Christmas Eve
It is at this season in the year when we almost a habitually look back to review the year past, and look to the new year and make plans and wish for better. The general consensus seems to be that 2016 was mostly a dumpster fire, so let's look to the future.
So here are my Christmahanukwanzikah Cardinal wishes. And I may throw in a Festivus Airing of a Grievance just for good measure.
Free Throw Shooting
I like the letter "F". It's a fine letter. It's fun, it's fancy, it has plenty of typographic features. It's footloose and fancy-free, and it's free to all. I would dearly love to give away some genuine Cardinal Couple "F"'s to the Women's Basketball team. We just need to hit some stinkin' free throws. I think at this point, Paulie would probably even award a lower-case "f" for free throw percentages in the 65% range just as a measure of good faith. Get your shots up over the break, please. Let's F this place up!Deep Runs
Let's keep in mind, however, that these tournaments are among the smaller NCAA sports tournaments. Field Hockey has had only 18 teams in the past couple of years and Lacrosse, 24. That means even the opening rounds of these tournaments are already very stiff competition. There is no shame whatsoever in the success of these two teams over the past couple of years, but man oh man wouldn't it be magically if they could go at least a couple of rounds deeper into their tournament runs.
Think of the lift that would provide to these programs.
Think of the lift that would provide to these programs.
A New Day
It's a new dawn, a new day, and I'm feeling good (with apologies to Michael Bublé), about UofLVolleyball. 2016 was a pretty tough year to be a volleyball fan at UofL, but we've got a new head coach and associate head coach. We can look forward to another great hire to assistant coach, and we're looking for a new resurgence in this program. For now, I'm not asking for miracles and immediate national championships...though I certainly wouldn't turn one down. I want to see this program built, like the Lacrosse and Field Hockey programs have done, over time to be a perennial national powerhouse. I think we've got the potential to do it, we've got a coach, who in typical Tom Jurish fashion, is being given a shot to prove herself. I don't think Dani plans to miss her chance or throw away this shot. (Thanks, Eminem, and Lin-Manual Miranda) Let's start with just asking for a great season of volleyball. I'm not asking for a national championship, or even necessarily a deep run in the NCAA. Let's build this program right and get it on an upward trajectory.
A Wish and a Grievance
I've hit this topic before, so I'll keep this one short, but I still see this happen, so I like to keep the idea on this one out there.
Please, let's try to stamp out the usage of "Lady Cards" when it comes to UofL. If other teams wish to call their teams Lady Bulls, or Lady Vols, or Lady Whatevers then that's their choice. UofL has chosen to be bold in supporting the women's teams at UofL and present them as full representatives of the school, let's support them in that. This is reflective of the deep commitment and approach to women's athletics at UofL, where there is no distinction drawn between the different programs, and their support within the athletic department. I, for one, am proud of how UofL handles this.
A Radio Break
We're taking a break from radio this week, due to Christmas Eve commitments for us and Kathy, the amazing engineer that produces the show for us at WCHQ. We hope to be back on the air next week with plenty of basketball to catch up on.
-- JMcA
Merry Xmas to you JMcA and all the Cardinal Couple staff. LEt's have a "F"ing good charity line appearance in 2017!
ReplyDeleteCurtis " There is no "F" in team. Otherwise it would be "Feam but there is an 'F" in Franklin" Frankin
Nice Piece. I think Volleyball will improve with the new coaching coming next year. Lots of upside in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI'm also thinking that the smaller NCAA fields for lacrosse and field hockey have more to do with the limited number of schools competing than anything else. Not certain it means they're more competitive v/v the WCBB NCAA's at 64 teams. These are Title Nine sports that haven't gained traction over the years due to the lack of interest and limited HS programs in public high schools. Wealthy schools like UL can afford to recruit (particularly field hockey playing foreign kids where these sports are more popular), fund and equip these clubs in anticipation of future success which I imagine will come with time. It's a lot like women's college hockey in which many of the scholarship kids are Canadian. On some teams more than fifty percent of the scholarship players are Canadian. That may or may not be OK depending upon the role you feel college athletics should play in our country. Personally I've never felt that state supported schools carried much of a burden to provide free educations to foreign kids but that's just my opinion.
Finally I vote for Curtis as the winner of the "most consistently interesting and creative signatures" award on the CC Blog for 2016. The guy always brings it.
Thank you Burn. I like your comments and agree with them quite often. Have a great holidays and Go Cards!
DeleteCurtis "don't call ME lady (or her either)" Franklin
No contest there, Burn. I think too many cans of peas have fallen off the top shelf and onto his head. Love ya, Curtis "Slow".
DeletePaulie
Absolutely Worldwide! I played for the Lady Warriors in high school. As if we were a different type of Warriors? We had it on the front of our uniforms also and we were referred to as the Lady Warriors and I never liked that. Happy Holidays! The Deb Factor
ReplyDelete