Everyone is waiting for news involving John Wall and the timetable for an announcement regarding the eligibility of Wall for this coming season. While UK has stood firm by their comments that everyone is eligible until otherwise stated. UK is taking a firm stance that they are confident about this issue and how it will be resolved. Jerry Tipton at the Herald Leader, who is well known for his articles about UK basketball not sure if that is good or bad.

The real question today is whether or not Wall will be participating in the Blue-White scrimmage tonight. Is tonight’s scrimmage a competition? Is it a glorified practice, is it a practice with a bunch of fans? Those are the questions that are being asked by most people. If you ask UK fans that bleed blue they will tell you that the scrimmage is a practice and that is it. If you ask someone in the media (Pat Forde), then it would be viewed as a competition without question.

Whether or not Wall participates tonight, it is going to be a great practice for all of Big Blue Nation to see. I would not be surprised either way. I would never blame UK for being cautious not knowing what the NCAA is up to with this. Sometimes its better safe than sorry. I personally would love nothing more than to see Wall out there and that is obviously what everyone is hoping for.

The big match-up that has been getting some talk in the past couple of days is between Orton and Cousins. This is going to be a match-up that probably will not disappoint anyone. UK has three of the biggest strongest forwards in the country and right now the guards are getting most of the attention, but look for this to be an exciting match-up tonight.

Tomorrow night will give fans another chance to see John Wall dazzle the court as he displays why he is the #1 rated player coming into the season. Here are a couple of videos that I love.

Over the last week we have seen and heard a lot about Joe Craft donating money to the University of Kentucky to build a new Wildcat Lodge. Should there really be this big huge debate? If this lodge was using name that showed support the “green” movement would the national media be covering it in a negative way? Definitely not…why do people feel the need to tell a man that has money to donate not to do it because it goes against the “green” movement. Coal is a part of Kentucky and our past and future, even though some would argue that point.
My biggest question is should politics be pushing its way into basketball? Should people make a big deal about Coach Cal and the jersey thing with Obama? I think people should leave politics at the door and keep it out of college athletics. People can donate money because they love program, and if the university wants the money then they should agree to the terms as long as they are reasonable.
Many many peoples lives and families are impacted in a positive way by coal everyday. My grandfather was a coal miner, so I obviously know how much it means to families. My grandfather worked extremely hard as a coal miner at night and a dairy farmer in the day. I honestly believe that people need to understand that you don’t get upset over the name of a lodge. Sure, you have those that want the government to monitor everything that is done in the United States and this is another example of how liberals deal with issues. CNN has sports correspondents that probably have never held a basketball in their lives. Yet, they report on athletics? Not sure how that works.
One last thing on this issue is that we live in Kentucky…we have a certain heritage and I will never be ashamed of that. If donors give money they should be recognized even if popular blogs and the mainstream media wants to cause a stink about it.

Tomorrow night is the Blue White scrimmage and there are plenty of tickets available. The first exhibition game is less than a week away on Monday, November 2.

Tom Leach has some great interviews and videos posted from Big Blue Madness and Media Day.

Also, get the word out about the Black Out, Saturday night at Commonwealth Stadium when UK faces off against Miss. St. There have been some sites out there that have been taking the negative approach about failure on this, but encourage everyone to support this and support the UK football team that is playing well and looking to do some big things to end the season.

GO CATS!!!

Two more days and it will finally be here. Tomorrow will be a fun day as the media will get its first opportunity to interview all of the players and coaches. I will be expecting some great comments from the players and especially from DeMarcus Cousins. DeMarcus has definitely been the player that has been the most entertaining over the summer. While everyone was camped out waiting to get tickets for Big Blue Madness, Cousins showed us his comic side.

Cousins is a player that many people have questions about because of his past issues with coaches and other players. While Coach Cal and the UK coaching staff seems 100% comfortable with Cousins and his attitude, it will be something that most others will be watching. There is no doubt at all about how Cousins has adjusted to life at UK. He is definitely a big hit with the fans and with everyone that meets him. There is also no question about his level of talent. Cousins will make an immediate impact and most likely will end up being a one year player.

Here’s what we have to look forward to.

Only 3 days left till Big Blue Madness! Lets take a quick look at Patrick Patterson. Patterson is the one bright spot of Kentucky basketball for quite some time now. I don’t think anyone could question the impact that he has had on the program and how he has shown that players do still go to a school because he wants to be a part of it. Most kids these days just go to a school for selfish reasons and I doubt anyone could argue against the reasons Patrick chose UK and chose to return this season.

Patrick could have very easily picked Florida over UK and he could have left after this past season without ever looking back. Patterson has shown something to the UK fans that we have not seen in a long time…commitment to the University of Kentucky basketball program.

While there have been many talented players make their way through the program it has been very very rare to find a player that really understands what it means to be an University of Kentucky basketball player. Hopefully he can teach the other guys how to embrace UK the way he has. The last time we ever saw anything like this was back when Pitino first started out and it was all about UK and nothing else.

Here are some Patterson videos….

