This Post Has All the Coolest Stuff!

A lawyer, who runs a bar, in OKC, that features tasteful living room areas, where people spin vinyl on vintage hifi equipment and perseverate on liner notes.  This video has all the coolest stuff!

We're No. 69! Golden Bears Edition

The Atlantic Coast Conference is in the midst of a bounce-back season in the national hoops landscape. After landing only four teams in last year’s NCAA Tournament, the lowest percentage of league representation since the tournament expanded in 1985, the conference is forecast to get eight or nine teams into this year’s 68-team field. 

Top-ranked Duke leads the way, followed by tournament “locks” Virginia, North Carolina and Louisville, as well as Clemson, N.C. State and Miami. SMU is close to solidifying an invite, which leaves Virginia Tech and Cal-Berkeley battling for a possible eighth at-large berth – or both left out, depending on results in other tournaments. 

The Golden Bears have by far the sketchier resume’, so unless they win their final two regular season games and make a deep run in the ACC Tournament, they’re likely to be among the “First Four Out” on Selection Sunday – a worthy/unworthy No. 69. Cal and Stanford and SMU came aboard the ACC two years ago in a marriage of inconvenience following the implosion of the Pac-12 and raids by the Big Ten Conference and later the Big 12. Cal and Stanford were basically set adrift, coincidentally, at the same time the ACC’s viability was in question amid realignment. Rather than see what might arise from the ashes of the Pac-12, Stanford and Cal chose a more stable, major conference path with the ACC, albeit 2,500 miles away. The new arrangement has made for some hellacious travel and challenging schedules, but everyone is copacetic – for now. 

Recent history: Cal made the NCAAs nine times in the early part of this century but hasn’t been to the tournament since 2016 and hasn’t played in postseason since 2017. The Golden Bears endured eight consecutive years of losing records until this season. Third-year coach Mark Madsen, a former Stanford star and NBA champ with the Lakers, rebuilt the program through the transfer portal and guided the Bears to their first 20-win season since 2017. Former coaches Ben Braun and Mike Montgomery regularly had the Bears in the NCAAs from the 1990s through the early 2010s. Legendary coach Pete Newell took Cal to the 1959 NCAA championship. 

Mascot/nickname profile: Golden Bears originated in 1895, when the school’s successful track team toured Midwestern and Eastern colleges. The team hung a blue banner with a golden grizzly bear, the state symbol, at meets, and the school’s teams came to be known as Golden Bears. The practice of using live bear cubs as mascots was discontinued in the 1940s, and a stuffed bear mascot named Oski was introduced. Oski the mascot was suspended for two weeks in 1990 after he threw cake at Oregon State fans, inadvertently hitting the father of Oregon State guard Gary Payton. 

Home arena: Haas Pavilion (cap. 11,858) is an on-campus arena originally opened in 1939 that underwent several renovations, most recently in the late ‘90s. It’s named for Walter Haas Jr., former president and CEO of Levi Strauss who donated $11 million toward the upgrade. 

Notable hoops alumni: Jason Kidd, Kevin Johnson, Jaylen Brown, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Leon Powe, Lamond Murray, Tony Gonzalez (the Hall of Fame tight end played hoops at Cal in the early ‘90s). 

Current season: The Golden Bears (20-9, 8-8 ACC) are tied for eighth in the league with SMU and Florida State. Their four top scorers are all new to the program through the transfer portal, led by 6-2 junior Dai Dai Ames (16.4 ppg) from Virginia, 6-3 sophomore Justin Pippen (14.7 ppg) from Michigan, 6-8 junior John Camden (14.2 ppg) from Delaware and 6-7 senior Chris Bell (13.6 ppg) from Syracuse. They’re middle of the pack in the ACC on offense and defense and near the bottom in rebound margin. 

Reasons to believe: Limited. Twenty wins in a marquee league are notable. Respectable 6-8 record against Quad 1 and 2 opponents. Madsen has done a nice job assimilating a transfer-heavy roster. Cal is third in the conference in 3-point shooting and fourth in defending the 3. 

Reasons to fade them: Numerous. As of early March, the Bears were No. 64 in NET rankings, generally well outside the consideration zone. SMU, with whom they’re tied and recently beat head-to-head, is No. 35. Even Virginia Tech, a game back in the conference race, is No. 55. Part of the ratings discrepancy is the Bears’ dreadful non-conference strength of schedule, rated No. 328 by analytics guru Ken Pomeroy. Cal also did itself no favors last weekend with a gruesome, barely competitive loss at home to low-rated Pittsburgh. At the very least, Cal must beat Georgia Tech and Wake Forest this week to close out the regular season and find some mojo in the ACC Tournament.

Beware the Second of March, Redux

“You have to be odd to be number one.” -- Theodore Seuss Geisel

I don't know if Dave's number one, but he's got one of the prerequisites. Somehow, we managed to skip our annual celebration of the good Doctor and the good Dave the past few years. Won't happen again, not on my watch. Happy Birthday to the Davest of the Daves.

A Line in the Sand

Less than four months until the world soccer audience descends on the U.S. to celebrate the sport and crown a champion while dodging immigration police, and not everyone is thrilled. 

The five-member select board for the town of Foxboro, Mass., which must sign off on the use of Gillette Stadium for the World Cup’s Boston venue, would like answers from event organizers or world soccer’s governing body, FIFA, or anyone, really, about who’s going to foot the bill and when they might see the money. 

Gillette Stadium, home to the New England Patriots, is scheduled to host seven games during the World Cup – group stage games that will include England, France, Norway and Scotland, a round-of-32 game and a quarterfinal. Foxboro officials calculated that it will cost at least $7.8 million to cover police security and public safety costs during the tournament, a significant expense for a town of 18,000 people located 30 miles from Boston that just happens to have a professional stadium. 

A recent meeting between Foxboro officials and the CEO of the Boston host committee and FIFA’s venue operator for Boston got a little testy when board members sought answers about financial commitments and received none, according to a piece in The Athletic. As the board must grant a license for stadium events that aren’t Patriots games, vice-chair Stephanie McGowan said, “It’s going to be a flat ‘no,’ unless we know the money is there.” 

Frustration is rooted in the fact that FIFA is a multi-billion-dollar organization, as is the Kraft Group, headed by Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft, which essentially sublet the stadium to FIFA for the Cup. The Trump administration allocated $625 million to host cities for the Cup, including $46 million for Boston. Yet Foxboro board members can’t even get a straight answer about who’s covering costs, never mind a promise about when the money will hit the coffers. 

There’s no reason to think an agreement won’t be reached, but Foxboro officials’ skepticism is justified. FIFA is a Michelin star-rated extortionist that operates under the premise that cities and countries should be grateful for the association and be willing to pony up for the privilege. Under hosting contracts, FIFA typically takes all income from tickets, broadcast deals, in-stadium sponsorships and even parking fees, The Athletic reports. Host cities are responsible for public safety and security, as well as medical services and fire protection and transportation and police escorts for teams and referees and FIFA prez Gianni Infantino and his entourage. In return, FIFA touts the alleged economic benefits that accrue from fans and visitors flooding an area as more than offsetting costs – a dubious proposition for a small town with limited amenities in which many people will drive in for the game and leave immediately thereafter. 

As for Federal money covering costs, the Foxboro board is rightly suspicious, as well. That money is being administered through a depleted Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security, with everything running through Toxic Barbie Kristi Noem. Ask residents of western North Carolina how efficiently FEMA distributes funds, as many of them are still waiting for relief after Hurricane Helene hit there in the fall of 2024. 

Granted, money might be more readily available for a world stage event in major cities than for suffering small town folks, but if you’re Foxboro, should you assume such things? “We’re not prepared to issue this license unless everything is in place,” McGowan said in the Athletic piece. “I’ve seen people say, ‘Oh, there’s no way they won’t.’ But I am going to tell you: this board will not issue this license. I don’t feel like we’re getting the answers.” 

The board set a March 17 deadline for issuing the license, saying they need the lead-in time to set schedules and secure personnel. FIFA requires that venues be secured for all 39 days of the tournament, not just the seven game days, so costs add up and small town resources are stretched thin unless they receive outside assistance. “How does anybody expect that we would (front the money) for someone (FIFA) who’s coming into our town for 39 days, making all these demands, and then you guys go away?” McGowan said. “We cannot do that to our taxpayers. We would not be responsible.” Responsibility. Holding people accountable. Not automatically caving to moneyed interests. Novel concepts in this day and age.

We're No. 69! San Diego State Edition

A college basketball program with a rich, recent postseason history that currently sits among the top three in a respected league normally wouldn’t have to worry about its NCAA Tournament status. That is, if the team was a member of a Power Four conference or the Big East. Leagues outside the Favored Five, however, often find themselves scrambling to get extra teams into the 68-team field. 

Which brings us to San Diego State. The Aztecs have been regular NCAA participants over the past two decades, even making the 2023 national championship game, where they lost to UConn. Depending on whose prospective bracket you look at, SDS is either just in or just out of the field, and the consensus is that they “have work to do.” 

2026 Pac 12 Tournament bracket

The Aztecs are a member of the Mountain West Conference, which has been well represented in the tournament in recent years – at least three at-large bids in each of the last four tournaments. Though bracketology gerbils seem to think league presence will be light when the field is announced next month in its last lap before a realignment exodus (more on that in a moment). San Diego State doesn’t have a gaudy record, owing to a challenging schedule and an underclass-heavy roster, though veteran coach Brian Dutcher has a deep and athletic group that defends typically well and can score at a high level. NCAA Net rankings and advanced analytics have SDS in the mid-40s, squarely on the bubble. 

The Aztecs head into the home stretch seeking their 17th Mountain West title before they and four other MW schools bolt for the Pac-12 this summer. The Pac-12 imploded a couple years ago after raids and exits for the Big Ten and Big 12 and was left with only Washington State and Oregon State. The reconstituted Pac-12 will include five former Mountain West schools and national hoops power Gonzaga from the West Coast Conference. 

Recent history: Fourteen NCAA Tournament appearances since 2002, with four trips to the Sweet 16 and the ’23 national title game. Their best team might have been 2019-20, when they went 30-2 but the pandemic scuttled the NCAA Tournament. 

Mascot/nickname profile: Students chose the Aztec nickname in 1925, and its mascot is an Aztec warrior formerly known as “Monty Montezuma,” whose name was retired because it was deemed racist and culturally insensitive. Puzzlement is understandable in wondering how and why a school in southern California chose a nickname from an indigenous society located 1,440 miles away in central Mexico conquered by the Spanish some 400 years earlier, when plenty of other, closer options were available. The Aztec nickname and representation have been debated on campus throughout the 21st century, but faculty and student groups ultimately chose to retain it with various tweaks and education programs. 

Home arena: Viejas Arena (cap. 12,414) is located on campus and opened in 1997. A couple years after its opening, the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians entered into a naming rights agreement with the school, and it’s been known as Viejas Arena ever since. The Aztecs are particularly stout at home, going 103-12 in their last 115 home games and are 147-24 at home (.860) since the start of the 2015-16 season. 

Notable hoops alumni: Kawhi Leonard, Tony Gwynn (yep, *that* Tony Gwynn; baseball HoF’er was an all-conference hoops player at SDS and still holds single-season and career records for assists), Michael Cage, Keshad Johnson (Miami), Malachi Flynn (3 NBA teams, Turkey), Jalen McDaniel (4 NBA teams), Jamaal Franklin (2 NBA teams, China). 

Aztec on the left, Buff on the
right. They grew up doing
gymnastics together. And now
a blog post brings them
together. Small world.

Current season: Aztecs (18-8, 12-4 Mountain West) are tied for second in the league with New Mexico, a game behind Utah State. Ten players average between five and 12.6 points per game, led by 6-5 senior Reese Dixon-Waters (12.6 ppg) and 6-6 junior Miles Byrd (10.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg), and eleven players average double-figure minutes. Through mid-February, the Aztecs were third in the nation in bench scoring at 36.6 ppg. Stats guru Ken Pomeroy has SDS leading the Mountain West in defensive efficiency, two-point FG defense, turnover percentage, steal and block percentage, and No. 2 in effective field goal percentage defense, and among the top 35 in the country in all those categories. 

