Digger Phelps was apparently not a fan of Saturday's "Occupy Memorial" movement by some University of Kentucky basketball fans.
As the College GameDay crew warmed up the crowd in Vanderbilt's Memorial Coliseum on Saturday morning, the show's co-host grabbed the microphone and gave the numerous UK fans in attendance a lecture about how to comport themselves during ESPN's broadcast.
When GameDay aired, cameras showed the lower arena behind the ESPN broadcast team largely filled with Vanderbilt fans, but the upper deck was stuffed with blue-clad Kentucky fans.
Cats fans organized on social media late this week what was called the #occupymemorial movement. The idea was for UK fans to show their school spirit by gathering in as large numbers as possible in Vanderbilt's Memorial Gym for the GameDay broadcast prior to Saturday night's Kentucky-Vanderbilt game.
A video posted on YouTube on Saturday from a person in attendance at GameDay included the following speech to fans from Phelps, who was interrupted several times by the loudness of the crowd:
"Listen to me. Listen to me. Now. Listen to me. This is important. We've been with you at Kentucky. This is Vandy's home game. This is Vandy's ... Listen to me. Listen to me. It's their home game. You are a part of it. But you show respect for Vandy. I don't want any nonsense. I don't want any incidents. Don't ruin this for College GameDay."
According to Vanderbilt officials, 2,200 attended the GameDay celebration, about 500 which were Kentucky fans.
Phelps' ESPN co-host, Jay Bilas told the Herald-Leader's Jerry Tipton that Phelps' fears were unfounded, as there was no squabbling among the rival fans.
