Tim Laker's Friday News and Views

Do you know who Tim Laker is? Neither do I and like so many of the other names that were on the George Mitchell report today, Laker's relative unimportance makes me wonder what all the fuss was about. Sure they mentioned Bonds and Clemens, but if you didnt have your head in the sand, you already knew those guys were likely not clean. The vast majority of the guys however are like a who's who list of old baseball collections. As Bomani Jones said on our show today, you know this report is old when it mentions Lenny Freakin' Dykstra in it. Plus, any report that doesnt mention Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa is a fraud to begin with and makes me wonder what heads were buried in what sands. I admit to not being a huge baseball guy, but I have long believed that its obsession with pouring over the issue of steroids is beyond ridiculous considering the fact that the sport took so long to even fathom caring about it. I am a huge fan of Senator George Mitchell and it is likely that like Earl Warren, whose investigation of JFK's killing unfortunately overshadowed an amazing political and judicial career, his career will be best remembered for a report, rather than his years of public service. But at the end of the day, I admit to asking myself, can we please stop talking about this? I need no more Buster Olney or whoever else on television talking about the "purity of the game." Now I know John Rocker took steroids.....my life can go on.... To the news,,,, (1) JASPER: Like so many days in recent weeks, unfortunately the biggest news of today is somewhat negative. After practicing well this week and seeing a great deal of progress, Derrick Jasper left practice today with sharp pains in his knee. There is no word how serious the potential injury may be or even if it simply soreness that can be overcome quickly. But it is now unlikely he will play this week and the unofficial target return has been set back a bit. In other injury news, Jodie Meeks STILL hasnt done anything since his injury and still is unable to even run down the court. When we heard pelvic fracture, we thought it could be bad.....turns out we were right. (2) WESLEY WITHERSPOON: We were joined on the show tonight by Wesley Witherspoon (interview should be up later) who came off as a great kid, ready to make an impact on the next level. He surprised me a bit by contradicting himself from our earlier talk and saying that he "thought" he had an offer from UK, but not saying yes for sure. Witherspoon did say however that he talks to Coach Webster every day and that UK is hoping to get him to come up in the Spring for an official visit. Webster mentioned how blown away he was by his time in Rupp and said the best part was "the great intros" that the players had prior to the game. Consistently I hear recruits talk about how great the player introductions are and even though I often hear the blue hairs comment on how "loud" the introduction is and how it seems unnecessary, I think it is one of the best things that UK now does....and the recruits seem to agree. (3) LEGION: He says again that he is gone and not coming back. One person who has been around the program a LONG time told me today that Legion was the most "spoiled kid" he had seen in his time at UK.....very likeable and smart, but simply not ready to be coached on the Division I level. Lets move on. (4) UAB: There are still tickets for the game on Saturday and UK will have an open practice at Freedom Hall at 5:30 on Friday. Should be an interesting game and we will have more on it on Friday....but if you cant get in to Rupp to see the Cats play now is your chance....there are good seats available and this should be (unfortunately) a close game. Finally, one personal word. Today is my last day with the law firm that I have worked for over the past couple of years. I have had a great experience there and am sorry to be moving on. But I am very excited as well as my friend Johnny Bruce and I are about to start our own law firm here in Louisville. You will hear me talk more about this over the next couple of months, as we will launch the firm in February. But for now, today is a day of transition and I look forward to the new experience ahead. More later, including a look into the UAB festivities......