TCR

One of the restaurants in Louisville I like is Momma's BBQ. Full name is Momma's Mustard, Pickles & BBQ. Ribs there were amazing and they have a menu appetizer called the greatest wings ever. I can assure you from experience that they live up to their name.

Alex Green developed his passion for the sport of wrestling in Kentucky during his time wrestling at Johnson Central High School. This sport has seen an absolute surge in growth across the state, especially in the EKY area. Alex, who also officiates, talks about the unique history of the sport. Those seeds that Jim Matney and others planted many years ago are now becoming trees. One area that Alex in particular has been passionate about is preserving footage of older matches and he talks about that in this interview.

Interesting stat, especially the first part you brought up. Oddly, they are the first NBA champion with a 64 win regular season record.

Down 3 more on the official weigh in! Down to 333.8. Three pounds from the last week, but eight in the last 11 days since switching out the stevia lemonade which I'll admit, I was using too much stevia on. Utilizing the Rebel method has worked. Drinking the four glasses of water per day, having my regular pop which is in the points range and slurping on diet caffeine free coke. I maybe drink 8 ounces of day when it comes to that. We're on a roll with this! The non-scale wins have been countless as well.

That is nice to see, both as a sports fan and (selfishly haha) from an announcing perspective. That is such a huge help to have in preparation to call a game. Having called games in several states across the east coast, I can tell you that there is nothing like it. It's a great asset to all the sports enthusiasts and from the announcing side it's also a tremendous help.

Savage. What a name for a football player. Congratulations on the Indiana University offer and all the best to this young man!

Here is an interview with Jake Thelen! He talks about his journey from a player at Cov Cath to playing basketball for Bellarmine, all the way to his time spent working with Tom Crean and Wes Miller. Great opportunity to get to know him better! He mentions his philosophy coaching which emphasizes around building relationships and at the end answers questions for you to get to know him better such as favorite food, his pregame routine when he played basketball, cool facts about himself, etc. During his time at Georgia, Jake was the youngest Director of Basketball Operations in Power 5 Conferences. Normally I refrain from sharing personal perspectives. But I really took to him, a big reason being the philosophy around building relationships. That is the model that one can build their life around and I don't think it gets emphasized enough. He seems to be somebody who strives to make an impact on lives beyond the basketball court.

If JC stays injury free this year they could be a serious threat! It was tough to lose Zack McCoart last season as he led the team in 2022 with 1,700 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns as a sophomore. On top of that they had multiple injuries in the backfield last season that slowed them down at times. One player in particular that I liked watching was Logan Morrow. He has excellent acceleration and is a dependable back that can power through for yardage. He ran for 620 yards as a sophomore, scoring 11 touchdowns. I do know their schedule will feature the following teams: Ashland, Boyd County, Greenup County, and Rowan County for their district games. This is a much different district than it was in the 2010's when Johnson Central won it handily for the most part. While Johnson Central is still Johnson Central, Ashland returns a lot from what was a tough opponent and Boyd and Greenup are much, much improved from prior years. Johnson Central had to come back to beat Boyd County in the playoffs and Greenup County hung with Johnson Central for three quarters. Rowan County was very young last year and while I think they may be a year away, Coach Ford has a freshman class with a lot of potential. This is no knock on Johnson Central, but just indicates much their district opponents have improved. Johnson Central will be a threat to once again win the district and if everybody is healthy I find it hard to imagine they wouldn't be a threat to make a deep playoff run, even in a heavily contested class like 4A.

It will be exciting to see where this team goes after they get a few games under their belt. I think they have the potential to do some good things. Part of the excitement, as others have mentioned, is Pope's system. It's a style of ball that I think the UK fans will love.

BIG win today! The plateau is broken! 336.8 - actually a 4.8 pound drop from last week as I was floating between 339 and 341 for three weeks. And it was a BGP idea that, I think, helped pave the way. Reading @Rebel's idea on drinking the zero sodas helped out. I was drinking a ton of lemonade every night with stevia that also had erythritol in it and if I'm honest with myself, I was putting way too much stevia in the lemonade. After the tough days of Thursday and Friday discussed earlier I stuck with drinking 64 ounces of water and over the weekend made that adjustment to drink the caffeine-free diet coke while sticking to my points. I tend to drink pop slower, and I sipped on that diet coke over the day while still getting the 64 ounces of water with my meals. Sunday I drank a 20 ounce mountain dew but as part of the plan. Every meal I keep that thought going: "How is this meal going to help my goal?" My biggest weigh in was 363 in January. With this, it's a big win. Going to keep attacking! Appreciate all the support on this thread.

