D's Notebook

Tag: Indianapolis Colts (Page 7 of 12)

Weekend Notes

January 7, 2019 /

It is the last day of Christmas vacation in our house. It might hit 50 for the third-straight day, but no one seems real interested in getting outside and doing something. Probably has something to do with me telling everyone their rooms need to be cleaned up before anything else gets done today, and no one is moving all that quickly to start cleaning. C does have a volleyball practice in a bit, but other than that looks like one, final, lazy day to wrap up two-plus weeks of them.

So let’s look back at the weekend.

KU

Man, that’s about as shitty of a weekend as I can remember for KU sports fans. There were the big events: Udoka Azubuike getting ruled out for Saturday’s game at Iowa State because of an injury suffered in practice Friday, the Jayhawks getting run off the court in the second half by the Cyclones, and then Sunday’s announcement that Udoka is done for the season.

And then two smaller events, one of which that is, really, bigger: Gary Woodland getting caught by the red-hot Xander Schauffele and losing the Tournament of Champions by one stroke and former KU football great – and father of a current Jayhawk – Kwamie Lassiter dying of a heart attack at just 49. Seriously, there was a lot of bad texting amongst my KU friends this weekend.

The loss to Iowa State was miserable. Despite playing terribly, KU was still in a good spot with 1:00 to play in the first half. It was one of those “If they can survive the next minute, get into the locker room, make some adjustments, this is anyone’s game.” Then then gave up a bad and-one, followed by a bad possession on offense and a 3-pointer by Iowa State that, effectively, ended the game. The second half was brutal. Iowa State, who I had read was not a very good 3-point shooting team, hit just about everything they threw up. The KU defense seemed only mildly interested in guarding anyone and in the last 10 minutes often stood and watched while ISU had a glorified shoot around.

So a bad loss on paper, but in the grand scheme of things, it was just a single loss. One I had chalked up at the beginning of the year, a belief that was reinforced when Udoka’s injury was announced before the game. KU had a lot of work to do to get better, but Bill Self is always able to adjust and get the best out of whatever his mix of talent is. As long as Dok didn’t miss more than a couple games, KU would be fine, although the Big 12 race would clearly be a dogfight.

And then the Udoka news broke Sunday. This will sound dramatic to all you non-KU folks, but the season is over. In a season after a Final Four appearance, and in which they began a national title favorites, the loss of Udoka from an already flawed team means all the lofty goals of November are trashed. The Big 12 streak will end and KU will be fortunate to get to the Sweet 16.

If KU could suddenly find an elite shooter who had immediate eligibility I would hold out hope that they could right the ship. But this team’s fatal flaw is that it has zero reliable outside shooters in an era where you need multiple guys who can hit the 3. There’s no getting around that.

Some people have been saying today, “Well, if Silvio De Sousa gets eligible, that changes things.” He’s not getting eligible. If it was going to happen, he would have been cleared by now. I’m sure KU is doing everything they can to get him cleared, but that ship has sailed. He should head to Bosnia, or wherever Billy Preston went last year.

That’s not to say this is a terrible team, or that I will not still watch every game with great interest. In fact, this season suddenly becomes pretty much stress-free. Knowing the Streak will end this early in the season means there’s less pressure on the next 16 Big 12 games. Losses on Big Mondays won’t mean I’m awake until 3:00 AM replaying what went wrong in my head. The Big 12 race will suddenly be about KU being spoilers rather than favorites. Knowing they don’t have a chance to make a repeat trip to the Final Four should make March games much more tolerable to watch.

It all sucks, but it’s not the end of the world.

Colts

As KU was losing in Ames, the Colts were hammering the Texans in Houston. As I understand it only a pass interference penalty and a tipped interception kept the Colts from leading 35–0 before halftime. I was switching over during commercials enough to get the gist of the game without all the details. As impressive as the Colts performance was, I do temper my enthusiasm a bit knowing they were playing Houston, the biggest frauds in this year’s playoff field.

Now it is on to Kansas City for a very, very interesting matchup. The Chiefs should be healthy favorites; I give the Colts about a 10% chance of winning. As good as the Colts’ defense has been this year, they’ve not faced an offense like the Chiefs’. But the Colts’ suddenly stout running game makes an upset not entirely out of the question. Get a lead, start pounding the rock, convert third downs, anything can happen. Not that the Colts have ever beaten the Chiefs in the playoffs before, so there’s really nothing for my Chiefs fan friends to worry about Saturday…

Other Football

I caught parts of the other three playoff games. I’m really not sure what Seattle was thinking on offense, although I’m not an expert on these things. I laughed at all the people who were saying “No one wants to play the Ravens!” a week ago after the Chargers pounded them. I did see that stretch at the end of the third/beginning of the fourth quarters when the referees somehow managed to totally botch three consecutive plays in at least five different ways. All those guys should be done for the playoffs. And the last couple minutes of the Eagles-Bears game were simply fantastic for neutrals. What an ending!

Spidey

C, L, and I went to see Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse yesterday afternoon. It was really, really good! I was a little surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I’m not into movies based on comics,[1] nor was I a comics fan when I was little. I do recall owning some Spider-Man comics, though, and recognized the sense of humor that was unique to them in the movie. L has always been a Spider-Man fan, so she really enjoyed it. As we were walking out, we saw a little guy, maybe four, in his Spider-Man costume. She had the same costume when she was younger and I bet she would have worn hers if the movie had come out back then.

Weather

I think M is the only one complaining about our mild weather. She was supposed to go on a middle school ski trip yesterday to some hills down near Cincinnati, but with it being well over 60 down there, the trip had to be postponed for a couple weeks. She was most annoyed about having washed dishes for a month to pay for the trip. “If it doesn’t happen, I will have washed all those dishes for nothing!” she whined. I let the comment go, lest she think it through a little more and demand cash in exchange for her services.

Back to the grind tomorrow. M and C will get their volleyball schedules soon. We’re counting down the days until spring break. And after the first semester wraps up next week, M will be in her final semester at St. P’s.

  1. I don’t think I’ve seen any of the modern Marvel or DC movies other than Ant-Man.  ↩

The Footballs

November 14, 2018 /

A few quick football thoughts.

KU

The Sisyphean rite that is the changing of football coaches at the University of Kansas continues. David Beaty, a truly decent but woefully under qualified man, got the ax a week ago. The timing seemed a little strange given KU had just knocked off TCU two weeks earlier. But things never really make much sense around KU football.

