Truzenzuzex
May 03, 2008 Nov 10, 2009 2061 11888
Truzenzuzex is, as you can plainly see, an alien life form who's ancestors were of the phylum Arthropada, known collectively as the Thranx. Created by the science fiction author Alan Dean Foster, Truzenzuzex, or Tru, is a character who appears in Foster's Flinx of the Commonwealth series. The Thranx are a peaceful and beneficent race which have formed an intimate bond with humanity, creating an amalgam known as the Humanx Commonwealth.
Tru is an Eint and First Philosph, or theoretical philosopher. His specialties are the history and trajectory of civilization and galactic anthropology. Along with his friend and former ship-brother, retired Chancellor Second of the United Church Bran Tse-Mallory, Tru explores the universe attempting to gain insight into the many mysteries which impinge upon the Humanx condition.
I chose Tru as my avatar because I fancy that, like he of Foster's imagination, my years have left me wiser and more amenable to reason and logic. Like Tru, I am no longer young, and I think the benefits of that fact outweigh the negatives.
My real name is Glenn Logan and I am a small business owner currently living in Louisville, Kentucky. I have been a Kentucky fan since about age 12, when I moved to the Commonwealth from Bristol, Tennessee. I attended Western Kentucky University and spent six years as a reactor operator in the United States Navy, serving aboard the USS Olympia, SSN 717, a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine.
I have been married to the former Petra Carr since May of 1987.
website: A Sea of Blue
email:
a fan of
Cincinnati Reds
Detroit Pistons
Oakland Raiders
Kentucky Wildcats
Kentucky Wildcats
Phil Mickelson
RSSUser Blog
Kentucky Basketball: Why Swagger Matters
by Truzenzuzex on Nov 11, 2009 9:07 AM EST
8 comments
There has been a lot of talk recently, both by Coach Calipari and the Big Blue Faithful, about regaining the "swagger" that Kentucky used to have. Of course, most die-hard UK fans intuitively understand why this is important, but sometimes it gets a little confusing to the more casual fans, or fans who have recently been converted to the Kentucky cause.
Michael Eaves is a die-hard Kentuckian, and wrote one of the articles in Wildcat Tip-off 2009-10 entitled "Destination: Indianapolis." Michael talks on his blog today a little bit about swagger, and it's clear to me that he gets what Coach Cal is talking about.
First of all, a little overview of semantics. When Coach Calipari talks about "swagger," he is not talking about smack-talk, or braggadocio, naked hubris or narcissism. Those are all bad things, by my lights, and have no real place in college basketball or mature sports discussion except as a rare, momentary, guilty indulgence.
The swagger that Coach Cal and most of our fans want to see back is the confidence of a program that knows where it wants to go, knows it it is headed in the right direction, and knows that it will get there sooner rather than later. It is an embrace of past glory, learning from past failure, and a determination to apply both in the present.
When basketball players take the court versus an opponent, you can quickly tell who has swagger. Teams with swagger expect, not hope, to win 100% of their games by convincing margins. Teams with swagger don't need to thump their chests or denigrate their opponents -- they are not that petty or vain. Teams with swagger have been there before, done that, and are happy to let their attitudes and abilities do the talking.
Swagger is what you have when you know you are among the best at what you do, and you don't need fawning validation of that fact. It is the quiet confidence of going about your business knowing that, if you give your best, you can overcome any challenge. Swagger is confidence on steroids -- confidence in yourself, your team, your coaching staff, your school and your fans.
8 comments | 0 recs |
SEC Power Poll Ballot: Week 10
by Truzenzuzex on Nov 10, 2009 6:54 PM EST
24 comments
At this point in the season, there is a lot of jockeying for position down in the lower reaches of the league, but with the division champions settled and only two or three games left, the four and five win teams are striving to earn bowl eligibility, and the better teams are trying to polish their credentials and avoid the late-season upset.
As for Kentucky, well, they are really two SEC wins away from finding themselves firmly in the middle of the pack. Right now, despite some factors that make them look better on paper than some others, it's hard to put a team with only one SEC win, even a pretty good one, too high.
With all that said, my ballot follows the jump.
