Tuesday, November 19, 2024

NFL Week 12

Here is the ESPN top 10 for Week 12:

1.  Detroit:  9-1
2.  Kansas City:  9-1
3.  Buffalo:  9-2
4.  Philadelphia:  8-2
5.  Pittsburgh:  8-2
6.  Minnesota:  8-2
7.  Baltimore:  7-4
8.  Green Bay:  7-3
9.  San Diego:  7-3
10.  Washington:  7-4

There are six teams on bye this week, so we only have 13 games.  The Game of the Week is on Sunday Night, with the Chargers hosting the Ravens.  That is the only top ten game this week.

Monday, November 18, 2024

KHSAA Update

Check out these results from Friday in the 6A playoffs:

Ryle 38, Lou. St. Xavier 17
Great Crossing 28, Lou. Manual 21
Lou. Ballard 23, Lou. Male 17

Someone tweeted that it was the first time since the old 4A playoffs back in 1996 that neither St. X, Manual, or Male had made the quarterfinals.  Lou. Manual (12), Lou. St. Xavier (13), and Woodford Co. (18) are the only teams in the MaxPreps Top 20 to miss the quarterfinals.

Anyway, here are next week's quarter-final matchups in all six classes, with MaxPrep rankings in parentheses.  Home teams listed first.  Top 20 teams in bold:

Class 6A
(3) Ryle v. (82) Cent. Hardin
(18) Great Crossing v. (45) Barren Co.
(4) Lou. Trinity v. (28) Lou. Ballard
(7) Lex. Frederick Douglass v. (20) Madison Cent.

Class 5A
(8) S. Warren v. (111) N. Bullitt
(10) Bowling Green v. (58) Lou. Atherton
(2) Cooper v. (55) Southwestern
(5) Ft. Thomas Highlands v. (29) Pulaski Co.

Class 4A
(6) Franklin Co. v. (41) Bardstown
(9) Pad. Tilghman v. (60) Lou. DeSales
(1) Boyle Co. v. (15) Cov. Catholic
(11) Corbin v. (14) Ashland Blazer

Class 3A
(17) Christian Academy-Louisville v. (27) Lou. Central
(40) Hart Co. v. (35) Union Co.
(36) Bell Co. v. (42) Lex. Catholic
(32) Belfry v. (86) Russell

Class 2A
(19) Owensboro Catholic v. (107) Monroe Co.
(39) Mayfield v. (21) Lex. Christian
(25) Beechwood v. (120) Martin Co.
(109) Prestonsburg v. (73) Somerset

Class 1A
(54) Kentucky Country Day v. (116) Newport
(49) Campbellsville v. (76) Newport Cent. Catholic
(52) Sayre v. (38) Pikeville
(43) Raceland v. (63) Hazard

Classic SEC Standings

As ranked by CBS Sports.  It seems like a long time since we were this late in the season with no teams from the Classic SEC in the top six.  But what a race!

7.  Alabama:  8-2
8.  Mississippi:  8-2
9.  Georgia:  8-2
12.  Tennessee:  8-2
32.  Louisiana St:  6-4
34.  Vanderbilt:  6-4
52.  Florida:  5-5
79.  Auburn:  4-6
83.  Kentucky:  4-6
105.  Mississippi St:  2-8

The winner of the Classic SEC will be the team ranked the highest by CBS after the conference title games, and before the playoffs.

Ironically, the Classic SEC teams would have all been eliminated by now if not for the expanded playoff structure.

Here is an update on the other classic conferences:

ACC:  Clemson is 18, South Carolina is 19, and their game will likely be the conference decider.

Big 10:  Ohio State is 2, Indiana is 4, and their game this week will be the decider.

Big 8:  Coach Prime has been moving up the standings for weeks, and Colorado is currently on top with a ranking of 17.  No one else is in the top 20.

Southwest:  Texas is 3, and should win the title, but SMU is at 11 and Texas A & M is at 16.  The Aggies will undoubtedly throw everything they have at Texas in the last game of the regular season.

Pac 10:  Oregon is number 1, and the second place team (Arizona State) is number 22.

Independents:  We have six Classic Independents in the top 20:  Penn St. (5), Notre Dame (6), Miami (Fla.) (10), Boise St. (13), Army (15), and Tulane (20).  Saturday's game at Yankee Stadium between Army and Notre Dame will be the biggest matchup between those two old war horses since 1946.

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Best of 1979 Mix

 

 

1979 was an interesting year.  There is an interesting change in the air.  Listening to this mix back it feels so disjointed in many ways.  


