Wanna know how I know John Calipari is lying (again)?

John Calipari is lying his face off and people are just going to ignore it like always.

And since John Calipari refuses to stoke the Louisville-Kentucky rivalry fire, I need to vent for a second.

When Rick Pitino was hit with “failure to monitor” his program back in 2016,  every non-Louisville basketball fan just accepted the fact that the NCAA was right; that Pitino should have known every possible thing about everything that was happening with each player like an overprotective room mom that won’t let a peanut butter sandwich within 100 yards of Ms. Travis’ class.

People will always jump on Louisville’s case, but when Kentucky and Cal fudge the truth? Crickets.

You won’t find an article, tweet, etc. about Pitino or Louisville without the second comment being “strippers” or “Katina.” Real original, Carl from Richmond.

But, what about when John Calipari just ignores stuff blatantly in front of his face? Local fans and media just look past it like department stores look past Halloween and Thanksgiving .

Calipari isn’t the only coach guilty of this by a long shot, but he may be the slickest in his tactics. He dodges questions like a career politician, spinning his narrative like a Northern Golden Orb Weaver while his never-wavering fans and local media cronies continue to allow themselves to be ensnared in his trap.

Calipari not knowing anything about what goes on around his program has become commonplace— especially after arriving in Lexington.

Few questions were asked when known homeless man stomper Terrence Jones and former teammate Stacy Poole were involved in an accident in a brand new Escalade in 2011. Jones fled the scene of the crash and still played a basketball game the same day.

People looked the other way when Derek Willis was found unconscious hanging out of a car in 2016. “Probably gave him a huge break. It’s a judgment call, depends on the circumstances,” said a Lexington attorney. Matters were handled internally. Willis missed no games.

When UK star, and unpaid athlete, Ashton Hagans posted videos flashing thousands in cash back in March, Calipari said that he had not seen the video. Yet, only days afterward, Hagans decided to “step away for personal reasons.” Probably just weird timing.

There’s the matter of Derek Rose and Eric Bledsoe’s falsified SAT test scores at two separate schools under the same coach. Calipari, of course, says he knew nothing about the situation. And why would he? It’s like he is supposed have some sort of institutional… control? Or something? You know, what… never mind— that would make too much sense.

For a guy who seems to know a lot about what’s going on around his program, it’s odd how Calipari misses out on some pretty major happenings that would behoove him to get out in front of. Instead, he is enabled by the local media and fans, who are becoming more and more accepting of disappointing basketball and less inclined to use common sense as each day passes.

So, when Calipari was finally presented with a chance to give us all some fun and rivalry hard with Chris Mack over the offseason, is anybody surprised that he, of course, hadn’t seen the viral video?

Never mind the fact that he posted a video on social media where he left the Easter egg of the year in a fast-forwarded segment where he says “the guy down west (Mack) is out of his mind” two weeks ago.

“I didn’t,” Calipari said when asked if he watched the video. “Somebody told me about it. I can’t even remember who told me there was a lot of whining on it. I don’t know. Here’s what I would say to you: He and I have talked since then. It never came up.

“Guys that take shots. When you shoot arrows at me, they go through bazooka holes. They barely touch skin, they may not touch skin, so I don’t worry about all that.”

Calipari just says that he’s heard Mack “did a lot of whining”… like, what? What is the harm in saying you were one of the 1.1 million people who watched the video on twitter.

What are you, a chicken?

I guess that’s why I’m rivalrying so hard right now, because I just want to say the things that Calipari, for some reason, will not.

For a man who has built a brand on being a cool, trendy place for top recruits to flock to, and for a guy who is so attuned to the social media scene, to claim to not have seen the video is so weak.

In 2020 when we probably need a little spiciness in our sports lives to give the rivalry some flavor, Calipari is pulling a full Rick Bozich behind the grill on Fourth of July.

I’m not asking for much, here, Cal. I just want the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve seen and acknowledge that you were called out by the coach of your team’s biggest rival and for once want you to actually clap back.

I can surmise that Calipari is fibbing because he’s bent the truth so frequently before. But, like always, he’s going to tell his little untruths and we are all going to roll with it. Maybe it makes sense. I mean, who else would be able to sack up and lead another elite recruiting class to an early round exit?