{"id":17537,"date":"2026-08-24T10:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T14:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/?p=17537"},"modified":"2026-08-24T10:29:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T14:29:14","slug":"weekend-notes-190","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/2026\/08\/24\/weekend-notes-190\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekend Notes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Another fairly boring weekend for most of our family, so today\u2019s entry will focus on sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Senior Pics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

OK, one big family event over the weekend. L had her senior picture session on Sunday. C came home for a couple hours to help her with her makeup. I was allowed to help carry things to the car but otherwise was kept out of the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All seemed to go well, although apparently one of the groundskeepers at the location they were using tried to balk at them being on the grounds after they had closed for the day.1<\/a><\/sup> Fortunately our photographer talked him out of that and they were able to proceed normally. Another thing marked off both the senior checklist and the list of things S and I will never have to endure again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

HS Football<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Friday was opening night for high school football in Indiana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CHS began the year ranked #2 in 5A. However, the #1 team and defending state champs, New Pal, are in the Irish\u2019s sectional, tempering expectations for this year. While CHS nearly, and probably should have, beat NP last year, I think their talent level is down this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They traveled to the west side to take on Ben Davis, who they beat each of the last two opening nights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Irish fell in an early 14-0 hole and I started looking at the schedule, wondering if this might be CHS\u2019 first losing season in 23 years. The gap grew to 21-7 before the Irish defense decided to wake up. Midway through the fourth quarter CHS tied it at 27-all. BD scored but missed their second PAT of the night, opening the door for the Irish to steal the win. CHS got into BD territory before fumbling the ball away with about a minute to play. 33-27 final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m still not sure I see four wins on the schedule despite the better second half performance. Of course, that\u2019s hard to determine since five of CHS\u2019 eight games are against out-of-state teams. I know at least two of those schools are really good. A couple others CHS has played in recent years and they\u2019ve been close games. I guess we\u2019ll find out over the next two months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

College Sports<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Each time something happens in college sports I think, \u201cOK, this is as low\/dumb as it can get.\u201d Then a week later I am shocked when something lower\/dumber happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This whole nonsense about players suing to get the new NCAA policy of five years to play five seasons applying retroactively is the dumbest. Seriously, LSU just signed a kid who was in two different NFL camps over the summer, practicing with Cleveland as recently as last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eligibility has turned into who can find the right judge to get an injunction, and then wondering how long that injunction will stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the fuck are we doing here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This applies to KU because it seems like if the current framework remains in place – no guarantee! – Tre White will likely return to play for the Jayhawks this coming season. And Melvin Council has a court date to get a sixth year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like both of these guys. I think Tre, especially, could help this year\u2019s squad. But this is dumb on a lot of levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melvin already got an extra year and now he wants another because he couldn\u2019t stick with an NBA team over the summer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while I think Tre would be a good addition, what does him showing up and sliding into a starting spot say to the players who spent the summer in Lawrence, bonding, learning Bill Self\u2019s system, getting better together? I\u2019m sure Tre and Melvin, if they return, aren\u2019t going to defer to freshmen. I would be pissed if I was one of the guys who busted my ass all summer and then these two old guys just showed up in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suppose the argument Self might give in response is that his recent teams have struggled because there haven\u2019t been those program guys who knew his system that hung around, and Tre and Mel could provide much-needed leadership for a pretty young squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I kind of get that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not like either of them are three or four year Jayhawks, though. They were both on campus for one rather strange year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still think the negatives outweigh the positives. Give the freshmen and sophomores who were on campus the chance to play. Tyran Stokes will be in the NBA next year, but most of the other young guys are not ready to make that jump and are prime candidates to return. If you bring in two more old heads, you pretty much guarantee that the young guys who don\u2019t get to play because of their presence are out the door next spring, keeping the Jayhawks on that treadmill of mediocrity they\u2019ve been on the last three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But my basketball head coaching record consists of some mediocre grade and middle school CYO ball, so what do I know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Fever<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve written about the Indiana Fever. That\u2019s because I stopped watching them for a few weeks. Their games weren\u2019t fun because of Caitlin Clark\u2019s constant tantrums and all the unnecessary discord that went along with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late July something shifted and the team started playing better. I watched parts of a few games and it seemed like Clark had found a way to settle down and not complain about every single freaking call. Then the team got locked in and started absolutely humming. They won 10 of 12 games before their three games in four days stretch this past weekend, when they dropped two straight before pounding Chicago last night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s, of course, a whole new level of stupid discussion around the team I\u2019m not going to get into. Primarily because most of the people losing their minds over it are not serious in their concern for the health of the WNBA or women\u2019s sports in general, but rather looking to manufacture a political controversy to scare people into thinking something that is not a true threat to women\u2019s sports is actually a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I do want to talk about, though, is how delightful it is to watch Kelsey Mitchell play. I\u2019m ashamed that I had no idea who she was when Clark joined the Fever three seasons ago. We quickly learned that she was a stone-cold killer on the offensive end. At first there seemed to be some tension in how to harness the best of both Mitchell\u2019s and Clark\u2019s games, as there was significant overlap. That has been figured out, and Mitchell is now on one of the league\u2019s great hot streaks. She\u2019s scored 20 or more points in 23 straight games, a league record. One night last week she scored 29 points in 24 minutes, literally on fire as she had to sit out the fourth quarter because she was overheating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I love most about Mitchell, though, is how she\u2019s very much the anti-Clark. She rarely complains. She rarely tries to sell minimal contact as some egregious foul. She calmly tears the defense apart with a combination of 3-point bombs and twisting layups in traffic, where her arms seem to extend far past what they should be capable of in order to get the ball past the defense. She plays most of the game with a stoic expression, only occasionally letting a sheepish grin slip out when she\u2019s hit consecutive 3\u2019s or curls in a ridiculous shot in the paint. She helps players from both teams up off the floor. She seems happier for her teammates when they play well than when she\u2019s dropping 30 points on someone. Opponents seem to almost universally respect her. There aren\u2019t normally post-game handshakes in the WNBA. I\u2019ve seen opponents come over multiple times and give her respectful hugs after the final buzzer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, and she\u2019s currently working on her Ph.D. Well rounded!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add all that up and she is the perfect backcourt for Clark. Ice to CC\u2019s fire. Steady to CC\u2019s wild. Calm to CC\u2019s, well, not-so-calm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I bet most of these people who suddenly care about the health of the WNBA and protecting its players have no idea that Mitchell is about to earn her fifth, first team All-WNBA honors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If L was ten years younger and wanted to buy a Fever jersey, I would almost insist that she get a Kelsey Mitchell one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Royals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Hey, the Royals have won eight straight!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does it mean anything?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course not, bad Royals teams always play well this time of year, when nothing matters and the teams actually in the playoff hunt are taking a breath before the final stretch run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certainly not enough to get me to pony up for the final month of games. I\u2019m sure ESPN would just rope me into some extras I have no interest in anyway. Also, with another dishonest lockout coming, I don\u2019t want to give MLB a single dollar to think I\u2019m interested. Because my opinion matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Pacers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Full NBA schedules came out last week. Tyrese Haliburton\u2019s triumphant return to the court comes\u2026on the road in New Orleans, in a game that will not be nationally broadcast. Insane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In better news, the team announced their partner for televising their games this year. It is a service called DAZN. A name so stupid there is actually an entry on the service\u2019s FAQ page instructing how to pronounce it. Apparently you say it like \u201cDa Zone.