Reason #782 Why I'm Old

I like to think that I'm up-to-date on pop culture. Somewhat through my kids, I know most of the current pop hits. When a friend posted on Facebook recently that his son predicted that Dua Lipa would perform at the next Super Bowl halftime show and the friend admitted that he had no idea "who or what is dualipa," I replied by naming several of her biggest songs that he had probably heard. While I don't watch many movies, I'm generally aware of those with the biggest box office numbers. I also follow sports and television rather closely.

Now that I got that out of the way, let's show how unaware I am. My kids watched the NBA All-Star celebrity game the other night. Here are the rosters:

From this list, I know the three country singers, Walker Hayes (he sang the Applebees song), Shaboozey (from Northern Virginia and singer of Tipsy), and Mickey Guyton (can't name any of her songs but she's performed the national anthem at several major sporting events). Matt Barnes and Baron Davis both played in the NBA, and Terrell Owens is a Hall-of-Fame wide receiver. From there, I know that Noah Kahan is a singer, Kai Cenat is a YouTuber my kids like, and I think that Oliver Stark was a character on Game of Thrones. While there were a couple Olympians in this group that I probably watched last summer, I don't know more than half of these celebrities. How many do you know? Or am I just old and out of touch?

George Mason Women's Basketball

I'm writing about women's college basketball today and specifically about the George Mason University team. (I'm sure you figured that out by the title.) The boys and I attended a game in January where The Moose and Luigi both caught T-shirts thrown to the crowd after the Patriots made threes, and Pedro Tulo participated in an on-court challenge where he raced another kid in putting on a giant basketball jersey, shorts, and shoes before attempting a shot. Although Pedro Tulo lost, he also got a T-shirt for his efforts. Mason won by 20, and the kids had a great time. 
 
Based on the kids' schedules since winter break ended, we haven't been able to attend a George Mason men's or women's game until Sunday. We didn't realize this until we arrived, but Sunday was Mason's annual Pink game in support of breast cancer awareness. Mason wore these incredibly cool black and pink uniforms.

Many people in the crowd wore pink as did the entire Mason coaching staff. I was and still am extremely impressed by Graduate Assistant Riley Childs who was on the floor passing basketballs to the team during warmups while wearing huge pink heels. Awesome.

The game itself was very competitive. The University of Massachusetts has a solid team and an impressive freshman point guard Yahmani McKayle. She is my favorite type of player. A fast point guard who passes well and finishes around the basket. While she can make threes (she shoots 40% from 3), she's more effective driving the basket and either dishing the ball to a teammate or making shots around much taller players. While I'm probably dating myself, she reminded me of Damon Stoudamire or Nick Van Exel. She finished with 21 points and 8 rebounds.

Possibly my new favorite player in all of sports is Mason senior guard Paula Suarez from Pamplona, Spain. She is what college sports, especially basketball, used to be all about. This is her fourth year at Mason, and she has improved in nearly every category each season. Plus, she did this.

At a stop in play but not during a timeout, Suarez just casually walked over towards the UMass bench to listen to the opposing coach give instructions to his players. I love the look McKayle gives her (might need to zoom in)! She's Mason's point guard and truly leads the offense. It also helps that Suarez scored 34 points with 12 assists in the two games we saw her play. 

George Mason is in an interesting position. The team is 23-3 and 13-2 in conference after winning 76-66 over UMass. You would think that would be enough to be an NCAA tournament team, but the current projections have them as one of the first teams out. The Atlantic-10 conference is fascinating. Despite that conference record and winning 11 straight games, Mason is behind Richmond, who is 22-5 with a 13-1 conference record and a 12-game winning streak. Saint Joseph's just lost to Richmond and is now 11-3 in conference with a 20-5 record. In my book (yes, I have a book), all three should make the tournament. Mason plays Saint Joseph's next week. What makes things more complicated is that Mason's leading scorer, Kennedy Harris, is injured and has barely played the last few weeks. However, between Suarez and Nekhu Mitchell (pictured above) and Louis Volker having career highs on Sunday, I like their chances.

Photo of Mitchell and the Mason uniforms by Rafael Suanes/GMU

The New Kennedy Center

Look, this isn't going to turn into a political blog. There are just some current events that are unavoidable, and I feel the need to write about their absurdity. And hopefully you'll find this entertaining.

My family and I have visited the Kennedy Center many times since I moved to the Washington DC area. It's a fantastic venue with multiple performing spaces and beautiful views of the Potomac River. I feel fancy and cultured and elegant whenever I go there. I love it and need to visit more often.

At the end of last week, President Trump announced that he named himself as the chair of the Kennedy Center since apparently he has nothing else to do with his time (presumably since Elon Musk is doing everything). Here is what you can expect from Trump in this position.

Sara Bareilles performed several shows at the Kennedy Center at the end of last year. She's not welcome back because she didn't write Trump a love song.

Renaming the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to the Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts. Robert Kennedy Jr. has done significantly more for Trump than John F. Kennedy ever did. Besides, it's still the Kennedy Center. No one will even notice the change

Shear Madness is a murder mystery comedy show set at a hair salon with audience participation which has been running for several decades. It's a fun show. Unfortunately, the gay character in the show is now out. Of the show.

