Blue Yonder: Kentucky, The United States of Basketball
315 pages
7 × 10
Hardcover
ISBN 1-882203-208
Copyright 1998
By Lonnie Wheeler
In Blue Yonder, Wheeler has undertaken a yearlong journey to explore the mysterious odyssey that navigates the thick-blooded hollows of Appalachia, the colonial monarchy of Adolph Rupp, the ignominies of point-shaving and probation, the racial traditions that have stigmatized a sacred institution, the momentous responses of a cutting-edge coach, and the inscrutable partisanship of country people who sue their siblings over inherited tickets, call in death threats to critical reporters, and get buried with blue and white pom-poms in their caskets.
Along the way, Blue Yonder brings to life the evolution of Kentucky basketball through the poignant metaphors of two prominent players, UK star Derek Anderson and the star of little Paintsville’s state championship team. One black, one white, one city, one country, they personify the present and past of Kentucky basketball. As the Paintsville teenager dreams of joining the Big Blue and Rick Pitino ponders whether to recruit the latest mountain hero, the entire state becomes emotionally involved in the question of whether the old and new Kentucky can live happily ever after.
Only in Kentucky does a sport say so much about a state. And only in Blue Yonder is this relationship examined with such insight and entertaining whimsy. Blue Yonder gives names, faces, and dialect to a regional way of life that has never before been so artfully and delightfully articulated.
315 pages
7 × 10
Hardcover
ISBN 1-882203-208
Copyright 1998
By Lonnie Wheeler
In Blue Yonder, Wheeler has undertaken a yearlong journey to explore the mysterious odyssey that navigates the thick-blooded hollows of Appalachia, the colonial monarchy of Adolph Rupp, the ignominies of point-shaving and probation, the racial traditions that have stigmatized a sacred institution, the momentous responses of a cutting-edge coach, and the inscrutable partisanship of country people who sue their siblings over inherited tickets, call in death threats to critical reporters, and get buried with blue and white pom-poms in their caskets.
Along the way, Blue Yonder brings to life the evolution of Kentucky basketball through the poignant metaphors of two prominent players, UK star Derek Anderson and the star of little Paintsville’s state championship team. One black, one white, one city, one country, they personify the present and past of Kentucky basketball. As the Paintsville teenager dreams of joining the Big Blue and Rick Pitino ponders whether to recruit the latest mountain hero, the entire state becomes emotionally involved in the question of whether the old and new Kentucky can live happily ever after.
Only in Kentucky does a sport say so much about a state. And only in Blue Yonder is this relationship examined with such insight and entertaining whimsy. Blue Yonder gives names, faces, and dialect to a regional way of life that has never before been so artfully and delightfully articulated.
315 pages
7 × 10
Hardcover
ISBN 1-882203-208
Copyright 1998
By Lonnie Wheeler
In Blue Yonder, Wheeler has undertaken a yearlong journey to explore the mysterious odyssey that navigates the thick-blooded hollows of Appalachia, the colonial monarchy of Adolph Rupp, the ignominies of point-shaving and probation, the racial traditions that have stigmatized a sacred institution, the momentous responses of a cutting-edge coach, and the inscrutable partisanship of country people who sue their siblings over inherited tickets, call in death threats to critical reporters, and get buried with blue and white pom-poms in their caskets.
Along the way, Blue Yonder brings to life the evolution of Kentucky basketball through the poignant metaphors of two prominent players, UK star Derek Anderson and the star of little Paintsville’s state championship team. One black, one white, one city, one country, they personify the present and past of Kentucky basketball. As the Paintsville teenager dreams of joining the Big Blue and Rick Pitino ponders whether to recruit the latest mountain hero, the entire state becomes emotionally involved in the question of whether the old and new Kentucky can live happily ever after.
Only in Kentucky does a sport say so much about a state. And only in Blue Yonder is this relationship examined with such insight and entertaining whimsy. Blue Yonder gives names, faces, and dialect to a regional way of life that has never before been so artfully and delightfully articulated.