It begins on Thursday.

Don't act like you don't know what we mean. This is the reward of patience, the bounty we will receive for reading (and writing) on message boards since Urban Meyers' men made a little boy in silver and scarlet cry on national TV.

Damn, wasn't that great? Maybe that little snotnose'll go on to be a Wolverine.

This reward, this tough, grinding beast known as college football, will tear through many a weekends leaving shredded turf and empty cases of Natty Light in its wake. And like all great animals, its ferocity will not be so quickly engaged, but must be stoked through the...oh, screw it. The first week of games just makes me want to see conference play now, dammit.

Hell no, LSU versus Mississippi State doesn't count as conference play.

It's two Division 1 schools, at least. I'm sick of the "protect your schedule by playing St. Mary's of Eastboro School For The Quadruple Amputees" school of scheduling. If you play a 1-AA school, the game shouldn't count. When the dust settles in Tuscaloosa and the Tide has kicked over, set fire to and pissed on the apple cart that is Western Carolina, what will we have gained? A perfect record for Nick Saban? Does he get a new suit? Will the beer flow like milk and honey through the promised land?

Actually, yes to that last one. Tuscaloosa doesn't need a reason to drink, it is a reason to drink.

Most of the SEC games this week should go in our favor. I could see Cal knocking off Tennessee, though. And hell, Auburn could get played out of JEEEEEEEERDAN-Hare Stadium.

See you guys on Monday. There's football to be watched.

Billy Donovan Ruined My Life/College Baseball

I'm returning for now. I'd like to say sorry for the earlier post, where I yelled, I was drunk. But I was so excited that B-Rush returned to school, then I found out it was because he hurt his knee in a pick up game, then I found out his ACL was torn. Good times. Thanks B, really appriciate it.

Anyway, the big news of the past week is Billy Donovan is leaving the back-to-back national champion Florida Gators for the NBA's Orlando Magic. Really? Really Donovan? You say no to Kentucky, but this is a better job? Oh ok. The Orlando Magic? They were only good one time in their history, and that was when they had Penny Hardaway and Shaw on the same time, and they weren't even that good then. Rather than go to the NBA and seeing if you can actually make the transititon, how about you do this: Go back in time, take the Kentucky job thereby keeping Gilespe at Texas A&M, and Mark Turgeon at Wichita St, and Gregg Marshall at Winthrop. Why does Marshall matter? Becuase then Mo State could get the guy after next season. Thanks Billy! Here's hoping you fuck up in the pros, then you have to coach to Mo State. Sucker.

The College Baseball playoffs are going on right now. If you don't know how this system works, here you go:
Each conference gets to send one team automaticly to the tournament, and selection committee selects the at-large teams to create a 64-team field.
16 regionals are selected, with four teams each. In each regional, each team is ranked 1-4, with the first seed playing the fourth, and second and third playing. From there, each regional holds a double elimination tournament until there is only one.
Each regional winner advaces to one of eight Super Regionals at a site determined by the NCAA. Two teams to each Super Regional, the teams play a best of three series. Winning teams advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
Eight teams advance to Omaha. The schools are seeded 1-8, then split into two groups. With 1, 4, 5, 8 in one group and 2, 3, 6, 7 in the other. Each group plays a double elimination tournament until each produces a group champion. The two champions play a best of three series to determine the national champion.

Today is when a lot of schools will be securing bids into the Super Regional round, most regionals are down to the final two schools:
Chapel Hill Regional--1) North Carolina can advance with win over East/West Carolina (they had a rain delay)

Charlottesville Regional--1) Virginia can advance with win over Rutgers/Oregon St (also being delayed)

College Station Regional--2) Louisiana-Lafayette can advance with a win over 1) Texas A&M.

Columbia, Mo. Regional--1) Missouri can advance with a win over 3) Louisville

Columbia, S.C. Regional--Honestly, this regional has been so fucked with rain, we're not going to be down to two teams until Monday.

Fayetteville Regional--3) Oklahoma St can advance with win over 1) Arkansas.

Houston Regional--1) Rice can advnace with win over 2) TCU.

Long Beach Regional--2) UCLA can advance with win over Long Beach/Illinois-Chicago (what are they doing still alive?)

Myrtle Beach Regional--Again another regional where rain has screwed everything up. Tomorrow we'll have some championships.

Nashville Regional--2) Michigan can advance with win over 1) Vanderbilt.

Oxford Regional--1) Old Miss can advance with win over 4) Sam Houston St.

Round Rock Regional--2) UC Irvine can advnace with win over 1) Texas

San Diego Regional--2) Cal St-Fullerton can advance with win over Minn./Fresno St. I believe this is the only regional where the #1 seed and host has been eliminated.

Tallahassee Regional--2) Mississippi St can advance with win over 1) Florida St

Tempe Regional--1) Arizona St can advance with win over Nebraska/UC Riverside.

Wichita Regional--2) Arizona can advnace with win over 1) Wichita St.

