Day 2,419, Quasi-Quarantine: Familiar Characters, Recognizable Exploits Wrap Up Harlem Trilogy In "Cool Machine"

“‘We could see the world,’ she said another time.

“That sounded nice. But he knew what the world looked like–it was blood and concrete, people and the buildings they heaped up to the sky and the tunnels they dug below. Hard to imagine there was much more to it.”

With his latest work, Colson Whitehead has finished his Harlem trilogy, completing a series that feels like an extended love letter to New York City. In that sense -- and all others -- "Cool Machine" is a worthy sibling to "Harlem Shuffle" and "Crook Manifesto." 

“A disco ball hung in the center of the room, spinning dejectedly, its missing mirror squares like the gaps in the smile of a luckless middleweight.”

The author offers up another trio of vignettes featuring furniture dealer Ray Carney, his friend and enforcer Pepper, and a rotating cast of downtown characters. The highlight is "Here Comes Sue Simmons," which explores Pepper's internal machinations more than we've seen before.

“What would a good man do in his situation? He wasn’t sure he’d met one, and if he had, he had not been paying attention.”

While some observers may view the Harlem trilogy as a diversion from Whitehead's more serious work, it's clear that the author is having a helluva good time in these stories. I will say that the handful of typos and grammatical errors in this one didn't help in the effort to take the subject matter more seriously.

“Nothing stays put. It has to become something else, go somewhere else, be on its way, whether it’s a diamond necklace or an envelope full of cash, or the corner of 125th and Lenox, or the nameless schlub walking home after a long day’s work. Keep moving, keep changing, get knocked down and pull yourself up.”

Whitehead's stories are propelled by dramatic intensity, memorable descriptions, and recognizable characters, making "Cool Machine" a fun if unchallenging read. The passion for the city and a lost way of life is palpable in every word, and if we've seen the end of the Carneys and Pepper, this is a more-than-fitting capstone for these old-school criminals and their unforgettable subculture.

“A New Yorker was kidnapper and hostage in one, setting the impossible ransom for their own deliverance.”

“Escape from New York. The question remained: Where do you go? There was no place else. It was like going on the lam from yourself.

“He had been suckered before and fallen for the scam. Swindled himself when he let vanity or pride get the best of him. Same as anyone. But he’d never been so foolish as to fall for that long con, the biggest con of all, that there were other places besides New York City.”

Day 2,416, Quasi-Quarantine: Chasing The Echoes Of Usurped Childhood Propels Uneven "The Children"

“The children who grew up on these books and reread them later often say the same thing: These are darker than I remember. Crueler, stranger, more haunted by longing and loss.

“All good children’s books are.”

"The Children" is billed as an adult fairy tale, but feels more like an exploration of grief, neglect, and repressed memories, as well as the role of art in managing the emotional burdens of this trio. All of these variables come together at the Farmhouse, a sort of hippie commune where two siblings try to navigate an existence with two deeply disturbed parents with tangential holds on reality.

“At the Farmhouse there were no rules, which really meant there were lots of them, all left unspoken, so you had to learn them the hard way one by one.”

Melissa Albert does a fine job of establishing a creepy undercurrent, centering the story of Guen as she navigates the aftereffects of a stolen childhood through multiple timelines. She and her brother Ennis are tortured artists trying to find meaning and identity in the aftermath.

“She had a brother. He was long and angry and brave and kind, made of vaulted skies and jumps into cold black water. Best and only playmate. Their childhood together stuck like sap to her skin. Candy wasn’t the first person to worship at the altar of Ennis Sharpe.

“Guin had a brother once. And then she had none.”

“All his softness was gone, though. His hair had been the last of it. He used to look like a lost boy. Now he looked like a knife.”

The lack of a true mother figure -- due to the emotional detachment and opportunism of the famous author Edith Sharpe -- permeates the entire narrative, leading to the concluding revelation of an aptly named, though poorly detailed, entity.

“Why don’t you: hold me, talk to me, come to me, look at me, lay your body beneath mine, rock solid, so I can find my footing, jump from your arms and into the world?”

The novel stalls out a bit toward the end, losing momentum by way of a clumsy denouement. However, "The Children" is a page-turner, capable of transporting you across time, place, and emotion as you accompany Guen and Ennis in the search for the validation they hope to find in Edith's fictional Ninth City.

“A million stories begin like this: a girl went walking through a great wood. A traveler, moving along the stitched borders of countless possible tales. The breeze rose and she shivered, though not with cold.”

Day 2,415, Quasi-Quarantine: Week 8 Ends With Me Asking The Scooters To Save A Little Bit For Next Week

Well. The Scooters are on fucking fire.

In Week 8, we rolled up a simply massive 215.75 points, which is the most points I've personally seen in a PPR league. And that's with leaving around 55 points on the bench!

I won by a cool 127.1 points (<Doug Heffernan voice> "That was decisive" </Doug Heffernan voice>), which was made all the more satisfying by the fact that it came against the rando owner who keeps texting and making vague and ignorant references to being willing to trade all of his bench players for two of my best players.

The Scooters have also racked up almost 400 points over the past two games, meaning that I've outscored my two least-favorite league owners by 169 points (390.1-221.1) in that span.

More importantly, that makes it four out of five victories to put me at .500 (4-4). Somewhat obviously, I lead the league in points and I've now given up the fourth-most points. If I can get a little bit of that luck to even out, I should be in good shape.

Or I could just keep scoring 200 points per week and not worry about what the other guy is doing.

Yes, let's do that.

Go Scooters.

Day 2,413, Quasi-Quarantine: Our Annual Trip To The "Circle City" Found The Colts Circling The Drain

 

It's been a really difficult year for the Colts and their fans. Just a couple of weeks after we got an autograph from and a picture with All-Everything guard Quenton Nelson, Indy reached rock bottom, fired general manager Chris Ballard, and ended up trading "Q" away before he could leave in free agency.

DeForest Buckner followed him out the door, Josh Downs asked to be traded, the Colts were fielding offers for Jonathan Taylor, and the team seemed to quit on its way to a 42-7 loss to hated Jacksonville.

At least we moved to 5-0 in games we've attended in person. And got a lot of comments on a really big hat. And basically just found a way to have the best time amidst a lost season.

For the Shoe.

Limerick Friday #655: A Week Of Bittersweet And Overdue Goodbyes -- Day 2,409

All respect to the rest

But Chuck Amato was kinda the best

Dared to dream in red and white

And never gave up the fight

Rest in peace, "Chuck the Chest"

Against all odds and bets

First win of the year? Let's

This is the way

And at the end of the day

It's always "Fuck the Jets"

Through summer and fall

The writing was on the wall

But the roster was bereft

He had no "get out of jails" left

Chris Ballard's end wasn't a hard call

Mysteries to strike you dumb

Horror to turn you numb

Welcome to nowhere

You'll have a hell of a scare

When you finally watch "From"

Can't question what he gave

But in the end, he couldn't save

A program that fell off the track

Now it's time to rescue the Pack

But a hearty thanks to Salty Dave

Last time ...

Day 2,407, Quasi-Quarantine: The Scooters Put It All Together In Week 7

After lo so many weeks, the Scooters appear to have started to jell as a squad.

I put up the top point total this week (174.35 points), moving to second in the league in total points and winning my third game in the last four contests. Pretty much every player on my team racked up -- including bench dudes -- in a performance made all the more satisfying due to it coming against a league owner who has changed his mind on two different trades after agreeing to terms. Eat it, clown.

The victory didn't come without some drama, of course. As has been the custom this season, my percentage to win climbed to 88% at one point until some weird shit started happening in the first half of the 4 p.m. games.

Matt Gay missed an easy field goal, my opponent's Bo Nix took off for a record-setting touchdown run from the QB spot, the Raiders didn't target the league's best tight end (Brock Bowers) for more than half the game, and Las Vegas revealed itself to be one of the worst tackling teams in the history of the NFL.

