hello, and merry christmas.

i've had an absolutely wonderful three or so days since returning to glenview on thursday night.

after arriving thursday and making small talk with the family, friday saw me sleep late. real late. up at noonish, i sat around. ate something. got yelled at because it was getting late. showered at 315, in time (the only one of five on time, it should be noted) to leave for christmas eve mass. the highlight of mass was clearly the odd appearance of one santa claus, who kneeled down and prayed in order to emphasize to the children dressed as shepherds and angels that 'jesus is the reason for the season.' totally odd. you'd think the only guy dressed at santa to show up for church would also stink of vodka, but this was part of the show. odd. then dinner with the bobnik's, at a wonderful restaurant owned by astronaut james lovell. he was on apollo 13, and apparently thinks he's famous because there's all sorts of memorabilia.

then we returned to glenview.

christmas day was tremendous. another late wakeup...1030ish. nice brunch. some hanging out. watched the 'stons-'cers, and really enjoyed watching reggie miller play well. i like him much more now that he's not the official nemesis of the bulls. it's nice watching the old guy who was supposed to ride the bench be productive. showered before the lakers game, then played rummikub with annie and daddy. dave and jeni arrived 5ish, after being hassled by the police. then we opened presents. as somebody who owns a total of two dvds (pavement's the slow century and gbv's watch me jumpstart), i made quite a haul, bringing home arrested development's first season and the wilco doc i am trying to break your heart and the curb your enthusiasm second season (i've never seen it, but the boy correctly, i imagine, assumes i'll like it), and the ron santo doc this old cub (which was opened a total of four times on the day, once by me and once by the boy and twice by the daddy). i also acquired a wok, and some pants, and the newest total baseball and loretta lynn's van lear rose and a check, all of which has already gone towards a new computer. i'm hoping this one lasts five years, which is reasonable. (the desktop, still functional in the 'port, served me well for 3 1/2.)

this christmas season is a gigantic change from previous ones, which generally include the bobniks and five other rud family extensions. but with grandma and grandpa now gone, the need to come in is also gone. so various families spent time in florida (two families' homes), or colorado (one family, and now two cousins', and one visiting family) or elsewhere. i was dreading it a bit, because it'd be a big change, but it was restful and enjoyable. at this point, with no kids now living in glenview, we obviously don't see each other much. and to spend seven or so hours with just the six of us (plus jeni) was truly tremendous.

today, the 26th, i watched lots of arrested development with the boy, and played a bit more rummikub, and watched the bears (robbed) and watched the bulls (disappointing, but five of six is nice).

tomorrow, the 27th, i'll be heading to the proviso west shootout, the annual highlight of the chicago christmas sports calendar. the spartans play a 1030 game, and i'm looking forward to seeing HF's Kansas (I think)-bound Julian Wright. I'm trying to get a bit more research done before i go. coach is joining me, and he's the resident jon (sp?) scheyer (sp?) expert. apparently, he's one of the nation's top juniors, and he's also a stringy jewish 2-guard. and he led gbn downstate as a frosh. it'll be neat to see him.

i'll also go to see the cats, either alone or with a sucker. after that, it's up in the air...perhaps an old boss jerry visit...i don't know if anything else is in the hopper.

it should be noted that there was a major oversight on my best of 2004 list, and that oversight was brian wilson's smile. i am hereby declaring that the record of the year is smile. (i don't really know how i forgot about its release, but i did...perhaps i subconsciously consider it a 1967 release.)

so, the new list is now:
1) brian wilson - smile
2) modest mouse - good news for people who love bad news
3) the walkmen - bows + arrows
4) the streets - a grand don't come for free
5) franz ferdinand - s/t
6) the fiery furnaces - blueberry boat
7) dizzee rascal - showtime
8) ac newman - the slow wonder
9) elliott smith - from a basement on a hill
10) the killers - hot fuss
11) mission of burma - onoffon
12) guided by voices - half smiles of the decomposed
13) sonic youth - sonic nurse
14) wilco - a ghost is born
15) interpol - antics

in addition to a few older releases, i have purchased 23 albums that were released this year. with apologies to (in no order) john vanderslice, magnetic fields, robert pollard (solo), the polyphonic spree, aberfeldy, the mountain goats, the secret machines, and elbow (all purchased this year, not up to snuff), i present the redhothalos top 15 or 2004.

