Big Joe Manley to the Cards

One of the best prospects in the state, Joe Manley out of Bowling Green, commited to Louisville today. The 6'7'', 320 pound behemoth is the fourth commitment to the 2012 class this week.

Add him to the recent commitment of DeAndre Herron, and Charlie Strong has added about 645lbs of beef to the 2012 offensive line in a little over 72 hours.

Welcome aboard big fella, please don't sink the boat.

Gulp. It's impossible, isn't it? It's gotta be. Right? It can't happen again. Can it? No, not again, what am I saying?

Wayne Blackshear and Kevin Ware will not be going on the Bahamas trip with the rest of the team, still finishing up coursework to become academically eligible in the fall. Paper bags work well for hyperventilation, and if the impossible becomes possible, you can certainly wear them on your head.

Agreed: U of L-UK should take place on any day but New Year's

I gotta join the chorus of disapproval following the announcement that the U of L-UK basketball game again will be held on New Year's Eve. As said at Card Chronicle, U of L-UK is as much a holiday in this state as any day of the year. Pity to waste that by placing it on, you know, an actual holiday, particularly one as involving as New Year's. And as Card Game pointed out, should Charlie Strong be as successful in his second season as he was in his first, we might once again have to deal with the possibility of a Louisville bowl game played on the same day as the most important basketball event of the year. Even if we could avoid that prospect by accepting a bowl bid on any day but New Year's Eve, I don't believe that yearly discussions about how the Louisville fan base ultimately favors basketball more than football is the best way to convince Charlie Strong to make Louisville his permanent location.

For my own part, I've been dead against having the game on New Year's easily since last year's fiasco (allow Mr. Red's harrowing account to remind you of the agony), and I think that's the case whether we win or lose. Here's my sample experience: though I was, well, "existent" enough -- "fortunate" seems the wrong word -- to attend last year's noon-time confrontation, before tipoff I promised myself not to allow whatever was about to happen to engross me in negativity the rest of the day and ruin our plans for afterward (not an easy promise to keep for a blogger on any given day, much less this one).

Despite watching the beatdown that followed -- the site of our arch-enemy bruising and bullying us making its permanent impression -- I was with great effort able to put it behind me once the game ended, and moved on to the evening's celebrations in adequate spirits. It helped that I didn't end up buying that U of L tux to wear all day. But after the game, more than anything, more than disappointment or contempt, I just felt exhausted. That's the way it should feel following the Battle of the Bluegrass, but it's a rotten way to head into New Year's.

And I pity the poor U of L couple sitting behind us (in their U of L tuxes no less!), who were so wasted and angry by game's end (I will forever remember them standing on their chairs and cursing every fan, U of L or UK, as they passed) that their New Year's Eve almost certainly must have ended by 4.

Jay Bilas trying to beat at least one Purvis

Having expressed dismay over Rodney Purvis' prolific and imbecilic twitter account before, I perhaps owe him an apology. Because now I'm completely awestruck by the twitter disabilities of Jay Bilas.

Yes, that Jay Bilas. The grown-ass man, Jay Bilas. The one who apparently spends his off-seasons pouring over his I-phone, giggling to himself considerably, and sending out tweets in rapid succession. He's even twitter outpacing the former Cardinal commit, that emotional and perhaps unbalanced lothario, Rodney Purvis.

I must admit, at first I found Bilas' twitter "cleverness" and honesty to be a breath of fresh air. But man, very quickly, Jay Bilas can grate on you worse than a Yugoslavian condom. And as our eight loyal readers know (we picked up one), when Mr. Red gets mad, Mr. Red gets cussy. So the sensitive amongst you better click out here...

I hate Jay Bilas. Let me re-phrase; I hate Jay Bilas' philosophy on college athletics, the one he seems to think he espouses so cleverly via his twitter account.

I dislike Bilas in the same way I once disliked that kid in my sophomore philosophy class, the one that had spent his summer reading about libertarianism, and would expound to the class next autumn on why DUI laws are an affront to human liberty. At that time in my youth, I hadn't done enough homework to offer a better rebuttal beyond avoiding eye contact with the professor, slightly shaking my head, and gaping my mouth like a goldfish sans water.

I'm older now, I still haven't done my homework, and I still am intellectually gaping my mouth like a goldfish sans water. But I am still adept at spotting pretentious douchebags. And Jay Bilas fits.

Like all sophists, Bilas sends out half-bits and nuggets, dressed up with his brand of humor, trying to appeal to emotion. Not a single point is followed through to its logical conclusion.

College athletes deserve to be paid, according to Bilas, commensurate with the endless, Scrooge McDuck mullah the NCAA is currently swimming in. I mean, geez, the math is simple. NCAA programs make money, the athletes don't see any of that cash (beyond scholarship, books, meal plan, stipends). And that's a travesty! So let's pay the poor kids for heaven's sake!

The logic works in 140 characters or less much better than the follow-through.

I mean, why stop at college? High school athletics is huge business too, how much money did the St. X-Trinity game make last season? How many dollars do the high school athletes make for their schools? Said athletes can legally drop out of high school at the age of 16. Any second of their services beyond that should be on the clock, right?

I hope this sounds ridiculous, and if not, well, fuck off. The point is, both Jay Bilas and the douche in my sophomore philosophy class share similar traits. It's as if they both woke up one morning and were shocked, SHOCKED that there are arbitrary dividing lines that separate things in our society.

Does anyone watch Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel? The difference between extreme wealth from a pot of crab-gold, and having to throw back the lot of them is often a centimeter of age-growth. Even those grizzled guys without a Duke education can understand the reason for rules and lines, that those demarcations are better for their livelihood as a whole.

It's the same reason the sexiness of Emma Watson or Miley Cyrus must be descried when they are 17 years old, but then the second they turn 18, the world can turn on the ogle-glasses full-bore. Does it make sense? Did Miley get any hotter between her 17th year and  364th day on earth and that of 17th and 366th? No, of course not. But it's a dividing line. The examples are endless, you drink 2 beers during the game, and if you get pulled over on the way home, no sweat. But 3 or 4, it's trouble. Existentially, morally, is it much different? Perhaps not. But it's different. It has to be. There has to be a line.

So no Jay, I don't believe college athletes should be paid and universities entrusted to self-enforce the rules. And to not pay them more than the considerable reimbursements they receive now is no more immoral than arresting someone with a .08 blood alcohol level and not one with .07.

The fact that the NCAA cannot spot and punish every rulebreaker immediately and equally, that's not a valid argument for saying the rules should be abolished (nor should it give anyone confidence in the schools to "self-police"). Unless you're charmed by arguments that take place in 140 characters or less, it's a road towards destroying what so many love so much.

Coach Pitino types LOL

And other fascinating bits on his blog.

Like Gorgui gettin' towards 'Merica weight, Bullet retreating to the mountains to get country strong, Kuric spending his summer on the job and other good news abounds. Cards are waiting for Kevin Ware and Wayne Blackshear to finish up coursework before joining their teammates.

This is going to be a fun season.

Big time corner picks the Cards

Devontre Parnell, four-star cornerback out of South Carolina committed to UofL today. His final two choices of college were UofL and UK.

So why would a big time stud, faced with these two choices, pick the program that has lost four straight to its intrastate rival? My guess is that Parnell knows his Bob Dylan: "You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing".

Something special is happening. Have I said that before?

At print, Matt Jones of KSR fame is currently polishing his thesis on why UK is forever fated for mediocrity because our state has not the "recruiting fields" necessary for gridiron greatness.

UofL fans, meanwhile, are reaching for the stars once again. Perhaps foolishly, perhaps not, but it's what makes life worth living.

Welcome aboard, Devontre. You won't regret it.

Daniel Boone, the man the myth the legend

Priceless.