Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology has moved the Memphis Tigers up to “Last Four Byes” following the Tigers’ blowout win over 14 Houston, 75-61. The Tigers never looked like they were in trouble and led by 20 at the half. Lunardi has Memphis as an 11 seed, playing 6 Ohio State in the first round. That would be an interesting matchup. The official NCAA brackets will be announced at 5 Sunday.
Up next for the Tigers: The AAC tournament, which they will no longer have to win to get an NCAA tournament bid. Relevant game times and TV coverage:
- Quarterfinals: 3 Memphis vs. winner of 11 South Florida/6 UCF, 8:00 Friday, ESPNU
- Semifinals: Memphis would play at 4:00 Saturday if they advance; most likely opponent SMU; ESPN2
- Finals: Memphis would play at 2:15 Sunday if they advance; most likely opponent Houston; ESPN
The Grizzlies are now tied with Golden State in the Western Conference following their loss to the other Houston, 123-112, last night.
Last Friday I reported that many Downtown restaurants and bars have agreed to start passing sales tax and line item tax on to the customer, rather than including them in the listed menu price for drinks. It’s a price increase that doesn’t look like a price increase, and because they’re all doing it at once, they can hide behind the excuse, “Everyone’s doing it.”
I encourage my readers to have conversations with the owners/GMs of Downtown bars and restaurants. Ask them questions like
- Is your business one of the ones changing the way it does taxes at this time?
If the answer is yes, ask them
- Are you lowering drink prices to compensate for passing the sales and line-item taxes onto customers?
If the answer is no, ask them
- Then wouldn’t you agree that the change in taxes is effectively a price increase?
- Is it financially necessary to do the tax change/price increase? Are you doing it to ease your business’s financial pain? Because I heard some Downtown restaurants had a very profitable 2021, despite it being a pandemic year.
- Do you have any other justification besides “everyone else is doing it,” which sounds like a cop-out?
The idea may have come from another city. A blog reader of mine who lives in Las Vegas told me that restaurants in his neighborhood did the same tax scheme a few years ago.
I read an interesting piece of commentary on why the U.S. should consider banning all Russian oil and setting up a no-fly zone over Ukraine, even though those moves could fan the flames of war – China is watching. If the free world is not seen taking bold measures to indicate we won’t stand for Ukraine’s invasion, China may start thinking about invading Taiwan.
Here’s a look at this week’s SEC tournament bracket.
Here’s a list of all the companies that have stopped doing business with Russia, curated by Yale School of Management. There’s also a second list of companies that still have significant exposure in Russia. (h/t Morning Brew)
One teenager died and another was injured in a shooting at Riverside and Beale Saturday about 11 PM…. and a block away at Wagner, there was a report of a man assaulted by a man with a gun this morning at 7:31.
Action News 5 visited Downtown restaurants SugaShack and The Genre on the opening day of Black Restaurant Week.
Not surprised at all to hear that multiple class-action lawsuits have been filed against Family Dollar since the discovery of rodent infestation at its West Memphis warehouse.
I know this isn’t the most popular time to mention anything Russian, but the Russian Ballet Theatre performs Swan Lake tomorrow night at the Cannon Center. Some of the members of the troupe are from Ukraine.
If you feel like traveling to Wiseacre’s original location on Broad, they’re celebrating Casimir Pulaski Day today. Pulaski was a Revolutionary War hero born in Poland, and he’s considered the father of the American cavalry. Pulaski County, Arkansas, where I was born, is named for him.
Since the folks who sit at the corner table at Max’s read my blog, I’m sure they would be interested to know there’s an AARP Game Day at the North Branch library Saturday. It starts at noon and will wrap up by 4 so you still have time to make it to the Early Bird dinner special.
That’s it to start off your rainy Monday. Back tomorrow with more news.