We are a little over a month away from the annual NASCAR race at the Kentucky Speedway. This year the race track has a special offer for Louisville Cardinal fans who want to be a part of the Quaker State 400 on June 29th. They are calling it the “Cardinal Takeover” and that seems very appropriate considering the year our athletic program has had. This special package being offered to Cardinal Fans will cost around 135.00 and will include a hospitality area, special tours, concert and pre/post race access to the Pit area.

This isn’t the first time that the Louisville program has been involved in the festivities at the speedway in Sparta, Ky. Coach Rick Pitino was honored by the track back in 2008 during the Nationwide series Meijer 300 when he got to unleash the ultimate fast break and waved the green flag for that race. To my knowledge though this is the first time the track has had a promotion for this type of Cardinal celebration. The track had a similar promotion last year for the University of Kentucky and Michael Waltrip Racing also honored the cats by having a UK national title paint scheme on one of his cars. I’m hoping that the PR folks at UofL reach out to Waltrip Racing or one of the other Race Teams to work out a deal for one of them to race with a UofL paint scheme this year. It would be fitting seeing how Cardinal Nation will be one of the guest of honor.

I’m hoping that Cardinal fans take advantage of this special promotion and that we have a huge turnout for this event. If you have never been to one of these races this is a perfect excuse to experience it for the first time. I know I’m looking forward to throwing back a few cold ones with the Cardinal Nation and watching some racing. Below is the information from the Kentucky Speedway site and their link to purchase tickets for this promotion.

Click here to visit The Kentucky Speedway website and to purchase your tickets to “The Cardinal Takeover”

It has been an outstanding year for the University of Louisville in the world of college sports. And behind great athletic departments and teams are great athletic directors and coaches. At Louisville we have the best Athletic Director in the country in Tom Jurich and we have one of the greatest coaches in college basketball in Rick Pitino. Wednesday night these two men will be honored for their great achievements over the past year.

First Tom Jurich is nominated for Athletic Director of the year at the Sports Business Awards Ceremony. The Sports Business Awards, a night celebrating excellence in sports business, will be held at the New York Marriott Marquis at Times Square in New York City. The winners among nominees will be announced live at this event.
Launched in 2008, the Sports Business Awards were established by SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily to celebrate and recognize the leaders, visionaries and day-to-day practitioners who personify excellence in the business of sports. The 2013 nominees and winners are being recognized for excellence and outstanding achievement in the business of sports for the period from March 1, 2012 – February 28, 2013.
I don’t think anyone deserves this award more than Jurich and I don’t see how he doesn’t claim it. The other nominees for Athletic Director of the Year are Mike Holder Oklahoma State University, Mal Moore University of Alabama, and Jim Phillips Northwestern University.

Also on Wednesday night Coach Rick Pitino will be presented with the New York Athletic Club’s Winged Foot Award. The Award was established in 1996 by the NYAC and is presented annually to the winning coaches of the men’s and women’s NCAA Division I Basketball Tournaments. The function will be hosted at the NYAC’s City House in mid-town Manhattan. The evening will feature a cocktail reception, dinner, speeches and the presentation of the Awards. Celebrated sportscaster, Billy Packer will MC the ceremonies, as he has done since the Award’s inception.
The Winged Foot Award came into being in the mid-1990s when the New York Athletic Club, an iconic presence in the world of amateur sport, noted that there was no official award to honor the head coaches of the victorious NCAA men’s and women’s basketball teams. The Club presented the first men’s trophy to Rick Pitino in 1996.

Two great men and two great honors. Good luck to Tom Jurich and congrats to Coach Pitino.

The University of Louisville continues their complete domination of the Big East Saturday as the baseball team wins the regular season title outright finishing the sweep of #16 Pittsburgh beating them 7-4. The Cards finish their regular season 46-10 and 20-4 in the Big East.

This is Louisville’s fourth Big East Regular Season Championship in 5 seasons (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013). They finish off their regular season now 31-5 at home setting a new single season record for wins at Jim Patterson Stadium (211-75, .736 all-time).

The Cardinals own the nation’s longest active winning streak at 16 games and it’s the second longest in school history, trailing only a 20-game streak in 1950. I’ve been hearing for weeks that Louisville will host a regional if it wins the Big East regular-season title; the Cardinals are up to No. 16 in the updated Warren Nolan RPI rankings, and their red-hot finish will look great to the committee. They’ll host count on it.

When Kentucky won the national championship last season they took their trophy on a tour through the back woods and Hollars of the Bluegrass state. The University of Louisville’s championship trophy has taken a different journey this off-season and it has been the symbol for many celebrations along the way.

Of course the trophy has made stops at the usual places, but it is the unusual places that have created the most buzz. The publications were in a frenzy when the trophy made a stop at a local tattoo parlor for Coach Pitino to get his “champ stamp”, then the trophy found its way on a fishing trip in the Bahamas with coach Pitino and his friends.

