I feel the pain of U of L fans

You know, if U of L fans weren’t band wagon jumpers, I’d truly feel bad for them. U of L had three good years of football. They 9-3, 10-2 and 12-1, winning the BCS Orange Bowl. The last two seasons have seen them go 6-6 and 5-7. And they don’t play in a power conference such as the SEC or Big 12; meaning their record looks even worst on paper.

As a Kentucky Wildcat fan, I feel their pain. UK is the best basketball program in history with the best tradition. The last three years UK has been average at best. We have let teams like Florida and Tennessee (traditional football programs) dominate us in SEC basketball. This for UK fans is never acceptable. Sure you lose a game to them every now and then but not have losing streaks against these football schools.

I am 26 and have been a life long UK fan. My dad is 75 and has been the same. These last 3 or 4 years have been the worst era of UK basketball either one of us can recall. I was 8 watching UK being put on probation. Sutton’s last year UK went 13-19, their first losing season in 75 years or so. They then went 15-15, 23-7 and 27-7, losing to Duke by a last second shot. The very next year UK made the Final Four. Not only that, they stayed a top ten program for years to come.

Look at North Carolina, Duke and Kansas. Those power houses have remained top 5, top 10 and top 15 teams as we speak. Even U of L has rebuilt from the mess that Crum left, becoming a good to great team the past 5 years, making one Final Four and just missing another.

People say UK fans are to tough. How so? We’ve been tough since the 1920’s. And what were the results? It was a program with the most wins, 7 National Titles, 1 NIT (when it was a real tourney), and SEC titles that are almost countless. I don’t think the fans are to blame. Sure, we may be strict and hard, but we’re also the most loyal. Studies show that per 100 household, UK fans ranked number 1 in watching games. And by the way, who packs that 24,000 seat arena weekly? So I don’t want to hear that we “ask too much”. All we want is a program worth watching.

I made myself a promise. If UK misses or loses in the first round of the tourney this year I will boycott all their games the following season. No, I won’t jump on another team’s band wagon. I just refuse to watch a boring product play. If I wanna watch a team lose in basketball, I’ll become an IU fan (sorry, had to through that one in).

So U of L fans, don’t feel bad about your football team. How do you think us lifelong UK fans feel about our beloved basketball team? I can’t speak for them all, but I get sick in the stomach. I am embarrassed to watch. To be honest, they totally suck. If we can put up with two worthless seasons of our coach, so can you.