It’s still possible the Pac-12 will hold together, with the reported reason being that Oregon thinks it can beat up on everybody who’s left in football and maybe if Oregon stays, Arizona will feel too guilty to leave. The alternative force is that Oregon can make more money now and in the future, as can Arizona, possibly eight figures a year more, but hey—who among us hasn’t done something which recklessly impacts our future because we’re overconfident? Or because we feel bad?
Assuming the Pac-12 does devolve to the Pac-0, we need to reassure one another: There is no reason to believe that Bill Walton will disappear. He might disappear from our view—he might decide to retire from college basketball color commentary—but Bill Walton existed without being part of the Conference of Champions for eighteen years to start his life, and there’s no reason to believe he can’t do it again.
Still, what a bad year for Bill Walton. Not only is his beloved conference dying, but Dead & Company went on its final tour. Also? Bill Walton turns 71 in November. Endings are depressing enough when you’re young. When you’re that old?
So.
Here’s what I propose we do:
Before they leave the meeting tomorrow morning, or whenever it is, while they’re packing up their duffel bags and cleaning out their lockers, the Pac-12 athletic directors should facetime in their old friends from UCLA and USC and maybe not Colorado but hey, if Bill wants them, then sure, Colorado, and propose an annual tournament in the fall between the former leaguemates that kicks off college basketball in one of Bill Walton’s favorite places. Could be one of the league’s campuses, could be Asheville, could be the special fort Bill Walton built in his own backyard out of his imagination, but put a little tournament in Bill Walton Land, and let Bill Walton do the broadcast. If he wants to, of course. If he doesn’t want to, this is moot.
Also? I don’t know, someone make a really good Grateful Dead cover band. That shouldn’t be *that* hard. They can play between the games at this tournament. And the concession stands can be stocked solely with psychedelics.
(Oh wow. I just realized that if this is the last Pac-12 Tournament, Bill Walton might put up a performance for the ages on the way out. Cancel all your plans in the first half of March. What a lead-in to the 2024 NIT.)
How Many Titles Can North Texas Win?
No, this isn’t our “Is UNT a dynasty?” post. We’re saving that for October or November. Rather: Bleed Green, the (mostly) North Texas alumni team, is playing against Team Heartfire tonight in the championship game of TBT, The Basketball Tournament. For NIT fans, Kai Huntsberry is a very familiar face, and you may remember Thomas Bell and J.J. Murray from the Mean Green’s 2022 run.
I will say: I don’t even know if UConn *had* an alumni team in this tournament. If that team does exist? It didn’t make this championship game. So, if we’re counting titles, North Texas leads at least 1.5 to 1.0 on the calendar year, and that’s if we give the exhibition tournament a full share.
Joe Kelly’s Trade Deadline Details
Joe Kelly was on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast today, talking about being back on the Dodgers and how everything went down on Friday with the trade. If you’re looking to listen, I think it’s available in all podcast apps. If you’re looking for two short clips on twitter, here you go. Some fun talk about the crossover event between the 2018 Red Sox and the 2018 Dodgers going on in LA: Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez, Joe Kelly (of course), all those Dodgers guys who are still around, maybe some others I’m missing? And then you’ve got Kike Hernández, who was on those Dodgers but made a stop on the Red Sox before coming back. It’d be fun if this happened with every World Series. If in 2028, for example, the Cubs were making another run but this time with Adley Rutschman behind the plate.
More Nomar
Thinking of the Red Sox and Dodgers has me thinking Nomar, and this is fun: Nomar Garciaparra is still on the Dodgers broadcast team, so I get to hang out with my first favorite player a lot late at night while I wait to see if Joe Kelly’s going to pitch. Things are going great, guys. Knock on wood, but things are going really well. Hopefully the Cubs score a million runs again tonight and Bleed Green wins and my eyelid stops twitching and I remember to clean the guest bathroom shower before my parents come to town tomorrow. Honestly, I’ll take three of the four. A little bargain with the universe.
