About 1986-1989 years ago, Jesus entered Jerusalem this week to set in motion a course of events that would change the world forever.

Whether you believe in Jesus’s divinity or not, one can not argue that almost 2,000 years ago this week, the events that took place in Jerusalem the week leading up to Passover would forever alter human history.

The Old City is but just a few mere square miles in size that would have been filled with 300,000+ people there for the festival. It would have been a difficult time for all. Jews angry with their Roman oppressors. And Jewish leadership angry that a man who rode upon a donkey into town challenged their authority. Both had a clear motive to rid the town of Jesus and keep the peace.

It is clear he was turned over, by His own prophecy, to face torment and torture that we really can’t imagine. His death, the ultimate sacrifice fulfilled prophecy from generations past. His sacrifice, spawning a new covenant with God. One that sets apart Christianity from all other religions of the world.

In one week the Earth was created and in one week, about 1989 years ago, our world changed for the better. He entered Jerusalem humbly and confidently.

There is Good News for all. I hope 2019 is the year that all our hearts soften and open to let the Holy Spirit share the story of hope and love. Death was defeated, it was finished this week, centuries ago.

He is Risen. Happy Easter HROT!

You can tell who the male game announcer was for the whole game. Sad and Disgusting. Yes Angel had a good game but Caitlin was at another level. Really like Lobo, she seems fair and balanced. Will be interesting if she does the Iowa vs. UConn game


Those three ladies in the studio talked over each other all night. I changed the channel at half-time, couldn't handle it. C'mon ESPN, you can do better.

N/M

Is this a case of "where there's smoke, there's fire"?

• Friends with convicted rapist, Danny Masterson
• Friends with P. Diddy, accused of sexual assault, trafficking and narcotics dealing
• Ashton 20, Mila 14 during filming of That 70s Show
• Weird open-door policy in home (bathrooms included)
• Backlash for tweets in poor taste regarding the firing of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
• Ashton Kutcher and Ashley Ellerin murder
• Co-Founder of Thorn: Defend Children from Sexual Abuse (front?)

6:15pm ESPN

Rocky vs Drago
Dorthy vs The Wicked Witch
Batman vs The Joker

Call it whatever you want, tonight is the biggest game, most anticipated college basketball game of the year. Grab your popcorn and enjoy the show!

84-77 hawks

Aren't we going a little overboard here? It was just a basketball game. It was a big matchup featuring a rematch of last years national championship game. It featured a few of the biggest stars in the game.

It wasn't transcendent. It wasn't magical or anything else. Stop putting women's basketball up on a pedestal. It's just basketball.

Adam, Ross and I breakdown Caitlin Clark and Iowa's 94-87 win over LSU in Monday night's Elite Eight, and we preview the Final Four vs. UConn

PODCAST:

A woman who spent three days in a Texas jail in 2022 after a murder charge was wrongly brought against her for what officials described as a “self-induced abortion” is suing the county and its top prosecutors.

Lizelle Gonzalez, then 26, had gone to a hospital in early 2022 after taking an abortion pill while 19 weeks pregnant. The next day, when no fetal heartbeat was detected, she underwent a Caesarean section to deliver, according to a new lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Texas law at the time banned abortions after six weeks and allowed anyone to sue a person for performing or helping someone get the procedure. But state law also exempts women from facing criminal charges for aborting pregnancies.

Still, in a move that drove intense national attention to the remote Starr County, District Attorney Gocha Ramirez (D) in April 2022 charged Gonzalez with murder. Ramirez decided to drop the charge three days later and has since faced disciplinary action, but the case “forever changed” Gonzalez’s life, her court filing states, noting that her mug shot surfaced online within hours of her arrest.


The lawsuit accuses Starr County, Ramirez and Alexandria Barrera, an assistant district attorney, of providing “false information and recklessly misrepresented facts” to pursue the murder charge.
Ramirez and Barrera did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday evening and attempts to reach Starr County’s attorney were unsuccessful. Ramirez, when announcing the decision to clear the charge in April 2022, said in a statement that the issues surrounding the case were “clearly contentious, however based on Texas law and the facts presented, it is not a criminal matter,” adding that “it is clear to me that the events leading up to this indictment have taken a toll” on Gonzalez.

Gonzalez’s attorneys described the charge against her as a “flagrant violation” of her civil rights, adding in a statement that it “cannot be regarded as a mere ‘mistake.’” Gonzalez filed the lawsuit “not only to vindicate her rights but also to hold the government officials who violated them accountable,” the statement said.


When news of Gonzalez’s arrest broke in April 2022, abortion rights groups questioned the charge and raised concerns about other people in Texas seeking abortions at a time when many Republican-led states were moving to restrict the procedure in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s consideration of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that summer.
Officials offered few details on the case, including whether Gonzalez — then Lizelle Herrera — had an illegal abortion or had helped someone else get one.

Gonzalez went to a hospital in Starr County on Jan. 7, 2022, after using Cytotec, also known as misoprostol, “purportedly to induce an abortion,” according to the lawsuit. She was not having contractions and an exam found a fetal heart rate, the lawsuit states.

She was discharged the next day and was told to follow up in four days, the complaint states.


But 40 minutes after she was discharged, Gonzalez was rushed to the hospital with abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding, according to the lawsuit. She was given another exam, which showed there was “no fetal cardiac activity” and she had undergone an “incomplete spontaneous abortion,” the document states. She then had a C-section.

Hospital staff later reported the “self-induced abortion” to Ramirez’s office, the lawsuit alleges. Ramirez had been serving as Starr County’s district attorney since January 2021.
On March 30, 2022, Ramirez and Barrera presented the murder charge to a grand jury, according to the lawsuit, and Gonzalez was arrested a week later “despite the plain and concise language” of the Texas law prohibiting criminal homicide charges against women who abort their pregnancies. The filing also alleges that neither the Starr County Sheriff’s Office nor the Rio Grande City Police Department investigated the case before Gonzalez was arrested. Neither agency responded to requests for comment Monday evening.


Gonzalez was taken to a hospital while she was in jail, according to the lawsuit. Cecilia Garza, an attorney for Gonzalez, told The Post on Monday that her client had experienced “anxiety as a result of the charge and arrest.”

Ramirez moved to dismiss the murder charge three days after Gonzalez’s arrest. The day before, he also told her attorney that she should never have been charged, The Washington Post previously reported. In a separate message to an acquaintance that was reviewed by The Post, Ramirez wrote: “I’m so sorry. I assure you I never meant to hurt this young lady.”
The State Bar of Texas recently concluded an investigation that found that Ramirez had supervised the criminal homicide charge being brought against “an individual for acts clearly not criminal.” Ramirez was fined $1,250 and given a one-year probated suspension that began on Monday. During that year, Ramirez can practice law if he complies with the terms of a January settlement with the state bar, the Associated Press reported.
Gonzalez’s lawsuit said that the arrest and charge against her “permanently affected her standing in the community.”
Her filing requests damages, including for lost wages and mental anguish, which the document states exceed $1 million.

I should have believed that the star would shine!

Tuesdays with Torbee​

by:Tory Brecht



A confession: I had near zero faith that Caitlin Clark and the Iowa women’s basketball team could avenge last season’s soul-crushing title game loss to the LSU Tigers.

Monday dawned gray and gloomy in Iowa, matching my outlook for the much-anticipated rematch.

Despite Clark’s heroics, Lisa Bluder’s steady positive leadership, Kate Martin’s tough tenaciousness and other signs that this squad was on a redemptive mission, my belief wavered.

Such is life as a fan of Hawkeye athletics. You get the chair pulled out from under you enough times when the hype rises, you get a bit flinchy. The Rose Bowl against Stanford. The Orange Bowl against USC. Northwestern State. Richmond, for crying-out-loud.

The thought of watching Kim Mulkey, Angel Reese and company celebrate themselves while taunting Iowa for the second time within one calendar year fed the dread. I guess expecting and thus accepting a loss before the ballgame even tipped off was a defense mechanism.

And then SuperClark saved the day.

We had only seen flashes of the truly spectacular Caitlin through the Sweet 16. Lots of dazzling plays, yes. But also, uncharacteristic streaky deep shooting. A little bit of frustrated body language. Especially in the games inside Carver, there was an air of heaviness, a weighing of expectations, which seemed like it might drag her down.

Monday night, she came out with the cape on.

When she let the first three rip and swished it to initiate the scoring, you knew Monday night was going to be different.

Credit to LSU, their championship DNA was evident in their relentless rebounding, athletic blocks of what looked to be easy Iowa layups and a scrappiness reflecting their hard-nosed, bulldog attitude coach. But nothing was going to stop Clark on this night.

