I meant to write something after WSU football embarrassed itself for the third consecutive week, but I didn’t. Then I was going to write something the next week, but I didn’t. You’ll be stunned to learn that the lack of compensation tends to influence one’s motivation to work on the weekend, principally due to the aforementioned football team’s gross incompetence, and I’ll be damned if anyone makes me care one iota about a bowl game.

Then again, the basketball team is worth a mention! Despite being drastically undermanned compared to what we expected preseason, these guys are playing their asses off, and have put together a nice stretch of performances. I mean, the best player on the team is out for the season! And the Cougs are still winning!

First thing’s first: am I the only person who thinks it’s weird that WSU has both the Pac-12 and WCC decals on the floor? I am the only person? Moving right along…

The announcing team may not have been all that great, but at least they seemed happy to be there. My favorite part of their call was when the color guy got halfway through a sentence about WSU seizing momentum, only to watch a Missouri State player throw down a two-handed dunk. It was probably good that he didn’t finish his thought since, again, MOMENTUM DOES NOT EXIST IN SPORTING EVENTS!!!

Ok, onto the game.

Saturday’s first half against Missouri State was largely uninspiring, as WSU struggled from distance and trailed for quite a bit. But then Erikstrup hits a layup, and Calmese jumps the inbounds pass and nails a fadeaway at the horn. Suddenly, a three point lead became seven, and Missouri State would never get even again as WSU absolutely torched the nets from three-point range in the second half.

For a long stretch, it looked like NBA Jam circa 1994 out there. If this had been applied to Isaiah Watts and Co., you’d have heard little more than, “He’s heating up. He’s on fire!” Missouri State did its part to sustain the three-point barrage, but the Cougs were relentless. In fewer than five minutes, WSU used its torrid shooting to turn a 44-41 lead into a 57-43 lead, and that was that.

A quick perusal of the box score that the Watts Brothers (yes, I know they are of no relation) had a hell of a game. While Isaiah (along with Dane Erikstrup) paced the Cougs with 20, all LeJuan Watts did was got a perfect 7/7 from the field to pitch in 17 points of his own.

If there is a nit or two to pick, on Saturday they were first half foul shooting (6/13) and three point defense. Too many times on Saturday, WSU’s defensive rotations were a beat or two slow, leading to wide open looks for the opponent. WSU has to clean that up.

Still, this is a team that is overcoming a deck that has often been stacked against it this season, this basketball team doesn’t seem to mind. It’s been a refreshing change of pace after watching the football team throw up all over itself for an entire month.

On a related note, David Riley >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Jake Dickert.

On the rankings front (yes, I realize we’re a long, long way away from this mattering), WSU sits at 66 in the NET with a 3-2 record against Quads 1&2, while KenPom has the Cougs at #71.

Highlights!

Interviews!

This Week in Parenting

Gonna be a fair amount of #Content here.

The high schooler has made it to the next round of the foreign language study program competition, and was instructed to take steps to process his passport. He had one when we lived in Germany, but kid passports are only good for five years, so we had to get new photos today. I decided to get both kids done at the same time, so off to CVS we went. While there, I went back to the pharmacy to see about Flu shots.

This quickly became a semi-fire drill, as I was shuffling back and forth between the front desk and the pharmacy in the back, giving info for the vaccinations one second, handing the kid my credit card to pay for the pics (32 MF’ing DOLLARS!!!!) the next. While in the back, the oldest came to me and said he couldn’t take his photo in a white shirt, so next thing you know I’m taking off my blue shirt in the middle of CVS and donning his smedium workout tee, replete with teenager aroma. Splendid.

Fortunately we were able to pull it all off after lots of hasty movements between the front and back of the store, getting two sets of passport photos, two flu shots, and one COVID vaccine for the old man. For whatever reason, CVS didn’t provide the 300-meter long receipt.

A few quick(or not) hitters:

• The youngest – who has become a ride-or-die Texas fan – and I were watching the SEC title game when he said that Georgia fans who didn’t go to that school were just bandwagon jumpers. I asked him which year he got his Texas degree, and that was the end of that.
• During rivalry week, the kiddo referred to Texas vs. Texas A&M as the best rivalry in college football. I asked him who won the game last year, and he didn’t know. I then let him know that the two teams hadn’t actually played each other since 2011. Learning college football history is a process, and I’m just glad I get to be part of the journey.
• Now that Team Kendall has three licensed drivers, things have become more convenient. After the oldest went to work out, he offered to get lunch at Culver’s. Well why not? When he arrived with the goods, the youngest said, “I’ve never wanted to see you more in my life!” They’re becoming so close! Or not.
• Late fall is always banquet/awards ceremony season, and the oldest had both his football and Junior ROTC awards ceremonies. Football came first, where he was recognized as a letter-winner, which made the old man proud. What did not make the old man proud was the assistant coach who went on, and on, and on, and……….on. Adding insult to injury was the absence of an open bar. But at least there was cheesecake.
• On to Junior ROTC where, on the morning of the ceremony, the oldest informed me that he needed to leave home early to get a haircut, because as we all know, long hair really sneaks up on a guy over night! When the youngest and I arrived at the ceremony, I noticed that the kid’s hair didn’t seem to be cut, so I asked. “The barber was closed so I went back home and cut the sides with scissors.” I completely understood, because again, you go to bed with a high-and-tight, then wake up looking like a hippie. Who could plan for such a development??!!
• To top all of this off, the youngest went to bed the other night, then emerged from his room with a frame I’d hung on his wall that displays a newspaper article from the day after WSU beat Texas in the Holiday Bowl. “I don’t want this anti-Texas thing over my bed.” He then asked where he could put it. “Right back in your damn room” was the answer. Like I said, college football fandom is a journey.

I must say that I can’t exactly blame him. If 13 year-old me were given the choice to root for Texas or WSU, after having dad bring me home gear from a Texas game, and after getting to attend a CFP game with Texas playing, I would have probably picked the burnt orange as well.

So we’re a partial Texas family now (for the time being), and with a CFP game coming up this week, I must say it’s fun to have a dog in the fight.

Old Guy Stuff

• Mrs. Kendall was out of town last week, so your boy fired up the Yacht Rock documentary, and it…was…AWESOME! Michael McDonald absolutely stole the show, and Christopher Cross was also incredible. It was just a tremendous 90 minutes all around if you grew up during that era, and heard so many of those songs playing on the radio while mom or dad shuttled you between home and wherever. The youngest sat down to watch for a bit, concluding “This show is boring. You only like it because you’re old.” Well, yes, but I’m pretty sure this comment was aimed to skewer me because he was confident I’d put it in writing. It’s like that scene in Terminator when Skynet became self-aware.