Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Softball, Lacrosse in action today

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Softball (hopefully) against Wisconsin this morning

-Lacrosse travels to Drexel for Sunday match

-Way to go, guys!

-Cardinal Couple Radio recap

*****************************EDITOR NOTE*******************

SOFTBALL TODAY AT ULMER STADIUM HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER IN LOUISVILLE

NO SOFTBALL TODAY!


Weather permitting, the University of Louisville softball team will kick off Day 3 of the Louisville Softball Classic against Wisconsin at 10 a.m. this morning. Rain is forecasted for the Louisville area Sunday and, indeed, it was raining early this morning when Paulie padded out to get the morning paper.

Louisville (23-3) took the day off Saturday after two wins on Friday. The Cards extended their win streak at Ulmer Stadium to 11-0 with a exciting 4-2 win over UNC and then blasted EMU 6-1 in the second game.

Louisville will close out the Classic on Monday against Iowa at 1:30 and also will face Indiana Wednesday at Ulmer with a 6 p.m. game.

Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin...didn't Sandy get the memo that Louisville is headed to the ACC instead of the Big 10? Oh well, domination of one conference at a time...

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Louisville Lacrosse is 6-1 on the season and faces another 6-1 squad today at 1 p.m in Philly against the Drexel Dragons.

Drexel is 1-1 in their last two, falling to Maryland-Baltimore County and then downing Colgate 12-7. Our guess is that if Rachel LeCoq "Le Gran Le Coq" was still at Colgate...the teeth-cleaners would have won.

The Cards have won their last two...both on the road...romping Presbyterian in Georgia and demolishing Detroit Wednesday 19-2.

Louisville is ranked #5 nationally in scoring offense and scoring margin. The Dragons are #14 in the nation in scoring defense.

Drexel was a pre-season pick to finish third in the Colonial Athletic Conference. Kelli Joran leads the Dragons with 19 goals on the season. Goalie Teresha Bradley is allowing just 7.36 goals allowed in seven games.

Our thoughts are with the team, staff and students of Seton Hill University...who lost their lacrosse coach, unborn son and bus driver in a crash yesterday while on the road.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/16/us/pennsylvania-bus-crash/index.html



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We'd be remiss if we didn't extend our hearty congratulations to the Louisville men's basketball team who won the BIG EAST Tournament last night in New York's Madison Square Garden with 78-61 win of Syracuse.

Back-to-back titles for Pitino's players and back-to-back MVP Tournament awards to Peyton Siva.

After a rough start that had Louisville down 35-23 at the half, the Cards dominated the final 15 minutes of the second half, going on a 24-3 run that was incredible to watch and led 56-48 with 8:51 to play. Louisville would continue to increase that margin and was up 73-55 with two minutes left.

How about freshman Montrezl Harrell with 20 points? The Cards have won their last 10 in a row and if they're not a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, maybe the top seed of ALL the teams playing...somebody has some explaining to do.

Great job...Peyton, Russ, Montrezl, Gorgui, Luke and crew!

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We found parking on Frankfort Avenue and stumbled in for another Cardinal Couple Radio show yesterday and had a lively time discussing Louisville women's basketball, softball, lacrosse, swimming, the Selection Show Party and first and second NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at the KFC YUM! Center.

Down one co-host...(Jenny was in Indianapolis trying out for the WNBA Indiana Fever squad)...we still managed to make it through the broadcast in one piece. Thanks to the brilliant Jeff McAdams and also to Coach Walz for the segment. And, Monkberry Moon Delight...in the control booth keeping us on the air and inserting the taped clips.

