The Rock Chalkboard

Lessons Learned From Kansas' Victory Over Baylor - Blue Wings Rising
No matter how you look at it, from a Jayhawk's perspective, the blowout victory over Baylor Saturday afternoon was a lot of fun. Kansas jumped out to an early lead, albeit after a brief rocky start, and just took off from there, never looking back. It felt like this one was over by halftime, with a 39-21 lead. As it turns out, it was, with Baylor never even making this one fell at all close in the 83-59 route.

The Importance of Sample Size: A Christian Braun Story - Blue Wings Rising
The following graphs are all courtesy of Bart Torvik's player stats, and show game-by-game stats, moving averages (solid-blue lines) and 5-game averages (dashed line). I pulled all of them prior to Monday night's games to examine the idea that the Baylor game showed he was "fixed".

Texas Longhorns outlast Kansas Jayhawks 79-76 - Blue Wings Rising
End-of-half meltdowns were the name of the game for the No. 8 Kansas Jayhawks on Monday night, with disasters before halftime and right before the final horn sending them to their doom in a 79-76 loss to Texas.

Player Ratings to the Theme of Foul - Blue Wings Rising
Well, that first half was riddled with foul calls, impeding any momentum either team was on the verge of achieving, so today’s version of the player ratings is dedicated to the ever-present foul. Stretches of the second half looked like a rugby match and few fouls were called. Another justification for this topic. And just to be transparent, I’m not complaining about the referees from a Kansas point of view. They were bad both ways as is usually the case. Also, again in an act of transparency, there will be word play involved in these ratings.

Eraser Dust

McConnell Denounces R.N.C. Censure of Jan. 6 Panel Members - The New York Times
Senator Mitch McConnell joined a chorus of Republicans distancing themselves from the committee’s action, describing the Capitol riot as “a violent insurrection.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signals support for 'Don't Say Gay' bill
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis voiced his support for a bill that would prohibit the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the state's primary schools.

Here's how long it will take to get your tax refund in 2022 - CBS News
Treasury Department officials warned on Monday that this year's tax season will be a challenge with the IRS starting to process returns on January 24. That's largely due to the IRS' sizable backlog of returns from 2021. As of December 31, the agency had 6 million unprocessed individual returns — a significant reduction from a backlog of 30 million in May, but far higher than the 1 million unprocessed returns that is more typical around the start of tax season.

♫ Today's Country 95.3 | Todays Country for West Central Missouri
Liam Gallagher stopped by the 2022 BRIT Awards on Tuesday, February 8, to play his new single "Everything's Electric" for the first time ever. In a casual all-black outfit, Gallagher gave the enthusiastic crowd at London's O2 Arena a passionate performance of his latest single.

Substitute Teacher, Bus Driver: Amid Staff Shortages, National Guard Take on Unexpected Missions - WSJ
When Simon Hammond signed up for the National Guard in New Mexico nearly three years ago, he hoped to gain some new experiences and challenges. He never imagined he would be teaching eighth-grade algebra.

Whitefish City Council Votes Against Mountain Gateway Development - Flathead Beacon
Located north of the intersection of Big Mountain Road and East Lakeshore Drive, the development would have led to the construction of 318 units of new housing (270 rental apartments, 36 townhouses and 12 condominiums) on 32.7 acres of land, including 32 deed-restricted units for people earning between 60% and 80% of the area’s median income. (Ed note - a billionaire who owns about 20% of the land in Flathead county came out and said he would no longer donate to Whitefish fundraising activities if this low income subdivision was approved)

I Love to Read — Stillwater celebrates books with visit from Kalispell children's author | Daily Inter Lake
“This book is a compilation of a bunch of my grandpa’s stories he told me as a child,” Gardner said. “Once I realized, when I got older, how special those stories were I just kind of had a notebook and started jotting down some ideas and then I visited with some of my cousins to bring together some of the stories he had told them.”

Shelter gets $45k grant to assist with displaced hotel guests | Daily Inter Lake
The Community Emergency Response Fund grant comes from the foundation's Circle of Giving Program and other local donors. The grant was recommended by Whitefish Community Foundation’s Grants Committee and unanimously approved by the board of directors.

Kanye West, Julia Fox are in an open relationship
“Their bond transcends typical norms because they’re evolved beings who just want each other to be happy,” an insider close to Fox shares. “There is no jealousy or bad vibes.”

Question of the Day