Month: December 2015 (Page 2 of 2)

How Myths Get Busted

We are dedicated online shoppers. Have been for years. During the last 6–8 weeks of the calendar year, it’s a truly fantastic tool for doing your Christmas shopping. No fighting crowds in parking lots and malls. No picking through damaged boxes looking for that last one that hasn’t been touched by a hundred grubby hands. Fill up your virtual cart, click the purchase button, and wait for the UPS/USPS folks to show up.

One of the bonuses of this setup is, we constantly receive boxes from Amazon, Pottery Barn, etc. through the year. So when the frequency of their arrival picks up in December, normally it doesn’t trigger any interest among the girls. Besides, more often than not, we get deliveries during school hours, so I can hide them away before the girls can see them and begin to speculate.

There’s been a wrinkle in that process this year. Our spot on the UPS route must have changed. Where once we could rely on the truck swinging through the neighborhood before lunch, this fall it began arriving during mid-afternoon. And now, with the extra holiday volume slowing them down, we’ve been getting deliveries after 4:00. Which means the girls are home. Which can cause a problem. Especially when you order something that isn’t from Amazon.

Last week we got a box from Pottery Barn Teen. When the doorbell rang, C. and L. flew to the front door and started yelling, “Dad! It’s a big box! From Pottery Barn Teen! What do you think it is?!?!”

Shit.

I quickly concocted a story that it was something S. had ordered for a friend who is pregnant.[1] “What did she buy her? Let’s look at it!”

I told them to knock it off, as it didn’t belong to them, and tried to casually make the box disappear. But as soon as S. walked in the door from work, the questions began again. “Mom, you got a box from Pottery Barn Teen. What is it? Is it a present for Mrs. W.?”

Fortunately I had texted my story to S. so she could follow my lead.

But we realized that box can not show up under the tree Christmas morning. Yes, the odds are high at least two of our kids know where presents come from, and even-money that all three know. Still, I’m not ready to hear, “We saw when that box got delivered!” when it gets unwrapped on the 25th. So it looks like we’ll be assembling a piece of furniture before the big day and finding a way to wrap it so appearances can be kept up.

A large box came today. Luckily between noon and 1:00, while I was at the grocery story, so early enough to hide in the attic before any young eyes could spy it and file it away for cross-referencing on Christmas morning.


  1. Admittedly not the smartest idea. Fortunately the girls didn’t question why we were ordering something from PB Teen for a newborn.  ↩

⦿ Friday Links

(Standard disclaimer that I’m terribly behind in sharing links, I’ll do better starting next week, yada yada yada…)


Let’s kick things off with a couple baseball links that are left over from October.

First, a rather fine oral history of the 1985 World Series. Which, you may recall, was the last time the Kansas City Royals won the title before this season. I had never heard the story about how George Brett and Whitey Herzog spent the afternoon of game seven before.

COMPLETE STORY OF CONTROVERSIAL, EMOTIONAL, DOWNRIGHT CRAZY 1985 WORLD SERIES

This is hitting ground some other fans of baseball history may have covered before. But it’s a cool look back at the many waves that game six of the 1975 World Series sent out that changed the game and how it was covered.

Game Changer: How Carlton Fisk’s home run altered baseball and TV


Obviously, I’m biased. But I rather enjoyed how The New York Times’ Joe Nocera eviscerated the NCAA for their treatment of Cheick Diallo.

N.C.A.A. Clears Players, Then Absolves Itself

In a similar vein, here is the story of Braeden Anderson, who was supposed to begin his career at KU in 2011 with Ben McLemore, Jamari Traylor, and Naadir Tharpe among others. Despite scoring 1450 on his SATs, he was declared academically ineligible. Then the Big 12 said he couldn’t redshirt and keep his scholarship, as McLemore and Traylor were both allowed to do when their high school academics were deemed insufficient. Things have turned out ok for Anderson, and his story has to be very popular down at the NCAA.

Braeden Anderson’s journey from academic ineligibility to law school


The Paris terrorists attacks were frightening, terrible, and tragic. And they’ve become a tool for many to put their heads in the sand and not only deny logic and fact, but go to the old well of immigrant-bashing.

Here are two pieces on that topic. You may disagree, but I enjoyed them both.

First, Eireann Dolan, girlfriend of Oakland Athletics pitcher Sean Doolittle, did something rather wonderful for Syrian refugees over the holiday. This was posted before Thanksgiving, thus the perspective difference.

Here’s a Better Idea

Then, novelist John Scalzi wrote about the reaction of many Americans far better than I could.

Frightened, Ignorant and Cowardly is No Way to Go Through Life, Son


And another entry for the We Live In A Fucked Up World file.

My white neighbor thought I was breaking into my own apartment. Nineteen cops showed up.


Next, three pieces about being a sports fan. The first two are about growing up and losing touch with the teams you loved in your youth. I’m so thankful I’ve fallen back in love with the Royals, and had before they got good again.

Confessions of a Former Diehard

WHY I STOPPED CARING ABOUT MY FAVOURITE TEAM

Then David Simon tracked down one of his childhood heroes in hopes that a mutual act of penance would save the teams in the two cities Simon has called home from a curse built on a promise he failed to keep 40 years ago.

The frauds of memory, the limits of penitence. And baseball.


I’ve not always loved Oasis, but I’ve always loved an interview with Noel Gallagher. As usual, this one is awesome. Or fuckin’ awesome as he might say.


To close out, 25 Things You Never Knew About ‘Christmas Vacation’

Friday Vid(s)

For some reason this week I was thinking not backward, to Christmases past, but ahead ten years or so to Christmases future. When M. and C. are in college and home for their breaks and L. is wrapping up her high school years. I wondered if I would still have my love of the various pop culture elements of the holiday season, and would greet the girls – and their friends who popped over to say hello – wearing thick cardigans as I offer them hot chocolate and other holiday treats, all while playing songs that are 40, 50, hell, nearly 100 years old in some cases. “Your dad sure loves his Christmas music, doesn’t he?” a visiting friend might ask one of the girls.

So to shake things up a bit, we’ll kick off this year’s Holiday edition of the Friday Vids with a couple new ones. Or two new versions of classics and then something completely different.

“Winter Wonderland” – Scott Weiland
Weiland released a Christmas album four years ago, which generated a lot of “Huh?” reactions in the music world. Especially when folks listened to the album and found Weiland in full Bing Crosby/Andy Williams/Dean Martin mode. Was he serious, or taking the piss out of the classic, crooner Christmas album?

As you may have heard, Weiland died yesterday. Which was not a terrible surprise given the way he lived. I’m still not sure what to think of his Christmas music, but it’s worth a spin today.

“White Christmas” – Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
From their thoroughly enjoyable, brand-new holiday disk.

Nick Offerman’s Yule Log.
Performance art I can get on board with. Forty-five minutes of Offerman sitting quietly in front of a fire, sipping Lagavulin whisky. I explained this to S. last night and she said, “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of.” I disagree!

The Debut

There have been a few eagerly anticipated freshman debuts at KU over the years. As recruiting hype has grown over the past decade, the attention on those opening games keeps getting bigger. When you throw in an NCAA-mandated delay, it’s like Christmas morning getting delayed. I remember being unreasonably wound up to watch Josh Selby play his first game after a brief, “extra-benefits” related suspension a few years back. He looked sloppy and out-of-shape, but he did knock down the game-winning 3-pointer. Sadly, that was likely the biggest highlight of his career.

So hopefully history is not repeating with Cheick Diallo, who finally got on the court last night. After an uneven six minutes in the first half, he came alive against an over-matched Loyola squad in the second half. An easy dunk off a terrific pass from Wayne Selden. Another dunk on a lob by Carlton Bragg[1]. A nifty baseline jumper. And then the highlight that will be talked about for years, whether he lives up to the hype or turns into a bust.

I was glad that Bill Self was careful to remind people that Diallo is not the second coming of Joel Embiid this week. But when he does things like this…

Anyway, it was good to finally get Diallo on the court. My brief view of the controversy around his eligibility is as follows: the school he went to is likely sketchy, but it is far from the worst that many high-profile basketball players filter through. But nothing about Diallo suggests that he is not prepared or fit for the rigors of college academics, in as much as scholarship athletes are required to apply themselves. I think the NCAA was pretty clearly trying to make a point about his school and used him and his fellow African-native and St. John’s recruit Kassoum Yakwe as examples because it was easier to question kids who had not spent their lives in the American educational system plus had to align themselves with guardians once they got to the States. “How do we know this “guardian” isn’t as agent?” is the NCAA’s go-to argument in these situations.

Which is odd because there is one very notable player at another big-time program who is not from the US, has a “handler” who has guided his progress through high school and summer ball, and who is on record as saying his job was to get his player the best deal from a college. But that kid didn’t miss a game. Whatever.

Anyway, I think the whole thing was stupid and the NCAA handled it amazingly poorly, which hurt any argument they had to keep Diallo out. The five-game suspension for receiving $165 when he first came to the US is patently ridiculous.

But thank goodness he is eligible in early December and can begin to learn about the college game. Again, he’s not Embiid v 2.0. He’s shorter and much rawer. But I think he’s a harder worker than Jojo ever was, which could make up for some of those deficiencies. It’s going to be fun to watch him develop.

Also fun was watching KU bounce back from the Michigan State loss last week in Maui. Granted, they got the kind draw with host Chaminade and a terrible UCLA team. But when they faced a really solid Vanderbilt squad that seemed designed specifically to give them fits, they fought back from an early deficit, played fine defense, rebounded terrifically, and won with relative ease.

Self’s best teams have generally had two point guards on the court. He has that this year in Frank Mason and Devonté Graham. Combined with the rules adjustments, KU is playing as fast as they have since the title team of 2008. Throw in Diallo, who can run with anyone, and we may finally see the return of multiple lobs a game for the first time since Elijah Johnson left.[2]

I also like that while he’s not gone to the emergency offense from 2004, when Wayne Simien was injured and he had no low post scorer, Self seems to be finding more ways to get shooters space and looks from behind the arc. I know it kind of kills him, and I imagine he’ll complain about it on nights when the shots don’t fall. But it’s good he recognizes as good as Perry Ellis can be down low, he struggles against size and there is no other large individual who is a consistent low block threat on the roster. And the 3-pointer is the biggest weapon in the modern game.

It’s still early, though. There’s an easier schedule this month than in Decembers past. It’s good that the Jayhawks are actually putting up points against some of these teams, which is something recent teams have struggled with against the weaker teams on their schedules. It’s going to be fun to watch them work through their growing pains in the month before Big 12 play begins.

Rock Chalk, bitches.


  1. My new favorite player, by the way. That kid is going to be so good.  ↩
  2. My biggest Bill Self complaint is not that they lost to Wichita State last year, or Stanford the year before that. But that he didn’t have an experienced point guard who could throw a decent lob when he had Andrew Wiggins and Embiid on the roster. Can you imagine those guys with either Elijah or Tyshawn Taylor throwing the ball to them???  ↩

November Books

A lighter month, as I tackled another beast of a book and then punted most of Thanksgiving week. With a strong finish – and December always includes a few traditional and quick reads – I’ll get to 52 books for the year.


The Cartel – Don Winslow

What is the official threshold that you need to cross for your book to be labelled as epic? Is it a physical size, surpassing X number of pages? Or does it have to do with either physical distance or breadth of time covered within those pages?

By any definition, I think The Cartel qualifies as an epic novel. And it is one of my two or three favorite books that I’ve read this year.

It also happens to be another book I read not knowing there was a predecessor, on this case The Power Of The Dog. Cartel lays out the most violent years of the American war on drugs in Mexico, from 2004–2014. The focus is on one drug lord in particular, Adán Barrera, and the American agent obsessed with bringing him down, Art Keller. From these poles the story spins out to include other Mexican kingpins, American drug dealers, journalists, politicians, military officers, physicians, and regular folks on both sides of the border who get sucked into the violence. Winslow throws a very broad net but never lets all the elements get out of his control.

Along the way, Winslow provides a healthy dose of history, from how drugs are manufactured and transported in Mexico, to how the cartels undermine the foundations of Mexican society. There are often passages that read more like newspaper reports than elements of a novel.

Like any good story that is focused on organized crime, there are elements of the classics here. The Godfather, Goodfellas, Scarface. And even The Wire.

Despite its size – well over 600 pages – it reads pretty quickly, even with those historical sidebars.

What makes it great? A compelling story, told with great attention to all the little elements that seem like they’re pulled from actual events. Engaging main characters and secondary characters who are more than just window dressing. An honest and often frightening representation of the violence that is endemic to the drug trade. And a healthy dose of modern noir to add some literary flavor to the mix.

This ranks right up with The Martian, Fourth of July Creek, and The Sympathizer as best books I’ve read this year. And, as the only one of those that was published this year, that means it will likely go down as my favorite book of the year.


Want Not – Jonathan Miles

Sometimes when I add a book to my reading list, I’ll put a note next to it that reminds me of why I added it. In this case, I put one word: Thanksgiving. But as withMay We Be Forgiven a year ago, this simply begins at Thanksgiving and then moves along through the calendar year. Oh well.

This book came highly recommended. David Eggers raved about it in The New York Times upon its release. Other reviews were glowing. But I admit, I just didn’t get it.

Don’t get me wrong. Parts of it are wonderful, and laugh-out-loud funny. One chapter is perhaps the most harrowing I’ve read in recent years. But as this was supposed to be a grand statement on our consumer culture, our endless need for more, and our reality of never being satisfied by what we accumulate, the parts did not add up to me. But I have a feeling this is a book that others may get more than me. So don’t take it off your list simply because I was lukewarm to it.

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