"When the officials don’t get control of the ballgame, when they allow stuff to happen, and it’s been happening all season long … this is what happens. You’ve got competitive women..."

"... who are the best in the world at what they do, right? And when you allow them to play physical, and you allow these things to happen, they’re going to compete."

Said Fever Coach Stephanie White, quoted in "Caitlin Clark, a night of skirmishes, and a WNBA product out of control/After a night of physical fouls and hurt feelings, the WNBA clearly has an officiating problem. Will the league fix it?" (WaPo)(free-access link).

Top-rated comment over there: "Why are so many WNBA players jealous of Caitlin Clark? She is the league's meal ticket. Without Clark, WNBA games would have lower ratings than infomercials."

Just fix the officiating. You can't restructure human behavior — jealousy, violence, competition. That's the way of the world. People don't go into sports to find opportunities to express loving kindness. 

"You can’t do things like that when you’re an older man with a young kid."

Said the woman who saw it on TV and made the video viral, quoted in "Girls’ Basketball Coach Is Fired After Pulling Player’s Ponytail/The coach of the girls’ varsity team in Northville, N.Y., was caught yanking a player’s hair on a television broadcast of a championship game on Friday" (NYT).

The NYT is too polite to embed or even to link to the video, but the video is powerfully clarifying, so I will put it here:



This stirred up old memories of advice to women who want to avoid physical attacks. I've heard: Don't wear a ponytail, because someone could grab you by the ponytail. It's common enough advice that there's a Snope fact-check on it. 

"Do you know — okay, a bit of a history lesson...."

Kamala Harris is all cutesy coyness as she purports to enlighten us and is so wrong it's hard even to figure out what she thought she was trying to say:

Kamala Harris says that the NCAA women’s basketball tournament was not allowed to have brackets until 2022.

pic.twitter.com/baTrWdg9Xm

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 5, 2024

"Do you know — OK, a bit of a history lesson — do you know that the women’s teams were not allowed to have brackets until 2022? Think about that, and... talk about progress, you know, better late than never but progress. And what that has done, because of course — you know, I had a bracket, it's not broken completely, but I won't talk about my bracket. But you know what? How we love — we love March Madness, even just now allowing the women to have brackets and what that does to encourage people to talk more about the women’s teams, to watch them, now they’re being covered. You know, this is the reality. People used to say, 'Oh, women’s sports, who’s interested?' Well if you can’t see it, you won’t be. But when you see it, you realize, Oh...."

I thought maybe she was trying to say something about about how individuals pick brackets, as in the phrase she uses "I had a bracket."

"LSU coach Kim Mulkey on Saturday threatened legal action against The Washington Post in a four-minute tirade..."

"... about a story that she said the newspaper was reporting about her. It was not immediately clear what the story was about or when it might publish, but Mulkey said in comments to open a news conference ahead of her team’s second-round game in the NCAA Tournament that she was expecting a 'hit piece.' ;I’m fed up, and I’m not going to let The Washington Post attack this university, this awesome team of young women I have or me without a fight,' Mulkey said. 'I’ve hired the best defamation law firm in the country, and I will sue The Washington Post if they publish a false story about me.'... Mulkey has come under fire in the past for reportedly encouraging former players to keep quiet about their sexuality...."

The Athletic reports.

"This is exactly why people don't trust journalists and the media anymore... I'm fed up... I will sue the Washington Post if they publish a false story about me." - LSU HC Kim Mulkey

(via @bryce_koon) pic.twitter.com/9Lce7PP4xY

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 23, 2024

“But you see, reporters who give a megaphone to a one-sided, embellished version of things aren’t trying to tell the truth. They’re trying to sell newspapers and feed the click machine. This is exactly why people don’t trust journalists and the media anymore. It’s these kinds of sleazy tactics and hatchet jobs that people are just tired of.”

"Endless"... it's been one week.

I'm trying to read "Jill Biden’s gaffe about women’s basketball and its endless fallout/Sports is usually a safe zone for the first lady. But her suggestion that both the winning and losing teams visit the White House prompted a week of outrage" by Jada Yuan (WaPo). 

You want some generally applicable rule that outrage must die after one week?

And the complaint here is that Jill's gaffe was ridiculed on "Saturday Night Live." The championship game was on a Sunday and the ridicule took place on the very next Saturday. Is SNL supposed to bypass all outrages that take place on a Sunday?

"How do you win the Big Ten regular season by a significant distance, roll through the conference tournament and then come out and lose to a team ranked 275th..."

