D's Notebook

Tag: NFL (Page 1 of 8)

Weekend Notes

September 9, 2024 /

Another weekend jam-packed with sports dominating my attention.

Personally, it was a tough weekend for football. Cathedral lost Friday night against Cincinnati St. Xavier in the closing seconds of their game, 35–31. KU lost to Illinois despite dominating on defense and having an unstoppable running game they, for some reason, went away from. M’s Bearcats blew a big lead and lost. And the Colts failed to get a win on opening day for the 11th consecutive season.

Well, S’s Hoosiers did put up 77 points Friday. But she doesn’t follow them, so she doesn’t get any credit for the W.

Amazingly the CHS game got my most attention out of all of those games. I listened to the entire thing on the radio. It was back-and-forth all night until the Irish let the Bombers go 65 yards in about a minute with no timeouts to get the win. St. X’s quarterback in Chase Herbstreit, son of a certain media personality. I didn’t get the impression he’s a big time recruit, but he played great in the biggest moments Friday.

We had people over Saturday evening so I was only able to sneak peeks at the KU game rather than give it my full attention. Every time I looked up it seemed like something was going wrong for the Jayhawks. A penalty that wiped out a touchdown. An interception. Giving up a big completion on third down. It was a super bummer to lose. Diving into the numbers, this was a game they could have easily won, probably should have won, with lots of areas to build on. The defense was very good. The O-line great. Devin Neal and Daniel Hishaw nearly unstoppable.

It is definitely concerning that Jalon Daniels made so many mistakes. Not sure if he’s pressing, his body is compromised and will never be what it once was, he’s struggling to mesh with the new offensive coordinator, or something else is going on. I also think it’s too early to bail on the OC. It sure seems like he wasn’t taking advantage of a clear advantage he had, though.

Hey, being bummed about KU losing a close road game to a Power 4 team is new territory. I’m not going to get too worked up over it. I don’t think the ceiling is as high as we were hoping, though.

Hey, that Northern Illinois win over Notre Dame was fun! Not just because Notre Dame lost, although that is always amusing. Nor because we watched the closing minutes with a friend who went to Notre Dame. No, the way NIU coach Thomas Hammock reacted to the win was the greatest sporting moment of the weekend. Sports are awesome.

And Sunday was a gorgeous day so I watched the Colts game on the outside TV while doing various clean-up tasks from our Saturday gathering. It was pretty much what I expected from the Colts. Anthony Richardson made three or four straight ridiculous throws. He made about as many terrible/confusing/infuriating throws, including missing a wide-open AD Mitchell for a sure touchdown. That is who he is right now. I don’t know that he’s ever going to be a great pro, but he will always be interesting. The offensive line, which rebounded last year from a poor ’22, looked old and slow. The run D, allegedly a strength, got gouged all day. And the thing Colts fans have been complaining about all summer, the defensive backfield, confirmed all those concerns.

Eleven straight years without a win on opening day seems impossible, right?

I know it’s early, and we shouldn’t make too many snap judgements. But I did not like the new NFL kickoff rules. Of course, in the three games I watched, nothing much happened on kickoffs. I know returns were way up around the league, including one touchdown. Some analysts remain bullish on the dynamic kickoff concept. It seems to me like, after giving up a few big returns, coaches will start kicking the ball into/out of the end zone and willingly let the opponent start at the 30 instead of risking the long return.

Just like last week, I also sprinkled in a lot of US Open action, following the Royals big sweep of the Twins online, and watching parts of the Fever games both Friday and Sunday. The Royals have a six-game cushion for the final playoff spot! The Fever’s five-game winning streak came to an end Friday, but they rebounded with an overtime win Sunday. Caitlin Clark had 23 and 8 assists Friday, 26 and 12 Sunday.

Saturday morning I ran L over to CHS so she could go to the JV football game. I ran some errands and then hung out in the parking lot rather than go in. I had left my season sports pass at home and didn’t want to pay $5 for a game I didn’t care about. She had fun, although the JV also took an L to St. X.

About that gathering, we had several of S’s high school pals over Saturday evening. It was a fantastic fall evening, in the low 60s/high 50s. Perfect for sitting outside with a fire going while enjoying beverages, food, and good company. We had the pool heated and open, but that was mostly for looks. We were hoping someone might get nutty and jump in but no one drank enough to try it out. I’m sure our neighbors appreciated that. I actually felt pretty good Sunday morning, which was not my expectation.

Football is fully back. The baseball playoffs are close. The US Open, a marker of seasonal transition, is complete. This morning is our third straight with temps in the 40s. I actually wore pants a couple times over the weekend. It will be close to 90 in another 48 hours, so fall is not fully here yet. But it is close.

NFL Predictions

September 5, 2024 /

My NFL predictions are always half-assed. Let’s see if I can make them even more half-assed (quarter-assed?) by typing them up on a morning when a chirping smoke alarm woke me up at 3:30, it took me an hour to fall back to sleep after finding/quieting the proper alarm, then I had to be up less than an hour later to get L to practice…

I never do any real research for these posts, although this year I’ve listened to a few preview pods. I don’t know that they gave me any great insights because there were some wildly varying opinions of certain teams. One guys loves the Cowboys and hates the Bengals. His cohost feels exactly the opposite. How is this supposed to help me? We’ll see how much that limited amount of information has screwed up my perspective.

AFC East

The first of several divisions that are tough to pick. Most folks think the Jets are the most talented across the roster, and their success comes down to whether you trust Aaron Rodgers to 1) be healthy and 2) to somehow regain his 2021 form at age 40 coming off an achilles injury. Buffalo shed a ton of talent to get out of salary cap hell, but still have Josh Allen. Miami? Their shit only worked against bad teams last year. I have no faith in Rodgers, but the Jets won seven games with below-replacement level quarterbacks last year. If Rodgers can play most of the season, he doesn’t have to be an MVP for the Jets to win the division. New York Jets

AFC North

Is Joe Burrow healthy and/or will the Bengals’ receivers’ contract situations be distractions? The Steelers and Browns will suck on offense, and be fantastic on the other side of the ball. That makes it the Baltimore Ravens by default, even though they lost a few very important players. Always trust Lamar. Until January…

AFC South

There is a lot of worry here in Indy because Anthony Richardson looked so erratic in the preseason. I would remind people he played just parts of four games as a rookie, and came into the league as a project. The best hope is that he stays healthy this year, by the end of the season we are seeing progress/growth, and maybe the Colts can sneak into a Wild Card spot. Jacksonville is a mess, although if Treor Lawrence can get his shit together they can make a Wild Card run. Tennessee is terrible. The Houston Texans are an easy pick here, even if CJ Stroud doesn’t get an ounce better than he was as a rookie. The team is young, talented, and loaded.

AFC West

The Kansas City Chiefs until Patrick Mahomes’ arm falls off. And don’t give me this “The Broncos are interesting” talk I’m hearing. They still stink. The Raiders are horrible. Odds favor Jim Harbaugh turning the Chargers around, but not enough to challenge the Chiefs.

Wild Cards

Buffalo
Pittsburgh
Cincinnati

NFC East

This was long the league’s glamor division, filled with three east coast teams plus Dallas. You could generally count on at least three of the teams being excellent. This year? Is even one of them very good? The Eagles will either be super focused and scary good, or be overwhelmed by all their internal drama and struggle to win eight games. Dallas could go either way, too, and we know if they are great from September to December, then they will find a new, humiliating way to lose in the playoffs. Washington and New York are at different parts of the rebuild curve, but both at the bottom. I’ll go with Dallas simply because they won 12 games last year and Dak Prescott is playing for his next contract.

NFC North

Everyone loves Detroit now, which is a weird thing to type. The Packers are a half-step behind them. Chicago could be sneaky good, although it feels early for Caleb Williams to turn them into a winner. The Vikings will host several games against playoff teams. Detroit did it longer than Green Bay last year, so I go with the Lions.

NFC South

This division is a good argument for regulation. Couldn’t we drop New Orleans, Carolina, and Tampa Bay, bring up Georgia, Oregon, and Ohio State and get more competitive games? I know, I know, that is a truly dumb thing to say. It might actually work this year, though. Atlanta by default.

NFC West

I, like many, want to pick against The 49ers here. They have the Super Bowl loser hangover to contend with. The summer was filled with contract drama. Christian McCaffrey is already hurt. Even then, they remain one of the deepest teams in the league. LA has a lot of holes but Sean McVay is a true coaching witch. A lot of folks think Seattle could be sneaky good. I’m not on the bandwagon. Arizona will be better, but still bring up the rear. They may only win 9–10 games this year, but I still like San Francisco.

Wild Cards

Green Bay
Los Angeles
Philadelphia

I was going to pick all the playoff games, too, but that is too much for my brain today. Instead I’ll jump straight to the Super Bowl. Kansas City 30, Detroit 24. In triple overtime. Detroit misses four field goals in OT and Mahomes finally throws a 75 yard TD on the first play of the third extra period.

Weekend Notes

February 12, 2024 /

Super Bowl

Most years I watch the Super Bowl fairly closely, tracking the game, commercials, and halftime show with an idea of being able to take an active role in whatever the post-game discourse is. Last night I sat on the couch for four-plus nearly uninterrupted hours, but was often letting my attention drift to other things.

So no deep takes today. A game that was super boring turned super exciting in the fourth quarter and overtime. No 49ers fan will ever agree if you tell them points after are not important. The Chiefs ascend to the game’s pantheon, and Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes do so for the coaching/quarterback elite of the elite levels as well. The Niners, once one of the most blessed franchises in the game, have a legit argument for least blessed (Super Bowl division, of course). And now ESPN can start forcing the draft down our throats for three months…

I had no idea about the clock rule in overtime, how the teams were basically playing the first quarter and there was no reason for either team to be using time outs late in the extra frame. That seems super dumb to me. It’s overtime; there should be some sense of urgency to score. Glad that didn’t end up being a factor because then we would have heard about it endlessly for the next six months.

Usher’s halftime show? Solid. The grumpy old man in me continues to be bummed that these shows have become more about spectacle than performance, and often a spectacle that is much better viewed inside the stadium than on TV. Usher did the right thing trying the thread the needle between dancing his ass off without relying exclusively on recorded tracks. To me, though, that’s almost more distracting as he would sing a handful of lines then drop out so he could dance again. I know that’s a hell of an expectation and there’s no best way to do it.

Once again the big takeaway is that no one did it better than Prince, and I’m not sure anyone ever will.

Jayhawk Talk

Not the best week for my Jayhawks. Blew a double-digit lead on the road for the second time this season, losing in overtime to a Kansas State team that often seemed only mildly interested in winning Monday night. Seriously, there were a few stretches where both teams played more like middle schoolers, kicking the ball back-and-forth in the dumbest ways possible.

Johnny Furphy, who was apparently sick, didn’t hit a 3 for the first time since he entered the starting lineup. Hunter Dickinson and KJ Adams missed a handful of relatively easy shots that could have kept KSU at arm’s length. Dajuan Harris again had several inexplicable turnovers. And Kevin McCullar was truly bad, forcing bad shots and missing four free throws along the way.

Guess those free throws should have been a clue something was up. McCullar shocked KU fans Saturday morning on ESPN Gameday when he said he might not play that evening against Baylor. Might Not turned into Definitely Won’t as game time got closer, and our sphincters got extra tight.

Fortunately KU’s defense was very good, Baylor’s offense was very bad, and the Jayhawks survived a truly terrible final minute to hold the Bears off. I was glad I missed the second half so those final 60 seconds didn’t ruin my entire night.

Put that all together and I’ve decided KU isn’t winning another road game this year. That’s not a super bold statement, as they have road games at Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Baylor, and Houston, with only OU being a game KU might be favored in. I’m assuming McCullar doesn’t play tonight in Lubbock. Who knows if Harris, who rolled his ankle badly Saturday, will. Furphy still seemed sick Saturday and Jamari McDowell didn’t play because of illness.

The Big 12 title is probably out of reach, as much because of strength of remaining schedule as KU not being able to win a road game. KU has five games left against ranked teams while Houston and Iowa State have just three. Unbalanced schedules suck.

With KU’s road woes, I’ve reached the point where I just hope the Jayhawks can win out at home and then be completely healthy in mid-March. Finishing in the top four of the Big 12 likely means nothing lower than a three seed in the NCAA Tournament. When healthy, KU can beat anyone and go on a run. If they are still banged up in mid-March, they could easily lose to whatever 14-seed they are matched up with.

Other College Hoops Thoughts

Baylor is starting to seem like a lite version of Kentucky. They sign a top ten kid every year, and have multiple freshmen who are expected to leave after one season in Waco. Most nights they have way more raw talent than the teams they are playing. Some nights those young guys are all locked in and look amazing. More often one or two of them are floating through the game, or are overwhelmed by playing against older, more experienced players, and the Bears look disjointed and lost. Not that I’m complaining. Scott Drew is a phony putz and I enjoy seeing him flail around, trying to get those young pieces to work together.

I have no love for Baylor, but it was a true bummer seeing how much Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua struggles after his knee injury a couple years back. He was a breath-taking athlete and seemed poised for stardom when he wrecked his knee. He seems like a shell of his former self, but at least he’s out there still making an effort.

Saturday night was also the second Indiana-Purdue game of the year. The Boilermakers beat the Hoosiers by a combined 41 points in their two games this season. Woof.

I’ve always been strictly neutral in the rivalry since I moved to Indiana. I generally root for whatever is the funniest outcome. Right now Purdue spanking IU is the funniest result, because IU fans are not happy. They are sick of Mike Woodson. They are sick that they would miss the tournament if the brackets came out today. They are sick of the national media fawning over Zach Edey and Matt Painter. They are sick that while they still have five more national championships than Purdue, the last one was nearly 40 years ago and doesn’t mean a thing to most recruits. I think they are also preemptively sick that this might be the Purdue team that finally doesn’t fuck up in March and at least gets to the program’s first Final Four since 1980.

Of course, I watch all this with a healthy dose of worry. IU has never fully recovered from firing Bobby Knight, even if they weren’t the same power in his final 5–6 years as they had been the previous 20. Bill Self is going to retire one day. Maybe someone seamlessly slides in and keeps the airplane aloft, the way he did when he replaced Roy Williams. But IU is a big, fat warning sign that sustained success should never be taken for granted in college sports.

Finally on the college hoops tip, I watched all of the Iowa-Nebraska women’s game Sunday. That was highly entertaining, with Caitlin Clark doing Caitlin Clark things for three quarters until the Huskers shut her down and erased a 14-point deficit to win in the closing seconds. We are going to the Iowa-Indiana game next week and L is looking forward to it.

Props to the Wall Street Journal for pointing out that not only does Lynette Woodard have the true women’s college basketball scoring record, but how the NCAA screwed her and a generation of female athletes when they reluctantly took over women’s sports in the early 1980s.

Clark is going to blow by Woodard’s record a week or two after she breaks the “official” NCAA mark. Hopefully Woodard gets a little more love from the national media in that interim.

Woodard was the first famous athlete I saw up close. When I was visiting an uncle who went to KU and lived in the same dorm as her, Woodard sat a few feet away from us in the cafeteria. I was astounded that she had like four trays of food. I couldn’t wait to get to college so I could get four trays of food at lunch! I also sat by her on a flight about a decade ago. But since I don’t talk to famous people, I didn’t say a word to her. Idiot.

Date Night?

Finally, we went out to dinner with friends Saturday. While eating I noticed something odd at a table near ours.

A couple sat there eating. It was a four-top table, and they were seated so they were next to each other rather than facing each other. They were young, attractive, and looked to be in love; good for them.

However I eventually noticed that the guy had an AirPod in his left ear. And he wasn’t saying much. Odd.

I shifted in my chair so I could see his partner and she had an AirPod in her right ear. She wasn’t talking, either. Very odd.

As much as was acceptable I kept glancing their way. They seemed to be looking at their table. This was during the IU-Purdue game so I wondered if they were watching it on a phone/tablet. Maybe it was hidden, but I couldn’t see a device on their table, and they never seemed to be reacting positively or negatively as you would when watching a game.

Even odder, at one point the guy leaned over, wrapped his arm inside his partner’s and they kind of snuggled into each other as they focused on whatever they were focused on.

Mega odd.

It was crazy strange to me that they chose to probably drop $150 on a dinner for two when they didn’t talk the entire time and spent their time watching/listening to something via AirPods.

Belated Weekend Notes

January 30, 2024 /

I’m still battling a cold. It’s one of those shitty ones that isn’t crazy bad during the day, more annoying than debilitating. But at night between the coughing and sneezing and body aches manages to keep me from sleeping. Each of the last two nights I’ve given up and gone into M’s room to toss and turn so I don’t keep S awake with my nonsense. She did the same thing last week when she had the same cold. Remind me to wash M’s sheets before her next visit home so she doesn’t have to sleep in her parents’ dried snot.

Jayhawk Talk

Another week, another road loss. And another one that KU had every opportunity to win. Other than Johnny Furphy, they shot poorly from outside. They missed some layups and blew some opportunities on the break. They had some huge turnovers in important spots. Yet they scored 75 points on 45% shooting on the road against a top five defense, so I’m not sure you can criticize the offense too much.

Once again a team shot out of their minds against the Kansas defense. Iowa State hit their most 3 pointers in a Big 12 game in five years. Coincidentally it was the most 3 pointers KU has given up in a conference game in five years.

Is that flukey/unsustainable or a flaw in the system? After the game Bill Self said they wanted to sag off certain shooters, specifically Tre King who had only hit three 3s all year. Naturally he went 4–7.

I put this loss directly on Self, and not just because of his defensive choices. He decided to go for a 2-for–1 opportunity late in the first half when KU led by one. KU’s offense had been struggling so I don’t know why you decide to suddenly speed things up to force a shot, just so you can maybe get two shots. Dajuan Harris went entirely too fast, turned the ball over, which became a run-out for Iowa State and resulted in a flagrant foul on Parker Braun after a review. For some reason Self decided to argue the point and got hit with a technical. Fortunately ISU only hit 2–4 free throws, but then hit a 3 to end the half and went into the locker room up four. It felt like that 3 opened up the floodgates for the Cyclones in the second half, when they countered every KU run with a big 3. The 3 wasn’t Self’s fault, but getting the T in that moment was dumb (mostly because the flagrant foul call was 100% correct) and he was lucky the deficit wasn’t six. Coaches preach knowing time and score to their players. It felt like Self needed to look at the scoreboard before he got that T.

While the details kind of hid it, I think this game clearly showed how it is the defensive side that is holding the Jayhawks back. Self’s system has always been to take away drives rather than 3s. He’s had to lean on that more this year partially because of Hunter Dickinson’s immobility inside. I also think KU’s three best defenders – Kevin McCullar, Dajuan Harris, and KJ Adams – all play solid D, but they don’t make the other team feel them. Watch KU’s defense then watch a Houston game and you’ll see a dramatic difference. KU gets to spots and tries to force passes. All five Houston players get in their man’s jersey and don’t stop until there’s a whistle. It is a grinding, exhausting experience to play against Houston. Against KU I think teams always know if they move the ball enough, there will be a lapse that leads to an open shot. Because of that, they play with confidence rather than fear.

I think some of that is related to KU’s short bench. The five starters can’t play at 100% intensity on defense because they rarely come out of the game and need to save something for the other end.

With Furphy’s rapid ascension into the team’s best shooter, that fixes some of the offensive issues this team has. Elmarko Jackson, Nic Timberlake, and Braun might better serve the team by figuring out how to guard people than score the ball. Jackson specifically had a rough time Saturday, getting lost on that ISU 3 right before halftime then getting beat and fouling his man on a backdoor cut when KU was making a run late.

Seven games into the conference season the Jayhawks sit at 4–3. I don’t think it’s time to panic. I do think, though, that the team is going to regret not taking advantage of this part of the schedule. After tonight’s game against Oklahoma State, there are no easy ones left. KU might play significantly better in the back half of the schedule and still drop 3–4 games.

BTW, I forgot how much I hate unbalanced schedules. I know this is a weird year where the conference transitioned from 10 teams to 14 before going to 16 next year. It does not feel right that KU and Iowa State won’t play again in Lawrence.

NFL Conference Championship Games

I didn’t get to see much of the Chiefs-Ravens game, but I guess those of us who doubted the Chiefs should have known better. A dominant defensive performance while the offense did just enough to win on the road. I should have known that a team that lost to the Colts on their home field wasn’t good enough to win the AFC championship game on the same field.

I watched almost all of the Lions-Niners game, which was a wild, exhilarating experience. A huge first run by the Lions put them on the verge of their first ever Super Bowl, only to end in an epic collapse.

In the moment I was pretty critical of Dan Campbell’s decisions to go for it on fourth down in the second half. But knowing that was their MO all year and their kicker’s numbers fall in the shaky zone where I’m not sure you totally trust him in the playoffs, I’m more comfortable with them after the fact.

Besides, the Lions dropped passes and flukey-as-hell Brandon Aiyuk reception that bounced off the Lions’ defender’s face mask were bigger factors in the loss.

The anti-analytics folks love to make those choices THE factors when a team loses a winnable game. In this case you can’t bitch about Campbell’s calls without acknowledging the Niners benefited from one of the craziest plays in NFL playoff history, and Lions receivers dropped three balls that were in their hands and would have extended drives. Change one or two of those plays and it doesn’t matter whether the Lions still go for it and fail or miss field goals.

I’m not all-in on analytics. I think they need to be applied within the context of each game rather than be viewed as definitive guides. And I will generally a trust a coach like Campbell, who has a clear philosophy on their use and is consistent in their application.

Sucks for the Lions, though. They are young and can get better, but you just never know how long these windows will be open.

Which, flipping this back to the first game, makes Baltimore’s loss even worse. They had home field, a dominant defense, an offense that was as good as it has been in the Lamar Jackson era and couldn’t get it done. All in a year when the Chiefs were, relatively speaking, down. When Joe Burrow was injured. You expect the Chiefs to be back in the mix for home field next year, Burrow to be healthy, maybe the Bills will finally plug their holes, and Houston has a ton of money to build around CJ Stroud with. This might have been the Ravens best chance at a Super Bowl in the Jackson era.

Early thoughts on the Super Bowl? They’ve made it this far so I can’t doubt the Chiefs.

I guess anyone who watched football on Fox this year has to have an opinion about the seeming inevitable bumping of Greg Olsen from the #1 analyst spot for Tom Brady next season.

I’m in line with main-line opinion that Olsen is terrific and it’s a real bummer that he will lose his spot because Fox owes Brady so much money. Unlike some folks, I still enjoy Tony Romo, although he can be a little much. I described Olsen as similar to Romo except where Romo sometimes comes off as overly impressed with himself or excited to show how smart he is, Olsen seems excited to share his knowledge. Romo can grate because he is a lot to deal with. Olsen is a joy to listen to break down the games.

Maybe Tom Brady is going to be awesome. There is some evidence that if he relaxes and is willing to be critical, he could be a good addition. It’s just a bummer that Olsen was basically a place holder and will no longer get to do the biggest games. Hopefully he lands in a spot where we get to hear him each week.

Wednesday Notes

January 24, 2024 /

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 that no team, player, coach, or fanbase deserves success because they’ve had years of bad luck and tough breaks. That’s not how sports work. You can play hard, follow the rules, be a good teammate, etc and sometimes the other team is just better and/or luckier.

But, man, Buffalo losing because their kicker pushed a field goal wide right seemed like an especially cruel ending to their game. That wasn’t the real reason the Bills lost – they lost because of a couple bad throws, a terrible drop, and their defense wilting – but it was the final gut punch you kind of knew was coming.

Of course I, like about a million other people, said even if the Bills made that kick, the Chiefs still would have found a way to win, either in regulation or overtime. As cruel as having to watch a postseason game end on a kick sailing wide-right again, maybe it was better than losing at the final gun, or in overtime.

Poor Buffalo.

Pacers

Hey, the Pacers made a trade! And it was a big one, grabbing Pascal Siakam from Toronto for a bench player and three first round picks. At first glance three picks seemed like a lot for a player on an expiring contract. Those picks – two this year, the third in two years – will likely be in the 20s, though, so the Pacers likely aren’t giving up franchise-changing draft opportunities. And most NBA insiders suggest that Siakam is open to re-signing with the Pacers this summer.

It’s tough to gauge the trade since Tyrese Haliburton has only played one, injury-affected game with Siakam so far. While he isn’t perfect, and isn’t playing quite as well as he did three years ago, Siakam is a terrific match for what the Pacers do on offense, and a big upgrade on the defensive end.

It’s tough to get top tier players to come to Indiana. In the last three winters they have traded for Haliburton and Siakam. That’s pretty good.

Even after that trade the Pacers remain in good position to make another move, should the right opportunity arise. Or just play out this season, re-sign Siakam, and tweak the roster over the summer to make a real run next season.

Now Haliburton just needs to get healthy again.

Media

A rough week for people who write for a living.

First, Pitchfork got absorbed into the GQ brand. No one is sure what that means short term, but long term you have to think it signals the end of one of the most important music journalism outlets of the internet era. I’ve always been more of a Stereogum fan, but I’ve read plenty of pieces on Pitchfork over the years.

The next day it was announced that all of Sports Illustrated’s staff had been laid off. SI has been a joke for a long time, and hasn’t covered itself in glory recently. People of my generation longed for it to return to its prime, when it was a vital element of being a fully-informed fan of sports. That was never going to happen. With the NFL exploring buying into ESPN, and the NBA and MLB likely to do so soon after, SI could have carved out a new niche as an alternative to ESPN’s online presence, a home for sports journalism that was free of constraints put in place by one league or another. Instead the private equity ghouls that run it chose to strip it to the bone and let it fade into obscurity.

Finally, the Los Angeles Times laid off a large chunk of its workforce, including some great sports writers with national reputations. The Times seemed like one of the last big papers that would be able to thrive in the current climate. Once again, ownership is more interested in squeezing profit from the paper than viewing it as a public necessity.

As a former member of the media this is just more very sad news. There are fewer and fewer independent media outlets that create original and interesting content. Major media outlets are focused on conflict and who is winning/losing. Local media often seems more like advertising than informative news. AI is going to dramatically change news in the next decade.

I never had great illusions about being able to match the money I made in the corporate world as a journalist, not that that was all that much. As the avenues to make a reasonable wage writing dry up and more and more experienced journalists get thrown out of their traditional jobs, I don’t think there is any chance I could ever get back into the semi- or fully employed writing game.

Which I guess means more blogging, so good for my loyal readers I guess?

Weekend Notes

January 15, 2024 /

Kind of a strange weekend, mostly due to the weather, which kept us cooped up inside. I spent roughly 87.2% of Saturday and Sunday on the couch, under a blanket, either watching sports on TV, watching shows on my laptop, or reading one of two books.

Jayhawk Talk: Hoops

It took awhile to get going, but a very nice bounce back game against Oklahoma. Johnny Furphy moving into the starting lineup worked out pretty well, both for him and Elmarko Jackson, who looked more relaxed coming off the bench. The more I see it in action the more I think KJ Adams’ free throw line jumper/floater could be the key to unlocking the KU offense. Assuming this team continues to never hit 3s, that is.

I forgot to mention in my wrap-up of the UCF game that when KU was cruising in the first half, I texted friends that this was the best KU had looked all year. Moments later they went into the shitter. Saturday, after KU blew a five point lead, I said I hated this team and that they were terrible to watch. Moments later they broke the game open. I need to keep my mouth shut until the game is over.

I watched parts of several Big 12 games Saturday. Man, this conference is such a beast. Most games in the 60s, with minimal separation. I watched Houston for the first time. They are so tough and athletic and relentless. Just because they lost twice last week is not a reason to count them out. Their game with TCU was tremendous.

At this point Baylor would seem to be the favorite, even with Texas Tech tied with them at 3–0. Still, Baylor did not look all that impressive when I was watching their game against Cincinnati. Of course, Tech is letting an accused rapist play, which you have to think the Hoops Gods will not look kindly on.

The conference is filled with teams that have very little to differentiate them. UCF is probably the “worst” team in the league, and they just beat KU. West Virginia beat Texas. BYU and Cincinnati are much better than most people expected them to be. Just like I’m going to complain about KU’s shooting every week, I’m going to remind you about how tough the Big 12 is every week.

Jayhawk Talk: Lance!

KU fans had roughly 24 hours of semi-worry and then 15 minutes of full-on panic when rumors about Lance Leipold taking the Washington job bubbled up. First, he was said to be one of the top candidates on Saturday. Sunday afternoon both an allegedly reputable national site and a local source who is fairly locked in suggested that he had been offered the job and was likely to take it.

The next 10–15 minutes were pretty wild on Twitter and in text threads.

Fortunately Leipold put all that speculation to rest with a Tweet of his own and both national and local sources quickly reported that he and KU had agreed to a new contract.

Full-on panic to elation in 15 minutes. America, 2024!

A couple hours later news dropped that UW was hiring Arizona coach Jed Fisch. Which makes me wonder if UW really offered the job to Lance or if it was just posturing by his agent to squeeze a little more out of KU in their negotiations. Regardless, it seems like KU dodged a bullet. We had all relaxed after the main round of coach shuffling passed with Lance still in Lawrence. Then Nick Saban fucked that all up and we had to briefly stress again.

The added bonus is with Fisch leaving Arizona, they are likely to lose some players, weakening a team that was expected to be one of the best in the Big 12 next year. They aren’t on KU’s 2024 schedule, but that does potentially mean one fewer team to have to beat out for a spot on the conference championship game. Although I have no idea how that is going to work in the revamped Big 12. And KU has a few more holes to plug before we start getting too excited about a possible conference title game run.

NFL Playoffs

First off, we all agree the Chiefs-Dolphins game being on Peacock was bullshit, right? Even more bullshitty was NBC’s incessant promotion of the game. Shots of Kansas City during the Houston game, just so they could talk about the nightcap. Calling it a historic event was even more bullshit.

Then came the cherry on top, NBC proclaiming Sunday that it was a milestone in sports and media history. We are into the second decade of broadly available, streamed sports events. NBC didn’t roll out any new technology for this game. They, and the NFL, decided to hide it behind a paywall that still forced viewers to watch commercials just to scrape more money out of fans.

You have to take out a mortgage to afford going to games. Over-the-air broadcasts have more commercial breaks than ever. And now more and more games are slipping behind paywalls. The NFL and Roger Goodell rival MLB and Rob Manfred for finding the most ways to fuck its fans.

I guess the Chiefs played well? We don’t have Peacock. I watched a movie.

Super impressive performance by Houston Saturday. I picked Cleveland and was very wrong. C.J. Stroud is going to be a problem. The Colts better hope Anthony Richardson can develop into a reasonable foil for him. And if Carolina didn’t have a shit-bag of an owner, I would feel sorry for them totally blowing the draft last spring.

Even more impressive performance by Green Bay Sunday, knocking out my Super Bowl pick Cowboys in shockingly easy fashion. Again, I was very wrong. The Niners are going to cream the Packers next week, though, aren’t they, making this an even worse loss for Cowboys fans.

The last game of Sunday was a lot of fun. Detroit jumps out early and their crowd is going nuts. LA claws back in the second half. You could feel the tension in the Detroit crowd as an LA win seemed inevitable. Then a couple close calls went Detroit’s way, the Lions converted a big third down, and they won their first playoff game since 1992. A great, cathartic scene at Ford Field, even if the Rams probably should have won that game.

Weather

As miserable as it was/is here in Indy, we really got off easy. A ton of rain Friday; I had the pump on the pool cover all day and three different times it rained hard enough to cover it completely. It had time to pump nearly all of it away before we dropped below freezing. As we walked out of L’s games Friday it was still raining hard, but with fat snowflakes mixed in. We got home just before everything froze up. We got just a touch of snow overnight and again Saturday evening, barely enough to cover the ground. And the winds that roared Friday into Saturday were not as strong as expected after the changeover, so our windchills were only around –15 Sunday. Far less snow than many of my readers got, and relatively warmer than many of you had to endure.

It isn’t supposed to get above freezing here for at least a week, with no real chances of snow at the moment.

I ran L to practice this morning and made a quick stop at the grocery store. The 30 seconds it took me to walk from my car to the store were not pleasant. My phone said the windchill was –16. Once you get below zero it really doesn’t matter anymore.

As always, winter sucks.

NFL Playoff Picks

January 12, 2024 /

I should register some NFL picks before it is too late.

After a wild, uncertain regular season, I don’t feel great confidence in any teams or matchups. No upset would surprise me. The NFL is League Chaos, which makes it extremely fun.

NFC

Dallas over Green Bay.
People are getting too excited about the Packers recent good play. And the Cowboys might be the best team in the conference.

Detroit over Los Angeles.
I know the Rams are a trendy pick here, for many extremely valid reasons. The Lions have a lot of holes and deficiencies. The Rams are likely one of the five-six best teams of the moment. But I watched the Detroit game last week and their crowd was electric. Those fans been waiting over a generation for this game. They will pick the team up when they are down and carry them to the win.

Philadelphia over Tampa Bay
Both these teams stink. Jalen Hurts is hurt. The Eagles ended the season on an epic meltdown. But they also have way more talent and there’s a decent chance they decide to get their shit together. And the Bucs stink more.

San Francisco over Philadelphia
This will be a shellacking worse than the first time they played.

Dallas over Detroit
The Lions had their chance to beat the Cowboys a few weeks ago but either blew it or had the refs take it away from them, depending on your perspective. The Cowboys won’t let them keep it close this time.

Dallas over San Francisco
These proud franchises meet in another NFC title game. The Cowboys defense gives Brock Purdy fits. Dak Prescott does Dak Prescott things, both good and bad. CeeDee Lamb makes some huge plays late to clinch the upset. Niners fans will complain that the game wasn’t played at Candlestick, where the awful turf would have prevented Lamb from torching the Niners defense.

AFC

Cleveland over Houston
Houston is a great story. But they won their playoff game last week and Cleveland is a better story.

Kansas City over Miami
This will be a very ugly game. Thanks, Mother Nature.

Buffalo over Pittsburgh
If Pittsburgh was fully healthy I might pick them. The Bills should win big, but will do enough dumb stuff to keep it close.

Baltimore over Cleveland
The storylines! The old Browns vs the new Browns. Joe Flacco returns to Charm City. Cleveland’s fearsome D vs the unstoppable force that is a Lamar Jackson led offense. Should be a good one.

Kansas City over Buffalo
I know the Chiefs are vulnerable and all, and the Bills seem perfectly crafted to take advantage. But the Bills haven’t been able to get out of their way all season, so there’s no reason to think they can do it here, even playing at home. The Chiefs don’t make it pretty, but they do just enough to get out with the W.

Baltimore over Kansas City
The Chiefs magic fails them as the Ravens pummel them on both sides of the ball. Patrick Mahomes ends the game covered in mud and turf and field paint, having battled nobly but fallen short.

Super Bowl

Baltimore over Dallas
All Baltimore does is win Super Bowls when they make it that far. And as nice as the Cowboys run was, they aren’t ready to win a Super Bowl.
Ravens 27, Cowboys 17

Weekend Notes

January 8, 2024 /

It was odd walking downstairs this morning. We put all the holiday decorations away Sunday, so this was the first time since Thanksgiving I was greeted by a dark main floor. C said our family room looked “emo” without the decorations yesterday. I’m not sure if emo is the term I would pick, but it does always take a few days to get used to the tree, etc being packed away for another 11 months.

It was also a strange morning because S is back in the office on Mondays for the first time in years. I’ll share more about that in a future post.

We had a very busy Saturday followed by a pretty lazy Sunday. Some notes…

Back to School

L had games Saturday starting at noon. After her JV contest, S and M left the gym and headed to Cincinnati to drop M off for her second semester. Sunday was the normal move-in day, but she had a greek leadership meeting that began at 9:00 Sunday and needed to go back early. I forget if I mentioned last fall that she was elected as social chair for her house, thus her presence was required at this meeting. She’s already working on planning their formal this spring. UC lovingly added $40 to our bill for her moving in 24 hours early.

I guess move-in went well. Someone working in her dorm told S that Sunday was going to be crazy, so it might have been worth the $40 to avoid that rush.

M ended up getting straight A’s first semester, which was a terrific start. Right before she came home she added Marketing as a major. She figured that’s a better path to a job right after graduation than psychology, which would likely require graduate work. She’s debating whether to do a double major or shift psych to a minor.

While she starts classes today, her sisters got to sleep in one last day. They begin their two-week J term tomorrow.

Snow

We got our first real snow of the year Friday night/Saturday morning. Probably 2” of heavy, wet stuff at our house. I got up and pushed it aside just to make sure the driveway didn’t turn into a sheet of ice. Our forecast this week looks miserable. Rain and/or snow almost every day, and potentially a major storm next weekend.

As a weather geek I love watching how the forecast changes this time of year. Last night one forecast predicted between 15–20” of snow from Thursday night to Saturday morning. This morning it had switched to mostly rain and just 2–3” of snow. I imagine it will change multiple times before the storm finally gets here.

Jayhawk Talk

You’re not going to believe this but I missed the first half of the KU-TCU game watching L play. It’s uncanny how often that has happened this year. Fortunately I got home in time to see most of the second half.

I guess that was fortunate? I might be getting too old to handle games like this, and I’m afraid the entire Big 12 schedule this year is going to play out similar to Saturday’s game. Almost every team plays really good defense. There don’t seem to be many pushovers. The next two months are going to be brutal.

It doesn’t help that this KU team seems to be missing something. Not just the shooters that would open so much up for the offense. There’s another mysterious “something” that isn’t there. It’s far too hard for them to score, even with two first team All American caliber players and one of the best distributing point guards in the county. It’s like the parts almost fit perfectly, but grind against each other just enough to keep them from reaching their potential.

I mean, it would be cool if someone on this team could hit a few 3s every night. Even then I think something would be off, though.

Let’s get this over with: the intentional foul called against Ernest Udeh when he elbowed Hunter Dickinson was 100% the right call. I wasn’t sure in real time but watching replays it’s clear Udeh threw his elbow with intent rather than as a function of trying to grab Kevin McCullar’s truly horrific pass. That said, I’m shocked it was called. There seemed just enough wiggle room for the refs to decide it was a play-on rather than foul since it hadn’t been whistled immediately.

I have no issue with TCU people being pissed about it. I would be, no matter what the replay showed. But I’m already done with Fran Fraschilla’s interpretation of the play, knowing he is going to mention it 8000 times between now and the end of the season.[1] God forbid KU wins the Big 12 by a game because he is going to talk about that single play incessantly. Props to Seth Davis, Seth Greenberg, and Jay Wright for countering Fraschilla’s nonsense.

Fraschilla and the other haters didn’t mention the awful foul called on KJ Adams with about 2:00 left that gave Emanuel Miller two free throws and TCU a two-point lead. I think the Hoops Gods made the call against Udeh to balance that shitty foul on KJ.

(OK, aside time. Fraschilla is truly a putz. For some reason about ten years ago he decided to become the voice for the anti-KU element of the Big 12. He holds onto borderline calls that go for KU like a psychopathic fan.[2] He often parrots lines that clearly come from other Big 12 coaches. Any time there’s a close call in Allen Fieldhouse, you can hear his energy level rise and the eagerness in his voice, like a Jan. Sixer talking about how the election was stolen.[3]

His comments Saturday were even more bizarre since he casually threw in his opinion that Dickinson traveled on his game-winning basket, as if that was another egregious miss by the officials that the entire world saw. It was such a strange observation that CBS’ Seth Davis tweeted back with a clip of the play, showing Dickinson clearly taking a dribble as he shuffled his feet before tossing the shot in.

I’m not sure if Fraschilla has cracked after years of being yelled at by KU fans, if Bill Self pissed him off/froze him out at some point, or just because he is famously close with a couple current/former Big 12 coaches, but it is clear his emotions affect his analysis. At least when KU is involved. Which is fine if you’re a middle-aged blogger. It’s not when you are the main color commentator for an entire conference.)

Anyway, KU is 13–1 but I don’t think many KU fans are feeling great about the team. We were extremely fortunate to beat TCU. There are about 18 tough-ass games ahead of us just to get through the conference season. To be clear, I don’t feel bad about the team. They just aren’t as good as we hoped and the path to reaching the pre-season goals of Final Four caliber team seems pretty daunting.

Colts

What a terrible ending to an unexpectedly inspiring season by our local football eleven. Actually that’s what our soccer team is called so I should not be cute and just say Colts.

This was supposed to be a rebuilding year, a season in which rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson took his lumps and got acclimated to the NFL, with the idea of competing for a playoff spot again next year.

Richardson was surprisingly good, until he got hurt multiple times and ended up needing season-ending surgery. Gardner Minshew shook off some early rough games and often found ways to make just enough plays to win. After a lengthy hold-out and a brief injury absence, Jonathan Taylor returned to anchor the offense. The defense improved as the season progressed.

The Colts won a couple games they shouldn’t have. They lost a few they shouldn’t have. They benefited from playing in the thoroughly meh AFC South.

It was perfect their season came down to a de facto playoff game against Houston, at home, on Saturday night.

The result felt appropriate for the season, too. A couple dumb coaching decisions by Shane Streichen, who seems like a solid coach but like so many “innovative” coaches, occasionally tries too hard to be cute. A couple meltdowns by the defensive backfield. And then the inevitable Minshew mistake. This time is wasn’t a brutal interception on a potential scoring drive, but rather missing a wide-open back on fourth-and-one in the red zone with less than two minutes remaining.

There’s been a lot of debate about the play that did the Colts in, with a decent contingent of folks trying their hardest to say it wasn’t Minshew’s fault. I’m sorry: that was a TERRIBLE throw. He wasn’t pressured. Tyler Goodson was wide open with blockers ahead of him. At minimum it was an easy first down. The way it was set up there was a decent chance Goodson was going to tie the game and give the Colts the chance to take the lead on the PAT.

It was a perfect play call and 10 Colts did their job. It was Minshew who choked.

Now it’s on to 2024 with, hopefully, a healthy Richardson and Taylor behind him to start the season. The Colts weren’t a good team this year, so there are a lot of areas that need improvement if the want to be legitimate contenders next season. Regardless, the 2024 cycle begins with some genuine optimism about what is to come.

NFL

I’ve been saying all year how weird the NFL is. One week you think a team is dominant, the next they lose a stupid game against a weaker team.

So how do you pick the playoffs this year? The Niners and Ravens seem to have separated themselves in each conference. But do you trust Brock Purdy? Lamar Jackson’s shit hasn’t worked in the playoffs so far in his career, is this the year that changes? I think the Cowboys might actually be the favorite at this point. I’m going to need a few days to ponder on all of it, though.

  1. I think it started when Kelly Oubre wasn’t called for pushing off on an offensive rebound in 2015. It came against Oklahoma, where Fraschilla’s son was playing at the time, and I think something in his brain snapped that night. That game was in mid-January and, I swear, Fraschilla mentioned it every time he did a KU or OU game the rest of the season.  ↩
  2. Ahem. I know. You don’t need to mention pots and kettles, men in the mirror, etc.  ↩
  3. Pretty sure Fran subscribes to that conspiracy, too, based on some of his Tweets, so it all fits together perfectly.  ↩

Weekend Notes

December 11, 2023 /

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 Kansas for the first time since the series re-started. Even then, Missouri never got it down to a two-possession game in the second half, so we can call it a comfortable KU win. Comfortable, acceptable, yet somehow unsatisfying. Simply because the Jayhawks were once up 18 and another ass-kicking appeared imminent until Mizzou sliced 10 points off that lead and the final few minutes were a little nervy.

I think it officially qualifies as a Weird Game. Mizzou was better early, and held KU off for about three-quarters of the first half before a huge KU run allowed them to take control. Then the second half had a couple mini-KU runs balanced by steady Mizzou counters. There was never any real rhythm to the game. Mizzou played terrific defense, but couldn’t put together the offensive performance you need to pull an upset in Allen Fieldhouse. KU seemed low-energy much of the game outside of the last five minutes of the first half. Then the ending felt like it could have stretched on forever and the margin would never get outside a 7–11 point range. Like I said, weird game.

One concern for KU is that Mizzou showed that until someone on the Jayhawks starts forcing defenses to respect them from behind the arc, teams will just pack defenders around Hunter Dickinson, both taking him out of the game and preventing cuts to the rim by his teammates. I don’t see anyone on this year’s roster turning into a consistent deep threat, at least not this season. So I think Bill Self’s challenge is to find a way to generate mid-range looks, which this team has the potential to be quite good at, to open up the lane. I’m confident he’ll figure something out.

As is often the case, KU’s schedule is kind of hurting them. They need to develop a couple guys from the group of Elmarko Jackson – who was quite good Saturday – Johnny Furphy, Nick Timberlake, and Jamari McDowell as complementary players that Self can trust. A schedule packed with close games against high level opponents makes that difficult. Worse, KU has played kind of like ass in their guarantee games sprinkled in amongst the MU, UConn, Kentucky, and Hawaii games, preventing mop-up minutes for the young/new guys. Conference play is just a few weeks away, and that’s when guys that Self doesn’t trust usually disappear.

One positive for KU is how well KJ Adams played. He was the best player on the court Saturday. It’s remarkable how he keeps finding ways to add to his game. I joked Saturday night that he may just develop a 3-point shot over the Christmas break to solve KU’s shooting woes. I doubt that will happen, but I also wouldn’t ever count that kid out.

Oh, and he had the signature play of the year so far for KU, one that will be in the pregame video for years.

I also noticed that Self seemed pretty chill throughout the game. I guess this is a post- heart attack thing? It confuses me a little. I mean, I want the guy to be healthy and able to coach for another decade or so. But it also helps my mood considerably when he rips into the team when they are playing like ass.

I love how petty rivalry games make people. MU coach Dennis Gates made a comment in his postgame press conference about how not many teams come into Allen Fieldhouse and lead for 14 minutes. I get what he was saying, and it was 100% valid. I don’t think he was suggesting the game was a moral victory in any way. Just pointing out there was something his young team could build on.

But since it was a rivalry game, naturally KU people made fun of it, generating fake banners about close losses to hang at Mizzou Arena or referencing Bruce Weber and his Try Hard chart. I didn’t necessarily buy into those arguments, but they made me laugh.

Along those lines, I was watching the UC-Xavier game later in the evening and saw a sign in the XU student section that said “Hell Is Real And It’s Three Miles Away.” Rivalries are the best.[1]

Pacers

After a dream run to the championship game – during which they beat Philadelphia, Boston, and Milwaukee – the Pacers played their worst game of the inaugural NBA In Season Tournament in Saturday night’s championship game. They missed sooooo many open shots they had hit over their previous games. Myles Turner was really bad. A lot of people took shots at him forgetting he had played wonderfully in every game before the final.

Oh, and 157 year old LeBron James played like he was 25 and Anthony Davis remembered he is one of the best, and least guardable, players in the game and could not be stopped. Two transcendent players showing out usually get you the win in the NBA.

And even then the Pacers were right in it until about 2:00 were left and the Lakers went on a final surge.

A terrific run, a coming-out show for Tyrese Haliburton, and some rare national attention on the Pacers.

The Pacers have a lot of flexibility moving forward thanks to expiring contracts, some team-friendly short-term contracts, and full control of their future draft picks. Might they make a splashy move to bring in another proven scorer to put next to Haliburton, either between now and the trade deadline or over the summer?

Winter Formal

As I mentioned, L was nominated for Ice Princess at the CHS winter formal. Their winter formal is weird. It is the biggest deal for freshmen, who dress up and get nominated for stuff. Some sophomores go. Almost no juniors go. And seniors show up briefly, but wearing ugly sweaters rather than suits and dresses.