Reasons to believe: Among the best strength-of-schedule ratings in the nation outside the Bigfoot conferences. A respectable 6-7 record against Quad 1 and 2 opponents. No bad losses, though a November loss to Troy (No. 142) is a blemish. Chances to bolster their argument against Utah State Wednesday at home and fellow bubble resident New Mexico on Saturday. Dutcher (216-76 in nine years) is excellent. 

Reasons to fade them: Not enough wins and dwindling opportunities – only four more regular season games and at most three conference tournament games. An untimely dip that’s seen them lose their last two, though Dutcher’s teams have lost three straight only once, in his first season. The Mountain West is only eighth in conference RPI, and bracket types believe they’ll get two teams at most. Utah State is likely safely in because of its profile, and New Mexico has a slightly better statistical case than the Aztecs. It would behoove the Aztecs to close at least 3-1 and make the conference semis.

Learning Res., Inc. v. Trump is Like a BET Cypher, Alternatively Titled "If you rely on IEEPA I feel bad for you son, it provides 99 delegations but tariffs ain't one"

On Friday, in Learning Res., Inc. v. Trump, the Supreme Court held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.  The gist of it all is the IEEPA lets the President "regulate imports" which isn't the same thing as taxing or tariffing.  Six justices agreed on this outcome, but there were two different rationales and lots of shade thrown across three concurrences and two dissents.  It was all very hiphop, as if they were in a Federalist cypher.

The cypher started with Chief Justice Roberts writing for himself and Justices Kagan, Sotomator, Jackson, Barrett and Gorsuch, applying the "major questions doctrine" (some newfangled coproma passed off as conservative jurisprudence) which says that "Congress would not have delegated 'highly consequential power' through ambiguous language. These considerations apply with particular force where, as here, the purported delegation involves the core congressional power of the purse."  This means that the party asserting that they were delegated the Congressional power at issue must "point to clear congressional authorization” in the relevant statute.  You may recall that six Justices relied on this doctrine to overrule Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan in Biden v. Nebraska.

Justice Kagan then got on the mic to represent herself, Sotomayor and Jackson.  They concurred, but they felt there was no need to invoke the major questions doctrine because "the ordinary tools of statutory interpretation amply support [this] result."  I am an ordinary tool and I agree with them.

Justice Gorsuch, ever the philodox, took it upon himself to get on the mic and write 46 pages (the main opinion was only 21!) bemuting upon everyone else's analysis except the Chief Justice's.  First he essentially accused Justices Kagan and Sotomayor of outcome-based reasoning, picking the winner based on their personal preference rather than a rigorous application of the law.  I'll channel the underpants gnomes and go to third, where he also essentially accused Justices Kavanaugh, Alito and Thomas of outcome-based reasoning but in a slightly nicer way (although he does linger a bit to highlight, albeit politely, the preposterousness of Thomas's dissent).

But second, and remarkably, this quibberdick spilled ink across nine pages to desticate over Justice Barrett's application of the major question doctrine in Biden v. Nebraska!  He's so irked about an opinion from three years ago that he had to drag it into this one.  We all have a guy like this at work.

Justice Barrett did not appreciate having her name on the streets.  Naturally, she channeled her inner Mad Cobra and wrote a concurrence directly addressing Gorsuch, saying "I would not treat this evidence as precedent for a judicial flex."

If you were young and alive in northern New Jersey in the summer of 1992 you undoubtedly are familiar with Mad Cobra's song "Flex."  It's more likely than not that you spent time in a car with a number of other young, alive people with the windows down and this song playing loudly.

Parenthetically, Wikipedia says "Mad Cobra stated that he was on a flight returning from New York, and was watching an exercise video on the in-flight entertainment system, and the lyrics 'How this lady flex like she want to have sex?' came to him. He wrote the lyrics for the song on an air sickness bag in his plane seat and took them to the studio when he arrived in Jamaica."

Perhaps Justice Barrett wrote the opening draft of her concurrence on an air sickness bag too.  Or maybe she's a Rich Homie Quan fan.

The mic then passed to Justice Kagan who explained her reasoning admirably but fumbled a major opportunity to flex (see what I did there?) her New York City credentials.  In explaining the various actions delegated by Congress to the President under the IEEPA, she noted there are "9 verbs listed in IEEPA's delegation provision" and "[t]hose verbs are followed by 11 objects, each describing a distinct sort of transaction involving foreign property."  She then did some fancy math and concluded "Combine the verbs and objects in all possible ways, and the statute authorizes 99 actions a President can take to address a foreign threat.  And exactly none of the other 98 involves raising revenues."  This passage clearly screams for the conclusion "If you rely on IEEPA I feel bad for you son, it provides 99 delegations but tariffs ain't one."  

Justice Jackson took to the mic to spit eight bars (just four full pages) saying that all this sniping is unnecessary because Congress's intent is clear from the legislative record.  Conservatives refuse to look at the legislative record when interpreting statutes, instead favoring dictionaries and other historical references.  That's how we wind up with "history and tradition" tests like this bunkum.  I would've said something like "Our forefathers wrote IEEPA for foreign property, the Prez can take it in wartime but not impose duties. Come here, young blood, and take a look.  Acknowledge your legislative history!"

When SCOTUS finally invites me to one of their cyphers I'll get them straightened out. 

This Poor Fucking Mope

I haven't worked out of an office since the pandemic. That's led to some unexpected consequences. For example, I only put about 5,000 miles a year on my car, which means I'll be able to keep it a lot longer than I originally expected. This does not make Z happy, since he's an enabler/pusher who wants everyone to buy a new exotic vehicle at least yearly.

Grooming has taken on a different priority during my home-bound period, as well. I mean, I still take a shower every morning, brush my teeth twice a day and all that. But I go a lot longer between haircuts than I used to since I often only see one human in person during the workday. At the moment, my hair is quite possibly as long as it's been at any point in my adult life. It's out of control, all bushy and spiky, and wayward.

