Louisville Cardinals: A True CardNation

One of my friends and me in the
Cardinal Marching Band--in 2007!

I am a HUGE Louisville Cardinals fan! I'm a UofL alum and I watch all of our football and men's basketball games (I don't watch ALL of the women's games, but our women's basketball team beat #1 BAYLOR last night!!!). Our men's basketball team is currently the favorite to win the NCAA Tournament. We played Duke in the Elite Eight yesterday.

With about six and a half minutes left in the first half, Kevin Ware suffered the worst sports injury I've ever seen. He had jumped up to block a shot and when he came down, the lower part of his right leg just shattered. The entire UofL bench (in front of whom the injury happened) turned away in horror. Siva, Behanan, and Blackshear were just sitting on the court, sickened after having seen the injury. Half the team and Coach Petino were in tears. And Ware, with a bone sticking out of his leg, was yelling to the team huddled on the court that he wanted to talk to them. He told them over and over, "I'll be okay, just win the game." And they did. By 22 points.

I have never seen a team pull together the way the Cardinals did. The visceral reaction to Ware's injury and the 17-2 run they had in the second half to pull away from Duke showed that this group of young men is special. They are so much more than just a basketball team. The love and commitment those guys showed for each other was absolutely phenomenal.

I am amazed at the strides medical technology has had! Joe Theismann had a just-as-horrifying injury that ended his career back in 1985 (he said that he was watching the game yesterday and felt a "shiver" when Ware had his injury). Michael Bush suffered a very similar injury while he was playing at Louisville and two years later, made his NFL debut (Bush tweeted yesterday after Ware's injury, "I just cried."). Kevin Ware had surgery last night and is expected to be back in a year. He'll probably redshirt for the 2013-2014 season and be back better than ever in 2014-2015.

I think the takeaway from yesterday's game is that bad things happen but if you have taken care to surround yourself with the right people in your life, everyone can get through the hardship. It wasn't just the team, either. CardNation came together on Twitter and Facebook--within minutes of the injury, #KevinWare, #Ware, and #WinForWare were trending globally. That means a lot. Made me a very proud alum.

And I'm not going to jinx my team by making crazy predictions or anything, but even though we didn't cut down the nets yesterday (we are waiting until only one team can cut down the nets, not four teams), I think getting Ware back home to Atlanta has made it possible for us to cut a net down for Ware at some point in the future. ;-)

You're on notice, Wichita State.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi