D's Notebook

Tag: Indianapolis Colts (Page 5 of 12)

Weekend Notes

September 12, 2022 /

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

Friday

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

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

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

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

Saturday

Lots of sports.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday

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

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

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

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

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

Sports Notes

April 21, 2022 /

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

Jayhawk Talk

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

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

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

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

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

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

NLI/Transfer Portal

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

Jay Wright Retires

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

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

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

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

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

Carson and Matt

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pacers

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

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

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

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

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

Sports are Dumb

January 10, 2022 /

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

KU

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

Sure enough, that’s what happened in Lubbock.

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

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

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

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

Colts

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

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

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

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

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

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

The offensive line was atrocious.

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

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

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

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

Weekend Notes

November 22, 2021 /

Our house smells different this morning. Some of that is a real change in the aromatics that are spread around, some of it is the smell of anticipation. As we begin a Thanksgiving week unlike any other in our family’s history, some notes from the weekend.

Friday was semi state for high school football in Indiana. Cathedral played a school from down near Louisville that only advanced because their regionals opponent, who had beaten them by 30 in the regular season, was missing their starting quarterback and running back. CHS was up 14–0 about three minutes into the game, gave up a long touchdown, then proceeded to score another 28 points in the first half, cruising to a 52–13, mercy rule assisted win.

It is back to the state title game against Zionsville for the second-straight year. The schools have two common opponents. CHS was 2–0 in those games; ZHS 0–2. ZHS has improved on offense this year. This could be CHS’ best defensive team in recent memory. The computer rankings suggest that CHS is a 16 point favorite. That feels about right.

M and C both went to the game. They were more concerned with what happened afterward, though. The local TV station that awards a spirit banner to the best student section each fall was down to its two finalists: CHS and the Catholic school up in Hamilton County. Both schools had been pulling out all the stops on social media in recent weeks to earn the award. At about 11:20, on live TV, CHS won the banner. I think M was more excited about that than she’s been about anything this year. This should give the “We got spirit” cheer a little extra heft for the next year.

Saturday was my annual Mow the Yard day. I borrowed our old mower from my sister-in-law and ran it around the house to take care of the leaves. Which means there’s like a 50–50 shot our lawn service will show up today for the first time in a month. I do this once each fall and it always reinforces our choice to pay someone else to mow weekly. Even though I just mowed around the house (for those of you who know our land setup), it still took me over two hours. It was chilly but dry and I got some steps in. Glad that’s a once-per-year activity, though.

I spent most of Saturday afternoon actually watching KU football. Who would have guessed that? I figured the Jayhawks would come out and lay a big, fat egg after beating Texas last week. So I was shocked they stayed in the game the entire 60 minutes. Who knows if the result, a three-point loss on a field goal in the final 10 seconds, would have been different if Devin Neal hadn’t gotten hurt late in the first half. He’s the real deal and was gouging the Frogs’ D. Props to the offense for coming back after falling behind by 14 points. Jalon Daniels made some mistakes this week, but shook them off to key the rally. And how about last week’s hero Jared Casey getting legit minutes and making some big plays?!?!

Man, that defense can not tackle, though, which was they key to the game. Wrap up properly and KU wins easily. TCU, like Texas, is a mess. But being in the game and having a real shot to win is a huge step for the KU program. Now go get some dudes, Lance!

I haven’t watched a ton of the Colts this year. Their early season bad streak, some vaccine issues on the roster, and plenty of Sunday youth basketball meant I missed or had little interest in many of their games. Lately I’ve taken to going to the gym when the Colts are in, knowing I can knock out a quick workout during that window when the gym isn’t super busy.

But I watched a lot yesterday. And they were impressive. I know there are a lot of factors that go into their hot streak. The biggest, though, has clearly been reigning in Carson Wentz and letting Jonathan Taylor destroy people. Which is cool because that should have a much better chance to work in the playoffs over letting Carson chuck it 48 times.

They have Tampa and New England in the next few weeks, so we’ll see how real this winning streak is.

I’ve become a much more casual NFL watcher, too. I enjoy the Colts games when they win, but don’t get too upset when they lose. I’m happiest on Sundays just finding an entertaining game to watch and keeping one eye on it while I do other things.

Finally, I mentioned above that this is a unique Thanksgiving week for us. I’ve hinted at this several times but it is time for the reveal: assuming our flights all go as planned (knock on wood), we are spending a week in Kauai, beginning this Wednesday.

That’s it! That’s the big one!

This is our rescheduled trip from the summer of 2020. We attempted to lock it in for last summer, but the islands continued to require a two-week quarantine too deep into the season for us to make that work. We thought about Christmas but knew that would be super expensive. Plus we worried about a third surge (this was before the late summer Delta surge) hitting right before the holidays and things shutting down again. So we booked for Thanksgiving. We are all very excited, as you can imagine. And hopeful last month’s air traffic issues don’t pop up again.

