We’re on the verge of that panic state that precedes any big trip. We’ve had clothes laid out since the weekend. We have about 38 lists with things we need to buy, pack, and take care of before we depart Friday morning. I’m also writing a baseball preview for my paper, L. has a playdate scheduled for this afternoon, and there are still many errands to run.
Which means I best put down some NCAA picks before I forget and one of my Final Four picks has already been ousted.
Straight up, I did not like Maurice Clarett back when he played for Ohio State. Part of it was just that I don’t like Ohio State and I hated their coach at the time, Jim Tressel. There were always rumors about him off-the-field, too. Rumors that seemed to be proven true with some legal issues after he left college that resulted in him landing in prison.
However, since he went to prison, he has taken hold of and turned around his life dramatically.
Next Sunday I’m going to be walking on a beach, swimming in a pool, and otherwise enjoying the Florida sun on day two of our week on Captiva Island. God forbid there is rain or it suddenly gets cool and I’m forced to watch basketball all day. Because I think my plan next weekend is going to be to soak in the much-needed warmth of Florida[0] and not spend much time watching the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.
Great seasons often come to an end early in March. Teams that cruised through the regular season run into injuries, over-confidence, or just better opponents and walk off the court for the final time with an L next to their name.
That happened to M.’s volleyball team last night.
After winning their first nine matches, including the first two of the tournament, they dropped a 3-game match in the quarterfinals last night, losing 15–11 in game three.
youtu.be/5AQQ9xw0K…
“The One I Love” - Big Country
Odds are if you mention the band Big Country to most people in our generation, they immediately and only think of one song. Which makes sense, as other than that classic, Big Country was never huge in America.
But they had a couple other smaller hits here in the States, including this gorgeous track from their 1993 album The Buffalo Skinners, which hit #34 on the mainstream rock chart and #17 on the modern rock chart.
This post is one of the most difficult pieces I’ve ever had to publish.
Not because I’m sharing some rough personal news or writing about an event that has caused me emotional stress. But rather because it has been percolating in my head for roughly two months, rewritten multiple times, and I’ve spent hours doing research on it.
And I’m still not sure I’m satisfied with it.
But, since I spent hours yesterday trying to, finally, wrap it up, I’m going to go ahead and post it and be done.
A few TV notes.
First, I was a couple days late watching the series finale of Parks and Recreation. In fact, I was a couple weeks behind and watched the final five episodes in a two-night binge. And since that was two weeks ago, this is verrrrrry late. But still…
An absolutely perfect and tremendous end to a nearly perfect show. I enjoyed the flash forward gimmick that the final season was built upon, and then the further flashing forward in the finale that gave hints how each character ended up.
As I noted in last week’s Friday Vid, Courtney Barnett’s new album is out later this month. Grantland’s Steven Hyden recently spoke with her and shares his impressions of both the album and how she has exploded onto the music scene.
Courtney Barnett Writes All the Best Songs
’Tis the season for articles diving into what is wrong with college basketball and ideas on how to fix it.
I think Seth Davis has some really interesting thoughts here.
youtu.be/Lrle0x_DH…
“Let’s Groove” - Earth, Wind & Fire
EW&F was a big part of the broad musical education my parents gave me. I remember there being a couple of their albums in our record crate, and I loved flipping through them because of their fantastic, futuristic, outer-space themed covers and liner notes. The music was pretty solid, too.
I found myself listening to one of the greatest hits collections earlier this week.
I went on record a couple months ago saying that KU’s conference championship streak would end this year.
As always, that was a good reminder not to take anything I write here as basis for betting your monthly mortgage payment.
I don’t know that this year’s title is the most improbable of the streak. I don’t know that it’s the most fortunate of the streak. I think 2009 is probably the answer to both of those, when a bunch of guys who played limited minutes the previous year, or who were new to the program, surrounded Sherron Collins and turned into a pretty solid team while Blake Griffin missed a handful of games for Oklahoma that opened the door for KU to sneak in another title.
This morning, after dropping the girls off at school, I went around the corner to fill my vehicle up with gas. I started the pump and jumped back into the car to avoid the cold. Seconds later I heard a honk. Then another. And finally a third, along with a muffled yell that sounded like my name.
I looked around and there was a friend from St. P’s who had just pulled into the next pump.
The shortest month of the year did not slow me down at all. Five books plus one leftover from January.
Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri I forgot to include this in my January list. Probably because I had a hard time thinking of what to write about it.
Not that it’s a bad book. It won the freaking Pulitzer for crying out loud. But, rather, I always have trouble writing about short story collections.
I had this post planned out for weeks.
It was going to be a “Thank goodness we survived the worst two months of the year, bring on spring!” post.
I mentally crafted the words knowing there was a fine chance that the first week of March would feel more like January than April. The last two winters have been terrible, with cold weather lasting deep into spring and major snowstorms hitting us after the official change of seasons.
To kick off the week’s links, one that I did not find until last Sunday, but would have been better suited for last week’s edition. Early 1980’s SNL cast member Gary Kroeger shared his observations from the anniversary reunion/broadcast. It’s really awesome. I love his interaction with the Mannings and his son’s reaction to meeting certain stars.
Backstage at SNL’s 40th
I’m sure many of you who are parents heard about this earlier this week.
youtu.be/o-nr1nNC3…
“Pedestrian At Best” - Courtney Barnett
In terms of music, it’s been a slow start to the year. Some solid songs, but there has yet to be a great album. Each Tuesday I check the new releases, hoping for something exciting and amazing that I want to listen to on repeat for days. But each week I’m disappointed.
Although it is still over three weeks from its official release, Courtney Barnett’s Sometimes I Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit promises to break that drought.
M.’s volleyball team wrapped up their season over the past few days.
Sunday, they played the only other undefeated team in their division. St. P’s won the first game easily, then struggled in the second and lost their first game of the year. I was running the scoreboard and both I and the mom next to me keeping the scorebook were a little antsy. Even more so when St. B’s rushed out to a 5–1 lead in the third game.
I have a sick kid at home with me today. And since this article seems worthy of a share independent of the Friday links, this is a perfect time to do so.
There was a lot of buzz about this article, in which Graeme Wood goes into great detail about the Islamic State, last week. Then I heard him on NPR one day and made sure I saved it. I finally dedicated the half hour or so needed to read it last night and think it’s a very important piece of education for anyone who follows world events.
Man, do I love Chipotle. I would eat there all the time if I didn’t know, in the back of my mind, that my 43-year-old metabolism isn’t built to process that much food that often. I have enough trouble getting through the holidays and winter without gaining 10 lbs. as it is.
After reading this breakdown of how many calories and how much sodium the most popular ordering options pack, I may stretch out the gaps between my visits even longer.
youtu.be/_oG1KMeZc…
“Turn Me Up” - Twin Shadow I’ve listened to a little of Twin Shadow’s music over the years. There’s a growing buzz for his next album, which will come out in March. Based on this performance on Letterman, and a quick listen to the three tracks available on Rdio, I’m really looking forward to it, too.
I think it is odd, though, that so many people have said this song makes them think of Prince.
At last check, the wind chill was still –12. That’s at about 1:30 pm on February 19. Stupid.
So the perfect time for some ultra hot sports takes.
Like any Midwesterner worth his salt, I despise the endless hype for the Duke-North Carolina rivalry.
But, holy crap, was last night’s game fantastic.
I switched by early and saw Duke was up big. When I checked again, deep into the second half, Carolina had just taken their first lead of the game.
I would imagine a few of my loyal readers, who share my pop culture obsessions, pulled the site up the last couple days anticipating a break down of the SNL 40 special.
My apologies for the delay. I was unable to watch live, and basketball viewing obligations got in the way Monday. But I was finally able to watch most of it Tuesday night and then finish up this morning. So, thoughts!
Long weekends suck. At least when the weather is crappy and you have nowhere to go.
St. P’s annually stretches out President’s Day weekend to build some snow make-up days in the schedule before spring break. Since we’ve had no snow days this year, we’ve been lucky enough to have a five-day weekend. When the temps have been stuck below freezing with wind chills below zero the entire time. And no snow to play in.
Two basketball giants died this week. So, obviously, I have some links related to them, plus one about another fading giant of the sport.
To begin, two different views of Dean Smith. The first is a profile on Smith by Gary Smith for Inside Sports magazine from 1982. Or just before he won his first national title. It’s funny to look back and think a coach like Smith, or Coach K before 1991, could have so much success and still be seen as a failure by some because they didn’t win the last game of the season.
youtu.be/p7rGrcdnw…
“Jungle Love” - Morris Day and the HAIM Jimmy Kimmel has been having #MashUpMondays, where he has two different artists cover songs together. Last week’s came a couple weeks too late for me. It would have been perfect while I was reading Let’s Go Crazy. And while it would have been nice for the Haim sisters to get more to sing, it still works pretty well. Morris Day and The Time + Haim = Morris Day and the HAIM.
It’s been a rather slow, uneventful winter sports season. Until the last week, that is. I’ve been working a little less, as the family schedule has been busier this year than in the past. And I’ve been lucky enough to cover our best girls basketball team more than any other squad. So a lot of solid games to write about, but not a ton of stories to share.
Things first got interesting last Wednesday, when I headed south for a boys basketball game on a snowy night.
A couple thoughts about the Jayhawks, both guaranteed to drop a deadly jinx onto the team before a key two-game stretch.
We’re upon mid-February, which is usually when we begin to get a real feel for what kind of team KU has for the year.
Well?
They’re better on defense than last year. Much better at the point guard spot. Terrible around the rim on both ends of the court.
Divorce is never easy. In addition to the pain that is focused on the immediate family at the center of a split, there is often collateral damage. Anyone seen as an instigator or taking sides will often be the target of long-term bad feelings even after the direct participants have moved on.
That somewhat tortured example sums up how a lot of Kansans felt about Dean Smith, the former North Carolina coach who died late Saturday night.
Friday morning I took a look at my Instapaper queue and didn’t see much to share. A bunch of new stuff popped up Friday afternoon and over the weekend, so now we have some things to read together.
I’ve had enough weird hobbies in my life to have spent some time in Radio Shack. So it’s been a little sad to read about the company sliding into oblivion in recent years.
youtu.be/rnliAafBY…
“Clampdown” - The Clash
Joe Mick Paul Topper
The Only Band That Matters
Seattle radio station KEXP has declared today International Clash Day. Something I can obviously get on-board with.
youtu.be/DhvXST1Rc…
“Shake It Off (The Perfect Drug)” - Taylor Swift vs. Nine Inch Nails
The mash-up is not as common as it was 7–8 years ago. But the format still exists, and while the novelty factor has worn off, sometimes they can still be a lot of fun. This one is especially good with the videos of the originals cut together.