LeBron, Calipari match made in Heaven?

Sports fans, you better get comfortable. For the next few months, the biggest story -- rightly so -- will be the LeBron James free agency saga.

Will he stay in Cleveland? Will it be Chicago? New York? New Jersey? Until he signs his name on the dotted line, nobody will know. That won't stop everybody -- myself included -- from speculating about it.

One of the more interesting angles to come out has been the connection between James and University of Kentucky coach John Calipari.

James has been spotted courtside at a few Kentucky games this year, and Calipari returned the favor by showing up to a few Cavaliers games, including the playoffs. Now, after firing former Cleveland coach Mike Brown, it appears that the Cavs are going to do whatever it takes to retain James, even if it meant axing the 2009 NBA Coach of the Year.

It would appear that some teams, Chicago included, may try to woo Calipari in hopes of landing LeBron. And let's face it, with one of the NBA's top talents on the free agent market, that's a relatively small gamble that could end up with a big payoff.

Calipari insists he's in Lexington, Kentucky for the long haul, though. But where have we heard that before?

Rewind to March 27, 2009. Cal is still coaching Memphis, and on the heels of four straight Sweet 16s, he tells the Memphis Commercial Appeal, "I want to be here. This is where I want to coach, and my name will be tied to every job that's open, and our fans I think have gotten used to it."

Four days later, Calipari was officially announced as the new head coach for the University of Kentucky.

On Friday, Cal addressed the rumors via Twitter: "I've said many times that I've got the best job in the country. Still the speculation runs wild and I can't stop that... I want to address this with the Big Blue Nation one last time, I will be coaching at Kentucky next year. Now let's finish what we started!"

Please excuse me if I take that with a grain of salt.

ESPN's Dick Vitale wrote a column on Friday insisting that the potential James-Calipari NBA marriage was nothing short of preposterous:

"Also, I think it is crazy to talk about John Calipari leaving Kentucky and going to coach the Bulls, Cavaliers, or any other NBA team. My friends, it is not going to happen. ... It is craziness the way the media has speculated on this connection. It is reckless and it blows my mind!" Vitale wrote.

If nothing else, Vitale's lack of a clue only leads me to believe that the rumor carries more weight. Part of me thinks that there's a snowflake's chance in hell that LeBron and Calipari both join the Wizards. That possibility hasn't been mentioned much, if at all, but with sure-to-be No. 1 pick John Wall a Kentucky product, one would think he might want to reunite with his former coach...