.

A great weekend for you to follow UofL women's sports! Beginning tonight at 6 p.m., the Field Hockey team does battle with conference rival Georgetown. An hour later, the UofL women's soccer team takes to the Cardinal Park field to engage Syracuse. 

If the bright lights of downtown are your thing, #10 Volleyball fires up the KFC YUM! Center for a match with DePaul at 7 p.m.

Go Cards GO! 
.
..
...

Thursday Cardinal Couple -- Common Myths About Bull Riding

.
THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-No bull about bullriding here...


-Cardinal Caravan in Louisville today!


-A busy fifteen minutes


(CARDINAL COUPLE writer Mark "The Commish" Schneider continues his look at the PBR today. We feature an article that dispels several myths about Bull riding and the participants. We've got him scheduled next to investigate Area 54, Elvis's death and why the Cubs are the worst team in baseball. The "Commish" is on top of it!)

Most people love animals.  Dogs, Cats, Horses, and even BULLS.  However, sometimes animal rights groups seem to go too far.  Nothing wrong with wanting to protect animals from cruelty.  I'm all for that.  But to distribute false information without getting all the facts in order to advance their cause is another story.  At first glance when watching a Bull Riding event some may think, "How cruel" or  "The animals are being hurt."  (Watch more closely and more often than not the riders are the ones getting hurt).  Maybe there should be an organization called AETH. ("Animals for the Ethical Treatment of Humans").  All kidding aside:

PETA has been touting two myths about Bull Riding/Rodeos in general.

Myth #1

"Electric prods, spurs, and bucking straps are used to irritate and enrage animals used in rodeos. Before entering the ring, cows and horses are often prodded with an electrical "hotshot" so that the pain will rile them."

This is simply not true.  Especially in the PBR. That is not to say it has never happened in a small town rodeo, but as far as the PBR?  I do not think so.

During countless events broadcasted on TV the cameras are directly in the chutes.  Every move anyone makes is shown up close.  The bulls are not coerced into bucking.  It is simply what they like to do.  A bull bucks because it is in their blood. Just as race horses are "born to run", bucking bulls are "born to buck".

As far as the spurs hurting the animal, the fact is the spurs are "dulled" and are not sharp.  Also, a bulls skin is 7 times thicker than a humans and when a bull is "spurred",  it does not harm the animal.  No marks are left and no blood is drawn. Does one think the owner of a bull worth $35,000 or more (A bull named Little Yellow Jacket was worth $150,000) would allow a cowboy to "spur" it if he thought for one moment it would harm it? Owning and raising bucking bulls is an expensive proposition. Just like our pets, a stock contractor treats every bull like one of his family.  For example, when World Champion bull MOSSYOAK MUDSLINGER recently died, his owner H.D.Page had this to say: "He's irreplaceable, there's no doubt about it.  I missed him a bunch when I had to retire him from the arena, and now I'm going to miss him even more as a sire. He was part of our family. He's done more for our family than any person."

Myth #2

"The flank (or "bucking") strap is tightly cinched around the animals' abdomens, causing them to buck vigorously in an attempt to escape the pain. The flank strap can cause open wounds and burns when the hair is rubbed off and the skin is chafed raw. Former animal control officers have found burrs and other irritants placed under the flank strap."

Again--not in the PBR. The flank strap is tied loosely around the flank, usually by the stock contractor/owner. Again, if this hurt the bull, would he be doing this? As a matter of fact there are times it will fall off during the ride.  The flank strap is a rope made out of cotton which is tied around the bull's flank. Contrary to popular belief, the flank strap is not tied around the bull's testicles. Without being too graphic--this is a family friendly website--this point must be made:  If a rope is tied around the bulls testicles, I do not think it would encourage him to buck. As one stock contractor said," What would a human do if it was tied around theirs?"  I don't think it would encourage "bucking".  I believe one would see a human lying on the ground crying in a fetal position.  And when a bull is bucking, one can actually see that the strap is nowhere near or tied around it's "privates".  This rope is to encourage the bull to use its hind legs more in a bucking motion.  If tied too tight, the bull would not buck very well.  It has to be loose to cause the bull to want to buck it off.  Sometimes the strap falls off during a ride. When that happens, the bull will usually quit bucking. 

Former CEO of the PBR Randy Benard (now CEO of The INDY Racing League) had this to say about Animal Welfare and the PBR:

"In the 1970s and '80s, PETA did a pretty good job of informing people that bull riding hurt bulls in all kinds of different ways. All those are completely false. We encourage and welcome any animal rights groups to come in and look at how we treat our animals. It's very important to the sport and to the industry that our animals are taken good care of. The other thing is, people are so surprised when they come to an event and see the type of fan base that's there. It's so much more than a western sport."

Here are the PBR's Animal Welfare Facts:

Bulls receive 25-30 lbs of a special blend of mixed grain per day. Blend varies depending on the bull’s needs and the stock contractor.

Bulls receive 20 lbs of Alfalfa or Alfalfa-grass blend per day.

Bulls receive a B-12 complex vitamin shot every two weeks.

Bulls receive a health inspection any time they have to cross state lines.

Bulls are only allowed to travel a maximum of 8 hours per day. After 10 hours, the bulls are rested for 12-14 hours.

Bulls are standing in 6-10 inches of sawdust shavings during transport.

Each stock contractor has a local veterinarian on call for their bulls.

To be fair, as with any sport there are injuries.  This includes the bulls.

According to the PBR these are the facts about bull injuries:

There are approximately 60 bulls at a one-day event, 90 bulls at a two-day event and 110 bulls at a three-day event. A bull bucks only one time per day and no more than two times at a typical event. Approximately 30-40 of the bulls at a typical two-day event will buck only once at that event.

One bull will suffer a minor injury (muscle pull, scratch) every 8 events or 786 outs.

Bulls that are determined to have an injury are not allowed to compete again until fully recovered, which is generally one to four weeks.

One bull will suffer a career-ending injury every 100 events or 9,833 outs.

Bulls that suffer a career-ending injury are retired to stud and live the balance of their lives as healthy, fully capable breeding bulls. Their injuries do not impede the quality of life or ability to function, but do prevent them from competing at the PBR level as a bucking athlete.

Four bulls have been euthanized as a result of injuries sustained over the 960 PBR events held since 1992, which translates to 1 out of every 23,735 outs.

The bulls that have sustained life-threatening injuries at PBR events have been taken to large animal hospitals for treatment and care. Three of the animal athletes that have sustained life- threatening injuries received hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical treatment and lived for extended periods of time (up to two years) before the injuries required euthanization.

A bucking bull has a .004% chance of sustaining a life-threatening injury at a PBR event.

Raising and owning bucking bulls is a full time job.  It is very expensive and time consuming.  Because of this, I seriously doubt a stock contractor would want any harm to come to his bulls.   The following video Breeding and raising bulls for the PBR will drive these points home. Watch as PBR stock contractor, Greg Simano, explains the various aspects of being a stock contractor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7HwzWA6fRE

Commish Mark 


( From the look of things, these bulls are leading a better life than the CARDINAL COUPLE Co-Owners. Good job, today!)


***********************************************************

Thursday brings the CARDINAL CARAVAN to Louisville with an appearance at Captain's Quarters on River Road. Meet the owners and writers of CARDINAL COUPLE at the event...which begins at 5:30. 


You'll get a chance to meet with coaches, players and Cardinal Fans at the annual event...the final stop of a three-day whirlwind tour that takes the participants to Owensboro, Bowling Green and other stops in the state. 


I know, it's supposed to be another scorcher outside on Thursday, but the event is a great chance to hear about the upcoming teams and events for UofL sports and have a little fun in the process. 

Softball coach Sandy Pearsall, women's basketball coach Jeff Walz, the LadyBirds, UofL Cheerleaders, Louie the Cardinal Bird and the pep band under the direction of "Iowa" Al Greener will also be in attendance. We're trying to arrange a three-point contest between our staff chimp Co-Co and Shoni, but UofL isn't responding favorably to the premise...so far. 


Fish, cold beverages and Cardinal Nation! Sounds like a pretty good Thursday! See you there.  No rain, no rain, no rain, no rain...(we hope).

***********************************************************


The stat line for Angel McCoughtry against Great Britain made us do a double take. Talk about a busy fifteen minutes!


--  Two for three on shots
--  Three for four from the foul line
--  Seven points
--  Six rebounds
--  Three assists
--  Five steals
--  Three fouls
--  One turnover


Obviously, she wasn't standing over in the corner signing autographs during her time on the court. #35 representing! 
..
...

