#TheBeef on the John Calipari/Rick Pitino fiasco

Well hello there. What brings you today? Ok, cool…cold shoulders are welcomed too but do you mind me asking why? Because you’re disappointed. Completely understandable. I mean if I strolled into my normal Friday night establishment expecting to find that typical homely bar fly who was willing to provide loads of entertainment for nothing more than the super sized value menu at McDonald’s and all I saw was me… we’ll I’d sigh in disappointment too.

Never fear though ladies and gentlemen… I’ll put out, a good article of course, like the rest of your regulars. You can call me names in the comments, you can call me the name of the last blogger you read’s name, but just don’t call me in the morning – cause I’ll be sleeping.

Now that we’ve knocked out the obligatory introductions and I promised you I’ve been tested (have you seen the application for this site!), let me tell you a little about myself before you just jump into bed with my articles.

Full Disclosure: While a Wildcat since the age of 6, I have roots in the dreaded Evil Cardinal Empire. Before age 6, I was a Denny Crum and Co fan. At 6, the only reason I could stay up past 9pm was to catch the end of a basketball game. Since my mom was a die hard, only cusses when announcers and refs are against her Cats, didn’t stand for UofL in her house unless it was UofL vs UK, let me get away with saying “sh!t” once because I said it about Dick Vitale, kind of fan … and Kentucky was on probation, meaning 11PM games were norm – in order to appease my appetite for late nights, I had to watch the Big Blue.

3 years later, I was an official full blown fan when I fell in love with the unforgettables and fell in hate with Christian Lattener. I jumped up and down during “the step”, jumped higher when Mashburn fouled out, and collapsed when “the shot” was seen.

I graduated from UofL. Yes, there is a comments section you can leave your hatred. However, they’re at the bottom, so read then judge. School was paid for, housing was free, and well, I could easily get away with wearing my UK shirts regularly to class – which I did. Outside of a degree, my time at Louisville taught me acceptance. I don’t “hate” Louisville, I tolerate them. I’m biased obviously, and still cheer for the opposing team when in private, but can and have attended Louisville games and can keep a neutral public persona.

Let me tell you though, if you wake a sleeping grizzly, it will attack. I am a hairy dude and under the polos and Banana Republic button ups is that grizzly. The neutrality is easily dismissed when prodded too much by Louisville fans… aka Cal bashing, athlete comments, and ignorant incorrect statements. As you can guess, I do get into my fair share of squabbles.

Who I am: I’m a single guy devoted to his career first and personal life second. I currently work 50-60 hours a week and  because I work hard, I play harder. I haven’t missed an entire UK basketball game since 2009 but there are definitely a few that I wish I wouldn’t have seen at all.

What I write about: Look, I’m a nerdy computer/numbers guy. When you couple that with sports, it means you get statistics. I will extrapolate, interpolate, and procrastinate better than anyone (i.e. Friday night articles). When you’re not getting my series of insane numbers, you’ll get me in words.
2 syllable words: selfish, single, happy.
3 syllable: awesomeness, informal, diligent
4 syllable: unorganized, informational
5 syllable: self-depreciate
6 syllable: I don’t know any… yet alone that describe me.

If you’re going to read a UK article that’s going to fluff up the Cats and beat down the Cards… you’re reading the wrong guy. I’m going to give you my facts.  I’m going to tell you though, facts are like languages, open to interpretation. If I think UK has a horrible match up against the Gamecocks this weekend and we should be a -28 dog, I will write it but it’s not a gut feeling, there are facts to back that interpretation up (I am actually thinking we cover the -21 spread but lose 28-10… offense much anyone?).

I don’t Facebook – but I do #tweet. Stalk me if you dare… you’ll find me under the handle “SportsThat”. You’ll see me use hashtags (#), you’ll see me focus most of my stories on the news I get from following those in the media and close to UK sports. Suck it up old people, you’ll be OK… it isn’t that scary. I mean really, what’s the worst that can happen in 160 characters or less?

#TheBeef
Time for my actual information. I saw Twitter was doing a “promoted” trend. Basically, someone is paying for a slogan to be featured. They paid for the slogan #WherestheBeef… I’m assuming an old Arby’s slogan, since I didn’t actually click on it.

Well the next day, the beef occurred. Rick Pitino vs John Calipari. On the KSTV clip that has now reached SportsCenter levels of fame (a personal goal), Cal and Pitino have started sparring over the in-state rivalry. Fine – fine – fine. They’re rivals, it was expected and versions, while lesser, have happened in the past. This time though, the media has spun this story into something it isn’t… a story.

Grandma found her beef though… Deadspin.com, The Courier Journal, now ESPN all have jumped the wagon to take the quote from Cal, then the subsequent Pitino quote and blew them into Neil Armstrong proportions (that’s “astronomical” for you kids that haven’t had US history yet). Seriously, this happens. It should. And it is MOST LIKELY on purpose.

Calipari is a marketing genius. He SELLS things for the Kentucky athletic program. I’m talking basketball, football, softball, volleyball… etc, etc. I mean come on, when he’s asked to do some last minute pandering of UK vs UofL tickets that are running $75… WORST INVESTMENT EVER… the athletic department knows they have a CAL-valry and are willing to use it.

Do you put it past Mitch and co. to have Cal slight the Cards a bit to focus the fanbase a little further away from football and a little closer to basketball? If Pitino was as smart as some UofL fans hope he is, it wouldn’t be a bad strategy for the Cards to jump on it either. I mean, their football program is falling apart, there is turmoil involving the coaching staff and the team is losing at a quicker pace than a supermodel on meth.

If you partner in @RickBozich needing clicks on his blog – since he is a primary Louisville basketball guy, you get the perfect storm. Marketing for your December 31st basketball game – football what football?

This is not beef. This is media hype and media needing news on a slow news day. I mean, we can’t expect sports writers to write about Steve Jobs all week can we?

Well gang… it’s been real. I’ll have more for you later as I’m on again at your 10PM slot so be sure to come on back. To paraphrase an ex, you’ve read my article so to keep the number of authors and sites you read low, we’ll just keep reading although I don’t love you.

Comment away – I’ll love you anyways.

Keep following www.http://wildcatbluenation.com for the best in Kentucky basketball and football news, rumors, and opinions. By Kentucky fans for Kentucky fans