It could be worse. I could be Frank Illett.

Illett is a 30 year-old Englishman and Manchester United fan. In October 2024, during a fit of pique at the Red Devils' ongoing run of poor play, he vowed to not cut his hair until his heroes won five straight matches.

They really hadn't been close until two weeks ago. And Frank was going through it. His hair has grown an estimated 25cm in the more than 500 days since his last trim, from this:

To this:

Illett's long tonsorial nightmare seemed close to ending on February 10. United fired beleaguered manager Rubin Amorim in January. Interim skipper and club playing legend Michael Carrick took over and immediately led the squad to four wins on the bounce. All that was left for Illett to book an appointment with his barber was a win at relegation-threatened West Ham.

Clippers at the ready, Illett and his pals streamed their viewing of the match. And when it ended in a 1-1 draw, this is how Frank appeared:

That poor lad. At least he's doing some good, using his locks to raise money for charity. And he's got a pretty good chance of working as a Brian May lookalike. Almost makes a fella want to root for Man U. 

But not quite.

The Origins of 10 Band Names: Song Titles

Where do band names come from? All over the place. Here, there, and everywhere. There are articles and books and blogposts all about them. 

I know without conferring with any robots that:

• They Might Be Giants was the name of a movie in the 1970's
• 10,000 Maniacs also came from an old movie, except that it was called 2,000 Maniacs
• Steely Dan was the name of a dildo
• Duran Duran was the bad guy in Barbarella
• Grateful Dead was just something they saw in a dictionary, so said Jerry
• ABBA is the first letter of the band members' names
• Husker Du was a Scandinavian board game
• I told you 'bout Skynyrd
• 10cc and The Lovin' Spoonful are supposedly the measurement of and slang for average ejaculate
• R.E.M. -- another dictionary find!

And that's just what I can think of, there are thousands more tidbits... of what my dad calls "useless information that Whitney knows."

But... today we are here to listen to songs that inspired band names!

One of my faves...

DC locals!

Sometimes you add an "s"...

Sometimes you subtract an "s"...

Pretty cool.

And this post's origin story is that I just found this one out yesterday! In the film version of the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, a trippy, silly thing, there's a Python-affiliated goof group called the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, and they sing their song that has had its name grow more popular since the early aughts...

Now ya know. Enjoy!

We're No. 69! TCU Edition

The Big 12 Conference is one of the four remaining power leagues in college athletics and thus assured of receiving multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament. It’s home to a handful of Bigfoot programs that are annual participants – Kansas, Arizona, Houston, Iowa State (how and why the Cyclones are a national hoops power is one of the sport’s great curiosities) and several others that cycle in and out of the discussion. Conference realignment and consolidation have seen the league add programs such as ‘Zona and Houston and BYU in recent years, which strengthened the overall product but also made it a stone-cold gauntlet for any program that doesn’t have an elite talent pipeline. 

Which brings us to today’s entry in the almost-but-not-quite discussion of the 68-team field: the TCU Horned Frogs. Texas Christian sits squarely in the middle of the 16-team league with a decidedly bubbly resume’. Hoops guru Ken Pomeroy has the Frogs rated 50th following the weekend. NCAA Net Rankings have TCU at No. 45, and ESPN’s Basketball Power Index has them at No. 53. ESPN bracketology hound Joe Lunardi has the Horned Frogs as his first team out of the field. 

Historically, the private university in Fort Worth, Texas was a fixture in the old Southwest Conference. After the SWC demise in the mid-1990s, TCU wasn’t included with its traditional rivals in the aftermath and spent the next 16 years bouncing between the Western Athletic Conference, Conference USA and the Mountain West before latching onto the Big 12 in 2012. The Horned Frogs have a pretty modest hoops history, but head coach and TCU alum Jamie Dixon has elevated the program in his 10 years. 

Recent history: Four NCAA appearances since 2018, including three in a row from 2022-24. As many tournament appearances since 2018 as in the previous 49 years. Also, an NIT title in 2017, all of which traces to Dixon. He was an all-conference player at TCU in the late ‘80s and inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame. He’s won more than 500 games as head coach in 23 years, first at Pittsburgh and then TCU, and is one of 11 active coaches with 15 NCAA trips. 

Mascot/nickname profile: Horned Frogs are a nod to one of the region’s common animals, which is actually a horned lizard and not an amphibian and the Texas state reptile. Its use as sports team mascot dates to the late 1800s. 

Home arena: Schollmaier Arena (cap. 6,700), which opened in 1961 and has been renovated and updated several times, most recently an $80-million upgrade completed in 2015. It also has one of the singularly distinct home courts in college hoops, a kind of multi-shaded gray mosaic that’s supposed to emulate lizard skin. 

Notable hoops alumni: Kurt Thomas (New York Knicks), Lee Nailon (15-year pro career in the NBA and overseas), Kenrich Williams (OKC Thunder), Emanuel Miller (Cleveland Cavs), Desmond Bane (Orlando Magic). 

Current season: Horned Frogs (16-9, 6-6) have won three in a row, heading into Tuesday’s XL matchup against fellow bubble resident Central Florida. No stars, but decent balance. Four players in double figures, led by 6-7 sophomore David Punch (14.3 ppg, 6.9 rpg), 6-8 junior Xavier Edmonds (12.4 ppg, 6 rpg) and 6-0 senior Jayden Pierre (10.7 ppg). Eight players average between five and 14 points per game. 

Reasons to believe: To start with, Dixon, an excellent coach and tactician who has excelled at both the college and international level. Quality wins against Florida, Iowa State and Wisconsin. A respectable 5-6 record against Quad 1 teams and 4-2 versus Quad 2 and 3 teams. Big 12 schedule elevates their profile. 

Reasons to fade them: A lot of undistinguished numbers. Middle of the pack in effective field goal percentage offense and defense. Below middle of the pack in 2-point and 3-point shooting. A non-conference strength of schedule that’s No. 336. A dreadful loss to New Orleans to open the season, a beatdown by Colorado and a loss to Utah for the Utes’ only conference win so far. Lunardi projects the Big 12 to get seven teams in the field. TCU currently is tied for eighth, so unless the Frogs step up in their final six games and conference tournament, their horns are likely to get squeezed.

What the Kids are Doing

I was 55 years old the first time I went to a record release party, and I was quite likely the oldest person in the joint. Hanging with the youths keeps me young. 

My eldest kid lives in an apartment Richmond with the lead singer of Receiver, who bill themselves thusly: "Receiver formed from the ashes of Charlottesville band Natalie Blue, as two members - vocalist and guitarist Jamie Vandenheede and bassist Liam Keough - moved to Richmond. Shortly after rounding out their lineup with guitarist Leo Pecci and drummer Sasha Kennedy, Receiver began a grueling 2025 that featured 25+ shows, an EP and an infomercial! Their sound is informed by the hypnotic rhythms and angular guitar lines of late 70s and early 80s post-punk and the guitar-pop sensibilities of the 80s college rock circuit."

Here's their first single, "Souvenir":

And this link has a couple of snippets from the release party at The Camel, a cool little dive bar/music venue on Broad Street. 

The kids are alright.

Fashion is... Teejus F'ing Christ, What are these Abominations?

 And why must I own them...

Before clicking this link, come up with what you think these cost? Then be prepared to have your mind blown by what they actually cost. What are we doing here people?

SAGTTP (Should a Gheorghie Take The Piss)?

Gheorgies,

I have a bit of a conundrum. There's a retired guy that is often at my local YMCA. I don't want to dox him, so let's call this fellow Karen.

Karen talks to everybody. I occasionally see him jawing in the weight room, but the locker room is where he prefers to work. In fact I've probably mentioned him before in the comments as the guy who played The Rush Limbaugh Show at high volume on his phone speaker in the locker room (rest in piss, el rushbo). He wears a red hat to the gym sometimes. Yes, the standard issue version.

There are lots of Karens. This is the one I'm referring to.

I make it a practice to simply ignore Karen when I see him. If I had to break down the percentages for my reasons to ignore him, I'd put it at 69% due to loudcasting his support for toxic politics and 31% not wanting to risk catching a glimpse of Karen's tiny flaccid pecker.

Today, while I was chatting with someone else Karen piped up with a comment about 'topics that set him off'. "Give us a warning of what they are so we can avoid them" I said as I finished getting on my workout clothes. I'm not sure what came next was exactly the warning I'd requested. 

Gheorghies, he Karened. "I wanna know how that Ilhan Omar went from having no money to having $30 million! I think we need to throw her in jail for 20 years and then deport her..." I imagine he kept going, but I started walking as soon as he started his diatribe. It did call to mind a revenge fantasy I may or may not have imagined in the past.

Apparently only some politicians are allowed to have money.

And Gheorghies, that's where you come in. What's a fair comeuppance for this locker room Karen? I'll share my diabolical idea first, and accept suggestions in the comments for other more sensible measures. This is all strictly hypotheical, of course.

Proposal A - Fill small squeeze bottle with urine and keep it stashed in the back of my locker, until I find myself there alone, at which point I discharge the squeeze bottle of piss into one of the vent holes in Karen's locker. A budget version golden shower, if you will. 

Surely there are some drawbacks to this plan. I know it's gross. But I'm also ridiculously hydrated most of the time, so I also worry it may not be gross enough.

Sound off and tell me - SAGTTP? TIA!

We're No. 69: Santa Clara

Five weeks away from Selection Sunday and the best event in sports, the NCAA Tournament. According to several bracketologists, almost 30 teams are locks for the 68-team field, another dozen are almost assured spots barring late-season face-plants, and roughly two dozen teams have work to do to and are on the bubble. Which brings us to the first entry in this season’s series: the Santa Clara Broncos. 

The Broncos are a case study in both seasonal evaluations that go into selection and the larger college hoops landscape that determines who gets a seat at the table. The school is a private Jesuit university located down the road from the San Francisco Bay area and California’s oldest institution of higher learning. It’s a charter member of the West Coast Conference, founded in 1952, and its notable conference hoops rivals are Gonzaga and St. Mary’s. The Broncos are No. 41 in current NCAA Net rankings, which the committee uses to separate teams, No. 38 in Ken Pomeroy’s ratings, and No. 51 in ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI). Herb Sendek – yes, *that* Herb Sendek, formerly of Arizona State and N.C. State – is in his 10th season as head coach. 

Let’s give them a look: 

Recent history: At least 20 wins the past five seasons, including this year. NIT appearances three of the past four seasons. A pretty fair historical footprint, with seven NCAA appearances, including the 1952 Final Four, and four other NIT trips. The Broncos have had only seven coaches since 1935, and all but one of them had career winning records. 

Mascot/nickname profile: Broncos and a mascot named Bucky, of which there appears to blessedly little history. The student section is referred to as “Ruff Riders.”

Home arena: Leavey Center (cap. 4,500) in Santa Clara, named for alum Thomas E. Leavey (Class of 1922), the founder of Farmers Insurance (cue J.K. Simmons and the TV commercial theme). 

Notable hoops alumni: Steve Nash, who led the Broncos to the NCAAs in 1993, ’95 and ’96 and was a two-time NBA MVP; Kurt Rambis; Jalen Williams (Oklahoma City Thunder), Brandin Podziemski (Golden State Warriors); John Bryant (WCC Player of Year, fixture in German professional league to present day); Dennis Awtrey; Ken Sears (1950s All-American and first college hoops player to appear on cover of Sports Illustrated). 

Current season: Santa Clara (21-5, 12-1) is currently in first place in the WCC, a half-game ahead of Gonzaga and a game-and-a-half up on St. Mary’s in a top-heavy league in which the top three have separated from the pack. Redshirt sophomore guard Christian Hammond (16.4 ppg) is one of three double-figure scorers, along with 6-7 senior Elijah Mahi (14 ppg) and 6-9 redshirt freshman Allen Graves (11.2 ppg, 7.1 rpg). The Broncos have won eight in a row and 12 of 13, their only loss a respectable effort against the Zags. 

Reasons to believe: Depth, quality, shooting ability, unselfishness. Nine players average between five and 16 points per game and between 12 and 30 minutes per game. They have seven capable 3-point shooters and five players with at least 60 assists. They shoot 47.6 percent as a team and are outscoring opponents by 12 points per game. They beat St. Mary’s in their first meeting, and they get another crack at both the Gaels and Zags in coming weeks. A solid 7-4 record against Quad 1 and 2 competition. 

Reasons to fade them: Here’s where we get into the effects of one’s neighborhood. The West Coast Conference is a middlin’ 11th in league RPI ratings. Gonzaga is near the top of the heap in many metrics, and St. Mary’s is actually several spots ahead of Santa Clara despite the head-to-head loss. This has led to hoopologists wondering if the WCC is worthy of a third team getting into the field, i.e., a second at-large bid. The Big Ten is projected to get nine and perhaps ten at-large bids, the SEC eight and the ACC and Big 12 seven. The eighth- or ninth-place team in a conference no more deserves a spot in the NCAAs, unless it wins the automatic bid, than you or me (Dead Horse and Club alert). 

Shouldn’t matter if the league is deep and difficult, but in an era of consolidation and mega-conferences, it does because the power conferences dictate terms. Selectors use metrics and available statistical tools to justify inclusion among the Power 4 conferences and the swells, and to exclude mid-majors who did everything asked of them, but whose numbers "just didn’t add up." That’s why we’re in a season where Miami of Ohio is still undefeated and could win 30 games, but if the RedHawks lose in the MAC Tournament, there’s a very real chance they’ll be denied because of their strength of schedule or predictive metrics or league ranking or whatever. In a just and fair world, teams such as Miami-O and Santa Clara should be locks for the field if they get to 26 or 28 wins. Alas, boys and girls, we do not live in such a world.

Superb Owl Open Post

Getting you ready for the Big Game with a mini playlist and open comment thread. 

Happy International Clash Day

In terms of their commentary on the times, the only band that matters was both of their time and prescient. It's impossible to narrow down their protest tunes to find just one that resonates today, so consider this an assignment - listen to this one and go find some more.

Breaking News, Washington Post Edition

Today in Media Disruption came the explosive purge at the Washington Post when one of the country’s great newspapers announced massive layoffs – believed to be approximately 300 people, one-third of its entire staff – and kicked off an enormous restructuring effort that, I guarantee, no one, least of all gajillionaire owner and Amazon ayatollah Jeff Bezos and those he instructed to carry out his orders, have any idea how to pull off or how it will play out. 

The Post will eliminate its sports department, its books department, its news podcast and will severely cut back foreign bureaus and even local and investigative reporting. Every department took a big hit. All Middle East reporters and editors were turfed, as were correspondents in Iran, New Delhi and Ukraine. Sports reportedly will be covered as a “cultural phenomenon,” whatever that means. 

Executive editor Matt Murray informed staff on a Wednesday morning Zoom call, then later circulated a memo that any line editor would reject, with prejudice, for its obfuscation, double-speak and pusillanimous tone. He began: As we shared in our live stream earlier, the company is taking actions today to place The Washington Post on a stronger footing and better position us in this rapidly changing era of new technologies and evolving user habits. These moves include substantial newsroom reductions impacting nearly all news departments. For the immediate future, we will concentrate on areas that demonstrate authority, distinctiveness, and impact and that resonate with readers: politics, national affairs, people, power and trends; national security in DC and abroad; forces shaping the future including science, health, medicine, technology, climate, and business; journalism that empowers people to take action, from advice to wellness; revelatory investigations; and what's capturing attention in culture, online, and in daily life. 

As Murray isn’t stupid, he’s certainly aware that the Post already does all of that, and that gutting entire departments and slicing coverage in no way puts a news organization on “stronger footing.” No, the reasons for Wednesday’s purge are contained deeper in the memo – burying the lede, as they say in the news biz. As you know, we have grappled with financial challenges for some time. They have affected us in multiple rounds of cost cuts and buyouts, along with periodic constraints on other kinds of spending. We have concluded that the company's structure is too rooted in a different era, when we were a dominant, local print product. This restructure will help to secure our future in service of our journalistic mission and provide us stability moving forward. 

Deep down, still this fucking guy

A diminished product “providing stability.” Sure. Do go on: We are producing much great journalism of which we can be proud. As we discuss every day in the news meeting, some of our best work attracts readers and generates subscriptions and engagement. Unfortunately, some does not. Some areas, such as video, haven't kept up with changes in how consumers get news and information. Significantly, our daily story output has substantially fallen in the last five years. And even as we produce much excellent work, we too often write from one perspective, for one slice of the audience. If we are to thrive, not just endure, we must reinvent our journalism and our business model with renewed ambition. 

Of course, this is all about money and costs. The Post has been hemorrhaging subscribers and readers for many months, not the least because of actions by Bezos. Legendary former Post editor Marty Baron, who worked under Bezos for eight years after he bought the paper in 2013, acknowledged the paper’s financial issues but also called out his old boss in a statement Wednesday that read, in part: “The Post’s challenges, however, were made infinitely worse by ill-conceived decisions that came from the very top — from a gutless order to kill a presidential endorsement 11 days before the 2024 election to a remake of the editorial page that now stands out only for its moral infirmity. 

Loyal readers, livid as they saw owner Jeff Bezos betraying the values he was supposed to uphold, fled The Post. In truth, they were driven away, by the hundreds of thousands. The owner, in a note to readers, wrote that he aimed to boost trust in The Post. The effect was something else entirely: Subscribers lost trust in his stewardship and, notwithstanding the newsroom’s stellar journalism, The Post overall. Similarly, many leading journalists at The Post lost confidence in Bezos, and jumped to other news organizations. They also, in effect, were driven away. Bezos’s sickening efforts to curry favor with President Trump have left an especially ugly stain of their own. 

This is a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction.” Perhaps a suitable way to describe the Post amputation is: Shocking but not surprising. Newspapers and organizations have slashed staff and costs for years, sometimes shuttering entirely, a practice that accelerated when they were no longer run by families and news people but by corporations and business interests more wedded to profits than public service. 

