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Family Separated By Loyalty, Together They Travel To The Final Four

Posted: 12:22 PM Mar 30, 2012
Reporter: Casey Wheeless

Family Separated By Loyalty, Together They Travel To The Final Four

It's the "Battle of the Bluegrass", The University of Kentucky will face off against the Louisville Cardinals Saturday night!

It is being called one of the biggest games the state of Kentucky will ever see.

But, for one family in Leitchfield, it's more than a game, it's a family rivalry.

"My wife and her sister, got her brother-in-law and I tickets for the final four for Christmas," says Anthony Elmore, a die hard University of Kentucky fan.

"We (Kentucky) knew we were going regardless, we just never thought Louisville was going to be in it," he says.

Anthony's brother-in-law Jamie Powell is the lone Cardinal in this sea of blue, even his wife is a wildcat fan, but he hasn't let these wildcats pounce on his pride.

"I've been really superstitious, I've worn the same shirt the past three games ... they're definitely a hard bunch to live with when it's basketball season.," says Powell, "if you don't bleed blue you don't hardly live in the neighborhood. So, it's definitely a challenge to me trying to get my boys to be Louisville fans."

The duo left for the "Big Easy" Friday morning in style.

"We're going to be flying our flags on the car," says Elmore, "We've got the UK flag on my side, and we have the Louisville flag on Jamie's side. When we switch to drive, we're going to switch the flags because neither one of us are going to ride under the opposing team's flag."

They both say it's definitely a friendly rivalry.

"If Louisville wins, they asked me if I would wear a red shirt and I said that I wouldn't but, I would say that I would not cheer against Louisville," says Elmore.

"As much money as I paid for that championship ticket, I will be there as long as one Kentucky team is playing I'll be there," says Powell.

"It's a win-win situation for Louisville," says Powell, "I mean we're not supposed to make it this far, we've made it this far, I'm going down there with expectations, maybe we win, if we don't we've made it a lot further than people thought we would."

"We'll be okay, we're neighbors, we're brother-in-laws, I think we'll be okay at the end of this."

And their families will be cheering on their teams and their dads from back home.

The two will be blogging about their trip on their website "KentuckyBasketballForum.com" for their friends and family to keep up with them while they're gone.