John Clay's Sidelines

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

• Tony Wroten no longer considering Kentucky, reports Brian Floyd of the Seattle Sports Blog. (Hat tip to Aaron’s UK Basketball Blog.)
• George Blanda made middle-age cool, blogs Andy Barall for the New York Times.
• The best came last for Raiders’ legend Blanda, writes the San Francisco Chronicle.
• Blanda was one of a kind, says this editorial from the Oakland Tribune.
• Even after Florida loss, Joker Phillips remains confident, reports Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader.
• Independent review was handicapped by missing materials, reports Jerry Tipton of the H-L.
• Personnel losses have made Steve Brown’s job harder, writes Mark Story of the H-L.
• Phillips tries to soothe his team’s confidence, writes Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal.
• Badly needed win lifted Ole Miss’ spirits, reports Parrish Alford of the NE Mississippi Daily Journal.
• Brandon Bolden has answered the call for Ole Miss, reports Kyle Veazey of the Clarion-Ledger.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Wroten takes UK off list; Blanda tributes’

SEC links for Tuesday:

• Mark Richt says he understands why people are upset, reports Tim Tucker of the AJC.
• Georgia is changing its schedule philosophy, reports Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald.
• Alabama-Florida is college football’s most important rivalry, writes Paul Finebaum of the Mobile Press-Register.
• Florida gets a taste of the underdog role, writes Chris Low of espn.com.
• Alabama goes from hunter to hunted, writes Michael Casagrande of the Anniston Star.
• Florida concerned more about improving than payback, writes Robbie Andreu of the Gainesville Sun.
• Florida’s Jeff Demps has sprained foot, reports Rachel George of the Orlando Sentinel.
• LSU is 4-0, so what’s wrong with LSU? asks Matt Hinton of Dr. Saturday.

Continue reading ‘SEC: Mark Richt says he feels for Georgia fans’

How’s this for coincidence?

Just three days after the Birmingham Schools report on Eric Bledsoe’s academic history, UK coach John Calipari spoke to the Monday Morning Quarterback Club in Birmingham today.

Jon Solomon covered it for the Birmingham News.

Cal did not speak to the media before or after the speech, and apparently didn’t say much about Bledsoe.

He did say he thinks his team lost to West Virginia because it was looking ahead to Duke:

Calipari suggested Kentucky lost to West Virginia in the Elite Eight last season in part because the Wildcats were looking ahead to Duke in the Final Four.

“Do you know how badly we wanted to play Duke?” Calipari said. “I think that’s why we played so badly against West Virginia. We wanted Duke so badly we couldn’t see straight.”

Kentucky shot 4 of 32 on 3-pointers in the loss to West Virginia.

“I’ll be honest,” Calipari said. “I really felt we had the best team, not at the beginning (of last season), but at the end. The one thing we were fearful of is that we’d go on a shooting slump, which was the question about our team from Day 1. But we made shots, we willed shots in. And that game, we went 0 for 20 and I kept saying, ‘We’re going to be alright, and their eyes are like, no we’re not.’”

I promised I would do more of these, so we’ll try a Livechat tonight at 8 p.m., before the Packers and Bears get cracking. We’ll talk UK-Florida, UK-Ole Miss, Bledsoe, Kanter, the cold weather, and whatever you might want to talk about.

Great story in the Sacramento Bee about DeMarcus Cousins returning home to Alabama, and here is a terrific video that accompanied the article.

(Notice the Herald-Leader’s “Big Cuz” display in the video.)

George Blanda, on right in white shirt, at the Bear's Boys reunion last year in Lexington. (H-L photo/Pablo Alcala)

Several outlets are reporting that George Blanda has died at the age of 83.

Blanda played for UK from 1945-48 under Bear Bryant. He continued on to the NFL and then the AFL, earning fame as a quarterback and placekicker with the Oakland Raiders.

Here’s a video about Blanda’s pro career:

Coming off a 114-yard game at Florida, UK receiver Chris Matthews talked to the media today.

Here is the entire audio from Joker Phillips’ press conference at UK’s weekly luncheon today.

Click here to download an mp3 file of the press conference.

Click here for a transcript of the Phillips press conference.

Five highlights:

1. Phillips said he does not plan on making any personnel changes this week, that his 3-1 team has good personnel.
2. He expects starting offensive guard Stuart Hines to return to practice on Tuesday, but that Billy Joe Murphy played well in place of Hines on Saturday.
3. UK’s linebackers did not play well in The Swamp.
4. Phillips said he is used to fan criticism, having been offensive coordinator and calling the plays the past five years.
5. The coach said that Mark Crawford played well, and with enthusiasm, on Saturday.

UK defensive tackle Luke McDermott on Monday on how his team needs to bounce back after Saturday shellacking.

Click here to see this video on YouTube.

This is UK safety Winston Guy at the team’s weekly press luncheon, saying the defense needs more help from its scout team.

Click here to see this video on YouTube.