D's Notebook

Tag: golf (Page 1 of 5)

Weekend Notes

June 17, 2024 /

Father’s Day came at the right moment. After three very busy days preceding it, Sunday was a nice day to relax and not have to be anywhere. S got us donuts for breakfast. We had my in-laws over for dinner, eating some carry-out barbecue. I received a Solo fire pit as a combo Father’s Day/birthday gift. Based on the forecast, I might get to use it sometime in 2025. L and I played two rounds of Cornhole; we started a summer-long competition last week and I currently lead 3–0. These are best of three matches and I’ve been lucky to win two of those, so really anyone’s ballgame at this point.

The only bummer was our pool has developed an issue – some kind of algae – that required me to pour 14 gallons of liquid chlorine into it Thursday evening. If you don’t own a pool, that’s a lot. So much that it made the water too toxic to swim in while it hopefully does its magic and kills off whatever had been eating the chlorine. Fingers crossed it will get back to normal this week, although now the water temp has creeped up and it’s not super refreshing.

Donuts With Dad

Friday morning I attended a Donuts With Dad breakfast for one of my nephews at his daycare. K is one of the two boys my sister-in-law A has adopted on her own. I did the same thing for his big brother M three years ago.

These events are fun because 1) a bunch of dads at a daycare is always a little awkward and 2) K and M are both Black, and they attend a Black-owned daycare that has only Black kids. A few things made me chuckle, and I hope everyone understands I offer these observations with respect for the folks running the facility, love for my nephews, and am mostly making fun of myself.

When I arrived the owner’s husband greeted me at the door. I’m not sure if he got the memo I would be coming because he paused for a moment before letting me in until I introduced myself. Then he was super friendly and thanked me for coming. A few minutes later his wife walked through the room and greeted me by saying, “I remember you,” as she passed by.

That made me laugh to myself. Guessing there aren’t a lot of other relatives like me who come in for special days.

The other dads, grandfathers, uncles rolled in and we sat in stilted silence. I would imagine any of them who pick up their kids/grandkids from the center know my sister-in-law, so weren’t surprised to see a white dude there. But I’m sure a few were curious about my presence.

Before they brought the children over, the owner’s five-year-old wandered in. It was his graduation day and he was dressed up for the occasion. His father asked him, “Have you said hello to the brothers?” The kid then made a circuit around the room, shaking everyone’s hand. He didn’t seem fazed by me and said “Good morning,” as he shook my hand. In my head I was again laughing at the prospect of him skipping me because I wasn’t a brother.

Again, more making fun of myself than my hosts.

K eventually came in and handed me a card he had colored. He looked super tired and not into the events. That’s standard for him. We jokingly say he’s an 80-year-old man trapped in a four-year-old’s body. He gave me a hug and stood next to me silently. I tried a number of questions that he answered sleepily without much enthusiasm. Until I asked him if he heard the storms overnight. That got him going and he told me all about how he heard the thunder, how he stayed in his bed (he did not), how he never goes into his mom’s room (he always goes in there), and on and one. He didn’t stop talking until I left.

The owner’s husband gave a nice little speech about the importance of father figures. He asked us all to say something about what parenthood means to us. The kid ate donuts and ate orange juice.

K and his family stopped by our house Sunday and he was still talking about the orange juice, so it must have been the good stuff. Or maybe my sister-in-law just never gets OJ.

Kid Hoops

L had six games in three days last week.

In the Thursday summer league, CHS played both Lawrence North, who should be a top five team this fall, and Lawrence Central, who went 30–1 last year, won state, and return just about everyone.[1]

There was a rising senior showcase elsewhere in town, so most of the teams were missing their best upperclassmen. LN did not have their stud point guard, but had a perfectly acceptable replacement and most of the rest of their team. We closed the first half on a little 4–0 run and went to halftime down seven. The dad I was sitting with and I felt pretty good about things. Then our girls gave up a 23–1 run in the third quarter. We ended up losing by 23, but fought hard to get it from 32 to 23 in the closing minutes. I thought our girls played hard but were just up against a much better team. L actually felt pretty good after this game.

LC was basically playing their JV. Their best player, who was the Indiana Gatorade player of the year as a junior, and her younger sister were both sitting and watching in street clothes. None of their other varsity starters were even in the building. We started up 11–4 but got sloppy and led by just two at half. The second half was back-and-forth. We trailed by six, got it to two, missed three chances to tie or take the lead in the last 19 seconds, and lost by two. A game we should have won. Even if it was a team full of sophomores and freshmen, it would have been cool to beat the defending state champs.

I don’t think L scored against LN; she had four against LC. She started both games, but two senior starters were gone for either the senior showcase or soccer.

Friday and Saturday we played in a team showcase that college coaches could attend. We saw one coach from Purdue but most were from smaller D1 or lower level schools.

Friday we played a tough 4A team from Fort Wayne. They had two long, athletic wings, a tall shooter, and a 5’11”-ish center who was a joy to watch because of her footwork. They worked us over pretty good and won by 18. L scored four.

Game two was against Jennings County, who just sent a girl to Michigan State but return a very good junior who scored 20+ on us last year. I bet she scored close to 30 Friday. It was actually a really good game. We trailed by nine multiple times but tied it with about three minutes left. L got a rebound, went full court, juked a defender, and then put her floater off the back of the rim. We never had another chance to take the lead and lost by nine, L scoring five.

Saturday the matchups were a little better. We played a semi-rural 3A team to start. Neither team scored for the first four minutes of the game. From there we went on a 33–5 run. We were super sloppy in the second half and only scored like 10 points, but only gave up eight or nine so it was a super comfortable win. L had five.

Our final game was against Norwell, who lost by three in the 3A state title game last spring. They lost seven seniors but were still stacked. They trapped everything, every player was lanky and athletic and aggressive, and they gave us fits for the first two, two-and-a-half quarters of the game. We trailed by eight in the fourth quarter before we finally figured out their pressure and used a 17–2 run to take the lead. We ended up winning by three. Really good way to end a long week. L didn’t play as much in this game because the pressure really bothered her, hitting one long 2 in the first half.

I think the team got better. The coach is figuring some things out about the lineup. I could probably guess our starting lineup and rotation if the real season started this week. I think L would be the first or second person off the bench, depending on what we needed and who the opponent is. She’s also seen what she needs to work on to make sure she gets those minutes after playing against older, bigger, stronger girls for three consecutive days.

US Open

Ugh. I’m glad our dinner with the in-laws coincided with the final 7–8 holes Sunday. Although I did walk in to see Rory McIlroy miss his short putt on 18 that cost him a chance at a playoff. I didn’t realize at the time he had missed a shorter put two holes earlier. Gutting.

I don’t like Bryson, I don’t buy that he’s changed, and some of the clearly PR flack cleared nonsense he was spouting after his win directly contradicts things he’s said before. And it’s patently ridiculous for a grown-ass man to wear the idiotic LIV team logo he has plastered on all his gear. Even with Rory’s meltdown and his disappointing avoidance of the media after, I will perpetually be Team Roars over anyone who has taken the Saudi blood money and claims, with a straight face, to have done so to “grow the game.” Especially when it’s a meathead like Bryson, who has a genuine, amazing gift for golf, but is equally off-putting in his personality and comments. Glad I only watch golf four times a year anymore.

  1. The arch rivals played three times last year. LC won by two in the Marion County tournament, by three in the regular season, and by seven in sectionals after trailing by 14. None of LC’s other wins in the state tournament were closer than 13 points.  ↩

Weekend Notes

May 20, 2024 /

Lots of notes from the past several days.

Travel Hoops

Pretty good weekend of hoops in Louisville. For the first time ever, we went 3–0 in pool play at a national event. We won our first game Friday by 11. It was a very tough, defensive contest that we controlled pretty much from the opening tip. However we only scored 28 points for the game, so it wasn’t the smoothest of performances. Giving up only 17 is decent, though.

Saturday we had two games, eight hours apart, which was not ideal for planning the day. We won game one by 10. Again controlled it pretty much the entire time. Our final game we won by 19, but led by just five early in the second half before we finally got things figured out. Both games we were in the mid–40s so a little more typical performances.

None of these teams were great, but we also could have lost any of those games just a year ago. It helps having some more size and for our returning girls to really be locked in.

Sunday morning we had a semifinal game against a team from Southeast Missouri. We watched part of one of their games Saturday and knew they were basically one girl on offense and really tough, pressure D. We figured it would be a good game we could win if we handled the pressure.

That was exactly how it worked out. We did not handle their pressure for about a five minute stretch in the first half and they ran out to an 11-point lead. On consecutive possessions we turned it over in the backcourt and they scored, which is just a killer.

Their one girl was exactly what we thought. She’s probably 6’1” but super fast. Most of her game is just grabbing a rebound and taking off, daring anyone to stop her. She killed us either beating our defense up the court, overwhelming whoever was guarding her, or making a great move to get by the primary defender and then no one was there to help. She hit one three and a couple free throws, but everything else was on a drive to the basket.

We were down nine at the half. Midway through the second half we finally started getting some stops. We got it the lead down to four points three times, but kept stalling there. Then L hit a 3 to bring us to within three. In the final 90 seconds L scored three times – once on a drive when she was also fouled but didn’t get the call,[1] once on a long two, and once when she hit two free throws after her shot barely rimmed out – to cut it to one. But each time we either gave up a basket or they hit two free throws when we fouled to put them on the line. We never had the ball down one or two.

Their best player hit a free throw with one second left to put them up two, then intentionally missed her second attempt. L got the rebound and made a full-court heave that only went about 60 feet. Worth noting we were playing on a college court, which is 10 feet longer than where the girls normally play. So her shot would have only been 20 feet short had we been on a high school court.

Bummer to lose, but a really good game. If we could have just weathered those five minutes – L was on the bench for that entire stretch, by the way – it could have been a different result.

Playing for the championship at a national tournament would have been cool,[2] but it was nice to leave Louisville at 10:00 AM and not have to hang around for a 1:00 game.

LB was fantastic all weekend. It was the best she’s ever played over multiple games. Friday she only scored four points, but finally hit a 3, her first in a real game since December! Seriously, it had been since before Christmas, nearly five full months. Sure, there weren’t any games from the last week of January until the first week of April, but you figure she would have made one in there somewhere.

She scored 12 and 11 on Saturday, hitting another 3 in each game. Then she had 14 on Sunday, hitting two threes and both of her free throws while getting three rebounds, two assists, and three steals. I was pumped afterwards, she was pissed that they lost. Perfect.

Overall she was 16–31 from the field, 5–12 from 3, 4–6 from the line. Again, likely the best she’s ever shot.

She had told me she thought the training she’s doing three nights a week had been helping, making her both stronger and more confident. For this weekend, at least, that seemed to be absolutely true.

Now travel takes a pause for a month, although she still has a week or two of training left. High school ball will start the first week of June. Right now it looks like they’ll lift weights 2–3 times a week, have one basketball workout, then, assuming she gets pulled into the varsity group for summer, play two nights a week in different leagues. I think it’s a good assumption she will be varsity for the summer since A) she deserves it and B) one of the varsity starting guards is a D1 soccer recruit and is usually traveling for soccer and skips basketball over the summer. Then two more out-of-town tournaments in July before this travel cycle wraps up.

Louisville

A few non-hoops stories from the weekend.

We stayed at an Econo Lodge downtown. This was again a tournament where you are required to stay at an “approved” hotel. And the PGA Championship was also in Louisville. So pickins was slim. I read good reviews of the Econo Lodge and figured it was better to take a chance, be downtown for activities, and less than ten minutes from the Expo Center as opposed to staying 30–40 minutes away as a lot of other teams were doing.

They must have paid someone to do those reviews because they were not accurate.

Our hotel was old, it smelled, and it was surrounded by homeless people. Our room smelled like people had been smoking weed in it for years. Friday night starting around 11–11:30 a bunch of kids showed up for what seems to have been a post-party. They ran around screaming and yelling for hours. I guess the cops finally came flying into the parking lot at 3:00 AM and cleared them all out. I think I had finally passed out about 2:45 so missed that excitement. I had Sentry Mode engaged on my Tesla and never got any alerts, so hoped all was well. Some of our other families said they saw kids taking pictures around it. I haven’t gone back to review the footage yet, mostly because I can’t figure out how to pull it up, but there weren’t any scratches, dents, or dings, so I figured it’s all good. I’m glad I could contribute to their fun.

Despite the smell, our room seemed clean, which is more important than dodging homeless men and dealing with hours of teenage noise. The AC worked sporadically so I went from sweaty to freezing every 30 minutes or so as it debated what temperature air to pump out.

So qualified success? We have some good stories!

There was actually a good pizza place across the street. We went there Friday after our game to eat and watch the Pacers game.

A bonus of the PGA being in town was the parking for that event was at the Expo center, too. Thus, for some reason, they weren’t charging parking. Two years ago when we played in the same event it was $35 to park for the weekend. I’m sure they’ll get us when we go back in July. It was $70 to get in the door for the weekend, though.

We had a very bougey breakfast Saturday. L and I grabbed some Starbucks and ate/drank it while charging the Tesla.

That evening we had a good team dinner at a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican place. Not sure how, but they brought meals for 19 people out at the same time. A team of French Canadian girls rolled in while we were eating. One of their coaches saw our shirts and asked if we knew Jennifer Mathurin, sister of injured Pacer Bennedict Mathurin. She has done some work with girls youth programs in Indy, but isn’t directly associated with ours. He said she had played in his program when she was growing up in Montreal. Nice coincidence.

The Dreaded Procedure

I kicked off the weekend Thursday by having my second colonoscopy, seven years after #1. I put off the second because I’m lazy, justifying it by thinking since I was a little early with the first, I could be late with the second. All seems to have gone well. They did remove a couple polyps, like last time. Thankfully the biopsies came back clean.

The prep always sucks. I don’t mind the “stool time,” for lack of a better phrase. It’s the hunger and headaches that come with that bother me. Wednesday kind of sucked as I dealt with that. But Thursday was fine. Pro tip: pick a flavor of Gatorade you can tolerate but don’t love for your Metamucil dosing. After you suck down those two 32 ounce servings the night before and morning of, the taste is kind of disgusting. You don’t want to ruin your preference for a good flavor.

After my first scope, it took me hours to shake the anesthesia. I only vaguely remember leaving the facility and riding home. My first real memory was saying something at the dinner table and everyone laughing at me because it was, apparently, the third time I had said the same thing.

This time I bounced back pretty quickly. There were some hazy moments in the recovery room, but I clearly remember it being like someone flipped a switch and I was suddenly awake and talking to my nurse. We had a real good conversation, as I recall. It didn’t hurt that she was nice to look at.[3] But later I realized I have no memory of getting dressed. I’m pretty sure I did it on my own. If a pretty nurse helped me get dressed I sure hope I would remember it. Don’t tell S.

Before my scope seven years ago, a friend who had already been through it told me to plan on stopping for some kind of good food on my way home to reward myself for two days of fasting. Which I obviously couldn’t do since I was still sleepy. Thursday, though, I was wide awake, ordered Culver’s from my phone and had S stop there on the way home to pick up a shake, burger, and fries. Which tasted amazing!

I took a couple brief naps in the afternoon but otherwise seemed pretty normal. I slept like a baby Thursday night and was pretty much normal again on Friday for the drive south.

