weekend at Lexington

Our last trip to Lexington was over Labor Day holiday. We've kept in touch with Josh via Email,Texts, and Skype but we still wanted to be with him in person. We'd picked out the weekend of the 24th of October for several reasons. The main was that the North Lexington congregation was having a Ladies Day that Saturday and Donna wanted to go to that. UK was to play Louisiana Monroe in football as well and I managed to snag a really good seat. So, we went up last weekend.

We left Friday and made it without incident. We ended up staying at the Hampton Inn in Georgetown (about 20 minutes north of Lexington). It was much cheaper (the hotels in Lexington raise their rates on football weekends). Plus, we were more isolated from raucous celebrators (if you get my drift). The hotel was nice like most Hamptons I've ever gone to are. We checked in and went to meet Josh at his dorm.

He came out and we exchanged hugs and greetings. We had brought up a supply of Hot Pockets in a cooler (Josh and his roommate eat them a lot). Josh took the cooler into his dorm and was stopped by the attendant who made him show him what was in it. I never thought of how that might look (bringing in a cooler) but I am actually glad that they are conscientious enough to check there.

Josh then took me to the "Underground". The Underground is a workout area underneath the dorm next to Josh's. They have machines and free weights plus treadmills and the like. Josh and I worked out together. He showed me how much stronger he'd gotten (he goes regularly to stay in shape) plus some variations on some upper body work I'd been doing. I survived it but was sore the next evening.

We then went to the hotel and to Ruby Tuesday's to eat dinner. Josh ordered a steak and we split a dessert. I was happy to find out they served Coke Zero. We then went to Wal-mart to lay in supplies for him. We went back to the hotel and I helped him a bit with some C++ programming. Finally, Josh just crashed out and we did a bit later as well.

The next morning, Donna left to take Josh back to his dorm and then she would go on to Ladies Day. When Josh got to the parking log where his car his (Commonwealth Stadium), they were already towing cars. One of the stipulations for that lot is you have to have your car out on Saturdays when there are UK football games. Josh's car had orange tape to be towed, but fortunately he got his car out just in time. He parked at a friend's house, then Donna took him to his dorm. Donna went to the Ladies Day and really enjoyed it. Shelia Butt spoke on "Sisterhood" and Donna got a lot out of it. I spent the day at the hotel on the treadmill, then doing some Bible reading and finally watching a DVD I had Netflixed and hadn't had a chance to watch (Wolverine - X-men Origins).

Donna got back and we drove to campus. We parked our car in the same spot Josh had and walked. We went to the K-Lair to eat. This is an on-campus restaurant that Josh works at. He was working and we got to see him "in action" plus he got to hang out with us a bit. I walked Donna back to the car and then walked back to Commonwealth Stadium (I ended up getting in almost 6 miles just walking back and forth).

I got to the UK-ULM game and found my seat was as good as I thought it would be. I was on the 50 yard line 24 rows up and had and excellent view of the game. It was a bit nippy but I had dressed for the occasion. UK jumped on them 21-0 and it looked like it was going to be a rout. However, it appeared UK relaxed a bit and ULM got to within 28-7 and just missed another touchdown at the end of the half when the clock ran out. UK had no offense at all in the 2nd half. ULM moved the ball but fortunately only scored one touchdown. UK finally got a safety and ran an interception back for a TD to win 36-13. They'll have to play better than that to beat Mississippi State next week. I met Josh on the walk back and we met Donna and the car and went back to the hotel for the night.

We got up the next morning and checked out and went to North Lexington for Bible class and worship services. We went to Josh's college class with him. Afterwards, we ate at Wendy's and then had to take him back to his dorm for goodbyes. It was sad. We had a lot of fun together and he seems to be doing wonderfully, but we still miss him a lot.

18 and Life

Well, I am now the father of two adults. Josh turned 18 a couple of weeks ago. It makes me feel pretty old to be honest.

Also, the big day arrived to take Josh to UK to move him in. He left early last Saturday and got there well before Donna and I. When he (and we) got there, they had a lot of security to keep you from parking where you shouldn't (parking is a big issue at UK, there isn't a lot of it to go around). We finally got to his dorm and got his stuff in there. We ate lunch at Chili's and then went to our hotel room and rested.

A few weeks ago, I noticed there was a 5k called "Midsummer's Night Run" in downtown Lexington. Josh and I decided to run in it. We picked up our packets that afternoon before we went to the hotel. Later, we picked up a friend of Josh's (she was obviously very bored to want to spend a Saturday night at a 5k). We parked on the fringe of UK (behind Memorial Colesium) and walked to the start line.

It wasn't quite as bad as the MLB 5k, but still (as I found out later) had almost 5000 participants. Again (to my chagrin), there was no statement about lining up based on pace time. We took off and again we were dodging walkers for the first mile. I had moved toward the front this time, so I didn't have to dodge so many.

It was hot and humid. Being downtown, there was little to no airflow. I did great the first couple of miles, then wore down the last mile. When I got to the end, it took a lot of effort to find water (which was bad since it was so hot and humid). I finally found the others (Josh had finished well before me of course) and we started back to the car.

I discovered that the walk back in the dark was much scarier then the walk there in daylight. We were all a bit spooked but we got back. We went to the hotel and Josh back to his dorm.

We picked him up at his dorm the next morning and headed to worship services at the North Lexington church of Christ. Everybody there was nice as usual. Several told him about the various activities they have for the college kids which made us feel much better. We stopped by Wal-Mart for some last minute supplies and got lunch at Canes' Chicken Strips.

We got him back to his dorm and said our goodbyes. Neither of us broke down or anything, but it was still sad. I was able to listen to the Cardinal game on the way (which put Donna to sleep) and we make it home OK.

We were able to use Skype that night after church and do a video call with Josh to be able to see as well as hear him. He looked fine :-)

It's gonna take a while to get over him not being here. We miss him a lot already...

I See Blue - Part 2

Josh had signed up for Freshman Orientation at UK a month or so ago. It involves the parents as well (they have all sorts of informational sessions for us) so Donna and I went as well.

We left Saturday even though the sessions didn't start til Monday. Josh jokingly told everybody "It's because my dad wants to make sure we are on time for everything". Our real reason is so we could attend worship services at North Lexington church of Christ. We'd been there before and one of my fellow deacons at Central (Dr. Tim Mabry) always speaks highly of that congregation plus he said he would let people know about us and Josh.

We drove Josh's Impala just to make sure it would handle the 250 mile trip ok. Plus, I wanted to show him the ins and outs of the trip like which exits have the best food and the route to take. The drive isn't really all that complex except for the part where you go from the Western Kentucky Parkway to the Bluegrass Parkway by taking a two mile stretch of I-65 around Elizabethtown. Josh did all the driving and did really well.

We got there about 8 and checked into the Doubletree Suites. Something about the place kept nagging at me. I finally realized that this was the old French Quarter Suites that I had stayed at a lot many years ago. When we were working with Portsmouth Plant to integrate more fully together in the early 1990's, this was the favorite hotel to use. The rooms were really nice with two flat screen TVs and a jetted tub.

On Sunday, we went to worship services at North Lexington. Everyone was really nice and said they'd "Keep an eye" on Josh. The preacher (Steve Johnson) was very good. Turns out he's from our end of the state (Farmington in Graves County). They have a class for the college students and we were told "they take good care of them". They even gave us a loaf of bread when we left (which Josh promptly devoured). We ate lunch at Cane's chicken strips and then went back to the hotel. We rested all afternoon. I wanted to eat at the Columbia Steak House near the hotel. It was good but I forgot how much food they give you. I couldn't even finish mine. We went back to church, got back and rested and finally went to bed.

We drove to the campus on Monday morning with no issues. We went to the Otis Singletary Center for the Arts for the beginning of orientation. We sat through several presentations and then had a catered lunch. Josh saw a girl he went to Ballard with so they hung out together the rest of the day. Her mother stayed with us since I still know my way around the campus pretty well. In the afternoon, they had breakout sessions you could pick from to go to. One that especially interested Josh was MathExcel. This allows him to have additional work with a smaller group on Calculus and they even have a "Math House" to meet at. It even sounded neat to me. We had checked out from the Doubletree that morning since the rate went up abruptly for Monday nite and went to a Hampton Inn instead. We discussed at length where to get dinner and finally just walked to McDonalds. I did drive to a Krispy Kreme I saw the day before to get dessert.

