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Kentucky.com: FanFare
News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com
- Tubby vs. Pitino in Rupp? Why not?
Nuggets to spice the eggnog: . This coming Saturday, a basketball event of special historical significance to University of Kentucky fans will take place in Phoenix of all places. Rick Pitino and Louisville will face Tubby Smith and Minnesota in a matchup of former UK head coaches. My thought: Wouldn't this historically rare meeting between ex-top Cats have just rocked if it was held in Rupp Arena? - Big contracts justified, but still hard to swallow
No offense to CC Sabathia. He's an All-Star pitcher, an ace in any starting rotation, but it's hard to think of the skilled southpaw as anything more than a fat cat getting a reported $161 million fatter in these lean economic times. Reaping the riches of a baseball free-agent market in which the absolute best players still can demand top dollar, Sabathia agreed to a seven-year deal with the New York Yankees last week. A couple of days later, the Yankees came to terms with talented but injury-prone pitcher A.J. Burnett on a five-year, $82.5 million deal. Hearing about the free-agent sweepstakes windfall of Sabathia, Burnett and, in days to come, sluggers Mark Teixeira and Manny Ramirez, is like learning that a CEO has taken a huge Christmas bonus after another round of layoffs. From a business standpoint, ballclub executives will argue that a big-name signing boosts a team's profile and, as Harvard Business School professor Stephen A. Greyser said, "stokes the fires of fandom." - What we'll see
Sunday There could be more points scored on defense than offensein the Steelers-Ravens game.Not only does it feature the NFL'sNo. 1 and No. 2 defenses, first place in the AFC North is on the line. (4:15 p.m., CBS-27) Sunday - What we saw
Portis is not the problem The rift between Redskins Coach Jim Zorn and star running back Clinton Portis has a simple solution, according to Zorn: winning. Problem is, it seems that's what Portis meant when he told Zorn to give him the ball. As Washington has dropped four of five, Portis has averaged 12.5 carries in the losses. He rushed 29 times in the win. Cowboys have some bad T.O. - Numbers game: 0
The number of NFL teams that have finished a 16-game season winless. This year's Detroit Lions (0-13) could become the first. The Lions have games remaining Sunday at Indianapolis, Dec. 21 at home vs. New Orleans, and Dec. 28 at Green Bay. Only two teams have ever finished an NFL season winless. The 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 0-14. The 1960 Dallas Cowboys finished 0-11-1. 0 Numbers game The next big thing - Win-now culture haunts successful coaches
They make more money than Gates. They are on TV more than Oprah. In many states, including our own, the cutthroats and control freaks who fill the ranks of big-time college sports coaching are more visible than the governor. Yet in the off-with-your-head environment that presently engulfs big-time college sports, I feel a little sorry for the coaches. In the past, if you had a prior track record of success at a school, it banked a certain loyalty from the universities and the fans that live vicariously through the university sports teams. - Readers' Views
Is winning really the only thing? In the mixed-up, pathetic world of NCAA sports and Mr. Billy Gillispie, freshman player Mr. DeAndre Liggins is "saluted" for doing the entire world a favor and actually playing a game he has been in a sense, paid to do by the University of Kentucky. Let's get this straight Mr. G., your freshman player refuses to enter a game when told to and then somehow you try to convince the public that his willingness to play the next game is a sign of "remorse and toughness." Geez. What Mr. G said: "It would have been easy as a coach to just say, 'Hey, you can't play.' " What Mr. G meant: "I am here to win games, and teaching ethics, teamwork and lifetime lessons will preclude me from doing so." Steve Marcinak Lexington - What we'll see
Sunday It's the day that college football fans everywhere make their holiday plans. It looks like the Cats are set to face East Carolina in Memphis, but the BCS should offer plenty of selection-show drama. (BCS bowl selection, Fox-56, 8 p.m.) Tuesday - What we saw
No helmets for a reason We're thankful Michael Porter and Ramon Harris are recovering, but it's hard to applaud helter-skelter hustle that results in football-type injuries. As Mike Pratt said: "I've seen that many times on a football field but never on a basketball court." They needed more artillery - Numbers game: 16-29
The combined record of the next six opponents on the Kentucky men's basketball schedule. The Wildcats open their December to Dismember six-pack with Mississippi Valley State (0-9) on Sunday, followed by Indiana (4-4) on Saturday, Appalachian State (4-2) on Dec. 20, Tennessee State (3-4) on Dec. 22, Florida Atlantic (3-5) on Dec. 27, and Central Michigan (2-5) on Dec. 29. 16-29 Numbers game The next big thing - Fan Fare: What we'll see
Sunday-Monday Fantasy football owners everywhere are on the edge of their seats as most leagues wrap up their regular season this week. Here's hoping none of your players shoot themselves in the leg (literally or figuratively). Monday-Tuesday December is here, and it's time for high school hoops. There will be at least six future Cats (three boys, three girls) and tons of other D-I prospects in action this year. The season starts with a smattering of games Monday and hits full stride on Tuesday. - Fan Fare: What we saw
Taking pride in history Sports is full of examples of inspiring teams uplifting downtrodden communities. Unfortunately for Detroit, the Lions aren't one of them. So recession-weary Michiganders have adopted gallows humor, if they needed more of that. It's historic 0-16 or bust. No Answer on Thanksgiving Speaking of tormenting the oppressed, it wasn't enough that the Pistons traded the popular Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson, they decided to throw a Thanksgiving practice for him and . a Thanksgiving practice? Surely they didn't expect him to show. - Fan Fare: Overview
Number games: 34 The number of players on the Kentucky football team's 44-player offensive and defensive two-deep depth chart for Saturday night's regular-season finale at Tennessee who are eligible to return next season. In 2009, the Cats will have back 20 first- or second-stringers on offense and 14 on defense, including nine offensive starters and five defensive starters. Rivals.com currently ranks Kentucky's 2009 recruiting classNo. 38 in the nation and No. 10 in the Southeastern Conference. 34 Numbers game - This Dad had his Day, too
It only seemed as if Terry Mills had changed his name. As the late 1990s gave way to the 2000s, you might have thought that Mills' legal name had become Terry Mills, the father of. That's because whenever you saw Terry Mills mentioned in Kentucky's newspapers, it was almost always in the context of: 1.) Terry Mills, the father of Cameron Mills, the University of Kentucky walk-on who became a vital contributor for UK's 1997 NCAA runners-up and the 1998 national champions; - It is possible for UK to beat Tennessee
The Kentucky-Tennessee rivalry? A joke. Same team winning every year. Across many years of UK-UT border battles, people wondered if there would EVER be another win for ... - Readers' Views
Gillispie's 'mansion' hard to stomach I saw the story on Fox-56 news about Billy Gillispie's million-dollar house. I'm glad he's doing so good. The rest of the country is going to hell. What is our government giving to UK so he can afford the mansion when the students can't afford tuition? When is someone going to take responsibility and quit shoving in our faces about how Wall Street and a college coach are getting big payouts while the rest of us a