What A Difference A Week Makes

I am a Kentucky Wildcat fan. I am not one of the fanatics who yell and scream hatred and vile when we lose a game or two. I am not one of the fanatics who will boo at the athletes or coach in public. I am not one of the fanatics who will write ridiculous letters to the editor or call in to the radio shows criticizing every decision made on and off the courts. I am, however, the true blue fan who prays before every game that the teams will play their best and that no one will get hurt. I do watch every game and support this team, no matter what. I will defend the players, the coach, the University of Kentucky. I am a true blue fan!!!

Needless to say, Friday, March 27, was not a good day for me. As a follower of the drama that surrounded the program, I had hoped that Billy Gillispie would eventually, with the help of God and the players and people around him, get his life on track and then be a spectacular coach and role model. Well, that didn't happen. The firing was hard to take. I saw a storied program headed for a terrible downward spiral. I had prayed for Lee Todd and Mitch Barnhart to have wisdom and guidance from God in making this decision. I was afraid that they had made a mistake.

Friday night, after absorbing all the negativity of a UK basketball soap opera, we settled in to watch the "other Kentucky" basketball team at the Sweet Sixteen. I wanted to root for Ricky P. and the Cardinals, but my emotions got the most of me. I began to feel overwhelmingly depressed over the fact that "our" coach was leading "that" team to a lopsided victory over Arizona and looked to be headed for a National Championship. This was more than I could take........I went to bed. I only remember feeling that bad (about basketball) a couple other times. The first was March 31, 1992 and the other was when Marquette beat a Travis Ford led team out of the NCAA tournament. I might also add that on that day, I had heard that Lewis Grizzard, my favorite writer and columnist, had died. It was a bad day for me, I went to bed.

Flash forward to a week later. Sadly......the Louisville Cardinals, with Pitino at the helm, did not make it to the Final Four, whew! And, Kentucky has a new head coach, a family man, who puts his players first and thought that this job would be his dream job. I feel much better about the decision that was made considering Billy Gillispie. Because Mitch Barnhart is a strong Christian, I feel confident that he sought God's guidance in everything he did during these past weeks. The sun is shining on the Big Blue Nation once again. Something I read in Job last week said something about accepting troubles from God as well as good things. I feel the majority of the Kentucky fanbase is willing to accept the troubles, be patient, learn and be the better for it. Envy our Past.....Fear our Future. ha

I really enjoyed the ER retrospect and final episode on Thursday, but I was reminded how the rest of the country sometimes views our state and population. Marilu Henner was playing the mother of the groom, who was in the ER with her son and new daughter in law. I was totally floored when she commented to the bride something about her in-bred Kentucky cousins. Wow, barefoot, uneducated, illiterate and in-bred hillbillies. Will Kentucky ever be able to shake such stereotypes?

I'm glad we Kentuckians have our Kentucky Wildcats to showcase our commonwealth. I am glad the month of May belongs to Kentucky with the Derby. I'm glad to read that the new editor of Southern Living Magazine is a Kentucky Wildcat fan. I believe that the month of March will again belong to Kentucky in future years.

It's going to be another beautiful day in Kentucky. I'm gonna take my dogs for a walk and hopefully greet some of my neighbors along the way. You have a great day, luv, Susan ps Spring football practice began this week, things are looking up on the football field as well, Go Big Blue!!!