Day: May 26, 2015

Good grief. Busy-ness (as opposed to business), laziness, a holiday weekend, and a general late-school year malaise have me well behind in sharing links. This period of inattention just happened to coincide with a flood of great things to share.

So brace yourself, grab a beverage, shut your office door (or send the kids to bed if the hour is appropriate), and take a deep breath before diving into these.

To begin, two fantastic pieces by men who worked for David Letterman. Bill Scheft wrote for Letterman for 22 years. Daniel Kellison filled a a variety of roles on The Late Show. Scheft focuses on preparing last week’s final episode while Kellison shares his memories from joining the staff to dealing with some of the biggest names to appear as guests while he was there.

(Final) Show Diary of Stuff Noteworthy Only to Me, Day 28 (End of Daves)…

My Letterman Years

Bill Simmons is not in David Letterman’s league in terms of influence on our culture, nor is he retiring. But his forced departure from ESPN is a big deal. And Will Leitch penned one of the best accounting’s of Simmons’ influence on sports journalism.

Simmons Will Be Missed At ESPN

I don’t have any fancy or clever ways of naming my hard drives. The main drive on my computer is always named Raven, which is how the last name my ancestors brought over from Wales translates to English. And my external and backup drives have a clear reference to their function (Raven Back Up, Pictures, etc.) so I know exactly what I need to do when I plug them in.

But I’ve always had a quiet admiration for people who come up with complex naming schemes for their hard drives. Tim Carmody walks us through the evolution of his naming convention, and the payoff is freaking fantastic for those of us who loved a certain critically-lauded by barely-watched HBO show that was set in Baltimore.

Falling In Love With A Hard Drive or, How To Name Your Computer
and Other Machines

When I wrote about Steph Curry a couple weeks back I thought about, but did not share, my memories of his final college basketball game. The Kansas City Star’s Rustin Dodd looked back on that game, and how it ended.

It was just a couple months back that I finally, after nearly seven full years, went back and watched the final seven or eight minutes of that game. Friends and family may recall that I had to flee my house during that game. I was entirely too stressed out – even with S. and the kids having left the house for the afternoon – and jumped into my car and drove around for 45 minutes or so, listening to music and waiting until I thought the game was over to return home. I taped a note to the door onto which I scribbled, “Couldn’t take it. Left.” Fortunately S. missed the note when she came back, and there was no misunderstanding as to what it was I could not take. When I began getting giddy texts from fellow Jayhawks, I knew it was safe to head back.

Anyway, I had watched the final possession several times. But this was my first time to ever watch KU wipe out the Davidson lead, build a six-point lead with under a minute to play, do their best to blow it all, and then make a phenomenal stand on the final possession to earn a trip to San Antonio.[1] Even knowing the outcome, and what happened a week later in the Final Four, my stomach knotted up and my pulse raced. Hell, thinking about it right now makes me a little queasy.

Dodd, who is the KU beat writer, does a fine job talking to the Davidson folks for their view of that game and how it ended. How different would things be for both schools had either Jason Richards’ shot gone in, or if Curry had been the one to take, and make, the potential game-winner? Gus Williams would have exploded if Davidson won that game at the buzzer, right?

Stephen Curry is a NBA shot-making wizard, but what about the biggest one he never took?

I loved this look inside BBC Radio soccer (err, football) commentator Nick Barnes’ notebooks he prepares for each game he broadcasts. As someone who frantically scribbles down notes before and during games I write about, I love the time and detail he puts into his notes. They are works of art, not mere tools for a broadcaster.

CHEAT SHEETS I: THE ART OF COMMENTARY WITH BBC’S NICK BARNES

Lastly, a couple music links.

Well, plenty to argue about in here, Spin magazine’s list of the 300 best albums since it began publication in 1985. I have a hard time critiquing much of the list because my hip-hop interest largely ended in the mid–90s. I think there are a few too many songs from recent years high on the list. To me there are a few albums that absolutely should be in here that are missing. And I think Nevermind is just a little over-rated. But music lists are made to provoke discussion and this is sure to.

Worth noting that my Top 10 Favorite albums that are eligible check in at 17, 36, 37, 113, and 144.

The 300 Best Albums Of the Past 30 Years

I admit, for all my hipster music preferences, I still have a soft spot in my heart for many cheesy songs from my youth in the 1980s. For example, “The Power of Love” by Huey Lewis and The News. Those songs that were ubiquitous in the summers of your teenage years are hard to shake.

Thus, I loved this deep dive on the history of the song that appeared at the AV Club today.

“The Power Of Love” gave Huey Lewis And The News pop culture immortality