Poll results for WBB and Julie Sullivan offers a Christmas poem -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

It seems we may have a second poet-laureate here at Cardinal Couple. First off, the long-standing annual Sonja XMAS poem is rapidly nearing completion and sources tell me that she, the chimps, and Mike the psychedelic-eyed Clemson Tiger should have it out by the weekend. Since Mike isn't much of a proof-reader, I've gotten some glimpses of what my better half has been working on and I like what I'm seeing.  

The poem, a tradition started long ago at Howie Lindsey's fine CARDINAL SPORTS website lives on and it will be posted here and there. (I had wondered why the egg-nog and bourbon levels in the house had been shrinking...) 

Julie Sullivan, our newest writer, is also adept as a wordsmith and offers us poetry today based on a true experience from a couple of years ago. We hope you enjoy this holiday treat and that your holidays (Worldwide refers to this time of year as "Christmahanakwanzika,") are going well.  -- Paulie -- 

Less than a week before Christmas and all thru the website

The games had been covered, I have nothing to write

Paulie wrote the UofL/UK game with such clever flair

That all felt the victory, even those who were not there 

But the readers are clamoring for a new story to read

It's early Tuesday AM and the sweat starts to bead

Then, I remember an incident from two years ago

When a Cat fan and I had a battle to and fro

She put a Christmas tree in a common hallway

And from a bough, a giant Wildcat ribbon did sway

On the tree a Cardinal ornament soon did appear

When I was wrongly accused, I put it in high gear

A tree with blue? It's not the color of the season

Everyone knows Santa wears red for a reason

Her tree was soon adorned with lots of red birds

And an email she did get with the following words: 

Oh, Cardinal tree, oh Cardinal tree

How lovely are thy birdies?

Oh, Cardinal tree, oh Cardinal tree

How lovely are they birdies"

Oh, Cardinal tree, oh Cardinal tree

Such pleasure you do bring me!

Oh, Cardinal tree, oh Cardinal tree

Such pleasure you do bring me! 

And how this former Wildcat tree

Brings us such joy and glee

Oh, Cardinal tree, Oh, Cardinal tree

Such pleasure you do bring me.

Oh, Cardinal tree, oh Cardinal tree

Card/Cat games we'll be winning

A symbol of our pride and love

No other school can ring my bell

Someday Ms. J. will think you're swell. 

Oh, Cardinal tree, Oh, Cardinal tree

You'll never again need changing. 

( This column is a tip of the hat to my grandfather, who wrote each of his ten grand-kids individualized poems that accompanied our Christmas cash each year. The money was welcome but all these years later, I still miss GrandPop's cheesy rhymes. I hope I did him proud.) 

-- JC --   

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USA TODAY, AP POLLS OUT

If it's Tuesday morning during basketball season, and we're relatively sure it is, it's time for the weekly polls for NCAA Women's College basketball. Steady on the horizon, course remains the same for the WBB Cards in the AP, holding at third: 

1)  UConn            800 points

2)  Notre Dame    748 points

3) LOUISVILLE      740 points

4) S. Carolina       686 points

5) Miss. State       672 points

A bit of a head-scratcher, "WTH" result over at the USA Today/WBCA Coaches Poll, however, where the Cards are still in fourth behind Mississippi State. 

1) UConn             800 points

2) Notre Dame     745 points

3) Miss. State       720 points

4) LOUISVILLE      719 points

5) S. Carolina       681 points

in the RPI rankings, the Cards are sixth.

Coach Walz and the players will tell you rankings are unimportant, they take each game at a time and I have to agree. I use them primarily to see how an upcoming opponent might be situated coming into a game against UofL. 

Speaking of, the WBB squad is in Colorado and ready for Wednesday night's game against Air Force. I suspect Mr. Anderson Jared will fill us in on more of that tomorrow. FWIW, Air Force is #345 out of #349 in the RPI listings. 0-9 on the season. 

345	345	Air Force	MWC	0-9	0-5	0-0	0-3	0-1
346	346	VCU	Atlantic 10	1-7	0-5	0-1	1-1	0-0
347	347	Charleston So.	Big South	2-5	0-2	0-1	1-2	1-0
348	348	La.-Monroe	Sun Belt	2-5	0-4	0-0	0-1	2-0
349	349	Longwood	Big South	2-6	0-4	0-0	1-2	1-0

Paulie

xxxxx

Emergency Laundry Day for Sandy

Young, trainable baby wild cats, laundry sniff tests, field hockey, soccer, volleyball & Ms. Brakmeier

Paul and Sonja have managed to take advantage of the good weather which allowed them to hitch-hike their way to the Louisville/Florida International football game and have bravely decided to leave the web site in the hands of the interns.  As a way to prove to them that their decision was a good one, take a look at the free to a good home kitten pictures.  The web sites contributors met and decided that perhaps if, as little kittens, genetically programmed future UK supporters could be trained in the proper way to support their team (which includes how to properly use a litter box) once they become adults.  Pick one of these little rascals out from the pictures and give them a good foster home so that as adults they will have already learned to support U of L activities anytime the two teams are not playing one another.  Seriously, there are 4 darling little kittens whose photos have been air shipped to our offices and who need good U of L homes so that they can learn to be good citizens once they grow up.  Support our U of L team as without adoption these kitties could be left to the streets where chances are high that they will  become future undomesticated/feral wildcats.

Which one u want?

LAUNDRY TIPS

How to catch up on the Laundry

“Do you use the "sniff test" to salvage clothes from the dirty pile? Have you bought new clothes instead of doing laundry? Is your home cluttered with laundry piles? Will it take several hours, days, or weeks to get it done? Here's some advice on how to get caught up more efficiently!”  Instructions can be found at http://www.wikihow.com/Catch-Up-on-Dirty-Laundry

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FIELD HOCKEY

There was an absolutely wonderful article where the first Louisville woman to ever be  inducted into U of L's athletic Hall of Fame and aka “Ms. Field Hockey”, and formally identified as Ms. Brakmeier, was interviewed by Eric Crawford of WDRB news on September 19 which a couple of days after U of L named the Trager Field Hockey complex's new locker room after her.  The naming was not in response to her 90^th birthday but it was not a bad present.  This was quite an event for someone who arrived at U of L in 1940 as a student who never left!

Her interview fit perfectly into my earlier How It Was Series as she had great stories of what was necessary to create a situation where a field hockey team could practice and compete.  Some would be bitter but Ms. Brakmeier never seems to vary from her role of substitute mother to all who have passed through the physical education departments doors during those 40 years. 

"Every year during the fall season all of us would walk around the campus. It had a lot of open fields and wasn't all built up then, then I'd say something to some of the workmen and say, 'That seems to be a good field there and would make a good hockey field,'" Brakmeier said. "Well, they'd cut the grass low for us and if it was good they'd tell us and sometimes they'd say, 'Oh, that's not a good field at all.' We never had the same field two years in a row, but they were always very nice and helped us find a good spot."

U of L has pulled off quite a switch as it now “has one of the nation's better field hockey facilities, one of the few in all of NCAA Division I devoted to that sport and no other.”

Best of all was her story of how each years uniforms to be worn at matches were determined.  Just in case you are still a bit delusional regarding the amount of support provided by the University, there was no such thing as University provided uniforms. 

"We'd get them all together and ask, 'All right, how many have red shorts, or black shorts or white shorts?'" Brakmeier said. "We didn't have any financial support at first. Whatever we had the most of, that's what we'd wear. And you'd be surprised how many parents would come forward to buy their daughters a new pair of shorts or something like that. And if somebody needed it I could find them some kind of white T-shirt with Louisville on it."

Read these and other stories of How It Was at: http://m.wdrb.com/default.aspx?pid=2705&wnfeedurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wdrb.com%2fstory%2f19581578%2fcrawford-brakmeier-connects-u-of-ls-present-to-its-past%i3fclienttype%3drssstory

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CARDS TV

Boo to Cards TV!                            Cardinal Couple’s crack team of investigators

were sent out to determine what caused my intermittent picture of last night’s Field Hockey and Soccer games.  They concluded that Timmy had again fallen asleep during his assigned shift and allowed the transmission units to overheat and shut down.  

Timmy is now officially on probation as an Intern.  He promises it won’t happen again.

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SOCCER

The Women's soccer team played to a 1-1 draw against visiting Syracuse on Friday night at Cardinal Park.   They are now 6-2 for the season.

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FIELD HOCKEY

On Friday Night the Field Hockey team Defeated Georgetown 4-2 who are now 6-3 on the season.

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VOLLEYBALL

The Volleyball team defeated Big East Rival DePaul last night 3-0.  On Sunday they play Notre Dame at the YUM! Center at 2:00

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Rumor is that tomorrow Jenny will be sharing additional basketball recruiting scoops her team of graduate assistants have learned. I hear that internet traffic concerning possible recruits has been congested.  Also Paul and Sonja will be back the first of the week where I am sure they will untangle whatever messes their fill-ins have created.

Sandy W.