The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual event where five performing artists are honored for their lifetime contribution to American culture. Don't expect a committee discussion this year. Trump is going to name the following individuals himself to receive this honor in 2025.

* Kid Rock - Obviously a big supporter of the president. 

* Lee Greenwood - He performed at both Trump inauguration ceremonies and they sell bibles together.
* Scott Baio - He's in charge of your days and your nights. Trump supporter.

* Donald Trump -  According to probably one person, The Apprentice is the biggest and most successful television show of all time. 

* Melania Trump - The fashion part of the performing arts has been underserved. She gets this honor simply for this hat.

Although Black History Month will still be celebrated at the Kennedy Center, it's going to have a new look featuring the work of Trump supporters Amber Rose, Kodak Black, and Kanye West. 

I'm changing the tone of this post for a minute. I started writing some ideas for this post shortly after Trump's Friday announcement. Since that time, Kanye West went on (another) rant with multiple antisemitic comments. And now, he's selling T-shirts with a swastika on them. Can we as a society be done with him? As in banning his songs from radio, SiriusXM, Spotify, etc.? He is a hateful person with a dangerous message. This isn't a one-time thing. This is how he really thinks and feels. If anyone deserves to be cancelled, it's him. I hope we never hear from him again.

Okay, I'm not getting back on track. I thought about including ideas like a new Elon Musk-version of The Sound of Music where the von Trapp family supports the nazis or the national symphony orchestra only playing YMCA, but that's enough for this post. Just another day in 2025.

Photo by Saul Loeb/AP

My Unauthorized Grammys Post

I previously mentioned that I applied for virtual media credentials for the Grammy Awards. My application was denied. So instead of reading quotes or watching videos from my interactions (or more likely other people's interactions) with the winners and nominees, you're going to get my thoughts and observations of Sunday's ceremonies.

I would like to know the ticket protocol for Grammy nominees. My assumption is that each nominee gets to bring a +1. There’s probably also some type of fine print that children under a certain age are not permitted. In looking at the audience, Beyoncé brought her husband Jay-Z and their oldest child. Alicia Keys brought her husband Swizz Beatz and their two kids. Shakira brought her two sons. Of course, the people I just mentioned are some of the most famous people on this planet. Mark Guiliana got nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. Mark is obviously an extremely talented musician, but I know nothing about him or his personal life. I randomly picked his name for this hypothetical. Let's say that Mark has a significant other and a 5 year old daughter. Could he have brought them both? Only his partner? This is something I might have learned with media credentials!

Okay, let’s get to the show and the awards.

I feel like Chappell Roan puts on heavy make-up going for a David Bowie look. That's a good thing. There should be more David Bowies in this world.

The Rolling Stones won for Best Rock Album. This Grammy is exactly what the band needs to kick off their career. I see big things in their future!

Before or after a commercial break, comedian Jim Gaffigan had the microphone and said something about Trevor Noah getting traded to the Dallas Mavericks. This was a safe and timely joke about a blockbuster NBA trade. I actually thought he might go with a foreigner taking a job or something about immigration that would have been much more risky.

Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers has to dye his hair and facial hair, right? Dude is 62 with no gray whatsoever.

Sabrina Carpenter sang Espresso and seems like she has a really good sense of humor based on the vaudeville-style performance. Espresso is a really fun song too, though she also included a portion of her song Please, Please, Please which is a huge step down in my opinion.

To paraphrase Shaq, while I knew the name Doechii, I need to apologize for not being familiar with her work. 

Best performance of the night. I had trouble posting the entire performance, but here's a link in case you missed it or want to see it again. Entertainment Tonight only shows a small part of it.

Since many of my posts have Pittsburgh references, congratulations to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on winning the Grammy for the Best Engineered Album, Classical.

Since many of my posts have Ithaca College references, congratulations to 1979 Ithaca College alumnus Elaine Martone on winning the Grammy for Producer of the Year, Classical.

While I don’t think Jelly Roll was in attendance, I hope that he, Post Malone, and Teddy Swims are on a text chain where they just discuss facial tattoos.

Buzz Aldrin was in a Verizon commercial that aired early during the show. A reminder that Buzz Aldrin is the perfect person to be in a commercial during a music awards ceremony.

I enjoyed that Best New Artist medley though I admit that I was surprised that Kajagoogoo was nominated in this category. "Too Shy" must be 30 years old. (Since I probably won't understand this reference when I look at this post next year, Khruangbin earned a Best New Artist nomination. I know more Kajagoogoo songs, and I already named it.)

Are we done with Benson Boone yet? He just comes off as whiny in Beautiful Things. I guess he could make a decent living being a Paul Skenes impersonator.

Overall, I liked the show. I think there was a nice balance of celebrating the music industry while acknowledging and supporting Los Angeles after the devastating wildfires. I'm glad that Beyonce finally won Album of the Year, and Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us was unavoidable and a massive hit.

Looking forward to covering the event next year!

Chappell Roan photo by Kevin Winter/Getty; RHCP picture from Instagram's RedHotChiliPeppersClubMexico page; Benson Boone photo by Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty.