July 31st: On this date...

... in 1980, President Jimmy Carter invited all 505 athletes from the imaginary U.S. Olympic team to Capital Hill for a ceremonial Gold Medal. Each would-be Olympian received the award for their solidarity in not competing in the Moscow games. The man in the center of the back row, Wildcat Sam Bowie, was a member of this team. He became the 8th Wildcat to be awarded the Olympic Gold Medal. The 1980 team was the youngest U.S. Olympic basketball team ever. They competed in the Gold Medal Series, exhibition games against NBA All-Star teams, and went 5-1. Sam Bowie was second on the team in scoring during these games with 11.5 PPG. He also added 7.0 RPG - 2 APG - 2.2 BPG against his NBA counterparts, leading the team in blocks and rebounding.

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July 30th: On this date...

... in 2006, Kentucky great and Rupp Runt Pat Riley was inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame. An All-American at Kentucky, Riley was a member of the 1966 Runner-Up team that lost to Texas Western. Riley went on to be selected by the San Diego Rickets in the first round of the 1967 NBA Draft. He later joined the Los Angeles Lakers and helped them win the 1972 NBA Championship. And if that wasn't enough, he won another Championship as an assistant coach, then five more as a head coach. Few basketball minds think Pat Riley isn't one of the greatest NBA coaches to ever live. Respected as a player, coach, and executive, Riley is second only to Lenny Wilkins on the all-time NBA wins list. He was also the mastermind behind pulling one of the biggest free agency coup's in NBA history with the summer acquisition of LeBron James for his Miami Heat squad.

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July 29th: On this date...

... in 1948, the men pictured above started their journey to the Olympic Gold Medal. The team consisted of 14 amateur players from two different teams. The teams, in this case, were the Phillips Oilers and your University of Kentucky Wildcats. The two teams had played an Olympic tryout, an epic 53-49 win by the Oilers. At the time, it considered one of the greatest basketball games ever played. The Oilers win meant Bud Browning would be the head coach of the Olympic team, with Mr. Rupp as his assistant. Kentucky's five players were: Alex Groza, Wallace "Wah Wah" Jones, Cliff Barker, Kenny Rollins, and Ralph Beard. The Uncle Sam's blasted the Frenchies back to...well...France, in the Gold Medal game, 65-21.

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July 28th: On this date...

... in 1993, future Kentucky Wildcat Derek Anderson led his North team to a gold medal in the U.S. Olympic Festival. The North team beat the West team 106-96. Anderson, an Ohio State Buckeye at the time, had 20 points in the gold medal-deciding game. The game was played in San Antonio, Texas, before a crowd of 7,458. UK legend Jared Prickett also played in the festival.

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July 27th: On this date...

... in 2009, your former University of Kentucky Wildcat standout defensive end, Jeremy Jarmon, officially signed a four-year contract to become a member of the Washington Redskins. Jarmon was forced to enter the 2009 NFL Supplemental Draft after being ruled ineligible by the nice people at the NCAA. Ironically, he was ruled ineligible because of supplements. It took less than two weeks for the Skins and Jarmon to reach a deal, signifying a mutual interest that both parties are ready to get it going. Double J was probably one of the bigger names in the Supplemental Draft in the past decade. The deal was four years with a signing bonus of $755,000. Not bad for a student who a few months before was in the middle of a public relations nightmare.

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July 26th: On this date...

... in 2007, your University of Kentucky Wildcats first extended a scholarship offer to John Wall (under a regime that many fans claim never existed). And as any fan can tell you, that's all it took. Just like that, he committed to Kentucky. Here is an excerpt from their 2007 Vegas recap:

"In action from the Reebok Summer Championships, 2009 point guard prospect John Wall once again got to the basket at will and either finished or handed off some outstanding interior passes. In fact, he sent the game to overtime with a series of driving lay ups against the Mokan Players and then won the game for D-One Sports with a wrap around pass in the lane for a game winning assist at the buzzer. With great length for his position and unbelievable speed, Wall has a unique ability to finish difficult lay ups. In a game where he scored 23 points and had five assists, Wall missed only one shot inside the arc. If Wall develops anything close to a consistent jumper, it is hard to imagine how he could possibly be defended."

