Sunday, August 13, 2023

32 games in 14 days - or How A Valpo fan has genuine fun in March

This year's theme: so what if Valpo is really down now, I can still enjoy March basketball, right?

Here's the thing about me.  When I go to a tournament, I don't just go to see Valpo play.  That comes in handy when the Beacons are going through down times (both Men's and Women's programs are really struggling right now).

1. The friends we meet along the way

Ever since I started going to conference tournaments, I have had opportunities to chat with fans from other teams in whatever conference Valpo is in.  At least once every year, I would be sitting in my seat watching one of the games, and end up talking with another fan.  For that matter, other Valpo fans were also there taking in the entire tournament just like me, so I almost always had someone to share any "wow" moments with.  Back in the Mid-Con days (2002-2007 for me), there were always at least a few Valpo fans I could hang out with in between sessions.  One year, we even opened it up to fans of other teams.  Conference tournaments are a great opportunity to meet fans from other teams.  They often turn out to be really interesting.  It helps a little if you can attend all games in person (hint, hint, Horizon League).

Sometimes, you meet fans online and then get to hang out with them at the site of your conference tournament (not to mention during regular season conference games, depending on how well fan bases travel).  This year was no exception.

At Arch Madness, I was assuming it would just be me and a few Valpo friends enjoying the games, but on Friday, I happened to notice someone I know online (@BHartyNMSU) tweeting out pictures from the Indiana State-Belmont game that was going on.  After confirming he was indeed in the house, I went to his section to meet him in person for the first time.  He was a fellow subscriber to Kyle Whelliston's Mid-Majority website (2004-2014, now resurrected under a different URL).  I have met several fellow subscribers at similar tournaments, and always treasure the connection.  If you zoom the picture a bit, you will see that he is a New Mexico State fan.  I discovered that he retired from employment with the university, and was planning to attend the WAC tournament in Vegas after Arch Madness was over.

My next stop was in Indianapolis for the Horizon League semifinals and finals at Indiana Farmers Coliseum, where I once again shared the games with some friends from Green Bay who I met back in 2014.  They have been to every conference tournament involving the Green Bay Phoenix for the past 30+ years.  This year they were heartbroken again because their women's team lost in the title game (the men's team just hired a brand new coach).

I also said hello again to the podcast hosts (BobMcDonald - @bobmcdonald and Matt Dudek - @horizone_matt) at The HoriZone Roundtable, a website that does a fantastic job of covering the Horizon League in an age where the traditional outlets are covering mid-major basketball less and less.  One of their writers does a bang-up job of covering Cleveland State Women's basketball and tries his best to cover Horizon League Women's hoops in general.  This will continue to be an annual trip for me.  On Championship Tuesday, I was even able to grab a late lunch with Matt at a nearby restaurant since there is a 4 hour gap between title games.

My next stop was Moline, Illinois for Hoops in the Heartland (MVC Women's tournament).  Last year's Tax Slayer Center is now Vibrant Arena.  This one continues to be a challenge for me, as both times I've been to this tournament I've basically been by myself.  However, this year, I did get to say hello to the Valpo sports beat writer (Paul Oren - @TVBOren), whose The Victory Bell newsletter is very good and reasonably priced.


Furthermore, at least some of the basketball is very good.  Newcomer Belmont came in as the 2 seed after finishing in a tie for first (they were picked preseason to win the regular season title).

My final stop was Dayton for the First Four, and the chance to gather again with more fellow mid-majority subscribers.  This year's traditional dinner at The Pine Club on the Dayton campus required a table for 8.

I forget some of the names, so in the interest of fairness, I won't identify anyone's name, but that's all on me.  First guy on the right runs a local pizza restaurant and has some great sports stories to share (he's squinting, not crying).  To his right is a Loyola-Chicago fan who I bumped in to at the First Four in 2016 and became fast friends with.  Next guy on the right is a guy who I believe lives in the Cincinnati area and has recently adopted the Northern Kentucky Norse as his team (though I believe he is a longtime Xavier fan).  Finally at the end on the right is the brother of the Loyola fan.

First on the left is a guy with two work phones, and I'm sorry I don't remember anything else about him.  To his left is yours truly (not to be confused with Santa Claus).  The remaining pair on the left are friends of the Xavier/Norse guy.  This is really the highlight of the trip for me every year.

The next night I was able to join two of these guys and a new friend for dinner at the Oakwood Club for another great dinner, followed by two more basketball games at the arena.

The Tuesday games were both exciting.  The Wednesday games were kind of boring, but getting to sit with these guys made it all worthwhile.  That's me in the back - you can only see my head.  The guy on the left was a new friend who came with the pizza entrepreneur (who is in front).

All in all, sharing the experience with friends makes it all worthwhile, and I look forward to doing it for as many years as I can.

2.  Thrilling games to watch

Note: There were some exciting WBB games in Indy that should be listed here.  The truth is that I did not find them as memorable because I don't appreciate WBB as much as MBB - something I am still working on.

Indiana State 94 Belmont 91 (3/3 Quarterfinal Arch Madness)

These two teams played only once during the regular season (MVC plays a 20-game schedule with 12 teams, so you play home-and-home against 9 of your rivals and single games against the other 2).  That game was played during the final week of the regular season, and Belmont won 89-88 in a thrilling comeback at home.

Apparently, that was a preview of this game.  The first media timeout happened at 13:42 in the first half.  No one came close to a shot-clock violation.  Talk about a clean game!  The Trees built two separate 6 point leads, but Belmont erased the lead each time.

The rest of the first half still saw Indiana State into the bonus, and a few dead ball turnovers, and we still got all our allotted media timeouts in, but the entire first half was still exciting.  Halftime score: ISU 49 Belmont 44.

The second half was the Cooper Neese show for the first 10 minutes, draining 3s from all over wide open or under pressure.  He was perfect or near perfect from behind the arc.  And ISU needed every single one of them.  When the Trees denied Ben Shepherd the ball, other Belmont players hit the big shots to keep the Bruins in the game.  Eventually, Belmont decided to focus on denying Neese the ball, but other Sycamore players filled the gap for him.  Neese still hit 2 more threes, one with a Belmont player's hand in his face at the top of the key.

If you were a Belmont fan, the end of the game was marred by a very questionable blocking foul call that you thought should have been a charge.  As a neutral observer, I thought it was the wrong call.  Seeing it on replay recently, I still think it was the wrong call.  But I'm sure Sycamore fans had calls that looked wrong to them, too.  All in all, it was a fantastic game.

Bradley 71 Indiana State 70 (3/4 Semifinal Arch Madness)

This game was more of a grinder game than the Belmont-ISU game.  The Sycamores did start out this game on fire from behind the arc, jumping out to a 9-2 lead and then on matching Bradley's first 3 with their 4th 3 and hearing the whistle blow, we thought it was going to be an and-one, but they got Courvoisier McCauley for a flop, which seemed iffy.  Bradley converted the free throw and then hit another 3 and we had a ball game.

From that point on, Bradley was the mouse and ISU was the cat.  Every time the mouse felt safe, the cat redoubled its efforts to catch the mouse.  There were a few lead changes in the first half, but the only lead change in the second half almost sealed the win for the #5 Sycamores.  Almost.

ISU was briefly bottled up well trying to drive the lane, but they adjusted.  Bradley tightened up their defense of ISU's 3 point shooters.  After the first 4, ISU went 4 for 18 the rest of the way.  Bradley's paint points seemed to come easier, but ISU battled for their fair share of points at the rim.

The first half ended in an interesting way.  Bradley had the ball trying to get the final score, but with 2.2 seconds left, the offensive set was going nowhere so they called timeout.  Brian Wardle called a play to clear out the right side for their senior guard to drive, but his defender fouled him.  It turned out that was only ISU's 5th foul, and it wasn't in the act of shooting.  With 0.4 left, they tried a toss and shoot, but it clanked harmlessly off the rim.  Bradley went into the locker room with a 1 point lead.

On re-watch, the CBSSN announcers marveled at how Bradley led by 1 in spite of the fact that Rienk Mast had been held scoreless.

In the second half, ISU shot 12.5 % from behind the arc, but they got to the free throw line a lot more to keep them close (and they only missed one FT out of 14).  Bradley had their way in the paint in the early part of the half and kept threatening to pull away, but Robbie Avila did his own damage in the paint on the other end.  Bradley got it up to 11 with about 13 minutes to go.  From that point, ISU did the "gain one point per minute" thing and worked their way back from the brink of elimination.  Most of their free throws came off of drives to the basket.  Actually, they still trailed by 7 with 4 minutes to go, but they ramped up the rally to make up the difference.  Robbie Avila was a beast in the paint on offense, along with Cameron Henry.

The most memorable part of the game came at the very end.  ISU got a steal down 2 with 41.6 left and called timeout in the front court.  They hit their one and only 3 of the second half (Courvoisier McCauley) and led 70-69.  Bradley brought the ball into the front court and took a time out with 34 seconds left.  They worked it into the paint and got off a shot (might have gotten away with a charge) and put up a shot that was blocked out of bounds with 18.2 seconds to go.  With about 6 seconds to go on the shot clock (12 seconds to go), the Braves put up a prayer of a shot that bounced high off the rim.  Players from both teams went for the ball, and the ISU player inadvertently committed a foul with Bradley in the bonus.  They hit both free throws.  ISU tried a last second buzzer beater, but Bradley defended it really well.  Just a real gut punch.  They had the game won and committed the unpardonable sin.  Cameron Henry was inconsolable (the foul was on him).  I felt bad for him.

Post-script: we were all looking forward to a barn-burner on Sunday, but #1 Bradley might as well not even have shown up.  #2 Drake took them to the woodshed from start to finish, winning by 26.  All in all, though, these two games were worth the price of the entire weekend.  An epic 3-pt shooting contest followed by an epic grinder.  Some of the other games were not bad, either.

Northern Kentucky 63 Cleveland State 61 (3/7 Title game Arch Madness)

These two teams each beat the other at home - in each case by 1 point in a nail-biter.  This one was likewise a close exciting game.  NKU's zone was a peculiar match-up zone.  On replay, Mark Adams (@EnthusiAdams) described it as a match-up zone driven by communication.  Sometimes they played full court, sometimes half court.  From what I could tell, the guards played zone while baseline guys sort of played man-to-man but anytime the ball went to a Vikings post player, they were ready with the double-team.  Crucially, they communicated so that teammates would move to cover the open players.  They were also consistently on the lookout for steal opportunities.

Cleveland State has continued to play with the same energy under Daniyal Robinson that they had with Dennis Gates, in spite of the fact that Gates took a couple of players with him to Mizzou.  Very high energy.  They brought their own defensive intensity to bear on the Norse.

There were plenty of "WOW" plays in this one.
  • In the first half, with Marques Warrick a few steps from the basket on the fast break, his teammate somehow threw the perfect spiral to him that managed to clear the outstretched hands of a couple of Cleveland State defenders so that he could get an easy layup.  Not too long, not too short.  Just right.
  • Early in the second half, Sam Vinson of NKU drove the lane only to be double teamed.  So, he just slipped the ball around the two defenders (threading the needle as it were) to his teammate for an easy layup.  John Kiser (March 2020 vs. Loyola) would have been proud.  Actually, Sam Vinson reminds me a lot of John Kiser, the Valpo 2017 walk-on who earned a scholarship and was instrumental in Valpo's run to the Arch Madness title game in 2020.  High IQ to compensate for lack of height and less than excellent athleticism (neither of them are to be confused with adjectives like plucky - they both are quite talented).
  • Cleveland State ended two busted offensive sets by draining a 3 at the shot clock buzzer.  Unfortunately, the first one was just a split second too late and was waived off after a review.  The second one reduced a 5 point deficit to a 2 point deficit with about 5 and a half minutes to go in the game.
  • The NKU swarming defense caused numerous turnovers that were kind of amazing.
  • In the final minutes, the Norse hosted a block party, mostly by Dwight Brandon.  He rejected one almost at the rim with 3 and a half minutes to go ("Star Wars at the rim" - Mark Adams).  NKU barely got it over the time line when CSU created a turnover of their own leading to an easy layup, except there was Dwight Brandon to reject another layup attempt ("We're not worthy!" - Mark Adams channeling Wayne and Garth).  That turned out to be a crucial 5 point swing when Sam Vinson drained a 3 from the top of the key.
  • With about 2 minutes to go, Cleveland State drained a 3 to reduce their deficit to 3.  On the ensuing possession, an NKU player got stuck near the basket with a double team and no one to pass to.  He managed to somehow get off a shot that turned out to be an air-ball.  Xavier Rhodes grabbed the offensive rebound and brought it back out, then suddenly realized the shot clock was at 3, so he hoisted one from about 25 feet.  Nothing but net.  That was more of a "Holy Crap" moment than a "WOW" moment.  Mark Adams pointed out that there were NKU fans court-side along that very sideline who were screaming at him to shoot.  What he failed to point out was that one of them was NKU alum Drew McDonald who has experienced this madness on the court a few times.  When Drew yells shoot, you shoot, dammit!  By the way, neither team was yet in the bonus at this point.
  • Cleveland State finally committed their 7th foul of the 2nd half in the most excruciating situation possible: just after NKU just barely avoided a 10-second call.

 3.  In Conclusion...

It is now a couple of months after I started this post - during which time I completely neglected it because I got wrapped up in other things.  But in early August, the White Sox are a dumpster fire, the Cardinals suck, Valpo's got a new coach who played and coached in national title games, and I am getting fired up for the 2023-2024 season.  So I figured I really ought to publish this thing.  I'm also re-watching the NKU-Houston first round game.  Even though it was a loss for the Norse, it was still an inspiring game.  After so many years of seeing Horizon League teams in the post-Butler era snag a bottom seed and get pummeled, it was fun to see NKU outplay the Cougars for decent portions of the game and Sam Vinson impress the hell out of the announcers for the game.  It would have been doubly cool to have two 16-over-1 upsets in the same tournament.

A White Sox fan recently shared why he was renewing his season ticket package for 2023-2024 (Why I’m Renewing: MySoxSummer--FromThe108) in spite of the fact that the franchise is being poorly run by an owner who does not care.  I'm not feeling that extreme of frustration with Valpo, but I still appreciate the sentiment.  I am a fan of CBB that is under the radar or mid-major or outside the spotlight or whatever metaphor you want to use.  There is a lot to like even when my favorite team is not doing very well.

Thursday, March 24, 2022

Back To Normal March Madness - a personal journey

7 years ago, I started to write about my travels to College Basketball games. I kicked it off with my first ever visit to the First Four at the University of Dayton Arena. Like too many things like this, I never really followed through, so it sits in my draft posts for this blog. For that matter, I have pretty much forgotten about this blog since then.

I started something for myself back then, even if I did not chronicle it very well. I experienced March Madness in person year after year (for me it begins with conference tournaments). 2020 was cut short by COVID-19, 2021 was a weird year all around, but this year I set out to do it all again, and hopefully this time, I can share my experience with friends and anyone else who is interested.

A bit of background: 20 years ago, I started being a serious Valparaiso University Men's basketball fan.  I am not an alumnus, but Valpo is my hometown.  I was not a prolific traveler back then, and I had followed the team from afar since 1998 for obvious reasons, but 2002 was the year I decided to attend the conference tournament, held in Fort Wayne at the War Memorial Coliseum.  I fell in love with the experience and resolved to do the same every March.  Back then, Valpo played in the Mid-Continent conference (now known as The Summit League), and for every year through 2007, I enjoyed getting to see every single team (both Men's and Women's) play at least once.

Then Valpo moved to the Horizon League, and this was no longer possible because of their double-bye-1-seed-hosts format.  The only years I attended at all during that format were 2008 (at Hinkle), 2012, 2013, and 2015 (all at Valpo).  I enjoyed those years, but I missed the neutral site where all teams gathered.  The Horizon League moved to a neutral site in 2016 and since then has generally held at least the semi-finals and finals of both tournaments at a neutral site.

Valpo moved to the Missouri Valley in the summer of 2017, which meant Arch Madness right here in St. Louis where I have lived for the past 42 years.  The only rub: this conference holds its Women's tournament a week later at Tax Slayer Center in Moline, Illinois.  Perfection for me is both tournaments at the same site during the same weekend, but that's okay.

Meanwhile, back in 2015, the year Valpo was a 13 seed taking on Maryland in Columbus, Ohio, I decided to add a new adventure to my annual March trips: The First Four in Dayton.  In the early days of the P.I.G (play-in game, the field was not expanded to 68 until 2011), this was a favorite meet up spot for followers/subscribers to Kyle Whelliston's Mid-Majority.  After hearing stories about this, I knew I had to experience it for myself.  With Valpo being in Columbus and playing on Friday, it was very convenient.  Once again, I was hooked and have gone every year except for 2020 and 2021.  I met a couple of Mid-Majority friends by chance there in 2016, and every year since then we have gotten together for a late afternoon dinner at the Pine Club prior to heading over for the games.  This cozy intimate restaurant is a fine eating establishment that is quite familiar with the First Four.  Many of the patrons are there for the same reason we are: gather for a good meal prior to enjoying some exciting basketball at UD Arena.

2022 has been a cathartic year for College Basketball fans.  For the most part, everything is back to normal (translation: pre-2020).  Even where COVID restrictions were at least minimally in force, enforcement of said restrictions was not very aggressive.  If you watched any tournament game on TV, not very obvious that we are still living with a pandemic.  I decided this season to see if any of the pre-COVID magic was available to those who go to games, and for March, I decided to do what I had tried to do in 2020: Spend 2 solid weeks going to tournaments.

Arch Madness 2022

We start with Arch Madness at The Enterprise Center in downtown St. Louis.  COVID-19: All participants were required to show proof of vaccination and wear a mask except while eating.  These two factors were hold overs from 2021, but there were no capacity restrictions this year, and there was no enforcement of masking at all.  Not surprisingly, on Sunday, March 6, the St. Louis City Board of Health COVID-19 rules expired, and they no longer asked for proof of vaccination.  One other hold over from 2021: all concessions were credit card only and tickets were mobile only.

That guy in the redbird jacket sitting on press row?  Recently fired Illinois State coach Dan Muller.  Both Thursday and Friday, he put on the headsets to provide excellent color commentary on The Big 550 KTRS.  I pulled up my Tune-in app to listen in.  If no coaching jobs come his way, I think Dan Muller would make an outstanding CBB color commentator.  Pure broadcasting gold.

He watched his Redbirds outlast Indiana State in the 8-9 game, and stayed for the 7-10 game between Valpo and Evansville.

As for me, I was overjoyed to once again be able to enjoy Arch Madness with some very good Valpo fan friends.

Two years ago, these guys and myself had a blast following our team all the way to the Arch Madness title game, and I was so happy to be able to do that again, even though Valpo did not make it past Friday this year.  In case you are wondering, every one of them stayed through Sunday, just the same.

Unlike 2020, the higher seeds won all games on Thursday and Friday.  Illinois State held on to be Indiana State, Valpo clobbered Evansville (which was surprising to us).  Northern Iowa handled Illinois State fairly easily, Loyola buried Bradley in the first half and played them even in the second half, Missouri State was a bit too much for Valpo, and Drake pulled away from Southern Illinois in the second half.

The bass player for the Drake pep band wore the most confusing costume I have ever seen in a pep band.  I tried to find out why he wore an eraser on his head and a T-shirt that says, "No. 2 Pencil" but the best we could do in our little group was to guess that he was honoring Drake's star point guard Roman Penn.  Get it?  He's a Penn-cil.  Ha ha.

Semifinal Saturday and Championship Sunday reversed the pattern.  All 3 games were upsets (by seed, at least).  Loyola jumped all over UNI in the first half and outscored them by 7 in the second half.  Loyola was not interested in helping the MVC be a multi-bid conference this year.  No sir!

In perhaps the closest game of the entire tournament, Drake took Missouri State to overtime and won by 1 point.  Gaige Prim put Missouri State ahead by 1 on a layup, but with 1 second left, Tucker DeVries drew a foul on Isiaih Mosley.  He hit both free throws and Donovan Clay missed a long shot at the buzzer to send the 3 seed to the title game

Then on Sunday, in a rematch from last year's title game, Loyola battled Drake to the final minutes before finally putting the game to bed by a margin of 6.  With that, the MVC was a 1-bid league again.

Oh yeah, before I move on, mad props to the UNI pep band for doing a pretty good rendition of the Avengers theme during one of the timeouts.  As a huge MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) fan, I'm a sucker for that kind of thing.

Horizon League Men's and Women's Semifinals and Finals

I left immediately from the Arch Madness title game with my bags packed for Indianapolis.  For some reason I booked - through Hotels.com - Old Northside Bed & Breakfast.  It was close to Indiana Farmers Coliseum, but I have never stayed in one of these places before.  To the left is my review.

Breakfast was delightful, and the conversation was surprisingly serendipitous.  Tuesday and Wednesday mornings I shared the table with a mother and daughter from Northern Kentucky who were keeping tabs on their team though not attending the games.

This is a group of Green Bay fans who I hung out with in 2020 at this tournament.  This year, the only two who made it were the two standing directly on either side of me (the guy in the blue T-shirt).  Having gone to the same event in 2018 up in Detroit all by myself, it has been nice since then to hang out with people I know.  I still have friends in the Horizon League, and it is always more fun to share a tournament with friends.

In the Women's semifinals, IUPUI (1 seed) trounced Oakland (7 seed), and Cleveland State (4 seed) trounced Green Bay (3 seed).  The latter game was a real surprise.  Green Bay usually does very well in this tournament.  By the way, if those seed pairings look funny, it is because the Horizon League re-seeds after every round.

In between sessions (prior to the Men's semifinals), we walked across the fairgrounds to the Horizon League fan zone, which included this hokey gimmick.  Get it?  I'm the "I" in "Indy."  Yes, that is me in my Missouri Valley fleece.  We also grabbed something to eat from the limited bar that was there.

The Men's semifinals were more to form - 1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3.  But Cleveland State (1 seed) was never able to deal with Wright State (4 seed) and lost by 15.

In the nightcap, Purdue Fort Wayne (2 seed and the team I decided to adopt) took on Northern Kentucky (3 seed).

I had seen Purdue Fort Wayne beat Milwaukee back on February 4 at that same War Memorial Coliseum where 20 years ago the Mid-Con held their conference tournament.  They had also finished the regular season on a 9 game winning streak to finish in a first place tie, quite the accomplishment for a team that joined the Horizon League from the Summit League in the summer of 2020.

Alas, these orange bearded Norse fans were having none of my joy, and neither were their team.  NKU had their way with the Mastadons, winning by 14.  Much like Arch Madness, the weaker seeds won both semifinals, setting up a rivalry rematch between NKU and Wright State.

And again, like Arch Madness, the 4 seed (Wright State) beat the 3 seed (NKU), but in this case, the Norse had the game well in hand until Wright State mounted a furious rally.  The Raiders took a 3 point lead with 1:20 to go.  Trevon Faulkner drew a foul with 1:01 to go and split the free throws.  The Norse got the offensive rebound but Sam Vinson turned it over.  And then, Tanner Holden was called for a charging foul with 34 seconds to go  On the ensuing possession, Bryson Langdon found Marques Warrick wide open on the wing for a 3 to put NKU up 71-70.  Without calling a timeout, Trey Calvin drove the lane for a jumper to put Wright State up 72-71.  Langdon missed a 3 pointer with 2 seconds left and that was it.

My Green Bay friends?  I fully expect them to be back next year.  One of them told me he has gone to 33 straight conference tournaments, dating all the way back to when Green Bay was in the Mid-Con.  I am planning on joining them again next year for this tournament.

I did enjoy the privilege of saying hi to one of the co-hosts of The HoriZone Roundtable, a website that does an outstanding job of covering as much of the Horizon League as they can - both Men's and Women's basketball.  They publish game stories and they do regular podcasts.  If you go all the way back the first season when they just did podcasts, you can find one in which yours truly was invited to join the hosts for an episode.  I had interacted with Bob McDonald (@BobMcDonald on twitter) virtually, but this year, I saw that he was covering the semifinals and finals on the Men's side, so I had to take the opportunity to say hi in person, and I am glad I did.

Hoops In The Heartland 2022

From the Bed and Breakfast to the Isle Casino Hotel - Bettendorf.  The Hotel is in Bettendorf, Iowa, just across the Mississippi river from Tax Slayer Center in Moline, Illinois.  These are part of the Quad Cities, after all.  Masks were optional, though recommended, and tickets were old-style.  All concessions were credit card only.

The same guy who was the PA announcer at Arch Madness performed that role for Hoops in the Heartland, and he is very good.  They also used the same contest - the basketball version of the Cap Dance famously used at MLB stadiums.  One thing we did not have was the super annoying Todd Thomas grabbing the microphone during timeouts and running contests with selected fans.  Instead the PA guy simply announced the contest and invited everyone to play.

Welcome to Tax Slayer Center.  I was in Moline in 2020 getting ready to attend the play-in round when everything was cancelled, so I never got to see inside the place.  Last year, they did not allow fans outside of parents of the players.

Hoops in the Heartland went - seed wise - exactly the way Arch Madness went.  The higher seed won every game on Thursday and Friday.  The lower seeds won each semifinal game and the title game.

Penn-cil guy is back!

In the 8-9 game, Indiana State jumped out to a 10 point lead in the first quarter, and won the remaining 3 quarters by 4 points.  In the 7-10 game, Drake pretty well dominated Bradley for a 15 point win.  Since Gaby Haack went down with a season ending injury, Bradley has been a shell of their former selves.

On Friday, Southern Illinois (1 seed) handled Indiana State fairly easily after a close 1st quarter.  Illinois State dominated Loyola in the opening quarter, and the Ramblers really never got close the rest of the way.

By the way, JuJu Redmond was - by my eyes, anyway - the best player in the tournament.  Just checked the conference website and indeed she was voted the tournament's most outstanding player.  Even as I was watching the tournament, her performance was very impressive.

If there was one game on Friday that trended toward an upset, it was Drake (7) vs. Missouri State (2).  The Bulldogs have been on a surge down the stretch of the regular season.  They lost some games in February, but they looked a lot better than they did in January.  They went into halftime with an 8 point lead.  However, the Lady Bears caught fire in the second half and won the game by 14.

The most forgettable game of the tournament for me was the nightcap, when UNI (3) crushed Valpo (6) by 24 points, and it was never close, even in the beginning.  The story of this matchup this season goes like this: on January 7, Valpo hosted UNI who had not played for 19 days, and beat them by 2.  On February 6, Valpo traveled to Cedar Falls and lost by 30.  Then on a neutral court, they lost by 24.  It's only 3 games, but it suggests that UNI was a really bad matchup for Valpo.  In this game, the Panthers kept having their way with Valpo in the paint, and Valpo never really got anything going.  There weren't that many Valpo fans there.  I might have been the only one who was not a family member.  It was disheartening.

On Saturday, the upsets began, with Illinois State besting Southern Illinois in a game that found Saluki coach Cindy Stein somewhat disappointed in the officiating.  The Redbirds played a very physical brand of defense and did not suffer sufficiently enough on the free throw line for Stein's liking.  She made it clear in the postgame that she gave a lot of credit to the Redbirds for the win, but she just wasn't happy with the way the game was officiated.  This felt like a bit of a sour note for her to go into retirement (SIU got the automatic bid to the WNIT as the regular season champ, but got creamed by Purdue in their only game).

The UNI-Missouri State game featured a tight battle in the first and third quarters, the Lady Bears dominating the second quarter, and UNI dominating the fourth quarter.  In the end, the Panthers won by 6.  They looked like the better team in this game.

I was also fascinated and entertained by the three bros two rows in front of me who spent the whole game very loudly proclaiming either their undying love for their "Lady Bears" or their unmitigated rage at the referees every time a call didn't go their team's way.  A couple of times, they became aware that the UNI fans found them entertaining as well.  They responded by pointing out that UNI has never won a game in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  These guys were a barrel of laughs.  As the game went south down the stretch, one of them kept slamming his phone hard down on the ledge in front of them.  Poor phone.  I hope it survived the violence.

On Sunday, the Redbirds and Panthers played a very exciting, close game that went down to the wire.  In the end, the Redbirds held on for a 50-48 win to secure the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.  It was a very enjoyable game.

I immediately headed home to St. Louis to exchange dirty close for clean clothes.

The 2022 First Four

On Monday, March 14, I drove to Dayton to check in to the Radisson Hotel Dayton Convention Center, only to discover that it was the same hotel I stayed in four years ago when it was called the Crowne Plaza Hotel.  To the left is a picture I took in 2018 of the arrival of one of the teams participating that year.  The hotels in Dayton really roll out the red carpet for the teams that get sent to the First Four.  This year, the IU Hoosiers' team bus was met with a bagpipe player out front and greeters inside.  The elevators include pictures of highlights of the teams that are staying in the hotel.  This year, Indiana and Texas Southern were the two teams staying in the Radisson.

I always try to get to my hotel in the afternoon, so I can check in and head over to UD Arena for open practice for the Tuesday teams (Texas Southern, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Indiana, and Wyoming).  TAMUCC was taking their allotted 40 minutes on the floor when I got there.

During the Indiana open practice (while waiting for Wyoming to take their turn), I decided to check out the view from my seat.  I usually get tickets in the 200 level, but this year I bought early and 300 level were the only ones being sold, so I ended up with this.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Wednesday teams (Bryant, Wright State, Rutgers, and Notre Dame) got their turn to practice on the court.  This was Bryant's entrance to the court, greeted by their pep band and cheerleaders.

And this is the nation's leading scorer, Peter Kiss, who has developed something of reputation as a trash talker.  I had heard about the controversy surrounding their conference title game, and wondered if anything extra-curricular would happen Wednesday night in their game against Wright State.

Then it was Wright State's turn.  If 2015 was regrettable for giving the Dayton Flyers an absolute home game in the tournament, 2022 was ever so slightly regrettable in giving Wright State a near home town advantage (they actually play in Fairborn, which is 15 minutes away).  There certainly were a lot of WSU fans in attendance for the open practice and even more for the game.  The two Dayton fans who sat next to me for the games both rooted for Wright State, and expressed their sincere hope that other Flyers fans would also be rooting for them.  I mentioned that the Gem City rivalry should be revived and they were at least somewhat agreeable with this.

Tuesday night, I decided to take a selfie at the entrance to my section during warmups for the Texas Southern-TAMUCC game.  Mask wearing was optional, and not many wore them, though I was not the only one who did.  No one was bothered by it.  I am comfortable with my mask on and try to wear one in public on the off chance it might help protect others.

The two Texas teams played a decent, entertaining game.  As games between 16 seeds go it was not half bad.  I tend to root for good basketball in a game like this.  Half of the mid-major fans out there think all auto-bids should be placed in the round of 64 and the First Four should only be at-large teams.  The other side is that one of those teams in each of those games gets a NCAA tournament win, which means extra money for their conference.

This game, on the other hand, between 11 seed Indiana and 11 seed Wyoming (warming up in this picture) is one where I definitely have a rooting interest.  I never root for power conference teams.  Ever.

This game was pure frustration.  Wyoming shot 15% from behind the arc and lost by 8.  They also committed 19 turnovers to Indiana's 8.

I have now been to 6 straight Dayton-hosted First Fours, and the only other time I have seen a power conference team beat a mid-major at the First Four was in 2015, when Ole Miss beat BYU 94-90.

Wichita State trounced Vanderbilt in 2016, there were no mid-major at larges in Dayton in 2017, St. Bonaventure knocked off UCLA in 2018, and Belmont beat Temple in 2019.  I had gotten used to seeing the big boys go down in Dayton, so this was kind of disheartening.

On Wednesday, several mid-major fan friends made their way to Dayton for the renewal of our annual ritual: late afternoon dinner at The Pine Club on the University of Dayton campus.  This year, one of our group was a Wright State fan.  The guy to his left is a Loyola fan I met at the First Four in 2016.  I'm at the far end of the table.  On the other side are fans I met in 2017, I believe, at this very restaurant.  All of us were subscribers to the Mid-Majority website.  Front and Center is the little Bally that Kyle had made for each of his subscribers.

Then we headed over the arena to watch Wright State take on Bryant in the 16 seed play-in game.

The crowd was indeed very much in Wright State's corner.  During the game, there was a power glitch that caused an extended free timeout for both teams.  The game was a high scoring affair, but Bryant's Peter Kiss did not grab center stage in the game.  Instead, the star of the game was Wright State's Tanner Holden, who led all scorers with 37 points (Kiss did score 28 to lead Bryant).  Grant Basile committed almost 50% of all of Wright State turnovers.  By mid-way through the second half, the Wright State fan in the row in front of me had "had it up to here with him."  He kept fumbling the ball in the paint.  Like many centers I've seen play with Valpo, he had the habit of bringing the ball down to his waist and dribbling on his way to the basket.  Bryant's defenders were constantly poking the ball away.  He did score 14 points, and fortunately, Trey Calvin added 21 points.  Other than the 29 turnovers by the two teams, it was a very exciting and well played game.

The HoriZone Roundtable has a far better story on this game.

The final game is often between two power conference teams, and this year was no exception - Notre Dame vs. Rutgers.  Some years I have decided not to even stay for that game because I wanted to get an early start for whichever site I decided to go to.  But this year I decided that the First Four would be the end of my March Madness journey, so I figured I might as well stay.  It certainly was an exciting game, going to double overtime before the Fighting Irish prevailed.  If I had decided to root for someone, it would have been Rutgers, because as a Valpo fan, I hate Notre Dame.

Two weeks, four different cities, 28 games.  This is the odyssey I set out to make 2 years ago, but it was cut in half by COVID.  I don't consider making it the whole way a triumph, but I did have the time of my life.  I plan to try it again next year, and am genuinely looking forward to it.












Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Baseball drama then and now

There are plenty of dramatic moments in baseball history. September 28, 2011 doesn't come close to topping the list and doesn't deserve all the magic and allure attributed to it. I honestly think we do ourselves a disservice by so prominently highlighting the day that allegedly gave birth to the wildcard one game playoff.

Last night I watched Cardinals-Pirates on ESPN and it was a breathtaking night of baseball for me, so memorable that I found myself remembering how much September 28, 2011 captured the heart of the baseball nation, and then getting sort of mad over that dredged up memory.

That night will go down in history as quite possibly ushering in the double-wildcard era of MLB. I've heard sports yakkers muse about how Bud Selig wanted to recreate that night and set to work creating the wild card playoff. Just to refresh our memories, September 28, 2011 featured 2 games in the AL to decide the AL wildcard and 2 games in the NL to decide the NL wildcard. Boston and Tampa Bay were tied and St. Louis and Atlanta were tied going into the night. Each of the 4 games was on National TV and the whole Baseball world was watching breathlessly. Everyone talked afterward about how awesome it was. TB rallied against Mariano Rivera, while at Camden Yards, Jonathon Papelbon (everyone's favorite punching back this week) blew a save against the Orioles. St. Louis clobbered Houston early, then watched in fascination as Philadelphia stunned the Braves with a 9th inning comeback and won in 13 innings. Tampa Bay and St. Louis snatched the wildcards in a night of all-out frenzy that had all of MLB buzzing (not just then: yesterday, a Cubs blogger pointed out that 9/28/2011 is one reason why the Cubs are already in the postseason this year).

I remember that night as well as anyone else, and it was exciting, breathtaking even, especially in the AL with 2 almost simultaneous walk-offs.

Here's the thing: these 4 teams were fighting over a SECOND PLACE PRIZE -- a booby prize, if you will. Heck in the AL, they were literally breaking a tie for SECOND PLACE.

Tonight, I watched 2 teams scratching and clawing at each other, fighting over FIRST PLACE and a DIVISION TITLE. They were engaged in a battle to see who is the BEST team in their division, not SECOND BEST (sorry for all the shouting, but it really is what I feel like doing when I think about this).

And then I think of those late September dramatics that are practically impossible now. Like Toronto at Detroit, 1987 tied for first with a weekend series at Tiger stadium for all the marbles. The entire nation watched two teams fight it out for the AL East TITLE. Winner advances, loser goes home. Our hearts broke for Manuel Lee, playing in place of Tony Fernandez, who made 2 errors in the Friday game won by the Tigers 4-3. The Saturday contest clinched the title for the Tigers 3-2 in 12 innings. Both games were on NBC and I remember watching them both. And both teams finished with 96 wins or better (for good measure, the Tigers completed the sweep on Sunday to finish 98-64), not unlike this year's Cardinals and Pirates.

And all anyone would want to talk about today is how unfair it was back then that a team like the Blue Jays was kept out of the postseason while the relatively mediocre Twins got to play the Tigers in the ALCS, instead of talking about how breathtakingly exciting it was to watch that weekend series for all the AL East marbles.

Then there was the last weekend in September, 1973 with the Pirates, the Cardinals, and the Mets all fighting for first place in the NL East, and the Mets at Wrigley for a 4 games series (the Cubs weren't that far behind these 3; the NL East was extremely weak that year). As longtime Cardinals fans no doubt painfully recall, if the Cubs had taken care of business that weekend, and the Pirates had won their makeup game with San Diego, there could have been a 3-way tie for first at 81-81. The Cardinals had just taken a series from the Cubs and a series from the Phillies to end the season at .500. We all watched the Mets and Cubs get rained out on Friday and Saturday, then split a DH on Sunday. The Mets won the first game on Monday, making the final game of the series and Pittsburgh's trip out west unnecessary. Not the same high quality baseball as in 1987, but we still watched because only one team was going to emerge with the right to move on.

