Sexual Ninja takes on the Spring Football Game.....

Most of the Kentucky Sports Radio crew were unavoidably detained by Thunder over Louisville. Thus we got our good friend Sexual Ninja to cover this year's Spring Football game. Here is his report: Lexington: Konichiwa...this is the Ninja. I did a little walking for the heart this morning, followed by the Blue/White game. Despite the KSR "usuals" departing Lex-Vegas for Thunder, I managed to squeeze in a little time for our beloved Cay-ats (that would be Cats, with a Northeastern KY twang). First, there were a surprising number of tailgaters, yearning for ANY bit of gridiron info to tide them through the summer. We had a helicopter, a hot air balloon, and yours truly awaiting the latest edition of UK's football felines. Next, the biggest thing to notice (pre-game) was how upbeat all of the patrons were. Fans were mulling over $25 t-shirts, donning "Music City Bowl Champs" regalia, and generally basking in a postive football atmosphere (oh yeah, the PERFECT weather helped). Then came kickoff. Remember...spring game scoring is modified. Points for 3 & outs, first-downs, TD's, hand-jobs, etc.......Following are my takes on the action: ATTENTION: Andre Woodson cannot...I repeat, CANNOT get injured this season. Fidler & Hartline pass the look test, but they are in no way ready for the "big time." Heck, they're not even ready for the "mid-April afternoon time." Overall, I would give them a D...but Hartline showed more than Fidler (who tossed back-to-back jump balls into the secondary). The RB's, believed by most to be among the strongest units on the team, were surprisingly un-remarkable. Granted, they are ex-TREMEly shifty...but none of them committed to a hole and ran downhill. I would guess that the longest run was less than 20 yards...not too encouraging for a spring game. The O-line has received much attention this spring, due to their injuries. The unit put on the field today did not provide much time for anyone. We can only hope that this improves as they get healthy. The Defense appeared MUCH improved......however......I feel that the offense's struggles (timing, o-line issues, etc.) combined with the "D's" effectiveness (at this stage) widened the gap more than can be expected this fall. Now for the positive.... There were no (noticeable) long-snapping issues (even though the kicking - FG's & punting - sucked balls...so much for POSITIVE). Trevard Lindley looked FANTASTIC. He intercepted Woodson's first two long pass attempts (Woodson DID adjust to having marginal time to pass). Dicky Lyons, Jr. will never...NEVER... be outplayed for a ball. The secondary is A-C-T-I-V-E...(let's just hope Ashton Cobb - 2 dropped balls - can learn to catch). In closing, I was disappointed with the turnout of 5,000 people, especially given that UL had 20K+ at their scrimmage. Despite Thunder & Keeneland, we should do better. Given the above, I am EXTREMELY excited about next season. This will be a good season to be a CAT fan, and I look forward to celebrating wins (and stumbling onto Nicholasville Road trying to get people to log onto the blog). Peace...I'm out.