Jerry Meyer also had high praise for UK target Jon Hood:

"Standing out as one of the better prospects in the game was 2009 6-foot-5 shooting guard Jon Hood of the Nashville Celtics. Hood led the Celtics with 15 points and spent a lot of the game handling the ball. A likely four-star prospect, Hood has above average athleticism and looked quite comfortable shooting the ball off the dribble."

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July 25th: On this date...

... in 2006, WKYT's Steve Moss had an entry on his blog which he recalls a meeting between he, Drew Deener, and Brooks Downing (UK Sports Information Director from 1995-2003). Downing told the two a behind-the-scenes story about the UK-Duke 1998 NCAA Regional Final in St. Pete. There was a meeting that took place between officials from the NCAA, San Antonio, UK, and Duke to discuss logistics and the Final Four. Downing said while they asked question after question, the Duke people never asked the first question. Their party had already been to San Antonio to tie up all the loose ends for their upcoming Final Four trip. And by upcoming Final Four trip, we mean the one they never made; after Tubby's Comeback Cats overcame a 17-point second half deficit. Downing later added, "To know that we derailed their entire flight plans, hotels, meal plans, everything, made it that much more special." Indeed Mr. Downing. Indeed.

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July 24th: On this date...

... in 1996, Kentucky legend Tony Delk signed a three-year deal with the Charlotte Hornets, who selected him with the 16th overall pick in 1996. The shooting guard was named Most Outstanding Player in the 1996 Final Four, and finished his career fourth in all-time scoring for the storied program...........FOURTH. Just in case you forgot how awesome Delk was, there's no way a 6'1" shooting guard goes 16th in an NBA Draft anytime soon. Delk most memorable game in the NBA was while he was in Phoenix. He dropped 53 on the Kings in 2000. He is currently on the new staff at New Mexico State after a minute on Coach Cal's bench and is long overdue to have a jersey retired.

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July 23rd: On this date...

... in 2006, the Joe B. & Denny Show starting airing live in Lexington. The former rival coaches had began their show in March of 2004 and within a year had been picked up by 21 stations. The show hasn't even lost steam seven years later, as it continues to be a highly rated show across the Commonwealth. The two often trade jabs and go 10-15 seconds without uttering a word. The best show was on the way to the 2006 Music City Bowl against Clemson. They were doing the show live from an RV on the way to Nashville and seemed to be having a very good time. I'm almost positive they weren't driving.

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July 22nd: On this date...

... in 1998, your University of Kentucky Wildcats pulled a fast one on the Utes with a bet of epic proportions. After the Cats took down Utah in the National Championship, 78-69, the Utah Geological Survey had to send a 550 million year-old fossil to the Kentucky Geological Survey. The fossil was concentrated on a slab of Limestone. I'm fairly certain all Utah did was FedEx some kid's pet rock to Lexington claiming it was a bazillion years old. Utah had the last laugh, though, as exactly 11 years to the day, Lexington announced they would be shutting down South Limestone for a year for construction. Coincidence?

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July 21st: On this date...

... in 1962, 36 year-old Mr. Wildcat was hired as the University of Kentucky's assistant equipment manager. Bill Keightley, a former Marine who served in World War II and current member of the U.S. Postal Service was asked to help out equipment manager George Hukle. It was a part-time job for the Lawrenceburg, KY native, about four hours a day. From this date on, Mr. Wildcat was a part of the richest tradition in college basketball. Keightley was an All-State center as a senior for Kavanaugh High School in 1944. He was a staple of Big Blue Nation for over 45 years, and was the ultimate fan and genuine person in the most public of spotlights. The man witnessed over 1,100 UK wins and was on board for three National Championship runs. Mr. Bill wore one championship ring on each hand and kept one in his pocket. Legendary broadcaster Cawood Ledford and Keightley remain the only non-player/non-coach in Kentucky history to have a jersey retired in their honor.

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July 20th: On this date...

... in 1983, alumni pickup games were the flavor of the month as Kenny "Sky" Walker battled current and former Cats in full-court games. One team Walker faced was made up of Kyle Macy, Charles Hurt, Dirk Minniefield, Vince Sanford, and Rick Robey. Walker had played in the National Sports Festival a few weeks earlier and was named MVP after going for 24 pts - 8 rebs in the Championship game for the South squad. The coach for the South that day.........Mike Kryzsdhlsuaiheaski. The team and everyone involved with the pickup games called Sky a Beast.

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July 19th: On this date...

