Category Archives: Fandom

MMQB: Can You Say Wacked?

College Sports, Fandom, Football

Well, it certainly didn’t take long for the 2022 college season to bounce out of control.

Including, you know, at the Bounce House, where my Louisville Cardinals were the Bouncer, and the Knights, winners of 31 of their previous 33 on familiar turf, were the Bouncees.

Cue the Bobby Vee.

 * * * * *

Before I get out the Barb Gun, a shout out to a couple of players from around here.

First, my man Doc told me he was going to write me out of his will if I didn’t give some props to Cardinal punter Mark Vassett. As if I was ever in it for a bequest.

Vassett averaged 48 yards a kick in Orlando, providing advantageous field position for the good guys.

So insistent has Doc been, I’ve taken to calling him Wilbur, in honor of Wilbur Summers, who during one woeful TW Alley season was the Cardinals’ sole weapon.

And to a UK Wildcat. Yeah, U of L fans deal with it. Continue reading MMQB: Can You Say Wacked? →

Monday Morning Headset: The Guillotine Awaits

College Sports, Fandom, Football

Three P5 programs had loooooooong flights home from their distant Week 0 encounters.

One was the Program of the Future (Ref: Coach Clark Lea) Vanderbilt, which contrary to the thinking of the Nation’s Premier Preditctioneer, did not let frolicking along Waikiki Beach get in the way of game performance.

Vandy 63, Hawai’i 10.

Since the somewhat iconic Aloha Stadium has been condemned, the game was played at the Clarence TC Ching Athletics Complex “Stadium.” Capacity 9,000.

Maybe Rainbow Warriors coach Timmy Chang could harvest some pigskinners to matriculate from nearby vaunted St. Louis HS. Can any of those Little Leaguers who dominated the LLWS, outscoring foes 60-5 in 6 games play QB?

The other schools taking a red eye were Pat Fitzgerald’s ever feisty Northwestern Wildcats, and . . .

. . . the Program of the Distant Past, Nebraska. Where are you Bob Devaney when the Cornhusker State really needs you? Really really really needs you.

Nebraska 28, Northwestern 31.

Yet again, and it’s almost inexplicable, former favorite son Scott Frost’s charges were Hüsker Dön’t. Seven single digit Ls in a row. So many more during what what was supposed to be his triumphant return to Lincoln.

Can Bob Mould play QB?

Live by the onside kick, die by the onside kick. Continue reading Monday Morning Headset: The Guillotine Awaits →

Friday Football Follies: Appetizers Anyone?

College Sports, Fandom, Football

You know how you get invited to a dinner soiree, where, forget the company, you know the spread is going to be magnifico?

Like, fresh shrimp as big as your fist. Crab cakey bites that are made from the real thing, not surimi. Pizza noshes the hosts have flown in from Lou Malnati’s in Chitown. Then your choice of fresh Dover Sole, or beef  so tender you cut it with the side of your fork and Henry Baines sauce. Some Chocolate Bomb thing for dessert that’s so rich you feel guilty from the second bite on, but forge to completion anyway.

That kind of dinner party.

Well, football fans, that’s next weekend, Week I. West Virginia/ Pittsburgh. Utah/ Florida. Notre Dame/ THE Ohio State, your favorite team finally in action on the telly somewhere, if you’re not actually in the stadium.

Tomorrow. Appetizers.

But you know, like, pimento cheese on Ritz crackers, Domino’s, Hostess Cupcakes. Continue reading Friday Football Follies: Appetizers Anyone? →

Football Follies: Let’s Get This Party Started

Fandom, Football

The usually spot on Elvis Costello missed his mark with this one, whatever the song really means.

At least this week, when he sang “Everything means less than zero.”

Because it is a time when college football junkies have come to cherish.

Week Zero.

In the subsequent increments to come, as the numerology increases, when it shall be wall to wall football, and our faves and the big boys will be competing on the gridiron, such matchups as Wyoming vs. Illinois, UConn vs Utah State and Western Kentucky vs Austin Peay* will hardly be must see TV. But this first week, they are.

You know, like, almost.

*Know how on PTI, Tony Kornheiser never passes up a chance to make a joke about Uranus? Similarly, whenever I mention that Clarksville, Tennessee institution of higher learning, it is an excuse to invoke the potty humor that is the greatest cheer in the history of sports, “Fly’s open, Let’s Go Peay.”

The addicted amongst us shall be fully heplocked up at high noon Saturday to mainline that first kickoff of the campaign from Bowling Green, Ky.

Soon enough, all but the most dedicated of fans for those schools shall clicking over to a game being contested across the pond. Continue reading Football Follies: Let’s Get This Party Started →

Monday Morning Mayhem (Kinda, Sorta)

Basketball, College Sports, Fandom, Football, Soccer, Sports Finance, ,
http://csaimages.com/images/istockprofile/csa_vector_dsp.jpg

Before we get started with another rasher of foolishness, some Coming Attractions.

Later this week — like in a day or two — yours truly’s anxiously anticipated, nationally heralded predictioneering about the upcoming college football campaign shall be revealed.

Seedy K’s Peerless Preseason Pigskin Prognostications are but hours away. So too, hopefully, arrival of my brickbat resistant armor from that Bezos fella. Then, because that’s really nothing more than an appetite whetter, next week come my ever prescient Week 0 game predictions.

Wyoming vs. Illinois. Vanderbilt vs. Hawai’i. Nebraska vs. Northwestern, from that hotbed of American football, Dublin, Ireland.  And more, perhaps.

