Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Sometimes I forget that I’ve posted things about the kids to Facebook and not shared here as well. Thus, your obligatory, periodic update on the girls. M. is secretly Canadian.* Or at least she talks like a Canuck. We have no idea why, but she says the words house, mouse, out, mouth, etc. as if she’s from Ontario. We don’t know any Canadians. As far as we know there are no native Canadians in her class.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Well, that was disappointing. Teased by the first quarter, the Colts got out-Colted for the rest of the game. Throw in the gutsy on-side kick to begin the third quarter that seemed to completely unnerve the Colts, and it was about a perfect performance by the Saints. They weathered the early storm, settled down and methodically picked apart the Colts' D when they had the ball. On defense, they rarely brought all-out pressure on Manning, but rather sat back and clogged up the passing lanes.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Finally, it is time for the game. I’ll admit, my confidence in the Colts has been shaken a bit. I always get nervous when everyone seems to be picking the same team when the opponents are fairly evenly matched. Most people seem to love the Colts this week. Dwight Freeney’s status is troubling. It’s one thing to beat the Jets without Jerraud Powers. If he’s not on the field and healthy against the Saints, that will be another huge blow to the Colts.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
A few more items from the Reporter’s Notebook. I’m sure you’ve all been holding your breath for this update, but I finally saw the girls team that struggles every time I show up win a game last Friday. They won by 35. I think it’s safe to say their opponent was not of the highest quality. It was hard not to ask the coach and players, after the game, self-centered questions like “How does it feel to finally win a game that I cover from start-to-finish.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
I know I have some other Mac and iPhone users in my audience, but I’m confident that, with one or two exceptions, none of you have reached my level of Fanboyhood. Thus, I feel obligated to share some thoughts on last week’s unveiling of Apple’s iPad. Over the last seven days, I’ve spent hours reading fantastic essays by some of the best tech writers sharing their reactions. I don’t know that I have any great insights, but it seems like I should put all that time and digestion to some kind of use.
Monday, February 1, 2010
I’ve been trying not to jinx them. I’m overdue for some KU basketball discussion, but I kept putting it off because I didn’t want to write good things about them and then have Missouri or K-State beat us. Now that we’ve gotten through rivalry week 2-0, I feel comfortable writing. Cue Colorado’s first win over us since 2003 on Wednesday… I, like many KU fans, had a bit of a crisis of confidence after the Tennessee loss.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
A hot start to the new year. God Save The Fan - Will Leitch. Along with Bill Simmons, Leitch is one of the founding fathers of internet sports journalism. The creator of Deadspin, Leitch mainstreamed irreverence and snark in sports writing. The cover claims that this is his look at all the things that are ruining sports, from ESPN to idiot fans to ESPN to dishonest owners to ESPN to, well, ESPN.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
A few more notes from the notebook of a high school sports correspondent. Last Friday was another first in my young career: I covered a boy-girl doubleheader. The assignment was fairly simple: watch two games, write one story and submit two boxscores. It was the host team’s winter homecoming, so there was an extra-long gap between games. Seemed like I would have no issues cranking everything out. The only problem was the boys coach I needed to interview spent roughly 20 minutes with his team in the locker room after the game.
Monday, January 25, 2010
There were some football games yesterday. One of my favorite parts of Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch is when he relates how he and his soccer loving friends debated what the perfect win was. They settled on a 3-2 win in which their team twice trailed and tied and then scored a late game-winner. I’ve often thought of what my criteria would be for the perfect win. It obviously varies from sport-to-sport, but I think the perfect football win is when your team struggles early, rights itself, and by the end of the game has imposed its will on its opponent.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Personal grooming stories from your humble blogger. Like many jackasses, um young men who were attending college in the early 90s, come finals time in December, I tended to eschew the razor for 10-14 days. The finals beard was an important part of college, right up there with puking in bar bathrooms and stalking attractive members of the opposite sex that you were infatuated with but afraid to talk to.
Monday, January 18, 2010
The football gods are watching! We can take at least that much from this weekend’s playoff games. The football gods are watching and next Sunday they will render their decision on the Colts pulling their starters against the Jets a month ago. That’s the only explanation for the Jets clawing their way first into the playoffs and then through the first two rounds to reach the AFC title game, right? The gods want to offer their judgement on Jim Caldwell’s decision for all to see?
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Let’s take a look at the burning sports topics of the day (or week), shall we? Kansas Loses to Tennessee. This kind of sucked. It was, arguably, KU's most losable non-conference game at the start of the season. Tennessee was supposed to be good, played us tight for 39 minutes in Lawrence last year, and rarely get a chance to host a name team from outside the SEC. Then a third of their team decided to run afoul of the law, which changed the math a bit.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Monday was my big chance. The chance to finally see the worst girls basketball team that I cover win a game. Over the last three years I’ve covered roughly ten of their games. None have even been close, if I recall correctly. They have one good player, some girls that try hard, and for the first time ever have a number of freshman and sophomores who play a lot who could be decent.
Monday, January 11, 2010
The final installment in my review of December readings. Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music - Greg Kot. For months I’ve been mentally drafting an essay about how music changed over the last decade. As I thought about it, I’ve read numerous articles, columns, and now a book about the same subject. So I’ll try to share my thoughts without plagiarizing too much. Kot’s book is a fine jumping off point.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
I’ll admit it: I’ve hit one of my periodic blogging funks. I’ve found it difficult to write over the past week. I think most of that can be attributed to my sleep cycles getting all jacked up.* I’ll only say that I’ve been spoiling our youngest child at nap and bedtimes, and as a result I’m getting plenty of sleep, just at odd times. (That is the proper medical term.)
Monday, January 4, 2010
Continuing my review of books read in December. Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn. I’m sad to say I knew not of Ms. Flynn until this summer. That’s a shame, as she’s both a Kansas City native and a KU alum. And I only learned of her by chance; while visiting Kansas City there was a feature on her in the Sunday Star that I happened to glance at while digging for the sports page.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Upon finishing Infinite Jest in early December, I went a little nuts. I polished off five books in three weeks. A couple demand lengthy essays, so I’ll be dividing up my December entries into three posts. This is the first. The Book of Basketball - Bill Simmons.* (Note: I am writing this before reading of the New Yorker reviews of the book I linked to earlier in December.) Bill Simmons, the writer who helped redefine sportswriting in the 2000s, on his single favorite subject: the NBA.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Well, the girls and I survived three days without their mother. S. arrived home from her trip to visit her new nephew this afternoon and found a house that was remarkably clean,* three daughters that were still alive and happy to see her, and a slightly tired husband. (In my opinion.) And suddenly it’s the final day of the year. And decade for that matter. I still owe you a Decade in Music essay, which I’m rethinking a bit after a book I read last week.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
For second-guessing the Colts. (Update: I wrote everything below the jump yesterday. I still believe in my core argument: that yanking the starters was a completely appropriate, defensible strategy. But, not only will the controversy not go away, but it seems to be spiraling out of control. The entire city is in an uproar. This might indeed wreck the Colts season. We’ll see. But, since I put so much time into it, my original post follows.
Monday, December 28, 2009
A fine Christmas for the B’s. It appears that the Elf on the Shelf did not take any news of naughtiness back to Santa,* for the girls were well rewarded on Christmas morning. M. received a Hannah Montana guitar, a kid-proof digital camera, and a box full of Littlest Pet Shop animals. C. also got a digital camera, some electric drums, and a talking cash register. L. cleaned up, as well, getting a crawling, talking doll; a toy vacuum cleaner; and broom.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
I haven’t watched anything on MTV since the Real World was in Las Vegas back in ‘02-03. That might change. After much discussion on Bill Simmons’ podcast* I watched an episode and a half of Jersey Shore over the weekend. My verdict: it’s either the greatest show in the history of TV, or the worst. There is no in-between. (Simmons is still a serious MTV reality devotee, despite turning 40 this year.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
‘Tis the season of tiny tots with their eyes all aglow. Thus, some words about the girls. OK, over 1000 words. It’s been awhile. The big sisters are especially excited about Christmas this year. It’s all clicking for M., and C. has reached the first level of understanding. We’re doing the Elf on the Shelf thing this year, so every morning involves a frantic search through the house to find Elfie, as they named their Elf.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Another 2000s music retrospective, this time focusing on some of my favorite albums. Not meant to be comprehensive, it’s more an accounting of albums I both enjoyed this decade and which have stood the (brief) test of time. There are plenty of other worthy albums from the decade that probably should be included, but these are my favorites. While there is a clear winner, and probably a clear #2, these are presented in no particular order.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
I don’t want to overgeneralize, but I think my family’s college football experience in the late 70s and early 80s was typical of many midwesterners. We all pulled for our teams, hoping for the best,* but when late November rolled around we chose sides and watched the Nebraska - Oklahoma game with great interest. I recall the 1979 Orange Bowl especially fondly, as my uncles sat on different couches, split into Husker and Sooner groups, watching the rare bowl-game rematch between the Big 8 powers.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Pulling out the blogging shotgun and trying to hit multiple targets in one post. KU Football Coaching Search I’ve remained quiet on this largely because it’s been mostly quiet from Lew Perkins' office, which seems to be the way he likes it. But it seems like a decision is going to be made shortly, and Jim Harbaugh is the key. If he works out a deal to stay at Stanford, Lew starts working his list.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
I read a lot of books this decade. I love putting together lists at the end of arbitrary periods of time. Seems like a perfect excuse to share some of my favorite books I read over the past ten years. Please note that the focus is on the date read rather than the date published. There are a few in here that were published before 2000. So, in no particular order, a few of my favorites.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Done. I finished David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest late Sunday night. That’s three months to knock out roughly 1100 pages, for those of you keeping score at home. It took me about two months to get through the first half, and I flew (relatively) through the second half over the last four weeks. For comparison, I started Bill Simmons' The Book Of Basketball this morning. I’ve already knocked out 120 pages.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Some extended weekend. Here, in 2000 words or less, is a summary of how your trusty blogger passed the holiday. We were hosts for the local family this year. It sounds daunting to say that we fed 17, but when you factor in that we are a family of five, hosting 12 people isn’t really that big of a deal. Certainly not in my wife’s family. With only three of my sisters-in-law and no brothers-in-law attending, it qualified as a small gathering, I think.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Something meaty for you to chew on, should this be a short week for you. If not, tuck it away and save it for a day when you have time to read about my 30 favorite songs of the decade. 30 - “Love Steals Us From Loneliness” - Idlewild 2005. This band started out the decade gangbusters, a rocking outfit from Edinburgh. Their sound morphed, becoming more poppy, radio-friendly, etc. Eventually it kind of sucked.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Finally. Remember how I mock complained about always getting assigned to games that ended up being blowouts, often at the expense of the team I was covering? That was a bit of an exaggeration, but it seemed that more often than not, I was asking a coach questions about a loss than a win. Things have been a bit better this year. I was lucky enough to follow a good soccer and excellent tennis team, which made things interesting.