Did ya miss the live feed? Not to worry, it's available on the Crescent Hill Radio Soundcloud.

www.crescenthillradio.com

Paulie

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Saturday Cardinal Couple - Tennessee State preview

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SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Game report. Louisville MBB defeats Kentucky 80-77 in Freedom Hall. Cards were up by 17 in second half. Donny Yaste will have the full game report in Sunday's edition of CARDINAL COUPLE )






( Staff columnist Quentin Voigt - AKA Elvis Redbird - brings us a report on Monday
night's opponent for the Louisville WBB team....Tennessee State. He also looks into
a couple of 2014 recruits that Jeff Walz is interested in. )


Coach Larry Inman and his Tennessee State Lady Tigers will attempt to derail the Lady Cardinals at the KFC YUM! Center Monday, Dec. 31st. at 6 p.m. This is, of course, New Year's Eve and the Cards will be looking to ring out the old year with a convincing win -- conference play looms ahead.

Hoping to catch the Cards day-dreaming about New Year's resolutions or revelry is a TSU squad that is 4-7 on the season....losing 76-67 to Eastern Illinois Saturday night. 

Avery Jones, a 6'1" senior, is a graduate of Louisville Manual High School and averages 7.5 p.p.g. for the Tigers. She sees about 20 minutes a game and has a team-best 48.3% from the floor, 70.4% from the charity stripe and grabs four rebound a contest. The only T.S.U. player in double figures is 5'8" senior Jasmine Schuler -- at 10 p.p.g. Schuler dishes out 1.6 assists a game, gets 2.8 rebounds and is the best Tiger from the line with a 78.3%.  Simone Hopes leads State in rebounding with 7.3 a game. T.S.U. averages 55.9 p.p.g., shoots 35.2% from the field, 24.6% from beyond the arc and 68% from the foul line.

I'm looking for the results of this match-up to be similar to the Wagner College outcome. Go Cards!

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Recruiting is always a front-burner issue and (without intentionally stepping on Jenny's toes) ESPN Hoopgurlz has reported that Louisville has offered two girls out of the class of 2014. One candidate hails from the left coast, Sacramento, CA's Ayanna Edwards ( known as 'Shaq'). Walz has seen Ayanna and reportedly feels she would be a great fit for the Lady Cards' program. This junior is already 6'4" and has garnered looks from programs across the country. Currently, she averages 8.6 p.p.g, 6.1 rebounds and has 125+ blocks to her credit. She's very athletic, has all the moves for a post player and is exceptionally strong ( hence the nickname).

From Iowa City H.S. (IA) comes Haley Lorenzen, a 6'3" forward that -- according to her coach Bill McTaggert -- is a stronger player in her junior year and has shown improvement on her footwork. In a recent game, she posted 23 points and 12 rebounds in a 82-67 win over Cedar Rapids.

Both Edwards and Lorenzen are committed to improving their games and have come a long way since their sophomore seasons. We hope they'll continue that journey and end up in the Cardinal Red and Black!

-Elvis Redbird (Quentin Voigt)

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( Today at 4 p.m. is also the annual tilt between the UofL and UK men's basketball teams. It'll take place in the KFC YUM! Center and tickets in the 300 section are reportedly being offered at $300 by scalpers for the sold-out contest.  We, of course, do not encourage our readers to do business with nor do we promote the scandalous scalpers...but that's a pretty penny to pay, in our opinion, for horrible seats at a nationally televised game. Men's hoops guru and recently engaged CARDINAL COUPLE Administrator Donny Yaste will have the recap for us in The Sunday Edition of Cardinal Couple! )

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE -HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE WILDCAT WRAP-UP


(Dear readers...for the last couple of years, we've run a parody of the blog on April's Fool Day. WE scared a lot of people last year with it...so be advised that the following articles ARE parodies, NOT TRUE and just our annual April Fools Edition. We have added a brief paragraph or so after each entry with an ACTUAL real summary of the event.)


Enjoy.


-PITINO fired after loss to UK


-LADY CARDS Softball disbanded after DePaul loss


-CARDINAL COUPLE to shutdown


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Popular UofL Coach fired after eight-point loss to UK
-New Orleans, LA.

"I never should have
replaced you, Denny."

Hours after the University of Louisville lost to Kentucky 69-61 in the semi-finals of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, head coach Rick Pitino was fired by athletic director Tom Jurich in what can only be described as a bizarre incident. 


