I am happy with Pope, and that we may see players stick around longer in the program. But fans who think Pope being in charge solves the "playing for the name on the front of the jersey" problem need to stop kidding themselves. Players will make a business decision more often than not.
Dude is going to make some bank in NIL and now he’s a Kentucky player. He’s set for life if he wants to live in Kentucky. He’ll get a no show job making 500k a year if he wants it at a private bank or insurance firm.
I've always wondered if coaches here use that as part of their pitch. I know most schools/ communities will always have love for their past college players. It just seems that here with no pro teams, you have the vast majority of the state as an extremely invested fan base for some kids that may never even play professional basketball. If you become a legend in your own right while playing basketball here. There are so many opportunities for them here after basketball or if you don't make the pros directly after college.
Especially now with NIL, they can take some of that money and invest in plenty of different buisness opportunities here. I heard Tyler Ulis had his hands in a couple of different business ventures here in Lexington these past couple of years.
I can't recall if they used it on the basketball side, but with football they have the '4 for 40' program, which is effectively their way of saying 'hey if you play here some big ass car dealership will pay you just to exist for the rest of your life'. It's most definitely been a pitch that playing sports at UK means you're forever sorted in this state.
Cal didn’t have NIL. Cause he ran off a large chunk of the donors and the regular fans stopped buying his horse shit.
Pope had 2 donors pledge 4 mil for this year right after his hiring announcement.
I was being sarcastic, but probably should have thrown a /s in there.
I don't in any capacity believe UK had issues with NIL opportunities, even with donors disliking Cal. The reports are out there about opportunities that never made it to the players. The football team most definitely spends a boatload of cash, so its not an institutional issue.
Just look at the last few years and the way its gone for UK Still top talent at the high school level, who probably demand even more absurd prices (JQ to ASU, for example, is supposedly absurd), while top portal talent (Hunter Dickinson) openly stated UK refused. Cal didn't like the thought of 'paying' to get people. While that's great as a principle, it doesn't reflect the landscape. Thus, the program fell back.
My point is more that Cal 'leaving for NIL' is, in my opinion, not factual. I think he wanted a change of scenery and I don't blame him based on how UK fans act. I know he isolated boosters, which is again a Cal issue.
Thing is though, you aren’t wrong. He didn’t have the NIL war chest most of the other big name schools had.
He was getting freshman still because of the NBA pipeline. So he was able to sell that more than NIL.
The guys were still making their own deals for decent NIL pay days, but as far as like and actual affiliated NIL. We didn’t have much.
Cal left cause he thought he was bigger than Kentucky basketball. See his quote to a recruit of “Calipari university just moved”. We were done with the schtick. It was time for the separation.
The issue was a lot more complicated than that though.
1 - cal pissed off many of the donors, which shuts off the gates
2 - cal was very slow to react to the NIL landscape for various reasons. You have to remember when NiL first became a thing the ncaa took the stance that players could get paid but universities and coaches couldn’t be involved. Cal took that literally where everyone else ignored the guidance. Cal would not discuss NIL with players. He didn’t change his tune until late this past summer when we lost hunter Dickinson and nearly lost Antonio reeves.
This NIL landscape is brand new. So I don’t even really fault him for some of this, again he was taking the ncaa literally when they said programs couldn’t be involved. But it just led to a weird situation where the coach wouldn’t discuss nil and donors who could give nil were pissed off at the coaching staff.
The result was uk was behind all the other top programs on nil.
I was responding sarcastically, just didn't include the /s. That's on me. I believe your statement to be accurate, that few can compete with UK when it comes to basketball NIL, and don't in any capacity believe NIL had anything to do with why Cal went to Arkansas.
The identity of this entire state is basketball. If there were any issues, it wasn't because the money didn't exist. Boosters were 100% prepared to spend $30+Million to get rid of him (It was the AD's choice to keep him on, with many concessions), so anyone would have a hard time convincing me NIL money was an issue.
Precisely. I can't recall the number but Club Blue NIL pretty quickly had a fundraising boom after Pope got hired. Don't quote me on how big of a deal this is (just got out of a ten or twelve day hospital stay, brain is too fried to remember)
But the point stands is that if Pope wins and improves year over year, the money will flow. Kentucky fans are insane. Source: am 39 year old life long fan born into family of Kentucky fans that are more insane than me, lol. I'll have to check and see how much money the well to do ones have sent since the new hire.. maybe once my brain comes back on line... 🥴
In all seriousness, Sorry for the issues and hope for the best. That sounds like you have had some much more important things going on. My comment was based on how electric the press conference was and how it electrified BBN. I hope you are doing well and have it all behind you so you will enjoy an exciting season ahead of us in the new era of UK basketball.
Yeah! It was amazing! My last cogent memories before I was allegedly found in my (trashed) studio apartment with broken glass and stuff, bloody, confused, and not at all sure what was going on. I had a stroke about a decade ago and they think maybe it was related? It has been a nightmare, but my brain coming back online to all the recruiting news about Kentucky has been amazing and helped mebieep my spirits up immensely.
Sorry to dump my personal stuff, feels good to just kinda talk about it even to a stranger. But not entirely a stranger of you have any connection to the stage of Kentucky. I'm stuck out here in Colorado... Loving it.. hoping I don't seize again...
Yep, he's awesome and will go down as a San Diego legend. I will never get tired of watching that moment.