"... in the kenpom.com efficiency ratings? A team, by the way, that only got into the NCAA Tournament because Merrimack, which beat Fairleigh Dickinson in the NEC championship game, was ineligible for the Big Dance."

Writes Dan Wolken in "Purdue is the choke artist program of the decade after another March Madness implosion/When Friday's game was in the balance, Fairleigh Dickinson never wavered. Purdue ran, hid and hoped for a collapse from its opponent that wasn't going to come" (USA Today).

ADDED: I like the first line from Noah Weiland in the NYT: "No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson, the shortest team in men’s college basketball, took down top-seeded Purdue and its magisterial 7-foot-4 big man Zach Edey...." 

The tall versus short hijinks were like something in a Disney cartoon. We were, of course, for Purdue — West Lafayette is Meade's hometown — but I thought it was pretty funny how the little guys were slipping in and around the crowd of giants. 

Kamala Harris talks to the Howard basketball team — which was expected to lose and did lose — as if they were little kids crying over losing and desperate for a self-esteem boost.

"You made all us Bison so proud." ❤️@VP Kamala Harris delivered a postgame message to @HUMensBB 👏 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/zwQFcwlWYX

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 16, 2023

ADDED: In other college basketball news:

March Madness 2023 fans rip TNT over viral crying Utah State cheerleader https://t.co/bwAcJm47Xa pic.twitter.com/KgRYIK4oKy

— New York Post (@nypost) March 17, 2023

It's hard to say a racist incident never happened, but why was it so easy to say that it did?

"Brigham Young University said Friday that it had completed its investigation into accusations of racial heckling and slurs at a volleyball match against Duke University last month and found no evidence to confirm that the behavior took place."

The NYT reports.

Note the careful language — "no evidence to confirm." They don't and can't say that nothing at all happened. The language in the BYU statement is: "we have not found any evidence to corroborate" ("From our extensive review, we have not found any evidence to corroborate the allegation that fans engaged in racial heckling or uttered racial slurs at the event").

A lunchtime TikTok break. I've got 8 selections. Let me know what you like.

1. Feeling really blessed and lucky to hear the northern bobwhite.

2.  Joe Biden explains sex.

3. The interior decoration style of various men, based on their clothing style.

4. A woman is mystified by the phenomenon that is pick-up basketball.

5. A cathedral of milk and other AI-generated images.

6. I don't usually select videos about dementia, however good they are, but this one is an exception — about remembering love.

7. The most steadfast sister comforts her brother.

8. Certified vibesmith teaches you how to vibe professionally.

"St. Patrick’s Day turned into St. Peter’s Day."

A nice first line by the NYT sportswriter Adam Zagoria, in "N.C.A.A. Men’s Tournament: No. 2 Seed Kentucky Downed By St. Peter’s/St. Peter’s, a No. 15 seed from Jersey City, N.J., toppled one of the most popular national title picks in the Kentucky Wildcats."

The St. Peter's team is called the Peacocks. I like teams to be named after animals, and it's always fun to imagine the actual animals fighting — in this case, peacocks against wildcats. Ha ha. 

I liked this:

St. Peter’s guard Doug Edert hit a floater that rolled around the rim before dropping in to tie the game at 71 and send it to overtime.

[Peacocks Coach Shaheen] Holloway was asked after the game: “Did you ever get nervous?”

“Nah — for what?” he said. “It’s basketball.”

The top story in the Wisconsin State Journal: "Wisconsin athletic department condemns fan’s actions at Tuesday’s men’s basketball game."

"The fan was seated across the court from the UW bench and adjacent to the Northwestern student section. A video was posted on social media of him standing up flipping off the student section then making a racist gesture." 

I wondered what racist gesture? The article does not say, but there was a link to the video, and it wasn't what I'd pictured. The fan got ejected from the game, so I'm not sure why this is front-page news. Is it to decry racism or to stimulate the belief that racism is raging in America today?

Just saw this video on TikTok of this incredibly racist Wisconsin fan going at the Northwestern student fans.

Glad to see a Northwestern employee and a police office force him to leave. Do better people. Don’t be like this guy. pic.twitter.com/5noQ7XPqh9

— Xavier Sanchez (@Xavier_Sanchez4) January 19, 2022

"The [Board of Regents] posted 118 pages of those emails on the university website... In one email exchange... the employee said that her 'heart hurts,' and Dr. Schlissel replied, 'i know. mine too.... I still wish I were strong enough to find a way....'"

