Going to try to blow through this rather quickly, taking a day-by-day approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, I\u2019ll note up top where it, hopefully, does not get overlooked, that this site may be a bit wonky for the next week or so. I\u2019ll explain once things are locked down but if you get errors at any point, please be patient and try again later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was nearly a classic, early fall Friday. High school and KU football, US Open tennis. Despite those opportunities, I was not able to lock down the way I have in the past. C came home for part of the weekend that evening, so we were busy catching up during the beginning of the CHS game. Then I made an airport run to pick up my brother-in-law who was in for the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the time I was home CHS had already notched an impressive and unexpected 30-21 win at Cincinnati St. Xavier and KU was up by 30 at halftime. The Venus and Serena Williams match was still on, and I was able to watch them blow a 5-0 lead in the third-set tiebreak. I half-watched the second half of the KU game but nothing to learn from it. Hope they\u2019re ready for this Friday\u2019s opponent!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other highlight of my Friday was going to the school of two of my nephews and serving as their honorary dad at their Donuts with Dad event. It was the second year I\u2019ve done this event – I also did it at their preschool – and it was again a little chaotic and loud but mostly a lot of fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first full day of college football had arrived! We celebrated by taking C and L to brunch at our favorite place. Which, sadly, after years of consistent service has gone downhill dramatically in the past year. Not sure if we should blame the new, private equity ownership group or ICE, but something is very different. The place was not super crowded and it still took nearly 45 minutes for our food to come out. Back in the day (18 months ago), even if it was packed you never waited more than 10 minutes for your food. Something tells me no one in Mar-a-Lago waits 45 minutes for brunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I dabbled in football during the afternoon. We watched a lot of the IU game, some of the UC game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the evening L had a group of friends over so S and I retreated to our rooms, where I watched the Iva Jovic – Alexandra Eula match on my computer. What a fantastic three-plus hours of tennis! The most entertaining match of the tournament, at least that I\u2019ve seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That match ended just in time for me to switch over and follow the end of the Western Michigan – Michigan game. The last play literally made me scream, which S was not enthused about as she had just turned off her lamp and rolled over to try to sleep. I guess<\/em> the official replay showed that the referee\u2019s decision to put a second back on the clock was legit. But it still seems suspect to me that it took two hours for that replay to be released publicly. Adding to my lack of faith in the outcome was the refs had also missed a clear running into the kicker penalty on Michigan a few minutes earlier. Cue the video of Mark Mangino talking about dollar signs\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n A real good Arsenal-Chelsea match to start the day. I\u2019ve been trying to watch at least part of the Arsenal match each week. This week I managed to see the one Chelsea goal but miss both Arsenal goals, so it\u2019s been super successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of my favorite things about Premier League coverage is how they stick with the cameras on the field for like 10 minutes after the game has ended. You see the winners congratulating each other, the opposing teams shaking hands, each team acknowledging their fans, and hear whatever the post-game environment is like in the stadium. The announcers often go silent in the early moments before beginning their analysis of the match while the scenes from the stadium continue to pour in. Compare that to our coverage where the emphasis is usually on getting to the next game, sending it back to the studio, or most likely, breaking for commercials. One area the Brits definitely do things better than us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n C headed back to B-town early in the afternoon. A few hours later M rolled into town. She was actually headed to a friend\u2019s house – her empty nest mom was feeling lonely so told her to round up some Pi Phis and have them come use their pool – but stopped by for about half an hour so we could catch up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I caught most of the Italy-US women\u2019s basketball World Cup game. Holy nerves! This was a game I\u2019ve seen too many times in March, the heavy favorites struggling to hit shots and the underdogs playing free-and-easy. Italy took a lead with five minutes left before the US made a decisive run. The Americans still had to survive a last-second 3 that would have tied the game. Survive and advance, I guess. In addition to missing shots, the US seemed to have zero chemistry, players cutting at the wrong time, or failing to hit cutters, and their offense devolved into whoever had the ball forcing a bad shot. Concerning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throw in a little yard work, some tennis, and a little football to make it a full day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sadly my better half was under the weather all day. She was worried it was something she ate, but she, L, and I all had the same thing for dinner the night before. Perhaps one of her filthy patients gave her something last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The true highlight of our weekend was taking L\u2019s car in to have a tire with a slow leak checked. Thank goodness they were able to patch it. We just bought M new tires. I did not want to put a new set on a car we bought a month ago. I think most people would gladly pay the tax increase it would take to constantly run teams of street cleaners that used magnets to suck up all the tire-destroying nails and bolts littering our roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also spent the weekend helping her get her college applications in order. By Monday afternoon her full essay was complete, along with her specific questions required by Cincinnati and Wisconsin. She\u2019s just waiting for her teacher and counselor to complete their letters of recommendation for her and she will be ready to submit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US women were back in action against Czechia and looked much better, blowing the game open in the first half and never letting up. Amazing what a difference hitting shots makes. Breanna Stewart is incredible. Even with her general awkwardness sometimes I think she\u2019s the best ball handler on the team. And the lineup that featured Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, Paige Bueckers, and Angel Reese? Whooooooo buddy, that is going to be insanely fun to watch as they play more together and mature. Throw in one more shooter and US basketball will be in fine shape as the older generation begins cycling out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Monday evening, after running my brother-in-law back to the airport, I watched the Jovic-Coco Gauff match. Two games in it looked like it might be a classic. Then Coco ripped off five straight games to take the first set easily. Jovic fought harder in the second set and made it interesting before Coco closed her out. This Jovic kid has a bright future. And Coco is rounding into fine form as the tournament builds to its conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n L was up before dawn this morning for the first official day of basketball workouts. We have some pumpkin spice items in our pantry and fridge. Another summer has slipped by, leaving glorious fall to take over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Going to try to blow through this rather quickly, taking a day-by-day approach. Also, I\u2019ll note up top where it, hopefully, does not get overlooked, that this site may be a bit wonky for the next week or so. I\u2019ll explain once things are locked down but if you get errors at any point, please be patient and try again later. Friday This was nearly a classic, early fall Friday. High school and KU football, US Open tennis. Despite those opportunities, I was not able to lock down the way I have in the past. C came home for part of the weekend that evening, so we were busy catching up during the beginning of the CHS game. Then I made an airport run to pick up my brother-in-law who was in for the weekend. By the time I was home CHS had already notched an impressive and unexpected 30-21 win at Cincinnati St. Xavier and KU was up by 30 at halftime. The Venus and Serena Williams match was still on, and I was able to watch them blow a 5-0 lead in the third-set tiebreak. I half-watched the second half of the KU game but nothing to learn from it. Hope they\u2019re ready for this Friday\u2019s opponent! The other highlight of my Friday was going to the school of two of my nephews and serving as their honorary dad at their Donuts with Dad event. It was the second year I\u2019ve done this event – I also did it at their preschool – and it was again a little chaotic and loud but mostly a lot of fun. Saturday The first full day of college football had arrived! We celebrated by taking C and L to brunch at our favorite place. Which, sadly, after years of consistent service has gone downhill dramatically in the past year. Not sure if we should blame the new, private equity ownership group or ICE, but something is very different. The place was not super crowded and it still took nearly 45 minutes for our food to come out. Back in the day (18 months ago), even if it was packed you never waited more than 10 minutes for your food. Something tells me no one in Mar-a-Lago waits 45 minutes for brunch. I dabbled in football during the afternoon. We watched a lot of the IU game, some of the UC game. In the evening L had a group of friends over so S and I retreated to our rooms, where I watched the Iva Jovic – Alexandra Eula match on my computer. What a fantastic three-plus hours of tennis! The most entertaining match of the tournament, at least that I\u2019ve seen. That match ended just in time for me to switch over and follow the end of the Western Michigan – Michigan game. The last play literally made me scream, which S was not enthused about as she had just turned off her lamp and