For most of the game, Iowa’s supernova star went about her business with the calmness of an assassin. No pouting at missed calls, no palms-up displays of frustration, not much celebration even as dagger three-pointers rained down. Just laser focus and an almost workmanlike dismantling of a dangerous rival.


Watching it live, I was not nearly as stoic. When the Tigers went on their mini first half run and achieved a seven-point lead, I thought a repeat of last year was certain. Iowa managing to tie it up at halftime helped some, but I still paced and worried.

The second half was a triumph of team basketball, orchestrated by a maestro. Clark, Martin and Affolter reminded me so much of Jordan, Pippen and Grant from the Bull’s heyday in the way the superstar set the sidekicks up for their own superlative play. All eyes were on Caitlin, allowing her teammates to shine in support.

The play of the game for me was scrappy Gabbie Marshall – giving up several inches and much bulk – to Angel Reese yet anticipating her move and block/stealing the ball from her during LSU’s final, unsuccessful comeback push.

Yes, the star shone brightest on this night – but it took the entire solar system to bring home the win.

I likely will have more trepidation and doubt as Friday’s Final Four showdown with UCONN – the baddest Big Boss in basketball – draws closer. And then if Iowa somehow manages to beat the OG women’s basketball dynasty, it all likelihood will have to once again vanquish the new dynasty South Carolina Gamecocks.

It seems like an impossible ask.

But Caitlin Clark just may be the ultimate answer.

It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.

Go Hawks!

1. This is a HARD wood.
2. Seems I miss all the fun in Key West, except when the "str8" swingers come down for Fantasy Fest
3. Dude had to be on something besides liquor so in that regard I feel badly for him.
4. Hopefully not a Pepsi



KEY WEST, Fla. – A man dropped his pants and began masturbating after being denied entry into a popular Duval Street bar, according to police.

But he’s facing a felony charge after authorities accused him of subsequently battering a police officer.

Police booked Trey Jacob Dulaney, 28, of Wichita, Kansas, into jail just before 4:30 Thursday morning. He serves in the U.S. Navy, according to an arrest report.

According to the Key West Police Department, police received a call from staff at Rick’s Bar, at 202 Duval St., that Dulaney was being “aggressive” and “disorderly” towards staff and patrons.

Police said officers encountered him on the 500 block of Greene Street after he was refused entry to the nearby Sloppy Joe’s Bar.

They said officers handcuffed Dulaney after he pulled his pants down and began masturbating.

The arrest report states a man inside Sloppy Joe’s told officers he was “shocked” by the act and police wrote that Dulaney’s penis was “exposed for everyone to see in the bar and the surrounding area on Duval Street.”

According to police, as officers walked him to a cruiser, Dulaney “delivered a high kick” to an officer, striking him on the shoulder.

The officer was unhurt and police took Dulaney down, authorities said.

Dulaney was taken to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Key West jail facility on charges of battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest and exposure of sexual organs.

He had not been given a bond as of Thursday morning, according to jail records.

Serious question; I don't know the answer.

Many factors to consider....

Who started the most wars. Who continued those wars? Who dialed the conflicts back? Who ended them?

Whose policies caused death and destruction by proxy or economic devastation, and so on, or by withholding aid?

I will admit I am a johnny come lately to the women's game. I followed it fairly closely for the first time last season, and I have followed it very closely this season. I know she was invited to training camp, but she thankfully has a conflict with the final 4. I believe they will only take 12 players. I think they would be crazy not to take her for game-growth purposes alone, let alone her game play. Who would they leave off the roster if they took her? Do we think that is in the offing?

What percentage confidence are you at that Iowa wins vs the Tigers? And why?

If anyone happens to care. Solid hire by the looks of it.
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After all the drama with LSU coach Kim Mulkey being so upset and threatening legal action over basic print journalism — some of it not even written yet — an actual game between LSU and Iowa broke out Monday.

And what a beauty it was.

Maybe it should have been for the championship and not just to advance to the Final Four of the women’s NCAA Tournament. But the game brought TV viewers by the millions to the hottest sport in the United States.




This is what women’s basketball needed. Maybe the always-feisty Mulkey, resplendent in her kelly-green pantsuit, hair shellacked into a rigid, golden globe, even enjoyed it a bit.

Iowa would surge ahead late en route to a 94-87 victory, and that certainly chilled the fiery coach.

Related

• Caitlin Clark scores 41 against defending champion LSU to lead Iowa back to Final Four

But what a sight she watched while pacing the sideline.

Both teams had superstars doing their thing in the first half, which ended with the score tied at 45.


Iowa’s transcendent Caitlin Clark, as pale, thin and slippery as a land eel, had 19 points and five assists at the break. LSU’s 6-3 Angel Reese, with her Bayou Barbie eyelashes waving like palm fronds, had 13 points, eight rebounds and three assists after two quarters. It was a pity she fouled out in the fourth quarter, but this drama had to end for somebody.

And it wasn’t just the stats that were riveting. It was the pace of the game, continuing all the way to the final tick, and the way the game was played. That is, ferociously, skillfully and, above all, punctuated by the splendor of the long-range three-point shot.

Thank you, Ms. Clark.

She was 9-for-20 on three-pointers, finishing with 41 points, seven rebounds and 12 assists. And she would have had many more assists if her teammates were as good at shooting as she is.



The senior from West Des Moines launched shots from all over, often doing it without setting her feet properly, with a defender draped over her or after barely looking at the basket. Some of her shots were in the air for two seconds. And while the ball revolves during that time, arching without interference toward the rim, guided only by the physics of momentum and gravity and the flow of the air for 20-plus feet, everyone holds their breath.

Nobody can make one from there, you say to yourself, nobody. . . . Shazam!

The anticipation and then the reward of the ball flying neatly through the net from afar is pure magic.

Women, after all, can shoot the bomb as well as men can. Indeed, Clark’s only rival on the trey landscape — male, female, extraterrestrial — seems to be Warriors magic man Steph Curry.


The women’s game might not give us dunks, high-speed finger rolls and athletes soaring through the air like Superman. But it can give us team play. And it can give us the mystic long shot that is worth 50% more than a regular shot and mesmerizes a crowd and demoralizes an opponent like nothing else.

We only can hope Clark keeps playing for two more college games, just to marvel at a skill that can be honed but which, at its essence, is a gift from beyond. Yes, Clark spent thousands of hours shooting. That helped. But you could do that, too, and still toss up air balls and clangers forever.

It’s a gift, what Clark does, and we’re blessed to be able to watch it. It extends to her awareness on the court, to her vision, her passing skills, her touch, her footwork. Yes, little hoops girls, she should inspire you to practice this sport, to become the best you can be. But if you think you’ll do what she does just from effort, sorry.

We watched a dab of Mozart in a white jersey, a brush of Jimi Hendrix lighting his Stratocaster on fire. Nor is it like the commercial world isn’t aware of what Clark can sell to the masses.



She’s 6 feet tall, which is the equivalent of, say, a 6-4 or 6-5 man. That’s tall, but it’s still relatable to regular folks. So during timeouts and breaks, she was hawking Gatorade in ads, telling everybody out there to remember the motto ‘‘Fuel Tomorrow’’ while spinning a ball on her finger and smiling at the camera. There were the insurance ads and other stuff she sponsors, too. Such is the professionalism of ‘‘amateur’’ college ball.

None of which changes the thrill of watching poetry in motion, especially when it’s raining from the sky.

Who do we want Friday??

There are many ways of looking at this, and I think the "answer" depends on what you hold most important. But here are some stats, based on Top-5 finishes and 2nd-place finishes during 2011-2024.......

Number of Top 5 finishes
Iowa: 13
PSU: 12
OhSt: 7
OkSt: 7
Cornell: 6
Michigan: 5

Based on number of Top-5 finishes, Iowa is clearly the 2nd best team during the PSU dynasty. Pretty indisputable if going by that metric.

Digging a little deeper into those Top 5 finishes by looking at the number of points scored when finishing Top5, and how many points off of 1st place when finishing Top5.......

