Bill Simon is the kind of new thoroughbred owner that the sport badly needs. Innovative, successful, experienced, and passionate about the sport and giving young people support to advance. Simon is the owner of Barber Road, who will be the first Derby starter for him, and for trainer John Ortiz and jockey Reylu Gutierrez. Before…
NOTEBOOK: Annual sign update a reminder that Churchill Downs changes with times
For the second time in six weeks, I found myself at Churchill Downs, taking pictures of a sign being changed on Thursday afternoon. The maneuver was pretty simple. It happens every year. Churchill Downs adjusts its sign between the iconic Twin Spires to reflect the year and the running of the Kentucky Derby, in this…
VIDEO: My tribute to the 2022 Louisville Women’s basketball team
“It’s electric.” After tears and trials, Louisville claims its fourth Final Four trip
WICHITA, Kan. — One Louisville women’s basketball Elite Eight victory story. This shouldn’t be too hard. I’ve been to every Final Four the program has played in. I also was a student at U of L when they still played some home games at Manual High School. It is 4:30 a.m. Why do these stories…
The audacity of hoop: Why Louisville’s women keep talking championship
WICHITA, Kan. — You look at the Louisville women’s basketball team, and on appearances alone, it’s tough to lump them in with teams like South Carolina, or even ACC champion North Carolina State or defending national champion Stanford. Louisville coach Jeff Walz acknowledged, before the Cardinals beat Tennessee by 12 points to earn a shot…
Louisville reaches (another) Elite Eight, thanks to players outside the spotlight
WICHITA, Kansas Olivia Cochran walked back to the locker room, an ice pack to her eye, which was fast swelling up like a prize fighter from a shot she took in the fourth quarter of Louisville’s 76-64 win over Tennessee in an NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen matchup at INTRUST Bank Arena on Saturday afternoon. Cardinals’…
GALLERY | Kenny Payne becomes Louisville basketball coach
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In Kenny Payne, Louisville turns to its past to revive its hoops heartbeat
When Kenny Payne was being recruited to the University of Louisville by Wade Houston and Denny Crum, it was perhaps the hottest address in college basketball. It wasn’t the most tradition-rich. It didn’t have the longest history or the bluest blood. But Johnny Dawkins, a Duke player who faced the Cardinals in the 1986 NCAA…
Bellarmine players appreciative for support, but “frustrated” at being excluded from NIT, NCAA
By now, the Bellarmine story has made it around the sports world and back. It has been a topic (No. 2, top of the show) on Pardon the Interruption. It has been Tweeted and talked to death. None of that, of course, will make much of a difference. The NCAA has rules, and it has…
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Louisville wants an ‘elite’ coach. Who are they? (March 2018)
This column originally appeared at WDRB.com on March 22, 2018. On Wednesday, Louisville interim athletic director Vince Tyra said on more than one occasion that the university needs an “elite coach.” With a search under way for the next coach of the University of Louisville basketball team, that begs the question – what is an…