We’re not in Lexington (or the South) anymore

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – For the last two weekends, I’ve felt like I have lived out of my not-so-sexy duffel bag.

Two weekends ago it was Nashville, Tenn., a fun, really cool city with great night life and awesome music. Then last weekend it was New Orleans – need I say anything more?

The basketball has been fun, the city environments have been great, and the experience has been something I won’t soon forget.

Now I’m not saying covering the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in Syracuse, N.Y., is a bad thing – please don’t take this out of context – but Syracuse, N.Y., is no Nashville, and it’s no New Orleans, and I’m not even talking about the weather, night life or the food. I’m talking about hospitality.

Growing up in Charlottesville, Va., a small college town in central Virginia, I’ve grown accustomed to Southern hospitality. Going to school at UK, that Southern hospitality hasn’t changed. Now I’ve only been here for about 15 hours, but I’m pretty sure there is no such thing as Northern hospitality.

I don’t know if it’s because people are more rushed up here, I don’t know if it’s because the weather always seems to be cloudy, cold and down-right dreary, but Northern hospitality seems to be as similar to Southern hospitality as Cornell’s basketball history is to UK’s.

Nashville might as well have been Cats-ville. Every bar on Broadway in Nashville was filled with a sea of blue. “C-A-T-S” chants and “Go Big Blue” chants drowned out the entire Tennessee band at Bridgestone Arena in UK’s Southeastern Conference Semifinal game, and UK played in front of a virtual home crowd in each game.

“It just feels like home,” said freshman guard Eric Bledsoe after the Cats’ 73-67 win over Alabama in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. “It feels like we’re back at Rupp (Arena).”

New Orleans certainly didn’t have as many UK fans as Nashville, but the weather was so great (upper 60s, sunny skies and a slight breeze) and the people were so friendly and happy. Maybe it was because we were in the French Quarter, maybe it was because of the weather, maybe it was because of the wonderful jazz music being played around every corner, or maybe it was just because the food was so darn good, but if you had a question, people would take the time to stop and answer it for you. No problem.

Same goes with throughout the regular season. We drove to Gainesville, Fla., Columbia, S.C., Athens Ga., Starkville, Miss., and Knoxville, Tenn., among other places, and I don’t know if there was ever a reception this cold – pun intended, they’re calling for snow on Friday.

Well now we’re in Syracuse. And if the Cats (34-2) haven’t realized they’re not in Lexington, Nashville or New Orleans anymore, they will by 9:57 p.m. when their Sweet 16 matchup against Cornell (29-4) is scheduled to tipoff.

The fans in the Carrier Dome, home to Syracuse’s beloved Orange, will be pulling for David in this matchup billed as David v. Goliath. And it won’t just be because of Cornell’s improbable story to get to this round.

UK poses the biggest threat to Syracuse’s aspirations of winning its second national championship. UK is the sport’s winningest program (SEE: New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys or Los Angeles Lakers on why fans don’t like this). UK comes in with a lot of swagger – having four potential NBA Draft lottery prospects for this year’s Draft alone will get you that. Oh yeah, and Cornell’s home of Ithaca, N.Y., is less than 60 miles away.

Walking into Acropolis Pizza House late last night and Varsity Pizza today, the reception from other customers was less than friendly. There were stern looks, off-handed comments and just an overall cold feeling sitting in the two food establishments. (The food in both places was good though! Pizza at Acropolis, a Chicken Cordon Bleu at Varsity).

Sitting here in my hotel room on the third floor, I still hear an occasional “C-A-T-S” cry from the streets, and a worker at Varsity was sporting a UK hat and cried out “Go Cats” every 10 minutes or so, but this environment could not be any more different than my past two weeks – or really my entire school year traveling the Southeast.

Again, maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s that I was with people wearing UK memorabilia, maybe it’s that Syracuse feels threatened. But “Northern hospitality” is the reason I’m quite happy living – and staying – in the South.