Big Blue Nation Linkapalooza: Love/Hate Edition

Kentucky Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart is not feeling the love from some Kentucky fans.  Gary Parrish asks for love, but shall receive none from me.  That and more in today's Linkapalooza.

• Paul Jordan takes the bull by the horns.

  No matter what you think about Joker Phillips, it's not fair to the kids that wear Kentucky across their chest to not have the full support of the Commonwealth.  When John Calipari says the Kentucky Wildcats are the team of the Commonwealth, he is not talking about just the basketball side of things.  
  
  So show your colors, Wildcat fans.  The UKAA has given Joker Phillips a vote of confidence.  Now it's time for the fans to do so too.

• Kevin McCauley at the mothership reports the first BCS rankings.

  The initial BCS rankings are out after Week 8 of the college football season, and to the surprise of absolutely no one the LSU Tigers are on top of the standings. The Alabama Crimson Tide are ahead of the Oklahoma Sooners, while the Oklahoma State Cowboys have found themselves ahead of all of Boise State, Wisconsin and Stanford to the surprise of many.

• Ira Combs has some good advice for the Football Wildcats

  Now , as we drift closer to the kickoff ( Noon on ESPNU ) of saturdays Homecoming tilt against 1-AA Jacksonville State of the Ohio Vally Conference the Cats braintrust over at the Nutter Training Center on Cooper Drive has been privately telling their players and themselves another old sports slogan made famous by the late great NFL guru Al Davis.
  
  "Just win baby" , anyway , any how , and by any spread . Got to stop the bleeding before you can patch the wound .

• The Omega an Spencer Hall's alphabetical.

• Spencer Hall's alphabetical.
  Always a treat.

• Kyle Tucker wonders if UK should be an underdog versus Jacksonville St.

  It was an error. When USA Today installed Jacksonville State as a 9-point favorite at Kentucky this weekend, that was a mistake. I checked with Danny Sheridan, USA Today’s odds maker, and he said it was a goof. Typically, Vegas doesn’t even put out betting lines on matchups between FBS and FCS teams but Sheridan said UK would be favored against the Gamecocks.

• Kentucky is only the 7th richest program in terms of net revenue.
  The apparent reason is the expenses, which are higher than every other team listed, most by a very wide margin. Kentucky nets out just over $5m, while all the programs above them net out more than $10m.

• Jon at SDS says that the SEC has dominated the BCS rankings over its history.

  Since the beginning of the BCS in 1998 – yes, Tennessee won it all in its first year – the SEC has put the most teams in the BCS, with 410 total appearances.

• Mark Long of the AP writes that Will Muschamp is taking some soap to his language.

  Muschamp apologized Tuesday for his colorful words that were caught by television cameras during his team's 17-6 loss at Auburn last week. But the emotional first-year coach said he has no plans to temper his sideline antics.

• Jason King tells us what he knows about college basketball.

  • The Big East will (again) be the country's top conference this season, but I'm more excited about the SEC. Kentucky, Florida and Vanderbilt are Final Four contenders, and no team intrigues me more than Mississippi State.

• Guy Ramsey writes that UK focused on defense Monday.

  - Outside of competitiveness, the thing Calipari probably demands most is enthusiasm. In fact, there was one drill after which he specifically told players to chest bump. "This should be the happiest time in your day," Calipari said of practice. "It's mine." From that point forward, there was a noticeable spike in chatter and clapping amongst the team.

  If you're a Kentucky fan, you love this about Calipari.

• Brian Finn at Nation of Blue reports that Vandy is down a big man for a few weeks.

  Well in case you haven't heard, Vanderbilt star center Festus Ezeli will miss the first six games of this season due to improper benefits.

  But what improper benefits exactly?

• John Clay reports that ESPN announces its full basketball schedule.

• John Clay does an Internet poll, and Mitch Barnhart loses.
  I can tell you that Barnhart doesn't give a tinker's damn what UK fans think at this point. And you can quote me on that.

• Heh. According to Matthew Hays at KSR, Gary Parrish wants your love.
  I haven't forgotten that absurd Anthony Davis redux, so I'm just not feeling the love for Gary no matter if he blows UK a wet, sloppy kiss.