I like it. It may not be utilized as heavily as it once was, but it can still be an effective scheme at many levels of football. The focus on misdirection, isolation plays, and a versatile ground game makes it difficult for defenses to prepare for and defend consistently. I do not follow Scott County close, but hasn't that been a staple of Jim McKee? It hasn't been too long (2013) since he had a state championship run with that offense, in 6A, and I know he had some runs in the 2010's prior to the school split where he had deep runs including trips to the championship game. It has been 20 years since I have played high school football but I remember the late Ivan McGlone's offense at Russell when we played them during my time at Ashland. Our coaches harping, especially on the linebackers, about reading their keys. My senior year was the year that Coach McGlone won his second state title in 2005. It was in a 2A class at a time when there were four classes and I remember even then it was questioned if the offense was running out of style. Russell lost several key players from their 2004 team, including Josh Gross who set numerous records at the school and if you check the KHSAA record books you will see his name appear a few times. Russell came back in 2005 with a team that was still good, but if you watch that state championship game on YouTube you will see how Russell comes in and executes their Wing-T offense to near perfection, controlling the clock against an Owensboro Catholic team that had an explosive offense. Russell had a superstar in Kasey Clark and some good pieces around him, but still had several missing parts from the prior year and were expected to take a dip from the year before when they lost to eventual champion Belfry in the state semifinals. Owensboro Catholic was primed to win 2A that year with an offense that featured David Woodward who threw for 40 touchdowns and receivers Neil Holland and Jared Johnson that combined for nearly 2,000 yards and 26 touchdowns. Then they had two runningbacks that combined for nearly 2,000 yards on the ground. Russell came in as a slight underdog but was able to execute the offense and utilize clock control to keep that explosive, more modern-style Owensboro Catholic offense off the field, winning 27-14. I feel like this is also part of a broader debate. You consider offenses like the wishbone, the T, and the flexbone. Another coach to look at is Coach Haywood of Belfry who is just three years removed from his eighth state championship. Although he does not run a Wing-T, a lot of the concepts are similar. Talent sure helps (Like having a player the caliber of Isaac Dixon in 2021) but the discipline and execution of the lines can take things to another level. A fun fact about Coach Haywood's eight state championship teams - they have a combined total of two pass completions. One team I encourage you look at if you have the time if you're a fan of the Gun-T. Kirtland, OH is so disciplined - I have only seem them a couple of times but every time I have, their lines seem to be half the size of their opponents and they execute their system so well. I'm amazed at how their lines fly off the ball and are so mentally disciplined. They won close to 60 regular season games in a row at one point and have won several state championships with the offense. I will be the first to say that I do not know a great deal about their system, but the times I have seen them it has reminded me of the Gun-T type offense and they heavily emphasize running the ball with clock control.

Harley Paynter from Boyd County High School as she will be making a return to the Bluegrass after spending three seasons at Tennessee Tech. The redshirt junior, who started some games at Tennessee Tech, is excited to be able to play close to home and talks about her return. She talks about memories with Pete Fraley, who recently retired after 28 seasons as the women's basketball coach at Boyd County. She talks some about mental health when it comes to college athletics. Harley then tells a NEAT story involving her opportunity to compete against women's basketball star Paige Bueckers of UConn. Lastly, Harley started posting Bible devotionals to social media in high school during the COVID era to encourage and inspire. She continues to post them today, and concludes the interview with one.

Congratulations on your success these past 2.5 months! That's 2.5 months longer than most people can stick to. You have a vacation coming up, and two cruises and honestly in your situation, I wouldn't focus as much on what you get on the cruises but bouncing back afterward. Really in ways similar to my situation with going to Backyard Pizza and Texas Roadhouse this weekend, then bouncing back.

