http://www.kentucky.com/625/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com Columnists 60 Sun, 12 Oct 2008 08:33:55 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/106/story/546532.html http://www.kentucky.com/106/story/546532.html Mon, 06 Oct 2008 01:50 EDT
If you can't wait for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games to begin in two years, the organizers at the World Games 2010 Foundation have a couple of free toys for you.

You can now download a dozen desktop wallpapers featuring Games events at www.feigames2010.org/wallpapers.

There's also a free digital clock that counts down to the start of the Games on Sept. 25, 2010, at www.feigames2010.org/downloads/widget/default.asp.

Just think, you can sit in front of your computer and watch the days, hours, minutes and seconds of our lives tick away. Sounds like hours of cheap fun. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/553341.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/553341.html Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:29 EDT
Despite the negative characterization that the term has received lately, Dorothy Coleman is proud to be a community organizer.

Coleman is the neighborhood liaison for the Newtown Pike Extension project, a job that keeps her walking a tightrope among the interests of three levels of government and the residents of one of the most economically depressed areas in Fayette County.

"I am always amazed at the amount of grief she puts up with, from us and from the neighborhood," said Andrew Grunwald, project manager for the city of Lexington. "It is just amazing. I'm sure she gets frustrated, but she gets up every day and goes back and does it again."

I'm going to write a few columns about this project, but for now I want to focus on Coleman. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/140/story/523490.html http://www.kentucky.com/140/story/523490.html Sun, 14 Sep 2008 09:14 EDT
When Time magazine writer Joel Stein learned that all 50 states make wine, he set out to "see if good wine can really be made anywhere." He looked for bottles that cost $15 to $20, and he rated each wine: excellent, good, bad or undrinkable.

Stein, his wife and wine critic Gary Vaynerchuk tasted most of the wines. Twenty were sampled at a wine-tasting party with a dozen friends, and Stein tried one wine while visiting the state where it was made.

"We gained an appreciation for the country. The country, in this case, being France," he said.

In the article that appeared in the Aug. 28 issue of Time, Stein wrote about the Kentucky wine he sampled: "I had an entire group of snotty Los Angelinos demanding we open this wine just so we could make fun of it. There's a white rose on the label, it's from Kentucky, and its name is clearly a desperate attempt to market the wine for weddings and derbies. We were going to bury this wine. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/204/story/546477.html http://www.kentucky.com/204/story/546477.html Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:08 EDT
With just a month left before the Nov. 4 election, Kentucky's U.S. Senate race and two of its congressional races have made it onto national political observers' radar screens.

The Washington-based Rothenberg Report recently gave Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell just a "narrow advantage" over Democrat Bruce Lunsford and said "we would not argue with anyone who rated the contest as a Toss-Up."

And while Kentuckians won't have many state legislative races to decide this fall, some of the contests in play are expected to be pretty interesting down the stretch.

So here's a peek into 10 Kentucky campaigns that, four weeks from Election Day, look to be the most interesting, based on the competitiveness, level of campaign activity and compelling story lines of the contests: ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/785/story/552730.html http://www.kentucky.com/785/story/552730.html Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:24 EDT
Kentuckians like to say they bleed blue, especially during basketball and football seasons.

We also bleed black. Some say it's because of coal, but I have a different theory: blacktop.

Kentuckians love asphalt, and we have spent nearly a century putting down as much of it as possible.

Like everyone else, I want to get where I'm going fast. I hate to sit in traffic. And, as a cyclist, I admit to being a pavement connoisseur. There is nothing like gliding down a lightly traveled country road on fresh, smooth asphalt. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/592/story/553302.html http://www.kentucky.com/592/story/553302.html Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:00 EDT
FRANKFORT . This and that as we try to force our minds to accept the possibility that Bruce Lunsford might actually do a Tom Daschle number on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:

Who woulda thunk it?

Just a few weeks ago, this didn't look like much of a contest. Now, with independent polls showing it's a very tight race indeed, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has jumped into the fray on Lunsford's behalf, and Roll Call has run a story speculating about who McConnell's successor in leadership might be.

But such things can happen when you add a financial meltdown laid on the doorstep of deregulating Republicans to McConnell's joined-at-the-hip status with the most unpopular president in recent memory. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/290/story/536659.html http://www.kentucky.com/290/story/536659.html Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:51 EDT
All along, we thought Western Kentucky would not play a bowl game in its final season of transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Wrong.

Sort of.

Because of a three-week break in their schedule, the Hilltoppers will treat their regular-season finale in Miami as a bowl experience. They will play Florida International on Dec. 6. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/285/story/553015.html http://www.kentucky.com/285/story/553015.html Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:29 EDT
When you're 0-for-15 against the Ol' Ball Coach, you can't go 1-for-16 on third downs.

When you don't have much of an offense, you can't give up an 81-yard touchdown off a blocked field goal.

When you can't convert a chip-shot field goal, you can't give up an 84-yard kickoff return.

When you're in a nip-and-tuck affair, you can't squander time-outs because of personnel issues. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/283/story/440545.html http://www.kentucky.com/283/story/440545.html Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:27 EDT
One of the things the University of Kentucky coaching staff must decide when fall camp opens is what to do with Randall Cobb .

Cobb is one of, if not the most athletic and versatile members of UK's incoming freshman class. He led Alcoa, Tenn., to two consecutive state titles while playing quarterback, yet the 5-foot-11, 180-pounder also has the tools to play wide receiver, defensive back and kick returner.

When he signed in February, Cobb was told by the UK coaching staff that he'd be given an opportunity to play quarterback. And Cobb has spent parts of his first three weeks in Lexington taking snaps in pass skeleton drills.

But there's a major logjam at the quarterback position. Junior Curtis Pulley and sophomore Mike Hartline will battle to be the starter. Redshirt sophomore Will Fidler and his surgically repaired shoulder showed enough progress for him to stake a claim for a spot in the rotation. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/289/story/550875.html http://www.kentucky.com/289/story/550875.html Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:28 EDT
Lexington Christian Academy Coach Paul Rains remembers when Ray Graham and Mike Meighan were his "two biggest nemeses" in football.

When Rains was at Montgomery County in the mid-1990s, his Indians regularly knocked heads with Graham's Harrison County Thorobreds. After Rains moved to Madison Central, one of his main rivals was Meighan's Paul Dunbar Bulldogs.

"I won't even mention some of the thoughts I used to have about them on Friday night," Rains said with a laugh. "If you'd told me 10 years ago that one day we'd all be coaching together at Lexington Christian, and we'd be a Class A state power, well, you couldn't make up a movie like that."

Meighan, who was head coach at Dunbar for 11 years before retiring after the 2000 season, joined LCA's staff three years ago. "When Paul was at Madison Central, we butted heads a lot," Meighan said. "But this is not the same Paul Rains I coached against. He's become a new person. I'm here because this is where I was needed. It's a growing program that's teaching the right things to kids." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/286/story/499107.html http://www.kentucky.com/286/story/499107.html Sat, 23 Aug 2008 02:57 EDT
BEIJING . The United States men.s basketball team is looking for a little .R and R. at the Beijing Olympics.

Revenge and redemption.

They got the revenge Friday, whipping Argentina 101-81 at Wukesong Olympic Basketball Gymnasium. The Argentines beat Team USA en route to winning the 2004 Olympic gold at Athens.

A little gold-medal redemption is on the line Sunday, with Team USA taking on world champion Spain at 2:30 p.m. (a.m. EDT). Spain advanced by rallying past Lithuania 91-86. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/553064.html http://www.kentucky.com/287/story/553064.html Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:45 EDT
There was good news from what seems destined to be Kentucky's eternal quest to hang one defeat . just one . on Steve Spurrier:

The Wildcats really only had one bad down Saturday in Commonwealth Stadium.

Unfortunately for UK, it was third down . over and over and over and over and over and over.

"We did a poor job getting off the field on third down-and-long in the second half," Kentucky Coach Rich Brooks said. "And we couldn't convert third down ourselves." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/284/story/420905.html http://www.kentucky.com/284/story/420905.html Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:53 EDT
Joe Crawford was the third-most prolific scorer at last week's NBA Pre-Draft Camp in Orlando.

Ramel Bradley played inconsistently as a point guard.

So what does it mean for the former Kentucky players and their chances of making an NBA roster next season?

We asked NBA consultant Chris Ekstrand . ]]>