LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Football, basketball, baseball, economics, I've got it all.
*How's that saying go? "A discouraging word is guaranteed to be heard?" I believe Knute Rockne was first to say it.
As I predicted last week, Louisville football coach Charlie Strong has already made certain his players are 110 percent aware that Stewart Mandel of SI.com, an arm of Sports Illustrated, has classified the Cardinals in the bottom tier of college football programs across the nation.
They're peasants.
Easy. Those are Mandel's words, not mine.
As I explained last week, neither Kentucky nor Louisville has earned a spot in the game's bottom fourth. Tier Three would be more accurate because of total wins, bowl appearances and attendance over the last five years.
Make friends with the P-word. You're going to hear it a lot this season.
*Here is something that Strong won't want his players to read: Louisville remains a solid 10-point favorite in the Cards' opener against Kentucky Sept. 2 in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.
In fact, the folks at TheSaturdayEdge.com actually like Louisville by 14.
Maybe Joker Phillips will post that news in the UK football complex.
It's already posted?
*On Saturday Rick Pitino nominated Jay Bilas as his pick for the next Big East commissioner.
Bilas has returned the favor by picking the Cards to win the 2013 Big East title. Here is his top five:
1. Louisville; 2. Syracuse; 3. Notre Dame; 4. Marquette; 5. Pittsburgh.
*Bob Knight will be inducted into the Ohio State athletic Hall of Fame on Sept. 14.
Knight started two games in three seasons for the Buckeyes.
Two.
He earned 662 of his coaching victories at Indiana University.
IU also inducted Knight into its athletic Hall of Fame.
Even though Knight did not attend.
That was two starts.
Two.
*If you're scoring at home, Anthony Davis will earn $62,731.71 per regular season game for the New Orleans Hornets next season. The Hornets, for the record, lost 45 (of 66) games, only 43 more games than Davis lost last season at Kentucky.
*Former UK assistant football coach Mike Leach is off and running (his mouth) at Washington State, where his arrival qualifies as the most interesting coaching change in the Pac 12.
If Leach can win in Pullman, his reputation will be repaired from his dismissal at Texas Tech and he'll eventually make it to the SEC. If not, maybe he can hook up with Hal Mumme again.
Until then, Leach is a media member's dream because headlines find him. According to USA Today, Leach spotted several members of the Stanford football contingent at Pac-12 media day Tuesday.
Leach told his players, "These guys are smarter than us."
The story said the Stanford group, which included running back Stepfan Taylor, smiled uncomfortably at the joke.
Leach was only warming up.
"Can't you go invent something?" Leach asked.
*Roger Groves of Forbes.com says it could take Penn State eight seasons to recover from the sanctions the NCAA delivered Monday, but that he still considers Penn State football a BUY stock.
Why?
Here is what Groves wrote:
"How much of the Penn State plasma is attributable to its blue-chip tradition? No one knows for sure. This is uncharted territory. But for decades, within the state of Pennsylvania and the northeast, there has been no replacement. The stadium is among the largest in the country. The Big Ten conference is still one of the big six. The players will still be on a big stage. They can still be seen on television. The head coach Bill O'Brian can still say, ‘I've taught Tom Brady (albeit as an assistant) and other professional players. I can do the same for you.'"
"And if we believe parents influence their children; that the football doesn't fall far from the goalpost, and then parental love of those Nittany Lions becomes a family tradition, and blue chip offspring bleed Penn State blue. So I would buy it cheap with low immediate expectations. But it will appreciate over time and is a good long-term investment."
*Former Trinity High School star Tyler Kuhn is scheduled to make his first pro baseball appearance in Louisville, Aug. 2-5. Kuhn plays for the Charlotte Knights, the Triple-A farm club of the Chicago White Sox. He's hitting .278 with 32 extra-base hits.
Copyright 2012 WDRB News. All Rights Reserved.
Charlie Strong knows good motivational material when reads it.
