My answer: 2015
2015 happened.
Not only did that soul-crushing loss happen, but for me personally, I became a father in 2015. Anyone who is a parent knows that your priorities in life change in that moment.
So with the combo of not wanting to get my soul crushed again and having other priorities jump ahead of UK Basketball in my life, I already felt the enthusiasm I once had for my university (2011 grad) slipping away.
But that’s not the only thing that happened in 2015.
Later that year, the university made one of the most moronic and unnecessary moves I’ve ever seen any institution make. Ah yes... you guessed it...... The hybrid “H” K logo, two birds humping logo, and the checkerboard diarrhea dump on the entire athletics program that we supposedly paid “professionals” for. Now, I know most of you couldn’t care less about the uniforms or the “look” of our program but to some people (me) it matters. Some of my earliest college basketball memories are of me trying draw different college teams’ logos. Funny enough, I remember drawing Marcus Camby and John Calipari’s script “U” with the block “mass” logo of the 90s. I’ve been blessed that I have turned that love for design into a part-time hobby/career, so when that debacle happened I was absolutely blown away that Nike allowed that to happen to one of its flagship programs. Completely unacceptable. What once was a profound, recognizable “blue blood” aura, seemingly overnight turned into a cheap, knock off version you would find at the dollar store. I actually found myself rooting AGAINST my school in the sense that I wanted apparel sales to tank so bad that they would have to abandon the checkerboard. I still won’t buy or wear anything with checkerboard or the new logos. Never will. The only thing that gave me hope was the fact that in the 90s we had some historically bad uniforms. Those didn’t last long, so maybe this too would be just a fad.
Little did I know that the product on the court (minus maybe 2017) would start to match our 2nd rate look.
Again, I know some of you are laughing at me now, and that’s ok. I’m just telling my story. I’ve lost some enthusiasm for UK Basketball because I feel like I don’t even know this UK Basketball I’m seeing now. I’m becoming more and more embarrassed of my school and team that I once was so proud of. All while I find myself being jealous of teams I HATE (Tennessee and Duke) for having awesome uniforms. Ha, imagine that, Tennessee... the (former) KING of checkerboard, outclassing us with their throwback uniforms they wear fairly often.
So if you’ve read this far, thank you for hearing my vent session out. It is an excuse for losing enthusiasm that I hadn’t seen posted yet so I thought I would share in case others felt the same. Like I said, it’s not the ONLY thing that has led me to be less enthusiastic (that would be silly) but it definitely hasn’t helped things. I have since became a father to two more kids in ‘17 & ‘19 so my hands are full as is and I’m starting wondering if they’ll even inherit a love for the Cats from a father who rarely wears UK gear anymore and forgets when the games are on.
Because ultimately that’s where our fandom usually comes from, it’s inherited from generations before us. My dad passed it on to me and I hope it doesn’t end with me. I hope to be back to diehard status someday when my kids are old enough to understand what’s happening. But for now, I’m just kinda “meh” on the whole situation.
