Hoop n' Holler: Part I

Seven years ago today the KSR crew embarked on its maiden road trip to Marshall County's Hoopfest. The events that transpired are now etched in KSR lore, though remain largely unknown among today's audience. Until now. Take the ride with the crew here in Part I and look for part II sometime tomorrow or next week or never.   It sounded good in theory: some dudes from an emerging weblog/podcast promising UK sports and recruiting news in the most ridiculous manner known to man taking their act down to Marshall County’s renowned HoopFest. It was to be a cultural and spiritual immersion in the high octane environs of prep hoops; an opportunity to establish the orange circle with headphones brand among the national elite with hard hitting reporting and unique commentary. Once there, we would abuse our media credentials, gaining access to the country’s top coaches and prospects while getting fat off comped bologna sandwiches and Check Cola. Today Marshall County, tomorrow Letterman, so the script read. But even the soundest of theories cannot account for the whim of unpredictability. The milkman, the paperboy, the evening TV.   December, 2006. Justin Timberlake was in the process of bringing sexy back, even though Oh Napier had already done so a few months earlier with the hit, "Tubby Cain't Coach." Borat was on the big screen carving permanent emotional scars on people who watched the movie with their parents over the holiday. Kentucky football was going Music City Bowling. A gallon of gas set you back a nickel. A shave and a hair cut was still two bits. The US staked its fortunes in foolproof mortgage-based securities, and a website called Kentucky Sports Radio was wrapping up its first full year in operation. The Salad Days, to be sure.   Matt Jones sat in a chair in the corner of an old warehouse turned recording studio beneath the neon glow of downtown Shelbyville. Cloaked in a West Virginia hoodie and slicker pants that neither matched nor jibed, he was exhausted. The toll of the day's podcast left him tired and he wore a look of mischief then spoke of the same when he asked the crew to join him on a roadtrip to Benton. "Boston?!" "No, Benton." "Oh." See, before the days of jetting off to the Final Four, The Masters and playing patty cake with Roger Federer, KSR had to swindle and shake its way through even the smallest of doors. But the Hoopfest really did seem like a great idea. After all, it was our best chance to watch and interview UK-commit A.J. Stewart, and well, at that point in time that was worth celebrating. Plus Derrick Rose would be there along with Oak Hill's Brandon Jennings and Nolan Smith, and who knows how many top-level D1 coaches just waiting in line to talk into the KSR microphone that was rescued from a trash can at the WLAP studios. And it was all happening right here in Kentucky! The crew assembled, westward ho. Matt Jones. Tomlin. Turkey Hunter. John Dubya. Hubby. If Gen. Patton himself had lined us up for close inspection I think he would have come away unutterably pleased. Five 20 somethings driving 3.5 hours to spend a weekend evaluating and chit-chatting high school boys. We were unstoppable.   The purpose of the trip was to find A.J. Stewart. What we found however, was a little piece of ourselves. Battles were fought, hard lessons learned: Not all high school basketball games are created equal, or even remotely entertaining. Not all bologna sandwiches, are free. And two Leeks don't always make a right.