Average Points Scored when finishing Top 5
PSU: 132.3 (hi 172.5, lo 107.5)
OkSt: 95.8 (hi 119.5, lo 70.5)
OhSt: 95.3 (hi 133.5, lo 68.5)
Iowa: 87.2 (high 129, low 67)
Cornell: 80.3 (high 102.5, lo 65)
Michigan: 75.5 (high 95, lo 62.5)

Average Points off 1st Place when finishing Top 5
PSU: -1.3 (hi -15.5, low 0)
OkSt: -29.4 (hi -53.5, low -4)
OhSt: -37.7 (hi -74.5, lo 0)
Iowa: -44 (hi -105, lo 0)
Cornell: -50.8 (hi -100, lo -14)
Michigan: -66.9 (hi 101.5, lo 36.5)

That differential seems like an unfair metric if you happened to place Top 5 in the year PSU slaughtered everyone and broke an all-time scoring record. So let's adjust that last bit there by dropping the hi and lo differential for each team:

Adjusted Average Points off 1st Place when finishing Top 5 (hi/lo differential omitted)
PSU: -0.0
OkSt: -29.7
OhSt: -37.9
Iowa: -42.4
Cornell: -47.6
Michigan: -65.5

Didn't change much.

Iowa dominates the other 2nd Best contenders in number of Top 5 finishes, but when Oklahoma St and Ohio St do make the Top 5 (which has been 54% of the time since 2011), they tend to do a little better than Iowa in scoring, both in team points scored and in how close they finish to 1st place.

How about number of 2nd-place finishes? The field is pretty tight.....

OhSt: 3
Cornell: 2
Iowa: 2
Minn: 2
OkSt: 2
Michigan: 1
PSU: 1

And average point scoring when finishing 2nd?

PSU: 113.5 (hi 113.5, lo 113.5)
OhSt: 113.3 (hi 133.5, lo 96.5)
Minn: 110.8 (hi 117.5, lo 104)
OkSt: 108.5 (hi 119.5, lo 97.5)
Michigan: 95.0 (hi 95, lo 95)
Iowa: 83.3 (hi 84, lo 82.5)
Cornell: 83.0 (hi 93.5, lo 72.5)

Average Points off 1st Place when finishing 2nd
OkSt: -14.8
Minn: -15.5
PSU: -15.5
OhSt: -28.5
Iowa: -36.5
Michigan: -36.5
Cornell: -57

Cornell kind of gets shafted in that rundown by placing 2nd in 2024.......so if we re-rank based on the absolute lowest differential a 2nd-place team has attained, we get:
OkSt: -4
Minn: -5.5
OhSt: -8
Cornell: -14
PSU: -15.5
Iowa: -18
Michigan: -36.5

Sorting through all the junk above.....Since 2011, PSU has 11 titles, Iowa 1, Ohio State 1. Iowa has finished Top 5 every year, almost twice as much as Ohio State and Oklahoma State. But Ohio State has finished 2nd more times than Iowa, and when Iowa does finish 2nd, they are very near the bottom in points scored and in proximity to first place.

So what do we have in Iowa? An extremely consistent team that always finishes in the Top 5, but really only places Top 2 as an anomaly. Sure, having the 1 title makes me feel better that I'm not a Poke or Goofer fan, but what about Suckeyes? They have 1 title like us, but a point can be made that they do a better job of getting close to a title. More 2nd place finishes, more points scored when doing so, and losing by less. Similar look for Okie St, except they don't have a title.

I guess none of this should surprise us. Under Brands since 2011, the team finish and gap from 1st has been pretty darn consistent, with a nice win in 2021. Should we expect a trend? Or are we essentially flatlined? Part of me feels like the Ohio State (or even Okie St) approach would provide more fan satisfaction -- we'd be down and out of the Top 5 about half the time, but when building for a run at the top, we'd be more effective in grabbing 2nd place and in actually being close to 1st.

Bottom line for me over the last 13 NCAAs.....Iowa under Brands:
1 team title (2021)
2 second-place finishes (2015, 2023)
5 individual champions (McD, StJ, Ramos, Clark, Lee)
Scored >100 points only twice (2012, 2021)
Averaged 87 points
Averaged >40 points away from 1st

Are we really 2nd best? Maybe. And if so, are we really as good of a 2nd-best program as we should be with the brand and resources of Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling? We have 13 years of data during the PSU dynasty to go on......Coming out of 2010, I would have laughed at a notion that there would be a changing of the guard. But if we were not to be the top team over the next decade-plus, I would have at least predicted a much stronger stranglehold on "2nd Best".

Kim and company have joined the rush to make Iowa a border state. Law enforcement members aren't convinced this is going to be an effective use of their time.
https://www.kcrg.com/2024/04/01/mig...r-bill-that-could-see-some-arrested-deported/

Of course, because this is from the NYT, it ends with a "both sides" shot at Democrats. The pitchbot lives!


“The Church of Donald Trump”

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Oh baby it’s gonna be a party 🎉