The NCAA announced today that the WBIT (that’s the NCAA’s women’s NIT) will host its semifinals and championship at Hinkle Fieldhouse the same week the NIT has its own upon that storied court. WBIT semifinals Monday, NIT semifinals Tuesday, WBIT championship Wednesday, NIT championship Thursday.
I don’t know why, but I hadn’t thought about where the WBIT would hold its Final Four. My mind had not reached that thought. It’s great for both events to have it in the same location, though, and as we’ve said a lot of times, Hinkle Fieldhouse was an amazing catch for the NIT. We need to pack that place, friends. Consider this a reminder that your attendance is expected in Indianapolis on April 2nd and 4th—and now on April 1st and 3rd as well, if you’re interested.
We’ll have plenty more down the line—including some continued talk about the WNIT, which is appearing like it’s going to be women’s basketball’s CBI but should thrive in that role if it continues to perform as it has in recent years—but we wanted to share the news, and we wanted to share our excitement. Welcome, women.
I Have to Say Something About Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift
As a sports blogger, I have not yet fulfilled my obligation to mention Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s budding relationship. My thoughts? I think Andy Reid saying he was the one who set up Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift was the perfect Andy Reid joke. I love Andy Reid. I especially love Andy Reid’s jokes. No one will ever convince me that he doesn’t actually draw mustaches on Patrick Mahomes’s sleeping face on the team plane while their shared insurance agent paces the aisles. If that turns out to not be true, I’m going to light a bunch of garbage on fire under an overpass.
Sean Payton Got His Ass Beat
Love this. Sean Payton—who said he didn’t want hats of my hat’s style around this preseason—gave up an historic number of points on Sunday, so many that reports came out yesterday saying people around the league were alarmed that Mike McDaniel was being unkind to a man who once paid players to injure opponents. Sean Payton was supposed to be the big, tough, no-nonsense football coach the Broncos needed. Instead, he’s showing just how far Nathaniel Hackett carried that franchise last year, and on a week when Mike McCarthy lost to the Arizona Cardinals, McCarthy still widened his lead on Payton in the legacy game. Sean Payton used to be an overrated football coach. Now he might be the worst active head coach in the NFL.
I’m Going to Keep Making Fun of Bears Fans
There are Bears fans out there asking to not be made fun of as they turn on Justin Fields and pine for the next great hope at quarterback, and I understand their logic. Their logic is that they do understand the real problem is the McCaskey family, but that with there being no chance the McCaskey family sells the team, all they can do is continue the cycle of hoping for a great draft pick, taking a quarterback with that draft pick, building that quarterback up into a hall of famer in their own heads, and then tearing that quarterback to shreds when he fails to make wine out of George McCaskey’s spoiled piss.
I understand their logic—they’re saying they’re not really dumb, and merely dealt an impossible hand—but I think they need to understand my logic, which is that if you say a lot of dumb things, I’m going to bully you. I don’t care how much you believe them or don’t believe them or recognize real problems but are choosing to put your faith in a hypothetical Jim Harbaugh–Caleb Williams pairing (as though Harbaugh would ever coach a man who paints his nails). I have no problem with Bears fans being idiots, but I don’t see how they should have a problem with me making fun of them for being idiots. Ours is a world of consequences.
Joe Kelly Mariachi Bobblehead Night Rocked
Highlights from Joe Kelly Mariachi Bobblehead Night:
- Knox Kelly threw out the first pitch.
- There was at least one mariachi band in attendance. As far as I could tell (I wasn’t able to attend, which means I’m batting .500 on Joe Kelly Bobblehead Nights in my career; I apologize and will continue to work to get better), only one was invited. The rest, predictably given the evening’s name, just showed up.
- Tickets at one point reportedly weren’t selling for anything below $150 on resale markets.
Joe Kelly is a folk hero to Dodgers fans now, and it’s at the point where I’m not sure they even care how well he pitches. He left for a year and a half and came back to an Albert Pujols Cardinals situation. The man can do no wrong in the eyes of one of the smartest fanbases in sports. Ours is a beautiful world.
The NASCAR Race Was Hot
Temperature, not sex appeal.
William Byron grabbed the win at Texas, and maybe I missed something but I don’t think there’s too much more to add. At one point Kyle Busch drove around the track with his car in reverse. I guess that was fun.
The deal with Texas Motor Speedway is that nobody likes it. Not even IndyCar, apparently, even though they’ve had good races there (they announced last week that they’re returning to the Milwaukee Mile and not racing at Texas next year). It’s gonna get repaved, I’d imagine? It is wacky that all the other 1.5-mile tracks are good and Texas isn’t. I should look into that more. Is it me? Am I doing something wrong?
(There was an F1 race, I’m assuming Max Verstappen won it and someone else did something dumb that made a bunch of self-pleased 29-year-olds drinking IPAs titter.)
Burnley: Back?
Hard-hitting analysis of Burnley’s 1–0 loss to Manchester United on Saturday: I saw in one place that Burnley won the possession battle, and I saw a notification from the North American Burnley Fans group chat (yep, there are few enough of us on this continent that we’re all on one thread) saying we didn’t exactly dominate, and I think I understand the picture here, which is that the lads are playing better than they were before the international break but still aren’t going to be contending for European play anytime this year. This thesis is supported by Burnley smoking Salford City today in the League Cup despite playing mostly a B-team. Consider that your hard-hitting analysis of Burnley’s 4–0 win over Salford City today.
The Sens: Preseason? More Like We-Season
I’m sorry, I let Jim Harbaugh do some contract work for us during his suspension. The Sens have beaten the Leafs in back-to-back preseason games the last two days. They play the Canadiens tomorrow night. I think that’s the Canadian national championship game.
Austin FC Was Pretty Darn Insensitive About the Hail
On Sunday night, while baseball-sized hail was shattering my neighbors’ solar panels and knocking songbirds out of trees (yes, the songbird thing was really sad—Fargo didn’t even sniff their corpses, the poor things had so little chance), Austin FC was posting on Elon Musk’s X about its own lightning delay and how it wanted to get back to playing.
Wow.
Just…
Wow.
(I’m thinking about turning on Austin FC and I thought I should try this out. I kind of like it. Just get offended by everything Austin FC does? I think that could play. Hard to get offended by a team scoring three times but still only managing to tie because it couldn’t close out either half, though. That’s just too funny to offend. Hilarious prank, Austin FC. Hilarious prank.)
