3/28/1992

I’ll just go ahead and address the elephant in the room today. I know where I was 27 years ago today and I’m sure y’all know where you were as well. I was at the Sweet 16 in Louisville when it happened. And incredibly enough, my father and I were lucky enough to find a television that night in Freedom Hall. I first need to add that this was my very first time attending the Sweet 16. I miraculously won a contest in the Kentucky Post where you pick the winners from each regional. I picked 14 out of 16 correctly. I won two sets of tickets to the Sweet 16 at Freedom Hall. I was eight years old. Side note: this wasn’t my dad’s first trip. To say it was a great week would be an understatement. Memorable. I got my first autograph from a UK legend. (Kyle Macy, I still have the hat and wear it.) I learned how to play euchre, how a point spread works, fix a bourbon and coke, a few new words and learned all that was okay because we’d go to church before leaving Louisville on Sunday. Also, became a fan of a ton of dudes that played in ‘92. Darren Allaway and Greg Bucker of University Heights and Vondale Morton of Lexington Catholic were three of many. Their schools met in the state championship that night, 3/28/92. Packed house at Freedom Hall. I was pumped to watch the high school game. My dad and his cousins were as well. But there was a magic in the air that night that seemed like a gift from the basketball gods. Many former Sweet 16 legends were on that UK team. Players that I had heard stories about their performances in the Sweet 16 from my dad. I was only eight years old at the time so it’s hard for me to recall every second that evening, 27 years ago. But the most clear memory is being in a Hospitality Room in Freedom Hall and watching the second half of that game. The first half we watched on a portable television from our seats with my cousin Ron. The euphoria that was felt after Woods banked that leaner was indescribable. The room was electric. Then out of the corner of my vision I saw a logo on a hat that I had only seen on television. There was a teenager wearing a Blue Devils hat. And by the time I realized there was still 2.1 seconds remaining, Grant Hill was handed the ball. 

WHAT HAD JUST HAPPENED?!

It didn’t count! After the buzzer! Maybe he traveled! Did the clock start on time?! This can’t be happening! That heaven-sent energy was sucked out of the building that night. The ending changed my life forever. I became an even bigger fan of UK than ever before. Became an even bigger fan of the Sweet 16 vacation as that’s what it was for my family. 3/28/1992, I will never forget the date.