1) modest mouse - good news for people who love bad news
2) the walkmen - bows + arrows
3) the streets - a grand don't come for free
4) franz ferdinand - franz ferdinand
5) the fiery furnaces - blueberry boat
6) dizzee rascal - showtime
7) ac newman - the slow wonder
8) elliott smith - from a basement on a hill
9) the killers - hot fuss
10) mission of burma - onoffon
11) guided by voices - half smiles of the decomposed
12) sonic youth - sonic nurse
13) wilco - a ghost is born
14) interpol - antics
15) rogue wave - out of the shadow

now, i have not given interpol enough of a chance, and i have probably overrated the killers. but i can't get enough of their two singles, 'mr. brightside' and 'somebody told me.' ac newman has been surging of late, which could indicate that it's about to move back down. it'll be tough to crack the top four however, as i think those are pretty tremendous.

i think that tops among the 'others receiving votes' category is the polyphonic spree's together we're heavy.

it should be noted that my best musical purchase of the year was love's classic forever changes, which is simply tremendous.

we'll also retread the 2003 list, with edits...the number in parenthesis is where it ranked last year:
1) the postal service - give up (N/R)
2) the new pornographers - electric version (8)
3) guided by voices - earthquake glue (1)
4) the decemberists - castaways and cutouts (4)
5) the strokes - room on fire (2)
6) the shins - chutes too narrow (9)
7) the decemberists - her majesty the decemberists (5)
8) death cab for cutie - transantlanticism (3)
9) the pernice brothers - yours, mine and ours (14)
10) the white stripes - elephant

falling out of the top ten were the wrens (7 - and stolen) and ted leo and the pharmacists (10).

and now, 2002 redux (first number is my 2002 rating, second is my 2003 rating)
1) interpol - turn on the bright lights (1, 1)
2) the walkmen - everyone who pretended to like me is gone (4, N/R)
3) blackalicious - blazing arrow (N/R, 7)
4) guided by voices - universal truths and cycles (6, 5)
5) wilco - yankee hotel foxtrot (10, N/R)
6) the streets - original pirate material (N/R, 4)
7) spoon - kill the moonlight (3, 3)
8) the flaming lips - yoshimi battles the pink robots (9, N/R)
9) ...and you will know us by the trail of dead - source tags and codes (2, 8)
10) the mountain goats - tallahassee (N/R, 6)

tough loss for the cats last night, although it was the closest 35-point loss i've ever seen.

i might be dumb (in fact, i'm sure of it), but i think the two basketball teams in my life might just be okay.

i didn't see it, but i heard it this afternoon as the northwestern wildcats outlasted the pirates of seton hall, 53-44, this afternoon at welsh-ryan arena. with tim doyle ineffective, the cats used the 'three bigs' lineup alluded to in my last post, using a parker-hachad backcourt and duvancic-vukusic-thompson up front. they did a good job, it would seem, of smothering hall top scorer chris whitney, and bill carmody mentioned vukusic's willingness to take the big shot, something else i mentioned after wednesday's win.

with home wins over 2004 ncaa tournament teams seton hall and depaul in the last four days, the cats have what could be their biggest game of the season coming up on short rest monday. i believe it's a big game because this is a team with postseason aspirations and, at 4-4, a win over arizona state, on the road, would be huge. they've already missed opportunities for big non-conference wins, blowing close ones at colorado, home against virginia, and against utah state in alaska, so this is their only chance remaining to do something away from home. they'll be doing it with only one day to prepare, but they'll have their big guy in the flow and ready for ike diogu, one of the nation's top post players. asu will have revenge on the brain after last year's 'hand of otto' thriller for the cats, and the cats need to combat that with a good effort.

certainly, the cats seem to be guaranteed four more nonconference victories - home contests against delaware state, texas-pan american, robert morris, and texas a&m-corpus christi - but 9-4 out of conference is a whole lot more impressive than 8-5. i know i'm thinking four months down the road and about 14 wins too soon, but it is important that the ncaa tournament selection committee takes a 'what have you done for me lately' approach to settle areas of indecision.

