And We're Off - Sunday Cardinal Couple

 Sports Return to UofL

We have results to report on for the first time half a year.  It's been a "summer slump" like never before, but we're, at least officially, past it.  OK, it's Football, which is not normally in our reporting scope, but let's celebrate the return of sports in whatever form.

Traditionally Soccer, and usually the women's soccer squad, is the official kick off of fall sports, and it typically would've happened almost a month ago, but of course these aren't usual times in any way.

It's always great to start off the UofL sports calendar with a win, and we did this year, with Football getting a...well...rather wobbly looking 35-21 win over in-state foe WKU.  There's plenty to clean up on the gridiron, but you've got plenty of places to go for analysis of that game. Anyone interested in playing on the punt team as a blocker, report to Scott Satterfield immediately.   After all, you come to Cardinal Couple for coverage and analysis that just doesn't exist anywhere else. 

The Week Ahead

In something that feels like a tip of the hat towards normalcy, the women's soccer squad will get things underway for the Olympic Sports this week on Thursday at Miami.  And Cross-Country gets going Saturday at Notre Dame.

Field Hockey and Volleyball don't get things started until next weekend.  They do get to have the first home competitions of the overall season, however, with Duke and Notre Dame coming to visit, respectively.

The UofL composite calendar is doing us no favors with several sports having schedules posted, but not showing up on the composite calendar.  If you go to the UofL site, don't count on the composite calendar showing you everything.  At the time of this writing, it appears that the Football, Field Hockey, and Men's Soccer schedules exist and are post on the respective team schedule pages, but are not appearing on the composite calendar.  It's just one tiny little way that 2020 is keeping people on their toes.

WNBA

Mystics-Liberty

All of the WNBA Cards were in action yesterday, and half got wins.  There was no way for all of them to come out victorious as Jaz Jones and Kylee Shook with the New York Liberty were playing Myisha Hines-Allen with the Washington Mystics.

Hines-Allen unsurprisingly, given the team records, came out with the W in this one, 75-58.

Mooks had a very fine game, getting the double-double with 25 points, and 11 rebounds.  Also add in four assists and three steals, and that's one you can be happy with.  About midway through the first quarter Myisha had more made baskets than the whole New York Liberty team.

Jazine Jones got her first career WNBA start, thanks in part to Layshia Clarendon not being dressed for this one because of back issues, and had a good outing.  Eight points is a solid contribution, along with a block and a pair of pilfers.  But perhaps her biggest contribution was in keeping the offensive system moving, with her seven rebounds giving the Liberty some extra possessions to do their best, and six assists to help others in those possessions.

Kylee Shook had a decent outing, coming up with four points and five rebounds.

Aces-Sparks

The Las Vegas Aces came out on top vs the Los Angeles Sparks, 84-70.  Angel McCoughtry showing us why her career in the WNBA has lasted as long as it has.  Part of the trio of top scorers for the Aces, Angel finished with 18 just behind A'ja Wilson's 19 and just ahead of Kayla McBride's 17.  Six rebounds and a trio of assists for Angel, and that's a darn good stat line for just under 24 minutes of playing time.

Bill Laimbeer keeps the playing time spread around the team pretty well with eight of the ten active players in the wubble for the Aces getting north of 12 minutes of playing time.

Today

Everyone is back in action today to wrap up the regular season for the WNBA.  The Liberty vs the Dallas Wings is at noon, The Aces are in what looks like it could be a very good game against the Seattle Storm at 3pm, and the Mystics get the regular season finale with the Atlanta Dream at 5pm.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

When our wonderful host, for many years, WCHQ, shut down at the end of the year, we decided we would keep the name "Cardinal Couple Radio Hour" with our tongue firmly in cheek since we would no longer actually be on the radio.  Now?  We also realized, as part of that transition, that we would no longer be tied to an hour schedule, either, and we've been taking advantage of that, of late, with the last CCRH that came in right at an hour mark was back in July.  We've been running about an hour and ten minutes, even as long as an hour and 20 minutes, of late.  We hope it's been fun for you, it certainly has for us, and it has let us dive a little it deeper into some subjects which has been very nice.

The latest is no exception.  It was an hour and a quarter of good fun, quite a bit of excitement about the return of sports to the UofL campus and a look into who to expect breakout years from and surprise teams with their contributions.  No quiz this week, it's probably time to pack it away until...well, let's hope it stays packed away until Summer 2021, because if it makes an appearance before then, things probably aren't looking great for the country on the Covid-19 front.

We had the full regular squad on the call and had good fun.  Check it out!

JMcA