Tomorrow I embark on what is sure to be a memorable trip to say the least when my good buddy Bley and I set forth from Queens, NY for Louisville, KY and the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby.

I’m teeming with excitement. I can’t remember being this jacked up on a Wednesday since…well, ever.

I’ve arranged with Jamie Mottram at Yahoo! Sports to do a blog post on Y! Sports Blogs recounting the experience that should hit interweb newstands Monday morning.

Here’s a portion of the itinerary that I sent Jamie late last week…

As of this time next week, I’ll be en route to Louisville, KY for the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby. Here’s my rough itinerary for the journey:

• Wednesday, April 31, Midnight: Paycheck hits checking account; man, I love direct deposit.
• Thursday, May 1, 10 a.m. Eastern Standard: Depart Queens, NY. Former college roommate, the honorable Bley, esq. at the helm of the Dodge Charger.
• Thu. May 1, Dusk: Arrive at the Ohio State University. See what all the hullabaloo about this place really is. Bring (and/or join) the ruckus.
• Friday, May 2, Noonish EST: Embark for Louisville, KY. Approximately 180 miles from Columbus. What lies in between? Only god knows. My main goal would be to pick up Chad Johnson & Chris Henry in Cincinnati, but who knows if they even like hanging out with each other?
• Friday Night, May 2: Arrive in Louisville, KY, knowing nobody, find a place to crash. Really excited about this part of the trip. (note: Bley has since secured a hotel. I can’t imagine it’s a nice one).
• Saturday, in the a.m., May 3: Don seersucker. Set-up shop at Church Hill Downs. Devour the Derby.
• Sunday, May 4: schlep back to NYC. Reflect.
• Monday, May 5: recovery day.

Just writing this itinerary got me real fired up, and now, I’m listening to Ace of Spades by Motörhead. The full details of this trip, I can only imagine.

I plan to be a skilled professional in the arts of the mint julep, the double exacta box, the triple exacta box, and the southern belle by close of business on Saturday, May 3rd.

The early lines are in for the running of the roses, and Big Brown is the morning line favorite at 3-1. BB drew number 16 (out of 20) in the post position selection order however, and might have to break from the outside gates on Saturday.

That makes no sense? I’d suggest relaxing until Saturday (unless you’re going to bet the farm) before you start thinking about this. In the meantime, check out an old Hunter S. Thompson essay on the scene at the Derby.

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My buddy and fellow UCONN fan Jake sends this to me with tagline…this could not be good for the program.

Check his Facebook status out…

/I might get de-friended by Austrie for this.

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Something kind of awesome that just came on my radar…Jay Busbee at Yahoo! Sports is running what he’s calls The Greatest Driver That Never Was tournament on his blog From the Marbles.

It’s already in the second round, and today’s match-up features my all-time favorite movie character Bandit from Smokey & the Bandit facing off against Anakin Skywalker (meh).

As I could of have predicted, Bandit is throttling Anakin (84% of the vote counting mine); I wonder how my unborn son would feel about the name Burt Reynolds Hayes?

For those of you who haven’t seen the Smokey & The Bandit…shame on you. Reynolds plays a trucker – a trucker that makes me want to become a trucker – but spends most of the movie running interference in that really boss Pontiac Trans Am. In fact, after the movie was released Trans Am sales actually jumped from 68,745 to 93, 341 in 1978.

Speaking of truckers who rule hard, my one critique of the TGDTNW tourney is that Lincoln Hawk from Over the Top wasn’t selected for the field. Bogey, Busbee. Stallone would have been a formidable opponent for Reynolds I feel.

Naturally, we’re going with Bo “Bandit” Darville to win the whole damn thing.

Dem boys are thirsty in Atlanta, and there’s beer in Texarkana…

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shoeless, shirtless, cigarette in mouth…at on205th, I bow to thee for posting this first.

Fox, I take back everything bad I’ve said about your Ozarks affiliate in the past.

The name of Daly’s course – The Murder Rock Golf Course. In case you’d like to suggest that I failed to visit Daly’s course website, I didn’t.

There’s a legend heard around the hollows of Branson Creek about Murder Rock, a place where Civil War bushwhacker Alfred Bolin and his gang were known to ambush travelers.

That’s actual copy from murderrock.com. Sadly, there is no merch for sale on the site.

You can look up playing partner Johnny Lee yourself.

…oh, and here’s to waking up everyday and not having man boobs.

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I was a little perturbed that the Bucs got Aqib Talib instead of the Pats. Frankly, Belichek must be really high on Jerod Mayo, considering that Sedrick Ellis was sitting right there when they decided to trade down and pick Mayo at #10.

Since they got Talib, I decided to check out the rest of the Buc’s draft board to see if they made any other choice picks (because that’s the sort of masochistic bloke that I am), and it turns out they did.

Dexter Jackson won the Division twice-eh National Championship this past season with Appalachian St., and participated in that historic upset of Michigan along the way.

Actually, he was one mane wrecking-crew in that game.

Trying to find something bad about this kid, NFLDraft101.com says he has a tendency to take his eye off the ball…ooh, that is bad.

Regardless, Jackson had the fastest 40 time at the combine, and can clearly catch the deep ball (he ended the season with 52 and 60 yard touchdown receptions in the National 1-AA semis and finals).

And, coincidentally, the last Buccaneer player named Dexter Jackson was their only Superbowl MVP.

The Bucs took him at with the 59th pick in the draft…which, coincidentally, is the number of strip clubs within Tampa city limits (lucky on multiple levels I’d say).

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Clemens, your girlfriend, woof.

We’ve all had our encounters that we agree we should “never speak of again” (my friends call them moon landings). But 10 years? In a word, greedy.

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Not sure why I wasn’t invited to join in this blogger mock draft…Sitemeter says I average like 30+ visits a day to this blog.

I feel snubbed.

However, not going to let it stop me from making my dream prediction for who the Patriots should select with the number #7 overall pick.

The masses want…Aqib Talib (CB, Kansas).

This guy is a beast. We need help at the corner. This is not rocket science here folks.

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With Wes Snipes facing some hard time (three years), I figured it was appropriate to post something from his best film that isn’t Major League.

Raymond is actually played by ex-NBA player and UCLA star Marques Johnson.

I don’t believe that he had much of a pro career.

…and you heard it here first, Snipes will be out in nine months.

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Natalie Gulbis, redux.

Check out Busted Coverage to see the evil idea brought forth by the menace J Koot. And be on the lookout over there for my personal birthday message to a certain EA.

(Been a while since I threw up some) Inspired Thoughts:

“…the punk kid asked me if i wanted a “new” camera, as if i was going to say, “nah, its cool, gimme a used one, i dont care…”, i walked out of the store before he could even put a period on the end of his sentence.”

said, C. Bley, regarding a trip to Circus City last night to purchase a digital camera.

More posts later…maybe a tribute to Wes Snipes (doing a three year bid)…maybe some Patriot Draft Day recommendations. Should be time for both.

mmmm, nuhnuhnuh!

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I just watched Manny fly out to end the game as the Red Sox lost to the Angels 7-5.

By watched I mean I followed the little Web 1.0 dot travel on my screen to deepest part of ESPN.com’s graphic representation of Fenway Park.

Not knowing whether or not Manny actually just missed a home run – and inevitably did his little ridiculous pose at the plate – or if some mouth-breathing coder (or whatever you call the person who makes the gamecasts hum) is playing with me is really bothering me.

The Red Sox would have still be been down by a run, but it’s killing me!

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