Cleaning out the Inbox-Non-Sports Edition

The inbox returns with a well overdue and all non-sports edition.

How overdue?
Well, we placed the Murder Hornet arrival in the inbox for use over a month ago and we are just now getting to this lovely insect.

The Murder Hornet is also known as the Asian Giant Hornet and is the world's largest hornet, which is a title that makes me think of the Crusher, "the world's most dangerous wrestler", for some reason.
Anyway, the Murder Hornet is known for its sting, which is supposedly capable of piercing through beekeeping suits and has been described as feeling like a nail has been driven into you.
The hornet has recently been discovered in Washington State and British Columbia, Canada and there is concern about the hornet establishing itself in North America.
Not for attacking humans, but for the possibilities of its devouring native insects-most notably honey bees.
A few hornets can destroy a beehive in only a few hours, so with the issues with the honeybee population currently, this could be bad news if a population establishes itself.
However, one hope might be the praying mantis, which has shown itself capable of at least killing the hornet at times.
Warning-the following video is quite graphic.


The AP writes of how author Robert Caro continues his final book in the Lyndon Johnson life series during the trials of quarantine.
The 84-year-old Caro has been working on his Johnson books for over forty years and as he reaches the final installment, there are concerns with Covid-19 that could endanger the end of the project.
Caro has been working on the book in his apartment rather than go to his office as is his normal writing routine but has managed to stay healthy to this point.

Pacific Standard writes of the mystery of "John Titor", who for a few months in 2000-01 began to show up on internet message boards claiming that he was traveling back from 2036 and stopped long enough to offer some glimpses of the "future" and offered what we would have viewed as predictions with "Titor" referring to his notes as "history".
I had never heard of Titor before a note in the Bulwark about this article and it's intriguing, yet strange at the same time.
The article discusses Titor, the people that are obsessed with the story, his predictions (right and wrong), who he could have been, and why unresolved stories bother us so.

Dawgs by Nature normally writes about the Cleveland Browns, but with news being in short supply right now, they decided to post about the perennial Cleveland Mustard Battle between Bertman's and Stadium.
It's an in-depth piece as it discussed the two companies' history, the ingredients, the battle, and even a poll for your preference of the pair.
I have written before about enjoying both mustards, but I had a taste test once at an outing, and Bertman's won by a slightly larger margin than I would have expected.

CNN writes of its first day of service, which was June 1st, 1980, which means the network is celebrating its fortieth year of bouncing signals off satellites.
The husband and wife duo of David Walker and Lois Hart started the first hour of so many since and the first day would feature a walk around the facility that is still used today in Atlanta along with commentary from CNN's owner and founder Ted Turner, who was in the middle of a tenure that saw him seem to own anything from Atlanta that was part of the national stage short of the NFL Falcons.

The inbox is close to complete other than another tributes post that needs to be posted, I have another Friends and Family series entry that I'm excited about writing, and the TRS boxing ratings will be back as boxing prepares to return with a clean restart of the ratings after Covid-19.

Cleaning out the Inbox

The inbox needs cleaning and this is mostly a non-sports edition as most of the items that have accumulated are non-sports.

First, though, I wanted to take the time to thank the one person (no names this time) that loves the PPM.
The PPM started as a throwaway column to notch my picks for the season and used to feature a lottery machine as the face of the series- hence the name "Pigskin Pickin' Machine" before one day for a reason that I cannot even remember, I decided to add a picture from social media (I don't even remember the platform) of ESPN's college football reporter Heather Cox at Clemson with Frank Howard's rock.
This was in 2013, we've had a different "host of the PPM" each year since and the six various hosts certainly have brightened up the PPM and added a different variable to the series.
The race for the 2019 host has left the gate and three candidates are well ahead of the others.
I'd be surprised if next years host wasn't among those three, but one never knows what that committee will decide!

The article of the week for me arrives from the New Yorker, where Robert Caro, who is still working on the final volume of his series on Lyndon Johnson, writes not just of Johnson, although his life is the center of attention, but of Caro himself with the focus on just how the author arrived at the topic, how he managed to cajole information out of people that didn't always want to give such information out and at the end, Caro addresses the big white whale- his age and whether or not he will not only finish a memoir of his life, but also the final book of the LBJ collection.
It's a terrific read and I couldn't do anything else until I had completed the article- it was that interesting.

We move to the New York Times and their opinion columnist Frank Bruni where Bruni writes of "The Loneliness of the Moderate Democrat".
Much of the article centers around centrist Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, her policies and
how they don't always mix with an increasingly left-shifting party.
As someone that considers themselves without a party in many ways, I found it intriguing as each side of the fence seems to hate anything remotely resembling working together.

Vanity Fair writes of the 1980 Democratic presidential primary between sitting President Jimmy Carter against the challenge of Senator Ted Kennedy in an excerpt of a new book that looks at that race.
Jon Ward's book on this battle seems to be well researched and I wonder if we could see another challenge of a sitting President in 2020?

The Atlantic writes of the human aspect in the demise of spacecraft as it seems the Martian rover Opportunity may be finished with an inability to recharge its batteries.
The rover, which landed on Mars in 2004, is suspected to have had its solar panels covered in dust last June and has been unable to restore contact since.
The article is not only focused on the craft but on the people associated with machines that ended their time before their time was scheduled to be complete.

A higher return rate for Legos than stocks or gold?
Vox says so and as one usually should when dealing with the value of collectibles, read between the lines to realize the actual truth, but still, Legos have to have a strong market as a collectible.
Legos never go out of style, always has a built-in age group with new infusions of users as others leave and has some appeal to the adult market as well, so I can see special Lego sets having value, but again, read between the lines- you aren't getting rich buying the 4.95 Lego set at Target in a few years.

