Dawgsports on the Road: Lexington, Kentucky

In honor of our trip into a brave new blogging world, I thought I'd post the first of what I hope will be a series of travel features here at Dawgsports. The SEC is a wild and wonderful place, full of exciting travel destinations. Oh, and there's also Lexington, Kentucky where I went this past weekend. I kid Wildcats!

I really enjoyed my trip to the heart of blue and white country, and noticed several things you should probably be aware of if you're going to Lexington for the 'Dawgs matchup with Rich Brooks' squad on November 8, 2008.

Jimmy John's sandwich shop: The Illinois-based chain is like Subway with better potato chips. Lexingtonians eat everything but the chairs there every day based solely on my weekend observations. There are five of them in the Lexington metro area (compared to the 3 in all of metro Atlanta), all of which serve a roast beef/turkey club called the Bootlegger. You should grab one. Or four.

Andre Woodson: No Wildcat fan I talked to really wanted to talk about Woodson. My impression was that this stemmed from 3 causes: 1) Kentucky fans don't want to be perceived as living in the past and are playing it cool, 2) Kentucky fans are still a little peeved that a season that saw them as a national top 10 team at one point devolved into a shower of ordinariness, or 3) Kentucky fans are unaware of who Andre Woodson is. This would explain the one guy outside the Patterson Building who asked me if Woodson is a shooting guard or plays the point. They'll talk to you about Curtis Pulley though. Weird.

Horses: Lexington is horse country. No doubt about it. For starters it bills itself as the "Horse Capital of the World" and is home to the Keeneland racing facility. I came into town on Man O' War Drive. Ride around and you'll see lots of horse farms. Don't ask about Eight Belles. They won't want to talk about it. Except on sports radio, where they talked about it all weekend long. Seriously, if you want just a touch of the Kentucky Derby experience, I'd recommend staying in Lexington during the Derby and commuting over to Louisville for the festivities.

Kentucky basketball: The jury's still out on Billy Gillispie. For some reason the few basketball fans I talked to were less upset about their loss to us in the SEC tournament than they were about the loss to Marquette in the NCAA tournament. They generally blamed both on Tubby Smith. There was also some grumbling about offering scholarships to fourth graders. I'm not sure what that's all about, and as a guest in Bluegrass Country I just stayed out of that one to be polite.

I'm sure this is just a small sampling of life in Lexington. If you're a recent visitor who wants to chime in on what to do and where to go in town, please chime in over in the comments.

In honor of our trip into a brave new blogging world, I thought I'd post the first of what I hope will be a series of travel features here at Dawgsports. The SEC is a wild and wonderful place, full of exciting travel destinations. Oh, and there's also Lexington, Kentucky where I went this past weekend. I kid Wildcats!

I really enjoyed my trip to the heart of blue and white country, and noticed several things you should probably be aware of if you're going to Lexington for the 'Dawgs matchup with Rich Brooks' squad on November 8, 2008.

Jimmy John's sandwich shop: The Illinois-based chain is like Subway with better potato chips. Lexingtonians eat everything but the chairs there every day based solely on my weekend observations. There are five of them in the Lexington metro area (compared to the 3 in all of metro Atlanta), all of which serve a roast beef/turkey club called the Bootlegger. You should grab one. Or four.

Andre Woodson: No Wildcat fan I talked to really wanted to talk about Woodson. My impression was that this stemmed from 3 causes: 1) Kentucky fans don't want to be perceived as living in the past and are playing it cool, 2) Kentucky fans are still a little peeved that a season that saw them as a national top 10 team at one point devolved into a shower of ordinariness, or 3) Kentucky fans are unaware of who Andre Woodson is. This would explain the one guy outside the Patterson Building who asked me if Woodson is a shooting guard or plays the point. They'll talk to you about Curtis Pulley though. Weird.

Horses: Lexington is horse country. No doubt about it. For starters it bills itself as the "Horse Capital of the World" and is home to the Keeneland racing facility. I came into town on Man O' War Drive. Ride around and you'll see lots of horse farms. Don't ask about Eight Belles. They won't want to talk about it. Except on sports radio, where they talked about it all weekend long. Seriously, if you want just a touch of the Kentucky Derby experience, I'd recommend staying in Lexington during the Derby and commuting over to Louisville for the festivities.

Kentucky basketball: The jury's still out on Billy Gillispie. For some reason the few basketball fans I talked to were less upset about their loss to us in the SEC tournament than they were about the loss to Marquette in the NCAA tournament. They generally blamed both on Tubby Smith. There was also some grumbling about offering scholarships to fourth graders. I'm not sure what that's all about, and as a guest in Bluegrass Country I just stayed out of that one.

I'm sure this is just a small sampling of life in Lexington. If you're a recent visitor who wants to chime in on what to do and where to go in town, please chime in over in the comments.