Non-baseball items, part II Showing 51-100 of 1,087

[Lance]

Guess I should thank the Vikings for letting me get to bed at my regular time instead of staying up too late. After that debacle of a first half, I wasn’t going to stick around for more. Surprised to see the Rams got only a FG in the 2nd half.

[C. John]

Scrooling through my email and I got a bit of a nasty shock. The main distributor of comic books, at least to the specialty market, is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Diamond only distributes to the comic specialty stores so this wouldn't likely affect the newstands. However if they go under, and they likely won't, a lot of the smaller publishers who don't have newstand distribution will have problems. One company that won't for sure is DC Comics (Superman and Batman) as they use a different distributor.

[C. John]

Some more Justin news. He has announced he will not be a candidate in the next general election.

[C. John]

I don't know if anyone down south is paying attention to what is happening up here but I will mention something that you might not be aware of. The Liberal Party (at least the national one) has a habit of alternating it leaders between Francophones and Anglophones, Thus the next Liberal leader should be an Anglophone.

[C. John]

Apparently on this date in 1920 Prohibition came into effect. And we all know how that one turned out.

[C. John]

Film and television director David Lynch has passed away.

[Lance]

Was he the mastermind behind “Twin Peaks”? I saw that show and it was okay - but very popular. It was on when the Twins won in 1991 and I can’t tell you how many writers thought they were clever by using “Twins Peak” when writing a headline or article.

[C. John]

Lance wrote: "Was he the mastermind behind “Twin Peaks”? I saw that show and it was okay - but very popular. It was on when the Twins won in 1991 and I can’t tell you how many writers thought they were clever by..."

Yes he was. Never watched it myself.

[C. John]

Brazilian football star Robinho has gone from playing for Real Madrid and Man City to doing nine years for gang rape. If he serves the full sentence, and possibly if he doesn't, his career is probably over.

[C. John]

Reading an article on the film "Midas Man" which is about Brian Epstein, one time manager of The Beatles. It mentioned that the time period was a hard one for him as he was both gay and Jewish. I was a bit surprised at that. I knew he was gay but I didn't know he was Jewish.

[C. John]

Lance wrote: "Was he the mastermind behind “Twin Peaks”? I saw that show and it was okay - but very popular. It was on when the Twins won in 1991 and I can’t tell you how many writers thought they were clever by..."

Wonder if the writers would have done that if they had know what 'twin peaks' was slang for. Mind you these are sports writers so probably.

[C. John]

We always used to joke in my family that some Christmas decoration always got left up. My father would say if we discovered everything was down we would have to dig one out and put it up just to keep the tradition alive. Christine and her family however try to make sure everything is down and put away. I just looked at the bookcase across from me and I notice that there are two elves still on one of the shelves. They are sitting in front of some of my religious books. Good place for them, though some might not think so. Christians can be such pains at time.

[C. John]

That bookcase also has a saxaphone playing Santa on it. Zoot would be so pleased.

[C. John]

Scottish Football legend Denis Law has passed away. He is the co-holder of the record for most goals with the Scottish national team, an honour he shares with Kenny Dalgleish.

[C. John]

The Ballad of Kenny Dalgleish by Big Bad Jock. Given how this song sounds I stuck in on a Country music playlist I believe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsLQb...

[C. John]

I have learned that Elon Musk attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He was trying to decide between Queen's (commerce) and Waterloo (engineering) and after visiting both campuses opted for Queens as it had more girls.

[C. John]

Quite a full slate for tomorrow it seems. You have both the Inaugaration and Martin Luther King's birthday. It also is the 60th birthday of the Duchess of Edinburgh.She has been referred to at times as The Royals' secret weapon.

[C. John]

The following is as much as I can give you of an item regarding a British golfer at a tournament this weekend. Apparently the chap is known for his tantrums. The item is from The Telegraph which accounts for the shortness of it. His antics in this case have been described as "going full Basil Fawlty". Since I have actually never watched Fawlty Towers I can't comment on that.

Tyrrell Hatton smashed up a tee box, received a stern telling off from an official and then, after battling to within a stroke of the lead going into the final day of the Dubai Desert Classic, declared: “I don’t want to be boring like everyone else...

[C. John]

Marcil Bonin who won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings (once) and the Montreal Canadiens (thrice) has passed away, age 93.

