Boom:

Fans are encouraged to wear red to Louisville's nationally televised showdown with Kentucky on August 31 as the Cards will look to "Red Out the Wildcats" at 3:30 p.m. at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.

In advance of the event, Cardinal Fans are encouraged to support their local U of L retailers for game day merchandise for the game, which will be televised nationally by ESPN.

I'm pretty firmly entrenched on the "Black Out"/"Red Out"/"White Out"/"Long Shirt, Short Shorts Out" bandwagon, but I'm a bit more reticent in my support here, only because I fear that not enough people are going to get the message. In the past, these things have always been conducted during big games towards the end of the season, and there has always been ample time for the word to spread.

Let's face it, when it comes to season openers, fans usually aren't at the top of their game. I mean, I wore purple to the Murray State game last year. It was really embarrassing.

Still, one can't disregard the fact that we are 5-0 in games where this gimmick has been employed. And given that the importance of this year's Battle for the Governor's Cup seems to be growing more and more enormous by the day, I'm all for any sort of good karma that can be thrown into the mix.

So wear red on Aug. 31 or be super embarrassed for four quarters. Your call. Not sure why you're even considering the second option.