Ice in her veins

Originally published in the Woodford Sun - Nov. 19, 2009

For the briefest moment, the puck seems suspended in midair, as if dangling on a string between the two opposing players. Then in the blink of an eye, the fluttering eight ounces of vulcanized rubber shoots backward, propelled by a curved stick held in the gloved hands of a Lafayette High School hockey player. The red white and blue clad center leans heavily into the opposing faceoff man, tying up his stick and impeding any possible progress. A teammate streaks up the ice and picks up the loose puck as the Lafayette center quickly disengages and follows, blond ponytail fluttering around the number 20 emblazoned on her back.

As she sits in the hallway at Woodford County High School on a Tuesday afternoon, a casual observer wouldn’t recognize Adriane Downey as the hard skating center who scored a goal and an assist against Henry Clay the weekend before. She’s not a stocky girl. She’s soft spoken. Her long blond hair brushes below her shoulders and she’s quick to flash a smile.

A cheerleader? Perhaps. A basketball player? Maybe. But a hockey player? No way.

“Everybody always tells me I don’t look like a hockey player.”

But looks can deceive. Downey rolls up her pant leg and shows off an ugly purple bruise on her calf. She points at it with pride.

“Most people think I’m abused because of all the bruises,” she jokes.

Yes, Adriane Downey is most certainly a hockey player.

***

As a little blond headed seven-year-old girl growing up in Versailles, Downey was the most unlikely of hockey of players. She admits that she doesn’t like being cold. Nobody in her family ever played the game. And the first time she was ever on ice skates, at a cousin’s birthday party, she came home with a big knot on her head.

“She couldn’t even stand up on skates,” her mother, Karen Downey, recalls.

But from the moment she saw her first Kentucky Thoroughblades game, she knew she wanted to play.

“It just looked fun – and it was different.”

Mom wasn’t so sure. One evening, not long after that first hockey spectator experience, Adriane tried to talk her mom into taking them to a Thoroughblade game.

“Mom, you gotta go.”

“I told her, ‘I’m not getting into this,’” the elder Downey said with a chuckle.

Little did she know.

Within months, Karen Downey had become a hockey mom. Adriane started out in the house developmental league at the Lexington Ice Center and quickly worked her way up. Athletically inclined, those awkward herky-jerky movements on the ice quickly developed into a smooth skating stride. At age 10 she made it onto an elite travel team.

She was the only girl.

For the last several years, Downey has played for an all-female team based in Louisville, but throughout most of her hockey career she’s competed with the boys. This season, she jumped at the opportunity to play for Lafayette High School in Lexington. Since high school hockey is a club sport in Kentucky, and Woodford does not field a team, she is able to play for another school. She finds herself in a familiar setting, surrounded by guys. Downey said that competing against the faster, stronger boys makes her a better player.

“The girls aren’t really competitive, so I like playing with the boys better,” she said. “I think it makes me try harder. I want to prove something. I like proving to the guys I can keep up with them. I like seeing the look on their faces – seeing the shock.”

***

Number 20 churns up the ice. She’s not the fastest skater, but she moves with purpose. Downey turns toward the boards and picks up a loose puck. She takes a couple of strides toward the opponents net and feathers a perfect pass to Adam Stickney, who rifles the puck passed the Blue Devil keeper for a goal.

Later in the period, Downey scores one of her own. She drives toward the net and picks up a rebound, flipping the puck past the Henry Clay net minder.

“She’s such a smart hockey player,” Lafayette coach Gordon Summers said. “She’s a smart player with the puck and she’s a smart player without the puck.”

And those hockey smarts more than compensate for whatever she may give up in size and speed. She knows where to position herself on the ice when she does not have possession of the puck and creates scoring chances with her smart play. She’s not afraid to do the dirty work, going in front of the net to pick up passes and rebounds.

“If you’re in the right place at the right time, you have more opportunities,” Downey said. “On a breakaway the goalie can still stop you, but if you are wide open in front of the net you have a better chance of scoring.”

Downey plays third line center for the Generals on varsity and sees extensive playing time on the JV squad. The Lafayette coach also relies on her to take crucial faceoffs, saying she rarely loses.

Her coach describes her as, “Fearless.”

“Keep your feet moving,” Summers yells from the bench.

The Lafayette skipper expects his players to work hard for an entire shift – every second on the ice. And he doesn’t coach Downey any differently because she’s a girl.

“I don’t let that be a part of it,” he said. “I don’t want you lazy out there, and I let her know.”

As for her teammates? They treat her like one of the boys.

“She fits in so well with this group of guys,” Summers said. “She’s respected on the ice.”

Downey earns that respect with a team oriented attitude. She said that it makes her just as happy to earn an assist as to score a goal.

“Goals don’t mean everything. An assist is the same number of points on the board,” she said. “I just go out there and try to win.”

***

Downey drives to the net. A collision. Number 20 cartwheels through the air and lands on in a heap on the ice. Up she springs like a jack-in-the-box.

Mom admits the physicality involved when her daughter competes against boys makes her a little nervous.

“I do worry.”

She said that it was even harder when Adriane was little and the team did hitting drills in practice. Karen remembers thinking, “I don’t know if I can deal with this.”

But over the years, she’s learned to cope with the worry.

“I usually walk (during games). I hardly sit down,” Karen said. “But she knows how to take a lick. That’s part of it I guess you have to adjust to.”

Adriane said that the physical aspect of the game, even playing against guys much bigger and stronger, doesn’t intimidate her.

“I’ve gotten hit a few times,” she says with a shrug.

But she knows her limits and doesn’t go out of her way to engage in the rough stuff.

“I don’t want to get hit back, so I avoid that.”

But her mom says that she exhibits the toughness typical of hockey players. After a recent injury, Adriane was reluctant to admit she was hurting as bad as she was.

“She doesn’t want people to think she’s not tough enough – that she’s not as tough as the boys,” Karen said.

Off the ice, Adriane lives the life of a typical teenage girl. A senior at WCHS, she played golf for the Yellow Jackets and works with Walker Terhune as a student trainer. But hockey consumes the bulk of her free time.

“I’m pretty much twenty-four seven at the ice rink,” she said. “I don’t have a life other than school, work and hockey.”

And she says she is okay with that. In fact, the ice serves as a sort of a refuge.

“I don’t have like – school drama. I don’t think about that stuff. It’s like a cooling down spot for me.”

Downey said that she would like to go on to play hockey in college and eventually work as an athletic trainer.

***

The final horn sounds. The Generals win the game 7-2. Lafayette players gather at center ice. Number 20 gets lost in a mass of red, white and blue jerseys as the team celebrates its win. High-fives. Pats on the back.

A Yellow Jacket at heart, she finds it a little odd chanting “Generals.”

“I think it would be more fun if I played for my own school. I think it would be more meaningful.”

As she comes off the ice, she pulls off her scuffed black helmet and flashes a shy smile. The blonde ponytail flops freely around the number 20 on emblazoned on her back.

Yes, Adriane Downey is most certainly a hockey player.

Eliminating risk - ruining competition

A reprint of my Nov. 5 SlapShots column.

Members of governing bodies of major sport leagues operate a lot like politicians. They seem to develop messiah complexes, believing they can create rules and regulations that will eliminate every risk from the games they oversee.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how the National Football League is creating a sissy league through over-enforcement of roughing rules. I’ve seen a similar evolution in ice hockey with rules designed to curb fighting.

And this past weekend, NASCAR got into the act, enforcing a “no bump-drafting in the turns” regulation at Talladega. "We want to see sunshine between the cars," NASCAR president Mike Helton told drivers before the Amp Energy 500 on Nov. 1.

The purpose? To reduce the likelihood of big crashes such as the wreck Carl Edwards was involved in at the spring race at Talladega. Brad Keselowski got into the back of the 99 on the final lap and sent Edwards airborne into trackside fencing, sending debris into the grandstand injuring eight spectators.

For you non-NASCAR fans, bump-drafting amounts to nothing more than giving the car in front of you a little push. Drivers utilize the technique at super speedways like Talladega and Daytona because cars race with restrictor plates at those tracks. NASCAR instituted restrictor plate racing at Daytona and Talladega to slow down speeds after a 1987 crash involving Bobby Allison. A cut tire resulted in Allison’s car going airborne into trackside fencing sending debris into the grandstand, injuring spectators.

And yes, the two crashes were as similar as described. For those not schooled in literary devices – that’s irony.

So this year, NASCAR officials decided they needed to tinker more. We got the “no bump-drafting in the turns” edict.

The result? A really boring race and two big crashes sending cars airborne during the final laps.

Ryan Newman was involved in the first wreck. Newman got caught in traffic and was bumped by Marcos Ambrose. The number 39 skidded in front of Kevin Harvick, spun backward and went airborne, landing on Harvick’s hood upside down. Newman’s car slid several hundred yards on its roof, whacking a wall along the way.

Remarkably, Newman was uninjured, a testament to the safety innovations NASCAR has applied to its racecars. But while unhurt, Newman was also unhappy about the way the race played out. With the strict policing of bump drafting, drivers went the conservative route, spending large portions of the race going around-and-around nose-to-tail in single file.

“It's not even a good race for the fans – that's the bottom line – that's who we're trying to service is the fans. They can stand up and cheer when there's three to go with a green-white-checkered, but that's not racing. You're supposed to be racing all day long. And I think we've lost a little bit of that luster," Newman said.

He blamed NASCAR rulemaking.

“It's just a product of this racing and what NASCAR's put us in, in this box with these types of cars, with the yellow line, with no bump-drafting, no passing. Drivers used to be able to respect each other and race around each other – Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, all those guys have always done that. I guess they don't think much of us anymore."

