Today Was a Good Day

Just Waking Up in the Morning, Gotta Thank God.....I Dont Know but Today Seems Kinda Odd Now this is a great day to be a Kentucky fan. Fresh off a football win that makes the Cats bowl-eligible and a basketball game that had the team's head coach nearly giddy, all things are well in Lexington and the Big Blue Nation. It was a full day of goodness for me, as I crashed a Lexington sports bar to watch the football game with some rowdy UK fans and then found my way to Rupp to watch Blue play White in a game that had to make one's soul feel confident about what could happen on the hardwood this year. All in all a very good day indeed.... Then We Played Bones, and I'm Yelling "Dominoes" In Starkville, the football Cats were both lucky and good in getting a big win that guarantees the season wont go down in disappointment. We saw much improvement from the offense, due in large part to all things Cobb, but also with help from a much better looking Tony Dixon and a "bit less bad" Mike Hartline. The defense had one bad drive, but otherwise but the clamps down on the Bulldogs throughout. And the special teams.....well, we still cant kick, but our return game showed up from the dead and our voodoo hex on the opposing team's kicker continued. All of these factors combined for a 1 point win that we may look back on one day as a defining moment in the upward progression of the program. Messed Around and Got a Triple-Double Still yet, the story on Saturday was the greatness of Randall Cobb. I dont know if his future is at Quarterback, but it is clear that his future is on the field. In the first half, he helped Hartline gain confidence, by breaking a long run on a short dump pass and then getting in the open field and using his athleticism to set the Cats up for another Seiber miss. In the second half however, he showed his true colors, moving the ball via pass and run and helping take a road deficit and turn it into a road win. Sometimes guys are just special and you can see it from the moment they take the field. Alcoa's finest showed us that today. Saw the lights of the GoodYear Blimp and they read 'Jared Carter's a Pimp' Saturday night brought us the Blue-White game, which involved terrible television coverage (although better camera operators than those at the football game) and one of the best pre-season performances in the past few years. Coach Clyde was practically giddy after the game, calling the performance one of the best at this stage since he has been coaching. Why would he be happy? Well, the team showed an ability to score some points, the offense was spread around some guys that you didnt necessarily think would be big-time points producers and people that you hadnt necessarily pegged as contributers this year made their presence known. I will breakdown all the players' performances tomorrow, but for now three stood out: Jodie Meeks --- First Team All-SEC.....it is coming.....he will lead the team in scoring this year and is poised to break out nationally. I have always thought this was coming, from the early days of summer when it was clear he had fully recovered from his injury. Tonight's 32 points just showed the time is now. Josh Harrellson --- You cant do much better than 17 points in your first game in Lexington, leading your team in scoring and knocking down jumpers from all over the court. Add to that the fact that you guarded Patrick Patterson most of the night and he only had 17 as well, and you might say that "Jorts" had quite a debut. Landon Slone --- I have been telling you guys all fall that Mark Krebs will play this year....and he will. But what about Landon Slone? He played more minutes tonight than Darius Miller and Kevin Galloway, Gillispie called him the "toughest kid on the team" and said he would end up having a "good career here." Could he play this year? Why not.....he had 8 points tonight, shut down his man throughout the game (in the first half that was Galloway) and generally looked as if he fit right in. Paintsville is representing..... The Lakers Beat the Supersonics What makes a perfect Kentucky day. Well how about Louisville's basketball team almost losing to Georgetown college, its football team losing to Syracuse and our basketball and football teams putting together great performances. One cant ask for much more. The football team has ensured we are going bowling this fall for the third straight time. The basketball team has given us the greatest gift a team can.....tantalizing potential. And Randi Bishop won her internet contest. That deserves a C-A-T-S More all day Sunday......