Ireland vs England | Local Hoops | Local Puck | Arnold Palmer | I Never Got Off The Bus | YouTube Rabbithole
Alright @YouTheReader,
We’ll start this No (NFL) Football Friday with a huge Guinness Six Nations Rugby match on Saturday. The Knicks are dealing with more injuries, while the Nets have shown some life. There’s a bit about puck for all you hockey heads. It’s also a sweet weekend in golf so toss in an Arnold Palmer. We end with how I Never Got Off The Bus by Tebi Rex.
On to the sports…
Irish Rugby
Ireland vs. England | Sat. March 9 at 11:45 AM ET
Ireland and England first met on a rugby pitch on February 15, 1875. This will be the 142nd time they square off. The English came out on top 80 times, the Irish won 53 contests, and they’ve drawn 8 times. Ireland has won their last 4 meetings going back to the ‘21 Six Nations. If you’re in The City, I’ve seen they’ll be showing the match in Dublin House Bar, Abbey Tavern, and The Westbury as well as many other pubs like McDaids in Midtown.
Aldi’s ambassador and Irish fullback who’s out with a knock, James Ryan, gave me the skitters thinking this Sunday was Mother’s Day. In Ireland, they celebrate their mums on the 4th Sunday of Lent so don’t worry Yankees reading this, we got time. Head coach Andy Farrell said Ryan is out on Saturday from, “Just a freak accident really of just a reaction reaching out for a tackle that was non-contact and he has injured his bicep so he most likely, well he won’t be available for the remainder of this Six Nations.” Ireland will be getting back Hugo Keenen who is well-fit again. As the semi-good son I am, I’ll still get my mum some flowers and chocolates, for once being a brat like James Ryan said.
Head coach Andy Farrell refuses to overlook the talent on the English side. England lost their last match against Scotland. Farrell said, “I’ve no doubt that over the last two weeks that concentrates their mind to have another chance to have a crack at us. Again you expect them to be at their best, and if they’re at their best you expect them to be as hard as anyone in world rugby to beat." In terms of what he’s expecting out of the British game plan, "I'm not Mystic Meg, I don't know what's going to happen. England had a say in how we performed that day [last season]. You take every game on its own course really and judge it, and England did very well at slowing us down last year. There were a lot of stoppages within the game and it wasn't just errors, the game was slow. Whether that's a tactic of theirs or not, I don't know, but we'll have to expect more of the same, I would have thought. We'll take each minute as it comes, that's the nature of the game.” (Source for the Farrell quotes: RTE) England will want to slow the game down to prevent Ireland from playing their free-flow Harlem Globetrotter Rugby-esque passing attack. Hopefully, as always, the Irish side can get Bundee Aki in space. I’m no Mystic Meg either but I wonder if in a match like this Farrell gives Conor Murray a go off the bench. Murray’s 114 Irish Caps experience could be a weapon as a 2nd half super sub.
Half-ass Opposition Research
Robin Hood may have been a bad guy…
Robin Hood’s real identity was that of a 13th-century farmer called Robert Godberd, whose escapades were far from the sugar-coated tales we see today. The crimes he and his band of outlaws around Nottinghamshire and nearby counties were accused of were of the brutal era in which he lived: burglaries, arson, assaulting clergymen, and murdering travelers. The nature of their law-breaking has slowly been eroded throughout history to suit an increasingly gentile audience, compared with a medieval population accustomed to violence and who found Godberg’s activities entirely palatable. Godberd and his fellow brigands were in defiance of a tyrant who had an iron grip on the extensive forested regions of Nottinghamshire. King John enforced the enormously unpopular Forest Law, which allowed the royal court exclusive access to vast swathes of hunting grounds, with utter ruthlessness. Thus, morally speaking, Godberg’s actions were justified by the common man as necessary for the greater good of the people. (Source: History Answers) I guess you can’t be too hard on Robert Godberd, the man was living in the Medieval Times. That said, he did not steal from the rich and give to the poor. Glad we got that sorted, would be a real shame if that got the British players in a dizzy.
