MAUREEN DOWD–Jan. 20, 2026
It’s almost quaint to look at the misrule of W. and Cheney. At least they made up some highfalutin’ cover story about bringing democracy to the Middle East, when the real story was closer to daddy issues for W. and a Halliburton windfall for Cheney.
” I’LL FOLLOW YOU DOWN ‘TIL MY VOICE WILL HAUNT YOU” (Fleetwood Mac, SILVER SPRINGS )
COACH DAN (Son #2)
After thinking about your question about “plays “ for basketball junior teams, I realized maybe I’d be more helpful listing fundamental ideas that may be simple and redundant.
FOR THE TEAM
INDIVIDUAL SKILLS AND SUGGESTIONS
*Offense and DEFENSE !
*Defense
Proper athletic stance–ready is quick
Hands up
Move your feet
Block out
Keep yourself between your man and the goal.
KNOW WHAT DEFENSE YOU ARE PLAYING!
( Man to man, zone and what kind, press, matchups and combinations ).
Offense
Baseball saying : “ There ain’t substitute for speed afoot !”
The advantage of being in shape
Fake and drive. Faking is an art.
Fake and Step back ( Hardin )
Fake, 1 or 2 or 3 dribbles–jump/shoot
Follow your shot.
Use the backboard.
Protect the ball. Use either hand to dribble without looking at the ball.
Peripheral vision ?
Rebound with two firm hands. Out let pass? Fast break–2 on 1, 3 on 2.
Coast to coast ? Practice this full court by yourself. Make that layup !
Free throw fundamentals : Relax, deep breath. Balance. Pressure? Myelin ! Or practice. Try to groove the free throws smoothly. No violent or jerky shots.
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Team feedback from son # 1 ( Coach Tee )
Tee called last night. He wants to know if he can get some help with his 10 years old basketball team. Maybe one of the Odom boys.
There are nine players. Son Lennox warned his Dad on the way to the first practice : ” … Four of these kids are crazy!”
Coach Tee spoke about 15 seconds before “the worst of the four” emptied his water cooler on the floor. Tee said “the four” have never since acknowledged that Tee was there.
Luckily 1. The other five are pretty good, And 2, the gym has two goals.
The 4 took off to goal 2. Tee’s 5 worked hard interrupted by several fights and obscene language from the 4 goal. Tee admitted seeing one 4 kick a wet floor pylon that drew blood from another.
He also confessed he told his five— I will bring them up to play. Beat them bad.
Worst 4 beat best 5. Worst of the 4 hit the winner.
Team vote on team name —BOULDER MAYHEM.*
Russell Rawlings is coming tomorrow. He is not only a four graduate, but revelled in coaching them. He’ll help.
P.S. The team voted to change their team name to ” THE TOADS.” *
BEAR # 2—” It’s hard to get the student body to rally around MATH !”
SNOOTY COOCHER (X-RATED)
THE ATHLETIC summarized college football’s frequent flyers today:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K3qpwHvh4PtTWvhcDcCtVE2CuBBaJ8_JIWuX6fZelb0/edit?tab=t.0
The abandonment of traditional rules has, it seems, allowed a great way to make money!
“ A window of opportunity!”
Assuming some governance will soon be enforced, then these transfers might be an unparalleled opportunity. Who can blame the players?
From the mid 60’s till the 70’s ( Post pill to pre- Aids ), there were “opportunities”.
“ PICNIC DAY FOR TEDDYBEARS”
Perpetually in the transfer portal? Meet The Athletic’s All-Frequent Flyer Team
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K3qpwHvh4PtTWvhcDcCtVE2CuBBaJ8_JIWuX6fZelb0/edit?tab=t.0
January 14, 2026–from David French in NEW YORK TIMES:
When I think of the contrast between Jesus’ life and ministry and the will to power that has consumed so many Christians, I’m reminded of the words usually attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
IN TOTAL
Earlier I have described how fast international tennis players thoroughly dominated American college tennis rosters .
