Published: June 12, 2009 08:12 am      

MARK MAYNARD: Thinking out loud 6/12/09

-If you only had a minute left to live, wouldn't you want it to be the last minute of an NBA playoff game? I've never seen the seconds get drawn out any longer. The last minute of the game the other night took at least five minutes of real time.

-The Reds frustrated me last Sunday with five hours of baseball. I finally left the house with the scored (still) tied and the Cubs hit a home run before I pulled the car out of the driveway. I told my wife I was going to the store so the game could end. I got my wish, I suppose.

-It’s nice to want to watch the Reds again now that you feel like they have a chance to be a contender.

-Is Orlando’s Dwight Howard as big as he looks on my TV? The “Superman” nickname doesn’t do him justice. And that’s saying something.

-Kentucky’s defense is really going to miss Jeremy Jarmon this season.

-I peeked in a college football magazine the other day and found that Kentucky was bringing up the rear in the SEC East at No. 6.

-handler Shepherd is building a nice reputation as a big-game pitcher. The sophomore from Lawrence County worked nine innings in Thursday’s opening game of the State Tournament. The Bulldogs lost 3-2 in 10 innings.

-on’t we all wish Brett Favre would decide what he wants to do with his life from here?

-eds’ Hall of Fame announcer Marty Brennaman doing the narration for the Ashland “Field of Dreams” documentary is a big deal and ultra-cool addition to the project. Everybody is going to love it.

-rthur Rhodes, David Weathers and Francisco Cordero. It may not be the “Nasty Boys” but it sure is a nice 1-2-3 punch for the eighth and ninth innings of Reds’ games.

-Kyle Busch needs to find some other way to calm his nerves. The NASCAR star was given a hand-painted Gibson guitar for his win on Saturday night and promptly smashed it into the ground, breaking it in a million pieces. He says it was his way of exorcising his demons at the track. Really? It’s no wonder I don’t watch NASCAR.

-The countdown to the first high school football game of the season is now at 70 days. Hard to believe.

MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.