Long Day and Weekend

The last two weeks or so of the semester means light posting. I'm gonna do a quick blog and then it is back to working on papers for the next few hours. Come post-Derby Day, blogging will be back to normal.

The Red Sox played on Thursday Night Baseball against the Devil Rays and lost. They are now 11-5 after 16 games. Tim Wakefield moves to 1-3. He's really struggling this season. I can say the same about the Cardinals' Jeff Suppan, a former Pirate and Red Sox pitcher. Pitcher Curt Schilling is tied with Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning for 15th place on the career strikeout list. Both have 2,855. Schilling with 145 strikeouts away from 3,000 and he should get that milestone this season or next. Manny Ramirez will become the fourth player player to hit 200 home runs with two different teams with his next home run. He hit 236 with the Cleveland Indians and has hit 199 as a Red Sox. He will join Mark McGwire, Jimmie Foxx, and Rafael Palmeiro. The Sox now start a nine game road trip.

Rep. Ben Chandler will speak at Centre next Monday.

Former Gov. Mark Warner was in Iowa recently. He recently spoke to Chris Woods of the Political Forecast before speaking to Yepsen.

The Kennedy book is coming out this year in time for the elections. He was recently on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

You know what's weird? When just about every UK athletic program but men's basketball is nationally ranked! The baseball team is now on pace to get in the top 15.

Every so often, we get a chance to prove people wrong. That's one of the greatest things about athletics, and it's the chance the UK baseball team has this weekend when it hosts No. 7 South Carolina. The Gamecocks, at 11-4, are the best team in the Southeastern Conference. USC is a premier program having a great season, and it is a prime target for these upstart Cats.

"People still underestimate us," second baseman John Shelby said. "They still think we're the same Kentucky, but we can prove ourselves. If we can pull this, we'll prove to everybody that we're for real."

No doubt about that. This is the biggest weekend for the UK program in at least a decade. That fact is not lost on the players.

"It's the biggest series I've ever played in college," Shelby said.

Forgive head coach John Cohen for not drinking the Kool-Aid. While he grudgingly conceded that these three games are a "tremendous opportunity," he stayed true to Coach-speak.

Kentucky is in the top 25 (ranked 21st) and recently defeated Louisville 3-1. The BatCats are 27-10 overall and 8-7 SEC. For what it's worth, next week's game between UK and Murray State will be on FSN South on Wednesday evening.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel is the hero of incoming JTS Chancellor Arnold Eisen.

Time to preview this today's game over at Redbirds Fun.