A moment of silence until the next Grantland emerges.

Two of my favorite sites closed down this year: The Dissolve and now Grantland. The Classical started at the same time as Grantland, but didn't live up to its potential either, if making good on potential is judged by financial success only. To survive, The Classical eventually had to become a free for all blog where people volunteer and whose writing (like mine) is probably not of the same, consistent quality or renown as what the site intended upon its initial launch. 

Duke in the NCAA Tournament: A fan's bracing himself for the inevitable landing

Aisander Duda wrote this. He’s been here many times before. Somehow someway this post is about the mixed feelings of optimism and pessimism that surface at the start of any NCAA Tournament run:

"So, let me get this straight. You're saying we're not losing to Robert Morris? That I can just 'chill' for the next couple of hours while the illusion of a basketball game takes place? One more thing, are these wings real or not?" 

On Sunday evening, Icarus awoke. He first tried moving his arms and then his legs, but his whole body felt stiff and unable to easily rise from the surface of his bed. His head ached terribly, and his eyes were blurry and unfocused. As he regained some sense of the past 48 hours, it dawned on him why it was so difficult to move. 

Paul George: Better than Icarus

The initial reactions evolved from whispers, stunned silences, the Oh! My! God! That was awful looking, more whispers, and then carefully worded concern. Seeing a man's leg, upon landing, go from a straight line to a ninety degree angle of skin and bone is, as it should be, a shock to the system. And whatever we said, tweeted, or even yelled as we watched Paul George handle such catastrophe with relative calmness--perhaps as a result of the certainty that this was indeed terrible--surely sounded like an echo of whatever that tragic Greek figure Daedalus said, tweeted, or even yelled as his son Icarus plunged into the sea. Except Paul George wasn't exactly flying too close to the sun.

Paul George intimidating the hell out of Icarus.