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.

UK v. Arkansas

I have to admit, I'm flummoxed on this one. UK has shown nothing offensively and there isn't any reason to think they are suddenly going to figure it out this week. Arkansas is coming off a big win versus Auburn, and although they were pretty sorry early in the season, Petrino seems to have the Razorback offense progressing each week. I was surprised at the amount of yardage they ran up against a pretty darn good Auburn offense. The Wildcat defense is good enough to shut down the Razorbacks, but if they spend the whole game on the field like they did last week, fatigue could become a factor. UK has had its share of struggles with Petrinos system, which is similar to what he ran at Louisville. Granted, Arkansas doesn't have the athletes that those Cardinal teams featured. My brain says to give a slight edge to the Hogs simply because they seem to be moving forward and UK is not, but my gut says UK will eek it out at home.

I'm going to call it a toss up...give UK the home field advantage and a three point win 17-14.

UK vs. South Carolina

Well...I am going to have to pick the Cats this week...as much as I hate to.

I get a certain satisfaction in tweaking UK fans. It's really great fun. You should try it sometime.

But the Wildcat defense showed me enough last week to believe they are for real. I don't see South Carolina moving the ball against UK.

Then again, the Big Blue probably won't move the ball a whole lot either. I'm thinking of calling them the Big Blue Blunder. But in their defense, UK did generate offense in spurts against Bama. South Carolina also runs an aggressive defensive system and UK's screen passes may negate that to some degree. If Dickey Lyons can make a few big plays, they should be able to outpace the Cocks. I also expect the defense to put some points on the board.

UK has never beat Spurrier. But this is not the Gators coming into Commonwealth Stadium, so I'm going to go with UK.

Cats 19 Gamecocks 7

A small sip of blue Kool-Aid

I have to admit, the UK defense is for real. The Cats did give up a lot of rushing yards; Glen Coffee rushed for 218 yards, but they kept Bama out of the end zone and that's what counts in the end. It's a shame UK doesn't have the offense to go with the defense. Rickey Lyons Jr. is fun to watch, but the rest of the receiving corps pretty much sucks. Hartline may well develop into a good quarterback. He showed some nice flashes in the game, but also shows some inexperience at times. He could probably develop really fast if he had more than one target to throw to.

I kept hearing commentators talking about how Alabama didn't play well. I have to think some of that was the UK D. Some of it may have been a little letdown after the Georgia game.

I have to say this, I got a little frustrated with the ESPN guy talking about how Alabama should drop in the polls. He gave Kentucky no respect and acted like Bama should have walked over Kentucky like Oklahoma did to Baylor.

We all know that I am no UK apologist, but I can recognize a good football team when I see one, and I do think UK has a good football team. Not great...but a solid mid-tier SEC team.

MY UK prediction

Sorry UK fans. I just don't see it.

I may well be wrong about this, but I don't buy into the Kentucky hype. Their 4-0 record proves nothing. We will see what UK is all about today.

I don't expect the Cats to score more than 10 points against the Alabama defense. The UK offensive line will struggle against the Tides D line. Besides Dickey Lyons, the Cats receiving corps is awful with dropped passes and bad routes.

On the defensive side of the ball, UK should fare better, but we really haven't seen them tested either. I was pretty impressed with the way Alabama hung points on a pretty good Georgia team.

I don’t think Alabama will suffer a letdown. They’ll be playing in front of a raucous home crowd coming off a big win.

In my mind it all ads up to the UK loss.

If the Cats pull it off…I promise I’ll take a big chug of Big-Blue Kool-Aid.

My call:
Alabama 21-UK 10

Welcome to gooberville

I was driving home the other day listening to the sports radio call-in show on WVLK. Since I've moved back to Kentucky, I've been trying really hard to keep an open mind about things UK.

Some fans make it very hard.

There's a certain myopia that exists around here, as if UK and the SEC are all there is in the universe. Maybe this stems from the fact that Wildcat sports are basically the only game in town in Lexington.

At any rate, this caller started out talking about how much better UK is than UofL. Granted, he has a point and the Cats proved that on the field. He proceeded into some Big East bashing. Again, he has a point. It's pretty hard to defend the Big East in football, at least judging by early season results. Then the caller went on the say that if UK had Louisville's schedule, they would certainly, easily go undefeated.

At that point the entered into the land of UK gooberville.

He's crazy if he thinks a Wildcat team with little offense, no running game and an untested defense could beat South Florida. As far as that goes, I don't think UK could hang with West Virginia, despite the Mountaineers loss to East Carolina (which is a pretty darn good football team).

I've sort of defended UK's close call against MTSU, but come on now, if UK had a hard time with the Blue Raiders, you can't coherently make the argument that the Wildcats would walk all over even a middle of the pack Big East team.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out. I think UK has a decent team, but I could also see them having a losing season if they don't iron out some wrinkles. As far as my Bulls go, they made a good showing against Kansas last week, but they have a history of beating ranked opponents and then tanking against the teams they should beat.

That said, a lot will have to change before I will accept the argument that UK is better than USF.

Sports quote of the week

"Here's what's discouraging to me. You see guys in pre-game singing Kanye West songs. How can they freaking understand every word that he sings and they can't understand the freaking signals? That's what's frustrating."

-University of Kentucky offensive coordinator Joker Phillips after the Middle Tennessee State game.

Couch time for UK fans

Sports fans by nature seem to swing between emotional extremes, and sometimes I think UK fans are worse than most.

Early wins over UofL and Norfolk State had some fans predicting an SEC championship, and the airwaves were full of talk about the Wildcats' dominating defense.

