STILL ON PATROL

$6 Million Man Arrested for DUI

Following directly on the heels of Rick Pitino's rant at the media yesterday about coverage of his sex scandal, news reports this morning have revealed that former Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie was arrested for DUI last night in Anderson County (Lawrenceburg), and spent the evening in the Franklin County (Frankfort) Detention Center.  Watch out, Tubby Smith, it's not looking like a good week for former UK basketball coaches!

From www.Kentucky.com:

According to arrest records, Lawrenceburg police received a complaint about a possible intoxicated driver traveling north on the bypass from the Shell Station near the Bluegrass Parkway. The vehicle, a white 2009 Mercedes-Benz 300, had Texas plates. 

The officers smelled a strong odor of alcohol as they spoke with Gillispie, who was driving, the police report says. His eyes were red and glassy and his speech was slurred, the citation states.  Police asked Gillispie for his proof of insurance, and he said it was in his golf bag in the trunk, according to the court document.  "During the exit he used the door for balance and was confused on how to open the trunk," the citation says.  The report says Gillispie's insurance information was not in the bag, so he went to the passenger side of the car.  "He was confused about how to unlock the vehicle and took several tries to unlock the glove box," the citation says.  He was still unable to find the insurance, according to the officer's report.

Police said Gillispie refused breath and blood tests.  According to arrest records, O'Connor also smelled of alcohol and was "heavily intoxicated, very unsteady on his feet and had slowed, slurred speech."

This was not Gillispie's first encounter with DUI arrests:

He was arrested in 1999 on charges of driving while intoxicated and improper use of a lane in Tulsa, Okla. He pleaded guilty to reckless driving; other charges were dismissed.  In 2003, he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving while in his first year at the University of Texas-El Paso, but the charges were dismissed after a prosecutor decided there was not enough evidence to suggest Gillispie was drunk.

With Kentucky's current DUI laws, Gillispie will not skate so easily as he did in those two earlier encounters. 

The Memphis situation notwithstanding, Mitch Barnhart and Lee Todd have got to be feeling just that much better about John Calipari this morning, especially when they look at that booking photo of Gillispie. 

Speaking of the Memphis situation, isn't this just another example of why some serious reform of the NCAA needs to happen?  Sure, it's a bad thing if Derrick Rose had someone else take an SAT or ACT for him.  But who is really at fault?  How did this happen in the first place if the Educational Testing Service, or whomever administers the test, cannot pick upon a substitution?  The integrity of the whole testing process should certainly be questioned.

Then, the so-called NCAA "Clearing House" approved Rose for admission on an athletic scholarship.  Don't John Calipari and Memphis have some right to rely on the very section of the NCAA that is charged with verifying eligibility?  In normal legal theories, the NCAA should be estopped from later disqualifying a player if it has cleared him/her for eligibility, and surely should be prevented from punishing the school.  The NCAA needs a long look in the mirror on this one, not punishment of the school who really only was mistaken in relying on the NCAA.

Third, the NCAA's response to the above point was that the school had "strict liability" in these situations and had to be punished.  The NCAA regulations, however, contain no such terms as "strict liability", and its own precedent in similar situations involving schools such as Duke, USC, and others does not support any "strict liability" contention. 

The NCAA's ruling in the Rose matter only provides further fuel to the allegation that certain schools are seen as fair-haired children, while others are considered bad actors that are guilty of anything and everything.  In the SEC, Alabama and Kentucky are constantly under the microscope, while Tennessee seems to continually step in manure and come out smelling like the proverbial rose.   I wonder how much longer this kind of thing will go on until there is an open revolt on a much larger scale than the BCS Football schools doing their own thing?

NOTE:    For those of you not addicted to UK basketball, the appellation "$6 Million Man" has to do with Gillispie's severance claim from his being fired by UK.  That is the amount he is claiming in a lawsuit.

Why the Plaxico Burress Sentence Is Not Excessive

If you have even a passing interest in sports, you have probably by now read something about Plaxico Burress pleading guilty and being sentenced to two years for illegal gun possession.  Burress, the New York Giants' wide receiver who two years ago caught the winning touchdown in the 2008 Super Bowl, was charged for carrying an unlicensed, loaded gun in his pocket into a night club.  While in the club, the gun went off and wounded Burress in the leg.

It was fortunate that no one else was injured; the bullet barely missed a club security guard, and was found embedded in the floor later that evening.  No charge for "wanton endangerment" was filed, but in my opinion could have been.  The weapon carried by Burress was unlicensed in New York or New Jersey, where he lives, and his Florida license had expired.

Many people have criticized the two-year sentence as "excessive."  The simple fact of the matter is that the sentence is less than what the law calls for in New York,, which is a 3 1/2 year minimum sentence.  Obviously New York takes carrying a loaded gun into a public place very seriously, which before that night Burress apparently did not.  What any other state may do is irrelevant; under our Constitutional system, each sovereign state is free to define and punish crimes as it sees fit. 

I think the New York prosecutor, Robert Morgenthau, and his assistant, Mark Dwyer, should be applauded for enforcing the law and not giving in simply because Burress is an NFL star.   Unlike the Scottish Justice Secretary who released a mass murderer last week, Morgenthau obviously believes in the rule of law, which is an all-too-rare quantity in these star-struck times.  Dwyer said that a two-year sentence is the minimum to which his office will agree in such cases, and Burress should be treated no differently.

In addition, Burress was clearly what I like to call "felony stupid" on many levels for carrying the weapon as he did. 

• If Burress was under any sort of threat, why did he go to the club, and if he had to go, why did he not rely on a bodyguard?  Surely Burress could have afforded to hire private security if such was truly necessary. 
• Why do NFL players, and other celebrities and athletes for that matter, expose themselves to criminal charges by doing stupid things, like this and like driving drunk, when there will always be help available to them?  Burress has lost two years from his career now, and, given the short shelf life of NFL wide receivers, has to be considered unlikely to resume his career once he is paroled.
• The weapon was not in a proper holster, but simply in his pocket, and a shell was chambered, i.e., in the barrel and ready to fire.  Anyone with any sense about guns should know better.  His permit course, if he actually took one, should have taught him better gun safety than that.
• A large part of owning and carrying firearms should include the responsibility to know the local laws and comply with them. I have a Kentucky permit, but some states accept it with reciprocity, and others do not.  Even with reciprocity some states have different requirements for how a gun can be carried.  When I cross into another jurisdiction it is my responsiblity as a gun owner to find out what the law is, and to comply with it.
• The efforts of Burress and his friends to "cover up" the shooting by not reporting it was also a violation of the law, although it was not charged as such.  Most of the time, however, the "cover up" can end up being worse than the original crime.

I am sorry to see yet another celebrity athlete fall prey to his own outsized ego and immaturity, and perhaps sacrifice not only his own career, but the fans' enjoyment at watching him perform.  At the same time, though, Burress' punishment will hopefully serve as an object lesson to other athletes, of all ages, that their skills at their chosen sport do not provide them with a permanent "Get Out of Jail Free" card.  More cases like Burress, and yes, Michael Vick, where the athlete does the time for his own stupidity, and fewer where athletes get below-minimum sentences for serious crimes, might just save some careers, and lives, down the line.

 

Vick Update

Michael Vick has been approved for home confinement at his home in Hampton, VA, because there is no room for him at a Newport News halfway house.  Vick's 23-month sentence at Leavenworth, KS, Federal Penitentiary is winding down, and he will be released in May to serve out the remainder, which ends in July, at home.  He will be on electronic monitoring and allowed to leave home only for activities approved by his parole officer.

Here's hoping his parole officer is a dog lover and a Carolina Panthers fan.

And here's a thought - along with the little electronic ankle bracelet he will have to wear, why don't they attach a rabid pit bull to his other ankle?  That would restrict his movements pretty effectively.  Yes, indeed, I do get Old Testament on these kinds of things.

Vick's lawyers still insist he will try to return to the NFL.  The Falcons have been trying to peddle his contract rights, but so far no one, not even the Raiders or the Cowboys, have shown any interest.

Let's see, Mike, the NFL has been making some effort to clean up its public image.  Pacman Jones is about to go down for the count for several public drunkeness and fighting issues, some of which have included gunshots.  Plaxico Burress is on thin ice for shooting himself in the leg at a bar.  There've been drug dealers, drug users, wifebeaters, most of whom are history.  With PETA and the millions of dog lovers out there, My prediction is that Roger Goodell is either going to say "NO", or is going to require some pretty major penance to let you back in, even if there is a team that wants to take the PR hit.  I wouldn't put a whole lot of whatever money you have left on the shot to get back in the league.  Maybe NFL Europe? 

Baseball: Just When You Thought It Was Bad...

