Da Burgh and Traveling Through O'Hare

I just want to start by dispelling rumors that I have abandoned the blog. I have merely been taking a creative sabbatical to deal with basketball players jumping into inflatable pools, even if they are recovering from a torn ACL, as well as attending a wedding and a bachelor party.

The wedding was in Sharon, PA and included such amusing activities as going to karaoke night at the local Quaker Steak and Lube. I know this is going to sound incredibly snobby, but if you were ever going to go looking for your truck drivin', gun toatin', possum eatin', GOP votin' folk they'd be hanging out there. The place is decorated for the NASCAR lover, and although I know more than you would think about NASCAR because I do like car racing of all kinds, I think decorating your restaurant with car hoods and other car paraphernalia just takes things down a notch. That said, karaoke was pretty amusing.

The other quality event of the wedding, besides the event itself, was my dearest wife and her brother doing push-ups while we were all getting ready to leave (I will provide pictures of this soon). Let's just say it was pretty damn funny. I also got to drive Nat's aunts truck which was lots of fun. It is always amusing driving something that is twice as big as my Civic.

As for the bachelor trip to DC the most amusing part was flying through O'Hare. I know this goes without saying for you middle of the country folk, but that airport stinks if your goal is to arrive anywhere on time. My flight Friday morning was delayed at the runway in Nashville for 1 hour, followed by a 1 hour delay in the air, refueling stop at the tarmac in Indianapolis and further 1 hour delay. Luckily Nat told me by phone that American Airlines had canceled my morning flight to Reagan National but had rebooked me for a later flight without doing a thing. That little change made it possible for me to land at O'Hare 3 hours late and run to a gate, with enough time to grab a Kit Kat for lunch, and get to DC only 3 and half hours late.

In DC there was some semi-controlled debauchery and a trip to the Washington Nationals new ballpark. The park itself is pretty nice and has some nice views of the city, but overall it is just ok. The concession stands are well stocked with good food items, even though they are pricey as expected, but the park lacks that characteristic that makes it stand out from the rest of the parks and from the city itself. The HD and gigormous scoreboard is awesome but you don't get to enjoy its full capacity that much as replays are not shown nearly enough. All in all, the park on the outside fits into the city almost as yet another office building and inside it lacks that something that makes it unique.

On the way back I actually left National, which is an absolutely joy to fly into because you get the most amazing viewof the city, on time but I was delayed out of O'Hare on the way home. Not only that, the flight was overbooked by 5 people and the next flight was not until the next day. Now, the airplane only holds about 50 people, so that means that American overbooked the flight by 10%! That meant that those 5 people did not get home on time, even if they got a hotel stay and $250 voucher for their troubles, simply because the airline screwed up. Just not a good scenario.

I will end by saying that I was incredibly disappointed with the customer service provided by the American flight attendants. I am aware that their job is stressful, especially when flights are delayed, and especially when your job is on the line because of job losses in the industry left and right. However, none of these make it ok to be rude to costumers that have a request, especially when the request is being made in a courteous manner. At the end of the day, it is their job to make the costumer have a pleasant experience when they are using the airline. Being nasty at costumers is going to do nothing but drive them to other airlines, which will translate on more job problems for them.

Blind Side

It's hard to tie the game when your arm(s) are being held back by the defensive player (courtesy of the LA Times with some help from our DIY at despair.com).


In what has to be the biggest story to follow with the UCLA men's basketball season, if not all of college basketball, the officiating in a UCLA game again favored the Bruins. It is one thing when bad calls fall both ways, but at least three horrendous calls (not including the blown call of the game winning shot that went over the backboard) have gone UCLA's way in game deciding plays. How on earth can so many game deciding plays favor one team? I am not suggesting a conspiracy, but maybe the officials ought to eliminate some of the bias towards said team. It is not uncommon for players to get calls all the time (think D-Wade in the NBA finals a few years back), but a whole team? This is ridiculous!

Day 2 NCAAs

Some thoughts of day 2 of action at the Men's NCAA basketball tourney:

For starters, even though I did not catch the entire Heels game, that is the kind of win you want to start the tourney. I mean, it isn't every day when you hit the 101 mark with 4 mins to go and your scrubs end up playing 3+ minutes and Surry Wood gets an alley oop. Just crazy.

Although I think Arkansas may be playing better ball now, I sure am glad not to get Indiana in the 2nd round. Indiana may be struggling after the Sampson fiasco, but they have some crazy good players that I would not want to face in the 2nd round of the tourney.

I feel bad for Clemson choking away another big lead or maybe they just got caught by the 'Turmoil in Tampa'. I guess they just never figured out a way to close out games and this showed again. Once they tighten up it is all downhill. That and the abnormal number of treys from way the hell out they took.

The W. KY ending was crazy. I was following the game at work and got to catch the ending. I still cannot believe the shot that kid hit over 2 guys...or wait, was it 3 defenders?

The San Diego ending was just as crazy, with the added craziness that UConn looked horrid for a huge chunk of the game (even with AJ Price getting hurt). I guess I got used to watching us play because I am not used to missing lots of shots from 5 feet away where you don't even hit the basket. I thought the most telling point of the game, besides the game winning shot, was Calhoun calling a TO as one of his players was about to shoot a wide open three. Just not a pretty scene.

Vandy got destroyed by Siena. There have been some grumblings (not an expert but it goes to the point) before the tournament about Vandy being mostly good at home and mostly mediocre away from home. The home court advantage may have something to do wit the weird configuration of the court, where the team benches are at the end of the floor as opposed to the side.

Out of the first weekend, three out of the four #1 seeds just overpowered their opponent in the first game. The only one that didn't clobber the #16 seed was really Memphis. While a 87-63 win is clearly a butt kicking, Memphis just didn't run away with their game as badly as the other #1 seeds (Kansas, UCLA, UNC).

One last note. I hope Bobby Knight goes back to coaching, not only because he is a good basketball coach but also because he is completely life-less as a TV commentator. He rambles on and on and lacks the spice that always made him entertaining in press conferences.

Enjoy round 2 today and tomorrow.

Got a team? Will play DI ball.

This is a pretty interesting piece about small colleges making the jump to DI basketball. Belmont University is just down the road from Vanderbilt.