as with any lose and go home format (i figured one and done format might conjure up other thoughts) there is reason to be concern. one of the concerns that i stated earlier (that there might be pressure on the players to beat a die hard rival) was lessened as i realized the rivalry was between fans NOT the players. As if to drive that thought home, it appears the UK and UL players are friends in some cases. See:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/kentucky-louisville-players-rivals-court-close-friends-off-225630230.html

Hat tip: http://kybasketball.blogspot.com/

Doron Lamb went to dinner in NOLA with Russ Smith

Siva used to spend the night at TJ's house after AAU games

AD and Blackshear are "close as brothers"

To me there is only one conclusion: All the rivalry pressure is on the fans and not the players. Don't get me wrong, the players are pushing to beat their friends but I believe that is a positive motivation, not a negative one.

Kentucky is back in the Final Four! Unlike last year, this team was expected to be here by pretty much everyone before the season even began. The Final Four this year features two games that are rematches from the regular season. UK defeated UL 69-62 on December 31 and Kansas defeated Ohio St 78-67 on December 10.

Continue reading this post »

I thought about looking up every profanity-laced commentary by a Cardinals fan and sticking it right in here. I have watched the mindless ones rant and rave for days. I go to a Cardinal fansite and it makes me want to puke. Why has the English language been abandoned for this basketball game?

I know we probably go farther here than almost anywhere else to keep this blog at a PG rating, but that is one of the things that I take a lot of pride in. I can have one of my daughters go onto the site, and not worry that some moron from outer mongolia has laced an entire thread with F-this, and F-that, and having every other word be something out of the bronx based version of Daniel Webster's dictionary. In the old days, if you wanted to use language that was not considered "fit for mixed company" you simply stepped into another room, or stepped outside as it was in my Grandmother's house and said what you had to say and moved on with it. And handing down what I consider to be one of the best parts of my life to my children is one of my most important priorities. However, sending them to a site filled with the worst language ever used by any sailor worth his salt, is not my idea of responsible parenting.

Now I am not naieve enough to think that I can protect my kids from the world and all it's little quirks and oddities, and I am also not going to sit here an preach to those who have no use for it, however, common decency ought to come into play at some point. Use your education, people, assuming you have the ability to do so. Are there UK fans that can't form complete sentences without completing a diatribe from a rap video? Sure. But no one should have to look at a site and request a rating from it's author to determine if it is fit to read. Perhaps our friends over at Card Chronicle ought to think about that. Seems they have no desire to be gentile and informative without being crass and rude. Or at least their commentators don't.

So, when the curtain falls Saturday night, and the dust settles, let's see if we can continue the high standards we have set for ourselves here at ASOB, no matter the outcome. Then again, we know what that outcome is going to be.

OK Folks, we have two contributors in New Orleans, and maybe more including ASOB faithful, and since I know it is going to be hard for Glenn to keep up, here is what we are gonna do. I will put up daily open threads today,tomorrow, and Sunday for whatever topics anyone feels free to talk about. There is too much going on, and too many links out there to try and track it all, so if there is something that catches your eye, link it up. If you want to talk about a coaching move, let'er rip. If you have more to add to the Final Four discussion feel free to do so. ESPN has been showing UK interviews all day, AD has talked about his knee, and there is more than enough stuff to discuss for fun and more. I cannot start a countdown clock, so feel free to interject a timeline as you see fit as well. I don't want to usurp any authority here, so no one claim I am pulling an Alexander Haig. It is just too hard to search every article to keep up with the stuff that's being thrown in.

I'm a UK fan from Greenville, SC who will be attending the Final Four. I will have four Lower Level seats for both the Sat and Mon sessions that I need to sell. I have two tickets in Sect 104 and two tickets in 107. I can ge these tickets to anyone who is interesting starting Friday evening in New Orleans. Interested parties should contact me starting at 1:00 PM CST by texting me at 864/723-4754 (texts only please.

Happened to run across a blurb from a new SI article about Louisville and Kentucky on Facebook today about the week leading up to the Final Four, so I clicked on it. First, I noticed that it was written by "William F. Reed." I thought that was familiar. Then, I noted the references to watching games in 1955, Ali/Frazier I, and thought - wait, that's Billy Reed.

I know lots of people hate Billy Reed but I've never really understood why. Then I read this:

Calipari and UK were made for each other. Calipari freely admits that he's running an NBA prep school for one-and-done superstars. This is just fine with those in Big Blue Nation, who have long regarded academics as mostly a nuisance. Unlike any Wildcat coach since Rupp, Calipari owns the fan base, and the true believers deeply resent any insinuations about Calipari's recruiting methods or his Final Four appearances that were vacated at UMass and Memphis (Calipari himself was never charged with any wrongdoing).

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/basketball/ncaa/mens-tournament/2012/03/29/kentucky.madness/index.html#ixzz1qXdP3ClH

Now I get it. Sentence No. 2:

Calipari freely admits that he's running an NBA prep school for one-and-done superstars.

False.
Sentence No. 3:

This is just fine with those in Big Blue Nation, who have long regarded academics as mostly a nuisance.

Also false, and a direct insult to Kentucky fans and alumni. Yeah, that degree hanging on my wall? Total nuisance, dude.
Look, I embrace Calipari's approach to this basketball program and the fact that, to me at least, he's doing what's in the kids' best interest rather than his own or even that of the team. But to say, even offhandedly, that fans don't care about academics is careless, insulting, and blatantly untrue. Do we, as fans, celebrate the team's accomplishments on the floor more than their performance in class? Of course we do; find me a fanbase that DOESN'T.
Sure, it's a nitpicky criticism of an otherwise fairly decent article, but this notion that all Kentucky fans are stupid is infuriating. Kiss my ass, William F. Reed, and best of luck with that new nom de plume.

First off, hat tip to GAE for linking to Chuck Klosterman's article in Grantland. He begins his article capturing the essence of how Coach Cal puts his teams together and puts his players first then moves on to covering his perception of what a Kentucky National Championship signifies for the future of college basketball. Essentially he sets out that

It will mean that winning a title with freshmen and sophomores is not only plausible, but logical and inarguable. That realization will knock the system out of balance.

He writes that the new age of basketball is about to be unleashed (with a UK win) that, for the purists, will denigrate the game to where

There will be five schools sharing the 25 best players in the country, and all the lesser programs will kill each other for the right to lose to those five schools in the Sweet 16. It will skew the competitive balance of major conferences and split D-I basketball into two completely unequal tiers. Final Four games will look more and more like sloppy pro games, and national interest in college basketball will wane.....

Continue reading this post »

Poynter Review has an 18-month contract with ESPN to review and critique the network and its affiliates. The recent brouhaha over Bob Knight's reluctance, er, refusal to speak the word Kentucky has brought commentary from the reviewing entity and a response from The Worldwide Leader. Contributing were comments such as these:

“His failure to refer to the college basketball teams of Kentucky and Indiana by name is, quite frankly, childish and immature behavior that is reprehensible,” one reader wrote to the Poynter Review Project. Opined another: “That is pathetic, and it is just as pathetic that ESPN brass allow this farce to continue.” A third wrote that “I would like to know if ESPN still feels the positives of his employment continue to outweigh the potential damage to the college basketball arm of the ESPN brand.”

With all the hype around the UK-UL game, I have to admit to being concerned that the rivalry nature of the game puts more pressure on the players. However, I am quickly realizing that the rivalry is for the fans not the players.

Over on KSR, they reposted an interview at last year's MCD AA game with a couple of kids going to UL and our incoming freshmen (Kyle and MKG join toward the end). Although they talk "smack" with each other, it is clear, off the court, they are friends. To me, that will result in "good" pressure (wanting to have bragging rights with a friend) rather than "bad" pressure (fear of losing to a "hated" rival).

Enjoy (hat tip KSR) :
http://kentuckysportsradio.com/?p=109242#comment-1628829

Teaser: Teague makes an interesting prediction on this season...Anthony Davis shows he knows the recent history of UL in the NCAA tournament....

Now, onto finding other reasons to worry.....

My father, UK alumni and fan, passed away March 29th, 2008, two days before Bill Keightley

It seems appropriate that March 31st would provide UK fans with the first Final Four meeting between our Wildcats and our in-state rival, the Louisville Cardinals. Somewhere on an ethereal plane I can envision my father settling down in his leather recliner (off limits for anyone but him in our household...ala Archie Bunker) and requiring complete silence during the game. My father had been alive for every Kentucky championship run and never wavered in his allegiance, from the time he was 5 years old until his death. He would tell me of listening to the games on the radio; Cawood Ledford and Adolph Rupp had become legends in our household. Although my father and our family had moved to Oregon in 1969, he brought his love of UK basketball with him and one of my first memories was watching a game on my fathers knee...Dan Issel became my first UK "hero".

In the years that followed, as I grew older and more rebellious, I actually rooted for UCLA in the 1975 final...and was sent to my room, laughing as the game came to a close (a fact I would later regret). That quick turn didn't last long, as I became a solid UK fan during the 1978 title run...and as my relationship with my father became strained, it was our collective love of UK basketball that would always bring us back together. As I grew into and out of high school and college, UK had been passed nationally by Louisville, a fact that didn't bother my father as much as it had bothered me. He always reminded me that Louisville was still a part of Kentucky and was far too easy to root for them than UCLA or Carolina; except when playing Kentucky of course.

Continue reading this post »