Music City Bowl 2009

We were really hoping for Tampa or Atlanta, but still we were glad to get to go the 4th straight bowl Kentucky was in (that's never happened before). I'd been able to get really good seats and Josh was going to go with us for the first time. Clemson worried me though. They missed by five points of going to the Orange Bowl.

I got up about 3:00am and was very dizzy. I went back to bed and felt a bit better. After church, I went home and rested. When Donna and the boys got back (from Parkview singing), I was up to the trip. The guys and I left.

The trip down was fine til we got close to the I-65 interchange and there was a huge traffic backup. Fortunately, I had brought the GPS I got Donna for Christmas. Josh was able to take us on an alternate route to our initial destination - Fat Mo's on Trinity Avenue. For those of you who don't know, Fat Mo's has several locations in Nashville. They serve one of the best burgers around. We got our food to go and headed for LP Field.

We got parked with little incident and set up to wait for the Cat Walk. The Cat Walk is where UK fans line up and shake hands and high five the UK Players and coaches as they exit the bus to enter the stadium. Josh was keeping up with the Jets Colts game he could see on a TV in the Titans store. I got to shake hands with Rich Brooks and see all the players. It was a neat experience.

We then headed for church. We walked to the Central church of Christ congregation in downtown Nashville. I'd never been there, but read about it on-line. We took the Shelby Pedistrian bridge. It's a nice bridge over the Cumberland River and we walked about a mile to get there. The brethren there was very nice and we had a great time singing praises to God (it was their monthly singing night). Josh snatched my Blackberry right after services to check the Jets score. Turned they'd won after Indy pulled its starters. We walked back to LP Field and were in plenty of time for the kickoff.

It was cold! The air temperature was in the upper 20's and with wind chill lower 20's Our seats were fabulous, 50 yard line, front row, right behind the UK bench. The stadium was not nearly full but was easily 80-90% UK fans. Kentucky held Clemson on the first drive and then drove down and scored a TD. Little did I know that would be the offensive highlight of the game for them. They held again and drove to the Clemson 29, but a loss and a sack forced a punt. Clemson scored on a 30 yard play action TD pass to tie things up. Kentucky drove down into field goal range and Lonas Seiber came through to make it 10-7. Clemson scored a TD before the half to make it 14-10.

Kentucky started the half with another field goal to make it 14-13. The teams traded field position for the rest of the half. Clemson missed a field goal into the wind. Kentucky had several decent drives stall after they crossed the 50. Finally, the game hinged on a key play late in the fourth. A Uk receiver fumbled a short pass around the UK 20 and Clemson drove it in in a few plays to make it 21-13. Kentucky then mounted a drive which stalled around the Clemson 45. They sent their punter Ryan Tyldacka on to punt. We couldn't believe they were doing this on a 4th and 3. Then, lo and behold he takes off on a fake and gets the first down. Poor guy got nailed though and he looked very woozy walking to the sidelines. I'd seen him practicing taking long snaps and taking off running, but I thought he was just trying to stay warm.

UK got to 4th and 8 and Morgan Newton took off on a scramble. He got about 7 and half yards. Clemson got the ball back and ran out the clock and UK's bowl winning streak was over. It was a good game, the wrong team won. We got out to the car and cranked the heater up. Josh said his feet were frozen. We got home about 1:45am. We had a lot of fun together even with the loss. I found out CJ Spiller got the MVP which I didn't really understand. He had an OK game, but these seemed more like a popularity award (since he's their most well known player). I'd have given the award to the Clemson defense.

What's up for next season? This question looms even larger now when I found out Coach Brooks said after the game he was "80% sure he was retiring". There will be a three QB battle between Newton, Mike Hartline (who did OK until getting hurt on a dead ball in South Carolina) and young redshirt QB named Ryan Mossakowski. They've got to find somebody who complete passes downfield. Clemson just kept playing up tight on defense and UK couldn't get around them. Most of the offensive line graduates and the defense loses standouts Trevard Lindley, Micah Johnson and Corey Peters. Top running back Derrick Locke should be back (he's having his draft status evaulated though). It's be an interesting season next year.

Marathon Man (and a half)

After last year's run in the St Jude's Marathon, Jonathan wanted to give it another go this year. I agreed finally to run the half marathon. We both spent the summer and fall training. I was as ready as I was ever going to be.

We left on Friday. We picked up our rental car and headed out. We got to Memphis with no problem even dodging the heavy traffic coming into town for the most part. Donna dumped us out at the Cook Convention Center to pick up our race packet. The packet contains your bib (race number to pin to your front) and a D-tag. What's a D-tag you might ask? It's a disposable piece of technology that tracks you through the trace as you pass over certain points. You loop it around the laces of your tennis shoe. It's pretty neat.

We went down to check in to our hotel. Donna and I stayed at the Residence Inn Downtown. I've stayed there several times (including last year's marathon) and always liked it. The man at the front not only unloaded our car but brought our bags to the room and valet parked our car. We felt like real VIPs. We put Jonathan in the Doubletree Hotel. It's right next to the finish. We walked to his room and checked him in.

