Your scribe had a really clever lede with an intention to use.

Footnote: It was actually suggested by my former editor at the Cardinal, Smart Guy, with whom I watched the tilt, but it will have to wait for another day.

Seems here the only thing that really matters at this juncture of a throw away season is the future.

So, that’s the focus in this game report of yet another U of L defeat, this time to Notre Dame in South Bend, 62-76.

 * * * * *

Let’s start with Manny Okorafor.

Who has been on the team — actually in the States and on the entire continent — all of ten days or so. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Notre Dame →

The agony of defeat.

Louisville 65, Boston College 75.

The winter of our discontent — to coin a phrase — drags on.

(I just paused for five minutes — literally — with my fingers on the home row of my ergonometric keyboard, wondering what to write next.)

No matter how much incremental improvement the Cards might put on display, at some point, it simply falls apart.

Focus and discipline at both ends fade.

Energy wanes.

(Honest, not just writing this for dramatic effect, I just paused again for several minutes, with nothing transmitting from thought center to fingers.)

Everybody’s got theories. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Boston College →

One step forward.

One Step back.

Or, depending on whom you took dance lessons from, one step forward, two steps back, if you’re going Arthur Murray style. (If you don’t understand the reference, ask grannie.)

Either version, it’s still the Cardinal Shuffle 22-23.

Might it become as popular as, say, “The Macarena?”

Uh, no.

“The NaeNae,” doubtful, “Cotton Eye Joe,” perhaps but nah, “Gangnam Style,” are you serious, never.

“Y.M.C.A.”?

Don’t be absurd, but, since I’m looking for any shtick to fill this space other than reporting on another 20+ Cardinal L at home, the mention of the Village People phenom that lingers at minor league ballyards across the land, allows me to share this anecdote. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Pittsburgh →

This might happen on occasion.

You’re at a movie about an hour fifteen in.

Your large popcorn is long gone. Despite the ridiculous tariff it would have set you back, you’re pissed you didn’t spring for the extra four bucks for free refills. All the ice has melted in the $8 Big Red which is watery.

You find yourself yawning as your eyes keep wandering from the screen.

You’re constantly looking at your watch, even though you really don’t have anything else to do.

The film isn’t horrible. It’s just sorta boring.

You never like to walk out on a movie, it’s something you are not inclined to do.

Well, that’s how I felt and what happened during the 2d half Saturday afternoon. Except for the Big Red (which I loathe, but it worked for the story telling) and the Orville Redenbacher™.

So, mea culpa maxima, at the under 8:00 media break, the Cards down an insurmountable 20, I cried “uncle” and bid my adieu to the Yum!. No mas until the next home tilt.

Not out of disgust, just tedium.

That it’s come to this breaks my Cardinal heart. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: North Carolina →

Tell me if you’ve seen this scenario before from this ’22-’23 Louisville Cardinal team that shall go down in the lore.

Actually, you don’t need to tell me, I know the answer. Also, I know even more that there shall be comments.

Anyway . . .

Cards get a decent start.

At some point early on, U of L looks like a legit (if not great) team. The ball’s moving. The players are moving. Feet are moving on D. The rock’s finding net. Glass is cleaned.

Then they go butterfingers. The opponent gets scoring opportunities gift-wrapped.

A sinkhole opens, U of L’s game falls like the ‘Vettes on display in Bowling Green.

Then, as in recent days, when it seems like Louisville is going to get blown out by 20, 30 or more, the guys hunker down and fight back.

They get within reach. OK, they get within a long stretch and reach.

Then, in the guise of heroics, stupidity returns. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Clemson →

For all the disorientation and discombobulation of the the current U of L hoops squad, there is one thing that can be said.

For all the empty seats in the World’s Most Spectacular arena, the same character trait exists for the loyal fans who continue to show up, despite the Cards’ woeful season.

This team does not give up.

The fans who come to the games do not give up.

In this, a proverbial winter of our discontent, it is both heartwarming and heartening.

With 14:50 left in the tilt, at which point the Cardinals had coughed up most of their game total 14 turnovers, the visiting Demon Deacons led by 22 at 53-31.

There were no boos. Though the gym had not started to empty, and the crowd was mute.

A furious if curious 12:10 of game clock later, after Mike James fifth triple of the afternoon (in nine attempts), the Cardinals with 2:40 left to play had improbably pulled within three at 67-70.

The assembled went arm-waving, hip-shaking nuclear.

It was easily the loudest in the Yum! since . . . who knows when, it was so long ago. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Wake Forest →

Tuesday afternoon, I streamed a truly astute music documentary about Leonard Cohen and his song, “Hallelujah.”

How long it took him to craft it. Years and years.

How the tune mixes the profane with the sacred, spiritual with sexual.

How it was on an album that the president of Columbia Records hated so much, it was not released in the U.S. for a long while.

How the song eventually evolved into one of the most popular in the world.

That context informs this perspective on U of L’s performance in last night’s one point ACC L to the Orange.

Louisville 69, Syracuse 70.

It was a broken Hallelujah. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Syracuse →