i've been operating on low sleep totals for the past ten days, and it's finally catching up with me.

last tuesday's post (time: 2:45) was followed by a day trip to glenview-evanston and back (arrival: 12:30) followed by time out on thursday night, leading to a short night of sleep.

friday, saturday and sunday were all short nights related to minneapolis (weekend nights spent in the city, sunday spent driving), and it all culminated in me falling asleep on the couch last night, tv on (awful bulls game), lights on. i woke up at 5:30 and retreated to bed.

so it's 1115 now, and i figure i'm going to bed.

minneapolis is a wonderful town, the part near the holiday inn metrodome, anyway. bob's pizza/the corner bar is a fine place.

perhaps more at a later date. i'm on a bit of a camper van beethoven kick, thanks to young annie.

quick.

i saw the unicorns in iowa city tonight. they come highly recommended, if they're coming to your area. (they played chicago on sunday night, so they're probably not in your area.) sort of poppy, but herky-jerky, and just a fun show to watch.

because i'll be heading to minneapolis this weekend, i'm heading to glenview to borrow my mom's car. (the better to haul t-shirts with, my dear.) as a detour, i'll head to evanston to watch the cats and the spartans.

go willie beat sparty.

(i usually sleep about seven hours. work starts in six. ugh.)

since i've been doing the whole 'indie rock' thing, i've considered that, for the most part, i listen to music that's pretty 'listenable,' if that makes any sense at all. essentially, i consider my musical tastes to be pretty in line with what the rest of my peer group would enjoy, had they been exposed to it.

generally, i'll bring 2 or 3 or 4 cd's to work each day, listening to them at extremely low volumes. keeps me sane during a long day, y'know?

today, i was listening to the postal service's give up, which i consider to be a tremendously enjoyable, catchy debut. i was so overcome by the greatness of 'recycled air' and 'we will become silhouettes' that i encouraged a couple of intern-roommates to bring it home with them as they left for lunch.

so they returned an hour later, and i asked intern andy what he thought. and intern greg responded "it scared me. it freaked me out."

i was incredulous. but i guess i've gotten over it.

as far as i know, the postal service is the only band that the entire rud-clan can agree upon. we're talking angry thrash rud (dave), indie rock rud (me), power pop rud (the boy), and everything else rud (annie).

that's all.

it sure is fun receiving congratulatory calls from coworkers, and i received one during the under-4 tv timeout - from my boss no less. the cats, of course, held on to defeat illinois, 70-60, tonight, and it was quite a dismantling.

without vedran (shudder), kareem abdul-duvancic showed up big time, putting up a career-high 22 points. this included, as i recall, a trio of 3's, including one that bounced off front iron to give the cats an eight-point lead inside of three minutes remaining; a lefthanded bankshot hook (hence, the 'kareem'); and a driving finger roll featuring the trademark 'davor shuffle' which, for some reason, wasn't called.

illinois didn't get into a rhythm at all offensively and, without dee brown hitting bailout threes (he had four in the first half), their offense was nonexistent. northwestern's defense was stifling, and wayne 'still crying over favre's stupid throw' larivee had lots of trouble identifying the cats' set (hint: it's almost never a man-to-man...study your damn film, dammit).

in other news, shon morris, who's pretty witty but usually sounds like he's trying too hard, came up with a couple of gems tonight: "northwestern's bench is thinner than kate moss" and "illinois' offense is getting more second chances than robert downey, jr."

other comments:
- vince scott sure takes up a lot of space, and he understands what's going on, but he's just not any good.
- vince scott looks a lot like jake mauer, but not joe
- it's a lot more fun when the cats are on tv
- in the tradition of "the izzone" and "the gene pool," northwestern's student section sure should have been dubbed "carmody central." it's so uncool to hear wayne 'freddie mitchell got a way-too-generous spot on that fourth and 26' larivee say "and they're going crazy on the wild side!"
- i sure hope dickie v names an 'all facial expressions' team, because bill carmody sure would have earned all five spots had it been named tonight
- does this win mean that more chicago recruits will spend their college years in the suburbs?
- i think jitim is clearly the most likable player that i was ever associated with at the school. he smiles easily. he works hard all the time. he's tried to adapt his game to this offense and, while his skills still don't really fit with it, he sure makes the best of his skills.
- vedran can't take another medical redshirt, considering he's played 14 games, can he?
- big mo's a ballhawk, when he's playing well
- with the gridders making a bowl and the cagers in first place in the big ten and the women's hoopsters having won a few games, this could well turn out to be the greatest year in wildcats sports history.

i wish i had more personal news but, in the words of some alice's adventures in wonderland character, 'things keep getting curiouser and curiouser.' call if you're interested in more.

now, i pride myself on being a wildcat sports fan, but not a nerd. i'll generally read about a recruiting class when they're signed, and not much before then.

this changed about an hour ago, when the boy called to tell me that the duke transfer, and former mcdonald's all american. michael thompson had signed with the cats. he becomes eligible - as a junior, following the completion of finals next december.

the cats current recruiting class features the following:

michael thompson, 6-10 center, joliet (providence catholic)
brandon lee, 6-1 point guard, peoria central
sterling williams, 6-3/4/5 shooting guard, chicago (whitney young)

lee is the point guard on the top-ranked team in the state of illinois, and williams is the top scorer for another solid (although i can't really find how solid - these websites only publish player bios, not actual standings) whitney young squad.

this would seem to place the cats conference season depth chart somewhere like this:

PG: Tony Parker, 6-2, JR.; Brandon Lee, 6-1, FR.
WING: Mohammad Hachad, 6-5, JR.; Sterling Williams, 6-3, FR.
WING: Tim Doyle, 6-5, SO [?] (St. John's transfer); Evan Seacat, 6-2, SO.
PF: Vedran Vukusic, 6-8, JR.; Davor Duvancic, 6-8, SR.
C: Michael Thompson, 6-10, JR.; Vince Scott, 6-10, SO.; Ivan Tolic, 6-9, JR.
(That's 11 scholarship players!)

I may be an idiot, but this seems like a pretty good team on paper. Parker and Hachad are ballhawks, and Williams, Doyle, and Seacat are legit shooters.

by all accounts, Thompson is an athletic, versatile frontcourtman to go with Vukusic, and Tolic was downright impressive dishing out five assists on Saturday.

like i've already said, i think Vu has borderline-NBA talent.

also of note, this roster would be composed entirely of non-seniors, with the exception of kareem abdul-duvancic.

now, if only they could miraculously finish 8-6 for the remainder of the conference season, and get jitim a damn nit bid. he deserves it.

the games that should be wins:
home: minnesota, penn state, indiana, iowa, michigan (five games)

road: penn state (i don't care if they've started 2-0)

after that, they'd need to win at least two of the following games (in order of likeliness): home, v. illinois (wed.), home v. michigan state (1/21), at ohio state (2/4), at indiana (1/17), at michigan state (2/21), at purdue (2/11).

i've determined that the cats can't beat wisconsin at home and can't win at illinois.

we'll see how it goes.

i'm excited, with no real reason for excitement...it happens to eternal optimists (and if you're a cats fan, don't you have to be?), i guess.


we're the unicorns, and we're people too.

some guilt, some disgust, and some unadulterated joy today.

on wednesday, knowing that the cats were going to make the trek to iowa city on saturday, i asked my boss - a pretty significant hawkeyes booster - if he might be able to snare me some tickets for the game. 'how many?' 'two, four if you can get 'em.'

and so on thursday, he comes through big time. four tickets, vip parking pass (for big donors, although you have to pay - the pass just gives you lot access), guaranteed smackdown by the hawkeyes.

guilt: so coworker andy, coworker geoff, and former coworker chris (who had been fired by the boss) make the trek to the iac today. it turns out that we've been given my boss' tickets, and he's sitting somewhere else. the problem with this: there's no way i can stop by and say hello and thank him (me and geoff and andy would have done that...the firee would have stayed back). instead, about ten minutes before gametime, boss drops by to say hello to me and the kids. this results in awkward firer-firee conversation, and i'm pretty sure the boss is at least somewhat angry at me for inviting chris. it happens.

disgust: one of the hawkeyes' most talented players (the only talented player?) is pierre pierce, who was accused of and admitted to committing the crime of rape during the offseason prior to last year's campaign. (before you read further, know that i have only a passing knowledge of the situation, but this is how i know it to exist.) apparently he tried to go too far with a hawkeyes women's basketball player, and chief iowa arrogant guy steve alford immediately defended him, leading to all sorts of strained relations in the athletic department. pierce's crime was a suspension for last season and, because his accuser didn't want to reveal herself in court, he could not be convicted to the fullest extent of the law.

now, pierce's suspension-penance-whatever is complete at this point in time, and he's eligible and starting. so what disgusts me: 1) that this guy isn't in prison, but i guess that's because she was embarrassed or ashamed by the situation...that's understandable, and i can't really be disgusted, i guess. 2) that alford so vehemently defends him, which alford wouldn't do (i would hope) if he weren't on the chopping block due to five years of mediocrity. 3) that pierce is not just accepted, but embraced by the hawkeye drones. i can't believe that there's no protest to the fact that this guy plays. it just doesn't make sense.

unadulterated joy: the game was a beauty, with vedran pouring in 22 and hachad adding 18 in a 77-68 victory. the cats pulled off a 17-1 run during the end of the first and beginning of the second half, and by the end i had my group of pals and the early teen disillusioned hawkeye fan next to me that vukusic is an nba player. kareem abdul-duvancic was on his game, adding a sky hook and a three plus and more for a total of 14 points, and mo and t.j. parker played their regular ballhawking games, gaining four steals apiece in a upset.

after the game, i had the chance to briefly speak with bill carmody, who was headed to the press table for his postgame interview (me: hey coach. great game. he: thanks. me: [pats on shoulder]), and less briefly with mike mahoney, who was as geeked as i was, and also as disgusted as i was. i also closed by speaking with iowa native and wildcat legend aaron jennings, class of '03, who had been playing in croatia but was sidelined by shin problems but will be headed back overseas in the near future.

go cats. meow.

i'm a generally forgiving person, although i'm sure there are people that are more forgiving than i am. i truly respect a person's ability to make a mistake, and then to own up to that mistake and apologize for it.

of course, the subject is pete rose.

and the answer is that he shouldn't be reinstated to the game and that he shouldn't be eligible for the hall of fame.

consider the man's transgressions:
- he violated the most important rule that exists in baseball, the rule that (along with babe ruth) kept major league baseball afloat [scale of badness, from 1-10: 4]
- he lied about it for 14 years [8]
- for those same 14 years, he attacked the credibility of john dowd, the man who very carefully investigated the allegations against pete rose, and very clearly told no lies about pete rose. by all accounts, except for those of rose himself, dowd is an honorable, good person [5]
- he is very clearly admitting his guilt only for personal gain [10]
- in admitting his guilt only for personal gain, he's also overshadowing the second-greatest professional day in the lifetimes of two very deserving men, paul molitor and dennis eckersley [8]
- he's very clearly and very calculatedly admitting his guilt at this time to capitalize on the fact that molitor and eckersley are receiving their admissions into the hall of fame, under the assumption that, for rose, the best time to rise to prominence is when the hall of fame is on the mind of baseball fans [9]

pretty much, rose is a despicable and dishonorable man, and his admission into the hall of fame will do only harm to the hall.

to think that he had so many opportunities to come clean, and instead he acted like he was the one who was wronged.

to think that he has the audacity to call his autobiography my prison without walls. (i'm not buying, by the way.) he's the victim, apparently.

espn did a fairly good special report this afternoon regarding the situation, and the statements of fay vincent, deputy commissioner when rose was banned for life, were the most interesting. vincent stated that the deterrent of the anti-gambling policy was so strong that nobody would ever mess with it. he told of lenny dykstra being 'scared to death' of the policy.

vincent also stated that he believes that rose's admission doesn't reveal the whole truth, and that he fully believes that rose was gambling on the game while still playing. he named a baseball writer who claimed to have seen such things going on. (note: whether or not rose gambled while playing doesn't change my stance on him. he's a piece of trash, and deserves no part in the game.)

i think the most perfect summation of the person rose is, and of rose's entire motivation was stated by mr. rose himself, this summer, on espn's sunday night conversation. rose said: "it doesn't do you a darned bit of good to go into the hall of fame after you are dead."

clearly, the man's playing days warrant admission to the hall. clearly, the player's lack of any morality dictates that he should not be allowed in. the solution: admit him when he's dead.




(by the way, while rose is widely regarded as one of the top ten or so players of all time, molitor's numbers are clearly better - across the board, on a per-season basis - than rose's. don't believe me? give 'em a look. in similar career lengths, molitor outdoes rose in almost every category, when you take stats on a per-162 games basis. batting average: .306 to .303. runs scored: 108 to 98. hits: 200 to 194. doubles, triples, homers: 37-34, 7-6, 14-7. RBI: 79-60. stolen bases: 30 to 9. slugging: .448-.409. rose's only edges lie in walks (71-66), strikeouts (52-75), and on-base percentage (.375-.369).

the differences aren't major, but they certainly support molitor over rose.

argue, as rose does, that he was 'the winningest player in the history of sports,' and i'll ask you to compare joe morgan, frank robinson, johnny bench, etc., etc., etc. to robin yount, cecil cooper and ben oglivie.

also, molitor is one of the classiest people i've ever had the good fortune to meet. forthcoming. respectful. he raised $500,000 to keep baseball in small-town burlington, iowa, in 1995. he gave me, a rambling, idiotic 23-year-old, 10 minutes one day and 5 minutes three days later to interview him. he's classy. generous. friendly. he asks fans their name so that he can personalize his autographs. he's just super. the absolute archetype of what a hall of famer should be.

rose, well, he's slimy.)

missive over.

i live in a 'downtown' apartment, across the street from the oldest catholic church in iowa. the church's offices are located on the second floor of our building, and i'm pretty sure the priests live in my building.

the church keeps normal hours - 8:30-4:30 during the week, i'm pretty sure.

because of the layout of my building and the location of the lot i park in, i generally stop my elevator at the second floor, and then walk through the church office lobby, down the stairs and to my parking lot...it probably saves about six seconds compared to a trip all the way down to the first floor.

as i was returning to work from lunch today, i noticed three cans on the table in the church lobby. they looked familiar.

i returned home from work, and left the house again today at about 9:30. the cans were still there. nobody was in the office, so i inspected the cans further.

indeed, they were three empty bud light cans.

either somebody did a little drinkee drinkee over the weekend in the church office, or one of the secretaries got hammered today and forgot to clean up after herself.

or maybe father mcguire was just having a rough day.

either way, a notable occurence.

happy new year, my dear friend(s)!

the best part about working in baseball (other than the baseball) is the fact that i get the holidays off. the worst part about working is baseball is the first day back from the holiday break. (in this case, it was a particularly long holiday break - i'll be working tomorrow for the first time since december 23.)

i think too much went on to give boring descriptions of everything, but here's a day-by-day sketch:

dec. 24 - christmas eve with the extended family.
dec. 25 - christmas with the extended family.
dec. 26 - motor city bowl. travel with the boy and didi to ann arbor. catch the bowl game with nemo, harper, unstadt and others. drink upon return to ann arbor.
dec. 27 - return to glenview. smoke the boy in trivial pursuit twice that night.
dec. 28 - watch the bears game with dad n' coach. blackhawks game that night.
dec. 29 - lunch with didi and former nu prof rick. dinner and bulls game with family.
dec. 30 - shower at 8 p.m. nevin's with former co-worker fred. during fred's campus tour, save a high school acquaintance's life.
dec. 31 - new year's eve with unstadt and others at eddie winslow's house.
jan. 1 - watch bowl games. head to wej's in wrigleyville to watch remaining bowl games.
jan. 2 - lunch with brysi. return to davenport following lunch.
jan. 3 and jan. 4 - avoid cleaning the apartment.

i kept busy, i'd say.

christmas highlights include an eminently useful ipod (which is giving this three-year-old computer fits), the first-ever joe mauer jersey tee, and a stocked cd wallet from the sister. we're talking coltrane, the cure, modest mouse, and others. not downloaded, but burned. (is this implicating her?)

only three months til opening day. woof.