***UPDATED*** 
First of all, thanks for reading!  A reader named Ryan politely pointed out an incorrect statistic for the UCLA Bruins Men's Basketball Team, so I have corrected that!  Thanks for the comments, keep checking back!

***UPDATED***
Thanks to Lex for pointing out Kentucky Lake!  Kentucky Lake is the largest man-made lake east of the Mississippi (still Kentucky!)  The correction is reflected below as well.

I've been writing on this blog for over a year, and it's been a lot of fun.  I'm grateful and ecstatic for people who are returning readers.  If you can read between the lines, I'm from Kentucky.  I'm fairly well-traveled for a 25-yo and would like to speak of my experiences.  Louisville, the largest city in Kentucky, is known as the Northernmost Southern City and the Southernmost Northern City.  I like the former, but feel free to disagree.  We have a unique heritage, with bloody fights in the civil war and long traditions of distilling bourbon and breeding horses.  I hope this post brings non-Kentuckians closer to our state, and opens locals' eyes to the different world beyond the Bluegrass State.

You've seen the T-shirts.  Printed "Luis-ville" "Luey-ville" "Loo-i-vuhl" "Loo-uh-vuhl" and "Louisville"; we have our own pronunciations and accents, but generally, if you're from Kentucky, you lean towards the "Loo-i-vuhl" and "Loo-uh-vuhl" pronunciations.  I've lived in Kentucky, Louisiana,  and California, and I've visited countless other states, including Hawaii, Alaska, Florida, New York and Rhode Island.  When I say I'm from "Louisville" the first response is usually "What?" or "Where?".  It's not that they haven't heard of Louisville, Kentucky.  We are the 16th largest metro area in the country, with around 1.3 million people, but most recognize it as "Luey-ville".  I've found that our pronunciation of "Louisville" is comparable to the way Baltimore residents say "Baldimor".  It's a lazy and blended word that only residents can recognize and appreciate.

Remember when every Kentucky Oaks Friday gave us a day off of school?  Did you go to "Derby Parties" and talk about what you were doing for "Derby"?  "Derby" is just a generic word outside of Kentucky.  It's not a special day, kids don't get out of school, and few people even care about it outside of "Horse People" circles.  Sure, people have heard of the "Kentucky Derby"; it's a national icon, the first and most important of races in the coveted Triple Crown.  Celebrities from Hollywood and around the world visit for the sites, smells, and fun hats (remember when the Queen of England and George W. Bush sat side by side at Churchill Downs?). It's a unique race fought through mud and dust and sweat and blood and the sound of thundering hooves and screams and yells and the smell of horse and Mint Juleps, but in order to reference it outside the Bluegrass State you must put "Kentucky" in front of "Derby".  Don't even think about trying to explain the Steamboat Race, the Hot Air Balloon Race, or Thunder over Louisville.

This is one of the inspirations for my blog in general.  When I waited tables in New Orleans I would input orders of alcohol and all of the whiskeys were under the category "Bourbon".  Jack Daniels, Crown Royal and SoCo are NOT bourbon, and there are even some Kentuckians that don't quite get it, but most of us do.  Bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon.  Kentucky has a "Bourbon Trail", a stretch of two major interstate highways that touch all of the major bourbon distilleries including Woodford Reserve, Four Roses, Buffalo Trace, Maker's Mark and Jim Beam, but some folks don't know that 95% of bourbon is distilled in Kentucky, nor what makes the difference.  If it were up to me, I'd add that it must be distilled in Kentucky to the list of legal requirements for labeling your product as "bourbon".  The name comes from Bourbon County, when products were labeled by county ("bourbon whiskey") and shipped, largely by river, to be sold.  "Bourbon Whiskey" from Bourbon County, Kentucky, was shipped down the Mississippi and sold in a major port in the south, New Orleans, where a large French population had settled and they took quickly to the product with the French name.  Remember, all squares are rectangles.

