[1] Cheers of "C-A-R-D-S", could be heard from miles away, as a raucous crowd packed into Fourth Street Live to celebrate a rare feat Tuesday Night- a Louisville Cardinals Basketball Final Four appearance.
Although it's been to nine in it's illustrious history, this is only the second appearance for the Cardinals since 1986, the last being in 2005. Fans recognized this special occurrence and were in high spirits Tuesday evening.
"I've been a Cards fan since 1876," Louisville fan Juan Harris said with a laugh, "It's (Louisville) ll the way,"
Harris was surrounded by fans as he sported his 2001 Suski Hayabusa, that had a custom Louisville paint job.
Mayor Greg Fischer was in attendance and presented all the players, along with Tom Jurich, 'Key's to the City'.
Despite cloudy skies, over 4,000 fans packed into Fourth Street Live!, most clamoring over the possibility of receiving a poster commemorating the Final Four accomplishment.
Artist, Chip Dumstoff of the Bisig Impact group, was the main designer of the poster.
"Bisig Impact group has been working with Louisville athletics for many years," Dumstoff said, "It was really a team effort, our creative director, copyrighters, designers, all working together really quickly,"
Louisville had a remarkable post-season run, winning eight games straight, en route to a Big East Championship and Final Four appearance. Although Louisville came up just short of their goal of a National Championship, losing to Kentucky in the Semi-Final, Head Coach Rick Pitino says their is reason for optimism.
"We'll be much healthier next year, We'll be much better on offense next year, and were still gonna play that great defense," Pitino said.
Seniors Chris Smith and Kyle Kuric, got a chance to say a final goodbye to the Cardinal faithful. Smith echoed Pitino's optimism
"It's been a heck of a last two years...I wish the young guys the best," Smith Said, "Louisville has arrived,"
Most fans expect to be celebrating a similar accomplishment next year, and with ten players returning, their is no reason to think otherwise.
Photos by Yours Truly
Bike Picture courtesy of: Courier-Journal.com
