From the Top of Clinch, I Can See into the Mystic

“When that foghorn blows, I will be coming home
Yeah when the foghorn blows, I want to hear.
I don’t have to fear it and...
I want to rock your gypsy soul, just like way back in the days of ole.
And magnificently we will flow into the mystic”
--Van Morrison “Into the Mystic”

This great little ditty was playing as I began writing and I figured I would remind you guys of this nice laid-back tune. There is just something about this song that sort of sets me adrift. I don’t know why.

The Derby came and went once again without me cashing a ticket. I had a $60 tri part wheel picked (three horses on top, 5 in the middle, and 7 on the bottom) that would have paid about $220 if I had only bet it. A buddy of mine from work, Tom, talked me into going halfers on a $120 tri part wheel (5 horses on top, 5 in the middle, and 8 on the bottom). After we picked out the horses, I went and placed the bet. When I returned, I told Tom, “You realize that we left the early line favorite out of the entire trifecta.” He looked at me and shrugged, noting his discontent with my notion. “We’re going for the big bucks, here,” he chuckled. We parted our ways after the seventh race with the promise to call the other when the ticket hit. There was no call.

Beth did hit the trifecta with a $36 dollar tri part wheel. I was super excited for her. I really didn’t care that I didn’t win. It was great race. My final pick, Hard Spun, ran second after setting a driving pace the entire race until the stretch and still rode out strong. Street Sense had me awestruck has he pounded down the stretch, passing Hard Spun. He looked good. He looked real good. This horse is as real as Barbaro, Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex and the like. You might just see a Triple Crown winner this year. You may or may not have heard it here first.

I got down to Tennessee for a little bit this past week. The bad news is that I didn’t get to make the first cast. Not for lack of want to, it just didn’t fit into 899’s schedule. You have to ask him what his schedule was. I did play a round of golf at one of my favorite courses, Clinchview Golf Course. It is near Bean Station, Tennessee lying in a valley under the watchful eye of Old Man Clinch Mountain. Great views.

We also rolled in 18 holes at Millstone Country Club outside of Morristown, TN. This course was something else…not in a good way. For a Tuesday afternoon, the course was packed. So, the round was pretty much hurry-up-and-wait-golf for the entire 18 holes. There were as many hackers there as can be found at The Rock (Meadows) in Clay City. There was housing development going on in the area. This brought a parade of dump trucks hauling dirt in 30-minute cycles. There was a set of train tracks on the backside of the course with trains running around every 25 minutes. On the other side of the train tracks was an airport. This airport was fairly busy. There were smaller prop planes coming in around every 5-10 minutes. I’m not sure what all that was about. In between the “fores”, trains, planes and dump trucks, there wasn’t much golf to be found. Sounds like a country song if I ever heard one.

I let the cat out of the bag on my grilling skills down in Tennessee. Some of my uncles were accusing me of this trip being my first down there since I had never “Bobby Flay’d” before. Don’t worry. I didn’t let their applause get to me. “I’m the most humble person I know.” Who said that for a dollar?

This past weekend was one of the funnest weekends I have had since I don’t know how long and it included at Morehead State Graduation. How can that be? It involves the fam and cooking out on Da Pond. I am going to throw a few words out there for you: barbecued chicken, baked beans, potato salad, oriental cole slaw, candy apple salad, grilled shrimp, pineapple casserole. Get the picture? If you were there you know it. If you weren’t there, then, you just missed it. Nuff said. Except for congratulations to my little sister, L-Beezy.

I just heard that Pat Patterson had signed with UK. My jury is still out on that cat. I watched him play three games this year and I wasn’t overly impressed. He played pretty well, but for his size playing against smaller teams, he just wasn’t that good. If he is that good, don’t fall in love with him. Plus, West Virginia guys don’t hang around Rupp Arena too long—each seems to have a different reason.

Killer, a.k.a., DK, a.k.a. David Kyle will be dancing across the commencement stage Friday night in Jackson. I’ll be there to give him a hearty handshake and an absurd congrats card, of course. I have to run for now. More later, hopefully.

Ken Towery's, Sugar Camp... and a UK Win?

I went on Wednesday of last week to get my tires rotated at the same shop I had purchased them—free rotation, holla! Well, whenever these fine individuals put the wheels back on my ride, they cross-threaded one of the lugs on its stud. On Wednesday, when they were taking the wheel off to do the rotation, they couldn’t get the lug off and the stud finally broke. I happened to be watching when this occurred. I knew exactly what had happened. This was the exchange between the grease monkey and his supervisor:

Supervisor: “What’d ya do, break da stud?!?”
GM: “Whoever put these wheels on last cross-threaded the lug!"
Super: “It was us you idiot!"

They did not have the stud on hand to fix it. Another one of the grease monkeys said they had the part at Paul Miller Mazda just down the road. They said to come back on Saturday and they would fix it. I left there hellar pissed, because this had happened there before. Not their fault that time, but it was this time. So, I talked my buddy Douglas Fresh into following me over their Saturday morning to pick me up and we would go eat breakfast somewhere while they worked on it. Five minutes after we had sat down in Perkins, my phone rang. It was the store manager telling me they didn’t have the right stud from Mazda there to fix my car and they would have to order the part. PISSED. AGAIN. So, I guess I will see them this Saturday.

Dang! Can you believe UK won this week? Nice win. But, they are just playing with my emotions, I feel. They play Florida at the Swamp this weekend. Just put 24 points on the board and I’ll be happy.

Yeah, Joel, I made your ribs this weekend. They weren’t too shabby. I have problems with my grill, though. When I have my hickory chips smoke packet on the burner and my ribs on the top level overtop the smoke packet, the fat drips off the ribs onto the smoke packet and starts a fire. The flames tend to overcook the underside of the ribs producing a tougher underside of the meat. Due to this and the urging from Jonathan, I think sometime this fall I will buy a smoker. I have seen a few nice ones over at Lowe’s. Just think, beer can chickens, smoked pork loins, London broils, and ribs. Oh yeah, good as done.

I dropped the ribs on the grizzle to cook for my in-laws on Saturday. They came down so Dennis could drop Jo-Anne off so she and Beth could fly to Minneapolis. They made it to Minneapolis okay and are due back tomorrow afternoon. The Mall of America was their destination. Yeah, I don’t get it either. But, from updates, it appears they are having a great time and that’s what matters.

Dennis and I went to eat breakfast at Bob Evans. It was good just like it used to be. Me and my Freedom Toast (you like that…just like Freedom fries?). Dennis left around 10 a.m. to go back to W.Va. So, I got cleaned up and rolled to Jackson to play golf with Dad, a.k.a. Randall-El, at Sugar Camp. We had a really good time. We played a couple of scrambles with the natives. We even got in a $5 game of hold ‘em between the rounds. That David Kyle always calls anything I ever bet when we play a $5 game, maybe to show his dominance or poker prowess, win or lose. But, everytime I go all in, he always pancakes me. The hold ‘em spirits are against me I guess. That’s okay. I always crush him when we play “A Day At The Track Mode” on Road To The Breeder’s Cup on XBOX. Give me a shout. I’m out.

...And Down the Stretch He Comes!

I told you earlier and it has rang true. Bernardini gets my vote for horse of the year and the three-year old champion after Saturday’s romp in the Grade I Travers Stakes. His impressive 7 and ½ length victory has set it up like concrete for me. After setting the time at every fraction, Bernardini pulled away down the stretch with the kick of a closer, much like he has done in the three year old standings. This sets him up for a showdown with Lava Man, the best in the West.

Lava Man’s last win in the Pacific Classic proved he was the best out of the Sunshine State. The fabled match-up, with what will be one for the record books, has the excipients of legend. You have the older, proven horse in Lava Man and the untested, youngster Bernardini wishing to seal his fate as the horse of the year. This is something that I would not want to miss. It almost seems like a modern day Seabiscuit sequel. And I can’t wait.

Tiger did it again. He won the Bridgestone Invitational on the final day after four play-off holes with Stewart Cink. Four tournaments, four wins. On Mike and Mike in the Morning, Greenie and Golic brought up some nice Tiger-stats. Tiger has played in 198 tournaments since turning pro. He has won 52 tournaments since turning pro. The rest of the top five golfers in the world, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh, and Retief Goosen, have 52 total wins. Tiger has won half as much money as those four players combined. Nice.

And speaking of golf, I played yesterday with Dad, David, D. Kyle, Ance and Jimmy Lee over at Southwind in Winchester. Ance was my playing partner and for as much crap as I give Ance about his conversational stylings, it was quite a pleasant round. Sorry Ance. I had to give a dose in one aspect, though. I out-drove him with his own driver. He kept asking me to try it out, so I did. Three hundred and seventy yards later (ask Ance if you don’t believe me), we both concluded two things. One, the drive was the longest drive I had ever hit, and two; the smack was the longest drive we had ever seen in person. The result on the hole was disappointing, I three putted for a bogey. Good times, nonetheless.

On a sadder note, one of my good friends from college was on Comair Flight 5191 when it crashed Sunday morning at Lexington Bluegrass Airport. Erik “Frank” Harris was a great guy and always had a smile on his face. Even if you had just seen him an hour before, he was just as happy to talk to you the next time he would see you. His family and friends will surely, miss him. I would like to ask a favor of you, if you would, to please say a prayer for his loved ones. This one is for you, Frank!

On the lighter side, Happy Birthday, Alex Thomas! I hope you have as great a birthday as the law will allow in Knott County!!!

Hold That Tiger!

Now, that I have effectively brought to surface your inner feelings about Wal-Mart and its business model/ethics/misappropriations, I would like to have your input on your thoughts concerning the enigma that is Tiger Woods.

Eldrick T., as I affectionately call him, has his hands, once again, firmly of the reigns of domination in the world of professional golf. Many discounted the Era of Tiger after his failure to make the cut in the U.S. Open. Many said that now was the time of Phil Mickelson. But, Hefty Lefty (not to confused with Jared Lorenzen) has since proved his masterful craft of choking which leaves Tiger no choice but to accept the number one spot.

Tiger is still cramming the long ball along with a few other newcomers such as J.B. Holmes (U.K. alumni) and Bubba Watson. This is bringing on a whole new evolution to the game in playing style and courses. With all the new golf technology recently introduced (lighter, longer clubs and new ball compositions), players are ripping the covers off the ball just to get closer to the green. Usually with longer drives comes an increase in errant shots. These players are gouging out of the rough to reach the green, hence the name Bomb and Gouge golf. I have always played that way, but not by choice, merely circumstance. That and I roll like Uncle Ance.

"I don't pay for golf just to lay up."

The reaction of the PGA and golf course designers around the world is to increase the total yardage of courses to keep the scoring down and retain more players in contention. Even older, established courses are lengthening their holes to make it tougher on these guys. Is this the proper way to go? What about us amateurs? I wouldn’t have a chance on courses like these. I will confess that I don’t have a habit of playing championship courses, but in the event I ever do get that habit, I would like a chance and not have my aspirations torn to pieces by shotty play. What is the solution?

Enough golf talk, let’s get some updates in on the fun. This past weekend, Beth and I went to Louisville for a weekend with the Pedens. We took in some state fair action. We saw all kinds of neat displays. My particular favorite was the antiques and memorabilia. I saw the largest rabbit I had ever seen in the livestock area. It would make Chloe look like a kitten (and you know how big Chloe is). As for the state fare, I had a corndog, a ribeye sandwich, and a funnel cake. No, I didn’t eat all that at once. We were there from 10:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

After a brief rest at Paige and David’s, we went to Fourth Street Live for dinner. This was a very interesting place, which appeared to cater to the younger and more single crowd. It wasn’t necessarily my cup of tea, mostly because it wasn’t like my garage. We ate at the Red Star Tavern. I think I was the only one who enjoyed the food, but the service was horrid. We were there for close to two hours and I had one Bud Light when I sat down. About ten minutes later, I ordered a gin tonic. Forty-five minutes later, the gin tonic was served and five minutes later the food was served. Nice.

Sunday morning we went to Lynn’s Paradise Café for breakfast. I heard about this place while watching Throwdown with Bobby Flay on the food network. Fortunately, what I saw on TV was still on the menu. I really enjoyed it while the others did not. Figures.

I missed a few bets on Sunday for the Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs and the Pacific Million at Del Mar. No biggie, though. I am ready to nail them this weekend for the King's Bishop and Travers Stakes at Saratoga. The Bernardini express will be coming through! All aboard!!!

Paige and David, we had a great time hanging out with you this weekend and I am looking forward to our Gatlinburg trip. Later on.

P.S. I was intentionally trying to get you to discuss Wal-Mart when I wrote about country music. Just like sheep. Ha!

*No, I didn't get the idea to post about Tiger because the guy on The Sports Huddle did. Mine was out before his. JDA 8-22-06

Jess Tried To Call, But All He Got Was A Busy Signal

"I've seen your face a hundred times,
Everyday we've been apart
I don't care about the sunshine, yeah.
'Cause Mama, Mama, I'm coming home.
I'm coming home."
-O. Osbourne

And home I did go this past weekend. I started the visit off with a round of golf with Dad at Sugar Camp Golf Club. This course is a pleasant little surprise off the shoulder of Route 30 East in Noctor. I really enjoyed the course and look forward to the next time I get to play there. I didn’t play exceptionally well, but I managed to hit a few “golf shots”.

