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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.

 

 

Star-divide

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.

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My experiences in Lexington

I went to Lexington twice when I was in school in the early 90s and again in 2004. I really enjoyed both of my first trips to Lexington. I know this doesn’t sound like much of an endorsement, but the layout of the city, campus and stadium kinda reminded me of a much more charming and in the case of the stadium, smaller, version of Columbia.

They had added to the stadium by the time I returned in 2004. For the most part, it was an enjoyable trip, however, once we started pulling away the UK fans had a nasty habit of taking the game balls from PATs and FGs and throwing them up stands and over the edge into the parking lot. It seemed like a childish display of sour grapes and I felt bad for the UGA football manager who were trying to keep up with the balls.

They also have Jimmy Johns in beautiful downtown Greenville, South Carolina, and I give it a thumbs up.

by fotodog on May 9, 2008 8:57 PM EDT reply actions  

The JuryHas Reached a Verdict on Gillispie

WE LOVE HIM!!!!!!!!

I’m from Lexington and currently live in Louisville and I haven’t met a single person who doesn’t love Gillispie.

He has gotten 5 commitments in the last 8 days and 13 commits since he became head coach just over a year ago…

These facts, combined with his FIVE conference coach of the year awards (including the 2008 SEC coach of the year) certainly satisfies even the most radical UK Basketball fans.

BTW, GREAT article…I thoroughly enjoyed it…very astute observations of Lexingtonians.

by BCG@UK4EVER on May 10, 2008 4:58 AM EDT reply actions  

They had added to the stadium by the time I returned in 2004. For the most part, it was an enjoyable trip, however, once we started pulling away the UK fans had a nasty habit of taking the game balls from PATs and FGs and throwing them up stands and over the edge into the parking lot. It seemed like a childish display of sour grapes and I felt bad for the UGA football manager who were trying to keep up with the balls.

fotodog, this may in fact not have been malicious. As a regular attendee of games at Michigan Stadium, every time I’ve seen a ball make it into the stands (from either team), it immediately starts moving towards the stadium’s edge, where it inevitably gets thrown over (unless stadium security can catch up to it faster). While I can’t speak to Kentucky’s motives, up here in the mitten it seems to be a simple pass-time, without anger.

by zinzarin on May 10, 2008 2:49 PM EDT reply actions  

As a former manager myself, it rubbed me the wrong way. Those guys are trying to keep the game running smoothly and the last thing they need to do is track downs balls in the stands or outside the stadium.

by fotodog on May 11, 2008 1:54 PM EDT up reply actions  

Dang ...

... can’t you guys figure out how to clean up all the HTML nasties showing up in this post?

:-)

Interesting post, though. Unfortunately, I don’t make the pilgrimage from Louisville to Lexington except for ball games and the occasional round of golf.

A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan

by Glenn Logan on May 11, 2008 12:18 PM EDT reply actions  

Actually,

I tried to delete the post in order to clean up the HTML, and failed at that. This makes me a double techno-loser. Not only did I screw it up, but I couldn’t even hide the screwup. I’ll get better though, I’m sure.

by MaconDawg on May 12, 2008 10:17 AM EDT up reply actions  

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