Beech Tree News Network

I’ve been moved to write twice within a month. That hasn’t happened in quite some time.

I have to start this missive out with a poke at one of my bosses, John W. Embry. John has an excellent program on 1570 AM that runs Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Fridays at 7 a.m., 10 a.m., and 7 p.m.  called Out on a Limb. Being that I work the morning shift on two of those days I often insert myself into his program.

A couple of Fridays ago John opened the show with greetings for Tanyard and Graveltown. I asked why both places didn’t start with a T because it is his custom to illiterate a bit with his opening. He told me he couldn’t think of another T town.

I quickly offered that Taylortown starts with a T and he could have used it. John informed me he had never heard of Taylortown. I was incredulous. Taylortown not only exists, it used to have its own sign. Mr. Embry said that if I could prove its existence he would greet it someday.

I figured that was an easy task. I clearly remembered the Taylortown sign on the side of Hwy 231 somewhere between the Dunn Brothers garage and what is now Paul’s Shiney Shop. However I couldn’t pin down anyone that remembered the sign.

Then luck intervened. I was sitting outside the BTN office with Jeremy Hack when low and behold, Larry Taylor happened by. I’ve known Larry Taylor since I was a little fella. He was one of the few people that my dad could get along with long enough to employ him. As it was Larry and my dad, and sometimes me, had many jobs and adventures together, most involving bulldozers or the store that Larry owned that Dad sometimes ran.

Anyway, I told Larry about the show and my inability to prove Taylortown’s existence. Larry was quick to remember the sign, and even knew the origins of Taylortown.
I figured that some significant Taylor had had the area named for them, but I was wrong. Larry explained that Taylortown was named after Taylor Deweese, who operated a store just up 231 toward town from the Dunn boys’ shop. Local folks liked Taylor and his store and started calling the area around his store Taylortown.

Now the story gets interesting.

According to Larry the area was never formally named. Furthermore the sign had to be taken down because someone at some state agency decided that it was confusing, and that there was already a Taylorsville and probably another Taylortown. Larry said the sign was taken down and Taylortown ceased to exist, except in memory.

Since I talked to Larry I’ve done some investigating about other Taylortowns in Kentucky. According to official state maps and listings of place names no such place exists officially within the state. The closest I found was a Taylortown Church Road in Ohio County, but no accompanying Taylortown seems to be anywhere close.

So if you remember the old sign, be content that Taylortown was once marked on the local map at least, and despite what the state claimed there is no other Taylortown to confuse it with. I sincerely hope that someone will make a new sign and put it back up in the area where the old one used to be.

And be sure and tune in to Out on a Limb to see if John Embry will legitimize Taylortown by talking about it on his radio show.

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With Kentucky’s dreadful basketball season finally over it occurs to me that just a little blame for this year’s lackluster squad be put at the feet of John Calipari.

I love our coach, don’t get me wrong, but I think his mishandling of a couple of players following UK’s championship run in 2012 contributed to this year’s swoon. More specifically, maybe Cal shouldn’t have pushed  Marquis Teague into the NBA draft.

Teague has had a fair rookie campaign with the Chicago Bulls, but nothing to turn heads. Teague is averaging 2.3 points and about an assist per game. He’s shown that he probably has better times ahead, but clearly he would have benefitted from another year in college.

Coach Cal is adamant about how he will always advise a player to leave school early if they’re ready. It’s one reason why his recruiting classes look more like NBA draft workout groups than a college team.  I agree with Cal that the ‘one and done’ rule is stupid, and that kids with the talent should be in the NBA. However I think he should think about telling the kids things they don’t always want to hear. Last year maybe, just maybe, he should have urged Teague to return for another year. And not just for the kid, for the health of his program at UK.

Replace inept and over his head Ryan Harrow with Marquis Teague and I’ll lay odds that UK is not only still alive in the NCAA Tourney, but a threat to repeat as champions. UK had several weak areas this year, but the lack of a solid point guard was what crippled the program. Teague was also vocal and quick to point out the mistakes of teammates. That’s something UK sorely missed this year, and that leadership void coupled with poor point guard play doomed the Cats.

You can argue that Teague is now a multi-millionaire and would have risked an injury like what befell Nerlens Noel if he had returned. That’s true, but his future might also be a little brighter than it is right now. Sure, Teague will probably grow into an NBA star, but with another year at UK he would be exponentially closer to that point than he is now. And who’s not to say some bigger, better, more experienced player isn’t going to dump Teague tonight and give him an injury? Injuries happen, if everyone adjusted their game to avoid them the NBA would be about as fun to watch as Woodbury Cleanup Days, and not as much fun as watching the Woodbury rabies shot clinic.

Maybe next time Cal will think twice about pushing what could be a vital cog for his UK team into the draft simply because he can get drafted and make some money.

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A small reality check is currently underway in Lexington involving new UK head football coach Mark Stoops and his team. Briefly put, Stoops knows he’s not at Florida State anymore.

Stoops admitted to the media last Wednesday that he has a lot of work to do with his team that finished 2-10 in 2012. The coach said his biggest hurdle is to change the mindset of a team that hasn’t beaten a FBS level football team since 2011. Stoops says that he has yet to make his new kids believe in his system or in themselves.

I hope UK fans read this and take it to heart. Stoops has a great class coming to Lexington in the fall, but he has a core of players that haven’t proven they have what it takes to compete in the SEC. There are going to be growing pains, but hopefully the UK faithful realize just how far down UK football was/is, and will give the new coach some leeway as he tries to resurrect things.
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Who knows when I might write again, but I appreciate your readership. If you’d like me to hold forth on anything from sports to politics just drop me a note to my fancy, new BTN email address and I’ll see what I can do.

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