John Y’s Musings from the Middle: I’m Responsible for the UK/UL Rivalry

Here’s a NY Times story about how the UL-UK Dream Game became the great annual collegiate rivalry it is today.

In the article the state legislature and my father (former Governor John Y. Brown, Jr.) seem to take the credit for making this once unlikely occurrence a now historic rivalry.

My recollection, however, is very different. I remember one night at the dinner table suggesting to my dad, “Why don’t you work with the legislature to create an annual UK-UL game?”

I seem to recall my dad laughing it off and saying it would never happen.

I stood up, pounded my fist on the table and demanded, “It has to happen! And it has to happen now!!” I was relentless in crafting the legislative strategy and hounding my father to make this is last important act as governor.

I threatened to legally change my name to John Chandler Beshear Nunn if he wasn’t successful. And I succeeded.

Well, he and the legislature succeeded.

OK, OK maybe it didn’t really happen that way.

Maybe…. I was in college out of state at the time and didn’t even know about the effort until several years after it happened.

And, yeah, maybe I never had such conversations about legislation of any kind with my father because I was more interested in more hormonally appropriate topics.

But you gotta admit, it does make a darn good story. Even if it’s entirely an imaginary one.