2024-2025 Rainbow Wahine Volleyball

I’ve been watching several of their games this season, and I wanted to jot down some thoughts. First, this team plays ugly. Bad passes on serves, hitting errors, and other mistakes—this team commits too many of them. Additionally, at times their block seems non-existent. And yet, they’re 6-1. If they were a high school team, I would guess their opponents just played worse–making a lot more errors. But that’s not the impression I’m getting.

So what explains their winning? Defense–i.e., digs–seems like the biggest reason for their success. This is a really scrappy team, at times reminding me of Japanese teams. If you want to see some good digs and long rallies due to defense, this is a team to watch. On the other hand, with good defense, I would expect better passing on serves. They’re passing can get really shaky at times, even from Ikenaga or Levya. (Levya has been an impressive freshmen, and in time could be special.)

Tough serves and good play in timely moments are probably the other reasons they’ve won. For example, against Oregon State, after an almost non-existent block in the early part of their match, their block game alive. In terms of serving Levya seems like a best server. (Ikenaga has been solid as a server, too, and follows Levya in the serve rotation, creating what looks like a solid one-two punch.)

With the way they play I’m not sure how long they can keep winning. I feel like they will get destroyed by really good teams, based on the way they’ve been playing. On the other hand, this team hangs in there (They’ve had a lot of 4 or 5 set games), and they shouldn’t be too rattled when going through rough patches during a match.

One other thing I want to mention–the coaching, particularly in terms of substitutions and making adjustments. Coach Robyn will pull Kate Lang and put in Jackie Matias at surprising moments. Against Oregon State, Ah Mow-Santos took out starting middle Jacyn Bamis pretty early in the match and put in Maddie Way, a shorter (5′ 11″) freshmen, who hadn’t played much (if at all). It seemed to be a good move, as Way provided a good spark for the team.

Now, while I do think the play has been inconsistent and ugly, they do have a lot of new players (while losing really good ones). It may take times for this team to gel and clean up their game. They have shown grit and fight, though, and that makes them worth cheering for.

“How can any meeting between Trump and Harris be a ‘debate’ if Trump has already made clear that he rejects the foundations of the American system of government?”

That’s a quote from a recent Atlantic post from Tom Nichols, and it gets to the absurdity of the debate for me. The policies of either candidate are secondary if one of the candidates doesn’t respect the rule of law, the Constitution or even facts. Briefly touching on the latter to go into the former seems wrong to me. Doing so implies that a candidate that rejects key beliefs and norms for a liberal democracy is a viable candidate. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that’s absurd, and the press sending this is message is a major failing on their part.

Notes on Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy

I recently finished The Crossing, the second book in the trilogy. I wrote some comments about it in the “What are you reading” thread, but I may not have mentioned two points. First, the novel is just as much philosophy as it is literature (leading to a mythic, quasi-religious literature). The philosophical ideas, dealing with McCarthy’s concept of the world, among other concepts, is quite opaque and weighty (at least for me). Second, of the contemporary writers I’ve encountered McCarthy’s prose may be the most innovative and original. He has very singular, unique approach, sometimes radical (e.g., eschewing semi-colons, while liberally, and some may say excessively, using “and” in a way that violates good writing norms). Both the prose and the philosophy warrant a space to ponder and analyze; and so, this thread.

Continue reading “Notes on Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy”

2024 NFL Offseason

I have just about two feet out of the door when it comes to the NFL, but I’ve been interested in the player movement during free agency. Russ going to the Steelers, with Arthur Smith as the OC, is really interesting and appealing. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the rumors that the Raiders are interested in Justin Fields.

Trump and Republicans Supporting Him are on Russia’s Side

Blocking aide to Ukraine. And comments like this (which is consistent with previous comments Trump has made about NATO). Someone said that if a Democrat said this prior to 2016, Republicans (and conservative) media would be castigating this person, calling them a traitor.

Not only are Trump and his Republican supporters aiding Russia, they’re aiding authoritarian rulers in countries like China, Iran, North Korea.

Trump Thwarting Bi-partisan Senate Deal on the Border

The U.S. Senate was real close to a deal on the border and also funding for Ukraine and Israel. A few days ago I read that Senator McConnell said that this deal would be better than if the Republicans controlled Congress and the White House. Democrats want funding for Ukraine so much they haven’t included a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.

But McConnell and Romney say that Trump is pressuring Republican senators not to accept the current bipartisan deal. Romney says that Trump does want Biden to get a political victory with this deal–even though it would help address a problem many Republicans say is critical. Listen to Romney’s comments: