Midweek Dis & Data

Baseball, Basketball, College Sports, Football, ,

I wanted to start with U of L football.

Honest, I really really did.

But just have to mention that film clip first.

You know the one. Pat Kelsey answering a question posed by ACC Network’s Wes Durham. (I think it was him.) Glorious Editor posted it in his last News & Notes. I trust that all true Cardinal fans have watched it, or at least heard about it by now.

Responding to what’s your favorite movie, PK immediately responds “Hoosiers.”

Imagine our surprise.

Then tells how a HS teammate and he watched the b-ball parts of flick every single day after practice one post season.

Then he shares that the Bobby Plump character Jimmy Chitwood netted 44 of 49 shots for Hickory High he took in the beloved film. Continue reading Midweek Dis & Data →

Detroit Tigers’ Amazing Season Continues

Baseball

Warning: If my Detroit Tigers continue this magical season, I’ll be posting a bunch about it. 

Tigers beat Cleveland 7-2 Sunday afternoon.

If ever there was a more deceptive final score in any sport, you’ll have to prove it to me.

This was the paradigm of “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”

But, first of course, before the recap, my usual self indulgence. How I came to watch every pitch of the out of market game.

 * * * * *

Son of Motown, the Tigers have been my team, even after moving to Louisville when I was three. Saw Al Kaline play against Cleveland in mid 50s, batting against Mike Garcia and Don Mossi. Was at Briggs Stadium one other time in ’62 for a game against KC Athletics.

Went with some pals last summer to Cincy, and got to see Tarik Skubal pitch a masterpiece against the Reds.

Beyond any expectations, Detroit has been hot all season after their surprising run to the playoffs last year. Best record in MLB, even after dropping three to Dodgers to open season.

My inner Little Leaguer is roaring. Have been gamecasting outings. Less than optimal.

The TV schedules indicated the Tigers game was going to be on Fox Saturday night.

It wasn’t.

Frustrated, Sunday morning I sprang for a Benjamin to watch them play on mlb.tv for the rest of the year.

 * * * * *

What a friggin’ game.

Skubal shut down the Guardians for 7 full. 0 runs. 3 hits. 10 Ks. No BBs.

Cleveland’s Gavin Williams matched him. Going 6, surrendering a lone Tiger hit and no runs.

The bullpens were tweedly, but still no scoring until bottom of 8th. When Steven Kwan’s two bagger plated a Cleveland run.

Top of the 9th. Cleveland’s closer Emmanuel Clase on the mound.

Leadoff Spencer Torkelson HBP. Wencel Perez flies out. Strategist maestro AJ Hinch pinch ran speedy Zach McKinstry.

Who stole second, after being called out on field, overturned on review. Made it to 3d on a ground out.

Parker Meadows at the plate. Two down. 1-2 count. Tigers a strike away from losing.

Clase’s slider in the dirt rolls through catcher Bo Naylor’s legs. McKinstry scores standing.

1-1.

Ah, Baseball.

Tigers bullpen depleted, Chase Lee back on the mound in bottom of 9th. Gives up a leadoff double. Then induces a fly out to CF, a ground out to 1st, which McKinstry who has never played 1B in the majors handles easily with a borrowed mitt, and a line out to 3d.

In the top of the 10th, Tigers roared.

Led improbably by Louisville’s own Trey Sweeney, who unproductive was demoted last week spending 48 hours as a Mud Hen in Toledo until recalled because of an injury to Kerry Carpenter.

He proceeded to hit a three run homer. His first ever in the majors to opposite field.

Followed by a two run long ball by Riley Greene, who inexplicably had been to that point 0/22 against Cleveland for the season.

Cleveland scored an unimportant run in bottom.

From a strike away from 0-1 L to 7-2 W.

These Tigers are gritty.

Which has given rise to catchphrase, Gritty Tigs.

Which to be honest, I don’t especially like.

I’ll just say, Bless You Boys.

— c d kaplan

 

A Hoopaholic Hyperventilates

Basketball,

Breathe, Chuck, breathe.

Long. Calm. Deep. Breaths.

Yes, you’re still hearing fireworks from the 4th. Literally, thanks to the yahoos in your neighborhood, setting off bottle rockets here after midnight a couple of days later.

But those other fireworks; they’re in your head.

I’ll let you be in my dream, if I can be in yours.

A packed to the gills Yum! exploding in mid February during a visit from the Evil Empire Blue Devils.

Cards with the ball, down 2 with seconds on the clock. Mikel Brown Jr. with preternatural calm brings the rock past midcourt. Finds Aly Khalifa in the post, who immediately kicks it to the corner.

Isaac McNeely drains a triple. (Will we be calling him Isaac McThreely by then? Don’t bet against it.)

Clock strikes 00:00. Continue reading A Hoopaholic Hyperventilates →

Phone Numbers, Pool Tables: Tales From Cardinal Pigskin Past

Football,

I know for sure you’ve never read these stories in this space, even though you might know them from elsewhere.

Because your self proclaimed not such a Louisville football expert just heard them yesterday, when I ran into an old neighbor and former member of the football staff. From the beginning of the Schnell era when hired on as a GA, through the miscalculation of Cooper, partway through the resurgence of John L..

 * * * * *

Let’s start with Schnell’s engagement with Mick Jagger in the summer of ’89, such as it was. (About which, to be honest, I had heard stories but not from someone who was actually in the room.)

The Stones’ Steel Wheels tour landed at Fairgrounds Stadium in September ’89.

