The first full football weekend of the year. I have some notes.

Friday

We had the big 6A #3 Cathedral at 3A #1 Bishop Chatard game Friday. Or the girls did. S and I knew it was going to be an absolute shit show; BC has a tiny stadium in the middle of a packed neighborhood and it seemed like every Indianpolis Northside Catholic was going to go. So we went to dinner with friends while the girls enjoyed the game.

Although it wasn’t much of a game. I checked my phone at about 7:45 and CHS was up 21–0. They got it to 35–0 before half, had a running clock for the second half, and won 38–0. I watched the highlights Saturday, and pretty much every score was a long pass, or set up by a long pass. When you have four receivers who are 6’3”+ and your opponent is small, you have to take advantage.

Of course, Chatard has a better chance of winning state than Cathedral, so not sure the BC fans were smarting too much afterward.

I got home in time to watch the end of the Tiafoe-Alcaraz US Open semifinal. Frances gave it his all, but Carlos Alcaraz is just too damn good. We’ve been waiting for years for the next superstar to come along in mens tennis. Alcaraz might be that dude.

Saturday

Lots of sports.

Alabama-Texas was interesting, surprising, and entertaining. Not the game I expected at all, although I really didn’t think ‘Bama would blow them out.

I caught the end of the Marshall-Notre Dame game. What a disaster for the Irish! Marcus Freeman seems like a really good guy but he’s feeling the heat already about whether he was the right hire.

L had a basketball game Saturday evening. They played a team made up of lacrosse players. These girls were big, athletic, and had this really good offense that kept getting them open looks. But they were not basketball players. L’s team ran them off the floor, at least in terms of the score, winning 47–23.

L had six points on 3–7 shooting, including two sweet drives for layups. On one she got hammered and threw it up-and-in off the backboard as she tumbled to the ground. Her teammates went nuts and she came up with a look like “THAT WENT IN?!?!” Then she missed the free throw… Not sure what’s up with her at the line lately. Her jumpers look good but her free throw form is awful.

I was glad it was not a close game. The refs were ones who never call fouls unless they are hard fouls at the rim. And these lacrosse girls were mega-physical and handsy. Once L was leading the break and a girl was tugging on her off arm the entire time, slowing L down, and the refs didn’t call anything. Need to teach her how to flop.

AND HOW ABOUT THOSE JAYHAWKS!?!?!?! Two-and-oh! Highest scoring team in the country!

We listened to the beginning of the game on our way to basketball and I was regretting finding the Sirius broadcast when West Virginia scored on a 59 yard TD pass, KU had four penalties on their first possession, and then WVU scored again. I checked the score at halftime of L’s game and saw it was 21–7. I was glad I was watching hoops.

When we got back into the car it was 28-all and I was all-in. We heard KU take the lead as we drove home in an intense storm, and then watched the fourth quarter and overtime from home.

What a great win. This was a game pretty much every KU squad for the past decade would lose by 40+. But the Jayhawks settled down after the bad start, hung in there, and dominated for a long stretch. Then they not only won, but got the ultra-rare, double-digit overtime win thanks to Jacobee Bryant’s pick-six.

There was some whooping it up in our living room, and some questions from the girls upstairs about what the hell was going on.

It looks like after getting it wrong four-straight times, KU finally hired the right coach. It was bound to happen eventually. The Jayhawks are disciplined, more talented than in recent years, put that talent in the right spots, are prepared for their opponents, and don’t fall apart the moment they face adversity. A long way to go but things finally seem like they are trending up.

Naturally Nebraska lost about 30 minutes later, Scott Frost was fired Sunday, and Lance Leipold is reportedly high on the list of potential replacements.

I think that bloom will fade, as Nebraska is not going to hire a guy who goes 4–10 this year.

Unless KU wins eight, nine, ten games this year, right?

Sunday

The first NFL Sunday of the year. I missed most of the Colts game as L had to go do her team photographer duties for her CYO football classmates. It was pouring rain so I decided to sit in my car and read in case she wanted to bail early. She ended up staying the entire time so I read a ton and didn’t see much football.

I did listen on the radio long enough to hear the Colts go down 20–3 but then turned it off to focus on my book. We got home in time to see the Colts tie it, then blow a chance in win in overtime. This franchise just does not do opening day well. I believe this is nine-straight opening weeks without a win. So maybe a tie is progress?

Still a super-disappointing beginning to a season in which the Colts were, allegedly, poised to be a player in the AFC title race. At least no one else in the AFC South won. You figure there will be growing pains as Matt Ryan settles in, but he wasn’t the problem on Sunday. At least when I was watching.

I forgot about the US Open final until late and caught the last four games of Alcaraz’s win. The first of many, I would bet.

I half-watched much of the SNF Buccaneers-Cowboys game. That old fucker Brady can still sling it.