A theory about the University of Iowa

I have a theory about the University of Iowa and their athletic program. I know it is a tough thing to hear for most Minnesotans, but the Hawkeyes, pretty much from football to basketball have a much better program than the University of Minnesota. I think I know why.
Maybe not "know" of course, but I have a theory. My theory is that Minneapolis is just too awesome. Really! Iowa City is a fine town, but it's only that: A town. It functions almost exclusively to support the University of Iowa, or to provide commuters to Cedar Rapids up the road. Neither are large cities, both smaller than the two Twin Cities that house the University of Minnesota.
That means that the University of Iowa is the only show in town. Players in the big sports, like football and basketball, are local celebrities. If you are an 18 year old, why wouldn't you want to be a celebrity? You can talk about how much fun Minneapolis is, and that's a great selling point for the average student, but you have a tough time convincing someone they will be beloved like they would be in Hawkeye black and gold.
It's hard to deny that the allure of regional programs hasn't drawn even Minnesota athletes. Wisconsin routinely pillages Minnesota high schools, but Madison is a notoriously fun town. I don't think Iowa City has that same reputation, but Iowa football is always better than Minnesota, the Iowa men's team has been as good, if not better than the Gophers, and the women's team has surpassed Minnesota, thanks in large part to Minnesota products. The Iowa hoops teams even have in state competition in the forms of Iowa State, Drake and Northern Iowa for recruits and local talent.
Now that I think about it, Iowa State is universally better than the Gophers in the major sports too, and Northern Iowa is regularly better than Minnesota on the court, too. Ames and Cedar Falls are tremendously uninteresting, aside from their campuses as well.
Which brings us back to the original point. Iowa City only has the University of Iowa. That makes the school all the more appealing to people who will be the big men or women on campus. It's just a theory, but if its accurate, and the U is really interested in bolstering their athletic program, maybe they should move the school to Litchfield.

The Padres have captured my imagination

Every year, there seems to be a non-Twins team that gains my interest before a season starts. In the Padres' case, they've done so before the off-season has even begun. Generally, the two things that make me take notice is either having a bumper crop of prospects ready to take their place at the big league level, or to break out in doing so, or they have made wholesale changes to the makeup of their team, and one doesn't know what to expect.
The Padres have all that, and they can very well shake up the offseason with some big trades or big free agency moves. They have a stable of young prospects thanks to some shrewd deals, and have proved willing to get involved in some big trades. They have Fernando Tatis Jr. thanks to trading James Shields to Chicago. They snagged Chris Paddack from the Marlins for Fernando Rodney. They also snared one of the top prospects in the game from the Indians in the Brad Hand trade in Francisco Mejia, and had another big addition in top prospect Taylor Trammel in a three team deal with both Ohio teams. On top of good drafting, those moves have given the Padres one of the top 3 farms in baseball, and they have depth enough to maintain that rank for a few more years.
And then, they have been surprisingly aggressive in free agency for a few years. They have extended Wil Myers, signed Eric Hosmer and last year signed Manny Machado, all too big time deals. They still have holes, to be sure, but this winter, they clearly have the assets to trade for players, and the ownership go ahead to add to the payroll. The Padres can be involved in discussions for anyone.
And so far, they have been. They're discussed as potential suitors for top free agent starters like Stephen Strasburg and Zach Wheeler. For a year now, they seemed sure to add one of the other Mets pitchers, particularly Noah Syndegaard. They also have interest in bolstering their outfield, at least in the short term. Eddie Rosario, in my opinion, won't be traded, but if he is, the Padres look like a pretty good fit.
The Padres will be young and different next year, and it's going to be a wild, fascinating ride to get there.

Lets just lean into Minnesota vs. Philadelphia

The last couple of years have seen an increase in animosity between the state of Minnesota's athletics and those of the city of Philadelphia. In general, Minnesota thinks that Philadelphians are mean, and Philadelphians know they are. To recap the last couple of indidents.
1) The Vikings played the Eagles in the NFC Championship game. The Eagles beat the Vikings in what was a complete dud for the Vikings, who had been on cloud 9 after a thrilling win against the Saints, and had inroads on reaching the Super Bowl at home. Vikings fans were already hurt more than usual by another failure, and then some local Philadelphians made fun of Vikings fans or something. Nerves were already frayed, and Vikngs fans found Philadelphians to be insensitive. Philly fans rightfully thought it was hilarious, then they came to Minnesota and won the Super Bowl.
2) The first incident was mostly about the fans, but the second was on the court, and definitely made Philly vs. Minnesota a real thing. Without further ado:


 Who won the fight? It depends exclusively on which fan base you belong to. The 76ers and Philadelphia won the game, as is always the case.
3) Is Philly a Penn State town? I think Penn State is more popular in western Pennsylvania, but surely, there is some allegiance in Philadelphia. If that's the case, then this Saturday's battle of undefeated Minnesota and Penn State will certainly lead to a bit more spiciness to the burgeoning battle between the two cities. While Penn State will almost certainly win on Saturday, it's important to remember that they are villains who got away nearly scot free with covering for a child abuser because college football was more important than the innocence of children.
While I was sitting on the sideline, amused, for the first rounds of this battle, I am definitely siding with Minnesota now.
What's the next step? Since the Wild are flirting with complete irrelevance, spreading this rivalry falls on the Twins. They aren't scheduled to play the Phillies for another couple of years, so if we want things to be fresh, both teams will need to reach the World Series next October. Sure, that's possible. But how do we make sure things are volatile? The Twins need to acquire Hunter Strickland. It makes sense. The Twins need bullpen help, Strickland is a reliever. Also, he has faced Phillies star Bryce Harper before.

Unlike Minnesota's ongoing battle with New Orleans, I don't think anyone will think Minnesota is the bad guy in a war with Philly. Let's just embrace it and enjoy the ride.

Small college purgatory

Earlier this year, one of my Following the Compass games was in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where I saw Belmont play Southeast Missouri State in a conference game. The game was on the schedule for quite a while, as it was a conference game, and it was an easily planned trip. 

The next game was Oral Roberts' 10th game of the season. It was going to be a non-conference game between ORU and Texas-Arlington, in Texas. That's what the Golden Eagles' press release on their non conference schedule said. Then UTA issued their release, and the Golden Eagles weren't on it. 

What happened? Who knows, but I know that Oral Roberts filled their spots with a couple of schools local to Oklahoma, while UTA added California-Santa Barbara.

College basketball schedules are incredibly fluid, especially when the teams aren't from power 5 conferences. This means that the Following the Compass game, for the first time, will involve a D-II team, in this case, the University of Central Oklahoma, which I don't know much about, but I do know once featured this guy on the wrestling team. 

So the second game will be Central Oklahoma and Oral Roberts, in Tulsa instead of ORU versus Texas-Arlington, in Arlington. Of course, that is all subject to change.

Following the Compass - 2020

Every October 5th, I select my teams for the annual Following the Compass games. Rough recap, I draw teams, pick a game off their schedule for the next calendar, and try to follow their season and teams and if possible attend the game I selected. If I can't, I'll watch it and probably tell you about it.
This year marks a first for me. For the first time, I drew two teams from the same state. I've had some states repeat in being drawn, like New York, Illinois, Texas and Louisiana. I've even had the same nickname - Bears, Chicago and Mercer - show up in the same year, but never two teams from the same state. So which state is it?

That's right. Not only did I get the state of Alabama, but I selected the University of Alabama. While the school is known for their football team, I actually selected a game for their basketball team. Specifically, a conference game in Tuscaloosa on February 1st against the University of Arkansas. This will be the first time I have selected a game involving the SEC, though the next team I drew is from a conference I seem to have a knack for drawing from: The Sun Belt.

South Alabama has been a relevant, tournament team as recently as 2013, and the Sun Belt is a perennially dangerous mid-major conference. The Jaguars were above .500 for the first time since that 2013 tournament appearance, so this is a team on an upward trajectory. I drew game 8 off of their 2020-21 schedule, so not the coming season, but the year after. In 2019-20, their 8th scheduled game is game 3 of their Gulf Coast Showcase experience in Fort Myers, Florida, and last season, it was a home game against Florida A&M. South Alabama is a big enough draw that they aren't on the road the whole non-conference season, and when they are, it could be in a bracketed tournament. There is a decent chance that their game will be in Mobile, their home site. Along with Denver (formerly), Louisiana-Monroe, Middle Tennessee State, Arkansas State, Tulane, Florida Atlantic, Texas San Antonio, North Texas and Louisiana Tech, South Alabama is the TENTH Sun Belt team I will see in either football or basketball.

My previous trip to Alabama involved the SWAC, when Jackson State went to Alabama State in Montgomery to play an incredibly high scoring game. It holds a special place in my heart, as it was the first solo trip I took as part of this weird adventure. Perhaps another trip to Alabama is coming soon. 