After a rough February, the Knicks won Sunday night in Cleveland, but it came with an injury scare. Don’t look now, but the Brooklyn Nets are winners of 3 of their last 5.
Manhattan
The Knicks were dealt some good injury news when reports were that Jalen Brunson’s knee wasn’t as bad as it appeared. Brunson went down in the opening minute of New York’s win in Cleveland. With Brunson out, Miles McBride was asked to play the rest of the 47 minutes of the game. The 3rd year PG out of West Virginia stepped up against the Cavs, scoring 16 points while shaking Evan Mobley out of his shoes. McBride also took over the starting PG duties against Atlanta this week and tied his career-high with 9 assists. Without Brunson, the Knicks offense has turned to another Villanova alum to lead the team in the scoring column with SG Donte DiVincenzo. With the Knicks this season, DiVincenzo is averaging a career-high 14.3 points per game which should only go up. For the time being the 7th-year guard is one of the only Knicks who can create his own shot. Brunson is questionable to play this weekend with a bruised knee, but I’d expect the Knicks to handle his injury very delicately.
Brooklyn
I’ll be honest, usually when writing about an athlete unless they play for a Boston rival, I hate criticizing. Ben Simmons is a different story. The Nets announced that Simmons will be out the rest of the regular season with a back. He has now been a Net for 3 seasons, playing in 57 games at an average of 25.7 minutes a game. That would equal out to 1,464.9 minutes played. After this season, the Nets will have paid him $106,346,016. That averaged out to $72,596.09 per minute played. Here’s the real kicker, next year the Nets are on the hook for another $40,338,144 so I’m sure he’ll have a whole new wardrobe for us when he sits out next season.
The Rangers have lost 2 in a row, the Islanders are on a winning streak, and the Devils made a coaching change.
Manhattan
Rangers rookie Matt Rempe is just 8 games into his NHL career but is already a confirmed hockey guy. I could bring up how he’s already got his first goal and assist, but let’s just skip to how he got the black eyes. He’s turned into an enforcer, hanging tough with the likes of Matt Martin, Nicolas Deslauriers, Mathieu Olivier, and Ryan Reaves at just 21 years old. At 6’7”, he’s got the reach to drop gloves. Rempe said, "I can do lots of different things, but I want to be the guy to stand up for my teammates." The boys in blue are taking notice. Star defenseman K’Andre Miller backed the rook, "Not an easy task. Done a great job." Now let’s hope the kid starts giving out a few black eyes instead of taking them. Anything goes on ice.
Out East
I told you last Friday to not let the boys Out East get hot and I guess the NHL wasn’t reading. The Islanders are now on a 4 game winning streak as the NHL’s unluckiest OT team has won their last 3 by multi-scores in regulation. Last Saturday Isles’ Center, Kyle Palmieri, scored a hat trick in the 1st Period and then he followed that up with a goal against St. Louis. His 38 points on the season are the most he has ever had in an Islander uniform with this being his 3rd full season Out East. Being that Palmieri was born in Smithtown, NY, the Islanders were his family’s team. Despite growing up in Montvale, NJ, and playing for the Devils before joining the Isles, Palmieri was a Rangers fan as a kid. After last week only having a 7% chance at making the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Islanders winning streak now has them at 34% according to MoneyPuck.
New Jersey
The Devils have let go of head coach Lindy Ruff. The Jersey Boys just weren’t getting it done under Lindy and having a Ruff go of it. Expectations this year were sky-high after the young Devils team had the 3rd most points in the NHL last season. This year has been an utter disappointment so Jersey will turn to interim coach Travis Green. When asked by reporters what he wants out of his team, Green responded, “I’d like to see us execute with the puck, make sure we can get into their zone, and get the momentum going our way.” I totally concur. They need more pucks on net, maybe get a nice forecheck going.
Arnold Palmer Invitational
Golf’s major season doesn’t begin until the Masters in mid-April. The Arnold Palmer Invitational is an “elevated event.” The idea behind these tournaments is to up the ante in the PGA Tour’s season for non-majors. With LIV Golf threatening and already taking some of golf’s biggest names away from the PGA Tour, the elevated event schedule has raised the purse for certain tournaments. This event for instance has a purse of $20 million.
Not only did Arnold Palmer perfect the half-and-half iced tea lemonade, but he was a legendary American golfer as well. His PGA career spanned from 1955 to 2011. He won a total of 92 tournaments, including 7 majors, and 1 of each of them (1958 Masters, 1960 Masters, 1960 US Open, 1961 Open Championship, 1962 Masters, 1962 Open Championship, and 1964 Masters). Palmer became the first 4-time winner of the Masters, only Jack Nicklaus (6) and Tiger Woods (5) own more green jackets.
This event has been played at Bay Hill Club and Lodge since 1966. It started as the Florida Citrus Open International, which Arnold Palmer won in 1971. In 1974, Palmer bought the private golf club. While the name of the tournament has changed a few times, it would eventually get the Arnold Palmer Invitational in ‘07. Tiger Woods loves this course as he has won at Bay Hill an incredible 8 times, while nobody else has ever won more than twice. Kurt Kitayama is the defending winner of ‘23.
Shane Lowry
After tagging Shane Lowry for a few consecutive tournaments in a row while he was middle of the pack I was planning on not bothering him this weekend. Then he made the turn and went on an absolute heater. Lowry was 1 under par on the front 9 before hitting a birdie on 10, birdie on 11, eagle on 12, birdie on 13, bogey on 14 but then birdied one more on 17. His 66 for the day has him as the lone leader on top of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. His eagle chip on 12 was a beaut. After finishing tied for 4th at the Cognizant Classic, Lowry is playing good golf.
Justin Lower
Justin Lower lowered his world ranking inside the Top 160 golfers when he finished tied for 3rd at the Mexico Open 2 weeks ago. He finished Thursday 5 under par, which included 5 birdies on the back 9. Lower has a cool story associated with Arnold Palmer the man himself. When he was 13 years old, Lower volunteered at the ‘02 Senior PGA Championship at Firestone Country Club, where he got to watch Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Jim Colbert shoot a practice round. Palmer accidentally hit a fan in one and joked to the crowd “Does anybody want to hit my next shot?” Young Justin Lower stepped right up about to grab Arnold Palmer’s wedge before the golf legend said, “Don’t worry, son. I’ll take it from here.” Lower said, “In the end, I didn't get a chance to hit it, but, yeah, just a cool story, for sure.” (Source: PGA Tour)
Sahith Theegala
Sahith Theegala finished in 5th at the Phoenix Open so he’s been around the top of the leaderboards a bit in the early golf season. Last September he won his first PGA Tour victory at the Fortinet Championship. The Pepperdine University alum seems to have lucked out a bit on 12, when he miss-hit his chip in that still went in for an eagle. (GIF’d above) When I miss hit a chip like that I’m telling the boys to just put me down for a Ten-er because my ball is rolling down the center of the fairway. Theegala’s got a whole lot more talent around the green.
JT Thomas
JT Thomas got to 4-under with a 26-foot birdie putt on the 14th. The kid from Kentucky, JT Thomas started off his ‘24 golf season with 3 straight top 12 finishes at The American Express, Pebble Beach, and Phoenix Open. After a down year in ‘23, JT Thomas told reporters after his Thursday round, “It’s a cruel sport we play sometimes. You feel like sometimes you’re never going to get it back and then some weeks you feel like you can’t possibly shoot over 66 or 67…I’m starting to feel really good about my game. I’ve put in a lot of hard work and I understand you're not just given things because you work hard so I gotta keep at it. Try to keep myself in contention and start winning some tournaments again.”
Patrick Cantlay
Well, well, well, if it isn’t Patrick Cantlay moseying around. Taking up everybody’s time before he hits. Holding up the group behind them like they don’t have girlfriends, wives, and children they want to see after the round. Sad!
Rather than give you the course map, I got you a hole-by-hole Bay Hill Club and Lodge breakdown.
Today’s tune is I Never Got Off The Bus by Tebi Rex and Local Boy. Tebi Rex is a hip-hop duo from County Kildare and Local Boy is from the county over in Dublin. Full disclosure I heard this tune on the Irish TV series Normal People ages ago. Fellas do not watch that show under any circumstances. It’s truly a brilliant watch on Hulu but be prepared for a psychological rollercoaster that you’re probably not emotionally mature enough to handle. Make sure to re-watch Peaky Blinders from start to finish afterward, at least 3 times.
Max Zanga is one of the two in Tebi Rex. They are truly a unique sound, almost like hip-hop indie pop as they’ve been described. The opening lines describe somebody trying to figure things out. Nexus is usually defined as linking or connecting, but it also has the definition of focus. In this situation, Zenga is focused on doing his best.
I was planning on doing this song on this Friday for well over a month. Then this week I noticed these lines and was a bit conflicted. I’m not sure if any of the wonderful women of Week to Week Notes’ past are readers so they probably won’t get this, but either way, they would have nothing to worry about because I’d only be wishing them well and never send words of poison. Ain’t nobody got time for that negative energy in the internet universe.
Matt O sings the distinct Pre-Chorus in this. I think he’s describing the protagonist of the song’s inner thoughts, which differ from the confidence front that Zanga raps in Verse 1.
As mentioned, I was thinking about not going with my gut and making another last-minute tune switch. Then I saw….
…that Paul Mescal, the lead actor in the show Normal People, was shooting a movie at 10th & Willow, the bar diagonally from my apartment.
During my lunch break this afternoon, I stopped by and had a 15-minute conversation with Joe, one of the guys working production. Gave a handful of Week to Week Notes cards, explained the sports blog, Guinness Pints, and even mentioned that I was writing an Irish Rugby preview. (Paul Mescal is a huge Irish Rugby supporter.)
Just want to add that I wasn’t asking for a thing, but figure it should be Noted. A cool opportunity like that doesn’t come often so can’t hurt. Joe’s favorite pub is Finnegan’s, which I said was mine as well but also gave Mulligans, Morans, and Onieal's a recommendation for a proper pint.
Most of Verse 2 doesn’t really describe how I feel now. There was a good bit of time before I started writing Week to Week Notes where I felt like life was passing me by just like this. I think the lyrics about the movies should be corrected to grey instead of great. Not sure if that was misworded on the lyrics I found on the internet, but that’s always how I interrupted them. I used to have to fake smiles all the time.
I feel like I can relate to the final 2 sentences of this verse today. When you write, especially for me with the music, you constantly reflect on things from the past. Music has this weird special power that can bring you back to when you were a child and first heard the song or what just happened to you yesterday afternoon. It also really wasn’t that long ago that I got out of the funk above so sometimes my mind wanders around the person I was and who I am today.
We all have memories, both good and bad. Either way, they probably humble everybody a bit. I’ll always love my hometown but feeling stuck in this town was exactly how I felt before moving to Hoboken. The cool thing about memories to remember is that you can always try to make more of them today or tomorrow. No matter what, what you do nexus is what defines you.
I haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep in ages and now I gotta sleep with one eye open thanks to the mouse that won’t eat the peanut butter. I could probably use a cat in the kitchen, but I ain’t stressing. I gotta go back to work for tomorrow’s Saturday Sports, I’m done mitchin’! The you might have come too soon or I might just be on time lyrics play great with Wednesday’s Cleopatra being late for this, late for that.