It’s been a brat summer for 2024. But on Friday, the Martin County High School football team travels to Hazard, which means crisp evenings and cold bleachers are right around the corner.

With school beginning this month, sports teams are heading into their seasons.

The football team looked good on both sides of the ball in their scrimmage at Floyd Central on Friday.

Volleyball won their home scrimmage and the Martin County Middle School girls basketball squad picked up a win, too.

It’s been a great start for Cardinal fans so far. Hopefully we can keep it rolling.

On the college level, the Wildcats got hit with some bad news.

The football team has agreed to spend two years on probation, pay a fine and vacate their 2021 season, which includes a bowl game.

As of now, it appears Mark Stoops will be moving forward and focusing on the upcoming season.

But with 10 wins being taken away, that’s a big loss for Kentucky football.

If those violations had been this past season, I’m not sure there would have been consequences due to the NIL agreement.

Hopefully Stoops can keep the team focused and get some of those wins back in the toughest conference in football.

I’ll continue looking forward to seeing Mark Pope’s first season as the head coach of Kentucky basketball.

I’m trying to keep my hopes at a minimum. He built the team from scratch deep into recruiting season.

I hope I’m wrong, but I expect at least 10 losses on the season. Just keep in mind that we need to give him a couple of seasons to implement his system.

No matter what, though, I bleed blue.