Coach Cal's debut.
Wes getting Calipari's autograph.
John Calipari's wife, Ellen.
Even Herky Rupp was there (that's Adolph Rupp's son just in case you weren't sure)
Props to Wes for being an "autograph requesting" fan
Okay, so I don't know what happened. 6 years ago, I could have cared less about following Kentucky basketball. I've played my share of sports, but I've always been bored by the onscreen hysteria that comes with college basketball, or any sport for that matter. Enter Wes, my husband. He has been a UK fan since before he could walk. I've seen the pictures of him as a baby, dolled up in Kentucky blue. Incredibly cute. Now let me stress, my husband is not a fanatic. I think there is a fine line between fan and fanatic. A fanatic is one of those UK followers that can't even function in social society when a game is on. A fanatic is one of those UK followers that thinks life is over, and the Kentucky program is forever tainted, if there is more than one loss in a season. A fanatic is one of those UK followers who boos the players when they are not winning a game (I witnessed this first hand at my first UK game at Rupp this year where they unfortunately lost). I find it kind of disgraceful, and entirely over obsessive.
Now a fan....A fan is the kind of Kentucky follower that loves the team through and through, high or low, win or lose. A fan's spirit may be dampened by a series of losses, but their love and optimism for the program never go away. Even as the season started to wane this year, and eventually ended in an NIT loss, Wes and myself still had high hopes for this great team. That is a fan. Every program goes through seasons of change and rebuilding, and that was where we were at. I was saddened by the firing of Gillispie, even though I don't know all the ins and outs of the reason for his exit from Kentucky. I'm sure he will do great things as he moves on from Kentucky, and I wish him the best.
Of course, I am not going to lie. As news broke of Calipari possibly being our next coach, I became engrossed in the online and television hysteria. Yesterday, I probably checked the headlines online every 5 minutes, just dying to know if John Calipari would be our next coach.
It's true, once they said it was official that Coach Cal was to be our new head coach, myself, Wes, along with the rest of Kentucky all breathed a sigh of relief. It was so evident, if you listened close enough, you could probably hear that sigh rustle the blades of bluegrass across the city of Lexington and beyond.
Today we both took the day off. I got up to watch the press conference, and then got an inclination to head over to the Joe Craft Center where John Calipari was speaking. We got up and raced over. We hung out with the local media, and a small group of fans, just hoping to catch a glimpse of the new coach who is hoped to bring Kentucky back to its glory days.
Well, we waited, and we all got our wish. We got some shots, and just had fun getting caught up in the excitement. We were fans, probably delving into a little bit of fanaticism for a moment or two, but it was well worth it. Somewhere in the last 6 years, I went from knowing nothing about Kentucky basketball, to get engrossed in the madness that is Kentucky basketball.
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