I hate my picks. That’s how I’ll sum up this year’s NCAA tournament. Which seems perfect for a college basketball season I have mostly hated. Spoiled KU fan, I know. As hard as I tried not to, I ended up going with all four #1 seeds to reach the Final Four. Which is an idiotic way to fill your bracket since it has happened exactly one time.[1] Some people think Auburn is creaky and vulnerable based on their late-season lull.
Here we are, NCAA tournament time. The time of some of my favorite, non-family of course, moments of my life. And also some of my least favorite. I suppose that’s the good thing about KU’s relative mediocrity this year: if I genuinely have no expectations, there is only opportunity for good memories this week. I expect them to shit the bed, so anything other than that will be a pleasant surprise.
As I said Friday, last week was a very odd one around here, at least in terms of our daily schedules. Monday was a normal day, although one third of L’s classmates were gone on their retreat. She did go in late after getting her stitches removed and new cast put on. Tuesday had the same schedule, although this was her day to go on retreat. As it involved A LOT of walking, we excused her and she stayed home.
Weird week around here. So weird I’m putting this together Thursday afternoon as I have some plans Friday morning. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Fur Mink Augurs” - Bob Mould Bob’s new album came out last Friday. It is exactly what you would expect from a Bob Mould album. This is probably the best song on it. Sounds like a good song to end a set or show with. I’ll find out in two months.
I just read a remarkable book that demands its own post. The Real Hoosiers - Jack McCallum McCallum, the longtime NBA writer for Sports Illustrated, dove into the history of the Indianapolis Crispus Attucks high school basketball teams of the mid–1950s, when Oscar Robertson starred there. Famously, Attucks lost to Milan in the first game of the State Finals in 1954. Milan beat Muncie Central that night for the championship. Their tournament run inspired the movie Hoosiers.
I had a busy morning, so will blow through a few items from another rather laid-back weekend. Jayhawk Talk Saturday’s regular season finale with Arizona summed up the season for KU. Nice start, only to fell apart when Hunter Dickinson went to the bench. Another solid run in the last 6–7 minutes of the first half on the verge of going up 16, only to give up a seven-point swing in the final minute to destroy their momentum.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Dollar Store” - Ben Kweller featuring Waxahatchee Katie Crutchfield is starting to show up in as many songs by other people as Phoebe Bridgers. Thank goodness both of them are always great collaborators. “Bethany” - Craig Finn Speaking of collaborations, can we just send Finn and The War On Drugs out on tour together and make old guys like me super happy? A perfect melding of their sounds here.
Beirut Station - Paul Vidich I’ve read a couple of Vidich’s books and was luke warm on both, so had largely written his work off. His spy stories seemed reserved, dry, and emotionally complex in a way that I did not connect with. But I heard him on a podcast where his personality seemed the opposite of that, and read some good press for this book, so decided it was worth the shot.
Heavy on James Bond content today, as there was some major news regarding the series’ future along with two other tidbits that haven’t received nearly as much attention. First, Amazon threw another billion dollars at Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli to take over full control of the Bond series. Broccoli especially has not been thrilled with what she believes Amazon’s plans for the series are - she assumes they will milk it for content the way Disney has mined the Star Wars brand and dilute its quality and value - which has prevented any progress in either selecting Daniel Craig’s successor or even developing a script for the next 007 film.
What a stupid, unserious team. That was one of my biggest thoughts after KU lost to Texas Tech Saturday. There’s no shame in losing to Tech; they are a hell of a team and now have wins at KU, at Houston, at K-State, and at BYU. They are very much like Iowa State in that they have a terrific coach who recruited players that fit his style of play and have the mentality he wanted, so they blend seamlessly.
A kid-focused notes post to kick off this week. I’ll save the sad, angry, frustrated hoops thoughts for tomorrow. Foot Girl L continues her healing process after surgery. Actually, things are going great. She went back to school last Monday and other than leaving early one afternoon because her splint was causing her pain, survived the week. She tried the knee scooter one day, but it was also rubbing against the splint so she decided to crutch around instead.
Movies, Shows, etc Groundhog Day Every year I think, “Hey, I should watch this again!” when February 2 rolls around. Then it either isn’t available on a free service, or I missed when it would air on cable. This year I finally did it! Probably the first time I’ve seen it all the way through since the mid–90s. I forgot how dark it gets for a long stretch. The final quarter feels very 90s, but, hey, that was the time.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Snowflakes” - Dropkick Some beautiful, hazy, power pop to start this week’s list. Is it asking too much that our days of snowflakes on the ground be done for this year? “Hardly” - Free Range This week’s Alternative Number One was Juliana Hatfield’s “My Sister.” Thus I listened to a lot of other ’90s alt rock by women and women-fronted groups. This song is new, but it would fit right in with those acts.
Alias Emma - Ava Glass To start, a crackling British spy caper. Emma, a young agent in a secret department within the British secret service, is tasked with guiding the adult son of a former Russian agent to safety before a Russian death squad can liquidate him. The catch is the Russians have tapped into London’s security network and are able to track many of Emma’s movements. And they may have placed an agent at the top of the security service, preventing her from calling for help.
As I mentioned in Friday’s Playlist, last week was a very odd one in our house. Monday was a school holiday. Tuesday the girls got up and went to school, then C called me as soon as they arrived saying she had thrown up in the parking lot. So back home she came. She puked again that night, so she was home again on Wednesday. Wednesday was also L’s surgery day.
A crazy week in our house, for a bunch of reasons, so my comments on this week’s batch of music will be even more half-assed than normal. Never fear, the songs are still good! open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Focus” - Preoccupations This band’s sound never changes much, even though their name has changed over the years. They still have this great, timeless, post-punk sound. “Champagne Taste” - Sunflower Bean Maybe a little Veruca Salt…salt?
I’m starting this post Wednesday as I sit in the waiting room while L gets her foot operated on. I thought about just skipping this topic, but since I have time to kill, I might as well share a some thoughts about the Jayhawks. I don’t know of any way to label the last few weeks as anything other than the biggest on-court disaster this program has faced in over 40 years.
A quick note to share that L had her surgery this morning. Everything seemed to go well, no surprises, and she did great. She’s upstairs in bed, still groggy from the anesthesia and waiting for the pain meds to kick in. She’ll be home for a few days but hopefully back to school next week and on the path to healing.
Saturday Night Live is one of the core pop cultural tentpoles that helped mold the person I am. From when I was first able to watch its prime time specials in the late Seventies, to when I started watching the show live in the early Eighties (along with the Seventies re-runs that played after midnight in Kansas City) it help establish my sense of humor and gave me a base to form friendships with like-minded classmates and neighbors.
I would wish you all a happy Presidents’ Day but, well, you know. Speaking of bullshit, I’m splitting what would normally be in the Weekend Notes post into two entries this week to separate the fun from the bullshit. Although there will still be some bullshit in this post. Regional Champs! Saturday we drove about an hour west of the city to Greencastle for the regional round of the Indiana State basketball tournament.