Not one, not two, but three videos this week! The first two were ones I meant to share before we took off on spring break two weeks ago. Alas, that final Thursday was entirely too busy and I wasn’t able to queue them up. The first one seems appropriate for the Final Four weekend. youtu.be/571BuZeeQ… “Dunked On” - Froggy Fresh & Money Maker Mike Here is a classic example of what my friends and I could have done if we had the technology about 25–30 years ago.
Three months into the year, 15 books completed. My meager math skills tell me that puts me on pace for 60 books this year. I imagine that pace will slow a bit. March was a bit of a mixed bag. A couple books I really enjoyed. A couple duds. And one re-read from way back. The Flamethrowers - Rachel Kushner This book was, perhaps, a little too artsy for me.
My Instapaper queue is currently like a cheap toilet: so full that it is overflowing. Wait, that’s a terrible analogy. How about this: by failing to get a links post out before spring break, and then continuing to add items to Instapaper during the break, I have a ridiculous number of articles to share. So I’m going to bundle all the baseball items together in another post, and throw everything else into this one.
I forget if I warned my loyal readers that I would be disappearing for over a week as we traveled south for spring break. Facebook friends know the deal, and hopefully the rest of you figured it out on your own. We are back, safe, tanned, and not entirely well-rested. I dropped the girls back at school about an hour ago and S. is off for a couple meetings. So I suppose I should get back in the swing of things, too, and share some details of our trip.
We’re on the verge of that panic state that precedes any big trip. We’ve had clothes laid out since the weekend. We have about 38 lists with things we need to buy, pack, and take care of before we depart Friday morning. I’m also writing a baseball preview for my paper, L. has a playdate scheduled for this afternoon, and there are still many errands to run. Which means I best put down some NCAA picks before I forget and one of my Final Four picks has already been ousted.
Straight up, I did not like Maurice Clarett back when he played for Ohio State. Part of it was just that I don’t like Ohio State and I hated their coach at the time, Jim Tressel. There were always rumors about him off-the-field, too. Rumors that seemed to be proven true with some legal issues after he left college that resulted in him landing in prison. However, since he went to prison, he has taken hold of and turned around his life dramatically.
Next Sunday I’m going to be walking on a beach, swimming in a pool, and otherwise enjoying the Florida sun on day two of our week on Captiva Island. God forbid there is rain or it suddenly gets cool and I’m forced to watch basketball all day. Because I think my plan next weekend is going to be to soak in the much-needed warmth of Florida[0] and not spend much time watching the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.
Great seasons often come to an end early in March. Teams that cruised through the regular season run into injuries, over-confidence, or just better opponents and walk off the court for the final time with an L next to their name. That happened to M.’s volleyball team last night. After winning their first nine matches, including the first two of the tournament, they dropped a 3-game match in the quarterfinals last night, losing 15–11 in game three.
youtu.be/5AQQ9xw0K… “The One I Love” - Big Country Odds are if you mention the band Big Country to most people in our generation, they immediately and only think of one song. Which makes sense, as other than that classic, Big Country was never huge in America. But they had a couple other smaller hits here in the States, including this gorgeous track from their 1993 album The Buffalo Skinners, which hit #34 on the mainstream rock chart and #17 on the modern rock chart.
This post is one of the most difficult pieces I’ve ever had to publish. Not because I’m sharing some rough personal news or writing about an event that has caused me emotional stress. But rather because it has been percolating in my head for roughly two months, rewritten multiple times, and I’ve spent hours doing research on it. And I’m still not sure I’m satisfied with it. But, since I spent hours yesterday trying to, finally, wrap it up, I’m going to go ahead and post it and be done.
A few TV notes. First, I was a couple days late watching the series finale of Parks and Recreation. In fact, I was a couple weeks behind and watched the final five episodes in a two-night binge. And since that was two weeks ago, this is verrrrrry late. But still… An absolutely perfect and tremendous end to a nearly perfect show. I enjoyed the flash forward gimmick that the final season was built upon, and then the further flashing forward in the finale that gave hints how each character ended up.
As I noted in last week’s Friday Vid, Courtney Barnett’s new album is out later this month. Grantland’s Steven Hyden recently spoke with her and shares his impressions of both the album and how she has exploded onto the music scene. Courtney Barnett Writes All the Best Songs ’Tis the season for articles diving into what is wrong with college basketball and ideas on how to fix it. I think Seth Davis has some really interesting thoughts here.
youtu.be/Lrle0x_DH… “Let’s Groove” - Earth, Wind & Fire EW&F was a big part of the broad musical education my parents gave me. I remember there being a couple of their albums in our record crate, and I loved flipping through them because of their fantastic, futuristic, outer-space themed covers and liner notes. The music was pretty solid, too. I found myself listening to one of the greatest hits collections earlier this week.
I went on record a couple months ago saying that KU’s conference championship streak would end this year. As always, that was a good reminder not to take anything I write here as basis for betting your monthly mortgage payment. I don’t know that this year’s title is the most improbable of the streak. I don’t know that it’s the most fortunate of the streak. I think 2009 is probably the answer to both of those, when a bunch of guys who played limited minutes the previous year, or who were new to the program, surrounded Sherron Collins and turned into a pretty solid team while Blake Griffin missed a handful of games for Oklahoma that opened the door for KU to sneak in another title.
This morning, after dropping the girls off at school, I went around the corner to fill my vehicle up with gas. I started the pump and jumped back into the car to avoid the cold. Seconds later I heard a honk. Then another. And finally a third, along with a muffled yell that sounded like my name. I looked around and there was a friend from St. P’s who had just pulled into the next pump.
The shortest month of the year did not slow me down at all. Five books plus one leftover from January. Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri I forgot to include this in my January list. Probably because I had a hard time thinking of what to write about it. Not that it’s a bad book. It won the freaking Pulitzer for crying out loud. But, rather, I always have trouble writing about short story collections.
I had this post planned out for weeks. It was going to be a “Thank goodness we survived the worst two months of the year, bring on spring!” post. I mentally crafted the words knowing there was a fine chance that the first week of March would feel more like January than April. The last two winters have been terrible, with cold weather lasting deep into spring and major snowstorms hitting us after the official change of seasons.
To kick off the week’s links, one that I did not find until last Sunday, but would have been better suited for last week’s edition. Early 1980’s SNL cast member Gary Kroeger shared his observations from the anniversary reunion/broadcast. It’s really awesome. I love his interaction with the Mannings and his son’s reaction to meeting certain stars. Backstage at SNL’s 40th I’m sure many of you who are parents heard about this earlier this week.
youtu.be/o-nr1nNC3… “Pedestrian At Best” - Courtney Barnett In terms of music, it’s been a slow start to the year. Some solid songs, but there has yet to be a great album. Each Tuesday I check the new releases, hoping for something exciting and amazing that I want to listen to on repeat for days. But each week I’m disappointed. Although it is still over three weeks from its official release, Courtney Barnett’s Sometimes I Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit promises to break that drought.
M.’s volleyball team wrapped up their season over the past few days. Sunday, they played the only other undefeated team in their division. St. P’s won the first game easily, then struggled in the second and lost their first game of the year. I was running the scoreboard and both I and the mom next to me keeping the scorebook were a little antsy. Even more so when St. B’s rushed out to a 5–1 lead in the third game.