Bryan the Intern's Picks to Click

It's OK Tom, I will win at least 5 games a year for you.  And beating Kentucky?  Not important. I know most of you don't like it when I rant at the top of my posts before giving you the links.  But today, I think I will tell you a story you all will like to read.  As Matt told you about on Tuesday, all shows on 93.9 The Ticket were "cancelled" effective immediately.  That means Sports Night (Matt's show) is no longer, and the show I produced "The Front Row" is also a goner.  This story really has two prongs: (a) The Tom Jurich Factor (b) The Cumulus factor So, here is what went down over the last few weeks, and most of the stuff I speak of concerns the Front Row but pretty much applies for all shows: (a) Right after UL lost to Syracuse, I know we could not keep the callers coming on fast enough from UL fans criticizing Steve Kragthorpe, with the occasional Tom Jurich basher.  I can not even estimate how many CARDS fans were calling for his head.  And during that whole week, the theme from the Front Row Hosts (Zach McCrite and Rick Bozich) was that it is NOT good to fire a coach after two seasons.  So, all criticism of the UL program was coming from fans.  Obviously the calls continued after bad losses to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.  After the Pitt loss, some of you all may have read Jurich's criticism of the UL fan base for expecting too much out of their football program. Once again, CARDS fans called in droves to bash Jurich this time.  But, word began to get around the station that Jurich was not happy with 93.9 The Ticket, feeling we were unfair to the Cards program, and instigating fans to be negative towards Kragthorpe. Let's address this: First of all, the football program SUCKS.  We didn't have to do a damn thing at 93.9 to anger fans.  They were angry by not only the awful product on the field, but also their jerk athletic director being critical of them.  Second of all, the hosts straight down the line said that Kragthorpe should keep his job.  Jurich was also angry at liners that 93.9 The Ticket ran that said things such as "We don't tow the company line at 93.9 The Ticket, Real Cards Radio".  These were created as competiton against the other station in Louisville, which the UL athletic department helps run, and basically is always positive to the program, and certainly would never criticize it.  IT'S CALLED TRYING TO COMPETE TOM!!!! SOMETHING YOUR FOOTBALL PROGRAM CAN'T DO!!!!! Jurich thinks that it is inappropriate for the media to be critical of the local school, as it only leads to problems.  What he will never tell you is that he may have made a mistake in the Kragthorpe hire.  Just as he blames fans for expecting too much, he would never admit he has been too leniant in the decline of the program.  So the question you might ask is: So what if Tom Jurich is a jerk?  How does that hurt the radio station?  Well, quite frankly, Jurich is very powerful in the city.  He threatened and possibly went to the levels of telling advertisers of the UL program to not even consider advertising with 93.9 The Ticket, or lose their contracts with UL.  That is the lifeblood of sports radio.  You have to get advertising to survive.  Jurich tried to railroad the station, from what I have heard unsuccessfully.  I don't think it is too crazy to think he MAY have had a hand in knocking us off the air.  I have no proof of that, but after all the links he went to show his dislike of the station, it just would not suprise me.    This post has run on pretty far, so let me wrap up with this: Tom Jurich is a bad guy.  He is in my opinion a very good athletic director, but he is a man who is a coward.  I truly hope the failure of Steve Kragthorpe also brings him down.  I hope the UL fans turn on him, which has already started to happen.  He has made slam dunk hires in nearly all his sports, and has made one bad hire.  Hey Tom, it happens!!!! Man up and take some blame.  You have a hand in the demise of your football program.  (b) I will keep the Cumulus part of this short.  They treated the staff at 93.9 like dogs.  They paid us beans, and yet we still worked our tails off to improve that station.  We had limited resources, and still made the station the top sports option in the city.  And then as we prepared to hit the main part of the sports season in this state, they pulled it out from us like cowards.  They didn't even have the guts to face us and tell us in person.  They are giving no severance pay to ANYONE.  Much like Tom Jurich's precious little football program, I hope their new station fails horribly.  Am I bitter, you're damn right.  The people that worked there deserved better than what they received.  Shows like Matt's didn't even get a proper last show.  That's not the way things should be done.    I do want to say thanks to everyone who did listen during our time at 93.9 The Ticket.  You made the station fun to work at, and hopefully that group of people will get a chance to run a station again.  If you made it through my novel there, take a look at some links too: 1. Maybe it's just me, but it seems clear to me that Deandre Liggins needs to be starting.  I will say this: I am not sure it actually improves the team much.  BUT, the situation is much like the Cobb-Hartline situation.  I just dont see much improving possible for Hartline/Porter.  But in Cobb/Liggins, you have the future and the potential for significant improvement.  And at this point, he couldn't turn it over any more than they have.  The Courier-Journal asks: Is Liggins ready to take the reigns? 2. Let me ask you all this question: As long as UK goes to a bowl yearly, are you happy with the program?  If the Cats went to Music City Bowl, would you be satisfied?  Because this team had less expectations, yet will likely reach the same heights as the last 2 years.  Nonetheless, here are more bowl scenarios for the Cats. 3. In John Clay's article today, he brings up the losses of Curtis Pulley and Derrick Jasper, and the negative effect each departure had for the program. And you can make the comment "we don't need them" if you want, but they both (Jasper especially) would have helped their teams this year. Now, if they didn't want to be here or deserve to be here, they see ya later. But, Clay brought it up, so I give it to you. 4. NBA Recap: Prince struggles again, but Pistons wins Hayes play alot, fouls alot in Rockets loss The Hawks also played, Morris did not make the floor.