As a columnist, people are always pitching me ideas to write about. Most of them aren’t great ideas. In fact, most are quite bad.
Mostly, though, the ideas I hear are overplayed. I’m tired of hearing about them.
Some of them have already been written about, and I have nothing new to add. Other ideas just don’t have legs.
Either way, I hear about these topics a lot around campus.
I’ll unload some of them now:
1. UK’s No. 1: Since its release Monday, my inbox has been flooded with people asking for my opinion on Jeff Sagarin’s rankings, which place UK No. 1 in its all-time hoops poll.
I’ve been referred to ESPN.com’s Pat Forde, who wrote UK’s ranking wasn’t near justified. He said UK’s run-ins with NCAA violations should offset some of its success, and that UCLA’s 11 national championships should leapfrog UK’s seven, along with the Cats’ all-time win total of 1,988.
Forde blamed the flawed computer system. He noted the computers don’t take national championships into account — just double points for NCAA tournament victories.
I’m with him that the computer system could use some refining. Each program hangs its hat on national championships, so shouldn’t the computer rankings?
If the computers took national championships into account, maybe the results would differ; maybe they’d remain the same.
Either way, UK fans shouldn’t put too much stock into a ranking in which UK’s biggest claim to fame (seven titles) is not considered.
2. Mike Hartline: Every Saturday, readers remind me that quarterback Mike Hartline is the problem. He’s the reason UK loses to Florida (No. 1) and Alabama (No. 3), right?
Hardly.
Hartline didn’t turn in his best performances against Florida or Alabama, and he’d be the first to tell you. But what are fans expecting for any quarterback to do against either one of those teams?
Florida returned two-deep at all 11 defensive positions from last year’s team which, by the way, easily won the national championship.
Alabama’s D wasn’t far behind.
What do fans legitimately expect Hartline to do against these defenses? Sure, he could have performed better in each game. I’m not saying he was perfect, but what options do the Cats have?
Freshman Morgan Newton didn’t impress Rich Brooks in practice and fellow newcomer Ryan Mossakowski redshirted. Hartline has the talent to compete at a high level, but his talent won’t carry him against Southeastern Conference defenses.
What will carry him is experience, some of which he may gain through some painful outings. Still, he’s 8-5 as a starter. Not bad at all.
We’ll learn more about Hartline against South Carolina and Auburn in the next two games. Until then, calling for his head won’t do much good.
3. UK volleyball: UK’s hottest team right now is Craig Skinner’s volleyball team. The Cats are No. 10 in the nation currently, their first top-10 ranking since 1993.
They’re 15-1, with the only loss coming to Louisville. If UK had defeated its in-state rival, it would be in the top five.
So why haven’t most students heard about it? Sadly, because it’s volleyball.
When people tell me to write about volleyball, that’s all they say. “Write about how great the volleyball team is,†more or less.
Well, I am now. And they are great.
Can’t I just leave it at that?
James Pennington is a journalism senior. E-mail jpennington@kykernel.com.
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Pennington is mostly right. Calling for Hartline’s head will no do much good, because Brooks and Joker have already made it clear that he is the starter.
Let’s face it, for some reason, they like him. Whether it be his football family pedigree or his decent character, he has something to impress coaches at practice and off the field.
Mark my words, no coach would play a QB who didn’t practice well. So, Hartline probably does.
To draw an inference, Josh Carrier supposedly nailed a million three balls…in practice.
The problem I have with Hartline is simple. He is in consistent and generally, a medicore QB talent.
The stats show that he is hitting 60% of his passes, OK. But….he is throwing 6 interceptions against 5 touchdowns, no big deal. Consider this: the Cats O-line is doing thier job, and doing it well. Hartline is getting the protection, only being sacked 4 times all year.
So, Florida and Alabama are so great, but they can only get down Hartline less 4 times?
Hartline is a liability. If you cant reward your O-line with more offensive production for doing thier job, and doing it well, then you are not fit to lead that line. The team simply does not have the propensity for a big play under Hartline, because the team has as much confidence as the fans do in his ability to play well, little.
I am not getting into the Fidler, Freshmen debate, because Brooks has already said, Fidler is 2nd string. I am ok with that.
How about this: when Hartline comes up WAY short again this weekend against Norwood and the No. 1 rated SEC defense on thier homefield, lets just use that as another excuse for why Hartline is struggling, and I use that term loosely.
This column reminds me of the old Republican line that government is not the solution, it is the problem. By saying that, Republicans must consider themselves part of the problem. If government is the enemy, which is another GOP talking point, then why did those elected officials ever run for office?
If these column ideas are bad, why would you dedicate valuable column space to them? Essentially, you wrote three mini-columns, with an opinion on each topic. That seems a little nonsensical to claim these are bad ideas but then expound on them in detail.
Also, some of the best stories on campus can be found in the Olympic sports. Why is that? Because those stories are never covered, leaving myriad options. Obviously, people want to read about football and men’s basketball, and most of the stories should be about those sports. But you can only talk about Kentucky’s failure to get over the hump in the SEC East so much. “Just leaving it at that” is rather shortsighted.
Sorry. Mike Hartline is fine without pressure. With pressure, forget it. I don’t want “his head”. I like the guy. He is just not SEC caliber.
OK, what options do we have? I have said it many times before, but I will repeat it once more: Morgan Newton needs to get minutes. Brooks and Phillips can say all they want, but at 69 years old, I know a good and bad performance when I see one.
I graduated from UK in 1968 when football was a joke. Hartline is Brett Favre compared to what we had then. But that was then and this is now. I know Newton is a freshman and (according to the coaches) is “having a hard time with the play book” or something of that flavor.
Look, I have seen tons of film on this kid and even though it is high school, he can THINK ON HIS FEET. This is a talent Mike Hartline hasn’t displayed as yet on a consistent basis.
Once again Coach Phillips, if you want to be an SEC Head Coach and play with the best, you had better learn to experiment.
Les Miles at LSU made the same mistake last year with Jarrett Lee and look what happened. He finally came to his senses and put in Jordan Jefferson and look what happened.