Alas.

Alas.

Kentucky Basketball 05-06 has come to a conclusion.

So today, I settled in to looking ahead to next season. I wondered about the future and actually feel pretty good and at the same time I wonder why I and others didn't see the UK season pan out the way it did ahead of time.

Here are a few reasons:

1) We think our players are going to always find a way to win. And when they fail it's due to their failure and never our over-expectation.

2) The team just did not have the high profile athletes that are needed to compete consistently at Division I level.

3) They were under-prepared. Period. (Maybe that's why their trainer was dismissed mid-season?)

So what do I learn from all of this as a pastor?

I learned that high expectations do not necessarily produce positive results. Sometimes people will wilt beneath the pressure to produce. These players are 18-21 year old kids. They don't deserve this kind of pressure unless they're getting paid for the pressure. A la NBA.

I also have learned that you cannot expect people to produce consistantly outside of their God-given abilities. The exceptions to this belongs to the Holy Spirit (Who, thankfully, does not mix sports with religion). Helping my parishioners to learn to play the game of life with savvy calls to not over-burden them.

And the last thing I have learned from my bad Kentucky Wildcat basketball season is that preparation is always the key. Prayer, teaching and nurturing are essential to good spiritual growth and ministry. And as a pastor, I am the key to that work in our church.

Yes, there will be a next year, Big Blue. But in the meantime, I will apply the things I have learned from your season to my next one.

Aloha.

My March Madness

Okay, so I am a little bit crazy. But I have never, ever in my life filled out a NCAA bracket that did not have my beloved Kentucky Wildcats winning it all.

But they have had a rotten season. In fact, I have never been so disappointed in a team in my life. They have been extremely erradict on the court all year. And I have a hard time seeing them string together six wins in a row. They haven't all year.

My mind tells me that they are not the team to beat this year. But my heart beats to a different drummer. No doubt Connecticut is the best team in the country. I can assure you that Duke will go down early to George Washington. Gonzaga will run out of gas against UCLA. Memphis will go down to Kansas. Boston College will surprise everyone by beating Villanova.

And Kentucky will prevail against nemesis UAB before upsetting Connecticut.

Am I crazy? Don't ask my wife!

So here are my final four predictions:

Texas will come out of Atlanta.

Kansas will come out of Oakland.

Boston College will come out of Minneapolis.

Kentucky will arrive from Washington after beating Seton Hall.

And it will be Kentucky 62 Kansas 55 for the National Championship. Tubby's defense wil prevail in the end.

Go Big Blue!

I could not pull the plug on my Cats. My heart won out over my mind.

Now where is the number to my therapist? I think I'm having an episode.

Yes, Dolly and I do cross paths.

It's Finally Over!

It is finally over. My beloved Kentucky Wildcats- who have been in desperate need of some lovin' this year- bit the dust yesterday against Florida. The Gators were just too big and too fast. And the Cats were just a bit too cocky and too slow. They looked like they had a chance but it went out the exit doors hardly three minutes into the second half.

And now a new season begins, according to Tubby Smith. They play Mississippi on Thursday in the SEC tournament. Is this their last hurrah? I hope not.

And now as I nurse the absence of a wisdom tooth that will require me to see the dentist again, I nurse the pain of a ragged Kentucky fan. I have never looked so forward to the end of a season in my entire career as a UK supporter. But I am not sure I want to see the tournament and what it may offer. Yikes!

But in the end, my life goes on. I have people to visit and sermons to preach. Besides, Detroit Tiger baseball is about to start. And we all know that they just might do it this year.