By Tom Stosberg
Rumors abound that the Big East may be on shaky ground, but the University of Louisville’s athletic program may be in store for its best years ever.
Take a drive past really slick Jim Patterson Stadium, turn left on Central Avenue and cross the overpass. Be sure to take in that over-powering view of the expanded Papa John’s Stadium.
Then turn left on Floyd Street and head down to “the strip†that includes several of the finest, state-of- the-art college sports facilities in America – Ralph Wright Natatorium, Yum Center, Bass-Rudd Tennis Center, the Track & Soccer Stadium, Ulmer Stadium, Trager Stadium, then proceed about six more minutes to the north to see an extremely nifty new basketball palace.
If you have never taken this drive, you need to do that. Then consider the fact that many of the teams who play in those facilities have enjoyed remarkable success in the past two years — women’s basketball team finishing No. 2 in America, lacrosse, field hockey, men’s basketball, golf, tennis, volleyball and rowing teams winning Big East championships.
Whether local wags think so or not, I believe that several major athletic conferences would positively love to have U of L as a member, tomorrow afternoon or sooner.
And the biggest reason the big boys (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC) would be thrilled to have the Cards play in their league is the most basic of all — cold cash money.
Louisville has one of the most profitable revenue producing college athletic programs on the planet. It is well run and brilliantly accounted. The media loves them, especially ESPN. U of L alumni groups locally and across the nation are well organized and “travel well.â€
U of L fans have some very sunny days/years ahead. Please don’t let anyone tell you differently.
I’ll cue up the old R&B classic “Standing on Shaky Ground” while replying to Mr. Stosberg’s post.
Cardinal Athletics, while well funded and in the capable hands of Tom Jurich, would basically be in a Big East conference resembling C-USA if the “raiders of the BCS” start picking off conference members one by one. Although the damage to basketball would be minimal, replacing up to 3-4 football conference menbers withe the likes of Memphis, ECU, Central Florida and Marshall would be like pulling Wall, Cousins, Patterson and Bledsoe from the UK starting lineup and putting in four guys named Jon.
Oh, wait…they’re alrteady doing that.
And. it is football that is a main carrier of the conference flag.
Cardinal Athletics will always survive, don’t get me wrong…but if the football slate is wiped clean…Jurich is going to have to ride a lot of bucking broncos to get 40,000+ in the renovated PJCS.
No Central Arkansas, EKU or Indiana States…
The BCS needs to go. Quietly and eased into retirement. No playoff system for D1 football is ridiculous and can you imagine college hoops under that kind of structure…32 college basketball “showcases” and no March madness?
Cut the season to eleven games, keep the conference championship games if you wish, and let’s get a 16 team playoff system enacted.
And do it before, the Big East football lineup is Louisville, Cincinnati and six directional schools.
Or would that be fewer instead of less. I have never understood that one.
I concur, Tom. As we said in the darkest days of the Kragthorpe era, “In Jurich I Trust!”
Fewer, since you asked, LOL. Amount words (less, little, much) relate to quantities of things that are measured in bulk; number words to things that can be counted (few, fewer, many).
Go Cards!
That “things that can be counted” tripped up mty three-year-old daughter. She said somethng about “how much stars” she could see in the night sky, and when I said it should be :how many,” she replied: “But Daddy, you can’t count the stars! There are too many!”
ESPN loved us til Kragthorpe got here. How many football games did they broadcast his last two years? The answer is a whole lot less than games he won and that wasn’t very many.
Tom Stosberg, you have insider information that you have been sworn to secercy on, right? It killing you to have to keep it secert. I will be glad, when we all hear it! I agree that our best days are in front of us.