Yeah right

Yeah right Nike with a small N caves in with the Witness Jodie Meeks t shirt. Does anyone besides me believe they are doing it because of fan pressure. Thanks Jodie for the great game and thanks nike for demeaning it for a dollar. You could have got the a better dollar value by releasing it earlier but thats why you pay big bucks to your advertising agents.

When is the dollar craze in college basketball going to stop? What happened to amateur sports? Why does the NCAA constantly cave in to the dollar pressure.

They turn down European players for accepting money for playing with teams because they don’t have HS basketball as we know it yet allow other non amateur entities to pay for travel, hotel and other expenses for our HS players in the summer.

Where did this pay the player without compensating them start. This goes back a long time before the present basketball embarrassment of today.

I swam for a AAU team in Hawai’i in the 50′s and boy was I excited when we got free Janzen swim suits not realizing I was being paid. Janzen paid for teams to travel to swim meets

Janzen started the whole thing but what guy besides a European wants to wear a Janzen suit now. Baggy is better.

Fidler leads Blue Team to Win over White….28-23

Randall Cobb caught four passes for 70 yards, and his 26-yard TD reception on the game’s first drive, set the tone for the Blue team, which held off the White 28-23 at Commonwealth Stadium. “If that guy is on the bus you’ve got a chance,” UK offensive head coach Joker Phillips said.

The UK staff has been disappointed that none of the young receivers have stepped up this spring, but a “walk on” made the most significant contributions for a squad that has been thin on kids who can catch a football.

Nick Melillo, made a name for himself yesterday…The 6’2”, 215 lb, former Trinity star, caught 4 passes, 2 of which went for touchdowns, to help keep the game close. Rich Brooks was effusive in singing his praises, “One guy stepped up from nowhere and made some plays and that was Melillo, so guess what, he’s going to move ahead of some scholarship players right now. He deserves a look and deserves to move up the depth chart.”

Mike Hartline had a sub-par performance missing on 8 of his first 9 passes, but in all fairness, the Blue Team was stacked with such defenders as Jeremy Jarmon, Trevard Lindley, Micah Johnson, and Danny Trevathan, and the offense had Cobb. Between missing the long passes, and seeing the short ones dropped by the receivers, Mike had a difficult day with his playmaking, even though he would wind up with superior numbers on paper to Fidler…

Will Fidler, the oft forgotten backup to Hartline/Cobb, had his best day ever as a wildcat, leading the Blue team on a 12 play 93 yard scoring drive on the Blue’s first possession, that set the tone of the game, and contrasted with the difficulties that Hartline was having completing a pass early on, even though Fidler competed only 4 more passes the rest of the way.

Brooks reportedly had a meeting with the Newton family this weekend, whose son, Morgan, is one of two high profile QB’s recruits the cats have signed for the fall. Brooks is said to have stated: “GET READY” when speaking to Morgan and his dad, which indicates that Rich has no problem throwing the freshman signal caller into the thick of the QB race.

Brooks told the Newtons that Morgan absolutely had a chance to be the starter in the fall.

PLAYER STATISTICS:
RUSHING
White – A. Smith, 18-67; Conner, 10-33; Bowland, 1-4; McCaskill, 1-minus-11
Blue – Allen, 16-96; C. Williams, 7-56, TD; Cobb, 1-6

PASSING
White – Hartline: 17-33, 208 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT
Blue – Fidler: 10-24, 110 yards, 2 TD, INT

RECEIVING
White – Melillo, 4-43, 2 TD; A. Smith, 3-54; Drake, 3-22; Bowland, 2-17; McCaskill, 2-17; Conner, 1-29; Adams, 1-18; Boyd, 1 -8
Blue – Cobb, 4-70, TD; Grinter, 2-26; Roark, 1-9, TD; Bogue, 1-7; Allen, 1-0; C. Williams, 1-minus-2

Did Rick or Didn’t Rick

From the affidavit submitted by the FBI this caught my eye “because the truth of these allegations is suspect.”

Since when is it the FBI’s job to decide if she is guilty or not. Come on now failing to release the allegations is just plain pandering to the rich and famous.

And whats up with Ricks friend Tim he delivered the notes so that makes him an accesory doesn’t or is he going to get a free ride to testify against the ex wife.

And why isn’t the mainstream media not reporting on this. This is fast becoming a whitewash guilty or not. Says it serves 2 to 4 so maybe this will give someone in the media the huevos to fully report this.
Huevos Rancheros

Ingredients
* Olive oil
* 1/2 medium onion, chopped (about a half cup)
* 1 15-ounce can whole tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted, if you can get it (or 1 -2 large fresh vine-ripened tomatoes, when in season)
* 1/2 6-ounce can diced green Anaheim chiles
* Chipotle chili powder, adobo sauce, or ground cumin to taste (optional)
* 4 corn tortillas
* Butter
* 4 fresh eggs
* 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)

Method
1 Make the sauce first by softening the onions in a little olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Once translucent, add the tomatoes and the juice the tomatoes are packed in. Break up the tomatoes with your fingers as you put them in the pan. If you are using fresh tomatoes, chop them first, then add. Note that fresh tomatoes will take longer to cook as canned tomatoes are already cooked to begin with. Add chopped green chilies. Add additional chili to taste, either chipotle chili powder, adobo sauce, regular chili powder, or even ground cumin. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, and let simmer while you do the rest of the cooking, stirring occasionally. Reduce to warm after it has been simmering for 10 minutes. Add salt to taste if needed.
2 Prepare the tortillas. Heat the oven to a warm 150°F, place serving plates in the oven to keep warm. Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a large non-stick skillet on medium high, coating the pan with the oil. One by one (or more if your pan is big enough) heat the tortillas in the pan, a minute or two on each side, until they are heated through, softened, and pockets of air bubble up inside of them. Then remove them and stack them on one of the warming plates in the oven to keep warm while you continue cooking the rest of the tortillas and the eggs.
3 Fry the eggs. Using the same skillet as was used for the tortillas, add a little butter to the pan, about two teaspoons for 4 eggs. Heat the pan on medium high heat. Crack 4 eggs into the skillet and cook for 3 to 4 minutes for runny yolks, more for firmer eggs.

To serve, spoon a little of the sauce onto a warmed plate. Top with a tortilla, then a fried egg. Top with more sauce, sprinkle with cilantro if desired.

Serve either one or two eggs/tortillas per plate, depending on how much you want to eat. I’m a 2-egg 2 tortilla person myself.

Makes 2-4 servings, depending on your appetite.

As The Basketball Spins

The more I read this week about the player situation the more can’t wait for the week to get over. John Clay in todays LHL says players are in limbo. Players say they want to be here next year but it seems like many are expecting some of the players leave. These same players are representing the state and the fans. They are expected to work hard on the court, be perfect off the court, win all their games and go far in the NCAA. In simple words they are expected to be loyal to the university and the fans. Will the university and the fans be loyal to them in return is the question now.

Coach Calipari is being straight with them in telling them that if they don’t fit the system they wont get any playing time and it would be better if they go some where they will fit in. I can applaud that and am sure the players can respect that. The question is can Coach Calipari, the university and the fans respect it if they tell the coach they want to be here next year and be a Wildcat.

With the possibility of signing several players with better basketball talent we will just have to tune in to the next As the Basketball Spins for the answer.

Mike Casey Academic All-American

Mike Casey passed away yesterday at the age of 60. His Obituary lists his many basketball accomplishments at Kentucky.

• The basketball forward and guard was UK’s 13th all-time scorer, with 1,535 points in 3 years.
• A Kentucky Mr. Basketball in 1966, who led his Shelby County High School team to the state championship, he went on to become UK’s leading scorer as a sophomore in the 1967-68 season. He averaged 20.1 points per game and led the team in field-goal and free-throw percentages.
• His sophomore year successes led to an appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
• He was named All-SEC three times and All-NCAA Mideast Regional in 1968. He averaged 19.1 points during his junior year.

One that it doesn’t list is that he was another kind of star in a bygone era at Kentucky. Mike Casey was a Academic All-American. One of seven Wildcats named between the 66-67 season and the 78-79 season. He was also one of 23 Wildcats named to the Academic All-SEC team.

