IU @ Northwestern

I was gonna skip this game because I’m watching it after it ended and I didn’t really want to put the thought into typing after my law class tonight, so again tonight’s post starts late. But I was inspired by the color commentator tonight who said that Joe Kennedy, from Northwestern spent last summer work for Barack Obama and will do so after graduation. This combined with his experience as an athlete, means Kennedy was getting "the full monty."

You keep using that word. I do not think it mean, what you think it means.

13:!6 Sampson’s pissed, and he should be. We haven’t made a 2 point basket yet, and are 3-7 from beyond the arc. That’s just lazy. We’re up 9-6, but after two piss-poor defensive possessions he rightfully needed to tear some people new rectal orifices.

12:42 On the same out of bounds play under Northwestern’s basket they get the pass into a guy cutting right under the basket. If I didn’t already have a beer going that would be enough to drive me to drink.

12:13 You know how the way you perceive things as a kid colors your perception of some things for the rest of your life? Well Northwestern sucking and being an easy win is something I always expect. The fact that tonight’s game is a HUGE deal for this team is hard for me to rectify. Even though I was at an IU @ Northwestern game a few years ago that we lost (and man was I pissed that night), it’s still tough for me to adjust my world view. I think it must be similar to how people in government who came up during the cold war have trouble adjusting their world view to a post-cold war world. Also, I’ve lived in Chicago for 7 years now and I keep expecting the weather in March to start getting nice, because that’s what happens in Clarksville, and even though I know it’s gonna be shitty here for at least another month, maybe more, my mind says March = nice weather.

9:37 Earl Calloway just pulled the pass it off the guys ass play and get the lay up. That’s AWESOME!
I can’t believe he missed the lay up though, but still AWESOME!

9:17 IU’s defensive rotation has been way too slow so far tonight.

8:05 Just watched Wilmont stand his ground and not even make an attempt to step over and help out on the drive. Northwestern gets a lay-up out of it. Follows that up by taking a charge the next possession. I was all ready to tear him a new ass for that crappy matador defense and then he takes the charge. I hate feeling conflicted.

Commercial: For all the latest medical scoop. See (former) Surgeon General C.Everett Coop.

6:35 Haven’t run a single play yet to get the ball into DJ. I just don’t get this. And it’s not just tonight. This is the theme lately. And he just got beat like a red headed step child off the dribble. Why in God’s name would he get that close to a man on the perimeter.

5:34 CRAP! Tie game. btw, they just went inside to DJ and he coughed it up. Maybe I’m not such a genius. No, that can’t be. They just went inside again. I’ve changed my mind. Start jackin’ threes.

3:51 NU is in a 2-3. Armon was driving the gaps and kicking it out, but no one else moved, and the ball stayed on the same side of the court the whole time. Result. Turnover. The ball has got to move the defense and standing around watching your Freshman point guard be the only one who does the right thing will never get you an open look. And IU’s losing right now.

3:14 I really like the way NU plays on offense. I’ve felt this way for a while now. The spread the floor, get lots of movement and kill you with back door cuts. Full Princeton Willie. You know what’s coming but it’s still hard to stop it.

2:12 OH MY GOD! Bassett just hit a contested three, but he was the only one who moved at all that entire possession. God, that’s bad basketball.

1:31 Wilmont for 3, we’re back up by 1 now, but NU is out playing us at this point. Oh, now we’re down by two again.

Halftime. That shot by Wilmont was ridiculous. Don’t know whether I should go with "Better to be lucky than good." of "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." IU up 32-28. Just caught a shot of the stands at Welsh-Ryan. Don’t know if you’ve ever been there. This place is not big. It reminds me a standard Indiana High School gym, and there are a lot of open seats.

19:09 Dj scores again, 5th point of the night. Both on put backs. The 2-1-2

18:55 Same inbounds play! NU scores. It’s time to go to a 2-3 on the in bounds plays. We clearly can’t cover them in man.

18:34 The 2-1-2 is preventing good ball movement, and we’re settling for early outside shots. I don’t like it.

