http://www.kentucky.com/287/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com Mark Story 60 Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:56:58 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/492562.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/492562.html Sun, 17 Aug 2008 09:30 EDT
Fourteen days from Armageddon:

. A year ago, Andre Woodson made streak-busting a priority for the Kentucky football program.

Led by an extraordinary senior class, UK in 2007 was able to end several of the negative marks that had been accumulated over decades by Kentucky football.

To review: UK won at least eight games in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1976 and '77. It beat a top-10 team for the first time since 1977. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/490738.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/490738.html Fri, 15 Aug 2008 05:58 EDT
Late Thursday night .(Kentucky time), Tyson Gay was scheduled to begin his quest for Olympic gold.

At exactly that time, a 25-year-old in Hardin County . with a special reason to be rooting for Gay . planned to be in front of a TV.

.Yes sir, I'll be tuned in,. Aaron Coney III said Thursday. .Cheering him on..

In rooting for Gay, Coney, in a sense, is cheering for himself. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/478599.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/478599.html Sun, 03 Aug 2008 09:23 EDT
When dusk falls over his Perryville farm and Guy Morriss has time to sit and think, there is a place he says his thoughts never go.

To second-guessing his 2002 decision to leave the University of Kentucky as head football coach.

.I just don't want to reopen that can of worms,. Morriss said last week. .Everything is its own situation and has its own reason. It just didn't work..

This is a year of transition for Morriss, the .accidental. head football coach at UK who left Lexington after producing a surprise 7-5 season in 2002. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/477050.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/477050.html Fri, 01 Aug 2008 07:21 EDT
Danica Patrick has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Twice. She's yukked it up with Letterman. Just last month, she found herself seated on the front row at the ESPYs next to Becks and Posh.

Yet, of all the cool things that have happened to a former cheerleader from Roscoe, Ill., since she became a national sports phenomenon at the 2005 Indianapolis 500, one moment tops all.

Patrick's telephone rang. Jay-Z was making the call.

The .retired. hip-hop star was plotting his return. He had a video treatment in mind for his comeback song, Show Me What You Got . ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/473988.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/473988.html Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:48 EDT
Silly me.

I thought the competition to replace Andre Woodson as Kentucky quarterback would come down to things like who can best avert mistakes in the pocket or most consistently elude the pass rush.

Never dreamed that the ability to avoid the hoosegow would emerge as the crucial factor.

We found out Friday that Curtis Pulley . who I expected to win the starting job . has a possession of marijuana citation and a traffic arrest (speeding with a suspended license and expired tags) from two separate incidents this summer. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/472583.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/472583.html Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:19 EDT
Thirty-five days until the Cats and Cards kick it off .. yet all is quiet?

Joe B. Hall . syndicated radio sports talk show host . had an interesting observation at Thursday's Governor's Cup kickoff luncheon.

This summer has been largely devoid of buzz about the season-opening Kentucky-Louisville football game.

.I can't get anybody to talk about it,. said Hall, who hosts the Joe B. and Denny Show with former Louisville basketball coach Denny Crum. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/470756.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/470756.html Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:37 EDT
There are ample reasons Rich Brooks needs to win the 2008 Kentucky-Louisville football game.

There is a practical reason. UK is going for a third straight winning football season for the first time since the 1950s.

It's a lot easier to get Kentucky to seven wins with a victory in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium on Aug. 31.

There is an historical reason. The last three UK coaches (Fran Curci, Jerry Claiborne, Hal Mumme) before Brooks to put together back-to-back winning seasons all saw their program's forward momentum sidetracked in the opening game of the next year. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/453385.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/453385.html Sun, 06 Jul 2008 07:53 EDT
The two cousins were coming in after a happy day spent fishing for catfish on Lake Barkley.

They met a pair of strangers also putting up their boat. Small talk ensued. One of the strangers asked the cousins if they were locals.

Seeing heads nod in the affirmative, he asked, .I guess you all probably know that kid who hit the shot in the tournament?.

Laughing, Josh Barnett pointed at his cousin, Ty Rogers, and said .that is the kid who hit that shot.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/448433.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/448433.html Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:55 EDT
Welcome to the coup.

For one day, I'm declaring myself Czar of all Sports. My absolute power will be used to rewrite sports rules whose illogic drives me batty.

Rule one that needs to go: If a player commits five fouls in college basketball (six in the NBA), they are disqualified from the game.

What bothers me: As Dick Vitale has noted, in no other major American sport do players lose the right to participate for committing rules infractions. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/446895.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/446895.html Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:59 EDT
I was rushing out of the office Thursday night because I had to get home in time to see the telecast of the NBA Draft . an event I never, ever miss.

For me, the NBA Draft is always one of the best sports days of the year.

Which got me to thinking. What are, year in, year out, the best days of each sports year.

Here are 10 I plan my life around. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/445007.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/445007.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:27 EDT
Rich Brooks has led Kentucky to back-to-back bowl wins for the first time since 1950 and '51.

Brooks has taken traditionally football-challenged UK to a combined 16 wins in the past two seasons.

That is the best two-year win total at Kentucky since Fran Curci won 19 in 1976 and '77. It's the best two-year, non-probation UK win total since Bear Bryant won 19 in 1950 and '51.

Kentucky will enter the 2008 football season having won 13 of its last 19 games. The last time it enjoyed a similar stretch of success was when Jerry Claiborne's Cats won 14 of 20 in 1984 and the first part of '85. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/442008.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/442008.html Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:27 EDT
Tayshaun Prince is now the ninth ex-Kentucky Wildcat to make a U.S. Olympic men's basketball team.

Yet, assuming the Detroit Pistons forward stays healthy and plays in Beijing, he will be the eighth ex-Cat to play for the U.S.A. in a men's Olympic hoops tournament.

In 1980, Sam Bowie made the Olympic team; the team never made it to the Olympics.

.My initial thought was that we were kind of cheated and robbed,. Bowie said Monday. .As I've gotten older, I've realized why politics and athletics had to interact in that time.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/440517.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/440517.html Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:13 EDT
The Internet-adept among you likely know that ESPN.com has picked .the face. of every major college football program in the country.

That is the person you immediately think of when a school's athletic program comes to mind.

I decided it would be fun to pick the .face. for our state's major universities in not only football but men's and women's basketball, too.

University of Kentucky ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/440020.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/440020.html Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:06 EDT
Which will not seem extraordinary in the least -- until we expand the sentence.

You can take $40, head to the High Street branch of the Lexington YMCA, and buy a session with a personal trainer who is scheduled to compete in the Beijing Olympics for Puerto Rico.

At the Y, introducing David Freeman to unsuspecting visitors has become an intangible employee benefit.

"It's so much fun," says Debbi Dean, Wellness Coordinator at the YMCA. "I say, 'This is David Freeman and he's going to the Olympics.' You can just see people doing double takes."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/435774.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/435774.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:38 EDT
Seventy-five days to get through the Kentucky summer sports doldrums:

. When ex-Kentucky Wildcats athletes achieve success on the biggest national stages, it has become something of a University of Kentucky Athletics Association tradition to buy an advertisement in USA Today to congratulate them.

Kentucky has bought ads in the past in honor of Tayshaun Prince (2004 Detroit Pistons) and Nazr Mohammed (2005 San Antonio Spurs) winning NBA championships. It purchased one when Brandon Webb (Arizona Diamondbacks) was named the 2006 National League Cy Young Award winner.

