Fear This!

One thing you guys who have decided to join me on the tour de force of what are the inane, trivial, professional and sometimes personal moments of my life should be aware of is that there will be times when I digress into a nostalgic state of remembrance in regards to my dad. Most of you know he died back in Feb. '06. And what happens is that on any given day anything, and I mean anything, can trigger a memory about him. When that happens, if it has a nice story to go along with it or a humorous anecdote, I'll share that with you. You will also notice, that while I will be telling you stories about my dad, you will realize that I am also telling you stories about my best friend, because in the last five or so years of his life, that's what he became.

Well, today I have story #1. I was in Lexington to take a test so that I could get my Food Handlers Permit. Yes, I am now certified by the Lexington Board of Health to handle food that will be consumed by perfect strangers (a wonderful story on this will be forthcoming in the next day or so). Anyway, I decided to stop by the Joe Craft Center at the University of Kentucky to visit my bestest buddy Donna. Donna and I go way back to 1992 when I was a student worker at the UK payroll department. Anyway, I hadn't seen Donna in a while, so I decided to go by there and see how see was doing.

This was the first time I had ever been in the Joe Craft Center, and let me say I was enpressed. At least with the lobby and such. I didn't get a tour of the practice areas or the like (Donna, you need to give me that tour soon!), but it reminded of a time when my dad, a number of years ago, probably around '97 or '98 my dad came to Lexington to visit me.

We went down, as I did today, to visit Donna and chat a little bit. This was back in the days when most of the offices for Athletics were in the dreary subterranean hallways of Memorial Coliseum. My dad loved Kentucky. He would buy just about any type of anything that said Kentucky on it. When I worked in UK Athletics, I often gave T-shirts I was given to him. He loved it, and he often told me to tell Donna to get him something, anything. So, that day, he was wearing a UK sweatshirt and cap and ready to go.

Since it was my dad's first time in Memorial Coliseum, he was eager to take a look around, so Donna gave him the tour. As we rounded the corner beside Bill Keightley's former office/equipment room, we spotted Jamaal Magloire. I happened to have a camera with me and Jamaal was nice enough to let us snap a shot of him. Then as we made our way down the hall and glanced in the training room, we saw Scott Padget, Nazr Mohammad, and Cameron Mills. Well, dad wanted his photo taken with them, and they, too, were more than happy to oblige. When it comes down to it, those guys simply made my dad's day. And if I could, I'd love to personally thank them for that.

Dad and Mills




Dad and Padgett




Dad and Nazr




You might notice that there is something on my dad's forehead. He had purchased some UK temporary tattoos that day. He also got one, which he jokingly put on his forehead. It said, "Fear This".

Please don't ask me to explain it. Just know my dad was fun that way.

Dammit, I miss him...