Over the last few days college basketball fans in Memphis, Tenn. and Lexington, Ky. have been waiting on pins and needles awaiting the decision of John Calipari on whether he would come to Kentucky or stay put in Tennessee.
Since news broke that the Wildcats were actively courting Calipari, the social Internet community went crazy.
There have been Facebook pages and other message boards active from Beale Street to the Bluegrass State.
The Fox affiliate in Memphis, in their infinite wisdom, elected to put a live camera feed on what has been called simply “The Door.”
“The Door” is just that. A door fixed to the University of Memphis Athletic Department building.
Over 3,000 people clambered around their computers at work, home or Internet-capable cell phones for days leading up to Calipari’s announcement that he was, in fact, leaving out the door.
Now, “The Door” has taken on a life of its own and spurred three separate Facebook pages, even naming “The Door” as the next head men’s basketball coach at the University of Memphis.
Nice to know that over the last days of speculation, conjecture and rumor, Memphis and Kentucky fans, both of which are basketball-crazy to say the least, have found humor on a situation that happens every year in the college and pro coaching ranks.
They have gotten past the fact that Calipari is leaving Memphis, as well as their incoming and current players, in limbo left to decide their futures on their own after committing their college careers to a coach they thought would be there for the duration.
They have also gotten past the enormous amount of money that Calipari will be making.
The terms of his contract make him the highest paid college basketball coach in the country.
And, they have gotten past the potential college coaching snowball effect that this may take on.
Now, every college basketball coach that has seen any success over the last five years may want to restructure their contracts because they feel slighted over the Calipari deal at Kentucky.
But, fans have “The Door” to thank for getting them past all of the silly things around this hiring.
With the popularity that “The Door” has received since this carousel began, perhaps Calipari would be smart in bringing “The Door” with him to Kentucky to help him charm the pants off of recruits that he will be battling for in the southeast.
That, or “The Door” could stay at Memphis and help the university with their daunting task of finding a replacement for Coach Cal.
Either way, after Wednesday, it may be safe to say that Memphis fans just hoped that “The Door” didn’t hit Calipari on the way out.
Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140. Follow Morning Sun sports at twitter.com/mssports.
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