[FreakNasty]

A group of fans who are concerned about the direction of UK's basketball program were rejected Wednesday from purchasing a full page ad calling for the resignation of head coach Tubby Smith in a local newspaper.

The group is called Concerned Fans 4 UK. They are UK fans linked together by the internet. They have asked for Smith's resignation, but don't expect to get it. But, as part of their coming out party, they planned to purchase a full page ad in the Kentucky Kernal, the college newspaper.

Chris Moore, the general manager of the Kernal says it was a "business decision" not to run the ad that would cost $1,700.

Richard Cheeks, who graduated from and teaches at UK tried to place the ad in Thursday paper. What bothers Cheeks, outside of UK's decline under Smith, are the young UK fans. He doesn't believe that they understand the great tradition at UK, and says one of his main goals, through the internet, is to help educate them so they know there is more to UK basketball than just the Tubby Smith era. He wants them to know the traditions that go back to the 1940's.

The Kernel is nothing more than PR for the university. It's awful journalism, pumped full of "pro UK." A majority of the time they either refuse or cannot just flat give a game report, but try to "butter" it up. That's mostly the reason I would not and will not write for them...