D's Notebook

Tag: Indianapolis Colts (Page 2 of 9)

Weekend Notes

September 11, 2023 /

A lot of sports and stuff to get through from the past weekend.

HS Football

Weirdest game of the season for Cathedral, against rival Bishop Chatard. It was CYO Night + Homecoming + Chatard, so the stadium was packed. We got there an hour early and still had to park in the overflow section a couple blocks away.

The Irish started hot, jumping out to a 21–0 lead in the first quarter, and it looked like it would be a repeat of the past three years, all blowout CHS wins.

But Chatard steadied themselves and controlled the second quarter, cutting the deficit to 21–10 at the break.

The weird thing was the lights on the visiting side of the field were not working. As CHS went through the halftime homecoming festivities, we noticed the Chatard side was completely clearing out. As soon as the homecoming king and queen were announced, official word came that the game was being postponed until Saturday morning, and would move to Chatard.

(Reminder for you non-Indy folks, CHS does not have their own football stadium. In recent years they’ve stuck to Arlington Middle School, which is about a mile from campus. The stadium is old, isn’t well maintained, and most fans have to park in a very sketchy strip mall. The other option is to drive 20 minutes downtown to play at Tech High School, which has a much nicer field but it is, again, 20 minutes away. Something is always going wrong at the Arlington stadium. This time it was the power not working for half of the lights.)

L wanted to go to the freshman game Saturday so we did not return to the varsity game. Good choice. On Cathedral’s four second half possessions, they threw two interceptions and turned the ball over on downs twice, while Chatard scored on their first possession after resuming and then threw a 39-yard TD pass with a minute left to break their four-game losing streak in the series. The kid who caught the winning pass did not play Friday night because he was in the concussion protocol, but Saturday was the first day he was eligible to return. Pretty good timing. My girls all thought I was joking when I told them the final score. By the computer rankings, CHS was a 19-point favorite.

Familiar issues for CHS. Their offensive line can’t block. They have a D1 quarterback, four really good receivers, and a junior running back who has the potential to be great. But they can’t give the QB time to throw or open holes for running plays. The D-line struggles as well, and the secondary is the weakest I can recall in my five years of going to games. Since schools don’t hand out rosters anymore I don’t know if CHS is young or just not very good. Whatever it is, they’re wasting the skill players.

Next week they play hapless North Central, right up the block from our house. Unless they get their shit together, that might be their last winnable game of the regular season.

KU Football

I again missed the first half of the KU game while watching CHS. Allow me to reiterate that playing college football on Friday nights is dumb. Although it you have to do it, it better be on ESPN/ESPN2 so you at least get the benefit of people being able to watch it easily along with guaranteed coverage on Sportscenter.

Apparently I missed the best part of the game. As we were leaving Arlington I couldn’t find the KU feed on Sirius, so listened to the Illinois halftime show and they were raving about Jason Daniels. 28–7 seemed like a good start.

By the time I got home the second half had just begun and I had to watch nervously as Illinois tried to come back and the referees tried to steal the game.

OK, it wasn’t the field refs so much as the replay official. The targeting call on Austin Booker was terrible. There was no way you could definitively determine if he hit the Illinois QB with the crown of his helmet, especially when making such a call leads to an ejection and suspension for Booker. Then the same person somehow confirmed a spot that was clearly wrong by two yards as KU was trying to clinch the game late in the fourth quarter. When the impartial ESPN announcers are incredulous about calls you have to assume it was an Illinois alum doing the reviews.[1]

I’m obviously kidding but since I didn’t see the best part of the game I can’t dive into those details and am left to overreact about those two calls.

Bottom line was JD looked great, the offense was crisp in the first half, the defense was doing some nice things before they lost focus/got tired in the second half, and KU won a game everyone was worried about fairly easily. I saw that KU is now something like 42–117 all time against the Big 10. Maybe this was the win that turns all that history around!

I did not like the uniforms. I have it when schools that don’t have black as a primary color decide to bust out black uniforms. This isn’t 1995. Now make those same uniforms blue and I would have been totally onboard. I guess the players loved them, which is all that matters. The uniform gurus agree with me.

NFL

I was only able to watch isolated portions of opening weekend of the NFL. The Colts looked competent for stretches of their game against Jacksonville before things fell apart in the fourth quarter. Anthony Richardson getting blasted and having to leave the game was not good, although he claimed afterwards that he was fine. He was terrific in the first half – 16–20 passing including two drops, 30+ yards rushing – but was largely ineffective in the second until his final drive. That will be the story of the year so no need to get worked up about either aspect of it.

Props to the Colts for keeping the Lucas Oil stadium roof closed on an absolutely perfect day. It’s a running joke around here how much we paid for a retractable roof for how rarely it actually gets opened for a Colts game. I guess 78 and sunny was too oppressive for the fans and players.

The Cowboys looked awesome Sunday night. I apologize to Lions fans for not taking them seriously. Green Bay fans need to calm down and save it for after the play a real NFL team. I’m officially declining my honorary homer status for the Bengals, but reserve the right to reclaim it when they play better. My Niners pick is looking good after 60 minutes of football.

US Open

We watched almost every one of Coco Gauff’s matches, from her opener against the frustrating German Laura Siegemund, to the final when she captured her first Grand Slam title. What a delightful two weeks. Not only is she a terrific tennis player, she is more composed and thoughtful than I’ve ever been. And she’s only 19!

There were so many great moments over her run, but my favorite may have been how she was sobbing after she hit the winner that clinched the championship match. Most players cry tears of some kind when they win a Grand Slam. Something about hers seemed different. Teen tennis prodigies are always a dicey long-term bet. Coco sure seems like the real deal.

One of my other favorite recurring moments of the tournament was all these divas (of both genders) who for some reason scream at their coaches and support teams when they lose a point. You’re the one with the racquet and on the court, asshole. Take some responsibility.

FIBA World Cup

Speaking of assholes, I didn’t get too worked up about the US losing the third-place game to Canada. I did get worked up about them letting Dillon Brooks score 39 points. DILLON BROOKS. No one on the US roster should be allowed to play international ball again. Although he probably thinks he’s an All NBA caliber player now, which could lead to all kinds of hilarious bad play this coming year. Kind of a shame he’ll be wasted in Houston and not torpedoing some actual contender when he goes 3–27 in a playoff game.

I didn’t get up to watch the third-place game and it was over before I woke up Sunday. I did watch most of the other US games during the tournament that were on at more decent times. The real goal was to qualify for the Olympics, which they accomplished. With a flawed roster. Now roll out the A team next year to grab the gold medal.

It was super interesting to watch how the US struggled with the format of FIBA basketball. The court is slightly smaller. The ball a touch different. There are no illegal defense rules. Refs call some fouls very differently than in the NBA. The games also move quicker.[2] Combine all that and the US never seemed comfortable.

It’s not just that the rest of the world has gotten a lot better. The international teams generally have a core that has been together for years, where the US throws a different lineup out there each time they play in the World Cup or Olympics. When you have a LeBron or KD or Kobe anchoring things you can paper over a lot of those little issues. When you have a bunch of nice but not great players there is not much room for error. It’s also interesting that of the top five players in the world right now, only one is an American, and he wasn’t playing in this tournament.[3]

One thing about the US team did bother me. It seemed like they were always looking to throw the toughest pass possible rather than the easiest. I blame it on them wanting to try to match the 1992 Dream Team’s flair. They need to understand that Germany in 2023 is way better than it was in 1992. Just do the simple things and win the game. If you’re up by 20 in the closing minutes, then you can start throwing behind-the-back passes. Oh, and maybe pick someone for the team capable of getting a rebound.

BREAKING NEWS: This morning LeBron said he’s in for next summer’s Olympics. That’s great and all but not sure he’s what the US needs.

PJ

It was an utterly amazing night for an outdoor concert Sunday evening. Warm as the sun set, cool but not yet chilly as darkness descended.

Sadly Pearl Jam postponed their Indianapolis show because of an illness in the band. They say they will reschedule and tickets will be honored at that show. There are only four more nights on this tour and Eddie Vedder starts a solo tour on September 30, so it seems like it will be in the next couple weeks, maybe? I hope whenever it is that the weather is as great as it was Sunday.

  1. Cobee Bryant’s targeting foul? Yeah, that was 100% a legit penalty.  ↩
  2. One minute time outs are the best invention ever. The NBA and NCAA would never go to those – too much lost ad revenue – but they sure speed up the pace of the game.  ↩
  3. I would say that’s Steph Curry, although Jayson Tatum was All NBA first team last year.  ↩

NFL Predictions

September 7, 2023 /

As I skimmed the site’s archives over the summer, I realized I’ve gotten away from the half-assed NFL predictions that used to be a staple this time of year. That is mostly because I was busy with kid sports and the beginning of the NFL season often snuck up on me. And because I loathe how the NFL offseason dominates sports media and largely tune it out, not checking back in until the games begin.

Both to honor the heritage of this site and because I listened to a few NFL preview pods this week, I’m going to jump back in and offer some extra half-assed NFL predictions.

AFC

East

Lots of people seem down on the Bills after their struggles to match the hype they entered last season with. I’m going to chalk a lot of that, along with their early playoff exit, to injuries. Plus I don’t trust the other teams in the division. Buffalo

North

Maybe the best and most intriguing division in the game. One injury to a key player could tip the entire thing. Since I’m a partial Bengals homer now, I’m going with Joe Burrow and his crew. Cincinnati

South

Ugh. The Colts should really suck this year. Every preview I’ve either listened to or read, though, suggests that at least Anthony Richardson is going to be interesting enough to watch their games. He’s going to have amazing moments and look completely overwhelmed at times. Often within the same drive. I suppose the question is whether the organization can shake its recent dysfunction and build around him as he (hopefully) turns into a star, or is he destined to be a Must Watch QB stranded on a terrible team his entire career?

As for the division, both Tennessee and Jacksonville have strong selling points. Culture in Nashville, youth in Jax. Yet both teams have huge holes that have some people squinting and suggesting that if the Colts can protect Richardson, bring back Jonathan Taylor in week five, and keep the defense healthy, they could actually steal the division. Yikes. I like Trevor Lawrence’s potential the most, so I’ll take Jacksonville.

West

Kansas City until Mahomes can’t throw.

Wild Cards

There are a lot of good teams in the AFC. But once you get past the top three, they all have serious questions. Can Tua stay healthy? Is Aaron Rodgers washed up or revitalized? Can the Ravens still stop people? Was that late season-run by the Steelers legit? Can Sean Payton really fix the Broncos? What new ways will the Chargers find to squander their potential? I’ll take Pittsburgh and New York.

Oh, wait, I just remembered there are three Wild Card teams now. Shit. Throw in San Diego just because their eventual loss will be highly entertaining.

NFC

East

If Washington were better, this would match the AFC North for overall strength. Lots of people are jumping on the Cowboys’ bandwagon, but I can’t possibly trust that franchise not to fuck it up somehow. Philadelphia was clearly the best team in the NFC last year. No reason they won’t win the division again this year.

North

All the love for the Lions is cute. Get back to me when they’ve won a meaningful game. I think Minnesota holds off Green Bay.

South

Man, what is it with the South divisions? They both suck. New Orleans I guess?

West

The Niners are a weird team, man. They might have the best, most complete roster in the game. With one glaring exception: quarterback. They always seem to have a couple huge injuries, too. I still trust them more than I trust Geno Smith to repeat last year’s performance. San Francisco

Wild Cards

Dallas, New York, and Green Bay

Playoffs!

AFC

Buffalo over New York
Pittsburgh over Jacksonville
Cincinnati over San Diego

Kansas City over Pittsburgh
Cincinnati over Buffalo

Kansas City over Cincinnati

NFC

Dallas over New Orleans
New York over Green Bay
San Francisco over Minnesota

Philadelphia over Dallas
San Francisco over New York

San Francisco over Philadelphia

Super Bowl

Niners get another chance at the Chiefs. Their defense slows Mahomes down, but when forced to play the entire game with some quarterback they signed in November – Carson Wentz!?!? – they can’t put any points on the board. Kansas City 24, San Francisco 9, and the Chiefs officially enter dynasty territory.

As always, never, ever take use these to make actual bets.

Sports Notes

August 1, 2023 /

I’ve stacked up a lot of sports thoughts over the past several weeks. Let’s dive in and see how long it takes to get through them.

Tour de France

After watching the Netflix show Tour de France: Unchained in June, I was all-in for this year’s tour, even ponying up for Peacock for the month to watch.[1] It was like the good (bad) old days watching Lance Armstrong as I turned the race on first thing every morning and tracked the day’s progress.

This year’s race was awesome. Week one was incredible, with all kinds of cool attacks and finishes until Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar, combined winners of the last three Tours, took over. The duo battled across France and stayed within seconds of each other into the final week, until Vingegaard won a convincing victory in stage 16’s individual time trial. The next day he blew the race open in the Alps. What had been a nine second lead exploded to over seven minutes. It was a remarkable two days to earn a deserved second-straight Tour win.

I had a few sources for reading about each day’s stages, one of them The Guardian. Which, being The Guardian, threw aspersions towards any biker who performed particularly well. Vingegaard got the worst of it as he took over the race. Who knows if the speculation is accurate or not. His team noted how many times his blood was tested over the month, an argument we’ve heard before. I just found it interesting it was NEVER discussed on the TV broadcast.

It also drove me nuts that the announcers, the same main two guys as back in Lance’s prime, have the same quirks they had 20 years ago. They’re looking at the same footage we are watching, and somehow almost always misread biker’s body language. Multiple times they suggested someone was in great shape, only to get dropped moments later, or that someone was struggling only for them to surge away from their rivals. And they love to speculate, with like 80 kilometers to race, that some guy with a minute lead “surely has this stage won.” I blame Europeans and their strange ways of covering sports.

KU Hoops

I’ve never followed up on my May thoughts, after Hunter Dickinson committed. It’s been a busy summer.
Both Zuby Ejiofor and Ernest Udeh transferred out, which really, really sucked. I totally understand why they left, and that is the big downside to adding a massive transfer in like Dickinson. I wish Bill Self could have talked at least one of them into staying. Udeh ending up at TCU was a real bummer, but better than Kansas State, which was one of his other options.
Kevin McCullar decided to come back, which was huge.
Christian Braun’s brother transferred in, giving KU another body in the front court.
Zach Clemence, who had said he was transferring to UCSB, changed his mind and announced he was returning and would redshirt.
Incoming freshman Chris Johnson saw the roster crunch in the backcourt and decided to de-commit and go to Texas.
Then, after a couple weeks of summer school, fellow freshman Marcus Adams decided Lawrence was “too country” for him and bailed, burning his free transfer in the process, for Gonzaga.

