CBS SportsLine’s Gary Parrish is apparently a little put-out with the way UK basketball fans are more than happy to participate in any on-line poll involving anything to do with Kentucky basketball.
For his “Arena Wars,” Parrish decided not to even fool with the UK vote.
He wrote:
Because Rupp Arena is in this thing, and Kentucky plays in Rupp Arena, which means Kentucky fans are going to skew the vote because, frankly, they just care about this kind of stuff more than the rest of you. As I’ve pointed out before, any online poll that includes somebody or something connected to Kentucky basketball will be won by somebody or something connected to Kentucky basketball. It never fails.
Swear to God, if you asked for the best coach in NCAA history and made the choices John Wooden, Bob Knight, Mike Krzyzewski and John Calipari, Calipari would win by at least 18 percent of the vote. Likewise, if you asked for the best Beatles album and made the choices Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Revolver, Abbey Road and Rupp Arena, Rupp Arena would win easily, and — case you didn’t know — there’s not even a Beatles album called Rupp Arena.
But that doesn’t matter.
Kentucky fans would vote Rupp Arena the best Beatles album.
They’d do it convincingly and with great pride.
Hat tip to Walter’s Wildcat World.
Did he really need to tell us that Rupp Arena wasn’t a Beatles album?
How many minutes do you think Ritchie get tonight???
My favorite Beatles album is Memorial Coliseum…not RUPP ARENA
I voted Rupp Arena as the best Beatles album, but did put Abbey Road second.
So, I replied to Gary Parrish. Left him the following (which I thought to be a fairly objective question):
If it’s a foregone conclusion that Rupp is objectively NOT the best arena in the land, then why include them in your poll?Furthermore, if UK fans just ‘care about this stuff more than you do’, and those same fans pack into Rupp 24k strong to watch UK play WHOEVER, then wouldn’t that, by definition, have to make it one of the best – if not the best – arenas?
Gary fired me the following reply:
You are proving my point
And playing the role of stereotypical UK fan perfectly.
Congrats.
Keep it up.
gp
I just had to send him one more…
And you are playing the role of what, Gary? The sportswriter trying to pad his pageviews by throwing a jab at Big Blue Nation? Maybe?
I wasn’t being over the top at all in that comment… just making an observation. You made the claim “I know Rupp Arena is not the country’s greatest arena” and dedicated the bulk of your little discourse to taking shots at that crazy UK fanbase. I just asked why bother then?
Congrats.
Enjoy the traffic.
Next time you’re having a slow day, maybe you can write one about our ugly cheerleaders…
You are being ridiculous Mike. Everyone I know, Duke fans, UNC fans, even fellow SEC fans, admit that our cheerleaders are HOT!!!
(Rivaled only by the Florida/FSU dance teams and the USC (Southern Cal) cheerleaders and dance team.)
I don’t understand the love for Cameron. The place is a barn-a dump. Yes, it is loud, and I like that its students are close to the court, but it has no facilities, lousy temperature control, and if you put any of 20 college teams in a ridiculously small arena, you’d get the same overcrowded loud atmosphere. If we played UK games in Memorial, we would have the same atmosphere in a nicer facility. I know, b/c one of only two games I saw live last year was the UNLV NIT game, and it was awesome in Memorial.
Dude covers college basketball … from Mississippi. I think that alone would make me mad. It’s like covering the aerospace industry from the Congo.
Gary Parrish is obliviously simply an a–bag who has a beef with UK. Gary Parrish, meet Pat Forde, Pat Forde…Gary Parrish. You guys should have lunch and lament over the fact that UK is back where it should be…at the top. Deal with it. Kind of reminds me of a current poll on Facebook where the choice is UK or the dirty birds (like that is really a choice). Some dumbass on there tried to make a point about UK fans always bringing up the past and our history. Well isn’t that what all programs are trying to do? Build a history of winning? What a bunch of tards. Bottom line is if you can’t deal with the facts, get the hell out. UK wins and Wildcat fans support their team whether it’s playing basketball, basket weaving or voting in a poll.