The Rivalry Red V Blue 2013

LegalDramaDaily

Transcript

00:00:22From the day you're born, pretty much, you're on a side.

00:00:24You're Louisville, you're Kentucky, you're red or you're blue.

00:00:27I'm a Cardinal fan, and she's an other.

00:00:29An other? I'm a Cats fan. Why I gotta be an other?

00:00:32It's deeper than basketball. It's Lexington, Louisville.

00:00:36We can tell you everything about every game between the two schools for the last 25 years.

00:00:42This is bragging rights. This is UOK over UofL. Red versus blue.

00:00:50I mean, it's blue versus red, and I don't care to tell you, I'm a blue guy.

00:00:55Dude, North Carolina, Butler, Xavier, your robbery has nothing on this.

00:01:00This is what we live for.

00:01:03Let's go!

00:01:56Everybody knows me as Boone.

00:01:58I started cutting hair when I was about 16 years old.

00:02:02And I just opened my barbershop six months ago in April.

00:02:08Red and black, that's Louisville's colors.

00:02:11I mean, our college stands for it.

00:02:13I mean, everywhere you go, you see it.

00:02:15And anybody who's from Louisville always represents it, even if they're somewhere else.

00:02:19You got Tom Cruise, heck of a Louisville fan.

00:02:22Can I finish naming the fans?

00:02:24Can I finish naming the productive people in society who are Louisville fans who came from

00:02:27Louisville and are diehard Louisville fans?

00:02:30All my family is UofL.

00:02:32But actually, I started logging in Kentucky maybe about 14, 15 years ago when my mom died.

00:02:38In the midst of all that, she showed them I liked them.

00:02:43I like them, she would say.

00:02:44If she can like them and take all that flack, then I can stand in this city and wear this

00:02:51UofK sweatshirt proudly.

00:02:53And that's why the red?

00:02:55And that's why we wear the red and we're proud of it.

00:02:58And we love our bird.

00:02:59That's our state bird.

00:03:00A Kentucky bird.

00:03:02Y'all bird been caged for the last 26, 27 years.

00:03:05Okay, but what color is Kentucky state bird?

00:03:07We're a wildcat running loose.

00:03:09How long have I been a barber?

00:03:11Ten years.

00:03:13Best move I ever made.

00:03:14Right now, we probably only have one Kentucky barber, and he's not too loud with it.

00:03:21The barbershop at which I just left, you know, they are diehard Louisville fans.

00:03:25And, you know, I'm boisterous.

00:03:29That's why I think so different about Louisville and Kentucky fans versus the rest of the fans

00:03:35in college basketball.

00:03:37We're fanatics.

00:03:38We're crazy.

00:03:38We go crazy over this.

00:03:42Pancifil's in the eastern tip of Kentucky, about 30 miles from the West Virginia border.

00:03:47Very seldom you find a piece of red in the area, and when you do, somebody's going to

00:03:54get harassed pretty good.

00:03:56It's 99% UK.

00:03:59Of course, I don't live in Louisville, and I've read some things where people talk about

00:04:02one guy, he lived on a block, and, you know, they put out their flags in the fall, and he

00:04:07put out a Kentucky flag, and they'd be six Louisville flags, and he was one Kentucky flag.

00:04:10Well, at least he still had it.

00:04:12Yeah, that's true.

00:04:13They didn't steal it, did they?

00:04:14That's a very good point, yeah.

00:04:15If you drove by my house, or if you do drive by, my Louisville flag is flying, and I had

00:04:20it up all season, football and basketball.

00:04:23And Final Four, Sunday morning, I get up to go outside.

00:04:28I live between two churches, and someone had liberated my Louisville flags.

00:04:35I just got a hunch it had to be a UK fan.

00:04:37What do you think?

00:04:38Do you think that maybe somebody might have forgot to buy a toilet paper last week?

00:04:41No.

00:04:42I actually had a guy come in and wanted me to frame the picture out of the newspaper of

00:04:48Christian Laker making the shot.

00:04:49Oh, that's a tough one.

00:04:50And I told him no.

00:04:53You don't need money that bad.

00:04:55I don't.

00:04:55I don't need money that bad.

00:04:56That's right.

00:04:57Well, you know, I was our hometown boy that was trying to block that shot, John Pelford.

00:05:04High school basketball has always been big, especially up here in the mountains.

00:05:08You know, basketball is a way of life in the state of Kentucky.

00:05:11It's like horses and bourbon.

00:05:14We've had three play for the University of Kentucky.

00:05:16John Pelford, he was Mr. Basketball in the state of Kentucky.

00:05:19Todd Tackett, and then in 2008, Landon Sloan signed with the University of Kentucky.

00:05:24As a matter of fact, he's on my staff now.

00:05:25I played at the University of Kentucky the 2008-2009 season under Coach Billy Gillespie.

00:05:32Every kid in Eastern Kentucky wants to put on that uniform, and it was a great honor

00:05:36for me to be able to do that.

00:05:38I told you I was going to make you a player, and I'm going to be tough on your ass,

00:05:42but

00:05:42you've got to make that.

00:05:43There's no difference in coaching the player.

00:05:46It's always a joy to coach him, but it's a prestige thing with a kid that plays for

00:05:50you, signed with the University of Kentucky.

00:06:03Up in the Cumberland Mountains of old Kentucky, there's a little village.

00:06:07The only way to reach the village is to turn off the main highway several miles away and

00:06:12cut down up through and across hills, valleys, cliffs, and streams.

00:06:18Kentucky has always been a very poor state in many ways, educationally, economically,

00:06:23and the state hasn't had a lot to be proud of.

00:06:26Basketball is vital to Kentucky because there are enough social, educational, economic drawbacks

00:06:33here that there has to be something to rally people around.

00:06:37You could go in any barber shop, you could go in any drug store.

00:06:41Every time you sat down, you'd hear them talk about Kentucky basketball.

00:06:45Basketball is important to Kentucky because this is what we have.

00:06:47This is what we've been bred to do from Adolph Rupp times.

00:06:50Adolph Rupp came here in 1930, and he built the best basketball program in the country, and

00:06:57that gave everybody in the state something to be proud of.

00:07:01They could say that we're the best, along with Thoroughbred Racing and the Kentucky Derby

00:07:06and Bourbon Whiskey, here's something we're the best at.

00:07:09Coach Rupp at Kentucky, he made basketball a priority at the state school here.

00:07:16And consequently, I think it just kind of caught on.

00:07:19Small rural communities had very little to do.

00:07:25Church and school was the main source of entertainment and involvement.

00:07:30Many of them were too small to support football teams because of the numbers required,

00:07:37but about any school could have a basketball team.

00:07:41It's a cheap sport. All it takes is a goal.

00:07:45Sometimes the basket, you can hang it on the end of a barn.

00:07:48You can put some wire up there as a net, or you can put twine up there.

00:07:52You're ready to play.

00:08:02The University of Kentucky was pressured by every state school to add them to the schedule.

00:08:10Coach Rupp and the university adopted an unwritten policy not to play any in-state school.

00:08:17At that time, Adolph Rupp, he didn't want to play anyone in his own state.

00:08:23He didn't want to give them the recognition.

00:08:25He felt like it would hurt their recruiting and help other people's recruitings.

00:08:30He had developed the team as a nationally known team

00:08:34by playing national competition with teams like St. John's and Holy Cross, St. Louis.

00:08:43So the policy was developed to maintain that national presence.

00:08:49I think in those years, the University of Kentucky regarded itself as the University of Kentucky.

00:08:55You have to remember, the University of Louisville was a metro city university.

00:08:59It was owned by the people of Louisville.

00:09:02But it was not in the state system. It was not funded with state dollars.

00:09:05And it did not get into the state system until the late 60s, actually 1968 legislature.

00:09:11Coach Rupp understood clearly his position of preeminence throughout the state.

00:09:16And frankly, the other state universities, including Louisville,

00:09:20had never really proved that they belonged on the same level as Kentucky.

00:09:26Everyone had an opinion of Rupp, and he was sort of revered to state.

00:09:29But outside the border, there were a lot of people who took shots at him.

00:09:34Some people even went so far as to call him a racist, which he wasn't.

00:09:38Think about the fact that Wes Unsold almost came here, and Butch Beard almost came here.

00:09:45They ended up going to UofL. Why?

00:09:46Because there was a feeling that Coach Rupp was racist.

00:09:52Yet, in the early 50s, St. John's and Solly Walker, who was an African American,

00:09:58played in the UKIT and played an intersectional game against Kentucky.

00:10:02And Coach Rupp went to the Phoenix Hotel and said that they would never get another business

00:10:07from the University of Kentucky if they didn't accept African Americans.

00:10:09People know the story about Texas Western and them being the first program

00:10:14to win a national championship with five black stars.

00:10:16Most people don't know that the second program to go to a Final Four with five black stars

00:10:20was Louisville in 1975.

00:10:23Louisville had been the first program south of the Mason-Dixon line to integrate.

00:10:28I think if you just look at the demographics of the fan bases,

00:10:31Louisville much more of an African American percentage of fans, I think, than Kentucky.

00:10:35And that just goes to the demographics of the state.

00:10:38Kentucky's total population is 10% of African American.

00:10:42And of that 10%, 80% live in the Louisville area.

00:10:46I think that really heightened the differences and the tensions for a long time.

00:10:51Like I said, I think it's gotten a lot better all the way around.

00:10:54It was kind of like the blacks cheered for UofL and the whites cheered for UK.

00:10:58Sounds kind of weird, funny. That's how it kind of was.

00:11:00UK fans called Louisville the blackbirds for a long time.

00:11:05And if you go to message boards enough, UK message boards,

00:11:08you'll still see it come up every now and then.

00:11:09There was a racial element of it 40 years ago.

00:11:13I think, you know, a lot of Kentucky fans, we wish that wasn't the case, but it's just true.

00:11:18I think one of the reasons why Louisville fans get mad at me, I guess, is,

00:11:24how can you be a Kentucky fan?

00:11:27You understand the racism that comes from Kentucky?

00:11:30But they want to know in certain parts of the city where am I repping a UK jersey

00:11:36and I'm a black guy.

00:11:38Are there still black people today that are like,

00:11:40I'm not rooting for Kentucky because of back then?

00:11:42Absolutely. Absolutely.

00:11:44And I would submit that maybe some of them you'll get to see tomorrow.

00:11:47Tomorrow, the boom's coming back.

00:11:50Okay.

00:11:51A bunch of UK fans.

00:11:54Okay.

00:11:55What is it going to be like?

00:11:57It's going to be hell in earth.

00:11:58How long has it been since you're down there at the barbershop?

00:12:01I've been down there once or twice, but I left back in March.

00:12:05We want to see Louisville do good.

00:12:06But when they compete and compare against Kentucky,

00:12:09it is our duty to put them in their rightful place.

00:12:12We have the most championships, the most Final Four.

00:12:15We represent this state.

00:12:17And they just need to fall in line with that.

00:12:20The champs are here.

00:12:22Y'all hate to see us coming.

00:12:23What it do, man?

00:12:24How are you, man?

00:12:26You got UK on one side.

00:12:28You got U of L on the other side.

00:12:30What's up with that?

00:12:31Hey, I'm a team player.

00:12:33I'm a team player.

00:12:34They both represent me.

00:12:36Card country, baby.

00:12:37Card country.

00:12:38U of K ain't nothing this year.

00:12:41They ain't got John Wall, nobody Davis, nobody Darren Lowe.

00:12:46They sloppy.

00:12:47How many championships have you won?

00:12:49Part-time.

00:12:50Man, you're going to walk away from that answer.

00:12:52How many championships have you won?

00:12:52A doozy?

00:12:53You won two.

00:12:53A doozy?

00:12:55When's the last time you won your last one?

00:12:56What difference does that make?

00:12:57Oh, it makes a big difference.

00:12:58Come on, man.

00:13:00We like the seventh win in this tournament.

00:13:03Time out for a minute.

00:13:04Come on, don't do that.

00:13:05Time out for a minute.

00:13:05Don't do that.

00:13:06Tag.

00:13:06Get it.

00:13:08Get it.

00:13:08When's the last time you won?

00:13:09Come on, man.

00:13:10Don't do that.

00:13:11You was probably won and I was probably won.

00:13:13We got so many championships.

00:13:16We got so many championships I can tag team and hand them out for.

00:13:21Isn't that the basis?

00:13:23Isn't that the basis of why you not a Kentucky fan?

00:13:26Because Louisville fans say that Kentucky was so racist that you would never beat Kentucky.

00:13:31Isn't that a lie?

00:13:32Isn't that a lie?

00:13:32And now you're telling me the Calipari has put 10 African Americans in the pros?

00:13:38Isn't that a turnaround?

00:13:39Kentucky didn't do it.

00:13:39America, we need your fanship.

00:13:42Kentucky didn't do it.

00:13:42That's Republican.

00:13:43You are Republican.

00:13:43He's a Republican.

00:13:45He's a Republican.

00:13:45Man, this ain't about basketball.

00:13:47It's about the voting.

00:13:48You know, he don't like Obama.

00:13:54You're sweating, man.

00:13:55Yeah, man.

00:13:55It got me hyped up, man.

00:13:56I had to come over and get some iron.

00:14:24Good game by Louisville.

00:14:25Good game by UK.

00:14:26The rest were horrible.

00:14:28They cheated.

00:14:29Baby, why we cheat?

00:14:31That's a conspiracy.

00:14:32That's bullshit that you would even say it.

00:14:34Excuse my French, but you know we just whooped your ass literally.

00:14:37It's a conspiracy.

00:14:38But no questions asked.

00:14:38It's a conspiracy.

00:14:39And that's all I got to say about the situation.

00:14:40Every time we come up here, it's always something.

00:14:42Ah!

00:14:42So now we cheat.

00:14:43They never respect the red.

00:14:44Okay, we'll bring it home.

00:14:45They can bring it to Louisville and we still gonna whoop their ass.

00:14:47They never respect the red.

00:14:48What?

00:14:48Blue all day.

00:14:49Blue all day.

00:14:50We're in something new, son.

00:14:51Best thing we're on today.

00:14:51We'll see them next year at the Yump Center.

00:14:54We'll see them at the Yump Center soon.

00:14:55It's all good.

00:14:56It's all good.

00:14:57I had a fantastic time.

00:14:58Yeah, they did.

00:14:59It was great.

00:14:59The first time at Rupp Arena.

00:15:00I heard they used to call this corrupt arena, but I got a different feel today.

00:15:17The weird thing about this game coming up is that Kentucky has won a national title.

00:15:22So you're coming off four wins in a row over Louisville.

00:15:26So the weirdest thing that's really happened is that Kentucky fans are sort of okay with

00:15:31maybe being the underdog in this game.

00:15:33If you lose it, you lose it.

00:15:34They sort of checked out a tad bit.

00:15:36In the final four last year, if it was must win for Kentucky, this is must win for Louisville.

00:15:40It's as big as the regular season game between the two has been maybe ever.

00:15:44It's a big game today.

00:15:46Biggest rivalry in the country.

00:15:48So we're excited.

00:15:48I mean, obviously you see it's 20 degrees outside and we're going to be rocking downtown today.

00:15:52I mean, it's the biggest day of the year for people to live in the state and obviously the city

00:15:55of Louisville.

00:15:56We're going to be using it.

00:15:57Yeah, Louisville, Kentucky!

00:15:59Let's kill it!

00:16:01Let's kill it!

00:16:02CBS Sports coverage of the road to the Final Four brings you to the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

00:16:08Louisville is at home in the Yum Center.

00:16:19That was what can we expect today?

00:16:21For Kentucky, they're young and raw.

00:16:23Are they good enough to compete?

00:16:25But for Louisville, expectations and experience, are they good enough to win it all?

00:16:31C-A-R-D-S-C-O!

00:16:45Only 80 miles separates these two.

00:16:48And boy, when you come in here, you better be wearing blue or red.

00:16:51I think they may eject you from the building.

00:17:09Let's go, kids!

00:17:11Let's go!

00:17:13Let's go!

00:17:14Goodwin in traffic.

00:17:16Turns it over!

00:17:17Bahanity!

00:17:18All the way to the front!

00:17:24Let's go!

00:17:26A hard-earned victory at that, 80-77.

00:17:37If somebody's going to be honest, I think the 0-4 thing really made a lot of people

00:17:43uncomfortable.

00:17:44The Louisville fan base definitely needed to see Rick beat Kentucky.

00:17:48If you're going to have a rivalry, that means that both sides have to win.

00:17:52Coaches understandably downplay those storylines.

00:17:56These guys are, as I said, very intense competitors and rightfully proud about what they've accomplished.

00:18:03So if you go through a losing streak to a rival, that has to, I would think, eat at the

00:18:10competitor

00:18:11in you.

00:18:11It's a real important game for the fans.

00:18:14For us, we want to beat Kentucky, but not as much as the fans do.

00:18:19I think the culture of Kentucky is mountain-oriented.

00:18:23It's something about the mountains.

00:18:24That's a part of all of us when we relate to being a Kentucky.

00:18:28Louisville has always been like a separate island.

00:18:31I was never west of Lexington in my life.

00:18:35We didn't go to Louisville growing up.

00:18:37For many years, the state high school basketball tournament was rotated between Lexington and

00:18:43Louisville.

00:18:43It always irritated me when you talk to anybody from Jefferson County that they didn't know

00:18:49where any other town in the state was besides Louisville.

00:18:52So I always considered Jefferson County part of Indiana because I just didn't think it was

00:18:57part of Kentucky at all.

00:18:58Louisville is its own state and Kentucky is its own state.

00:19:01You know, then Ohio and Indiana and all of that.

00:19:04I'm from the state of Louisville.

00:19:05There is a huge cultural gap between Kentucky fans and Louisville fans.

00:19:12Here it's not uncommon for a child to be raised knowing how to shoot a gun, fish, things of

00:19:18that nature.

00:19:19And there are people in more urban areas at the thoughts of letting a child eight or nine

00:19:25years old target shoot, that's reprehensible.

00:19:28Kentucky is a farming kind of country kind of state.

00:19:35Louisville is a big city, so you obviously have two different types of personality, people-wise.

00:19:40People out in the rest of the state view Louisville the same way that I think a lot of people

00:19:44around the country view New York.

00:19:45There's gang violence everywhere, you know, you can't walk anywhere without being shot.

00:19:48That's how people out in the state look at Louisville, and they don't like it.

00:19:51Out in the state for some reason has a problem with Louisville and Jefferson County, and Jefferson

00:19:55County and Louisville has a problem with out in the state.

00:19:57So it's not just UK and UofL, it's the dynamics of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

00:20:01That game comes down to cultural warfare in the form of a 40-minute basketball game.

00:20:06It's all these differences that Louisville has with the rest of the state coming to a head

00:20:09on a basketball court.

00:20:11Radio was the linchpin to the following that Kentucky built in the state.

00:20:16Back in the early 50s and on through the 60s, there were three or four networks who originated

00:20:23live broadcast, play-by-play broadcast of Kentucky games.

00:20:27Two great announcers, Claude Sullivan, who is based in Lexington, Kaywood Ledford, who

00:20:32is based in Louisville.

00:20:33Claude died of cancer in 1967 at a very young age, and that's when the UK radio network

00:20:41was formed with Kaywood Ledford as being the sole voice of the Wildcats.

00:20:46Of course, his voice was on WHAS, and WHAS was the station that you could hear way, way out.

00:20:56Kaywood was the guy who brought the cats into the homes of a very passionate and loyal fanbase.

00:21:05The people up in the mountains, they'd go to a little restaurant in the morning after

00:21:12the game, and they'd all say, did you hear what Kaywood said last night?

00:21:16Oh, boy.

00:21:17When he came on the air, kind of sent a chill down your back, you know.

00:21:23He had that kind of presence.

00:21:25And Kaywood just became so widely beloved around the state, he could have run for governor

00:21:30and won in a landslide.

00:21:31Kaywood was born to be the Kentucky announcer.

00:21:33He was born to be that, everybody loved Kaywood to death.

00:21:36His last game that he called was that Duke-Kentucky game in 1992, and even though Kentucky didn't

00:21:44win that game, what a great game to go out on.

00:21:50Coach Rupp was the czar of basketball.

00:21:56He won the national championship in 48, 49, 51.

00:22:00And during those years, that kind of success was just unheard of.

00:22:06They were so far ahead of everybody else at the SEC, you know, even averaging winning all

00:22:11of the games at 30 points.

00:22:13That back when Ralph Peart and Kenny Rollins, Alex Rosen, Ralph and Cliff Barker, Wawa Jones,

00:22:19Joe Holland, those were great players.

00:22:21After the war, he was so loaded, he had all Americans sitting on the bench.

00:22:25Really, they didn't even start, they had that many good players that you could have as many

00:22:29as you wanted.

00:22:29In those days, there was no limit.

00:22:32Rupp used to have tryouts for like 80 players, and he'd pick out the best ones he wanted.

00:22:37It was legal.

00:22:37Taking over for Coach Rupp, naturally, there was tremendous pressure.

00:22:43But I had the secure feeling that I had spent seven years in the program.

00:22:51There was nothing that was going to happen that would have surprised me.

00:22:57I can't imagine what it was like for Joe because of having to follow a legend and know what

00:23:03it's like in the broadcasting business when you're following a legend.

00:23:06I didn't have to do that.

00:23:07I was one removed from Kaywood, so that's a good place to be.

00:23:11It's hard following Adolph Rupp.

00:23:13I mean, you know, Adolph was Adolph, and Adolph got credit, wanted credit, reserved credit,

00:23:20and Joe B. was his assistant, so it was a tough job, but he had the respect of the citizens

00:23:25here.

