I’ve been doing this long enough to know most fans don’t care much for people like me telling them how to feel or act on topics close to them that people like me are only watching from a distance. That’s my experience, at least. It’s rarely well-received. It’s almost always wasted words.
So, Kentucky fans, if you’re reading this, let me make myself clear: You should, by all means, treat John Calipari however you want when he returns to a sold-out Rupp Arena late Saturday for the first time since leaving UK after 15 years. Boo him or cheer him. Praise him or cuss him. Stay silent or be loud.
It’s totally up to you!
I’m not going to use this space to tell Big Blue Nation what to do. But what I am going to do, because I’ve been asked about it a bunch this week, is explain how I think I’d act, and how I think I’d want my wife and children to act, if we were lifelong Kentucky fans inside Rupp Arena when Calipari is introduced to a crowd that once adored him but eventually begged him to leave for Arkansas last April after the Wildcats lost to a mid-major in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in a three-year span.
What would we do?
We’d greet him with kindness. We’d applaud.
And,…
