I was indoctrinated in to the craziness that is Big Blue Nation as an eight year old child. My father was a UK grad who was too nervous to watch the 1978 NCAA Final so I watched it for him as he drove around our small Southern California town. Ever since then, that game has remained seared in my memory as the moment I started "bleeding blue".

I have had other sports allegiances as I grew up, but none of them has made a deep a mark as my fandom of Kentucky and Big Blue. Is "fandom" even a word? I apologize for my poor grammar but I have had SEVERAL IPAs and I am quite quite ecstatic and delirious in this post championship glow.

I have never attended a Kentucky school nor lived in the Bluegrass State but I bleed a blue just as a royal as y'all. I know the history of the program from Rupp through Hall through to Calipari. I have cried tears of sadness in '92 (%$#%&$% Laettner!) and tears of joy, WAY TO GO 2011-2012 CATS!!!!

This team is now tied as my personal favorite with the 1991-1992 Unforgettables...how I love that their jerseys were retired in the hallowed rafters of Rupp Arena.

Rejoice Big Blue Nation, rejoice! The sun will shine bright on all our Kentucky homes be they actual or symbolic.

GO CATS!!! GO BIG BLUE!!!