I Think I'm Turning Japanese, Among Other Things

The Schloss-Blog is monitoring some things that have "disciplinary" embedded into them.

Like in Deptford, NJ, where the Little League has adopted a rule that parents who abuse umpires (of 10- and 11-year olds' games) shall be forced to ump three games themselves or face a one-year banishment from the league's facilities.

As a "guest" umpire, of course, they'd be facing the same abuse they'd been dishing out.

It's so about time for something like this. Kudos to the powers-that-be for Little League in Deptford.

Take that, nasty parents.

***

What the U.S. and its NATO allies couldn't do - stop Putin - the Wagner Group might do internally. But what's going to stop Putin from blaming the U.S. and NATO for spawning this and then invading a non-NATO country like Latvia, saying it's coming from there? Putin's desperate and just might.

***

A quick congratulations to Theresa Scarbrough, upon achieving her Master's degree in strategic communication. Great student, ace photographer and just a patient, tolerant, intelligent, intellectual person.

Proud of, happy for you, Theresa.

***

The guy who used a stun gun repeatedly on Metro police office Michael Fanone during the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, got a 12-plus-year prison sentence as his reward.

Daniel Rodriguez, still proclaiming "Trump won," was taken off to prison after sentence was pronounced.

As more and more of the insurrectionists get sentenced to prison, is it only a matter of time until the puppet master who summoned them gets convicted as well?

Donald Trump is still under investigation for this and special counsel Jack Smith has reportedly been offering limited immunity to some who posed as electors from swing states to try to help Trump illicitly overturn the election.

Smith. Will. Get. Him.

Trump calls people like Rodriguez "patriots." Everyone else calls them inmates.

***

How old are you? How old were you in 1980?

If the answer to the latter is 30, you were right on the national median age.

Which, now, is 38.9, some 40+ years later.

Which means that America, going forward, will have problems with funding for support systems for its ever-aging population.

Good thing Republicans want to cut things like Social Security and Medicare to relieve that, huh?

***

The Titan went down to view the Titanic and this time, didn't come back.

Sad. Grieving for the families of those lost.

Titan owners bypassed certification processes for the submersible.

Sadder.

***

Adam Schiff, the Democratic Congressman from California, was censored by House Republicans, who apparently are on a mission to strike at Democrats who ever said things not positive about Donald Trump (which is easy to do).

Apparently, House Republicans have no desire to do something useful, like anything that would help the American people.

Schiff, for his part, is essentially giving House Republicans a big middle finger in response.

***

Get this: In Japan, they've raised the "age of consent" from 13 (think about that bar and bat mitzvah boys and girls) to 16.  It's still said to be the lowest in the world.

Legislators behind this say it's to protect the LGBTQ community. Why do I think it could be to protect those among themselves who have taken illicit lovers?

***

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

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

Of Lawsuits, Joker and Judson ... And Staying Alive

The Schloss-Blog is coming to you today by sheer luck ... I'm still alive. More on that later.

Today, we celebrate south Florida, the epicenter of the universe. No, not Trump's trial. Rather, the end of two unlikely runs at championships that came up short by the NHL's Florida Panthers and the NBA's Miami Heat.

Both were '8' seeds in their respective conferences and both bounced the top seeds and two more higher seeds en route to their league's championship finals.

Chicago connections abound for both, but for the Heat especially. Heat star forward Jimmy Butler was traded away by the Bulls to Minnesota for current forward Zach LaVine, an all-star and Olympian in his own right.

And he has taken the team nowhere. Butler, however, carried the Heat to the NBA Finals. So, did the Bulls get fleeced in the deal?

Yeah.

***

In Montana, Gen Z environmental activists are suing the state for what they term is a lack of action on climate change, which is now damaging the Big Sky State. They say they have the right to a clean and healthy environment in a lawsuit brought by 16 residents, ages 5 to 22. Gen Z is typically described as being between 8 and 23.

This is the first lawsuit of its kind known to make it to trial.