Suddenly a super-deep roster was kind of thin. There were rumors KU might grab an international player who could come in and play this year, but those rumors have faded. There could still be a grad transfer to add, but it looks like KU might roll into the season with just nine eligible players, assuming Clemence sticks with redshirting. Self normally only plays 7–8, but all it takes is a couple tweaked ankles or the flu running through the locker room for the bench to get shallow real quick.

The Jayhawks go to Puerto Rico this week to play a few games, two of which are against the Bahamas national team and could include several NBA players. Just need no one to get hurt…[2]

Pacers

Man, the Pacers had a nice summer. They made smart draft picks to start. Then they signed Bruce Brown. During the NBA Finals I knew someone would overpay him after his great performance, and I was bummed when it was the Pacers.

However, while his contract was reported as two years, it is basically a one-year deal that the Pacers can get out of if he doesn’t perform this year, or re-sign him on better terms for each side next year if he has a good season. A savvy, win-win signing.

Then they traded for Obi Toppin, which seems like an awesome move. He was always forced to play out of position in New York, and seems like a perfect match for Tyrese Haliburton. The duo showed up at a local pro-am league last week and combined for approximately 800 alley-oops. Toppin has vibes of the classic guy who needs a change of scenery to finally capitalize on his potential. I don’t think he’s going to be a superstar, but he fits what the Pacers are trying to do.

They still need to massage the roster a bit, the young guys need to develop, and Haliburton and Myles Turned need to stay healthy. But they could be one of the most fun teams in the league next year, and should battle for a playoff spot.

Royals

Props to the R’s! They won their last three games of July, giving them their first three-game winning streak of the season. No one keeps the Royals from winning three consecutive games for four months!

Colts

The team didn’t even get to training camp before drama popped up. Jonathan Taylor was part of a group of running backs around the league who met virtually to discuss how their position gets screwed by the current collective bargaining agreement. Then he suddenly was placed on the PUP list when camp opened. Two days later he requested a trade. This from the guy who has been the epitome of how you want a player to behave, and kept insisting he wanted to play his entire career in Indy.

I totally get where he, and his fellow RBs are coming from. Only kickers are compensated less under the franchise tags since the NFL has decided that running backs are basically interchangeable and dispensable. But that’s an argument they need to aim at their own union, not at ownership that is following the agreed upon rules.[3] And I also understand Taylor’s specific fears. He was hurt last year and had off-season surgery designed to keep his ankle healthy. The Colts drafted a dual threat QB who is going to be given the keys to the offense soon enough, which will cut down on Taylor’s carries, yards, and touchdowns. If he doesn’t get his money now, he might not get it next off season.

The Colts don’t seem inclined to move him; I wonder if they’ll have the guts not to play him. Regardless of cause and odds of resolution, it’s not a great way to begin the season. Especially when his prime backup broke his arm in practice on Monday.

Oh, and I read this morning that the Colts have dropped hints that Taylor also hurt his back over the summer working out on his own, a claim Taylor angrily denied. We’ve moved beyond ugly and are pushing irreparable.

USWNT/World Cup

Ooof. I was not up at 3:00 AM today to watch the US women’s national team’s final group stage game against Portugal. Pretty glad I did not set an alarm. The outcome could have been worse, but not much. A team that has looked sluggish through their first two games failed to score and had to rely on Portugal hitting the post in stoppage time to advance to the knockout stage.

Head coach Vlatko Andonovski has faced a lot of criticism for how he’s constructed the team and how they played in the run-up to the tournament. I haven’t watched enough nor know enough about high-level soccer tactics to be able to critique his choices. At some point, though, the most talented team in the world, filled with both veterans who own two World Cup titles and some of the brightest young stars in the world, have to take responsibility for their play. Even if Andonovski has made terrible tactical choices, they should be good enough to overcome his errors.

I guess the only good thing about the team’s subpar performance is that so few Americans can watch it because of the time difference.

  1. Strangely convenient how our free access to Peacock thanks to being Xfinity customers expired the day before the race began.  ↩
  2. Jinx. You read it here first.  ↩
  3. Note is, as it may be a first: me siding with ownership over labor.  ↩

Weekend Notes

January 9, 2023 /

It’s back to semi-normal today. L returned to school after her Christmas break. M and C still have one more week of J-term, so they go in a little later and get out a little earlier. But all three have to get up in the mornings again.

Last week I had to get up to make sure C was up, so my alarm was 7:15 instead of my normal, school-day 6:55. Still, it was a little weird coming down this morning and finding the house dark instead of two Christmas trees already turned on filling the living room and front office with their soft light.

We took all the holiday decorations down Saturday. Since they went up earlier than normal and stayed up a little longer than normal, this was our most decorated Christmas ever.

We all have dentist appointments this afternoon, which wraps up a busy run of visits to health professionals over the past few weeks. I’ve been to the orthodontist three times, optometrist, sports medicine, MRI center, physical therapy, and had my annual physical.

I’m good, all that middle stuff was for C. She’s been having back pain for a few months, and even resting it plus a few visits to a chiropractor last fall didn’t help. Walking around in Italy was awful for her, and she was generally miserable at the end of each day, and progressively worse as the week went on. We finally got her in to a sports medicine doc three weeks ago. X-rays were clean but her MRI showed two interesting things. First, she has a bulging disk, the likely cause of her pain. Second, she is missing a vertebra and one set of ribs. That diagnosis got S into super medical research mode and she found about 4–5% of the general population has this issue. Weird!

The sports med doc said while there’s no research that would definitely tell us the bulging disk is directly tied to the lack of that vertebra, she also said it sure didn’t help. She also said it likely cost C an inch or two of height, which makes her topping out at 5’2” while her sisters both made it to 5’4”-ish make sense.[1] She took some teasing for that.

She started physical therapy last week and will do that for a month or so, with the hopes that helps her avoid anything more invasive to correct the issue.

Big 12 Hoops

Another crazy-ass weekend in the best conference in the country. Three teams are tied for first place at 3–0, all three getting there on the strength of two road wins. KU is not a huge surprise to be in that group. Kansas State and Iowa State, though? HUGE surprises. These were picked 8th and 9th in the preseason polls!

I think it’s too early to draw broad conclusions about any team. Especially in a conference like the Big 12. The Wildcats and Cyclones might be mid-tier teams a month from now. But they are off to great starts, and those road wins are huge bonuses in a conference that will likely be tightly bunched much of the season. 14–4 is always my default answer for what it takes to win the Big 12. Could this be the year that something like 12–6 guarantees you no worse than a tie?

More Jayhawks-centric talk later this week.

Pacers

The Indiana Pacers were expected to win right around 20 games this year. They just played their 41st game of the season, the exact midpoint of their schedule. After grabbing two more close wins this weekend, they stand at 23–18, good for sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

It’s been a remarkable first half. They are hella fun to watch, as my friends in Cali might say. Tyrese Haliburton is a legit All Star, and plays with a joy that is infectious. Buddy Hield leads the league in 3-pointers made, connecting on nearly 20 more than the second-most prolific shooter. Rookie Bennedict Mathurin is going to be a star. Second-round pick Andrew Nembhard could be one of the steals of the draft, an ideal backup to Haliburton who can also play next to him. Aaron Nesmith is beginning to show why he was a lottery pick two years ago.

