It's like a VH1 documentary title.
I'm off to Chicago in the morning for New Year's (this could end poorly), so this will likely be the last you hear from me for at least 48 hours...any longer and you can go ahead and call for help.
I was randomly reading some stuff on here from over the summer, and decided it would be cool to take a look back at some of the highlights - or at least the lights (God that's an awful joke) - from Card Chronicle's first full year on the web.
You get the popcorn, I'll get the projector, and let's all put on our pajama pants and enjoy the year that was.
JANUARY
Jan. 7: I ensure that 2007 is going to be another year of eerily accurate prognosticating by pegging Kevin Durant as the 17th best player in the country in the first CC Fab 50 of 2007. Peter Bean of Burnt Orange Nation objects, and I foolishly stand firm and actually compare Durant to a "better shooting, slightly smaller, at times equally timid LaMarcus Aldridge."
Maybe this was a bad idea.
Jan. 7: News of Bobby Petrino's departure hits ESPN, and Art Carmody melts the collective heart of CC with a reactionary quote minutes later.
Jan. 8: Things have settled down a bit and I'm taking the whole situation very well.
When I tell someone I'm going to Taco Bell it takes longer than five mintues.
3. According to Stewart Mandel, Petrino didn't bother telling Jurich that taking the Falcons job was even a possibility until Sunday morning.
Anyone who disrespects Tom Jurich has to be the spawn of Satan. There's no argument. Satan had sex with someone or something, and that someone or something gave birth to Bobby Petrino who then proceeded to commit reprobate acts like disrespecting Tom Jurich. Because his dad is Satan.
4. Petrino is already lying again...
Petrino said he took what "I truly feel is the best job in the National Football League."
Why stop there Bobby? Why not go ahead and say what you truly know to be fact in your heart, that head coach of the Atlanta Falcons is the greatest job in the history of the world.
President of the United States? Please. King of England? Joke. Guy who gets paid to $9 trillion a day to have sex with Jessica Alba 20 times? Gay.
Any job you could possibly imagine pales in comparison to that of babysitting an underachieving, overpaid, constantly bitching signal caller with herpes.
Jan. 8: Louisville already has a new head coach, and his name is Steve Kragthorpe.
Jan. 9: Michael Bush, citing Petrino's departure as the main reason, declares himself eligible for the NFL Draft.
Jan. 9: I think this is my favorite headline from this year.
Jan. 15: Card Chronicle breaks news for the first time by reporting that Brian Brohm will return for his senior season seven hours before anyone else (Schlabach what?).
Jan. 17: It's a a day of celebration at the headquarters as CC rings in Louisville's first college football national championship.
At this time we'd also like to send a special thank you out to the University of Kentucky Athletic Department. Them taking the initiative to issue a press release stating that the Wildcats were the first concurrent football and men's basketball champions because in 1997 Jeff Sagarin's ratings for the 1950 season came out with UK on top, really inspired us to come out and tell the world that Louisville is #1. Hell, we might even have more national championships, we'll have to look into it.
Of course, as SMQ points out, the Cardinals aren't the only ones with an extremely valid and holeless claim to the '07 title. Florida, USC and Boise State each found themselves atop at least one set of rankings, and while their fans are free to celebrate, all serious football fans knows that if you're not tops in the Pickle, you're nothing.
The Card Chronicle is also proud to announce that the final calculations have been tabulated in our computer generated rankings, and somehow Nevada has finished the season as the top team in the land. Congratulations and go crazy Wolfpack fans.
When you have a system as proposterous as the one currently in place in college football, people can absolutely make legitimate arguments for multiple teams to be the national champion. Do they carry much weight? No, but the fact that they're out there says all you need to know.
Who wants to help me put up the banner?
Jan. 23: I attend U of L's "white out" win over Connecticut, I come home and start watching the game on Tivo for a little bit, I notice that the announcing is particularly off-topic and start writing down all the things Dick Vitale talks about besides the game, I keep writing down all the things that Dick Vitale talks about besides the game and realize that I'm not going to make it to class in the morning, I post the list, the interwebs react.