And while turning most of the race into a borefest, NASCAR didn’t even accomplish its goal. There were still wrecks. Mark Martin also went airborne in a multi-car crash on the final lap. Brian Vickers said that he had no idea what the “no bump-drafting” in the corners was meant to accomplish.

"If the intent was to prevent a crash, obviously it's not going to do that," he said. "We crash as much in the straightaway here as we do in the corner."

And therein lies the problem. When you drive cars inches apart at close to 200 miles-per-hour, you are going to have wrecks. When you play a game involving violently hitting the opponent, guys are going to get hurt. When you chase a black rubber disk around a slippery surface with blades strapped on your feet and sticks in your hands, you’re going to have some fights and people are going to get hurt. That’s sports.

All of the rulemaking and enforcement in the world cannot eliminate risk. Risk is inherent in life. This obsession with making sports completely safe through ever-increasing layers of rules not only fails to accomplish its goal, it ruins the game in the process. If we’re going to strive for risk-free sport, we might as well not play at all.

Newman summed it up nicely.

"It was a boring race for the fans," Newman said. "That's not something anybody wants to see, at least I hope not. If they do, go home because you don't belong here."

Quick Shots

The Woodford County High School football team proved once and for all that it has heart. After trailing 33-14, the Jackets stormed back and made a game of it. The comeback fell short as Woodford lost 33-26, but they put themselves in a position to win the game at the end. It was the second week in a row that the Yellow Jackets have displayed a no-quit attitude. Now if they can just put that kind of effort together for four quarters, they may just be able to hand a little upset surprise to Covington Catholic in their opening playoff game.

This week I’m really not going to devote column space to the Bengals. Last week was their bye-week…

Preseason hoops polls are out. The University of Kentucky basketball team is ranked fifth in the USA Today/coaches’ poll and fourth in the AP poll. I think the rankings are a little high for a team with a new coach, a new system, and a lot of youth and inexperience.

Quote of the Week

“This team is going to be more me teaching how to win mentally, how to prepare – how to think than it’s going to be ‘here’s a drill’ and ‘here’s a play.’ We’re just so young, and they don’t know. You’re teaching everything. How to act in this situation. How to approach practice every day.” –University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari.

Puck to the head

This week’s puck flies at the head of the officiating crew at the Woodford County – Tates Creek football game for what broadcast color analyst Darrin Douglass called a “phantom” equipment penalty in the closing minutes. Woodford held Tates Creek on a third down running play, but officials called a dead ball penalty on the Commodores for a player not having his chinstrap fastened. The officials never blew the whistle and let the play run its course, then assessed the penalty and gave Creek the play over. They should have either whistled the play dead from the get-go or given Woodford the option of declining the penalty after the fact. Tates Creek got the first on the repeated third down,

Gut check time

A reprint of my Oct. 23 SlapShots column published in the Woodford Sun

Now it’s gut-check time.

Woodford County High School football players thought they were traveling deep into Eastern Kentucky on Oct. 16 to play an important district football game. Turns out they’d been invited to Paintsville to participate in a good old fashioned butt-whuppin’.

Johnson Central not only won the game, they beat the Yellow Jackets like the proverbial unwanted stepchild. It wasn’t just that the Golden Eagles out-executed Woodford. It wasn’t just that the Jackets caught some bad breaks or made a few mistakes. No, it was much worse than that. Johnson Central flat out imposed its will on Woodford County, out-physicaling, out-muscling and out-willing the Jackets.

It was ugly, like a bully roughing up the little kid in the school hallway. The Golden Eagles ran for over 600 yards. They ran around the Woodford D. They ran through the Woodford D. And they ran right over the Woodford D – just because they could.

When the final horn mercifully sounded, the scoreboard testified to the carnage – 64-14 Golden Eagles.

Every time Johnson Central scored, a loud foghorn blasted through the PA system. We heard that sound a lot. It was on my nerves before the end of the first quarter. It was an audible reminder to Woodford players and fans. Listen – we’re dominating you. Listen – we’re pushing you around. Listen – you lose.

Woodford players need to remember that sound and all it represents.

Because good news remains hidden in the aftermath of that Johnson Central game. The season didn’t end. The Jackets weren’t sent home to sit out the remainder of the football season in their living rooms. Woodford lives to fight another day.

That “another day” is Saturday, Oct. 24, when Ashland Blazer comes to town, and the Yellow Jackets would do well to remember one thing when they take the field. They were beaten in Paintsville, but they have within their power the choice to refuse defeat.

Notice the key word – choice.

The Yellow Jackets could just lie down. They could quit. They could let the Johnson Central game become the defining moment of the 2009 season – complete with blaring foghorn. Or they could look at themselves in the mirror and say, “No! We refuse to allow what happened in that one game brand this team. We are going to go out and play against Ashland in such a way that nobody remembers that Johnson Central game.”

Most football fans will remember that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl in 2003. They beat the Oakland Raiders 48-21 in San Diego. But only the most die-hard pewter and red fan will remember that the Pittsburgh Steelers embarrassed the Bucs on their home field in week 16. To add insult to injury, it was in front of a national TV audience on Monday Night Football. The score was 17-7, but it wasn’t as close as that. Pittsburgh manhandled Tampa Bay after Steelers’ defensive back Lee Flowers called the Bucs, “paper champions.”

That was the last game the Bucs would lose that season. The Pittsburgh game was a turning point for the Bucs. They took the lessons learned in defeat and vowed that they WOULD NOT experience that embarrassment again. It was a matter of will, and their collective will prevailed.

Woodford has the opportunity to do the same. I believe the Jackets are a much better team than the team I saw run over by Johnson Central. I believe that they can put that game behind them and make a statement against Ashland, turning a potentially ugly defining moment into an afterthought. I believe that Woodford County can come out with grit, fire and determination on Saturday and redeem themselves.

One question remains – do they believe?

Quick Shots

Teams are rarely as good or as bad as fans may think based on a given game. Early in the season, I wrote that Kentucky wasn’t as good as some fans thought after the Wildcats beat Miami of Ohio and Louisville. But I also didn’t think they were as bad as some seemed to believe after three straight losses to top-ranked SEC opponents, with some fans calling for the head of Rich Brooks on a platter. The Cats proved me correct with a gutsy come from behind win over Auburn on the road. Brooks looks like a genius this week.

Big Blue Madness officially kicked off the Calipari era on Friday, Oct. 16. Expectations for this Wildcat crew blew right out past the highest rafters of Rupp Arena. I actually heard one Cat fan say that if UK doesn’t make the Final Four, Calipari should be looking for a new job. Once again, teams are rarely as good or bad as fans seem to think at a given moment. Kentucky certainly has great potential. But fans need to remember potential mean nothing unless realized. UK also has a great deal of youth and inexperience learning a brand new system under a new skipper. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Wildcats made a late season tournament run. But it also won’t surprise me if Kentucky struggles early in the season and drops at least one clunker.

I think I got a little carried away devoting column space to the Cincinnati Bengals. The stripes seemed to fall off the Tiger as Cincy lost to the Houston Texans 28-17 at home.

And in NASCAR news, just insert all of the glowing things I said last week about Jimmy Johnson and his late season prowess here. The number 48 won – again. He ran away from the field in the final laps of the NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte and extended his points lead over Mark Martin to 90.

Quote of the week

“I watch the other conferences all the time and I think, Boy, I’d like to play them.”
-Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt talking about the dominance of SEC football.

Puck to the head

This week’s puck flies at the head of Johnson Central coach Jim Matney for keeping virtually all of his starters in the game against Woodford County with a 50 point lead. The Yellow Jackets were substituting in JV players, but Matney stuck with his starters until the bitter end. If a team puts in its backups and continues to score points, I have no problem with that. It’s the job of the opponent to stop them. But to keep starters in with a 50-point lead takes a step beyond classless – especially at the high school level. Matney would do well to remember what goes around comes around.

Football - a sissy sport?

A reprint of my Oct. 15 SlapShot column published in the Woodford Sun.

When I was a kid, I played a lot of touch football. There were about 10 boys ranging in age from eight to 12 around the neighborhood, and we spent many a fall and winter weekend in the street in front of my house heaving the pigskin around in hotly contested games.

Most of you have probably played touch football at some point. We generally played the two-hand touch variety. Touching the ball carrier with both hands constituted a tackle. Smacking and hitting counted too, as long as both hands contacted the ball carrier simultaneously. It was much safer than playing actual tackle football on the asphalt – although we admittedly tried that once. That game didn’t last very long, and I still have a vague recollection of getting in trouble for ripping my jeans.

I never claimed we were smart kids.

As we got older, those early touch football contests evolved into actual full-scale tackle games. We’d play in empty fields, or when they left the gate open at Tates Creek High School’s stadium. Looking back, the touch games were a lot safer. I don’t ever remember anybody getting hurt. We averaged at least one injury in every full tackle contest.

But those full contact, no-pad, rolling-in-the-mud competitions seemed more like the real thing. Football is about hitting. It’s about physical strength. It’s a game of power and force.

Or at least it was.

The new emphasis on late hits on quarterbacks and receivers in the NFL and college game is turning football into sissified version that looks more and more like the touch variety we played in the streets as 10-year-olds.

It’s even filtering down to the high school level. The Yellow Jackets were flagged for a roughing penalty early in the first quarter of their game against Montgomery County on a play that was nothing more than a good football hit.

“Are you kidding me? That’s just football,” one frustrated fan standing nearby exclaimed.

And when the quarterback has the last name Manning or Brady on his back, the calls become even more ridiculous. It was so bad in the recent match-up between the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens that NBC analyst Rodney Harrison quipped, “Tom Brady, if you’re listening. Take off the skirt and put on some slacks. Toughen up. ”

Harrison later qualified his statement, saying he was joking. But he clearly articulated the frustration a lot of football fans feel with the overprotective, maternalistic approach officials are taking toward quarterbacks and receivers. While Harrison made it clear that he wasn’t questioning Brady’s toughness, he wouldn’t back of his assertion that the call against Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs, who appeared to dive at Brady’s knees, was a bad call. “That wasn’t intentional. I felt that was a bad call which led to a score,” Harrison said. “I’ll stand by that.”

