The Schloss-Blog is distressed today, over the primary results in Arizona and over the loss of two sports giants: Vin Scully and Bill Russell.
In The Valley, where I winter, and more, I will now have a different feel when I'm out and about.
Because "Big Lie" candidates won their primary races, it means a certain truth abounds out there in the desert.
It means when I go grocery shopping at nearby Fry's and Safeway stores, half the people in there shopping with me voted for Donald Trump and his acolytes, Kari Lake for the Republican gubernatorial nomination and Blake Masters for U.S. Senate.
It means roughly half of the people in line waiting with me to pick up prescriptions at the local CVS will vote for these people who believe the Big Lie.
It means half the people sitting in the stands at football games I go to believe in and will vote for candidates who promote the Big Lie.
It means the same for half the coaches and half the parents of the players,
It means at my favorite restaurants in The Valley: Base and Pomo for pizza; Chelsea's Kitchen for scrumptious eclectic menus and Starbucks for my favorite White Chocolate Mocha with coconut milk or Hot Chocolate with soy milk, half the patrons will vote to support the Big Lie.
It means at my health club, The Village, a comprehensive, enormous splendor with workouts for everyone from yoga to tennis to competitive swimming to every piece of equipment imaginable, half the people in there will vote to support the Big Lie.
When I go to Sky Harbor Airport to catch a flight or am there getting off one, half the people picking someone up or dropping someone off or being picked up or dropped off will be Big Lie advocates.
It means what my friend Larry told me one of the first times we went out to eat with him and his wife in The Valley, was to be careful about what we say about politics in an open space about the likes of Donald Trump unless I want to start a fight in a public.
These politicians promote "The Big Lie" even though they know it's not true, proven to not be true. Yet they spoon feed it to a lot of very amazingly gullible people in Arizona, despite the mainstream Arizona media regularly cautioning them that it has never been proven and no shred of evidence exists to support it.
Bottom line: all these people who think voting is fraudulent went out and voted.
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Vin Scully spent 67 years calling Dodgers games, in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. He called the occasional football game, including "The Catch" by Dwight Clark, as well as golf tournaments and all sorts of other events.
No one had his vocabulary, nor his grace. At his last game, players for both the Dodgers and Giants stood on the field and applauded him.
But he'll be with the Dodgers forever - "It's time for Dodger baseball," will forever be the team's opening line on its telecasts.
His legacy of class goes far beyond that.
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I despised Bill Russell. He died at 88.
Best defensive center ever, probably. Never played against Kareem though.
But in addition to basketball glory, he stood up for civil rights and at times endured harsh treatment as a Black man playing in Boston, where, at times in his career and since, it is still 1948.
He won 11 championships in 13 trips to the NBA Finals, crushing the hopes of my Knicks along the way too many times.
However, on his stance for equality, I commend him wholeheartedly.
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Median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in NYC is now $4,000 per month.
I don't think I wanna' move back.
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45 and 440 - the only numbers you need to know. Speak for themselves.
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Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Happy birthday, @ChadManis. Welcome back, @RonaGindin.
More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.
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