Go back even further and you find the final week of 1967 in the American League with Boston, Detroit, Chicago, and Minnesota all practically neck-and-neck with each other. The Twins and Red Sox jockeyed back and forth early in the week, setting up a weekend series at Fenway for all the marbles, while the White Sox and Tigers stayed right there as well. The Red Sox tied the Twins on Saturday the 31st setting up a one-game, winner take all contest for the AL pennant. As a White Sox fan, I know I was glued to the action the whole week, which was a treat for me because my White Sox weren't on TV much back then (). The Red Sox finished 92-70, the Twins and the Tigers 91-71, and the White Sox fell to 89-73. Funny, I don't remember anybody bitching about great teams being snubbed for the postseason. I was a kid back then, but still...

If I wanted to, I'm sure I could find tons more examples of great pennant race climaxes that captured the nation -- we all know about 1951 in the NL, don't we? -- because multiple teams were fighting it out for FIRST PLACE with everything on the line and not just for seeding.

I'm sorry, but September 28, 2011 will always be second-rate in the pennant-race drama sweepstakes for me.

As for the wild card era? Well, gee, let's look at the final weekend in 1996 with the Padres 1 game back of the Dodgers and a weekend series at Chavez Ravine to decide the NL West title... except, WAIT NO BOTH TEAMS WERE ALREADY IN (after the Padres beat the Dodgers that Friday night, that is, eliminating the Expos from wildcard contention). Tony Gwynn and company doubled down on Saturday to tie the Dodgers at 90-71 going into Sunday. I seem to recall both teams resting some of their regulars that day, but baseball-reference begs to differ (the Dodgers did start Wayne Kirby in CF instead of Steve Finley). However, my point is, nobody cared, because the teams had no reason to go hard against each other because they were both already slotted into the Division Series round. The winner of the Sunday game would host the Cardinals and the loser would travel to Atlanta. The game actually looks like it could have been exciting, the Padres winning 2-0 in 11 innings. I distinctly remember this weekend series being greeted by the rest of the baseball world with a collective yawn. Maybe we tuned in Friday to see the Padres clinch a playoff spot, but that's it.

Without the wild card, the entire world would have tuned in all weekend, and would have been captivated.

I'm probably cherry-picking, of course, and we still had 1995 in the AL West (Mariners-Angels tiebreaker game) after the Mariners lost 2 of 3 to the Rangers and the Angels won 2 of 3 from the A's. And as a White Sox fan, I'll never forget the blackout game on September 30, 2008. Here's the thing, though: in both cases, the division title up for grabs was the weakest division of the 3. If the wildcard had been in play for either of these two pairs of teams, it would have sapped all the excitement out of it. The 1973 NL East was pretty weak too, I know. But it was FIRST PLACE on the line and nothing else. What made those two tiebreaker games so dramatic and exciting is that the Twins and the Angels were done for the year afterwards because they lost. Meanwhile, the 1996 Dodgers got seeded anyway, even though they finished SECOND.

The 2nd wildcard has brought some of this back, and it makes me happy in a two-steps-backward-one-step-forward kind of way, but once again: both St. Louis and Pittsburgh are already locked in to the postseason, so it's not quite the same. And the winner of the one-game wildcard playoff will still be afforded an almost equal seeding in the postseason tournament. They'll have to sweat out that one-game playoff, yes, but then they get almost as many home games as any of the division winners. I know they will end up with a higher won-lost percentage than either New York or LA or SF (not by a lot, though).

But September 28, 2011 does not deserve to trump October 2nd, 1987. The earlier contest and all like it in the pre-wildcard era were far more dramatic than the day 2 wildcards were decided.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Chris Sale + Comerica Park = Stupidity, Episode 2

For the second year in a row, Chris Sale did something at Comerica Park, and benches cleared. This time it was directly a result of something he did. Last year he did something; 3 innings or so later, Luke Putkonen retaliated and then the benches cleared.

For the second year in a row, the most vexing part of the episode is what is said away from the field of play by non-combatants and by combatants after the game was over and cooler heads had supposedly prevailed.

What we know: in the 3rd inning, Sale struckout Victor Martinez and then waved his cap toward centerfield. In the 6th inning, he hit Martinez, Martinez glared at him all the way to first, Sale said something to him, and dugouts and bullpens emptied on the scene of the crime. The next batter doubled Martinez to 3rd, and Victor then scored on a sac-fly to tie the game at 1.

Here's something else we know, if we're thoughtful enough to contemplate things: whether Sale hit Martinez on purpose, what he was angry about (assuming for the moment it was on purpose), why Martinez was pissed, what was said between them -- all these things WILL NEVER BE KNOWN BY US because it all takes place in the context of baseball's "unwritten code", which basically says, "that's for us to know and you to wonder blindly about."

But claiming to know the unknowable is a staple of baseball fandom, so by all means, White Sox fans (and both sets of White Sox announcers) point indignantly at the scoreboard as clear and convincing evidence that it was absolutely an accident, because -- altogether now -- "the LAST THING he wants to do in this situation, blah, blah, blah..." The announcers and some fans double down by getting pissed at Martinez for glaring at Sale.

Pretend for the moment that it matters whether he did it on purpose. It has always amazed me how intelligent baseball commentators can watch grown men act like children and simultaneously ascribe rational motives to their actions. You mean to tell me no pitcher has ever lost his perspective on the mound to the point where the scoreboard doesn't matter to him anymore?????? REALLY???

It pains me to bring this up again, but I wrote an open letter to Dan Dickerson and Jim Price about this last year when Alexei Ramirez was the one pissed about being thrown at, only to be the target of the Tigers' announcers ire for having the temerity to be pissed about it. So, let me state this again:

IF I'M IN THE BATTER'S BOX AND YOU THROW AT ME, I'M ABSOLUTELY ALLOWED TO BE PISSED ABOUT IT!!!!

Now for Tigers' announcers and fans. With no material evidence to support it, Sale was accused of hitting Martinez because he was convinced someone was perched in the CF bleachers stealing signs (stealing signs by players is often provocation enough, for reasons passing understanding, but employing extralegal means would indeed be ethically questionable). It's one thing for Tigers' fans to jump to this conclusion (Victor himself claims ex-teammate Avi Garcia told him Sale was complaining about it -- and what, we're just supposed to trust Victor???). It's another for Tigers TV crew to assert this (amazingly enough, this time, it's Dickerson and Price who earn my kudos -- they along with Steve Stone, Hawk Harrelson, Ed Farmer, and Darrin Jackson concluded that Sale was pointing at the scoreboard, not CF bleachers). For the record, as long as everybody's slinging manure into the arena for us to swallow, Chris sale is allowed to offer his own contribution: he was pointing at a fan who was razzing him while he warmed up and it had NOTHING to do with stealing signs. Against that, the only thing we have is Scott Merkin's mlb.com report that after the game Sale met with Ventura and coaches for a 7 minute private meeting. The instigation was that the Tigers apparently let it be known what Martinez heard from Avisail Garcia.

And I'm allowed to speculate too. Here goes: ballplayers present and past love to tell us how stuff like this is great motivation. I'm entitled to wonder if Martinez feels much more like an invigorated warrior and much less like an injured party. After all, he struck out earlier, but has owned Chris Sale like almost no one (then again, he's owned MLB this year; right now he leads MLB in Runs Created per 27 outs according to MLB Player Batting Stats - 2014 (Sabermetric Stats)). The next batter doubled and they tied the score. Gee, the Tigers scored a run because of it, but by all means let's go supernova over Sale hitting Martinez LONG AFTER THE DUST HAS SETTLED. Not sure I buy it.

Let me be clear: I've said Martinez is absolutely allowed to be pissed -- when it happened. Obviously after order was restored, Martinez stayed in the game, and no one has said anything about him being injured. After the game is over (this happened in the 6th of a 9-inning game), I'm entitled to scoff at Martinez when he asserts that absolutely Sale hit him on purpose (again with no evidence to back it up other than the hearsay of a former teammate who is now with the White Sox). Just as I'm skeptical of Sale saying it was an accident, I'm skeptical of Martinez claiming it was on purpose.

Neither one of these players is saying any of this without an agenda behind it, to say nothing of the unwritten code which only they get to understand because the rest of us don't have the secret password. WE WILL NEVER KNOW WHY IT HAPPENED.

IF perchance Sale did do it on purpose, the Royals will want to have a pithy word with him because he picked a mighty fine time to do it. But I find his story more believable, especially in this day and age when fans interact so easily with players at the ballpark.

By the same token, Chris Sale, hear this: you plunked an opposing player. Minimally at least, you threatened his livelyhood. The fact that it was an accident is irrelevant. LET HIM GLARE, FOR GOD'S SAKE AND GET THE NEXT GUY OUT! In the heat of the moment, I have no idea what makes a pitcher get so defensive, but the fact remains that Sale served up a run aided largely by an extra base hit right after this episode. Might he have been better served to worry about the next hitter rather than an emotional reaction? I think so.