[C. John]

Here is a clip from the television series Lucifer. The title character is exactly who it says he is. He has come to Earth and is now a consultant with the Los Angeles Police Department. Apparently a club/bar plays a part in the series and this is why the two characters are performing "I Will Survive". Mu wife enjoyed this series and my youngest daughter would watch it with her. It based on the comic book series by Neil Gaiman, who you may have heard about in the news lately.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcu3B...

[C. John]

Came across this regarding the inauguration in The Morning Brew. Not sure how good an idea it would be as I am not sure Trump can actually sing.

Thanks to freezing temperatures, the ceremony will begin around 11:30am ET in the Capitol Rotunda. About 30 minutes later, Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath of office to Trump, and Carrie Underwood will perform “America the Beautiful” (although it would be fun if they switched roles).

[C. John]

I am not sure why but Spotify is still insisting on putting Christmas music on some of the playlists it curates for me. See how long this continues.

[C. John]

The Politico Playbook newsletter has a new editor/author as of today. The chap, Jack Blanchard, has been covering British politics for the last ten year and had this amusing line in his American one today.

"Coming to America: Your author flew in from London last weekend, having spent the past decade covering the rolling chaos that is modern British politics. That period covered six prime ministers, four general elections, two referendums and the death of the world’s longest-serving monarch. You guys have some serious catching-up to do."

He also had this to say about the inauguration, specifically the weather

"After yesterday’s intense snow flurries, the Capital Weather Gang is predicting a dry and sunny day Monday — but with temperatures of just 21F. (Your newly arrived Playbook author has just converted this into celsius and holy moly, that is cold.)"

[C. John]

If anyone watched the inauguration you may, or may not, have noticed a dearth of World leaders there. That is normal apparently. For instance Keir Starmer, the PM of the UK wasn't there. Elon Musk has been saying that he was snubbed. In fact he was never invited. The only ones I know got invites were Argentina's Milei ,Italy's Georgi Meloni and China's president Xi Jinping. The latter didn't go however but sent one of his deputies instead. Starmer sent the UK's ambassador to the US. Mind you the UK was well represented as there were several Brits there, Nigel Farage, Liz Truss, Suella Braverman, Laurnece Fox and Connor McGregor.
Fox is an actor, McGregor is an MMA fighter and the rest are politicians.

[Lance]

It normally is, and moving it indoors this year, security would be an even bigger issue

[Brina]

Five got invites. Only 3 showed. My husband is loves marching bands and his day off is Monday so we watched all afternoon. The new VP is from right up the road from us so it’s been a huge deal of pride in the last few weeks. Also his kids are super cute. I think he’s the last Pres or VP to have kids that young in office since JFK. Personally I think security would have been harder to pull off outside- the motorcade, people standing in the open. I was concerned about that all day but thankfully all went well. I said no politics and I’m trying to keep this as nonpartisan as possible only because I am a history and political junkie in real life and try to keep that out of this group.

[C. John]

Garth Hudson, the last surviving member of The Band has passed away. He was 87.

[C. John]

It appears that Ontario voters are going to go to the polls either in late February or early March. Ford wants a strong hand in dealing with Trump's policies, and possibly with Danielle Smith, the premier of Alberta, as well.

[C. John]

A short clip from the world of pro wrestling. There is no sound so don't be concerned that your speakers aren't working. Thia clip has Dino Bravo and Victor Rivera taking on Dale Roberts and Jerry Brown, who were the original Hollywood Blondes. Not sure but I think the Blondes' manager was Sir Oliver Humperdinck. Dale Roberts would later change his name to Buddy Roberts and become part of The Freebirds, along with Michael Hayes and Terry "Bam-Bam' Gordy. The Freebirds Rule in tag team wrestling is named for them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCw-b...

[Lance]

Brina wrote: "Five got invites. Only 3 showed. My husband is loves marching bands and his day off is Monday so we watched all afternoon. The new VP is from right up the road from us so it’s been a huge deal of p..."

Wasn’t Amy Carter pretty young when Jimmy was inaugurated?

[Lance]

C. John wrote: "A short clip from the world of pro wrestling. There is no sound so don't be concerned that your speakers aren't working. Thia clip has Dino Bravo and Victor Rivera taking on Dale Roberts and Jerry ..."

Dino Bravo - now there’s a blast from the past…

[C. John]

Lance wrote: "C. John wrote: "A short clip from the world of pro wrestling. There is no sound so don't be concerned that your speakers aren't working. Thia clip has Dino Bravo and Victor Rivera taking on Dale Ro..."

I have seen Rivera before as well. The original Hollywood Blonds though were a tag team I had only read about. By the way, although he was always billed as being from the US Dale/Buddy Roberts was actually born and raised in British Columbia.

[C. John]

For various reasons I am way behind on my email. The following is from the Morning Brew from this morning.


Good morning. If your group chat is in need of some fresh material, here’s a question you could pose today: Do audiobooks count as reading? In a new video, the author John Green laid out the case that, yes, audiobooks are “not only definitely reading, for many people, they’re the best kind of reading.” That’s certainly true of Spare by Prince Harry.

—Matty Merritt, Cassandra Cassidy, Sam Klebanov, Adam Epstein, Neal Freyman

[C. John]

I notice that the new coach of the Chicago Bears s named Ben Johnson and the opinion on the hire seems to be favourable. Mention that name up here and you will get a whole different reaction.

[Lance]

C. John wrote: "I notice that the new coach of the Chicago Bears s named Ben Johnson and the opinion on the hire seems to be favourable. Mention that name up here and you will get a whole different reaction."

Or if the topic is University of Minnesota men’s basketball - their head coach is Ben Johnson and some want him out. I’m not - one or two more years to evaluate then we can discuss further

[Lance]

For me, of course an audiobook counts as reading. Getting one in queue for my drive to NH tomorrow

[Brina]

Bear down! So excited about Chicago’s Ben Johnson and he’s a Cubs fan. Not expecting a title in year 1 but I’ll settle for .500 or better and sweeping the Packers.

[C. John]

Lance wrote: "For me, of course an audiobook counts as reading. Getting one in queue for my drive to NH tomorrow"

I honestly hadn't given the topic much thought before. Probably because I don't do audiobooks. My youngest child has used them but I am not sure anyone else in the family has,

[Brina]

If my middle daughter didn’t utilize audio books, she wouldn’t read at all. It is a type of reading and it counts, just not my type of reading.

[C. John]

Apparently the education minister in the Italian government wants to make some changes to the curriculum and a lot of people are up in arms about it. After reading this article I really don't see what a lot of the fuss is about.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/202...

[C. John]

Just looking at a McDonald's menu from 1974. A Big Mac was 65 cents. Sheesh. Of course that is roughly 50 years ago.

[C. John]

Conference finals this weekend, I think. The Morning Brew posted some suggestions for who to root for if you don't (as they put it) 'have skin in the games'. I daresay the wife and daughters will be rooting for the Chiefs.

Good morning. Tomorrow, the NFL will host two conference championship games that will determine the Super Bowl LIX matchup: the Philadelphia Eagles vs. the Washington Commanders and the Buffalo Bills vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. Don’t have a horse in the race and unsure who to root for? Here’s a cheat sheet:

If you love an underdog story and the Gryffindor colors: Commanders
If you want to make Neal happy and see Dave cry: Eagles
If you’ve always wanted to be a part of a mafia: Bills
If you typically root for the house at the casino: Chiefs

[C. John]

Glancing through the headlines in my email and thought to myself 'why is the Rev. Al Sharpton leading a boycott of Costco now?' When I clicked on the article I discovered it was a buy-cott, not a boycott. Apparently it was done because Costco is retaining their DEI policies. In fact their shareholders recently defeated a resolution that would have required Costco to review them, with the hope that the review would recommend getting rid of them.

[C. John]

Here is this weekend's Mirror Pub Quiz. I admit I am a little late in posting this. No excuses.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/play/quizzes...

[C. John]

Good night all, see you in the morning.

[C. John]

It seems that Dan Snyder is not taking the Commanders current success very well.

[C. John]

Well we know it will be The Eagles and The Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Anyone have any thoughts on that matchup. I daresay a lot of young ladies will be cheering on the Chiefs.

[C. John]

A bit of trivia on the upcoming World Cup in 2026. Trump was the president when it was awarded. Just shows you how much time passes between awarding the World Cup and it being hosted.

[C. John]

The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation is holding a Street Cricket event in Missauga. I have never heard of Street Cricket but I would think it is like Street Hockey. Sounds interesting anyway.

https://www.mississauga.com/things-to...

[C. John]

For anyone who may not be aware of it, today is International Holocaust Memorial Day. It is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz