Let’s blog!
Game of the NITe
You know that song that goes, “He’s got the whole world in his hands,” that they sing at church when you’re a kid before they tattoo the NIT logo on your infant back and hold you up while the congregation roars its approval and the guy in the belltower punches a bat out of midair but that’s kind of unrelated the bat was just making it hard to ring the bell?
I think it might be about Jim Larranaga.
Longtime Miami coach (How has this guy survived this long while the school’s cycled through seven head football coaches, does Miami not know it has a basketball team? Also, I know this isn’t what happens but my brain assumes that when a Miami football coach gets canned, they just off him and toss him in the ocean. Just my immediate assumption. Know it isn’t true.) Larranaga is in the power position entering the back half of this week. His Hurricanes sit just above the NIT in our latest projections. They’re expected to split these last two regular season games. Each is on the road against a team for whom NIT dreams are certainly (in tonight’s case) or likely (in Saturday’s case) futile, and not because they’ve played particularly well. It’s hard to win on the road. It’s hard to win as a mediocre team. It’s hard to win on the road as a mediocre team.
Of course, given Miami’s expected to split the pair, they likely have to lose both to feel great about their NIT chances heading to the ACC Tournament (man is it a crime that’s not being played in Greensboro). To lose both, they need to lose tonight. To lose tonight, they need to lose to Boston College. The line’s only a handful of points! Fly, Eagles. Fly (guessing they don’t say that in Boston). 9:00 PM EST. ACC Network.
Automatic Bid Watch: Bryant
The Bryant Bears (they should really be the Bulldogs oh WAIT they ARE the Bulldogs hold on let’s try this again)
The Bryant Bulldogs (there we go) are major favorites tonight against college basketball’s most noble Blue Devils, those of Central Connecticut State. Still, there’s a chance they lose, and if they do, they’ll seize the first NIT automatic bid of the season. If they win, they get up to two more chances to lose. Game’s at 7:00 PM EST and I think it’s on NEC Front Row. Bet you didn’t know the NEC had its own streaming service. Wonder if there’s a Roku app. I usually just watch on the computer.
Other Games of NIT Note
Nice opportunity for Notre Dame to lose, playing in Tallahassee against a Florida State team we’re told does indeed still exist. 7:00 PM EST. ESPN2.
St. John’s tries to get back in the picture at home against Xavier. Appears they’re playing this on campus, and not at the Garden. Good idea. Treat the gods with the respect they deserve. 6:30 PM EST. FS1.
Davidson hosts George Mason, that’s a losable game, and what a loss it’d be. You’ve heard of a three-bid A-10, but have you heard of a four-bid A-10? 7:00 PM EST. ESPN+.
Speaking of a four-bid A-10, I think SLU’s fine with a loss up in URI Nation tonight, but you never know. They’ve got space to win on the road. Might want to do that. Also 7:00 PM EST, also ESPN+, not sure they have a feature where you get to blur the screens into each other so both are happening at once and you can’t tell what’s going on but it feels cool and trippy, but man, that’d be quite a feature, and it feels like a thing A-10 fans would enjoy. Free suggestion, ESPN. I know you guys are hurting. We’ve gotta help each other out. It’s all one industry, guys.
Rutgers goes to Indiana, and it’s unclear if Rutgers really can afford a road win this good but it’s clear Indiana could really use a home loss this bad. Assembly Hall should be moderately loud. 7:00 PM EST, BTN.
Texas A&M plays at Alabama looking to get a little safer on the margin. Free play for Buzz and the Ag’s. 7:00 PM EST. SECN.
UAB’s at Southern Miss, probably can’t afford to lose that one if you’re the Blazers. What a nickname. Even cooler when you find out it’s a dragon. The Dragon of Birmingham sounds so medieval and groovy. 8:00 PM EST. ESPN+.
UConn’s at Creighton, who could use a big loss to plunge their NET into the 80’s and their vibes into the NIT. 8:30 PM EST. FS1.
Mississippi State hosts Auburn, and I know this is mean to Auburn but Mississippi State probably can afford to win this one. Fight me, Bruce (Pearl, no other Bruces can fight me). 9:00 PM EST. SECN.
Wake Forest hosts NC State, might be the Deacs’ last chance. 9:00 PM EST. ACCNX. (Spicy!)
NMSU hosts Stephen F. Austin, I don’t really know what’s going on with the WAC tiebreakers after NMSU lost to Chicago State but I’m assuming they need to win. Stephen F. Austin, the historic figure, was nowhere near as cool as Sam Houston, for those wondering. 9:00 PM EST. ESPN+.
Finally, Wyoming’s at UNLV, and while I think Wyoming needs more than a loss here and UNLV needs more than a win, the greatest journeys start with a single step. Also, the worst journeys start with a single step. So no matter what kind of journey this is, we’re covered. 10:30 PM EST. FS1. All eyes on Las Vegas.
Burnley
Alright those of you who don’t care about God or Burnley can leave now.
The Burnleys have been doing ok since we last spoke, salvaging a draw after a terrible first half down at Crystal Palace but then falling yesterday to Leicester City in one they should’ve won, honestly, and at least should’ve drawn. Offsides is such a stupid rule. Why would you discourage scoring like that? Although the lack of scoring is part of what makes soccer and hockey fun. Score too much, you become lacrosse. Egad! Offsides can stay. For now.
Next match Saturday. Home against Chelsea. Big scoreboard-watching weekend, too.
