It’s been 60 years since the Milan Miracle, when tiny Milan high school knocked off much bigger Muncie Central in the Indiana boys high school championship game. If you’re not from Indiana, you likely know of the game because of the fictionalized version that had Hickory High winning in the movie Hoosiers. The Indianapolis Star had a fantastic oral history of Milan’s run over the weekend. Bobby Plump doesn't spend a lot of time on "
10:50 AM, Tuesday March 25, 2014, Central Indiana. It is snowing. I shouldn’t complain. This is only flurries and not expected to amount to much. 366 days ago, we got 9” of snow. Could be much worse. And it might even warm up to above normal temps in a few days. I think we’re owed a nice, long, pleasant spring. A few items from the notebook. Today is the 84th day of 2014.
My habit during KU games is to text with my buddy Ed in Texas. We stood next to each other for three years at Allen Fieldhouse, with a few assorted games since then. This has become a cool way to, kind of, recreate that energy from the early 90s. On nights when one of us couldn’t be in front of the TV, and didn’t want to wait to watch on the DVR later, it was fun to send updates that went beyond whatever the online scoring updates offered.
I better rush in some picks before the games start here in a bit. This feels like a wide-open year. I’m of the opinion that Florida is the best team in the country. But they’re not so good that they can’t lose. In fact, it would not a shock if they weren’t the team to leave Memphis in a week with the regional title under their belts. But beyond Florida, all season it’s felt like there is a group of 8-12 teams that are all kind of equal.
I watched a few minutes of the ESPN 30 for 30 episode “Requiem For A Conference,” about the classic Big East conference, Sunday evening. Then, Tuesday, I watched the last ten minutes or so of the West Virginia - Georgetown NIT game. Georgetown played the game at their practice gym, thanks to the circus being booked into the normal home court. It was awesome. The arena was packed, including a healthy WVU contingent.
Well, here we go. The best and worst time of the year for everyone who is A) a huge college basketball fan and B) lives and dies with a particular program. Best, because you never forget those comeback wins, those times your team knocked off a higher seed, and those deep tournament runs. Worst, well, because you never forget being on the wrong side of Cinderella’s slipper or the night your best player couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn or that turnover in the last second that changed the outcome.
March gloom came early to KU fans last night, as the news broke that Joel Embiid will not be available to play until, likely, the second weekend of the NCAA tournament after being diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back. Devastating news for a team that needed him on the court and at full-speed in order to have a chance for a deep NCAA run. If KU does survive the first weekend of the tournament, which is in serious question considering their youth and defensive deficiencies, the question becomes how effective can Embiid be after nearly a month off.
I had planned on getting this post out Friday. But, as some of you may have noticed, there were some issues with the site in the morning and I spent a fair chunk of time trying to get it working again. That also allowed me to finish another long article to throw in here. So, here they are: some showbiz links. First, one of two reprints that were circulating recently.
With the major conferences wrapping up regular season play over the weekend and preparing for their tournaments later this week, it’s the perfect time to address some outstanding college hoops issues. All Conference Teams/POY Choices The arguing about these things tends to be a little silly, but it’s generally the good, clean fun kind of silly. Things do get amplified a bit in the age of 8000 sports media outlets who all need to get their original take in, and thrown to another level with Twitter.
A good subtitle for this might be, “The Jig Is Up.” We’ve had two Tooth Fairy visits in the past week. And they revealed something important: M.’s got it figured out. It began last week, when L. lost tooth #2. I couldn’t remember what the going rate was for that tooth. She got $5 for her first tooth, but was the because it was the first tooth, or was that the same price for each front tooth?
At some point last fall, S. let the girls put some games on her iPhone, and they each get turns playing them each day. As you would expect, that has lead to a conflict or two. Last night, we were talking about how the girls would, one day, have their own phones. We explained that it wouldn’t happen until they were able to babysit other kids, or were going to school/sports events on their own.
The Passage - Justin Cronin I resisted this book for some time. I would read a blurb about it, or see a positive review, and move it back up my To Read list. Then, I’d read a synopsis, see it had a vampire component to its plot, and decide to pass. What pushed me over the edge? I came across the AV Club review from when it was first released. That review was glowing, and as the AV Club is my most trusted pop culture opinion source, I could resist no longer.
I thought it had been longer, but it was March 5, 2013 when I last shared the list of shows I’ve been watching. With the fantastic return of “The Americans” last night, it seems like the perfect time to offer up my current list. Last season’s rank in parenthesis. “The Americans” (4) A year ago it was too new to put this high, but season one was phenomenal and, as I’ve already said, last night’s season two debut did not disappoint.
The Americans returns tonight! The Americans returns tonight! With another potentially big winter storm in the forecast, this is just the news I needed to get out of bed in the morning. The AV Club says season two starts off quite well. Here’s a good look at where the series is as the new year kicks off with some interesting details about how the show is created. The Americans aims to break the second-season curse
After KU clinched at least a share of their 10th-straight Big 12 title last night, a discussion list I’m on started throwing out things that weren’t around the last time KU did not win the conference regular season championship. The iPhone and iPad. Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Twitter. I realized that a lot of us have kids that have never known a world where KU didn’t rule the Big 12.
This weekend was L.’s turn with her class bear, Baxter. If you’re not familiar with the concept, many classes send a bear or other stuffed animal home with kids for a weekend. They usually come with a book in which the adventures of the bear are recorded. When it’s your family’s turn, you take some pictures, write down the weekend’s activities, and send it back on Monday. C.’s class is still doing it, in fact.
I forgot to add this to yesterday’s Reporter’s Notebook, and it’s a must share. At the game I covered Tuesday night, there were two older women sitting right behind me. I’m guessing they were both in the ballpark of 70 years old. Early in the game, they were aggressive in their comments towards the home team. “Come on, Andrew! Follow your shot!” “You have to help from the weak side!” “Work for smarter shots!
As all of the US and Canada prepare for today’s women’s gold medal game and tomorrow’s men’s semifinal games in Sochi, here is a fun read on the 1960 gold medal winning US team. On the first day of practice in Squaw Valley, for a workout open to coaches of all of his upcoming rivals, Riley told his team to stage a fake fight to give the impression that the U.
We are in the heart of the winter sports season. Girls basketball sectionals were last weekend, and none of the teams I cover survived to regionals. I believe that’s the first time that has been the case since I started working for my paper. Boys basketball has two more weeks before sectionals begin. I covered the girls state swimming and diving meet last weekend and will head back in a week for the boys finals.
I’ve tried not to get sucked in too much to the Beatles Arrive In America nostalgia wave. Mostly because I feel like I’ve read plenty about them already and it’s enough for me just to spin some of their tunes. This piece, though, is fantastic. In it, Billboard takes an in-depth look at the process of getting the Beatles on American radio in 1963. I don’t think I realized how much work it took to get them on the cultural radar here, and then how quickly they became the biggest thing in the country.