When I weighed in before we left for the surgery center, I was down six pounds! Just in time for pool season!

PACERS!!!!!!!

I’ll admit, I was totally prepared to be let down Sunday. Especially since we made it home in time to watch Pacers-Knicks game seven. Even when the Pacers jumped out to an early lead, shooting nearly 80% in the first quarter, I figured it wouldn’t last. Surely they would start tossing up bricks, Jalen Brunson would score 50, every close call would go against the Pacers, the Nova Knicks would shove with impunity, and the Pacers would slink back home for the off-season.

I was kind of right: the Pacers cooled off to shoot just 67.1% for the game, an NBA Playoffs record. They answered every Knicks run. Tyrese Haliburton turned into the Hali from before his January injuries. The bench was gigantic. The Knicks ran out of steam, other than Donte DiVincenzo, and Brunson’s body finally let him down, his left hand breaking when he tried to prevent a Haliburton break-away layup.

Massive win for the Pacers. This was supposed to be a year to just get back into the playoffs. Instead they are four wins from the NBA Finals. The #1 seed Boston Celtics block their path. It feels like a Celtics in five pick. However, a non-Pacers friend texted me Sunday evening saying he fully expects whatever voodoo magic the Pacers are working with to cause Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown to get hurt in the next week. Giannis didn’t play in round one and Dame missed two games. The Knicks started the series with a ton of injuries and seemingly added another each game along the way. I would be worried if I was a Celtics fan.

I felt terrible for Brunson. You can’t help but respect that dude, even with all his flopping. He works so damn hard and takes on such a huge role for that team, and makes tough bucket after tough bucket. And as much as I hate Jason Hart and DiVincenzo, I give them grudging respect for how hard they play. Granted, they foul on every possession and somehow never get called for it. This series generated flashbacks to the KU-Villanova Elite 8 game I went to in, coincidentally, Louisville, when the Wildcats somehow ran through every KU screen and were never called for a foul. It’s like the refs let it go the first time because they can’t believe anyone would be so brazen, then realize they can’t call it later in the game because they didn’t in the first half. Not that I’m still bitter about a game that was eight years ago…[4]

And how about Minnesota ripping off a 54–24 run in the second half to come from 20 down to knock out the defending champs? I never expect the Nuggets to be the team to fall apart in their season’s biggest moments.

PGA

I guess it was a good tournament. I saw bits and pieces here and there over the weekend. It was a little weird to be so close to the tournament without seeing much of it.

But, HOLY SHIT, the Scottie Scheffler kerfuffle! Obviously this in no way compares to another Louisville Police Department fuck up. Or others if you want to dig into their history. Still, what an absolute shit-show. Saturday when we were navigating to the parking lot there were a bunch of LPD officers directing traffic. You can be damn-sure I followed their instructions to the letter.

Obviously this is going to get “fixed” soon. Major props to Scheffler for handling it with absolute aplomb. Shooting a 65 after spending a few hours in jail is one of the most impressive things he’s ever done. He fell apart Saturday and you have to wonder if the stress of Friday caught up with him. He finished eight shots behind winner Xander Schauffele, so I doubt it cost him the tournament. But you never know how things would have turned out if he had been in the final group, or simply closer to Schauffele, and able to put pressure on him Sunday.

I also had to laugh at how many people were screaming “Free Scottie!” Friday who probably have performative Blue Lives Matter stickers on their vehicles, think George Floyd got what he deserved, and that Black Lives Matters is a terrorist group without legitimate complaints. And how a lot of these people suddenly took eye witness accounts that were completely different than the official police report very seriously when an affluent, white golfer was involved. America, baby!

  1. One of our other parents got a video and you can hear me yelling “AND ONE!!!” I’m generally more laid back at games than I have been in recent years, but for a moment I was That Dad again.  ↩
  2. That sounds cooler than it actually is. There are literally hundreds of teams in every age group at these tournaments. To win the “championship,” L’s team had to win their pool, win a semifinal game against another pool winner, then beat a team that won their semifinal. So this represented just four pools out of eight. And this was just in our division within the 2027 age bracket. There were four different ’27 divisions. I’m not sure if all the others had eight pools but assuming they did, that means there were eight champions just for current freshmen this weekend. I think there are even more teams in the middle school divisions. Wild.  ↩
  3. I’m sorry.  ↩
  4. As you well know I can get all fired up about games from way longer ago than eight years.  ↩

Weekend Notes

April 15, 2024 /

A pretty solid weekend around our house. Enough went on that I will divide this into two parts. Smaller items in this post, a bigger post to come tomorrow.

After a crappy four days of rain and steadily decreasing temps, the weekend was gorgeous here in Indy. Sunday it got into the 80s for the first time this year. We took advantage by doing phase one of pool opening prep, power washing all the crap that had collected on the cover since last October. Actually pool opening isn’t until three weeks from today. S half-mentioned getting the patio furniture out yesterday, but I told her if we did that it would 100% snow sometime in the next three weeks so we decided to hold off a little longer.

Kid Hoops

L played in the same gym as a week ago, once again three games.

Saturday we played her middle school buddy’s team, a higher ranked team from her program. Her buddy and two other girls were missing, so they only had six. It didn’t look like that would matter at first as they got a quick 10–2 lead. We answered with our own 10–2 run to tie and trailed by just two at halftime. Midway through the second half we were up five. Our girls were playing really well on both ends. The other team was down to five girls as one girl rolled her ankle and missed a big chunk of the first half, although she returned in the second half.

We couldn’t hang on, though, and lost by four. Too many second-chance opportunities because we couldn’t grab any rebounds and way too many unforced turnovers.

An hour later we were back on the court against a team that didn’t look very good in warmups. Our girls came out focused and led 23–8 just before halftime. Then we started missing layups. After halftime we kept missing layups. Then we started missing jumpers. Then girls started taking bad shots as soon as they got the ball. Our coach, who isn’t a big yeller, was screaming at the girls to stop taking dumb shots.

Next thing you knew it was 23–21 six minutes into the second half before L hit a free throw to break the run. After one more basket by the other girls we ripped off a 10–0 stretch that put the game away.

That win kept us out of fourth place, which meant we had to go back at 9:05 Sunday instead of 8:00. In the bracket game we played a higher level team from the program we beat on Saturday. These girls also didn’t look like anything special in warmups. No super tall girls, or girls that looked super athletic, and they weren’t lighting it up as they shot.

But this team was one of the best coached teams I’ve ever seen. They ran a really good motion offense, but their goal was to get one of their big girls posted on a smaller defender, and then both of those girls could finish over either shoulder. Old school basketball! It was impressive. They were tough as hell, too, something our girls don’t always handle well. Their defense was perfect for AAU where refs let you get away with just about anything. Bob Huggins probably loves the defensive rules in summer ball.

It turned out to be a really good game. We trailed by six early, by seven later in the first half, before getting it to 19–17 at halftime.

Second half was the same story. We trailed by seven, came back to take a five point lead, trailed by five late, and then our only shooter hit four 3’s in the final 90 seconds to force overtime.

Overtime sucked. We didn’t score. L had two turnovers in the final minute. We lost by six.

At least that meant we got out of the gym to enjoy the beautiful day.

L was mixed for the weekend. She scored seven in the first game, hitting her first three shots before missing a couple when she got fouled and there was no call. She hit a free throw on an and-one. Otherwise she didn’t do much good or bad. In game two she was one of the girls who missed layups in our bad stretch. She grabbed four rebounds, which is good for her, but only scored three points. Then Sunday she just scored one point and had those two huge turnovers late.

The good news was she went 4–5 on free throws, and all five looked great, The main trainer at her weekly workouts adjusted L’s mechanics last week. It’s going to be a process to get those integrated but at least from the free throw line the changes seemed to be working.

