By now you have surely heard all the sturm und drang about successive weeks of bad calls by the same SEC officiating crew.  Needless to say, this situation has many SEC watchers, bloggers and pundits fairly displeased.  The SB Nation SEC blog Team Speed Kills has more on the subject here.

The bottom line is, there have been a lot of really bad calls in the SEC this year, and with all these admissions of error, there are sure to be calls for some kind of overhaul of the officiating crews.  I have no idea if this will happen or not.  What I do know for a fact is that Georgia and Auburn have a serious beef about the potential impact of those bad calls on the outcome of their games. 

The worst thing about the Arkansas call was that there were two other situations, one a pass interference call and the other a non-call that clearly (to my eyes, anyway) was PI on the Gators, that have the unfortunate effect of making the officiating look intentionally one sided to the conspiracy-minded.  That's not a good thing, especially in case where the SEC is repeatedly forced to admit error.

Now, for the news

Top Stories

• Midseason review: Kentucky - SEC - ESPN
  Via John Clay's blog.

• Randall Cobb's impact beyond description | KentuckySports.com
  As for the best word choice to describe Cobb. Brooks did have an offering of his own.
  
  Cobb, the UK coach said, "is just a great football player."
  
  That pretty well covers it.
  
  Welcome to the club. That's what we've been calling him for weeks.

• Kentucky, Mississippi State Headline SEC Preseason Media Basketball Picks - Team Speed Kills

• Midnight Madness brought about some notable events across the country - ESPN
  The Kentucky event was unprecedented. I'm not sure I've ever seen an entrance like John Calipari's at Kentucky.
  
  Read the whole thing.

UK Basketball News

• Player rankings: Wall beats out Collins as best point guard - NCAA Division I Mens Basketball - CBSSports.com
  Wild Weasel posted this earlier, but I think it deserves a re-post.
  
  I would dearly love to see John Wall and Sherron Collins go at it. Strength against length, athleticism vs. even more athleticism.
  
  I think it would be a much closer match than most might believe.

• Calipari full of it at Big Blue Madness... - VolNation
  Oh... my... goodness!. If you want to laugh, you have got to read some of this.

• Brooks: Newton likely starter for ULM

• UK doesn’t want to relive La.-Monroe escape | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal
  Three years ago, a confident University of Kentucky football team coming off significant Southeastern Conference wins had to escape an upset-minded Louisiana-Monroe team at Commonwealth Stadium.
  
  The Wildcats haven’t forgotten their 42-40 escape that day.
  
  I remember that all too well. I hope the past does not need to be repeated.

• Vaught's Views: Cats want 'historic' season: AMNews.com
  "We all believe we can be one of the greatest teams and have a historic season and be remembered across the world," said Patterson. "We want to go undefeated and win the national championship."
  
  Well, why not?

• Intentional Foul " John Wall Introduces Himself To Kentucky
• Bluegrass State Basketball: John Calipari and Kentucky: I Want My MTV

• A Q&A with Kentucky Coach John Calipari | The Big Lead
  Q: Your arrival in Lexington is the perfect storm: The SEC is down, the program returns some talent, and the recruiting class is top notch. Between your prior success at UMass and Memphis, will you be surprised if the Wildcats are Final 4 preseason favorite, along with maybe Kansas, Michigan State, and North Carolina?
  
  Calipari: We’re overrated. I’m serious. We’ve got six new guys who all think they poop ice cream. We’ve got six returnees who all think it’s their turn. It’s great to be mentions in with those schools, but right now – before practice has even started – we’re not a Top 10 team – maybe not a Top 25 team. But that’s what I love – I love molding a team and bringing them together and watching them grow and learn to respect each other and then love each other.

• Rupp Arena stage entrance kicks off Calipari era at UK in style | Washington Examiner
  On a stage befitting a rock star, John Calipari got his first taste of a packed house at Rupp Arena on Friday night and promised to return Kentucky basketball to "its rightful place at the top of the mountain."
  
  Oh, Hell yeah!

• The Dark Days Are Over — Accidental Akronite
  Big Blue Good Times this past weekend with Midnight Madness, the launch of the NCAA basketball season and, more importantly, Coach John Calipari’s promise to return the University of Kentucky basketball to its rightful place at the top of the mountain. In the words of many of our more erudite friends, "Dude, you have no idea." Translation: we’re stoked.
  
  I'm thinking she's right.

• John Calipari On Midnight Madness: 'Best I Ever Had, Best I Ever Haddd' - SB Nation
  Well, say this for Kentucky's John Calipari: As players' coaches go, he's certainly one of the hippest ones in the business.
  
  Heh.

• Tom Leach - Kentucky Football, Kentucky Basketball, UK Football, UK Basketball
  Be sure to check out the links to Clark Kellogg talking about Coach Cal. I can't link those directly, for some reason, but they are worth listening to.

• Rush The Court " Blog Archive " Closing Out Midnight Madness…

• John Calipari is revitalizing Kentucky Wildcats basketball and fans - ESPN
  "I don't ever remember it being like this,'' said 74-year-old Tom Wilson, who has served as an usher at Rupp for 21 years and was at his usual perch Friday night for Big Blue Madness. "I usually get here about two hours early, and it's quiet. I got here at 4:45 tonight, and you couldn't get a seat at the food court. People are just so anxious to get this season going.''
  
  Yessir, we are.

• Media picks UK, Patterson tops in the SEC | Vaught's Views
  Southeastern Conference media members don’t think quite as highly of Kentucky freshman John Wall as some others do.
  
  But they will.

UK Football News

• UK wary of potential trap game | The Kentucky Kernel
  They had better be.

• " Clay Travis and his Kentucky-Auburn wedding John Clay’s Sidelines

• The Associated Press: Rare win at Auburn boosts Kentucky's confidence
  Junior offensive tackle Brad Durham said the Wildcats used to have problems letting leads slip away at the end. No more, he said.
  
  "Now we're turning the page," Durham said. "We're not the same old Kentucky anymore. We're the Kentucky that is going to finish games."
  
  I like it. I hope it's so.

• Great Weekend in the Big Blue Nation
  Two years ago, Kentucky had a weekend to remember.
  
  They opened up the weekend on a Friday night with Billy Gillispie's and Patrick Patterson's first Big Blue Madness and a renewed sense of vigor on the hardwood.
  
  The next night, we all witnessed Kentucky battle #1 LSU at Commonwealth Stadium and come away with triple overtime victory and a rise in the rankings to #8 nationally.
  
  This weekend was right up there if not slightly ahead.
  
  Well, it was certainly a great weekend.

• " Video: Justin Jeffries talks about no penalties John Clay’s Sidelines
  Heh.

• Johnson is SEC Defensive Player of the Week - KENTUCKY OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

• State-Journal.com - In praise of Rich Brooks
  Nice read.

Other UK Sports News

• Klefot Honored as SEC Freshman of the Week - KENTUCKY OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

NCAA Sports News

• Big-time scorers? 16 who could top 60 - Beyond the Arc - msnbc.com
  Pick your favorite scoring outburst from 2008-09. Was it Ryan Toolson hitting 63 against Chicago State? Or Ben Woodside’s 60 vs. Stephen F. Austin? Or Jodie Meeks dropping 54 against Tennessee?

Other News of Interest

• Is the C-J serious? - Card Chronicle
  Heh. One wonders ...

The Daily Schadenfruede

• Calipari era begins at UK / LJWorld.com
  The Tar Heels draw 19,000. I'm sure they think that's pretty good. :-)