Man in America Jacket Wants Some Thursday Thoughts

photo by Michael Huang The man photo bombing the picture above was one of the unsung heroes of the game last night. He sat behind the bench, got lots of camera time and was saluting #Murica at every opportunity. While I generally am against any attempt to wear something but Blue or White into Rupp Arena, in this case I will let him go. The flag still stands for freedom and you can't take that away. A few notes... --- The story of that game last night for me was Ryan Harrow. I will freely admit that I had completely given up on Ryan being an effective leader for this team. The last two games saw 39 minutes and a combined 0 points and 0 rebounds and for the second time this year, I was ready to assume his UK career was on its last legs. But Harrow came out an played aggressively, taking the ball to the basket, distributing and even hitting the glass. I was impressed with the way he mentally was in the game, not taking any plays offs and talking with his teammates on the floor. As with everything on this team, it is hard to say what it will mean past this game, but for this game, it was quite impressive. --- Were is not for Uncle Julius, I am not sure what this team would do. Once again, he hit a huge shot last night, draining a three that not only won the game, but kept the season going as well. Calipari said it best after the game when he said that Uncle Julius gets every last ounce out of his body on the court and it shows. He rarely makes a bad decision and his importance to the team can be seen in his playing time, as John Calipari played him for 39 minutes last night. He isn't the most talented player on the team, but he gives you the intangibles that give a team a chance to win. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Calipari utilize the "5th year" option with more players like Uncle Julius, as he has made a big imprint on the Cats this year. --- Ryan Lemond could not stop talking about Josh Harrellson's girlfriend today on the radio show. I didn't see her, but with Lemond going all Brent Musberger this morning, we must all give a salute to Jorts (who if he keeps wearing Louis Vuitton, we will have to give a new nickname). --- When you see the young man above, you probably think, "well that looks like a young fella who would only be up to good things." Unfortunately folks, you are incorrect. The young man above was arrested in Louisville for breaking into a fire station and masturbating on the fire suits. No motive for the crime was given, but he was allegedly intoxicated (I would even take out the allegedly) and told police that he did it because "I wanted to." It seems like when Kentucky makes the national news, it is always for the best reasons. --- A big congratulations to the UK Athletic Department, University and Football program for the signing into law of the funding bill for campus renovations. This has been an ongoing decade-long project that finally saw overwhelming approval by the powers that be in the Kentucky legislature. Just two years after the bill couldn't even get to the floor for a vote, it passed 97-1 in the House and 36-1 in the Senate. $110 million in football renovations, work on a new Science building and expansion of the Business and Economics building all begin shortly as the campus gets the opportunity to have much needed revitalization. This was a project with a lot of work that went behind it and Athletics was a huge part of getting it done. The folks around UK should be happy, as should the long-suffering UK football fans. Finally, I end with an even better picture of a young Oscar Combs and Bobby Kennedy during his Poverty Tour in 1968. Combs was a 27 year old Hazard Herald Editor and he was getting the scoop, just as he does now. A great picture and one I will keep for some time: