Louisville&nbsp;sports

NFL Hardline 2009 - Week 11
STATS Last Week -- straight-up: 10-5 67% against-the-spread: 8-7 53% Season Stats-- straight-up: 103-41 72% against-the-spread: 85-57-2 60% Week 11: Nov. 19, 22-23 Thursday, Nov. 19 Miami at Carolina (-3) 8:20p The Phins suffered a crushing blow last week in their narrow win over Tampa...that loss was RB Ronnie Brown, ... more

posted yesterday 41 views

by Naje
in The Hardline

The College Games - November 21
Louisville at South Florida (-11) --- Noon - 11-21-09 This is one of those games and one of those times when Cards fans have to be thinking, "Just when we think Kragthorpe will be gone, his team will find a way to win and thus keep him here longer than necessary." I know a lot of fans who are thinking that way. Let me allay your fears...or at least sympathize with you. Because I, too, think the Cards can win this game. Have you seen South Florida play? They're terrible, but they are a little faster than UofL. Should be a defensive struggle. I'll take the home team here, but the Cards will keep it close. South Florida 17 Louisville 13 Kentucky at Georgia (-9) --- 7:50p - 11-21-09 Dare I pick the upset? This Georgia team is not very good, folks. And if UK were ever going to beat the Dawgs, I'd say this year's as good as any. Hand off to Cobb; hand off to Locke. Repeat. That will keep the Cats in this game in the fourth quarter. The Cats are already bowl eligible and they'll go somewhere other than the Liberty Bowl or the Music City Bowl, but a win over UGA could propel them into a bigger bowl altogether. I wouldn't be surprised by a win, but I'm going to call it a close win for the home team here. Georgia 24 Kentucky 23 ... more

posted yesterday 60 views

by Naje
in The Hardline

Hoops' Demise in the SportsCenter Era

I've become convinced that the toughest opponent on any major college basketball coach's schedule isn't UNC, OSU, or UCLA. It's ESPN, especially the nightly SportsCenter show. It's the only TV program that has demonstrably altered the way a game is played and coached. Think about it. Of all the blue-chip ... more

posted yesterday 173 views

Department of Dumb Questions

The other night, 18-point underdog Miami of Ohio nearly beat the Kentucky Wildcats in basketball. The Cats were saved on a last-second shot by freshman sensation John Wall. Which sets up the post-game press conference by Miami coach Charlie Coles. He was asked by a Lexington reporter this question: "How ... more

posted Nov 18, 09 636 views

Coach K Wants to Stay
The writing is on the wall. Not that it wasn't already, but it's now even clearer that the likelihood of U of L football coach Steve Kragthorpe returning to coach next year is vanishingly small. “Until somebody tells me different, I plan on being here,” Kragthorpe said at his press ... more

posted Nov 17, 09 104 views

Night Moves

Churchill Downs has scheduled its own Final Four under the lights for next year. Not surprisingly, considering its monstrous popularity, the Downs has elected to continue its "Downs After Dark" nights at the track, picking the final four Fridays of the Spring meet and two nights in the Fall meet, ... more

posted Nov 17, 09 105 views

Recruiting Scams and Hype in Basketball's Bermuda Triangle

I've never paid much attention to the basketball recruiting services, which I consider to be little more than a scam. Anybody who knows anything about basketball always can pick out the really good prospects. When it comes to evaluating the others, I don't trust anybody who's egotistical enough to tell ... more

posted Nov 17, 09 168 views

No News is Good News at Arena

It sounds like they've run out of controversial things to talk about regarding construction of the downtown arena. With most media distracted and waiting around at the BOZA meeting this morning, the Arena Authority quietly held its monthly meeting to announce, well, nothing. Check that. Bill Hedge, the top exec ... more

posted Nov 16, 09 605 views

Wildcats Going Bowling! So are 67 Other Teams . . .

For the first time in school history, the Kentucky Wildcat football team is bowl-eligible a 4th year in a row. Impressive, in light of the previous record being held by Paul "Bear" Bryant-coached UK teams. But, at 6-4, and as likely underdogs in their remaining two games, these Wildcats may ... more

posted Nov 15, 09 134 views

by Jorge Pancho
in Jorge Pancho Writes Again!

The Next U of L Football Coach Should be...

At the time I met Turner Gill in 1995, he was the quarterbacks coach at Nebraska, then one of the nation's premier programs. He was in Louisville with Tommie Frazier, the Nebraska QB who had been selected as the winner of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, given to the ... more

posted Nov 13, 09 379 views 1 kudos

Keeping up the the Joneses: a first look at the new Rupp Arena?

Will construction on a new Rupp Arena tip off next year? Is this the start of a new Cold War, this time in Kentucky sports? This image of the proposed new Rupp Arena, from the wesbite of the London, England,-based firm of ISG , floating around the internet and setting ... more

posted Nov 12, 09 366 views 1 kudos

NFL Hardline 2009 - Week 10

STATS Last Week -- straight-up: 8-5 62% against-the-spread: 8-5 62% Season -- straight-up: 93-36 72% against-the-spread: 77-50-2 61% Week 10 - Nov. 12, 15/16 Thursday, Nov. 12 Chicago at San Francisco (-3) 8:20 Where's the Bears' defense? Where's the poise from QB Jay Cutler? What's happened to the preseason promises ... more

posted Nov 12, 09 136 views

by Naje
in The Hardline

The College Games - Nov. 14

Syracuse at Louisville - Noon - 11/14/09 The Cards are desperate for any good news... I think Syracuse coming to town qualifies as good news. Watch the Cards put together a solid game against a beat-up, beat-down and just plain "beat" Syracuse team. Louisville 24 Syracuse 21 Kentucky at Vanderbilt ... more

posted Nov 12, 09 131 views

by Naje
in The Hardline

Louisville's Pro Arena Soccer Team to Kick Off Inaugural Season

Pro Soccer is back in Possibility City. The Louisville Lightning , Louisville's professional indoor soccer team, is set to kick off its inaugural season Friday. The team's made up mostly of former local players - from schools like Ballard, Manual, St. X, Trinity, U of L, Bellarmine, Centre and Transy ... more

posted Nov 10, 09 334 views

The Barefoot Coach, Pt. I

He is somewhere overseas, deep in the heart of an economically poor nation. For hours, he has been standing in the back of a truck, handing out shoes to kids with wide eyes and raggedy clothes. The kids have never had shoes, much less brand-new ones. They aren't sure what ... more

posted Nov 9, 09 231 views

The Barefoot Coach, Pt. II

Without Hill, the Jags struggled to a 16-14 record last season. But then they went overseas again, taking 20,000 pairs of shoes to Nigeria even though Hunter couldn't go with them. Laid up by surgery for a herniated disc, the coach nevertheless worked the phones from his bed, trying to ... more

posted Nov 9, 09 191 views

Toppers Fire Their Coach

Western Kentucky has fired football coach David Elson. The school, in its first season as a Division I football school, is 0-9 and just lost its Homecoming Game, 40-20, against Troy. According to ESPN's Pat Forde , the decision to fire Elson was made Sunday night. He'll stay on and ... more

posted Nov 9, 09 545 views

A Script Jurich May Use Soon

In the near future, U of L President James Ramsey and A.D. Tom Jurich and would do well to memorize the following statements made by Western A.D. Wood Selig and President Dr. Gary Ransdell today: Selig's statement: "We want to make it clear that we don't believe our struggles are ... more

posted Nov 9, 09 823 views