(it is worth noting that the big ten is generally bad, again, this season. illinois and michigan state are great. iowa and wisconsin are very good. minnesota and penn state and purdue and probably ohio state would seem to be cringe-worthy bad. the cats should fit in the morass in the middle with indiana and michigan. only three (three?!?) made it into the dance from the conference last year, i think. )

the other team in my life is the chicago bulls, and they looked downright impressive in stretches tonight as they won their third straight. hinrich is an all-star by february 2007. deng's got a knack, and chandler is a game-altering energy guy (he'll be a 6th man for a title-winning team before his career is over). the x-factor is eddy curry, who is so skillful and has such a nice touch around the basket; he even has begun to rebound a little (including twice hitting the offensive glass in the first quarter tonight), which his something he's never shown the desire to do. i've said it and thought it countless times, and they always give me reason to change my mind, but i don't think there's a young nucleus better than hinrich-gordon-deng-curry-chandler...

the bulls go for four in a row for the first time since the championship era on monday night, and i'll be in the 300 level soaking it all in. let's hope for the best.

other developments:

- christmas shopping is done, and i'm about 40 percent wrapped.

- i rented lost in translation last weekend, and quite enjoyed it.

- e has departed for san diego, leaving my wallet fatter

- mommy's family christmas is sunday afternoon, and the boy's come prepared with three dozen jello shots for no more than 15 people. combine this with the bloody marys, and it would seem a foregone conclusion that daddy rud'll be loudly singing 'rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.'

- before thursday, i'll be publishing my long-awaited top 15 or 10 or 20 of 2004. a.c. newman, guided by voices, the fiery furnaces, dizzee rascal, the streets and the killers are candidates to make the list. i've not thought much about it yet.

an aces trip to evanston tonight, the first two of five davenport-to-chicago area trips to made in the next eight days. (a trip to watch the bulls and do some intern recruiting on monday/tuesday, the christmas return on thursday night)

the company included former co-workers geoff and chris. geoff, a depaul grad, was arranged in september. chris, a badger fan, was arranged in three hasty emails, our first contact in at least three weeks, this afternoon. the destination was welsh-ryan arena, where my mighty cats felled geoff's mighty demons.

the trip started a bit late, as geoff's arrival to the port (from his new place of work, peoria) came at 4:50, 30 minutes after the appointed time. this meant driving faster than normal, in the 83-87 range (and yes, i'm currently pricing out auto insurance...). we made it without a hitch, and we got in the gates at approximately 8:06, shortly after the tip.

the result was a 29-29 halftime tie, and a 56-52 come-from-behind wildcats victory. the demons opened up a 45-37 lead at the midway point of the second half, as sammy mejia (a legit player, despite the late missed layup and turnover) and quemont greer (quiet 20 points) hit back-to-back field goals. but then vukusic, finally, got a bit aggressive. he canned consecutive three balls to close the gap, and the Cats tied it up when Mike Thompson brought the house down with a ferocious two-handed jam.

the next bucket wouldn't come until mejia's aforementioned lazy pass led to a vukusic steal and layup, and the cats hit their free throws down the stretch to put it out of reach.

from my perspective in section 206, i grade thompson as a legit inside presence, and somebody who is capable of becoming an all big ten performer this season. his offensive game seems a bit limited, as a backdown, baseline spin seems to be his main go-to move. he clearly isn't comfortable in the framework of the offense, and i don't know if his skills play to it (my instinct is that the jumper isn't part of his game). however, depaul played almost exclusively out of a zone, and we know how ugly northwestern's lake shore loop attack looks against the 2-3, so perhaps we reserve judgment here. defensively, thompson reminded me of a 6-7 public league sophomore, playing poor position defense and flailing wildly for the blocked shot. of course, we didn't get to see much down-low d from thompson, as depaul's greer played primarily away from the basket and brumfield simply is not a presence in the uptempo look they try to establish.

of course, thompson's results are tough to argue with: 12 points on 6-11 shooting, along with a (low) five rebounds, two offensive...and he did it against a 2004 tournament team, one weakened by the losses of their starting center and a starting wing player.

perhaps the best news came from nemo, who offered these: "woof. nice win. i think they could be pretty good." that was in voicemail form. nemo's never excited about things, so this is a positive development.

a few other notes:

- the cats tried a thompson-duvancic-vukusic frontcourt for about a 26-second defensive stretch. a foul or batted ball resulted in an almost immediate return to a 3-guard, 2-post look. however, this is a unit that can play defensively and will trouble opponents offensively during the conference season. bear in mind that, outside of davis (msu), petway (umich), hanson (iowa...i love him but he's just a stringy shot-blocker at this point), and augustine/smith (illinois), and perhaps that butch cat (wisconsin), there's not much in the way of a great post presence in the conference. (i haven't researched it, it just seems that way.)

- seacat was huge, and he's not done that much in his career. a pair of zone-busting threes in the first half seemed to change the complexion of the game and the timbre of the crowd (!)

- with finals finishing up last friday, the student section was empty in a chance to shine on national tv. of course, most probably aren't in town. because of this lack of students, music was provided by lyons township high school's "brass impact," sadly not featuring jimmy maley.

- tim doyle reminds me of a 45-year-old rec leaguer, right down to the brace on his left leg and his slightly-too-short shorts. he's slooooooowwwwwwwwww, and was saved by a timeout from committing an awful traveling violation due to what was an apparent 'dribble off the thigh.' i've devised a theory that his left leg is an inch or two longer than his left...watch him 'hobble-run' around screens, and you'll probably agree. i've come up with the nickname 'hip hop,' due to his rhythmic gait.

- i wish vukusic were more aggressive with his shot. he's real good, and shouldn't be content to dump off the lazy one-handed pass as much as he is.

- blee did not get off the bench for the first time this year. neither did vince scott or ivan tolic.

- i often printed the football media notes available at nusports.com during the football season, and i used the hoops notes for the first time of the season for this one. nu media services has begun tracking the most ridiculous stat in the history of media packets, on a page titled "I SHALL CALL THEM MINI-GAMES." And yes, they do track scores between media timeouts, a study that reflects no game trends and nothing worth actually reporting. as a media relations employee and a conniseur of media notes myself, i love it. long live minutiae!

- i got to see my dad, and my uncle tom, and my uncle tom's brother vince, and my uncle tom's brother vince's son david, who were in the 'rich guy purple-back seats.' there was no room in their vicinity, so we returned upstairs.

- while i was tired towards the end, the seven hours in the car were a blast. chris, it turns out, may be leaving town as soon as friday at 8 am, so it was nice to catch up a bit.

in other news, my hands are extemely dry. i've been moisturizing and moisturizing and moisturizing, but it's not working.

why college rules/is a huge waste of money:

a brief conversation between my younger brother ("the boy") and i just ended thusly:

boy: okay...i've got to go...i'm finishing a paper

me: (makes general small talk)

boy: i'm gonna go write my paper

me: what's your paper about?

boy: crossing boundaries in chinese romance stories...you know, standard stuff

me: i think shanahan would be a pretty good choice

i don't know how league tie-ins work into the bcs formula, and i understand that tie-ins may have been a part in this, but it makes no sense to me that utah should play freakin' pittsburgh and auburn should be playing virginia tech. no sense at all. pair the two undefeateds. pair the gursahaney family rivalry. then you've got undefeated v. undefeated on the final two days of the season, and at least those games are worth watching. as it is, who in their right mind is planning on watching utah-pitt on january 1st (...the spotlight game on college football's biggest day...ugh) or virginia tech-auburn on january 3rd?

and why, when it's possible and legit, is the rose bowl not big ten-pac ten? i've not liked texas just about ever, so that perhaps adds to my frustrations.

and how could cal get no better opponent than texas freakin' tech? ugh.

by the way, under the old system ('old' here means 'when i became a nerd'), with some tie-ins and some seemingly at-large berths, i think the bowl shakeout would have looked something like this:

rose (big ten-pac ten): usc-michigan
orange (big eight-big east): oklahoma-pittsburgh
sugar (sec-acc?): auburn-virginia tech
cotton (southwest conf.-at-large): texas-notre dame (sort of a joke, but it would have probably happened)...if not notre dame, you'd've probably seen georgia or miami or something
fiesta (at large-at large): cal-utah

that's just a hypothetical, and probably not entirely accurate, but it sure would make for a fun new year's day (back when they played every game on new year's day). you'd have a legitimate four games worth watching, to help you determine who you thought was the best team in the country. usc and oklahoma are playing unworthy opponents, so they need blowouts to get your number one vote. utah's got the toughest opponent of any of the undefeateds, so a tight win might boost your impression of them, and a blowout should earn them the top spot. and how about auburn, who's playing the hottest non-unbeaten in the country?

