This post isn’t about me and my aches and pains, but to praise my little girls and their ability to play through adversity and not give up.  Both of them have suffered injuries and refuse to let the injury take them from the sport.

My oldest daughter is in competitive gymnastics and it’s really difficult to comprehend how hard this sport is on the human body.  Going to gymnastic competitions, you alway see kids in medical boots…not one or two kids, but 6-7-8 kids on crutches making their way through the stands looking uncomfortable as they’re normally on the other side being watched – not doing the watching.  My oldest daughter probably has broken each thumb 3 times…probably all of her fingers at one time or another.  Countless sprains, strains, and bruises….not to mention the rips on her wrists from the ill-fitting uneven bars grips.  Elbow pain, ankle pain…you mention it, she’s probably bruised it.  But I have to give her credit…she is a tough cookie.  She loves to get big airtime and if not for her love of the sport, I would have taken her out of the sport because of the gymnastic injuries I’ve seen over the years.

My littlest one…bless her heart…has a broken arm and wants on the field so bad.  It’s her fielding arm that’s broken and she wants so much to be a part of the team.  After a couple of weeks, I broke down and let her play catcher…she was so excited.  You see, in t-ball the catcher in our league wears a helmet and stands out of the way leaning up against the backstop.  There’s very little chance of injury doing this and I was very cautious, but we let her do her thing.  She won’t get to bat until her cast comes off, but she gets to run the bases as a designated hitter bats on her behalf.  As a parent, I’m scared to death…but she can just as easily get hurt playing in the back yard or going down the steps.  Watching her run around the bases, I can see her smile…and it makes me smile.

Was there a new rule made to cripple the game?….NO. 

Did they cut the amount of scholarships?….NO. 

Did they make it tougher for recruits to qualify to play?….NO. 

It’s just that a bevy of blue-chip recruits are commiting to John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats. 

The groans…ughhhs…OMG’s…WTF’s….are coming because Coach Calipari has his recruiting machine in high gear.   Division 1 basketball coaches are quickly realizing that if Coach Cal wants a kid, he’ll get the kid.  “Coach Cal can get you to the NBA”….that’s the buzz.  And he’s doing it.  We lost five great players to the NBA after the 2010 season and none of them were seniors.  FOUR were freshmen!!

Learn the names quickly, as these guys may not be here very long: 

Enes Kanter

Brandon Knight

Terrence Jones

Doron Lamb

Eloy Vargas

Stacey Poole

Jarrod Polson

The next wave of Wildcat domination has been spotted!!!  Run in fear SEC opponents….run in fear!!!  

I feel badly for her as her t-ball season starts this weekend.  4-6 weeks in a cast.  I feel terrible for her!

Now on to today’s signups…..$75 fee….NOT including your obligitory attempt to sell $50 of fundraiser candy.  $75 isn’t enough??  OR… you could cop out and pay an additional $25 up front to avoid the hassle.  I’ll choose to avoid the ultimate demise and pony up the extra $25.  All I was really doing was taking us off the hook for an extra $25 and the thousand-million calories that would have went to my waistline.

Awww…she’s so cute! **disclaimer – not my kid**

I get to watch both my girls play softball this year.  My oldest is in fast pitch select softball and my youngest will get her first taste of the sport playing T-ball.  It will be a wonderful time for me….as a dad.  If they have half as much as fun as I had playing baseball, I’ll be very happy.

#1  – I don’t smoke… shouldn’t that be good enough to get on the forever excused list of New Year’s resolutions?

#2 – I’m not an alcoholic.  That probably covers #2 on the New Years resolutions top resolutions to tank by St. Patrick’s Day.  I drink on occasion, I drink on holidays and stuff like that.  I’ll have a beer or two (two max) at the restaurant when we go out, but that’s so infrequent, I consider it a treat when it happens and I’m sure I can justify some way to turn it into a reward.

  #3 – I’m not a compulsive gambler.  I love to go to the casino…..MAN I LOVE THE CASINO!!  I probably think about going to the casino and playing craps about twice a week.  I pass the exit to the casino on the way home from work everyday!!!  But, there has to be a line drawn there to keep you in check with reality.  I’m not going to the casino using my mortgage as my bank roll.  Las Vegas is my perfect vacation spot.  One time while vacationing in Vegas, well nevermind what happens in Vegas, you know the rest. :)  My wife would prefer our vacations  in tropical regions.  Then you throw in our kids into the equation and we find ourselves going to Sandusky (Cedar Point) or Cave City……

Ok, back to my rant.  We’ve covered SMOKING, DRINKING, & GAMBLING… that leaves me with one I should take on, but refuse to.  DIETING….it’s no secret I’m overweight.  I’m a big guy.  6″ 1″ and checking in at 265 makes for a big dude.  Well, I carry 265 better than others….and I’ve never been a ”light” person in my life I think. 

 To share a funny story, about 5 years ago, I was seeing our family doctor.  Dr. Yu….a straight shooter if I ever met one.  On my last visit to him, he put me on the scale and checked my blood pressure which was progressing upward.  I still hear this man’s voice to this day!  You see, Dr. Yu is an asian doctor with a thick asian accent.  He sat me down, pointed at the BMI chart and said…”Mr. Marcum, you a fat ass!  Look at chart…you should be 185 lbs.  I laughed at him and said, ” I’m sorry Dr. Yu, I haven’t been 185 lbs since my junior year in high school!”  I weighed 210 lbs my senior year at college playing baseball for the university in the best shape of my life.  I ran a 5-1/2 minute mile weighing 210lbs.  You see, I have broad shoulders and big legs, so my 270 lbs is concealed a little.  So I have the DIETING resolution thing staring me in the face, daring me to take the challenge.  I didn’t give a resolution to lose weight, it’s just there, hanging out there like a one-man intervention. Go away!

Dec. 5th, 2009…..this is the day that the Big Blue Nation gets to see 1st hand how their UK basketball program stacks up against the current elite programs.

We're playing Kentucky on Saturday? I'm going to need some rolaids!!

Dec. 5th, 2009…..this is the day that the UK mens basketball team squares off against Roy Williams and his North Carolina Tarheels.

This game is much bigger than just one game.  This one game is bigger than the rivalry between two of the most storied college basketball programs of all-time.  This one game is supposed to be the benchmark of this year’s program and of things to come for John Calipari and his Kentucky Wildcats.  This ONE game is supposed to right the ship for Kentucky basketball and bring the program back to prominence.  A win against North Carolina will let young prospects know that Kentucky is again relevant, and will once again reign as a national powerhouse to be reckoned with.

The Big Blue Nation has been waiting for this day since John Calipari landed this #1 ranked recruiting class.  Being embarrassed by missing the NCAA tournament for the 1st time in 17 years, Kentucky has much higher expectations this season.  With six new players and a new coach who is one of the best recruiters and embraces the notoriety, the Kentucky Wildcats have been touted as a team to watch.  With pre-season rankings as high as #2 in the country by some, many are ranking the team by pure talent alone.  It’s hard not to….they grabbed 5 of the top 50 prospects in the country, and with John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins they landed the #1 & #2 prospects in the country.  If you’ve watched the Wildcats play this year, you’d understand if I say that I think the ranking is slightly inflated, solely based on talent.  BUT, this team will get better….MUCH BETTER.  They’ve showed signs of what they’re capable of doing.

These aren't your oridinary Wildcats Grandma!!

On Dec. 5th, 2009, John Calipari has a chance to undo all the negative that former coaches Tubby Smith and Billy Gillispie has tainted the program with in the last 10 years.  Tubby Smith’s lackluster recruiting and Billy Gillispie’s failure to get into the tournament can get swept under the rug with a great performance on Saturday.

Do you think Billy Gillispie would have landed me? Child pleaze...

A win against UNC on Dec. 5th will reaffirm UK’s spotlight in college basketball.  Although the winningest college basketball program, the last 10 years have been a Final-Four drought for the Big Blue Nation.  As Kentucky Basketball fans, we remember, we embrace & promote the success UK has attained.  BUT, to college basketball prospects, the history is there to see, but nothing significant has happened since they began playing the sport.  To put it in perspective, this year’s high school senior was 7 or 8 years old the last time UK played in the Final Four.  Don’t get me wrong, John Calipari is going to bring in big name talent on his own.  By making UK an immediate powerhouse will only make life easier for Coach Calipari and put the Big Blue Nation at ease.