We checked out the next morning and headed back to UK. First, the students went to a general session while the parents went to sessions basked on which college the student would be going too. Josh is majoring in Computer Science which is in the Engineering college so Donna and I went to that. They explained about classes and degrees and how the students sign up. Then, we went to the Student center for more presentations on things like Campus Security, Parking and Transportation and HealthCare. The students met with their advisors and registered for classes. Josh got in what he wanted and he was happy. The drive home was uneventful and we got back on time for Josh to go to the Summer Youth Series.

We enjoyed it, but it only draws us closer to the day in August when we nock that arrow and shoot it far away.

Give me Liberty...

Kentucky has only made it to three straight bowl games from 1950-52 when the coach was a guy named Bear Bryant. They've never won three in a row so this year's Autozone Liberty Bowl was their chance to do that.

We took out Friday morning and drove to my sister's house in Memphis. She only lives 3 blocks from the Liberty Bowl. So, we were able to park there, visit with my family for a while, and then walk over.

Kentucky has started the tradition of the "Cat Walk" over the past few years. UK fans line up from the team bus to the entrance of the stadium. This generally happens more than two hours before the game, so we've never participated. With the proximity to my sister's house, we walked over for this one. It was very neat. You could see the players up close, tell them words of encouragement, and even shake/slap hands with them. I was especially interested in speaking to Joker Phillips (the offensive coordinator and heir apparent to Rich Brooks) since he played at UK when I was there. Two things you realize is how big the players are and how young they look (since they are college kids).

There were a lot of East Carolina fans when we first got there. When we got there the second time, a lot more UK fans were there. They eventually announced the attendance at 56,000. The stadium wasn't nearly full though. There were way more UK fans there than ECU.

The game did not start off well. Kentucky was tacking horribly and gave up several big plays. The offense was sputtering. The defense made a key stop at the end of the first half to keep ECU out of the end zone. It was still 16-3 at half.

Kentucky got the ball to start the 2nd half and the whole game turned the other way. Winston Guy had dropped two straight kickoffs so DB David Jones was now on the kickoff return team. He took the kickoff at the one, sprinted through the first wave, cut to the sideline and took it the whole way for the TD. Lonas Seiber had the XP blocked, but it was now 16-9. The teams traded possessions and then UK scored on a TD pass to tie the game. ECU kicked a field goal and UK did the same.

The clock wound down and ECU got the ball deep in its own territory. Sam Maxwell then ran an interception back for a TD but it was called back for defensive holding. The teams traded possessions and then Micah Johnson picked up a fumble and took it in for a touchdown. The play was reviewed and reversed even though it didn't look like conclusive evidence to me. ECU drove to near midfield. They fumbled again and Ventrell Jenkins snatched up the fumble and rumbled (he weighs 285 pounds) for the touchdown. Seiber had another XP blocked, so the lead was only 6.

Kentucky kicked off and the ECU returner appeared to go to his knee to catch it on the one yard line (He'd done this before on previous kickoffs). After ANOTHER review, he was ruled down there. They got a first down but Kentucky held. With a little over 2 minutes to go and three timeouts and deep in their own territory, they punted. Uk took over and ground out two first downs to run out the clock. Of course, we were ecstatic.

Some random notes

• We stopped at Krystal on the way. I had the mistaken idea that since the burgers were little, the prices would be too. We paid more for three of us to eat then we normally do at McDonalds, Taco Bell, etc. I love those Chili Pups though.


• The Liberty Bowl is an older stadium located on the Fairgrounds there. They have buildings for livestock, displays, etc. It's an older non NFL type stadium where most of the seats are bleacher type seats. Fortunately, I got us tickets in section with chair back seats. I doubt I'd be in an upright position today if I had not.


• I was walking around the concourse minding my own business (looking to buy a commemorative t-shirt) when some crazy ECU fan jumps right up in my face and starts yelling about how great ECU is and how they are going to win. I just looked at him like he was crazy and walked around him.


• We kept seeing Mike Hartline (the UK quarterback) run to the south part of the stadium where the UK locker room was. I found out after the game he had "flu-like" symptoms. Wow, poor guy and he still played really well.


