Humbled
There are beatdowns and there are BEATDOWNS. What Kentucky did to Kansas last night was a BEATDOWN, with an endless number of exclamation points after. And I was lucky enough to watch it in person at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse. Yay. First thing, Kentucky is really freaking good. They have length on top of length, and their only “normal” sized player…
Football Notes
Well, there’s snow on the ground. Probably as good of a time as any for my first lengthy football post of the year. Jayhawks It says a lot about the KU football program’s recent history that a win over another crappy team and a near-win against a very good team went down as the best stretch since the end of…
Starting Over Again
Twenty years ago I developed a theory about sports. This theory stated that sports teams, or the coaches and administrators that lead them, can sell their souls to the devil in exchange for short-term success. I came up with this theory after Missouri went 14-0 in Big 8 play in 1994. While they had some fine talent, Melvin Booker and…
Hawks (Of Many Kinds)
Worlds collide to make the first post of the week an easy-to-name one. First, a few words about Naadir Tharpe leaving the Jayhawks basketball program. I felt sorry for Naadir all season. He was clearly miscast as a primary point guard for a national championship contending caliber team. But, thanks to several misses on the recruiting trail by Bill Self1,…
Two And Done
My habit during KU games is to text with my buddy Ed in Texas. We stood next to each other for three years at Allen Fieldhouse, with a few assorted games since then. This has become a cool way to, kind of, recreate that energy from the early 90s. On nights when one of us couldn’t be in front of…
Second Loves
I watched a few minutes of the ESPN 30 for 30 episode “Requiem For A Conference,” about the classic Big East conference, Sunday evening. Then, Tuesday, I watched the last ten minutes or so of the West Virginia – Georgetown NIT game. Georgetown played the game at their practice gym, thanks to the circus being booked into the normal home…
Dancing
Well, here we go. The best and worst time of the year for everyone who is A) a huge college basketball fan and B) lives and dies with a particular program. Best, because you never forget those comeback wins, those times your team knocked off a higher seed, and those deep tournament runs. Worst, well, because you never forget being…
Say It Ain’t So Jojo
March gloom came early to KU fans last night, as the news broke that Joel Embiid will not be available to play until, likely, the second weekend of the NCAA tournament after being diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back. Devastating news for a team that needed him on the court and at full-speed in order to have a…
Season Ending Post
With the major conferences wrapping up regular season play over the weekend and preparing for their tournaments later this week, it’s the perfect time to address some outstanding college hoops issues. All Conference Teams/POY Choices The arguing about these things tends to be a little silly, but it’s generally the good, clean fun kind of silly. Things do get amplified…
10
After KU clinched at least a share of their 10th-straight Big 12 title last night, a discussion list I’m on started throwing out things that weren’t around the last time KU did not win the conference regular season championship. The iPhone and iPad. Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Twitter. I realized that a lot of us have kids that have…