Jan. 31: High school basketball referee Mike Lazo is available for purchase at Home Depot.
Mike Lazo is no different than the hoards of pathetic, blood-sucking sycophants that feed off of anyone over the age of 10 who can put a leather ball into a metal hoop more often than most. It's disgusting and it's ruining basketball, YOU Mike Lazo, are ruining basketball.
Sure the fans know who OJ Mayo is, the players know who OJ Mayo is, the coaches know who OJ Mayo is, and you know who OJ Mayo is. The difference is that you, along with your brothers in stripes, are supposed to be the only ones in the gym who can't act like you do. You get paid to treat everyone exactly the same, and you did the complete opposite.
You're a tool, you're a tool, you're a tool. Mike Lazo is a tool.
FEBRUARY
Feb. 8: Dick Vitale has seen the list, and doesn't particularly care for it.
Vitale: Am I guilty of that at times? Probably so, but first of all that game was not a good game. It was ugly in the first half, so what you try to do is keep people there. I mean, there are reasons you do some of the things you do. I've been doing this for 28 years and if I weren't doing it in a positive way, would I get the reaction I do from people? Plus, the coaches, players, they come to me all the time and say "Dickie V, we love your spirit, your enthusiasm." I mean, am I going to be perfect? Nobody's perfect. I make mistakes. I get upset at myself at times and ask myself, "Why did you say that?" or "Why did you do that?" I'm my biggest critic.
The thing is, Uconn and Louisville aren't exactly having tremendous seasons, meaning that the there were probably only three groups of people tuning in to the world wide leader on Jan. 22: 1) Louisville fans, 2) Connecticut fans and 3) college hoops junkies. None of these groups of people are going to be more inclined to stay tuned to an ugly basketball game because you're talking about your grandchildren.
Vitale does get a huge reaction wherever he goes, and he deserves it. If there is one face that's synonymous with college basketball, it's probably his. Kids want to get their picture with Dickie V, they want an autograph, they want to be on TV. That doesn't change the fact that his inability to provide insightful analysis pertaining to the game being played just feet away from him makes watching any contest he's calling extremely frustrating.
Now if I really want to make this thing more than it is, I should follow the guidelines for being a successful modern journalist and be really loud and/or a huge asshole (Skip, Stephen A., Doyel). I should attack Dickie V's character, make up something about him, and then get on TV and hurl obscenities (with my outside voice mind you) in his direction.
Truth is I like Vitale, I like him a lot. Everyone who knows him or has met him in passing speaks extremely highly of his character, I think his overall impact on college basketball has been positive, and his efforts with regards to Cancer research have been extremely noble. I actually still have an autographed Vitale mini-ball that I got as a gift many years ago.
I just hate that he's allowed himself to become this cartoon character. His excitement is fantastic when used appropriately, and when he was at his best years ago it merely served as the perfect accent to the wealth of intelligent insight he brought to the table. But he's let this thing get out of hand, and somewhere along the line he became nothing more than a parody of himself.
And now it's spreading.
Commentators and other TV personalities desperate to distinguish themselves are mimicking Vitale with the hopes that it will make them famous. I think it's a safe bet that the success of Vitale has played a large part in the evolution of the monster that has become Lee Corso. We seem to be about a decade away from having Gilbert Gottfried behind the CBS News Desk.
Eight years ago Vitale wrote a book subtitled Why the Game I Love is Breaking My Heart. Vitale himself is now the one breaking hearts by letting himself become something that is detrimental to the overall state of a game that myself, and many others around these parts, believe is the best in the world.
Feb. 9: "Some guy named Mike" gets a little love from the Dayton Daily News (it was just "someone" in a Bob Hill column that apparently isn't available online anymore).
Feb. 13: Louisville goes on the road and hammers No.5 Pittsburgh for a much-needed signature win. This makes me happy.
Feb. 17: I take a look at the most memorable Louisville/Marquette games of all-time, just hours before another classic takes place.
Feb. 18: Jerry Smith is cool.
