Tim Floyd is salty

 

Wildcats cancel 2016 basketball game with UTEP | KTSM News Channel 9 | News, Weather and Sports | El Paso, Las Cruces, Juarez

 

"Just backed out, said that there were a lot of people up there that didn't want the game to be played, for whatever reason, so I don't want to throw them completely under the bus, but that's ok, we'll just stay with a 1-0 record against the Kentucky Wildcats in college basketball. If they never want to play again and act like the game never happened, for the reasons why it occurred are significant, then we'll never play again," said Floyd.

Tim Floyd is salty

 

Wildcats cancel 2016 basketball game with UTEP | KTSM News Channel 9 | News, Weather and Sports | El Paso, Las Cruces, Juarez

 

"Just backed out, said that there were a lot of people up there that didn't want the game to be played, for whatever reason, so I don't want to throw them completely under the bus, but that's ok, we'll just stay with a 1-0 record against the Kentucky Wildcats in college basketball. If they never want to play again and act like the game never happened, for the reasons why it occurred are significant, then we'll never play again," said Floyd.

 

 

LOL...poor guy. I would feel bad for him if Kentucky wasn't.scared to play them

LOL...poor guy. I would feel bad for him if Kentucky wasn't.scared to play them

 

Really don't think he was insinuating that UK was scared of UTEP or that a fear of the Miners has anything to do with not playing the game

I get why some in the UK brass don't want the past in this series brought up.

 

As an African American alumni of UK, I would have loved to have seen this game played and used as a celebration of how far race relations in athletics have come. We get so many reminders of racial issues in our society and this game could have been used to promote the progress that has been made and shed some positive light on collegiate athletics. I look at this as a lost opportunity.

 

I really hope this game and a potential series is revisited.

This meant nothing to me until I read the article & realized that it was going to be the 50th anniversary and was also going to be held in the same location.

 

That would've been cool, but wouldn't have painted Kentucky in a good light 50 years ago, nor today.

This meant nothing to me until I read the article & realized that it was going to be the 50th anniversary and was also going to be held in the same location.

 

That would've been cool, but wouldn't have painted Kentucky in a good light 50 years ago, nor today.

 

I think it is wrong to think that an honest assessment of the game 50 years ago, and the program in particular, would paint Kentucky in a poor light today. As a program, we should embrace our history, a history that includes racial high points, as well. Did segregation happen in basketball, yes. Did we win a National Title with Tubby Smith, a black man, yes. Embrace it all and play the game that would honor 50 years of UK and collegiate basketball history. To attempt to hide from this history has a greater potential to paint the program in a poor light and not playing this game could be perceived as an attempt to shy away from our history as a program.

 

The Integration of UK Basketball in the 1960's - A Sea Of Blue

I get why some in the UK brass don't want the past in this series brought up.

 

As an African American alumni of UK, I would have loved to have seen this game played and used as a celebration of how far race relations in athletics have come. We get so many reminders of racial issues in our society and this game could have been used to promote the progress that has been made and shed some positive light on collegiate athletics. I look at this as a lost opportunity.

 

I really hope this game and a potential series is revisited.

 

I think it is wrong to think that an honest assessment of the game 50 years ago, and the program in particular, would paint Kentucky in a poor light today. As a program, we should embrace our history, a history that includes racial high points, as well. Did segregation happen in basketball, yes. Did we win a National Title with Tubby Smith, a black man, yes. Embrace it all and play the game that would honor 50 years of UK and collegiate basketball history. To attempt to hide from this history has a greater potential to paint the program in a poor light and not playing this game could be perceived as an attempt to shy away from our history as a program.

 

The Integration of UK Basketball in the 1960's - A Sea Of Blue

 

You raise a lot of good points and I would love to agree with you. Unfortunately, I don't see it playing it out as well as your vision.

Historical whitewashing is a terrible thing, no matter who gets hurt. Teachable moments die when that happens.

