Serious Louisville and Kentucky fans have one thing on their minds today.
The U of L-UK football game is a huge deal, even though most analysts concur UK will never be a football power and it could be a while before U of L becomes a national contender again. And few people outside the Commonwealth, except for Big East and Southeastern conference fans, pay little attention to the football rivalry.
The game of the year for both teams for many more reasons than can be cited here. Just a few of them:
- UK fans are concerned that Charlie Strong will restore the Louisville football program to the level it enjoyed under Bobby Petrino. UK fans are also concerned that under Joker Phillips, their own program won’t be making it back to Nashville bowl games.
- U of L and UK fans have to tolerate one another every day, especially in Louisville. People who agree on everything else are unable to discuss rivalry without getting into arguments and turf battles. Many a social occasion has been spoiled by insensitivity and petty bickering
- For decades, the University of Kentucky and its fans did their best to pretend the University of Louisville did not exist, refused to even consider scheduling U of L in football or basketball. The Kentucky General Assembly had to pass legislation forcing UK into the series.
- U of L and Louisville often get short shrift in Frankfort, where the state capital is dominated by blue fanatics. UK legislators, led by Larry Clark from Louisville, attempted to force an undesirable location for the new basketball arena. They also caused the delay of the expansion of Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. For no good reason. Just because they could.
- UK fans refused for many years after the series began to admit that Louisville was a rival, much less an arch rival. Now they openly admit that U of L is a bitter rival, the school they hate the most. One UK web site, run by Matt Jones, a Louisville ambulance chaser, even declared a “Hate Louisville Day” earlier this week.
- The world of the UK fan was turned upside down when Louisville defeated the Lexington football team four consecutive seasons. A typical response was that they cared more about basketball anyway. Of course, U of L fans are now reeling from three straight losses to a mediocre SEC team.
- For most U of L and UK fans, their favorite team is their own and whoever is playing the other rival team. They get just as much joy out of the other team losing as their own team winning.
- Whoever wins this game gets a jump on recruiting in a state where blue chip football players are rare. The inability of Steve Kragthorpe to recruit in his own city gave Lexington a major “in” with the best Louisville high school players, many now lining up on the other side of the line from U of L.
- UK in recent years has become a basketball recruiting mecca again with a coach U of L fans consider less than savory. U of L hired former UK idol Rick Pitino after he left the professional ranks. They will never forgive him for that.
- Kentucky fans, for the most part, have relatively few diversions, making their university a primary focus of their lives. The UK logo is plastered everywhere from their personal cavities to the roofs of their barns. They’re unable to tolerate anyone or anything who doesn’t feel the same way about their school. Louisville fans, meanwhile, see only blue when they think about Kentucky, and their fondest hope is that UK goes away.
38 rushing yards…34 passing yards…..this is first HALF stats…not first possession stats. So disappointing. What was Louisville doing in practice??? Didn’t they prepare for UK????? wow…the coaching staff should be fired. This is COLLEGE Football…not pop warner….if this is the result of the practice, then something was going very very wrong. St.X could’ve done as well.
Charlie (Springer, not Strong)…I hate to say it, but we look PATHETIC. UK is moving the ball at will…we muster two field goals in the first half…we’re running off-tackle running plays for 2 yard losses….we run a Wildcat formation — ??? …UK’s LINEBACKERS are tackling our RB in the the backfield. Our defense looks like high school players. This could get VERY UGLY in the second half!!! I hope not! 20-6..OUCH. I’m reminded that I cautioned anointing Charlie Strong as the best U of L coach — I said I liked Petrino….I still do….until Strong shows me something. If this first half is things to come, we better start looking for a new coach. It’s only the first half into a long season — but we look very very very very bad. I thought Strong would have more — this is Kragthorpe football!! Let’s just hope we don’t get embarrassed in the second half. We are awful right now. I hope we make changes and come back to win this game!!! Go Cards…you’re better than this!!!!…I think??
Everyone needs to put your red and black flags up… seen way to many blue flags
Did you refer to Louisville as football powerhouse? That was a good one !
Must have missed that reference.
I hear Barack Obama, George W. Bush, the CIA, Al Qaeda, the New York Stock Exchange, PETA, MADD, and Jesus are all working against Louisville behind the scenes as well, and just the entire KY state government.
Thanks for reminding me that both sides really do have some wingnuts pulling for them, and thanks for making me laugh, even if it wasn’t the way you intended to.
Oops… I meant to say ‘…and NOT just the entire KY state government.’
And whose shrine is in your bedroom, ZL — Rupp? Calamari? Bear Bryant?
It’s common knowledge in political circles that David Williams and Larry Clark didn’t want to take a vote on the expansion of PJCS because if so-called “other pressing matters.” After realizing they had erred in not presenting this to their fellow criminals in state government (even though it was one of the first things on the agenda) they quickly adjourned the session. This simple act cost UL an additional 10 to 15 million dollars. Williams and Clark knew this because no state money was used in the construction of expansion. Their political blindness to UL is obvious.
When the city of Louisville was wanting to build the downtown arena, guess who was against it? If you didn’t say Larry Clark and David Williams, you’re a yewahkay fan.
Now Williams and Richie Farmer are running for Gov./Lt. Gov. I’m going to laugh my ass of when these 2 bozos get trounced in the elections next year. Williams has consistently kept this state in the dark ages. While he takes money from the gambling boat operators in Indiana, he’ll eventually bankrupt this state’s horse racing industry.
CardRon: You are right about Larry Clark and David Williams on the football stadium expansion. However, on the arena issue, Clark was trying to force the project to the water company block which the city and U of L didn’t want and could have killed the project. David Williams made certain that the project was okayed for the riverfront site and that made it possible to go ahead and build.
Clark has always done everything possible to make it difficult for U of L to get anything done.
I made a point at the groundbreaking for the arena to thank Williams personally for his position.
No offense Evan, but Williams was against the riverfront location. What changed his mind was Ernie Fletcher. Ernie, a UK grad, showed no bias in wanting an arena for downtown Louisville (even though I, for one, would have liked it built on campus. But hey, it’s almost done, let’s see what happens). This was before the good ol’ boy network kicked into high gear and basically doomed him to fail in his re-election bid. Frankfort is as crooked as they come. I don’t trust anything that comes out of their mouths. Unless something gets done or built, it’s all lip service to me. David Williams is a horse’s ass. Plain and simple. Him and people like him do not want this state to move forward and get with the 21st century. He’s somewhere near the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th.
This rivalry is second to none as far as animosity goes. Many hours of my senior year of high school were dedicated to verbal battles about who was better, the Cards or the kitties.