Vin Diesel's Wednesday News and Views

Two of my good friends in high school had a contest to see who could own the most Vin Diesel movies. I'm not making that up. I couldn't make that up. I don't remember the exact score or who was eventually declared the winner, but I remember one of them owned three copies of XXX -- the regular crappy one, the director's cut, and a special silver edition -- and the other guy ordered a short film called Multi-Facial off Amazon from Vin's early acting days. It was so fun to watch them argue over who bought Pitch Black first and if Saving Private Ryan counted towards the contest if it was purchased before anyone knew Vin Diesel was in it. Once again, this is completely true. So why am I telling you this? I really don't know. But it's taking everything I have to not release the names of these two gentlemen and expose them for what has to be the lowest point of their lives. Luckily, they both grew up to be fine outstanding citizens with good jobs, but deep down inside they'll always share that one common secretive bond: an undying love for Mark Sinclair Vincent's acting career and a DVD collection that only an eighth grader in 2002 could love. To the real point of this whole thing, the star of Chronicles of Riddick and Knockaround Guys turns 45 on Tuesday, although he doesn't look a day past a mix between Jason Statham and The Rock. As a tribute to the anniversary of his birth, I could use the rest of this space to bore you with quotes from his Dominic "Dom" Toretto days, but I'll just leave you with this clip from Multi-Facial. (The language could be bad. I only made it 10 seconds into it.) Happy Birthday, Vin.    Cliff Alexandar. Remember that name, because you're going to be hearing a lot of it over the next year, at the very least. The 6-foot-9 big man from Illinois picked up an offer from Kentucky on Tuesday morning, making him one of the first members of the 2014 high school class to do so. Scout.com ranks him as the third best player in the class, while ESPN Recruiting calls him a "terror on the glass." Alexander shattered a backboard in an AAU game back in April, which explains why Evan Daniels said, "No one dunks harder than Cliff. No one." Alexander lists a lot of school, as he should this early in the process, but he has said in the past that Kentucky is his "dream school." His AAU director believes the Cats and Michigan State are the two biggest suitors, with UK being the best option for the big man. “I think Cliff would be a better player at Kentucky than at Michigan State,” he told ESPN.  In gridiron news, the SEC Media Days kicked off on Tuesday afternoon in Hoover, Alabama. Kentucky had the day off from questioning but Joker Phillips will take the podium Wednesday morning at 11:50 a.m. to field questions from a room full of your favorite SEC media and journalism personalities. UK senior offensive linemen Larry Warford and Matt Smith will go back-to-back at 12:30 a.m. and 12:50 a.m., followed by defensive end Collins Ukwu on the mic at 1:20 that afternoon. We'll have coverage from all four guys as it happens so stick around with us throughout the day as we switch gears to football season.  Note to self: Don't ask Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel if there is a chip on Missouri's shoulder. You get a lot of ‘we’re playing SEC now and it’s this great league’ and – as I go around this summer, I’ve got a place down in Florida – and people come up to me and act like we’ve been playing a bunch of high schools teams.  We played in a pretty good league.  I don’t think it’s a chip necessarily.  To me it’s being a competitor.  I think as a competitor you get challenged a little bit… Bottom line you got to go out and prove yourself and I’m fine with it.  I have no problem with it… You gotta go out compete and earn respect.  You gotta go out and compete to win.  And the only way you’re gonna get respect is winning games.  That’s the only way it’s gonna happen.” Was that a yes?  Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin took a different approach when talking about his team's move to the greatest conference in college football. He said, "We don't have 340 lb. linemen like a bunch of the teams in this league. It doesn't mean we won't have them down the road." He added that his team needs to be bigger and faster to even compete in the SEC. Does this mean he's already mailing it in? Can Kentucky play the Aggies three times a year? I smell fear.  Hey, Wal-Mart, you're going to want to stock up on these shirts. Trust me. They just become a hot item in Kentucky.  I'm told there is a warrant out for Terrence Jones' arrest, because he is killing the NBA Summer League. After scoring 17, 16, and 17 in his first three games as a Rocket, Jones went out Tuesday night and scored 24 points with 12 rebounds on Portland. I think there are a few NBA GMs out there wondering why they passed on the kid who could've taught them 'bout Kentucky. He's not only adjusting to the next level, he's fitting right in and dominating the summer league competition. Houston might want to hold off on those trade talks with Orlando.  Michael Kidd-Gilchrist sat out his second straight game for Charlotte with that sore knee. He did enough in the opener; he deserves some time off.  It's still early in Marquis Teague's debut with the Bulls and the young fella is off to a pretty rough start. Hopefully he can get something going in the second half.  Team USA head coach Mike Kryzasweakssiskwaziasi had some kind words about his young center on the 2012 Olympic team. Coach K said, “Anthony’s a young guy. In a game like this, he’s 10 years younger than any of those big guys he’s playing against. He’s going to be a terrific player. I think the experience of being with this team as we move along as he gets accustomed, we have three more exhibition games, and five games of pool play. By medal round, I don’t know what type of experience playing time-wise he’ll get, but he’ll get a lot of experience just being with this team. “Remember, he’s just been with us a couple of days. He doesn’t even know all the sets and that. But our emphasis is not on him. It’s on the guys who are going to play the majority of minutes.” [Sporting News] Brow. Now.   Matt and I #wheelsup for the Peach Jam on Wednesday afternoon. We're looking forward to seeing what this Andrew Wiggins guy is all about. Have you heard about him?