Earlier this year, UK used one ad to recognize both Jared Lorenzen, backup quarterback for the NFL champion New York Giants, and golfer J.B. Holmes, who won the PGA Tour's FBR Open on Super Bowl Sunday. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/434121.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/434121.html Sun, 15 Jun 2008 08:22 EDT
SPARTA . Bruton Smith surveyed what will imminently be the latest addition to his motorsports realm. The soon-to-be king of Kentucky Speedway said he will do .whatever it takes. to bring the long-coveted Sprint Cup race to the commonwealth.

.I'm convinced this is a fabulous market. We are going to do some great things here,. Smith said Saturday afternoon. .This is a superior market to a lot of places NAS.CAR already goes (for Cup races), I know that..

With a pair of engineers and an architect in tow, the colorful 81-year-old billionaire spent the hours before Saturday night's Meijer 300 presented by Oreo kicking the tires on the nine-year-old Speedway.

It was on May 22 that Smith's Speedway Motorsports, Inc. . owner of Bristol, Texas and Lowe's (Charlotte) motor speedways, among other racetracks . announced that it would buy Kentucky Speedway in a $78 million transaction. Smith said that day his intention was bringing Cup racing to Kentucky. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/433961.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/433961.html Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:51 EDT


On Thursday, a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives will hold hearings on the future of Thoroughbred horse racing.

If you are like me, any time you hear that the U.S. Congress is neglecting the economy, matters of war and peace and energy policy (read gas prices) to hold hearings on sports, you have the same initial reaction:

Shouldn't they have more important things to do? ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/432341.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/432341.html Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:50 EDT


For decades, Kentuckians looking for a .home team. to root for at NASCAR's highest levels have had a reliable standby.

Over the better part of 35 years, there have been few national telecasts of NASCAR events that did not include the words .from Owensboro, Ky..

A racer from Owensboro, Darrell Waltrip, won three Cup Series championships in the 1980s. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/429095.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/429095.html Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:15 EDT
The last time former NFL starter Mark Higgs played a football game in his home state, it left him with years of sleepless nights.

To understand why, let's call Doc Brown, make sure the flux capacitor is functional, and use the DeLorean to travel back to Commonwealth Stadium for the afternoon of Nov. 21, 1987.

We'll find the Kentucky Wildcats trailing the locally hated Tennessee Volunteers 24-20 in the fourth quarter of a fiercely contested college football game.

Having mounted a pressure-packed final drive, though, the Cats have the ball, first down, at the UT 5. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/427418.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/427418.html Sun, 08 Jun 2008 08:28 EDT
In Kentucky, we definitely understand the concept of the summer doldrums.

From the Derby until Kentucky and Louisville kick off the college football season, the only mass-spectator sports events inside the commonwealth are races at Kentucky Speedway.

To help you through the fallow months, here are 20 issues that will define sports in Kentucky over the next year to mull over this summer.

20. Who will quarterback the University of Kentucky football team? ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/426704.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/426704.html Sat, 07 Jun 2008 07:55 EDT
Let's start with the obvious. For the University of Kentucky, losing John Cohen to another Southeastern Conference school is disappointing.

.I don't want this to be a transition place, I want this to be a destination place,. Mitch Barnhart said Friday. .But this didn't turn out to be the destination John was looking for..

Cohen will be introduced Saturday as the new head baseball coach at his alma mater, traditional baseball power Mississippi State. He apparently turned down a 10-year contract that would have paid him $600,000 annually to stay in Lexington.

Essentially, Cohen chose to return to Starkville to be Joe B. Hall to the retiring Ron Polk's Adolph Rupp rather than continuing to be Kentucky baseball's Billy Donovan. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/425634.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/425634.html Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:52 EDT
What I know: If Big Brown wins the Belmont on Saturday, it will end a 30-year Triple Crown drought.

What I think: Like most who follow horse racing casually, I'd love to see another Triple Crown winner . but not Saturday.

The human connections around Big Brown leave me cold.

The Wall Street types who constitute the majority ownership of Big Brown seem about as appealing as stubborn belly fat. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/422361.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/422361.html Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:59 EDT
Mostly dormant for two decades, a green-tinged strain of basketball passion has stirred out of remission.

Celtic Pride lives.

Nowhere is the restoration of the greatest tradition in pro basketball being enjoyed more than in a farmhouse located just outside the small Western Kentucky town of Dixon.

.It's fun to see,. says Frank Ramsey of Boston's return to the NBA Finals for the first time in 21 years. .I've got a (satellite) dish and I've watched them all the way through the playoffs. They've had some really close games. But they've finally gotten back where they are supposed to be.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/419222.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/419222.html Fri, 30 May 2008 07:51 EDT
If NASCAR never sanctions a Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway, count me among those who think it has that right.

As I've noted before, if you and I open the best fast-food restaurant in Lexington, have the best food, the friendliest employees, the lowest prices, it doesn't mean that McDonald's is obligated to give us a franchise.

NASCAR, in my view, has the same right to choose where it does business.

I just wish the powers-that-be from Brian France on down would stop offering as reasons they don't want to bring the big leagues to Kentucky assertions that defy reality. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/414812.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/414812.html Sun, 25 May 2008 02:04 EDT
When I heard that the UK Athletics Association had installed Pratt in the new office that the University of Kentucky has opened in Louisville, my mind raced.

I envisioned a small submarine making its way up the Ohio River in the black of the night. Pratt emerging from the sub in a dark wet suit, making his way to a prearranged rendezvous point on River Road to meet the agent who would usher him to a safe house.

Could be that I watch too many James Bond films.

"We've got an office right on West Main Street," Pratt said Wednesday. "If you know where the Children's Museum is, we're right across from it."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/414205.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/414205.html Sat, 24 May 2008 06:12 EDT
The most desired of foods -- pizza, hamburgers, steak -- taste about as appealing as turpentine.

His hands swell. His face puffs. His skin turns drier than the Mojave.

Many are the days when a 33-year-old Lexington police officer -- hardly more than a decade removed from his days as a standout wide receiver at the University of Kentucky -- is so weak he doesn't feel like getting out of bed.

In dark moments, Sanford wonders if the cancer that conceivably could kill him is actually worse than the aftereffects from the chemotherapy designed to save his life.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/362746.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/362746.html Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:29 EDT
I was scrambling to leave the state high school basketball tournament to get back to the office when I ran into a familiar face behind Rupp Arena.

Bill Keightley's eyes were filled with tears.

His title may have been UK men's basketball equipment manager. His nickname may have been “Mr. Wildcat.”

What Bill Keightley really represented was the heart of University of Kentucky basketball.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/19572.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/19572.html Sat, 17 Mar 2007 08:13 EDT
They just wouldn't let the other team score.

So in this season of tumult and turmoil — with rumors swirling about the security of Smith's job — it was fitting that his Wildcats opened the NCAA Tournament by getting in touch with the grinding, stifling defense upon which their coach built his name.

When it counted last night, Kentucky shut down Villanova, holding the “other” Wildcats to only eight field goals in the second half.

The result was a 67-58 UK victory, which means two wildly significant things.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/373367.html http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/373367.html Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:18 EDT http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/352169.html http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/352169.html Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:07 EDT http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/333190.html http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/333190.html Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:20 EST http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/301198.html http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/301198.html Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:21 EST http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/301203.html http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/301203.html Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:21 EST http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/301205.html http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/301205.html Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:21 EST http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/312465.html http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/312465.html Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:10 EST http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/312459.html http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/312459.html Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:05 EST http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/301223.html http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/301223.html Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:21 EST http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/301225.html http://www.kentucky.com/760/story/301225.html Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:21 EST http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/494257.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/494257.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:46 EDT
Two years ago in the Herald-Leader College Football Preview, I picked Louisville to beat Kentucky by 32 points.

U of L won by 31.

Last season, I predicted Kentucky would upset U of L by four.

Six was the Cats' actual margin of victory. ]]>