THE LIFE WE HAVE CHOSEN
By Charlie Shelton
When you play high stakes there is an incredible gap between the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat and scared... money never makes money. If you have ever played poker you know that even if you have made every correct call and raise during the night, there is still that “one-outer” in the deck that can beat you. If there wasn’t no one would play.
Following Kentucky’s loss to Wisconsin head coach John Calipari told the media if they wanted to blame anyone to blame him and in all honesty Cal was right.
Kentucky was not beaten by referees or by conspiracies dealing with gambling and Las Vegas. Kentucky was beaten by a team who simply played better.
Could the Cats have played better? Of course.
Could Calipari have made some strategic adjustments that would have made a difference? Definitely.
But to quote one of my favorite movies “This is the life we have chosen.”
With the style of program we have chosen to support under Cal’s supervision there is a balance that exists.
Calipari is the best recruiter college basketball has ever known, bar none. He keeps his roster filled with the most exciting talent from across the country and he keeps the seats of Rupp Arena filled like a modern-day P.T. Barnum.
However history has shown that for some reason Calipari has his difficulties when the spotlight is at its brightest. Whether it is his inability to pull the trigger or an inability to get his players to respond is unknown.
Under Calipari, year in and year out the talent of our players is second to none. Kentucky basketball remains the talk of the town for all national sports media and the NBA quickly beckons for our players to leave for greener pastures.
As a result it is difficult to build cohesive units, establish a go-to guy and breed upper classman who know how to weather the storm of the most challenging championship in the world.
And when it comes to Big Blue Nation, championships are what it is about. Only in Kentucky can a 38-1 record and a Final Four finish be met with disappointment and “what ifs”.
It is with this in mind we should remind ourselves “This is the life we have chosen.” It only hurts because it means so much and that is a good thing.
We should restrain our criticism and be thankful for our coach and our team.
Who else can boast a national championship and four Final Four appearances over the past five years? No one.
And at that pace, if we win one championship every five years I will leave this Earth a happy man as Kentucky will surely eclipse UCLA in national championships and hold both jewels in the claim to college basketball supremacy.
I will choose that every time.