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.