While our new Governor was merrily whacking away at his predecessor’s Executive Orders a few days ago, he should have paused to issue one of his own. Never again should the commonwealth’s most sacred days, Christmas and the UK-U of L basketball game, be held on consecutive days.
Since I’m reasonably sure – but not certain in these contentious times — that there would be bipartisan support for leaving Christmas on Dec. 25, that means the basketball game must be moved. In order to protect Christmas, in fact, I think the Executive Order should mandate at least seven days between the two hallowed events.
Sadly, it’s too late for this year. I shudder to think of how many family Christmas gatherings will be unnecessarily filled with tension, debate, and downright, old-fashioned hatred. In some households, Santa Claus may even be jeered for wearing red.
Outsiders believe we have an unhealthy obsession with basketball in our state, but that’s not quite right. We are consumed, all right, but it’s more with the Red and the Blue than with the sport itself. Listen to any sports radio talk show in Louisville or Lexington. Read the sports page of The Courier-Journal, which now gives major national sporting events less attention than the slightest little scrap of news from UK or U of L.
Fairly or not, I have been given much credit – or blame – for using my bully pulpit at the C-J in the late 1970s and early ‘80s to push for this rivalry. I do not shrink from what I wrote in those times. To the contrary, the rivalry has turned out to be everything I knew it would be – at least from the standpoint of the coaches and players.
They prepare hard, play hard and coach hard. They know this game is different and special, no matter what they might say publicly to the contrary. And yet the rivalry has never meant as much to the participants – most of whom are from out of state — as it does to their fan bases.
The difference in UK-U of L and any other rivalry, including Duke-North Carolina, is that so many cultural and socio-economic issues come into play. A profile of the two fan bases would look radically different. Most rural Kentuckians support the Big Blue. Most African-American Kentuckians support the Cards. Each carries its own prejudices, some of them hateful, about the other side.
The advent of social media has sent the nasty part of the rivalry over the moon. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the others provide forums where haters can spread their venom – anonymously, of course. So over the last 15 years or so, civility has virtually disappeared while nastiness has risen to new heights. Just like the political world, in other words.
I didn’t anticipate social media back in the days when I was lobbying for the series. Oh, sure, I got hate mail, ugly phone messages, and boos when I appeared in Rupp Arena. But that was nothing compared to stuff I see and hear today on the talk shows and the social-media forums. Given anonymity, the cowards get brave and proudly spread their ugliness without fear of retribution or accountability.
I just hope the national media doesn’t get hold of any stories about the extremists. Thanks to Kim Davis – who, by the way, I’m assuming is a UK fan – the nation has had enough laughs at our expense in 2015. So let’s hope that no family gathering degenerates into a fistfight – or worse. I’m assuming a lot of Kentuckians will be getting guns from Santa, and that’s a pretty scary thought.
As for the game itself, both sides will go into it with more than the usual amount of fear and loathing. Given the way UK played in its loss to Ohio State, Wildcat fans are worried sick over the possibility of the ultimate indignity – a U of L victory in Rupp Arena. On the other side, the Cards’ hopes for an upset are tempered by concerns that their splendid record is deceiving because it has been forged against mediocre competition.
I don’t buy the idea that UK coach John Calipari has come to “own” U of L coach Rick Pitino. Yes, Calipari has dominated his rival in recent years, but that’s due to the fact that he has recruited better players. Nobody in college basketball history can match Calipari’s recruiting at UK. And, yes, I understand that recruiting is a big part of coaching.
But so is game management, and if the game is tied going into the last five minutes, the time when coaches can win or lose a game with their decisions, the momentum will shift to Pitino, at least in my opinion. He is at his best in the last five minutes, and Calipari isn’t. Simple as that.
The Cards will live or die mainly on the play of their two fifth-year senior transfers, Damion Lee and Trey Lewis. Conventional wisdom has it that their experience will provide a steadying influence in the maelstrom of Rupp Arena. But it must be noted that they transferred from Drexel and Cleveland State, where big games and big crowds are defined differently than they are at UK and U of L.
If U of L thinks it’s going to see the same UK team that lost to UCLA and Ohio State, it’s making a big mistake. Calipari will have his team ready and the Rupp Arena crowd simply will not let them lose. So I’m picking the Cats, 77-72, and I wouldn’t be surprised if 6-11 Skal Labissiere is the player of the game.
One reason that highly touted freshman has been disappointing so far is that he’s been playing the wrong position. He is not bulky enough or tough enough to play the low post at this early point in his career. But he should be able to be extremely effective playing the high post. From there he can use his sure hands to feed the low post. He can free up to shoot his deadly 12-foot jumper. And he can use his quickness to wheel around slower foes and take it to the hoop for a dunk or dish-off.
All I know for sure is that we can never again have the UK-U of L game the day after Christmas. It creates too much stress and emotional overload. If it takes an Executive Order from our new Governor, so be it. After all, it’s part of his job to protect whatever is left of mental health of the commonwealth.
Billy Reed is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame and the Transylvania University Hall of Fame. He has been named Kentucky Sports Writer of the Year eight times and has won the Eclipse Award twice. Reed has written about a multitude of sports events for over four decades, but he is perhaps one of media’s most knowledgeable writers on the Kentucky Derby.