BTI Sucks One Final Time

I don’t mean to ruin Big Blue Nation’s weekend but there is no easy way to say this: this will be my final post on KSR. I hope you all can read the remainder of this post through your tears and wails but I’ll try and keep it short and sweet with a little BTI flair mixed in as well. I wish that I could say I have an exciting or spicy reason for leaving the site. Something like I’ve been hired to carry Pat Forde’s water bottle at the Derby or Marc Maggard finally found the right price to hire me away (which was $6500 a year, by the way). But the reality is far more boring.

The fact is I just don’t have the time and mental energy to do it anymore. In the time since I started with KSR in December 2007 until today, I have changed careers twice. I’ve gotten married, had a son, bought two houses, and changed from Picks to Clicks into Rants and Ramblings. I’ve seen four men’s basketball coaches, three football coaches, and more great and terrible players come through Lexington than I can remember. But I have always felt that it has been such a pleasure and fortunate circumstance to be a little part of this site and I needed to always take what I put on here seriously. And for the past few months, that hasn’t been the case.

I turn 40 years old this year and started writing on this site when I was 22. And while it is beyond belief that I’ve been around this long, and know that Tyler and the crew would let me post for however long I wanted, sometimes you just know when it’s time. So, I will bow out now with my head held high and with absolutely not a single regret in the world. This site is an absolute monster and deserves the best and brightest to continue to kick ass. I do want to call out a few people on my way out, though:

TYLER THOMPSON: The absolute rockstar of this website. Having had a front row seat to the growth of this platform, I can say confidently that when Tyler and Drew came on board is when the site made it. She deserves to run the best websites on the planet, but since KSR is already that, she is where she belongs. I hope everybody gets to experience a boss as competent, responsive, and kind as Tyler. I probably wrote a few months longer than I wanted just to not let her down. Of course, when I called to tell her I was done, she did respond with “ok, cool. bye”. So maybe not as let down as I thought.

DREW FRANKLIN: I don’t know Drew well but from the outside looking in, he is one of the more effortlessly talented people I’ve seen. He has that unique quality of feeling like a friend without ever actually hanging out. Outside of Tomlin, the funniest person to write on this site. And a beard to die for.

NICK ROUSH: My southend brethren. One of the most naturally friendly and easy people to interact with ever. I never had a doubt I could tell him how much Desales sucks and he wouldn’t hate me for it. Probably because he knows it’s true. But also because he’s a good dude.

CHRIS TOMLIN: Still the funniest person to write on this site. And his old-time baseball reports on the long-ago radio show are the hardest I’ve ever laughed. He would occasionally message me “good job” or “that was funny” on a post, and I never felt more proud.

MATT JONES: Thanks.

KSR INTERNS: Oh, what a family we have become. I’m not going to call each and every one of you out here because you all know how amazing you are. Also, I don’t know a single one of your names.

PAYROLL: A check has never bounced. Good work.

ZACK, KATIE, PHOENIX, ADAM, JACK, JACOB, Everybody Else: While Tyler and Drew are the rocks of the website, these are the people who make it better than the rest. From the outside looking in, the bench has never been deeper on KSR. In 2008-09, when a story would break I would sometimes get a call to write the post about it. I was woefully unqualified to do so. KSR now has such a good roster of writers who are all qualified to do what they do.

Matt Jones Addendum: I guess Matt deserves more than a thanks. There was literally no reason in the world that Matt needed to ask me to join the site in December 2007. But he did, which at first was just posting a blog of links on UK stories. But when he started letting me write actual posts, with actual opinions, I doubt he knew what he was getting. And yet, despite “BTI Sucks” becoming a thing, he never wavered once. He never asked me to censor myself, never asked me to change my opinion. I will always say that Matt is as loyal as they come if you can get into his circle. I was probably on the very edge of the circle but just enough in where he trusted me. He’s a one-of-a-kind talent who can basically pick whatever he wants to do and succeed. I will forever be thankful for the opportunity.

Now, I’m not just gonna write a sappy post of thank-yous and poor jokes. It can’t be my last post without some just awful (read: correct) opinions. So I racked my brain for the 5 posts I wrote that got the most feedback. And even one post that got me a death threat:

1. THE UNFORGETTABLES SHOULD NOT BE IN THE RAFTERS
   I will stand by this post until the end of time. None of the Unforgettables had an individual career that deserved recognition in the rafters at Rupp Arena. They certainly could be the most loved team in UK history. Each guy should be honored at games and treated as legends. But the jersey retirement is for individual achievement. And none of them did enough for that. A person did threaten to shoot me for this post if I came to Rupp after. Which I did and survived. A true hero.
   
2. UK SHOULD HAVE HIRED PAUL JOHNSON AFTER JOKER PHILLIPS
   This might be my favorite post, in retrospect, that I ever did. When Joker Phillips was clearly headed out the door, I posted that Kentucky should have hired Georgia Tech’s Paul Johnson to replace him. Why such a random guy? Because Johnson ran the triple option and I argued that for UK to win in the SEC, they had to do something outside the box. Much like Hal Mumme was when he was hired. Johnson went 42-34 for the remainder of his career, and we went with Mark Stoops. Probably missed the mark on that one.
   
3. DAN ISSEL WAS THE 8TH BEST PLAYER IN UK HISTORY
   I don’t remember the year, but a little before COVID, I attempted to rank EVERY UK Men’s Basketball player from the first national championship (1948) until the present day. Quite a chore but doable without children at the time. Anyway, I came up with Issel as just the 8th best player in school history. I tried to blend a mix of both statistical achievement with team success and actual ability. And frankly, Issel benefitted from being able to take 72 shots a game and never made a Final Four. He’s the most individually accomplished player in school history. But just the 8th best one overall.
   
4. JOHN CALIPARI WAS LUCKY MORE THAN HE WAS GOOD
   This was low-hanging fruit as Cal’s program began to crumble some. I argued that Cal was very lucky in the NCAA Tournament up to that point and if only a couple things didn’t go his way, the resume might have been more of a struggle. 2011 Brandon Knight last second to beat Princeton and Ohio State. 2014 all of the Aaron Harrison shots. 2019 Tyler Herro late shot to beat Houston. Hell, even 2015 against Notre Dame had some fortunate moments. Nonetheless, it was easy to pick on Cal at that time.
   
5. BASEBALL PLAYERS ARE BARELY ATHLETES
   This could easily be #1 for the most hate-filled comments section. And I wasn’t even trying to rile anybody up. I simply did a post trying to determine who was the most “complete” athlete. A very standard summer post for KSR at that time. And baseball didn’t stack up. I won’t rehash it all except to say baseball players are not as good an athlete as soccer players, tennis players, gymnasts, lacrosse, field hockey, or basically any sport that isn’t golf or bowling.

I’ll end with this: a gigantic thank you to the readers of this website. While “BTI Sucks” took on a life of its own, I enjoyed every second of writing on this site. It always felt like I got to be a part of something growing without the real pressure of impacting its growth. I got to watch something special without the risk of screwing it up. Better and more talented people than me have made this behemoth. But I got to tag along. And that has been far too cool and amazing to be anything but thankful.

I would ask that everybody remember what we’re doing here on this site and in this world: trying to coexist. So let’s be a little kinder to each other as we’re all trying to get to happiness together. Love everybody! BTI out.