Month: October 2023 (Page 2 of 2)

Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 91

October 11, 2023 / DB

Chart Week: September 29, 1984
Song: “On the Dark Side” – John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band
Chart Position: #24, 19th week on the chart (charted twice, see below). Peaked at #7 for two weeks in October/November.

The history of pop music is filled with opportunists. If an artist or musical style makes a big splash, you can be sure that soundalikes (or lookalikes) will soon follow.

At first glance that seems to be the case with “On the Dark Side.” I bet almost everyone who has ever heard it assumed, upon first listen, that it was Bruce Springsteen. From vocal tone and style to the sound of the band, almost everything about this track recalls Springsteen, specifically his song “She’s the One.”[1]

In the fall of 1984 it made sense for a record like this to become a hit. Bruce was in the midst of his leap from critical darling with a cult following to becoming one of the biggest stars in music. “Dancing in the Dark,” which peaked at #2 earlier in the summer, had just dropped from the Hot 100. “Cover Me,” the second single off of Born in the USA, moved into the top 10 this week. It was the perfect moment for record companies to push Springsteen soundalikes.

No one sounded more like The Boss than John Cafferty. Springsteen and Cafferty have eerily similar deep, gruff, raspy voices. Their bands both played classic, good-time, barroom rock ’n’ roll. You were as likely to hear a sax as a guitar in each band’s solo breaks. Hell, both were predominantly white groups with Black sax players. The acts were even named alike: Bruce Springsteen and the E. Street Band vs. John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band.

Ironically all those similarities kept Cafferty from earning a recording deal for years, as labels thought he and his band sounded too much like Bruce. But once Springsteen broke through, that became an advantage rather than a hindrance.

However, in this week’s countdown, Casey would have you believe that it was a forgotten movie getting a second life on cable TV that propelled this song onto the charts.

“On the Dark Side” was first released in 1983 as the featured single from Eddie and the Cruisers, a film about a fictional band with a mysterious lead singer. While John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band sang every word and played every note, the record was credited to the imaginary Eddie and the Cruisers.

The movie was a box office disaster, garnering poor reviews and lasting just three weeks in theaters. “On the Dark Side” did better, grinding out nine weeks on the chart, but it never got higher than #64.

The film soon wound up on HBO, where something about it connected with the audience and it got good ratings. Its VHS tape was doing decent business as well.

Scotti Bros., the label that published the soundtrack, noticed this ripple of popularity and re-released “On the Dark Side,” this time giving John Cafferty and his pals proper credit. Two months after entering the Hot 100 for the second time, it peaked at #7 for two weeks.

That HBO/home video traction combined with the success of the single led Embassy Pictures to send the movie back to theaters in the fall of 1984. But, again, no one watched, and it was yanked after one week.[2]

I thought it was interesting that Casey suggested that the single’s success was due more to those folks who were watching the movie at home than to Cafferty’s uncanny vocal resemblance to Bruce Springsteen. I suppose that’s the angle Scotti Bros. and the band’s representation wanted to push. Americans love a good second chance story, so it made sense to play up that angle of this song’s unlikely path to popularity rather than acknowledge the elephant in the room.

I was just becoming a Springsteen fan in 1984, so while I heard the obvious common elements, I didn’t get all fired up about Cafferty ripping Bruce off. Years later, when I heard the entire Born to Run album for the first time, and that opening section of “She’s the One” came on, I was floored. “HOLY SHIT!” I thought. “PEOPLE WERE RIGHT, THEY TOTALLY RIPPED OFF BRUCE!”

It’s probably not fair to call this a complete rip off. After its opening section it takes a different path than “She’s the One.” But everything else about it remains firmly within the Springsteen tent. While the lyrics might lack the specific literary details that The Boss was famous for, they still bump up against his territory. There’s a big, honkin’ sax solo. The drums sound much like Max Weinberg’s style of play.[3] If anything, “On the Dark Side” sounds like Springsteen cranked to 11, with every aspect taken it its absolute max.

The question I ask myself today is, if you eliminate those Springsteen connections, forget about whether this is a ripoff or a cynical marketing exercise, pretend that you’ve never heard the insanely incredible experience that is “She’s the One,” is this still a good record? I say yes.

