Last Week’s Game

Seth: Watching this team seems like the exact opposite of what you wrote about with your daughter Claire and the Islanders. People aren’t getting healthy (they’re getting more injured) and this team isn’t necessarily playing its best ball, losing close games and simply not able to finish. Or maybe this is exactly like the Islanders with two games to play. Maybe this team has their absolute best in them with two games remaining. So, like you opened floor to me, I open the floor to you to tackle two subjects. Trying to rationalize how this team (perhaps a tough task) is competing and your daughter’s final summer playing basketball before her senior season. I know you poured your heart out in that piece, so I’m not asking for a summary of that story, but this has got to be a tough time for you as see these windows close, and some others are opening all at the same time.

Travis: Even with their current struggles, I still really like this team. And I hate that Kingsbury can’t seem to catch a break and be able to be judged when he has a healthy starting QB. Of course, this is football so injuries are part of the game, but it’s an entirely different offense when Bowman is healthy. I think Duffy played pretty well on Saturday but those redzone turnovers were devastating and most likely the difference in the game.

But this team has proven to be resilient and I think they will show that over these next few weeks. I feel like their best football is still ahead of them, and that’s a good place to be.

Suburban Gangsters

Travis: As for Claire- it’s been a thrilling, gut-wrenching ride. There have been so many tears and laughs over the last few weeks it’s hard to describe. Her club team is such a tight knit group of kids and all of our families are so close that it just made for a special time and I tried to capture that in the story I wrote. Her high school team is good, but it’s not the same type of bond, primarily because they don’t spend as much time together. Her mom and I are hoping they can get to that point because this is her senior year and we want her to enjoy it, above all else. It’s a bit of a struggle right now but hopefully they can work through it.

But with all that said, it’s still a great ride. She should be deciding on where she wants to play in college in the next few weeks (she wants to get it over with so she can concentrate on the season) and we’ll take it from there.

And my favorite thing this week is this interview the Express News did with her after she scored 22 points and 11 rebounds in their opening game of the tournament. I only wish she still played the fiddle so she could learn “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” and/or the Mad Men theme.

Seth: That’s great and I’m super excited for Claire to make her decision regarding her college choice.

The Best Thing Ever

Seth: My best thing ever this week is something that I hope I don’t see for a while, which is more rain, but this 4k video of rain rolling in and out is pretty spectacular.

Random Top Five

Travis: So let’s go with top 5 dog breeds:

1. Pug (I bet we both have this)
2. Bassett Hound. My Bassett named Walter was awesome.
3. Lab. Super smart but not too bright if that makes sense.
4. Dachshund. They’re just so much fun to watch,
5. Our mutt Stella. She’s a mix of several breeds and really enjoys knocking my phone out of my hand.

Seth: Well, I’m going to surprise you a bit in my list, but not too much.

1. Mutt – By far the best dog. The most loyal. All of our mutts have been the best.
2. Pug – Our pug is lazy, always hungry, stinky, and perfect.
3. Carolina Dog – I’m all but convinced that the dog that we got a couple of summers ago was a mutt is actually a Carolina Dog. She basically looks like a fawn version of a German Shepherd, but not as big (40 pounds or so), she likes to eat bugs, very affectionate, still pees in the house, digs numerous holes in the backyard, and is perfect.
4. Labs – I had a sweet puppy named Rage (it was ironic) that died way too young, but Labs are great.
5. German Shepherd – We had one growing up and he was great.

This Week’s Game

Seth: And now, we’ve got the Fightin’ Snyders this week. The thing that I’m absolutely terrified about is that the K-State team knows that this is likely Snyder’s last game, that they’re going to go play their absolute tail off for him and carry him out of the stadium on their shoulders celebrating his career. This scenario is absolutely haunting me and the thought of stopping potentially a highly motivated K-State team bothers me to no end. Without this emotional attachment, Texas Tech is a far superior team, especially on offense.

Travis: Yeah, it seems like we always get K-State at either their peak or when they have everything on the line. I see a lot of ball control and a big, lumbering QB that rambles around for 4 yards on every play and they just eat up the clock. I think the saving grace for us is our punter, our FG kicker (I just threw up in my mouth a little) and a defense that’s capable of getting some stops.

Game Predictions

Seth: If I’m just judging this thing based off of talent, Texas Tech should win 35-20 or something like that.

Travis: I’m sure it’ll be an emotional game but I see Tech getting a win 31-24 or something like that.