Section 111 Represented Well Last Night

Don’t think for a second that St. John’s left Louisville without any victories. If they were paying attention, they saw Louisville football coaching legend Howard Schnellenberger receive a great reception from the fans, got to watch the Ladybirds dance to Tyga club-bangers, and watched the rest of us attempt the Harlem Shake.

The icing on the cake was that row E of Section 111 featured a full crew of referees (yours truly included) that was seriously asked by other students to “T-up” the real referees. Obviously, we obliged.

Rumor has it that the refs made TV again for the usual 5 seconds, but nothing will ever top the two astoundingly intoxicated Louisville fans that noticed us as “The Refs” on Bourbon Street and eventually got around to letting us know how much they appreciated our hard work.

A final take-away for the Red Storm: Sir’Dominic Pointer won the nightly award for best name in the building in a landslide victory. This usually is reserved for, well, Luke Hancock obviously, but Sir’Dominic is just that much better.

“That much better” is a horrible ambiguity that doesn’t really make sense, but it’s been used so many times that it actually makes a ton of sense. It’s right up there with “Man, Jim. That kid is just a flat out (Insert Sport Here) player.” Just don’t think too much about it and it all somehow works.

Back to the Harlem Shake for a moment: Section 111 was entirely prepared for the whole thing, but the video has come under fire for being “lame” or “weak”. It wasn’t as good as it could have been, and could have used some organization, but it was fun anyway. I got to wear sunglasses, inside AND at night, so there.

Other thoughts on the game…

The all-white alternate threads are sharp, and something the Cards should consider for the rest of the season. Forget the t-shirt numbers that Adidas is probably going to force on us anyway.

Keep shootin’, Luke. You’ll always be my hero.

Based King, #StayPositive and #ActAccordingly. It’s working so far.

Peyton Siva will be a key to this team’s success in March. He turned in a solid performance last night and is a senior leader. All of the criticisms of his recent play are justified, but he will perform.

St. John’s forward Jakarr Sampson is an Akron-area native, and attended the same high school (St. Vincent-St. Mary) as LeBron James. Like James, he “took his talents” elsewhere. As his 4-15 shooting night against Louisville reflects, Cleveland was not nearly as upset about it.

It is truly a joy to watch Rick Pitino coach. It gets taken for granted for now, but someday it will be story-worthy for the grandkids.

A serious note on a couple of fronts: Steve Lavin has had a hell of a past couple of years, and he can absolutely be proud of where he has St. Johns headed. Prayers and tons of respect to him as he grieves the loss of his father.

Another necessary acknowledgement is in order for Kentucky’s Nerlens Noel. Louisville fans don’t ever have to like him, but the way he plays deserves respect, and nobody deserves an injury like the one he suffered against Florida. Hopefully, he will come back strong and have a long pro career. That’s where he belongs anyway.

On-campus check…

Baseball starts their season with the annual Big Ten/Big East challenge down in Florida tonight against Indiana, with first pitch scheduled for 7:30. Must be tough duty to spend a weekend in Florida in February. Good luck to the baseball Cards; they will be fun to watch this season.

Lacrosse (1-0) has another home game Saturday at 2 PM against the 13^th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. It’s a Black Out, and the first 100 fans get a free Adidas t-shirt. If you need further motivation, OSU’s mascot is named after the nut of Ohio’s state tree, and Louisville is named after a Cardinal with teeth. Support the lacrosse ladies. A special shout out goes to Nikki Boltja, a Louisville Lax-er who graduated with me at Medina High School in Medina, Ohio. Go Bees.

Also on Saturday, Women’s tennis is home and hosting Wisconsin at noon. While Wisconsin’s ladies will likely not all have buzz cuts like the majority of their men’s basketball team, I guess there’s a chance that one may have a remarkably curly ‘fro similar to that of Mike Bruesewitz. The buzz cut reference isn’t mine, but it is an opportunity for me to plug one of the most hilarious books I’ve ever read, Don’t Put Me In Coach, by Grantland’s Mark Titus. Check it out.

Women’s Basketball has a big one downtown against DePaul on Sunday at 1:30, because DePaul’s women’s team is actually relevant. The game is also a Pink Out for breast cancer awareness. Women who have survived breast cancer get in for free, because they have won a bigger battle than most can imagine. Should be a special afternoon at the Yum! Center.

That leaves us with Sunday night’s Men’s Basketball matchup at USF. Sources say that Louisville will win.

On this Valentines Day, a Cards victory was all anyone really needed. If I have to read one more “It’s single awareness day for me because nobody loves me in this world” status or tweet, I will lose my mind.

Card Nation, I love you.

Go Cards.