... in 2006, the University of Kentucky self-reported a secondary NCAA violation due to its rabid, foaming at the mouth fanbase. Fans stormed Patrick Patterson's Myspace page trying to convince him to come to Lexington. Patterson was sent lewd photos and borderline creepy messages from people like this, this, and this. Our own fans posted how Kentucky players gained special privileges around town and on campus. And while everyone knows that may be the case, we're the only fanbase stupid enough to shout it out for everyone to hear. Ultimately, nothing really came of it and we landed Patterson. On the other hand, it is said to be the reason DeAndre Jordan crossed UK off his list first. Years later, fans would once again use this tactic on highly ranked recruit John Wall.  We all know how that turned out.  And now, it's commonplace for  any fan to do this with the exception of no one is at Myspace anymore.

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July 18th: On this date...

... in 1974, a future University of Kentucky star was born in Louisville, KY, as the one and only Derek Anderson came into the world. Anderson played for Doss High while stationed in "Da Ville" before moving on to Columbus, OH, and the Buckeyes. His first season in the Blue & White came during the 1995-96 campaign, as he was a member of the second best team in America: the Kentucky bench. The uber-athletic Anderson will always be remembered for cramming on Indiana and Louisville and the fun he had doing it. Big Blue Nation was one DA knee injury away from having a mini-dynasty from 1996-98, as the senior's season was limited to only 19 games. He scored exactly 337 points in each of his season's in Lexington, and his stats as a whole almost mirrored each other in half as many games. The Cleveland Cavaliers drafted DA with the 14th pick in the 1997 NBA Draft. Anderson's most recent notariety came as he made a documentary about the '96 Cats entitled "Untouchables".

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July 17th: On this date...

... in 2008, ya boy Billy Clyde announced at a press conference that he and the University were on the verge of signing a formal contract. He said a pair of meetings between President Lee Todd and AD Mitch Barnhart had ironed everything out and the University would have a contract on his desk within days. Hindsight lets us know the man pictured above had no intentions of ever signing a formal contract, leaving him some wiggle room with the Memorandum of Understanding.

"It hasn't been a big deal to me since day one," Gillispie said. "I don't think it's been that big a deal, but they're getting me a contract here in the next few days that has the changes that we discussed, and I don't foresee it being any kind of problem."

Of course not...

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July 16th: On this date...

... in 1993, your University of Kentucky Wildcats point guard Travis Ford helped Team USA beat the communism out of China at the World University Games 129-91 to advance to the gold medal game. Ford, who was coming back from a minor knee injury, bucketed 16 points. Team USA would later win gold, prompting wind guy T. Boone Pickens to offer Travis the Oklahoma State job. These were the first World University Games held in the U.S. since 1972. Chicken guy Kenny Rogers was featured during the opening ceremonies.

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July 15th: On this date...

... in 1940, Allen Feldhaus, a former player under Adolph Rupp and father of Unforgettable Deron Feldhaus, was born in Burlington, Kentucky. He played for Coach Rupp from 1959-62, and though he wasn't a big scorer, his physical presence in the post made teams account for him. One example of this is versus Tennessee January 15, 1962: After Cotton Nash had exchanged blows with UT's Sid Eliot, Feldhaus entered the scrum, chasing Eliot around the court with his fist cocked, all but ending the cheap shots on Nash. Feldhaus later became a coach at Mason County, leading the Royals to four regional titles and a runner-up finish in the 1981 Sweet Sixteen.

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July 14th: On this date...

... in 2009, your University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball team member Darius Miller arrived back home from down under (New Zealand) with a gold medal around his neck. For the first time since 1991, Team USA has won a gold at a Junior World Championship, this time it was at the FIBA Under-19 World Championships. It took our nation 18 years to realize that all it needed was a current UK player on the team to win a gold. There was actually another association on the team from Lexington, as Bryan Station's Shelvin Mack was a point guard on the team. Other members of the team included Gordon Hayward and Seth Curry. They handled Greece in the Gold Medal round, 88-80, to complete a perfect 9-0 record in FIBA U-19 World Championships in New Zealand.

Darius' complete tournament line:

9 Games, 17-27 FG (63%), 0-4 3PM, 11-14 FT (78.6%), 130 minutes

Averages: 5.0 PPG - 3.1 rebs - 1.3 assts - 1.3 blks - 1.6 stls - 1.6 TOs

July 13th: On this date...

