D's Notebook

Month: November 2024 (Page 1 of 2)

Friday Vid

November 29, 2024 /

No playlist this week, as the days have passed too quickly and I’ve been too busy to cobble together a few songs. Doesn’t mean I will skip sharing a video from the Billboard Hot 100 chart of December 1, 1984.

“(Pride) In The Name Of Love” – U2
Last week was Madonna, which launched us towards 1985 and her ascension to pop music royalty. This week we get the first U2 song to crack the Top 40 in the US. It would take a couple more years, but soon U2 would be the biggest band in the world. It took me a few months to get into the band, as well. I bought The Unforgettable Fire sometime in the spring of 1985. That March I hung out with my uncle, who was into music, one evening. As we drove around, I played this song over-and-over, using his car stereo’s super-cool auto-reverse feature to quickly jump back to the beginning each time it ended. A few years later I noticed he had a vinyl copy of the album in his collection. My gift to him after years of him teaching me about bands.

It took six weeks, but this track nosed into the Top 40 at #39 on this countdown. It would rise to #33 before falling off the chart. About 30 months later the band would earn back-to-back #1 songs.

Kind of crazy that of all the bands I’ve included in this 1984 retrospective, U2 is still, in some ways, bigger than they were 40 years ago. Their singles aren’t as big as back then, but when they tour, they are pretty much guaranteed to sell out football stadiums. I think Springsteen is the only other artist from this series who is still alive and still touring who can make that claim.

Reader’s Notebook, 11/27/24

November 27, 2024 /

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Hope your travels and gatherings are safe and enjoyable.

The Right Stuff – Tom Wolfe
Somewhere I ran across an author/poster I follow who mentioned that they had recently read this book. In their blurb, they said something about not loving Wolfe’s writing style but still enjoying the book.

I’ve never read any of Wolfe’s work before. At least for this piece, I loved his writing and the book.

I have seen the 1983 movie based on The Right Stuff many, many times. Or at least parts of it, back when it used to run on cable often. So I knew the basic story, the tale of the seven astronauts selected for the United States’ Mercury project designed to put a man in orbit. The movie is fun.

The book is more fun.

Wolfe writes in a breezy style that you are never quite sure if he’s totally into the mythology of the astronauts or making fun of it. That gets applied to everyone involved in the story, from the astronauts’ wives to politicians to NASA administrators to the media of the era. He often adopts the perspective of his subjects, and does so in a very 1950s, gee-whiz manner. This is a serious subject, but he never takes it too seriously. He’s not looking to explain the science behind putting a man into space, but rather exploring the personalities involved and the public reaction to them.

The Sun Down Motel – Simone St. James
Another one of the “scary” books I put on hold back in early October that also came through after the spooky season had ended. And, again, it worked out perfectly, as this book is split into two overlapping sections, one in November 1982, the other in November 2017. You know how I am about reading books in their proper moment in the calendar.

In the 1982 portion, Viv is on her way to a new life in New York City from Illinois before she gets stranded in a strange little town in rural New York. To earn some cash to complete her trip to the city, she begins working the overnight shift at a small motel. A motel where weird shit happens. She eventually learns of a series of strange deaths and disappearances, and begins investigating them. This leads to trouble.

In the more modern section, Viv’s niece Carly moves to that same small town to look into the disappearance and presumed death of her aunt 35 years early. She stays in the same apartment, gets the same job, and runs into some of the same creepy stuff her aunt ran into. And she begins finding connections between her aunt’s disappearance and the ones Aunt Viv was looking into.

This is one of those books where the resolution isn’t super surprising. How St. James get there is what makes the book fun. There is some truly creepy stuff and a highly satisfying and deserved end for one character. A good page turner as we drift into the dark months.

Weekend Notes

November 25, 2024 /

The last weekend update before we dive neck-deep into the holiday season.

KU Football

How ‘bout them Jayhawks?!?!?! Taking the Colorado Buffaloes out to the woodshed on the sturdy legs of Devin Neal. There could not have been a more appropriate day for #4 to go off than the 33rd anniversary of Tony Sands’ record-breaking performance. It was even sweeter after Buffaloes “senior quality control analyst” Warren Sapp trashed pretty much everything about KU in a video he posted last week. Zero respect for Neal or Jalon Daniels or any other Jayhawk. Yet, aside from a couple big plays by Travis Hunter, which will happen no matter what you do, the Jayhawks completely dominated that game.

As was trumpeted often during and after the game, KU became the first school in the entire history of college football to beat three consecutive ranked teams while having a losing record. That’s kind of an odd piece of trivia, since it suggests that you likely either had a hugely disappointing start to the season, had a series of injuries to important players who eventually returned, a lot of bad luck, or a combination of all that. I think option D applies to KU. Regardless, crazy that they are a win away from becoming bowl eligible. Just little, ol’ Baylor stands in the way, which should be easy after going to Provo and beating BYU a week ago, right?

For the record, after the BYU win I told two KU buddies – who both have kids at Baylor – that we were going to beat Colorado then likely blow it in Waco. Going to hate it if I nailed both sides of that prediction.

Once again, major props to the KU coaches and players for hanging in there through all the heartbreak and negatives of the first half of the season and rebounding to become the team we expected back in August. If only they had jumped on that fumble against UNLV, or got one stop against West Virginia or Arizona State, or hung on to the touchdown against K-State…

Oh, and what an amazing day from Devin Neal! I was at that Tony Sands game and remember how KU basically ran the same play over-and-over in the second half and Missouri couldn’t do a thing about it. That’s what happened to Colorado Saturday. Devin put the game on his shoulders and made sure there was no way the Jayhawks were going to lose it. A great final home game for a great, great Jayhawk. Truly one of the greatest ever.

IU

Welp, saw that coming a mile away.

I was kind of in the middle on IU. Yes, they hadn’t played anyone good. Or, better said, they hadn’t played a team that was playing well this year. Michigan and Washington both look like great wins in the media guide. But both teams are also thoroughly mediocre this year. However, IU had also 100% been killing everyone they played other than Michigan. Most notably, they crushed Nebraska a week after the Huskers almost won on the road at Ohio State.

They reminded me a little of the 2007 Jayhawks, who had some great media guide wins (at KSU, at CU, at A&M, at Oklahoma State) but had the immense bad luck of all those teams being down that season. When the Jayhawks got to 11–0 before the Mizzou game, there was a lot of national debate about how good KU truly was.

So I sympathized with IU fans this past week, as so many national writers wrote them off before they had the chance to prove themselves against OSU.

I was always pro-big playoff. As we approach the first 12-team football bracket, I’m re-thinking that stance. It sure seems like it’s going to be the SEC Invitational with Special Guest the Big Ten. Create these giant conferences where only a truly elite team can get through with one or zero losses, then tout the strength of your league as defense for teams losing three games but still deserving a crack at the national title. The politicking is already exhausting.

Is IU one of the eight best teams in the country after the four bye teams? I think so. They might be 11th or 12th, but they’re in there. With one exception they’ve beaten everyone on their schedule, which is all you can ask for.

I think there needs to be room in this expanded system for teams like IU, or ’07 KU, traditional doormats who come out of nowhere with a miracle season. I keep hearing analysts give Alabama, etc. credit for the history of their program. Which is asinine. All that should matter is this year. But if we’re going to the history books to determine this year’s playoff, the teams that have never been there before deserve a boost. Curt Cignetti has done wonders in Bloomington. Honestly, though, this might be the Hoosiers only shot to ever make the playoff. Reward that over a team that is always in the playoffs.

That said, Alabama would probably kill IU. That’s not the point, though.

Determining a division one college football champion has always been an imperfect system. Expanding to a 12-team playoff doesn’t really fix anything the issues that have been there for over 100 years. It will turn the game into more of a mirror of college hoops, where the best team usually does not win the title but rather the team that gets hot for three weeks. And the ultimate benefactors will be the powers that have dominated the game in the modern era, the Bamas, the Georgias, the Ohio States rather than even the second-tier teams in their own conferences.

Colts

Sunday was, maybe, the last nice day of the year here, so S and I did a lot of stuff in and around the house while we had a chance. Thus I only kept a partial eye on the Colts. Losing to the Lions was expected. Anthony Richardson seemed to regress a bit, with several wild-ass throws that had no chance to be caught. But, again, his receivers gave him little help and the offensive line was truly offensive.

