True Blue Kentucky

The Cats and the Cards will battle it out in Louisville tomorrow as the college football season begins in the Bluegrass state.  A victory in tomorrow's Governors Cup will give either team a good shot for a great season.  Here is a quick preview of tomorrows game.

Last Season:

Kentucky went to it's fourth consecutive bowl game last season after finishing 7-6.  The Cats used a balanced rushing attack to compile victories on the road at Georgia and Auburn.  Louisville fell way short of a bowl bid by finishing the season 4-8.  The Cards biggest win last season came against Syracuse.

Coaching:

New faces will make the calls for both teams tomorrow.  Louisville will feature first year head coach Charlie Strong.  Strong was the former defensive cordinator for Florida, and looks to return Louisville to it's winning ways.  Joker Phillips is no stranger to UK, but will make his coaching debut on Saturday.  Coach Phillips takes over the Cats after spending the last few season as UK's offensive cordinator under Rich Brooks.

In case you haven't seen any preseason football. John Conner has been lighting people up in his first season as a New York Jet. Rex Ryan really enjoys the way he hits people.

Here's a video to tide you over until UK terminates UL at the Slice.

Keep watching after the initial credits, there are a few more highlights afterwards.

Kelenna Azubuike is hoping to compete for a starting job for the Knicks in t 2010-2011 season.  The former Wildcat's quest for a starting job is up in the air while he is still recovering from a knee injury.  Azubuike tore his his patella tendon while playing with the Warriors last season.  Golden State traded Azubuike to New York over the summer.   

As the training camp start dates are approaching, the Knicks are taking a catious approach in dealing with Kelenna.  Howard Beck has an update on Azubuike's status in this article for the New York Times.  Here is an excerpt.  

Kelenna Azubuike, who was expected to compete for a starting job, may start training camp on the sideline, because of lingering concerns over his surgically repaired left knee.

Azubuike tore his patellar tendon last November while playing for the Golden State Warriors. He missed the rest of the season, and the Warriors expected he would need a full year to recover.

The Knicks are taking a similarly conservative approach.

“We’re not sure,” said the team president Donnie Walsh, who described a torn patellar tendon as “one of the worst injuries in the league.”

Tradition rich programs such as Kentucky Basketball find ways to add on to their folklore, sometimes in the most unsuspecting of places.  Remember Les Smith of Fox 13 in Memphis?  Thousands of Kentucky fans stayed glued to their computer screens as Fox 18 streamed a live feed of a University of Memphis Athletic Department door in the hopes of catching a glimpse of rumored new head basketball coach John Calipari.

During this live feed, a local Memphis sports anchor named Les Smith would come on screen, at which time the live chat room accompanying the video stream would see hundreds of chants for Les, chanting his name in Internet unison.

It has been mentioned several times that UK will debut their brand new head coach when Joker Phillips takes on UL Saturday.  Several new players will also make their debut when the Cats take the field.  Two players in particular, Jerrell Priester and Raymond Sanders, are ready to take down the Cards.  Larry Vaught updates UK's freshmen duo in this article for the Advocate Messenger.

Kentucky head coach Joker Phillips has been waiting for Saturday for a while now.  It was just a few years ago that UK named Phillips head coach in waiting during the Rich Brooks era.  Now that Brooks has retired, Joker inherits a program that is steady and looking to reach new heights. 

Joker  joins Charlie Strong at UL and Willie Taggert at WKU as the three new college coaches in the state of Kentucky.  Yet unlike Strong and Taggert, Joker may not have as much room for error.  Rich Bozich explains in his latest article for the Courier Journal.  Here are some excerpts. 

John Calipari's paperback version of Bounce Back comes out the same time he'll be touring the Bluegrass signing copies of the book.  The book features a new epilogue.  Cal will be in Lexington on Wednesday at the Hamburg Place, Barnes and Noble book store signing copies for fans.

Article courtesy of Jerry Tipton:

Kentucky Coach John Calipari is scheduled to go on a book-signing tour of the Commonwealth this week. The tour comes in conjunction with his best seller, “Bounce Back — Overcoming Setbacks to Succeed in Business and in Life,” coming out in paperback.