Weird Al Yankovic's Tuesday News and Views

He's white. He's nerdy. He's been spending most his life living in an Amish Paradise. He's churned butter once or twice, living in that Amish Paradise. And, today, he turns 53 years old.  That's right, parody music fans, your favorite musician celebrates his 53rd birthday on Tuesday. (Please hold your excitement for another hour.) Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic was born on October 23, 1959 in Downey, California. The only child of Nick and Mary Elizabeth Yankovic, Alfred was taught early in life that the key to success was doing whatever in life makes you happy. Apparently, to young Alfred, calling himself Weird Al and remaking popular songs with corny lyrics is what made him happy. That turned out to be a pretty successful career move, too. Since his first comedy song in 1976, Weird Al has sold almost 13 million albums, recorded more than 150 parody and original songs, and has performed more than 1,000 live shows. His works have earned him three Grammy Awards among nine nominations, four gold records, and six platinum records in the United States. All of that and he's still churning them out. He released a new album last summer, apparently. So, have a piece of cake in honor of Weird Al on Tuesday. Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it. Moving on...    It's Missouri game week and Kentucky can finally look across the field and see another team with quarterback issues. Missouri's James Franklin is listed as doubtful on the Tigers most recent depth chart; he is still recovering from the torn MCL he suffered against Vanderbilt on October 6. If he has to sit out, redshirt freshman quarterback Corbin Berkstresser will start in his place. Berkstresser completed only 12 of 29 passes with two interceptions and zero touchdowns against Alabama. Bring on Berkstresser. The injury Gods owe Kentucky a couple.   It's still the Jalen Whitlow Show (until they get in the red zone) on the UK side of the ball. Patrick Towles will attempt to practice on Tuesday but he isn't expected to play against Mizzou. However, if he does get healthy in time to play, he will play. "If Towles can play, he'll play," Joker said at his Monday press conference.  "It will be the same situation as we did in the Mississippi State game, but again he hasn't taken a snap yet.  And we'll take a look and see tomorrow." Joker likes the two-quarterback system and he believe it's good for Whitlow. He said, "It's definitely helped Jalen, when he's able to step back away from it and then get back out there and I think the game's definitely slowed down for him a bit when this happened.  So it would continue to do that.  Letting him step away from it.  But, again, (Towles) hasn't taken a snap yet.  We don't know anything.  All he's done is dropped back in the training room and we'll see on the practice field."   Joker also addressed the constant use of the draw play on third down, finally. His explanation: "We converted a third and 13.  We were (close) from converting a couple other ones, but again, sometimes on third and long what happens is you get three man rush.  You get linebackers backed up six or seven yards.  The secondary is a little bit loose also, trying to play the sticks.  So sometimes the run game gives you a better chance.  And especially with the young quarterback. So we called a couple of runs and hit them and got the first down."  Boone's Butcher Shop Injury Report: -- Patrick Towles and Mikie Benton expected to practice on Tuesday. -- Zach West, Martavius Neloms and Cartier Rice will sit out until Wednesday.   The SEC media preseason basketball rankings were released on Monday and your University of Kentucky Wildcats are projected to win the conference. The Cats received 17 of the 24 first place votes to finish ahead of Florida, Missouri and Tennessee. The SEC media voters also named Nerlens Noel to the All-SEC first team and Alex Poythress received second team honors. Whoever gave Tennessee a first place vote should be banned from covering any and all sporting events in America.   Anthony Davis had a big night on the boards for the New Orleans Hornets. Davis grabbed 17 rebounds to make up for only scoring six points in the loss to the Mavericks. Darius Miller also scored six points on 2-of-3 shooting from beyond the arc.   Here, enjoy Kentucky's One Shining Moment again, just because.   In recruiting news, Andrew Wiggins talked to Scout.com and the best player in high school basketball said his options are still wide open. “Every school is the same to me right now,” Wiggins said of the rumors that Kentucky and Florida State are the two leaders. “I don’t have any favorites. Even if a new school wanted to recruit me they can. My options are wide open, but a lot of schools aren’t recruiting me because of what they think.” Wiggins said he’s now receiving interest from Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio State and Syracuse. He also said he would like for other schools to step up and starting recruiting him too.   The KSR Dating Game is underway and we’re ready to start taking applications from the fellas. Guys, if you’re interested in being set up on a blind date with courtside seats for the Blue/White game, send an e-mail to Shannon The Dude ([email protected]) letting him know why you should be picked. That'll do it for now. Cats.