Casey: Bride here: Steve was given preferential treatment while wearing his autographed Rick Pitino T-shirt in the Universal Studios ticket line. We had some fellow Big East fans in line with us and they gave us their spots in line. Who knew that...
bcs, no, not that bcs: OK, hold it, you guys. The bride is NOT a Cat fan but she IS becoming a CARDS fan, of course. After all, when you marry into this family, you have little choice! I know. Been there. Done that. But, hey, it’s cool.
steve: Thank you for clearing that up about her not being a cat fan. Might even need a whole other blog post to make sure everybody understands.
Linda: I’m glad to hear that Charlie - nothing dicier than “a house divided”. Remember Mark Sanders from U of L football when Howard was there? (he’s a high school coach here now…) When we were at a football game last...
Tom S: I think Pitino made one of the wisest decisions he’s ever made on this one. It’s a Solomon-like solution. I wrote about it on my new, improved blogsite: http://smokinfastball.blogspot .com/ Let me know if you agree.
Charlie: Gotta crush the UK daughter-in-law rumor real quick. No way. My other in-laws are the ones.
They are few in number, but what they argue is scary, the naysayers who continue to question the feasibility of the new University of Louisville arena. However, the construction schedule appears to be moving forward, meeting every date for the scheduled opening in November 2010.
The future of the project hopefully will become abundantly more clear when the Louisville Arena Authority (LAA) meets to review progress on Wednesday. The meeting is open to the public. Got questions? Show up at the Kentucky International Center at 1:30 p.m., Rooms 109-112.
One would hope that the meeting will forever end some of the speculation over the sale of bonds. Meanwhile, here are some frequently asked questions from the LAA’s web site:
What is the total cost of the Arena, and who is paying for it?
The total guaranteed maximum cost to build the Arena is $249 million. The project is funded by at least $360 million in gross proceeds from bonds issued by the Louisville Arena Authority.
According to the Leib Report (an independent review of the Louisville Arena Authority’s development and financing plan prepared in 2006 and updated in 2007 by The Leib Group, LLC), the Arena-generated revenues are projected to be $1,100,000,000 over 30 years, or the life of the debt service. Revenues include income from the University of Louisville’s lease of the Arena, as well as a percentage of sales of premium seating, luxury suites, loge boxes and club seats; naming rights; advertising and sponsorships; facility rental; concession sales; facility fees; and tax increment financing (“TIF”) Revenue.
If the Arena’s cost is only $249 million, why is it necessary to issue $360 million in bonds?
In addition to the direct Arena costs, the Arena Authority will issue bonds to capitalize interest during the construction period, to fund a debt service reserve, and to pay bond issuance costs.
Getting up early on a Saturday morning was no problem for University of Louisville fans who have waited many years for a new basketball arena. This insomniac, dreading the 5 a.m. wakeup call, actually didn’t get any sleep.
The old Riverview Square/Humana office tower/Farm Credit Bank building, which was constructed in early seventies, required less than 20 seconds to implode. Here’s the Card Game video:
If fans want to see some significant history in the making, they’re going to have to get up pretty early Saturday morning. The former Humana office building at Second and Main Streets will be imploded at approximately 7 a.m., just as most fans are beginning to appreciate their off day.
The removal of the structure is a key step in the construction schedule for the new University of Louisville basketball arena in the downtown area.
Scheduling the event that early in the day will give pause to many fans, even this one.
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Stadium Capacity – The word from numerous sources is that the seating capacity in the expanded Papa John’s Cardinal Football Stadium is being revised upward to include a minimum of 60,000 seats. That’s more like it.
Wonder if Larry Owsley, U of L Vice President for Business Affairs, played a role in the decision this time around? His lack of vision during the initial construction led to limiting the seating capacity to only 42,000.
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Practice Begins – The waiting will soon be over for Cardinal football fans. UofL will open fall practice on Tuesday, August 5 at PJCS. The Cards will hold three open practices to the fans on August 5-7. Practice times have not been announced, not that anyone is surprised. Would have been a good opportunity to begin improving communications.
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Groan — As usual, the autograph signing period is limited to one hour, from 9-10 a.m., on Fan Day, Saturday, Aug. 9. One hour is not long enough, demonstrating once again a lack of regard for fans. The worst possible thing the program can do is to force youngsters to wait in long lines, be disappointed and turned away without having a fair chance to get as many as possible. Let the media wait another half hour; build more badly-needed rapport with fans. Young fans are lifeblood of the program.
Also, there is no word about a pancake breakfast this year, which was a nice event. Bobby Petrino had that one right.
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UofL in the NFL — As pre-season nears, the Cards currently have 35 players in the National Football League. This could change in the next few weeks as teams trim their squads. Here are the connections:
K David Akers (Philadelphia Eagles), TE Gary Barnidge (Carolina Panthers), WR Deion Branch (Seattle Seahawks), QB Brian Brohm (Green Bay Packers), S Curry Burns (New Orleans Saints), RB Michael Bush (Oakland Raiders), WR Harry Douglas (Atlanta Falcons),
DE Elvis Dumervil (Denver Broncos), OL Renardo Foster (Atlanta Falcons), RB Lionel Gates (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), CB William Gay (Pittsburgh Steelers), TE Ronnie Ghent (New Orleans Saints), OL Breno Giacomini (Green Bay Packers), CB Antoine Harris (Atlanta Falcons),
LB Nate Harris (Kansas City Chiefs), OL Jason Hilliard (Dallas Cowboys), LB Brandon Johnson (Cincinnati Bengals), CB Chris Johnson (Oakland Raiders), OL Travis Leffew (Kansas City Chiefs), CB Sam Madison (Giants), LB Robert McCune (Baltimore Ravens),
OL Roman Oben (San Diego Chargers), DT Amobi Okoye (Houston Texans), TE Richard Owens (St. Louis Rams), OL Kurt Quarterman (Giants), QB Chris Redman (Atlanta Falcons), S Kerry Rhodes (Jets), S Brandon Sharp (Chicago Bears), RB Eric Shelton (Redskins),
RB Kolby Smith (Kansas City Chiefs), OL Jason Spitz (Green Bay Packers), DT Montavious Stanley (Atlanta Falcons), WR Mario Urrutia (Cincinnati Bengals), DT Ted Washington (Cleveland Browns), DE Dewayne White (Detroit Lions).
As this observer was reminded on numerous occasions over the last few days, the father of the groom doesn’t get much attention at weddings … until the bills are due. That’s okay, just happy to see the knot tied and to help ensure the couple gets off to a good start.
The vows were exchanged in Fort Myers, Fla. We stayed a few days with University of Kentucky in-laws at a development called Wildcat Run. Our hosts, the inhabitants of the house, feast on Big Blue except when we are there. After the wedding, we opted for a more neutral setting, checking in at a beach front resort to finally relax and unwind.
Saw a few other Wildcat fans on the plane going and coming. Couldn’t help but wonder why anyone in their right mind would want to be seen in UK garb.
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Arrive home only to hear still another chapter in the Derrick Caracter soap opera. He will have to get a decent job and a student loan or Pell Grant to attend school on his own and raise his grade average to acceptable levels. That would be plenty of motivation for most people but with Caracter you have to be skeptical.
The good thing for Pitino is that he won’t be receiving as many phone calls and text messages from Caracter for a few months.
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Really a rotten shame that Art Carmody has not been picked for a National Football League team yet. One of the best place kickers in NCAA history is totally ignored? That really doesn’t make much sense.
Carmody’s streak of 97 consecutive extra points from 2004-2006 set a Louisville record and helped him earn the most prestigious award in kicking during his junior campaign. His 433 career points is an all-time record for NCAA kickers. The three-time All-Big East first-team performer connected on all 53 PATs and 13 of 17 field goals as a Louisville senior.
Odd that such success doesn’t count for much with the NFL.
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Brandon Dunaway, a sophomore guard on the Corydon Central basketball team,will be watched closely by college scouts over the next three years. He showed off some of his skills during the recent AAU action in Louisville, knocking down all four three-point attempts in one game. Possibly in the mode of a number of top performers from the Hoosier state, Dunaway is a gym rat, who lives, breathes and dreams everything basketball.
Probably Indiana bound, if his friends and family ties are any indication. Thinks new IU Coach Tom Crean is “a pretty cool guy.” See, he’s already brainwashed.
Nice new tool available for University of Louisville fans at the UofL athletic site, a desktop communicator that provides ongoing access to news releases issued by the sports information crew. No breaking news or anything like that, but includes access to a lot of material, plus it’s a cool design, looks great on a desktop, and it’s free.