00:23:26And no matter what, Coach Hall just kept going forward.

00:23:29And every interview that I ever had with him, any interview anybody ever had with him, he

00:23:35talked continually about the legacy of the program and that his job was to carry it on,

00:23:40his job was to continue to build it, and he did.

00:23:43Winning it in 78 was big, especially when you've got the target on your back.

00:23:47And then the Cats had the target on their back right from the beginning of that year with

00:23:53with Kyle Macy coming in, and then to have to beat Arkansas in a tough game in the semifinal

00:24:00and beat Duke to win it.

00:24:01It was really something.

00:24:06I can't imagine many programs where the equipment manager becomes an iconic figure or gains the

00:24:14status that Mr. Wildcat did.

00:24:16He was the last link to Adolph Rupp and Kentucky as the undisputed heavyweight champion of college

00:24:24basketball.

00:24:25Bill Kitely was my mailman when I started my company.

00:24:30He was a full-time employee of the Postal Office Department.

00:24:34And then later on, I think he was actually a full-time equipment manager.

00:24:37Bill was the most genuine man I've ever met.

00:24:39The first time I've met Bill, probably talked to him for 45 minutes.

00:24:43I felt like I knew him all my life.

00:24:45He made you feel like that.

00:24:47Oh, everybody loves Bill Kitely.

00:24:48He's a sweetheart.

00:24:49He's a fellow who want to have breakfast with their boys.

00:24:51He was the ultimate fan.

00:24:52He could afford to be more of a fan than K-wood.

00:24:55K-wood might be one, but he couldn't say it.

00:24:57He is the eternal optimist who truly did hate Louisville.

00:25:03The biggest thing for Bill was to beat Louisville.

00:25:05That was his thing.

00:25:08He always said that Christmas never really came until you beat Louisville.

00:25:27Early in the development of Louisville's program, they were in the smaller college division,

00:25:34the NAI.

00:25:35Then in 1944, they hired Peck Hickman, and he got some Navy transfers during World War

00:25:40II.

00:25:41One of them was an All-American at Harvard of all places, George Hopfuerer.

00:25:45And he began to beat Indiana and Purdue and other good teams.

00:25:49I think the game that really started Louisville before Denny got here was the mid-50s when

00:25:55they won the NIT in New York Madison Square Garden.

00:25:58The NIT was the top tournament at that time.

00:26:00I think that really put Louisville on the map.

00:26:03I'd first become aware of Denny Crum when I was covering college basketball for Sports

00:26:08Illustrated in the late 60s and early 70s.

00:26:11He was young, charismatic, came from UCLA, was coached by Coach Wooden.

00:26:17And when he got here, he dominated.

00:26:19But when Denny came to town, you went to the Final Four right away in 1972.

00:26:25And that sort of ups the ante right at the outset.

00:26:28Denny had a man, he had that John Wooden brain, and he brought the high post offense,

00:26:34which at that time, no three-point shot.

00:26:36That's what made a lot of Denny's team so successful.

00:26:39An organized offense, but yet the players had the freedom to show their individual talents

00:26:46at the same time.

00:26:47Louisville had developed a cast of characters that came to be known as the Doctors of Dunks.

00:26:54They were looking for something so that they could identify themselves and separate them

00:26:59from everyone else.

00:27:01So they developed these Doctor Spocks and things for warm-ups and stuff.

00:27:11I don't know.

00:27:11It was kind of crazy.

00:27:12There was a very soulful presence to that team, and it was very much in stark contrast

00:27:19to what Joe B. Hall had going on at Kentucky.

00:27:22Not as much from a racial standpoint, but just from a very buttoned-down, very serious way

00:27:28of playing basketball and comporting themselves.

00:27:30Whereas up the road, Louisville was fun and freewheeling.

00:27:32They won the style war by a lot.

00:27:34The style of play that Louisville had, I think, was appealing to recruits.

00:27:39And that just put that much more pressure on the Kentucky program.

00:27:44And to this day, I think that's the 1980 UofL team that won the NCAA at Indianapolis.

00:27:51was one of the truly, really great teams.

00:27:5314 seconds left.

00:27:56Denny Crum, who has been eliminated from the Final Four, and has two other opportunities

00:28:01by UCLA, and now is only 14 seconds away from that precious first national championship.

00:28:09We had got Darrell Griffith, who was as good a player all around as most anybody you'll

00:28:15ever find.

00:28:15They called Griffith Dr. Duncanstein.

00:28:18Dr. Duncanstein.

00:28:19I've never seen anybody ever be able to dunk to basketball like Darrell Griffith.

00:28:24I just didn't think it got any better than Darrell Griffith.

00:28:26You know what I'm saying?

00:28:27Won the championship, you know, player of the year.

00:28:29When I was a kid, and my friends and I would play basketball in the backyard, I was always

00:28:34Darrell Griffith.

00:28:36People would be like, are you trying to be like George?

00:28:38Do that look like George?

00:28:38You know, when I was coming up, people was like, you're trying to be like Griff.

00:28:41And that's who we emulated when we were kids.

00:28:44You know, it was Darrell Griffith and, you know, Jerry Eves and all those guys, man.

00:28:49They didn't care who scored or who got the credit.

00:28:52And I think if you don't care who gets the credit, why a lot of good things can happen

00:28:58to your teams.

00:28:59Denny, what's all the excitement?

00:29:00Just another day at the office.

00:29:01Not exactly another day.

00:29:03It's a day of history.

00:29:05Congratulations, Steve.

00:29:06Thanks for that, man.

00:29:06It's what I wanted since I came here.

00:29:08It's not a bad way to finish your career.

00:29:10Not at all.

00:29:11Brian, I thought Denny Crum's comment was most significant.

00:29:14He says, you can't live in the past.

00:29:17It was our turn this year.

00:29:23In 1948, they had a qualifying tournament for the Olympic team.

00:29:28And Louisville qualified by winning the NAIB.

00:29:31Kentucky won the NCAA and qualified.

00:29:33So, Kentucky played Louisville in the first game and beat us like 91 to 57.

00:29:38And, of course, they represented the USA in London and won the Olympic medal.

00:29:42And when they came back, there was a train station in downtown Lexington.

00:29:46I'll never forget that.

00:29:47They took them up and down in Convertible down Main Street.

00:29:51Well, in 59, they didn't even televise the game.

00:29:53That was probably the worst record that we had in the years that I was at the University

00:29:58of Louisville.

00:29:58I think going into tournament time, we were probably 13 wins and probably 10 losses.

00:30:07It was in Evanston, Illinois at Northwestern University.

00:30:10So, it was on the radio.

00:30:12Louisville was down by 15 in the first half.

00:30:14And Louisville ended up winning, I think it was 76-61.

00:30:17And it was just unreal because Kentucky was number two in the country and Louisville was,

00:30:22you know, not ranked.

00:30:26Well, when I took the Louisville job, I felt like it was important that we play the best

00:30:32schedule we could play.

00:30:34And you want to play the best teams, well, Kentucky was usually one of the best teams.

00:30:39Denny immediately just couldn't understand why Kentucky and Louisville didn't play.

00:30:45And there was a story in the newspaper about what great recruits Kentucky had.

00:30:49And Denny said, well, yeah, they have a great class, but I think have one better.

00:30:53And that really was the first time that anybody had ever questioned Kentucky's superiority in

00:31:00the state.

00:31:00I kind of kept on Kentucky.

00:31:02I chided them in the news about not being willing to play us.

00:31:06Denny was kind of the great villain because he was pushing for this game.

00:31:11And Kentucky doesn't like to be pushed.

00:31:14When Ed Diddle was having some great teams at Western Kentucky, when Peck Hickman was here

00:31:18at the University of Louisville, they kind of accepted things the way they were.

00:31:24And they'd never made any particular big racket about wanting to play Kentucky.

00:31:29It was just a foregone conclusion that Kentucky was on a different level from everybody else.

00:31:35Coach Hall was entrenched in his position that he had inherited really from Coach Rupp,

00:31:39and I think believed in.

00:31:41And so you had two strong forces on either end of the spectrum that both had, you know,

00:31:47top five programs.

00:31:48And the pressure from media and to fans certainly just continued to grow.

00:31:56Denny Crum goes to the NCAA in 72.

00:32:00Then he goes in 75.

00:32:02Then in 1980, we won the championship.

00:32:05By that time, everybody's saying, well, how come these two teams are never playing?

00:32:08The idea was really catching hold that Louisville is now at that position

00:32:12where it deserves to be in the same conversation with Kentucky.

00:32:16So I thought now's the time to write a column that says, okay, it's time for Kentucky to get off

00:32:23its high horse,

00:32:24and it's time to begin a series in both basketball and football.

00:32:29I have to give Billy Reed quite a bit of credit.

00:32:32He was a top writer in the state.

00:32:35Billy Reed had Kentucky ties, but he worked here in Louisville.

00:32:39I don't think the Lexington media was pushing it that much,

00:32:42but it began to roll like a snowball downhill.

00:32:46The Courier Journal had home delivery in all 120 Kentucky counties.

00:32:50When people around the state got up on Tuesday morning,

00:32:54they knew that Louisville had won the championship,

00:32:56and the first thing that a lot of the Kentucky fans read was my column,

00:33:00and they just went ballistic.

00:33:02There was really a strong anti-response around the state,

00:33:07which was predominantly dominated by Kentucky.

00:33:10Here in Jefferson County, of course, the Louisville fans loved it.

00:33:14We just wanted that game so bad.

00:33:16If we lost, we lost.

00:33:17If we won, we won.

00:33:18But we thought we could win our senior year.

00:33:20We were ranked number one in the country, and we just wanted to line up against them.

00:33:26A lot of people don't remember that in 1975, if Terry Howard,

00:33:33who was a 90-plus percent free throw shooter,

00:33:37hadn't missed the front end of a one-and-one,

00:33:40UofL would have been playing Kentucky in the final championship game and not UCLA.

00:33:45Yeah, the almost game, the biggest almost game of them all, 1975.

00:33:49They had to go to San Diego and play Coach John Wooden.

00:33:53The big feeling was that if Louisville beat UCLA, it could be an all-Kentucky final.

00:34:00Everything was going good.

00:34:01We were up almost the whole game, and it was just a super game.

00:34:05Long looper to Bridgman, drives to the baseline.

00:34:08Bounces along the baseline.

00:34:09Turned and put up and in by a button.

00:34:11Bill Button racks up into another point.

00:34:14And Louisville leads by four, 43-39.

00:34:16And so we're one point up, and it's our ball.

00:34:20And so here it is again.

00:34:23It's in my hands like always, because that's just what we do.

00:34:26And that's just what we did.

00:34:28Terry Howard with it.

00:34:29They would rather he be fouled than anybody out there.

00:34:31Coach Wooden was standing up on the sidelines, which he never stood up.

00:34:35He was screaming, which he never screamed.

00:34:37And he was saying, don't foul Howard.

