Kentucky Wildcat Basketball: Pat Forde Is A Bigot
By Paul Jordan
Good Morning Big Blue Nation, and let me congratulate all of you rednecks out there in Monkey’s Eyebrow. You have finally made it to the big time. You got a mention on ESPN from Pat Forde. Redneck???? Did I just call all of you rednecks?? Well, no. And please make sure you read all of this before you start screaming, because you are really going to find this one funny. Or offensive, like I did. First, I have to confess something to the entire Big Blue Nation. I am NOT from Kentucky by birth. I was born and raised in and around the Dayton, Ohio area, by parents who were from Kentucky, and moved back here when they retired about 17 years ago. I helped them move their belongings to the Wayne County area, and I never went back. And I have never looked back either. I love my adopted home. We do things our own way, at our own pace, and I like it that way. My pride in Kentucky is boundless, and not just because I have been a UK fan since birth. And after 17 years of being here, I am really getting tired of one thing more than any other. And that is someone insinuating that because I am in Kentucky, I am some lower form of life than if I was from anywhere else.
Now the following statement, while being more than a bit inflammatory, is completely and 100% factually accurate. Pat Forde is a bigot. How do I know this? Because I looked it up.
"big·ot·ry [big-uh-tree]: –noun, plural -ries.1. stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one’s own. (from reference.com dictionary)"
See anything familiar in that definition? Pat Forde, in his latest concoction of Forde Minutes, his column on ESPN.com, which I REFUSE TO LINK, had this to say about the wonderful people of Monkey’s Eyebrow:
"No. 3: Most call-in shows are frankly excruciating.Not all of them can be like the Tom Izzo Radio Show (7) before Christmas. This is Izzo at his cornball Upper Peninsula best, breaking out the accordion and playingChristmas carols while his players sing along with the audience at the hostrestaurant. The rest of them are painful. If you ask The Minutes, this iswhere many coaches truly earn their big salaries. It’s a surprise therearen’t more injuries during these shows from coaches beating their headsagainst the table.Not surprisingly, given the over-the-top ardor of its fans, Kentucky has ahistory of sanity-challenging call-in shows. Tubby Smith (8) probably deservessome kind of humanitarian award for 10 years of enduring them. Tubby isn’t agifted orator — he starts and stops and hems and haws and will employ theconfusing thematic jump-switch in mid-sentence — but he was a true diplomatduring his days in the Bluegrass.A lot of the calls to Tubby went like this:“Coach Smith? This is Orville from Monkey’s Eyebrow (9)*. I just want to know what it’s going to take for us to play more up-tempo, like we used to, and when you’re going to put Josh Carrier in the starting lineup. He’s a Kentucky boy and I think hedeserves a shot.”Translation: When are you going to resign?Tubby’s response: “Well, Orville, you certainly bring up some good points. We’ll have to take a look at that.”Translation: You have absolutely no clue. Fifty-five minutes until we’re off the air.*Monkey’s Eyebrow is a real town in Kentucky."
Now, up until Forde wrote this piece of illiterate and uneducated drivel, I knew we had a Monkey’s Eyebrow in Kentucky, and I knew it was a small little unincorporated area in the West, but I knew nothing else about it. I don’t know if there is an Orville living in Monkey’s Eyebrow or not, but if there is, could he please give me a shout, because I would like to know the rest of the conversation he had with Coach Smith on this particular call-in show. Based upon what Forde wrote (if it is indeed an actual conversation), Orville seems like a polite guy, who asked a reasonable question about a kid who was Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball in 2001, honorable mention All-American, and a pretty good shooter. Sound’s to me like Orville knew exactly what he was asking.
Now if you believe Forde’s rhetoric about most UK fans, he has a tendency to well, for lack of a better term, throw us under the bus, every chance he gets. Which is pretty brave for a guy who owes most of his livelihood to working in this state and writing about it’s collegiate sports programs. Even if he did just about derail his own career through stupidity(I’ll let him tell you about that one). He has made his “bones” on the backs of the UK faithful, along with the UL fans as well. Speaking of the UL fans, be prepared, because the first chance Forde gets, you will be his next target Du ‘jour. Just as soon as Rick Pitino, Forde’s latest gravy train, has left the building, you will become like so much chattel, left lying on the ground in Forde’s wake.
What has Kentucky done to Pat Forde to constantly be the butt of his jokes, the corn stalks left standing in the field after harvest, the last dregs from the barrel. He never misses an opportunity to try to make himself superior to the members of the Big Blue Nation. Back when John Calipari was hired, Forde wasted no time in making his point to the world about Kentucky’s hiring him by mocking Mitch Barnhart to no end.
In 1997, when Pat Forde was still enamored with the BBN, he co-authored a book called A Legacy Of Champions: The Story Of The Men Who Built Kentucky Basketball. In those days he didn’t think so little of us. In fact he helped add to the legacy with that work. Back in 2001 he started pushing buttons, and it has not stopped since.
Someone once said that the best way to make bigotry disappear is to bring it out into the light for all to see. So here it is Pat Forde, I am calling you out for the bigot that you are. The truth about you is now out for all to see, and standing clear in the light of day. Care to refute it? See the definition above. And start remembering where you came from, and the people who got you where you are. You want to make fun of someone, you can start by using yourself as subject material. There is something we can all laugh at..
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