Author Archive for Tom Stosberg
Tom Stosberg and his wife, Linda, also an active participant on this site, have been U of L fans for nearly 40 years. Tom is self-employed by MarketFit, Inc., an outsource marketing advisory. Tom worked in radio, television and advertising for 35+ years. His web site is located at http://marketfitinc.net.
NIT For The Unfocused
By Tom Stosberg At this point in time it might be appropriate to re-run my previous post in which it was suggested that the NIT may be in the near future for University of Louisville basketball. Having been been chastised by some readers, I must submit the skin is thick … and Stosberg is back. After much less than a lackluster performance against the St. John’s, it is now evident that an alternative competitive tournament may be in order for our men’s basketball team. And since there is really only one alternative to the “Tournament-Most-Sought-After-by-the-Most-Mature College-Student-Athletes,” let us now focus on the event sometimes referred to as the “Tournament For Underachievers Who are Unable to Focus For Periods of Time Longer Than Two Minutes.” Teams that go to alternative tournaments are coached by men who also are not focused, possibly pre-occupied by such things as seeking out opportunities to coach in the National Basketball Association. Let’s say the New Jersey Nets, for example, might be attempting to assemble the likes of LeBron James, John Wall and Terrance Williams. And such coaches also may wish to leave some problems behind and go to New Jersey. Purely theoretical. The good news is that Kentucky’s John Calipari is now being linked to the Nets’ job, as well as Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. But this season these guys are definitely headed to the other tournament.
Louisville-West Virginia Not Child’s Play
By Tom Stosberg
Anybody got some extra flak jackets Samardo Samuels and Terrence Jennings could borrow for a couple of hours? They promise to give them right back after Saturday.
One of those puny WWE smackdowns will seem like an afternoon in a church library compared to the Louisville-West Virginia basketball game at the cleverly named West Virginia University Coliseum.
About six years ago they put a new roof on the coliseum. Sorry. It’s coming off this weekend.
Sam Sam and T.J. will have their hands full banging with WVU’s biggies. The Mountaineers are led by DeSean Butler, a 6-foot-9, 225-pound senior averaging 16 points and 6.4 rebounds. He’s accompanied by a couple of sophomores who play like upperclassmen – 6-foot-9 Devin Ebanks and 6-foot-8 Kevin Jones, who are averaging 11.3 and 14.9 points, respectively, while pulling down eight rebounds apiece.
Oh, and their guys all have played a minimum of 30 minutes per game. So they know how to play together very well. I repeat, the two youngsters play like veterans.
The guards know how to find these guys. When sweet and lovable Bobby Huggins isn’t helping old ladies across the street, he’s teaching these studs how to block out under the basket.
Bring ‘em on. This just could be the game that our bigs get ticked off and tear down the backboards! Hope so. Go get ‘em, Cards!
Fans May Still Be Able To Get Tickets
To That Last Freedom Hall Game Yet
by Tom Stosberg
Let’s clear one thing up. The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) isn’t such a bad thing. It’s televised. And usually it’s on Tuesdays when they don’t have the real good stuff like tools and computers on QVC or Home Shopping Network.
Plus they play in some big arenas. Okay, so lots of fans do like to come disguised as empty seats. But, c’mon! They don’t make a lot of noise so you can really hear the kinds of things the coaches tell the players that got them to the NIT.
Here’s another good thing. There are not nearly as many people watching the NIT on TV, so if you’re in a sports joint, you can have the place pretty much to yourself. They might even give you some extra chicken wings just to keep you there. Zowie.
If the University of Louisville basketball team can just hang on and make it to the NIT, there’s a possibility that Edgar Sosa and Mike Marra might be able to play in front of some family members … IF they can win more than two games. Or maybe Wisconsin will make the NIT and Jerry Smith could play in front of some of his folks. Zowie again.
Our “big” men will be able to show off their three-inch verticals and just to make it really exciting one of the Cards may even set the fan base on fire by actually dunking a basketball during an actual game.
Oh, I’m absolutely goosey over the whole thing…the possibilities of an extra game in Freedom Hall. I can already smell the caramel corn. Maybe this time there won’t be an ice rink under the floor causing condensation on the court. But if there is, what the heck. It’s NIT Tournament time!
Does basketball get much better than this? Well, actually, it does.
Urban Meyer Suspense Boosts Louisville Football
by Tom Stosberg
Okay, so Urban Meyer gave University of Louisville football fans a scare. He also gave us a boost.
“Not so fast, my friend.” (Where’s Corso when you need him?) Hold everything! Meyer checks the call at the podium and he decides to stay. Kind of. So, Strong stays, Stoops stays, Butch Jones stays, Favre stays (ooops, sorry).
Florida president, Bernie Machen talks Meyer into calling an audible at the last second by convincing him that a leave of absence might be a better solution than chucking the $4 million-a-year-best-college-head-coaching-job in America. Yes, even better than at that school often referred to as, “Didn’t you used to be Notre Dame?”
Charlie Strong
But let’s be fair to Meyer. He’s had health issues. Headaches – perhaps of the migraine variety. Some chest pains after the Alabama game. Though I’m sure Nick Saban and the Tide can have that effect on opposing coaches. It’s true that Steve Spurrier set the bar pretty high in Gatorland increasing the pressure. So high in fact, that Ron Zook couldn’t reach high enough, fast enough. Then, when Urban Meyer won his own 2 National championships, he set the bar even higher for himself.
So how does Strong fare in all of this? He comes out smelling like a rose. For over 24 hours all the national sports talking heads were sounding like Charlie has a shot at the Florida job! So, once again, Strong’s name was all over ESPN, Fox Sports, SB Nation, CBS Sportline.com and all the major sports websites. Some top recruits in the country were once again hearing the name Charlie Strong mentioned in very favorable terms.
What looked like a liability actually became an asset for U of L recruiting. Again, it appears that Tom Jurich made a terrific hire. It makes no difference whether Strong would actually have been on Florida’s short list. The big media made it APPEAR that he might be and that served only to increase his stature with recruits and their parents. It was a plus for Strong and a plus for the U of L football future.
And we’ll take it.
Deener Provides Audio, Stosberg A Mea Culpa
by Tom Stosberg
In a post yesterday I stated that Drew Deener, Louisville’s play-by-play TV announcer, made the comment that Coach Charlie Strong most likely wouldn’t be able to get big time recruits at Louisville like the players he had at Florida. Furthermore, I berated Deener for saying that Strong would likely get athletes more along the lines of the ones playing at schools like Southern Mississippi.
Deener e-mailed me the actual audio and was a stand up guy speaking with me on the phone earlier today. And I appreciate that.
First, the reference to was that when addressing recruits who are of lower status than those of the Florida caliber, Strong might say “are you sure you want to go to Southern Miss?”, or a school like that. The audio replay made it clear that Deener was not saying the only recruits we were likely to get were of that level.
Don't any of you get any bright ideas about shooting your mouth off to Santa regarding any of this ... You see, there are still a few things on my list that this bad little boy really wants.
Second, I said that Deener’s implication was that U of L will never be able to get four-star and four-star recruits. Drew said he was only referring to the fact that it wasn’t likely that would happen this year.
Drew, hear me loud and clear. I am sorry if I misunderstood and misrepresented what you said.
I further erred by saying Deener was raised in the hills of Kentucky with the insinuation that he is a closet Wildcat fan. In fact, Deener, a St. X. grad, was raised in the Highlands in Louisville. I owe Deener an apology on that one also. His personal fandom naturally will remain something for Red and Blue fans to fight about ad infinitum.
So what was up with yesterday’s blog? Perhaps the last three years were harder on a lot of us than we thought, causing some of us to be a wee bit touchy when we think someone is “dissing” our Cards’ football program. And Deener was an easy target so, he caught some of that frustration. Still no excuse. In any event, I promise never to write a blog based on hearsay or second hand information.
Drew reiterated that he’s one hundred percent behind Charlie Strong and frankly a little mystified that I didn’t hear that in his remarks. The reason I didn’t HEAR it was because I only got the information SECOND HAND…not good. Hope this Mea Culpa is accepted.
But, not so fast my friend. Hold on. We gotta make a little deal here. Don’t any of you get any bright ideas about shooting your mouth off to Santa regarding any of this! Let’s just keep this among a few hundred of us. You see, there are still a few things on my list that this bad little boy really wants.
Go Cards!
