Revival | March Madness | Local Hoops | Local Puck | Houston Open | YouTube Rabbithole
Alright @YouTheReader,
This No Football Friday is the 500th Week to Week Note ever posted. That is bonkers. Here’s to the next 500 being better than before. Today’s tune is Revival by Zach Bryan. ‘Ol Son performed at the Barclays Center the last 2 nights, so that’s where I set the location on the gram.
Bryan is setting the scene of a night out with the fellas. Sometimes you gotta get together and tell your stories of shame. The losing his voice part might mean he can listen to them and then craft them into songs to sing. The Merle reference here is about Merle Haggard’s tune Mama Tried. In Haggard’s 1968 song, he sings about how his mother tried to raise him right but he still ended up in jail.
I’m sure people can tell that anger grows in my bones too. 😬 I’m not perfect or an angel. I know my 💩 stinks, especially after too many pints, but I’ve gotten better at letting things go. Week to Week Notes hasn’t even celebrated its 2nd birthday so I can still claim it as a cub. Sometimes I gotta stick up for myself and I can’t help it if I bite back bigger. That doesn’t give me the right to be an asshole, but nobody wants to be the internet’s punching bag. Jeez, even Ralphie in A Christmas Story had a boiling point. As great as it would be to be everybody’s cup of tea, I guess I’m not, so I’ll always try to use this for good, and find comfort in the company that likes to go for one.
Excellent hook. I’ll stick to pints of Guinness but I got some Johnny Cash Stumblin’ Along coming down Sunday morning. Revival also plays with Easter weekend, so bonus points.
Dammit, Zach Bryan is too good at wordplay. I was trying to be clever with my own Cash reference but Ol Son is playing on Johnny’s Sunday Morning Coming Down. It was going to be a surprise but the secret is out of the bag now, oh well, it’s one of my dad’s favorite tunes.
He ends with the hook twice so I’ll add a couple of sidenotes.
Last Good Friday I wrote a piece with Zach Bryan’s The Good I’ll Do on in the background. I remember I picked the song because I tried explaining how I intended to do some good through Week to Week Notes. That would be most people’s goal, one would think. Since I was drinking like a drunken sailor last March to get #GuinnessChallengeSeason going, it may not have landed well for some. That post particularly lost a handful or two of readers. What was going through my head then was that either people thought I was delivering false promises or I was just a jerk who didn’t mean it.
At that point, any loss felt like a major setback, and nobody wants to turn people off. I learned from it though, it was a don’t put your cart before your horse moment. After that, I tried to write less about what I was hoping for and put more emphasis on the present. I also quit looking at the daily analytics because it was taking from the fun of this. I figured I needed to focus more on being a fun read, maybe there’s some good in that. Glad to admit that, sorry for boring you, but that part of the story needed a bit of reviving.
Anyway, I guess Revival is a bit more up my alley for now. Great tune!
Let’s talk ball…
Thursday’s Sweet 16 Notes
After Thursday’s Sweet 16 games, the Week to Week Notes Sweet 16 Bracket now has 3 Count It’s and 1 I Failed X. Today is a preview of the Elite 8 Matchups set to play on Saturday in the East and West Regions. Saturday Sports will feature the other 2 Elite 8 Matchups on the right side of the bracket.
East Region
(1) UConn vs (3) Illinois
UConn and Illinois have never danced in March before. These two basketball programs have only met on a court twice in the 90s with UConn winning both matchups. The last time in fact that these programs met was in late December of 1997 when a sophomore guard from UConn named Ray Allen scored 11 points in their victory. UConn is once again running rampant in March as they blew out the San Diego State Aztecs by 30 points after pulling away in the 2nd half. The Huskies backcourt of Stephon Castle, Tristen Newton, and Cam Spencer combined for 51 points which nearly matched San Diego State’s 52 total. Freshman PG Stephon Castle had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. When you combine last year’s March Madness run, UConn has now beaten all 9 of their opponents by at least 13 points in every game. They’ve outscored their opposition 723-517, never allowing more than 65 points in a game by winning by a margin of 22.9 points per game. (Source: My Math) Led by senior guard Terrence Shannon Jr., the Illini have reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since their ‘05 National Championship loss. Shannon Jr. once again led Illinois in scoring with 29 points over Iowa State in their 3-point margin win. The lefty guard currently leads the tournament in points scored this March and he just so happened to check out a social media tag from the IG account Monday night. Imagine he bothered to click on the link, saw that I had Iowa State winning over them, and said fook this guy I’m dropping 29 points on Thursday. I wouldn’t mind that sort of hate comment one bit! I’ll stick with my bracket and take UConn, but I’ll be rooting for Terrence Shannon Jr.
West Region
(4) Alabama vs (6) Clemson
Alabama and Clemson last met on a football gridiron back in the ‘19 National Football Championship, but the two football schools have never danced in March. On the court, these two schools have played each other 11 times dating back to 1957 with their most recent matchup happening this past November. Clemson came up on top by a score of 85 to 77. In that matchup, this March Tourney’s #2 leading scorer, Mark Sears, scored 23 points while Clemson’s big man, PJ Hall was too much with 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. Clemson just beat Arizona in the Sweet 16 thanks to the continued strong scoring play of senior guard, Chase Hunter. In this tournament, Hunter has led the team in scoring in all 3 games for a total of 59 points. In his entire 5-year collegiate career, Hunter has never had more than 56 points in a 3-game span. You know what they say, THIS IS MARCH. As the Crimson Tide, they just snuck out a great win over UNC by a score of 89-87. The game came down to the wire as PF Grant Nelson missed back-to-back free throws with .9 seconds left on the clock before rejecting UNC’s Hail Mary heave off his miss. I’ve never seen that before. Aside from the missed free throws, Grant Nelson played great, scoring 24 points with 12 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots. I’ll be sticking with ‘Bama in this one, Roll Tide.
