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Does the Kentucky basketball program turn you into an entitled jerk?

From KSR
Here’s a feel-good story for you tonight, BBN:
A few weeks ago, a couple players from UK’s men’s basketball team were having a fun time at a local go-kart/mini golf attraction. At this Lexington attraction, there’s a “Shootout” where customers can pay to shoot how-ever-many basketballs to try and win a prize. Of the few basketball players there, Devin Booker was one of them. Obviously, the other customers there were in awe of the Kentucky players in their presence.
Each player took their turns playing at the shootout, and all of a sudden, there’s about 20 spectators looking on. Of the few watching, there was one family in attendance that included a little boy in a wheelchair. The first one to notice was Devin Booker. Booker played his round at the shootout, and scored enough points to earn the largest prize. Coincidentally, the large prize is a Kentucky basketball jersey. Knowing he was a UK player, the attendant at the shootout asks if he would rather have two T-shirts (the medium prize) since he already has “his own” jersey. Booker then said, “No, I still want a jersey.”
So the attendant cuts down the Kentucky jersey and hands it to Booker. Devin then immediately approaches the little boy in a wheelchair and lays it upon his lap, “Here you go little man!” The child’s face was in such amazement, and it brought tears to the rest of the little boy’s family. All who were surrounding the shootout also appeared to be tearing up. It was such a sweet moment, then the remaining teammates gave the boy their prizes too; some soft drinks and a t-shirt. It just goes to show you the type of character Coach Calipari brings to this university.
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.. looking for stories that hadn't hit nat'l media (like Lee's visiting kids in hospital with no cameras around and UK only found out when emails came flooding into Athletic Department from parents.. the players washing orphan kids' feet and putting new shoes on them.. the stories are so endless..)
 
Oh.. and the stories that Croc linked are pre-Caliapri and a decade+ old.

UK's one of the cleanest and most philanthropic programs nationally.
 
“They didn't do too much trash talking,” Hampton guard Gregory Hayden said. “They weren't arrogant. They just came out and played basketball and did what they had to do.

“They were polite. They were actually cool and dapped us up. They said, ‘Good game, keep your head up.' That's really surprising from a group of guys that caliber.

“Most people think they're the number one team in the nation, McDonald's all-Americans and cocky. That group of guys aren't like that. They're very humble.”

I interviewed four Hampton players after the Wildcats defeated the Pirates. All four said they expected Kentucky to win the NCAA Tournament. All four said that John Calipari's players did not say one discouraging word to a team that was obviously outmanned.

“They're a great group of guys,” said Emmanuel Okoroba, Hampton's reserve center. "They didn't talk trash at all.

“While they were beating us, one of them actually stepped on my shoe and said, ‘Excuse me.' That shocked me.”

That player, for the record, was Dakari Johnson, Kentucky's back-up center.

It's been that way all season. Darrin Horn, an analyst on the SEC Network has worked multiple UK games. Horn said that Kentucky plays like a group of guys who are comfortable on the big stage.

“Our job is not to brag,” Johnson said. “We just come out and play a game that we love, just compete and have fun with each other.”
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LEXINGTON, Ky. – To: John Calipari. Subject: Marcus Lee. "I am writing this letter to tell you what a remarkable young man he is and how he has blessed my life."

It should've come as no surprise. This is what Lee does. The University of Kentucky's 6-foot-9 sophomore power forward works quietly, behind the scenes mostly, until you need him. That's when Lee, like a kangaroo in sneakers, springs into spectacular action.

Last year's Elite Eight game against Michigan, when he came off the bench to replace an injured Willie Cauley-Stein and dunked his way into Wildcats lore, was the most visible example. But there are others, and they reach far beyond a basketball court. Like the note from Kim Bennett.

Calipari stood in front of his team early this season and started reading it. Bennett, a nurse practitioner at UK's student health center who had treated Lee for a minor ailment, described an act of kindness that "inspired me to be a better and more compassionate" caregiver. "I thank the Lord for him," she wrote.


COURIER-JOURNAL
SEC Basketball men's bracket

Bennett explained that while tending to Lee, she'd told him about her stepson, a freshman soccer player away at college whose season was cut short by mononucleosis. That, coupled with homesickness, led to depression. The young man, Noah, didn't want to get out of bed.

His story struck a chord with Lee, who'd fallen ill in the middle of his own trying freshman season at Kentucky. Once he was finally healthy, the former McDonald's All-American returned to find that his role on the team had all but disappeared. A California native, Lee also caught a case of homesickness.

But he eventually willed himself out of the darkness of his dorm and went back to work, quietly as ever, until the Cats called upon him to ignite them in March. Sparks seem to be his specialty. Just ask Noah. Lee wrote him a letter, sharing the secret to his success – "faith over fear" – and encouraging Noah to get up and go.

"I cried as I read the letter," Kim Bennett wrote to Calipari. She'd phoned her stepson and shared Lee's words to him. "When I finished, he was as high as a kite. He couldn't believe Marcus would write him. He immediately got out of bed. The next night, he was on the sidelines cheering and encouraging his soccer team. … It's amazing what a few kind words can do."


THE COURIER-JOURNAL
Kentucky basketball scores Sports Illustrated, SLAM magazine covers

Just like that, Lee's secret was out. It would've gotten out soon anyway. Bennett's was just one of many emails and letters that began pouring in to Calipari and the UK athletic department, all with the same general theme: You won't believe what Marcus Lee did. His coaches and teammates had no idea he'd been moonlighting as a do-gooder, that he was on a mission to make the world a better place "one smile at a time." Now they know.

