Clutch Cats win again, improve to 26-1.

I apologize on the late post, but I watched the game in Richmond last night at my Fraternity's Alumni Event that evening at EKU. If you ever go to Madison Gardens in Richmond, try their wings. They've got a unique blend of dry spices they put on them. It's a unique taste, but good and affordable on a college student budget. However, I do not suggest you watch a UK game there. The TV's are small and not situated too well. I generally like the place (despite the not so flattering reviews), I just don't recommend watching a UK game there. Other than the defensive heroics of John Wall in the final minute, the dominating performance of Cousins in limited play due to foul trouble, and the double-double performance by Patterson, it was kind of difficult to keep track of what was going on in the game with the TV set up. This time, instead of writing about the actual game, I'm going to write about the people I watched it with, the guy's that I call my Fraternity brothers.

It's always great to catch up with friends from school and it's even better when some of them can't stand the Cats. There's nothing more amusing and entertaining than watching someone get their hopes up that the Cats are going to go down, then- John Wall makes one of the most spectacular defensive plays I've ever seen at the end of the game to seal the win and also the hopes of haters everywhere. At EKU, you definitely have a lot of die-hard Cat fans that grew up watching the Cats their entire life. However, you also have a fraction of the student body from the Louisville area- many of which are UK fans and many of which are of course Little Brother fans. There's also a large chuck of students that come down from Ohio for a more affordable education.

The Buckeye's that attend EKU are even more delusional and obnoxious than even the Louisville fans, especially in football season. I don't understand how a fan base of such a great traditional football program finds so much joy in picking on and downplaying the success of a program like Kentucky that is making great strides and improvement each year in the nation's toughest conference. You don't see UK fans obsessive over OSU basketball because you know when you're unquestionably the best program in your sport, you don't spend too much time worrying about second rate programs. The Buckeye fans, deep down, aren't as confident about their place atop the mountain of college football as they would like you to think. If they were more confident in their program being the best in their sport, they wouldn't find it necessary to ridicule a football program like Kentucky's, that has struggled historically to finish in the top half of their conference on a yearly basis. When you ARE a second rate program (and I admit- Kentucky is one of those traditionally in football but that is changing), you are constantly rooting against and hating on the traditional powers even though they don't really care about your team at all.

These are the typical characteristics of the UK haters that I went to school with, and if you mention a certain Big Ten team's record against SEC schools in Bowl Games, they'll bring up some silly, obscure stat they looked up in one individual season and claim that the SEC is not dominant or even significantly tougher than the Big Ten on a consistant yearly basis (Matt Nunn). Their confidence and pride, or lack thereof, in their own programs (Louisville, Cincy, OSU) never fails to make me laugh and definitely also makes me thankful that I was born and raised on the right side of the Ohio River and grew up to Bleed Blue. However, I also want to thank these guys, because without the constant facebook arguments over Kentucky sports that even caused a group of Cardinal fans to protest my facebook membership is what encouraged me to create this site, a place where I can share my "biased and ridiculous" comments and opinions without rubbing people (opposing fans) the wrong way on facebook. Without them, Wildcat Wrap- which is nearing its 5,000th hit, would probably not exist.


Last night was one of those nights that I got to experience watching a UK game with a few of those haters, but also with some great Cat fans as well including Eli Roberts and Josh Ford- whom I thank for hooking me up with some great tickets a few weeks ago, 3 rows behind Alabama's bench in Rupp! Eli wanted his "shout out" on the wrap, and there it is (I had to find a way to work it in). And for the 26th time this year, myself, Eli, Ford, Cox, Jake, Burton and the rest of my Big Blue Fraternity Brethren enjoyed the last laugh Saturday night in Richmond as the Cats escaped with a hard fought victory in Memorial Gym for the first time since 2005 and almost certainly secured an SEC Regular Season Championship.