Dearest Chronicloids,

It hasn't been difficult to notice the decrease in activity around these parts since the day the music died inside Lucas Oil Stadium. The sad truth is that I simply no longer have the time to maintain this site in the manner that I'd like to.

That being the case, I've decided to take the first step in getting over myself and have enlisted the help of CardsFan922, DocCards Fan and UL is my hot hot sex to up the production and quality of the site.

I'm still going to be here and tossing the word awesome around far too frequently, but the front page will no longer be muah-exclusive.

Tears are OK.

--Mike

The 17th ranked Louisville softball team has been selected as one of the 16 regional hosts for the 2009 NCAA Tournament. It's the first time U of L has been selected as a regional host.

"We're very excited to be hosting at home in our sixth NCAA appearance," said U of L head coach Sandy Pearsall. "It is really a treat for us to be able to play at home in front of our fans. This is a great regional with Arizona and UT Martin and a wonderful opportunity for the city of Louisville to come out and see some great college softball in a history-making NCAA regional for us."

That's the good news. The bad news is that one of the three teams coming to town is perennial powerhouse and No. 9 overall seed Arizona.

Play begins Friday at 4 p.m. when the Wildcats face Tennessee-Martin, and then continues at 6 when the Cardinals take on Purdue. The regional is double-elimination.

Ticket information from U of L:

Ticket prices
Berm
$7 - Single Session
$20 - All Tournament

Reserved
$10 - single session
$25 All-Tournament Pass

Students with ID
$5 single session
$15 - All-Tournament Pass

Please call 502-852-5151 for tickets.

You know you've entered the dreaded dead period of sports in Louisville when you go to the C-J online and see a Bats loss as the top story.

Pretty sweet Pitino excerpt from a Malcolm Gladwell piece via Eric Crawford.

"I have so many coaches come in every year to learn the press," Pitino said. Louisville was the Mecca for all those Davids trying to learn how to beat Goliaths. "Then they e-mail me. They tell me they can't do it. They don't know if they have the bench. They don't know if the players can last." Pitino shook his head. "We practice every day for two hours straight," he went on. "The players are moving almost ninety-eight per cent of the practice. We spend very little time talking. When we make our corrections"-- that is, when Pitino and his coaches stop play to give instruction -- "they are seven-second corrections, so that our heart rate never rests. We are always working." Seven seconds! The coaches who came to Louisville sat in the stands and watched that ceaseless activity and despaired. The prospect of playing by David's rules was too daunting. They would rather lose.

This morning's AP story on Jeremy Tyler is fairly forgettable, with the exception of this exchange.

The biggest knock against Tyler's decision, of course, is that he's walking away from his education.

"But this ain't 1950," his father said. "I mean, everything is online."

Ain't 1950, indeed.

After taking a pair of games in a rain-shortened series with Villanova over the weekend, the Cardinal Nine return to action tonight at 6 p.m., hosting Ohio State. The Cards need all the non-con wins they can scrape together at this point.

Is Steve Kragthorpe a victim of coaching celebrity? No, no he's not.

The U of L men's golf team in a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Regionals, which begin in Bowling Green today.

The biggest news of the weekend was former center Eric Wood charging up the NFL draft board to be selected by the Bills at pick No. 28.  With Buffalo's offensive line woes, Eric might be walking into a situation where playing time is readily available right off the bat. No one worked harder to put themselves in that position.

The only other former Card to hear his name called was George Bussey, who went to the Patriots in the fifth round at pick No. 170. Congrats to the pride of Western High.

As of this morning, three former Cardinals had signed free agent contracts: Hunter Cantwell with the Panthers, Chris Vaughn with the Saints and Brock Bolen with the Jaguars.

Not a great weekend for the Cardinal Nine, which dropped two of three to Notre Dame in a weekend series at Jim Patterson. U of L, which gets a second crack at Kentucky tomorrow night in Lexington, is currently tied for second place in the Big East.

Big breaking Derby news this morning as potential favorite Quality Road is out because of the quarter crack on his right hind foot that developed last week.

Voices from all over the country are chiming in with their thoughts on the Jeremy Tyler situation. Here's Pete Thamel's take.

And finally, my thoughts are with the friends and family of Greg Page, the former heavyweight champ from Louisville who passed away this morning.

