Big Blue Madness

Down here on Tobacco Road I catch a lot of grief for being a Kentucky fan, especially now that UK has hired John Calipari, whom most ACC fans place a rung below Beelzebub and regard as a cheating scumbag. (Personally I think a good bit of the animosity has to do with the apprehension of Cal lifting Kentucky back up to the level of a basketball powerhouse once again, but that's a post for another day.)

As this blog's readers know, I still follow Kentucky basketball as regularly as someone with three small children who is immersed in ACC land can. So when I came across this gem today I have to admit I got the fever for Big Blue and had to share.

These fans are camped out in tents for blocks to get tickets to see Big Blue Madness on October 16. Kentucky fans love their basketball.

The Era of the Squid Begins

Fortunately for my company -- and any workplace in the country where there is a UK fan working -- Kentucky hired a head men's basketball coach today in John Calipari. Productivity can resume.

Calipari will bring instant credibility on the elite national level as far as recruiting and coaching are concerned. He consistently recruited the top high school talent to play for him at Memphis. So as far as competing with the UNC, Duke, UConn, and Kansas programs of the college basketball world is concerned, there probably was not a better person to do that than Calipari.

The new coach will bring a self-confidence and media saavy ambassador presence to the role that was certainly not Billy Gillispie's sweet spot. So for those fans that were concerned about getting a coach that would embrace the public aspect of the job, that concern should be put to rest.

Calipari is not without his critics. One man's self-confidence is another man's arrogance. Rival coaches do not like him, including Bruce Pearl and Rick Pitino. Rival fans are quick to bring up his associations with power brokers in the amateur basketball world. Many writers have already noted that his 1996 Final Four team was stripped of its wins because its star player, Marcus Camby, received cash from an agent under Calipari's watch (even though Calipari denied knowledge).

So like everything in life, there is good and bad with the hire. For me, an avid Kentucky fan living in the hotbed of ACC basketball, I just look forward to the Cats being back at that elite national level. And I can just ignore those UNC message board posts referencing Emery freight boxes stuffed with cash, death penalty probation, and shady recruiting connections.

Go Big Blue!

Open letter from my bosses

Date: Monday, March 30, 2009
To: Lee Todd, President, University of Kentucky
From: IBM management, Software Middleware division

Dear Dr. Todd,

We are writing you to ask you and your Athletics Director, Mitch Barnhart, to please move quickly in naming a head coach for the UK basketball team. Normally we do not mettle in affairs of athletics or higher education. As an IT company our business is technology, not basketball.

However, we have noticed a dramatic drop in productivity in one of our employees in sector 7G, cube H164 over the past few days, and we believe that drop corresponds directly with your vacant head coaching position.

After more detailed investigation it appears this employee -- a tall, lanky fellow with bags under his eyes the size of teabags and who shall remain nameless -- has been foregoing his professional responsibilities and instead sits at his laptop hitting the F5 refresh key on message boards, espn.com, and kentucky.com until his fingertips are thick with heavy callouses. As a result, no one else in our software lab in North Carolina has any internet bandwidth because this employee is using it all to see if you have named a coaching replacement.

So please understand our predicament and take our request under advisement. The employee's wife has also contacted us, asking that we send security in to pry him away from computer. And to remind him to pick up some diapers on the way home.

Thank you for your time and best of luck in your search.

Sincerely,
IBM software management team

Cutting Losses

Selection Sunday was yesterday, and for the first time in 18 years Kentucky was left out of the brackets. There has been a lot written, blogged, and "talk radioed" about the state of the Kentucky basketball program with Billy Gillispie at the helm. Much of the ranting and raving comes from the same people that expect Kentucky to win every game and make the Final Four every year. I do not count myself in that company of Kentucky basketball fanatic. But I do count myself -- reluctantly -- in the company of those that believe Dr. Lee Todd and Mitch Barnhart should cut the cord with Gillispie after a short two-year stint as basketball coach.

Let me start by saying that I was a fan of the Gillispie hire. Although I was a Tubby Smith supporter to his last day on the job, I thought if anyone fit the mold of what it takes to succeed in the fishbowl that is the University of Kentucky basketball program, it was Billy Gillispie. Here was a guy that admittedly put basketball first and foremost in his life so much so that it cost him his marriage. What better person was there to eat, sleep, and breathe basketball at one of the most storied schools in the country to appease a never-satisfied fan base.

Through his first season and a half, I still thought he was the best coach for the job despite some embarrassing losses -- Gardener-Webb, a 40-pt drubbing at Vanderbilt, VMI. But my mind began to change in January as Kentucky went on a 3-game losing streak. It was not the losses that bothered me so much -- after all, Kentucky never did develop a solid scoring option outside of Jodie Meeks or Patrick Patterson. Rather, it was the way the coach handled himself in representing the university that bothered me.

At Ole Miss, Gillispie was interviewed by an ESPN sideline reporter where he gave a condescending answer to a straightforward question. The next game, a home loss to loss to South Carolina in January where UK blew a 10-point second half lead, Gillispie chased the officials off the court at the end of the game rather than shaking South Carolina coach (and Lexington native) Darrin Horn's hand. Finally, the following week on another ESPN-televised game against Florida, Gillispie once again gave a belittling, snippy answer to a seemilngly harmless question from Jeannine Edwards, ESPN's sideline reporter.

As the losses began piling up and Kentucky's chances became slimmer and slimmer of making the tournament, articles were written that were more and more critical of Kentucky's coach. Some of those articles come with the territory when a team is losing. But when a coach's team is not winning the quirks and behaviors are less likely to be brushed aside or glossed over.

One article in particular on espn.com stuck with me as I came to grips with the fact that I may join some of the fanatics that were calling for Gillispie's head. The piece was "An inside look at a blue blood on the bubble" by Dana O'Neil where she was given "all access" to follow the team and coach through practices and games the last week of the season. The article touched on Gillispie's sarastic leadership & motivational style:

Gillispie hasn't revealed himself to be a yeller. He is more a sniper, a guy with a biting tongue who can make his point without ever inserting a curse word.

Far edgier in this practice, he reacts to a lazy lob pass with a "That's the difference between being 11-4 and 8-7 right now,'' and sarcastically asks a player if he's ready to hustle now.

If you have ever worked for a manager or played for a coach that used this type of leadership with people, you know how limited this approach is. I am a believer that you don't bring the best out in people over the long term by consistently belittling them or using negative motivational tactics. Granted, this is basketball and you don't hand out Disney stickers when a player does something good to motivate him. There is yelling and hard-nosed tactics involved with motivating 18 year-olds. But sarcasm and negativity as the cornerstone of your approach burns people out over the long haul.

Case in point, a team that features two of the best players in the country in Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson (and two incredibly quality individuals at that) loses nine of its last thirteen games down the stretch and misses the NCAA.

So I am joining the fanatics in calling for a coaching change after two seasons. After two seasons of a childish, arrogant, and ultimately non-producing coach, Billy Gillispie is not the right guy to lead the University of Kentucky basketball team.

The only caveat I will put on this is if Gillispie atones for his mistakes and changes his ways, especially with how he represents the university. But there is something about that stubborn, arrogant Texas swagger that leads me to believe Kentucky fans have to take him or leave him as he is.

If that's the case I say cut your losses right now and make a change before the situation gets even worse.

Jodie Meeks

With all due respect to the UT fans among our readers, this was taken off the Kentucky message boards today:

“Rocky Top, you’ll always be
Known for Jodie Meeks
Good ole Rocky Top
54 for 23″

Jodie Meeks unloaded 54 points on Tennessee in Knoxville last night. The game was quickly classified with "Save until I manually delete" status on the DVR.

What a night -- Go Big Blue!

Carolina Blues

I had the good fortune of getting a phone call from my buddy Mike Mankowski this past weekend with a ticket offer for last night's Kentucky/North Carolina basketball game at the Dean Dome. The reasons against attending were numerous.

