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Today's quickies are all about Louisville making official the re-hiring of former head football coach Bobby Petrino. Congratulations to the Cardinals. They are getting exactly what they deserve. Petrino fits right in with the culture of that school.
Tweets of the Morning:
Louisville media market seems to have taken a strong (no pun intended) approach of covering this story from all angles.
— Oscar Combs (@wildcatnews) January 9, 2014
Lexington media market has mostly stayed on sidelines other then just re-writing the bare (again, no pun intended) facts out of Louisville.
— Oscar Combs (@wildcatnews) January 9, 2014
I think this is a good idea. There is no mileage to be gained piling on Petrino at this point. Let the Louisville and national media carry the water, of which they have been doing a fine job.
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
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This is a tiny bit weird. Well, as I've said several times now, I'd rather be a steppingstone than a tombstone. KSR says it's probably a fake tweet to stir the pot, and I'd bet they're right.
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Max Smith and Ashely Lowery will miss the spring due to surgery. Max got his shoulder fixed, and Lowery as well.
Kentucky basketball
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For Whom the Cowbell Tolls analyzes Kentucky's defeat of Mississippi St. last night.
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Cats show rust, but "paint over it?" Interesting headline. I wonder if they used RustOleum?
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John Robic subbed in for Coach Call in the post game presser. Calipari had to go to the hospital to support his son Brad as he underwent ACL surgery.
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Poythress proves his worth last night. No doubt about that.
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John Clay's take on the game — rust. Yeah, mostly. But the transition defense is a continuing theme.
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You can't really say enough about how solidly Dakari Johnson played in the post last night. He gives us exactly what we need — a low post presence that teams simply don't know how to double team. Double-teaming Randle is hard enough, but having two players that demand it is really tough.
Other Kentucky sports
Links posts
College football
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Johnny Football is going pro. I'm shocked. Okay, I'm really not.
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Gregg Doyel says nobody should be upset about Louisville hiring Bobby Petrino, and I agree that's so, but not for the reasons he gives:
Louisville wants Bobby Petrino to coach its football team. It really is -- or should be -- as simple as that. He made mistakes, and he paid for them.
Has he paid enough? Nah. Not for some people, people whose thirst for another man's suffering is never quenched.
He goes on to compare Petrino to Michael Vick, pointing out in essence that if we're willing to give an ex-con his job back, why not a guy who hasn't been convicted of a crime?
His point would be a good one if we weren't talking about putting said miscreant in charge of the development of college aged young men. For the most part, I don't think Louisville would hire a professor with Petrino's baggage no matter how good they thought he was, or at least I'd like to think so. I think that matters. Your mileage on that opinion may, and probably will, vary.
But in any case, the schadenfreude that I get to enjoy at the expense of Louisville is priceless, and Petrino is right where I want him. Even more importantly, my beloved alma mater, Western Kentucky, is rid of that ... person. Hopefully, they will never sink that low again.
Oh, and for you hand-wringers worried that we can't beat Louisville with Petrino in charge, I'll have to suggest that you are as bad as Louisville fans — you want to win at all costs, and what you really want is for Louisville to mess up their hiring so Kentucky's (in your mind, apparently) inferior program can win.
That's really weak. Stop thinking like that, it's unworthy. Just stop. If we can't beat Louisville with Petrino as head coach, that's because he's a better coach, and we need a new one. It's that simple. We aren't entitled to win because Louisville decided to hire a great coach who happens to be an untrustworthy cad who couldn't get a job at most BCS schools. Deal with it.
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What happens when you hire your own coach. In reality, this all depends on Petrino. If he behaves himself (which I predict he won't - think the parable of the scorpion and the frog, and guess which one is Petrino), Louisville will be fine.
Petrino is a self-absorbed narcissist only vaguely aware that the people surrounding him are human beings and not potted plants. He sees them as obstacles to be navigated, not compatriots or colleagues. He cares not one whit about anyone unless they can give him what he wants. That does not change by getting fired and doing a stint at a directional school, it's his fundamental nature, which he has amply demonstrated many times.
That may make him a winning coach, but it also makes him an entirely incomplete and lamentable person.
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Steward Mandel of Sports Illlustrated pulls no punches when it comes to Bobby Petrino, or Turtle Tommy:
Bobby Petrino does not enhance student-athletes' experiences; he torpedoes them. And Bobby Petrino is exactly the kind of mercenary that further blurs the line between college and professional sports. Few people are in a position to know that better than Tom Jurich, the Louisville athletic director who, when Petrino was his head coach there from 2003-06, watched him openly flirt with multiple NFL and college suitors, then gave him a staggering 10-year contract extension to regain his commitment, only to have Petrino bolt for the Atlanta Falcons six months later. Jurich's program spent the next several years digging out from the perilous state Petrino left it in, while the coach moved on to yet another job at Arkansas, where he napalmed yet another program. Fortunately for Jurich he eventually found a coach, Charlie Strong, who could lead the Cardinals to glory, but once again, that coach moved on to a more glamorous destination (Texas).
So Jurich, faced with finding yet another replacement, scoured the coaching landscape and settled on .... Bobby Freakin' Petrino? Really? Have you no shame, sir?
If you care about this, be sure and read the story. It strikes at the heart of all of it, and spares not one aspect of either Petrino or Jurich.
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This makes me happy for my old school:
Just got off phone with #WKU president Gary Ransdell. He said he will interview Toppers OC and #UofL alum Jeff Brohm for head coaching job.
— Michael Grant (@MichaelGrant_CJ) January 9, 2014Jeff Brohm is a quality young coach that would make a good hire for Western.
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Doc Harper thinks that Louisville's rehire of Bobby Petrino could be a nightmare for Arkansas. He has a point. Bobby Petrino, the coach who not only destroys your program, but keeps destroying it years after he's gone.
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Heh. Just win, baby!
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Lane Kiffin to Alabama OC? Well, anything seems possible. What's next, Bruce Pearl to UCLA?
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James Franklin to Penn St.? Looks likely. It would be a great hire, and a great job for the outstanding Vanderbilt coach.
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Eric Crawford decides to check around at WKU and see if Petrino is a changed man. His results are exactly what you would expect. He's not.
College basketball
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The Tar Heels drop another game, this time to Miami. Writers are legitimately giving up on them. What bugs me is that this makes the loss there look worse for us.
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Big win for Georgia over Missouri. I'm really happy for Mark Fox, who just lost his father recently.
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This is very not bad.
Other sports news
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Dennis Rodman apologizes for North Korea outburst, claims he was in an alcohol-addled state. Well, forgive and forget. If we can forgive Bobby Petrino, surely ...
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Good for Josh Harrellson, now with a guaranteed contract from Detroit. Attaboy, Big Jorts!
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Marquis Teague "solid" in his first D-league outing. Not bad, really. I think he just needs time, and he would have been well served by at least one and possibly two more years at UK.
Other news
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News you can use: Yahoo's main encryption not the best.
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The "Polar vortex" is easing! Thank heavens! I thought we were going to go all 2012 and have to watch Ellis Island freeze solid.