A friend of mine asked me if I would like to be a guest blogger on his Kentucky Wildcats blog called UKFanatics. I wrote my first post for it today, so I thought I would link it here. Enjoy!

http://ukfanatic.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/football-talk-in-february-is-this-for-real/

Have you seen Fever Pitch? It was part sports movie/part chick flick (leaning more heavily on the latter) that came out in 2005 about Lindsey (Drew Barrymore) falling for Ben (Jimmy Fallon) who happens to be a teacher (trust me, no teachers are actually that cute and funny) and a Boston Red Sox fan.  I am pretty sure this was not a big box office hit, although I saw it in the theater and own the DVD.  There comes a point in the movie where Ben misses a game to be with Lindsey, and the Red Sox end up beating the Yankees, and he is uber pissed that he missed it, causing the following fight to happen:

Lindsey: Wasn't it you yourself that said just tonight..."It's only a game"?
Ben: Oh, that's great. That's great. Pile it on. Yeah. Kick me when I'm down. That's great.
Lindsey: It is just a game.
Ben: Clearly, it's not just a game! If it was, then obviously I wouldn't care about it this much. Twenty-three years. Do you still care about anything you cared about 23 years ago? How about ten? How about five? Name me a single thing that you’ve cared about for 23 years.
Lindsey: Yeah. No, um, there isn't actually anything I've wanted for 23 years...because 23 years ago, I was seven... and if I still wanted to marry Scott Baio, I would think that my life went terribly wrong.

So I said I didn't think this movie was a huge box office hit...but do you know who I bet did like this movie?  BBN.  Big Blue Nation.  Kentucky fans.  I bet Kentucky fans liked this movie.  I bet lots of Kentucky fans identified with this movie.  I'd actually be surprised if some Kentucky fans hadn't lived this out in some way, shape or form.  BBN is a Nation of Bens surrounded by Lindseys who just don't get it.

Because Kentucky Basketball is bigger than me.

It's bigger than you.

It's bigger than the actual University of Kentucky.

It's bigger than Lexington.

It's bigger than the entire Bluegrass State.

It's big enough to make people camp out for days for tickets to a PRACTICE in October. It's big enough to propel fans to drive 8 hours or 11 hours or 19 hours to make sure Kentucky has the most fans in the arena.  It's big enough to make grown men call in post-game shows and cry talking about watching the boys cut the net last night. It's big enough to make a lawyer quit his practice to start a fan site/blog that has turned into one of the biggest UK sites ever (KSR Shoutout in case you didn't catch that). 

It's big y'all.

And I love it.

Kentucky doesn't really have professional sports teams.  No NBA, no NFL, no MLB. So the Wildcats are the state's team.  I do not think that you need to have attended the University of Kentucky to root for the Wildcats, and I don't understand those people who do think that. I'm a Packers fan (unabashedly because of Randall Cobb), but I've never even stepped foot in Wisconsin.  Is that not okay?  I've always been a Cincinnati Reds fan, but I've never lived in Ohio.  Is that wrong too?  No, I don't think so.  You're fans of who you're fans of for whatever reason.  I was a UK fan long before I stepped onto campus in August 1997, but if you ask me when I became a fan, I couldn't tell you.  I don't remember my first game or my first UK shirt or any of that, because it was just a part of my life.  Now granted, when your Dad plays for UK (#32 next to Cotton Nash), then of course you don't really have a choice...


But that's what makes Kentucky fans so special.  We are all united for this team.  We love "our" Cats, because they are the Commonwealth's team.  Even Coach Cal says he wanted to win this for the players and the fans.  He gets it, and he's not a Kentucky boy.
BBN has members in all 50 states, and lots of other countries.  There are fans who have season tickets, and fans who have never seen them play.  Most fans have Kentucky roots at some point on their family tree, and I am sure some are fans just because UK is a great team.  And you know what, I'll take it.  Anyone who wants to cheer with me will not be turned away!

