Ends and Odds thereof

The Schloss-Blog has had an odd end-to-a-means week.

First, I arrived in Arizona to find my guest bedroom in my house with a partially collapsed ceiling due to a leak in the roof. Great, huh? Have already put the steps in motion to get damages in the room repaired, but can't proceed until the homeowners association fixes the roof - in other words, before it rains again. And October was the wettest, rainiest month in the state's history.

A lot of that was hot air though, coming out of the mouths of political candidates (looking at you, Martha McSally).

Every time I put on a cable news station though, I see Donald Trump out on the campaign trail and not in the White House. Interestingly, he lambasted Barack Obama in 2016 for being a president who was out campaigning too much instead of running the country. Hmm...

But Donald loves everybody, just ask him. Except Muslims. Except Latin Americans (and their kids). Except the LGBTQ community (check YOUTube to hear him stumble through saying L-G-B-T-Q). Oh, and of course, the media. He likes to say Fake News. I like to say, Fake President, Real News.

This in the wake of the killings of my brethren, Jews, in Pittsburgh, so sad. And the bombing attempts on the lives of news media personnel at Trump's beloved CNN and to prominent Democrats like the Clintons, Obamas, Eric Holder, Corey Booker, Maxine Waters, George Soros and the Schlossbergs.
OK, the Goldbergs, the TV show cast.

We had a shooting in Pittsburgh and bombing attempts across the continent by people quite discriminatory, whether in sympathy with the White House or not. Interesting how Trump complains about the "obstructionist" Democrats when he has the Senate, the House and his own 'house' all in his favor and still can't get major legislation passed.

But getting back to home base, my cable and internet were out when I arrived here and the cable company kept telling us there as an outage, which was unusual because out next-door neighbors all had service. Had to beg the cable company to come out and examine my equipment and connection but they kept saying it was a non-existent outage, which precludes sending a repair team.

They finally came, and we needed them before Monday morning so we could both work, and the tech who came said our line from house to box was not only not connected, it was nonexistent. Turns out, the grounds crew probably inadvertently and unintentionally cut the line because the tech had to replace the whole freaking line, house to meter box.

Ever go 24 hours without cable or internet? Me neither, and it was excruciating. Got it back just in time to watch a less-than-thrilling Cardinals football game which preempted a terrifically exciting and very impactful Packers-Rams game in the local market in the same time slot.

Wonderful.

Meanwhile, I've swept and cleaned out front, side and rear patios and met our neighbors, who are not renting the unit next door but actually own it and are staying there because their real home nearby was severely damaged in the recent heavy rainstorms. They have a renter coming in though but can't go home yet. Fun.

Did have a whole bunch of stuff from amazon waiting for me when I got here, much of which was supposed to have been sent to my Illinois home. It seems they have defaulted my permanent address to my Arizona address, even though I spend much more time in Illinois than Arizona. And people complain that amazon knows too much about you. Hah! They don't even know my permanent address. Wait, either do I.

So maybe the Washington Post is fake news after all? Uh, nah...

Did you know, by the way, Republicans will protect your pre-existing conditions - at least until after the election?

Me and my friend Larry are going to go to an Arizona Coyotes game. I have no idea why.

The State of Affairs of State

Are you keeping up with the world? With the news? With the state of affairs, foreign and domestic (Heineken or Bud)?

Anyway, the World Series starts tonight. Does it matter who wins? To this Brooklyn-born sportswriter it does. Except Clayton Kershaw is usually a playoff disaster. Usually. Wasn't against Milwaukee though. Hmm.... hope.

Chris Sale is a baby who nagged his way out of Chicago and now gets to pitch in the World Series. Will he be Mitchell Trubisky, Tom Brady or Eli Manning? You never know with him.

The Red Sox are the better team. But they got there in part because of a poor replay-review call by Joe West on Jose Altuve's home run, which became an out. It's time to get rid of replay in baseball. The game is slow enough. I probably won't watch any of the games in their entirety. I'll check in, maybe watch the eighth and/or ninth innings if the games are close. But that's it.

Baseball sucks. Really.

Speaking of sucks, my NY Giants do. Can't win for losing, as the saying goes, even when Eli has a semi-good game, which he did on MNF against Atlanta.

