Kentucky is known for many things: Bourbon, Bluegrass, and extremely intense (i.e. hardcore [i.e. slightly frightening]) basketball fans.
And we’re not kidding when we say Kentuckians are intense about their basketball.
Consider, for example, “Chester.” Chester is so upset by the fact that his Kentucky Wildcats didn’t make it into this year’s NCAA tournament, that he believes creeping socialism may have had something to do with it.
“I think it’s a disgrace and a joke that the NCAA didn’t put us in the tournament,” he told Kentucky Sports Radio’s Matt Jones. “If you ask me, it’s a bunch of liberal socialism that’s made its way into sports.”
“Laugh all you want,” he adds. “But it’s the truth. That mindset is creeping its way into everything.”
“It ain’t nobody’s fault, I’m not mad at you,” he told the host. “That’s just the reality. Maybe you oughta’ think about what your party is doing to this country.”
–
Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter
(H/T: SB Nation). Featured image screen grabs.
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Mr_Meaner
Mar. 21, 2013 at 7:54pmOh, come on..
Face it, Kentucky sucked this year.
The one-and-done strategy doesn’t work if you happen to land a class of duds.
They lost to Robert Morris in the NIT, for godssake.
Not the college…just one guy named Robert Morris.
I heard he’s related to Leon Sandcastle
;)
Report this comment
ManSquito
Mar. 21, 2013 at 4:59pmJust to make sure everyone is aware of how serious we are about basketball here in KY let me give you an example. Last year something amazing happened. Louisville and Kentucky both made the Final Four. This never happens. The rivalry is unlike anything you have ever experienced. UNC and DUKE have nothing on us. There was a story on local news ( http://youtu.be/3t0fQXSH14I ) about a couple of elderly gentlemen in their 70′s that were at the doctor receiving Dialysis when a heated argument broke out and they starting throwing punches at each other. We sure do love our basketball and we could care less how crazy you think we are. Even though we had one of the most disappointing seasons I can remember I will still end this with GO BIG BLUE!!!
Report this comment
kev-rob
Mar. 21, 2013 at 4:21pmY’know, the whole “university owned by the state govt.” thing IS socialism.
I root for private schools. Mine, Marquette, is 7-7 all-time against U of Jelly.
.
Report this comment
vaman
Mar. 21, 2013 at 10:44amHe didn’t give any specific examples, just the normal ultra right wacko generalized comment about liberals.
Report this comment
Silvertruth
Mar. 21, 2013 at 10:55amAgree with the first statement. Your hypocrisy shows with the second statement as you just did what you accuse the gentleman of with the first statement. That is a fact, not opinion, and the proof is there for everyone to see for themselves.
Attack and slander aren’t the best forms of making a case. You should’ve just left it at the first statement, it would’ve kept your credibility, now, you are at the same level as that guy.
Report this comment
dwsmokin
Mar. 21, 2013 at 10:58amSorry, but I’m conservative, registered Republican-and from Kentucky. This team didn’t deserve a bid-period. So an “ultra right wing” whacko basketball fan is indicative of all of us? Kentucky stunk this year-doesn’t really matter which party you’re in. Bad team-it happens. The NIT proved that. Lighten up.
Report this comment
turkey13
Mar. 21, 2013 at 11:16am“The main vice of capitalism is the uneven distribution of prosperity. The main vice of socialism is the even distribution of misery.” – Winston Churchill
Report this comment
Tigress1
Mar. 21, 2013 at 10:11amDid the Tigers win? Cool. Oh well, if it makes anyone else feel better, the Tigers football s*cks. Basketball is the game in Memphis. Be happy for them. It’s all they can do. (I know, I’m from Memphis.) :)
Report this comment
rdk
Mar. 21, 2013 at 10:10amKentucky better remember how to play basketball. They are already knocked out of the NIT.
Report this comment
SublimeOne
Mar. 21, 2013 at 9:55amMe I don’t mind UK not getting in. Since I’m a KU fan!
Report this comment
jdtanker
Mar. 21, 2013 at 10:10amGo Ducks!!!!!
