What a way to start the decade--with a very, very, very tall building. Not in China. Not in Malaysia. In Dubai.
Quote of the day:
“To achieve the impossible dream, try going to sleep.”
--Joan Klempner
Tell the truth, Didn’t you think we’d be watching UCLA play North Carolina for the NCAA championship?
Not only were both defeated in the semifinals, but both were soundly defeated. Both Memphis and Kansas ran onto the court ready ready to play, play fast and win.
It’s amazing how both UCLA and North Carolina looked hapless by comparison.
Quote of the day 3:
"Our trade deficit has greatly worsened, to the point that our country's 'net worth,' so to speak, is now being transferred abroad at an alarming rate."
--Warren Buffett in 2003 in Fortune
Steve Martin used to have a routine in which he repeated phrases in French, one of them being “omelette du fromage.”
In that vein, what we have this weekend is “quatre du finale.”
America is celebrating the arrival once more of the boys of summer as ice is still melting in the northern reaches and buds just begin to appear on the maple trees. But the sports world’s real story at this moment is college basketball.
For the first time, four number-one seeds are in the final four of the NCAA tournament, and they are good teams indeed. There is pretty fair regional representation--UCLA, University of Kansas, Memphis and University of North Carolina (I think someone in that basketball-embedded state is still pushing the NCAA for a rule that says at least one of its teams makes it each year).
Of these, UCLA, UNC and Memphis are especially fierce--we’re talking intense, driven, high-level basketball. These teams have been something else to watch as they’ve come through the tournament. Not that any of their paths were an uninterrupted breeze. UCLA stumbled twice--once in the opening round. Memphis was given quite a test by Mississippi State.
Kansas is just a bit of a different story. Last weekend, they came close to being knocked out by an excellent and underrated Davidson team (from North Carolina, by the way), and seemed a bit lackluster in the process. Maybe it was just a bad day.
We may have one, two or three games that will be the best in any sport this year.
Wait, when’s the game on?
Quote of the day:
“Have the banks finally hit bottom?”
--Headline in today’s Barron’s
I woke up this morning, picked up the iPhone from the nightstand and figured I may as well check today’s tournament game times. Had anything started yet?
Then it hit me. After all these years, am I becoming the stereotypical march madness male?
If so, can I survive it?
Quote of the day:
“Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!”
--The USD bench this afternoon
How about those University of San Diego Toreros? They beat 4th-seeded Connecticut 70-69 in overtime! Just like Western Kentucky, they made a basket with 1.2 seconds to go after a well-executed play.
Congrats to Bill Grier and the whole team. They’ve come a long way this year. Certainly, after the miserable way they started their season, no one thought they’d make the NCAA tournament, not to mention advance to the second round.
I hope USD is really enjoying its day in the sun!
Quote of the day:
“The old media establishment was mocked for its herd behavior, but so far, the new one looks just as conformist. Although digital technologies appear to invite innovation and originality, in practice they are giving us the opposite. Everyone does what everyone else is doing. And they move from obsession to obsession in perfect unison.”
--William Powers at nationaljournal.com
I love college basketball for its passion and unpredictability. The players have a huge emotional investment in each game, and when they’re working together as a team, it’s an extraordinary thing to watch.
The first big-time emotional moment of the NCAA tournament has just happened. With five seconds to go in overtime, underdog Western Kentucky was losing to Drake 99-98. Inbounding the ball from the Drake baseline, they executed a perfect play, making a three-point basket right at the buzzer.
Pandemonium ensued.
Quote of the day:
“History does not teach fatalism. There are moments when the will of a handful of free men breaks through determinism and opens up new roads. People get the history they deserve.”
--Charles de Gaulle
There was an event of a lifetime in sports today.
If you follow football, you know what I’m talking about. San Diego’s Antonio Cromartie had the longest run for a touchdown ever recorded (or ever to be recorded) in the history of the NFL.
I was working on something else during the game, but I looked up to watch this moment unfold. It was unbelievable--almost worth San Diego losing the game against the Vikings. Almost.
With seconds to go in the first half, Minnesota was attempting a field goal from 53 yards out. They missed, and Cromartie, with his foot inches away from the back of the end zone, picked up the ball on a bounce and started running.
He ran and ran, with good blocking from an army of Chargers. He ran 109+ yards right into the end zone.
Amazing.
Quote of the day:
“Roadkill never feels bad for the car.”
--Carolyn Hax
Well, the San Diego Padres will not be in the playoffs.
They played the Colorado Rockies last night to see who would get the wild-card slot in the postseason. I tuned in in the middle of the game, just long enough to see Colorado wipe out our lead and send the game into extra innings.
I turned off the game in the tenth inning. Turns out the Rockies won in the 13th.
In situations like this, we invariably hear or read a report that includes the statement “It all came down to this.”
That statement has philosophical and theological implications. And it gives me pause. Pause, not paws.
On the one hand, there’s the simple truth that the winner of this one game will go to the playoffs, and the other will not. The winner of the game may be decided in one inning, or with just one pitch.
But “it all comes down to this” has another implication. It suggests that all that has come before is somehow less important than this moment.
The reality is different, of course. If any previous game had turned out differently, San Diego would not even be playing Colorado to break their tie. If they had won one more game, or lost one more game, they wouldn’t be in it.
In a close game, if one pitch had been a bit different, the outcome of the game may have been different. And yesterday would have been different.
So we could say that “it all came down to” any one of those pitches in any one of those close games. They were all important.
But, heck. We love these dramatic moments. And it’s all entertainment anyway.
Though I’m not especially entertained by the Padres losing.
Quote of the day:
"A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labors of a spasmodic Hercules."
--Anthony Trollope
Joy has come to Mudville. The mistake on the lake is no fake. Or something like that.
How about those Cleveland Cavaliers! They came back from a 0-2 deficit in the NBA Eastern Conference finals and won the series over the mighty Detroit Pistons. Now they’re headed to the NBA finals against the San Antonio Spurs. the games begin on Thursday, and promise to be full of spirit and emotion.
The Cavaliers were legendary for having the worst team in the NBA, year after year. Things shifted a few years ago when the phenomenal LeBron James joined the team, and now the team seems to have blossomed.
James is extraordinary. Remember the video of him during practice last season making three or four full-court shots in a row? He seemed to do it with so little effort. He also seems to be a down-to-earth, nice guy. The photo of him jumping into the center’s arms at the end of the Detroit game is terrific.
I do hope they can mix it up with Tim Duncan and friends. They sure have momentum on their side. And Cleveland deserves a championship.
Quote of the day:
“Before sleeping together today, people should boil themselves.”
--Richard Lewis
Quote of the day no. 2:
“A tremendous number of people in America work very hard at something that bores them. Even a rich man thinks he has to go down to the office every day. Not because he likes it, but because he can’t think of anything else to do.”
--W.H. Auden
It’s Memorial Day weekend, time for the Indianapolis 500. I really like the annual ritual of watching this race. This Sunday I’ll be able to watch it from start to finish for the first time in several years.
A bit more history is being made this year at Indianapolis as three women have qualified for the race. It’s not just Danica Patrick any longer. How about that!
Race coverage on TV has become much more interesting over the last several years with cameras inside many cars and the use of very creative graphics describing the action. It’s all pretty darn amazing in high definition, with great sound. “Whoom, whoom, whoom-whoom-whooma-whooma!”
If the yearly 500 is not enough, I can extend my joy by watching the NASCAR race scheduled later in the day. A whole day of watching very rapid automobiles. What a time we live in!
Quote of the day:
“Other than my acne, my need to work for a living would be the first thing I’d remove from my life.”
--Timothy “Speed” Levitch
Last Thursday I was idly surfing through a few TV channels and came upon the Masters golf tournament. I was taken by the beauty of the Augusta golf course and watched for a few minutes.
Then I saw that Tiger Woods was playing, so I watched him make a few shots. Then I noticed how good some of the other golfers were. Next thing I knew, I had seen the whole first round, and Merrie had gotten involved, too.
I wondered when the tournament would continue on Friday, so I checked the listings. Why not check it out when it comes on, I asked myself. I did.
You know, I tuned in again on Saturday and Sunday. I watched the whole Masters tournament. Why am I bringing this up? It’s the first time I’ve watched a golf tournament. I don’t play non-miniature golf. And I always thought people who watched this stuff had some sort of maladjustment.
The thing is, there was something affirming and restful about the Masters. Maybe the reason was that the visuals were extraordinary, Or maybe it was that golfers “compete” against themselves and the course, and not each other. It is extremely difficult to hit that little white ball 200 yards with precision. It’s almost as hard to hit it 2 yards across an unpredictable green.
As many folks have written over the years, the game of golf teaches us a variety of things. It’s clearly 95% a mind game. And one thing I noticed is that younger golfers tend to be better at long shots and older golfers tend to be better putters.
Quote of the day:
"I learned a lot about losing from [my father]. That losing is an identity; that you can be a good loser and a bad winner; that none of it — gambling, money, winning, or losing — has any real value."
--Robert Altman
To celebrate Merrie’s birthday, we had some friends over and she showed one of her favorite movies, Harry and Tonto, from 1974. Art Carney won the best acting Oscar for playing Harry, who takes his 11-year-old cat Tonto on a cross-country odyssey. The movie is both insightful and charming in its depiction of life in the 1970s, and it is a thoughtful journey into the pleasures and sorrows of growing old.
I also celebrated the day by watching part of the Georgetown--UNC game. How about those Hoyas (or, as we say in southern California, “Jollas”)! On to the Final Four.
Quote of the day:
"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know."
--Diane Arbus
Well, San Diego State’s basketball season is finished. Syracuse finished us off in the second round of the NIT. All in all, a very good season, 22-11 with three of the best games we’ve ever seen them play. The SDSU program is turning around, and even though the gradualness exasperates fanatics, it’s rewarding and fun to see.
I took Merrie to Kaiser for a 2-hour class in living post-MI. It doesn’t sound like fun, but she came back energized and motivated. And that was wonderful to see.
The evening was notable for two reasons. First, Jack Bauer actually let someone else (briefly) attempt to save the world from destruction. Of course, Jack did have to pause on his way to diverting a nuclear device to resolve a romantic issue. He still hasn’t had anything to eat since being released from Chinese prison.
Second, Merrie read the blog for the first time in a month.
Quote of the day:
“Sleep, riches and health to be truly enjoyed must be interrupted.”
--Jean Paul Richter
It’s been a beautiful and cooler day in San Diego. Merrie, Sophie and I took two walks. The rest of the day was very, very slow. Beethoven Piano Sonatas, some newspapers, coffee, delicious food, a bit of e-mail, some college basketball.
We are so grateful for a bit of recovery each day, and we are still learning to be patient with the pace of healing. It doesn’t seem to happen according to our expectations and schedule.
We delighted this evening in SDSU’s win in its first-round NIT game against Missouri State. It was a nail-biter, and I’m not sure either of us needed the stress, but it was fun. Now, on to Syracuse on Monday.
Thank you to the friends and colleagues who continue to think of us and send us good wishes!
I don’t know why this observation came to mind during my visits to the hospital, but here it is:
“If you took all the human urine produced in the world in one day, it would take a full 20 minutes for it to flow over Niagara Falls.”
--Scott LaFee
Well, the SDSU Aztecs won their last basketball game of the regular season, 56-51 against TCU. Merrie and I listened to some of it in her room today. She’s hoping to be home in time to watch the Mountain West Conference tournament, which begins on Tuesday.
Good news: Merrie’s blood counts are back to normal. Whatever infection was present is now gone. Her blood pressure seems to be stabilizing.
She spent most of the afternoon and evening sitting up, and we went for a couple walks around the third floor. It’s good to see her slowly begin to regain her strength. While she is still being closely monitored and is still quite tired, she seems to feel a little better every day. That statement needs to be qualified, though, because Merrie is experiencing sensations that she’s never known or been aware of before. It can be a little confusing or concerning.
We had fun today reading notes and cards that have arrived over the last few days. Thanks to everyone who has sent a card or an e-mail. Your kindness and support are carrying us through.
Super Bowl quotes;
“Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein.”
--Joe Theismann
“American football is an occasion at which dancing girls, bands, tactical huddles and television commercial breaks are interrupted by short bursts of play.”
--Times of London
“Till I was 13 I thought my name was ‘Shut Up.’”
--Joe Namath
“Some people try to find things in this game that don’t exist but football is only two things--blocking and tackling.”
--Vince Lombardi
“If God had wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn’t have given us arms.”
--Mike Ditka
“When you hang with a bunch of 300-pound linemen, you tend to find the places that are the greasiest and serve the most food.”
--Tom Brady
“The football season is like pain. You forget how terrible it is until it seizes you again.”
--Sally Quinn
Quote of the day:
“Everyone eventually sits down.”
--Unknown
Quote of the day no. 2:
“The more you listen to the voice within you, the better you will hear what is sounding outside.”
--Dag Hammarskjold
Sports quote of the day:
“It’s not a national holiday, it’s just a game.”
--Encinitas realtor Marc Zimmerman, talking about the Super Bowl.
Kudos to Target for a great front page on their most-recent circular. It offers special prices on both a large flat-screen TV and a bag of Doritos. Is this a great country or what? No need to drive around for those Super Bowl needs.
Marc Zimmerman, while technically right, is actually wrong. Super Bowl Sunday IS a national holiday. It’s not official. It hasn’t been declared by Congress. But it is very real. Commerce slows to a crawl during the broadcast and then surges when the game concludes. It’s even hard to escape during commercial breaks because the ads are often as entertaining as the game.
We need these occasions for national and community celebrating. And we need these singular events that most of us can gather around.
I am not a huge football fan, and used to use Super Bowl Sunday to avoid crowds at all the places I needed to shop. So often, the football game is so uninteresting it seems a little silly. But I’ve tuned in regularly over the last several years.
Whether we like it or not, agree with it or not, participate in it or not, Super Bowl Sunday has transcended the football game. It is a major event, a spectacle, a national “gathering place” and a national holiday.
Quote of the day:
"Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.”
--William James
Syllable miscount of the day:
“Realtor” has two syllables, not three. Often it is realtors who are pronouncing it real-i-tor.
Color me annoyed at commentators and anchor people whose impulse to yak exceeds their ability to do so. Specifically, this peeve du pet addresses play-by-play people who drive cliches and metaphors into the ground.
We are in the midst of the college basketball season. To keep things interesting, play-by-play people come up with a variety of creative ways to talk about the game. Nothing wrong with that. Except when they get stuck.
For example, someone once referred to the part of the court where a basket counts three points as “beyond the arc.” Now, it seems we never hear that a shot is from 3-point range, or simply that it’s worth three points, or even that the shot came from “behind the arc.” It is ALWAYS “beyond the arc.” It’s an “if I had a nickel” situation.
Another singular non-favorite is a variation on the “foul line,” from which free throws are taken. I can’t remember the last time I heard or read the simple, descriptive term “foul line.” It is ALWAYS the “charity stripe.” It was clever the first few times it was used, but not the subsequent 5,000.
Jeez. Can I buy you a thesaurus?
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