I was paging back through some old newspapers, looking at what generally is agreed to be the worst influenza outbreak in Louisville’s history, and was struck by something. They didn’t know as much back in 1918 when the so-called “Spanish Flu” hit, but they knew more than you probably think. Today, our technology is better,…
Category: Top Story
Thoughts while social distancing
What do you do when you’re a sportswriter, and sports suddenly disappear? ESPN is grappling with a similar scenario, as it scrambles to provide programming over a family of channels – with no games going on. Thursday night, Sports Business Journal media writer John Ourand shared an outline of programming for the network, with ESPN…
‘Sporting world on hold:’ Kentucky, Indiana adjust to ‘new normal’
In Kentucky and Indiana, if you took a poll of the most important things in life, God and basketball would be in the Associated Press Top 5. On Wednesday morning, Kentuckians were told they might want to think about not going to church on Sunday, and by Wednesday evening citizens of both states were told…
Good grief, and good luck: Missouri State rolls the dice on Petrino
It’s a heck of a life, being a football coach. At the same time, results are everything, and nothing. Contracts are binding, and non-binding. The curious career of Bobby Petrino will resume in Springfield, Missouri, home of Missouri State University, soon to be the latest case study in institutional hubris in pursuit of football notoriety. Petrino’s…
All-Access with Bellarmine: Hard lessons under the Golden Dome
LOUISVILLE, Ky. Scott Davenport was shopping for team snacks at Kroger when he called to ask if I wanted to ride on the bus with his Bellarmine University basketball team to its exhibition game at Notre Dame. I told him what you’d expect me to tell him, “You had me at snacks from Kroger.” The…
Return of the boom? Louisville shows knockout punch in Miami win
CORAL GABLES, Fla. Walking through the Miami airport on Monday, I saw a Louisville fan with an old T-shirt on, featuring the words, “Here comes the boom!” I got to thinking, Louisville has done a lot of good things in the past year, but the Cardinals don’t really have that “boom” factor, that knockout punch….
What Satterfield’s rapid restoration of Louisville football teaches us
On Saturday, the University of Louisville football team beat Virginia 28-21. I wasn’t at the game, didn’t see the celebration, couldn’t feel the excitement in the stadium, wasn’t there for coach Scott Satterfield’s post-game comments. But I’ve been witnessing those things all season. When the Cardinals scored their first touchdown in the game, they surpassed…
Louisville players recount the losses and lessons of a painful season
LOUISVILLE, Ky. As painful as the 2018 University of Louisville football season was to watch from the outside – and it was no picnic – we can only imagine the difficulty of going through it on the inside. But thanks to a few Louisville football players opening up about last season’s experience, we can imagine…
In Louisville, Biles ramps up for a dominant run to Tokyo 2020
LOUISVILLE, Ky. We all watch Olympic gymnasts every four years, sometimes more, for the U.S. Championships or World Championships, and we marvel at how these small athletes can pack such power and strength. When it comes to U.S. women’s gymnastics, it wasn’t until the horrifying revelations about sexual abuse suffered by the athletes over decades…
At ACC media day, Satterfield lives a dream, but paints a stark reality
CHARLOTTE, N.C. In the rush of a Power 5 college football coaching negotiation with the University of Louisville, Scott Satterfield didn’t have a lot of time for research. The one thing he knew: Louisville was an Atlantic Coast Conference program that, despite a rough season, had been successful in the league. And coaching in the…