Had an opportunity after church today to briefly chat with former U of L football player Chris Thieneman who received honorable mention on the 1988 Associated Press All America team and played two years each under coaches Bob Weber and Howard Schnellenger.

Without much prompting, Thieneman was eager to launch into an analysis of the challenges facing the current team, expressing the view that the coaching staff doesn’t seem to place too many demands on the players.

“You can’t be too nice to players; they don’t respond to it,” he said. “Bob Weber was a nice guy but he was ineffective. We hated Schnellenberger because of the way he treated us. But we went out there and laid it on the line for him every game.

“Bobby Petrino was despised but look what he did for the program.”

Thieneman, who is the owner of Thieneman Real Estate, Inc, a commercial property development company, and an investor in the Louisville Fire Arena League franchise, is also a major supporter of the U of L athletic program.

Had an opportunity after church today to briefly chat with former U of L football player Chris Thieneman who received honorable mention on the 1988 Associated Press All America team and played two years each under coaches Bob Weber and Howard Schnellenger.

Without much prompting, Thieneman was eager to launch into an analysis of the challenges facing the current team, expressing the view that the coaching staff doesn’t seem to place too many demands on the players.

“You can’t be too nice to players; they don’t respond to it,” he said. “Bob Weber was a nice guy but he was ineffective. We hated Schnellenberger because of the way he treated us. But we went out there and laid it on the line for him every game.

“Bobby Petrino was despised but look what he did for the program.”

Thieneman, who is the owner of Thieneman Real Estate, Inc, a commercial property development company, and an investor in the Louisville Fire Arena League franchise, is also a major supporter of the U of L athletic program.

Atmosphere is everything at a college football game. Even if you were blindfolded, you would know you were at a home University of Louisville game. Or so I thought until Friday’s game at Rentschler Field in Hartford. It was deja vu all over again.

To my surprise, UConn welcomes the Huskies to field with “O Fortuna,” the same anthem that we hear in Louisville. They also play the same kickoff music, and an identical version of the third down music. To top it off, the public address announcer had a similar version of Sean Moth’s “Card’s First Down” rallying cry. They even played ” We Ready.” I halfway expected the Huskies to start playing “R U Ready?” or “Red Reign” next.

Were the Huskies being copy cats, using the same music because it was so great at Papa John’s? I don’t think so. It wouldn’t surprise me if the same tunes are repeated at dozens of other college stadiums. I’ve heard bits and pieces while attending other college games and even at NFL games.

Many people couldn’t care less about the extracurricular stuff. But it bugs me. I was under the impression that these pieces were carefully selected to get U of L players fired up. If a team keeps hearing the same music and the same rallying cries for different teams at home and away, what’s so special about it?

U of L fans consider their program special and unique. The train whistle is great but the fans deserve better than a carbon copy approach to enhancing the atmosphere at local games.

The old Fairgrounds Stadium will be demolished in the near future if the Kentucky General Assembly gives its blessing for a new amphitheater on the site. Waiting on the legislators to approve anything in Louisville is always a cliffhanger, even if money has already been raised for the effort.

Lots of memories from that stadium. Our seats were positioned behind a post that literally obstructed our view of anything between the 40-yard lines. The roof reminded you that it was really just a converted baseball stadium, but it was a godsend on hot days or if it happened to be raining or snowing. The covered end of the stadium also made it hard on opposing quarterbacks, especially when they had their backs to the original Crunch Zone.

Remember, too, predicting to my eventual wife on our first date that U of L would do a fake punt in that game again Memphis in 1972. They faked and scored from about 59 yards out, a John Madeya pass play. She looked at me in awe. She was also impressed that we could get good seats. In those days, seats were plentiful and anybody could sit wherever they wanted. More points for me.

There were some memorable games there, too, including a 41-10 shellacking of the Texas Longhorns in 1993. Sitting behind some delirious fans that day were a mom and dad with two kids, all of them wearing Texas shirts. Kinda felt sorry for them. The last minute 30-28 win over Virginia in 1988 ranked right up there with the best, never heard it so loud at Fairgrounds Stadium. The win over West Virginia, 9-7, was a thrill as well. A 26-14 victory over Illinois would be our only win in Cooper’s last year in 1997, a 1-10 season, so we savored that one.

That’s where our program came from. Our roots, we should not forget them. People who endured those years should be considered charter fans. Schnellenberger came along and inspired them to raise their expectations. They made possible what we all enjoy today, one great football stadium.

One would hope the Fairgrounds Stadium officials will make it possible for fans to acquire the old chair seats from the place. From those seats, we could never have imagined just how far the program could have advanced in a few short years in a new venue. We enjoyed the view, though, even if was partially obstructed.

My wife says if we got one of the chairs, it would go behind the post in the basement.

The emergence of South Florida among the top five in the latest polls provides further evidence of refreshing change in the college football world. The No. 2 Bulls present a football program that didn’t even exist 13 years ago.

Wonder how the old guard is taking this? A huge segment of fans, writers and coaches has a problem accepting change. Their collective idea of college football power is limited to such programs as Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, etc.

Louisville began to change those perceptions last year en route to an Orange Bowl win, unfortunately passing the mantle to South Florida this season. No time to think about what could have been. While it’s hard to admit, U of L fans knew in their guts that Petrino’s departure meant it would take just a while longer to realize Schnellenberger’s vision.

One game at a time, and nobody is looking past UConn or Pittsburgh, but one has to consider the possibilities when the Cards meet South Florida in three weeks, especially if the Bulls survive Rutgers this Thursday. All eyes will be on Tampa, the Bulls and the Cards.