Soggy Saturday sets softball back to a 1:30 p.m.start

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SATURDAY @ the COUPLE:



Almost 3 inches of rain in the
last 16 hours in Louisville and
more expected today will
delay the Cards on the diamond



-Softball threatened by rain

-We review the Derby Classic

-Sonja's first look at the Derby contenders

Today's softball games have been moved back to a 1:30 p.m. start and they'll try to get both in against Providence today. (This updated from Lori Korte, assistant S.I.D. at Louisville. )

Buckets of rain, thunder and lightning and more forecast for Saturday here in Louisville...it's been a soggy spring and even though they cover the field at Ulmer...lightning in the area not a great combination with aluminum bats...
Providence is scheduled to fly back home early Sunday morning, so they'll try to eventually get both contests in at Ulmer today. Where's that retractable dome when you need it?

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Louisville fan excited about getting Cardinal post player
Gorgui Dieng's autograph. Dieng (in grey t-shirt) signs for a mass of
appreciative fans during the Derby Classic

About 10,000 fans attended the Derby Classic Basketball shootout at KFC YUM Center Friday Night...most of them seeming to arrive right at tip off. They were treated to a high scoring, slam dunking and
three point fiesta from the high school stars. The Gold Team came back from a double digit deficit to win 126-122 over the UofL stacked White team.

Teams get ready to tip it up in the Derby Classic

Gotta like all three future Cardinals that prowled the paint in the KFC YUM center. 6'8" small forward Angel Nunez had a great game for the White team and showed his abilities to run the court, go inside and create and take the long range bomber. Cardinal fans are going to love his intensity and hustle. Chane Behanan, a 6'7" powerhouse showed his inside skills and will be a solid addition to the guys who prowl the paint on Rick Pitino's squad. Give him a little conditioning and technique work and he'll be a monster. Zach Price, 6'11" tall and lanky lean mixed it up all night against Cody Zeller and the other Gold team front line guys. He'll get valuable back up minutes as an understudy to Terrance Jennings and Gorgui Dieng next season and he won't back down to either of them.

Cardinal Sports Report favorite Howie Lindsey took care the pre-game introductions and half-time three point and slam dunk public address duties. He did a very good job, we never knew he had that talent. Sean Moth has nothing to worry about in job security...but 'the Howitzer' handled the microphone with confidence and the proper amount of home-town deference to the future Cardinals. WE miss the old "lights flashing, spotlight showing" introductions of years past...new arena, new traditions...we're guessing. They didn't utilize the player point total boards that are in the corners of the KFC YUM either...and that's something they definitely need to work into next year's game. Along with a girls' game. Get cracking KDF!!

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It's time to start doing some handicapping for the upcoming Run for the Roses. I'll admit that I've haven't been following things too closely this spring with work and all. My time here on CARDINAL COUPLE has been almost non-existent as well. I'm still here, though. 

I am looking pretty closely at four horses right now and I'll share them with you. 

1) UNCLE MO. I'm going to draw a line through his last race in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct because he wasn't feeling good that day. Intestinal tract difficulties definitely affect a horse's running performance. He's perked up considerably since returning to Churchill Downs and has proven in every other race in his career that he's a capable winner. 

2) PANTS ON FIRE. Beside me loving the name, the horse won the Louisiana Derby over a nice and talented field. Rosie Napravnik knows how to get the best out of the front runner and if she can get a uncontested lead when the horses hit the Churchill stretch, she and PANTS ON FIRE may be tough to catch.

3) NEHRO. If there is a horse that can haul in the front runners, it is definitely NEHRO. His all-out charge in the Arkansas Derby is quite impressive and he almost caught the tiring ARCHARCHARCH.
The extra distance will be in his favor. So is the training of Steve Asmussen. Given a clear trip down the Churchill long and demanding stretch, I expect this one to be gobbling up all of them in front of him.

Stay Thirsty romped the field in New York.
Didn't care so much for Florida. Seems to
be enjoying Churchill Downs.

4) STAY THIRSTY. Another one that I'll give an excuse for in his last effort. He never seemed comfortable on the Gulfstream track and I'm remembering how he slaughtered the field in the Gotham Stakes in New York before that. Todd Pletcher knows how to get them ready and STAY THIRSTY seems very happy to be on the Churchill Downs premises. A key might be on who Pletcher gets to ride STAY THIRSTY. Calvin Borel hasn't been announced on a horse yet and Calvin knows Churchill better than any of them.

