A new football season is less than a couple of weeks away now. While expectations for University of Louisville football are tempered, there is some sense of anticipation. But just when a buzz gets going, bad news diverts attention to another sport.

— Rick Pitino’s involvement with a career home wrecker is exposed.

— John Calipari’s questionable recruiting practices result in red faces for two of Louisville’s arch rivals — Memphis and Kentucky.

As if people needed an excuse to talk basketball around heFBHandsre.

The obsession over basketball stems from the fact that some area teams have won some national championships while enjoying only fleeting success in football over the years.

One school even has a live TV show to announce a basketball schedule three months in advance? That’s sick, grossly unfair to the football program. A clear case of poor management, lack of perspective. Excessive.

Football is the premiere college sport. It is the most colorful, the best attended, the most challenging, the best revenue producer for most universities, and the activity that earns the most respect for a school’s overall athletic program.

The observer gets into basketball in season, don’t misinterpret. But the football experience, especially a winning one, is more enduring.

Toss the basketballs back in the equipment room for a little while.

Please.


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By Charlie Springer

Charlie Springer is a former Louisville editor and sportswriter, a public affairs consultant, a UofL grad and longtime fan.

10 thoughts on “Enough With The Basketball Obsession”
  1. Indy in 1980. Think I enjoyed that a lot more than Miami. But, I’ll always remember both. Didn’t make to the ’86 Championship game, but I was watching on TV.

  2. Gosh, Jeremy and Scott, that Orange Bowl (basically a lower tier Final 4 equivalent) was awfully nice, and it was one of MANY highlights for me as a Card fan.

    If that was your BIGGEST highlight as a Cards fan–I’m sorry. Sorry you are not old enough to have experienced some real championships

  3. i went to miami for the orange bowl and that was the highlight of my years as a cards fan.

  4. Do you all remember, as I do, the waning days of Crum’s seasons here, when we longed for the miserable roundball season to be over with so we could get to the fun of winning again with John L and co. at PJCS? Of late, it’s been the other way — let’s grit our teeth and get thru the miserable football season so we can get back to the fun of Pitino-ball. For some, football may be filler, for others it’s solace. Or is it the other way around?

    1. No guarantees of being miserable. Hell, it’s football and that’s almost enough to overcome disappointments on the field. Besides, there’s always the Bears who will actually have a quarterback this season.

  5. This isn’t SEC country around here. Basketball is king in the Bluegrass. Football is filler…

  6. Louisville was close to turning the corner with Bobby Petrino and the Orange Bowl win but, alas, the shortsighted Petrino left, the program nosedived and momentum was lost. Still people enjoyed just enough success to taste the sensation. That resulted in extreme frustration for fans who had never been there before and more grumbling than in the history of the football program.

  7. good god almighty! spoken like a true Ohioan by birth!

    “some area teams” have won “some nat’l championships”

    In U of L and UK, our state has 2 of the top 7 BBall programs of ALL TIME–throw in WKU and we’ve got 3 in the top 20 ALL TIME

    BBall is king in KY–and rightfully so.

    Yeah, it’s football season here,
    but do ya think that
    Ohio St might have a football story fetish or two during their BBall season?

  8. I think it has a lot to do with the inability of fans to understand the intricacies of football. Basketball doesn’t require them to think as much and they’ve won a few titles so they think it is the be-all and end-all. Basketball is a great sport, but football offers more in terms of pure entertainment and accomplishment. Kentuckians don’t see this and it is still another impression of a state which has few good impressions nationally.

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