Column by Wes Robinson

Unless you reside under a rock, you know that UK fired men’s head coach Billy Gillispie on Friday after two years on the job. Regardless of how you feel about how he performed and handled the Kentucky tradition, you understand the magnitude of the firing. Locally and nationally, the impact resounds as local Lexington stations and ESPN have covered the dismissal, from chasing Gillispie through the practice facility, to speculating which big time coach will take over the helm.

As a general sports fanatic, it is really hard for me to say this, but maybe we are placing too much value in sports. I literally spent most of my weekend watching everything from NCAA tournaments to the PGA golf tour, and I generally keep tabs of every televised sport to some extent, so I am as guilty as anybody. I am just as anxious as the next basketball fan to see who signs as the next UK basketball head coach. However, I can’t help but wonder how many people know more about UK basketball than what is going on in their classes; or how much do they know about the way our government is working, or even how our university works.

Think about it, most UK fans know the specifics of Billy Gillispie’s contract, understanding that there is a possibility of Gillispie receiving $6 million not to coach. Now think about how many people you know that can tell you anything about our university or our state budget and its impact on our tuition. Do you think those numbers are even remotely close? Probably not, and it’s because we place so much more value in someone being able to dunk a basketball or represent our fandom, than we do about academic institutional value or the direction our state goes based on the decisions of its flagship university. How many people can name the entire Kentucky roster, recruits and all time greats without knowing who their administrators are or who are the big shots that make major decisions at UK?

I could go on and on with comparisons, but that would be redundant. The point is there is nothing wrong with bleeding blue and loving your team, but we should think about our Kentucky residency like we thought about Gillispie’s tenure. He said he was here to coach, that’s it. Most UK fans argued that there is a certain tradition, history, and protocol to respect as being a part of UK basketball family. Well I believe the same applies to being a resident in the state of Kentucky. If we are just here to root for basketball, then what good are we to everything else that goes into UK?

I know it’s not a coincidence that I haven’t seen as many news stories, Facebook status updates or heard so much idle chit-chat about one topic since the most important presidential election possibly in the history of the United States. Yes, there is rich tradition and a history that is arguably the best in the nation, but if fans get this riled up about sports and seem to be apathetic about everything else then we have a lot of work to do. It’s definitely not just a problem here, but we must pick now to start being more engaged in what Kentucky has to offer, because being at Kentucky is more than just basketball.