Turn The Page- 24 Hours To The 2010-2011 UK Basketball Season

As I spend the next 24 hours plus waiting with my mouth drooling in anticipation of what is coming Monday night, still in the middle of The Free Enes movement day #2337, and trying my best not to lose my mind from the last UK Football debacle Saturday night, I find myself torn between my growing loathing for what the Cats have failed to accomplish on the gridiron, and what I am hoping they accomplish on the hardwood. Saturday night left me so exasperated I felt the life leave my body on several occasions and fought back the urge to decide that all of my efforts as a fan were wasted this year. Then, my mind allowed me to remember that I was less than 72 hours from the beginning of basketball season and I felt that weight just lift from my shoulders. Basketball. The lifeblood of every boy, girl, man and woman in the commonwealth. Or at least the ones cultured enough to know what poetry in motion looks like. The ones who not only understood the purity and beauty of the Wildcat tradition, but what it felt like to hear the roar of the crowd as the team jogs out from under the bleachers and works their way into pre-game drills. Watching the first tip-off of the season, and feeling the memories come flooding back from the previous year. We have new Kittens this year, but they are some dandy ones. They have the unfortunate task of trying to follow what was the greatest show on earth for 38 games last year. They have to overcome the memories of guys like “Boogie”, “The Great Wall”, “Patrick the Magnificent”, and others and revive the hearts of the Big Blue Nation, and let the blood flow once more into places which have been shut down since April.

They are up to the task though. We have all new stars and characters. There will be storylines to follow that were different from last year. But some things never change. We still expect perfection, but will settle for nearly perfect. We want obliteration of our opponents, but will accept wins any way we can get them. We want to see the Cards, Tar Heels, Hoosiers, Vols, Gamecocks, Rebels, and all of the other opponents crushed beneath the heels of our high top basketball shoes. But there is much more to it than that, there is the sound of shoes squeaking on hardwood, the buzzer when it reaches 35 seconds, the rush to find the best radio signal as we turn the sound down from CBS and ESPN, and the radio up to hear Tom Leach and Mike Pratt call the games the same way we did when Cawood was “The Voice Of The Kentucky Wildcats”.

We miss seeing Mr. Keightley in his familiar spot on the bench, we miss seeing “The Man In The Brown Suit”. We keep the traditions alive though. Someone has to make the Y in every home game. Someone has to look through the crowd and see who we know in the lower arena. Ashley has to have her spot to cheer from. It is all part and parcel of the world of the Big Blue.

There are other schools with other traditions, but they all run a distant second to the Cats, and they know it. There are pretenders to the throne, but they all fall short in one way or the other.

Last year a group of us came up with a T-Shirt that summarizes the coaching situation at UK over the years and it goes as follows,

"Rupp created ITHall managed ITSutton violated ITPitino revived ITSmith didn’t want ITGillispie couldn’t handle ITand Coach Calipari loves ITKentucky Basketball, Where IT is."

I can honestly say that I think that all of those coaches would have to agree with those assessments of their time spent at UK. But they all really did love it. How can you NOT love UK basketball? Oh there are envious types that want what we have, sure. But how can anyone not be in awe of 4 different coaches winning National Championships here? Never been done anywhere else, never. 5 first round draft picks last year folks, 5. Never been done anywhere before. Over 2000 wins, never been done anywhere before. And there will be more firsts as well. There will be more Championships. There will be more banners. There will be new arenas, and new games that must be played over and over from the DVR’s all over the state. And there will be other players too. These new guys are not just good, they are scary good. Coach Cal says we have to “Turn The Page” on the old team and bring in the new one. Works fine for me. I will just fire up the Bob Seger and let the good times roll again. So, once again my friends, dig out the lucky T-Shirt, Cap, or whatever it is that you use to get through the season. Run that blue foam- rubber “Bad Call Brick” through the washer and get it ready. Make sure all of your subscriptions for the preseason magazines are up to date. Get the UK flag out of the closet and go hang it on the flagpole. Dig out those UK slippers from under the bed and dust them off. The wait is over, we have no more sleepless nights to endure because we didn’t get to see the Cats play. They are back, we are back, and may the Good Lord have mercy on anyone who tries to get in our way, because we are not going to. They are going to have nightmares of Terrence, Brandon, Stacey, Darius, DeAndre, Doron,Enes, Eloy, Josh, Jerrod, and John. Coaches are going to see blue and white flashes going off in their sleep. They will find themselves trying to isolate this one or that one, and it isn’t going to help. We have sharpened the claws again, we have reloaded, and we have planned and plotted all of their demises.

I even had the family’s old 1989 Chevrolet conversion van repainted this year. A nice dark blue that is going to look awesome with those royal blue and white highlights. The UK Logo tire cover, and the front UK plate, as well as the UK Vanity plate for the back. Wanted something nice and subtle for the drive up to Rupp for the games this year. Was tickled blue to see that van looking just like brand new once again. The original UK window decals are still on there from the year it was bought new. Wanted to save some more of that tradition I was talking about. It’s kinda like a wedding. You see the bride is supposed to have something old, something new, something borrowed, and it all should be blue. At least that is how we do it here in the Bluegrass. I think I already have goosebumps. I pulled my coffee mug off of the collectibles shelf so starting tomorrow morning I can have my cat-coffee. Got my Wildcat throw out of the trunk since it is going to be a little cool tomorrow night up until game time. Then it gets hot. And it stays that way until sometime in April. I have the old Elvis 33 1/3 album “Moody Blue” in the collectible blue vinyl, will need to dust that off and play it a time or two tomorrow night before game time just to set the mood. Tonight it is highlights from last season as I will view every really great shot from this time last year up until April. It is a good thing I don’t worry much about being superstitious, or allow myself to go overboard with this Basketball thing. People might not understand.

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