The Tar Heels are the preseason consensus #1 team in the country. Kentucky is still in rebuilding mode and was an overwhelming underdog. The Cats had just suffered a humiliating season-opening home loss at the hands of Virginia Military Institute (!!). I would be sitting amongst 23,000 Tar Heel fans. The game was a Tuesday night game that would force Amy into childcare duty for all three kids at bedtime and put me at home well past midnight.

The reasons for it? Ashley Judd was going to be there -- in the Carolina student section wearing her UK gear no less. And I would get to see my beloved Cats live and in person -- no matter how down they are.

Naturally I threw reason out the window and trekked over to Chapel Hill, sat amongst the powder blue contingent, got some razzing from my friend, and watched the Cats fall behind early and never dig themselves out of the hole thanks to 28 turnovers.

Despite Kentucky's lackluster performance, the game was a fun experience. Hanging out on Franklin Street and catching up with Mike over pizza and Bells beer at Pepper's before the game is an all-too-rare occurrence for both of us dads these days.

And getting to see Carolina at its peak is a guilty pleasure for a basketball junkie. Tar Heel fans are riding the wave of success right now and it is fun to watch. Carolina's success is reminiscent of my time in school when Kentucky was at its peak in the mid nineties. UK fans were on top of the world, and Rupp was a raucous place to see a game.

There are some differences between the two most storied programs in college basketball. North Carolina's atmosphere is more "refined" than Kentucky's. The fans sport more sweater vests than flashy logo sweatsuits. And the Dean Dome has a banner for everything, including a national championship from a year (1924) when national championships weren't even awarded.

But despite the differences the passion is the same. It is what makes a fan like Ashley Judd sit in the middle of the opposition's student section with UK gear and makes a dad raised on Big Blue drop everything for the chance to see his team when they are in town.

College basketball -- gotta love it.

Cheers!

Knock on Zzz Wood

Amy & I have ourselves a sleeper. Tess has slept through the night about 6-7 hours the past three nights. Oh what a difference an unbroken night's sleep makes. While this certainly is not a guarantee that the 4 a.m. feeding won't return, it is a very encouraging sign. There are two grateful, fortunate parents who are very happy with this latest development from their two month-old.

This past week Owen & Gus have been out on spring break. Yes, preschools even have spring break for toddlers. I actually saw one of the boys' teachers over the weekend at Target, and even she was seriously looking forward to getting back into the school routine. We find that the boys really get out of sync when they are out of school for a prolonged period -- or maybe it's the parents whose world is turned upside-down. Either way....

Keeping the same theme of gratitude and good fortune, GJ has been in town for the past week to help keep the boys occupied. This has been a tremendous help as we have not been able to get the boys outside as much as we had hoped due to the welcome rain that has fallen on North Carolina over the past week. So having GJ here to interact with the boys has been great. And although we have not seen the sun in many days due to the rain, the rivers and lakes are finally returning to normal levels after a really serious drought here. Tomorrow GJ heads back to Kentucky to resume life in the Bluegrass, and life returns to normal here as the boys go back to school.

Championship basketball is on tonight with Memphis & Kansas vying for the NCAA title. Saturday's semifinals were surprisingly both blowouts. Hopefully tonight will be better. My soapbox moment of the day concerns CBS's coverage of the Final Four. First, CBS won't start the game tonight until 9:30 pm so the game will not likely be over until after midnight for those of us on the east coast. Second and more importantly, why in the world CBS continues to give the play-by-play & color every year to Jim Nantz and Billy Packer is beyond me. No one can suck the life, energy and fun out of one of the world's greatest sporting events quite like the second guessing of the biggest know-it-all curmudgeon Packer. Consider what the games would be like if CBS finally passed the torch to the incredibly exciting Gus Johnson.



Cheers!