Even if Richardson, miraculously, figures some things out between now and next season, this team feels a long way from being a legit contender in the AFC. Too many holes on both sides of the ball, holes that a franchise that doesn’t traditionally go crazy in the free agent market will struggle to fill. Unless Crazy Jim Irsay thinks the end is near and starts spending like a fool.

Pacers

Oh yeah, the Pacers are definitely a mess, too. Fortunately the Sixers are a bigger mess so Indiana is not getting as much national attention for how far they’ve fallen from last spring’s playoff form.

I listen to a bunch of NBA podcasts. I laugh at how, each time the Pacers come up, attention turns to Tyrese Haliburton and how his game has fallen apart. Then, as almost an afterthought, the hosts will close the segment by muttering, “Maybe he’s hurt…”

I legit don’t get why this is in question. He doesn’t move or shoot the way he did last year. Every time he checks out of the game, trainers strap a huge pad to his back and then he sits on one of those giant seat pads like what Joel Embiid sits on. Whether it’s a strain, a pull, a disk issue, or something else, the Pacers and Hali won’t share. But unless/until his back heals, the Pacers have no chance. Even in the weak-as-hell Eastern Conference.

High School Hoops

One week down in L’s stress fracture absence. A couple of good games, both JV and varsity going 1–1.

Tuesday we played the #2 4A team in the state, HSE, a team that has three top 60 recruits. One is the senior who is going to IU next year that L got switched onto twice in summer ball to my great amusement, plus two juniors who have lots of D1 offers. Last year HSE beat us by 35 and returned basically their entire team.

Varsity played their asses off. They held the IU recruit, who was averaging over 30 points a game, to just 19. Which is huge since she’s 6’4” and our tallest girl is 5’11”. Fortunately she prefers to shoot 3’s and didn’t hit one. We trailed by about 15 in the third quarter before making a strong run. We cut the deficit down to four a couple times but just didn’t have the offensive game to make it closer. We ended up losing by 11 but our girls played really well. Our coach usually isn’t into moral victories but was super pleased.

JV lost a very sloppy game. L was convinced had she played the Irish would have won. I like her confidence but that might be stretching it.

Then Friday we played the #9 3A team in the state, JC, who beat us by 17 last year. Their best player from that team is now a freshman at Michigan State, but they return a junior who dropped 28 on us last year and almost single-handedly turned a tie game with 2:00 left into a JC win during a summer tournament game.

We rallied just before halftime to cut a nine-point deficit to six before blowing the game open in the second half. We out-scored them 20–2 in the third quarter, got the lead up to as much as 13 before holding off a few runs and eventually winning by 12. A great, great win for our girls. They have to be scrappy to beat people this year and were definitely that in the second half. The freshman who is the future star of the program had 18 points, five rebounds, and five steals. She runs hot and cold, in pretty much every way, and was the right combo of that most of the night.

JV had no real issues, other than a rough five minute stretch in the third quarter. They are 3–2, varsity 2–3.

This is a tough week, with games against two 4A schools that are both 3–1. However, we are ranked ahead of both of them in the all-class computer rankings, likely thanks to our strength of schedule. Our girls need to stay scrappy.

Friday Playlist

November 22, 2024 /

“Drive” – R.E.M.
This playlist took a long time to come together, so I had to call in a couple ringers to bookend the new music. To open, this week’s The Alternative Number Ones over at Stereogum (subscription required). A little shocked Tom only gave it a 9.

“People Watching” – Sam Fender
Everyone’s favorite Americana-loving Brit is back! For Fender’s upcoming album, The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel offered some production help, including on this track. Fender already had a toe in the shadow of the TWOD sound, so nothing is tweaked too much here.

“Ohio All The Time” – Momma
A lot of folks in Indiana have been thinking about Ohio all the time this week.

“Zelda” – TOLEDO
Let’s keep it in Ohio. This song sounds like it could have been an out-take from a Sufjian Stevens album in the early 2000s, from the vocals to the banjo to the horns pretty much everything else about it.

“Supermum!” – Adore
Speaking of throwbacks, this Irish trio sounds like one of those mid-90s bands like Elastica or Republica.

“As Good As It Gets” – Katie Gavin with Mitski
Another stellar track from Gavin’s new solo album. I’m overdue in checking it out.

“Listen, The Snow Is Falling” – Galaxie 500 covering Yoko Ono
Not today, but it was yesterday. A new record for November snow in Indy, the airport checking in at 3″. It was a perfect snow day: it snowed pretty much all day, but because it had been almost 70 two days earlier, the roads never got covered or even slick. By midnight most of it had melted. It was still stupidly cold thanks to the windchill. All the long-rang forecasts say we should get less snow than normal this year. Hopefully this was a blip and not an indicator those looks ahead are way off.

“Like A Virgin” – Madonna
Depending how I handle the holiday weekends, we have anywhere from three-to-five of these video looks back to 1984 left. Today we have the last monster hit of 1984, capping off the greatest year in pop music history while setting the stage for 1985 when Madonna would ascend to Michael-Prince-Lionel status. It was at #38 in only its second week in the Hot 100, and would become the final #1 song of 1984 four weeks later. It continued to top the chart for the first five weeks of 1986. Madge had arrived.

Also, we were in Venice two years ago this week and didn’t see any lions walking around. Or hot girls dancing in the canals. I feel gipped.

Reaching For The Stars, Vol. 106

November 21, 2024 /

Chart Week: November 9, 1985
Song: “You Belong To The City” – Glenn Frey
Chart Position: #4, 9th week on the chart. Peaked at #2 for two weeks.

The fall of 1985 was one of those proverbial Big Times in my life.

I was a freshman in high school, which brought all kinds of new excitement and perils each day.

The Royals got hot late in the season, came back from two 3–1 post-season deficits, and won the World Series for the first time ever.

My mom and stepdad, who got married that August, bought a house that we moved into over the first weekend of November. After over 14 years in apartments, townhomes, and duplexes, this was the first detached home I lived in.

Big stuff.

Bigger than all of that, though, might have been my obsession with Miami Vice, which reached its peak as the second season of the show debuted and its soundtrack became the best selling album in the country. I believe I bought the cassette the week it came out and faithfully listened to it multiple times each day after school. I know I’ve shared this before, but there was a moment when I thought I would never need to buy another album again. I would just listen to the music from Miami Vice over-and-over until the end of time. Where would this site be if I had stuck to that plan?

The biggest single from the album was Jan Hammer’s “The Original Miami Vice Theme,” which spent a week at #1. It is still a banger, even if it became an Eighties, Yuppie cliché. I’ll crank that shit all the way up any time I hear it.

Glenn Frey placed two tracks on the soundtrack. “Smuggler’s Blues,” a song that first appeared on his 1984 solo album The Allnighter, served as the basis for MV episode 16 of season one. Frey even appeared in that show as the titular smuggler. Made sense to drop that tune onto the soundtrack.

He also wrote an original song for the program, “You Belong To The City,” which was used as the centerpiece musical moment within season two’s premiere episode. In that two-hour “movie event,” Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs traveled to Tubbs’ old stomping grounds of New York City to help the DEA track Colombian drug dealers who had murdered several undercover cops in Miami. The gritty, dark visuals of NYC were a stark contrast to the bright, tropical pastels of Miami that made the show stand out. Frey’s music was supposed to add to that shift in aesthetic.

At age 14, I ate this shit up. I freaking loved this song, from its smoky sax to Frey’s depiction of how the big city can dominate a person’s life.[1] It made me want to put on a linen jacket, smoke cigarettes, and have complicated relationships with women who spent hours teasing their hair into gravity-defying styles.

And probably drink a Michelob. This may have been the launching point for that mini-genre of late Eighties music that seemed crafted explicitly to be used in beer commercials.

Anyway, I was INTO this shit in the fall of ’85. I listened to it while I helped pack up the duplex my mom and I had lived in for five years and then as we settled into our new home. I listened to it while reading summaries of the Royals’ playoff run. I listened to it while shooting hoops. I listened to it while doing homework. My life had nothing in common with what Frey was singing about. That didn’t stop me from forming a tight bond with his music.

I decided to write about this song both to do a quick review of that fun fall and to introduce a new sub-category for songs in this series: Songs I Used To Love But Think Fucking Suck Today.

Probably too long a description, right? I’ll workshop it and tighten it up before I use it again.

That smoky sax comes across as cheesy now. The lyrics are nearly as clichéd. It feels like Frey (RIP, by the way) was trying to reach for something big when he wrote this. However, he came up woefully short and ended up with a bunch of words that seem hopelessly basic compared to what he was trying to conjure up. Go read the lyrics. They just look dumb.[2] I will admit, the chorus isn’t terrible. There’s some drama and emotion in those sections. But otherwise I always think of it being more a tool to sell me some lifestyle than a truly interesting song.

OK, maybe saying it fucking sucks is a little harsh. It is certainly of its era, for better and worse. Today I can hear it and chuckle, shaking my head at memories of my high school freshman self trying desperately to carve out some kind of cool identity just as I was going through my most awkward phases. It is truly shocking that I could not approach a fraction of the hipness of Crockett or Tubbs. Their Florida style just did not translate to a skinny kid with glasses in Missouri who preferred to not be the center of attention.

Frey was trying to translate their coolness, too. He did succeed in delivering a memorable track that fit the vapidness of Miami Vice. That meant it aged poorly, though, and those of us who loved the record as it climbed the Hot 100 quickly relegated it to the recesses of our music collections. Much like we soon hung those linen jackets in deepest corners of our closets. 4/10

It was soooo Eighties to have two different videos for “You Belong To The City.” One featured shots from the show, mostly Don Johnson walking around and smoking, cut with shots from around New York City. The other basically substitutes Frey for Johnson, and throws in a mystery lady for added drama.

  1. Kind of a poor man’s version of Hall & Oates’ “Maneater.”  ↩

  2. Yes, I know, sometimes even brilliant lyrics look dumb when you read them on paper (or a screen). But there’s no hidden genius in this song.  ↩

Wednesday Links

November 20, 2024 /

As noted a couple weeks ago in my Friday Playlist, the legendary Quincy Jones died recently. He had many epic interviews over the years. I had these two saved and re-read them over the past few days. What a storyteller!

Quincy Jones Has a Story About That
In Conversation: Quincy Jones

I had no real interest in reading Alex Van Halen’s new memoir, Brothers. He was always just the huge presence behind the drum kit in Van Halen, not nearly as interesting as either his brother or David Lee Roth in the band’s glory days. Then I read this piece in the New York Times. He seems far more complex and interesting than I ever knew him to be. And this passage, where he talks about why he wrote about he and his brother’s lives, and what he chose to share, made me put in a library hold immediately.

But “Brothers” is not a story of regret. It’s a tale of understanding, of acceptance, of love. Mostly, of humanness. “If you’re going to tell the story, you should give equal space to the good and the bad,” Alex said. “Because the good doesn’t make any sense without having the bad.”

Eddie Van Halen Changed Rock History. Now His Brother Is Telling Their Story.

It took me some time, but I finally got to Netflix’s Starting 5 earlier this month. So finally time to read/share this overview piece that has a similar perspective to mine on the series.

10 Takeaways From ‘Starting 5,’ Netflix’s Sweaty, Nosy New NBA Docuseries

I LOVED Richard Scarry books when I was a kid, and loved sharing them with my girls when they were young. So, of course, I loved this look at Scarry’s life and career.

Richard Scarry and the art of children’s literature

This line has more to do with the piece’s author than Scarry, but it screamed to be the pull quote.

I must have been a real pain in the ass as a kid. But Richard Scarry somehow made me feel safe and settled.

This piece by Chris Arnade was a suggestion from one long form newsletter or another that I’m subsribed to. I enjoyed learning about the fascinating little country of the Faroe Islands. It was also interesting to read about Arnade, who has carved out a controversial space among traveling photographers (despite being a self-described socialist who clearly is in favor of big government intervention in the economy and social safety nets, a couple prominent Republicans offered jacket blurbs for his book).

Walking Faroe Islands (part two)

Best of all was this photo he referenced, which is on the official Faroe Islands tourism site. That’s some public transit system!

High School Hoops Chronicles: Two Game Nights and One Huge Bummer

November 19, 2024 /

Two games to catch up on from last week.

Tuesday the Irish played their Jesuit sisters from down the block. L was excited because the Braves were missing two of their best varsity players, meaning girls from their kinda crappy JV team had moved up, so she was hoping for two wins.

She got them.

CHS dominated the JV game and won by 20 in a game that wasn’t close after the first few minutes. L scored 8 on 3–6 shooting, hitting both of her 3-point attempts. She added three assists and SIX steals. She dressed for varsity but did not get in despite the Irish winning by 23. Her coach looked at her once but since the Jesuits still had starters in thought better of it.

Thursday we took on Mooresville, a traditionally strong program from a mostly rural area just outside the Indy metro area. We got two very different yet similar games.

In JV, we led by 12 at halftime and got it up to 15 a couple times in the third quarter before their coach decided it couldn’t hurt to start pressing us. Not sure why he waited over half the game to do that, because it destroyed our offense. We struggled to get the ball across halfcourt, and when we did made terrible plays once we set up the offense. Worth noting L either sat or was playing off the ball during this stretch. We had two girls who both scored around 10 points in the first half. Both of them took about a million terrible shots in the second half and failed to score. Just a total panic on offense.

MHS got it down to three a couple times but never closer as we held on in the final 90 seconds. L took seven shots, hitting just one, but she was clearly fouled on two of those misses. She added one free throw for three points, grabbed a rebound, had an assist, and accounted for just one of those stupid turnovers. Best of all, she again had SIX STEALS and forced a couple other turnovers. Her offense isn’t really clicking yet, but her defense has been great.

Varsity was another story. CHS fell behind early and trailed by as many as 15, but caught fire in a crazy fourth quarter that felt like it lasted about an hour. We got it down to three with MHS’ two bigs both fouling out along the way. Then we relaxed and the margin got back up to eight. We cut it to three two more times but couldn’t get the defensive stop for a chance to tie. We hit a three at the buzzer to lose by three. L again dressed but did not play. I’m pretty sure MHS hit 99% of their free throws while we hit maybe 50%.

A highlight from this game was a CHS dad getting into it with some MHS parents. I’ve known this dad for nearly 10 years and he’s always been a fool at games. He was ejected from multiple CYO games over the years but has somehow not learned his lesson. As usual, he was overly into the game Thursday. When an MHS mom seemed to lose her mind on a close call, he decided to tell her that she should keep her mouth shut, but in cruder terms. Now Mooresville folks are a little rougher than us Indy, private school folks. Or at least this lady was. I thought there was going to be a brawl. Luckily that was averted. This will not be the last incident this parent is involved in. I always try to not sit too close to him so I don’t get pulled into any confrontations.

JV is 2–1, varsity 1–2.

Now for the bummer.

L had been experiencing some periodic foot pain. It would flare up one day, disappear completely the next. It didn’t seem to affect her play so we decided to just monitor it. She told the trainer one day after practice, who examined her and gave her a bag of ice.

Then Sunday, following a hard practice Saturday to prepare for the #2 team in the state tonight, she could barely walk.[1] We put her in a boot for the rest of the day and Monday morning I took her straight to sports medicine.

The diagnosis was what S expected: stress reaction. Crutches or a knee scooter for the next four weeks while wearing the boot, followed by at least two more weeks in the boot. She will be re-evaluated on January 2. Obviously no basketball during those six weeks, a span of at least 10 games.

L has actually been taking it pretty good so far. I think it’s going to hit her tonight when she has to sit on the bench during the JV game and then behind the bench for varsity. And the longer she goes without practicing the more she’ll realize what she’s missing.

JV is really hurting at the moment. Four girls who weren’t playing much quit this week. Three more were too sick to practice Monday. And now L is out. A couple girls who don’t normally get a lot of minutes have a huge opportunity.

It could certainly be worse. L didn’t tear or break anything, she doesn’t need surgery, and this wasn’t like one of her friends last year who had concussions number four and five and had to stop playing forever. But it still sucks. She’s going to miss roughly half of her sophomore season. Even if she comes back in early January, it’s going to take her awhile to get her fitness back.

About all she can do now is sit in a chair doing dribbling or form shooting exercises. I remember watching videos of Isiah Thomas doing folding chair workouts when I was in middle school. I need to find those for her.

That also means less high school basketball content for me to share. I’ll keep you updated on the game results, but doubt I’ll have as detailed breakdowns as normal.

  1. JV played scout, and L was assigned the part of the 6’3” girl who is going to IU next year. That may seem like an odd choice since L is only 5’7”, but the big girl spends most of her time behind the 3-point arc, so L got to chuck a lot. I was hoping this would carry over to her looking to shoot more but that’s not going to happen now.  ↩

Weekend Notes

November 18, 2024 /

A Great Weekend To Be A Jayhawk

Saturday, specifically.

