John Clay’s Sidelines

Gabe e-mails to say — and if you are a Lexington radio sports call-in show listener, you know Gabe — to say I was dead wrong in my Wednesday column, which said that there has never been a UK football and UK basketball game played at the same time.

Wrote Gabe:

I remember sitting in the stands in Gainesville in 1979 & getting updates from the UK cheerleaders on the UK-Duke basketball game.

The reason it is clear in my mind is that it was Sam Bowie’s debut and the Cats lost in overtime.The football team won behind QB Juan Portella over the Gators, 31-3. That Gator team went 0-10-1 that year.

The two games overlapped each other for at least the 1st qt of the Football game.

Hard to believe how the tables have turned.

Gabe may be right. What I should have said was that there has never been a simultaneous broadcast of UK football and basketball, at least according to IMG, the UK rights holder. I believe the UK basketball game was broadcast on a tape-delayed basis, or vice versa, back in 1979.

But it’s always good to hear from Gabe.

Excerpts from the inbox:

James from Michigan writes:

I agree with coach that Liggins showed his enormous potential, but there was nothing else to celebrate other than the fact that Harris seemed to give 100 percent.  It will take days and many bottles of clorox to remove the smell UK left in North Carolina.  Spring flowers will flourish in Chapel Hill from all of the fertilizer UK left.

. . . Please do not write about Patterson leaving for the NBA after this year.  He is not even close to making the NBA; PTA maybe.  He looked sluggish, missed many opportunities for easy offensive rebounds, did not play with spirit, was not effective on the defensive end, etc.  Unfortunately he appears too small to play 5 in the Bigs, too slow to play 4 and lacks the speed and shooting skills to play 3.  He looked better one year ago than he looked last night.  Maybe he was in a funk because NC’s Player of the Year was out.

Ashley wrote:

I thought (Liggins) stunk! Like Jasper, he never shot the ball once, until 4 seconds remained. Does Billy G. tell our point guards to never shoot the ball? He had some wide open shots! . . . Now as for football…how do we rush for 240 against UGA, then decide NOT to run vs. Vandy?? Whomever is calling the offense has cost us 3 games this season. USC, UGA and VU. UK fans deserve better!! Competent leadership in this dept. is severely lacking and we’re not getting it form WHOMEVER is calling the plays. They are putting R. Cobb is a very uncompromising position as a drop back passer. What a JOKE.

Martin wrote:

I am hugely disappointed this year.  I really thought with the players coming back and his recruits coming in it would be a vastly different team.  I know all the arguments, but it seems that everyone but Kentucky gets players that come in their freshman year and contribute.  and, also, the practices that are supposed to make the difference, and the mistakes in ball handling.  being a born and bred Kentucky fan, I expect a little more than the losses we have had over the past two seasons.  I had no problems with last season, but I didn’t expect to start this season with 2 flops in a row.

Continue reading ‘E-mailbag: UK basketball’

E-mail from over the weekend:

K. wrote:

“Well, y’see, there’s all these slots to fill in bowl games and Kentucky has qualified by winning at least six, some of whom won almost as many as they lost. They even won two in their league. Of course those records leave leave an odor in the air, but, y’know….” Well, at least Kentucky’s basketball team has great defense. Oh, missed again.

Mark wrote:

I guess Brooks and Gillispie spent last week together not getting their teams ready to play.

Embarrassing is a kind way to describe what happened last weekend.

Patrick Patterson NCAA player of the year? What year? If Billie G. wanted a no-brainer decision about whether or not to go pro he sure got one…no way is he ready.

Defense? Playing together? Playing smart? It is going to be another long and hurtful season….UK is a second tier basketball school. I wonder how things would have played out if Mark Few had gotten the head coaching job.

D.C. wrote:

“Gillespie takes blame for bad game…”

Wasn’t that the party line last year??

And just what, prey tell, did he do to contribute to the 27 turnovers?

This crew is not ready for prime time, obviously. The SEC will be a disaster. The best case is that Patterson will continue on the path to a mediocre season (certainly that’s the road he chose on Friday), have no reasonable NBA prospects, and realize that maybe another year on the Farm Team might be in his best interest.

Then, with the franchise in the stable, we’ll see if BG can devote his full attention to the business at hand and make the most of the “top 10 recruiting class.”

It will be Year Three, after all.

Mark wrote:

Here’s a serious question that someone should ask Gillispie. Does his game day practices negate the depth on his roster? It was certainly obvious to me on Friday night which team had spent a lot of energy earlier in the day and which had not.

That 63-5 loss at Florida brought quite a few e-mail missives to the in-box.

Some excerpts:

E.S. writes:

Finally Brooks takes the blame!

Bob writes:

Another great article. It blows my mind that 8 games into the season, our special teams still don’t know blocking assignments. How many kicks have been blocked so far this year? What happened Saturday was an embarrassment to the players, coaches and school. That showed me this team is winning through smoke and mirrors. No offense. No blocking. No playmakers. Too bad.

Mark writes:

The most scary stat from the UK-Florida. game was not the score, but the Florida players responsible for the score. A review of the Florida depth chart in Saturday’s Herald shows no seniors on Florida’s first or second string defense and only four seniors on the first string offense.

I’ll be quick but I could go on and on, instead I will just say this was one of the worst performances I’ve ever witnessed from a major college football team. Abysmal is kind………..I was just happy that we didn’t get a kickoff or two blocked.

Continue reading ‘E-mailbag: Flop at Florida’

As you might expect, column on Nick $aban and his salary did not sit well with Alabama supporters.

Some excerpts:

Nathan from Daytona Beach, Fla. wrote:

Pardon me if I say this, even though we are not what you call ld friends, but what an absolutely idiotic and buffoon-like column. All I can say is who would you rather have today leading your team out of the tunnel in Tuscaloosa?. Saban or Rich Brooks. If your answer is Brooks, then you need to retire from sports writing today.

Mike wrote:

I read your article about Coach Saban yesterday.  Don’t you think UK fans would pay $32M over 8 years to have a basketball coach of equal quality to Coach Saban?

Brad wrote:

In your article on Coach Sabans salary and whether it is good for the game you failed to mention that his starting salary was only slightly more than what Bob Stoops was making at that time and after Sabans first season atleast two or three coaches received raises that have them making more than Coach Saban now. Why all the hate for a man that is undoubtedly one of the best college football coaches ? Not to mention that he took a pay cut to come back to the college level.

Cmon, this article is ridiculous.  Do you realize how many coaches are making between 3-4 mill?  Also who the heck knows how much Weiss really makes, but I bet it’s around 4.  You UK people are being just a tad hypocritic.  Let’s say in this last coaching search Larry Brown had shown serious interest in UK?  Would they have said no, 4 mill is too much?  Also I’m sure if UK offered Brooks 4 mill he’d get off his high horse to accept it.

Alex wrote:

I read your article today and, I must say, it reeks of biased and uninformed journalism.  Unfortunately, that seems much more to be the norm than the exception today.

Just thought I’d let you in on a couple little secrets.  Despite all the media frenzy concerning Saban’s hire and “outrageous” contract, he is only the 5th highest paid head coach in division 1, I’m sorry, FBS Football.  Also, at the time he signed that contract, he was only the fourth highest paid FBS Head Coach.

Why is there no outcry towards Bob Stoops, Pete Carroll, Charlie Weis, or Les Miles???

You could make the argument that all but Weis have “earned” those contracts with time and results, but couldn’t that be said of any highly paid head coach?  And as for which of those coaches seems to be “all about the money”, I think the argument could be made that Les Miles takes the cake on that one.  He is, after all, making $1000 a year more than Saban because of a clause in his contract that stated if he won a National Championship he automatically became the highest paid coach in the SEC.  As for Saban being “all about the money”, I would think that a $1 Million donation to the University for a Scholarship endowment would kind of negate that theory.  Perhaps not.

Monday's column about the boo-birds at Commonwealth Stadium, generated its fair share of e-mail. Some examples:

Stephen from Knoxville wrote:

Steven from Paducah wrote:

Robin from Danville wrote:

Brian from Oklahoma wrote:

Kevin, whose subject line read "Boo on your booing column," put a different spin on the situation:

Tonya from Louisa wrote:

F.D. from Somerset wrote:

Dan, who actually thinks I'm not hard enough on UK, writes:

Dale wrote:

(Note to Dale: The ". . . what we columnists are for," was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek.")

Rob wrote:

Glenn wrote:

Ken wrote:

Patty Sue from Scottsville wrote:

M.D. wrote:

And, for an opposing view, Tom wrote:

Nice e-mail from Jim concerning my "Six reasons why we pine for pigskin" column.

Interesting e-mail this morning from Allen, who writes:

"The UK Quarterback situation is unfortunate. Each of your articles in this morning's paper treated it most appropriately. However, here is a thought that merits some consideration. Why are college athletes referred to by coaches and sports writers as 'kids'?

"Use of the word has a connotation of someone who is somehow not of an age to be responsible for their individual actions. Upon entering college or shortly thereafter, most college athletes are 18 years of age. These are young people old enough to vote for President, old enough to repair the brakes on your car and old enough to serve in the military with the responsibility that carrying a weapon and using it entails. Yet, through 1-5 years of college and even after reaching age 21 or older they are still 'kids' to coaches and writers.

"I guess that is because they are still playing games, the maturation process has been slowed and
they should not be held fully accountable for their actions without multiple chances.

"Would you be giving the mechanic who is 19 or 20 a second chance to fix your brakes properly? Young men and women are not 'kids'. To continue to use 'kids' is a disservice to young college
athletes."

Your thoughts?

Monday's column in which D. Wayne Lukas advocated altering the current Triple Crown format drew quite a few e-mails.

