A five-year-old who is told he doesn't get to go to the zoo because it's raining is disappointed.
"Disappointed" doesn't even begin to describe how fans feel.
Tell the fans that screamed themselves hoarse not to feel bitter. Tell the fans who applauded Calipari's successful career to say, "Gee, I'm happy for him!" Tell the fans who cheerfully greeted him no matter what the games' outcomes to congratulate and celebrate his decision.
Tell the fans who painted themselves blue, stood for hours to get into the student section and traveled for away games to blithely accept his decision.
The University of Memphis flags flew proudly on our cars. The championship t-shirts sold out every round in a matter of hours. No size but XXL? Nothing but a kid's small? We gladly bought it all.
We promised to be loyal fans, and he promised to be loyal to us. A mutual commitment should mean something.
This wound is fresh. This wound is deep. This wound will scar over, but it won't happen in a matter of hours. Asking fans to wish him well, especially this soon, is unnatural and ridiculous.
Do you expect the person who was just slapped with divorce papers to congratulate and celebrate his or her ex-spouse for finding their "soul mate?"
The Daily Helmsman is an independent and student-run newspaper. We understand that not every student on campus will agree about every decision we make. We are aware that we don't speak for everyone.
But we do cover news events and represent the majority of students, and we stand by our content.
We are hurt. We know some of you don't care about him leaving or don't think it's that big a deal or that we shouldn't be as hurt as we are.
If you don't have the same attitude, so be it. We welcome your comments and criticism. Our headline expressed our feeling about his departure from The University, and we stand by our headline and its intent.
Judging from most students' reactions Tuesday night, our headline was appropriate. The position is not unreasonable just because it's not yours.
The intended reference should have been clear. Simply put, the Calipari era is over.
We don't believe he is dead or wish him to be dead. But the era is dead, and his stint with The University is finished.
He will never return. He is dead to us.
Maybe a new era is around the corner. We want to recover from this loss. But we don't even have a coach yet. Athletic Director R.C. Johnson hasn't even told us who is on the list of possibilities.
Some say that Calipari is chasing his dreams and that we shouldn't begrudge him that. Why should we care about his dreams? What about our own dreams? Why do his trump ours?
We dreamed Calipari would take our team of the nation's top recruits to the championship game. We'd win the big game. What about that dream?
Those who say we should respect Calipari's past work should remember: respect is earned, but it can also be lost. On Friday, Calipari said he would not go to Kentucky. He said nothing of his dreams then.
Did his dreams change in a few days? Did their intensity heighten? Did he just want to ease the pain of not making the Elite Eight then?
Whatever the reason, he changed his mind, and we changed our minds about him.
Some have said Calipari is a businessman, and he made a business decision. But this isn't the NBA - this is college basketball. There's more involved than dollar signs and contracts.
But speaking of contracts and business, the contract we recently signed with Nike was supposed to bring in around $1.5 million. Now, because of a provision in the contract, The U of M will only receive $140,000. The university Calipari is so loathe to leave just took a 1.1 million dollar hit.
We aren't saying he can't do this, but it's not what we would have expected from the man who seemed to care so much for us.
Why is our immorality and class questioned and not his? Was it classy to send a text message to ESPN that read, "Go big blue"? How moral is it to say one thing and then do another?
Furthermore, it is not The Daily Helmsman's job to prop up The University. We are not the school's public relations department.
We report the news and the students' views even when some disagree, because unlike Calipari, we have integrity.
