Made Me Laugh

A little snopocalypse humer, from The Corner:

...we were all discussing how stupid it was to be putting up with the chaos and hassle, and yet we waited. Everyone was super polite, too. I watched one lady's cart and saved her place in line while she ran out to the liquor store next door, and vice versa. Whenever a shopper needed to get by to find something on the shelf, we were very accommodating. And when a young man accidentally cut in front of us in line, not knowing that it stretched all the way up the aisle to the deli counter, everyone was very helpful, holding him down while I savagely beat him with a can of chickpeas.

Obama: American people too stupid to understand that what I'm doing is good for them

Is it me, or is that what he's basically saying in this quote:

"We were so busy just getting stuff done and dealing with the immediate crises that were in front of us that I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are and why we have to make sure those institutions are matching up with those values," he told ABC's George Stephanopoulos.

Or maybe they just don't like what you're trying to do.

Whenever the American people reject a policy or party, the politicians always talk about not getting the message out or the brand is damaged. I saw that plenty when I was on the Hill where there was constant angst about why our message wasn't getting out. Dammit, folks, give the people some credit. They know what they like and what they don't like. Better talking points or more speeches are not game changers.

On Massachusetts

I've been reading a lot about the Massachusetts Senate race lately. I find it both encouraging and amusing that Democrats are now scrambling to save this seat. And that Democrats basically say that, even if they lose, they may not seat the Republican until after the health care bill passes. They're thugs.

But what is most interesting to me is the echoes from 1994 that I see here. Specifically the reelection race of Dan Rostenkowski. There was a great article in the Post back then (it's amazing what I remember sometimes) about how the Democrat machine had to get into gear the last weekend because that's when they first realized they might lose the seat. Here's the only excerpt I could get for free:

The fabled Chicago Democratic Machine, which for years has been reported near death, bestirred itself over the weekend amid feverish speculation about the electoral fate today of one of its longtime stalwarts - Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.).
Rostenkowski, who was indicted on federal corruption charges in May and was forced to give up the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee, had been waging a noncampaign against his unknown Republican opponent, lawyer Michael P. Flanagan. But that changed abruptly late last week with the announcement that the Republican National Committee ...

To me, that sounds familiar to MA today. Hopefully, history repeats itself.

Who Are These People and Why Do They Merit Being on the Post Website's Front Page?

Socialite Casey Johnson dies
Casey Johnson, left, who was said to be engaged to reality star Tila Tequila, was found dead in Los Angeles, according to reports.

Huh?

RIP Bill Gleason

Noticed that Bill Gleason, a long-time Chicago sportswriter, passed away today. While I don't have any personal connection to him, I thought I'd point out to you that he helped pioneer having sports writers talk about sports on TV.

He started (or was at least instrumental) in a show called Sportswriters on TV, which aired in Chicago on something called Sportsvision back when I was growing up. I always found it quite interesting and a good watch - it served as something of an inspiration for ESPN's The Sports Reporters.

That also means that it also led, indirectly and unfortunately, to Around the Horn. So you take the good with the bad.

A Conundrum

I'll admit to some mixed feelings about tonight's Big Ten basketball season tip-off between Illinois and Northwestern. I am an Illinois fan, but I get to watch a lot of NU basketball given my proximity to the campus and my dad's season tickets. Where Illinois has been maddeningly inconsistent this year, NU has actually been fun to watch, especially as they improved dramatically over the course of the year after losing their best player and best bench player for the season to injury. Top it off with the fact that NU is ranked for the first time in 40 years, it's hard not to root for them. In truth, I will be rooting for Illinois, but if NU wins, I won't really be disappointed.

For those of you into college basketball, this post on an NU blog takes an interesting look at NU's current RPI and how many Big Ten games they need to win to make the NCAA tourney for the first time ever. The conclusion: they need to do pretty well as their RPI has a relatively low ceiling.

This post on espn.com has an interesting thought about how much RPI matters versus sympathy/rooting for NU to make it to the tourney.

AU BBall Game Running Diary

If you’re at a college basketball game by yourself – because, really, who would subject themselves to AU-DePaul (who was 0-18 in the Big East last year) voluntarily – what else is there to do but do a running diary of the night?