24 comments | 0 recs |
The Big Blue Daily Mail -- Season Kickoff Edition
by Truzenzuzex on Nov 10, 2009 6:00 AM EST
26 comments
Well, what do you know, the basketball season has officially begun, but with a whimper rather than a bang. North Carolina opened up last night against the Fighting Isaiah Thomases, and lo and behold, the Tar Heels were not even a shell of last year's team. But of course, like UK, they are very young but very talented, and they will certainly improve.
The SB Nation UNC blog Carolina March has more, as does this News and Observer piece, about how the Heels did in their first outing versus an opponent that counts. Of course, UK doesn't get a shot at a counter until later this week, but it will get here, folks. Be patient.
Ohio State had a convincing 100-60 win over Alcorn State in a very efficient outing. The Buckeys look to be a very interesting team, and unlike UNC and Kentucky, is loaded with less talent but much more experience. Teams like Ohio State often make a lot of noise in March, and this team will bear close watching throughout the year.
#25 Syracuse was easily handling tiny Albany as I was going to bed, and Murray State was getting set to take on Cal, but that tip is past my bedtime.
After the jump, all the news that's fit for Wildcats.
26 comments | 0 recs |
Blogpoll Ballot: Week 10
by Truzenzuzex on Nov 9, 2009 6:15 PM EST
9 comments
Well, here we are in week 10. Texas takes the #1 spot on my ballot, although to be honest, it is so close for the top spot that you could make them 1a, 1b, and 1c. The biggest reason for that is their margin of victory over BCS teams and ranked teams compared to Alabama and Florida.
The thing is, though, the three teams are barely a point apart. To quote Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments, "Can a man choose from among the stars of the sky?" All three teams have a lot to recommend them, but Texas is just drilling everybody, having had only two games this year within ten or less points. So this week, they get my nod for #1. More after the jump.
9 comments | 0 recs |
Big Blue Daily Mail -- Kentucky Football Bowl Hopes Edition
by Truzenzuzex on Nov 9, 2009 9:27 AM EST
33 comments
I did not get to see or hear a minute of Saturday's game as Mrs. Tru and I were out at Churchill Downs enjoying a beautiful day of racing, and yesterday I was again away from the blog due to other commitments.
As many of you know, the Big Blue Daily Mail has been less and less "daily" lately, something I am not too happy with. So in an effort to streamline it and make it easier for me to publish each morning, I will be including fewer stories in the BBDM and losing the categorization. From now on, the BBDM will be something in the neighborhood of 10-20 news/blog stories.
The big news from last Saturday is a) Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke both sat the EKU game out and b) Morgan Newton and a fairly quiet UK receiving corps had a big day against a team that they should have a big day against. The question now becomes, with Kentucky sitting on the bubble at 5-3, can the 'Cats win one more to get bowl eligible, and even if they do, does it actually mean they will be playing in a bowl?
Right now, there are 6 SEC teams that are bowl-eligible at 6+ wins, and the only team that is out of bowl striking distance is Vanderbilt at 2-7. The way I count it, there are a total of nine bowl tie-ins for the SEC, and it looks as if there could be 10 bowl-eligible teams from the SEC. So at this point, I'm going to suggest that six wins will not get UK into a bowl game this year all by itself. Seven probably will, and eight definitely will, but the Mississippi State loss two games ago could well cost Rich Brooks his much-ballyhooed fourth bowl in a row. An alert reader reminded me that the SEC has 2 likely BCS teams, so that would mean 11 spots rather than 9. So it looks like unless MSU wins out, all UK needs is to win six games to make a low-level bowl.
Here's how the league looks for the rest of the season:
| Team | cWL | W-L | bWL | SoS | Polls | Left on schedule |
| Florida | 7-0 | 9-0 | 7-0 | 47.41 | 1,[1!] | @USC, FIU, FSU, Alabama |
| Alabama | 6-0 | 9-0 | 7-0 | 52.62 | 3,[2!] | @MSU, UT Chat., @Auburn, @Florida |
| LSU | 4-2 | 7-2 | 5-2 | 50.74 | 11,8 | LaTech, @Ole Miss, Arkansas |
| South Carolina | 3-4 | 6-4 | 4-4 | 44.86 | 42 | Florida, Clemson |
| Auburn | 3-3 | 7-3 | 4-3 | 46.42 | 25,27 | @UGA, Alabama |
| Tennessee | 2-3 | 5-4 | 2-4 | 46.43 | 37,35 | @Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, @UK |
| Arkansas | 2-4 | 5-4 | 3-4 | 49.70 | Troy, MSU, @LSU | |
| Georgia | 3-3 | 5-4 | 4-4 | 48.67 | Auburn, UK, @Ga Tech | |
| Kentucky | 1-4 | 5-4 | 2-4 | 48.83 | @Vandy, @UGA, UT | |
| Mississippi State | 2-3 | 4-5 | 2-4 | 55.59 | Alabama, @Arkansas, Ole Miss | |
| Mississippi | 2-3 | 6-3 | 2-3 | 38.54 | 39,38 | Tennessee, LSU, @MSU |
| Vanderbilt | 0-6 | 2-8 | 0-7 | 40.47 | Kentucky, @UT |
33 comments | 0 recs |
Kentucky Wildcats vs. Eastern Kentucky Colonels -- Open Game Thread
by Truzenzuzex on Nov 7, 2009 1:00 PM EST
429 comments
This is the official A Sea of Blue Open Game Thread for the Eastern Kentucky University Colonels at the University of Kentucky Wildcats. Game particulars are as follows, courtesy of UUKAthletics.com:
Date and Location: Saturday, November 7, 2009 Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, Ky.
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
TV: Live on WKYT and WYMT; delayed on BBSN
Radio: BBSN
Online Audio 
Live Stats
Eastern Kentucky Information
5-3, 5-2 OVC
Schedule/Results
Roster
Statistics
Head Coach Dean Hood
Football Home
Media Guide
First of all, a quick note: I will be at Churchill Downs today enjoying the Breeder's Cup simulcast. I expect to be able to watch some of the game, and comment from time to time via the iPhone, but the post-game comment may be late (it depends upon whether or not Ken has time to put up post-game commentary).
More after the jump.
429 comments | 0 recs |
Kentucky 117, Clarion 52 -- Postmortem
by Truzenzuzex on Nov 7, 2009 1:20 AM EST
68 comments
Thanks to the Clarion Golden Eagles for coming into Rupp Arena and giving a game effort against the Wildcats. John Calipari's alma mater came in and gave a good account of themselves versus a vastly superior team, and did both the school and our coach proud with their relentless effort.
Examine the score.
Kentucky has played many exhibition games over the years. The last time Kentucky scored over 110 points was just last year, versus Missouri-St. Louis, 111-53. Two games later, Kentucky allowed 111 points in a loss to VMI.
I mention this only to focus the mind of the Big Blue Nation. This victory, and the size of it, is as ephemeral and meaningless as the pixels on your screen. Well, maybe the pixels mean a bit more.
No matter what, this was a much more impressive game than versus Campbellsville. The Wildcats played with more skill, more cohesion, and an equivalent level of intensity and determination. When big guys like DeMarcus Cousins start taking charges, that is motivation and determination. Kentucky has quite possibly taken more charges in two exhibition games this year than they did in the first four games last year. Maybe that is a comment on the disparity of the skill level. Maybe it is a comment on the determination of the team.
My observations follow the jump.
68 comments | 0 recs |
Kentucky vs. Clarion -- Analysis and Open Game Thread
by Truzenzuzex on Nov 6, 2009 6:14 PM EST
318 comments
Since SB Nation doesn't provide a special open game thread for exhibition games, it's just more convenient for me to combine all that into one.
Tonight, the Kentucky Wildcats face off against the Clarion Golden Eagles, John Calipari's alma mater. The particulars of tonights game are as follows, courtesy of UKAthletics.com:
- Time & Place:
- Gametracker
. - Live audio
- Subscribers on Extreme Access
(delayed per SEC rules) -
Cable TV: FSN-South: 7:00 p.m. ET (Live)
Footprint includes the states of Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.Broadcast TV/BBSN
Market Station Time (all times local) Bowling Green WBKO-CW 9:00 p.m. (delayed) Evansville WTVW-TV 10:00 p.m. (delayed) Hazard WYMT-TV 11:35 p.m. (delayed) Huntington, W.Va. WSAZ-My qZ 11:30 p.m. (delayed) Hopkinsville WKAG-TV 10:00 p.m. (delayed) Lexington WKYT-TV 11:35 p.m. (delayed) Louisville WMYO-TV 11:00 p.m. (delayed) Paducah, Ky./Cape Girardeau, Mo. WDKA-TV 9:00 p.m. (delayed)
318 comments | 0 recs |
Is Your Team the Kentucky Wildcats? No? Then You Are Irrelevant
by Truzenzuzex on Nov 6, 2009 9:41 AM EST
40 comments
All the media cares about is Kentucky this season. Well, that's the message for the last couple of days, anyway.
According to this piece over at SI.com, Kansas may be #1 in the rankings, but UK is #1 in the minds of college basketball watchers:
Yes, Kansas was the runaway No. 1 choice in the preseason Top 25. And sure, the Jayhawks had two players on the preseason All-America team.
But it's Kentucky that's generating all the buzz. With one of college basketball's storied programs now being run by John Calipari, what else are people going to talk about?
Aside from the obvious schadenfreude toward the Jayhawks that many UK fans will feel (especially since UK has lost its past three meetings with the Jayhawks), the media narrative this season seems to be focused squarely on Lexington.
The interest seems to be multi-dimensional -- yes, the media see UK's fanstastic freshman class which includes at least two and possibly three sure-fire lottery picks (DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall and Eric Bledsoe) in the next year or three, not to mention Patrick Patterson, but they also seem fascinated by the cult of personality that is developing around John Calipari with his near-million Twitter followers and hundreds of thousands of Facebook devotees.
As if that weren't enough, some of the media feel like they are watching a slow-speed train wreck with a coach known for having his teams forfeit wins now coaching at a school formerly known for rule-breaking and general acts of poor NCAA citizenship. Add to that Calipari's remarkable personal and social media strategy, his new book, Bounce Back, and his absolutely ubiquitous nature on sports shows, interviews and public appearances combined with Kentucky's storied history, and it's easy to see why the sports media is drawn to Bluegrass like David Letterman to a pretty production staffer.
As a long-time fan of Kentucky basketball, it is amazing to me watch the current media fascination with a team that was an absolute non-entity for the last four years except as a cautionary tale. First it was all about how Tubby Smith's team was struggling and how unhappy the fans were, then there was the whole Billy Gillispie fiasco that turned out to be all about offering scholarships to middle schoolers, angering the NABC over that and his moving of the date of Big Blue Madness, making rude comments to female reporters during halftime interviews and winning fewer and fewer basketball games.
40 comments | 0 recs |
The Big Blue Daily Mail -- The Gates of Delirium
by Truzenzuzex on Nov 5, 2009 10:15 AM EST
17 comments
The flu bug has assailed the football Wildcats, and the prospect of watching John Wall finally lead the basketball Wildcats into battle has me delirious with both pleasure and pain. It drives me crazy when so many players are hit with injury and illness all at once, and I suppose I should be thankful that we are not going into the Vanderbilt game this weekend. But at the same time, it drives me nuts that we seem to wind up in this same situation every year at this time. Maybe it's everybody, but it just doesn't seem that way.
Moving on to basketball, UK welcomes John Calipari's alma mater, Clarion University, into Rupp Arena tomorrow night. We'll have much more on that in due course, but I highly recommend this Jerry Tipton article (even to the anti-Tipton crowd), which has lots of great background on Calipari's time at Clarion, and how it helped shape him into what he is today.
I am a big fan of coaches playing their alma maters, particularly when they are small schools like Clarion. It may not continue for Calipari, though, but I have to admit, I do like the practice.
Speaking of practice, how is that Dribble Drive Motion offense working out for the 'Cats? About like Calipari predicted it would early on -- balls flying everywhere but in the basket, turnovers, etc. It will get better, and when it does, this team will be really dangerous.
And now, for the news:
Top Stories
17 comments | 0 recs |
Showing 1 - 10 of 2,061 Older
Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
