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| Photo by Patrick Jones. 27 Mar 2021. |
Posting has fallen since the middle of the month, partly I've been distracted by our virtual meeting, which was supposed to be in Cancun, Mexico but once again moved online due to COVID-19. We've been watching a lot of basketball and enjoying some nice spring weather until the arrival of today's rain. The kids are on Spring Break, which will be spent at home this year. Some of the house has been vaccinated, others of us are still anxiously waiting our turn.
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| ESPN, Joe Robbins/Getty Images. Lucas Oil Stadium. |
Rather than continue my series of posts on Indiana venues for the upcoming NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, I'll point readers to a much more comprehensive article on ESPN titled Indiana's Hallowed Hardwoods. The article also features my own High School basketball arena.
Last night we watched the Butler Bulldogs overtime victory in the Big East Tournament, followed by this afternoon's exciting Georgetown win over Villanova. Tonight we'll be watching the scores closely, as Butler starts play at 6pm, with both the Indiana Men's and Women's teams in action at 6:30pm.
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. Pulled Pork, 10 Mar 2021. |
I started with a 4.6 pound pork shoulder that I picked up from our local butcher on Tuesday. I used Traeger's pork and poultry rub along with brown sugar and put the rub on Tuesday afternoon. I started the grill at 8am yesterday and set it to 250. The pork cooked for five hours, and then I put it into a foil pan. In place of apple cider, I used 1/3 cup fresh squeezed pineapple juice from the pineapple and about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. I covered the pork with foil and let it cook for an additional 3.5 hours. The meat was ready to come off the grill by 6pm.
As sides we had a red cabbage and date slaw, pickles and grilled pineapple. Our vegetarian had roasted tofu squares that had been cooked with 33rd & Galena seasoning and roasted in the oven for 45 minutes at 425 (flipped half way through cooking). We also had the last of some homemade Carolina Gold BBQ sauce and some of our local Pork Barrel BBQ sauce.
This recipe was a hit and we'll be making it again during the Spring and Summer.
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| Indiana Historical Society. Formerly Conseco Fieldhouse, 1999. |
Tonight the games begin for the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse (formerly known as Conseco Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis. The arena opened in 1999 as the home of the Indiana Pacers, replacing Market Square Arena. I went to many games and concerts at the venue when we were living in Indy, and it remains on the best basketball arenas in the country.
The Fieldhouse will also host early round games for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament next week.
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| IU Digital Archives. Assembly Hall, 1997. |
Unless they have a miracle run in the Big Ten Basketball Tournament, Indiana University's Men's basketball team will be sitting at home for the NCAA Tournament. This is particularly sad as IU will be hosting First Four games at Assembly Hall. The arena opened in 1971, and went through a renovation in 2016.
As many times as I've watched IU basketball games on TV, I haven't managed to see a game there. We did see an epic concert by Muse, the Foo Fighters and the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Assembly Hall in April 2000.
IU's Women's Basketball team is currently #10 in the country, 2nd in the Big Ten, and poised to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament in San Antonio, Texas. I'll be cheering on the Hoosiers in the Tournament.
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| Source: Purdue E-Archives. Mackey Arena. |
This afternoon Purdue hosts Indiana at Mackey Arena for a critical game in the annual rivalry between the two state schools. Indiana (12-13) needs a win today and a run in the Big Ten Tournament to avoid missing the NCAA Tournament for the fifth-straight year. Mackey Arena will also host First Four games along with IU's Assembly Hall for the opening of the Men's Basketball Tournament on Thursday 18 March 2021.
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| Indiana Historical Society. 1944 Indiana HS Semi-State. |
One of the venues this year for March Madness is Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis (previously the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum, among other names). The Coliseum opened in 1939, and was home to the ABA Indiana Pacers between 1967-1974. Over the years, thousands of events and concerts have also been at the historic arena. I remember seeing the X-103 Christmas Concert with Bush in 1999 when the venue was known as the Pepsi Coliseum.
Next week, the venue is hosting the semi-finals and championship games for the Horizon League Men's and Women's Tournaments before serving as a site for the Division I Men's Basketball Tournament.
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| Indiana Historical Society. Hinkle Fieldhouse. |
The State of Indiana is about to be the center of attention for basketball, hosting 170 competitive basketball games from the high school level to the pros between today and 5 April. Indiana is serving as the host for the NCAA Men's Division I, II and III National Championship tournaments at sites across the state. I love basketball and worked at the NCAA while I was in law school. In many ways basketball is in my blood.
While I've had a number of basketball-related posts on the blog over the years, it looks like I haven't posted about March Madness during the month of March before. I'll have more on the tournament with some historic photos from the State this month.
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| Source: LAPL. Casa del Mar, Santa Monica. |
As mentioned in yesterday's post, the building across the street from our first apartment in Santa Monica was the historic hotel Casa del Mar. The undated photo above shows the beachside of the Club. Last year I wrote about how this stretch of beach is close to another historic spot, the Bay Street Beach Historic District.
Casa del Mar opened as a private beach club in 1926. The building has gone through a series of different uses, and has been a luxury hotel since 1999.
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| Photo by A. Jones. Santa Monica, 4 Mar 2006. |
Fifteen years ago last week we made the move to Santa Monica, California. I wrote about this for the tenth anniversary of our westward move in 2016. It's hard to believe the time has passed so quickly, and how much has changed. I think our pandemic year is making me feel the passage much more. We're two months into 2021 and almost a year since we went into COVID lockdowns. I'm missing my visits to LA and with colleagues very much.
The photo above is one of the earliest I've been able to find from our first week in LA. It shows a view from the walking and bike path at Santa Monica Beach, which was right outside the front door of our temporary apartment before we moved into our home in April 2006. From Google Streetview, you can see our apartment as the peach building behind Cha Cha Chicken in the photo below. The front of the building looked toward Santa Monica Beach and the historic Hotel Casa del Mar.
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| Source: Google Streetview. Cha Cha Chicken & our 1st LA place. |
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| Photo by Patrick Jones. Madrid Barajas, 2 Mar 2016. |
I'm reminded by my photos that five years ago I transferred through Madrid's international airport on my way to our meeting in Marrakech, Morocco. Above is a view from the terminal looking out to snow-capped mountains beyond the airport. I still don't miss sitting inside a plane for many hours at a time, but I do miss seeing those places where planes would take me.
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| Camille Pissarro. Boulevard Montmartre, Spring. 1897. |
We've turned the page on the calendar from the long winter and welcome the start of calendar Spring. March is one of my favorite months. Soon it will be Championship Week and March Madness, with exciting basketball games to look forward to. The first Little League baseball practices have been scheduled, and this Friday marks the beginning of another season for our player. While we wait our turn for the COVID vaccine, we're feeling more hopeful. We could use a break from torrential spring rain, but it is a big improvement over last month's snow and ice.
