It took a jumper from John Wall in the final second for Kentucky to thwart Miami's upset bid over UK.  Photographer Aaron Hancock shot some awesome highlights, and Randall Parmley has a wrapup from Rupp Arena.

Enjoy Cat Fans!

 

 

 

 

14,000 Big Blue fans enjoyed themselves at Rupp Arena to watch the Blue/White scrimmage game at the University of Kentucky.  The hype around the freshman does not seem to be false advertising.  Highly touted frosh John Wall had 25 points and 11 assists.

For some bizzare reason, the game was not on in the Evansville TV market.  I am not sure why.  Our sports staff watched the game on the internet.

However, by far the best UK writer John Clay had a nice breakdown on his blog.  Check it out here. 

Our fellow ABC TV affiliate in Lexington WTVQ was nice enough to supply us with some highlights.  Whoever the photogpher was had a great night.  He/She was all over the highlights we received.  The Wall left-handed tomahawk slam was sweet. 

We got the highlights just minutes before I went on the air.  I literally saw these the first time they hit the air.  I thought some of you UK backers would enjoy it.  It is going to be fun covering the Cats this season!

If you are just on the front page of my website, you need to actually click the UK story to see the video inside.

 

Three million dollars.  Think about how much money that is.  For most of us folks on the bottom of the money tree, it is hard to comprehend.  Now try and wrap your head around the fact that is the amount on the check that the University of Kentucky will write to fired head basketball coach Billy Gillispie.

The same Billy Gillispie who never signed a full contract to coach for UK.  The same Billy Gillispie that guided the Wildcats to an NIT loss to Notre Dame.  The same Billy Gillispie that has been accused of drinking and driving at least three times.  The same Billy Gillispie who said he didn’t think being an ambassador to UK was in his job description.

Both UK and Gillispie sued each other after the firing.  Now as the Wildcats are about to embark on the John Calipari era, the University has decided to payoff Gillispie to the tune of $2,984,536.07. Another $260,000 will be paid by the university for attorney's fees, as well as $5,623.75 for mediation.

So we have now answered the age-old question: How much money would a mediocre coach who is a drunk, and never signed a contract get after being fired? 

I can certainly see the reasoning behind UK wanting to put Gillispie permanently in the rear-view mirror.  It would only continue to stain Kentucky’s reputation with negative press.  However, three million dollars seems like an incredible amount for hush money.  Both sides agree in the settlement not to talk negative about one another.

So I ask if you were in charge of making this decision for Kentucky, would you have given Gillispie the three million dollar settlement and put the issue to rest, or would you have fought the battle in courts? Vote Below.  I would also love to ready your thoughts on it, in the comments section.

 

Before I get into the meat of my rant, I really need to preface my work relationship with Rick Pitino. I first met Coach Pitino way back in 1993. He was at Ellis Park Thoroughbred Track in Henderson, KY. I was an intern for NEWS 25. I was sent to the track to go interview Pitino. I liked Kentucky. My grandpa was an enormous fan. I wasn’t nervous interviewing him, but I was very excited. Pitino was very gracious in answering my questions. Afterwards, he even signed a piece of my notebook paper autographed to my grandpa. Of course now I know that is very unprofessional. But I had just started in this crazy business, and I didn’t realize my mistake.

A month or so later in ‘93, Pitino was in Owensboro for the dedication of the Daniel Pitino homeless shelter, named after his late son. I really wanted to do sports full-time, and this was a great chance to prove my worth. I was sent with a photographer to do a story on Pitino’s visit. There was a routine press conference. Coach talked about the off-season, and the usual basketball-speak. Coach leaves and I was pretty excited to put my story together. Then my photographer gives me the bad news. “Lance, I hate to tell you this, but something was wrong with the deck, and nothing recorded.” SHEAR TERROR! My big chance, and now all I have is a big empty ¾” tape!!

I start asking around if anyone knew where Pitino was. Someone tells me he is upstairs with a priest. Oh boy, how am I going to pull this off?! I go upstairs and I see a door. I sheepishly knock on it. The door opens and there is Father Ed Bradley(UK Team Chaplain) and Coach Pitino. I explain what happened, and I ask if I could do another interview. Pitino was very nice. No problem. He gives me a great one on one. That was very gracious of him. Here’s this 22 year old cub reporter that he doesn’t know asking for an interview after blowing it at the press conference!

Through the years, I interviewed Pitino many times. Each time, he was always full of class, and quite frankly, he was easy to work with. After he won his National Championship, I got lucky at the Rupp Arena pep rally. They raised the banner to Queen’s We are the Champions, there were quite a few people on the court. We rushed over to get a nice shot of the banner going up, and who just happens to be right next to us? Rick Pitino. He had no idea we were there, nor did he care. My photographer Mark Pellerito got this awesome shot of his proud look as the banner goes to the rafters. Right after that, I asked Coach for an interview, and he again graciously gave me a quick one on one before the rest of the media knew what was going on.

I also dealt with Coach Pitino a lot during the recruitment of Muhlenberg North standout Patrick Sparks. I hand delivered a highlight tape of Sparks to Pitino after the press conference of Pitino’s hiring at Louisville. Coach asked me what I thought about Patrick, and we had a nice conversation. Then when Sparks decided to transfer out of Western Kentucky, Pitino reached out to me about Sparks.

I also always chastised my UK buddies when they got on Pitino for going to Louisville. Everything Pitino did for the University of Kentucky far outweighs his decision to take the Louisville job in my opinion.

So needless to say, I have been a Pitino supporter .

All of that said, what is he doing?!?! What is he trying to accomplish with his last two press conferences addressing his sex scandal with Karen Sypher? I shouldn’t even say press conference. He refused to take questions. It was really nothing but Pitino on a soap box.

Who doesn’t want to criticize the media? I’m a part of the media, and I personally wanted to drive to Atlanta last month to explain to CNN that 2 weeks after Michael Jackson’s death there is no BREAKING NEWS!! The media now is worse than ever in my opinion.

However, the media is a massive well-oiled machine. You cannot under any circumstance try to tell the media how to do their job! Even if you are right, there is no way anyone wins that battle. That’s like telling a 5-year old not to touch the chair you just painted.

In Pitino’s first soap box rant, I thought he started off right. He didn’t have a lawyer written statement to read. He genuinely did a good job ad libbing his thoughts. However, he tried to somehow tie in the tragedy of 9/11 to his sex scandal. Then proceeded to talk about recruiting and how well the team did last year. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t great. Despite the worthlessness of Michael Vick, at least Vick took questions, and answered every single one of them.

What happened this afternoon defied logic. He held another soap box one-way announcement. The media scrambled thinking Pitino could be quitting his job. Satellite time is bought, ESPNews cuts in, Louisville and Lexington media go to DEFCON 4, and then.... Pitino lost his mind. He chastised the media. He reminded everyone he is the victim. He goes as far as telling people to change the channel if they see a report on his sex scandal. I cannot believe his ego is that enormous that he thought he could micromanage the MEDIA!! He went as far as telling the media to not focus on the lies being told about him, and report about the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy! What?!!?

Pitino wants his sex scandal to go away, so he calls for a press conference! That very sentence really sums up the ignorance of the entire situation.

Pitino said the media coverage has been hell on his family. He essentially blamed the media for doing its job. My question to Coach Pitino would be(if he would take any questions), Mr. Pitino who’s fault was it that you had sex with someone not your wife in the bathroom of a restaurant?

Photo Courtesy: AP

 

 

Kentucky fans are screaming. The Big Blue Nation is tired of excuses. The Cats have just lost at home on senior night to the lowly Georgia Bulldogs. I did not like the hiring of Billy Gillispie soon after his initial press conference. He didn’t get it then, he never got it during the season, and he was the worst person to run the Cadillac of college basketball programs.

On March 5^th, I told friends, UK should make a run at John Calipari. The timing is perfect. Memphis is getting hosed again in respect, Calipari has done everything there is to do there, and think about the dynamic of the country’s greatest recruiters at Kentucky!

I sound pretty boastful, but even back then Calipari to Lexington seemed like the perfect match. When Calipari was eventually hired, Randall Parmley got to cover his press conference.

This afternoon, I got to meet and interview Coach Calipari for the first time. I found him very engaging. He knows how to turn it on to the media. During soundbytes he would place his hand on the shoulder of a reporter. So much charisma, and the resume to back it all up.

I am not a Kentucky fan. I do enjoy covering UK more than any other school, because the university treats the media better than anyone. While I should be 100% objective in covering events, I am human, and it’s only natural to pull for the teams and coaches that go above and beyond to help my job.

I wish I could have interviewed Calipari one on one. Time restraints prohibited that. However, I was able to ask plenty of questions, and I look forward to interviewing him many more times.

I hope you enjoy the interview.