We are off to Cincinnati Friday for a weekend of games.

Big Kid Props

We talked to M twice on Sunday. She called us after she had her final house meeting of the year for her sorority. They gave out awards and she won one of the Founders awards for her “positive attitude and impact on the house even as a freshman.” We laughed because she said they read the things that people said about the winners before they announced the winner’s names, and she had kind of tuned out whoever was talking when they got to her award. So she doesn’t remember what specific nice things they said about her. Hilarious! She was probably talking to whoever was sitting next to her.

Later she texted us and said she got selected to go to her sorority’s national office this summer to take part in a leadership conference. They pay for it, so we said she should absolutely do it. The only bummer is it is in St. Louis in July, so she’ll have to deal with that fun humidity in the Lou.

Masters

Between the PGA-LIV stupidity and my old-man arthritis that has kept me from playing golf for two years, I rarely watch golf anymore. I did catch a lot of the Masters over the weekend, still one of the best four days in sports.

Brilliant stuff from Scottie Scheffler. That dude is really fucking good. My guy Max Homa had his shots, but two bad holes Sunday ruined his chances.

Mostly it was fun to see weather really affect how the course played. Heavy winds all week made it damn near impossible to know where your ball would end up. That Scheffler ran away on the back nine Sunday was even more impressive as pretty much everyone close to him fell apart.

Masters week also meant it was time for the return of one of the best sports bits of the year.

Masters Update

NBA Playoffs

The Pacers ended the regular season in style, blowing out the Hawks once again, winning 157–115. It was the second time this season the Pacers have set a new franchise scoring record, both times coming against the Hawks.

It’s back to the playoffs for the first time in four years, with the Milwaukee Bucks waiting. There’s some bad blood in the matchup from games back in December and January. There was the weird “Ballgame” confrontation. There was the Pacers knocking the Bucks out of the IST, and then winning again a couple weeks later. Malik Beasley went on record back then as wanting the Pacers in the playoffs so the Bucks could put them in their proper place.

Giannis Anteotkounmpo missed the end of the regular season and there’s no concrete word on his status for round one. That would be a pretty big bonus for the Pacers if he either can’t play or is limited. Tyrese Haliburton gets to go back to his hometown. Should be a great series.

A Boston-Denver Finals is the smart bet. The West, especially, is going to be a slog for whoever comes out of that conference.

College Hoops

Kentucky hiring Mark Pope was unexpected, but it may end up being genius. He’s a really good coach, runs a modern offense, and is much more laid back than John Calipari. Being a former UK player he’ll get a longer honeymoon than pretty much any other hire if there are early struggles. I would also expect him to moderate recruiting a little, focusing more on getting players who fit his system and maybe want to play in Lexington for a couple years rather than trying to get the five best freshmen he can get every year. To be sure UK will still have great recruiting classes. I think he knows that you win in college by having experience, and his offense works better with guys who have been in it more than three months.

I find the transfer portal, and the rumors surrounding it, exhausting. But I still pay attention because KU is in the market. I laughed out loud this morning when I saw that Colby Rogers, a former Wichita Sate player, had committed to Memphis. Yesterday a top-notch recruiting site said he was down to KU, Michigan, and Alabama. I’ve been trying to back off on the college hoops rumor monitoring because of situations exactly like this. No one really knows until the kid makes an announcement.

Holiday Weekend Notes

April 10, 2023 /

A pretty good Easter weekend in our house.

Family Weekend

As happens when your kids are in Catholic schools, it was an extra-long weekend. CHS had a four-day weekend, while St P’s had early dismissal Friday and were out for Easter Monday.

Throw in C being home sick and L having her annual school service day on Thursday and it was even longer.

C has the “Punta Plague,” as M is calling it. It should be no shock that a big chunk of CHS came back from spring break sick. It took a couple days to reach her but has kind of wiped her out. She may have had Covid in the front, had a stomach bug in the middle, which may have been associated with strep that came on in the backside.

When we asked M if there were a lot of kids out sick last week her response was, “Bro, the entire school is sick.” Love it when she talks to me like I’m an idiot. She’s been coughing like a smoker but has no other ailments.

I guess that’s what mass travel in the post-pandemic age will be like: we all act like old people after a cruise and get sick for a week or so upon our return.

Like I’ve done every year, I volunteered to assist on the St P’s service day. That has usually meant going to some kind of donation center and sorting things, since there’s only so much these places can ask large groups of kids to do. Which really means I do a bunch of sorting while making sure the kids don’t do anything stupid.

This year L’s group got sent to an adoption center that had just changed locations and were tasked with organizing several rooms that were filled with donations. That was a bonus as there were a lot of diapers, wipes, lotions, bath soaps, etc that had that good, clean baby smell. And most of the clothes we sorted were either new or at least washed if used. Which made it a pretty pleasant experience, and far different from the year we dug through huge bins of donated items and found fun stuff like dirty diapers, broken glass, animal waste, porn, and drug paraphernalia.

Our kids weren’t super focused but they did more work in the four hours we were there than the lady running the place expected, so they left a good impression.

I got a hug from the St P’s teacher who organizes this day since it is my last time assisting. We joked that if she needed extra help next year she was going to reach out to me.

Saturday we spent the day getting the house ready for hosting our family Easter gathering. I decided the pool cover looked filthy after collecting crap for five months and spent nearly four hours cleaning it. For some reason I always forget how long that takes. I think my brain blacks out the memories.

When I was done I opened up the cover to do a quick inspection and get a head start on cleaning out the leaves and worms that worked their way in since October. There was a large frog/toad floating in the water. I tried to scoop him up and it slowly tried to evade me. I think the water was so cold it was still semi-hibernating. I got him into the net and when it looked like he was going to hop out, I flung him lacrosse-style about 30 feet to the grass. Not sure if he survived his flight or not.

Easter Day was super nice here. Sunny, pushing 70. Nearly perfect. We bought some pulled pork and I smoked a couple chickens to go along with.

We had 22 people in all. A very good meal, between the stuff we bought and made and all the contributions from the rest of the family. The five nephews had an Easter egg hunt after we ate, and we were able to sit outside and enjoy the ideal day. Easter is always better when it is warm and you can be out in the open.

The Masters

I watched as much of the Masters as I could, between prep, errands, meals, etc.

I was very glad that Jon Rahm won. He seems like a good, thoughtful dude and plays pretty amazing golf. For him to win by four strokes after four-putting his first hole of the tournament and then having to play in the worst weather of the weekend was quite an accomplishment. He could have easily doubled that winning margin.

Like a lot of people I had mixed feelings about Brooks Koepka’s early domination. I enjoyed his style of golf and brash personality at his peak a few years back, but was disappointed when he fled for the LIV Tour after insisting he wouldn’t. I get that a hundred million dollars, or whatever he got, can change a person’s point of view, especially when he was in the midst of a pretty serious injury recovery and questioned his golfing future. He may not have been villain #1 in the whole fiasco, but I still heap some blame on him.

That said, I couldn’t help but get sucked in by how well he played through the first three rounds. I was glad a lot of golf people that I follow were having similar mixed feelings; it was good not to be alone.

This was my favorite thread that came out of the weekend. It is also a reminder that occasionally there are still a few good things on Twitter. Tech Karen will probably ban threads like this soon, since they give people joy.

Ortho

I took L into ortho Monday morning to have her braces removed. She set the family record of just 15 months; she was originally slated for 23. Other than a little gap when she struggled with her rubber bands a little, I think she did exactly what they told her so she could get them off as quickly as possible.

I guess she’ll have a six-month visit and then we’ll be done with ortho after seven and a half years of regular visits. Knock on wood.

Weekend Sports Notes

July 18, 2022 /

Some sports happenings over the past few days.

Royals

As if being shitty wasn’t bad enough, ten Royals players “did their own research” and decided not to get vaccinated against Covid, preventing them from traveling to Canada for the series with the Blue Jays over the weekend.

Just an exhausting moment. As I am barely interested in the team or sport right now, this does not make me want to come back.

Let’s move on…

Pacers Go Big…Almost

The Pacers have never been big players in the free agent market. Good players who are healthy generally don’t want to come to Indianapolis, and the Pacers have generally run a tight financial ship and refused to overpay to get talent to come to town.

That nearly changed last week. They signed restricted free agent Deandre Ayton to a massive offer sheet. Ayton had a strained relationship with the Phoenix Suns who seemed lukewarm on bringing him back on a max contract. There had been rumors for weeks the Suns and Pacers were talking about a deal that revolved around Ayton and the Pacers’ Myles Turner. If those talks were serious, though, they never resulted in a trade agreement.

So the Pacers sent out only the second offer sheet they’ve ever tendered, the biggest in league history, for Ayton. For about three hours Pacers fans were debating whether to be excited about the prospect of Ayton joining a young roster or to worry about Ayton getting hurt or just sucking and turning the deal into a disaster that sunk the franchise for the 2020s.

That debate only lasted a few hours because the Suns quickly matched the Pacers’ offer. Which could be a good thing. Offering $133 million for a big man in the current NBA seemed ultra aggressive, especially for one like Ayton, who is a good player but certainly not among the league’s elite.

It was cool the Pacers tried to make a splash, at least. Now I wonder where they go. They seem set up to remain on the outside of the eastern conference playoff picture next year, but also not bad enough to enter the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes. They have a ton of cap room and a lot of picks stacked up for the next few years. Plus they still have to figure out what to do with Turner, an elite shot blocker and serviceable 3-point shooter whose total game does not match his ego or financial desires. Do they package Turner and some of their picks for a difference maker? Hang onto Turner until the trade deadline to see if he meshes with their new lineup (and can stay healthy)? Or do they move Turner now, take on a bad, expiring contract, and hope they are crappy enough to get deep into next year’s lottery and then make rapid improvement?

Kid Hoops

L’s team decided to get together for one more tournament. Saturday they played two teams they played two weeks ago, including the team that knocked them out of that tournament. They pounded that team pretty good, although they were playing without their best player. We were three players short, including a starter, but not sure that was an even trade. In game two they got a 14-point win over a team we have now beaten three times. This was our best performance against them.

In Sunday’s semifinal we had a five-point lead early in the second half but lost by 10. Our girls just got waxed in the last 10 minutes or so. The other team was too fast on both ends, our girls neglected to play any help defense, and we missed a ton of easy shots early that could have had us up by double digits early in the game.

L had a mixed weekend. She shot the ball like crap going 3–20 overall. Saturday she hit the top of the backboard with 3 pointers from behind the NBA line.[1] Apparently she’s been working out too much. In the second game she missed two wide open layups and another two contested ones. But she did score six in that game. And she turned the game around with her defense. We were down seven when she checked in. Five minutes later, when she checked out, we were up six. In that span she had two points, two rebounds, two assists, and three steals. She just shut down their point guard, getting steals on three of four possessions. We never looked back after that.

We’ve been doing some good shooting over at the YMCA, so I don’t know if she was just sped up, if her contacts weren’t locked in, or if it was the classic case of the improvement she’s making in practice not translating to games yet. Whatever the explanation, her shooting was gross. Afterwards I reminded her, though, that back in January if she ever took a 3-pointer, it was usually two feet short. Now she’s shooting them 3–4 feet long from behind the NBA line. So she has the range, she just needs to lock in the accuracy.

The Open

Jeeeeez what a let down. Rory McIlroy seemed like was finally going to break his eight-year major-less streak, playing beautiful golf all weekend. He was a little less stellar Sunday, missing six putts by a combined six inches, but still played well enough to win.

Except Cameron Smith went nuclear and hit every freaking putt on the back nine. Shooting 30 on the last nine of a major – six birdies and three pars – is pretty dope. Rory couldn’t even finish second as Cameron Young snuck by him with a final round 65.

There was no meltdown round this time. Rory played great all four days. Perhaps he was a little too cautious Sunday. Or the nerves caused shots that gave him short birdie looks the first three days to leave him much longer looks in Sunday. Whatever the cause, it felt like a massive letdown when he couldn’t close it out. Sometimes you just get unlucky and end up on the wrong side of a legendary closing round by another golfer.

It was really a magnificent tournament. St. Andrews is barely hanging on against modern players and technology, but it produced a terrific weekend of golf. Saturday, when six or seven players all seemed to be in the mix, was amazing to watch. It came at a perfect moment for professional golf, which has seen the 2022 season dominated by the break between the PGA and the Saudi-backed LIV tour. But you also have to wonder when we will see a tournament like this again. The 2023 major season could be drastically different as more players defect to the LIV, which could affect their ability to play in future majors. Perhaps it was that, more than Rory coming up short, that made the end feel a little extra somber.

  1. The tournament was at Jeff Teague’s gym, and we played both Saturday games on the NBA court, which is longer than the other two high school courts at the facility, and only has the college and NBA three point lines parked. Not sure why they had kids as young as fifth grade playing on it without the high school arc marked.  ↩

Sports Notes

June 9, 2022 /

KU Hoops

I still need to do an NIL post, and now that things finally seem to have calmed down a little on that front, I’ll move that up in the mental queue.

KU’s roster appears to be locked in for next year, so a few thoughts on how that has shaken out.

In general I think the transfer portal is a good thing, as it gives players more control of their careers. But I think it also gets misused as players bail on situations that are simply less-than-ideal instead of truly bad or jump at any opportunity to trade up in prestige of program. For fans, I think we expect too much from players who are transferring-in, expecting them to replicate what made them stars at their previous school while playing in different systems, with different teammates, often with very different roles.

I think the best move for KU this off-season would have been to keep the roster completely intact and not add any players. Even had some guys at the back end of the roster left, I would have been fine going forward with 11–12 scholarship players instead of trying to fill a bench player’s spot with a transfer who had started elsewhere.

There are just a whole lot of guys who will be fighting for playing time this year, and clearing out a spot wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

That said, replacing Christian Braun with Kevin McCullar, Jr was about the best move KU could have. They are different players, but since McCullar is complementary on offense and position-less on defense, he can slide right in and not be disruptive. I don’t think he will struggle to find his role the way pretty much every transfer last year did. While he adds to the roster crunch in the wings rotation, his presence also means that neither Gradey Dick nor MJ Rice will be expected to have an immediate impact for the team to win games in November and December.

Jalen Wilson coming back was the right move for him and potentially a huge move for KU. It’s unrealistic to expect him to take the jump Ochai Agbaji did last year, but after a solid NBA combine, it’s not unreasonable to see a leap in his game. I can see him having a tremendous statistical year, in the range of 15–16 ppg and 10+ rebounds per game.

Right now I think there are three players locked into starting roles: Wilson, McCullar, and DaJuan Harris. I would guess Zach Clemence is most likely to be the starting big man today. And then someone from the pool of Bobby Pettiford, Joe Yesufu, Dick, or Rice fill the remaining spot, depending whether Bill Self wants two small guards or a larger wing to join the other five. One of the freshmen bigs – Ernest Udeh or Zuby Ejiofor – should play a lot. I think Bill Self loves KJ Adams, so he will play.

I just named 11 players. Both Cam Martin and Kyle Cuffe are on scholarship, and most people think that Cuffe has a bright future. It’s hard to see either of them getting minutes, and I’m a little surprised Cuffe didn’t decide to jump somewhere that would give him a better opportunity to play.

