This (Non) Sporting Life: The Duke of... Despair?

Hi there! I'm Dave-El and welcome to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You, the internet's answer to the air ball. 

Today I'm posting another This (Non) Sporting Life to talk about not playing, not winning (maybe) and not giving a damn. 

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Not Playing

My daughter joined up with a inter-church middle school basketball league kind of a thing. Yesterday was the third Saturday since their season started. It was also the first week that the team had a chance to practice BEFORE actually playing a game. Their very first game of the season took place before their first practice. The next week they got to practice but didn't have a game. 

Well, it's a moot point for my daughter who has played in 1 game and attended zero practices. To be honest, stuff has come up. For example, the death of her grandmother which hit her really hard. What also hit her very hard at the same time was something resembling a flu bug. Girl's been laid up all week. She's coming around to her old self which is both a good and a bad thing. (She's a teenager. Do you have teenagers in your home? Then you understand.)  

Eventually I hope Miranda gets to play again. Although next week there's no practice so if she does get to play next Saturday, that'll be TWO games without any practice. God knows I love my daughter but, boy does she need the practice. She plays like, well, me.  

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Not Winning

A few weeks ago after I posted a Tweet extolling the virtues of Duke Blue Devils in their latest win, I got this reply: 

 kwblair ‏@KWBLAIR 2h2 hours ago

@DayWayLo UofL can't wait to shred the Dukies in the Yum Center

For two weeks now I have pondered this Tweet in this space trying to figure out what to do. Should I let it go or should I retort? Maybe get a little Twitter based friendly rivalry going, you know, like guys do, right? Except this is Duke we're talking about and people who are not fans of Duke do simply dislike Duke, they HATE Duke! With a passion! So I've guessing any rivalry ran a significant risk of not being that friendly. 

Then the bad stuff started happening. Last Sunday, Duke was playing NC State. This would have been their 15th win for the year with no loss. It would be the 998th win for Coach Mike Krzyzewski. That's right, Coach K is heading towards 1,000 wins as a head coach. Wow! Just think about it: a college team probably takes about 40 years to PLAY 1,000 games. And Coach K is right on the cusp of WINNING his 1,000th game! It's amazing to think about, isn't? 

And think about it is all we get to do as Duke goes down in its first defeat of the season. 

OK, no unbeaten season. No problem. Really, who needs the pressure. I think it was a few years ago that Illinois had an unbeaten record through the entire season and the NCAA tournament....until the final game. Bummer! So unbeaten? More trouble than its worth.  

Hey the next game would be AT Duke playing Miami. Shouldn't be a problem. 

Yeah, it's a problem. A really bad problem as Duke loses to Miami and loses really badly! 

Geez, guys, are you psyching yourselves out over this 1,000th game business? Because, damn, don't do that. You've got Louisville to face next and I can't let kwblair ‏@KWBLAIR have the last laugh. 

 Coach K heard my fervent pleas: Duke 63 Louisville 52

Win # 998, Baby!!!!!

In your face, kwblair ‏@KWBLAIR!UofL gonna shred Duke, huh? Well, I'm thinkin' the Cardinals are lookin' like so much lettuce... you know, like lettuce can be shredded... shredded lettuce... or CHEESE! Yeah, shredded cheese...

I'm not good at this, am I?

Thankfully, Duke is good at what they do. Yay, Duke!

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Not Giving a Damn

So the NFC and AFC match ups are happening  to determine who gets to fill time between commercials at the Super Bowl in two weeks. OK, it's a lot of hype over very little (at least to my perspective) but I actually WANT to buy into the hype. I WANT to sit on the sofa surrounded by life threatening snack foods and yell at the TV. 

For one day of the year, dammit, I want to be a real American man!!

And it never works out. NEVER! Most of the interference is from daughter who JUST DOESN'T GET IT! How come dad who normally doesn't watch football have to be glued to this stupid game when there are PUPPIES cavorting over on the Animal Planet channel. 

Last year, as the Denver Broncos descended into the quagmire of a farce, it was really hard to justify not watching the puppies. Maybe this year I will choose to just not give a damn. Sofa sitting, beer drinking Dave-El is just a myth. 

Katy Perry's doing the halftime show. 

So. Yeah. I may watch that. 

Everyone be good to one another. 

Yeah, some other blogger doing a post on sports would have a photo of
Tom Brady or Richard Sherman or something. But me? Hell no!
I have Katy Perry dancing with a purple cat! Up yours, SportsCenter!