Kids, Bowl Games, Gas Prices, Curses and Can Anybody Tackle Anymore?

The Schloss-Blog is noticing trends and they're making us  ... upset, disappointed, angry? Yes, yes and yes. 

***

Florida, where no one has awoken in years, has banned kids 14 and under from using social media and is requiring parental permission for kids 14 and 15 to use it. Do they really think this is going to work?

In a related story, parents are going to need kids' permission to go to DisneyWorld in Orlando. In addition, parents without such permission can only be "awokened" by the kiss of a frog.

Yes, for Christmas, Florida has been "DeSantis-claused."

***

Hey, sports fans, I'm sure you noticed that all four teams with a bye in the College Football Playoff are out.

Out.

All four started slowly, had terrible first-half performances and are now proving to the "committee" that did the seeding that the committee got it all wrong.

Ohio State-Notre Dame championship game? Yeah, sounds good.

***

Uh, gas prices are low right now, really low.

Like under $3 a gallon, national average.

Did Donald Trump do this? No, the Biden Administration did this. But Trump will take credit. 

They've been dropping for a while though, so how come Harris never talked about it during the campaign, as part of what is and has been a robust economy for quite some time?

Never!

I've said all through 2024; Democrats' messaging was awful.

***

Speaking of college bowl games, they've sucked, except for ASU-Texas, and even that had a targeting infraction that the refs did not call.

And that's because Texas is needed going forward for TV ratings, while ASU is not. That means it just might have been fixed.

Meanwhile, the not-CFP bowl games have sucked. Too many good players opting out for NFL draft prep or having already transferred because the transfer portal is open on Dec. 9 (closed Dec. 28) and the their bowl games aren't played until mid-to-late December or early Janaury.

That sucks. 

Hey college football, time to move the transfer portal to a later time slot, a lot later. Except that would overlap with actual school semester times. Hmmm...

***

So it seems the CFP bye teams all fell to the curse of the bye - they all lost.

Just like pro teams did in the early days of Monday Night Football, with one less day to prepare for their next games. The curse of MNF, and it's been revived by a spate of injuries in MNF games of late.

***

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that defensive players can't tackle anymore? Because they can't.

I once had a very smart high school football coach tell me before a big playoff game against a team with an all-state running back that the best way, the only way to stop him was for his defensive players  to tackle with their heads up.

"If you can't see it, you can't hit it," he told his defensive players before winning that game on the way to a state runner-up finish.

That was 46 years ago. And he was right.

Don't get carried away though ... I keep seeing defensive players falling for hard snap counts and jumping offside unnecessarily. 

And then missing tackles.

It ain't just me.

***

I said this during the week:

**SEC teams overrated;

**SEC coaching overrated;

**Georgia sucks.

**So does Alabama.

Enjoy the Notre Dame-Ohio State CFP Championship Game.

***

The Knicks. My Knicks. Go Knicks. And Stevenson High's Jalen Brunson.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Jack Stroupe, my late father-in-law. You lived a long and vibrant life.

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

Net Flick This, At the Gaetz of Hell

The Schloss-Blog has noticed something about what's trending in sportscasting and it means he might get mad about having to buy all kinds of different streaming services. And "Brain Rot" is the word of year, per Oxford University Press. Really? Meanwhile, we drop in again on our occasional look at the differences between men and women, and take a look at the traffic at the Gaetz of Hell...

***

Matt Gaetz not only took himself out of considerataion for Attorney General, another disaster nomination by Donald Frump, Gaetz wound up having that report he so dreaded released about his activities around sex with minors, drugs, prospective sex-trafficking, et. al.

Sex with a 17-year-old girl, use of Illicit drugs, paying for sex; Gaetz has denied everything, but so did Donld Frump when the Select Committee issued its report on his activities regarding his attempts to overturn the election in 2020.

Unfortunately, Attorney General Merrick Garland didn't believe it either and failed to investigate and prosecute immediately upon taking office or Frump would've been convicted and maybe jailed long before the 2024 election.

Garland sealed his legacy as the worst Atorney General ever with that failure because he became subsequently responsible for Frump having the opportunity to get elected again. Now, the Department of Justice he once headed will likely investigate and prosecute him for investigating and prosecuting Frump as part of the revenge tour that Frump has promised in his return to office.

Oh boy, can't wait for Trump's next turn in office - lots of revenge prosecutions, tariffs, taxes and inflation.

***

Meanwhile, with sports trending toward being broadcast live more and more on streaming services, I'm about to become the dinosaur who still subscribes to cable.

Or am I?

My cable services are offering streaming service opportunity tie-ins to my packages for about $10 or so per month, per service, or so I've noticed.

