The Role of Sports in My LIfe (PT 1)

I was born into a family that did  not care about sports, either armature or professional.  I never really noticed because I had no clue there was such a thing until after we moved to West Van Lear back in 1961.  I had spent my first grade year (not kindergarten or pre-school in my day) in a one-room school while staying with my grandparents.  I spent more time staying with them than going to school.

But when we moved to West Van Lear I discovered sports.  I was not good at them and I did not understand the rules and I really was forbidden by my parents to play them.  Still, I loved them.  I tried to get involved in every way I could though that was few and far between.

I guess my first  love was baseball.  When we got a TV we only got one station and that happened to be the one that owned the New York Yankees.  They had the Yankee game on every Saturday afternoon and I grew up with such famous Yankees as Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Elston Howard, Tony Kubec, Roger Maris et al.  But, for some reason, my first love was basketball.  Maybe that is just born into anyone from Kentucky.  But I only knew it from grade school games which I was not allowed (by my parents) to participate in.  But, I'd go out and watch practice and rebound for the team (even in the rain) and when I could get chosen for a team I'd try my hardest.  Was not very good but I did give it my all.

I really did not discover "Kentucky Basketball" until a few years after we moved to West Van Lear and we moved to the big, white house.  I remember lying in bed listening to WSIP  (Paintsville Radio Station) that was carrying the UK games.  I'd lie there in the dark and listen to the pregame shows with Cawood Ledford then the game (which he called) and the post game shows before going off to sleep.  I cannot remember those exact years but they must have been from around 1963 - 1967.   I remember Cawood so well and I remember the interviews with Coach Rupp.  Coach Rupp was an acerbic type.  Nothing was ever his fault.  I remember one night when Ronnie Lyons took an ill-advised shot and UK lost and Coach Rupp said, "I told Ronnie not to take that shot but...."  Coach Rupp was fun to listen to.   There is nothing at all like Kentucky basketball for me to this day though the people I really remember are long in their graves.

Those were wonderful times.  I had a big, old, batter radio like you see on "The Waltons" that had been converted to to electricity.  It sounded wonderful turned way down low so only I could hear it.   I don't even remember talking to any of my peers about UK but I came to love them listening to all the pre-games, games and post-games on that old radio.  That love of UK basketball is something I still have and could not help trying to instill into my own children.  I think I may have succeeded there.  :-)  That and a sincere, deep-seated hatred for UNC and DUKE.  I'd cheer for Satan and a team of Demons before I'd cheer for UNC or Duke and that is no exaggeration.  I have, what I'll admit, is an unhealthy hatred for both of those teams.  My three favorite teams are UK and whoever is playing UNC and Duke.

Back then we rarely ever got to see our Cats on TV but there was always Cawood and the radio.  When I was able to start receiving the Cats Pause newspaper there were always stories of Kentuckians who had moved away driving around searching for the Cincinnati or Louisville clear channel AM station so they could listen to the Cats on the radio.  Endless stories of being parked in and empty parking lot where they could get the game and cops stopping by to see what they were doing.  I don't anyone not of UK can comprehend what it means to a Kentuckian to see/hear the Cats play.  Anytime, anywhere.  We put 24,000+ in Rupp arena for "Midnight Madness", We put over 10,000 in Louisvilles' arena this week for a shoot around.  We "take over" any city where the Cats are playing in any game.  I don't know if it is a good thing or not but UK fans are not like any other fans in the world.

I don't miss a lot of UK games any more.  I have DirecTV with the sports packages for the specific purpose of watching UK basketball.  ( I do love and watch UK football but....)  Right now it is "March Madness" and UK has not won a national title since 1998.  They have a great team and have a great chance of bringing back #8 to hang in Rupp.  If another team wins the title their fans will be happy but only a UK fan will truly understand what it means to Kentucky.

Kentucky is a poor, rural state with very little to be proud of.  But, we've always had the Cats.  Things you don't mess with (especially in Eastern Ky where I was raised) is a man's dog, a man's still or a man's UK Wildcats.