Bottom line, the roster is deep, loaded with options, and seems pretty good here in June. They should be elite defensively if a big man can become a shot blocker. Offense may be a struggle at times, so I expect more games in the 60s than last year.

It’s a long way until practice begins, let alone the first games in early November. The defending national champs may not be in the true list of betting favorites (they are actually rated pretty high by Vegas at the moment, but that seems irrational) but they are going to run back a pretty good squad in ’22–23.

Professional Golf

I don’t know that it’s been on many of my reader’s radars, but men’s professional golf is in the midst of one of the most important weeks in its modern history. For a year or so there have been rumors of a league to rival the PGA, with rumors of multiple competing leagues at various times. The option that seemed the most serious and likely is backed by the government of Saudi Arabia, as part of their “sports washing” efforts to use their massive piles of cash to distract the world from the regime’s awful record on human rights. The LIV Golf tour begins this week and several notable PGA players have renounced their PGA Tour status and made the jump. Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson are rumored to be receiving between $100 and $200 million for joining the new tour. Others have received less but still more than they can make in many years on the PGA Tour. The weekly purses are also far beyond the already crazy money players are earning on the PGA Tour.

For obvious reasons, there has been a kerfuffle about all this. There is the fact these players are turning their backs on the tour than made them rich. The fact they are taking blood money from an oppressive government that had an American citizen murdered and chopped into pieces because he was publishing articles they didn’t like. The fact most of these golfers are trying to act like they are doing this for the “good of the game,” or in belief that golf can change the world. The idea that golf will somehow turn Saudi Arabia into a Jeffersonian Democracy with equal rights for all citizens is one of the dumbest things about this whole enterprise.

It’s all a little ridiculous. I think Dustin Johnson is the only person who has pretty much said he’s doing this for the money. Good for him. Be honest, take the heat, and know that it will fade. I disagree with his decision, but respect the fact he’s not hiding behind the BS most of his fellow LIV jumpers are spouting.

I’ve been more interested in the media/public reaction. Granted, my view is heavily skewed by the side of Golf Twitter that I follow, which is unusually progressive for golf in general and, likely, much more aware of all the details than the wider golf public. What has stuck me most is the heat these people are taking. A lot of the public is jumping on the side of the players, usually defending their taking the life-changing money. Which, again, I get.

I wondered how many people making this argument defend other professional athletes who chase money. Do they say, “Well, the Yankees offered him more, I don’t blame him,” when their favorite baseball player leaves their team for a bigger market? Or when the wide receiver their NFL team drafted and developed goes elsewhere when he is a free agent, are they as understanding? I can hazard a guess. I imagine terms like “greedy” and “disloyal” get thrown around.

What makes that question fascinating to me is that you can make a legitimate economic argument for why NFL/NBA/MLB players chase money. You may think that team X overpaid for your shooting guard, but his new contract was determined by market conditions, often based on offers from multiple teams. Nothing about what these golfers are getting paid makes sense from an economic standpoint. They weren’t sifting through a stack of offers similar to what the Saudis had on the table. Saudi Arabia is paying far beyond the true economic value of these golfers in an effort to legitimize their new league. Several golf writers have pointed out that these contracts make even less sense because LIV hasn’t offered any kind of business plan for how to grow and maintain their league. That won’t matter to the Mickelsons and Johnsons who are set for life based on their initial contracts and have PGA Tour status basically for life based on winning majors. But that’s a legit question for the lesser-known players who have joined LIV, and could have their careers wrecked if the league falls apart and they are banned from the PGA Tour.

This whole thing is just Saudi Arabia doing what they do: lighting cash on fire at a moment when oil is as expensive as it’s been in ages to try to get people to forget beyond their flashy architecture and lavish spending, most of country, from its leadership down, live lie it is still the 16th century.

Splitting sports leagues is pretty much never a good thing. The big names jumping to LIV are getting money that can literally set up their families for generations. While they have the right to make those decisions, I don’t think they realize the long-term damage this split is going to do to professional golf. In a decade or so, if TV contracts and exposure have shrunk and golf is even more niche than it is now, I’m not sure the next generation of players will be thanking the players who took the Saudi money and ran.

Royals

Good Lord the Royals suck. As of this morning, they are two games worse than Oakland and Cincinnati, two franchises that are trying to lose. I’m still not watching, listening, or paying much attention. But I still have several Royals commentators in my feeds and get enough of texts from friends who are still on board to have a sense of what a disaster this season has been.

For a long time it felt like the Royals were handling their post-title rebuild the right way and were poised to break back to respectability this year and possible contention next year. Especially with the new, expanded playoffs this year.

At the moment, it sure seems like they’ve bungled it all. And it seems like it’s time for new owner John Sherman to clear out the front office and coaching staff and start anew. Still won’t get me to re-up my MLB subscription this year.

D’s Notes

December 23, 2021 /

KU Hoops

Well, I was hoping to post another Jayhawk Talk entry this week. I was looking forward to seeing how KU played three days after struggling to put away a Stephen F. Austin team that exposed some of their deficiencies. Alas, Colorado had some players test positive, the game got wiped from the schedule, and the Christmas break begins early for the Jayhawks.

Which leaves the big KU hoops news of the week the announcement that KU will play Indiana the next two years. It took 19 years but it’s finally happening: the Jayhawks vs. the Hoosiers on campus!1 What timing, too. KU will come to Bloomington in December 2023, when I just might have a freshman on campus. Wacky, wild stuff!

The 1990s series between the schools was great. Well, for KU fans it was, since the Jayhawks went 5–1 against the Hoosiers, including two wins in the NCAA tournament. The game in Lawrence in December 1993 – the Jacque Vaughn game – was the best game I’ve ever attended.

Covid and Sports

All sports leagues are struggling at the moment, as both the protection offered by vaccines begins to waver for those who got their shots last spring and the Omicron variant takes hold. Once again we are seeing how well-meaning policies and guidance have often been short-sighted. Protocols that were put in place over the summer now seem hopelessly outdated and ineffective because, to go back to a favorite phrase from the spring of 2020, the situation is fluid. Leagues, rightly, are reluctant to move too quickly in making adjustments as they wait on advice from government and health officials and a better idea of exactly how dangerous Omicron is.

I’m not sure what the right answer is. Allowing fully vaccinated players who test positive but show no symptoms to continue to compete seems like the right move at first consideration. But aren’t those players still able to spread the virus even if they have avoided its worst effects? So do we start limiting crowds again? Or only letting in fully-vaccinated fans to prevent the spread if we let those players on the court?

Or should leagues hit the pause button, as the NHL has done? Would stopping games for 10–14 days allow this rapidly spreading wave to subside a bit, give officials a better idea of exactly what we’re facing, and perhaps prevent a longer delay after the holidays pass?

While their policies may be frustrating, at least professional sports are controlled by a central body that keeps everyone on the same set of rules. In college sports it’s totally different, with each conference having slightly different standards. College sports, subject to the political whims of all 50 states and the various priorities of dozens of different conferences, are a mess. The NCAA has provided all kinds of guidance, and is working closely with the CDC to adjust that guidance as needed. But the fact remains that an organization that is quick to jump in and control what schools/conferences do when there is money to be made (and take their large cut in the process) is largely toothless when it comes to protecting players, coaches, and fans.

BTW, S and I are boosted. M gets her third shot next week. We did have a scare in the house a couple weeks back, but the Covid test was negative and we think the kid in question had either the regular flu or just a terrible cold. Fortunately it never hit the rest of us.

Tiger

We had a fairly busy weekend so I wasn’t able to watch any of the PNC Father/Son golf tournament. Which bummed me out because my Twitter feed was electric about Tiger and Charlie Woods putting on a show all weekend. I don’t know what people were more amazed by: the fact that Tiger was upright and playing good golf, or how freaking good his kid is.

