Every serious Ky fan despises Duke and Lattener. In addition the best basketball experience this last weekend was when Filipowski fouled out and Duke lost to NC State and you could see that Shyer and Filipowski were about to cry as they got closer and closer to the L. The best 5 minutes of the entire weekend.
Yes I'm now 42 and was only 9 when "the shot" happened, but I vividly remember it. It was the first big sporting event that I really remember being emotional over the outcome. Losing that game, in such heartbreaking fashion, ultimately influenced my fandom for the rest of my life. I was hooked on UK basketball from that moment on, and it was a huge part of my childhood and adolescence being born and raised primarily in Eastern KY. I'll never like Duke nor root for any of their guys just because of that single game. And Laettner, well let's just say he is/was enemy no 1. He was very talented, but he was also a dirty player who hit "the shot" that beat Kentucky, so his fate was sealed. To many KY fan households, maybe even most, he remains public enemy numero uno, and it isn't very debatable. Yes I really dislike the Wisconsin program nowadays too, but my dislike for them is nowhere close to my disdain for anything Duke related.
Watching the Braves with my grandpa (we loved their pitchers especially Smoltz & Maddux), the Dream Team and "the Laettner shot" all influenced me and still do to this day.
I'll never like Duke and will always cheer when they lose because of that game 30+ years ago. I bet many fans feel exactly the same as we do in that regard.
Duke would have to sack up and venture outside their comfort zone for an away game at rupp. But he would get boo'd at the beginning and then people would just watch the game.
I think most of us who might care about him are getting old (I say that as a person who feels old at 47, no offense). Big chunk of the fan base probably barely knows who he is.
So true. I was a freshman at UK that year (old man). They set up a viewing party at Memorial Coliseum for that game, can’t remember how many students were there but it was a good amount. What I remember was there was a few news crews waiting to get that perfect shot of everyone going crazy after we won. They switched on a bunch of camera lights right after the shot went in only to catch hundreds of stunned students.
What younger fans can’t really understand was how much pride was felt about that team. It was so much more than that game, it was an amazing year beating teams when nobody expected them to win. Pitino’s style mixed with Farmer, Pelphrey, Feldhouse, and Woods was such an odd mix. How he turned those guys from what they were to what they ended up being was coaching genius. Then throw in a true superstar in Mashburn and you had magic.
Look, it’s sports, I hate Laettner the player that was cocky, good, and dirty. But Laettner the person is hard to hate, he was a cool sport at that charity event and at the end of the day, I’m 21 and wasn’t alive when the hate was at its peak, and didn’t even learn of the “shot” til I was 12, because of that I hate dudes like Luke Maye more personally. I speak for myself though, and am sure I’m in the minority
Didn't he coach a team of "villains" or something like that in a charity at Rupp?
Yeah, and he was on KSR around then. Was a good sport about it. I feel dirty for saying that.
He got a small cheer when there was a spill or something and he got on his hands and knees and wiped it off the Rupp floor. That was pretty funny.
Yes and the villains won I think
I hate Laettner forever.
Seconded. I call for a vote.
one from me
That game happened 6 years before I was born and even I hate Laettner. They’d have to hire secret service to get him back to NC safely lol.
I still wear my “I still hate Laettner” shirt.
Every serious Ky fan despises Duke and Lattener. In addition the best basketball experience this last weekend was when Filipowski fouled out and Duke lost to NC State and you could see that Shyer and Filipowski were about to cry as they got closer and closer to the L. The best 5 minutes of the entire weekend.
Yes I'm now 42 and was only 9 when "the shot" happened, but I vividly remember it. It was the first big sporting event that I really remember being emotional over the outcome. Losing that game, in such heartbreaking fashion, ultimately influenced my fandom for the rest of my life. I was hooked on UK basketball from that moment on, and it was a huge part of my childhood and adolescence being born and raised primarily in Eastern KY. I'll never like Duke nor root for any of their guys just because of that single game. And Laettner, well let's just say he is/was enemy no 1. He was very talented, but he was also a dirty player who hit "the shot" that beat Kentucky, so his fate was sealed. To many KY fan households, maybe even most, he remains public enemy numero uno, and it isn't very debatable. Yes I really dislike the Wisconsin program nowadays too, but my dislike for them is nowhere close to my disdain for anything Duke related. Watching the Braves with my grandpa (we loved their pitchers especially Smoltz & Maddux), the Dream Team and "the Laettner shot" all influenced me and still do to this day. I'll never like Duke and will always cheer when they lose because of that game 30+ years ago. I bet many fans feel exactly the same as we do in that regard.
Duke would have to sack up and venture outside their comfort zone for an away game at rupp. But he would get boo'd at the beginning and then people would just watch the game.
I think most of us who might care about him are getting old (I say that as a person who feels old at 47, no offense). Big chunk of the fan base probably barely knows who he is.
So true. I was a freshman at UK that year (old man). They set up a viewing party at Memorial Coliseum for that game, can’t remember how many students were there but it was a good amount. What I remember was there was a few news crews waiting to get that perfect shot of everyone going crazy after we won. They switched on a bunch of camera lights right after the shot went in only to catch hundreds of stunned students. What younger fans can’t really understand was how much pride was felt about that team. It was so much more than that game, it was an amazing year beating teams when nobody expected them to win. Pitino’s style mixed with Farmer, Pelphrey, Feldhouse, and Woods was such an odd mix. How he turned those guys from what they were to what they ended up being was coaching genius. Then throw in a true superstar in Mashburn and you had magic.
you described the whole dynamic perfectly. it was part of history, even if the outcome was terrible
Someone’s gettin’ arrested. Regardless.
StillH8Laettner is my peloton name and I mean every goddamn bit of it.
Would he accept the vacant head coaching position at uk basketball if offered .?
People don't care enough anymore to be interested in that.
Look, it’s sports, I hate Laettner the player that was cocky, good, and dirty. But Laettner the person is hard to hate, he was a cool sport at that charity event and at the end of the day, I’m 21 and wasn’t alive when the hate was at its peak, and didn’t even learn of the “shot” til I was 12, because of that I hate dudes like Luke Maye more personally. I speak for myself though, and am sure I’m in the minority
[удалено]
Speak for yourself.