Patterson

Looks like my March just freed up. What a downer for this kid, Kentucky fans, and the slim chance the Cats had of making the NCAA tournament.

http://www.kentucky.com/276/story/333161.html

An X-ray of Patterson’s sore left ankle earlier Friday revealed a stress fracture of the medial malleolus bone. UK’s star freshman will not play again this season.

From Billy D to Billy G

Kentucky is set to announce Billy Gillispie as their next head coach today to replace Tubby Smith. Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart moved quickly on the search once it was apparent yesterday that Billy Donovan was staying at Florida.

I first read about Billy Gillispie a couple of weeks ago when his team was in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. He had a great track record of building winners out of the two schools where he had coached, UTEP and Texas A&M, neither of which were basketball powers. Then I came across this article about how obsessed he is with coaching to the point of seeming unhealthy. After reading it I hoped Kentucky could either land Donovan or would go with Villanova's Jay Wright. But after following the fanatical UK fans' obsession over this coaching search -- complete with private plane tracking through the FAA website and real estate speculation about potential coaches buying horse farms -- I decided that maybe what an obsessed fan base truly needs is an obsessed coach to lead the basketball program. We'll see. Go Big Blue!

NYT: Coach's 'Unhealthy' Obsession Has Led to Success at Texas A&M

"Texas A&M Coach Billy Gillispie drinks Dr Pepper for breakfast, does not know his sister’s last name and is so tough on his players that his mother swears that she would never play for him."

------------------------------------------

"Gillispie said he feels more adjusted in College Station than he did in El Paso, here his life was so unbalanced that his house was barely furnished. When he held a selection Sunday gathering in March at his house in El Paso, the Christmas tree was still up. Still, he knows he spends more nights dissecting film than hanging out with friends."

Press conference at 12:15 ET online at http://www.ukathletics.com/.

Thursday Tidbits

Some tidbits from la casa de Rutledge this week...

• The weather has warmed up in North Carolina -- temperatures in the 80's all week -- so Owen & Gus have spent a lot of time outside. I had the boys for a couple of hours last weekend so we ventured to the neighborhood park with climbing rails, slides, etc. You can just see the boys' apprehension fade and their courage grow as they got to the point where they were running for the next turn once they hit the bottom of the slide. Gus had a minor setback falling from a monkey bar onto his face which scratched him up a bit and scared him more than anything. But scratches, bumps and bruises are part of growing up.



• On Tuesday Amy took the boys to a park where there were several kids. Unfortunately there was an incident where Owen pushed a younger boy off the playset causing him to hit his head and fall about four feet to the ground. Luckily the little boy was ok and we knew his parents. Still Amy took it really hard that Owen had done this. Owen and Gus battle each other at home for toys, books, position in line for raisins, etc. But when they act out aggressively towards other kids obviously that's something we want to nip in the bud. It is tough because at nearly two, they aren't quite at the age yet where they fully understand the consequences of their actions.

• To help with the discipline we've scratched off pajamas, books and Elmo DVD's from their upcoming birthday needs lists and replaced them with the bear trap and stun gun below. Hey, we're about to embark on a double dose of the terrible two's -- Amy and I want to be ready.

(I joke. Of course we wouldn't use such devices on our two-year olds. We'll wait until they are two and a half.)

• Switching gears to hoops, the Final Four starts this weekend with a stellar lineup of two #1 seeds and two #2 seeds. It has really been an exciting tournament to watch. Despite the presence of a Cinderella team making a run, the quality of basketball has been tremendous. The Tennessee/Ohio State, Vanderbilt/Georgetown, UNC/Georgetown games last weekend were just great games to watch. I look forward to the games on Saturday.

• Kentucky's coaching search continues to focus on Billy Donovan. I am intrigued by the possibility of Donovan being the next UK coach and can make a case either way for him jumping ship or for him staying put at Florida. On one hand, he would instantly excite the most rabid, loyal, and supportive fan base in college basketball if he took the job. On the other hand, he can make a ton of money where he is and build his own dynasty in Gainesville. Either way, we will probably know more after the Final Four next week.

• As an avid Law & Order fan this article on former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson interested me. Thompson plays the district attorney on the TV show and is considering a White House run in 2008. If he does run, L&O reruns where he is in the episode would probably be taken off the air (much to the delight of my wife). If Thompson were to pick Jack McCoy as his running mate, he might have a supporter in yours truly. ;-)

• Finally congratulations goes out to our good friend Chris LeDuc from Boston who just took the plunge and got engaged to his girlfriend Pam. We are completely stoked for the two of them. Good times!

Cheers!

The Pressure Cooker That is Kentucky

"He was looking forward to a new stage, a final stage I hope here," Maturi said. "We talked about a lot of things, but mostly it was about academic rates, graduation rates and that was one of the many things that endeared me to him. We didn't talk much about salary, but what he could do for young men. I know all coaches talk like that, but he lives it. That's who he is. That's why he is so revered."

--Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi on Tubby Smith

When Tubby Smith decided on Thursday that he was ready to move on from the Univesity of Kentucky, I immediately got a sinking feeling in my stomach. My beloved alma mater had just lost a quality, high character, national championship coach to a school where hockey is as big if not bigger than basketball.

I was certainly not the only one who was disappointed at the news. But there were also many people within the UK fan base who had an opposite reaction. On the UK basketball message boards, there were 13,000+ people logged in to discuss the news yesterday. Many if not most of them were glad to see Tubby leave Kentucky.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Considering we live in a microwave society where results are expected immediately, patience is a lost art, and everyone has a voice on talk shows and the internet it was easy to see this situation unfolding over the past year or two. Couple that environment with the fact that the situation at Kentucky comes with incredibly high -- and I would argue incredibly unrealistic -- expectations, and Tubby's departure makes sense. The man was just fed up with never feeling like he was appreciated. I don't blame him a bit for his decision.

The frustrating part for me is that I don't think these fans who demand so much will really learn anything from this experience. In their minds they believe they are justified in having their wish fulfilled for a new coach and entitled to the success that they want for UK. The reality is these expectations are wildly unachievable. A Final Four every year is not realistic. Is it something to strive for? Certainly. But if the team has a great year and falls short of a national championship, that doesn't justify or entitle getting a new coach.

Tubby is an outstanding indivdual. I met him in 1998 in North Carolina at the Jimmy V charity golf tournament after Tubby had just won the national championship. He was as gracious, humble and unassuming of a person as I could imagine, especially for someone that was the championship coach at arguably the most storied basketball program in the country. But he was more than that. Tubby graduated his players, ran his program the right way, and didn't cheat to win -- something to be noted with Kentucky's checkered past. And Tubby certainly won -- an average of 26 wins per year, one national championship, two Elite Eights, and multiple SEC championships. It is a sad reflection on us as fans when such success isn't good enough.

All that said, in spite of the negative aspects of the expectations at UK there is an upside to Kentucky fans' fanatacism as well. When Kentucky plays in the SEC and NCAA tournaments their fans turn out in blue-clad droves. Amy and I traveled to Nashville a couple years ago to see the first and second round games there, and Kentucky fans filled up 75% of Gaylord Arena. Despite a fourth-place finish this year in the SEC, Kentucky fans still had the plurality of fans in Atlanta. Kentucky fans are loyal, passionate and will travel anywhere to support their team.

Pat Forde, my favorite college basketball writer, sums it up very well in his article on espn.com yesterday.

But beyond the lunatic fringe -- and it's probably true that Kentucky's lunatic fringe is thicker than most -- this was a supportive fan base during a pretty lousy season.

The proof of that was on display in Rupp on Feb. 20, when the Wildcats played LSU.

Kentucky came in reeling, having lost three in a row. LSU was in the midst of a terrible season and was playing without All-America center Big Baby Davis. This had mismatch written all over it.