00:34:39Don't foul Howard.

00:34:40He had Mr. Freethow.

00:34:41Don't foul Howard.

00:34:42And they fouled Howard, myself.

00:34:4520 seconds to go.

00:34:46One and one.

00:34:47He fires it.

00:34:48It hit the right side of the rim.

00:34:49Left side.

00:34:49It went in, and then it bounced out.

00:34:52But now they got the rebound, and they had to hustle down and make the shot.

00:34:56Nine seconds left.

00:34:57Off on the right side.

00:34:58It goes to Johnson.

00:34:59They go into Washington.

00:35:00Up for a jumper at 10.

00:35:01He's got it.

00:35:03UCLA wins it 75 to 74.

00:35:06We got to the final four, which was, I think, a really good accomplishment.

00:35:12And it kind of catapulted us, you know, into the national scene.

00:35:201982, I've never seen Louisville more excited.

00:35:23Everybody just assumed that Louisville and Kentucky were going to meet in that tournament.

00:35:28Louisville and Kentucky were both sent to a regional down in Nashville, Tennessee.

00:35:32And it looked like a meeting was inevitable.

00:35:35Kentucky was to play Middle Tennessee.

00:35:37And everybody thought, well, all Kentucky's got to do is show up.

00:35:40And they'll beat Middle Tennessee, and they'll be playing Louisville on Saturday.

00:35:44Middle cannot beat Kentucky.

00:35:46Can't do it.

00:35:46No way.

00:35:47Unless Kentucky shoots almost zero percent.

00:35:51The telephones are ringing off the hook.

00:35:53People got questions about everything.

00:35:55I get a call.

00:35:56A man says, Van.

00:35:57Now, I don't know whether this man was a crazy Kentucky fan or a crazy Louisville fan,

00:36:02but he was a crazy fan.

00:36:04He said, Van, I need to ask you a question.

00:36:06I said, yeah, what's that?

00:36:08He said, I'm going to be in Samoa Saturday when Louisville and Kentucky play that game.

00:36:12Can you tell me what channel that game's going to be on in Samoa?

00:36:17I said, man, I don't even know if they have a television station in Samoa.

00:36:21But there was one big problem.

00:36:24The dream game never came off because a little heard of university called Middle Tennessee

00:36:28beat Kentucky and took the Wildcats' place against UofL.

00:36:32Everybody was just shocked by that.

00:36:34Joe Hall, I think his comment after the game was that Kentucky had lost its electrolytes.

00:36:40But people were really disappointed.

00:36:42I think a lot of people were because they thought that was going to be the year,

00:36:45but they had to wait one more year before they finally got what came to be known as the dream

00:36:50game.

00:36:55The dream game was actually set up by CBS and the NCAA.

00:37:00That's what caused that game to be played.

00:37:03Finally, you had this meeting for the first time in 25 years,

00:37:07both in Knoxville and all over the state of Kentucky.

00:37:11The anticipation was overwhelming.

00:37:14Kentucky by five. Easy. Very easy.

00:37:17No, Louisville by five.

00:37:18Okay, friend, I'll meet you right here Monday morning.

00:37:22If Kentucky loses to Louisville, are you going to hate Louisville more?

00:37:25No. I think they're my second favorite team. Still will be.

00:37:29Well, they've got me a hat made up here, where on one side it's the Kentucky Wildcats,

00:37:33on the other side it's the UofL Cardinals,

00:37:35so I guess I'll have to wear it one way one half and the other way the other half.

00:37:39Louisville and Kentucky are finally going to play each other.

00:37:42But why the two schools do not play each other on a regularly scheduled basis

00:37:47is a touchy subject, as John Tesh found out.

00:37:49These two schools are so close, and they both have great basketball programs, yet...

00:37:55Cut. Can we dissolve here just a minute?

00:37:58They're afraid of you?

00:38:00Well, did you ask them that?

00:38:02Well, we asked Coach Hall...

00:38:04And he wouldn't give you an answer, would he?

00:38:06Well, he tried to walk out on the interview, actually.

00:38:09Yeah. Well, that's typical.

00:38:11Joe did not paint himself in the best light at that time,

00:38:14and it made Kentucky look weak, and it made them look scared.

00:38:19And then he really had the upper hand going into that game.

00:38:23It was quite a scene, the excitement and the expectation of what was going to happen.

00:38:28You almost kind of catch your breath just to see them warming up on the same court.

00:38:33You felt like you were witnessing history.

00:38:35Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the University of Tennessee

00:38:39for the championship game of the 1983 NCAA Mid-East Regional Basketball Tournament.

00:38:46If you remember the way that the press box was at Stokely Athletic Center,

00:38:54he walked up on a catwalk and the thing just shook.

00:38:57You were lucky if you walked out of there without a visual impairment of some kind,

00:39:01because the blue and the red are down there playing, and solid orange everywhere.

00:39:07It was everything that you could possibly expect in a rivalry in sports.

00:39:13We want Big Blue!

00:39:15We want Big Blue!

00:39:17Go Big Blue!

00:39:19Go Big Blue!

00:39:20Go Big Blue!

00:39:21Go Big Blue!

00:39:22The night before, I thought, well, I wonder what it would look like

00:39:25if I took a red coat and cut it in half and then a blue coat and matched them up.

00:39:31John Y. Brown, who was a Kentucky graduate, was the governor of the state of Kentucky,

00:39:36and he wore a sport coat that had blue on this side and down the sleeve,

00:39:44and red on one other side down the sleeve, and he sat right at center court.

00:39:50Well, I think the crowd was sort of stunned.

00:39:53You know, the Kentucky fans didn't like it, figuring he was a U.K. alumnus that he should be for

00:39:58them,

00:39:58and of course the Louisville fans loved it.

00:40:00He is wearing, as you can see, the split coat, the red and the blue.

00:40:04He sat on the Kentucky side the first half, now on the Louisville side in the second half.

00:40:08Louisville had a habit, that team and a lot of Denny's teams, of struggling in early parts of games to

00:40:15get it all together.

00:40:16They would always fall behind, but by the end of the game, here they'd come.

00:40:20And that's kind of the way that game shaped up.

00:40:23You know, it was a game that Kentucky seemed to have locked up and then let it get away.

00:40:28The tension was so thick, you could cut it with a dull knife.

00:40:41It was nip and tuck the whole way.

00:40:44We jumped ahead by two, and then Masters from their team hit a shot.

00:40:57Both teams played great basketball, but in the overtime,

00:41:01Louisville was able to get on a roll.

00:41:03And in the overtime, they played just about the finest five minutes or so of basketball

00:41:08you'll ever see a team play.

00:41:10Neither one of these teams have lost in overtime this year.

00:41:13You know, you talk about this being for the championship of the Mideast.

00:41:16I think the key is that the championship of Kentucky, which will be something they'll talk about much longer.

00:41:21Overtime started, and I think Louisville scored first, and then Kentucky scored,

00:41:28and then the world exploded.

00:41:31Milt and Lancaster just steal, dunk, steal, dunk, steal, dunk.

00:41:36And every steal and every dunk, it got louder and it got louder and it got louder.

00:41:40It was pretty hard because there was so much on the line.

00:41:44And you're not just talking about playing Louisville here.

00:41:47You're talking about for the right to go to the final four.

00:41:50You gotta give UL credit.

00:41:51They come back and play the heck of a game.

00:41:54Well, who are you pulling for now?

00:41:55Houston.

00:41:57I'm very excited.

00:41:58We've been waiting for this day to let UK know that UL's got it all.

00:42:02We whoop those pussycats.

00:42:04Meow, meow.

00:42:06I love it.

00:42:07I love it.

00:42:08How happy are you?

00:42:10Pretty happy.

00:42:11I was for Kentucky, but I'll take this.

00:42:14Are you gonna root for the cards now?

00:42:15You better believe it.

00:42:16Of course, if you're a Louisville fan, we beat them 12 points in overtime.

00:42:20So, for you, that's had to be a dream come true.

00:42:25Probably not a dream game for Kentucky fans.

00:42:28But if you wanted to see both teams playing, it was probably a dream game for everyone.

00:42:42To have all that build up for everybody's lifetime and then they go into that game

00:42:47and to have it actually be as good as what everybody wanted it to be, that's phenomenal.

00:42:52It really did start the rivalry.

00:42:55That started it.

00:42:56Then all of our cheerleaders out there got together, their cheerleaders and our cheerleaders,

00:43:02and they intertwined arm and they sang my old Kentucky home.

00:43:05It was sort of like the Israelis and the Palestinians coming together.

00:43:14It was certainly a very, very emotional day for a lot of people in Kentucky

00:43:20who were invested heavily in basketball.

00:43:30After the game in Knoxville, Kentucky didn't right away say that we were gonna play Louisville.

00:43:37There were pros and cons about whether you should or should not play them.

00:43:40A lot of people felt like I did and I wasn't gonna accomplish by it.

00:43:43And a lot of people felt like, why not?

00:43:44They're 80 miles up the road and they're in the top ten all the time.

00:43:48Why don't you play each other?

00:43:49As usual, money stepped in.

00:43:51One of my goals when I took office was to have U of K play U of L.

00:43:56A week before I left office, I remember, oh my gosh, you know,

00:44:00I haven't done anything on that.

00:44:01And the chairman of the board of UK happened to be in my cabinet, Bill Sturgill.

00:44:05And so I called him the night before their board meeting and I said,

00:44:08Now, Bill, you promised me to get this game on.

00:44:11It needs to get on.

00:44:12And he said, Well, Doc Sturgill doesn't want it.

00:44:14And I said, Now, Bill, I got the votes on that board.

00:44:16If you need me, come over there and vote.

00:44:19And he said, Okay, Governor, I'll get it done.

00:44:21And he got it done.

00:44:22And I think it's a great rivalry.

00:44:24Finally, in the summer of 1983, they agreed to play a home and home series.

00:44:29Coach Drum had pushed hard for it.

00:44:31He wanted it.

00:44:33And he had it.

00:44:34And as it turned out, it wasn't going to be easy for him.

00:44:38It wasn't going to be easy at all.

00:44:39First ten years of the series, it pretty much went Kentucky's way.

00:44:46You can strike up a U of L UK conversation or argument, depending on which way you want to go,

00:44:53any day of the week, of any month, any time.

00:44:57N.I.G.

00:44:59N.I.G.

00:45:00N.I.G.

00:45:02N.I.G.

00:45:03N.I.G.

00:45:04Read your game.

00:45:06Read your game.

00:45:07That game means so much.

00:45:09That game sometimes people, you know, UK fans or UofL fans,

00:45:13all they really worry about is winning that one game.

00:45:15And the rest of the season, you know, whatever happens, happens.

00:45:18But that one game is so important.

00:45:20Ask a fan, what do you want more, to beat UK or to win a national championship?

00:45:24You've got some fans that will say beat UK and go 2-30 in the entire season.

00:45:29So it's really like that out here.