Standing in the middle of Bourbon Street Sunday morning and wearing a World War II General's uniform, Tom Jurich made the announcement to a shocked and surprised throng of party-goers celebrating in the aftermath of Saturday night's games. 

"I always wanted to be a pirate
with a parrot on my shoulder." 

"It is my great and esteemed pleasure to announce that I, Tom Jurich, being of sound mind and body and in no way affected by the Hurricanes I've been drinking since 9 p.m. this evening...well, I've canned Rick Pitino as the coach of the Cardinals. It was that or just shoot him. I can't get a prison charge this way, so Ricky...you're outta here! See ya and wouldn't want to be ya! Adios amigo!"


After shouting the words through a bullhorn in front of popular nightclub establishment PAT O'BRIENS, Jurich dramatically raised a hand in the air, stuck his thumb out and pointed down the street.

"One more pitiful bowl appearance and
I'm hiring you back to replace that idiot
Charlie Strong" 

"Tell your story walking, pal...because your new title is EX-UofL coach!" Jurich bellowed and then suddenly sat down on the curb, appearing unsteady and wobbly on his feet. "I'm gonna tell all of you something, see...and you damn well better listen good, pal. This whole week has been a total abomination. WE can't do this against Kentucky, we shouldn't be in the Final Four, WE couldn't shoot the side of a barn with a shotgun. I'm running out of boxer shorts...I'm just sick and tired of it all!" 


Jurich then staggered to his feet again and started wildly waving his arms in the air, nearly striking sportswriter Howie Lindsey...who was standing next to Jurich and dressed as the character Bluto from the comic strip "Popeye". 

"Fans like these two make me want to give up this
job and go dig ditches. Hillbilly trailer trash..."

"And it's all Rick's fault. All of it! I build a big, freakin' arena downtown and he can't even beat South Florida in it! Even Walz beat South Florida and that man couldn't coach his way out of a parking spot on a bicycle! So...Farewell. Good bye. Auf Wiedersehen. Adieu! I love that song! I wanted to be in that movie but...no! Tommy has to be athletic director. Tommy has to be a placekicker. Tommy has to TAKE OUT THE STINKIN' GARBAGE!" 


Jurich then lurched forward and started walking down the street, singing the popular song from The Sound of Music...stopping only briefly when Lindsey asked who would  replace Pitino.

"I should be in this cast photo. With my arm
around Julie Andrews." 

"Congratulations, big boy! You've got the job." he snarled and disappeared into the crowd, singing loudly and high-fiving UK fans. 


Coach Pitino was informed of the news as he got out of a limo in front of the Krystal on Bourbon Street and asked for his reaction. 

RICK AND HIS ASSISTANT
COACHES SPOT A UFO
FLYING INSIDE THE KFC YUM
CENTER AND TRY TO ESTABLISH
COMMUNICATION.

"I could care less." Rick chuckled. "I've got more money that most third-world countries. I'll just go sit at the big table with Charles Barkley and those other CBS bozos. Maybe I'll build a boat and sail around the Keys...playing Jimmy Buffett music and pretending I'm a pirate. Maybe I'll take Gorgui and Chane with me and we'll smuggle cigars out of Cuba. I might grow my hair out and join Journey. I love those guys. Don't stop believing...Hey, whose up for burgers and shakes? My treat!" 


(The University of Louisville lost a hard fought game against Kentucky Saturday night 69-61. The Cards overcame several double-digit deficits and tied the contest at 49-49 after a Peyton Siva 3 with nine minutes to go. UK responded with a 8-0 run, though and held on for the win. A great coaching job by Pitino last night. Peyton Siva had 11 points, Chane Behanan 10 and Gorgui Dieng grabbed 12 rebounds and had four blocked  shots for Louisville. And, Rick Pitino is still the Louisville head coach this morning and Tom Jurich the best athletic director in the world.)


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A humiliating loss to a
school that doesn't even
play football

The University of Louisville's softball team lost their first game of the season to DePaul University 7-1. A second game was scheduled, but Sandy Pearsall took the team to the locker room after the first contest and read a statement to media and fans over the Blue Demon public address system shortly thereafter.


