Day: November 17, 2019

The Democratic Primary Race: as I see it:

Disclaimer: I support Klobuchar. I also like Booker and, well, Joe Biden is my “fall back” choice; I honestly think that Elizabeth Warren would have trouble in the Electoral College and Pete Buttigieg is too inexperienced in politics. Well, now you know who I like at the moment: 5 candidates, all with big flaws.

Why Biden and Sanders tend to not vary in the polls as much:

In other words, they have some rock solid support, but neither has enough of it to be THE front runner.

Klobuchar: not inconsequential in the crowded Iowa field.

General political statement: the set up of the US Senate, gerrymandering, and the Electoral Collage makes it harder for Democrats; we need to win by very large margins to win elections.

I’d be VERY comfortable with our position IF the election were decided by popular vote.

Redbirds beat Bears in turnover fest; Bradley beats UIC in basketball

Ok, I got my own workouts in:
Saturday: slow 1:19 Cornstalk 10K run. Sunday: dead lifts in the basement: 5 x 135, 5 X 185, miss 225 (rounded back), 5 x 205, 5 x 185, 5 x 135 sumo, then a 10K plus hilly walk in Bradley park.

Saturday: I made the Illinois State vs. Missouri State game. It was a close one: 17-12 ISU, though Mo. State made it interesting.
The offenses mostly sputtered though two interceptions set up the first Redbird touchdown. The Bears responded with a lovely 74 yard touchdown run up the middle. A weird miss on the 2 point conversion left it 7-6.
A long drive made it 14-6, but Mo. St. got a field goal to cut it to 14-9 at the half.

In the 3’rd: a long Bear drive was thwarted with a botched shotgun formation snap; that lead to a field goal and a 17-9 lead. Mo. State cut it to 17-12 midway through the 4’th.
A turn over set up Mo. State at the 50 but they could not advance and with 2:30 to go in the game, ISU appeared to be in position to run out the clock with a first down. But the 4’th Redbird turnover (fumble with a return) set Mo. State. up late in the game where they got down to the Redbird 8 with first and goal to goal. On the next play, they made it to the 3 where they had 3 tries, but the Redbird defense came through.

Though the game had 42 F and somewhat sunny weather (not that bad..I was actually slightly overdressed), few were there to see it. Official attendance: 5701 though there were lots of no-shows.

That evening: my Hostage and I caught a Bradley Basketball game vs. Illinois-Chicago. UIC came in depleted and BU was favored by 11.5. But woeful first half shooting had the Braves in a 33-25 hole. Great defense held UIC to 10 points in the next 14 minutes or so and Bradley regained the lead (took about 7:20 to tie it at 33) The lead got up to 13 and ended 65-56.

Attendance: 5411 was the official count, though the arena, for a change, looked as if it actually had that many.

photos:

There was drama at the end; the 1-8 Bears showed up and played hard. Both teams made enough mistakes to keep the other team in it.

Great ball game!

The evening basketball game: