Greatest Song Evah 2/2/24
Follow Your Arrow
I love everything about this song, from the sentiments expressed in the lyrics to the joyous chorus & all else that’s in between. The key track from Kacey Musgraves’s major label debut makes a simple, yet important statement. It updates the old “you can’t please everyone so you got to please yourself” idea. In this case, she says block out the noise. People will act all judgy no matter what you do, so go ahead and do what makes you happy. Or, to put it another way, “follow your arrow wherever it points.”
I could simply copy and paste the lyrics and leave it at that, but I’ll limit quotes to the song’s bridge. “Say what you think, love who you love, cause you just get so many trips ‘round the sun.” Somehow, hearing such words of acceptance coming from a singer with such a deep twang make it sound that much more powerful. Needless to say, there was a lot of pushback from certain elements in the country music community. Singing about smoking joints and embracing the LGBTQ+ community? The horror!
Kacey Musgraves has been putting together a solid career in her own niche. At this point she is more warmly welcomed in the Americana world than she is in country music, and she has also been a Grammy darling. She even had a #1 Hot 100 hit late last year with Zach Bryan. Kudos to her. She has followed her arrow, and it has paid off.
On Delusion
This is an interesting read about the male players who scrimmage in practices against female college hoopsters. It’s not a new idea; I recall reading about how Pat Summitt would do this to toughen up her players. The reason I bring up the story is that it illustrates how absolutely delusional sports fans can be. There’s no shortage of male sports fans sitting on their couches fully confident that they could take on and defeat a female athlete. Sorry to rain on your parade, but if the types of athletes who are recruited to practice against female teams come up short, what hope do you have?
This doesn’t just apply to frat bros who love to belittle female athletes. There are plenty of weekend warriors who are supremely confident that if only one or two things had gone differently, then they would be successful professional athletes. Every once in a while a poll comes out in which a shockingly high number of respondents are supremely confident that they could get a hit off of a major league pitcher, or something similar to that effect.
I’m fortunate in a sense that I was never a particularly good athlete, so I never had any illusion that I could do so. Even in my younger days when I was in better physical shape, if I had someone found myself in a game of 21 against the last man on the bench for the worst NBA team, I’d still lose even if he spotted me 19. I suppose there’s a minuscule chance that I could have gotten a hit off of a major league pitcher. That is, if I would close my eyes, take a wild swing, and miraculously make contact, resulting in a Luis Gonzalez v. Mariano Rivera special.
I just don’t think anyone watching television and thinking to themselves “that should be me!” truly gets just how good pro athletes are, even the backup players. Or, to put it another way, there’s this & this.
The Plane! The Plane!
Another mystery solved? An exploration company has found evidence in the Pacific of what just might be Amelia Earhart’s plane. Now, I’ve seen Star Trek: Voyager. I know full well that Earhart was in actuality brought to the Delta Quadrant. But I’m willing to go into this with an open mind.
I don’t know if the Rule Of Three applies to unexplained phenomena in the same way that it applies to comedy, but if so, I can’t wait to see what’s next in the wake of this news and the explanation of what a Sasquatch could be. My guess is that we’ll finally receive an explanation about what is going on within the Bermuda Triangle. Either that or something involving the Curse Of King Tut’s Tomb.
Playing Hurt
Like all fans, I prefer that the top players play as often as possible. It’s deflating to attend a game only to find that a player whom you were eagerly looking forward to seeing is sitting it out instead. It’s like attending a Broadway play and seeing a flyer tucked into the Playbill stating that the understudy will be appearing that night. Crap, this isn’t what I paid for. On the other hand, sometimes it’s necessary. We may already be seeing evidence that the NBA’s attempt to pump the brakes on load management is backfiring.
There’s a big difference between playing hurt and playing injured. Every athlete accumulates bumps and bruises over the course of the season. These are the types of maladies that fall into the “run some dirt on it & play on” territory. That’s playing hurt. Playing injured is something else entirely, and this is where players and teams need to make the difficult decisions. Being injured means that you could have an injury that’s not fully healed and you may risk aggravating it and keeping yourself out of action longer. Or it may mean that you are diminished enough that the team would be better off playing your backup instead.
The question surrounding the load management trend is about how necessary it really is. How many guys are sitting because they’re hurt, but not injured? How cautious is too cautious? The NBA this year has taken steps to disincentivize this. In addition to fining clubs for sitting too many players, there is a new rule that requires players to play at least 65 games in order to qualify for awards.
Players have quietly grumbled over these requirements, but recent events have caused those complaints to grow louder. It’s one thing if the new policy encourages players with minor aches to play rather than sit, but if it at the same time forces guys to play when they shouldn’t, it’s counterproductive. Tyrese Haliburton missed some time with a hamstring injury, and saw that his “games missed” clock was starting to run out. He returned to the court - perhaps a bit sooner than he should have - aggravated the injury and went back on the shelf for 5 games.
The Joel Embiid situation was worse. He had already tallied a lot of games missed, and was starting to hear some criticism about that. Plus, like Haliburton, he was already uncomfortably close to reaching the limit of games missed. He played Tuesday night against Golden State when he clearly was nowhere near 100% and went on to suffer a meniscus injury late in the game. To be fair, the injury occurred when a player fell on his knee, that had nothing to do with any preexisting injury. But the fact remains that he was tentative throughout that game. It did not serve him well to be in that game in the first place.
We don’t yet know the severity of Embiid’s injury, only that it reduced the chances of his playing enough games to qualify for MVP to near zero. But it’s always concerning to see a big man suffer a lower body injury. One of the paradoxes of basketball is that height can be just as big of a disadvantage as it is an advantage. Yes, it is a tall man’s sport, but the constant jumping and landing for someone that size takes its toll. Just think of the number of big men whose careers were severely shortened due to leg or foot injuries. Look at Bill Walton. Or Yao Ming. Or Greg Oden. There are plenty more like that. I’m just hoping that Joel Embiid’s injury turns out to be fairly minor. And I hope that the 65 game rule doesn’t result in any more unnecessary injuries.
Better Times In Baltimore
I know how it feels when you hear that the long time owner of your favorite team, one who has had what one could call a shaky reign, has sold the club. So I can definitely relate to the joy many Baltimore Orioles fans felt when news came that the Angelos family has reached an agreement to sell the team to an ownership group led by David Rubenstein and Mike Arougheti. Even better, Cal Ripken Jr. is one of the minority partners. It never hurts to have a local hero with such a prominent role. Of course, there is no guarantee that this will be an effective ownership group, but after years of mismanagement and intrafamily squabbles fans have got to feel a sense of relief and dare I say it, hope?
The timing is likely coincidental, the sale will not become official until MLB owners vote to approve it, but the run of good vibes continued with the news last night that the O’s traded for Corbin Burnes. That is huge, last season was so promising and the lineup contains two of the most promising young hitters in the game. But the team had been largely passive this offseason. That has quickly changed; Burnes is one of the top 10 pitchers in the game, maybe even top 5. Burnes & Kyle Bradish make for a nice 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation. The club has a solid foundation along with one of the top-rated farm systems in the league. If new ownership shows a willingness to spend, then this is a team to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future.
Grammy Night
The strike-related delay of this year’s Emmy Awards broke up the usual awards show rhythm. This year we suddenly find ourselves with 3 of the EGOT level shows practically on top of each other. So, this Sunday is already Grammy time.
Once again, the Grammy Awards & the Grammy Awards telecast are two vastly different creatures. The majority of the trophies are handed out in the hours before the CBS telecast begins. The primetime show carves out time for fewer than 10 awards; it’s not uncommon for more than a half hour to elapse between envelope openings. What CBS and the viewing audience are more interested in are the performances, and show producers rarely disappoint.
The performers are generally a combination of currently nominated artists, legendary veterans, and big names who truthfully don’t have much to do with this year’s ceremony but it would be crazy not to include if they’re available & willing to perform. At this late date there is a surprisingly small number of confirmed performances; it’s possible they are waiting to spring some big last minute surprises. Among those in the lineup are Grammy favorites Billie Eilish & Olivia Rodrigo, along with SZA, who has the most nominations this year. U2 will perform remotely from the Sphere in Vegas, and Billy Joel will be there in the wake of the release of his first new song in decades. And in one of the collaborations between a veteran & a current star that the Grammys specializes in, Tracy Chapman will perform “Fast Car” with Luke Combs. No word yet if Taylor Swift will perform or if she will simply fill her duties as the Jack Nicholson of music award shows, prominently sitting in the front row so that the camera can cut to her for reaction shots as needed. The one quarrel I have about the announced lineup is that I don’t see any of the Best New Artist nominees listed. I’m of the age that I’m unfamiliar with many of those nominees; this should be a prime opportunity to expose top new artists to oldies like me.
The most eagerly anticipated performance just might be Joni Mitchell; as hard as this is to believe this will be the first time she has ever performed at the Grammys. As recently as 18 months ago it would have been hard to imagine her ever singing in public again. I have to say I was surprised how moved I was by listening to her Newport performance. It’s true that a combination of her general health issues along with a lifetime of heavy cigarette smoking have ravaged her voice. But, that makes her current take on Both Sides Now sound much more poignant. She certainly sounds like someone who has looked at life from both sides now.
As for the actual awards, I don’t get too worked up one way or the other. Both SZA & Taylor Swift have dominated the musical scene in their own ways this year, so I hope that voters find a fair way to divide the spoils between the two. And I would love to see boygenius win something. Otherwise, I’m hoping for exactly what the show producers promise - a night filled with memorable performances. I’ll hold off on sharing my thoughts until Wednesday’s newsletter. The show will end too late on Sunday for me to have enough time to put something together.
SNL Preview
The first 2 brand new SNL episodes of 2024 were respectively bad, and quite bad. So the pressure is on Ayo Edebiri this week. She is the type of host that falls into the Having A Moment category; her recent awards sweep for her work in The Bear is the latest example of her ascending stardom. She has a strong comic sensibility - she seamlessly stepped in to take over the role of Missy in Big Mouth - as well as the sort of enthusiastic likability that often results in a strong episode. Jennifer Lopez is the musical guest; expect her to pop up in a sketch or two as well.
Closing Laughs
Sorry, I’m not gonna listen to weather forecasts from burrowing rodents. My lucky astrology mood watch tells me everything I need to know. Have a great weekend, everyone, & I’ll see you on Monday.