00:45:31That game in December or that game in early January, you lose it.

00:45:34You're hearing about it for an entire year.

00:45:36It doesn't matter what your team does the rest of the year.

00:45:38We won the national championship in 98, but Louisville beat us by three at our place.

00:45:43And, you know, I would come home and I would hear the, you know, number one in the nation,

00:45:47number two in the states from people.

00:45:49You know, that was a little annoying.

00:45:51Whether Kentucky wins or lose, I'll get a family member.

00:45:55They'll call me, you know, and what about Louisville?

00:45:58What about Louisville?

00:45:58And this and that.

00:45:59And then, oh, my God, the pandemonium in my family for Louisville.

00:46:03And, of course, what's phenomenal about it is, is, you know,

00:46:06if we're not both top ten teams, it's unusual.

00:46:08They're always very good.

00:46:09We're always very good.

00:46:10Yeah, there'll be ups and downs every now and then, not very often.

00:46:13But it really doesn't matter when they play.

00:46:16Even if the Wildcats should win by 15, they're not.

00:46:18Even if we're supposed to win by 15, they're not.

00:46:20It's always a good game.

00:46:22Everybody looks forward to it around here, and it really means something special around here.

00:46:25If grown men didn't fear what others would say about shedding tears and stuff like that,

00:46:32some of these guys would cry after I lost.

00:46:34You know what I'm saying?

00:46:34I feel that way sometimes.

00:46:36And that was it.

00:46:40The last time I ever rooted for the Dirty Birds, that's the way it is.

00:46:50You have to understand the fan mentality.

00:46:54And what the fan mentality is, it's the number one rule.

00:47:00It's not you love your team.

00:47:03It's you hate your rival.

00:47:06The constant, I guess, my team's better than your team.

00:47:12I mean, it is omnipresent.

00:47:14And my school has more class than your school.

00:47:16And my school does things the right way and yours doesn't.

00:47:18And, you know, we're funnier and we're smarter and our degrees are better and everything.

00:47:22I mean, it just permeates kind of every level.

00:47:25Of all the places I've been and all the rivalries that I've seen and I coached 41 years,

00:47:34I can tell you there's none more intense than the Louisville-Kentucky rivalry.

00:47:41North Carolina-Duke, the rivalry is based, I think, on the status of the programs and the competitiveness of the

00:47:47games.

00:47:48There's not as much passion there.

00:47:49If Duke loses to North Carolina in that first game in January, you know, they go home, they study,

00:47:53they do whatever they do if you're a Duke fan.

00:47:55And, you know, they say, we'll get them next time.

00:47:57And if we don't get them next time, we might get them in the ACC tournament.

00:48:00Kentucky Louisville fans, you get one chance.

00:48:01I think both fans are as passionate about their programs as any place in the United States.

00:48:07These are fans who would bleed for their teams and do bleed for their teams.

00:48:13There's nothing that infuses passion than Kentucky versus Louisville.

00:48:19Blue versus red. Red versus blue.

00:48:22There's nothing, any place in this country, that evokes that kind of passion and feeling.

00:48:28I didn't think it would be that crazy, like, as far as basketball, because, you know, New York, the Mecca.

00:48:33But this is out there.

00:48:34Like, as far as the U.K. and Louisville, and then you got Indiana across the bridge.

00:48:39Then you even got the Western Kentucky fans, the Die Hard.

00:48:42Fans of those guys and Bellarmine, it's nice.

00:48:45It means nothing to me. I don't care about the rivalries.

00:48:47Sometimes I get upset with the players because I don't see the players playing as hard as I want them

00:48:52to play.

00:48:52When they play Kentucky. But they don't understand the rivalry that the fans have.

00:48:59Have you ever heard the history of it? Has anyone ever taught you it?

00:49:02No. I don't really want to know because I see people, like, going crazy.

00:49:07They just come in and play another game of ball to them.

00:49:10Basketball is just huge here. You know, we don't have a pro team here.

00:49:12And so everybody just loves Louisville and Kentucky basketball.

00:49:15So, you know, this is great. I mean, it's fun for the fans.

00:49:18You know, this is what you come to college for, and it's a great experience out here.

00:49:23What kind of fans are you going to be?

00:49:25Louisville. Throw up your L.

00:49:27Throw up your L, Avery. Throw them up. Come on.

00:49:32No, you got to use two fingers. Yeah, like that.

00:49:35Put them together. Bing.

00:49:38Put them together. Bing. Yeah. Say Louisville. Say Louisville.

00:49:46Yeah, y'all heard him.

00:49:52I've always lived in Eastern Kentucky, and I've always been from the country.

00:49:57Eastern Kentucky has always been a poor, polished area.

00:50:01Kentucky basketball is something I think you can be proud of,

00:50:03even though things may be tough at home and, you know, the crops may be not doing very good

00:50:08or work may be going bad or whatever.

00:50:10And you think everything's against you, well, we can watch Kentucky basketball and see winners and everything's okay.

00:50:16I started this business in the summer of 1985.

00:50:20I guess that makes it 27 years I've been doing this.

00:50:23I've been coming to work five or six days a week, sometimes seven days a week ever since then.

00:50:29And I really like the fact that I get to frame a lot of Kentucky stuff, because I enjoy that.

00:50:34I'll put that on there along with that, and I think that'll look really nice.

00:50:37That looks really good.

00:50:38All right.

00:50:38Sounds good. Thanks a lot.

00:50:39Thanks, sir. Appreciate it.

00:50:40See you.

00:50:41I should have this probably about a week or so gone.

00:50:43Okay.

00:50:44Christmas time is my busy season.

00:50:46But I make sure if I have to, I go home, watch the games, and come back to work.

00:50:51I will watch the games if at all possible.

00:50:54Like I say, nothing in particular made me a Kentucky fan.

00:50:56I think I just was, ever since I go, I just remember because my dad was a Kentucky fan.

00:51:01Elliot Brindley, 46 years old.

00:51:03Been a Louisville fan since 1975.

00:51:06I was actually a Hoosier by birth.

00:51:08Cardinal by the grace of God, so they say.

00:51:10Cardinal country.

00:51:12Who's on there?

00:51:13Felton Spencer.

00:51:15Purvis Ellison.

00:51:16Kenny Payne.

00:51:17Will Ologist.

00:51:18Yeah, man, this stuff's ancient.

00:51:21I don't think I ever wore this shirt because it's a large, and it would probably swallow me now,

00:51:26so I know it would have swallowed me at 15.

00:51:28The original Dream Game, Ticket Stub, yeah, it's in pretty good shape, I'd say.

00:51:34Really, the biggest memory I have is the first Dream Game when I was about 14 years old.

00:51:40I believe I was in late middle school or early high school.

00:51:45Miss Jones, do you have Elliot Brindley in your class?

00:51:47And I thought, oh, my God, what did I do now?

00:51:49Can you send him to the office, please?

00:51:50And I thought, man, this is not going to end well.

00:51:52So I go up to the office, and my dad's standing there.

00:51:55Bad news.

00:51:56He's got his trench coat on.

00:51:58I'm like, oh, my God, they called him up here.

00:52:00I'm in huge trouble.

00:52:01And he pulls the tickets out.

00:52:03Went back to class, got my books, got in a car with my mother, my father, another couple,

00:52:10and we drove all the way to Knoxville.

00:52:13And that was just, that game was unbelievable.

00:52:17Unbelievable game.

00:52:18I'll never forget it, ever.

00:52:20That's one of the defining moments of my sports history.

00:52:27My perception is that Louisville fans are just nasty people.

00:52:32They're the people that don't have anything constructive to say about anything.

00:52:38They're just looking to tear something down.

00:52:40First and foremost, I'm a Louisville fan.

00:52:43Second off, I'm a Kentucky hater.

00:52:46I don't care what game they play, I want them to lose.

00:52:49Kentucky fans ignore Louisville, and that upsets the Louisville fans.

00:52:54They just don't consider Louisville to be worthy to be in their thought process.

00:53:00They're people, they have UK hubcaps.

00:53:03They have a commode seat in the UK.

00:53:06Towels they dry off with is UK.

00:53:09They wear blue and white clothes.

00:53:11They dress up like old cheerleaders.

00:53:13Both teams, both sides.

00:53:15You look in my closet, you're going to see Louisville, Louisville, Louisville,

00:53:18Kentucky hater, Kentucky hater, Louisville, Louisville, Louisville, Louisville,

00:53:21Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky hater, Louisville, Louisville.

00:53:23All right, that's all I'll address.

00:53:25Also in relations to Louisville, it's very important for Kentucky fans to say,

00:53:29we are better than you.

00:53:30Kentucky fans don't know anything about Kentucky basketball.

00:53:33Yeah, they might know their players and they're real passionate about their team,

00:53:36but a lot of times you get to asking them some questions about other,

00:53:40even SEC teams or, you know, what's going on with the rest of the country and stuff.

00:53:44And they really, you know, not that knowledgeable to me.

00:53:47From my experiences, UofL fans are not completely die-hard, sold-to-the-bone fans.

00:53:56Being a Kentucky fan is a central part of who they are for a lot of, not all of them,

00:54:01but for a lot of them.

00:54:02It's more a major part of what they do.

00:54:04It's very comparable to religion.

00:54:06I think people have that one friend or those two friends who are so rational in every other aspect of

00:54:11life,

00:54:11but when religion comes into play, they just, they can't think or speak or act or hear or think rationally.

00:54:17And that's the way UK fans are.

00:54:19Our fervor is described as almost religious, and the arena itself, Rupp Arena,

00:54:25is often described as a secular cathedral or temple or shrine.

00:54:30But I think what that says is that there's a spirit associated with it that is uplifting.

00:54:35And that's what's so important.

00:54:39When Eddie left, it was probably the lowest ebb of Kentucky basketball in history.

00:54:45Emory air freight envelope broke open on a conveyor belt in Los Angeles, full of cash,

00:54:52addressed from the UK basketball office to the father of UK player Chris Mills.

00:54:58I remember when I heard about it, I think this was on a Saturday night,

00:55:03I could immediately see the future unfolding, and it wasn't a very pleasant future to contemplate.

00:55:11I was working for Sports Illustrated, as I said earlier, and we did a cover story called Kentucky Shame.

00:55:18It was kind of like a family legacy falling apart.

00:55:21When Rick Pitino came in as the Kentucky coach, I was convinced it would just take years

00:55:26to get Kentucky back to the top.

00:55:29When he came to UK, the program was, it's as close to the death penalty as anybody's had without getting

00:55:34it.

00:55:34Rick always loves to be an underdog and work himself up.

00:55:38And there was no better place to come than Kentucky because it had a history.

00:55:43What he did in his first season, they went 14-14,

00:55:48Kaywood Ledford said it was a miracle.

00:55:50He said he should be coach of the year for what he did.

00:55:52To this day, I don't think there's another coach anyplace.

00:55:55Anyplace that was available then that could have done what Rick Pitino did with this program.

