Day: January 2, 2015

⦿ Friday Links

Finishing the clean up of the long list of links I’ve gotten behind on.

This first one got linked to right around the anniversary of John Lennon’s death. It is journalist Jimmy Breslin’s article from the night Lennon died. First, read the article. Then read the details of how quickly Breslin put it together. It’s a pretty amazing piece of journalism.

Are You John Lennon?


Your average basketball fan knows the basics of Larry Bird’s story. The “Hick From French Lick” who elevated lowly Indiana State to the national title game in 1979 and then became one of the iconic players in NBA history.

But many people don’t know how obscure Bird was as a high schooler, or remember that he first enrolled at Indiana and was set to play for Bobby Knight.[1]

This is a great review of how Bird ended up at Indiana State. One of the greatest basketball players of all time was nearly satisfied with doing municipal work rather than playing ball.

Larry Bird’s Greatest Shot Was the One He Didn’t Take


While talking about Indiana basketball (broadly), here is a fine profile of Butler interim coach Chris Holtmann. The Bulldogs are scuffling a but over the last two weeks, but look like a very solid team after a difficult first year in the Big East. Holtmann deserves a ton of credit for turning what could have been an awkward and difficult situation into one that has the team playing well.

Butler coach Chris Holtmann embraces tough decisions, tough jobs

(Late Edit: Holtmann was officially named the full time head coach today. Not sure what’s going on with Brandon Miller, but I hope he recovers. He had such a promising career.)


I trust most of you who would find the following piece brilliant have already read it, but I would be remiss if I did not link to it.

Livin’ Thing: An Oral History of ‘Boogie Nights’


I haven’t read all of the next article. But only because I got a couple paragraphs into it and then quit so I could put the book it is pulled from on hold at the library. I can’t wait for it to hit the shelves.

Let’s go crazy: Inside the making of Purple Rain


As we approach the end of the David Letterman era, let’s go back to this tremendous 1981 profile of Letterman in his days between the failure of his morning show and the beginning of the original Late Night.

“That Joke Has Everything”: David Letterman, Before Late Night


  1. In a year when Kentucky seems poised to make the best run at being undefeated national champions since the 1976 IU team, think of this: the undefeated Hoosiers could have had Larry Bird, too!  ↩

NFL Playoffs Picks

Funny how fast the NFL season goes when you spend the first two months of Sundays on the soccer fields, casually following scores and paying more attention to fantasy stats.

But here we are, Wild Card weekend. Thus, my patented, half-assed picks for who will make it to Glendale in a month.

AFC

Wild Card Round

  • Pittsburgh over Baltimore. A bit of a tough pick, given the Steelers injury issues. But these aren’t the Ray Lewis Ravens. They’re not going into the Steel City and winning a playoff game.
  • Indianapolis over Cincinnati. Ugh. No faith in either team. The Colts have pretty much fallen apart since the calendar flipped to December. Defense leaking holes, offense can’t get on track, Andrew Luck turning the ball over with impunity. But do you trust Andy Dalton and Marvin Lewis to go on the road and win a playoff game? Feels like one where Luck makes a bunch of mistakes early, then digs the Colts out late.

Divisional Round

  • New England over Indianapolis. Some things never change.
  • Pittsburgh over Denver. I know this is a bit of a sexy pick, as everyone has jumped off the Broncos bandwagon. Thus, I feel a little dirty making it. And it wouldn’t surprise me if the week off means Denver gets things figured out for one more run. But I also have visions of Pittsburgh abusing Peyton and this being a sad (potentially) final chapter to his career.

AFC Title Game

  • New England over Pittsburgh. I keep wanting to discount the Patriots. At their best this year, I don’t think they approached the Broncos’ best. They had a few absolute clunkers thrown in. But that’s kind of the nature of the NFL these days. Few great teams, meaning the best teams can have wild swings of performance. Brady and Belichick get it done one more time.

NFC

Wild Card Round

  • Carolina over Arizona. If the Cards had a quarterback, I’d pick them here. But I just can’t believe in a team that is on their 15th QB of the season, even if all they have to do is beat a terrible Carolina team.
  • Dallas over Detroit. Man, the absolute jewel of the weekend. Let’s hope it lives up to the hype. I keep wondering how the Cowboys are doing it. But they keep performing, and have even gotten better over the last half of the season.

Divisional Round

  • Seattle over Carolina. Come on.
  • Dallas over Green Bay. The Packers keep fooling us. This is the year I stop falling for it. The Cowboys defense is the difference. Hopefully it’s another shoot out, though.

NFC Title Game

  • Seattle over Dallas. What a story line if Tony Romo could go into Seattle and win an NFC championship. His botched point-after hold in 2007 was the first epic collapse of his career. I just can’t see him and the other Dallas weapons consistently solving the Legion of Boom, though. And Russell Wilson will, maddeningly, do just enough to win.

Super Bowl

Old and creaky vs. young and potent? Please.

Seattle 27, New England 13

Friday Vid

“Tiny Prayers” – Restorations
A band that I read about in the fall but then lost in the normal end-of-the-year shuffle. Fortunately, they landed high on one of my favorite music writer’s Best Of 2014 list, so I’m diving into them now.

Terrific, crunchy, power-punk building on influences from all over the past 20 years. I have to make a long drive this weekend, and I think this album is perfect background music for setting the cruise control and moving down the road.

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