We ended up going to one of our favorite places to eat (Chili's). I really wish we had one of these in Paducah. I made sure not to over stuff myself. We came back to our respective hotels and I spent most of the night simply resting and trying to hydrate myself for the race the next day. I went to bed early (9pm).

We got up about 6 the next day. It was cold (28) but clear. I went and grabbed some toast and a banana for breakfast. That's my usual long race day breakfast. I got my racing clothes on and we called Jonathan so he'd be ready. We went to the hotel to meet him. We walked down to the start of the race near the Fed-Ex Forum (home of the Memphis Grizzlies).

You get in corrals based on what you think your per mile time will be. Jonathan lined up in number 5 and I got in number 6. My goal was 2:10 and his was under 4 hours. It hit 8 o'clock and they started releasing each corral a few minutes apart. After a few minutes, I was off. They have pace teams holding up signs with marathon finishing times. I got behind the one with 3:55 on it. After a few miles, I actually got hot in my gloves and hat. Donna was waiting to cheer us on at mile 3, so I tossed my hat and gloves to her.

I kept the pace up really well for the first 9 miles or so. The only issue was with water and it isn't the one you'd think. The general practice is once a runner drinks the water in his cup, he drops it and any remaining contents on the pavement. It was so cold, the water started freezing and making large slippery patches. I took a gel packet at 9 miles (chocolate) and it gave me a bit of a boost. But still, my pace fell off the last few miles. It was a welcome relief to turn onto the final street leading to AutoZone park. AutoZone Park is home to the Memphis Redbirds (the St Louis Cardinals AAA team). I managed to kick a bit as I entered and ran along the warning track to the finish line. I had made it. Donna was there to greet me. They have food at the end and even being around 10, I had some pizza.

We went to Jonathan's room for me to rest. My sister Melissa called and said she had just missed Jonathan at mile 19 (very close to where her family lives). He was keeping a good pace, so we went back to wait for him. It was a thrill to see him come around at about 3:50! He ended up with a 3:51:06 which was over 10 minutes faster than last year for him. He was of course, exhausted and we had to walk him up to his room at the Doubletree. Fortunately, it as only a block away.

We spent the next hour yelling at the TV for the UK-North Carolina game. UK held on to beat them for the first time in 5 years. Donna got Jonathan food from the TGI Fridays downstairs and we went back to our room to rest. We went out later that night to Huey's and I got a big burger and fries to try and refuel. We also heard the sad news that a young lady died after running the half marathon. It was the first time that had ever happened at the St. Judes run.

Donna and I ended up going out later to my with my sister and her husband and my young nephew Brody. We had a lot of fun visiting with them but finally came back to the hotel to rest. Jonathan needed more food so we stopped at Taco Bell on the way and got him more food. I finally went to sleep about 9;30pm. We got up and checked out and went to worship at the Getwell church of Christ (they publish the Spiritual Sword). Everyone there was really friendly and we enjoyed it. We stopped in Blytheville on the way home and ate at Zaxby's. We got home without incident.

It was a really neat weekend. I found I beat my goal by quite a bit and I ran a 2:00:01. I wish I'd have known to kick a bit harder to get under 2:00. That'll be my goal for the next half. We're trying to line up our next race and already are making plans to run in Memphis next year.

Bowled Over....

Kentucky lost its 25th straight game to Tennessee last night. They were in good shape in this one. They were up 21-14 at the half, but their offense absolutely went south in the 2nd half. The freshman QB Morgan Newton as we say in the south "couldn't hit the broad side of a barn". Even with all that, Kentucky recovered a UT fumble with 3:00 min to go on the 37. Randall Cobb drove them to the Tenn 10. Then for some bizarre reason, UK went back to Newton. A draw and a QB run by Newton made it 4th and 2 at the 5. I pleaded with Coach Brooks to put Cobb back in and ran the Wildcat for the win. I knew the UK defense was worn out and couldn't hold up in OT and I had no faith in our offense to score again. UK kicked a field goal to tie and the game went into Overtime. UK lost 7 yards and missed a long field goal. UT reached the end zone in three plays to win 30-24.

That is the 2nd game where UK could have used Cobb at the end of a game and didn't. Cobb is the best play maker UK has, I don't understand why you wouldn't put the ball in his hands in crunch time.

Anyway, UK lost a chance to tie for 2nd in the SEC East to a tie for 4th. They would have most likely been in the Outback Bowl in sunny Tampa. There are now FIVE 7-5 teams in the sec now. Alabama and Florida will be in the BCS, one in the championship game and one in the Sugar Bowl. LSU will end up in the Capital One Bowl because of the Ole Miss loss to Mississippi State.

Now it gets interesting. Normally, Ole Miss would go to the Cotton Bowl, but they went they last year. I would target Tennessee for the Outback Bowl. It's not inconceivable they could swap. Then, with all those 7-5 teams, it makes it a challenge to pick the next teams. My guess would be Georgia in the Chick-Fil-A bowl since it's in Atlanta. The next tier would be the Music City Bowl and Liberty Bowl. They went to the Liberty last year plus that game is on January 2nd when the UK-Louisville basketball game is. Music City is on Sunday night, so if they go to that, I'll have to miss the start of the game. The next game in the list is the Independence in Shreveport Louisiana followed by the PapaJohns.com in Birmingham Alabama. The PJ bowl is on the 2nd as well though so it's probably out of the question.

