Caught Between Calipari, My Rock and a Hard Place

(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

The whole John Calipari "will he/won't he go" to the University of Kentucky thing put me in a very bad position. I found myself stuck in the middle of John Calipari, a rock and a very hard place.

Now, normally I would not be complaining about being stuck anywhere with Mr. Calipari because I have definitely ranked him in my Top 10 Hottie Coaches (who doesn't love a cocky, powerful, good looking Italian man?)  But this situation really called to light everything I hate about sports from the skyrocketing trend of choosing contracts over team loyalty to the hours and  hours of insane speculations.

First, I will say congrats to Calipari and to Kentucky since he just accepted their offer that will make him the highest paid NCAA basketball coach. Second, a big "sorry, that sucks" to Memphis.

John Calipari

Here's the thing. I love John Calipari. I have loved this guy, eversince I first discovered my love for college basketball back in like 1993 or 1994. I loved watching him on the sidelines of the UMass games and thought he was the greatest thing since Marcus Camby. I (reluctantly) admit now that Calipari is actually greater than Camby, although it still pains me greatly to say such things.

True, I wasn't jumping up and down and following Calipari when he went to the NBA, but that's just because I tend to be anti-Nets. Nor do I know all of his stats, figures, histories and stories.

I'll even come right out and admit that I haven't been following him much lately. In fact, the last few years I've only been a bandwagon NCAA basketball lover—meaning I hop on during March Madness, get excited about the tourney and my brackets then jump right back off to go into hibernation for 11 months.

Cut me some slack though!

You try moving to Florida with the girliest girls in America and see if sports penetrate your very pink sparkly, bubble world!

But to this day, when someone asks "who are your favorite coaches?" I automatically say Roy Williams, John Calipari and Phil Jackson. Maybe I've been brainwashed. But when I first started watching basketball, I liked the Chicago Bulls, the Boston Celtics (because my dad made me), the Kansas Jayhawks and the UMass Minutemen. From that point on, I adopted their favorite players, their rivalries and feuds, and most of all, their beloved coaches. At least, I picked teams with good ones.

This year, I finally took an avid interest in college basketball, again and when I found out Calipari was the coach for the Memphis Tigers, I adopted them as my team just because he was the coach.

I looked into the team and really, who doesn't love that kind of story? He took another small school in a mid-major conference and turned into something fantastic. I'm pretty much addicted to that little school in Tennessee that has made a really big name for itself.

And now he's going to Kentucky, a school that may have a long and wonderful basketball program but it's one that I've sworn to not like for the last oh, 15 years or so.

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