1. Last basketball season, I loved watching both Marquette and Wisconsin play basketball and was thrilled today that the two teams would be squaring off at 10:00 this morning. By the end, the game ended up not being very close as Wisconsin pulled away to win 77-61. After halftime, the Badgers' defense clamped down on Marquette's leading scorer and team leader, Markus Howard. Howard scored 16 points in the first half, but only two in the second. The Badgers had six players score in double figures, including reserve Brevin Pritzl who came off the bench and was on fire, scoring 15 points.
Markus Howard is a phenomenal player, a superb scorer. I thought, though, that he could have looked to (and trusted) his teammates more in this game, or, to quote Steve Lavin, could have "shared the sugar" more often. I say this because he has at least two teammates, Sacar Anim (whose playing time was limited by foul trouble) and Koby McEwen, who are potentially very solid scorers and I thought both Jamal Cain and Greg Eliot showed signs of being good shooters. In fact, in this game, McEwen only took nine shots from the field -- Howard shot twenty-one times -- and McEwen was Marquette's leading scorer.
I am eager to see both Marquette and Wisconsin play in their conferences. I especially love watching Markus Howard who can be absolutely electrifying -- in fact, on two or three occasions in the first half today I was so entertained by shots he made that I roared with joyous laughter. I also think Marquette will be a stronger team as they become a more balanced team, yes, relying primarily on Markus Howard for points, but also getting players like McEwen (especially), Anim, Cain, and Eliot more involved.
2. I hopped in the Sube around 1:20 today, fed my wallet at the ATM, and headed to the Sixth Street Melodrama and Theater to see Paul and Carol contribute to The Big Be-Bop Bandstand Amateur Night Talent Show, a parody of the 1950s television and shows like The Original Amateur Hour or the local program Starlit Stairway. In many ways, today's Sixth Street show reminded me of The Gong Show. The Gong Show simultaneously presented purposefully awful acts and really good ones and this is what The Big Be-Bop did. The purposefully awful acts were splendidly terrible and the acts that showcased genuine talent were very good. The show had two sources of glue: Paul played the talent show's host, Dink Martindale in a deep baritone voice and a seemingly unlimited supply of dumb pun jokes; the other source of glue were the two accompanists. I don't have the matinee's program in front of me and I've forgotten their names, but the piano and saxophone playing throughout the show were terrific. I sat with in the very front row with Christy and Everett and we had a great time, as did the rest of the energetic audience, a near full house.
3. Christy spearheaded the idea that for family dinner tonight we would go to The Blackboard Cafe in Wallace. The cafe wouldn't be opening until 5 p.m., so we had a little over an hour to enjoy between the show ending and the cafe opening. Carol and Paul joined the cast for a get together at City Limits and Christy, Everett, and I went to the freshly renovated and very handsome Silver Corner Bar. The Silver Corner specializes in superbly mixed cocktails, both classic and contemporary, and Christy and I each ordered a couple of classics: first, a Manhattan and then an Old-Fashioned. I loved both of them and wished alcohol didn't intoxicate me. I would have drunk double what I did just for the taste.
We had a very good time yakking at the Silver Corner and then we took our table in the cozy and comfortable Blackboard Cafe. We had a superb time gabbin' about the show and all kinds of other things. Since I'm spending Monday and Tuesday nights in Spokane, I nailed down dog care plans with Paul and Carol.
I also told my sisters that I'd be submitting an application for our Uncle Bill's name to be inscribed at the Veterans' Wall over on Hill and Railroad. I didn't know until it came up with DJ Saturday at the Lounge that family members or the veterans themselves needed to fill out information about their service, submit it to a committee, and then the name would go up.
Excellent! I have the form, the information about Uncle Bill (who was killed in the Pacific in 1944), and I know where to submit it. I'll get that filled out when I return from my time away in Spokane. (I have my annual transplant list evaluation all day Tuesday at Sacred Heart.)
I loved my dinner at Blackboard. I ordered a glass of red wine from Sicily and then a half a Caesar salad to start. For the main course, I tried something I'd never heard of or thought of before, Steak Alfredo. The dish featured a generous number of filet mignon bits, mushrooms, and orecchiette pasta with a delicious parmesan cream sauce. I loved it. I had another glass of wine and then I couldn't resist dessert, a slice of Blackboard's Decadent Chocolate Cake with a cup of coffee.
I sure enjoy having a meal out that is better than anything I could fix at home. This was true last Saturday night at the Plateau Steak House at the Wildhorse Casino and absolutely true tonight at the Blackboard Cafe.
Dinner tonight was exquisite.
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