Yep. One of the 10 best photos of the year. (Herald-Leader)

I was away from the computer for most of the weekend, so I didn’t get to this as it was going on, but what an awesome, uplifting story out of Lexington.

Even the largest of John Calipari detractors can’t ignore the goodwill he helped with as coaches from all over the country called in to donate and raise money for the victims in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti.

Cal, WKYT and the University of Kentucky raised more than $500K in five hours on the air Sunday afternoon. As promised, Calipari and the local sponsors matched the total donations made by the public.

With Cal firmly in control, the telethon hummed along for nearly five hours, with phone lines jammed all day, while contributions poured in. Cal used his considerable influence to get other coaches to call in, including Tubby Smith, Tom Izzo, Marvin Lewis and Jim Boeheim. All contributed money to the cause.

Best of all? Calipari did the John Wall dance on air. A victory for mankind, that is. He spoke with the on-air presence of a local-cable-channel pitchman, too. Why am I not surprised?

And here’s more reason to make it harder to hate John Wall and the oft-punk-like DeMarcus Cousins:

I’d say that’s the biggest win of the year for Kentucky.

‘Hoops for Haiti’ raises more than $1 million in disaster relief {Kentucky Kernel}
Cal, Cats, Commonwealth raise $1 million for Haiti {WKYT}