Today Total Frat Move news called Pitino the coolest coach in America as he took the national championship trophy for a spin on the town for his daughters 21st birthday celebration.

It’s great to see so many folks writing about the Cards symbol of excellence and it’s great to see so many celebrations being held around the trophy. Who knows where it’s going to end up next but by the time it reaches the Louisville trophy case it will have many stories to tell.

To continue my series looking at impact players that will be playing for the first time in the 2013-14 season today it’s Mangok Mathiang. I think he oozes with potential and think he could provide valuable minutes next season in the front-court. I think he will be a dominate player down low for the Cards before it’s all said and done.

(name is pronounced MANG-go like the fruit, with a silent “K” MATH-ee-ang)

Mangok Mathiang started his life in the war-torn Sudan but when he turned 5 his father decided to move him and his family to Egypt. The family soon realized that life there wasn’t going to be much better and they eventually ended up in Melbourne Australia. Soccer ruled in that part of the world and Mangok loved the game but by the time he was sixteen his height had reached 6 foot-5 inches and it was obvious what sport Mathiang was destined to play. By the time he was seventeen he was being offered scholarships by top US high schools.

Last August the lanky, shot-blocking Australian signed with the Cardinals but due to the NCAA’s strict rules, Mathiang was unable to produce his school transcripts quick enough and was ruled ineligible for the 2012-13 season. He was allowed to train with the team, and even got to show off some of his potential in last years Red & White game. It was very obvious watching him in those games that he is going to be a good one and he will make his way into the rotation this season.

Mathiang is a very long, active and mobile post player with great upside. He can score around the basket, rebound in his area and block shots on or away from the ball. As his skills continue to develop so will his production but the potential and upside are present.

Rick Pitino on Mangok: “Mangok is extremely quick and agile for a 6-10 player,” “He has a great future because of the way he moves at both the offensive and defensive ends. We’re excited to have him as a part of our program.”

In the West Indies, the expression “to go mango” means to steal another person’s mango fruits. There’s no doubt in my mind that after a few years in Louisville’s strength and conditioning program the expression “To Go Mango” will mean to steal another player’s basket. Because Mathiang will be a premiere shot blocker. There have been lots of comparisons between Mangok and Gorgui and the two have even been mistaken for one another around town. Just like Gorgui I expect Mangok to soon make a name for himself among college basketball’s best. The Mango is often referred to as the “King of Fruits”, before it’s all said and done “The Mango” will be the king of Louisville’s front-court.

Coach Rick Pitino has had the year of his life. First as a father he got to watch his son have great success at his first coaching stop and then got to watch Richard parlay that into landing a Big Ten coaching job at Minnesota. Then he and the Louisville basketball team have a magical season winning the final Big East Tournament and a National Championship. While in Atlanta for the Final Four Rick got his name added among the greats and was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

The road of the college basketball season ends at the Final Four but not Rick Pitino’s good fortune. After he got back from Atlanta he was able to enjoy the Kentucky Derby as a 5% owner of one of the Derby favorites. That horse wouldn’t win but it had to be a huge honor nonetheless. Then this week on a trip in the Bahamas with some buddies coach Pitino goes Marlin fishing and catches an 80 pounder.

So how do you put a bow on a run like that? Well around these parts you get your face on a Makers Mark bottle. That’s right Cards fans its time to add to the bourbon bottle collection as Makers Mark announced today that an upcoming bottle will feature Coach Rick Pitino. The bottle is the second of a three-year commitment by Maker’s Mark, that has pledged over $500,000 in support of the Academic Center of Excellence. 12,600 bottles will be available to the public, and details on how to purchase the bottle will be announced at a later date.

This Makers Mark series started last year with a bottle featuring Coach Charlie Strong. That bottle was a hot item last year and flew out of every Liquor Store store in the state of Kentucky. They sold over 8400 of the Strong bottles and will have 12,600 of the Pitino bottles available when released.

Louisville head basketball coach Rick Pitino had not had a break for months and decided to step away from basketball and Louisville after the Kentucky Derby celebrations had ended. Pitino and a group of friends headed to a remote island in the Bahamas for a little rest and relaxation. On this trip, Pitino and his group decided to do a little deep-water white marlin fishing. This was the first time Coach Pitino had tried his luck at the elusive fish. So what happens when coach sinks his lure for the first time? He lands an 80 pounder that’s what. How about the luck of this guy? According to the information I was able to look up the average size of the white marlin is 45 to 65 pounds and it is not a common thing to catch one bigger. I’m glad to see Coach P’s lucky streak is still intact and I hope it stays that way until around this time next year. Hat Tip to Jody Demling for tweeting out these pictures tonight. Great stuff!