<em>Peanuts'</em> Tuesday News and Views

It's the most popular and influential comic strip in the history of drawing things, and on Tuesday, Peanuts turns 62 years old. The Charles M. Schulz creation began on October 2, 1950 and ran through February 13, 2000, continuing on since then in reruns. There have been 17,897 strips published, making it "the longest story ever told by one human being," according to Robert Thompson of Syracuse University. At its peak, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of 355 million in 75 countries, and was translated into 21 languages -- so says Wikipedia. With its timeless, lovable characters like Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus velt Pelt, Lucy, Woodstock, and Patty, Peanuts also found success on television and in film. A Charlie Brown Christmas was the first prime-time animated TV special based on the strip and it has aired every year since 1965. The special won an Emmy and a Peabody Award and is the most beloved holiday special of all-time. It's like the exact opposite of a Joel Pett cartoon. It makes people happy. So, when you're eating your Wheaties in the morning, take a second to read the Peanuts strip in Tuesday's newspaper and appreciate its ongoing success. 62 years is a long time for anything to stay relevant, especially a four-frame comic strip about a kid who can't kick a football. Happy Birthday, Charlie Brown.    There are good days for Kentucky football and then there are bad days. Monday was a horrible day. Joker Phillips announced after Monday's practice that his starting quarterback, Max Smith, is out indefinitely with a torn ligament in his ankle. The injury will require surgery and a return to the field in 2012 is unlikely. Here is what Joker had to say about his injured quarterback: "He's down, obviously.  He has worked his tail off to get in the position to be playing major college football, and he was a guy that wasn't signed until March after his senior year of football.  And obviously he's down, based on how hard he's worked.  Not only has he worked hard to be able to play, he's playing at a high level also, and then to have an injury in game three and not able to play game four, and then two plays into game five being injured.  You know, had he played game four, applying for a medical hardship would have been out, so I'm a little bit smarter than some of you guys think." If Smith is unable to go, he'll apply for a medical redshirt to try to salvage his sophomore season at UK.  With Smith out of the rotation indefinitely, UK will remove the redshirt from freshman quarterback Patrick Towles to provide a similar style to Smith's, alongside Jalen Whitlow. Whitlow will start against Mississippi State, but Joker could use both quarterbacks if he feels Towles is ready. "We'll have to play them both," Joker said of his two freshman quarterbacks.  "It's going to take an effort of both of them.  And it could be right in the middle of the series.  If it's not series to series, it could be play after play after play, switching them in and out, give them things that they both can do, give them a chance to go out and play and compete." Towles has only been a scout team quarterback up until this point, but he'll start taking reps with first and second teams on Tuesday. Joker said, "He had not been working with either the ones or the twos, but he's in the meetings every day.  He's a guy that pays attention in the meetings, and we'll see tomorrow exactly what he knows, how much he knows. But again, it's difficult when you hadn't gotten any reps, but we'll get him the reps this week to see, see how much he knows and see what he can do." Those fans who have been demanding to see the Kentucky native on the field are about to get their wish. I hope he doesn't disappoint.  Switching over to some potentially good news for #BBN, the Harrison twins will announce their decision on ESPNU at 5:00 pm on Thursday. The two best guards in the class of 2013 will choose between Kentucky, Maryland and SMU, although SMU doesn't stand a chance. Right now, it's believed to be a close race between the Cats and Terps. Evan Daniels of Scout.com said UK will jump to No. 1 in the class rankings if the twins choose Kentucky. KSR will even take it a step further and say Kentucky will win the national title in 2014. By 43.   2013 power forward Tyler Roberson will take an official visit to Kentucky on November 2.   2014 stars JaQuan Lyle and Cliff Alexander will attend Big Blue Madness on October 12.  We've received a lot of tips about the -14 point spread listed in Kentucky's favor on VegasInsider.com and other gambling websites and I can assure you it's wrong. Vegas doesn't have a line for Saturday's game yet and BeyondTheBets.com told me you can expect it to be somewhere in the -13 to -16.5 range in favor of Mississippi State whenever it's released. I would've been on the first flight to Nevada if the a book was taking Kentucky -14. Trust me.  In NBA news, Doron Lamb will miss training camp in Milwaukee after he suffered a torn ligament in his left elbow. The injury occurred while trying to defend a pick-and-roll in practice. Lamb said he hopes it heals on his own and won't need surgery.   That'll do it for now. Come back tomorrow when we post our one-on-one interviews with Ryan Harrow and Archie Goodwin. Go Cats.