American Hoops

“Excuse my charisma, vodka with a spritzer
swagger down pat, call my shit Patricia
Young Money militia, and I am the commissioner
you don't want start Weezy, 'cause the F is for Finisher
so misunderstood, but what's a World without enigma?”
Lil Wayne, “6 Foot 7 Foot”

On the cover of “Rolling Stone is Lil Wayne, covered with tattoos, naked to the waist, with underpants showing and pants so low I doubt if he could walk ten steps. The article is subtitled “Out of Jail and On the Loose.” His current hit “6 Foot 7 Foot” sounds like pure gibberish, but what do I know? One YouTube critic claimed the title refers to something that went up his ass at Rikers Island, adding “Only 13 year olds and homos listen to this trash.” In the flick “No Strings Attached” Adam (Ashton Kutcher) berates his goofball dad Alvin (Kevin Kline) for listening to Lil Wayne and trying one of his drugs of choice, purple drank, containing codeine and promethazine. Finally got around to listening to The Damned Things CD “Ironiclast” that nephew Joe gave me. The best song is “We’ve Got a Situation Here,” but I have no idea what it means. The group contains former members of Anthrax and Fall Out Boys. The latter started out in Wilmette, Illinois, and had several huge hits, including “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” in 2007.

The Chicago Bulls will have a starter, Derrick Rose, in the NBA all-star game for the first time since Michael Jordan retired. His sheer athletic ability and charisma on the court are the talk of the town now that the debate about whether Bears quarterback Jay Cutler should have gutted out his injury in the loss to Green bay has died down. Some of Cutler’s critics are real Neanderthals.

Sports historian Carson Cunningham inquired about teaching possibilities at IUN. The former Purdue basketball star teaches at DePaul but lives in Ogden Dunes and coaches at his high school alma mater Andrean. I suggested he look into whether there are openings in the summer and that it would be great if the History Club invited him to talk about his book “American Hoops: U.S. Men’s Olympic basketball from Berlin to Beijing.” I talked to Diana Chen Lin about teaching possibilities and to IUN’s athletic director about inviting him and his team to a Redhawk game. Carson emailed: “I appreciate you taking the time to look into the matter. I think all your suggestions are of interest. I know IUN is interested in one of our players at Andrean so, at a minimum, I'll contact the athletic dept. about going there to catch a men's game with him. Doing a guest lecture about American Hoops would be awesome. And I'm definitely up for a summer gig, were one to arise.” I talked with Ken Coopwood, who promised he could come up with $200 in Diversity funds for a lecture that would emphasize matters of race in the composition of teams since 1936. If we could hold the event on the day of Homecoming, that would be great. The women’s basketball team plays at 5:30 and the men at seven, so 4 p.m. seems ideal. I’ll have to inform Marketing. Chris Sheid recently quit to become editor of a newspaper in Arizona, but his assistant Emily Banas is very competent.

I thanked Suzanna for reminding me about the State-of-the-Union address and told her I thought the President was great. I enjoyed watching the Republicans squirm when forced to applaud. I’m glad Obama made a commitment to immigration reform and keeping the main features of the health care plan. Alissa can stay on her dad’s plan until age 26 in necessary. On this the centennial anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth and thirtieth anniversary of his first taking office, Newsweek had an article contrasting Obama’s “took a shellacking” reaction to the midterm elections with the Gipper’s sunny take on Democratic gains in 1982. Ron Reagan claims that his dad had Alzheimer’s Disease in his last months in office. Bill Maher quipped that if he were alive today, he’d be drummed out of the Republican Party. They treat his memory like the Bible, he said, never reading it but always waving it.

About 20 folks commented on Jerry Davich’s article about Anne Balay and her “Steel Closet” project. Darcy actually took me to task for suggesting the idea to Anne, arguing that steelworkers’ sexual orientation is their own private matter. Calling herself Anon., she concluded: “I do find Ms. Balay's work to be intrusive and frankly unnecessary and demeaning. And I think historian Jimbo Lane was out of line in even suggesting it to her.” One blogger questioned whether Anne was really a lesbian since she had two kids. A couple people criticized the mention of Encompass, the Lake Station gay bar, claiming that homophobes might target it. Someone recalled a “Simpsons” episode about a gay steel mill, and several people brought up the subject of showering with gays. Anne was pleased at the heavy response, including interview leads despite a couple of crank calls. Here’s what I sent to Davich’s blog under my full name: “Point number one: To argue that studying gay and lesbian steelworkers is not a legitimate research topic is shortsighted, to say the least. Point number two: It is important that people know that there are gay bars in the Region and that patrons can go there without being hassled. Point number three: The "Simpsons" episode about a gay mill was quite hilarious.” Knowing when to ride with a good story, Davich included an update in his latest column, “stirring the ever-boiling pot regarding homosexuality,” as he put it. He quoted one angry caller who told him: “Who the hell cares about gay steelworkers? Keep them in the closet where they belong?”

Having enjoyed Sue Miller’s “The Good Mother” (despite the main character losing custody of her four year-old daughter after her boyfriend let her touch his penis), I picked up “Family Pictures” (1990), about the Eberhardts, who have to deal with an autistic child. Back in the 1950s parents often blamed themselves when their child was uncommunicative.

Bowled great in spite (or maybe because) of a two-week layoff, rolling games of 188, 151, and 191, as the Engineers took five of seven points. Frank Shufran bowled a 267 in the third game to finish with a 672 series. Beforehand, Charlie, a 75 year-old opponent, was badmouthing Obama. I said something defending the President, and he asked me why my hair was so long. I didn’t want to make a scene so I quipped that I thought my hair was one of my best features and that it might not grow back if I shortened it. Right about then, Nick came up and said he’d seen my name in the paper. I replied, “Oh, in the Jerry Davich article about gay steelworkers?” Melvin later told Charlie I was a History professor, and he was thereafter very friendly toward me. Delia’s Uncle George was finally back bowling after having fallen off a ladder last year and seriously injuring himself.

Interviewed Sheriff Dominguez for two hours about his last months in office, including the Honeybee Killer Case (as the press dubbed it) about a killer who talked to his intended victims about taking care of bees before shooting them. The initial suspect was a policeman, but the real Honeybee Killer, Gary Amaya, was killed while trying to hold up a tanning salon. The Sheriff is opening a law office with his nephew and is hoping to do volunteer work with a local veterans center.

Talked to Steve McShane’s class about the importance of journals in connection with the Ides of March assignment they’ll be doing for him. I gave everyone free copies of volume 35, featuring journals from 2003 and read excerpts from Joe Hengstler’s and Nikki Clemons’. Both were memorable characters. Joe was in the band Planetary Blues, which I heard play at Mark O’s. They were good but started so late Mark vowed never to have them back. Nikki talked about her Serbian grandparents and, on her mother’s side, her hillbilly relatives. Commenting on a 1979 project she was researching for my class, Nikki wrote: “Three-Mile Island sparked anti-nuke protests around the world. President Jimmy Carter claimed a rabbit had attacked him while he was fishing. “The Dukes of Hazzard” premiered on TV, and hit songs included “Devil Went Down in Georgia by the Charlie Daniels Band. The hostage crisis in Iran started in November and went on and on.” A “Rolling Stone” article about Carter mentions many of these same events. Students seemed pleased I intended to publish excerpts from their journals. One student asked if he could use slang expressions. I told them that there was no single way to do a journal but that they should write about their passions as well as stuff pertaining to their family and community history. Steve Curry, who took a class with me two decades ago, read the lines of Jarrett Vaughn in a clear, booming voice.