Googled..

I was getting directions to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis and found
this.

I never realized that they would get pictures out in our little rural area. This is the Yancy homestead.

How do you like me now?

To all those "experts" at ESPN, Sports Illustrated and their ilk who said the Cardinals didn't belong in the playoffs, what are you thinking now?

Cardinals 30 Falcons 24!!!

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...

It was a very good year...

The consensus from reading other people's Facebook comments, blogs, etc is most people are hoping 2009 is much better than 2008. I personally feel kinda guilty because I thought 2008 was pretty good.

Sports - Jonathan's Giants beat the supposedly unbeatable Patriots to win the Super Bowl. My Arizona Cardinals won their first division championship in 33 years. UK made it to its third bowl game in a row.

Family - My nephew James Brody Strong made his debut into the world on January 23rd. My mom, brother, and father-in-law all had major surgery but all are doing well and had major issues taken care of that will help them in the future.

Jonathan - Jonathan qualified for state in 4x800 and his Ballard Bombers won the Region 1a track championship and finished 2nd in the state. He ran his first 10k and marathon. He was valedictorian of his class and won enough scholarships to cover his entire college education.

Josh - Josh's tennis team had its best season ever and he worked his way to up the 3rd seed on the team. He was part of that region champ track team too. He was selected to the prestigious Governor's Scholar Program for the summer. He also was selected to be part of the media team to cover the October Endeavor Space Shuttle launch. He was MVP of the cross country team.

Donna and I -We celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary. Donna accepted the position of co-secretary at Central church of Christ. I ran my first 5k and ran a couple more to boot. We both read the Bible all the way through.

There were some sad things. My cousins Bruce and Larry passed away. The presidential election didn't turn out the way I hoped.

Of course, my investments lost a bundle. But, I am still blessed with a good job, a great wife and sons, a loving family and wonderful Christian brethren. All the money in the world can't buy that kind of happiness..

Funland...

Bob Noble Park is known for several things today. Wacinton (the big Chickasaw Statue), the home of the St. Mary Cross Country Invitational, and the annual Christmas light display. If you ask anybody over 30 or so though, they'll probably mention "Funland".

Why am I waxing nostalgic? I was on Facebook and saw a group called "I rode amusement rides at Bob Noble Park in Paducah.". Reading the comments brought a flood of memories back about the old amusement park there.

Riding hand cranked cars around a track. They had a height limit and it was a sad day when I was too tall.

The haunted house where you walked around in the dark most of the time. It was eventually replaced by one you rode in cars to get through.

The helicopter ride where you could move a lever back and forth and make them go up and down.

The lion water fountain where you had to stick your head into the mouth of the lion and speak to get a drink.

The Merry Mixer and the Tilt-A-Whirl. The Paratrooper and the Spider.

My first try at bumper cars. I couldn't even get the car backed out of its spot. I was traumatically affected and never rode bumper cars for years afterwards until I had sons of my own.

My first ride on the Wild Mouse roller coaster (when I got tall enough and old enough). I remember thinking the car was going to fly off into the duck pond. My mom said I looked "pale as a ghost" when I got off.

Riding the Ferris Wheel and always wondering about what it'd be like to kiss a girl when we were at the very top. I finally did even though my girlfriend was petrified of heights. Donna is still scared of heights to this day...

Becoming a Skee-ball master and trying to impress my date by winning a bunch of stuffed animals. We still have some of those at home.

Riding the circular swings and my Cardinal cap coming off and my mom telling how the ride operator caught it to give back to me when we were done.

And our tradition of riding the train around the park as the last thing we did before we left. I imagine I sneaked in a kiss from that same girl when we went through the tunnel...

I saw a video where it had been 20 years since they closed the park and auctioned everything off. I'd loved to have bought that lion water fountain or one of those Skee-ball games... :-)

NFC West champions!

I just have to express my extreme happiness in saying "Arizona Cardinals, 2008 NFC West champions!!!!"

The last time they won a division championship was in 1975 when they were in the NFC East. The last time they hosted a playoff game was 1947! I think long-suffering would apply here.

Jonathan said somebody at church accused me of being a front-runner when they found out I was a Cardinals fan. If they only knew... I still have a St Louis Cardinals sweatshirt I wore when I was in middle school stashed safely away in my memories box.

My commemorative t-shirt is already on order from NFL.com.

Marathon Man

Jonathan finished a very successful running career at Ballard Memorial this past spring. He went to state in both cross country and track and was part of the best Ballard Memorial track team ever (they won the Class A First Region and finished second in the state in Class A).

I presume he was looking for a new challenge when he announced this end of the summer that he wanted to run a marathon. The obvious choice was the St. Judes marathon in Memphis in December. He began training and working up to the distance. It turns out that most traning programs don't ever have you run a full 26 miles. The most you run is 20 miles. He worked very hard.

He ran in the Pumpkin Run 10k (6.2 miles) and he finished well (9th overall and 1st in his age range). Of course, this would be nothing compared to the marathon.

We left Friday for Memphis and stopped at the convention center to pick up his packet with his bib, shirt and timing chip. We checked into our hotel downtown and then went to see my brother. He was doing better and able to go home. He still has to have a nurse visit regularly to dress his wound and he has a long road to recovery still ahead of him. We went to dinner with my sister Melissa, my brother-in-law Richard and my almsot one year nephew Brody. We got back to the hotel and rested and went to bed.

We got up and got ready. Jonathan grabbed some food for the race and we walked to the start line. It was cold. The temperature was 31 with a breeze and overcast. We walked around for a while and then Jonathan lined up in his "corral". The runners line up in corrals based on their expected time per minute. They release the elite runners (i.e "really fast") first and then wait two minutes to release the next corral until everybody is off. There are 11,000 runners waiting to run in the half and full marathons so they have to do it like this.

I ran back to the hotel and to the 3 mile marker and waited but I must have missed him. I went back and ate breakfast and went to meet him at the 13.1 mile marker (half way). He gave me the thumbs up and he looked OK. I ran back to our hotel and packed our luggage. Richard tried to come by and get me so we could see Jonathan at 19 miles (by their house). He couldn't get through all the runners in time so I didn't get to see him there.

The race ends in Auto Zone park (home of the Memphis Redbirds the Cardinals AAA club). I went there after loading the car up with our luggage and checking out of the hotel. I waited and finally saw him coming in! He made in 4:01 which wasn't quite his goal of 4 hours but close enough. As expected, he was really tired and hurting a bit. He got himself some food and went out front for me to pick him up. I picked up him up and we headed for home. As you would expect, he slept most of the way home.

He was sore this morning, but happy. I am very impressed at how he set a goal and worked hard to reach it. He's already talking about going back next year and he tells me I need to run the half. I guess I better start working on it soon...