·:[ Jason On A Shtick ]:·
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LEXINGTON (AP) - Local yokel Jason Whitaker, a self-proclaimed UK fan and “blue blood”, was spotted wearing a Louisville Cardinals shirt at Sunday’s UL game against Marquette.

Whitaker attended a UL game earlier this season and was said to have been simply observing the behavior of rival UL fans.  However, at Sunday’s game, witnesses said that he was actively cheering for the Cards.  One UL fan described him as “very into” the game.  Another said Whitaker discussed Big East conference standings with him and even joked that Coach Pitino “never looked as good in blue”.

Mr. Whitaker avoided reporters after the game and refused to comment.  One of the members of his entourage, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said “Of course he’s still a UK fan!  He was just here to see what all the buzz was about.  I mean, what’s the big deal?  At least he’s not wearing a Florida jersey – there are people here in Kentucky that do that, you know.  And he’s not one of those UK fans that boo, either.  That’s just ridiculous!”

While some UL fans got a kick out of the event, others weren’t so pleased.  “We really don’t need people from Lexington bringing that mojo over here”, one stated.  “He must have brought that UK funk with him – our Cards looked rough today.  A few more of those UK people start coming and we’ll be turning the ball over twenty times a game.”

Make no mistake – you are either a Kentucky fan or a Louisville fan – you can’t be both.  But just because you choose one side, it doesn’t mean that you can’t go see how the others live!  Such was the case when I had the opportunity to go to a Louisville game with my friend Heath recently.  Purely to satisfy your curiosity, here is my report.

Freedom Hall appears pretty run down in comparison to Rupp Arena.  Of course, they are working on building a new stadium for the Cardinals, so that is to be expected.  I will say that even in the upper sections, the seats are decent and don’t seem quite so high up.

The thing I noticed most about the whole affair was that stuff is much more laid back in L’ville.  When you go to a UK game, every single little happening is scripted and polished – right down to each cheer and any halftime activities.  You’d never have some random, unorganized deal such as a radio guy walking around on the court with a mic whooping up the crowd and presiding over a free throw contest, which is exactly how it went at this game.

The crowd is pretty much the same way.  At any given UK game, there are twenty five thousand or so coaches in attendance yelling at every player for every little mistake and getting mighty perturbed when the Wildcats aren’t leading by twenty points.  The L’ville crowd seemed much more at ease with the flow of things and only got bent out of shape at terribly obvious bad calls.

Don’t get me wrong, folks.  I bleed blue and I’ve done my share of armchair coaching over the years.  But I have to admit, a game is pretty enjoyable when you are just there to cheer on your team and not take it too seriously.

Oh, yeah… did I mention that I wore a red shirt?  It was just to blend in, of course…

I am giving up this year before it happens again.  Every year, Kentucky plays Tennessee in their last regular season game.  And every year, we find some gut wrenching way to lose.  Last year, it was that four overtime nightmare.  I can’t take another one of those, so I am just throwing in the towel now and conceding defeat before we even play them.

YES, Tennessee is lousy this year and very beatable.  YES, their coach has already resigned and is just killing time with no motivation.  YES, we have our best chance ever to finally knock them off after over twenty years of awful defeats.  But tonight we lost to Vandy.  VANDERBILT!  Talk about lousy!  We just let them beat us at home on senior night!  We got called for three penalties for roughing the kicker!  Sheesh!

I am usually the one saying don’t give up.  I always think we can beat Tennessee and really believe it right up until that last heartbreaking play.  Hey, I stayed the whole way through the Arkansas game earlier this season and saw us pull out a great win after everyone else had walked out!  But I can’t do it this year, I just can’t.  I hate the Volunteers.  I can’t stand their prison garb orange colors.  I loathe Tennessee!  But I just don’t have it in me to go through that again.  Boo hoo!

We finally got our first good snow since Lindsay has been old enough to appreciate it. We went out in the morning, played in the snow and had a good time. When it was time to come in, Jenny had hot cocoa ready for us. I asked her for a bowl so that I could bring in some snow to make snow cream. She looked at me strangely and asked “For what?” as if I were speaking some other language. I was shocked that she didn’t know what I was talking about. I thought snow cream was a Kentucky tradition, but I guess those folks in the “deep south” around Bowling Green don’t get enough snow to enjoy this delicacy. Just in case you were robbed of it in your youth, too, here’s how to make it.

You need:

• a bowl of unsoiled snow
• sugar
• vanilla extract
• milk

Start by taking a bowl outside and skimming the edge of it along the top of some fresh snow. Obviously, the snow has to be deep enough so that you don’t pick up any grass or muck. Next, add some sugar. I’d guess I put about three quarters of a cup into a medium sized bowl of snow, though I never measure exactly. Same goes with the vanilla extract – I probably use about two tablespoons of it.  You just have to experiment and figure out your particular taste.

Finally, add in milk and stir everything together. You want your snow cream to have a consistency similar to a milkshake, but don’t add too much or it will be too runny. You can even store the extra snow cream in the refrigerator (best to use a stainless steel bowl to help it stay cold enough), but it won’t last for very long. Now, pour out a cereal bowl portion of snow cream for everyone and slurp up this delicious winter treat along side your hot cocoa!

…you cut the top sections off the back doors of your work van. I was behind this rig at a light and had to take a picture. Note that the glass is not just gone, but the top halves of the doors have actually been removed. Oh, and it was about 25 degrees F outside when I saw it.