Let's face it, governments across the country - around the world - have failed to adequately battle climate change. Donald Trump calls it "the weather" and the Supreme Court has chipped away at environmental protections, including the narrowing of the Clean Water Act.

If we don't wake up, we will have nothing to which to wake up.

***

The Southern Baptists have expelled two churches from their huge, evangelical congregation because they are headed by - gasp, wait for it - female pasters.

One of the churches, Saddleback in southern California, has some 23,000 members.

Is this really how the evangelical elders want to play it? They also voted at their annual convention to embed in their rules that only men may head churches, not because they're biased, they say, but because, wait for it, "...Scriptures say the office of pastor is limited to men," according to Southern Baptist Church President Bart Barber.

Well, and this will get me trouble but who cares: you know why Southern Baptists are opposed to sex: it could lead to dancing.

***

In yet another of Fast Company's insightful think pieces, a corporate leader, or perhaps a consultant who I never heard of, says that there are a whole bunch of things than can hamper your management style, if you are a manager, that is.

Among them: you have poor hiring practices; you don't emphasize skills in your hiring evaluations; you're a generally poor leader; you always wind up with stressed employees who report to you; your work environment is inflexible (what does that mean?); you use unclear communications; and you don't promote a team culture.

You never would've thought of those, would you? Yeah, me neither.

***

Paul Judson passed away last week.

He was a mainstay on the legendary Alden-Hebron team that won an Illinois High School Association state title in 1952 in what was then the one-class system, topping all the big boys, along with his twin brother, Phil.

Had the honor to cover several games Paul coached at Hampshire when I was rookie sportswriter at what is now part of Pioneer Press. Always a class act and a gentleman. He was drafted coming out of Illinois but did not report to the Syracuse Nationals of the NBA, opting instead for what would become his stellar teaching and coaching career.

RIP, Paul. Kudos to colleague Marty Maciaszek for a great piece about Paul in his Substack column.

Paul Judson was 89.

***

I do not feel bad about my golf game (usually shoot in the 90's for 18) when I watch the pros hook and/or slice shots so far off course, all the time.

Just like I do.

***

Speaking of sports, Nikola Jokic is the best basketball player in the planet, period!

***

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

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show, which almost wasn't mine. Apparently, I had the week off, according to our playlist and Joltin' Joe Catanzaro was supposed to be sitting in for me.

However, reports of my passing were premature.

Cowboy Relevance, The LPIGVA, Judson, 7 in Richmond

The Schloss-Blog is on the road, so coming to you earlier than usual this weekend. And we'll be on the air Sunday morning (9 a.m.-noon) on Radio Free Phoenix, spinning rock 'n' roll tunes as I sit in for Joe Catanzaro. we have so much going, so many balls in the air that we're juggling, none more prominently than ...

...Donald Trump

...37 counts

...National Security prospectively compromised.

I'll let Jack Smith handle the rest. He did, actually, in the indictment.

But he added: “We have one set of laws in this country and they apply to everyone,” he said.

By the way, Trump's contention that he declassified materials, does not matter. Per Neal Katyal, the former U.S. Solicitor General, he's not allowed to have them off premise, period. 

'Nuf said.

***

Isn't it obvious that Donald Trump is only running for president again in hopes of be elected and avoiding prosecution?

Jack Smith. Alvin Bragg. The savvy Roberta Kaplan for E. Jean Carroll. 

Fani Willis waiting in the wings, sometime this summer.

As Terrell Owens would say, "Getcha' popcorn ready."

***

Kudos to my former student, Corey Stolzenbach, sports editor at the DuBois County Herald in Indiana. He gave me a shout-out on Twitter about how I always, in Sports Reporting class, noted that, "It's always the money."

His reference was to the LIV/PGA deal that has just been consummated. 

He didn't need to reference me. This is definitely all about the money and possibly puts the disgraced Donald Trump back in the golf world, hosting big-time tournaments, instead of barely televised, shotgun-start, three-round only, no cut, "team" LIV events (can't call them tournaments).

Everyone knows, by the way, how Trump is famous for cheating at golf. Now we're going to find out in court if he cheated on everything else.

