Estelle Getty's Wednesday News & Views

Long before “Girls,” “Entourage,” “Friends,” and “Sex & the City,” there was another pow wow of pals that captivated TV audiences: The Golden Girls. Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia entered our homes in 1985 as four old women sharing a home in Miami, Florida. Who knew at the time that would turn out to be one of TV’s most beloved sitcoms? “The Golden Girls” ran for seven years before the season finale in 1992, and has lived on for another twenty years in syndication. You can’t turn on the TV around lunchtime without seeing Dorothy and Sophia squabble, Blanche flirt, or Rose making an airhead remark about where babies come from.

Everyone has their favorite Golden Girl. Many love Dorothy’s dry wit, Blanche’s Southern sassiness, or Rose’s naïveté. Me? Sarcastic Sophia all the way. Picture it: Danville, Kentucky, 1994. A ten-year-old Tyler sits down after swim practice to enjoy a bowl of Spaghetti-Os with the lineup of “The Golden Girls” and “Designing Women” in the background. Sophia taught me many things: the art of a well-played prank, the beauty of the perfect deadpan, and lessons from a life in Sicily. Estelle Getty brought the character of Sophia to life, and will go down as one of the funniest women to ever grace the silver screen. She won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her performance as Sophia, and displaying some of that Sophia spunk, released a workout video for senior citizens in 1993 (you may also remember her from the Sylvester Stallone classic Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot). Getty, a native New Yorker, passed in her home in 2008 three days shy of her 85th birthday. If you’re up on your octogenarians (paging SexnNursinHomes!), you’ll know that means she was actually younger than Bea Arthur and Betty White, who were portrayed as her slightly more youthful counterparts on the show.

On what would have been your 89th birthday, here’s to you Estelle. Thank you for being a friend.

News and Views?

— Joker Phillips headed to Bristol on Tuesday to take part in ESPN’s SEC “Car Wash,” which, fortunately, didn’t consist of the SEC football coaches washing cars in speedos, but instead a marathon session of interviews at the various shows on the network. The day included an online chat, in which Joker revealed little news about the upcoming season. Seriously, his answers may have been the most generic I’ve ever read. In summary: the football team was inspired by the basketball team’s teamwork, they want to build off the momentum of beating Tennessee, there’s a lot of young talent, and also a quarterback battle. My favorite question and answer? When asked if there were any new or exciting offensive schemes this season, Joker replied: “We’re developing an offense that allows us to put people in position to make plays for us. We’re developing an offense where once the kids start to make plays, they have confidence and therefore they develop into playmakers for us.” I know fall camp hasn’t even started and coachspeak is all the rage, but come on, that answer makes vanilla look exciting.

— Team USA beat Spain in their last pre-Olympic exhibition on Tuesday, and in four minutes of play, Anthony Davis was 0-1 from the field with one rebound and one monster block. After a slow start, the Americans put away Spain easily, and seem tuned and ready for their Olympic debut on Sunday against France.

— Although he didn’t play much against Spain, Anthony had a pretty good day, inking a three-year, $16.1 million deal with the Hornets. Bentley dealers of New Orleans, you are on alert!

— It wouldn’t be one of the slowest weeks of the offseason without some UofL talk. Today, the Cards announced a partnership with Maker’s Mark to build a new academic center adjacent to Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. The project will cost $8 million, with Maker’s Mark pitching in at least $500,000 and is another example of how far ahead of Kentucky Louisville is in athletic fundraising. While many are cracking open their commemorative Maker’s bottles in protest, it does raise the question of how Tom Jurich and the Cards are so successful in an area in which Mitch Barnhart and Kentucky seem to fail. As our whip-smart reporter Ryan Lemond discovered Tuesday morning, UK currently does not have a policy in place for corporate sponsorship of athletic buildings. The old school traditionalists among us may turn their noses up to corporate partnerships, but facts are facts: Kentucky’s facilities are far behind Louisville’s in terms of quality, and the easiest way to pay for the upgrades is putting a corporate name on them. With the Rupp Arena renovation up in the air due to funding battles between the city and the school, this could be something to consider.

— Looks like Coach Cal has a friend:

A coach grabbed me & said one of the best things I said after the NCAAs is don’t let them steal your joy. Don’t forget, because they’ll try.

— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) July 24, 2012

Guesses? Bobby Knight??

— Calipari, sensing our offseason ennui, also shared a fun little anecdote from the ESPYs on his Facebook page Tuesday. During the ESPYs, Cal left his seat to go backstage for a minute and when he returned, saw a woman sitting in his seat. Now, this being Cal’s first awards show, he didn’t realize this was a seat filler and had to ask someone who it was. Cal: he’s just like us! Kind of. Sort of. Not really.

— In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, 2014 backboard-shatterer Cliff Alexander opened up about his offer from Cal and the Cats:

“I talked to (Calipari) the day before the offer and he said he wanted to coach me,” Alexander said. “The next day I got a text from Coach Orlando (Antigua) that I have a scholarship offer. It is something I’ve been waiting for a long time.”

Although he refrains from naming favorites, it’s widely believed that Alexander’s top two are Kentucky and Michigan State.

— If you didn’t get a chance yet, be sure to scroll down and check out Josh Hopkins’ breakdown of the 2012-2013 Cats. It’s one of the first practice reports we’ve seen from someone other than CoachCal.com’s staff, and includes some genuinely awesome nuggets of info in true KSR style. Plus, it was written by Josh Hopkins.

— Don’t forget to send me your questions for this week’s #ksrmailbag. It’s been a fun feature so far, but the more new voices, the better. This isn’t the Mailbag of Jax Teller, after all. (Love you, Jax.)

— Finally, the world said goodbye to Sherman Hemsley, aka George Jefferson, on Tuesday. “The Jeffersons” was before my time, so I don’t feel I am qualified to write a worthy tribute, but instead, will leave it to the members of a better generation. Hope you’re enjoying that deluxe apartment in the sky, Sherman.