DISCLAIMER: This is long and drawn out, and in no way are we pretending that it is well written. It doesn't even deserved to be published. Well, anywhere but here. You know how we are with standards. It probably doesn't even say what we meant to say. Enjoy.
Senator Palpatine is making a decree that all Jedi must be eradicated. Well, not really, but that's what we thought of.
Thanks to Ben Jones(unfortunately not of Dukes of Hazzard fame) of the much maligned Cats Illustrated, we have become known of a little piece of legislature introduced in Kentucky's due process on Tuesday. The bill, as it is written, would require the rivalry between the Cats and #LouisvilleDoesn'tExist to continue......FOREVER....FOREVER...
Sen. Ten Shaughnessy says that the bill is not set-up to keep the game going, but to create more 'accountability' in the overseeing of our public institutions and how many students walk out those doors taking more than binge drinking and lacks in hygiene with them.
The bill reads as blah-blah, blah-blah-blah-blah, blah-blah, for the first two sections. When you look at it and give it a read, you do find that the bill does appear to have academic accountability in mind. However it's that zinger of a third section that is it's selling point, and the only reason we could have for possibly even knowing it exists.
Shaugnessy, by his own admission, has failed to get similar bills concerning the academic accountability of the state's higher-learning institutions to be altered. Matter of fact, he has done so twice within the last 3-4 years.
However, it was conversation with a colleague concerning Texas A&M's move to the SEC and dismissal of their rivalry with Texas, that made the bulb in his head go off.
So, section 3 of said bill, calls for the two schools to play each other every year in both football and basketball. It was his gimmick. He probably doesn't have strong feelings about the issue of the rivalry, or at least not strong enough to actually make it a law, but he needed something to get his bill noticed. He needed to try something different to get , what amounts to the same bill he has failed to move in the state senate twice, a notice.
He has done just that.
John Calipari has all but said one traditional game is gone. Done. No More. He drew a lot of attention when he made mention that the Louisville game was on the chopping block. It, IU and UNC are the games he was looking at to remove from the yearly schedule.
There are mixed feelings on this among the fans. Some can't imagine the season without Louisville on the slate. It's who we are. We are hatred for either blue or red. It's a color war that is ingrained into us as Kentuckians. It truly is a civil war.
However, there are those who feel the game has worn out it's significance. Playing Louisville offers and accomplishes nothing in hoops. They truly feel that Louisville is insignificant and shouldn't even be acknowledged as such to put them on the schedule. Coach Cal has said numerous times that this game is blown out of proportion with our fan base. It means nothing to the coaches nor the players. The fans are the only ones who care about it. The game is just not that important in the grand scheme of things.
Cal, could just be posturing and taking ultimate jabs at Rick Pitino in publicly having this stance. You know, that he must love the opportunity to dominate Pitino on a yearly basis. However, he would relish it no matter where Pitino was coaching. To him, Louisville truly doesn't matter.
Or maybe it does. It's interesting to note that Calipari has coached at two schools who Louisville consider it's biggest rivals on the court; UK and Memphis. Cal may just be taking the ultimate swipe at Pitino, essentially telling him he is insignificant in the state of Kentucky now, and he is no longer going to give Pitino, via Louisville, the rub by playing them.
Let us not forget though, that this involves Football too. It's easy to do.
My take? Well, I still firmly believe that the game is the best rivalry game in America when it comes down to college basketball. This year, unfortunately, the whistle-blowing fest at Rupp kept the game from having the electric atmosphere it deserved. Much is made that it is a non-conference game, and unlike other rivals, they play only once a season, and the game carries no importance to either squad. The kids on the teams don't look at it as more than just another game, an argument that I don't believe to be true. At least not every season.
But even still, I think that game, has to stay. The fact that it is only played once a year is what makes it so special. It's one day, circled on the calendar, that you build yourself up to a frenzy for, You let all that hate fester and then you let it all out around New Year's Eve.
A lot of people are going to think it's absurd to think this is America's best rivalry on the court. I do, though. And, while it may be true that the game means more to the fans than the programs they root for, isn't that what it's all about?
However, don't expect anything to happen with this bill, or at least this section of it. Ultimately, Calipari will have the say so on who stays on the schedule and who goes. After all, we did hire him to be the most important man in the state. He's our coach.
Keep in mind, though, that our participation in the Champions Classic takes care of playing UNC and Duke every 3 years on an alternating set-up. The drawback to this, is they are never going to be a home and home situation and always going to be at alternate sites. And let's not forget this: The Indiana game will only be safe if the games go back to being alternated between alternate sites like it used to be. This could also be the only way to save Kentucky games at Freedom Hall.