We are now 4 days till Big Blue Madness! I am sure lots of people are very happy to see that there is going to be full coverage on WKYT and some coverage on ESPNU. Fans will be able to see the entire event on WKYT starting at 7:00 p.m. Friday night. There are going to be countless live Blogs and an unbelievable amount of blogs putting up posts all week getting prepared for Big Blue Madness. ukathletics.com will have a live blog Friday night and should be a great chance to catch the coverage if you are not able to watch it on TV.
Media Day on Thursday will also be a great chance for everyone to get a look at the players for the first time. Look for lots of great pictures and interviews from the various media outlets around the area.
As of yet, it looks like there will be no live coverage on the internet. I have heard several people asking that and especially those out of state.

Many people are starting to take notice of DeAndre Liggins after KSR had a post about how good he is going to be. This is interesting for several reasons…
1) Liggins has always had the talent, but his basketball IQ is what really seemed to be the issue.
2) Less pressure from the coach could be the biggest part of his game looking up
3) Can Liggins fit into the play of a “team”?
4) Where does Liggins fall into the rotation with Wall and Bledsoe?
5) Will we see a new looking Liggins at Madness?

I personally hope to see all of these young men play well and reach their true ability. Hopefully with a different type of coach that is not going to demand perfection every second these kids can really step it up.

Six more days till Madness!!! Thursday is the official media day for the 2009-2010 University of Kentucky Wildcats. Friday brings in the new season and the excitement is being felt all around the bluegrass. John Calipari has brought a new level of excitement to Kentucky and with this freshmen class including Patrick Patterson we are looking at one of the top 3 UK teams as far as talent level goes. Here are some highlights just to wet your appetite.

John Wall…

Demarcus Cousins…

Eric Bledsoe…

Jon Hood…

Daniel Orton…

Darnell Dodson…

With EBAY having a handful of Big Blue Madness tickets on sale as well as other sites, it is frustrating for people who really want to see Madness. Is there something that can be done in the future to prevent this? Is this really an issue? Should UK and the State of Kentucky be more strict on scalpers?
For many years I have attended UK football and basketball games and it has always bothered me to see the scalpers making money off of fans. With scalping being “basically” against the law it would seem the officials would do more to cut down on the amount of scalpers. I have seen the same guys buying and selling tickets since I can remember. UK even has their ticket policy on their site…which I have to admit is pretty lame at best.

“Important Ticket Office Policies

Scalping: Act 436, 155-Scalping of sports tickets. Any person who sells a ticket to any sporting event at a price in excess of the price appearing on the ticket shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars.

Scalping (selling a ticket above face value) violates University policy and Kentucky law. Selling or soliciting the sale of a ticket (even at face value) on campus without a permit also violates University policy. Therefore, a violation of these University policies or this Kentucky law may result in your ineligibility to purchase basketball or football tickets even if criminal charges are not filed against you. The Athletic Department reserves the right to declare you ineligible to order tickets if we receive sufficient evidence that a football or basketball ticket assigned to you was sold for greater than the face value of the ticket.

Counterfeit Tickets: Only tickets purchased directly from the University of Kentucky Ticket Office or Ticketmaster are guaranteed to be valid. The UK Ticket Office urges fans “Buyer Beware” when purchasing tickets on the secondary market. Counterfeit tickets have been reported at several games this season. All football and basketball tickets are barcoded and will be scanned for validity at the Commonwealth Stadium and Rupp Arena gates. Patrons with invalid tickets will NOT be admitted to games.

Transfer of Tickets: The purchase of season tickets is not a property right but rather a privilege that is assigned annually to you by UK Athletics. Season ticket holder privileges may only be transferred one time to a spouse or child. Questions regarding this policy may be directed to the Ticket Manager.

Infant Tickets: For Football, Men’s Basketball, and all Post-Season events, EVERYONE must have a ticket regardless of age.

Refund Policy: There are no refunds or exchanges on ticket purchases from the UK Ticket Office. All ticket sales are final.”

A maximum fine of $100? I know the University of Kentucky is not giving support for scalpers nor do they condone them, but I think they should put a little more effort into stopping it.
The biggest issue that is now faced with scalping is the ability to scalp online. Ebay does have some restrictions, but there are always ways to get around them. Craigslist has no real regulations that could help the situation.
Even if there was a solution to scalping tickets around an arena or online there are still going to be those who can get away with it. However, shouldn’t we try to cut it back as much as possible? If scalping is illegal and people are supposed to get fines (no matter how small), then shouldn’t that happen? It has bothered me to see UK alum searching for tickets and to see people who have served as the mascot being sold tickets for ridiculous amounts of money.
Scalping is a problem, and it should be noticed by the authorities. UK can only do so much to help the process, but the real problem comes with enforcement. WHile there are undercover police at every concert searching for people selling bootleg clothing, I have to wonder if they could put some effort into writing citations for scalpers.
The University wants to sell tickets for these events and it gets done when scalpers buy the tickets. The other part is that we want to fill the stands…this does not happen when scalpers sit on tickets because they do not want to get rid of them for a reasonable price. The only reasonable price is face value! Should these people held to a different standard than other people breaking the law? Why do they get overlooked? It is no secret who these people are, they are at every game and have been for many years.

So what is the solution?