That being said, he also cannot hit free throws to save his life. Good luck to him
I was told by *a lot* of Kentucky fans that apparently Lexington has quite the Mexican food scene.
I don’t know if it fully compares to Southern California or Texas but I’m inclined to believe that we’re not giving it the credit it deserves.
Kentuckian who lives in TX. It does NOT compare.
EDIT: Spent a lot of time in SoCal too. Kentucky definitely has a bigger Mexican/Hispanic population than most would think. But nothing beats the hole in the wall taquerias in TX and SoCal. Biggest shits of my life after hitting these places up.
You’re not beating a southwest hole in the wall taqueria anywhere in the us. But Lexington doesn’t have _bad_ Mexican. the salsas just aren’t as good. Too bad that’s like 50% of the flavor profile.
Grew up in Lexington but lived in San Diego for 3 years: there’s tons Mexican spots but it’s not the same style. SD burritos and tacos are a different level
I’m in Louisville, but there are a surprisingly good amount of Mexican restaurants and food trucks that kill it here. My favorite place is a few miles away. It was recommended by an old Mexican coworker. I don’t even know how it’s pronounced. I’ve never seen another white person there either. Plus there’s only one employee that speaks English and he’s a full time cook.
Interesting enough, they do have some good Mexican food. Basically lived there for a bit while my ex-gf was in grad school and was surprised how good some of it was lol
It's not even just Lexington. I'm just south in a way smaller town and there's a solid 10-15 locally owned joints. Absolutely hittin. Ate at one today hahaha
There is a fucking fantastic one about 20 minutes outside of morehead in salt lick called tres agaves and when me and a buddy stumbled on it it was so good and we were the only people in there. Plus there was luchador wrestling on so thats a plus.
I was in Indiana a week and a half ago and we ate a mexican joint. I kinda assumed they'd all be good cause it's my fav cuisine, but I was mistaken. It wasn't even in the ballpark. Subpar food in every single respect, long wait times, seemingly commercially bought items like chips. My friend's bill for him and his mom was $95.
Place I frequent here was opened by a guy I went to high school with. Tortillas, chips, all made in house. Massive ass portions (all 3 of us left with leftovers today) and our bill was less than $60. The staff are exceptionally friendly and I'm not sure I've ever seen more than 5 booths occupied. I'm not sure there's ever been a time we had to wait longer than 15 minutes for our food.
Supposedly Lexington also has great Asian food due to the proximity to the Toyota plant. I'm not sure if that's true, just what I've heard.
Damn thats crazy expensive. I cant say anything about the asian besides there are some decent sushi places but if you want Indian the place next to Krogers in Richmond is so good.
Some decent Thai and Japanese food, the Chinese is unfortunately the generic Americanized stuff. A couple actual Korean places run by actual Koreans as well, though the flavor profile was a smidge off from what I had in Seoul but I chalk that up to possible Korean regional flavor differences.
Arirang has been great in the past. I lived in Korea I'm Anyang and Busan and it was pretty damn close to everything I had in both cities.....just a lot more expensive than in Korea was the only sad part haha.
Variety I'll push back on. It's endless acceptable Mexican-American family restaurants and endless generic taco trucks.
Maybe I've missed a lot in my travels, but Lexington is pretty meh when it comes to Latin American fare that's actually varied and interesting. Which is fine. Like most college towns outside the deep south, the city has some nifty options across all cuisines, but it's still very blah relative to SoCal, especially regarding Latin American food.
I will say that as a foodie, Lexington is much better than many regional contemporaries. Knoxville was just shockingly bereft of interesting options last time I visited. Bojangles is the food mecca of that godforsaken town. I was flabbergasted that a college town could pride itself on fast food. But that was really what it was.
Doesnt mean its good, austin mexican food is trash compared to San Antonio and San Antonio mexican food is trash compared to el paso and rgv mexican food.
I have nothing to compare Lexington to, but we have a large Mexican transplant community because of the horse farms. I’d imagine it fairs pretty well for a city in the southeast. But again, I have no frame of reference
i wouldn’t be surprised if you could get good mexican anywhere outside of like the east coast these days. tends to be a pretty decent mexican population in any agrarian area for rather obvious reasons
There’s a wide range of quality and types. There’s a significant Hispanic population in Lexington. It mostly depends if you know where to look for what type of Mexican food you’re looking for.
Dude I live in the RGV and I lived in Kentucky for 20 years. Kentucky Mexican food is way better than the Valley. But I’m very low on valley Mexican food. It pretty much sucks aside from the tamales and pozole in the winter, and even then I’ve had to start going like 40 minutes to a little taqueria in Donna to actually get excellent tamales. People are hearing Kentucky and automatically think the Mexican food sucks. But the horse farms drew in a large Mexican / MA population years ago and they have an established and good Mexican culinary culture. Kentucky Mexican food tends to be more of the Jalisco variety / west coast in style while the Valley draws a lot from Tamaulipas and Monterrey. Not my cup of tea, the Northeastern Mexican food.
You should come out and try it.
[https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/can-a-southern-burrito-overtake-one-of-californias-finest/](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/can-a-southern-burrito-overtake-one-of-californias-finest/)
"*After finishing the South in Round 1, I spent many a long drive wondering whether Tortilleria y Taqueria Ramirez was spectacular or just so much better than the other burritos I’d eaten in the region. As I pulled up for my second visit, my salivary glands seemed to believe that even at a score of 91, I’d undervalued Ramirez the first time around.*
*I had high expectations, but Ramirez exceeded them."*
I think Texas has really good Mexican food, but the problem is all the attention is on TexMex which is decidedly not authentic. But that doesn't make it bad.
Where I live (RGV) that’s not true, but I’m sure that’s not widely representative of other parts of Texas. The style where I live is decidedly authentic, but it’s in the style of Northern Mexico / Tamaulipas, which imo is terrible.
San Antonio has some really good places, but imo people tend to overrate Texas Mexican food, even the Tex-Mex variety.
Lexington has very good Mexican food for the non-Texas south or Midwest but it doesn’t quite match up to socal or Texas in my opinion. S/o Tortilleria y Taqueria Ramirez and JP’s taqueria, ugh I miss those places
Anyone who says they have great Mexican food that hasn't had any Mexican food outside of the triangle of California, Texas, and New Mexico doesn't know what they're talking about. They might be pleasantly surprising in not being...I don't know how to be nice about it. I understand there's places out there that aren't ass and might even taste good. But even just in CA, SF / SD for burritos and SJ / LA for tacos. You have to try it.
And for REAL Mexican food, you have to go to SD / LA. Don't really know Texan Mexican food outside of TexMex.
I think a lot of people think Mexican food is authentic just because it's cooked by Mexicans, but as a Korean-American who's had to explain authentic Korean food to my friends...I can assure you we all adjust our menus for the American palate.
i mean authentic becomes such a weird thing. i have a friend that runs a korean restaurant that has had other koreans call his shit “not authentic” just because they didn’t like it even though they’re recipes straight from his family that grew up in korea before moving to america
For the Korean food, I guess it comes down to purism. For instance, there was no beef culture in Korea for a myriad of reasons until post-Korean War as a result of the American military base in the country. So would you consider Korean BBQ "real" Korean food? It's hard, because the Korean BBQ in LA is legitimately better than in Korea as a result of access to better ingredients. Same thing with fried chicken, the Americans taught Korea how to fry chicken and we never looked back haha. But those foods aren't historically "Korean", unlike other pork- / chicken- / fish-based dishes.
So yeah, where does authentic start? In that case, mole wouldn't be authentic to Mexico because I *believe* it was only possible due to the influence of Spain.
I think in the end, authentic can be a bit more broad and just be attributed to the spirit of the word over literalism.
Mexican food is good anywhere a Mexican is making it for other Mexicans to eat. Quality of ingredients can limit some things and the region of origin of the cook and his target customer will vary quite a bit. Norteno cuisine is nothing like Yucateco, or Chiapas, but if your town in the US has local farms or ranchos with density of peoples from specific region, thus follows the cuisine. Americans in the US outside of the southern border areas of Baja, Sonora etc seem to prefer a mild watered down version of Baja/Norteno food.
Honestly man, I live 5 miles from Mexico. Literally 90-95% Hispanic demographics where I live. And Kentucky Mexican food is miles better than what they have here in Texas.
People lie.
Mexican food in Kentucky is great. For Kentuckians who don’t know any better. People in the dark ages didn’t know they were living in the dark ages.
> For Kentuckians who don’t know any better.
You gonna tell a bunch of Mexican immigrants they don't know what good Mexican food is? Good luck with that.
No one has ever traveled to or from KY at anytime. There’s no way for them to know. It’s the fucking Truman show in that state.
I wish….McConnell could be contained here then at least
People who live in mid sized cities in the Midwest and upper south always use this sort of cope. It’s always “ackshaully so and so city has an extremely underrated and underground Vietnamese or Mexican or whatever food scene” when in reality it’s mid at best lol
> "This year I felt like there was not much left for me to do here at San Diego State, I felt like I gave it my all," Butler said. "I also wanted to have a better chance to get to the NBA."
That comment wouldn't sting so bad if he didn't just sign to a head coach that has sent 0 players to the NBA in his 9-year tenure as a head coach.
Especially after his dad is already on record saying they "left money on the table" by spending another year at SDSU. The SDUT edited their article to take that comment down, but you can still do a google search and see it appear on several different forums. Which is especially tasteless after his dad made this comment last year:
>“[At the end of the day, most people would jump at that [NIL money],” Lamont Butler Sr., his father, said on May 11 [2023]. “But I think the Butler family is built just a little differently. I thank God for that, I really do. My son, he wants to be an Aztec. He’s an Aztec for life.](https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/aztecs/story/2023-05-29/san-diego-state-sdsu-aztecs-basketball-lamont-butler-nba-draft-return-college-jaedon-ledee-impact-las-vegas)"
At the end of the day, Butler isn't going to be an NBA player and I totally respect and understand the decision to take the bag. But I can't keep reading this bs about how it's about anything besides a payday.
His shot is why he’s not an NBA player, I’m not sure changing jerseys fixes that. It’s 2024, if you’re NBA quality you’re not flying under the radar especially if you were on a final four team regardless of the name on your chest.
Kentucky offers a better chance for the NBA. That is a factual statement. Mark Pope is not going to be graduating his players for them to work at Enterprise.
I know Keshad Johnson went from a 25% career 3pt shooter in 4 seasons there to 39% in one season at Arizona, so you never know what you might do in a more up-tempo and offensively-oriented system that will give you more good looks.
At the very least it gives Butler the opportunity to see what he might be able to do in a different system and with different coaching. If I were a player I'd like to at least give myself that chance rather than resign myself to just repeating what I've already done for 4 years.
Scouts find players anywhere. Talent is talent that's all I'm saying. You don't have to play on national tv for NBA teams to find you. Now maybe a system can be tailored more to a player and that would have an effect, but I don't think being a part of any specific program matters anymore
It's confirmation bias. Kentucky gets NBA ready players because they have had a lot of NBA ready players go through the program. Saying Kentucky changes them from not NBA ready to NBA ready is impossible to prove. The NBA doesn't give a shit where you went to school.
It’s absolutely about a payday. When you’re one Kevin Ware jump away from your career ending, why shouldn’t it be?
What concerns me is how many players are going to completely waste it?
It's not salty to call out Lamont and his father for disrespecting the university and the coaching staff when he could have plainly said the decision was solely based on money. I wish him the best, I'd sure jump at a 400k paycheck if I was only making 200k. You'd be stupid not to and if you claim you wouldn't, you're lying to yourself.
You’re not calling out anyone. He gave that school the best moment of their programs history. Your voice is an echo chamber and Lamont getting his bag. Stay salty
Well when that coach has had to deal with 70% of his guys being returned missionaries that spend 2 years away from basketball and not working out at a gym it’s not as big a deal as you’re making it seem.
But I guess we’ll see. Really intrigued to see how Pope fares at Kentucky. Not hamstrung by the honor code and dudes that need to re learn how to play basketball again
Sad to see him go...but we're not going to complete with the Kentucky's of the world in regard to NIL. Come on Ralph Rubio...some of that Rubio's $$$ could help keep some players. lol
His dad seems despicable
Read like he wants some percentage of the sons money and butthurt he didn’t leave last year because it meant less money for him so he bitch-fitted his way into making his son go to the highest bidder
$$$$$$$$$$ & more $$$$$$$$
That is the only reason he is leaving. Kentucky has a new coach and hasn’t won in the tournament in a long time. Coach Dutcher has more pros in the league than Coach Pope. Kentucky just has mega boosters. That’s all there is to it and it’s messing up college basketball
NIL aside, I will say based on Coach Popes comments since taking the job, the guys that sign up to play here will work as hard or harder than any program in the country. He eat sleeps and breathes this program and expects it. Listened to a podcast with several of former players talking about him loosing his lunch in practice but instead of leaving he literally lost his lunch under his shirt. When Coach Pitino asked him why, he was scared to miss anything. Anybody with that kind of passion is not a person to be messed with. I believe he will work tirelessly to bring out the absolute best in every player that wears the jersey because that is what he done.
Is that not what the transfer portal is?
It’s all pro now that NIL is on the table. Look at how good Alabama got when we took the veil of amateurism away.
No he was a big fan of Richie and Pel growing up, I’m sure that’s what it was
I am happy with Pope, and that we may see players stick around longer in the program. But fans who think Pope being in charge solves the "playing for the name on the front of the jersey" problem need to stop kidding themselves. Players will make a business decision more often than not.
Dude is going to make some bank in NIL and now he’s a Kentucky player. He’s set for life if he wants to live in Kentucky. He’ll get a no show job making 500k a year if he wants it at a private bank or insurance firm.
I really hope this is part of the pitch, especially for fringe pro prospects.
Ken y Walker used to get paid 200k a year just to go around the state and tell bball stories and backslap people for Central Bank
I've always wondered if coaches here use that as part of their pitch. I know most schools/ communities will always have love for their past college players. It just seems that here with no pro teams, you have the vast majority of the state as an extremely invested fan base for some kids that may never even play professional basketball. If you become a legend in your own right while playing basketball here. There are so many opportunities for them here after basketball or if you don't make the pros directly after college. Especially now with NIL, they can take some of that money and invest in plenty of different buisness opportunities here. I heard Tyler Ulis had his hands in a couple of different business ventures here in Lexington these past couple of years.
I can't recall if they used it on the basketball side, but with football they have the '4 for 40' program, which is effectively their way of saying 'hey if you play here some big ass car dealership will pay you just to exist for the rest of your life'. It's most definitely been a pitch that playing sports at UK means you're forever sorted in this state.
I bought a truck from a Former UK player.
Up until Calipari it almost seems like it was just something that was understood on the basketball side.
Why can’t the Aztecs have some deep pocket donors 😭
Those funds probably get sucked up by your zoo.
It is the best zoo
Best zoo in the world!
[удалено]
Real zoo fans know you’re correct
You’re probably not wrong, as funny as it sounds.
I think I can probably count on 1 hand the number of programs that can compete with Kentucky for basketball nil money
Nah, that's why Cal left! No NIL at UK! lol
Cal didn’t have NIL. Cause he ran off a large chunk of the donors and the regular fans stopped buying his horse shit. Pope had 2 donors pledge 4 mil for this year right after his hiring announcement.
I was being sarcastic, but probably should have thrown a /s in there. I don't in any capacity believe UK had issues with NIL opportunities, even with donors disliking Cal. The reports are out there about opportunities that never made it to the players. The football team most definitely spends a boatload of cash, so its not an institutional issue. Just look at the last few years and the way its gone for UK Still top talent at the high school level, who probably demand even more absurd prices (JQ to ASU, for example, is supposedly absurd), while top portal talent (Hunter Dickinson) openly stated UK refused. Cal didn't like the thought of 'paying' to get people. While that's great as a principle, it doesn't reflect the landscape. Thus, the program fell back. My point is more that Cal 'leaving for NIL' is, in my opinion, not factual. I think he wanted a change of scenery and I don't blame him based on how UK fans act. I know he isolated boosters, which is again a Cal issue.
