More Coaches Add Their Comments -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

More Coaches and Their Thoughts


Paulie mentioned yesterday that a few coaches added some statements to what's going on in our city and around the country right now.  We saw more statements made by coaches yesterday.

Dan McDonnell was one of the coaches adding their comments.  The Louisville head baseball coach McDonnell focused his comments towards love and non-violence including adding Bible quote Matthew 22:37-40.

Caerdinals head football coach Scott Satterfield also took a route focused on his religious beliefs including everyone being created in God's image and wanting unity.  He closed his comments with 1st john 2:9.

John Michael Hayden , Louisville head men's soccer coach, had a similar message with different verbage.  His comments emphasized accountability.  He talked about standing up for the injustices currently happening.

Our Louisville head women's soccer coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes took a slightly different approaching, retweeting and liking posts by other coaches while posting a "Stop Racism" picture.

Jutine Sowry, Cardinal head Field Hockey coach, added a post with her thoughts headed into the early evening.  She talked about her time being an Australian citizen while also coaching in the United States.  She mentioned her experiences and how it is her, plus and her players' responsibility to speak up and take a stand against discrimination and racism while protecting each other.

Louisville head Volleyball coach Dani Busboom Kelly typed her messages on the Notes app on her iPhone and posted the screenshot on Twitter.  She prayed for strength and courage while also bringing up the socio-economic backgrounds among student-athletes.

An ample amount of current and former student-athletes have voiced their support in the protests through various social media platforms and how they have their teammates' backs through-and-through.

One of the bigger pieces of news was the arrest of men's basketball assistant coach Kahil Fennel.  Fennel was at the protests downtown but was arrested when he remained outside past the 9:00 p.m., curfew and did not leave.  He has not released a comment on the matter but Chris Mack, UofL men's basketball head coach, voiced his support for Fennel.

Our coaches see student-athletes of all sorts of backgrounds with hundreds of different stories.  Our coaches would do anything for any single one of their players.  They have listened to their players and their concerns on what's going on right now.

I'm glad to have coaches at Louisville who have their players' backs and will stand up alongside them to do what's right, even if it means putting themselves at risk.

I have voiced my opinion on the matter on my social media and will keep the opinions there while reporting facts and statements here.

I do fear that things are going to start getting violent beyond vandalism to buildings as tensions continue to rise.

The term "No justice, no peace" has been a popular rallying cry among protesters. Basically, it means that as long as injustice prevails, acting peacefully is an impossibility.

The t-shirt you see me pictured in we're the words that George Floyd spoke as he slowly died due to police restraint in Minneapolis. Those words have, as well, become a term used by protesters.

 Please make sure to take any needed precautions whether you go out to participate or stay home behind locked doors.  Remember, we are all in this together and as UofL says "We Rise As One."

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Sunday Cardinal Couple - Baseball and Soccer

it's not often that we get to talk about a diamond sport and soccer in the same articles, seeing as we're a UofL focused site, and baseball and soccer at the college level are in opposite seasons.  Today, though, we have both UofL Baseball playing the College World Series and the US Women's National Team in action in the Women's World Cup.  OK, neither are perfectly on point for the Cardinal Couple mission, but we do stray off the side where interest and significance warrants, so let's do this.

Women's World Cup

2 matches today in the Women's World Cup.  both in Group F.  Sweden is starting off the day against Thailand.  At the time of this writing, the game is 23 minutes in and Sweden leads 2-0.  The US will match up against Chile at noon eastern time (EDT).

The US played Thailand on Tuesday, and won convincingly, 13-0.  Thailand qualified for the World Cup.  That means they are a good team in the overall context of the world stage, as only 24 teams qualify, but in the context of the World Cup competition...yeah, ok, they're not great.  After the game there was some punditry and commentary about whether the US should've let up on the gas, put in substitutes, or not celebrated goals after a certain point.

Hogwash (and I'm doing my best to resist using stronger language, here).

They're playing in the World Cup.  This is the most prestigious soccer competition around (yes, even surpassing the Olympics, in my estimation).  Any team that is playing in the World Cup, is a world class team, pretty much by definition.  Goals scored are things to be celebrated.  Goal differential is a thing that can, and frequently does, matter for advancing and seeding in the knock-out round.  Put in the subs?  Doesn't matter too much on this deep US team, and besides, you can only substitute 3 times in International soccer.  Goals are hard to achieve in soccer.  Celebrate away!

So, back to today's matchup.  Chile played Sweden on Tuesday and lost 2-0.  The US should come out on top of this one, but again, this is the World Cup, there are no bad teams, here.  The World Cup history is replete with plenty of big upsets over the years.  The US will need to come out and play the game that they know they're capable, don't listen to the sexist punditry saying they shouldn't play their hardest, and play their best through the last echo of the last whistle.

All Women's World Cup games are televised on Fox Sports.

College World Series

Now let's come back to UofL sports, though we'll need to switch over to the guys side of things.

Baseball starts their College World Series campaign today at 2 eastern (EDT), and will be matched up against a familiar, and always challenging, foe in Vanderbilt.

The CWS is structured as 2 parallel 4-team double-elimination tournaments, the winner from each of those double-elimination tournament then plays a best of 3 series to determine the final champion.  Softball has much the same structure, but they have a "crossover" where the loser of the 1-0 game in each bracket crosses over to the elimination side of the opposite bracket.  Baseball doesn't have that feature (and I do consider it a feature as it gives a little bit more mixing up of the teams than the baseball format that lacks the crossover), so for near future, UofL only has to worry about the other teams their 4 team bracket.

Interestingly, all 3 other teams in Louisville's half of the CWS bracket are SEC teams, with Auburn and Mississippi State joining Vanderbilt as the potential opponents.

From the other 4-team bracket, the potential championship series opponents are Texas Tech, Michigan, Arkansas, and Florida State.  Florida State has been playing very well of late, as a sort of grand farewell tour for their coach who is retiring after the season, so there's a very real chance of an all-ACC championship series.  The CWS did kick off, overall, yesterday with a Florida State win over Arkansas, and Michigan over Texas Tech.

Back to today, Louisville and Vanderbilt have a long history of entertaining and competitive games, including a number of games in NCAA Regionals, a Super Regional, and even at the College World Series (Vanderbilt won, on the way to winning the whole event).  The oak barrel, the trophy for the matchup between the two teams, currently resides in Nashville with Vanderbilt after they beat the Cards 6-2 earlier in the season.  The barrel is not on the line for post season games between the teams, so regardless of the outcome, it will remain in Nashville until next spring when the teams meet up in the regular season again.  The Barrel rivalry began in 2012, and the series is currently evenly split at 4 wins apiece.  In the full history of the teams, which goes back to 1971, Vanderbilt leads 24-10.

Today's game is available on ESPN.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The quiz slump is real!

Paulie, Case, Jared, and myself were in the studio yesterday and the usual hilarity ensued.  We talked
about Asia "Nite-nite" Durr's 20 point WNBA performance, the Women's World Cup, and plenty of other random topics.

Paulie brought a mixed bag of questions for the Cardinal Couple quiz, on the theme of coaches, where some were (at least in my opinion) easy, and some got a bit tricky.  Jared came away with the one-eared toothpick holding bear, with toothpicks, trophy.  See if you can beat him.

As usual, the stream is available on Facebook Live:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/vb.123009984388960/693043604477833/


Happy Fathers Day ! 

From all of us at CARDINAL COUPLE to all of you Dads out there...HAPPY FATHERS DAY. This is your day, so we hope you have the chance to spend it in the way you choose.

If you're Dad is still living, be sure to do something special for him today. Even a phone call or visit for lunch and conversation.

Remember, it "took two to make you" -- so give a bit of acknowledgement to the guy who taught you how to put the chain back on your bicycle, stood patiently across from you while you tried to toss the ball in his glove, gave up that weekend morning of golf to make sure you got to (fill in the sport or activity) practice and offered advice when you were uncertain or listened when you had something you needed to discuss. The guy who played with you and your siblings in the yard and responded so sagely when Mom yelled "You're tearing up the lawn!" with the reply "No we're not. We're raising kids."

-- 

JMcA

Introducing the Paulies -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

A DIFFERENT SPIN ON POST-SEASON AWARDS


You may have noticed over the years we do things a little differently here at Cardinal Couple. For, sure...we have three unique and widely diverse writers here at the site. Spanning three generations. Our intent is to promote the joy and excitement of UofL Women's Sports and most days I feel we do a pretty good job of that. Even on the days where we delve into a men's sport...it's usually something that a lot of women's sports fans at UofL have a mutual interest in following. 

So...I present THE PAULIES. A different type of award sequence. We'll compile a formal list of the nominees later this month...your input is requested and greatly appreciated...and between me, Worldwide, Case and probably a couple of other associates you've heard on our radio show...we'll rank the nominees and come up with the recipient of The Paulie for that category. We'll award a banana to the winner in each category. Or a banana milkshake if so desired. After much deliberation...I've narrowed it down to five categories.  

They are :  

1) QUICKS -- No...this isn't named for the former UofL Football wide receiver...instead, for that player who shows speed on their playing surface. The one leading the charge or the one everyone else is trying to catch or contain. They feel the need for speed and are adept at it.

Some early names would include...Hannah Koloski (Lacrosse). Jazmine Jones (Basketball). Jordan McNary (Softball) Raven Grant (Track and Field) and Brooklyn Rivers (soccer). 

2) GIMME THE BALL --  That player you want controlling the scoring in the close ones...for the last attempt or when you definitely need points, a goal or even a big stop. Strong performers.The one that coaches design the play for. 

To start, we'll look at Minout Mink (Field Hockey), Asia Durr (Basketball), Meghan Siverson (Lacrosse),  Melanie McHenry (Volleyball) and Maryssa Becker (Softball). 




3) DON'T GET COMFORTABLE SITTING DOWN. -- That player that needs to be out there as many minutes as you can play her. The one that gets the minutes, deserves the minutes and doesn't spend a lot of time sitting or standing next to the coaches. 

A few to consider...Nicole Pufahl (Softball), Ayeshia McFerran (Field Hockey), Inger Katrine Bjerke (Soccer), Molly Sauer (Volleyball) and Brittany Read (Lacrosse) 

4) SHE'LL GET THE CROWD BUZZING. -- That player who gets the crowd buzzing. The fan favorite. The one that gets a reaction when she goes in or gets ready to perform. Ms. Electricity. 

How about...Sydney Zambrotta (Basketball), Gabrielle Vincent (Soccer), Emmonnie Henderson (Track and Field), Jasmine Bennett (Volleyball), Jessica Laemmle (Basketball). 

5) MAKE SURE THE RECORDER IS ON. -- The Coach that gives the usually great, maybe comical, sometimes critical and never boring post-game quotes and comments. 

We'll offer Jeff Walz (Basketball), Kellie Young (Lacrosse), Sandy Pearsall (Softball), Justine Sowry (Field Hockey) and Karen Ferguson-Dayes (Soccer).

So...there you have it. Feel free to leave your picks in the comments section for any or all catergories. E-mail them, if you wish, to cardinalcouple@twc.com. Text me at 5022913651 if you wish. We'll compile the results and announce the finalists after due deliberation and consideration. We'll put them up for a vote over on the Right Hand Side of the Site as part of the final determination for the winner. 

The Paulies....not your average awards from the far from average web site. 



paulie
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