1. I'm having a good time time traveling back to days in Spokane over a century ago while reading Jess Walter's book, The Cold Millions. I'm not very far into it, but, so far, Walter creates a vivid picture of the cruelty of law enforcement in support of companies opposed to union organizing in the Spokane area.
This afternoon, I took the book into the bedroom where Copper was resting and much to my surprise and delight, Copper pressed himself against me while I lay down to read. Usually, Copper maintains some degree of distance from me, but, for some reason, today he wanted contact beyond my regular sessions petting him. I hope it made him feel good. It sure made me happy.
2. I tuned into three basketball games late this afternoon and on into the evening. The injury depleted and ragged Butler Bulldogs were no match for Michigan State and Sparty thumped them, 73-52.
Byrdman sent me text message alert that my former home team (ha!), the Maryland Terrapins were on the Big 10 Network playing George Mason. Like many men's college basketball teams, Maryland is reforming its team from a year ago. The solid Eric Ayala and Donta Scott are back from last year's team, but the rest of the squad looked unsettled to me. Former Georgetown center, Qudus Wahab, transferred to Maryland and I have high hopes for how he might help the Terps, but tonight it was apparent that he's not settled in. I hope as the season progresses, he and the coaching staff will figure out his role and how they want him to contribute. I saw him make mighty plays at Georgetown and would love to see him do the same at Maryland.
Maryland's opponent, George Mason, simply looked more ready to play together at this early point in the season and established leads they never surrendered. Maryland pushed back, but could never secure a lead and, in the end, George Mason defeated the Terps, 71-66.
If you've been reading this blog over the last few basketball seasons, you know that during the 2018-19 season, I became a fan of the St. John's Red Storm -- the Johnnies.
They had a high flying, unpredictable team that year and were coached by Johnnies legend Chris Mullin.
Mullin resigned at the end of that season, but I stuck with the Johnnies, just for the heck of it.
Tonight, the Johnnies played Indiana in the Gavitt Tipoff.
St. John's coach, Mike Anderson, a disciple of Nolan Richardson, insists that his teams play a belter skelter style of basketball. Defensively, they press their opponents non-stop from baseline to baseline, they look to turn their opponents over and score easy baskets in the open court, and, when they set up their offense, they rely a lot on letting shots fly from beyond the three point line and then crash the offensive boards.
St. John's style is entertaining for viewers and frustrating for opponents.
Well, tonight, St. John's shots weren't falling early on and Indiana jumped to an early lead, extending it to as many as 14 points.
St. John's battled back, though. Their defense began to frustrate Indiana and St. John's team leader and superb shooter, Julian Champagnie, heated up and St. John's relentlessly kept coming back, coming back, but could never secure a lead. Indiana made several clutch shots and their defense stymied St. John's final possession and the Hoosiers won this contest, 76-74.
Last point: the Indiana Hoosier's men's basketball program won three national championships under Coach Bob Knight. They won their last title 34 years ago, in 1987.
Indiana University dismissed Bob Knight from his job in 2000 because Knight couldn't or wouldn't control his volatile and bullying behavior.
Knight's success combined with the Indiana faithful's long boiling anger over Knight's dismissal has made the Indiana coaching job difficult, bordering on impossible, because supporters of the program are so hungry to return to the success Knight achieved, especially between 1975 and 1987.
Former Knight player, Mike Woodson, was hired in the off season to replace Archie Miller. Woodson played for Bob Knight from 1976-80. He's Indiana's fifth men's basketball coach since Bob Knight's dismissal. He's a member of the Bob Knight basketball family tree and I think a certain number of Hoosier fans want to believe that hiring a former Bob Knight player might restore some of the success the Hoosiers enjoyed in their Bob Knight heyday back in the 1970s and 1980s.
Tonight, I thought the Hoosiers looked well-coached and I'm curious to see whether hiring Mike Woodson turns out to be a good decision or whether, in time, his tenure will end because he didn't bring the Bob Knight glory days back to Bloomington, IN.
3. After the basketball games ended, Debbie and I had a hot buttered rum party.
We talked a lot about beans.
We talked about beans as a staple for the kind of dinners we enjoy.
We talked about beans as a healthy option for treating my kidneys well.
I talked -- possibly too much -- about how important beans were to me when I lived alone as a graduate student on a limited income and how good it made me feel to cook a lot of really good food without spending a lot of money because I cooked and ate a lot of beans: black beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, cranberry beans, garbanzo beans, navy beans, and more.
Hot buttered rum and bean talk: PARTY ON!
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