This past week, on Christmas Day, two NFL games were broadcast exclusively on Netflix, which, along with the prior Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson boxing match, is trending toward live sports.

Although I woudn't call Jake Paul versus 58-year-old Mike Tyson "live" sports worth watching, somehow, 65 million Netflix subscribers tuned in.

Sixty-five million!

And that Christmas Day NFL doubleheader drew an average of more than 24 million viewers each for two dogfood games that turned out to be not that competitive.

But, with a playoff game slated for amazon prime this year, after last year's on Peacock, the trend is already there,

Amazon Prime is reportedly paying $120 million for this year's Wild Card game rights while Peacock reportedly paid more than $100 million for the privilege last year. Peacock also reportedly gained 2.8 million new subscribers for that Miami-Kansas City game in the frozen Midwest wasteland, while 23 million of their existing subscribers watched that game.

The NFL, yes, is that compelling, apparently.

And shows no signs of weakening.

OK Peacock, Hulu, Netflix, here I come.

***

In this column's ongoing examination of the differences between men and women, we bring you this year-end edition:

**When a man has hair down to his neckline, to his shoulders it's considered long hair.

When a woman, however, has hair down to her neckline, to her shoulders, it's considered ... her hair.

(Yes, I've been letting my hair grow - my grandson, my daughter and most importantly, my wife, all like it, especially as long as I pull it back in a ponytail.)

**Anyway, as this column has noted before, men wear jeans.

Women, however, wear jeans that fit, that really hug their buns.

Which is why I've been wearing comfortable jeans from The Perfect Jeans for a while now (snug and comfortably stretchy), but I recently purchased a pair of Lucky Brand jeans that really fit well - it's a freakin' miracle, from Nordstrom in their semi-annual sale.

**Rolling right along, men like to drive and sing to the tunes on the car radio, whether it's Sirius/XM or just plain old FM, be it classic rock or even hip hop.

Women, however, know the words.

**Similarly, men like to dance (just turn me loose at a wedding, bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah).

Women, however, know how to dance. Just watch 'em on the dance floor at a formal event. It's kind of obvious.

**Finally, men say they're dieting, trying to stay healthy or be trendy and lose weight.

Women, however, make diets work and look good a few months or even just weeks into them.

(Yes, I'm on one - you wanna' make something of it?).

***

Noticed at some NFL games fans sticking around at the amazon prime or ESPN psotgame shows and chanting "Sell the team" after a pathetic performance by the home team (hello, Chicago Bears). 

Know what happens to owners, GMs or coaches who listen to the fans? Yeah, they end up sitting with them.

Well, not the owners.

***

Joe Burrow was down on this TD pass - I don't call what the expert analysts say, or the NFL. It should have been called a sack.

You agree? 

Didn't matter: they won that game and Saturday night against Denver, just the way the NFL wanted them to, in order to keep more suspense in more games next weekend.

***

BRAIN ROT is the word (words?) of the year, per Oxford University Press. What? You agree? Got your own idea?

***

My New Year's resolution is the same one I always make but never keep: return Christie Brinkley's phone calls already.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Jordan Grinnell.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show. And tune in to radiofeephoenix.com on Tuesday, New Year's Eve, at 10 p.m. Arizona time (midnight Eastern) for a rebroadcast of a great concert by Valley legend Jerry Riopelle. Join in anytime - it's a 3-hour show.

 

Win Or Lose? Transgender Loses

The Schloss-Blog wants to know, did you hear about the Disney animated series set at the middle-school level that has pulled a transgender storyline that was supposed to be running through it?

***

According to Disney, the storyline, in the Pixar series "Win or Lose," was pulled because they believe that parents should be able to discuss this with their kids rather than have them exposed to it at that age in an animated series.

You don't suppose they pulled it because of pressure from conservatives?

Then again, Disney didn't exactly stand up to the State of Florida, which pulled the state's largest employer's self-governance of its Reedy Creek development after Disney opposed the state's "Don't Say Gay" bill.

***

No sooner did Bill Belichick become head football coach at North Carolina than ESPN started kowtowing to "Chapel Bill" and the Tarheels.

On a Sports Center telecast featuring highlights from a high-profile Florida-North Carolina men's varsity basketball game, unbeaten Florida built a big lead and held on for a 90-84 victory in a game that included great plays by players on both teams.

You'd have never known it if you'd tuned in late to Sports Center and caught the usual, closing Top Ten plays segment.

Two of the plays included North Carolina highlights, of which there were some during the game. Victorious Florida made even more special plays, but ESPN's highlight package didn't include them in the closing segment.

Homage to "Chapel Bill," perhaps?

Probably.

***

On a personal note to me and on a sad, consequential note to higher education not only in Chicago but across the nation, Columbia College Chicago, a bastion of creativity and achievement, will be shutting down as many as 11 undergraduate programs and laying off 25 faculty members (full disclosure: I used to be one, for 23 years, until retiring six years ago). 

Enrollment has slipped from as high as 11,400 in 2010 to a reported 6,200 in 2022, a huge drop.

What's next?

School officials say they hope these cuts now will lead to a gradual growth in enrollment and  enrichment in the curriculum.

Enrichment? The number of degreed programs will drop from 58 to 33. Four undergraduate and seven graduate programs will be eliminated in their entirety.

Sure hope one of them isn't journalism.

***

On another note, which is as personal as personal gets, another school shooting took place, this one in Madison, Wisconsin, at Abundant Life Christian School, and it left one student and one staff member dead, six others wounded.

The shooting, allegedly by a 15-year-old female student, has to make you scratch your head and cry at the same time: what is going on in America?

CNN is reporting that there have been 83 - EIGHTY-THREE - mass shootings at U.S. schools in 2024. This is sick.

Think Trump and the Republicans will do anything about it?

Yeah, neither do I.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Ohio State Buckeyes.

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

And tune in to radiofreephpenix.com on Tuesday, Christmas Eve, at 6 p.m. Phoenix time (that's 8 p.m. Eastern) for Andy Olson's annual 30-hour Rock'N' Roll Christmas, live, his 36th annual. You never know what Andy might do.

Bracket This!

The Schloss-Blog doesn't usually talk brackets until the NCAA Basketball Tournament, but the College Football Playoff bracket has generated some discussion. So have the Bears. So has Chicago sports in general, where five - count 'em 5 pro teams will have new, full-time head coaches/managers for their 2025 seasons. 

Chicago sports suck.

***

The Chicago Blackhawks only recently fired their head coach and are now being "interim" coached. In other words, thanks for stopping in, Anders Sorenson.

The Chicago White Sox, who set a record for most losses in a season in 2024, will have new manager Will Venable for 2025, promising, as all new mangers and head coaches do, to put a competitive team that will hustle on the field.

Sure you will, Will, sure you will. But can they run the bases, hit the cutoff and get the clutch hit?

Finally, the Bulls - no, wait - have Billy Donovan, who, at five years, is the longest-tenured head coach in Chicago pro sports right now. But with the Bulls perhaps looking to trade their best player (Zach LaVine), will that last?

Those three teams are the ones on the new Chicago Sports Network, which, while available on the satellite networks and Fubo, is not available on Comcast's Xfinity cable network, effectively cutting them off from the vast majority of the Chicago-area market.

So, not only are Chicago-area teams sucking, so is the ability to watch a lot of their action.

The Chicago Fire MLS franchise will have a new coach next season as well, Gregg Berhalter, the former USMNT head coach.

Tyler Marsh takes over as head coach of the Chicago Sky, who are not all that far removed from their WNBA championship year (2021).

They are not what you would call a winner either these days.

***

The United Healthcare CEO shooter (OK, alleged), is a hero online.

People who have beefs with their insurance companies over claim denials are praising him as a hero and companies in the industry have had to "beef up," if you will, security around their executives.

T-shirts are praising the shooter as a hero, the industry as the villains. According to NBC News, there were more than 100 items available for sale online, holding the shooter up to be a hero. "Hoodies, stickers, mugs, and even fake bullets" that include the three words that were on the shell casings found on the scene are popular ("Deny, Defend, Depose").

In the United States of America, who do we love? Luigi Mangione, apparently. 

***

Donald Trump, the president-elect, attended the Army-Navy football game on Saturday. In attendance with him, VP-elect J.D. Vance, Secretary of Defense-designate and alleged drunk and womanizer Pete Hegseth and Daniel Penny, recently acquitted of criminally negligent homicide in the NY Subway strangling case. The ex-Marine restrained a rider in a chokehold who was an apparent nuisance on an NYC train until authorities arrived.

Luigi Mangione couldn't be released yet or Trump might've had him on board as well. Wonder if he'll pardon him upon an almost-certain conviction down the road, along with the hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters Trump has pledged to pardon.

***

Speaking of pardons, does ABC and George Stephanopoulos deserve one?

They will pay Trump $15 million for Stephanopoulos referring to him as "a rapist" in an interview with South Carolina Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace, questioning her support for him in the wake of the E. Jean Carroll civil verdicts against him. Because he was found liable of sexual assault, the jury’s verdict did not mean that Ms. Carroll had “failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word 'rape.'"

Trump's administration is expected to carry on its campaign against mainstream media once he's sworn in, except now, the Department of Justice is likely to bring the fight against, prospectively, the NY Times, MSNBC, et. al.

Of note, Harvard's Laurence Tribe, the esteemed law professor, said in a Blue Sky post that ABC likely wouldn't have paid Trump $15 if he wasn't president-elect.

***

The Onion was denied the opportunity to purchase Alex Jones' "Infowars" website, ostensibly to convert it into a parody of itself.

The bankruptcy court judge who made the ruling said it failed to maximize the amount of money it could've yielded to the families who have long suffered in the wake of Jones' defamation of them since the Sandy Hook school shooting.

Onion owers say they will continue to seek ways to to provide said relief, or, in other words, make even more of a buffoon out of Jones and Infowars.

Hopefully, Onion ownership will win on - aheam - a-peal.

***

There's been so much talk about the College football Playoff bracket, most of it in Alabama.

Or on ESPN.

And it can stay there.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Cheryl Sweet.

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

Speaking of RFP (https://radiofreephoenix.com), welcome back to the airwaves, Cheryl Sweet, now in the 4-8 p.m. slot weekday afternoons (Arizona time, that is). And be with RFP on Christmas Eve, when station-founder and face Andy Olson starts his 36th annual "Rock 'N' Roll Christmas" at 6 p.m. and goes 30 hours straight, live, through all of Christmas Day.  

  

 

The Devils You Say...

 The Schloss-Blog is mad that...

...if the New Jersey hockey team kept "Devils" in its name and got rid of "Red," how come the Tampa Bay baseball team took "Devil" out of its name and kept "Rays?"

Huh?

***

Baseball's prospective "Golden At-Bat Rule" would allow teams to send up the hitter of its choice in a critical situation.

Any situation. At any point in the game of the team's choosing. Just one time per game though.

But why stop at just "Golden At-Bat?"

Why not "Golden Pitch?" Yeah, give teams a chance to use the pitcher of its choice to any batter in any situation?

Why not?

Well, Commissioner Rob Manfred is now saying that perhaps the "Golden At-Bat Rule" is an idea that needs, well, some reconsideration.

Ya' think?

***

Trying to decide what's more difficult: 

Which team should've been left out of the College Football Playoff: 

**Alabama ... or ...

**SMU.

Or what loser should've been left out of Trump's prospective Cabinet:

**Tulsi Gabbard ...  or ... 

**Pete Hegseth?

Although Matt Gaetz did us all a favor.

***

Roman Mendez, 6.

Elisa Wolford, 5.

They were the critically injured victims in a shooting earlier this week at Feather River Adventist School, which is near Oroville, California.

They are 6 and 5, respectively.

They were shot by Glenn Litton, 56, who targeted them and their school before shooting himself. He had a criminal history and could not legally purchase a gun.

But he had a "ghost" gun, you know, one that's made principally from parts assembled from different guns.

Litton supposedly had a problem with Seventh Day Adventists.

America has a problem with "ghost" guns. 

Tell Congress. Yeah, right.

***

Do you watch Sports Center on ESPN?

I do.

It has competent, intelligent and often wickedly, wonderfully sardastic anchors.

So how come the hot female ones try to be hotter by dressing for a news and information program as if they are going out clubbing immediately thereafter.

Or as if they just came in from clubbing all night?

OK, I'm not saying they should dress like "school m'arms." But do they have a disco in the basement of ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut?

I mean, I've heard about the wild parties that are (were?) legendary there... as mentioned in "Those Guys Have All The Fun; Inside The World of ESPN," by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales (2011).

But ladies, really? I think you're good looking but if I want to see you in clubbing attire, I'll take you out dancing.

***

Hey, heard about Sydney Gifford and Alyssa Sheil?

Well, it finally happened. In the world of "Influencers," Gifford sued Sheil, one influencer suing another, claiming she totally copied her ... style.

Yeah, her style.

Specifically, the suit claims Sheil copied "her fonts and camera angles, decorated her apartment to match, got a similar haircut, and featured comparable Amazon products on her social media," according to a report in Fast Company.

These two, 24 and 21, respectively, had reportedly discussed a mutual project when Gifford alleges Sheil copied ... well, everything, and Gifford is asking for as much as $150,000 in damages.

Will be watching their respective TikTok video feeds closely.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you (again), Jordan Grinnell.

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

Deadlines and Commitments

The Schloss-Blog is mad about a newspaper's budget, an HOA's religious sanctimony, Merrick Garland's screw-up and just who is an American enemy anyway, not necessarily in that order.

