On The Lads!! | NY Baseball Opening Weekend | March Madness (Women’s) | March Madness (Men’s) | Mary’s Pub
Alright @YouTheReader,
A quick intro on this Saturday of Sports. We have the Opening Weekend of New York Baseball, move along to March Madness with the ladies first, and finish off on today’s tune Mary’s Pub by Amble; but first…
On the lads!!
Welsh rugby star, Louis Rees-Zammit, has signed a contract with the Kansas City Chiefs. Taylor Swift will be watching LRZ play running back for the defending Super Bowl champs. What I’m most intrigued about is if they utilize him in the new kick-off return game. With the new kick-off rules, it’ll be pretty similar to rugby.
Charlie Smyth, a 22-year-old Irishman from County Down, will compete for the kicking job with the New Orleans Saints. Last year, the Saints had Blake Grupe kick at 81.1% so Smyth has a real shot. The former Gaelic goalkeeper has a boot and credited Packers’ punter, Dan Whalen, for inspiring him to try out for the NFL. Good stuff.
This week the Yankees and Mets had their Opening Days as the MLB season is now upon us. Doing something a bit different this year by covering New York Baseball with weekly reports on both teams. For the Yanks, I’ll try to write at least a bullet point or 2 about every game I catch. @MetsFans, there is no way in hell I’m watching all 162 of the Mets but any of you are welcome to share your thoughts on your ballclub in Queens anytime.
Opening Day
- Wow, it’s really here. The first regular season of the New York Yankees 28th World Series Championship.
- The Yankees ground into 3 double-plays within the game’s first 4 innings. Not good.
- Nestor Cortes has a shakey couple of innings to start and the Yanks are down 4-0. Really not good.
- In the top of the 5th inning, Juan Soto drives in the Yanks’ first run of the season.
- Yanks go up 5-4 on an Alex Verdugo sac fly that scores Aaron Judge.
- Juan Soto throws out an Astro at the plate. Yanks win, 5-4. I can’t wait for the YES Network to make this a Yankees Classic in 3 years.
Game 2
- Carlos Rodon throws a lot of pitches in intense innings, but only allows 1 run.
- The Yanks’ bats are sleeping until the 7th inning when Oswaldo Cabrera drives in Anthony Volpe. Soto walks to bring a run with the bases loaded. Judge grounds into a double play, but 2-1 NYY.
- Small ball Yanks tack on some more runs in the 8th. Verdugo and Volpe’s speed leads to an error on a routine double-play groundball. On the next at-bat Austin Wells bunts, which leads to Houston throwing it away. Mike Stanton goes yard in the 9th.
- Yanks win, 7-1. 2-0 to start the season. It’s early, but we’ll take it.
Opening Day
- The Mets got 1-hit in the cold. Rough start. Hang in there, it’s a long season.
March Madness (Women’s Version)
*Caitlin Clark Watch*
Iowa vs Colorado | Saturday, March 30th at 3 PM ET | ABC
This afternoon, Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes will take on the #5 Seed Colorado. The Buffaloes’ best player is their center, Aaronette Vonleh, who averages 14 points, 5.2 boards, 1.1 blocks, and 1 steal per game. Colorado and Iowa played each other in last year’s Sweet 16 as Clark scored 31 points in the Hawkeye win. When the all-time leading NCAA scorer was asked by reporters how Iowa deals with the extra attention she said, “It’s something we have embraced over the course of the last 2 years. If you want to play at the highest level and have the spotlight on us, it’s something that comes along with it. At the same time, we just have fun with it, we’ve never lost the fun or the joy of playing this game. We don’t want this to end. We want one more practice, we want one more game. That’s what allows us to play our best basketball.”
After Friday’s Sweet 16 games, the Week to Week Notes Sweet 16 Bracket now has 5 Count It’s and 3 I Failed X’s. Today is a preview of the Elite 8 Matchups set to play on Sunday. Yesterday’s Note has the preview for today’s Elite 8 matchups.
South
(4) Duke vs (11) NC State
Duke and North Carolina State have already danced twice in this March alone. The long-time ACC Rivals tipped off in both the regular season and ACC Tournament, with each school splitting a game. In total, these two programs have played each other 172 times with Duke winning 99 of the matchups. NC State has been lights out now since the start of their do-or-die ACC Tournament run. While they have been finding new leading scorers along the way, Mohamed Diarra at center has consistently been getting boards. In his last 7 games, Diarra has averaged 13.7 rebounds per game. In last night’s win over Marquette, it was SG DJ Horne’s turn to play hero. Horne led the team in scoring with 19 as 3 of them came on a pivotal 2nd-half shot-clock buzzer-beater. The senior guard had 18 points in their win over Duke in the ACC Tournament while being held to only 8 in their previous matchup. Duke pulled off an upset of their own by beating Houston in a nail-biter. The Blue Devils held the Cougars to just 2 3-pointers made on 8 attempts while hitting 6 3s of their own. That pretty much summed up the deciding factor in their 54-51 win. Senior guard Jeremy Roach scored 14 clutch points, all of them coming in the 2nd half of the game. In their win over NC State in early March, Roach scored 21. When Duke lost in the ACC Tournament to the Wolfpack, he only had 5. Seems like the DJ Horne vs Jeremy Roach matchup may decide this Elite 8 fate. I’ll go with the Wolfpack.
