by John Walters
“I Am The Lord Thy God, Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me”
Pretty sure I read that in a book some where.
Of course, I might have been holding the Bible upside down at the time.
Washington Monuments
Michigan defeated Iowa last night in a battle of Top Ten Big Ten squads, and by a large margin, 79-57. The Wolverines are now 17-1 (loss at Wisconsin last month) and could land the No. 1 overall seed ahead of Gonzaga, which remained unbeaten last night.
But that’s only part of the story. The Wolverines’ 7’1″ freshman center, Hunter Dickinson, outplayed his 6’11” senior counterpart on the Hawkeyes, Luke Garza. Dickinson finished with 14 and eight while Garza, who entered as the nation’s leading scorer, ended with 16 and four. What’s noteworthy is that both players hail from within miles of each other and were part of the same AAU squad, Team Takeover.
They’re old friends. Dickinson is from Alexandria, just across the Potomac from D.C., while Garza literally grew up inside D.C.
Michigan has two top ten victories (at Ohio State, versus Iowa) in the past five days. First-year coach Juwan Howard is everyone’s Coach of the Year.
This Family Has Already Sewn Up ‘Christmas Card Of The Year’ Award
There’s a better photo than this, but we are unable to upload it at present. You can try here.
Anyway, the back story: because North Korea had closed its borders due to the pandemic, Russian diplomats there found themselves somewhat trapped (North Koreans can relate). Eight of them found a creative means to depart the country, using a hand-pushed rail car, something I thought only existed in old episodes of F-Troop or The Beverly Hillbillies.
The Russian ministry said that the journey by railcar was the only possible way to cross the border. Also, it makes for a wonderful photo op. And now you know that Russia borders North Korea, too.
Note: I had to look this up. Russia actually borders North Korea to the EAST of China, even though most of Russia is to the WEST of China. Related: Russia is massive.
Basketball, I Don’t Even Know You Any More
This is the new NBA. Denver trails by two in the closing seconds and has a 3-on-1 fast break. In the world I grew up in the ball handler would dribble to the free throw line, the two wings would flare to either side and he’d most likely hit the open wing with a pass for an easy layup (or dunk). Now the score is tied and we head to overtime.
But that’s not how things are done in the NBA any more. Here the point man picks up his dribble outside the arc (note: LeBron can do this and still dunk without being called for traveling) and the two wing men flare out beyond the arc on the right. No one wants the easy two. They’re coached NOT to take it.
Yes, my man gets a wide open three to win the game, but he misses the 23-footer. Nuggets lose, at home, instead of forcing overtime. Is this smart basketball? You be the judge.
Daveheart
Came across this old SNL clip that’s pretty funny. Do you realize that all at the same time SNL had among its male cast Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Will Forte, Fred Armisen and Bobby Moynihan. Not a weak link among them. Also Kate McKinnon and Kristen Wiig. And I’m sure plenty of people were writing/saying that SNL sucked and wasn’t funny any more. That’s an outstanding cast (related: Moynihan’s “Drunk Uncle” basically was the forerunner of MAGA and a hilarious character0.
Esquire aptly referred to CPAC as “Festivus for Facebook Dads.”
Alternatively, another tweeter said “CPAC is Comic-Con for people who’ve been muted by their entire family on Facebook.”