1. I haven't quite finished Rising Tide. I have about 60 pages left. I wrote a little while back about how, in 1927, the very wealthy bankers and other moneyed interests in New Orleans lobbied for and eventually succeeded in having a section of the levee just south of New Orleans dynamited. As it turned out, New Orleans was not in danger of being flooded, but speculation and panic combined to hurt the city's economy. Frightened citizens abandoned the city and tourists were afraid to visit. Port business showed signs of declining. By dynamiting the levee repeatedly, potential danger in New Orleans was shifted to actual destruction in the St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. Residents had time to evacuate. Some lived as refugees in New Orleans warehouses; others traveled out of the area. Houses, farms, trapping areas, fisheries, business, and other entities were destroyed. Before the blowing up of the levee, the people of these parishes had been given assurances that they would be compensated. They would be taken care of.
They weren't.
I've been reading the story of how the wealthy put their minds to work, not to help alleviate suffering and help people of already limited means get back on their feet again, but to pay out as little reparations as possible and protect their own largesse. The flooding of the parishes was a great success in alleviating economic fears, in restoring confidence in those wanting to do business in New Orleans. But the powerful and wealthy failed miserably when it came to fundamental honesty, keeping promises, being generous, and funding basic humanitarianism. In fact, they didn't just quietly lie, break promises, hoard money, and enact cruelty. They pursued these ends aggressively.
2. I made a small batch of red curry and added green beans and the few pieces of flank steak I had leftover from preparing the Thai Beef and Peppers to the sauce. I poured the sauce over about half of the leftover Spicy Thai Linguine I had left. It was an awesome dinner.
3. Because the Atlantic Coast Conference is having an off year and Virginia has won quite a few games in this weakened conference, it's hard to know just how strong the Cavs really are.
Well, Virginia didn't look strong at all this afternoon. Their conference rival, the Florida State Seminoles, crushed them. Florida State overpowered Virginia with their length, height, quickness, sharp shooting, suffocating defense, and depth. What I had hoped would be a closely contested tilt simply was not. Florida State crushed Virginia, 81-60.
Because YouTube TV doesn't carry the Pac 12 Network, I hadn't seen the women's team from Oregon play this season. Until tonight.
ESPN broadcast their game this evening against Stanford.
My one dominant impression was that this Oregon Ducks team is inexperienced, talented, and unsure of themselves.
I loved how they fought back in this game. At one point in the second quarter, the Ducks were down by 15 points, but they clawed back, eventually taking a slim lead late in the fourth quarter.
In the closing minutes, though, Stanford prevailed, thanks, in my view, to being a more experienced team and hitting some shots late. Oregon had a couple of really good chances to tie this game late -- or even go ahead, but whereas Stanford's late shots dropped, the Ducks' Taylor Mikesell had an open trey spin out and, in their last possession, down by two points, the Ducks' point guard, Te-Hina Paopao slipped, lost her footing, and travelled with just a couple of seconds left. Sadly, the Ducks didn't launch a shot in this last possession and lost the game, 63-61.
My impression is that it's been a helter skelter season for the Ducks. Not only have they been through periods of inaction because of Covid-19 protocols, but they've also had key players out with injuries. I also know that Taylor Chavez has, during this season, traveled to Arizona to be with her ailing grandmother.
So, to me, as of now, the Ducks seem to be working to get in synch. They play in a difficult conference and my sense is that some of the players are working to regain their confidence after not performing well against powerful teams. I'm not sure, with as fragmented as this season has been, that the Ducks have settled their player rotations. I'm not sure Coach Graves knows just yet which players work together the best.
The Ducks look, to me, like a team with a lot of potential that needs time to develop. Surely, the Ducks built some confidence tonight and surely they learned a lot about themselves as a team. If the young players stay in Eugene, if they don't have many players transfer (my guess is that some will), we might not see this team gel until next season.
Oh! Don't get me wrong. They'll end the season with a solid record and will play in the NCAA tournament. But, Oregon wants to be a team that competes every year for a conference title. It won't happen this year, but these young players will benefit from this year's experience and will be right back in the race next season -- or so I predict!
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