New year, new fat chance(s) and freedom to seize reasons to say: America. I love this place!

This week, reflections from 2015 and might-see in the new year.

From the top …

1. Pope Francis’ issuance of 10 resolutions for 2016 included these nuggets: Befriend those who disagree. Make time for others. Finish your meals. Be happy.

2. Emma Talley all grown up. Time doth fly. The Princeton, Kentucky native and three-time state champion golfer through 2012, is defending NCAA champion, a college senior at Alabama who, on March 24, will be 22. Talley is an All-American athlete and academic All-American too.

3. Didja See That! Dept. Ten SEC teams played in bowl games. Record: 8-2, seven were smash wins. Still ahead, Alabama-Clemson. Losses: Florida to Michigan, Texas A&M to Louisville.

4. University of Kentucky football. With dates at Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and Louisville, and bowl game winners Georgia and Mississippi State coming to Lexington, hard to be an optimist. UK promotions platoon face a Big Blue Madness sized task.

5. University of Louisville football. If Lamar Jackson maintains his helmet-size and completes a pass now-and-then, the Cardinals will be ACC title favorites and Final Four prospect.

6. Try to remember: “Nothing is a waste of time if one uses the experience wisely.” (Rodin)

7. Five weeks. Major League pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

8. Pete Rose. Isn’t going to happen in this life. Move on.

Will it happen in 2016 …

9. With Brandon Doughty gone and offensive coordinator too, how dramatic will WKU football style change be in 2016? Eastern Kentucky and Western Kentucky announce a home-and-home football series.

10. Announcement – Kentucky and Indiana renew border rivalries – basketball and football.

11. Dr. Orlando ‘Tubby’ Smith honored at Rupp Arena with banner hoisted into rafters.

12. How creative will NBA Sacramento Kings, Brooklyn Nets (and others) be trying to hire John Calipari?

13. Favorites in 2015. Mr. Basketball 2008 and college graduate Darius Miller plays for Brose Baskets of the Bundesliga in Bamberg, Germany. Salary was $65,739-a-month in 2014, or $788,872-a-year. Maysville native is listed at 6-8, 225 and starts at small forward.

14. Skal Labissiere. I will learn to spell and pronounce his name without having to look it up, word comes he will be here beyond April.

15. Next really special thing in basketball, Ben Simmons.

16. Rick Pitino. His response to a knot of knuckleheads after Kentucky defeated Louisville reflects, I think, the hurt Pitino feels, knowing his role in the starry nights and joy-filled ride to Big Blue reformation are forgotten. Pitino’s UK’s NCAA title won under Pitino was 20 years ago.

17. Kentucky fans. An extraordinary devotion to Pitino (1989-1997), matched only by Dookies and Mike Krzyzewski, ended in abandonment. Pitino discounts hurt caused when a swollen ego moved him to dump Kentucky, believing it was his duty (and genius) to save the Celtics.

18. Coach carousel … John Pelphrey and Darrin Horn should be ready for a head coach job in 2016..

19. Travis Ford may be moving on from Oklahoma State.

20. Next native son hoops All-American in Kentucky? Might be Mt. Washington’s Rusty Troutman at Bellarmine.

21. Readers wrote …

E-mails from fans were uh brusque, colorful, hateful, personal and ranged from concerns for my health to “thought you were spot on.”

Excerpts from a few favorites …

√ “… other day I was trying to think of a favorite UK player from the last eight years. For the life of me, only name I could think of was Anthony Davis.”

√ “Your obvious hatred for UK basketball and John Calipari must keep your blood pressure near the danger zone! … (it) may be time for you to get some professional help.”

√ “… with your attitude toward UK pro wrestling or boxing (would) better suit your acerbic talents. You certainly should not be dealing with young people.”

√ “… another reason to not like Calipari. He can’t coach a lick in a big game. How many championships would several coaches in this country have won at UK with all that talent. Only one and he almost blew it. At Memphis, it was the same. He blew that game, even if (NCAA) wouldn’t have counted it.”

√ “I was raised in a house full of basketball talk. My dad would turn the game on (teevee) with volume off, radio (volume) turned up, and listen to Cawood Ledford. Dad said Cawood would tell it like it was. No bull. If Kentucky was playing bad he said so. I miss those days.”

√ One-and-done at Kentucky, “Developing basketball skills is not the only thing coaches of all levels should be concerned with. Teaching life lessons may be more important. Wildcat Nation appreciates coaching to develop great student athletes as well as basketball stars.”

√ “Dick Vitale… &%$#!”

√ “Here’s to a short life for you, Bob. The world doesn’t need any more (bleep) holes like you. Have a terrible day.”

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22. Errors! In 2016, try and eliminate mistakes. Last week I wrote UK basketball’s record last season was 39-1. It was 38-1.

23. To remember: “The only sin that we never forgive in each other is a difference in opinion.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

24. Responding to a reader in September, I wrote …

“My 906-or-so words each week are one man’s opinion albeit based on 45 years experience. If readers learn something from it, that’s my reward. If, as some choose to do, respond with ‘why do you hate UK?’, then it brings me to a item I read somewhere: I am responsible for what I say, not what you choose to understand.’”

And so it goes.

You can reach me at bob.Watkins24@aol.com