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Sutton, Ford provide insight on UK-Louisville blood feud
Published: 3/31/2012 2:04 PM
Last Modified: 3/31/2012 2:04 PM

By now you’ve probably heard this story:

While at a dialysis clinic, a 71-year-old Louisville fan punched a 68-year-old Kentucky fan in the face. They were discussing a pending Final Four matchup between the Wildcats and Cardinals. The discussion got heated, then came an obscene gesture and then a hockey game broke out.

How can people in Kentucky be that rabid about their basketball? Let’s consult a couple of people who should know.

OSU coach Travis Ford played at Kentucky. He was talking about the fan fight earlier this week and told reporters “that won’t be the last one before Saturday.”

Eddie Sutton coached at Kentucky before taking the Oklahoma State job.

“I did something that was crazy.,” Sutton said. “We played (Louisville) up in Freedom Hall and we beat them by 16 or 17. It was even worse than that. I made a comment and said ‘big brother showed little brother how to play’ or something like that.... I wasn’t trying to rub it in. I just said big brother outplayed little brother today. It was something like that.”

Kentucky followers printed t-shirts with Sutton’s quote. Because he said it, he became public enemy No. 1 in Louisville.

“Boy, those people at Louisville were on me,” Sutton said.

Asked if he has been forgiven, Sutton said, “I haven’t been back that way, so can’t say. My travels have not taken me to that area.”

Sutton guessed that 80 percent of basketball fans in Kentucky root for the Wildcats. “This is the darndest story,” he said. “We used to play one game every year in Freedom Hall. We went up there and had a shootaround at noon. The place was packed at noon for a shootaround. That’s when I realized that Kentucky basketball was pretty big.”

Ford said people outside Kentucky can’t really grasp what a rivalry Louisville-Kentucky is and how much people love basketball there. “I can’t imagine what it is like in Kentucky right now, just in Louisville and Lexington, the excitment and the buzz.”

Added Ford, “It is a true, true rivalry. It seems almost unreal to me. When is the last time two rivalry schools like that played in the Final Four? And then you’ve got the two coaches who can’t seem to get along.”

Ford should have inside intel on the relationship between the rival coaches. Ford played for Rick Pitino at Kentucky and they are still close. Now Pitino is the coach at Louisville.

“I think it is added fuel that the coach that won a national title at Kentucky is now at Louisville,” Sutton said. “I think that has even added to the fuel because those people in Kentucky, or a lot of them, haven’t forgiven him for going to Louisville. He could have gone anywhere except Louisville.”

Because of Pitino, Ford is stuck in the middle of a blood feud. He indicated he will use his NABC-provided tickets in order to be neutral. “Kentucky is my school,” he said. “But coach Pitino is my coach.”

People all over Kentucky are probably caught in the same predicament as Ford because in-state rivals are crossing paths in a high-stakes game.

Sutton said there are rivalries everywhere. “But I’m not sure in basketball that there is any bigger one in basketball (than Kentucky-Louisville). I know North Carolina and Duke is big, but I would put Kentucky and Louisville right up there with them.”

If the Final Four was a series like the NBA Finals, Sutton said Kentucky would take home the trophy.

“That’s going to be a brutal battle between Louisville and Kentucky,” Sutton said. “It always is. I think Louisville will have to play over their heads to beat Kentucky, but in a one-game shot anything can happen.”

Anything -- and everything -- probably will happen all over the state because the Final Four has delivered Kentucky residents the game of a lifetime.


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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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