Page 14, The Estill County Tribune, August 3, 2016

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Fans Get Chance To Meet UK Football Players On Saturday

Larry Vaught FanswillhaveachancetomeetandgreetUniversityof Kentucky football play-ers Saturday at Common-wealthStadiumduringFanDay. My guess is that oneofthemostpopularplayerswillbefreshmanlinebackerKashDanielofPaintsville.

Sure, he’s a Kentuckyguy. And a Kentucky guyfromeasternKentuckywhoneverwavered inhis com-mitmenttotheWildcats. He’salsoa special foot-ball player with uniqueskills.HewonthePaulHor-nung Award in Kentuckyand was a U.S.ArmyAll-American. But it is his personalitythat sets Daniel apart fromso many other players andwhatIthinkwillbringfanstohimSaturday. Just ask quarterbackDrew Barker, who shouldbeanotherfanfavorite. “Kashisawesome.Ilovehim. He is hilarious andoneofthefunniestpeopleIhaveevermet,”saidBarker.“Coming from Paintsville,he is great.We hang out alot.” That let Barker find out

that Daniel is a huge UFC(Ultimate Fighting Cham-pionship) fan.The quarter-backstillrememberswatch-ingwithDanielwhenNateDiazbeatConorMcGregor. “Kashwassomad.Itwashilarious. This guy is hardcore fan. He was about tocry over someone losing,”Barker said. “He has a lotofpassion,whichobvious-ly was displayed the nightwhen I was watching thatfight.HewasyellingattheTVandeverything. “But he translates thattohiswholelife.Heispas-sionateabouteverythinghedoes.Havingsomeonelikethatonyourteamcanonlyhelp rally people aroundhim.Hewillbeagreatlead-erandgreatplayerforus.” Daniel’s father, Scott, aformer college basketballplayer, said the UK fresh-

man has always loved thattypeofentertainment. “At his age, it is justsomethingheenjoys,”ScottDaniel said. “I think whenhe was little the pageantryof professional wrestlingand thehoopla andwho isthe baddest guy out thereappealed tohim.Hegravi-tates to that kind of stuff.Helikesitalot.Aslongashedoesnottryit,itisokaywithme. “Healwayslovedwatch-ingthatkindofstuff.WhenI was young and we gotabout six channels on TV,Iwatched.ItellKashaboutthat he just laughs. BackthenmybrotherandIusedto wrestle each other. Re-memberthere’snotalottodo in eastern Kentucky, somaybeit’smyfaulthe’slikeheistoday.”

Kash Daniel is not only a talented football player, but he’s a passionate UFC fan. His father, Scott, admits maybe it started from watching pro wrestling as a child. (Larry Vaught/Verizon Photo)

by Larry Vaught By now most of youprobably know that OscarCombs is stepping awayfrom his role on the UKRadio Network’s pregamefootball and basketballshows that he has been onforabout20years. He was the founder ofTheCats’Pauseandamanevery UK fan knew andmostadmired.Itjustwon’tbethesamewithouthim. JustaskTomLeach, theradioplay-by-playvoiceof

theWildcats. “One of the best thingsthenetworkdidwasbring-ing Oscar on the pregameshows because he has al-ways had that special con-nection with the Big BlueNation, to appreciate andunderstand their concerns,questions, passions, etc,”Leach said. “I rememberwhen the broadcast crewtraveled to road games onanRVandOscarmadesev-eraltripswithusandwhatatreat itwas tohearhissto-riesabouthiscareercover-

ingUKsports. “Oscar has always beena great friend and alwaysthere when I need to pickhis brain on something—and there’s a lot to pickfromtherewhenitcomestotheCats. “It’s sad thathedecidedto leave his role on ourbroadcastsbuthe’scertainlymore than earned the rightto follow his heart on thisdecisionandI’mexcitedtohearabouthisideatofocusonwritingabookortwo.”

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Combs is stepping away from UK’s pregame shows after 20 years

by Larry Vaught I’vetoldyoubeforewhatabigJohnCaliparifanthatformer UK All-AmericanJackGivens is.But I thinkitisrareforaplayerasgoodasGivenswastounderstandwhatthearrivalofCaliparimeanttoKentuckyfansaf-ter two years of Billy Gil-lispie. “He took the game andgave it back to the fans.Thinkback rightbeforehecamehereandbacktoBillyGillispie.FortheKentuckyfans, the Big Blue Nationwas feeling left out andunder appreciated. Theydidn’tlikethedirectiontheprogramwasgoingandtheprogram was in really badshape,”Givenssaid. “Calipari came in andgotthatbeingthebasketballcoach at Kentucky, coach-ingisasmallpartofthejobanditismoreimportantforyouunderstandtheprogramis bigger than the campus.It goes everywhere. CoachCalipari kind of got thatrightfromthebeginning.” GivensusedapostgameradioshowCaliparidoesinRuppArenaasawaytoex-plainthat. “Afteragamewe(fans)sitthereandhaveevaluatedeverything,andnowhaveadrivetogethomeandyetIamgoingtostayanother40minutesjusttohearCalipari

talk for 10 minutes,” Giv-ens said. “Probably 8,000to 10,000 are listening toCal’scommentsandevery-onethinksheisjusttalkingto you and all others therejusthavetheprivilegetolis-tenit.Hecanmakeyoufeelwithoutyourinputthisteamcouldnotwinagame. “I say sometimes heshould be a politician, buthe’sbiggerthanapolitician.He gave the game back tothe fans. Itmeant somuchbecause we all needed toknow the train was backontrackandwehadaguythatcouldnotonlydrivethetrainbuthealsohadusonboard.”