Lady Cards WBB today at 2 p.m. to be shown locally

.
SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Louisville and Villanova...by the numbers.

-Spencer sets new UofL record in 600m

-Watson is headed this way...

Lachlan will not do
today's broadcast and
probably not mention
the game on his
Monday show...

The Lady Cards and Villanova meet for the eighth time in history today in the KFC YUM! Center. Louisville is 7-0 in the series. The two met twice last year...Louisville winning in Philly 64-59 and in Hartford in the second round of the BIG EAST Tournament 69-47. 

Deener has the TV call of today's
game on WHAS.

The match-up tips off at 2 p.m. and will be shown locally on WHAS TV. Drew Deener will handle the play-by-play and fight Lachlan McClain bare-chested and bare-knuckled at halftime on the Denny Crum Court. (Just kidding...a little local feud going on between those two sports talk hosts.).

Louisville is 8-0 at home this year. 21-2 lifetime in the KFC YUM! Center. Tennessee beat them and who else? First person to e-mail us at cardinalcouple@insightbb.com with the correct answer gets a Panera Card. We'll see who our 'early birds' are out there (no pun intended, Drew...).  OK...we have a winner. Cardinal Ed e-mailed the correct response (Georgetown)...narrowly beating out K.Starks and a couple other of you. Thanks for participating!

OTHER STATSTICS YOU'LL FORGET BY TIP-OFF:

LOUISVILLE                                                 VILLANOVA

16-4                             Record                       13-7
.439                              FG%                          .398
.324                            3-pt. FG%                    .337
.712                              FT%                          .740
.353                            Opp. FG%                   .372
.285                        Opp. 3-pt. FG%              .287
.625                            Opp. FT%                   .714
42.7                             Reb. Avg                    33.5
+5.4                          Reb. Margin                -2.9
13.5                          Assists/game                 14.8
19.4                        Turnovers/game             12.1
10.5                          Steals/game                  6.6
4.8                           Blocks/game                  3.4
72.2                         Points/game                  58.8
59.7                     Points allowed/game         53.3

The folks in the KFC YUM! will celebrate Louie the Cardinal Bird's birthday today...so we'll probably get to see the annual mascot game at half-time. Always a highlight of the season.

During the actual game...look for Louisville to try and accelerate the pace and score off the press and transition against the Wildcats. If 'Nova has their way...they'll take the air out of the ball and try to turn it into a half-court contest...keeping the score in the 50's.

See you out there. Don't forget Louie's present. Bird seed is always a good choice.

We'll have a full report of the action later today.

*******************************************************

Congrats to UofL women's track team dynamo Ahlivia Spencer for setting a new Cardinal record in the 600 meters at the Indiana Relays. She covered the distance in 1:21.65. That's flying! Some good runners up there...she finished eighth in the race.

Charachesica Lockhart won the triple jump and Margret Harris finished 3rd in the 200m trials and won the 60m trials.

*******************************************************

(David Watson is headed to Louisville for today's women's basketball game. We've assigned him a cartoon caricature...since his regular picture kept causing the laptop to freeze up.)

By the time you read this - we'll already be on the road to the "Ville" to watch the Lady Cards play Villanova. Taking the wife and youngest daughter today. We'll hit our favorite pizza place for lunch and then waddle over to the KFC YUM! Center for hoops. Then, to my cousin's for dinner with the family. I'll probably end up buying.

So, how will Louisville do today in their eighth BIG EAST game of the season? I expect nothing but a blowout of epic proportions. Expect to see 12,000 plus in the KFC YUM! Center. Expect to see Shoni drive 'em crazy with the shake, shuffle, slide, shot and sensational passing. Will beg Becky Burke to bombard the basket with beautiful ball tosses from beyond the barrier. Will watch Bria Smith daringly dart down the court dismantling defenses and driving down the baseline dropping deuces, dishing and delivering. 

A weekend game at home. How long has it been? December 10th.? About time. Note to Lady Cards scheduler. More weekend games in the KFC YUM! for 2012-13 please. 

I also hope to see Shelby Harper and Sara Hammond get quality minutes today. Did you realize they have the same initials? I will refer to them as SH-2 from now on. I hope I get to refer to them a lot. 

OK. See you at the YUM. 

( David Watson has been going over the alphabet recently, as witnessed by his alliteration efforts today. Someone stop him before he gets to "X".)

.

..