Wheat and Maybin to graduate, other UofL smatterings

In a story that's bound to make their mothers proud, former Cardinal greats Marquis Maybin and DeJuan Wheat will both earn diplomas from the University of Louisville this Saturday. How cool is that? It's so rewarding when you learn things about your heroes off the court that makes you admire them even more. Maybin's story in particular, whose paralyzing accident would have shattered a lesser person, is inspirational.

* CardChronicle provides a complilation of defensive highlights from last year's football team. For my money the highlight of the highlights is at the :45 second mark watching Anthony Conner absolutely blow up a screen during the UK game. I remember the play vividly, it was a "jump out of chair" moment for me. The guy was an absolute warrior on the field.

* Charlie Strong was named the #51st best coach in college football by The Sporting News. There's not a name on that list I'd trade him for.

* Power forward Montrezl Harrell has officially requested a release from Virginia Tech in the wake of Seth Greenburg's firing. If UofL gets in the mix, it's a safe bet to assume Rakeem Buckles will be finish rehab and his college career elsewhere.

* The Cards apparently really like like Nigerian born big man Moses Kingsley, according to Jody Demling. An African center with long arms, runs the floor well, and is obsessed with defense? I think it's safe to say Pitino has found "the mold" he wants in the middle.

* UofL softball skunked UConn in the Big East Championship Tournament today 8-0. New rule for the mercy-rule, the opposing coach must come out to home plate and do this over the loudspeaker.

On Matt Jones' interview with Joel Pett

There was an intriguing segment on Matt Jones' radio show today when he tussled with Lexington Herald Leader cartoonist Joel Pett who created an uproar after the publication of this image that may or may not have ushered in "The End of Days".

Before you ask, "Well, why you so obsessed blah blah blah", let's clarify a few things. One, I wish both fan bases, UofL and UK, could just go ahead and admit a certain amount of interest or "obsession", if you will, with the other. We're all up-in each other's business, period.

Whether motivated by hatred or boredom or whatever, I implore all parties to acknowledge that simple fact without having to go through the same old song and dance every time a fan comments on the other during the offseason.

Two, hate him all you want, I do often (fan hate, not hate-hate), but Matt Jones & Co. are here to stay and it's a reality Cards fans should be comfortable with, even when irked by, without feeling threatened.

It's an extra level of discourse, think of it that way. And I've come full-circle on Matt Jones and the lightning he's managed to bottle; hatred at first, hatred at second, then an appreciation for his talent third, hatred again fourth, and now as a somewhat harmless gadfly, a damn good radio host, a thin-skinned egotist, but one that helps create the 365-day drama that both UK and UofL fans relish in.

And that's what brings me to my last point, and my problem with the interview he did with Pett today. Jones' dagger, in his mind I think, was questioning Pett on whether he would feel guilty when/if Herald subscribers cancel because of his cartoon and one of his colleagues had to be fired as a result once all the numbers get crunched.

Pett, who in my opinion, defended himself well in a churlish way, said of course as a human he would perhaps feel bad in such a hypothetical scenario, but as a editorialist/satirist/cartoonist, he cannot allow such things to influence his daily (Pulitzer Prize awarded) work.

And Jones treated this as a huge gaffe. Which astounds me in its dishonesty, akin to Reverend Lovejoy's wife from "The Simpsons" pleading, "Won't someone please think of the children!".

Because Jones relies and depends and thrives on these kind of controversies; blowing oxygen onto otherwise small, normal fires, riling up the masses (the special kind that exist within all fan bases but UK seems to find itself defending more than most). To his great popularity and profit, he advances them.

So this particular attack seemed grossly unfair. Jones was suggesting that Pett should sleep uneasily at night for expressing this particular opinion in a cartoon. I don't agree with that at all. Especially in an editorial section, once opinions begin to be tailored to what or what may not be popular to readers, it ceases to be an editorial section. At least, if it's intellectually honest.

