Jay Wright = The Latest G.O.A.T. and…
So, I’m at my gate at O’Hare Airport listening to the latest – just released – CJ Box’s “Joe Pickett Adventure” – The Disappeared when…
Wait… I’d better go back a few days. Last week we were at “da Beach” at our favorite sound-front cottage at Emerald Isle. Weather was not quite Chamber of Commerce bragging quality but that’s the risk you take for “shoulder season” rates.
I had a chance to get together with “one of CNR’s boys” from his days coaching Indiana high school basketball. Not just “any of CNR’s boys” but “the best I ever had at leading the fast break…”
We compared notes on our legendary mythical friend… connecting a few dots… especially the one when “Coach” found a 10’ ladder for Dr. Naismith at the Springfield YMCA. Had it been a 12’ ladder, how different would the game of basketball had been. Only David Thompson and Manute Bol could have dunked…
From Emerald Isle we headed up north to Madison WI. What with “da Pope” not sure if there is / is not “a Hell” we figured we needed to hedge our bets with Babies Ruthie & Scout… so we had them baptized just in case. Daddy Danny performed the ceremony… “his first” as well as “their first”. Our first as grandparents. The little miracles were quite the stars of the show.
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And that brings me to that departure gate at O’Hare Airport… The Disappeared is #18 in CJ Box’s Joe Pickett Adventures. It came out last week. I downloaded it immediately. Many of you have already discovered The Family Pickett & Friends. It is my favorite book series. There are a number tied at #2.
Joe is a game warden in Wyoming who is forever encountering bad guys of every variety on the “two-tracks” of rural Wyoming.
Ably assisted by wife MaryBeth and Nate The Master Falconer, Joe manages to prevail despite a lack of super powers and tendency to wreck a succession of state-issued pick-up trucks. Joe is apolitical but continually harassed by bureaucratic demons of every ilk.
When reading you know when you are running out of pages… when listening as I do, it’s the timer that shows you how many minutes/seconds left.
With only four minutes of the original 11 hours left… the body count of “bad guys” was almost complete. “Nate” always has unique ways of disposing of “bad guys”… the 3-4 intersecting plot lines had intersected … well, all but one…
Joe has been detained by a Wyoming LEO and being driven to an unknown location with his fate TBD … with just 45 seconds left ???
The LEO’s phone rings. He hands it to Joe. “It’s for you”.
The next sentence revealing the caller IS PERFECT. I blurted out “YES” drawing the quizzed looks of everyone within 20’ of me at the O’Hare departure gate.
Who calls Joe would mean nothing to non-Joe Pickett fans… and would spoil a GREAT READ for many of you who are Joe Pickett fans.
I immediately message author C.J. Box with a hearty KUDOS for a perfect ending.
Five minutes later I get a “like”, a retweet, and a “thanks” from C.J. hisownself.
LIFE is good!
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Yes, I did watch the Nat Champ game Monday night… OK, I only watched the 2nd half. Did not watch either of the semis… nor did I watch any of the Girls’ Basketball games. I understand the girls’ games were “thrillas” with the eeeevil “Geno” being denied yet again.
Apparently Villanova HC Jay Wright has now been crowned the latest G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time, Albert) for winning two of the last three NCs. Whats any big sports event without a heavy overdose of Hyperbole heaped on it. Jay Wright seems like a heckuva fine guy so if he is indeed G.O.A.T. I’m OK with it.
Jay HAS NOT revealed his deep thoughts on HB2 or The 2ndA.
“Donte” the 6’5” Richie Cunningham off-the-bench is the first Cauc to be a Final Four MVP since Bill Bradley in 1964. That is not official. Tuesday AM USA Today reported when Donte was 14 he tweeted a rap lyric that contained “the N word”. CNN, MSNBC, Maxine Waters and Hogg-Boy are all demanding MVP Donte be skinned alive on the front steps of The Palestra or wherever Villanova plays.
I wonder… does Villanova have “an IPF”? Larry Fedora says a school HAS to have one “to be competitive”.
Does the Villanova locker room have individual hot tubs and smoothie machines for each player? I bet it does not.
Has Villanova EVER had a One-and-Done? I bet not.
Has Jay Wright EVER had a Top Twenty recruiting class? I think not again.
… HOW CAN THIS BE???
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Oh… great little story while I was at “da Beach”. Maybe you heard that retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stephens said “the 2nd Amendment should be repealed”. He really did say that.
So, I tweeted:
“Sounds like John Paul has been nipping at the special prune juice that Ruth Buzzi Ginsberg keeps in her desk drawer.”
NOTE: Ruth “Buzzi” Ginsberg is a nickname that Rush Limbaugh 
stuck on Ruth Bader Ginsberg over 25 years ago… Pure Genius – for her uncanny resemblance to the character that Ruth Buzzi played on Laugh-In… with the tight bun, backward hair net, etc.
Ten minutes after I posted that Tweet, I get a “like” from….
The Ruth Buzzi herownself.
Is THAT COOL OR WHAT?
Ruth Buzzi , 81, is retired living on a ranch in North Texas… and “likes” me on Twitter.
I have NEVER promoted my Twitter presence – @bobleesays – so I only have a paltry 670+ Follows. Hellfire, I figured most of you Baby Boomers would not know “Twitter” if it showed up on your doorstep buck nekkid with a plate of cookies… so why bother.
No false humility… I AM quite a clever little debbil with those 280 characters. Sure, most of my Tweets are of a certain partisan political ilk… DUH!
If you are so inclined or just curious, it is @bobleesays.
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Too many helmet to helmets, I must’ve put “Dollar Bill” himself into the head count. Now…have you ever read Bradley’s, “A Sense of Where You Are”?
Yes… many years ago. Crystal City, Missouri. BB might be the only FF MOP not on either finals team.
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Last week I met Coach’s “best fast break leader EVER” … Indiana HS basketball 1975.
For The Record… Final Four MVPs of the “white guy” persuasion since Bill Bradley in 1965 have been… Bill Walton (’72, ’73)… Kent Benson (’76)… C. Laettner (’91)… B Hurley (’92)… K. Singler (’10)… Luke Hancock (L-ville) (’13)… Ryan Arcidiacono (‘Nova)(’16)… “Donte”(’18).
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You could likely win a slew of bar bets with Luke Hancock and Ryan Arcidiacono.
Not to correct a legend, but Bradley was ’65 and there has been 10 pink fellas to garner MOP since.
Speaking of books, you’ve not reported how you made it out of the A Shau Valley in one piece.
I made the Bradley statement with a degree of reservation. Assume Laettner / Walton were among those other ten.
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Could not “get into” 13th Valley. Listening… all the VN names / places run together. Am just finishing The Outlaw Platoon by Sean Parnell a first-person account of an Army Infantry Platoon’s 18 months at an FOB in Afghanistan. Different terrain from VN but daily stresses likely similar.
Good Morning:
Simply commenting to siphon off some “Ruth Buzzi like” glory. Congratulations.
Have a fine day. The asparagus beds and fruit trees demand my attention. This time of year, when life renews and emerges, with all the promise of another growing season, it is great to be alive.
Thats why they call it “Spring” … 🙂
68, I noticed the TBS broadcast instead of CBS too. We are pondering cutting the cord. I guess this was their gasp at trying to keep a marquee event off the free airwaves. I also would guess the Super Bowl may be next somewhere along the lines. I still didn’t miss a moment of the FF. Especially the Monday game. The older I get, the more difficult it is for me to stay up for a 9:30 tip-off on a work night. . As BL has said, I realize I am not the target audience any longer, so this validates… Read more »
No one seems to know the future of Sports TV or TV in general. Every provider is at the mercy of a consumer mob that likewise has no idea what technology will be like in 6 months… 6 years …
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I’m sure we are not the only ones to notice what type of programs seem to be flourishing…
Since you put me on to the CJ Box series am really enjoying it……looking forward to The Dissappeared. Also, have to say that the performance by Donte was one of the most impressive I have seen in a long time.
BL Glad the little cuties are now “of the faith”. You can tell SIL Danny that he should always be wary of little kids at any function, especially in church. We had a tragic loss in our choir community. One of the member’s daughters was T-boned in Cary and never made it out of ICU and only had a few precious moments with her family. Our minister is multi-talented in that he delivers a good message and is a talented Tenor. After his message, the 12 YO child of the daughter got up, wiped away his tears, and played a… Read more »
I certainly do not fault those who still enjoy watching the games. They can certainly be “thrillas”. For me it was like eating Pringles. I reached a point I didn’t want another one.
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It is cool that Villanova can be a Top Team without all the BLING and One/Dones…
Have not read The Disappeared, but I bet “the phone call” was NOT from Joe’s mother-in-law Missy. That woman is pure evil on a soda cracker.
It was not Missy… Missy is just “in the shadows” in this book. Indeed she is evil. I have Jane Fonda or Donna Mills playing Missy in the Joe Pickett movie.
Donte “The Big Ragu” DiVincenzo or even the Michael Jordan of Rhode Island. I hope either sticks rather than the Tweets of a 14 y/o kid. Well I can hope.
I’m pretty sure that story about Donte’s tweet at 14 was noted in Revelation as a Sign of The Apocalypse.