Donald Trump (with a British Accent)

Wow - kind of makes a big difference.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing.

- Today seems like a good time to revisit Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Star Wars

- The news out of El Salvador is more much more interesting than stories about Trump

- An inside look at the workings of the MLB Winter Meetings

- The mysterious case of the severed feet in British Columbia

- Third party brief supports Brady vs NFL

- The wife of Pi

- Very cool - Google contact lenses

- Interesting - why some patients refuse the flu shot

- Should healthy people take an aspirin a day? Both sides of the debate.

- More celebrities read mean Tweets

- I would watch every second of a Celtics broadcast if Bill Burr was the announcer

- Brian Scalabrine - the 12th man of Christmas

Tom Brady and Politics

Dan Wetzel has a good take on Tom Brady and his relationship with Donald Trump. I agree with the idea that it is a no win situation for Brady and at the same time none of anyone's business.

If I owned the Patriots - here's how I would handle the situation:

First I would cancel all current press credentials. Then I would have all the "journalists" reapply but have to fill out a brief form. The form would ask, "What is your political affiliation?" "Who did you vote for in the last two Presidential elections?" "Who do you plan to vote for in the 2016 Presidential election?"

At the bottom of the form would be a box you can check that would say, "I'm not answering those questions. My politics or anyone's politics is nobody's business. I'm just here to cover football."

Then I'd only give credentials to people who checked the box.

Fairytale of New York

The best Christmas song ever! Now I'm in the holiday spirit!

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Did not watch the GOP debate last night. I have no plans to watch any debates because it doesn't really matter and I have better things to do with my time... Nicely done LeBron. Nicely done... In the end the GOP candidate will be either Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz. I'm OK with either choice... Last night's debate was supposed to be on foreign policy. How come the media so eager to ask the GOP candidates questions on foreign policy are so silent on the failures of the current administration?.... My guess is that either Ben Carson or Carly Fiorina will be the choice for VP. I'm OK with either of those choices too... The sad reality of social media fame. I think you do things like this because you want to and enjoy it not because you want to get rich or famous. For instance I seek neither fame nor fortune via this blog (I make zero from this site). I just like writing down my thoughts to make more room for the voices in my head that are screaming, SCREAMING to be heard... This seems like a very common sense proposal by Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee... Holiday tip - as a joke when you go to a friend's home for a Christmas party replace the can of air freshener in the bathroom with a can of Raid. Your hostess will love you for it... Our allies the Saudis...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- The white guy in the Black Power salute photo from the 1968 Olympics was just as much a hero

- Yesterday was Dick Van Dyke's 90th birthday

- Heh heh

- Great story - Stephen Tobolowski on working with Steven Seagal on The Glimmer Man

- One badass grandma

- Pat McAfee is a good man

- When are suicide rates the highest? Not the holiday season

Army Navy Game

The Army helmets today are pretty cool too.

Who am I rooting for today? I think this pretty much sums up my sentiments.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- The X-37B is really cool but I would hesitate calling it secret if video of it exists on the Internet

- Cool - Santa's superpowers vs those of "traditional" superheroes

- Heh heh

- An oral history of The League

- Funny that this could even be considered plausible

Darth Trump

This is fantastic! Huuuge!

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

[Shocked] Shelby Miller was worth all of that? [Scratching my head] Is Shelby Miller worth all that? This trade has a whiff of Doyle Alexander for John Smoltz to me except this is pre-season not during the season... Heh heh... The things you learn on the Internet: the difference between caramel and butterscotch is butterscotch contains brown sugar instead of white... This may be the only thing from Charles Schultz that actually made me chuckle (I'm a bad person)... How much money do you think it would take to get Peyton Manning to sing, "On the bench it feels so weird" in that State Farm jingle?... Neal Pert is retiring from drumming... Still not 100% convinced that the @realDonaldTrump Twitter feed isn't actually a parody account. It would explain so much... Holy shit! Wait for it!... Boston sports troll Dan Shaughnessy won the Spink Award which means he gets into the baseball Hall of Fame -  which means going to Cooperstown to rub my balls all over Shaughnessy's plaque just made my bucket list...

Larry Bird

Happy birthday to Larry Legend. The video above helps show why he's so beloved in Boston.

Pearl Harbor Day Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations on the 74th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

On this day 74 years ago Japan attacked the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor... Taking the President's example - Bill Belichick to blame Patriots loss to Eagles on Global Warming... Great moments in marketing history... Interestingly enough - after Pearl Harbor - Canada actually declared war on Japan before the US did... Just 2 days after Pearl Harbor baseball great Bob Feller volunteered for military service. It was this patriotism that Ted Williams always admired more about Feller than anything Feller ever did on the baseball diamond... Interesting article on how Pearl Harbor created big government in the US and how that era is coming to an end... Random thought - Spare Time is a great name for a bowling alley...

Top 5 - Robert Loggia Roles

Saddened by the recent passing of actor Robert Loggia. At one point in time Loggia seemed to be everywhere and in some small role in every movie or TV show that came out. Here are what I consider his top 5 roles.

1. Scarface (Frank Lopez)
2. Big (MacMillan)
3. Independence Day (General William Grey)
4. Necessary Roughness (Coach Wally Rig)
5. Prizzi's Honor (Edwardo Prizzi)

As far as I'm concerned you could put those roles in any order you like. Loggia wasn't the lead but he was memorable in all those films. You could also argue the TV show Mancuso, FBI should make the list but I'd have to leave that to you since I never watched the show.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Holy crap! I've always thought it would be cool to boat down the entire length of the Mississippi River but to swim it? Incredible.

- Heh heh

- Mexican nativity scene?

- But isn't just deciding to be a vegan a sign of mental illness to begin with?

- Sad but true

- If they weren't so expensive - these teabags would make excellent gifts

- Heh heh

- Heartwarming story of what sounds like a great community

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

My heartfelt condolences to anyone who bet on the Detroit Lions last night. That was the ultimate bad beat... This has been my favorite joke to tell the past 6 months... It has to be asked - is Abe Vigoda an immortal?... In New England the Patriots have become so big that kids don't write letters to Santa any more. They write letters to Teddy Bruschi... BTW - that wasn't a facemask last night. Never should have been a flag... Interesting - is intermittent fasting good for you?... Is the answer oral sex? If not I don't want to know the question... Heh heh... You have to think that there were a lot of  Packer fans and people who bet on Green Bay who turned off the game when it was 17-0 last night. What a nice surprise for those folks to wake up to this morning...

The Buckler

There's Christian Rock but no Christian Wrestling - I say we change that.

This time of year I always think of the following Bible verse:

"As for God, His way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: He is a buckler to all those who trust in him" - Psalm 18:30

I got to thinking that "The Buckler" would be a great name for a Christian wrestler. I went out to to dinner once when this idea first hit me and there was a non-alcoholic beer on the menu called - you guessed it - Buckler. Vince McMahon has to make this happen.

Here's the idea - a Christian wrestler who only wrestles to spread the Gospel. He' gets sponsored by Heineken (they make Buckler beer) and the other wrestler's make fun of his religion in order to get him to lose his cool. Can't you picture the Undertaker getting the Buckler in a choke hold and saying, "Where's your Moses now?" (like Dathan from The Ten Commandments). Triple H could pile drive him and ask, "Your God, your God - why has he abandoned you?"

The Buckler in turn could come out with a signature surrender hold called "the crucifixion." The Buckler's entrance music could be some gospel standard or something by Creed. You hear "Onward Christian Soldiers" over the PA and McMahon says, "Is that the Buckler's music I hear?"

It would be controversial and that's what wrestling thrives on. This could be huge.

So let it be written - so let it be done.

A Legend Retires

So a 37-year old NBA legend announces his intention to retire at the end of the season and it sets off a big farewell tour. All the NBA cities who will be seeing him play for the last time make a big production of it. You might think I am speaking of Kobe Bryant but actually I was referring to Celtics legend John Havlicek's 1977-78 season.

The similarities between the two players is pretty pronounced. Start with the size - Bryant 6'6" and 212 pounds vs Havlicek's 6'5" and 203 pounds. Kobe went into the NBA right from high school so has the benefit of 4 more NBA seasons. Havlicek meanwhile went to college and is also a legend at Ohio State. In Havlicek's final season he averaged 16.1 points plus 4 assists and 4 rebounds per game. Kobe is averaging 15.5 points along with 3.4 assists and 4.1 rebounds.

If you take away the points from Kobe's first 4 seasons and factor in that the 3-pointer wasn't around in Havlicek's day - the Black Mamba would still be the better scorer but only by the slightest of margins (26,930 points and counting to 26,395). The rebounds favor Havlicek  (8,007 to 6,853 and counting) while Kobe has the slight advantage in assists averaging 5.3 career per game to Hondo's 4.8 (and Kobe was the guy who supposedly didn't pass the ball). These two guys are statistically almost mirror images.

Havlicek was a 13-time NBA All-Star while Kobe went to 17-All-Star games (and counting). It is a big deal that Kobe also won 5 NBA Championships with the Lakers but let's not forget that Havlicek owns 8 Championship rings from his career with the Celtics.

The whole point of this isn't to take anything away from Kobe but just that it saddens me that Havlicek seems completely forgotten and the two were almost identical. Even as a Celtics fan I'll admit that Kobe was the better player but the difference wasn't as great as some would have you believe.

Top 5 - Christmas Songs by Rock Stars

1. Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Bruce Springsteen 
2. Do They Know It's Christmas - Band Aid 
3. Father Christmas - The Kinks 
4. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Bare Naked Ladies 
5. Little Drummer Boy - Bing Crosby and David Bowie 

Tax the NCAA

Georgia fired head football coach Mark Richt after 15-years of winning about 75% of all the games he coached. By all accounts Mark Richt is a good and decent man who was a fine representative for the University but in the end that wasn't enough. At the same time that was playing out LSU was letting head coach Les Miles twist in the wind. The same Les Miles who had LSU wanked in the Top 5 earlier in the year and who has recently won a National Championship.

Isn't it time to give up the pretense that big time college sports have anything to do with education? Can anyone give me a good reason why the money generated by Division 1 sports isn't taxed?

Top 5 - Best Versions of Dickens' Christmas Carol

1. Scrooge - with Alastair Sim 
2. A Christmas Carol - with Patrick Stewart 
3. Mickey's Christmas Carol 
4. The Muppet Christmas Carol 
5. Scrooged - with Bill Murray