Thinking back to the seasons before/ Looking back through the cracks on the floor/ The fans were married/ The ball was outrageous/ The love was contagious/ It burned like hot iron/ Later events had much effect/ On the fans with love in their soul/ The arc of a love affair/Heads shaking no in the air/ Lost love like lightning piercing till it groans/ Cards and moans/ Hearts and bones/ Cards and moans/ Hearts and bones — With apologies to Paul Simon.

I am sad.

Sad.   Sad.   Sad.

Sad for the state of my beloved basketball program, the moderately talented players, competitive but lacking some fundamental skills and direction, the coaching staff simply not up to the task and failing in their mission.

Sad for the beleaguered AD, considered truly competent by insiders fully aware of his traits, but lacking the PR savvy of his legacy predecessor, or that of the fellow before him with his hail fellow well met personality.

Sad for my alma mater’s administration with a relatively new leader, and plenty of other significant issues to deal with in today’s world besides the diminished state of its flagship sports program.

Sad about the loyal fanbase, the faithful, contentious and ripped asunder, many rendered angry, others to a state of ambivalence.

Sad that the situation has come to a point where on what used to be days I considered the Birthday of the World — home game days — depressed I have taken to watching some home games at home, finding a flimsy excuse or another, something I could not have conceived would ever happen regarding the great love of my entire life, University of Louisville Basketball.

Sad that people whose advice I trust have implored me to write such a column as I am at this moment, and that you are reading.

My oh my.

Is this where I will believe it if I quote that written by English theologian Thomas Fuller in 1650?

“It’s always darkest before the dawn.”

So to continue portending to be more literate than I am, I heed James Joyce.

“I looked in the mirror and yes I said yes I will Yes.”

 * * * * *

Though more communication by those in charge to a mutinous fanbase would be optimal, I am advised by those in the know of this.

The powers that be at U of L are fully cognizant of the entirety of the situation and issues presented. They are doing their due diligence regarding every aspect of it.

As frustrating as that might be in a world where we’ve come to expect an answer to every question in the nanosecond it takes Google to respond.

There’s also this.

It is every part of the program seeking solution.

There are many.

The definition of a program is by definition elusive, as when Counter Culture philosopher king Buckminister Fuller considered what is a knot.

The rope? The pattern? The process of looping? The end result? All of those and maybe other things?

U of L basketball is multi faceted. The tradition. The players former and current. The coaches former and current. The fans former and current. The administrators former and current. The wins. The losses. The titles. The ebb. The flow.

A totality of all that. Though each human faction might consider itself more important than the others, it is not so.

The tradition of U of L hoops is top tier. Regardless of its current state. And shall remain so, however the rest of this season plays out.

So, at this stage of my long life I am prone to accept, to understand all is in flux, that change and positives and negatives are a given.

The current state of things: Shall this too pass?

I believe it shall.

But I know I must be patient, that it will happen when it happens, not when I might want it to.

— c d kaplan