"[I]n November, Dr. Schlissel wrote to the subordinate that he was disappointed that he might not be sitting next to her at a University of Michigan basketball game. He wrote, 'the only reason I agreed to go was to go with you.' The emails used 'inappropriate tone and inappropriate language,' the letter from the Board of Regents said, and showed that Dr. Schlissel had used official business to carry out the relationship. Dr. Schlissel’s conduct was 'particularly egregious' because he had taken a public position against sexual harassment, the board said. After a provost, Martin Philbert, was accused of sexual misconduct, Dr. Schlissel had sent a letter in August 2020 to the university saying that 'the highest priority' was to make the university 'safe for all,' the Board of Regents’ letter noted. Mr. Philbert left the school."

From "University of Michigan Fires Its President Over Inappropriate Relationship/Mark Schlissel’s contract was terminated immediately for interactions with a subordinate, the Board of Regents said" (NYT).

Humiliating exposure —the banal words of sexual desire, the Philbert hypocrisy, the revelation of not caring about basketball.... 

Using everything you've got.

Click here for a phenomenal Rube Goldberg device.

NBA star James Harden is getting attacked for wearing this mask.

Mask Up

📸 @NBA pic.twitter.com/PFsIuJybYb

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) July 17, 2020

Scroll at Twitter — here — to see how he's being attacked.

WaPo explains what's going on:

Harden’s face covering featured the “Thin Blue Line,” a pro-police symbol that critics have long claimed also stands for white supremacy and opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement, and a Punisher skull, which has been associated with far-right groups....

Among those who slammed Harden for wearing the mask were musician Trey Songz, who called Harden’s choice of a mask “certified clown s---,” tweeting that “I’ll say it for everybody who scared to.”...

"It’s no disrespect to the list that was handed out to all the players. I commend anyone that decides to put something on the back of their jersey. It’s just something that didn’t really seriously resonate with my mission, with my goal."

Said LeBron James, quoted in "LeBron James explains why he won’t wear social justice message on jersey when NBA restarts" (WaPo).

The NBA is set to have “Black Lives Matter” painted on the sidelines of its courts at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex outside Orlando, and it will reportedly give players the option to add one of 29 social justice messages to replace their surname on the back of their jerseys.

Here's the list:

Black Lives Matter; Say Their Names; Vote; I Can't Breathe; Justice; Peace; Equality; Freedom; Enough; Power to the People; Justice Now; Say Her Name; Sí Se Puede (Yes We Can); Liberation; See Us; Hear Us; Respect Us; Love Us; Listen; Listen to Us; Stand Up; Ally; Anti-Racist; I Am A Man; Speak Up; How Many More; Group Economics; Education Reform; and Mentor.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said: "The league and the players are uniquely positioned to have a direct impact on combating systemic racism in our country, and we are committed to collective action to build a more equal and just society."

So it's a collectivity, and LeBron James is in it, but it didn't resonate with his mission.

The idea is to replace your name with a group slogan.

Speaking of collective action, what is "Group Economics"?

ADDED: I presume Silver is focused on the success of the basketball business, and that this slogans-replacing-names tactic is a defensive move, managing various demands. But he must know a great deal about the psychological rewards the audience wants from spectator sports. People have gone without watching sports for months now, and maybe they're so hungry for something in this category that they'll accept whatever is presented, but maybe they long to return to what they used to have, something that's more of an escape from politics and problems. I would think watching sports is about getting excited and mesmerized by the excellence of human individuals, grouped by teams, and representing particular cities. But I'm no expert on the psychology of spectator sports. I do think that watching sports is a completely unnecessary human activity. It would be much better to participate in sports — interact with people in real life and stay in shape. I know there's some benefit in sitting around relaxing and watching TV, but why choose sports?

Looks like we won the imaginary tournament.

I'm looking at a screen shot from the front page at FiveThirtyEight:



But if you go to the article — "Your Guide To The NCAA Men’s Tournament That Could Have Been" — Wisconsin is on the "Sleepers" list  ("Final Four probability: 6 percent").

So, how are you doing without your spectator sports? It's not a problem for me at all, but if you're a big sports spectator, what are you doing? Are you watching the channels that show old sports events? If you don't remember the outcome, is it kind of the same as watching a live game?

"North Korea said on Tuesday that its leader, Kim Jong-un, had opened a new mountain resort this week, calling it 'an epitome of modern civilization'..."