” My involement in this tsunami was as a small college Men’s tennis coach. It was tricky in 1970 and it is in 2024.
The NAIA was the first to eliminate quotas. The coaches repealed the One International eligible for NAIA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP play rule.
Coach Jim Verdick of Redlands University warned “…soon some Texas school, with all Mexican pros, will win every year.” He was wrong. The next year Mercyhurst College (Pennsylvania ) won featuring six of six players from Finland won. The paste was out of the tube. ” (See NEXT PLEASE -www.tomparham.wordpress.com )
Subsequently I tried to make the American basketball world aware of this scenario being repeated in our other sports that had international players. Men and women. That began 55 years ago.
John Calipari recently commented on portal issues, and then ( At minute 8:38 ) he confirms the fruition of my admonitions:
“RULES BE RULES!”
Two nights ago I watched Elon men’s play Campbel University. Campbell’s 14 player roster featured six “graduate students” and six international players.
My guess is that the average age of IMPACT players is now 23-25 years of age. Tennis once put in an
“age rule”. Calipari vehemently reveals the profound damage to 17-18 year old American high school kids who are now being ignored .
Karl Fleming -SON OF THE ROUGH SOUTH
Fleming will forever be remembered as the Newsweek reporter who was photographed after being severely beaten in the Watts riots of 1966. In this memoir, he recounts the long road that led to his reporting on race relations and the incendiary social issues that exploded that day. He was born in 1927 in a poor, bleak North Carolina community and raised in an orphanage when his mother could no longer afford to take care of him. Fleming left college early to begin life as a reporter with a small-town ( WILSON, NC ) newspaper, covering the police beat with a cynical police chief who mistreated blacks. It was Fleming’s first hint that, having grown up in an orphanage, his sympathies were with the underdog. He went on to cover the turbulent racial changes in the South, including James Meredith’s enrollment at the University of Mississippi and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Medgar Evers. In this stunning memoir, Fleming offers the perspective of a poor white boy witnessing the racial turbulence that changed the U.S. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
“A rich and absorbing book, a window into a time and place that defined America.” — Washington Post Book World, June 12, 2005
“Incredibly rich in history, in bravery and brutality, Karl Fleming’s Son of the Rough South is so beautifully written.” — Anne Lamott, author of Traveling Mercies
“It makes for a tense, harrowing, utterly gripping journey.” — Newsweek, May 23, 2005
“Karl Fleming knows how to tell a story.” — Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes and ‘Tis
“Their story will take the reader on a trip not soon forgotten of spirits unwilling to be broken.” — San Antonio Express-News, June 19, 2005.
“a vivid, often painful memoir…” — David Halberstam
“offers vibrant portraits of the most harrowing incidents of [the civil rights]…” — Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2005
…recovers for us a brace period of our recent history, and delivers it with all the sharp…edges perfectly intact. — Barton Chronicle, October 2005
FFFlemingsssssssss craft soars to a level of artful elegance with blunt, unsentimental language full of casual grace notes — The Nation, August 15 and 22, 2005.
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JACK SMITH ON DJT FRAUD PER JAN 6 ASSAULT ON CAPITOL ( EXCERPTS )
“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power,” Mr. Smith said, according to the transcript.
And Mr. Smith appeared intent on making another point: that he was unfazed by Mr. Trump’s vow to prosecute him.
“I am eyes wide open that this president will seek retribution against me if he can,” he said.
According to the transcript, Mr. Smith pushed back hardest when Republicans suggested Mr. Trump’s public statements after the 2020 election were protected under the First Amendment.
“Fraud is not protected by the First Amendment,” he said in the interview.
“There is no historical analog for what President Trump did in this case,” Mr. Smith responded.
“He was free to say that he thought he won the election — he was even free to say falsely that he won the election,” Mr. Smith said. “But what he was not free to do was violate federal law and use knowingly 19 false statements about election fraud to target a lawful government function.”
The Little Green Book of Tennis 