D's Notebook

Tag: football (Page 8 of 28)

Weekend Notes

September 12, 2022 /

The first full football weekend of the year. I have some notes.

Friday

We had the big 6A #3 Cathedral at 3A #1 Bishop Chatard game Friday. Or the girls did. S and I knew it was going to be an absolute shit show; BC has a tiny stadium in the middle of a packed neighborhood and it seemed like every Indianpolis Northside Catholic was going to go. So we went to dinner with friends while the girls enjoyed the game.

Although it wasn’t much of a game. I checked my phone at about 7:45 and CHS was up 21–0. They got it to 35–0 before half, had a running clock for the second half, and won 38–0. I watched the highlights Saturday, and pretty much every score was a long pass, or set up by a long pass. When you have four receivers who are 6’3”+ and your opponent is small, you have to take advantage.

Of course, Chatard has a better chance of winning state than Cathedral, so not sure the BC fans were smarting too much afterward.

I got home in time to watch the end of the Tiafoe-Alcaraz US Open semifinal. Frances gave it his all, but Carlos Alcaraz is just too damn good. We’ve been waiting for years for the next superstar to come along in mens tennis. Alcaraz might be that dude.

Saturday

Lots of sports.

Alabama-Texas was interesting, surprising, and entertaining. Not the game I expected at all, although I really didn’t think ‘Bama would blow them out.

I caught the end of the Marshall-Notre Dame game. What a disaster for the Irish! Marcus Freeman seems like a really good guy but he’s feeling the heat already about whether he was the right hire.

L had a basketball game Saturday evening. They played a team made up of lacrosse players. These girls were big, athletic, and had this really good offense that kept getting them open looks. But they were not basketball players. L’s team ran them off the floor, at least in terms of the score, winning 47–23.

L had six points on 3–7 shooting, including two sweet drives for layups. On one she got hammered and threw it up-and-in off the backboard as she tumbled to the ground. Her teammates went nuts and she came up with a look like “THAT WENT IN?!?!” Then she missed the free throw… Not sure what’s up with her at the line lately. Her jumpers look good but her free throw form is awful.

I was glad it was not a close game. The refs were ones who never call fouls unless they are hard fouls at the rim. And these lacrosse girls were mega-physical and handsy. Once L was leading the break and a girl was tugging on her off arm the entire time, slowing L down, and the refs didn’t call anything. Need to teach her how to flop.

AND HOW ABOUT THOSE JAYHAWKS!?!?!?! Two-and-oh! Highest scoring team in the country!

We listened to the beginning of the game on our way to basketball and I was regretting finding the Sirius broadcast when West Virginia scored on a 59 yard TD pass, KU had four penalties on their first possession, and then WVU scored again. I checked the score at halftime of L’s game and saw it was 21–7. I was glad I was watching hoops.

When we got back into the car it was 28-all and I was all-in. We heard KU take the lead as we drove home in an intense storm, and then watched the fourth quarter and overtime from home.

What a great win. This was a game pretty much every KU squad for the past decade would lose by 40+. But the Jayhawks settled down after the bad start, hung in there, and dominated for a long stretch. Then they not only won, but got the ultra-rare, double-digit overtime win thanks to Jacobee Bryant’s pick-six.

There was some whooping it up in our living room, and some questions from the girls upstairs about what the hell was going on.

It looks like after getting it wrong four-straight times, KU finally hired the right coach. It was bound to happen eventually. The Jayhawks are disciplined, more talented than in recent years, put that talent in the right spots, are prepared for their opponents, and don’t fall apart the moment they face adversity. A long way to go but things finally seem like they are trending up.

Naturally Nebraska lost about 30 minutes later, Scott Frost was fired Sunday, and Lance Leipold is reportedly high on the list of potential replacements.

I think that bloom will fade, as Nebraska is not going to hire a guy who goes 4–10 this year.

Unless KU wins eight, nine, ten games this year, right?

Sunday

The first NFL Sunday of the year. I missed most of the Colts game as L had to go do her team photographer duties for her CYO football classmates. It was pouring rain so I decided to sit in my car and read in case she wanted to bail early. She ended up staying the entire time so I read a ton and didn’t see much football.

I did listen on the radio long enough to hear the Colts go down 20–3 but then turned it off to focus on my book. We got home in time to see the Colts tie it, then blow a chance in win in overtime. This franchise just does not do opening day well. I believe this is nine-straight opening weeks without a win. So maybe a tie is progress?

Still a super-disappointing beginning to a season in which the Colts were, allegedly, poised to be a player in the AFC title race. At least no one else in the AFC South won. You figure there will be growing pains as Matt Ryan settles in, but he wasn’t the problem on Sunday. At least when I was watching.

I forgot about the US Open final until late and caught the last four games of Alcaraz’s win. The first of many, I would bet.

I half-watched much of the SNF Buccaneers-Cowboys game. That old fucker Brady can still sling it.

Holiday Weekend Notes

September 6, 2022 /

I’m guessing this was our last ever four-day Labor Day weekend, at least on the academic side of things. St P’s generally (but not always) gives the kids Friday and Monday off, while CHS just takes the actual Monday holiday off. Who knows what M’s schedule will be this time next year, but she won’t be here, so that means the remaining girls will be on the same schedule for the final holiday weekend of summer in 2023.

L took advantage of her extra day by doing some work for us and family members to earn some money. She’s been drafted as the St P’s football team videographer/photographer and has been saving up for a camera. With a final push over the weekend she was able to order it.

Her first project of the weekend was mowing her aunt’s yard, which she has done a few times. I followed her around with the trimmer, which is too big and too temperamental for her to use. As I was trimming I felt a white-hot heat on my right forearm. I dropped the trimmer, thinking it was in the process of blowing up or something. But I didn’t see any smoke and it started right back up.

“Well, shit,” I thought, “I think I just got stung!”

But I hadn’t seen/felt anything on me or seen anything fly away. I looked around and then noticed, on my nephews’ swingset/playhouse, the biggest wasp I had ever seen crawling around. I got a fly swatter from inside the house and nailed it. Seconds later several more Big Ass Wasps emerged from under the decking and I fled before they could get me.

Fortunately my sister-in-law had a couple cans of wasp/hornet killer. I unloaded one on the nest I could see poking through the frame and left her instructions to hit it again when the wasps returned for the evening.

Not going to lie: the sting hurt like hell. I don’t know if I’ve ever been hit by a wasp before, but this fucking hurt. Even today, Tuesday morning, the area is all swollen, red, and itchy. I’m not sure what flavor of wasps these were, but I’m just going to call them Murder Hornets because they were so big and the sting was so painful. Still, happy to take one for the team rather than one of my nephews.

IMG 5531

Don’t fuck with the Murder Hornets

Friday night was one of the more interesting sports following nights in my recent history.

I had the US Open up on the TV, watching Serena Williams’ final match that began at 7:00. At 7:30 the Cathedral game began, and I pulled up the audio on my phone. And at 8:00 KU kicked off their season on ESPN+, which I had on my MacBook Air.

Super Sports Fan #1 here!

It was a bit chaotic keeping track of everything, but I managed, selectively muting as conditions warranted.

