Wildcat Blue Nation
Fansided

Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: Enjoying the Ride, No Matter What

By Brian Smith

facebooktwitterreddit

More from March Madness

In about 49 hours, the Kentucky Wildcats will tip-off against the Wisconsin Badgers in the second semifinal on the 2015 men’s NCAA Division I basketball championship. It will be the thirty-ninth time the ‘Cats have taken the floor this season. It could be, if you listen to many in the media, the last time they will take the floor. Last Saturday, this was almost true.

All season long I promised to do two things: 1) To stay positive before, during, and after games; and 2) To stay off Social Media during games. The culmination of two seasons of Kentucky basketball had ruined some friendships, strained others, and, I was afraid,  made me look like someone I didn’t want to be. For 36 games I managed to keep my promise, with one minor exception: back in February, I did tweet during a game but I wasn’t tweeting about the game. Rather, I was tweeting about some guy in a Dayton-area Rooster’s calling me a “Bandwagon Fan” because I had the audacity to tell him I wasn’t sure if Kentucky was going to go 40-0. And, by staying positive and staying off social media, I avoided being dragged into any silly arguments when the ‘Cats struggled. I was able to escape the pessimism I, and others, easily fall into when things look bleak.

Until last Saturday.

Usually, during Kentucky games, I put my phone and laptop in another room to avoid the temptation to even just look at Twitter or Facebook. “I’ll just take a peek. I won’t say anything.” Those are famous last words. Like an alcoholic telling himself he’ll just sit down at the bar and look at the liquor bottles on the shelf. And so, last Saturday, for whatever reason, I fell off the wagon. And I fell off hard. By the time Notre Dame had a 6-point lead with 9 minutes left in the game, I was throwing in the towel, convinced the Wildcats were losing. They were done, and with it, not just dreams of a perfect season but of a national championship. And, in the process, would become the laughingstock of college basketball. Non-UK fans (and so many in the media) were finally going to get their wish: to see UK lose, and in the NCAA Tournament no less.

Of course, we all know what happened. The ‘Cats didn’t lose and I, along with every other doubter, looked like the fools we are.

I tell this story not just to offer up a mea culpa but to bring up something I wrote about a few months ago—if Kentucky doesn’t win the Tournament, how should fans react? How should fans ultimately view this season? Certainly, with sadness. And maybe disappointment, too.

But I think that ultimately, fans ought to not look at this season as a failure if Kentucky isn’t cutting down the nets next Monday night. Already, this team has accomplished something no other college basketball team has ever accomplished. And they have done it while wearing a target on their back since last April. They have done it with class and humility. They have represented themselves, their families, and us—the fans—with dignity. And we have been a witness to all of it, from basketball games in August in the Bahamas to Big Blue Madness in October to an absolute beatdown of UCLA in December to a perfect regular season finish in March to three wonderful weeks in the NCAA Tournament. It may be forever, if ever, before we see a team like this again. It’s been an incredible journey.

But yeah, we’re winning this whole thing and going 40-0.

More from Wildcat Blue Nation

Home/March Madness