Those opening piano notes immediately grab your attention. The bass and jangling guitar coming in together build terrific tension, which is broken by the first snap of the snare. Then it turns into a pretty straight forward banger. It’s easy to sing along with Cafferty. It’s hard not to clap your hands, tap your toes, or bang your steering wheel along to the rhythm.[4] As the track fades, I don’t think it leaves you with any great emotional release or epiphany. I do know that your heart should be beating a little faster. Which is the ultimate goal of most rock stars, whether they are Bruce Springsteen or opportunists chasing a trend. 7/10

As it was such a big part of this piece, it seems a shame not to include a video for “She’s the One,” too. While this live performance has a different intro, which subtracts from the commonalities between songs, I’ve always thought this performance was unreal. You see a band that is totally locked in. It’s no surprise that other bar bands on the east coast were chasing what Bruce and his band were doing.

I listened to Born to Run while writing this. Its brilliance gets lost a little because of time (it’s almost 50 years old!) and because of how many other artists have tried to weave its magic into their music. But, God damn is that a great album! ↩
While researching this song I found that the creative team behind the movie blamed the timing of each theatrical release for the movie’s failure. Both times Eddie and the Cruisers hit the big screen in September. They insisted that it was aimed at a high school audience and would have done better with a summer release. I kind of get that argument. But as a former high school student, I can confirm that I saw many movies between the months of September and May. ↩
I should note they sound more like Weinberg’s technique in the ‘80s than ‘70s, although I think this was as much about production techniques as how he played. ↩
I feel like I’ve used this description many times in these posts. If a song forces you to visibly keep the beat, that’s usually a good sign. ↩

Reader’s Notebook, 10/10/23

October 10, 2023 / DB

I just started a book that is probably going to take me a few weeks to get through. Seems like a good moment to clear out the queue so I don’t forget about these two.

We Cast a Shadow – Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Writers have been using the “how far would you go to protect your child” trope for ages. Many of us can relate to it in a strongly emotional way, so it often works.

Here Maurice Carlos Ruffin takes that idea and places it in a near-future world where things are, to put it mildly, not good for Black folks in America. Things are so bad, in fact, that many Americans with dark skin are pouring their savings into treatments that will “de-melanize” them, a painful and sometime unsuccessful process that slowly lightens their skin to the point where they can pass as white.

Our narrator has effectively won the lottery. The law firm he works for has a periodic competition amongst its Black associates to earn a coveted promotion to shareholder status. It is a competition more about debasing yourself more than your opponents than proving you are the best lawyer or can generate the most billable hours. The losers? Their lives as attorneys are basically over, and are forced to find new employment. Mr. Narrator wins, though, and his victory brings not just security but enough money to begin his son’s de-melanization. The son is dubious about the process. His wife, who is white, is strongly against it.

Over the course of the book the narrator makes a series of progressively more frustrating decisions, all with the goal of paying for his son’s treatment and putting him on the path for a better life. As you might expect, things don’t go as the narrator plans.

This is a satirical novel that is often hilarious. It is also quite troubling. Those questions of how far you’ll go for your kids are always fraught. The hoops Ruffin puts his narrator through seem maddening. But as a white, male, American I don’t know that I could ever fully understand the choices he is forced to make.

Also unsettling is that the new America Ruffin builds doesn’t seem that ridiculous. He bases little pieces of that future world on things that are happening right now, such as the dishonest fights over school curriculums. It feels like his book is as much a warning about the path we are on as it is a speculative piece of fiction. It is also a reminder that we have all been programmed to look out for our own interests first and to be suspicious of the collective good, making it easier to divide us and restrict the rights of anyone who is a little different.

With A Mind to Kill – Anthony Horowitz
It took me several months to get to Horowitz’s final book in his James Bond trilogy, so I kind of forgot where things were left. Apparently Bond was brainwashed by the Soviets and sent back to London to kill M. That plot was thwarted and Bond was “re-programmed,” but it was announced that M had died in hopes the Soviets would attempt to sneak 007 back to Moscow, where he could undermine their efforts from the inside.

That’s pretty much what happened. There’s a woman involved, of course. The Russian baddies are all bad. Bond does good things in the end and saves the world.

I didn’t find this one as compelling or interesting as the first two in the series. But I’ll still take a gander at some of Horowitz’s non-Bond mysteries at some point.

Weekend Notes

October 9, 2023 / DB

Going to flip things up a bit, as our family had a rough week that’s worth getting caught up on first.

Squad News

Monday M got diagnosed with mono. She’s been sick for weeks and it took a turn last weekend, so she went and got checked. She told us she could see the test turn positive from across the room. So she REALLY has mono, I guess. She had a terrible couple of days but after starting on some steroids, improved pretty rapidly.

She ended up coming home for the weekend – UC is off Monday and one of her local buddies offered her a ride – so she was able to have some downtime away from the dorm. When she was awake she seemed pretty normal, but she did sleep even longer than usual. Hopefully she’s on the right path for recovery. Funny how when your kid gets mono everyone you know has to tell you the story of the person they knew who missed a year of school when they got it. I know one of those people, so I understand some of those stories are legit.[1]

Otherwise she seems to be doing great at school.

That wasn’t our worst health news of the week. Friday morning L cracked heads with a teammate in practice and failed a concussion test after. She went to class for a bit but started to feel bad and I picked her up around 11. She had all the classic symptoms – headache, dizziness, light sensitivity – and they were pretty bad both Friday and Saturday. Sunday they hadn’t improved much but she was feeling a little more like herself.

The girl she knocked heads with is a good friend of hers. She stopped by Sunday to give L a bag of candy, which was nice.

Obviously we’re being very careful. She’s anxious to get back to school and on the court. We told her to slow her roll, it’s better to miss some time and have to make school work up and catch up in practice than get hit again before she is healed and miss even more time.

C didn’t have any issues last week. But we are still working to get her back issue figured out. She’s had an injection that didn’t work, seen a back specialist, and a spine specialist. Friday she goes back to the spine specialist for a more advanced injection he hopes can give her some relief.

HS Football

Friday was the first time Cathedral played Roncalli, the Catholic school on the south side of Indy, during the regular season in 13 years. They used to play every season and often played in the state tournament before Cathedral moved up two classes.

Roncalli won a state title three years ago and were very good last year but are a little down again. Friday the Irish killed them 42–0, extending their winning streak in the series to 13.

I only heard a few possessions as I was picking M up right when the game started. She laughed because one of her UC friends graduated from RHS and was going to the game. He said he was only going because his dad was making him and it was stupid to go because “We’re going to be down 30–0 at halftime.” It was, indeed, 28–0 at half.

Now it’s on to the final week of the regular season, the big Center Grove game. Center Grove is ranked #2 in the state but #23 in the country, so pretty much the same old same old down there.[2] Because a huge crowd is expected and CG is still complaining about having to play on real grass two years ago, the game has been moved to Butler’s stadium. Not sure if I’m going or not yet. I have a big day Saturday and have yet to determine if going to a game Friday night fits with those plans.

The Irish have adjusted their offense and played much better the last four weeks but it will take their best game of the year, by far, to hang with the three-time defending 6A champs.

Late Night

Friday night was also Late Night in Lawrence. Someone asked the question online if Late Night is washed. My response was “Of course it is.” The concept is 40 years old and pretty much every variation has been tried. If you expect anything more than silly/dumb skits and a ragged scrimmage you’re asking for way too much.

Where Late Night used to be the first chance for fans to see new players, we’ve now seen their highlight videos, seen them play on ESPN as high schoolers, seen viewed clips from summer pickup games, etc. In the transfer portal era we’ve even seen some of them play against their current teams. One of my buddies shared that he thought a guy who played for KU when we were in school was white until Late Night, which I thought was hilarious. No such issues these days.

(Lengthy aside: an underrated big day on the college hoops calendar back in our time was the first game after classes had started for the second semester. We always anxiously watched the tunnel the players came out of to make sure everyone was eligible. There was always one guy you were worried about. There was nothing like that moment of relief and elation when you saw Terry Brown or Alonzo Jamison walk onto the court in uniform. Of course today, when athletes take enough hours in the summer and online to stay eligible, kids have no idea about this flavor of anxiety.)

I say accept Late Night for what it is, the ceremonial start to the hoops season, and don’t ask any more of it.

College Football

We had a front blow through Friday night that crashed the temperatures. Saturday and Sunday were both cool and blustery. Which made each day perfect for sitting on my ass and watching football.

The Oklahoma-Texas game was awesome. I was super entertained for the three-plus hours it took the Sooners to pull out the win. And while I hate both schools for leaving the Big 12, I always lean OU in that game since they were a Big 8 school, so I was pleased with the result.

I was super nervous about the KU-Central Florida game. We knew Jalon Daniels would not be playing, which meant KU would feature the run. UCF’s defensive strength is their interior line. Seemed like it could go sideways pretty easily. I was both nervous about losing and about what an L would mean for the season. Drop this game, at home, and the road to bowl eligibility gets a lot tougher, many of the hopes of August quashed in early October.

Silly me. The Jayhawks manhandled those fools. One snap into the second half it was 31–0. Methodical marches down the field. Great defense (in the first half). A punt return touchdown for the first time in nine years. A 75-yard TD to open the second half. Other than the D getting torched in the second half and keeping one of the Indy boys from getting to play quarterback, it was almost a perfect game.

399 yards rushing on the day Tony Sands went into the Ring of Honor was perfect, too. In an ironic twist, my buddy Sweets, who missed Tony’s then NCAA record game in 1991 was unable to watch Saturday. We let him know about it.

So, Jalon… Super concerning. Especially since he apparently didn’t even come to the stadium to watch. Which is weird.

I have four theories, offered in order of likelihood:
1 – His injury continues to baffle doctors and he wasn’t actually in Lawrence but somewhere else seeing a specialist.
2 – He’s already had some kind of surgery and they’re trying to hide it.
3 – KU and Daniels/his family disagree on the best way to treat the injury and because of that he stayed away.
4 – Daniels has shut himself down for the year and was told to stay away from the stadium if that was his choice.

I can’t see JD not being around to support his teammates if he was able, so I doubt options 3 or 4 are the explanations. As the father of a kid with a back injury that experts have struggled to identity and treat, I totally get #1, which is no doubt way worse for a football player than just a random high school kid trying to get through her day.

He’s not been the same since he took that hit against TCU last year, and back injuries are never any joke. I’m hoping there’s a reasonable explanation and a path towards getting healthy and playing again before this season is complete. It would be very KU football, though, if his season/career is over.

Once again KU should be super happy Jason Bean decided to come back. He has some flaws, and I worry about how he’ll manage once teams dare him to make throws consistently. But he’s a hell of a second option and definitely good enough to win another game or two.

And I keep telling myself don’t let the drama around Daniels distract from a second-straight 5–1 start. Last year KU fans were thinking, “Can we win one more game?” This year it is “How many more can we win?” It’s kind of weird to hear national broadcasters praise KU football.

After KU I flipped between the evening games, but mostly watched Notre Dame – Louisville. That turned into an ass-kicking. The Irish, again, are frauds.

At some point in the evening S complained that she felt like she hadn’t accomplished anything all day. I pointed out she went to a friend’s house to take out some stitches and took M to both Costco and Target.

I, on the other hand, had been sitting on the couch watching football for nine hors at that point.

C helped me out, though. “Hey, you yelled a lot for awhile so you got your heart rate up.”

She’s my favorite for the moment.

Colts

What a weekend for the Colts!

Saturday they announced they had re-signed Jonathan Taylor after his holdout and that he would play on Sunday. I was torn on this. He makes the Colts better, but they are now paying like five guys a quarter of their salary cap, and three of those guys have concerning injury histories. Another potentially bad contract as the team tries to rebuild around Anthony Richardson. But, when healthy, Taylor will take pressure off of Richardson.

Sunday Taylor played a few snaps, but his replacement, Zack Moss, had the game of his life. Nearly 200 total yards, 160+ on the ground against one of the best run D’s in the game. Moss makes a hell of a lot less than Taylor, so now the new contract looks kind of dumb?

Moss was huge in the Colts beating Tennessee and pulling into a tie for first place. Which was even more impressive since Richardson got hurt for the third time this season, leaving the game with a shoulder injury. Apparently my teams can’t have good, young quarterbacks.

Again, great to have a competent backup, in this case Gardner Minshew.

I wrapped up the weekend watching a good chunk of the Cowboys-Niners game. Woodsheds, ass kickings, and whatnot. San Francisco looked awesome, which makes me even more sure that one or more of their stars is going to have a leg amputated or something next week.

What up, Em? ↩
Brownsburg is ranked #1 in Indiana, but only #50 nationally. Cathedral is #8 and #212. ↩

Friday Playlist

October 6, 2023 / DB

“Spring” – Briston Maroney
“Autumn” – The Gaslight Anthem
That’s right, we’re getting crazy with the seasons this week! Here two new songs representing the opposing equinoxes. Oddly enough, I find both songs to sound very fall-like, if in different ways.

“Waiting for a Cloud” – Golden Apples
And then we get this song, which was released about three months too late, as it seems perfect for summertime.

“Another Fire” – Voxtrot
Always weird when a band takes a long-ass hiatus then returns making good music. This is Voxtrot’s first new music in 14 years. Hell, it was 2007 when they had their “moment,” as much as that was. This is a really, really nice comeback effort.

“Lessons Learnt” – Floodlights
This week’s entry from my Discovery Weekly playlist. These cats are Aussies, which should be apparent pretty quickly. I hear some weird combination of Midnight Oil and AC/DC in their music. The Midnight Oil elements are obvious. The AC/DC is all in the central riffs the song is built around, even if those riffs aren’t quite as powerful as Angus Young would have made them.

“Dope Demise” – The Stacks
Like Voxtrot, The Stacks are from Austin. This is one of two songs I came across this week that celebrate the glory of the guitar solo. I’ll save the other one for next week.

“Summer Soft” – Stevie Wonder
It is supposed to be in the upper 30s Monday morning. Summer’s gone.

“The Modern Leper” – Julien Baker covering Frightened Rabbit
It had been awhile since I heard this. Naturally when it came on it made me both happy and sad, as all Frightened Rabbit references do.

“Blood and Roses” – The Smithereens
I know I heard this at some point in the past week, I forget if it was in Austin or Indy. It’s never a bad time to remind the world how good The Smithereens were.

Sports Notes

October 4, 2023 / DB

NFL

Four weeks into the NFL season and I’m not sure what to make of things. Is there a single team that deserves unquestioned trust?

The Chiefs lost at home to Detroit opening night, righted themselves over the next two weeks, then apparently looked kind of crappy against the Jets last Sunday before escaping with a win.

The Bills played lethargic football against the undermanned Jets in week one, but have been kind of awesome since.

Miami hung 70 points on Denver, then lost by four touchdowns the next week.

Dallas has made a strong argument as the most complete team in the league. Well, other than losing to Arizona.

Philly is 4–0 but have been far from impressive getting there.

The 49ers are also 4–0, which means one of their stars is almost guaranteed to get hurt this week.

The top of the league seems kind of jumbled and uncertain, plenty of good teams but no great ones at the moment. Which I guess is a good thing as a casual fan of the game, as it makes for competitive games. Of course, any of those teams could go undefeated through October and a month from now we’ll be talking about how great they are.

For some reason I’m always surprised at how the Bears have been so bad for so long. 1985 was a long, long time ago, yet my brain keeps trying to convince me that they were still good until recently. They’ve been to the playoffs six times in the last 30 years. Is it just me or can other Gen Xers not get their heads around how long the Bears have been terrible?

I wasn’t able to watch the Colts Sunday, but it sounds like Anthony Richardson again dazzled. I caught a few minutes of ESPN’s NFL show Tuesday afternoon and I thought it was interesting that the panelists said they’ve seen enough, he is legit, and it’s time to start thinking about what moves the Colts need to make this offseason to both protect Richardson and put more weapons around him. He is still very raw, but is already making plays not many quarterbacks can make. I’m guessing if there was a re-draft, CJ Stroud would now be the #1 pick and playing in Carolina while Richardson would have gone #2 to Houston and the Colts would be, sadly, trying to keep Bryce Young from getting killed each week. Or maybe they would have traded down and chucked this season to go for Caleb Williams if they knew Jonathan Taylor would hold out.

NBA

What a crazy week in the association!

First, the Blazers trade Dame Lillard to Milwaukee as part of a three-team deal. Dame joining forces with Giannis made the Bucks the Eastern Conference favorites, at least temporarily.

My favorite part of the trade was Miami getting butt-hurt about being left out of the trade discussions. As if there was an obligation for Portland to make the deal that Dame wanted most but did not bring the best return for them. There was some pettiness on Portland’s part, which is kind of to be expected when the guy who still has four years left on his contract asks to be traded. But the Blazers were absolutely free to find a deal that gave them the best return as they rebuild around Scoot Henderson. Fuck Miami.

So for, what, three days the Bucks were conference favorites. Until Portland sent Jrue Holliday, who was part of their return for Lillard, to Boston. Suddenly the Celtics had one of the best perimeter defenders it the league and a thoroughly capable fourth option on offense. While there was some arguing amongst the experts, this trade made Boston at least co-favorites with Milwaukee, while some pushed the C’s into the top spot after the trade.

I loved all of this. Now we have two teams that are built to give the other absolute fits and will eye each other the entire regular season, likely battling for the top seed that would put a possible conference finals game seven on their home court. Should be a fascinating journey to get to those conference finals in late May.

And the Blazers absolutely kick-started their rebuild, assembling good pieces around the young core they already have while also grabbing a couple more established players that can be moved to add even more picks/youngsters to their stash.

I very much approve of teams making splashy moves like this. Dame or Jrue or one of their teammates could get hurt and blow this all up. Portland’s youth movement might never come together into a winner. The process sure wasn’t boring, though.

Man, the Lakers need to shut the fuck up. How do you whine about Denver talking a lot of trash last year after they swept you? Especially when the Nuggets went on to win the title. If a team sweeps your ass, they can say anything they want.

A team built around two aging, injury-prone stars should keep their mouths shut, lest the Hoops Gods notice and reward them by blowing out LeBron’s ankle again for wrecking AD’s back for the 1000th time.

MLB

I actually watched a baseball game on Tuesday, my first of the year! I didn’t plan on it, but when I was texting with L’s travel coach he said he was watching his Twins try to break their 18-game playoff losing streak. I had nothing else going on so flipped to the game. I was transfixed by the beautiful uniforms both the Twins and Blue Jays were wearing, and left it on as I did other things. I wouldn’t say I was super focused on the action, but at least I had it on. I even watched a couple innings of Arizona-Milwaukee later. I don’t know if this means I’m going to totally dive back in for the playoffs, but I may at least glance at them from moment-to-moment.

Travel Ball

Speaking of youth basketball, we finally got L’s assignment for the next travel season yesterday. I had been sweating it because I knew we were close to the deadline for rosters to be set.

As I’ve said several times, we knew the high school travel ball world is different, just not for sure what those differences were. At the final tryout the girls were told “if” they made a team, they would get an email in the next two weeks. “If.” Yikes.

It seemed like the past couple years it took a little over a week to get the assignment. But one of L’s best friends got hers last week and when L’s didn’t come, I started to panic a little.

Now I’m pretty sure that friend is going to play on a higher level team (there are three tiers of teams in high school), and figure that those teams come together first so they can fill holes.[1] But as each day went by without an email, I got more and more worried. I kept telling myself it would all work out, she will likely play a lot of minutes on the JV team this year so surely she’d land on a travel team, but she also wasn’t super happy with how she played in her tryouts, so you never know.

Fortunately the email arrived yesterday morning, coincidentally on her birthday. She’s staying with the coach she’s had the past two years, three of her teammates from those seasons are staying with her, along with one of her teammates from CHS. Another CHS girl may join them. It sounds like we might have zero size, although the coach is trying to find someone with height in the pool of remaining girls.

A lot of those girls try out for multiple programs and pick from their offers. I’m not sure if money is involved for ninth graders, but L’s friend chose the team that practices closest to her home. ↩

September Media

October 3, 2023 / DB

A pretty slow month for some reason. I guess tennis took up time at the beginning of the month, then I never really got into a groove? I was also listening to football on Fridays and watching a lot on Saturdays and Sundays, with the occasional Thursday and Monday game thrown in. Still kind of weird I watched zero movies.

Movies, Shows, etc

US Open
Watched more of the women than the men, but still tuned in most nights over the tournament’s run.

Hijack
Kind of like 24 but on a seven-hour plane ride. Lots of action and tension, there were plot holes big enough to fly an A350 through, but it mostly hits the right notes. Having Idris Elba spend a decent part of the show in an airline seat straining to look down the aisle was a perfect setting for his “Idris Elba Lean” look.

B+

Reservation Dogs, season two
I’m so happy a show like this exists. Some general wackiness, some truly heartbreaking moments, and a glimpse at a part of our country that most of us don’t know enough about, even if this is a fictionalized version.

B+

Seinfeld, Parks & Recreation
I watched a lot of these reruns during late afternoons and weekends. I wish P&R was in higher rotation on Comedy Central and not left to Saturdays and Sundays. I would love to rewatch more of it. Plus S likes it more than The Office.

A, A

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Turning The Titan Missile Key
“Turn your key, Sir.”

“ll Capo” (The Chief): a striking look at marble quarrying in the Italian Alps
As Fab Five Freddy would say, this is kinda incredible.

World’s fastest talking man sings Michael Jackson’s BAD in 20 seconds
I remember this guy. This bit seems like a uniquely 80s thing, doesn’t it? I love that there was a controversy around who really was the fastest talker in the world.

Trying Out for the US Open Ball Crew | Ball People
Kramer did it better.

Huge Lego Salmon fish Cutting
I think we still have some Lego boxes stashed away. There’s no reason I couldn’t do something like this and launch a lucrative YouTube career, right?

Rafting the most polluted river in Australia
Beau Miles’ videos have been getting more serious lately. I need to stop calling them bullshit, even jokingly, as they are quite the opposite of BS.

I picked up 10,000 bottles and cans because of Seinfeld
“We were indeed idiots.” OK, sometimes they still lean to the bullshit.

72 Hours Road Tripping through Oregon
It’s been too long since I’ve been to Oregon.

My family teaches you how to speak Baltimorese
Fun with regional accents!

NLU Film Room: Machrihanish
If someone paid my way to Scotland or Ireland, I would find a way to fight through my arthritic hands and play a few holes.

Music/Podcasts

Bill Simmons Podcast
After years of not listening, I’ve gotten back into Simmons’ pods. I feel bad that I missed so many Parent Corners, as I feel like I could have related to a lot of what he and Cousin Sal talk about since they have kids about the same ages as mine. A good way to get an audio overview of the NFL, too. Since he leans hard to the NBA and I’ve been leaning more that way over the past year, I’m looking forward to continuing to listen to him as the NBA season begins.

Lone Star Weekend

October 2, 2023 / DB

With a notable exception, I enjoyed a very good weekend down in Austin, Texas.

There were a couple motivations for going. One of my best buddies from college, E-bro, has lived there for something like 15 years. Another KU buddy, Billy Sweets, lives in Dallas. The three of us text pretty much every day, so much so that our wives and kids refer to the other two not as friends or buddies or pals, but as “your girlfriends.”

Also this was the final time KU will go to Austin to play football before the Longhorns leave for the SEC. I’ve been wanting to go down for a basketball game for years, but I could never work that into my calendar properly, mostly thanks to kid sports and those games often taking place on Monday nights. Once the Big 12 football schedule came out I started keeping my eye on flights for deal and nabbed a $100 roundtrip ticket during Southwest’s anniversary sale.[1]

I flew down super early Friday morning, leaving our house about 5:40. I got a couple Rock Chalks from fellow KU folks on my flight. We must have arrived the same time as a flight from Kansas City, as there were a ton of Jayhawks walking around the Austin airport.

E-bro picked me up and we headed directly to Franklin Barbecue to get in line. Despite arriving about 90 minutes before opening, there were already tons of people lined up in their lounge chairs passing time. We spent about an hour sitting in the rapidly warming sun before the doors opened and we could shuffle into some shade. It was another two hours before we got to the front of the line and placed our order. The only good thing about that was that initial rush had cleared and the tables weren’t completely packed. Even though E and I text every day, we hadn’t seen each other in person in seven years, so there was plenty to catch up on as we waited.

I ordered a Tipsy Texan sandwich, which featured chopped brisket and sausage along with slaw. It was very good, although the slaw was not my favorite style, dry and vinegary instead of creamy. Weird to have barbecue without fries, which Texans apparently don’t do. The food was definitely worth the wait, although I would not say it’s the very best barbecue I’ve ever had. I promise I was eating with an open mind, not reflexively knocking it below KC ‘cue.

The lady who was taking and building orders chatted everyone up as she worked. When she saw our KU shirts she told us she was from Wichita and hoped to move back and open her own restaurant there some day. Our little five minute interaction must have gone well from her perspective, because she gave us a couple big-ass beef ribs for free.

E showed me around Austin a little before we headed to his home in the hills of Westlake. I got to see one of his kids I hadn’t seen since he was a baby, meet another for the first time, and see his wife for the first time in over 20 years. We chilled out for a bit, I took a short nap, then we headed out to grab some appetizers and beer in a fancy suburban area.

Billy Sweets was driving down after work and didn’t arrive until around 9:30. I hadn’t seen him since my wedding, the last time the three of us were together. It was great fun both catching up and doing the obligatory telling 30-year-old stories that still make you laugh until you cry. We went to school with some wackos.

Saturday we kept it low key, just getting breakfast tacos before the game. I’ve been hearing them complain about the Texas heat for four months so was not looking forward to a 2:30 PM game in the sun. We wanted to minimize any time away from AC before we were obligated to sit outside.

We sunscreened- and hatted-up before heading downtown to the stadium. I was trying to think of what the biggest sporting event I’ve ever been to was, and I guess it’s been Chiefs games where there are 80,000 people. So pretty crazy to go to a stadium where there are twenty thousand more people than that, almost all dressed in burnt orange. There were quite a few KU people, but the orange was so overwhelming and we were so scattered you couldn’t really pick out the KU folks in the stands, only see them when you walked around the concourses. Random UT fans came over and greeted/welcomed us, asking where we were from, and wishing us luck while insisting that we enjoy our time in Austin. That was kind of great. One very nice older woman also directed us to a tent where a hospital was giving out free towels that had been dunked in ice. These might literally have been life savers.

It was in the mid–90s all day, with the sun either directly above us or moving so it was in our faces. It really makes you appreciate what the players are going through when you are suffering just standing around.

