Three-Sentence Book Review: Sundial by Catriona Ward

"It fixates heavily on the lifelong damage that early-onset traumatic circumstances can inflict on a person's psyche while also weaving a unique thriller narrative set in an almost alien real-world setting (an isolated desert compound). The momentum of the book is strongly undermined by the monotone first-person delivery, and the characters are almost too detached from "normal" to relate to until the book reveals their full backstories at the conclusion. The first and last forty pages are gripping, but the middle 200 are a slog to get through."

-Jake Hunter, semi-professional literary critic

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The Bottom Line (Spoiler-Free)

It's a book about a mother and a daughter revisiting the site of the mother's upbringing. It starts off very intriguing, but spends a gratuitous amount of time developing a backstory that could be adequately described in twenty pages or less.

I would not recommend this book if you're expecting a tense thriller. This is more of a slow burn that becomes interesting only after all the pieces are put together at the end. To some, that is enjoyable, but I would argue that the payoff is still not momentous enough to justify the meandering path it takes to reach that point.

MNL NFL Draft Draft Teams

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During our most recent episode of the podcast, we each drafted a group of ten players based on where we expect each player to be draft in the NFL draft (beginning Thursday night at 7pm).

The scoring is simple: Each player scores the amount of points that their pick corresponds to in the draft (eg. the first pick gets 1 point, the eighth pick gets 8 points, etc.). The goal is to have the lowest total score amongst the three teams at the end, much like golf.

But not like golf, because this is actually fun.

This post is simply to put the teams on paper for everyone to see ahead of time, and the scores will be updated after the final player on our lists are drafted.

Will	Points	Josh	Points	Jake	Points
Evan Neal		Travon Walker		Aidan Hutchinson
Kyle Hamilton		Malik Willis		Ahmad Gardner
Garrett Wilson		Ikem Ekwonu		Kayvon Thibodeaux
Jordan Davis		Charles Cross		Jermaine Johnson
Devin Lloyd		Derek Stingley		Jameson Williams
Trevor Penning		Trent McDuffie		Chris Olave
Andrew Booth		Drake London		Treylon Burks
Matt Corral		Devonte Wyatt		Kenny Pickett
Tyler Linderbaum		Zion Johnson		Kyler Gordon
David Ojabo		Daxton Hill		Lewis Cine

Breaking: The Chicago Bulls Will Not Be Winning the NBA Finals

It was fun while it lasted.

I pondered in a recent article that the Bulls might have the goods to win their series against Milwaukee following a momentous Game 2 victory as well as reports that Khris Middleton would be missing the remainder of the series with injury. With the series heading back to Chicago, spirits were high in the Bulls fanbase.

Yeah, nope.

Not only did the Bulls drop both games in the United Center, they were MASSIVELY outclassed from the opening tip in both games. It turns out that elite NBA defenses can prey on a team that doesn't move the ball well and has almost no interest in asserting itself in the paint. In all honesty, Nikola Vucevic should be getting more touches (not something I have been clamoring for this year), but I also doubt he would be able to swing these results significantly.

Patrick Williams had a horrendous Game 3. Zach LaVine is streaky, though I think his oscillating output is more due to poor offensive scheme as opposed to his own deficient performances. DeMar has been frustrated by Jrue Holiday and Milwaukee's strength and size.

Milwaukee has also benefited from Grayson Allen transforming from prime Grayson Allen into prime Klay Thompson, which was not something the Bulls were planning to account for.

All-in-all, this series is now unfolding the way most people who have been keeping tabs on the NBA expected. Milwaukee has the best player in the league, they have championship experience/confidence, and the Bulls are faltering down the stretch. I expect the Bucks to cruise through the clinching game tonight (Zach LaVine will be out for the game due to COVID protocols), setting up a titanic matchup with a championship-caliber Boston Celtics team in the second round.

The Bulls will be heading home defeated, but certainly in a better place as a franchise than any year in recent memory. They need to make numerous offseason moves (trade Vucevic and Coby White for DeAndre Ayton, please) to approach anything near contending for a championship, though.

We'll always have that Game 2 to remember.

Bull Down.