Burn, baby. Burnley.
Burnley Takes the Pitch
It’s time for Burnley basketball! Well, not basketball, of course. Burnley doesn’t play that. But the alliteration is nice. Is there a language in which the word for soccer and/or foot starts with a b? If you know, let me know.
It’s a big day for the Burnleys. Tottenham’s coming to town, rain’s in the forecast, James Tarkowski might be back in the lineup. The lads have momentum, coming off Saturday’s win over Brighton, but there’s a lot of work to be done in the fight to avoid relegation. Broadcast is on Peacock Premium, match kicks off at 2:30 PM EST. Get your vibes in order. Watford plays at the same time, but they play Crystal Palace, and Crystal Palace losing would probably be good? Basically, don’t spend too much energy hoping on a Watford defeat. Do spend energy hoping on Leeds to get embarrassed by Liverpool. That kicks 15 minutes after the Clarets, so hopefully when the lads are done with their 1-0 victory we can flip over to watch Leeds get two red cards in frustration while down eleven goals.
Thomas Chabot: The Man After Midnight
The Sens beat the Wild last night 4-3, with Thomas Chabot scoring twice in his return from injury. Also, I hadn’t realized that the Sens are playing “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” by ABBA in the locker room after wins. What a move. Very hockey behavior.
Sens next play on Saturday, still at home, against the last-place Canadiens. What a weird world.
Putin Backwards Is…
NIT up? As in, is the NIT happening? Or as in, the NIT is on its way up. I don’t know. I’m not sure I like it. Further reflection was needed upon discovering this, which is why there was again no video last night for the Twitter. Will there be one tonight? Unclear. Probably depends what Rutgers and Michigan do in our Game of the NITe.
It’s a big one for both squads, Rutgers suddenly dangerously close to missing the NIT due to narrative, Michigan suddenly dangerously close to missing the NIT due to also narrative. Narrative all over the place. The early-slot tip (7:00 PM EST) and the game being on Big Ten Network only add to the allure. What a Game of the NITe.
Other ones of note:
- Virginia hosts Duke (7:00 PM EST, ESPN), and while I don’t think a sweep of Duke should take Virginia out of the NIT, I understand fears it will. Difficult spot for the Cavaliers.
- South Carolina hosts Mississippi State (6:30 PM EST, SEC Network) in one of those games that can’t help Mississippi State but could boost South Carolina that much closer to a backdoor NIT bid. Three straight wins for the Cocks, folks. Frank Martin and Bob Huggins could square off in March. Great broadcast-filler fodder.
- St. John’s hosts Creighton (6:30 PM EST, FS1) in just a good-old-fashioned mediocre game of basketball. St. John’s could use the win to hunker down further into the field. Creighton could use the win as practice for winning in New York City.
- Dangerous one for TCU here in Austin (7:00 PM EST, ESPN2). The Horned Frogs can’t afford another great win, I don’t think. Someone pull up a clip of Jamie Dixon battling inner demons in a mirror at the Doubletree. (I wonder where opposing teams stay when they come here. The Doubletree feels the most reasonable to me. Really close to Denny’s, in case someone gets hungry. Denny’s has it all.)
- Missouri State’s still hanging around. They’ve got Bradley tonight (8:00 PM EST, unclear about the broadcast) in Springfield. Fargo is pumped about her hometown-ish NIT contender, so if you find out the result before she does, don’t tell her. She’s hoping to watch the highlights herself. Would watch the whole game but there is an orange ball in the apartment that must be dealt with for hours on end.
- Nothing really in the later slots. Wacky. Is there something going on tonight that made folks schedule around it? The Grammys or something? This is an honest question. Are the Grammys tonight? (Update: I now see the Apple Cup is happening in the late slot. This explains everything.)