I should probably write more about Serena’s loss. I think of my life not really hitting adulthood until right around 1999–2000. That made Serena the last athlete from my extended childhood or adolescence or whatever who was still active. Just another sign that we are getting older.

Props to her for such an amazing career, for coming back after having an insanely difficult pregnancy and childbirth experience, and for going out on her terms. I couldn’t believe she was still playing doubles with her sister Venus on Thursday. I think that effort clearly affected her in Friday’s match. Then I realized that she just wanted to play with her sister one more time and was willing to sacrifice her singles match for that opportunity. When you’ve won everything there is to win, you get to pick how you say goodbye.

Cathedral fell behind 13–0 but then ripped off 35-straight points for a 35–21 win. The game was three hours away so none of the girls went. The Irish had a ton of injuries going into the game, so played a number of kids who had not played the first two weeks. This week they play their big-time rivals BC, who are ranked #1 in 3A and just lost the the #1 4A school on the final play of the game.

KU rolled Tennessee Tech. Which should be expected, and I know non-KU fans are making fun of us Jayhawks for being excited about the win. Never forget this is KU football, a program that has found a way to do the un-doable for decades. Pounding an overmatched opponent is never a given for Kansas, and while one or two more wins is likely the max we can hope for this year, at least we checked off the easy win.

The team looked better, with more playmakers on defense than I can recall. But they still lack depth and things will be very different this week against West Virginia and pretty much every week for the rest of the year and the competition keeps getting tougher and tougher. But this game was the baby step we needed.

Saturday we headed up to S’s aunt and uncle’s in the morning. They live on a lake and offered to take the girls out to ski. M took a brief run and had no issues. L tried but could not get up. C was annoyed about having to wake up early on a holiday weekend and stayed in the boat. We took a nice trip around the lake and got off the water just before rain moved in.

Later in the day L had a basketball game. They were playing a team they’ve played many times. That team plays and practices all year, and added another good player since our last meeting. We were down 13–0 to start then went something like 5–22 from the free throw line and lost by 15. L alone was 1–6 from the line. She was 0–4 from the floor but had three rebounds, three assists, and three steals. She hit one shot that came after a foul was called away from the ball and was super annoyed by that. I was super annoyed she was missing so many free throws after all the practice shots she put up over the summer.

Sunday we had the local family over for our annual Labor Day gathering. It never got too hot or humid and the rain held off, so it was a pleasant day around the pool. I stay the hell out of the pool when the nephews take over. It’s more fun to drink and watch than constantly babysit your kids so they don’t sink.

Monday was your standard, lazy Labor Day. I watched some tennis – Frances Tiafoe upsetting Rafa Nadal was obviously the highlight, a truly enjoyable match. I was bummed Danielle Collins lost, but we don’t need to go into details about that.

(Another quick aside about tennis: Nick Kyrgios beating Daniil Medvedev Sunday was also entertaining. Not sure I’ve ever switched my opinion on an athlete as quickly as I have about Kyrgios. I thought he was a lunatic who needed to be shut down at Wimbledon. Now I think he’s one of the most entertaining, compelling, and interesting players on the tour. Not sure I necessarily love him, but I do root for him to stay in tournaments because they are a lot more fun with him on the court.)

I read a lot, we did some shopping as we prep for our next big trip, and we did some cleaning around the house.

Otherwise a pretty chill holiday weekend.

This morning we were socked in by low, thick clouds. When my alarm went off at 6:50 and it was still pitch black my first thought was, “Did I sleep through a month and it’s October 6?” Just a tangible reminder that summer is over.

Weekend Notes

August 29, 2022 /

Kind of a weird weekend, or at least it got off to a weird start.

L threw up all night Thursday and into Friday morning. I heard her throwing up again around 6:45 and went running into her room only to discover it was M across the hall throwing up in her bathroom.

Just like old times! At least they are old enough now not to puke in their beds.

Both girls stayed home from school, L feeling like crap all day. M threw up one more time around 11:00 but then acted like she made a miraculous recovery and started bugging me about going to the CHS football game that evening. I kept saying no, she would pout and ask again, so I finally told her to leave me alone and ask her mom. Not sure what was involved in that text exchange but she was out the door as soon as I left to pick C up. More on that later…

C had three friends come over after school and I drove them out to the far westside for the big #2 CHS vs #3 Brownsburg matchup. BHS jumped all over Cathedral early, getting up 21–0 thanks to a blocked punt, an Irish fumble, and two long drives. CHS ended the first half and opened the second half with long touchdown passes to cut it to 21–14. But they immediately gave up a 78 yard TD pass and only a late TD made it a respectable 42–35 loss. I’m not sure when the last time CHS was behind by 21 points. It’s been at least three years. It’s the first time they’ve lost to someone other than two time defending 6A champs Center Grove since November 2019.

It was a thoroughly respectable loss. BHS is a really good team.[1] But CHS looked kind of bad. They lost their entire offensive line and nine starters on defense from last year’s team. That shows. The o-line can’t protect their stud QB, who was running for his life all night and got hurt late, or open holes for the running game. The d-line can’t get pressure, which was a problem against a good team like BHS. Their best defensive player, who committed to Purdue on Sunday, was getting double and triple teamed all night because none of the other linemen could do anything. There’s a lot of work to do if the Irish want to have any chance of competing this November. Especially in class 6A.

Something new for me: watching a game when one of my daughters is dating a kid on the team. M’s boyfriend starts, although he’s on and off the field quite a bit. I’m honestly not sure what his position is. He’s usually lined up across from a receiver, but sometimes he’s inside, sometimes he’s outside, and sometimes he’s positioned more like linebacker. Anyway, each defensive play I was checking if he was on the field and where he was at. I kept shuddering because for some reason he – a 5’8”-ish kid – kept getting matched up with BHS’ 6’2”+ receiver. Why they never threw at him I don’t know. Thankfully G was not in coverage when the kid got loose for that 78 yard TD. G made a few tackles but it was not a great night for the defense, so I’m sure he was upset with their effort.

As for my oldest daughter…at halftime I walked down to talk to some friends. I noticed an ambulance with the lights on near the other end of the visiting stands. A few minutes later C called me. Which was weird. My girls never call me, they always text.

When I answered she said M had passed out and was getting checked out by the paramedics. She passed her phone to M who said “Hi! I’m fine!” She claims she just got hot in the super crowded CHS student section and felt like she was going to pass out, so her friends ran over to get the paramedics. They checked her blood pressure, pulse/ox, and blood sugar. Everything was normal but they asked her if she wanted to go to hospital. She declined, signed a form, and watched the rest of the game without incident.

While I’m sure the heat and crowd contributed, I bet throwing up twice and not eating or drinking much all day didn’t help.

It could be worse: some of her best friends (who were not at the game) tested positive for Covid over the weekend. Although who knows, she could be next…

Fortunately the rest of us avoided the stomach bug. Not sure how just those two got it, and how it wiped L out for like 48 hours while M was back to normal pretty quickly.

That meant the L couldn’t play in her travel team game on Saturday. Sounds like she missed a doozy. Her team lost by three in double overtime. Our best player fouled out with 1:00 left in overtime. According to the texts I got, she wasn’t anywhere near the play but the ref gave her the foul. Apparently her grandfather nearly got kicked out of the gym afterward. Now I’m glad I missed it!

L was well enough to go to the required tryout for next year’s team on Sunday. She said she felt sluggish and didn’t play well. I got there in the final minutes of the scrimmage and I saw her blow by a girl, score, and get fouled, so that looked good.

  1. They have a former quarterback at the University of Kansas, so you know they’re legit.  ↩

Weekend Kid Sports Notes

August 22, 2022 /

Kid Hoops

After a few weeks off, it’s back to the hoops grind for L.

Saturday her travel team kicked off a Back to School league that will play on Saturdays for the next two months. I think this is the first time her coach has put his team into the league, and he’s doing his best to keep it light. They won’t practice. He’s going to rotate starters every game. He wants girls to play different positions. Most of all he wants them to have fun.

S and I were at an engagement party so we missed their first game. L had six points in a three-point win. She hit two free throws with 11 seconds left to turn a two-point lead to four. Her coach texted me after the game and said she played well.

The St P’s teams for the upcoming CYO season were also released Saturday night. No surprise as far as L was concerned: she’s on the Cadet A team for the second-straight year. Her team has five eighth graders and three seventh graders. Five of those girls play travel, so we are excited about the chance to run a real offense! Although I am not coaching this year, I have been helping the guy who will coach get acclimated.[1]

Sunday six of those A team players played at the weekly CYO open gym. They won by eight. L played about as well as she’s ever played. I had her with at least 17 points and 5–6 assists. She and her travel team buddy took over the game in the second half after a six-point lead turned into a one-point deficit. Those two scored 12-straight points to put the game away. L was either hitting buckets or dropping dimes so her friend could score. I was a little bummed that they wasted it on a scrimmage that doesn’t count for anything. But it was really fun to watch. L is pumped for the season ahead.

Before the scrimmage began I was talking with the coach, coordinator, and my friend I’ve coached with for several years who is also helping. Apparently there was already a lot of bitching about how the St P’s teams were picked, what girls made what team, etc. Sounds like it was worse for some of the younger teams but there was controversy about who ended up on L’s.

I’ve always known that basketball brought out a whole different level of parent crazy than kickball does. I got a few complaints every year when I sent out kickball rosters but nothing like what the basketball coordinators get. Apparently girls are already threatening to quit because of the team they got placed on, and parents were sending long emails and texts to people who had nothing to do with the decisions airing their grievances. I’m so glad I am disconnected from the St P’s social circle and don’t have to get pulled into that nonsense (at least yet) and that this is our final year of CYO sports.

I know we were lucky. It has always been obvious where our girls belonged and there was rarely any lasting disappointment with their assignment. I get how it is a bummer not get on the team you want to be on. But some of these parents are delusional.

There is one parent who is already wearing everyone out with their complaints. I watched their kid play twice last week. She is not good. Every now and then she’ll hit a 3, but it’s just because she chucks as soon as she gets the ball. She can’t dribble, she can’t guard, and if she tries to pass it is most likely going out of bounds or to the other team. But one of her parents was a very good high school player and, thus, thinks that their kid is also very good.

It’s fine to have your kid’s back. But do it with some acceptance of reality. Plus I think for a developing player, especially one who is in the younger half of the age group, it can be better to be on a B team and play a lot than be on an A team and get far fewer minutes.

HS Football

The Indiana high school football season began on Friday. Cathedral has a terrible schedule this year. They couldn’t fill one spot so only have eight regular season games. Just two of those eight are home games. Two of the road games are over three hours away.

Friday’s opener was up in Lafayette and M and several of her friends caravanned up to watch the Irish get an easy 43–12 win. On the radio it sounded a little sloppy. They return a stud junior QB and several terrific receivers. One receiver is going to Purdue, a tight end is going to Western Michigan, and a defensive lineman has a final four that includes LSU. But their offensive line is all brand new and seemed to struggle opening holes Friday.

Making matters tougher this year is that CHS has moved up to 6A after winning two-straight 5A state titles.[2] Given they’ve only lost to the two-time 6A champs over the past two seasons, CHS opened the season ranked behind that team at number two. They get a big test this coming week when they travel to play the likely number three team in the state (that team was #5 last week, but numbers three and four both lost on Friday).

There could be more growing pains along the way this year than the last two. But they have a lot of skill position talent and if they can stay healthy and develop that O-line, they’ll likely be as good as anyone in 6A come playoff time.

  1. He’s a St P’s dad but all of his kids are either in high school or college. The new basketball coordinator wanted to get a non-parent coaching to try to help with various issues that have popped up in recent years. I was super supportive of this idea as non-parent coaches are generally better for these competitive teams and it kept me from having to coach. I’ll be just fine keeping score and popping into the occasional practice if asked.  ↩
  2. CHS is a 4A school by enrollment.  ↩

Sports Notes

April 21, 2022 /

Thanks to the NCAA tournament, spring break, and general laziness, I’m behind on a couple sports stories. When a huge one broke Wednesday night, that jogged my memory that I should probably get to them.

Jayhawk Talk

Hey, did you know the Kansas Jayhawks won the national championship two weeks ago? It was pretty cool!

We’ve had a steady run of packages dropped off with national title gear over the pat week. I accidentally ordered C a youth small instead of an adult small of the shirt she picked, so one of the nephews is getting a Jayhawk tee. M has already desecrated her title gear; her prom group decided to dress in college stuff for their afterparty. In her poorly chosen words, “All the good schools were taken,” so she volunteered her and her date to wear KU stuff. She cropped the shirt I bought her so it’s “cute,” I guess. Whatever. It says national champions on it. It’s dope.

I’ve been surprised how quiet the roster chatter has been. I assumed there would be a week to ten days of hangover and recovery, and then we’d begin hearing about changes for next year. I’m assuming everyone is waiting to see what Christian Braun and Jalen Wilson do before they make any moves.

All winter I said I expected KU to lose three players. That includes early departures and transfers. I’m not sure how much winning a title changes the math for players.

KU does seem to be in on several players who have entered the transfer portal, so that tells me Bill Self expects to lose a few players. Or have a signed recruit decide to chase G-League/Aussie money instead of spending a year in Lawrence.

The deadline for entering the transfer portal is about ten days away. I would expect we’ll hear about CB and Jalen early next week and things will begin shaking out after that.

NLI/Transfer Portal

I was going to include some thoughts about how the ability for players to get paid for their name, image, likeness use and the freedom to transfer. But as I thought more about those, I realized they are better suited for a longer, dedicated post. Look for that next week.

Jay Wright Retires

Holy shit!!! I did not see this coming and never heard any rumors that it was an option.

My first thought is that I hope all is right with Jay Wright’s health and those close to him. Sixty seems early to retire, especially when you are still at the top of your game, so the natural assumption is that something is wrong and forced his decision.

Since his announcement, there have been plenty of rumors that he doesn’t want to coach with NLI hitting. I think that’s going to be the convenient excuse for every coach who hangs it up. That’s what most people think drove Roy Williams and Coach K from the game.

Crazy to lose those three coaches, who won 10 combined titles, in 13 months.

Big props to Wright for his career. He broke my Jayhawk heart a few times, but he always seemed like such a good guy that I couldn’t ever hate him. I didn’t love watching his teams or their style, but I always admired how committed he was to getting them to play that way, and how effective it was. Bonus props for walking away while he’s still young enough to go enjoy life and spend some of that money he’s made.

Carson and Matt

The Colts got a new quarterback about a month ago. And somehow managed to get more for shipping Carson Wentz to Washington than they gave up for getting Matt Ryan from Atlanta.

I’m big thumbs up on getting rid of Wentz. I hated trading for him in the first place and was never confident he was the right answer. Given the not-so-subtle comments from his ex-teammates and the Colts’ front office, no one shed a tear when he was traded away. Good riddance.

I’m qualified thumbs up on Matt Ryan. I think he’ll be a solid, dependable solution at QB for a couple years, provided his body holds up. As far as I know he’s neither a prick like Phillip Rivers or a locker room cancer and disaster on the field like Wentz. So that’s a bonus.

The Colts’ emphasis this off-season has been strengthening the defense. I suppose the thought is you build a beast on that side of the ball then ride Jonathan Taylor and a boring-if-efficient passing game to win in an old-school manner. Ryan is the perfect guy for that strategy.

It is interesting how quickly things change in the NFL, though. Two years ago the Colts had the best offensive line in football. Between injuries, some regression, a retirement, and a bad free agent signing, it has fallen back into the pack. You just can’t plan for any part of your team that relies on multiple players to be elite for more than a couple years anymore.

That makes Tom Brady’s and Aaron Rodgers’ careers even more impressive. And obviously, potentially, Patrick Mahomes’.

Pacers

The Pacers narrowly missed out on having two lottery picks this year when Cleveland lost their play-in game. That said, I don’t feel like lottery picks are as valuable as they used to be. Aside from the occasional, can’t-miss prospect, drafting high in the NBA these days is often about finding the right pieces that develop into rotation players as quickly as possible instead of finding stars. Sure, you hope every pick turns into a star, but you’re content if they turn into players who demand minutes and produce results. Looking at this year’s draft lists, I’m not sure I see a single player that makes me think, “Oh yeah, you build a franchise around that dude.”

It should still be an eventful offseason for the Pacers. Kevin Pritchard has to decide whether to continue tearing down the roster or just find pieces that fit in with the roster that closed the season.

The experts keep saying that Myles Turner could bring back a lot. He has great value on defense when he’s able to stay on the court. But he is so up-and-down on offense and so often injured, I think it might be best to trade him now, perhaps a moment past his peak value but when it it still pretty high.

I believe Malcolm Brodgon is a bad fit to the current Pacers roster and could probably return some value.

I doubt either of those players bring back All Stars. So it seems like the Pacers, again, have a ceiling of being a nice team but never a great one. Although no one really thought Paul George was a franchise player when the Pacers drafted him, and he nearly got them past LeBron twice.

Super Bowl Notes

February 14, 2022 /

A pretty decent game, unless you live in Cincinnati. And even then, it was solid until the last five minutes or so. It had a game-winning score in the final 2:00, which always elevates a game. Only one traditionally spectacular play – Tee Higgins’ 75-yard touchdown catch to open the second half – and that came because of a pretty egregious officiating error. I think my generation still expects Super Bowls to be terrible because so many of them in the 80s and 90s were, so any time a game is close still feels like a win even if it wasn’t a classic game.

I was leaning Bengals for a variety of reasons, but fine with the Rams winning. It is easy to make fun of the Rams for having no real fan base, or LA fans in general for being the ultimate front-runners. But I have no real hate for the team itself.

I’m even ok with how the Rams won this title. They made an organization-wide decision to throw everything at winning a Super Bowl this year. They sacrificed pretty much every meaningful draft pick for the next 25 years (give-or-take) to load up their roster for this run. Isn’t that what a team is supposed to do, use whatever capital they have to maximize their championship odds? They made a decision and will pay a price down the road for it. Although it’s easier to turn a franchise around than it used to be – look at the Bengals – the Rams probably have a long stretch coming up quick where their fancy new stadium will be dominated by visiting fans because the home team is going 4–13. Flags fly forever.

One reason I was pro-Bengals was because of the KU connection. Hakeem Adeniji started. He got manhandled by Aaron Donald much of the night, so I was just glad it wasn’t him that gave up the game-clinching sack. Pooka Williams is on the practice squad. Darrin Simmons, who played for KU when I lived in Lawrence, has been a Bengals coach for nearly 20 years. And, of course, Ja’Marr Chase was committed to KU for five days, so I could him as a Jayhawk!

I’m sure Bengals fans are stewing about how the Rams last drive was aided by multiple penalties on the Bengals after a largely penalty-free game. I get it, but, come on. The Bengals took the lead because of a horrible missed call. You can’t complain too much. But it was disappointing that a game that was called differently than pretty much every other NFL game this year suddenly changed in the last 2:00. If you’re going to swallow the whistle all night, don’t suddenly start blowing it at the end.

The win cements the Rams move to get Matthew Stafford lat year, and provides a measure of redemption for him after spending his whole career in the pit of despair that is the Detroit Lions franchise. He was nails on the final possession. But I found it interesting that the Rams won largely because the Bengals defense took away the big play, and Stafford had to be patient and manage the game. That eliminated his propensity for making mistakes in big moments. His only interception was a flukey one. I kept waiting for him to throw a bad pick, but by taking away the deep ball, the Bengals also reduced the odds that Stafford would do something dumb to help them. The Bengals played really good defense the entire game. And in doing so they reduced the chances that their defense could help them win. Sports are strange.

Commercials. I didn’t do much tracking of them this year. I guess the Larry David crypto one was my favorite. I think celebs doing cryptocurrency ads is dumb; I guarantee most of the people in these commercials don’t understand the concept any better than the average person. David’s ad seemed like kind of a send-up of that concept. Plus his line about even letting “the stupid people” vote was brilliant.

I laughed a few times. I was confused a few times. But other than the QR code ad, not sure we’ll be talking about many of these six months from now.

The halftime performance? Really good. But it missed out on being great. For starters, neither Dre, Snoop, nor Mary J. Blige performed their best songs. There were radio versions of “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang,” “Who Am I? (What’s My Name?),” and “Gin and Juice” 30 years ago, so I know they could have been performed at the Super Bowl in 2022. And for Mary J not to sing “Real Love” was a travesty.

All-in-all, though, an entertaining performance. And as the first-ever, all hip hop halftime, it will go down in history. It wasn’t Prince, but I’m not sure anyone ever will be.

My question as I watched was will this be the last Super Bowl halftime show where the featured artists are all roughly my age? Dre is 56, Mary 51, Snoop 50, Fiddy is fiddy, and Eminem 49.

I was trying to think of artists either in their 50s or approaching 50 who have not done the halftime show yet and are still culturally relevant. Foo Fighters is the most obvious, and they were doing an alternate halftime show last night so they might be blacklisted by the NFL. Pearl Jam would be another big get, but as well-known as they are, they don’t really move the national needle anymore.

With the show being focused primarily on danceable pop music, and now moving into straight hip hop, the future focus will likely be on younger artists, and more shows like last night that feature a collection of acts to fill the 20 minutes rather than a single, greatest hits-style performance. Which means last night might have been Generation X’s last night as the featured act(s).

Weekend Sports Notes

January 31, 2022 /

Well, for most of my friends, this was a sports weekend to forget.

KU

I picked a very good night to have dinner plans that interfered with me watching the KU game. Thus I was able to not see a minute of KU getting whacked by Kentucky. We left right around tip off and by the time we got to our destination, the lead was already big enough that I was saved the awkwardness of checking my phone throughout dinner.

Without visual knowledge of what happened, I can’t really break it down. But I am concerned my little line last week, intended to be a throwaway, about Bill Self’s off-season transfer haul being a waste, seems more true than ever. Kentucky was a much more athletic team, and KU couldn’t hang. Remy Martin played 15 minutes, Joe Yesufu 5. Which means Self is basically running the same team out there that didn’t belong on the same court as USC last March.

There’s still a lot of basketball to be played, so it’s not worth worrying about March when we still have a day left in January. But a team that seemed like one of the best in the country six weeks ago, with plenty of room for growth, now seems like just another in a large group of decent teams with no real Final Four chances.

Fortunately KU gets a chance to bounce back by playing…(checks schedule)…at Iowa State, Baylor, and Texas over the next week. Oh damn!

NFL

I’ll tread lightly here, since I have a large Chiefs-fan contingent in my reader base. The AFC title game result was…surprising. I missed the early part of the game and was only half-watching as the Chiefs stretched the lead to 21–3. No need to watch the rest, I thought, as we straightened up after having some family guests over the weekend. Next time I walked by the TV the Bengals had the lead and I had no idea how.

From Twitter I gather the Chiefs defense did enough to win but, amazingly, it was the offense that let them down. That is also surprising.

My bigger takeaway is how this weekend might have officially turned the page for quarterback generations in the NFL. Peyton has been gone a few years. Brees left last year. Brady is leaving, maybe? If Rodgers continues to play he likely has just a brief time left in his career. Russell Wilson seems like he’s on the back-half of his career. In that group you have the quarterbacks who have dominated the game over the past 20 years.

On the other side of the generational divide, Patrick Mahomes has already ascended. Josh Allen sure seemed to this year. Joe Burrow is the swaggiest QB since Joe Namath and just got to the Super Bowl in his second year in the league, after blowing out his knee his rookie year. Those three play in different AFC divisions, meaning they will battle for a long time as long as they remain healthy. I would also add Lamar Jackson, who is doing things that no one thought possible for a quarterback in the NFL. Kyler Murray is just outside that group, but is such a unique talent that if he can learn to harness it for 20-some games he could easily move into that group. What a treat for football fans!

What is this bullshit rolling Michael Buffer out to “announce” the kickoff two-straight weeks? Is it 1997?

The Niners-Rams game wasn’t quite as fun as their last meeting, but still enjoyable as a neutral. So many just stupid plays that affected the result. So much over-coaching. I was hoping for a three-OT game as the teams traded stupid play after stupid play.

Props to Jimmy G for likely ending his career in the most Jimmy G manner possible. Carson Wentz probably shed a tear if he was watching, thinking Jimmy made a great play.

USMNT Soccer

During much of the Bengals-Chiefs game, I was actually watching more of the US-Canada men’s World Cup qualifier. Without diving into pay channels, it was only available on Telemundo, so in Spanish, in standard definition. Which was weird. Made weirder by being played in some glorified college stadium on a narrow, artificial turf field in Ontario.

I missed the opening Canada goal but watched with great frustration as the US mostly dominated the game, yet couldn’t put a tying goal in. They had a brilliant chance late in the first half when Weston McKennie had a beautiful header that the Canada goalie knocked away at the last possible moment. It was a brilliant save, made even more impressive since the goalie looked like some dude they randomly picked up before the game in a nearby park.

That was the story of the entire game: the US dominated possession but could not get good shots on goal. And when they managed a decent shot, the goalie was always there.

The game got nice and chippy late. Lots of pushing and mock, soccer player anger. The referee was great. He would come charging in from 30 yards away anytime there was a little dustup, blowing his whistle and waving his arms. The Canadian crowd was in a frenzy, as a win would both be Canada’s first over the US in a WC qualifier since 1980 and pretty much lock up their World Cup berth. They added a goal in the final minute of stoppage time as the US pressed forward and the place went nuts. If it wasn’t so annoying that the US had, once again, found a way to make getting to the World Cup entirely too difficult, it would have been awesome to watch.

I don’t follow the USMNT super closely. I do know they have their best crop of talent since those great teams of the early 2000s. They tend to play really well against Mexico, which is awesome. But they still throw too many duds up against teams they have way more talent than. For example, last week’s game against El Salvador. Played in freezing Columbus, OH, you would expect the US to win easily. They had to gut out a nervy 1–0 win. I watched most of the second half and they seemed so much better, but just can’t finish. I’m sure it is maddening to people that are really into the team.

They are still in a good spot to get to the World Cup next fall. But they could have wrapped up that spot by now and have only themselves to blame if it comes down to the last game or, worse, they have to go to a playoff to get in.

Weekend Sports Notes

January 24, 2022 /

Some weekend of televised sports action!

KU Hoops

For the first time all year, I bailed on a game. Well, partially. After a truly atrocious first half in Manhattan, which saw them trailing Kansas State by 16, I moved the KU game over to the laptop, sat it on the coffee table, and put the Bengals-Titans game on the TV.[1] I had zero interest in the football game, but I couldn’t stand watching KU continue to play the wretched basketball they played through the first 20 minutes. L’s team guards their opponents better than KU guarded K-State in the first half.

Lawrence Central high school’s Nigel Pack looked like Steph Curry, going insane for 22 points without trying very hard. Five-foot-one guard (OK, 5’8”) Markquis Nowell was blowing past KU’s guards like they were dribbling drill cones, and then throwing in circus shots that had about a 2% chance of going in when they left his hands. It was everything you expect from an upset: the favored team looked listless and confused, seemed to be doing five different things on defense, and even when they did something properly saw it somehow turn into a positive for the Wildcats. The home underdog was playing with massive confidence, making every hustle play, and was rewarded by hitting tough shot after tough shot.

Yep, I didn’t need to be all-in with this nonsense.

Long time readers probably already have a question in their minds. The answer is, no, I never fully reinvested. But I also didn’t go all Colts-Chiefs game, either.

I could see that KU sliced the deficit in half before the first TV timeout, but I kept the laptop on the coffee table. I knew K-State wasn’t going to keep shooting 800% from the floor (I checked the math, and that is indeed what they shot in the first half), but figured they would play good enough defense that making up 16 points (17 at one point) was going to be insanely tough.

