D's Notebook

Tag: football (Page 3 of 28)

Holiday Weekend Notes

September 3, 2024 /

It was an action-packed weekend. At least for watching sports from the comfort of my house. Friday night in particular was kind of crazy. High school football on the radio. Indiana Fever and US Open on the TV. Royals-Astros Gameday coverage on the Mac. With bonus weather monitoring on every screen. I guess I’ll break things down by subject rather than day.

KU Football

A slow start turned into the blowout it was supposed to be Thursday night for KU. Not sure you can make any great assessments of the team given the opponent. I thought Jalon Daniels looked a little rusty, but I also don’t know how open the playbook was. It seemed like the coaching staff was doing some experimenting with the offensive line. A pick-six for Mello Dotson, likely not the last for this defensive backfield this season. Devin Neal scoring touchdowns, Luke Grimm catching passes. We’ll find out a lot more about the Jayhawks next week when they go to Illinois.

The first game at Children’s Mercy Park seemed to go just fine. Word from people who went is that it was a great atmosphere. The replay system not working early and likely costing KU two scores was kind of a bummer.

HS Football

A week after beating preseason #1 Ben Davis, #3 Cathedral got a reminder their schedule is still brutal, losing to #6 Brownsburg 30–14. They got there a rather odd way.

BHS jumped out to a 17–7 lead Friday night before lightning was spotted. Although the storm was 10 miles away, and moving away from the stadium, the game was delayed over an hour before a second series of storms popped up and officials decided to postpone the game until Saturday afternoon.

Things didn’t get much better in the resumed game. CHS was playing with their primary running back – who ran for 168 yards week one – hobbled Friday, then without him completely Saturday. L heard Sunday he’s probably having surgery and out for the year. Not sure if he was worth 16 points but I think he would have helped. If he is indeed out for an extended stretch, the Irish’s already brutal schedule looks even more formidable.

Weather

Last week was hot, sticky, and nasty. The heat index was up around 110 a couple days. Friday night three rounds of storms came through, and torrential rains and heavy winds blew the heat away. The humidity stuck around through Saturday. Then Sunday morning it was 52 and 100% pleasant. The extended forecast has a bunch of mornings like that, with a few even colder, and daytime highs mostly in the mid–70s with a few mid–80s sprinkled in. September is a truly glorious month.

US Open

I watched a ton of tennis last week and into the weekend. Week one of the Open might be the best week of tennis of the year, hell one of the best sports weeks of the entire year, with great matches in progress just about any time you turn on your TV from noon to midnight.

Weekend highlights were Frances Tiafoe’s two wins and both Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic losing early. It was a bummer that Coco Gauff went out early, but at least she lost to another American. In general it’s great to have several decent American players in both the women’s and men’s game at the moment. It sure makes for better crowds in New York.

Royals

Crap on a stick.

Last Wednesday afternoon the Royals were tied for first place and were up on co-leaders Cleveland going into the seventh inning, nine outs away from a four-game sweep of the Guardians. Then the Royals melted down a little and they’ve yet to recover, losing six straight games. Three injuries during that span have not helped. At least they still have a cushion in the wild card race for the time being.

It’s been a bit of a charmed summer for the Royals, totally unexpected and built on out-of-nowhere quality starting pitching. The pitching has still been fine, at least the starters; it’s been the bats that have let them down over the past week. They were nearly no-hit Friday and have gone deep into other games with just one or two hits. Maybe, hopefully, surely the hitters can lock back in and they can hold on to one of those wild card spots to complete this surprise season.

Fever

I know I’m not alone in having watched more WNBA games this year than in the rest of my life combined. I now know exactly when the Fever are playing, and on what channel. Unlike other sports, which S doesn’t really pay attention to, for the Fever she gets kind of locked in. Ironically our basketball playing daughter will still just breeze through and watch a few minutes, but rarely sits down and watches long stretches with us.

Two more wins over the weekend for the hottest team in the league. The Fever are now over .500 for the first time in five years. Which sounds made up. Have they really been that bad, for that long? Again, since I never watched I don’t know if that is a real stat or not.

It’s been fun watching this team figure each other out since their disastrous start. Kelsey Mitchell is a revelation, and a perfect backcourt partner for Caitlin Clark. Aliyah Boston finally settled down and started playing like the former #1 pick she is. Lexi Hull is one of the most fun players to watch, and seemingly can’t miss a 3 since the Olympic break.

And, of course, there’s Clark. She was starting to get comfortable before the break, but has looked like a first team all league player since getting some time to both rest and work on her game. In those seven games she’s averaging 24.6 points, 5 rebounds, and nine assists. And that’s with her teammates still booting 3–4 passes a night, or blowing open layups.[1]

She’s added a floater. Her teammates are getting better at anticipating her crazy passes. She’s handling the physicality of the league better. She still makes a few horrible passes a game, but when she’s averaging almost nine assists a game, you’ll take those. And her outside shot still isn’t locked in. That will come next year. Any questions about her transition to the pro game have been answered.

The only real bummer to the Fever turning the corner is it has kept us from going to a game. Tickets were crazy expensive at the beginning of the season, as you would expect. I planned on waiting until the hype died down and the team fell deep into the bottom of the standings before trying to grab some for a weeknight game. So much for that. I was looking at tickets for tomorrow’s game and even upper level seats were going for $200 each. That seems excessive, especially when L isn’t super into watching. Although she would go if given the chance.

Oh, one other WNBA note. The yammering idiots on TV need to drop the whole Caitlin Clark vs Angel Reese thing and focus on the real issue: how stupid are the four teams other than Indiana and Chicago who passed on drafting Reese? She’s getting 20 boards a night over the past three weeks and leads the league in rebounding for the season. From watching Chicago Friday, it’s obvious that some of those numbers come because her coach leaves her on the court deep into blowouts to pad her numbers. But 20 rebounds is 20 rebounds.

The rookie of the year argument is pretty much over, as CC is both having a better and more impactful year while Chicago is dropping like a rock despite Reese’s play. That shouldn’t hide the fact that Reese is having a phenomenal rookie year of her own.

College Football

It’s always hard for me to dive in this first week of real college football action. There’s so much other stuff going on, both on TV and in real life, that it’s hard to lock in. I had plenty of games on but other than Notre Dame – Texas A&M didn’t get super focused on any of them.

That was a big win for the Irish. Notre Dame’s defense looks incredible. They have a cake schedule. They will be one of the top four teams in the playoff. The obvious joke is they will then lose to Alabama or whatever SEC runner-up they play in the first round. But that game will be in South Bend. In December. Surely Touchdown Jesus will scare up some lake effect snow, or at least nasty windchills, to aid the Irish.

Family Time

We didn’t do anything big family-wise for the holiday weekend. M stayed in Cincinnati. C and L went to the CHS game with friends Friday, but neither went back to the resumption on Saturday. L went to the gym with basketball friends Sunday. C went to the Pitbull concert Sunday night. We had the in-laws over for dinner Sunday, and three of the nephews over to swim on Monday. S and I went to dinner with friends Saturday.

I also found a little project for myself over the weekend. It scratches one of my biggest itches and will have a direct effect on some of my blog posts. I doubt most of you will be as interested in it as I am, but I’ll still share more details about it soon.

And with that, summer is over. Preseason training for school basketball started for L today, and I was up at 5:15 to get her to school on time. A perfect way for her to knock out some of her driving in the dark time!

  1. As the father of a lady baller, I will say the most frustrating part of the women’s game is how many layups are missed. That, more than any other area, is where the difference between men and women is glaring. It’s a lot harder to make a layup in traffic when you release the ball a foot/foot-and-a-half below the rim than within a few inches of it.  ↩

Football Is Back!

August 29, 2024 /

College football is finally here!  With it comes what is the most anticipated and also oddest season for the Kansas Jayhawks in my life.

Anticipated because a program that won nine games last year enters week one with 20 of 22 starters who are either seniors or redshirt juniors, a level of experience this program has probably never had before.

Biggest of all is the return of quarterback Jalon Daniels. When he’s been healthy at KU he’s been amazing. The only problem is he gets hurt every year. Sometimes badly. This year there is no Jason Bean backing him up.[1] Cole Ballard might be able to step in for a series or two, but it is difficult to see him doing what Bean did the last two years when Daniels was hurt. The single biggest factor in KU living up to this year’s hype is keeping JD6 on the field. If he plays 10+ games, the Jayhawks have the talent and schedule to win 10 games. If he gets hurt? 😱

I say oddest because KU will be playing two home games at Sporting KC’s Children’s Mercy Park, and the rest at Arrowhead because of the reconstruction of the stadium in Lawrence. It’s kind of classic KU football that this project hits in a rare year when the Jayhawks enter the season with legit expectations. How much of a home-field advantage will they have in those Big 12 games in Kansas City? Especially the Iowa State game? I know KU has made some moves to protect tickets for that game, but Clone fans live for coming to KC and taking over. If that game is a close loss and the crowd is mostly ISU fans, there’s going to be grumbling about timing and whatnot.

You know what, though? I don’t think it’s going to matter. I think this team will be really good. The defense still has holes, but will be opportunistic. While people were freaking out about OC Andy Kotelnicki leaving for Penn State, I think new OC Jeff Grimes might fit KU’s talent better. Kotelnicki was great. He was imaginative and made KU’s offense one that routinely got national praise. But maybe he got a little too cute at times? I’m not sure that’s fair criticism, but I also don’t think that Grimes getting dinged for his last year at Baylor is fair when he did amazing things at BYU before that.

Again, if Daniels is healthy, this team can cook. Devin Neal and Daniel Hishaw are as good of a running back combo as any in the country. None of the top three wide receivers seem like NFL talent, thus their returns. But they are all super solid, super experienced, and better than most people think.

The new Big 12 should be entertaining, at least. Utah is very good. Arizona looks legit as well. We get to see Coach Prime’s antics up close while welcoming old friends Colorado back.

My favorite thing about the new Big 12 is that it feels like a conference of equals. There is no Texas or Oklahoma that has way more money than everyone else and stadiums twice as big as the rest of the conference. Aside from TCU and Baylor, it’s a bunch of schools that are mostly similarly sized, with similar athletic budgets, and similar facilities.[2] No one is going to be signing a top ten recruiting class; most will be in the 20–50 range each year. There will be egos and rivalries based on stupid things like there always are in sports. It feels, at least for now though, like we’re starting with more programs on similar footing.

Which will last until the conference adds UConn and ACC schools to be determined, or the Big Ten decides they want to grab a couple Big 12 schools. Realignment never ends!

What’s important is that football is back and unlike so many years in my life, the Kansas Jayhawks are probably pretty good.

Rock Chalk, bitches!

  1. Bean had a fantastic preseason for the Colts, granted usually in the second halves of games. So good our local columnist called for the Colts to keep him on the active roster. They did not do that, but did sign him to the practice squad. I don’t think he’s an NFL QB. But he is so fast and has a solid-enough arm and QBs get hurt so often, that you never know if/when someone might take a chance on him.  ↩
  2. Arizona State and Cincinnati are both massive schools, but without the athletic budgets of other schools their sizes. Also ASU is weird in that so much of its enrollment is online that I don’t think you can really put them in the same category as the other schools with over 40,000 students.  ↩

Weekend Notes

February 12, 2024 /

Super Bowl

Most years I watch the Super Bowl fairly closely, tracking the game, commercials, and halftime show with an idea of being able to take an active role in whatever the post-game discourse is. Last night I sat on the couch for four-plus nearly uninterrupted hours, but was often letting my attention drift to other things.

So no deep takes today. A game that was super boring turned super exciting in the fourth quarter and overtime. No 49ers fan will ever agree if you tell them points after are not important. The Chiefs ascend to the game’s pantheon, and Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes do so for the coaching/quarterback elite of the elite levels as well. The Niners, once one of the most blessed franchises in the game, have a legit argument for least blessed (Super Bowl division, of course). And now ESPN can start forcing the draft down our throats for three months…

I had no idea about the clock rule in overtime, how the teams were basically playing the first quarter and there was no reason for either team to be using time outs late in the extra frame. That seems super dumb to me. It’s overtime; there should be some sense of urgency to score. Glad that didn’t end up being a factor because then we would have heard about it endlessly for the next six months.

Usher’s halftime show? Solid. The grumpy old man in me continues to be bummed that these shows have become more about spectacle than performance, and often a spectacle that is much better viewed inside the stadium than on TV. Usher did the right thing trying the thread the needle between dancing his ass off without relying exclusively on recorded tracks. To me, though, that’s almost more distracting as he would sing a handful of lines then drop out so he could dance again. I know that’s a hell of an expectation and there’s no best way to do it.

Once again the big takeaway is that no one did it better than Prince, and I’m not sure anyone ever will.

Jayhawk Talk

Not the best week for my Jayhawks. Blew a double-digit lead on the road for the second time this season, losing in overtime to a Kansas State team that often seemed only mildly interested in winning Monday night. Seriously, there were a few stretches where both teams played more like middle schoolers, kicking the ball back-and-forth in the dumbest ways possible.

Johnny Furphy, who was apparently sick, didn’t hit a 3 for the first time since he entered the starting lineup. Hunter Dickinson and KJ Adams missed a handful of relatively easy shots that could have kept KSU at arm’s length. Dajuan Harris again had several inexplicable turnovers. And Kevin McCullar was truly bad, forcing bad shots and missing four free throws along the way.

Guess those free throws should have been a clue something was up. McCullar shocked KU fans Saturday morning on ESPN Gameday when he said he might not play that evening against Baylor. Might Not turned into Definitely Won’t as game time got closer, and our sphincters got extra tight.

Fortunately KU’s defense was very good, Baylor’s offense was very bad, and the Jayhawks survived a truly terrible final minute to hold the Bears off. I was glad I missed the second half so those final 60 seconds didn’t ruin my entire night.

