T.G.I.F

I used to love me some TGIF on friday nights.  It was comforting to know that every friday night would consist of Taco Bell, Steve Urkel, and four hours of uninterupted tv bliss (except when that dinosaurs show was on.)  Today, TGIF means 48 hours of bliss interupted only by the dread of another work week.  So while I prepare to go enjoy my weekend watching some future wildcats play (my 9 year old cousin's basketball league), here are a few Friday tidbits.   Calipari doesn't care about you, Larry Will Graves has written an AP piece about Calipari and his year at Kentucky. The first page is pretty fluffy, nothing controversial, and includes some nice quotes about the man from Jay Bilas, Larry Brown, and some random other boosters. Turn to page 2, however, and you'll find an appearance by none other than the Heavy Hitter himself, Darryl Isaacs. Oh and I love this quote from Cal's former boss, Larry Brown:

"I could be in the middle of an eight-game losing streak and he won't ever ask me how we're doing," said Brown, who coaches the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats. "It's all about (him). I always have to remind John, 'You know, John, we just lost our eighth straight.' He's always so wrapped up."

  "Any fool can make a rule and any fool will mind it." The NCAA's legislative commitee (of which our own Mitch Barnhart is a member) has recently added new rules to the more than 49 pages in their handbook dedicated to recruiting practices. Some of the new ones: 1. Disallows schools from hiring anyone associated with a recruit for two years before or after he/she enrolls- Rumbaugh/Jones touched on this one earlier. Reasonable to me, although "anyone associated with a recruit" is sure to bring out the infamous "Gray Area" we always hear about in recruiting. To me it seems like it will affect family members being hired more so than the much more common practice of hiring AAU coaches, etc. 2. Text Messaging a recruit is against the rules but you can now E-mail color attachments but only if it they aren't pertaining to recruiting- Good to know that now Calipari can forward all those funny animal slideshows and chain letters he gets to potential targets. To me, that makes him unstoppable recruiting-wise. 3. Coaches can't exit out of the same door that a recruit exits through at Las Vegas summer league games- I'm not even commenting on this one. But wait, I am. Forty-nine pages of rules and you expect a coach to remember not to use the same door as a player to leave a building? I can just see Bruce Pearl hiding in a trash can waiting for Cal to screw up this one. 4. A coach can attend a recruit's family member's funeral, but can't do any recruiting there- Why do I feel like next year we'll see rules on weddings and Bar Mitzvahs too. I can see some of the vultures using this to their advantage, although if its legit I like that we're allowing potential mentors to actually provide support.   And BTI is Brad Pitt with personality... Apparently Mike DeCourcey has been reading him some Matt Jones, because he names John Wall as his player of the year mid-way through the season. Bledsoe also gets some love in the piece, being described as the most surprising player thus far. But then I made the unfortunate decision to skip to the comments section, an alternate universe where apparently "Evan Turner is John Wall with height".   And just because its Friday and a reader sent it to me: