A great day for the ladies and fillies....

IN SUNDAY'S CARDINAL COUPLE:
-Greta and Oriana riding well
-ZENYATTA survives a close one
-Fern Creek softball keeps winning
-The Reds get the plug pulled
-WXVW...some fond memories
-Your Sunday sermon



We did a feature article on Greta Kuntzweiler a while back. Looks like she is rounding
back into form as a 'can't be ignored' jockey.

Yesterday at Ellis Park she rode two winners and now has 5 wins at the track...good for 8th place in the jockey standings. BOONDOCK ROMEO paid $14.40 to win and GRAN LIONESS $9.40. Kuntzweiler has been in the money 14 times in 53 starts at the Henderson, KY track and won $92,776 so far in prize money.

Oriana Rossi has been the surprise jockey of the meet so far,with 13 wins in 87 starts. She's hit the board 36 times during the Ellis meet and totaled $216,640 for the owners and trainers. Those of us who followed her progress during the Churchill Spring Meet aren't shocked by her impressive totals. Veteran rider Corey Lanerie leads the jockey colony at Ellis with 17 wins. Lanerie and Rossi have seven mounts on Sunday's card at Ellis and Kuntzweiler will be on five starters.

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ZENYATTA won her 18th straight race at Del Mar in the $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes yesterday...but she had to work for it. RINTERVAL, with Rafael Bejarano in the saddle, took the early lead and prevailed to mid stretch before ZENYATTA roared out of last place and took the lead. RINERVAL refused to quit, though and ZENYATTA could only hit the finish line a neck in front of RINERVAL. Winning jockey Mike Smith wasn't worried though and told television interviewers that he timed the ride perfectly...because ZENYATTA tends to be a bit of a showboat when she gets to the lead and sometimes eases up a bit.

CARDINAL COUPLE sponsor and PANERA BREAD managing partner Archie Karel was in attendance for the race and promises some great pictures for us here at the site when he returns from California. We did see him on TV applauding ZENYATTA...nice seats in the Director's Box directly across from the finish line and winner's circle. A true Cardinal fan, Karel was in a red shirt Saturday.

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Fern Creek 16U girls softball won both games yesterday in the World Series at Varina, VA. yesterday. The Creekers used a 4 run 5th inning to break away from a 3-3 tie against Lodi, CA. and win 7-3. (Didn't Creedence Clearwater Revival write a song about Lodi?) In the second game, Fern Creek fell behind early 2-0 to N. Olympic, WA. but rallied for four runs in the top of the sixth and an insurance run in the seventh to get the win 5-2.

Fern Creek faces host Varina, VA. today in the final game of pool play.

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Local Cincinnati Reds baseball radio fans have gone from feast to famine since the Reds broadcasts are no longer aired locally. Two stations, WQKC 1450-AM and WLCL 93.9-FM have gone off the air. Both were owned by Cumulus Media Inc. Reminds me of the days when we used to have to listen to Reds broadcasts on WMPI 103.5-FM out of Scottsburg, IN. Reds broadcasts can still be heard on WLW 700-AM in Cincinnati until another local affiliate can be found. Let's hope and pray CARDS RADIO 790-AM doesn't take the broadcasts over.

I have fond memories of 1450. Back in the day, they went under the call letters of WXVW and Charlie Jenkins was "Mr. Everything" when it came to sports on the Jeffersonville, IN station. He also gave a young, aspiring college wannabe broadcaster a break into the business and he kept close tabs on the young roustabout, created an "on-air" name for him and gave him 3 steady years of part-time employment before he graduated and went to serve his nation. Two things learned from the experience...dead air is not a good thing and there are certain words that you can't say while on the air.

Few people know that Jenkins was a finalist for the Cincinnati Reds broadcasting job to replace Al Michaels back in 1974. Instead, they hired some guy named Marty Brennaman. Last I heard, Charlie was working for Clear Channel Communicatons in Louisville in sales.

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Now, for the sermon part of today's column:

Women's sports at UofL deserve more air-time. Sure, women's basketball gets broadcasted and Kelch and Johnson do a wonderful job with the games. Hopefully Kelch will come back and do them again for the upcoming season...he's now a Cincinnati Reds broadcaster.

How about volleyball, softball and field hockey, though? All are nationally recognized programs and have big fan support. The University of Lousville has a groundbreaking opportunity here to lead the way in women's sports and get these games on the air. UofL has CARDS RADIO (although owned by Clear Channel)...how hard would it be to get away from the syndicated stuff at night and on the weekends and get some play by play coverage of these other deserving sports? I know, it's a money thing and an Arbitron Ratings game...but if the AFTERNOON UNDERDOGS can beat out Terry Meiners (so I've heard) in the afternoon drive time spot...maybe live broadcasts of volleyball or softball would fare well, too.

I'm ready even to dust off the golden pipes here and put back on the headset...OK, bad idea...but the concept of broadcasting the local University's women's sports an idea that has merit, local appeal and needs to be explored. Make it so. The folks down on the Belknap Campus refer to Louisville as the "best college sports town in America." This is a logical next step.

Sermon ended, go in peace and be nice to your family and friends today.