Road Trip: University of Kentucky

Ashley Judd doesn't only attend Kentucky home games. Hollywood's Girl Gone Wildcat actually hangs at them -- in the student section, no less

"[Now I don't] have to watch adult videos back at the hotel." -- ESPN college basketball analyst Rick Majerus, Jan. 25, 2005

Quickly, three thoughts come to mind in response to Majerus's comment, uttered slothily upon hearing that Ashley Judd, Golden Globe-nominated for De-Lovely, was, indeed, in the crowd for Kentucky's Jan. 25 game at Tennessee. One: De-sgusting. (Visual materializing....) Omigod omigod, grrr-ooosss. Two: This guy's an ESPN personality; isn't his offensiveness punishable by FCC flogging or somesuch? (ESPN and Majerus apologized for the comment.) Three: Wait a sec. Ashley Judd goes to Kentucky games?

Yes, she does, seated in the student section, and not coincidentally, student tickets to Kentucky home games are sold out pretty much forever (or at least through the end of the season). The same Ashley Judd who is second to none in a family that includes country singers Naomi (mom) and Wynonna Judd (sister) is second to only one at the Wildcats' Rupp Arena: the head coach's wife, Donna Smith, with whom Judd generally spends "girl time" during the second half. The same Ashley Judd who in the past has been romantically linked to Robert DeNiro, Matthew McConaughey and (tee hee hee) Michael Bolton links arms with Kentucky students about a half-dozen times a season, not including the NCAA tournament. And the same Ashley Judd who whipped young men's hearts into a collective frenzy in A Time to Kill whipped up a postgame feast at her luxurious home for the Wildcats after an NCAA tournament win over IUPUI in 2003.

Ashley Judd is Kentucky white-and-blue through and through. Her name, Ashley, comes from Ashland, Ky., just 120 miles northeast of UK's Lexington campus, where in the late 1980s she majored in French (chats sauvages means "Wildcats" en franηais) and pledged Kappa Kappa Gamma. From Lexington, keep on trucking southwest on I-65 and you'll hit Nashville, near where Ashley resides -- with her husband, Indy Racing League driver Dario Franchitti -- between South African AIDS relief missions and movie shoots.

But when Judd attends games, as she did on Jan. 9 against then No. 2 Kansas, surely she comes with legions of beefy guards, making her an unapproachable Hollywood intruder, right?

Hardly. During the Kansas game, Judd spent the first half embedded amongst the Bluehearts, a student cheer squad that dresses, appropriately, in Mel Gibson-in-Braveheart garb and face paint. Were one of these guys to approach Judd at a red-carpet event, he'd have security up his ass faster than he could say, "Have my babies, Ashley!"

But on the day of the Kansas game, recalls senior Bluehearts member Craig Carlson, Judd made herself a commoner, chatting with male students about classes and easing female jealousies with her cool Southern charm. "She really knew her stuff," Carlson says. "She shot the s--- about Kentucky basketball like one of the guys and made us all feel really comfortable."

Don't take Carlson's word for it, though. Ask Donna Smith -- a woman close enough to Judd to have been consulted in the selection of a much-ballyhooed 1998 Oscar dress and close enough to Kentucky basketball that you can see the blue sweat dripping from her brow as she sits (O.K., she rarely sits; she more often stands) exactly four rows behind her husband, coach Tubby Smith. So, Donna, how well does Ashley know the game?

"She really, really knows the game," Donna says. "She has what my husband would call a high basketball IQ." And then, with more than a hint of motherly safeguarding, she asks for my ID. "Just checking. We're protective of Ashley."

And why? Starstruck college males, perhaps? "The best part," adds senior Will Cheuvront, another Bluehearts member, "is that she doesn't bring her husband. That could be a little intimidating. I can't afford a rock like that."

Nor can the Bluehearts afford to pass up any opportunity to get in on a piece of the fame. Leaving the student section at halftime of the Kansas game, Judd accidentally left her beanie behind. Carlson quickly pocketed the treasure and, demonstrating a lack of the Prince Charming gene, retained the keepsake. As of print time, he was still pondering its eBay-ability. Says Carlson, "It's my prized possession."

Game Day in Lexington with Ashley Judd - PREGAME

• "Wake up and holler, 'Go Cats!' at which all five of the cats who sleep with Dario and me do absolutely nothing."

• "Check the weather to make sure it's good for flying up from Nashville to Lexington in the helicopter, which conveniently, although not intentionally, Dario had painted Kentucky blue."

• "During the flight, read The Cats' Pause to study up on the opponent, and admire the wonderful bluegrass below."

• "Run madly through the airport, grabbing local papers to supplement my pregame mania, and dive into my Great Uncle Don's car, praying he won't want to talk so I can listen to coach Tubby Smith's pregame interview on AM radio."

• "Deliciously get waved past traffic at Rupp Arena, enjoying how everyone just smiles and says, 'Hi, Ashley! Come on through!'"

Game Day in Lexington with Ashley Judd - GAME

• "At Rupp, greet all my beautiful friends who staff the facility and take my esteemed place in the eRUPPtion zone amongst the greatest student fans in America. Begin jumping up and down, hollering and generally nearly hurting myself with excitement while also trying to avoid cameras, people who want me to say 'Hi' to their families on cellphones and so on. Wave to the inevitable kids who hold ASHLEY, WILL YOU MARRY ME? signs. The kids are actually pretty good, I have to say. One gentle 'no' works for a section of several hundred. It's about the basketball, after all!"

• "Cheer the Wildcats, freak out over nifty passes -- one of my favorite parts of the game -- celebrate defense and moon over [Wildcats guard] Ravi Moss. Oh, and yes, I admit it, I miss [ex-Wildcats forward] Erik Daniels a little. Also, help officiate, heckle and make the Y [in the human K-E-N-T-U-C-K-Y] with the cheerleaders."

Game Day in Lexington with Ashley Judd - POSTGAME

• "Slink around the hall hoping to be invited into the locker room, and catch up with Donna Smith and other coaches' wives and old friends."

• "Eat enormous amounts of pizza and bread sticks at Joe Bologna's, where I once 'waitressed,' in the second grade. Chat about the game's stats and exceptional plays."

• "Fly home full, happy and exhausted. Pop some Arnica [an herbal remedy] to help my feet sore from standing and stomping."

• "Watch the game on TiVo, and catch SportsCenter, too."

Ashley Judd's Top 5 Lexington Must-Do List:

1. Joe Bologna's, a stained-glass-windowed 1800s synagogue gone pizza parlor that dishes up delicious pies

2. Alfalfa's, "for gourmet hippie food and cinnamon coffee"

3. "The Kentucky Theatre for a wonderful old movie palace showing superb flicks"

4. "Keeneland racetrack in spring and autumn"

5. Shakertown, "A beautiful national historic site of incredible architectural and cultural value. Enjoy the remarkable grounds and an old-fashioned meal with three, maybe four generations of my family!"

Sports Illustrated - 02/2005

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