WHO DEY. No seriously, who was that team...

...that scored on every first half possession and allowed only 3 points. The second half is irrelevant, even thought we still outscored the bears 14 to 7 then, we did it with scrubs and obviously we weren't going to risk injury to key players. There is ONE touchdown that mattered in the second half, but I'll get to that later.

As for the first half, I was in awe. We did exactly what we wanted to do on both sides of the ball, and for the first time this season people saw the Bengals at the full potential of their talent... and a shiver went down the spines of every other team in the NFL.



Carson was 20-24 for 289 yards and 5 TDs. Does any more need to be said? Chad had over 100 yards receiving, OVER ONE FIFTH of his total yards last season.

Most importantly, Cedric Benson had 186 yards rushing (career high) and a TD, against the team that cut him. He says it wasn't revenge. His victory lap after his TD suggested otherwise. I personally HOPE it was revenge. The Bears can keep Forte. The Bengals have the number 1 rusher in the NFL.

Great time for a Bye Week, giving them and extra weekend to prepare for their chance to sweep the Baltimore Ravens and then take on the Steelers the following week. For the first time in a long time, it is a great time to be a member of the Who Dey nation.

The Madness has begun

The John Calipari era was finally officially ushered in this past weekend with the first UK basketball practice, and it was explosive- figuratively and literally.

Pyrotechnics, lasers, and intricate player intros abound, but so did basketball. Check out the highlights below.

Also you can click here or here to see the two articles ESPN wrote about Big Blue Madness. Or click here for an article regarding the appearance of up-and-coming rapper Drake making an appearance as a guest coach for the scrimmage.









And for Calipari's Epic Speech:




And the 8 second preview of what people can expect to have happen to them when they take on John Wall this year

Boomslang

I spent just about every waking hour of this past weekend working on the biggest story I have been a part of since joining the Kernel staff last year. I have been incredibly busy this week, but wish I could have postedabout the even closer to when it happened. I could re-tell the story here, but I will just post my column, one with a stylistic edge to it that I hadn't tried before.

My column on Lecington's Boomslang music festival.

To see the full Double Truck and actual page, click here and turn to page 5

OchoCinco talks Ray Lewis hit. Hysterical

This is one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time. All Bengals fans will enjoy. Hell, any football fan will enjoy. He goes into deep detail, throws in hysterical insight, and shows why he is one of the most beloved receivers in the league. It's all about fun.

Oh yeah, and I even tweeted him to make sure he recorded this and asked him to post it. He did. I'm famous. No big deal.

The Office

In light of the phenomenal wedding episode and a mislabeled video on J Ged's blog I was forced to post my favorite scene from the office. Now this doesn't correlate with my favorite overall episode which is probably the basketball episode from season 1.

Obviously this is all opinion so feel free to comment with your favorite moment.

My favorite Office Moment

Finally, it is officially recognized

For those of you who don't follow college basketball year round, ESPN released a college basketball encyclopedia ranking the top all time college basketball programs. The University of Kentucky was ranked number 1. Naturally there were people who wanted to oppose for various reasons, so ESPN took it upon themselves to let people rank the schools themselves. Guess who is number 1? UK. C'mon now.

Now, granted there is ONE argument I think could be made, and that is the fact UCLA has 11 titles to UK's 7. However, the computer took into consideration total wins, and UK is the winningest program in the history of college basketball. In addtion, it took into consideration margin of victory. While in the end this is a trivial and loose ranking, it is the closest thing to a solid ranking we have. And until Big Blue Madness in 2 weeks (The practice that sells out in minutes) this is the fraction of basketball I have to get me through.

Click here to see the original rankings

Click here to see ESPN's new interactive list

Click here for Andy Katz's report on the rankings

Who Deys strike again

So the Bengals won again, but not without making it a nailbiter. As Vin Diesel once said... "It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning is winning." The Who Deys are 3-1 and tied for first in the AFC North. You think they care they had to play 15 extra minutes of football to make it so? Not a chance. On to the Ravens. Only things is... I hope the Ravens win... The Nevermores come first in my heart Who Dey nation. No disrespect. Especially after the heartbreaker the Ravens dropped at New England this week. On to week 5.

The best in the game

He's the best for a reason. This play to save the game.

Future Hall of Famer

Backspacer

One of the benefits I have begun to really enjoy about working at the Kernel has been receiving promotional copies of forthcoming albums before their release dates. The most recent and MOST exciting album I received was a copy of Pearl Jam's "Backspacer" due out next Tuesday.

Backspacer is plain and simple, the return of Pearl Jam. Gone are the overly activist lyrics. Vedder deals with real life emotions and feelings once again as he did in the days of Ten and Vs. and my God is it refreshing. The lyrics are not only poignant, but positive. The musics major tonality compliments this extremely well and makes for a positive listening experience all around. These are happy, borderline dance-able songs. A perfect example is the albums first single, "The Fixer." A fun fact: Cameron Crowe (the greatest writer/director of all time) directed the music video for The Fixer. Check it out here.

Whats most important to note is that Vedder's vocals have their punch back. And let us be honest: Pearl Jam lives and dies by Eddie Vedders voice.

The heart of the album is its upbeat music, but Vedder shines just as well on the albums ballads, "Just Breathe" and "The End." Both are off kilter love ballads that recognize not all relationships are perfect and that life does end.

This album doesn't require you to touch the skip button. Put it on shuffle and be ready to enjoy whatever you hear, because you will.

Below is the audio from the fantastic ballad, "Just Breathe"

Amping it up

As the school year progresses and the Kentucky Kernel is back in full swing, I am finally starting to see the resources I have at my fingertips as an editor for the paper. I've decided to make it my goal to amp up the content in our Features section. Last year we refocused our mission to stay focused on local bands due to the regurgitation of national news. While I agree with this goal, I believe I've come up with a solution that would allow us to continue incorporating national acts. The answer: grow a pair and start pursuing the national acts. I've already begun my work to try and bridge the gap. We've interviewed Tucker Maxx about his upcoming movie, "I Hope they Serve Beer in Hell." Just yesterday I confirmed an interview with Sister Hazel. I have interviews with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Breaking Benjamin, Train and Three Days Grace in the works, all regarding their forthcoming albums. I hope these larger pursuits greatly adds to the Kernel's content, and I do believe that it will. I'll be interested to see how things develop.