And I’ll stand by Harrison. The officiating is in danger of turning football into a nambly-pambly sissy sport.

I understand the need to protect the quarterback. I also understand the league’s desire to prevent its star players from going out with injuries. Those stars generate revenues and interest in the game. I get that.

But league officials do their game no favor when they change the sport into something different. Yes, fans want to see the stars of the game perform. But they want to see them playing the game they love - football. That means hits. That means physicality. That means a little streak of meanness.

So let’s take the skirts off the quarterbacks and receivers. Enforce the rules against blatant roughing, but let the players play. Let ’em hit.

Touch football was a lot of fun to play when I was a kid, but it wasn’t much to watch.

Quick Shots

The Woodford County High School volleyball team season came to an end Monday, Oct. 12, in disappointing fashion with a 2-0 loss to Scott County in the first round of the 39th District Tournament. The Jackets looked young and intimidated by the postseason atmosphere. But the loss takes nothing away from their amazing year. After winning only five games in 2008, the Yellow Jackets went 9-7. They won four district games and earned a second seed in the tourney. The postseason loss was simply part of the learning process for what is still a young team. Most of the starters return next season, and I predict fans haven’t heard the last from this bunch. The loss was tough. The loss was ugly. But the girls should continue to hold their heads high. I’m proud of all they accomplished.

Irony took on a Big Blue tinge last week. After screaming for weeks that UK needed to explore other quarterback options, Cat fans got their wish when Mike Hartline suffered a knee injury early in the third quarter against South Carolina. But when the Wildcat signal caller went down, with what is now being called a torn MCL, Hartline was having arguably the best game of his career. He went nine-of-13 for 139 yards and a touchdown. More importantly, Kentucky led the Gamecocks 17-14 when Hartline was injured. The game didn’t end well without the starting QB. Despite a nice late drive orchestrated by Randall Cobb operating out of the “wildcat” formation, backup quarterback Will Fidler was ineffective and UK dropped its 10th straight to South Carolina.

Through the first three races of the NASCAR Sprint Cup “playoff,” frontrunner Mark Martin has watched the number 48 loom ever larger in his rearview mirror. Not anymore. Now Martin must chase the Lowe’s Chevy. Jimmy Johnson grabbed the points lead on Oct. 11 with a win in the Pepsi 500 in Fontana, Calif. It almost seemed inevitable. Johnson is pursuing an unprecedented fourth straight championship. He currently leads his 50-year-old teammate by 12 points.

If you told me last year that I would devote any column space to the Cincinnati Bengals, I would have laughed at you. But here we are in week five of the NFL season and the boys in stripes sit atop the AFC North after beating Baltimore 17-14. It was another last minute win by Cincinnati. Quarterback Carson Palmer threw a 20-yard TD pass to Andre Caldwell with 22 seconds left to earn the win. It was the third straight three-point Bengal victory.

Quote of the Week

“Sad to say, but I think so. You never should be happy when a guy’s hurt. I still feel like he was the best option at quarterback. I felt that he had a great game up until the point that he got hurt.”
- UK defensive tackle Cory Peters when asked if he though some Wildcat fans were happy Kentucky quarterback Mike Hartline got injured.

Puck to the head

The week’s pucks fly at the heads of University of Louisville basketball players Jerry Smith and Terrence Jennings for earning a trip to jail. According to a Courier-Journal story, police arrested the pair on misdemeanor charges after a fight at an alumni homecoming party in Jeffersonville, Ind. They were charged with resisting arrest. Jennings found his arrest quite shocking. According to a university official, police Tasered him.

Midnight madness

A reprint of my Oct. 8 SlapShot column published in the Woodford Sun.

I used to think I was a sports fan.

I have my University of South Florida, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tampa Bay Lightning gear. Lots of it. T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats and jackets.

I’ve been known to rearrange my schedule to watch a big game. I’ve plunked down several hundred dollars for Lightning partial season tickets. I’ve yelled at the TV, stood in line for autographs and called into sports talk radio. My friends and family have witnessed my moods change based on a big win or loss by one of my teams.

And yes, I’ve even driven 45 minutes across Tampa Bay to watch the Lightning - practice.

But true blue University of Kentucky basketball fans have shown me the error of my thinking.

I’m no fan. I’m a poser. A pretender. A wannabe.

Because never in a million years would it have ever occurred to me to camp out for tickets – to a practice. And even more, I would never contemplate forking over more than $300 to purchase free tickets – to practice.

They call it Big Blue Madness. They got the last word right.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people camped out for several days around Memorial Coliseum. Tents started popping up on Wednesday for a ticket distribution that took place at 6 a.m. Saturday morning. University officials said that it took just 45 minutes to distribute all of the Big Blue Madness tickets.

Did I mention that all of this carrying on was for a glorified practice?

And in the immortal words of Billy Mays, “That’s not all!”

Yesterday the tickets started showing up on eBay and Craigslist for upwards of $300 a pair. Perusing eBay on Monday morning, I found one pair of lower level tickets with a current price of $305. There were 24 bids. The highest asking price I found was $500. No bids on that one yet. Keep in mind; these tickets were originally distributed for free.

And it’s for a practice.

On a side note, I have no problem with enterprising folks selling their free tickets for big profits. This represents capitalism at its best. If a seller can find a buyer willing to pay a given price, no matter how ridiculous it may seem, I say more power to both parties. They both get what they want. They both walk away happy.

But I do have to question the sanity of anyone who would camp out for three days (don’t they have jobs??), or pay $150 to watch what amounts to a practice. Okay, call it a scrimmage if you like. But all in all, Big Blue Madness still amounts to an over-hyped layup line.

Sorry Big Blue fans, I just don’t get it.

But you see that just proves my original point. I’m clearly not a fan – of anything.

Quick Shots

I did think it was good PR move for UK basketball coach John Calipari and his son to camp out with the Big Blue Madness ticket seekers on Friday night. It remains to be seen what the new coach will do with his team on the hardwood, but he clearly knows how to endear himself to fans and the community.

The Woodford County High School volleyball team will go into the 39th District Tournament as the number two seed with a 4-2 district record. What an amazing turnaround from last season when the team failed to manage even a single district win. The Jacket volleyball squad’s improvement will surly rank as one of the best Woodford County sports stories of the year. Coach Meredith DellaGuistina has managed to get her team to believe in themselves, play as a team and most importantly find the fun in their game.

I’ve officially suspended calling the Cincinnati Bengals the “bungles.” I loved the grit and determination showed by Bengal quarterback Carson Palmer when he talked his coach into going for it on fourth-and-10 with time winding down in the overtime period against Cleveland. Palmer scrambled for the first down and Cincinnati kicked a field goal for a 23-20 win. The Bengals will face the Baltimore Ravens next Sunday for first place in the AFC North.

The University of Kentucky football team lost to another top-five opponent in Alabama. The path doesn’t get any easier with road games against two more ranked opponents. UK seems to suffer some kind of voodoo jinx when it comes to playing South Carolina (ranked 25th) and number 17 Auburn is much better than anybody expected.

Speaking of rankings, the USA Today Coaches’ Poll is just plain silly in some respects. The poll ranks Penn State (4-1) 12th and Iowa (5-0) 14th. Iowa beat Penn State two weeks ago. On what planet does this make any sense?

Quote of the Week

Have any of you ever stepped on a cat’s tail? I have accidentally stepped on a cat’s tail before and it’s pretty funny how fast – they make a noise and they go really fast. That’s kind of like when I step on the gas of the five car today, it was like stepping on a cat’s tail.”
-NASCAR drive Mark Martin after winning the pole for the Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway

Puck to the head

This week’s puck flies at the head of any coach who voted Penn State ahead of Iowa in the above mention USA Today Coaches’ poll.

Ugly fans

A reprint of my Oct. 1 SlapShot column published in the Woodford Sun.

Sport often brings out the best in human nature. Discipline. Self-sacrifice. Effort.

Sometimes it brings out the ugly.

“I’m sure Tebroke is glad he doesn't have to come back to Commonwealth. First he got his shoulder busted up and then he got knocked the F--- out. For one moment I forgot about the score and stood up and cheered and relished the sight.”

What kind of person relishes the site of an injured young man lying dazed in the grass?

The posting in the comment section of a Herald-Leader story about Florida Gator Tim Tebow suffering a concussion on a clean hit by University of Kentucky defensive lineman Taylor Wyndham was the most extreme, but I heard similar sentiments expressed, in less vivid terminology, from other UK fans on post game radio shows and in casual conversations around the proverbial water cooler.

There were subtle jabs at the “indestructibility” of Tim Tebow. There were the inferences that it was nice to see the Gator QB cut down to size. There was the prideful tone in describing how it was the Wildcats that finally felled the Florida legend.

“I hate to see him get hurt, but I’m glad we were the ones to do it.”

I get it. A lot of people don’t like Tebow, especially around these parts. He’s Gen. Sherman of the Gator nation, marching through Commonwealth Stadium, torching everything Wildcat in sight. Trampling bluegrass. Systematically destroying what Kentucky fans hold dear. His weapons – bruising runs and pinpoint passes.

But under that number 15 jersey and warrior armor beats the heart of a human being. Beneath that Gator helmet the mind of that young man thinks the same thoughts, dreams the same dreams and entertains the same passions as the minds of your beloved players in blue.

And sometimes we forget.

In the heat and passion of competition, we forget that these are really just kids – playing a game. Life and death don’t hang in the balance. The fate of the free world does not hinge on the outcome. The sun will still rise in the east and set in the west if our team loses – or wins.

We call ourselves fans. The word derives from another word – fanatic. And that fanaticism will sometimes drive us beyond rationality. Drive us to hate those rival colors. Drive us to cheer, inwardly if not outwardly, when physical harm comes to those whose uniform or logo transforms them into the enemy.

Fanaticism can bring out the ugly.

It’s not just UK fans. This was just the most recent example. I’ve seen the same crude behavior from fans of many teams, in many different stadiums, representing every sport. And to their credit, most of the Wildcat faithful held their breath along with Gator fans until Tebow walked off that field.

The cheers echoing out from Commonwealth Stadium, as Tebow slowly made his way to the sideline, represent UK far better than those few dunderheads who would relish the sight of another human motionless and hurt. Those cheers represent fandom at its best. They represent respect and sportsmanship.

Let’s cling to those ideals, even as we passionately cheer our teams. We don’t need the ugly. There is plenty of that in the world already.

Quick Shots

The University of Kentucky football program has traditionally struggled to compete with the top team in the SEC. It comes down to recruiting and talent levels. In the last five years, the Gators have signed more than 80 five-star recruits. In that same time-span, UK has signed fewer than 10. Part of the problem lies at the high school level. The University of Kentucky simply doesn’t have the high school football talent pool to draw from in its own back yard. It makes for an instant disadvantage. The calls to fire Rich Brooks can already be heard echoing across the Bluegrass. But any coach will struggle to recruit in this environment. Perhaps Big Blue fans should learn to readjust their expectations.

The Woodford County High School football team dropped another clunker to a winless opponent on Sept. 26, falling 12-7 to Franklin County. The Jackets got beat by a winless Dunbar squad two weeks earlier after a horrible week of practice. Apparently they didn’t learn the lesson. The effort in practice on the Wednesday before the Flyer game was so bad, coach Chris Tracy sent the whole team home. Woodford’s practice habits poured onto the field along with a driving rain in Frankfort. One can forgive a team getting beat by superior talent, but there’s no excuse for getting beat because of lack of preparation and effort.

It’s Chase time in NASCAR and that can mean just one thing – Jimmy Johnson time. The driver of the 48 car won AAA 400 in Dover, Del., and trails frontrunner Mark Martin by just 10 points in the race for the 2009 Sprint Cup championship. With eight races remaining, Johnson finds himself in position to win an unprecedented third straight championship.

Whoa – the Bengals beat Pittsburgh?? Cincinnati improved to 2-1 in the process. If they keep this up, I will have to stop calling them the Bungles.

Quote of the Week

“Greatness is not about somebody who has the ability to be great. Greatness shows up when someone might not have that ability, but finds a way to succeed.”
-San Francisco 49er coach Mike Singletary

Puck to the Head

This week’s puck flies at the head of Cleveland Cavaliers guard Delonte West for getting himself arrested on weapons charges. West was pulled over for allegedly speeding on his motorcycle. Police found a loaded handgun in his waistband and another strapped on his leg. The NBA player also had a loaded shotgun in a guitar case slung over his back. Is it just me or does this bring new meaning to the word “overkill”?

Blame game

A reprint of my Sept. 24 SlapShot column published in the Woodford Sun.

Who’s to blame?

I’m not sure if it stems from something innate in human nature, or if it has simply evolved out of the litigious nature of our society. We always seem to need to find somebody to blame.

But in real life, a scapegoat doesn’t always exist. Sometimes things just happen. Sometimes a multitude of factors collide at just the right moment to create the perfect storm. Sometimes we can’t answer the question: Why?

A jury found former Pleasure Ridge Park football coach David Stinson innocent of reckless homicide and wanton endangerment in the death of Max Gilpin. The 15-year-old football player collapsed during an August 2008 practice. Prosecutors blamed the coach for pushing the athletes too hard in the heat.

Was it hot? Sure, it was hot. It was an August day. But a 94-degree heat index does not constitute extreme heat. A colleague who played high school football in Florida told me he dreamed of days that cool.

Much was made over water and when it was offered to practicing players. But anybody that has trained in hot weather knows that hydration must begin long before taking the field. Athletes must ensure they get proper hydration and nutrition before and after practices. Drinking water on the field alone doesn’t cut it.

And there were other factors involved. Gilpin was taking creatine, a supplement that pulls water into the muscles’ cells. He was also on an attention deficit disorder drug. Gilpin’s parents said he complained of feeling poorly earlier in the day. Should we blame the victim for not taking care of himself or adequately preparing for practice? Should we cast blame toward his parents for not monitoring his supplements or letting him practice when he said he wasn’t feeling well?

No, I don’t think it’s fair to place the blame on them, at least not wholly. It just happened. All of these and a host of other factors came together and resulted in a tragedy. Remove even one and Gilpin would probably be with us today.

But we need somebody to blame. We need to find fault. We need someplace to point the finger.

And the coach was the most obvious scapegoat.

Did Stinson push his players? Sounds like he did. But that’s his job. That’s what coaches do.

They push.

Anybody who has ever dealt with a teenager knows that they tend toward laziness. In fact, most human beings wander along the path of least resistance. Coaches must overcome that laziness and mold a bunch of undisciplined kids into a team of young men capable of competing in a physically demanding and often-violent game. A coach can’t accomplish this by handing out smiley face stickers. He must push his players.

Part of the value of athletics involves learning that we possess the ability to drive beyond our perceived limits. Coaches help athletes learn this lesson – by intentionally pushing them. Driving them. Demanding more of them.

To prosecute a coach for doing this puts the whole purpose of his job on trial.

In a rough sport like football, there will always exist the risk of injury or even death. More tragedies will certainly occur in the future. We simply cannot alleviate every risk in life. They only way to ensure 100 percent safety is to stay at home and sit on the couch.

And even then, the roof could fall in on us. Besides, what kind of life is that?

Quick Shots

A question for all of you die-hard University of Kentucky football fans out there. I listened to you tell me for two weeks how bad the University of Louisville looked against Indiana State, what an inferior team they were and how UK was going to destroy them. Keeping that in mind, what does the Wildcats’ narrow victory over the Cards say about your team?

Before Cat fans get too optimistic when looking at Florida’s relatively low point output in its 23-13 win over Tennessee, they should keep in mind that the Vols’ D limited the Gators to 30 points in 2008. Gator coach Urban Meyer also said that he was taking a little more conservative approach offensively due to injuries and sicknesses among some starters.

But maybe the football gods are looking down on the Cats. According reports, the Florida Gators are battling to contain a flu outbreak. Swine flu is making its way through the campus in Gainesville.

They say old age and experience trumps youth and enthusiasm. Mark Martin seemed to prove this adage true. The 50-year-old NASCAR driver used some good pit strategy and cashed in a little luck to win the Sylvania 300 in Loudon, N.H. Martin sits in first place in the Sprint Cup point standings, 35 ahead of Jimmy Johnson. It was the old-guy’s fifth win of 2009.

Quote of the Week

“You understand why they haven’t won in 100 years here.”
-Chicago Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley

Puck to the Head

This week’s puck flies at the head of Michael Jordan for using his Hall of Fame induction speech as an opportunity to air his dirty laundry, to criticize those he felt slighted him over the years, and to whine and complain. As columnist Adrian Wojnarowski put it, “This wasn’t a Hall of Fame induction speech, but a bully tripping nerds with lunch trays in the school cafeteria. He had a responsibility to his standing in history, to players past and present, and he let everyone down.” This once again proves the point, money doesn’t buy class.

A character moment

A reprint of my Sept. 17 column published in the Woodford Sun.

You probably missed it unless you were paying close attention.

On any given day, sports fans will find stories on ESPN, or in their local newspaper, chronicling athletes in trouble. Drunks. Wife beaters. Boorish behavior.

I never lack for subject matter when it comes time to award my weekly puck to the head.

Actions displaying class, sportsmanship and grace tend to get lost in the media noise.

But sometimes, within the swirl of negativity, something happens that restores my faith in humanity – something to remind me that behind every negative headline, hundreds of positive stories go unnoticed.

I experienced one of those moments at the Woodford County – North Bullitt football game Saturday night.

Had I not been paying attention, I probably would have missed it.

During Woodford’s first offensive series, starting Jacket quarterback Ryan Garrahan overthrew his receiver. The result – an Eagle interception.

During Woodford’s second offensive series, Garrahan stood on the sidelines, holding the proverbial clipboard, watching as sophomore Matt Couch took the reigns of the Yellow Jacket offense – his offense.

Garrahan knew it was coming. Coach Chris Tracy told him earlier in the week that Couch would get a shot with the offense in the third or fourth series.

But not now. Not like this.

If you weren’t playing attention, you probably missed the next part.

In that moment, standing on the sideline, Garrahan won a victory far bigger than the one the Jackets would win on the field that night. He won a victory over his own human nature. His own selfishness. His own desire to shine.

Ryan Garrahan made a choice. He chose not to pout. He chose not to hang his head. He chose to put his team ahead of himself.

“I understand him giving Matt that shot because I made that mistake,” Garrahan said. “The win is the most important thing.”

Garrahan spent the entire game engaged. He was calling plays on the sideline, and he was the first player to run up and hug Couch after the sophomore threw his first touchdown pass.

He wasn’t crying, he was encouraging. He wasn’t whining, he was cheering. He wasn’t sullen, he was exuberant.

I talked to Ryan on the Monday after the game. He wasn’t happy about being yanked. I could see it in his eyes. And I wouldn’t respect him if he accepted the situation without some anger. But throughout the course of our conversation, he constantly reminded me that team comes first.

Ryan wants to be a good quarterback. But more than that, he wants to be a good teammate.

That fact wasn’t lost on his coach.

“I give a lot of credit to Ryan. Ryan was on the sidelines calling plays. He was Matt Couch’s biggest supporter,” Tracy said.

After the game, Garrahan stepped up and led his team in prayer, just as he always does.

“Having that opportunity to share that with my teammates is important. It’s a priority to me.”

Perhaps that faith explains how the youngster stays so grounded.

Yes, the Jackets remain his team. He may not spend the rest of the season calling plays from behind center, but that doesn’t diminish his role. This is his team. He’s its leader.

Tracy said that Ryan will have other opportunities on the field as the season progresses.

“He’s important to us.”

But I think he’s already made his biggest contribution to Woodford football. He made it standing on the sideline demonstrating true manhood.

And to think, I would have missed it if I hadn’t been paying attention.

Quick Shots

On Sept. 10, the Woodford County High School volleyball team took the floor to face district opponent Western Hills. For the first time in my tenure as sports editor of The Sun, I walked into the Hive expecting the Jackets to win. This team has experienced quite a turnaround in one season. They play with confidence, they are competitive and they’re a lot of fun to watch. And along with the improvements on the court, they are raising expectations.

The University of Kentucky football team survived the bye-week and remains undefeated. I would expect the win streak to continue against the University of Louisville this week. After that, it’s gonna get ugly, Cat fans. My Gators are coming to town.

Did anyone else find it extremely bizarre to watch Brett Favre in a Vikings jersey? The old guy looked pretty good. But number four in a purple was still a trip into bizzaro world.

Speaking of old, Mark Martin continues to carry the banner for – let’s just say the more seasoned athletes everywhere. The 50-year-old NASCAR driver enters the chase for the Sprint Cup championship as the top-seed.

Quote of the week

“If I could, I would take this (expletive) ball and shove it down your (expletive) throat.”
-Serena Williams during a tirade directed at a judge after he called her for a foot fault in the U.S. Open.

Puck to the head

This week’s puck flies at the head of Serena Williams for the above-mentioned quote of the week.

Practice Practice Practice

A reprint of my Sept. 10 SlapShots column

"It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.”
-Paul Bear Bryant

Every athlete wants to win. Every team begins a season wanting a championship. Every competitor takes the field struggling and striving, wanting to reach the top.

But simply wanting something does not make it so. At some point, DOING must factor into the equation.

And that doing begins long before those stadium lights flicker on – in out-of-the-way places, at unlikely times, in quiet moments broken only by grunts, labored breathing and the sharp, staccato commands of coaches.

Behind every moment under the blazing stadium lights and for every goose bump raised on an athlete’s arm when the fans scream with abandon, stretch hours of inglorious sweat and pain on the practice field.

Every athlete has suffered through “one of those” practices. The workout where it seems nobody on the team can find the same page. The one in which the last 30 minutes consists of running “gassers” because the team failed to accomplish anything else on the field. Athletes hate those practices. They look forward to them with the kind of dread normally reserved for a stint in the dental chair. And when it finally ends and the team has safely gathered in the locker room, it collectively showers the coach, long out of earshot, with horrible invectives for putting them through such torture.

But a method exists within the coach’s madness. The skipper knows that without preparation, the team will tank it in competition.

When I was playing hockey for the University of South Florida, our coach would often tell us, “You will only play as well as you practice.”

It was amazingly accurate prophecy.

The Woodford County High School football team learned that lesson last week. After what was reportedly a lackluster week of practice, lacking in focus and intensity, the Jackets lost a game to Dunbar – a team they should have beat. The lack of focus and intensity seemed to spill over from the practice field into Community Stadium.

“When you don’t prepare, you get beat,” Woodford coach Chris Tracy told his team after the disappointing loss.

But an early season defeat like the Jackets suffered at the hands of Dunbar can prove positive, IF the team learns the lesson.

“I hope that focuses you, because in the grand scheme of things, this game doesn’t mean a thing,” Tracy said.

Nope, the game didn’t mean a thing in the overall picture. It was a match-up against a team in another class. (Woodford plays in 5A and Dunbar competes as a 6A school.) But it could well prove a turning point in the season – if the team takes the lesson to heart and puts the effort in on the practice field.

Yellow Jacket quarterback Ryan Garrahan has the right idea.

“All we can do is get out in practice and bust our butts to correct the mistakes.”

That’s the secret. Busting butts – every minute of every practice.

I have no doubt that the Jackets want to win, but will their desire to win translate into a will to prepare?

Quick Shots

As I walked into Community Stadium last Friday, I got a little thrill as I looked up into the stands and saw them filled with yellow and black. There’s nothing like the atmosphere of a Friday night high school football game, especially in a small town. The sound of the marching band, the chants of the cheerleaders, the churning prism of school colors, the adolescent bravado of the players and the carefree giggles of teenage flirting all wrapped in the bright white stadium lighting captures something uniquely Americana. In a country that often seems torn and fractured by political rhetoric, a small town high school football game does something politicians and pundits find impossible. It brings a community together.

Easy there UK fan. It was just Miami of Ohio. Yes, your Wildcats looked pretty good. The offense put points on the board and the defense pitched a shutout. But keep in mind that they were facing a small conference team with a brand new coach, and there were some things that would concern me if I were a Big Blue fan. The offense was pretty much the Randal Cobb show, and a one-dimensional attack isn’t going to cut it against an SEC defense. And speaking of defense, the Wildcat D failed to put pressure on the Miami QB throughout most of the game, and that could spell big trouble down the line. But the good news for the Cat faithful is that UK beat a team that they should beat. That hasn’t always been the case. It may well prove a good season for the Wildcats, but don’t get delusions of grandeur based on this game.

I was looking at the qualifying order before the NASCAR Pep Boys Auto 500 race. As I was reading the order to my wife, she asked me where Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified. I told her I hadn’t gotten to him yet, to which she replied, “You should have started from the back.” Kasey Kahne won the race, running away after a late caution. Earnhardt took 17th.

Quote of the Week

“I don’t think toughness is when a quarterback says, ‘I’m going to run somebody over.’ Toughness is playing the worst game of your life, but not backing down. You don’t want to sit on the sideline. You want to stay in there and win.”
-Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger

Puck to the head

This week’s puck flies at the head of University of Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount for punching Boise State defensive end Byron Hout in the jaw after the Sept. 3 game between the Ducks and Broncos. Blount allegedly threw the punch after Hout taunted him. Apparently Blount missed that whole “names can never hurt me” thing in grade school.

A review of Calipari's book

A reprint of my Sept. 3 SlapShot column published in the Woodford Sun

I spend an inordinate amount of time involved with sports, not only in my professional life, but also personally.

Obviously, sports consume my workday. Off the “clock” I watch sports as a fan and participate as an athlete. My experience in college hockey was an extremely significant part of my life.

With all of this focus on sports, I have to confess that I sometimes struggle with the significance of that which consumes so much of my life. I mean really … sports – so what?

Every once in a while, while in the heat of competition or pontificating on this game or that team, I hear that little voice.

“Dude, it’s just a game.”

But from time to time, something comes along to remind me that the valuable lessons learned on the fields and courts of athletic competition apply in my everyday life.

University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari’s new book Bounce Back serves as such a reminder.

For those of you looking for a “sports” book in the strictest sense of the word will find yourself disappointed. Fear not Cat fan, the book has plenty of references to basketball, and provides some interesting insights into the heart and mind of your coach. But Calipari’s focus really centers on practical ways to bounce back from setbacks in life. The book was written to help you – not entertain.

Drawing primarily from his experience of getting fired from the New Jersey Nets, and to a lesser degree Memphis’ loss to Kansas in the 2008 National Championship game, Calipari takes the reader through a step-by-step process in dealing with and overcoming setbacks, whether personal or professional. His advice focuses on practical steps – surrounding yourself with people who can help, maintaining a positive attitude, being proactive and engaging in serious self-evaluation. Bounce Back even contains interactive exercises throughout.

As regular readers know, I’m not much of a Wildcat fan, so I wasn’t exactly ga-ga about reading a book by the Wildcat coach. But the publisher sent me a prerelease, so I decided give it a read. I’m about two-thirds through and I have to admit, the more I read, the more impressed I become.

The book makes for something of an odd read because Calipari wrote it assuming that the reader is in the midst of a setback. It takes you step-by-step through the process of dealing with personal adversity, from the moment of the “trigger event”, the anger and frustration, and all the way through to the ultimate success of the bounce back.

I’m not experiencing any type of setback in my own life, so it was initially a little hard to relate. But as I got into the book, I started to recognize principles I can adopt.

My wife will tell you that I am NOT an optimistic person by nature. I’m definitely a “glass half empty” kind of guy. But in reading through the chapter entitled “Next – the Power of Amnesia,” I realized I would be far better off to develop a more positive attitude and dwell less on the negative.

The underlying message Calipari communicates is that we control our own destiny. We will always encounter obstacles, but how we face them will determine the course of our journey. Too many people ride through this world as passengers in their own lives.

What a waste.

“You have to be adaptable; you will do that by having a positive attitude, unrivaled energy and a vision of where you’re headed,” Calipari writes.

Honestly, I’ve never been a huge fan of rah-rah self-help books. But as I’ve read through Bounce Back I’ve realized that so many of those simple principles I’ve learned out on the ice – self discipline, hard work, a positive attitude and a refusal to quit apply just as much in “real life.” I need to utilize those same principles in my work and my relationships.

I highly recommend picking up a copy of the book – even you Louisville fans.

Maybe sport isn’t as insignificant as I sometimes think.

Quick Shots

A couple of weeks into the fall and Woodford County High School has three undefeated teams. Both the girls’ and boys’ soccer team are 3-0-1 and the football team is a perfect 2-0. All three squads show a lot of promise, but they’ve also shown they still have a lot of work to do.