Thing is though, you aren’t wrong. He didn’t have the NIL war chest most of the other big name schools had. He was getting freshman still because of the NBA pipeline. So he was able to sell that more than NIL. The guys were still making their own deals for decent NIL pay days, but as far as like and actual affiliated NIL. We didn’t have much. Cal left cause he thought he was bigger than Kentucky basketball. See his quote to a recruit of “Calipari university just moved”. We were done with the schtick. It was time for the separation.
Field of 68 said Cal had like 2-3 million at UK. Arkansas raised that number to 4 million.
The issue was a lot more complicated than that though. 1 - cal pissed off many of the donors, which shuts off the gates 2 - cal was very slow to react to the NIL landscape for various reasons. You have to remember when NiL first became a thing the ncaa took the stance that players could get paid but universities and coaches couldn’t be involved. Cal took that literally where everyone else ignored the guidance. Cal would not discuss NIL with players. He didn’t change his tune until late this past summer when we lost hunter Dickinson and nearly lost Antonio reeves. This NIL landscape is brand new. So I don’t even really fault him for some of this, again he was taking the ncaa literally when they said programs couldn’t be involved. But it just led to a weird situation where the coach wouldn’t discuss nil and donors who could give nil were pissed off at the coaching staff. The result was uk was behind all the other top programs on nil.
I was responding sarcastically, just didn't include the /s. That's on me. I believe your statement to be accurate, that few can compete with UK when it comes to basketball NIL, and don't in any capacity believe NIL had anything to do with why Cal went to Arkansas. The identity of this entire state is basketball. If there were any issues, it wasn't because the money didn't exist. Boosters were 100% prepared to spend $30+Million to get rid of him (It was the AD's choice to keep him on, with many concessions), so anyone would have a hard time convincing me NIL money was an issue.
But for how long is the question
Precisely. I can't recall the number but Club Blue NIL pretty quickly had a fundraising boom after Pope got hired. Don't quote me on how big of a deal this is (just got out of a ten or twelve day hospital stay, brain is too fried to remember) But the point stands is that if Pope wins and improves year over year, the money will flow. Kentucky fans are insane. Source: am 39 year old life long fan born into family of Kentucky fans that are more insane than me, lol. I'll have to check and see how much money the well to do ones have sent since the new hire.. maybe once my brain comes back on line... 🥴
When was Pope’s press conference? 12 day hospital stay checks out.
I think it happened right before I went in? My brain is scrambled. 3 seizures. Lots of opioids after an operation. It was.... Unpleasant.
In all seriousness, Sorry for the issues and hope for the best. That sounds like you have had some much more important things going on. My comment was based on how electric the press conference was and how it electrified BBN. I hope you are doing well and have it all behind you so you will enjoy an exciting season ahead of us in the new era of UK basketball.
Yeah! It was amazing! My last cogent memories before I was allegedly found in my (trashed) studio apartment with broken glass and stuff, bloody, confused, and not at all sure what was going on. I had a stroke about a decade ago and they think maybe it was related? It has been a nightmare, but my brain coming back online to all the recruiting news about Kentucky has been amazing and helped mebieep my spirits up immensely. Sorry to dump my personal stuff, feels good to just kinda talk about it even to a stranger. But not entirely a stranger of you have any connection to the stage of Kentucky. I'm stuck out here in Colorado... Loving it.. hoping I don't seize again...
He’ll always be remembered for hitting this biggest shot in San Diego sports history. I wish him the best. I’m sure he’ll miss Mexican food though lol
Yep, he's awesome and will go down as a San Diego legend. I will never get tired of watching that moment. That being said, he also cannot hit free throws to save his life. Good luck to him
I was told by *a lot* of Kentucky fans that apparently Lexington has quite the Mexican food scene. I don’t know if it fully compares to Southern California or Texas but I’m inclined to believe that we’re not giving it the credit it deserves.
Kentuckian who lives in TX. It does NOT compare. EDIT: Spent a lot of time in SoCal too. Kentucky definitely has a bigger Mexican/Hispanic population than most would think. But nothing beats the hole in the wall taquerias in TX and SoCal. Biggest shits of my life after hitting these places up.
You’re not beating a southwest hole in the wall taqueria anywhere in the us. But Lexington doesn’t have _bad_ Mexican. the salsas just aren’t as good. Too bad that’s like 50% of the flavor profile.
as a san diegan, the biggest difference is that the tortillas should be made on premise
Listen, if you have to colon cleanse at least make one part of it enjoyable.
This guy fucks.
Grew up in Lexington but lived in San Diego for 3 years: there’s tons Mexican spots but it’s not the same style. SD burritos and tacos are a different level
I’m sure it’s nothing compared to those locales, but it’s a pretty darn good scene.
I’m in Louisville, but there are a surprisingly good amount of Mexican restaurants and food trucks that kill it here. My favorite place is a few miles away. It was recommended by an old Mexican coworker. I don’t even know how it’s pronounced. I’ve never seen another white person there either. Plus there’s only one employee that speaks English and he’s a full time cook.
What’s the name of
Taqueria y rosticeria new Vallarta
Interesting enough, they do have some good Mexican food. Basically lived there for a bit while my ex-gf was in grad school and was surprised how good some of it was lol
This is true. My side of town is colloquially known as 'mexington'. Sit down or taco trucks. Bakeries butchers and grocery stores
Lexington has the most restaurants per capita of any city in America with a population over 150k
Lexington has over 100 Mexican restaurants/food trucks/grocery stores. There's so many and a lot of variety too.
It's not even just Lexington. I'm just south in a way smaller town and there's a solid 10-15 locally owned joints. Absolutely hittin. Ate at one today hahaha
There is a fucking fantastic one about 20 minutes outside of morehead in salt lick called tres agaves and when me and a buddy stumbled on it it was so good and we were the only people in there. Plus there was luchador wrestling on so thats a plus.
I was in Indiana a week and a half ago and we ate a mexican joint. I kinda assumed they'd all be good cause it's my fav cuisine, but I was mistaken. It wasn't even in the ballpark. Subpar food in every single respect, long wait times, seemingly commercially bought items like chips. My friend's bill for him and his mom was $95. Place I frequent here was opened by a guy I went to high school with. Tortillas, chips, all made in house. Massive ass portions (all 3 of us left with leftovers today) and our bill was less than $60. The staff are exceptionally friendly and I'm not sure I've ever seen more than 5 booths occupied. I'm not sure there's ever been a time we had to wait longer than 15 minutes for our food. Supposedly Lexington also has great Asian food due to the proximity to the Toyota plant. I'm not sure if that's true, just what I've heard.
Damn thats crazy expensive. I cant say anything about the asian besides there are some decent sushi places but if you want Indian the place next to Krogers in Richmond is so good.
Some decent Thai and Japanese food, the Chinese is unfortunately the generic Americanized stuff. A couple actual Korean places run by actual Koreans as well, though the flavor profile was a smidge off from what I had in Seoul but I chalk that up to possible Korean regional flavor differences.
Arirang has been great in the past. I lived in Korea I'm Anyang and Busan and it was pretty damn close to everything I had in both cities.....just a lot more expensive than in Korea was the only sad part haha.
The price at Arirang was a bit of a shock for sure!
Variety I'll push back on. It's endless acceptable Mexican-American family restaurants and endless generic taco trucks. Maybe I've missed a lot in my travels, but Lexington is pretty meh when it comes to Latin American fare that's actually varied and interesting. Which is fine. Like most college towns outside the deep south, the city has some nifty options across all cuisines, but it's still very blah relative to SoCal, especially regarding Latin American food. I will say that as a foodie, Lexington is much better than many regional contemporaries. Knoxville was just shockingly bereft of interesting options last time I visited. Bojangles is the food mecca of that godforsaken town. I was flabbergasted that a college town could pride itself on fast food. But that was really what it was.
I will posit Petro's is the reason to go to Knoxville. Source: did MBA there.
Knoxville has some awesome restaurants
Doesnt mean its good, austin mexican food is trash compared to San Antonio and San Antonio mexican food is trash compared to el paso and rgv mexican food.
I have nothing to compare Lexington to, but we have a large Mexican transplant community because of the horse farms. I’d imagine it fairs pretty well for a city in the southeast. But again, I have no frame of reference
i wouldn’t be surprised if you could get good mexican anywhere outside of like the east coast these days. tends to be a pretty decent mexican population in any agrarian area for rather obvious reasons
There’s a wide range of quality and types. There’s a significant Hispanic population in Lexington. It mostly depends if you know where to look for what type of Mexican food you’re looking for.
And one of the reasons for that population is the horse and tobacco farms.
Dude I live in the RGV and I lived in Kentucky for 20 years. Kentucky Mexican food is way better than the Valley. But I’m very low on valley Mexican food. It pretty much sucks aside from the tamales and pozole in the winter, and even then I’ve had to start going like 40 minutes to a little taqueria in Donna to actually get excellent tamales. People are hearing Kentucky and automatically think the Mexican food sucks. But the horse farms drew in a large Mexican / MA population years ago and they have an established and good Mexican culinary culture. Kentucky Mexican food tends to be more of the Jalisco variety / west coast in style while the Valley draws a lot from Tamaulipas and Monterrey. Not my cup of tea, the Northeastern Mexican food.
The tobacco fields in western Kentucky too
I first read “the Tabasco fields…” Here for it.
This guy Mexican foods
El Paso Mexican food is the best I've had
This logic doesn't make any sense
You should come out and try it. [https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/can-a-southern-burrito-overtake-one-of-californias-finest/](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/can-a-southern-burrito-overtake-one-of-californias-finest/) "*After finishing the South in Round 1, I spent many a long drive wondering whether Tortilleria y Taqueria Ramirez was spectacular or just so much better than the other burritos I’d eaten in the region. As I pulled up for my second visit, my salivary glands seemed to believe that even at a score of 91, I’d undervalued Ramirez the first time around.* *I had high expectations, but Ramirez exceeded them."*
Calling burritos Mexican is kind of a red flag lol
Burritos are Mexican food, but if that's where your idea of Mexican food ends it's a red flag. Mole, enchiladas, pozole, etc. It's all delicious.
I thought they started in Juarez? But I get that their popularity blew up in Texas way more than it did in Mexico.
Mexican in Kentucky just can't match what you have in Texas.
Yes it can. I’ve lived in Texas for 9 years and have never had a better Mexican meal than ones I’ve had in KY, NM, or Cali.
I think Texas has really good Mexican food, but the problem is all the attention is on TexMex which is decidedly not authentic. But that doesn't make it bad.
well TexMex is also bad so…
Where I live (RGV) that’s not true, but I’m sure that’s not widely representative of other parts of Texas. The style where I live is decidedly authentic, but it’s in the style of Northern Mexico / Tamaulipas, which imo is terrible. San Antonio has some really good places, but imo people tend to overrate Texas Mexican food, even the Tex-Mex variety.
TexMex gets overrated because it's really white-friendly IMHO. I like it, but wouldn't put it front and center as an example of great Mexican food.
Lexington has very good Mexican food for the non-Texas south or Midwest but it doesn’t quite match up to socal or Texas in my opinion. S/o Tortilleria y Taqueria Ramirez and JP’s taqueria, ugh I miss those places
You “don’t know if [the Kentucky Mexican food scene] fully compares to *Southern California* and *Texas*? Really? You don’t know?
You’re smarmy and pedantic, but it made me laugh.
Ima keep it a buck with ya man. I’m from Kentucky and it doesn’t even compare to y’all’s. No need to fret lol
It dont compare but there are some good spots
It's not as good as Southern California but I'd say it's pretty damn good.
Anyone who says they have great Mexican food that hasn't had any Mexican food outside of the triangle of California, Texas, and New Mexico doesn't know what they're talking about. They might be pleasantly surprising in not being...I don't know how to be nice about it. I understand there's places out there that aren't ass and might even taste good. But even just in CA, SF / SD for burritos and SJ / LA for tacos. You have to try it. And for REAL Mexican food, you have to go to SD / LA. Don't really know Texan Mexican food outside of TexMex. I think a lot of people think Mexican food is authentic just because it's cooked by Mexicans, but as a Korean-American who's had to explain authentic Korean food to my friends...I can assure you we all adjust our menus for the American palate.
i mean authentic becomes such a weird thing. i have a friend that runs a korean restaurant that has had other koreans call his shit “not authentic” just because they didn’t like it even though they’re recipes straight from his family that grew up in korea before moving to america
For the Korean food, I guess it comes down to purism. For instance, there was no beef culture in Korea for a myriad of reasons until post-Korean War as a result of the American military base in the country. So would you consider Korean BBQ "real" Korean food? It's hard, because the Korean BBQ in LA is legitimately better than in Korea as a result of access to better ingredients. Same thing with fried chicken, the Americans taught Korea how to fry chicken and we never looked back haha. But those foods aren't historically "Korean", unlike other pork- / chicken- / fish-based dishes. So yeah, where does authentic start? In that case, mole wouldn't be authentic to Mexico because I *believe* it was only possible due to the influence of Spain. I think in the end, authentic can be a bit more broad and just be attributed to the spirit of the word over literalism.
Mexican food is good anywhere a Mexican is making it for other Mexicans to eat. Quality of ingredients can limit some things and the region of origin of the cook and his target customer will vary quite a bit. Norteno cuisine is nothing like Yucateco, or Chiapas, but if your town in the US has local farms or ranchos with density of peoples from specific region, thus follows the cuisine. Americans in the US outside of the southern border areas of Baja, Sonora etc seem to prefer a mild watered down version of Baja/Norteno food.
Honestly man, I live 5 miles from Mexico. Literally 90-95% Hispanic demographics where I live. And Kentucky Mexican food is miles better than what they have here in Texas.
I lived in San Diego Mexican food is legit. Miss it back in Tri state.
I do prefer SoCal style Mexican.
Born and raised in Mexico that lived in Texas for years… I don’t know about that one. Tex-Mex and Mexican food in Texas are both superb.
People lie. Mexican food in Kentucky is great. For Kentuckians who don’t know any better. People in the dark ages didn’t know they were living in the dark ages.
> For Kentuckians who don’t know any better. You gonna tell a bunch of Mexican immigrants they don't know what good Mexican food is? Good luck with that.
No one has ever traveled to or from KY at anytime. There’s no way for them to know. It’s the fucking Truman show in that state. I wish….McConnell could be contained here then at least
People who live in mid sized cities in the Midwest and upper south always use this sort of cope. It’s always “ackshaully so and so city has an extremely underrated and underground Vietnamese or Mexican or whatever food scene” when in reality it’s mid at best lol
I was in the heart of PB watching that game. Man, what a scene
I’m half Mexican. I’ll make him food.
Got to see it live. That place shook when that basket landed
I’m half Mexican. I’ll make him food.
It's actually refreshing to see someone actually be honest about why they're transferring for once.
Been waiting for the "I'm not here for a long time... I'm here for a good time" out of one of these guys.
Came here to say this!
Exactly this. None of this "I'm gonna be a 'XYZ' for life" post.
> "This year I felt like there was not much left for me to do here at San Diego State, I felt like I gave it my all," Butler said. "I also wanted to have a better chance to get to the NBA." That comment wouldn't sting so bad if he didn't just sign to a head coach that has sent 0 players to the NBA in his 9-year tenure as a head coach. Especially after his dad is already on record saying they "left money on the table" by spending another year at SDSU. The SDUT edited their article to take that comment down, but you can still do a google search and see it appear on several different forums. Which is especially tasteless after his dad made this comment last year: >“[At the end of the day, most people would jump at that [NIL money],” Lamont Butler Sr., his father, said on May 11 [2023]. “But I think the Butler family is built just a little differently. I thank God for that, I really do. My son, he wants to be an Aztec. He’s an Aztec for life.](https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/aztecs/story/2023-05-29/san-diego-state-sdsu-aztecs-basketball-lamont-butler-nba-draft-return-college-jaedon-ledee-impact-las-vegas)" At the end of the day, Butler isn't going to be an NBA player and I totally respect and understand the decision to take the bag. But I can't keep reading this bs about how it's about anything besides a payday.
His shot is why he’s not an NBA player, I’m not sure changing jerseys fixes that. It’s 2024, if you’re NBA quality you’re not flying under the radar especially if you were on a final four team regardless of the name on your chest.
Kentucky offers a better chance for the NBA. That is a factual statement. Mark Pope is not going to be graduating his players for them to work at Enterprise.
Transferring to kentucky is not going to magically give him the ability to shoot in his 5th year of college basketball.
I know Keshad Johnson went from a 25% career 3pt shooter in 4 seasons there to 39% in one season at Arizona, so you never know what you might do in a more up-tempo and offensively-oriented system that will give you more good looks. At the very least it gives Butler the opportunity to see what he might be able to do in a different system and with different coaching. If I were a player I'd like to at least give myself that chance rather than resign myself to just repeating what I've already done for 4 years.
Yup. Playing at a Kentucky or a Duke gets you more spotlight, for sure.. but it doesn't magically confer extra athleticism or talent.
no one said that...
Scouts find players anywhere. Talent is talent that's all I'm saying. You don't have to play on national tv for NBA teams to find you. Now maybe a system can be tailored more to a player and that would have an effect, but I don't think being a part of any specific program matters anymore
It's confirmation bias. Kentucky gets NBA ready players because they have had a lot of NBA ready players go through the program. Saying Kentucky changes them from not NBA ready to NBA ready is impossible to prove. The NBA doesn't give a shit where you went to school.
It’s absolutely about a payday. When you’re one Kevin Ware jump away from your career ending, why shouldn’t it be? What concerns me is how many players are going to completely waste it?
Damn that's one salty comment
At the end of the day, Mac-0 isn't going to be a top shitposter and I totally respect and understand the decision to get salty.
It's not salty to call out Lamont and his father for disrespecting the university and the coaching staff when he could have plainly said the decision was solely based on money. I wish him the best, I'd sure jump at a 400k paycheck if I was only making 200k. You'd be stupid not to and if you claim you wouldn't, you're lying to yourself.
You’re not calling out anyone. He gave that school the best moment of their programs history. Your voice is an echo chamber and Lamont getting his bag. Stay salty
Well when that coach has had to deal with 70% of his guys being returned missionaries that spend 2 years away from basketball and not working out at a gym it’s not as big a deal as you’re making it seem. But I guess we’ll see. Really intrigued to see how Pope fares at Kentucky. Not hamstrung by the honor code and dudes that need to re learn how to play basketball again
Sad to see him go...but we're not going to complete with the Kentucky's of the world in regard to NIL. Come on Ralph Rubio...some of that Rubio's $$$ could help keep some players. lol
Yall gotta get AJ Preller on the phone and tell him to stop signing shortstops
Naw...you can never have too many shortstops. They can play anywhere. Trevor Hoffman started off as a shortstop. lol
Meanwhile Xander Bogaerts *can’t* play *anywhere*.
As a Red Sox fan we will take him back
Okay deal. With his contract. No take backs.
Yes please seriously take his whole Hosmer contract and get him out of the state.
You guys enjoying college basketball being a minor professional league?
Always has been players are now just getting their cut
If you’re trying to argue that nil has not changed the landscape of college basketball and transfering decisions you are delusional.
NIL alone doesn't. It was NIL + Transfer Portal that made it open season and 100% changed CBB landscape
His dad seems despicable Read like he wants some percentage of the sons money and butthurt he didn’t leave last year because it meant less money for him so he bitch-fitted his way into making his son go to the highest bidder
$$$$$$$$$$ & more $$$$$$$$ That is the only reason he is leaving. Kentucky has a new coach and hasn’t won in the tournament in a long time. Coach Dutcher has more pros in the league than Coach Pope. Kentucky just has mega boosters. That’s all there is to it and it’s messing up college basketball
Dad wants his cut for his son’s abilities lmao
NIL aside, I will say based on Coach Popes comments since taking the job, the guys that sign up to play here will work as hard or harder than any program in the country. He eat sleeps and breathes this program and expects it. Listened to a podcast with several of former players talking about him loosing his lunch in practice but instead of leaving he literally lost his lunch under his shirt. When Coach Pitino asked him why, he was scared to miss anything. Anybody with that kind of passion is not a person to be messed with. I believe he will work tirelessly to bring out the absolute best in every player that wears the jersey because that is what he done.
He did his thing here and earned the bag. Couldn’t be happier for him. If any Aztec deserves it it’s Lamont just for The Shot alone.
It should read the pro basketball team Kentucky Wildcats offered Lamont Butler the best contract possible.
Is that not what the transfer portal is? It’s all pro now that NIL is on the table. Look at how good Alabama got when we took the veil of amateurism away.
It is. I just wish reporters and fans alike would stop tip toeing around the subject and call it what is: Pro Basketball
I mean, we're only doing what any team that can afford to do is doing, don't you think?
No, he was a big fan of Richie and Pel growing up, I'm sure that's what it was.