Author Archive for Steve Springer

Fool’s Gold vs. Setback U: Take Your Pick

By Steve Springer

“Biggest win of the Kragthorpe era,” “The ship has been righted,” “Congrats Coach K and the Cards,” and so forth. These were some of the proclamations after a win over South Florida.  The next game’s results are greeted by “Coach K must go,” and “What will you do to show your disgust at the Cincinnati game?”

The roller coaster ride that is Steve Kragthorpe Cardinal football flew off the tracks again Saturday. The Syracuse loss was obviously the worse loss since, well, the other Syracuse loss. Gulp.  I never would have dreamed of typing “the other Syracuse loss.” Sorry. Seriously, though, this had to be the biggest disappointment since the loss to UConn.  The other UConn loss, you know.  I didn’t think that the season opening loss to Kentucky could be topped.  You guessed it, the other UK loss.

Sorry to sound somewhat confusing, but these “other” losses are really starting to pile up and become overwhelming.  Kragthorpe’s Cardinals are now a Cooperesque 0-6 against the Orange, Huskies, and Wildcats. I’ll admit it.  I had naively started to believe after the upset of the Bulls a couple of weeks ago.

Now I realize that I have the same feeling in my gut that I did as a child on summer vacation.  My parents took me out west for our annual family vacation in which we headed out west to Yellowstone and stopped in one of those tourist trap old-timey western towns with faux saloons and general stores.  We shopped at one of the local flavor cowboy stores and in one of the bins at eye level with my small eyes, I reached in and pulled out a handful of golden nuggets.

I just knew that I was the family savior and had just found the secret stash to make our family richer than our wildest dreams.  My excitement was tempered when I learned the meaning of the words “iron pyrite.” The man behind the counter might have been named Greg Robinson.  He exposed my treasure for what it was, just as he exposed our newfound Cardinal booty for what it was.

Same old fundamental mistakes.  Same old overly abundant penalty yardage.  Same old defensive lapses.  Same old come-from-behind to catch the rear-end-of-college-football.  These losses have stolen any hope that UofL Football has any hope of ever returning to even, (another gulp) mediocrity.

Athletic Director Tom Jurich is The Man. Some fans also believe he is  the man that is going to let this coach run this huge revenue sport out of The Ville back to Cooperville or beyond.  Unacceptable losses are setbacks to a school that rose from the shadows of a minor league baseball stadium to having its toothed beak in the nest of big time college football elite status. They affect success, which affects fan support, which affects attendance, which affects stadium expansion credibility, which affects recruiting, which affects lack of success and any potential for future success.

Setback U, Fool’s Gold.  Whatever you wanna call it, the boosters, the fans, the players, the potential future players want to be able to call it their football team, not a time-killer until basketball season.

The Kings’ Treasure: Francisco Garcia

By Steve Springer

All he wanted to do was play ball and buy a house for his mama.

So he signed with the University of Louisville, became a charismatic partner in crime with fellow Card Taquan Dean. They wreaked havoc on Tubby Smith, Tom Crean, and John Calipari defenses.

Francisco Garcia has continued to make Mama and Card fans proud by continuing his exciting play into the NBA. Cisco left Louisville a year early, fresh off his Final Four run, drafted in the first round of the 2005 NBA Draft by Sacramento and slowly found his game.

Garcia played in 79 games last season, started in 20, and averaged 26 minutes and 12 points per game. More importantly, he became one of those “glue” type players that helped the Kings when the injury bug struck and finally got his chance to shine.

The former Cat-killer had this to say about his contract extension (a reported $30 million for five years) in a news release on the NBA Sacramento Kings’ website:

“I feel great,” explained Garcia. “It’s good to know that I’m going to be here for years to come. This is a great organization that’s moving in the right direction. We have the best owners in the league. Our general manager is one of the best. And we have a good coaching staff with a lot of talented players. I’m looking forward to the upcoming season.”

Speaking of shining, he has yet to become the go-to-guy for the Kings like he was for Pitino and the Freedom Hall diehards. If he continues to grow on the coaching staff and fans in Sac-Town, he will definitely be shining for years to come.

Mama’s smile probably just got a little bigger, too.