If there were any doubts about Beaty’s ability to handle the job, those were removed last Saturday as the Jayhawks lost a thoroughly winnable game against Kansas State. Once again KU was plagued by seemingly basic mistakes that consistently cost them points. It was the same shit that’s been going on for years: terrible game management, penalties at the worst possible moments, the inability to make one play to win a game. The talent level is up. The numbers are up. But, week after week, it is the little things that teams should master in August that kill KU’s chances.

As I wrote earlier this year, Beaty no doubt has made the program better. It was a nearly impossible task to dig out from the hole Charlie Weis put the program in. Beaty at least got things stabilized. But he simply isn’t a good enough coach to get the program to the next step, where winning even 4–5 games each year is a possibility.

Now for the new coach speculation. Les Miles’ name has been out there since before his buddy Jeff Long became the new KU athletic director last spring. I believe as soon as Long got fired at Arkansas, people around KU were clamoring for Sheahon Zenger to get the ax so they could hire Long and, hopefully, bring his pal Miles along. Last week at the Champions Classic, when I got to sneak into a conversation of people who know people, Miles was the only name that anyone was talking about.

I honestly don’t know why Miles would take the KU job. If he wants to coach again and make a lot of money, there will be better offers whenever he is ready. I know he and Long are legitimately close. But I doubt they are close enough to come to the worst Power 5 program in the country for the last gig of your career.

Some KU fans worry that Miles would be Charlie Weis version 2.0. I don’t buy that. Charlie was never invested and refused to do any of the hard work that came with coaching a lower-tier program. I don’t know that Miles is prepared to do all that work, either, but I have a feeling if he took the job he’d actually recruit the best schools in Kansas City instead of only going to New Jersey and Hawaii to “create pipelines” to those states like Charlie did. And Miles had plenty of on-the-field failures, but he’s still a much better coach than Charlie.

Some folks worry that Miles would be a short-term choice, arguing he’s likely to not coach more than five years. As always, I say this is the dumbest reason not to hire someone in the world. We’re already firing a coach every 3–4 years. We should be thrilled if we can finally get someone who can stabilize and improve the program and then wants to leave in five years, either for another, better job or because they’re ready to retire. In fact, I think KU should be in the business of hiring a new coach every five years because the last one went to the SEC or Big 10. Iowa State has kind of gone through that cycle. They’ve had their share of down years along the way. But the program is also miles ahead of KU’s.

The biggest problem with Miles, to me, is that if he doesn’t come to KU, whoever they do hire is going to be a huge letdown. With the notable exception of Dave Doeren, who I think is highly unlikely to leave NC State, there isn’t another name on the list that moves the needle with fans. So just as people who were excited about Jim Harbaugh were disappointed with Turner Gill, or who wanted Mike Leach and were instead given Charlie Weis, there will be an enthusiasm gap from day one if it is anyone but Miles.

I also wonder if Miles is as big of a deal to kids these days as he is to adults. Let’s say he takes the job, dives in 100%, and gets a good staff around him. Will kids give a damn about what he did at LSU and Oklahoma State now that he’s at Kansas?

My basic philosophy for KU football these days is that it can’t get any worse. So I’m hopeful whoever is next can build on what David Beaty started, keep improving the talent level, understand how to manage a game, and get the momentum behind the program up from 25 MPH to maybe 40–45 MPH. Nothing too crazy.

My personal KU coach wish list is:

1) Dave Doeren
2) Les Miles
3) Anyone else with D1 head coaching experience who is competent

I’m resigned to being disappointed and writing another version of this three or four Novembers down the road.

Colts

Hey, the Colts aren’t terrible! In fact, they actually have a path to the playoffs.

Let’s not get carried away now…

The Colts defense has been a revelation so far this year. But it also tends to break down way too often in the second half. The offensive line has been, gasp, solid. Andrew Luck, after a rough week one, rebounded nicely and is playing really well. If he had more than one NFL-caliber receiver, his stats would be even better. I’ve only watched parts of Colts games here and there, but three different times I’ve seen passes that were comfortably in the hands of Colts receivers somehow slip through, ricochet off of pads, helmets, or chests into the hands of defenders for interceptions.

Rebuilds in any pro sport are tricky things. You’re always balancing who you have with what you need and how those various pieces fit together within a budget. I think it’s safe to say the Colts are ahead of schedule in getting back to prominence. But the bigger concern for me is how they handle the up-coming offseason rather than what they do for the last half of this season. Do well in the next draft and round of free agency and the back third of Luck’s career suddenly has the promise the first third had.

Chiefs

As a long-time Chiefs hater, it pains me to admit that the Chiefs are freaking awesome. So I am hoping at some point their traditional luck comes through and torpedoes this season.

I will say, though, that after the Royals winning the World Series, and seeing how the city reacted, there is a part of me that admits it would be cool if the Chiefs somehow defied nearly 50 years of bad luck and made it to the Super Bowl. Not that I’d be pulling for them. But I am finally comfortable saying that would be a nice thing to happen to my hometown.

Weekend Notes

October 1, 2018 /

To get the week rolling, I’ll knock out a variety of subjects in one post.

First, apologies for the lack of a playlist or video last Friday. We added one, final task to phase one of our home improvement process and that was getting wrapped up on Friday. I have to say, our house looks pretty fantastic now. A week ago Friday our living room furniture arrived. It was nice to have that but after our designer “fluffed” everything Thursday and Saturday, it has transformed from nice to spectacular. She did an amazing job and our house feels like it came out of a design show. Now to keep the kids from ruining it…

C ran last Thursday night. It was a small meet, so we were all hoping for higher placements by our kids. C was fourth much of the race but faded and finished 10th, running right about the same time she’s run all year. This coming Saturday is the City championship meet where she’s run the two fastest times of her life. I hope she has another big run in her and can place for the third-straight year.

L had two soccer games over the weekend. She scored two goals in a 3–2 loss Saturday. She ripped an absolutely vicious shot that the goalie got her hands on and pushed just over the bar that could have tied it. Sunday she was held scoreless in a nervy, 2–1 win. We were playing a team filled with 5th graders, some of whom go to St. P’s, and we gave up their goal in the first two minutes of the game. But our defense rallied, our other top player scored two before halftime, and we hung on for dear life in the second half.

L went scoreless largely because she had her first nasty soccer injury in the first half. She took a clear to the inside of her knee that knocked her out of the game for about 10 minutes. She was able to go back on when another girl got hurt – we had only one sub to the other team’s five – but struggled to get move.[1] We started her on defense in the second half and once she was able to loosen the knee up a little, she begged to go forward again. That kind of made me laugh because she clearly wanted nothing to do with playing on the back line. She was never really right the rest of the game, but this morning she was fine other than a really nasty bruise and cleat marks on her leg.

M had the big, milestone family event of the weekend: we submitted her application for high school Saturday night. She decided to go through the early admissions process so that she will find out whether she gets into Cathedral the week of Thanksgiving instead of early February. We’re pretty sure this is all a formality. She has good grades and test scores, and has a parent, aunts and uncles, and a grandfather that all went to school there. Still, we wanted her to take the process seriously. There were three essay questions that we worked with her on. She kept giving us sarcastic answers when we gave her prompts on how to improve her initial efforts. I threatened at least once to send her to a public high school. Or to submit her dumb-ass answers and see what the admissions committee thought of them. She got her act together and we were able to push Submit Saturday evening.

She cheered on Sunday and I was talking to a couple other dads about the process. One has had two go through it already. He said with their oldest, they were also anal about getting everything just right. Then, when they saw some of the other kids who got in, they eased way off for the #2. “I think as long as you can pay tuition, they’ll let you in. There’s one kid I know had straight F’s at St. P’s who got in.” He may have been exaggerating a little.

There’s still more to do. We have to submit grades and state test scores once her first quarter grades are in. She has to get two letters of recommendation from teachers, which she is dragging her feet on. And she has to go through an interview with the admissions folks in two weeks. But the ball is rolling and the first tuition check for high school is not too far in our future.

Finally, having nothing to do with kids, a few words about the Colts. M was cheering during most of the game but I was able to listen to a big chunk of their comeback on the way home, and then watch all of overtime. When the Colts lost because they went for it on fourth down with 27 seconds left inside their own 45, I texted a couple friends and said they had just set a record for the dumbest loss in NFL history. Just take the damn tie and move on.

But, you know what? I’m reconsidering that today. What the hell are the Colts playing for this year? Nothing. They will not make the playoffs, even given the surprising effectiveness of their defense so far this season. Andrew Luck had a monster game yesterday; if they had converted that fourth down and then he moved them up into field goal range, he would have been within shouting distance of 500 yards passing for the day. But he’s still not 100%, and if he ever can be again, it won’t happen this year. The offensive line still sucks. The running game and receiving corps remain suspect. This is a team that is at least one more good draft and free agency class away from being a playoff contender.

So why not go for it? The game is, basically, meaningless. If you convert, get another 20 yards, and Adam Vinatieri drills a game-winner at the horn to cap off an 18-point comeback, this becomes a mythical game. It becomes the moment everyone points to in a year – or two or three – when the Colts are playing for an AFC title again, as the turning point for the organization.

As it stands, the loss means nothing. It doesn’t set the Colts back in their rebuild. It may even help them earn a better draft position next spring. And, apparently, the players loved it, so it helps to bring a team together that had been struggling for several years.

Not saying I would have made the same call in the same situation. But I don’t think it’s as terrible a call as I did in the moments after it happened.

  1. Worth noting that Dr. Mom did take a look at her and pronounced her fit to play before we sent her back in.  ↩

Weekend O’ Football

September 10, 2018 /

It was a full weekend of football for at least some parts of our family this weekend. Here’s a breakdown.

Friday was a big local high school game. Cathedral, where our girls will go, was playing their biggest Catholic school rival, Bishop Chatard. BC has the most state titles in Indiana history. Cathedral is second. I believe Cathedral leads the stat in total wins and championship appearances, though. Or something like that. They play in different classes – Cathedral is roughly twice the size of BC – and Cathedral also draws from a much larger area, so they generally dominate the rivalry. St. P’s sends roughly equal numbers to each school, so Friday at St. P’s was a spirit wear day where kids got to wear the gear from their favorite high school. Apparently the halls were filled with trash talk throughout the day.

M was very excited to go, because a bunch of classmates were going to be there. It was her first high school football game hangout, OMIGOD! So I carted her, a friend, and L to the game.[1] The only issue was that we were in the early stages of our 48-hour rain event. When we got to the stadium, it was raining in torrents. It had actually started pouring right after school. Then I asked the girls if it was still raining this hard at game time would they still want to go. They responded with a quick “YES!” so that was that and we got thoroughly soaked just walking into the stadium. It was raining so hard that even the artificial turf surface was filling with large puddles in low spots. It was an utterly miserable night.

Fortunately, it stopped raining suddenly late in the first quarter. It drizzled a few more times, but the heavy rains held off again until after the game.

Unfortunately for the first time in quite awhile, BC was clearly the better team. Cathedral was kind of lucky to even be in it late before a last-gasp drive fell short. It was the first win for BC in the rivalry in six years. I’m sure there is no trash talking in the St. P’s halls today. M had a really good time. She has several friends at BC and ran into them at halftime. She was warned not to go over to their student section, because she would be greeted with chants of “YOU DON’T GO HERE!” because of her Cathedral shirt, which she thought was great. And she mocked some friends on Instagram afterward, so I think she’s prepared for her high school years and some of her best friends going to BC.

Saturday it poured here pretty much all day. We have a drainage area in our front yard that filled as high as we’ve ever seen it.[2] So why not lay around and watch college ball all day? I flipped around a lot; I’m still getting used to where our channels are on Comcast, plus trying to figure out what second-tier sports channels we had on Uverse that we no longer have. But I kept my remote thumbs busy.

The big game, of course, was the epic clash in Mt. Pleasant, MI between Kansas and Central Michigan. Coming off the loss last week to Nichols State, there was not much reason for optimism. It was more a question of how much we would lose by and if that lose would force the firing of head coach David Beaty.

Little did I know that Central Michigan might be the only D1 school that is shittier than KU. It helped that top recruit Pooka Williams was finally eligible and ran all over the Central Michigan defense. I fully expect to hear soon that Pooka never should have been cleared, we forfeit the win, and he never plays another down at KU.

But for one afternoon, KU fans around the world could revel in not only a win over a D1 school, but a road win no less! The first in nine seasons. This was no joke, people. America sat up and noticed. The CBS crew gave props to the Jayhawks after the Georgia-South Carolina game. ESPN chose the win as their “Mayhem Moment” as the fine Clemson-Texas A&M game closed. Things might finally be happening for KU football!!!!

Well, we’ll see about that. I think the most likely outcome for the season remains one win, although I don’t think this week’s opponent, Rutgers, isn’t all that great either. It seems like Beaty is a good guy who is trying to do the right thing. The problem is just bigger than him, and he was woefully unprepared to tackle it. This should serve as a nice pre-parting gift for him. An acknowledgement that he took the mess that Charlie Weis left and worked his ass off to try to get it turned around. Pooka Williams, and some of the other young guys Beaty has brought in the past two years, will be the stars when the next coach squeezes out a 6–6 season and goes to some shitty, December 21st bowl game.

Sunday Andrew Luck finally returned. We were in the midst of some house projects right at 1:00 kickoff time, so when I turned the game on it was just in time to see Luck about get his head knocked off. Yep, Colts are back to normal, doing their best collective effort to get the franchise player killed.

However, the bigger football event of the day was M cheering at her first CYO game. We had to make a trek about 45 minutes south to go stand in the persistent drizzle and chilly breezes so she and her classmates could root on the 7th–8th grade team. The cheer squad’s new uniforms are not in yet, so they wore their gym clothes for the game. I would have approved of them being given a pass until the uniforms come in, but the girls seemed excited about getting out there and getting the fans and team pumped up.

I had never been to a CYO football game before, so had no idea what the rules were, how long the game lasted, etc. It didn’t help that the host school’s scoreboard was not working because it got a little wet.

I quickly learned, though, that CYO football games are quick. They wrapped things up in exactly an hour, which is about as long as I wanted to be outside. There are no kickoffs, either. After a score the opposing team takes over at the 5, which seems a little deep. The field had goalposts but I never saw a PAT or field goal attempt, so not sure if both teams lacked kickers or the coaches just weren’t interested in kicking in the slop.

St. P’s won fairly easily. I have no idea what the score was, though. Because, you now, the scoreboard wasn’t working. Their best offensive play seemed to be moving everyone to one sideline after the snap, then having the guy with the ball cut all the way back to the other side and then race up the sideline. That worked for 40+ yard gains like four times.

Also, CYO football seems to be kind of shitty. I say this as someone whose mom made him stop playing football after fifth grade when I would have had to start playing tackle, so I don’t have a lot of personal experience. But, man, these kids couldn’t run, catch, throw, block, or really do much other than run into each other.

After the game, the St. P’s coach told his players to go thank the cheerleaders and give them high fives. I began muttering, to the other parents of cheerleaders who were huddled around me, “Nope, no touching of the cheerleaders. Just stay away from them…” Yep, we’re getting to that age where I’m starting to worry about idiot boys touching my daughters.

Sunday night I stayed up to watch the Chicago-Green Bay game. If you stayed up, too, you know that was one that we will never forget. Aaron Rodgers doing something to his knee in the first half and leaving the game on a cart only to come back in the second half and lead a furious comeback that ended with a 75-yard, game-winning throw to Randall Cobb. The dude is amazing. And we’re going to find out in a couple hours his ACL is shot or something and his season is over, right? The NFL is terrible.

  1. C was supposed to go with a friend she had gone home with.  ↩
  2. At 8:00 Monday morning there is still a significant amount of water in it.  ↩

Quick Notes

November 8, 2017 /

A few assorted notes for the middle of the week.

Election Night

A little less traumatic than a year ago, for sure. The result I was most interested in was the vote on the new airport in Kansas City, which passed overwhelmingly. There’s no doubt that KCI needed a facelift, but I’m among those who still love it. It’s the most convenient mid-sized airport I’ve ever been to. You can literally get dropped off at the curb and be through security, at your gate, in less than 10 minutes if conditions are right. Compare that to Indianapolis, where you have a 10-minute walk just to get to security. And then likely another 10 minutes to get to your gate. And IND is a small airport!

That said, I’m all for my hometown building a single-terminal airport. IND is really nice, and when you throw out the unique KCI, it’s comparatively very fast to get through. Hopefully Kansas City will follow Indianapolis’ lead in building something that has space for the future but keeps the middle-sized city compactness to it.

Colts

Andrew Luck’s season is over without it ever beginning. There are rumors – some substantiated, some disputed – that folks within the organization are calling out Luck for his inability to play – well practice – with pain. Let’s not forget it was the Colts who built a terrible offensive line in front of Luck that forced him to flee for his life or get pummeled on every snap. Let’s not forget it was the Colts who, likely, mismanaged several of his injuries over the past two years. I understand frustration with an injury that seems to be defying what the medical experts forecast in terms of recovery time. But there doesn’t need to be any throwing of Luck under the bus.

Oh, IF he comes back healthy next year, he’ll begin the year having just turned 29. And the offensive line will still be shit.

We thought we had the next Elway when the Colts drafted Luck, and a worthy successor to Peyton Manning. It’s looking more and more like Luck’s career will mirror Archie Manning’s that Elway, Peyton, or even Dan Marino. Moments of brilliance but ultimately disappointment at a missed opportunity.

KU Basketball

I watched their exhibition game last night. Kind of sorry I did. They did not look good at all in the first half, only mildly interested and lethargic. My first thought was they had been run really hard in practice on Monday and were suffering. The mantra the past couple years for KU hoops has been “this team has less margin for error than in the past.” That’s even more true this year. We’ll see how they look when the games count, but right now, on November 8, I think this could be the year the Big 12 title streak finally ends.

Sick Days

We had our first sick kid day of the year yesterday. C stayed home not feeling well. Ironically she had the first sick day of the year last year, also on November 7. I know that because of a Facebook post from that day. S suggested she watch A League of Their Own and said Madonna was in it. C’s response, “Who’s Madonna?” I guess I’ll go ahead and mark her down for absent on 11/7/18.

Leaves

What a weird fall. Hardly any leaves fell early. Colors changed quickly and a bunch come down last week. But we still have trees that are normally bare right around Halloween that are full of leaves. It’s made for easier gutter cleaning than normal. And we only spent an hour blowing leaves at the lake Saturday, although that may have much to do with my finally investing in a gas blower instead of S and I using two electric blowers like in the past.

A Weekend Without Kid Sports

October 23, 2017 /

For the first time since way back in August we had no kid sports this weekend. That meant I got to fully immerse myself in televised sports. There was plenty of baseball, soccer, basketball, and football on our TV, along with a bonus dose of college basketball on my Twitter and email feeds. Some words about all that…

Baseball

Man, what an excellent ALCS. I only say that because the Houston Astros won. Had the Yankees pulled out either game six or seven and moved on to the World Series, I would likely have a different opinion. And be done with baseball for the year.

Thankfully the Astros got some big hits late in each game, some amazing pitching in game seven, and move on to play LA. That should be a dandy of a series and will likely come down to whichever team’s top two starters perform the best. Houston better hope they can keep scoring runs, as I don’t trust anyone in their bullpen in a close game whereas the Dodgers have a lock-down pen if they need to protect a one-run lead late. Feels like Dodgers in six, but I’ll be pulling for Houston.

The cloud that hangs over all of this is that it appears as though the Yankees are about to get really good again for some time. They are loaded with young talent, have more talent high in the minor league system, and the biggest contracts on the payroll all fall off over the next two years. That’s like the perfect storm for building a dynasty. It was nice when they were irrelevant for awhile.

