All Things Lead to the Marquee

When words can inspire lone wolves to shoot up a mall, a superstore and night-spot district in major metro areas of the United States, it's pretty bad.

When it's the words of the President of the United States, it's a crime.

The Schloss-Blog has so much going on, (a BG reunion, a UB40 concert with Sugahbeat opening for them, and NFL training camps), but definitely has time enough to mourn and think deeply about the upcoming elections. Do you support a local politician who supports a racist and attracts racist support? Do you support a local politician who won't do anything about gun control laws and loopholes that allow for the types of shootings and arms gatherings that happened in this country in the last week?

Maybe it's time to rethink your political leanings. I know I have.

Meanwhile, it's tough enough following all the races. Democratic presidential, NFL playoffs and bigoted.

Take Donald Trump's racism, please. He says his tweet about Elijah Cummings' home being broken into wasn't racist but was a serious expression of concern. About as serious as my blogs about him...

There's the race for the Democratic presidential nomination between Joe Biden and 20 people you never heard of nor ever wanted to. Seems Barack Obama wasn't too popular with all of them, except Biden.

When did Obama become unpopular? With his own party? That will not trend well into the national election.

Well, at least that race should be easier to follow going forward. There will be a lot fewer candidates on the stage at the next Democratic debate in Houston next month because they won't hit the required fundraising numbers in dollars or number of contributors.

Thank God.

This was getting worse than when there were 20-plus Republicans running for the nomination in 2016 and somehow Trump emerged anyway.

Has anyone noticed the trend though? The Republicans are running away from him. One told a media outlet, in confidence, he's sick and tired of making excuses for explaining away Trump's political, lifestyle, racist and social media indiscretions. It's gotten to the point that Trump has scared many Republican members of the House of Representatives into not running, including the only black, Will Hurd of Texas. And now the candidate recruiter for the Republican National Committee is stepping down from her position in frustration over Trump's indefensible racist espousals.

It's almost as if Trump doesn't want to win reelection, even though he'll likely face indictments if not reelected. He likes a fight so he's actually itching for impeachment, which is why Nancy Pelosi won't give it to him.

Yet.

She will, eventually, when she's good and ready and thinks it will come at a point when it will hurt him the most politically and irritate him the most personally, so personally that it'll get under his skin to the point he'll screw up even more than he already has with all his racist tweeting and commentary.

But so much for politics. Let's get to real races, like the NFC North, which, as we all know, the Bears will win handily. Will they, or will they read their own press clippings and show up and get their butts kicked?

Every year, of the 12 teams that make the playoffs in the NFL, at least four do not repeat, despite their confidence and braggadocio that they will not only repeat but go further. Sorta' like the Bears - they were not only not in the playoffs the year before, they went from worst to first in the division just like that, and then typically double-doinked themselves out of the playoffs. For instance, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, Buffalo, Minnesota and Carolina did not repeat, regular season '17 to regular season '18.

S__t happens.

So, NFL fans, Bears fans, do not take them for granted this year. Strange things happen when teams with chips on their shoulders go after teams with supposedly superior talent.

Even Mick Jagger noted it when the Rolling Stones played Soldier Field. Strolling out to about midfield on a runway to a platform from which the band played a few songs, Mick noteat he was standing approximately where the Bears missed a field goal in the playoffs the year before. The low murmur that ran through the 70,000 people there was just audible enough to barely register on the annual Chicago sports frustration chart.

You can bet at least four more teams that made the NFL playoffs last year will miss them this year. Don't take the Bears for granted. Don't take anything for granted.

And you can double-doink down on that.

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Don't miss the Howard Hours tonight on radiofreephoenix.com at 9 p.m. Arizona time. Like I always say, you never know who gets a shout out. And Arizonans, don't miss Sugahbeat opening for UB40 at the Marquee Theater in Tempe on the 29th of the month. Surefire fun show.

And Buffalo Grove's class of '79 reunion is upcoming in September. BG alums, be there for the football team that almost won a state championship and "Back those Bison."