Basketball e-Rupp-tion in Lexington

Basketball e-Rupp-tion in Lexington

At Kentucky, the Rupp Arena experience is elite and populist, all at the same time
By Eric Angevine
Special to ESPN SportsTravel

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The gently rolling hills of central Kentucky can be pretty nondescript in winter. The one thing that gives the landscape an undeniable sense of place is a series of white four-rail fences that are visible from the interstate.

These simple barriers let visitors know they're in horse country. Inside these iconic fences are the famous Kentucky thoroughbreds … and a healthy dose of the passion for competition that pervades America's 15th state.



Lexington's Rupp Arena follows that trend, presenting a rather drab exterior facade that belies the wonders within. The 23,500-seat building was built in 1976, a particularly unimaginative time for sports architecture. Rupp shares an entryway with the city's convention center, allowing visitors to walk from accommodations in the Hyatt to basketball heaven without getting any bad weather on their blue-and-white hats, shirts, jackets, pants, shoes and -- one can only assume -- undergarments.

The arena is, of course, named for Basketball Hall of Fame coach Adolph Rupp, who guided the Wildcats to four national championships while at the helm of the hardcourt from 1930 to 1972.

The "Baron of the Bluegrass" lived to see his namesake completed, dying at age 76 one year after the arena's inaugural season got under way in 1976. The stars must have aligned in a strange way that sad evening in December 1977 when Rupp passed away, for the UK basketball team was out of town, beating fellow blueblood Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse, the venerable building named for Rupp's coaching mentor Phog Allen.

Much like Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse, Rupp Arena also is the host venue for the passionately contested state high school basketball championships, as well as concerts, figure-skating exhibitions and monster-truck events. Unlike the ancient arena in Indianapolis, however, Rupp is always packed for college basketball games.

A crowd announced at 23,338 turned out to watch their beloved Wildcats open the program's 107th season against visiting mid-major Morehead State on Nov. 13. The game wasn't terribly competitive or meaningful, but UK fans made it the largest opening-day crowd Rupp Arena had ever seen. And on Jan. 2, the largest Rupp crowd -- 24,479 -- witnessed the Wildcats dismantling Louisville 71-62.

Rupp is reportedly the third-largest college basketball venue, behind Syracuse's Carrier Dome and Tennessee's Thompson-Boling Arena.

Still, a game at Rupp is a difficult ticket to score.

"Just getting tickets is a major feat," said 58-year-old Lexington resident Sharon Valens. "They're the best team in the country, though, so it's always worth the effort."

New faces in Rupp's spaces
That enthusiasm for Kentucky basketball has always existed, of course, but this year's edition of Bluegrass mania has a real fever pitch to it. The excitement follows the March 31 hiring of John Calipari, who may be America's hottest coach in any sport. Calipari brought a stellar recruiting class despite migrating from Memphis, including NBA-caliber freshmen John Wall, Eric Bledsoe and DeMarcus Cousins.

The 50-year-old Pittsburgh native also brought an intuitive understanding of the power of the Kentucky fan base, which devours anything and everything Wildcat-related and loves to talk hoops year-round. Calipari's Facebook page has more than 78,000 fans, and his Twitter account boasts upward of a million followers. A fraction of those fans can make it to Rupp on any given game day, so Calipari hustles to keep touch with the rest of the Big Blue nation however he can.

"There's never a dull moment around here," said journalist and author David Scott, who runs Calipari's official Web site, CoachCal.com. "He's always got something new cooking."

The day before Kentucky's SEC opener against Georgia, Calipari had Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin give the young Wildcats a pep talk during the morning shootaround. Tomlin pointed to the championship banner replicas that lined the walls of the practice gym in the gleaming new Joe Craft Center, and challenged the team to own the responsibility of championship expectations. He urged them to take care of business in conference play. If Calipari has his way, Tomlin will be just one of many inspirational leaders to visit Lexington this winter. He's even contacting heads of state, proof positive that basketball is more than just a game in Lexington.

There's a definite glint of drama in Rupp Arena these days. Calipari himself is a charismatic figure, and he brings famous folks to Lexington to thrill the fans in the seats. The day of the Georgia game he met the world's most famous Wildcats fan, Ashley Judd, for the first time since taking over at Kentucky. The Hollywood star sits in Rupp's seats like anyone else, but she may be the only one who's allowed (nay, encouraged) to run out on the court and cheer the team during timeouts.

If the Wildcats need any pointers on what it takes to get that eighth championship flag for Rupp's rafters, they need only move their eyes to another blue-and-white banner that hangs above their home court. The Wildcats cheerleading squad recently brought home an unprecedented 18th national championship of their own. The hard work shows.

When the basketball team isn't on the floor, the cheer squad is, performing elaborate routines and gravity-defying stunts. Even the costumed mascot, Scratch, gets into the act; he's at the pinnacle of the two-story-high human pyramid the team builds at least once per game.

Being a Cats fan in 2010 is a glamorous life. But when it comes right down to brass tacks, the Rupp experience is about one relationship: the one between passionate fans and great basketball.

The inside scoop

Rupp may look like a warehouse from the outside, but several unique characteristics come into view once you're inside.

One item is most conspicuous by its absence. Despite the NBA-style player introductions and the pro-quality talent that takes the floor in Lexington, the arena does not have a hanging scoreboard of any type. No jumbo screen or lit-up box score stands between fan and the evidence of their own eyes; the seats almost seem to be angled toward the playing floor, to keep spectator attention where it should be. Each corner of the arena sports a reasonably large video screen, and stats appear around the fringes of the seating area, as well.



That's not to say that nothing dangles from Rupp's ceiling. A dun-colored speaker array that resembles a pinecone hangs just about level with the upper deck. Somewhere between 20 and 30 individual bullhorns are packed into the seat-shaking sound pylon, which blares anything from hip-hop to country music as the building fills in from the top down on game day.

The top section of the bowl offers bleacher seating, and fans pack every dark corner of the building for each game. With nothing to block the view, any seat in Rupp is a good seat. Especially swanky are the lower-bowl seats, with comfy, padded chair-back seating and ample cup holders. For pure passion regardless of comfort, the student sections behind the baskets are the top. They resemble rowdy, noisy sardine cans for the full 40 minutes of regulation. No seat-fillers needed, either, because nobody ever leaves.

Notice that there has been no mention of swanky press boxes or luxury suites. Rupp has neither. Journalists belly up to counters around the edges of the court, with a second row of basic seating lining the upper deck to accommodate the multitude of media requests the athletic department fields. Fat-cat donors soak in the atmosphere from seats that are elbow-to-elbow with the rest of Wildcat Nation, without the benefit of glass windows, catering managers or minibars. Whether you're in for a penny or in for a pound, you're in the soup at Rupp.

Brian Claar makes a habit of driving more than 160 miles from his home in St. Alban's, W.Va., to Lexington for hoops games. The 36-year-old earned his civil engineering degree at UK more than a decade ago, but he can't wait to get back to Rupp each season.

"When the entire arena gets fired up and excited, there's no other louder and better crowd to be a part of," Claar said. "The roar is absolutely deafening. UK basketball plays a huge part in the identity of the university, the city of Lexington and the whole state of Kentucky."

An affair of the palate

Food also is a big deal in Lexington. Don't let anyone tell you differently.

Indeed, bring a belt with an extra hole punched in it if you're planning on heading to Lexington.

There are hot dogs, hamburgers and nachos at Rupp, but you can get such fare anywhere in the country. Locals swear by the barbecue sandwich, and the lines that form in front of the hole-in-the-wall soft-serve ice cream booths are a testament to how good the frozen treat tastes, even in the middle of winter. If beef is what you crave, the Kentucky Cattlemen's Association maintains a separate, cozy booth for the red-meat connoisseur.

Outside the arena, Lexington has plenty of local flavor to offer. Immediately after games, the party starts up next door at the Hyatt, where Kentucky bourbon flows, either neat or in a well-made mint julep. If that's not your style, grab a Kentucky Ale. Some visit the restaurants and bars of South Limestone Street before and after a game. Others never leave the block, braving the cold to watch contests on the one-story projection screen outside Barley's.

For a taste sensation unique to the commonwealth, try the Kentucky Hot Brown. With a name like that, it's got to be good, right? The stunning open-face concoction is constructed in layers, starting with toasted bread topped with turkey and ham. The grains and proteins are then smothered with a cheesy mornay sauce and broiled. Tomato, bacon and a little more shredded cheese finish off this food pyramid in a platter. Rest assured, however, you won't find any drab colors on your plate. The name "Hot Brown" is attributed to the Brown Hotel in Louisville, where the sandwich was invented.

Another delicacy with an unusual name is burgoo. The long-simmering stew composed of three or four meats and plenty of Southern vegetables is hard to find during basketball season, so a return trip during the horse-racing calendar may be in order. Keeneland -- Lexington's beloved thoroughbred track -- serves gallons of the stuff every summer.

"The best burgoo I've had around here is at Keeneland," said Mikel Grubb, 28, of Karns, Tenn. "Not too many places are going to serve it out of season, but if you're here for the races, that's where I'd go."

Explosive atmosphere

The best sporting events have a pronounced ebb and flow of dynamic tension between the action on the floor and the spectators in the stands. At Rupp, the feeling of anticipation rumbles just below the surface, as the crowd shouts, whistles and stomps, sending a cascade of noise down on opposing teams. It's never quiet, but there is a clear succession of gears fans ratchet through during a game.

Against Georgia, the outcome of the game was in doubt late into the second half. The decibels reached a peak throughout the final four minutes of regulation, and Wildcats players responded with steals, aggressive rebounds and a surge of energy that allowed them to pull away from the pesky visitors.

Even when the final result was no longer in doubt, the fans at Rupp wanted more. In the first half, Travis Leslie of Georgia had unleashed a highlight-reel dunk over DeMarcus Cousins on a fast break, and Wildcats partisans wanted their team to close the game with a punctuation mark -- a palate cleanser, so to speak.

And with 11 seconds left in regulation, the moment presented itself. Patterson heaved a long outlet pass to Wall on the wing, with just one Georgia player in position to make a play. If it's possible to feel more than 23,000 people holding their breath, that's what happened as Wall dribbled at an oblique angle toward the basket, seeming to take an eternity to get there. Would he do the sensible thing and dribble out the shot clock? Maybe play it safe and take the easy layup, try to draw a foul?

As it became clear that nobody in red could stop him, Wall rose up from well outside the paint and just kept going up. The sound in the building rose with him: "AaaaaaaAAAAHHHHH," as the freshman's one-handed dunk rammed home and the ball bounced hard off the wood of Rupp's playing surface. Two points the flashy way. Game over.

As time ran out on the 76-68 win, fireworks erupted overhead. Fans filed out as acrid smoke eddied about the austere row of championship-game banners that line one end of Rupp's upper deck. No doubt the faithful dreamed of making room for one more as they exited the building.

As we know from home-improvement experts, even a slight change in the decor is all it takes to make an old house feel new again.

Of course, there has been mention in the past of a new house altogether. And though background research is under way, the proposal for a new arena is just talk at this point.

"We are still working hard in the exploration and remain excited about the possibilities," said DeWayne Peevy, UK's associate athletic director of media relations.

Until then, Rupp still rocks.


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