With every new revelation in Major League Baseball's ongoing steroids scandal, it may seem as if it can't get any worse.  But just like Anglican meetings, the truth is, yes it can.

This week, the guy who many believe is the "Best Player in Baseball", A-Rod, Alex Rodriguez, has admitted using performance-enhancing drugs between 2000-2003 while with the Texas Rangers.  He claims it was because of the pressure to live up to his contract.  And we're supposed to believe that once he came to the New York Yankees (the Clemens, Giambi, etc. Yankees?) for his mega-millions largest sports contract ever, now I work for Steinbrenner contract, he just stopped using the drugs?  No sale, A-Rod.  Sorry.

On the heels of that story is the news that Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada has entered a guilty plea to charges of lying to Congress about another player's drug use.  In the "let's-get-Capone-on-tax-evasion" mode, prosecutors got Tejada on the misdemeanor.  The kicker still hanging over Tejada's head is whether U.S. immigration officials will approve his annual work permit for him to come to spring training from the Dominican Republic.

I was talking to a friend about how badly steroids scandals have damaged baseball, and howeither of us would prefer to go to a minor-league or college game any more.  My friend observed that the all-time home runs leader, the single-season home runs leader, a multi-Cy Young and sure-fire Hall-of-Fame pitcher, and many other "certain" Hall of Famers now probably will not even come up for a vote because their accomplishments are tainted by drug use.  Add to that Pete Rose being banned for betting on baseball, and there is a chance that, in the future, the most-often heard phrase will be, "Dad, who's that guy?"  And Rose defenders are now heard saying, "At least Pete didn't juice up."  Or did he just get out with his Popeye forearms before anyone looked too closely?

My favorite player growing up, without question, was Roberto Clemente.  Clemente had it all - if the Pirates needed hits, he hit for average.  If they needed power, he hit home runs.  Right field at old Forbes Field was his - old-timers said he could "throw a strawberry through a locomotive."  He was a 12-time All-Star and a 12-time Gold Glove winner.  3,000 career base hits.  Clemente, of course, died on December 31, 1972, when his airplane crashed into the ocean while on a humanitarian trip to Nicarauga for earthquake relief.  Thirty+ years later, another Latin player, Miguel Tejada, may not be allowed to get on a plane to come to the U.S. to play because he lied to federal investigators about steroids. 

How far baseball has fallen.

Plaxico, Plaxico, Wherefore Art Thou, Plaxico?

The answer?  Plaxico Burress of the New York Giants is probably sitting somewhere, not playing football, recovering from a .40 caliber gunshot wound to the leg, and wondering how many felonies with which he is ultimately going to be charged, and how much of his multi-million dollar salary this is going to cost him.

In the latest installment of "Stupid Professional Athlete Tricks", Burress this past Friday night at a Manhattan night club "accidentally" shot himself in the thigh when the pistol in his pants pocket discharged.  Luckily for Burress, the pistol apparently was pointed downward instead of to the left, or a much more serious injury may have been inflicted.

The 6'5", 232-pound Burress now faces felony charges for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, and failure to properly report a gunshot injury.  The concealed weapon charges carry a potential jail sentence of 3.5 to 15 years.  Maybe Burress can get a double room with Michael Vick?  Burress, whom I drafted in an early round for one of my Fantasy Football teams, is likely also facing suspension by the NFL for at least the remainder of the season, and one wonders whether hard-nosed Coach Tom Coughlin has reached the end of his patience for the star wide receiver.

Burress has been his own sideshow this year.  Prior to Friday's gunshot wound, he has, according to ESPN.com, had these episodes: 

• Oct. 5: Suspended for game against the Seahawks and fined $117.5K after missing a team meeting for "family issues," which he said included having to pick his son up from school.

• Oct. 24: Fined total of $45K for three violations and penalties in a game vs. the 49ers, including verbally abusing an official during the game, "inappropriate" comments about officiating after the game and $5K for throwing a football into the stands.

• Oct. 26: Held out of the first quarter of a 21-14 victory in Pittsburgh after missing treatments for a neck injury.

It is a tribute to Coach Coughlin and the rest of the Giants that they have shrugged off this nonsense and forged an 11-1 record, tied with Tennessee for best in the league.

It is often said that star athletes have to come to terms with the fact they are not "bulletproof."  Burress can now be cited as particular evidence of this truism.  For his sake, I hope Burress can grow up after he pays the price for this incident, and return to football.  Otherwise, he will become just another sad, sad story of a life of potential gone wasted.