17:40 Finally DJ scored on a post move. NU switched to a 3-2 on that possession. It was pretty easy to get it inside like that. I doubt we’ll see much more 3-2.

15:07 Two things. Bassett is a scorer. No getting around that. This is about the same time that the wheels came off against Michigan the other night. The one plus side of doing this on Tivo-delay is that I can’t possibly jinx a game that is already over.

14:27 WOW! That’s a tought shot Wilmont just hit. Normally I’d consider that shot a defensive win, even if it goes in, but Wilmont can pull those things out of his ass like few I’ve seen. There are some shots that are bad shots for some people that are at least "not horrible" when other people take them.
Most of the shots he takes are like that.

13:07 Nice steal. Late on the pass to DJ, Erik.

10:26 That was a horrible possession. The only time the ball got closer than 25 feet from the basket was when Wilmont chucked it at the rim fro 27 feet or so. IU by 4.

9:43 Out of a time out we turn the ball over. Nice.

9:13 That was some decent ball movement. Swung it all the way around the perimeter. Nice open shot. Resulted in two free throws. Pass the ball kids.

7:41 Earl, when you pass fake it needs to be convincing. Just thought I’d mention that.

7:21 Jesus. Another Wilmont bail out.

6:45 Out of the list of IU players who have made 8 3’s in one game (Wilmont has now done that) Mr. Full Monty Color commentator pointed out Jay Edwards. For the record the other guys were Alford, Neil Reed, Robert Vaden and Brian Evans. Jay Edwards is who I’d pick out of that list too.

4:24 AJ, that was a bad shot. I’m sure that will be pointed out to you later, but come on.

4:20 Another bad in bounds play for IU. It just points out that coaching can only do so much. The announcers keep saying how they stressed that in practice and still they blow it.

3:06 Wilmont now has 31 with 9 three pointers. Wow. Can’t say much more than that. A lot of those have been well contested.

2:42 That is why I’ve never liked the full court press. IU just got a really easy basket and the foul. Pressing rarely helps you beat a team that can handle the ball at all. I’m of the mind that a press only helps you beat a team you’d probably beat anyway. IU by 11.

1:51 Three turnovers in a row. It’s a five point game. Pretty much time to get your heads out of your asses.

1:03 Nice patience for IU, but poor D. 4 point game. Man, I hate it when the NU games are this close. I hate it when any game is this close.

33.1: Sloppy, but finally picked up the O-Reb. Now Bassett’s gotta drop the free throws. Got it. One more? Got it.

25.8: 4 point game. IU ball. All about free throws here and Suhr misses

9: OK, AJ, free throws. Arrrrgh. One more to go. got it. 3 point game. Don’t really know why AJ doesn’t go in for the uncontested lay-up right there. It’s now a one possession game instead of a 2 possession game.

1.2: MISS! IU’s gonna escape Evanston with the win. Not pretty, but a very needed win. One more must-win to go and then it’s tourney time.

JT

Transitive property of Tim Hardaway

Tim Hardaway hates gay people
        a                =         b
Tim Hardaway hates broccoli
        a                =         c

Now, I’m no math expert, maybe Magnus can help me out with this, but here’s what I think this means

gay people hate broccoli
       b          =        c

Also, if Tim hates both gay people and broccoli, then by the transitive property gay people = broccoli, which makes them interchangeable. Which means if gay people hate broccoli, as they must according to my math, and they are the same as broccoli, they must hate themselves.

Also, President George H.W. Bush would turn away a truck full of gay people from the White House gates.

I have a feeling that if I continue down this line of reasoning I may rip a hole in the space time continuum necessitating the assistance of Wesley Crusher.

I must therefore end this line of thought with a plea to the one person I know who really, truly hates broccoli.

Help me to understand this mess. I’m tired of Tim Hardaway having so much power.

JT

Found in Translation

I was just reading my "This year in Python" desktop calendar. This is what I learned. In Japan "Monty Python’s Flying Circus" was retitled "The Gay Boys Dragon Hour" and was followed up with an on-air discussion of the show. Find something better than that. I dare you.

JT

It’s Hard to find, like, good help

It is election day here in Chicago and I wanted to share a campaign phone call I got the other day from the supporters of Naisy Dolar, who is running for alderman in my ward against the incumbent, these are excerpts from the phone call as I recall them. These are, to the best of my ability, direct quotes, from the well meaning, but verbally, um, like, not so good, person on the other end of the phone.

"Did you know that Alderman Stone has been, like, going down for the last couple of years?"

"So, if you’re like, um, interested in, like, change, um. Like, Naisy’s, like, um, pretty good with that."

The whole conversation was this bad, and amazingly mind numbing. I felt considerably dumber when I hung up the phone. So if you live in the 50th ward, please consider Naisy Dolar, because like, she’s, um, pretty good for change.

JT

Quick Thought on the Oscars

I missed a good sized chunk of the Oscars last night playing maybe the worst assemblage of people to ever call themselves a basketball team (we won 95-24 and we shouldn’t be that much better than anyone), so I didn’t see the Tenacious Burgundy musical number but I did see a clip of it this morning. And it lead me to this thought.

Every year the Academy hires someone who is supposed to be funny to host the show. This demonstrates that the Academy realizes the importance of comedy. The symbol for theatre is a comedy and a drama mask, not just a drama mask. Why in God’s name is there no recognition for comedy? Some of the greatest movies of all time have been comedies. And some of the greatest performers in the history of film have been comic actors. Just because a movie is funny doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be in the discussion for Best Picture, or that Sacha Baron Cohen didn’t turn in one of the most remarkable performances in any movie this past year.

I know I’m not the first person to bring this up, but not being first does not equal being wrong. Either include comedies in the best picture category or start recognizing them in their own category.

Plus, I for one, would like to see another hour added to the broadcast.

JT

IU vs. MSU

Seems I can’t start this on time.

8:01 IU up by 6 at this point. This has been a defensive battle. Pretty much to be expected. DJ is scoreless at this point and Neitzel has 2. This ain’t gonna be pretty

6:17 It took Vitale almost 10 mintues to bring up naming something after Bob Knight. The amount of restraint it takes a dog in heat not to hump everything that moves is roughly equivalent to how long Vitale waited tonight.

4:56 DJ gets on the board with a free throw. Looking at him this game I’m struck with how cut he is relative to the start of the season. BTW, another MSU turnover. IU is up by 10

4:13 Rod Wilmont’s Robert Vaden-like basketball IQ is on display tonight. He’s taken at least three shots that are at best highly suspect and at worst retarded.

3:18 Since DJ’s two free throws this game has been about as sloppy as, ah crap I can’t come up with anything, ooh, A Denny Crum era U 0f L game. There that’s it.

2:29 14 turnovers so far by MSU. Vitale just said "And these aren’t apple turnovers. I love apple turnovers." Swear to God. You can check the tape. Also, just saw the Dr. Brown Directv commercial. I just watched Back to the Future the other day as it happened to be on TV. Whoever they hired for continuity on this spot really dropped the ball. The cut on his head, in the movie if over his right eye. In the commercial it’s over his left. After reading that, it sounds really dumb that I 1) noticed it and 2) bothered to type it, but as Sally Albright said "It’s out there."

addendum to the above comment. We’re only 8 years away from the Hill Valley of the future, and as best I can tell we’re no closer to hover boards than we were in 1985. Laughable!

1:40 Worst pass ever. Erik Suhr to the Izzone.

:59 Another cold night for Lance Stemler. He needs a slump buster.

:21 Held MSU to 20 points in the first half. Game’s only half over, but if you’re gonna get this one, this is how you have to do it. Shut down defense and a lot of forced turnovers.

Halftime: Laura’s watching the game with me tonight. And by watching, of course I mean reading a book, but she is in the same room as the game which is a HUGE step. We tried to go watch this game tonight at Kirkwoods, which is a new IU bar here in Chicago. It seems like a nice place, but it was PACKED. We walked in, saw the crowd and heard the loud. Turned around and walked out the door. I gave the whole situation my best Roger Murtaugh. "I’m gettin’ too old for this shit." And then I jumped into a tub with another man, who happens to hate the Jews.

2nd Half: Oh, btw, the other night I said I’d let you knwo when I saw a good screen. Lance Stemmler set one in the first half for Rod Wilmont, who then clanked it.

19:01 Going to the line for 3. This is the second time Bassett has been fouled while shooting a 3. That’s some heads up defense.

18:40 Crap Neitzel, just hit a big 3. I don’t like that. Don’t need to see him get hot. IU still by 10

17:49 Crap. There’s another one. It’s now a 5 point game. See. What did I say?

16:47 Dick Vitale cannot say the word Spartans. "Here come the Spar-ans!" Reminds me of watching Shannon Doherty  using contractions.

16:20 Bassett with the steal and a lay-up. The more I watch him, the more I like what I see.

15:31 Stemmler for 3!!!! IU back up by 11

14:17 First TV timeout of the half. So far so good. Still up by 9. MSU now has 18 turnovers.

13:14 You know what’s just as effective as double teaming DJ White. Making him catch the ball, back to the basket, 15 feet from the rim. Makes him almost completely useless.

12:07 Frustrating possession. poor shot, O-Reb, good ball movement. Travel.

11:30 4 point lead, MSU picking up the pressure and we look shaken. Yay for the TV timeout.

11:25 Another turnover. Poop

11:04 2 point game. turnover. CRAAAAPPPPPPPP!

10:51 In HD, Coach Sampson has some skin problems. No judgment, just saying

10:05 Tie game and MSU goes to the line. All caused by MSU playing the pick and roll really well on the other end and Bassett making a bad pass.

9:34 Melt down. Bad passes, turnovers, DJ hasn’t taken a decent shot pretty much all half. This is horrible.

9:08 Finally DJ hit s a field goal. Not a great look, but the best so far tonight. He worked to get position on the post and they worked to get it into him.

8:30 Two possessions in a row and they work to get the ball into DJ. Getting the ball inside leads to good things. This team tends to get away from that for long stretches at a time.

7:46 MSU by 5. This could be another good finish between these two teams.

7:40 Wilmont. Big time airball. Followed by Bassett fouling a jump shooter. Stupid

7:05 Keeling for 2. 4 point game.

6:44 Good Defense forces an MSU timeout. Two good possessions back to back. Also Laura gave up the pretense about five minutes ago and went in to take a shower. She gets the trophy for effort.

6:13 18 for Bassett so far.

5:56 Horrible defensive rotation = wide open dunk for MSU. Followed by a sloppy turnover. This is waht MC Skat Kat was singing about.

5:24 Another 3 point opportunity for MSU. IU is sleeping on Defense.

4:44 IU is gonna lose this game, unless they wake up on both end of the court.

4:10 I know he wants to get to the TV time out, but our heads are up our asses and need to be pulled forcibly out.

3:27 They just showed the stats for Dj and for Neitzel and it strikes me that the SIDs for each school should submit two head shots for each player. One smiling the other looking upset so they don’t put DJ’s smiling mug over his six miserable points.

3:26 Vitale is pulling for the Departed for Best Picture. His reasoning seems to be Susan Lucci and he’s Italian. All awards should be given out based on similar standards.

3:14 Vitale’s back on Bob Knight. I’m amazed we can understand anything Vitale says with his mouth pressed so tight to Knight’s ass.

2:22 They have not made a concerted effort to get the ball inside since I last mentioned it.

2:12 Vitale just said he thinks the ACC is the strongest conference. Man, I couldn’t be less surprised by that. Homer Simpson just said he thinks beer is the best drink.

1:31 MSU by 8. Game is over. I love Erik Suhr, but he just lost a long rebound because he’s a full foot shorter than the guy he was boxing out. That’s just tough to overcome.

:42 Got a turnover with about a minute to go and the shot we took is a 25 contested three pointer. I’m shaking my head.

:18 Erik Suhr just took a charge in the back court. Likely won’t make a difference, but it’s nice to see. MSU still up by 7.

End of Game: Gave up 20 points in the first half, and 46 in the second. Enough said.

CNN said I was lazy

The subject line reads correctly. 
And no, it is not an implication associating me with a larger group.  I was
personally attacked on CNN today.  Sr. Correspondent Allan Chernoff called me
out.