A highly ranked UK basketball team coached by John Calipari that could defeat the North Carolina Tarheels would make a lot of the elite high school talent stand up and take notice.  That would be the perfect storm…..

Every family has its holiday traditions.  We all have things that went well and you make a pact to keep doing it over and over again.  For some, it might be sitting in the same spot at the table every Thanksgiving.  To others, it might be helping out at the soup kitchen, or maybe watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade and holiday shows on tv. 

Black Friday is our tradition….Oh yes, we’ll still go eat at my parents and my in-laws & watch “A Christmas Story” (you’ll shoot your eye out kid!)  Our Black Friday has been in the works and planning for weeks as we gobble up all the leaked ads on the internet and devise a game plan.

Black Friday isn’t for everyone.  It’s certainly not for the weak  as there’s plenty of heartache to be had.  You almost never, ever get all the items on your Black Friday list unless the only store you’re shopping at is Pottery Barn.  My wife and I look forward to it every year and go out fighting the crowds every year since we’ve been married.  We carry the long-range walkie talkies to keep track of our whereabouts and short lines.  We’ve managed to locate the prime spots to check out with little to no wait in most stores we shop.(OH YEAH!!!))  We even have a ritual to stop at White Castle in the morning on the way.  (mmmm…sliders in the morning )  By the end of our shopping extravaganza, my poor wife is ready to send me packing from my bitterness and anger towards the crowds and inventory shutouts.  I get so excited for the event and I get frustrated for coming out and standing in line at 3:30am for the stores to open at 5am…..just to find out the $10 easy bake oven is already out of stock!!!!  As small frustrations add up to become a foul mood, my wife stays positive and gets us through the day.

I know some of you reading this might go…”Why even go out?  Why not wait for Cyber-Monday?”  Fair question….as I do frequent the online shopping for my things.  CYBER-MONDAY is for pansies!!  Yeah, you can score some deals online.  I won’t dispute that….but there’s nothing like running frantically like the  guy on “Jingle All the Way” to have the gift in your hands…without having to deal with backorders or UPS/USPS/FEDEX shipping disasters that occur at the worst possible time.

Now, over the last 10 years, my wife and I have seen some bizarre things on the Black Fridays of past.  Some good examples are:

One year, at Best Buy, while waiting in line a shopper finally snapped.  Everybody knows if you get to make it in the store in the wee hours of Black Friday to prepare for a long wait to checkout.  This poor lady finally had enough.  She went into a turrets syndrome-like fit spewing profanity after profanity as she accused many shoppers of cutting in front of her to checkout.  Back then, Best Buy’s mascot was a “yellow tag”.  So a guy dressed in a yellow tag costume came over to possibly calm the lady down.  As the yellow tagged target approached, all I heard was …”Don’t even get near me you yellow freak!!”…..AND she started pelting him with her purse, knocking the poor soul to the ground before running for cover.

I'll cut you into little pieces if you get in my way!!!

 In three separate years, at Wal-Mart (no surprise) I actually saw fights breakout.  We normally try to make Wal-Mart early….very early.  I saw a shopper push a floorjack out of her way into the knees of a Wal-Mart worker.  The employee went ballistic and jumped on the shopper and it became a catfight.  Hair pulling, nail scratching, the whole enchilada!!!  It was great!….err… I mean, it was terrible!  Another year at Wal-Mart, I saw the classic brawl over the $29 DVD player.  These ladies fought like hockey players!!  All I saw was pulling shirts over the heads and haymakers from every angle, oh my!!! Hehe

I’ve seen old men being pinned to the doors by shopping carts, I’ve seen name calling, spitting, cursing, and brawls.  One year I camped out at Best Buy overnight for some computer and laptop deals. (call me crazy!)  I actually got there at 5pm Thanksgiving day and was 10th in line!!  During the middle of the night, folks would try to make their way into the line….NOT WHILE THE SOCCER MOMS ARE ON DUTY.  I saw a group of women pick fights and run off people that I’d never dare to anger.  One lady threw her coffee on a couple of line jumpers and threatened to hit them over the head with her thermos.  On more than one occasion, it got to the point of the ladies shoving those out of line who didn’t belong!  What crazy things people do to save some bucks!