The Wildcats open their football season this weekend against Miami of Ohio. The Cats have a pretty tough schedule. After its opener against the Redhawks, UK has a bye and then 11 straight games, starting with Louisville on Sept. 19. As usual, Wildcat fans seem a little over optimistic. I’ve heard many UK faithful on talk radio predicting a 9-3 or 8-4 season. Looking through the schedule, I would call 7-5 optimistic. The team should beat Miami and Louisville, but after that I look for them to lose three of their four games against Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and Auburn. Of the remaining games, Mississippi State, Vandy and Georgia certainly don’t rank as gimmies. Then there is Tennessee. The Vols are rebuilding under new coach Lane Kiffin. Maybe this is the year the Big Blue will finally take down the dreaded Volunteers. At least they play at home so they won’t have to listen to “Rocky Top” 1,000 times.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough pre-season football. I’m ready for the real thing!

And on a personal note, I’m thrilled that the ice is back up at the Lexington Ice Center. That means one thing – hockey time!

Quote of the Week

“I've got six players coming in who think they poop ice cream.”
-UK coach John Calipari on his heralded recruiting class

Puck to the Head

They make this SO easy. This week’s puck flies at former UK coach Billy Gillispie. Alleged drunk driving. The upside for Wildcat faithful is that he just made the University of Kentucky administration look like geniuses.

Who's tough? Who's not?

A reprint of my Aug 27 SlapShots column from the Woodford Sun.

Watching the Woodford County High School girls’ soccer team battle Assumption last week, one thing really stood out to me. These Jacket girls will not back down from a physical challenge.

Amy Morford was particularly aggressive, banging Rocket players and obviously getting under their skin. Teammate Taylor Kelly called Morford, “a beast.” But Kelly did some bumping and banging of her own, and Hannah Greenwell also played a physical brand of soccer.

Then there’s Katrina Ott. I’ve seen her play hurt more often than not. Several times during the game against Assumption, Ott went down hard, throwing her body around with abandon. Coach McIver has commented on more than one occasion that Ott plays like a boy. He means it as a compliment.

I’m not going to lie. I liked the physicality and toughness the Jackets brought to the field. I hope they continue to play with that kind of intensity. I think it will intimidate other teams and pay dividends in tight games, as long as they can keep that aggressiveness under control.

Yeah, keep up the physical play, girls. I like it – a lot.

I can’t help it; it’s the hockey player in me.

Every sport develops its own culture and ethos. Expectations evolve, and players reinforce and pass along those unspoken standards in the locker room.

And in hockey, toughness is king. I mean, have you ever heard of a wimpy hockey player?

I’ve spent many years playing hockey, and I’ve certainly adopted toughness as a virtue. Hockey players don’t back down. Hockey players play hurt. And hockey players certainly don’t whine and complain.

So when I see any team play with grit, determination and toughness, it immediately gains my respect.

Yes, Yellow Jacket girls – you’ve got my respect.

While we’re on the subject of toughness, what’s wrong with baseball players?

An article in the Herald-Leader caught my eye the other day. Cincinnati Reds’ pitcher Aaron Harang is out for the season after undergoing an appendectomy.

Out for the season? Seriously?

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericcson had his appendix surgically removed during the Stanley Cup playoffs. He played – FOUR DAYS LATER. By the way, he scored a goal in his first game back too.

Maybe I’m missing something.

Perhaps pitching a baseball is more physically demanding than swinging a hockey stick and getting banged into the boards. Maybe something in the throwing motion makes it impossible to pitch after appendix removal. (Any readers in the medical field feel free to help me out here.) Perhaps standing in the dugout gnawing sunflower seeds is more difficult than hurtling up the ice at 30 miles-per-hour.

Or maybe Harang is just a sissy.

Quick Shots

The Yellow Jacket football team looked pretty good in its season opener against South Oldham. The defense seemed much improved over last year. The Dragons really only managed one sustained drive. Woodford also looked more physical than last year. I really liked the way the defensive backs finished their tackles. Junior Wayne White in particular laid some nice hits. Quarterback Ryan Garrahan looked shaky in the first half, but settled down and made some nice throws in the second. It seemed like the game was faster in Garrahan’s mind than it was in reality in the early going. He often rushed throws when he had plenty of time. But he seemed to gain confidence in his line as the game wore on, and did a much better job of standing in the pocket and stepping into his throws. It will be interesting watching this team evolve as the season goes on. They definitely have a strong foundation to build on.

Former Yellow Jacket soccer player Stephanie Patterson earned a starting forward spot at the Air Force Academy.

Kyle Busch got a much needed win at Bristol, edging out Mark Martin in the Sharpie 500. For his effort, the driver of the number 18 got showered with boos. Busch gets a lot of grief from NASCAR fans and I can understand it to some degree. But he’s my favorite driver for two reasons. Number one, he’s one heck of a race car driver and number two, it gets under other NASCAR fans skin when I talk up Busch. Yes, he can come across as miserable and whiney. Yes, his aggressive racing sometimes gets him into trouble on the track. But it’s only because he hates to lose, and that I can respect. Martin summed up the fan hatred for Busch pretty well. “He has won a lot of races. I'll tell you, anybody that wins a whole lot gets booed. Jeff Gordon never did anything, in my opinion, to get booed. And he got booed because he won a lot. That's part of the sport.”

Quote of the Week

“Donte Stallworth kills somebody – 30 days in jail. Michael Vick kills dogs – 17 months in jail. Plaxico Burress shoots himself – two years in jail…our legal system seems to be working normally.” –Tyler Crane

Puck to the head

This week I’m shooting a whole slew of pucks at all of the University of Louisville fans throwing rocks at University of Kentucky head coach John Calipari after the NCAA forced Memphis to vacate its 2007-2008 season. The punishment stems from allegations that Calipari’s former team’s freshman phenom, Derrick Rose, had a stand-in take his SAT the second time around. Cardinal fans should probably focus on the goings-on in their own house. I’m just sayin’.

Team chemistry

A reprint of my Aug. 20 SlapShots column

Many factors go into forging a championship team.

Talent, fundamentals, a good system that maximizes the strength of the players, coaching and a myriad of other tangible building blocks go together to build a team can that compete with the best. But it’s often intangible characteristics that separate a great team from the good ones.

Pundits call it chemistry. Anybody involved in sports has seen that team. The one that just seems to click. The one that may not match up in the overall talent department, but comes together on the field and slays giants. The one with players that seem to enjoy being around each other as much as they enjoy playing the game.

The Woodford County High School girls' soccer team exemplifies that kind of team chemistry and it appears another Yellow Jacket squad may have ripped a page or two from the soccer team’s handbook.

The Woodford volleyball team under new head coach Meredith DellaGuistina dropped its first two matches of the year, winning only one game in the process, but the young squad exudes a confidence and a sense of purpose lacking last season.

Much of last year’s struggle stemmed from the team’s youth, and while the squad enters this season with a year of experience under its belt, the team still isn’t exactly gray around the temples. After losing only two players to graduation last spring, the Jacket varsity roster still includes only two seniors.

But if nothing else, this team seems to believe in each other. During last week’s varsity match against West Jessamine, the Hive reverberated with the sound of cheering, both from the freshmen and JV squads, and the players on the bench. The Jackets played with emotion and intensity, and despite the loss they seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves.

“That’s as much enthusiasm as I’ve seen in a ballgame in a long time around here,” local photographer Steve Blake said, adding that the team’s spunk made watching the game a lot of fun.

I have to agree. There was an energy in the gym that I have never seen at a high school volleyball match. Even during the lowest moments of the game, a constant stream of encouragement, cheering and laughter echoed around the Hive.

Credit DellaGuistina. The new Jacket skipper said that she’s emphasized creating team chemistry.

“We’ve been working on that – trying to build the team as a family and as a sisterhood and friendship.”

I have a feeling that the new coach’s efforts will soon begin to pay off in the W-L column. This team may not have the talent or experience to challenge the top squads in the state, but as the chemistry continues to percolate and the squad gains a little seasoning under its new coach, I have a feeling the Yellow Jackets will creep up and surprise some teams.

I encourage everybody to make it out to watch this team. I can’t promise you a victory, but from the looks of things, I feel pretty safe in guaranteeing you a fun time.

Quick Shots

Woodford County High School volleyball coach Meredith DellaGuistina got some good news on Aug. 14. The International Olympic Committee voted to include women’s boxing in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. That opens the door for DellaGuistina, a world class boxer, to make a run for the U.S. team.

The volleyball match against West Jessamine also provided a comedic moment. Some of the freshman players held up signs with the letters W-O-O-D-F-O-R-D painted on them during the game. But they had a little problem with the order, creating a unique and creative spelling of their school’s name. The good news is that they have four years to figure it out.

I was sad to learn that the Arena Football League will cease operations. The AFL issued a short statement on Aug. 4 announcing the shutdown. The league cancelled the 2009 season earlier in the year. Arena Football League 2, with teams in small and medium size markets will continue to operate. The Kentucky Horsemen play in AL2. I was never a huge fan of indoor football, but I followed the Tampa Bay Storm at a distance. The team came to Tampa in 1991 and won five ArenaBowl Championships. In the years before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Lightning rose to respectability, the Storm provided the lonely bright spot in the Tampa Bay sports landscape. There’s just something disconcerting about an entire league fading into the past.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans got a rare treat. The 88 actually led a few laps in the Carfax 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Earnhard took fuel during a late caution, relinquishing his lead. But with fresh tires and no worries about running out of gas, the fan favorite drove back through the pack to finished third. Jimmie Johnson led the most laps, but ran out of fuel in the end. Earnhardt is arguably the most popular driver in NASCAR, but his recent performance doesn’t seem to warrant the hype. He last won 43 races ago.

Quote of the Week

“Here is the lesson and reality. All the legal language in the world about moral turpitude will not cause Coach Ricky to lose his job. Why you ask? Because Pitino wins basketball games and that is ultimately much more important than teaching students and players about morals, honesty and trust.”
- Chicago Now columnist Corri Fetman

Puck to the Head

I should fly a puck at Rick Pitino’s head, but that’s just too easy, so this week’s puck flies at the head of San Francisco 49ers draft pick Michael Crabtree. The wide receiver from Texas Tech was drafted 10th overall. But he was projected higher than Darrius Heyward-Bey, who Oakland picked in the seventh spot. So based on pre-draft hype and his projected selection ahead of Heyward-Bey, Crabtree wants a contract higher than the $23.5 million the Raider draft pick signed. Basically, Crabtree wants his contract to reflect that he was the higher selection – except that he wasn’t. He called anything less than the $23.5 million Heyward-Bey will receive, “unacceptable.” Are you kidding me? Crabtree has yet to catch pass one in the NFL and he thinks $23.5 million is unacceptable? I think it’s this clown’s ego that is unacceptable.

The tyranny of the urgent

A reprint of my Aug. 7 SlapShots column.

Sometimes the tyranny of the urgent can keep us from focusing on what’s important.

For that reason, I think it’s healthy to get away from our day-to-day routine from time to time. Every once in a while, we need to just step away and refocus.

I spent the last week in West Virginia and Florida with my wife and kids. We hiked mountain trails, basked in the sun on the beach and saw some pretty cool historic sites. But the best part was the uninterrupted time with the kids, quiet moments with my wife and an opportunity to visit with family we don’t often get to spend a lot of time with.

For an entire week, I was totally disconnected from the world of sports. I didn’t watch any games, didn’t surf the Internet and scarcely glanced at a newspaper. About the closest I came to athletic competition was a pretty intense battle between the kids and grownups in the license plate game (More on that in a moment.) Oh – and there was a pretty good round of Frisbee with my son … and some boogie boarding in the surf. But I digress.

While I was gone, the Yellow Jackets hired an interim men’s basketball coach and the Woodford County High School worked out an agreement to keep Walker Terhune as its athletic trainer. While I was sitting on the beach last Wednesday, the Woodford Sun went to press, just as it always does.

It all went along just fine – without me.

I will admit, there is something slightly disconcerting in knowing I am not indispensable. But also something very liberating. Sometimes I get too wrapped up in my routine and forget the truly important things. Sometimes the outcome of a game seems so all-important, but in reality, it means nothing in the big scheme of things. Sometimes I get all wrapped up and stressed out about things that just don’t really matter all that much.

This last week was a reminder to keep my focus on the important. Family, friends and moments spent gazing at the wonder of the world add far more value to my life than many of the things that eat up hours like my daughter’s hungry algae eater on the side of the aquarium.

This doesn’t mean that we don’t do our jobs. Sometimes we simply can’t ignore the urgent. It is urgent, after all. But I do think it’s a good idea to recognize that we aren’t indispensable. It’s healthy to know that if we pause for a moment to tend to the important, the world won’t stop spinning. It’s a good thing to just stop and let things go.

It’s okay – try it.

Now about that license plate game…

I will freely admit my extreme competitive nature. My wife shares this personality defect – or strength, depending on how one looks at things. If there existed any doubt that we are both out of control, it vanished somewhere between Jacksonville and St. Augustine.

The license plate game is a great way to pass time on long car rides. It’s a simple game. Try to find license plates from all 50 states throughout the course of the trip. We decided to spice things up a bit and play adults against kids. I must admit; the kids did pretty well. They were keeping pace with us and it was looking like the game could end in a tie. We had a couple of states they didn’t, but they had a couple on us as well.

My wife and I were sweating it a bit until we found our opportunity to grab an almost insurmountable advantage. On our way down to St. Augustine, a van with Alaska plates passed us. I nudged my wife. She saw it too. A wicked grin. The kids were in the back; all three absorbed in the Nintendo DS.

Advantage – grownups.

While basking in our near certain victory, we decided to pull off and grab some lunch. Subway was sounding like a good, healthy option. But as I pulled into the parking lot, I saw the Alaska van sitting right in front of the door. No way to get in without the kids seeing the plate.

Advantage – lost.

Suddenly the Waffle House across the way was looking pretty good. I’d been craving a waffle all trip. And besides, who eats healthy on vacation?

So I did a quick turn out of the Subway lot, explaining my sudden need for breakfast. The kids were fine with that.

Advantage – grownups.

Quick Shots

I know you are dying to know who won. Grownups, of course. We lacked only four states: North Dakota, Wyoming, Vermont and Hawaii. The kids had none of those and also missed South Dakota, New Hampshire and Alaska, of course.

The more I watch NASCAR Sprint Cup racing, the more I become a Jimmy Johnson fan. His crew chief, Chad Knaus, has as much to do with my growing respect, as Johnson’s driving – and he’s no slouch behind the wheel. I love the fact that the team never gives up. In the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500, Johnson was running strong when he started to experience engine trouble. Several pit stops later, the crew found the problem, a bad sparkplug. By the time the team got the number 48 running right, it was three laps down. But Johnson patiently kept at it, taking advantage of cautions to work his way back to the lead lap, then blew through the back of the field to salvage a 12th place finish.

Kudos to Woodford County Schools for stepping up and getting the job done, keeping an athletic trainer at WCHS. It was good to see everybody involved focus on student safety. It says a lot for the priorities of all of the school officials involved.

Quote of the Week

“We’ve come close in a lot of races this year and come up short. But definitely had some angels with us today.” – An emotional Denny Hamlin after winning the Pennsylvania 500. Hamlin’s grandmother died earlier in the week.

Puck to the Head

I’m going to step out of the sports world to shoot this week’s puck at the heads of slow drivers in the left hand lane.

My personal greatest sports moments

A reprint of my July 30 SlapShots column in the Woodford Sun.

I’m heading out of town for a week vacation on Friday, July 24, so needing to write a column way ahead of time, I wanted to do something a little different. I got to thinking about all of those lists pundits like to put together – you know, the greatest this or that in history. So, I decided to create my own. I have compiled a list of the top-10 greatest sports moments in my life. These are the events that meant the most to me, not necessarily because of their historical significance, or their greatness in the big scheme of sports, but because they involve my teams, my emotions and my sports passions. That is after all what keeps us watching, eh?

10. Cincinnati Reds win 1975 World Series over the Boston Red Sox, Oct 22, 1975
I was 8-years-old when the Big Red Machine won the first of its two back-to-back World Series. I was like a lot of kids during that time. I loved baseball. I played in the local youth league, collected baseball cards and organized impromptu games with the other neighborhood kids in a nearby vacant lot. And the Reds were my team. Johnny Bench was my hero. This was my first experience watching a favorite team win a championship. It was a dramatic one too. Carlton Fisk blasted a 12th inning home run off the foul pole in left field to give the Red Sox a 7-6 victory in game six. That made for an early lesson in sports disappointment, which only made Cincinnati’s 4-3 win the next day that much sweeter.

9. USA defeats the Soviet Union in the Olympics Feb. 22, 1980
Quite frankly, this would rank higher if I had a better memory of it. We watched the game at a Mr. Gatti’s pizza place in Ohio or Indiana because I was up there competing in a swim meet. I don’t know that I had ever watched a hockey game before that, but just about everybody in the country watched that one. I don’t really remember the game at all, but I do remember the pride of being an American and taking down the hated Soviets. Those of you old enough to remember the Cold War understand this. For you younger folks, I’m not sure I can even think of anything to compare it with. And I do vividly remember the complete pandemonium that broke out in the restaurant when the U.S.A. scored the go-ahead goal. The game also sparked my lifelong love for hockey.

8. USF beats the University of Louisville 45-14 Sept. 24, 2005. This was the year before I started classes at USF, but I was already a fan of Bull football. The win over the ninth ranked Cards was USF’s first victory over a team in the top 10. That it came over Louisville made it even better. The rise of the Bulls’ football program makes for a pretty amazing story in and of itself. The team began playing in 1997 as a D-II squad. USF held its first team meeting under a shade tree because the school didn’t have football facilities on campus. The win over Louisville was a classic David slays Goliath story, and you gotta love those.

7. Florida Gators win National Championship with a 24-14 win over Oklahoma, Jan. 8, 2009. Ahh – it’s good to be a Gator football fan. This was the team’s second National Championship in three years. I really respect Tim Tebow, both as a player and a person, so I was thrilled to see him hoist the BCS trophy. And look out SEC because Tebow will be back this coming season.

6. Florida Gators win National Championship with a 41-14 win over Ohio State, Jan. 7, 2007. The 2007 National Championship gets the edge over 2009 because the Gators not only brought home the hardware, they exposed Ohio State and the Big Ten for the perennial overrated sensations that they are.

5. Tampa Bay Rays 3 Boston Red Sox 1, game 7 ALCS, Oct. 19, 2008.
This would rank higher if I cared anything about baseball. Loved the game as a kid, but something happened over the years and I just have no passion left for the boys of summer. But it was still a thrill to watch the hapless Rays make it into the World Series, especially beating the Red Sox, my second most un-favorite team in the world of sports. (Top honors in that category goes to the Detroit Red Wings.) I lived in the shadow of Tropicana Field, and like most St. Petersburg residents, ignored the Rays for many years. I started paying some attention when Stu Sternberg bought the team, running that clown Vince Namoli out of town and injecting some life into the franchise. Most fans thought the new ownership was taking the team in the right direction, but I don’t think anybody imagined the Rays would make the run that they did in 2008. Another little guy overcomes the big boy story.

4. USF beats fifth ranked West Virginia 21-13, Sept. 29, 2007. I would argue that the 2007 win over the Mountaineers was the signature victory for the Bulls’ football program. It thrust USF into the national spotlight. This win was so special to me because I felt a part of it. I was a student at the time and this was my school. I only got to watch the first half of the game. The USF hockey team was in Miami that weekend playing Florida Atlantic University. I remember our entire team was crammed into this tiny bar attached to the rink watching the first half. As the Bulls took the early lead, we were all going nuts. It was one of the most exciting fan experiences I’ve ever been a part of – sharing that moment with my teammates and fellow Bulls. We had to go get ready for our own game at halftime. We didn’t even know who ultimately won until after the hockey game. The coaches wouldn’t tell us anything, wanting us to focus on our task. By the way, the Ice Bulls beat FAU 5-3 that night.

3. Florida Gators win the National Championship with a 50-20 win over Florida State in the Sugar Bowl Jan. 2, 1997. I’ve been a Gator fan since I was a little kid. Even though I spent most of my growing up years in Kentucky, three years living in Ormond Beach as a child was enough to make me a Floridian in my mind. When I attended UK in the late ’80s, I went to the Wildcat-Gator games and cheered for Florida. So watching the Gators win their first National Title in my lifetime was a pretty big deal. Beating Florida State to do it made it that much better. That the Gators’ only loss that year came at the hands of the Noles just weeks earlier made it that much better. The rivalry between Florida and Florida State is something akin to UK’s rivalry with Louisville in basketball, to put things in perspective for you Kentuckians.

2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers win the Super Bowl 48-21 over the Oakland Raiders, Jan. 6, 2003. For so many years, the Bucs represented ineptitude and futility. From the ridiculous creamsicle uniforms to the successive years of losing records, Tampa Bay was the laughing stock of the NFL. And from the team’s first season in 1976, I was a fan. I actually owned one of the old orange jerseys. I wish I still had it. I moved to Clearwater in 1991 and my favorite team became my hometown team. It wasn’t easy being a Bucs fan. The joke was that you could leave a ticket on your car windshield in the parking lot of the Big Sombrero, as old Tampa Stadium was known, and when you returned, you’d have five tickets. I once went to a Bucs game against Green Bay and there were about 35,000 Packer fans in the stadium. It was embarrassing. But I’m nothing if not loyal, and that loyalty paid off when the Bucs finally became World Champions. I can’t even describe how amazing it felt to see the team that struggled for so long finally win. The emotional words of Bucs radio announcer Gene Deckerhoff as the clock hit zero sums it up. “Buccaneers win! Buccaneers win! Buccaneers win in San Diego! We are kings of the world!”

1.Tampa Bay Lightning wins the Stanley Cup with a 2-1 game seven win over the Calgary Flames, June 7, 2004
I don’t have a whole lot of sports memorabilia in my home. Now my office is a different story, but other than items from my playing days at USF, there isn’t a whole lot displayed in my house. But one piece of sports history does hang in a prominent spot in my living room. It’s a framed copy of the St. Petersburg Times from the day after the Lightning won its Stanley Cup. The photo on the front page featured Tampa Bay captain Dave Andreychuk lowering the Cup toward his lips for a kiss. It’s an iconic image. I will admit that I am a pretty emotional guy, and I am passionate about sports. But the night the Lightning won the Cup was the only time I’ve shed tears of joy as a fan. It was so amazing – so emotional. I have followed the team closely since it came into the NHL. In fact, I moved to the Tampa Bay area the summer before the inaugural season. I attended countless games and was a partial season ticket holder. Like the Bucs, the Lightning franchise spent many seasons serving as the butt of countless jokes. Lightning ineptitude started in the front office and extended to the ice. There were many years of frustration for Lightning fans. I was here in Kentucky when the Bolts finally won. In fact, I was at work at the airport in Louisville. Fortunately, there were no flights on the ground, and I was able to slip into a dark office and catch the end of the game. As the Lightning skated the Cup around the raucous St. Pete Times Forum, I was alone in this office, awash with emotions and memories, jumping up and down – a few tears trickling down my face. It was kind of surreal. It’s amazing how team can connect an individual with a community. I was 1,000 miles away from Tampa, but I felt I was a part of it all.

Quick Shots

As I look over my list, I realize how fortunate I’ve been as a sports fan. A lot of big moments. Many great memories. This is a very personal list, but for me, it’s probably the most special list I could create. Because it’s about my memories – my connections to the sports and teams that I love.

One lesson from my life as a fan, loyalty and persistence eventually pay off. Stay off the bandwagons!

I would love to hear about some of your sports memories. Write me at sports@woodfordsun.com

Quote of the week

“Gone like a freight-train, gone like yesterday Gone like a soldier in the civil war, bang bang” –Montgomery Gentry (I’ll see you all after my vacation.)

Puck to the Head

Hey, I’m on vacation. You don’t expect me to be wasting times shooting pucks around, do you?

A most common battle

A reprint of my SlapShots column from the July 23 Sun.

“It would have been a hell of a story.”

I turned the TV on just in time to watch the plot unravel.

Tom Watson missed an 8-foot putt on the 18th hole that would have clinched the British Open championship. Had that putt found the cup, the 59-year-old would have become the oldest player to ever win a major championship. But the ball stopped short and the dream evaporated moments before the happy ending.

“It was almost – the dream almost came true,” he said.

Watson’s age seem to catch up with him on that last hole and through the playoff.

“Those last 30 minutes, he aged about 30 years,” ESPN analyst Rick Reilly said.

After missing the putt that would have won him the championship, Watson fell apart in the playoff. He looked old and tired as his drive failed him, leaving him in the rough on the second playoff hole. He worked out of it to save par, but he found the rough again on 17 (the third playoff hole) and couldn’t recover. Stewart Cink played a mistake free playoff and walked away with the Claret Jug for his first major win.

But the spotlight eluded the winner.

I have to admit, I felt sorry for Cink. After sinking a 12-foot birdie on 18 to put him in position for the tie, Cink played superbly through the four playoff holes, but nobody really cared. All eyes focused on Watson. The disappointment in the gallery seemed like a physically tangible entitiy on the final hole, as if the fans could actually reach out and touch it.

But nobody left Turnberry more disappointed than Watson.

He wasn’t just there to be there – he was playing to win.

“It tears at your gut, just like it’s always torn at my gut,” he said.

While his strength and stamina may have diminished over the years, Watson’s desire to compete and win remains strong.

When Watson won the last of his eight major championships, I was a junior in high school. In the 1983 British Open, Watson nailed his drive, putting the ball 15 feet from the hole on the 18th to set up an easy two putt to take home the Jug. To nearly replicate that feat 26 years later amazes.

What really impressed me about Watson’s 2009 Open run was that he wasn’t willing to settle for a moral victory. He was competing to win. That is after all why we compete. Watson could easily use his age as an excuse. But he didn’t. He thought he could win. He expected to win. And his disappointment testifies to that competitive fire that made him so great in his heyday.

But as with all of us, no matter how hard we battle, age eventually works us over. A reporter asked Watson if fatigue factored in his poor playoff performance. Did he run out of gas?

“It looked like it, didn’t it?” he said. “It didn’t feel like it, but it looked like it.”

Boy, can I relate.

I think that’s what captivated me about Watson’s Open performance. I saw in Watson my own battle against the ever-encroaching menace of age. I know how it feels when the mind wills a performances the body can’t quite deliver. I’ve momentarily overcome my own aging physique, playing as well as I did in my 20s - only to fall just short. And I’ve felt the sting of disappointment. That’s one thing that age doesn’t diminish.

As time passes, Watson will look back on the 2009 British Open with pride. He’ll recognize his amazing achievement and he’ll bask in the pride of knowing he competed at the highest level while approaching senior status.

But today, there’s just disappointment – and probably some pretty sore muscles.

I understand Tom. I understand.

Quick Shots

Some commentators complained that Tom Watson’s British Open run somehow diminished the game of golf. They said that if a 59-year-old could play with the best in the world – even for a week, it doesn’t say much about the sport. They worried that Watson’s performance would hurt the game. I disagree. Until Sunday, I had never watched more than five minutes of any golf match. Yet I remained glued to the TV for two hours as the drama of the final day at the Open unfolded. Good stories create new fans. Who could write a better storyline for the 2009 Open?

Age may well finally overtake another old-timer. Lance Armstrong faded in the first Tour de France leg in the Alps, as teammate Alberto Contador took the yellow jersey. It’s becoming clear that Armstrong will not win his eighth Tour championship. He’s accepting the role as “support rider” for Contador. But even in defeat, Armstrong continues to show the class that makes him a true champion. “A day like this really shows who’s the best, and I wasn’t on par with what is required to win the Tour. That’s the reality; that’s not devastating news or anything,” he said. “I gave it everything that I had, and I wasn’t the best.”

Jody Meeks made a quite an impression during NBA Summer League games for the Milwaukee Bucks. The former Wildcat averaged a team-high 19 points through five games. In averaging 32 minutes per game, Meeks shot 56 percent from the field, 53 percent from three-point range and 82 percent from the free-throw line. He was playing against other rookies, but his performance may indicate Meeks made the right decision in moving on to the NBA.

Woodford Sun sports has 97 fans on its Facebook fan page. If you are a Facebook user, look us up and join in. I would love to see us crack the 100-fan mark this week.

Quote of the Week

“Thank you for a one week break from the Tiger Woods era”
-From an ABC thank you segment on Tom Watson after the British Open

Puck to the head

This week’s puck flies at the head of Antoine Walker. The former University of Kentucky and current NBA basketball player was arrested July 15, a day after a warrant was issued for three felony counts of writing bad checks. Walker allegedly amassed $822,500 in gambling debts. Police arrested the forward at Harrah’s Casino in South Lake Tahoe. Are you kidding me? They arrested a man with over $822,000 in gambling debts in a casino? No – he doesn’t have a problem.