... in 1993, your University of Kentucky Wildcats offered the one and only Scott Padgett a scholarship to play basketball with Rick Pitino. Will Padgett, father of the St. X forward Padgett, said his son was "overjoyed, like a little kid waking up on Christmas morning and seeing his presents." Padgett was a lifelong Kentucky fan (protocol for any young male) growing up in the filthy city of Louisville, just hoping to make it out. He played in only 14 games as a freshman on the 1994-95 team. Apparently, a nasty dog from Louisville ate his homework for a semester, because he flunked out. He turned everything around, though, and was a vital part of the runner-up 1997 team, the Champion 1998 team, and the Elite Eight 1999 squad. His 3-pointer vs. Duke in the 1998 Regional Final goes down as one of the most important shots in Kentucky basketball history.

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July 12th: On this date...

... in 2003, nearly 20,000 seats were sold in advance to a game that would become a World Record for attendance at a basketball game. The Kentucky-Michigan State tilt would be called "Basketbowl - Hoops on the 50", only because everything nowadays needs a label or catchy jingle. The game would take place at Ford Field, the newly designed home of the Detroit Lions. Officials were hoping to get 75,000 for the game. They got 78,129. The previous World Record for any basketball game was set at Olympic Stadium in Berlin for a Harlem Globetrotters game. The Superdome in New Orleans had held the top 9 spots for most attended college basketball games in history. Oh....Gerald Fitch would score 25 to lead #8 Kentucky to a 79-74 victory over Izzo's Spartans.

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July 11th: On this date...

... in 1990, as only your University of Kentucky could, we found a victory over Louisville from 1914 that wasn't counted as a part of our overall win total and petitioned the NCAA to add it. They did, and with that victory, Kentucky and North Carolina were tied in all-time wins. It was this moment when Kentucky basketball took off again and put some distance between themselves and the Tar Heels. In conclusion, the joke was on the NCAA. They successfully put the Wildcats on probation, but we got the last laugh. Sources tell The Big Booyah that the win was actually found in the back room of an Italian restaurant named Porcini's. I don't know what this means.

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July 10th: On this date...

... in 1999, the mini-dynasty game at Rupp Arena between 1996 and 1998 ended in a 132-132 tie, because in today's society, there are no losers! Derek Anderson corralled everyone he could to come play the game for his foundation and the UK Basketball Museum. Nazr Mohammed led the 1998 squad dropping 51 points on the '96ers. Allen Edwards added 28, Heshimu Evans 21, and Scott Padgett 13. The '96ers were led by Waltah McCahtee with 31, Derek Anderson's 25, Ron Mercer's 24, and Tony Delk's 23. It was a showcase game for Big Blue Nation with a slew of Kentucky greats being honored at halftime. Ralph Beard, Joe B, Wah Wah Jones, Vernon Hatton, Adrian Smith, Derek Hord and more. The official attendance for the game was 18,437.......IN THE MIDDLE OF FREAKING JULY!

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July 9th: On this date...

... in 2009, your University of Kentucky Wildcats new head coach Jonathan Calipari let Big Blue Nation know that his regime was way different than the recent tenures. How did he accomplish this? Coach Cal tweeted a picture of he and LeBron "The King" James sitting in the stands at "The King" LeBron's basketball camp. The new coach was out in front of it mugging for every single media outlet giving him the time of day. And with Twitter, he was in charge of promoting himself, which was even better. Coach Cal took the Twitter world by storm and raced passed every other coach in sports on number of followers (possibly combined), promoting anything and everything UK. Cal used all his connections to let the college basketball world know there was a train a comin'. Our Highness, "The King" LeBron James later came to Rupp during the season and was the "Y" in the Kentucky cheer. This James fella was never heard from again. Wonder if he's doing OK?

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July 8th: On this date...

... in 1999, fans were getting anxious to see a matchup of recent NCAA Champions as most of the players of the '96 and '98 team held a charity exhibition in Rupp Arena. The proceeds from the event would be benefiting the Derek Anderson Foundation and the UK basketball museum. Tubby Smith would coach the '98 Champs and Delray Brooks would be given the luxury of "coaching" the '96 Champs. 18,000 tickets were sold for the charity exhibition as Cat fans got a chance to see the mini-dynasty in action. The Derek Anderson Foundation provides assistance to disadvantaged youth in a variety of ways.