***

I watch ESPN and see them consistently asking questions about how far the Dallas Cowboys can go if ... Dak Prescott cuts down on interceptions ... if they get adequate receivers to whom Prescott can throw ... if their defense shows up ... if Mike McCarthy doesn't blow it calling plays.

The Cowboys have not been in the NFC Championship Game since 1996.

1996!!!

What makes anyone think they will be this season?

The Cowboys, again, no conference championship games since 1996 - are irrelevant. Turn them off, ESPN, please.

***

Seven people, two dead, were shot at a high school graduation ceremony in Richmond, Va.

Politicians are polishing up their best "thoughts and prayers" wishes.

If that's the best they can do, shootings like this will continue to be prevalent in the United States.

Sadly.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Jack Smith.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show and Sunday morning, as I sit in for Joe Catanzaro (9 a.m.-noon).

Taylor Swift, Mike Mitrook and Success

The Schloss-Blog is examining a theory that Taylor Swift and the Grateful Dead have more jn common than you might think.

And Mike Mitrook is a blessing to journalism education.

***

Taylor Swift, says Spender Ante in a Fast Company post, is to her generation of fans what the Grateful Dead were (OK, are) to theirs.

How so?

The former head of insights at Meta argues that the campsites surrounding the female pop star's concert venues are reminiscent of the Dead's heyday, when their "Dead Heads" followed them around, selling self-styled jewelry pieces to help pay their way and for tickets to shows while living a communal lifestyle and sharing food and pot.

Swift's groupies, meanwhile, are shuffling along trying to get their hands on any tickets for any one of her shows, having been denied the opportunity to purchase them in the Live Nation/Ticketmaster debacle that was the disaster that it was, getting the corporate entity called on Congress' carpet.

Ante claims, meanwhile, that both Swift and the Dead come from blues roots of sorts. Both pretty much wrote their own music and had record-setting tours ("Swift's "Eras" tour will smash everything).

They both have had brilliant commercial successes, selling licensed merchandise and albums, otherwise known these days as downloads.

So which is it for you - Swift or the Dead? Both are touring this summer, the Dead & Co. on their supposed farewell tour, Swift on her tour of tours, if you will.

You can't lose being a fan of either - unless you want tickets. What are you willing to do for them, that is the question.

***

Mike Mitrook is an acquaintance dating back to my days on the AEJMC's News and Online Division board and membership in the Sports Special Interest Group (which should be a division, damn it - TV as we know it is dead without live sports).

The Florida professor gets high grades on the Rate My Professor website, where students go for recommendations on which instructors to take (as if they'd take an adviser's suggestion over their friends and peers).

On ResearchGate.net, his seven papers posted there have definite impact.

I like hearing him from him because he follows this blog and appreciates it, most of the time. 

I'll have to do a segment on my radio show for him (radiofreephoenix.com). He's earned it.

Keep it up, Mike.

***

I saw the Grateful Dead once. Me and Jocelyn saw them at Soldier Field on what would be Jerry's next-to-last appearance there. Sting opened for them.

Anyway, Bob Weir came out looking like he just stepped off a golf course; well groomed, nicely pressed khaki shorts, but still killing it in true Dead style.

Tickets were free, courtesy of their merch manager, who I knew. Sat up close and watched as the lights went down before they came on stage and the smoke cloud went up over Soldier Field. Did we indulge? I'll let you guess.

The Bulls were playing the Suns in Chicago that night in the NBA Finals, with a chance to close them out. They lost and clinched it in Phoenix days later. Had they won, every bar in the city would have emptied out and met up with the surge from Soldier Field on the streets of Chicago. 

Outside the stadium, as we dashed out to beat the crowd, a Dead Head guy and a gal in a compact car asked us if we knew a nearby campground, their car stuffed with their ... stuff.

Sure, we know one nearby in the South Loop, if they want to get arrested.

***

Did anyone else notice that the Cubs, in distributing a Billy Williams bobblehead, had the wrong number on it (1 instead of 26).  He's a Hall-of-Famer, for God's sake. 

I keep reading that the Cubs are calling up all these hot prospects from their minor league system. How about some for the promotion department?

***

"Succession" is over.

I've read all the analyses by the TV critics and sociological pundits.

My take is that Kendall killed someone and got away with it; Roman tried to kill the business; Shiv wants to kill anyone in bed who had a love toy; and her husband is a lucky idiot.

All the lead actors on that show though got plum roles that will take them a long way.

***

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

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

Taste Test

The Schloss-Blog wants to ... pay tribute to Jay Bird Gaynor today, a true and reliable friend. A Buffalo Grove High School athlete who never met anyone he didn't like or get along with. Always showed up when a friend needed a friend.

The last two times I saw him were at memorial celebrations of life for his championship youth softball coach, Bob 'BC' Campbell, and for Jay's softball teammate and Bob's son, Scott, that one earlier this year.

He died the next day.

But at both of those memorials, his presence and that of so many of his former teammates reminded me why it was so gratifying for me to be the one who told the stories of those teams' efforts. so many years ago. Oh, the stories ... a teammate out with the mayor of Sheboygan's daughter deep into one evening and the local law on the lookout ... yikes!

But Jay was humble. He was so excited to see everyone. He was never the team's star player, just the team's star emotional backbone. 

I couldn't be at the memorial for him this weekend at Dock's in Wauconda, Illinois, where nearly 100 gathered to pay tribute at his frequent hangout, so I'll let the words of so many of his friends speak loudly here.

His friend Lolly said on Facebook, "I will miss my friend for the rest of my life. He was true and genuine unlike no other human around."

His friend Lauren, also on Facebook, said, "Sadly, we lost Jay a couple weeks ago. He was a great neighbor, always had jokes and a smile, and was an all-around good and caring guy. Miss you Jay! Gone too soon. "

Finally, his friend Linda, also on Facebook, said of Jay: "My heart is aching and my brain still hasn’t accepted the fact that my friend Jay Bird Gaynor is flying with the angels now. keep picking up my phone to text him a funny thought and I keep thinking I see him when I walk into Docks Bar and Grill. Jay was a great friend to me and loved me unconditionally. I will never be able to have an Old Style, Watch the Cubs, play Yahtzee or quote phrases from Slapshot without smiling and seeing his smiling face."

I might be a writer, but I can't write anything to match those feelings or emotions. Or memories.

R.I.P., Jay Bird. Save me a seat at the bar.

***

Ron DeSantis is officially running for president. He wants to make the U.S. just like he's shaped Florida.

Run for your lives!

***

It's been one year since the shooting at Uvalde that took 21 lives, 19 of them children, and what has the state of Texas done since?

It has expanded access to gun ownership.

Wonderful.

***

@CNN will host a Town Hall with Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on June 4 from Iowa with Jake Tapper moderating.

This is strictly a CYA move by @CNN after the Donald Trump-town hall fiasco, trying to make themselves look balanced and fair. Hah!

Jake Tapper, unlike Kaitlan Collins, would have pushed back if Trump called him "nasty" or tried to trample all over everything he said.

More importantly, who cares about Nikki Haley?

***

I watch a lot of @FoodNetwork. Guy Fieri is full of himself a lot of the time, but is still pretty entertaining.

Every time he visits a restaurant for "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" (there's never a "Dive," btw), he always mingles with customers, who always tell him it's the "best" food ever in that particular restaurant's genre.

That's fine. Now, I want to see "Guy Fieri's Taste Test," where he serves those same people unmarked food from those and competitor restaurants to see if the food they purported to be the "best," really is.

Something tells me, the "best" will be exposed.

***

I don't watch the NBA or the NHL in the regular season. Too boring and no one plays defense.

Until the playoffs and then it gets intense.

NHL players are great athletes who can do on skates more than what most of us can do on two feet.

But they are also goons, too quick to drop the gloves and fight. I'm sorry, but they're thugs. Well-paid, athletic, undisciplined thugs.

No wonder I don't watch during the regular season. It's bad enough in the playoffs.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Jay Bird Gaynor.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.