Wow, impressive resume! Not surprised that Covington Catholic would land someone with such a strong background. But still, that's an excellent hire and when you think about the connection to the school (Like Mark Pope with Kentucky) it brings a different type of feeling. Wishing him and Cov Cath the best. Always enjoyed watching and covering them over the years when they made trips to the eastern end of the state.

One reason this thread is so awesome is the accountability. Struggled a couple times this week - I have a bad tendency on the last day of the work week to go somewhere (For me, Backyard Pizza) and didn't do well. Then the next day had a meeting with a couple of announcers to talk about the upcoming football season. At another place (Texas Roadhouse) that I struggle at. But once again, I bounced back which hasn't been done historically. I just drank water the rest of the day. I don't believe in skipping meals but wanted to give my stomach a breather. Today doing much better, eating some high fiber oatmeal, berries like G mentioned getting (Those can so underrated!) and lettuce. This week the focus lies heavily in the thinking, "How does this meal I'm eating align with my goal?"

The 2004 situation with Coach K may have some key differences from today in terms of the culture and the landscape, as you point out, but the core dynamic of a top college coach weighing the allure of the NBA against the opportunity to cement a legacy at their current school still seems highly relevant. I don't think the situation with Coach K will factor into Hurley's decision, that was just more meant to indicate that was what the situation reminded me of. On the first point I made, Coach Hurley could retire from college basketball right now and be legendary. You mentioned it was wasn't in a negative sense (mentioning ego) and I acknowledge and take that fully into account in my response. Hurley has nothing left to prove at the college level - I agree with that. But the opportunity to cement an even more profound legacy by continuing UConn's dominance and potentially pursuing something as rare as a three-peat which he has discussed (the three-peat) is a powerful draw. You mentioned that every coach knows that if something goes wrong with the LeBron circus, it will be on him and the teammates and that is exactly why I don't think Hurley will jump into that mess when all is said and done with the situation.

Audrey Biggs had a strong career at Boyd County High School where she had numerous honors for her play and was on two teams that made the state tournament. Audrey talks about memories at Boyd County and I don't want to spoil the neat story she has about retiring coach Pete Fraley and how he encouraged her growing up. The unique part to Audrey's journey is her interest in sports media, which she shares the story about where her interest developed and how she got involved with that. Her first interview came in 2021 as a freshman when she interviewed Shaelyn Steele of Russell. After conducting some more interviews at Boyd County, she would the first sideline reporter for one of our broadcasts with My Town TV. She did a great job! Her media career would continue to build and she eventually started a podcast. This is also a chance to get to know her better as a person. This is Audrey's interview!

It's an interesting situation. Regarding Coach Hurley, I just can't see him leaving at the end of the day. I think that the opportunity to win a third national title in a row, something that hasn't done since Wooden, is too tempting for him to resist leaving as he has talked about it a lot. Plus, when you consider his personality and LeBron James' personality, it's tough not to see them clashing. It reminds me of the 2004 situation when the Lakers position became vacant and an aggressive pursuit of Mike Krzyzewski was made. The thought of Coach K going to the Lakers and Phil Jackson (Who was no longer coaching the Lakers) taking the Duke job seemed interesting but Coach K would stay at Duke and Phil Jackson would return to the Lakers one year later. Coach K would win two more titles at Duke ('10, '15) and Phil Jackson would end up winning two more titles ('09, '10) with the Lakers.

Yeah, usually where it kicks in is that they have a TON of zero point foods when they modified the program recently. Certain items, even grilled chicken, salmon, certain forms are meat are zero. Until this year even a plain baked potato was zero. You can have all the fruits and vegetables you want. The logic behind it is, which are you more likely to gorge on - five cookies or five grilled chicken breasts? I have tried to incorporate a form of intermittent fasting, cutting it to two meals per day and eliminating snacking. That has helped make it easier to wake up and feel lighter. One of the meals (Usually the early one) is where I get a vast majority of the points. Then in the evening I'll have salmon or grilled chicken with some vegetables and berries. I might use a couple points for BBQ sauce and/or breading. Panko bread crumbs are pretty friendly. And this is where things can get real interesting. The more you lose weight, like for example when I went down to 345 my daily point intake went from 58 to 57 - and that will continue to go down. You also get extra weekly points (Right now for me that's 28) that can be used at any time. Those go down too as you lose weight. So even though right now I can have that pop, eventually there will have to be some kind of change made to either cut it significantly or kick the habit. That being said, you also get get an easy two points per day for walking 3,000 steps. Saturday I walked 10,000 and picked up 6. It's interesting reading about the journeys on this thread and the success stories. They are highly encouraging!

