Ah, Footbah

About 15 minutes before his work day started Thursday, Danny Brown sent his fellow Fern Creek High School Class of '84 grad and 92.7 WFHS-FM "The Tiger" broadcasting partner an email:

"I added yet another piece to this. I gave each team win credits for the wins of all opponents they beat, but in the losses, I gave them loss credits for the losses of those opponents. My thinking is that, if they had a bad loss to a team with a lot of losses, this would hurt their rating. ...

"I would love to have a career just picking this stuff apart," Danny's email to Russ continued. "Would love to do an analysis on all remaining playoff teams if I had the time."

Word, brother. Word.

But until that day of deliverance arrives--to the place of unlimited-by-time-or-budget KHSAA playoff analyses or eternal Extra Innings dice rolling or infinite ambling along Kentucky highways ... whatever--here's what Danny has the time to offer us with regard to tonight's Fern Creek-at-Henderson County football game in the second round of the Class 6A KHSAA playoffs: The visiting, 4-7 Tigers have 20 win credits and 25 loss credits for a "Danny Rating" of 44.44 percent. The home-standing, 9-2 Colonels have 30 win credits and just two loss credits, for a whopping Danny Rating of 93.75 percent. Sounds like an easy win and on to Round 3 for Henderson County, doesn't it? Well, NOT SO FAST, SPORTS FANS! Danny rates the strength of schedule of teams that Fern Creek has beaten at 45.45 percent; Henderson County's vanquished, just 34.88 percent.

So Danny might yet be figuratively indulging in punch and pie late tonight, as is his broadcast signature after Tiger victories. And that's why you'll just have to tune in The Tiger. Kickoff is at 6:30 Central.

Danny's the color commentator; Russ is the play-by-play man. Danny's a manufacturing cost accountant for a high-end paper-plate manufacturer, Deco Paper Products. Russ is district sales manager for Koch Filter Corporation. They sometimes get mileage reimbursements for traveling to road games, but the radio jobs are volunteer gigs.

"How we really got started was a Hoptown state championship game later vacated with Artose Pinner," Danny said. "Russ and I sat high in the stands at Old Cardinal Stadium and did play-by-play and color in a little handheld recorder like a couple of dorks. But when we went back and listened to it, we thought it wasn’t half bad. That gave us the confidence to pursue it when we learned about it."

In 2006, word was spreading about Fern Creek's launching a radio station, and Russ reached out to the school's principal and alumni-association head.

"The FCHS Alumni Association funded the radio station and asked that an alum broadcast the games," Russ said. "Two folks expressed interest in doing that--one not being an alum and us. So, they gave us the chance."

Danny remembers visiting the school with Russ "for what I thought would be an interview, but, moreso, it was kind on an overview and tour of the facilities. At that point, it was assumed we got the gig. ... They basically just threw caution to the wind and gave us the green light with no clue if we knew what we were doing."

Over the last four-plus seasons, Danny and Russ have called home and away Fern Creek football action and home boys' and girls' basketball games--plus "an occasional road basketball game, as well as LIT. And twice we have done entire basketball boys' and girls' district tournaments for all teams in district," Danny said. "That was fun but demanding, but the hospitality rooms did not go unnoticed. Russ was a bit more conservative in his approach to free food and refreshments; with me, it was more 'Katie, bar the door.'"

"It's a blast," Russ said.

"Love it, dream come true, wish we’d started so much earlier," Danny said. "May have considered making a career of it if we would have gotten an earlier start. ... It’s awesome getting to do this with Russ."

Here are some other games I'll be interested in from around the state tonight.

Class 6A--Graves County at Louisville Male, the dark-side-of-the-moon half of tonight's Jackson Purchase-v.-Jefferson County twinbill. Two of the old WKU-extended chums who are tailgating the Fern Creek-Henderson County game tonight are Male products, so maybe Danny and Russ can fetch them a score update from this game in Louisville at halftime of ours.

Class 5A--Bowling Green at Christian County, a U.S. 68 spectacular! It's actually a bit of a wild ride right now for Christian County, which won its first seven, lost two in a row and then rebounded in the first round last week despite benching its senior quarterback in the first quarter for a team-rules violation. ... Bullitt Central at Anderson County. I've never met him, but I am so happy for The Anderson News's John Herndon, who also is having a blast. ... Crestview Hills Dixie Heights at Fort Thomas Highlands.

Class 4A--Franklin-Simpson at Lone Oak. With Heath idle, Pirates fans might want to spend this evening reliving the magic of Heath's near-miss upset of the Purple Flash. What I think is so strange about this is that if you were going to put together a montage of the Jack Haskins 1970s/'80s seasons at Heath, it's a pretty good bet that AC/DC would've been the choice for theme. And here we are 25 years later with Coach Haskins at Lone Oak, and ... Russell County, an upset winner last Friday, at Allen County-Scottsville, which had a bye. ... West Jessamine at Lexington Catholic and East Jessamine at Boyle County. Two upsets would set up a WestJess-EastJess rematch in Nicholasville, but it would seem unlikely given that Boyle has been the state's top-ranked 4A team most of the season.

Class 3A--Edmonson County at Paducah Tilghman ... Union County at Russellville ... Garrard County at Somerset ... Casey County at Breathitt County. The visiting, 8-3 Rebels are amid their first appearance in the KHSAA football playoffs. "Ever since football came on the scene at Casey County High School nearly 40 years ago, Casey has never been known as a 'football school,'" editorialized The Casey County News a few weeks ago. "There were some dark times, including a 46-game losing streak in the mid-1990s that saw the Rebels go winless for four straight seasons, and the near collapse of the football program when school officials debated on whether to abolish it. The tide turned, however." Tim Butler and all of the other Casey County faithful can only hope that the dream doesn't end with tonight's Round 2 roadtrip.

Class 2A--Fort Campbell at Murray. Here's the other game I would like to be at tonight. Murray has lost one game in the last two seasons: 28-21 at Fort Campbell in the second round of the 2009 playoffs, and the Falcons went on to win the state championship from there. ... Caldwell County at Owensboro Catholic ... Fort Knox at Monroe County. Both of these teams were upset winners last Friday night (over Glasgow and Washington County, respectively). Now Fort Knox brings its unconventional attack to Tompkinsville. "Fear the veer. We are not super big and we are not super strong, but the triple option is a great equalizer, which is why we run it," Fort Knox coach Brandon Combs told Wes Wyatt of Bowling Green's Park City Daily News. ... Louisville Christian Academy at Newport Central Catholic.

Class A--Ballard Memorial at Mayfield ... Beechwood at Bellevue. It's a pretty good bet that this one is going to get a little lively tonight. ... Pineville at Hazard and Harlan at Pikeville, which would be outstanding semifinals for the Mountain Division of a semi-pro KFA.