We got the suitcases out a week ago and have been building piles of clothes, and Sunday was the day to really get organized. Other than last minute additions and toiletries, we are probably 95% packed.

We leave here mid-day Wednesday and will arrive after midnight Eastern time, which will be fun. Our return flights have already changed twice and we are coming back a day earlier than originally scheduled because of that. We’ll spend all next Tuesday getting home. Hopefully. We went from a two-flight trip home to a three-flight run, and there is one tight connection in there, so I guess we’ll see if we make it home in the early hours of next Wednesday or sometime later that day if we have issues.

As part of that, while we were listening to the CHS game Friday, L and I got a bunch of Christmas decorations out. Which is a huge upset, right?!?! We got just about everything but the big tree put up. We didn’t have time to get to that over the weekend so it will be saved for our return. The stockings are hung, the decorative pillows have been swapped out, and all the Christmas candles and wax melters have the house smelling delightful and festive. No Christmas music yet, though. Because I still have some standards.

Weather and Sports

October 6, 2021 /

Mother Nature can’t figure out what she wants to do. For the past few days, if you’ve looked through a window to see what’s going on outside, you would assume fall has taken over. It’s been cloudy most of the times, flat out dreary a few times, so you would think you would need to bundle up a bit when you set outside. Yet it’s still been close to 80 most days, and it looks like it’s going to be warmer than that for the next several days.

Not that I’m complaining. I’d be pleased as punch if I could wear shorts and t-shirts until Thanksgiving. However, I would also like to bust out the fall clothing. The jeans, the chinos, the flannels, the quarter-zips. You know what I’m talking about.

Game two of the CYO basketball season was last night. L’s team was playing St. I, a school that is always good and has beaten us pretty easily every time we’ve played them going back to third grade. We heard before the game that one of St. I’s best 7th graders would not be available, but knowing they have three really good 8th graders, we figured it wouldn’t matter much.

It might have helped us a little. At least at the beginning. We held them scoreless for the first four minutes and change of the game! Granted, we were without a basket, too. But being tied is better than getting crushed.

Sadly that changed quickly. St I scored, put on their press, and next thing you knew, we were down 12–0.

It never got much better – although we did win the third quarter 6–5 – and the final was 37–10. St. I not only had better players, but they all know how to play together. They would set up our defense and then get exactly what they wanted.

Meanwhile our girls were throwing lazy passes, never setting screens for each other, not running the right plays, dribbling into triple teams, and taking bad shots. The gap between the teams with players and the teams with athletes sure gets more obvious as the girls get older.

We were playing in a very small gym where the stands are directly behind the benches, so we were able to listen in on timeout huddles. To break the St. I press, our coaches drew up a very simple play that involved three quick passes and one cut. Our girls went out and ran it every single play for the next five possessions. It didn’t matter that St. I’s figured it out after the first play and adjusted their defense accordingly. Our girls blindly threw the passes that the coaches had told them to throw, without looking to see if that pass was covered and someone else was open.

It was super frustrating to watch and made me very glad I’m not coaching this year. The girls are all good girls. But none of them play enough basketball to not totally panic when faced with a better team that is messing up what they try to do.

L went scoreless, going something like 0–4 or 0–5 from the field. She had a couple decent looks in close that she missed. The rest were panic shots she threw up because she was trapped in the lane. She had one assist but approximately 37 turnovers. Ugly all around.

CYO now takes three weeks off for the various fall breaks around the Archdiocese. Stupid. L’s team does play in a mini-tournament this weekend but otherwise will have a few weeks to try to regroup and figure things out before they play their most winnable game of the year on October 26.

Hey, the Colts finally got their first win on Sunday! Since it was L’s birthday and we had some other things going on, I did not give the game my full attention. I believe I said it a few weeks ago and I have to restate it: I don’t like Carson Wentz, but that dude plays hard. You see why coaches and GM’s love his potential. He can make plays happen that only a handful of QB’s can pull off. But there’s always the downside with him that guys like Patrick Mahomes don’t also have, where he will account for an ugly turnover or three in his efforts to make a big play. Plus the inevitability of a major injury as a result of his scampering around.

The Colts still have tough games three of the next four weeks before the schedule lightens up a bit. That 0–3 hole is going to be tough to dig out of, even in the soft AFC South.

For those of you interested, CHS went down to Cincinnati and hammered a really good Ohio team last Friday. It was their best performance of the year. Their young quarterback had the best game of his career, throwing for 340+ yards, and he did it without his #1 receiver. Two more games in the regular season, both against fellow #1 teams from Indiana.

Finally, I was not super excited about last night’s AL Wild Card game between the Yankees and Red Sox. I even watched a short movie earlier in the evening. I did catch the last three and a half innings, though, and it warmed my heart to see the Yankees get bounced. A lot of things change over time, but my Yankee hatred remains strong after over 40 years.

