A change in the wind? -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 POTENTIAL DEFECTIONS OF FSU AND CLEMSON COULD SHAKE UP THE ACC...

As fall sports are set to begin in the ACC in less than two weeks, maybe just as big a story are the rumors flying around about ACC defections.  You'll remember...back in 2014 it was a defection (Maryland) that opened the door for Louisville to join the conference. Now, after a decade in the conference...the Cards and a dozen or so other ACC members are looking at re-alignment possibilities and defection possibilities again. 

Clemson and FSU see the dollar signs beckon and there is a lot of chatter out there that they'll chase them. Football seems to be the driving force here, and there is already speculation that if the Noles and Tigers hit the trail...California and Stanford from the dying PAC 12 might be knocking on the door, dressed in their Sunday best, seeing an invite to the ACC. Somehow, two west coast Pacific Athletic Conference schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference seems a bit odd to me...but I guess a decade ago...ACC purists thought that a city on the Ohio River being in the Atlantic Coast conference was weird, too. 

Why all this jumping around? It is all about revenue. Repeat and rinse. It's about moolah, greenbacks, benjamins, bank, folding stuff and loot. 

Maybe we shouldn't cast too much of a disapproving eye. After all, it was Louisville who went from MVC to Metro to C-USA to Big East to AAC to ACC...and the motivation wasn't centered around neat places to eat and colorful mascots. 

It was all about the dollars. As much as I am still confused to this day why West Virginia left the ACC to go to the Big 12,...I snap myself back  to the real world and remember why. Money. 

Joel Grey had it right in Cabaret when he and Liza Minellli sang about money. Scarface and the BrotherMob nailed it, too, when they rapped about money makes the world go around. Ig... f you listen carefully enough on a calm summer evening, you can hear Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding shouting "Show me the money" in the distance. 

Athletics bring in a considerable amount of money to colleges and universities. Clemson and FSU, who have no qualms squawking about the "unfair" ACC dollar split, see more money potential elsewhere and...repeat it with me....money makes the world go around.

(Hi, Daddy. Classes are great but the coaches still don't know what conference we are in)

And, yes, football is the conductor of this money train. 

I was at a lunch recently with some UofL fans and friends of mine and we were talking about the travel snafus California and Stanford would run into...if they joined the ACC and had, for example...a three game conference road-trip to...let's say... Boston College, Miami and then Virginia Tech. Then, think about it for the Field Hockey or Lacrosse programs at these schools...instead of football or men's basketball.  

Of course, Hawaii does a bit of flying each athletic season for their 20 SPORTS PROGRAMS. Who knows...maybe they'll come out next week and proudly announce they,are joining the SEC.

Deion Sanders, head football coach at  University of Colorado gets it:

"All this is about money, you know that. It's about a bag. Everybody is chasing a bag. Then, you get mad at players when they chase it. How's that? How do the grown-ups get mad at the players when they're chasing it when the colleges are chasing it?"

Greed, it seems, should be a new elective for incoming freshmen in course-scheduling. Maybe Gordon Gekko can guest lecture.

Money is the most important thing on campus. And that's sad. But, it's real. College athletes, on the main stage, is all about greed, for the major programs within a college's athletic department. 

I  hope to be here, and not breathing dry air, five years from now. I can't even imagine what conference alignments will look like then.

 

I guess it's time to finally get rid of those old Big East Louisville sweatshirts I have. The ones that Sonja is always nagging me about ( "you never wear this anymore...I'm taking it to Goodwill...you need closet space")  and re-gear.  I used to get nice polo shirts from a certain source at a certain university. That cowboy has saddled up and rode off into the sunset, though. 

I just hope we don't change our logo. Last time I checked, we were the only Cardinals in the ACC. But, saay...is that Stanford coming down the road? Great...the old Cardinal vs Cardinals nickname conspiracy just might be ramping up again several notches...At least they have a crazy looking tree on their sidelines at times. All we got is some screaming intern with a microphone trying to get the crowd to clap their hands. 

Stay tuned...this soap opera could get real interesting...

Paulip

SCHEDULING CHANGES (Again) -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS VS. UNC and FSU POSTPONED -- UT-MARTIN and CLEMSON TO VISIT KFC YUM! CENTER

There is an old baseball adage that goes :'You can't tell the players without a score-card". As we roll into 2021, that could be altered to "You can't tell the opponent unless they show up." 

The Louisville women's basketball team will now play UT Martin for the second time this season, this one Tuesday, Jan 5th. at the KFC YUM! Center at 2:30 p.m.  This contest replaces the game against UNC at the KFC, since the Tar Heels have opted out of coming to Louisville for the third time this season. Also, it was announced yesterday that Clemson will visit Louisville WBB on Sunday, Jan 10th. The Cards were originally scheduled to host the Tigers on Feb 21st., no word yet on whether that'll still happen or not. 

Are you with me so far? Any questions? Hey, who stole my pencil? 

Playing Clemson means, of course, that Louisville WBB's trip to play FSU in Tallahassee on Sunday has been postponed. This is because of COVID protocols facing the Seminoles currently.

So, as we greet Monday morning, let's try to simplify it like this: 

1) UNC -- postponed again. 2) UT Martin -- here again. 3) FSU -- delayed. 4) Clemson -- here earlier than expected.  And, don't forget the Cards WBB squad was scheduled to play at Virginia tonight (Monday) -- but that was postponed last week

Jeff Walz just may be the busiest non-medical or front-line responder individual in the city of Louisville. I had a dream he called me up and asked if the Cardinal Couple crew were available for a game Thursday. We tentatively agreed, provided we could bring in Asia, Shoni, Angel, Jaz and Myisha as members of the Cardinal Couple staff. .  

What it does mean... is that the Cards WBB squad (for now) will at least continue to get a couple of games in after being on the sidelines for most of December. And, a huge amount of credit goes to UT Martin for agreeing to visit Louisville again after starting their 2020-21 season here. Anybody up for including UTM in the ACC this year?

It was announced that tickets will go on sale this morning for the  UT Martin game on Tuesday ($12). You can pick those up through Ticketmaster.com.  And, any tickets or parking you had for UNC are still good, as well, for the UT Martin game. 

My highly unofficial account of 2020-21 Louisville WBB has the Cards playing seven games so far and winning all seven. They've also had 13 games either postponed or cancelled. 

The whole thing has me pretty confused. So much so that it put my morning routine in a frenzy. I was going to have cereal this morning. Sonja (my version of the ACC in this scenario) told me that cereal wasn't available (for the third time) but English Muffins were available (for the second time).

In addition, my plans for a breakfast of eggs and ham for later in the week were postponed, but bacon and toast would be moved up from their originally scheduled appearance later this month and be on the menu. Coffee and granola bars are still available at Ticketmaster, the status of bagels and oatmeal are currently being assessed and cold pizza remains on standby. Can a fella get a Happy Meal here?!? You want fries with that? 

In the old television show -- Hee-Haw -- parlance:  "Hey, Grandpa, what's for supper?"

Maybe I'll go back to bed and wait for lunch. Or Tuesday. 

In any event, have a meaningful Monday *unless we move it to Tuesday* ! Jared's got you covered Tuesday with a pre-game report on someone. Unless, it's Wednesday or he opts out for January. 

paulie