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What to read while thinking about how dangerous trampolines actually are

I'm still shocked that I made it through my childhood and adolescence without witnessing one trampoline-related fatality. Double bouncing is the seven-year-old version of Russian roulette.

The 2007 Louisville football media guide is here and 206 pages long.

While it's guys like Samardo Samuels, Tyreke Evans and Greg Monroe that are garnering most of the attention from Louisville recruiting followers these days, '09 commit Melquan Bolding has been turning some heads himself this week in Las Vegas.

The slashing 6-4 guard out of Archbishop Stepinac (NY) was listed as SI.com's Ryan Canner-O'Mealy's number one "Under-The-Radar Star" from the camp earlier this week.

Bolding has already committed to Louisville, but when thinking of elite NYC players, names like Lance Stephenson of Lincoln (Brooklyn, N.Y.) or Sylven Landesberg of Holy Cross (Flushing, N.Y.) probably come to mind. But in his team's extremely physical 77-66 win over the Baltimore Stars yesterday, Bolding was the story. While his Panthers' teammate Landesberg struggled on 2-for-9 shooting, Bolding scored from the field (7-for-14) and the line (7-for-11) and set the tone with a tough play that enabled the Panthers to prevail.

Cardinal recruit Kenny Boynton - the apparent cause of MoMo Jones' brief decommitment during the LeBron James Skills Academy earlier this month - was listed as Canner-O'Mealy's top overall performer at the camp on Monday.

Boynton, a rising junior guard, may not know where he's going to high school next year, but he can certainly play. He proved again yesterday he belongs in any discussion for best scoring guard in the Class of 2009. Boynton, who is considering Oak Hill and others for school next year, hit from the perimeter, off the dribble and finished in traffic.

Tyreke Evans you say? 'Reke is continuing his excellent summer by lighting up every court he steps on in Vegas, much to the delight of a certain future Hall of Fame head coach.

Judging by the reaction of head coach Rick Pitino of Louisville, Tyreke Evans had a pretty impressive day on the court inside the Milk House on the grounds of Disney World.
When Evans dribble-drived past his defender to make a beautiful behind the shoulder pass to a teammate, Pitino smiled as he watched from behind the basket in the NCAA coaches designated area inside the Milk House.

Evans was that impressive.

Tyreke scored 22 points and had a bucket full of assists to lead Team Final past the Charlotte Royals, 70-59, in a first round playoff game.

According to ArmchairGM, the U of L football team has the thirteenth best uniforms in all the land, a ranking that - like their placement in most AP and Coaches' polls - would be higher had they won more games in the '50s and '60s.

If tradition wasn't a factor in these rankings than Louisville would have been much higher. Seeing that it is, the Cardinals are only thirteenth. The Cardinals have really only become a football powerhouse recently, and the tradition factor hasn't had enough time to settle in. If these rankings are conducted in twenty years expect the Cardinals to break the top ten.

The Cards earned perfect scores of ten in both the "color scheme" and "flashiness/sharpness" categories, but their lackluster score of three in the seemingly non-pertinent category of "tradition" doomed them to a ranking outside the top ten.

While Michael Vick's career with the Atlanta Falcons may have run its course, there is no shortage in the number of people who are already predicting his long-term successor. A number of sites are already forecasting that Bobby Petrino will do everything in his power to make sure that his old weapon of choice Brian Brohm will again be his molding clay in Atlanta beginning in 2008. Winning the Turnover Battle also notes that if Petrino can't get Brohm in '08 he might just go after Hunter Cantwell in '09.

School is about a month from starting, and if you're one of the top high school basketball players in the class of 2008 now is about the time you start narrowing your list of potential colleges so that you have a chance to make a decision before your senior season starts. Unless you're Willie Warren.

The colorful Warren told Jody Demling on Wednesday that his list of eight has now expanded to ten. You may remember that Warren thoughtfully ranked his eight schools in order last week, well now Willie says that while Oklahoma is still his favorite, schools two through eight are all the same.

But when asked about Louisville, Warren smiled. He said the interest from the Cardinals staff "has really picked up and I have to consider them strong because it's Rick Pitino." Warren said he took notice this week when the U of L staff was at all his games, including Pitino.

Alabama and UTEP have mutually agreed to drop their scheduled game in 2008, so now Roll 'Bama Roll is looking at possible replacements. Near the top of Nico's list are our beloved Cardinals, who still have two out-of-conference slots to fill for next season. We can all only hope that U of A AD Hal Moore shares Nico's enthusiasm.

On a completely unrelated note, does anyone know if Louisville and Alabama have ever played in football before? I mean if they have I'm sure we got rolled because they're Alabama and we're Louisville, but I'd still like to know. God can you imagine if they had played in like the early '90s? 'Bama would have won by at least 27.

I kid, I kid...please schedule us.

Another interesting scheduling possibility for down the road is Michigan, which is looking for a worth adversary to play once its contract with Notre Dame takes a break after the 2011 season. Notre Dame has scheduled Oklahoma for the 2012 and 2013 seasons, and UM will more than likely go after a program of equal stature (think USC, Texas, Florida).

Even if the Cards can't land Michigan or another top tier program, 2012 will be the second year of U of L's home-and-home contract with Georgia. Louisville will go to Athens on September 3, 2011, and the 'Dawgs will return the favor on Sept. 15 of the following year.

Pete Holiday of AOL Fanhouse fame believes strongly that Kentucky is the fifth dirtiest program in college football, a designation that A Sea of Blue refutes just as vehemently.

Ever wonder whatever happened to the lovable, double zero wearing point guard of the late Crum years that was Rashad Brooks? John Davis of Cecil Whig has all your answers.

Brooks could have scored 3,000 points in his Cardinal career and I'd still always remember him as the guy who inexplicably wedged the ball between the rim and the backboard on an uncontested lay-up in the closing seconds of U of L's first-round loss to Gonzaga in 2000. I honestly believe it was the only thing that could have made me laugh at that moment.


They said his game face could make women in the crowd faint