My memory of Billy Reed’s coverage of UK goes far back, to the 70s. I remember him, and his articles well. Painful they were. Some UK fans even pied him - or was that Dave Kindred? I thought that they both were, but maybe it was just Dave. They never seemed to miss a chance to take a swipe at Kentucky. It continued after they left the Kentucky papers. In the following excerpt, written by Jeff Rozen in 2015, Billy Reed is called, “loathsome,” for his coverage of Kentucky. The topic of the excerpt is how Billy Reed covered Denny Crum, of UL, at UK’s expense. “Captivated by his energy, the state’s media fell almost immediately into his corner. Crum and the Cardinal brain-trust shrewdly played the role cast for them by such self-serving pundits as the loathsome Billy Reed. They were now the exciting, fresh Cardinals- Everyman’s team. Pitted against them was Kentucky, the snobs of the college basketball world. And so was born a ridiculous morality play of sorts, with UK as the villain and U of L as the virtuous herald of a new age in the state’s basketball fortunes.”
I thank you for your post. I now realize that UK was not the only victim of his ire. Very sorry that USC was. What he said was wrong. I have never heard anyone in Kentucky, fan or journalist, say that USC does not belong in the SEC. Why he said it is beyond me, but it definitely wasn’t because he was a Kentucky fan.
There are reasons, unfortunately, for you to dislike us, especially many of our overzealous fans, but what Billy Reed said is on him, not us.
Best wishes.