Go Baby Go!!!

Rain could not stop the tailgating fun we constructed over on Hospital Drive Saturday afternoon. We found a prime spot beside the hospital’s parking garage. We got out of our vehicles, started unloading the food, the chairs, and my cooler and it began to rain. I had brought my Columbia rain gear to wear along with a heavy-duty poncho for Beth to wear. Brandon and Dawn neglected to bring their full rain gear, so Dawn took off on a mission. After an hour, several phone calls, and approximately eight text messages later, Dawn returned. She had in the back seat of the Jeep a tent fit for tailgating kings. It took us about ten minutes to figure out how to assemble it and, WHAMMY, dry we were.

Central Michigan fans somehow found their way 800 plus miles to Lexington to tailgate right beside us. What were the chances? They were cool, though. They were definitely students and their trek to watch this game in the rain was quite admirable. I helped them park their vehicle and chuckled to myself as they tried to light their grill in the rain. All this while we grubbed out on our KFC, dryly, under our tent. I will tell you, tailgating takes some skill, some preparation, and some determination. We had all of the above. The CMU kids beside us had one of the above.

Gametime.

The rain had finally stopped. UK finally started. The Cats jumped on the board hard and early. The problem started when UK gabbed a two-touchdown lead. Mike Archer calls for his infamous Prevent D to keep the CMU Chippewa’s in the game. Did he think we wanted to see a close game? Did he want to put more pressure on the Cat’s offense? Did he think that we, in this big town of LexVegas, wouldn’t be able to find more excitement elsewhere? Who knows? I do know this guy needs to be canned. Kentucky gave up over 400 passing yards alone to the CMU back-up quarterback. I will run this by you one more time. The second string QB of a MAC school put up 400 passing yards on UK. Yeah. Now, who’s with me? The win seems a little bittersweet now, huh?

I don’t think that South Carolina’s defense this coming Saturday will be so nice as to let us score at will. Another thing, if we think that the CMU offense was tough, how about a Steve Spurrier offense that put up over 40 points against the Cats last year? Archer, you had better be adding a few more stunts to your defense…and more often.

I will be in attendance at this Saturday’s game. I hope I won’t be disappointed. I hope Rich Brooks learned something from the CMU game. I hope it doesn’t rain. The rain thing is the worst of my worries.

The family reunion is this weekend. It should be a great time. Good food and the family, a winning combination.

OH SNAP!!!

Opening Day for the fall meet at Keeneland is this Friday. Guess who will be there, once again. It will be none other than the horseplayer extraordinaire, JDeezy, and the Rhodes. Holla if ya hear me. You might as well take the day off, too. Come on. We’ll grab us a good spot over by the finish line and rake in some cash. Heck, maybe Jonathan can line us up some box seat tickets from his aunt. What do you say, Jonathon?

To get ready for Friday, Beth and I stopped by Keeneland on Sunday for their Open House for the new polytrack surface. They were offering fifty-cent hot dogs and quarter cokes. How could anyone pass that up? The surface was really weird to walk on. It was similar to carpet that had too much padding underneath. I picked some of it up so I could feel it. It was greasy and had the consistency of sand with a few fibers running through it.

“Good afternoon racing fans and welcome to another exciting afternoon of racing at Keeneland. We have ten races slated for today’s race card, with three races on the Haggin Turf Course and seven on the new all-weather main track. The turf course will be rated as firm and the main course will be rated as fast. Remember to hold all tickets until each race is official. Good luck and have a great afternoon of racing today here at Keeneland.”

Who you like today?