PART I:
Let the Healing Waters Flow: Throwing a little whiskey on the Fire.
“Obsess Much!” This Jim Carrey quote epitomizes the life of the Kentucky Wildcat Fan. They appear to be sober individuals who are safely on the wagon of normal life. They have steady jobs, families, homes, other interests besides basketball…but in a moment of weakness they can be insatiable and out of control.
There are simple phrases or words that can send these Wildcat Fans in to a drunken frenzy, such as: Pitino’s Bombinos, The Untouchables, The Unforgettables…or Rupp, full-court press, three-pointer, SEC and NCAA. These loaded words trigger an almost involuntary array of symptoms: instant swelling of the chest, a sheen or glistening on the face, dilated pupils, slight dizziness, tingling of the hands, and in the more severe cases there have been documented incidents of suffers performing shooting or dribbling motions. All of this is followed by a verbal word vomit of facts, figures, names, dates, scores, and stories. This bizarre behavior usually leaves the listener (or designated driver) exhausted and uncomfortable, while leaving the Wildcat Fan a bit hung over. It is like watching a frat boy turn a fifth of whiskey and chug it…a bit disturbing but equaling intriquing.
Scientifically it is been diagnosed as The Wildcat Gene, passed from one generation to the next. To my knowledge there is no known cure. This condition is also contagious; it can also be contract by close proximity with those who are affected. It has been known to infect entire families by repeated contact with a known gene carrier. I was born with this Wildcat Gene. I have numerous baby pictures with my Wildcat t-shirts or blankets. The Gene just lay latent in my blood for eleven years before emerging but medically speaking I never really stood a chance.
My entire family is obsessed with the Wildcats. Unfortunately they have Advanced Deteriorating Wildcat Gene Disorder. It is very sad to watch, it is turrets for Basketball. It is brought on by years of disappointments and let downs, but also living in nostalgia. Every Christmas, for as long as I can remember, we watch whatever game is on in the first or second week of December. I have never heard anything but blistering comments about Pitino, Tubby, Billy G., Meeks, or whoever is not performing. It is just the basic negative Gene manifestation that demands perfection but never expects. For example, in the Miami game this year, most of the family that watched the game declared that there was no way the Wildcats could even come back after such a horrid and abysmal first half. My wife Nina (whom recently contracted the Wildcat Gene) and I disagreed and said we still believed that they could bring it back. And even when the Wildcats brought it back and nearly pulled off the upset, all my family could talk about was how selfish Meeks is and how UNC is inching closer to over taking us as the most winning college basketball program. Here’s a quote from Chadwick Alexander Stephens III that sums it up, “Obsessive goals un-reached lead to embittered words unleashed.” Ouch. But how very true.
The Gene was passed from my Dad. It did not make an appearance until I entered middle school. That is when he tumbled off the wagon; he hit the bottom hard. Blame it on the Gene. He began to fill my mind with the classics like Harden, Robey, Phillips, Lee, and Givens; his stories captivated me. Hours on end we would talk Wildcat basketball. We’d listen to the games as Cawood called every play. But the real credit of aggravating the Gene goes to two brothers actually, Richard and Ricky Blevins, my middle school classmates (and they say that education is gone to pot). That sixth grade year they began to teach me the finer things on the subjects of Mashburn, Pelphrey, Feldhaus, Farmer, Woods, and the three point shot. The lovely name “Pitino” just dripped from their mouths like well aged Bourbon. My young eyes were opened to a world that was full of magic and wonder, the world of Fanaticism. I start living eating, sleeping, breathing Kentucky Basketball. And that meant living vicariously through the wins and loses of the season; the highs and lows that every true fan goes through. Interesting fact, that the term FAN is a short for FANATIC. I had become an addict, the dreaded, drunken obsessed FAN.
It was at this time that the stories of old began to pour from my uncle Earl as well. I was becoming a lush. I was building a repertoire of Wildcat Knowledge: Former Players Names, Highlight scores and Games, National Titles, SEC Championships, Coaches (their strengths and weakness), and you get the point. I desired to become the most knowledgeable Fan around. I was very much becoming drunk on the hard liquor of success that Coach Pitino was serving out; I laid face up under the keg, chugging down all that I could stomach.
