A Card Chronicle Exclusive: Art Carmody graced us with an update on how he's doing. I just asked him for a quick summary for the fans, but he took it a step further...

About CC: "I can't stress enough how great of a website it is. You guys do a hell of job and I really enjoy reading it. It might be the best website ever made and I would politely ask anyone to prove me wrong."

On life in the South: "Things are going great down here in Shreveport, I am currently working for Chase Bank and playing AF2 football for the Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings (still trying to figure out why we combined two cities for the name, there has got to be some sort of political reason behind it or something). I love to kick so choosing to play AF2 ball while starting a career (hopefully) at Chase has been a lot of fun."

On why The Man keeps holding him down:  "I haven't had any NFL looks since last summer with Tampa Bay. It was frustrating but that is just how it is. My lack of kickoff leg strength was the big reason why I haven't had any looks. I had a lot of interest from AFL teams before the league folded this past December and had interest from Edmonton in the CFL until they re-signed their veteran kicker."

And more love to CC: "Card Chronicle has never let down Cardinal fans...Take care and best of luck with everything.

- Art Carmody

P.S. Also, please send my best to Mike Rutherford, I would like to shake his hand one day. Thanks."

So this proves CC isn't just perused by the "Joe Plumbers" of the world, but also by Groza award-winning kickers. Mike should just about be running pantless at work now after reading Art's last line.

Former U of L and Male High football star Montrell Jones is one of 12 football players who will be featured on the new Spike reality show "4th and Long."

The show, which stars Michael Irvin, features a dozen ex-college stars - six wide receivers and six defensive back - competing for one spot on the Dallas Cowboys' 80-man training roster. A player will be cut each week before the last man standing gets his big shot at the NFL.

The show debuts at 10 p.m. on Monday, May 18.

Here's a preview clip of the show courtesy of Spike:

Best of luck to Montrell.

Louisville's losing Tylers like...like...like...McGrady loses playoff series'? Damnit.

I guess this is understandable, seeing as how Wolfe appeared to be lagging behind both Burke and Froman and was unlikely to garner playing time over a younger and perhaps more talented kid like Stoudt.

"I'm sorry to see Tyler leave our program," Steve Kragthorpe told The Courier-Journal. "He is a solid person and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors."

According to the C-J, Wolfe is likely to transfer to a Division 1-AA school so that he can play immediately.

Best of luck Tyler, I'll always remember you for jumping on the bird and looking surprisingly intimidating in the wake of the '06 Miami win.

The weather is awesome, it's Louisville football, you're allowed to drink, you're allowed to yell, let's do it.

1. The quarterback battle

It's apparently Froman v. Burke at this point, but the relative lack of enthusiasm over either leads me to believe that Wolfe and Stoudt still have more than a puncher's chance if they perform well tonight and step things up in a big way when fall camp starts.

This is a difficult situation for the offensive staff, because if you're going with Froman you basically have to decide now in order to re-work the offense so that it's conducive to a run-first quarterback. If it's Burke, then you probably still work in some special plays for Froman, but you don't have to completely revamp things.

It will be quite interesting to see how this plays out.

2. Darius Ashley

He's got the same buzz Vic had 12 months ago, now it's time to see whether or not he can come close to living up to it in the manner that Anderson did. If he does and Bilal Powell doesn't look like he's made big strides in the offseason, then it could mean even more of a reduced role for my man.

3. The offensive line

Louisville's offensive front five has been a positive even in these last two years, but replacing Eric Wood and George Bussey might be the biggest hurdle the unit has had to overcome in quite some time. With the quarterback being live, how well or poorly the o-line is playing should be easily apparent.

4. Josh Chichester

With Scott Long not participating, tonight is a wonderful opportunity for Josh Chichester to show he's ready to be a lethal deep threat. Doug Beaumont is still likely to have more balls thrown his way than any other Cardinal wideout, but there's no doubt that Chichester will get at least a couple of opportunities to make some plays downfield.

5. The secondary

They didn't exactly end the season on a high point, and they're still without Johnny Patrick, but here's hoping the unit gives us a reason to be optimistic.

6. The placekickers

Field goal kicking took a titanic dip in the post-Arthur Carmody world, so someone drilling a couple from more than 30-yards out tonight would be nice.

7. Organization

The U of L football team has appeared discombobulated throughout the Steve Kragthorpe era, so seeing players consistently lined up in the right spots and knowing how to run the play in question has the potential to be the most positive thing to come out of this evening.