OK, there they are!  Please keep in mind that many things can happen between now and the first Saturday in May and these preliminary top four might change. I'll watch the Coolmore Stakes at Keeneland today and see if anything comes out of that Derby prep race that warrants attention.
I'll also watch the horses as they work out at Churchill these next two weeks and see if  any of them look like the incredible, shining,  full of himself Alysheba in the days that led up to the 1987 Derby. That winner looked so powerful, so strong in the final days leading up to the race that I felt he would destroy the competition. He did.

(SONJA'S SELECTIONS are for entertainment purposes only and if you wager on horse racing, please do so responsibly...)
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Lacrosse falls to Georgetown 17-13

Shouldn't wearing a jacket like this get you a free bowl of burgoo? It's Kentucky Derby Festival time again in Louisville. Abandon all hope ye who enter here.

It was a perfect afternoon for the lacrosse match between Louisville and #14 Georgetown on Sunday but the results weren't exactly what the Louisville lacrosse team wanted to acheive. The Cards started out slowly against the Hoyas and found themselves on the short end of a 15-6 score at the end of the first half.

Louisville coach Kellie Young knew that the defense had to pick it up if Louisville was going to get back in the contest and they did respond in the final half...holding the Hoyas to just two goals...but Louisville couldn't get enough shots in the net to catch the Georgetown team at the end.

Liz Lovejoy led the Cards with five goals and Katie Oliverio dished out five assists.

Louisville continues the home stand Saturday against Jacksonville. Game time is 1 p.m.

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Cardinal women's tennis wrapped up the regular season on the road against Miami, OH. and brought back a 5-2 win against the Redhawks. Mandy Brown won in both singles and doubles matches for Louisville, who evened their record to 10-10. The tennis team is idle until April 22nd. They'll travel to South Bend to participate in the Big East Championships.

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With the recent low attendance at the Derby Classic and Night of the Future Stars...events held this weekend for high school boys basketball...isn't it time to include the best senior high school girls in the area and around the nation in the event?

This debate surfaced again as several friends, Sonja and I sat with the 6200 Saturday night and watched the action in Freedom Hall. It's the lowest amount of people I've seen at the game and we've been going since the inception. The talent level was slightly down from past years..but there were still 3 Cardinal signees, 1 UK signee, and 1 IU signee playing. The UofL fans turnout was particulary disappointing. I attended the Night of the Future Stars Friday, and there were plenty of empty seats for the slam dunk, two on two and three point shooting contests over at Bellarmine.

With the low attendance for both events as a lead-in, we discussed and debated another question that surfaced about holding the Friday night event at Bellarmine University's cozy but antiquated Knights Gym instead of Cardinal Arena or the Yum Center. Bellarmine hasn't had a participant in this event as far back as I can remember...but each year they play the Friday night contests in a place with poor accoustics. You could not understand one word of the player introductions...being hyped up by a local radio station rap DJ. No problem with the revved up, hip hop player intros, mind you...but they should at least give the emcee decent accoustics so it's enjoyable and not nerve grating.

With the advent of the downtown SONJA arena, it is high time to get the girls involved in this thing. The committe also needs to lower ticket prices (preferred seating at $17 for this thing is too high for what you're receiving) and make the Friday night events free for all, instead of having to have a ticket for the Saturday night game to gain admittance on Friday. Especially in a tough economy...where the idea is to make this affordable and attended instead of holding the gun to the potential consumers' head. Group pricing, senior citizen discounts...c'mon use a little imagination here.

Getting people in to watch the Friday night festivities free just might spur them to purchase a Saturday seat, especially if you've got the girls from around the area involved in the two on two and three point contests. Attendance for Louisville, Kentucky, Northern Ky and Bellarmine women's basketball has never been higher and the McDonald's All-Star classic did the smart thing and involved the girls several years ago.