Allow me to set the scene by
introducing you to the major players:

CAST

Allan Chernoff, Sr. Correspondent,
CNN (The Reporter)

Melvin, The most prominent and
charismatic of my redneck neighbors who interjects “man” as every third word
when he speaks to you (The Man in the Old Ford Truck with the “3” license plate
in the Middle of the Street)

Blue Mini, Cherished auto of mine
(The Object of Evidence in the Reporter’s Assault against Me)

The various other white trash ghetto
rednecks of Cameron Street (People
whose Habits Normally Involve Loud Music and Shouting at 3
AM)

SETTING

Exterior shot.  Day.  A snow-covered
street usually filled with activity is busy with persons outside at
2:00 p.m. on a
Wednesday afternoon.  Nothing outside of the ordinary, as most of these persons
don’t have jobs.  Melvin is seen in the middle of the street in his background
after he tried to rock his old blue Ford out of the snow drift, only to get it
stuck after hitting his wife’s minivan, the very van spoken of by the
reporter.

BREAKDOWN

I am attaching a link to the full
video clip for your perusal.  I apologize for the low quality.  And, to answer
your questions in advance as you watch: Yes, it is the street on which I live. 
Yes, it is my house.  Yes, it is my blue Mini Cooper.  And, yes, I am the
“gentleman” who is taking the “lazy route.”  http://www.adambowling.com/cnn.mpg 

EPILOGUE

Though some of you attached may have
aspirations of a lifestyle based on laziness, to date, I am the only person of
whom I am aware to have his laziness certified by an international news
network.  (Also, I LOVE the street on which I live.  If you wrote biographies on
my neighbors, people would swear they were fictional.)

Aren’t you glad you know
me?

P.S. Why CNN chose my street for its
story is well beyond any reasonable guess I might have, except to paint
Indianapolis in a
“redneck” light.

Shame, Shame, everyone knows your name

Here’s a list of names I should know, but don’t        Here’s a list of people’s names I know but shouldn’t
Richard L. Ford                                                                    Larry Birkhead
Clinton W. Ahlquist                                                            Howard K. Stern
Shawn M. Duncan                                                                Dannielynn Smith
Matthew C. Bowe                                                                Anna Nicole Smith
Adare W. Cleveland                                                            
Pedro J. Colon
Montrel S. Mcarn
Brett Witteveen
Blake H. Howey
Matthew S. Apuan
Christopher K. Boone
Kelly D. Youngblood
Brian A. Escalante
William C. Spillers
Chad E. Marsh
Justin T. Paton
Todd M. Siebert
Daniel T. Morris
John D. Rode
Ronnie G Madore, Jr
Carl Leanard Seigart
Branden C Cummings
Allen Mosteiro
Nicholas A Tanton
Russel A. Kurtz
Dennis L. Sellen Jr.
Robert B. Thrasher
Donnie R. Belser Jr.
James J. Regan
Ian W. Shaw
Eric Ross
Leroy A. Camacho
Luke Daniel Simpson

The list on the right everyone knows. The list on the left is the names of every soldier that has died in Iraq since 2/9/2007 when Anna Nicole Smith died. The top story again this morning on the Early Show was about this stupid whore and the men who nailed her. I left before the story on all of the people in the left hand column. I have a feeling I’d still be sitting there.

The news is a travesty. It makes me more angry every time I turn it on. I wish I had the time to go back and see how many women were killed by their husbands or boyfriends in the time the news spent covering Lacy Peterson. My guess is that the number is more than 50, yet they spent months on this thing. How many weddings were called off while we all wondered about the "runaway bride" and saw pictures of her and her yellow eyes, so help me god she had yellow eyes.

Now Brittany Spears is in Rehab again, for the third time this week. Who CARES! Apparently everyone is stupid, and we really care about this crap, or the news is doing us a horrible disservice every time they lead with this crap and push the real news, the news we should all care about because it effects our lives much more directly than blonde women with emotional problems ever could to the middle, end, or off the newscast completely.

