Drake gets a ring?
I think most people on this site know how much I dislike John Calipari. I heard about this on Around the Horn and was stunned. Maybe Drake is somehow indirectly associated with the Kentucky program, but rappers have no business receiving any sort of championship memorabilia, let alone a friggin championp ring. Especially a jerk that fights Chris Brown in club over Rihanna and has Tony Parker injure his eye. COME ON NOW!!
Recruiting.
Drake has ties with UK for a while now and he's one of the biggest recruiting tools Calipari has. Being able to meet a multi-millionaire artist simply by going to a certain college while being coached by a coach that constantly delivers top-5 talent to the NBA and the opportunity to win a national championship is all part of Calipari's genius recruiting pitch.
Indirectly tied to the program.
I wouldn't doubt Calipari told John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Jones, MKG, Knight and others that they had the chance to meet Drake, which might have helped their decision to attend UK.
Drake definitely recruited Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague. Terrence Jones was heading for UW, but than he thought, "What would Drizzy do?" and changed his mind. TOL, read what you wrote again and tell me it is not ridiculous. You have called out so many people for insane posts, sometimes being correct in doing so. This was nuts, dude. Just, no.
Drake is a well known Kentucky fan (well, friend of John Calipari since he has coached at Kentucky). So is Ashley Judd. Calipari is obviously well connected and knows how to get to young kids. He is a good motivator for this demographic (college). Just, that stuff does not necessarily work when you get to a point where you can meet these people. If you go to a school because you have a chance to meet Drake, something is wrong there.
These guys may listen to Drake, may even like him as a person, but he had nothing to do with recruiting them. His getting a championship ring is pretty ridiculous. It is a John Calipari gimmick beyond belief and I truly think it is one of the more lame things I have heard. It would be like LeBron getting Jigga his own Miami Heat championship ring (fully realizing that Drake may not support another institution as Jay does with the Nets). I see little justification for this and none in what you wrote.
Maybe you have trouble reading so I'll post it again in bold.
Yeah, I didn't mean for it to sound as if Drake is the sole reason. It's a great program and Calipari has a knack for getting guys to the NBA but I'm pretty sure it's part of the recruiting package that entices players to attend UK
I wouldn't doubt Calipari told John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Jones, MKG, Knight and others that they had the chance to meet Drake, which might have helped their decision to attend UK.
You can't recruit with celebrities. Definitely a violation. Let me state precedent:
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Iowa-admits...
As it reads:
The NCAA prohibits potential recruits from having any contact with such individuals as a result of the undue influence they could have on the recruiting process.
So, using Drake as a recruiting gimmick would fit that bill. It may be a perk, just can't use him as a recruiting pitch man. To give him a ring for drawing recruits would be fitting the bill of John Calipari using less than ethical tactics in drawing top players. I will not say Coach Cal is not a good coach. Just would not say "he constantly delivers top 5 talent to the NBA" as much as "top 5 NBA talent signs with his school".
I just have a feeling with many of the players Kentucky has signed since Calipari has been their, they would be in that draft pick range regardless of who their coach was. Not calling him a bad coach, just do not think he is necessarily the best and I dislike the notion that he is making these guys NBA Draft picks as much as luring the top players. Of course the national championship thing and being competitive is sweet, just if he plans on giving Drake a ring for helping out, that seems to be a tad shady.
Although I somewhat agree with you, it had to me more than just "You get to meet Drake" that reeled players like John Wall and Anthony Davis to UK. Yes, maybe him being tied to the program could have been an influence, but I don't believe that's the sole purpose for going to Kentucky. And if that IS the reason they went, they should be highly ashamed of themselves all to meet DRAKE of all people.
Coach Cal and UK lose stripes for that. Not news worthy IMO just something to keep Drakes name out there. He is garbage. They promote him and he cant sell. Just an artist who they tell you is hot when he's not. What else would you expect from illuminati fa990ts
Funny, a decade ago his slow songs would be classics. He'd fit right in with old school Fabolous, Lil Flip, Ashanti, Ja Rule and so on. Honestly, he's brought a new flavor to the rap game that hadn't been seen in a decade. The ability to go from rap to R&B. He's not exactly a rapper but an HipHop/R&B artist, a genre that had been dying out.
Hate on him all you want but there's no denying the talent and realizing that he has the ability to go from R&B to rap from a verse to a chorus. Not a lot of artists can pull that off.
http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/sounds/post/_/id/2338/drake-receives-ch...
This article states that it was sent to him by Calipari.
Now, I know that they probably let fans do this and so on. Just seems pretty lame for John Calipari to be giving it out as a gift. Maybe I am overreacting, but to give a person that was not part of your championship a customized ring just seems to cheapen the symbolism. Really was not impressed by this story.
I can't argue too much because Gary Williams, coach K, Dean Smith have all done this before. The only difference is every thing Cal does gets blown out of proportion. As far as it being a violation that's laughable. Basically any big fan of a school that says you should go to a school that they like is breaking a NCAA rule for the school. As long as they aren't paying them its not against the rules. President Obama had said he hopes Harrison Barnes goes to UNC when he was talking basket all with the guy on his staff who played at Duke and if that happened he wouldn't mind going to a game. Not much more influence than the president
They gave rings to celebrity non-alums? Roy Williams didn't hit up Barack Obama and say "Hey, if Harrison wins with us, we'll get you a ring." I am guessing that whatever Gary Williams, Coach K or Roy Williams did was less of a ploy than Calipari giving Drake a championship ring.
If Drake were to get one because of his fandom, I am fine with that. Him being given a ring by the coach just seems off. Of course schools well have famous alums and fans. They also have past players and coaches who provide prestige. The big thing is, these guys are flat out not supposed to work with the school to recruit these kids. Drake being given a ring by the coach may not put him on the pay roll, but it definitely feels shady to me and seems like yet another publicity ploy by John Calipari.
A guy named Drizzy got a NCAA championship ring , this is sad.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/rapper-drake-shows-off-personalized-kentucky-championship-ring-151713194--ncaab.html