I'm thinking UK will end up in Nashville for the 3rd time in 5 years and if not there, it'll be the Independence. We'll find out Sunday.

Traffic Jam...

When I go to training classes (in much larger cities than Paducah), I invariably get in discussions with classmates about work commutes. Many of my classmates end up driving over an hour to work because of a) distance (can't afford housing in the city) and/or b) traffic jams. I tell them I have a less than 15 minute drive to my employer (USEC). The only traffic jam I run into is when a farm implement is moving down the road or a cow gets loose.

Last night, we were coming home from Paducah and ran into a line of traffic on Hiway 62 west. That usually means a wreck of some type. Several police cars and vehicles passed us and we were finally allow to proceed to a side road for a detour.

This is the story and photo from the Paducah Sun. One of the perils of living in the country...

Wreck blamed on spilled soybeans
Teen driver skids on US 62 grain

Katie Fostevold, 17, of Bardwell was treated at Lourdes hospital Saturday night after her car “hydroplaned” on spilled soybeans on Blandville Road, hit a tree and burst into flames.

“She was trapped and screaming as smoke filled the car,” said Concord Fire Chief Bob McGowan, the first person on the scene. The driver was able to breathe because her side of the car smashed into the tree and its windows were broken, McGowan said.

McGowan said a few residents tried to extinguish the fire by carrying pans of water from their homes. McGowan used a large carbon-dioxide extinguisher from his vehicle to suppress the fire until fire crews and truck could arrive to extinguish the car’s flames.

“They essentially saved her life,” McCracken County Deputy Chad Shaw said.

Three other teenagers — Katie’s sister Amy Fostevold, 17, and Justin Cotton, 18, both of Bardwell, and Chris Polivick, 17, of Arlington — were in the car. All three were out of the car by the time McGowan arrived, he said.

The three passengers were treated and released at Lourdes. No condition information was available on Katie Fostevold.

At least 500 bushels of soybeans had spilled onto Blandville between Fisher and Gholson roads because a latch on a truck carrying the load was not secured, Sheriff Jon Hayden said.

“When the truck turned west onto Blandville Road from Fisher Road, the load of soybeans spilled onto the road,” Hayden said. “The truck driver was not aware” that the latch on the truck was not secured, Hayden said. As much as 4 inches of soybeans covered the road.

Fostevold was driving west on Blandville when her car skidded on the soybeans, veered over the center line and almost collided with oncoming traffic. She swerved back to the right, spun, left the road and smashed sideways into a tree, McGowan said.

Traffic came to a stop at Childress Road, and deputies set up roadblocks at Massac Church Road to reroute westbound traffic.

The Kentucky Highway Department cleared the road by using a snowplow equipped with sweeper brushes to push the soybeans to the side, spokesman Keith Todd said.

“We usually try to keep that kind of equipment available during the holiday travel season because it might be needed at a roadside accident,” Todd said.

Crews were able to clear the road by 8 p.m., about three hours after the wreck occurred.

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..

Sighing over the Cy...

I am sure that you know by now that Tim Lincecum won the Cy Young award over two very deserving Cardinals (Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright). Needless to say (as a Cards fan), I wasn't really happy.

This was one of those years that it seemed like Lincecum was given the award before the season started (kinda like happens with the Heisman trophy). I'll admit he looked awfully good against the Cardinals when I saw him pitch this summer. He did fade down the stretch while the Cardinals pitchers got better. He led the league in strikeouts and tied for shutouts (with Joel Pinero of the Cardinals). That's it. He was 2nd in ERA but tied for FOURTH in wins. Wainwright won 19 games (most in the league). He should have gotten his 20th. I personally witnessed that debacle when he left with a 6-0 lead only for the bullpen to give up 12 runs and lose it. He also lead the league in innings pitched. Carpenter led the league in ERA (by almost a quarter of a run). He was 2nd in the league in wins behind his teammate despite missing over a month of the season. He led the league in winning percentage.

There were two bizarre votes cast. Keith Law who is with ESPN and out of Boston actually got to cast the Atlanta vote (the Atlanta Consitution doesn't allow their writers to participate). He left Carpenter completely off and voted for Javier Vazquez very conveniently of Atlanta as 2nd. An Arizona writer (very conveniently again) put Dan Haren of Arizona in as his third choice. BTW, Wainwright was voted the Outstanding pticher in the NL by the players (the Player's Choice awards).

I guess it didn't really occur to me you only get to vote for 3 pitchers. I know for MVP, you vote for 10. I don't know why that doesn't happen with the Cy Young. I've heard all sorts of stats quoted as to why Lincecum should have gotten the award. I love math and stats, but I think this is very overanalyzed.

But then, I think of the old Peanuts cartoon where Lucy is giving Charlie Brown all these stats about why their team is terrible. Charlie Brown finally tells her "Lucy, tell your statistics to shut up".

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.