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,

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.

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’.

Woodford faces Covington Catholic in first round of playoffs

The Woodford County High School Yellow Jackets (5-5) will face off against Covington Catholic (4-6) on Saturday at 1 p.m. The game was scheduled for Saturday because Covington Cath doesn't have lights on their field.

The Jackets will try to get off the offensive snide. The once prolific passing attack has not netted a single point in the past nine quarters. Despite finding its offense mired the past two game, Woodford averages 236.1 yards per game in the air and 323.9 yards of total offense. That still places them 10th in the state in passing offense.

It's really a matter of confidence at this point. Quarterback Steven Duckworth has struggled since throwing three interceptions at the end of the Ashland Paul Blazer game and Duck admitted to me his confidence is shaky.

I think if the Jackets can get a few good offensive plays off early in the game, they have a good shot of coming home with a win. The defense played a lot better last week and the squad seems rejuvenated under the direction of coach Paul Roher. But any early offensive meltdowns could make for a long afternoon. I don't think the fragile Jacket confidence will handle much adversity. On the flip side, early success will likely lead to an avalanche of points. It's not like the kids have forgotten how to move the football.

Covington Catholic will try to bounce back from a 56-0 whipping at the hands of number one ranked St. Xavier. Woodford fans can hope the Colonels had a little confidence bashing of their own.

But don't let Covington Catholics' record fool you. Along with the loss to St.X, the Colonels also dropped games to Highlands, and two Ohio powers, Cincinnati Elder and Cardinal Moody.

The Colonels have shown vulnerability to the run. If Woodford can get its running game going, it will bode well for its chances. Unfortunately for the Jackets, they will have to do it without top running back Jordan Carter. Carter injured his knee last week and won't return this season.

The weather will also have an impact. The forecast is for wind, rain and dropping temperatures.

I really can't call this one. I look for either a close game won by the Jackets or a Cov Cath blowout. It really depends on whether the Jackets can shake off its offensive demons.

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

Woodford Co. 49 Montgomery Co. 0

"That was awesome tonight, and I don't use that word very often," Woodford County Yellow Jacket head coach Chris Tracy told his team after they whipped the Indians 49-0.

It was a pretty impressive performance, especially on the defensive side of the ball. I kind of expected the Jackets to hang a lot of points on Montgomery Co., but I was really surprised the way the defense completely shut them down through the entire game.

The Yellow Jacket D allowed Montgomery Co. only 96 yards in offense, and a chunk of that came in the final Indian drive against Woodfords' second and third string. Last week the Jackets looked vulnerable to the run, but last night they swarmed to the ball and stuffed any semblance of an Indian running game.

Tracey made a great coaching move by shifting senior Colin Smith from nose-tackle to defensive end, allowing Smith to utilize his speed. He wrecked havoc in the Indian backfield and stymied the Montgomery quarterback's roll-out passing style.

The Yellow Jackets rolled up 477 yards and senior quarterback Steven Duckworth threw five touchdown passes. The running game looked solid as well. I'll be interested to see the complete stats breakdown on Monday.

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.