"Why didn't you tell us you were doing these things?" Lee remembers Calipari asking him. "And my first reply was, 'What do you mean?' I thought it was just a natural thing to help people, and I didn't think it was a big thing to tell anybody."

The Southeastern Conference thought otherwise when it named Lee to the league's Community Service Team this week. His listed credentials for the award are impressive: coordinating a blanket drive for patients at UK Children's Hospital, filling backpacks with food and supplies for local elementary schools through God's Pantry, working with Samaritan's Feet to help put shoes on feet that need them around the world.
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UK doesn't get bandwagonners..

I have met dozens of guys wearing Duke shirts, or UNC.. that knew NOTHING about basketball, at all. I have never ran across a fairweather UK fan, ever.

Also, my grandfather played for UK (SG) in '57/'58 and '58/'59.

When I was 4 years old my grandfather asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I said, "Wear a baseball cap, drink Miller Lite, and play for Kentucky Wildcats."
****!
 
Dr. Jones said:
UK doesn't get bandwagonners..

I have met dozens of guys wearing Duke shirts, or UNC.. that knew NOTHING about basketball, at all. I have never ran across a fairweather UK fan, ever.

Also, my grandfather played for UK (SG) in '57/'58 and '58/'59.

When I was 4 years old my grandfather asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I said, "Wear a baseball cap, drink Miller Lite, and play for Kentucky Wildcats."
****!
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UK definitely gets bandwagoners. Several of them are "friends" on FB that I really need to delete.
 
You guys are trying WAY to hard. Every player playing for Kentucky right now seems like a really good kid. And they have done nothing for everyone to hate them except 'be good'. It comes across super pathetic, PKM is a good dude and he is probably a bigger Kentucky fan than I (or any of you) am of any of any other sports team.

After the Utes got knocked out I was kind or rooting for Arizona just for the west coast. And now they are out too, We've got Wisconsin, Duke Michigan St. and Kentucky not exactly some lovable underdog we can all cheer for to beat Kentucky. Yea, I don't like them (although I'm to young to remember the Utes in the championship anyway.). But I don't like those other teams either, so may as well be able to tell my kids I saw a team go 40-0. And it'd be awesome for PKM.

I know most of you are just trolling but it probably gets old taking on the entire board all the time. Just give the dude a break.

And Hack you would blow Anthony Davis if he walked into your room right now. UK!!
 
Bawse Dawg said:
You guys are trying WAY to hard. Every player playing for Kentucky right now seems like a really good kid. And they have done nothing for everyone to hate them except 'be good'. It comes across super pathetic, PKM is a good dude and he is probably a bigger Kentucky fan than I (or any of you) am of any of any other sports team.

After the Utes got knocked out I was kind or rooting for Arizona just for the west coast. And now they are out too, We've got Wisconsin, Duke Michigan St. and Kentucky not exactly some lovable underdog we can all cheer for to beat Kentucky. Yea, I don't like them (although I'm to young to remember the Utes in the championship anyway.). But I don't like those other teams either, so may as well be able to tell my kids I saw a team go 40-0. And it'd be awesome for PKM.

I know most of you are just trolling but it probably gets old taking on the entire board all the time. Just give the dude a break.

And Hack you would blow Anthony Davis if he walked into your room right now. UK!!
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And hopefully on April 11th I'll be serving my guests a batch of #9 brewed on Feb 15th 2014 in honor of the Wildcats on behalf of PKM. (shameless plug)

Come try some. https://jazzfanz.com/showthread.php?38262-Official-Gameface-Poker-Night-Saturday-Apr-11th-2015-3pm
 
Bawse Dawg said:
You guys are trying WAY to hard. Every player playing for Kentucky right now seems like a really good kid. And they have done nothing for everyone to hate them except 'be good'. It comes across super pathetic, PKM is a good dude and he is probably a bigger Kentucky fan than I (or any of you) am of any of any other sports team.

After the Utes got knocked out I was kind or rooting for Arizona just for the west coast. And now they are out too, We've got Wisconsin, Duke Michigan St. and Kentucky not exactly some lovable underdog we can all cheer for to beat Kentucky. Yea, I don't like them (although I'm to young to remember the Utes in the championship anyway.). But I don't like those other teams either, so may as well be able to tell my kids I saw a team go 40-0. And it'd be awesome for PKM.

I know most of you are just trolling but it probably gets old taking on the entire board all the time. Just give the dude a break.

And Hack you would blow Anthony Davis if he walked into your room right now. UK!!
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Best post i have ever seen.
BD is a real Bawse.
 
Bawse Dawg said:
You guys are trying WAY to hard. Every player playing for Kentucky right now seems like a really good kid. And they have done nothing for everyone to hate them except 'be good'. It comes across super pathetic, PKM is a good dude and he is probably a bigger Kentucky fan than I (or any of you) am of any of any other sports team.

After the Utes got knocked out I was kind or rooting for Arizona just for the west coast. And now they are out too, We've got Wisconsin, Duke Michigan St. and Kentucky not exactly some lovable underdog we can all cheer for to beat Kentucky. Yea, I don't like them (although I'm to young to remember the Utes in the championship anyway.). But I don't like those other teams either, so may as well be able to tell my kids I saw a team go 40-0. And it'd be awesome for PKM.

I know most of you are just trolling but it probably gets old taking on the entire board all the time. Just give the dude a break.

And Hack you would blow Anthony Davis if he walked into your room right now. UK!!
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I will concede that their roster is likeable. Love hearing stories about how mature they are, not rubbing it in other people's faces-- then again, their disposition is probably why they're currently 38-0.

With that said, Go Badgers.
 
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