Report this comment
leetpriest
Mar. 21, 2013 at 9:40amI am a Kentucky Basketball fan and here is my honest take on it:
Prior to the SEC tournament, this team should have received a bid to the tournament based upon RPI, SOS, and win/loss (Look at other 12/13 seeds, they have similar or worse records).
However, the loss to Vandy in the SEC tourney was the nail in the coffin. A loss to RMU in the first round NIT is unacceptable.
As a fan, I pay good money for tickets. I travel when I can and support the team. I expect these athletes to perform to their level EVERY game. When they do not, I blame them. I don’t get on their twitter and post nasty messages because that’s uncouth and crass.
So it is nobody’s fault but the team’s fault they didn’t get in. As a result, Goodwin, Poythress, and Harrow all need to have their scholarships pulled, and need to go find somewhere else to play. Playing Basketball for the University of Kentucky is a privilege and an honor, it is not a right. You must earn your keep here, and if you cannot hack it, you are doing yourself, the fans, and the team a disservice.
Report this comment
Kolbie
Mar. 21, 2013 at 10:21amAll valid points. However, looking at the first round NIT losses by the SEC schools (first by UK and then Tennessee last night) coupled with only three SEC schools in the big dance… well…
Shows me how weak the SEC basketball has become. How long has it been for Ole Miss? Missouri starts like 4 “transfer students”!
The Big East has 8 out of 15 in the NCAA Tourney. The Big 12 has 5 of their 10 basketball schools in it. The Big Ten has 7 of their 12 basketball schools in it. The SEC has just 3 out of 14 schools in it.
Face it… THE SEC (as a basketball conference) sucks.
Report this comment
Kolbie
Mar. 21, 2013 at 10:42amOoops… sorry, one disagreement.
When the team plays well, the team gets the credit for the win. When a team plays poorly, the coach receives/accepts the blame. A few weeks ago (maybe months) the coach expressed that this was the most “un-coachable” team he has ever had.
Well coach John C. you recruited each and every one of them so who is to blame? I wonder what he is going to do with 10, possibly 11, of them on his roster next year.
Concept: Have a home team and an away team. That way they will get equal playing time and they wont be so tired at the end of the season.
Report this comment
hjablo
Mar. 21, 2013 at 11:51amI don’t get it, prestige up the ****, money for basketball – a ton, focus not on football, history, championships, great recruiting (in the past) and supposedly one of the best college coaches/staff. Would Rupp, ever have not made it to the dance, even as a low seed?. I am an Arizona Wildcat die-hard and watched Lute Olson, make it to the dance and advance with a fifth place Pac-10 team in 1997 – beating a favored Kentucky team for the title. The only things that I can think of are: (1) the NCAA is watching the Kentucky program, so traditional, illegal recruiting practices had to be put on hold for this year and/or, (2) problems with the coach and/or his staff, which includes personality issues in the recruiting/on-court area. I don’t follow Kentucky basketball that close, since I live in Pac-12 land, so if someone could enlighten me, it would be greatly appreciated. Like I said earlier, for me a long time college basketball fan, this doesn’t compute.
Report this comment
leetpriest
Mar. 21, 2013 at 2:40pm“traditional illegal recruiting practice”
What?
Do you have any proof for this accusation, or are you regurgitating the typical Pete Thamel/Thayer Evans/Pat Forde crowd?
If you don’t have proof or evidence of illegal recruiting (which you don’t, otherwise you’d be on ESPN peddling your rumors), I suggest you go back to slobbering over your single national championship, your vacated 1999 tournament appearance, and (pathetic) 5 final four banners.
Report this comment
leetpriest
Mar. 21, 2013 at 2:42pmhaters gonna hate.
8er’s gonna 8.
Remember it, single title fan.
Report this comment
hjablo
Mar. 23, 2013 at 11:26pmHey, multiple champ, who is still playing in this year’s Big Dance?. I don’t see blue/white with a team named Kentucky on the jersey. Take it all real Wildcats (Arizona) and go Pac-12. By the way I don’t hate your club, or the SEC, I just think that Charles Barkley (Auburn man) is right. East Coast,reporting/media bias in sports.
