WSJ writer says Kentucky’s “Death Star” is “hollow inside”
Dennis Berman, Wall Street Journal writer and lifelong Louisville fan, spent the weekend in Lexington to cover his Cards in the second and third rounds of the NCAA tournament.
After seeing his team dominate in the first two games of its seemingly imminent title run, Berman led off his account of the trip to Rupp Arena with talk of a team that isn’t even participating in this year’s tournament: the Kentucky Wildcats.
The first two sentences: “They are building a new Death Star here in Lexington. By November, it will be fully operational, a University of Kentucky basketball team deploying the planet-annihilating skills of the single greatest recruiting class in the sport’s 100-plus-year history.”
Over half of Berman’s article is about Kentucky basketball and the 2013 recruiting class, not the Louisville Cardinals, his favorite team and the tournament favorite. He gives the ol’ backhanded compliment to Calipari’s squad next season while sharing Pitino’s “We don’t play the game for the lottery draft; We play the game for Louisville” comment from Saturday.
He ends it like this: “A new Death Star is forming on the horizon. Kentucky fans will never say it. But they know: It’s hollow inside.”
Big Blue Nation disagrees.
You’d think a Louisville fan would know about being hollow inside, too. I’m sure he’s seen Louisville’s trophy case.
96 Comments for WSJ writer says Kentucky’s “Death Star” is “hollow inside”
You’d think a Louisville fan would know about being hollow inside, too. I’m sure he’s seen Louisville’s trophy case.
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA
And that’s why they’re called “little brother”. What a sad and pathetic fanbase.
Berman “Gets It.”
What a shock, a no name writer taking shots at the BBN to try and get someone, anyone, to click on his website.The guy is a moron, clearly we have had a better last 4 years, including the NIT, than Louisville has had for literally 20 years.
UL’s “starship” hasn’t had action since 1986.
Only “Hollow” now.
Berman so “into it” as a CBB writer he had to correct his own writings about the # of UK Banners.
“Corrections & Amplifications
Eight title banners hang in Rupp Arena, where the University of Kentucky basketball team plays. A previous version of this article incorrectly said there are seven. “
IT’S A TRAP!
(but let’s keep it a secret until next year)
UL sucks.
Those UL uniforms are hideous. UK is really starting to become the NY yankees of college basketball. I can’t wait until the one and done rule is changed and we become even more dominant.
Wait, the Sugar and Orange Bowl trophies take up some space—kinda a void at YuleofK.
Is this guy a bonafied full-time writer or does he just do this when he is not on a pizza delivery for papa johns?
Fill RUPP one time, then talk!
UNTIL then, STFU!!
Come on man, I want to hear about Wiggins. What did he have for breakfast this morning? If it was Raisin Bran, does that mean anything?
Seriously, who cares what all the jealous people think? If we would just ignore them, eventually they’d go away.
Who cares if the death star is hollow? IT EFFING DESTROYED PLANETS.
I’d have to say that I agree with him. These kids done come here because it’s the university of Kentucky. They come because of the coach and his connections. They come because they have to go somewhere for one year. They come because it’s a steeping stone. They don’t play for the blue and white. They don’t play for the school.
BTW… he makes a good point about UK fans perpetually living in the future. In my opinion, our fans are way to obsessed with highschool rankings of kids that haven’t even stepped on the floor yet. That was reason the expectations were way to high for this team.
#11… so, do they put those FOOTBALL trophies in the rafters? Stay on topic… the article is about BASKETBALL!!!
The most profitable program in the country wants to make sweetheart real estate deals with the government and hold on to their revenue-generating players as long as possible. We know how it really works.
UK and the rest of CBB have completely different philosophies on team building. It’s nothing new to hear this type of abuse. It’s innately human to trench down in your ideology and hurl grenades at those who oppose you.
17 – Dude these kids could go anywhere in the country to play ball and they choose to play here, isn’t that good enough for you? No, I guess we should only recruit kids who are lifelong fans of the program.
19, Trolls LUV to HIJACK
Wow Berman must be Jar Jar’s moronic cousin Dum Dum Binks. Congrats Asshat.
11. Is that what y’all have to use to fill your basketball trophy case? Maybe if y’all win it this year, they’ll give you 6 trophies and we can be tied.
17. If you follow any of the recent players on Twitter you’d see how much they talk about UK and the #BBN. They loved playing here, it was more than just a stepping stone. And isn’t that what college is, a stepping stone to your career? Why do athletes get held to a different standard?
It’s a tale as old as time. Those who cannot must redefine the greatness of others as something to be despised or scorned. They will talk about anything OTHER THAN winning, championships, or their own greatness in order to disparage the winning, championships and greatness of others. Look around college basketball and even some of the blue bloods are taking this route in reference to Kentucky. I am looking at you IU, KU and, if we are to call them blue blood, UL. As far as I can tell, it’s all just a sign that it is good to be the king and it’s good to be a part of Big Blue Nation.
