Old Friend

Living can sometimes get you down.  The everyday grind of work and turmoil, traveling here and there, makes it seem like there are never enough hours in each day.  Routines become boring and all of us look for ways of escape.  Sports has always been one of those vehicles of escape for many.  All sports mean certain things to different people.  Some can hardly wait for the first "Kick Off" of football season and spend countless hours contemplating what excitement that will bring.  For me I love the opening day of baseball and the promise of not just a good season, but the added benefit of good weather to follow.  Many of us use sports as a way to lessen the tedious road that is life.

Every fall after the brilliant colors have had their day, and a north wind starts to blow the leaves away, I start to look forward to a season that gives me a buttress to combat the everyday harshness of winter, and that season is basketball,  more specifically Kentucky Basketball.  For months fans from all across the bluegrass, have discussed, speculated, and dreamed about a magical run for the Wildcats.  Can the freshmen blend with the veterans and create a memory that all Kentucky Fans will speak of for years to come?  In the midst of our boring routines a season comes around that gives us pause, and something to look forward to at least twice a week until spring comes again. It is a great distraction.

Tonight the Kentucky Basketball season "Tips Off" and I for one could not be happier.  I need this distraction to help fight off the prospect of spending far to many days inside instead of out.  I need the excitement that a winning season can generate.  I need a friend to help me ward off the chill of that old north wind and the shortening day light.  I need a break from the mundane of all that.  So I say welcome back Kentucky Basketball, what took you so long to arrive?  Things seem a bit brighter looking ahead, now that you are here.  Welcome back Old Friend.

The Hundred Years War

For the first time in a hundred years the University of Kentucky and Transylvania University will square off in a basketball game.  There were only 77 million people in the US, President McKinley was shot, Queen Victoria had just died, and federal spending had just topped the $500 million mark.  Sportswise the first World Series was yet to be played, Harvard was the best football team in the land, and His Eminence won the Kentucky Derby.  Technologically Marconi had just sent the first radio signal across the Atlantic, and this new idea of a horseless carriage was all the rage.  That was some of what was going on the last time Kentucky and Transylvania met in scheduled basketball game.

How does this happen and why is it happening now?  I know that these two universities play on a completely different level when it comes to college basketball.  I know that the economics are not the driving force behind this athletic contest and even pride seems to have little to do with it.  There has never been a ground swell from the fans or the media for this game to take place, so for a century it just never happened.

I must confess that the idea of Kentucky playing a game against a neighbor like Transy never occurred to me, but now that it is happening, I am excited.  You might say I am looking forward to it, not for the expected outcome or the rivalry aspect, but for the idea that this just might be a really good time.  When you stop and think about it that's what college sports is supposed to be about.