even the tv agreement would be easy, as you just keep the bowl game on the network of the conference that holds their tv rights, or, in the case of the fiesta, the highest bidder...

a lineup could look like this:
orange: abc, 1 pm eastern

cotton: fox, 230 eastern (fsn televises the big twelve, and currently has the cotton bowl)

sugar: cbs, 400 pm eastern
rose: abc, 500 pm eastern
fiesta: cbs, 800 eastern

i can't imagine a greater day of watching football...sigh...

the system in place is a nice idea, but it simply marginalizes the importance of any other bowl (although, this year, i guess three non-title-game bowls matter...those involving utah, auburn, and the louisville-boise state game which should be outstanding). and, of course, the current system is in place simply in the interests of generating revenue by the selling of a championship 'package'

elsewhere, willie's destroyers ended their most disappointing season with a thud today, losing a shootout with team nemo (i'm omitting his offensive team name, although i'm hoping it remains for a long time.) that places me at an official 3-10 (and an unofficial 3-9-1, although we'll not fight for that tie in the interests of draft positioning) on the year, 15th of 16th in the standings but about 8th in points scored.

also, pittsburgh-jacksonville was about the best nfl game i've seen this year (bettered only, perhaps, by last week's denver-oakland barnburner in the snow). i'm forced to sigh whenever i see leftwich throw the ball, as that big angry animal should be under center (or rather, lining up in shotgun) for the bears right now. roethlisberger (perhaps i'm missing a vowel) is surely a winner, and he'll be fun to watch for a decade. but this was simply a physical, quick game that featured two apparent game-winning field goals (jax with 1:54, pitt with :19) and a 60-yarder that fell just short and just wide on the game's final play. let's have the postseason like this.

and finally, the bears remain in the hunt. consider, they're 5-3 with urlacher in the lineup, and he'll presumably be in the lineup the rest of the way. thomas (jones) and (anthony) thomas provide a fairly nice 1-2 punch in the backfield, and hutchinson looked comfortable and athletic back there. it was nice to see the receivers make plays (wade is an above average possession guy), and even nicer to see des clark get fully involved from the tight end spot.

the goal line play to jason mckee was the bears' play of the year, featuring a shift from double-tight t-formation, to slot-left split-right, i formation, and finally to fullback motion right...and into the flat and into the end zone for the game-clinching play. and how about the fact that, after six years of being dominated by him, the bears secondary is legitimately in moss' head. i love peanut lots, and love azumah more.

so the bears (and lions and panthers and bucs and giants and perhaps the cowboys) are one game behind wild card leader st. louis with four to play and, while they probably won't get to the postseason, it's nice to have something to watch in december.

i'm expecting a real interesting one next week at jacksonville...they'll be the underdogs in a winable one next week, will be favored against slumping houston on the 19th, and close at detroit (perhaps meaningful for both) and home against green bay...december does matter, friends.

of course, an ugly loss at jax would ruin my optimism in a flash.

i feel sort of bad about writing this because i've been a life-long notre dame fan, but i'm sure happy urban meyer's headed to florida. i think the university was out of line in firing ty, and we all know that they did it because they figured urban was a lock to come to south bend. i'm happy he put them in their place.

i don't think that notre dame will find anybody of willingham's quality among the current crop of coaches.

among the guys that are presumably candidates:

-bob stoops has said he's committed to oklahoma, and i believe him.

-kirk ferentz has shown he's committed to iowa (and his florida juco recruiting pipeline wouldn't fly with notre dame anyway)

-butch davis isn't coaching next year

-dan hawkins is the type of guy who could happily live at boise state forever, it seems

-bobby petrino recruits only thugs and the deaf, and it's not like louisville is notre dame -academically

-jeff tedford would seem to be the best fit and, with a lot of the plum warm-weather jobs (i.e. florida, south carolina, mississippi although there's not a chance he'd go there) taken, perhaps he's the most likely candidate. he can recruit smart kids (cal's probably higher-rated academically than nd?), and he's built cal from nothing in relatively little time, with two separate talent groups (boller first, rodgers-arrington now). it seems like tedford's on the verge of getting all he wants from cal, so we'll see what happens.

-is nick saban a candidate? he's the type of guy who'll leave for a pay raise...again, lsu's not notre dame academically, and indiana's not louisiana athletically.

i'd personally like to see harvard's tim murphy get a shot, as i believe he's got nd ties and i believe he was under long-shot consideration when ty was hired. i don't think that charlie weis is the guy you want, although former nfl coordinators like sylvester croom (not bad at mississippi state), pete carroll (who did have nfl head experience, and is now college's best coach) and nick saban (top ten certainly) have shown that coordinators can do the job. but recruiting's a bitch, and i don't know if weis can handle it.

or maybe george o'leary's the way to go.

as for the steroids thing, more than anything i'm sad. or dismayed. or something. perhaps sammy's next.

espn's bottom line wrote that john mccain is planning on introducing a blanket steroids policy for professional sports in january. it's sad that it has to come to this, but i think it's great news.

always on the cutting edge of the major sports issues:


1) tyrone willingham

i can say without hesitation that notre dame has essentially tarnished a once-great program with their early firing of tyrone willingham. for years, the program has tried (mostly successfully) to uphold the high moral ground, and now they've backed out of years of tradition by firing willingham before he even got through his first contract.

we all know that notre dame is not the program that is once was, and i think that we can agree that they will probably never match the preeminence that they enjoyed, but they still were a legitimate, ethical program. with willingham's firing, i think that they're now lumped in with all the rest of them. (like indiana, who canned dinardo after three years...maybe jeff genyk's next)

certainly, the grass is always greener on the other side, but it might be time to ask nebraska how it feels with a new head coach.

i think the implication of racism is an important one, one worth examining, and one that was a factor. not the factor, but a factor. let's think back to when willingham was first hired: the school's first choice was george o'leary, a white, irish man 'straight out of central casting.' it was only after that complete embarrassment that it was time to save face, and they did that by hiring the first black coach in any sport in the history of a mostly-white university. the fact is, in 2002, tyrone willingham was the best possible candidate for the position...far better than george o'leary. the fact is, it took a mistake of epic proportions to get that more-qualified black candidate in the door.

a few other things, as grounds for comparison:
through three years, bob davie had a 21-16 record, had gone to one insignificant (independence bowl, '97) and one new year's day (gator, '98) bowl game. he was limping off of a 5-7 season which included four straight losses. there was some discontent, but he lasted through the end of his contract.

willingham had compiled a three-year 21-15 record heading into his bowl game, had gone to a gator bowl and was due for an insignificant one. he was coming off a disappointing loss to usc, but had gone 6-5 on the season. like davie, his team limped through it's last four games but, unlike davie, his team had toppled a top 20 opponent on the road during that time. he lasted...two more days.

the way i see it, there are two significant differences between davie's 1999 situation and willingham's 2004 situation:

1) willingham is black
2) the alumni base is further discontented (after all, 17 years since a title, as compared to 11 years)

i can see how the situation might be a little more dire for alumni at this point in time, but i don't think that's grounds for his firing...i thought the place was a little classier.

2) jason giambi

he won't be the first, and i'm sure hoping that king george is stuck with his contract for the rest of the time. i don't think that they can legitimately void his contract.

i also don't think that his mvp award should be *'d, because he got away with it, right? i'll probably think more about this later, but that's my initial reaction.

most importantly, i just hope that george is stuck with the giambi contract

3) the 'cats

boy, they stink. hoopsters, that is. they stink.

what makes no sense to me is why mr. parker is held in such high regard. i understand he's got nice bloodlines, but even his older brother can't shoot. it's incredible to me that parker hasn't learned to shoot anything other than a knuckleball in his 2 1/2 years in evanston.

of course, it's also incredible that vukusic and hachad have shown no significant improvements from 03-04, and that duvancic's only improvement is that he's more assertive, which only leads to wild (and sometimes accurate) shots. i sure wish vukusic would pass the ball a bit crisper, because that laziness (watch him on with the ball on the right wing) slows possessions and disrupts any flow.

oh yeah, seacat's the exact same player he was when he arrived, and, despite being small, white, and from indiana, he's not really a great shooter. b.lee's not ready for primetime, but, then again, neither is anybody else.

the only hope is that michael thompson really is that good.

the good news is that the schedule's strong through the end of december, giving them a chance to make a run and make up for some of this disappointment. the bad new is, of course, that the schedule's strong.