Apparently, such was the cloud of contractual secrecy surrounding the construction of that monstrous stage, that nobody outside the entourage could view it. Even though they’d already played eight dates. Which major inconvenience, as is easy to imagine, didn’t sit well with the Pipe, since it was the middle of the football season. Continue reading Phone Numbers, Pool Tables: Tales From Cardinal Pigskin Past →

What If The GOAT Coached Cardinal Football?

College Sports, Football,

Truth in Reportage. The whole idea for this post was generated by Matt Baker’s contemplation this morning at theathletic.com. 

Which fascinating it’s-the-off-season-so-whatever-to-write-about rabbit hole boiled down to this query: Which school is the worst of the eventual best of list  — Arizona State, North Carolina, , Louisville, South Carolina, Stanford, Utah, Wisconsin — that Nick Saban could reasonably have led to a national title?

I hearken back for just a moment to my last post, where I not totally regrettably asked my readers to suggest article topics for these fallow summer months on the collegiate sports scene. Baker, and we’re far from alone, obviously is searching for stuff to keep readers interested until games kickoff in August.

It worked.

After going through a bunch of metrical data points, Baker arrived at those possible schools.

Of course, you must have realized by now, the winner is the University of Louisville Cardinals. Continue reading What If The GOAT Coached Cardinal Football? →

A Pundit’s Legit Request — Honest!!!

College Sports, Sportswriting

There are some things that are just hard, often impossible to figure out how to accomplish.

Like how to fold a fitted sheet.

Before eventually giving up — thankfully — realizing creases are OK, nobody’s looking and you simply ball it up and put it in the linens drawer.

With impunity and mostly free of guilt. (Sorry, mom.)

Which is all well and good until sheet changing day arrives, and you always fit one corner on, then realize you’re attempting to fit the short end lengthwise over your mattress. Therefore having to start all over.

More to the point, here’s what else is difficult to figure out: How during the hazy lazy daze of summer to keep these engagements coming between yours truly and you, his Cardinal obsessive fan base.

The athletic year is over, not to return for another couple months. Continue reading A Pundit’s Legit Request — Honest!!! →

U of L CardFile: Coastal Carolina

Baseball,

The Louisville Cardinal Nine’s magic carpet ride to and in the CWS was, for all intents and purposes, crash landed at 2:34 EDT Wednesday afternoon.

Less than a half an hour after opening pitch.

At which juncture, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers had plated 5.

The Cardinals, who didn’t tally in the top of the 1st, had yet to get a guy out yet in the bottom.

How such happens at this time of the season is somewhat explicable.

To win a title in college baseball, a school needs depth, experience and strategic acuity. Luck helps too.

CC started Riley Eikhoff.

Sixth year senior.

6-2 on the campaign. 2.90 ERA. 63 Ks. 10 BBs. In 80 2/3 innings on the mound.

Dan McDonnell chose not to start ace Patrick Forbes, despite the fact he had four full days rest. (Forbes, who had an injury plagued season, did throw 100+ pitches in that last outing.)

Instead a fellow named Colton Hartman took to the bump. Continue reading U of L CardFile: Coastal Carolina →

Cardinal CWS Chatter

Baseball,

The Louisville Cardinal Nine has jammed their way to college baseball’s Final Four.

This is the equivalent of making it to the last Saturday of Hoops with Ian, Grant and Bill on the call.

Like ascending to the CFP semis with Chris and Herbie in the booth.

It’s way cool.

Which is why even I, Mr. Throw Up Some Diversionary Smoke Screen in the Lede, knows better.

And, which meandering I declined the propensity to do after hearing a live version this morning of Bob Marley’s “Jammin'” with a reference to Zion I could have play around with.

The Cards are jammin’.

And hope the fans are jammin’ too.

And hoping the jam is going to last. Continue reading Cardinal CWS Chatter →

U of L CardFile: Oregon State II

Baseball,

In a game as fuhrcackta* as U of L’s 7-6 walk off over Oregon State to stay alive in the CWS, it seems here not as obvious as it may seem to designate the key factor for the victory.

*It’s a Yiddish word, probably misspelled, but I doubt I need to define it for you, if you were tuned into the 9th inning. (If not, shame on ya.)

Of course, slugger Eddie King Jr.’s gotta have RBI sac fly was the clincher.

But in an exciting game in which the Cards’ blunders in the top of the last allowed the Beavers to catch up, and a couple of miscues by OSU in the bottom set the stage for the good guys to steal it back, there have to be some small moments along the way which informed how these schools got there.

Or so I would opine.

Consider how it all ended for Alex Alicia. Continue reading U of L CardFile: Oregon State II →

U of L CardFile: Arizona

Baseball,

There’s a reason why this deep dive into the Cardinals survival W over Arizona won’t be so deep, or such a dive into the nuances. A reason why it will be scattershot.

Because the manner of how U of L extended its stay in Omaha was so dipsy doodle, so whirly twirly, so psychedelic.

Back in the day, we who imbibed were advised that in the years, decades to come we would experience flashbacks.

Few and far between they’ve been, but cherished nonetheless.

The bottom of the 8th was the latest, psychedelic. I can think of no more appropriate descriptor.

The Cardinals, down 2-3 with six outs to play with, plated a half dozen.

A sixburger.

Actually three double cheeseburgers, one with everything, one with mayo and pickles no onions, one with lettuce and tomato and Savannah Banana peppers. Continue reading U of L CardFile: Arizona →