Bezos didn’t buy the Post because of a soft spot for the First Amendment, but because he believed it to be a promising business move. Sure, there’s the prestige and ego boost of owning the outlet that printed the Pentagon Papers, busted open Watergate and is respected around the world. In the end, however, a man who can afford whatever money the paper loses without sweating a drop chose to further diminish his own product for bottom line reasons. Businesses make decisions all the time about the quality of their products or services. Maybe they use cheaper ingredients or farm out customer service to call centers, in the name of maximizing profits. But a newspaper’s sole currency is credibility; once credibility is compromised, it doesn’t come back. 

Again, giving Murray the benefit of the doubt, he knows that it’s not possible to “reinvent” journalism. Changing times may mean re-examining how stories are presented. New technology may assist the process. Maybe priorities shift, or reporting is pared back or expanded in certain areas. Maybe voices are added or subtracted, either in the storytelling or editing. But journalism requires pretty much the same formula as a hundred years ago: people asking questions, doing research, explaining how and why something matters. Though maybe Murray is on to something, as the new Washington Post writes about Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels and Caps’ all-timer Alex Ovechkin and Wizards guard Trae Young as cultural phenomena. Hasn’t been tried.

Gheorghasbord: Good for the Gander

This post started as a comparative analysis of Geese and Goose. The bands, not the birds. It was inspired, really. And then like so many of my inspirations, it sorta petered out and took a nap. But now it returns, like the salmon to Capistrano, part of a widely-ranging selection of things that my brain found interesting this week.

The New York Times calls Goose a "jam band with indie-rock undertones". See what you think:

The same NYT writer asks us to "think of Geese as an indie-rock band with jammy elements". Sure, man. Here they are recently on Saturday Night Live. I think I like them better than their fellow-feathered act.

Turning to things sporting, Thursday marks both the eve of the 2026 Olympics and the opening match of the 2026 Six Nations. Holders France host 2023 and 2024 champs Ireland at the Stade de France in a gigantic match, both in terms of the quality of the teams and the impact on the outcome of the event. The French are the consensus favorite to repeat as champions (8/11 on Betfair), while the recently-banged-up Irish (6-1) are third-favorite behind England (5/2). Scotland comes in at 12-1, while Wales (55-1) and Italy (125-1) will once again drag at the back.

Thursday's opener will air live on Peacock from 3:10 ET. The NBC streaming option will carry all of the tournament action.

And finally, sticking with athletic competition, check out this spill veteran skiing star Lindsey Vonn took a few days ago in Crans-Montana, Switzerland:

Vonn, who returned to competition in 2025 after several years away in retirement, has been the best women's downhill racer on the world circuit by some measure. Since the beginning of December, she's finished no worse than third, and won twice in five races. 

She suffered a complete rupture of the ACL in her left knee during the crash at Crans-Montana, ending her dream of a return to the Olympic podium...wait...I'm being told that...she's still going to race in Milan-Cortina? With a brace on her COMPLETELY RUPTURED ACL?!?

Well I'll be goddamned.

Fashion is Awesome, Olympics Version

I gently mocked a friend recently when he suggested we needed to find time and a place to watch the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics. It was Whitney. I mocked Whitney.

He responded by telling me that I love the Olympics more than anyone he knows. Okay, that's fair. 

I do love an Olympiad, for all the reasons. The pageantry, the diversity of peoples and stories, the major sports and the minor, the moments of joy and agony, and how much it all matters to the participants. And the uniforms. Definitely the uniforms.

The Olympics, in particular the opening and closing ceremonies, are an opportunity for each nation to display a little bit of its personality to the world. From Tonga's barechested Pita Taufatofua to Armani's 2022 Italy capes to Haiti's kickass 2024 summer fits, the Olympics are a chance for designers to tell the story of a nation.

What follows is the definitive guide* to the best and blandest Olympic kits for the upcoming games. There can be no argument.

*half-assed overview that'll start hot and peter out because lazy.

Mongolia's 2024 summer fits were, frankly, spectacular. Hard to top, and I don't think they did this time around, but the designers at Goyol Cashmere still gave us a cool and culturally on point look.

Norway's look is classic, cool, and comfortable.

Ralph Lauren once again designed the USA's gear. I'm not a huge fan of Lauren's style, and so it follows that I think our kits are a bit much. Your mileage may vary. If it does, you can pick up that toggle overcoat for $1,998 at the online store.

The interwebs are *not* happy with the kits lululemon designed for Canada, and I'm with the masses on this one. They're both weird and boring, which is kinda hard to do.

Australia's are mid, New Zealand's are all-Black, and - shockingly - Italy's Armani-designed unis are just kinda blah.

adidas designed a bunch of uniforms this year, like this for Germany. It's...fine.

Ben Sherman's togs for Team Great Britain are sweet, tho.

France's, though? They may be the worst of the lot, or at least of the ones I've been able to find online.

Watch this space for more authoritative and insightful coverage from Milan/Cortina.

Poetry, Musically Speaking

There is poetry in music. Often the rhyming kind, though not always. 

For me, there is as much poetry in the fact that I have been reunited with my friend and co-DJ in the WODU booth for installment number 4 or 5 of our music radio show - ORF Rock.

We come on the air via the WODU Studios app on Tuesdays from 7:00 to 9:00 in the PM. Not always... when Old Dominion University is closed, so's the show, often. That, and when life gets in the way, we're off the air. Then there are the times we have technical difficulties. Beyond that, though...

Penny Baker and Les Coole are on the air!

Tuesday nights are tough for some. Here are links to archived shows since our reboot in October. 

October 21, 2025

November 5, 2025

November 12, 2025

November 26, 2025

December 10, 2025

January 20, 2026

January 27, 2026

Shows are 2 hours and feature 25-30 songs with some quality banter. Themes, segments, bits, shout-outs to listeners, we have it all!

Breaking News, Part Next - Prose Poetry

The enshittification of Big Media continues apace. Or in other words, we again come not to praise but to Bari Weiss. And to offer an update about Washington Post owner and elfin arsonist Jeff Bezos. 

