Big Blue Nation Linkapalooza: This Is Kentucky Basketball Edition

UKCat88Fan has another video out, and as usual, it is a must see.  Therefore, it is the namesake of this edition of the Linkapalooza.

If you can watch this and not be out of your mind excited for next season to begin, check your pulse, and draw a blood sample to make sure it's still blue.

Now, for the rest of the links:

• Would Calipari consider the NBA again?
  I think yes. But it would take a special offer.

• Sports commentary in Chicago.

   And no NCAA we-don’t-pay-players-because-it’s-morally-wrong treatise would be complete without a mention of Kentucky businessman John Calipari.
  
  J-Cal just got his multiyear salary bumped from $31.6 million to $36.6 million for, uh, winning fewer national championships at Kentucky than fired former coach Tubby Smith did.

  This just goes to show you how facts, absent context, can be abused.

• NCAA won't have say in early-entry NBA draft rules - ESPN

  "All of the various rules in the different sports are initiated by the leagues themselves," said Bob Williams, an executive with the NCAA. "We don't have anything to do with it. We can't have anything to do with it because of anti-trust concerns."

  Just to get this straight, and hopefully educate the idiots out there who continue to blame the NCAA for the one-and-done rule.

  Also this:

  Don't understand Pitino's complaints about his Big East schedule. A team should welcome a tougher conference slate for two reasons: Clearly that means your team is projected to be a title contender and more quality games means a better power rating and a shot at a decent seed.

  Just the argument I made yesterday.

  Pitino has always done this.  He did it at Kentucky, and he has done it for years at Louisville.  He's trying to manage expectations and make himself look good, of course.  This act was getting old at UK, and is seriously old at Louisville.

• GoLocalProv | Sports | John Rooke - Thinking Out Loud

  • Charlie Sheen used steroids before his Ricky Vaughn "Wild Thing" role in the movie Major League? He says they improved his fastball from 79 to about 85 mph. No word on any lingering brain damage he might have suffered, however…

  That's funny right there, I don't care who you are.

• Calipari to former UK players: Come back, learn, train.
  This is a cool thing for the coach to do, and this is the second time he's extended the invitation. I hope some of the players take him up on the offer. I wonder if the NCAA will object?

• Want to know all about the new hi-tech UK football uniforms?
  Watch this video, then.

• Well, they are big.
  Big is good in football.

• More on Coach Cal's invitation to NBA alumni.
  Very glad to see this. I hope they take the opportunity to take some classes as well.

• College Football 77 in 77: #64 Kentucky Wildcats
  Well, this guy isn't excited about Kentucky's chances and probably shouldn't be, but he does a good job of breaking it down.

• More on the Calipari invitation to UK NBA alumni from John Clay.

• UK Loses a Couple of Recruits to Vandy
  Ouch. This is not what I'd hoped to see.

• Kentucky and Syracuse at the top of Dajuan Coleman's list.
  Cal needs to steal this one. Tough, though, because Coleman is from upstate NY.

• Woolard’s arrival only adds to the Kentucky Effect
  Why not?

• John Clay's Big Blue Links for Saturday.

• Apologize for giving our coach a raise?
  These people of whom this article speaks are obviously just clueless haters, of which there are surprisingly many these days.

• Wall Street Journal Profiles Josh Harrellson

• Yanks' Colon pitches 6 shutout innings
  Some guys' names should just never appear in a lede. I didn't even read the article, but I laughed for 5 minutes at the lede.