Tag Archives: Kentucky

Florida Lee

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Before leaving Mississippi I got some good news via email. I can’t go into it now, but will later. I was also asked an important question, “Why is it called a Florida Lee and not a New Orleans Lee or Louisiana Lee?” Good question coming from a 7 year old artist.

From there it was on to Chattanooga, TN for Athletic Championships with Jason Keogh and the Elzas. We aren’t supposed to say much about the competition so I’ll just say I was glad my days didn’t start at the crack of dawn and my panel was fun. There were a few people I haven’t seen in years and a few I met for the first time. At this point I need to take a moment to thank Brian Elza, for reasons clear to him, but few others. I also have to say if you ever get a chance to have a conversation with, judge with, or listen to Chris Sipes, you should take advantage of it. He is one of the funniest people I’ve been around in a long time, and possibly ever.

I’m now back in Lexington, catching up on everything and working on Aneris. Today has proven to be strange. A good friend got some extremely bad news. She’s strong enough to handle it, but is going to need a shoulder to lean on for a few days.

Just for the record, it’s a Fleur-de-lis.

Kentucky Tryouts

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University of Kentucky cheerleading tryouts are this weekend. It’s an opportunity to see the most talented athletes cheerleading has to offer. Today I received a call to see if I would judge them which has me torn. There is so much I need to get done with the gym that it’s hard to pull myself away, but on the other hand it’s Kentucky tryouts. I assume I’ll end up judging them when it comes down to it. I just hope it doesn’t cause issues with anything else.

Calipari

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Kentucky introduced John Calipari as the new basketball coach today. Calipari left Memphis to take a job he says he’s been dreaming about. He’ll do a good job. He’s a good coach, a good recruiter, and a good spokesperson. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about this later.

CBS published an interesting article about Memphis and Kentucky fans’ reactions to a few events. ESPN raises the question (and concerns) I have about Calipari.

CBS Sports & ESPN

Coach Billy G.

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It seems like Coach Billy G. will soon be looking for a new job. If he is fired the reason given will be off the court stuff like his partying antics and inability to “relate” to the major donors, but reality is it comes down to wins. He isn’t getting the job done on the court. If he had 2 consecutive Final Four appearances he would have certain job security. I have to point out I was not a fan of the hiring of Billy G., but don’t think he should be fired either. I think firing a coach after 2 seasons is a black mark for the University doing it. It promotes the win at all costs sentiment that is damaging college athletics. 2 seasons isn’t enough time to get the players needed to run your system and if you are going to hire a coach you need to give him enough time to impact the program. If you can’t do that you failed in your hiring process. I do feel 3 seasons is enough time to tell if the program is going in the right direction, so if Billy isn’t soon jobless he needs to realize the seat is hot.

Billy G. led major turnarounds at the 2 schools he coached prior to Kentucky, but neither put him in the spotlight as being Kentucky’s coach did, and he didn’t have a long track record to look at. The other candidates that were getting press for Kentucky’s new coach after Tubby (Billy Donovan & John Calipari) have longer records. I think the person Kentucky should make a run for, assuming Billy the Kid doesn’t plan on leaving the Sunshine State, is Gonzaga’s Mark Few.