Ba$ketball

The easiest sport in the world to negotiate the influence of money is basketball.  Players are generally healthier, so we don't tend to worry about long term effects, and the rules of the game are pretty well established. Fan interest is high, and we aren't concerned about attracting new audiences. Nope, the only thing that causes debate in basketball, aside from which team or player is better, is cash.
There are currently two enormous stories being slung around the world of basketball, and in their own way, are all about money. The most obvious is from the amateur world, where laws revolving around the compensation of college athletes for use of their likeness are being passed, much to the chagrin of the NCAA.
The NCAA stipulation is a foolish one, in my opinion. Amateurism is a fine and egalitarian goal, but the practice of it is poorly mishandled by the league. What other scholarship student is restricted from making money off of their talents? I agree with the opinion that education and boarding is a salary in it's own right, offered up by the school, and I don't necessarily agree that they should be forced to offer any more than that, however they certainly shouldn't be allowed to restrict a player's earning potential with above board sponsorship opportunities.
Think of it this way: A kid on an academic scholarship will not be prohibited from making money tutoring, so why shouldn't a basketball player use his God given talent to complement the stipend he gets for attending a particular school? The answer is fairly apparent. It isn't competition or fairness between schools. It's all about the money, as it often is.
Right now, endorsement opportunities are available to schools and coaching staffs, but not the players. If a company, say Rhino and Compass, wanted to affiliate ourselves with Purdue because their player, Ryan Henning was very popular, we could only sponsor Purdue and plaster our name over their facilities. We couldn't ask Ryan Henning to endorse our site though, even though paying him would potentially be more effective, and would likely cost our site less money. The endorsement opportunities for players would likely result in less revenue for the schools.
The professional ranks have an entirely different money related story. Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey spoke in support of protesters in Hong Kong, to which the Chinese government took offense. The NBA apologized, Morey deleted his tweet, and players distanced themselves from his comments. There was backlash in the United States, and now the NBA is trying to backtrack the backtracking.
China is a lucrative market that soaks up the NBA and is still growing. While the NBA was lambasted at home for kowtowing to the Chinese and showing how spineless and "anti-freedom" they were, they were really just adhering to the most capitalistic principles: Money over everything.
They were in even bigger trouble, of course, with the home crowd, who is nearly universally against China's humanitarian record, and supportive of Hong Kong, as Morey was, so Commissioner Adam Silver and the league had to do some double talk to make sure they weren't unpatriotic at home, and non confrontational overseas.
In both situations, the organizations look silly in their attempts to chase the dollar. Other leagues try to appeal to fans or simply raise prices to increase revenue. Basketball just finds trouble.

A Universe and a Galaxy

On my flight to San Francisco, I wanted to watch something fairly light that I didn't need to invest too much of my attention on, and I went with the 2nd Lego Movie. I'm a grownup. The movie lasted only 90 minutes of the 4 hour flight, so I vowed to watch something longer on the way home. I picked Avengers Endgame, and it worked out perfectly.
This is the second time I watched the movie, and was therefore able to absorb the details much more closely. (I was also able to watch it in one sitting this time, because my viewing partner didn't need to go to bed). The details, however, were more important to long time comic book fans. The coolest part for me was the coming together of all those storylines and all those heroes.
Undoubtedly, that was the pinnacle of the entire Marvel franchise to date, and will be tough to replicate in the future. Still, why would they feel the need to? On the whole, most of the characters in the Universe are part of their own story. They can keep telling Black Panther's story without Valkyrie flying in on a Pegasus. Captain Marvel will surely have some interstellar sequel that will be unconcerned about Spider-Man's pursuit of a high school diploma.
The other big franchise that is reaching its conclusion is, of course, Star Wars. Both franchises are Disney properties and make a bazillion dollars, chiefly on the backs of nerds, but that is about where the comparisons end, at least cinematically. The two biggest overarching difference revolve around the two points I made about Endgame, which made the movie so special for me and other viewers.
Star Wars is a 9 movie arc, telling the story of the same family, and those surrounding them. Those movies not of the main series are related closely to the so called Skywalker Saga. The culmination of the 9 movie arc will not result in some grand coming together of beloved characters from across the movies. There isn't a deep well of characters that will converge at the end of the movie. Instead, the end of the Rise of Skywalker will simply be the end of the story for several important characters, notably Kylo Ren and Rey.
While the end of December's movie offers the conclusion of a beloved saga, it does something that the Marvel Universe doesn't: It offers up an entire galactic playground for directors and film writers to work with. As we've seen from Rogue One and Solo, the feel and thematics are unconfined by the feel and thematics of the original anthology. There is another trilogy on the way, and it will be a complete surprise. The Star Wars Galaxy will live on, and we have no frame of reference as to how it will do so. Any movie can be made in the Star Wars Galaxy, and we won't be able to say if it's right or wrong.
Marvel's movies and Star Wars films appeal to a broadly similar fan base, but aside from the content of the films, they also have completely different circumstances surrounding them. The Marvel Universe is exciting, because we can see what we know come together, but Star Wars is exciting because there is a whole Galaxy to explore

San Francisco is remarkable

I am in the Bay area for a wedding this weekend, and, having not been here for about 30 years, I can fully admit that it's like the first time I've ever been. We flew into SFO and wormed our way north to Petaluma, where we are staying, meaning a trip across the Golden Gate Bridge, after a drive along the Pacific Coast.
One thing that really struck me is how confined by the local geography the region is. Sure, everyone knows that San Francisco exists at the end of a Peninsula that frames San Francisco Bay, and the waters of the Bay, and San Pablo Bay to the north require some serious feats of civil engineering to connect all residents of the area.
One aspect I didn't really appreciate, however, was the effect the topography has on the Bay area. Los Angeles is built on a coastal plain, while the Coastal Range is generally well inland, only approaching the coast up by Malibu, allowing the city and the metro to stretch out over a broad territory. The Bay doesn't give as long a runway to terrain changes as the Los Angeles area does.
It's flatter on the east side of the Bay, certainly, but the larger city, the hub of the metropolitan area is San Francisco. Even the narrow protrusion into the sea is riddled with hills. The Twin Peaks in the middle of the city have dictated the road ways while larger hills in the southern part of the Peninsula help to render the Pacific Coast and Daly City into a landscape that seems completely unfamiliar to the rest fo the city.
The hills and valleys and the waterways funnel the population, which makes traffic worse and lends to localized overcrowding, however the frequent hills and the variety of plant life that clings to them paradoxically can make a lot of the area seem almost rural, something that I never feel when driving through the suburbs of Minneapolis, and especially not as I get closer to downtown. And yet, just across the Golden Gate Bridge, or just southwest of the downtown area, it feels so natural and far removed from the hustle and bustle.
Not only does the terrain effect the anthropological variables in the region, it also has a great impact on the meteorology. People can make broad generalizations about LA, because again, Los Angeles is mostly uniform. Coastal Plains to Coastal Range, and generalizations can be made about it. The Bay is all about microclimates. The local meteorologists advertise their newscasts as "Microclimate weather." I've already heard people talk about the microclimate, and provide personal references, so I'll share a couple.
First, we landed in the fog in San Francisco, and spent most of the morning in the same. I told my wife that it would probably be different when we crossed the Bridge, and sure enough, the higher elevation north of San Francisco meant no low level winds and no sea breeze. Sure enough, from our side of the bridge, under low clouds and fog, we could see the sun shining on the hills across the Bay.
I also heard someone discussing the weather they usually saw in the Mission District, which sits between the Twin Peaks and downtown. Because of their location, they often miss out on the fog the rest of the city gets. The Mission is usually sunnier and warmer than their neighbors, which my new friend said was like having the opposite of a personal cloud.
It's an extremely interesting place, it's fascinating to learn about and take in first hand. I would love to be bale to spend more time here. But not to live. Property values in this little slice of heaven are through the roof.

The Blackburn Rovers and Stability

Way back in 2010, the Blackburn Rovers were a mid-table team in the Premiership under the leadership of venerable manager Sam Allardyce. Allardyce was so respected that he eventually went on to coach 4 other EPL teams, and even the English national team in 2016. Then, Venky's London, an Indian firm that got their start in chicken, bought the team and sacked Allardyce.
Within 5 years, and after 6 (!) managerial changes, the Rovers became the first team ever relegated to the third tier after once holding the Premier League title. Tony Mowbray was given charge of the team, and Blackburn immediately climbed back into the Championship, if not the top league in the country.
The Rovers had a little bit of a slow start this season, losing their first two matches and being assigned a 17% chance of relegation by FiveThirtyEight's soccer predictions. Since that time, the rovers have won 3, lost 1 on and drew with Cardiff. They've moved into 12th place after a dire start to the season, which had many fans ready to give up hope on this team again.
With their hotter stretch as August turned to September, the Rovers seem to be putting together a respectable season. In many sports, but particularly in European soccer, many owners can be quick with the trigger, and are liable to let a manager go after a slow start.
Blackburn has been patient in the last couple of years, finally. And now, in the past couple of seasons, they are moving back up the table and may actually be in a good position to solidify their spot in the Championship, if not the Premiership.
It's a good lesson for fans of not only the English Football system, but any sport, nearly at any level. It takes time to build camaraderie and cohesion on a roster, let alone develop an organizational ethos. It's easy to read into a couple of results and attribute the entire season to the first bit of data. It takes longer than that to build a team, especially when it's been razed just a few years before.

The Colts without Luck

Andrew Luck decided to retire. I've talked for years about how the Colts' failure to protect him for years would eventually have negative consequences. Luck missed a whole season two years ago because of injury, and despite one of the best O-Lines in the league, he didn't feel like he could continue. I don't blame him, and I'm glad he has his whole life ahead of him, hopefully pain free.
I also don't think that this was a total surprise to the Colts. After a season where he was hit very infrequently, Andrew Luck was still in pain. After coming back to training camp, he wasn't himself at the beginning of the season. This was a team that was set for success with or without Luck, though the levels of success may have varied. Well, they are going to do it without.
The Colts have already decided, even before the season started, that they would give Jacoby Brissett a vote of confidence, signing the pending free agent to a two year extension. People were talking about the Colts tanking this season, but that is obviously not the course Indianapolis will take.
As much as the Colts losing Luck will hurt, we need to remember that the Colts were among the favorites to win the Super Bowl. It's a hell of a lot easier to win the Super Bowl with a star quarterback, but you do need more to make it happen. The Colts have the same team, less the quarterback. It's still a good team.
Now, I never thought the team was going to be good enough to really contend for the title. They have a very difficult schedule after reaching the playoffs last year. The Jaguars should be better. The Texans should be healthier and the Titans are on the way up. While the Colts are a young, improving team, so is the rest of the division. It's going to be a battle to get to the playoffs, even with their quarterback of choice.
Oh, and that offense and improved defense? They were pasted by the Chiefs in the playoffs. The Chiefs are approximately the same as they were last year, and even they couldn't handle the Patriots.
Now, like I said, the Colts are a better team than one that should even consider tanking. They have assembled perhaps the best offensive line in the league, which will allow Brissett to succeed, or at least be more successful than he was when he started 15 games in 2017. Brissett was sacked more times than any other QB in the league during the games he started. The offense will be stable so long as the O-Line stays stable.
Then, there is the defense, long a liability of the Colts. Through two years of good drafting, the Colts have also developed one of the better defenses in the league. Most of the Colts' draft capital was spent on further filling holes on defense, and Justin Houston could ultimately be the most important signing the Colts made this offseason.
It might seem like I am arguing two different points. The schedule is tough, and the Colts won't do well. Their team is pretty good, the Colts will do well. I'm using those two ideas to make one conclusion. The loss of Andrew Luck doesn't hurt on the field as much as it seems, initially, because I don't think their ceiling was as high as some people believed, but also, their floor isn't that low without him. The Colts won't win the Super Bowl, but with a good break, they might make the playoffs. That's the same prediction I would have made before Luck's retirement.

The Xcel Energy Center is resurfacing their plaza

Anyone who has walked across the Xcel Plaza knows that the stonework that abuts West 7th Street is an uneven nightmare for anyone riding a scooter, wearing heels, or simply doesn't enjoy turned ankles. Well, good news. The brick work is getting redone in an effort to create a level walkway.
It's a welcome change not only for pedestrians but also for fans, who will likely appreciate not having the little pits in the walkway that fill with water and freeze into tiny ice rinks every winter as people wait to get into the arena. Usually, the athletes are better on the ice than their fans.
This is likely the most visible upgrade to the always active arena this offseason. There don't appear to be plans for any internal renovations to the XCel, but this was definitely low hanging fruit. Re-bricking the plaza improves safety and the visual aesthetic, without costing much money, relative to other potential repairs.
Anyways, the rest of the Wild organization is an absolute disaster this offseason, so I thought maybe I would provide some good news.

Putting way too much pressure on the Vikings

I don't think I am being too dramatic here, but if the Vikings don't win the Super Bowl this year, they have completely missed their shot with this window. This season is a crucial one for the Vikes, and they can't screw it up. The problem is that I don't believe they have the ability not to.
It is difficult to maintain a core of talent for much longer than 2 or 3 years, and the Vikings are likely approaching the end of such a cycle. Players will either age out of their most effective ability, or they will reach free agency, and their contracts will no longer fit. It's not an issue of team management, it's just the way things work in the NFL. The exception is teams that have a broader period of contention.
One thing that most teams who reach a contending window, and are able to lengthen that window, is a stable, home grown quarterback. The Vikingsgave up on Teddy Bridgewater, just as they have had to do with all of their drafted quarterback talent, excepting only, perhaps, Daunte Culpepper and Brad Johnson, so they broke the bank on Kirk Cousins.
So this season is just as much a referendum on Cousins as it is on the Vikings' window. He still has two years left on his deal, including the coming season, but if Cousins can't lead the Vikings deep into the playoffs, or if he does and still looks shaky thereafter, the final year of his contract will likely consist of keeping the seat warm for the next man ready to fail as Vikings quarterback.
The problem is that Cousins is a deeply flawed player, who has never really proven himself of leading a team into the postseason. Washington was just as successful, if not moreso with Alex Smith at the helm last year, before he got hurt. Quarterback statistics are hard to assess. Often because a bad team is behind early, a quarterback's numbers are inflated as his team tries to catch up. The only way, in my opinion, to judge whether or not a quarterback is effective is if his team wins when he is on the field. Has Kirk Cousins proven that he wins? Not consistently.
That's the biggest albatross on the Vikings' neck this season. Next season, they will need to worry about retaining core pieces of their roster if they hope to sustain some modicum of success. Their last challenge is time. They'll find out, either this year or next, that they've run out of it.

The Colts are just going to keep building through the draft

There was a lot made of the Colts' 2018 season and their position as the off season approached. They were a team on the upswing, and they were in a place of great financial flexibility, so some massive moves were expected, with holes on defense and a wide receiving corps that was very shallow, as well as a widely stated need for a running back.
The free agency glut came and went, and the Colts came away with.... Devin Funchess. Later, the Colts went out and added Justin Houston and Spencer Ware, but that was long after the premium names were already off the board.
The Colts then went to the draft, and the general consensus was that they crushed it. They traded out of the first round, and had three picks in the 2nd round, which they used to fill three pressing needs: Rock Ya-Sin, a cornerback, Ben Benogu, a linebacker and Parris Campbell, a wide receiver. This is the second year in a row that the Colts have potentially done extremely well with the draft.
That's a great thing to have in their back pocket. As they continue to develop internally, with young players breaking out, they will be able to either retain players in the long term, or in the short term, add that final component to a potential championship team.
Which, uh... I guess is what the situation was this year. To me, that signifies that they could get more out of the prospects they are adding than the entirety of the free agent pool, which is incredibly arrogant. Of course, Chris Ballard, the GM, is yet to be proven wrong in his Indianapolis tenure. We can call it confidence, since Ballard has already started to turn the team around using similar methods in previous off seasons.
The Colts could have added a bunch of free agents to round out the roster. They didn't. They could probably do it again next year. They probably won't. That doesn't seem to be how this organization wants to operate.

It's all bad news

We are at the beginning of the summer dog days for sports media coverage. There is only one of the big Four sports that is currently active, and it is the longest, steadiest season of them all. The crush of free agency is through for the three primary winter sports, and all the drafts are complete as well. It allows MLS to sneak up a little bit, but really, there are no big headlines to be made right now.
Unless it's bad news.
There is usually a buffet of stories about the offseason misbehavior of athletes - usually NFL athletes (there are just more of them), ill worded statements from executives and entirely too much attention paid to minor roster machinations in all leagues. Everyone tunes into every story more closely, developing strong opinions about everything they read.
And then the worst happens. Perhaps it is because we have so few distractions, except for those miscreant headlines, but it seems like the passing of Tyler Skaggs has a real chance to settle into our collective psyche and really, really hurt. With other bad news, and lord knows there is plenty in the course of the year, we can soldier on, but Skaggs sudden passing will likely have a chance to sit with us.
I think there is more to it than the headline desert of summer, or even the relative youth of Skaggs. There are other deaths that come in the summer in other sports. Jared Lorenzen, former NFL quarterback with the Giants and at the University of Kentucky just passed today, for example, at the tender age of 38. I think it's because baseball is a local sport, and fans of the game really have a chance to come to embrace members of the organization.
Baseball is part of the cadence of summer. Whereas football, and to a lesser degree basketball and hockey are events, baseball comes around every day, and we hear the announcers say the players' names so often they become interwoven in the humid summer air. The rhythm and the persistence of baseball make the players seem more akin to family.
And we watch them grow up with our organization, anticipate their success for longer. Players in other leagues are certainly younger, but they arrive ready to play, either out of high school or overseas. Maybe we saw them in college, but surely not the one in our back yard, or the one our local news, or the blog we read is most dedicated to.
Baseball players are part of the fabric of summer, in a way players in other sports are not enmeshed, and regardless of age, we become invested and engrossed in their development, and have a built in patience, almost like the players are our children in a way. We may never meet a professional baseball player through their career, but losing them so young has a special sting.
RIP, Tyler Skaggs. You will be missed.

