H8ters

With Kentucky’s 8th National Title now hanging in the rafters in Rupp Arena, a fresh batch of haters has come with the force of a thousand warriors to the blogs and message boards. Recruiting practices, John Calipari, and/or the sin of jealousy has fueled a new fire for these haters. Now that Calipari has the proverbial monkey off of his back, the material against him and his program is really pathetic.

Former NY Times writer, Pete Thamel has once again focused his abilities (or lack therof) of publicly slamming the Kentucky program. Now with Sports Illustrated, Thamel has wrote his very first article with his new employer about Kentucky, Calipari, and it’s recruiting practices. Freshman sensation Nerlens Noel is being investigated (again) by the NCAA because of unofficial recruiting visits Noel took. Of course, the issue of improper benefits is rearing it’s ugly head again. It’s all about the money, and whether Noel had it, or received it. For Sports Illustrated writer Pete Thamel, this story provides a brand new playground for him to blast UK and Calipari. I guess there is not enough news floating around for Thamel to write about. Shabazz Muhammad or the UNC scandal is just not enough for him. His personal vendetta is against Kentucky, and he will pounce on any negative media to announce it to the world that things in Lexington are just not right.

On CBSSports.com, Jeff Goodman and his cronies have “polled” one-hundred coaches. The question was “In the last ten years, which player had the dirtiest recruitment?” 40% of the results came from players recruited by John Calipari. Anthony Davis came in 2nd with 13%, just behind Shabazz Muhammad with 15% of the vote. John Wall followed AD23 with 7%, Derrick Rose gathered 6% of the vote, tying for 4th with Mississippi State’s Renardo Sidney. And finally, Terrence Jones rounded out the poll with a 3-way tie for 5th with 3%. (Yawn.) One coach who voted for Davis said his recruitment was shut down so fast after UK got involved. Whatever UK did, it was a strong play. Another coach noted that Baylor hired John Wall’s AAU coach and still couldn’t get the future superstar to Waco. And remember, John Wall is from North Carolina. The #1 player in the class is from North Carolina, and the Tar Heels wanted nothing to do with him, what does that tell you? Maybe when Ol’ Roy figured out that John Wall wasn’t a fan of African American studies?

As noted earlier, Pete Thamel has always had an unhealthy obsession with John Calipari. I wonder if Tom Crean thinks it’s just a little creepy? It is really interesting that Thamel will jump on the opportunity to slam Kentucky at any given moment. Clearly, there is other news going around and yet he remains silent about those other situations. Does the Kentucky brand drive so much more internet traffic than UCLA or UNC? On a side note, when Pete Thamel wrote his latest article he cited his own NY Times article as a reference and never even notes the fact that he wrote it! Oops.

The CBS quartet have always had to defend their own honor of an unbiased opinion, especially when it comes to Kentucky. Goodman constantly argues with the BBN on his twitter account about whether he has his own personal vendetta against UK. Gary Parrish, a colleague of Goodman’s has been completely silent about his good friend Roy Williams and the UNC academic scandal. The scandal has been released for months and the silence remains. When the recent Noel story broke, Parrish was able to formulate an article about the Kentucky phenom within the hour. Coincidence?

H8ters. Gotta’ love’em.