The day the purest, cleanest, most unfairly maligned and most successful no-champion head basketball coach in college was tapped to lead the purest, cleanest, most unfairly maligned and most successful basketball program in the history of the sport, we knew that John Calipari and Kentucky was a match made in heaven.
This marriage is a divinely ordained hook up, if you will, that will only produce Final Fours and National Championships year after year, and will only end with ’til death do they part. Not death from NCAA sanctions, or anything silly like that, but an actual death, 40 or so years from now, when Calipari is 90 years old or so.
It will be a death followed by what everyone in Big Blue Nation already knows to be true – that John Calipari will ascend bodily into heaven. Canonization will quickly follow.
That’s Saint Calipari to you.
You see, since Feb. 20, the sports desk here at Sporting Life Arkansas has gotten an amazing view into the mind of Kentucky’s Big Blue Nation. That’s the day we ran a fair but strong column from Jim Harris, the one in which he brought to light St. John Calipari’s comments regarding Archie Goodwin. “I can’t coach you,” Calipari reportedly yelled at Goodwin during the 30-point beat down at the hands of the scrappy Tennessee Volunteers.
But criticism, fair and deserved or not, of St. Calipari is heretical to Big Blue Nation. These heresies must be denounced in the harshest possible terms.
A selection of comments from Big Blue Nation include hateful rants tossed at Jim Harris ranging from “you’re a homer” to “you’re an idiot” to “you’re a terrible writer” and “you’re a douche bag.” Jim Harris is none of those things.
Those are not the comments that tell us much. Those are just typical fan-based rants we have all come to expect.
Receiving emails that tell us to “go (expletive deleted) urself with a aids (expletive deleted)” and end with “PS You Suck!!!!!!” – those things come with the territory, too. We get that. If we wanted civilized discourse, we would make this site about policy and governing how cute kitties and baby goats are.
But the comments that shed light on the mind of the Big Blue Nation are the ones that center on how great a coach John Calipari is, how unfairly he has been treated throughout his career, and how he’s NEVER done ANYTHING wrong.
EVER.
Read them for yourself over on Facebook. You will get a big laugh from many of these after the game you just watched, knowing that Arkansas whipped Kentucky by a final score of 73-60.
We know this Razorback basketball team has had bigger wins this season. There is no argument that beating Florida was bigger, right? Beating Missouri may have been bigger, too, especially when you consider just how poorly coached this Kentucky team looked today.
We guess there is an argument to be made that St. Calipari told the truth after the Tennessee game, when he said he can’t coach some of these players. It seems a statement of the obvious.
For us, there will always be a satisfaction in beating Kentucky, even when it’s a subpar Wildcats team, but there is something even sweeter in beating a Kentucky team with a coach who admits that he has a roster full of top 30 players he cannot coach.
That is Coach St. John Calipari.
Woo Pig Sooie.
Awesome!!! I’m lovin the Win today!
P.S. F*ck kitties. and baby goats, ugly motherf…..
I guess you also love your 9-25 record against Kentucky and you 1 national championship to Kentucky’s 8.
and your 2-20 road/neutral record over the past two seasons..are Arkansas fans really this ignorant?!? You guys make Missouri fans look intelligent.
It sounds like you’re just butthurt because you lost.
Am I “really this ignorant” because I’m happy my team won? Is that what you’re suggesting?
Or, because a writer had the AUDACITY to call out Calipari? Lemme guess, he’s the first one, huh?
Get over yourself, whining ass little b****
It was a bad performance by UK, but not unexpected. Arkansas is good at home and we struggle on the road. I was suggesting the writer is ignorant. His article is baseless and completely misinformed. I’m not whining btw. UK is the defending champs and we have 5 McDonalds AA’s coming in next year. We are the pinnacle of success in college basketball, Arkansas is nothing and has been a joke since the 90′s. This writer and Arkansas fans are the one’s who are complaining and need to quit talking until they actually win something. Your team has not even won a tournament game in THIS CENTURY. Hope we see the Hogs again in Nashville, because your team is AWFUL outside of it’s own gym.
More examples of intelligent discourse in the comments section.
Sounds like uk and st. john need to take turns sharing the crying towel.
Tell me that an almighty representative of the holier than thou Kentucky BBall team did not just recall previous W/L to justify this beatdown. DDDD Damn!! Lol
Arkansas was the better team today, but you all will still miss the dance. Your team is horrible on the road and in neutral site games. Calipari just won a national title and this clown writer has the nerve to call him a bad coach. When is the last time Arkansas won a title..let alone a tournament game?
Kentucky, the most penalized basketball program in the NCAA, maybe the most penalized program in ALL NCAA sports. And a groupd of racist under Adolph Rupp, until he realized they could beat his all white team. Enjoy the impending probation. At least y’all have that purty gorl Ashley to gawk at.
Kentucky has not been on probation since the Eddie Sutton days. You are probably familiar with him because we got that clown from Arkansas. Over the last 25 years UK has been one of the cleanest major programs in the country. Funny that someone from Arkansas would bring up race. Arkansas, along with Alabama and Mississippi are the most redneck/racist states in the country. You guys actually make Kentucky seem like a progressive state. Rupp was from Kansas btw. If you want to talk about cheating take a look at the UCLA program under Wooden. It is widely know they were dirty, but the NCAA gave them a pass. The NCAA has become a joke when it comes to handing down penalties and they are dirty themselves.
