MY history

with UK, UofL.

So many stories. Dad grew up listening to UK games on the radio in the 40's. Cats won five titles in that decade. I grew up right along with him watching UK games. Then something happened. Joe B Hall would get every recruit you ever imagine and couldn't ever do anything with it. 1 title in his tenure? For UK? Please. Dad used to say Bobby Knight could win a national title with Joe B Hall's bench and I do believe he was right lol. I started watching U of L more. Liked the style a lot better, full court press running up and down the court, high flyers, guards posting up down low and such, this is early eighties before a shot clock. I'm like "Well this beats that old thick ankle pass the ball 45 times before you shot it crap." Told dad I was done with UK. He was sad, but he understood where I was coming from. To this day I will still pull for UK if they are not playing U of L. I don't understand the hardcore on both sides that aren't willing to do that. People that don't live here don't understand the animosity that exist out in the state for the actual city of Louisville and how a lot of urban dwellers see the rest of the state as a bunch of hicks. Then there are the obvious racial overtones that exist as well, rural vs. urban. on and on and on...I lived in Indy for a while before moving back to Louisville in 79. The 79-80 U of L team was a preseason favorite to win it all that year. They were affectionately know as "The Doctors of Dunk". I kid you not they had black Dr scrubs for uniforms and they all had their names embroidered on them in red. Darryl Griffiths said "Dr. Dunkenstein." LOL. I do believe he was the first player to do a 360 dunk in a collegiate game after they made that play legal. Oh that 79 team? They won the title in Indy, where we had just moved from. The team they beat in the finals? UCLA, coached by Larry Brown. Darrell Griffiths Alma Mater? Same as my dads lol, Male High School. When I was a senior at Eastern High School a guy name Herbert Crook was a sophomore. he led the 7th region in scoring all four years he played. I kid you not, I became a male cheerleader just so I could go to all the games and get in for free to watch him play. He went on to play for U of L and started on their 86 national Title team. When Herbert was a sophomore another local phenom, from of all places, Male High School was a senior. His name? Winston Bennett, he went on to play at UK which was a big deal because he was the first blue chip African American recruit from Louisville to go play for UK. Anyway, I had the pleasure of seeing these two battle it out twice, once at their place, once at ours, both of them averaging 30+ points a game. Games drew 3500-4000 people, fire marshal turned people away due to overcrowding. Everybody knew they were seeing something special. Then travesty struck UK, low point of the program. Pitino gets hired I'm like "Well good, I always liked him at Providence and such". He says in his initial press conference "We are going to win and we are going to win immediately." Everybody was like "Is he nuts?" There was literally nothing left of the program at that point. I remember Richie Farmer, a guard for UK saying after one of Pitino's practices, "I feel like I ran to Louisville and back", I about fell out. That team went 13-13. They didn't have a loosing record. Most masterful coaching job I have ever seen in any sport ever. The kids that stuck it out thorough all four years and didn't transfer were labeled "The unforgettables." Three of them were KY natives, the other was from Indiana. Think they didn't know what the program meant to people? On senior night all four of them had their jerseys retired. I lived in Lexington then, nobody, nobody knew it was going to happen, not the players, not Pitino, nobody. Three people in the athletic department, that was it, they all stayed tight liped, unreal. These were the seniors when Jamal Mashburn was a sophomore and that team lost in the NCAA Regional Finals to Christian Laettner's Duke team. That, is my long ass saga about these two programs, the state and the city, hope you enjoyed. Go Cards. Peace.