Megan Calipari's random midday notes

We wouldn't be doing our job to the fullest if we didn't wish Megan Calipari a happy birthday today.  Megan will turn somewhere between 16 and 25 and it's said that all she wants for her birthday is an 8th basketball championship, a football win over Tennesee, an easy bake oven and an afternoon post of various topics on Kentucky Sports Radio.  Well, Megan, I'll do my part in making sure your birthday is a happy one.  Here you go...  - One guy who has seen his fair share of birthdays got a little cranky in today's media gathering.  According to the always well-dressed Chip Cosby, Rich Brooks got very irritable when asked about his future as Kentucky's head coach.  Brooks equated himself initially to an Energizer Bunny, saying that he might have some batteries that needed to be recharged and that he would talk about it later, but really got fired up when someone else asked him again later.  He emphasized that his team needs no distractions heading into this weekend's matchup with Tennessee and was sure to point out he has three years left on his contract.   - And speaking of coaching changes....The talk of Notre Dame's potential job opening continues to dominate a lot of college football conversation and, with Urban Meyer's dismissal of interest, it's sure to kick up in the coming weeks.  Outside of the likely interest the Irish will have in Steve Ortmayer for their head job, it won't concern UK much.  But, in Dan Wetzel's piece about the Notre Dame job today, he draws an interesting comparision between the Irish's search and UK's search for Guy Morriss' replacement.  He encourages them to aim high with Bill Belichick as Kentucky did when they tried to hire Bill Parcells - a scenario that Wetzel had legitimate interest from The Tuna's side.  The message boards don't lie!!!  - Another interesting non-UK (at the moment) related story is the new public relations blitz brought on by the BCS, who hired former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer today.  The hiring of Fleischer follows this week's announcement of the BCS Twitter account, which has already turned into a constant stream of defensive tweets.  Today's defense of the BCS:  The Chargers made the NFL Playoffs with an 8-8 record last year while the Patriots (11-5) and the Jets (9-7) didn't.  Wow!  Like apples to apples!  - On the basketball side, Kentucky is already making its presence felt on the award side of things.  John Wall and Patrick Patterson both brought home Player of the Week awards, Patterson as the SEC Player of the Week and Wall as both the SEC Freshman of the Week and ESPN.com's National Freshman of the Week.  I have a feeling both will continue to factor into the weekly awards.  - On the team side of things, the Cats remained at #5 in the AP Poll, getting leap-frogged by previous #6 Villanova, who replaced North Carolina in the #4 spot.  The Tar Heels fell to #11.  Tennessee moved up a spot to #10 and Vandy joined the ranks at #24.  The biggest jump, though, belonged to Syracuse who, after not being in the last Top 25, now finds themselves at #10.  If they are truly the tenth best team in the country, their loss to LeMoyne again proves what a great game college basketball is.  --- Here is Patrick Patterson talking about the gym in Cancun:  - Scout.com's Dave Telep reports that Turkish big man Enes Kanter has committed to Washington.  Kanter, who transferred to play his high school ball somewhat close by at Mountain State Academy in West Virginia, had been mentioned some as a potential UK big man target late in the summer.  Now, it appears he's off the board and ready to fulfill his duty as the random foreign white guy from The Sixth Man.  - This has no bearing on anything whatsoever, but I think it should be noted that Michigan State freshman center Derrick Nix is now 1-16 from the free throw line.  He was not a UK target and will likely not be a UK opponent this year.  Just a little note to grow your sports mind.  - And, just in case you missed it earlier, the KSR Podcast #4 is loaded onto iTunes and ready to stimulate your ears and your mind.  Matt and Hubby are joined by Drew Franklin, Will Lentz and Woo and they talk UK football and basketball, as well as the tourist hotspot of Beaumont, Texas.  Take a listen below. [podcast]/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/ksr_podcast_4.mp3[/podcast] KSR Podcast #4