Monday, July 31, 2006
Hey everyone,
SEC football is almost upon us and starting on Tuesday night, the Sports Huddle will be starting it's SEC football preview. I will give a rundown of each team's strengths and weaknesses which will be followed by clips from SEC Media Day from the coach of each school. Don't miss out on our analysis of the best college football conference in the country, SEC. Tuesday night's preview will start at 6:30 pm! Wed-Fri's previews will start at 6:00pm.
Please give comments if there is anything in particular that you would like to hear or know about!
Sunday, July 30, 2006
In this day and age we're told that the Yankees and George Steinbrenner can no longer steal players away from other teams due to the fact that teams are more financially competitive and due to the fact that the Yankees have NO players in their farm system that they're willing to give up. Obiviously who ever told us that was full of crap.
Today the Yankees struck again and stole Bobby Abreu from the Phillies and brought him into the Evil Empire.
Yes that's right, in their attempt for MLB domination the Yankees yet again paid a player a huge amount of money to join their squad. Abreu was paid 1.5 million dollas to waive his no-trade clause so that he could go to New York. Does anyone think that this is fishy? I do. I know that I'd probably be a hypocrite and say that if Abreu came to the Red Sox I probably wouldn't mind. However, this has gone on way too long. I truly believe that is deals like this one that has accounted for the drop of in popularity of baseball (well that and steroids). Do you think this is why people like college sports better? Once someone is at a college people can't lure the player away with money (unless they go to the pros). But to make it truly simple, college is the one venue where all colleges are on the same playing field with who they can bring in (when it comes to recruiting).
We all know that their is an unfair advantage to teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, etc. when it comes to player salaries. Is the gap between those upper tier teams and the lower counterparts growing larger and larger? I almost feel like there's a class system when it comes to baseball teams. It's almost like capitalism at it's best. The rich get richer and the poorer get poorer. The poorer clubs always just bank on their farm system but the richer teams end up stealing them away when they realize they have talent. What can be done to make the Kansas Cities and Tampa Bays more competitive?
I don't know. It's times like these that make me frustrated about baseball. What do you all think?
Hey everyone,
Today on the Sports Huddle we had Mark Crunette from the Cincinatti Enquirer. He is the Enquirer's beat writer for the Bengals and he gave us his insight on how they would do this season. It will be interesting to see how they will do this year considering the injury to Carson Palmer from last year and all the off the field infractions. Some players might get confused and think that they could use a taser on the field... I hope someone lets them know that they can't. Palmer looked good on his first day of training camp (Saturday) and as long as his knee holds up, the Bengals will remain competitive. The only concern is their schedule. The Bengals have one of the hardest schedules in the NFL this year. Do you all think they will be able to hold up?
We also had Jennifer Greathouse from "Made From Scratch" in Georgetown. Her and her mother own the business that is responsible for making all the food for the Bengals training camp. The amount of food they need is insane. I think she told us that someone gets paid to scramble eggs for 2 hours!!!!!! Must be nice having your food made for you all the time.
We also touched upon Kentucky Football again. It is coming on fast and sometimes we forget with all the basketball recruiting going on. Now that basketball camps have finished, we can focus on the gridiron once again. I know I touched upon it in an eariler post, but what are your expectations/hopes for this year's football team?
In other news...
The Big Papi, David Ortiz hit another walk off hit for the Red Sox today (Saturday) to propel the Sox over the Angels 7-6 in the 11th inning. He has to be one of the most clutch players I have EVER seen. He now has countless walk off hits/home runs and has helped to solidify his position as one of the greatest assets to the Red Sox. I hate to go back to this debate, but with all of the times he has helped the Sox win, don't you think he should have been named MVP last year? I understand he doesn't play much in the field, but his contributions to the team are very apparent both in the locker room and through his hitting. I believe that he is THE MOST IMPORTANT player on his team. You may think that I'm crazy for saying this, but here's why. First of all, the fact that he bats third and Manny Ramirez bats fouth means that you have to pitch to one of them. Both of them are dangerous hitters, but the fact that he's there means that the opposing pitchers can only take away one of the two bats for the Sox with an intentional walk. Also, he's a left handed batter that can hit just as well against left handed pitching as he does against right handed pitching. Finally, he IS the best clutch player in the game today. I wonder if A-Rod could say that.
Who do you think is the most clutch player in any sport?
Friday, July 28, 2006
Just for a moment or 2, put yourself in your favorite (or LEAST favorite) head coaches shoes. Tubby Smith, Mack Brown, Steve Superior, even ol' Hal Mumme or Guy Morrisssssssss...
Could YOU stand the kind of pressure and the scrutiny that comes with their positions? Take your job for instance...
