Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, Athletic Director Tom Jurich, and Coach Rick Pitino savor the moment as thousands of University of Louisville basketball fans jam Fourth Street Live to celebrate UofL’s trip to the Final Four. Click on photo to enlarge.
A red sea of University of Louisville fans.
Shoulder to shoulder they stood, the fans cheering on their beloved Cardinals for an unbelievable stretch run during the 2011-12 basketball season.The crowd was so thick it was almost impossible to move about inside the atrium.
Among them were Billy and Betty Newcom and their five children, hoping to get a chance to thank the players for all the joy they provided the Newcoms. “We’re all 100 percent Cards’ fans,” said Billy, with three sons and two daughters all under the age of 10. “Our lives revolve around these players, and they played their hearts out for us.”
John Smithson was there with wife Adele and their five-year-old twin sons. “We are strictly UofL fans,” he said. “This was just the first step in bringing another championship to Louisville.”
Brad Newton, from across the river in New Albany, was scrambling for autographs, making his way through the elbows and other obstacles. “It’s tough, but I already have Peyton Siva and Gorgui’s signature. Just got to keep trying. We love Louisville, we love our basketball team.”
Faces in the crowd, along with their “L” signs, pleased with a Final Four appearance, excited about the future. Click on photo to enlarge.
It was a very fitting celebration. No overly-long comments, just honest pleasure and appreciation sharing. I liked that recognition for the other successful sports was so prominently, yet not intrusively, featured.
Seeing the InfraRed uniforms again in the highlights makes me wonder what will happend to those two sets of uniforms, since Pitino has said they won’t return? Certainly, at least one set should go into the archives. How about using the others for fund raising…maybe distribute them among charities with which UofL has a connection to put in those charities’ silent/live auctions?
P.S. Only a coincidence that this evening’s sunset was the best yet this year? That Jurich, he thinks of everything!