In The Year 2525...

The Schloss-Blog has been looking around America and is concerned.

More than 100,000 are now dead in three months from the coronavirus. The president says this is a badge of honor in tribute to all the testing we're doing. Sorry, but I've got a problem being proud of 100,000 people dying and likely 200,000-plus by the November election. By the way, 100,000 is the capacity of the Rose Bowl.

Most experts, by the way, conclude that the 100,000 count is likely 30,000 under-estimated.

The president says he doesn't wear a mask because he doesn't like the way it looks, but he knows damn well he would not have been allowed into the heart of the production facility at Ford if he didn't wear one. I wear one everywhere I go and keep one in the car just in case. (No, I don't wear one when I play golf, but I do stay very deliberately socially distanced while I play.)

He calls testing "overrated." I've got 100,000 reasons to disagree. And the vast majority of medical experts, including his own task force, disagree as well. Until there's a vaccine, test, test, test. Even then, keep testing until we know the vaccine works.

Florida and Georgia governors have called upon the president to move the Republican National Convention to their states. Both states are showing spikes in coronavirus cases since reopening. Hello! Can’t wait to see 50,000 people from all over the country return home after the convention in one of those states and bring the virus with them. As a friend of mine referred to the governor of Georgia, Dr. Shotgun.

The president says vote-by-mail is fraught with danger and scandal. Which is why he uses it himself. Which is why the military has used it for deployed troops for decades. Which is why the nation's shut-ins (and we've got a lot of 'em) use them as their only option. Which is why the Republican Party just sent a plea to Pennsylvania voters to be sure to vote by mail.

Hypocrisy rules.

Meanwhile, in the streets, police stations burn. Media are attacked and arrested. The streets of Hong Kong? No. The streets of Iran? No. The streets of Venezuela? No.

Cincinnati. Atlanta. Los Angeles. Detroit. Chicago. And, of course, Minneapolis. Where is our president? Igniting the riots instead of calming America. We usually cover protests like these in foreign countries. Now the foreign press is covering them here as racism protests run rampant and the sentiment of them can't be denied although the intensity did not need stoking from the White House (i.e, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts").

Now, on top of all that, the president's favorite social-media outlet is putting "fact-check" labels on any of his tweets that could or do contain false information.

Interesting how Congress has held social-media companies' feet to the fire for allowing false and misleading claims and Russian 'bot' posts attempting to influence the elections, but now the president is ticked that they're doing it to him, but only as needed. Twitter is not stopping him from posting sexist slurs and conspiracy theories; they're just reminding his followers to fact-check the ones that Twitter spotters choose to flag.

Because Trump doesn't.

His executive order about the social-media companies is a joke. They have more money and lawyers, and better lawyers, than the Department of Justice.

This is no different than his attitude toward the Washington Post, which continues to publish daily the growing number of his false and misleading statements. He can't shut them down but he likes to go after amazon because WAPO is owned by amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos.

Oh, did we remember to say that 41 million have filed for unemployment as a result of the impact from COVID-19? Yeah, that many have filed and it doesn't include those who have given up looking for work.

Things are just peachy. Sorta' like the president's tan lines.

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.

More tonight on my radio show on "underground" rocker Radio Free Phoenix (dot com).

Sports Ain't Sports Any More, But Music Lives Forever

My No. 20 and final... Eric Clapton Crossroads.

I promised in today's Schloss-Blog to discuss the state of sports in America and I will, but I will also be introducing No. 20, the finale, in my 20 Albums in 20 Days challenge, which I was brought into through the grace and friendship of Columbia College grad Vince Cunningham, a music aficionado if I ever met one. But, as mentioned, my finale is "Eric Clapton Crossroads," the 4-disc collection that captures his entire career, ranging from the Yardbirds to Cream to Blind Faith to Delany and Bonnie Bramlett and Friends and Derek and the Dominos before going solo. Oops, can't forget John Mayall and Bluesbreakers.

The album includes "For Your Love," "Sunshine of Your Love," "White Room," with which he opened last time I saw him, "Let it Rain," "Tell the Truth," "Strange Brew," "After Midnight" and, of course, "Layla."

The album isn't important to me just because it's my favorite entertainer of all time, but also because, released in 1988, it was the first birthday gift my darling Jocelyn ever gave me when we started seeing each other, so it has a special place in my heart and my memory. Thirty years later, she has still been able to see inside me for the perfect gifts.

As to the state of sports, guess it depends on what state you're in because sports is a state of mind. It's the thing on which we blow the rent money to pay off bets. It's the thing which we love as deeply and far longer than any significant other. We complain about our significant others. We jump off the couch when our defense forces and recovers a fumble.

For me, regardless of the sport, what happens when they start playing and five guys show up with the virus? Then 12. Then 25 on 17 different teams in any sport in any league. What happens when it's Derrick Henry? Alvin Kamara? Or even the Gronk?

On top of all that, how do you feel about them playing in stadiums with no fans in attendance? Heck, fans won't even be allowed to tailgate outside the stadiums, in all likelihood.

What then?

Even without fans in stadiums or tailgating outside, they'll gather instead in sports bars (if they're open) or in other people's houses for tailgate-at-home parties.

But can you imagine college football without a jammed-pack house? Or even high school football?

Heck, there may not be any kids on campus as some states have already declared that most if not all classes will be done online this fall. And how many people are going to be willing to get on a plane to go to a big game in South Bend, Ann Arbor, Columbus, Tuscaloosa, Gainesville, Knoxville, Tempe, Palo Alto, you name it?

Most people aren't even willing to go out to eat. Yet.

Me and mine among them.

Can't even plan a reunion with my fraternity brothers for summer or fall of 2021 because of all the uncertainty surrounding the fallout from COVID-19. There would be guys (and their gals) coming from all over the country to Albany, New York. Yes, I said New York.

So sit back. Enjoy binge-watching. Carry out and eat in. And hang on to your season tickets. Maybe they'll honor them next year.

Good night Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you Mrs. Robinson.

More on my regular Sunday rock 'n' roll show at 11 p.m. Eastern on Radio Free Phoenix dot com.

Are We All In This Together?

The Schloss-Blog is feeling ill and fatigued.

In other words, sick and tired of all the ads proclaiming, "We are all in this together."

Clearly, we are not.

Very saddened to see the president dis Anthony Fauci on the good doctor's remark that it's a "bridge too far" to think we'll be able to open schools in the fall.

Trump called that remark "unacceptable."

Are you prepared to send your children to school in masks and gloves and be taught by instructors in masks and gloves and served lunch by kitchen personnel in masks and gloves?

Are you prepared to send your kids off to college, put 'em in dorm rooms with perhaps strangers whose health histories they have no idea about? Except California state universities have already declared they won't reopen - it's online only for the fall (what does that do to college athletics?).

I'm not even prepared to go to a restaurant that has reopened where the hostesses, carhops, wait staff, bartenders and kitchen staff are all in masks and gloves but the rest of the diners aren't, whether they are socially distanced or not.

Takeout and delivery work just fine for me for now.

Trump wants the country "reopened." So do I. But it's not going to be reopened until we have a vaccine and an understanding that said vaccine will protect us. That takes time, development, testing and more testing before it gets FDA approval.

Trump says he wants the country reopened slowly and safely and then calls Fauci's remark unacceptable. He can't have this both ways.

For all we know, we may never have this virus completely under control, completely understood. Maybe we will have to learn to live with it in some way, shape or form. Maybe we'll be able to delay it, slow it down and keep practicing safe habits (sorry, college kids, but this could be the end of casual sex).

Ultimately, it doesn't matter now how much time we had let slip by before our government finally got its act together and started testing. By then it was too late.

Trump has placed the economy ahead of the virus, which is now starting to take our youngest children. Fauci has said repeatedly, the virus is "the boss," it'll tell us when we can get back to normal, depending upon how soon we can tame it.

Only now, finally, is White House staff starting to wear masks (not Trump).

We are not all in this together.

A man shot a security guard in Flint, Michigan, at a store where he was told in order to get in, he had to be wearing a mask.

We are not all in this together.

