‘Only gloom and sorrow.’ Lexington needs a group hug after another first round NCAA loss | Opinion
Thursday night, my husband stomped into the kitchen.
“It’s over,” he said. “Why did I get sucked in again?”
Friday morning, the gloom over Lexington was figurative and literal, gray clouds and gray moods from another first round loss in the NCAA of UK’s once storied basketball team.
I’m not much of a sports person, but I’ve lived here long enough to get caught up in the highs of an NCAA run and the very low lows when they fail, as they have way too often for this town. And right now, this entire town could use some therapy.
Thursday afternoon, school advocate Matthew Vied texted me with a complicated question about Fayette County school funding or lack thereof for art and foreign language in some elementary schools.
He texted again at 10:21 p.m.: “Never mind. Nothing matters anymore. There’s only gloom and sorrow. The Cats lose again. Of course, there’s no art in elementary school.”
My Twitter feed (oops, sorry. My X.com feed) would have been hilarious, if it weren’t full of so many sad people.
Most interesting was the notion that the General Assembly’s budget negotiations should immediately include funding to pay out the roughly $33 million to buy out Coach Cal’s multi-million contract and hire someone new. It would be the fastest, most bipartisan bill to hit Frankfort this session.
A guy named Kenny tweeted “If Cal is allowed back in Lexington I will make January 6 look like a kindergarten birthday party.”
Then later: “It’s apparent that satire is a lost art.”
Then after that: “I AM NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING TO JOHN CALIPARI PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE.”
Then: “STOP TAGGING THE FBI. I AM JOKING.”
We’ve lost our mojo, our will to live and our sense of humor.
The Cats losing hits in more palpable ways. Bars and restaurants, and hey, newspapers, all lose money. UK officials always say that sports are a major recruitment driver for students, but what happens when the winningest program in sports turns into the losingest?
Like I said, I don’t know much about sports, but even the most ignorant person might just wonder: What the hell are we paying so much money for if we can’t win more games?
I have a feeling we’re about to find out just how much it will cost to get rid of Coach Cal, and no one even cares how many millions. We’re moving quickly through the sorrow stage of our grief and straight into anger.
Drive carefully this weekend. Don’t bump into anyone by accident. Tread gently around town.
As Gov. Beshear used to say, we will get through this. We will get through this together. With the exception of one very highly paid coach.
This story was originally published March 22, 2024 at 9:36 AM.