I've spent the past 24 years successfully abstaining from most popular fads - Facebook, MySpace, reading - but Twitter has pulled me in harder than anything since NBA team-specific jogging suits in '94.

So become a follower of Card Chronicle's Twitter page for updates on new posts and various other links, thoughts and status updates from your boy (me). And if you get drunk enough, please, by all means, feel free to tweet me.

I'm still getting acclimated with the nomenclature, but it sounds great.

I shall refrain from additional comment.

Via Deadspin.

Baseball

The Cardinal Nine fell to Kentucky 8-7 on Tuesday night, marking the third straight game in the series that has been decided by a single run. U of L led by two heading into the eighth but surrendered three runs in that inning and another in the ninth.

At 24-10 and 8-4 in the Big East, Louisville, thought to be a legitimate national title contender before the season, might be looking at having to win a second straight Big East Tournament in order to advance to the NCAA Tournament for a third straight year. The Cards currently sit tied for third in a down Big East conference, and are just 4-7 away from Jim Patterson Stadium.

The good news is that both Chris Dominguez and Justin Marks are still wearing Cardinal red, and that Dan McDonnell's teams have closed strong in each of his first two seasons at U of L.

Louisville begins a three-game series with Rutgers tomorrow at 3 p.m.

Football

--With the Spring Game just a day away (has there ever been less talk about a U of L Spring Game?), the quarterback battle has reportedly become a two-horse race between N.C. State transfer Justin Burke and JuCo transfer Adam Froman. Though each and every candidate has apparently struggled mightily with the deep ball throughout spring practice, the coaching staff reportedly have given the edge to Froman because of his speed and Burke because of his experience and intelligence.

--Darius Ashley's play is generating a lot of the same buzz we heard about Victor Anderson a year ago.

--Speedy Jacques Caldwell has been moved from wide receiver to corner and has been working with the first team since Johnny Patrick went down with an ankle injury.

--Card Chronicle favorite Rock Keys has made the switch from tight end to defensive line.

--Steve Kragthorpe's seat is hot.

Basketball

--Earl Clark has selected Blue Entertainment Sports Television NBA player agents Dan Fegan and Byron Irvinas his representation, according to SportsBusiness Journal.

--Here's your updated early entry list for the 2009 NBA Draft:

It's safe to say that the Big East is losing a considerable amount of talent.

--And finally, Louisville is a two seed in the first of hundreds of meaningless mock 2010 NCAA Tournament brackets.

With less than a month to go before the start of the 2008 Louisville football season, The Courier-Journal's U of L beat writer, Brian Bennett, announced Monday that he is leaving the paper to take a position at ESPN.com as the resident Big East football blogger.

Bennett broke the news, appropriately enough, on his blog.

After nine years at The Courier-Journal, I am leaving to work for ESPN.com, where I'll be covering and blogging about Big East football as part of the site's new blog network. It's an exciting opportunity that allows me to stay in Louisville and cover a sport with which I'm already familiar.

I grew up reading the C-J and always wanted to work here and write about our local teams. So these past nine years, particularly the past two as the U of L beat writer, have been rewarding and fun. I've especially enjoyed the dialogue with you, the fans, through this outlet and others.

The easiest way to make friends in a new city is to rip on a local writer, but I thought Bennett did a pretty bang up job over the last two years.

While it is a bit depressing to see yet another talented C-J writer hit the road, I am kind of excited - for us and him - that he'll have a slightly larger (and decidedly funkier) box to work out of. I mean the man was booted out of a game for blogging, can reel off Flight of the Conchords quotes, and has advocated listening to both Jay-Z and Band of Horses; he was really one of us all along.

Welcome to the other side, Brian, where list writing is job requirement numero uno, people send you lengthy hate emails because they didn't read past the first two sentences of your post to realize you were being facetious, and anyone who you think might have taken a harmless shot at you is a douchebag.

Go ahead and take the shackles off and call someone a douchebag. Just do it. I'm gonna do it. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia: you are a douchebag, my friend.

He'll get the message. They always do.

I think it's safe to say that whoever lands Bennett's old gig is going to be walking into a pretty awkward situation.

I cast my vote for Petrino.