I don’t think I watched a Royals game after mid-June. That terrible stretch that began about five weeks into the season killed any enthusiasm I had about devoting time to watching their young guys develop.

I’m bummed I missed most of Salvador Perez’s monster season. It has been shocking how he keeps getting better despite getting older. I hope he has another couple great years left in him so he can attach them to a season in which the Royals are contending.

Also a shame that Nicky Lopez’s out-of-nowhere great year was wasted on a season that the Royals were never in the race. You could have talked me into a great Salvy season last spring. But Nicky Lopez? No freaking way. Fingers crossed it was repeatable and not a fluke.

Now to get Bobby Witt Jr. to the bigs and hope the young arms progress. That’s enough to get me watching again next April.

Weekend Sports Notes

September 14, 2021 /

A busy Monday kept me from getting this out yesterday, but allow me to share some brief sports notes from the weekend.

Friday we took the entire family to the 5A #1 Cathedral matchup with arch rival and defending 3A state champs BCHS. Well, L rode with S and I and then ran off with her friends the entire game. And M and C both rode to the game with friends. But we were all there!

BCHS is having a rough year and it continued as the Irish pounded them 38–14, a score that was closer than the game was. BC only scored because CHS fumbled twice deep in their own territory after the game was already pretty much over.

It was a beautiful night for football and the stadium was jam-packed for the rivalry. Or at least it was until halftime when a lot of folks checked out thanks to the 28–0 score.

I got home in time to see Coastal Carolina pull away from KU in the fourth quarter. Sounds like there were some encouraging moments, but the Jayhawks still have a lot of work to do. Quarterback Jason Bean might be the real deal, but will likely spend much of the Big 12 season running for his life. I’m cautiously optimistic that Lance Leipold is more like Mark Mangino than the last four coaches. It’s going to take time, though. As always…

Saturday I sat on my ass and watched a lot of college football. I was able to watch much of the Oregon-Ohio State game on the outside TV, which was fun. It got hot in mid-afternoon, though, so I had to scurry back into the air conditioning for the later games.

Sunday brought the Colts opener against the Seahawks. This season just has a stench about it that things are going to go poorly, between maybe too much hype for the team, one of the lowest vaccinated player rates in the league, and a quarterback who is almost guaranteed to get injured or play shitty. Or likely do both.

Seattle took care of the hype, dominating the Colts for four quarters. The offensive line, which should be a huge strength for the Colts, was awful. Maybe that’s just because a bunch of them had to sit out two weeks because of a positive Covid test and contact tracing. The Colts have a difficult front half of the schedule, so things could get ugly if they can’t figure their shit out quick.

Across all three days I caught big chunks of the US Open, including almost the entire women’s final on Saturday.

That final didn’t end up being very competitive, but didn’t take away from how fun it was to watch Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez march to the final. For Raducanu to be the first man or woman to win a major as a qualifier is absolutely astounding. Even more so because she didn’t lose a single set through the tournament. Raducanu and Fernandez coming along just as the Williams Sister Era seems to be ending might save women’s tennis, at least for viewers in America.

I’ve never been a big Novak Djokovic fan. But I couldn’t help but admire how he just refuses to lose. Which made his straight-set loss in the men’s final to Daniil Medvedev a massive shock. There was a moment in the third set, when he found himself down 4–0 and managed to win four games before Medvedev closed him out when Djokovic created a little burst on energy that he might charge all the way back. Only with him would you even entertain the possibility of coming back from two sets and two breaks down to win. None of us would have been surprised if he had pulled it off. Like him or not, he creates energy and drama, which makes watching his matches compelling.

It had been a few years since I watched much of the Open. I really enjoyed the matches I tuned in for this year. It helps that both the men and women have groups of exciting, young players beginning to make their presence known. If we could just get some Americans sprinkled among them I might be connived to pay as much attention to tennis as I did 30 years ago.

Weekend Sports Notes

February 22, 2021 /

It was a very busy weekend for sports, so let’s get into it.

KU Hoops


Five wins in a row! My big concern about this winning streak was that three of the wins came against K-State and Iowa State, the two worst teams in the Big 12. Was KU’s better play just a function of their opponents? Or was the second half of the Oklahoma State game that began the streak a sign that it would play against better teams, too?

Saturday cleared that up. Texas Tech can struggle on offense. And they did Saturday. But to my eyes a lot of that was because of KU’s defense. KU also out-toughed one of the toughest teams in the league.

A month ago KU looked lost, with several players having moments where they didn’t look engaged. Over the past three weeks the team has built up some confidence and rediscovered how to play together. They are still missing way too many wide open shots. But they are playing some tough-ass defense, getting rebounds, and making it difficult for their opponents. If they can just find a way to shoot closer to the 40% from three I think they’re capable of, they can be a Sweet 16 threat once the tournament begins.

