Bowling in Music City

Last week I headed over to Nashville to see Kentucky win its first bowl game in 22 years against Clemson in the Music City Bowl. Amy graciously agreed to give me a guilt-free pass for a couple of days despite the fact that I was leaving her alone to take care of Owen & Gus, both of whom were saddled with awful colds & fevers. So I made the most and the best of it.

The 1,070 mile trek was an eight-hour drive each way. The trip included a weird experience around Knoxville, where I noticed several police cars speeding in my direction on my side of the interstate in the emergency lane. Once I saw them I looked in my rearview mirror and noticed a vehicle heading the wrong way up an exit ramp behind me. All of this happened very fast, and searching the Knoxville newspaper today I learned that this was the police chasing two bank robbers fleeing on a high-speed chase around the time I was driving that leg of the trip. Here are the two winners that were ultimately apprehended.

In Nashville I met up with Jeff Mills, my friend from UK undergrad days and his band of merry pharmacists from Louisville. One of them asked me, "Didn't you get bored and dread driving that long by yourself?" I thought about it for a moment and responded that not once did I dread the solitary drive. Personally it was therapeutic to have a little time to myself.

The highlight of the trip of course was the bowl game itself. LP Field in Nashville had a record crowd of 68,000+ fans, and at least 75% of those were Kentucky fans. It was a sea of blue. The Cats dominated the second half of the game leading 28-6 before Clemson added two late fourth-quarter touchdowns to make it 28-20. After the game, the pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River was a massive celebration of Kentucky fans. I mentioned to a couple of subdued Clemson fans to just give Kentucky fans their moment. Given that it was 1984 since Kentucky's last bowl win, UK fans didn't get to celebrate the successes of their football team very often.

After the game our crew descended on B.B. King's restaurant downtown where we proceeded to soak up the victory with many other UK revelers with a local blues band serenading the crowd in the background. Chants of "C-A-T-S, Cats, Cats, Cats!" spontaneously erupted for hours. Shortly after the party continued to local karaoke bars, I called it a night and returned to the hotel, having thoroughly enjoyed the Big Blue experience and at the same time eager to return to the comforts of home & family. The trip was everything I wanted it to be -- a chance to unwind with a long peaceful drive, see the Cats end their losing ways in football, and hang out with old friends. Perhaps next year will bring a New Year's Day road trip for the entire family.

Cheers!

The Big Blue crew readies itself for Kentucky's first bowl win in 22 years. It's not every day that you get to live the High Life at 9 a.m.



Mr. Mills and Mr. Rutledge waking up for the big game.




Derek in Music City.




A sea of blue at LP Field in Nashville.




The scoreboard doesn't lie. Kentucky's first bowl win since 1984 caught on camera.

Derek in Music City celebrating after the huge win phoning in to anyone who will listen.

Exorcising the Ghost of Marty Moore

At the risk of counting chickens before they hatch, putting the cart before the horse, and jinxing the current good fortune of Kentucky football all within the same blog post, I had to post this now given the good feeling that surrounds the Big Blue football program. And seeing how rare it is that UK gives its football fans the opportunity to feel good, I may not have this opportunity for another 5-10 years. So here goes.

When November rolls around fans of the University of Kentucky typically have their eyes exclusively peeled to the upcoming basketball season, and football lingers like an unwanted gnat. The Vanderbilt game is nearly always a gray, dreary matchup of the cellar dwellers in the SEC. By the time the Saturday after Thanksgiving gets here, Commonwealth Stadium is infiltrated by waves of orange and the incessant -- some would say obnoxious ;-) -- rumblings of "Rocky Top" can be heard in full blare. Occasionally the UK football fan is still clinging to the hope of a winning record heading into the final game of the season, but a win over Tennessee in the finale hasn't happened for 21 straight years.

This season is a bit different. For the first time since 1999 Kentucky has qualified to go to a bowl game. The team should be 7-4 by the time the annual grudge match with the Vols rolls around next week. The Cats have a young team dominated by underclassmen and are led by an underrated quarterback who has made the transformation from indecisive and turnover-prone to confident and explosive. UK has won its last three games including an upset over periennal power Georgia and a fourth-quarter comeback against a better-than-average Vandy.

So with this rare feeling of good fortune comes an extension to the football season that has me looking ahead to bowl possibilities. The most likely candidates for Kentucky would be the Music City Bowl in Nashville or the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. But an outside possibility exists for an invitation to the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. Several things would need to happen, not the least of which is a Kentucky victory in Knoxville next week. Despite the fact that I predict such a victory nearly every year ("No this really is the year") and despite the fact that my spy (my friend Eric who is a grad student at UT) is nearly guaranteeing that the streak will end this year, a win at Tennessee will be difficult as it always is.

Still for a moment let's assume the Cats continue their improbable run and finish 8-4. (I'm up to eleven chickens now I know.) This would put Kentucky in second place in the SEC East, and the Peach Bowl would definitely be within the realm of possibility. As the Peach Bowl pits SEC vs. ACC, a potential matchup could be against Clemson which would reunite the two schools from their clash in 1993 when I was a freshman at UK.

Such a scenario is the ideal cap to a solid season -- a chance to end many a bad streak: the losing skid to the Big Orange, the ghost of Marty Moore, the 22-year drought without a bowl victory. Don't get me wrong. There are still plenty of ghosts to be exorcised: the last second Chris Doering TD catch against Florida, the horrendous Hail Mary loss to LSU, and so many more. But with such a history of awful defeats, UK fans can't expect them all to be erased in one year.

Here's hoping the good fortunes continue and some ghosts are on their way out. Cheers!

C - A - T - S

Bowl eligibile for the first time in seven years. Assuming they win next week, they'll be 7-4 heading into Knoxville for the showdown with Tenneesee. Not bad for ole Rich Brooks & co.