But intellectual honesty doesn't have a place in this particular discussion, according to Jones. If the Herald publishes a cartoon that is not received well (at his extra urging) then people may lose jobs. And the author of that should feel ashamed. Ipso facto, simple as that.

But if Pett should be wracked with anxiety over the hypothetical future unemployment of a colleague and the effect on his or her children, well, shouldn't Jones as well? He's the one using his pulpit (and increasing his own popularity/profit) by pointing his finger at this cartoon and subtly, often not sublty, puffing his chest as a better alternative, despite the fact the objectives of a newspaper and a fansite are miles apart.

Does he feel guilt about deliberately confusing the issue? By encouraging his followers to not distinguish between a newspaper and a fanzine?

And if he's not willing or courageous enough to use his influence to (stand up to/) help his followers understand that distinction, if Matt Jones can't remind human adults to grow up a little, that one can read and digest something without having a nervous breakdown if it doesn't jive with a worldview, and that newspapers may have a role and worth beyond solely how they "treat" UK sports, then I don't think Joel Pett should lose any more sleep tonight that Jones himself.

Train makes some noise

Yesterday College Football News released some preseason rankings with the Cards all the way up at #14, the highest in any poll I've seen. Here's what they had to say...

14. Louisville
(2011 Record: 7-6, 2012 Roughly Projected Record: 10-2)

The record will be better than the team, but the team will be really, really good, too. The defense that turned into such a powerhouse last year should be even better getting all four starters back in the secondary to go along with a loaded defensive front. Thanks to rising star QB Teddy Bridgewater, the offense should be fantastic with four starters returning to the line and a nice-looking receiving corps to work with. The schedule works out almost perfectly with Kentucky and North Carolina winnable non-conference home games and the one rough stretch of three straight road games against FIU, Southern Miss, and Pitt – with two weeks off before facing the Panthers – not that bad. Cincinnati and South Florida both have to come to Louisville, but going to Rutgers on a Thursday night to end the regular season just five days

Also, the Orlando Sentinel picked UofL as one of its "5 Teams That Will Surprise" in 2012. Here was its assessment...

Buzz: After back-to-back 7-6 seasons, Louisville appears ready to make the leap back to big time football in 2012. To do that, the Cardinals must hope for the continued development of superstar quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. Highly-touted, Bridgewater didn’t disappoint when he finally got his chance to play for the Cardinals. He quickly earned the starting nod and helped lead the team to a share of the Big East title. He finished the season throwing for 2,129 yards and 14 touchdowns, good enough to earn him Big East Freshman of the Year honors. As you would expect, the strength of Charlie Strong’s team was its defense. The Cardinals finished the season ranked 23rd in the nation in total defense and 10th in rushing defense. Strong and his staff will need to replace linebacker Dexter Heyman, who was the team’s leading tackler but look for cornerback Adrian Bushell and safety Hakeem Smith to play a big part this season. Their schedule opens with three straight at home including two huge games against rival Kentucky and North Carolina. Back-to-back-back road games at FIU, at Southern Miss and at Pittsburgh could play crucial rolls for this team’s success. With West Virginia no longer in the Big East and Cincinnati retooling, the time is right for Louisville to make a move in the conference.

Seems like a pretty good assessment, except perhaps for the need to put the Cards as a "surprise team" to begin with, because everywhere I turn most are predicting big things for this group. How to manage these expectations and keep his (still young) team grounded certainly must be at the forefront of Charlie Strong's mind each day.

Pitt and 'Cuse state their case

Not surprisingly, the fans with the least amount of sympathy for former Big East commissioner John Marinatto's forced resignation hale from Pitt and Syracuse, the two institutions that most pin blame on for duplicity and sending the Big East conference into turmoil.

Two pieces from outlets I read and respect (Pitt) here and (Syracuse) here both forcefully state a case against Marinatto, and both are worth a read.

I agree with points here and there within each, but by and large I think both come off as justifying its own, some may say shady, actions by creating a boogeyman that forced them onto a course of pure self-interest behind closed doors.

I think what bugs me most is that neither school seemed to earn what they perceived as a promotion. When UofL left C-USA, few doubted the athletic department had outgrown that conference in terms of ambitions and achievement. Same for TCU football that outgrew the Mountain West. Ditto for Boise State.

There should be an organic quality when a school seeks to move up the totem pole. And that didn't exactly ring true for either Pitt, a proud program but a famously uneven performer in the Big East, and certainly Syracuse, who struggled for years and years just to get out of the conference cellar.

So when your football accomplishments are meager, I find it difficult to swallow the "well, we were left with no other recourse" arguments. The fact remains that if solidarity held in a few key moments, then the Big East conference would have survived intact, and would have had as promising a future as each program is capable of producing for itself.

Didn't happen.

And that's OK, if that is indeed the way of the world. Like I said yesterday, there's a lot of game theory to the gamesmanship that transpired, some that the University of Louisville still has to engage in.

But I cringe at "tough talk" like this from the Syracuse piece...

     Oh, the Big East Presidents were mean? Tough s**t, you're the commissioner. Do your job.

     Being Big East commissioner is the toughest job in college sports? Guess what, he's making six figures (maybe more) to do it. I'm all cried out for Johnny.

     Being Big East commissioner is a thankless endeavor? Then don't do it. Let someone else who can do the job take over. No one is required to be Big East commissioner.

     Oh, the other conferences are pilfering your schools? Get bold and be proactive.

If only Marinatto & Co. had gotten hold of these arguments before:

"Get bold and be proactive? Why didn't we think of that?!? It's all so clear to me now. Get me Nick Saban on the phone, stat!".

I do hold a grudge, a slight one against Pitt and Cuse (I don't include WVU because I think they were indeed salvaging a future by then, just as UofL may be soon). But I won't demonize them, because in the context of an unprecedented conference realignment, they were navigating the landscape as best they could, in their minds.

But I'm also unmoved by attempts to demonize another as a way to justify their own sins.

Tuesday this and that

* Dana O'Neil of ESPN names the Cards as her basketball team with too much hype around it heading into next season. Here's her reasoning...

It may seem silly to question the early buzz on a team that is coming off a Final Four run (and perhaps it is), but I am still not all-in with Louisville. There are plenty of things I like about the Cardinals -- the fact the heart of the team is back, that Wayne Blackshear will be in the lineup from the opening tip, that Mike Marra returns from injury and above all else, their defensive tenacity.

Here’s the worry: the offense. Louisville struggled to score last season and with its best outside threat graduating in the form of Kyle Kuric, that doesn’t look to get any easier. I thought Luke Hancock, the George Mason transfer, might help ease that burden but the Cardinals appear to be carrying their injury bug from last season into the next.

Hancock injured his shoulder in a workout and will miss the next few months, according to Rick Pitino. He should return by the start of the season, but it’s still a significant blow for a team that already plans to be without Rakeem Buckles (still, again, pick your qualifier).

Louisville overachieved last year by miles to make it to the Final Four, and while this team certainly has reason to hope, I think it’s still a little premature to presume.

In my opinion this is a pretty fair critique. There are a lot of question marks. I am doing my best to temper my expectations, with football too, and hold on to hope of what each team can become, but also stay grounded as to the difficulties ahead.

There are a number of questions, but the "Overhyped or properly hyped?" discussion really boils down to one name, Wayne Blackshear, and how he will tip the scale (get it? Cause he's so fat). Though each has room to grow, Gorgui-Siva-Chane are fairly known quantities that will provide the foundation. Wayne is the player to take us to the next level. If he's as good as adverstised, if the glimpses we saw become a nightly norm for 30+ minutes, then we're ranked right where we should be.

* Tom Crean recently said that in negotiations for a revival of a UofL-IU series the two were "miles apart".  But now that the Hoosier's series with UK has gone the way of the dodo, now might be a time to close that gap. With the departure of some marquee programs from the Big East, the conference grind should not be so prohibitive of being more aggressive with nonconference scheduling.

I love the idea, and I hope Rick Pitino does too because right now, with emotions running raw from the Wildcat series cancellation, is the time to make something like this happen.

* As for Calipari and UK's motivations for ending the series by refusing the home-and-home arrangement, it's hard to wrap my brain around. I don't think UK is "chicken", as fun as it is to say. Because let's face it, they just won the title and have no reason to shirk playing anyone. They may not dominate a resurgent Hoosiers program like they did in the past, but I don't think UK is "scared" to play anyone. That's silly.

But I also don't believe the motivation is financial, as Matt Jones insists, though no doubt that will be the smokescreen and justification cited. UK basketball certainly is not and never will be struggling for cash and can certainly sacrifice a road game every other year in the name of tradition. To claim UK couldn't make the numbers work is equally silly.

So what is it? Honestly, I think the answer is simply the "because I can" mentality of John Calipari. At the pinnacle of his power and sway, I think Cal just kind of likes"doing stuff", rankling feathers, upsetting the established order and tradition because as he boasts, UK under his leadership "is a nontraditional program".

Because he knows that UK fans, despite any popularity of the rivalry and the emotions attached to it, will fall into line quickly once they receive their talking points with lots of emphasis on how UK is different and more elite and cannot be held to typical arrangements that dictated the past.

The effect on the Cardinals is two-fold. One, like I said above it may lead to a revival of the UL-IU game, which I would be thrilled about. Two, it likely ends any talk of UK seeking to cancel the Louisville game, a subject Cal also broached at one point in the past. He may be able to get away with cancelling one iconic rivalry, but even with his tremendous influence over his fans, two would be pushing it.

Must read

It's not like I'm sitting here shedding tears over John Marinatto's resignation, but I just became so sick of all the armchair commissioners out there that never addressed the notion of context, that I feel the need to pump this piece from CBS Sports that provides that in support of the embattled, former, Big East commish.

Like I wrote in the past, this situation will be studied by egghead "Game Theorists" for years (though my knowledge comes solely from "A Beautiful Mind"). There was really nothing to be done once some individual institutions (cough Pitt, Syracuse cough) stopped caring about the group and moved in their own perceived self-interest.

Of course, I'm cognizant that Louisville is now in that same position, with one foot in, one ready for the door, but I don't think this athletic department can be faulted now that it's gotten to this stage (I don't blame WVU either).

There were a few moments when, if solidarity held, if people were held to their word, that the Big East could have marched forward in fine shape. But once that first card wobbled, the whole house came tumbling down.

It's a study of human nature, not a study of John Marinatto incompetence.

Big East commish steps down/forced out/resigns/shamed publicly

In news that's not so surprising as it sounds, the commissioner of the Big East, John Marinatto, has resigned his position reportedly at the urging of a number of college presidents. His tenure (since 2009) is the shortest of any commish in conference history (to be fair there have only been two others).

Opinions on John Marinatto are not hard to come by. Many regard him as ineffectual, if not a buffoon, who dithered as the Big East conference was ravaged. Others defend him as one who tried to make the best of a realignment situation out of his control considering the Big East's position on the college football totem pole.

If I was forced to pick one camp, I suppose I'd put myself in the latter category, since I think realignment was unprecedented and largely out of his hands. One of my least favorite things was reading the snark whenever the conference added a new member, as if Marinatto was Neville Chamberlain because he couldn't woo Ohio State and Alabama to the Big East.

Still, bungling the TV contract negotiations last go around will likely go down as Marinatto's biggest failure that put the conference on its downward trajectory, and since it's that time again to enter into future contract talks, apparently many wanted a new sheriff in town when they sit down at the table.

Rick Pitino and Tom Jurich have been huge public supporters of Marinatto and have always defended his leadership. In a statement today, Jurich credited him for largely facilitating UofL's move to the Big East in the first place.

So it's unclear what this means for Louisville, though it's fair to assume the next commish will have a tough task meeting the Cardinal contingency and selling them on a future that doesn't include the Big 12.

As always with this neverending story, stay tuned. 