I was looking over a US History text book a few years ago that is meant for high school students. A good portion of the section on the 1990s was spent on OJ. Does this qualify as the history our children need to know? It certainly seems that way. There was more time spent on the state of California v. Orenthal James Simspon than there was on Brown vs. Board of Education.

I better stop now, or I’m gonna get myself so worked up into a shoot that I won’t be able to think clearly for the rest of the day.

God, this crap bugs the hell out of me.

JT

Real Time Thoughts

Stealing this idea from Bill Simmons.

Just under 11:38 to go in the first half of the IU v. Minnesota game and I’m gonna try my damnedest to give my impressions as the game progresses. I was distracted for the first 8 minutes by a guy playing an Inspector Gadget?Beverly Hills Cop medley on a flute, so I didn’t get to start right away.

11:38 In the last four plays Erik Suhr has taken two charges and hit a jump shot from just inside the top of the key. The single most exciting play in basketball is a player taking a charge.

11:23 Except when the other team does it. DJ just picked up his second foul on the offensive end

10:22 Suhr deflects a pass. Well played passing lane.

10:11 Lance Stemler takes a charge! That’s four total since I started typing. DJ takes a seat.

9:37 Second possession in a row for Bassett to score on a jumper off the dribble. It’ll be nice to see what he can do when he’s past his Freshman mistakes

9:19 Wilmont 3! I read this morning that Coach Sampson had to tell Wilmont to shoot more 3s, as he’s only take 5 in the last fourr games or something insane like that. That must have been a strange conversation, having to remind someone to do what it is they most like to do in the whole world.

8:00 Laura just reminded me that i should be watching more basketball and 90210 reruns.

7:53 This experiment is the perfect example of why I’m trying to teach my students to type with all ten fingers. I would never be able to do this if I couldn’t watch the game while I type.

5:05 I’m not ready to kill and bury Lance Stemler, like some people I know, but he hasn’t made an open shot in close to two months. He plays very well on Defense and does a lot of the little things it takes to win a game, but he just missed another wide open 3 that was the result of good ball movement, and well you guessed it.

4:16 Did you know that Noble Romans puts over 90 pepperoni’s on it’s stuffed pepperoni pizza? Count your pepperoni’s today.

4:00 IU just ran a play where Lance Stemler and Mike White were supposed to set three different double screens. Neither one of them touched a Minnesota player on any of those screens. Screening and boxing out have got to be the two parts of the game that are the least taught today. I’ll let you know when I see a good screen set.

2:45 Hey, Sam, is it just me or does Earl Calloway remind you of a much less stoned Dre?

Halftime: I have trouble believing the time out Sampson called with :35 left in the half involved these words. Armon, dribble a lot, but don’t go anywhere. Then throw a really bad pass to Wilmont so he can bail you out with a three at the buzzer. If so, nice job boys.

18:05 Minnesota either doesn’t watch tape, or doesn’t have the personnel to make this work, but they are not doubling Dj. If he’s doubled well he has a great deal of trouble getting the ball to the open man. When not doubled he’s a rock star, and if they stick with this and he stays on the court (8 minutes in the first half) he’s gonna kill them.

18:01 I just watched the blind date OSU Michigan commercial for ESPNU. The OSU guy goes from interested in this woman, who he apparently can’t be bothered to pick up in his car (good first impression) to possessed with anger in about .5 seconds. All the acting skill of a young, bald Keanu.
These are the things you notice when you see the same commercial about 500 times. This is our country, after all.

14:01 Very lackluster double team from Minnesota. Still worked

13:54 IU’s only up by 6. Ridiculous.

13:37 Turns out beign closely gaurded doesn’t help Lance’s shooting woes.

13:16 Great. Now it’s a 3 point game

12:48 Wilmont just took a contested jump shot off the dribble. I haven’t seen a good open shot caused by passing or penetration from IU in about 5 minutes.

12:35 Wilmont just took the most slow-motion like charge I’ve ever seen. He was there for about 5 seconds and still the guy plowed into him, very slowly.

11:26 Minnnesota has gone double team on DJ every time he touches the ball. He hasn’t scored since they made this change. It would be nice if we had some other bigs who could double him in practice  so could learn how to either score or pass out of it.