Feb. 26: Kentucky fans shouldn't rap.
MARCH
March 1: Earl Clark sucks at two things: not being really cool, and bowling.
March 4: It's Senior Day, and we take a look back at the Cardinal careers of Brandon Jenkins, Brad Gianiny, Perrin Johnson and Chris Current.
March 6: The regular season is complete and Louisville is undoubtedly an NCAA Tournament team. I take a look at just how the Cards were able to turn things around so remarkably, and reveal there's one person in particular who deserves a significant amount of credit.
After the Notre Dame game I completely gave up...not wathcing or rooting for the team, but trying to find the shirt or combination of shirts that would guide this team to a miraculous turnaround.
I started just grabbing the first red or white shirt or sweatshirt I saw in my closet and threw it on before the game.
We started winning.
The mindset has stayed, I don't think about what I'm going to wear beforehand, I simply go to the dresser/closet and grab something. In one particular case, the second South Florida game, I actually watched the game sans any Cardwear.
Now you might say: "But doesn't making a conscious effort not to think about your wardrobe still actually involve thinking about it?"
To this I would quickly reply: "Blow me, I've single-handedly saved the season of your favorite college basketball team."
March 7: I live-blog the first round of the Big East Tournament, and find out once and for all that I am a kiss-a-holic.
March 8: It took two overtimes, but Louisville takes out West Virginia in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament.
March 9: The next game isn't as cool.
March 14: Jim Nantz is awesome.
March 15: College basketball's postseason is slightly superior to college football's.
And wouldn't it be great if there were like 30 more of these games?
Wouldn't you love to wait around for another three weeks to watch a pair of teams that haven't played in so long that you've forgotten most of the players' names duke it out in the only game that has any bearing on the national championship?
And you know all those computers out there that are predicting the winners for each game in the Big Dance? Wouldn't it be great if those same computers actually had a major impact on which two teams were selected to play in the previously mentioned title game?
Wouldn't it have been great if George Mason had played one game against Murray State last year instead of five against Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State, Connecticut and Florida?
Don't you just love not really knowing who the national champion is at the end of the season, or the fact that even if you think you do someone can make a legitimate case for another team and you can't really say anything other than "my team would have beaten your team?"
Remember how Kansas was ranked third and Ohio State was ranked fourth in the preseason poll? Wouldn't it be great if the Jayhawks were chosen to play for a national championship over the Buckeyes primarily for that reason?
Don't you hate all these games on all day long for four days at a time, I mean enough is enough, am I right?
March 15: I take time away from reading about how much Louisville won by earlier in the afternoon to host SBN's NCAA Tournament evening hub. Eric Maynor beats Duke at the buzzer and seven other teams win by large margins.
March 18: Basketball season is over.
March 22: Tubby Smith bolts for hockey country and I endorse Kim Jong-Il for his successor.
APRIL
April 1: April Fool's Day jokes are awesome.
April 4: I win an NCAA Tournament betting competition and hold a celebrity party at the Headquarters to celebrate. The first and third names on the list spend an inordinate amount of time in the bathroom together. We didn't think anything of it at the time.
April 9: I outline the talking points for Louisville fans when it comes to new UK head coach Billy Gillispie. Poorly written threatening email ensues.
April 19: It's the final day of spring practice and unbridled optimism is in the air.
April 27: ESPN airs a mock NFL Draft special, and the "experts" completely forget about Amobi Okoye.
...
When you think about it's not really all that big of a deal because nothing says "this is a completely legitimate NFL mock draft show featuring extremely knowledgeable professionals" like totally whiffing on one of the biggest names about to enter the League.
This is even more reprehensible when you take into consideration how much Amobi has been in the news over the past four weeks or so because of his age, and more recently, his experiments with marijuana as a 16-year-old. I don't think it's a stretch to say that outside of Russell, Quinn, Johnson and Peterson, Okoye is the hardest player in the draft to forget about.
Of course the real loser in all of this is the poor guy who has been feeling left out of the sports conversations at work, so he took notes as he watched ESPN for an hour and-a-half only to realize that his torch bearers had somehow blanked on a top ten pick, making the entire show irrelevant.