Derby 138: Winners and Losers

WINNER: The guy who succeeded in becoming a thorn in the side of those far-fundamentalist Christians that chastise the crowd by staging his own protest with a sign that read "LEGALIZE MIDGET PORN". He was quite popular; everyone wanted a snapshot of the guy exercising these First Amendment rights directly alongside those damning everyone to Hell. Well executed, Midget Porn Guy.

LOSER: Those that realized after entering they could have snuck in about 270% more alcohol than they did. It was the most lax security I've ever seen at a Derby. Apparently 9/11 is far enough in the rear mirror that guards are again comfortable ogling women instead of inspecting for contraband booze and umbrellas. At peak flow at Gate 3, literally no one was being searched. I was really kicking myself the first time I bought an $8 dollar beer.

WINNER: Bodemeister. Helluva performance from Baffert's horse, who ran as impressive a race as a colt can without wearing the roses. I don't know if you can really attribute human qualities like "ballsy" onto a horse, but if you can, Bodemeister's run was ballsy.

LOSER: Bodemeister's jockey. After watching the race on replay a few times, there's little doubt that Bodemeister was the best horse on Saturday. I know they tried to make nice about it afterwards, but I think the Bodemeister team blew it.

They had "THE" horse and he was ready. For the life of me I can't figure what jockey Mike Smith was thinking setting the blistering pace he did, even leaving frontrunners like Hansen and Trinniberg in the dust, when he had good break from the gate and no reason to (compared to Union Rags whose race was over 5-seconds after it began). It seems so dumb to try and buck history and conventional wisdom by going for a wire-to-wire victory. In a quality 20-horse field it's never going to happen.

It reminded me of "Arrested Devlopment" when the closeted Tobias suggests to Lindsay they repair their doomed marriage by trying an "open" relationship. He suggested it to his therapy patients in the past, and Lindsay asked, "Did it work for those people?"

"No, it never does. I mean, people delude themselves into thinking it might...But it might just work for us".

If I were a trainer this would be my first and only instruction to my jockey on Derby: If you're in the lead after 3/4ths mile, you're fired.

WINNER: Mary J. Blige, who crushed the national anthem, and did the near impossible of almost matching "My Old Kentucky Home" for goosebumps.

LOSER: The classy woman in the Paddock-area whose otherwise expensive Derby ensemble didn't include underwear, which she promptly proved to everyone while resting on the grass, too inebriated to remember her mother's lessons about sitting like a lady.

WINNERS: All the men within 25 feet of that area. Giggity.

LOSER: My buddy theHoff, who has made a killing in the past using the laws of supply and demand with rain ponchos. When it pours, you get a 1200% return on your investment. When it doesn't, you're stuck with a shit-load of ponchos.

WINNERS: Those that chose function over fashion selecting Derby clothes to battle the heat and humidity. I learned the hard way there is nothing classy about sweating through your nice fancy pastel dress shirt.

LOSER: The designer of the Churchill Downs renovation. Sorry, Dougie Downer here, but I just can't get past it. One of the best vistas in sport, the Twin Spires, overshadowed by a Scranton-like shopping mall. Damn shame.

WINNERS: The group of guys that made tee-shirts that read on front:

"Our buddy decided to stay home to spend more quality time with his girlfiend. Call him, text him, or email him to tell him what a loser he is at...."

...and then listed all of his personal contact information on the back. I sure hope that guy has unlimited texts, because crowds were gathering, phones were drawn; and he was getting blown up. Wait, no I don't.

LOSER: Hansen owner Dr. Kendall Hansen. There's nothing pimpin' about paying your assistants triple-overtime to dress like bimbos and shadow you around. You're not edgy, you're not the "bad boy" of horseracing. You're a douche.

And while we're at it, I'm going to throw I'll Have Another owner J. Reddam in here as well. Call me preachy if you wish, but it's hard to get all weepy in support of an owner who made his fortune operating a predatory loan company.

WINNER: Mario Gutierrez, the winning jockey who took his horse on a beautiful trip, effortlessly weaving through traffic, never forcing, saving his colt for the stretch. That did not look like a "fluke ride". I expect that was the beginning of a long and successful career from the young jockey.

