All Entries Tagged With: "Football"

Rutgers Wants Fans To Believe Louisville A Threat

The regular season of college football should be over by now for the University of Louisville but this challenging season is being extended with what almost amounts to an after-thought against Rutgers on Thursday. Or as some fans might view it, still another dagger into a corpse of a season.

One good thing about the late date of the game is that U of L gets a few more practice sessions – not as many as bowl-bound teams will, but every practice counts for a program in the process of reestablishing its competitive self.

Not much news coming from the Schnellenberger Football Complex in recent days, not even the predictable “sending the seniors out of a winning note,” probably because that’s what was said prior to the West Virginia debacle.

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Rutgers is doing its part to enhance the image of Louisville football, conjuring up images of a powerful foe coming to town. Senior defensive end Jamaal Westerman appears to have convinced himself that the Cards are a viable threat:

“You think about it a little bit, but the biggest thing is this is a one-game season for us and that’s what’s been working for Rutgers and for us this year. So we’re really trying to focus on this as one individual game and not really think past it or what came before it.”

Louisville (5-6, 1-5) comes into Piscataway riding a four-game losing streak and needing a victory to become bowl eligible.

“If you look past Louisville, they will beat you,” Westerman said. “They will come in here and they will beat you.”

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The best advice for Westerman and his Rugers’ teammates would be to remember how much better the Scarlet Knights have played than Louisville this season. You’ve watched the Cards on TV, reviewed the game films, read the scouting reports, seen the extensive injury list. Your biggest concern is where and when you will next play in a post-season bowl. If ever there was a game in which you could afford to be overconfident, this is that game.

One More Test Of Louisville Football Loyalty

Before anyone else gets the urge to call, the observer doesn’t want or need any more tickets to the Louisville-West Virginia football game. Season ticket holder here for 40 years. Two tickets are all we need, but thanks.

People giving up tickets is not good. Twice today, individuals have offered them. Gonna be too cold, they say, adding something to the effect that the Cards will get creamed. The encouraging part is they said they want the tickets to be used and will offer them to someone else. That would be a positive thing.

The Louisville football team could very well “get creamed” on Saturday. But even more embarrassing would be an excess of empty seats belonging to people claiming to be ardent UofL fans. The ultimate test of loyalty is a game in which the Cards are sure underdogs, with a coach under fire, with a losing season looming for the first time in over a decade, and with temperatures in the low forties.

People who will show up for game under these conditions are the diehards. Their affinity for the university extends beyond personalities, temporary setbacks, and controversy. A game actually provides relief from the arguments about who did what, for whom, why, who’s right, who’s wrong, who’s smart, who’s dumb and what will happen during the off season. They are more than diehards, they are the foundation, the people you know you can count on whatever the future holds for Louisville football.

They are well aware that this team has nothing to lose. Nothing to lose, unless you count the 22 seniors who will be playing in their final Louisville football game at home. The Cards have compiled a 32-15 record during their time here, including an Orange Bowl win and a Gator Bowl appearance. And, yes, they know the young men will be playing their hearts out for them.

Plus, it’s the last college football game in Louisville for another 10 months. Basketball can help fill the sports vacuum but it’s not football. Plenty of reasons to put those football tickets to good use.

Game Watching For Shawn Bowen

Come on down to the BBC in St. Matthews to watch the University of Louisville square off against Pittsburgh in football from Noon till 3:30 today and help raise funds to help defray Shawn Bowen’s medical expenses. Shawn is the 5-year-old son of Justin “Jerb” Bowen, the video wizard who provides so many highlights of U of L sports.

The event will go all day, with the BBC donating part of the proceeds to the cause. All day also includes a game watching event for the Basketball Cards in their exhibition against Northern Kentucky University tonight, starting at 8 p.m.

More details at Hell In The Hall, and you can bid online for silent auction items at Inside The Ville.

Hostile Fans, Angry Coach and a Wannstedt

Rarely in its history has the University of Louisville football team dominated another team like its has Pittsburgh. The Cards have won seven straight games over the Panthers since 1983, owning a 7-4 advantage in the series, including three Big East Conference wins.

Card fans can take little comfort, however. Pittsburgh was impressive in a four overtime 36-33 win over Notre Dame last week. The Panthers are well aware of recent history between the schools, eager to take advantage of a team unable to handle lowly Syracuse.

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– A young U of L team may have been riding too high after a surprising win over South Florida, thinking they had arrived and could just show up and win. It happens to teams all the time. But for hostile fans trying to find a reason to excuse the coaching staff for previous disappointments, it was the equivalent of a backstabbing.

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– Coach Steve Kragthorpe hardly ever ventures off the optimistic path, but he has been seething this week:

“Nobody’s happy around here. I’m not happy. I’m as upset as I’ve ever been. I’m sick to my stomach that we lost that football game.”

