MGN Weekender: 11.8.24
Electoral Choices
We choose some new leaders this week. Perhaps it went as you wanted, or perhaps you are disappointed. Personally, I am unmoved by events. I have long aged passed the point where I am a True Believer in any politician. I do find it remarkable that the post-election disappointment by the losing team looked like the fanbase of a losing program. Questioning the game plan (campaign)? Yep. Questioning the roster (candidates)? Yep. Throwing everyone under the bus (players, demographics who didn’t vote the way you wanted)? Yes!
As they say, sometimes a blowout loss helps you better than the close ones. The near-misses make you think you are just one choice away. The comprehensive blowouts tell you that you need a complete overhaul.
For me, the most interesting aspect of it all is the importance of messaging. Whoever loses an election starts wondering if their message is not resonating, or they aren’t selling it the right way, or some other combination. The Simpsons meme Am I Out Of Touch is always a go-to in this scenario.
In college football and with the UNT program in particular, this kind of thing is important. Eric Morris has his direct reports (staff) and the players, and we the fans that he must communicate with. We all have our opinions on the results of the game, and he is tasked with explaining it, assuaging us, and motivating the players. It is not very much unlike a politician. So many constituents and only so much time.
Of course in football the answer is simply to win. Win and everyone comes around to your thinking and way of doing things. Lose? Well and you can only explain it away so many times before we want to at the very least here someone else’s voice spout stock answers. It is the nature of the beast.
Shows I’ve watched
The Penguin — for a comic book story it is fine. Collin Ferrell is okay in it, but I can see him doing the same faces he does all the time.
Silo — Well, I have seen season one and I am looking forward to season two. Slow starting, but it picks up and gets real intriguing quickly
Frasier, the reboot — I liked Frasier the original show mostly because it grew on me while I was in high school. The reruns used to play right after Seinfeld reruns late at night. I had a tiny television in my room with no cable so I had only that to watch. The reboot is fine, very stock. It is good for a chuckle in that same time zone I always watched: right before I fall asleep.
Slow Horses — this show is fine. I’ve seen it called the best spy show on television but I think is hyping it. It is fun but also I don’t fully buy into the world. A mix of super-spy stuff with some incomprehensible British people choices. I will still watch Gary Oldman do pretty much anything though.
Other Sports I’ve watched
The NBA started and I’ve not really been super excited about the season. I’ve watched but it is always hard to care about the league until Christmas
The NFL — The Cowboys are awful, and I live in Chiefs country so I’ve been secretly hate-watching the Chiefs.
Soccer —Barcelona are balling out with their youth squad. It is quite incredible to be so good so young and even more incredible for a whole group of sub-18-year olds to be as amazing as they are.
Nailed the first paragraph, that was more than enough (catchy headline aside) to grab this user's attention! =)
Concerning the next two paragraphs, one could say that about most-any person, team, experience or thing because its pretty much the "12 Stages of [dealing with] Grief", as exhibited by "Homer Simpson" when told he might die within a day-and-a-half or "Bart and Lisa Simpson" when faced with the prospect that their parents might get divorced.
As a casual DC (Detective Comics) fan (big on "Batman" since a little boy watching the '90s Animated Series by BruceTimm and wearing the heck out of the pajamas; liked MichaelKeaton's version, ValKilmer's version, not GeorgeCLOWNey's version, liked weirdo and possible Satanist ChristianBale's version....and have since HATED dang-near every version since), this user just can't get into, and ignores, most-anything DC since 2012-2014-ish. The "Gotham" show on FOX had potential, and was pretty good.....minus a couple of things here and there that were just...."modern unnecessaries", IMHO, before getting away from that. Disliked and then hated "Arrow", liked "Flash".....in spurts, for a time before leaving that. DESPISED "Legends of Tomorrow" with a passion, as well as pretty much everything else up to this point, such as this new "The Batman", "Joker", "Harley 1 and 2", abut have no opinion on "Penguin" as these eyes haven't viewed it, at least yet. Same boat with "Star Wars". Recognize nothing after the Disnee acquisition in 2012. Not muh canon, not the right canon for a variety of reasons.
People say things that make this user think "Frasier" is RIGHT UP MUH ALLEY....but, alas, have yet to actually watch anything outside a few minutes some fifteen-to-twenty years ago in-between "Smackdown!"s on UPN, or whatever, and just haven't had the time to actually binge-watch this series. (Recommend binge-watching "The Rockford Files", which was a rabbit-hole worth going down, minus a couple of episodes early in season four and one, two, or three after that stretch, it's really an amazing series as-a-whole, especially the first three seasons, IMHO; shame season 6 got cut-off before being a full season). Definitely a fan of "episodic" television as opposed to "serials", by far. It asks less of the viewer and allows for a "timeless" feel and syndication, thus, more profit. One can just pop on an episode of "Star Trek: TNG", prowrestling, or "The Rockford Files" and workout on the treadmill or stationary-bike and have a good ol' time, in any order of episodes and with any theme to market blocks of them in ("Romance" blocks with "who kisses better, Riker-or-Picard?", etc.), something serials cannot do, at least as easily!
F the NBA and its bought-and-paid-for refs. As MarkCuban said at Survivor Series 2003: "All referees suck, there is no such thing as a good referee!"
Keep the faith, half muh NFL parlays have DAL winning over PHI, half kept that game off, same with The Mean Green game (in place of UNT on those, this user needs IND to beat MICH, some with the points included).
F the Chiefs, most-especially TK and TS for innumerable reasons.....
IT'S SCRAPPING TIME!!! (Maybe have Scrappy do the ol' CMPunk -- even though he's a scumbag/idiot -- and/or "The Thing" pose!)
Would love to make "Scrap'em" a thing, as well! TCU, A&M, UT, and BAY have similar sayings, why not UNT?