So I Just Fed Two Star UK Basketball Players My Lasagna 😂

... and I'm not gonna tell you WHICH two players, just that they're in this picture and they're two of the star players, likely headed to the NBA - one of them even likely at the end of this season, he's top 10 in the country in his position 😉

For those either not from this country or not college basketball fans, the University of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team are national champions several times over and often a conduit to the NBA after graduation (and oftentimes before). 

In fact, they're one of four teams who play the "Champions" Game to kick off the NCAA college basketball season, every year, based on their legacies - Kentucky (my alma mater), Michigan State (Mark's alma mater), Kansas, and Duke. 

Anyway, when our new neighbors moved in, we had no idea they were UK players, we are just nice to them like we are everybody, and one of them especially loves Ziggy pug. 

Some of our neighbors from across the way asked Mark "I heard your new neighbors play for UK?"

Now, even though I don't watch UK much anymore since MSU is only allowed in this house (lol), we already suspected they might be, not only because one of them is like 7'2," but because their security sits out in the parking lot watching their apartment at night and they have a high-end security camera at their front door 😂 

Now, you may be saying to yourself "Security?  For college basketball players?"

Yep - this is the world we live in now, especially thanks to social media, which can falsely make people feel like they're "friends" with people because you're friended on Instagram or FB - and Kentucky fans are notoriously boundariless and crazy!

Regardless of whether they were or not, we've both been around famous people before and know that famous people like their privacy and want it protected, so we're happy to help them do that, before everybody here goes all fanboy/fangirl on them 😂

So to help guard their privacy and security, Mark just said "Maybe, I don't know" which is  kind of true, because we've never directly asked and he follows MSU 😂

We're always friendly to them but respect their privacy, just like we do everybody else - and I think they appreciate it. 

So tonight, one of the two players (won't say his name for privacy) came up and gave my husband the DAP and said ...

Player:  "Did you see our game last night?"  

Mark: "Which game?"  

Player:  "UK, we play for UK."   

Mark: "I wondered about that, but to be honest, I'm from Detroit, I'm a Sparty and went to MSU, sorry? lol I watched their game at Purdue, so I didn't see UK's.  My wife went to UK, though, and she used to follow, but I think I've converted her to the dark side lol."

Player "Oh, Really?  That's cool. Yeah, I've seen you wearing your Detroit stuff. We'll have to convert YOU, though lol. I can get you tickets sometime, if you want. Do you know Alan Haller (Athletic Director at MSU)? 

 Mark:  "Yeah. I know Alan, we even text every now in then.  You know Alan? 

Player: "Yeah, man, he's my guy, love Alan."

 

So for those of you saying to yourselves "What's a DAP?"

It's this ... 

It's a greeting for a casual acquaintance that you either like or are in agreement with on something.

But if you DO know them well (or are celebrating something), it ends in a hug, rather than a shoulder bump, like this ...

Awww  😂 

It's mostly a guy thing, whereas women, we just hug, but I've seen women occasionally do it in sports. 

Anyway, during this conversation, I looked out my window to see who Mark was talking to - when I saw like 9 or 10 people gather  together across the street to watch them have this conversation 😂😂😂

Mark came back in and said "The neighborhood cool clique just watched us Dap, soooo jealous lol."

Now, I'm friends with some of those  "neighborhood cool kids," and though they do like their gossip (which I'm not into), they're actually pretty nice, so I just said "Okay, now, be nice."

Because believe me, I have known my share of mean girls (and boys), and if they were true mean girls/boys, I wouldn't waste my time talking to them!

My husband had a lot of culture shock, moving here from Detroit, which I did too, many years ago, moving here from Cincinnati after high school.  If you just visit here a few times, you won't notice it until you actually live here, which is what happened to us both.

He has a bias, now, against people from here because he hasn't had the best experience here, but that's kind of your initiation here, I explained lol.  

He's not the first person to transfer in from somewhere else and say it's hard to make friends here and he won't be the last.  In fact, I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard someone who transferred to Kentucky say that, I'd be a millionaire, at least. 

Because though it is worse in rural areas, in Kentucky in general,  you really had to have grown up here, or at least spent some part of your childhood/high-school life here, they like to "know your people" and don't trust outsiders.

So even if you had a ton of friends elsewhere and were Mr. or Ms. Popular, if you moved here anytime after high school, it will take extra time to make friends and get invited to anything, and even then, they will only let you in their circle so far ... 

*UNLESS*

... you dorm/live together in college and/or are in a sorority/fraternity together, you're a UK or Louisville basketball player, or you're otherwise famous 😉

It's very confusing, for people who move here from another state, because Kentucky people are very friendly, they can seem like they're your new best friend, but they really don't like you at all and are saying all kinds of stuff behind your back, and you'll never know lol.  

I warned my husband about that, but he just HAD to go get himself burnt by that, and now, it's thrice bitten, four times shy and he just wants to leave, but I tell him to keep trying - not everyone here is like that - he met me, right? 😂

When I moved here from Cincinnati after high school, I didn't live on campus at UK, so I went through the same thing, and I've noticed that since, most of the people I hang with here the most aren't from here, either.  It's not that I dislike them or vice versa, it's just what I said earlier - I didn't grow up with them, they have their set of friends since childhood, so I'm not getting in that inner circle! 😂

Also, the rules are different here than in Detroit, or even in Cincinnati, where if someone doesn't like you, you know it.  They weren't rude, necessarily, but they didn't act the opposite to throw you off. 

You can't be direct here, passive-aggressive is the rule.  They don't like direct communication or confrontation, it's an affront.

But the truth is, no matter how friendly someone is to you in Kentucky, no matter how sincere they may seem, you'll never know if someone is really a friend until they're either willing to help you move or show up at your hospital bedside 😂

ANYway, back to my point - so I had been inside, making lasagna, had just sent two pieces down to my neighbor and her son, so I asked Mark if he thought they might like some, too, since I'm like the building mom/grandma lol. 

The player came back outside and I went on the balcony and said, "Hey, you all like lasagna?  I'm sure you all miss home-cooking."

He said, "Yes MA'AM, thank you!"

And that is the story about how two star UK basketball players ended up eating my lasagna lol.

No word on if they liked it yet, we'll see later 😂