Kid Hoops

I didn’t share L’s result from a week ago. For the third-straight week they played a 25–12 game. I wonder what the odds were on that happening? Perhaps I could have gotten some action on that on your favorite betting app? Fortunately they won this one, to go 2–1 in that stretch. She did not have a great game – she only scored four – but played pretty solid D and had a few assists.

This week they played the team that beat them by 12 in their first game of the season.

On the opening possession the other team got the tip, went down and scored easily, then we had seven offensive rebounds plus a steal and another shot attempt and couldn’t score on our first possession. Seemed like it was going to be a repeat.

But we had our best player this time, and now know how to play together. We were up five at halftime and maintained that lead through the first 10 minutes of the second half.

Then our girls got sloppy and gave up a big run. We were down 22–18 with under 2:00 to play. We cut it to two points and got a steal, layup, and foul with under a minute left. We hit the free throw to go up one. Then L got a steal at mid-court, drove down, and finally hit a freaking layup! Plus she got fouled! She had a free throw to go up four. She left it short.

That was big.

They came down and got an immediate score to make it a two point game. On the next possession L got trapped, made a bad pass, and the other team seemed to have a clean look to tie. Until their girl travelled. A reprieve! Until one of L’s teammates panicked and threw the ball right to them with under 20 seconds left. We managed to get our hands on a pass and force an inbounds play at mid-court with about four seconds left. There was a timeout so our coaches had a chance to tell our girls what to do on defense. The fouls weren’t on the scoreboard but I think we had at least two fouls to give – the refs were not calling much.

The ball came in and our defender who was supposed to guard the ball ran away from her player. That girl took one dribble, then three steps…and banked in a three at the buzzer to win. It was the same girl who had traveled a couple possessions earlier and she did the exact same thing. Not sure why it wasn’t called this time.

On our way out of the gym L and her friend who was supposed to guard the shooter said the coaches told them over and over not to foul. Seems like a poor strategy. In 6th–7th grade ball with fouls to give and four seconds to burn, I’m fouling immediately. If they somehow get a shot up and the ref gives them three free throws, I like my odds of them having to hit three free throws to win. Even if they get two shots I’m feeling pretty good about still getting the win, and would be fine with OT if she hits both.

Oh well. It was a bummer of a loss. Our girls played really well aside from a stretch in the second half and those two late possessions. It hurt us that our best player didn’t play the last five minutes because she felt bad. Maybe we’ll get a third shot at them in the tournament.

Colts get QB

So I guess I have to start believing in Carson Wentz.

He was inevitable after the Colts never made a serious offer for Matthew Stafford. They are too close to being an AFC contender to go after someone young and/or unproven, and reuniting Wentz with Frank Reich seems like the best approach.

I think there’s a decent chance it works out. In fact, I think Wentz will be fine in terms of performance. It’s the injury factor I worry about more. Was suffering serious injuries three-straight years bad luck or a sign that he’s brittle and destined to get hurt again? There were plenty of rumors that he was not a great teammate this past year, but those always seem to pop up when there’s a major QB shuffle. Plus the Eagles were kind of a mess this year so I don’t know how much credence I give those rumors.

I think a third round pick and a conditional second round pick are a fair price for him. Ideally he stays healthy, finds his mojo again, and the Colts are a top-three team in the AFC this year. Fill a few holes with smart drafting and they can be a top two team. If Wentz is a disaster, I guess they cut him a year from now and try again.

Golf

Max Homa!


I’m betting very few of you know who Max Homa is, even after his win at the Genesis Invitational yesterday. He has been active in the part of the golf social media world I fell into when I started following the game again. He is tight with the No Laying Up crew, and has appeared on their podcasts and videos. A year ago he started his own podcast with the Golf channel’s Shane Bacon, and it has been on my must-listen list ever since. Max is very funny, very smart, very honest, and comes across as a very genuine guy who shares a lot more than the average golfer.

Over the past year he’s been open about his goals – not just to win but to be the best golfer in the world – and his struggles to get there. Last week, going into the tournament at Riviera Country Club, he said this was his favorite course in the world, it fit his game perfectly, and he felt great going into the event.

And then he freaking won it! I can’t wait to listen to his show later today when it drops.

His win came with a lot of excitement. He was stellar all day Sunday – he started two strokes back of the lead – and when nearly everyone else was faltering he just kept hitting great shot after great shot. If a few birdie putts that missed by inches had crawled in, he would have led comfortably when he stepped to the 18th tee. As it was, he knew a par got him to a playoff with Tony Finau, a birdie would win. He striped a drive down the middle. Then he hit an outrageously good approach that landed under four feet from the pin, the closest anyone came on the 18th hole all day. He walked up the fairway all smiles, knowing he had a near kick-in for a signature win.