We wandered about a bit before the game. The concourses were totally packed with people hanging out in the shade as long as possible. As we walked through the crowds E suddenly shouted “DTae!” 2018 Big 12 player of the year and first team All American Devonté Graham was walking towards us. As he passed I shouted “DEVONTÉ!” and he came to a complete stop and looked at me. I reached out and yelled, “WHAT’S UP?” He slapped my hand back, saying, “Hey man,” and moved on to another group of KU people. Good of him to drive up from San Antonio for the game.

You all know I don’t do well with celebrity encounters so I felt like this was a big moment for me. Now I’ve accosted two former KU guards in public, Mario Chalmers being the other.

So we get to our seats – eighth row inside the 20 yard line behind the KU bench, pretty good! – and I get a text from one of my KU buddies in KC saying that Jalon Daniels was out for the game.

Fucking great.

Now we’re going to sit in the brutal heat for four hours against maybe the best team in the country without our starting quarterback.

We had been counting “wins” all morning, from getting a good parking spot to the cold towel tip to running into DTae. So much for any good karma we had been trying to find in the day. It would be an understatement to say we lost most of our enthusiasm for the day.

We weren’t feeling any better after KU got one first down then punted and Texas scored quickly after.

It was a weird game, though. KU couldn’t do much on offense, running pretty basic sets to account for the absence of Daniels. But we kept hanging in there. The defense would give up a big play, then hold. Texas missed a field goal late in the first half, and another in the third quarter. KU scored a touchdown on a bizarre play and it was just 13–7 Texas at halftime. We dropped some balls, Jason Bean made some bad decisions, but we were still right in it. When Bean threw a 58-yard touchdown to Trevor Wilson to cut it to 20–14, we went nuts.

Then it all came apart when we had third and inches late in the third quarter and called consecutive bad plays, fumbling on the fourth down attempt. I was 100% fine with going for it. It was going to take a lot of crazy stuff for us to win, and I thought it was worth the risk. But Bean made awful reads each time and you should never run the shotgun when you need inches to get a first down. Liked the gamble but hated the play call and execution. Texas scored seconds later and the fourth quarter turned into a rout. E, Sweets, and I watched a lot of KU football losses together back in the Nineties, so it was like old times.[2]

Even if Jalon had been healthy and played well, beating Texas in Austin was going to be very, very difficult. It was a big bummer to get the news early that JD wasn’t playing, and the fourth quarter sucked, but in between KU showed how far the program has come. A couple drunk students/recent students tried to talk some shit as we walked out, which we took as another sign of how far KU football has come.

One funny/frustrating story from the stands. The guy standing behind us was some “football expert” and broke down each play to the people around him before the snap. “OK, see how the safeties are up? This is going to be a run play.” Or, “They’re bringing pressure, we have to go outside here.” We’re not sure if the people sitting with him were listening or he was just talking to himself. The funny part was that he was wrong like 75% of the time when he predicted the play. I wanted to turn around and ask him what high school team he coaches, what their record is, and if he’d ever sent his resumé into UT. But it was too hot to turn around so I kept my sarcastic comments to myself.

It was, of course, a nightmare getting out of the stadium area. That’s a lot of freaking people in a true, big city downtown. It was probably an hour all together from when we left the stadium until we got to where we could drive the speed limit.

We landed at a restaurant for pizza and beers, then back to E’s for more beer, football, and BSing on the couch.

I was supposed to fly back early Sunday but changed my flight to the evening non-stop so that we could do a leisurely breakfast before Sweets headed back to Dallas. After he left, E and I did some more driving around, this time going through campus, his old neighborhood, some of the quirky and fun Austin areas, and the park where they were setting up for the Austin City Limits festival. We even drove by the restaurant one of my sisters-in-law helped open about 10 years ago. It was, again, like 96, so we did all our exploring by car. The Texas guys give me grief about Indiana winters all the time. Not sure how you live somewhere where it’s been in the 90s and 100s and 110s just about every day since early May.

Travel was easy, no real stories from that other than the guy in front of me in the TSA line in Austin attempting to get through security without any form of government ID. He did have a prescription bottle. Not sure how that was going to work out for him.

It was great to get away and have a dudes weekend with two pretty good dudes. They both have kids at Baylor,[3] so maybe the next KU trip to Waco should be our excuse to get together again before another 20 years pass.

I paid almost as much for parking as for my plane ticket. ↩
Sweets and I even watched KU lose to SMU in Dallas in 2001 together. ↩
E’s youngest son is a freshman at Baylor and came home for the weekend. He’s actually a bigger KU fan, and went with us to the game wearing KU gear. ↩