Do you guys remember that one time we were in C-USA...

And we were a bit mediocre in basketball and football for awhile in the late 90’s and early 00’s?

Then we hired Coach P.

A couple years later came Petrino.

And in basketball, do you remember we made it to the Final Four? We didn’t care about conferences then.

And in football we had good W-L records, went to some great bowl games and won, we had one of the nation’s best coaches (not the classiest, but had a great football mind), and we were considered a yearly top 25 program? Some of us wanted a better opponent here or there, but our football program was doing great and our teams were pretty great and entertaining to watch themselves.

But now that we’ve hit some of the lows, suddenly we care about what ESPN, The Times, The Post, etc. say we should think? We’re Louisville Cardinals fans. Let’s not sink to that.
We’re top 10 in basketball for the foreseeable future, and we’re (slowly, but with a great AND classy, lovable coach this time) on our way back up in football. Why do we suddenly care which schools we end up grouped with for the regular season? I seem to remember that with time, our program—under the brilliant guidance (I’m not saying perfection, but great guidance) of AD Tom Jurich—became a hot commodity among all of the NCAA, the great-by-CUSA-comparison Big East came calling, and Jurich led us through that transition, and all of the other changes (including coaches, etc.) that followed.
So let’s be true Cardinal fans, relax, and let Tom Jurich take the wheel without trying to yell from the backseat and without trying to grab ahold of it ourselves.
And in the meantime, let’s devote all of our energy to supporting every athletic team at UofL that we can, whenever we can, whether it’s sending a get-well card to AC, attending the women’s soccer BET home games this week and next, cheering at the top of your lungs in support when our young football Cards seem to struggle against a ‘lesser’ opponent, or screaming out loud with giddiness when PeyPey makes another adorable play (I’m looking at you, GCA).
The point is, we’re Cardinal fans, not NCAA, Big East, or even ULAA board members (at least 99% of us aren’t…Occupy ULAA?…I digress). Anyways, like I said, let’s not give the four-letter network or any of its media counterparts the attention they don’t deserve at all, and let’s be the devoted Cardinal fans that we all should be, letting the conference stuff shake out as it’s meant to be, since we don’t have a bit of control over it anyways. It will make the next few weeks/months/years much more enjoyable, and much more full of Cardinal spirit.
Get excited, because when you don’t care about what the media says, what the new fads are in college athletics (like realignment), what all the hype is about, you care so much more about supporting each individual on each team, and college athletics needs more of that. True fanhood, and here, true Cardinals.
So while the rest of the sporting world and the media create noise by catering to the ‘needs’ of the adolescent prima donna Universities who think conference realignment will really support their teams, I’ll be yelling one thing loud and clear to block out their noise…
GO CARDS!