My mind drifted in school, daydreaming and drawing pictures of Riddick, Mashburn, and Ford. I fell asleep at night with visions of three-pointers, national titles and such things percolating in my head. And if I was quite enough I could here the unmistakable sound of sneakers on the hardwood and the rhythm of that wonderful bouncing ball. This was a great time in my life as I got to experience the purity of the college game without all the nausea and headaches from the Sutton Era. Which was a topic that we rarely talked about, it was merely contextual and for conversational use only, to secure that one had an entire working knowledge of all things Kentucky. My education and appetite was fast and as fierce as Pitino’s proverbial full court press.
I could talk a length on the Defensive and Offense philosophies of Pitino. The complexities and the superiority of the full court, man-to-man pressure that creates turnovers, and how they are converted into points by taking simple, easy shots: a.k.a dunks, lay-ups and (uncontested) three pointers. I loved to discourse on the theory of “The Run”: ‘a seeming Blitzkrieg defensive attack of full court man-to-man and trapping pressure that produces a astronomical amount turnovers, allowing optimum opportunity for maximum amounts of points in a minimal amount of time.’ The anticipation of ‘The Run’ was incredible. Everyone, meaning the fans (on both sides), the other team, and the announcers were all waiting for it. It was the moment in the game where there would be a maelstrom of points and turnovers; 29-0, 30-0, 15-0 (then another 15-0), etc…a steal and lay up, a turnover at half court passed ahead to Ford or Mashburn for a quick three ball, then another steal, and another three…it was absolutely euphoric. The opposing coach leaping around and screaming for a time out and slamming his hands together; disoriented in utter disbelief than in a minute or two his team that was tied with the Wildcats, is now down twenty points. It was feeding time and the tenacious, hungry sharks had caught a scent of blood. The other team would limp around numb for the rest of the game, realizing that they were not even in the same league as the Wildcats.
Pitino’s numbers/odds based philosophy mixed with a conditioning program created a basketball a monster that showed no mercy. Remember, “Fatigue is your friend.” The players needed to be conditioned so that toward the end of the game they never let up, just kept pushing harder and faster. This unrelenting style was my drink of choice, a smooth, rich bourbon snifter of success. And with two national title games sloshing around in my gluttonous stomach, during Pitino’s tenure, I could easily have belching the Wildcat fight song and the national anthem.
But where was the beginning of this success? And how was this recipe perfected? We can all remember the Kansas blowout, 150-95 and Pitino refusing to stop playing that ridiculous pressure defense and shooting three pointers.
“At the press conference announcing his hiring as UK coach, Rick Pitino said he would not sacrifice style in deference to weaknesses. Never mind the short-handed roster and lack of size, he said, “we'll run and press and shoot three-pointers. We're not going after close games," Pitino said on June 1. "I want to either win or lose by a great margin."” (Herald Leader Dec. 10 1989, Jerry Tipton)What I am not sure that most Fans know is that that game is the cornerstone for the ’96 bludgeoning of LSU. Where the Wildcats scored 87 points in the first half (129-97 was the final, just for posterities sake)…by full court man-to-man pressure defense and shooting a barrage of three pointers. Funny how that no one was upset by the exact same philosophy used eight years later. We would not have had that celebration or the national title with out going through Kansas first. Pitino cultivated the rye and ground up the corn, then applied the passionate fire of, “this is how we are going to play basketball here at Kentucky: run, press, and shoot threes”. All that was left was a perfectly blended sour mash. I can’t count the times that he pulled Farmer, Ford, and Padgett aside and told them to the effect, “We recruited you to shot, if you don’t want to shot you can sit on the bench and I put someone in who will shot the ball!” The process and hard work is easily forgotten is the jubilation of success, but you really appreciate them when you can sit back and reflect. This brings up an inevitable conversation, recruiting.
I hope you enjoyed this segment...I can guarantee that the recruiting will spark so fire...tomorrow PART II.
Good night and good luck.
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