Every so often I would pick up the laptop and watch a play or two closely, but that never seemed to work. Thus it stayed on the coffee table until the final moments of the game. It was indeed in my lap when Ochai Agbaji hit what became the game-winner, although it nearly tumbled to the floor as I screamed and yelled.

Since I didn’t watch the game super closely I can’t say much about the game’s details. Obviously K-State is really solid, and the fact they are scoring more easily makes them a legit tournament team. I love ripping Bruce Webber because of all his weirdness and public insecurities, but he is also a really good coach, especially when he gets the right mix of players. Which he seems to have this year.

A gutty performance by KU, especially by Ochai, Jalen Wilson, and David McCormack. They played their asses off in the second half. If the team, as a whole, had shown even half the effort in the first half they showed in the first half, that’s a relatively comfortable win. Instead it became a momentary classic.

That’s a new term I just coined. I like it. Everyone wants to call any exciting game an “Instant Classic.” All-too-often these games are forgotten a week or two later when some other game equals/exceeds it. Not every game can be a classic, folks. So how about Momentary Classic? KU fans are going to buzz about it for awhile. It was good highlight/discussion material for national media outlets for a day or so. I’m sure workplaces that have KU and KSU people mixed together are interesting this morning. The highlights will be fun to look back on for years to come. But odds are this game will be a footnote when we get to April and look back on this season as a whole.

Big 12 Refs

One thing Big 12 fans can agree on are that the referees that do conference games have a lot of issues. We can disagree about what those issues are – well, I’m sure we all think they call too many charges – but we would agree they make glaring errors every game.

I tend to think these errors balance out, and a fan who is pissed about a call in one game will likely see his team benefit from a crappy call in the next game.

Listen, I think the refs flat-out screwed up the call when a K-State player fouled Ochai Agbaji while shooting a three-pointer late. They called the foul, but only gave Agbaji two shots, saying it was not a shooting foul.

Big 12 director of officiating told the Kansas City Star that the call was correct because Agbaji had landed before he got hit in the legs. Which is absolutely ridiculous because every replay showed Agbaji was still in the air when he got hit.

I’m less upset about the call – KU won! – than about the explanation. How hard is it to say, “We messed up. We made this call thinking he had landed, but the replays clearly showed he was in the air and it should have been three free throws. Our bad.” But, no, the league has to “protect” the refs by providing an explanation that is clearly false.

And why isn’t this reviewable? They review whether a toe is on the line on a three all the time. Anytime someone gets accidentally hit in the face it turns into a 10-minute review that the refs often turn into a wrong call. But this isn’t reviewable? Maddening.

ESPN+

Man, ESPN+ sucks. The production values are always at about a C. The crowd audio is always terrible; it often sounds like you’re watching through an old telephone connection. Are there 8000 people in the gym, or 80? The graphics package is always glitching or lacking information. I swear, every single game I’ve watched this year they’ve had the score wrong at least once. Saturday they gave a KU basket to K-State then had the score wrong three times as they tried to correct their error.

And the announcers are just the worst. I think Saturday was the third time KU has had the combo of Bryndon Manzer and Ted Emrich. They suck.

Well, Manzer isn’t terrible. He understands hoops and often does a good job of explaining things. He just takes awhile to get there. And his style is so understated that he can get lost in what else is going on. He also tends to rely on “When I played…” examples too often. I give him a solid B.

Emrich is what really pulls them down. As understated as Manzer is, Emrich is the opposite. Over-the-top about the smallest plays, acting like a short jumper midway through the first half that turns a two-point lead into a four-point lead is Jordan dunking from the free throw line. He has that overly affected, modern sports broadcaster voice that sounds like 58 other people, all of whom sound like they’re trying too hard. Nothing sounds genuine about the way he broadcasts a game. Too many announcers like him fail to understand that the people watching at home understand what plays are important. We get those cues from the crowd and the players and the situation. Not every moment in a 40-minute game needs to be treated like the game-winning play.

Because of them, I watched the first half with the volume turned down about as low as I could and still hear the crowd and whistle. Which, as I said, wasn’t easy since ESPN+ apparently uses one crowd mic. And I kept the laptop muted until after Ochai’s game winner.

Sadly, since the Big 12 and ESPN LOVE to put KU on ESPN+, this won’t be the last time I have to deal with them.

NFL Playoffs

Greatest playoff weekend ever, right? Every game was mega-interesting. Every game went down to the final play. Every game held huge significance for the future of the league. I didn’t watch every minute of every game, but I was greatly entertained.

While I had Cincinnati-Tennessee on the TV Saturday, I wasn’t really watching very much. Tennessee always felt like a false #1 seed since they hadn’t been at full-strength since November, so I was not super surprised that the Bengals got the win. Not saying I would have picked them, since this was Cincy’s first-ever road playoff win. But still not surprised.

I still don’t understand how Green Bay lost to San Francisco. They destroyed the Niners on the first drive of the game, and never sniffed the end zone again. The Niners had guys hobbling off the field the entire day, yet somehow kept making plays. Jimmy Garappolo tried his hardest to piss the game away and the Packers refused to take advantage.

I have to think there was some kind of weird karma at play here, and has been for awhile. As Robbie Gould’s game winning field goal sailed through the uprights, I was trying to think who legendary quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ career should be compared to. He won a Super Bowl, so he can’t be Dan Marino or Dan Fouts. I’m leaning towards John Elway, since both were ridiculously physically talented quarterbacks who constantly made jaw dropping plays. But Elway not only won two Super Bowls, he went to three others. Rodgers has a long history of losing to lower seeded teams in the playoffs at home. I guess that makes Rodgers unique, which suits him and his personality just fine. We’ll see where he ends up next year.

I saw the first and final thirds of the Rams-Bucs game. It seemed like the wackiest, most mood-swinging game in recent memory, for about three hours. The fourth quarter was just nuts. So many plays that made no sense at all. It was all set up for Tom Brady to do some Tom Brady shit. And he damn-near almost pulled it off. Until, for some reason, the Bucs decided to let Cooper Kupp run right down the middle of their defense and catch a long ball. For the second time in the game!

The Rams are a wild ride, so I love that they are still playing. I don’t care if they win or lose, I just enjoy the craziness that comes with watching them for 60 seconds. Now we get to see what happens with Brady going forward.

And, of course, the nightcap Sunday, which has to be one of the best playoff games ever played. Forget my Momentary Classic comment above: this was most definitely an Instant Classic. There will be NFL Films shows about this game. It will be a constant call-back for any crazy, back-and-forth game.

All the ridiculousness of the LA-Tampa game got amped up about 50 times in this one. I didn’t care who won – well, I was leaning Buffalo but I don’t really have any love for the Bills – and was screaming as both teams traded punches in the fourth quarter. So many massive plays by both teams. So many tiny things that could have changed the outcome without it getting to the overtime coin flip. Just a magnificent game to watch, unless you’re from western New York. Even then it was pretty great for about 59:47. Mahomes-Allen is turning into the new Brady-Manning.

Pretty good weekend for my KU-Chiefs people.

NFL Overtime Rules

Here we go, the instant complaining about NFL overtime rules. Which I get, because these rules suck. A winner-take-all game should not be determined by the vagaries of a coin flip. But the NFL seems wed to these rules. They’ve only very slightly tweaked them in, what, 60 years? The NFL being an uber-conservative organization isn’t going to throw out the rules tomorrow because of the game yesterday.

Going to college rules would be silly. Because the college rules, as entertaining as they are, are no way to decide a playoff/championship game.

I’d lean towards just playing a 10-minute quarter in full. I get the concerns about turning an NFL game into a five-hour marathon if no one has the lead after 70 minutes. I strongly believe both teams should have a chance to score, though.

I’m intrigued about the idea of one team picking the spot on the field where the ball will be placed and the other team getting choose whether to play offense or defense. But that seems gimmicky and weird and I’d have to see it in action to form a full opinion on it.

Overtime rules are strange in most sports. Basketball and (playoff) baseball stick closest to their normal rules, but fouls and number of players left on the bench can throw both of those into nutty territory. But at least they’re playing the same game, with both teams having an equal chance to win what was an even game at the end of regulation.

It feels like football is destined to be flawed no matter what system us used.

  1. I also switched seats.  ↩

Weekend Sports Notes

January 17, 2022 /

A lot of sports notes from the weekend. I should probably split this into a couple different posts. But it is a holiday and we all have a little extra time. So one extra-large post it is!

Kid Hoops

L played in her first-ever AAU tournament over the weekend. Or rather it was a “shootout”: a one-day, round-robin event focused more on getting teams games than declaring a champion.

Her coach told us that this was just a chance to get the girls together for the first time and get a feel for the roster. Seven of the ten girls played together last year. The girls haven’t had a proper practice together, just some light work at the end of their program’s twice-monthly, age-group training sessions.[1] Making it even more fun, L’s team is a 7th grade B team and this was an 8th grade A shootout. The coach stressed not to worry about the results, this was just about getting the girls on the court.

L had been really impressed with her teammates after their training sessions. After the most recent one she came home raving that all the girls were good and, most importantly, all of them knew how to run the offense. It drives her nuts that half the girls on her other team – let’s call them Jr T’s to differentiate – don’t run the plays correctly. We had a talk about playing time last week. She claimed she was fine not playing as many minutes for a chance to play with better players. I was glad that was her mental state. I told her if she doesn’t start and/or play much, that will give her the motivation to work harder to improve.

Her squad had three games Saturday. First game we played a team that was at least mixed with seventh and eighth graders. But their eighth graders were big. BIG. L had played against some of these girls in CYO ball before and I’m pretty sure they smoked us then.

We had eight of our players for game one. L’s St P’s buddy started, as she is our tallest player, but L was on the bench. The game started ugly. The other team pressed the hell out of our girls and we could not break it. We were down 8–0 or 10–0 before we even got a shot up. L checked in and didn’t help much, mostly because she didn’t get the ball. Another girl played lead guard spot and was not used to looking at L for help.

L played one shift without doing much. She came back in with about 5:00 to play and we were down 15–0. She got the ball in the deep corner, went baseline, and threw up a little floater than she has gone about 1–50 on this academic year. This time she swished it and we were on the board. She had a little grin on her face as she ran up cord.

A few moments later she got ahead of the break, received a great pass, and laid it in. In the last minute of the half, she got open on the wing from about 15 feet and drilled the J. It was 21–8 at half and L had six of the points, going 3–3 from the field.

She started the second half. She wasn’t as lucky this time, missing a tough layup, having a short jumper blocked, and badly bricking two free throws. She seemed to be meshing with her teammates more, though. We lost 43–20 but, again, expectations were low. She was pleased after the game.

Following an hour break and quick trip to Chipotle, it was back on the court against and all–8th grade team from Terre Haute. These girls were even bigger, and better. Everyone knew where to be on every play. They would get an offensive rebound, whip it to an open girl behind the arc, and she would drain the 3. Or the girl with the ball would draw the defense and then hit a cutter with no one on her. We lost this game 62–11 and it really wasn’t that close.

L started and again scored six points on a layup, a jumper, and two free throws. She also rebounded pretty well despite their size, made a couple nice passes, and even blocked the shot of one of their biggest girls.

Another hour off before the last game, against another big, all 8th grade squad. These girls looked super impressive warming up. Just as big as the previous team but more athletic and with a couple fast, small guards.

That team did not play to its ability. Or our girls just figured something out. We only had seven players for this game and they looked gassed at times. But they played hard, never trailed by more than 15, and closed strong to only lose 46–37. L started and scored seven this time, including a nice and-one that she cashed the free throw for. She also missed the front end of a one-and-one in the final minute putting her at 3–6 from the line for the day. She rebounded her ass off, probably her best rebounding game ever.

Her St P’s buddy – her name also begins with L so I need to come up with a way to identify her – had a nice basket at the hoop that she converted despite getting mugged. After the ref called the foul, L ran over and shoved her buddy, and sent her right into the girl that fouled her. That girl was not as excited about the play as our girls were. Fortunately L started laughing so there was no drama.

So a pretty good first day with the new team. L went from sitting the bench to starting five-straight halves. I’m not sure how good the two girls we were missing are. One of the other dads told me the coach had told him whoever started the third game would be his starters going forward. Who knows how that will work and when this team will play again, but I was proud of L for at least putting her name in the mix.

She struggled a bit in the half court sets. But, to be fair, most of the team did, even the returning girls. There was a lot of two girls standing in one spot or someone away from the ball bringing their defender to the ball instead of away. That will get worked out in time. When we got home I showed her videos of Kansas and Golden State running their weave offenses so she could understand how to pass in those sets. She kept bounce passing rather than tossing or handing off since she had never seen that kind of motion offense before.[2]

She proved to her teammates and coach that she deserves minutes. In fact, this was probably the best she’s played this school year. By my math she scored 28% of their points for the day. On the way home she noted, “It’s kind of weird I played better against 8th grade teams than I have against 7th grade teams.”

I’m hoping she can take that confidence and apply it to her Jr T’s team, which is all seventh graders from several Catholic schools. She was super frustrated about her play after their game last week. They play again tonight so we shall see.

Her AAU team may not play again for awhile. Most of the girls are on some kind of school team at the moment. They’ll have skill sessions and light practices every two weeks. The coach said they won’t really dive into things hard as a team until March and most of their play will come over the summer.

There was also a sixth grade boys shootout going on, and they played on the other courts and between L’s game. Those games are nuts. It’s all pressing and running flat out and chucking threes. Some of those kids are insanely talented, light years beyond what anyone I ever played with or against in sixth grade could do. I’m usually pro fast-paced offense in all sports (see below), but this was a little much. And those games are sooooo sloppy. Most of the coaches are psycho. Another check in the Better to Have Girls Than Boys column.

Orthodonture

L got her top braces put on last week, so these were her first games with them in. I asked her orthodontist if she should wear any kind of protection. Neither of her sisters played a contact sport when they had their braces so I never worried about it. He said you can get special guards, but he didn’t think it was worth it. At her games Saturday I noticed more than half her team had braces, and no one was wearing a guard. OK, then. I broke my glasses multiple times, and had to get stitches once when the frames sliced my eyebrow open, playing middle school ball. Teeth were never my issue.

KU

I missed the KU-West Virginia game while sitting through all the AAU ball. I did get the nervous texts from friends about the Twitter rumors that Remy Martin was out for the year. Wouldn’t be a college sports season without some kind of off-the-court drama.

I won’t get into the Remy stuff for now since it seems confusing and a little over-the-top at the moment.

I followed the score and then watched the recording on Sunday morning. That was a great performance by KU, likely their best of the season. It was, I think, the first time all year three players have balled-out at the same time. Who would have guessed that David McCormack and Jalen Wilson would be two of those?!?! I don’t think West Virginia is as good as their 13–2 second coming in indicated. Still, to hammer any Big 12 team by nearly 30 this year deserves a few minutes of satisfaction.

And on a day when Baylor lost their second-straight conference game, and Texas Tech also lost. A week ago it looked like Baylor would run away with the league. They might still do that; when healthy they are probably the most complete team in the conference. But, as Kansas State beating Tech and Iowa State being a couple shots away from being undefeated show, the Big 12 is going to be an absolute meat grinder this year.

I like that the conference is good, but I hate the way it is good: with seven or eight teams playing insane defense. That turns games into ugly slogs that are hard to watch. I guess that’s a good thing for the tournament, as playing non-conference teams will seem like a breeze after getting worked over by Big 12 teams for nearly three months. I certainly won’t complain if KU somehow comes out of this with another conference title, since that almost guarantees a one or two seed in the NCAA’s. I do reserve the right to complain about the aesthetics along the way. Especially if KU turns into a pumpkin in four or five of these games.

NFL Playoffs

The only game I watched much of was the Niners-Cowboys game, which was awesome as a neutral. The final, what, 18 minutes, were just tremendously stupid and entertaining.

Long-time readers will recall that I grew up a Cowboys fan, but have deserted them a couple times in my life. It’s been 12–14 years so I fully abandoned them because of Jerry Jones’ nonsense. But two of my college buddies I constantly text are Cowboys fans so at least watch their games these days so I can keep up with the conversation. I do enjoy watching the Fighting Jerrys lose, though. Especially in painful manner.

That was about the most painful loss possible. Get down big, early, at home. Get a break or two that allows you back in the game. Do some dumb stuff along the way. Then have your final shot to attempt to win the game taken away in a truly unique way. Running a quarterback draw with 14 seconds left and no timeouts, then watching the clock run out while the referee sets the ball has to be one of the five dumbest ways to lose an NFL game.

As I said above, I’m generally pro-offense, and enjoy all these wide-open offenses that make football so entertaining. But do we have to label all these coordinators and coaches as geniuses when they are constantly getting in their own way by trying to be too clever? Dallas converts a fake punt and then keeps the punt team on the field to try to confuse San Fransisco and ends up with a delay of game penalty that means their next fourth down is too far to go for it. And the Niners send a tackle in motion on a fourth and inches, which caused an illegal motion penalty and forced them to punt and give Dallas one final chance to win. Neither play was remotely necessary, and just examples of coaches thinking “Hey! I’ve got this great look no one has ever thought of before!” And using it in a high-stress situation that it has never been practiced under. Just dumb all around. And terribly fun to watch since I did not care who won.

I’m no expert, but the Bills-Chiefs game seems like it could be pretty good.

  1. We didn’t put a ton of research into picking a travel hoops program. We just asked a parent we knew where his two girls played and signed up there. But L’s program just had their first “graduate” commit to a D1 program. And it was a doozy. A high school junior who is ranked in the top five in the country committed to UConn two weeks ago. Girl must be a badass if she’s committing as a junior. I’m expecting nothing less than a full-ride for L now.  ↩
  2. I even sent her a GIF of KU running it and told her to watch it five times a day.  ↩

Sports are Dumb

January 10, 2022 /

This weekend was another reminder that sports are dumb. At least they were to the people – well me – in our house.

KU

You all know that I’m superstitious. So I got a bad feeling as news broke that Tech’s two best players, Terrence Shannon Jr and Kevin McCullar, would miss Saturday’s game against KU. It just seems like anytime people get excited about an opponent missing key player(s) against KU, the Jayhawks decide to lay a big, fat egg that day.

Sure enough, that’s what happened in Lubbock.

The undermanned Red Raiders took it to KU the entire game. They were better on offense and defense. Tougher on the boards. Eventually figured out the junk defense Bill Self threw at them to try to give his team a chance to get back into the game.

Tech was good, yes, but KU was bad. Most of the team looked lethargic or two steps slower than Tech. Just about everyone on the team looked confused when they were actually being guarded tough. They simply refused to rebound and let the Tech players shove them away from every 50–50 ball, be it in the air or on the ground.

(That’s not a complaint. I thought there were a few pushes that should have been called. Tech just moved the KU guys without much resistance all damn day, and it’s on KU to be tougher, work harder, and not be, you know, soft.)

Even a B+ performance probably would have gotten the win for KU. Instead they offered a C-/D+ effort. A lot of teams are going to lose in Lubbock over the next two months. But KU had a chance to steal one against a Covid-reduced team and blew it. The effort is the concern, not the result.

Colts

I’ve been pretty lukewarm on the Colts all season. So their loss in Jacksonville Sunday didn’t really cause me any anguish. In fact, I found it pretty funny. Thank goodness I did not have a huge emotional investment in the game, because that was an absolutely inexcusable loss. The local media immediately dubbed the worst regular season loss since the Colts moved to Indy. Which is fair. The Colts were one of the hottest teams in the league, until a week ago. The Jags were just playing out the string, hoping to get to the offseason and hit the reset button for the latest time. A loss guaranteed them the number one pick in the draft. There was zero reason for that team to show up with any motivation Sunday.

Yet them hammered the Colts from the opening drive and never let up.

A lot has been made here in town about the Colts getting a league-high seven Pro Bowl players and pretty much all of those guys sucking Sunday.

It would be easy to blame Covid, as the virus ran rampant through the roster over the past couple weeks. Several players who were unvaccinated and got the virus played notably worse once they came back.

Carson Wentz sucked balls the last two weeks. I’ve said all year you can never trust that guy in key moments. I don’t know that it’s better or worse he turned into a pumpkin at the end of the regular season instead of waiting until the playoffs to go 6–13 for 70ish yards and a couple turnovers through three quarters.

Darius Leonard had zero impact yesterday, other than a needless late-hit penalty that gave the Jags 15 yards.

The offensive line was atrocious.

Johnathan Taylor couldn’t do a thing thanks to the o-line’s woes.

It was a total team effort at turning a gimme game into a total disaster.

Now what should they do moving forward? Do you clean out the front office? The coaching staff? Somehow try to solve the quarterback issues for the fourth-straight year?

I’m guessing there aren’t wholesale changes. That’s generally not how the Colts roll and I think ownership trusts Chris Ballard and Frank Reich to figure it out. And everyone is too invested in Wentz to not give him another chance. This team is close in a lot of ways and a good offseason could put them in great shape for 2022. But a repeat of last year’s offseason misses could mean the end for the current regime.

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