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July 7th: On this date...

... in 1993, the University expected the NCAA to declare Kentucky recruit Anthony Epps ineligible. Epps, a point guard from Marion County, Kentucky, played in a three-on-three tournament in which he dominated and won first place. Nothing wrong with that, right? That is until he accepted a cash prize for winning. By accepting this prize, he jeopardized his amateur status...until the shady Rick Pitino forced the NCAAs hand and made them make Epps eligible. Boy, that Rick Pitino...he sure lives in the gray area with the NCAA.

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July 6th: On this date...

... in 1991, hotshot recruits Rodrick Rhodes and Jason Kidd were roommates at the Nike Basketball Camp, and according to Bob Gibbons, both had Kentucky on their wish lists. Jason Kidd was the more celebrated of the two, fielding offers from Kentucky, Duke, and North Carolina. He would eventually get a truck load of money from Todd Bozeman and choose California as his destination. Rhodes chose Kentucky and had a wonderful freshman campaign. Many will remember Dickie V calling Rhodes the prince of Kentucky basketball (to Jamal Mashburn's king) during an ESPN telecast. Rodrick would later transfer to USC after his junior season after he and Pitino had a falling out. I.E. He missed two free throws in the SEC Championship.

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July 5th: On this date...

... in 2009, your University of Kentucky Wildcats had a representative in the form of Darius Miller at the FIBA Under 19 World Championships in New Zealand. Coach Jaime Dixon utilized Miller’s size and strength to become America’s shut down defender during the Tournament. But on this day, Darius offensive game was up to par, as he and Lexington-native Shelvin Mack helped lead the charge as Team USA destroyed the Egypt Pyramids, 112-55. This was Darius' present to America for her birthday. What was yours?

Darius' line: 3-6 FG, 3-3 FT - 9 pts - 9 rebs - 1 asst - 1 blk - 4 TOs

Shelvin added 14 pts - 4 assts - 2 rebs

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July 4th: On this date...

... since 1776, we have celebrated the birthday of our country. Hope you do the same and have a safe holiday weekend. Happy Birthday America. Because if you can't look at a photo liked this and appreciate America, the terrorists are winning. Can't see the lines, can you?

July 3rd: On this date...

... in 1986, your University of Kentucky Wildcats were on their way home from a seven game exhibition world tour to the far east. Six of the seven games were played in Japan, while the other was played in South China. In the last game versus South China, the attendance was said to have been 100 people. Shortly after this game, Kentucky boarded a plane for a 27-hour ride back to the Commonwealth. The Cats finished the road trip 6-1, the only loss coming against Czechoslovakia. The third ranked Cats, from 1986, beat South China, Finland, and Japan for their wins. So whenever someone brings up how David Stern or the Dream Team globalized basketball, you give them this little nugget and watch them squirm.

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July 2nd: On this date...

... in 2008, your University of Kentucky basketball museum closed its doors after it was no longer able to support itself financially. The museum opened its doors February 13, 1999, before a game with South Carolina. Fans were able to walk among the hallowed timeline of Kentucky basketball history, giving many youngsters a sense of what their fathers got to experience a generation earlier. Among the highlights were an interactive area where fans could make a radio call of great Kentucky basketball moments, as well as play "virtual one-on-one" against a favorite Wildcat. Van Florence was hired on late to try and help save the museum, but it had been too far in debt to recover. Contractors had estimated the museum would bring 130,000 fans annually, and average 110,000 visitors yearly thereafter. The opening year brought 27,000 people, averaging only 19,000 visitors each year. The University assumed the debt and pieces from the museum are featured in the Craft Center as a sort of Walk of Fame.

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July 1st: On this date...

... in 1999, your University of Kentucky legend above was selected 28th overall in the NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz. Coming from academic troubles forcing him to sit out the Championship 1995-96 season, Scott Padgett returned in December '96 to become one of UK's most clutch performers in recent memory. He was a member of both the 1997 Runner-Up and 1998 National Championship team. Kentucky fans from across the world will remember him for one game in particular, The Revenge Game. A 1998 regional final vs. Duke in which Padgett drained a go-ahead "3" putting the Cats up 84-81 with under a minute left. He celebrated the shot like every Cat fan in his/her living room, giving him instant legend status. Padgett also led UK to an Elite Eight berth in 1999, despite losing four seniors the previous spring.

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