Kentucky Wildcat Fans and Haman Have Something in Common

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The Jewish feast of Purim starts Wednesday, March 23. It's the festival that celebrates the miraculous redemption of the Jews from their enemy as told in the book of Esther. One of the central figures in the story is Haman, a high-ranking political officer in ancient Persia. One of the king's right-hand men, he had privileged access to the king that even the queen didn't have. He sat at the entrance to the city where people would come and bow before him in honor of his position. Everyone, that is, except Mordecai. Despite that fact that everyone in town bowed to him, and the king considered him a personal confidant, Haman was annoyed by the fact that one person did not bow to him. That hatred and anger was his undoing. In a similar manner, there's the University of Kentucky college basketball team. Let's take a quick look at some of the accolades of the University of Kentucky's basketball system: * One of the top awards for the best player in Division I college basketball is named after Kentucky's legendary coach, Adolph Rupp. * Kentucky was the first college basketball program to reach the lofty 2,000 program victories plateau. They currently have 2,178 wins and a .764 winning percentage, ranking #1 in both. Kansas, in second place, has 25 fewer victories, 158 more losses, and a lower winning percentage. * Kentucky has a total of 29 Southeastern Conference championships. The rest of the entire Southeastern Conference COMBINED has a total of 27. * Kentucky has eight national championships, second-most in NCAA history (second to UCLA, which has 11). * Three of Kentucky's coaches -- Adolph Rupp, Rick Pitino, and John Calipari -- are Basketball Hall of Fame inductees. * Kentucky is universally considered one of the most elite, prestigious basketball programs in America. In other words, there's Kentucky, then there's everyone else. Yet Kentucky's fans, like Haman, are bothered by that one thing that keeps them from enjoying all that success. The "Mordecai" to UK's "Haman" is Duke. NEVER MIND that Kentucky has more titles than Duke. NEVER MIND that Kentucky has more victories than Duke. NEVER MIND that Kentucky beat Duke in 1978 for the NCAA title. When Duke wins Kentucky fans' faces look like they've been sucking on a collective lemon. Now Kentucky, picked by the so-called "experts" on Selection Sunday to be in the Final Four (if not to win it all), is going home after being defeated by neighboring rival Indiana. And Duke, which has been incredibly mediocre this year by anyone's standards, has struggled but will be playing in the Sweet 16 next week. Poor Wildcat fans.