So wouldn’t you know it that he, in his own words, choked, and spun it out.

No doubt a little rattled, his tee shot on the opening playoff hole landed next to a tree and he looked absolutely dead. Until he hit a ridiculous chip that allowed him to escape with a par and match Finau. When Finau could only bogey the second playoff hole, Homa had his win.

Homa was very emotional in his comments afterward. For someone unfamiliar with his story, his emotions may have seemed strange. But if you knew his first real golfing memories came riding on his dad’s shoulders at the old LA Open at Riviera, if you knew how much his parents sacrificed for him to play competitive golf, if you knew how hard he worked to turn himself into an elite pro, the emotions were completely understandable and wonderful.

America’s Cup


I accidentally found the America’s Cup challenger series races a week ago. This Saturday I found them again and all three girls walked through the room and said, “What is this?” Soon I was explaining what little I know about yacht racing, which was all learned back in 1987 when the America’s Cup got attention for about 15 minutes.

I highly recommend finding the races when the final series begins in two weeks. These new boats are insane! They race along at over 40 MPH. Thanks to wings that extend from each side of the boat, the hull is almost always completely out of the water. They look like they are literally flying.

The races, at least the challenger series, are also pretty quick. I remember the 1987 races lasting hours. These are done inside of 30 minutes. To my eye they lack some of the strategy that was present with those old, 12-meter boats. But it is still crazy to watch them rip down the course.

Indy Sports Notes

January 21, 2021 /

When banging out my most recent Sports Notes post, I overlooked one very important local story. Which may have been a good thing because there was another very important local story that broke yesterday. Looks like I better bust out an Indy edition Sports Notes post!

Pacers Make a Big Trade

Anyone who follows the NBA knew a James Harden trade was close last week, it was just a question of where he would end up: Brooklyn or Philadelphia. I was pulling for Brooklyn mostly to see Harden and Kyrie Irving try to coexist, but also to keep Harden the hell away from Joel Embiid.

I think I was as surprised as the rest of the world when the trade finally went down and the Indiana Pacers were involved.

After nearly two years of stress that never quite became full public drama or acrimony, the Pacers sent Victor Oladipo to Houston and in return received Caris LeVert and a second round pick from Brooklyn. Other than the Malice in the Palace, this might be the next biggest Pacers bomb to drop in my years here. After an offseason when there were reports that Oladipo desperately wanted out of Indy, it looked like he and the team had achieved an uneasy peace and they would be together until at least the All Star break.

Guess not. I will be fascinated to learn more about the mechanics of the trade, whether it was Kevin Pritchard inserting the Pacers into the deal or the Rockets looking for a replacement for Harden and reaching out to Indy knowing that Vic was unhappy.

At first glance it was a pretty brilliant move. LeVert has never played at Oladipo’s peak. But it also seemed doubtful that Vic would ever play at that level consistently again following his ruptured quad injury of two years ago. He was off to a decent start this year, but still lacked the explosion he had before the injury. It didn’t seem like Oladipo and Malcolm Brogdon were great fits, either. LeVert is young, under team control for three years, seems to lack the ego issues of Oladipo, and looks poised to blossom into a really very good player. Likely not an All-NBA player, but a really solid cog on a team that has many other good parts.

News of the trade broke last Wednesday, but the NBA league kept putting off confirming the deal. Finally, Saturday, word came that the four-team deal was official (Cleveland was part of it as well). Moments later the Pacers announced that the deal had been delayed because a routine physical that is a part of every trade revealed that LeVert has a “mass” on one of his kidneys, and that he would be unavailable indefinitely.

That seems less than ideal.

There hasn’t been much clarification since Saturday. LeVert is with the team and has met the press, but did not share if the mass has been better identified or what the next steps are.

Obviously in a situation like this your first thoughts are with the player. You have to hope that this isn’t something life-threatening and it won’t affect his quality of life. If he plays again, that’s just a bonus. In his first press release LeVert noted that getting traded could have saved his life, which is a crazy footnote to one of the most consequential trades in recent NBA history.

So I guess the jury will remain out on the trade for awhile. Indy is one of the most difficult markets to build a team in. Kevin Pritchard was far from my favorite KU player. But seems like he’s been bold and creative in trying to keep the Pacers successful since he took over from Larry Bird.

It’s a shame that Victor was not happy here. As an Indiana alum and someone who blossomed from draft bust to All Star and All-NBA here in 2018, he seemed like the perfect guy to build around after Paul George whined his way out of town. But he had other ideas.

Rivers Retires

My phone kept dinging Wednesday morning with breaking news since it was Inauguration Day and there were a lot of things happening. But when the news that Philip Rivers was retiring came across while I was at the grocery store, I honestly think I let out a gasp.

Not that I wanted him to stay. My dislike for Rivers is well documented. I was like most people, though, who completely expected Rivers to return for the 2021 season.

