DoolittleBrothers

Attempting to encapsulate what has transpired since I was last active in this space would not only be an exceedingly lengthy exercise, but of little interest to anyone. Over time, any significant life experiences and observations I need to share will slowly seep into whatever I decide to write, so with that in mind ….

I am currently entering that personal, sacred part of my night. The time I spend with my family is always top priority and the most fulfilling part of my typical day – but I do love my free time each late night. Once our little girl (Samantha) is in bed (around 9pm) and my wife, Amanda, heads to bed then I try to quickly wrap up any loose ends/daily list items so I can feast upon the vast array of DVR sports that I have accumulated throughout the night via very dilligent programming. So, that is where I stand right now.

The past year+ has been overwhelmingly dominated by learning how I react to fatherhood, but I have not lost my luster for sports – and the NBA in particular. Because I was layed off from my full-time gig, I have had time for both life’s hectic moments and some late-night indulgences. It is very fulfilling, I must admit. Not many fathers get to stay home and see what I see every day without feeling enormous stress regarding employment. Though I do hope to find full-time work ASAP.

… Among the immense slate of games I have right now, I am most looking forward to the Missouri basketball game and the Suns-Nuggets, Thunder-Hornets games. However, with Brad now in Chicago I have been following the Bulls closer and will zip through their game vs. the 76ers as well. I have, like, 7 or 8 games to watch – most full games, some just fourth quarters. It is kind of unrealistic to embark on such an escapist challenge when I have to be up by 745am – this is why I often carry games to the next night’s slate. With Thursday featuring only 1 or 2 watchable games, I can always pack Wed.’s excess into Thursday. Wonder how many fans out there actually do this besides the DooBros?

Which bring this flow of consciousness to something I have goosebumps about: winter weather! Thursday night and Friday is likely to bring anywhere from 2 to 6 inches of snow, which is my favorite weather. This system moving into Missouri is still difficult to call, but snowfall seems inevitable. All I ask for is one major, defining snow fall each winter. We are still waiting for this in 2010. The tangible benefits are an overwhelming sense of coziness, spectacular pictures and family videos, an excuse to be at home & lazy, playing in the snow with my 19.5-month-old and, hopefully, Amanda working from home to lessen some of the daily difficulty I often encounter with Sam.

Time to fire up my twin TV/DVR setup while keeping my iPod handy so I can resume my experiment to listen to all of the best Grateful Dead shows between 1985 and 1989. Though after 12.15.86, not much can compare. I will survive!

Tags: NBA, weather

Saturday turned into quite a Midwest basketball extravaganza for me and my friend Jeremy. I was lucky enough to have full access to my company’s suite for the MVC Tournament semifinals. While watching the live action on the floor of Scottrade Center, we also had the suite TVs tuned into the Saint Louis and Missouri basketball games. Midwest hoops! I was very pleased to see Drake play in person, though it was hard to root against Creighton. Great game, much better than Northern Iowa-Illinois State . I also worked in some Stanford-USC, which was great because it solidified USC’s spot in the NCAA Tournament as they routed the No. 7 Cardinal. Since he may not be back following his freshman season, I was hoping to see O.J. Mayo play in the NCAAs at least one time … The agony for SLU fans peaked yet again as they were hammered at Duquesne, meaning that Rick Majerus’ first season will end with a fizzle – not a flourish. I’ve actually followed SLU as closely as Mizzou the past couple of seasons, so this has not been fun. Like MU, SLU has some big-time wins this season but will end up right at .500.

I somehow managed to watch 7 sporting events on TiVo late Saturday night, most of which I barely processed before moving on to the next game. I fell asleep prematurely on Friday night, and ended up carrying those games over into my personal Saturday hoops festival. It was fun times, but I really felt awful throughout Sunday from these indulgences. Hope I am not getting sick … sometimes I really force the action to the point of absurdity.

This incredible scoring spree that LeBron James is on has been fantastic to see. That 50-10-8-4 line at MSG was crazy, but what really stunned me was that it was the first 50-8-8 line since Richie Guerin did it! That was nearly 50 years ago! Jeepers. There have been only three 50-10s since 1992, another item that really struck me.

Lastly, my big project at work gets under way tomorrow. It is a tourney-style showdown between 64 classic rock artists, where our users/listeners vote online during each matchup/pairing, with a winner to be determined after the championship match on April 7th. It’s a lot of fun! Pink Floyd won in 2006, and last year The Beatles won. Each time Eric Clapton was runner up. Poor guy. 

Fridays get me fired up. It’s not quite the same as 10 years ago, when that first Friday beer came in the early afternoon and led to a subsequent nonstop flurry of activity, much of it social and/or live music-related. But, still, I get squirrelly since I work mainly Mon-Fri and very much look forward to free time activities. My mind keeps flashing to the NBA agenda I have for this evening, centering upon the Cavaliers. Many of LeBron James’ best games have been Friday/Saturday games at home, and I look for a spirited atmosphere at the Q tonight. Plus, we have Jazz-Hornets, Lakers-Blazers, Kings-Mavs and 76ers-Warriors. Should be great! I save all of these games for after my preggers wife succumbs to slumber, and it seems the longer I wait the better the action is – though it is merely a matter of perception. And sometimes I fall asleep and have a lot of action carry over, resulting in a burdensome TV load should I have things to do the next day.

As soon as Wally Szczerbiak and Daniel Gibson can be healthy and play at the same time, Cleveland will turn a corner. They do need Wally and Delonte West to shoot better, but that will come soon. As frightened as I was when The Big Trade occurred, I think it was the right move. It is agonizing that Larry Hughes is playing so well, but he needed to go. As awful as the game at Boston was, I think it was a blip. I’m waiting for when James gets hammered on a drive and Ben Wallace mans up to the opposition and provides an old school smack down. That will be cool! The Cavs need to run and run, and I hope that happens a bit more now. I think that they need everyone healthy and playing by mid-march to have a shot at the East crown, but they are in the running now – more than the Magic are.

I am finishing up the recently released autobiography, Clapton. Great read so far … tons of excess tales, but also a useful narrative on the emergence of EC upon on the London/UK scene and the into the US as the 70s began. Some good blues history, as well as a peak into English culture and ways. He was kind of a pathetic figure at times, with his two bottles a day and general weakness in dealing with people and responsibility … but I have a much more linear view now on how all of the acts attributed to his inclusion formed and existed (amid such crazy times.) I love Blind Faith.

Juan Gone took Johan Santana deep! … Friday Night Lights is such a great, great show. Season 1 DVD is killer.

Try adding baby preparation to your master list. That will shake things up real good. Our nursery is now officially painted. Check!

This night is like a fantastic dream scenario for me. As we near 8-9 inches of the glorious snowfall here in STL, I feel cozier than is imaginable by most. I only slept 5 hours last night, but have had two naps today and now am looking at being awake well past 4am. Would not miss this. That will provide me the opportunity to follow the snowfall close to when it will dissipate later this morning. The main flaw in my night plans? No LeBron! Noooo! Though I am still fired up over his heroics on Wednesday. I am working my way through a 4-game NBA DVR slate, but do not really have a showcase game to chomp on. But I do have every game played on Thursday, so there is bound to be a tight game among them. Also, no Kevin Garnett tonight. Maybe Amare Stoudemire will punch out a few Spurs to make these viewings well worthwhile. Or, perhaps, Kevin Durant will reach 10 rebounds in a single game – not one week.

I worked from home on Thursday, will be doing the same on Friday and am off on Monday for my hangover. So, out of nowhere, I have 5 full days away from the office. On Sunday, I will watch the Patriots beat the Giants 30-20, then will head to the world-famous Delmar Loop and Blueberry Hill to see the greatest young jam rock band out there, Tea Leaf Green, on Sunday night. Then a taxi will take me home in a highly confused state around 2am. Then, I will leave my home again on Monday night before my wife’s girl’s night dinner begins. Though I do go back into the office on Tuesday, I get to see the Blues play that night from the company suite. So the next week is shaping up nicely. Very nicely.

The Royals signing of Brett Tomko is not the sort of transaction that will make your heart go pitter-patter, but it’s the type of thing that has to be done, I suppose. Tomko hasn’t been effective for, well, ever. He had a decent rookie season for the Reds way back in 1997 and a capable enough season for the Giants in 2004. He’s been below league-average in every other season of his career.

But this is a case where Dayton Moore is looking past performance record and focusing in on a skill set. He wanted an additional “power arm” for the bullpen and a guy who would compete for the rotation. For all is failings, Tomko did log 33 strikeouts against 7 walks in 29+ innings as a reliever last season. He’s never really been given a crack at being a full-time relief pitcher. Mostly when Tomko has been used in that role, it’s been because he couldn’t keep hold of a rotation spot.

I still don’t like the move. Three million, guaranteed, for one season is not going to wreck the Royals’ financial structure. But it’s money that could have been put to better use — like securing Bartolo Colon. It just seems like there should be plenty of pitchers on the market with Tomko’s attributes that would have come to camp on a minor-league invite.

In the meantime, as Sam Mellinger relates in this morning’s KC Star, the Royals will have plenty of competition for filling out the pitching staff at spring training.

MLK revelries

Speaking of The Star, my story on Kareem Rush is running today. Rush and Linas Kleiza are both playing well in similar type roles. They, along with MU seniors Marshall Brown and Jason Horton, are the last remnants of the Quin Snyder era still visible on the major basketball landscape. Clarence Gilbert, Ricky Paulding, Arthur Johnson and the rest have all faded to oblivion.

Martin Luther King Day has become my second-favorite holiday after Thanksgiving, I think. The all-day NBA onslaught on a Monday is a terrific showcase for the league and the best and most sincere tribute to Dr. King that exists. The Portland-Atlanta game was a good one, the NBA’s two youngest teams going OT. Travis Outlaw, who hit the game-winner, is becoming one of the best clutch players in the league. The Hawks are still playing well but the losses are starting to mount, putting them in a precarious playoff position. The Bulls, for all their misery, are still only two out. But they just can’t get any momentum — losing at Memphis two days after beating the Pistons. Interim coach Jim Boylan continues to dick around with role players like Joe Smith and Thabo Sefalosa in full-time roles while Aaron Gray and Tyrus Thomas continue to starve for minutes. Joakim Noah is starting to get more burn but the Bulls still haven’t recognized Ben Wallace’s decline.

The Jazz won at LA, over the Clippers, giving them a much-needed road win. Utah has won eight of ten but still hasn’t re-entered the West’s top eight. The schedule break the Jazz enjoyed in January is soon to expire and February is much more difficult. The Celtics look like they’re back on track. And the Pistons lost their third in a row — thanks to a buzzer beater from Rashard Lewis of Orlando.

And finally…

I have every Led Zepplin album on vinyl — even “Coda” — and that includes a decent copy of the 45 for “Hey, Hey, What Can I Do?”. So I’m going to finish off today’s blog by ranking them. The aforementioned elusive single — not contained on any of the LPs — will count towards Zepp III since it’s the ‘B’ side of “The Immigrant Song”.

1. Led Zepplin III
2. Led Zepplin I
3. Physical Graffiti
4. Led Zepplin II
5. Led Zepplin IV
6. Houses of the Holy
7. In Through the Out Door
8. Song Remains the Same
9. Presence
10. Coda

 – So I’m messing around my house late Thursday night with ESPN News on in the background and suddenly I hear these words: “New York Times” … “HGH” … Rick Ankiel” … “scandal.” On the greatest day in his baseball life, this seemed cruel to both Ankiel and Cardinals fans. I was scared. I listened to the story. Could be much worse, but I’m still fearful of the potential fallout. Best-case scenario is that Ankiel does not duck the issue and says that after Tommy John surgery in 2003 he was misguided toward temporarily using HGH to aid his healing process, but halted his use by 2004 and so it never coincided with his playing – and was before MLB even addressed the issue. Most of that seems true based on what I have heard (though I added a hopeful spin) and would free him from any potential suspension. If he is forthcoming, this controversy could be slowed before it gains much national steam. On the other hand, this could really tarnish one of the best individual stories in recent St. Louis sports history.

– That Louisville-Middle Tennessee game was sure wacky. I only saw the first half, but it was 28-21 in the first quarter and the teams had over 500 combined yards! Louisville may be a national champ contender. Very polished, experienced offense.

– The NFL game was poor. But it is kind of cool to have such a dominant team. I was hoping Reggie Bush would make some plays. My wife has Dallas Clark in fantasy, so at least she watched the first half with me.

– Speaking of my lady, she is gone all this weekend on a Lake bachelorette party. So, I will indulge in copious amounts of sports, with baseball, CFB and NFL in full swing all weekend. I have not learned if Mizzou-Ole Miss will on somewhere, so that’s the only potential flaw.

– Elton John is bothering me. I keep hearing songs of his. And I either really like it, or I really dislike it. Mainly early material vs. later material, which is often the case.