At the helm: Coach Pitino touts Earl Clark and and Terrence Williams as the key playmakers for the Cardinals. Meanwhile, everyone is still dogging on Edgar Sosa for constantly turning over the ball and subsequently pouting. Tonight the Cards face UNLV; then it’s time for the Big Game on Sunday.

Death toll: As of last night, there had been 72 criminal homicides reported in Louisville in 2008, up slightly from 69 the previous year. The Courier-Journal talks with Metro Police Chief Robert White about violent crime in the city.

Bush bashing: Where the hell is George W. Bush these days? That’s what New York Times scribe Bob Herbert wants to know, urging Americans not to let the soon-to-be ex-president slip quietly away without criticism for a long list of misdeeds.

5,4,3,2,1: Happy New Year! How will you ring in 2009? Check out LEO’s list of ball-dropping festivities around town. And how will you get home? Try a taxi, or maybe scoot it. Whatever you do, don’t drive drunk!

Drop it like it’s hot: If you can’t be in New York City to watch the giant bedazzled ball drop, why not drop something else? The Washington Post sheds light on the random array of objects (and in at least one case a person) lowered in the final seconds of 2008: there’s a peach, a sailboat and even a drag queen.