That was quite a weekend. especially if you’re a hoops junkie.
End of the World – Not: Kentucky’s last-second loss to Indiana was a shocker, especially considering that even though the Cats played poorly overall, they were in a position to win on anything other than a last-second 3-pointer. They’re still a superior team, especially if Calipari can somehow figure out what alien inhabited Terrence Jones’ body in Bloomington. Jones disappeared and needs a wake-up call. Even Dick Vitale, on the ESPN broadcast, was at a loss about Jones’ performance, saying repeately he couldn’t understand what he was doing after Vitale had him in the preseason top five players in the country.
UK fan logic — It’s a good loss, because you don’t want the season-long pressure of going undefeated, and sometimes you learn more and get batter faster when you lose.
Are These Guys Top Five Material?: The Cards, on the other hand, are rolling through a bunch of mediocre opposition, which could lead some to think these guys are better than they actually are. On Saturday, it took a true Card fans to stick with the Fairleigh Dickinson route in the 2nd half as the big Kentucky game started. But U of L entered Saturday’s play ranked 5th in the AP poll, and will move up, while Kentucky will surely lost its #1 spot, even though #2 Ohio State also lost. When the new rankings come out today, it looks like undefeated Syracuse will be #1, and both UK and U of L will be in the Top 5.
Ballin‘: Ok. on to politics. Tomorrow is the low-key inauguration of Steve Beshear in Frankfort. He’s making a point of not spending a lot on the event, limiting the evening festivities to only one “inaugural ball” taking place at the Convention Center in Frankfort. Anybody can go, and the bill for the event is targeted at $400,000, less than half of what was spent four years ago.
Beshear’s problem is he knows how to get elected, how to make it appear he’s handling adversity well, but seems to be clueless about moving the state forward. Maybe he was just lucky — having the most unpopular Republican in history as his foe in the election.
As Joe Gerth reports, he hasn’t yet reached out to his adversary, David Williams, after the big thumping he put on him in the general election. And despite the assumed advantage the landslide presents, Beshear’s done nothing to make you think he plans to use that political leverage to, say, fulfill his four-year-old cmapaign promise to something passed on gambling.
Williams isn’t much for backing down, and not that he’s over being trounced in the election, I don’t expect the bully from Burkesville to be any more friendly to Beshear’s legislative agenda than he was before.
Say It Is So, Joe: Speaking of cutting back, it seems it would be good for everyone if Joe Reagan gets the job he wants in St. Louis. According to Insider Louisville, Reagan’s not done a lot to earn his huge $370K salary and, according to former GLI boss Doug Cobb, GLI needs new blood. He’s right, because no one can come up with anything significant that Reagan’s done to earn his fat salary.
It’s so bad that the Insider story was that there was a movement to squelch any negatives on Reagan for fear that those doing the hire in St. Louis might back away.
After this Cobb quote in Insider Louisville, it’s hard to imagine how Reagan would be received if he stays on the job. Cobb’s quote:
“I feel that GLI has lost its edge under Joe Reagan’s leadership,” Cobb wrote. “In my opinion, he has underperformed and is significantly overpaid. I think GLI would be better off with a new leader who would revive GLI’s entrepreneurial energy. “