Tuesdays Top News

We took yesterday off to keep from announcing that NC won the national championship. Today its still painfull but life goes on. Heres Tuesdays Top News top news from the SEC and around the country. Updated daily for BigBlueRules.

Meeks to declare for NBA Draft, won’t hire agent
Sooners star forward Griffin announces he’s going pro
Gamecocks’ Downey enters NBA Draft without agent
Young UK receivers put tough season behind
2009 NBA Draft early entry watch list

Saturdays Top News

Saturdays top news from the SEC and around the country. Updated daily for BigBlueRules.

Clay gets it right
Michigan St. dumps U Conn
Calipari defends salary, defers roster decisions
How Kentucky Affords Calipari
NC rolls to championshio game

So Who Needed Who?

When you think of Calipari to UK, one question comes to mind. Who needed who the most. Most outside the BBN will instantly say that Calipari is the savior that may just save UK from killing itself. UK fans will be quick to say that the program is much bigger than any one person. So I thought it would be fun to take a good hard look at the question. What’d ya think? OK, let’s go!

In most ways it is true that UK basketball is bigger than any one person outside of one man named Rupp. Rupp built it, everyone else is nothing more than a janitor. But a lot of bad things can happen when you don’t have the right janitor. Things start to rust and things start to break down. And in time, it won’t be worth much. Let’s face it, the program has been headed down the wrong road for a long long time when you consider basketball years. Basketball years are like dog years only longer. Every human year is like 10 basketball years. With that in mind, its easy to say UK has been on the wrong road for at least 70 years! That is a lifetime. The huge problem with having the wrong guy at the helm is its hard and next to impossible to tell. While UK IS bigger than any one person, it NEEDS the right guy. And no one comes in as the right guy. No one! They have to be able to grow into it and that takes time. Right now, that is time UK does not have. So whether Cal can become the right guy or not, UK needed him because he was the closest to being the right guy that is out there. I guess that answers the question?

Not so fast. Every coin has another side and this one needs to be turned over. Calipari has been to a few final fours, whether the record shows it or not. He’s even been to the final game. So he didn’t really need UK. No, I firmly disagree. As close as he has come, I don’t think he would ever get over the top at Memphis. There is something to having a name and tradition behind a very good team. There is something to being able to put the fear of Kentucky into someone before they ever see you. Memphis just doesn’t have that and I don’t think they ever would. People scream parity but every year the final four is monopolized by the haves and there is a reason for that. A glance at the current final four is a fine example. All four teams come from major conferences, all four have been to the final four with at least two coaches, all four have national titles and two of the four have National titles by two different coaches. All four are haves and three of the four can be called major haves. Memphis is a have not and always will be. So from that perspective, Calipari needed UK and I think he knew it. If he didn’t, I am certain he would still be wearing tiger blue and that is the most compelling part of the puzzle, because I am pretty sure he didn’t take the job simply because he felt sorry for UK and its fans.

The answer to the question of Who needed who the most is quite simple. They both needed each other equally.

SEC Coaching Moving to Greater Heights

The SEC has 4 coaches who have won a national titles in Football. That’s impressive for any league and for any sport.

With the addition of John Calipari, Mark Fox and Anthony Grant to the conference, basketball is beginning to rival football in coaching abilities if not titles. If Bruce Pearl had gone to Memphis the SEC might have hit a small bump in the road to the top but who is to say that a better coach might not have taken the job.

Although it doesn’t have the depth of teams like the Big East nor the top heaviness of the ACC its obvious that the league can’t do anything but go up providing it shores up its cupcake schedules. One school almost sure to is Kentucky where new coach John Calipari knows the value of strong schedules.

Fridays Top News

Fridays top news from around the SEC and around the country. Updated daily for BigBlueRules.

Griffin takes AP Player of the Year in a Landslide
Spurned Arizona targets Xavier’s Miller for coaching job
Tubby OK with Calipari’s big contract
WKU schedule includes Tennessee, South Florida
Teammates, coaches praise Cats’ hard-hitting fullback Conner

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