I wont lie. I think that he is an arrogant prick and a bully. But he is also very good at his job and had one of the best couple of weeks any A.D. has ever had. Two Fridays ago his football team secured their league's automatic BCS Bowl Game birth with a dramatic come from behind win over Rutgers. Then they were selected to participate in the Sugar Bowl over the Orange Bowl. The Sugar Bowl being the more prestigious of the two bowls. Then this week his highly sought after football coach turned down a higher profile job (if not a better over all job, depending on who you ask) at Tennessee to stay at Uof L. The thought of any Louisville football coach turning down an offer to Tennessee, or any South Eastern Conference job a few years ago would have been unimaginable. Yet Jurich has made Louisville so attractive, that that's just what Charlie Strong did. Turn down a job at UT to stay at Louisville. Add to that, that the school was recently accepted to join the Atlantic Coast Conference, and I can honestly say: I don't think any A.D. has ever in the history of the NCAA had a better couple of weeks. Quite the accomplishment for a man who 15 years ago accepted the job to run the athletics's program at an urban university that was known only basketball that had had one or two years at football. And both of the programs were falling from those heights. He immediately came in and made a popular decision to remove the football coach. He made a controversial decision to force out hall of fame basketball coach Denny Crum and replace him with Rick Pitinio. He then utilized the many corporate sponsors that the city of Louisville had available, in addition to the new revenue created by newly opened Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, to invest into the schools other athletic facilities. What has happened since is that he has been the head of one of the great athletic departments in all of the NCAA. As I said above, I think he is an arrogant prick and a bully. He has strong armed the media. Their is even a talk show host that says that he helped close a former radio station because he felt they were too critical of the football head coach Steve Kragthorpe. And he bullied negotiations with the "Arena Authority" so that it is nearly impossible for any events to take place during basketball season. Making what should be a very profitable endeavour for the city into one that is now just recently had its bond rating dropped again. All just to make sure that no NBA team could ever play there (and thus, cant take penitential sponsorship money away from the University) and so that UK couldn't play its yearly game in Louisville there. But there is no denying that he uses those traits and actions to protect and help the University of Louisville. And that makes him a damn good A.D. So that is why this week, we begrudgedly say, here's to you Tom... Bastard.
Now on to the Wrap Up.
-First bit of business, the Jeffersonville City Council has created their own Facebook Page. Basically, this will cover all the going ons of the city. Not just that of the mayor. As well they posted the video of their most recent council meetings. So that will provide a quick link to anyone interested in the meetings that cant make it to them.
Ahh, remember the good ol' days when the city Facebook Page covered the whole city and not just what the mayor was doing. OK, they weren't that old of days, as we are talking about Facebook here. But you get my point.
-The Indiana State Board of Accounts has agreed that Jeffersonville City Clerk Vicki Conlin should take over the duties of the clerk of the city court. This basically means that Conlin would be responsible for the funds the court collects and the maintenance of records.
The attorney representing the clerks office stated however that this is merely an "opinion" and that the court could still disregard it. If they do, however, I must warn them that this is what they could be dealing with:
(again, any excuse to post this picture)
-According to the Oracle, News and Tribune Assistant Editor Amy Huffman-Branham works on the City of Jeffersonville’s account with his company, specifically relating to the publication of the city’s newsletter. You can read his story here.
Some have dismissed this as a complete non-story. To those people I have two points. One, this is an end run a round the council telling Moore that he couldn't hire this person who he no business trying to hire in the first place. Second, I've taken a few journalism classes in my day (and no, I don't consider anything I do here to be journalism) and this is a complete conflict of interest. One that could seriously tarnish the N & T's integrity.
Example: Lets say Mikey does something really stupid like show up for Jazzercise naked (this is hypothetical. I hope). Lets say that N & T doesn't cover it (the story, not Mikey). People will say that she may be trying to protect her boss. Lets say that the N & T does cover it (again the story. not Mikey). People could dismiss it as "she must have a problem with her boss." How the N & T could allow this to happen is beyond me. But it is a serious conflict of interest that should have never accord from either side.
-The Jeffersonville city council has pledged $10,000 to a lawsuit helping to fight tolls that will help pay for the Ohio River Bridges Project. Ehhh, I'm not the biggest fan of this. As I have stated on this blog, I'm not opposed to tolls. The bridges are needed and I will use them. The east end bridge will save me time and gas each work day and thus I feel I should help pay for them.
I also understand that downtown Jeffersonville businesses as well as those in Clarksville rely on some visitors from Louisville and thought of less traffic from the Kentucky side of the bridge is a worrisome one. All in all I don't think the lawsuit will have any effect on the project or the tolls what so ever and that this is more just a case of municipalities telling current and future businesses that we will support you and work to provide the best environment for you possible. And it isn't that much money in the grand scheme of things so lets call this a well intentioned move that is more symbolic than anything.
-These two topics bring us to Hoosier Taxpayer. He has lost all creditability with his posts and comments on the previous two topics as well as the sweeps of the Exit 0 area. It is clear that he has become nothing more than a shill for the mayor who will do/say anything to protect him and try and pass the blame and spotlight on to someone else. Even to some politicians who have never had a hint of controversy. He seems to take the stance that its not my guys fault. Its literally everyone else's. Illogical, I know.
His stance on that the situation with the Jeffersonville newsletter is a non-story is full of holes and laughable. As I pointed out above, it is a story of bad judgement and conflicts of interest. His position that that the council supporting the lawsuit is a big story is just silly. And his attempt to deflect the blame to the council for the recent sweeps of the Exit 0 area may be one of the most ridiculous things ever posted on the CCC. And that's saying a lot. He brings no facts to the table of debate. Just silly photo shops and even sillier attempts to find fairy tales to support his side. He has literally in the past few weeks delved into the area of "lets just throw everything I can up against the wall and see what sticks."
If you are an unbiased observer who only has Jeffersonville's best interest at heart, please ignore him from now on. He is no longer creditable and should be quickly dismissed as such.
-Jeffersonville has taken steps toward building a new police station. You can read the N & T story here. It has approved bonding for the project although states that bonding may not be used. This story may have a couple of different curve balls though and is something that will have to be closely watched. Keep an eye out.
-I was with the Oracle and Freddy on The Oracle's Lounge Live! Be sure to check it out.
-Well that should wrap it up for this weekend. Sorry for the clip job the internet did to the original post and for the delay. It's a shame too. I had another whole segment that was probably the best writing that the world would have ever seen. It would have made you think, laugh and cry all at the same time. Sadly I don't have time to re-write that part so I guess the world will have to wait for another day.
My schedule this week is much better so I should have a regular mid-week post plus a new poll question. Until then, feel free to like the Facebook Page and comment below. Hope everyone has a good week.
No comments:
Post a Comment