KSR PM 9/14/15 UK/UNC Alumni game in Lexington yesterday ... Thx Matt Jones!

Do we have a UK Combine date?

By Drew Franklin on ©September 14th, 2015 @ 10:00am

@jtrue28

An ESPN graphic during last night’s UK Alumni Charity Game leaked news of a televised preseason practice coming up on the network next month. According to the graphic, ESPNU will televise a UK practice on Sunday, October 11.

That is around the same time ESPNU aired the UK Combine last season, so let’s go ahead and assume it’s happening once again. Last year, Jay Bilas, Seth Greenberg, Avery Johnson and Tony Delk were analysts for the televised “practice” on October 10.

[comment 0] [Link]

Enjoy these highlights from the game

By Drew Franklin on ©September 13th, 2015 @ 9:00pm

Did you miss the game? Shame on you.

Luckily, Kentucky Wildcats TV was in the building with their cameras and they put together a little highlight package for your viewing pleasure.

Be sure to say thanks next time you see them.

[comment 4] [Link]

Vlade and Vivek attended the game

By Drew Franklin on ©September 13th, 2015 @ 8:30pm

Vivek Ranadive, the owner of the Sacramento Kings, and Vlade Divac, the Kings’ VP of basketball operations, flew to Lexington to support DeMarcus Cousins and Willie Cauley-Stein in the UK alumni game. The two sat courtside as they watched their prized big men do work against North Carolina in the exhibition game.

I sat across from them in the second half and I spent most of that time watching Vivek. He was cheering like some little kid who was attending his first basketball game. I’m pretty sure I saw him beg for a free t-shirts when the cheerleaders threw them out, too.

Pretty cool of them to come to Lexington for the game and I believe Vivek is speaking to a class at UK tomorrow.

Go Kings.

[comment 0] [Link]

Check out the box score

By Drew Franklin on ©September 13th, 2015 @ 8:05pm

[comment 5] [Link]

UK Pros beat UNC Pros, 122-115

By Drew Franklin on ©September 13th, 2015 @ 7:51pm

The former Tar Heels tried to hang around with the former Wildcats in today’s alumni game but the home team was just too loaded with talent to go down.

DeMarcus Cousins led the way for UK with 33 points, 18 rebounds, six assists and three blocks, all team-highs. He hit several three-pointers in the game, leading Calipari to say afterward, “He tried to show me I should have let him go.”

Harrison Barnes was the game’s leading scorer with 39 for the visitors. His night ended with a missed windmill attempt that he pinned against the rim before falling to the floor.

All in all, it was a fun-filled evening in Rupp Arena to cap off an exciting weekend and it was all for good cause. Here is a list of beneficiaries from the event:

We’ll have some highlights from the game on the site here in a second.

[comment 22] [Link]

UK vs. UNC Alumni Game LIVE BLOG

By Mrs. Tyler Thompson on ©September 13th, 2015 @ 5:15pm

[comment 3] [Link]

Dawood Kahn aka David Kaelin (Kentucky fan in Bangkcok) ... Thanks David K!

Main menu

Skip to content

• Home
• The Journey so far…

DEC92010

The Liberty Limited — A Christmas Story

Reprinted from the Philadelphia Daily News.  2005

AND NOW, in time for the holidays, I bring you the best Christmas story you never heard.

It started last Christmas, when Bennett and Vivian Levin were overwhelmed by sadness while listening to radio reports of injured American troops.

“We have to let them know we care,” Vivian told Bennett.

So they organized a trip to bring soldiers from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital to the annual Army-Navy football game in Philly, on Dec. 3.

The cool part is, they created their own train line to do it.

Yes, there are people in this country who actually own real trains. Bennett Levin – native Philly guy, self-made millionaire and irascible former L&I commish – is one of them.

He has three luxury rail cars. Think mahogany paneling, plush seating and white-linen dining areas. He also has two locomotives, which he stores at his Juniata Park train yard.

One car, the elegant Pennsylvania, carried John F. Kennedy to the Army-Navy game in 1961 and ’62. Later, it carried his brother Bobby’s body to D.C. for burial.

“That’s a lot of history for one car,” says Bennett.

He and Vivian wanted to revive a tradition that endured from 1936 to 1975, during which trains carried Army-Navy spectators from around the country directly to the stadium where the annual game is played.

The Levins could think of no better passengers to reinstate the ceremonial ride than the wounded men and women recovering at Walter Reed in D.C. and Bethesda, in Maryland.

“We wanted to give them a first-class experience,” says Bennett. “Gourmet meals on board, private transportation from the train to the stadium, perfect seats – real hero treatment. ”

Through the Army War College Foundation, of which he is a trustee, Bennett met with Walter Reed’s commanding general, who loved the idea.

But Bennett had some ground rules first, all designed to keep the focus on the troops alone:

No press on the trip, lest the soldiers’ day of pampering devolve into a media circus.

No politicians either, because, says Bennett, “I didn’t want some idiot making this trip into a campaign photo op. ”

And no Pentagon suits on board, otherwise the soldiers would be too busy saluting superiors to relax.

The general agreed to the conditions, and Bennett realized he had a problem on his hands.

“I had to actually make this thing happen,” he laughs.

Over the next months, he recruited owners of 15 other sumptuous rail cars from around the country – these people tend to know each other – into lending their vehicles for the day. The name of their temporary train?

The Liberty Limited .

Amtrak volunteered to transport the cars to D.C. – where they’d be coupled together for the round-trip ride to Philly – then back to their owners later.

Conrail offered to service the Liberty while it was in Philly. And SEPTA drivers would bus the disabled soldiers 200 yards from the train to Lincoln Financial Field, for the game.

A benefactor from the War College ponied up 100 seats to the game – on the 50-yard line – and lunch in a hospitality suite.

And corporate donors filled, for free and without asking for publicity, goodie bags for attendees:

From Woolrich, stadium blankets. From Wal-Mart, digital cameras. From Nikon, field glasses. From GEAR, down jackets.

There was booty not just for the soldiers, but for their guests, too, since each was allowed to bring a friend or family member.

The Marines, though, declined the offer. “They voted not to take guests with them, so they could take more Marines,” says Levin, choking up at the memory.

Bennett’s an emotional guy, so he was worried about how he’d react to meeting the 88 troops and guests at D.C.’s Union Station, where the trip originated. Some GIs were missing limbs. Others were wheelchair-bound or accompanied by medical personnel for the day.

“They made it easy to be with them,” he says. “They were all smiles on the ride to Philly. Not an ounce of self-pity from any of them. They’re so full of life and determination. ”

At the stadium, the troops reveled in the game, recalls Bennett. Not even Army’s lopsided loss to Navy could deflate the group’s rollicking mood.

Afterward, it was back to the train and yet another gourmet meal – heroes get hungry, says Levin – before returning to Walter Reed and Bethesda.

“The day was spectacular,” says Levin. “It was all about these kids. It was awesome to be part of it. ”

The most poignant moment for the Levins was when 11 Marines hugged them goodbye, then sang them the Marine Hymn on the platform at Union Station.

“One of the guys was blind, but he said, ‘I can’t see you, but man, you must be f—ing beautiful!’ ” says Bennett. “I got a lump so big in my throat, I couldn’t even answer him. ”

It’s been three weeks, but the Levins and their guests are still feeling the day’s love.

“My Christmas came early,” says Levin, who is Jewish and who loves the Christmas season. “I can’t describe the feeling in the air. ”

Maybe it was hope.

As one guest wrote in a thank-you note to Bennett and Vivian, “The fond memories generated last Saturday will sustain us all – whatever the future may bring. ”

God bless the Levins.

And bless the troops, every one. *

Article by Ronnie Polaneczky 2005

Read more: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/ronnie_polaneczky/Heres_a_Yule_story_that_ought_to_be_a_movie.html?page=2&c=y#ixzz17aRwZRlP
Watch sports videos you won’t find anywhere else

An amazing story of generosity.

About these ads

Related

Letter From Fort Hood

Letter From Fort Hood — By Kevin Drum | Fri November 6, 2009 8:19 AM PST —Photo by flickr user brokenthoughts used under a Creative Commons license. A former reader emails today to pass along a firsthand account of the shooting at Fort Hood on Thursday. It's unedited except for…

In "Middle East"

Arlington National Cemetery Burial Honors (Enlisted vs. Officer)

In "culture"

Counter Insurgency and the ROE (Rules of Engagement)

In "thinking out loud"

By Dawood Khan • Posted in Uncategorized • Tagged 2005, Air Force, AMTRAC, army, Army-Navy Game, Carl Levin, Christmas, Christmas Spirit, Liberty Limited, Marines, Navy, Walmart, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Woolrich, WRAMC

Post navigation

Cajun Economics

Disappearious Miller 

Peter Robinson interviews Milton Friedman on Bill Clinton's first six years (1999) ... Thx for the lead, Judi C!

The New Democrat on WordPress

Current Affairs, News, Politics, Philosophy, History, Sports, Satire, Entertainment and Everyday Life From a Liberal-Democratic Perspective

Skip to content

• Home
• About

← Tasty Peach Cobbler: Video: The Army-McCarthy Hearings Documentary

Andy Warhol: Libertarian Party Presidential Nominee Ron Paul on Morton Downey in 1988 →

Basic Economics: Video: Uncommon Knowledge: Peter Robinson Interviewing Milton Friedman on Bill Clinton in 1999

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Rik Schneider

Peter Robinson & Milton Friedman

Basic Economics: Video: Uncommon Knowledge: Peter Robinson Interviewing Milton Friedman on Bill Clinton in 1999

Milton Friedman, made the case that the economy deserves most of the credit for the economic boom of the 1990s. That it was really an economic expansion that started in 1983, when the economy broke out of the 1982-83 recession. But what he doesn’t mention is that was that we had a fairly bad recession in 1990-91 and we had mounting debt and deficits, that we were supposed to still be stuck with ten years later. President H.W. Bush, essentially inherited the recession of the early 1990s, with rising interest and inflation rates as well as unemployment. That he addressed in 1990 with the first of two deficit reduction acts. That included budget cuts, budget caps and tax hikes.

Which President Bush got killed for by right-wingers in the 1992 presidential election and one reason why he got a primary challenge from Pat Buchanan in 1992 as well. President Clinton, inherited a large debt and deficit in 1992, an economy that was growing, but barely, with low job growth, high inflation, interest and unemployment rates. And by the time President Clinton left office in 2001, the economy was booming, with 4.2% unemployment, a falling national debt and the first budget surplus since 1969. President Clinton, of course doesn’t deserve all the credit for this, but he did lay down policies that helped bring this about. 

In 1993 alone, President Clinton got through Congress two foreign trade deals. NAFTA and GAT and a deficit reduction act, that had budget cuts and tax hikes on the wealthy. NAFTA and GAT allowed for more American products to be sold in Canada and Mexico, as well as more jobs in America to make those products. The Deficit Reduction Act helped to bring down interest and inflation rates, which lowered prices, so people had more money to spend. Which meant consumer spending went up, which led to higher economic and job growth.

The actual size of the Federal Government went down under President Clinton. Now the Republican Congress’s deserve some credit for that, but that process started under President Clinton during the Democratic Congress of 1993-94. It’s really the private sector that deserves credit for the economic boom of the 1990s. Business’s and workers, but President Clinton deserves credit as well. The economy did take off in the 1980s under President Reagan and the Economic Recovery Act of 1981.

But that the 1983 economic expansion lasted about six years from 1983-89. And the economy started to slide in 1989 and we had a recession in 1990-91. The 1990s was a different period, because information technology took off, creating millions of jobs in that decade. With all sorts of new tech companies, with the internet coming on-line in 1991 or 92, with cell phones becoming common at about this time as well.