As frustrated as I may get….as cynical as I might become….I wouldn’t miss it for the world!  You normally have to pay to see fights like this!  The only thing missing is Steve Wilcos running from out of nowhere for a half-nelson!(Go Jerry!…Go Jerry!…Go Jerry!…Go Jerry!)

Last night, the Wildcats had to hold off the persistance of the Miami Redhawks and Nick Winbush who single-handedly kept the Redhawks in the game Monday night.  Winbush was on fire shooting 9-13 total and hitting an incredible 8-10 from 3pt range finishing with 26 points.

Down as much as 18 points, Kentucky never lost it’s cool, going on a 15pt. run to close the gap to 3pts at halftime.  Kentucky eventually took the lead with about 13 minutes in the game, with never having more than a 5pt lead throught the game.  With Kentucky up 3pts with 8 seconds left, Kenny Hayes buried a 27 footer that looked strangely familiar to Sosa’s jumper last year to vault Louisville over UK a season ago.  But, this is not the same Kentucky team as a year ago.  With only 6 seconds left on the clock, John Wall decided to etch his own legacy in Wildcat folklore.  Wall streaked down the left baseline, and with 2 seconds left on the clock, Wall lunged forward and then stepped back for a 15 footer that fell through the net with  only .5 seconds left on the clock.  Miami’s desperation shot fell harmlessly short of the rim and Kentucky escapes with a win at Rupp arena Monday night.  Wall finished the game with 19 points and 5 assists. 

can you say....BUZZER BEATER? I can!!

Considered the top high school player in the country when he signed with the Wildcats last spring, Wall was forced to sit out Kentucky’s season-opening win over Morehead State last week as part of an NCAA suspension for accepting improper benefits from his AAU coach.

He proved to be worth the wait. Wall’s heroics prevented Miami from joining Gardner-Webb and Virginia Military Institute as November giant killers at Rupp Arena.  Both Patrick Patterson and DeMarcus Cousins posted double-doubles Monday night as Cousins showed why he was touted as the #2 high school hoops prospect in the country.  After a lackluster first half, Cousins came back with a vengeance imposing his will in the 2nd half.

I want to be called "Boogie"

Now for us Kentucky fans, we will have to show a little restraint as these kids learn the Dribble Drive Motion offense.   ”You’re not gonna like our offense in November.  You won’t like our offense in December.  At times, we will be very ugly…..BUT we will get better.  Every game will be an improvement.  I promise you…” These words will be the ones that get me through to January.  They’re only going to get better.

This year, I experienced a little bit of both.  I’m not saying I got face-painted while passed out in a JeigerBomb bliss,  but along with the memories of enjoying my kids’ Halloween, I did make a fool of myself.  We do strange things for a “prize”…..don’t we?

This year, my employer held its annual Halloween party & costume contest.  The company I work for is in the candy business and they come up with all the neat holiday themed candy that you find in stores like Wal-mart & Target.  So, with a building full of art designers and graphic engineers…they take Halloween parties seriously.  The prize for Best Overall costume was an iPOD TOUCH….and it was gonna be mine!  I already knew my plan of action….I had a costume stored away for a few years that got a bunch of laughs, so it was time to bring it out of retirement.

While others wore their costume all day on the day of the contest, I chose to take a stealth approach.  I adorned the suit in the “green room” just moments before I walked onstage.  I gave them a personalized introduction of myself……”Known throughout the globe as Darrell-Lemme see that Sushi Roll-Marcum”, and got a bunch of laughs as I played the part and got onstage. 

Suddenly, as the thought of the elusive iPOD TOUCH haunted me, something suddenly came over me.  I somehow turned into a trained seal!!!  I broke out dance moves of yesteryear…..probably frightening the crowd!!  Oh the horror!!!  Why in GOD’s name am I doing the “cabbage patch!!!  Please make it stop!!!!”….. was running through my head as I started to do the “robot” and transitioned into the “hammer dance”.

I got a lot of laughs….but I didn’t win.  You get to see some pics, but not all of them.  I’m still trying to hold on to some dignity! I won the “most funny” award as some new guy dressed up in a Jack Sparrow outfit walked away with the iPOD TOUCH.  He probably has three of them already!!    Instead of the new shiny gadget, I got an extra paid vacation day added to my total.  Not bad….not bad at all….but at what cost?  I became a trained seal one afternoon…..OMG!!