Few things gave me greater joy during my childhood years than reading about Louisville in a national publication or hearing the Cardinals talked about on national TV. It was a joy that the kids who grew up a decade later or who are growing up in the present decade are unlikely to ever experience.
U of L football was, as we all know, many rungs below where it currently sits on the college football food chain. The basketball team was also mired in a period of, by its own standards, relative mediocrity. Hindsight has shown that this was not the best time to grow up a Louisville fan, but it was all I knew and so I was content.