Michigan fans. I have some bad news for you. I just realized that we are now brothers. Guys, I am a Kentucky fan. No one knows what you are about to go through better than me, so let me tell you what the rest of your lives as sports fans are going to be like:

It was a day I will never forget. No matter what else I do in my life--marry, have children, conquer the entertainment business--it will be one of the defining moments of my life and forever seared into my memory:

March 28th, 1992.

I was 16 years old, a sophomore at Lafayette High School, in Lexington, Kentucky. Like everyone else in Kentucky, I bled UK blue. I lived and died with Kentucky basketball, and UK had a team for the ages. Their nickname was "The Unforgettables." These were the guys who had stayed with UK during the dark years of the post-Eddie Sutton probation; Richie Farmer, John Pelphrey, Deron Feldhaus and Sean Woods were all Kentucky boys (Sean was from Indy, but we adopted him). They had stayed after we got hit with the worst penalties in NCAA basketball history and vowed to defend the school and rebuild the program.

As freshman under new coach Rick Pitino, they beat the Shaquille O'Neal, Chris Jackson and Stanley Roberts LSU team that was considered unstoppable, that said they were going to come into Rupp and kick UK when it was down. They went 14-14 that season under impossible circumstances. Every game they left their hearts on the floor, they gave us everything they had every time they wore the uniform, and we loved them for it. This team defined the state and university; they were us, and we were them.

Now, as seniors and led by all-everything future NBA star Jamal Mashburn, they'd had an amazing regular season, winning the SEC and stormed through the NCAA tourney, coming up against defending champion Duke in the East Regional Final. This team was going to take UK back to our righteous place as national champions.

You all know what happened next.

The greatest college basketball game ever was played, and history was made on our backs by that assface fuckstick Christian "Power Bottom" Laettner. I cried when we lost. I still cry if I think about it too much. And every single fucking basketball season, I have to hear about that game and see that shot, a shot that has come to define the NCAA tourney. That wound has never closed. Since that game, UK has won two national titles, and got some amazing revenge in 1998 against Duke...but it still didn't totally heal that scar. No matter what happens, some things cannot be fixed.

Michigan fans, you just lost what is going to be seen as the defining upset in college football history, and one of the biggest upsets in sports history. It is up there with the 2004 Red Sox coming back from 0-3 to beat the Yanks and win the world series, Villanova beating Georgetown to win the NCAA title, and the US beating Russia to win the hockey gold.

Even though Michigan has one of the premier programs in college football, no matter what happens from this point forward, in addition to all the other things your football team has done over the past 100 years...you will be remembered for the App State game. Never before has a D-1AA team beaten a ranked D1 team. And not just any ranked D1 team. They beat #5 Michigan, in The Big House. They made history, and they made it on your backs.

I am sure your program will rebound and be fine. But get used to hearing about that game and seeing that blocked field goal, because it is going to be part of your life for the rest of your life.

Michigan fans...welcome to my hell.

[I know I said I was going to launch my blog in a few months, but I couldn't help but post this]

Posted by Tucker Max at 3:41 AM

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