Put that all together and I’ve decided KU isn’t winning another road game this year. That’s not a super bold statement, as they have road games at Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Baylor, and Houston, with only OU being a game KU might be favored in. I’m assuming McCullar doesn’t play tonight in Lubbock. Who knows if Harris, who rolled his ankle badly Saturday, will. Furphy still seemed sick Saturday and Jamari McDowell didn’t play because of illness.

The Big 12 title is probably out of reach, as much because of strength of remaining schedule as KU not being able to win a road game. KU has five games left against ranked teams while Houston and Iowa State have just three. Unbalanced schedules suck.

With KU’s road woes, I’ve reached the point where I just hope the Jayhawks can win out at home and then be completely healthy in mid-March. Finishing in the top four of the Big 12 likely means nothing lower than a three seed in the NCAA Tournament. When healthy, KU can beat anyone and go on a run. If they are still banged up in mid-March, they could easily lose to whatever 14-seed they are matched up with.

Other College Hoops Thoughts

Baylor is starting to seem like a lite version of Kentucky. They sign a top ten kid every year, and have multiple freshmen who are expected to leave after one season in Waco. Most nights they have way more raw talent than the teams they are playing. Some nights those young guys are all locked in and look amazing. More often one or two of them are floating through the game, or are overwhelmed by playing against older, more experienced players, and the Bears look disjointed and lost. Not that I’m complaining. Scott Drew is a phony putz and I enjoy seeing him flail around, trying to get those young pieces to work together.

I have no love for Baylor, but it was a true bummer seeing how much Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua struggles after his knee injury a couple years back. He was a breath-taking athlete and seemed poised for stardom when he wrecked his knee. He seems like a shell of his former self, but at least he’s out there still making an effort.

Saturday night was also the second Indiana-Purdue game of the year. The Boilermakers beat the Hoosiers by a combined 41 points in their two games this season. Woof.

I’ve always been strictly neutral in the rivalry since I moved to Indiana. I generally root for whatever is the funniest outcome. Right now Purdue spanking IU is the funniest result, because IU fans are not happy. They are sick of Mike Woodson. They are sick that they would miss the tournament if the brackets came out today. They are sick of the national media fawning over Zach Edey and Matt Painter. They are sick that while they still have five more national championships than Purdue, the last one was nearly 40 years ago and doesn’t mean a thing to most recruits. I think they are also preemptively sick that this might be the Purdue team that finally doesn’t fuck up in March and at least gets to the program’s first Final Four since 1980.

Of course, I watch all this with a healthy dose of worry. IU has never fully recovered from firing Bobby Knight, even if they weren’t the same power in his final 5–6 years as they had been the previous 20. Bill Self is going to retire one day. Maybe someone seamlessly slides in and keeps the airplane aloft, the way he did when he replaced Roy Williams. But IU is a big, fat warning sign that sustained success should never be taken for granted in college sports.

Finally on the college hoops tip, I watched all of the Iowa-Nebraska women’s game Sunday. That was highly entertaining, with Caitlin Clark doing Caitlin Clark things for three quarters until the Huskers shut her down and erased a 14-point deficit to win in the closing seconds. We are going to the Iowa-Indiana game next week and L is looking forward to it.

Props to the Wall Street Journal for pointing out that not only does Lynette Woodard have the true women’s college basketball scoring record, but how the NCAA screwed her and a generation of female athletes when they reluctantly took over women’s sports in the early 1980s.

Clark is going to blow by Woodard’s record a week or two after she breaks the “official” NCAA mark. Hopefully Woodard gets a little more love from the national media in that interim.

Woodard was the first famous athlete I saw up close. When I was visiting an uncle who went to KU and lived in the same dorm as her, Woodard sat a few feet away from us in the cafeteria. I was astounded that she had like four trays of food. I couldn’t wait to get to college so I could get four trays of food at lunch! I also sat by her on a flight about a decade ago. But since I don’t talk to famous people, I didn’t say a word to her. Idiot.

Date Night?

Finally, we went out to dinner with friends Saturday. While eating I noticed something odd at a table near ours.

A couple sat there eating. It was a four-top table, and they were seated so they were next to each other rather than facing each other. They were young, attractive, and looked to be in love; good for them.

However I eventually noticed that the guy had an AirPod in his left ear. And he wasn’t saying much. Odd.

I shifted in my chair so I could see his partner and she had an AirPod in her right ear. She wasn’t talking, either. Very odd.

As much as was acceptable I kept glancing their way. They seemed to be looking at their table. This was during the IU-Purdue game so I wondered if they were watching it on a phone/tablet. Maybe it was hidden, but I couldn’t see a device on their table, and they never seemed to be reacting positively or negatively as you would when watching a game.

Even odder, at one point the guy leaned over, wrapped his arm inside his partner’s and they kind of snuggled into each other as they focused on whatever they were focused on.

Mega odd.

It was crazy strange to me that they chose to probably drop $150 on a dinner for two when they didn’t talk the entire time and spent their time watching/listening to something via AirPods.

Belated Weekend Notes

January 30, 2024 /

I’m still battling a cold. It’s one of those shitty ones that isn’t crazy bad during the day, more annoying than debilitating. But at night between the coughing and sneezing and body aches manages to keep me from sleeping. Each of the last two nights I’ve given up and gone into M’s room to toss and turn so I don’t keep S awake with my nonsense. She did the same thing last week when she had the same cold. Remind me to wash M’s sheets before her next visit home so she doesn’t have to sleep in her parents’ dried snot.

Jayhawk Talk

Another week, another road loss. And another one that KU had every opportunity to win. Other than Johnny Furphy, they shot poorly from outside. They missed some layups and blew some opportunities on the break. They had some huge turnovers in important spots. Yet they scored 75 points on 45% shooting on the road against a top five defense, so I’m not sure you can criticize the offense too much.

Once again a team shot out of their minds against the Kansas defense. Iowa State hit their most 3 pointers in a Big 12 game in five years. Coincidentally it was the most 3 pointers KU has given up in a conference game in five years.

Is that flukey/unsustainable or a flaw in the system? After the game Bill Self said they wanted to sag off certain shooters, specifically Tre King who had only hit three 3s all year. Naturally he went 4–7.

I put this loss directly on Self, and not just because of his defensive choices. He decided to go for a 2-for–1 opportunity late in the first half when KU led by one. KU’s offense had been struggling so I don’t know why you decide to suddenly speed things up to force a shot, just so you can maybe get two shots. Dajuan Harris went entirely too fast, turned the ball over, which became a run-out for Iowa State and resulted in a flagrant foul on Parker Braun after a review. For some reason Self decided to argue the point and got hit with a technical. Fortunately ISU only hit 2–4 free throws, but then hit a 3 to end the half and went into the locker room up four. It felt like that 3 opened up the floodgates for the Cyclones in the second half, when they countered every KU run with a big 3. The 3 wasn’t Self’s fault, but getting the T in that moment was dumb (mostly because the flagrant foul call was 100% correct) and he was lucky the deficit wasn’t six. Coaches preach knowing time and score to their players. It felt like Self needed to look at the scoreboard before he got that T.

While the details kind of hid it, I think this game clearly showed how it is the defensive side that is holding the Jayhawks back. Self’s system has always been to take away drives rather than 3s. He’s had to lean on that more this year partially because of Hunter Dickinson’s immobility inside. I also think KU’s three best defenders – Kevin McCullar, Dajuan Harris, and KJ Adams – all play solid D, but they don’t make the other team feel them. Watch KU’s defense then watch a Houston game and you’ll see a dramatic difference. KU gets to spots and tries to force passes. All five Houston players get in their man’s jersey and don’t stop until there’s a whistle. It is a grinding, exhausting experience to play against Houston. Against KU I think teams always know if they move the ball enough, there will be a lapse that leads to an open shot. Because of that, they play with confidence rather than fear.

I think some of that is related to KU’s short bench. The five starters can’t play at 100% intensity on defense because they rarely come out of the game and need to save something for the other end.

With Furphy’s rapid ascension into the team’s best shooter, that fixes some of the offensive issues this team has. Elmarko Jackson, Nic Timberlake, and Braun might better serve the team by figuring out how to guard people than score the ball. Jackson specifically had a rough time Saturday, getting lost on that ISU 3 right before halftime then getting beat and fouling his man on a backdoor cut when KU was making a run late.

Seven games into the conference season the Jayhawks sit at 4–3. I don’t think it’s time to panic. I do think, though, that the team is going to regret not taking advantage of this part of the schedule. After tonight’s game against Oklahoma State, there are no easy ones left. KU might play significantly better in the back half of the schedule and still drop 3–4 games.

BTW, I forgot how much I hate unbalanced schedules. I know this is a weird year where the conference transitioned from 10 teams to 14 before going to 16 next year. It does not feel right that KU and Iowa State won’t play again in Lawrence.

NFL Conference Championship Games

I didn’t get to see much of the Chiefs-Ravens game, but I guess those of us who doubted the Chiefs should have known better. A dominant defensive performance while the offense did just enough to win on the road. I should have known that a team that lost to the Colts on their home field wasn’t good enough to win the AFC championship game on the same field.

I watched almost all of the Lions-Niners game, which was a wild, exhilarating experience. A huge first run by the Lions put them on the verge of their first ever Super Bowl, only to end in an epic collapse.

In the moment I was pretty critical of Dan Campbell’s decisions to go for it on fourth down in the second half. But knowing that was their MO all year and their kicker’s numbers fall in the shaky zone where I’m not sure you totally trust him in the playoffs, I’m more comfortable with them after the fact.

Besides, the Lions dropped passes and flukey-as-hell Brandon Aiyuk reception that bounced off the Lions’ defender’s face mask were bigger factors in the loss.

The anti-analytics folks love to make those choices THE factors when a team loses a winnable game. In this case you can’t bitch about Campbell’s calls without acknowledging the Niners benefited from one of the craziest plays in NFL playoff history, and Lions receivers dropped three balls that were in their hands and would have extended drives. Change one or two of those plays and it doesn’t matter whether the Lions still go for it and fail or miss field goals.

I’m not all-in on analytics. I think they need to be applied within the context of each game rather than be viewed as definitive guides. And I will generally a trust a coach like Campbell, who has a clear philosophy on their use and is consistent in their application.

Sucks for the Lions, though. They are young and can get better, but you just never know how long these windows will be open.

Which, flipping this back to the first game, makes Baltimore’s loss even worse. They had home field, a dominant defense, an offense that was as good as it has been in the Lamar Jackson era and couldn’t get it done. All in a year when the Chiefs were, relatively speaking, down. When Joe Burrow was injured. You expect the Chiefs to be back in the mix for home field next year, Burrow to be healthy, maybe the Bills will finally plug their holes, and Houston has a ton of money to build around CJ Stroud with. This might have been the Ravens best chance at a Super Bowl in the Jackson era.

Early thoughts on the Super Bowl? They’ve made it this far so I can’t doubt the Chiefs.

I guess anyone who watched football on Fox this year has to have an opinion about the seeming inevitable bumping of Greg Olsen from the #1 analyst spot for Tom Brady next season.

I’m in line with main-line opinion that Olsen is terrific and it’s a real bummer that he will lose his spot because Fox owes Brady so much money. Unlike some folks, I still enjoy Tony Romo, although he can be a little much. I described Olsen as similar to Romo except where Romo sometimes comes off as overly impressed with himself or excited to show how smart he is, Olsen seems excited to share his knowledge. Romo can grate because he is a lot to deal with. Olsen is a joy to listen to break down the games.

Maybe Tom Brady is going to be awesome. There is some evidence that if he relaxes and is willing to be critical, he could be a good addition. It’s just a bummer that Olsen was basically a place holder and will no longer get to do the biggest games. Hopefully he lands in a spot where we get to hear him each week.

Wednesday Notes

January 24, 2024 /

NFL

Because of basketball (KU and CHS) and some other activities, I didn’t get to see much of the four playoff games last weekend. San Francisco is very lucky to advance, and does not seem like the same team that ran roughshod through their opponents during stretches of the regular season. Jordan Love’s final pass for Green Bay might have been the worst choice/throw in a big moment in a long time.

Good for Detroit for advancing again. A damn shame the NFC title game won’t be at Ford Field. That scene would have been wild.

I’ve written many times that no team, player, coach, or fanbase deserves success because they’ve had years of bad luck and tough breaks. That’s not how sports work. You can play hard, follow the rules, be a good teammate, etc and sometimes the other team is just better and/or luckier.

But, man, Buffalo losing because their kicker pushed a field goal wide right seemed like an especially cruel ending to their game. That wasn’t the real reason the Bills lost – they lost because of a couple bad throws, a terrible drop, and their defense wilting – but it was the final gut punch you kind of knew was coming.

Of course I, like about a million other people, said even if the Bills made that kick, the Chiefs still would have found a way to win, either in regulation or overtime. As cruel as having to watch a postseason game end on a kick sailing wide-right again, maybe it was better than losing at the final gun, or in overtime.

Poor Buffalo.

Pacers

Hey, the Pacers made a trade! And it was a big one, grabbing Pascal Siakam from Toronto for a bench player and three first round picks. At first glance three picks seemed like a lot for a player on an expiring contract. Those picks – two this year, the third in two years – will likely be in the 20s, though, so the Pacers likely aren’t giving up franchise-changing draft opportunities. And most NBA insiders suggest that Siakam is open to re-signing with the Pacers this summer.

It’s tough to gauge the trade since Tyrese Haliburton has only played one, injury-affected game with Siakam so far. While he isn’t perfect, and isn’t playing quite as well as he did three years ago, Siakam is a terrific match for what the Pacers do on offense, and a big upgrade on the defensive end.

It’s tough to get top tier players to come to Indiana. In the last three winters they have traded for Haliburton and Siakam. That’s pretty good.

Even after that trade the Pacers remain in good position to make another move, should the right opportunity arise. Or just play out this season, re-sign Siakam, and tweak the roster over the summer to make a real run next season.

Now Haliburton just needs to get healthy again.

Media

A rough week for people who write for a living.

