The Goals of UK Basketball

That’s how it was at UCLA. Coach (Ben) Howland would chart our goals in the preseason and it would be: Win all of our games, win the Pac-10 and win the national title.“They don’t hang any banners at Pauley Pavilion except national championships. ”

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If a UK fan had said this in the Almost Era of Tubby Smith coached UK basketball, he’d have been ridiculed as unrealistic. Someone please tell me why UCLA is better than UK. Why should UK have lessor goals than UCLA. If you want to win, you’ve got to expect to win. Period. Goals and Expectations go hand in hand. A goal is nothing more than the end toward which effort is directed. The expectation is that those goals will be met. No one sets goals with the expectation of failure. Again, we set goals with the expectation of meeting or exceeding them. Successful people do this. Successful programs do this. History has shown us that UK is a successful program. So was it unfair that UK fans expected Smith to reach the Final Four and earn a National Championship sometime between 1999 and 2007. I don’t think so.  Fans should have the same expectations as the team itself.  Especially since, Smith was being paid with the goal and therefore the expectation of Final Fours and Championships in mind. Smith knew what was expected of him. He wasn’t an innocent lamb being led to slaughter by the wolves.

The goal at UK should be to win every game. The goal should be to win the SEC and the NCAA Tournaments. UK should expect to win every game and so should it’s fans. I don’t care what the fans of the Minnesota coach have to say about it, Smith was not getting it done. It’s obvious that he didn’t think he could get it done as well. That’s why he fled to Minnesota.

If you lose a game, is that a failure. Yes. If you don’t win a championship does it mean that the season was a complete failure. No. You failed to reach your goal. But no team is going to win a championship every year. Not even the LA Druglord backed Wizard of Westwood could win the National Championship every year. But the seasons should be based upon building up to making a championship run. Momentum from the end of one season should build over into and support the next until all of that effort culminates in a National Championship. That was never the case under the past coach. Smith was a talent yoke and a momentum killer. The beginning of each season started as if past season had never occurred.

We now have a coach who sets the goals of winning each game and winning the SEC and NCAA Tournaments. He understands these goals and has the hunger to chase them and accomplish them. The Gillispie era has started off rocky. Realistically, what did UK fans think would happen this year. Gillispie is starting off with 5 good to great athletes. Meeks and Patterson are going to be special at UK. I see both of them becoming All Americas by the end of their year. Patterson should be SEC Frosh of the Year in my opinion. Biased though it may be. Crawford and Bradley are good guards who are inconsistent. But they are skilled. We all hope that D Jasper will come out and lead this team. I think he will be a good one. But we won’t know until he plays. That’s 4 guards and 1 PF. Not exactly a complete team. But fairly representative of what the Minnesota coach recruited during his tenure at UK. Always holes being filled by out of position, uncomfortable talent. The rest of the team is either inexperienced or role players that should not be starters for UK. Porter has no business starting for UK. Mark Coury should not be starting any game at UK. Harris got spot minutes for half of last year. Stevenson barely played at all. Carter has been injured his whole career. The rest are your typical incomplete Tubby recruits and walk-ons. But that’s the hand that Gillispie was dealt by the inefficient recruiting of Smith. The team is also suffering from a Tubby Smith induced hangover of low expectations and soft discipline. UK has been a soft team since the recruits of Rick Pitino graduated or were drafted. To be sure, you’ve had Bogans and Hayes, but you’ve also had Shagari, Camara and J.P. Blevins–all starters at UK for one reason or another during the Smith era. Gillispie is not going to accept soft players and a lack of discipline. And he shouldn’t. UK fans should accept this. UK fans should welcome this.

Instead, I hear crying and complaining that Gillispie is “too hard.” He may not be “caring enough” for UK. He practices too much. Next some moron is going to complain because Gillispie doesn’t go to church enough. I’m tired of losing. The losing was due to Smith. Smith is gone now. I was tired of Ten Loss Tubby and his yearly “this is unacceptable” proclamations followed by zero change and more of the same. It will take time for Gillispie to install his system and to get players in who reflect his system. When he does, he will win and win big. The “Almost Era” is over. It’s going to take time for the Gillispie Era to come into full swing. It’s time for UK fans to sit down and have some patience and let Gillispie get to work.

