UK Fan Selena James Opting Out of Family Bragging Rights UK-UT Game

During her 31-year marriage Selena James  has lived in Kentucky, Texas and Tennessee. She is a lifelong Kentucky fan from Pikeville who married a lifelong Tennessee fan — Jason James — and they now reside in Tennessee.

“I have a Tennessee license plate with a UK Wildcats logo on it,” Selena said. “When I was 18, I had an offer to go to Nashville to make a demo recording, signed up for college at Lipscomb University while I was there and met my husband, who was also a student at Lipscomb.

“We both understand and appreciate that the SEC is by far the most competitive and best conference in college football!”

That means the Kentucky-Tennessee football winner gets bragging rights in the household and for the last six years the couple has attended the UK-UT football game and did intermittently for the last 20 years.

“Living in Texas with three young kids made the travel difficult during our time there. It’s almost always a LONNGGG car ride home for me, but as long as the game has been extremely competitive, and everyone has played their best, I don’t mind so much,” Selena said of the series dominated by the Vols.

However, they will not be in Knoxville Saturday night when the two teams play.

“My husband was actually the first to ask if I really wanted to go to the game this year,” she said. “There’s no fun in the rivalry if there’s not at least a little competition.”

She’s right and not only has Tennessee dominated this series but UK already has disappointing losses to South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Florida this season. My guess is that she is not the only UK fan who might have been considering going to Knoxville who will not be there, especially when you consider what a game trip costs a family of three living about three hours from Knoxville.

“We have an autistic 21-year-old son (John James) who also goes to the games with us and actually cheers for both teams,” she said. “By the time we paid for the three tickets, parking, food, gas, and hotel, someone to take care of our animals while we were away and the stop at Buc–Ee’s it would have cost us $1,200 or more.

That is the kind of sacrifices families make to attend college athletics and makes it easy to understand why opting to not go makes financial sense. I know several Kentucky fans who had planned to go to Austin to watch UK play at Texas who have also called off those trips.

She was at the 2021 Citrus Bowl where her daughters had a UK football shirt made with her father’s last name and year he was born on the back after his passing a year before.

“My husband bought us tickets to the Citrus Bowl and gave them to me that Christmas,” she said.

She was hoping for another bowl trip and special season this year but the Cats are only 3-5 going into the game at Knoxville.

“After the first game of the season, I was totally pumped. I just knew we were going to have an incredible year,” Selena said. “Unfortunately, I was completely wrong.

“I will still be watching every game on TV, wearing my UK gear, flying my UK flag, and teaching our two young grandsons how to sing the UK fight song, but my heart will still be sad for a season lost for both players and fans.”