From hiring to firing people (Recruiting), design of your store or shop (New Practice facility or Arena), Salespeople, support, your standing with other companies your size (Rankings), former bosses (comparing Tubby to you know who in Red over by the River.) Your EVERY MOVE gets scrutinized.
EVERYTHING YOU DO, SAY, THINK AND BELIEVE IS SCRUTINIZED...
Read the sentence again before you say you wouldn't have a problem with it...
Part of the fun of watching our favorite teams is second guessing the moves that get us all to the end of the game/final result. "I would have moved him to Point Guard...', 'What is he thinking putting THAT GUY into the game, NOW?', Why hasn't he been FIRED yet?
Remember the commercial that had Peyton Manning asking for autographs in the store? 'YOU'RE MY FAVORITE!!!!'. I loved that commercial because it put the shoe on the other foot for a change. It wasn't a perfect corollary to what athletes and their coaches go through because Peyton didn't go to the Store Manager and ask WHY would you put THAT HEAD OF LETTUCE on display when you had a 3lb head of lettuce that has been groomed for years to handle the pressure of being on an End Cap in Kroger!
Oh, and by the way: Who'dathunk that Brent Schaffer, former SEC Starter and the first Freshman EVER in the SEC to start an SEC opener (Tennessee), who transferred to Ole Miss would have to go to Summer School before he became re-eligible to play football. Schaffer transffered to that football powerhouse 'College of the Sequoias' then transferred to Ole Miss when Ed Orgeron made him the starter. Schaffer has been so ensconsed in learning at the School of the Big Trees that he had to enroll in summer school to become eligible to get on the field for the Rebels...
Skip
On Thursday, everyone was shocked to find out that recent American Tour de France winner, Floyd Landis, tested positive for high testosterone levels during the Tour de France. Not only is this a blow for doping in sports in general, but also a blow towards Americans in the Tour de France since the French were just waiting and hoping to find an American that tested positive in their tour.
Here are the 3 reasons that Landis said might have caused the higher levels of testosterone in his system:
1. The medicine he needs for his thyroid disease
2. The cortisone he took for his injured hip (that needs to be replaced)
3. The Jack Daniel's he drank before Stage 17
I would understand that he needs to take medicine for his thyroid disease. Since the thyroid gland is responsible for the production hormones in our bodies, this could work. However, I would assume that the medicine he takes for this has been documented with doctors and hopefully cleared by the Tour.
He then mentioned it could have been the cortisone that he took for his injured hip. First of all, this guy needs a hip replacement, yet he still won the Tour de France?!?!?!? Did anyone stop to think about this for a second. How many times did they have to shoot this guy up with cortisone? I mean, in cycling your hip is one of the main things you need. That puts up red flags for me right there.
Finally, he said it could have been the Jack Daniels he drank before Stage 17. Why is this guy drinking Jack Daniels in the first place? Wasn't someone there to tell him that he should have been drinking bourbon? Maybe Woodford Reseve would have been in order for such a big race, or at least Makers.
Whatever it might have been, Landis is going to have to be able to explain himself with proof of what caused it if his second test comes back positive. None of this, "it could have been ______" will work. He has to know exactly what did it.
Am I surprised that he tested positive? No. Cheating is something that has gone on forever in sports. What I am surprised at is how shocked the fans and media are when something like this happens. I'm not saying that everyone is out there taking illegal substances, but there are some that do. Just like how pitchers used to grease the ball, some batters put cork in their bats, etc. Nobody questions them until they get caught, until now. This generation of sports fans, myself included, will be taught to scrutinize every single great achievement in sports. Are we right in doing so? Absolutely. But the bigger question is: do we even care?
The first and foremost reason that we watch sports is to be entertained. Leagues, teams, and even individual teams produce a product, that we the fans consume. If the owners and players feel like the fans demand more home runs, then they will do their best to supply them for us. This is capitalism at its best folks. What is going to make us more popular? Well then let's do it. If the coolest thing to do in baseball was to hit a double, you'd see a heck of a lot of players doing whatever they could to hit doubles. The bottom line is: did we get what we paid for? Were we satsfied with the product given to us? If the answer is yes, then we have no grounds for complaint. If the answer is no, then we have no ground to stand on when it comes to complaining.
Sometimes you can't have your cake and eat it too.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Although we had a guest on tonight from the Kentucky Horse Park promoting the World Equestrian Games that are coming to Kentucky in 2010, I'd like to focus more on Kentucky Football which dominated our discussion today.
Today, Chris and Mike asked you all whether or not you felt the same, worse, or better about Kentucky Football going into this season.
To be completely honest with you, I'm not sure how I feel. I truly believe that this is a HUGE year for Kentucky Football and most importantly Coach Brooks. The pressure is now on for UK to go to a bowl, and this is the first year that it is all of Coach Brooks' players. The schedule is set up for him to win 6 games, and he brought in his players to do just that. Whether or not it happens remains to be seen.