Senator Palpatine is making a decree that all Jedi must be eradicated. Well, not really, but that's what we thought of.Thanks to Ben Jones(unfortunately not of Dukes of Hazzard fame) of the much maligned Cats Illustrated, we have become known of a little piece of legislature introduced in Kentucky's due process on Tuesday. The bill, as it is written, would require the rivalry between the Cats and #LouisvilleDoesn'tExist to continue......FOREVER....FOREVER...
Sen. Ten Shaughnessy says that the bill is not set-up to keep the game going, but to create more 'accountability' in the overseeing of our public institutions and how many students walk out those doors taking more than binge drinking and lacks in hygiene with them.
The bill reads as blah-blah, blah-blah-blah-blah, blah-blah, for the first two sections. When you look at it and give it a read, you do find that the bill does appear to have academic accountability in mind. However it's that zinger of a third section that is it's selling point, and the only reason we could have for possibly even knowing it exists.
Shaugnessy, by his own admission, has failed to get similar bills concerning the academic accountability of the state's higher-learning institutions to be altered. Matter of fact, he has done so twice within the last 3-4 years.
However, it was conversation with a colleague concerning Texas A&M's move to the SEC and dismissal of their rivalry with Texas, that made the bulb in his head go off.
So, section 3 of said bill, calls for the two schools to play each other every year in both football and basketball. It was his gimmick. He probably doesn't have strong feelings about the issue of the rivalry, or at least not strong enough to actually make it a law, but he needed something to get his bill noticed. He needed to try something different to get , what amounts to the same bill he has failed to move in the state senate twice, a notice.
He has done just that.
John Calipari has all but said one traditional game is gone. Done. No More. He drew a lot of attention when he made mention that the Louisville game was on the chopping block. It, IU and UNC are the games he was looking at to remove from the yearly schedule.
There are mixed feelings on this among the fans. Some can't imagine the season without Louisville on the slate. It's who we are. We are hatred for either blue or red. It's a color war that is ingrained into us as Kentuckians. It truly is a civil war.
However, there are those who feel the game has worn out it's significance. Playing Louisville offers and accomplishes nothing in hoops. They truly feel that Louisville is insignificant and shouldn't even be acknowledged as such to put them on the schedule. Coach Cal has said numerous times that this game is blown out of proportion with our fan base. It means nothing to the coaches nor the players. The fans are the only ones who care about it. The game is just not that important in the grand scheme of things.
Cal, could just be posturing and taking ultimate jabs at Rick Pitino in publicly having this stance. You know, that he must love the opportunity to dominate Pitino on a yearly basis. However, he would relish it no matter where Pitino was coaching. To him, Louisville truly doesn't matter.
Or maybe it does. It's interesting to note that Calipari has coached at two schools who Louisville consider it's biggest rivals on the court; UK and Memphis. Cal may just be taking the ultimate swipe at Pitino, essentially telling him he is insignificant in the state of Kentucky now, and he is no longer going to give Pitino, via Louisville, the rub by playing them.
Let us not forget though, that this involves Football too. It's easy to do.
My take? Well, I still firmly believe that the game is the best rivalry game in America when it comes down to college basketball. This year, unfortunately, the whistle-blowing fest at Rupp kept the game from having the electric atmosphere it deserved. Much is made that it is a non-conference game, and unlike other rivals, they play only once a season, and the game carries no importance to either squad. The kids on the teams don't look at it as more than just another game, an argument that I don't believe to be true. At least not every season.
But even still, I think that game, has to stay. The fact that it is only played once a year is what makes it so special. It's one day, circled on the calendar, that you build yourself up to a frenzy for, You let all that hate fester and then you let it all out around New Year's Eve.
A lot of people are going to think it's absurd to think this is America's best rivalry on the court. I do, though. And, while it may be true that the game means more to the fans than the programs they root for, isn't that what it's all about?
However, don't expect anything to happen with this bill, or at least this section of it. Ultimately, Calipari will have the say so on who stays on the schedule and who goes. After all, we did hire him to be the most important man in the state. He's our coach.
Keep in mind, though, that our participation in the Champions Classic takes care of playing UNC and Duke every 3 years on an alternating set-up. The drawback to this, is they are never going to be a home and home situation and always going to be at alternate sites. And let's not forget this: The Indiana game will only be safe if the games go back to being alternated between alternate sites like it used to be. This could also be the only way to save Kentucky games at Freedom Hall.
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