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This cancel culture is going to go too far, and it is going to bite the left in the end.  I've even seen people going after Paw Patrol, because it glamorizes the police force.

I mean, I get that it sounds silly. I don't think I've ever seen an episode of Paw Patrol. But, the way police are portrayed in the media matters.

Australia's coach also coaches the 76ers? And an Australian teammate besides? Could be a thing!

Does CBS All Access (or something similar) have a free trial period? My Comcast cable package does not include CBSSN. Anyone have any advice?

All Access does/did have a one week trial. But I'm not at all sure that it includes CBSSN. You might have to upgrade your cable, or head out on the town (I'm eyeing a place in Carmel;
Might have to live no sound; at least Purdue and IU will be over).

Anybody know of a place in Indy, or I guess between Indy and Valpo, that will have the game on with sound?

We're down in Indy with a couple of Valparaiso teams at the state VEX robotics competition and probably can't get home in time for the tip.

Has anybody figured out TV coverage, in Valpo in particular, for tomorrow's game?

The game notes say "NBC Sports Chicago Plus", and suggests that ESPN+ will be blacked out within that footprint.

Am I going to be blacked out? (I've got a soccer game competing with the Valpo game, anyway. But, I figured I'd try to set my wife up, at least.)

In Comcast Valpo the game will be on 109 and 201.

Sure enough. Thanks!

Has anybody figured out TV coverage, in Valpo in particular, for tomorrow's game?

The game notes say "NBC Sports Chicago Plus", and suggests that ESPN+ will be blacked out within that footprint.

If I'm remembering well from trying to watch Chicago Fire games, that network is far enough down the pecking order that Comcast in Valpo may not even offer it.

Am I going to be blacked out? (I've got a soccer game competing with the Valpo game, anyway. But, I figured I'd try to set my wife up, at least.)

So is the MVC and HL being on the same line (I know it's a prediction but lets say it happens) going to be the norm or is this year going to be the exception to the rule?

Neither the MVC nor the HL seems to have anything like an at-large contender this year. I expect that to happen (or close to it) more often in the MVC.

The MVC *does* continue to be stronger top to bottom. The Horizon has four teams below the Valley's last, in the Ken Pom. The Valley's last (alas) is Valpo at 233. The Horizon goes all the way down to 297 Milwaukee (of 353).

John Janish  734

I don't know much about these pre-Bryce guys. Fun to see the stats. Was it spelled Janisch?

Vespers was not well attended? You gotta be kidding me! It used to be an awesome event.

They tinkered with the format a bit this year. For many years (at least 20?) the services were at fairly consistent times... maybe always 7 and 10 PM. The second service was pitched more at students. The first always "sold out", the second didn't. The chapel filled for the first, while attendance for the second was robust, but the building wasn't full, when I went in the late 90's... maybe around 800?

This year the services were 6:30 and 8:30. For maybe the first time the Immanuel (largest local LCMS parish) children's choir sang at both services, not just the earlier. The service was somewhat shorter than in the past.

The first service looked very full this year, I imagine 90%+ or 95%+ of capacity. I don't know whether they turned anyone away. But, "tickets" were (unlike past years) readily available even on the day of the service. (I assume that max capacity of the chapel is less now with chairs than it was with pews; I don't have hard numbers.) I've not heard anything about the second service, except re the Immanuel choir.

I too thought that the typical member of the congregation this year, for the first service, was well on in years - maybe late middle age.

It was a very nice service.

I must admit, I prefer talking about Vespers to parsing conspiracy theories about the mascot!

This "PC" thing is getting ridiculous.  As for the Chapel, I remember attending a "concert" in the Chapel  starring, at the peak of their popularity at the time, Peter, Paul and Mary!  A packed house as I remember it.  Do I need to ask for forgiveness?

There is a whole other (conservative?) tack there, certainly. We could put up a movie screen and show Hollywood films in the chapel. But, it probably does make more sense to show those in the Neils auditorium.

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I can address both issues with knowledge. I was there and heard the comment by a respected faculty member that the venue was changed since it was felt "the Chapel is not a welcoming place because it is not inclusive." The faculty member's statement was made in a tone that indicated a lack of agreement with the decision.

Which event was it?