And don’t tell me you won’t be watching. I know better, ready to pounce, should I in the unlikely event prove incorrect.

 * * * * *

Speaking of football across the pond, do you want to hear about yesterday’s West London Derby at Stamford Bridge between my faves, Tottenham Hotspur, and their hated arch-rival Chelsea?

Of course, you don’t.

But what if I told you how as heated events unfolded during and after the action, I was reminded of a specific U of L hoops game against the Cards’ egregiously disliked nemesis from down the road? Continue reading Monday Morning Mayhem (Kinda, Sorta) →

Monday Morning PG: AD Search, Card 9 & Those Wacky Playoffs

Baseball, Basketball, College Sports, Fandom,

Obviously not in a rush, the muckety mucks at the University of Louisville finally hired a search firm to help choose a new Athletic Director.

I understand there are other administrative priorities.

Like, ya know, a university president.

But still, it’s been like five months since that Tyra guy decided to take his talents to Florida State, or somewhere which was somewhere else besides his office at U of L.

That the school wants to be thorough makes sense. But still.

Given familiarity, Josh Heird’s name is the most resonant.

He’s intelligent. He’s competent. He obviously wants the job.

But, as I’ve previously opined, the quiet nature of his personality is different from most fellows who fill such positions. Which are filled with men and a few women, who are Intelligent and competent, as well as being able to work the room.

Is hiring a Johnny or Janie Handshake an imperative? Continue reading Monday Morning PG: AD Search, Card 9 & Those Wacky Playoffs →

Reid Hurls No-No, Nick says “No No” & the 3-5-5

Baseball, Basketball, College Sports, Fandom, Football,

So by now, anybody within the sound of my voice is aware that former Cardinal ace Reid Detmers hurled a no-hitter for the Angels the other night, in a blowout W against Tampa Bay. 12-0.

Pretty cool.

Yet another exclamation point to the incredible job Dan McDonnell has done turning U of L baseball into a national power.

Lots of interesting sidenotes to the 108 pitch performance. Some of which, I gleaned on my own. Like how it was old old school. Only two Ks along the way. Only one other guy has pitched a no-hitter with so few strikeouts since 1980. Francisco Liriano.

But much of which info I pass along I hereby acknowledge came from my favorite baseball writer Joe Posnanski at his JoeBlogs, to which I subscribe. Like the second half of the above paragraph. Credit and acknowledgement to Joe.

Turns out this was the first nine inning complete game Detmers has ever pitched.

At any level. Pros. (Never tossed more than six.) College. HS. (One perfecto. 7 innings.) As in ever.

How about a huzzah for Joe Maddon for leaving the rookie in. Continue reading Reid Hurls No-No, Nick says “No No” & the 3-5-5 →

As The World Turns: Cardinal Cataclysm

Fandom

It’s been a soap opera, right?

Maybe it should be called “Search For Tomorrow”? U of L’s future is ahead of it, qu’est-ce que c’est?

Or an offshoot of “General Hospital,” something like “GHER” or “GH Triage”? (I know, grammatically, the ? should be inside the quotes. But, hey, these are cockamamie times for the Cardinal Nation, apparently anything goes.)

Anyway, whatever title they arrive at, there’s surely a channel somewhere that is willing to pay for the property.

Not Hallmark, of course. But there are those that have shows about 600 lb. people and hoarders and the overbearing moms of adolescent fashion show kids and people who can’t get their cars out of the Philly tow-in lot. One of those networks will give it a green light.

Got to be iconic Erica Kane, Susan Lucci playing Neeli Bendapudi.

In the role of Vince Tyra, first ask is to Josh Duhamel. If not him, Justin Hartley.

 * * * * *

Thank heavens for the undefeated #1 ranked, top-seeded Cardinal volleyballers. Continue reading As The World Turns: Cardinal Cataclysm →

Louisville CardFile: N C State

Fandom, Football,

There are moments in the continuum of every diehard’s fandom which are memorable.

Most come from what we observe on the field or diamond or hardwood.

They remain indelible, years, decades later, be they instances of joy or sorrow. They become fodder for discussions of reconsideration over pizza and a brewski.

Shoni Schimmel’s termination of Britney Griner with extreme prejudice.

U.S. Reed’s halfcourt dagger in Austin.

Doug Buffone going Bobby Orr, laying out three foes on a crackback after a Cardinal pick.

Jerry Eaves undercutting Kiki VanDeWeghe.

Lamar Jackson leapfrogging a Syracuse Orangeman.

(Stay with me, I’m going to get to Saturday’s L in Raleigh. Simply providing context.) Continue reading Louisville CardFile: N C State →

Card Fans’ Hope Springs, Uh . . .

Fandom, Football,

I’ve always been of the belief, if you can’t have some optimism about your favorite team’s chances before the season starts, when can you?

That’s what this time of year just before kickoff is about.

Especially with the transfer portal, adding new blood. Some new coaches to add a fresh perspective. Natural development of returning players. Etc, etc.

Plus, last year, one guy’s opinion, is simply a throwaway. Nothing was normal.

Which brings me to a poll they ran at theathletic.com, the purpose of which was to gauge the sense of optimism of the nation’s college football fanbases.

Apparently, they got a reasonable sampling of responses from the loyal followers of 62 institutions of higher learning. Including the Red & Black Faithful.

The good news is, enough followers of the Cards responded to the poll.

The rest of the story. Continue reading Card Fans’ Hope Springs, Uh . . . →