Football

Here we are in year like 27 of the KU football rebuild with no signs of improvement. When KU hired David Beaty three-plus years ago, I was firmly in the camp of having to give him at least four and likely five years to get things turned around. With the hatchet job Charlie Weis did to the program, Beaty had to have the luxury of time to rebuild it the right way.

And while I think it was unrealistic to expect more than a couple wins from this year’s team, what should not have been unrealistic was a team that played better. Not a team that gets blown out by mediocre MAC teams in back-to-back games. Not a team that can’t do the simplest things right. Not a team that often looks thoroughly lost.

There was some optimism, most likely misplaced, coming into this season. A close loss (that should have been a win) against TCU last year. The overtime win against Texas. The preseason Big 12 defensive player of the year. A new quarterback.

Turns out it’s the same old shit. A team that isn’t just overmatched in terms of talent, but looks poorly coached.

That’s the big rub against Beaty. When Mark Mangino took over the program, it took him a few years to increase the talent level on the roster. But he and his staff taught the kids he had how to play smart football. They might not have been able to run with Oklahoma’s receivers, but they were always in the right spot and didn’t make the same mistakes twice. This year’s team shows none of that intelligence or ability to learn. And that’s coaching.

I think Beaty is probably safe this year, simply because athletic director Sheahan Zenger will not be allowed to hire a third head football coach. No matter what he’s done to support the other sports and keep Bill Self happy, he’s the guy who panicked and hired Weis, and then bought into the idea of Beaty and his Texas ties turning the talent base around over hiring a guy with coaching chops. If I were Zenger, I’d be thinking about where I’d want to move my family later this year.

And here’s a thought: quit worrying about hiring some offensive genius. Let’s hire a defensive coach and see how that works. Hell, I’d switch to an option offense, or something crazy like that. Stop competing with, oh, every other program in the country for kids that can play in the various flavors of the spread offense and go back to a 1980s-style running game. It seriously can’t get any worse. Why not try something totally different?

Speaking of jokes, Sunday I got to watch my first Colts game of the year. Those guys are a complete disaster. And as I think Andrew Luck’s injuries are the football gods trying to fix their mistake of allowing the Colts to transition straight from Manning to Luck, I think all the other issues the Colts have are karmic retribution for not taking care of Luck. The latest? First round pick Malik Hooker blew out his knee when he was blindsided by a Jags player yesterday. He’s done for the season. Jacksonville is a rapidly improving team, but they barely broke a sweat in rushing out to a 20–0 halftime lead. A lead that really should have been 35–0. It ended up being the Colts first regular season shutout loss since 1993. Yikes. Oh well, that means more time on Sundays for me.

C actually went to the game with a friend. It was her first Colts game. They had pretty good seats, and she had a really good time. She doesn’t know much about football but knew enough to figure out the Colts sucked. She giggled while telling us stories of Colts fans booing their own team, and Jags fans who were making fun of them. And even she wondered out loud why the roof wasn’t open on the last, beautiful, warm day for several weeks.[1]

Basketball

I’m kind of digging all this buzz about the NBA. Maybe it’s just the right point in the web’s history, but it seems like more major sports sites are devoting more time to the NBA than in the past. There’s a different buzz around the beginning of the season than there used to be. We’ve watched parts of all three Pacers games so far, and a few minutes of other games. Pacers? Not good, but not bad enough to be in the hunt for Michael Porter Jr. or Marvin Bagley or DeAndre Ayton next June. Limbo is the worst place to be in the NBA.

Still, I keep telling myself as soon as college basketball begins, I’m much more likely to watch a Butler game than the Pacers, or some top 25 matchup in college than the Cavs playing Boston. To be a casual, yet devoted, fan of the NBA seems like a pretty daunting task. Which I know is a weird thing to say as a guy who watches 130 Royals games each summer. But that’s one team I have to worry about. If I dive into the NBA, there are a couple games each night I need to try to balance with shows I watch, books I’m ready, and college hoops.

I figure I’ll watch more this year than I did in the past, but I’m not ready to go all-in with the NBA just yet. If the Sixers are on, I’ll watch to try to catch Jojo’s act.[2] Until he gets hurt, that is. If the Warriors are playing in the eastern half of the country, L will want to watch them. And I’ll try to catch Wiggins, Jackson, the Morrii, and the other KU guys when they’re on national TV.

And then there was The Scrimmage yesterday in Kansas City. Yep, Kansas took on Ol’ Mizzou in a “scrimmage” to raise money for hurricane victims. As it was the first meeting between the teams in over five years, it was kind of a big deal. I was intrigued by the scrimmage, as it would certainly show more about KU’s talent than their exhibition games against D2 schools. But not intrigued enough to drop $40 for the pay per view. Not intrigued enough to sit and refresh my Twitter feed non-stop for two hours to get updates, either. But I was paying attention in between doing laundry, prepping dinner, etc.

Sounds like it was a good day all around. Big crowd, lots of money raised. Mizzou showed that Porter Jr. and his buddies are all legit talents and MU basketball isn’t a joke anymore. KU showed that Devonte Graham is a legit All-American candidate and if LaGerald Vick, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, and/or Marcus Garrett can combine to be a poor-man’s Josh Jackson, this team can lose in the Elite Eight again. Oh, and KU looked sloppy late in the first half, fell behind by as many as six, and then dropped the hammer in the middle of the second half before cruising and nearly blowing the lead. It felt like February!

I generally support Bill Self’s stance to not play Missouri. No need to rehash the whys and who’s fault is its again. But this was a good thing. And I would not be terribly surprised if the teams are in the same bracket this coming March.

Well, there was weekend one without kid sports. L actually begins basketball practice next weekend, but no games until December, so I’ll have a few more weekends loaded with TV sports.

  1. Folks were bemused about the parameters the Colts use to decide whether the roof will be open or closed back when the team was winning. Now that the team is awful, folks get enraged about it. In truth, it’s just another sign of how dysfunctional the entire organization is.  ↩
  2. I was looking at Embiid shirseys the other night. You can get a game-worn jersey for a cool $7500!  ↩

Sporting News

January 7, 2016 /

I’m trying to get back into a routine after the holidays, and a few big sports stories demand some words.

As I drove home Monday night, I was able to listen to the Kansas-Oklahoma game. When I pulled into my garage, OU had just gone up by 8 with around eight minutes to play in the second half. By the time I got my gear inside, said hello to S. before she went to bed, and then got downstairs, KU had erased the lead. I turned on the TV just after Wayne Selden tied the game and the teams were going to their benches following an OU timeout.

