Fightin' Words: Kentucky vs. Louisville

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

Overview

Over 100 years ago, the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville met for the first time on the basketball court. Over thirty years ago, the intra-state rivals faced each other in the original “Dream Game.” Fightin’ Words will have the inside stories of these games and others from the rivalry, including a discussion of how Louisville coach Denny Crum out-recruited Joe B. Hall for the athletes in inner city Louisville; how Rick Pitino won the city back for UK, then left to become Cardinal coach; how John Calipari brought UK back on top of the rivalry and the basketball world, and much more.

The book covers everything from the 12 games between the rivals before the 1983 game, the buildup to the 1983 game and how it finally became an annual rivalry, and then individual chapters for the 31 UK/UL games since. Each chapter contains pre-game analysis, full-game coverage, and postgame discussion, with firsthand interviews from major players involved on both sides. The authors reveal the effects of each game on both teams as well as the history of college basketball. No matter your allegiance, this is a book for the shelf of any fan of college basketball.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team.

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:	9781613216705
Publisher:	Sports Publishing LLC
Publication date:	03/04/2014
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	7 MB

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