Nothing like a close call to damper spirits.

After the Cats narrowly escaped Commonwealth Stadium with a 20-14 win over the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, suddenly the Big Blue Bandwagon is rolling a little lighter and I've already heard some fans declare that the sky is falling.

As a public service to my fellow Kentuckians, I would like to offer a little mental health counseling.

First off, keep in mind that a win is a win, and at the end of the year, most people won't remember that an MTSU fell about two feet short of stealing one from the Cats. UK may have stumbled and bumbled their way to win number three, but the bottom line is that it's win number three.

Secondly, make no mistake about it, Middle Tennessee is a darn good football team. I predicted they would give the Cats problems. I think a lot of fans looked at MTSU as one of those "directional schools" that the Cats would easily run right over. But the Blue Raiders whipped a pretty good Maryland team last week, so the fact that Middle Tennessee hung tough doesn't necessarily bode ill for the Cats.

Granted UK didn't play particularly well.

I think the team overlooked MTSU a bit. Coach Brooks complained that UK did not practice well all week, and that clearly flowed over into the game.

And UK definitely has plenty to work on. The offensive line did not get the job done and they are going to have to start opening some holes for the running game to take some pressure off Hartline. UK also needs to figure out a way to make some field-goals and to get their receivers to run the right routes.

That said, the sky isn't falling.

Last week, UK wasn't going to win the SEC and this week, they are not going to finish dead last. I think they will bounce back and easily handle Western Kentucky and then play a good Alabama team tough. UK still looks to me like a solid seven or eight win team.

So don't despair all ye bleeders of blue. There's a long season ahead. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the 3-0 record.

Thanks for coming by, now go do something productive. That will be $75 payable to Dr. Maharrey.

MY UK prediction

If I were a betting man, I'd go put some money on Middle Tennessee.

The line has Kentucky as a 17 point favorite and I just don't see it. Middle Tennessee beat Maryland last week, a team that easily handled a top 25 ranked Cal team today. Middle Tennessee runs a spread offense, not unlike what Urban Meyer runs at Florida, and the Cats have had trouble stopping teams running the spread in the past. I'm also not convinced UK can consistently move the ball against a good defense. With the temperature in the low 90's, if the offense can't keep the ball and give the Kentucky D some rest, they will have big problems late in the game.

If the game were in Tennessee, I would pick them for the upset, but I am going to give the Cats the slight edge at home.

My pick:
UK 17 MTSU 14

The first shot

Woodford County

I just completed my first week at the Woodford Sun. It's been a whirlwind and I don't really feel like I have my feet on the ground, but as I reflect on the last week, a few observations come to mind.

I'm impressed with Woodford County High.

I've attended a football, soccer and volleyball game. I've also received notes from several of the winter sport coaches. The athletic department exudes a commitment to excellence and it seems to filter down to every program. I look forward to watching the teams compete.

The football team looked pretty good last Saturday against Bardstown. The offense can certainly put some points on the board. I like the way head coach Chris Taylor spreads out the field. If Carter can continue to churn out rushing yards like he did Saturday, the field will really open up for Duckworth's passing game. The future also looks bright. I was really impressed with Garrahan last week. The sophomore backup signal caller was poised in the pocket and made good decisions with the ball. It will be interesting watching him develop over the next 3 seasons. The defense will likely hold the key to Woodfords' success. From what I understand, they graduated a lot of key player and the inexperience showed at times. They seemed vulnerable to the power running game. Bardstowns' big fullback wrecked havoc on the Jacket's D-line early in the game. It's fortunate that Woodford jumped out to the big early lead and took the Tigers out of their running game. Still, the D played well in spurts against Bardstown, especially in the second quarter.

I have to admit that I'm not an expert on soccer. Having played hockey half my life, I view the game through that lens. That said, I thought Woodford looked solid against Tates Creek. In the second half, they controlled the field. I would like to see them generate more scoring chances though. It seemed they were often stymied once they got in close.

UK

I often find myself amused at sports talk radio in this town. I've heard people talking 10 wins for the Cats.

Puleeeze.

UK looked pretty good in their first two games and I think they have a pretty decent defense, but I have yet to swig the blue cool-aid. I am going to reserve judgement until they actually play a strong opponent, which won't happen until Oct. 4 when Cats face Alabama. Let's face it. Norfolk State was a cream filled pastry and Louisville has unproven receivers and a bunch of ju-co transfers on defense.

We'll see what happens when they get into the SEC schedule. I'm thinking more of a seven or eight win season, unless one of the quarterbacks really steps up, but I'll reserve the right to reevaluate in October.

OSU vs. Southern Cal.

Honestly, I couldn't care less.

Yes, an early season matchup between one and five gives the folks at ESPN something to yammer about all week, but it comes so early in the season that the game won't likely have a big impact on the BCS championship.

Besides, I'm so over OSU. I really wish the NCAA would pass a rule banning them from the championship game until they prove themselves worthy. Two years watching them get blown up by an SEC team is about enough for me.

But if they make it past the Trojans, I'll probably be subjected to the scenario once again.

The Buckeyes have a relatively easy road to the BCS championship because they don't have to worry about a Big Ten championship game, and the Big Ten hasn't exactly lived up to its "BIG" label over the last few years.

Baseball

I have to give props to my Rays.

They finally beat the Boston at Fenway to stay 1 1/2 up on the Sox. They even did it by coming back in the ninth.

It's good to see Kazmir pitching well. He provided a stop in the Yankee series last week and pitched well last night.

I have to admit that I'm only a casual baseball fan, but after watching year after year of Tampa Bay futility, it's fun to see them enjoy some success.