You see, you have to be clear about every little detail whenever you mention the University of Kentucky because there are always a bunch of chatty, jealous types waiting and sifting through the minutiae in search of anything which could be turned into some kind of potential NCAA violation. Moreover, whenever Kentucky is having a particularly good year (UK is currently 10-0) you can bet your bottom dollar that the “haters” are going to be crawling out of the woodwork, and fast.
Interestingly, the birth of this blog can (in part) be attributed to those who take every opportunity they get to criticize the Wildcats and their fans. Oh yes, UK fans are called crazy lunatics who know little more of the world than the fact that it is round (like a basketball) and that everything in the state of Kentucky is, to some degree, a shade of blue.
Even the Louisville Cardinals have managed to find a way to incorporate a little “blue” into its red-feathered program. How you might ask? Rick Pitino became forever a part of the UK program when he led the Wildcats to an NCAA division 1 title in 1996. He will carry this piece of “UK Blue” with him for the rest of his life. Unquestionably, Louisville fans have long hoped that the former UK coach would bring a title back to Louisville. Yet, Pitino has never been able to give to Louisville what he accomplished in Lexington – a national title. In fact, Pitino has often looked like a man who lost his best friend since his return to college coaching after a forgettable stint in the NBA. Certainly, the UK/UL rivalry was bolstered by Pitino’s decision to cross over into enemy territory, but Pitino has never seemed to shine at Louisville quite the way he did at UK. Nevertheless, UK fans can thank Pitino for keeping the rivalry between UK and UL interesting. The next meeting between UK & UL should prove to be one of the more intriguing meetings of the intrastate rivalry given that new UK coach John Calipari and Rick Pitino are two of the most well-known coaches in all of college basketball, and that both have forever etched their names into the UK history books.
To close out this first post, it’s worth mentioning (barely) that the latest jab at the Wildcats and the blue faithful was hurled by the one (and thank goodness the only) Bobby Knight. How a man with such a sordid past found the gall to lambaste another coach is beyond comprehension. Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, meet pot. Not surprisingly, Knight has found a home at ESPN which has a knack for hiring sports bobble heads with a penchant for disparaging the Wildcats and their fans. I understand that putting down heavyweights in the world of sports is a common practice, but I personally believe that those slinging the mud should take a look around their own backyards before pointing their soiled fingers at anyone else.
Signed,
-Johnny Blue
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