"Hello there ladies and gentlemen! As of five minutes ago, I have disbanded the University of Louisville softball team and have accepted a position as assistant head usher at Stonybrook Cinemas. I told the team before the season began that if they lost a game, I was going to give them all bus fare and send them home to their mamas and daddies. Well..it look them a long time to lose one...but now that they have...it is now the end of 12 years of CARDINAL SOFTBALL. 

"We've tried to teach her for four years to stand up. "

"We've had it rough over these past twelve years. We play on an antiquated, turf- bare sandlot that doesn't even have toilets or a concession stand. We started selling beer this year. I've never see so many AARP- aged people run out of a place, scratching their heads and wondering where they could go relieve themselves after a belly full of suds in my life! It snows here until May. You tell me how you play softball in 20 degree weather and my outfielders are building snowmen and throwing snowballs at each other in the third inning." 


"It's more than that. Jurich told me he'd slashed the budget 90% from last year. Said he had to pony up some more bucks to keep Charlie Strong here. Told me I could buy the team bats and gloves at the thrift store. Took all the seats out of the stadium and sold them to a revival preacher in Biloxi. He even sold the tarp we use to cover the field to a travelling circus." 

"It's bad enough I have to coach in a back alley
near the Interstate...then I get people like
this showing up to watch games..Jeezz!"

"So, I've decided to just get out of this whole deal and collect tickets at the cinema. It's a great job. You take the ticket. You smile at the customers and you tell them to enjoy the movie. When they're all seated and the movie begins, you sit in a comfy chair and eat popcorn and Goobers until the next movie starts. And, I'm making $2 more an hour than I was at UofL. I've enjoyed my time here on campus. Yeah. Right. I'd rather go through a root canal a day with no Novocaine."


After her remarks, Pearsall put 'Sweet Caroline' on the PA system and did cartwheels across the field before leaving in a exhaust-belching 1991 Ford Pinto. A collection of remaining players, support staff and some of the 3rd grade girls from Jesuit Day Grade School eventually took the field and defeated DePaul 4-3 in the second game. They named themselves the Arthur Street Assassins and plan on joining the Sunbelt Conference once they return to Louisville. 


(Louisville DID lose their first game of the season to DePaul yesterday 7-1 in the first game but came back to take the nightcap 4-3. DePaul jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the second inning on a Katelyn Braget home run and built up a 4-0 lead before the Cards got their lone run in the top of the sixth when Kristin Austin tripled and came home on a Katie Keller sacrifice fly. The Blue Demons added three runs in the home half of the sixth for the final 7-1 score. Tori Collins (13-1) took the loss, giving up four runs and four hits in four innings.


The Cards jumped on DePaul early in the second game with two runs in the first inning. Jennifer Esteban singled to start the game and scored on a Austin single. Austin got to the plate on a Keller single. 


After DePaul tied the contest in the bottom of the first, the teams remained scoreless until the top of the fifth. Esteban and Austin pounded back-to-back doubles off Blue Demon pitcher Bree Brown....Esteban scoring. Austin reached the plate to make it 4-2 on a Hannah Kiyohara single. DePaul would score the final run of the game in the bottom of the fifth. Caralisa Connell got the win for Louisville, going 5.1 innings and allowing three runs on seven hits. Chelsea Leonard finished the sixth inning for Connell and Tori Collins came on to relieve Leonard in the seven and got the Blue Demons out in order. 


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Maybe we could sell the website to
this guy and he could post articles
about what kind of burger toppings he likes.

It's been a fun two and one half years being the fan voice of UofL women's sports, but WE decided Friday that we were going to shut down the website and concentrate on driving around the metro area and looking for potholes. It's pretty easy stuff...you drive down a street and if you see a pothole...first you avoid it and then you write down the address where you saw it. Then, you call the road maintenance guys and they come out and fill it. 


We're not sure if we can get paid for this or not...but we're not getting paid to do CARDINAL COUPLE either and this will give us a chance to get out, drive around and look at pretty flowers and see what's happening in different neighborhoods. Maybe stop for a coffee or ice cream or a walk through the park. Maybe we can get the city or state to just give us a tank of gas every three or four days. That would work. 

(Sonja to Paul) "If  you write another article about Becky Burke
I swear to the Holy Jesus that I'll cut
off your fingertips while you sleep. Let the poor girl
graduate and get on with her life, OK? "

We wanted to wait until the basketball game was played to tell you readers about this. We weren't going to bother and tell any of our contributing writers about it...all they do is complain that Coach Walz doesn't play Sara Hammond enough and pester us for PANERA Cards three of four times a week. And the upkeep of a bunch of unruly chimps and having to drag Bill the Goat out of perilous situations every week....who needs it? All the moronic e-mails and comments we get daily and spam artists, phishing and stupid bots out there that want us to refinance a mortgage that we don't have or try Viagra, tropical berry juices and off-shore casino gambling. 

A picture of the only readers we had in the month of March
Some of them can't even stand up on their own.

Hey, we're tired and my fingers bleed constantly from typing up this drivel for an unappreciative, illiterate and gaseous readership. Blah, blah, blah. 


We'll still leave the site access up, so those with writing and administrative privileges can log on and putter around here if they want. We'll see how that goes. Most of them couldn't write a two sentence paragraph about walking across the room and putting a plate on the table...but, most days we can't either...so what does it really matter? 


David Watson is the worst...Sonja spends hours going through the stuff he sends our way, running spell check and removing all the obscenities, profanities, bigoted references and death threats he puts in about Obama and Col. Sanders in each article he submits.  The man is dumber than a box of rocks and less interesting. He asks trees for advice. Seriously. We don't think he knows what periods or paragraphs are...much less how they should be used. 

Paul wants to form a speed metal band
with these three guys and give
up writing. Hello, Detroit!!

It's been great, CARDINAL COUPLE readers. Go check out some other website...we really don't care...or maybe turn off the laptop and do something productive like reading a book or performing volunteer work. 


Last person on the site please turn out the lights when leaving. We're off to the Ford Taurus and the open road, baby! 


(Fear not, readers. We aren't going anywhere. WE feel blessed and fortunate to have a website that started with a few friends and Google searchers reading and now receives an average of more than 2000 hits a day We marvel on how we have great writers like David, Jenny and Sandy. WE also appreciate all of our readers -- even the ones in Connecticut -- and the comments and great Internet finds from people like Commish Mark, Ellis and Shirley, PDX Phil and so many more of you. 

You are CARDINAL COUPLE. If it's wasn't for you...there would be no CARDINAL COUPLE. You (and us) are the fans. And, that's what this site is about. 

Thanks for riding along with us this far and we hope you'll continue the journey!


And, thanks for reading the PARODY April Fools Edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. See ya tomorrow! )
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Cards fall to Irish in Volleyball...Women's hoops today in KFC YUM Center...Football wins!...Pitino's guys defeat Xavier...

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE COMIN' AT YA!!!

-Irish pull off the upset in Volleyball

-Xavier facing Lady Cards today in WBB

-Freaky play ends football game

-Pitino's guys win in Indy.

Louisville Volleyball ended their run in the BIG EAST Tournament yesterday by falling to Notre Dame 25-22, 22-25, 25-21, 25-19 yesterday in Milwaukee.

The Cards got a great performance from Lola Arslanbekova, who had 24 kills in the four game match...but she couldn't carry the weight by herself and Notre Dame moves on to the championship to face Cincinnati...who downed Marquette in five games.

The teams were evenly matched in game one until the Irish went on a 4-0 run to lead 14-10.  Louisville tied it at 15-15 and 17-17 and was down by two at 24-22 when a flip by the Irish found unguarded wood and they won by three.



The Cards failed to
win the BIG EAST
volleyball championship
yesterday  

Louisville took control early in game two, up 7-2...but saw Notre Dame rally to take the lead by expand it to five at 22-17. After a timeout, though...the Cards ran off eight unanswered points to win the second game by three.

The Cards came out strong in game three, led 8-3, but could not keep up the defense and the Irish tied it at nine all. The teams were tied at 18 and 20 before ND ran off five of the final six points to win game three and take a 2-1 match lead.

Louisville never led in the fourth game, falling behind early 4-1. The Irish ran that up to 12-7 before the Cards rallied to draw close at 16-14. At 18-17, Louisville looked to still have a chance of forcing a fifth game...but a 7-2 closing run by ND ended game and match.

Despite the loss, the Cards should still make the NCAA Tournament, since they won the regular season BIG EAST title. They have one more regular season game...a match-up against OVC Champ Morehead State on Saturday. The NCAA pairings will be announced next Sunday.

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KFC YUM! Center is the place for the 2 p.m. tip off today...featuring the Lady Cards women's basketball team against Xavier. This is not the same Muskie team that Louisville defeated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Gone are starters Special Jennings, Amber Harris, Ta'Shia Phillips and head coach Kevin McGuff.

Amy Waugh (left) leads the Musketeers now and the Tyeasha Moss is the scoring threat.

Xavier is 1-1 on the year...handling EKU 66-61 but falling on the road to Mississippi State 71-65. Moss, a senior, is averaging 18 a game and is joining in double figures by junior Jessica Pachko (12 ppg) and sophomore Lynette Holmes (11.5 ppg).

For Louisville, Cierra Warren has a 15 point per game average after three games and Bria Smith is knocking in 13 point a game. Shoni Schimmel (12.0) and Becky Burke (11.3) are also in double figures.

Louisville will need Asia and the "bigs"
to crash the boards today. Do it, #31!

Xavier will try to keep this one from becoming a track meet this afternoon...so the Cards will need to be able to work effectively out of the half court set and go to the boards strong. Louisville's love for the helter-skelter fast break transition offense can only happen if Warren, Asia Taylor, Sara Hammond and the rest of the bigs go to the boards well when the Muskies miss shots. Louisville's ability to block out and score inside could spell the difference today. The Cards must also try to get off to a faster start today than they have over the first three games of the year.

Xavier has gone extensively with a three guard set this year, so the Cards will need to make sure that they are on guard with good play from the Schimmels, Smith, Burke and Harper.

No word on Monique Reid and her availability for today's game yet...as coach Walz is fond of saying...'need to worry about the ones who can play and coach them up'. Mo will come back when she's ready and will be spectacular when she does.

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

Congratulations to both football and men's hoops for wins yesterday. The Pitino guys went to historic Hinkle Fieldhouse on the Butler University campus and downed the Bulldogs 69-53...Kyle Kuric with 17 for Louisville....

Charlie Strong's football guys got their 6th win of the season at Connecticut...downing the Huskies 34-20. Craziness on the final play of the game. After Connecticut scored to make it 28-20 and then recovered an on-side kick to get the ball back, they come out on offense and run a play where they try to advance the ball with a series of backwards passes and laterals...going in the wrong direction until Louisville intercepts one of the attempts and returns it for a touchdown.

Reminded us of the Three Stooges on the field...

Louisville is now bowl eligible with the win and actually has a shot of winning the BIG EAST Conference and getting the BCS bid...but a lot of things would have to happen for that to occur...the main one being that the Cards would have to win in Tampa next Saturday against South Florida...a place where Louisville has never won. Of course, the Cards have never been there with Charlie Strong as head coach and he has shown over the last two years that you can "never

Not sure if Charlie went surfing
yesterday after defeating UConn

say never" with Strong coached teams..or how they'll handle success.  

All this adds up to a very interesting scenario now in the BIG EAST where just about the entire league has two losses and they may have to bring in the Supreme Court justices to decide who gets the "big money" bowl.

Charlie even managed to stir up some fan controversy yesterday when he pulled starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater out of the game in the fourth quarter and inserted former starter Will Stein in the game. The Cards couldn't move the ball with Stein taking the snaps and Bridgewater didn't appear to be injured.

Charlie-Ball. Never boring (or predictable).
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nochoiceisachoice