FanPost

A Lifelong Fan's Disillusioned Experience

I, like most UL fans, am shocked by the NCAA's announcement of penalties yesterday. I've listened to all the local radio shows and all the national tv shows giving their reactions to what could potentially be the harshest penalties ever handed down to a college basketball program. As a lifelong UL fan, this hurts me to the core and the only thing I can think to do is vent.. So i figured there's no better forum to do that than here, with the most die hard Cards fans that I'm sure are feeling what I'm feeling.

As previously stated, I was born and raised a UL fan. Born in Dec of 1986, I was just barely too late to be alive for UL's '86 championship. My first memories of UL basketball involve Dejuan Wheat, Alvin Sims, Tick Rogers, Alex Sanders, Beau Zach Smith, BJ Flynn and other players of that era. While these weren't the best years in terms of wins and loses, those teams cemented my love for the Cards and there would be no turning back. As much fun as I always had watching games with my family and friends through the 90's and early 00's, I always heard of the "Glory Days" of Griff, Milt, McCray's, Pervis, etc and saw the pride and happiness that exuded from my Dad as he would tell me the stories. I wanted to experience that so bad, but National Championships seemed so out of reach that it might as well had been at the top of Mt Everest.

Then the unbelievable happened. Rick Pitino, the savior of the most unsavory basketball academy 80 miles east of here, was ending his NBA tenure and coming to UL to coach our beloved Cards. As a grade-schooler at the time, and not knowing any better, my first reaction was "I don't want that guy, he coached the bad guys in blue." My wiser family and friends explained to me that "hell yea we want him!" He could be the guy to bring the UL program back to the heights of the 80's that I had heard about my entire life. The first few rebuilding years went by, the basketball became more fun to watch (Reece Gains threes from everywhere), and then 2005 rolled around. This team is one of my favorite UL teams of all time. Garcia, Dean, Otis, Ellis, and O'Bannon led us as close to the mountain top as I had ever been as a fan. I remember being on Senior year spring break in Panama City with all of my St X buddies (and the rest of Louisville in my age group) during a tournament game (my precise memory is a little hazy, because Spring Break, so I don't remember the exact game) as the entire Holiday Inn stood on their balconies and executed a perfect CARDS chant that still rings in my ears. THAT is what it was all about! That beloved Cards team made it to the Final 4 and every Card fan that was my age or younger got a small taste of what our parents were talking about for all those years. It was the best and we wanted more!

In my mind, at that point Pitino had his groove back and we would FINALLY be able to climb the mountain top and I would have the privilege of experiencing a UL championship in just a few short years. Sebastian Telfair happened, and so many other near misses on recruits that spurned UL for the pros kept the Cards from reaching the full potential. But then we had THE team!.. At least I thought we did. T-Will and E-5 led the best UL team that I had seen to date. in 08' we ran into a Tyler Hansborough on a mission, but the next year would be THE year. E-5 came back and everything just seemed to fall into place. In '09 we suffered the most heartbreaking loss in my UL fandom. So many UL, including myself, still can't get over that loss the Michigan St. How?!?!

After that loss, the roof caved in.... Karen Sypher, blah blah blah, you know the story... the bubble was busted. If that team couldn't win it all, and now our coach is a source of disgust for everyone in the country that followed college basketball, how were we ever going to get that championship?? It seemed impossible.

Then came hope in the form of Preston Knowles and a 6'0" Samoan who would capture the hearts of Cardinal fans. "The Bridge Year" as I fondly remember restored a lot of my faith in UL basketball. This team was SO much fun to watch and wore the underdog label with pride. To this day, the Miracle on Main is my favorite in-person experience at a UL basketball game. That team didn't have huge aspirations for the tournament, but the loss to Morehead St was another kick in the gut. The wasn't enough to damper our spirits about the near future.

