1. For dinner tonight, we thawed out and heated a couple of containers of turkey soup, make from leftover Thanksgiving meat and the stock Debbie created. As a bonus, Debbie topped the soup with dumplings. It was a perfect meal: superb soup, warming, comforting, and nourishing.
2. In tonight's Big 10/ACC clash between Duke and Ohio State, I started to think at halftime that I might give up on this game. The game I'd watched previously between Purdue and Florida State devolved into a Boilermaker blow out, 93-65. Purdue overwhelmed Florida State with superb outside shooting, a mighty inside game, and astonishing depth. I've watched Purdue play twice now and they are astonishing.
So, when Duke held a thirteen point lead at halftime, 43-30, over Ohio State, I was ready to bail on this game at some point in the second half. In the back of my mind, though, I thought Ohio State might just mount a comeback. I based this possibility on having seen them beat Seton Hall on a last second shot and knowing that they had played real nail biters against Akron and Florida. In other words, I knew the Buckeyes had a resilient team and I wondered if they might inch back into this game with Duke.
They did.
They got Duke into foul trouble. The foul trouble compromised Duke's defensive aggression, stymied their ability to get easy baskets off of turnovers, blocked shots, and rebounds. Duke had to run their half court offense more in the second half and that offense fell apart in the closing minutes of this tilt. Ohio State defended Duke better, wore Duke down, and Duke missed a lot of shots. Slowly, steadily, Ohio State chipped away at Duke's lead and thanks to key baskets, rebounds, and free throws by Zed Key, Cedric Russell, and E. J. Liddell, the Buckeyes seized the lead, 67-66, with a minute left to play and, closed out the win, 71-66. Remarkably, Duke last scored in the second half with 4:29 left in the game, opening the way for Ohio State to complete its comeback and secure its win.
3. After the game, Debbie and I put on some Christmas music. I fixed myself a hot buttered rum sweetened with real maple syrup. Debbie fixed herself a Wrench or two (whiskey and fresh squeezed orange juice) and we yakked away until after midnight, talking a lot about art and religion, about writing and performing. After watching Purdue play, I had our 2015 trip to Lafayette/West Lafayette/Battle Ground for the Indiana Fiddlers' Gathering and reminisced a bit about that.
We had a great party.
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