The precious present

Sorry for the days off. I admit I've been slacking on blogging, but I haven't been slacking on excitement for these Cardinals. Like everyone else I've been absorbing the wealth of information from Media Day, the terrific videos made available at the CJ, and various commentaries on, what are those things called, oh yea, diligent sports blogs.

And I have more bad news, I'm taking the rest of this week off for my bachelor party. I won't tell you where or what, but it involves the Great White North, the house of a nun, and idiots from all over the country. Should be a unique weekend.

But I must survive it, because September 4th is creeping slowly upon us (and to get married and junk). Mr. Black did an excellent job in his 7-post series covering the past and future of Louisville football, who we are and where we're going. Starting Monday, however, we take stock of the precious present, and evaluate what kind of Cards we've been dealt this season.

Wish me luck. Go Cards.

The seventh critierion: Jurich

Note: this is the seventh and final post of seven interrelated posts on how Louisville can keep Charlie Strong.

Finally, there's our ace in the hole, our last resort, Strong's next door neighbor: Louisville Athletic Director Tom Jurich. The man who lured Pitino when the thought of such a move was perceived between lunacy and heresy. The architect of the football program's turnaround from the dark days of the Cooper era to the glories of the Orange Bowl. Who spearheaded the construction of the Trager Center and the stadium expansion. Who navigated the Cards into the BCS and, one way or another, will see to it that we stay there. And yes, the AD who brought John L. here but lost him, brought Bobby here but lost him, brought Kragthorpe here and... well, nobody's perfect.

The fact is, nobody is more responsible altogether for the successes or the letdowns of the past fifteen years of this football program than Tom Jurich. Though in this state basketball traditionally may be king, for Jurich football has always been the crown jewel of his tenure. It's his program. And so, the job of keeping Strong happy and optimistic and satisfied at Louisville ultimately is his.

Can he do it? By most accounts, Jurich is as persuasive and crafty an athletic director as they come. One school of thought is that a lesser AD would have lost Petrino to another school long before Jurich departed for the NFL (although I remember some awfully close calls). Regardless, if and when (even before) the offers from other schools arrive at Charlie Strong's doorstep, it should go without saying that Jurich will use every last ounce of his power to persuade him to keep wearing Louisville red (I assume that's why he always moves in these coaches next door to him in Lake Forest). I can't be certain if the overall odds are good enough to keep Strong here for good or not, but Jurich is the right guy to have manning that last line of defense.

******

So there you have it, the seven criteria needed to keep Charlie Strong at Louisville: title, recruiting, conference, hero, Louisville, facilities, and Jurich. Having spent these last several weeks in India agonizing over the above points (rather than learning language like I was supposed to... the State Department is going to be just thrilled with me), I now acknowledge what was known all along: the question of whether we keep Charlie is, quite obviously, at least as impossible to answer as it is premature. Coach Strong's desire to stay in Louisville will depend on any number of professional and personal factors no one can yet predict, not even Strong himself.

However, it is unmistakable that Charlie Strong's arrival at Louisville has brought with it a tidal wave of optimism with regard to our formerly beleaguered football program. During these summer days especially, as that first game of a new season and a new era finally inches into view, all things seem possible.

Defamation! Defamation!

UK fans, in their enduring affection for Calipari that they've long displayed for him throughout his career, relish nothing more than rallying the troops against any suggestion that Cal may play dirty pool.

The example du jour involves recruit Anthony Davis and a story in the Chicago Sun Times about $200K that his father may or may not have requested for his son's services. I really don't care a wit about the story and it's admittedly tenuous connection to UK. Don't get me wrong, I hate and suspect Cal, but I'll sit on my hands until something of substance can be produced against him. In this case, nothing doin'.

But I do care that our program has somehow, unfathomably, been drawn into the mix. Therefore, I care about Matt Jones' irresponsible post on the subject on KSR last night.

My problem with the post is that Jones is a hypocrite. He rails, rails against the media and its biases against UK. How dare the Sun-Times publish such accusations without verified source material?

Yet he has no compunction about raising the spectre that the original source of the story may in fact be some dastardly Pitino-Pat Forde plot, one proposed by his armchair-journalist commenters. Oh, Jones doesn't believe such rumors, that he makes clear, but he has a responsibility to his readers, one would assume, to respond to their theories. He suggests that there are alternative explanations, probably "more reasonable" than a Pitino-Forde conspiracy.

It's hypocrisy, plain and simple. He lambasts the the Sun-Times for recklessness, but has no problem elevating wild conspiracy theories (sourceless, obviously) by presenting them as even mildly plausible.

The point is, pick a hat and wear it. You cannot play serious journalist one moment and then opinion/entertainment writer the next.  You cannot cry foul over the sourceless accusations of one blog and then raise your own in the same post.

Or, you could I suppose, but then you'd be a big tool.

Trent Guy

The Charlotte Observer takes an extended look at the circumstances surrounding the shooting of former Louisville standout Trent Guy. It's well worth the read, there are facts in the article I hadn't known before.

Trent will always be remembered in Louisville for his toughness, for being one of the bright lights that carried us through a dark period of football, and let's face it, for the awesomeness of the nickname Trent "Almost Faster than a Speeding Bullet" Guy. He's turning heads in Panthers training camp and has put himself in good position to make the squad. Best of luck, Trent, you'll always have a lot of fans around here.