D's Notebook

Month: October 2022 (Page 2 of 2)

Weekend Notes

October 10, 2022 /

A quick run through a busy weekend.

FNL

It was Cathedral’s homecoming week. They pounded their Jesuit brothers pretty easily, winning 42–21 with two of those scores against coming late in the game. I went for the first half but it was chilly, C’s back was bothering her (she’s been seeing a chiropractor), so we left after we watched one of M’s best friends since kindergarten win homecoming queen.

Next week is the big season finale: at Center Grove, who have lost one game – by one point in overtime to a team from Kentucky – in the past three seasons.

KU Saturday Experience

I haven’t watched ESPN Gameday in years. Neither for football nor basketball. I just hate the whole “panel of experts talking over each other” concept no matter what the setting. Gameday hasn’t felt fresh in years. Even when KU is involved during basketball season, I will record it and go back and watch the stuff directly related to KU later.

But Saturday, with the show making its first ever visit to Lawrence for football, I was glued to the TV for all three hours. I don’t know if the crowds were bigger, smaller, or the same as on other campuses, but it looked great on TV. Especially as the stadium began to fill up behind the set. The Booth isn’t a great venue to watch football – and thank goodness it might finally be on the verge of being made into something better – but it has always been a beautiful setting on sunny, fall days like Saturday. Even when the play on the field was terrible.

It was an unbelievable and unexpected moment for the school and program to shine after so many years of mistakes and horrible football. I don’t think any KU fan is kidding themselves into thinking the rebuild is even close to being complete. But hosting Gameday gave us a confirmation that things have finally changed, and better days are ahead.

As for the game…well, I only say the first half. L, of course, had a game that caused us to leave the house at halftime. The second quarter was brutal. Jalon Daniels fumbling on the one, TCU taking approximately eight seconds to go 99 yards and score, KU dropping a pass that would have converted a fourth down and put them in the red zone, and then Daniels suffering a shoulder injury that forced him from the game. I wasn’t too upset to leave the house because things sure didn’t seem promising for the Jayhawks. The Frogs looked so much faster and more physical on defense, and it felt like it was just a matter of time before the KU defense cracked under the pressure the TCU offense puts on you.

On the way to L’s game I heard Jason Bean come in and first tie the game, and then give KU the lead. What the heck is going on?!?!

As I sat and watched L play I followed the game on my phone. That third quarter seemed like an all-time doozy. Forty-two combined points after just 13 in the first half!

Like so many times in KU football past, the game came down to the inability to stop a score on one end and the inability to get one score on the other.

Perhaps if I watched the entire game I would have been more upset/disappointed with the result. I think not seeing a couple close calls go against KU on their final drive (or so I was told) certainly helped my mental state.

But, I walked away from the day feeling as positive about the program as I can remember. TCU is a damn good team, and we went toe-to-toe with them for 60 minutes. A couple bad-luck moments changed the outcome. Our savior QB got hurt and his backup came in and played even better, becoming the first KU QB in 14 years to throw four touchdown passes in a half. This is a game KU could have easily won without it being a fluke. And that’s not something you could say about this program against a quality opponent since 2008.

Progress, and I’ll hang my Jayhawk hat on that. Now the hope is that Daniels isn’t done for the season, that Bean can continue to be steady as long as he has to play, and that the team can find at least one more win to validate the season with a bowl game.

Kid Hoops

It was the final regular season game of L’s Back to School league. They played a younger team – I never figured out what age they were – and lost by two. This team was really good. They had these tiny girls who took 22-foot 3’s and hit them, plus a big girl three inches taller than our “tall” girls who got every rebound.

We had a sequence with about five minutes left in the game where we missed an open shot in the lane then gave up a layup and a foul to go down eight. The dad I was sitting by and I looked at each other, shook our heads, and agreed that was the game.

That lead stretched out to 10 before we made a valiant run. Three backcourt steals. Converted some layups. Forced two turnovers in the front court. We got it down to two points, with the ball, in the final minute. Our leading scorer got fouled and stepped to the line. She missed the first, hit the second, and then we had to foul to stop the clock. We lost by two but it might have been the best they have played in this league.

L didn’t play well on offense. She was 1–3 from the field and I credited her with five turnovers, although an official scorer might have placed the blame for one of those on her teammate. But she was good on D and got a couple big defensive rebounds when we were making that run.

Next week is the “tournament.” We got a break because the team we were supposed to play – which has been getting annihilated every week – already forfeited. So we are into the championship game of our bracket. From 2–6 to the championship game! What a turnaround!

The team she will play on through Cathedral for the next few months had their first practice on Sunday. They will start play in two weeks. The grind never ends.

MLB

I did not watch a minute of the playoffs so I have no comments. I did enjoy the various tweets from fans new to the playoffs on what a grinder they are for fans. Examples:

“Playoff baseball is like watching a loved one defuse a bomb.”
“Why watch playoff baseball when you can drink 6 pots of coffee and intentionally vomit instead.”

Yes, I remain mad at the game. But I also miss how October baseball can take years off your life.

TNF

I feel obligated to mention how horrible Thursday’s Colts-Broncos game was. I was rooting for a tie. I’ve decided these Colts stink, they aren’t going to get much better, so why not go for history and try to get as many ties as you can?

Friday Playlist

October 7, 2022 /

I did not do a lot of new music listening this week. So, to switch things up, I’m just going to play my Spotify Liked Songs on shuffle and see what it throws out for this week’s list. I’ll also make it extra-long, hopefully a good soundtrack as you wrap up your week.

“1234” – Feist
Remember when iPod commercials took songs that were niche hits and turned them into songs everyone knew?

“Welcome to the Boomtown” – David & David
One of the greatest songs to come out of the mid-80s, Dad Rock/Miami Vice moment.

“Do You Understand?” – En Attendant Ana
This feels more like a spring song to me. But it made me happy on this bright, but crisp, fall morning.

“It’s My Life” – Talk Talk
A straight-up classic.

“Alabama Hammer” – Tenderloin
Oh man, I had forgotten about these cats, probably the most notorious band to rise from the Lawrence, KS music scene in the 1990s. The lead singer, Ernie Locke was a true freak, a very large man prone to “losing” his clothes while performing. Once he nuded-up at a show at Worlds of Fun. Pretty sure he got a lifetime ban for that act. Like a lot of bands from that time and scene, they signed to a major label but their local popularity never translated to broader success. This song hits as hard as it did 25 years ago.

“Reptile” – The Church
I’ve been feeling the urge to listen to The Church’s legendary Starfish recently. This might finally get me to spin it again.

“This Tornado Loves You” – Neko Case
I’m re-reading a classic book I last read nearly 30 years ago. I’ll share what it is in a week or so when I finish it. But last night I worked through a scene where two of the main characters have an encounter with a massive tornado. A coincidence this popped up this morning?

“Rain” – The Cult
One of my brothers-in-music, Sir David, went to see The Cult last week. He said the band sounded good but Ian Astbury’s vocals were lacking a bit. Coincidentally I heard this song the day after he saw the show.

“Just Goes to Show” – Eliza Shaddad
Still think this sounds like a song made for placement in a 1980s teen romance movie.

“Nighttrain” – Public Enemy
Let’s wrap this up with an absolute bomb. Chuck D turning his scorn on the Black community and the elements within it he felt was undermining the cause of equality.

“Portland, Oregon” – Loretta Lynn and Jack White
Country music legend Loretta Lynn died earlier this week at 90. What a life! I’m not going to pretend I was ever a fan of her music. Or at least not until 2004, when she partnered with Jack White for one of the most out-of-left field collaborations I can recall. This track has never stopped being amazing. My #5 song of 2004 and #7 song of the 2000s.

Kid Hoops Notes

October 6, 2022 /

A quick kid hoops update, as L’s St P’s team has hit their (stupid) fall break-break.

First, a refresher about the dumbness of the CYO girls basketball schedule.

Girls hoops has always been a fall CYO sport, so that the gyms are cleared out for boys basketball and boys/girls volleyball in the winter. Never mind that girls volleyball should be a fall sport, to mirror high school and avoid the core travel season. This is the way it has always been in CYO, and CYO isn’t about to change.

Since the Catholic schools around Indy are all on very different academic calendars, fall breaks are scattered throughout October and of various lengths.[1] This has always caused problems with fall sports, especially girls basketball which schedules games every day of the week. It is a huge hassle to get your schedule and then start fielding calls from opposing coaches asking to reschedule a game because their school is on break when you were supposed to play.

“We can’t play October 5 because of our fall break. Can you play October 12?”
“Nope, that’s when our break starts.”

🤯

Three years ago CYO came up with a plan to alleviate this. No, they didn’t move the season back, starting in late October and then playing up to the holiday break, which would make the most sense. Rather, they moved the season up two weeks so it starts as soon as kickball ends and then shut games down for three weeks to avoid all the breaks. Starting as soon as kickball ends means actually selecting teams before kickball begins and then practicing throughout kickball season. It’s a true joy for basketball coaches who have girls from multiple kickball teams on their rosters to try to schedule a practice that avoids all the kickball conflicts.

This is super dumb and I haven’t met a single person who thinks it’s a good idea. After year one there were a ton of complaints to the CYO office and they basically said, “This is our fix and we’re not changing it.”

That “fix” manages to interfere with the seasons of three different CYO sports and add yet another activity to the schedules of girls who are playing sports outside CYO. Again, the obvious fix is to move the season back. Then kickball and basketball won’t overlap. Girls who run cross country will be done with their seasons before basketball games begin. Most other outdoor club sports will have wrapped up by then, too.

Oh, and of course they don’t do this for football. The boys play right through the fall breaks.

I promised a quick update so I’ll turn rant mode off and get to the hoops.

L’s team wrapped up Part One of their season last night. It was also their final home game of the year, so the 8th graders got introduced before the game. Several of L’s teammates from last year who are in high school came back to watch her, too, which was fun.

The opponent was St. I, a team we’ve never beaten. Last year they beat us by approximately 150 points. If I recall correctly they scored 20 points before we could get a bucket, and then we only scored because they stopped pressing. We scored six straight and they put the press back on and made sure that little rally got snuffed out.

Fortunately that score was mostly because of the girls who are now freshmen. But L and her classmates had never beaten the girls their age, either. I think they beat us twice in both fourth and fifth grades. Those wins were built on the play of two girls. Two girls that L played with last winter and has become good friends with. We knew if we could somehow control them, we’d have a chance.

We got out to a 4–0 lead, which compared to last year was a great start!

The rest of the first half was your typical, bad CYO basketball. Lots of airballs and turnovers. Both teams played good defense but had little working on offense. St. I got their best player driving and she hit a few shots and went to the line a lot. We were down 14–12 at halftime.

On the first possession of the second half L found a seam, drove, and tied the game. Two possessions later she made the same move and we had the lead. We never gave that lead up, winning 24–20. The eight graders celebrated ending the St. I curse, as one coach called it. They hugged their teammates and then their opponents. It wasn’t a bad way to end their home careers.

L ended up with six points. She played some terrific defense and controlled the offense. Her team just can not make shots, her included. She was 0-fer on jump shots, only scoring at the rim or from the free throw line. We never got our inside girl going, as she was a little sped-up. She grabbed some big rebounds in the second half, though.

I again kept team stats. We were 4–24 from the floor in the first half, but 5–12 in the second half. Both teams had quarters in which they shot 1–13. Yeesh!

We hit the fall break-break at 2–1. Our girls will take an extra-long break because the eight grade trip to Washington D.C. is the last week of the month, so their next game isn’t until October 29. Then they have to play three games in four days before taking almost a week off before their final regular season game. The smart thing would be to stretch those four games over the nine days they span, but I’ve already told you about the logic involved in CYO scheduling.

Our girls will scrimmage schools that are not in our division four times and practice some in there. L and I are going to work on her jumper when we have time, as she seems to have hit a rut. Oh, and the Cathedral team she is playing for starts practice this coming weekend. There might not be any official CYO games for awhile, but she’s going to have plenty of chances to work on her game.

  1. Some schools take an entire week off. Others, like St. P’s, only take a long weekend. I get that some schools follow the calendars of the public school districts they fall into. But if the Archdiocese can make 1000 other rules schools have to follow, why can’t they insist that fall breaks all fit into a 10-day window to make things easier on everything, not just sports?  ↩

Weekend Notes

October 4, 2022 /

A belated rundown of this past weekend.

FNL

Cathedral finally had their first home game of the year. Since they only have one after this, and it has already been tagged as homecoming, Friday became senior night. Which was a little weird.

I stayed home and listened to an easy 37–6 win over Cincinnati LaSalle. LaSalle has won four Ohio state titles in the past eight years, but this year’s team was kind of dog crap. Or so it sounded on the radio. Until the scrubs gave up a late TD the Irish had gone 11 straight quarters without allowing a score. Granted those were mostly against bad teams, but the defense does seem to be getting better as the season goes on.

KU

After a gritty, gutty, ugly-ass 14–11 win over Iowa State, THE JAYHAWKS ARE RANKED!!!!! AND GAMEDAY IS COMING TO LAWRENCE!!!!! WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE!!!!

I missed 85% of the game between basketball, prepping for L’s birthday party, and picking up dinner for the kids. I was able to watch the closing minutes of the fourth quarter, which was not a great experience. KU couldn’t move the ball, the defense was in full bend-but-don’t-break mode, and it seemed inevitable that Iowa State would win, either in regulation or overtime.

Which should have been what happened. But the Football Gods smiled on KU one more time as Iowa State missed a relatively easy field goal that would have forced OT, and the Jayhawks went to 5–0.

I felt terrible after the game, more like KU had lost than won. I think some of that was just the stress of the afternoon and then diving into the game in the worst possible moment. Later in the night I realized KU fans shouldn’t feel bad about any football win. I should be enjoying the W, the record, and the change of tone in the program. Sweating “bad” or “ugly” wins is something the coaching staff and players should be doing, not us fans. The bubble is going to burst at some point and it will be dumb for me to have not enjoyed the success that I’ve been craving for years.

From what I heard on Sirius while driving and read/listened to afterward, it seems like the defense actually played really well. Some of that is surely thanks to an Iowa State offense that isn’t the most efficient in the world. But, even if you give the ‘Clones credit for the three field goals they missed, surrendering only 20 points to a conference opponent would normally be a pretty big deal for the KU defense. It still is a big deal, and it saved the team on a day the offense sputtered, it just got lost a bit in the overall ugliness of the contest.

In the few minutes I did watch I got super annoyed with the ESPN2 broadcast. On KU’s next-to-last drive, the Jayhawks seemed to convert a third down. The announcers talked about what a big play it was, the cameras showed the crowd celebrating, they showed a replay and broke it down, etc. And then right before the next play you saw KU was snapping the ball from five yards behind where the previous play had begun. Only then did the announcers realize that there had been a penalty on KU that wiped out the conversion. Seems like something they or their spotters should have picked up on, right?

ESPN2 didn’t seem to put crowd microphones anywhere in the stadium, either. They would show shots of the band and you couldn’t hear them. When ISU missed the field goal, I assume the crowd was going nuts. That’s what the cameras showed. But you heard the slightest of buzzes on TV. This seems to happen a lot in games that aren’t the marquee matchup of the time slot. For being the World Wide Leader, ESPN sure has a lot of issues getting the basics of showing a game right. For as much as they charge cable companies to carry them, you’d think they could buy enough crowd mics so you get some sense of the environment inside the stadium. Maybe pay some of the blowhards who scream at each other a little less and up the sound hardware budget.

Since this is Kansas football, the Football Gods can’t completely be in our favor. Daniel Hishaw Jr. suffered an awful injury late in the game, rumored to be dislocated his hip late in the game. That sounds insanely painful and is a brutal injury for a guy who missed all of last year.

And then Sunday night Wisconsin fired Paul Chryst. Most folks feel like interim coach Jim Leonhard will get the full-time gig when the season ends. But if the Badgers look like shit the rest of the year, that’s another big job that Lance Leipold has connections to that may target him in December.

I’m not going to sweat that or the Nebraska job. I’m just going to enjoy the seven (or eight?!?! NINE?!?!) games KU has left and hope they can find a couple more wins. I’ll save the angst for once the season is over.

And now we get a whole week to enjoy the lead-up to a very big game against TCU that will get a lot of national attention.

(There’s a TCU guy who goes to my gym. Monday he walked by me and said, “So I guess you’re a football school now?”)

Twitter

I find it damn near impossible to follow Twitter during a football game. EVERYONE thinks they are smarter than the coaches. Doesn’t matter what team/game you’re following. I’ve seen this during KU games, Colts games, and plenty of random games people in my stream are following. The negativity is overwhelming. Where in basketball games Twitter feels like a good way to add context to what is going on in the game, or discuss the action, in football it is an endless stream of people who have been playing Madden for 30 years and think they are smarter than guys who are paid to make decisions.

Granted, a lot of coaches make curious decisions. But not every borderline call deserves a meltdown.

I was reminded Saturday that I often mute a specific KU-related account during games. The dude that runs it shares interesting and useful stuff throughout the week. But during games, even basketball ones, he is SOOOOO negative, that I began muting him on game days last winter. He questions every coaching decision. He rips the refs at every opportunity. He is hateful about opposing fans. Late in the fourth quarter Saturday, Cobee Bryant appeared to have picked off an Iowa State pass that would have ended their final drive. However, replay showed that when he hit the ground, the ball came loose and he never recovered it while still inbounds. It was clearly not a catch and the officials correctly overturned the original call. This guy went off, though, saying how corrupt the Big 12 refs were.

It’s fine to be an irrational fan and always see calls through the prism of your team. But if you’re running an account that represents a website rather than just yourself, you need to calm down and view the games rationally. Don’t embarrass yourself over a play like this, where there is zero doubt the correct call was made.

Kid Hoops

Saturday L had a travel game. They played solid in the first half and had a three-point lead at halftime. Then they played like absolute garbage in the second half and lost by six. L was 1–10 from the field. I think the entire team only shot slightly better than her 10%. Giving them credit for 20% might be too high, though. If Dick Vitale had called the game he would have said it was Brick City with a capital B, baby.

One interesting thing about the game was a girl on the other team may be joining our squad for the next travel season in March. She would be our tallest player, is a terrific athlete, and is a really good defender, but she doesn’t have much of an offensive game. Since we can’t get a rebound to save our lives, that alone makes her a decent addition. Then again, maybe after playing against us she’ll decide she wants to play for a different program. I would argue our poor shooting will give her lots of chances to grab offensive boards!

Sunday L had a CYO game. It was against a team we figured we should beat easily as L’s class has never lost to them in any sport. We jumped out to a 9–0 lead but then ran into issues and only led 14–8 at halftime. L got three fouls in the first quarter and had to sit most of the half, which didn’t help. One was legit, one was marginal, and the third was a crap moving screen call.

We came out smoking in the second half, or at least it seemed like we did. We were much better on defense and ran good offense, just couldn’t get the shots to drop. We got the lead up to 10 and held steady around there before winning 26–13.

I sat on the bench and kept stats. We had 14 steals, which was great. However, six of them were in the first quarter and then we didn’t have another until after halftime. We really should have had 20+ but our girls are soft going after loose balls. They would knock the ball loose then just stand there and watch the other team go after it. Drove me nuts. We got out-rebounded by 2. I think L is destined to never play on a team that can rebound.

There was a call in the fourth quarter than nearly made me lose it. L was defending the ball and ran into a screen. From my vantage point the screen looked solid and legal. Neither L nor the girl setting the screen went flying. But the ref blew his whistle and looked to the scorer’s table. “Foul is on eleven…” and I let out a sarcastic “WHAT?!?!” And just about chucked my clipboard. Our head coach jumped off the bench to argue. L looked totally shocked. Then our mom who was keeping the book turned to us and said “Eleven white, not eleven purple.” The coaches and I looked at each other and laughed. I decided it was a makeup call since L had been called for the illegal screen in the first half, and they didn’t make that call again the entire game. Oh, and both times the screens were legal. Refs…

She had six points.

Wednesday we play a team we’ve never beaten. L has a bunch of friends on that squad, several of which she’s played with outside CYO. She’s pretty excited about it. If we grab those loose balls and can get some rebounds, I think we have a chance.

L Turns 14

Monday was L’s birthday. After her game Saturday she had four friends over. They swam, hung out, and spent the night. It seemed like a good time.

There’s a seventh grade boy who lives nearby who they invited over to play basketball and hang out with them. I couldn’t get a sense of whether one/some/all of the girls like him, as in like-like, or if he’s just a nice kid who lives close. We know his parents a little – his dad actually coached L in soccer way back in first or second grade – but we don’t hang out in the same circles. I give him props for coming over to a house he’s never been to before and hanging out with five older girls for a few hours.

September Media

October 3, 2022 /

Movies, Series, Shows

US Open
Probably watched as much of the tournament this year as I’ve watched in several years. It was time well spent.

A

30 for 30: Shark
I LOVED Greg Norman when I was a kid. He was my first favorite golfer and until Tiger came along I was all-in with the Great White Shark. Over time I’ve come to think he is kind of a douche, a view that has been affirmed this year as he has spearheaded the new LIV tour.

This piece looks at his entire playing career with a particular focus on his most famous failure: the 1996 Masters. Even not being a fan of his anymore, it is a little uncomfortable seeing him sit down and watch his meltdown. I still think he’s kind of a douche, though.

B+

Commando On The Front Line
I came to this series in a roundabout way, but enjoyed it. It is a 13-year-old look at both the training process and then the deployment of Royal Marines Commandos during the war in Afghanistan. The series follows recruits through their training in Britain and then as troops that fight the Taliban. The series creator was embedded with the recruits/Marines, and there seemed to be very little censorship of what he was allowed to record/share.

What I found most interesting was how their training differs from American forces. I think that the British troops go through a combined basic training and special forces training, thus it takes 32 weeks (plus a three-week summer break) to earn their commando berets. While in the US you go through basic training and then go through special forces training separately if so inclined. Of course I could be totally wrong on that. It’s not like I’m an expert on these things.

Anyway, compelling show.

A-

Heat
In preparation for reading Heat 2, I went back and watched the original movie. I think I had only seen it all the way through one time. I think that’s because I didn’t like it as much as a lot of people did. I wondered if re-watching it would change that. It did not. It’s classic Michael Mann: great to look at with some amazing action sequences, but much of the dialogue and story have painful issues. Even at nearly three hours, it feels like big parts of the story have been skipped over in the name of brevity, which leads to several, “Wait, what?” moments. But that bank robbery scene is a classic.

B

Cobra Kai, season five
Solid but unspectacular. This season seemed to lack the highs that the first four each had. It also suffered as so many shows that stick around suffer: the cast is getting bigger, which means it is a tougher to get everyone on screen and develop deep storylines. This season also was less funny than any of the four that preceded it. It also lacked any real “Oh shit!” moments. The finale was good, but it felt like a season in which not a lot happened.

B

The Bear
I’ve written about this.

A+

Shorts, YouTubes, Etc

Every Piece Of Gear In An Army Cavalry Scout’s 72-Hour Bag
You watch enough travel packing and gear videos, plus a series about British commandos, and eventually The Algorithm starts spitting content like this at you.

Conan & Andy Help Freshmen Move Into College
Useful pointers for next year when we move M into her dorm.

Adventures of A+K
They are just about done with their Alaskan adventures.

Kara and Nate
The Algorithm finally decided to start suggesting other traveling couples to me. This was the first one other than A+K I checked out. They are funnier, a little more polished, a little less goody-goody. But they are also more capitalistic in their vlogging. Not sure I’m going to deep-dive into their old stuff but I will follow their new videos for awhile.

LPGA Skills Challenge at the Queen City Championship
Lots of really smart people in golf keep trying to figure out ways to “grow the game,” and their plans generally involve the Saudis and/or giving rich people even more money. But it is stuff like this, which is low in budget but high in fun, that makes the game more interesting.

WHAT IT’S LIKE FALLING AT GIANT MAVERICKS WITH IAN WALSH
Dude! Also, drones have made surf videos even more spectacular.

Peru’s Geography is CRAZY
The Algorithm has been bugging me about this for months. I finally cracked. Peru seems kind of dope.

Black Diamond Presents: Behind the Lens with Chris Burkard
The monthly “Sure, it’s a commercial, but it looks amazing” entry.

Norway and Sweden Compared
Not sure this really clears anything up. He should have thrown Finland and Denmark in to really confuse matters.

Big Sur, California: 1 Day Road Trip to Beaches, Waterfalls, Bridges and Elephant Seals
We went to Big Sur once when we lived in California. All I remember are lots of trees. We must not have hit the good spots.

One last run for the best hat ever made
Beau Miles bullshit. Watch your knackers!

Restorers Try to Get Lunar Module Guidance Computer Up and Running
I could have used a lot more detail but this is still a fascinating project.

GERMAN VERSION OF THE D-DAY INVASION FILM MADE BY O.S.S.
Fascinating. A film made by the Germans for people in Germany and occupied Europe to spin the Allied invasion of Europe as a moment of German strength. Then the US OSS took it, added some English voice overs, and showed it to American factory workers to motivate them to keep cranking out war supplies.

Omaha Beach From the German Perspective
The above video caused this to land in my feed. I’ve watched a couple of this guy’s videos and have decided I don’t like his style very much. I can’t put my finger on why, but something about them just doesn’t mesh with my preferences.

How We Survive LONG HAUL FLIGHTS!
We have a long haul flight coming up soon. I’ve been collecting tips anywhere I can.

(even more) season 6 bloopers | The Office
Always good stuff.

Audio Streams

93 WXRT
I learned in this breakdown of The Bear that the VoiceOver in episode seven was from the beloved alt/indie rock station WXRT in Chicago. I’ve added it into my Sonos favorites and listened to it a few times. It reminds me of Bloomington’s WTTS although with more new music and a more indie lean. I’m spoiled so the commercial breaks bum me out, although I understand their presence makes the existence of a station like this possible. I still wish there was something similar to Cincinnati’s WOXY out there for us music heads. As much as I love Spotify, there’s nothing like having a good DJ spool out the songs for you rather than relying on The Algorithm to do it.

Booth Review
I can’t find a link specific for this podcast/stream, but Kent Swanson and Scott Chasen’s breakdowns of KU football are really, really good. I don’t know much about the specifics of football, but they dive into the details in a way that should delight both football geeks and casual fans. This was their instant reaction to the Iowa State game.

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