SLAM Magazine “Red V. Blue” Rivalry Documentary Interview

SLAM Magazine interviews director Rory Owen Delaney about his new rivalry documentary Red V. Blue.

Read the interview on Duane Watson’s blog “Directing Traffic: Basketball on Film.”

Battleground State: Red V. Blue documentary takes a close looks at Louisville-Kentucky rivalry.

By Duane Watson

Many will argue that North Carolina versus Duke is the greatest rivalry in college basketball, but in the Bluegrass State, nothing is as divisive as Louisville vs Kentucky. Only in Louisville, will you find two seniors coming to blows over their respective schools at a dialysis center. Yet despite their close proximity, both universities have only faced each other 46 times since 1913. The competition intensified with the annual Battle of the Bluegrass, which started in 1983, however, games take on a deeper meaning with the National Championship on the line. Both schools are in the Sweet 16 and face off in the Midwest Regional semi-final, No. 4 Louisville will face No. 8 UK with more than just state pride will be at stake.

Red V. Blue started filming as the Wildcats made their 2012 championship run, and the subsequent season as the Cardinals not to be outdone, won a national championship in 2013. Yet the documentary goes far back into the history of the state and it’s climate on a cultural level, providing a deep understanding of how this feud came to be, and why it still rages strong. While conflicts didn’t permit for the most coveted sit down Rick Pitino, the only person to have coached at both schools, there are a dearth of interviews, from former players, coaches, historians and most importantly their passionate fans.

SLAM spoke with Rory Owen Delaney, the director of Red V Blue about the film.

SLAM: Is this the biggest rivalry in basketball and why?

Rory Owen Delaney: Yeah, I think it really is the biggest rivalry in basketball. One of the big reasons is they only play once a year, as they’re not in the same conference. So you don’t get that Duke/North Carolina deal where they play twice and may play in the ACC tournament. They just have this one game and you got to get it right, and maybe you’ll get a meeting in the NCAA tournament. The other reason is there are no pro sports teams in Kentucky, so those two universities are the equivalent of pro teams. I think even Forbes Magazine has analyzed this and I believe both of those teams generate more revenue than most NBA teams. (Louisville has topped Forbes list for most valuable college basketball teams the last two seasons, but the program doesn’t generate more revenue than pro teams—Ed.). Lastly, I think this whole history of where they didn’t play for decades and where there was this urban rule, almost even a little bit of regional tension to it. Even though it’s not like it used to be, there still a little specter of it and fires people up a little bit more.

Click here to read the rest of the interview!

Hazard Showtime Added

PERRY DISTRIBUTORS PRESENTS “The Rivalry: Red V. Blue” in Hazard, KY!

This Saturday, January 18th, The Rivalry: Red V. Blue will be screening at 7 pm at The Forum Theater, located on 101 Bulldog Ln in Hazard, KY. Tickets are only $3 for this event, so don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to watch the first movie to document college basketball’s ultimate rivalry: Kentucky-Louisville!

Red V. Blue features interviews with Denny Crum, Joe B. Hall, Oscar Combs, Tom Leach, Jerry Tipton, Derek Anderson, Matt Jones, Mike Rutherford, Terry Howard, Van Vance, Jock Sutherland, and many others.

If you can’t make it to our Hazard showtime, be sure to catch RVB on a big screen in a theater near you. The movie is best enjoyed  in the company of as many other UK and U of L fans as possible! To find a screening near you, check out our Screenings Page.

Kentucky Premiere Recap

Kentucky Premiere Recap

It’s been an awesome few days in Kentucky unveiling “The Rivalry: Red V. Blue” to audiences across the state. Both Kentucky and Louisville fans have responded positively to the film and we can’t wait to share it with more of you!

For the December 27th premiere at the Lexington Opera House, Lexington mayor Jim Gray was in attendance along with Rob Bromley, Miss Kentucky, Governor John Y. Brown, and Tom Leach, among others. WKYT News covered the event on the local news. Watch here.

For the December 29th premiere at the Muhammad Ali Center, Louisville mayor Greg Fischer attended along with Tony Vanetti, Terry Howard, Al Benniger, Jim Tharp, Ken Kurlas and the barbers (Robert Boone and the Wagners). WHAS and WLKY covered the event on the local news. Watch here.

For the December 30th premiere a the SIPP Theater, Paintsville mayor Bob Porter attended along with UK fan Doug Young and U of L fan Rick Roberts. WYMT covered the event on the local news. Watch here.

More photos to come and more screenings to be announced very, very soon. As far as DVDs and blurays, we are planning on releasing them this spring in time for March Madness. Finally, our new web store is almost complete and you will be order to preorder DVDs and blurays there, as well as order some of our unique merchandise.

P.S. the morning of the 27th director Rory Owen Delaney was a guest on the Great Day Live morning show on WHAS11 in Louisville where he was seen desperately holding on to the back of the couch during his interview with Terry Meiners. Those couch cushions are really, really small 🙂

[acx_slideshow name=”Kentucky Premiere Recap”]

Congrats to the Louisville Cardinals!

Congratulations to the Louisville Cardinals for the hard-fought victory over the Kentucky Wildcats today in Louisville. Yesterday we interviewed Oscar Combs, filmed the Afternoon Underdogs radio show and then captured the Hardwood Classic where we sat down with UofL’s Luke Whitehead and UK’s Derek Anderson. Today we were at the Yum! Center filming all the action live courtside and in the upper levels. It’s been a blur, but a good one!

Boxing Brouhaha

At the Louisville Legends Amateur Boxing Club we met with boxer Earl Heyman and his trainer James Doolin. Heyman attended Ballard High School and played as a defensive tackle for the University of Louisville from 2005-2007. Today he is training to become a professional boxer. Doolin expects Earl to make his professional fighting debut sometime in 2013, a debut that Heyman hopes to make in Louisville, KY. Ironically, Heyman’s trainer James Doolin is an outspoken, diehard Kentucky Wildcats fan despite attending the University of Louisville. The two rib each other in good humor for the cameras as Earl does sit-ups and shadow boxes. Red V. Blue weaves slice-of-life stories with interviews of former coaches and players to highlight the extraordinary circumstances that helped create and sustain one of the nation’s fiercest college rivalries.

Matt Jones, Mike Rutherford, Pat Forde, the 101 Club & More

Check out some production stills from our interviews with Matt Jones, Mike Rutherford, Pat Forde and UK superfan Ken Curlas. Ken is a member of the 101 club, a service organization which dedicates itself to furthering the University of Kentucky. Members of the 101 club are instantly recognizable by their distinct blue blazers, and you’ll see them at every UK home game sprinkled around Rupp Arena. Ken is an alumnus of the University of Kentucky and has an entire wing of his house decorated in Wildcats memorabilia. Ken was kind enough to invite us into his home where he spoke about the old days of Memorial Coliseum, the transition from Adolf Rupp to Joe B. Hall, the 101 club, and the 2012 national championship, among other topics.

Denny Crum, Joe B. Hall + Adam Lefkoe

Last week’s Red V Blue production shoot couldn’t have been more fruitful. The week started out with an interview with Coach Denny Crum, who led the Louisville Cardinals to two national championships. The next day we sat down with Coach Joe B. Hall, who led the Kentucky Wild Cat to a national championship both as a coach and a player. Then we were off to Paintsville in eastern Kentucky where we interviewed some local diehard fans. Friday night we finished off the trip by interviewing WHAS sports anchor Adam Lefkoe in Louisville, who rocked out some great stories in between his TV spots. Stay tuned for further developments.

Kentucky Basketball

Wade came across this cool compilation of facts about Kentucky basketball on ESPN Classic’s website. Here I have picked out some of my favorites. Did you know that the state of Kentucky is second only to California among states with NCAA championships? California has 15; Kentucky 9.

The Louisville List

1) Louisville is undefeated when it scores a 100 points or more. They are 88-0.

2) The Cardinals scored a school-record 132 points against George Mason in 1994, posting a 132-87 win.

3) Freedom Hall was named “Best floor to play on” by ESPN’s College Basketball magazine in 1995.

4) Did you know that Denny Crum is an avid reader and collector of Louis L’Amour westerns?

5) Pervis “Never Nervous” Ellison holds the school record for dunks in a game. He slammed it through seven times against South Alabama in 1988.

6) Louisville has had two players go in the first round of the NBA draft twice — in 1989 with Pervis Ellison (1st overall) and Kenny Payne (19th) and in 1994 with Clifford Rozier (16th) and Greg Minor, 25th.

The Kentucky List

1) Basketball at Kentucky reportedly started when W.W.H. Mustaine called together some students, took up a collection totaling $3 for a ball and told them to start playing. There was no official coach from 1903 until 1910. Managers ran the team.

2) The Wildcats have the unique distinction of having a tie on their all-time record. In 1918, a game was ruled a tie after a scorer’s error was discovered after the game.

3) Kentucky longest home-winning streak is 129 games. It started in 1943 and ended in 1955. Since then, the longest home streak has been a mere 33 games from 1992 to 1994.

4) The Wildcats have had just one losing record in 72 seasons. Kentucky went 13-19 in 1989, its first losing mark in 61 seasons.

5) Kentucky had five players selected in the first rounds of the 1996 and 1997 NBA drafts. Antoine Walker (6th), Tony Delk (16th) and Walter McCarty (19th) went in 1996 while Ron Mercer (6th) and Derek Anderson (13th) were selected in 1997.

6) Long-time Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp is second on the all-time win list with 876. Only North Carolina’s Dean Smith has more victories with 879.

Denny Crum Interview

Big News: We are interviewing the one and only Denny Crum this July! During his reign Coach Crum guided the Louisville Cardinals to 2 NCAA championships (1980, 1986) and 6 Final Fours. Do y’all have any questions for the legend?

Final Four Shoot

Our dream final four match-up between the Louisville Cardinals and Kentucky Wildcats did not disappoint. And neither did the documentary shoot. We talked with a ton of Louisville and Kentucky fans and even a couple former players. Derwin Webb spoke to us outside of the Super Dome in New Orleans, and Matt Simms bumped into associate producer Aaron Mikel while he was filming in Louisville. In New Orleans we filmed interviews on both Friday and Saturday on Canal Street and throughout the French Quarter. 1 a.m. Friday night we hit Bourbon Street in the pouring rain to talk with some of the Final Four’s most devoted fans and party animals. The next day we hung outside the Super Dome on Loyola Avenue and spoke with fans en route to the historic final four match-up. And along with fan interviews we also documented some of New Orleans’ best street performers. In Shelbyville, KY, Aaron Mikel visited the Main Street Barbershop before heading to Louisville and filming around the city. Below are some production still photographs that producer P.G. Banker snapped on the big day in New Orleans. Thanks to everyone who participated and congratulations to the University of Kentucky for polishing off the Kansas Jayhawks and winning the national championship!