The Crew - An Appreciation
Last night was the first event on the gocards.com calendar, a Men's Soccer exhibition game against Belmont. Given the absolutely wonderful turn of the weather, I decided to pop out and check it out. The good guys won, 4-1, but that's not the important thing.
I was, as you might imagine, refreshed by getting out in gorgeous weather, taking in a sport that I do enjoy watching, even if it was between teams that I don't follow closely.
But I think even more refreshing, our famous photographer Jared Anderson was (as is typical for him) out there as well getting some shots. After the first period (they played three 30 minute periods rather than two 45 minutes halves...I'm not sure why), he came and sat with me in the stands. He was still getting a few shots from that vantage point, but in between he and I just chatted across a variety of topics, many, but certainly not all, being various UofL sports.
Of course, each of us focuses a little bit (ok, a lot in my case) on different facets of our coverage. To some degree that is oriented along program boundaries, but also a bit in our approach to the programs.
An example: Both Jared and Case bring lots to the table when we're talking about Soccer. Case has a great mind for the game, having actively played the sport for many years, while Jared, partly through his photography, brings a more up close and personal view of the team.
Speaking of experience with a particular sport, while Jared and I are perhaps the most regular attendee to Softball, Daryl has many years of experience with that sport, both stepping up to the plate, and standing behind it, and brings strategic insights to it that I never could. She was the TV "Voice of the Sofbtall Cards" too, a few years ago.
Bringing Daryl into the picture, it wasn't lost on me that, for a significant period of time, Cardinal Couple basically comprised four dudes expounding on women's sports. The addition of Daryl brings a welcome woman's voice to the site and podcast. As suggested above though, she's not just here because she's a woman and we're talking about women's sports, she is every bit the avid sports fan, excellent writer, and podcast presence, to rival and surpass the rest of us. Softball, and WBB are Daryl's main wheelhouse, though she has vowed to add more coverage of golf to the mix as her own golf game has improved over the past few years. I really look forward to that.
Case was already mentioned above, but aside from his knowledge and expertise in Soccer, I always know that Case will be ready to geek out with me about whatever random technology thingamabob that I've been working with. Case also typically prepares and posts the podcast form of the CCRHP each week unless he can't be on the call, in which case it falls back to me to do it. (Which reminds me...) Beyond that and more on point here, he has really built an expertise in Lacrosse as well, helping to anchor our coverage of that sport. Jared and I will continue to try to get him to come out to more Volleyball matches, too.
Who have I missed? Oh, of course, Paulie. The technologically challenged one (his words). Despite that, Paulie has persevered over the years, adding, albeit slowly, various bits of technology to his work with Cardinal Couple, including his trusty Tascam audio recorder, and with our CCRHP migration from WCHQ, which he spearheaded, over to online distributed recordings, he persevered and figured out how to connected...with a little bit of remote handholding, but this was during Covid times, so ultimately he had to figure it out and he did.
Of course, Cardinal Couple is ultimately the brainchild of Paulie, and he is our fearless leader. I thought he was a little bit crazy when he first suggested starting a radio show, but when it came together on (the now dearly departed) WCHQ with him at the helm, it worked and has evolved into the CCRHP that we know and love today.
Paulie managed to stay pretty current with all of the sports we cover, but I think he really spends more of his time with WBB, Lacrosse, and Field Hockey. He has known WSOC head coach Karen Ferguson Dayes since she arrived on campus, too, and their yearly preseason interviews are...classic.
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| Paulie and Daryl..at WBB preseason |
We've all cheered Paulie on as he deals with various medical issues, particularly over the past year or so and we certainly missed his presence at various events last year when those medical issues prevented his attendance. But he has vowed to make it out more this year to some of the programs and we'll all be better off for it.
He needs a kidney. If you want to step up and donate one. sign up for the testing and compatibility tests with the very fine UC (Cincinnati) Kidney department . Call (513) 584-7001 and get more details
We're about to dive headfirst into Fall sports this week, with Women's Soccer kicking it off Thursday evening vs Bellarmine and Volleyball's Red & Black scrimmage on Saturday afternoon, so now seemed like a good time to put into words my appreciation for what this Crew does each year. We're a bit niche, but I hope we're bringing about a net positive for women's sports.
And, of course, it would be pointless without our readers and listeners, and it's oh so rewarding to hear back from you all in the comments or in other channels. Keep it up, keep cheering, and Go Cards!
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
We had three on the call yesterday, Jared, Paulie, and myself. Which means that it fell to me to post the podcast form as hinted at above (darn you, Case!).
It's now available as I forgot to do it yesterday right after the show. We had a good conversation about the ongoing Olympics and UofL's rooting interests in them. And we looked ahead to the beginning of official competition this week with Women's Soccer kicking it off on Thursday.
Check it out at it's Spotify home, or any podcast directory:
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JMcA
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