\u201d Oh that\u2019s never not going to be annoying this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, after not seeing the Pacers last year because of my switch to YouTube TV and Hali\u2019s absence making me not want to buy the package that carried them, I\u2019m back in for the 2026-27 season. I\u2019m sure this brand new service will work without any issues and I won\u2019t be ranting about it in this space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

1<\/a>.<\/span> And we paid for access, it\u2019s not like they just showed up and started taking pictures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another fairly boring weekend for most of our family, so today\u2019s entry will focus on sports. Senior Pics OK, one big family event over the weekend. L had her senior picture session on Sunday. C came home for a couple hours to help her with her makeup. I was allowed to help carry things to the car but otherwise was kept out of the way. All seemed to go well, although apparently one of the groundskeepers at the location they were using tried to balk at them being on the grounds after they had closed for the day.1 Fortunately our photographer talked him out of that and they were able to proceed normally. Another thing marked off both the senior checklist and the list of things S and I will never have to endure again. HS Football Friday was opening night for high school football in Indiana. CHS began the year ranked #2 in 5A. However, the #1 team and defending state champs, New Pal, are in the Irish\u2019s sectional, tempering expectations for this year. While CHS nearly, and probably should have, beat NP last year, I think their talent level is down this year. They traveled to the west side to take on Ben Davis, who they beat each of the last two opening nights. The Irish fell in an early 14-0 hole and I started looking at the schedule, wondering if this might be CHS\u2019 first losing season in 23 years. The gap grew to 21-7 before the Irish defense decided to wake up. Midway through the fourth quarter CHS tied it at 27-all. BD scored but missed their second PAT of the night, opening the door for the Irish to steal the win. CHS got into BD territory before fumbling the ball away with about a minute to play. 33-27 final. I\u2019m still not sure I see four wins on the schedule despite the better second half performance. Of course, that\u2019s hard to determine since five of CHS\u2019 eight games are against out-of-state teams. I know at least two of those schools are really good. A couple others CHS has played in recent years and they\u2019ve been close games. I guess we\u2019ll find out over the next two months. College Sports Each time something happens in college sports I think, \u201cOK, this is as low\/dumb as it can get.\u201d Then a week later I am shocked when something lower\/dumber happens. This whole nonsense about players suing to get the new NCAA policy of five years to play five seasons applying retroactively is the dumbest. Seriously, LSU just signed a kid who was in two different NFL camps over the summer, practicing with Cleveland as recently as last week. Eligibility has turned into who can find the right judge to get an injunction, and then wondering how long that injunction will stand. What the fuck are we doing here? This applies to KU because it seems like if the current framework remains in place – no guarantee! – Tre White will likely return to play for the Jayhawks this coming season. And Melvin Council has a court date to get a sixth year. I like both of these guys. I think Tre, especially, could help this year\u2019s squad. But this is dumb on a lot of levels. Melvin already got an extra year and now he wants another because he couldn\u2019t stick with an NBA team over the summer? And while I think Tre would be a good addition, what does him showing up and sliding into a starting spot say to the players who spent the summer in Lawrence, bonding, learning Bill Self\u2019s system, getting better together? I\u2019m sure Tre and Melvin, if they return, aren\u2019t going to defer to freshmen. I would be pissed if I was one of the guys who busted my ass all summer and then these two old guys just showed up in September. I suppose the argument Self might give in response is that his recent teams have struggled because there haven\u2019t been those program guys who knew his system that hung around, and Tre and Mel could provide much-needed leadership for a pretty young squad. I kind of get that. It\u2019s not like either of them are three or four year Jayhawks, though. They were both on campus for one rather strange year. I still think the negatives outweigh the positives. Give the freshmen and sophomores who were on campus the chance to play. Tyran Stokes will be in the NBA next year, but most of the other young guys are not ready to make that jump and are prime candidates to return. If you bring in two more old heads, you pretty much guarantee that the young guys who don\u2019t get to play because of their presence are out the door next spring, keeping the Jayhawks on that treadmill of mediocrity they\u2019ve been on the last three years. But my basketball head coaching record consists of some mediocre grade and middle school CYO ball, so what do I know? Fever It\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve written about the Indiana Fever. That\u2019s because I stopped watching them for a few weeks. Their games weren\u2019t fun because of Caitlin Clark\u2019s constant tantrums and all the unnecessary discord that went along with them. In late July something shifted and the team started playing better. I watched parts of a few games and it seemed like Clark had found a way to settle down and not complain about every single freaking call. Then the team got locked in and started absolutely humming. They won 10 of 12 games before their three games in four days stretch this past weekend, when they dropped two straight before pounding Chicago last night. There\u2019s, of course, a whole new level of stupid discussion around the team I\u2019m not going to get into. Primarily because most of the people losing their minds over it are not serious in their concern for the health of the WNBA or women\u2019s sports in general, but rather looking to manufacture a political controversy to scare people into thinking something that is not a true threat to women\u2019s sports is actually a problem. What I do want to talk about, though, is how delightful it is to watch Kelsey Mitchell play. I\u2019m ashamed that I had no idea who she was when Clark joined the Fever three seasons ago. We quickly learned that she was a stone-cold killer on the offensive end. At first there seemed to be some tension in how to harness the best of both Mitchell\u2019s and Clark\u2019s games, as there was significant overlap. That has been figured out, and Mitchell is now on one of the league\u2019s great hot streaks. She\u2019s scored 20 or more points in 23 straight games, a league record. One night last week she scored 29 points in 24 minutes, literally on fire as she had to sit out the fourth quarter because she was overheating. What I love most about Mitchell, though, is how she\u2019s very much the anti-Clark. She rarely complains. She rarely tries to sell minimal contact as some egregious foul. She calmly tears the defense apart with a combination of 3-point bombs and twisting layups in traffic, where her arms seem to extend far past what they should be capable of in order to get the ball past the defense. She plays most of the game with a stoic expression, only occasionally letting a sheepish grin slip out when she\u2019s hit consecutive 3\u2019s or curls in a ridiculous shot in the paint. She helps players from both teams up off the floor. She seems happier for her teammates when they play well than when she\u2019s dropping 30 points on someone. Opponents seem to almost universally respect her. There aren\u2019t normally post-game handshakes in the WNBA. I\u2019ve seen opponents come over multiple times and give her respectful hugs after the final buzzer. Oh, and she\u2019s currently working on her Ph.D. Well rounded! Add all that up and she is the perfect backcourt for Clark. Ice to CC\u2019s fire. Steady to CC\u2019s wild. Calm to CC\u2019s, well, not-so-calm. And I bet most of these people who suddenly care about the health of the WNBA and protecting its players have no idea that Mitchell is about to earn her fifth, first team All-WNBA honors. If L was ten years younger and wanted to buy a Fever jersey, I would almost insist that she get a Kelsey Mitchell one. Royals Hey, the Royals have won eight straight! Does it mean anything? Of course not, bad Royals teams always play well this time of year, when nothing matters and the teams actually in the playoff hunt are taking a breath before the final stretch run. Certainly not enough to get me to pony up for the final month of games. I\u2019m sure ESPN would just rope me into some extras I have no interest in anyway. Also, with another dishonest lockout coming, I don\u2019t want to give MLB a single dollar to think I\u2019m interested. Because my opinion matters. Pacers Full NBA schedules came out last week. Tyrese Haliburton\u2019s triumphant return to the court comes\u2026on the road in New Orleans, in a game that will not be nationally broadcast. Insane. In better news, the team announced their partner for televising their games this year. It is a service called DAZN. A name so stupid there is actually an entry on the service\u2019s FAQ page instructing how to pronounce it. Apparently you say it like \u201cDa Zone.\u201d Oh that\u2019s never not going to be annoying this year. That said, after not seeing the Pacers last year because of my switch to YouTube TV and Hali\u2019s absence making me not want to buy the package that carried them, I\u2019m back in for the 2026-27 season. I\u2019m sure this brand new service will work without any issues and I won\u2019t be ranting about it in this space. 1. And we paid for access, it\u2019s not like they just showed up and started taking pictures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52,26,67,13,73,41,21,58,14],"class_list":["post-17537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-college-sports","tag-family","tag-football","tag-high-school-sports","tag-indiana-fever","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-kansas-jayhawks","tag-parenting"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17537"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17538,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17537\/revisions\/17538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}