Some measure of sanity eventually prevailed, however, and the Scooters moved to 3-4 on the campaign. Unfortunately, I've once again managed to allow the most fantasy points in the league -- just like last year -- so luck has been found wanting. On the plus side, if you put stock in such things, my percentage chance (apologies to Dan Orlovsky) of making the playoffs is now up to 35%.

Elsewhere, the jackass rando mentioned in previous weeks reached out to me again (I'd like to reiterate my thanks to the commissioner for encouraging him to text me instead of, you know, using the league web site/app/message board/chat feature) and said he wanted one of my players specifically without making an offer. Then, later in the week, he texted again offering to trade like five of his bench players for two of my starters. which makes me wonder if he just goes around making aimless, unstructured, and pointless trade requests to every owners in the league or just me.

Fucking unreal, man.

Anyway. 

Go Scooters.

Day 2,405, Quasi-Quarantine: Merciful, Arguably Belated End To Dave Doeren Era Gives Wolfpack Faithful Something To Dream On

After a number of years of salvaging his career with a flurry of late-season wins over mediocre opponents, a victory over UNC, and an appearance in a mid-tier bowl, Dave Doeren officially ran out of "get out of jail free" cards at NC State. Athletic director Boo Corrigan fired him less than 24 hours after the latest in a string of firing-worthy debacles, this time a rock-bottom loss at Stanford.

Despite playing one of the worst schedules imaginable, the Pack has been outscored by 34 points in the second halves of games this season as part of posting a 3-4 overall record and a 1-3 mark in league play. Everyone but Dave Doeren seemed to accept that everything was broken and nothing was salvageable.

So how will Doeren's tenure be remembered at NC State? He's a complicated figure among Wolfpack faithful: the all-time leader in victories as a coach, someone who understood and dominated the rivalry with the Tar Heels, a program manager who specialized in helping turn unheralded prospects into bonafide contributors.

But also a coach who tended to pass blame, struggled with clock and game management, made poor staff assignments, didn't allocate NIL resources efficiently, and overall was incapable of adjusting to the evolution of the sport.

There are a segment of Pack fans who'd like to tell you that Doeren did well with limited resources and represented the school well. And others who point out that he made $5.5 million per year and State actually ranks in the top half of the ACC in NIL budget, rendering an underdog narrative both inaccurate and misleading.

All that to say there were still a few folks on the fence about finally ending the 14-year Doeren era (fourth-longest tenure of any coach in college football). In our binary culture, some will try to convince you he's the worst coach of all time and others who will say he's the best NC State could do. The truth is in the middle: Doeren was a flawed coach who accomplished some good things in Raleigh but also never adapted to what his role demands.

There was a time you could take a two-star North Carolina kid, lock them into the strength & conditioning program under Dantonio Burnette, let them develop for three years, and have a two-year contributor and fringe NFL prospect at the end of the process. That's not how college football works anymore and Doeren simply wasn't capable of adjusting.

I'm sure Corrigan's conversation with Doeren on that fateful Saturday was difficult, and the stubbornness that made Dave a steady coach made it impossible for him to accept the inevitable, even after overseeing his team -- coming off a bye, mind you -- getting pantsed by the league's worst team running JV-level plays. Hence Doeren refusing to resign, forcing a school he said he loved to pay him $10 million it will struggle to afford, and making the AD shit-can him midseason.

While a national search for the next Wolfpack coach will certainly ensue, most expect State to make Philip Rivers say no before seriously considering other candidates. That being said, the vast majority of Pack fans would have preferred freshman quarterback Gunner Rivers be player-coach next year instead of seeing another season of Doeren on the sideline.

Dave Doeren finished his career with a 9-4 record against Cheater Hill, and that will buy him some warm regard with NC State fans as the years pass and the current frustration subsides. But it was beyond time for him to step down, and the way he chose to deny and handle that will be difficult to forget as well.

So yes, considering Doeren's legacy in the context of NC State football is complicated. What isn't is that the program instantly becomes less apathetic and more hopeful even in its current state -- without a permanent coach.

And that tells you everything you need to know about the end of this era.