"Life After People's" Tuesday News and Views

The worst thing about doing this new television show is that it has severely cut down my ability to watch television. After going to work, eating dinner, watching mindless sporting events and heading to the tv studio, there is little to no time to watch all that television has to offer. So I used this weekend to go through my DVR and catch up on the shows I have missed. Immediately I realized that "Life After People" is the best show on television right now. Currently on the History Channel, "Life After People" details....well, what life will be like after people, specifically the changes to Earth if people were to tomorrow be wiped out. The show illustrates the ways in which nature will adapt, what animals will win out in the new world and how human creations will fare in the new habitat (here is a spoiler, not well). What has been equally interesting to me are the various tidbits of knowledge I have gained from the show such as the existence of the "Immortality Drive" (the creation by a web game designer of a disc that contained the human DNA sequence of around 40 people, including Steven Hawking, Stephen Colbert, a Playboy playmate and a pro wrestler, that was put on the International Space Station in order to preserve human DNA for future life forms....according to the show, it will fail when the Space Station crashes ten years after humans die off) and "Hashima Island" (an island off the coast of Japan which used to be used as a coal mining town and had a 10,000 person population and a mini-city on top of it...it was deserted 35 years ago and has been left untouched and its buildings showcase what would happen to all buildings if deserted in such a way). I became engrossed by the show and along with other intellectual fare such as "The Hills", "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" and "That Metal Show", it became a staple of my weekend. Check it out if you can. To the news.... (1): For a day in which little was expected, last Saturday provided a lot of news. There was the minor bump of Twitter-gate, which more than anything else, highlighted the fact that we will soon hear about the departure of some of the UK basketball roster. Through a report by Andy Katz, it was leaked that three players will soon be leaivng the UK squad. The description of the three players included that one was on a one-year scholarship (Donald Williams), one had a year of eligibility but has graduated (likely Jared Carter) and the other was simply no longer going to be on the team (AJ Stewart). If we assume that these are the three names, and I am sure about Stewart and Williams and Carter is the only person who fits the other criteria, then the roster would look like this: 6 Newcomers: Wall Cousins Dodson Hood Orton Bledsoe 2 Stars: Patterson Miller 2 Four-Year Seniors: Harris Stevenson Those are ten guys that everyone assumes are locks. That leaves these players: Galloway Pilgrim Harrellson Liggins Now that is 14 players for 13 scholarships. If Jodie Meeks returns, then we have 15 players for 13 scholarships. What to do? Well according to my source at UK, there will be no more announcements of player departures until (a) Jodie Meeks makes his decision and (b) all incoming players qualify. UK expects all players to qualify, but there is at least enough uncertainty about one (no name has been mentioned, but my guess is Bledsoe) that they are not going to create a spot just yet. Bottom line: If Meeks returns, one more will leave...if all players qualify, another will leave, which means that there will likely be 1 or 2 more spots opening up. I am told that it is at that time that the tough decisions will be made and that we may or may not be surprised at the result. At the time of his hiring, Calipari promised that the four year Seniors could come back if they wished, and from a roster standpoint it makes sense. With all of these guys besides Patterson, Meeks and Miller likely to be recruited over with better players, why would you not want to keep the guys with the fewest years remaining? Josh Harrellson has said via Facebook that he is DEFINITELY coming back. If that is true, that would mean that between Galloway, Liggins and Pilgrim, the remaining two spots would be opened up. We shall see if it is necessary, and if an opening needs to be made, who will remain. (2): The other big news of course was the sad story about Jeremy Jarmon. I watched the press conference and felt genuinely bad for the guy, as Jarmon is one of the nicest players you will meet and is not someone you would expect to be part of any trouble whatsoever. I hope that players use this as a lesson and keep from situations like this happening again. I know that a lot of fans are hoping that the NCAA will change its mind, but I find it highly unlikely. If the rules are to mean anything, they have to be enforced with this strict policy....guys will always be able to say they "didnt know what they were taking" (although in this case I think it is certainly true), and there really is no way to make this policy have teeth unless you have harsh penalties. The unfortunate thing for Jarmon is that he has already used his redshirt year, so this ends his career. We will follow Jeremy and hope to have more news on him in the very near future. I am in Bell County on Tuesday but we hope to be able to announce an initiative on Wednesday that I truly hope the fans get behind. Plus our live blog with Miss Kentucky USA Maria Montgomery is Wednesday at 2 pm. Should be a good week around here, so stay tuned....