Weekend Notes

Holy crap, it’s November! This was one of the greatest Octobers ever, from purely a weather perspective, here in Indy. I’m already regretting not enjoying it more. The weather definitely began to change over the weekend. It was still warm, but mid-60s instead of mid-70s. We had more clouds than sun. Tuesday looks above-average for the high, but after that, we get into more seasonable air quickly.

It was another laid-back weekend for us, even with the holiday falling on Saturday. I watched less football than I’ve watched in weeks. Because of that, this will go a little broader than just covering what we did from Friday through Sunday.

HS Hoops

L and her teammates had their preseason scrimmage Wednesday night. Each of her four years they have played PM, a struggling program on the south side of Indy. Thanks to some horrific traffic and a glaring mistake in Tesla’s mapping, it took me over an hour to go 18 miles.1

Good thing I made it in time: L started! This was mostly because one of our regular starters was nursing a bum ankle. But there is one starting slot that will likely rotate amongst several girls over the course of the year, and L got first shot at it. PM did not to announce the starting lineups to the crowd. She better start again so I can get it on video!

These scrimmages are usually five periods, with running clocks and scores that reset after each period. Each year it’s been different how we mix varsity and JV, but PM has never won a varsity quarter against us. Until this year.

They won the first period 7-4. Our girls were just sloppy and unfocused, and PM threw in a lucky 3.

After that we dominated. We won the second period 24-3. The third 13-9. Our best player saw limited minutes. She’s fine, I think it was both to avoid any dumb injuries and give the girls who are fighting for minutes more shots. Then JV took over for the last two periods.

L played pretty well. Missed a three but made two layups and both of her free throws. Three assists, three steals. Two of her assists were to our new, 6’3” post player. I told her that if she keeps making that girl look good, she will get more minutes.

The regular season begins tomorrow. The official media poll is not out yet, but the Indy Star has CHS #3 in 3A to begin the season. They tip off against 4A power Lawrence Central, who won state three years ago and have lost just eight games in the last three seasons. Their head coach’s two daughters are now playing at Rutgers and LSU, but I’m sure they are still talented.

HS Football

CHS began their state tournament run Friday against a decent Mt. Vernon team. The Irish scored on their first possession, led 28-0 at halftime, and eased to a 49-7 win. They were a little sloppy after their week off, but had the right opponent for that.

Now comes the game people have been waiting for since last November: #1 CHS vs #2 New Pal, defending state champs who beat CHS 20-15 in last year’s sectional title game. A game CHS probably should have won. NP has lost three games this year, which is a ton for them.2 One of those was to IMG, so it really doesn’t count. It’s a home game for CHS this year. It should be tremendous. The computer predicts a one-point NP win. We’ll see.

College Football

We were out of the house much of the day Saturday. I missed all of the early games. I had the IU and KU games on for about an hour before we left to hang out for the evening with family but wasn’t very locked in.

I was shocked - shocked I say! - that KU blew a winnable game. I think Lance Leipold is a very good coach in many ways. But the man does not know how to manage a close game. KU also has a knack for having impactful injuries at the worst times. Maybe Isaiah Marshall also turns the ball over twice like Cole Ballard if he starts. But the opportunity for momentum was right there until a key injury and second half meltdown ruined it.

We missed all the excitement of the IU game, as we were out walking a nephew around his neighborhood. I did see that Minnesota had taken the lead with only seconds left in regulation and told our party, “Looks like IU is going to lose.” Little did I know the Hoosiers had another miracle up their sleeves. They are the total opposite of KU in close games. The Ohio State game excepted, of course.

Colts

I didn’t bother with the Colts this week. Why should I? They are in House Cleaning mode, trading away Quenton Nelson and DeForest Buckner last week after firing GM Chris Ballard.3 Jonathan Taylor better be on another team soon. He will be in his early 30s when the Colts are ready to win again, so there is absolutely zero reason to keep him. But it sure feels like they are going to fuck that up by asking for too much and will end up keeping him at least one more year.

I watched a few minutes while on the exercise bike and saw a perfectly catchable ball turn into a pick-six for the Jaguars. That was all I needed to see. I switched over to the Vikings-Lions game.

I’ll say it again: move the team to St. Louis and bring the Bears to Indiana.

Pacers

Yikes.

Tyrese Haliburton lasted four games before landing on the injury list, allegedly with a strained hamstring. After someone has blown their achilles, you get overly worried about any leg injury. One prominent and respected local Pacers watcher had noted that Hali was jumping tentatively off his surgically repaired leg through the first four games. Are the injuries related? No idea. But him being week-to-week sucks, especially since he’s not the only injured Pacer.

Ivica Zubac and Obi Toppin are also out with injuries, so the team is down two starters and their first big wing off the bench. Since Hali went out the Pacers have lost to the Bucks and Nets, thought to be dregs of the Eastern Conference, and were blown off the court by the Heat. A lot of folks thought the Pacers might start slow, and Hali might have a few rest nights mixed in. I don’t think anyone imagined this was how the season would begin.

All that really matters is Hali’s health. They can navigate other players being injured, but if he has several stints on the IR and/or will never be right, they will have no chance of recapturing the magic of their 2024 and 2025 playoff runs. Their window of contention has one, maybe two years left. If his achilles injury ends up costing them two of those seasons, you have to start talking about it being one of the most significant injuries in NBA history.

  1. As I write this Monday morning Apple Maps says it is a 37 minute commute. ↩︎

  2. Just the third time in 13 years they’ve lost three or more games. ↩︎

  3. Rough fall for the Ballards. Cole gets a terrible concussion against Missouri that knocked him out for over a month, then when he finally gets back on the field and becomes the starter, has two awful turnovers and a third that was overturned by replay. His dad gets canned in the midst of all that. ↩︎