I saw a couple of friends from high school that I hadn’t seen in a while. They were the same as they were the last time I saw them. Dad and I were on the sixth green and I heard someone booming across the course, “Heeeyyyyy, Randaallllllll! Woooooooooo!” It was none other than Doug Moore. Classic. And yes, he was lit up like Christmas. Good times.

After the golf, Mom had dinner made and it was nothing less than off the chain. The menu consisted of fried chicken, potato salad, green beans, corn bread, and fried apples. Are you hungry now? After dinner, the cornhole boards were brought out and I proceeded to hand out the arse-whippings on Lost Creek. I don’t think I ever lost a game, but I think I lost a pint of blood to the mosquitoes.

From there, the shindig went to Jess’s garage. Jess, Neal, Mark and myself found us some sit-downs amid the car parts. The conversations are a blur, but I am sure they were full of insight and deep meaning. Mark punked out on us and ditched us for some chicks. Honestly, I can’t say that I would blame him. A single man hanging out with a bunch of hairy legs or single man hanging out with chicks? I guess there really wasn’t a decision to make.

On Saturday, my cousin Ryan and his fiancée, Amanda, were married at Riverside. It was a nice ceremony. Congratulations, you guys. Mom and Laura were crying all over us, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle and David Peden stayed solid, because that's his style. I saw a few family members and friends I hadn’t seen in a while. It was great to catch up with them. Being at Riverside brought back some great memories of my youth spent there on the campus at the “Light in the Hills” during the Fourth of July. Softball and foot races, you can’t beat them, unless, of course, you have a sno-cone.

Last weekend I got into Churchill Downs’ pocket. Beth, my buddy Sam, and I went to the track in the ‘Ville for the Stephen Foster Grade I Handicap. There were several good races on the card and I felt this was a day that I couldn’t have passed up. I cashed a couple of trifecta tickets and when all was said and done, I was up around $40. Not too shabby!

Beth is in Columbus on business this week until Wednesday. So, I guess, the cats and I will hold down Island Pond until her return. Maybe, I should hold down her car for her until she gets back. I’m sure she won’t mind. *Wink Wink*

“Hasta manana, amigos!”

DK Slayin' Em with the Magical Sewed-On Winky

After taking two days off of work at the beginning of the week, the weekend is already knocking on the door. And you are darn tootin’ I’m going to let it in. Memorial Day weekend means a three day weekend for me and that's allllllright! Maybe, I can hit up a few cookouts this weekend. You guys know how much I’m into cookouts.

The fishing trip was uneventful. It was your run-of-the-mill May fishing trip. There was a little bit of fitching, little bit of goofing, and a little bit of cold beerin’. Joel, how many beers did we drink? A couple a piece? Yeah, that’s about right. Joey Joe and I successfully managed to be the only two people at the Parkview Cabins other than the chronic golfers to not catch fish. But, it was not for lack of trying. We really gave it the old Island Pond try. One night I thought we were going to be eaten by a three-toed, green-eyed wook-a-lar. We heard it coming for us. We quietly reeled our lines in, ran up the bank, and hid in our cabin.

We even tried a little boat fishing. No soup. We threw our arms off with no results. Our catch to cast ratio wasn’t as high as Wild Will’s this time. We saw fish, but we just couldn’t catch them. I might take dynamite for bait next time.

The Preakness really made me sick to my stomach. I just knew Barbaro could be the right nag to win the Triple Crown. It was a really rough for me to see him break down in the opening eighth of the Pimlico dig. He was dying to run that race and had it not been for jockey Edgar Prado, Barbaro would have died running that race. Prado, being the veteran jockey, knew what was best for horse and handled the situation without a blink. I give a tip of my hat to Prado for his quick thinking.

Some good from the Preakness came in the form of an excellent coming out party for the Grade III Withers Stakes winner, Bernardini. I had this lightly raced horse in my “all horses starting with ‘B’” trifecta box. He looked really good coming down the stretch and won going away. I look for some good things to come out of this A.P. Indy colt this fall. You will probably see Bernardini in the 2007 Breeder’s Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.

I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend. If you go to Lost Creek, you will be there in time to get in on some fresh strawberries from the garden. Thanks for dinner and the fresh strawberries Tuesday afternoon, Mom. I’m off to Wing Zone tonight to try some new wings. It’s too bad I have to drive all the way across Lexington to cash in my *20 free wings certificate I won from the Chis Cross show on WLXG 1300 AM. Hasta luegos, chevatos!

*The question was, "Name two of the five female jockeys to ride a horse in the Kentucky Derby."

Anyone want to give it a try?

Yes the title of the post was very vague, but if you call me I will explain.