National Positive Thinking Day's Tuesday Morning Wakeup

Positive Thinking Day couldn't have come at a better time this year, considering our passion for football is currently flooded with negativity. One could argue that the Kentucky football program is at its lowest point in history following two horrendous performances to lead off the fourth year of Mark Stoops' tenure, but that's out of sight, out of mind, today. Because it's Positive Thinking Day. So let's celebrate. Here's how we're encouraged to do that:

• Start the day positively by saying “Today is going to be a good day!” This will set the tone for the day ahead of you.
• Say some affirmations. These are positive sentences about you or your circumstances that can give you boldness, confidence and self-esteem.
• Hang around with positive people.
• Show gratitude for the simple things in life.
• Read or watch positive, motivational books and movies.
• Be kind to someone today.
• Finally, the best thing you can do for yourself and others, today and everyday is to simply smile.

That seems easy enough, right? I can do all of those before lunch. I encourage you to do the same because this national holiday wasn't created by some guy 13 years ago to be ignored. Be positive! The Cats are going to a bowl game win Saturday!   Stoops to be more involved with his defense. Mark Stoops had a lot to say on Monday at his press conference and on his weekly call-in show, and the newsiest comment he made was that he plans to get more involved with the defense. He did not elaborate on how he would get more involved, but he did tell Tom Leach he'll have a more active role with Coach Eliot and the D. This probably should've happened a long time ago. Eliot is his boy, but his boy hasn't been carrying his load. Many believe he should already be gone and you can go ahead and include me in the group with that belief. It'll be interesting to see how involved Stoops gets, or if this is just post-Florida talk. "This is not a job. This is my life." As Monday's press conference came to an end, Alan Cutler asked Stoops how he is doing personally. Stoops responded, “I'm not happy. How can you be? This is not a job. This is my life. But I can promise you we're gonna get back to work. I can't wait to get back on that field today. That's for sure.” The Cats will go back to the fundamentals this week. "First thing that’s important is just fundamentally play better football," Stoops said. "I think we’ve got to simplify things on both sides of the ball to make sure we can execute it and we need to play with that passion and energy that our fans want to see. We saw that. We need to be able to do it for 60 minutes and we will do that. We played very good football the last time we were here for a half and we’re going to do that for 60 minutes." He then said, "I believe in these players and I hope the fans do as well. It’s a long season and we will get better in certain phases. There’s no doubt about that.” South Carolina game set for 7:30 pm kickoff. The Southeastern Conference released its tee times for the September 24 slate of games and Kentucky finds itself in a night contest with South Carolina. The Cats and Gamecocks will kick off at 7:30 pm under Commonwealth's lights in Lexington and on the SEC Network. Pre-New Mexico State depth chart released. Kentucky released it pre-New Mexico State depth chart on Monday and there were a number of newsworthy additions and subtractions from the rotation. On the offensive line, Cole Mosier, who suffered what appeared to be a serious injury at Florida, is still listed as starter at left tackle, while George Asafo-Adjei is back after missing the trip to Gainesville with an injury. Then on defense, Kobie Walker's name disappeared from the two-deep, while Kendall Randolph took over the starting nickelback spot and Jordan Bonner replaced Walker at backup strongside linebacker. We also saw Benny Snell, Kayaune Ross and Blake Bone's names listed as backups at their positions for the first time this season. You can see the entire depth chart here. If you think being a Kentucky football fan is hard, try loving the Tennessee Titans just as much. It was a long weekend for this guy with the Florida debacle and then the Titans playing a good first half followed by a terrible second half (a la UK in Week 1). Unfortunately there are many more long weekends to come this football season. Forever rebuilding. John Calipari visited Hamidou Diallo on Monday. Coach Cal's cross-country recruiting tour continued on Monday with a stop at Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut to see Hamidou Diallo, one of the nation's top shooting guards. It was Diallo's second time meeting with the Kentucky staff since the recruiting period began last Friday; UK assistant Tony Barbee made him a priority that morning.   I'm looking forward to writing a bunch of words on the internet for you today. Let's do this.