For a man that rarely gets rattled, John Calipari was a nervous wreck. Standing just a few feet from three steps covered in sunflower seeds spit, Calipari stared at the mound at Great American Ball Park and waited for the cue to take the field. He had just won a national championship a few weeks earlier and shook hands with President Bill Clinton the day before, but he was noticeably nervous as 19,051 fans in Cincinnati waited for him to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Cincinnati Reds game. And the coaching staff wasn't helping.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter's Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.