Both of you who have been here from the beginning know that we're not big on the crazy and increasingly creepy world of recruiting, but even paying only peripheral attention over the past several months has made it impossible to overlook that all is not going well for the Cards in this area.

U of L currently has eight commitments from the class of 2009, seven high school seniors and one junior college player. The average star rating of these players (1-5 scale) on Rivals.com is 2.13. These two factors leave Louisville sitting at No. 90 (eat it, Temple) in the site's current class rankings.

Given all of this, I found Jody Demling's blog post on Central linebacker Tim Patterson today particularly troubling.

He's a nice size kid with great speed and a lot of ability. Despite having Kentucky commitments Ridge Wilson and Mister Cobble also on defense, it has been Patterson who has led the Yellowjackets in tackles each of the past two seasons.

Patterson has a very impressive list of schools already watching his progress.

Central coach Ty Scroggins said Kentucky has already offered and Patterson said "I've been thinking about them since the made the offer." It's his only offer at this time.

But Scroggins also said "just about everybody has called," including Southern California, Alabama, Oregon and Tennessee. The coach said Patterson has not heard from Louisville and the player noted "I'm a Louisville fan."

Patterson was the only Kentucky player listed by Rivals.com on its top 250 high school football players to watch from the Class of 2010.

Really?

The man has made 115 solo tackles in 12 games while playing on a defense that also boasts a pair of guys who will be smacking pads in the SEC this time next year, and he apparently wants to come to Louisville.

But that's OK, it's not like we could use any help at linebacker. The vast experience and talent currently present at the position has been well documented since the beginning of last summer. Plus, it's so hard to find and get in contact with talented kids playing so well at high schools in your own city.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to engage in some light afternoon reading.

Seriously.

For starters, it's a holiday completely replete with myths. The Native Americans celebrated a good harvest with a bountiful meal of thanks long before the pilgrims ever crashed on Plymouth Rock, a practice that was forced to take a brief hiatus whilst its architects were being "decreased" in population by 95%.

Secondly, the food is overrated. Sure, it's a solid meal, but who doesn't eat turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing at least three or four other times throughout the calendar year? And how the hell did cranberries in any form weasel their way onto this menu? If everyone in the country could eat lobster and steak for $5 on Thanksgiving then the hype would be justified.

Third, you've got far too much forced conversation time with relatives you have nothing in common with outside of some brief shared history with your dad. Then you've got the added creepiness of them spending the night at your house or you crashing at their foul-smelling, too chilly residence.

When you're finally able to escape the mangled grip of family obligation, you go out and realize that the number of people you don't want to see who came back in town outnumber the people you did want to see who left town by about 3-to-1. The cover at the bar is outrageous, but apparently not so outrageous that anyone in the city isn't willing to pay it since it takes you 45 minutes to get a drink and another half an hour to take a leak. After another 25 minutes of waiting in a cold you're far too conscious of with a couple of females who miraculously did manage to achieve inebriation on a street strangely devoid of cabs, you return to your house more sober than you left it.

And then of course you have the privilege of being able to witness the football team you've spent your entire life courageously behind coming one step closer to being remembered as the single worst team in the history of professional football by totally being humiliated before, during and after the largest defeat in Thanksgiving history. So you try to get some good vibes back by making some money at the track, only to get blanked while friends making far more money than you hit it big via a favorable photo finish that of course comes at your expense.

Then the star on top: rounding out the weekend by watching - while hampered by a flu bug you probably contracted by not wearing a coat out earlier in the weekend - the lone perceived rock of your sports fandom world go down in flames as the rest of the college basketball world celebrates the first true stunner of the young season.

Sure, some experiences vary slightly, but I'm pretty sure this pretty much covers the gist of everyone's November holiday celebration.

Next year I'm going with a Halloween and two Christmases...or maybe a second birthday. Is there anyone out there with enough local clout to make two Derbys happen? We got a year to work on this.

It's the Cards and the 'Toppers in the other 'Ville.

However you feel about Western, this is something I think we should all be able to agree on.