No camping out for tickets means no Madness for one Kentucky fan
Marsha Poe isn’t sure, but she believes she has attended every Big Blue Madness event in the last 20 years or so. However, she will not be at this year’s Madness, which is Oct. 15.
Poe, a retired postal worker who lives in Louisville, plans to be in Georgia on Madness weekend. She wants to see a high school football game on that Friday night. One of those teams will be coached by former UK linebacker Braxton Kelley.
Then, she plans to attend the UK football game at Georgia the next day.
When asked if she had grown tired of Madness, Poe said she had not.
“It’s just that the campout was the best part of Madness after awhile,” she said. “And I miss the campout. That’s the fun part. Just getting together. For one thing, you’re off from work if you still work. And you’re away from responsibilities. You’re just there to relax and have fun.”
The fun might include playing cornhole with a UK player or interacting with fellow campers. Poe said she first began camping out at Memorial Coliseum about 15 years ago.
Of course, the coronavirus pandemic caused the cancellation of the annual fan campout for Madness tickets last year and this year.
Seeing recent Facebook postings about past campouts made Poe wistful. A week of sunny weather and temperatures in the 70s and 80s leading into Friday’s online distribution of Madness tickets did not help ease her melancholy.
“This would have been the perfect week weather-wise,” she said, “because we’ve been down there when it rained every day, when it was cold. And when you have good weather, it’s just so nice.”
▪ Despite the cancellation of the annual campout, UK fans wasted no time in claiming all the tickets to this year’s Big Blue Madness on Friday night. The free tickets, distributed online only, were “sold out” in less than an hour, UK said. For those unable to attend in Rupp Arena, the event will be televised live on the SEC Network starting at 7 p.m.
Fest fills void
Marsha Poe is a fixture at Big Blue Madness. When asked how she felt about missing this year’s Madness, she said she found out that she could cope.
“I feel a whole lot better now because I got to go to that Fan Fest,” she said in reference to the Fans First Fan Fest featuring UK players at Transylvania last month.
When asked what she thought of the Fan Fest, Poe said, “I was mildly surprised. I enjoyed it.”
Like-like TyTy
While lamenting the absence of Oscar Tshiebwe at the Fans First Fan Fest, Marsha Poe singled out freshman TyTy Washington as making a good first impression.
“He seems like he’s really got a personality, and he knows he’s good,” she said. “He doesn’t have to showboat.”
Poe said this message came through after Washington won the three-point shooting contest, and then kept his gun holstered in the loosey-goosey let’s-take-turns-scoring scrimmage — quote-unquote — that followed.
“(The action) went up and down the court forever before he took a shot,” Poe said. “And I’m, like, OK, OK, you don’t have to be a ball hog.”
Masks at Madness
Fans (ages 3 and older), staff and vendors at Big Blue Madness will be required to wear masks as a COVID precaution, UK has said.
Mask mandates have stirred controversy and confrontations in the U.S.
When asked how she believed UK fans would feel about a mask mandate at Madness, Marsha Poe said, “Oh well, some people will have a fit. You know, you don’t have to go. If that bothers you, don’t go.”
Kentucky has also said there will be a mask mandate for every home game this season but that Rupp Arena crowds will return to full capacity. On Thursday, the Dallas Mavericks said that fans will be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test 48 hours prior in order to attend a home game. That followed teams in multiple pro leagues mandating COVID-related precautions for fans.
Of a mask mandate for UK home games, Poe said, “That’s hard, I’m telling you, because I yell. And I find myself putting that thing away from my mouth.”
Poe said she was “fussed at” by ushers more than once last season because her mask was not covering her nose.
Shelvin Mack update
Former Bryan Station High School standout Shelvin Mack will be one of the regulars on a new college basketball show this coming season. The Field of 68 Media Network will air the hourlong nightly show beginning Nov. 9.
The show, which is titled “After Dark,” will air from 11 p.m. to midnight ET. Besides Mack, the lineup of regulars includes Stadium Insider Jeff Goodman, commentator Doug Gottlieb, former college stars Adam Morrison, Robbie Hummel and Randolph Childress, plus coaches Archie Miller and Steve Prohm (whose coaching career includes Murray State).
After high school, Mack played three seasons for Butler. He started for the Bulldogs’ Final Four teams of 2010 and 2011. Since his NBA career ended in 2019, he has played for teams based in Italy, Israel and Greece.
The “After Dark” show will be available on YouTube.
‘Super Herro’
Ex-Cat Tyler Herro appeared on Shaquille O’Neal’s podcast this past week to promote his new upcoming online show titled “Super Herro Summer.”
O’Neal asked Herro why he went the one-and-done route.
“I had to,” Herro said. “I felt like I could have come back. Coach Cal (John Calipari) wanted me to come back.”
It was suggested that Calipari centers his recruiting effort on marketing Kentucky as the place that prepares players for the NBA ASAP.
“That was the pitch,” Herro said. “But he didn’t know after my freshman year if I was going to be a lottery pick. That’s what he wanted. He felt if I came back my second year, I could be top 10.”
Herro was taken with the 13th pick of the 2019 NBA Draft.
Herro’s online show, which details his life this offseason and will be available on YouTube, premieres on Oct. 10 at noon.
Refs of Year
On Thursday, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced the winners of its 2021 Women’s and Men’s College Officials of the Year. The honorees are Dana Senders (eight years as a referee, 13 as a conference coordinator of officials) and Hank Nichols (20-plus seasons as a referee, 13 NCAA tournaments including 10 Final Fours).
What caught the eye was a list of previous winners. The Atlanta Tipoff Club named John Higgins its men’s Official of the Year in 2017. That was the year his officiating in Kentucky’s loss to North Carolina in the South Region finals sparked death threats from some UK fans.
And Lenny Wirtz won in 1995. That was three years after his bizarre technical foul on John Calipari helped Kentucky beat UMass in the East Region semifinals (the game before Christian Laettner’s winning shot against UK).
Wanna bet?
To further show you can bet on anything, the gambling site Sportsbetting.ag set odds on which NBA player will get vaccinated first: Andrew Wiggins of Golden State or Kyrie Irving of Brooklyn.
“We made Wiggins a slight favorite because he doesn’t have as deep of pocketbooks as Irving does,” Adam Burns of Sportsbetting.ag said in a news release. “Also, when it comes to this type of social outcry stuff, we all know that Kyrie is as stubborn as they come. He may miss a bunch of games early on just to make a point.”
The NBA has announced that unvaccinated players will not be paid for games they can’t play in because of local COVID-19 laws.
Happy birthday
To Ronnie Lyons. He turned 69 on Thursday. … To former Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings. He turned 61 on Friday. … To former UK women’s coach Mickie DeMoss. She turns 66 on Sunday (today). … To Sean Sutton. He turns 53 on Monday. … To Sheray Thomas. He turns 37 on Monday. … To Junior Braddy. He turns 50 on Monday. … To Rex Chapman. He turns 54 on Tuesday. … To Adrian Smith. He turns 85 on Tuesday. … To Preston LeMaster. He turns 38 on Tuesday. … To Hall of Famer and former Duke All-American Grant Hill. He turns 49 on Tuesday. … To former Auburn coach Jeff Lebo. He turns 55 on Tuesday. … To Rebecca Lobo. She turns 48 on Wednesday. … To Herbert Jones. The SEC’s Player of the Year last season turns 23 on Wednesday.
This story was originally published October 2, 2021 at 6:30 AM.
