One to One with Bill Goodman:
The Cult of Basketball
aired April 22, 2007
When University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith announced his departure for Minnesota in March 2007, the search for a replacement was the lead news story and the main topic of conversation around the state for two weeks. On this edition of One to One, Lexington Herald-Leader columnist Cheryl Truman and Jerry Walls, a philosophy of religion professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, discuss the “cult of basketball” in Kentucky. Where does this obsession come from, and what are its effects on other areas of life in the Commonwealth?
Truman, a native Kentuckian, wrote a column publicly criticizing the state’s obsession with Smith’s departure—and became the object of much heated reaction herself. Walls, the editor of Basketball and Philosophy, has taught at Asbury in Wilmore since 1987 and is the author of a variety of professional and popular articles. In his leisure time, he is a connoisseur of classic British sports cars and an avid fan of football and basketball.