In the next few years, UK will once again be a giant on the scene. Give Coach Gillispie time and he will get us there.

little sales girls of Cambodia

Outside every temple and every sight of note and on any street that a tourist or backpacker travels in Cambodia, you’ll be bombarded by touts and hagglers and salespersons of all ages. The beggars are always out in great numbers as well. Sometimes it is a pain. Other times, it’s heartbreaking. Sometimes, it’s fun. You’ll get a guy or gal who puts a new twist on things.

Then you have Spider Girl. She was absolutely adorable. I wanted to adopt her and send her home to live with my mother or sister. She was sweet and not overly pushy and cute as a button. She smiled shyly at you and almost pleaded for you to buy “some cold drink” from her. After all, you are “very hot, Mister.” Spider Girl stations herself right outside Angkor Wat from sun up to sun down selling water, Coke, Sprite or a cold beer. Anything to quench your thirst after a few hours spent wandering among the ruins of Angkor in the 90 to 100 degree heat and sun of an average Siem Reap morning or afternoon.

I rode up to Angkor Wat in my Tuk Tuk with my driver and my camera at the ready. Jumped out of my ride and swiftly headed for the great Temple built by the Jayavarman VII–the buddhist Prince who transformed Cambodia into a single empire by defeating the Chams and uniting the Khmer under the Ankgorean banner. But before I could get across the street Spider Girl was on me. “Mister! Mister! Buy cold drink from me! Buy cold drink from me!” My answer is always maybe. Maybe. Often when coming upon the temples of Ankgor, you are surrounded by 10 or more young kids trying to sell you everything and anything. Post Cards. Water. Beer. Bracelets. Guidebooks. Cokes. Fans. Statues of Buddha of all shapes and sizes. Paintings of Angkor and Apsara. They tout and sell everything.

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The salesmanship and savvy of some of these kids amazes me each time I visit. They’ll ask you what country or state you are from and name the capitals and any manner of interesting trivia about your home. They’ll tell you how “handsome ” or “pretty” you are. They talk to you about anything that might keep you around long enough to make a sale. The really small ones will hold your hand and look into your eyes and make you fall instantly in love with them. They speak pieces of several languages. I watched one little gal who could not have been more than 8 or 9 years of age talk to tourists from Sweden, Japan, Germany and America and communicate with them in their own languages. Not fluent to be sure. But enough to communicate and make a sell. Unbelievable. There exists a devilish combination in some of them. Adorable. Angelic looking. Intelligent. Savvy. Street smart. And manipulative as Bill Clinton on his way to the Whitehouse. lol

You have to look on these scenes and grudgingly admire the survival instincts and entrepreneurship of these children of Cambodia. You can’t help but fall in love with them.

Near the end of the video, one of the boys in the crowd asks me about my Buddha tattoo. The whole time that I was in Asia, people were fascinated by that tattoo. Complete strangers would reach out and touch my shoulder. People would wai (a short bow of respect) to it. Endless questions as to where I had it done. Why I had it done. Unlike Muslims, no Buddhist was offended by my tattoo. They were genuinely thrilled and fascinated by it. It was quite strange the first time a hand reached out from a crowd. Not to hurt or steal or even sell me something. Merely to touch the Buddha on my shoulder. Whenever I would rest, children would come up to me and rub my shoulder and stare at it. My tattoo is modeled after a painting (below) that I purchased in Vietnam. That painting in turn is very similar to the Buddha/Jayavarman VII hybrid that is ubiquitous in Cambodia. So the Khmer people of Cambodia have a special affinity for that image and especially admired the tattoo. As for me, it enriched my Asian experience and made my visit all the more enjoyable.

Three little Cham girls selling waffle cakes in the Mekong

Three beautiful little Vietnamese girls in a Cham Muslim ethnic minority village down in the Mekong Delta. They created a little jingle to sell their waffle cakes. They sold me. lol I didn’t want the waffle cakes though. I just wanted to record their little jingle. They sang it for me on digi-cam so I gave them each a dollar. They sold a bunch of waffles while I was there. Mostly because they were so cute.

The little boy waving from the boat is from a small fishing village outside of Chau Doc. Many of the folks around there live in those boats year round. Imagine that…

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Angkor Wat

This is a video I made of Angkor Wat and some of the surrounding Temples and Terraces while I was there in September. Angkor Wat has something like 1200 bas relief Apsara carved on it’s massive walls. The Apsara are angels in Hindu mythology. They entertain and in some cases protect and even marry Gods and Mortals. They are said to be as captivating and desirable as the Sirens of Greek Mythology.

