Lee Majors' Monday News and Views

When I was trying to determine which famous individual's birthday I would spotlight today, I found it to be a fairly difficult choice. For you see April 23rd has given us many of supreme talent. I considered William Shakespeare, only arguably the finest writer in the history of the English language. I considered Vladimir Nabokov, producer of the famous novel "Lolita", and literature professor of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And I even considered Roy Orbison, whose smooth sounds while singing "Pretty Woman" were only overshadowed by his later work as a member of the great Traveling Wilburies. With all of this talent, picking who to spotlight was not only difficult....it was trying on my soul. But then I realized that today was also the birthday of fellow Middlesboro, Kentucky native Lee Majors, and well....the choice was made. Lee Majors, better known to you as the Six Million Dollar Man or the Fall Guy, is likely the most famous individual produced by the greatest Meteor crater in Appalachia. Growing up as a proud Yellow Jacket, we learned of the greatness of Lee Majors through his songs ("I'm Just an Average Stuntman...."), his women (oh yes, a pre-crazy Farrah Fawcett) and his television work (Fall Guy was my favorite). But he was also a living legend the day he arrived in our fair city to christen Bradner football Stadium with the name "Lee Majors Field." It was a glorious day in Middlesboro as Majors showed up, waved to the crowd and gave a slightly too long kiss to the Homecoming Queen to the loud ovation of his adoring public. Majors has laid slightly low since those days and it is unclear what he is up to at this point. But he is a fellow man from the Boro and thus we use this day to salute him. At its core, Majors knows the eternal truth.....Kentucky will always be better than Tennessee, and the Jackets, Jackets will almighty work all day and all nighty gonna beat Corbin....oh yeah. Great time at Thunder over Louisville.....full house there including the Turkey Hunter, Hubby, Quigs and the great Johnny Bruce. It was a great time and we saw more mullets and tattoos than one can ever hope to dream of seeing. Thanks to the folks who said hello, and sorry we missed the Spring Game....although it looks like everyone except about 5,000 of you did as well. Onto the news..... (1) The end is drawing near for the long recruiting saga of the biggest little man in Texas, Jai Lucas. Lucas is scheduled to make his college intentions known on Friday. He will be joining the Sports Mob on Wednesday before his fateful decision. He told me this weekend that he planned on spending a "lot of time" talking to his dad on Monday and then coming to a decision by the end of the week. At this point, everyone assumes that it will either be Kentucky or Florida and one of the SEC schools will take him in the end. Whatever decision Lucas makes will not only effect the school he goes to, but will lend insight into the Patterson drama. If he picks Florida, then I will bet a hefty amount that Patrick's thunder will be stolen and Gainesville will be his destination. If he picks Kentucky, then I think the main three are still in play for Pat. If I am a Duke or Ky fan, I am pulling for the Cats to get Jai....a trip to Florida suggests to me that Jai knows where Pat is headed, and wants to be there as well. (2) Another weekend winner was Arkansas power forward Michael Sanchez, who had a great performance in Pittsburgh, scoring 25 points and 15 rebounds at an AAU event there. Sanchez's importance to Billy Clyde could be seen by his decision to skip the more known Houston AAU event for the beginning of the weekend to spend his time in Pittsburgh courting the big man that he sees as an important part of his Kentucky future. Billy Clyde is heading to the Razorback state this week and wants to help push Sanchez to the Blue and White soon. Sanchez's father told me that he wants to make a decision by the end of the week or early next week....he also plans to be on the Sports Mob towards the latter half of the week. (3) With a paparazzi-like following, Alex Legion had what must be considered a very successful visit this weekend. He spent time on campus, went to Keeneland and if you believe the reports, enjoyed Sal's Steakhouse a great deal. Alex still plans on taking other visits, although he has narrowed his list according to the Cats Pause. I have spoken with no one who does not believe that Kentucky is in the driver's seat on this and there is some speculation (which I cannot confirm) that he may have even given Kentucky assurances that he is coming. But he is still saying he is going to visit other places....which tells me that it isnt done. We hope to have Legion on the show on Tuesday. (4) Coach "Sip", Glenn Cyprien, the new assistant for UK is already making waves, becoming UK's major presence at the Kingwood Classic in Houston. We found out this weekend that Sip's wife is apparently good friends with Jai Lucas's mother (which for UK is nice) and that he continues to cultivate the Willie Warren/GJ Vilarino/Shawn Williams Houston trio that could be in Kentucky's future. Cyprien, assistant Jeremy Cox and Billy Clyde make up what one national recruiting analyst told me is "one of the best recruiting staffs that UK could have formulated when Tubby left." Music to fans' ears. (5) Finally, we have spoken a lot on our radio show about the recruitment of Darius Miller. It is looking like that in addition to home state Kentucky, Donovan loving Florida, Chris Lofton home Tennessee and yearly power Duke, Louisville is recruiting Miller hard. I continue to maintain that there is NO CHANCE that the Cards can take Miller in this battle. Now admittedly, that doesnt come from Darius himself, but from a look at recruiting. Here you have two of the three best recruiting schools in America (Duke and Fla), the home of Lofton and the home state school.....and the Cards think they can compete with that? This led me to ask, when has a player from the state of Kentucky, but not from Louisville, picked the Cards over Kentucky when both teams have recruited them. On the show we got one answer.....Butch Beard. However that battle was before UK was fully intergrated and may be a somewhat different circumstance. Anyone know of another? Finally, give it up for Billy Clyde....after his time in Pittsburgh, he went to Houston today where he watched the Texas group, including Warren. And while in Houston, it wouldnt be a stretch to assume he may have said hello to Jai once again. Big week ahead....we will find out about Lucas, maybe Sanchez, Jai, Michael and Legion on the show and hopefully other big gets. Lots happening on here we hope, so stay tuned.....