rolled over to try to sleep. I guess the official replay showed that the referee\u2019s decision to put a second back on the clock was legit. But it still seems suspect to me that it took two hours for that replay to be released publicly. Adding to my lack of faith in the outcome was the refs had also missed a clear running into the kicker penalty on Michigan a few minutes earlier. Cue the video of Mark Mangino talking about dollar signs\u2026 Sunday A real good Arsenal-Chelsea match to start the day. I\u2019ve been trying to watch at least part of the Arsenal match each week. This week I managed to see the one Chelsea goal but miss both Arsenal goals, so it\u2019s been super successful. One of my favorite things about Premier League coverage is how they stick with the cameras on the field for like 10 minutes after the game has ended. You see the winners congratulating each other, the opposing teams shaking hands, each team acknowledging their fans, and hear whatever the post-game environment is like in the stadium. The announcers often go silent in the early moments before beginning their analysis of the match while the scenes from the stadium continue to pour in. Compare that to our coverage where the emphasis is usually on getting to the next game, sending it back to the studio, or most likely, breaking for commercials. One area the Brits definitely do things better than us. C headed back to B-town early in the afternoon. A few hours later M rolled into town. She was actually headed to a friend\u2019s house – her empty nest mom was feeling lonely so told her to round up some Pi Phis and have them come use their pool – but stopped by for about half an hour so we could catch up. I caught most of the Italy-US women\u2019s basketball World Cup game. Holy nerves! This was a game I\u2019ve seen too many times in March, the heavy favorites struggling to hit shots and the underdogs playing free-and-easy. Italy took a lead with five minutes left before the US made a decisive run. The Americans still had to survive a last-second 3 that would have tied the game. Survive and advance, I guess. In addition to missing shots, the US seemed to have zero chemistry, players cutting at the wrong time, or failing to hit cutters, and their offense devolved into whoever had the ball forcing a bad shot. Concerning. Throw in a little yard work, some tennis, and a little football to make it a full day. Monday Sadly my better half was under the weather all day. She was worried it was something she ate, but she, L, and I all had the same thing for dinner the night before. Perhaps one of her filthy patients gave her something last week. The true highlight of our weekend was taking L\u2019s car in to have a tire with a slow leak checked. Thank goodness they were able to patch it. We just bought M new tires. I did not want to put a new set on a car we bought a month ago. I think most people would gladly pay the tax increase it would take to constantly run teams of street cleaners that used magnets to suck up all the tire-destroying nails and bolts littering our roads. We also spent the weekend helping her get her college applications in order. By Monday afternoon her full essay was complete, along with her specific questions required by Cincinnati and Wisconsin. She\u2019s just waiting for her teacher and counselor to complete their letters of recommendation for her and she will be ready to submit. The US women were back in action against Czechia and looked much better, blowing the game open in the first half and never letting up. Amazing what a difference hitting shots makes. Breanna Stewart is incredible. Even with her general awkwardness sometimes I think she\u2019s the best ball handler on the team. And the lineup that featured Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, Paige Bueckers, and Angel Reese? Whooooooo buddy, that is going to be insanely fun to watch as they play more together and mature. Throw in one more shooter and US basketball will be in fine shape as the older generation begins cycling out. Monday evening, after running my brother-in-law back to the airport, I watched the Jovic-Coco Gauff match. Two games in it looked like it might be a classic. Then Coco ripped off five straight games to take the first set easily. Jovic fought harder in the second set and made it interesting before Coco closed her out. This Jovic kid has a bright future. And Coco is rounding into fine form as the tournament builds to its conclusion. L was up before dawn this morning for the first official day of basketball workouts. We have some pumpkin spice items in our pantry and fridge. Another summer has slipped by, leaving glorious fall to take over.<\/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":[31,52,26,67,13,14,49,169],"class_list":["post-17572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-basketball","tag-college-sports","tag-family","tag-football","tag-high-school-sports","tag-parenting","tag-tennis","tag-us-open"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17572","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=17572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17573,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17572\/revisions\/17573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nSunday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nMonday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n