For Love Of The Game
For Love Of The Game
The Cast
Date: 15 July 2020
FILLERBUSTER’S ELEVEN
BACKGROUND: This started as a long-winded numbered blog. It transformed into an organized long-winded category blog. Now, it is a quick-hitter to ease your pain. I lack time. So, the preparation of the blog actually made me procrastinate from writing the thing. Let’s see who makes the cut. Barely edited as usual unfortunately, so please excuse any mistakes during my stream of consciousness. I feel the need…the need for speed. Let’s turn and burn.
SETTING: This is written fully in content on Tuesday night. Quickly edited and released on Wednesday morning before work. Again, I am trying to not overload you with multiple topics under each sport. I just pick one and write.
- EVERGREEN 1: REDSKINS. Baby steps. That is what Bill Murray said years ago about progress in his world in a movie. I apply it every day to my own life and to things in the far and wide. Well, the Skins are one of those things. We could sit here and stay mad at Daniel Snyder. He is a creep. We know this. We could be mad that something like the unfortunate events of BLM suddenly suddenly had to trigger and pretty much force him to change the name after decades. Sure. And we know that the pressure that he succumbed to was probably the money losses that would FOLLOW the media pressure post-BLM. It wasn’t the movement unfortunately. And we know he will never “get it.” But, it IS something. It is way late and it should have happened a while back. But, in the end, it HAPPENED. Keep in mind the big picture, but Bill Murray just baby stepped across the hall to the elevator.
- NFL: CAM NEWTON. I have an idea. Just stop talking. Not you, the reader. I am talking to you, Cam. You have to stop talking right now. You have a job finally. You are on a team with six Super Bowls. You will compete for the starting job. Just STOP talking. I myself wanted you on my Steelers because of a value contract, your past experience, and your unique talent. But, now I remember why I disliked you for years. You can’t let actions speak for you. You HAVE to talk. Now is that time to do the former. During a roundtable with some other players that the media picked up on, Cam talked about how he could do some things that Brady couldn’t, how McDaniels could call some stuff not called before, how replacing Tom Brady is the elephant in the room, and how he is a “ticked-off dog.” I didn’t even read the news that he was the automatic #1 already on the depth chart. I think he might have forgotten about Jarrett Stidham. But, if that IS the case that he is the #1, why talk now? Just let your play speak for you and prove all of the teams who waited on you to be wrong. There is time for the playbook, McDaniels, the elephant, and the dog to all be resolved. We don’t need you chirping about while it is happening. I mean, you pretty much have to reach the Super Bowl, or they WILL doubt you again, right? I wouldn’t be digging yourself a hole out of the gate.
- COLLEGE FOOTBALL: NOTRE DAME. The Ivy League has decided to not play fall sports totally in 2020. We will try not to talk about how that feels like déjà vu when they were the first conference to cancel their conference tourney pre-COVID, and then the other leagues, and then Rudy Gobert, and all other dominoes fell after that. This is now again. The Big Ten sort of followed suit by saying it would play conference games only. The Patriot League followed suit by cancelling all, the ACC will make its decision within two weeks, and many conferences will bail or semi-bail also. But, the point here is that decisions are made at the conference level. Think about Notre Dame, the villain and a perennial power of the football world. They will lose out. They were just in the playoff in 2018, so their resume is important also yearly. There are rumblings that the ACC will welcome them into their league play, and that makes sense since Notre Dame is already in the ACC for hoops and for other sports, but what if they are shut out? What if things are too complicated? The point is that COVID is wrecking everything we know as normal. The small schools play the big boys to earn quality wins. The conferences overlap to help out with years like last year, when the Pac-12 was weak. Notre Dame plays military schools, Michigan, USC, etc. Man, I hate the new normal, and I actually feel bad for a situation like Notre Dame in this case. Did I say that out loud? Maybe Lou Saban can figure it out. Ask Trump if he is mis-referencing Nick or putting Lou in a different timeline.
- COLLEGE BASKETBALL: TBT. I don’t feel like talking about Zion impostors, so let’s throw The Basketball Tournament in the college hoops area. It just ended, and not only did we see a successful bubble, but also a live sporting event determine a winner. The Marquette squad won it, and they deserve it, as they racked up the second most amount of wins without a title since the tourney’s inception over the years. They lost a heartbreaker last year in the final minutes. This year, Sideline Cancer took care of Overseas Elite (a favorite), and I finally found out what Diamond Stone has been up to since underwhelming at MD. And, for the Golden Eagles, they are all Marquette alums outside of Mo Charlo and Elgin Cook. Elgin was another guy I was looking for. Oregon grad who apparently has friends from Marquette. Anyway, have hope because we have at a major sport. Sure, they have single elimination, so much different, but something real finally…happened.
- NBA: RAJON RONDO. Rajon Rondo broke his thumb in an early practice for the Lakers. Rondo is not the third part of any Big Three. He isn’t a future HOF’er. And, he isn’t out for the whole time in the bubble. But, this is a punch in the gut for the Lakers overall. Why? Because lost in all of the Rondo stat conversation is that he is one of very few players to raise ALL of his stats (we are talking points, rebounds, steals, assists, etc.) for the postseason AND lower his turnover rate. Dirk and Draymond are the two only recent examples of this. And they won it all. Rondo does more and does it more efficiently when playoffs come around. He is also a playmaker. He is important to have available when LeBron needs to get a breather. When you look at LeBron’s teams, they are packed with shooters who get open because of his playmaking. Rondo checks that box when LeBron is out. And although Rondo can be sort of a bonehead off the court, he still has great vision on the court, and has a ring so he has been there. Finally, this bubble is a smaller sample size. They are probably fine to keep their present playoff positioning, and who cares about home court advantage anymore anyway. But, the playoffs are in 5 weeks, his injury is listed at 6-8 weeks, and they better not stumble in the early rounds. And, when he comes back, will he be sharp enough? It doesn’t kill their chances, but when they get to the Clippers and Bucks, he better be ready to go for them to have the best chance. Side note. You should follow #nbabubblelife on Twitter. It looks like it will get fun.
- MLB: SCHEDULE. Amidst a pandemic, fan-less games, Buster Posey bowing out, Chapman getting COVID, Puig signing with the Braves, but most importantly an experimental fan-less season during a pandemic, did MLB really just release the 2021 schedule??? So, when these people could have been working on travel logistics and the new order for THIS year, they were working on NEXT year’s logistics? Hmmmm.
- MISCELLANEOUS: TIGER. Tiger Woods didn’t play in early PGA Tournaments for safety reasons. And because people were heading home, he probably made the right call. This week, he will return to the Memorial, for one of his favorite tournaments. Think about what he will be walking into, folks. For his entire life, he has played with the most massive crowd, walking with him, high-fiving him over the rope, being silenced for him to swing, and emotionally attached to every additional red figure he posted. How will he react to having no one around him? Sure, he is used to playing practice rounds with no one around, but he is used to winning with an ocean of faces. COVID has changed the entire landscape and this is yet another oddity.
- MISCELLANEOUS: PHILLY. The first domino has fallen. While teams figure out 25% and 40% fan capacity rules that will work or not work, Philadelphia has pulled an Ivy League move and cancelled all fan participation at Eagles and Phillies games. This is not good if you were a fan hoping to leave the house for your boys. Before thinking about angry Philly fans not having an outlet outside of their house aside from a bar, think about how of ALL cities, that Philly was the first to pull the trigger. It is a smart announcement. It is a surprising announcement. It is probably the RIGHT announcement. But, man, let’s hope something changes in the big picture, if Philly is calling the shots before anyone else. Everything is so BACKWARDS.
- THIS AND THAT: My random notes. Maybe you just need to smile today and don’t care about the quality of the song. https://www.facebook.com/julie.sauber/videos/10157078901702826 Disney World reopening in Florida during a pandemic spike sounds like someone is trying to squeeze three jokes into one short sentence. I have a ranked Unsweetened Iced Tea list for the city of Denver, and I had Duo’s last weekend again, and it is SOOO good. Brunch was good too, but I remember the tea. The Dirt is worth watching as a movie during semi-quarantine, I had no idea it existed about the Crue, and the big names that were in it blew my mind. Machine Gun Kelly, Pete Davidson, Ramsey from GOT, Wags from Billions, etc. Wow. My wife and I kept ourselves active enough this past weekend to dodge Hunger Games Weekend. That movie just sucks us in. BOTH of us, embarrassingly. At least I come clean. You ALSO have some movie you embarrassingly get sucked into with your wife or partner. I just can’t by The Royale when ordering from Park Burger, and get The Works fries that are definitely not low-fat, but pretty tasty. I find it funny that the “nice guy” rapper who turned good actor but still was the ex-nice guy rapper in jokes, ends up being in a swingers marriage. Will and Jada apparently are kicking it wildly. They must have white, Stapleton, CO bricks outside their house (just found out about that one). I am not sure if this is more of a sign of how off the beaten path Trump is or if our world is truly ending, but a Democrat is running neck and neck with a Republican in Texas. 1976 was a long time ago when that was pulled off. Probably a sign of the world ending. Or that Hugh Hefner’s son is running for a Senate seat in California. Or that a UK bar has installed an electric fence IN the bar. Or that Chipotle is going to sell cauliflower rice. Or that Tina Turner is releasing a remix of What’s Love Got To Do With It. Or that a squirrel in Colorado tested positive for the Bubonic Plague. Let’s move on to more cheery stuff. You should probably watch Paul Rudd and Tim Robbins do Princess Bride to cheer you up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=fwHMdfUQpYE&app=desktop Or, listen to these parodies about COVID. These are hilarious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2msLKtvb3gQ Did you know that Erik Estrada is actually a reserve police officer in Idaho, AND a motorcycle cop??? True story and made me chuckle. CB & Potts is down for the count permanently in Colorado, if you Denver people want to be sad at another dead soldier for restaurants. The Ford Bronco is back and aimed at the Jeep Wrangler interestingly. It looks pretty badass, its ground clearance is pretty stellar, and you can put a tent…on its roof. The “success story” Farmersonly.com commercial is sort of disturbing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJVba90greU A man died in New Jersey and his attic baseball card collection is worth over $1 million. That is a heck of a secret departing gift to your family. I hope he at least took a cruise or something in his lifetime. Orange County has approved its children to go back to school, without social distancing and without masks. Yes. That sounds like how to beat a pandemic. I think the new Stella commercials about daydreaming are clever. I am still getting used to MAJOR actresses and actors releasing movies we don’t hear anything about. And if you haven’t ordered the board/dice game Shut The Box yet after my rambling about it, you are missing out. We had two people order it online WHILE playing it with us this weekend. SOOOO addictive. I am ordering a version for my car so I don’t have to transport it.
- KELLY PRESTON: We lost Kelly this past week to cancer, and yes, I am making a separate hook about an actress. She succumbed to cancer after a two-year battle. I will dismiss any jokes about being married to John Travolta. She wasn’t my favorite actress of all time, but she had a few movies that will forever be entrenched in my brain. One, Twins. This was Arnold when he was first trying to not be a tough guy, and one of the first performances I remember her in. Two, the classic Jerry Maguire. She was perfect as the love interest in this movie, which is still and always will be a sports classic. Third, and my favorite of the bunch. For Love Of The Game. This is one of those movies I can’t turn off if I stumble by it on the remote. LOVE this movie. The back and forth from the perfect game to the love life is well balanced, and probably the closest thing to a chick flick I will ever like. I am a sucker for the baseball Kevin Costner movies, and although Bull Durham and Field of Dreams get all the pub, this one is no slouch. Plus, since we are about to get baseball back for real, I thought this would be a nice blurb and possibly theme.
- TWEET OF THE WEEK
ALTERNATE CATEGORIES THAT DIDN’T MAKE THE CUT:
- THE BEST WORKOUT SONG EVER FOR THIS WEEK (because the best song this week IS the best song ever…for now):
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK
- LINKS TO SAVE YOU TIME IN LIFE
- TRAVEL
- THIS WEEK’S LIST
- MY NUMBERS
- GONE FISHING (the riddle for money):
- PICS BY MY PIXEL (pictures from my phone):
- LIFEGUARD ENTRY:
- NHL
- THE FILLERBUSTER
The theme? It’s not exactly a “dedication” to Kelly Preston, but I did love that movie, and nothing else jumped out. Plus, baseball is starting for real very soon. Nice prelim theme…
And our weekly reminder of the greatest sequel ever made coming out this winter… Top Gun 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8z1rqA8jRw
That’s it for today. Hope you enjoyed or are at least more informed. Remember two things. First, feed yourself, feed your family, but always, always remember to…feed the wolf. Second, if you can’t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker. Will I blog again? That is a CLOWN question, bro. As one shepherd said to the other shepherd, let’s get the flock out of here.
| THROW IT BACK IN THE POND |
| ufc fighter mike perry fight racial slurs |
| nfl bans jersey exchange |
| umps union distances |
| seoul’s mayor found dead |
| supreme court says no to seeing trump taxes |
| acc postponing start of season to sept 1 |
| nfl now having escrow problems |
| Thierry Henry kneels. |
| Roger stone |
| Tucker carlson |
| cards owner covid |
| pats settle ab hernandez |
| pop says bubble safest place to be |
| Micheal kopech White Sox depression |
| braves not changing name chop |
| ESPN Adrian suspended profane response senator |
| Cole Custer wins kentucky |
| ex-player organizes virtual ncaa tourney |
| man city escapes ucl ban |
| iroc to srx |
| nfl oakley mouthshield |
| nfl stars join a-rod, j-lo to purchase mets |
| Naya Rivera glee found dead |
| at. Andrews sexual assaults |
| Mary trump book |
| ghislaine maxwell |
| Daniel Lewis Lee executed after Scotia clears path |
| man city appeal disaster |
| titans henry need to reach deal |
| hong kong security law |
| rocket arena next fornite |
| tre da kid dies in car crash |
| OBC-blond is back |
| lincol riley confident about season |
| zion impostor |
| foreign online tudent plan dropped trump |
| stephen jackson fallout-edelman invites to holocaust museum |
| hitler documentary done lurie |
| 6 foot rule postgame |
| bucs smith says not worth it to play |
| broncos simmons ok’s franchise tender |
| randall cunningham joins raiders as team chaplain |
| eagles dock Jackson for conduct |
| skins new name |
| desean jackson accepts auschwitz invite |
| cam playing angry dog act-not even starter yet |
| eagles will sign jason peters to guard for one year |
| chiefs DT chris jones 4/85 massive deal |
| browns garrett deal 5/125 mil |
| ohio state pauses practices positive tests |
| sec meets monday |
| #8 pocket passer shedeur sanders chooses FAU |
zion stepdad took 400k benefit
| bubbles |
| michael beasley picked up by nets as substitute player |
| Tori Miller first g league female gm |
| LeBron not wearing social justice messaging |
| kawhi in protocol |
| korver to wear blm |
| russell westbrook positive for covid |
| kings rockets backups leave bubble-quarantined again |
| NBA bubble life twitter |
| beasley gets covid, goes home, right after joining nets |
ruff to be devils coach, fitzgerald gm
| posey is out giants |
| Chapman covid |
| puig signs with braves |
| tiger back at memorial |
| acc delays start of fall sports until sept 1 |
| mls really stepping up for blm, initial moment, honoring black victims |
| mls nashville is out of mls is back |
| usman-masvidal ufc |
| big ten playing conference only teams |
| new jersey halts ukranian table tennis bets-fixing |
| acc to make decision in late july |
| PAC 12 out only conference |
| Kelly loeffler |
| pga |
| 12 yr old arrested racist tweets |
| Usain bolt record broke unbroke |
| mls |
| patriot league will not play fall sports |
| Texas mass school changes |
| tiger playing without a crowd |
| far side Gary Larson publishes first work 25 years |
| tecmo bowl thread |
| Denver heat |
| Robert Feldman pool guy pre trial |
| the runaways Friday |
| Maldives |
| navy ship explosion |
| Benjamin keough dead Presley |
| Mandela daughter dead |
| hagia sophia being turned from musem to mosque |
| usc to remove john wayne exhibit racist comments in playboy interview |
| jim rome is on leave-ruins my lunches |
| blm outside trump tower vandalized |
| comet goes by won’t be back 6000 yrs |
| search for Tulsa massacre mass grave |
| Delle donne denied opt out |
| miami now new epicenter |
| moderna drug tests show promising results initially |
| ruth bader ginsburg hospitalized |
| the hammock |
| the pool party |
| trying to go to tulsa for wedding |
| pop smoke fatally shot |
| the will proofread $10 comment |
| home sweet home-my sales meeting skit |
| porch time Friday |
| Shut the box addiction continues |
| band practice |
| pool party |
| ufc value bet-lost |
| car battery fixed my broken back hatch and sunroof |
| new workout-about time |
| porch time again again on sunday |
| burger sauce-still makes us laugh |
| Toler-linds pushes him on everyone |
| this was bluesfest weekend in Canada-cancelled trip |
