Cards fall short to Vols

SATURDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE:

LADY CARDS 50 TENNESSEE 63

Anytime you get out-rebounded by 24..it's usually doesn't go so well for you. Despite the Tennessee advantage on the boards, it looked like a game with 7:28 to go. The University of Louisville women's basketball team had rallied from a seven point deficit and after a Becky Burke 3...the score was 45-44 Tennessee.

Then someone woke up freshman Meighan Simmons again. She had blistered the Cards for 12 first half points and in a dizzying turn of events...she buried a couple of threes. In slightly over 90 seconds...UT led 55-44. The Vols used the final seven minutes to go on an 18-6 run and Simmons led all scorers with 22 points.


Louisville hung with the Vols a very long time. The Cards led 10-7 after eight minutes. Tennessee went on a 14-4 run over the next four minutes to lead 21-14...but Louisville roared back and cut it to two at 23-21. The Vols took a 31-26 lead into the locker room at the half but the 22,124 fans in attendance (a UofL and Big East women's basketball record) weren't about to give up on Walz's bunch.


Monique Reid led the Cards with 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds in a heroic effort to keep the Cards close. In the end, though...Louisville had no answers for the play of Simmons and the gigantic interior of Tennessee.

Some post game comments:

(Pat Summitt on the game)

"Obviously, the was a very good learning experience for us. There is no doubt about this Louisville team. they are tough minded and very well coached. We had our hands full the entire game."

(Summitt on Louisville getting within one point in the second half)

"We knew we had to defend and get the ball inside. I thought our post game stepped up and our defense did too."

(Jeff Walz on opening the new arena)

"It just a fanstastic thing and it's wonderful to be a part of it. A sellout crowd of 22,oo0 plus. The retiring of Angel McCoughtry's jersey. There were a lot of great things that went on tonight. Unfortunately, the score wasn't very great."


(Walz on the Cards rallying several times)


"We've got a very talented group. There's no doubt we have some players that are very good. We have more offensive weapons than we had last year. It makes a difference when you have a variety of players that can score. "

Angel McCoughtry's jersey hangs over section 306 in the KFC YUM Arena now....after a pregame ceremony that paid tribute to the greatest Lady Card basketball in the history of the University of Louisville. In attendance with her were her parents and family... Angel talked after the game about wishing she could have had the opportunity to play in the new arena and feels that this current Cardinal team is going to be very successful. Angel spoke to the team before the game and was up leading cheers behind the south endzone basket during most of the game. Wouldn't expect anything else out of #35...Cardinal true and through.

Starting lineups announced for Lady Cards vs. Lady Vols

FRIDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE

-The Vols are coming, the Vols are coming

-Dyer could be out several weeks

-Marra keys Cardinal MBB romp

-Those crazy Underdogs

-Volleyball on the road

Welcome to the Friday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. Tonight it happens in the KFC YUM Arena, with the Tennessee Vols facing Jeff Walz's Lady Cards. The #4 Vols are searching for the right starting lineup and Pat Summitt (pictured here) will send Angie Bjorklund, Shekinna Stricken, Taber Spani, Alicia Manning and Glory Johnson out for the opening tip. It is a first attempt for Summitt to find a starting five out of her talented troop. Seeing them go "small" without 6'6" Kelley Cain or 6'4" Vicki Baugh getting the starting nod would appear that "the Pat" is looking for defense and mobility.

Jeff Walz will counter with Monique Reid, Tia Gibbs, Shoni Schimmel, Asia Taylor and Keisha Hines out as starters. Four out of the five have played against UT in the past and Schimmel, a freshman from Portland, Oregon, gets the nod at point guard.

Expect both teams to do quite a bit of rotation and substitution. Louisville will need some long range bombing from Becky Burke and Antonita Slaughter to keep UT honest on the defense.

Walz vs. Vols. The action starts at 7 p.m. and will be shown on a delayed basis on CBS College Sports at 9:30. ET. If you go, try to be in your seats early for the 6:45 p.m. ceremony for Angel McCoughtry. Her jersey will ascend to the rafters of the YUM. About as high as she used to jump in Freedom Hall....

CBS College Sports will also show the BIG EAST Soccer Tournament semifinal match between UofL and WVU at 7:30 p.m. If you're not in the YUM cheering on the Lady Cards tonight, give it a view...

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Freshman forward Shawnta Dyer suffered a fractured heel in the scrimmage against Marshall last weekend and will miss several weeks of action. She started against Indiana Wesleyan and was expected to see significant playing time this season. Hate to see the injury bug rear its head so early in the Lady Cards season. Dyer will either be put in a cast or have a pin inserted. Dyer's length and defense will be missed...at least this year there are others available to step it up in her absence. Get well soon, Shawnta'.

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A nice 96-54 exhibition win last night for the men's team against Kentucky Wesleyan. Mike Marra had the hot hand from outside...burying six of eight treys and finishing with a game high 22 points in only 20 minutes of court time. Peyton Siva (18 pts.) and Terrence Jennings (15 pts.) joined him in double figures. Preston Knowles sat out the contest with a thigh bruise.

Marra's deep range bombing and several electrifying dunks by Jennings got the 19,227 in the YUM fired up. Pitino played 12 and 11 scored, with George Goode failing to swish the hoop. Elisha Justice is a scrapper...nailed two of his three treys and showed some excellent passing and ball handling skills. The crowd, in typical Cardinal fashion, began the exodus at the half...with Louisville up 51-25. The road gets harder for Rick's guys Tuesday night with NCAA Tournament runner-up Butler in town.

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Volleyball is in Milwaukee tonight for a match against the Marquette Golden Eagles. Louisville can solidify their hold on 2nd place in the BIG EAST with a win tonight. The BIG EAST Volleyball tournament is a week away...in Pittsburgh. The Volley Cards will close out the regular season at Syracuse.

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Dave Jennings and Tony Vanetti are the AFTERNOON UNDERDOGS and they host a sports talk show on WKRD 790 AM/101.7 FM Monday thru Friday that starts at 3 p.m. It's usually a pretty good show and they get some great guests on there. They got a little off topic (and off color) yesterday in OUR opinion when talking about Lady Vols head coach Pat Summitt. References to her looking like Denny Crum and comments about her wearing a cheerleading outfit last year and the questionable innuendos surrounding that is pretty much sophomoric humor. Stick to sports, guys. There was a great comedy duo on Louisville radio years ago when Terry Meiners and Ron Clay hosted a morning show on WLRS and WQMF.

You ain't the second coming...boys.

Why does sports talk radio have to be all about the "shock and wow" effect these days? Van Vance never needed it and he was the best at it ever on the Louisville airwaves. The "Dogs" lost a good one when Adam Neft skipped town to do Columbus, OH. radio. Some say they haven't recovered his leaving. If you're going to talk about women's sports, try to put the events in a favorable light.

Why drag down the show's credibility with potty humor about the best coach in women's basketball? I guess that's what happens when you stick a classic rock disc jockey and 'has been' bowler on sports radio...

(Pictured above is former UofL men's basketball head coach Denny Crum. We see no resemblance between Denny and Pat. Maybe Jennings and Vanetti need glasses or lasix surgery...)

EPILOUGE

I ran into Tony Vanetti at the Tennessee game and told him of the displeasure his actions had given one of the co-owners of CARDINAL COUPLE. He pointed out that it had been a caller who made the original Crum reference. He did offer an apology, though. Vanetti is a class guy...even if he is a disc jockey. He also thinks Pat is an attractive woman. After a couple of glasses of wine....

Big Cardinal weekend ahead...

THURSDAY @ C.C.

-Busy weekend for Cardinal Sports

-WE read your mail (and throw away the junk part of it for you)

-The "Sh" factor

-Show up...

Becky Burke, pictured here, will participate in two of the eight UofL sports activities this weekend that begin tonight. She's pacing herself...it's a busy weekend!

WE take this Thursday to catch up on a few things and prepare for the big weekend of sporting activities for UofL . It all gets started tonight with the Men's basketball team taking on Kentucky Wesleyan in the KFC YUM Arena. The action really picks up on Friday...with Tennessee visiting to take on the Lady Cards in hoops at the YUM. Volleyball plays Friday as well, on the road at Marquette. The undefeated men's soccer team goes against Notre Dame Friday night in the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals. Saturday is a home football game against USF and kickoff is at noon. Sunday brings women's hoops in Athens, Ohio against Ohio University, volleyball at Syracuse and, hopefully, the soccer team playing for the BIG EAST Tournament championship.

Eight possible events in four days. And, I'm sure we've probably missed one or two. I might run out of red shirts to wear before Sunday.

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Mail call. Here at CARDINAL COUPLE, we try to give you a personal reply to the letters, e-mails and phone calls you make to us. We do like to put several of these on the site from time to time. So far, everyone is cool with this...but if you DON'T WANT your communique published...just let us know when you send it.

Trinity Grad writes:

"I like accessing Cardinal Couple each day to catch up on UofL women's sports. I wish you would include High School sports in your daily reviews.

THANKS FOR WRITING, TRINITY! It's tough enough to keep up with UofL activities but we'll try to include some of the upcoming high school girls' hoops when they start. We'll take this time to congratulate St. Martha on their girls' volleyball championship. Sara Jo Stewart's seven consecutive services aces were huge in the Shamrocks "bringing home the bacon!" And, if anyone out there would like to be a contributing writer for girls High School sports, send me an e-mail at cardinalcouple@insightbb.com WE can't pay you...we're non-profit...but we'll let you play with the chimps and ride Bill the Goat at all UofL functions...

BERT comments:

Whatever happened to former UofL women's basketball player Tise Wright? Is she still in the 'Ville? She was my favorite Cardinal.

WE see Tise from time to time on Facebook and she seems to be doing well. Not sure if she is still in the "Ville" but we'll keep an eye out for her at the UofL womens' games and try to get a few words from her for an article. She was one of Paul's favorite players, too. His favorite description of her was....'The big battleship cruising majestically down the floor...ready to post up and punish some unsuspecting center or create an impenetrable force field in the paint.' (Miss ya, #42...)

CASSIE writes:

How do you think the women's basketball team will do this year? Will they return to the NCAA tournament? Thanks for creating this website!

WE are "glass half full" optimists when it comes to Lady Cards hoops this season. Jeff Walz has assembled a powerhouse team...with all the parts needed to make a serious run in the BIG EAST and beyond. Youth, experience, shooters, ball magicians, rebounders and hustle. IF they can play a little defense and get the transition game going...look out!" And...THANKS FOR READING this website, Cassie!

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While reviewing the UofL women's basketball roster yesterday, I started to chuckle. The (pronounced)"Sh" factor is alive and well at UofL. Sherrone Vails. Shawnta' Dyer. Shoni Schimmel. Shelby Harper. Charmaine Tay. Keisha Hines. Rachel Story. Michelle Clark-Heard. Beth Ann Shapiro Ord. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if we see some name changes. How about Asha Taylor? Becky Shburke? Chia Gibbs. (Oops, that sound like one of those Chia plant pets...skip that one!)

OK. Shhhh!!! Shucks...shall I shed any more shadow on this shill or shed this shameless sham? Shut down the shenanigans...

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WE already know that the UofL women's basketball team has surpassed the 6,000 mark in season tickets sold. Love it! WE also already know that future games against the likes of Kentucky, Rutgers and West Virginia will also pack the YUM. Excellent! What WE want to know, though...is will the fans come out in force for the weeknight home games? There are six of them that will be played on either a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday nights in the YUM. The opponents are Houston Baptist (Weds.) Mississippi Valley State (Thurs.) Tennessee-Martin (Tues.) St. John's (Tues.) Georgetown (Tues.) and DePaul (Weds.)

For weekend lovers, the schedule has (2) Friday night, (5) Saturday and (3) Sunday games. Sixteen chances to see the Lady Cards in the KFC YUM. Don't miss a single one...

Cards fall short in NCAA Field Hockey bid

Wednesday CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Field Hockey fails to make NCAA Tournament

-Volleyball's Juhl selected BIG EAST Freshman of the Week

-Women's Basketball prepares for Tennessee

-Who's the guy with Jim Kelch?

The selections for the NCAA Field Hockey Tournament were released Tuesday evening and one prominent name was left off the field of sixteen.

The University of Louisville Field Hockey team won't be participating in the event. Finishing with a record of 16-7, TEAM CARDINAL was passed over in the selection process and their season is now over. We at CARDINAL COUPLE felt that the Cards had a good shot at being one of the "at large" picks to make the field but the BIG EAST got only two teams into the field while the BIG TEN is sending four schools to participate. Also faring well is the ACC, with four headed to the Big Dance.

The case for Wake Forest getting in is interesting. They finished 10-9 on the season. The Cards played six of the schools selected for the tournament, splitting two games against Connecticut, defeating American University but falling to Maryland, Ohio State, Syracuse and Princeton.

Louisville's two losses to end the season, a 6-0 defeat to Maryland and a 2-1 loss to Connecticut in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament probably figured heavily in the selection committee's decision.

Still, it was a good season for "The Flock" and Pam Bustin has a solid nucleus of returning players to pick up the sticks and go to the goal for next season. Team leader Nicole Youman and her scoring abilities will be missed, as well as other seniors Tuli Lim, Rachel Hollenbach, Simone Attles, Karah Nall, Nikki Auker and Jenna Ahern. The Cards do have goalie Erin Conrad returning, as well as key players Hayley Turner, Amber Thomas and Haley and Lacey Jurich.

We watched the selection show on line at the NCAA site and wondered what the criteria was for selecting the "host" for the program. It became evident early on that the young lady handling the broadcast duties had very little knowledge of Field Hockey...Kinda like me trying to explain macro-economics. To 3rd graders.

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Emily Juhl has grabbed her second BIG EAST Freshman of the Week honors this season for her outstanding play against Pitt and West Virginia. Juhl had 23 kills in the two matches...along with seven serving aces against the Mountaineers. The Cards are assured a berth in the BIG EAST volleyball tournament in Pittsburgh Nov. 19-21 along with Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Marquette, and Villanova. Eight teams are still in the hunt for the final three spots. The regular season ends this week and the Cards are on the road for games at Marquette and Syracuse.

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Jeff Walz has the Cardinals working hard for the Friday night women's basketball game against Tennessee. 22,000 tickets have been distributed for the contest. There is word on campus that several hundred of these tickets were distributed to UofL students at no charge, plus a $5 food voucher. CARDINAL COUPLE has received several inquiries about the availability of tickets for the game. As far as we know, none are left to sell at the ticket office. The contest will be shown on a delayed basis on CBS College Sports at 9:30 p.m. Friday night.

Walz will have to contend with the defensive minded Vols Friday night. Head Vols coach Pat Summitt was none too happy about the Vols giving up 60+ points in their 50+ point win recently. She has stressed that the defense needs to pick it up and the Cards will need to have their offensive game on early against the full court pressure they'll most likely run into.

Who will start for Louisville? No early starting lineup has been released yet but if WE were to make a guess...look for Shoni Schimmel, Tia Gibbs, Asia Taylor, Sherrone Vails and Keisha Hines to get the nod. It all depends on who works the hardest and does the best in practice...so our prediction here could be way off. Regardless of who is on the court for the opening tip, expect the Cards to throw numerous combinations and players at the #4th. ranked Volunteers.

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Jim Kelch has returned to handle the play-by-play radio duties for Lady Cards basketball again this season. Kelch's call is one of the best out there and he spent the last eight months in the announcer's booth calling Cincinnati Reds' games. With Adrienne Johnson concentrating on marketing duties...who was the guy sitting next to Kelch doing the color commentary for the contest? We saw Adrienne before the Indiana Wesleyan game...but forgot to ask.

It is no other than legendary college coach Paul Sanderford. WE originally reported on this site that it was Charlie Just (information provided to us by someone in the UofL S.I.D. office). It is not Just. It's Walz's ex-coach and one ofthe sharpest minds in women's college basketball.

We'll miss the insightful comments and breakdown of the action that "A.J." provided. Her WNBA experience made her an expert at analyzing the action on the court. Paul has some big shoes to fill and we missed his "on air" debut against Indiana Wesleyan but his knowledge of the game is pretty huge and we're sure he'll do a fine job along with Jim.

University of Louisville women's basketball broadcasts can be heard on WKRD 790 AM/ 101.7 FM.

It's a sellout!

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Tennessee game is sold out.

-Field Hockey NCAA Selections tonight.

22,000 fans will pack the KFC YUM! Center on Friday night to watch the University of Louisville women's basketball team play the Lady Vols of Tennessee. All tickets sold.

This is an incredible feat. It will be the largest crowd to ever watch a UofL women's basketball game. Largest crowd to watch a women's basketball game in Kentucky. It very well just might be the largest crowd ever to watch a regular season women's basketball game. Possibilitiy City...yeah, you betcha!

Former Cardinal Great Angel McCoughtry will have her jersey placed in the rafters of the YUM at 6:45 p.m. Then, it's show time. For Louisville, not only is it the regular season opener...it's the debut of a top 5 recruiting class that has already made a little noise. Shoni Schimmel was at the center of an intense recruiting battle before she chose the Cardinals. She did not fail to impress in the Cards' lone exhibition game that has been open to the public. Sherrone Vails, another freshman, led Louisville in scoring in the win over Indiana Wesleyan. There are 14 very talented players on the 2010-11 edition of Jeff Walz's team. They're gonna make some noise.

For women's basketball in general, this is a shining moment. To fill the new palace of college athletics on the Ohio River...with two women's teams...surely the ghost of Adolph Rupp is turning circles in his grave and that growl of frustration is definitely coming from Lexington. You know, the place where they had to move the Lady Kats back to antiquated Memorial Coliseum because they couldn't get more than 5,000 in Rupp Arena. Mind you, UK women's basketball is very, very good this year. They were last year, too. The mindset, though...as it is in almost all women's programs except the UConn, Rutgers, Tennessee, Baylor, Stanford and Louisville's of the world, is this:

Fine. Let the girls have their fun. We love it when they win. Did anyone attend? When and what time do the guys play?

Those days are over. At least here in Louisville and at a few other universities across the nation. Women's basketball is viable. Worthy of front page sports news (except maybe here in Louisville where the pro-Blue certain newspaper's Sports section slant will always bury any UofL or any other women's sport news back by the ads for the nudie bars.)

And I say...it's about time that the recognition surface. Hey,folks...women's basketball...heck, ALL women's sports have been here all along. Playing before men's games in 1/10 th. full arenas. Shuffled off to high school gyms. Devoid of any radio and TV coverage for years. Nameless faces winning conference tournaments, going to the NCAA...all under the shadow of Denny Crum and Howard Schnellenberger and in front of fans made up mostly of family, friends and students. Practicing just as hard, studying and preparing.

Some people will point to the large number of Orange clad fans in the stands Friday night. I can hear it now...Louisville couldn't have done this if it hadn't been Tennessee they were playing.

Guess what? You're tossing the baby out with the bath water. THEY DID DO IT...and that's all that is relevant or important here.

Game on. Go Cards. Go women's sports at UofL. Go WBB Basketball. And, go support them. (Next time a ticket becomes available.) In case you didn't realize it, most of the women's sports

events (beside basketball and volleyball) don't require a ticket. Go represent.

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Pam Bustin's UofL Field Hockey team will find out Tuesday night where they'll begin the quest to win the 2010 NCAA Field Hockey Tournament. TEAM CARDINAL has the MVP of the regular season in senior Nicole Youman. Despite the loss to UConn in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament, the Cards appear to be a lock for the NCAA...although home field advantage looks to be out of the scenario.

Volleyball sweeps WVU

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE PRESENTS:

-Volleyball defeats West Virginia

-Cards get a second in rowing

-Walz prepares for the Vols



Pictured above, Emily Juhl had 13 kills, eight digs and seven service aces in the sweep of the Mountaineers Sunday in Morgantown. The Cards had no trouble in the 25-15, 25-17, 25-11 win over their BIG EAST foe. Juhl closed out WVU with five straight services aces in the third game to end the match.



Louisville never trailed in any of the three games. The Cards also got big efforts from Lola Arslanbeckova with 14 kills, Taylor Braunels' 40 assists and 29 digs from the combination of Caitlin Welch and Maci Wachtel. Louisville hit an outstanding .349 for the three games.

The Cards (17-6, 11-1) continue the road swing with a match at Marquette Friday night at 8 p.m.





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The University of Louisville rowing team finished the second day of the Head of the Hooch regatta by finishing second in the Women's Open 8+ event. The Cards had four boats entered in the field of 29 boats. Louisville's top squad finished behind winner Clemson in the 5,000 meter course with an impressive time of 16.06.6. The other Cardinal squads finished ninth, 19th and 22nd.




This event ended the fall training part of Louisville' season. The Cards will spend several months in training before opening the regular season against Dayton on March 5th., 2011.





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Tennessee is unhappy with a 50 point win in their exhibition basketball game? The Cards will face the Vols this Friday in the KFC YUM Center to kick off the regular season and it looks like Pat Summit is back to her old self. Sue Favor, of 'They're Playing Basketball', has posted up an interesting piece on the demands of the fiery Pat and her staff. You can access 'They're Playing Basketball' in our 'Sites We Recommend' column on the left side of CARDINAL COUPLE. The question is...how will Louisville fare against the UT squad that bowed out in the Round of Sixteen during the NCAA Tournament last year.




One thing Jeff Walz doesn't need to worry about is available bodies. 14 Cards dressed and participated in the Indiana Wesleyan win. Some things he might be thinking about, though...in our humble opinion might include:




-The best rotation out there. The freshmen looked awfully good at times and Shoni Schimmel can play at any pace or speed. Monique Reid showed that she can still fill up the bucket and Asia Taylor, despite the turnovers, is going to the boards with authority. So is freshman Sherrone Vails. Wouldn't surprise us at all to see 2 or 3 freshmen start against U.T.



Or, how about an all "S" lineup of Shoni, Sherrone, Shawnta, Shelby and Slaughter or Story?






-Avoiding the slow start. After the Cards jumped out 2-0 against I.W., it took over six minutes before the next UofL points. Such a gap in scoring Friday night will be lethal against a Vols team that easily topped the century mark last time out. Maybe it was the nervousness of the new arena. Let's hope the stage fright has passed.





-Get back, get back. The Cards showed good transition against I.W. but the Vols are considerably faster and looking to run with each rebound. The guards will have to be ready and can't get caught watching the paint dry on the handrails.

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The game is sold out. All 22,000 tickets gone. Angel's jersey ceremony will be at 6:45 p.m.

Field Hockey falls in the BIG EAST semis to UConn

SUNDAY EDITION OF C.C.

-Field Hockey falls to UConn

-Volleyball downs Pitt

-Rowing gets a second in Hooch

-Football Cards win at 'Cuse

-The "Big girl" misses by a head.

Lots of things going on Saturday to catch up on today. Pictured here, the belly dancers caught CARDINAL COUPLE'S attention at the Dos Equis hospitality tent in the Churchill Downs grandstands on Saturday Breeders Cup Day. Poor little thing must have been freezing out there...

Pam Bustin's TEAM CARDINAL Field Hockey squad lost 2-1 to #4 Connecticut on Connecticut's home field yesterday in the BIG EAST Field Hockey semifinals. The Cards trailed 2-0 at the half and despite a hard fought effort and being one player short, they fall and await to see if they'll be included in the 16 team NCAA Tournament. The Huskies got both their goals with less than 11 minutes remaining in the first half. Louisville scored in the second half when senior Tuli Lim took Hayley Turner's pass for Karah Nall and fired it into the net.

Louisville was hindered when senior Nicole Youman was penalized with a red card and ejected from the game. According to the rules of Field Hockey, no player could substitute for her and the Cards had to play 10 against 11 the rest of the match.

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Volleyball improved to 10-1 in the BIG EAST with a 3-1 road win over Pitt yesterday. Big for the Cards was Lola Arslanbeckova...with 20 kills...part of the Cards 58. Louisville won the games 25-18, 25-2, 18-2 and 25-19. Louisville got big games from Emily Juhl (10 kills) Taylor Brauneis (43 assists) Caitlin Welch (20 digs) and Amanda Simmons (six blocks).

The Cards had 21 kills in the final game of the match after losing the third game due to a weak .172 hitting percentage

A quick turn around for the Volley Cards, they travel to WVU for a Sunday match against the 'Eers at 2 p.m.

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Cardinal Rowers got a runner up finish in the Head of the Hooch meet in Chattanooga on Day One of the event. The 4+ team in the Women's Championship event lost to Texas by just three seconds over the 5,000 meter course. The Cards will have four entries in the Women's Open 8+ event today. The 8+ team in the Women's Championship event finished seventh to Texas.

Louisville had 10 boats entered in the various events yesterday. The Novice 4+ team finished 10th to Duke and the Women's Championship Double finished 12th out of 20.

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Congratulations to the University of Louisville Football Team in grabbing a 28-20 win on the road at Syracuse. No Froman, no Powell? No problem for Louisville, who got a 98 yard rushing effort and 2 TD's from freshman Jeremy Wright and two TD tosses from senior quarterback Justin Burke. The Cards hadn't won a BIG EAST road game in their previous 12 attempts.

The Cards got huge defensive efforts from Brandon Heath, Rodney Gnat and converted on a crucial 4th and inches late in the game to keep the ball out of Syracuse's hands.

Louisville goes to 5-4 with the win and will face the USF Bulls next Saturday in PJCS.

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ZENYATTA came flying down the Churchill Downs stretch yesterday but narrowly lost to BLAME by a head in the Breeders Cup Classic yesterday at the Twin Spires. Throngs of disappointed fans filed out in disbelief after the final race of the day.

CARDINAL COUPLE, although disappointed in "the Big Girl's" loss, couldn't cry too much...having hit a $1425 late .50 cent pick three. Down slightly on the day...WE pressed the "all" button in the ninth race, followed by DANGEROUS MIDGE, BEHKABAD and AL KHALI in the second leg and ZENYATTA, BLAME and FIRST DUDE in the final. The $54 wager left the pocket almost empty but it was filled nicely after the BLAME upset victory. Yes, we had to fill out the IRS form...WE also had the exacta and trifecta in the final race, a mere $30 investment there brought back a payout of $240 on the $1 boxes. WHEEEEEEEE!!!!!

On the day, our selections were pretty good. If you had put $2 across the board on each of our top 4 picks in all eight BREEDERS CUP races, you would have made a $8 profit. Of course...CARDINAL COUPLE didn't follow its own advice early and some foolish early Daily Double and Pick 4 selections left us a little in the "red" leading up to the 9th race. All's well that ends well...

We did see one of the most incredible runs we can remember in a long time from 2 year old colt UNCLE MO in the BREEDERS CUP JUVENILE. Trained by Todd Pletcher and under John Velazquez, he flew away from the other nine rivals at the top of the stretch and roared to a 4 length victory. He's my early Derby pick for next year. Stunning...