I'm a Louisville basketball fan and nothing ticks me off more than anything associated with the University of Kenyucky. It's a lonstanding rivalry and probably never will go away.
The rivalry is now a little civil compared to where it was at in the past. Things that tick me off.........
Kentucky playing an annual game in Freedom Hall even though Louisville no longer plays there.
The Louisville Courier Journal giving UK top billing over Kentucky. First story positioning.
Now Kentucky is talking of building another arena to rival, Louisville's YUM center. Trying to one up the Cards.
Louisville continues to get second billing to the so called state University.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
The Life and Times of Tom Payne University of Kentucky
Tom Payne had a troubled life that led him in an out of jail. For rape charges three times. In a recent interview, Payne now 60 years old often reflects on a life that took him from a high School basketball star at 7 foot tall, Payne was a basketball legend at Louisville Shawnee High School to being recruited by Adolph Rupp, the Legendary coach at the University of Kentucky. Rupp recruited Payne and overnight he became the first black basketball player at the University of Kentucky. Payne was not prepared for what this meant in 1969. He was too immature to understand the implications and he could not handle the pressure.
He spent much of his adult life in Prison for rape charges, but Payne was probably exploited for much of his life. He was a very tall athlete who developed quickly from an awkward Sophomore at Shawnee High School to the number on prospect in the country by the time he reached his senior season in 1969. The time he spent with Adolph Rupp did not define Tom Payne. His days at Louisville Shawnee High did. He led the Indians to the 1969 LIT Championship.
Payne went on to star in movies, but returned to jail because of another rape charge. He is now serving time at Sandy Hook prison in Kentucky.
He spent much of his adult life in Prison for rape charges, but Payne was probably exploited for much of his life. He was a very tall athlete who developed quickly from an awkward Sophomore at Shawnee High School to the number on prospect in the country by the time he reached his senior season in 1969. The time he spent with Adolph Rupp did not define Tom Payne. His days at Louisville Shawnee High did. He led the Indians to the 1969 LIT Championship.
Payne went on to star in movies, but returned to jail because of another rape charge. He is now serving time at Sandy Hook prison in Kentucky.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Louisville Closes Freedom Hall and Heads for New Arena
One era ends Saturday afternoon at Freedom Hall. Another will start this fall, when the University of Louisville basketball teams move to a new downtown arena.
Construction of the $238 million,22,000-seat building at Second and Main streets is “on or a little bit ahead of schedule” of a Nov. 1 opening, said Bill Hedge, an executive with arena construction manager M.A. Mortenson Co.More than 90 percent of the suites
have been leased, and Louisville Arena Authority Chairman Jim Host said smaller sponsorships have been rolling in so well that officials can wait patiently for the bestbig-ticket sponsor for the building’s naming rights.
The arena “has to be the right name. It has to be something that everybody will immediately get and understand,”Host said. “And so, in the meantime, we’ll call it the Louisville arena, because we’re doing just fine.”Hedge said work adding glass panels
along Second Street is almost finished, and the building’s first elevator was placed in service Monday. On Wednesday, workers installed the first toilet and the last part of the arena’s roof trusses.
“This is going to be a traffic plan that morphs. It’s probably going to morph from the first game to the second game,” Poynter said. U of L coach Rick Pitino said Thursday that the arena will be the “finest in the nation”because of all the amenities, but he also expects fans will change their game routines because of parking and traffic issues. So rather than be stuck in traffic, “They’ll head to 4th Street Live or go to Champions
for a beer,” Pitino said. U of L has announced that the women’s team will host the University of Tennessee in its first game in the arena. No date has been set.
The men’s team expects to set its opening game by the summer and is currently searching for an opponent, said Kenny Klein, a U of L spokesman. In January, Pitino said talks were in the early stages for a series with Duke, possibly involving the Blue Devils playing in the downtown arena’s opener, followed by a return game in Durham,N.C., and a neutral-site
game. “They called us; we said we’d do it,” Pitino said then
about a potential three-year
deal.
Construction of the $238 million,22,000-seat building at Second and Main streets is “on or a little bit ahead of schedule” of a Nov. 1 opening, said Bill Hedge, an executive with arena construction manager M.A. Mortenson Co.More than 90 percent of the suites
have been leased, and Louisville Arena Authority Chairman Jim Host said smaller sponsorships have been rolling in so well that officials can wait patiently for the bestbig-ticket sponsor for the building’s naming rights.
The arena “has to be the right name. It has to be something that everybody will immediately get and understand,”Host said. “And so, in the meantime, we’ll call it the Louisville arena, because we’re doing just fine.”Hedge said work adding glass panels
along Second Street is almost finished, and the building’s first elevator was placed in service Monday. On Wednesday, workers installed the first toilet and the last part of the arena’s roof trusses.
“This is going to be a traffic plan that morphs. It’s probably going to morph from the first game to the second game,” Poynter said. U of L coach Rick Pitino said Thursday that the arena will be the “finest in the nation”because of all the amenities, but he also expects fans will change their game routines because of parking and traffic issues. So rather than be stuck in traffic, “They’ll head to 4th Street Live or go to Champions
for a beer,” Pitino said. U of L has announced that the women’s team will host the University of Tennessee in its first game in the arena. No date has been set.
The men’s team expects to set its opening game by the summer and is currently searching for an opponent, said Kenny Klein, a U of L spokesman. In January, Pitino said talks were in the early stages for a series with Duke, possibly involving the Blue Devils playing in the downtown arena’s opener, followed by a return game in Durham,N.C., and a neutral-site
game. “They called us; we said we’d do it,” Pitino said then
about a potential three-year
deal.
Louisville Closes Freedom Hall With a Huge Win Over Syracuse
Kyle Kuric scored all of his career-high 22 points in the second half and the Cardinals upset No. 1 Syracuse 78-68 on Saturday, providing one last highlight at their 54-year-old home.
Louisville (20-11, 11-7 Big East) may also have assured itself a return trip to the NCAA tournament by sweeping the season series from the Orange (28-3, 15-3). Their only other loss all season came against Pittsburgh, and Saturday was their first road loss.
Although Syracuse led by eight points late in the first half, Kuric was a one-man wrecking crew in the second. He made 9 of 11 shots--including four 3-pointers--to make for a happy ending at Freedom Hall, before Louisville moves to a new downtown arena in the fall.
Trailing 42-39 early in the second half, the Cardinals found their inside game with three straight baskets in the paint that gave them the lead for good. Kuric had two of them, a fastbreak dunk and layup.
In a span of just over five minutes, Kuric also had all four of his 3-pointers. After his second one, Syracuse's Scoop Jardine immediately answered with a 3, so Kuric simply answered right back with another one. Jardine finished with 20 points.
With under four minutes left, it was Kuric's dunk that pushed the Louisville lead to 10, and he got another one on a break that buried the Orange with under two minutes left.
It was a completely different game in the first half, when Syracuse dominated the paint, getting 26 points there compared to 12 for the Cardinals.
Syracuse took an early 21-20 lead with more than six minutes to go in the first half on a dunk by Rick Jackson, then stretched it to a game-high eight points a couple minutes later after a 3-pointer and fastbreak layup by Jardine.
Edgar Sosa nailed a 3 seconds before halftime to make it 35-30 at the break.
Although the Cardinals connected on 46 percent of their shots and the Orange 44 percent by the end, the two were cold from the gate, combining for 11 shots but no points over the opening three minutes. Jerry Smith finally hit consecutive 3s for the Cardinals, and later turned in one of the more dazzling plays of the game, grabbing a steal out of midair and cruising the other way to finish with a one-handed dunk.
Smith was sidelined the second half after injuring a finger on his right hand.
This one had all the pageantry of the final Louisville game in one of college basketball's most storied venues. The stands were filled long before tipoff, and fans waved towels with glowing red flashlights during player introductions.
Louisville coach Rick Pitino, sporting a bright red suit coat to match the attire of most fans in attendance, introduced the team's seniors before the game and expressed some sentimental thoughts about Freedom Hall.
"This building will close, but what our legends have done for our university will never pass and close," he said.
Freedom Hall has hosted six national championship games, a handful of NCAA tournament regional finals and 683 Louisville victories.
Denny Crum, who led the Cardinals to national titles in 1980 and 1986 and whose name is adorned on the court, was introduced at halftime alongside players from those teams.
"I love them all," Crum said. "It's just really fun to be here, be around them."
Louisville (20-11, 11-7 Big East) may also have assured itself a return trip to the NCAA tournament by sweeping the season series from the Orange (28-3, 15-3). Their only other loss all season came against Pittsburgh, and Saturday was their first road loss.
Although Syracuse led by eight points late in the first half, Kuric was a one-man wrecking crew in the second. He made 9 of 11 shots--including four 3-pointers--to make for a happy ending at Freedom Hall, before Louisville moves to a new downtown arena in the fall.
Trailing 42-39 early in the second half, the Cardinals found their inside game with three straight baskets in the paint that gave them the lead for good. Kuric had two of them, a fastbreak dunk and layup.
In a span of just over five minutes, Kuric also had all four of his 3-pointers. After his second one, Syracuse's Scoop Jardine immediately answered with a 3, so Kuric simply answered right back with another one. Jardine finished with 20 points.
With under four minutes left, it was Kuric's dunk that pushed the Louisville lead to 10, and he got another one on a break that buried the Orange with under two minutes left.
It was a completely different game in the first half, when Syracuse dominated the paint, getting 26 points there compared to 12 for the Cardinals.
Syracuse took an early 21-20 lead with more than six minutes to go in the first half on a dunk by Rick Jackson, then stretched it to a game-high eight points a couple minutes later after a 3-pointer and fastbreak layup by Jardine.
Edgar Sosa nailed a 3 seconds before halftime to make it 35-30 at the break.
Although the Cardinals connected on 46 percent of their shots and the Orange 44 percent by the end, the two were cold from the gate, combining for 11 shots but no points over the opening three minutes. Jerry Smith finally hit consecutive 3s for the Cardinals, and later turned in one of the more dazzling plays of the game, grabbing a steal out of midair and cruising the other way to finish with a one-handed dunk.
Smith was sidelined the second half after injuring a finger on his right hand.
This one had all the pageantry of the final Louisville game in one of college basketball's most storied venues. The stands were filled long before tipoff, and fans waved towels with glowing red flashlights during player introductions.
Louisville coach Rick Pitino, sporting a bright red suit coat to match the attire of most fans in attendance, introduced the team's seniors before the game and expressed some sentimental thoughts about Freedom Hall.
"This building will close, but what our legends have done for our university will never pass and close," he said.
Freedom Hall has hosted six national championship games, a handful of NCAA tournament regional finals and 683 Louisville victories.
Denny Crum, who led the Cardinals to national titles in 1980 and 1986 and whose name is adorned on the court, was introduced at halftime alongside players from those teams.
"I love them all," Crum said. "It's just really fun to be here, be around them."
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Derrick Caracter Returns, Leads UTEP to Conference USA Title
Derrick Caracter saga continues. It seems like every year there is a Caracter chapter or mini series. This time it involves Caracter who has resurrected his career at UTEP. Not only did he resurrect his career, but UTEP has clinched the Conference USA title. Of course Caracter's goal is to make it to the NBA, perhaps he will, but if there were ever a basketball vagabond; that would be Derrick Caracter.
What would be ironic is that Caracter leads UTEP to the NCAA tournament and his former team, Louisville may not make it. Another scenario is that UTEP actually meets Louisville in the NCAA tournament. Stay tuned the saga continues.
What would be ironic is that Caracter leads UTEP to the NCAA tournament and his former team, Louisville may not make it. Another scenario is that UTEP actually meets Louisville in the NCAA tournament. Stay tuned the saga continues.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
George McGinnis Once scored 51 Points In A High School All Star Game
I remember that night in Freedom Hall, Louisville Kentucky , June 1969 when George McGinnis led the Indiana All Stars against a helpless and this night pathetic Kentucky All Star team that included, Ron King, Otto Petty, and seven footer, Tom Payne.
McGinnis singled handedly man handled the Kentucky High School's best scoring 51 points.
He literally destroy the Kentucky All Stars with a night to remember. It was one for the record books with McGinnis having his way with the Kentucky All Stars.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Marcus Jordan Wear His Dad's Shoes, UCF Loses $3 Million Adidas Shoe Contract
How is this for odd news. Michael Jordan's son causes the University of Central Florida to lose a $3 million exclusive basketball contract from Adidas, simply because Jordan's son insisted on wearing a pair of his father's Nike shoes. That's interesting.
Marcus, 18-year-old son of the NBA legend, says UCF had promised when recruiting him to the school that he could wear the famous Jordan brand shoe. So he decided he would honor his father by wearing his shoes. I get it if Marcus was any good, but he's about one million jump shots away from being even a moderate player. You know basketball is a team sport and the rest of his teammates had no problems wearing their Adidas shoes, but Sir Marcus had a problem with it.
Perhaps Michael paid the $3 million to the school for compensation. It is not beyond the realm of possibility. What a contribution Marcus made check out these stats. 23 minutes played, 1 point, on 3-3 shooting from the floor, and 1 for 2 at the free throw line, 1 personal foul, 1 assist, 3 steals. By the way UCF played St. Leo and won 84-65.