 |
| 2012 NCAA Champions! |
I grew up in a house full of boys. My childhood home was always a buzz with sports, video games, action figures, fights and farts. I, on the other hand, was as girly as girly could be and I wanted nothing to do with "stinky boy stuff!"
Once I moved out, I could never be bothered to sit down and watch a sporting event. I guess you could say, 18 years of living with four boys sort of sucked the "sport" right out of me.
Then I moved to Lexington, Kentucky.
People are absolutely insane about the basketball tradition at the University of Kentucky. It is an electric feeling that permeates the air and you just cannot escape it. When the basketball team is winning, there is nothing quite like living in the Bluegrass State of Kentucky. Royal blue is called "Kentucky blue," banners and flags decorate homes, cars and businesses, girls paint "UK" on their finger nails, companies let out early on game days, and the saying around town is, "I bleed BLUE."
At first, I just sort of rolled my eyes and went about my busy life. . .
Inevitably, you sort of get sucked into the electricity of it all - even if you never actually attended the University.
I slowly became a fan - I bought a sweatshirt - attended game day parties - decorated blue and while cupcakes - and always had Kentucky winning in my NCAA brackets.
So naturally, the year that we move to Serbia, the Kentucky Wildcats win the NCAA Championship for the first time in 14 years.
Chris and I woke up at 3:30am in Serbia to watch the Wildcats defeat Kansas.
It was totally worth losing a few hours of sleep!
Homesickness hit me for the second time since moving to Serbia.
It made me really want to be in Kentucky - even if only for one night.
For my foreign readers, this is a huge deal for Kentucky. HUGE! The city of Lexington just goes insane! Some of the celebrating is passionate and respectful, but then there are some fans that get drunk, unruly and start burning couches and cars. (Yeah, that really happens.)
Let's not take away from how awesome this win is!
The fact of the matter is that this guy (below), Coach John Calipari, is a pretty rad dude. He inspired a group of young, talented boys to work together to accomplish a common goal. He coached them that they COULD, and they DID!
He is also super passionate, and everyone wants to follow a passionate leader.
What else can I say. . . .
I always thought that I was way too busy to care about sports, but
I think that now I too BLEED BLUE.
GO UK WILDCATS!
When are you moving back to the states?
ReplyDeleteHahahah - the plan is 2 and a half years. :) Who knows though - anything can change and maybe we will just fall in love with Serbia and finally be able to communicate properly and decide we wanna stay.
DeleteThat is so awesome you all got up early to watch! We went out yesterday to watch the buses drive by the KLC building. Jon thinks we're all crazy. BTW, I got your text and replied but it was late...hopefully you got it.
ReplyDeleteOhhhh I so wish I could have been there! What a great time in Kentucky history! A friend of mine posted video of the team arriving into Rupp Arena - it was an awesome moment! Wish I had gotten so into the team BEFORE we moved! :)
Delete