Tainted Victory

ESPN is now reporting that suspensions are likely to be handed out to as many as 20 Florida State football players. Those suspensions will be in effect for the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl on January 31. That’s the bowl game in which the University of Kentucky will be playing.

I’m all for punishing cheaters. I think cheating in college athletics is probably much more rampant than I, or any other fan, wants to believe. However, I’m worried that a victory by the Cats in the Music City Bowl will now be automatically followed by a “Well, yeah, but look at all the FSU players that weren’t eligible…” type of comment. I hate that a team that has worked so hard to come out of the depths of NCAA probation and sanctions to become one of the most successful Kentucky football squads during my lifetime will get shortchanged by a “well, yeah, but…” kind of victory.

It was fun to think that we were better than the storied Seminoles. We, Kentucky, resigned to being the lowest of the toughest conference in college football were going to whoop up on a program that was dynastic not so long ago. It’s still fun to know that the team isn’t full of student-athletes that can’t take their own internet quizzes, but it takes the focus off the game, off the talent and hard work of the players (on both sides).

Cheating sucks. Don’t do it. That’s the moral of this story.

Boogers, Basketball and Bowl Games

I just realized that I haven’t blogged about anything sports-related in a while. I don’t want anyone to think that sports aren’t my #1 favorite thing to watch on television, my #1 favorite thing to Fantasy-ize about or my #1 favorite thing involved muscle-bound men in tight pants or sleeveless shirts. So, here’s a post about sports.

First, I’ve hashed and re-hashed the UNC vs. UK game with a couple of people. Frankly, I’m tired of talking about it. However, I do have to say that the boys in blue (the real blue, not that crappy sky blue) looked much better than they have in previous games and much better than I expected them to. Turnovers are still happening much too often. I’m still not sold on Billy G., but I’m trying to keep my mind open.

One of the most interesting things to come out of the UNC/UK game was a possible submission to the You Idiot! You’re On National Television Awards. It should rank right up there with William Hung and any of the Tara Reid wardrobe malfunctions. I give you UK’s best player, Patrick Patterson, and the grossest thing kids in first grade used to do:

Yesterday, the BCS bowl games were announced. As expected, Kentucky is going back to Nashville for the Music City Bowl. I’m sure many people were hoping for a “better” bowl in a warmer climate, but I think Nashville is a great city for Cat fans, and getting the chance to beat Bobby Bowden and those jack-assy Seminoles is great. The sad part: THE GAME IS ALREADY SOLD OUT! I’m not sure when it sold out, but I tried to scope out some tickets on Ticketmaster as soon as I heard and they were gone. Darn you early buyers! How awesome would it be to watch the Cats whoop up on some ACC trash and spend New Year’s Eve in Nashville?!?! Pretty damn, I think.

There you have it, folks. My latest sports-related blomit.

22 shopping days until Christmas!

 

I had a pretty great weekend. Friday night was one of my favorite October events, trying to find the best Haunted House. JP (who will love this new nickname and who I’m taking suggestions of nicknames for) and I went to King’s Island Halloween Haunt. It was a really fun time. The park was filled with fog from fog machines (which occasionally got to be too much) and it was the perfect chilly autumn-night temperature. Riding The Beast in total darkness was excellent. The haunted house-type attractions were fun, not as scary as I wanted them to be (but they never are) and were a little slow-moving, at times. I think the highlight was either the ride on The Beast or having our co-worker run smack into a wall in the Death Row maze. If you’re anywhere near Cincinnati, this month, I highly recommend it, especially for the $20 online ticket price.

On Saturday, I got to sleep late which was excellent after the 22 hour day on Friday. Then, we went to IHOP, which is both the skeeviest and the best place on earth AT THE SAME TIME. Where else are you sort of afraid to eat the food, but you don’t really care because it’s freaking pancakes and crepes and bacons and omelettes and hashbrowns and everything good about breakfast?Saturday afternoon is one that will forever hold an extra-special place in my heart. It was a day that will live in University of Kentucky football history. The defeat of not only a tough conference foe, but the #1 TEAM IN THE NATION (yes, it needs capital letters) was one of the most fun and exciting sporting events I’ve seen in quite a while. I’m still reeling from the fact that we actually beat LSU. We had injuries to key players! It was amazing and awesome and lots of other a-words. The only thing that could have made it better would have been being at the stadium, watching it in person and rushing the field after the third overtime.

A much smaller victory occurred, Saturday night. I successfully drove about 60 miles in the mini-tank-sized six-speed truck without incident. I did nearly kill the engine on the interstate ramp, but it was okay.

Sunday held a couple of other firsts for me, albeit dubious ones (see, I’m just trying new things like crazy…who says I’m not adventurous?). First, I ate at a Golden Corral. Those of you who have known me longer than a few months know that I must really like the person I’m eating with if I’m able to dine at a buffet-style restaurant (they don’t even have MENUS!). I will say that the food really wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t excellent, it wasn’t awful. The dessert was really good. The other dubious first on Sunday was riding like a redneck girlfriend in the truck. I’d hang my head in shame if I didn’t actually sort of like it.

In totally unrelated news, I started a new little blog, totally for personal data organization purposes: The Tentative Chef.

Random Thoughts.

Really quickly, thoughts from the weekend:

• Friday was the last of the downtown summer concerts. The fact that this heralds the end of summer (sort of) doesn’t bother me. I don’t like summer, anyway (favorite seasons, in order, fall, spring, winter, summer). What does bother me is that I feel like the summer concerts aren’t as fun as they used to be. Nothing is as fun as it used to be, but maybe that’s just my mood, today. Since the friends moved out of The Best Apartment Ever and it was subsequently burned to the ground, nothing downtown has seemed as cool. I did have fun at the concert, though, more for the company and the people than the music.

• I can’t drive…a six-speed, anyway. My fellow drivers should be happy to know that I’ll probably never attempt that, again. Add this to the list of things that are hard: driving a Ford F350 dually six-speed.

• September Saturdays can still be really hot in Kentucky. Saturdays late sleeping didn’t really pan out. I was awake at 8:30 and cooking. Yeah, there’s definitely something wrong with that picture. Anyway, Saturday was hotter than hell and I made poor wardrobe choices. Thank goodness for friends who let me wear their clothes.

• Kentucky may very well be a football state. I did my now-weekly favor to the Kentucky football ‘Cats and didn’t manage to watch the game, this week. In addition to their talent, I believe my personal non-watching must be helping them to win. 5-0, baby! Up a game on Florida for the SEC East?!? Number 8 in the nation?!? In which parallel universe am I living in?

• Drunk relationship-oriented conversations aren’t a great idea. Somehow, in the last few years, I’ve forgotten this golden rule of relationships. Don’t drink and discuss.

• Big screen TVs are heavy. (just in case you didn’t know)

• Sleep is good. (in case you didn’t know that, either)

And, finally, BIG NEWS to start off October…This will be a no-alcohol October. Thanks for your support.

 

I Just Can’t Get Enough of This

Here are some great highlights from the Kentucky – Louisville football game: