Saturday Cardinal Couple

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-E-Po headed to Olympics


-that's our boy...


-Goodbye ESPN, hello Fox? 

Walz campers chasing after Erin Andrews
to the Fox Sports Network. (Photo by Jenny O Bryan)

UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE swimmer Eszter Povazsay (whom we will refer to as E-Po for the rest of her time at UofL) has been name to the Hungary Olympic swimming team. 


This is huge. 


Competing in a once every four year worldwide sporting conclave. Going against the very best, with a chance to stand on the platform, have a medal hug around your shoulders and hear your national anthem if you have the gold around your neck. 

Think about that. How would you react? Tears? A big, goofy grin? Or head bowed and fist in the air like the sprinters did in 1968 in Mexico City?


She's one of four Cards from the swimming teams that is going to be in the summer games...Joao De Luca, Carlos Almeida and Pedro Oliveira from the men's team also swimming in London. 


She won the BIG EAST Championship this year in the 100-backstroke. 

How great would it be to see a UofL Cardinal standing on the winners stand? Get 'em  E-Po. Bring the gold back to the Ville. Or Hungary.


Have any UofL athletes ever won a gold medal? If so, who were they an what event was it in? 


Think you know the answer? Leave it in the comments section or e-mail it to us at:


 cardinalcouple@insightbb.com




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If we've told you once, we've told you 1000 times...Brian Hernandez, Jr. is the most underrated, best performing jockey at Churchill Downs over the last several years.


We went to night racing Friday, a scorcher of a late afternoon still at 5:30 p.m. when we arrived. Fortunately, there are areas at Churchill where the air is cold, the seats are comfy and we headed there immediately. With us was Tommy Boy, our Director of Wagering and Nonsense at CARDINAL COUPLE. 

Talking nonsense with Tommy Boy

Churchill Downs had 11 races last night. Brian rode in nine of them. He won three of them and came in second five times. If you had put $2 across the board (win, place and show) on Brian in each race he rode in, your total outlay would have been $54 dollars. Your return on investment would have been $196.


I got a little more heavily invested in him than $6 per race. Thank you, Brian.


Not bad, eh?


Two days to go before the live meet ends. Both post times are 6:30 p.m. 

Dave, Dan, Sonja and Tommy Boy

The "What was I thinking?" award of the meet has to go to jockey Shane Sellers for his performance in the ninth race last night. Ahead by five lengths in the stretch and looking seemingly uncatchable...Sellers decides to go with a right handed whip. The horse responds by crashing thru the temporary rail on the turf course and did not finish the race. 


Wouldn't want to have explained that brilliant strategic
move to the owners and trainer. He gets a "Gibbs slap" to the back of the head from all of us. 


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Erin Andrews has left ESPN. The word is that Fox Sports is after her. 


ESPN, you blew this one. They claim they made " an
aggressive offer" to keep her. They should have offered to rename the network "Erin Sports Predominantly Network". 



Things change. WE realize that. But letting the "face" of sideline reporters get away from you and most likely end up at your rival...well, it's like giving Mickey Mantle an automatic walk so you can pitch to Roger Maris. 


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Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Lacrosse adds nine.

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Lacrosse adds nine student-athletes for 2012-13 season


-Downs after Dark: June 16th report

Coach Kellie Young

Kellie Young is the only head lacrosse coach that the University of Louisville program has ever had. She enters her sixth season...coming in from James Madison University and building the Louisville program from scratch. 


Nine student-athletes will join the program as freshmen this fall. A look at the list shows the east coast remains an area that Louisville is still targeting...with two newcomers from Maryland, two from New York, and one each from Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ontario. No local area players are a part of the incoming class and the UofL lacrosse rosters shows no local players from the Louisville area. Currently, 12 high schools in the metro area offer women's lacrosse as a team sport. 

Boltja's back

Young was 43-24 in her first four years as Louisville's head coach before undergoing a rebuilding season last year and finishing 3-12. The Cards do return leading scorer junior Nikki Boltja and defender Monica Negron...both were second team Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association All-West/Midwest Region team selections.  


"The class of 2012 features an outstanding group of young women. They have given great thought to choosing Louisville and are passionate about representing our University and our Athletic Department at the highest level in the classroom, on the field and in life. Driven to be the best on and off the field, their talent and work ethic are bound to propel this program forward."  -- Coach Young, on the incoming freshmen. 

The Cards look to improve over a disappointing season where they went 0-5 at home and lost 9 out of their last ten games. We expect to see a return to the winning ways of Louisville Lacrosse this year and a return to the BIG EAST Conference Tournament. 2009 was Louisville last apperance in post-season play. 


