Fans and karma: Every little bit helps ...

kdawgy_orlando · October 25, 2008

Here is hoping that Lee's tie gives us a boost tomorrow.

You superstitious Bulls fans out there, should USF get its first-ever win at Louisville this weekend, can offer a small thanks to ESPN2 and a bartender in Orlando.

If you were watching "First Take" on ESPN2 on Thursday morning, you might have been surprised to see that ESPN.com's Jemele Hill, who covered USF occasionally as a columnist at the Orlando Sentinel, was sporting a USF tie, explaining at one point that she wanted to show her support for the Bulls this week.

How did this come about? Hill explained via e-mail that she was at the Romano's Macaroni Grill restaurant in the Orlando airport, awaiting her flight up to ESPN's Bristol, Conn., studios, when she got into a conversation with the bartender. Leandro Ribeiro, a 2007 USF graduate, told her he enjoyed her appearances on the show, and she made a comment about his USF tie. He made an unusual request, hoping to get some karma for the Bulls: Would Hill take his tie and wear it on air? To his surprise, she said she would, and to even greater surprise, he got a phone call Thursday morning.

For the rest of the story . . . .

http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf/2008/10/fans-and-karma.html