UK fans should react to John Calipari based on what they want to do and not what someone else says they should do. (Vicky Graff Photo)
There is more coming to Rupp Arena on Saturday than the annual RV-Boat Show. It will be the much-anticipated return of John Calipari to Rupp. As the younger crowd would say, “this has me all up in my feels.”
I have not once felt a tinge of sadness for Calipari since his departure. He made the choice to meet in that hotel room with the chicken people almost immediately after having a kumbaya moment with Mitch Barnhart to soothe the anxiety of the BBN.
Whether it was a bargaining tool or not, no one will ever know. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. Calipari is the coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks (1-6 in the SEC) and moved Calipari University to Fayetteville.
It can never be questioned the good deeds Calipari did not only for the University of Kentucky but for the entire state of Kentucky. The memories of a National Championship and Final Fours will forever be etched in the minds of the BBN.
Being called Basketball Bennies, looking forward to being with your dogs (after a loss), not showing up at press conferences and seemingly never seeing your injured players will also be etched in the minds of BBN forever.
My advice is to take a nap early Saturday and get to Rupp early. Those ice cream lines will be long, and the traffic will be heavy. If you partake in adult beverages, an extra one might help calm the nerves. If not, a cup of coffee might help rejuvenate you for the late night ahead.
Life is short. None of us knows what tomorrow brings. Don’t be a follower of polls or the talking heads of the media when deciding how to react to Calipari’s appearance.
Just do you
28 Responses
Great post Vicky.
OR shall I say Larry V
Or Tina Cox
The Used Car Salesman can “ Kiss a Muddy Hogs Ass “ Go Cats!!
Now we know how you really feel Rick
Hopefully the UK fans will show “class” & react with applause, negativity only makes UK fans look small & bitter!
EVeryone just has to do what they think is best Sue but I doubt Cal will get booed any more than Bruce Pearl will
I’m glad he’s gone. Always an excuse.
it sure got to be that way. I like no excuse Pope
Agree with Rick Cal a used car salesman and yes he can kiss a muddy hogs ass! Why would anyone ask us to not Boo him this in not a celebration for Cal this is a competition!!
❤️💙🏀💙 GO BIG BLUE 💙🏀💙❤️
Best attitude to have Stefan
Pope is a good coach and I’m glad he’s here. He’s had great wins and lousy losses like every Ky coach. Just like Tubby, I don’t mind Calipari leaving. I wouldn’t listen to a bunch of crybaby narcissists everyday either. Hurley is going through the same deal at UCONN now. The internet has given whiners a platform like never before.
Social media does change things a lot Jimmy
Let’s welcome Coach Cal to Rupp on Sat. With grace & show Ky. class
I think many will, many will not Sue
I hope Trent Noah has a good game.
King CALcified didn’t want him.
He wanted BOOGIE
I wanted to run Cal out of town as much as anyone, but I do think the BBN needs to show some class and take the high road. He was a great recruiter, ambassador, and successful coach for a number of years, and we should acknowledge that with more applause than boos.
Get real everybody. Nobody misses The FRAUD as a coach. He held our program as a hostage with his lifetime contract and his blatant admission that he didn’t care about winning titles as long as his "kids" got in the NBA. He left our program in a lurch and in the gutter, but I am glad he left. Pope came in at the 11th hour and not only put together a quality staff, but also recruited a team that nobody gave much of a chance to be relevant. Pope’s team has won games they should have lost and lost games they should have won, but despite 3 major injuries, he still has his team in the thick of things. With that being said, we are in fight where every game counts from here on. Calipari shouldn’t get any more love than any other opposing coach coming into Rupp. Go out and beat these slop eaters by 30 points and that will say enough about what’s his name.
👏👍
I would suggest no boos and no clapping – just complete silence. No one could criticize the BBN and would send a message.
That’s what I’m doing.
That’s an excellent idea! A few days ago that was my thought about how best to shake him without booing. As an added touch, maybe turn your back on him – in silence – maybe??
As an added touch, give the good former UK players a big round of applause and for Wagner just a mild clapping in contrast to the others.
