For the victor’s rooters, it doesn’t end until the triumphant euphoria ebbs somewhat and they can relax, switch on the replay to see the details in a state of calm. The defeated eventually shake it off — more or less — deal with their grief, and move on to what normal people call real life. They could not care less about the stats. The big plays, even those that were valiant but not enough, couldn’t mean less.

I’m speaking here of the true believers, the acolytes. The gal in Cherokee Triangle pulling her No. 31 Unseld throwback off the shelf, making sure it’s laundered and ironed for the game. The plumber in Somerset who spent hours at a paint store making sure he was buying the exact shade of Big Blue for his man cave. The fellow in PRP who has been flying Cardinal flags for a month on his red F-150. The grandmother in Maysville who places good luck candles — blue, of course — in front of her cherished photo on the mantle, the one of Baron Adolph Rupp in his brown suit with Dan Issel.

For these fans of the Cats and Cards, this annual rite of winter, these 40 minutes — or more — are most often just a blizzard of imagery and sound. Surging strobe flashes of red and blue, punctuated by cheers, moans and squeaking hardwood.

Welcome to Hooparama!

Welcome to Louisville vs. Kentucky.

This is our cherished aggravation, the epicenter of the commonwealth’s year.

It is pure emotion. The details are for later. Who scored what, who grabbed the key rebound, who let the ball slip from his grasp at crunch time? Those contemplations come only in the aftermath.

When it’s game on, there is total nail-biting, hand-wringing, hallucinogenic infarction-inducing immersion in the flow with only vague awareness of XXs and 00s, shooting percentages and defensive switches.

It’s we score. Yes!

They score. Oh no!

Rare is the Cardinal fan who at the buzzer could recite any details of what they call the Samaki Walker Game on New Year’s Day ’95, when the pivotman’s triple double led U of L to an improbable 88-86 win. (Walker tallied 14 points, 10 rebounds and 11 blocked shots.) Few Cardinal supporters paid attention then or later to the players on the forgettable 12-20 team that won in Lexington in ’97. (The leading scorers on that, the worst team of the Crum era, were Nate Johnson, Alex Sanders, Marques Maybin, Tony Williams and Cameron Murray.)

Only some Wildcat boosters kept a scoresheet of Rex Chapman’s exact numbers in his epic performance in an 85-51 decimation of Freedom Hall in December of 1986. (He was 10/20 from the field, including 5/8 from beyond the arc, with 4 assists and 2 steals. It just seemed during that Big Blue blitzkrieg that he scored all 85.)

This annual basketball brouhaha between the Wildcats and Cardinals is the donnybrook that gives meaning to the commonwealth’s moniker, “Dark and bloody ground.”

You are either or Red, or you are Blue.

There are but a very few Kentuckians who switch allegiances.

The stories of change they tell are disparate. Perhaps it was circumstance. A Louisvillian, feeling the Wildcat spirit after matriculating at UK. A Cat fan in youth who, through coincidence, befriends some Cardinal luminaries. Yet their stories are similar in one regard: Once the metamorphosis is complete, their loyalty 
is inveterate.

And, yes, there are some odd few, those quirky souls who say they truly cheer for both teams, that all they want to see is a good game.

Don’t believe them.

Perhaps those “dispassionate” observers can watch the action with some acuity. For the rest of us, it’s all a haze when the game clock is ticking.

But beforehand, for the last few weeks and the next couple days, until the noon New Year’s Eve tip, it is all about assessment. (Except, of course, on the message boards, which continue to be safe harbor for the most inane, often vile regurgitation of smack.)

Coming into this season’s renewal of the rivalry, there are more questions than answers. Making it arguably the most intriguing, difficult to decipher match-up of this decade in which UK holds a 6-4 edge in victories.

There have surely been some close encounters in recent tussles, especially here in Louisville. The Cats won by a deuce in 2001. And again in 2004, when Patrick Sparks knocked down those controversial free throws at the tilt’s end. In 2009, Louisville had the game in hand, did its best to give it away, then snatched it back when Edgar Sosa nailed a winning trey.

Who, if anybody, is ready to imprint his name in the lore of the series like Sparks and Sosa?

Can Rakeem Buckles check Terrence Jones? Will Coach Rick Pitino actually give him the opportunity?

Does neophyte Gorgui Dieng have enough savoir fair to perform capably in the unique intensity of this game? Does it matter against Eloy Vargas and Josh Harrellson?

Who has the wherewithal to seize an advantage at point, Brandon Knight or Peyton Siva?

Who from beyond the arc will knock down the long ones in this first meeting of the rivals at the Yum! Center, Doron Lamb or Mike Marra?

Which of the supporting actors brings an award-quality performance to the big stage, Kyle Kuric, DeAndre Liggins, Darius Miller or Chris Smith?

Will Cats fans get their wish: Jon Hood as surprise hero?

Is Preston Knowles ready to impose his will in a battle of this magnitude?

Which of these poor free throw shooting squads will tally important charity tosses?

Will UK’s tougher schedule early in the season aid its cause?

Which of the coaches, John Calipari or Rick Pitino, the bitterest of rivals, bests the other in strategy and in-game adjustments?

Under the Big Top, amid the numbing tumult and emotional delirium, these are the questions that will be answered Friday afternoon.
For the most ardent of diehards, the game itself will speed past as if chimera. The Yum! will be a carnival; the arena, a neon pastiche of primary reds and blues (too much of the latter, frankly, for the home folks).

Put the ball through the hoop and win a prize for the lady!

One joyous side leaves with a stuffed panda; the other, disconsolate, with empty pockets.

Only later, during endless retellings, win or lose, will the details come clear.

Labor Day, summer’s traditional end, marks the kickoff of what has evolved as America’s favorite pastime.

How and why the nation turned its wandering eyes from the bucolic pastures of baseball to the thunder of headgears and the grandeur of script Ohio that define football is a semester’s course unto itself. Suffice it to say the changeover occurred sometime after Joe Willie wrenched the pigskin planet off its axis in Super Bowl III, but way before ESPN greenlighted Brett Favre’s life into a daily soap opera.

Football is now the deal.

And this autumn, in this city, in this commonwealth, there are cultural considerations that make the season just over the horizon the most fascinating ever. Perhaps even a portent of significant social change.

The state’s three major football schools have new coaches. By odds-defying coincidence, the triad of new leaders are men of color.

Willie Taggert at Western Kentucky and Joker Phillips at UK are alums who now lead the charges of their alma maters. Their stories are worthy.

But nothing like that of Charlie Strong, tapped to lead Louisville’s Cardinals out of the football wasteland, where it has been deposited by a coaching fraud who turned a national contender with talent and Heisman-quality leadership into an also ran.

How Strong traveled the circuitous, impediment-laden byways from the rural burg of Batesville, Arkansas to the University of Louisville is not epic in the Homerian sense. But it is poetic nonetheless, a fable of fortitude and forbearance, how what is good and right can eventually prevail despite pitfalls.

When Charlie Strong was born and raised a half century ago in Batesville, Arkansas, hard on the edge of the Ozarks in “Deliverance” country, it was a town of 5,000. It is less than twice that now. Yet it’s still produced its share of favorite sports sons. Like NASCAR’s Mark Martin, a contemporary of Louisville’s coach. Former major leaguer Rick Monday was born there. So too, Ryan Mallett, now the quarterback for former U of L coach Bobby Petrino at Arkansas.

As it turns out, football wasn’t Strong’s favorite endeavor as a kid.

“I loved baseball. Centerfield. But when I was old enough I had to work in the summers. At my uncle’s service station. So I switched to a winter sport.”

It is that work ethic — taking care of basic business first — that has guided Strong along his career arc.

Quarterback Adam Froman explained to SI.com’s Andy Staples that it’s not difficult to follow when you see Strong jogging before sun up and lifting. “He’ll get in there in the weight room, and just put 315 [pounds] on the bar and start repping it out.”

Defensive tackle Gregg Scruggs: “He works hard. He makes us work hard.”

Charlie Strong’s resumé proves it makes a difference.

Perhaps the most impressive of stats is this. According to Strong’s bio at the University of Florida website, in 64 of 92 games when he was defensive coordinator, the Gators tallied points off turnovers. In 70% of the games, Strong’s defense scored. Stunning.

Which acumen is why he’s coached in 21 bowl games, including 14 played in January. Then there are those two national titles while directing the Florida defense. In 2009’s title battle, the Gators held the highest scoring offense in college football history to 14 points, a mere fifty points under Oklahoma’s per game average.

Charlie Strong’s leadership capabilities have been on display for years.

While preparing for that BCS title match against the Sooners, Florida mentor Urban Meyer told the press, “Do I think Charlie Strong would be a great head coach? No question about it. Do I think he’s deserving? No question about it.”

A decade ago, while coaching at South Carolina, Lou Holtz told the Columbia (S.C.) State: “Charlie Strong should be a head coach. He’s anxious to be, and he and I have talked about how you get a head coach’s job. I know we’re going to lose him eventually.”

Years before that, while at Notre Dame, Holtz recognized Strong’s potential and became a mentor, giving the then position coach a binder and advising him to fill it with ideas how to lead his own team. Then to take it on interviews to prove he was ready.

The problem, well documented and oft discussed, is that those interviews rarely came. When they did, many — nay, most — were a sham.

Charlie Strong is black. Strike one.

Victoria Strong, Charlie’s wife, is white. Strike two. Strike three.

Sad to say, but true.

Strong has spoken frankly of an interview he had with a school he knew already had secretly hired another coach, but needed to feign diversity.

But Strong carried on, never whining. Yet never afraid to publicly discuss the reality of discrimination. He told the Orlando Sentinel in 2009, he’d heard too many times to gloss over them the murmurings why, despite his credentials, he was being passed over.

Of one particular position at a southern school he didn’t get, he said, “Everybody always said I didn’t get that job because my wife is white.”

To the credit of Tom Jurich, who hired Strong without needing to see that binder, it wasn’t a hindrance at all. Nor has it been for this community which the coach says “has embraced us (he and family) and taken us in.”

The reactions of fans have been almost unanimously positive.

“He’s everything you want in a head coach,” says one local businessman, who purchased one of the new boxes at Papa John’s but asked not to be named. “His football IQ is off the chart. He’s the real deal. He’s going to be very successful.”

Long time fan and alum, Dr. George Nichols: “We will be a success within three years. I’ve heard Strong speak twice. Very impressive.”

Truth. Charlie Strong is already a success.

In the classroom. He has not one but two Masters degrees.

On the field. He has been lauded as the country’s best defensive coordinator.

Naturally, he expects and has asked a lot of the Cardinals. “He works us hard every single day,” says defensive end Malcolm Mitchell. Yet there is respect. “I love this coach,” adds Mitchell.

But this stalwart man’s moment has arrived. At half past three on the first Saturday of September, with hip hop blaring from the PA and cheerleaders tumbling and fans screaming, head coach Charlie Strong will at last stride onto his own turf.

“I enjoy being captain of the ship. But it means there’s a job to do.”

Thus head coach Charlie Strong will savor the moment but be focused. Knowing he will have traveled the longest route through the most detours to the stadium, he will be ready.

ESPN was but a decade old and had not yet cornered the market in collegiate football, basketball and baseball. Nor in minor sports, which with the advent of ESPNU, are now in the stranglehold of the beast from Bristol.

The rah rah sis boom bah, win one for the ol’ alma mater attitude had died years before with the Gipper and Rudy Vallee. The once-legit concept of “student-athlete” — at least in major sports — had become delusion.

Not every school that eked out wins over East Nevada Tech and South Dakota A&P found a spot in a bowl game named for some upstart Silicon Valley venture. Schools that didn’t make it into the NCAA basketball tournament accepted without squawking that an 18-14 record was not post season-worthy.

The difference between University of Louisville sports then and now is just as great in some respects. Just the same as it ever was in others.

At the time, there was no women’s lacrosse at U of L, a sport that now has it’s own dedicated stadium. Nor women’s softball, which now has its own bucolic diamond. Nor women’s golf. Nor women’s rowing.

What is now a state-of-the-art athletic complex that has hosted national and conference championships was then a gravel parking lot near I-65.

Cardinal baseball — which also has its own new ballyard — was an afterthought. With a College World Series appearance now on its résumé, U of L baseball is becoming a national power.

The summer of 1990 marked the halfway point of Howard Schnellenberger’s regime as coach of Cardinal football. Hired before the 1985 schedule, the first five seasons for the former national title coach at Miami were up and down as he attempted to reinvent U of L football. Playing in ramshackle Fairgrounds Stadium, his squads suffered through three desultory seasons before going 8-3 in 1988 but without a bowl appearance. They fell to 6-5 the following year.

The Cardinals reached unprecedented heights the fall after LEO was born, tying their opener to San Jose State, losing at Southern Miss, but winning 10, including an improbable and resounding 34-7, New Year’s Day victory over Alabama in the Fiesta Bowl.

During Schnellenberger’s tenure, Louisville remained staunchly independent at a time when conference affiliation was becoming increasingly imperative. In fact, the coach cited U of L’s nascent affiliation with Conference USA as one of the reasons he jumped ship before the Cards collided with the national title he promised. As well as before completion of Papa John’s Stadium, for which he was the prime mover.

Louisville football has been a roller coaster ride ever since.

Louisville basketball also reached a cusp in 1990.

The ’89-’90 season ended 27-9 but with a disheartening loss to Ball State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. It was the type of opponent to which Hall of Famer Denny Crum’s teams rarely lost. U of L was the team of the ’80s in college basketball. National championships were won in ’80 and ’86, with two other Final Four appearances.

It all changed during the ’90-’91 season. The Cards went 14-16, the school’s first losing campaign in a half century. Only one time after that did a Crum-coached Cardinal team make it as far as the Elite Eight. Crum resigned during a contentious scenario with Athletic Director Tom Jurich after a horrendous 12-19 record in 2000-2001.

Louisville ended its Final Four drought in 2005 under Coach Rick Pitino. Last season, the school’s final stint in Freedom Hall, ended with a resounding defeat to California in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

U of L football, hoping for yet another refurbishment, will open next season with a new coach, Charlie Strong, in an expanded stadium.

U of L basketball will open next season in a new downtown arena against national runner-up Butler. Most longtime season ticket holders are feeling left behind by the athletic department’s money-over-loyalty policy that is governing the current seat selection process for the new facility.

The stench of upcoming major conference realignment is in the air. The demise of the Big East may be a reality sooner than later.

The University of Louisville, not an obvious fit in the SEC, Big 10, ACC or Big 12, might be an odd school out.

For all the successes and expansion of the last score of years, Cardinal athletics remain in a state of flux today, just as they were in 1990.

As a senior in 1956, he starred on Louisville’s team that ruled Madison Square Garden and has been a fixture at Freedom Hall since 1963 after his pro career ended.

He’s red and black to the core. His business card includes a photo of him in his Cardinal uniform and reads “1956 NIT Champs.”

“What I remember is that a lot of people thought Freedom Hall was going to be a white elephant. It’ll never be what they want.

“I was in the service, but made it back for the first game in Freedom Hall. The place was packed. Charlie (Tyra) broke his record. Tommy Hawkins played a great game for Notre Dame.”

U of L contested its first tilt in Freedom Hall on Dec. 21, 1956. By that time, two other games had already been held there: Ed Diddle’s Western Kentucky State College Hilltoppers (later to become WKU) bested San Francisco, 61-57, several days earlier in the official inaugural. Bellarmine played an “exhibition” versus a squad from Fort Knox.

The Cardinals whipped Notre Dame, 85-75, before 13,756 fans in their first bout at the Hall. It was in that game that Tyra, cover boy on the first-ever Street & Smith College Basketball Yearbook, tallied 40, including a perfect 18 for 18 underhanded free throws. Sophomore guard Harold Andrews scored a dozen in his first start. Bill Darragh scored 17.

Darragh, a season ticket holder to this day, remembers that game as well as the Cards’ other two wins at the fairgrounds that season. U of L moved permanently from the Jefferson County Armory (Louisville Gardens) the following season.
“Freedom Hall was big, new and shiny. We liked the Armory, but the locker room was like a furnace room. It was dirty and dingy. Playing at Freedom Hall was exciting…

“In the Christmas tournament we beat St. Louis. It was payback. They’d beaten us earlier in the season. Against Dayton, I missed a shot that would have won in regulation. But it made a good friend happy. He’d bet on us. We won and we were able to cover the spot in overtime.”

It was an auspicious start to what’s been an amazing run in the Hall, given the school’s 680-plus wins against fewer than 150 losses there. This Saturday, that long, successful run will come to a close when the Cards play their final game in Freedom Hall. Next season, the team will move into a new downtown arena, leaving behind a place they’ve called home for more than five decades.

Upon its completion in 1956, Freedom Hall was heralded as the “biggest hall south of the Mason Dixon Line,” surpassing Reynolds Memorial Coliseum, home of North Carolina State. It had supplanted UK’s Memorial Coliseum for that honor.
It was a time that predated the concept of “naming rights.” Charlotte Owens, a senior at DuPont Manual High School, beat out 6,500 others, winning an American Legion naming contest, submitting the name Freedom Hall. She won $1000, and her teacher raked in $250.

It was a different era: “Alan Freed’s Rock, Rock, Rock!” was playing the Loew’s on Fourth Street. “Teenage Rebel” was at the Uptown at Bardstown Road and Eastern Parkway, as well as the Dixie and Twilite Drive-Ins. But then again, some things don’t change: The headlines in The Courier-Journal addressed who would pay for a new Louisville/New Albany bridge, and college basketball dominated the sports page (although at the time, the Cards were struggling to build a reputation, meaning the Kentucky Wildcats reigned supreme in the local media).

Some of Louisville’s most memorable bouts in Freedom Hall came against Memphis State, a fierce rival, particularly in the early years.

Phil Rollins recalls one Memphis State game in Louisville that resulted in a Memphis player being hauled out in handcuffs.

“I sit in the L Club section by the court,” says Rollins. “The guy reached over and grabbed a folding chair from the table right in front of me.”

That Memphis Tiger’s name is Fred Horton. Louisville won the contest over its heated rival, 102-73, on March 6, 1971. The chair-swinging Horton, who fouled out of 9 games that season, didn’t make it to the final buzzer, having been marched out of the gym by police after he was corralled by an assistant coach.

Former Cardinal Mike Grosso has the rest of the story.

“It started the year before, my senior season. Our game in Memphis was really rough,” says Grosso, adding that Horton was the worst.

The Cards won that March 4, 1970 game, 83-82.

“As we’re running off the court, (Cardinal) Al Vilcheck sucker-punches Horton. The guy turns around and thinks I’m the one that hit him. He comes after me. So I have to punch him.

“We needed a police escort to our hotel. We had to be guarded there and couldn’t go out for a meal…

“The next year I was in the pros in Milwaukee. I pick up the paper and there’s this little story about how Horton had been walked out of Freedom Hall. I just started laughing. I know Vilchek did something to provoke him.”

And while there are countless fond memories of Cardinal victories in their soon-to-be former home, some of the most heartbreaking defeats seem more indelible.

There was the lost weekend late in January 1982, when the Cardinals fell to Virginia Tech, 76-78, on a Saturday; then to Virginia, 56-74, the next afternoon.

There’s the Chet “The Jet” Walker game. The seventh-ranked Bradley University Braves came in Feb. 10, 1962, against a U of L squad that finished the year 15-10 without a date for the post-season.

Before a school-record crowd of 17,347, Louisville led 79-72 with 1:24 to play. Bradley scored eight straight. All-American Walker jammed a follow at the buzzer for an 80-79 win. The C-J commented on “the atrocious officiating.” The game story also had this memorable quote: “They (Louisville) forgot the prairie maxim of ‘Don’t turn your back on a dead Indian.’”

Few Cardinal fans forget the misery of what’s known as the Rex Chapman game. Louisville alum and longtime fan Trooper Handel tells this tale.

“My most memorable Freedom Hall story is from December of 1986. We were the reigning national champs, and I had two student season tickets low in the end zone. My grandmother from Owensboro — Rex’s hometown — was my date for the annual Kentucky game… Midway through one of the most humiliating defeats I have ever experienced, Grandma peeled off her Louisville sweatshirt to reveal a Kentucky version underneath. ‘Go Rex’ she shouted. 85-51 was the final. Rex went off. Grandma had a blast.”

But back to the best of times …

Longtime fan Charlie Bensinger recounts one of his favorite memories in Freedom Hall: “My old fraternity brother Bruce Kramer lives in Memphis. He wanted me to get tickets for him and some friends for the ’86 Metro tournament here … 21 of them.

“So there I am in the middle of all these Memphis State fans, really enjoying it.”

Louisville won that one easily, 88-79.

A week before, Louisville beat Memphis State in the regular season finale that provided arguably the single loudest U of L moment ever in Freedom Hall.

The Cards were down one with just seconds to go. Tiger star Andre Turner had free throws that would have sealed the game. (It was the last season before the introduction of the three-point shot.)

Turner choked at the line. U of L hustled the ball up court, got it to Milt Wagner, who launched one from the corner. Turner doubled his trouble by fouling Wagner, who, as all old-school Card fans know, was money at the line.

Louisville went from certain defeat to certain victory in seconds. Freedom Hall rocked with an ecstatic din. Before even shooting his free throws, Wagner circled the charity stripe area, arms raised in victory. Of course he then made the baskets, resulting in a 70-69 win that catapulted the Cardinals toward their second NCAA title.

Similarly, a 75-65 win over Ohio State on Dec. 19, 1979, proved a harbinger of Louisville’s first national championship. The Buckeyes came to town ranked second in the country. U of L had just lost starting center Scooter McCray to injury, forcing coach Denny Crum to insert Scooter’s pudgy younger brother, freshman Rodney, into the starting lineup. The Cards overcame an early deficit to prevail.

CBS announcer Clark Kellogg was a star on that Ohio State team.

“Oh my, yes, I certainly do remember that game. Hotly contested. There was so much talent on the floor, future pros. A big win for Louisville.”

Another victory that makes real old-timers smile is the 70-69 victory over Eastern Kentucky, then a major rival, on Jan. 4, 1961, before 9,257, the biggest crowd that season.

The Cards were down by five with two minutes remaining, then down by three with 48 seconds on the clock. The Cardinals cut the lead to a single digit with 15 left. Eastern’s inbounds pass went off a Maroon — EKU’s mascot at the time — out of bounds. Players scrambled for the ball. The clock was running and U of L had no timeouts left.

Referee Max Macon stopped the clock, a controversial call that allowed Louisville one last shot. Here’s what Courier-Journal reporter Johnny Carrico wrote: “Ron Rubenstein looped a 25-footer from the northwest corner to nullify a great performance by the underdog Maroons.”

Referee Macon actually gave an interview after the game. Wrote Carrico, “Macon said he stopped the clock because, ‘There was too much confusion going on, with both Eastern and Louisville players grabbing the ball.’”

Eastern coach Paul McBrayer declined comment after the game, but was reported to be most upset.

The most memorable home win in the last decade was the Tennessee game in December 2001, Rick Pitino’s first campaign as Cards coach.

Down six with 35 seconds to play, Cardinal guard Reece Gaines banked in a trey to cut the lead to three. Louisville stole the inbounds pass, and Bryant Northern hit another triple from the top of the key to tie the game. The Vols came down, scoring a layup to reclaim the advantage. Without calling timeout, Louisville hustled up court, where Gaines hit yet another three to take the lead.

U of L held on for the win when Tennessee missed a close-in bank shot at the buzzer.

There are so many vivid images from the hundreds of U of L games at Freedom Hall.

Wes Unseld nabbing a rebound, turning in the air, then flicking his unique two-handed over-the-head pass to Butch Beard at mid-court to start a fast break.

Jerry King and Milt Wagner hitting every key free throw at crunch time.

Ricky Gallon’s afro.

Marquette coach Mike Deane flipping the bird to the crowd after stealing a win.

Taquan Dean and DeJuan Wheat hitting important treys when games were on the line.

Darrell Griffith elevating for a 360.

GO * CARDS * BEAT * PURDUE

Lancaster Gordon, then a freshman, running around the court, index finger raised, after an improbable come-from-behind win.

Jerome Harmon’s sadly wasted athleticism and talent.

Beau Zach Smith’s one made sky hook.

Those intense games against Memphis State in the ’70s and ’80s.

Kenny Payne’s rainbows launched from Phillips Lane.

Francisco Garcia coming off the court early in his career and straightening Rick Pitino’s tie.

Luke Whitehead landing on his head.

Cameron Murray melting down as his final season ground to a conclusion.

Marques Maybin’s first appearance at Freedom Hall after a motorcycle accident left him paralyzed.

The standing ovation that could have lasted through the night celebrating Wes Unseld’s last game.

Larry Wiliams jive talking opponents as a jinx when they’d head to the charity line.

Clifford Rozier never passing the ball back out of the post.

Bud Olsen’s bounce passes.

The Memphis State loss in the late ’80s when the Tigers ran out to a 24-0 lead.

Denny Crum’s double knit leisure suits.

The Doctors of Dunk warm ups.

The first night fans were urged to wear red.

Marv Selvy’s 70-footer against Wichita.

The evolution of the Cardinal Bird mascot.

The Voice of Freedom Hall, John Tong’s, unique introductions.

The energy of the crowd at a snow game against Charlotte.

Herb Crook slithering in for a sneaky board and follow shot.

Ellis Myles lying on the hardwood after blowing out his kneecap.

Dana Kirk’s deer in the headlights look when he needed a timeout late for his Memphis State Tigers, realizing he’d already bagged his limit.

Samaki Walker’s triple-double against Kentucky.

Dwayne Morton’s missed dunk at the buzzer against Western Kentucky.

The invention of the “high five” by Derek Smith and Wiley Brown.

The befuddled look of opponents when Smith and Brown communicated in Pig Latin.

Nate Johnson dribbling it off his knee early in games.

The genius of Denny Crum in his prime, outwitting whoever happened to be sitting in the coach’s chair on the visitor’s bench.

The celebration in Freedom Hall after the 1980 championship win.

Seeing Freedom Hall for the first time after John Y. Brown’s stunning renovation.

The longtime Cardinal home was built for a horse show, and has been home to ice shows and tractor pulls and concerts and car shows. But, in the minds of most around the country, Freedom Hall always was one of the nation’s premier basketball venues. Charlotte Owens’ moniker is immediately recognizable to every hoops fan as the Home of the Louisville Cardinals.

The place has serious history. There is the allure.

“Freedom Hall was a big reason for coming to Louisville,” says Mike Grosso, who transferred from South Carolina in the mid-1960s. “I considered St. John’s and got a call from Adolph Rupp. But this was the venue.

“The whole Freedom Hall experience separated U of L from other schools when I was playing.”

Freedom Hall is inextricably entwined with Louisville Cardinal basketball.

She’s a solid old broad, sturdy not sexy; a proud gal, full of hoops history.

I was at the Notre Dame game in December 1956, an 11-year old already more in love with Cardinal basketball than anything else in life. It was a magical night that helped propel U of L to the upper echelon of the college game.

I’ve missed only a few handfuls of games since. It has been ballast, a way of life. Get to the gym early, savor the scene, stay to the end, bitter or sweet.

Alum and longtime fan Fred Smart puts it all in perspective.

“I don’t remember what game it was — North Carolina maybe — but it was a big one, on national TV. Just before the introductions, the teams were warming up, the band was playing, and the cheerleaders were out there, and the announcers were finishing up their pre-game. There was the buzz in the place, the energy. And I looked around and said ‘I just love being here.’”

God willing, Fred Smart will be at Louisville’s final game in Freedom Hall against Syracuse this Saturday. So will I. And, like the night I would have stood and clapped forever after Unseld’s final game, I shall linger and allow the memories to reign over me.

In the end, I shall reluctantly walk away, head bowed, full with the moment and certainty that a grand experience that has sustained me for a half century will be a thing of the past.

And I will bid a sad adieu to the thrill and excitement of Louisville Cardinal basketball in World Famous Freedom Hall.

Johnny Cecil is a Cardinal fan.

He has season tickets. He goes to away games when possible. He’s paid tuition for his kids to attend the university.

He is invested.

The morning after Charlie Strong’s introduction as Louisville’s new football coach, Cecil was smiling once again.

“I tried to watch the press conference on my computer here,” he said. “Then I listened on the radio. I watched on TV last night.”

Asked his initial impression, Cecil didn’t mince words.