He has the weapons, the quarterback-whisperer coach and two rings on his shelf. And has sucked since winning his last Super Bowl, something like 70-80 overall, with one disastrous playoff appearance.

The Giants played well enough to beat Atlanta. And didn't. The coaching, the time-wasting offensive series in the game's final minute, the 2-point conversion attempt they didn't need to go for at that point of the game (and failed on) and an offensive line that can't guard its lunch. And remember when their secondary was good? Same guys now, but they suck.

At halftime though on Monday night, they had a "performance" by Atlanta's own Little Yachty. On tape. A video. Why not live? Why not right there in the stadium? Why not in person somewhere in Atlanta where people were gathered to watch the game? Stupid. ESPN touted the performance, but forgot to tell us it's a video we can pull up on YouTube.

I keep turning on ESPN2 mornings and keep forgetting that it's Golic and Wingo now, not Greeny and Golic. Actually, it's Golic, Golic and Wingo. Greeny has blown them off for his own competing show in the same time slot on ESPN. Both shows are basically the same as they were when it was Greeny and Golic. Go figure.

So I watch reruns of Leverage instead on ion TV, at the gym. Great show about shyster hustlers with special thievery skills who are modern-day Robin Hoods with all the right little touches. They need to bring it back (went off the air in 2012 after five great seasons).

And in case you haven't seen it on Twitter, Niecy Nash has an hysterical video about a special phone line, 1-844-WYT-FEAR, a number whites can call if they spot blacks doing anything - not anything suspicious - just anything, anywhere, anytime to report them. I'm surprised Donald Trump hasn't incorporated it into his schtick.

Yo, Donald, where's the wall? The infrastructure? The real tax relief? The new tax bill (Congress is not in session). What major legislation have you gotten passed, by the way? Maybe this is Trump's way of admitting that the unpopular previous tax-cut bill only benefitted the extremely rich and giant corporations.

Hey everyone, tear yourselves away from the World Series long enough to go vote.

Hey Chris Callahan, what up?

"Meh" too

Been a lot of comebacks, debuts, recycled vets and sparkling new rookies so far this season, as we head into the first weekend of “byes,” or more like “bye-byes” for some teams.

·       

•   Jon Gruden is back. Thank goodness he had the Browns on the schedule, or he might be 0-4 heading into his bye week, although his defense still made Baker Mayfield look good. Maybe if he still had Khalil Mack. Maybe. Without him, they are “meh.
• Baker Mayfield has looked good in his debut with the Browns, bringing energy to the team, as the analysts and commentators like to call it. He’s not bringing them to the playoffs anytime soon though, so “meh."
• Sam Darnold won his debut, 48-17, over the pathetic Lions, who have since come back to beat the Patriots. The Patriots. The Jets won’t beat them. Nor will the re-energized Bears. Good luck, Sam, but for now, you are “meh.”
• Josh Allen has not revitalized nor re-energized anything in Buffalo, even if they shut out the Vikings. He’s been a washout so far. Tyrod Taylor, come home. ‘meh’ be…
• DeShaun Watson and J.J. Watt, for that matter, are back in Houston. Looks like Bill O’Brien will have to go, though. Don’t worry, Bill, the Patriots offensive coordinator will get a head job and Belichick will bring you back next year. Of maybe he’ll even retire after they win the Super Bowl this year (not), along with Brady, and you can get the head job with no quarterback and no defense, but at least, no expectations. In reality, ‘meh.’
• Every time you hear that Lamar Jackson should replace Joe Flacco in Baltimore, Flacco and the Ravens beat the Steelers. Sorry, Lamar, hang loose though when they flop in the playoffs. In other words, ‘meh.’
• Carson Wentz is back in Philly. Maybe he can catch passes from Nick Foles. Somebody better catch a pass in Philly. They’ve got the Vikings this weekend and the Vikings remember the championship game thrashing last season. Carson Wentz is not invincible. Either are the Eagles, no matter how many times they get away with that throwback pass to the quarterback. Now we find out if Wentz is an MVP or if the Eagles just got lucky last year.
• Is Dak Prescott for real or have the Cowboys surrounded him with just enough to look real? Once again, “meh’ be so. 

Wanted to take this to say thanks to the folks at thesportspost.com. Five good years of making fun of, poking fun at and making people aware of, hopefully, all that is good, bad and indifferent about the NFL. Well, “meh” be.