I missed seeing plenty, but I got home just in time for the best part of the night.

There were nearly 19 minutes of game play left, as the old rivals battled into a third overtime before KU snuck out a three-point win. If ever a game demanded the label Instant Classic, this was it. A double #1 battle – KU ranked #1 in the AP poll, OU #1 in the Coaches poll – that went back-and-forth, had plenty of controversial moments, had even more breath-taking moments, and ended up being everything you could ask for from a college basketball game. As ESPN went to Sportscenter, Scott Van Pelt summed up the night nicely, “Well, that’ll do.”

Other than KU getting the win, perhaps my favorite part of the night was the respect between the teams. There was plenty of gentle yapping during the game, but it was never done with anger. Between plays you could see guys talking to each other, grinning, and slapping each other on the butt after a nice play. Following the game, the handshakes and hugs lasted a little longer than normal. It was obvious that the players all appreciated what they had just been through, and were proud not just of their own efforts, but of their opponents’ as well. It was a pretty cool night.

Oh, and Buddy Hield was awesome. I realize it’s easy to say that when your team wins, but if you couldn’t appreciate what he was doing, you must be a real dick. He scored at the rim and on ridiculous shots behind the arc. He got to the free throw line. He set up his teammates. He worked hard to get in scoring position. I saw both Anthony Peeler and Randy Rutherford go for over 40 in Allen Fieldhouse in the 90s. Those performances were awesome. I saw Kevin Durant’s explosion in 2007 on TV, and that was flat out insane. But Buddy was kind of in a league of his own. Peeler, Rutherford, and Durant were all A+ performances. Hield’s was A+++.

After the game, Bill Self addressed my only complaint about the night when he said it was too early for a game this good. This was a hugely entertaining game. But it was also on January 4, and both teams have 16 more conference games to play. In four Saturdays, KU hosts Kentucky while OU will face LSU and freshman phenom Ben Simmons. Sadly, this wasn’t played on the first Monday of March, as the deciding game in the Big 12 race. In two months, who knows how meaningful this game will be. KU goes on the road to play a surprising Texas Tech team Saturday, then to West Virginia Tuesday. Lose one or both of those, and a lot of the luster from Monday fades. And to casual fans of the sport, the glory of the night will pale in comparison to what the teams do once the NCAA tournament begins.

Still, for devoted fans of college hoops, it was a beautiful night. Two rivals who have been playing each other for nearly a century competing until near exhaustion on a cold winter night in a building that is in its seventh decade. For those of us that grew up on Big 8 basketball, it was a throwback to the league’s 1980’s glory days.

In the aftermath, there was discussion of what was the best game in Allen Fieldhouse history. These lists are always biased by what has happened most recently. And they also tend to skew to the ESPN era, where every game is on TV and we have a visual document of what happened.

Was this the best game in Allen history? I think it is for one reason: it was so evenly played from beginning to end. KU had two 11-point leads in the first half, which Oklahoma erased with shocking quickness and ease. OU was up by 10 in the second half, which KU meticulously carved down to nothing. Both teams seized the momentum in each overtime period, only to see it swing the opposite way.

It reminds me of one of my favorite games that I attended, the late December 1993 matchup with Indiana. Both teams were ranked, although it was #6 vs. #12. That game also saw the teams trade leads all night. It had a controversial call late that could have affected the outcome (Steve Woodberry being whistled for traveling late in regulation). It also went to overtime, where Jacque Vaughn hit a 3-pointer with a tick or two left to win the game. However, that game was a non-conference contest right before Christmas on regional television. Outside Kansas and Indiana, not many people saw it, other than the highlights on Sportscenter.

Anyway, the best games at Allen list must include those two games, the final game against Missouri in 2012, the Kevin Durant game, the UCLA comeback game in 1995, and the Kentucky game in 1989.

During the later stages of Monday’s game, the ESPN crawl announced that the Colts had signed head coach Chuck Pagano to an extension. If the game above the crawl wasn’t so engrossing, that news would have floored me.

It was pretty much assumed that after a season of mediocrity on the field and distractions off of it, Pagano would be sent packing. General Manager Ryan Grigson, who has swung-and-missed often on roster moves, was thought to be in danger as well. One might return, but both?

Thus it was an even bigger shocker Tuesday morning when word came that Grigson would come back, too. Supposedly owner Jim Irsay laid down the law and Pagano and Grigson are now on the same page.

To which I will roll my eyes and begin to wonder if the Colts are at risk of wasting the Andrew Luck era.

I like Chuck. Players seem to rally around him and he’s a sympathetic personality. I don’t think the mess the Colts roster has become is his fault. It was an open secret that he was not happy with many of Grigson’s choices in both the free agent market and the draft over the past couple years. But there is also plenty of evidence that he may not be the best coach in the world. The Colts have been blown out far too often in recent years for a team that expects to challenge for the conference title. Too often the Colts looked thoroughly out-classed early in games. Pagano doesn’t call plays on either side of the ball, but being prepared for kickoff is on him. I’m not sure he’s the right guy to lead the team, although I will reserve full judgement until we see who will be coordinating on both sides of the ball next year.

Grigson arrived in Indy with the tag of next great NFL GM. He had helped build a deep, powerful roster in Philadelphia. He was an Indiana guy and seemed perfect to launch the next era of the franchise. Not much he’s done in terms of big roster moves has gone well, most notably the trade for Trent Richardson.[1] Word surfaced last week that Grigson is very unpopular with many of the players and coaching staff. To be fair, that talk always seems to surface when a regime change is on the horizon.

I felt the smartest thing to do was can Grigson, go ahead and let Pagano’s contract lapse and allow him to find another job, and then start over. Maybe Irsay is a crazy genius and this will work. But I’m pretty doubtful and figure the front office/coaching staff mass purge happens a year from now.

And finally, Alex Gordon re-signs with the Royals! What a huge, happy surprise!

Last summer I made mental preparations for the Royals not being able to bring Gordon back. He had already signed one contract that was (likely) below market value to stay in KC. Why would he do it when this is probably the last long-term contract he’ll ever sign? Especially when he’s had a fantastic run and become one of the most valuable players in the game?

I don’t know if other teams were afraid of the injuries he’s had the past two years, thinking they were a sign that he would age poorly. Or perhaps, despite the long list of defensive highlights, they discount what he has done in left field. Or maybe it’s just his notoriously streaky bat that worried other teams. Regardless, something kept other teams from pushing his price tag beyond the Royals’ means. And you knew that if the Royals could stay competitive in dollars and years, Alex would choose them over anyone else.

In the summer, I figured the smart move was to let Alex walk and spend that money elsewhere. But after winning a World Series, I’ll admit emotion trumps intellectual belief. Plus, the Royals might as well keep as many quality players as they can afford through the next two seasons and wait until Hosmer, Moustakas, Cain, and Escobar, or some combination of that group, have left to begin the next rebuild.

  1. Which, to be fair, I thought was a reasonable risk at the time. Figured Richardson’s issues were a function of playing in Cleveland more than him being a massive NFL bust.  ↩

Weekend Wrap-Up

November 9, 2015 /

I’m going to try to get back in a regular schedule of posting now that baseball is over. Although S. and I are heading out-of-town Thursday, which is yet another impediment to those plans. I’ll try my best!

Let’s begin with an old style weekend round up!

It was odd not to have a stressful baseball game two watch on Friday night. Or to be covering a high school football game. Or have some kind of social engagement on the calendar. First Friday night since before the school year began I could say that.

M. has lost two of her molars in the past week. Now she’s down to just two baby teeth. Which means another visit to the orthodontist is probably going to be on her schedule for 2016.

There were some Tooth Fairy issues this time.

She lost her first tooth last Sunday. As I always do on these nights, I set a reminder for 10:30 to do the Tooth Fairy duties before I went to bed. The only problem was that was the night of game five of the World Series. The first alarm went off and I snoozed it for half an hour. Then again. And again. And so on until it was 2:30 or 2:45 or 3:00 – I’m not really sure – and stumbled upstairs. I’ve had all kinds of interesting Tooth Fairy moments since M. lost her first tooth. Stepping on toys that were lying on the floor and made noise. Unable to find the tooth. Having to feel around under a kid’s head to find the tooth. Or just forgetting to make the visit and running in before the daughter in question woke the next morning. Being pretty hammered was a new thing. Fortunately I crept in without running into any walls or tripping on anything, collected the tooth, dropped the money, and stumbled back out.

She lost another tooth Friday. She had it in a baggie and ready to go when she and C. began fighting at about 8:30. I sent them both upstairs to bed. Once I got L. settled and came back down, I saw the tooth still sitting on the couch. I decided that since M. was being a jackass, T.F. would get the night off. Which was smart, because I didn’t have enough money to pay up.

Saturday night bedtime rolled around. I was watching football and got a text from S. saying “Please tell TF that M. lost a tooth and she is putting it on her bedside table.” Solid move by M., letting me know where the tooth was.

But, again, I failed to get any money during the day. We scrounged around the house trying to find a couple more dollar bills and failed. I decided to write a note from TF saying she was swamped and all she had was one dollar. But the other two would come soon! As with the notes the girls get from Elfie in December, I wrote this one left-handed. Which really was kind of stupid, because we know that M. knows where the money comes from. And she knows that we know she knows. I could have just jotted a note. But I figured go lefty in case her sisters see it.

Sunday S. asked M. if the Tooth Fairy came. “Yes,” she said somewhat disappointedly. “But I only got one dollar! She left me a note saying she had a busy night and could only give me one for now. She better get me those two other dollars soon!” We were in the car and I could feel her little eyeballs burning holes into my head. She also told C. and L. that the Tooth Fairy’s handwriting was a lot like Elfie’s.

Before bed last night, she made the loud statement that “The Tooth Fairy better get me my money!” Apparently she’s been listening to some of my early ‘90s West Coast rap.

Sunday was our annual “Spend a whole day at the lake blowing leaves” day. Between L. playing soccer on Sundays for two months, baseball, and the Colts’ terrible start, I had pretty much completely tuned them out. So much so that I just assumed their game against the Broncos would be the Sunday night game. We got home, I ran to the grocery store, and was surprised it was completely empty. “People must already be downtown,” I thought. On the way home I switched by the radio station that normally carries the Colts and a Pacers game was on.

So wasn’t I surprised to sit down, turn on the TV, and not only find the Colts playing, but up 10–0 in the second quarter. What a moment for them to finally right the ship! They made it interesting, but made huge plays late to seal the win.[1] Andrew Luck looked fantastic, even if he again just about got knocked out for the season three or four times. The defense looked as good as they’ve looked all year. And the Colts continue to be Peyton Manning’s kryptonite. I believe that’s 3–0 against him since he went to Denver.

The Colts still have a lot of work to do. They are shockingly thin on defense, and one or two injuries could blow apart that whole unit. They have to find a way to protect Luck. And another bad loss or two could destroy the goodwill produced yesterday. But nine or maybe ten wins are back in play again. At least for now.

Saturday night we took the girls to see the Peanuts movie. They enjoyed it, and I thought it was cute. It hit all the classic tropes from the historic Peanuts comics. Which, I realized, my girls don’t get a lot of. They watch the Great Pumpkin and Christmas specials every year. But they have never read the books the way I did when I was a kid. There were a number of little moments that amused me, but went over their heads completely.

I will say this though (Spoiler alert): the movie is set up so Charlie Brown finally (maybe?) has a big success. The entire time I was worried he was finally going to kick the football Lucy held before the movie ended. Thank goodness that didn’t happen. That really would have pissed me off.

BTW, I looked it up just to make sure Charlie never did actually kick the football. I found this page. I suggest reading through it. Turns out he did kick it, once. However, as the page points out, Peanuts zealots have a very important reason for not counting that attempt.

But really, where did fall go? We’re going to go buy a Christmas tree in just over two weeks.

  1. My Jayhawk brother Aqib Talib with the absolutely stupid and needless personal foul that pretty much clinched the game for the Colts. And then another brain-dead penalty by Denver kept Peyton from getting the ball back with 20 seconds or so to play.  ↩

Hot Sports Takes

October 14, 2015 /

Warning: you might want to put some space between you and whatever screen you’re reading these on. For they are extremely hot sports takes![1]

I must be getting old. I actually kind of enjoyed the Chicago Cubs clinching their NLDS against St. Louis yesterday. In fact, I found it pretty damn cool.

I say that’s a sign of age because I’ve long hated the Cubs. I didn’t hate them for their “Lovable Loser” fans, or because there are tons of Cubs fans around Indy, or even because they broke my heart when I was little. Nope, I always hated the Cubs because, when I first began watching baseball in the late 1970s, the only daily options to watch baseball were on WTBS and WGN, which showed the Braves and Cubs respectively. And both teams were terrible. So I hated them both out of spite, for not providing a team I could watch and enjoy on a daily basis.

Watching the two games in Wrigley this week was pretty amazing, though. That joint was absolutely on fire. The park may be small, but those 41,000[2] or so fans made quite a racket on each Cubs home run. And the ninth inning last night was pretty great.

It helps that the Cubs have a ton of young, fantastic talent that rose to the occasion. And I like Joe Madden. They’re fun to watch.

We’ll see how far they can keep this thing rolling.

I TOLD YOU ANDREW LUCK WAS GETTING HURT THIS YEAR!!! Now there is some question about when exactly he was injured. Was it on one of the 87 hits he took through the first three weeks of the season? Or was it when he was on his own, diving for a first down? Or when he threw his body at a defender who had picked him off and was returning the ball? The Colts won’t say.

In fact, the Colts aren’t saying much of anything. Their front office and coaching staff are apparently at war with each other, so they’ve suddenly turned into Bill Snyder acolytes and are providing almost no meaningful information to the media. So beyond when/how he was injured, they’ve also not shared exactly what the injury is, how serious it is, or how long it should take to heal.

The whole front office thing is ugly. And unusual. While owner Jim Irsay has been a piece of work over the years, the Colts have generally been a pretty steady, drama-free organization. But coach Chuck Pagano is pissed they won’t give him a long contract extension, and has apparently been upset with many of their free agent and draft choices in recent years. You never know exactly what the truth is in these situations, but the general opinion holds that he is upset the Colts haven’t done more to shore up the offensive line and defense, protecting their franchise player on both sides of the ball. Meanwhile, GM Ryan Grigson is basically saying Pagano has the talent to win, and if he can’t get past the Patriots this year, it’s the coach’s fault, not the front office’s.

There are already rumors the Colts will go after Sean Payton when the season ends. Which seems premature, given that Payton is still under contract in New Orleans.

This feels like something that is going to get very ugly before it ends. The Colts being in the absolutely terrible AFC South, and sitting at 3–2 despite playing with 150-year-old quarterback Matt Hasselbeck the past two games, is keeping it on the back burner for now. But I think it’s going to blow before too long. Especially when you look at the Colts’ schedule for the next month.

As a rule, I generally avoid any of the ESPN shows where talking heads sit around and argue. Since even Sportscenter is filled with that crap now, that means I rarely watch any non-game programming on ESPN. But last week, while I was getting my hair cut, I was forced to sit through 20-odd minutes of First Take, the blight on humanity that features Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless. I just happened to be watching the morning after the referees messed up the end of the Detroit-Seattle game. THEY YELLED ABOUT THAT ONE PLAY FOR 20 MINUTES STRAIGHT! All the ladies working that morning were complaining about Smith and Bayless. I’m really not sure why they didn’t have it on Sportscenter, or some other random sports channel like they often do.

TRUMP OR HILLARY: PLEASE FIX THIS! Send these jokers to fight ISIS.

I continue to have no idea how to explain college football. Is Ohio State just so much better than everyone else, that they can cruise through games, make a few plays late, and keep rolling into January? Or are these close games against mediocre teams a sign that they’re going to fall apart at some point?

How long can TCU keep giving up 40+ and relying on miracle plays late to get wins?

Can Baylor survive the epic shootout coming with TCU and not slip up against another Big 12 team along the way?

Do you trust Utah, Clemson, or Michigan State?

Here’s what I do know: Alabama is going to win the whole freaking thing again. They’ll beat LSU, crush whoever comes out of the SEC East, shut down whichever Big 12 they play in the national semifinal, and then roll over Utah, who will upset Ohio State in the other semifinal.

Saban, like always, is a witch.

  1. And by hot I actually mean rather tepid.  ↩
  2. It amazes me that Wrigley holds that many people.  ↩

Hot Sports Takes

September 14, 2015 /

Mondays are perfect days for Hot Sports Takes!

Colts

Yeesh. Once Rex Ryan took the Bills head coaching job, this officially became the dreaded tough road opener against a team with a great defense and something to prove. Which is an actual NFL game description. A loss wasn’t out of the question, but getting worked over, totally owned, and blown out was unexpected. I only saw the first quarter because of soccer so can’t make any broad assessments. Hopefully T.Y. Hilton will not miss much time. Hopefully that D-line can get things figured out. Hopefully Luck will be sharper playing indoors. Fortunately, the Colts play in a terrible division. Unless…

Marcus Mariotta…

is for real. Man, what a pro debut! He’s not doing that every week, for sure. But suddenly the Tennessee games aren’t two automatic W’s on the schedule for the Colts.

Peyton

Mr. Manning looked terrible. Many of the same issues we saw late last year: his throws often looked weak and off-the-mark. Even the good balls sailed on him. You can’t panic about a single game in the NFL. And with his track record, he deserves more time before we begin penning his playing obituary. But he did not inspire much confidence yesterday. Fortunately he has great receivers, a great running game, and a fantastic defense supporting him. He doesn’t need to put up 35 every week to win. But if you’re a Broncos fan, you’re already sweating the playoffs.

SNF

I did not stay up to watch the end of the Giants-Cowboys game (or watch much at all), but I had to laugh when I read this morning of the Giants out-Cowboying the Cowboys. I’ll give Dallas this: pretty much every game they’re in is entertaining and has something you’ve never seen before. With them apparently rubbing off on the opponents, that doubles the fun!

US Open

I did not watch much of the SNF game because I got sucked into the US Open men’s final. It was far from a classic, but it was still terrific TV.

I don’t watch nearly as much tennis as I did a decade or more ago. The US Open was always a fun part of the first couple weeks of the college school year. We’d watch a match, then run down to the campus courts and get a few games in before the lights shut off at 11. As much as I hate to admit it, the dearth of highly ranked American men keeps me from really enjoying the sport.

Still, the Djokovic-Federer match was fun viewing, notably because the huge crowd was trying to push Roger to victory. The rapid swings in the match were what kept me glued to ESPN. One moment Djokovic seemed poised to blow out Roger, the next Federer had completely stolen the momentum. In the third set Federer was points away from taking a 5–4 lead only to see it quickly slip away. And then down 5–2 in the fourth set, Roger roared back to make it a nervous finish for Djokovic. Not quite Federer-Nadal at Wimbledon, but it was fun to watch.

And it’s totally crazy to me that Djokovic had 10 grand slam titles. I know he’s been good for years, but 10 already??? I don’t think his game matches Federer in his prime, and perhaps even Sampras’. But he has a really good shot of passing Federer’s grand slam record before he’s done.

Royals

Time to panic. Or at least ramp those post-season expectations way back. A month ago they were the World Series favorites after adding Cueto and Zobrist. Today, I’m not sure they win two games in a playoff series. Fortunately there are still three weeks to play, and hopefully get Cueto and everyone else right again.

Kid Sports

All three girls are finally in real competition. An update on their escapades later this week.

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