But the biggest surprise is Myles Turner, a player most expected to have been traded by now. Turner is playing the best, most complete, most inspired ball of his career. I’ve always thought he was a little immature and disinterested in doing the hard work it took to be a star. At least for now he seems fully invested. To the point where the Pacers have made him a contract extension offer, attempting to capitalize on the big chunk of salary cap space they still have open. Turner has, for now, said he’s not interested.

That will set up an interesting game of chicken. Can the Pacers really trade their second-best player when they are in the running for a playoff spot and far too good to have a realistic shot at the #1 pick if they suddenly decide to tank? Can Turner turn down more money than any other team will be able to give him next summer no matter how badly he wants to end up in LA?

A year ago I would say the sides will come together and find an agreeable extension before the trade deadline, and Turner will quickly get injured. He’s always getting injured, and it would be just the Pacers’ luck for that to happen after they lock him up.

I think the Pacers’ luck has changed, though. So I think they either re-sign him and he stays healthy, or they can’t agree to terms, he plays out the year, signs with another team over the summer and that inevitable injury pops up in training camp. Meanwhile the Pacers use all their cap space to plug some other holes and immediately turn back into the solid 40–50 win team they usually are.

cLots/NFL

What a finish to the regular season! The cLots began the season with that humiliating tie in Houston, one that required a furious comeback just to get to overtime. They ended it with an even bigger embarrassment, losing to the Texans at home in the final minute of the game. Houston had a 10-point lead three times, but the cLots rallied to take a seven-point lead late in the fourth quarter. The Texans, who should have been satisfied with the loss and the #1 pick in April’s draft, for some reason decided to play full-out, converting on fourth and 20+ two different times on their final drive, including the touchdown that cut the lead to one. Then they went for two and the win and got it.

Amazing!

In the process they allowed the Bears to jump them for the #1 pick. The Texans’ owner was on the sideline after the game and he seemed to be the only person not celebrating. A few hours later he fired coach Lovie Smith. I like to think Lovie and his players knew what was coming and the final drive was a big Eff You to ownership.

The L could be good for the cLots. The Bears don’t need a quarterback, so perhaps they will entertain flipping that pick for Indy’s #5. Or at least that’s what speculation is around here. The Bears can certainly use the top pick to select someone other than a QB, and the cLots will have to hope either they can get a decent candidate in their fifth slot, or focus on one of the teams between them and Houston to swap picks with.

***UPDATE***
I heard at least four times yesterday that the cLots’ pick will be #5. Turns out they snuck into #4 thanks to Denver’s win.

I don’t know. It sure feels like the cLots will be stuck at five, reach for someone who is not ready to be an NFL QB, and remain mediocre, at very best, for the foreseeable future.

Not that I’m convinced either Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud are sure-things. Maybe it’s better not to pick them.

  1. And L is still growing.  ↩

Weekend Sports Notes

December 19, 2022 /

What a weekend of sports at all levels!

Hoo, Hoo, Who?

I was unable to watch the Indiana-Kansas game live, which was a major bummer, because it was another first-rate ass kicking. One so comprehensive that I’m left wondering if IU really isn’t that good and, thus, us KU fans shouldn’t overreact to the win.

Regardless, as a Jayhawk living in Hoosier-land, that was a fun ass game.

I was following the score from L’s games, but because I’m a superstitious idiot, I decided I would only check the score every 15 minutes of real time so I could focus on her games. Which, of course, meant I was constantly checking my watch to see if I could look. Again, I am an idiot.

Several of the parents on her team are Purdue fans and told me they were big KU fans for the day. They messed with me by dramatically pulling out their phones, checking the score, then looking at me and shaking their heads like it wasn’t going well for the Jayhawks. I would respond by telling them, “It was 21–6 five minutes ago, it can’t be that bad.”

I did get a little concerned when I saw IU got it down to 10 early in the second half. But my next glance showed KU up by 18, and as we walked out of the gym I saw the 22-point win was final.

I watched the recording as soon as we got home and was pretty happy with how things went. It’s one game, but it seems like Bill Self has already found a way to work within the limitations of this year’s roster to make them a bitch to play. Usually that doesn’t happen until early February. Having two absolute defensive studs on the perimeter sure makes everything a lot easier. But the development of KJ Adams has been outstanding and incredibly important. Three weeks ago we were thinking, “How can we get one of the freshmen bigs to take his minutes?” Now the freshmen can barely get on the court, and it’s because KJ has become a legit threat on both ends.

I don’t know if his recent play is sustainable, and he will not matchup well against some teams. But there’s no reason he should not be getting the bulk of the minutes at the five spot right now.

I do have to throw an Old Man Rant in. Apparently only about half of the KU student tickets were claimed for the marquee non-conference game of the year? I know finals are over and many students have gone home. And student attendance around the country just isn’t what it used to be.

But, “Back in my day”™ we hung around an extra day or two when Indiana came to Lawrence in 1993, or came back when North Carolina State or some other good team would play in Allen in January before classes resumed.[1] I have a few IU friends who went to the game and while I’m eager to hear about their experiences (weird how very few of my them or my local IU friends have reached out since about 10 minutes after the game began), I’m frankly going to be a little embarrassed that there were empty seats for the biggest game of the non-con season.

Or maybe I’ll tell them that kids didn’t show up because IU has been bad/mediocre for so long they don’t realize this was supposed to be a big game!

cLots

OMG! When I sat down to watch the KU game, the Colts had just taken an improbable 33–0 lead over the Vikings. What a world!

When I was done with the Jayhawks and switched from the DVR to live TV, the Colts game was headed to overtime.

What a disaster, yet a perfect way to put a symbolic end to this dumpster fire of a season, and really era, of Colts football.

Burn it all down and start all over again.

Youth Hoops

It was bracket weekend for L’s team. They won their semifinal by six. They were ahead 9–0 early and blew that. Led by eight multiple times in the second half but kept giving it up. It was not a pretty 28 minutes of basketball.

She’s been sick off-and-on for weeks and was still trying to recover. She struggled with her stamina and legs the entire game. In the break before the championship game she kind of went and laid down, hoping to rebound.

She seemed to feel better and played a bit better in the second game. It looked like we were going to get run off the court early, but we kept it close and somehow took a six-point lead late in the game. Then gave up a 8–1 run to lose by one.

Kind of a bummer but they were the better team and our girls were all kind of checked out. They haven’t practiced much and it seems like the coach is having a hard time connecting with the players. Hopefully that improves when we start the winter session in January.

World Cup Final

OMG!!!!! That was one of the greatest games of any kind I’ve ever watched. The swings of momentum and emotion were stunning and draining. Lionel Messi finally gets the (totally unfair) World Cup monkey off his back. At the same time Kylian Mbappé shows that he is the heir to the Greatest Player in the World throne with a freaking hat trick in the championship game, including one of the greatest shots you’ll ever see. A couple of absolutely ridiculous near-goals at the end of regulation and extra time nearly gave each team the win. And then the thoroughly gut-wrenching process that are championship deciding penalty kicks.

That was an awesome way to spend three hours Sunday morning. I was pulling for both Messi and France, so I both won and lost. I can’t imagine if I truly cared who won how exhausting that match would have been. I thought the national championship game last April was stressful…

  1. Kids, North Carolina State was once a premier game on your non-conference schedules.  ↩

Weekend Notes

December 5, 2022 /

A fairly quiet weekend for our family. A couple folks are still trying to get their sleep schedules back to normal. Me? I’ve been sleeping awesome all week. I probably just jinxed myself to a week of insomnia…

College Football Bowls and Playoffs

I must be getting old. The stupid little “controversy” that took over my Twitter feed Friday about Missouri allegedly not wanting to play Kansas in a bowl game annoyed me to no end. I didn’t care what the truth was, who actually said what, who was right and who was wrong, I just wanted it to stop. I was away from Twitter for maybe an hour and came back to nearly 200 new Tweets, and most were about this dumb topic.

I say I’m getting old because not too long ago this kind of thing would have gotten me super fired up. But to 51-year-old me, it seemed like a total waste of time and I was disappointed that so many KU folks I follow were going all-in on it. Maybe I would feel different if I lived in the midst of the rivalry but I just wanted my Twitter timeline to calm down.

I have no idea if the Liberty Bowl is a good destination or a bad one, or if Arkansas is a good matchup or a bad one. I just know KU is playing in a bowl and that’s all that matters. Bitches.

Glad TCU didn’t get screwed for losing an overtime game, although I have to admit I’m shocked they weren’t in fact screwed. Then again, maybe they deserved to get screwed for running two really dumb plays when K-State could not stop Max Duggan if they tried. Someone should hire me as a coach.

Really looking forward to the Michigan-Ohio State national championship game and all the hype that will come with it.

Kid Hoops

L was back on the court with her Cathedral team Saturday for two games. They won both games while we were traveling. Apparently she is the problem, because they got waxed twice again this weekend.

She looked like a kid who hadn’t played in two weeks in the first game, not doing much of anything until late. She looked better in game two but they still got smoked.

The second game was against a team, the Wildcats, that beat her travel team by 40 last fall when they hit something like 123 3’s. Her travel coach’s middle school team played those girls right before us Saturday. They also lost, but had a lead late and only lost by five. They only gave up one or two 3’s the entire game.

Our game? The Wildcats hit six 3’s in the first half, then three more in the second half. Maybe L is the problem for that, too.

The tournament is this coming week. Hopefully we get matched with some teams we can not lose by 20 to.

World Cup

The US World Cup run came to an end Saturday in a resounding 3–1 loss to Holland. Well, resounding on the scoreboard. The US actually looked very solid much of the game. They just have no stone-cold goal scorers up top.

The big accomplishment this year was just qualifying for the World Cup after missing the last one. This is a really talented, super young roster. With the next World Cup being (partially) hosted in the US and the experience gained in Qatar, there really should be expectations on the squad four years from now. With the tournament expanding (again) for the next cycle, I have no idea what the knock out stages will be like. But I think a realistic expectation will be for the Americans to make it out of group play and win at least one knock out game next time.

I can’t wait for next Saturday’s quarterfinal between France and England. That just might be the game of the tournament, and the winner will still need two more wins to raise the Cup. It feels like France is a little better but England’s defense is so damn good they may be able to slow the French side down.

Oh, and the French uniforms have been INCREDIBLE this year. The deep navy blue with gold lettering and numbers? <Very French Chef’s Kiss>

Colts

Or Clots, I should say. Thank goodness I went to bed at the end of the third quarter last night. Giving up 33 points in a single quarter in the NFL is hard to do, and yet the Colts, err Clots, managed to do it. All those people who were crowing after the win in week one of the Jeff Saturday experiment are awfully quiet after three-straight losses.

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen an NFL player age as fast as Matt Ryan. I swear playing for this Colts team has taken like five years off his life. It’s been fascinating to listen to Troy Aikman and Cris Collinsworth describe his play the last two weeks. Both seem utterly flummoxed by how bad he looks. There has to be a physical issue with him, because when he has a chance to settle in and throw, his passes are never crisp and often fall short and way off-line. I guess an injury is bound to happen when you have zero mobility and are running for your life three of every four drop-backs.

Looking ahead it seems like the Colts are falling apart at a very strange time in the NFL’s perpetual evolution. Smaller, more mobile college quarterbacks are beginning to gain a foothold, as NFL offenses adjust to maximize their skills. The Joe Burrows and Trevor Lawrences aside, I’m not sure we are sure what an NFL QB looks like anymore. I keep hearing Bryce Young listed as one of the top two QBs in next spring’s draft. He’s short, small, and seems like everything the NFL shied away from just a few years ago. To me he looks like a guy who won’t stand up to getting hit a lot by NFL defenders.

What makes it tough for the Colts is they will not be in that Bryce Young/CJ Stroud part of the draft. They have to find a new, young quarterback this offseason. Right now they are projected to draft ninth. Who do you take at that point? Do you take a chance on a guy who looks like a traditional NFL QB, with a big body with a big arm? Or one of these smaller, more modern guys and you put him behind one of the worst offensive lines in the game and wish him luck staying healthy?

The Colts were extraordinarily lucky to get Peyton Manning and then Andrew Luck in consecutive “Must Draft a QB” moments. This time comes with a much higher level of difficulty in many ways.

Oh, and one local columnist is calling this morning for the Colts to go after Jim Harbaugh this offseason. I’m not sure that’s the right guy for this moment in the franchise’s arc. Unless he has some kind of special mojo that can bring a decent quarterback with him.

Weekend Notes

November 14, 2022 /

FNL

Regional Friday in Indiana with teams fighting to make the final four in their respective classes.

For the second time this year Cathedral traveled out west to Brownsburg, where they lost their only game of the season, 42–35, back in August. They trailed by 21 much of that game and only a furious, fourth quarter comeback made it close.

The wind was blowing again Friday and that had a huge effect on the game. It also helped that both teams were dialed in on defense. Each side missed makable field goals in the first half because of the wind. Brownsburg capitalized on the CHS miss just before halftime and took a 7–0 lead into the break.

The Irish scored on their first possession of the second half. The teams traded punts. BHS missed another field goal. M’s boyfriend pounced on a loose ball, giving CHS a short field. M’s grade/middle school classmate, who is the starting running back, pounded it in from one yard out to complete the drive, and they led 14–7 going into the fourth quarter.

The Irish ran clock much of the fourth quarter but were stymied by going into that stiff breeze. But the defense held every time Brownsburg had the ball. The Bulldogs got their last chance near midfield with under 3:00 remaining, but without any timeouts. The drove, had fourth and goal with under 20 seconds left, but two Irish DBs knocked the potential tying pass down.

That gave Cathedral their first-ever regional title in class 6A. Their reward: a rematch with Center Grove next week in semi state. That game will be played at Cathedral’s “home” field, a field Center Grove still bitches about having to play on a year ago.[1]

I had to go pick up C and some of her friends who went to the game. I planned to get there in the fourth quarter and listen on the radio. Maybe I would walk over and sneak into the stadium if it was close. The windchills were down in the 20s so I kept my ass in the car with the heat on. Only problem with that plan was that, in the final minutes of the game, the radio feed kept cutting out. I missed multiple plays because the of broadcast going completely silent. Two of the plays I missed were fourth downs. That added to the stress of the listening experience. All the girls were completely frozen afterwards so I chose wisely.