Kentucky Derby Tragedy Renews Safety Questions

  The magnificent performance of a horse named for UPS, "Big Brown", was overshadowed by the tragic injury and death of the filly, "Eight Belles", moments after the conclusion of Saturday's Kentucky Derby.  The mood at the Derby Party where we watched the race mirrored that at the track - the excited buzz of the post-race jubilation quickly dropped to a hushed murmur as fleeting video of a horse down on the track, then hidden by two huge horse ambulances told the story of one of our equine heroes in trouble.  Soon thereafter came the horrible, dreaded news, that "Eight Belles" had broken BOTH front ankles and had been mercifully euthanized.

Horses are amazing creatures.  The award-winning movie at the Kentucky Horse Park says it all - "They Shall Fly Without Wings."  They are at once large and powerful - a racing thoroughbred weighs between 1000 and 1200 pounds on average - and yet are hopelessly fragile.  Every time I bend to check our horses' legs and feet I marvel at how thin they are to carry such a large animal at such speeds.  Our Tennessee Walkers, usually a more powerfully built horse than a thoroughbred, still only have ankles about the size of my wrists.  It seems at times impossible. 

And there are almost too many things to mention that can bring a horse down - for example, with this Spring's rich grass in the paddocks, a horse can put on too much weight and founder (develop laminitis, an extraordinarily painful hoof condition) almost before you know it, sometimes leading to death - "no hooves, no horse."  Horses in the fields suffer injuries all the time, and are susceptible to all manner of difficult conditions and diseases.  We lost a big, young TWH last year and still don't know why - two weeks in an equine hospital, one of the best around, and still he dropped dead of a heart attack a few weeks later, at age seven.

But, inevitably, when one of horse racing's elite goes down, on national television, just after "the most exciting two minutes in sports", it hits everyone in the gut and causes a deep sadness that takes many days to resolve.  The freak injury to "Eight Belles", coming after her strong second-place effort was in the books and she was slowing down in the first turn, has brought horse racing's critics to the fore once again, and has even seen the emergence of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) into the  fray.  (I really hate to see this wack-job group in the debate.  PETA's credibility among serious business-people has to be next to nothing given their extreme past such as tossing blood on women in fur coats.   According to a Swiss publication, the next thing will be these groups condemning our treatment of PLANTS.  Give me a break!)  (By the way, that's my TWH gelding, "Rhett Butler" to the right giving his opinion of PETA). 

Coupled with recent high-profile injuries and deaths in the "eventing" side of the equine world, however, some serious discussions of safety practices appear to be very much in order.   There are some compelling arguments being made about enhancing the safety of horse racing.  The use of synthetic, more "cushioned" track materials such as Poly-Track has reduced the number of on-track breakdowns at facilities such as Keeneland in Kentucky and all California tracks.  While many in racing argue that Poly-Track affects performance, i.e., speed, it seems that the better course would be to mandate change to the safer surface and put everyone on the same "footing."  Just as NASCAR has discovered, when the track and equipment playing field is leveled and made more safe, it becomes much more a contest among competitors and less a game of chance.

Some in the horse industry are also being criticized for starting horses in training and racing at a too-young age.  Many horses now have active two-year old and three-year old seasons and are retired to  breeding service by age four.  These ages can be misleading, however.  Regardless of the actual date of birth, all thoroughbreds "birthday" is considered to be January 1 of the year of their birth.  Thus a "two-year old" may only be 20 months old or so.   Equine specialist believe that the musculoskeletal growth of a horse does not mature until at the earliest 18 months, if by then, such that forcing a young horse into training may interfere with its ability to naturally mature.  At the same time, exercise is necessary and, if properly done, can actually increase longevity.  It is a difficult balance.  The recent emergence of so-called "lightly-raced" horses, such as this year's "Big Brown", and last year's Horse of the year, "Curlin", makes me wonder if there isn't something to this - that owners are simply pushing horses to the track to soon and too often.

The most basic fact of the matter is that horses are powerful but fragile creatures.  They get injured and die even on the most pastoral, beautiful farms.  There is probably nothing that can be done to absolutely prevent equine injuries.  The solution, however, is not to enact a PETA-like "ban" of racing, or of eventing.  The quest for speed, or for bigger and tougher jumps over which to test an eventing horse, must be tempered with a cool, sane acceptance that safety in these sports should be paramount.  God gave us these beautiful animals to help us and to remind us of the nature of our souls.  We should always treat them as the gift from God they are, and do all in our power to keep them safe even as they bring us enjoyment and grand spectacles such as the Kentucky Derby.

