John Clay's Sidelines

Mark Krebs

Condolences to the family of former UK basketball player Mark Krebs, whose mother Terri Krebs, who passed away at age 49 today at her home after a nine-year fight with breast cancer.

Steve Moss of WKYT has a report, as does Mary Jo Perino of WLEX-TV.

Here is Mark Story’s column on Terri Krebs from UK’s Senior Day.

And a Jerry Tipton story from October in the H-L on Terri Krebs’ battle.

UK released a statement from head coach John Calipari:

“I know I speak for all of the Big Blue Nation when I express my deepest sympathies to Mark Krebs, his family and their friends as they mourn the loss of Mark’s mom, Terri. One of the special parts of our first year in Kentucky was being able to coach Mark and get to know him and his family. I just finished writing the foreword to Mark’s upcoming book and my words were largely inspired by Terri’s memorable participation in Senior Day ceremonies. Rest in peace Terri and know that all of the Big Blue Nation is here for your family.”

I’m at Great American Ballpark today for Reds vs. Phillies. While watching game, will post updates, observations, etc., concerning this titanic tilt, as Marty likes to say.

• Philadelphia 9th: Cordero allows a one-out single to pinch-hitter Ross Gload. That’s it for Philadelphia. Cordero picks up save. Bruce’s homer in the 8th wins it. Final: Cincinnati 4, Philadelphia 3.

• Cincinnati 8th: Jay Bruce cranks a two-run homer off Halladay to give the Reds the lead. Another Cincinnati come back. The Reds trailed 3-0 against arguably the best pitcher in the game before rallying. Now Cordero comes on in the ninth. Cincinnati up 4-3.

• Philadelphia 8th: Arthur Rhodes comes on and retires Phillies in order. After finally giving up some runs last night, Rhodes fans the first two batters, then gets Ibanez to line to center. Today’s attendance is 27,245. There were 6,178 walk-ups. Philadelphia 3-2.

• Cincinnati 7th: Couple of bad breaks keep Reds from a tie, or the possibility. Orlando Cabrera’s single drives in Ramon Hernandez, but the ball isn’t hit hard enough to drive in Brandon Phillips from second base. Phillips has to put on the brakes at third. Then Joey Votto takes a called third strike on a pitch that was clearly low and outside. Scott Rolen then pops up to shallow right to end the inning. Reds have climbed back in it, but might not get a better chance. Philadelphia 3, Cincinnati 2.

• Philadelphia 7th: Harang is lifted after giving up one-out single. He goes 6 and 1/3 innings, allowing 8 hits, 3 runs, all earned, one walk with five strike outs. He threw 113 pitches. Logan Ondrusek came on to get two fly balls to center field. Stubbs made an excellent running catch on the second fly out. He really is a terrific center fielder. Phillies up 3-1.

Continue reading ‘Old-school liveblog: Reds-Phillies’

Jeff Goodman

Sticking with our summer theme of college basketball writers who toil for popular internet sites, today’s Media Approval Ratings focus in on Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports Net.

Goodman, who lives in Massachusetts, has written extensively on UK basketball since becoming the senior college basketball writer for Fox Sports. He is opinionated enough to spark an “I Hate Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports” page on Facebook.

What say you on Jeff, thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

Previously: Mike DeCourcy

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• Kentucky fans learning to live with John Calipari’s Catch-22, writes John Pennington of Mr. SEC.

• Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader catches up with Joker Phillips at his youth camp in Louisville.

• John Wall pays “younger brother” Quincy Miller a visit, reports Jerry Biggs of the San Antonio News-Express. (Hat tip to Tom Leach.)

• Patrick Patterson writes about his draft night for SportsIllustrated.com.

• Joker Phillips will take a break, just not sure when, writes Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal.

• Rick Pitino is trying to fight back against Calipari, blogs Eamonn Brennan of espn.com.

Continue reading ‘BBL: John Wall pays Quincy Miller a visit’

(The State photo/Gary Melendez)

SEC Links for Wednesday:

• South Carolina beats UCLA in 11 innings to win NCAA Baseball title, reports Neil White of The State.

• Ron Morris of The State writes that the Gamecocks’ national title is important for many different reasons.

• South Carolina bringing the title trophy back home, writes Travis Haney of the Charleston Post and Courier.

• David Climer of the Tennessean writes that Bryce Brown saga at UT bears Lane Kiffin’s fingerprints.

• Mr. SEC has the list of summer basketball commitments/signees.

• Tennessee basketball signees are impressive in summer league, reports Wes Rucker of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Continue reading ‘SEC: Gamecocks win national baseball title’

(AP photo/Butch Dill)

Full-time radio host and part-time author Paul Finebaum of the Mobile Press-Register is out with his annual rankings of the SEC football coaches. In my book, Paul has some hits, but several misses, especially after the top three.

Here are my rankings, with Finebaum’s rankings in parenthesis:

• 1. Nick Saban, Alabama (1): Has passed Florida’s Urban Meyer as the conference and national king. Saban has won two national titles at two different schools. There is not a better coach in the nation at coming up with defensive schemes that stop opposing passing quarterbacks. Look at the passing numbers of Alabama’s opponents last year. They are ridiculous.

• 2. Urban Meyer, Florida (2): The Urbinator came off as a bit wacky during his retired/not retired fiasco last winter. He’s supposedly rested, ready and back to attack the Crimson Tide. He doesn’t have Tim Tebow this time around. It will be interesting to see how the Gators perform.

• 3. Bobby Petrino, Arkansas (3): At first glance, thought Finebaum had the ex-Louisville coach too high. But upon further review, this is probably about right. After going 13-12 his first two seasons in Fayetteville, Petrino should be ready for a breakout campaign.

• 4. Mark Richt, Georgia (5): Richt is supposedly on the hot seat at Georgia after his pre-season No. 1 Bulldogs failed to win the title in 2008, then slipped considerably last year. Still think Richt is a good coach, who has yet to make the leap to greatness. He’s still in rebuilding mode this year.

• 5. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina (4): The shine is off Coach Superior, but I’d still hate to face him in on any given Saturday. The question this year is whether Spurrier can get the most out of quarterback Stephen Garcia and take advantage of Tennessee and Georgia both appearing to be down a bit.

Continue reading ‘My own rankings of SEC football coaches 1-12′

News from USA Today says that as her contract with the World Wide Leader comes to an end, Erin Andrews has reached a tentative agreement to remain with ESPN.

There had been talk that after her successful stint on Dancing With the Stars, Andrews wanted to branch out and do more things, and might be willing to leave the network.

Interesting (my) household story about Andrews. She’s never been one of my wife’s favorites, until . . . Until she saw Andrews on Dancing With the Stars. There, the former Florida dance girl was able to show her goofy, sweet personality which won her a new fan in our family, and probably some other families, as well.

That’s why sports stars such as Emmitt Smith, Jerry Riche, Chad Ochocinco, Justin Taylor, etc., have done the show. It introduces them to a whole new audience.

And on this year’s DWTS, you had the side story of Nicole Scherzinger, a graduate of YPAS (Youth Performing Arts School of duPont Manual) in Louisville, and a current Pussycat Doll, winning the mirror-ball trophy.

Plus, DWTS is the one show that correctly uses Kenny Mayne.

Bob Clark of the Register-Guard in Eugene, Oregon talked to newly retired Kentucky football coach Rich Brooks, who is splitting his time between his two former employers. Brooks has a place in Oregon, where he coached the Ducks. The Brooks, Rich and Karen, also have a place in Lexington, where they expect to spend at least part of the year.

Anyway, Brooks talks about retirement, the beauty of not having to schedule your day, etc.

He also makes an interesting comment about Kentucky’s football future:

Now, Brooks said, the challenge for Kentucky is to emulate what Oregon did, and build on its success with stadium improvements and other program upgrades.

“It’s an amazing transition from what we had (at Oregon) in 1977 (when he was hired),” Brooks said. “It’s almost storybook what has happened (at Oregon), from the days of being one of the have-nots to being one of the major haves, not only in the conference but in the country.

“If Kentucky wants to maintain what we have started there, they’re going to have to get into the 21st century. … They have to make that commitment.”

Mike DeCourcy

These being the hazy, lazy days of summer, we’re bringing back the ever-popular media approval ratings. This will be a smorgasbord of writers, broadcasters, radio hosts, etc., with probably no rhyme or reason, other than the hope is to do as many as can be managed.

We’ll start with Sporting News basketball columnist Mike DeCourcy, a Pittsburgh native who has written about college hoops for many years. He’s worked for the Memphis Commercial Appeal and Cincinnati Enquirer, among other publications, before going to Sporting News.

What say you on Mike, thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

Catching up from last week’s furlough, did not realize that Matt Walsh, the ex-Florida Gator and former Rupp Arena fan favorite (not) — “Walsh is gay! Walsh is gay!” chants still ring in my ears — had become such a point of internet consternation and contention.

First came this blog post from espn.com’s Dana O’Neill, who uses Walsh as a cautionary tale concerning players who foolishly submit to the NBA Draft, then go undrafted with no way of returning to their former school, and an uncertain future.

But then being his natural contrarian, and interesting self, Basketball Prospectus John Gasaway offered a rebuttal, arguing that Walsh’s life has not turned out so bad, despite the fact he did not stick in the NBA.

An excerpt:

But Walsh wanted to take a shot at something even better. We know what happened, of course (he didn’t make the NBA), but what we can never know is what would have happened if he’d stayed for his senior season. It’s easy to say he would have “improved his game” and “become stronger,” but the truth is that just as often a four-year player’s age is cited as a “red flag” in draft discussions. There’s simply no guarantee that Walsh’s basketball career would have turned out better had he stayed on another year in Gainesville.