D's Notebook

Month: September 2023 (Page 2 of 2)

Weekend Notes

September 11, 2023 /

A lot of sports and stuff to get through from the past weekend.

HS Football

Weirdest game of the season for Cathedral, against rival Bishop Chatard. It was CYO Night + Homecoming + Chatard, so the stadium was packed. We got there an hour early and still had to park in the overflow section a couple blocks away.

The Irish started hot, jumping out to a 21–0 lead in the first quarter, and it looked like it would be a repeat of the past three years, all blowout CHS wins.

But Chatard steadied themselves and controlled the second quarter, cutting the deficit to 21–10 at the break.

The weird thing was the lights on the visiting side of the field were not working. As CHS went through the halftime homecoming festivities, we noticed the Chatard side was completely clearing out. As soon as the homecoming king and queen were announced, official word came that the game was being postponed until Saturday morning, and would move to Chatard.

(Reminder for you non-Indy folks, CHS does not have their own football stadium. In recent years they’ve stuck to Arlington Middle School, which is about a mile from campus. The stadium is old, isn’t well maintained, and most fans have to park in a very sketchy strip mall. The other option is to drive 20 minutes downtown to play at Tech High School, which has a much nicer field but it is, again, 20 minutes away. Something is always going wrong at the Arlington stadium. This time it was the power not working for half of the lights.)

L wanted to go to the freshman game Saturday so we did not return to the varsity game. Good choice. On Cathedral’s four second half possessions, they threw two interceptions and turned the ball over on downs twice, while Chatard scored on their first possession after resuming and then threw a 39-yard TD pass with a minute left to break their four-game losing streak in the series. The kid who caught the winning pass did not play Friday night because he was in the concussion protocol, but Saturday was the first day he was eligible to return. Pretty good timing. My girls all thought I was joking when I told them the final score. By the computer rankings, CHS was a 19-point favorite.

Familiar issues for CHS. Their offensive line can’t block. They have a D1 quarterback, four really good receivers, and a junior running back who has the potential to be great. But they can’t give the QB time to throw or open holes for running plays. The D-line struggles as well, and the secondary is the weakest I can recall in my five years of going to games. Since schools don’t hand out rosters anymore I don’t know if CHS is young or just not very good. Whatever it is, they’re wasting the skill players.

Next week they play hapless North Central, right up the block from our house. Unless they get their shit together, that might be their last winnable game of the regular season.

KU Football

I again missed the first half of the KU game while watching CHS. Allow me to reiterate that playing college football on Friday nights is dumb. Although it you have to do it, it better be on ESPN/ESPN2 so you at least get the benefit of people being able to watch it easily along with guaranteed coverage on Sportscenter.

Apparently I missed the best part of the game. As we were leaving Arlington I couldn’t find the KU feed on Sirius, so listened to the Illinois halftime show and they were raving about Jason Daniels. 28–7 seemed like a good start.

By the time I got home the second half had just begun and I had to watch nervously as Illinois tried to come back and the referees tried to steal the game.

OK, it wasn’t the field refs so much as the replay official. The targeting call on Austin Booker was terrible. There was no way you could definitively determine if he hit the Illinois QB with the crown of his helmet, especially when making such a call leads to an ejection and suspension for Booker. Then the same person somehow confirmed a spot that was clearly wrong by two yards as KU was trying to clinch the game late in the fourth quarter. When the impartial ESPN announcers are incredulous about calls you have to assume it was an Illinois alum doing the reviews.[1]

I’m obviously kidding but since I didn’t see the best part of the game I can’t dive into those details and am left to overreact about those two calls.

Bottom line was JD looked great, the offense was crisp in the first half, the defense was doing some nice things before they lost focus/got tired in the second half, and KU won a game everyone was worried about fairly easily. I saw that KU is now something like 42–117 all time against the Big 10. Maybe this was the win that turns all that history around!

I did not like the uniforms. I have it when schools that don’t have black as a primary color decide to bust out black uniforms. This isn’t 1995. Now make those same uniforms blue and I would have been totally onboard. I guess the players loved them, which is all that matters. The uniform gurus agree with me.

NFL

I was only able to watch isolated portions of opening weekend of the NFL. The Colts looked competent for stretches of their game against Jacksonville before things fell apart in the fourth quarter. Anthony Richardson getting blasted and having to leave the game was not good, although he claimed afterwards that he was fine. He was terrific in the first half – 16–20 passing including two drops, 30+ yards rushing – but was largely ineffective in the second until his final drive. That will be the story of the year so no need to get worked up about either aspect of it.

Props to the Colts for keeping the Lucas Oil stadium roof closed on an absolutely perfect day. It’s a running joke around here how much we paid for a retractable roof for how rarely it actually gets opened for a Colts game. I guess 78 and sunny was too oppressive for the fans and players.