***

Unmentioned above but seriously concerning was Joe Scarborough and Mike Brzezinski of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" bolting to Florida last weekend to meet up with Donald Trump, who they'd been tearing into visciously the last nine years for his hypocrisy, dishonesty and lack of integrity.

So where was theirs?

***

Radio Free Phoenix, the online station where I do the Sunday night vintage, free-form, underground rock 'n' roll online show and have for more than six years, celebrated its 20th anniversary with a kickass party at Rooster's Country bar and grill in Mesa, Arizona, last Sunday.

Kickass hardly describes it. Founder Andy Olson hosted a star-studded lineup of Phoenix-area rockers who performed, including a rousing set by Summer of Love, which does 1967 hit-music only. They had the whole place dancing to the Monkees and Turtles hits, among other bands.

The 'whole place' included current and former RFP deejays Janie Snyder Pecorella, Joe Catanzaro, Miss Holley (Keri) King, Paul Riopelle, Sharon Kelley, John Hesterman, Cheryl Sweet, John Kirk DeRitis, station voice and face Liz Boyle and yours truly). Plus a roster of Phoenix-area radio all-stars.

RFP merchandise and memorabilia was auctioned off and/or sold and many, many dollars were raised for the commercial-free operation, which otherwise only takes in money on sales of T-shirts and coffee mugs, or on outright donations.

I am honored to be one of the deejays.

***

On a bitter note, if Merrick Garland had started the investigations and prosecutions of Donald Trump immediately upon taking office as Attorney General instead of waiting a year, Trump would've likely been tried and convicted by now and all of this mess would've been avoided.

Thanks for nothing, Merrick. Now Trump is going to likely investigate and prosecute you for no other reason that being Biden's Attorney General.

***

The HOA where I live hangs holiday garnish on its gates every year at this time. Except this year, the HOA apparently took exception to having Jewish-related decorations up and had them taken down with a notation to the people who worked diligently to put them up to the effect of no Hanukkah decorations allowed, period.

I sense antisemitism on the board of directors. No, I don't sense it, I see it. Outright.

***

If China is our enemy for influence in the Pan-Pacific region, among other places, how come we trade so much with them?

And how come Trump wants to screw that up by placing outlandish tariffs on Chinese imports? Go figure, but inflation will soar.

***

The newspaper for which I have been a sports correspondent the last 10 years cut out using all part-timers at the tail end of this high school football season due to budgetary constraints.

It left huge gaps in its coverage of the heart of the football playoff games this weekend, with many games going unstaffed.

For me personally, it meant a one week-premature ending to my sportswriting career, 50 years now. Saw many great games, teams and performers out here the last 10 years, including Brock Purdy, Spencer Rattler and N'Keal Harry and classic games between Centennial and Chaparral, Chaparral and Saguaro, Saguaro and ALA Queen Creek (coached by Ty Detmer) and Horizon and Millenium.

Thank you everyone at Pioneer Press, the Daily Herald and now the Arizona Republic for allowing me to share my words with your readers. It's been a privilege.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Erin Schlossberg.

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

Women in the White House? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Wiomen in the White House

The Schloss-Blog is still mad, but not that Trump won.

Actually, we survived the first Trump Administration, although not everyone did.

Like the 1 million Americans who died from COVID because Trump dismissed it.

And this year, the Democrats who stupidly refused to remind America of that.

And got blown out of the water in the election.

Trump and the Republicans have the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

What could go wrong? What could possibly go wrong? 

***

Is there a conspiracy among TV neetworks?

Every time I change the channel during a commercial break, the channel I switch to is on a commercial break.

Every time.

Does that happen to you too? Isn't if effing frustrating?

Even during football games. I can switch from one game on a timeout to another, and it's on a commercial timeout as well.

No, really.

In different time zones. In a game between teams three different time zones apart.

I'm done channel jumping. 

Until tomorrow night, that is.

***

Since the election, I have not watched a minute of MSNBC or CNN or any network newscast, for that matter.

The NY Times is about all I can handle.

Have been watching Bill Maher, John Oliver, SNL and ... and ... OK, that's about it.

Bill Maher has been spot on, lambasting Democrats for handing the election to the Republicans, scolding them for poor messaging and for forgetting to say that the economy is pretty good right now, that inflation is under control right now and that immigration - well, when was the last time there was a news flash about a caravan making its way through Central America and Mexico?

Like, never.

Four years of Trump, maybe more - yikes!

Two years at least of Republicans controlling Congress.

What could go wrong? What could possibly go wrong?

Besides everything.

***

Good night, Mrs, Calabash. Here's to you, Charli, XCX.

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

And look for pictures on my Facebook and Instagram from the Radio Free Phoenix 20th anniversary party.