Instead, LSU raced out to a 16-point first-half lead. I fully expected the UK fans to drop a chorus of boos on the home team, given its blasé performance in a must-win situation against a very beatable opponent. There were none. Zero. Instead, the fans helped energize a Kentucky comeback victory. The place roared with positive noise throughout the second half. This is what you'll get when you're the Kentucky coach: More scrutiny than you've ever had in your career, but also more passionate support.

The coming days and probably weeks will be dominated by speculation on who the next coach will be. There will be those who want Billy Donovan to bolt from Florida and those who want to return to the glorious 90's with Rick Pitino. I don't think there is a chance in the world that either one of these two coaches would take the UK job.

Similarly I think Kentucky fans have to realistically expect that some candidates may turn the job down. The pressure cooker that the fans have created is not for every coach. Some coaches will probably talk to Mitch Barnhart only to stay at their schools for more money -- the leverage game will definitely be played.

Coaches like Marquette's Tom Crean, Texas A&M's Billy Gillespie, Texas's Rick Barnes, John Calipari at Memphis, and Villanova's Jay Wright will be on the list of candidates. Personally I don't think Crean has done enough outside the Final Four run with Dwyane Wade. I think Barnes is a great recruiter but a questionable bench coach. And John Calipari left his last program at UMass in turmoil with NCAA violations, something Kentucky should be very leary of.

In the end I would be happy with Wright or Gillespie. I think both of them are good, up-and-coming coaches who have produced at schools with less basketball acumen than Kentucky. I just hope the next coach can survive the pressure cooker environment that he will face. And I hope he can hold a candle to the character coach in Tubby Smith that he will replace.

Inmates Running the Asylum

I am dumbfounded at this. What an absolute shame. Kentucky fans can expect their program to take a huge hit -- both in terms of respect nationally and success on the court -- with the loss of Tubby Smith.

Sources: Smith to Leave Kentucky for Minnesota

Tubby Smith will leave Kentucky to take over the head coaching job at Minnesota, multiple sources told ESPN.com's Andy Katz.

Smith had four year remaining on his Kentucky contract.

Smith met with Kentucky players and Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart. Smith is expected to fly to Minnesota later Thursday afternoon.

Smith called former Minnesota coach Dan Monson early Thursday and told him he was accepting the job. Minnesota is expected to pay Smith $1.8 million per year.

Go Big Blue (from Owen)

Four days of basketball in the Rutledge household. Even Owen is catching on. Go Big Blue!

Cheers!

March Madness

I am a kid in a candy store right now. A dog at feeding time. An astronaut with a fresh diaper. Yes, it's like Christmas Eve at la casa de Rutledge right now as the NCAA tournament is upon us.

Every year I take off the Thursday and Friday to watch the first round of NCAA tournament games. And every year I become glued to the TV when an underdog takes a favorite down to the wire, pulling hard for the upset without regard to what the upset will do to my tournament brackets. I have been fortunate enough to experience the first round games in person in Nashville and Raleigh in the past few years, and there is nothing like it when fans in the arena from all the other schools unite to start pulling for the underdog to pull out a win. There is nothing like the NCAA tournament, and the time is finally here.

Amy and I have our brackets filled out and have placed our annual friendly wager on who can pick the most correct games. If recent tradition continues, I will happily be donning a chef's cap and firing up the grill to make Amy the dinner of her choice. But that's part of the fun.

Finally as my buddy Dave O (also a Kentucky fan in NC) accurately pointed out, the schedule couldn't be better for an NCAA tournament fan who also pulls for Kentucky. As the Cats are the last game of the first round late Friday night, we get to enjoy two full days of basketball without the disappointment setting in when your favorite team has its season end with a loss. Hopefully Tubby can right the ship and finally get this team -- which has been so close to the brink of success this year -- over the hump. No better time to do it than in March.

So enjoy the tourney. I know we will be enjoying it for the next four days. Cheers!

Tourney Time

Duke is a shadow of its normal self, seventh-best team in the ACC. Yet I still chuckle when following how their thuggish exploits and dirty play gets national media attention. (See the funny "Love is a Devil" on Page 2 today.)