Midwest
(1) Purdue vs (2) Tennessee
Purdue and Tennessee have only danced in March once and it was in the Sweet 16 of ‘19. In that game, Carsen Edwards scored 29 points to help Purdue beat Grant Williams and the Vols. The 2 would later be teammates with the Celtics. Purdue on Friday night got some great performances out of their big and little. Zach Edey once again dominated in the post, scoring 27 points with 14 rebounds. His PG, Braden Smith (who makes the entrance pass in the GIF), also played great as he scored 14 points to go with 15 assists and 8 rebounds. During this tournament, Smith now has 31 assists to just 5 turnovers, good for an elite 5.2 assist-to-turnover ratio. The Volunteers were able to outphysical Creighton on Friday night. Tennessee had 12 offensive rebounds to Creighton’s 7. Senior guard, Dalton Knecht, led the Vols in scoring with 24 points and is now averaging 21.7 points per game in the tournament. Tennessee’s forwards, Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka will be asked to hold their own against Zach Edey. It will be a very tough task considering they are both about half a foot shorter than the Purdue big man. The Volunteers have a starting lineup of 4 guards so their only hope will be to spread the Boilermakers out on defense and to make a bunch of 3s. I’ll stick with Purdue in this one.
Today’s tune is Mary’s Pub by Amble. Earlier this month, my sister recommended that I listen to the new Irish folk band. They consist of Robbie Cunningham of County Sligo, Ross McNerney of County Longford, and Oisin McCaffrey of County Leitrim. The 3 lads met just in the last year or so in Dublin, “We genuinely did just meet through music, we’re all from different counties (Sligo, Leitrim, and Longford). About a year ago, me and Robbie started singing our own songs in Dublin. And then we went to record one, and essentially said ‘Let's try and get Ross McNerney in here to play because he's a freak’”, McCaffrey told Longford Live.
Mary’s Pub was the first song I listened to from them and it drew me in right away. Why I’m pretty confident that more people will love this tune is that my dad loves it. My father enjoys Johnny Cash, Bob Marley, U2, The Pogues, anything made before 1987, and under-the-radar Nashville Country artists that you’d see on the sidestreets away from Broadway Street (unless it’s at the Honky Tonk). On the Uber ride home with my parents & aunt Carmel from the annual Davis Family Party at The Tailor Public House on Saint Patrick’s Day Eve, I had a shotgun with the aux. The first song I went with was Revival. by Zach Bryan, didn’t get much reaction. Then I went with some RKS because my uncle Michael had been listening to them with a bottle of Jameson 30 inches from the stove, and it drew a bit of a reaction. So I threw this on and about 30 seconds into the opening verse my dad said, “Thomas, will you turn the up a little louder.” He then turned to my mom and said, “Now this is a serious chune.” The fact that my sister and dad even indirectly agree on something is a miracle in itself, so yeah, this song feels like the right one to close out the Irish tunes of March ‘24.
The opening verse describes a guy and girl standing outside Mary’s Pub. The girl the guy is with offers him a cigarette and he lightly puts it between his lips. She then gives him a lighter. After this first drag with her, something in him changes, and for that moment in time, sparks fly.
The chorus in this is amazing. It draws you into the story. They sing in a few times so we’ll get more context to the story after each verse. To me, paired with Verse 1, this means she’s asking him out he deals with sadness. He thinks about her because it makes him happy as a fool.
Cantered here is a great new vocabulary word. It means to move in a direction. Phil Lynott was the frontman of the Irish band Thin Lizzy. He has a statue in Dublin on Harry Street, just a block from Mary’s Bar & Hardware (Mary’s Pub). The [?] lyric that RapGenius can’t figure out seems to be scobe, which is Irish slang for what we Yanks would call a degenerate. So I guess this describes the couple walking by some scobe drunk looking foolish Stumblin’ Along. The couple shares a laugh as they walk down the cobble street.
So paired with Verse 2, this chorus describes the two of them watching the scene of the night go by. Sounds like they are living in the moment and don’t want the night to end. She’s asking him out he deals with sadness. He thinks about her because it makes him happy as a fool.
Buskers are street performers so their night has drifted to Grafton Street in Dublin. He tried being smooth grabbing her finger. Instead, she dragged him into a pub where they went for one, danced, and talked.
Paired with Verse 3, the chorus seems to insinuate he’s comfortable with her asking about anything. He’s an open book. She’s asking him out he deals with sadness. He thinks about her because it makes him happy as a fool.
Verse 4 describes a man from Skibbereen, County Cork. He just finished his last pint, went to pay the bill, and could see the glow the couple was giving off—quite a compliment.
Paired with Verse 4, we’re now getting more and more details on their nice night out in Dublin. Sadly it seems like the night is about to end. She’s asking him out he deals with sadness. He thinks about her because it makes him happy as a fool.
In Verse 5, we finally get some more details about her. She’s leaving Dublin, which provides a ton of context as to how the choruses are written. I have 2 theories as to what this song is about. The 1st logical theory I had when I first heard it was it’s a night out where 2 strangers share some beautiful moments that’ll last a lifetime. She is in love with someone else back in Amsterdam. My 2nd theory is a bit more romanticized. It involves the narrator of the tune as the guy stationed far away that she loves no matter if they’re apart.
Sidenote: I honestly might email officialamble@gmail.com to get to the bottom of this.
I guess it doesn’t really matter which theory is right because the two of them shared a night they’ll always remember forever. She’s asking him out he deals with sadness. He thinks about her because it makes him happy as a fool.
Sidenote: I love all kinds of music, but songs like this should get a bit more play. Folk music may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but tunes like this one are my favorites. I’m a bit of a softie at heart, don’t tell anybody that. Thanks.