Barry, as usual, u hit everything right on the money! I continue to be amazed with how still enamored so much of KY’s fan base is with this guy. I mean the 5-year slide that he took this program on is bad enough, but then more than that, the non-basketball things he pulled: the talking down to, disrespecting, and demeaning of our fans, the dissing of all of UK’s sports media, skipping out on pregame and postgame press obligations, saying publicly that the SEC tournament doesn’t matter and that he could do without it, and that the NBA draft is more important than winning a championship. And then let’s not forget the kneeling. Too many people have forgotten that. I haven’t, nor will I, ever. And then UK fans were censored from certain platforms when they wanted to speak out about it. That was when he made it clear publicly that it was politics over basketball at UK. I mean, I got the message loud and clear. But I think too many people have forgotten. And he did that at such a politically-amped-up time in our history too–its like Jesus H, what were u thinking, CAL? Like, remember who u are, where u are! He is THE ONLY PERSON who could have gotten away with that here!! Go figure!!! CAL can get away with murder, and he always has–and its because everybody ALLOWS HIM TO. Nobody ever stands up to him, or tells him no–and im realizing now how much of it was fear. He’s one of those if u turn on him, boy u are gonna have hell to pay!!! This game against ARK is going to be an absolute war. Unfortunately, they provide a very tough matchup for our team, on paper, ESPECIALLY if Butler doesn’t play! This is one game where not having Butler is really going to hurt us, especially defensively. Butler is the only guy we had who could match up well with Wagner. DJ could give our guard play fits on the defensive end. Robinson is going to have to play the game of his year. I just hope he is able to run the team and the offense the same way he did at TN and against Gonzaga. Our offense changed dramatically when Robinson played the point–everything just opened up for our guys in a way that it hasn’t with Butler. It’s easy to say that I would take my chances with that scenario again against ARK, but we need and miss Butler’s veteran leadership. In a game like this, we need our ENTIRE ROSTER AVAILABLE–otherwise u just can’t feel completely confident. ARK has much more athleticism than us, and also has some speed and quickness that most of our guys probably don’t have. Thiero and Davis will provide tough matchups, as will Adoo, the transfer from TN. I have said all year that guard play in this one was going to go a long way in determining the outcome. With Butler, I felt that matchup between him and Wagner was about even. Now, with Butler out, I give the advantage to Wagner. We are going to have to have big games out of Robinson and Oweh, and at least one of, if not both, Amari and Ansley. And then anything that anybody else can give us, be it Garrison or Noah, whoever, doesn’t matter, but we gotta have everybody for this one. I want this one so bad I can taste it. Im sorry, this just ABSOLUTELY CANNOT BE A LOSS!!! Barry, as u always say, if the guys will play Pope ball rather than "auditioning for the NBA" ball, then they stand an excellent chance of winning. I would love to see them have one of those games where they shoot really well, and make a run at 100 pts, and just run CAL outta the bldg, but that’s probably too good to true! As I said, I believe this game will be a total war, for several reasons, one being that CAL and the ex-CATS have more experience playing in our building than our own guys or coach do, so that gives them a huge psychological advantage, I think. And all the pressure to win this game will be on us–ARK stands nothing to lose, they will be playing free, loose, and with house money. This is THE MUST-WIN of all must-wins for KY. It’s important on a very large scale historically. We may face CAL again in future matchups, but the first game is always the most important and most significant. Its the one that people always remember–just like the first game back for Rick Pitino as coach of LOU. He went on to stay there for 15 years himself, and we faced off with him many times. But aside from the NCAA Tournament games, which game against Pitino gets remembered the most? GAME 1 in DEC 2001……..guys, let’s make FEB 1st, 2025 another date in KY history that will never be forgotten–lets add yet another memorable chapter to KY lore by giving CAL the beatdown of a lifetime, and reminding him that KING begins with a K, not a C!!!!!!!!!!
Lot of good stuff!! Wish you could tell us how you really feel. It is ok to take a breath every now and then. Keep up the good work!
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How about a little tune printed out for all the fans to sing –
🎶 Thanks for leaving
Thanks for leaving