Fightin' Words: Kentucky vs. Louisville

by Joe Cox, Ryan Clark, Joe B. Hall (Foreword by), Denny Crum (Foreword by)

Overview

The long-standing rivalry between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Louisville Cardinals is one of the most heated in college basketball. Facing off against each other on the court for over a century, the intrastate rivalry became red-hot over thirty years ago when the two faced each other in 1983 NCAA tournament, and Louisville narrowly edged out the Wildcats to advance to the Elite Eight. The heat hasn’t died down since ’83; in fact, the animosity between the two has only gotten stronger, with numerous face-offs—both on and off the court. In Fightin’ Words, Joe Cox and Ryan Clark expertly narrate the blow-by-blows of all the most important moments in the history of the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry.

Fightin’ Words, first published in 2014 and now newly updated in paperback, covers the hundred-plus year span of the feud. From the twelve games played prior to the fated 1983 meeting, to the Wildcat-Cardinal meet-up in the Final Four round of 2014 NCAA tournament, and every game in between through the 2014-15 season, all the games covered include insightful pregame evaluation, commentary on the games’ most important plays, and expert postgame analysis, along with interviews from key players. From off the court, read how Louisville coach Denny Crum craftily out-recruited Kentucky coach Joe Hall or the athletes in inner-city Louisville; discover a blow-by-blow of Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino’s move from the Wildcats to the Cardinals; and learn how John Calipari transformed a losing Kentucky team into NCAA Champions. With individual chapters chronicling every meet-up, Fightin’ Words is a must-have for every true fan of college basketball.

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Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613219256
Publisher:	Sports Publishing LLC
Publication date:	10/11/2016
Pages:	308
Sales rank:	1,075,085
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Joe Cox grew up a University of Kentucky fan and graduated from the University of Louisville law school. He has written or co-written four books.

Ryan Clark is a journalist who has also written or co-written multiple books on Kentucky basketball. He works for Northern Kentucky University and is pursuing a PhD from the University of Kentucky.

Table of Contents

Foreword Joe B. Hall Denny Crum vii

Introduction xi

Prelude I 1913-1959: The Pre-Rivalry xix

Prelude II 1960-1983: Reaching the Rivalry xxvii

1 The Dream Game … Finally (March 26, 1983) 1

2 Revenge Served Hot (November 26, 1983) 11

3 Dream Game III (March 22, 1984) 17

4 A Leap of Faith (December 15, 1984) 25

5 Losing the Battle, but Winning the War (December 28, 1985) 33

6 The Boy King (or the One Who Got Away) (December 27, 1986) 39

7 A Matter of Inches and Seconds (December 12, 1987) 47

8 A Never Nervous Whoopin' (December 31, 1988) 53

9 Cardinals Rule (December 30, 1989) 61

10 Back on Top (December 29, 1990) 69

11 Pelphrey, Motivated (December 28, 1991) 75

12 Monster Mash (December 12, 1992) 81

13 Tony Delk Arrives (November 27, 1993) 89

14 Samakis Triple-Double Surprise (January 1, 1995) 95

15 Pitino's Dream Team (December 23, 1995) 103

16 Two Words: The Dunk (December 31, 1996) 109

17 UPSET! (December 27, 1997) 115

18 M+Ms: Maybin and Murray (December 26, 1998) 121

19 Long Distance (December 18, 1999) 131

20 The Ice Man (January 2, 2001) 139

21 A Tale of Two Coaches (December 29, 2001) 145

22 Stone's Redemption (December 28, 2002) 153

23 Playing Through the Pain (December 27, 2003) 161

24 Sparks Ignites Comeback (December 18, 2004) 167

25 Rondo's Revenge (December 17, 2005) 173

26 Meeks Inherits Leading Role (December 16, 2006) 179

27 The Glue Guy (January 5, 2008) 185

28 The Comeback Kid (January 4, 2009) 191

29 Someone (Relatively) Old, Someone New (January 2, 2010) 199

30 Harrellson Tweets, then Dominates (December 31, 2010) 205

31 MKG, Davis win Round One (December 31, 2011) 213

32 Round Two: The Final Four (March 31, 2012) 221

33 Sweet Victory at the Yum! (December 29, 2012) 223

Afterword 231

Sources 233

Acknowledgments 235