Card Game

Dan McDonnell, the University of Louisville baseball coach, is the kind of person you want as a next door neighbor – a straight talker, listens to what you have to say, takes good care of his property, will take on the world with you to protect the neighborhood.

McDonnell recently turned down a job offer from Auburn University, which would have made him one of the highest paid coaches in the Southeastern Conference. Did that to stay at U of L. Some quotes from a recent interview with the Louisville Sports Report are very refreshing and assuring to Card fans:

“We’ve put a lot of hard work into this program, and we’ve already had a lot of success. It would be hard to just turn our backs on that. We want to see this program be successful for many years to come.”

“…We took a good look at why we would want to go anywhere else to have success. The grass is not always greener. The reality is that we already have a great facility, we have a lot of young talent and we have a leader in Tom Jurich who is our No. 1 supporter and No. 1 fan.”

“It is always an anxious month leading up to the draft because every kid we sign has the ability to be drafted.  We are just hoping for all the right reasons that they want to come to college first.”

“We are two-and-a-half recruiting classes into building a program the way we’d like. We’ve had two full recruiting classes … and we’ve got several very talented young kids in our program. We are still going to be very young next year, but we’ll have a nice mix of guys with experience and new guys coming in.”

Under McDonnell, two straight trips to the NCAA tournament, including one to the College World Series and the Final Four. A strong foundation upon which to achieve greater things.

Still getting feedback about the recent Card Game fan poll in which we asked which team fans would like to be added to Big East Conference football. What was really surprising is that East Carolina dominated the voting. Their fans arrived in droves, apparently eager to ensure their collective voice was heard on an  issue which is important to them.

East Carolina may not have the name or a grandiose tradition, but the Pirates have an intensely loyal fan base.

A total of 1,326 people participated in the poll, East Carolina dominating with 63.1% of the vote. Central Florida was second at 20.9%, Memphis was third at 12.7%, and Villanova picked up only 3.2% of the votes cast. Since they participated in such numbers, we give a commenter named Chris the soapbox, with a little editing, as to why East Carolina should be the Big East choice:

Chris, on East Carolina:

East Carolina - Being located in a relatively weak market area, East Carolina doesn’t exactly have cash cow potential. On the other hand, they are very close to the Raleigh market and I see quite a bit of exposure all the way up the east coast to DC. If their fans are as spread out as I think they are, then they add fierce BE competition to the NC region while eventually catapulting their market to right size. The history is outstanding here as well. They have a great bowl history with a win in the peach bowl, and 11 or 12 wins overall. They also have played BCS-level competition for years , and have won against them. They hurt for a period due to a poor coach and AD situation, yet look to have bounced back even stronger. There are many more reasons why I’d like to add ECU to our conference, but those spell it out clearly. Good luck Pirates, I hope your future is bright.

Central Florida - Florida is a hot bed for recruits, yet already has the Big East presence needed for the market to be sold on the conference. USF is our new darling, and need not compete when we can expand to another state. UCF is a puppy in the D1 game, and needs years to push their program to where it can show consistency and history. They haven’t ever won a bowl game, and need to beat more BCS teams on a regular basis to prove eligible to enter a BCS conference.

Memphis - While having a stellar basketball program that can compete with the best, Memphis is lacking a BCS argument with its football team. The market is solid, and presents a great argument for a revenue dynamo in the conference. The big downside is the history behind the program. Having gone 3-2 in bowl games in its history against lackluster teams, Memphis is lacking a football team who knows how to compete. It’s obvious they have no consistency and pay much more attention to basketball than football.

The significance can’t be overstated: Bonds for the new downtown basketball arena for the University of Louisville will go up for sale in early July and close a couple of weeks later when $360 million in bonds have been claimed.

Total debt service for the project is estimated at $598.8 million over three decades. Now, those are some scary numbers, even for the most fanatical of U of L fans. Some day, however, the project will be seen as a bold, but shrewd investment in the city’s future.

This observer was one of those who favored constructing the new arena on or near the U of L campus, serving as a catalyst for further development of Belknap to include other campus facilities, including additional research buildings and dormitories for students. This will eventually occur because so many local  movers and shakers want it to happen.

The U of L Arena will be the most distinctive feature of the Louisville skyline, symbolizing just how much the university means to this community.

The crowd of 18,000 – the largest in college women’s basketball – that saw the Lady Cards challenge UConn last season was just a preview of things to come for University of Louisville women’s basketball.

Jeff Walz has a dynamite class of recruits joining Angel McCoughtry and some seasoned veterans next season. This program has already achieved under Walz and will only get better.

June 30th is the deadline to purchase season tickets for $50 each for next season. They will be going up after that, like everything else.

Buying women’s basketball tickets may well be the best option for some fans to gain entry into the new downtown basketball arena, scheduled to open in 2010.

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Ready for Football? – Not quite yet, thanks, but Frank Pos over at Hell In The Hall is trying to convince himself that he is. Take a couple of aspirins before you get his take on some of the recent influences on college football locally.

Clutching two tickets to the Final Four basketball tournament just two days before the action will begin in Dallas in 1986. Dad, Mom and Steve are going. Pack the bags, gas up the vehicle, attach the University of Louisville car flags. Friend in Dallas will loan us his apartment, stay with his girlfriend. Go, go, go.

Arrive a day later at Reunion Arena a few minutes before the first game, buy a third ticket for $20 from a guy near the entrance. Cards proceed to beat LSU in the semifinal. Buy another ticket from a disheartened LSU fan in the restroom. Three tickets again , we’re all in for the championship game.

Dad is separated from Mom and Junior during the game, closing his eyes a while during the final minute. Opening them, realizing U of L was going to beat Duke 72-69. The Cards do it, win their second national championship. Family takes a couple of victory laps, maybe more, through Reunion Arena, bump into UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian, and bribe a concessionaire for his 1986 NCAA branded apron.

We will drive back to Louisville same night. Stop at a Cracker Barrel to eat, exchange hugs with the Lady Birds as they are getting on their bus, turn the volume up on Queen’s “We Are The Champions” and hopefully ride on air all the way home.

A tire blows about 80 miles outside of Dallas in the middle of nowhere. It is pitch black. To get some light, have to burn the Dallas newspapers with all the NCAA coverage we are saving. Not a good decision. Texas is in the midst of a drought and there are reports of wild fires in numerous locations. But we have no choice. Fortunately, the burning newspapers don’t add to the crisis.

Have to use one of those “nubs” the automakers provide as spare tires, with warnings not to drive over 40 mph. Creeping through nowhere land in Arkansas in the wee hours of the morning looking for places that sell tires. At about 5 a.m. finally find an old garage with a used tire. Exhausted but still ecstatic.

Junior, 9, sleeping in the back seat through all the drama wakes up on the bridge leading into the home town of the Memphis Tigers. He’s sick, nauseous, has to throw up. The only container available is his brand new Easter basket half full of candy. He throws up, and throws up again, filling the basket the rest of the way.

He’s fine again in a few minutes, wanting to replace the Easter candy. Mom and dad are feeling good again, too. We have a good tire, we’re moving again, and we have just finished reading the stories of U of L’s second national championship in the Memphis newspapers.