Kentucky football may be bad, but it's not Groupon Discount bad
No, your eyes are not deceiving you. The tickets for this Friday night’s Louisville vs. Rutgers game are now part of a Groupon deal where you can get four tickets for $20. That’s $5 a piece for all of you non-math wizards out there. Guess what also costs $5? A ticket to a high school football game, which you could opt to watch instead of a couple of garbage Big (L)East teams.
With all of these ticket deals going on, I’m not sure how they can afford to pay for Charlie Strong’s new 7 year contact extension.
Joker is 2-4 this season and is getting run out on a rail. Charlie Strong is 2-4 this season, his team lost to FIU and Marshall, he “allegedly” got into a fist fight with his offensive coordinator, he suspended the coordinator then fired him this week, AND another one of his assistant coaches will be investigated by the NCAA for major violations, yet Strong gets a raise. Where on earth is the logic in this?
Tom Jurich on the Charlie Strong contract extension:
“Charlie, I’m hiring you right now to build a program, and to worry about building a program. Don’t focus on a team right now. That’s what I will continue to tell him.”
So 5 years down the road when Louisville still sucks and Strong is still the coach, he shouldn’t worry about that because they are “building a program”. Huh?
Headlines!
-Paul already discussed in his 5 for Wednesday the absurdity that is Bob Knight’s hypocrisy as he is being investigated for breaking NCAA rules, so I am not going to delve into it much further. I usually don’t like to kick a dog when it is down, but I am ready to unleash a Bruce Lee Ninja Kick rick to Bob Knight’s face whenever this investigation is concluded.
-Jacksonville State’s head coach has made some pretty bold statements about his team in comparison to Kentucky. You got to give it to him, his team is 5-1 and they beat an SEC team last year when they beat Ole Miss at home, so he does have some room to talk. I don’t blame the guy for pumping ups his team, but I sure hope the Wildcats are listening. It is time for a wake up call.
-Big Blue Madness drew over 24,000 fans. Louisville’s red/white scrimmage drew 11,000 fans.Louisville and Kentucky recruit Derrick Willis went to the Louisville scrimmage and called it “disappointing”.
Reasons that Louisville fans came up with as to why only 11,000 of them showed up to the scrimmage:
1.There is a bridge closed that leads to Indiana (When did they move the arena to Indiana)
2.Their football team played (They played the next day. In Cincinnati which is an hour and a half from Louisville)
3.They are holding 2 scrimmages (Why would this matter?)
4.It was only announced a month ago (You can’t plan something an ENTIRE month in advance?)
5.Season ticket holders were not given free tickets (Neither were they given them at Big Blue Madness)
6.High School football games were being played that night (I’m from Louisville and the high school football around here isn’t that exciting besides Trinity and if you are a “premier” basketball team you shouldn’t have to compete with adolescent boys playing mediocre football)
Don’t believe me? Click on this link and scroll down a bit to read the whining and crying.
BONUS: You can also read about how Louisville’s prize recruit Wayne Blackshear still has not been academically cleared by the NCAA and it’s not looking pretty for him.
The Kentucky Effect Louisville First
-Earlier this week a mistake was made and a line was released that had Jacksonville State favored by 9 over Kentucky. The fact is that FBS vs. FCS games have never had a line. So there is no line even though there was one previously. How’s that for getting existential on a Wednesday?
-Morgan Newton talks about improving during the bye week and staying positive. Thanks to John Clay for the video link. I hope he stays this optimistic and positive for Saturday.
-Raymoond Sanders is slated to start Saturday. Coshik Williams is the #2 back and Johnathan George is #3. Expect to see all three backs featured prominently as well as a little Brandon Gainer. This will be a good week to establish a good back for the remainder of the season.
-ESPN.com writer Dana O’Neil attended Big Blue Madness and wrote a glowing article about the UK fans, the freshmen, the upperclassmen and John Calipari. She stated that while the players received loud ovations, the loudest were reserved for the Final Four banner that was unfurled that night.
-This whole “Keeneland will have more people there than Commonwealth on Saturday” is a load of garbage. I doubt that a horse track is going to draw more fans than the football games. Again, another statement being shopped around as a fact by a certain website. The REAL fact is that Keeneland has a capacity of 15,000 people. I doubt less than 15,000 show up for the Wildcat Football game. I am looking more like 40-50 thousand people. If you have a chance; go to the game, support your team, support your coach, be enthusiastic and root them on to victory. Be a real fan, not just one in name alone.
Come visit us again soon. We will have more basketball player previews and some more stuff thrown in, including my College Football Games of the Week at Midnight. But I don’t encourage you to stay up past your bedtime.
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