Monday, April 04, 2005

'82 was sublime, because it was Dean Smith's first championship. '93 was special, because it put him among the immortals. But this is my favorite, because I went through the whole season with my kids -- we must have watched 60 hours of basketball together since November -- and we were there at the end, holding hands as Felton hit his free throws. Thanks, gentlemen, for this season. 11:55:46 PM   permalink   comment []

Bliss. Unadulterated bliss. Tar Heeeels. 11:33:05 PM   permalink   comment []

More pseudo-populism from a blog that markets itself on Oxford connections. Writes David Adesnik in a critique of Super Size Me, "the implicit message is clear: educated people simply know better." Uh, yeah, that's what education is supposed to do, help you know more stuff. Presumably the reason you went to Oxford, right?  The physicians and nutritionists Adesnik dismisses as members of some "upper class" aren't pretending to know more about healthy diets than the rest of us schlubs because of phony class distinctions, they actually do know more based on their training and experience as...physicians and nutritionists.  Adesnik manages to leave out the fact that filmmaker Morgan Spurlock grew up in that hotbed of intellectual snobbery, West Virginia. And I'm guessing he doesn't have kids, given his pooh-poohing of the power of Mickey D's over young minds. Super Size Me made me really want to get a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, just like Requiem for a Dream made me want to try heroin. Previously. 4:25:03 PM   permalink   comment []

I like the way Carolina has beaten two Big 10 teams in a row on the way to tonight's championsihp game against the Big Ten champs. I like the way Jawad played on Saturday, and the way Melvin has been hitting his free throws. I think Marvin busts loose tonight. I worry that it's 1993 again but this time Illinois is Carolina and Carolina is Michigan. I worry that Carolina has a history of getting blistered by three-point shooters. But I remember the job Phelps did on Van Exel in the '93 regional finals, too. I think Sean May may be The One. I've said it before and I'll say it now: Rashad is the x-factor. I heard on the radio today that the matchups favor Illinois, and that the matchups don't favor Illinois. I know that the last two times Carolina has played for a national title they have won after being up by one point with less than a minute left and the other team in possession of the basketball.  I suppose I should not have told the kids on Saturday night that it was not just a game, but I assume they understand that the Final Four is different from the regular season. I know that the journalism class at Wake Forest that I'm teaching tonight will see the last of me by 8:00. I don't do predictions. That's why they play the game. But I do like this Carolina team, I'm grateful to them for restoring glory to the program, and I like their chances against a truly formidable foe this evening. Go Tar Heels. 4:09:34 PM   permalink   comment []

Josh Marshall: "When people guest-blog on TPM, they never fail to be amazed at just how much quality information comes in from readers." He's fixing to launch a companion site to the excellent Talking Points Memo, with multiple authors and reader discussion. 3:36:45 PM   permalink   comment []

My posting problems are fixed -- I had used up my storage space on the Radio server, if you care. 3:29:09 PM   permalink   comment []