"...  as the isolated country tries to attract more foreign tourists to blunt the pain of international sanctions.... Tourism is excluded from the sanctions that the United Nations has imposed on the North, which prevent it from earning hard currency by exporting its coal, iron ore, fisheries and textiles. ​Transforming Samjiyon​ from a decrepit holiday town into a modern resort complex complete with ski slopes, spas and hotels has been one of ​Mr. Kim’s pet projects....  As his diplomatic efforts with Mr. Trump have faltered, Mr. Kim has increasingly emphasized a 'self-reliant' economy.... He has been particularly ​focused on building resort towns, a taste some analysts suspect he had acquired when he studied in Switzerland in his teens...."

The NYT reports. The tourists come from China.

According to Wikipedia, Kim Jong-un lived in Switzerland from about 1992 until 1998 — something like ages 9 to 15. (He's only 35 or 36 now (did you realize he was so young?).)

He was described as shy, a good student who got along well with his classmates... a well-integrated and ambitious student who liked to play basketball.... According to some reports, Kim was described by classmates as a shy child who was awkward with girls and indifferent to political issues, but who distinguished himself in sports and had a fascination with the American National Basketball Association and Michael Jordan....

The Washington Post reported in 2009 that Kim Jong-un's school friends recalled he "spent hours doing meticulous pencil drawings of Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan". He was obsessed with basketball and computer games, and was a fan of Jackie Chan action movies....

On the topic of tourism and a country's economy, let me give you this passage I read last night in "The Thing Itself: On the Search for Authenticity" (a book I put in my Kindle a while back, perhaps because one of my readers recommended it):

Outrebounded.

A strange word — blogged long ago — reappears today, in "Duke, the Nation’s No. 1 Team, Loses to Unranked Stephen F. Austin" (NYT)("the biggest upset in the N.C.A.A. in 15 seasons").

I don't really understand how the Lumberjacks won. I'm not a basketball person. But I see that they "were outrebounded, outassisted and outshot by Duke." And I am a language person, and "outrebounded" jumped right out at me as I know it did the last time I saw it, in March 2015, when I wrote "Outré basketball commentary of the day":

I'm not much of a sports person... [especially]...basketball. I want the Badgers to win everything, of course, but I'm a complete outsider to basketball.

So I have my outré commentary. 5 days ago, I called it "the indoor game with unusually large people — men in silky skorts — in a cramped, squeaky place." 2 days ago, I commented on the chairs:

"My second year we were told we had to be sexier, so we went that route, and now they're saying it's too sexy and women aren’t being respected."

"Now they’re solving the problem by getting rid of it, and that’s kind of a slap in the face to women who worked so hard on the team."

Said Tiffany Fontaine, a former member of the Milwaukee Bucks dance team, quoted in "Milwaukee Bucks Dancers are being replaced with the gender-inclusive 414 Crew. Former members say it's a 'slap in the face'" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). The new group will have "dancing, tumbling, break-dancing, tricking and other unique talents." Sounds great to me. Styles in cheerleading change, and the sexy all-female approach isn't the most traditional style. It's a style and if it's gone out of style, good! I'd like to see some men and some break dancing. And I don't know what "tricking" is, but it sounds more promising than the sexy cheerleaders show that came from the 1970s.

"We're kind of constantly looking to evolve and broaden our reach and be as inclusive as we possibly can," Bucks President Peter Feigin said. "We've seen the trend change. We've seen dance entertainment teams morph into a lot of different things, and we loved what the co-ed dance teams were starting to look like."

It's a trend to express the idea with the word "inclusive." But it's not the words that matter. It's the show.

I looked up "tricking":



And here's Wikipedia on the history of cheerleading. It was an all-male activity until the 1940s:

"I would love to see vintage Pete Rose in today’s game. He would get absolutely annihilated."

"Guys that are striking out 200 times, like Joey Gallo — in 1990 he would have hit 75 home runs every year because he’s facing guys with an average velocity of 90 miles an hour, good command and O.K. breaking balls," said Trevor Bauer, quoted in in "Trevor Bauer, Baseball’s Imperfect Evangelist" (NYT).

Strikeout and home run rates have never been higher in the majors, and walk rates are at a 10-year peak. To Bauer, those three so-called true outcomes indicate that the game is better than it has ever been — and held to a different standard from basketball and football.

“The N.B.A. is true outcomes: Either dunk the ball or shoot a 3, and that’s the direction it’s going,” he said. “The N.F.L. is more true-outcome based, as well: throwing high-percentage passes. So other sports are going this way, but they’ve found a way to make it popular.”