“It’s a home run.

“I like that he’s seasoned,” he continued. “I like that his recruiting strength is in Florida and areas in the South where Louisville needs to be recruiting. I never understood how we’d get kids from out West to come here.”

Then there’s the topic mentioned in nearly every conversation about Strong’s introduction as U of L’s new football coach, the 10 seconds of immediate Cardinal lore known as The Moment.

At the press conference, Strong was speechless and fought back tears when acknowledging his fears that a head coaching position he’s long craved might never have come.

He was surely remembering the jobs he interviewed for but didn’t get despite his résumé. Like Minnesota, where he was interviewed under the guise of being a candidate for a job already filled.

Strong allowed his emotions to take charge. It was a stunning, deeply human moment.

Johnny Cecil was touched: “I could feel it.”

Football, the most popular sport in America, is also the manliest. Fans want their teams aggressive. They want their teams to play mean, to hit hard, to strike fast. They want their coaches strong and assertive.

How ironic then that the instant that has galvanized a fractured Cardinal football fan base was a tender interlude punctuated by tears of joy. Many have mentioned how Strong displayed more emotion in those dozen silent seconds than his mechanical predecessor did in three years.

The consensus from every corner is that Tom Jurich made a great choice. “Maybe a perfect fit,” says Wildcat, his online name notwithstanding, a major U of L pigskin supporter.

But, as Cecil acknowledged, “A new coach is always a crapshoot.”

Strong has never been a head coach. (Not that such a line on one’s résumé assures success, as Cardinal fans well know. Exhibit A: Ron Cooper. Exhibit B: Steve Kragthorpe.)

But Strong has had stellar mentors. Steve Spurrier, Lou Holtz and Urban Meyer all coached national champions. Seth Hancock has been an icon in the thoroughbred industry for decades.

The fellow knows how to coach ’em up on defense. In one BCS title match-up, Strong’s Gator defenders held Ohio State to 82 yards, bashing the favored Buckeyes 41-14. In last year’s title game, Charlie’s charges held Oklahoma, the most prolific offense ever in college football, to 14 points. This season, Florida was top five in four different defensive categories.

Yes, the statistics are there.

He’s coached umpteen All-Americans, even more high NFL draft picks, national defensive players of the year, big-time award winners, etc., etc.

The leadership and defensive coaching talent are there.

Strong knows the big time. Along with Florida, he’s coached at Notre Dame, South Carolina, Ole Miss and Texas A&M. Roaming sidelines around the New Year has become an annual ritual.

Experience is there.

Yet fame and fortune are fickle. Favorable outcomes are never a foregone conclusion. Strong has been left a woefully bare cupboard. The current U of L squad may be earnest, but it is thin in numbers and lacking sufficient championship talent.

In this Internet age, when the next latest and greatest is but a mouse click away, fans want microwave-fast gratification — yesterday. Adulation such as Strong is now experiencing can be fleeting. Loyalties change as quickly as some pseudonymous blowhard can make up a rumor in a chat room.

Alum and longtime fan Fred Smart observes, “We need organization and inspiration. We need to get the fans unified. And we need players.”

The fans seem united for now, and hopefully beyond next season’s inevitable setbacks.

Organization, staff selection and recruiting are among the many variables to be revealed between now and spring practice. (Early returns are positive. Strong nabbed a four-star quarterback within 24 hours of his hire.)

Former coach Howard Schnellenberger trumpeted a collision course with a national championship. Ron Cooper dazzled when he arrived in town clutching a list of 50 ambitious endeavors he wished to accomplish. John L. Smith charmed with his smirk, swagger and bowl-worthy squads. Bobby Petrino just won, baby.

Steve Kragthorpe, like a vampire, sucked the lifeblood out of the program.

If Charlie Strong repairs Louisville football as well as Johnny Cecil repairs cars, Cardinal fans are in for a grand tour.

More exactly, Steve Kragthorpe’s situation and the downward momentum of his career at Louisville: how he replaced Bobby Petrino, how the team was immediately less good, how the fans became disgruntled, how that disenchantment has escalated to cacophony, and how those fans want him gone — yesterday, if not sooner.

But first to Susan Boyle.

You remember her, right? She was all the rage as a singing sensation on one of those British who-is-going-to-be-the-next-superstar shows. One day, nobody had ever heard of the frumpy housefrau with the amazing voice. The next day, millions were viewing a video of her stunning debut on the Web.

How long ago was that? Weeks? Months? Last year?

Then she showed up soon enough with a makeover and a record contract, at which point all those instant fans abandoned their adulation and moved on.

Within a time frame most accurately measured in hours or days, they went veni, vidi, relici. With apologies to Plutarch, they came, they saw, they moved on.

Which is when I coined the term, “Boyle point.” It’s the instant in this accelerated cybergalactic age when our latest fascination becomes what was once called “yesterday’s papers,” the moment when we’ve mouse-clicked to the next diversion, the moment when the rage’s upward arc heads south.

So, as U of L’s football season trudges inexorably to ignominy, the fascination has moved from the field to the three-ring circus that is the discussion of Kragthorpe’s future in Louisville, and who his successor might be.

And in this saga, there have been too many Boyle points to compute.

Some are ancient history, like the moment just before Thanksgiving of 2007, following Kragthorpe’s first campaign. There was a major buzz among Cardinal fans, who were anticipating a press conference announcing Kragthorpe was leaving for Southern Methodist University. Remember that one?

Fast-forward to this season. Before it started, Athletic Director Tom Jurich gave his coach unequivocal support. Improvement was expected, and, more or less, assured.

How’s that renovation working?

Kragthorpe’s charges — as hard as they practice and despite their intentions to improve and repair critical mistakes that have escalated to epidemic proportions — have shown little appreciable betterment. Crucial penalties. Fumbles. Interceptions. Missed assignments. Blown plays on both sides of the ball.

As injuries mount, the Cards are thin. This is a result of Kragthorpe’s less-than-stellar recruiting, and a squad whose numbers are down because of the “bad apples” the coach ran off.

Call me a fool, but Anthony Allen sure might have helped at UConn.

So, the distraught fan base, fueled by a lack of any acknowledgement from U of L’s athletic department, has turned into a rabid rabble.

There have been a plethora of Boyle points. Kragthorpe would surely be gone after the UK loss. OK, maybe after the Utah debacle. Surely, after losing to Dave Wannstedt. Without any doubt, after Southern Miss, win or lose. No doubt, should the Cards lose at UConn, he’ll be gone.

There have been Internet reports that Jurich and Kragthorpe met, that the coach would be gone, and a press conference would be held within 48 hours. Was that two or three weeks ago?

There was the BagKrag.com hubbub. The site caught some national attention, for a cybersecond, and then faded.

Despite Tom Jurich’s continued support of Kragthorpe in the national media, local fans have turned their attention to who is going to be his successor, as if his departure is a fait accompli.

Jon Gruden or Tommy Tuberville? That was the question du jour at the hoops luncheon a couple weeks back. Then came the rumors online: First that Gruden was Jurich’s main target, and then that Gruden would never coach at any college, let alone U of L.

Take your choice.

In this age of media overload, this is not a day-to-day phenomenon. It’s minute-to-minute. No new information at insidetheville.com? Check out our sports blog at score.leoweekly.com. Nothing new there either? Try
Twittering Kragthorpe (not the fake one).

Because this is being written for Wednesday’s print edition — in the wake of Louisville’s awful performance at Connecticut — I’m betting there will be another Boyle point or two by the time you read this. I’ll also bet that Steve Kragthorpe is still Louisville’s coach.

A little over a half decade ago, when he was at Iowa State, he was legitimately in the conversation about the next great hoops coach. He was already a member of the Party Boy Hall of Fame. He was hangin’ with Betty Coed. And all her sorority sisters. Always with a drink in hand.

Larry Eustachy lost his job. And found a life.

To salvage his career, Eustachy entered treatment for the deadly disease which with he is afflicted. Alcoholism. Six years later, Eustachy remains sober, and, reading between the lines of his interview with Parrish, is an active daily participant in a 12 Step recovery process.

The purpose of Gary Parrish’s interview was to provide perspective on the Billy Clyde Gillispie situation. Gillispie, recently arrested in rural Kentucky for DUI, has entered John Lucas’s rehab facility in Houston. Eustachy publicly expressed his support and willingness to share his experiences, hoping to give strength and resolve to Gillispie to stay the course.

You can read Parrish’s award worthy column here.

In the interview, Eustachy correctly parallels the diseases of alcoholism and cancer. He knew it would bring out the scoffers. Which it did. Parrish wrote a follow up column about the comments he received. It’s linked in the first story, or you can get to it here.

I’ve often said reiterated that I don’t comment at this venue on the personal lives of the sports personalities I cover, the men and women who are important to folks here in Kentuckiana. And I certainly gave Gillispie way more than my allotment of shit over his behavior while he was UK coach.

But this is no time for silence.

Of all the diseases from which people suffer, alcoholism and drug addiction might be the most misunderstood. Comments online and on the street about Gillispie’s situation indicate that.

So it is. And so it shall probably remain.

Such a pity.

I now pray for Billy Gillispie as well as for alcoholics and drug addicts who still suffer and patients battling cancer as I have during the course of my recoveries from those equally debilitating diseases.

I don’t in any way mean to condone some of Gillispie’s well chronicled life mistakes while at UK, and elsewhere for that matter. But I do understand that he has the opportunity, if he gets and stays sober, to avoid such gaffes in the future.

I hope he makes it.

And I hope Larry Eustachy’s Southern Miss Golden Eagles make it to the dance. But know that, at least for today, he’ll be okay if they don’t.