A couple funny stories from the drive home.

While discussing the game they were talking about how bad the kickers were. I told them the wind was a big factor and that the radio guys said the CHS holder had saved his kicker once by taking a bad snap and getting it down in time for the PAT. I heard one of the girls mutter, “I don’t think the hold has much to do with the kick.”

Well ok then…

For some reason C and her friends started talking about an Elton John song. During the discussion one of the friends said, “I always get Elton John and Elon Musk mixed up. Elton’s the singer, but he also invented the rocket, right?”

If I had a drink in my mouth I would have spit it out. There was some discussion and finally C asked me who was who. I gently told them that Elton was indeed a singer, and he sang about a rocket, but was not, in fact, the man who invented the rocket. Then one of the girls piped up, “Oh, Elon Musk owns Space X, right?” They laughed which allowed me to laugh, too.

Kid Hoops

It was CYO tournament time Saturday. We opened play against St B’s, who beat us a week ago by two. They went undefeated in the regular season, but we felt like we cracked their code a little in that game. We were going to let them shoot from outside but take away the lane and then concentrate on not turning the ball over after rebounds.

We had two practice this week to prepare. In the first, as usual, some of the girls were messing around and L was not having it. When practice was over she took the players into the locker room and told them, “I’m not losing in the first round of the tournament again! Thursday everyone needs to pay attention and stop messing around. We can beat St B’s if we focus.”[2]

Damn, her first players-only meeting!

One of the coaches snuck in and reported she heard one of the other 8th graders say, “Everyone needs to turn their ADHD off!” Hard core!

Saturday we led 6–5 after one, 14–9 at halftime, and then really took off. We out-scored them 10–3 in the third quarter. In the fourth St B’s just chucked and chucked and chucked to try to get back in it. We got a couple runouts, hit a couple free throws, and closed it out 32–18. What a win! Our girls were composed (for the most part) and made St B’s panic instead of us.

The win was especially big for one major reason: L injured her knee in the second quarter and barely played in the second half. We’re not sure what she did. I heard the coach next to me say “Oh shit!” and looked up to see L wincing and grabbing her knee just before halftime. At the break we had S run over and take a look. L said it felt like it needed to pop but that she hadn’t gotten hit or landed funny. She started the half on the bench, went in for a few minutes, but asked to come out and never went back in.

The knee wasn’t immediately swollen, S couldn’t find anything structurally wrong, and L passed every ligament test S could whip up at home. So we are hoping it is just some tendinitis and it being a new sensation freaked her out. But it is worrying. Especially with (potentially) two more games this week.

The great news was that we handled St B’s pressure (for the most part) without L for nine minutes. We don’t have another true point guard so any kind of pressure is always an adventure when L is on the bench. It wasn’t always pretty, but we went from +10 when she sat down to winning by 14.

When L was still in, there was a dead ball where a referee called her and a St B’s girl together and talked to them for a moment. When they separated L had the strangest grin on her face, like “Why was he talking to me?” It was our ball so she dribbled up the court, that girl picked her up on D, L crossed her over, took her into a screen, and the St B’s girl ended up on her ass. I’m not sure if she tripped or if she just hit the screen weird, but it was hilarious that happened right after their conference. After an offensive rebound on that possession, L got the ball in the corner and drained a 3 over this girl, her only basket of the day. She had the biggest Eff You grin on her face as she got back into the defensive end.

Later she told us that girl wouldn’t let go of the ball after the whistle when L was trying to give it to the ref so we could inbound. L yanked it away, the girl fell down, and L tried to help her up. But she slapped L’s hand away. The ref was telling them to stop fighting for the ball when he blew the whistle.

Whatever happened to L’s knee happened shortly after that, so I’m hoping it wasn’t some kind of karma thing.

On to the final four. Monday we play a team we did not play in the regular season, St J. They also went 4–3 in the regular season, losing to St B’s by 12. They also beat a team we lost to. We beat them last year in a very close game. So hopefully an evenly matched game. And hopefully L is ready to go. We will accept all prayers and positive vibes for those willing to share them.

In the quarterfinal before us St L, who we crushed last week, was playing St N, who beat us in the first game of the year. We walked in at halftime and St L was up by 11; we heard they had been up by 16. But St N has the best player in CYO. And she WENT OFF in the second half. St N’s scored 30 points in those twelve minutes. She had 22 of them. She dished out two assists. The other four points came from the free throw line by girls who got fouled after that girl’s passes. She will be a problem if we are lucky enough to face them Thursday.

Update Monday morning L’s knee was swollen and sore. Not promising for tonight. 😬

KU Football

Well it had to happen: a dumb loss. Yes, Texas Tech beat KU 43–28, which seems comfortable. But it still felt like a game KU should have won and pissed away.

Another bad start on both sides of the ball, digging a hole they never quite climbed out of. Although the defense adjusted and played well in the middle quarters, they still struggled giving up big plays all night. I don’t know if that was an issue of scheme or personnel, but it killed KU. The tackling was often very poor; they missed more than twice as many tackles as they have averaged through the first nine games. On offense Jason Bean’s limitations were clear. He made some huge plays. But also missed some easy plays and made a couple horrible decisions that ruined KU’s chances. Throw in two missed field goals – both off the right upright! – and it was a thoroughly frustrating night.

Devin Neal had another huge game, which was cool. I get how you ride the hot hand but it’s a little concerning that no other RB got a carry until the final possession of the game. Someone else needs to be able to spell Neal for a play or two, as he was looking tired late. And that was before Bean nearly got him killed with a bad pass.

Two really tough matchups left for the Jayhawks. Ultra-talented but forever disappointing Texas next week. The Longhorns will no doubt be looking to avenge last year’s overtime loss, plus they lost a massive game to TCU Saturday. Then a trip to Manhattan for the regular season finale against K-State, who have the inside track for a Big 12 title game appearance. At this point I’m just hoping all the important players stay healthy so they are available for the bowl game. Another win would be cool but my confidence in getting one is pretty low.

Colts

So maybe hiring Jeff Saturday was the right move? Or at least that’s what a few local were loudly proclaiming last night, after the Colts somehow managed to beat the “mighty” Raiders. I had to unfollow one local media personality because they were being so over-the-top in their blasting back at everyone who criticized the hire last week. If this person truly has this much passion about the subject they need to dial it back. I think it was, likely, more an effort to get in/stay in the good graces of Saturday and the Colts org. But I’m a cynic…

Anyway, not a great game, by any means. But it was enough. It sure helped to being playing the Raiders, who might have the worst defense in the league. And it was still a struggle. So let’s not all…insert Harvey Keitel quote from Pulp Fiction here.

Weather

We knew it was going to happen. But like this? This was unexpected.

Nearly three inches of snow in much of the area Saturday morning. Two days after it was 75. Ironically the last time we had this much snow this early was exactly three years ago to the day.

  1. A reminder that Cathedral has no true home stadium. They’ve bounced around various public school fields for years, but lately have settled on a stadium about a mile from campus at a school that was once an IPS high school but is now a middle school. Even though Center Grove won that game last year, and finished as undefeated state champs, they have not stopped complaining about having to play on natural grass in the rain last year. Props to the Pope for calling in rain all week. It nearly worked!  ↩
  2. She told me this later.  ↩

Colts Talk: WTF?!?!

November 10, 2022 /

What’s going on with the Colts right now is so strange I had to take a day off, cut the grass, and think about it before I put any thoughts into a text file.[1]

Quick refresher if you’re not up to date on your NFL news:
The Colts have had their standard terrible start to the season. They benched quarterback Matt Ryan, allegedly for the remainder of the season, two weeks ago in favor of Sam Ehlinger, a sixth-round draft pick who began the year as the third-string QB. That didn’t help. Following the first loss with Ehlinger the Colts fired their offensive coordinator. Then Monday, after one of the ugliest losses in franchise history, the team fired head coach Frank Reich and announced that former Colt Jeff Saturday would take over as interim coach.

Those are the basics. Let’s dive into some details.

The Colts have long prided themselves on being a rational organization. Owner Jim Irsay is often in the news, and works actively with the front office, but has a reputation for hiring good people and letting them do their jobs. Not too long ago there was an article about how he has made pains to be a very different owner than his father, Robert, was. Robert Irsay was infamous for being drunk, shooting off his mouth, forcing bad decisions on the front office, and, of course, sneaking the team out of Baltimore in the middle of the night. Jim has a dark, complicated personal history. But in recent years has been one of the most vocal owners of any sports franchise in pushing for mental health support for athletes in particular and the wider population in general. Until Monday, he had never fired a coach during the season.

But this cycle of events would indicate that those placid days may be over.

There are completely legitimate reasons for firing Reich. He was brought in as an offensive guru and the offense has sucked this year. He’s shown a reluctance to call out players or bench guys who aren’t performing. In recent weeks he has seemed more resigned to his fate than fired up to change the Colts’ path.

That said, why now? Why fire him when the issues have more to due with personnel than scheme? When Irsay and general manager Chris Ballard have – allegedly – overruled Reich on several roster decisions over the past couple years.

Reich was a deadman walking, but it felt like he deserved better than getting shitcanned in November.

The real issue was bringing in Jeff Saturday as the interim coach. Saturday is a local hero because of his feel-good story – undrafted and out of football to perennial All Pro and Super Bowl champion – and general “good dude” vibes. But the man has never coached in the NFL. He’s never been a coordinator, a position coach, or even an on-field advisor. To be fair, he’s not a complete newbie to coaching. He has coached three years of high school football. HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

Jesus.

There are about a million reasons why bringing Saturday in is the wrong move. Number one on that list is that the Colts already had two former NFL head coaches on staff, along with another who had been a head coach in the CFL and a fourth who has been a head coach/coordinator in college. Whoever takes on the interim coach role is a placeholder, charged with stabilizing a team in chaos and attempting to salvage the season. How do you not take someone who has run practices, made roster decisions, called plays, and been in the midst of the frenzy of a game with grown men instead of kids who just got their drivers licenses?

Hell, if you want a tie back to the franchise’s glory days, Reggie Wayne is already the wide receivers coach. Give him the job.

The Colts are desperate but this seems way off every desperation chart I’ve ever seen.

Worse, it’s a sign that the entire franchise has lost its way. The Colts have been pretty steady for last 20+ years. That will happen when you have Peyton Manning and then Andrew Luck as your quarterbacks for the better part of two decades. But since Luck’s surprise retirement – which came because the team couldn’t protect his body or psyche – they’ve been searching. Often in the wrong places.

Ballard has been insistent that he wouldn’t chase a young quarterback and let him take his lumps to develop because the team was “close to winning” and out of a public fear that failure would cost him his job.

After five years of floundering, though, that is the only reasonable path to take. Scrap everything, start over, with the first step being finding that young quarterback they can build around. Yes, there are big risks involved in that process if you don’t luck into the right draft pick in the right year. That strategy also comes with the opportunity to get out of this cycle of mediocrity the team has been in since Luck retired.

Which, if the franchise really understands that and is committed to it, might be the only justification for bringing Saturday in. He understands what the players are going through. He will respect them and their effort and do what he can to protect them. He’s not here to win the AFC South but to soothe egos and focus the ire of the media and fans away from the guys on the field. Then in January the team can start cleaning house, make new choices for leadership, and do whatever it takes to get the next long-term quarterback on the roster.

Based on how decisions have been made over the past year or so, Irsay doesn’t deserve that much credit and I don’t expect a return to rational, thoughtful, informed, intelligent decisions about the future of the franchise. Hiring Jeff Saturday might be the nadir; I’m not convinced that the Colts know how to begin the climb out of that hole.

  1. That’s my casual way of mentioning that I did my annual mowing of the lawn yesterday. Each fall I have to borrow a mower from a relative or neighbor and make a run around the house to chop up the leaves and shorten the grass before winter hits. I timed it just right this year as today is the final warm day before a shock of early winter hits tomorrow. Spending nearly two hours to just do the half of the yard that is close to the house is also an annual reminder that every dollar we pay to have to mowed for us during the growing season is worth it.  ↩

Weekend Notes

November 7, 2022 /

An unexpectedly long weekend. And not just because of the time change.

Flu

Both M and C got the flu and stayed home Thursday and Friday. They tested negative for Covid and had all the classic flu symptoms. I don’t think either has ever had the true flu before, and were a little overwhelmed by how it kicks your ass. They were still dragging a bit on Sunday but trending back towards normal.

L had Thursday off for parent-teacher conferences, and we were already scheduled to get our flu shots that day.[1] Seemed like tricky timing but we both appear to have avoided catching anything from her sisters. Fingers crossed…

FNL

Friday was, likely, the last ridiculously warm day here. It was pushing 80 in the afternoon and utterly delightful.

As it was so nice out and the Cathedral game was on TV, we sat on the back porch and watched the Irish win their sectional championship game.

Next week is regionals, which brings a trip out to Brownsburg, where the Irish lost their only game of the season. Brownsburg just shellacked both teams in their sectional so my confidence is low.

Weather

This really might have been the greatest fall I can recall. We had a few cool weeks early on, but it’s mostly been warm and dry. I think we’ve had rain three times in the last two months.

Saturday we had some showers blow through then crazy winds for hours and hours. Our power blinked a couple times. We know some folks who still didn’t have their power back on Monday morning.

This week still looks warm, although about 10 degrees cooler than last week, peaking in the mid–60s. The furnace has been off for two weeks but will likely kick on a few mornings. Next weekend is when it looks like we’ll have the first “Oh crap, winter is close!” set of days. I actually saw a low in the teens about a week out.

KU Football

YES! SIX WINS, BITCHES! SHITTY BOWL GAME HERE WE COME!

L, of course, had basketball Saturday afternoon. But we made it home in time to see most of the KU-Oklahoma State game. I could not believe that the Jayhawks were a one-point favorite by kickoff. Wasn’t it just two weeks ago that OSU were the Big 12 favorites? I know they had several injuries to important players, but so has KU.

I guess Vegas knew what they were doing with that line.

The game was never really in doubt. When we got home KU was up 7–0. I believe the margin never got below seven again as the Jayhawks rolled to a 21-point win and bowl eligibility.

As great as the beginning of this year was, I was having a hard time buying into this team getting a sixth win. A lot of it was Jalon Daniels going out to injury. His replacement, Jason Bean, has a lot of talent, but that talent always feels unharnessed. Plus he’s prone to making big mistakes in big moments.

