1. I got my Univ. of Maryland blood draw kit assembled and headed to the clinic uptown and Tracy, the best phlebotomist ever, not only drew a vial of blood to send to Baltimore, she also drew a vial for Providence Sacred Heart so that their transplant program has their own record of my blood type. Afterward, I dropped into Yoke's Pharmacy and got my eye drops for my next cataract surgery and talked with the pharmacist about being vaccinated for Hepatitis B -- maybe the last thing I need to do for the transplant program. We'll see.
2. Back home, I returned to watching the movie, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Usually when I think of a cinematic or theatrical farce, I think of improbable plot lines, doors flying open and slamming shut, trysts, chance meetings, mistaken identity, and the movement from chaos and confusion to order and clarification all centered around lovers. But, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a drug crime farce featuring many of the same elements as a bedroom farce, only instead of sexual exchanges the characters exchange gunfire and the chance meetings are not between lovers, but between competing gangs of thugs. Farce features snappy repartee and is as much a delight to the ear as to the eye and the same is true of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. I think I read somewhere that if you imagined a collaboration between Quentin Tarantino and the Marx Brothers, you'd have Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. I agree. So, later in the evening, before I went to bed, I decided to indulge in another movie featuring brilliant conversation and humor in a world of drugs and violence and watched the first forty minutes or so of Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.
3. The talent of college basketball players makes watching their games a ton of fun.
So does the wild unpredictability of these games.
Going into tonight's games, I figured Villanova would gets its ship back on course and defeat Georgetown. But, no. Villanova lost its third game in a row, unable to get scoring out of any players other than Phil Booth and Eric Paschall; at the same time, Georgetown's young players and its experienced center, Jessie Govan, scored from all points of the half court compass and the Hoyas ran away with an 85-73 win.
Soon after, Providence crushed St. John's. I have loved so many of the Johnnies' efforts, but tonight St. John's energy was flat and their decision making poor and the Friars ran them out of the Dunkin' Donuts Center (the Dunk), 78-59.
While Providence was pasting St. John's, down in Durham, NC, Duke's Blue Devils hosted the Univ. of North Carolina in what is college basketball's fiercest rivalry.
Talk about unpredictable.
About 30-35 seconds into this titanic match up, college basketball's most titanic player, Zion Williamson, was dribbling near the free throw line, planted his left foot and the force of this move blew up his shoe. His foot tore right through the shoe itself, causing Williamson to slip and he sprained his right knee. Duke's best player never returned to the game.
Immediately, North Carolina pounced on Duke's loss, pounced not only on the physical absence of Williamson, but on Williamson's Duke teammates' shock and disorientation.
Duke was defenseless against North Carolina's speed and crisp ball movement, surrendering countless easy shots to the Tar Heels. Duke was unable to generate any kind of offensive momentum.
Consequently, the top-ranked Dukies succumbed to the Tar Heels' unrelenting attack and lost this game, 88-72. Two Tar Heel seniors, Luke Maye and Cameron Johnson, were unstoppable and scored 56 points between them.
I always root for Duke's opponents.
I never root for injury to anyone.
Seeing Zion Williamson suffer such a bizarre injury blanketed this game with sadness. The two teams meet again in Chapel Hill on March 9 and whether Zion Williamson will be sufficiently healed by then is a question very much up in the air. Coach K described the injury as a mild sprain, but until Williamson undergoes further testing, it's unknown if and when he'll return to action.
It was a most unpredictable night on maple floors up and down the east coast and out west.
Florida defeated LSU.
Syracuse crushed Louisville.
And, in another huge surprise, the San Diego State Aztecs defeated the 6th ranked Nevada Wolf Pack.
As Dick Enberg would say, "Ohhh, myyy!"
No comments:
Post a Comment