Now, are there some idiots that are UK fans?  Of course there are.  Along with the normal section of BBN, I was highly embarrassed by the couch burning and car flipping on campus. And, quite honestly, I was embarrassed that the local news outlets conducted the evening news shows from Louisiana, even on Sunday night when there were no games being played.  But if that's my trade off for being part of the most passionate fan base in America, I'll take it.  Because you know, there are idiots everywhere, and I am sure if you are not a UK fan, your team has idiots that follow it too.  And I am sure that if your team had beaten its biggest rival in the national semifinal game and then went on to win the national championship for the first time in over a decade, your fans might have acted a little ridiculous too.  It's like everyone is trying to pretend their fans would've just sipped tea and eaten crumpets or something.  Give me a break folks!  I am not condoning the idiotic behavior, but no one can control drunk college kids (if you were watching WKYT last night cut to live feed of campus, you saw first hand this was true!)

In October KSR founder Matt Jones wrote an article for Grantland about why UK was going to win it all this year.  One reason began with this quote: In Kentucky, we care more about basketball than you do. In fact, we care more about basketball than you probably care about anything.

As a Kentucky girl, a UK alum, and a proud member of BBN, I have to agree, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love being part of something that is bigger than me. I love going to games and making friends with the people around me. I love watching a game in a bar or restaurant in Lexington and seeing 40 or 50 people yell at the TV with me. You can call us crazy, you can call us paranoid (aside: I for one do NOT think UPS was out to get us, but hey Kansas fans, Louisville fans, let's see UPS make a commercial with a montage of Davis blocks, Jones dunks and Miller threes that kept you from advancing and see if maybe it annoys you a little bit), you can call us whatever you want.

We'll shrug it off.

We don't care.

Because when you still love something that you loved when you were five years old, nothing other people say is going to make you change your mind.

The last time Kentucky won a national championship was 1998.

Fourteen years ago, folks. That's a long time. How long? you ask (ok, maybe you didn't ask, but I'm telling you anyway). I was a freshman in college. I was a teenager. I only had six nieces and nephews, not ten. I hadn't met some of the great friends I currently have. I had my very first cell phone, which did nothing except make phone calls, and looked remarkably like I had stolen it from Zach Morris. I watched every second of that game with bated breath... It was UK's third national championship game in three years. They'd won in 96, and come so close in 97, and I was ready for another championship. Of course the Cats did not disappoint, coming back from a ten point deficit at the half to beat Utah 78-69.
Then the drought. I'm not here to "blame" anyone for that (I will adore Tubby Smith until the day I die), but it happened. No final fours. Four NCAA tourney second round losses, the hiring of Billy Clyde, a first round loss, and then the sadness of not even hearing the Wildcats called on Selection Sunday. What the hell had happened?
Then Cal happened. An Elite Eight his first year. A Final Four his second. And a Championship game his third. Even if UK doesn't win, they're getting closer.
But even non fans will tell you this team is fun to watch. And tonight will be the last time we see this team play... So I'm hoping even more anxiously than in 1998 that these boys cut the nets tonight and bring the hardware back to the bluegrass.
For Cal. For Miller. For Davis, Teague, Jones, MKG, & Lamb. For the past 14 years. For all the boys in blue who didn't, who couldn't. For all of BBN... Bring home #8 boys.

Surprising to no one who has ever met me, I am driving to Houston on Friday after work to go to the Final Four. If you are going too, let's meet up! If you can't get a hold of me, it's because I am at my boyfriend Patrick Patterson's house. If you aren't going, follow along, because Social Media is meeting the Big Dance, right here at A Little Bit of Everything. I will be posting pictures, video, and updates from the road, and I think I got an app that will let me do all of this at once, and then automatically link to Facebook and Twitter. So get ready. It's going to be an awesome ride!

Well, I did it. 48 games in 4 days.  And while I didn't literally see every second of every game, I saw at least some of every game, thanks to the fact that every game was televised, and especially because I had this really cool thing called Voice Activated March Madness on Demand (which basically meant someone demanded that Yost change the channel because the line score of another game looked better than the one we were watching!) We had Blimpie subs, cheesy goodness, pizza, and KFC, supplemented by sweets from European Delights in Brannon Crossing and Reese eggs.  There was some great basketball, lots of "What would you do now?" discussions in the closing seconds of the close games, and just general awesome times with great friends. And while I never actually thought I'd say it, I think I'm glad there is a three day break before the next games start.  I kinda need a break.  And some sleep.

Go Cats!  And Butler. And VCU. And Charles Barkley.

On this gloriously beautiful Sunday morning, I feel the strong urge to do a new happiness post, especially because the first thing I'll list that makes me happy is actually about six hours away.  I couldn't have planned this better if I tried!

Selection Sunday-No disrespect to Christmas, but really, *this* is the most wonderful time of the year.  And Selection Sunday starts it all off. I will have my blank bracket ready to go, and I will anxiously await not only where the Cats will fall, but where everyone will fall. I mean of course, I will be cheering for UK (DUH!) but this is about more than being a Kentucky fan, this is about being a basketball fan. I love seeing the "bubble teams" that make it celebrate, and I love seeing the teams that know they are in celebrate their placement. I love every moment from Selection Sunday to One Shining Moment.

Snow Days-I know after the 10 we had this year, some teachers are not with me on this one, but snow days make me very happy. Sure, we are having to go later in the summer than usual, but my thought is that in the summer, I will just go to the pool after work, and that will negate the fact that I had to work that morning, and I still got to stay in bed when it was cold and snowy! (Plus two of those days were actually birthday presents to me... I'm just sayin')

Sports-I really don't think I have to expand on this...

Sports Center-See above

Seafood-REAL Seafood. Not Red Lobster. (Although I do love that bread!) I am talking about real seafood. Fresh seafood.  Annapolis seafood.  (Or the She Crab Soup at Copper River. It's fabulous!)

S'mores-S'mores may possibly make me happier than nearly anything in the world.  If I ate s'mores tonight during Selection Sunday, I might possibly be the happiest girl in the world.

That's right... I know you all are anxiously awaiting to read the latest installment in my ABCs of Happiness post, so here goes:

Oreos: Milk's favorite cookie.  And my favorite cookie.


Orange Juice: Sometimes it just hits the spot! If you haven't tried Simply Orange, try it.  It will be the only orange juice you will ever drink again!

• You may think you have the best friends in the world, but you're wrong. I do.
  
• I love that it's just cool enough outside to elicit a breeze through my (of course) open windows, but not cold enough that the birds aren't outside chirping.
  
• This week was basically the longest week of my life
• ESPN College Game Day=Love
• Made $110 selling two textbooks on eBay the other day
  
• Pumpkin Spice creamer for my coffee makes me a happy girl
• I wish I would've gotten those Oreos at Target yesterday
  
• No tailgating again this week. Bummer.
  
• I hate Steve Spurrier
• Go Cats!
  

I know I said the email I got about being accepted to the ETS Technology Praxis panel was the best e-mail I'd ever gotten, but then this morning, this was in my Inbox:

Ok, some people have asked what I sent in to KSR, so I am posting it here. I didn't post it at first because I wasn't sure if by e-mailing it to them I had agreed to one of those "This is now property of Kentucky Sports Radio" things, but since they obviously don't appreciate me the way my friends do, here is my entry and bio. =)

I had the ball. Plenty of time left on the clock. Thought I could make the shot. But not so much... Or, in non sports lingo, I didn't make the finalist list for the Kentucky Sports Radio blogger contest.

But life goes on. At least it's summer. I can't be too bummed about something when I laid at the pool all afternoon! :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

KentuckySportsRadio.com is having a contest to find a new blogger for their site. As this is a blog I love to read as much as PJ loves to read this one, I can tell you that all of the bloggers are knowledgeable about UK Sports and also are funny. Seems like a good place for me, right? Well, we'll see. I just mailed in my blog entry and bio. Now, we wait.