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GYERO

My senior in high school having a one on one at Gatton tomorrow then joining a small group Honors Program small group tour. 31 ACT 3.9 unweighted GPA and two time Governors Scholar. (GSE and GSP.) I’m prepared for him to get the same treatment I did. “We like you a lot but not nearly as much as this kid from Illinois.”

529 for the win hopefully.

I decided long ago to block off that fact from the way I choose to feel about my (3x) alma mater.

I either ignore it or tell myself that it's just the current group of bureaucrats, not UK itself.

But the way they treat Kentucky kids is about downright insulting - has been that way for quite a while. 🤷‍♂️

OK, back to UK sports now.
 
Used to have an oil company client in Beaver Dam, went there a lot in the 90s and early 00s.

Also had 2 fraternity brothers from Central City, went there a lot too.

The Twin Cities.
Pretty much my hometown - Central City. Anyway, I've got some great aunts and cousins there. My dad still lives in Graham and my uncle in CC. That said, each year my ties to the area die off. Gonna be weird when I'm the oldest and we realize none of us live there now.

I've been really nostalgic since my grandfather died a few years back and it really hit when my grandmother died this year. Dad's side. Their farm in Muhlenberg was the thread that bound 4 generations together. Now we're contemplating selling it. I nearly took a slight downgrade job in the 'ville to move back to KY just to try to buy that damn thing. I don't know how I'll feel if/when we do sell it.

Anyway....I wish my grandparents had lived to see Pope. I still remember one year getting just blasted with snow and it cutting the power. We huddled in the den by the fireplace with a damn AM battery powered radio and listened to the Cats game. I remember watching '96 with my grandfather in the same den and listening to him talk about '77. I remember my grandmother saying the only two men who could probably get her out on the town besides my grandfather were Bill Clinton and Rick Pitino. Freshman year at UK, I got her tickets to see us play several games as a thank you for all they did for us.

We've had 4 games this year and its the best season I've felt since maybe 2016?

Back to lurking since 2007.
 
Pretty much my hometown - Central City. Anyway, I've got some great aunts and cousins there. My dad still lives in Graham and my uncle in CC. That said, each year my ties to the area die off. Gonna be weird when I'm the oldest and we realize none of us live there now.

I've been really nostalgic since my grandfather died a few years back and it really hit when my grandmother died this year. Dad's side. Their farm in Muhlenberg was the thread that bound 4 generations together. Now we're contemplating selling it. I nearly took a slight downgrade job in the 'ville to move back to KY just to try to buy that damn thing. I don't know how I'll feel if/when we do sell it.

Anyway....I wish my grandparents had lived to see Pope. I still remember one year getting just blasted with snow and it cutting the power. We huddled in the den by the fireplace with a damn AM battery powered radio and listened to the Cats game. I remember watching '96 with my grandfather in the same den and listening to him talk about '77. I remember my grandmother saying the only two men who could probably get her out on the town besides my grandfather were Bill Clinton and Rick Pitino. Freshman year at UK, I got her tickets to see us play several games as a thank you for all they did for us.

We've had 4 games this year and its the best season I've felt since maybe 2016?

Back to lurking since 2007.

Do / did you know the Eades and /or Gilleses?

Penrod Eades (rip) and Paul Gilles are my fraternity brothers. John Shaver too.
 
Was that game you listened to in the snowy weather against UF? I remember having to listen to a game against Dan Cross(?) DaMeat Hook and Declerq where I swear it felt like we lost by 1-2 pts before UF became anything.

Could be way off but it rings a bell.
 
Do / did you know the Eades and /or Gilleses?

Penrod Eades (rip) and Paul Gilles are my fraternity brothers. John Shaver too.
I knew Mark Eades. My cousin is friends with some of the Eades’. Don’t know the Gilles, but is that the same John Shaver who’s family ran the body shop?
 
I decided long ago to block off that fact from the way I choose to feel about my (3x) alma mater.

I either ignore it or tell myself that it's just the current group of bureaucrats, not UK itself.

