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Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: Fandom is a Family Affair

By Shelby Caudill

Mar 13, 2016; Nashville, TN, USA; Kentucky Wildcats fans after the second half of the championship game of the SEC tournament against Texas A&M Aggies at Bridgestone Arena. Kentucky Wildcats won 82-77. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 13, 2016; Nashville, TN, USA; Kentucky Wildcats fans after the second half of the championship game of the SEC tournament against Texas A&M Aggies at Bridgestone Arena. Kentucky Wildcats won 82-77. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports /
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Most families in Kentucky can bond about one thing, their fandom of basketball.

Whether it’s Louisville Basketball or Kentucky Basketball, one thing about the families is the state of Kentucky is there is usually a bond of fandom towards one of the programs.

Growing up in Louisville, many of my friends are Louisville fans. I however, am not. I have been a fan of the Kentucky Wildcats since I took my first breath, as is true for many Kentucky fans across the world.

I’ve seen my fair share of Louisville fan families, and they too have a unique bond. There isn’t another state that embraces two strong programs like Kentucky. Sure, North Carolina has Duke and North Carolina. Sure, Michigan has Michigan and Michigan State. Those are two other states that can claim family bonding over their sport.

But let’s think about it, do those really compared to the Louisville and Kentucky fans? In the state of Kentucky, you, or someone you know, is apart of a family that lives and breathes basketball.

Alright, I’m going to hop off the Louisville fandom wagon now. I’m not a fan, but I respect their fans for always being supportive, even when it’s undeserving.  I had no intentions of even speaking about the Cardinals, so here’s what I was really getting at…

Kentucky fans camp out for days for tickets to watch the Kentucky Wildcats in their first practice of the season.

Kentucky fans travel and they travel well.

Kentucky fans are the worst and the best all in one. I know if I was a fan of an opposing school, I would hate the Big Blue Nation.

But I love it.

My fandom came as a small girl. My grandpa, uncles and daddy were and are all big Kentucky fans. We’d watch games and so forth, but I didn’t realize until going to games with my great uncle just how important basketball is to the state of Kentucky. The history of the program, he knows it all. He may be 80, but I doubt there is much he doesn’t know about the program. It’s delightful to see just how important the game of basketball is to him, and in most families, there are people like that. I’ve created an extremely strong bond with him over Kentucky basketball that I doubt I’d find anywhere else. And I love it. I lost my grandpa when I was younger and have recently felt like I’ve filled the void a bit. And I’m hopeful I’ve done the same for him.

Kentucky basketball has created a bond within me personally and is the subject of so many childhood memories for myself. I just know there are more stories like this across the state.

There is nowhere else that has fans and has the capability to create bonds like programs in the state of Kentucky.

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