[UPDATED BELOW]
First, some March Madness notes:
1. It must have been excruciating for Robbie Hummel to watch his teammates fall to Duke from the bench. I’ve never seen such a dramatic contrast between stifling defense and impotent offense. While Duke’s players could barely get a shot off, Purdue was hoisting uncontested airballs. It would’ve been fun to see Indianapolis with both Purdue and Butler in the final 4. We’re talking total mayhem. Indy would have had to double the number of cabs…to 12.
2. Tom Izzo is the anti-Thad Matta. I genuinely don’t know how he does it, but his teams always rise in the tournament. [And 3 self-groin punches for ignoring my own advice and picking them to lose. Idiot!] Anyway, isn’t Michigan State the real underdog? East Lansing is the shittiest campus in the Big 10, there isn’t even a close second. It’s like West Lafayette…if the garbage men went on strike for 3 months. Plus Michigan has the worst unemployment numbers in the nation. And the Spartans are missing their best player, injured star Kailin Lucas. In fairness, they do have the support of East Lansing native Aretha Franklin Magic Johnson.
3. On a more serious note, I find it morbidly ironic that while just about the only thing that can bring down a public figure in this country is a sex scandal (see Woods, Clinton, Spitzer, etc.), in the Catholic Church it’s one of the only things that can’t.
4. While we’re on the subject of the church, why is the “pro-life” movement restricted to zygotes? While our government literally kills tens of thousands of actual human beings, where is the outrage over stories like this? It’s not like religious institutions abstain from political debates. You may recall Representatives Patrick Kennedy and John Kerry being denied the rite of Communion. But as Andrew Sullivan asks, where is the outrage over the thousands of people we’ve tortured and detained (without trial)?
I bring this up not to take easy shots at the Catholic Church, but I genuinely wonder where the pressure to roll back the war machine may come from. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we can rely on religious institutions (to say nothing of the millions of Americans who welcome an apocalyptic battle in Israel). Conservative journalist Andrew Bacevich recently wrote an article saying our only hope is for the younger officer corps (who have presumably witnessed the heavy costs of militarism). Other journalists have documented that once-staunch opponents of Bush’s wars and anti-terrorism policies have shamefully embraced those tactics now that their guy is in the White House. The general public seems uninformed or uninterested in America’s war crimes. Even self-proclaimed deficit hawks perfectly willing to borrow money to fund the war machine. Where will the peace movement come from?
[UPDATE]
1. As usual, Matt Taibbi has some interesting things to say about the Catholic Church. Regarding the sex abuse scandal, would your opinion change if a different institution was involved? Like Wal-Mart? Or the ACLU?
2. Holy %^&$ ^&#@! If the Hoosiers don’t make a bid to steal Butler coach Brad Stephens within the next 5 years I’m going to eat my diploma.
3. Schadenfruede alert! In 2007 the University of Michigan lured away West Virginia’s football and basketball coaches (Rich Rodriguez and John Beilein). And while Rodriguez is already on the coaching hot seat, Beilein’s teams missed the NCAA tournament in ’08 and ’10. Meanwhile, West Virginia just advanced to the final 4 and the Wolverines’ biggest rival (Michigan State) plays tomorrow for a chance to advance to Indy. We’ll call it the curse of the Mountaineers.
4. We need to define West Virginia coach Bob Huggins’ appearance:
Strip club bouncer? Used car salesman? Bookie? Steven Seagal’s older brother? Professional poker player? Eastern European arms dealer? Discuss…
Tags: andrew bacevich, catholic church, charles davis, Evan Bayh, March Madness, politics
March 29, 2010 at 4:46 pm |
This Butler team just goes to show what happens when you get “good” players to stick around for 3 or 4 years and actually develop a team with chemistry and the ability to work together. It’s a shame that Wall and Cousins will leave after one year, never learning the merits of team basketball but rather enjoying the exploits of great undeveloped skills which may or may not translate to NBA all-stardom. I immediately put Cousins on my “Most Likely to be Arrested for Domestic Violence” team as well as the “Most Likely to be a Top 5 Pick Despite the inability to Read” team.
Huggins looks like a cross between the dad of a vampire villain, a death dealer (a.k.a Funeral Home Owner) and a Vegas casino pit boss.
March 30, 2010 at 3:22 am |
Huggins looks like he’s no stranger to pawn shops or dog fighting rings.
March 29, 2010 at 5:27 pm |
That pic isn’t nearly as incriminating as what Huggy Bear wears on gameday. The “Jersey Tuxedo” is a classic.