Labels should not be a limit

It was an eventful weekend.
The University of Kentucky men’s basketball team survived its biggest challenge of the season Saturday, knocking off Louisville by eight.
Kelly Olynyk, Henry Sims, Enes Kanter and DeMarcus Cousins, all centers, attempted 3-pointers in the day’s NBA action. (Cousins made his try.)
And then Sunday the NFL playoff picture was finalized, with the Detroit Lions in the mix.
These are the items that sparked our readers’ interest, and prompted questions. Here are the answers:
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Is UK getting beat this season?
—Jenae Horn Blasdel,
Portland

Any time I’m asked if a team will go undefeated, I’m probably going to say no.
The odds are ever in my favor.
A perfect season has happened only seven times in the tournament era of college basketball, and never since Indiana went 32-0 in 1976. (UCLA did it four times under John Wooden.) Even if we limit the question to the regular season, only three teams — UNLV in 1991, Saint Joseph’s in 2004 and Wichita State last season — have accomplished the feat in the last 35 years.
Although the Southeastern Conference is not the powerhouse on the hardwood that it is on the gridiron, Kentucky will suffer a loss before the NCAA Tournament begins.
I’m looking at Feb. 7 at Florida as the most likely date, but also wouldn’t be surprised to see LSU or Arkansas knock off John Calipari’s crew.
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Why were you so wrong when you said the Detroit Lions wouldn’t make the playoffs?
—Chris Snow, Portland

I was wrong, yes. So wrong, that’s a stretch.
The Lions didn’t exactly roar into the playoffs. They squeaked out wins against Minnesota and Chicago and then lost in Green Bay, again, with the NFC North title and home-field advantage on wild card weekend on the line.
But the answer to your question is this: The Philadelphia Eagles collapsed down the stretch and Detroit did not.
I thought the Lions would choke, as they so often do, and lose one of their two games against Chicago in the final five weeks. Instead, Detroit prevailed both times — 34-17 Nov. 27 at Ford Field and 20-14 Dec. 21 at Soldier Field.
Meanwhile, although Mark Sanchez put up better numbers in the second half of the season than the injured Nick Foles did in the first half, the Eagles fell apart. They were 9-3 before dropping three straight to fall out of the playoff race.
But enough about the past, let’s look toward the future and the Lions’ trip Sunday to Dallas. I’ll gladly bet against Detroit again as they travel to take on a Cowboys team that has averaged 41.25 points per game over the final four weeks of the season.
For the record, my other picks are Pittsburgh over Baltimore, Carolina over Arizona and Cincinnati over Indianapolis.
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Why do centers want to shoot the 3-pointer, guards want to dunk, No. 4 hitters want to walk and banjo hitters swing for the fences? Oh yeah, and punters want to pass?
—Jeff Hatch, Dunkirk

We all have talents. But don’t we also have dreams of what it would be like to possess skills with which we were not blessed?
Those who can’t hit a note dream of winning “American Idol”. (The show proves as much.)
Those who can’t cook wish they had the skills to compete on “Iron Chef America”, or at the very least create an edible meal.
And those, like me, who lack any sort of artistic ability, would love to be able to paint like Michelangelo, Claude Monet or Salvador Dali.
I have no problem with a clean-up hitter working for a walk (read Moneyball) or a guard dunking (Michael Jordan was a guard after all, and so was the 5-foot-3-inch Muggsy Bogues).
Few and far between are the big men who can consistently shoot from long distance, slap hitters who can go deep and punters who should even think about throwing the ball, but they do exist.
The key is for those centers, guards, No. 4 hitters, banjo hitters and punters to know their skills, whether limited or varied, and make the most of them.
Athletes, or anyone really, shouldn’t be pigeonholed by a label.