Thursday Night Headlines

It's been another slow day around Big Blue Nation, but hey, it's August. Trust me... when football season kicks into a high gear next month, it will be a sprint to the end of the year, and there will be no shortage of compelling story lines to discuss each day. For now, you'll just have to bare with us as we all anxiously await the kick off to football season on September 5th and Midnight Madness on October 16th. I know we're all looking forward to both. Anyway, for those of us that bleed blue, we'll discuss whatever there is, even if it's pretty light stuff.

Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News has posted an article that says John Calipari is getting a head start and is already urging UK fans to show respect to Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals when they visit Rupp Arena during the upcoming regular basketball season. Just how cordial Cal should expect UK fans to be remains to be seen, but some (pardon the pun) catcalling and creative signage have to be expected, and whether it be right or wrong is beside the point. Personally, I hope the fans show some respect to Pitino and the Cardinals and let our basketball team take care of embarrassing the dirty birds on the court, instead of classless fans trying to do it from the stands. Meanwhile, Louisville/Pitino homer, Pat Forde continues to rise up to his pal's defense. Why ESPN continues to give Forde a pulpit for this garbage is beyond me. The guy only co-authored a book for the guy, why would any of us expect him to be a little biased? Geez. I guess I'm just a little critical of Forde because of how consistently critical he has been of Kentucky and Calipari, often focusing on rumors and opinions instead of the concrete facts. Meanwhile, he continues to give his pal Rick a free pass, even though the dude got caught with his pants down in the nastiest of scandals. Forde simply refuses to look at the situation without his rose colored glasses, while ESPN continues to allow him the opportunity to rise to his friend's defense. To me, that's a scandal in and of itself, maybe just not as nasty as Pitino's sex, lies, and cover up.

On a much lighter note, Daniel Orton recently hurt his elbow while working out in San Francisco. You can take a look at this picture that reveals some swelling. He has let everyone know via Twitter that it's nothing major and doesn't expect the injury to slow him down much. You can also read that he likes to cook, play video games, and watch random cartoons that no 18 year old man should have any desire to watch. I think we're going to like this kid.

Rumor has it that Trevard Lindley is on the watch list for the Bednarik Award, an honor given each year to the nation's top defensive college football player. It should be noted that there's generally a pretty large list floating around in August, including anyone with a remote chance of putting together a solid season. The same is true for the Heisman. If they're still batting around Lindley's name after week five or six, then he might have a real chance at taking home the award at season's end. One thing is for certain though, Kentucky's success might very well rest on his shoulders alone, so we should all hope for his continued success on the field.

In the sporting world at large, the tickers are buzzing with the major headlines of Michael Vick getting a second chance with the Eagles, while Donte' Stallworth is being suspended for the entire season. It'll be interesting to see if Stallworth receives the same "everyone deserves a second chance" talk next year, when he tries his own return to the NFL. Oh, and in case you didn't know, Tiger Woods is awesome. He hit 12 of 14 fairways in the opening round of the PGA Championship, good for first place. I'm still rooting for an epic rally by our boy Kenny Perry. Hey, it could happen!

Well, that's it for this 13th day of August. Tomorrow should be an interesting day as we introduce another writer that has officially joined the BBNR team. And, as always, we will also dive in and discuss some other big blue topics; so join us, won't you?

For now, good night and good luck.