As always, the team(s) listed second can win the regional by winning twice.

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK KU!!!!!!

BRANDON RUSH IS RETURNING TO KANSAS!!!!!

JaRon Rush went to UCLA, Kareem went to Mizzou, Brandon went to Kansas.

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!

Well, We Got *A* Billy

Did Donovan lead UK on? I've been asking myself that a lot. He could have, and should have, said no to us as soon as he was asked. But he got a fat raise from Florida out of it, and possibly a recruit who had heretofore leaned heavily towards Kentucky.

Gillespie...everyone says he lives, breathes, eats and sleeps basketball. I hope so. Florida looks down next year, but Tennessee...hell, Bruce Pearl's rocking it. We'll see what shakes up.

A Time For Truth

Bear Bryant did not hold the record for most college football victories when Joe Paterno and Bobbyy Bowden eclipsed his mark. And neither of them currently hold the record, which stands at 408 games.

That record belongs to Eddie Robinson, Grambling State University head coach of 56 years, who died Tuesday night after a bout with Alzheimer's.

I do not know much about Grambling, other than the football program. Really, that's true for Alabama when I first went there. But I know that while the nation embraced Bryant, nobody really talked about Robinson. I won't go into the details why, because I do not know the full depth of those reasons.

Godspeed, Eddie.

Y'all Ever Eaten Corn From A Jar?

There is only one force on earth that can make me sing "Rocky Top".

Sure, I know all the words. Anybody who grew up in Appalachia has (Kentucky born!) Loretta Lynn's twangy lyrics burned into their ears. But I had to listen to that damn song every single time Fulmer's Fighting Fugitives beat Kentucky (read: annually). And then I moved to Alabama, and carried my bad football mojo with me. It was bad enough to hear it when it was expected. But drunk Vol fans filling Bryant-Denny with their orange noise pollution? Damn near sinful.

So, I have a hatred of that song that traverses three states and two football teams. But last night, I sang Rocky Top, and I sang it loud.

What was that irresistible force that moved me? What power could exist, that would sway my hatred so?

Patricia Head Summitt.

Congratulations to the Lady Volunteers. Here's to you overtaking John Wooden.

"They play very good basketball"

(NOTE: This is all opinion. If you want real UK basketball analysis, go to A Sea of Blue, which does it far better than I ever could.)

I was trying to explain Kentucky basketball to a Canadian friend, trying to pin down exactly why it was so big, what the history and the dynasty of it all was. I remembered an exchange in 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Here's the dialogue (thanks SciFlicks):

Heywood Floyd (Roy Scheider): Buy you a drink. Great stuff this bourbon. Comes from a land called Kentucky.
Tanya Kirbuk (Helen Mirren): I didn't know you brought liquor on board. It is forbidden.
Floyd: Think I'd set foot on this tub sober? C'mon try it. You can't beat the taste of alcohol and plastic.
Kirbuk: You think I was wrong to send Max?
Floyd: Doesn't matter what I think.
Kirbuk: You think I was wrong.
Floyd: Yep.
Kirbuk: So what else do they do in Kentucky?
Floyd: They have a big, big horse race, they play very good basketball, they have babies like everyone else.
Kirbuk: That sounds like a nice place.
Floyd: Never been there.

And that's it. Two strangers, one Russian, are trying to re-activate an insane computer, and they talk about a place they've never been to. Immediately, basketball takes the company of the world's most famous horse race and one of the finest spirits ever to be distilled. And it's "very good" basketball.

That's what Kentucky basketball is. It's what any dynasty is, it's the encapsulation of an entire sport, the highs and lows. It's the distilled essence of competition, purer than any bourbon. The New York Yankees are baseball (even though I'm partial to the Big Red Machine). The Celtics are the NBA. For any sport, there is one, or at most a few, archetypical teams. And for college basketball, Kentucky is arguably the archetype not only for its successes, but its failures.

Kentucky was slow to integrate. The Texas Western title game was the crystallization of that battle, as was Tubby Smith's tenure a form of denunciation of that part of its history. Kentucky had its shame in both point shaving and the violations of the 80's. Kentucky was the thrill of victory seven times, and the de facto image of the agony of defeat at the hands of Duke. Kentucky had its phoenix-like rebirth from each of these disgraces. Kentucky has heralded both the professional (Pat Riley) and the common man (John Pelphrey). Kentucky has been there, done that and will do it again. "On, On U of K" is more than a mis-lyriced fight song (seriously, football lyrics? At Kentucky?), it's how Kentucky operates.

I'm not going to get into the gossip about Kentucky's current situation, other than to say Billy Donovan would be a perfect fit on so many levels. That doesn't mean I think he'll leave Florida, it's just what I think. Kentucky will get the best coach for the job.

Now, however, is not Kentucky's time to shine. There's a Final Four to be played. I'm picking Florida, true to my SEC roots, against Georgetown for the title. Game on.