Border Basketball

Went to the Iowa-Minnesota basketball game at Williams Arena in Minneapolis today, Iowa lost 69-59. The Iowa Hawkeyes have a new coach this season, Fran McCaffrey, and were being outrebounded. When looking at a box score I look at rebounds, fouls, and free throws. The Tom Davis-coached teams were good at rebounding, and won often for this reason. This fact, along with the Nike commercial with Dennis Rodman saying 'also led the league in rebounds' reminded me of the importance of the statistic.
   The Bears-Seahawks game was this afternoon, lucked out on the scheduling since I was able to watch it in full and still make it to the basketball game in time. Though after the game, which the Bears won 35-24, I fell asleep but not for too long. Bears surged ahead early, leading 21-0 at halftime. Liked finding the history of the Bears-Packers rivalry on Wikipedia, the matchup next week. It began in 1921, not played in 1922 and 1982, the latter due to the strike. There have been 6 ties, last time 1953. This game, being a playoff, will of course not be ending in a tie. But since the overtime rule began in 1974 ties are much less common anyway. Three years of one game only, last time 1924. Seven years of 3 games, last time in 1933, if excluding the year of the only previous playoff matchup in 1941. Two games not played in Green Bay or Chicago, in Milwaukee (1974) and Champaign (2002). The Champaign game of course was the year where the Bears had to move while Soldier Field was being renovated. This was the year I attended my first-ever Bears game, saw 3 that season, against the Saints,Lions, and Jets. The Packers did play some games in Milwaukee at County Stadium, since demolished and home to baseball's Braves and Brewers, but not since 1994. I think some of the Milwaukee games had also been played at the state fairgrounds, though playing football at state and county fairgrounds was once fairly common. It may not be a continuous rivalry, but of course has been played more often than any other NFL series, helped by being 2 of the league's oldest franchises and being in the same division.
    In many ways the scheduling for the day reminded me of living in suburban Chicago, as 9 years earlier I watched a Bears playoff game on TV and then left for a Hawkeye basketball game, at Northwestern. I left before the end of the Bears game, but as of the 2-minute warning I knew the Bears had lost to the Eagles. It was the last game before the renovations at Soldier Field.
    I like the song 'Who's That Chick' by Rihanna, heard it on the radio and then looked it up on Youtube. It's nice how a few key words is enough to find a song when searching online. I had adrenalin and just want to dance, along with beating like a drum. The drum part reminded me to look up 'Your Love is My Drug' by Kesha, since one lyric is 'do I make your heart beat like and 808 drum'. I liked a sentiment in the comments, 'music taught me how to live'. This describes me as well. Didn't know the songs of all the musicians mentioned, such as Bruno Mars, or like all of them, such as Taylor Swift and Michael Jackson. But the other three? I knew and liked them. Lady Gaga taught me it's OK to be different, Kesha taught me to be myself and not care what everyone thinks, Eminem taught me that life is hard but you can make it through. It is what drew me to Eminem's music, the movie '8 Mile', since it was a 'diamond in the rough' story. Also found a song featuring Eminem, called 'that's all she wrote' by TI. He did sing something about Mc Donald's and A&W in it.
   I liked the mention of adrenalin in Rihanna's song. I think of two times when I think I was running on pure adrenalin. One time I was being courageous, when I sucker punched a bully that just wouldn't leave me alone, like when George McFly slugged Biff Tannen in 'Back to the Future'. The other time was in college, at a really exciting Hawkeye basketball game vs. Michigan State the day after turning 21. I was hugging people I didn't even know, numerous lead changes, Iowa won 79-78. I was still emotionally at the game long after leaving the arena, my then-roommate could tell. A former roommate called me that night and we talked about the game, he had heard about it and it was what prompted him to call me.