I don't like country music

I want to first preface this by saying there isn't anything wrong with you if you do like country music. It's a personal taste and I do not share it. Too many people conflate an opinion on music, especially, as some sort of moral test. One is more legitimate if one prefers one kind of music over another, and they talk about the virtues of one kind of music and the fans of said music have. A genre of music is not and cannot be more virtuous than any other, and if you believe it can, then you are pompous. Country simply doesn't sound right to my ear, and that is OK, just as if hip hop or grunge or whatever doesn't sound right to yours.
Because I titled the post this way, I figure you expect an explanation. Sure, I'll give it to you. Die hard country fans espouse the lyrics and the instrumentation, the originality of the music. I don't want to put words in your mouth if you are a fan, so I'm just going off of common refrains that I have heard. I am going off of my taste, and arguing with anonymous voices that may or may not reflect your opinion. I'm trying to be very diplomatic here, over something that really makes people salty.
I find the lyrics of country songs to be too saccharine for my taste. More broadly, most that point to lyrics as something they appreciate in a song do so because they find the words to be relatable. I don't relate to country music. I grew up in suburbs, went to school in the city and am rather cynical. Country lyrics ring a bit treacly to me. I roll my eyes instead of enjoying the sentiment.
Some country songs border on pop or rock, depending on whether or not the instruments accompanying the lead guitars are fiddles or not. I don't like the way fiddles sound. If you remove the fiddle and replace it with a powerful bass line, it will definitely sound better to me, but at that point, is it really country anymore? I'm honestly asking, because I'm not sure where the line is.
The originality thing isn't really an issue for me. Country is no more or less original than any other brand of music. Thematically, most songs are the same, which is true in any genre, though those themes are the same. Country is just as prone to covering previously performed songs as rock or pop, and in my view, covering someone else's song isn't that different from sampling, which is often performed in hip hop. What I'm saying is that Country doesn't distinguish itself in my view on originality. This wouldn't matter much, but the themes and tone it sticks to generally don't appeal to me, and I don't identify with them.
Now all of that said, and this is the important part of this post: I have come to have so much respect for the talent of country singers. When they want to, they definitely can make a foray into another genre of music. Look at pop stars Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood and now Kacey Musgraves and Maren Morris on the female side, and Dan and Shay and Florida Georgia Line among the men.
I bring all of this up to say that this spring's hot song, Old Town Road was terrible when Lil Nas X performed solo. It took Billy Ray Cyrus to make it the hit it became. When country artists take their talents to other genres of music, It almost always adds positively to the song in question. Tim McGraw and Chris Stapleton have perhaps done this the most effectively in recent years, and now Billy Ray Cyrus, somehow, has done it again.
I have all the respect in the world for country artists, and I appreciate their talent when they have cross over hits. I just don't like country music.

SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION: Buy my book!

You can pre-order my book, Field Guide to the Weather on Amazon, or any other major book retailer. If you are a fan of weather or this blog, and wonder what it would be like if I had an editor, then this is the right purchase for you. It comes out on June 18th.

Since there will be movies...

Donald Trump - Bob Odenkirk
Bob Mueller - Sam Waterson
Don Jr. - Will Arnett
Eric - Paul Dano
Melania - Penelope Cruz
Ivanka - Katherine Heigl
Jared Kushner - Colin Hanks
Mike Pence - John C. McGinley
Kellyanne Conway - Laura Dern
James Comey - Vince Vaughn
Steve Bannon - Brendan Gleeson
Michael Flynn - Matt LeBlanc
Paul Manafort - Colin Firth
Michael Cohen - David Duchovny

I am open to other possibilities and additional casting.

Marvel seems to just make good movies

For most of us, I think, the superheroes we grew up with were Batman, Superman and to some degree, the Justice League. That is to say, DC Comics really dominated the 80s and 90s, from TV shows, including cartoons to movies. Heck, they probably had a firm grip on things before that, too. Spider-man was perhaps the lone Marvel superhero in the mainstream, and that turned into two different movie franchises, even predating the current glut from Marvel.
Now just think about how the comic industry has turned on it's head in the last decade plus. Sure, we were vaguely aware of, if not terribly excited by, Iron Man, Captain America, and the Incredible Hulk. Now, they are the centerpieces of a historic movie franchise, which is presently dominating the silver screen.
Sure, next month the next round from the Avengers is going to be released, and that gets its fair share of fanfare. But it's Captain Marvel, this months blockbuster, that is most indicative of the success of Marvel's franchising.
I'm not particularly surprised that a superhero movie with a female lead is doing well. Wonder Woman was an excellent film and did very well at the box office. The difference is that people heard of Wonder Woman before Gal Gadot donned the outfit. Until the movie was announced, I had never heard of Captain Marvel, despite the enthusiasm of so may comics aficionados.
Even other lesser known characters, like Black Panther, had been introduced before their standalone movie, but Captain Marvel's logo was merely seen on Nick Fury's beeper in an credit cut scene. The best comparison, I think, would be Ant-Man, a not so well known character who now has a pair of movies.
And they both did great. Hype was created essentially from nothing, and these movies, first Ant-Man and now Captain Marvel did very well. Heck, Captain Marvel was eagerly anticipated. It's pretty clear that the excitement is simply that Marvel is releasing a new movie, rather than the desire to see a particular character (at least for the general public). Marvel's reputation is wonderful after a long track record of good movies. They aren't getting lazy, only better, and we're all just going to keep eating them up until they stumble.