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Churchill Downs ran the Stephen Foster Day racing card under the lights for the first time Saturday. A late decision to attend got us out there shortly before the third race and we changed up our normal track-visit routine....spending several hours "down on the bricks" mingling with the party-goers and would-be handicappers. 

Things were getting active and the paddock area was packed when we arrived. Night racing definitely brings  a younger crowd than usual at the Downs...not sure if they fully understood the significance and quality of the race card tonight, but they were having a grand time. 


Paul got us off to a great start in the fourth race by insisting that Brian Hernandez, Jr. would win the mile and sixteeth turf event. He's that way about Brian on the turf. He wouldn't tell me how much he bet on him until after the race...when he showed me the ticket. Risky stuff...but Twist of Silver and Brian did not disappoint, beating the field at odds of 22-1.

That definitely paid for the rest of the evening. 


There were four huge stakes races tonight: The Matt Winn, The Regret, the Fleur de Lis Handicap and the Stephan Foster Handicap. I'd like to tell you we did well in all of them, but....alas, we did not. Only Royal Delta, in the Fleur De Lis gave us a cashable ticket and it wasn't much. 


The evening did end on a good note, though when he and I invested $12 in a final race .10 cent superfecta  and got back $187 for our picks.

 Also, a very nasty spill in the 9th race of the evening in the stretch...three horses and jockeys involved. Johnny Velazquez was taken to Audubon Hospital for observation. Hate to see that stuff happen. Even more 
frustration when one of the horses was our selection and looked to be going for the lead when the mishap occurred. Mr. Producer, the Johnny V. mount that stumbled and fell was euthanized on the track. The other two horses lost their jockeys but returned to the barns under their own power. John McKee and Manny Cruz, the other two jockeys involved walked off the track with no assistance needed.


WE left after the final race but things were still thumping with the D.J. and crowd when we left. A great night for it and leaving with money in your pocket is always good...


Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there today! Whether it's a cookout, day of rest or gathering with family...enjoy it, guys. 


Sonja
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Memorial Day

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Memorial Day Tribute


-McCoughtry strikes again


-Fever dispose of Dream 78-62






WE GIVE YOU THIS TOUCHING VIDEO AS WE CELEBRATE 2012 MEMORIAL DAY.  IT IS A CELEBRATION...A CELEBRATION OF THOSE WHO HAVE DEFENDED AND STILL DEFEND OUR NATION. THE LIVES LOST AND FAMILIES AFFECTED BY OUR EFFORTS TO KEEP AMERICA AS "THE LAND OF THE FREE AND HOME OF THE BRAVE" SHOULD NEVER BE FORGOTTEN. 


THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN OUR NATION'S ARMED FORCES. 


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We recently ran an article about A. McCoughtry winning at Belmont Race Track. Yesterday, at Churchill Downs, McCoughtry entered the gate for the sixth race at Churchill at odds of 34-1. A definitive longshot, she broke from the gate  in mid-pack, stayed in touch with the leading horses and when asked by jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr....responded by moving to second place....where she finished. Although she was two lengths back of the winner, Dad's Shooting Star...McCoughtry rewarded backers by paying $18.40 to place and $9.80 to show. This "McCoughtry" wasn't a Rick Pitino owned entry. He might investigate into trying to buy her, though...knowing Rick.  


A. McCoughtry, McCoughtry, Fly Angel Fly, Angel's Dream...just several of the horses out there that have been named for or refer to #35. 


And, they've been having some success lately.


A $2 exacta box on McCoughtry, favorite and race winner Dad's Shooting Star and Why Izzy Why with track hero Calvin Borel on board cost $12. The payout yesterday was $102.00. Not a bad return on investment. 


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The human Angel and the Atlanta Dream finished second yesterday too. Indiana beat them for the second time this season, this time at Atlanta, 78-62. 

Angel scored 21 points and suffered a strained muscle in her left leg during the second quarter. It was right about the time that the Fever were making a 16-2 run to take the lead -- a lead they wouldn't relinquish the rest of the game. 

Indiana used double and triple teams on McCoughtry to slow the Dream offensive attack down. That, and Angel's injury proved effective for the Fever. 


Tamika Catchings, who...it seems like...has been in the WNBA for 30 years...led the Fever in scoring.  


A lack of punch from the Atlanta bench -outscored 26-2 by Indiana - helped give the Dream their second loss of the season. Plenty of time left in the season...but the Dream and the Fever face six times this year. Not a good thing.  
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