Some excerpts:

• Newton wrote, "No need to change triple crown - it's been run that way
  for a long time and horses did it.  Problem is clearly breeding /
  training."

• J.R. wrote, "Good article. They have to do something, but if they're going to change the Triple Crown, they need to call it something else. Or better still, do away with the Preakness all together. Make it the K. Derby, the Belmont, and the Breeders Cup."

• Robert wrote, "There is a point about the Belmont that I haven’t seen made, and I’m asking myself why? First of all, Big Brown was off in his training. This leads to a very good chance the horse could show up for the race “rank.” Dutrow and the mental midget, Desormeaux, should have been aware of the fact. You don’t pull up a rank horse, you let him run. You’re in the number one post position, you at least within the first 250 ft know this horse is rank, let him go, it’s the only chance you have. Then you allow, Edgar Prado, on whatever nag he was on, push you to the middle of the track. Big Brown, simply quit, and I don’t blame him. Of more concern is that horses don’t forget. Desormeaux may have ruined this horse."

• Sam wrote, "Big Brown’s story dovetails with that of Eight Bells and the state of horseracing today.
  As you wrote, ‘The horses of today are not the horses of yesteryear. The breed has changed. It is not nearly as robust. It's more susceptible to injury. It's bred for speed, not durability.’ However, instead of changing the races, as Lucas argues, it seems that the breeding habits need to change. Otherwise, horses will continue to lose stamina and be more susceptible to injury. This is not a quick fix, and probably meets opposition, but it offers long term benefits for the health of the racehorse and the sport."

• Jeff wrote, "think anytime the temperature is over 85 the race should be cancelled, so the poor horses,  won't have to sweat and the Derby should be a 5 furlong sprint, so the horses won't get toooooooooooooooo tired for the other Triple Crown races.Give me a freaking break, the Triple Crown is not suppose to be easy. By the way, name me one horse in the past that ran  all 3 races and dropped dead around the final turn at the  Belmont? Big Brown is a decent horse in a year of pathetic 3 year olds, and never deserved being a Triple Crown winner."

• Mary wrote, "I found your story while surfing, and it sounds like poor Big Brown could have been
  the Crown horse with a loving trainer. I get the feeling despite business aspect, these horses have
  souls that should be honored and they KNOW what the people are thinking and feeling."
   

Last Sunday's column on Rick Dutrow drew some e-mail to the old in-box.

Here are some excerpts:

• 
  O.S. wrote: Hello John, "Ok..John.  So I’ll give the fact that Rick isn’t the most popular trainer in the world and he does lack some classiness…but we finally have a horse that the racing industry needs and have waited so long for.  I’m a small harness horse owner in Alberta, Canada so I’m very familiar with  the racing industry.  Why do the media like the yourself intend to ruin the excitement of this amazing horse by taking the attention away from Big Brown to give negative publicity to his trainer.

• I did not enjoy reading your column whatsoever and I’m very disappointed as not only a horse owner but just a big fan that really is looking forward and so very excited to see Big Brown win the Triple Crown."

• S.Y. wrote, "Great article, could not agree more.   But I am kinda having, Spectacular Bid, De Ja Vue all over again. The whole: obnoxious trainer, druggie jockey and mysterious foot injuries sound sooooo familiar."

• Joan wrote, "Well done! I think you've written what everyone feels. Of all the  deserving trainers and owners out there who should be in the position of winning a Triple Crown - these connections are not the worthy ones. Let's hope that quarter crack would have to make him scratch next
  week, but Dutrow will have him all 'juiced' and ready. Sad, sad, state of affairs for racing."

• Dean from Princeton University wrote, "This is truly a crossroads for horse racing with changes necessary to preserve any semblance of legitimacy to the sport and here we have a man who for all horse racing has given him second, third,  fourth chances…and he refuses to embrace that respect for the game.  In the "sport of kings" this man should be an ambassador for the sport.  No, he'd rather act as inappropriately as possible and pop his collar.  . . . Thank you for stating (though I believe you were more contrite and nice than you necessarily had to be because objectively this guy is ridiculous) just how his actions not only hurt his horse but perhaps the longevity of the sport."

• Kay wrote, "Very appropriate article on Rick Dutrow in today's LH-L. I will be the
  first reader to say I hope Mr. Dutrow is right and Big Brown gets it
  done in the Belmont.  I want to seen Kent Desormeaux win the triple
  crown. I have always been a fan of his. . . . Big Brown has been the most impressive winner, in my opinion, in 30
  years, but his situation reminds me of 1979, when we heard so much
  boasting about Spectacular Bid from Bud Delp.  I don't really remember
  the particular rhetoric from Delp back then, but the cavalier attitude
  does remind me of Dutrow.  And we all know how great Bid was, and how
  he should have won the Triple Crown that year. In any aspect of the
  horse business, it is easier to screw a horse up than make one better. . . . God, where is Lucien Lauren when you need him?"