On the eve of the Battle of the Bluegrass in the Bayou, traveling on the mighty southern roads, the rivalry is evident.
From the Big Blue flags flying on the mega tour buses, to the Cards magnets on the car doors, we marvel at the throngs of fans going to the Big Easy.
The passion of both teams is getting a little out of hand this time around. Cards fans are more ravenous than any raptors I have ever seen. That hostility level used to be reserved for the most die hard Cats fans. I can say I have watched this rivalry grow from roots all of my 42 years living in a UK household.
You see, I was born during the basketball madness on March 12 of 1970. My Daddy and Dr. Gilliam talked about the Kentucky/Florida game through the entire ordeal of my birth. That was the year Dan Issel scored 37 points, and UK scored the most points in beating the Gators on 2/14/1970, winning 110 – 66.
In my house, you bled Blue, or nothing. There is no gray area in this matter.
As far as Daddy was concerned, Kentucky sports were the definition of collegiate sports. His uncle, Jack Tingle, played for the infamous and beloved Adolph Rupp.
And so for the Tandy household, it’s blue all the way.
From the Wildcat Archives —
When Rupp singled him out as a great prospect when Jack was only a junior in high school, it proved compensating to the baron of Kentucky basketball, because in the four years that Jack played with Kentucky, the Wildcats won the Southeastern Conference title each year. Jack was an All-American selectee still headed for greater things after college.
Coach Rupp, in praising Tingle, called him “One of our battlers always fighting and always in there – an all-round basketball player.”
Robert Jackson Tingle was born in Bedford, Kentucky, and by 8th grade was already playing varsity ball for Trimble County High School. His records speak for themselves playing in the 40’s for Rupp.
1943-44: All-SEC [First Team]; All-SEC Tournament
1944-45: All-SEC [First Team]; All-SEC Tournament
1945-46: All-American [Sporting News (3rd), Converse (3rd)]; All-SEC [First Team]; All-SEC Tournament
1946-47: All-American [NABC (2nd), True Magazine (2nd)]; All-SEC [First Team]; All-SEC Tournament
Fans from the county followed the game rabidly, braving all sorts of winter driving conditions to see Jack play in Louisville and at Lexington. Recalled to mind is the game in Louisville during Jack’s college sophomore year, when it appeared that the University of Notre Dame had defeated the Wildcats, but in the final minute, the spectacular began to be engineered by Jack. In a razzle-dazzle spark of showmanship he intercepted and hawked the ball and rolled up eight points for UK on the scoreboard, enough to defeat the Fighting Irish.
Already singled out as a sterling prospect by Coach Adolph Rupp, Jack entered the University of Kentucky, and while there compiled one of the most enviable records. He became one of only three players in the university’s history to be named to the All Star team of the Southeastern Conference four years in a single sport, or otherwise. The other players similarly named were Wallace “Wah Wah” Jones, a teammate of Jack and Ralph Beard.
Now Daddy would weep at the talk of how Coach Bill Curry kept “that poor boy Couch on the bench his whole freshman year, or rant and rave as the Eddie Suttons of the world brought the Wildcat blue down with DUI accusations.
We grew up listening to the same small AM dial radio, with Cawood Ledford calling the plays.
Cawood sounded like he was speaking through a kazoo, but that’s the way we rolled. No matter the surround sound, the stereo, and don’t get him started about Vitale.
And so we learned to deal with Daddy and his consummate rants about the Cats.
In bad times, he would just give up, and turn the TV off in shame.
“Dad, you can’t leave now! There’s time left!” I pleaded.
He walked somberly back the hall to bed, only turning around to say
“They’re falling down through their own a**, they deserve to lose.”
Ouch.
But that’s a true Wildcat fan.
The shift I have seen in Cards vs. Cats fans, and this is by going to both UL and UK games, is that Wildcats are a lot like Daddy.
A bad game in Commonwealth ( like Central Michigan last fall) will leave the place in deafening silence. During one play last fall, all I heard after a play was the ref’s whistle, and the flag dropping to the grass. Wildcats fans will kill you with their stare, silence and scorn. They cross their arms, sit back, and you can feel the shame – like when you had to tell your Dad you wrecked the car- ooh its a killer that stare.
Conversely, and a cold as ice UL day game, my fan base was over the top whilst calling for heads to roll as the Cards messed up on the field..wow! You guys are passionate!
Why is this the hottest and most passionate of all? Because this historic meeting comes on with bragging rights for decades to come, lest both teams make it to the Final Four, again in our lifetime.
From the legendary coaches, Pitino the seasoned Cardinal, to Calipari, the newbie Wildcat to their aggressive, cohesive teams of strength, we wait with angst and baited breath for Saturday in N’awlins.
No, this isn’t just the yearly friendly matchup, that on any given year passes the torch to the other team, like the golden antlers in the great steamboat race. This may as well be a north vs. south civil war battle as far as the fans are concerned.
This is a shift in the paradigm and I can’t wait to see the blue and red waves on Bourbon Street, let’s keep it classy kids, it’s just a game. One helluva game!