00:56:03To be honest with you, I wasn't a Rick fan.

00:56:06I wasn't a Rick fan because he's an Ivy League man, you know, nice tie, nice dress.

00:56:12I didn't think he'd make it to Kentucky.

00:56:13He was a Yankee, first of all. We didn't hardly understand him.

00:56:18But once he started winning, we learned to appreciate him.

00:56:21He had committed to a philosophy, and that is that they were going to shoot threes like crazy,

00:56:27and they were going to press like crazy, and they were going to live and die with that.

00:56:31Don't wait and let them come to your body.

00:56:34Rotate up to the man, and rotate down on the inside.

00:56:37All right, Bill, this one.

00:56:42Kentucky fans adored him.

00:56:43They loved his sort of New York attitude and, you know, his swagger.

00:56:49And then those early Kentucky teams he had are the most beloved in the history of the school.

00:56:54The Unforgettables, of course, was the team that lost to Duke with the Leitner shot.

00:56:59They're called the Unforgettables because when Coach Patino came in as the head coach,

00:57:05these four guys, they were not probably the most athletic group, but they had the hearts.

00:57:15And they're the ones that suck it out, and they'll always be remembered.

00:57:20And the team that he put together in 1996 is probably the best team that I've ever seen.

00:57:27They were so deep. Their second five was like a top 15 team as well.

00:57:32He actually could have won another title there, but he had one kid there.

00:57:35Anderson, I think his name was. He didn't play because of the need.

00:57:39In 1996, we won a championship.

00:57:41In 97 my senior year, I got hurt. We went to the championship game and lost in overtime.

00:57:45We won it again in 1998. We had a dynasty in a modern era that was unheard of.

00:57:49God, if I would have played, maybe we would have won that.

00:57:52But I think we had a dynasty of a team that people could just look at and be like,

00:57:56this team is just unbelievable. That's why we were ranked number one or two in any polls

00:58:00of the best college team put together.

00:58:02So I was just proud to be a part of that moment in college basketball.

00:58:07Louisville went through a little soft spot there, six, seven years.

00:58:11And I wanted to come back to the recruiters they had.

00:58:13Danny's recruiting fell off some after he lost Wade Houston as a coach.

00:58:18You know, Wade went to Tennessee.

00:58:20We would have probably won another couple of national championships with Allen Houston.

00:58:24There's no doubt about it.

00:58:25This is a program that was the preeminent team in the 1980s.

00:58:29And then all of a sudden you go to the 1990s where you have guys who can't make a jump

00:58:32shot.

00:58:32You're losing 21 games in the regular season.

00:58:35Louisville fans were tired of losing and they wanted a guy who could win.

00:58:38And where better are you going to go than Rick Pitino?

00:58:40He was weighing between, I think, Michigan and Louisville at that time.

00:58:48And the rumor was that he was going to take the Michigan job, which I preferred.

00:58:53I remember the day. It was in March of 2001.

00:58:57And I was in Philadelphia with Kentucky, which was getting ready to play in the Sweet 16.

00:59:02I said, Rick's going to Louisville, they're going to announce it today.

00:59:06I don't believe it. I don't believe it.

00:59:08They literally would not believe it until they saw it.

00:59:10Dean Smith wouldn't coach Duke.

00:59:12Mike Krzyzewski wouldn't coach Carolina.

00:59:15Clearly Rick Pitino would not coach Louisville.

00:59:17And then he did.

00:59:18And so all that love that was there for him turned into hate.

00:59:23I think a lot of people felt like that he was Benedict Arnold.

00:59:28What gets forgotten, which is that he went to the Celtics in between.

00:59:35He did not leave to take the Louisville job.

00:59:38He left to take the Boston Celtics job.

00:59:41If he had gone from Kentucky to Louisville, that would have been such an insult.

00:59:46But that's not what he did.

00:59:48It was ridiculous.

00:59:49I mean, it was to think about Rick Pitino standing on the other side after he won so many titles.

00:59:55And after you hated him so much down the road that he was actually going to be coaching your team.

01:00:01I mean, it was weird.

01:00:02He was the figure in Kentucky basketball.

01:00:05The guy who took them from the depths of probation, of the Sports Illustrated cover with Kentucky's shame,

01:00:10and really brought them back to national prominence.

01:00:12And then he leaves.

01:00:13And, you know, UK fans are thinking, it sucks, but it's okay.

01:00:15And then when he comes back, he comes to your biggest rival.

01:00:18It's a storyline that's still surreal, 11 years after it sort of began.

01:00:25At the end of Tubby Smith's time and Billy Gillespie's time, Kentucky was not getting the very best players.

01:00:33And Kentucky wants the very best players.

01:00:35And Calipari did that.

01:00:37He restored that superiority in the manpower.

01:00:42Cal is a PT Barnum, a Pied Piper, and a hell of a basketball coach all rolled into one.

01:00:49The one thing with Calipari, he's always on message.

01:00:51And the message is always to recruits.

01:00:53That is the way he thinks and operates all the time.

01:00:56Alex Poitras, can't believe it.

01:00:589 out of 10, 22 points, 5 rebounds, 4 for 5 from the line, and I'm all over.

01:01:05Yeah, because I want him to be the best version of him, not just play good.

01:01:09Everything he says is calculated for effect.

01:01:12And everything he says is calculated to get the next bunch of recruits listening and saying,

01:01:16I want to play for that guy.

01:01:17He doesn't listen to rap.

01:01:18He doesn't know who Drake or Jay-Z is.

01:01:21But he gets them there, because he knows that the players do.

01:01:23I think Kentucky fans always thought that celebrities were in the stands.

01:01:26But now there actually are.

01:01:28Well, Ashley Judd.

01:01:30She's from Lexington.

01:01:31And I don't think technically he's a star anymore.

01:01:33The results speak for themselves.

01:01:35He's done what he's telling these kids he's going to do.

01:01:37More Kentucky players have been drafted in the first round of the NBA draft over the past three years

01:01:41than any other program has ever done.

01:01:42He's a master, master motivator.

01:01:45He runs his practices like Coach Rupp used to.

01:01:47There's no assistant coaches on the floor.

01:01:49He stands in the middle of the floor, and he is the coach.

01:01:53I thought you hire a guy from Memphis, they just ripped a Final Four from them.

01:01:57I thought it was risky.

01:01:58World Wide West is one of his buddies.

01:02:01I don't know.

01:02:02He's either brilliant or he's a crook.

01:02:04There's this assumption that Cal, geez, and fans, especially Louisville fans, are hoping that's true.

01:02:10I mean, they want it.

01:02:11They're sitting there waiting for the thing to drop.

01:02:14I mean, look, if you've got national celebrities, movie stars.

01:02:18When Kentucky played Duke last week, Lil Wayne is sitting courtside cheering on Kentucky.

01:02:23Why does he need to give a few thousand dollars to get some kid to come to school?

01:02:27He doesn't need to.

01:02:28Coach Calipari is just another amazing fit for University of Kentucky, which throughout

01:02:36the history, we haven't had that many coaches.

01:02:40He just has it all, because coaching Kentucky basketball, it's not only grabbing your clipboard

01:02:46and being in a practice building with the guys.

01:02:51It's the community part, which is sometimes even much larger than the performers on the basketball.

01:02:58When Rick left Lexington, it was a divorce.

01:03:02It's okay.

01:03:04And Lexington didn't replace the husband, all right?

01:03:07They tried.

01:03:08They dated around.

01:03:10Tubby didn't work out.

01:03:12It wasn't Tubby's fault.

01:03:13It wasn't their fault.

01:03:14It just didn't work out.

01:03:15Billy G was a disaster.

01:03:17It didn't work out.

01:03:18They finally replaced Rick.

01:03:20That was the biggest thing, is that I think a lot of them have let the Rick thing go because

01:03:24they got remarried.

01:03:25Now they're sort of emotionally happy, so now they're okay with things.

01:03:30Rick's down at Louisville.

01:03:31That's fine.

01:03:31That's okay.

01:03:32I'm happy for you.

01:03:33Louisville, I'm happy for you.

01:03:35We're remarried.

01:03:40Sometimes I think great coaches and athletes and teams need a great opponent to bring

01:03:46out the best in them.

01:03:48When Rick Pitino came in, he brought out the best in Denny Crum in a couple of those games.

01:03:53And when John Calipari came in, that was a whole new challenge for Rick Pitino.

01:03:59Cal infuriated Rick and re-energized Rick both.

01:04:01Nobody could have written a book with this kind of intrigue.

01:04:05It's impossible to believe that that Rick Pitino is the head coach of the University

01:04:07of Louisville, and now the head coach at UK is one of the guys that he grew up being

01:04:11one of the biggest rivals with.

01:04:12It's just, there's so many different storylines to play.

01:04:15It really is Shakespearean.

01:04:16Oh boy.

01:04:18You know, this rivalry right now is not about Kentucky and Louisville.

01:04:23It's about two Italians.

01:04:25Calipari and Pitino hate each other.

01:04:26They can't say otherwise.

01:04:28They can act like they don't, but they do.

01:04:30I can understand why you don't want to carry on a public feud, because that's counterproductive

01:04:35to what they're doing.

01:04:36But any pretense of a friendly relationship is false.

01:04:40This thing, and again, I tease and say we don't send Christmas cards, but when my mother

01:04:44passed, he sent me a card and said that there's going to be a mask set for your mother.

01:04:49I don't care what you hear from anybody else.

01:04:52There is no love lost between those two individuals.

01:04:56Let's just say if one was drowning and the other was standing there and there was nobody

01:05:00around to witness it, you'd have one dead person.

01:05:03Well, I think if his name was McGillicuddy and I'm Pitino, it would never be brought up.

01:05:07But it's the Italian way.

01:05:09They always want to kill each other, you know, in the eyes of the public.

01:05:12Right.

01:05:12They think this is a mafia movie.

01:05:15It's a conspiracy.

01:05:17It's a rivalry.

01:05:18You've got two Italians.

01:05:21What do you expect?

01:05:22You take Calipari and Pitino, you're not going to find a bigger rivalry there.

01:05:26You can spin that any way you want to.

01:05:29There's passion on both sides there.

01:05:31They're alpha males.

01:05:32They love the spotlight, both of them.

01:05:34If one guy's getting the spotlight and they're not, they're hyper-competitive.

01:05:38They want it.

01:05:39I mean, from that standpoint, they have really actually goosed the rivalry up significantly.

01:05:43They both want to be number one, and that's good.

01:05:46That's good for basketball in the state.

01:05:50For more information, visit www.ituca.co.uk

01:06:15For more information, visit www.ituca.ustra.org

01:06:28There was a great sense of pride that the two teams from our state were playing for

01:06:34a shot to play in a national championship game, and Carolina and Duke had never been

01:06:39in that position, so it was Kentucky and Louisville the first ones to have that kind of rivalry

01:06:44matchup.

01:06:44Having covered sports in the area here for 25 years, it was the single greatest sporting

01:06:49event I've ever seen here.

