By Ira D. Combs Syndicated Columnist
Tri State Sports Media Service Inc.

Thanks to the folks at ESPN and CBS and their constant efforts to focus on coaches instead of the game we have a new topic to discuss this week concerning UK basketball and sports in general.

Evidently Big Blue Nation and college basketball fans across America have extremely tender ears and eyes, plus most of them lead a christian lifestyle, as well.

It's not enough to stop coach's from spending valuable time with their team at halftime by stopping them before they leave the court for an interview. Now, this year even during a timeout those beautiful, adorable, and extremely knowledgeable females  (Sugar Britches in "Billy G's" terminology) are pulling them out of the team huddle during timeouts to ask foolish questions during the game. But that's not even enough now they have to focus on the coach while the game is actually being played.

Better let Eloy Vargas teach you some Spanish Coach Cal or your appearances at morning mass at the local Catholic church may be scrutinized by ESPN and CBS.

So we have a few questions to ponder or at least address lightly this week.

Has the hatchet been buried between Coach Cal and Terrence Jones, the one ESPN and several uneducated fans assumed existed after the incident at Alabama? Or, was there ever a serious conflict between the two personality wise or in the how to play the power forward position?

No and yes on both questions. There never was a conflict between the two in the first place other than an extremely talented young player testing a talented veteran coach with his soft mental and physical approach to college basketball. The only problem was ESPN made sure the dirty laundry was seen by the entire nation.

If you have ever played or been around the college basketball experience as a coach, officiated it, or casually attended a few practices you wouldn't even fathom a response to either one of those questions. But let it happen in front of the TV cameras where the Average Joe or worse than that a female can witness it and all reality in sports will be blown completely out of proportion.

Obscenity in and around sports, I'm stunned, "Say it ain't so Joe".

I've had the luxury of being closely associated with UK basketball, football, and baseball as a young fan, high school coach, summer camp counselor, and now media member for the past 40 years. And I can honestly say that other than Jerry Claiborne and Keith Madison none of the other coaches during those years lived their everyday lives or coached at the "Foot of the Cross". Does this make it right because most all coach's do it? No it doesn't. Can you win at a high level without cussing as a coach? Yes, Jerry Claiborne won many games as a college football coach at Virginia Tech, Maryland, and UK along with several bowl championships to his credit and I'm told by several of his former players like Freddie Maggard, Bill Ransdell, and Joker Phillips that "Dang Gummit" was the worst that ever crossed his lips.

However , If you have ever advanced past Pop Warner Football, Pee Wee Basketball, or Little League Baseball you've angered your coach somewhere along the way.

It is what it is, deal with it .  If being cussed at by your coach is your only tainted moment in life be thankful because you've had a full and rewarding life in today's world.

Evidently the John Calipari tongue lashing toward Terrence Jones in last week's Alabama road game didn't hurt the freshman phenom's  game or emotional stature too much because his 14 point, 7 rebound effort was instrumental in UK's 67-58 win  at South Carolina.

I really don't think there is too much animosity from Coach Cal toward Jones either when he plays 37 minutes like he did in Columbia, South Carolina.

SEC Scheduling Quirk

Thanks to the brainstorm of the scheduling gurus at the SEC offices in Birmingham, UK will be playing Georgia for the second time in 20 days this Saturday in Rupp Arena at 4:00 o'clock in front of the ESPN cameras before even playing Tennessee, Florida, or Vanderbilt once and all are in the SEC Eastern division. It will be an unusually special home conference game in that UK should have a little fresh revenge on their mind from the January 8th loss in Athens. Plus, UK takes right back to the road for games the following week at Ole Miss and Florida.

The Florida game will tipoff at 9:00 p.m. on Saturday,  Feb. 5th and is part of the popular ESPN GameDay Show which will be in town at Gainesville that morning for shows at 10:00 a.m. on ESPN and 11:00 a.m. on ESPNU with another pregame night appearance at 8:00 p.m. on ESPN. It should be interesting to see what the ESPN GameDay gurus have to say about recent UK basketball topics that have been scrutinized by their network and other national media outlets.

UK Football Player Key In Putting Packers In Super Bowl

Former UK punter, Tim Masthay, who was voted to the first team SEC all-conference team as a punter in his senior year of 2009 was instrumental in the Green Bay Packers NFC Championship win against the Chicago Bears on Sunday. His talented right leg produced a 40.7 average for seven punts against the Bears and he had several key coffin corner punts to keep the Bears backed up most of the day in the all important field position department.

Masthay will make his first appearance ever in a Super Bowl this year when his Green Bay Packers take on the Pittsburgh Steelers on  February 6th on the Fox Network with the popular pregame shows and commercials starting around 4:00 p.m. with kickoff scheduled around 6:45 CST .

You can go to www.combsbrothersonkysports.com for more coverage on UK baskeball and football as well as KHSAA basketball and football!!!!!!