But Bean was fantastic on Saturday, playing a nearly perfect game. Props to that guy, who could have easily left KU after last year knowing Daniels was the likely starter this year. Bean barely got on the field the first few weeks, and even when he did was often used as a decoy rather than an actual playmaker. While his first three games as a starter this year were erratic, he kept KU in every game. His 74-yard TD run Saturday was a beautiful moment of catharsis. And his visible emotions after the game were terrific.

Devin Neal was a beast, and dropped one of the greatest performances in KU history. When he committed to KU, I had to wonder if he was really as good as his recruiting profile claimed. Maybe he just racked up those gaudy stats because he was playing in Kansas. Maybe KU was the only school he had a chance to play at from day one, and that’s why he took their offer.

He’s a straight-up stud, though and proved that on Saturday.

I was also having a hard time believing the sixth win would come just because of all the scar tissue that remains from the past 14 years of KU football. So many Saturdays sitting at a soccer field or a cross country course or in a gym and checking the KU score, knowing it would be bad but hoping that maybe they would surprise me, and then seeing they were losing to a crappy team by three touchdowns in the first quarter. There was rarely a reason to turn the game on when I got home. Those five-straight wins to start this year were fun, and Lance Leipold clearly has the program pointed in the right direction. But there was no way we were going to beat one of Oklahoma, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Texas, or Kansas State, right? Not with a backup QB who is limited, not without our most physical running back, not without our top cornerback, not without our best pass rusher. KU is better but there still isn’t the margin of error built into the roster to make up for that many injuries.

Yet they’ve done it. And now who is to say they won’t be able to grab a seventh win somewhere between now and the end of the season?

I saw one bowl preview list Sunday (why do they do those things now when there is so much football to be played?) and it predicted that KU would play Missouri in the Liberty Bowl. What a way to return to the postseason!

Colts

I’m so glad I only caught a few minutes of the Colts’ putrid performance in Foxborough. Blow up this team and start over. They stink.

Kid Hoops

We had a lot of kid hoops over the past week. So much that I’ll share those notes in a different post. I will provide this teaser: we had one of the most stressful games of year, one of the most embarrassing games of the year, and the best performance of the year. More on all that tomorrow.

Christmas Shows on TV

WHY THE FUCK WERE SO MANY CHRISTMAS SHOWS AND MOVIES ON TV THIS WEEKEND? IT’S NOT EVEN ELECTION DAY, PEOPLE. CHILL.

  1. I got second Covid booster as well. She was Covid positive about a month back so gets to avoid that jab a little longer.  ↩

Weekend Notes

October 31, 2022 /

Friday

L had the day off after our DC trip (more to come on that tomorrow), although I still had to get up and take C to school. Why did I have to take her? M was on her senior retreat Tuesday through Friday.

Friday evening was the welcome home ceremony for the seniors. That was interesting, as all the kids (40-some) had to stand up and say something about their experience. A few of the speeches were super emotional. Some were funny. But most were about how good the week was, how they connected with people they didn’t know well before, etc.

This stretched out long enough that I didn’t have any interest in going to Cathedral’s football sectional opener against Lawrence North, who had a really talented young quarterback but not much else. M did run home then head back to the game. It was a tense one. CHS was down 10 in the first half, jumped ahead by 10 in the third quarter, but only led by two with LN driving late before they forced a fumble and got a late score to win by nine. Survive and advance, I guess.

Kid Hoops

L had two CYO games this weekend.

Saturday they played St S, a team they torched in a preseason scrimmage back in August. L and her best friend both scored about 20 points in that game. We knew St S was missing a girl or two that day. This game was not a repeat of that scrimmage.

You could tell our girls hadn’t played or practiced in nearly two weeks. It took a long time to get comfortable on either end, we had two players get three fouls in the first half, and once the girls remembered the plays, they were ice cold from the field. We were down six at half, 12 at the end of three. Not looking good.

We started pressing and trapping in the fourth quarter and the girls ripped off a 13–0 run to steal the win. L played like crap on offense – she had six points on about 3–12 from the field, 0–3 from the line – but she had two steals, forced two more turnovers, and a couple of assists in that run. The win moved our record to 3–1.

Worth noting that this was the first week that her game(s) did not coincide with a KU football game. KU being on a bye week made that easy. But, naturally, this game was played at 9:00 AM, when it did not interfere with any college football games. Next week her games will again fall in the exact time KU is playing.

Sunday we faced a team that was 2–2, St O. Based on scores, I expected a close game. We got that.

St O just killed us on the boards and grabbing loose balls. While we were one-and-done on the offensive end, they were getting 3–4 chances on each possession. It felt like we were down 5–7 the entire game. But we got it to three late and L hit a 3 from the top of the key to tie it. Seconds later she stole the ball at mid-court and got fouled on her layup attempt. She hit one of two free throws to give us the lead.

They came down and hit a shot to re-take the lead. On the next possession L had a great look from behind the arc that rimmed out. St O knocked down a few free throws and we lost 32–28. L finished with a team-high 10. The coaches and I were lamenting our inability to grab any loose ball afterward.

Tuesday we play the undefeated, first place team. Hoping we can keep that one close.

Colts

The team that can’t get out of their own way. During the week they benched Matt Ryan and elevated Sam Ehlinger as the starting QB. Ehlinger only fumbled once and didn’t throw any interceptions Sunday, so that was an improvement over Ryan. He wasn’t all that special otherwise, though. His fumble came at a key moment, as did Jonathan Taylor’s later in the game. This team LOVES to give the ball away deep in the other team’s territory.

Indy native and Cathedral alum Terry McLaurin made a fantastic catch on an under-thrown ball that setup the winning touchdown for the Commanders. At least Carson Wentz wasn’t the winning QB.

It is starting to feel inevitable that the Colts coaching staff and front office will be cleaned out after this season. I think Frank Reich is a good coach, if perhaps too reluctant to move away from under-performing players. Chris Ballard has done a lot right as general manager. But this team should be better than its record, and some key moves the past three years have failed to deliver expected results. The pass that Reich and Ballard got for Andrew Luck’s sudden retirement can’t cover their failures anymore.

Pacers

Who knew the Pacers might be the best team in the city when the calendar flipped to November?

My interest in the NBA has been increasing lately, mostly because I found a few good podcasts that I’ve added to my gym playlist. I really figured this would be a lost year for the Pacers. They are trying to rebuild, they seem perpetually bit by the injury bug, pretty much everyone knows that Buddy Hield and Myles Turner will be traded at some point, and any minor injuries will be used as excuses to shut players down in March in order to squeeze out every loss possible to increase their lottery odds.

The Pacers swept a road back-to-back over the weekend, including an embarrassing (for the Nets) win in Brooklyn Saturday. Rookie Bennedict Mathurin seems like the real fucking deal, dropping 32 on the Nets and averaging 21 a game coming off the bench. After losing an important game to the Spurs – another team expected to be deep in the lottery next spring – the Pacers have won three of five. Through seven games the Pacers have the same record as the Warriors. They need to stop winning!

I’m sure this team success won’t last. But at least with Mathurin and Tyrese Haliburton and a few other young guys the team is fun to watch. I hope they won’t regret these early wins when lottery time rolls around. They need the maximum number of ping pong balls in the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes.

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