April 16, 2014
People who aren't from Kentucky and haven't been there only know of a few things Kentucky: Churchill Downs, KFC, The Louisville Slugger Museum, Muhammad Ali, and college basketball are the only things mentioned. Seeing as how the only thing on there I really care about is college basketball, I'm going to share what it was like being a UK fan on the west coast.
I brought 7 Kentucky shirts with me when I moved out here. Needless to say they are the shirts I wear the most. People have asked me if UK is Kansas. Outside of Kentucky, you must call the University of Kentucky, Kentucky. UK is easily misinterpreted as the United Kingdom or any schools that start with K. I brought the "Box Filled" shirt (which simply has the years Kentucky won basketball championships in boxes) that I got after the 2012 championship. Every single person asks what it means. Growing up I never realized how big of a deal Kentucky basketball was to the state. In case you haven't thought about it, we have no big names in any sports. Football? Cincinnati. Baseball? Cincinnati. Soccer? Europe (cause the MLS is a joke and Columbus is too far away to count). Hockey? What's that? You mean the Thoroughblades? Basketball? Kentucky. Kentucky way more than any NBA team. We bleed blue.
Things that you don't think about for those who live on the west coast as Kentucky fans: a 12pm game on a Saturday means being awake by 9am, you have to ask the sports bars to change the channel to the one with Kentucky on, not UK (see how annoyed I am by this), and you are most certainly not always surrounded by friends. Throughout the season I felt so weird. I attended a UK Alumni group a few times to watch games. This was nice, but not exactly what I expected.; old dudes and their wives who didn't know anything about Kentucky except the colors. I could read KSR and see how the city was reacting to an up & down season, but not feel it. I visited the Schrader's at USC to watch a couple of games. This is really nice. The few people who still bleed blue.
Throughout all this, I can say that Kentucky basketball kept me sane. It kept me grounded through thick and thin. From January to March, I was running on an extremely odd and exhausting schedule. Watching the basketball games gave me something to look forward to just days away (sometimes more due to the inability to watch them live). Watching the boys made me feel back at home, especially when I'm screaming at my laptop in my room. They kept me going and helped me make it through some of the hardest of times. I know that wherever I go I'll keep a special little cut on me somewhere so I can continue to bleed blue. It was a great run boys. Maybe next year?
Go Big Blue!
-John