01:06:51Police in Georgetown were called to a dialysis center Monday after a UK and UofL fan, each

01:06:5670 years old, gave each other a full court press during their treatment.

01:07:00The dialysis story is about as odd as I've ever heard.

01:07:06That week needed sort of a defining story that indicated just how crazy this rivalry is,

01:07:11and two guys fighting while they're hooked up to dialysis machines is about as insane

01:07:18Louisville, Kentucky as you can get.

01:07:20I didn't talk to him about the ball game.

01:07:21I was talking to another guy about the ball game.

01:07:22He's meddling.

01:07:24And told me, shut up.

01:07:26And then give me the finger.

01:07:28I said, what?

01:07:28I'm not talking to you.

01:07:29You know, I'm sitting there hooked up to a machine and I can't do anything.

01:07:32And I hit him.

01:07:33Didn't hit me at heart, but I hit him.

01:07:35It's a microcosm of the entire rivalry.

01:07:37These people are dealing with gigantic issues in their lives.

01:07:41They're elderly.

01:07:42They should be mature enough not to be fighting over basketball games.

01:07:45And yet it's still taking place.

01:07:52That's by 90.

01:07:53Louisville by 10, man.

01:07:54That's by 90.

01:07:55Louisville, Louisville.

01:07:57Beat Louisville.

01:07:58Beat.

01:08:00Loser, loser.

01:08:02Cards by two, last second three.

01:08:06It's got to be the drama to put the stake in their heart.

01:08:09If you were in New Orleans and you were on Bourbon Street, all you saw was red and blue.

01:08:14It was what this rivalry is really all about.

01:08:20I would say at least 40,000 to 45,000 of those fans in New Orleans for that Final Four

01:08:27first round there

01:08:29were from Kentucky and Louisville.

01:08:30It's going to be a good game.

01:08:31It's going to all depend on about defense.

01:08:33You know, both teams are really good in defense.

01:08:35And, you know, right now Kentucky has a lot more talent than Louisville, but may the defense team win.

01:08:40I actually think Louisville will be in foul trouble and it will be a blowout today.

01:08:43I'm kind of scared to see what happens.

01:08:46She'd rather lose than to see what happens.

01:08:48I'd rather lose than to see, have to deal with her being depressed the rest of the weekend.

01:09:04The Final Four was one of the greatest Final Fours that I was ever a part of.

01:09:11Kentucky was a very, very solid favorite to be the national champion.

01:09:16Louisville just felt very fortunate to be there.

01:09:20I think there was heavy anxiety for Kentucky fans.

01:09:23What if we lose?

01:09:24We have the best team.

01:09:26There's no way we can lose this game.

01:09:27Louisville was playing more with house money.

01:09:29It's all red and blue inside the dome.

01:09:32It's Jang.

01:09:32He's got Davis behind him.

01:09:34Davis trying to defend.

01:09:35Jones comes over and blocks it.

01:09:37His Kentucky team set a record.

01:09:39Most blocks in a season.

01:09:40Lamb with the baseliner in Kentucky.

01:09:42Three for three to open the game.

01:09:44Bahannon.

01:09:45Pulled up.

01:09:46Jump for her.

01:09:47Oh!

01:09:48My goodness!

01:09:50Blackshear.

01:09:51Timeout, Kentucky.

01:09:52Louisville makes a run and cuts it to three or four or something like that.

01:09:57I left.

01:09:57I couldn't take it.

01:09:58Because I was like, if we lose this game, I'm not going to be able to handle it.

01:10:01I went and watched it in a bar across the street because I just couldn't deal with it.

01:10:05Louisville put up a good fight, but it just wasn't going to happen.

01:10:09It was just too good a basketball team that John Calipari had.

01:10:13Kentucky wins the state championship and will play Monday night for the national championship.

01:10:29It's our fans.

01:10:31Our fans are great to us.

01:10:32We just go ahead and play ball.

01:10:34Our fans travel a long way.

01:10:35We want to go ahead and give them a show and give them what they want.

01:10:38It was the national championship.

01:10:39It was fun for a lot of reasons.

01:10:41It probably wasn't as much fun after the game for Louisville.

01:10:44But to be there with Kentucky, Louisville, you know, and then Kansas and Ohio State,

01:10:49that's about as blue blood as you can get.

01:10:51And for Kentucky fans, I don't know many that can say they ever had a better moment.

01:10:56We've waited a long time for this eighth national championship.

01:11:00And that's the national championship ring.

01:11:02The championship game was a testimony to Coach Calipari.

01:11:08It was a game where his superstar, Anthony Davis, had one basket and was still the star of the game.

01:11:17I always sort of enjoy, just on a personal level, somebody that can really impact a game without scoring a

01:11:24lot.

01:11:24Because it doesn't happen a lot.

01:11:26And it sort of makes the point about basketball being a team game.

01:11:35Calipari thrives on what it does.

01:11:36I love them.

01:11:37I wouldn't want a four- or five-year recruit.

01:11:39Give some time to be lazy.

01:11:42You know you've got to work because somebody else is coming in to take your spot.

01:11:46Calipari has the belief that if you give me the best players in the country, I'll win,

01:11:52regardless of whether they're freshmen or seniors.

01:11:54It's not a one-and-done.

01:11:55He goes and gets the best talent.

01:11:57You know, someone's going to get them.

01:11:58So when they say it's about one-and-done, no, he's just going to get the best talented players.

01:12:01If they're good to leave, then they do it.

01:12:03If they don't, they stay another year or two.

01:12:04I wish they had that one-and-done when I came out of high school.

01:12:06I would have done it, too.

01:12:09I can't pull for anybody that's got six one-and-outs.

01:12:13I can't.

01:12:15I like guys who come and stay two, three, four years, learn the city, learn the campus,

01:12:22learn the people, and then move on.

01:12:25And then when they get their degree, they'll be extremely proud of it.

01:12:28There's two parts of this.

01:12:29My option is to recruit players that aren't quite good enough or to convince young people

01:12:35to stay when they should leave.

01:12:36Two things is actually a downside.

01:12:38For me, personally, they don't stay long enough to get really – you just get attached to

01:12:43them and start to enjoy them as players, and then they're gone.

01:12:47In four years, you learn to really care about people.

01:12:50You get to know their families, their sisters, their background, their habits.

01:12:54You get to know their good parts and bad parts about them, and you care for them.

01:12:58Louisville fans know the backstories of every one of their players.

01:13:01I mean, this story about Peyton Siva sort of saving his dad's life when he was 13 years

01:13:05old only came out in his junior season.

01:13:07Had he left after his freshman year, Louisville fans would never know it.

01:13:10And that's what UK fans know about their players.

01:13:12They know the simple stuff, and then they go to the NBA, and that's it.

01:13:18Calipari said, last year we lost because we didn't have a team chemistry.

01:13:22What is a team?

01:13:23A team is five players who play together as a unit.

01:13:28They had good athletes.

01:13:29They shouldn't have been selfish.

01:13:31They should have come together.

01:13:32I know it broke their heart when Robert Morris just stormed the court like they just won

01:13:37a national championship.

01:13:40Oh, man, that felt so good.

01:13:42People outside of the UK fan base acted like UK fans were going to go crazy.

01:13:46They went crazy the Friday night they lost to Vandy.

01:13:49I think everybody was confident enough that last year was a bit of an aberration that they

01:13:55just wiped last year out of their mind.

01:13:56It just didn't happen.

01:13:58If, and I've posed this question to many UK fans, if it means having an NIT appearance

01:14:05every four years, if you go regional final, final four, national championship, and then

01:14:13you have to make an NIT appearance, would you do that?

01:14:17I've had 100% say yes.

01:14:22What do you think Louisville's chances are this year winning a championship?

01:14:25I think they're the favorite.

01:14:27I mean, I think they're going to probably win.

01:14:28They're playing the best of anybody.

01:14:30They got the most mature team in the thing.

01:14:33So I think they're probably the favorite.

01:14:35You know, the best team doesn't always win.

01:14:37I think the best team probably wins about half the time.

01:14:41Kentucky was the best team last year and won.

01:14:43So the odds would suggest this year the best team doesn't win.

01:14:46So that's what I'm hoping for.

01:14:48But I do think they're the best team, at least now.

01:14:50I can't watch them play at all.

01:14:52Because they're going to win, and I hate that they're going to win.

01:14:55They're just so Louisville, and their fans, they're all drunk from the start to the finish

01:15:00with their tattoos, and they're screaming, and they're yelling, and I'm just, I'm so over it.

01:15:06And you know, I hate Duke.

01:15:08I mean, I hate Duke.

01:15:09But if they play Louisville, I'm a Cameron crazy this weekend.

01:15:13I'll paint my face.

01:15:15I'll jump up and down.

01:15:16You know, I'll do whatever.

01:15:18Because we've got to have Louisville lose.

01:15:21What y'all got plans to win at NIT next year?

01:15:24Y'all seeking y'all revenge on Robert Morris?

01:15:26Hold on, hold on.

01:15:26I'm going to be there just a minute.

01:15:28So who's going to be more of a letdown?

01:15:31The fact that Kentucky lost against Robert Morris?

01:15:34You are a letdown.

01:15:35That the number one overall team are the fact that the number one overall team does not win at all.

01:15:41Going into the season.

01:15:42Number three in the nation, man.

01:15:44What was their number in recruit class?

01:15:45One.

01:15:46Number one.

01:15:47One, three.

01:15:48Number one in the same season they was in the NIT?

01:15:49That's a rest of people's success.

01:15:51I think our championships is the fact that Kentucky doesn't do well.

01:15:54It's not our championship at all.

01:15:55Yes, it is.

01:15:56It's not our championship.

01:15:56Yes, it is.

01:15:57I didn't even watch the Robert Morris game.

01:15:58I did.

01:16:24The Louisville team in 2013 was really one of the first teams that came along that made

01:16:29me wish I was still writing a sports column because they had such an interesting mix of personalities.

01:16:36The thing you've got to love about Coach Pitino is how he really molds a group of guys and

01:16:41turns them into a wonderful team.

01:16:43They made a good run.

01:16:44They made it to what, Final Four last year?

01:16:48Then we beat them.

01:16:50We lost them last year.

01:16:52We took it inside.

01:16:53They talked about what they did.

01:16:55Here we are.

01:16:56Right back again in the Final Four.

01:16:58Kentucky's got the best basketball, period.

01:17:01And I guess second best is Louisville, so we'll just keep the championship at the state.

01:17:04I guess sometimes second best has got to win.

01:17:07It's happening here tonight and Monday.

01:17:11I'm Donna.

01:17:12Put that wherever you want to put it.

01:17:14I predict it.

01:17:15We're bringing it home, Louisville.

01:17:17We're bringing it home.

01:17:19For y'all.

01:17:20For Kev Ware.

01:17:21Of course, I think when Kevin Ware suffered that horrific injury against Duke in Indianapolis,

01:17:27I think Louisville became America's team.

01:17:29It galvanized people, I think, for a couple of reasons.

01:17:31One was it was a horrific injury, but then to see the way Luke responded to that and the

01:17:37team responded to it as well, I mean, it just put this tremendously human face on the

01:17:42Cardinals.

01:17:42You turn on Good Morning America and they're talking about Kevin Ware.

01:17:45You turn on the evening news, they're talking about Kevin Ware.

01:17:47Everybody was talking about it.

01:17:48And the number one thought going through Kevin Ware's mind at the moment of the broken

01:17:52leg, at least my break is not busted.

01:18:05Louisville had a tremendous year and the Michigan game just showed what the cards were made of.

01:18:12You couldn't ask for any better of a championship game, the way those two teams went back and forth.

01:18:20Let's go cards, baby.

01:18:21We're going to win it.

01:18:22Playing with inspiration, motivation.

01:18:25Number one in the nation.

01:18:28I'm thinking we'll be national champs in a couple hours, but I'm really nervous right now.

01:18:35R-C-A-R-E-S.

01:18:40Can't go way down town.

01:18:42Well, I can show it from over the world.

01:18:49Big pick set out on top, but the ball is loose.

01:18:52And now they get it to see that it's going to be Louisville in front.

01:19:01And the Louisville Cardinals are the 75th NCAA college basketball champions.

01:19:13And Rick Pitino has won his second national title, first in Kentucky, and now at Louisville.

01:19:20The first man ever to do it at two different schools.

01:19:24Louisville just had so many people who stepped up, but that's how good they were.

01:19:29And Rick Pitino deserved all the credit.

01:19:31I mean, Pitino was incredible.

01:19:33He came back, what, three different games, 10 points down.

01:19:36He sort of established the character of that team.

01:19:39I think nationally, the publicity it brought to UofL, how they really cared for this young

01:19:44man and how they rallied behind him.

01:19:46It was a great story.

01:19:47It was sort of like a worst-case scenario for Kentucky, because they not only were very good

01:19:54and won the national championship, they also had the best human interest story with Kevin Ware.

01:19:59So they had it all.

01:20:01Everything seemed like it fell in place.

01:20:03Just like, you know, the Ware kid breaking his leg.

01:20:06You know, and you're thinking, oh, my goodness, that shot should devastate him.

01:20:09Well, what happens next game?

01:20:10Walk-on comes out in his two threes when they're down to Wichita State.

01:20:13He brings up, you know, helps them come back, so everything was just aligned for them, just

01:20:18right, like it did for us the year before that.

01:20:20My first response to myself was, man, Louisville thinks they are getting closer to us.

01:20:26What?

01:20:27We got to do something.

01:20:28We got to step it up.

01:20:29We can't have two or three more seasons like the one we just had.

01:20:32Louisville thinks they own the state.

01:20:34That's what I thought first.

01:20:36What are we going to do to show them that they're not?

01:20:45Oh, my, my.

01:20:47Oh, my, my.

01:20:50Let's see how you doing, big guy.

01:20:54See all this blue in there?

01:20:56Hey, how you doing?

01:20:57How you doing?

01:20:58Yeah.

01:20:58I think I owe you a bit of a apology for that, that we and y'all got.

01:21:02I said we was going to smash y'all and y'all wasn't going to be nothing.

01:21:04Y'all probably be in NIT.

01:21:06Y'all made us eat our words, but...

01:21:08It was kind of like the opposite way.

01:21:10Yeah, but, you know, I'm going to use a line from Louisville fans, so don't hate on me.

01:21:16Wait till next year.

01:21:17Wait till next season.

01:21:19You got one coming.

01:21:20Y'all been on the losing end for so long, now you're on the winning end.

01:21:24We get to say it.

01:21:25Wait till next year without wanting duds.

01:21:27You got five more to go.

01:21:28Five more to do what?

01:21:29Before you catch up in Kentucky.

01:21:30Why do you think somebody's trying to catch up?

01:21:32Come on, huh?

01:21:33Because you're always the little brother on the block.

01:21:35Next year, Kentucky will be back on top where we was, so you'll be back in your place where y

01:21:39'all

01:21:39ought to be.

01:21:40And everything will be back to normal.

01:21:42It'll be fine.

01:21:43Dude, the whole aura throughout the whole state of Kentucky will be, ah, it's back to normal.

01:21:48We own this state.

01:21:49Y'all don't own nothing.

01:21:50Yes, we do.

01:21:51We're not even in the same state.

01:21:52Louisville's his own state.

01:21:54You know, Louisville, capital Louisville.

01:21:56But, you know.

01:21:57The Louisville-Kentucky rivalry, there's really two factions, I think.

01:22:01It's the Louisville fans in Louisville against the Kentucky fans in Louisville.

01:22:04There is a strong Kentucky fan base over in the city of Louisville.

01:22:07There's no question about that.

01:22:08The University of Kentucky's largest alumni group is located here in Jefferson County.

01:22:13There's probably more Kentucky fans in Louisville than Louisville fans in Louisville.

01:22:19I hear from the UofL haters all the time that live around here.

01:22:23I get mail.

01:22:24You see it on social media saying, you know, I used to think that mayor was a good guy,

01:22:29but he's over the top for UofL.

01:22:31I'm never going to vote for him again.

01:22:33You know, this kind of stuff.

01:22:34And the people that come up and talk to me and they try to counsel me about this,

01:22:37I just look them in the eye and say, remember, I'm the mayor of Louisville, not Lexington.

01:22:42The city of Louisville is divided.

01:22:44And the city of Louisville is divided hard.

01:22:46And that's kind of ground zero.

01:22:48Once you leave Louisville, everywhere else is Kentucky.

01:22:50Everywhere else is from Kentucky.

01:22:52Yeah, they ain't got no sense.

01:22:53That's what it tells you.

01:22:54They out there working, making moonshine, and rooting for Kentucky and betting on horses.

01:23:02That's what we do in Kentucky.

01:23:03That's the way it is.

01:23:04And any of them with sense live in Louisville and go for Louisville.

01:23:08There's so many Kentucky fans in the city of Louisville.

01:23:11And there are so many Louisville fans who want to say, this is our place.

01:23:16This is where we play.

01:23:18Go watch your team somewhere else.

01:23:21That it's so funny to see that mix.

01:23:24Yeah, they all just kind of meet up here for drinks in this little town and everything goes nuts.

01:23:33The sports top prize on the line with Louisville and Kentucky playing each other, the state would explode.

01:23:38The city would be on fire.

01:23:40The city would be on fire.

01:23:43People would not be able to handle it.

01:23:46There'd be a whole bunch of people down on 60 Cedar in jail.

01:23:49There would be riots.

01:23:51There'd be a whole bunch of people in the middle of the street.

01:23:53You know, celebration may go on forever.

01:23:56They could get there on opposite sides of the bracket.

01:24:00And I hope I'm there to see it.

01:24:03I've been fortunate to see a lot of great games between the two schools with so much on the line.

01:24:10Going to the Final Four, playing in the Final Four.

01:24:15But to play for the championship, that would top it all.

01:24:19As a state, we are pretty much the kings of basketball right now.

01:24:24If you want to talk college basketball, it's not in Chapel Hill.

01:24:28It's not Tobacco Road.

01:24:30It's the state of Kentucky right now.

01:24:32Give me another state that wins a national championship one year with one team,

01:24:36a national championship the next year with another team.

01:24:38And then as you go into 2014, it could be again, one of those two again.

01:24:44Kentucky has this class of freshmen that, you know, is at the best class ever.

01:24:51And Louisville has, they're the defending national champion with most of those players back.

01:24:56And I think that's what gets everybody so excited in Kentucky about college basketball

01:25:00is kind of having these discussions on which way it's going to go.

01:25:04And I hope that continues for an awfully long time.

01:25:06It's good for our cities and it's good for the state.

01:25:08I don't see Cal going anywhere soon.

01:25:11I don't see Rick going anywhere soon.

01:25:14I think you're going to see this rivalry even get better.

01:25:16You can talk about blue and red all you want.

01:25:18It's Kentucky.

01:25:20It's the state of Kentucky and it's the state of Kentucky that benefits.

01:25:23Because after all, at the end of the day, we're all Kentuckians.

01:25:40We're all in the day.

01:26:11Well, I finally broke down and I framed a couple Louisville fixtures and took them to

01:26:15my mall, my peddler malls in Louisville, or the Sports Illustrated cover from the national

01:26:19championship.

01:26:20I want to congratulate them, I guess, for winning.

01:26:22If they don't sell, I'll probably burn them, but we'll try.

01:26:28This win also made Coach Patino the first coach in history to win the championship at

01:26:34two different schools.

01:26:43We won't name the other one right now.

01:26:48Well, Dick in Indiana, that they broke.

01:26:50Oh, yeah.

01:26:52Did you see that?

01:26:53Yeah, yeah, we saw that.

01:26:54We saw that.

01:26:55Yeah, that's my guy, too.

01:26:57But, you know, presidents can be wrong, too, sometimes, you know, hey, you know, presidents

01:27:02can be wrong sometimes, so.

01:27:06That's what concerns me about Louisville fans.

01:27:08Y'all are built for right now.

01:27:10Y'all get y'all pie, y'all cake, y'all gobbled up right now, y'all success.

01:27:13Y'all not sustainable for 10 to 15 years.

01:27:25The easiest thing in the world is to denigrate someone.

01:27:28I listen to it.

01:27:29It's only 5% of the local fans and 5% of Kentucky fans that do it.

01:27:32And the rest of it, you know, like I said, we're all married to each other, they live comfortably.

01:27:37You know, so they have children together, so it's, you know, now.

01:27:43Do you have Kentucky fans that kind of give you grief?

01:27:49He's getting better.

01:27:50See how he wears red?

01:27:51I'm a fan of both teams.

01:27:52He's a fan of both.

01:27:53I married him anyway.

01:27:55Wait a second.

01:27:55So, but you're wearing the Louisville stuff now?

01:27:57Have you converted them?

01:27:59Pretty much.

01:28:00Louisville's playing them for Louisville, and Kentucky's playing them for Kentucky.

01:28:03Gotcha.

01:28:04We're going to play each other for Kentucky to win an overtime.

01:28:11I want to go over and thank you both.

01:28:13I always think it's playing the finals, and they had to pass so many overtime,

01:28:17that they had to call a game because they wore the ball out.

01:28:23I think that's, unless you guys can think of anything else, I'm...

01:28:26You don't want to know anything about the football, Robert?

01:28:29Oh, yeah, sure.

01:28:38I don't want to know anything about the football, but we're not going to play.

01:28:41I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't want to beat that guy.

01:28:42That's okay.

01:28:43Oh.

01:28:44Oh.

01:28:46Oh.

01:28:47Oh.

01:28:49Oh.

01:28:50Oh.

01:28:52Oh.

01:29:03Oh.

01:29:06You

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