11:07 Third charge of the game for Erik Suhr. That’s fantastic!

10:13 That was the single cheapest positioning offensive foul I’ve ever seen. Dj now has 3

9:22 DJ hard to the bucket. IU up by four. Points of penetration and a pass. Very nice

7:49 NICE! Wilmont penetration kicked out to Joey Shaw. A long possession that saw one made free throws, a tip out on the miss and a three pointer. IU by 6.

7:21 That long defensive possession for Minnesota looks like it took it’s toll. Very sloppy pass, turn over. IU ball after the BIG FLAGS!!!!!

6:59 IU is shooting 26% in the second half and with shots like the one Bassett just got to fall I have no trouble seeing why. The shot selection has been pretty poor.

6:16 DJ from 15. Wide Open 10 point lead

5:40 Horrible! Wilmont drives and takes a horrible shot. Followed up by a foul 90 feet from the basket. Dumber than a bag of hammers

4:50 Third time this half IU has run the double high screen set. This time leaving a wide open lane for Bassett to drive the hole.

4:18 Don’t know what they’ve done with the lighting in Assembly Hall this year, or maybe it’s ESPN regionals fault, but the glare off the court this year is driving me crazy. It’s so bright the floor looks like one huge blur. Am I the only one who is being bothered by this?

2:29 IU by 12. Looks like they got it done. This is the fifth game in a row that I’ve not been overly impressed with how this team is playing. They are winning the games they are supposed to win, but the ones where they can win them if they play well, they are not getting it done. It’s time to turn the pressure up and get a good push these last few conference games.

1:30 This is a team that can be playing for the Big Ten Tourney Title and should be a legit sweet 16 team this year. But it’s gonna take more than they’ve shown in February so far.

:40 Time to run out the clock. Not very pretty, but a much needed win. and Lance Stemler just hit a shot.

End: 71-59. IU is now 18-8 (8-5)

Was this interesting at all? Let me know. It was kind of fun to do and I think I’ll enjoy going back and rereading it, but who knows.

JT

Shame on You

Everyone knows my love of television, but this year I’ve turned a corner, dropping a number of shows I’ve decided I no longer cared about. So now is the time for me to tell you all. Shame on you if you aren’t watching these shows.

1) Veronica Mars:
    For anyone who misses is Buffy, this is next best thing. Smart dialogue, involved and interesting story telling, and the only season finale last year that actually made me horribly sad, and then overjoyed. Plus, I just watched an episode where Logan (Veronica’s on-again-off-again) is playing Mario Kart, bonus point. Plus, the writer’s make a concerted effort each episode to quote the Big Lebowski.

2) Battlestar Gallactica
    Without a doubt the best Sci-Fi since the fourth season of X-Files. And like any good Sci-Fi the show is about characters and tackles current issues, politics, religion, suicide bombings, and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. If you like Sci-Fi, it is unforgivable that you aren’t watching this. If you don’t, you should still be watching this show. It’s just great television.

3) Heroes
    Best new show of the season. A TON of characters (maybe a couple too many, but I’ll not complain) very cool premise, A TON of people who find they all have special powers, and their paths keep crossing as they either wittingly or unwittingly play a role in the destruction of New York City, and maybe the world. Each episode brings us closer to the explosive climax and provides new insights into why they developed these powers and how they are all connected. George Takei, whose liscence plate just happens to read NCC-1701. Bonus Points.

4) The Wire
    Not currently on. The fourth season just concluded a couple of months ago. This may be the best show that’s ever been on telelvision. Brutally realistic show about the drug game in Baltimore. Characters on both sides of the law that you legitimately care about. Characters that are so well written and acted that they are painfully real, in their aspirations, mistakes, and moments of real humor. Plus there has never been a character quite like Omar on television. I’ve never pulled so hard for a character who has done some of the truly brutal things that Omar has done. If you have Netflix or OnDemand do yourself a favor and start from the beginning of this show and don’t miss an episode. You won’t always feel good about what you see, but you won’t be sorry you saw it.

JT