At the University of Louisville, there is a special magic attached to the Number 34 jersey for the men's basketball team.

Other numbers have a more storied history, to be sure - like Darrell Griffith's No. 35, say, or Wes Unseld's 31.

But don No. 34 as a freshman, and U of L lore gives you a heightened chance of sinking a game-winning jumper for the Cardinals.

It began March 4, 1978, in the old Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati. U of L trailed Florida State 93-92 with nine seconds to play in the Metro Conference Tournament championship game when freshman guard Roger Burkman, No. 34, took an inbounds pass and worked his way upcourt.

Burkman, christened "Instant Defense" by Cardinal fans, wasn't the first option on the play, but everyone else was blanketed. He weaved his way upcourt to the left baseline, whirled, and fired an 18-footer as the horn sounded.

BOOM! Nothing but net - the arena erupted, and a Cardinal legend began.

Seven years later, on a January night in Tallahassee, another Cardinal freshman bearing No. 34 stuck a dagger in the heart of the Seminoles. Mike Abram's shot from the right baseline lifted U of L to a 63-62 victory. And again on Feb. 16, 1989, a rookie wearing 34 buried FSU - Everick Sullivan's three-pointer at 0:01 gave the Cards a 78-77 win.

Last night in Milwaukee it happened again.

Jerry Smith, No. 34, a product of nearby Wauwatosa, WI, capped a furious Louisville rally against Marquette with a trey from the right wing as the buzzer sounded. Smith's third triple of the game, all in the final three minutes and change, completed the Cards' comeback from a seven-point deficit and handed the 13th-ranked Golden Eagles a stunning 61-59 loss. The win lifted Louisville into sole possession of third place in the Big East, solidifying the Cards' chances for a first-round bye in the league tournament and enhancing their prospects for an NCAA tourney berth.

But it also added luster to the saga of the magical No. 34.

My friend Misscelestialraine posted a new blast this morning: "Death is not the end, merely a transition period from this life to the next." Ever since I read it, Collin Raye's song "Love Remains" has been looping through my brain -- an old favorite I may have to go out and sing tonight....

Temple services tonight will be a healing experience for me, I think. Come on, Shabbat -- I am so ready for this week to be over....

I don't often blog about politics, but after listening to the State of the Union address, I have to wonder: is President Bush too dumb to realize the vast majority of the electorate thinks his handling of the Iraq war is wrong, too arrogant to care, or (God forbid) both?...

My high school class has its 35-year reunion this summer. I'm looking forward to seeing my old schoolmates again, but it saddens me to know that a few more of us won't be around any more. I also, in my darker moments, wonder -- if I met my 17-year-old self today, would we find enough common ground to like one another? I certainly hope so -- I firmly believe the roots of the man I've become were taking hold back then....

As we write on the blank page of each day of 2007, may we do so in such a way that when we look back, we're proud of what we're reading....

"An eternal burning flame/Hope lives on, and love remains...." -- Collin Raye

It's been a tumultuous time to be a Louisville football fan.

Consider: Within the span of less than two weeks, the Cards win the Orange Bowl over Wake Forest, 24-13; lose their head coach; have their stud-horse running back, who missed all but 33 minutes of the season with a broken leg, declare for the NFL draft; bring in a new head coach; and retain their starting quarterback.

Coach Bobby Petrino's departure for the Atlanta Falcons reminded me of an old joke about a guy who asked an attractive woman, "Would you sleep with me for $1,000,000?"

After a moment's thought, she said, "I suppose so."

"Would you sleep with me for $20?"

WHAP! "What do you think I am?!" she huffed.

"We've established that," he retorted, rubbing his face where she had slapped him. "Now we're negotiating your price."

Falcons owner Arthur Blank found Petrino's price.

U of L athletic director Tom Jurich got the last word, in a sense -- he had Petrino's replacement hired before the chair in Bobby's office got cold. Jurich had his old buddy Steve Kragthorpe, late of the University of Tulsa, on board in under 48 hours. This has all the earmarks of another genius hire; Kragthorpe can just about match Petrino's credentials as an offensive genius and developer of quarterbacks, but has Bobby beat all to hell in terms of charisma. He can smile without straining himself!

About Michael Bush's jump to the pros: many expert prognosticators cited it as a reason to drop the Cards to the bottom, or in some cases clear out, of their early predictions on next fall's Top 25. Hello? Bush was lost for the year three minutes into the second half of the season opener; all the team managed without him was an 11-1 record. I wish Michael well; we U of L fans haven't seen one of our alums succeed as a pro running back since Ernie Green four decades ago.

Of course, most of the naysayers figured that at a minimum, quarterback Brian Brohm also would make the jump to the pros. They were wrong. Brohm didn't announce his decision until the last possible day, but in the end, one more chance to lead his hometown school to a shot at the national championship meant more than possible NFL millions.

And part of Petrino's welcome to Atlanta? His incumbent star QB gets busted in an airport for possible possession of marijuana, setting loose exactly what Petrino loathes most -- a crapstorm of media attention.

If that's not a damned shame, I don't know what is (heh, heh, heh).

Louisville's football season isn't in the toilet just yet.  Thanks to Cincinnati's win over Rutgers, the Big East co-championship and automatic BCS bowl bid are back on the table.  (Thank you, Cincy *gag* -- man, it hurts to say that....)

If the Cards win their two remaining games, they can do no worse than tie for the conference championship with either Rutgers or West Virginia, since all three teams currently have one loss in Big East play and Rutgers and WVU meet on Dec. 2.  If West Virginia beats Rutgers, then U of L gets the BCS bid by virtue of its head-to-head win over the Mountaineers; if Rutgers wins, the Scarlet Knights have the edge over U of L and would get the automatic bid should the two teams tie.

All of this goes down the dumper if the Cards don't beat Pitt on Saturday.  GO CARDS!  GO 'EERS!!