This is what I do know: there are three games on Kentucky's schedule that they MUST win. If they do not win in their games against Texas State, Central Michigan, and Louisiana-Monroe, all hell will break loose here in Lexington. There are always the toss up games that go in there too: South Carolina, Mississippi State, and Vandy. However, I truly believe that in order to go to a bowl, UK will HAVE to upset one of the following teams: Louisville, Ole Miss, Georgia, Florida, LSU, or Tennessee.
That's right, it has come down to this every year. Kentucky remains competitive in many of these games, but in order for UK to go to a bowl they are going to HAVE to win one of them. The difference between a team that goes to a bowl and a team that doesn't is that mental edge that allows them to play the spoiler every once in a while. This year might be the year that it happens.
What do you all think about this?
Check out Rich Brooks' quotes from SEC Media Day at http://www.ukathletics.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=39&url_article_id=18096&change_well_id=2
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
On the Sports Huddle today we had Danny Hope, the head football coach at Eastern Kentucky University. What do you think about Eastern being the early favorites to win their conference?
Kyle Macy also joined us around 6:00 to let us know what he thought about the Fifth Third Tennis Tournament and his thoughts about other things Kentucky.
Chuck Arnold joined us to give us the legal perspective on the Barry Bonds situation. Chris believes this will be the biggest sports story of our lifetimes; do you agree? What are your thoughts on Barry Bonds?
Mike Schmaltz from the Kentucky Speedway joined us to weigh in on Danica Patrick staying in an Indy Car instead of making the move to NASCAR. Do you think she made the right decision? What would you have done in her shoes?
Leave your comments on these questions or anything else you feel like talking about!
Is there anything else going on in sports that you wished we had talked about or did you want to comment on something different? Well leave a comment and maybe we'll spark a conversation on the air based on what you had to say!

Just when I was starting to worry, I'm relieved to know that our favorite new verb of the last year's college basketball season season will still be alive in the NBA. Kevin Pittsnogle, a tattoo-clad former F/C for the West Virginia Mountaineers is headed to Boston. My only question is, WHY WASN'T HE DRAFTED?!?!?! AND WHY DIDN'T ANYONE ELSE MAKE A BIG DEAL ABOUT IT?!?!?!?! Remember, this was a player who had a multi-page feature about him in Sports Illustrated. He is the all-time 3 point leader at West Virginia with 253! ESPN Sportscenter anchors couldn't get enough of his name and it therefore became a staple of last year's college basketball season! Boston quickly realized that Pittsnogled was forgotten about almost like Macaulay Culkin in "Home Alone." It's like all of a sudden the NBA realized, "We left Kevin at home!" (It's ironic that Culkin's character in "Home Alone" was also named Kevin). This was a great pickup for Boston due to the fact that Pittsnogle is a 6-11 F/C who can shoot the 3 and knows how to use his body to get rebounds. Pittsnogle will join former Kentucky Wildcat Rajon Rondo and Sebastian Telfair as new additions to the Boston lineup. I'm still befuddled as to why this guy slipped through the draft. Did I miss something? Whatever, I'm looking forward to seeing Boston "Pittsnogle" the competition.
For those of you that don't know me, I'm John Edwards, the new Operations Manager here at ESPN Sports Radio 1300. With this blog, you'll be able to give us comments on programming, our comments/news on Kentucky sports and sports around the globe, and you'll find links to interviews with guests that appeared on the Sports Huddle. Feel free to comment after we post something! Make sure you stay tuned to all programming on ESPN Sports Radio 1300 and the Sports Huddle weekday afternoons at 4 with Chris Cross and Mike Cameron!
As a test of how much you guys are going to use this, Mike Cameron would like to know your feelings on the UK Basketball Schedule that was released last week.
Hope you all enjoy this blog,
John
I'm Skip, the 'web dude' for the station. I was on with Chris Cross and Mike Cameron yesterday and they were talking about Patrick Patterson (A desired UK recuit for 2007 who had some avid UK Fans post pictures of the UK Dance Team on his myspace account that were apparently an NCAA Violation because they 'promised' Patterson he'd 'have fun', for lack of a more descriptive term, if he came to sign with the Wildcats.) and how UK and any other school for that matter, can police the internet.
Cross asked what I thought of 'myspace.com' and I told him I hated it.
THEN, he said he wanted us to start our own page.
NOT ON MY SPACE! But right Ovah Heah!
You'll get comments from all sorts of people that work at ESPN SportsRadio 1300 and the cool thing is you'll get to post your comments as well!
Please remember, this is a PUBLIC FORUM... The rules of protocol apply here, no cussing! Be Nice to each other and speak your mind!
Enjoy!
Skip