The rivalry runs deep… into the pockets of Louisville fans.
There’s no doubt that in the landscape of college sports, Louisville Cardinal fans and Kentucky Wildcat fans hate each other. Actually, scratch that. They loathe each other. Loathing is stronger than hating.
Which if we’re being honest, the rivalry hasn’t been much of one as of late, at least in basketball (and might as well group in football too). Dating back to 2010, when the Wildcats have taken the floor against the Cardinals in basketball, UK has won 13 of the last 16 matchups. That’s not a rivalry, that’s a domination.
And to be transparent, I’m a Louisville fan and I’m saying that. Did I get some enjoyment out of Kentucky being upset yesterday? Sure I did. But did I boast about it to anyone, or post things online making fun of them? No, I did not… mainly because Louisville doesn’t really have any room to say anything right now (*cough* Kenny Payne *cough*).
Some Cardinal fans aren’t like me though, considering what transpired yesterday after the Oakland Golden Grizzlies pulled off a huge upset against the Kentucky Wildcats. March officially got “mad” when the 14-seed knocked off the 3-seed behind Jack Golhke’s 10 three-pointers.
And afterwards, Louisville fans apparently flocked to the Oakland Golden Grizzlies website to buy merchandise in bulk. There was so much traffic that the website actually crashed, and when the school was able to see who was buying stuff from their storefront, a lot of the credit card zip codes showed that many of the orders were from the Louisville, Kentucky area:
Oakland Head Coach Greg Kampe was astounded by what took place (both his team’s upset and the subsequent influx in Golden Grizzly sales), and spoke about it in his time with the media earlier today.
Specifically the part where Louisville fans have suddenly become Oakland fans:
“Our university website crashed last night. That’s what this does. We also sold $8,000 worth of t-shirts to Louisville last night. Think about that! Honest to God.
They buy the t-shirts and they put the credit card and… Louisville, Louisville, Louisville. It wasn’t the same person. I don’t know, next year when Louisville and Kentucky play, I don’t know if everyone is going to show up in their Oakland shirt or what? I have no idea, but it’s crazy to think about.”
Honestly, that’s pretty funny. However, as a Louisville fan, I’d tread carefully. The Cards have lost 52 games in the past two years under Kenny Payne (RIP, he’s not dead, he was just finally fired).
If Kentucky fans bought a t-shirt for every loss Louisville has had as of late, they’d probably have to declare bankruptcy.
