Eagles Win Super Bowl, Football Offseason, More Basketball, Including NBA Talk

A grab bag of topics

I have friends who call it sportsball. I have friends who get fairly depressed at the end of another Cowboys loss. It is good to be balanced.

The hoops squad plays tonight against Rice. Here is a quick preview before we go through our list of topics for today.

UNT at Rice

It is good to play at Rice, as the Owls are filled with smart people who don’t care about sports. The public school kids can go down there, drown out the small fan base, and get a win and feel good about things. Rice should be better in football and basketball but they aren’t, and that is funny to me. Stanford can compete sometimes, and so can Notre Dame. Rice? No. They fail at competing and again, that is quite hilarious to me.

I write all this knowing that in basketball everything can change if you can’t make wide open shots. We saw North Texas lose to UTSA for a similar reason, attempted comeback acknowledged. When the hoops squad is playing aggressive basketball they can overwhelm just about anyone. Ross Hodge encourages a lot of thinking and reacting defensively, and NT has made the decision to focus on the defense over the offense. It is a scarcity thing, not an aesthetic choice.

The problem is that good teams make you try to win with your weaknesses, after taking away your strengths. In basketball, you are just playing the percentages and part of that is knowing that sometimes missing a wide open shot is possible and you just have to live with it. The whole game is in improving percentages and reducing them (for the other team).

In the first meeting, NT had a big second ten minutes, where they were plus-10 points. That’s usually where the talent shines through. NT is a better team and Rice will be formidable at home for a stretch. Making them pay by staying aggressive, and not over pump-faking (Lorient) is a key.

Super Bowl LIX

I had philly cheesesteak sliders, KC BBQ bacon-wrapped shrimp, and Boulevard (KC) and Yuengling (Philly) beers on offer at the home Super Bowl party. We were stuffed. I liked the cheesesteak sliders more than I thought I would (shout out to my wife)

I thought I would be rooting for KC because I hate he Eagles, but I found myself rooting against KC because I just don’t like their vibe. Really, they have had the most boring “good” team all year and I was kind of tired of their shtick.

Taylor Swift, the Kelce brothers, Mahomes’ family, the KC fan base. Like, sure I know Philly fans are awful but like, they don’t lie to you and tell you otherwise. They care and I can respect that level of devotion. Also, in this era of QBs, I appreciate a team that relies so much on simply running the ball well. Even the Tush Push is just bullying other teams with the run game. Hate it? Stop it.