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Non-baseball items, part II
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C. John
(last edited Mar 12, 2025 10:34AM)
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Mar 12, 2025 10:33AM
If anyone didn't know Greenland had an election yesterday. Surprisingly the center-right party won. The only thing this changes is that they want to take a slower path to independence from Denmark than did the previous government, which was a center-left party. The two do agree on not becoming part of the US however. An that is all I need say about that.
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John Feinstein, sportswriter, has passed away.
You can add ski-jumping to the list of sports suffering from cheating scandals. I wonder how far Eddie the Eagle would have flown if he'd had one of these suits at the 1988 Winter Olympics.https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/wi...
Here is a blast from the past. Not sure the exact year (1968 possibly) but this is The Brooklyn Bridge performing their hit "The Worst that Could Happen" on the Ed Sullivan Show. The lead singer of the group is Johnny Maestro who was well known from a previous group he fronted. In fact on some oldies collection you see the group referred to as Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSqJd...
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I just saw this. He was my go-to author for sports books. I loved every book of his I read, whether college basketball, golf (those two sports were his best), football, baseball…whatever. Only his most recent book was a disappointment- about Ivy League football. Wonder if he was having health issues that may have led to a poorer quality book. RIP John.
A bit of wrestling. This time we have Nikita Koloff's face turn and the formation of the Superpowers. Dusty Rhodes was known as The American Dream while Nikita Koloff was referred to as the Russian Nightmare so the name of their alliance made sense. Of course when the events in this clip took place no one knew there was an alliance between the two, as up to now the two were enemies.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmO-U...
While I'm here how about a song for your entertainment. This time around we have one of my favourites: "Ring Them Bell's" by Liza Minnelli.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mupOf...
Now this is funny. The new PM and his cabinet were sworn in today. Trudeau had asked the Minister for Public Services and Procurement to fix the 24 Sussex problem. It is the PM's official residence and it is currently unihabitable. It will probably cost quite a bit to get it back to where it can be used. However no PM has wanted to do that as it would theoretically look bad having all that money spent on 24 Sussex. However the outgoing PM could do it as the money is not being spent on where he is going to live. There is only one problem. Carney is apparently dropping Duclos, the minister involved, from Cabinet which means he no longer has the authority to do it.
Okay here are tomorrow's Six Nations games. I was wrong earlier. I said France played first but in fact they play last. I think when I saw the time as 8 I was thinking 8 am, not 8 pm. Ah wellItaly vs. Ireland
Wales vs. England
Scotland vs. France
So we quite possibly won't know until the ending of the last game who is the Six Nations Champion. However if both Ireland and England lose it will be France. I am not sure about the Wooden Spoon however.
Apparently when Vladimir Putin put in an appearance on the frontlines of his invasion of the Ukraine recently it was in fact a body double, and one that doesn't even look like him. Apparently ordinary Russians are having fun with this one. Wonder how the soldiers feel.
You know it is a slow day when the only notification you have is that someone liked one of your reviews. Anyway, wishing everyone a pleasent Ides of March. Hopefully yours is better than Julius Caesar's was. Occurs to me that that was the first Shakespeare play I studied in high school. We did six in the five years I was there.
Thomas Tuchel, the current manager of England's National Men's team in Football has been asked if he will sing the National Anthem at the beginning of games. The reason this is an issue is the manager of the U21 team refused to. He's Irish while Tuchel is German. He says he will, but not at first. He feels he needs to earn the right to sing it by getting good results. They have a couple of games coming up against some of the lesser teams. Not sure if these are qualifying matches for the World Cup or just friendlies. See how it goes.
I read that this year, after switching conferences (or whatever they are called) the University of Oregon's mens basketball team has spent more time in the air flying to games than actually playing them.
Six Nations is all over and here are the scores from the last roundItaly 17 - 22 Ireland
Wales 14 - 68 England
France 35 - 16 Scotland
So France is the champion after this years campaign. I am not sure who ended up with the Wooden Spoon. However, France did suffer one loss (to England I think) so there was no Grand Slam this year.
Okay, I have learned that Wales 'won' the Wooden Spoon.
There is a possibility that the Dallas Mavericks may end up having to forfeit some upcoming games beause they won't have enough players, and no cap room to add anyone.
Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone even if, like me, you aren't Irish. Five years ago people in Britian were banned from going to the pub to celebrate.
C. John wrote: "Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone even if, like me, you aren't Irish. Five years ago people in Britian were banned from going to the pub to celebrate."Thanks, C.John! I'm Irish on my Paternal Grandfathers side of family. My Great-Great Grandfather was British living in South Shields, UK. After his first wife (4 sons) died he then married his housekeeper, Jane Peacock, who was from Ireland. She died and he came to America with their 2 young daughters. The oldest was my Paternal Grandfathers Mother. I cant take credit for this information! My 2nd cousin traveled to South Shields in 1990's to research our family history.
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Brina wrote: "I am 100% Ashkenazic Jew but I love potatoes so I say that this makes me an honorary Irish. ☘️"Yes, potatoes definitely count :)
Newcastle has won the Carabao Cup. When I first started following UK soccer this was known as the League Cup. It is probably the third most important trophy in England after the FA Cup and the Premier League Championship.
If the picture I was just looking at in my Morning Brew newsletter is of the astronauts who will be staying on the International Space Station man do they look young. At least one of them looks like he should still be in high school.
Apparently our new PM, Mark Carney, was asked when there would be an election and his reply was hilarious "They should expect to go to the polls before November". That is a given as the election has to be called by October. Most are expecting him to make it sometime before Sunday as parliament is supposed to be recalled on the 24th.
Some more wrestling history. Not sure if Lance will recognize many of these guys are not but he should recognize at least two. In the old UWF (Universal Wrestling Federation run by Bill Watts) at one point there was a heel stable run by "Hot Stff" Eddie Gilbert. The members at the time of this clip were Gilbert himself, The Blade Runners (Rock and Sting) and Korchenko, a Russian wrestler. Part of Korchenko's schtick was that he would bring a Russian flag to the ring with him and when he had defeated his opponent he would drape the flag over him. Watts is taking exception to that. Here is the clip. There is a match at the end of the clip.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0etdn...
Korchenko is the only one I know nothing about. I have been unable to find anything about him anywhere. Sting and Rock went on to have lengthy careers, though Rock is better known as the Ultimate Warrior. At this point in their careers Steve "Dr. Death" Williams and Ted DiBiase were wrestling as faces. The commentator for all this is Jim Ross.All this took place before I stared watching the UWF on television.
Now for a combination of wrestling and music. This video uses the song "Living in America" by James Brown. It features the tag team of Steve Williams and Ted Dibase. Obviously this was done as a time when the two were standing tall for America. I am going to presume it was around the time the two were waring with Eddie Gilbert's stable as there is a brief bit with Korchenko putting the Russian flag on someone.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWIE2...
Here is an interesting bit of Football trivia. Glasgow Rangers have 55 League titles while Glasgow Celtic have 54, but are likely to add one more at the end of this season. In third place there is a three way tie, Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen, each with four. Talk about gaps.
There is apparently a bit of a situation with The Boat Race. For those not up on British Terminology that is how the Brits refer to the annual race between Oxford and Cambridge. The following explains it and is from The Telegraph.Cambridge University have accused Oxford of “slimy” tactics in getting three rowers blocked from competing next month. The dispute is about whether students training to be teachers are “ringers” who should not be allowed to enter. It has been described as a “new low in relations between Oxford and Cambridge boat clubs”.
I am sure there is an article further down in the newsletter but as this is The Telegraph linking to it is a waste of everyone's time.
Listening to Mitch Miller doing Nick Nack Paddy Whack.
Had a bit of a chuckle today. Someone liked one of my old reviews, this one being for Crawford's Encyclopedia of Comics. I was not nice in that review. Below is a link to the review so you can see what I am talking about. I believe this is the worst review for any book I have reviewed.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Following is an article detailing how qualifing is going for next year's World Cup.https://www.theguardian.com/football/...
Interesting article coutesy of the CBC. Topic is the question "Is Tim Horton's Canadian?" For some this is an important question.https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-s...
An observation. As I was reading my Brussels Playbook newsletter I noted something I have noticed in other European newsletters. Turkey's name is spelled Turkiye in the newsletters. I am wondering if that is a European spelling of the name. It has gotten to the point where I have seen it so many times that I just ignore it.
Something just reminded me of a funny story regarding Lent, which we are in the middle of. Back when I was at McGill I had given up something for Lent. However I was indulging it on a Sunday and I was queried on that. I responded that as Sunday was a feast day the Church had long ago decided the Lenten rules did not apply on Sundays. I was later approached by the group of students who had given up M.A.S.H, for Lent, They were wondering if they could move their Sunday to Monday, as that was when the new episode aired. They would still not watch the syndicated episodes but could keep up with the latest one. Of course I said yes. I am ever mindful of Jesus' words 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath'. Besides, most Christian denominations don't celebrate it on the right day anyway.
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No meat on fridays is a Roman Catholic thing. I know of no Protestant church that practices it and for the most part Anglicans don't either, though it is possible some Anglo-Catholics would. It is also a year-round thing as far as I know. Lent generally entails giving up one thing (I recall the year I announced that I was giving up chastity for lent. That produced quite a reaction which was my intention actually). The idea is to recall the forty day fast Jesus undertook but not to make it such a burden that a person comes to resent it. Meat is actually something commonly given up because there are plenty of replacements for it. You are not supposed to do anything for Lent that would affect your health.
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Giving up salad for Lent would be easy for my sons. They are not fond of it. As some may know my sense of humour borders on the Don Rickles style. I once while in University gave up being sarcastic and such for Lent. I was later told that everyone was praying for Lent to end soon as a 'nice' John Kerry was almost impossible to live with.
Hopefully everyone has had a pleasent first day of Spring.
The IOC has a new president Kirsty Coventry, a swimmer from Zimbabwe has been elected to the position. Apparently she was the favourite of the outgoing president. I will point out that even though she is from an African country she is white. Thus, though she is the first female president we shall have to wait abit for a non-white IOC president. Only mentioning it since someone is bound to, though I haven't come across anything (yet). See how this goes. One thing, a lot of people were sure Lord Sebastian Coe to get the nod, so this is a bit of a surprise.
This is getting ridiculous. First there was a suggestion we start referring to the Americano (a coffe beverage for those not in the know) as the Canadiano. Now someone has suggested the Baked Alaska become the Baked Yukon. I am now seriously considering going into hibernation until all this nonsense ends. The only problem is that I would then miss the World Cup next year.
Now for something a little lighter. One of Liberal-Democrat MPs in the British Parliament is legally blind and has a guide dog named Jenny who actually accompanies him into the Commons. Last night it seems the dog wandered over to the governmemt benches and got a bit of attention. As a result she had to go see the Chief Whip for the Lib Dems in her office and received a talking to. Of course this part was all in fun. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
We still don't know what penalties, if any, Manchester City will receive if the are found to be guilty of any of the charges levelled against them. It is thought they are unlikely to be relegated. One reason is the because this would be outside the normal relegation/promotion process the English Leauge wouldn't be required to accept them. It is thought the most likely penalty with be some sort of points deduction. If so then it is quite possible City will accept it, as long as it is applied immediately. Thinking is that the season is a writeoff for them anywell so lose the points now and then they can start over fresh next season.
George Foreman has passed away age 76.
Here's the headline from the Wall Street Journal on George Foreman's Death.George Foreman, Heavyweight Boxing Great and Undisputed Champion of Grilling, Dies at 76
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Sounds like when America had Freedom Fries when they were mad at France.
Lance wrote: "C. John wrote: "This is getting ridiculous. First there was a suggestion we start referring to the Americano (a coffe beverage for those not in the know) as the Canadiano. Now someone has suggested..."I thought of those. That was when France refused to participate in the US's invasion of Iraq. Funny enough I am not even sure the damned things are French in origin. The first known person to prepare them may have been St. Theresa of Savile in Spain.
I am currently enjoying a Cup of PB and Chocolate. This is a coffee in case anyone is wondering what the heck I am doing. My youngest daughter chose this one for me today. She and her sister get to choose my first cup of coffee of the day, if they are awake and remember.
England defeated Albania yesterday in World Cup qualifying with the score being 2-0. Game was at Wembley. Next up is, I believe, Latvia. That should be another victory. Maybe Tuchel will be singing England's national anthem soon, and no it's not Jerusalem.
And now having completed the Mens' Six Nations we have the Womens' version starting today with two matches today and one tomorrow. Matches are as followsIreland vs. France
Scotland vs. Wales
England vs. Italy.
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