I still hate Laettner

Watching and listening to (more about that later) old basketball games isn’t my idea of a fun afternoon, but when faced with no games at all, well it provides a little break.

Case in point came Saturday afternoon when the Cats should have been playing for real in the NCAA tournament, but instead this Coronavirus has us all in lock down, with no new roundball at all.

In their effort to make it a little easier, and likely because without the games they had nothing better to put on, CBS has opted to replay a few old NCAA classics during the times when the tournament was to be played.

Trying to get some time spent in the yard Saturday afternoon, my full intention was to not watch THAT game at all, but during a walk-through at the house, sure enough, there was the TV, Janie, and the U.K. / Duke 1992 regional championship game.

With just five minutes or so in regulation remaining, I found myself unable to leave the room, so for the next half-hour or so, I counted down from the couch those final minutes of action that sent UK fans everywhere into heartbreak mode.

That team of Unforgettables should not have, in all reality, even been in that Elite Eight game, yet they were, and beyond that, they appeared to have it won with the Sean Woods go-ahead shot with just over two seconds to play.

I knew I should have left the room during that time-out, and gone back to whatever chore I was working on outside, but somehow I was still glued to the couch. Maybe he’ll miss it this time.

Then it came – the set-up (yes, Pitino should have had someone guarding the inbounds pass), the pass, the shuffle and dribble spin move, the shot, the swish, the little victory lap and the sunken heart – all over again.

Yep, I still hate Laettner.

Big Blue Network playing the classics too

In case you missed this, in addition to the CBS plans of replaying classic NCAA games on television for the next couple of weeks, the Big Blue Radio Network is doing the same thing, with a twist or two.

Four more classics are in store for radio listening pleasure, but the next one coming up has particular interest.

This Friday evening, with a pre-game replay beginning at 6:00 p.m. central time, followed by a 6:30 slated tip-off, you can catch the March 27, 1978 Kentucky vs. Duke national championship game.

The real attraction here will be getting to hear the play by play from Cawood Ledford.

In the meantime – no sport at all stinks!