Tag Archives: Kentucky

7ish Days

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The last 7ish days have been busy. I went to a funeral on Tuesday for the previously mentioned mother of an 8th grader at David’s gym. Wednesday we left for David’s wedding in Florida. Thursday, while in Florida I talked to a couple friend that will be opening their own gyms soon and gave them a little advice. Friday was wedding day and everything turned out great. The weather cooperated, the wedding was successful, and no one made a fool of themselves at the reception. (I’ll post more about the wedding when Shane gets back from Hawaii so I can get his pictures).

The Cats played Ohio State during the reception, which the manager was kind enough to put on a TV nearby. The Cats won a close game to move on to play North Carolina for a trip to the Final Four. Saturday was a beach day. The weather started off rough, but turned out to be great. We then went to a Crawfish boil with the newlywed couple’s family, which was also a good time.

Sunday was go home day. It got off to an interesting start because of a poor decision a couple people made the night before, which I may expand on in a later post. We got back in time to catch most of the North Carolina game and see the Cats advance to the Final Four.

The Cats next stop is Houston, mine is Florida again for a 2 competition weekend.

Travel Time

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It’s now the time of year that I travel every week. It usually throws me off my regular schedule a little, but often gives me something to write about. I’m guessing the story of this weekend will be the traveling itself since snow has brought much of the Southeast to a crawl. My flights are still supposed to go, but you never know when you fly Delta through Atlanta.

The beginning of the year has been spent moving websites so far. I have a few more to move and optimize, including the Kentucky Cheerleading site, then get to switch back to improving them. It’s been a learning experience so far.

Good luck to Kentucky this weekend at Nationals.

Blue Versus Red

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The hot topic in the news right now is Health Care Reform. It seems most people agree reform is needed, but aren’t sure the plan presented is the option we should go with. I really have no idea what the best route is, but I generally say change is better than doing nothing, especially when the path we are currently on doesn’t have a happy ending. Obama’s legacy will largely depend on what his administration does concerning Health Care. For that reason, along with reform being essential, I wish them luck.

Tonight Kentucky plays Cornell in the NCAA Tourney. Cornell is this year’s Cinderella, media darling, and David rolled into one. Neither team has much NCAA experience. Cornell is playing close to home, but Kentucky travels well. West Virginia and Washington fans are likely to side with the underdog, Cornell, in hopes that they won’t have to play Kentucky to advance to the Final Four. Kentucky will win and advance to the next round because they are a more talented team, but more importantly the team had a few days to properly prepare for Cornell. A lot of the “upsets” in the tournament come in the 1st and 2nd rounds because of preparation and the difficulty of properly seeding teams. Favorites seem to lose early because they aren’t familar with their opponent and don’t have much time to prepare for them, especially between rounds 1 and 2. With more time between 2nd and 3rd round games that 1st and 2nd round games, better teams tend to prevail because they have coaches that can better prepare a team and the underdog teams have used up their bag of tricks during the first weekend.

Last week I spoke at the Illinois Coaches’ Conference. The conference director, Pamela Dorner-Saxhaug, was great and easy to work with. She was one of the founding members of the Association hosting the conference because she wanted to help educate the coaches in her area. My topics at the conference were stunt transitions and maximizing you score. For the stunt transition sessions I got to work with the girls from CheerTime USA (United Starz Academy), pictured below. They were a talented group and I enjoyed working with them.

CheerTime USA

CheerTime USA Stunt Group at the Illinois Coaches' Conference

I’m not sure when the Kentucky women play again, but I know they have a Sweet Sixteen game in Kansas City. Hopefully between victories they’ll have a chance to get some Arthur Bryant’s. I think that’s all for now.

Tourney Time & Jealousy

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The NCAA Tournament field has been announced and Game One has been played. A lot of Kentucky fans are upset about our path, but I’m not too bothered by it. Assuming the higher seeds advance, we’ll play East Tennessee State, Texas, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Duke, and Kansas. I’m not upset with this path because it’s the national championship tournament, meaning you are supposed to play tough teams, and I’d prefer to play teams from major conferences that I’m familiar with than the mid-majors and small conference teams that turn into Cinderellas. Given that no 16 seed has ever beat a 1 seed in the men’s tournament, I’m not worried about our only non-BCS conference opponent. I think the second round game, against Texas or Wake Forest, is a bit harsh for a second round, but both of these teams had less than spectacular endings to their seasons and slid down the seeding totem pole. Once we make it to the second weekend we are theoretically supposed to play the 15th, 7th, and 3rd ranked team to make it to the final game, which match up well with Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Duke.

I saw a kid with a Batman mask and white cape in Kroger the other day. I must say I was a little jealous because I wish I could still get away with a stunt like that. If I tried it people would probably grab their kids and cover their eyes like I was Cousin It or on the FBI Most Wanted list. I’ve actually had several conversation about being jealous of children lately because they are so carefree and easily entertained. We also had one about being jealous of Justin Bieber. How cool would it be to have done a video with Usher and Ludacris before you could drive?

Last weekend was Athletic Championships’ Gatlinburg/Sevierville event, which was a great event. At one point in time I was going to take my gym there and I think they would have enjoyed it. The hotel connected to the event center has a water park in it and I think it would have been a lot of fun for my Showtime girls. The event itself had some good teams from some well known gyms and a few from some smaller gyms I wasn’t familiar with. We did have a few legality issues during the event. Most of them involved when a pyramid connection needs to be made (at or below prep level) and what type of connection is required (arm to arm or hand to foot). Coaches, please learn the rules. It’s part of your role.

During the weekend in Tennessee we were reminded of Stephen’s fondness of Carrie Underwood and Chris Sipes’ ability to tell a story (not that we can repeat many of them, but they keep us entertained). The coaches party remained much more under control than I imagined it would. It was at a decked out cabin in the mountains and reminded me of a college house party. Since it’s still Lent I just observed the games and talked to people, some I’ve known for years, and some I met that night.

Congratulations to the Kentucky women for earning a 4 seed in the tournament along with numerous awards including SEC Coach of the Year, SEC Player of the Year, and SEC Freshmen of the Year.

Next is the Illinois Coaches’ Conference and some basketball with my cousin.

Benetton

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This week was the Oscars so one of the girls threw a “Tacky Oscars” party. The outfits were outrageous, but I don’t think I’ll post any pictures. Just picture old bridesmaid and pom dresses, mix-matched suits, and tuxedo t-shirts to get a mental image. The show itself was unique because it was the first time a female director won director of the year.

Please remember mailboxes can do significant damage to your car. Do not run into them, especially back to back years on your mom’s birthday.

When I was at my parents’ place during Christmas, I watched an interview with Jay-Z in which he described his life as a Benetton advertisement, referring to the number of colors that touch his life. It may me think about my life and the number of colors that touch mine. Just thinking about December, my Middle Eastern business partner and I decided to sell our business, I went to a birthday party for my White roommate, I went to my Cuban former roommate’s wedding in which he married a White girl, I roomed with a gay Black man, caught up with a gay Black friend I hadn’t seen in a while and met his White boyfriend, before visiting the Asian male twins on the way back to Lexington. I think I have my United Colors covered.

Congrats to the Kentucky women for their performance at the SEC Tournament. The men are next, then the Big Dance.

Next is Sevierville, TN and a return to judging.