Mammaw Foley had the time of her life today. Once we made our way into Rupp Arena and had Codi & Grace on their way to shop, we had a truly wonderful afternoon. Getting there too early forced us into our first great adventure of the day, the escalator. Now believe me if you want but 87 year olds and escalators don’t mix well together. As I literally was lifting her onto the first escalator she finally took the necessary step to make me quit freaking out. The second one went well for her but stretched me out and wasn’t anywhere near a close call as the first one. We found ourselves (well.. her) a spot on a bench and proceeded to have a nice conversation about several things as we waited on the arena to open. Looking out onto all the sea of blue she couldn’t help herself to one of her seemingly favorite past times: pointing out extremely obese people. No joke she has done it my entire life and I know with all those people it was like shooting fish in the barrel. Admittedly there were a few and I found myself trying not to look like the way you do when you pass a bad wreck as she pointed them out. Thank god a man and lady had a seat in front of us and the lady was knitting. If it weren’t for that I would have probably had the fattie count up to at least a dozen by the time they opened the gates.
At exactly an hour and a half before the game we found ourselves in no line for an elevator as the masses crowded the stairs and escalator. As we were waiting in the line to go through security and to the other end I couldn’t help but make the mental note to wait till closer to game time next time she comes with me. We made our way through the sparsely arranged folks on the concourse and on to the elevator at the top of our section. After a short ride back down the three stories we had already gone down, and up already we found ourselves in the guts of Rupp Arena where many people never get to see. The gentleman on the elevator directed us to where we needed to go and as we made the turn I realized we had just walked through the front entrance area of the Arkansas locker room. I quietly tried to tell her where we were when she said “the locker room?”, it was quite a funny moment as I was trying to not make a deal about it and she did it for me. As we turned the corner towards the arena we started to go out through the tunnel and she exclaimed. “I feel important coming out of here” and that statement couldn’t have been truer. She didn’t realize it but she was the vip of the day for me. We walked our way by the Arkansas bench and on to our seat where we passed Tony Delk, Scott Padgett and a few of the team doing a soft shoot around.
Once we made our way to our seats the arena began slowly filling. Once it became at least half-way filled 3 generations of Rupp men commenced to sit in front of us on the front row. When the warm-ups began an encouraged Mammaw exclaimed, “we are right at eye level with the boys, eh hee”. Little did we know there was a spectacle of a performance about to commence. The game itself was a true joy for me as I got to see the game through her eyes somewhat. On each basket as Kentucky started the game 10-0 she squealed with excitement and on some baskets, including the one where Cousins blocked, rebounded, and passed out to Wall for a lay-up, she was louder than me! She was particularly amazed by “how big Cousins is” and how fast the Wall/Bledsoe combo was “up the court so fast I almost missed them, there like rabbits”. The entire game lightened her face like a child in wonder. She obviously was thrilled to be up so close and told me that she thought that I wasn’t “right on the floor”. Getting to hear the referees and Calipari go back and forth was a real treat and she especially was attuned to when the players would check into the game and she could hear them telling the scorer who they were going in for. I am under the impression it gave her an entirely different perspective to the game even though she had been to games before. She opted to stay for the John Calipari radio show and thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the people fill in that side of the arena and getting to see how the interviews etc actually happen.
About half way through the radio show I believe that she grew tired of hearing the coach’s fluff on the game, fans etc and said it was time to go. As we excited through the opposite tunnel we came in on I happily told her we were walking by UKs locker room and low and behold there was Cousins and Orton leaving for the parking lot. After pointing them out to her and letting her see them we kept on walking towards the exit. Upon exiting the building at the security door we began walking out into the back parking lot and a door opened up to our left and another person began walking out next to us. He was wearing a pink shirt and tie and it was hard to get the words out of my mouth that John Pelphry was walking next to us. I said “good game coach, good luck with the rest of your season”. 
After a 31 point homecoming scorching of his pretty decent team he turned and very humbly said, “thank you so much I appreciate it”. It was like a captivating finish to an extraordinary day and I couldn’t believe my self that it went so great and that in the end it was an unforgettable going home just like us yet mammaw is the unforgettable this day. It seemed that everything went perfectly and for me that is what I wanted more than anything for my lovely Mammaw. Mammaw Foley had the time of her life today and I had the great privilege to be there and experience it with her.
Dedicated to my Mammaw,
Love Jason
At exactly an hour and a half before the game we found ourselves in no line for an elevator as the masses crowded the stairs and escalator. As we were waiting in the line to go through security and to the other end I couldn’t help but make the mental note to wait till closer to game time next time she comes with me. We made our way through the sparsely arranged folks on the concourse and on to the elevator at the top of our section. After a short ride back down the three stories we had already gone down, and up already we found ourselves in the guts of Rupp Arena where many people never get to see. The gentleman on the elevator directed us to where we needed to go and as we made the turn I realized we had just walked through the front entrance area of the Arkansas locker room. I quietly tried to tell her where we were when she said “the locker room?”, it was quite a funny moment as I was trying to not make a deal about it and she did it for me. As we turned the corner towards the arena we started to go out through the tunnel and she exclaimed. “I feel important coming out of here” and that statement couldn’t have been truer. She didn’t realize it but she was the vip of the day for me. We walked our way by the Arkansas bench and on to our seat where we passed Tony Delk, Scott Padgett and a few of the team doing a soft shoot around.Once we made our way to our seats the arena began slowly filling. Once it became at least half-way filled 3 generations of Rupp men commenced to sit in front of us on the front row. When the warm-ups began an encouraged Mammaw exclaimed, “we are right at eye level with the boys, eh hee”. Little did we know there was a spectacle of a performance about to commence. The game itself was a true joy for me as I got to see the game through her eyes somewhat. On each basket as Kentucky started the game 10-0 she squealed with excitement and on some baskets, including the one where Cousins blocked, rebounded, and passed out to Wall for a lay-up, she was louder than me! She was particularly amazed by “how big Cousins is” and how fast the Wall/Bledsoe combo was “up the court so fast I almost missed them, there like rabbits”. The entire game lightened her face like a child in wonder. She obviously was thrilled to be up so close and told me that she thought that I wasn’t “right on the floor”. Getting to hear the referees and Calipari go back and forth was a real treat and she especially was attuned to when the players would check into the game and she could hear them telling the scorer who they were going in for. I am under the impression it gave her an entirely different perspective to the game even though she had been to games before. She opted to stay for the John Calipari radio show and thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the people fill in that side of the arena and getting to see how the interviews etc actually happen.
About half way through the radio show I believe that she grew tired of hearing the coach’s fluff on the game, fans etc and said it was time to go. As we excited through the opposite tunnel we came in on I happily told her we were walking by UKs locker room and low and behold there was Cousins and Orton leaving for the parking lot. After pointing them out to her and letting her see them we kept on walking towards the exit. Upon exiting the building at the security door we began walking out into the back parking lot and a door opened up to our left and another person began walking out next to us. He was wearing a pink shirt and tie and it was hard to get the words out of my mouth that John Pelphry was walking next to us. I said “good game coach, good luck with the rest of your season”. After a 31 point homecoming scorching of his pretty decent team he turned and very humbly said, “thank you so much I appreciate it”. It was like a captivating finish to an extraordinary day and I couldn’t believe my self that it went so great and that in the end it was an unforgettable going home just like us yet mammaw is the unforgettable this day. It seemed that everything went perfectly and for me that is what I wanted more than anything for my lovely Mammaw. Mammaw Foley had the time of her life today and I had the great privilege to be there and experience it with her.Dedicated to my Mammaw,
Love Jason
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