Here's the new scoring system for tomorrow night's Red-White game, which will kickoff at 7:30 p.m.:

Offense
TD: 6pts
Pat: 1 pt.
FG: 3 pts.

Defense
Stop: 2 pts
3 and out: 3 pts.
4th Down Stop: 3 pts.
Turnover returned for TD: 7 pts.

No Kickoffs. No punts.

A new series will be started after a TD, a FG, a turnover, or when the offense is stopped on downs or forced into a 4th down punting situation.

And here's U of L's full list of events for the day:

3:00 p.m.  - Parking lots open
5:30 p.m. -  Gates open, Streetfest opens
5:45 p.m. - Youth Football Clinic-Indoor Trager (admission free) Former and current U of L players conducting clinic
6:30-7:15 p.m. - National Champion runner Ups-WBB team to sign autographs at Streetfest
7:10 p.m.  - Celebrity 7vs.7 on the field
7:30 p.m. - Spring game

First 500 fans receive t-shirts compliments of Class Act (Gates 4,5 & 9)
First 1,000 fans receive free pizza compliments of Papa Johns (Gates 4, 5 & 9 Poster/roster cards available for a 1.00 donation to Dave Thomas Adoption Fund

Lineup for 7 vs. 7 Game:

Mike Flores
Rasheed Holman
Antoine Simms
JT Haskins
Jason Hillard
Dave Ragone
Tom Andrews
Mike Josiah
Josh Minkins
Travis Leffew
Chris Leeter
O.J. Oleka
Andre McGee
Drew Deener 
Tony Vanetti
Kyle Draper
Sara Nord
Amy Send
Jeff Walz

Wow. Sad to hear that Todd Flannery was busy.

There's zero doubt in my mind that this field of celebrities is among the five worst in the history of celebrity events. If there are more than ten people in attendance who know who half of the people on that list are, I'll be amazed.

This is how it starts.

On Monday, Louisville head football coach Steve Kragthorpe made the announcement that offensive coordinator Jeff Brohm would be leaving the staff and that Kragthorpe himself would be taking over the play-calling duties in 2009.

Brohm wasn't technically fired, he was offered "non-coaching role" with the program, an offer the man Nick Saban had wanted to call his plays at Alabama politely declined. Instead, Brohm will direct the quarterbacks under former Cardinal head coach Howard Schnellenberger at Florida Atlantic.

You often hear that the Brohm family is Louisville football, but I think it's more appropriate to say that the Brohm family represents success for a program that has been known more for failure over the course of its existence.

Jeff Brohm's story of Cardinal football success might be the most complete.

As an 18-year-old, the eventual Kentucky High School Football Player of the Decade for the 1980s spurned scholarship offers from Notre Dame and USC to stay home and try and help build a winning tradition at the place where his father once took snaps. Brohm served as a backup on the 1990 team that won the Fiesta Bowl before starring as a three-year starter and capturing team MVP honors in 1992 and 1993.

Jeff solidified his status as a Louisville football legend by leading the Cards to a Liberty Bowl victory over Michigan State, despite playing the game with two steel pins and one steel plate in the index finger of his throwing hand. He would later find even more success as U of L's quarterback coach, helping his little brother, Brian, win an Orange Bowl and guide Louisville to an 11-1 record and the most successful season in program history.

If the Cardinal football program were a piece of literature being studied by a high school English class, this is the part where the teacher would explain to the students the symbolism of Brohm's duties being overtaken by Kragthorpe, a man who would likely represent the parallel downfall of the American economy, or something of the like.

I'm not here to speculate on why or how this happened - because aside from broad, simple generalizations, I really don't have a clue - I'm just here to state the obvious fact most of us would rather ignore: the Louisville football program under the direction of Steve Kragthorpe is an abomination. It's a luxury ship headed straight for an iceberg, and it's being captained by a man who won't stop talking about how the iceberg got where it is and why it might move, because he has no idea how to turn the wheel to the left.

The sheer calamity that has been the last 25 months is mind-boggling when you try to take it in at once.

Since Steve Kragthorpe took over in January of 2007, 20 players have left the program for reasons other than graduation or career-ending medical conditions.