The Senators
The Sens got Sens’d by their own intestines, as a nasty digestive bug had the whole team making Tkachuk noises. (It does kind of sound like onomatopoeic barfing, doesn’t it? Also I feel like Brady Tkachuk eats an insane diet, and not in the disciplined sportsman way. I feel like Brady Tkachuk eats pizza three nights a week and Josh Norris tries to stop him and Brady Tkachuk says But Tuesday’s pizza night! and Josh Norris forgets that Monday was also pizza night.) They lost to the Canadiens on Friday, they lost to the Lightning on Monday after somehow taking a 2-0 lead, and Brady Tkachuk tried to fight everybody on the Lightning presumably as cover to infect them with a significant stomach virus. We’ll chalk that up as a victory.
Next game tomorrow night down in wherever in Florida the Panthers play. I think I may have accidentally learned where it is earlier this season, but I don’t know now!
A New Chapter in the Kyle Larson Story
Kyle Larson won in NASCAR’s return to Fontana on Sunday, but the bigger story (considering Larson has won plenty of races in the last twelve months, so this isn’t novel, and Larson is likely to win plenty of races this season, so this doesn’t really affect the playoffs) is that he and teammate Chase Elliott now have beef. The golden boy and the greatest driver out there. The last two champions.
It was late in the race, and with the two gunning for the lead alongside Joey Logano, Larson threw a late block that pushed Elliott up into the wall. Elliott was not happy, and a few laps later, he spun out, possibly intentionally, pulling Larson back to the field and giving others a chance to win the race (they did not). Larson said later it was an accident. They’ll probably get it all patched up. But what if they don’t? How fun would that be?
Speaking of fun, the new car made for great racing. Or at least something made for great racing. Fun, fun day. Didn’t see that at these kinds of tracks with the old car.
And speaking of things we don’t see often, Tyler Reddick had a great day (ended because of what I think was a flat tire mixed with William Byron spinning? I was never sure what exactly happened there. Hard to watch NASCAR on your phone from the dog park when Ace is in a humping mood). Erik Jones also had another good day in the 43, and I get why JGR moved on from him for Christopher Bell, but kind of an embarrassment-of-riches situation, and it looks even more like that after these last two weeks.
Welcome to Winning, Scott McLaughlin, and Welcome to Your Butt
Scott McLaughlin won the IndyCar race on Sunday in St. Petersburg and then promptly fell on his butt getting out of the car in victory lane. Great stuff from last year’s rookie of the year and the possible future of the sport.
Nikita Mazepin, Tell Us How You Feel
I get the argument that Russian athletes have to protect their families back home and all that, but at the same time, guys like Alex Ovechkin and Nikita Mazepin should be subjected to an extreme degree of booing right now unless they come out and admit that Vladimir Putin is a mass-murdering fuck. Hopefully Mazepin gets those boos. Hopefully the Ovechkin booing grows.
Mazepin, for those who don’t know, is an F1 driver. He isn’t very good at it, but his dad’s a Russian oligarch (also they look a lot alike, and I know that’s kind of always the case with fathers and sons but it’s still always all, Whoa!), meaning he has the money to keep doing the thing. This is how it works in motorsports—if you have enough money, they let you keep doing it—but now that I say that, could sanctions lead to Mazepin not having enough money to keep doing this? That’d be a trip.
Regardless, the point of this all is to let those who care and haven’t heard know that F1 won’t be racing in Russia this year but will allow Mazepin to race, but the UK might not allow Mazepin to race there, leading some (me, probably others) to wonder if other countries might follow suit.
More to come, I assume. F1 season starts the weekend after this one, and cycles through other oppressive countries along the way, if you’re looking to satiate your autocratic cravings with Putinstan off the menu.
Fasting Tip: Whole Milk
It’s Ash Wednesday (heads up to those who care who forgot), and if you’re looking for a good fasting snack, whole milk can keep you satiated for longer than you’d think. Also, the most humble of snacks. Which is what this is all about. They literally remind you you’re going to die and then rub dirt on your face. We don’t do either of those things any other day of the year.
Tom Ricketts Is Locking Out Joe Kelly
Let’s not put too much blame on Manfred, as hateable as he is. Tom Ricketts and his buddies did this, and we can only assume it’s because they feel emasculated by Joe Kelly. Grow up, Tom. If you can’t find some comfort in your identity, try therapy. I mean that sincerely, too. Therapy’s great. Much better than crippling a sport’s marketability and personally harming millions of fans.
Fargo Continues to Fargs
We got back from the vet a little bit ago, where Fargo, who improbably rallied from six days of shits (and some stinky farts last night) to take a few solid ones early in the day, was told she can continue to be weaned off her medicine from the big IBD flareup of this winter. Wish her intestines luck with that. They may need it. More happily, she got to hold hands with the veterinary tech for the whole of her checkup. She loves holding hands. Absolutely loves it.
They’re Closing the Erwin Center
Finally, getting sentimental for a moment, Texas played its final home game at the Erwin Center on Monday, and we all wish it the best as it goes to building purgatory sometime in the next few months to await its final afterlife destination. This was, after all, where Shaka Smart’s national championship run began. Special place in my heart, and one day, if this all works out, I can drive my kids down I-35 and point to a spot in the medical school where we one day used to watch the Horns play with a few hundred of our closest friends.
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Bona NIT. See you out there.