If cringe were sentient

Weiss, the recently installed, vastly unqualified head of CBS News oversees a network whose flagship news program, “60 Minutes,” aired a series of actor interviews on Sunday to “celebrate the movies” rather than report and assemble a piece on Federal law enforcement forces in Minneapolis and the violence against and death of U.S. citizens. Because how is a multi-million-dollar news organization with a small army of seasoned reporters and producers and camera people supposed to turn a story about the dominant event in our nation that quickly? 

On Monday, Weiss circulated a memo that there would be an all-hands-on-deck staff meeting Tuesday to discuss the future of the news organization. Speaking from experience, there has never been such a meeting, newsroom or probably anywhere else, that was worth a salamander’s shit. They were often masterclasses in corporate weasel speak about pivoting or re-prioritizing, with a side of layoffs or wage freezes or budget cuts; staff needed to do more with less and to work smarter, not harder. Unspoken was the fact that it would be more difficult and less pleasant to do your job. 

Weiss’s message Tuesday was heavy on “restoring trust in the media” and to emphasize streaming and to attract viewers through personalities and branding. She introduced a slew of new execs with titles that include “talent strategy” and “branding” and “development.” As for the newsroom’s ideological position, she said, “Our job is to present people with the fullest picture — and the strongest voices on all sides of an issue — and then trust them to make up their own minds.” 

Sounds good, yes? By all means, let’s find the strongest voices against vaccinations and in favor of warrantless stops and searches, and let people make up their own minds. Weiss, you might recall, alienated the newsroom almost from the jump when she turfed a bunch of veteran staffers and spiked a “60 Minutes” piece about the notorious El Salvador prison where U.S. officials sent detained migrants just hours before airtime. 

Real Muppets > Morning Show Muppet

She also installed morning show muppet Tony Dokoupil as anchor of the nightly CBS Evening News. He raised eyebrows almost immediately, and not in a good way, when he claimed that major media had missed on many stories and gave too much credence to advocates and elites and academics at the expense of the average American. He pledged to be “more accountable and more transparent than (Walter) Cronkite or anyone else of his era.” In one of his first broadcasts, he made no attempt at pushback or accountability in an interview with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after the military raided and snatched Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, instead yielding the floor to Hegseth to yammer about peace through strength and to flatter President Trump. A Dokoupil “exclusive” interview with Trump at a Ford automotive plant in Michigan predictably went off the rails, with both practically shouting at each other over the clatter of a factory floor and the President gasbagging for much of the 12-minute segment. When Dokoupil asked about economic concerns, the President launched into hyperbolic orbit and floated the idea that Dokoupil owed his promotion to the last election. “A year-and-a-half ago, our country was dead,” Trump said. “We had a dead country. You wouldn’t have a job right now. If (Kamala Harris) got in, you probably wouldn’t have that job right now. Your boss is an amazing guy, (but) might be bust. I doubt it in his case, but you never know. Let me tell you, you wouldn’t have this job. You wouldn’t have this job, certainly whatever the hell they’re paying you. Our country is rocketing right now, we have the hottest country in the world. If (Democrats) got in, we would be Venezuela on steroids.” 

Bloviating aside, Trump hit upon a kernel of truth. Dokoupil’s big boss is billionaire Skydance Media prez David Ellison, son of gazillionaire and Oracle founder and Trump and Israel supporter Larry Ellison. If Trump had not been elected, maybe Skydance’s purchase of Paramount Global and CBS doesn’t make it past a Federal Communications Commission not helmed by a Trump loyalist. Ellison the Younger also overpaid for Weiss’s media outlet, then installed her as head of CBS News. If she weren’t head of the news division, Dokoupil would still be chopping it up weekday mornings with Gayle King and Nate Burleson. 

His resume’ includes a ham-handed attempt to scold author Ta-Nehisi Coates in 2024 for a chapter in his most recent book in which he criticizes Israel for its treatment of Palestinians. That earned him a reprimand from previous leadership but played well to Weiss, herself an Israel sympathizer and conservative irritant who passes herself off as a centrist and seeker of truth. 

Speaking of truth seeking, Bezos continues to neuter his once proud newspaper into irrelevance and to provide ample evidence of his political leanings. The paper announced just last week that it had suddenly pulled the plug on coverage of the Winter Olympics, an event that it typically floods with staffers. A dozen folks were credentialed and had of course already made travel arrangements, and reportedly $80,000 had been spent on lodging. The Post’s deciders walked back the decision a bit earlier this week and will now send four reporters to Milan. 

This comes on the heels of a decision not to send Washington Nationals beat writers to spring training and amid rumblings that massive layoffs are just around the corner. It’s no secret that the Post has been hemorrhaging subscribers and losing money, but it shouldn’t be a concern for a man whose reported net worth is $252 billion and who vowed to continue its mission when he purchased it in 2013. After all, he spent $55 million on his recent Venetian wedding and his Amazon MGM studio $75 million to bankroll the execrable documentary on Melania Trump that he himself pitched. 

But in recent years, Bezos has shifted the paper rightward. He killed an editorial endorsing Kamala Harris for President, contributed to Trump’s inauguration and had a better seat for the swearing in than Cabinet appointees. He circulated a memo last spring that said the Post’s editorial page would champion “personal liberties and free markets,” both of which he absurdly claimed are “underserved” in the current news and opinion climate. Now comes word that layoffs may number in the hundreds and could kneecap the sports department. Tough times for my former brothers and sisters in the newsgathering business. 

I get that it’s a different world and people seek and consume information in assorted ways. News organizations need to keep up with the times and explore all manner of delivery. However you dress up the package, though, no amount of “branding” or “development” changes the fact that reporting is time-consuming, tedious, challenging, stimulating and occasionally dangerous. It’s a skill that sometimes is an art, which too many people now in charge of newsrooms do not understand or appreciate as they chase viewers and profits. Weiss said as much to staffers, that if everybody “does their jobs right, in a year’s time CBS News will look very different.” Even setting aside the glaring question of what the “right” way is to do a job that didn’t previously exist or has not been done that way before, she is without a doubt correct.