The Cowboys looked awesome Sunday night. I apologize to Lions fans for not taking them seriously. Green Bay fans need to calm down and save it for after the play a real NFL team. I’m officially declining my honorary homer status for the Bengals, but reserve the right to reclaim it when they play better. My Niners pick is looking good after 60 minutes of football.

US Open

We watched almost every one of Coco Gauff’s matches, from her opener against the frustrating German Laura Siegemund, to the final when she captured her first Grand Slam title. What a delightful two weeks. Not only is she a terrific tennis player, she is more composed and thoughtful than I’ve ever been. And she’s only 19!

There were so many great moments over her run, but my favorite may have been how she was sobbing after she hit the winner that clinched the championship match. Most players cry tears of some kind when they win a Grand Slam. Something about hers seemed different. Teen tennis prodigies are always a dicey long-term bet. Coco sure seems like the real deal.

One of my other favorite recurring moments of the tournament was all these divas (of both genders) who for some reason scream at their coaches and support teams when they lose a point. You’re the one with the racquet and on the court, asshole. Take some responsibility.

FIBA World Cup

Speaking of assholes, I didn’t get too worked up about the US losing the third-place game to Canada. I did get worked up about them letting Dillon Brooks score 39 points. DILLON BROOKS. No one on the US roster should be allowed to play international ball again. Although he probably thinks he’s an All NBA caliber player now, which could lead to all kinds of hilarious bad play this coming year. Kind of a shame he’ll be wasted in Houston and not torpedoing some actual contender when he goes 3–27 in a playoff game.

I didn’t get up to watch the third-place game and it was over before I woke up Sunday. I did watch most of the other US games during the tournament that were on at more decent times. The real goal was to qualify for the Olympics, which they accomplished. With a flawed roster. Now roll out the A team next year to grab the gold medal.

It was super interesting to watch how the US struggled with the format of FIBA basketball. The court is slightly smaller. The ball a touch different. There are no illegal defense rules. Refs call some fouls very differently than in the NBA. The games also move quicker.[2] Combine all that and the US never seemed comfortable.

It’s not just that the rest of the world has gotten a lot better. The international teams generally have a core that has been together for years, where the US throws a different lineup out there each time they play in the World Cup or Olympics. When you have a LeBron or KD or Kobe anchoring things you can paper over a lot of those little issues. When you have a bunch of nice but not great players there is not much room for error. It’s also interesting that of the top five players in the world right now, only one is an American, and he wasn’t playing in this tournament.[3]

One thing about the US team did bother me. It seemed like they were always looking to throw the toughest pass possible rather than the easiest. I blame it on them wanting to try to match the 1992 Dream Team’s flair. They need to understand that Germany in 2023 is way better than it was in 1992. Just do the simple things and win the game. If you’re up by 20 in the closing minutes, then you can start throwing behind-the-back passes. Oh, and maybe pick someone for the team capable of getting a rebound.

BREAKING NEWS: This morning LeBron said he’s in for next summer’s Olympics. That’s great and all but not sure he’s what the US needs.

PJ

It was an utterly amazing night for an outdoor concert Sunday evening. Warm as the sun set, cool but not yet chilly as darkness descended.

Sadly Pearl Jam postponed their Indianapolis show because of an illness in the band. They say they will reschedule and tickets will be honored at that show. There are only four more nights on this tour and Eddie Vedder starts a solo tour on September 30, so it seems like it will be in the next couple weeks, maybe? I hope whenever it is that the weather is as great as it was Sunday.

  1. Cobee Bryant’s targeting foul? Yeah, that was 100% a legit penalty.  ↩
  2. One minute time outs are the best invention ever. The NBA and NCAA would never go to those – too much lost ad revenue – but they sure speed up the pace of the game.  ↩
  3. I would say that’s Steph Curry, although Jayson Tatum was All NBA first team last year.  ↩

Friday Playlist: Pearl Jam Favs

September 8, 2023 /

It’s a big weekend for me: Sunday evening I’m seeing Pearl Jam for the first time since 2000. I’m pretty excited about it.

I re-added the SiriusXM Pearl Jam channel as a favorite a couple weeks ago and have been listening to it a lot in preparation. I’ve also been spinning their songs on Spotify in between all the other stuff I regularly listen to. I’ve been tracking their current set lists, although with PJ that tells you nothing about what they will play at your show.

With all that going on, seemed like a good day for some PJ content.

First, a playlist featuring my favorite PJ songs. Then I’ll rank their albums.

Favorite Pearl Jam Songs

7 – “State of Love and Trust”
Left off their debut album, it helped to elevate the *Singles* soundtrack to legendary status.

6 – “Given to Fly”
The first song I sought out on the internet.

5 – “Hail, Hail”
I don’t think most people appreciate how great this song is.

4 – “I Got Id”
A little help from Uncle Neil Young helped elevate this track.

3 – “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town”
The greatest lines of Eddie’s career?

I just want to scream, hellooooooo

My God it’s been so long, never dreamed you’d return…

2 – “Release”
An all-time great album closer.

1 – “Corduroy”
Everything came together on this track. You know they agree, because it is their most played song that was not on their first album.

Pearl Jam Albums, Ranked

1 – Vs., 1993
Their most consistent and complete album. Also their best sounding album. It ROCKS. Not quite as many “hits” as *Ten*, but odds are you know nearly every song. The sequencing and pacing are perfect.

2 – Ten, 1991
The monster that started it all. You definitely know every song, and likely every word to every song. The production is a little wonky, but that was somewhat fixed in the 2009 re-release. And then there are the great songs that didn’t make the final pressing. “Yellow Ledbetter,” “Footsteps,” “Wash,” “State of Love and Trust,” “Breath.” Several of the Vs. tracks had roots in the sessions for Ten as well. A lot of bands would sell their souls for one of those songs and they didn’t even make PJ’s first album.

3 – Vitalogy, 1994
For a long time this was my favorite PJ album. Now it’s just a little too weird and abrasive for me. When it is good, it is as good as they ever got (“Corduroy”). But all those odd diversions distract.

4 – Yield, 1998
The band’s poppiest and most accessible album. Some great songs, but you also feel the band losing some of what had made them great as they shed their anger and the constant tension within the band.

5 – No Code, 1996
The moment when PJ lost a huge part of its fan base. Which is weird because aside from a few songs, it is pretty much a straight-ahead, 1996 rock album. Which makes it strange that it wasn’t a bigger mainstream success, as it wasn’t nearly as dark as their first three albums.

6 – Pearl Jam, 2006
Every band that lasts needs a comeback album, and this was Pearl Jam’s. Muscular in a way they hadn’t been since *Vs.*. It was also a shift where Eddie started writing closer to Bruce Springsteen’s style than he had ever done before.

7 – Gigaton, 2020
Their most recent album is filled with fine moments. But there is a lack of something, I’m not sure what, that kept me from ever really loving it. Maybe I should blame Covid.

8 (tie) – Binaural, 2000
Riot Act, 2002
The back-to-back early 2000s albums that very much blend together to me now. Weary, and not in an interesting way. Eddie opened up song writing to the rest of the band, and it felt like they were searching for a way to coexist. On Riot Act they tried to tap into the late ‘90s anti-corporate movement to find a sense of purpose and source of anger, but that didn’t ring as true as their more personal songs on the early albums. Ironically, this was when the band finally had a stable drummer, decided it was ok to have fun touring, and became arguably the best live band in the world. But that sense of freedom and lightness did not translate to these albums.

10 (tie) – Backspacer, 2009
Lightning Bolt, 2013
The 2010-ish albums that blend together to me. Albums that seemed to exist because the band could make them rather than felt compelled to make them. Each one has a couple terrific singles, but the ratio of hits to filler is pretty low. The band also started writing about more adult matters, often of death/divorce, as people their age often do. Even when the songs were nice to listen to, they lacked that *oomph* that made early Pearl Jam so great.

Friday Vid

September 8, 2023 /

A special playlist to come later today.

“Love is Alive” – Gary Wright
Mr. Wright died this week. Contrary to popular belief, he was not a one-hit-wonder: he had three songs that cracked the top 20. By every measure except for one, this was his biggest hit. Like “Dream Weaver,” it peaked at #2 on the Hot 100. It remained on the chart seven weeks longer than “Dream Weaver,” and finished #9 in the 1976 year-end countdown to #37 for “Dream Weaver.” It’s also a much better song.

But “Dream Weaver” got a second life when it was used in Wayne’s World and that’s what people remember.

RIP to Gary.

NFL Predictions

September 7, 2023 /

As I skimmed the site’s archives over the summer, I realized I’ve gotten away from the half-assed NFL predictions that used to be a staple this time of year. That is mostly because I was busy with kid sports and the beginning of the NFL season often snuck up on me. And because I loathe how the NFL offseason dominates sports media and largely tune it out, not checking back in until the games begin.

Both to honor the heritage of this site and because I listened to a few NFL preview pods this week, I’m going to jump back in and offer some extra half-assed NFL predictions.

AFC

East

Lots of people seem down on the Bills after their struggles to match the hype they entered last season with. I’m going to chalk a lot of that, along with their early playoff exit, to injuries. Plus I don’t trust the other teams in the division. Buffalo

North

Maybe the best and most intriguing division in the game. One injury to a key player could tip the entire thing. Since I’m a partial Bengals homer now, I’m going with Joe Burrow and his crew. Cincinnati

South

Ugh. The Colts should really suck this year. Every preview I’ve either listened to or read, though, suggests that at least Anthony Richardson is going to be interesting enough to watch their games. He’s going to have amazing moments and look completely overwhelmed at times. Often within the same drive. I suppose the question is whether the organization can shake its recent dysfunction and build around him as he (hopefully) turns into a star, or is he destined to be a Must Watch QB stranded on a terrible team his entire career?

As for the division, both Tennessee and Jacksonville have strong selling points. Culture in Nashville, youth in Jax. Yet both teams have huge holes that have some people squinting and suggesting that if the Colts can protect Richardson, bring back Jonathan Taylor in week five, and keep the defense healthy, they could actually steal the division. Yikes. I like Trevor Lawrence’s potential the most, so I’ll take Jacksonville.

West

Kansas City until Mahomes can’t throw.

Wild Cards

There are a lot of good teams in the AFC. But once you get past the top three, they all have serious questions. Can Tua stay healthy? Is Aaron Rodgers washed up or revitalized? Can the Ravens still stop people? Was that late season-run by the Steelers legit? Can Sean Payton really fix the Broncos? What new ways will the Chargers find to squander their potential? I’ll take Pittsburgh and New York.

Oh, wait, I just remembered there are three Wild Card teams now. Shit. Throw in San Diego just because their eventual loss will be highly entertaining.

NFC

East

If Washington were better, this would match the AFC North for overall strength. Lots of people are jumping on the Cowboys’ bandwagon, but I can’t possibly trust that franchise not to fuck it up somehow. Philadelphia was clearly the best team in the NFC last year. No reason they won’t win the division again this year.

North

All the love for the Lions is cute. Get back to me when they’ve won a meaningful game. I think Minnesota holds off Green Bay.

South

Man, what is it with the South divisions? They both suck. New Orleans I guess?

West

The Niners are a weird team, man. They might have the best, most complete roster in the game. With one glaring exception: quarterback. They always seem to have a couple huge injuries, too. I still trust them more than I trust Geno Smith to repeat last year’s performance. San Francisco

Wild Cards

Dallas, New York, and Green Bay

Playoffs!

AFC

Buffalo over New York
Pittsburgh over Jacksonville
Cincinnati over San Diego

Kansas City over Pittsburgh
Cincinnati over Buffalo

Kansas City over Cincinnati

NFC

Dallas over New Orleans
New York over Green Bay
San Francisco over Minnesota

Philadelphia over Dallas
San Francisco over New York

San Francisco over Philadelphia

Super Bowl

Niners get another chance at the Chiefs. Their defense slows Mahomes down, but when forced to play the entire game with some quarterback they signed in November – Carson Wentz!?!? – they can’t put any points on the board. Kansas City 24, San Francisco 9, and the Chiefs officially enter dynasty territory.

As always, never, ever take use these to make actual bets.

Labor Day Weekend Notes

September 5, 2023 /

It wasn’t that long ago when Labor Day weekends were big, involved deals for us. When we were lake house owners, that would always be the last blowout of the year. Lots of friends or family down for two final days of floating, swimming, boating and fun.

We’ve backed off that pace quite a bit and these weekends are much more laid back. We did have some friends over Sunday evening. I spent about 10 hours smoking a pork shoulder which turned out well. I may have had a beer or two too many, though, and Monday morning was a struggle. Sadly that “beer or two too many” limit comes a lot quicker than it used to.

Here’s what else went on during our final weekend of the summer.

HS Football

It was a PERFECT night for football as Class 6A #6 Cathedral pounded #9 Penn 35–6 Friday. The Irish were up 35–0 at halftime and all the starters sat out the second half. The fourth or fifth string let in a long, impressive touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to ruin the shutout.

This is homecoming week with big rival, Class 3A #1 Bishop Chatard on the schedule.

KU Football

My first point, one I will repeat next week, is that playing a college football game on a Friday night is generally stupid. When you are a program that has struggled to be successful and generate fan interest for over a decade, it is super dumb. So big thumbs down to KU for deciding to play the first two games of the season on Friday nights. Sounds like they had a decent crowd last week, but I bet playing on the night when almost every high school in the state was also playing cost them a few thousand more asses in the seats.

I didn’t get to check the score until halftime of the CHS game, when it was tied at 7-all late in the first quarter. That alone confirmed that Jalon Daniels was not playing.

I was able to listen to the first drive of the second half – a KU touchdown – and then watch the rest of the second half. Obviously I was the key as the team shook off some inconsistent play and did what you’re supposed to do to FCS teams. It was just a few years back when KU was losing these games, so a 31-point win without the starting QB was just fine.

As I only saw part of the game, I won’t offer any assessments.

College Football

OK, we all owe Deion an apology, right? I mean all of you who doubted him. Because I, of course, did not. I believed he would turn Colorado around immediately. Never had a single question.

It was good to have a full slate of games, even if I spent four hours of the day in the car between here and Cincinnati. More on that in a moment…

Auto Update

My appointment to get an estimate on the girls’ car was last Thursday. My big fear was that they would need to open the back tailgate to assess the damage, not be able to get it shut, and we would lose the car because of that.

Turns out that shouldn’t have been my worry.

They crawled underneath the vehicle, looked for about five minutes, and told me the impact bar was compromised and the car was no longer drivable if we wanted insurance to cover the repairs.

Great.

I already got an initial estimate but the car is supposed to be disassembled today for a full inspection, so I guess we’ll see. Turns out the other kid’s family’s insurance company uses the same body shop as one of their preferred vendors, so hopefully no issues getting payment hammered out. The shop told me Mazda parts aren’t too difficult to find, and ballparked it at 2–3 weeks for repairs.

All that means I’m back on the school driving grind for awhile. The only bonus to that is I get to sleep an extra half hour since I don’t have to wake C up as early as when she drives.

A Weekend Visitor

As for that trip to Cincinnati, last Wednesday M texted us and said she had looked at her schedule of sorority events and realized this was the last weekend she had a chance to come home for awhile. The catch was that while she did not have a ticket to the Bearcats’ season opener Saturday, she did want to hang around for “tailgating and fun,” which I thought was a hilarious way to put it. She asked if we could pick her up late afternoon to bring her back for a quick visit. We didn’t have anything on our calendar, so we said of course.

I drove down and picked her up around 5:00. I checked the UC score when I parked and they were up on Eastern Kentucky something like 45–7 just before halftime. It was very hot in Cincinnati and people were already streaming out of the stadium to return to tailgates or just get out of the sun with the game firmly in control.

Long-time readers with great memories may recall the years I picked M up from CYO camp, when she would talk nonstop for the entire 90-minute drive home telling me every detail of her week away. This time she had three weeks of material and talked the entire two hours home. I didn’t mind.

She seems to be doing well. Classes aren’t too hard. She and her roommate are getting along great. She really likes the girls in her sorority. She’s made a co-ed friend group in the dorm.

The only bummer was she found a fraudulent charge on her debit card a week ago. Fortunately it was for only $2.00 and the bank reimbursed her. Glad she has learned the lesson that it’s a good idea to check your account frequently before a single bad charge can turn into a bunch of them that wipe out her balance. She’s been able to manage between Venmo and the balance on her Bearcat Card. Hopefully her new debit card will arrive this week.

Friends who have already been through this will likely agree with me, but one of the greatest sounds you will ever hear as a parent is when your college student comes home and she and her siblings are all upstairs, screaming and laughing together.

She saw one friend while she was home, did some laundry, took some naps, and hung out with us. Pretty low key.

S took her back on Monday afternoon. It was a quick but good visit.

As of now we aren’t scheduled to see her again until Family Weekend in late October, although I may go down for a football game earlier in October.

August Media

September 4, 2023 /

Movies, Shows, etc

Step Brothers
I had the joy of introducing this to S, who had never seen it before. Not sure she totally got it. Then again, I don’t know if I did, either, the first time I saw it. A delight for me, though. It also made me look up and re-read this piece. Unadulterated Joy: An Oral History of ‘Step Brothers’

A-

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy
Perhaps the height of Will Ferrell silliness.

A-

Bridesmaids
This has been in rotation on cable lately, and I’ve caught parts of it three different times. It probably makes me laugh harder than the two movies above. The fact that our girls are old enough to wander by and watch for a bit makes it a little uncomfortable for me, though.

A

Strapped (Spring Training)
For the latest edition of No Laying Up’s budget travel series, the boys went to Arizona during baseball spring training season. All kinds of baseball goodies mixed in with the golf. This season doesn’t quite hit as well as others, but it is never a bad way to spend 90 minutes or so.

B+

Pearl Jam – 1991–08–23 Seattle, WA
This is pretty awesome. A PJ concert from less than a week before they released their first album. Every song sounds awesome. They were locked in from day one. I wonder what happened to that dude in front of the cameraman with the weird tick where he kept shaking his head. Hope he’s doing alright.

A

Destination NBA: A G League Odyssey
This was really interesting. Especially the older guys who have been hanging around awhile. I don’t remember Gabe York from college at all, but that dude is a stud. I had checked out on the Pacers by the time he got his late-season call up last spring. Always fascinating to see athletes like him, who absolutely destroy at the level just below the highest level, but for one reason or another, can never make it in the bigs.

A

Shrinking
Bill Lawrence made some adjustments to his Thoughtful Comedy slider, brought in some terrific actors and collaborators (Jessica Williams is a revelation), and cranked out yet another fantastic show. Funnier than Ted Lasso and often as touching. I laughed as much watching this as any show in recent memory. Pretty much every one of the main actors is outstanding. You know Brett Goldstein is involved thanks to the liberal use of the word fuck. An excellent way to spend five hours of your life.

A

John Mulaney: Baby J
I didn’t find this as hilarious as his previous stand up shows. Not sure if that was because most of it is about his stint in rehab, and the intervention that led to that. Some of the humor seemed a little forced and uncomfortable.

B

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Not your average D&D adaptation. This hits most of the touch points of the genre, but remains loose and silly. Not quite a send-up of fantasy movies, although it can border on that at times. Seems like a movie that can delight both fantasy fans and those who normally wouldn’t be drawn to the genre.

B+

The Bear, seasons one and two
S had not watched this at all, so I gladly binged both seasons again with her. Loved them both again. As with any re-watch, it was fun to pick up on little nuggets I missed the first time, or assess episodes slightly differently knowing what comes next. “Forks” is still my favorite, but I did like “Fishes” a little more than I did the first time. And Carmy is still a putz for fucking things up with Claire.

A, A

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach knows exactly how Ayo Edebiri used to cut her onions
Moss-Bachrach seems very different from the character he plays. Which I guess is the job, right?

Why Pac-Man won
This went directions I did not expect. Also a good reminder of how crazily popular Pac-Man was for a long time. I think it was the summer I turned 12 pretty much every gift I got had a Pac-Man tie in.

Life as the Last Fire Lookout
Some amazing footage in this piece.

David Letterman Was in on Andy Kaufman’s Outrageous Bits
Andy Kaufman and Jerry Lawler on Letterman Full
Joaquin Phoenix’s Infamous Appearance With Dave
One day I fell into a rabbit hole of famous Letterman appearances. Time well spent.

Bob Barker’s Letterman Top 10 Lists
This was shared a lot after Barker’s death.

8000 runs: a love letter to running
Brief Beau Miles bullshit is better than no Beau Miles bullshit.
A weekend away after the hardest year of my life
Then he shared this, which both explains why he’s been less active this year and is a beautiful love letter to his wife.

Why US Malls Are Dying (And Why European Malls Aren’t)
I’m no economist or urban planner, so I have no idea if his arguments are valid or not. He misses a key point that plagues one of our local malls: people getting shot there every couple of months. That kind of puts a damper on cruising for babes like Linda Barrett at the food court. If you’re 17, of course. I don’t cruise the food court for babes anymore. That would be weird.

Perfect Carrier Landing: Step-by-Step BREAKDOWN
I got sucked into a bunch of this guy’s videos one night.

The White Stripes – From the Basement
I miss the White Stripes.

DIRT Episode 5 — Ireland
Like pretty much anything filmed in Ireland, this is amazing. We have some relatives that were just over there. It is high on my list.

Sample Breakdown: The Most Iconic Hip-Hop Sample of Every Year (1973–2023)
The is amazing, even if I knew very few of the songs from recent years.

The Better Boarding Method Airlines Won’t Use
I don’t fly a ton, but I’ve seen a lot of stupid shit when boarding planes over the years. Pretty much every system will suck because people either don’t understand it, pretend to not understand it, or simply choose to ignore it. As always, people are the worst.

Announcers Getting Angry
Announcers Getting Angry | Part 2
Some of these are great.

Max Homa vs. Tom Kim | The Titleist One Club Challenge with No Laying Up
I love stuff like this, especially when it is high level golfers like these guys and they can show off both their imagination and their skill level.

Open Season: Neil’s Week At The Open Championship
I’m not really a camper, so camping out in cold, rainy England to be closer to the course where the Open is being played sounds truly awful.

The 2023 Barkley Marathons Documentary
I will never not be fascinated by the Barkley Marathons.

How to Correctly Load your Dishwasher…
This fits nicely with my recent Old Man Tendencies post. Some of these suggestions fit with my methods, some run counter to mine, and a couple were brand new to me.

What it’s like for an Army Paratrooper to step into the air over a drop zone
True story: when I was like 12, 13, I really wanted to be in the Army. Not sure if I specifically wanted to be a paratrooper but I would imagine it was on the list. Very glad I never truly explored that career path, as I’m guessing my fear of heights would have been a problem.

Wendy Breaks Down Her Most Iconic Guitar Parts and Her New Rig!
I can’t play guitar, so much of this is far too technical and sounds like people speaking a foreign language. But it’s worth it to hear Wendy Melvoin play her guitar lines from “Purple Rain.” Stuff like this also makes me respect musicians even more. It’s one thing to come up with a cool song. It’s another thing to navigate all this technology to help make the output match the sounds they hear in their heads. The number of possibilities seems staggering. It also helps me understand why it takes Adam Granduciel years to record new War on Drugs albums.

How Vinyl Records Are Made (feat. Third Man Records)
Super cool. At first I thought the lacquer cutting process had to be done for every album pressed. Then I realized that’s just where the master that vinyl will be pressed from is made.

Friday Football Notes

September 1, 2023 /

A rare Friday post about something other than music promoted by the beginning of college football and an interesting night at a high school game earlier this week.

KU Football

I was thinking last night that there have been very few falls in my life when KU fans were genuinely excited about the coming football season. I’m talking about the excitement that comes with the chance for a really good season, not just “Hey, if everything breaks right, we might win six games this year!” excitement.

As best as I can recall, 1992, 2007, 2008, and 2009 were the only years that the Jayhawk faithful could great the coming season with honest-to-goodness optimism.

After last year’s 6–7 season, with almost the entire offense back, the 2023 season has joined that list.

And then this morning I woke up at 5:15 to take L to basketball, opened up Twitter while she was getting ready, and the first message I see says that Jalon Daniels’ back injury continues to bother him and a few “insiders” do not expect him to play in tonight’s season opener.

Just freaking great.

I guess we’ll find out later today whether those rumors are true, but nothing about them is good. Daniels has labored all month in practice with some kind of back issue. If he can’t play next week against Illinois, and beyond that, or can’t be close to 100%, all those fun expectations for this season get tossed aside.

I was reluctant to be too optimistic about this season simply because of Daniels’ health. He has been injured every season he’s been at KU. It seemed to be asking a lot for him to get through the next 12–13 games unscathed. If you told me he would play this entire season, I think KU has a realistic chance to win eight games, perhaps more if the defense can find a way to be even halfway decent.

But if he’s already battling a lingering injury before the season starts? Throw out any hopes for an upper-division Big 12 finish and second-consecutive bowl game. Jason Bean is a nice backup, and KU fans should be very thankful he changed his mind and decided to return.[1] He’s not a quarterback that will get you through the non-con at 3–0 and then find a way to win 3–5 games in the Big 12, though.

Once again the Football Gods decide to kick KU fans in the shins. It’s not fair to Daniels that so much of the program’s success will be determined by his health. It is our truth, though. Lance Leipold and his staff are excellent at developing talent. Maybe they have the program far enough along where they can still be in just about every game whether JD plays or not. A lifetime of mediocre-to-bad football has me conditioned to expect the worst.

Expectations

I’m reluctant to make a call on wins with JD’s status unclear. I listened to a KU pod this week where they threw out a few hypotheticals that were kind of fun.

Would you rather KU win nine games and play in a legit bowl game but lose Leipold at the end of this season, or win just four games and keep Lance? I’m 100% take the wins.

Would you rather beat Kansas State or Texas? This one is tricky. K-State is the smart answer. Texas is leaving the Big 12 and we’ve never really thought we could play on their level. K-State has proven that you can create a winner in the state of Kansas and are the model KU should follow: smart recruiting with great coaching. Plus a loss to KU might knock KSU out of the Big 12 title chase.

But…I’m going to Austin for the Texas game. It would be pretty dope to see KU get its second-straight win in Austin as the Longhorns depart for the SEC.

Mind says K-State, heart says Texas.

The third hypothetical was the most unrealistic: would you rather Jalon Daniels be a Heisman finalist (they may have even said win it) or KU make it to the college football playoff? Both seem extremely far-fetched, and that’s even before we knew of Daniels’ status for tonight. I would lean towards the CFP. But one of the hosts pointed out how Robert Griffin winning the Heisman was a massive moment in the growth of Baylor football. I get that, but I still would take the team success with a super cool QB who just missed making the trip to New York as a Heisman finalist.

Freshman Ball

Monday L asked me to take her to the Cathedral freshman B game against Carmel so she could stand on the sideline and take pictures. She had fun and got some good shots. Find her on Instagram if you’d like to see some samples.

Since this was a B game and both teams had played on Saturday, I believe they rested most of their freshmen starters, or rotated them into positions they don’t normally play. As you would expect, the game was rather ragged, with Carmel grabbing a 13–12 win, the difference being they were 1–2 on PATs while the Irish were 0–2.