But most of all, I'm tired of the soap opera. I'm tired of being subjected to all the testosterone laden attitude mixed with belligerent defensiveness. I'm tired of the never-ending finger pointing. I'm tired of players, managers, ex-players condescendingly instructing me how I'm supposed to react to things like this. Mostly, I'm tired of being told that this is the way the game is supposed to be played - mind you, not in a helpful way, but in a "if you don't understand this, you're an idiot" way.

WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO UNDERSTAND, some unwritten code that nobody ever talks openly about because, ya know, it's UNWRITTEN. Yes, you played and I didn't, FINE. Just leave me out of it, will you please? Just know that whatever any of you say is going in one ear and out the other.

Keep the melodrama to yourselves, please. I prefer to watch baseball.

Thank you.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Consuming White Sox baseball on a holiday off-day

It helped that the White Sox were not playing on Labor Day for the first time in a long time. I finally ransacked my storage and retrieved some very special VHS tapes from 9 years ago. Believe it or not, while I recorded every game of the south-siders' 11-1 run to the title, I only sporadically watched them until the World Series. I actually took my Dad to game 2 of the World Series. We both braved the cold and rain all the way to Podsednik's unexpected walk-off blast. However, much of the ALDS and the ALCS I had literally never seen before. I knew much about both series, but I had not actually taken in some of the games.

As I watched, I found some really interesting things that I had not remembered.

ALDS against the Red Sox: I definitely remembered that Chris Berman did play-by-play. I think I probably knew that Rick Sutcliffe was in the booth with him. I did NOT remember that the third person in the booth was Mike Piazza. I was already over the whole Chris Berman schtick by then, and I found Sutcliffe annoying, but I have to say Piazza was very interesting to listen to throughout the series.

Game 1 (CWS 14 BOS 2): It was a mid-afternoon game, but I was at game 1 of San Diego vs. St. Louis watching the Cardinals come close to blowing an 8-0 lead. I probably got home part way through the game and I just don't remember watching it at all. For one thing, it was a blowout. Secondly, there was another game on.

One thing I always remembered about this game, but can no longer confirm was that as laudatory as Berman and Sutcliffe and Piazza were about the small-ball the White Sox played in the 1st inning (and generally throughout the series), the Red Sox play-by-play (which I sampled back when the 2005 archives were still available) were beside themselves in laughter when Iguchi bunted Podsednik to 2nd in the bottom of the 1st. This was the Theo Epstein Red Sox, the ones who went Billy "Moneyball" Beane one better. These were the folks who sneered at small-ball. I happen to share the same mindset, but I also cackled at their bravado, knowing how that game turned out. There was mild concern when they finally cashed in a couple of runs in one of the middle innings to make it 6-2, but it turned out to be nothing. After the fact, as a White Sox fan, I couldn't help but smile at the futility of their remarks. By the way, I know Joe Castiglione was the play-by-play guy (still is, I think), but for the life of me I can't remember who his sidekick was, and I've been trying to remember ever since. I'm pretty sure he wasn't there much past 2005.

Finally, it was fun to note a couple of Red Sox rookies in that series: one who played a half a season for the 2012 White Sox (Kevin Youkilis) but never got into the action (not even in the 14-2 blowout), and future snarling closer and human rain delay on the mound Jonathon Papelbon (who pitched a couple of times in middle relief).

Game 2 (CWS 5 BOS 4): I definitely watched this game as it was at night and back then the Cardinals were always the team that had the extra off day (Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday-Sunday-Tuesday). The Graffinino blunder has always stuck in my mind, obviously a watershed moment in that series. I had forgotten, however, that Bobby Jenks got himself a 2-inning save in that game, something that is almost unheard of just 9 years later.

Game 3 (CWS 5 BOS 3): This game I have watched many times, since it is included in the Box Set. At the time, I believe I got home in time to watch the delicious part when El Duque worked his wonderful magic to wriggle out of Damaso Marte's mess.

This game featured the only Red Sox home runs in the series, 1 by Papi and 2 by Manny. The 2nd Manny HR featured the signature "Let me undress first before I stroll to first" move that enrages all the old-school baseball fans. I don't remember hearing much about it back then. It's never bothered me all that much, but I can sort of understand it.

As I watched Pierczyinski score from 3rd in the top of the 9th on a perfectly executed squeeze bunt, I couldn't help note the extreme contrast to the 2014 White Sox featuring the faux Alexei Ramirez "I'm going to fool you now into thinking I'm going to bunt even though I know the whole world knows I can't bunt to save my life" move. The 2005 team was well-known for being able to execute the sacrifice bunt and other so-called "small ball" strategies. Since I have reconnected with the team of my youth, I have only known the utter futility of bunting, to the point that a few years ago, Ozzie Guillen was threatening to make everyone return to spring training for bunting class -- during the regular season.

Whenever I have recalled this series since then I have relished how my team literally cast a spell on the hapless defending champs. They came in overconfident and their game 1 starter Matt Clement (ex-Cub) was exposed in a horrible way. David Wells thought he could spin a gem and his teammates' offense would kick in to high gear, but a 2nd baseman started to turn a double-play before he had the ball in his glove and Tadihito Iguchi spanked a hanging curve ball, leaving only the work of two dazzling bullpens keeping the Red Sox one run short. Then, in the friendly confines of Fenway Park with Red Sox fan Berman in the booth, the magic of that place deserted them utterly and completely thanks to the hocus pocus of a Cuban virtuoso.

I really can't remember what I was feeling at the time. I had not spent the entire 80's and 90's and first part of the new millenium suffering with my team's futility. The truth is, I had largely abandoned them, looking in when they took on the Blue Jays in 1993, but never even bothering to watch one single inning as they embarrassed themselves against the 2000 wild card Mariners. I was too busy getting swept up in Cardinal fever. I never stopped rooting for them, but I didn't maintain the emotional attachment. It wasn't until I noticed their record in May of 2005 that I finally, like the prodigal son, returned home just in time for the party. I guess I simply tried to enjoy the experience, figuring I'd never get another chance.

ALCS against the Angels, beginning on Tuesday night. This series will, of course, live on forever in the hearts and minds of all White Sox fans. The thing is, I remember the dropped 3rd strike with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th of game 2 so much that I never remembered one single thing that happened in this series prior to that moment. The 3 games in Anaheim over the weekend took place while I was at a conference. I was only able to watch a few innings on Friday and Saturday night, but I certainly remember the prowess that earned Paul Konerko the ALCS MVP award. On the other hand, the dropped 3rd strike was such an iconic moment sparking much discussion on-line and elsewhere that my mind has been blank with respect to all of game 1 and most of game 2.

One thing I definitely remembered: this series was on FOX, which means Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. One word: Ugh. I didn't remember that they were joined in the booth by the interim-retired Lou Piniella. Double-Ugh. Unlike Piazza, Sweet Lou was absolutely useless to me, offering me no depth of insight, and some of his pronouncements are, in hindsight, hilarious, coming right before events that utterly contradict what he just said.

Game 1 (LAA 3 CWS 2): As I watched this game, as if for the first time ever, I finally recognized my White Sox. Failed bunt attempts. Uribe mishandled a grounder. Other infield errors. A couple of unearned runs give Contreras the loss. Yeah, now THAT's the White Sox I've come to know and love masochistically these past several years. Much like the 2014 White Sox, the 2005 version made a very close game out of it after falling behind 3-0, but just couldn't quite close the deal. They looked a little like the team I'm used to seeing wilt under the pressure at the Metrodome (epitomized by an excruciating late September 2008 series there that took years off my life span).

Game 2 (CWS 2 LAA 1): More hijinks and a premonition of sorts in this game. Aaron Rowand belts a double down the right field line. Vlad "butterfingers" Guerrero takes 5 minutes to pick it up and fling it past two cutoff men and behind 3rd base down the left field line. Rowand slides head-first into 3rd, then after getting his bearings beats it for home plate but is gunned down easily. All that energy for nothing but an out. If Vlad hits the cutoff man, he's on 3rd available to score easily on a base hit or a sac-fly, but no, Vlad's mistake punishes Rowand instead. If only he doesn't get greedy, there may never have been any controversy to end this game.

Oh yeah, and there was a top half of a middle inning, where Buerhle and Pierczyinski were convinced they had struck out the batter to end the inning, but after consulting with his fellow umpires, Eddings ruled that the batter had foul tipped it, and AJ had failed to catch it on the fly. The ball had bounced in the dirt. Nothing came of the reprieve, mind you, but little did anyone realize what a premonition that would turn out to be.

One reason why I might not have remembered much about this game: Mark Buehrle was on the mound. The game absolutely seemed to fly by. I've since grown used to that, but it was impressive to see him breeze through the Angels for 9 innings like that on the grand stage that is October. Just that one measly mistake to Quinnlan, or there would have been no controversy. There were other times during the game when a top of the ninth ending to the game was just barely missed.

I also did not remember that the Angels' pitcher Jarrod Washburn was not 100% that night (and only lasted 4 2/3rds innings). Kelvim Escobar worked the final 3 innings and seriously deserved a better fate.

Now for what I absolutely remember watching: The dropped 3rd strike and the wackiness that followed. I distinctly remember arguing vociferously with fellow Sox fans (there was certainly no unanimity in favor of the call) that the ball absolutely bounced on the ground. I remember Eddings' tortured explanation that his raised fist was simply how he always signaled strike 3, never mind the arm straight out to his right, which is the typical umpire signal for calling the pitch a strike. And I remember how Josh Paul could not be expected to know that he had ruled a dropped 3rd strike. I along with thousands of others blamed the victim for not being absolutely sure (Kevin Kennedy did likewise on the post-game show, insisting that when he managed he always instructed his catchers on any pitch like that where there's the slightest chance it might have bounced on the ground to tag the batter just to be on the safe side). I also was prepared to remind anyone who needed it that there was no guarantee the Angels would have won the game, it only would have meant extra innings, so Eddings did not rob them of a win.

Having looked at it once again, I am no longer certain it bounced on the ground. It is impossible, even in the zoomed in close up, to distinguish the pocket of his catcher's mitt from the dirt behind home plate. Coupled with my conclusion years ago that Eddings made a confusing call and is to blame for misleading the catcher leads me now to conclude that this was truly LA's "Don Denkinger moment". They had every right to be pissed. Interestingly enough, 3 years later in an August Sunday afternoon contest televised on TNT, Joe Madden (then bench coach for the Angels, later manager of the TB Rays) was once again screwed by AJ Pierczyinski and Doug Eddings who this time was the 2nd base umpire and laughingly charged Jason Bartlett with interference after AJ, having gotten himself into a base-running pickle like the dunderhead that he is, went out of his way to initiate contact with the Rays' shortstop. That too led almost immediately to a walk-off win for the White Sox, and ultimately screwed the Minnesota Twins out of a division title (the Rays won the pennant that year). It's a small world.

Not too long after this game, some veteran sportswriter whose name and medium escapes me now, wrote about a little known aspect of that play. He described the chaos of Angels' fielders heading for the dugout, watching in amusement turned into bewilderment as the catcher with the punch-me face (just ask Michael Barrett) scampered to first with the ball harmlessly sitting near the mound. AJ had meekly rounded 1st, and this writer noticed that one of the fielders finally woke-up and planted himself on 2nd while another one picked up the ball, surmising that the guy with the guts of a burglar might well have stolen 2nd in addition to 1st if precaution hadn't been taken. As it turned out, this was immaterial since Ozuna ran for AJ and Crede took 2 strikes allowing Pablo to steal second anyway.

That White Sox magic had reasserted itself.

Game 3: (CWS 5 LAA 2). No sooner had Piniella mindlessly praised the maturity of Lackey, but Konerko launched a 2 run HR to LF, making it 3-0, in spite of McCarver's certainty that there was no momentum for the White Sox to build on from game 2. The number of hanging (and hurting) curve balls from Lackey in the first inning was plentiful. Meanwhile, Garland, who was supposed to be adversely affected by an over-abundance of strength due to an 11-day layoff, turned out to be the virtuoso du jour. This time it was the Angels who turned a double into an out at 3rd base with a multi-run deficit. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

Game 4: (CWS 8 LAA 2). My tape included the pregame show, in which Kevin Kennedy and Kenny Lofton were analyzing highlights from the most recent Astros win over the Cardinals (In an interview shown during Game 3, Ozzie Guillen spoke of his fondest wish to go up against his former manager LaRussa. Unfortunately, that would have to wait for interleague play in 2006 because Mark Mulder couldn't do his job in NLCS Game 6). In one segment, they proudly showed Yadier Molina demonstrating the most recent MLB object lesson: MAKE SURE YOU TAG THE BATTER BEFORE YOU HEAD FOR THE DUGOUT.

For some reason I always remembered Paul Konerko hitting 2 1st inning 3-run homers in LA. Obviously in game 3, it was a 2-run homer after Dye knocked in Podsednik with a base hit. I tend to conflate memories at times.

At any rate, once again, the mental midgets in the TV booth were talking about whether Podsednik should steal 3rd after Iguchi was knicked on the arm by a Santana inside pitch. Instead, Dye flew out to deep center and both runners moved up. I chuckled because I know that none of it would matter. Interestingly enough, Konerko could have been rung up on the 2-2 check swing. It was borderline. And the next pitch went over the border. Another hanging curve ball. Sage advice from Lou: "Santana needs to get out of this inning with minimal damage, then I think he'll settle down." Never change, Lou.

I'm also amused by Kevin Kennedy's unshakeable faith in the Angels to recover and make this a series. Of course, I'm not really being fair since I have the benefit of hindsight. That's not my point with all this critique of the talking heads. My point is this: every time they tried to prognosticate what was going to happen, the opposite happened. Maybe because prognosticating is really stupid. Kennedy was especially convinced that Vlad would find himself at the plate. I don't remember Guerrero's final stat line, but I do remember he was a complete bust in this series. Again, there's nothing wrong, per se, with him thinking Vlad's fortunes would change, although he didn't seem to offer anything more than a Bayesian mindset to back it up -- i.e., his luck HAS to change eventually, just because. Talk about your deep analysis. Speaking of which, how about this Sweet Lou gem: the reason why Benji Molina positions himself on one knee is to make sure Santana keeps the ball down. "Or maybe to HOPE that he keeps it down," McCarver helpfully corrects him.

The bottom of the 2nd and the top of the 3rd produced more controversy which I had completely forgotten. By the same token, it rings a bell, which tells me I did see it live. First in the bottom of the 2nd, with runners on 1st and 3rd and one out, Steve Finley bounced one to Iguchi who turned and threw to Uribe. The relay apparently just nipped Finley to end the inning and keep the score 3. Finley was gesturing angrily. I assumed he was claiming he beat the throw, which looked possible but hard to tell for sure. After the commercial break, FOX showed a different replay that revealed that as Finley swung, his bat hit Pierczynski's glove, which Joe Buck and Tim McCarver both pointed out should result in the bases loaded and 1 out instead of the end of the inning. By the way, this time the home plate ump was Ron Kulpa.

(I also could not help but note, even before I found about the catcher's interference, how final the umpire's call was then compared to now. Now, I'd have been bracing for the replay challenge, just on the out call at first. Interestingly enough, the TV booth and Mike Scioscia went to great length that weekend explaining why instant replay would be bad for baseball.)

One other thing noted by the 2nd replay: The reason why the throw apparently beat Finley to the base is because he didn't run all out down the line. He didn't because he was too busy gesturing at the home plate umpire about the catcher's interference. Even Joe Buck pointed out that the same sports writers who roasted Josh Paul for not tagging AJ would be roasting Finley for not beating the relay. McCarver made an interesting point: the dilemma for Finley is that if he busts it down the line, he sells the umpire on the idea that he made the right call. It's very difficult, he said, to not at least point out the omission to the umpire, perhaps hoping to sell him on that instead. I don't know if I buy that argument, but it is certainly thought provoking.

Then, Jermaine Dye led off the top of the 3rd with a grounder to future Sox SS Orlando Cabrera, who proceeded to sail his throw to first. Erstad leaped and grabbed it, came back down and tried the swipe tag. Dye was called safe. Erstad pleaded with the first base umpire that he had tagged him. FOX spent 0 seconds on this play, perhaps due to controversy fatigue. I did not see whether Dye's foot was already on the base, but it certainly looked possible that he did tag him with his glove.

Naturally, Dye stole second and scored on a single by Carl Everett. An inning later, AJ twisted the knife with a solo homer over the CF wall. "No controversy there," said Piniella, "Just a well hit fast ball."

Guerrero's slump in this ALCS was legendary, but Joe Buck also indicated that leadoff Chone Figgins was not doing much either.

Funniest play in this game was the 3rd out in the bottom of the 4th, when Crede got in Uribe's way after he fielded Guerrero's grounder. I wonder if that's when Juan decided that every ball hit to the left side of the infield belonged to him alone...

Meanwhile, the LA offense looked like it was starting to bust out in a couple of innings, but only had 2 runs to show for it.

Cultural note: America On-Line (who?) was still big enough back then to purchase ad time during big-time sporting events -- "Building a safer Internet". Ha ha.

More controversy, at least given lip-service in the booth, in the top of the 5th on one of the pickoff moves by reliever Scot Shields. Replays showed fairly clearly that Podsednik should have been called out (this umpire was Ed Rapuano). A pitch or two later, Scot stole 2nd fairly easily. On the other hand, he didn't advance to 3rd on a ball hit to Adam Kennedy. McCarver guessed that since it was kind of a line drive, Scot had to make sure it wasn't caught in the air. Konerko then drew the "locking the barn door after the horse has escaped" intentional walk. No worries, though. Everett's single to left easily scored Podsednik.

In the top of the 6th, Joe Buck became concerned about all the White Sox players who hadn't yet seen any action in the ALCS, so he read out all the names for the benefit of family and friends who might be watching. They had recounted that Pablo Ozuna had pinch-run twice and Neal Cotts had pitched 2/3rds of an inning. Those were the ONLY moves Ozzie Guillen had to make so far. Lou "Capt. Obvious" Piniella immediately surmised that the White Sox bullpen will see some action in this game. Tee hee.

More controversy in top of 7th: it looked to me like a whole lot of nothing. Randy Marsh could have called Podsednik out on his 2nd steal attempt of the night, but to me the replay was less than conclusive and nobody mentioned anything about the Angels arguing the call. Then when Dye flew out to deep RF, Podsednik decided to tag up and take 3rd. Vlad's throw overshot the base. Figgins had to back up to catch it and keep Podsednik from thinking about going for home, and the 3rd base umpire had to backpedal to stay out of his way. They barely touched, but Joe Buck: "Now Figgins has to push the umpire out of the way to catch that ball." By this time, the FOX booth was milking the umpire controversy for all it was worth. Of course, another story line joined in on the fun at about the same time: "The rally monkey is LONG overdue... The only ones getting any reaction from these Angels fans are the umpires."

In the top of the 8th, Pierczynski struck out on a ball in the dirt. Molina picked up the ball and tagged AJ. The crowd went wild. FOX of course picked up on it. That crowd ecstasy was short-lived as Crede smashed one down the LF line to score 2 and break it wide open.

In the bottom of the 8th, the White Sox were bitten by lack of tolerance for the so-called "neighborhood play" at 2nd base. After a leadoff base-hit, a grounder to 3rd seemed to erase the base runner in a 5-4-3 DP, but Iguchi never touched the base. The White Sox argued, much like they argued in April or May when Crede was denied 1st base because he had failed to avoid the HBP. It was not so much that it was the wrong call, but simply that "it's NEVER CALLED." Later, Cabrera checked his swung (so said Ron Kulpa), but he could have been wrung up on it. No worries, a long fly ball ended the inning, and FOX went to commercial break with music from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. So clever.

In the postgame, Chris Myers tried to get AJ to comment on the missed catcher's interference, and it sounded like the sound of that interview had been picked up on the stadium speakers.

Game 5 (CWS 6 LAA 3): The pregame show reminded me that the NLCS had its share of umpire controversy. Phil Cuzzi was behind the plate at Minute Maid Park for game 4 and apparently had a bad night. Both LaRussa and Edmonds got tossed. There were a couple of plays on the bases that looked like they easily could been overturned on appeal today. Of course there was also an Albert Pujols TOOTBLAN in the 9th that helped keep the Cardinals on the losing end. Phil Cuzzi, you'll recall, is the guy who looked at Joe Mauer's double at Yankee Stadium (2009 or 2010) and called it foul because he was ... cross-eyed?

Thanks to Lou Piniella, we now know that the forkball Jose Contreras throws is called "Senor Tumbelina" or the Cuban forkball. Seriously, where else can you pick up gems like this? The White Sox did threaten to score in the first, making me question my recollection that in this game the Angels scored first. However, they came up empty. In the second they threatened again. Rowand doubled just barely fair down the RF line, and AJ hammered a bunt into the ground to advance him to 3rd, as if Ozzie was bound and determined to score first. Sure enough, Crede's sac fly scored Rowand. But certainly a more pedestrian way for the Sox to take the first lead.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Contreras and Uribe messed up the daylight play trying to pick off Juan Rivera, who advanced for free to 3rd. Kennedy, who Joe Buck speculated was up there to bunt, singled to LF to tie the score. I was sure that the Angels held a lead in this game, and now it looked like I might be right. Figgins moved him to second on a sac bunt. A passed ball moved him to 3rd. Anderson walked on 4 pitches. We were then treated to the Vlad Guerrero highlights to the tune of "Same old song and dance". Sure enough, he grounded to Uribe to end the inning. Once again, though the Angels tied the game, offense was still a bit like pushing spaghetti up a hill for them. 2 smoking line drives landing in Joe Crede's glove didn't help.

In the 5th inning Dye singled home Uribe from second, chasing Byrd from the game and once again taking the lead. Konerko scared the crap out of the fans by driving Rivera to the warning track, but Juan gathered in his deep fly ball to end the inning with only 1 run scored.

That lead didn't last long. Kennedy led off with a single. On a hit-and-run, Figgins doubled into the RF corner. An Angels fan reached over the wall and grabbed it, but this time Scioscia convinced the umpires to discuss the discretionary choice they have to award home plate anyway, which they did. Figgins remained at 2nd, leaving Guerrero as the only key element of the lineup with only 1 hit in the series. Cabrera's high chopper moved Figgins to 3rd. Garrett Anderson drove Dye to the warning track and Figgins trotted home to give the Angels their first lead since game 1, confirming my recollection. Sure enough, Vlad was the rally killer once again. However, Scot Shields masterfully preserved the lead in the 6th.

But Contreras responded with a shutdown inning of his own, and Crede led off the 7th with a game tying homer over the LF fence off Kelvim Escobar. And now I'm thinking that was the one and only lead the Angels would get in this game. He did manage to limit the damage to that homer, in spite of Podsednik's walk and steal of 2nd.

Contreras shut them down as well in the 7th. Escobar seemed to have the 8th well in hand until yet another weird play in which AJ Pierczynski participated. He struck out Konerko and Everett, but his 3-2 pitch to Aaron Rowand missed the strike zone. Escobar was so distracted with Rowand that he earned a visit from pitching coach Bud Black. Refocused, he induced AJ to slap one up the middle and wackiness ensued. It actually bounced off Escobar toward the White Sox dugout. In the confusion, Escobar grabbed the ball with his hand and tagged AJ with his glove,then threw to first but too late. As if to compensate for all the times they screwed the Angels, the first base umpire called him out and the Angels headed toward the dugout. Ozzie stormed out and got the first base ump to ask for help, and sure enough the call was overturned. Scioscia (after protesting at length, no doubt out of sheer frustration built up over the entire series) went to K-Rod to hold the line, but Crede slapped one up the middle that didn't go through, but it was too tough for Kennedy to try for an out anywhere besides home and that throw was too late (it helped that it was 3-2 count, so Rowand was off with the pitch). K-Rod proceeded to walk Uribe, which is always an anomaly, but he retired Podsednik to limit the damage. The Sox had regained the lead again, for good I think. A FOX graphic stated the Crede was .353 with 2 outs and runners in scoring position this postseason. Talk about prescient.

I had forgotten the distinctive grip that Contreras employed to throw his special pitch. You could see it on camera before he put the ball in his glove. Those must have been very strong fingers. He had an uneventful 8th, once again besting Guerrero to end the inning. Boy the Sox really had his number. Nothing but ground balls to infielders most of the time.

During the 9th inning, the FOX cameras caught the White Sox suite, showing us Jerry Reinsdorf and friends getting ready to celebrate. A Sox fan I knew on-line told us that the entire front office, down to the lowest staff member got a free all-expenses paid trip to Houston during the World Series, to say nothing of getting their own WS ring in 2006. Meanwhile, K-Rod walked Iguchi and seemed to lose control according to Joe Buck. Iguchi managed to steal 2nd (though only because Kennedy had the ball knocked out of his glove). According to Joe Buck, the official scorer gave Kennedy an error. K-Rod proceeded to walk Dye as well.

Trivia (via FOX): the last time the White Sox had 4 complete games in a row was August of 1974. Wilbur Wood, Jim Kaat, Bart Johnson, and ... you guessed it, Wilbur Wood again.

Konerko drove one over Vlad's head off the wall to score Iguchi and the Sox had an insurance run with no outs. I remember K-Rod walking a lot of guys and striking out a lot of guys, but I don't remember him giving up a lot of hits. He struck out Everett, but Rowand drove a deep fly to RF. Vlad's throw was offline allowing Dye to score, but Konerko was out at 3rd to end the inning.

Contreras had a ho-hum bottom of the 9th. Prior to the last out, FOX treated us to highlights of September 22nd, 1959 in Cleveland (to the strains of "Go Go White Sox!"). A sweet play by Uribe, a bloop that Rowand played perfectly, and an easy one hopper to Konerko who was already playing close to the base. The postgame footage included players filing into the locker room receiving high-fives from a tall gray-haired man. In spite of the fact that I only saw the back of his head, there's no doubt in my mind it was Ed Farmer, Jon Rooney's radio sidekick on ESPN 1000.

I found it odd that Gene Autry's wife was the honorary presenter of the American League championship trophy. Autry used to be the owner of the Angels, if I'm not mistaken. The broadcast booth made the observation that is certainly striking: The entire weekend in LA, Ozzie made 0 substitutions. All 3 complete games and in all 3 games the same starting lineup played the entire 9 innings. And the World Series was not scheduled to start for 6 days. Jon Garland had 11 days of rest before he started game 3 of the ALCS. Jenks, Hermansen, El Duque, Marte, Politte, Vizcaino all would have at least 12 days of rest before they would pitch again.

If the running narrative of the series is to be believed, I think it is fair to conclude that the Angels came undone for some reason. There were several possible causes: (1) though it didn't show in game 1, the fact that they were extended by their series with the Yankees may have caught up with them eventually, (2) the fact that Bartolo Colon was injured in game 5 of the ALDS and was unavailable for the ALCS stretched their rotation a little thin, (3) they were rocked repeatedly by some very questionable umpiring at crucial times. Maybe there are other reasons. Having watched the entire series, all I can see is that the story I was hearing from the booth did not match the story that was being told on the field. They did not look like the Angels I remember, except for game 1.

The "luck" continued in the World Series. I'm not going to go through the whole thing because I've already watched the World Series dozens of times. I watched every game live, so I've already been down memory lane dozens of times. This was the first time I sat down and watched the entire ALDS and ALCS. But to perpetuate the theme that Sox had a magical year, there was Biggio flubbing an easy popup allowing a run or two to score, there was the alleged phantom HBP on Dye in game 2 that was followed by Konerko's grand slam off Qualls. Oh by the way, there was also an Astro double off the wall in game 3 that was ruled a homer, so it's not true that every single break went the Sox' way. There was the HBP of Crede in game 3 that set off some sparks between the two dugouts. There was Podsednik's unlikely homer off Lidge. There was Blum's homer in the 14th inning and Phil Garner's tantrum in the dugout. And last, but not least, if it was 2014, we might still be playing this World Series, because the final out in game 4 would have been reviewed on replay, that's how close it was. In short, the White Sox were very good, but they also were very lucky.

It actually took me a week to get through it all, but it was time well spent.