If you build it, will they come?
The debate over the efficacy and placement of a new arena has been festering for too long. The thing’s likely to get built. And in the long haul, it’s a no-brainer, even at the oddly chosen and more expensive riverfront site. (Unless, of course, you’re a U of L season ticket-holder, and you’re gonna have to sign over your first-born to get the rights to enter a lottery to maybe get halfway decent seats.) Anyway, I thought about this while driving recently from the airport in Seville, Spain. The cabbie pointed out the sprawling Olympic complex at the edge of that marvelous city. If you’re saying, “Wait a minute, the Olympics have never been in Seville,” you get my point. They built the whole complex — stadiums, dorms, etc. Then lost the bid for the ’04 games to Athens. The local powers were gearing up to go for the 2012 games. Ah, but the national decision-makers nixed it, saying Madrid was the Spanish city that would have the country’s nod. So there it sits in mothballs, never used, this big Olympic complex, on the outskirts of one of Europe’s most historic towns.

Discounting the Chad.
Here’s the story I heard about the deportation of U of L hoopster Chad Millard. As the tale goes, the lad from up east was at a party this summer. As most players do from time to time, no matter how happy they are in a situation, he is said to have groused about the program and made some complaints about the coaches. I’m told The Rick caught wind of it. And so we bid another adieu to a one-and-done Cardinal. Sayonara, Chad. The big loser is Scotty Davenport, who visualized Perrin Johnson as a transfer centerpiece for his upwardly mobile Bellarmine Knights. With Millard gone, a Cardinal scholly opened up for Johnson, and he was back at Belknap to teach the team’s youngsters the type of work ethic expected.

Are you ready for some …  
SchnellSpeak? Fear not, your intrepid scribe is ready. There will be pigskin scalps to be hoisted on the totem pole of victory, and we’ll be here to pass along all sonnets from Shakespeare of the Sidelines.

BY SEEDY K
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