Tickets to see UK vs. UT basketball made for a wonderful birthday gift

My wonderful wife, Cecelia, got me a really great birthday present back in January that I got to enjoy Saturday afternoon.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

It was tickets to the University of Kentucky vs. the University of Tennessee basketball game in Knoxville. The mid-level seats were pretty good and had a nice view of the court. (The exception being the two Tennessee fans seated right in front of me, who kept standing up during much of the game…LOL.)

It was a great game with UK ahead for much of it. At times they were up by a pretty comfortable margin. Before the game ever started, I told Cecelia that I thought this one was probably going to come down to the final possession and I was close to being right.

With UK up by as many as 11 points with under one minute to go, many UT fans headed towards the exit. They missed a heck of an ending as the Vols kept chipping away at UK’s lead. The final was a UK victory 85-81.

A UK basketball victory is always great. A UK victory surrounded by whining Tennessee fans, well, to quote the old commercial that is priceless…LOL.

In all seriousness, I have to give it to Vols fans. Overall, they were a pretty classy bunch. I may have to dislike the Vols a little bit less after the experience.

I posted a picture Saturday afternoon on Facebook with the view from our seats.

This prompted my co-worker, Jennifer Benfield, to text me saying, “I just saw where you are. You have THE BEST wife!”

I would have to agree.

A few years ago, a former professor of mine, Liz Hansen, posted on Facebook how she and her husband don’t buy each other many presents these days. Instead, they opt to give themselves experiences going different places and enjoying different things.

Cecelia and I are already doing some of that, and hope to do more in the coming years, particularly if we can ever get to the point where we can retire.

If they can, I would recommend that people try and give themselves some more experiences in life. I know it can be difficult to manage, but it is worth the effort if you can do it.

After Saturday’s game, Cecelia and I stopped at Chick-Fil-A to eat dinner. We bumped into two guys at the restaurant. One was wearing Kentucky blue and the other Tennessee orange. As it turned out, they were brothers. I didn’t get their names, but one lived in Corbin and the other lived in Jellico.

It can be a small world.

Cecelia and I made it a weekend and spent the night in Knoxville Saturday.

Sunday morning we went to McKay’s bookstore, and then Cecelia went to Costco after dropping me off at the mall off Kingston Pike.

I suspect that many of you would probably be surprised to learn there is a RadioShack inside the mall. I usually stop in there for sentimental reasons, if nothing else, when I am at the mall in Knoxville.

RadioShack stores used to be everywhere. When I was younger, both Corbin and Williamsburg had a store. Now, they are almost extinct. I was surprised to learn from the store manager that are actually about 50 of the stores still left in existence.

Unfortunately, the one at the mall in Knoxville won’t be for much longer as it is going out of business.

I did take advantage of the 50 percent off sale and buy one of those little Nintendo retro gaming systems with about 600 some games built in. I plugged it in and played for a few minutes last night. The Spyhunter game was still pretty cool.