Big Blue Nations News and Views

by:Will Lentz01/17/10

college-basketball-fan

The story of the weekend was the basketball program organizing the donation of $1,000,000 to the relief efforts in Haiti. Folks, not enough can be said about this feat.  To organize what Coach Calipari was able to organize, from the telethon to the package deals being auctioned on eBay, is truly remarkable.  But the Big Blue Nations response was even more so.  As we were taping the podcast, and the dollars were rolling in, we admitted we were impressed when we heard $60,000.  We thought it would be awesome if we made it to $100,000.  Coach Cal mentioned during the interview that it could be close to $700,000.  The fact that UK Basketball was able to raise one million dollars in such a short time, on such short notice, in these economic times, is truly remarkable. As a member of the BBN, it is truly a day to be proud of.  And of course, if you want to donate now, here is the link again.

As for other news from the weekend…

(1) Aside from fund raising, the basketball program also manages to Keep. On. Winning.  This weekend marked the eighteenth straight for the boys in blue, and left Calipari is still unblemished during his tenure at college basketball’s best job.  While the performance left something (better defense and more points) to be desired, young teams will tend to have games like this.  The ability to take this kind of game and come out with a win – on the road no less – is what makes this team a special one.

(2) Here in Lexington, our women are pretty good at things too.  UK Hoops trounced Alabama by 25 points Sunday to move to 14-3 on the season.  While most of the attention is deservedly on the men’s team, UK Hoops is quietly putting together one of their best seasons to date.  At least I think so.  Either way, if you ever wanted to get behind the women’s team, now would be the time to do it.

(3) Speaking of women (and the men that catch them,) the UK Cheerleading team won it’s 18th National Championship this year.  I’ll be the first to admit, I probably couldn’t tell the difference between the best cheerleading team in the nation and the worst, but I do know that 18 National Championships is a lot.  Shoot, the Boston Celtics only have 17 National Titles.  That’s right folks, the UK Cheerleading team is better than the Boston Celtics. With apologies to Rondo.  Now if only one of them would return my facebook messages…

(4) Finally, possibly the best KSR Podcast that will ever happen, happened today.  If you haven’t listened to it yet, you must.  From Coach Cal, Richie Farmer, and Joe B Hall, to Governor Beshear, Tom Leach, and Dave Baker, this podcast has pretty much every guest you could ever want.  There is a lot of discussion about the situation in Haiti, and if you’re young like me, Coach Cals words have to resonate with you.  But even with the seriousness of the day, stellar performances from Joe B Hall, Dave Baker, Drew and Turkey Hunter make this a podcast not to miss. Check it out below.

[podcast]/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/haiti-telethon-show.mp3[/podcast]

Oh and finally, how about a grainy video of Joe B Hall Doing the John Wall Dance:

Discuss This Article

Comments have moved.

Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.

KSBoard

2024-03-27