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An Afghani entertains the US Special Forces

Somewhere near the Pakistani border…

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India

May and I are making plans to go to India in February. Pretty much have it set. Just a few details to work out. I’ll fly to Bangkok. Grab May there and fly to New Delhi. Hopefully, I’ll have tons of pics to post of that adventure. Plans are to fly to New Delhi take a bus or the train to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. From there, we will take a trip to see the Ganges River–the Sacred River. I wouldn’t mind heading eastward to Bodh Gaya to sit under the Bodhi Tree under which the Buddha reached nibbana some 2500 years ago.

The Taj Mahal and the Red Fort of Agra

BUT, I also want to experience Goa. It is said to be a perfect climate there year round. Also, the beaches there are supposed to be some of the most beautiful in the world.

We only have like 7 to 9 days so we have to keep it to a few select places.

india-trip.ppt

Merry Christmas!!!

It’s Christmas time again in Afghanistan and across the World. Seems it comes faster and faster every year. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and that the New Years bring a bounty of joys and successes. If there must be pain and sorrow, let it be short lived And may we all know peace, at least for a moment, in this year to come.

God Bless…Dave

25 December 2008

In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it ‘Christmas’ and went to church; the Jews called it ‘Hanukkah’ and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Happy Hanukkah!’ or (to the atheists) ‘Look out for the wall!’ ~Dave Barry

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. ~Dr. Seuss

When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things – not the great occasions – give off the greatest glow of happiness.” ~ Bob Hope

A Christmas candle is a lovely thing;
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away;
While quite unselfish, it grows small.–Eva K. Logue

Coach Gillispie

Coach Gillispie. New Coach at UK. He’s taken over a team with 1 uber-talented frosh, 2 talented but injured Sophs, and two talented but stunted Seniors. The rest of the team are guys who should be role players. Porter is a possible 3 point specialists and should be a back up PG. He’s not a starting PG at the Kentucky level. Jared Carter is injured more often than not so who knows what he might have been. He may show next year. Everyone else has major liabilities due either to inexperience or non-development. When you have to start Mark Coury, the cupboard is pretty bare. The old die hard Ten Loss Tubby fans want to blame everything on Gillispie.  A contingent of them seem hellbent to ensure that Gillispie gets fired as soon as possible. Spreading malicious rumours about the man. Calling him incompetent or worse. The don’t seem like fans to me. Not UK fans. They seem to be University of Tubby fans. Everything that these cretins complained about in the Tubby era, they do themselves now that Tubby is gone. (We’ll talk about TLTs leaving later.)

Look at Gillispie’s record. He has a rough first year, followed by immense improvement in his second year and then continued improvement thereafter. Gillispie is having a bad first year by UK standards. The team has lost to Gardner-Webb, Houston, UAB, Indiana and UNC. Not good by any standard. But the team is making steady improvement.

I don’t miss Tubby. Like I said earlier. You knew that Tubby wasn’t going to do anything exciting. 20 wins, 10 losses and fall short of the Final Four. The last two years, TLT couldn’t make it out of the first weekend of the tournament. That is why he scurried off to UM.

Bottom line. I’m happy that TLT is gone and I believe that Gillispie will have UK back in contention for the NCAA Championship within four years. The man is a recruiting machine. He’ll get it done. UK fans need to have patience.

Salaam

No, I’m not Muslim. The word is a simple greeting which means “peace.” I simply like it as a greeting. I am Buddhist. Rather, I try to be. I’m not perfect. I haven’t reached nirvana. I’m simply following a path that I feel to be true. My second religion is UK basketball. Started following the Football Cats off and on since the Mumme era. I’m happy as can be that Ten Loss Tubby is gone. And even though the Gillispie era has started off a bit rough and tumble, I’m still happy as hell to have him coaching at UK. Under Tubby, I knew exactly what to expect. 20 wins, ten losses and something always short of the Final Four. With Gillispie, at the very least there is hope for improvement and true contention.

I love my family. My two Brothers and my Sister collectively have 9 children with one on the way and possibly one more.  I have none. lol Not even a dog.

One of my greatest passions is travel. I want to travel and see the world. The whole of it. I’ve traveled to Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, all over the United States. I’m also a huge history and political buff. I’m currently working in Afghanistan. I have traveled to Asia at least twice a year since 2003.  I, also, enjoy writing which is what brought me here.

So there you have it. Most of this blog will be consumed with talk of travel, politics, religion, history and basketball. All hot topics that can get you killed. lol

You’re all welcome to join in. Just keep your muzzle pointed southward.