When you tell people you're from Kentucky, they usually are a bit surprised.  Whether it's actual concerns over lack of footwear and incest or just that Kentuckians don't travel much (except for basketball, see below) and it's a relatively low-populous state, they don't know a whole lot about us.  The biggest thing they usually will remember is that it's absolutely gorgeous.  Even people who only briefly drove through the state or visited for short periods of time will compliment me on my home state's beauty.  We are truly the "heartland" of the U.S.  Fort Knox is famous for its gold reserves, but was chosen because of its central location to the rest of the country.  We have a mix of all the best the nation has to offer.  We have tall southern pines, eastern mountains, vast grasslands and crop fields, a large metropolitan area, long and winding waterways and all of these are complimented by a full four seasons.   We have bits of the north, south, east and midwest, but the seasons give life and color to each.  The south is just as green, but is far flatter and can't boast the rolling hills and horse-fields we do.  The north has more trees and valleys, but is far colder.  The midwest is just as flat as the south, but starts to dry out.  Lake Cumberland is the largest man-made lake on our side of the Mississippi by volume (that baby is deep!) and boasts some serious shoreline:  "The shoreline of Lake Cumberland — at the theoretically maximum possible elevation of water — is 1,255 miles.  The coastline of Florida, not including islands, is 770 miles in length.  The total Atlantic coastline of the United States from Maine to the tip of Florida is 2,069 miles.  The total Pacific coastline of the continental U.S. (California, Oregon and Washington) is 1,293 miles." - http://heartoflakecumberland.com/lake-cumberland/history/.  The only outdoorsy thing that we can't really  compete with is skiing and snowboarding. We get snow, but not nearly as much as this anomaly-winter is giving the east coast.  Go northeast, or far west.  To Colorado.  To Steamboat Springs.

You are Blue.  You are Red.  There is no in-between.  There are no others.  You have no Superbowl to yearn for, no Stanley Cup to defend, no World Series curse to overcome, you know two teams, and they are Kentucky and Louisville.  You must pick a side.  Children in the middle ages were chosen at birth to be high-born lords and ladies, knights, or blacksmiths, and Kentucky children are born to cheer for the Red or the Blue.  We are bordered by Tennessee, who has the Titans; Missouri, who has the Rams; Illinois, who has the Bears; Indiana, who has the Colts; Ohio, who has the Bengals and Browns; West Virginia, who has the Hatfields; and Virginia, who has nobody.  We don't have legitimate professional teams (I was at a San Diego Padres game once, and a friend used the "Riverbats" as trash-talk to another Kentucky native hating on the Padres), so we grew to appreciate our sports for what they were, and we excel at basketball.

Our football teams are in their own situations right now; Louisville with a seemingly waning supremacy after the loss of Charlie Strong and Kentucky's dawn on the horizon with Mark Stoops' reign, but our basketball teams have always been elite.  Louisville itself holds three NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championships, and Kentucky has 8.  UCAA has 11, winning 10 in a span of 12 years (1964-1975) with the same coach and one more in 1995; Indiana winning 5, 3 with Bobby Knight.  Those are the only teams that come close to the dominance of college basketball in Kentucky.  UK holds records in all-time winning percentage and games, NCAA tournament appearances and wins, Sweet Sixteen appearances, Elite Eight appearances, and is second in championship appearances and wins (UCLA holds the most for both).  Come March every year, we are well-known and feared, and when we stumble, people are shocked and startled.  The south (SEC schools), get the southern sports rivalries, but no one has a rivalry as deep and strong as Louisville vs Kentucky.  The SEC has strong football roots but also has professional teams, so the contrast isn't as solid, as bold, as deep.  To live in Kentucky is to Bleed Blue or Red, and that is no small claim.  Choose a side.

The Pro Bowl is an anomaly in professional sports.  It's one of the highest achievements and a noble honor to be asked to play in the Pro Bowl, and hence is a game of All Stars.  The problem is that generally nobody cares about it.  No player wants to risk injury to himself or others, and there's very little incentive to actually play hard to win the game (usually the players are paid ~$25,000 for losing and ~$50,000 each to the winning team.)  It also boasts an extremely modest viewership, both on TV and in the stadium.  It's basically a vacation in Hawaii every year and the players don't have to try hard.  This makes it boring.  

So they changed it up.  First, the uniforms were upgraded from a cheesy red, white and blue that looked like it was copy-and-pasted from an Olympic team in the 80s to the sleek, modern green and orange above.  I don't personally love the chosen colors, but it's an upgrade.  Before, the players were asked to play and if their team was in the AFC they played for the AFC, and if they were from the NFC then they played for the NFC.  Boring.

It sounded kind of ridiculous at first, but the brilliant idea was to turn it into a backyard-captain-picks style of team selection.  Many comparisons were made to a fantasy football draft.  Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders were brought in to build the teams, and they and their first three picks chose the rest of the team, alternating.  Grown men were visibly butt-hurt about being "picked last", and emotions were already heating up.  The intense rivalry between Sanders and Rice became a rallying cry for the teams, chosen by them, to play for bragging rights that went beyond a corporate logo.  It was brilliant, and the game was a lot of fun to watch.  Players from the same team were hitting each other just as hard, if not harder, than everyone else, and it was a low-scoring, action-filled football game.  I'm very excited about the future of the Pro Bowl and hope to see legends such as Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Tony Gonzales and Richard Sherman come back as honorary alumni to pick a team to play for them one day.

My Kentucky readers sometimes forget that its football season (how 'bout that slogan "This is why we camp" at Big Blue Madness?"), but here we are in week 5 of the NFL season.  Last week, Tom Brady and the Pats took on the Dirty Birds from Atlanta and Peyton Manning and the seemingly unstoppable Denver Broncos took on the Philadelphia Eagles.  Why are these two so interesting, besides them being in the top tier of elite quarterbacks who consistently win games for their teams and break NFL records?  I'll tell you.

Peyton Manning, who was deemed by some to forever be "the mystery of the Bionic Neck", comes to Denver and completely changes their team.  The guy is on fire; through only 4 games Manning has completed 117 passes out of 156 attempts (that's 75% completion) for 1470 yards and 16 touchdowns.  WHAT?  Yes.  Oh, also he has zero interceptions and has a quarterback rating of 138.  That's stinkin' good.  Don't ask me about this stupid scale, but 158.3 is perfect.  

But when I'm older I'm not going to be telling my kids and grandkids about Manning's stats.  They will have access to the numbers.  I'm going to be telling them the stories about watching Peyton Manning, who people thought was past his prime, unequivocally control football games.  If you haven't been watching this guy, you need to.  I will forever hold onto memories of him crouched behind his center, eyeing the defense, then inventing a new play.  The man swivels his partially mechanical neck, then shouts things like "ZEBRA! ZEBRA!" or "OMAHA!" and then picks apart the confused defense.  The guy knows football arguably better than anyone else in the history of the game, and nobody else controls games like him.

While Manning is in his 16th season, Tom Brady is in his 14th.  At first, their 2013 seasons don't compare; Brady is 93 of 158 (58.9% completion) for 1014 yards, 7 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  But the difference lies in Brady's track record and some more intangibles. Brady brought his team to 5 Superbowls, and won 3 of them, twice making Superbowl MVP.  Peyton has only 2 Superbowl appearances and one Superbowl win (as well as the MVP award).  This alone would lead some to argue that Brady is better, but I wouldn't leave it at that.

Tom Brady's stats are hardly fair; I watched 3 of the 4 games so far, and Brady is hitting his receivers' hands.  He's that good.  So why so few completions?  Well, Julian Edelman is Brady's only trusted receiver through the first 4 games.  Rob Gronkowski has been injured, and Danny Amendola, who was brought on with the loss of Wes Welker, is new to the Patriots AND injured.  Oh yea, did I mention the Pats gave up Wes Welker, Dieon Branch and Matthew Slater?  Tom is playing, yet again, with an almost fresh set of wide receivers.  I tried to find the number of different receivers that Brady has completed a pass to, but all I found was this article which goes into some depth on the subject.  That guy really loves the Patriots.  The number itself isn't as important as the implication, and that is that Tom Brady makes players around him great.

Brady has played with a higher receiver turnover rate than Peyton Manning (or any other QB, for that matter) and yet he continues to make them great.  The improvements in the Patriots' receivers over the first 4 weeks is testament to his impact on his teammates.  This is why these two are so interesting:  Manning controls games with a confidence and effectiveness that confuses and overwhelms defenses; and Tom Brady seems to be such a talented QB and inspiring leader that the players around him improve constantly.  Keep in mind that Peyton Manning's receivers on the current Denver Broncos squad are some of the best in the game, with Wes Welker, Demarius Thomas and Eric Decker just to name three.  So who's the better quarterback?  That's up to you, tell me what you think!

The photo above is from the Kentucky Wildcats Facebook page.  It also shows a record-setting attendance for a University of Kentucky Blue and White spring scrimmage.  That's right.  50,831 attendees for what has easily been described as a "glorified practice".  We haven't even begun incorporating our #29 recruiting class; they don't come until the fall!  Granted, freshmen aren't nearly as influential in football as they can be in basketball, but it doesn't matter at this point.  

For some comparisons, only Alabama had more than 46,000 attendees in 2012, with 78,500 according to this UK football blog.  Alabama's record (for spring games) is just over 92,000.  But the key here is that Mark Stoops came to Kentucky with a mission, and it looks like the State of Kentucky is behind him!  Last year our spring game attendance was no more than 4500.  No, I didn't miss a zero.  And our previous record for a spring scrimmage?  about 20,000.  This is a pretty big number for SEC norms, but surprisingly even some of the stand-alone (meaning they rock their conference basically every year) teams such as Ohio State, Michigan, Boise State and the like, turn out under 40,000 and even less than 20,000 most years.  

Again, I can't stress enough that this number alone doesn't mean anything for the future of Kentucky Football, except that the fans are ready.  We want football.  We aren't content with "just" having a great basketball program, and we will support Mark Stoops as he attempts to build Kentucky into a legitimate SEC football team.  I for one am excited.  

So what do all of these guys have in common?  Well, all are coaches of teams that had supremely disappointing seasons last year.  And all are gearing up for big statements next year.

The idea for this post came to me as I was (kind of pathetically) looking at next year for my three favorite sports teams.  As I read a very sobering but still cautiously optimistic post about Kentucky's upcoming football season, I ran across sentences such as "Kentucky fans have a hard time coming to grips with the idea that Vanderbilt is no longer the bottom dweller in the SEC.  What was once an assured SEC win has become two embarrassing losses over the last two years."  This was all a tough read, (more thoughts on that post and Kentucky's future in a minute) but then when I looked at the New Orleans Saints' upcoming schedule I noticed similar statements to the tune of "In a preseason rematch of a 2012 regular season game we'd all be better off forgetting.." - From http://www.canalstreetchronicles.com/2013/4/6/4189560/nfl-preseason-2013-new-orleans-saints, in reference to the Saints' first preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

I immediately noticed the two teams are in similar situations (I actually thought I was still reading the SAME article for a minute!):  Mark Stoops is a new coach with high expectations placed on him, specializes in defense, and the team is coming off of one of the worst records in recent history (not that Kentucky has ever been a powerhouse in Football but that's not the point); Sean Payton is returning from suspension this season, again with high expectations, hired a new defensive coordinator in Rob Ryan, and is trying to pick the team back up from the worst season since his arrival with the program in 2006.  Coach John Calipari looked very similar to these two coaches, though on a slightly different time frame, with his arrival in Kentucky in 2009.  

All three of these men are going into their respective 2013-2014 seasons with a lot to prove, but all have been dealt a better hand than last year's.  The Saints have their head coach back, and they still have a powerhouse offense spear-headed by Drew Brees.  Their defense really has nothing to lose, so it should be very exciting.  Mark Stoops comes to Kentucky in extremely high regard and was able to put together a #29 recruiting class (Kentucky's incoming class last year was #60) in just 6ish weeks at being with the school.  This is the first testament to his ability, and while #29 is still low compared to the rest of the conference, it is a notable improvement and it appears to be a foundation on which Mark will begin to build a program Kentucky fans just might get excited about.  Finally, John Calipari and his most recent batch of freshmen disappointed the most spoiled and awesome fan base in the country, the Big Blue Nation.  Our last coach was fired for making the NIT, though he never won a national title and he also wasn't dealing with a completely new team, losing all five starters and some change to the NBA draft.  But I digress. 

The Wildcats' basketball season is already getting hype, with arguably the strongest recruiting class in college basketball ever (Kentucky has 6 McDonald's All-Americans committed for the 2013-2014 season), the possibility that Andrew Wiggins, the number 1 overall-ranked incoming freshman, chooses to come to Kentucky and more returning "veterans" than Calipari is likely to know what to do with.  Kentucky will have a strong upperclass leadership in Kyle Wiltjer and Jared Polson, talented returning sophomores, and ridiculously good freshmen talent.  The depth of this team gives Calipari more tools than he's ever had at Kentucky.  I don't want to get caught up in the hype until I see them play, but #9 would be nice...

The important thing for all fans to remember is that there is never a sure thing in sports, but this next year should be a lot more fun to watch than his past year.  Two of these three teams are contenders to win it all, while with the third we are really just looking for solid improvement throughout; the writer of the article I referenced above estimates a 4-8 season for Kentucky Football, and points out that people have a wide-range of expectations for the Wildcats, anywhere from no improvement to an 8-win season.  I think 8 wins is pretty far-fetched for this young team and new coach, but I don't think 6 is out of the question.  Only time will tell.

Look at that beautiful Superdome; the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.  The city of New Orleans has hosted an NFL record of 7 Super Bowls (actually 7 is the number of times the 'Dome has hosted a Superbowl, my Alma Mater hosted three more at Tulane Stadium, for a combined total of 10 Superbowls hosted in New Orleans!), and she's never looked better.  This photo brings me back to an eclectic, diverse, strong and incredible city which holds a special place in my heart.   Right now, she's hosting Superbowl number XLVII (that's 47 for anyone who can't read Roman Numerals!) and it's the Baltimore Ravens vs the San Francisco 49ers.  This has been an interesting football season, and being a New Orleans Saints fan, this season has been particularly difficult to watch, but that doesn't mean I'm not enjoying the festivities!

However, this song takes hold even more right now, as I sit in a friend's house in Rhode Island (the Navy takes you all over, many places temporarily).  New Orleans was where I went to college, learned to love football, learned about an incredibly deep and diverse music culture (actually they have a whole lot more than just music); it's where I learned to love seafood, where I turned 21, where i met one of my best friends, and where I met the most incredible woman in my life.  New Orleans most definitely holds a special place in my life, and I'm proud of her as she hosts this year's Superbowl!  I have a few more photos I'd like to show, as I've seen many similar ones on Facebook and I'd like you to enjoy them and if you've never visited New Orleans you need to stop by!  Feel free to contact me if you would like any recommendations of places in New Orleans for your visit!

So this is my first post!  I know the name is "guitarsandbourbon.com" so I really expected my first post would be mainly about music, but since the BAMA vs ND game was last night I couldn't pass up on a good topic.  So here we go!

As any man should, I love football and, as were most football fans, I was looking forward to watching the game with some friends and family.  We decided on the Mellow Mushroom, which by now is a pretty large pizza chain.  If you haven't heard of it, I would look up a locator (okay here I did it for you) to try some southern style pizza.

It began in 1974 in Atlanta and has since expanded.  As my brother-in-law described it, "they do a great job of NOT making it feel like a chain restaurant."  Obviously they have lots of different pizzas, and I tried what was called the "Mellowterranean", a pizza complete with olives, feta cheese and a side of tzatziki sauce (it didn't disappoint!).  From what I could gather out of one visit, they have a plethora of other options, such as calzones, quality sandwiches, and a popular appetizer involving pretzels and a cheese made with Abita Turbodog beer (why are you still reading this?)  Some items are certainly regional, so expect to see some variations; which brings me to the beer.  In my home state of Kentucky and the relatively new location in Louisville on Shelbyville Road, they offer some of Kentucky's little-known but up and coming beers, including multiple beers finished in bourbon barrels (such as Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale).   All-in-all, I recommend it to all beer, sports and pizza lovers.  Here's a shot of the inside:

So anyway, back to football:  I would be lying if I said I've never been anywhere better to watch sports, but this is still way above average.  The large beer selection, varied tables with high-and-low tops, elbow room throughout and a generous helping of TVs all form a great atmosphere for sports, and we were there to watch football after all.  I love my SEC so you can bet who I was rooting for, and I wasn't disappointed!