If you haven't figured it out yet, I love end of the year lists and awards. One of my favorite year-end traditions is the Merriam-Webster "word of the year" that is (or at least used to be) unveiled each December. The word sometimes ends up being a phrase (in 2004 it was "Red State/Blue State"), but it almost always succeeds in encapsulating one of the main themes of the past 12 months.
So here we go with the top 15 "words" of the past 12 months in the Card Chronicle world.
15. Realignment
The dominant national sports story of the first half of the summer had us bandying about the possibilities of taking our talents to the ACC, the SEC, a revamped Big East, or even back to C-USA. In the end...yeah, not much really happened.
14. Officiating
Every time Louisville needed a key Big East win in January, the league officials were right there to snatch it away. Remarkably, the Cards were the victims of horrendous calls near the end of three separate games in an insanely short period of time. U of L was issued an apology on each occasion, and the actions of the officials in the final minute of the West Virginia loss led to all three being banned from the Big East Tournament.
13. Teaguepocalypse
You guessed it. Most of us were resigned to the fact that it was going to happen before it actually did, so the day was dominated by parody and not actual freaking out. At least here.
12. Twitter
2009 may have been the year it broke it big, but 2010 was the year it was utilized big. It's to the point where you're pretty much missing an entire aspect of following U of L sports if you aren't on. Speaking of which, follow CC.
11. Krag
It's so hard...to say goodbye...
10. Cotton
Austin Montgomery wows us with his prose, then introduces us to "Louisville recruit" Bryce Cotton. Farcical posts and comments are written and embraced and misunderstood at the same time. Turns out Cotton is actually decent. Turns out Cotton is actually pretty good. Turns out Cotton is good enough to sign with Providence.
What the hell just happened?
9. Anvillen
The man(?) is so good at what he does that the absence of his highlight videos have become one of the worst aspects of any basketball loss.
8. Carmody's Corner
Around 25% of the posts written during the first two years of this blog featured at least a couple of lines gushing over Art Carmody. Flash forward a couple of years and he's writing a weekly column for the blog and it's awesome. Can't wait for "Bilal N Pals" featuring Bilal Powell, Titus Teague and Doug Beaumont. Coming Tuesdays in 2013.
7. Sypher Trial
It happened and it was embarrassing.
6. Beef
Beef bowl, beef helmet, beef champions.
5. Ineligible
It started innocently enough with the news of incoming freshman Justin Coleman and Memphis transfer Roburt Sallie being ineligible, but when a "blog" reported that Hunting Prep stud Gorgui Dieng had been ruled ineligible by the NCAA, things got wild. U of L appealed the decision and won, and Gorgui is now starting as a true freshman. Jeff Goodman still can't believe we're excited.
4. Soccer
Talk/debate surrounding the World Cup got lively during the summer, but this ranks so high on the list because of Ken Lolla and the Cardinal soccer team not suffering a defeat until the national championship. It was highly unexpected and highly dramatic early winter entertainment.
3. Yum(!)
"New arena" was replaced by "KFC Yum! Center," which now seems to be transitioning to "The Yum." It's good for jokes, it's kind of fun to say, and debate over the use of its accompanying exclamation point landed me my first mention in a C-J column.
2. Freedom Hall
Louisville fans were reminded that this was Freedom Hall's final year almost too much from January-March of 2010. Still, the honors and all the ballyhoo were well done and the hallowed hall got about as perfect a sendoff as possible.
1. Strong
After as tumultuous a three seasons as the program had ever had to endure, U of L unleashed a preseason marketing campaign centered around change and its exciting new head coach. Before he ever coached a game, Strong's face and last name were plastered on billboards throughout the city. "Stand Strong" and "Strong Ville" became the de facto battle cries for the new era. In the end, Strong lived up to the hype (regardless of what Mark Story says). He led Louisville to its first winning season, first bowl appearance, and first bowl victory in four years, and was named Big East Co-Coach of the Year and Card Chronicle Man of the Year in the process.