1. While I huffed and puffed at the Fitness Center this afternoon, I listened again to the Fresh Air interview with E. Tammy Kim discussing the State of Oregon's retreat from the ballot initiative that passed in 2020 decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of hard drugs. Much of the growing opposition to this experiment was in response to drug use by people without housing, people living in encampments and on the streets of Medford, Eugene, Bend, Salem, Portland and other places.
As I listened, I remembered. I've volunteered to serve breakfast on Saturdays to homeless people in Eugene. I had students at LCC who lived in tents and campers and who "couch surfed", staying for short periods of time in a succession of the living rooms of friends, acquaintances, or relatives. I lived near downtown in Eugene, frequently rode on the city bus system, and encountered the homeless any day I stepped out of our house.
I remembered one man in particular He had been a successful builder, but lost his work when his body broke down. His life spiraled into homelessness. He lived with his son in a tent near the Willamette River, did his homework either at the college or the public library, and needed help more than once when someone entered his tent and stole the books we were reading in the course.
I not only have no idea how or if the problems addressed in this episode can be solved, I don't know what the solution would look like.
2. Back home, I tuned into the Gonzaga/Purdue men's basketball game, curious to see how the improved Gonzaga Bulldogs would fare in a rematch with Purdue. Purdue defeated Gonzaga back in November, 73-63.
I supposed for Gonzaga to win this game, they had to try to make scoring difficult for Purdue's mighty center, Zach Edey. If the Zags succeeded in this effort, they then had to either stop Purdue's outside shooters or hope they had a poor shooting game. Lastly, I thought the Zags needed their inside players to stay out of foul trouble.
Purdue was the superior team today. The Boilermakers' outside shooters were deadly, especially in the first half. Over the course of the game, Zach Edey dominated inside and the Zags' Anton Watson, Graham Ike, and Ben Gregg all got into foul trouble, with Ike and Watson both fouling out.
The final score was 80-68.
I am now intrigued to watch Sunday's Elite 8 tilt between Purdue and Tennessee.
3. You see, I also watched the Creighton/Tennessee tilt and Tennessee's defense, especially on the perimeter, was so suffocating that, at times, I had trouble breathing.
Creighton fought back against Tennessee when they fell double digits behind in the second half, but along with their stifling defense, Tennessee's Dalton Knecht had a solid scoring night and their point guard Zakai Zeigler, not only was a defensive menace, but expertly ran Tennessee's offense. He accomplished the very things on offense that he and Tennessee teammates prohibited Creighton's guards from doing.
So, after this game, right along with the post-game panelists, I wondered if Tennessee's perimeter defense can disrupt Purdue on Sunday. Can they force Purdue to run their sets from farther away from the basket than they want? Can this disruption mean that Zach Edey might received passes in the paint a few feet further away from the basket than he's comfortable with? Can Tennessee get players other than Knecht to score? Will Tennessee defeat Purdue?
I don't know, but I'll be intrigued to find out.
Oh! By the way, I made five wagers at the Sports Book inside the Spokane Tribe Casino last week.
Three of my wagers are dead: Creighton, Arizona, Houston.
Two are alive.
Can Iowa win the women's tournament?
How about UConn? Will they win the men's?
These are my last two chances for a payout. . . .
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