The Super Bowl halftime show featured Bad Bunny with special guests Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. It was great. I loved the dancing, the (real) wedding, and the message. I didn’t know the songs or what he was singing, but the storytelling was clear. He’s not my music, but I’m an old fart. I think the last Super Bowl halftime performance I even think about, years later, was Prince in the rain. Right now, Bad Bunny is one of the biggest musical stars on the planet.
There’s always been alternative halftime shows. This year, the one getting all the attention featured Kid Rock, an artist who has not had a meaningful hit since 2008’s “All Summer Long,” which, incidentally, is just a riff on better songs (Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” and Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London”). I don’t mean to call Kid Rock irrelevant, but he is. The Puppy Bowl probably got better or about the same numbers as the show featuring Kid Rock and a bunch of musicians you’ve never heard of before.
Bad Bunny performed to 120 million people in a language that half the country doesn’t speak fluently, and it worked because the performance was excellent and the moment was genuine. That’s it. The NFL didn’t book him to make a political statement. They booked him because he is an international superstar, and the NFL is trying to expand to other non-American markets. Kid Rock and the people putting on this show are yelling at a cultural shift they don’t like and can’t stop. Too bad. So sad.
As soon as Seattle finally scored their first TD after four field goals, the game was over. New England could not find any rhythm and the Seahawks took it to them defensively.
It wasn’t much of a game, and at one point, Maria asked if I was enjoying myself. I was mostly meh.
I didn’t even think there was a clear commercial winner.
Today is the first day I could legitimately wear a T-shirt or a Polo to work without a coat. I’m sure this is just “Fool’s Spring” and it will get super cold next week. It is nice, so I’ll just take advantage of it and wear my favorite Illinois T-shirt.
“When you write a blog post, you’re creating a standalone document with a permanent URL. It exists at a specific address on the web, and that address doesn’t change based on who’s looking at it, when they’re looking at it, or what algorithm has decided they should see next. The post is there, stable, waiting for whoever wants to find it.” — Joan Westenberg
Use the moments of high motivation to make it easier when you have low motivation.
- When you feel like you should exercise, set out your gym clothes and water bottle so it’s easier to do the next workout.
- When you feel grateful, buy some Thank You cards so it’s easier to write the next Thank You note.
- When you feel the urge to eat healthy, pick a recipe now so you don’t have to decide what to make for the next meal.
Use the occasional burst of motivation to make the next habit easier.
Ayo Dosunmu has been traded to the Timberwolves.
I haven’t been following too closely, but I guess he’s having a pretty good year. The Bulls are in full rebuild mode and are trading all kinds of players. Ayo was posting 15 points, three rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game in a reserve role for the Bulls.
He’ll join Terrance Shannon Jr. on the T-wolves. Cool.
It just means I won’t randomly watch a Bulls game on TV anymore.
My wife has chided me for continually listening to podcasts focused on Illinois sports or politics. Guilty as charged.
To her point, I finally started Remarkably Bright Creatures on audiobook. My wife often finds new books via Instagram Reels. This particular title was among the recommendations and was specifically praised for its audiobook version. She loved the book and could not wait for me to read it so we could talk about it.
I currently have about six hours remaining. So far, it is delightful. I’m enjoying the narration quite a bit. Michael Urie is a standout here.
I have no idea where the story is headed, but I can’t wait to learn more.
With Spring Training on the horizon, Chaim Bloom and the St. Louis Cardinals finally moved Brendan Donovan to the Seattle Mariners in a three-way trade that yielded some prospects and cleared the way for Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker to prove their worth in 2026, and cleared a spot for J.J. Wetherholt to make the show as well.
The Cardinals traded Donovan and received a bundle of five assets for their rebuild: 3 prospects drafted in the 1st-2nd rounds, plus two draft picks that give St. Louis 6 of the first 86 selections in the 2026 MLB Draft. The prospects are Jurrangelo Cijntje, a hard-throwing pitcher who needs work in the minors and to stop with the whole switch-pitcher thing, and outfielders Tai Peete and Colton Ledbetter, who, as I understand it, are still learning how to hit professional pitching.
I guess that’s a good return for two years of Donovan, who was an All-Star, but not really a star. I’m also guessing this completes the offseason moves with Donovan, Sonny Gray, Nolan Arenado, and Willson Contreras all traded.
Bloom has lessened the payroll and broken up the infield logjam. The only players on the Cardinals now making 5 million plus in 2026 are pitcher Dustin May ($12 million) and outfielder Lars Nootbaar ($5.35 million). May is on a one-year deal with a mutual option, while Nootbaar has two years of team control. Both are trade candidates if they’re playing well in July and the Cardinals are out of the playoff picture (and they will be, and they will be traded, zero doubt).
The tank-and-rebuild process grinds on as the Cardinals continue to look toward 2028, because it ain’t happening this year or even the following year. Plus, the strike is coming…
Illinois earned another massive road victory over a Top 5 team on Sunday. The Fighting Illini overran Nebraska 78-69 and flexed their way to another notch on the win streak that currently sits at 11.
I think this Illinois team might be special. They move the ball. Everyone can shoot well from the perimeter. And their defensive chemistry has improved over this win streak. Such a fun team to watch and root for this season.
It was not too long ago that a very good Illinois team hit a wall in March. This group looks capable of powering through. It all depends on the matchups, but as a 2 seed or even a 1 seed, this squad might make a Final Four.
Wouldn’t that be something?
On a related note, I’m loving the fact that Illinois basically is running with either the script Illinois jerseys in white, orange and blue or the Fighting Illini white, orange and blue. I know the Nike graphics are still on tap, but they don’t pop like the script and ’89 team style.
“…since the baseline is now good enough, the app experience and how LLMs are woven into a people’s daily lives and workflows will be the differentiators going forward.” — Frederico Viticci on AI results
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” – John Steinbeck
Illinois basically stiff armed Washington last night to get their tenth win in a row. Sunday at Nebraska will be the next real test. They went undefeated in January. If they beat Nebraska, Michigan State, and Michigan and take care of business the rest of the way, they are getting a 1 seed and winning the Big Ten.
I have high hopes.
Writer-director Rian Johnson has posted many of his scripts on his website. It is a treasure trove for an aspiring writer. You’ll want to download the Benoit Blanc material, but I recommend starting with the Brick screenplay/novella combo PDF. It’s beautiful.
“I think it is more difficult these days to define what makes a good citizen than it has ever been before. Certainly all any of us can do is follow our own conscience and retain faith in our democracy. Sometimes it is the very people who cry out the loudest in favor of getting back to what they call “American Virtues” who lack this faith in our country. I believe that our greatest strength lies always in the protection of our smallest minorities.” – Charles Schulz, Letter to a 10-year-old fan, 9th November 1970
Well, that was a hellava Saturday. I’m still a little stunned.
Keaton Wagler put together one of the greatest scoring performances in college basketball history:
• It was the most points scored in a road win over a top-10 opponent in AP poll history.
- His 46 points were the most against a top-10 team since Malik Monk scored 47 against #7 North Carolina on Dec. 17, 2016.
- Wagler’s 46 points were the most against a top-5 team on the road since Buddy Hield dropped 46 points for Oklahoma in a loss at #1 Kansas on Jan. 4, 2016.
• Set the Illinois freshman single-game scoring record.
- Broke the previous record of 35 points set by Giorgi Bezhanishvili in OT vs. Rutgers on Feb. 5, 2019.
- Scored the most points by any freshman in a Big Ten game since at least 2010-11.
• Tied the second-most points in the 121-year history of Illini Basketball:
- 53 – Dave Downey at Indiana, Feb. 16, 1963 + T2. 46 – Keaton Wagler at #4 Purdue, Jan. 24, 2026 + T2. 46 – Andy Kaufmann in 2OT vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Dec. 3, 1990
• Set the Mackey Arena scoring record for a visiting player.
- Broke the previous record of 39 by Willie Humes of Idaho State on Dec. 11, 1969 and equaled by Sam Vincent of Michigan State on Jan. 10, 1985.
• Scored the most points by an Illini in a road game vs. a top-5 team since at least 2010-11.
- Became the first Illinois player to score 40+ against a top-5 opponent since Brandon Paul’s 43 points vs. #5 Ohio State on Jan. 10, 2012.
• Posted the first 40-point game by an Illini since Terrence Shannon Jr.’s 40-point outing in the Big Ten Tournament vs. Nebraska on March 16, 2024.
• Set the Illinois school record with nine 3-pointers.
- Broke the previous record of eight treys, which was achieved six times, most recently by Terrence Shannon Jr. vs. UCLA on Nov. 18, 2022. + His 81.8% 3-point field goal percentage ranks as the eighth-best mark by a freshman in program history.
• His 13 field goals are tied for the second-most by a freshman in program history.
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- 14 – Giorgi Bezhanishvili in OT vs. Rutgers, Feb. 9, 2019 + T2. 13 – Keaton Wagler at #4 Purdue, Jan. 24, 2026 + T2. 13 – Deon Thomas in 2OT vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Dec. 3, 1990
• His 11 free throws are tied for the fifth-most by a freshman in program history.
• Scored in double figures for the 12th consecutive game and for the 17th time overall this season.
- Averaging 20.1 ppg during that stretch.
• Hit at least one 3-pointer in 19 of the first 20 games of his collegiate career, the most games with a triple on the team this season.
• Led the Illini in scoring for the team-leading seventh time this season.
• Scored the Illini’s first 14 points of the night and 24 of the Illini’s 39 first-half points.
- Broke his career-high in scoring with nine seconds remaining in the first half.
“That’s him. He just plays. He just hoops. There’s nothing that fazes him. He just wants to make the right basketball play. Tonight it happened to be scoring it. It’s just his personality. He’s so stoic. He’s very non-emotional. He’s excited, yes. His teammates were thrilled. That’s the beauty of Keaton. The most impressive thing is he takes the emotion out of it. In a venue with 15,000 people all against him and he just plays. He took what the game gave him.” – Illinois head coach Brad Underwood on Keaton Wagler’s 46-point performance against Purdue
“I have one piece of advice: if you read a book you love, tell other people about it. Tell them face-to-face. In your groupchat. On social media. Even on Goodreads. Every book is a lottery ticket, but the bezzlers are buying their tickets by the case: every time you tell someone about a book you loved (and even better, why you loved it), you buy a writer another ticket.” — Corey Doctorow
I watched The Rip last night and thought it was an entertaining couple of hours.
It’s a good heist movie. I love a good heist movie. It’s not exceptional, but it’s entertaining as hell and, frankly, rips. You could not ask for a better cast for a bottled up, tense whodunnit of an action movie. You couldn’t. It’s absurd, and that’s not even factoring in Damon and Affleck — Yeun, Taylor, Sandino Moreno, Chandler. C’mon.
It’s not Heat good because nothing can ever touch that movie, but it’s not even trying to do anything close to Heat.
I didn’t see many of the twists coming; maybe they were obvious, but not to me, or maybe I was too caught up in the action, the tension, and the pace to care. I did catch the various numbers given to the team about how much money they might actually find, and I knew that would come back into the story. The phone books were a good touch.
Andrej Stojakovic, in his previous stops, was the primary everything. At Illinois, he doesn’t have to do that. However, with Kylan Boswell out with a broken hand, he will have to step up and carry the load. The good thing is this Illinois team can score. A lot.
They have the best offense in all of college basketball, but the most encouraging thing about them over the last month has been the improvements they’ve made on defense since the Nebraska game. That’s why they’ve won eight in a row, and that’s why I’m getting excited. That’s why I want to believe. This team might be special.
It’s the next ten games that are the true gauntlet. In those games, we will learn if this team is special or not quite. It culminates in a February 27 Friday night home game against Michigan. In a month, we will know just how special this team will be. I cannot wait to find out.
For a lot of my life, I had a very strong attachment to being right. I didn’t realize it, but it aggravated friends and family. I couldn’t see it, because I was so focused on being right.
Have you noticed this need to be right in yourself? If so, you might reflect on what it feels like when you notice it in others.
Along the same lines, I often feel the need to act like I know what I’m doing or what I’m talking about. This gets in the way of learning from other people, or letting myself be a beginner who doesn’t know what I’m doing. It also … tends to be aggravating to people around me!
Do you notice your need to look like you know what you’re doing or what you’re talking about?
I don’t have the answers to these things … but I find myself practicing letting go. The need to be right or know things feels like tightness in my body. Letting go feels like relaxing that and not needing to appear any way to anyone.
What I’m left with is a more vulnerable place of not knowing. I don’t know if I’m right, I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t know much at all. But I’m open.
Let me admit I’m not always in this place of not knowing. I still have my attachments. That said, I find it much more interesting to be in the not knowing.
Would you be willing to be in that too?
I like this very much and need to incorporate it into my life.