6:00 p.m. – get home from work, find the one AU shirt that I can dig up. Something tells me this might not be the current AU style
6:25 – double check game time; read in Tribune that “the Blue Demons can continue to pad their win column against middling opposition.” Is that bulletin board fodder in a negative way for AU or a positive way (what, we’re actually middling competition at 1-8?!?)
6:55 – leave for game
7:15 – after one wrong turn and much cursing, brave three bitter scalpers to pick up my tickets at will call. Will call seems shocked that anyone left tickets there. As I'm leaving, scalpers disappointed by sale that falls through. Sarcastically comment that they "thought that was the night's big sale." I think they might need another line of work. Big thanks to my high school friend who was working the game for leaving me the tickets. Nice seats too.
7:23 – stop by to say hi to my friend. We joke about if I am going to stay until the end of the game. I’m not going to sit through a blow out. I’m going to take this moment to brag about my high school cross country team, which my friend now coaches (he and I ran together in HS) – they finished fourth in the nation and second in state (one guy had a bad race, clearly the best team all year, but still first state trophy for program). Damn impressive.
7:28 – nice surprise, I can buy beer. I’m pretty sure I will need it. $6.50? What is this, Wrigley Field? Yes, I will pay it.
7:30 – in seats; pleasantly surprised to see three AU fans in front of me and one to my right – Go AU!
7:31 – Spot Jerry Wainwright. My contemporaries will remember that he set CAA basketball back 10 years while at UNCW when we were at AU. Any 49-47 game is not good for basketball. That’s all his teams produced.
7:33 – AU scores first points of game – three by Hendra
7:43 – Under 12 time out, AU leads by four thanks in no small part to two banked-in threes by some guy named Vlad
7:45 – Lead by six!
7:53 – after DePaul cuts lead to one, nice 7-0 run for AU to lead by eight. People behind me yelling for DePaul to go big. Yeah, that would be smart considering AU is killing them on the boards despite being pretty small
7:54 – There might me 1000 people here total. For some reason, some are in the upper deck.
7:57 – Vlad is rad! AU by 10 with five minutes to go in first half. Not quite AU-Villanova from NCAA tourney but better than I thought.
7:58 – Horrible blocking call against AU! Booooo, you’re terrible!
8:00 – AU by eight; announcer tells me that tickets are selling fast for DePaul women’s basketball. I ask, to no one in particular, compared to what?
8:02 – They’re throwing t-shirts into the stands? Why do people get so excited for this?
8:06 – AU leads by eight at half. The natives are restless. Best complaint of the night: “We gave up the Blackhawks for this?” To be honest, Jerry Wainwright should have replied: “You gave up the Blackhawks for this?” Because the Blackhawks are the best show in town and DePaul may be the worst.
8:11 – Buy a happy beer, return to seat for preteen dance team. Concerned that I am somehow breaking the law by watching. Eyes now averted.
8:21 – Uh oh. 6-0 run. DePaul bigs killing AU. Now the fans aren’t happy that Wainwright is bringing in smaller players. Best comment: “why are you subbing? Because you’re back in the game?”
8:27 – Under 16 timeout. DePaul on 10-0 run to tie.
8:31 – band has lost it, yelling at ref to T up Hendra. As the arena is so empty, I can hear everything and I have no idea why they would be saying this. I conclude this is a standard cheer to be used once a game.
8:33 – Vlad with a three to beat the shot clock! AU leads by two
8:37 – under 12 time out, AU down by four
8:41 – Vlad hits two free throws to tie game – this guy is pretty good (see pic below)

8:43 – Hendra with the drive and the foul. Nice play. Misses the free throw, tie game
8:45 – Vlad for three! AU leads by three – for two seconds. DePaul’s best player, Will Walker hits a three. AU turnover in backcourt, layup, down by two. Call a TO, baby!
8:47 – Big screen showing student section. All nine of them. Oh, DePaul, what happened to you?
8:49 – Vlad again! For three. Lead by three.
8:52 – If AU wins, that will be the highlight of the night. However, I just grabbed a T-shirt from the T-shirt toss, which is the current highlight. It landed in the empty row behind me. I walked over and picked it up. Raised it over my head for the AU students two rows in front of me. I talk to them for the first time all night. They’re current students. They ask when I graduated. I tell them and then make joke about how I’m old. They laugh. It’s funny when it’s true. Ha, ha. They do confirm for me that this is Vlad’s first game of the season. He is clearly a difference maker.
8:54 - #3 on DePaul is dominant – as he should be being probably 6-9 or 6-10 – but they don’t go to him enough. He misses a free throw and Vlad drops in two. 23 points so far.
8:59 – 3:09 to go, AU by one, Lumpkins on line, hits one of two
9:01 – Dagger three by DePaul’s Walker
9:02 – Right back at you by Hendra for three! AU by two. Timeout DePaul.
9:04 – Should have been jump ball. Instead DePaul timeout. Garbage! Who’s calling this game? Papparo? Au by 2, 56.8 seconds to go.
9:07 – DePaul’s Walker misses three, AU rebound, foul, one and one, 34.4 to go; makes both, AU by four
9:08 – AU gives two quick fouls. Good strategy, had them to give
9:09 – DePaul misses three, Vlad rebounds, game OVER!
9:10 – AU wins by five. Embarrassing loss for DePaul.

I talked to my friend afterwards. On the bright side for him, this loss guarantees the already guaranteed exit of Jerry Wainwright after this year. It’s really sad to see how far DePaul has fallen. My friend also feels that my capturing the t-shirt just rubs salt in the wounds of the loss.

DePaul is not exactly a powerhouse, but AU may have something with this Vlad character. He was pretty dominant, so the season may be on the upswing. Only time will tell.