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October 15, 2009

Bring on the basketball Wildcats

By Larry Winterland

All is right in the world — well almost.

Before you get too upset about the University of Kentucky football team being 2-3 with not much sign of things being turned around, let me remind you that this Friday is Big Blue Madness and that John Calipari has the No. 1 recruiting class coming in this season.

In fact, things are back to normal. Basketball is king again. This is how it should be in this state. Just ask the state of Florida.

Since winning back-to-back titles in basketball things have gone back to the “norm” in the Sunshine State. The football and basketball teams both won national championships in the same year, but since the Gators cut the nets in 2006, their basketball record has been 49-23 which gets you two straight NIT births.

The Gator football team on the other hand is ranked No.1 this year and has a record of 40-6 over the past three-plus seasons.

Isn’t that how it’s suppose to be? It’s the same thing here in Kentucky.

Yeah, the football team climbed the polls to No. 8 in the country back in 2007 when they beat No. 1 LSU.

But since beating LSU back in 2007 the football team is 11-13.

Three bowl wins?

Sure, you got it.

But did those bowl wins ever help put to rest those restless, drunken nights theBilly Gillispie years caused us?

No.

The fact of the matter is that everything is right in the Bluegrass State. Basketball season is right around the corner and the football team did its job keeping our attention while the basketball team rebuilt.

Whether Mike Hartline takes another snap again this season, or the team pulls off an upset win against Georgia, it just doesn’t matter.

By that point, we will be picking apart John Calipari’s coaching style and decisions he made in 30 point wins over Cleveland State and Austin Peay.

Everything is right again in the Bluegrass State.

Basketball is king and football is well, football. So calm down Rich Brooks haters and let’s be the first to thank the Wildcat football team. For a few short years, pretending UK was a football school was kind of fun.

And although they will not be winning any national championships in the next few decades, they did give us a great 8-5 run back in 2007, exciting wins over LSU and Louisville, and made those Billy Gillispie sideline fights with Jeannie Edwards just a bit easier to swallow.

Thank you again Kentucky football, it was fun while it lasted.

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