Protesters, openly armed protesters, keep gathering at the Lansing, Michigan, capitol building to have shelter-at-home orders dropped.

We are not all in this together,

The Wisconsin legislature's Republicans went to court to have the Democratic governor's shelter-at-home orders dropped.

We are not all in this together.

The Lt. Gov. of Texas proclaimed that the elderly should volunteer to die so we can hasten a return to normalcy for society.

Fox News agreed with him.

We are not all in this together.

Until we are, get ready for the second surge. And perhaps the third.

Next week, a look at sports in America. Without fans in attendance, that is.

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.

More on my Radio Free Phoenix show Sunday night, 9 p.m. Pacific.

Not This Time...

The Schloss-Blog is writing today about what it knows best and has been covering 40-plus years - asshole politicians.

No, I mean sports.

Except there is none. So the Schloss-Blog wants to know, right now, with conditions as they are in society in terms of the pandemic and treatment therefor, are you comfortable going to sporting events? I mean real sporting events?

Are you feeling comfortable sitting in Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium or Tropicana Field with 40,000 or so other fans (OK, 12,000 or so maybe at The Trop), sitting through a Major League Baseball Game?

How do you feel about watching a National Football League game, on TV, with no fans in the stands, while pro teams go at it in a quiet, 60,000-seat venue? I get the feeling the NFL is going to have a hard time in the fall justifying turning 22 athletes loose on every snap, basically doing little more than WWE hand-to-hand competition, but not allowing you, the fans, to sit next to each other watching them do it. Do you get the same feeling?

What about pro golf? Are you an avid golfer? Are the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA worthwhile watching without fans streaming along the fairway boundaries, forcing the competitors to hush them before critical shots? Are those tournaments the same without that fan energy? Plus, the Masters, if it's played, would be around the time of my birthday in November. And The (British) Open has already been canceled this year, so there is no chance of an individual winning the Grand Slam. Can you imagine if a golfer wins all three, if they're played, and is subsequently robbed of the opportunity to win the Slam? Bobby Jones, your record is intact.

And the Olympics? Already postponed until next year in Tokyo. No tingle up your spine as you listen to the National Anthem being played while Simone Biles is standing atop the podium, holding a bouquet with a gold medal around her neck. And admit it - you know you get that tingle.

Plus, the Olympics were adding skateboarding this year, a sport that greatly expands its audience. America's Nyjah Houston, the three-time world champion running, is not going to get to showcase his skills this year for an international audience, let alone make himself a household name. He is every bit the athlete that Mike Trout is.

What about weddings? It's almost summer, when weddings happen galore. My daughter's was supposed to be this summer, but she called it off. It would've been called off anyway.

Heading into fall, will the NBA and the NHL be playing, or will they finish up the seasons they have since suspended and cruise directly without a break into their subsequent new seasons, albeit likely abbreviated? In front of no fans in the stands, certainly at the outset, this fall.

College football? Will they allow cheerleaders and bands to perform in front of empty stands? Will the colleges sacrifice that ticket revenue they so depend on or play and look like anything but the exciting events they are with the stands empty all around them? "Go team go," they'll scream to no one in particular, with the only other reason for them being there is TV window dressing.

The only remark I'm going to make, with so much on the line, is that if the president had pursued the PPE equipment he needed when he needed it instead of waiting two months and sacrificing all that time, maybe we'd have the full sports seasons we crave. Yet he procrastinated and now we have between some 2,000 or so people dying every day and all our sports on hold, with some of our best-known sports facilities being transformed into field hospitals.

I don't know about you, but I can't watch Super Bowl III again for the umpteenth time, nor the 1969 World Series, or the last time my Knicks won the title (1973), or my Rangers (1994). or even the 1999 Women's World Cup as Brandi Chastain rips off her jersey after planting the game-winning goal and making Nike Sports Bras a household name.

I already know who won those events anyway. I wanna' see how Brady does in Tampa Bay, how Mitchell Trubisky holds on to his job (ha!) and how the Dodgers finally win the World Series against a team that doesn't cheat.

Looks like I might be waiting until 2021 for all that though.

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.

More about all this on my show Sunday night on Radio Free Phoenix.