I mean, the Chapel - particularly the sanctuary and the chancel - is obviously a sort of a sectarian space. That said, it's the sect with which the university is connected. In a sense, it's _our_ sect. It's at the high point (too soon?) of campus on purpose. We routinely have large public, university events there (convocation, the MLK plenary, December commencement) and I can't imagine that changing anytime soon.

There was supposed to be an event in the Chapel earlier this semester, and it was switched to another location. When I asked why, a faculty member told me it was felt that "the Chapel is not a welcoming place." 

This last post is, to me, the most upsetting and depressing thing about VU I've ever read on this board.  If this is true, the culture war at VU has been lost to the PC mob.  As mentioned by another poster on the board, the next step is for the mob to go after any sign of the Christian religion on this campus.

Paul

This whole sub-thread smells funny to me.

I'm skeptical about such "welcoming place" language being used to reschedule an event at VU. (I'll admit that thoughts about how appropriate the Chapel is for some groups have occasionally come to mind, e.g. when brainstorming places that Muslim Student Association might gather for prayer.)

I'm also skeptical about suggestions that changes have already been made to the mascot, e.g.
" some of the faculty had finally got some alumni to join them in getting rid of the offense mascot"

And I'm writing as a faculty member who would be happy to get rid of the mascot. Such changes don't seem to come quickly or easily. I'll be surprised if they come quietly.

Our league prepares us well, and probably frustrates the hell out of other teams.  We force teams to attack multiple times due to our defense/digging/blocking.  The entire MVC is basically in the top 25 of digs/set in the NCAA.

Yeah, I can imagine there's something to that frustration factor.

The stats maybe aren't quite as crazy as last season, but looks like Bradley's #2 digs/set, we're #10, MVC has 5 of the top 16, 6 of the top 50.

In Tulane's American it's SMU at #18, Tulsa #23, UCF #33,  Temple #49... Tulan's down at #86. So, half the Valley is better (at digs... roughly compared) than their best.

Our 18.12 is definitely a notch, or three, above Tulane's 16.07. (Last season we were 20.0! Would be good for #1 again this year.)

Unfortunately for us the basketball home games this week may make it hard to find adequate practice time ahead of what should be a tough match.

The seasons regularly overlap, so i guess they're used to dealing with it. That doesn't necessarily mean there's a satisfactory solution, I suppose...

Tulane hosts next Thursday 6 PM central. Looks like the stream will be $7 for a 24-hour pass (with archive).

The videography on the Miami feed tonight was... pretty sketchy. Resolution was OK, but _shakey_ camera.

WHEN we win tonight, we draw the winner of the "Tulane" Bracket...(Tulane/CalBaptist)... Both played 5-setters yesterday.

Not sure, but if the "Top" bracket hosts, we go on the road starting on 12/5.  Tulane would be the prohibitive favorite, 26-8 overall, 15-2 at home.

Tulane looks tough, particularly at home, but I don't know about "prohibitive favorite". (Usual caveat: I'm a novice volleyball fan.) I bet we have a chance.

Cincinnati (25-7 RPI 24) was a nice home win. But, Tulane did lose at home to USF (20-11, RPI 98).

Maybe the Illinois State - Cincinnati game tonight will give us some idea. (UNI lost to Pepperdine. American front-runner UCF, RPI 10, top-25 in the coaches poll, #13 overall seed in the NCAA, lost to FGCU.)

At least the NCAA bracketers thought Illinois State was better than Tulane. We got a set off ISU each time (and two off UNI at their place). So, I'd like to think that we'll be in the game, even if it's a home game for Tulane.

But, first things first. 6 PM tonight!

From what I read of the NIVC, they take the highest finisher from every conference, who was not selected to the NCAA tourney.  This means that even the crappiest conferences get a team in the NCAA and a team in the NIVC.  Even if the loser of Illinois State/UNI gets an NCAA bid, the NIVC bid goes to Bradley, so we would have to rely on being 1 of the 8 at-large participants.

I was mistaken here, you were correct.

https://www.womensnivc.com/event-info.html

They do apparently offer an automatic bid to one team from each of 32 conferences. Whoever is highest in the conference standings but doesn't get an NCAA bid - so not the same as basketbally's NIT. Bizarrely, the format is for "32 to 40" teams. Maybe depending on how many teams accept the AQ bid - which is lost to the conference (becomes an at-large for somebody else) if the first team turns it down. So, maybe if they have a lot of AQ's accept they consider expanding to 40 and allowing in some at-larges.