Who knows how healthy Tiger actually is and if his efforts are repeatable. He rode in a cart all week; doing so in a regular tour event will require approval from the PGA. I imagine they would jump at giving him one, ironic given how hard they fought to keep Casey Martin out of one 20-some years ago. Whether Tiger’s body can hold up to 72 holes of high-level golf is another matter. Regardless of his future, it is stunning that he had been able to recover to this level.

Pacers

The Pacers are kind of a mess. Which is unusual. Aside from the mid–2000s, post-Brawl era, the franchise is usually pretty boring and steady. They are always solid, occasionally great. They never get a high lottery draft pick. They don’t make much news that draws attention nationally.

This year has been different. There seems to be a lot of discontent in the locker room. There are players who don’t like their roles, some who are frustrated by not winning, and others who have issues with the front office.

It reached the point where owner Herb Simon had to meet with select media last week to ensure them he loved this team and that he thought they were fully capable of getting their shit together and winning some games. This came just as there were reports that he might finally relent from his long-held policy of refusing to tank for a high draft pick. He has said he would rather be mediocre and sell as many tickets as possible than tell the fans the team is going to suck for a few years and deal with a huge attendance loss.

The chatter is he may be wavering because the Pacers’ attendance this year has been near the bottom of the entire league. I think there’s also finally some acceptance that while they have a lot of nice players, they have the wrong mix of nice players. Too many guys who do the same thing and no true stars. There’s no Jermaine O’Neal, Danny Granger, or Paul George on this roster: a young, talented player who can blossom into a top 20 player if the team is patient enough.

The Colts are the far more important franchise around town these days, and have been since Peyton arrived. But I’ve talked to a few guys who have been big Pacers fans their entire lives who are pissed about where the team is. When you have such a small, loyal fan base and they begin to turn on the team, it seems like ownership has to do something drastic to keep their interest and to have any hopes of grabbing the attention of the rest of the city.

NFL

My attention given to the Colts this year has been waaaaay less than last year. I’m not sure why. I’ve watched way less of the NFL in general this year. Again, I’m not sure why.

The Colts seem to be rolling, though. And my limited viewing tells me that this may be the widest open playoffs in recent memory. So perhaps the Colts can overcome that brutal opening stretch of the season and make some noise in the playoffs.

Ha! Very funny! You can’t trust Carson Wentz in the playoffs!

Forget Covid and who may/may not be available: is there a single team you really trust to win 3–4 games in January? I would assume the Chiefs are, once again, the favorite as they’ve righted the ship from their mid-season swoon. But each time a team seems poised to stake a claim as the clear best team in the league, they lay a big fat egg. So maybe that means the Chiefs play a Wild Card in both the AFC title game and Super Bowl? I don’t know; I haven’t watched enough to have any idea what to expect.

1. The only time the schools have played since I moved to Indy was in Hawaii in November 2016 with the Hoosiers winning in overtime.

Some Sports From the Weekend

September 27, 2021 /

My sports weekend was a little more compressed than normal. We hosted several of M’s friends and their families Sunday evening, so we spent a lot of time prepping for them and then enjoying their company.

Friday night was CHS’ homecoming. We went to dinner with a couple other families and by the time we walked in, the Irish were already up 16–0 midway through the first quarter. It didn’t get any better. The coaches had agreed ahead of time to go to a running clock in the first half if needed. When CHS went up 37–0 with 8:30 left before the half the clock mercifully ran without pause. The final was 51–0, the final touchdown coming when CHS went for it on fourth down in the fourth quarter. The dads I was sitting with all gave each other confused looks. We decided it must be ok to go for it up 44 when you are playing freshmen.

Saturday was the most boring day of the young college season. Only two interesting games, and I didn’t have much time to devote to either Notre Dame – Wisconsin or Texas A&M – Arkansas.

KU played well on offense for about 40 minutes but then fell apart to get waxed by Duke. Fortunately, once again, the game was not on a station I have so I didn’t have to devote any energy to it.

Sunday was opening day for CYO basketball.[1] L’s team was playing St S, who is always really good. Their A team had a bunch of tall, athletic girls that play basketball year-round. We have a bunch of athletic but equally goofy girls, none of whom are very tall.

Our girls hung in for awhile. They made a nice run to start the second quarter and were only down 11–9. But they gave up a 10–0 run never recovered. They fought hard in the second half but could not overcome that first-half spurt, and lost 35–26.

St S was a much better team. They played like they knew what they were doing, where our girls were all scrambling around like lunatics and sometimes got a lucky shot that went in. We went 4–19 from the free throw line. We had roughly 75% of our shots in the paint partially or fully blocked. We let St S get at least 10 run outs for uncontested layups. Fortunately, even good teams in 7th–8th grade CYO ball miss open layups.

I told L after the game that was all something they could build on. Hit some free throws, don’t let girls get behind you on D, and be smarter on offense and they could have kept it competitive until the very end.

She only scored two. She missed one open layup and then a series of short jumpers or running shots near the rim. She went 0–2 from the line. She did make a couple nice passes, but there really wasn’t much chance for anyone to do anything on offense.

Her team has a super tough schedule. I think St S will be one of the three best teams they play, but don’t know if they are one, two, or three and what the gap between those teams are.

I watched almost no NFL Sunday. When I could get an eye on the Colts game they played well. But I obviously didn’t watch enough.

What I did watch a ton of, especially Friday and Saturday, was the Ryder Cup. The US team running away from Europe to win back the Cup was great to watch.

In my mind, there are two good outcomes at a Ryder Cup: the US winning in dominating fashion, and Europe winning a close one.

The first is cool because it means the US team is firing on all cylinders, which was the case this weekend.

The second is cool because US players always start throwing each other or their coaches under the bus and acting like petty teenagers. Since I have complicated fan relationships with so many golfers, I kind of enjoy having the reason to hate/mock them that comes with them losing.

This weekend, though, the US played their asses off. There was never a doubt about the result from the time the first four matches ended on Friday. They just kept cranking out wins, with almost every US player having a signature moment at some point.

The golf media gets all worked up when the US loses by suggesting that the US team members don’t have the same love for the competition, or ability to set aside their personal interests for the team’s, that teams of yore had. I always think that’s kind of bullshit. But even if it is true, I appreciate how much pressure the US plays under. Every Ryder Cup we hear about how much more talented the US team is. It has to kind of suck, no matter how much self confidence you have, to know that if your team loses you will be labeled as massive underachievers and have your motivation questioned.

All of that ignores golf is flukey as fuck, and any pro can beat any other pro in any given round. It also demeans the European team, acting like a squad with a lower average ranking is filled with chumps that were selected from a municipal driving range.

  1. For the hundredth time, CYO sports schedules are idiotic.  ↩

Weekend Sports Notes

September 7, 2021 /

It was the first weekend jam-packed with sports in a long time. Good thing we had a fourish-day weekend to squeeze it all in!1

Friday night I took C and three friends to the Cathedral football game (M was also there with her own friend group). The 2–0, class 5A #1 Irish played a perennial 6A power from up north that has fallen off a bit in the past couple seasons. CHS was up 37–0 at halftime, played subs the entire second half, and cruised to a running clock win by the same score. Next week they take on arch rivals Bishop Chatard, defending class 3A champs who are off to a rough 0–3 start.

KU was playing their season opener at the same time. I was able to follow most of the second half. Not the most confidence-building experience – a 17–14 win over South Dakota that required a last-minute touchdown to win – but I’m not sure how you properly assess anything this season since the new coaching staff came in after spring practice was complete. There was already a lot of work to be done and that just complicates matters more.

I had hoped the offensive line would be improved. Sounds like that’s not the case. Or at least not yet. Most of the big plays were made by young guys, though, so that has to be good. Then again, there aren’t a lot of old guys in front of them.

