No surprise here, XL Center to get BIG EAST WBB Tourney for multi-year deal.

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

-XL Center gets the BIG EAST Women's Tournament

-UofL under water.

-UofL adds another Cardinal Caravan

The BIG EAST will announce Tuesday around 1 p.m. or so that the XL Center in Hartford, CT. will host the 2012 BIG EAST Women's basketball tournament in 2012 and beyond. A multi-year deal has been reached.


BIG EAST returns to the XL Center
for 2012 and beyond.



And this surprises you?

It's been there since 2004, after all. The parties involved were anxious to make a multi-year deal with someone, somewhere after the current contract expired. A venue that came up beside the XL Center were Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino, also in Connecticut. That one was shot down by a few university presidents...allegedly because of "philosophical reasons". Never mind that Mohegan Sun offered to supply their arena (where the WNBA's Connecticut Sun play) at no charge and also has thousands of free parking spots...unlike the gougers around the XL Center.

You can also rest assured that the XL didn't offer their facility "on the house" to BIG EAST officials. We must not allow BIG EAST Tournament attendees and fans the option of rolling a few dice or playing blackjack after watching 12 hours of basketball, after all.

Another idea, obviously popular amongst Louisville fans, was to hold the tournament at the KFC YUM! Center in downtown Louisville. That one had about as much chance making it past the folks in Providence, Villanova and Seton Hall as a Ford Escort has winning a NASCAR event. And, the fans just might find their way to Turfway Park or Churchill Downs simulcasting facility after the games...or the Horseshoe Casino in New Albany. But, to borrow a line from Judge Smells in the movie CADDYSHACK..."there is no gambling at Bushwood, sir". Or the BIG EAST Tournament either, apparantly. I wonder if Kentucky State Senator and gubernatorial candidate David Williams is behind this, somehow?

Someday they may move the tournament to another location.

(When pigs fly, monkeys jump out of my ears and John and George join Ringo and Paul on stage for a Beatles reunion.)

The Geno Invitational breathes again. UConn has a top women's basketball program year in and year out. Do they really need the BIG EAST Tournament in their back yard every year? I hear that there are pretty nice facilities and St. Louis, Detroit and Boston where people can play basketball. Isn't it time to try a neutral court?

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CARDINAL COUPLE reader Danny Smythe likes to ride his bicycle from Schnitzelburg to the UofL Belknap Campus each evening after work. He was greeted with a major surprise Monday evening when a huge water-main break flooded a large portion of the campus. As he describes it:

A major water-main break had this UofL parking lot
on Floyd submerged.

"Floyd and Warnock...down by the McDonalds restaurant...is a lake. I thought the Ralph Wright Natorium had sprung a leak at first. That area near the softball stadium on Floyd...same deal."

The pipe burst around 6:30 p.m. Monday evening, according to Metropolitan Sewer District workers, and has affected a wide swath of businesses in the area...even stretching to the downtown area of Louisville, where 100's of businesses had little or no water pressure.

A boil-water alert is in effect for Louisville Water Company customers in the areas west of Bardstown and Baxter roads, west to Ninth Street, north to the Ohio River and south to the Watterson Expressway.

Greg Heitzman, president of Louisville Water Company, said the break happened at a "T" section of two 48 inch pipes near Eastern Parkway. Officials were able to find the break minutes after it occurred and began shutting off the valves feeding the break. The last of three large valves was closed shortly after 9 p.m., but officials said it would take six to twelve more hours to turn off smaller valves feeding the break.

"It's a heck of a thing, reminds me of when the river flooded back in the spring of 1997 and River Road and Adams Street were underwater." Smythe recalled. "Took forever to clean that mess up and it'll be the same with this."
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The University of Louisville will have one additional CARDINAL CARAVAN...to be held at Captain's Quarters...off River Rd....on Thursday, Aug 18th.

No word on start time yet or which coaches or players will attend the event.

The venue has been a popular spot for the CARDINAL CARAVANS each year and a good turnout shows up each year.