Thanks But No Thanks Pat

Fair warning. I'm upset, tired, and cranky. UK needs to stop having 9 pm games when I have a 9 am class the next morning. Anyway, this article could get long. You've been warned...

Now I usually don't like killing announcers or columnist (unless its Billy Packer--I'm so glad that Wicked Witch has been melted away from the NCAA Tourney). I have guys I like to read like Bill Simmons and Matthew Berry, and guys I like to listen to, like Gus Johnson and Marv Albert. I don't really like Vitale, but he loves the Cats so I forgive him, I just might have to mute the TV a few times when he's on. Basic thing I need is don't be a curmudgeon (I'm looking at you Bobby Knight) and show some excitement on big plays (Joe Buck is the only guy that could be shot with a Taser live on camera and never raise his voice which just annoys me).

But I just read something that really incensed me. I am sitting in class livid, refusing to pay attention to anything about International Law because I'm just so angry (also I wasn't paying attention anyway because its a 9 am class and I have an outline).

Pat Forde (aka Rick Pitino's BFF) always seems like he enjoys taking veiled and sometimes un-veiled shots at UK. He wrote about the UK-Miss St. game last night in his blog, specifically how the fans cheapened the players effort.

Now I agree with this. I knew going in this would be one of our toughest games. I said at the beginning of the season I was scared of 3 games--South Carolina on the road, Tennessee on the road and at Mississippi State. They always play us well, and while they have not played up to their potential this season, on a good night they can still beat just about anybody. And last night, they nearly did.

With basically their NCAA tournament life on the line, the Bulldogs played their guts out against the #2 team in the nation and pushed them further than all but one team has been able to do. They did this without their leading scorer (suspended for the game) and best player (Varnardo fouled out, only playing 5 minutes in the 2nd half). It was a great game and excruciating to watch if you are a fan of either team. I feel like it aged me about 3 years.

But then the article came. Forde again rightly points out how hard Mississippi State worked to get there, but that they just couldn't close the door. He says the fans were really nasty and vulgar (some of the worst he had seen in 19 years of covering the SEC) but then says they had a reason to be upset and lists the "dubious" calls that went UK's way:

The no call on the John Wall goal tend--a bang bang play that was only visible on slow motion replay, the block-charge on Patterson (even though I'm pretty sure his man was moving) and the "tickle" foul on John Wall which didn't seem that ticklish.

Yet, Mr. Forde neglects to mention that Mississippi State also had tons of calls go their way, as well. Every time Miller, Liggins or Bledsoe got anywhere near a Mississippi State player going around a screen, they were whistled. Or what about the no call on what was clearly a flagrant/intentional foul (when Liggins pulled the ball back out to eat clock) that almost resulted in DeAndre Liggins having his arm ripped off.

Overall, I think it was a pretty decently officiated game, especially in a hostile environment like The Hump. (You can say its because the Cats won, and if they had lost I'd think the officials were garbage...well you can also shut up, this is my blog post after all!) But I usually don't get on officials too much. The conspiracy theories are almost always false, and the refs hardly effect the game as much as we like to think. It really comes down to the players and coaches winning or losing. Missississippi State left Patterson wide open for the tying basket, lost the ball in traffic late, and couldn't hit some of the open 3's that UK was giving them at the end of the game. The Bulldogs just didn't execute enough down the stretch to win and that's why they lost; not because of the refs.

But Forde makes sure he points out that the calls contributed to the win. As if UK was the only team getting any calls.

The part of the article that upset me the most was the talk about the Mississippi State fans getting DeMarcus Cousins's number. Now I thought Cousins handled this amazingly well. He gave a funny interview about it and then used it to motivate him. He didn't go in throwing elbows or trying to fight, he just went in to play hard and pull out a tough victory. Forde makes it seem like it was his fault they were upset. This guy is taking calls and getting text messages where derogatory and racial slurs are getting used. Then he makes the call me sign after a big play and after the Cats won the game (same thing the Golden Boy Tim Tebow did at LSU for the exact same reason) but Forde blames the Cats for doing what ANYONE would do. They defended their teammate and celebrated a tough fought victory against a raucous and crazy crowd. Forde says that some fan idiot behavior was "inevitable" because of this. So apparently its an excuse.

Look, there is never an excuse to throw things on the court. We fans are really passionate and can sometimes take these games WAY to seriously. Its an escape from every day life, and it gives you some camaraderie and things to discuss with other fans. But there should NEVER be violence over any of this stuff. I love UK Sports as well as other teams, but at the end of the day, its never important enough to put someone in danger or try to hurt someone. This is something Forde should use his platform to say, instead of giving reasons why the Mississippi State fans were angry and excusing some of their actions. Sure, Forde did say it makes the MSU program look bad, but he also said that it might have been inevitable. I'm sorry to repeat myself, but that word just ticks me off. This stuff should NEVER be inevitable because it should never happen. People shouldn't be idiots about a game.

I realize that some UK fans can be some of the most annoying people to watch a game with; you know, like the same guys that wrote bad stuff on Patterson's Facebook after the SC game, those are the kind of guys that do this sort of thing. But it should never ever happen. Being an idiot is no excuse for doing something idiotic. That doesn't really make sense but in the words of Michael Scott: "Don't be an idiot" It'll change your life.

And Forde maybe you should take some of that advice. Don't be an idiot. Don't just say its not good to do, but understandable. That just gives fans incentive to do this against other teams. I mean if this had happened against Louisville Forde probably would have tracked the guy down and the blog would have been written with his face slamming against the keys (probably a better read than most of Forde's stuff--Ba-zing!).

OK its time to end this thing. Sorry for going off on a rant but that really annoyed me. Good win by UK, and it was a great effort by the Bulldogs. I do hope they sneak into the tourney because they really are a good team that just hasn't played up to their potential so far this season. I hope they keep the effort they had last night for the rest of the season because thats good for the SEC and good for college basketball.

If you want to read Forde having what I like to call mouth/typing diarrhea click here

Let me know what you think in the comments section. You may read the Forde post differently but that's how it looked when I read it.