That makes sense that sugar could be compared to something so addictive. Even right now, I have been slowly sipping on a large coca cola from Chick Fil-A. It's right around 30 points on Weight Watchers (I get 57 in a day) but honestly if I were able to drop that I could almost eat what I wanted and still lose lol. I did wake up at 338.8 today which was a nice surprise, as I had mentioned toggling back between 339 and 341, lately having been more toward 341 on my weigh-ins. 299 may be a better year end goal. Especially since Weight Watchers encourages a slow, steady loss of 1-2 pounds per week.

@theguru I would LOVE to get below 265 by the end of 2024. I say that because I hit 265 twice in the past 15 years. Once in 2009 before a college conference and once in late 2012. I hit 275 in 2021. To get below 265 would be a real statement. I would be pushing my high school weight when I played on the offensive line. Besides water, the joke could be make that there is blood in my mountain dew and coca cola system. I drank a ton of pop and that was about all I drank. Even today, with my Weight Watcher points I squeezed in a 32 ounce coca cola from Chick Fil-A. On a normal day, usually I would open up going to Tim Horton's and getting a large iced cappuccino without the whipped topping. I love the accounting firm I'm at, but one of our weaknesses is that we have a refrigerator full of pop drinks. I would drink a couple of those, order fast food at lunch with pop and then order dinner from somewhere and drink pop with that as well. I would say my pop drinking is down about 70%. I have drank at least 64 ounces of water per day for 30 some straight days. It's probably not the healthiest way the way I do it, but I call them "water bombs" because I fill up the glass with 16 ounces and drink it quickly. I just can't see myself at this point drinking it slowly and consistently without getting burnt out on it. At home I drink lemonade. I add stevia, this version is different, it has erithreyol and tastes pretty a little sweeter. But I may use a bit much of it. Regarding sugar, I know this is digging deep but it really feels like a drug addiction. But there have been a lot of encouraging signs with the program. I'm bad sometimes to get frustrated and give up - happened many times - but this time I have had a couple of days where I have only bounced off only to bounce back on. So that in itself is a great sign.

I'm not expert and haven't hit my weight goals yet! But for me, I'm not shy about having OCD and ADHD, both of which have led to an obsessive appetite over the years and I cannot think of a time in my life that I have been a normal weight. I hit my all-time high 363 back in January. As a full time CPA I dreaded that going into tax season. The doctor wanted me to lose 15 pounds by April. I did do that. This time I really dug deep mentally after hiring a life coach. Why am I eating the way I am? When am I at my worst? Things like that. Part of what is helping is a couple of the medications I am on to help with the OCD, ADHD, anxiety, and such. That combined with the life coaching, I have stuck to weight watchers pretty solidly over the past month and a half and have dropped another ten. I feel light and really good. I have come a long way, but there's a long way to go. Right now I'm in a plateau moment. I keep going between 339 and 341.

I know of the success Bentley has had in career, but have only had the opportunity to see his teams play a time or two. One thing I do remember from seeing them play. His teams were extremely disciplined. They cut hard to the basket and like others have mentioned, you'll see a lot of passes. The ball will swing side to side quite a bit.

Even with the loss of talented athletes like Woolum and Young Belfry should still find a way to be contention. Varney is an impressive QB. He is a clean, accurate passer who hits his players in stride and one part of his game that stands out to me is his ability to make good reads and decisions pre-snap. He has a great understanding of the offense and does little things that you won't see on a stat sheet. I think once that offensive line gels then they Belfry will be in position to once again make some noise in the playoffs. That first half of the schedule is always tough but like in 2021, it could prove to be helpful down the line. Although CAL I feel is in position to make another strong run, Belfry could certainly provide a challenge to them. On a side note regarding Coach Haywood, his record speaks for itself and I may be stating the obvious but having had the chance to learn some life skills from him recently, he is truly a master at connecting and relating with people.

Thank you!