First, just before noon Eastern, Bryson Tiller, the #20 recruit in the current senior class, signed to play at KU next year. This was unexpected. KU had chased him hard, but earlier in the week his Overtime Elite teammate Samis Calderon had signed with KU. They are not exactly the same player, but have some overlapping skills and attributes. Most recruiting nerds thought this was an either/or situation. Apparently not.

Now KU has two long, bouncy, NBA-bodied big wings/inside players coming in to join Darryn Peterson, one of the top two or three players in the class. Even before whoever Bill Self adds in the transfer portal later this year, this is going to be one of the very best recruiting classes of his career. As Phog Allen once said, I hope they all try out for basketball when they arrive in Lawrence next year.

Later in the day, this year’s basketball Jayhawks had zero trouble with Oakland. Now this was not the same Oakland roster that beat Kentucky and took Final Four-bound North Carolina State to overtime last March. But they still play a funky style on both ends and are exactly the type of team KU has struggled with the last two years. No struggle at all Saturday evening. KU shot nearly 70% in the first half before cooling off. AJ Storr scored 10 points in about 45 seconds. Shakeel Moore made his debut and looked smooth and comfortable. A solid if unspectacular night.

Finally, to wrap up the day, the football Jayhawks went to Provo, Utah and knocked off the previously undefeated, #7 BYU Cougars. I’m not going to lie: I went to bed when the first quarter ended a little after 11:00 Eastern. If KU entered the game 7–2 or 6–3, I probably would have toughed it out. Or at least tried to. But at 3–6 and having gotten up at 6:00 AM to get L to practice, I was not feeling it. Especially against an undefeated, top ten team.

Shows what I know.

Hey, KU FINALLY GOT A BREAK THIS YEAR! Jalon Daniels’ quick-kick bouncing off two Cougars right to Quentin Skinner to set up the winning score was exactly the kind of flukey play that had gone against the Jayhawks all year. Hell, I’m convinced if that UNLV fumble on their final drive hadn’t bounced off six Jayhawks before the Rebels recovered it, KU would be at least 7–3 right now.

Speaking of that, super props to the coaching staff and players for sticking together. With the K-State loss three weeks ago and a bye week the next, it would have been easy for a lot of dudes to check out for the season. Instead they went out and beat ranked opponents in back-to-back weeks for the first time in school history. Which seems like an impossible thing to not have done in the first 134 years of Kansas football. Anything is always possible at KU, though.

Rock Chalk, bitches.

Colts

It was not pretty, but the Colts got a big win Sunday in New York with Anthony Richardson back behind center. The defense was incredible in the first 29 minutes of the game, forcing the Jets to go three-and-out on their first five possessions. Then they eased up in the final minute of the first half and let the Jets score to cut the Colts’ lead to just 13–7. I was driving at this time and laughed out loud when Colts radio analyst Rick Venturi kind of lost his mind on the scoring play. I’m paraphrasing here but it went something like:

No. No. NO! NO!!!!! (Long pause) Soft ass defense…

I loved it. Because it was true.

The Jets scoring to take the lead quickly after halftime was super predictable.

Guess what? The Colts made some huge plays late, especially Richardson. After taking the lead the defense shut down Aaron Rodgers one last time to seal the win.

All that said, it was another maddening game to watch. The defense was insanely good at times, totally inept at others. The offensive line, which has been erratic all year, was simply terrible Sunday. Richardson played about as consistently well as he’s ever played. It was smart to put him back in. Now let him play out the season.

Pacers

Hammered by Miami in the Emirates Cup Friday. Controlled almost the entire game in getting a revenge, normal win against the Heat on Sunday. That’s how things go in the NBA.

Body Stuff

I had a terrible, random back pain Sunday morning. Like out of nowhere. I was just standing there, not holding anything or twisting or lifting, when suddenly I had this horrible, crippling pain. I had to stagger over to a rug and slowly fall onto my side then roll onto my back. I could barely breathe or even make pained noises it hurt so bad. I’ve had back spasms before but this was waaaaay worse than any of those. After about five minutes it disappeared. I think it may have actually been a cramp rather than a spasm. But I had a big knot in my back the rest of the day. It is still sore this morning. Not fun.

Speaking of not fun, I took L to see the sports medicine doc this morning. I’ll share more about that tomorrow.

Friday Playlist

November 15, 2024 /

“Vanish” – Blueburst with Marty Willson-Piper
The story behind this song is one of the cooler ones I’ve come across this year. Craig Douglas Miller was in a band in the Nineties that got some major label attention during the great Alternative Rock Revolution but was never signed nor had any real success. Miller eventually retreated from the music world due to a variety of factors, most related to some severe mental health issues. Decades later he struck up a friendship with Marty Willson-Piper, a one-time member of the legendary band The Church. Willson-Piper convinced Miller to start writing and recording songs again, helping him put together a debut album at the age of 50. This was the first single. It is a terrific piece of timeless rock music.

“All My Friends” – Queen of Jeans
Gorgeous, gorgeous song.

“Lights on the Way” – Rose City Band
Some good, Seventies-like country-rock fusion music. Ripley Johnson said the whole point of this band is to make uplifting, good time music. We need that today, Sir.

“New Rules” – Blankenberge
Shoegaze from Russia? Who knew their dictator let that genre cross his borders?

“There And Back Again” – Humdrum
This band is from Chicago. But there’s an awful lot of mid-80s-through-mid-90s England in their sound.

“Yoke” – Medium Build with Julien Baker
From a vibes perspective, this fits the season, as we have finally slipped into the dreary and chilly part of the year.

“Chase Your Demons Out” – Good Looks
After dropping a terrific album this summer, Good Looks is already releasing new music. This time a double-sided single that features two great songs. I flipped a coin and picked this one to share.

“Run to You” – Bryan Adams
Breaking form a little this week, as there were no high quality debuts on this week’s 1984 countdown and the following week had multiple options. So we jump ahead to the week of November 24. That was a big week. Doug Flutie threw his most famous pass that weekend. We spent the entire week at my grandparents’, my mom needing an extra-long holiday before she underwent her second major surgery of the year a few weeks later. One of my dad’s brothers hitched a ride with us to his parents and he brought along Hall and Oates’ new cassette, that we listened to many, many times.

There were three massive debuts in the Top 40 that week. We’ll get to the biggest but this week we celebrate my favorite Bryan Adams song. A year later, around Christmas 1985, I daydreamed of learning how to play the acoustic solo in the middle, and serenading a very cute girl in my English class with it. A year or so later I learned this girl was super religious and probably wouldn’t have been all that impressed by me singing a song about the joys of infidelity to her. And you wonder why I didn’t have much success with the ladies…

Reader’s Notebook, 11/14/24

November 14, 2024 /

Let the Right One In – John Ajvide Lindqvist
I put several scary books on hold in late September and hoped one or two would come in before Halloween. This one actually came through after the holiday, but that was perfect as it takes place in the week before and after Halloween, 1981. In Sweden. So it’s a little weird.

Not sure I realized when I added this to my holds that it was a vampire book. I haven’t done much of the vampire thing. And, I have to say, I did not love this one. Maybe it was the Swedishness of it. Or it was a sometimes tedious story that seemed to stretch on far too long. But most likely it was some of the brutal violence that goes along with the genre. It was a little much at times. Plus vampire stories all seem kind of the same to me. I guess I should have read the synopsis closer before adding this to my list.

Nuclear War: A Scenario – Annie Jacobsen
This was flat-out the scariest book I read last month. That was totally random, as I had placed a hold on this in late August and it finally came in during the spookiest month of the year.

It is exactly what its title suggests: Jacobsen lays out, minute-by-minute and sometimes second-by-second, the course of events over a roughly 90-minute stretch after a nuclear missile is launched at the US. How the launch is detected, how the missile flies, what the procedures are within the US government, how a response is chosen and approved, the result of the first detonation, and how other countries get pulled into the event, turning a single-missile attack into global nuclear war that basically ends civilization as we know it.

The first half of the book reads like a novel. You can’t help but race through pages, thinking something will avert the inevitable end. As Jacobsen shifts into laying out what happens after the bombs start exploding, it’s a decidedly less thrilling read.

Our generation grew up with nuclear war hanging over our heads. For 30 years we’ve thought that fear had largely passed. With more countries gaining access to nuclear weapons and some of the countries who already possess them being led by less mentally stable people, that threat is far closer than we think. As this book points out, a single rogue missile is all it could take to send us down a path we can’t turn back from.

« Older posts

Archives

© 2025 D's Notebook

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