The Oscars: Grammys 2

Sometimes, I feel an investment in the Oscars, especially if there is a buzzy movie that is nominated, or I hear a lot about some of the nominations before the ceremony begins, even if I haven't heard much about them when they were initially released. Sometimes I will hear about performances from a particular movie, or more rarely, I will have seen a film that is nominated even before nominations are released.
This year, I'm not even interested in the best picture or acting categories. I haven't seen anything except Black Panther, which really wasn't as good as some other best picture films but way better than most superhero flicks. It explores complex issues in it's own way, but perhaps not as explicitly as BlacKkKlansman, and those two films likely compete in the same space for ballots.
That's about the extent of my introspection on best picture nominees, and I have zero thoughts on the acting categories.
Perhaps for the first time, I am very excited to see what happens with the music categories. I've been open about my appreciation for the entire soundtrack to Black Panther, and am on record as saying that Kendrick Lamar deserves an Oscar for his work. Three Six Mafia has an Oscar. It's not unheard of for a hip hop performer to win one, and Kendrick Lamar is significantly more talented, and there are a handful of songs that are better than It's Hard Out Here for A Pimp on the Black Panther soundtrack.
But then A Star is Born was released. The movie's feature song "Shallow" was so good that it actually won a Grammy for best performance in the pop category, not just the music for visual media. It was a better song than almost all other pop songs released last year. Black Panther and Kendrick Lamar suddenly don't have the award as locked up as I expected.
Ultimately, the Oscars are likely to play out how the Grammys did. Black Panther was nominated for Album of the year, which is an incredible accomplishment, and a credit to Kendrick Lamar and the other artists on the album for a well rounded body of work, and won for the best score. All of the Stars was nominated for many best song categories, and King's Dead was nominated for best Rap Song. Neither won.
That's how it will go at the Oscar's, I suspect. Black Panther won't win anything for the best song, that will go to Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, but the score will go to Black Panther. Any other result will be a surprise. I'll be rooting for the favorites.

Things worked out just fine.

This, via Reddit, was the power ranking by Dr. Z at Sports Illustrated immediately after Drew Bledsoe found himself injured. What's crazy is that not only did the Pats win the Super Bowl that year with youngster Tom Brady at the helm, but also, they haven't really stopped winning since. This was before the Texans came to being, so the Patriots were right at the bottom of the league.
While all of this is very hopeful that your team may one day turn it around on a dime, I also note that of the 5 teams shown here, 3 of them are still terrible, and have been for the last 20 years. You'll get 'em... some time, Cleveland! 

Colts fans should be satisfied

I made a bet at the beginning of the season. Over/Under for the Colts wins. I could set the number, and my friend would pick either over or under. I st it at 7, and he went under. When the team started 1-5, it looked particularly bleak. Then, the team rattled off 9 wins in 10 games, including a road playoff win. The mere fact that they were even in Kansas City on Saturday afternoon is pretty remarkable. The game was pretty bad, but the fact that it even happened? Fantastic. I have no complaints.
One thing that this season goes a long way towards confirming is my continued tenet that you must build a team from the inside out. After the disastrous tenure of Ryan Grigson, Chris Ballard came to town and immediately started transforming the roster. Whereas Grigson had a predilection for drafting skill players and hyped up edge rushers, Ballard saw the problem on offense was Andrew Luck's protection, and on defense, they simply didn't have the ability to compete.
To his credit, Grigson drafted Ryann Kelly, the starting center for Indianapolis, in his final season, but it was Ballard who started rebuilding the secondary, with Malik Hooker and Quincy Wilson in 2017. The team really turned it around when they acquired a slew of picks from the Jets so New York could move up, and Indianapolis drafted Quenton Nelson in the first round and used one of those other picks on Braden Smith, both of whom locked up spots on the offensive line, which was suddenly one of the best, not only this year, but perhaps in the last decade. Ballard spent the other three picks on defenders, of which one, Darius Leonard, may end up the defensive rookie of the year after leading the league in tackles.
The lessons here are this: Make sure your quarterback is upright and safe. Draft often and early. Draft well. This is a team that surpassed expectations. Expectations will be higher next year, but their schedule is more difficult. Fortunately, Ballard has 3 picks in the first two rounds again, in which to work his magic.
There is optimism in Indianapolis, despite what it looked like in Kansas City

Mood as Colts game gets underway: