Why we should all root for Kentucky.

[kentuck]

It's about more than just sports...
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http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-you-should-root-for-kentucky-1427995076?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_Top

<snip>
Here’s the thing: Kentucky, as a state, has a lot of problems. There’s a heroin epidemic, the coal industry is hemorrhaging jobs because of cheap natural gas and a recent study named us the nation’s most psychologically depressed state. Which is to say: We need UK basketball, and we need it to be good.

Most things Kentucky is known for aren’t particularly good for you: coal, bourbon, tobacco, gambling. But being a UK basketball fan is a dopamine-boosting, community-building, problems-shirking great time. You get to feel good about yourself without really doing anything to deserve it. That is the beauty of sports fandom. And here in Kentucky, we have perfected it.

<snip>
I know, coach John Calipari can be insufferable. The man loves the sound of his own voice. He’s a large personality with a commensurate ego, but in a state where most fans think they could better coach the team, that’s honestly the man for this job. A nice guy like Tubby Smith just got tired of jerks putting “For Sale” signs in his yard after a bad loss, so he finally, quietly left for balmy Minnesota. Calipari would have probably just released the hounds.

<snip>
Here’s my bottom line: Don’t hate Kentucky. We might be the next UCLA dynasty and we might not. But for now, let us just glory in the moment. If you’re looking for a team to hate, let me recommend Duke. After all, back in the early 1900s, the university’s founder, James Buchanan Duke, built his fortune on the backs of poor Kentucky tobacco farmers, just as Christian Laettner made his mark in the 1992 East Regional final by stomping on the chest of UK center Aminu Timberlake. In my unbiased opinion, Laettner should have been tossed. But instead—we’ve all seen The Shot a gazillion times—Duke won the game and went on to win the tournament. So this year, let the farmers and the rest of us have this one good thing. This one great thing. Maybe this one perfect thing.

[tularetom]

1. Kentucky is the only of the Final Four states I've actually lived in but I can't go for them

And I yield to nobody in my dislike of Duke University and "Coach K".

I'm rooting for either or both of the Big Ten teams to make it to the final.

Sorry cousins Frank, Ellis and Lynn and all your kids and grandkids. UK is getting enough support from your side of the family, they don't need me.

[GeorgeGist]

2. Go Badgers.

I expect see Kentucky Basketball on probation soon after Calipari moves on.

[joeybee12]

5. Yup...

The nCAA is worthless...it'll take an independent investigation by some sports writer and then they'll be redfaced by the obvious...again.

[B Calm]

3. No thanks, I'll root on the Big 10!

[Man from Pickens]

4. Coaches get millions, players get screwed

it's a modern form of slave labor - 99%+ of those kids will never see the payoff from the pro level

overcommercialization drowns out the actual games if you try and watch them

and these systems are all rife with academic fraud

Cure 2 of these 3 problems and I might watch again, but for now the whole thing just makes me sad about the kind of exploitation society we have today.

[petronius]

6. Pshaw. We should all be too cultured for this sporting nonsense

I myself will be sipping sherry and re-reading Foucault during this Kentucky whatever-it-is...

[A Little Weird]

7. It SHOULD be about more than just sports

If the Big Blue Nation would divert just a fraction of the time, money, and energy they spend on basketball towards solving some of the real, formidable tasks we face then I don't think Kentucky would be the nation's most psychologically depressed state.

I have a great deal of respect for Erik Reece but I guess I just don't "get" sports and the fanaticism it inspires.

[KamaAina]

8. ABCD

Anybody But Crappy Duke.

[gollygee]

9. You live in Kentucky, I live in Michigan

I could give you a pretty good list of reasons to root for MSU too.

[SiobhanClancy]

10. I'll try....

It's hard,though,being a Notre Dame alum who practically had a heart attack during that recent contest