The Inner Struggle of a College Hoops Fan

Sometimes, a sports fan can't help but develop strong ties to multiple teams.  Most fans will avoid rooting for both USC and UCLA, North Carolina and Duke, Red Sox and Yankees, and Arsenal and Tottenham, to name a few.

But it's not uncommon for a fan to have multiple interests.  Perhaps they've moved to a new city and adopted that team, or sent a child to a different college.  Whatever the reason, people can be conflicted.

A few years ago, I thought my interests would safely stay away from each other, but I was dead wrong.

Our story begins in 1986.  After spending the first month of my life just outside of Los Angeles, my family moved to Lexington, KY, home of the Kentucky Wildcats.  I was too young to watch hoops during the Eddie Sutton era (thank goodness), so instead I was raised by Rick Pitino.

I grew very close to the Wildcats.  It was a childhood dream of mine to play basketball at UK.  One look at my body today will tell you just how ridiculous that dream was.

I've got a good jump shot, but ask me to create my own offense or play D on somebody quick, and I'll laugh at you.  I'm slow.  Explosively slow.

But I digress...

Mashburn, Walker, McCarty, and Mercer helped me mature.  I desperately wanted to go to a game at Rupp Arena, but my dad, a professor at UK, couldn't even get tickets during this period of revival at UK.  So I settled for a couple of football games to whet my appetite.

Unfortunately, both games pitted a terrible Kentucky team against a Steve Spurrier Florida team.  Ouch.

Then without warning, we packed up and moved to Michigan when I was a wee second-grade student.

I'd play football and basketball with my new friends, and while they were busy pretending to be Tim Biakabatuka and Chris Webber, I was showing off my talents as Wayne Turner or Heshimu Evans (unfortunately, there were no notable UK football players to imitate until Tim Couch.  We all know how that story turns out...).

While my friends were engrossed in the Michigan/Michigan State rivalry, I directed my anger towards Florida and Tennessee.  Even as recently as 2003, I hadn't immersed myself in the UM/MSU rivalry.  Remember the Basketbowl?  I tried to get tickets and would've showed up in a hostile arena decked out in blue.

The extend of my devotion to UK is a little scary.  I still can't watch Christian Laettner's shot without freaking out (I'm only a little comforted by the fact that he did nothing in the NBA).  I could never date Erin Andrews because she went to Florida, a huge character flaw.  And I wasn't surprised by Tony Delk's 50-point game in the NBA.

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