Baseball Drug Hearings A Foul Tip

I watched with interest this morning Roger Clemens' opening statement to the Congressional Committee looking into the illegal steroids problem with baseball.  That is, after two congressmen droned on forever, taking full advantage of their 15 minutes of "fame."  Clemens, as he has all along, maintained that he has never taken steroids or human growth hormones (HGH), contrary to the accusation of former trainer Brian McNamee and circumstantial evidence from a few others such as former teammate Andy Pettitte.

McNamee certainly had had his share of credibility problems, including a record of being less than truthful in other, prior investigations, one drug-related and the other into a rape allegation.  One has to wonder about his current claim that he has retained a syringe and some gauze pads from injecting Clemens and is offering them for DNA analysis.  Why would someone like McNamee hold onto these items unless he was planning on shaking Clemens down one day?  My answer to McNamee's "why would I lie?" question is about the same as to anyone else"s:  to save your own butt; or, to try to assure your own 15 minutes of fame and an eventual book deal.

Clemens is not without his own issues, not the least of which is Pettitte claiming that Clemens told him he had used HGH.  Paired with Pettitte's own admission of HGH use, this is potent testimony.  Of course, with the accusation now tainting Clemens, many baseball fans are looking at his 7 Cy Young Awards and remarkable longevity through a different lens.  I have never been a big fan of Clemens, but what I have seen of him through an ESPN story of his work with a teenage cancer survivor trying to return to playing baseball, and through his interaction with our local Lexington Legends single-A franchise, makes me want to believe he is telling the truth.

No one seems to be asking the third, unanswered question.  Is it possible that McNamee did inject Clemens with HGH and/or steroids and Clemens did not know it?  Clemens talks of receiving B12 and lidocaine injections from McNamee - was that what they really were?  Why would McNamee do that?  Oh, maybe to show his big-name client that he was a good trainer and help him get stronger and improve physically?  We will probably never know the real truth.

To me, though, the focus on Clemens vs. McNamee is a swing-and-miss, or at best a weak foul tip.   The focus should be on the overall steroid and drug problem in baseball, or actually in big time sports altogether.  Baseball has been sticking its collective head in the warning-track sand for a long time now.  Why was Barry Bonds changing from a lithe, deer-like outfielder for the Pirates into the bubble-headed brute he is now not the subject of some serious questions?  Why did no one question Mark McGwire's animation-like physique while he was pounding out 70 home runs a season?  For that matter, why did no one question that not just McGwire, but also Sammy Sosa shattered Roger Maris's 40-year old home run record in the same season?  There were whispered questions and a few raised eyebrows, but baseball management was too busy counting ticket, TV, and concession/souvenir revenues to bother with the drug issue.

I lost my respect and most of my interest in baseball around the time of the last big strike.  What was once the "national pastime" was revealed as just another money-grubbing enterprise of the so-called entertainment industry.  I grew up with the Roberto Clemente/Willie Stargell-led Pittsburgh Pirates and enjoyed rooting for the hometown team.  Hearing "We Are Family" on the oldies station brings back a nice, nostalgic feeling for those teams.  Now, though, free agency and the pursuit of multi-million dollar contracts for no-hit-good-field second basemen has left most teams (other than the Yankees) without recognizable players, and has left me not caring much at all.

The revelation of the pervasive nature of the drug problem in baseball paired with little effort or recognition by upper management has eliminated virtually all of my remaining interest.  Baseball has been more concerned about whether players have cork in their bats, or too much pine tar on the handle, than whether the players' bloodshot pupils are blown in a mind-altering steroidal rage while playing a game where they get to carry wooden clubs and wear spiked shoes.  What do all the records mean if they were achieved by outlandish figures amped out of their mind on steroids?  Are championships decided by pitching and defense, or by which team has the best pharmacist?  Who cares?

So, goodbye, baseball.  It was once nice to know you but you've changed.  You're not what I remember - an idyllic afternoon in Forbes Field, or Crosley Field, watching Roberto Clemente gun down a runner trying to reach third, or Willie Stargell deposit one over the right-field third deck.  You've lost the feeling of two dogs and a beer, and a bag of peanuts.  I'll be on the golf course, or re-living the Civil War this summer.  I'm outta here.

Congratulations to Eli and the Giants!

Super Bowl XLII will go down as one of the most exciting ever.  Period.  Massive underdogs, the New York Giants physically dominated the New England Patriots from the opening gun to the final seconds ticked off the clock.  They swarmed Tom Brady more heavily than the New York paparazzi outside his girlfriend's apartment.  And in the end, Eli Manning lead a drive that was reminiscent of Joe Montana taking his 49ers on a last-minute drive to beat the Bengals.

Thousands of gigabytes and a whole lot of bandwidth will be used analyzing this game and I will not try to compete, other than to offer my congratulations to the Giants.  Great game, great championship, and new lustre added to the stories of the Super Bowl.

Geaux Tigers!

LSU won their second BCS championship last night, defeating Ohio State 38-24 in the New Orleans Superdome.  LSU becomes the first school in the ten-year BCS history to repeat as champions.  Add to that Tennessee's win in 1999 and Florida's win in 2007, and the Southeastern Conference has captured four of the ten BCS championship games since the series started, further cementing the conference's claim to be the pre-eminent league in college football.

Congratulations to the Bayou Bengals, and to Tiger fans like our friend Brad Drell.  It is exciting to see LSU bring this sort of success to Louisiana after the hardships the state has endured from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  It is also exciting to see the Big Ten take another bowl-game whipping, even as the mainstream media continue to worship at their (and Notre Dame's) feet of clay.  When will they learn to take their football southern-fried?

Of course, UK football fans can add a little lustre to our 8-5 season, because one of those 8 wins was a triple-overtime thriller in Lexington over these same LSU Tigers.  I'm not even suggesting that makes us #1, but I am suggesting it proves that UK under Coach Rich Brooks has progressed to the point where we can be competitive with the best when we put our "A" game on the field.

UK Football Completes Second 8-5 Season

The University of Kentucky defeated Florida State 35-28 in the Music City Bowl Monday afternoon, completing a feat UK has only accomplished once before, in 1951-52, back-to-back bowl wins.  The nail-biting win capped UK's second straight 8-5 season and was a satisfying conclusion to the careers of a stellar senior class, as well as a valediction that Rich Brooks has known what he was doing in rebuilding this program all along.

Some pundits have derided the win as coming over a Florida State squad depleted by an academic scandal, but anyone who watched the game saw that the Seminoles still put speedy, strong, and dynamic athletes on the field and gave a good accounting of themselves.  This was not a cheap win by any measure.  The quality of the win for UK comes in the fact that despite a sloppy performance (4 fumbles, 1 interception for touchdown by FSU) the Wildcats continued to play hard and found ways to make plays and win the game.  Old snake-bite plays (fumbled interception return, last-second Hail Mary pass) did not find their fangs as UK took home their second straight MCB trophy.

This year's MCB also saw the return of the fabled "Blue Mist" that settled over Nashville when over 50,000 Wildcat fans turned the bowl game into Commonwealth Stadium south, bringing the MCB a second straight record crowd.  The sea of blue was contrasted to many New Year's Day games on TV where thousands of empty seats were shown on blimp camera shots.  This sort of fan support bodes well for future UK bowl appearances if Coach Brooks can re-load his team for another SEC season in 2008.

There should be no question that UK has a special coach in Rich Brooks.  He is not flashy or a big media character, but the man knows how to put together a football program.  He has done so at Oregon, which continues to win, and by all appearances has done so at Kentucky.  He is obviously respected by such coaching icons as Bobby Bowden, a fact which chould not be lost on the UK faithful - such respect is truly earned over the years in the football trenches.

As for the just-finished 2007 season, some have deemed UK's 8-5 finish as "disappointing" after a 6-1 start and #8 national ranking.  How quickly they have forgotten pre-season predictions, looking at a ridiculously tough schedule, which had the Wildcats lucky to break even?  Before the first game, any thinking UK fan would have gladly taken a guarantee of an 8-5 finish and another bowl win. That this team carried it off and was within another play or two of a 10-3 finish with close losses to Florida and Tennessee is nothing short of fantastic and an accomplishment in which I hope every coach, player, and fan takes great pride.

While the graduation of Woodson, Woodyard, Burton, Little, Johnson, et al. will be tough to overcome, UK will take the field next year with Pulley, Smith, Locke, Lyons, Jarmon, Micah Johnson, Kelley, and many more excellent players.  A promising freshman class awaits Coach Brooks to add to the mix.  There is every reason to remain excited about UK football as the Brooks era enters its second five years.  Basketball?  I can't wait for Spring Football !