The list of defectees, at last check, looks like this:

Lamar Myles (declared for NFL draft)
Mario Urrutia (declared for NFL draft)
Lamar Alston (dismissed)
Rod Council (dismissed)
Marcus Gordon (transferred)
Jonathan Holston (dismissed)
JaJuan Spillman (dismissed)
George Stripling (dismissed)
Willie Williams (dismissed)
Anthony Allen (transfer)
Jeremy Baker (transfer)
Aundre Henderson (quit)
Tyler Wimsatt (dismissed)
Craig James (quit)
Dale Martin (transferred)
James McKinney (dismissed)
Josh Miller (transferred)
C.J. Millenbaugh (transferred)
Matt Simms (transferred)
Latarrius Thomas (transferred)

Over that same time span, Kragthorpe has lost or sent packing 12 assistant coaches.

That list includes:

Charlie Stubbs
Jeff Brohm
Tony Alford
Mike Cassity
Keith Patterson
Reggie Johnson
Mike Nelson
Mike Mallory
Ron English
Ted Roof
Bill Miller
Eric Lewis

In his brief tenure, Kragthorpe has fired two offensive coordinators and a defensive coordinator, and has seen another pair of defensive coordinators accept positions elsewhere. Generally, the firing of a major coordinator hints at a desperate head coach. The firing of three major coordinators and the departure of two more all in just two seasons hints at things I don't even want to begin to think about.

Of course, this would all be forgiven and treated as a non-issue if the team were winning.

It isn't.

Kragthorpe walked into a program which had won 68 games in the last seven seasons, been to nine straight bowl games, finished sixth in the nation in 2004 and 2006, and was returning 17 starters and an All-American quarterback from a team that had just gone 12-1 and won the Orange Bowl. Under his watch, the Cardinals have won 11 games and lost 13, failed to make a postseason appearance, compiled a record of 4-10 in the Big East, and gone a combined 0-6 against the once-dominated trio of Kentucky, Connecticut and Syracuse.

When Louisville fails to win five games in 2009 - which it will - it will be the first time the program has produced less wins than the year before in three consecutive seasons since the 1973-1975 stretch. I wasn't there, but I hear Cardinal football wasn't exactly booming back then.

The facts are painful enough, but watching and listening to a man who is so clearly flailing in the water without a life jacket is excruciating.

You can't say you're accepting full blame in one breath and then talk about lack of defensive depth and character issues left behind by the previous administration in the next. Expressing your devotion to giving an offensive coordinator free reign is nullified when you admit that you felt the need to call 20% of the plays during the previous season. And dancing around questions and speaking in tired cliches is no way to win over a fan base grown accustomed to more wins than losses.

And that's basically what this all boils down to, Steve Kragthorpe has lost more than he's won in nearly every major facet of his job: games, fans, trust, in-state recruits, out-of-state recruits, etc.

The worst part about all of this is that it's not going to be fixed any time soon. "Louisville football" won't elicit the old images of top 15 preseason rankings, conference championships and home field dominance until all of our lives are significantly different.

The tailgating will still be fun, we'll all cheer like hell for the guys wearing our colors, and eventually we'll celebrate our return to a minor bowl game with a funny name with all the unspoiled vigor we did in 1999, but in the back of our minds we'll all know that it didn't have to be like this. We'll all know that there was no excuse for a fall from grace this sudden and this absolute.

I'm aware that talking about this will do nothing to remedy the situation, but neither will ignoring or denying it. The fact of the matter is that the Louisville football program is bad and getting worse, and there's no acceptable reason for why that's the case.

Coming to grips with that isn't fun, but it's healthy.

There hasn't been, to my knowledge, a formal announcement from U of L, but according to the Indiana State athletic website the Sycamores will be traveling to Papa John's Cardinal Stadium for a game on Sept. 5.

Indiana State joins Kentucky, Utah, Florida International and Southern Mississippi as non-conference opponents on the 2009 Louisville football schedule.

The Sycamores went 0-12 a season ago, and lost to the two Division I-A teams they played (Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois) by a combined total of 100-3.

Expect the Steve Kragthorpe offense to pull out all the stops. Off-tackle runs on obvious running downs, crazy middle screens on 3rd and long, six-yard hooks, all of it, baby.

Brace yourself, Sycamore fan.

Steve Kragthorpe will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. today to address staff changes within the U of L football program.

The Courier-Journal will stream the press conference, which you can watch right here.

I think the safest bet of the day is that an announcement will be made regard-WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!?! HAVEN'T YOU DONE ENOUGH ALREADY?!?! ALL I WANT TO DO RIGHT NOW IS ENJOY BASKETBALL SEASON. IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ON NOTRE DAME'S SLIDE OR WHAT THE CARDS CAN DO TO SLOW DOWN LUKE HARANGODY, I'M NOT LISTENING. 

Apologies, it just...came out.