Kentucky Wildcats Football: An Endless Summer of Trash Talk

Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

Last year, in anticipation of Louisville joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014, UofL and UK announced that their annual football game would be moved from the beginning of the college football season to the end of the season; specifically, at the request of the ACC, the game would be the last game of the regular season for both teams.

Now, one might think that Kentucky and Louisville fans, alike, would find plenty of things to talk about this summer other than a game that won’t be played for another 4 months. Kentucky is coming off its most successful National Signing Day in program history; Commonwealth Stadium is being remodeled; and excitement with the program is at an all-time high. Meanwhile, Louisville is entering a new athletic conference and the prodigal son Bobby Petrino has returned home. Surely—SURELY—fans have better things to do than spend their days trash talking the other team for a game that, again, WON’T BE PLAYED FOR ANOTHER 4 MONTHS.

Based on my Twitter and Facebook feeds, they don’t.

Now, let me be clear: the trash talking is no where near the level one would expect if the game was a month away, rather than 4 months away. But it’s there, an endless stream of back-and-forth across my timeline and feed every day. It’s been that way for a few months now, not long after the college basketball season ended.

And, much of the trash talking, it appears, is being done by just a few accounts on each side. You can probably guess which ones; it isn’t hard to figure out.

Here’s the thing: I’m all for talking trash, especially when it’s witty and well-done. On a daily basis I see witty and well-done trash talking, from fans of both schools. I applaud you, UK and UofL fans, for your excellent use of humor and intelligence in speaking smack about your rival.

But, on a daily basis I also see the usual one-liners and stale jokes. “Hey, did you know that UK hasn’t won an SEC game since 2011?” “Guess what, Bobby Petrino cheated on his wife!” “Oh man, they gave Mark Stoops a Maker’s Mark bottle?!” “That dude from Texas was kicked off the team for hitting his girlfriend. How long until Petrino calls him with a scholarship offer?”

It’s enough to make me want to give up social media, for good.

I don’t want to be one of those people but just for a moment, I’m going to be. The summer is coming to an end. Soon, the first leaves will begin to fall from their branches, there will be a slight chill in the air, and it will be dark by 7 pm. And just like that, we’ll long for longer warmer days. So here’s my advice (and I, too, ought to follow it): Turn off the computer, put down the phone, go outside, enjoy life, experience the world, and realize there will be plenty of time to talk trash. The world isn’t waiting for you to make one more joke about Bobby Petrino or UK football; iIt will be okay. I promise.