The next year Siva teamed up with the unlikeliest of heroes, an oft-out of control, extremely fast shooting guard with a propensity for making shots that had no business going in the bucket. This diminutive backcourt became a nightmare for opposing team ball handlers, and although the team greatly struggled shooting the ball, the defense they played would keep them in any game. In the 2012 NCAA tournament shots started to fall! Kuric from the corner, Chris Smith catching fire, Russ and Siva doing what they do! That team made an improbable run to the Final Four, where they would face a juggernaut of a team with one of the most dominant players of this college era in Anthony Davis. The Cards put up an admirable fight, even tied it late on a Siva 3, but Darrius Miller came right back with a 3 of his own and that was essentially the game. It was sad, but not unexpected. We were the ultimate underdog story during that tournament and next year the team would be a straight up beast!

The 2013 team was the perfect storm. Arguably the best backcourt in UL history, serious low post scoring threats and rebounding in Chane and Gorgui (shot blocker extraordinaire too), and a George Mason transfer that we had heard all good things about but was still an unknown commodity. The regular season was a complete success as the team worked its way to the #1 overall seed. In my mind, this could be the team that would finally let me experience the joy that I had heard my dad and other older UL fans experience in the 80's. Breeze through the first couple rounds (at least that's what my memory serves), Kevin Ware plays great against Oregon and we pull that one out, I went to the Elite 8 Duke game at Lucas Oil when Ware broke his leg, Tim Henderson saves our.. behinds... against a scary Wichita St team , and then there we were! At the base of the mountain top, with the peak in clear sight! This Michigan team was good, had athletes (Hardaway), shooters (Stauskus), a dominant big man in McGary, and the National Player of the Year in Trey Burke. Didn't matter! There was no way in hell that this team could lose. It seemed like destiny at this point. My entire UL fandom had led to this moment. But then.. Spike Albrecht (???) showed up and hit 3, after 3, after 3, after 3 and it wasn't looking so good.... Dim the lights, queue the smoke and entry music... Luke Hancock ,MOP, makes his entrance and forever etches in name into UL folklore. The man makes 4 straight threes and brings us right back into the game. The furious comeback is capped by a forced turnover leading to maybe the most iconic sequence of events in modern UL basketball history as Siva flips the ball in the air to apparently no one.. but flying through the air comes Trez and booms that ball through the basket as the stadium and all of Louisville shook with incredulous cheers. UL goes on to win the National Championship. Cannons blast, confetti rains, the team celebrates, I pop campaign at my friends house and this is the happiest moment in my life as a UL fan. We had done it!! Reached the mountain top!! The impossible became possible and we were on top of the world. Happiness! Hugs! Tears of joy!

Fast forward to yesterday... the worst case scenario from a sports fan's perspective has happened. The NCAA wants to vacate the event that I and many other UL fans waiting their entire lives to see. If the appeal fails, this university will go down in infamy as the only program in NCAA history to vacate a championship. Is this real life?? The NCAA wants to bring the hammer down on the school to make an example for any other program that may consider this a viable recruiting ploy, but the people they are really hurting are the players who fought with blood, sweat and tears to reach the pinnacle of collegiate success (through no help from hookers), and the fans like myself who have been a part of one of the most dedicated and passionate fanbases throughout sports, who have yearned for the return of the glory days of the 80's that at this point were either a distant memory or simply oral history that had been passed down to them from the older generation.

I hate to say it, by my fandom feels tarnished. My team seems destined to forever be the butt of jokes and regardless of any future success will inevitably be disregarded nationally as a dirty hooker-laden program. Not only would it hurt to see the banner come down that I hold so dearly, but for me the most detrimental outcome will be the cloud that will forever hang over this program as the only one in NCAA history to vacate a National Championship. It will forever be a talking point and I fear that although my future children may experience many more UL championships, there will always be that inescapable dark cloud. Maybe this is over dramatic, but a penalty of that severity can linger for generations. Its a very sad day. For me, UL sports has been like family to me. They have been there since my earliest memories. Watching and cheering with friends and family.

Hopefully the appeal will be successful, but throughout this process I've learned not to get my hopes up and to prepare for the worst.

post scriptum: I had no intention of this being so long, but once I started I couldn't stop. I'm sure there are fans out there that share my feelings and I hope my venting can serve as an outlet for you too.

Go Cards, take Omaha