My favorite part about visiting Louisville was the incredulous looks of locals that somebody visited their city on a whim. The Kentucky slander on this site is a far fetched.
Here's what you need to know about the Derby City:
- Bars are open until 4 a.m. because every elected official is addicted to cocaine. (Seriously, that's the only explanation for keeping bars open that late.)
- Downs After Dark switched Churchill Downs from an abomination to an institution worth protecting.
- Haymarket has a bourbon selection worthy of Ramzy's entombment.
- No matter how much you drink, it's best to keep it under five bourbon-based cocktails a night.
- The Dixie Mafia is real.
- The Troll Pub is worth visiting, and I don't say that as a reformed internet troll.
- The Galt House Hotel has an aquarium for a bartop. I will bring that glorious idea to the City of Kings when I purchase the OK Café in 10 years.
- The Muhammad Ali Center is well worth the $12 admission price, though the ubiquitous Ford sponsorship ads perturbed me.
- Louisville's campus: 2.5 out of 5 stars.
- The KFC Yum! Center shits on the Schottenstein Center.
- Wild Eggs served the best breakfast burrito of my life.
- Ei8ght Up has the best patio.
- Fourth Street Live! is like the Gateway on steroids, and I mean that in the most passive-aggressive way possible.
- Rick Pitino never linked up for his ass whupping.
- Lexington sucks.
ICYMI:
- Day 3 and Day 4 of The Opening Finals observations from our Andrew Lind, whom you should follow on Twitter.
- A painful Year 1 under Chris Holtmann would be on par with precedent.
- The 11W Recruiting Mailbag returned.
- Your options for official 2017 Buckeye football shirt: Ugly and uglier.
- Help put a life-size statue of Woody Hayes in his hometown of Newcomerstown, Ohio.
Word of the Day: Jackleg.
MATURE JAMARCO. Jamarco Jones is one of a handful of 2017 Ohio State footballers who could be on an NFL roster right now if they chose.. Instead Jones returned to Columbus to anchor an offensive line in need of improvement.
The process goes on.
From the G.O.A.T. of the Ohio State beat, Tim May of The Columbus Dispatch:
“Oh man, when I first came in here, I had a bunch of baby fat on me, I wasn’t very strong, I wasn’t a good runner, I wasn’t in great shape,” Jones said. “These past couple years have done wonders for me. I’ve toned up a lot, and I’ve gained that weight back in muscle.
“And I’ve worked hard on my running technique so I can be faster, quicker and more agile.”
Jones will easily be one of (if not the) top offensive linemen in the 2018 NFL Draft. Ohio State will need more than him to reach its goals, though.
The good news is the lynchpin expects a "pretty good" unit this fall:
“I know the O-line, we’ve been working hard to improve and fix some things that went wrong last year. I’m excited to see how things go in fall camp. I think we’re going to be a pretty good unit.”
I too am excited, Jamarco.
KEY WORD: VERSATILITY. When Urban Meyer arrived at Ohio State, the linebackers were in a dead heat with receivers for worst unit on the team.
Elite recruiting can change a lot in six years. The Buckeyes lost Raekwon McMillan to the Miami Dolphins in the second round of this year's draft, but don't expect this year's unit to take a step back.
They're versatile, and part of that is the athletic ability of players. The other part is coaching and scheme.
From theozone.net:
The versatility of the players also plays in to what they are asked to do in this defense. For the Buckeyes, the Will and the Sam have the exact same responsibilities, they just play them on different portions of the field. The Will plays to the “boundary” — or short side of the field, while the Sam plays the wide side — or the “field”. Understandably, the Sam will find himself covering more slot receivers, but the responsibilities don’t change from side to side.
“The Sam and Will are interchangeable,” Davis said. “There is just a different world you live in when you are to the field or when you are in the boundary or when you are weak or strong. Having reps at those different things. The Mike is a different animal, but we have got a very teachable system. I could take, say, Jerome Baker from the Will ‘backer spot and make him a Mike and it wouldn’t be too big of a stretch.”
To be fair, Baker is such an athlete he could start at running back and it wouldn't be too big of a stretch, either.
Still, the defense this year will be nasty unless the secondary regresses to 2012 levels (which ain't happening).
BOYS LIKE NOAH. As my three regular readers know, I predicted big things for Noah Brown in 2016. Outside of his four-touchdown performance at Oklahoma, it didn't materialize.
But I'm not off the Brown bandwagon. I will draft him six rounds before anyone else in my computer football league thinks about it next month because he excites the Dallas Cowboys.
From dallasnews.com:
"(Brown) is a little bit of an all-around guy," said Cowboys offensive coordinator Scott Linehan. "He's an outside receiver with a big frame (6-2, 222). He's kind of got a 'tweener' size when it comes to receiver. He's got a little bit of a TE element to his game as far as his size and the matchup and the people he's blocking. So he should match up well in that area.
"He's a good receiver, too. He has a real consistence game, and he's a smart kid, so we're excited about him."
I would love to see Brown blow up, despite that it would make the 2016 offensive ineptitude even more confounding.
MAKES YOU THINK. Clemson won the national title last year (I know, I forgot too).
At least one ACC assistant coach thinks the Tigers did it by stealing signals.
Interesting quote on Clemson in the Athlon CFB preview mag. pic.twitter.com/fUIKFzOInM
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) July 2, 2017
Tough to judge the worth of an anonymous quote from a possible Wake Forest linebackers coach. That won't stop me from believing a theft of signals decided the 2016 Fiesta Bowl.
EASY THERE, NEOPHYTE. Summer is a time when Americans love to undertake physical activity they've spent the last six months thinking about.
Just don't get too headstrong with it. That leads to injury.
From dispatch.com:
“A lot of injuries happen within the first few months of a person taking up a new activity,” said Dr. James Borchers, director of sports medicine at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center.
“The last thing we want people to do is to defeat themselves before they even get started.”
One way to reduce the risk of this happening is by talking to your doctor about the appropriate level of exercise for your fitness level and abilities, he said. Many injuries occur when people do too much, too quickly.
When starting an exercise routine or a new workout program, start slowly, Borchers said. You should gradually build up the intensity, duration and frequency.
That 61-year-old grandpa trying out for the NBA will look like a child once my basketball training reaches full intensity.
THOSE WMDs. Tower of hundreds of Aztec skulls found under Mexico City... The right way to pack for travel... The hacker who cared too much... 102 hours in pursuit of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects... Kidnapped and tortured: One CFB player's unbelievable story.