My big takeaway was that you have to be a very patient person to coach freshmen. I reached out to a friend of mine who coached for a few years after he got out of college and his response was, “I am a very patient person. But coaching freshmen almost killed me.”

There were kids standing around on the sideline when they’re supposed to be in the game. Guys lining up in the wrong spots. Running the wrong plays. Players just flat fumbling the ball when no defender is within ten feet of them. Holding on every play. So many false starts or offsides calls.

Here’s a sequence that summed up the game: Cathedral had a beautiful drive that got them into the red zone late in the first half, fueled by about 65 yards of rushing by the quarterback. Then they had holding on four straight plays, a false start, and a personal foul. Next thing you know they are punting from their own side of the field and the punter lets the snap go right through his hands. Carmel covered, scored about four plays later, and hit what became the game-winning extra point.

Again, these were freshmen, mostly playing out of position or who don’t normally get into games, so I give them lots of leeway.

Since there weren’t a lot of people in the stands it was easy to hear the coaches. In warmups I heard one of them scream at one of L’s middle school classmates, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING, BEN RICHARDS?!?!”[2]

While the offense was running through their warm up sequence the head coach screamed at the quarterback who was indecisive on an option-read play “ACT LIKE A QUARTERBACK AND MAKE A PLAY!” Same kid who ran the play to perfection three times on that doomed drive in the game, so I guess he was paying attention.

My favorite coaching moment came in the fourth quarter. All the kids who are usually starters but being held out were acting like your normal, bored 14–15 year old kid. They were dancing, talking to people in the stands, and throwing balls on the sideline. In general not paying attention to the game.

The Irish forced a turnover with 4:00 left and were trying to drive down to take the lead and these kids were still throwing a ball around. It whizzed by a coach’s head. He turned around, intercepted the next toss, heaved it into the stands, and screamed at them, “THIS ISN’T FREAKING MIDDLE SCHOOL. KNOCK IT OFF AND PAY ATTENTION!”

I laughed out loud.

My other favorite part of the game was the mom who was sitting near me. Her kid was the quarterback. She was intense and involved, but I’m not sure she knew much about football. Every time he got tackled she would yell at the refs, “Hey! Get them off him!”

The very best moment, though, was when Cathedral got the ball down to the one yard line. Her son is probably 5’7”. She yelled down to him, “JUST JUMP OVER THEM!!”

I liked her enthusiasm but that seemed misguided. Fortunately he didn’t listen to her and snuck it in under the linemen. She made several other very unorthodox suggestions.

She also thought a PAT that was five yards short and wide was good. I just realized that she may have been drinking.

Anyway, I’m glad I was just there to watch casually and could laugh at all the silliness rather than get worked up by it.

  1. Fun fact: KU’s third and fourth string quarterbacks are both from the Indianapolis area!  ↩
  2. I’ve changed his name to protect his innocence.  ↩

Friday Playlist

September 1, 2023 /

“Labor Day” – The Dead Milkmen
How old do you have to be to get this song? Happy holiday!

“Truck” – illuminati hotties
This song is about mortality and whether or not heaven exists. Which is great. To me it hits as a late summer song for days when lounging in the pool has become routine but you’re not quite ready for fall to arrive.

“Alone Again” – Split System
These dudes sound like a punkier version of Jet. There is no connection between the bands – other than both being Australian – but I realized Jet has been around long enough that you could make the math work for the guys in Split System being their kids. Which is kind of weird.

“Stutter” – Elastica
I often reference Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist and how I enjoy its combination of brand new songs and older ones. This was in my playlist last week. At first listen I thought, “Holy shit, Elastica still has it! They even make the song sound like it’s from the 90s.” Then I checked and it is, in fact, from their debut big album, released in 1995. Oh well. Good to know there was more to that LP than just “Connection.”

“Goodbye to Music” – Flyying Colours
Our second Aussie act of the week. This gorgeous track is about FC songwriter Brodie Brümmer coming to terms with the damage he has done to his hearing in years as a professional musician, and how he has to give up the guilt associated with that to live a normal life. Kind of deep.

“Wondered” – The Hazmats
I had to triple check that this was new and not something from the mid-to-late eighties college music scene.

“Summer’s Over” – Jordana, TV Girl
I mean not officially, but basically. At least it will be next Tuesday when we get through another holiday weekend.

“Suspect Device” – Stiff Little Fingers
I heard this the other day for the first time in quite awhile. Northern Ireland’s answer to The Clash, SLF wrote strident songs inspired by The Troubles that were as powerful as anything else from that first wave of punk. This performance is from a 30th anniversary show in 2008. Also fun to check out a performance from the song’s first year of life.

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