MAY
May 7: The seeds of a heterosexual Bilal Powell man crush are planted.
May 12: I live blog the Big East softball championship and slowly develop a heterosexual female crush on U of L shortstop Courtney Moore.
May 22: Video emerges of Bob Valvano's failed extra point attempt during a Louisville Fire game. CC rejoices.
May 28: The Louisville baseball team sneaks into the NCAA Tournament, an event that will prove to be far more significant than it seemed at the time.
JUNE
June 4: Louisville stays alive in the Missouri Regional by beating the host Tigers 4-2 in the most underrated Cardinal sporting event of the year.
June 11: The unthinkable happens as Louisville blasts Oklahoma State 20-2 and earns its first trip to the College World Series.
For those in desperate need of an analogous reference befitting this area, it's the equivalent of Northwestern making the Final Four next season.
How these guys who had never played in an NCAA Tournament game before this season, and then had to spend 24 hours thinking about how they had just been three outs from Omaha, managed to bounce back and put on that performance in the biggest game of their lives is beyond me.
An enormous portion of the credit for Sunday should be placed on the latest shoulders to have been graced by the Midas touch of Tom Jurich.
Dan McDonnell's pregame speech was so simple and yet so perfect that it finally hit me that this whole thing isn't a fluke. The first head coach in nearly thirty years to take his team to the College World Series in his inaugural year as a skipper is the real deal.
In the climatic moment where the hard-nosed albeit lovable Hollywood movie coach takes center stage, McDonnell put Gordon Bombay to shame. He stressed living in the prescious present, understanding how special this day was regardless of what happened, and how his audience had already set the standard for future Louisville sluggers.
"It's a win-win situation for us," McDonnell told his players. "Omaha will be great, but this will be one of the greatest experiences of your lives. This is your home field. These are your home fans. We talk so much about getting to a certain point in life that we don't enjoy the ride. We talk about getting to the big dance. This really is the dance. How you get here is what makes the year so special. Don't look past this. Take advantage of it, soak it all in. This will go down as one of the greatest memories you ever have. You are going to go down as the greatest team that has ever played here. So win or lose today, realize that, and enjoy it."
For a group of young men still wondering whether or not they would forever be remembered as the team that blew their chance to take part in one of sports' greatest events, those words had to alleviate an incalculable number of nerves.
"By the time he was finished talking, our heads were right," said second baseman Logan Johnson.
It's no wonder that Johnson continued to rope any pitch that dared catch too much of the plate, that Isaiah Howes belted his eighth home run in 12 postseason games, or that Chris Cates (did you guys hear that he's the smallest player in college baseball? thanks pam) had the poise and focus to come up with a Herculean at-bat to get a run home from third when the game was still in doubt.
June 6: Baseball is back in Louisville and I'm ecstatic.
A city with both Southern and Northern roots that is technically considered Midwestern, and a highly engaging democratic sport that tolerates cheating. A slightly blue city in an overwhelmingly red state, and a profoundly conservative game that has often proved to be years ahead of its time.
Though now synonymous with basketball and horse racing, there was a time - of which we aren't all that relatively removed - when America's pastime was king in these parts.
...
Of course times of changed and modern Louisville has become less receptive to the sport than it once was.
Being a baseball fan requires commitment, and watching a game on television demands constant attention and involvement, all things the average working American is often unwilling to give. In an age where one-line quips are far preferred to lengthy statements that actually address issues, it's no wonder that high-action, low-involvement sports like football and basketball are thriving, while baseball worshippers continue to convert or denounce the religion entirely.
Still, there's something special about baseball in Louisville, something that anyone who dedicated a solid chunk of their life to the sport could tell you.
June 13: Smardo Samuels commits to Louisville.
June 18: The Cardinal Nine thump Mississippi State and earn the school's first College World Series victory.
June 28: The Louisville Basketball All-Time Greats bracket is unveiled. Who won that thing anyway?
JULY
July 26: Seriously, trampolines are not safe.
AUGUST
Aug. 3: A top ten team hits the practice field for the first time.
Aug. 8: I predict that if Louisville stumbles in '07, it won't be because of the offensive line.
The lineage of Cardinal fans' offseason obsession with the O-line can be traced back to one specific day: Sept. 1, 2002. Anticipating what was supposed to be the commencement of the greatest season in Louisville history, Cardinal fans instead watched in horror as the home team fell to its bitter rival, and went back to their cars trying to erase the image of their star quarterback hobbling off the field looking like he'd just gone 12 rounds with Ivan Drago.
The 2002 season has been referenced consistently every summer (present included) since.
Many believe that the yearly epidemic is a product of overcompensation by Cardinal fans still harboring the embarrassment of failing to notice the glaring weaknesses on the offensive line and buying into the '02 hype.
While depth is certainly an issue that has warrants a certain level of concern, the truth is that as long as its five current starters remain healthy, U of L will be the owner of one of the top two offensive lines in the Big East.
Aug. 13: Louisville holds an open scrimmage. I go.
Aug. 30: Football season is back and the Cards are 63-point winners on opening night. All is right with the world.
SEPTEMBER
"This is the squalid, or moving, part of the story, and the scene changes."
Sept. 3: Ethan Silver is a Louisville legend.
Sept. 7: U of L knocks off Middle Tennessee State, successfully scoring the least impressive victory in program history.
Sept. 13: The U of L/UK game has all of the sudden become more important for Steve Kragthorpe than for Rich Brooks, and it's becoming obvious that things will get very ugly for the first-year head coach if the Cards fall.
Doesn't matter if it's by four points or 40 points, you need to win this game.
I'm fairly certain that Koach hasn't been reading the message boards or had the words of average Cardinal fans in his ear all week, well I have, and it hasn't been pretty.
I'll spare you the details Koach, but suffice it to say that since last Thursday's debacle people have been inventing things to bitch about. The good news is that this is an issue with a very achievable solution.
Do you know how much fans care about a coach's injury policy when their team is 3-0, ranked in the top ten, and coming off of a big win over a hated rival? Do you want to find out? Win.
The common belief in the media is that there is an inordinate amount of pressure on Rich Brooks to deliver a victory over Louisville because of the little fact that he has yet to do so in four years. While this may be true, I'd argue that the pressure is exceedingly higher on the new guy.
Brooks can lose this game and still go 5-3 or 4-4 with a big upset in the SEC, and with a solid showing in a respectable bowl game his season will still be considered a success. About five minutes after the final whistle blows on Saturday, Kentucky fans will resign themselves to the belief that everything is going to be different now that the Brohm era has come to a close, and will allow a win over Arkansas or South Carolina to quench their thirst for red domination.
Kragthorpe loses, and anything short of a conference title and a win over a major program in a BCS bowl will assure him of the most tumultuous offseason of his coaching career.
There will come a time when losing a game to Kentucky will be understandable, if not acceptable, but that time is not now. Louisville's players are faster, stronger and more skilled than UK's, not to mention that one of them is a surefire top ten pick who spurned millions for one last shot at a national championship.
And that's the thing, legitimate talk about a national title has been on the table since Kragthorpe's first day. One win and one announcement in January assured that expectations were going to be far different for this season than any other in Cardinal football history.
For the first time in this program's history the players, fans and even coaches didn't spend much time talking about conference championships or BCS bowl appearances this offseason. It's been done now. Even Brian "we're just gonna take it one day at a time" Brohm himself spoke openly over the summer about his desire to take his team to the BCS title game.
So what happens to the psyche of a team when those sort of lofty expectations are completely demolished three weeks into a season? Don't want to find out? Win.
But the ramifications of Saturday's game extend far past just this season.
Sept. 17: Louisville does not win.
Sept. 22: Louisville does not win again.
Sept. 24: I am not happy.
Really?
So it was the lack of depth on defense that made the decision to go for it on 4th and 10 instead of allowing the best kicker in the country to attempt a 45-yard field goal (don't know if you noticed the final margin of defeat)? It was the lack of depth on defense that called a 3rd and long draw play with the clock ticking under two minutes in a two-possession game? It was the lack of depth on defense that inexplicably made the decision to change the entire defensive philosophy that had resulted in 44 sacks a year ago and a top three run defense in each of the past three seasons?
The fact of the matter is that because of injuries every single defensive lineman on the two-deep is experienced and had been effective before this season. Those three linebackers? The same three that started the West Virginia game a year ago (not sure if you caught it, but we beat the No. 3 team in the country), and a trio that was called the best in the country by none other than Mel Kiper just two months ago. I'm not going to blatantly lie and say that our secondary has ever been stellar, but with the experience of Council, Russell, Thomas and Buchanan along with a five-star recruit like Brandon Heath and a JuCo transfer like Woodny Turenne who had scholarship offers from everyone in the world including the current No. 1 team in the country, there's no reason for every Saturday (or Thursday) to be the '03 GMAC Bowl. That feeble excuse (and that's exactly what it is) simply does not hold any weight.
You're hearing a lot of people saying that the resentment coming from the mouths of Louisville fans is the result of a spoiled fan base. I'm not spoiled, I'm scared shitless, because if we can't beat Syracuse with these guys then who the hell can we beat?
...
Almost one year ago to the day, I wrote that the city of Louisville had committed adultery, trading the symmetrical ball for the oblong one. I think it's safe to say that we've returned home with our tails tucked between our legs and two dozen roses in our right hand. It's going to take something fiercely sexy to get us to even turn our heads again.
Look I think it's fairly obvious that I could go on and on here, but all I'd be doing was finding new ways to make the same point, which is this: It's bad, and it shouldn't be. It's been that way for a month now, but for the first time I'm convinced that it's not going to get much better.
Sept. 27: Willie Williams eats weed; gets kicked off the team.
Sept. 29: Go Cards Baby! is unleashed upon the world. Chaos and a Louisville victory ensue.
OCTOBER
Oct. 5: I try and stress the importance of the Utah game. It falls on deaf ears.
Oct. 7: Go Cards Baby! bids Card Chronicle farewell.
And what about that Utah game? I'll honestly never forget sitting in the second row with my big ole' foam finger and screaming at the top of my infant lungs: "HOLY SHIT THERE'S A GUY OVER THERE ALL BY HIMSELF! HEY! HEY LOUISVILLE PLAYERS! THERE'S A GUY OVER THERE ALL BY HIMSELF! THEY'RE NOT GOING TO KICK IT, THERE'S A GU- Jesus now they're throwing it, and yep, that's a tou- oh wow he didn't score."
Reminiscing really is what it's all about, isn't it? Ah, but I fear if I don't stop dreaming of the times we've shared I'll never be able to finish the revolution.
I'm dragging myself away from the computer now before I ramble on for pages (like I always do, hehe), but before I go I'd just like to assure you that it's not me, it's you. I'd rather date one of the Federline babies than serve as the sacrificial mojo for the Cincinnati game.
Please don't write or try to contact me in any way ever again.
Yours in the Dharma,
Go Cards Baby!
Oct. 8: Steve Kragthorpe is not what those in the biz would call a "good interview."
Oct. 14: Cincinnati is still incapable of beating Louisville.
Oct. 18: The Fab 50 is back, and seriously under-appreciative of the talents of Michael Beasley.
Oct. 20: Louisville loses to Connecticut. Larry Taylor will never be invited to my house for tea.
Oct. 23: The basketball team holds an open scrimmage, but tears of joy prevent me from catching much of the action.
NOVEMBER
Nov. 5: I love college basketball. It thinks taking things to the next level might end up ruining one of the most important friendships in its life.
I embrace second chances and truly believe that people can change for better or worse, so the fact that two weeks into the season, regardless of performance, every team will have each of its major goals in tact speaks to me. If you've worked as hard as you possibly can and learned as much as you possibly can for five months, then you deserve the opportunity to play until you lose come March.
Obtaining the sport's top prize is extremely unlikely for the vast majority of the 308 Division I teams eligible for postseason play, but thank God it's not impossible. Thank God the bottom-tier RPI school that won its conference tournament gets the chance to prove itself on the sport's biggest stage, and not inside a quarter-full stadium against a team that doesn't really want to be there, in a game that, for all intents and purposes, has absolutely zero significance. Thank God when George Mason beat Michigan State in 2005 that wasn't the way its season ended.
Indeed there will be triumphs this year, but as always the failures will far outnumber the successes. There will be literally hundreds of press conferences where teary-eyed twenty-somethings will be forced to sit at a table, answer questions, and come face-to-face with the realization that a goal they dedicated a large chunk of their lives towards will not be obtained. It's heartrending, but it's also - and there's no reason to even attempt to muzzle the dramatics at this point - beautiful.
I've come to terms with the fact that I'll never be able to fully explain how I've reached the point where a game has so much control over my life, but to be honest the unknown why or how doesn't bother me anymore. Life really is so short, and when something makes you happy you don't question it, you simply relish the fact that it does.
I fully admit to missing a game or two of beer pong so I could watch Holy Cross' Tim Clifford man the post or Marist's Jared Jordan run the point during an ESPNU Friday night Patriot League/MAAC double-header. I fully admit to skipping countless days of school, practice and work since the first-grade to watch basketball games in March. And I fully admit that I will spend more time than any reasonable human being should thinking about, talking about, and watching college basketball for the next five months.
They say the worst thing you can do to love is deny it, and I'm willing to make myself very vulnerable for this game.
Nov. 8: Louisville/West Virginia is the best budding rivalry in college sports.
Nov. 9: Louisville almost beats West Virginia; loses dignity.
Nov. 13: Perhaps all of EA Sports' rankings and ratings should be questioned from now on.
Nov. 19: The Cards look outstanding over the season's opening weekend, and I go ahead and let myself get more excited than I know I should be.
Nov. 19: It's hours later and David Padgett is out for at least ten weeks.
Nov. 21: Steve Kragthorpe holds a press conference to announce that he is staying at Louisville. The Cardinal fan base unleashes a collective golf clap.
Nov. 30: Art Carmody caps his college career by booting the game-winner as Louisville storms back to knock off Rutgers and finish the season 6-6.
The disappointment, the rumors, the dissent, none of it existed.
We saw the future as Bilal Powell completely took the game over in the second half. We saw the defense finally get the big stop when it needed to the most. We saw the dream team of Brian Brohm and Harry Douglas hook-up one more time on the biggest play of the game's biggest drive. And then we saw college football's most accomplished kicker seal the deal by drilling the first game-winner of his collegiate career in his final game as a Louisville Cardinal.
And did I mention that all this came at the expense of a team that broke the collective heart of the city of Louisville by handing the Cards their only loss in all of 2006?
At least we had tonight.
I just don't want to go to sleep.
DECEMBER
Dec. 2: It's doomsday for the BCS and I couldn't be happier.
Dec. 4: CC releases its final top Big East Offensive and Defensive performers of the year standings. Interest is low.
Dec. 12: Bobby Petrino is Rick Blaine.
Dec. 13: Louisville should probably not play in the John Wooden Tradition ever again.
Dec. 14: Mario peaces out.
Dec. 21 Gary Gupton is a true professional.
Dec. 28: Internet browsers are not overly fond of Jim Nantz, however they do enjoy Brian Brohm's penis.
Dec. 31: I post a seemingly unnecessary and self-aggrandizing recap of 2007 that eventually lands me a guest spot as the voice of a mouse on Between the Lions.
Goin' places.
All right I apologize for the length, but it was a fun thing to put together and I got a little carried away.
Thanks to everyone who has been commenting or just reading for the past 12 months, you've made this a very enjoyable experience. I hope that all of your 2008s are even better than your 2007s, unless your 2007 wasn't all that great, in which case that was a total fluke and I guarantee your 2008 is going to be wangdunkst (it's 2008 slang, you'll see).
Be safe all, and happy New Year's.