This year apparently only 11 AQ's accepted (of 32 offers)
https://www.womensnivc.com/tournament-field.html
(e.g. UCLA at RPI 45, 9th in the PAC-12, 13-14 overall, 7-7 conference, apparently turned down the AQ bid).

They claim to have criteria for the at-larges. Need to have at least a 0.500 record overall or be in the top 50 RPI. But, if so, I'm not sure how Wichita State (14-17, 8-10, RPI looks like 86 to me) got in as an at-large.

Also a little funny that two MVC teams got put in the same pod - they claim they try to avoid that. But, maybe geography or other factors trumped this. (They ended up not playing each other, anyway.)

They play the winner of Miami-OH and NKU, tomorrow, 6 PM Valpo time.

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She was in uniform last game, but I don't know if that was just to wear the uniform one last time, or if she is healing enough to play.  She is very good, so even if we get 1 more game from her, we are a scary team.

Bronner in starting lineup

Still starting in the third set. 4 kills so far, seems to be doing well.

25-9, 13-25 so far. There for a minute I thought we were going to roll...

3rd set started rough. 0-4. We caught up at 10-10, back and forth a bit, last level at 16-16, and led by at least one the rest of the way. 25-23. Up two sets to one.

Box score shows two Valpo technical fouls.  Can someone who watched the game explain? 

I only see one currently at
http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/boxscore/2018-19/7182/valpo-vs-unlv-11-28-2018/
(and in the play-by-play there).

Fairly early in the first half, against Golder, after a dunk. The broadcasters (who were a lot fun, rather even-handed, and did a nice job) initially thought it was for hanging on the rim and thought it was a pretty bad call - at that point Paul Oren was livid on twitter. Turned out it was for taunting. My wife, with eyes sharper than mine, did notice his teammates pulling him away from the UNLV players (maybe even before the whistle?).

I wonder if playing Press West Virginia the other day helped us through today's game, especially when UNLV pressed. We never really let it get to us. But man, we look bad at rebounding sometimes.

It didn't get to us in the sense that we eventually got back into the game. But, it was horrible for a while. They stole... two consecutive inbounds passes at one point? We turned it over against their press directly under the basket!

Both teams seemed to be playing fast, losse, and kind of sloppy. Which was fun to watch. I'm tempted to say UNLV's turnover numbers were at least as much about their game as they were about ours. But, a solid, come from behind win. Hopefully something to build on.

And Smits has just been a monster. I don't know where this came from. Even earlier this season it seems we were all, "What could have been, what should have been!" Bizarre to hear Coach Gore talk about him flipping a switch, earlier in the season... in the middle of a game! Smits is reminding me a bit of KVW. (Now if he could only learn to shoot with his right...)

For the Ball State game our game notes include

Following the Action: All of this week's matches can be seen live on Miami's RedHawk All-Access subscription service ($9.95/month; auto-renewing service, so should be canceled following weekend). Direct links for the video broadcasts, as well as live stats, will be available at ValpoAthletics.com.

I'm amused by the practical "should be canceled" comment.

I see this listed as an AT&T regional game ... does that mean there will be streaming video available like there was for WVU?

Sounds like it. Albeit I missed the memo for WVU.

The game nots are clearer this time:

Following the Crusaders: TV – AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (683 DirecTV; 414 Dish) – Nick Gismondi and Dave Bollwinkel
Video - Available outside AT&TSN viewing area by visiting TheMW.com
Radio – WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso) – Todd Ickow and Aaron Leavitt
Links for the video, audio and live stats will be available at ValpoAthletics.com.

I'm not sure why, but many people seem surprised at the number of injuries sustained playing volleyball.

I'm still getting my head wrapped around how much damage a couple of key injuries can do to a roster. VU was hit hard last year, injuries in general, and specially at setter. This year it seemed like there was a miniature version in the middle.

Nice to see a couple of freshmen getting big minutes in the MVC tournament - not sure how much of that is just development, and how much may be due to injuries (e.g. Bronner).

I'm also still surprised that there aren't more frequent/significant hand injuries to blockers.