First, Pitchfork got absorbed into the GQ brand. No one is sure what that means short term, but long term you have to think it signals the end of one of the most important music journalism outlets of the internet era. I’ve always been more of a Stereogum fan, but I’ve read plenty of pieces on Pitchfork over the years.

The next day it was announced that all of Sports Illustrated’s staff had been laid off. SI has been a joke for a long time, and hasn’t covered itself in glory recently. People of my generation longed for it to return to its prime, when it was a vital element of being a fully-informed fan of sports. That was never going to happen. With the NFL exploring buying into ESPN, and the NBA and MLB likely to do so soon after, SI could have carved out a new niche as an alternative to ESPN’s online presence, a home for sports journalism that was free of constraints put in place by one league or another. Instead the private equity ghouls that run it chose to strip it to the bone and let it fade into obscurity.

Finally, the Los Angeles Times laid off a large chunk of its workforce, including some great sports writers with national reputations. The Times seemed like one of the last big papers that would be able to thrive in the current climate. Once again, ownership is more interested in squeezing profit from the paper than viewing it as a public necessity.

As a former member of the media this is just more very sad news. There are fewer and fewer independent media outlets that create original and interesting content. Major media outlets are focused on conflict and who is winning/losing. Local media often seems more like advertising than informative news. AI is going to dramatically change news in the next decade.

I never had great illusions about being able to match the money I made in the corporate world as a journalist, not that that was all that much. As the avenues to make a reasonable wage writing dry up and more and more experienced journalists get thrown out of their traditional jobs, I don’t think there is any chance I could ever get back into the semi- or fully employed writing game.

Which I guess means more blogging, so good for my loyal readers I guess?

Weekend Notes

January 15, 2024 /

Kind of a strange weekend, mostly due to the weather, which kept us cooped up inside. I spent roughly 87.2% of Saturday and Sunday on the couch, under a blanket, either watching sports on TV, watching shows on my laptop, or reading one of two books.

Jayhawk Talk: Hoops

It took awhile to get going, but a very nice bounce back game against Oklahoma. Johnny Furphy moving into the starting lineup worked out pretty well, both for him and Elmarko Jackson, who looked more relaxed coming off the bench. The more I see it in action the more I think KJ Adams’ free throw line jumper/floater could be the key to unlocking the KU offense. Assuming this team continues to never hit 3s, that is.

I forgot to mention in my wrap-up of the UCF game that when KU was cruising in the first half, I texted friends that this was the best KU had looked all year. Moments later they went into the shitter. Saturday, after KU blew a five point lead, I said I hated this team and that they were terrible to watch. Moments later they broke the game open. I need to keep my mouth shut until the game is over.

I watched parts of several Big 12 games Saturday. Man, this conference is such a beast. Most games in the 60s, with minimal separation. I watched Houston for the first time. They are so tough and athletic and relentless. Just because they lost twice last week is not a reason to count them out. Their game with TCU was tremendous.

At this point Baylor would seem to be the favorite, even with Texas Tech tied with them at 3–0. Still, Baylor did not look all that impressive when I was watching their game against Cincinnati. Of course, Tech is letting an accused rapist play, which you have to think the Hoops Gods will not look kindly on.

The conference is filled with teams that have very little to differentiate them. UCF is probably the “worst” team in the league, and they just beat KU. West Virginia beat Texas. BYU and Cincinnati are much better than most people expected them to be. Just like I’m going to complain about KU’s shooting every week, I’m going to remind you about how tough the Big 12 is every week.

Jayhawk Talk: Lance!

KU fans had roughly 24 hours of semi-worry and then 15 minutes of full-on panic when rumors about Lance Leipold taking the Washington job bubbled up. First, he was said to be one of the top candidates on Saturday. Sunday afternoon both an allegedly reputable national site and a local source who is fairly locked in suggested that he had been offered the job and was likely to take it.

The next 10–15 minutes were pretty wild on Twitter and in text threads.

Fortunately Leipold put all that speculation to rest with a Tweet of his own and both national and local sources quickly reported that he and KU had agreed to a new contract.

Full-on panic to elation in 15 minutes. America, 2024!

A couple hours later news dropped that UW was hiring Arizona coach Jed Fisch. Which makes me wonder if UW really offered the job to Lance or if it was just posturing by his agent to squeeze a little more out of KU in their negotiations. Regardless, it seems like KU dodged a bullet. We had all relaxed after the main round of coach shuffling passed with Lance still in Lawrence. Then Nick Saban fucked that all up and we had to briefly stress again.

The added bonus is with Fisch leaving Arizona, they are likely to lose some players, weakening a team that was expected to be one of the best in the Big 12 next year. They aren’t on KU’s 2024 schedule, but that does potentially mean one fewer team to have to beat out for a spot on the conference championship game. Although I have no idea how that is going to work in the revamped Big 12. And KU has a few more holes to plug before we start getting too excited about a possible conference title game run.

NFL Playoffs

First off, we all agree the Chiefs-Dolphins game being on Peacock was bullshit, right? Even more bullshitty was NBC’s incessant promotion of the game. Shots of Kansas City during the Houston game, just so they could talk about the nightcap. Calling it a historic event was even more bullshit.

Then came the cherry on top, NBC proclaiming Sunday that it was a milestone in sports and media history. We are into the second decade of broadly available, streamed sports events. NBC didn’t roll out any new technology for this game. They, and the NFL, decided to hide it behind a paywall that still forced viewers to watch commercials just to scrape more money out of fans.

You have to take out a mortgage to afford going to games. Over-the-air broadcasts have more commercial breaks than ever. And now more and more games are slipping behind paywalls. The NFL and Roger Goodell rival MLB and Rob Manfred for finding the most ways to fuck its fans.

I guess the Chiefs played well? We don’t have Peacock. I watched a movie.

Super impressive performance by Houston Saturday. I picked Cleveland and was very wrong. C.J. Stroud is going to be a problem. The Colts better hope Anthony Richardson can develop into a reasonable foil for him. And if Carolina didn’t have a shit-bag of an owner, I would feel sorry for them totally blowing the draft last spring.

Even more impressive performance by Green Bay Sunday, knocking out my Super Bowl pick Cowboys in shockingly easy fashion. Again, I was very wrong. The Niners are going to cream the Packers next week, though, aren’t they, making this an even worse loss for Cowboys fans.

The last game of Sunday was a lot of fun. Detroit jumps out early and their crowd is going nuts. LA claws back in the second half. You could feel the tension in the Detroit crowd as an LA win seemed inevitable. Then a couple close calls went Detroit’s way, the Lions converted a big third down, and they won their first playoff game since 1992. A great, cathartic scene at Ford Field, even if the Rams probably should have won that game.

Weather

As miserable as it was/is here in Indy, we really got off easy. A ton of rain Friday; I had the pump on the pool cover all day and three different times it rained hard enough to cover it completely. It had time to pump nearly all of it away before we dropped below freezing. As we walked out of L’s games Friday it was still raining hard, but with fat snowflakes mixed in. We got home just before everything froze up. We got just a touch of snow overnight and again Saturday evening, barely enough to cover the ground. And the winds that roared Friday into Saturday were not as strong as expected after the changeover, so our windchills were only around –15 Sunday. Far less snow than many of my readers got, and relatively warmer than many of you had to endure.

It isn’t supposed to get above freezing here for at least a week, with no real chances of snow at the moment.

I ran L to practice this morning and made a quick stop at the grocery store. The 30 seconds it took me to walk from my car to the store were not pleasant. My phone said the windchill was –16. Once you get below zero it really doesn’t matter anymore.

As always, winter sucks.

NFL Playoff Picks

January 12, 2024 /

I should register some NFL picks before it is too late.

After a wild, uncertain regular season, I don’t feel great confidence in any teams or matchups. No upset would surprise me. The NFL is League Chaos, which makes it extremely fun.

NFC

Dallas over Green Bay.
People are getting too excited about the Packers recent good play. And the Cowboys might be the best team in the conference.

Detroit over Los Angeles.
I know the Rams are a trendy pick here, for many extremely valid reasons. The Lions have a lot of holes and deficiencies. The Rams are likely one of the five-six best teams of the moment. But I watched the Detroit game last week and their crowd was electric. Those fans been waiting over a generation for this game. They will pick the team up when they are down and carry them to the win.

Philadelphia over Tampa Bay
Both these teams stink. Jalen Hurts is hurt. The Eagles ended the season on an epic meltdown. But they also have way more talent and there’s a decent chance they decide to get their shit together. And the Bucs stink more.

San Francisco over Philadelphia
This will be a shellacking worse than the first time they played.

Dallas over Detroit
The Lions had their chance to beat the Cowboys a few weeks ago but either blew it or had the refs take it away from them, depending on your perspective. The Cowboys won’t let them keep it close this time.

Dallas over San Francisco
These proud franchises meet in another NFC title game. The Cowboys defense gives Brock Purdy fits. Dak Prescott does Dak Prescott things, both good and bad. CeeDee Lamb makes some huge plays late to clinch the upset. Niners fans will complain that the game wasn’t played at Candlestick, where the awful turf would have prevented Lamb from torching the Niners defense.

AFC

Cleveland over Houston
Houston is a great story. But they won their playoff game last week and Cleveland is a better story.

Kansas City over Miami
This will be a very ugly game. Thanks, Mother Nature.

Buffalo over Pittsburgh
If Pittsburgh was fully healthy I might pick them. The Bills should win big, but will do enough dumb stuff to keep it close.

Baltimore over Cleveland
The storylines! The old Browns vs the new Browns. Joe Flacco returns to Charm City. Cleveland’s fearsome D vs the unstoppable force that is a Lamar Jackson led offense. Should be a good one.

Kansas City over Buffalo
I know the Chiefs are vulnerable and all, and the Bills seem perfectly crafted to take advantage. But the Bills haven’t been able to get out of their way all season, so there’s no reason to think they can do it here, even playing at home. The Chiefs don’t make it pretty, but they do just enough to get out with the W.

Baltimore over Kansas City
The Chiefs magic fails them as the Ravens pummel them on both sides of the ball. Patrick Mahomes ends the game covered in mud and turf and field paint, having battled nobly but fallen short.

Super Bowl

Baltimore over Dallas
All Baltimore does is win Super Bowls when they make it that far. And as nice as the Cowboys run was, they aren’t ready to win a Super Bowl.
Ravens 27, Cowboys 17

Sports Notes Emergency Entry

January 11, 2024 /

Events demanded an emergency sports notes post. I’ll try to keep these relatively brief.

Jayhawk Talk: Disaster

Well that fucking sucked. Arguably the worst Big 12 loss of Bill Self’s career, the first time his team lost when they led by 16 or more points. Having that big lead is what made it worse than the TCU loss in 2013. Because they had this game won. They were toying with UCF. Making them look silly. Then the entire team fell apart when Hunter Dickinson got his second foul and sat the last 3+ minutes of the first half. In the second half they panicked even when they still had the lead, throwing terrible passes, taking terrible shots, and getting cooked on defense. For a team loaded with experienced players, they all sucked when a team that wouldn’t lay down for them. Super concerning.

On the one hand I’m inclined to throw it out as a flukey loss as the team had been trending towards a loss like this for a few weeks. In years past this was a classic Wake Up Call loss. If they can’t get their shit together, though, things could get awfully interesting awfully quick.

Carroll and Saban and Belichick (Oh My!)

What a 12 hours or so for legendary coaches stepping down!

Pete Carroll in Seattle is probably the least significant, simply because the Seahawks have been good but not great in recent years. It was a true surprise – perhaps even to him – that he will no longer coach them. It seemed like he would coach forever. He set up the first college dynasty of the century at USC, a program that in its prime was breath-taking to watch. He won a Super Bowl and lost another. A pretty good run.

Then Nick Saban shocked the world about an hour later by announcing his retirement. A truly stunning turn of events. The greatest coach in modern college football history, and on the short list for all time greats. Alabama should be able to pick just about anyone they want for the job. Yet the opening still comes with a lot of pressure. They hired a lot of bad coaches over a 20-year stretch before they landed Saban. This could easily go wrong and upset the balance of power in the SEC and game as a whole. Many Big 12 fans laughed when Texas and Oklahoma announced they were leaving for the SEC, mostly at the hubris of thinking they could match up with Saban and his Bama machine. For Texas especially, they may have timed that jump genious-ly well.

Finally, Bill Belichick is out in New England, which was very much not a surprise and perhaps a year or two overdue. He will almost definitely end up coaching somewhere next year, so this is just the official end of the Patriots dynasty. Nine Super Bowls – and six wins – in sixteen years is outrageous. For a man who is widely considered the greatest NFL coach ever, his next job does come with some pressure for his legacy. If he does about the same or worse as he did in Cleveland, or in his first year-plus in New England, much of the credit for his success will shift to Tom Brady.

I’m fascinated to see where he ends up. San Diego, err, Los Angeles to try to harness the gifts of Justin Herbert? Washington to try to rebuild that franchise in the post-Snyder era? Might an organization that isn’t totally in love with their current coach – Green Bay, Arizona, Jacksonville, Dallas if they fall apart in the playoffs – decide to make a switch if they can lure Belichick? And then does he have the humility to give up control of the roster, an area he struggled with in recent years in New England?

CFP Final

A kind of disappointing game if you’re not a Michigan fan. I was hoping for a more competitive game from start-to-finish, but have to admire how UM put the hammer down on Washington. They were locked in and ready for their moment.

There was a lot of gnashing of teeth after Michigan won about how they cheated to get their title. I say whatever to all of that, and their “cheating” scandal.

Sign stealing is such a dumb form of “cheating.” Everyone does it. Maybe Michigan took it to another level, but every single program is looking at tape to try to pick up their opponents’ signals. They have someone trying to crack them during games. They disguise their own signals because they know the opposite sideline is watching.

I didn’t care much about the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal. I care less about this. A hitter knowing whether a fastball or off-speed pitch is coming does give them an advantage. But, again, everyone is trying to get an edge; Houston just took it to another level. I think Michigan got far less of an advantage by attempting to steal their opponents signals. They might know the general set, but they still didn’t know the specific play that was coming.

Now I’m mad because people have me defending Michigan…

Weekend Notes

January 8, 2024 /

It was odd walking downstairs this morning. We put all the holiday decorations away Sunday, so this was the first time since Thanksgiving I was greeted by a dark main floor. C said our family room looked “emo” without the decorations yesterday. I’m not sure if emo is the term I would pick, but it does always take a few days to get used to the tree, etc being packed away for another 11 months.

It was also a strange morning because S is back in the office on Mondays for the first time in years. I’ll share more about that in a future post.

We had a very busy Saturday followed by a pretty lazy Sunday. Some notes…

Back to School

L had games Saturday starting at noon. After her JV contest, S and M left the gym and headed to Cincinnati to drop M off for her second semester. Sunday was the normal move-in day, but she had a greek leadership meeting that began at 9:00 Sunday and needed to go back early. I forget if I mentioned last fall that she was elected as social chair for her house, thus her presence was required at this meeting. She’s already working on planning their formal this spring. UC lovingly added $40 to our bill for her moving in 24 hours early.

I guess move-in went well. Someone working in her dorm told S that Sunday was going to be crazy, so it might have been worth the $40 to avoid that rush.

M ended up getting straight A’s first semester, which was a terrific start. Right before she came home she added Marketing as a major. She figured that’s a better path to a job right after graduation than psychology, which would likely require graduate work. She’s debating whether to do a double major or shift psych to a minor.

While she starts classes today, her sisters got to sleep in one last day. They begin their two-week J term tomorrow.

Snow

We got our first real snow of the year Friday night/Saturday morning. Probably 2” of heavy, wet stuff at our house. I got up and pushed it aside just to make sure the driveway didn’t turn into a sheet of ice. Our forecast this week looks miserable. Rain and/or snow almost every day, and potentially a major storm next weekend.

As a weather geek I love watching how the forecast changes this time of year. Last night one forecast predicted between 15–20” of snow from Thursday night to Saturday morning. This morning it had switched to mostly rain and just 2–3” of snow. I imagine it will change multiple times before the storm finally gets here.

Jayhawk Talk

You’re not going to believe this but I missed the first half of the KU-TCU game watching L play. It’s uncanny how often that has happened this year. Fortunately I got home in time to see most of the second half.

I guess that was fortunate? I might be getting too old to handle games like this, and I’m afraid the entire Big 12 schedule this year is going to play out similar to Saturday’s game. Almost every team plays really good defense. There don’t seem to be many pushovers. The next two months are going to be brutal.

It doesn’t help that this KU team seems to be missing something. Not just the shooters that would open so much up for the offense. There’s another mysterious “something” that isn’t there. It’s far too hard for them to score, even with two first team All American caliber players and one of the best distributing point guards in the county. It’s like the parts almost fit perfectly, but grind against each other just enough to keep them from reaching their potential.

I mean, it would be cool if someone on this team could hit a few 3s every night. Even then I think something would be off, though.

Let’s get this over with: the intentional foul called against Ernest Udeh when he elbowed Hunter Dickinson was 100% the right call. I wasn’t sure in real time but watching replays it’s clear Udeh threw his elbow with intent rather than as a function of trying to grab Kevin McCullar’s truly horrific pass. That said, I’m shocked it was called. There seemed just enough wiggle room for the refs to decide it was a play-on rather than foul since it hadn’t been whistled immediately.

I have no issue with TCU people being pissed about it. I would be, no matter what the replay showed. But I’m already done with Fran Fraschilla’s interpretation of the play, knowing he is going to mention it 8000 times between now and the end of the season.[1] God forbid KU wins the Big 12 by a game because he is going to talk about that single play incessantly. Props to Seth Davis, Seth Greenberg, and Jay Wright for countering Fraschilla’s nonsense.

Fraschilla and the other haters didn’t mention the awful foul called on KJ Adams with about 2:00 left that gave Emanuel Miller two free throws and TCU a two-point lead. I think the Hoops Gods made the call against Udeh to balance that shitty foul on KJ.

(OK, aside time. Fraschilla is truly a putz. For some reason about ten years ago he decided to become the voice for the anti-KU element of the Big 12. He holds onto borderline calls that go for KU like a psychopathic fan.[2] He often parrots lines that clearly come from other Big 12 coaches. Any time there’s a close call in Allen Fieldhouse, you can hear his energy level rise and the eagerness in his voice, like a Jan. Sixer talking about how the election was stolen.[3]

His comments Saturday were even more bizarre since he casually threw in his opinion that Dickinson traveled on his game-winning basket, as if that was another egregious miss by the officials that the entire world saw. It was such a strange observation that CBS’ Seth Davis tweeted back with a clip of the play, showing Dickinson clearly taking a dribble as he shuffled his feet before tossing the shot in.

I’m not sure if Fraschilla has cracked after years of being yelled at by KU fans, if Bill Self pissed him off/froze him out at some point, or just because he is famously close with a couple current/former Big 12 coaches, but it is clear his emotions affect his analysis. At least when KU is involved. Which is fine if you’re a middle-aged blogger. It’s not when you are the main color commentator for an entire conference.)

Anyway, KU is 13–1 but I don’t think many KU fans are feeling great about the team. We were extremely fortunate to beat TCU. There are about 18 tough-ass games ahead of us just to get through the conference season. To be clear, I don’t feel bad about the team. They just aren’t as good as we hoped and the path to reaching the pre-season goals of Final Four caliber team seems pretty daunting.

Colts

What a terrible ending to an unexpectedly inspiring season by our local football eleven. Actually that’s what our soccer team is called so I should not be cute and just say Colts.

This was supposed to be a rebuilding year, a season in which rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson took his lumps and got acclimated to the NFL, with the idea of competing for a playoff spot again next year.

Richardson was surprisingly good, until he got hurt multiple times and ended up needing season-ending surgery. Gardner Minshew shook off some early rough games and often found ways to make just enough plays to win. After a lengthy hold-out and a brief injury absence, Jonathan Taylor returned to anchor the offense. The defense improved as the season progressed.

The Colts won a couple games they shouldn’t have. They lost a few they shouldn’t have. They benefited from playing in the thoroughly meh AFC South.

It was perfect their season came down to a de facto playoff game against Houston, at home, on Saturday night.

The result felt appropriate for the season, too. A couple dumb coaching decisions by Shane Streichen, who seems like a solid coach but like so many “innovative” coaches, occasionally tries too hard to be cute. A couple meltdowns by the defensive backfield. And then the inevitable Minshew mistake. This time is wasn’t a brutal interception on a potential scoring drive, but rather missing a wide-open back on fourth-and-one in the red zone with less than two minutes remaining.

There’s been a lot of debate about the play that did the Colts in, with a decent contingent of folks trying their hardest to say it wasn’t Minshew’s fault. I’m sorry: that was a TERRIBLE throw. He wasn’t pressured. Tyler Goodson was wide open with blockers ahead of him. At minimum it was an easy first down. The way it was set up there was a decent chance Goodson was going to tie the game and give the Colts the chance to take the lead on the PAT.

It was a perfect play call and 10 Colts did their job. It was Minshew who choked.

Now it’s on to 2024 with, hopefully, a healthy Richardson and Taylor behind him to start the season. The Colts weren’t a good team this year, so there are a lot of areas that need improvement if the want to be legitimate contenders next season. Regardless, the 2024 cycle begins with some genuine optimism about what is to come.

NFL

I’ve been saying all year how weird the NFL is. One week you think a team is dominant, the next they lose a stupid game against a weaker team.

So how do you pick the playoffs this year? The Niners and Ravens seem to have separated themselves in each conference. But do you trust Brock Purdy? Lamar Jackson’s shit hasn’t worked in the playoffs so far in his career, is this the year that changes? I think the Cowboys might actually be the favorite at this point. I’m going to need a few days to ponder on all of it, though.

  1. I think it started when Kelly Oubre wasn’t called for pushing off on an offensive rebound in 2015. It came against Oklahoma, where Fraschilla’s son was playing at the time, and I think something in his brain snapped that night. That game was in mid-January and, I swear, Fraschilla mentioned it every time he did a KU or OU game the rest of the season.  ↩
  2. Ahem. I know. You don’t need to mention pots and kettles, men in the mirror, etc.  ↩
  3. Pretty sure Fran subscribes to that conspiracy, too, based on some of his Tweets, so it all fits together perfectly.  ↩

Jayhawk Talk: Bowl Game Breakdown

December 27, 2023 /

I planned on taking most of this week off from blogging. But Tuesday’s bizarre shitshow of a football game that was the Guaranteed Rate Bowl[1] required me to share a few words about the mighty Kansas Jayhawks winning nine games for the first time since the 2007 season. I mean, I was up until 1:45 AM, and then struggled to sleep, because of this stupid game and its aftermath. I’m going to have some thoughts.

The lead up to the game should have been a hint of where we were headed. First Dominick Puni announced he would not be playing in the game to prepare for the NFL Draft. What a rise for a kid who was barely recruited to Central Missouri then got hurt and received an offer from KU based on one game’s tape. He was first team All Big 12 and is going to have a long NFL career if his body cooperates.

Also out was Bryce Cabeldue because of injury. So KU would be missing both offensive tackles. But the team actually had depth on the line for the first time ever, and a month to prepare. That did not worry me.

Then my Indy homie Austin Booker, also a first team all conference player, announced he would not be playing. Again the assumption is he is declaring for the draft, although there are rumors he could come back. He was KU’s best and really only consistent pass rusher and I thought his absence could be huge against a very good offensive team like UNLV.

Finally, hours before the game, news broke that Devin Neal had told coaches he would be coming back for his senior year. Huzzah! More on him in a bit.

Then the game.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a game like it.

KU played amazing for roughly two-thirds of the game, good enough to rack up 49 points on six Jason Bean touchdown passes, with Lawrence Arnold and Luke Grimm both catching three. Grimm ripped off 160 yards on four catches. FOUR! Arnold making one of the best catches you’ll ever see for his first touchdown, only to be topped by Quentin Skinner one possession later. KU had touchdown drives that went for 98 and 99 yards. They had four scoring plays of 40 yards or more, two coming on fourth downs.

When KU was good Tuesday, they were awesome.

But KU also set school records for most total penalties and penalty yards in a game. A team that had been penalized 55 times through 12 games got hit for 18 accepted penalties for 210 yards. Which would have been fine, if it weren’t for several of those calls being very strange. A personal foul when there was no contact between anyone on KU and UNLV after a Cobee Bryant interception. A face mask call against KU that came very late and when replay showed it wasn’t close to a face mask. Then a non-call when Devin Neal had his face mask grabbed and the official literally laughing in his face when he complained. Another personal foul when replay showed two UNLV players hitting a KU lineman, who was flagged for responding. There was a stretch in the second quarter when it seemed like every play was followed by a flag, usually on KU.

What made these calls even worse was the absolutely awful ESPN coverage, which rarely showed a replay of the alleged offense. Even when they did show a replay – like on the phantom face mask against KU – the announcers somehow agreed with the call. “There you see he grabs his face mask and doesn’t let go…” when the replay shows the Jayhawk with a handful of jersey and no part of the helmet. Just maddening.

Now that you can gamble on everything, there were degenerates all over the country who had no loyalty to KU other than their money riding on a KU win screaming on Twitter about crazy, inexplicable calls going for the team from Las Vegas. One guy from Ohio took it very seriously and claimed it was one of his best gambling wins ever, overcoming the “crooked” refs who tried to steal the game. We live in weird times.

When the announcers kind of suck to begin with, the production of the game is a C- at best, and your team seems to be getting screwed, it takes all the fun out of watching. I had to switch TVs and chairs. A few friends I had been texting with totally stopped. I eventually muted the TV and had the KU radio broadcast on my phone. I couldn’t get it exactly synced up, but it was better than listening to the ESPN fools.

Switching to radio was a true revelation. They actually broke down plays, provided context, and explained to listeners what was going on, unlike the banal chatter you heard on ESPN. KU analyst David Lawrence suggested that the refs had got into the entire KU team’s head, and they needed to calm down and just play when a 21-point lead shrunk to just four points. Which they finally did and blew the game open. I would suggest the refs got into all our heads. Hell, I think they got into their own heads.

Thank goodness this game was meaningless or I might really have been worked up!

The game kind of summed up Jason Bean’s career. Some brilliant throws in the first half, followed by three horrible throws that were all picked off and let UNLV back into the game. Then a stunning fourth quarter where he picked the defense apart with three surgical throws. The knock on Bean before this year was his inaccuracy and his lack of instincts. He made himself a hell of a lot better this year, dialing in the location on his throws and rarely missing guys by ten yards the way he had in the past. He has a highlight reel full of pin-point deliveries this year. His instincts were still a little suspect, but the KU coaches learned how to put him in positions where success was much more likely. Like so many KU fans, this kid became one of my all-time favorites this year with how he battled, how he shook off failure, those big moments, and how emotionally and honestly he handled moments like beating OU and winning a bowl game. A true Jayhawk legend.

So nine wins, which is pretty awesome. The first bowl win since 2008. Eight of eleven staters on offense return, although the departing players all played huge roles and will not be easily replaced. But fill in those holes on the offensive line, find a pass rusher, let the depth in the secondary fill in for Kenny Logan (another KU legend), bring Cobee Bryant back, find a kicker, keep any key contributors from being poached by higher level schools, and get Jalon Daniels healthy and the Jayhawks are a legitimate Big 12 contender next year.

To be sure, those are a lot of To Dos for the offseason. For the first time in decades, though, KU’s list of questions for next season are no longer than the teams they’ll be playing against each week in the Big 12.

Finally, this lady stole my shirt idea. I really need to find one. She knows what’s up.

  1. Stupid-ass name played in a stupid-ass stadium.  ↩
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