U.S. 41

I adore U.S. 60, U.S. 1 and a zillion other roads, but--#hottake--U.S. 41 is my favorite. 

This map of U.S. 41 is from 1929. So much personal history layered on this road for me. Written in my cells, I imagine.

My dad was 4 when the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (or whatever it was called then) published this map. He was living in Madisonville, on U.S. 41, then with his parents and older sister.

My mom was 1 when the map was published. She and her family lived in Evansville, Indiana, and they frequently were down and up U.S. 41 on Sunday afternoons because her dad's parents lived in Earlington.

In 1941, Dad and his family were living in Henderson, on U.S. 41, when, on their walk downtown to church, they got the news that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. (They canceled worship that morning, and everybody just walked back to their homes, he remembered.)

In 1947, my mom's parents sold their grocery in Evansville, Indiana, and took Mom and her best friend on a giant road trip that started down U.S. 41 and eventually went to Atlanta, New Orleans, Mexico City, the Painted Desert, etc. They spent so much money that my grandfather, who had delivered milk to the grocery before he bought it, went back to delivering milk to the grocery after he sold it.

Hopkinsville, on U.S. 41, is what brought you guys as little boys to Kentucky.

The first place I lived after college was in Henderson. I hated it. It wasn't Henderson's fault. It's a great town that extended warm hospitality to me in every way, but my being there was too engineered in the confines of my head, with little input from my heart. Under a tree on the downtown square (on concrete sidewalks my dad's construction company poured 40 years before), I decided to blow up my first career and move out of town.

My car broke down in Tennessee the night of one of my birthdays in my late 20s, and I ended up riding a Greyhound bus up U.S. 41 to Evansville to visit my mom, who had moved back there after Dad died. The bus took an extended break at a ratty former Holiday Inn at Madisonville, and I stood on the parking lot with everyone who had gotten off to smoke. I remember I kept hearing John Facenda narrating the stark (but not awful) scene in my head: "A good, hard look."

I ended up getting married in Madisonville (to a younger woman who was still living with her parents about two miles from that bus stop when I was there on my birthday), and our honeymoon started with a trip down U.S. 41 until its intersection with U.S. 68/Ky. 80 (another fantastic road that I adore) at Hopkinsville.

In 2011, I had probably the favorite pizza of my whole life at Crofton, on U.S. 41. 

I play basketball at the church on Thursday nights with several people who work for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, and a few of them now attend the Sunday-school class I lead. (#TWISS: Acts 2!) I sure appreciate their work. Gosh, I love to drive, and I love to look at maps of roads I might drive or have driven. 

Not Working This Morning

I think this or this probably was the "small Hilton" in Seattle where Bob Newhart, coming off The Bob Newhart Show, thought of Newhart, per this fun and interesting conversation with a skilled, unnamed interviewer with The Paley Center for Media ...

Here are a couple of facts I wrote down from a book I read that might well have been Great Quarterbacks of Pro Football by Steve and Rita Golden Gelman:

-- Len Dawson was a fifth-string quarterback as a sophomore for his high-school football team in Alliance, Ohio. He was the starter in his junior year.

-- At the half of Super Bowl I, the Packers lead the Chiefs 14-10, and Dawson has completed 11 of 15 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown. On his first pass of the second half, Dawson throws toward tight end Fred Arbanas under the duress of converging Green Bay linebackers Lee Roy Caffey and Dave Robinson. Packer safety Willie Wood intercepts and returns to the Kansas City 5. Dawson finishes the game 16-of-27 for 211 yards.

Super Wikipedia on prolific-children's-and-travel-writer Golden Gorman, originally of Bridgeport, Connecticut: "In 1987, on the verge of divorce, Gelman decided that it was time to live her dream of traveling the world and living among people in other cultures. It's been 24 years and she still has no permanent home; her new passion is to bring the concept of a 'Gap Year' to teens in the U.S. Her organization, Let's Get Global, is dedicated to encouraging and assisting recent high school graduates to have international experiences before they begin the next phase of their lives. The ultimate goal of LGG is to create a cultural norm in the United States that will make it a common practice to extend education beyond U.S. borders. Let's Get Global suggests that graduating high school seniors defer college or the job world for a year while they immerse themselves in other cultures and discover the common humanity of mankind."

April 17, 2006

Back at the Madisonville Community College, which I love. On the UK-blue couches in the student center, I’m listening to the pleasant, purposeful chatter of the snack-bar couple at work.

“What are you cooking?”

“We’re going to need more eggs.” 

And, “do you want me to toast your Pop Tarts?”

There’s also the low murmur of a Law & Order or some sort of crime-investigation drama rerun on TNT. On my left, a buzzcut in work boots reads over geometry text and nurses a 20-ounce Diet Mountain Dew. On my right, a 19-year-old piddles with a video game on a public-access PC.

Al Stewart is playing here Friday. And Saturday. 

COFFEEHOUSE PERFOMRANCE TWO NIGHTS! 
FOLK AND POP LEGEND KNOWN FOR HIS HITS

‘TIME PASSAGES’ AND ‘THE YEAR OF THE CAT 

There are two portraits of Stewart on the poster. Under a heading “Then …” is a black-and-white photo of Stewart in poofy, shoulder-length hair. He’s looking pensively away from the camera, wearing a paisley shirt and silver-studded leather jacket – hands lodged loosely in front dungaree pockets. Next to the heading “and now,” it’s Stewart in a white, collarless shirt and gray sport coat. His hair is short, thinning, wiry and brown. His hands are clutched around an acoustic guitar neck. 

“Now, we’re going to pull out their barbecue separate, right? … Great. … OK, I’m going for a smoke.”

Also among the Madisonville Community College student-center placards are handbills for First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Earlington:

We offer an old-fashioned style of worship in a relaxed manner. Dress as you desire. Some dress up in their ‘Sunday best.’ Others wear jeans and a tee shirt. God looks at the heart. So do we. … We are a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This means we partake of the Lord’s Supper each Sunday. Everyone is invited to participate. The only ‘requirement’ is a confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. You are encouraged to think for yourself. Nobody will tell you what to think. You are asked to give that same freedom to others.

Before I flush the last remnants of Christmas73 from my YouTube "Watch Later" feed, here are a couple of last gems ...

Phil Elderkin in the April 5, 1969, Sporting News offered in his Page 71 "NBA Basketball" column these well-earned observations about some of the league's coaches:

-- The Knicks' Red Holzman is "firm but soft sell" Strong on defense, teaching and matchups.

-- The 76ers' Jack Ramsey is a "very intense person who takes defeats home with him but never really seems discouraged." His gambling defense "requires a collegian dedication."

-- The Celtics' Bill Russell is "guilty of running soft practices," and sometimes the "crisis of the moment takes precedence over the whole picture."

-- The Bullets' Gene Shue is "expert at spotting a cold shooter quickly and hopefully replacing him with a hot one."

-- The Lakers' Bill van Breda Kolf is "outspoken, outgoing and often out of breath."

Rest in peace, Mr. Elderkin, newspaper journalist of 65 years, attendee at every Celtics playoff game 1957-69 and Baseball Writers' Association of America Member 5.

Oh, Kentucky

He turned 100, and he wanted to mow.

Trump, Bevin, coal, renewables, TVA, the DoE, John Prine, U of L, newspapers ... this story by WFPL's Ryan Van Velzer has everything.

There's a big U.S./China economic and cultural event going down in Lexington this week, and the National Governors Association hails "the exclusive deal-making opportunity." Indeed, here's a deal struck having to do with Chinese-mined magnesium.

Kentucky is considering whether to ban tattoos on scarred skin, and you can weigh in with emailed comments.

A new bar/pizza place in Covington closes; an old restaurant in Franklin is expanding to offer coffees and breakfast.

The Gleaner's Douglas White delivers his typically outstanding 411 on the purchase of a 50-year-old Henderson Ford dealership by a Bowling Green Toyota outfit.

Untethered from presses, the Kentucky New Era has moved back to downtown Hopkinsville. Interesting trend observed by Al Cross at his always-great Rural Blog.

Booming Beaver Dam--it is about a sixth more populous since 1980--has hired its first full-time fire chief.

Corbin's tourism director says the season's first movies-in-the-park event drew about 175 to (Col.) Sanders Park.

The Paducah area's Women in Maritime Operations are (formally) getting it together.

The elementary teacher of the year is from London, and the local Sentinel-Echo is hosting a virtual celebration.

Turning to sports, a globetrotting volleyballer from Erlanger is thinking about turning away.

Oh, Kentucky

Good jobs news from Campbellsville and Chavies.

Hiring in Clinton (for a full-time secretary for the Hickman County schools guidance counselor).

The Price Is Right and, this October, live from Rupp.

Greetings from Paducah (maybe Stanley Kubrick visited the Paducah City Hall, designed by Edward Durell Stone and completed in 1964, before figuring out 2001: A Space Odyssey):

Happy 80th to "a Covington hot spot."

Fifty years of hospitality in Liberty.

The African American Coalition of Hopkins County is, at last.

About 16 percent of all Kentuckians are said to be deaf or hard of hearing.

Christmas parades: Murray, Dec. 1, and Henderson and Scottsville, Dec. 7.

Oh, Kentucky

Corbin's proposed, Kentucky Fried Chicken-reminiscent splash park has a new and apparently better home because the local Economy Inn owner "loves Corbin so much and wants to do something great for the community," Erin Cox reports in what in a fantastic Times-Tribune meeting story that has become typical of today's world of spartan community journalism in Kentucky (All Along™).

Hemp sales surge.

Man, oh, man ... everything's complicated (sun edition). 

Well, not everything: The state education minister gave 10 school districts until close-of-biz yesterday to name names. Bullitt County's superintendent, for one, was "still evaluating," per Shepherdsville's Pioneer News.

Rest in peace, John Horace Cox, born in Madisonville shortly after the Maroons' first Sweet Sixteen appearance in 1938, proud member of UK's "Marching 100,"  teacher in every Hopkins County school, Saint Mary's Episcopal organist, organizer of family "caveman suppers" and more.

Oh, Kentucky

On this last day of Black History Month, Madisonville’s Concerned Citizens Society details (in The Messenger) Hopkins County’s 1866-1941 history of schools, teachers, administrators and rules for its African-American students.  These reports have been fantastic all month. I've learned a lot; for example, I learned today there was a "Kitchen" in Hopkins County. Thank you, Concerned Citizens Society.

McCracken County High's alleged mishandling of sexual-abuse complaints prompts a Murray Ledger & Times review of policies in its local districts.

Hardin County Schools ups its ante against drivers who ignore those bus stop-sign arms.

Teachers are back in frankfort to protest a bill that would restructure the board of the Teachers Retirement System. @BGPolitics @heraldleader pic.twitter.com/zlGopPahKS

— Marcus Dorsey (@mdorseymedia) February 28, 2019

The protest "sickout" grinds to a halt public schools in (at least) Fayette, Jefferson, Madison and Marion counties.

Covington greases skids for commercialized urban farming.

Here's the long and winding road to Winchester's South Main Grocery.

Hiring in Louisville (for a Courier-Journal digital producer). 

Here's a fun FREE event for the kids this weekend! https://t.co/8xLnH6glp6

— WBKR (@WBKR) February 28, 2019

Hit the trails, in Dawson Springs.

Have some fun, in Henderson, courtesy of The Gleaner's Douglas D. White.

Oh, Madisonville

It was quite a weekend in Madisonville. Somebody beat up Wayne at Ferrell's on Friday night. The Lady Maroons won the state softball championship in Owensboro on Saturday afternoon. And there was an LGBT Pride event downtown Sunday morning.

I don't really know much about Wayne. I speak to him a little, and we always wave at each other. But that's no big deal because Wayne speaks and waves to most everyone when they're downtown. He lives somewhere down there, and he tends to show up at city parades and fairs and what-not--sometimes in costume as Batman or Superman. He waters flowers with the retired city manager sometimes. Sometimes he works around the downtown restaurants. I don't believe he drives. Anyway,  when word started spreading late Friday night around the Facebook locals that Wayne was in the emergency room after he had been beaten up at our town's 24-hour hamburger joint (since 1929), there arose a tremendous outpouring of support for the familiar face, testimonials to how nice of a fellow he is and a lot of dire talk about taking the business to whoever it was who did it. Well, thankfully, word got around pretty early Saturday that Wayne was doing OK and that someone had been arrested and charged in the crime. So, that elicited a lot of praise for the police, and we'll see where that story goes from here.

School has been out for a month, but they're still finishing off the 2016-17 KHSAA season. Our McCracken County High Mustangs play in the baseball state semifinals Friday, and they just finished the softball tournament on Saturday. The Madisonville-North Hopkins Lady Maroons won! It's a grueling, double-elimination affair played over three days in the June sun across multiple fields at Jack C. Fisher Park in Owensboro, and it almost always seems to go--as it did this year--very late Thursday and/or Friday nights with an extra-innings game or two and the maximum distance into Saturday evening with the losers-bracket winner extending things by winning the first game against the winners-bracket winner. Madisonville whipped through the winners bracket with 10-1, 12-0, 2-1 and 9-0 wins. But then Louisville Male beat the Lady Maroons, 5-1, to set up a winner-take-all final pitting the two one-loss teams, and I was nervous! I put the whole deal out of mind and enjoyed a giant pool party with steaks and cake in the Shake Rag area of northern Hopkins County, and then I was thrilled to discover when we got home Saturday evening that Madisonville held on to beat Male in the final, 5-3. 

FINAL: Madisonville-North Hopkins 5, Male 3

Alyssa Case flies out to deep left to end the game. Congrats @lady_maroons on your championship pic.twitter.com/VqTxBmWHnQ

— Chad (@ChadBlue83) June 10, 2017

Also, it turned out that the city was organizing a fire-truck escort through town for the team bus when it returned from Owensboro about 9 Saturday night. We talked about going. But my wife would be preaching at Providence Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) on Sunday, and all of us were tired from swimming and partying in Shake Rag. We decided it was best to get to bed at a normal hour. Nonetheless, I talked with my wife about this parade route through town. She played flute in some of the Marching Maroons' 3A-state-championship-runnerup bands back in the 1990s, and she told me that, when they did those bus tours, they'd be met by the fire trucks in Nortonville and then come straight up U.S. 41 on through Earlington, the south part of Madisonville along South Main Street/Frank Ramsey Drive, across downtown and up through the north end of town and out to the high school. However, the band championships were contended in Richmond, Lexington or Bowling Green, so the buses came home on the Western Kentucky Parkway, which enters Hopkins County at its south end. The Lady Maroon softball bus from Owensboro would, of course, enter Hopkins County from the north; indeed, Twitter reports were that the fire trucks intercepted the bus at the Hanson outlet mall's parking lot, escorted it south into downtown Madisonville and back out north to the high school for a pep rally at the school softball field. 

The PARADE WAS AMAZING! Walking up to the field UNBELIEVABLE!!! Thank you Madisonville pic.twitter.com/7H5ao8mo15

— Lady Maroon Softball (@lady_maroons) June 11, 2017

Madisonville has had a high school since the 1800s, and, by 1907, anyway, it was playing interscholastic sports and using the nickname "Maroons"--it had never won a state championship in any sport until Saturday.

Thank you to @MessengerOnline and @jgms88 for your coverage of our softball program. Today's paper said it all! #mnhsb pic.twitter.com/GuNvVqqjgc

— Lady Maroon Softball (@lady_maroons) June 11, 2017

So then came Sunday morning and the Pride event. It was one of several first-ever events in towns around Kentucky. There is some talk about trying to get a local fairness ordinance to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination, but, among grassroots chatter among participants here, the primary purpose of the Madisonville event seemed to be simply a joint declaration of presence--we are here, and we matter, too. 

I didn't make it. The announcement I saw indicated that the event was to carry on until 2; I got downtown about 1:30, and everything was wrapped up. I came home and caught up on the happy Facebook reports, and it turned out that a 50-some-odd-year-old friend I go to church with spoke. He said he has lived in Madisonville his whole life. He said he talked about his kindergarten teacher warning his dad that the 5-year-old boy was "a little too in touch with his feminine side," about being called "every ugly word" (sometimes to his face), about threats of physical harm, about feeling cast out by his boyhood church home (twice) and about his mid-30s thoughts of suicide. "I know in my heart that God created me, that God knows my heart and that God loves me and who I am. And here's another word for you--God loves you, too."

I am humbled by my friend's courage; I am embarrassed to think about my own sins of commission and omission that have made other LGBT people around me feel isolated and lonely, and I am mostly struck at how sad and scared I would've felt living in a town that so often (or even once ever) rejected me for merely being me. I hope for 50 more years for my friend of feeling loved and supported in his Madisonville hometown, and I imagine I'd be game for whatever legislation would help him feel that way.

Kentucky Tour 8

(Evansville, Indiana)--Henderson--Madisonville--Hopkinsville--Guthrie--(Nashville, Tennessee); U.S. 41, U.S. 41-A and U.S. 41, Dixie B-Line.

HENDERSON, 6.6 m. 

DIXON, 31.8 m.

MADISONVILLE, 55.6 m.

EARLINGTON, 59.7 m.

MORTONS GAP, 63.4 m.

NORTONVILLE, 66.7 m.

HOPKINSVILLE, 91.4 m.

GUTHRIE, 114 m.

Oh, Kentucky

ICYMI: Video: Mitch McConnell was greeted by chanting protesters as he arrived at lunch in Lawrenceburg on Tuesday https://t.co/7L2ROIPodj pic.twitter.com/3pHrRdV0IS

— Bluegrass Politics (@BGPolitics) February 22, 2017

Life is challenging enough without having to worry about a giant Asian carp leaping into the air and hitting you in the face as you drive by in your boat.

Dayton considers possibilities for capitalizing on its Slush Puppie heritage.

I could spend all day reading and thinking about Kentucky newspaper obituaries. Two in today's Madisonville Messenger are both great. Rest in peace, Mr. Crockett, a Kerco pipe fitter of 23 years (and friend of "Rowdy," presumably), and Mr. Hubbard, a Flint, Michigan, native who retired from GM and then served as a deacon at Earlington General Baptist for 13 years.

Oh, Kentucky

The Trigg County Sheriff's Department hopes to give out about 200 bicycles this Christmas, reports WHOP.

Christmas parades: Owensboro, Nov. 19; Ashland, Nov. 22; Lebanon, Nov. 25; Brownsville ("great crowd") and Sebree, Nov. 26; Bardstown, Dec. 1; Maysville, Monticello and Richmond, Dec. 2; Arlington, Beaver Dam, Berea, Bowling Green, Cadiz, Clinton, Frankfort, Glasgow, Harlan, Henderson, Madisonville, Manchester, Murray, Paris, Somerset and Winchester, Dec. 3; Boyce, Owenton and Schochoh, Dec. 4; Hickman and Lexington, Dec. 6, and Augusta, Cave City, Elkton, Hopkinsville, La Center, Nicholasville and Pikeville, Dec. 10.

Kentucky for sale:

The Rankin in that 1911 map is not the Rankin of the famous 1876 Kentucky Meat Shower.

There's a darkness on the edge of Bardstown.

Oh, Kentucky

"Not everyone gets a supportive family to go to during the holidays ..."

Here's how they harvest the pecans in Kevil.

Christmas parades: Owensboro, Nov. 19; Ashland, Nov. 22; Lebanon (still time to enter a float), Nov. 25; Sebree, Nov. 26; Bardstown, Dec. 1; Maysville, Monticello and Richmond, Dec. 2; Arlington, Beaver Dam (I've got to check out this Ky. Wildflour Cakes place), Berea, Bowling Green, Clinton, Frankfort, Glasgow, Harlan, Henderson, Madisonville, Manchester, Paris, Somerset and Winchester, Dec. 3; Boyce, Owenton and Schochoh, Dec. 4; Hickman and Lexington, Dec. 6, and Augusta, Cave City, Elkton, Hopkinsville (entry deadline extended), La Center, Nicholasville and Pikeville, Dec. 10.

Somebody in or around Hoptown's getting coal in her or his stocking.

Ky Forestry Official Calls Fire Control ‘Mop Up Stage.’ https://t.co/9AsCYhL8jO

— WEKU Newsroom (@WEKUnews) November 22, 2016

A Hazard homeless shelter needs more revenue if it's going to start staying open again during the day.

This week in Ballard County ...

Oh, Kentucky

Muhammad Ali with mom Odessa, dad n brother in background @ family home in Louisville, 1965. https://t.co/TPr6Hznxbg pic.twitter.com/rk8Dm4kb4M

— Rasheed Kappan (@kappansky) June 4, 2016

The Kentucky desk is pleased to announce that, with Gov. Bevin's (indirect) blessing, we have resumed considering recommendations for the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels.

Emmanuel Felton with The Hechinger Report delivers a very thought-provoking story on how Kentucky has adjusted its systems on the premise that NOT all students need college.

Meanwhile, in a personally-heartbreaking-for-me (but well-done) report in The New York Times, Stephanie Saul reports on how Western Kentucky University decided that it did NOT need all of the Indian students that it recruited.

Draffenville's Ponderosa baroness is spreading her game to Reidland.

Kroger is putting a Ruler Foods in the old Russellville Houchens.

OK, updating previous reports, it appears now that Uncle Lee's is, indeed, back to operating in Greenville but that it is now all or almost all guns. And now Coal County Vendor Mall is set to open in the rest of the old store that apparently isn't totally being used by Uncle's Lee's ("Powered by: Budsgunshop.com"). Will advise as events warrant.

Hopkinsville appears headed toward raising taxes on home and vehicle insurance premiums by 33 percent to pay for a new sports complex and trails expansion.

Jeannie C. Riley is NOT on the Western Kentucky State Fair docket, but a demolition derby, tractor pulls and wrestling are.

Paducah's Fin Gourmet entrepreneurial success story just keeps building: "We put Kentucky proud fish products onto American tables. We solve the problems that many Americans have very few options to healthy, year round, wild-caught USA fish products. We solve this problem by sustainably sourcing and manufacturing locally caught fish into delicious, healthy, ready-to-eat fish products. Our fish are fresh daily. We hand-select and hand-craft our products. We are committed to preserving the quality of homemade goodness: fresh, natural, and always free of chemicals and preservatives."

Turning to sports, our McCracken County Mustangs football coach is NOT going back to Georgia; here's the program for the KHSAA baseball tournament, which starts Thursday in Lexington, and the Louisville International Open women's tennis tournament is NOT happening this year.

Former Glasgow HS and MTSU star Kent Bulle, the 2015 Kentucky Open champ, earned a spot in this month's U.S. Open. https://t.co/AWnnsAxpcB

— Herald-Leader Sports (@KentuckySports) June 7, 2016

Rest In Peace, Coach Fox (1930-2015)

The "HOME OF THE 1967 KENTUCKY HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS" is mourning the passing in Wauchula, Fla, of Dr. Robert B. Fox, "often referred to as the Rick Pitino of the late 60's," coach of what Adolph Rupp called "the best high school press I've ever seen" and "a whirling dynamo on the bench."

"If you don’t believe it, watch the next time you see a Jacket game," Elmer Kelly once opined on WFMW AM 730 in Madisonville. "There’s not a boy on the floor who works harder. He is up and down, in and out, over and under every movement on the boards, and must be ready for a strait jacket when the final whistle is blown. Whatever it is that courses through Fox’s veins should be extracted and bottled. The vitamin industry would have its toughest competitor."

Rest in peace, Coach Fox, an Earlington native who in 1967 got the Yellowjackets a championship, got a car and got out. He will not be soon forgotten in his hometown.

What's On TV Tonight (1969)?

Muhammad Ali is on Firing Line this evening, Feb. 2, 1969, but we're going to be disappointed if we're hoping for a lot of talk about the 1960 Summer Olympics, growing up in Louisville in the 1940s and '50s or his family's Hopkins and Todd County roots.

Oh, Kentucky

Good jobs news from Bowling Green and Paducah.

The state's first utility-grade solar-generating project is going up in Mercer County. 

My primary exit will become 116!

Today is filing deadline for state elections, and the Fark.com founder is in!

Arriving in Owensboro to head up 14 News team coverage of Former Sen. Wendell Ford's funeral at First Baptist. pic.twitter.com/5dv17l9Jnr
— Randy Moore (@Randy14News) January 27, 2015

Covington Catholic Wins the State Title

There were 14,165 people at Rupp Arena on Sunday for the final of the state basketball tournament -- which is impressive when you consider that UK's game with Wichita was scheduled to tip-off about 40 minutes after Covington Catholic and Scott County started their game.  I didn't watch the state final myself, as I was too focused on the UK game to enjoy it, and I'm sorry I missed it -- it was apparently quite a contest.  Here's what happened:

Cov Cath led 9-3 with 6:09 left in the first quarter.  But then the Colonels didn't score for almost 10 minutes of game time, and Scott County went on an 18-0 run.  With 4:32 left in the first half, the Cardinals were up 21-9, and it looked as though they would add a state basketball title to the football title that they won a few months ago.

But the Colonels -- playing in the state title game for the first time since they lost to Earlington back in 1967 -- weren't done.  They finally started scoring again, but for a long time it didn't do them much good.  Scott County led 27-18 at the half, and the Cardinals led 36-28 after three quarters.

With 5:27 left in the game, Scott County still had an eight-point lead:  42-34.  But soon afterward, Cole VonHandorf hit a three pointer to make the score 42-37, and after that the comeback was on.  It was a slow comeback, because both teams were struggling to score, but with 1:24 left, Nick Ruthsatz made two free throws to cut Scott County's lead to 47-45.

The Colonels fouled Trent Gilbert, who had been deadly from the line against Trinity the night before.  In fact, he had made 28 free throws in a row before the final.  But Gilbert was in the midst of a nightmarish game -- he would go 4-25 from the field and score only 10 points -- and he missed the front end of a 1-and-1.  Now the Colonels had a chance to tie.  Nick Ruthsatz drew a foul, and he made two more free throws to tie the score at 47.  Scott County ball with 51 seconds left.

With 42 seconds left, Scott County called time.
With 17 seconds left, Scott County called time again.
With 10 seconds left, Scott County called time again.

Finally, with six seconds left, Gilbert took a jump shot to put the Cardinals back on top.  He missed, and the game went to overtime.  It was the third title game to go to overtime since 2009 -- Kentucky fans have been remarkably blessed with drama lately.

Ruthsatz opened the overtime with a jump shot to give Cov Cath a 49-47 lead -- and Gilbert responded with a three-pointer to put Scott County up 50-49.  With 1:53 to go, the score was tied at 51 and Gilbert had the ball.  Ruthsatz stole it, and a few seconds later Cov Cath was up 53-51.  Gilbert missed a three-pointer, Scott County got the rebound, and Gilbert missed another three-pointer.  A tip-in attempt missed, and Cov Cath had the ball and the lead with 1:31 to go.

The Colonels started to run out the clock, and Scott County was forced to foul.  But Cov Cath slammed the door at the line, and the Colonels won 59-51.

A month ago, there were lots of potential stories in the Kentucky state tournament.  In the end, it turned out to be the story of the Ruthsatz family.  With Nick Ruthsatz was a freshman, he was living in New Jersey, where his father Scott was an assistant at St. Anthony of Jersey City, one of the nation's legendary high school program.  But Scott Ruthsatz was offered the job at Covington Catholic, and the Ruthsatz family came to the Bluegrass.  Now they are state champions.

Nick Ruthsatz is only five feet nine inches tall -- he will be playing college ball for D-II Findlay, in Ohio.  But he wrote himself into KHSAA lore last week.  Against Scott County he had 25 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.  He also defended Gilbert.  So he took his dad's team to the title, and he was named tournament MVP.

This was Covington Catholic's first state basketball in school history, and the first for the Ninth Region since Covington Holmes went all the way in 2009.  Scott County was looking to add a third title to the ones it won in 1998 and 2007, but instead the Cardinals got a runners-up finish to go with its second-place finishes in 1999 and 2012.  Nevertheless, the Cardinals once again showed themselves to be one of the top programs in the state, and they got partial revenge for their loss to Trinity in 2012 title game by eliminating the Shamrocks this year.

Of course, we would like to have seen the title come to our end of the Commonwealth, but we are happy for the Colonels, who certainly deserved their title.

Oh, Kentucky

To the Class A football semifinal victor, ...

Pepped up in 5A Fort Thomas, too.

Dolly in Bowling Green!

Dickie V in Draffenville!

Home of the Mustangs!

Home of some Racers.

Christmas parades: Cadiz, Calvert City, Clinton, Marion and Paducah, Dec. 1; Evarts, Dec. 2, and La Center, Dec. 15.

"Why don't we study Cobb?"

"What we're doing here is major."

Good jobs news from Bowling Green, Bowling Green and Somerset. Paducah, too?

Rest in peace, Mrs. Coffman, pre-Title IX hoops all-stater for the Earlington High Lady Yellow Jackets.

Knowing when to say when in Harlan.