Dear UK sports teams,
I realize that this holiday weekend is a busy one for you. I also realize that it probably isn't the best situation to have to be out on the road for what is normally a family holiday. But please keep just a few things in mind.
To the Football team:
Last year I sat in the freezing cold for almost 4 hours to watch you blow your chance to beat Tennessee for the first time since I've been alive. (No, I wasn't at the game, I was sitting on my Dad's couch, but the furnace had gone out and the house had no heat). Please remember that when you are facing the Vols again on Saturday. I would very much like to beat them this year, especially since they are about as bad as and Tennessee football team is likely to ever be. It is just another game. They are just another team. Please, just pretend that it's Norfolk State, only they are in their Orange uniforms for this game.
To the Men's Basketball team:
You need to win your game on Friday. No excuses. No mistakes. You have to win. Not only to give yourselves a win over a team that isn't Longwood or Delaware State, but because you need to play in the late game on Saturday so that I can watch the football team play too. I don't want to have to pick between the two of you. And if I do, I'd have to say that you might be the loser. After all, at least the football team almost beat Alabama and Georgia. There wasn't anything almost about your loss to UNC. So win, that way it won't be an issue.
To the Women's Basketball team:
Honestly, while I enjoy watching you play and usually try to keep up with your games, there is just too much going on this weekend. Play well, but I'm not going to be watching. After all, I have to find time somewhere to eat and sleep and shop.
And finally, to Mitch Barnhart:
While I realize that the Thanksgiving holiday is a big sports weekend, do you think that next year you could spread things out some? After all, there are plenty of other weekends in the year for our teams to play, they don't all have to play at the same time. And I'm sure the broadcast crews will thank you too.
Yours Truly,
A Big Blue Fan.
PS. And just to underscore the madness: From the Herald-Leader Wild UK Weekend
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Never Doubt that a Small Group of Dedicated Individuals can Change the World....Indeed, it is the Only Thing that Ever Has
So Tuesday was election day. It was a big election day. UK even gave me the entire day off work (and Lord knows it takes an act of God for UK to call off work).
I will say that I went out and voted. I believe that no matter who you are going to vote for, or what you believe, it is your duty to vote. It is our right as American Citizens to vote. And if you don't vote, you have no right to complain. So I voted.
And as I was standing in line to vote (the only time, mind you, that I have ever had to wait in line to vote at my precinct) I was struck by how much this election meant to so many people. It wasn't all that long ago that African Americans gained the right to vote (1870 i believe, which sounds like a long time ago, but is really only a few generations removed. My Great-Grandparents would have seen this Amendment pass). For women, that right came even later (1920, less than 100 years ago). And yet, on the Presidential ballot, we had both our first African American Presidential candidate and the first women Vice Presidential candidate on a truly viable ticket. Oh, how far we have come.
I was also struck with how important it was that this country was willing to elect an African American man as our President. No matter what you think of his politics, you have to admit that it was a huge step for a country that, only 150 years ago relied on slaves for much of its industry. For a country who only 60 years ago was still trying to figure out how to grow past its past of slavery and oppression. Where for so long, any person of color was treated as inferior. Where it took armed soldiers to integrate schools. Where people died because they wanted equal rights for everyone.
Now, I'm not saying that this election erases that history. I'm not saying that it makes up for all the bad blood there. But it does show just how far we have come. And I can't help but think that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr would be pleased at the progress we have made. After all, he had a dream.....
Langston Hughes
I will say that I went out and voted. I believe that no matter who you are going to vote for, or what you believe, it is your duty to vote. It is our right as American Citizens to vote. And if you don't vote, you have no right to complain. So I voted.
And as I was standing in line to vote (the only time, mind you, that I have ever had to wait in line to vote at my precinct) I was struck by how much this election meant to so many people. It wasn't all that long ago that African Americans gained the right to vote (1870 i believe, which sounds like a long time ago, but is really only a few generations removed. My Great-Grandparents would have seen this Amendment pass). For women, that right came even later (1920, less than 100 years ago). And yet, on the Presidential ballot, we had both our first African American Presidential candidate and the first women Vice Presidential candidate on a truly viable ticket. Oh, how far we have come.
I was also struck with how important it was that this country was willing to elect an African American man as our President. No matter what you think of his politics, you have to admit that it was a huge step for a country that, only 150 years ago relied on slaves for much of its industry. For a country who only 60 years ago was still trying to figure out how to grow past its past of slavery and oppression. Where for so long, any person of color was treated as inferior. Where it took armed soldiers to integrate schools. Where people died because they wanted equal rights for everyone.
Now, I'm not saying that this election erases that history. I'm not saying that it makes up for all the bad blood there. But it does show just how far we have come. And I can't help but think that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr would be pleased at the progress we have made. After all, he had a dream.....
A Dream Deferred
by Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
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