Death Star, hollow? Ion engines linked by hyperdrive field generators is far from hollow. You don’t cruise from one galaxy to the next on a 4 stroke piston engine powered by gasohol.
Toolbag
I don’t understand why some people just cant accept that John Calipari is just taking advantage of a very stupid rule. He is using his businessman like skills to assemble what the majority of basketball experts consider to be the best players year in and year out. Remove the one and done rule and Kentucky’s recruiting classes change drastically. We would return to the days of rooting for the same players for three or four years. the goal is to be the best team in the country, and with the exception of this year, that’s what Calipari has done for the last 5 or six years.
if it is hollow, it will soon be filled with championship trophies
So if creating a team comprised of future NBA level players, to help when an NCAA title makes it a hollow endeavor, I guess Pitino’s 96 team was just the epitome of emptiness? Lol the WSJ hires brain dead Louisvillains!
31, and other CCB team’s dreams.
The “They will never say it” phrase just lets you say anything…. “He’ll never say it, but Dennis Berman enjoys wearing woman’s underwear”; “He’ll never say it, but Rick Pitino loves watching The Good Wife”; “He’ll never say it, but Obama kept Kentucky out of the NCAA”
I got the “Hallow” ref to mean the Death Star will Suck the life out of every CBB team around it.
hollow or not, the death star had juice … r.i.p. Alderaanians !
and GROW.
Who gives a damn how hollow it is. It still is going to have a really big f’ing laser.
This was an obvious ploy to get web hits for their site. And if you want to reply to the article you evidently have to subscribe to the WSJ. I guess the thinking was if I piss off some UK fans we can sell some subscriptions….LOL…
this year he might be right ( and that is because they were so young and devoid of real leadership)- but i don’t get that feeling with the teams MIller, Patterson, liggins and others led in the recent past. There are always going to be a few “hired guns” on successful teams who care more about themselves than the institution – and Pitino wants one as much as everyone else.
Awesome comment about their trophy case Drew!! GO BIG BLUE!
If one can’t compete then hate; nationally UL is irrelevant. The only people that care about UL are in a 30 mile circle around the city of Louisville, and that’s pushing it. People who read the Wall Street Journal don’t give a damn about UL; you don’t see a lot of people reading the WSJ in UL central fan base locations: the city jail, the projects, and barber shop.
Cal’s first 4 years:
3 Elite 8 appearances
2 Final 4 appearances
1 National Championship
4-1 Record vs. Louisville
Pretty sure “hollow” is not the word we would use to describe our trust in Cal…
This guy Berman has it all wrong. Death Star Hollow is where Oscar Combs lives, over near Hazard. Real nice place.
Knew Berman back in high school. Went to Governor’s Scholars with him at Kentucky State. Atherton grad if I recall correctly. Sharp guy. Nice guy. Works for the Journal full time. Hilarious article.
you know what else is hollow inside? karen sypher’s vagina after a trip to cincinatti.
All I’m saying is its the coach/system not the university. If Cal was at Ohio St., Florida, South Carolina or even Minnesota then he would haul the same classes. He did it at Memphis while we were bringing garbage to the program. Kids don’t play for the name on the front it’s the name on the back that counts
Chad Ford has an insider article on ESPN talking about 9 draft picks next season. Guess these ‘media’ types who write soap operas missed that one. Alabama football fans probably just think about the 1 year Auburn won their championship, not the 3 they won around it. Amazing these guys think they know how a fanbase feels when they’re fans of losing teams.
I LOVE that Kentucky Basketball is the Death Star of the sport. I mean come on! Is that not the coolest?
Holy hatchet-job batman! Kentucky certainly wasn’t living in the “perpetual future” during its Championship run last year.
Let their insults rain down. I love it. They are honoring us and they don’t even know it.
Located at the bottom of this lovely article…
“Corrections & Amplifications
Eight title banners hang in Rupp Arena, where the University of Kentucky basketball team plays. A previous version of this article incorrectly said there are seven.”
#thatjusthappened
This reminds me of an article written just before the UK vs. UofL game in the Final Four last year; it may have been the same author. It was written by a UofL fan in a national magazine that said that people should “feel sorry” for UK fans because they had no joy in winning. He argued that there was too much pressure to win it all during the 2012 season, so the fans couldn’t enjoy it. Conversely, of course, the author pointed out that UofL did things much better. Since UofL’s Final Four run was relatively a surprise, the UofL fans were enjoying their run in a very satisfying way–something the maniac UK fans could never do.
It’s all the same thing: UofL fans can’t use any standard measure to show that their school/team is better than UK, so they have to rely on odd unquantifiable things. It’s like, “Oh, yeah, you beat us almost every year, have way more championships than we do, matter more than we do, and even your school is better than ours, but we are morally superior in a way that you can’t even comprehend!” It’s thinking like that lets UofL fans live with themselves.
These fans/writers of that little school in Louvull really crack me up. Little Brother is sooo jealous, even when UK has a down year. Whenever I need a good laugh, I check out a sports site. GO CATS!
The Death Star = Kentucky Basketball
Alderaan = the rest of college basketball
I hope your right Brenan I hope the panet annihilating skills of this basketball team is fully operational by Nov. with the greatest recruiting class ever– cool. May the force be with you
It’s almost comical when I hear people say that UK kids play at Kentucky and use it as a stepping stone, when louisville kids play for the name on the jersey and all that. How many of these Louisville kids could care less about the school before they signed there. I mean one of the only ky kids that actually played transferred out this year. I mean you think Siva and smith and dieng grew up Louisville fans? Chane is only there because we didn’t want him/he would get no pt on UKs team as a freshman. The only difference between the UK players who go pro, and the Louisville players who stick around because they love their school and the college experience is talent, clearly
11. yule the tool, those to bowls where the same as elite eights. we acually have a championship in football, and your a violation away by fatboy coach hurtt from having the sugar bowl taken away remember hurtt took teddy to that booster’s house more than once. in other words shove a little red bird where the sun don’t shine.
If you teams last Ncaa Tournament Championship picture includes more than one of the following: Butthugger Shorts, Converse All-stars,Knee High Fatsripe socks, Headbands.. your team might just be irrelevant.
So does that make Ricky Luke or Han Solo? Lmao I’m just guessing they had to import a Laya from Lexington .
If there is not one Division I player who was alive when you last won a championship… you might be irrelevant.
#58.. your
No UofL writer, blogger, fan can say how good UofL is without comparing it to UK. That means UK is doing something right…
I guess when Siva, Dieng, and others were on the team in ’09-’10 when they lost to Morehead old rick sounded like he was about to retire.
I think Cal loves it! BBN loves Cal. He must love being the center of such a large universe. People follow him around, hang on and dissect every word. I think he likes that everyone else hates him.
He’s a cheater he’s just a salesman he’s a bad bench coach. I think he’s a fighter just like some of “his” guys in the past. Cal and UK against the world!
Berman is trying to compare UofL’s success to UK’s. Fine, kind of like when you brag you girlfriend is hot, you don’t compare her to Rossane Barr, you compare her to Kate Upton
11 yule the tool, those 2 bowls where the same as elite eights, we have a championship in football. your one fatboy coach hurtt violation away from losing the sugar bowl remember, teddy made trips to that boosters house whos in jail too!
if we’re the deathstar, then UofL is a paper airplane.
Embrace the HATE!
RISE LORD VADER!!!
I’ll take it… LeBron didn’t want to be the Villain yet he looked great in the black on black Heat uniforms meant to say, “If you want to call us a Villain, then lose to a Villain”…
I grew up w/Dennis and Card fans can’t say good about Kentucky… Fine… I hope for the STATE that Louisville wins. Has there ever been a Duke/UNC/Duke win streak? Has there ever been a UCLA/STANFORD/UCLA? Has there ever been Bama/Auburn/Bama in football?? NO??
So let’s build the Death Star and make some history.
I would be interested in finding out if Sean Woods thinks that such a locker room gives players an unhealthy entitlement attitude.
‘You’d think a Louisville fan would know about being hollow inside, too. I’m sure he’s seen Louisville’s trophy case.’ !!!OUCH!!! 🙂
Cal has a 4-1 record vs. Quicky Ricky
Tubby had a 4-2 record vs. UL’s Adulterous “Head Man”
The Tards are left wishing for the return of BCG that will never come. Instead UL will get their asses handed to them by the 6-9 McDonald’s all americans. We own them bitches!!!!!
Hey RJ, read (if you can and not what your mamma reads to ya) the post. We’re talkin trophy cases not rafters—rafters are what the YuleofK fans are hanging from in Russ Arena.
Don’t take offense guys. If you choose to believe that a bunch of kids that have fallen for the old Calipari act are playing for the honor of Kentucky, then do so. However, we all know these kids are playing for future money that, for some odd reason, they believe only Calipari can deliver. You should admit it and embrace it, and definitely not be upset when someone else points it out.
How Ironic that they would use a Star Wars analogy when it has been since the original SW trilogy was released since they won their last title! 🙂
Just jealousy and envy because U of L fans know that they are about to get annihilated next December. Unfortunately, the dirty birds only have 15 seconds of endurance while the cats are there consistently.
#1 Epic well played sir well played.
11)we are talking championships where not talking about second tier bowl games because the big boys in the SEC where playing in BCS games. You deal realize to one good win you have and I’ll give you it was a good win was from the 3 or 4 th best SEC team!
I think UCLA will land Few from Gonzaga. Given he’s a west coast guy he should be a home run hire for them. Other the Uk and Carolina I wouldn’t think there is a better job in America then UCLA! I don’t think Smart or Stevens either one would want Minn. I think Coach O would be a good hire for them
Coach O could recruit there and this would allow him to show his potential in case Cal was ever to leave. Hopefully Mitch has learned his lesson with Joker the HC in waiting thing doesn’t work for a coach without experience. Let him go and have success the Uk job is good enough anybodtpy but Billy D would want it!
“Kentucky fans will never say it. But they know: It’s hollow inside.”
I’ll be damned if I’m gonna have some Lville fan speak for me. When did journalism turn to speculation? I guess this is our world now.
72) I with you. These kids are coming because they know Cal will make them millionaire’s and that fine! The odd reason they believe it is because you have coaches like K who have admitted to holding some freshmen back to get them to stay longer because he believed it was best for the kid. Cal believes in the opposite of letting them star as freshmen and letting them pick in the off season. Both ways work!
It’s a money driven world and these kids should be going to where will help the get to the NBA the fasts anybody who thinks different is crazy. We aren’t talking about thousands of dollars but millions. For these star kids now I think the best choices are Carolina , UK, and Kansas. Seems like those 3 coaches do better for their players!
This guy talks hollow has no clue about UK. Sure we just have some of these kids for 1 year but he obviously didn’t see the connection MKG and Kentucky had. I would say he probably is one of the all time fan favorites. He hasn’t seen a kid like Nerlens who has done so much for the community out side of basketball! Nerlens deserves the community out reach award he spends a lot of time in schools or a the childern’s hospital without cameras following him.
Times have changed and some of these old timers need to change with them.
Thanks to Pitino and his money, Karen Sypher is also hollow inside.
I love seeing all the banners(half earned when there were lacers on the ball) in Russ Arena.
59, Pitino would be Yoda he is so old LOL!
Nice try, Rick, but the players at Louisville came to play for the coach who became famous by coaching at Kentucky, and because it will possibly help them get to the NBA. Everyone knows that. Truth -Point blank period.
#81 aka yule
Even IF only half of our banners were earned, we’d still have twice as many as Louisville. Jealousy breeds envy. Move along Cats fans. Nothing to see here.
Note to Louisville fans…Luke Skywalker at walking through that door. So hide your kids, lock up your wives, Hells coming and it will be wearing a UK basketball jersey in 2013-2014!
The other half earned since the last time you were relevant. OH WAIT… You’ve never been relevant!! 🙂 Come back when you have a championship picture in Color
We’re getting a write up in the WSJ during the the NCAA tourney when we aren’t even playing in it? Hollow the death star is Not.
Go Cats!
This country was created with only one death star region present. The northeast. The home of the most obnoxious, rude, untrustworthy lying losers in the world. Opinions from New York, Boston, NJ, etc. should be held for the type of atomic matter that they are made of…dung. They almost single handedly bankrupted the country. Pitino’s jealousy and dishonesty stems from this dung as well. Remember that dung is only harmful if you put your foot in it. Higher life forms choose to ignore it and leave it to the flies.
They never mention that the one championship Pitino won had 8 NBA draft picks on it.
Ricky,
Are you “prematurely” predicting your climax again. More “empty” promises…
What do they expect Cal to do, only recruit players that are ranked 30 and below? We recruit the same guys that Coach K, Self, Pitino, Roy Williams, and any number of so called ‘elite’ coaches recruit…..only we get ’em and everybody except UK fans want to cry about it. We didn’t whine when North Carolina and Duke were stockpiling talent in the 80’s, 90’s, and 2000’s.
refuse to click on these links because that’s why they write these articles about UK because they will get hits , this is just like every other lil brudder fan i know it doesn’t matter what their team does its all about what UK doesn’t do they have some real hatred , went out to eat during their first round game wearing my nfl gear so i wouldn’t attract attention to myself every table around me had red on and all they talked about was UK , my cover was blown when chane hit the front of the rim on a dunk attempt couldn’t stop laughing from then on their conversations changed to other topics
ps its not hollow its filled with a couple million members of bbn and half the population of Jefferson county (louisville)= that’s what gets to them
We had a bad year. We also have 6 more championships and our arena isnt in jeopardy.
You know you are great & special when these small time writers (ate up with jealously and envy) are always writing something negative about you or the program. Kentucky basketball accomplishments speak for themselves. Jealousy & envy will eat you alive.
I hope we take the court to Imperial March every damn game next year. I embrace our villain label. Strike back Empire!!! LOL