I'll wrap with the only sports note as SABR's Chip Greene writes about the baseball history of Three Rivers Stadium.
I learned a lot about how the stadium was built and the problems getting an agreement to build Three Rivers in the 60s.
It's a SABR article, so it's about the Pirates history there, so if you are looking more on the football side, it's a little light there.

Cleaning out the Inbox

Time to clean the inbox out with some various notes of interest.

I have missed Seahawks game coverage the last two weeks because they have played at the same time as the Browns and I really dislike doing game coverage of the games that I have not seen.
I make no claims on being the best of anything, just that I add a perspective of bullet points that the standard wrap usually does not and me gleaning information from that is kinda like reheated leftovers.
Since this is basically an opinion-based site, to begin with, I am not comfortable with that being done very often.

The Browns and Seahawks will not play at the same time for the remainder of the season, so Seattle coverage will return this week.


My good friend Wooden sends me this awesome nugget and I have been engrossed in this site ever since.
It deals with the genius Buddy Ryan and his "Polish Goaline" from Buddy's playbook
The intent is to intentionally draw too many men on the field penalty, while at the same time draining time from the clock in a late-game situation.
With the new rules on time and penalties at the end of the game, I am not sure that this would work as well now, but it shows the amount of detail that Buddy Ryan's teams covered.
Those teams may not have won a playoff game, but those defenses were the most fun to watch of any I have ever seen.
I may be in the minority, but I fervently believe that had the Eagles kept Buddy Ryan, those early 90's Eagles would have won a Super Bowl.....

The Eagles honored Buddy last night at halftime of their game with the Chicago Bears and it was very nice, although overdue.
Philly fans still hold Buddy in high regard and this had to raise his spirits a bit.
Buddy is fighting cancer right now and is having five radiation treatments a day in his fight against the evil disease.
Not too bad for a guy that never won a playoff game.....

A while back we posted about the Browns releasing Brian Robiskie, but I forgot to write the follow-up of Robiskie being claimed by Jacksonville.
A note to Pat Shurmur-you want some of the heat on you to cool down?
One way would be to make sure that Brian Robiskie does not stand out when the Jaguars hit Cleveland in a  week from Sunday.
If Robiskie is able to have a good game, the heat will definitely be turned up a notch...

Strat O Matic has made headlines for two reasons recently.
The first is the 50th anniversary of the company and Bloomberg News has an article about SOM here.

The latter is that every night of the NBA lockout SOM is simulating the games that have been canceled and placing the simulated games/stats on their website.
The company has done this in the past with baseball labor issues, so they have a track record of making the best of the worst...

I have been an ardent reader through the years of the Robert Caro series on Lyndon Johnson ( I just finished a re-read (No relation to Ry-Ry) of the second book Means of Ascent) and my biggest worry of the series that began in 1981 is that Caro (now in his late seventies) might not be able to finish the project.
The final book of the set was scheduled to be out next year, but that has been changed as the final portion has evolved to a two-book set and the series a five-book volume.
Passage of Power will be released in May of next year and will cover 1958-1964.
The fourth book will take Johnson from the planning of his 1960 presidential run, his years as Vice President, and the first year of his presidency.

I will be waiting until the softcover book comes out sadly.
Hardcover books seem to fall apart so easily anymore and when you consider the cost of the product, I'll just wait a while and buy the softer version.

Do you remember the 1970s?
Concrete donut stadiums and garish uniforms?
Well, the Miami (yes, the name will be changed) Marlins may be moving into a new stadium for next season, but the uniforms are definitely a throwback that is as welcome as a Pet Rock or Mood Ring.
The orange version of this makes me want to rinse my eyes with Clorox or maybe the designer was doing just that!
If this leak is the actual plan for the new Marlins togs, then someone in Miami had better deny it, find a backup plan and pray that any proof of this ever comes out of the closet.
Ugh.

Time for a few goodbyes

To former Heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, who passed last night at the age of 67.
Frazier will always be linked to Muhammad Ali of course, but Frazier made three other defenses before the devastating second-round knockout loss of the championship to George Foreman in 1973.
Frazier's loss on that night with Howard Cosell's commentary of "DOWN GOES FRAZIER" has become a permanent staple among even casual sports fans when people take pratfalls on TV and in the real world.
Frazier's fights with Ali were classic as Ali did not have the punching power to hurt Frazier, but Smokin' Joe was meat on a platter with his charge in style for a punishing pounder like Foreman.
Frazier was also the heavyweight Gold Medalist in the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.

Former National League batting champion Matty Alou passed on at the age of 72.
Alou played for five teams, but his best seasons were in Pittsburgh when he won the 1966 batting championship with an average of .342, which was the first of a seven-year run that saw Alou hit over .300 six times and .295 in the exception season.
Alou was the type of hitter that is not as prevalent in the game today as he was a one-skill hitter as Alou never reached double digits in homers in any year of his career.

Former Cardinal pitcher Bob Forsch passed suddenly at the age of 61 just days after throwing out the first pitch before Game Seven of the World Series in St.Louis.
Forsch was a twenty-game winner in 1977 and tossed two no-hitters in his career.
Forsch is part of the only brother act with sibling Ken to throw no-hitters and was generally a solid middle-of-the-rotation pitcher.
Ironically, Forsch was on top of my pile of people to write this year, being so close to the top that his envelope was actually already addressed when I heard of his passing.

Our best to all the above-named families....