Kentucky is more likely to fire its national championship coach at the end of the season than it is to make the Sweet Sixteen. The team is soft and dysfunctional, the fans' expectations are wildly unrealistic, and an #8 or #9 seed is on the horizon. Yet I still get worked up watching them and can rationalize the possibility of an unlikely NCAA tournament run with the best of them.

Unlike in years past there is no clear cut favorite to win the national champion. There are 3-4 teams that are a step above the rest of the field -- UCLA, North Carolina, Ohio State. But certainly no team is invincible -- especially with the one-and-done nature of the NCAA tournament.

My favorite time of year is upon us! It's tourney time!

Bracket contest forthcoming....

Hump Day Roundup

Here are the latest headlines around la casa de Rutledge:

Pacifiers Swiped!
Amy & I made the bold decision last night to take away the boys' pacifiers. Over time we had successfully limited pacifiers to bedtime. Many times those little things worked wonders for us when we needed to calm an unhappy, fussy child. But the boys are creeping up on their second birthday a couple months from now, and we felt it was time to pull the plug so to speak. So how did it go? Gus screamed like a banshee for 39 minutes last night after we put him down; Owen for 34 minutes. Fun times.

Toddler Punch
(Knock on wood) Gus has stopped his awful habit of biting, both his brother and his parents. However when one form of toddler violence leaves our house, another form scoots in the door to take its place. So now we are dealing with hair pulling from Owen and a surprisingly deft right hook and clawing from Gus. We will break them of these habits over time -- Amy and I are going to start with "time out" to get them to realize when their behavior is bad. But it makes for some unpleasant situations in the short term. Like when Amy's friend Julie brought her two little ones, Jack and Emma, over to play with the boys on Tuesday and our boys thought it was a battle royale instead of a play date. And when Gus decided yesterday that it was funny to grab his father's cheeks and dig his fingernails in with both hands. Ah, parenthood -- you clear one hurdle and two more appear. (Do we get any sympathy?) :-)

The Purple One
Amy queued up the halftime show from the Super Bowl yesterday while she was home with the boys. Gus took great interest in Prince's performance of "Let's Go Crazy," bouncing and dancing and shouting out "Go, go, go!" We have a little performer on our hands. Amy & I will have to get video and post it here if we can get him to do it again. Not that we'd use this to embarass him when he's a teenager or anything. He's not going to let the elevator break him down.

Hoops Heaven
As I've mentioned before one of my favorite things about the Triangle is the way college basketball is engrained into the culture here. With NC State, UNC, and Duke all right here it makes for some great drama between fans and some great matchups for a hoops junkie such as myself. As this past weekend saw both Duke and UNC suffer a rare loss -- the Heels to their archrival NC State no less -- the stage is set for tonight's raucous UNC/Duke game with both teams trying to avoid losing streaks. The rivalry between these two schools is like nothing I've ever seen. The students at Duke, albeit misguided their cheers scripted, take this game so seriously that they camp out in Krzyzewskiville, a tent city on campus where students live for weeks in advance of the game. The atmosphere in Cameron Indoor Stadium will be electric. From the Heels standpoint UNC fans despise Duke with sheer enmity, claiming Dookies to be elitist, self-centered carpetbaggers and their coach "rat-faced." Just check out some of the comments over on the UNC message board on the "You know you're a dook fan if...." thread -- tremendously funny stuff. So tonight I'm guaranteed to be parked in my chair watching the first installment of this season's rivalry with a big grin on my face -- I can't wait.

Cheers!

Update: To help Duke avoid a three-game losing streak tonight, the ACC will award them four points for each made basket instead of two. (Hat tip to LeDuc for this gem)

Dukie Blues

Living in the Triangle it is always fun watching the Duke men's basketball fall in front of the Cameron Crazies. It is especially fun when an opponent leaps completely over a Duke defender to stun the crowd. I like how ESPN freezes the image. ;-)

This kid from Virginia Tech should frame this picture and send it to Greg Paulus each year for Christmas for the next 50 years. Enjoy!