20. Train in Vain (Stand by Me) by The Clash

     I'm not the biggest Clash fan, but this is a great song.  

19. Love in a Void by Siouxsie and the Banshees

     Back in 1979 I had no idea music like this existed.  I wouldn't discover Siouxsie for another 7 years.  

18. Cruisin' by Smokey Robinson

     This song seems ideal for 1979 as it feels like the end of the R&B era that carried over from the 60's.  We'll see as we get into 1980, but it all does seem to be changing.  

17.  Good Times by Chic

     One of the changes I see coming is reflected in music like this song from Chic.  This is heavily influenced by the funk movement  happening in the 70's which has been very underground and also artists like Sly & the Family Stone.  Those influences will continue to be very important as we move forward.  

16. Cars by Gary Numan

     I bought this 45 back in 1979.  Little did I know this was seen as one of the early steps toward new wave.  

15. Three Imaginary Boys by The Cure

     The debut album from The Cure.  Another band I would discover in 1986.  

14.  I Wanna Be Your Lover by Prince

     This song would be Prince's first number 1 song on the R&B chart and it went all the way to 11 on the US chart.  

13. We Are Family by Sister Sledge

      This song is 1979.

12. Ladies Night by Kool & the Gang

      I loved this song in 1979.  

11.  London Calling by The Clash

     Like I said I'm not the biggest Clash fan, but this song is The Clash and so you can't just ignore it.  

10.  The Logical Song by Supertramp

     If I were to pick an album of the year from 1979 it would probably be this Supertramp album, Breakfast in America.  I really liked this song then and still listen to it all the time now.  

9.  The Devil Went Down to Georgia by The Charlie Daniels Band

     I always thought this single came out sooner than 1979.  Another 45 I bought.  

8.  I Can't Tell You Why by Eagles

     This is probably my favorite Eagles song.  I may have already said that about another one, but I really do like this song.  So pretty.  

7.  Rock With You by Michael Jackson

     This song always makes me think of one of our fellow fifth graders doing a dance routine to this song for the whole class.  

6.  Breakfast in America by Supertramp

     Great song.  

5.  Is She Really Going Out With Him?  by Joe Jackson

      This is another great song.  So iconic to me.  

4.  Deja Vu by Dionne Warwick

     OK I had completely forgotten about this song until I was doing this exercise.  I loved this song in 1979 and it still sounds fantastic today.  

3.  Rainbow Connection by Kermit

     Ah the Muppet Show, the Muppet Movie.  Such great memories from 1979.  

2.  Images by Saga

     For a long time this was my favorite song by Saga.  Just love the sound of it.  Maybe no other song represents their early work better than this song. 

1.  Sailing by Christopher Cross

     This is one of my all time favorite songs. 

2024 Music So Far: Featuring Sasha Alex Sloan

Woodland by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings



Sometimes the Morning is Different by Family Stereo



Smoke & Fiction by X



What Happened to the Beach? by Declan McKenna



Me Again by Sasha Alex Sloan


I discovered Sasha Alex Sloan back in 2022 along with Alec Benjamin and introduced both artists to my daughter.  Back in the summer she saw where Alec Benjamin and Sasha Alex Sloan were performing back to back in Seattle in October and wanted to buy tickets with her money.  So this last month she and I flew to Seattle and went to back to back concerts on a Saturday and Sunday night.  

Since this is a review of this Sasha Alex Sloan album I'll just say she was fantastic live.  It was a small venue and instead of a warm up act they had karaoke, which was a lot of fun.  With that said what about this album.  

It is a pretty dark album.  Not angry dark but dark in the sense that she is obviously dealing with some tough issues in her life.  She managed to write an album around all of these emotions.  What drew me to her in 2022 are on full display on this album.  She is a very good singer, but an exceptional songwriter.  On I Blame the World there was a sense of humor along with her darker moments, but here the humor is really gone.  It's 13 songs, but only 39 minutes long so falls right into the sweet spot for me on album length and there isn't any wasted space.  

If you are feeling the need to be introspective then this would be a good album to put on.  Like I said it's dark but not in a negative way.  We have a song like "Highlights" on here, the video I linked above.  That song deals with a parent who is not around except when things are good.  Then there is "Kids" a song about a parent who was always there and now it's the child's turn to be there for the parent.  We have relationships where things are good, where things are falling apart.  There is a lot happening here and it's all very thoughtful and well put together.