Louisville's Ty-Laur Johnson Sat Out First Half Because Team Didn't Have The Kind Of Tights He Wanted In 'Kids These Days...' Moment For The Ages

A Louisville men's basketball player wound up not playing for a significant part of the first half of the team's game against Bellarmine, and it was all because he couldn't get his hands on the right kind of tights.

Guard Ty-Laur Johnson hardly saw any playing time in the first half of the team's 73-68 win. After the game, head coach Kenny Payne was asked if there was any particular reason the freshman saw such limited playing time. It turns out there was.

In an ultimate "kids these days..." moment, Payne revealed that Johnson wasn't sure if he wanted to play when the team didn't have the type of tights he was looking for.

"Are you ready for this?" Payne said with a smirk to a reporter who asked about Johnson's limited playing time. "I probably shouldn't tell you this: we didn't have the tights he wanted, so he didn't know if he wanted to play."

That was met with stunned silence.

"Oh yeah, you heard it," Payne said. "We didn't have the tights that he wanted — that we've never had for him — and he decided, 'I don't feel like I can go.'

"That's what young people do."

Most Of Us Couldn't Fathom Sitting Out Over A Tights Issue

Payne said that last part with a laugh. One that was either at the absurdity of the situation or the kind of laugher that comes out when you're so filled with rage you don't know what else to do.

If you grew up playing sports, can you imagine telling a coach you were going to sit out at all? Let alone because of something like that?

I remember standing in the locker room before a middle school hockey game. I had a full-arm cast on my left arm after breaking it in practice the week before. One of the coaches came in and asked if I was sure I couldn't play. I had to think about it for a second. That was a dumb question because my arm was in a giant cast. However, the last thing I wanted to say was no. I just had to because my arm didn't work.

I can't imagine going the Ty-Laur Johnson route and saying "Sorry, can't play tonight coach," because of a tights issue.

To his credit (kind of) Johnson overcame the adversity. He played 18 minutes and put up 8 points without his preferred tights.

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