Anyway, L was one of five girls nominated. I hoped she would cross enough demographic lines to be in the running, but it was a girl who is kind of Tik-Tok famous, is a model, and the daughter of a former local celebrity that won. L isn’t a huge fan of the kid who won Ice Prince and she was relieved they didn’t have to stand/dance together. So she really won I guess?

Colts

What a shit game. A couple terrible calls went against them, but the Colts basically rolled over after the Bengals scored an early touchdown. And on a day when the Jags and Texans both lost. This team really isn’t playoff worthy, and will lose in the first round if they make it. But that was still a super-dumb loss.

Indiana Fever

I doubt I’ve ever written about our local WNBA team here before. The Fever won the WNBA draft lottery yesterday. Meaning if Caitlin Clark decides to go pro, as expected, she will likely be playing here in Indy this summer. We already have tickets to watch her play in Bloomington in February. I’m guessing this means L will be going to her first-ever Fever game sometime in 2024.

  1. M was very excited about the game…but went to see a movie with her friends.  ↩

Weekend Notes

December 4, 2023 /

Jayhawk Talk


What a game Friday night between #5 KU and #4 UConn! Since this is rolled into a Weekend Notes post, I’ll chop my thoughts up into chunks tied to the four quarters of the game.

Opening tip to 10:00: This is awesome! The Jayhawks are unbeatable! UConn are frauds! The crowd is AMAZING! Why is Jason Sudeikis hanging out with Sue Bird?

10:00 to Halftime: OK, that could have ended better, but we still have a seven-point lead. And most of UConn’s points were unreal makes at the end of the shot clock. We’re fine, but we need to get the offense back into gear.

Beginning of second half to 10:00: This team sucks. Bill Self is an idiot for not recruiting more shooters. Why is DaJuan Harris playing so bad? UConn isn’t even full strength and they’re going to beat us. I hate this game and sports in general.

10:00 to final horn: What a team! What a win! I love Kevin McCullar and KJ Adams! This was an incredible game and I would have been fine losing it because it was so well played. Bravo sports!

Then I proceeded to stay up another hour watching all the postgame interviews. That put me in bed around 1:00 AM. 9:00 PM tips are dumb. Especially on Fridays.

The Huskies are super tough to guard because of their motion and actions out of it, and KU shut them down for the first ten minutes and last 5–6 minutes. That was an incredible defensive performance. UConn’s comeback was largely fueled because only the KU starters could keep that level of intensity up, and it cost them on the offensive end.

Still a lot of questions about KU’s ability to score, but you toss them aside for a few days after a win that fun.

A bonus to the night was parents of a couple UConn players bitching about their seats. They claimed KU put them in the upper row. Once the game started and you saw two rows of UConn fans right behind the bench – the exact seats you often see Big 12 player parents sitting in – it was obvious someone in Storrs decided that the parents needed to take the upper level seats in their allotment while more important people got the cool seats. Typical entitled east coast BS. Besides, there isn’t a bad seat in Allen Fieldhouse. Even if you have to lean under a beam to see the court.

College Football

OH MAN, WHAT A MESS!!!! AND IT’S GLORIOUS!!!!

I don’t have a huge beef with how things shook out. You can make legit arguments for six teams, and with only four spots, someone is going to get screwed. Obviously a huge bummer for Florida State. It absolutely sucks to go undefeated in a Power Five, err four, errr three, Power Whatever conference, and get the shaft. Michigan and Washington were awarded for doing exactly that. FSU gets the shaft because their quarterback is hurt, which seems like an odd decision point. If you take Alabama, you have to take Texas, who beat Alabama convincingly in Tuscaloosa. Georgia had their shot and blew it.

It was garbage how the biggest topic of last week was not the games themselves, but the hypothetical that the SEC would get left out. Actually my beef was more with some of the horseshit logic used to carve out a spot for an SEC team. The SEC commissioner suggested that if you throw out Texas’ win over Alabama, Bama was actually the better team. Which, first off, is debatable. And then THERE IS NO BETTER DATA POINT THAN A HEAD-TO-HEAD RESULT. Until it threatens the SEC’s spot in the championship playoff. That’s when you throw it out.

The commish also suggested that the SEC deserved a spot simply because of history. There’s no doubt the SEC has dominated college football this century. That means nothing for this year. Georgia doesn’t get extra points for being two-time defending champs. Bama doesn’t get a bonus for being the best program in the game since Nick Saban took over. The playoff is about the games played in the last four months only.

I don’t buy into the conspiracy theories floating around that ESPN wasn’t about to let their future partner the SEC get left on the outside. It is, though, another blow to college sports that a lot of folks are buying into those theories this morning. I think it’s just a super flawed process that had no clear outcome that would have been fair to all. However, you don’t have to be a conspiracist to have known there was no way that it would be Alabama and Georgia who would get screwed in the process.

Mostly I got fired up because the SEC nonsense actually had me wanting Texas to win Saturday so they could put the squeeze on the SEC. I guess KU gets a cut of the Texas CFP payout, so that’s cool. But I’m all about Washington for the next month.

KU Bowl Game

KU goes to Phoenix to play UNLV. Which is kind of weird since the teams will play week three next season in Lawrence.

Seems like it should be a high scoring game, which is how all bowl games should be. I probably just cursed it into being a 17–14 penalty-fest.

Jayhawk fans are now holding our collective breath that no key players decide to sit the game out as they prepare for the draft. Which is dumb. For us fans, not the players. It’s dumb because this game is basically meaningless. It will be cool if KU wins its first bowl game since 2008 and gets its ninth win. Grand scheme of things, though, this is just an exhibition and if Devin Neal or whoever decide they’d rather protect themselves for their pro career, its just a bummer, not something to lose sleep over.

Colts

The Colts remain in the playoff hunt thanks to a truly stupid win in Nashville. Were this not already a pretty long post, I would dive into the details. I mean, the Titans punter got flipped completely upside down and that was NOT the play he might have destroyed his leg on. Let’s all just accept it was a stupid game in every single way and move on.

Holiday Vibes

We went to a Christmas party briefly Saturday. We hung out for maybe 90 minutes then bugged out. It’s not that it wasn’t fun. We just didn’t know a ton of people and weren’t super in the mood to mingle with strangers. Also, S and I both realized we couldn’t hear shit. Everyone was crammed into two connected rooms and our old people ears just were not working at all. S had a long conversation with a lady and I could only catch snippets of it because they were operating in the 5’1” to 5’4” airspace and my ears being a foot higher just could not keep up. I don’t think my hearing is terrible in normal settings. But, man, put me in a crowded room and it goes to shit pretty quick.

M has her last final tomorrow morning, so I’ll be picking her up around noon. We keep telling her that is super early, and our finals always went much deeper into December. I swear we usually wrapped things up at KU right around December 20. UC did not have a fall break, which I guess helps.

Her roommate is already done and went home yesterday. M also has some friends who have a final this Friday at 5:30, which seems like kind of a dick move.

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