“In terms of where we’re at as a program, I’m disappointed, I’m upset, I’m pissed off that we lost. But I’m not going to let it affect my preparation for Pittsburgh.”

One angry football coach. That makes it unanimous. Now everybody is mad.

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– Tom Heiser, who does the Courier-Journal blog, is not that optimistic but somehow manages to anticipate a Louisville win:

The prospects for the final four games are about as muddy as the Heinz Field turf. Let’s be honest: if the program has now become Syracuse’s silver lining, no game (home or away) can be considered favorable for victory. The momentum of a three-game winning streak, a 5-2 record and the upset of South Florida have vanished … I think U of L has a good chance to rebound and pull out a win — in essence, pretend last week never happened.”

It takes a dedicated fan to feel that way. Nice to know there is at least one with CJ connections.

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– Mike Rutherford at Card Chronicle points out “Looking for a reason to believe that has nothing to do with your team? Pitt, now ranked 25th, is 0-3 in home games when nationally ranked under Dave Wannstedt.”

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– By the way, the Fire Dave Wannstedt domain is for sale after his team managed to defeat Notre Dame 36-33 in four overtimes last week. Could a Panther fan be having second thoughts? Don’t count on it if the Panthers lose another game to U of L.

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– Roll Tide Bama apparently believes Wannstedt is the key to the game:

As bad as Louisville has been, you have to think that anytime something good happens for Dave Wannstedt, something bad can’t be far behind. Something like an upset loss to Louisville, perhaps? Louisville 21 Pittsburgh 14.

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– Win or lose, you’ll be surrounded by a lot of U of L fans Saturday at a fund raising event for Shawn Bowen at the BBC in St. Matthews. Shawn is the five-year-old son of Justin Bowen, better known as “Jerb” for his video capabilities.

All proceeds from this event, as well as a golf scramble tomorrow, will go help offset the family’s medical expenses. There will be numerous items availble in a silent auction and probably a few surprises. Hats off to Frankpos for organizing the event, which starts at 11:30 a.m. See you there.

Giving Birth To Tailgating

Bill Olsen popped out of retirement briefly to give this observer a call a few days after reading some recollections on his tenure at the University of Louisville. We talked about several things that Bill was involved with, some of which will be shared in future blog entries.

His primary challenge in the eighties was football because the basketball program was at its zenith, having captured national championships in 1980 and 1986. When he became AD in1980,  football tickets sold for $3 each. Attendance was about 15,000 per game.  He made it his goal to ramp up the football program in a big way at U of L.

“The only games we ever made money were those against Western Kentucky, and we didn’t play them every year,” he says. “We were facing some significant challenges.”

He recalls that Tommy Carroll, former president of the University of Louisville Associates, conceived the idea of tailgating before he arrived. A marketing committee was created by Charlie Herd, of the Chamber of Commerce.  Among the members were Maury Buchart, then Vice President of Marketing at the Courier-Journal, Bob Goetz, also of the CJ, and Mike Brown, of Pepsi.

“The marketing committee suggested that we start promoting the tailgating concept, making them social events as well,” said Olsen. “Many other schools were doing it but we had just never done it.”

The committee urged Chamber businesses to get involved. Among them was WHAS Radio, which promoted the concept of 84-for-84 (840 is station channel). Wayne Perkey, Milton Metz and other station celebrities manned a tailgating area, selling sandwiches and cold drinks for 84 cents. U of L also encouraged the cheerleaders and Lady Birds to mingle with crowd and got the band to march through the crowd around old Fairgrounds Stadium. Many groups of friends and families quickly gravitated to the idea of food fests, and it ballooned from there.

“We also put up billboards,” he says. “The images on the first billboard consisted only of a leaf falling on a football. The theme was ‘Six Super Saturdays.’ We stayed away from the inferior product on the field and focused on the atmosphere surrounding the game.”

“Tailgating just continued to grow. People loved it. Some of them enjoyed it so much they never went into the stadium for the game. We became one of the best tailgating schools in the country.”

Oh, and football attendance had grown to between 28,000 - 30,000 in the years before Olsen retired in 1997.

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U of L also ran with an idea suggested by Charlie Herd, the “Kids & Cops” promotion with Pepsi’s backing, with the police passing out trading cards with pictures of the football players. The program promoted U of L football while also building good will between the police and children and youth around the city.

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Maury Buchart, mentioned above, also was the person who introduced the cabooses that line the back of Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. The cabooses lease for about $10,000 a year for tailgating purposes. Some of them are available for rent for private parties. This observer celebrated a milestone birthday party there (the best ever) a few years ago and the cost then was $300 for the night.