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For Allie Townsend and her husband, Landy, being Kentucky basketball fans living in North Carolina is difficult enough. However, it was more than she could take after UK lost to Indiana when she saw a tweet by Indiana point guard Yogi Ferrell's mother about the lack of class of UK point guard Tyler Ulis and had a photoshopped image of Ulis shooting the "bird" to fans.
Not only did Ulis have on the wrong color jersey, but the game obviously was not the one in Des Moines and the arms were obviously not those of Ulis.
"I do not follow Yogi's mom on Twitter, but I noticed her post being discussed on Things #BBN Likes, along with several responses including a few from people I follow," Townsend said.
However, she called out Ferrell's mother on Twitter -- along with some other UK fans and demanded an apology to Ulis. That resulted in Townsend being blocked on Twitter by Ferrell's mother.
"I think we Kentucky fans feel a collective protectiveness over all of our players, past and present. My first thoughts were that nobody has arms that long, those were index fingers, and Tyler Ulis would not behave that way," Townsend said. "I noticed that @lahrUK (BBN4LIFE) had mentioned she should apologize. I agreed and joined in with this tweet, including @DocLibby: 'I think Tyler deserves a personal apology.'
"I can't be sure when she deleted her original tweet. It took fewer than 30 seconds for her to block me, and I'm sure I wasn't the first! I'd be very curious to know how many of the #BBN she blocked. I know it included several of my friends after."
Townsend said Ferrell's mother was blocking "all of us as quickly as possible" as UK fans were quick to defend Ulis.
"It wasn't long before she gave up blocking and just changed her account to private. I think a sincere apology, as my friend Carol Ann mentioned, would have been much easier, but she doesn't seem like the remorseful type," Townsend said.
Townsend has always been a Kentucky fan, and always will be.
"As a kid, I remember watching ball games with my dad, cutting out newspaper pictures of players like Richard Madison and Ed Davender, and getting autographs from Kenny Walker, Roger Harden and Leroy Byrd during their Summer Tour. I watched the 1996 championship my senior year at the (Two) Keys and ran crazy in the streets (in Lexington) with everyone else," she said.
"We were so excited when Cameron Mills hit that 3 against Duke in '98, we broke furniture (accidentally)! I was there when Tayshaun (Prince) rained 3's all over UNC. I've been to the Final Four the past two years and feel not quite sure what to do with myself this year."
Her husband, Landy, is from Owensboro and she's from Henderson. They meet at Transylvania and realized they shared one thing — a lifelong Kentucky basketball obsession.
"We lived in Louisville for about 12 years after graduating and can attest to the 50:50 UK/UL ratio. We moved to North Carlolina in 2007, and one of the most pleasant surprises has been the great number of Kentucky friends we have found here," she said.
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