Misplaced Kentucky Fans In Louisville

One sure bet is that all the blue jackets and caps with the oversized K’s around town will disappear faster than they came out of mothballs if the University of Louisville basketball team beats Kentucky.

The observer has difficulty understanding why a native-born Louisvillian would be a UK fan, adopting something so foreign to the local culture. One can almost tolerate the transplants, people moving here for family reasons, but not long. It’s not natural to live in Louisville and favor Kentucky.

When the observer was growing up in Central Kentucky, people in that area really didn’t know much about the city. That was probably Louisville’s fault because the leadership never any effort to educate the state in those days. As a result, the city has for decades had to fight ignorance, scrapping for every dollar its gets from Frankfort, despite providing a disproportionate amount of the state’s revenue.

The out-in-the-state love for Kentucky basketball stems from in part from a lack of other distractions. The mostly rural state is dotted by small towns whose only claim to anything significant is the university. They engulf themselves in anything and everything Kentucky, without a clue about how they are perceived outside the state’s borders or in Metro Louisville

So how to explain the Louisville-born UK fans. The most plausible explanation is that a good percentage of them are the offspring of people who moved here from elsewhere, never able to fully adjust to city life. They never questioned their parents or realized there were other options.

Many wanted to leave home for college and UK was the affordable option. You’ll find a lot of them in St. Matthews, for example. Many are bandwagon people who got caught up in the Lexington school’s national basketball championships and will never get over them (equating the late Cawood Ledford with the voice of God).

Others are so enmeshed that they actually embrace a myth that UK fans outnumber U of L fans in their community, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Their minds are closed, don’t confuse them with facts.

Regardless of how it occurred, there are too many of them in Louisville. Why there is so much animosity, even hate, between the two groups of fans is another story for another day. But it will be impossible to deny which university owns Louisville when the $237 million basketball palace opens in all its splendor and magnificence on the riverfront, just a few months from now.

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Sabbatical For Rick Pitino?

Yes, And Fans Will Like ‘Willie Ball’

By Tom Stosberg

It’s not that I don’t believe Tom Jurich when he says he’s one million percent behind his coach …it’s that you can never be that sure about anything. It’s like the kiss of death.

Okay, take a deep breath, Now let it out slowly. Good. Let’s talk.

It is my personal opinion that University of Louisville fans really are going to like “Willie Ball.” It is a very well-planned offense that focuses a great deal on guard play. It is designed to utilize a lot of outside shooting combined with very quick back door cuts. You will have to adjust to primarily a half court defense.

So now that we have cleared that up, here’s one more thing you will be glad to know: there won’t be any players standing around waiting for someone to do something. It’s fast motion. And the big men will all be going to the boards at the same time on every shot. It’s an extremely disciplined game along the lines of Duke and North Carolina.

Oh …uh …Willie Ball is Ralph Willard’s style of play and this season I honestly and truly think you’re going to enjoy it. Cue the Fight Song.

Never. Out Of The Question

By Charlie Springer

A sabbatical is the furthest thing from Rick Pitino’s mind.

Yes, it could get ugly when Louisville plays basketball on foreign courts over the next few seasons, especially in Lexington. There the big question will be whether UK fans despise Pitino more than they embrace John Calipari. You have to know Kentucky fans.

Like Bobby Knight, Pitino thrives on being the center of attention, preferably for winning basketball games over sex scandals. He’s back in the nation’s consciousness, collecting more ink than when he won a national championship. He’s embarrassed and humiliated, but the drama, oh the drama, and he’s playing the leading role.

Pitino wants to win a national championship at Louisville. He’s getting older. Any time away is wasted, harms him with recruits, and delays what he considers inevitable.

And finally, he will never allow the likes of Karen Sypher, an alledged extortioner driven by dollar signs and apparent contempt for the male species, to get the better of him. A victory over her in the judiciary arena and her allegations in the court of public opinion are now just as important as any win on a basketball court.

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Jim Host Shows Off Louisville Basketball Arena

Cool under fire Jim Host, the man you want in your fox hole, the individual with the vision, the muscle, the finesse, the man responsible for making the new University of Louisville basketball arena possible. 

He says the arena will be the ultimate, the most comprehensive, the finest NCAA basketball facility in the nation, the state of the art, better than most NBA facilities.

The man acquired the financing on the eve of a national economic crisis, made light work of the political process (even getting the enthusiastic support of Kentucky Senate Chairman David Williams, the legislative behemoth who gained power opposing everything in sight), and continues to shepherd this incredible project through every imaginable hurdle.

In his own inimitable style, Host conveys the scope and splendor of the new facility, which will open in November 2010:

Courier-Journal Video

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Never one to shy away from elephants in the room, Jim Host told WHAS-11 that the University of Kentucky would be much better off playing its annual December games in Louisville at Freedom Hall.

Host said, “(University of Kentucky basketball) in my judgment would be far better off to play in Freedom Hall because there they won’t have any conflicts with UofL dates. The problem the University of Louisville and UofK have always had, is UofL doesn’t get their dates until the very end, having to do with the Big East Conference (scheduling).  University of Kentucky basketball is trying to schedule December dates for playing Indiana and other teams like that.  So I think what you’ll see and I don’t know this to be the case . . . I think you’ll see (Kentucky basketball) staying at Freedom Hall which would make sense to me.”

That, of course, raises the very real possibility of both programs playing other teams at different Louisville venues on the same day. That would be incredible “Game Day” programming for ESPN, broadcasting from the basketball capital of the world.

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Surprise! NCAA Knocking On Memphis Door

It happened later rather than sooner … at least for Memphis. As for that much ballyhooed honeymoon in the Bluegrass, well, a wakeup call was way overdue.

The NCAA is reportedly setting up camp in Memphis to investigate allegations charging the University of Memphis with major recruiting violations during the 2007-08 basketball season under a former coach, according to reports from the Memphis Commercial-Appeal.

The investigation focuses on an incident of “knowing fraudulence or misconduct” by a player on an SAT exam by a player.  While no names have been mentioned, the report indicates that the player competed that one season, which would appear to point to Derrick Rose, who would become the NBA’s No. 1 draft pick last June.

If proven to be true, the Tigers could be forced to forfeit their NCAA-record 38 victories and Final Four appearance.

The report does not include allegations of lack of institutional control, meaning Memphis would likely avoid serious penalties that would have an impact on the program going forward. The report includes no allegations that would have occurred during the tenure of Josh Pastner, either as an assistant or head coach.

Memphis, which received the notice of allegations Jan. 16, is scheduled to appear before the NCAA Committee on Infractions June 6.

The presence of former Memphis coach John Calipari at the hearing has been requested by the NCAA, which is also investigating reports that Memphis provided $2,260 in free travel to road games for an associate of a player. The NCAA is charging Memphis with a failure to monitor in that instance. Those names also were redacted in the report due to privacy laws.

The “associate” of a player? Probably just someone with a lot of interest in seeing Calipari succeed.

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Geoff Calkins, a Memphis columnist, points out that Calipari is one of a handful of coaches to take two different schools to the final four. In the next sentence, he says the same coach may become the only one to have both of those appearances vacated from the NCAA record books.

Calipari must be one unlucky guy, plagued by happenstance and circumstance. One has to wonder what he has done to deserve these misfortunes.

Calipari is not personally implicated in any of the allegations. Of course he’s not.

He wasn’t implicated in the UMass fiasco, either.

He just happened to be in charge when the bad stuff happened at UMass. He just happened to be in charge when the bad stuff may have happened at Memphis. The man is to NCAA investigations as Joey Dorsey was to bar fights. He’s just unlucky, darn it!

At least the NCAA requested that Calipari appear at the hearing. Wonder if he’ll be tweeting about that to the Kentucky fans?

Such an upstanding man, too. University of Kentucky fans can continue to rest easy, knowing their new coach would never be involved in wrong doing. Never.

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While writing this post, someone from Paintsville, Ky., arrived on Card Game doing a Google search for “Rick Pitino recruiting violations.” Careful what you wish for, Paintsville.

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