• Sara Evans was the half time performer. I've always liked her, but she must not like UK since she faced the ECU side the whole time. Plus, she sang one of my least favorite songs of hers (Suds in the Bucket)


• The officiating (I think it was a Big 10 crew) wasn't very good. They missed several calls both ways. Donna said the ESPN announcers were commenting on how bad it was too


• Wonder who will be the UK quarterback next year? Hartline is a junior, Randall Cobb is a sophomore and they have two pretty good recruits coming in. Plus, we've got to do something about our placekicking game. I know the blocks may have not been Lonas Seiber's fault, but they looked like pretty low kicks to me on the XPs. We were groaning every time he lined up to kick (one lady would cover her head with a blanket every time, she could not bear to watch)


• Right after David Jones ran the kickoff back, a guy came back to his seat and asked (I kid you not) "Did I miss anything?". Uh-huh, you did :-)


• My brother in law Richard is an Ole Miss alum, so he was equally happy about their Cotton Bowl win. If you had asked anybody before Friday which of the SEC teams playing that day would be the one to lose, I would say very few would have said "Alabama"

Since we left from my sister's house, we had an easy time getting out. And bless her, she had packed ham sandwiches and chips for the drive home. I didn't eat at the game although the foot long corndogs were very tempting. The drive home was without problem.

Jonathan and I have seen history. No UK team has ever won three bowls in a row. I know it's not a BCS or even a major bowl. However, I've suffered through a lot of pain as a UK football fan (including a 0-10-1 season my senior year there) so I am loving this post season thing...

The Mildcats...

Well there goes all my optimism for the UK basketball season...

You'd think after the Gardner-Webb debacle of last year that UK wouldn't take anybody lightly again. Well tonight proved that wrong.

Kentucky lost their home opener to Virginia Military Institute. Not Virginia or Virginia Tech mind you... A military college with 1500 students. They gave up 111 points. They were down 83-60 at one point and actually managed to take the lead but then committed a bunch of silly turnovers and ceased to play defense (again).

1. Billy Gillespie, could you please look like you care?

2. Patrick Patterson, a player who thinks he'll be ready for the NBA next year has got to put up a better line than 8 points and 7 rebounds. There were several times in the last few minutes when we desperately needed a rebound and someone who thinks he is an NBA caliber player has to get those.

3. A starting point guard (Micheal Porter) cannot put up a line of 1 assist and 5 turnovers.

And it only gets better with a game at No. 1 North Carolina next week....

I See Blue...

While we were in Myrtle Beach, Josh set us all up for a campus visit to the University of Kentucky. Monday was the day to go.

I attempted to air up the tires on the mini-van using the air pump that runs through the aux power connection (what used to be a cigarette lighter). It worked for a few minutes then quit. The radio stopped working too as we found out upon leaving. I obviously blew a fuse. We stopped at Calvert to grab breakfast and I checked the fuse panel but didn't really see anything that referred to a fuse for the radio. I didn't want to blow anything else out so we left it alone.

The trip was uneventful after that. We got there about noon. They have a parking garage on campus now so we parked there and grabbed lunch at Fazoli's. We registered and walked around a bit on campus. I still managed to remember my way around.

The presentation was fine with the usual pitch of how great the University was etc. Then, we took a campus tour. We saw various buildings and a dorm room. We got to go the in the student rec center where there was workout equipment, basketball courts, an indoor running track and a rock climbing wall. There were also tennis courts and a pool nearby as well as Commonwealth Stadium.

They also discussed the possibility of getting a technical degree coupled with business courses (as we walked by the business college). Josh was very intersted in that since he plans to start his own tech company.

We stopped in the William T. Young Library. We didn't get to tour all of it (we'd done that with Jonathan before). A special feature of it is that it has retractable and expandable book shelves that allows it to hold more books. In case you are wondering who William T. Young is, he developed Big Top Peanut Butter which was renamed to Jif peanut butter when Proctor and Gamble bought him out. He also raised some horses but I prefer to talk about the peanut butter (which is the only brand in the Yancy household). It's actually manufactured in Lexington.

Josh of course loved the campus. It solidified his desire to go there. He was so excited he talked all the way home (which was good since we had no radio). He even had trouble going to sleep because he was so excited. We've got a deal that if he can get enough scholarship money to pay for everything, he can go all four years there. I'm really not looking forward to that though...