• Weekend Notes

    A pretty solid weekend around our house. Enough went on that I will divide this into two parts. Smaller items in this post, a bigger post to come tomorrow. After a crappy four days of rain and steadily decreasing temps, the weekend was gorgeous here in Indy. Sunday it got into the 80s for the first time this year. We took advantage by doing phase one of pool opening prep, power washing all the crap that had collected on the cover since last October. Actually pool opening isn’t until three weeks from today. S half-mentioned getting the patio furniture out…

  • Weekend Notes

    In some ways it was a terrible weekend. In other ways it was a good one. The common theme was a lot of basketball. Jayhawk Talk I’m very glad that I didn’t see a minute of Houston destroying KU. I had this game chalked up as an L ever since KU easily beat the Cougars last month. A 30-point loss, though? I have to admit, that was unexpected. It wasn’t a huge surprise that Kevin McCullar was ineffective then sat the entire second half. But Hunter Dickinson injuring his shoulder and leaving the game was not on my BINGO card…

  • Weekend Notes

    Snow! Our first significant snow of the year hit Friday afternoon. Which was perfect for A) kids who are driving home from school, B) a wife who has to commute through rush hour traffic, and C) the opening night of All Star Weekend. Perfect in this case meaning the opposite of perfect. We ended up getting between 4–5” inches of heavy, wet snow at our house. Everyone made it home safely and I was excited to get to use the snowblower for the first time in three years. It broke exactly three years ago right when I finished clearing the…

  • Wednesday Notes

    NFL Because of basketball (KU and CHS) and some other activities, I didn’t get to see much of the four playoff games last weekend. San Francisco is very lucky to advance, and does not seem like the same team that ran roughshod through their opponents during stretches of the regular season. Jordan Love’s final pass for Green Bay might have been the worst choice/throw in a big moment in a long time. Good for Detroit for advancing again. A damn shame the NFC title game won’t be at Ford Field. That scene would have been wild. I’ve written many times…

  • Weekend Notes

    We had a super-busy Saturday that featured a lot of L’s for our family. Fortunately, for me, the one dub was a big one. Throwing hoops and real life together, our family went 1–7 for the day. Cathedral lost JV and varsity games. More on that tomorrow. S’s Hoosiers lost to Auburn. M’s previously undefeated Bearcats lost to Xavier. The Pacers lost to the Lakers in the IST championship game. And L was nominated for, but did not win, Ice Princess at the CHS winter formal. The win… Jayhawk Talk Well, we finally got a competitive game between Missouri and…

  • Holiday Weekend Notes

    For the first time in three years we were home for Thanksgiving week. We packed a lot in, and it deserves a wide-ranging, extra-long breakdown. College Visitor I picked M up Tuesday around noon after her last scheduled class of the week. We grabbed lunch at Hangover Easy, a place just off campus I’ve wanted to try just because of their shirts. It was solid, but I couldn’t find any shirts for sale. I guess I’ll have to get one online. That night she (and C) went with me to L’s game. M had a couple nights out with high…

  • Pro Sports Notes

    Time for a few thoughts about the exciting world of professional sports. MLB Playoffs I have continued to watch the playoffs most nights. Maybe not as closely as I did a few years back, but I’ve had them on which is a big step for me. Since I’ve been checked out on baseball for the past two seasons, that has turned me into one of those viewers who is amazed by seeing players for the first time in October and probably infuriates people who give the game attention all season. Thus I’ve been infatuated with Texas Ranger Adolis Garcia. That…

  • Sports Notes

    NFL Four weeks into the NFL season and I’m not sure what to make of things. Is there a single team that deserves unquestioned trust? The Chiefs lost at home to Detroit opening night, righted themselves over the next two weeks, then apparently looked kind of crappy against the Jets last Sunday before escaping with a win. The Bills played lethargic football against the undermanned Jets in week one, but have been kind of awesome since. Miami hung 70 points on Denver, then lost by four touchdowns the next week. Dallas has made a strong argument as the most complete…

  • Sports Notes

    I’ve stacked up a lot of sports thoughts over the past several weeks. Let’s dive in and see how long it takes to get through them. Tour de France After watching the Netflix show Tour de France: Unchained in June, I was all-in for this year’s tour, even ponying up for Peacock for the month to watch.[1] It was like the good (bad) old days watching Lance Armstrong as I turned the race on first thing every morning and tracked the day’s progress. This year’s race was awesome. Week one was incredible, with all kinds of cool attacks and finishes…

  • 2003 NBA Draft Diary Revisited

    As promised, a look back at the very first post I ever published to this site. Perhaps you’ve already gone back and re-read it. I thought it would be fun for me to annotate it with some thoughts. I have edited out sections of the original that did not inspire me to add something new. With apologies to the Sports Guy… Ah, back when I read and loved everything Bill Simmons wrote. We are coming to you live from the palatial basement of DDB in beautiful Carmel, IN. I have a bowl of Margarita’s salsa with a bag of Tostitos…