I heard from multiple people about KU students rushing the field. Yawn. 1) Those kids hadn’t seen a win in over two years. 2) They may not see another win for two more years. 3) Do you really think after everything KU fans have been through over the past decade I’m going to get fired up about kids rushing the field after barely beating an FCS team? That’s like the 150th worst thing that has gone on around this program since the 2008 Orange Bowl win.

I watched stretches of the US Open throughout the weekend. I’ve said this before but it’s tough to get invested in tennis when so many of the best players are A) from Eastern Europe (or their parents were from there) and B) I don’t pay much attention to tennis the rest of the year.

I’m sad I’ve missed all of the Leylah Fernandez experience so far. Carlos Alcaraz beating Stefanos Tsitsipas Friday was terrific fun. I also enjoyed watching Shelby Rogers beat Ashleigh Barty on Saturday. I missed Rogers’ loss on Monday but was disappointed that she was the second American player to speak out about the abuse she expected to take online after the loss. I just don’t get why you would berate any athlete for their performance. And harassing tennis players is especially baffling to me. Is there really a big pool of super-fired up tennis fans who go ballistic when people lose?

I don’t think so. I’m assuming it’s just frustrated, idiot gamblers or people who can only find pleasure in life by cutting other people down.

The Naomi Osaka situation was especially disheartening. This is clearly a woman who is not in a good mental place. And yet some people were almost gleeful that she lost and seemed on the verge of a breakdown, both emotionally and physically.

How do you root for someone to fall apart? And how do you not understand that even when someone is successful and famous and has money they can still face mental/emotional/physical challenges that overwhelm them?

The first full weekend of college football rolled through, too. I watched probably too much football on Saturday, even when we were hanging out with people in the evening. I spent the most time with eyes on Penn State – Wisconsin and Clemson – Georgia. Not well played, not very entertaining, but at least they were competitive.

There was a lot of hype going into the year for Indiana. Iowa took about 10 minutes to destroy most of it. But as an IU-fan relative told me Monday, 8–4 was what he expected and that’s still in play, no matter how ugly the Hoosiers looked Saturday.

I struggled a bit with seeing full stadiums and the constant chatter from the announcers about how great it was to be back to normal again. I had mixed feelings because we’re not back to normal. And the arguments about how to make things better just keep getting less-and-less constructive as the deniers dig in deeper and deeper. This fall should have been the time when we were truly reopening and getting back to normal. But Covid numbers are skyrocketing, schools are going back to masks, and it feels like this is just a momentary blip before large crowds start getting banned again because too many people think being asked to wear a piece of cloth across their face is some great impingement on their freedoms.

I had never heard of Duke’s Mayo before Saturday. And I had no idea it was a big enough deal to sponsor the premier prime time matchup of week one.

I watched a few minutes here-and-there of LSU-UCLA. I expected an easy LSU win. I was not expecting UCLA to pull away and win comfortably.

While watching I had the thought that when Chip Kelly left Oregon, it totally derailed both him and the Oregon program. When he left it seemed like just a matter of time before Oregon won a national title. The Ducks have had a couple good seasons since he departed, but several mediocre ones and even a 4–8 season. Kelly, meanwhile, was a disaster in the NFL and seemed close to being done at UCLA.

But maybe he has something going in Westwood, finally.

Lastly, the Solheim Cup in women’s golf was fantastic. In a mild upset, the European team beat the Americans 15–13. I was struck by how different the Solheim’s entire vibe was from how the Ryder Cup will be in a couple weeks. At the Ryder Cup there are always a couple guys on both teams who are way too fired up and take the slightest possible sign of disrespect as some great challenge to their manhood and team’s legitimacy. By Sunday the red asses have taken over and the entire event is weighed down by that intensity. While there are some moments of genuine respect as the singles matches finish, you are just as likely to see opponents get the post-match handshake over as quickly as they can.

There were a few moments of disagreement and conflict this weekend amongst the women. But none of them turned into big deals. Brief handshakes were the exception, with most competitors hugging after their matches regardless of the score. The crowds also seemed way less unruly than Ryder Cup crowds do.

All the bullshit that goes along with the Ryder Cup is kind of fun, to be honest. I’m always rooting for there to be extremely bad blood during and after, because it makes golfers look silly.

The Solheim Cup, though, was just about good, fun competition.

Weekend Notes

July 19, 2021 /

Another relaxing and laid-back weekend.

Friday we wrapped up the rainiest week of a rainy summer by, yep, having more rain. By the time the storms stopped Saturday morning we were at six inches of rain through the first 15 days of the month. Which seems like a lot. The good news is I haven’t had to water the yard once so far this summer.

Friday evening S and I went to a party one of her old high school chums hosted. This wasn’t just any party, though. It was a rescheduled White Elephant party they have every Christmas. And since S’s high school buddy has a lot of Clark Griswold in him, he filled his home with Christmas decorations, cranked up the Christmas tunes, and greeted everyone with a hearty “Merry Christmas!” at the door. I threw out all my normal qualms with holiday music being played outside the season and was fully onboard. The pandemic has changed everything, folks. It was a fine evening.

As I’ve said before, the NBA playoffs and Finals are often too late for me to see the best parts of the game. I did catch the last four minutes of Saturday’s game five, which we an absolute thrill ride. Again, I have no rooting interest and can’t force myself one way or the other. So it was terrific fun to watch Phoenix slice a ten point deficit down to one, have the ball with under 30 seconds left, and have the crowd going bonkers. And it was equally fun to watch Jrue Holliday strip Devon Booker then throw a ridiculous alley oop to Giannis for the clinching bucket.

Sunday was a nearly perfect day. The sun was out, it was warm but not hot, and the humidity had finally broken for a bit. We spent nearly all day in the pool with a couple nephews. Any time it got just a little toasty, a slight breeze would kick in to refresh you. In fact, I’m sitting out on the porch putting this together around 8:00 Sunday evening and it’s damn-near perfect: 81 and breezy with low humidity. You can actually sit outside without sweating into your chair. We don’t even have the ceiling fan on. Oh, and the normal, annual cicadas have been emerging over the past week so we have a nice soundtrack to this lovely evening.

I watched quite a bit of The Open Championship Thursday through Sunday. Pool time kept me away from the tail end of the final round, although I did have NBC on our outdoor TV. Unfortunately it doesn’t face the pool so I couldn’t sit in the pool AND watch golf. Travesty. We should tear our porch down and start over to fix this error.

Anyway, another disappointing Sunday for Louis Oosthuizen. I wanted him to win just because of all the other close calls, but he looked shook pretty much all through his Sunday round. I think even laid-back Louis is going to rue his missed opportunities in the summer of 2021 when he looks back on them.

Jordan Spieth also kicked his chances away with some uneven play early Sunday and some terrible play at the end of his round Saturday. But he still made a little run and if a couple more putts had found the hole Sunday he could have been right there. He didn’t win a major this year, but it was great to have him back contending again.

Winner Collin Morikawa cemented his place as an absolute ace and perhaps the best player of both the under 25 and under 30 crowds. Which is saying something because both of those groups are filled with remarkably talented players.

On the weeks he putts well – as he did this week and a year ago when he won the PGA – he’s damn tough to beat. That’s the biggest flaw in his game, as his putting can be very erratic. Tighten that up and get it more consistent to go along with a fine long game and probably the best iron play in the game, and we just might have the generational star we’ve been looking for since Tiger fell apart.

Although as talented as the sub–30 group of golfers is, I have a hard time seeing Morikawa or anyone else running away and winning five, six, seven majors over the next decade. There are just too many insanely talented young guys in the game right now for one guy to dominate. Plus, “old’ guys like Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, etc aren’t just going to let these young guys win everything. Well, Rory might…

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