Wednesday Cardinal Couple - Watson writes.

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WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Watson on Derby, Cardinal Softball and poor ol' T.O.


(We turn today's CARDINAL COUPLE over to the questionable hands of David Watson. We'll probably regret it...but when he looks at us with those baby blues and his lower lip starts quivering...oh, snap! Here's David...)

First of all, the brain-trust of Cardinal Couple (yes, I'm referring to Sonja) are going to change it up a bit in June. No, they're not retreating to a monastery (imagine Paul with monks) or devoting daily coverage to Catholic league softball -- Instead, the other assorted writers and I here at C.C. will have a day at-bat each week on the site. I chose Monday. I understand that they'll probably run reader-submitted articles on Friday and UK head Basketball Coach John Calipari is writing on Sunday. 


OK, I'm kidding about Calipari. 

"Where's my S'mores!" 

The plan is to do this merry rotation through June and July. In August, I've suggested we all gather for a big barbecue in Hartford, Connecticut and sing campfire songs with Stefanie Dolson and the UConn women's basketball players and coaches. I'm not cooking. Someone has to watch Paul and make sure he doesn't try to sneak off into the woods with Chris Dailey. 


AND THEY'RE OFF! 


So, how many tickets does the governor of Kentucky need for the Kentucky Derby? 360, it appears. Ethics tossed aside, some of Beshear's biggest contributors are getting to spend Derby and Oaks on Millionaires Row at Churchill by buying tickets from the "gov". 


My guess is that state senator David Williams probably wasn't on the list. 


And guess who got 40 of these for the Oaks? Why, no other than "Guv's" son Andy -- an attorney with Stites & Harbison. 

Gov "B" searches the bricks
at Churchill for Paulie and a
little trifecta advice. 

The attendees are, at least, paying for the tickets. $773 each for Millionaires Row. My oldest daughter made $750 last month, working part-time. She didn't get an invite to Churchill. I would have tossed in the extra $23.


Whether she'd been safer in the infield or with the lobbyists, glad-handers and people seeking recognition and reward on the sixth floor is anybody's guess.


It's the same old "politics as usual". 


Looks like someone in the Commonwealth enjoys gambling. Just as long as it isn't in one of those dreaded casinos. 


As John Steffen, current executive director of the Executive Branch Ethics Commission, said:


"...The use of tickets for economic development purposes is advantageous to the commonwealth but those allocated for political supporters would not be."


I wonder if any of them had I'll Have Another across the board? I have no doubts that "I'll have another" was a popular statement those two days. 


POOR,POOR PITIFUL ME


Let's all gather our nickles and dimes and send them to NFL Football great Terrell Owens. Seems that the $80 million or so he earned running around in a helmet is all gone. Vanished like a "fart in the wind" , I suppose. 

Won't you help us
help Terrell ?

Really? $80 million? OK. I guess taxes got around 20% or so of it. I doubt the rest went to feeding starving Ethiopian children, finding a cure for cancer or eliminating poverty in America. 


A fair amount of us will make, conservatively -- a little over a million and a half dollars if we work 35-40 years and retire at 65. We hope to maybe have a little nest egg to supplement our Social Security benefits. 


I'm going to set aside some loose change for T.O., though. The thought of him having to clip coupons, buy suits "off the rack" and prowl the aisles at Wal-Mart like you and me is just too much to bear. 


"For love of the game". A phrase that nowhere near describes the jaundiced excess of overpaid, fool-on-a-holiday professional athletes these days. Good money flushed down the toilet by pampered prima-donnas.


Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Stan Musial. These men were true heroes. The Terrell Owens, Ocho-Whatever and LeBron "Shames" of today's sports news are weak imitators.   


Tell me that I'm not "up with the times". Tell me that I don't understand the modern-day psyche of the professional athlete. Fine. Whatever. 


I do understand $80 million bucks, though, and going from $80 million to zero is not trendy, hip or 21st. century.


It's stupid.


THOSE AMAZING CARDINALS


55-5. The job that Sandy Pearsall and her softball team did this season is almost beyond description. 

I was talking with our fearless leader Paul the other night and he was telling me of an interview he did with "Coach P." shortly before the season began. She spoke of having to replace the left side of her infield after the graduation of Colby Wherry and Chelsea Bemis. She also mentioned that she put the two out there as freshmen and they played together at short and third for four straight years. 


She worried about the strong returning teams at South Florida and DePaul. She was almost thankful that the Cards didn't have to play Notre Dame or Syracuse during the regular season.


She had nothing to worry about, it turns out.


It looked like it was deja-vu all over again. Freshmen Whitney Arion and Kayla Soles spent a lot of time together this year over on that left side. Add a sophomore second baseman, sophomore catcher, and just one senior fielder and pitcher in the starting lineup this year and the future does look very promising for the gang of ladies that play next to I-65.


The energy and enthusiasm of the softball unit is heartwarming. These girls have no long term professional contracts waiting for them after college ball, most of you wouldn't recognize them if they walked by you in the Oxmoor Mall or pulled up next to you at the gas pumps at Speedway -- but they energized a campus and fan base this spring and summer like they were rock stars or Hollywood starlets. 


I wish I would have been a part of that 3000+ crowd Saturday night at Ulmer Stadium that saw them take Kentucky down for the third time this season. I was there via TV, though, and you could feel the electricity surging in the crowd through the set. 


Keep it going in 2013, Cardinal fans. And, thank you Whitney, Maggie, Tori, Caralisa, Jordan, Taner, Alicja, Katelyn, Jennifer, "Linnie", Hannah, Kristin, Katie, Kayla, Tesha, Kirsten, Trista, Chrisanna, the staff and coaches for bringing so much enjoyment and pleasure to the UofL fan base. 


I saw Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle hit home runs years ago. I think I enjoyed the ones that Jordan Trimble and Alicja Wolny hit over the last couple of weeks just as much.


Have a great Wednesday, everybody!  


-David Watson


( We can tell you that the blast by Trimble to beat the Irish is one of our top three moments in Cardinal Sports for 2012. Thanks for the memories, ladies... and thank you to David for today's articles. ) 
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