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I feel pretty confident in saying this has never been done. Why would anyone do it? A commonwealth circle tour. A hoops hop. A roundball roundtrip: 3 Division-I basketball games in Kentucky in a 15-hour workday. Noon: West Virginia at 7 Louisville 3 p.m.: South Carolina at 24 Kentucky 7:30 p.m.: Austin Peay at Morehead State Besides the odometer on the Ford Escape, my shoulder did most of the work. Since I didn’t have anybody with which to share this experience, here’s a recap of my January 31. 12:15 a.m.: Return from work from a day reporting news Friday. We were live on NewsChannel3 Tonight from the site of Friday afternoon’s private plane crash. 8:10 a.m.: Leaving Huntington straight from my apartment en route to Louisville, Ky. I tell myself I’ll be there by 11:30. 10:07 a.m.: Passing Frankfurt exits, there is a University of Louisville billboard tucked away on a hillside. It reads, “We’re Miles Ahead.” Being in a business that appreciates phrases with double-meanings, I’m amused by this. 10:59 a.m.: Stop for gas in Louisville and get directions to Freedom Hall. Once I get to the parking lot, I check to see if West Virginia’s sports information director has emailed me back. He has—and left our credentials at the media will call. 11:04 a.m.: Effects of the ice storm are evident. Power crews from Georgia leave the gas station with me. 11:35 a.m.: After setting up the tripod in the media room, I notice Louisville’s pregame media meal is pancakes—this is a first for me. It makes sense. Noon is early. 11:40 a.m.: I have to call Rupp Arena because we hadn’t heard back from UK Athletics regarding our credentials. 11:42 a.m.: Finally on the floor at Freedom Hall. We are designated spots on the sideline at midcourt. 12:15ish: West Virginia leads 12-10. After a 5-second violation gives the ball back to WVU, Rick Pitino yells in a quiet, soldout gym, “Throw him the (bleeping) ball!” Guard Jerry Smith was open on a backdoor cut, but was not thrown the (bleeping) ball. 12:20ish: Louisville proceeds to go on an 11-1 run after the sage advice from Coach Pitino. My brother Jeff calls during a 30-second timeout. 12:45ish: The public address announcer at halftime says, “Everyone doing alright? Everyone got their power back?” The crowd moans, groans and yells a collective, “No!” 1 p.m.: Yankees’ Manager Joe Girardi is introduced during a timeout in the second half. He was in town for a Louisville baseball function from the night before. Not sure what the Yankees’ ties are to Louisvlle, but Derek Jeter, Don Mattingly, Alex Rodriguez have all hosted this dinner before. Instead of doing any research on the matter, I’m just going to assume it’s all very random. (Apologies to Kirkland for the original error of this happening at 1 a.m.) 1:15ish: The Cardinal dance team performs. The “Ladybirds,” as they are called, have won seven national championships. 3:01 p.m.: Leaving Freedom Hall on the way to Rupp Arena—the UK/South Carolina game had just begun. 3:56 p.m.: Kentucky goes into the half up by 1. 4:12 p.m.: Just got off Exit 113 in Lexington, the 2nd half at UK starts. 4:20 p.m.: I finally arrive at Rupp Arena—it takes security about 5 minutes to find/create my credentials. 4:26 p.m.: It’s not fun arriving at any basketball game trying to find a spot to shoot with 7 minutes left in the game. It’s even less fun when it’s in Lexington—where I quickly learned at least 3 of the photographers are jerks. This is my first time ever at Rupp Arena—high school or college—so, I’m trying to enjoy a tight game nonetheless. 5:15ish: Devin Downey hits a pull-up jumper in the final seconds to beat Kentucky. 6 p.m.: I patiently wait my turn to talk to Patrick Patterson one-on-one. Other media have talked to him for about 20 minutes now, with every question having the word “toughness” in it. Coach Billy Gillispie challenged his team in the press conference a half hour prior, citing that as the reason South Carolina beat his team. 6:15 p.m.: I finally leave Rupp Arena. The sun is setting on the glass that faces the street—not a bad way to leave Lexington. 7:35 p.m.: I arrive in Morehead, Ky., for a first place showdown in the Ohio Valley Conference. Morehead State is up when I arrive. 7:40 p.m: Both Dave Loos and Donnie Tyndall are both wearing sneakers—just like Pitino, Huggins, Gillispie, and Horn in the previous games. This is in an effort to promote Coaches vs. Cancer. Nice to see this, for obvious reasons. I’m all about the dress down as it is, but that’s for a later blog. 7:55 p.m.: It’s a four and half hour drive from Clarksville, Tenn., to Morehead, but Governors’ fans are certainly making their voices heard. Mainly, it’s one obnoxious guy taunting Morehead players—always classy to talk about sexual orientation with heckling a collegiate athlete. 8:53 p.m.: The Marshall game goes into OT—I’m 19 miles away from the West Virginia border. 9:08 p.m.: I’m back in West Virginia. Marshall is down 2 points in overtime. I’m thinking if it goes into a second, I’m going to make it 4 D-I games in one day. 9:10ish: Marshall loses as I’m getting off the West Huntington exit. 9:15-10:30: I edit a 67-second story on Louisville-West Virginia, 40-second highlights at UK and 25 seconds from Morehead (these did not make the air Saturday). 11:05 p.m.: Home finally! |
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Posted by: Kirkland
Thanks for fixing your blog and making the time say 1 p.m. as opposed to 1 a.m., and yet I worry that from now on, when people read the comments on this blog, they might assume it was I who made a mistake.
Posted by: Kay Do you or Keith Morehouse know whether Tiger Woods is playing in the Memorial Tournament this year? Thank you. Kay Posted by: Stephanie I'm with gramma. I too was mad that WSAZ chose to air UK Basketball instead of the biggest loser. They play Florida this Tues. night. I guess we'll have to wait till Sat. night/Sun. morning again next week. Why can't you run UK games (or all games for that matter) on MyZ? Posted by: Kirkland I noticed that the segment about the Yankee's manager happened at 1 a.m. Paul, if you were still in Huntington at 1 a.m., how did you know about this? Or can I /assume/ that you made a mistake and meant to say 1 P.M.??? I always thought you were a perfectionist, and this is why I trusted what you said on the news to be "fact." But now, I just don't know. Posted by: gramma DEFINATELY UNHAPPY with wsaz decision to air basketball instead of the biggest loser!!! Posted by: Debbie Hey, Paul not only does everyone in Lou. STILL not have their power back, 2 of my sisters' still have trees on their roof. It's a big disaster and I'm glad right now I'm no longer there, but usually I wish I was. I haven't gotten to see the Cards play in person in over 10 years, so I'm very jealous of you right now! that stinks. They were quite impressive the first half, don't know what put them to sleep the second half, it was almost like Huggins slipped them a Mickey (just kidding) . Was glad they ended up coming out with a W. Must be nice to have a job like yours. |
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