LOSERS: The out-of-towners I sent in the complete opposite direction as they frantically tried to find their seats before the race. I don't know what it is about me, but I get approached all the time by out-of-towners and newbies for inside info about the track. Not purposefully, but I don't think I've once provided them with accurate information. That's my bad, guys.

WINNER: The Santa Fe Mexican restaurant. I'm a tad afraid of blowing my cover here, but I think this blog is low-profile enough to divulge my secret. The only way to spend an hour and a half post-Derby as the crowds rush by is at that pink Mexican restaurant off 3rd street. Amazingly, considering its garish exterior and the fact most track-goers are hungry enough to chew stop signs by then, this quality and authentic joint sits largely unnoticed.

Rather than languishing in traffic, I've been going for years now as part of a post-Derby ritual and I have always been seated immediately. And their large ground-beef suiza (for $5.75!) after a long day at the track tastes like manna dipped in ambrosia. I'm letting you in on this secret CL readers, but don't tell anyone else, least of all those bastards at CardChronicle.

LOSERS: Almost admirable in a way, I suppose, but the authors of the stream of C-A-T-S CATS! CATS! CATS! cheers echoing in the infield underpass and other places throughout the day. This is an area I wholly concede as a UofL fan, that sole devotion to a (non-original) cheer at random moments that have nothing to do with your team. Congrats on the accomplishment UK fans, a national title is awesome, I understand why you're feeling good. But seriously, every once in awhile it's okay to let down that guarded persona and try to behave like a normal person for a few hours.

WINNER: Horseracing. As pure sport, there are others that provide more action and, obviously, more human drama. But as an event, there is nothing that holds a candle to Derby, and nothing like the spectacle of horseracing. So much has been made about its demise in our collective American consciousness, so many eulogies written, that it is easy to write Derby off as a one-day anomaly.

I've thought that too, in the past, but for the first time in a long time, I'm beginning to sense a turnaround.

Here's a similar situation for simile. For many years the patron drink of the Commonwealth, bourbon, was described in much the same way as our patron sport (other the college basketball). Bourbon was passe, stuffy, stoic, a drink your grandfather had a bottle of in his cupboard but was rarely touched by anyone under the age of 25.

Now, as profit margins can attest, bourbon is one of the hottest alcohol products in the country. All ages cannot get enough of it; the craftsmenship, the tradition, the realness of it. The bourbon business is booming like never before. It's become cool again.

And so it should be. It is cool. The craftmenship is impressive, the subtelties of traditions are interesting, the taste unparalleled.

Just like a day spent at the track.

In a culture that's become so surface-sanitized, there is something refreshing about the gambling and the cigar smoke, the ripped-up tickets and the rubbing of shoulders between the patrician and the pathetic. When the rest of the world becomes sanitized, the unabashed unsanitariness of horseracing becomes a draw. And it is drawing again.

Call it a "Madmen" influence, call it a symptom of pop culture that's been running on confection sugar for too long, call it a concoction of my own (albeit still hungover) imagination; but I do detect an undercurrent from those seeking something more substantive.

This sport, this spectacle, as a way to spend an afternoon is getting buzz right now with younger generations. They may not be laying the heavy bets, but they're interested again. And that's huge.

I had extended family come to town for Derby this year from Milwaukee, and seeing my younger cousins, so precocious and cute, learning how odds work, the numbers of Win-Place-Show, was truly special.

Any Kentuckian worth his or her salt, I believe, carries a bit of an obligation to pass it along, or pay it forward, or to do whatever he or she can to ensure the future of Bluegrass horseracing.

I write this not as Democrat or Republican or Rent is Too Damn High-er, but as somone with nothing more at stake than to further the heritage spoken of above. Please contact House Speaker David Williams at any of these outlets with a brief testimonial on the importance of the horseracing tradition to our Commonwealth, and how his stance on casino slots at racetracks puts that future in jeopardy.