Report this comment
YOURSENSEI
Mar. 21, 2013 at 9:23amThis is what you must know:
Lofty logic of the pckrwood on full display. It’s all Obama’s fault!
It is so.
Report this comment
Marine25
Mar. 21, 2013 at 9:02amWhat’s this guy’s screen name at the Blaze?
Report this comment
Millertime1
Mar. 21, 2013 at 8:18amWhile Socialism creep it responsible for a lot of things, it isn’t responsible for Kentucky sucking this year. Dude, they lost in the first round of the NIT, they didn’t deserve to be in the NCAA.
Report this comment
harley3
Mar. 21, 2013 at 8:34amYou are right!!! Being born and raised in Lexington KY, I am a Blue Blooded UK fan. This guy makes Kentuckians look stupid and looney. We sucked this year because some of the players would not play in the system and could not be coached. Especially Archie Goodwin. The most selfish ball hog I have ever seen. I have personally been thanked by numerous Arkansas fans that we recruited him so he could not screw up their team. That was their words and they were right!!!
Report this comment
SpankDaMonkey
Mar. 21, 2013 at 8:02am.
They just need more white boys in what’s become the racist game of basketball…..
Report this comment
Kolbie
Mar. 21, 2013 at 9:52amReally!
One of the whitest teams I have seen in a long time. #4-Hood, #5-Polson, #13-Malone, #32-Long, and #33-Wiltjer. Five out of 12 is not bad for a team that has one of the best recruiting classes year in and year out.
I saw several games this year when they had three white “student athletes” (latest PC words for players) on the court at the same time. Had to do the double check to see if Adolph Rupp was resurrected and coaching again.
Looks like the new and improved version of “One-and-Done” will become “Two-and-Through” as possibly none will go to the NBA draft this year and choose to return next year with the six incoming freshmen (possibly seven next week) recruits (all of which are listed in the top 20 of the top 100 nationwide).
Let’s just hope coach learns how to “coach a TEAM” rather than how to prepare individuals for the NBA. If that happens, then and only then, it will return to “The Big BLUE Nation.”
Report this comment
jackact
Mar. 21, 2013 at 7:57am….Now you’re cooking with peanut oil.
Exceptional thinking can curb the tide of creeping socialism.
Just as the NFL is morphing into the National Flag Football League too.
Speak up America or your traditions will get flushed down the toilet of political correctness.
Report this comment
OUTLAW_WEALTH
Mar. 21, 2013 at 8:05amIt’s called operant conditioning. Defeat the individualism of the US with the collectivism of the globalists. This conditioning must be total, it must become the environment in which we live, and beyond which we dare not imagine. That’s the point of all the political correctness, to condition us to be socialists, collectivists, and to defeat individualism. Globalists can’t stand independent minds.
Report this comment
jackact
Mar. 21, 2013 at 11:10am@OUTLAW_WEALTH,
Exactly!!!
Now you are cooking with peanut oil.
Keep spreading the word.
Until we educate low information voters we will be destined to duplicate the TOTAL failure of 106 years of murderous world socialism here in our country.
Engage.
Report this comment
soybomb315_II
Mar. 21, 2013 at 7:53amyea, college basketball does not take the best teams….They take a bunch of teams from suck conferences in order to make it more ‘fair’
Report this comment
piper60
Mar. 21, 2013 at 7:39amAs a former resident of Indiana, I am fully aware of the intensity of feelings about basketball in the midwest. I was surprised that Kentucky was in the NIT this year. I don’t think it is socialism, but I’d say Politics were definitely involved. We are living in the participation trophy era now, after all.
Report this comment
MachIV
Mar. 21, 2013 at 7:05amAs a Kentucky resident myself, I’m not surprised by this guy’s comment. I would be willing to bet this same guy who is blaming liberal socialism probably voted for Beshear for governor and maybe even Conway for Attorney General. Too many Kentuckians are politically schizophrenic. It’s as if they want both guns AND foodstamps!
Report this comment
harley3
Mar. 21, 2013 at 9:06amVery very well said!!!!!!!!!
Report this comment
media-bias-steals-elections
Mar. 21, 2013 at 6:20amYou can’t blame socialism for Vietnam, you blame Roosevelt, then Taft, then Eisenhower, and all the members of Congress that served during that time period?
I’m sorry, was this an important subject, this basketball thingy?
Report this comment
RonnieF
Mar. 21, 2013 at 7:32amAs a Kentucky fan , I can say that during college basketball season, there isn’t any other issue quite as important. It’s a very serious matter.
Report this comment
texastommy
Mar. 21, 2013 at 1:07pmI knew Taft is responsible. I just knew it!
Report this comment
BBomber66
Mar. 21, 2013 at 3:50amI’m not surprised. UK has some very vociferous fans, over the top even. I also heard they were tweeting the RMU coach with some vile, vulgar taunts before the team even deplaned. I watched the game and wondered how UK was a No 1 seed. Then I realized this group had their heads still in the clouds, believing they should win just because they walk onto the court. This attitude must be earned. One cannot win based on the attitudes and hard work of deserving former teams. UK may have the winningest program in the NCAA–I just had tro get that in, but they also have some of the worst baggager: point shaving, racism (Rupp and is runts), player payments (the reason Pitino was hired to clean up the program) and vaious NCAA sanctions. I’m a fan. I’m not fanatical.
Report this comment
Joss
Mar. 21, 2013 at 5:50amThis whole deal was a Christmas gift for me. My wife is an RMU grad. We live a few miles from the campus. My brother-in-law, whom I cannot stand, is a rabid Kentucky fan from the Kentucky hills. I can use this outcome the rest of my life to annoy. Thank you, Jesus.
Report this comment
DonaldH
Mar. 21, 2013 at 5:56amGeesh!! when was the point shaving thing, 1951? when was the “all white team” 1966? You are either a Louisville or Indiana fan OR just another black racist still crying about OLD HISTORY..
Report this comment
TRUTHandFREEDOM
Mar. 21, 2013 at 6:06amTimely statement. BAD example.
Report this comment
BBomber66
Mar. 21, 2013 at 3:43amI’m not surprised. UK fanatics are vehement, over the top even. I watched the RMU-UK game and wondered how UK was a No 1 seed. Their loss was due to their arrogant attitude, trying to live by the reputation built by hard working talented former teams. This ignominious defeat should serve as a wake up call to any team that would expect to win just by gracing the hardwood with its presence. UK may be the winningest program in the NCAA, but it also has a lot of baggage: point chaving, racism (Rupp not recruiting any black players until he was handed his head by an upstart Texas Weatern [Now UTEP] team of all black kids), player payments and various NCAA sanctions. I’m a fan, not fanatical. The Ole Miss star Henderson has it right, “It is only a game.”
Report this comment
COFemale
Mar. 21, 2013 at 12:51amI know my ex-husband is unhappy. He is a die-hard Wildcat fan. Me I’m laughing my a$$ off that KY is not in the finals. Maybe it is time to throw out my Wildcat sweatshirt.
Report this comment
hjablo
Mar. 21, 2013 at 3:08amI have a great idea, keep your Wildcat sweatshirt, dye it red for another Wildcat team, that beat Kentucky for the 1997 crown. To the best Wildcat’s – Arizona!.
Report this comment
realindependent
Mar. 21, 2013 at 3:32amdaddede de de de da de……
Report this comment
The Big Mick
Mar. 21, 2013 at 12:36amSo what does he blame for them getting thumped by Robert Morse? The Obama Entitlement Effect?
Report this comment
Triple7
Mar. 21, 2013 at 12:33amNo Chester. It would have been Bush’s fault but that well ran dry. Luckily there is a few gallons left in “it’s the sequester” reservoir. And we all know that even though Dear Leader Obama proposed then signed the sequester he had nothing to do with it for this was the doing of the GOP.
OK Neo Bolshevik trolls. I am not agreeing with Chester. He makes no case for his argument. He may just be mad he cannot wear his Wildcats jersey a few more weeks.
Report this comment
CapnCrumbles32
Mar. 21, 2013 at 2:18amHe is correct!
Report this comment
Triple7
Mar. 21, 2013 at 4:25amHe being Chester?
Report this comment