BY BRITTNI MCCOY
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

On March 21, 2004, Kentucky was the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Their second-round matchup was against the No. 9 seed University of Alabama-Birmingham. The UAB mascot is a green dragon named Blaze. That’s about all anyone knew about them.

I’ve watched UK games with my dad since I was a little girl. We’ve had our best times yelling at the TV together and rooting for our Wildcats. He had somewhere to be that night, so he asked me to record the game on a VHS tape on the VCR. We were the tournament favorite, so this game was a no-brainer for anyone filling out a bracket.

Gerald Fitch, Chuck Hayes, Erik Daniels, Cliff Hawkins and one of my favorites, Kelenna Azubuike, were on that 2004 team. Azubuike dunked in a shot for the go-ahead. It was looking good for the Cats, but UAB came down the floor and hit a jumper for the lead. We missed a three and a put-back shot at the buzzer. We lost.

Thirteen-year-old Brittni was utterly and totally devastated. I grabbed the VHS tape, went out the front door, and chucked that black tape clear across the yard. My dad pulled into the driveway sometime later as I was shedding a few tears for my Wildcats.