Colts GM Chris Ballard told Rivers to take a month to make his decision. It took about a week. I wonder if that means the foot injury he fought all season was going to take more serious surgery and rehab than initially thought. Or maybe he was just ready.

I won’t give him much props for anything, but I do admire the athletes who can quit a year too soon rather than a year too late. Maybe he saw Drew Brees break 157 ribs this year and thought, “No thanks, that’s not for me.”

That leaves the Colts in a very interesting position. They have a young, talented, cheap roster. They can be aggressive in making a move.

There just aren’t that many blockbuster deals in the NFL for quarterbacks who don’t have deep flaws, though. Lots of names have been thrown about in the last 24 hours, and none of them wow me. Yet the Colts can also probably trot out any random, replacement level QB next fall and win enough games where they can’t slip into a top draft pick in the 2022 draft like they did when Peyton Manning got hurt and they were able to draft Andrew Luck.

And in the NFL, you can’t really press pause for a year. Windows open and close quickly. Let’s say someone like Trevor Lawrence was out there for the 2022 draft. And let’s say everything goes poorly enough next year that the Colts were in position to draft that player. You have to figure that guy needs at least a year to be ready to win in the NFL, more likely two. So you’re looking at a roster that is ready to win today being three years older, having faced three more years of injury chances, and being three years more expensive. That shit won’t work.

Seems like Ballard either has to do something huge to win now, or sacrifice some success in the short term to get a long term QB. Nothing about either option seems very appealing.

The dream scenario would be to somehow get Deshaun Watson. But Houston isn’t trading him within the AFC South, and multi-team trades don’t work in the NFL.

I see almost zero chance that Dak Prescott does not re-sign with the Cowboys.

That likely leaves convincing Detroit to part with Matthew Stafford as the best path if Ballard chases an established QB.

Ballard seems like kind of a high-strung guy. I imagine he’s not going to sleep very well for however long it takes to get the Colts a new quarterback. Hell, he may continue to sleep like shit after the position is filled, knowing the guy he gets isn’t the guy he needs.

Weekend Sports

January 11, 2021 /

I think the first ever Super Wildcard Weekend was a success. Wall-to-wall football in the midst of a pandemic and winter weather felt right. We got mostly competitive games book-ended by the Colts blowing a winnable game and the Browns shaking off decades of failure and pulling off one of the wildest upsets in recent memory.

Some Indy-focused thoughts from the weekend.

Colts

When your team loses a close game, you spend the time afterward picking through dozens of little moments that could have changed the outcome. Saturday’s loss in Buffalo may have been the ultimate example of that.

While Josh Allen and the Bills played nearly perfect football, the Colts, in some ways, played even better. It was their numerous mistakes that cost the Colts the game.

There was the shitty play call on third and goal before halftime, a pitch to the outside, which pushed the Colts back from the one to the four yard line and made going for it on fourth down a tougher proposition. When that fourth down attempt failed, I chalked up three expected points lost.

On the ensuing drive, on another fourth and short, when the Bills were just trying to draw the Colts offside and seemed content to kick a field goal, a Colts lineman jumped. A couple plays later the Bills scored a touchdown, and I chalked up four unexpected points for them.

In the second half the Colts bounced a makable field goal off the upright, losing three potential more points.

Later when they scored their first touchdown of the half, they went for two and failed, losing another expected point.

That’s 11 points the Colts pissed away in a game they lost by 3.

There was plenty more to bitch about. It made no sense to challenge a catch early in the fourth quarter and blow a timeout. What made it stupid was that there was an injury timeout on the play. The Colts had plenty of time to review the play and see that it was not worth wasting a timeout to check on. But they stuck with their review and blew a valuable timeout.

They lost another timeout trying to avoid a delay of game penalty, something they came dangerously close to doing seemingly every play of the game.

And then the last drive. For some insane reason after getting a first down with about 90 seconds left, THEY HUDDLED UP and wasted nearly 30 seconds off the clock. In a game of questionable moments, this was the absolute dumbest and least defensible. It made everything that happened afterward tougher. Although, to be fair, they benefited greatly from a review of a clear fumble that should have ended the game but somehow went the Colts’ way.

Frank Reich is an aggressive coach. Saturday showed why most coaches are so vanilla. People love it when you go for it on fourth down, or are otherwise aggressive, and it pays off. But it makes them crazy when it fails, especially in a big game. I don’t have huge problems with Reich’s aggressiveness Saturday. He should have called a better play on that third down before halftime. I have zero doubt the Colts’ meltdown in Pittsburgh two weeks ago was in the back of his mind, and he wanted touchdowns rather than field goals. I’m with him at the macro level, it’s the micro level stuff that needs to be brushed up before (hopefully) the next time the Colts are in a tight game in the playoffs.

Roster Decisions

The Colts are in a decent place going into next year.

Jonathan Taylor was an absolute revelation in the second half of the season, and looks poised to give the Colts their best rushing attack since Edgerrin James. The front seven of the defense looks strong. The young receivers came on late.

They will need to replace T.Y. Hilton, who should take a bigger payout than the Colts will offer to finish his career elsewhere. They may need a new left tackle. They could use someone who can provide pressure from the edges. The defensive backfield, as always, needs help.

The biggest question, though, is what to do at quarterback. Phillip Rivers was seen as one-year trial, with the option for a second year. As much as I dislike him, I have to admit this season must be called a success. After a slow start, he became very steady. He’s a solid NFL QB right now; neither elite nor overmatched but one who can manage a game and make plays to win.

But he’s old, and seems older than the other old guys out there like Tom Brady and Drew Brees. He’s lost arm strength and he can’t move. I’m kind of shocked his completion percentage was so high, as so many of his balls were caught at or below the knees. I worry just a little regression means those balls drop, and the deep balls go 5–10 yards shorter. Was this just a charmed year when he (barely) managed to stay healthy through the entire season? Will he be able to rehab totally from his impending foot surgery or is it the beginning of a downward slide physically?

The Colts don’t have the assets to trade up to get one of the top quarterbacks in the draft. Nor should they mortgage their other strengths in an effort to go get Deshaun Watson or Dax Prescott. Reich worked with Carson Wentz in Philadelphia, but I don’t think he’s worth trading for. Sam Darnold is an interesting reclamation project, but not for a team that is poised to win now like the Colts.

In short, unless Andrew Luck decides to un-retire, it seems like the Colts’ best move is to bring Rivers back for another year. Which means another 10-ish win season and early playoff loss. For everything Rivers can do, in his current state he’s not a quarterback who can win you a Super Bowl. Certainly not when you have to get through Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson, and Patrick Mahomes just to reach a Super Bowl.

KU Hoops

Based on the last four games, the Jayhawks seem to be on a clear hot-cold cycle. Shot really well and won comfortably in games one and three against West Virginia and TCU. Shot poorly and got run out of the building by Texas in game two. Shot poorly and were lucky to survive Oklahoma in game four Saturday.

So I guess Oklahoma State better watch out tomorrow!

Every KU game the announcers mention how different this team is from last year, notably when David McCormack struggles inside where Udoka Azubuike would be dominating. That’s true. But where this team really struggles is in missing a true point guard. Marcus Garrett is a terrific player, but he’s not a true point guard, especially when he tries to do too much. Which seems like most possessions this year. Dajuan Harris is going to be a good, four-year player. But he’s not ready to be the consistent PG–1. The four/five smalls lineup makes it easier to mask not having a true point, but there are so many moments when the offense breaks down and Garrett or Jalen Wilson or someone else forces the issue late in the shot clock and dribbles into disaster.

You know who would be a perfect match for this offense? Devon Dotson, who – checks notes – has played 10 total minutes in his first 11 NBA games. Alas…

Sports Takes

January 5, 2021 /

A lot of sports to get through, so let’s tackle the biggest issues of the day in no particular order.

CFP

Alabama crushing Notre Dame was no surprise. As an Indiana Catholic school parent I don’t hate Notre Dame nearly as much as I used to. I don’t mind them winning, but still take some pleasure in their losses. One day that fan base will wake and realize it isn’t 1977 anymore. Brian Kelly is the perfect Notre Dame coach: no doubt he’s an excellent coach, but ultra thin skinned and bristles at any suggestions the Irish might be overrated, not at talented as the elite, and benefit from decades of institutional bias toward their brand.

I think it’s funny that Ohio State waxing Clemson was seen as such a huge upset. It’s Ohio State we’re talking about here! They are the third leg in the current Kings of College Football triad. You expect them to be in the playoff every year and if they have a good QB, have a solid chance to win it all.

That it was a surprise that they beat Clemson is just a confirmation of how preseason narrative controls college football. This was supposed to be Trevor Lawrence and Clemson’s season of redemption. And so the whole season was just playing out the string until we could get to Clemson-Bama. Ohio State being sucked into all the drama of the Big 10 season kept them from making a claim to be one of the best teams in the country. But they thoroughly exposed Clemson, so much that I saw a couple “how can Clemson fix this” posts yesterday. Which are 100% idiotic. Play ten games and those teams probably split them evenly, or maybe one team goes 6–4. Clemson ran into a motivated opponent and lost a playoff game. I don’t think that’s a sign that they need to blow the program up. Although firing Dabo would be cool…

That said, Alabama is just a freaking machine, and this could be their best offensive team ever. If Justin Fields is 100% Ohio State certainly has a chance. But I see another Saban/Crimson Tide title coming.

KU Hoops

We Jayhawks fans were feeling pretty great after KU used a huge second half to run away from West Virginia in their final game before the holidays. It looked like they crushed the souls of the Mountaineers that night, as WVU seemed to completely give up in the final 10 minutes. Hell, Oscar Tshiebwe even left the program after playing particularly poorly.

We were all saying, “Damn, now they have to take 10 days off?”

The layoff sure showed on Saturday vs. Texas. All those shots that fell against WVU were bricks against the Longhorns. For once all that athleticism Texas always has proved to be too much for KU. A convincing win that makes Texas a threat not just to Baylor to win the Big 12, but to actually go deep into the tournament too.

BTW, I found it both ironic and fitting that Texas’ biggest basketball win in a decade or so came on the same day most UT fans were distracted by their football team firing their coach. News even broke of Tom Herman’s firing just before tipoff, meaning most Longhorns fans were busy scrolling and texting and reading about football for the two hours their basketball team was getting a signature win.

I believe I said this last month, but my feelings for college hoops are dialed way back this year. While the season has been without interruption for KU so far, I don’t expect that to hold. The games still feel very different without true crowds. I watch them all but don’t get nearly as up or down as I normally would. I wish that meant I said fewer bad things about David McCormack during games, but I can’t help myself there.

That’s not to diminish Texas’ win, or any other games KU will lose in the coming months. There won’t be an asterisk next to home loses for KU just because there aren’t 16,300 packing Allen Fieldhouse. It just means my emotional investment is not where it has been for the past 35 years or so.

NCAA Tournament in Indiana

This has been rumored for some time and has finally been locked in. The entire NCAA tournament will be played on a variety of courts here in Central Indiana. The plan is for it to still be a March/April deal. I don’t think anyone would be surprised if a champion is crowned later than that, though.

I don’t know that another area could pull this off like Indianapolis. Obviously it helps that the NCAA is headquartered here, and has a long history of working with local government agencies. My only quibble with the plan is that it makes no sense to keep the Final Four at Lucas Oil stadium. Whether there will be crowds or not is still to be determined, but I am confident if fans are allowed, there will not be 40,000+ allowed to watch the game. At a minimum the game should be moved to Banker’s Life Fieldhouse. Ideally it should be played at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the Butler campus. Some people have suggested playing the final at a historic high school gym. That’s a step too far for me. But there is no way it should be played in a huge, empty football stadium.

Colts/NFL

The Colts snuck into the playoffs on the back of Jonathan Taylor’s breakout performance against Jacksonville. For some reason Phillip Rivers struggles against the Jags, and for awhile Sunday it looked like the Colts would be on the outside looking in thanks to him playing poorly twice against the worst team in the league. Fortunately the defense and Taylor bailed Rivers out.

The Colts are an odd team. When they look good, they look really freaking good, like a team that could give the Chiefs a run for three quarters. But in every game they have lapses when things fall apart, when the offense suddenly can’t move the ball, when the defense can’t stop anyone, when penalties pop up at the worst possible moment. They feel like a team that should have been better, but probably got about as much out of their talent as possible. And now I guess we get Rivers back for another year. Yay?

I know the Bills are the hottest team in the game right now, but I think I’d rather the Colts play them than the Ravens. That’s probably dumb, since the Ravens beat the Colts earlier this year and that could be a motivating force. I don’t have much faith in the Bills, though, where I think the Ravens are the Wild Card with the best chance of winning two games.

Looking at the bracket, I admit I did a triple take when I saw that the Bears made the playoffs. I knew the NFC East was awful, but there are enough Bears fans in my Twitter feed that I assumed they were 5–11 or something. I mean, 8–8 ain’t great, but it’s much better than I thought the Bears’ record would be.

That said, I was shocked the Dolphins were a win away from making the playoffs. Weren’t they intentionally choking just a year ago? Things change quick in the NFL!

Right now, I see no reason not to call a Chiefs-Packers Super Bowl and install the Chiefs as early 7.5 point favorites.

Pacers

The Pacers are off to a solid start, sitting at 5–2 after last night’s overtime win at New Orleans. That was the first game I watched almost start-to-finish.

New coach Nate Bjorkgren has them playing faster, which is fun and suits the roster. But, man, they just get killed on the boards. When you give the other team three chances to score, it sucks the life out of you.

TJ Warren is now expected to miss significant time with a stress fracture in his foot. Jeremy Lamb is still a month or so away from returning from his ACL rehab. Since these are the Pacers, you have to expect at least a couple of the current starters will suffer significant injuries and miss large stretches of games as well.

Yep, the Pacers are still in that weird middle ground they seem to be perpetually stuck in: good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to make a deep run. Which means they are never drafting in the lottery. And since free agents do not want to come to Indianapolis, they must rely on savvy trading and take fliers on guys other teams pass over. And then hope they get hot in the playoffs. I guess it’s better than sucking.

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