It was a historical moment but not at the time of the game like all the media today tried to protray it. That was formed and written about several years after the game and the story got bigger and more embellished over the years. And the movie about it was a slanted version of the events that weekend in Maryland. Louie Dampier was quoted in an interview for a WKYT documentary that none of the players on either team looked at the game as being a Brown vs Board of Education type game. He said it was just two teams that played as hard as they could to win a national championship, and his team came up a little bit short of their goal. He also said he didn't see any confederate flags being waved in the Kentucky fan sections that was seen in the movie. That was film makers taking dramatic license with the facts for extra effect on the audience.

 

That would be the only drawback I could see in playing the game next year. UK has been miscast in a bad way on this subject. And you could guarantee a lot of falsehoods and slanted coverage geared toward Kentucky would be telecast leading up to the tipoff of the game. UK probably didn't want that negative publicity.

It was a historical moment but not at the time of the game like all the media today tried to protray it. That was formed and written about several years after the game and the story got bigger and more embellished over the years. And the movie about it was a slanted version of the events that weekend in Maryland. Louie Dampier was quoted in an interview for a WKYT documentary that none of the players on either team looked at the game as being a Brown vs Board of Education type game. He said it was just two teams that played as hard as they could to win a national championship, and his team came up a little bit short of their goal. He also said he didn't see any confederate flags being waved in the Kentucky fan sections that was seen in the movie. That was film makers taking dramatic license with the facts for extra effect on the audience.

 

That would be the only drawback I could see in playing the game next year. UK has been miscast in a bad way on this subject. And you could guarantee a lot of falsehoods and slanted coverage geared toward Kentucky would be telecast leading up to the tipoff of the game. UK probably didn't want that negative publicity.

 

Surely Kentucky's hiring of a black head coach has given UK some balance on the scales?

 

In all seriousness, wouldn't it be better for UK to be out in front of things like this instead of playing the corporate role and acting like the event never happened? All backing out of this game does is perpetuate the illusion of guilt, earned or not. Why not take this opportunity to tell the Kentucky side of the story?

I get why some in the UK brass don't want the past in this series brought up.

 

As an African American alumni of UK, I would have loved to have seen this game played and used as a celebration of how far race relations in athletics have come. We get so many reminders of racial issues in our society and this game could have been used to promote the progress that has been made and shed some positive light on collegiate athletics. I look at this as a lost opportunity.

 

I really hope this game and a potential series is revisited.

 

The one "like" I could give this post just didn't seem adequate. :thumb:

Surely Kentucky's hiring of a black head coach has given UK some balance on the scales?

 

In all seriousness, wouldn't it be better for UK to be out in front of things like this instead of playing the corporate role and acting like the event never happened? All backing out of this game does is perpetuate the illusion of guilt, earned or not. Why not take this opportunity to tell the Kentucky side of the story?

 

Actually, I wanted to see the game played, although it's still a painful memory for me recalling that night as an 11 year old kid at the time (I remember going into another room so no one would see me cry after the game ended).

I believe the positives would outweigh the the negatives for UK. My post was only giving a few possible reasons that the Kentucky officials decided to back out.

I don't blame the UTEP folks for being upset by this turn of events. I mean, UK shouldn't have allowed the announcement to have been over a year ago and let it be out there for discussion that long if they had the slimmest idea they might not participate. After a few weeks of thought they should have let the UTEP officials known their decision, before anything was released to the public.

Surely Kentucky's hiring of a black head coach has given UK some balance on the scales?

 

In all seriousness, wouldn't it be better for UK to be out in front of things like this instead of playing the corporate role and acting like the event never happened? All backing out of this game does is perpetuate the illusion of guilt, earned or not. Why not take this opportunity to tell the Kentucky side of the story?

 

All they would say is how we ran off a black coach in Tubby after winning a national championship. Wouldn't mention how he never made the final 4 after his 1st season or all the double didget losses he had or the lazy recruiting he did.

Shame they aren't playing it.

 

IMO, it's a historic moment worth recognizing, good and bad included.

Why play a game when all the media is going to do is talk about how racist KY was supposed to be.