This is an example of how sports — even commercialized pro sports — can surprise and delight us. The Pistons were welcoming the Oklahoma City Thunder to their Motor City home on Sunday. Detroit’s record was 5-40, and OKC’s was an impressive 32-13 and they were riding a 5-game winning streak. Classic mismatch, right? On top of which, our star Cade Cunningham, was back on the bench nursing an injured knee.
So what happens? We pound the crap out of them for a 120-104 win. Detroit was down by 7 after the first quarter but scored an amazing 46 points in the second to take a nine-point lead into halftime. And we outscored them in both the 3rd and 4th quarters. Bravo, gentlemen.
The poem in today’s Writer’s Almanac is called “Eager,” and it’s by Kim Garcia.
Above the snow, a single maple holding forth
its dying flame. Among the feats of Nature:
the wild
greening from dry bulb, sour alchemy of rot, a rusty
handprint of lichen;
the eager
space-seeking species springing up after fire,
as though they took no lesson from destruction
but to begin again, twice as joyful.
The puzzle was good today with a jaunty theme. The “revealer” was at 63A: ”Bodies of advisory experts … or, when reinterpreted as an imperative, a hint to 17-, 24-, 38- and 52-Across.” The answer was THINK TANKS, but you were supposed to read it as an order to think about different types of tanks. And the theme answers were: COMBAT VEHICLE (the most obvious); SLEEVELESS TOP (a “tank” top); HOLDS WATER (a water tank); and DROPS LIKE A STONE (when something “tanks,” or fails). The clue for SLEEVELESS TOP was sharp: ”Garment that may have spaghetti straps.”
Here’s one of my tax students modeling spaghetti straps for us. That’s a good color for you, Ms. Camilli. Thanks!
Owl Chatter friend Miriam Webster treated us to a special gift today, knowing how much we enjoy a fine ale in the evening. Nine unusual words related to beer.
An aleconner, in England, is a town official in charge of tasting and testing beer and ale. He also had the power to bring a brewer to court who had beer or ale to sell, but refused to sell it to his neighbors.
An egghot is a hot drink consisting of beer and eggs sweetened and seasoned with nutmeg. No, thank you.
A nuncheon is a light snack between breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner consisting of bread, cheese, and beer.
A rumfustian is a hot drink composed of strong beer, wine, gin, egg yolks, sugar, and spices. Ooooh — not for me.
A shandygaff, also known as a shandy, is beer diluted with a non-alcoholic drink such as lemonade.
Taplash is weak or stale beer. I’ve become obsessed with freshness for my beer. I check the “packaged on” or “best by” date and only buy fresh. I had a terrible experience with a fancy ale I splurged on that was way over its date (I hadn’t checked when I bought it) and it tasted terrible. I ended up dumping it out. On the other hand, I had an ale last month on niece Tamar’s farm that was months past its date and it was fine. So, go figure. But when buying now I don’t take the risk. If I can’t find a date, I won’t buy it, or I ask the seller if he or she can help me locate it.
Cock ale. It’s ale fermented with fruits, spices, and the jelly of mincemeat of a boiled cock. I was going to just tip-toe away from this one, for obvious reasons, but I must share this recipe from Eliza Smith, The Compleat Housewife (1729). (Pam — I think you should make it.)
To make Cock Ale. Take ten gallons of Ale, and a large Cock, the older the better, parboil the Cock, flea him, and stamp him in a stone mortar till his Bones are broken (you must craw and gut him when you flea him), then put the Cock into two quarts of Sack, and put to it three pounds of Raisins of the Sun stoned, some blades of Mace, and a few Cloves; put all these into a Canvas-bag, and a little before you find the Ale has done working, put the Ale and Bag together into a Vessel; in a Week or nine days time bottle it up, fill the Bottles but just above the Neck, and give it the same time to ripen as other Ale.
Yup — I think I’m going to give it a lot of time to ripen. And then throw it out.
Lamb’s wool. A sugared and spiced hot ale beverage containing the pulp of roasted apples.
Posset. A hot drink of sweetened and spiced milk curdled with ale or wine.
Burp!
“I’m blanking on what I came in here to tell you.”
The above brief video needs to be addressed. I don’t think Taylor has anything to worry about.
First, you may notice something odd. The Chiefs are going through their pre-game warmups but Justin Tucker, kicker for the Ravens, is right there among them. What gives? This is Tucker talking:
“The way it works is each team’s kicker goes to the other team’s designated warmup area on the field. For me, it’s usually 90 minutes before kickoff. I’ve been doing the exact same thing for 12 years, never really had a problem with anybody. That’s just kind of the way we’ve always done it and the way kickers around the league have always done it. I saw Patrick there trying to warm up and get some dropbacks.
Here’s where it starts to get dicey.
“He asked me while I was on the ground stretching, if I could move my helmet. So I happily got up and I moved my helmet out of the way. At least, I think it was enough out of the way. And then Travis comes over and just kicks my stuff and he throws my helmet. I just thought it was all some gamesmanship, all in good fun. But it seemed to be taken a little more seriously.”
The sentence in italics about Travis makes him sound like an a*hole. And, of course, Taylor can’t be going out with someone like that. But that’s not how Owl Chatter sees the incident. (And former player and commentator Pat McAfee agrees.) As noted above, QB Mahomes was doing his “dropbacks” in the area. He can’t have stuff on the ground near him — he could trip over it. So Travis moved it away for safety. You can see he wasn’t angry or annoyed: just clearing the area. We don’t see the slightest hint of a*holism at play. It’s all cool, Tay.
Hey, on a related note, did you know that Travis’s coach, Andy Reid, knows Taylor’s dad and met Taylor too, years ago? Taylor’s dad Scott Swift played football at U. Delaware and is a big Eagles fan. So he (and Taylor) met Reid back when Reid was coaching the Eagles. Taylor grew up on a Christmas tree farm in West Reading, PA, not far from Philly. When she first met Travis she said, “Hey, I know your coach.”
Here are Taylor and her dad.
My favorite Rex commenter, egsforbreakfast, shared with us that he’s on a vacation in Austria but wound up in the hospital with a bad case of bronchitis. Many in the commentariat wished him well. Here’s what one fellow wrote:
“I think I personally am less interested in you getting out of there than I am in hearing a description of your nurses. I am assuming tall, blonde, capable of yodeling, lederhosen, mugs of beer rather than saline drips, possibly an Alpenhorn in tow? And the female nurses are even prettier?”
Are you crazy about a Mercury? Owl Chatter friend and guitar aficionado Gladstone Chris tipped us off to another version of “Mercury Blues.” This one’s by Johnny Hiland. It’s worth a listen, for sure. (Turn it up.)
We’ll let Johnny play us off tonight. See you tomorrow, everybody!
The Wellington Files 