KU-MU
A star is born and a damn fine game is played. Almost 3000 words about Kansas, Missouri, and basketball. It’s becoming a tradition. Kansas-Missouri on ESPN, I do an in-game blog. Well, I guess it becomes a tradition tonight, as last year was probably the first year I did it. Marquette and Louisville are doing their job of finishing up…
Super Saturday
Over 3200 words from my Saturday sports watching experience. Not for the faint-hearted. If you dare, check below the jump. What a great day. A couple years ago, before kids, I would have sat on my happy ass all day watching all the great sports action Saturday. Instead, I sat on my happy ass almost all day playing with the…
Trade Offs
Kansas football beats Nebraska for the first time in 36 years. Kansas basketball starts 2-3 for the first time in 32 years. Seems like a fair trade to me. I’m not going to go jumping off of any ledges just yet. The future is still bright, I maintain. It’s the present that is going to be rocky. Stealing from TV…
Now I Can Die In Peace
Kansas 40 Nebraska 15 I said it wouldn’t happen in my lifetime, only semi-facetiously. I saw a 17-point lead turn into a 59-23 loss. I saw a coach take the guy who had been running all over the vaunted Nebraska defense the entire day off the field when attempting a two-point conversion that would have won the game. Most of…
Dumb – An NCAA Opinion
I’ve got some thoughts on the NCAA’s ban on schools using Native American mascots in post-season events. In a word, dumb. Not because I don’t think Native American mascots are offensive, or at least, inappropriate, because I do. But the NCAA’s ruling makes little sense. Basically, it’s wildly inconsistent and unenforceable. What college sports get, by far, the most attention?…
Pisser – Kansas Loses
Appropriately Wayne Simien’s shot to win the game fell short at exactly the stroke of midnight here in Indianapolis. In years past, I would spend the next five or six hours laying on the floor without movement. I mean, Bucknell in the first round? OK, I might have been preparing to leap from a tall building. I’m bummed, but not…
How’d That Epiphany Thing Go?
I’ve not shared how my week-long vacation from college basketball went. I indeed managed to avoid almost all college basketball coverage for a full seven days. I didn’t watch games, read about them in the paper, or follow columnists online. Tuesday morning at about 10:00, I checked the Kansas-Oklahoma score but did not read any stories about the game itself. …
An Epiphany (Of Sorts)
Long-time readers and friends know that I’m a gigantic sports fan and a competition freak, both of which combine with a sometimes frightening intensity in my extreme devotion to the basketball team of my alma mater, the University of Kansas. I’ve been extraordinarily lucky to have been born into a fandom that has provided many more high moments than low.…
A Kindly Note
To the basketball team of my alma mater. Gentlemen, In the future, if you plan on losing a weeknight game that begins at 9:00 PM my time, please do so in regulation rather than taking two overtimes to do so. I’m not as young as I used to be, and now I’ve got a kid. Who is teething. It’s not…
D’s Dirty Dozen
Selection Sunday is four weeks from yesterday, so we’re down to crunch time. Many smaller leagues have only two weeks of play left, so the mid-majors should be solidifying their at-large credentials. The heavyweights are playing for top seeds. Will Kansas and Oklahoma State be playing not only for the Big 12 crown, but also a #1 seed? Or, with…