University of Kentucky Fan Family Ties

A true University of Kentucky fan is usually opinionated, passionate, loyal to a fault, and informed among other adjectives. They are also part of the Kentucky Fan Family or “La Familia”.

When you put two Kentucky fans in a room, blog, message board, twitter conversation or Facebook wall posting together, an instant bond is formed just like putting two family members that were separated long ago.  The pair may be from completely different backgrounds. One blue collar, one white. One is “rough around the edges”, one a bit more polished, but no matter what, they bond. The two talk about recent wins and losses, look at the past and future teams, discuss their favorite players and could likely go for hours.

Eventually though, like any family, discussions find the two on different sides. They disagree.  

The topics that usually spur those conversations could be anything from recruiting strategy of a head coach, the substitution patterns, bench players playing time, someone’s draft stock and his choice to go/not go to the NBA, scholarship offers – to the color and style of this years jerseys. 

There is a “hear me out”, “my point is”, “I’m just sayin” followed by the next thing the person wants to say and one more point they want to make.

Often times, these discussions emulate July weather in Kentucky. Blood boils like the pool water in your back yard. Faces turn shades of red that resemble the over exposed white leg to sun. Each one grills the other like a hot dog over propane on statistics, facts, knowledge.  

Both sides non-verbally agree when entering this situation that neither is going to win. It is a known destination. The Anti-Bermuda Triangle of topics. It isn’t the destination that matters but the ride getting there.  

Two lion cubs will bite each other when young. It is practice for the real thing. It hurts, you learn what defense and offense work and what doesn’t. This inter-Kentucky disagreement is practice for the real event. Your bad form, weak argument, wrong statistic get played out.

 You hear the other side and when needed, you will jump ship faster than a Italian cruise liner captain to take Kentucky’s side versus an opposing fan. Just like after bad mouthing that mom/dad/brother/sister/aunt/uncle/cousin/etc. It’s all good when you do it, but someone else… not so much.

Case in point: “Kentucky is a non-traditional program”, “Joker Phillips is doing a ____ job at Kentucky” or some other hot topic . Honestly, each Kentucky fan has their own opinion. Some choose to share it, some choose to internalize. Yet it doesn’t matter how strongly you feel, when a Louisville fan wants to throw his/her flat bill hat into the topic, you’ve got the experience to go toe to toe with that pachyderm and bring them down. Besides, you know the whole big blue pack is going to be behind you if needed, the benefit of the Kentucky Fan Family and the ties to it.