Well it's Championship Day again. Every couple of years it seems the UK basketball team makes it to the championship and Lexington makes the national news for rioting in the streets until 5am after we win. I've been to only two of these riots, but good lord I have never seen anything that comes even close to the level of insanity State Street establishes.
Every high school and college student who actively participates in western nightlife culture has seen the movie Project X. I'd recommend checking it out whenever you get a cheap chance to do so. It basically shadows the experiences of a partying amateur who gets in way over his head upon throwing a little soiree at his parents house. It turned out to be massive; like excessively colossal. The poor kid had no chance. In his circle of friends was a serious marketing genius who had radio stations and television ads promoting this house party. The entire student body of all the nearby universities heard about it through word of mouth, and by Friday evening everyone in the city and even the surrounding counties knew about and were ready to attend this party.
You can kind of see where this is going. Thousands of people showed up, including celebrities and riot police. No one was less than blackout drunk. Everything ended up on fire. Cars were flipped. People went home with gunshot wounds. It got out of hand pretty fast. The movie ends when the Saturday morning sun rises, shedding light upon the widespread carnage.
When the movie gained some major popularity, of course all of the buzz-kill police commissioners and political officials came out with statements about how terrible the movie is because it actually makes the young members America's party-scene feel the absolute need to attend such a crazy party. I'd hate to say it, but the only thing on my mind as I left the movie theater was partying harder than ever. The buzz-kills all over T.V. were exactly right; everyone who saw Project X wanted nothing more but to destroy a city in an out-of-hand party.
Of course the months following were filled with news stories about idiot teenagers attempting to recreate the movie and causing thousands of dollars of unnecessary damage. It happened every weekend somewhere in the first world; someone would sacrifice their parents house, invite everyone with a pulse, and try to create the opportunity to experience what Project X was all about. Unfortunately though, every single imitation attempt honestly ended up being the Great Value brand of Project X.
That held true until March 31st, 2012 in Lexington Kentucky. Just like the rest of the nation, Project X was fresh in our minds here at the University of Kentucky. When our team beat our most-hate rival, Louisville, in the Final Four, all the reagents for a recipe for disaster were present and abundant. Tens of thousands of very drunk people ran out into the streets abeam campus, setting anything and everything on fire, flipping cars, uprooting traffic signs, getting girls to flash, and fending off riot police. It took every factor that made Project X the most potentially desirable event any of us could imagine, and amplified the effect of it.
It's something every club-dwelling party connoisseur wishes they could experience just once. Seeing pillars of smoke rise above the shoulder-to-shoulder crowed from the scattered distribution of furniture fires; having a police officer dressed in full riot gear shield bash the person in front of you who just chucked a beer bottle into the swarm; getting tear gassed or feeling a rubber pellet bounce off of you as the riot police demonstrate their ability to open fire when it gets too rough; the lingering feeling that you might not make it out alive; everything we saw in Project X and daydreamed about ended up being reality. In fact, I watched the movie shortly after surviving what would forever be known as Project Lex and I actually felt like the party portrayed in the movie was a little on the calm side. I can't even find a way to exaggerate what I'm trying to describe, it's literally the craziest night of partying you could ever imagine.
And it happened again! And again! And again! There have been like four of these riots! I have yet to stumble upon anything on the internet that suggests a crazier party has been had. The closest thing I can come up with is the nonstop week-long fiesta that was produced in order to film the movie that I just described as calm by comparison. I'm sure that at some time in history there has been something to top Lexington after winning a championship. Regardless, I feel safe to say almost everyone who's ever existed on Earth, save the 20,000 UK students out there with me, will never experience a night even remotely similar to what I get to partake in about three hours from now.
So wish me luck. It kind of feels like the apocalypse; it's as if there's not a soul in this city who believes there will be a tomorrow. Hopefully I make it out unscathed—understand that not everyone does. Until next time...
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