*** How good will Ken-tuckyfreshmanpointguardDe’Aaron Fox be? Well,JohnCaliparihascomparedhim to John Wall in somewaysbecauseofhisblazingspeed.Buthe can also runanoffense.Hecangettotherim,hitmid-range jumpersordishtoteammates. He is a better 3-pointshooterthanWallwascom-ingintocollegebutlikeWallisathisbestintransition. However,checkoutwhatESPN recruiting analystPaulBiancardirecentlysaidaboutFox. “Heisthebestperimeterdefender coming into thecollege game and that willenhance his resume. With

the departure ofTyler Ulisto the NBA, John Calipariwill lean heavily on Fox,”Biancardisaid. That’s high, high praiseandcombinehimwithIsa-iah Briscoe and UK couldhave two lockdownperim-eterdefenders.

*** Receivers coach LamarThomas probably has hadmoreoffseasonfunthananyotherUKcoach.HeleftLou-isvilletojoinMarkStoops’staff and consistently hasengagedinplayfulbanter--orat leastmainlyplayful-- with Louisville fans onTwitterthelastfewmonths.It’s that type of swag thatThomasshowsthatplayersinsisttheyreallylike. “ItellthemIreallycouldcarelessaboutswag.Ilikewinning. People talk aboutMiami University when Iwas there. We liked win-ning.Weworkedhardtobeas confident as we were,”Thomassaid.“Ifyouworkhard,beasconfidentasyouwanttobe.Butyouhavetoput that time in. It doesn’thappen over night. If guysputthetimein,youcandowhateveryouwantas longas we win. That’s impor-tant. “Wehavealotoftalent.IwasreallyimpressedwhenIactuallygottoseethemandtheirattributes.

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Givens Is A Calipari FanOscar Combs, center, has been a fixture on the UK sports scene for 40 years, but he announced he no longer will be on the UK Radio Network pregame bas-ketball and football shows. (Gary Moyers Photo)

Kentucky Premier 2022, Runner-Up, 2016 Division 1 AAU NationalsLeft to right, front: Cassidy Rowe, Nevaeh Carter, Makenzie Vignale, Lilly Kennedy, Mia Hale and Ashton Elley. Back: assistant coach Michael Elley, Lacey Bradshaw, head coach Mark Kennedy, Rachel Presley, Kaycie Badylak, Alyssa Elswick, Patience Laster, assistant coach Derrick Bradshaw and assistant coach Jeremy Walker. (Photo courtesy of Shaun Hale)

Cruzers NewzTWIN CITY CRUZERS - schedule of events

TheTwin-CityKruzerswillbehavingacruiseinonSaturday,August13that5p.m.attheCourthouse. TwinCityKruzerzCruise-Insarefreeandopentothepublic.TheClubisplan-ningseveralcruisesandcookoutsformem-bersthisyear. Cruise-InsareheldattheCourthouseonthesecondSaturdayofthemonthfrom5until9p.m.MeetingsareheldatIrvineCityHall from 7-8 p.m. on the first Monday of themonth. AnyoneinterestedinjoiningneedstotalktoaClubmemberorcallMelvinWilliams@723-5447orToboBryant@723-7248or3858.•August13th-cruisein•September6th-meeting•September10th-cruisein

by Larry Vaught PatrickTowleswill starthisBostonCollegefootballcareerwhenhisteamtakesonGeorgiaTechinDublin,Ireland,Sept.3. TowlesleftUKafterthe2015seasonendedafterlos-inghis starting job the lasttwogamestoDrewBarker.But he insists there are nohard feelings toward UK,hisdreamschool.

“I definitely keep intouch with my teammatesfrom Kentucky. Me andDrew (Barker) talk prob-ably twiceamonth,on theFourth of July weekend Igot to go to Chicago for(Jordan)Swindle’sweddingandIwasabletosee(Jon)Toth, (Zach) Myers, andthe Blaylocks (Daron andZack),”Towlessaid.“Ialsostill talk toCharlesWalkerfrom time to time and of

course probably my bestfriend from the team ZachWest.” He also said 99 percentofUKfanswerejustlikeheexpected after his decisiontotransfer. “Theyareextremelykindand encouraging and con-tinuallywishnothingbutthebestforme,andforthatI’mextremelygrateful,”Towlessaid.

by Larry Vaught Lookingforanotherrea-sontolikeKentuckyfresh-man offensive linemanLandon Young. Then con-sider that he often spendsSunday mornings speakingat churches or similar typefunctions. “Hehasgonetoacoupleofdifferentchurchestotalkbefore. They kind of askquestionsor hegives testi-mony about how God put

him in position he has,”said Angela Young, Land-on’s mother. “He has beenblessedwithgreat sizeandabilities and wants to usethemtoglorifyGod.” Landon Young couldbe redshirted this season— most offensive linemenare.Orhecouldbesogoodthathe’llplayattackle.Hedoesn’tknowandcertainlyhismotherdoesnot.How-ever,she’sreadyforthesea-sontobehere.

“I amexcited forhim. Imiss him being at home.He touches base with us,butnotasoftenasIwouldlike,” she said. “But I amsoexcitedandcan’twanttoseewhatthisseasonhasinstore.Ithinkthisisthesea-son we turn it around andgo to abowlgame.We’vegottheboys.We’vegotthecoaches.We’vegottherightteamtomakethishappen.”

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Another Reason To Like Young

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Towles Starts At BC Sept. 3