The Sun is Gone, But I Have A Light

Maybe, I have mowed my grass for the last time. It has been a week or so since I mowed my lawn and still, I can see my mowing lines. I am somewhat saddened by this because it means the end of my summer. My summer is the time period from the middle of April until the end of October where the weather is conducive to wearing shorts. In essence, you can also call this the grass-mowing season. The leaves are turning colors and are beginning to scatter themselves across my yard. Scattered nothing like the blanket of leaves that fell in front of Mom and Dad’s house every year. There are just enough leaves to slightly color my yard. Yes, you could rake them up and jump in them, but don’t expect any cushion.

This time of year renews an excitement in me that has been dormant for almost eight months now. The excitement I can feel growing each day as I read the sports page. Yep, you guessed it--University of Kentucky basketball. This is pretty much the lone reason I make it through the cold winter months without going insane, or clinically insane, I should say. The Cats do tend to get me off kilter from time to time, but that is just a figure of speech—part of the fun. Yeah…right. Another season brings another round of high hopes and aspirations for a group of guys who really didn’t realize what they have gotten themselves into by signing letters of intent to play for UK.

I have been found guilty and I will point my finger at each one of you and say that you too have been guilty of the infraction of placing unrealistic expectations on the Wildcats. I have been labeled as a Tubby Basher. It is true and I will not deny it. My aim is for atonement. This year I pledge, and this could be a New Year’s Resolution type thing, to not ask for anyone’s termination from any coaching position. Critiquing their decisions will not be on display by myself, but this will not mean that I will agree with their decisions. I admit they know more about the game than I do. Those in charge have been students of this game far longer than I have. One can arguably say that Kentucky has been competitive in the past three years. They have not achieved the ultimate goal in NCAA basketball year in and year out, but that would be unrealistic.

I plan to do something about my expectations. Not necessarily lower them, but I will redefine them as to what is rational and realistic. Let’s see what I can find acceptable by the conservative Wildcats fan.

I hope Tubby’s crew is at least competitive in each game they play. I don’t think it would be unheard of to be able to leave Rupp Arena halfway through the second half of an exhibition game because we were blowing a poor NAIA or NCAA Division II school out of the Bluegrass. Let’s not have any more games like the Georgetown College game last November where it wasn’t apparent we would win until three minutes left in the game. I hope the Cats are in peak physical condition when the regular season starts. This would be slightly uncommon for a Tubby Smith team, but I have faith that this past year has inspired something in the regime to try something different. This year I aspire for the Cats to either finish second in the SEC East Division and possibly finish runner-up in the SEC Tournament. To make it to the semi-final round of the SEC Tournament this year would not be a bad thing. I predict the SEC conference will the best conference in college basketball this season. I think it is not outlandish for UK to have at least twenty-two wins this season. I also think the Cats should make it past the second round of the NCAA Tournament come this March.

These are my hopes of this season to come. Some may say, “Jdeezy, don’t you think those goals are a little lax?”

Answer: “Given the track record of this basketball team’s administration combined with the University of Kentucky’s leadership as a whole, divided by the current trend of diluted talent in NCAA Division I basketball, I would say no.”

In the end, I will remind you that I pay to go to Kentucky’s basketball games. Therefore, I reserve the right to run my trap in a negative manner about any and all circumstance(s) that is or are surrounding the team. Let’s just see how long I can stick to my resolve.

I will leave you with a final statistic that was brought to my attention this week by a co-worker. Last season, Orlando “Tubby” Smith’s Wildcats earned the worst record in SEC play in 16 years. Sixteen years ago was Rick Pitino’s first year as head coach at UK(1989-90). That season the team went 14 and 14 overall. After that, Pitino never lost more than seven games in an entire season.

I bite my lip.

Sun King and TL's

“Rock and roll, rock and roll! I’m the king of rock and roll”
-Daniel Lioneye

That’s right. You heard me. Not original? True. Bam Margera is such a douche bag, but he does have one of the best intro songs ever on Viva La Bam. Dude, what a time it has been for the past couple of weeks. This time is flying by. I think it will be the month of May in 10 days? Ridiculous.

Where to begin?

Yard work. I had to do some backbreaking work on Thursday of last week. An area of ground 10 feet by 5 feet on one side of our house had subsided next to the foundation. I had to cut the sod up to preserve the grass, fill in the subsidence with a truckload of dirt, thanks to my neighbor Don, and finally, replace the sod. Fortunately, my partner in crime, the master of jurisprudence, Brandon, helped me out with the labor. This dropped the task hours from 5 hours solo, to 3 hours. BP, I owe you some cold beers.

Keeneland. Yes, this time I did better. I bet a total of $81 and won $109 and change. And no booze was involved in the earning of cash. Matter of fact, I haven’t drank any cold beer at Keeneland since last spring. It, obviously, clouds my judgment when handicapping the ponies. Anyway, a little trifecta and a huge exacta hit for me in seventh and eighth races (check the results for April 15th). God bless Sun King—the little Zito horse that could, then couldn’t, then could, again.

Easter. The Day of Resurrection was great at Mom and Dad’s. I grilled burgers, BBQ chicken, and smokies. Mom made the fixin’s. The grilled items were okay, but the weather was par and the company was nice. It was great day…..to be forgiven.

New Car Day. Whhhhaaaaaaaaaat? Yes, you heard me correctly, New Car Day. Somebody I live with, without naming names, bought a new car on Wednesday. You-know-who bought a 2006 Acura TL. Let’s just say this is one sexy hot rod. It’s black with black leather interior and navigation. I will finally get to rest Peanut’s heals a little.

Winding down, now. Yeah, I’m going back to Keeneland this Saturday. What? I have to go and cash my tickets. And make a few bets on the Lexington Coolmore Stakes. The in-laws are coming to Lexington this weekend. It should be a cool time.

Keeneland Tip #253: If you ever see Garret Gomez riding at Keeneland, you should at least put $20 to place on the horse he is riding.

Busy As a Biz-zee, Part II

I have become one of those. As of Tuesday, when my phone rings, I hear “Looks That Kill” by Motley Crue. It sounds pretty good, if you are into the whole Crue-Nation thing. Dang Beth! It’s all her fault. But if you see me rocking while holding a cell phone, you’ll know why.

This past weekend was a very busy time and we also got a lot accomplished. I test-drove a 2007 Toyota Camry and test-rode an Avalon. We went to the home and garden show at Heritage Hall. We scheduled an estimate for a sunroom to be built on the back of our house. I mowed my grass for the first time this year. It definitely looks better.

Beth and I got to work on the flowerbed in the front of our house. The first few years in our house, the flowerbed was self-maintaining. This year it had finally gotten out of hand. We pulled and dug out the weeds and old mulch. We laid down new mulch and planted a few new flowers (marigolds and gladiolas). Shame on me for letting a honeysuckle bush get waist-high before doing anything about it. For those not familiar, the roots are twice as massive as what you see above ground. I also planted a yellow poplar in the backyard. I hope it grows pretty fast.

Keeneland’s Opening Day is tomorrow and guess who’ll be there! No, me, you silly bird! Beth’s friend Jennifer is coming to stay with us this weekend so she will make the Keeneland trip. And I’m sure a few other friends from work will be there, as well. I hope we won’t get wet. The forecast isn’t the greatest, but it will be warm. Tolly Ho, beetches!

Chase, sorry we couldn’t make it over to the Lou to see you guys. I got a little busy. That’s what I get for putting stuff off. Lesson learned. Joel, from what I saw a couple of weekends ago in Frankfort, you can still ball. You are the Ice Man (teeth chomp!).