Until Arkansas wins the SEC or makes a run in the tournament you all will continue to be irrelevant in basketball, just like you are in football. You may think your football program is legit, but in reality it is mediocre at best and closer to the bottom of the SEC than the top. Petrino was such am ethical coach, huh. Arkansas runs such a clean program..LOL
yes, EA…
PLEASE continue to tell us how irrelevant Arkansas’ football team is….
Never said UK was good in football, but we are on the rise with Stoops. Arkansas made a great hire with Bielema, but I highly doubt either program will win an SEC title in the foreseeable future. At least we dominate in one sport.
He is a bad coach. It takes a team of NBA all-stars for him to barely win a NCAA Championship. He’s a great recruiter, but a horrible coach. Surely you understand this.
And.. Um.. Don’t you mean “your” 1 natl championship? Tee Hee
yeah, I did mean your..sorry..didn’t think you arkansas folk would notice a grammar error..congrats on the win today..too bad ark will not make the tournament..when is the last time the hogs won a tournament game? oh yeah, we’d have to go back to the 90′s to get an answer to that..how bout you all win the sec or an ncaa tournament game before you talk trash..your program is irrelevant..UK is the defending national champs
2008 http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=284000048
Wow…how typical, another loser writer bashing Calipari and UK to gain a few clicks! Get a life!
You sir are a complete idiot. It’s far beyond me how you actually got a job in journalism. Lets go ahead and demolish this poorly written article. 1) Cal has never ever said he couldn’t coach his team he said Archie is uncoachable. Which he is. Have you ever seen a uk game? Archie goes full speed at the rim jumps in the air then falls to the ground over and over again never seen a more out of control player. 2) “cal cant coach a team full of top 30 players”. Wrong again numb nuts only 3 were top 30 poythress ,Noel,Goodwin. Noel now being out Ark saw a team with only 2 top 30 players. All I ask is you do the slightest bit of research before publishing such trash. Seems to me you should be focusing on why Ark can win on the road or neutral site games. Congrats on beating uk because I know that’s a big thing for y’all. You might want to watch out running that mouth considering we play y’all next year and the beating we put on Ark will be embarrassing at best. I’m not sure what makes a guy who just got his first set of boxing gloves think he can go toe to toe with Ali. Ark fans calling rupp racist is by far the funniest thing I’ve ever seem. He’ll it’s a toss up between Ark and Miss as the most racist places I’ve ever seen. In closing nothing about your article showed any bit off class seemed more like someone who was so happy to knock off the champs they threw together a horribly misinformed article. The only thing right about you article is the fact your aware people think your a d bag.
The above video doesn’t play on ipad.
Here is a link to the page with the video. The above is only a graphic, not a player.
http://www.sportinglifearkansas.com/jim-harris-florida-calipari-both-show-their-true-colors/
Really. They let the guy from purnells country sausage write articles now. Not sure how dumb you really are but when did a 13 point win become a blowout? Take what you can get Kentucky will keep winning titles and Ark will, well they won’t do anything as usual
Speaking of Purnell’s
http://www.kyagr.com/pr/kpc/May102012/Third-generation-Kentucky-Proud-business-began-with-a-Tennessee-railroad-worker.htm
They are gooooood. +1 for actually knowing who I was referring to
There sure is a lot of Kentucky fans trolling here. What you won in the past doesn’t mean squat here and is worthless in regards to this game. We are going to celebrate the win like any team would. Run along now little doggie.
That’s because kentucky fans fight for our own. Its why we are widely considered the most passionate fan base in college sports. Not sure where your from but winning titles in the past without a doubt matters. Lets look at ucla. 11 titles none that have happened anytime recently but are still considered a top tier program. No beef with Ark fans just this d bag who wants to take shots at cal to get views.
No it DOESN’T matter to me when Kentucky fans come here to insult our fanbase when we celebrate a win. All those titles were irrelevent during this game. I know what Kentucky BBall means. I realize there’s alot of pride. We have pride, too.
I agree the bashing of Calipari is unwarranted. Comes with the territory and success of your program. Act like you’ve been here before. To tell you the truth I only read parts of the article. I’m a native Arkansan but live in Memphis now so I’m familiar with Cal. A good coach, and plenty of contraversy to boot. Seems to go hand in hand, eh?
I’m not gonna sit here and say Cal has never done anything wrong. Im from the camp that thinks ALL D1 coaches will do whatever they can to win. To be honest I love Kentucky basketball with or without Cal. I do however take it serious when writers do this kind of thing merely to get a few clicks of a mouse. I would expect all of the Ark fans to do the same thing if their coach was being slandered. Once again my comments were directed toward the piece not toward Ark or their fans. Go CATS!!!!
Fair enough . Go hogs and go cats (when they’re not playing hogs)
Those of us in Memphis still remember the UM Final Four banner being removed as Cal was tucking tail and making for Kentucky in a hurry. Guess Kentucky news never carried that story. Great win Hogs!
Before cal even left Memphis he nicknamed your fan base the miserables. That should have told ya when given the chance he was gone.