Of course...we are dealing with the Kentucky Derby Festival Committee here. New and exciting ideas are like castor oil to this bunch. At least they toned down the gaudy and garish colors of the "official Ky. Derby Festival sports coat" this year. Still think they look like a bunch of misplaced fraternal lodge convention attendees. Much is made of the countless hours of hard work that festival organizers put in each year for the Derby activities...so, in return...they have to dress like lounge singers when they make appereances at these events? Do they really need the attention that badly? Being snobby and aristocratic is one thing (and a manuever they've got down to a "t")...but looking foolish while doing it...it just makes you wonder. Derby Festival should rightly be a time for Louisville to showcase the activities surrounding Derby...not the time for a bizarre fashion show by pompous promoters of the annual event. Get matching polo shirts or maybe a logo on white dress shirt...gang.

OK, Monday Morning Arm Chair Quarterback endeth...Go in peace and be nice out there today.

Written by Paul (who isn't wearing a Derby Festival jacket and never will.)
4/12/10

Future Lady Card shines in All-Star game.

(Another smaller person whose powers were greatly underestimated. Go get 'em, Polly)

One of the areas where the University of Louisville women's basketball team had difficulties this past season was finding a scorer to augment Monique Reid's efforts. A combination of injuries and inexperience hobbled the Cards at times in offensive execution. If incoming freshman Polly Harrington's performance in the
Midwest All-Star Classic is any indication of the future, Louisville has at least one player on the way that will help solve that problem.

Harrington was named co-MVP of the game and contributed 18 points for the West Squad.
Harrington, a 6'0" power forward from Kansas City, may seem smallish for the position but plays a lot taller than her height. Think of Victoria Dunlap from UK. She has the ability to get to the boards and her strength and aggressiveness allow her to be a force inside. She's had to deal with coaches trying to switch her to guard because of her height but her game is best served when she is inside and creating on both ends of the court.

Antonia Slaughter, another UofL signee, played for the winning East squad in the game and picked up eight points and six boards. We like Slaughter's all over the court hustle and intensity. She'll be a force for the Cards and at 6'2' a rebounding asset.

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Speaking of all star games, isn't it time the Derby Classic folks woke up and brought in a girls' Classic game for the weekend? There is a ton of women's talent in this area and too few girls' All-Star games offered to the deserving players out there.

The game could be played before the boys' game on Saturday...or it could follow the Night of the Future Stars on Friday. I'm sure the attendees wouldn't mind being moved for the competition to the downtown arena for both of the 2 days.

Time to get the upgrade here and make this local event a "must play" for the best male and female high school players. And, while you're at it, do something about those garish coats that the Derby Festival officials wear each year. Strutting around like a peacock in a Rodney Dangerfield type outfit...yeah, we all just love that. Elitism really impresses the majority of us, correct? The sad thing is, they think they look really cool and stylish...but we're all laughing behind your backs when you walk away. Maybe I should break out my old leisure suits and polyester, flowered shirts and pants...Or not.

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The Women's Final Four has two teams that have punched their ticket for San Antonio last night and each game was a thriller to the final buzzer. Baylor went on a game ending 10-0 run to defeat Duke in the first contest 61-57. The Bears' freshmen, especially Brittany Griner, upset the apple cart on the veteran Dookies. At 6'8", Griner has changed the way opponents play defense (prayer and triple teams don't even work) and the shot swatting, inside scoring abilities of the towering freshman are just darn fun to watch.

Unless you're playing against her.

The nightcap was just as exciting. A towering Xavier team took it to #1 West seeded Stanford all night long in a see saw battle that went to the final buzzer. Twin towers Ta'Shia Phillips and Amber Harris sent Stanford All-American Jane Appel (anyone else think that she looks like a young Jane Curtin of Saturday Night Live fame?)to the bench before the game ended and Xavier looked to be on the way to springing the upset. Then, the fun really began.

Jeanette Pohlen drove the length of the court with 4.4 seconds remaining and tossed in a layup at the buzzer for the 55-53 win. This followed two misses on two straight plays at the other end, unguarded and under the basket by Xavier's Dee Dee Jernigan that would have given the Muskies the lead. Tough to say that any three plays can be considered the difference between a win and a loss...but Pohlen's mad dash to the hoop for the win and the two blown opportunities by Jernigan were game changers.

UConn plays tonight..expect another 20-30 point walk in the park win for them. UK vs. Oklahoma will be the one to watch as the Cats see if the glass slipper fits in Kansas City.

Written by Paul
3/30/10 (Happy birthday, sis-in-law Anita! Go out to dinner!)