All University of Kentucky basketball fans should appreciate new coach John Calipari’s scheduling ideas. He wants to play the best teams possible and in venues where the Wildcats will get the most national publicity. He’s interested in playing top teams in New York City to Chicago to Nashville to St. Louis to Cincinnati to Atlanta to Louisville.

What I like best is his feeling about playing good teams in Louisville, including the UK-IU games every other year. Thousands of UK fans, most from Western Kentucky, have a better chance of getting tickets in Louisville than they do in Lexington. Best of all would be if the eastern part of our state had a huge arena so that real fans could see a game or two. Dang it, Paul Patton, why didn’t you make Pikeville’s gym about three times as big when you were governor?

UK visits excitin’
I never will forget walking up the mountain from downtown Hazard to Hazard High’s gym on the side of the mountain. It was the night when  Joe B. Hall brought his Wildcats for a scrimmage, and all the parking spots were filled two hours before the game.

I heard someone behind me. It was a man and his young son from Leslie County hustling past me. Said the man, “I reckon the Wildcats will be excitin’, don’t you?”

Cats vs. Tar Heels
Calipari knows what he’s getting into, the race between UK and national champion North Carolina. The Cats under what’s-his-name the past two seasons squandered a pretty good edge over the Tar Heels. UK now leads by just four victories: 1,988 to 1,984.

Speaking of what’s-his-name, my legal sources insist that UK is in expensive and deep doo-doo trying to get out of paying the $6 million Billy Gillispie’s memorandum of understanding calls for if he was fired without just cause. If it’s on paper, it’s a legal document whether Gillispie signed it or not. Ask your lawyer.

And if UK does have to shell out $6 million, the guy who allowed Gillispie to start working without a contract should be shown the door at UK.

Also, if you are a UK fan, aren’t you tired of losing a top football player or  a basketball player because their NCAA mother hens and trainers in the UK Athletics Department didn’t do their job?

If a physician doesn’t prescribe medicine, don’t take it. And don’t use off-the-shelf medications that trainers and the NCAA rules people haven’t  OK’d.

Farrah’s first hubby
The death of Farrah Fawcett didn’t get the attention it deserved because Michael Jackson died the same day.

Did you know that her first husband was a Kentuckian from Middlesboro who played college football? When he played at IU and Eastern Kentucky University, he used his given name of Harvey Yeary.

After Rock Hudson persuaded him to go to Hollywood, the EKU football player changed his name to Lee Majors. How about that!
Rock Hudson? Yes, the movie star. He frequently visited Lexington and Richmond and was a friend of UK and EKU football players.

Allan Houston’s job
The New York Knicks were all set to draft sharp-shooting guard Stephen  Curry from Davidson. The Knicks thought Curry would fall right into their lap at No. 8. General manager Donnie Walsh thought he would have some fun with Curry at Allan Houston’s expense.
Houston, the outstanding guard from Ballard High and the University of Tennessee, is general-manager-in-waiting for the Knicks. Walsh had some fun with Curry when he jokingly told him that Houston advised against drafting him.

Why? Walsh told Curry that Houston didn’t want  to draft anyone good enough to break his Knicks’ shooting percentage record.

The joke turned out to be on all of the Knicks when the Golden State Warriors took Curry at No. 7.

LSU baseball fans
Everyone knows that LSU and its Tigers are crazy about Saturday-night football in Baton Rouge. But have you ever heard louder baseball fans than that Bayou bunch that followed its baseball team to Omaha for the College World Series? The players were appreciative and won the national championship against favored Texas.