Since last Friday, the Knicks are on a nice 3 game winning streak and have jumped up to 3rd the Eastern Conference. The Nets have acutally won 2 in a row, but still stuck in 11th.
Manhattan
Knicks SG Donte DiVencenzo dropped 40 points in their win over Detroit. He set a new Knick single-game record with 11 treys. After signing a 4 year deal with this Knicks this offseason, New York has gone 2 for 2 on their Villanova free agent guards. For the season, DiVencenzo has 239 3-points and only trails Evan Fournier’s 241 for the Knick record of 3s in a season. He’ll aim to set the record in San Antonio tonight at 8 PM ET. This week the Knicks also welcomed back a reinforcement in C Mitchell Robinson. In 12 minutes played, Robinson had 8 points and 2 blocks. It will take some time for Robinson to acclimate back into game shape as he’s been out since December 8th, so expect Isaiah Hartenstein to stay in the starting lineup for now.
Brooklyn
Cam Thomas played great in Brooklyn’s OT win over Washington. He dropped 38 points along with 7 assists. Despite the Nets rough month of March, the 22-year-old has played great averaging a career-high for a full month with 26.3 points per game. The shooting guard’s development has been paramount as he has overtaken Mikal Bridges spot as the team’s lead scorer. With both Bridges and Thomas under contract at least for next season, Brooklyn at least has some hope if they can find shed Ben Simmons’ expiring contract. Why anybody would want that? I’m not sure, but teams love expiring deals.
The Rangers are on a 4-game winning streak but still have a Hurricane trailing behind them for the top spot in the Metro. The Islanders and Devils are playing patty-cake for the 2nd Wild Card spot which the Capitals currently own.
Manhattan
As mentioned above, the Rangers have won 4 in a row, 3 of which were in extras. Last night they beat the Avalanche in Colorado in a shootout. Igor Shesterkin was money in the net and feeling himself when he whipped a Hail Mary fastbreak pass to Breadman. Panarin couldn’t finish on the highlight GIF above but still, you don’t see that work every day on the ice, eh? Imagine being the moron who suggested the Rangers turn to Jonathan Quick back on Saturday Sports 1/27 '24, yikes that was me. After the Rangers’ rough month of January, Shesterkin has more than steadied the ship, leading New York to 13 wins in 17 games. The Avalanche are a quality hockey team out West with 98 points of their own. The Rangers’ 102 points now lead all of the land & Canada.
Out East
Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored the go-ahead goal in last night’s Islanders victory. The win keeps the Isles playoff chances alive. With 10 games left on their schedule, they must make up ground and fast. Down this stretch, they will face off against the Devils and Rangers (2) so in some regards they’ll be playing 7 of their final 10 in the area. The Islanders are 16-10 at home this year and have not beaten either the Devils or Rangers in their 7 meetings this season. That means they’re due.
New Jersey
Nico Hischier had a huge Tuesday night and ultimately made up the deciding difference in the Devils’ 6-3 win. The former #1 pick of the ‘17 NHL Draft scored a goal with 2 assists. The Devils Swiss Captain is tied for 3rd on the team in goals scored. The Devils are winners of 4 of their last 5. Goalie Jake Allen, who was acquired before the trade deadline earlier in March, has started his Devils career with a 4-2 record in the net while allowing 2.5 pucks in per game. Small sample size but better than what they were doing with Schmid and Daws.
Houston, Texas | Memorial Park Municipal Golf Coure | $9,100,000 | NBC/Peacock
The Texas Children’s Houston Open was established as a golf event back in 1946. Byron Nelson won the inaugural tournament when it was called the Houston Open the year after having the “Greatest Year in Golf” in 1945. The name of the event has changed quite a few times but it’s been held at Memorial Park Muicipal since 1947. The Houston Astros got involved in 2018 to keep the PGA Event going. I don’t like the Astros one bit, but their Astros Golf Foundation are doing the right thing here by providing funds to make park improvements, charitable fundraising, and investment in youth programs.
A year after no tournament was played in ‘23, the tournament has a brand new sponsor’s name, the Texas Children’s Houston Open. Presented by Halliburton, the event has a Birdies For Charity fundraising program where people donate $20 to guess the total number of birdies that will be made over the 4 days. The winner of the right number earns a night in a suite at a Houston Astros home game and 100% of the donations to the program go to a charity of your choice. Unfortunately, the sign-up was March 27th.
While the tournament is technically in Taylor Moore home’s state, you know how everything is bigger in Texas. He was born in San Angelo, Texas, it’s about a 6 hour drive to Houston. After bogeying to start his day, Moore had an eagle and contributed 5 birds to the Birdies for Charities. Moore earned his PGA Tour card in ‘21 and won his first tournament last March at Valspar Championship.
Scottie Scheffler
Scottie doesn’t know how to shoot over par. After his Thursday round in Houston, Scheffler just set a PGA Tour record for 28 consecutive rounds under par. This remarkable display of consistency has helped him win the Arnold Palmer and The PLAYERS this March. The last time he shot over par in a PGA Event was last August, must be nice. His next thing to go for would be Steve Stricker’s 53 rounds consecutive of shooting par or under.
Davis Riley
Davis Riley’s Thursday had moments of brilliance like his eagle on 16 and times to forget like his bogey on 13. Before you bet on him, as always I’ll warn you to be weary of players with the first name Davis. Something about it just doesn’t sit right with me.