But the way they treat Kentucky kids is about downright insulting - has been that way for quite a while. 🤷‍♂️

OK, back to UK sports now.
I think UK, like most research schools, don't offer much unless for need and demographics.
Nephew was Ivy league material, UK offered nothing. Still went to UK.
Brother-in-law was recruited by Ivies for mere fact he's from KY, as they want kids from all over. And this was from early 90's.
Buddy visited X a week ago and said they bragged about having kids from every state but N Dakota.
 
People/employees change.

Cal was once a great motivator and took Camby, Travieso and Padilla farther than most could. He would have won the title had it not been for a super team.

He was a great talent gatherer and had Patterson/Miller/Liggins/Jones/Lamb to help out with the rookies.

He got fat/literally and figuratively off his own supply of “yes” staff members/family/coaching friends

We’ve had employees that were amazing the first few years and turned out, in time, to change and be thieves or bums. People change. Just because you were good in 1996/2012 doesn’t mean you’re worth a shit today. And he isn’t. Without an absolute talent edge he wouldn’t win 10 games a year if it relied on coaching.

I’m not a fan of lifetime contracts. You should actually earn your pay.
 
There are two sides to everything ie lifetime contracts. While I agree on the premise of the idea, to say he didn’t earn it though is false. Up to that point we did not want to lose him as the head man of the program much less as the coach.

Somehow someone was willing to give him that deal so to some degree he earned it.


As far as Cal being washed up, that’s debatable even though I’m glad he is gone. He has some gas in the tank and will keep Arkansas as a Top 25 team and I honestly think even though Kenny failed at UL that he is a great assistant coach.

They will win a few games against the top SEC teams that will carry them to decent enough seedings for March, but he’ll never win the SEC Tournament and he will never make it past the second weekend in the NCAA Tournament and that’s the difference between UK who demands those type of successes vs Arkansas that simply wants it.

The biggest WTF in it all for me is what does Tyson and the other donors think happened up here after he agreed to coach there? Do they not have a clue he tried to use that against UK to get his son hired and tried to leverage us?

That can not sit right if they know.
 
I still have a lot of hostility towards Cal and I'm f*cking petty about it for now. Time heals but I want to see him humiliated for his bumass, obstinate jackassery we were held hostage to the last six years with no seeming end in sight. I'm big hearted on some things, I'm small on others and his refusal to adapt or step aside and the glee and pride he took in being that way is something I don't want to forgive just yet.

All that said, he's a Hall of Famer for his UMass years even if he never won anywhere else. But 99.8% of coaches never get to leave on their own terms. You can count on one hand Saban, K, Wooden who left when they wanted to, most Hall of Famers just stop winning and then they become unbearable like Knight, Boeheim, Belichick and Cal is part of that group.
 
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I'm just glad I don't have to worry if Doug Shows or any of the other 100 SEC refs Cal berated constantly won't automatically hold grudges against our teams because that raving lunatic is elsewhere.

As someone pointed out, the calls were heavy for Duke early in the 1st half then Pope casually has a conversation with a ref before a timeout and it starts to (over) swing back in our direction. Then they finally let them play in the 2nd half and we beat they ass.

Edit : If we could eventual forgive and welcome Pitino back, Cal will have his moment in the sun. But for right now, I'm pretty pissed about the audacity of thinking he could continue to strong arm our beloved institution.
 
More Cal talk please. These last couple pages have had some really informative info I had never heard before. Good GOD, let it go. How long is that going to continue ? Rest of the year ? Decades ? Why talk about someone you hate so much ???

How is the weather in Lex ? How much do we run Jackson State by ? Who will be the leading scorer ? Did everyone see all that snow in Cleveland ?

Save the shit storm, you should know by now, it will not bother me one bit.
 
UMASS had that Starter Apparel money to play with too. People forget that.

If Cal is such a relationship guy, why couldn't he get junior a job on someone else's bench? Alas, sometimes a father doesn't see what everyone else sees about their kid.

Anyone get non-refundable flights to Austin for this weekend?
 
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