Ten things I think

 

Ten things I think and ten that I opine on.

1) If I'm the Cleveland Browns and Mike Munchak hasn't received a head coaching job, if he's available (not sure on his contract situation in Pittsburgh), I'm on the phone to offer him a blank check to come to Cleveland.
Munchak is the best offensive line coach in the game and his addition to the staff would improve the team before any new players are added.

2) I know many on the right are snickering, laughing and even saying Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should be disqualified from Congress for a dance video that appeared from her high school years.
Keep in mind, this isn't alcohol or drug-related behavior, it's a teenager dancing and being silly.
I bet almost all of us that were teenagers in the '80s with the first camcorders to the present day phones with video capability have something like this.
I even hear a certain author might have some 30-year-old tapes of wrestling on mattresses in their parents' backyard from their teenage days.

3) I like the West Virginia hiring of Neal Brown of Troy as their new head coach,
Considering the late date and the coaches available, the Mountaineers could have done far worse.
Brown was the second Sun Belt coach to be hired away this year with Appalachian State losing Scott Satterfield to Louisville.
The next one to go next year could be Blake Anderson of Arkansas State and maybe Georgia Southern's Chad Lunsford.

4) An uninspiring slate of NFL playoff games this weekend.
Only the Chargers in Baltimore against the Ravens has more than average interest.
The other three games are all pretty dull on the surface.

5) My friend "Lefty" Koch followed up with me from a Cleaning out the inbox and added that he too has disdain for turkey.
The Koch family has a seafood Christmas, which has some intrigue for a season down the road for me.
If I could still have a turkey breast too, that is.

6) I'm not sure what Ohio State lost as Alex Grinch left Columbus as co-defensive coordinator for Oklahoma for the same position.
I thought the Buckeye defense took a step back last season and it could have been too many cooks with Grinch and Greg Schiano.
Ironically, neither could be a part of the 19 Buckeyes.

7) Am I the only person more excited for the Alliance League of American Football than the Super Bowl?
Other than the Saints with Drew Brees and 20 former Buckeyes, I don't have a ton of interest.

8) I think it'll be really fun to watch the league develop and what happens.
So many leagues come and go, so I'll enjoy it while I have it,
Still trying to decide which team I'll be pulling for between Salt Lake City's Stallions and Arizona's Hotshots.

9) It may be time for my local tv station (WDVM) to die their death.
Since losing their NBC affiliation a few years back, it's been nothing but a mix of the worst of local news and a simulcast of something called the Heroes and Villains network
Sometimes it is best to just fade away.

10) Doesn't everyone have a few foods that they say they like, but if they eat more than once or twice a year, not so much?
One of mine is Spam, which once or maybe twice a year, I really love (fried, yellow mustard, cheese whiz, and onion), but more than that and I get tired of it.
My other Spam issue?
I have to have Spam, not the house brand or the lesser brand Treet or god forbid Dak!
Just Spam, which likely tells you how good Spam is for me!

Cleaning out the inbox-Entertainment Style

Lots of items in the inbox and yet not enough time to post them, so I'm going to start with an entertainment cleaning with a little of everything considered entertainment!!

These lovely gentlemen on the right are Green Goblin, Electro, and Vulture from the classic 1967 Spiderman animated series, which was not only memorable to kids of the 1960's on ABC on Saturday mornings but the 1970's as well in syndication.
The site 13th Dimension takes a glance back at the first mainstream appearances to bring Spiderman outside of comic book racks with this series and picks 13 great things about the show!
I have the DVD set but haven't watched it in quite a while and apparently, it's one of the harder DVD sets to find to the point of being fairly expensive on eBay and Amazon, which is not something that I would have thought.

Staying with animated series, Beth Daniels for Smithsonian Magazine writes about the Rocky and Bullwinkle series from the Jay Ward studios in the early 1960's and how the show was not only entertaining children but teaching viewers about political satire.
Daniels writes about how Bullwinkle gently jabbed at the nuclear age at a time that was the peak of the Cold War and all of the talented voices that were used on the show that was able to appeal to adults as well.
I remember watching that show as a child and even then thinking that this stuff was way over the head of most kids and yet it was funny enough to still get a kid laughing without letting them in on the joke!
It also mentions such comedy from the time when comedy often was released on LP's, Do you remember those Long Playing records with comedians like Tom Lehrer (remember our post on Lehrer?) to name one from the era.
It's great stuff from Daniels, who seems to write about things that I'm interested in and I bet her work appears here in the future...

Rachel Thompson of SeriesFuse discusses how "Root" of  Person of Interest became one of her favorite characters after watching the show on DVD.
You've likely seen Amy Acker, who portrayed Root here often of late as this year's face of the PPM.
Acker's character along with "Shaw" played by Sarah Shahi were the variables in the show that drew a line from before they arrived (although Acker was an occasional guest star early on in the show's run) to after they were regulars.
Some fans loved the new additions, some preferred before they arrived (like Cherie and Rachel), so it was quite polarizing among the fan base.
My opinion?
I liked both versions of the show and respected the differences in them.
I loved Root and Acker, but the Shaw character seemed too much like another character and despite liking Shahi in "Life", her character here was not a favorite of mine.

Hot Press covers the "Wrecking Crew", the legendary group of studio musicians that included Glen Campbell, that played on just about every great record in the 1960's that you've ever heard of.
The Wrecking Crew were the backup band for so many terrific songs that might have been stars had they wanted to tour and spent time promoting records etc and would rather have spent their time playing music with the added advantage of having a regular home life.
Another note is that on the Beach Boys critically acclaimed album "Pet Sounds", the music portion is almost all the Wrecking Crew, not the Beach Boys because the Beach Boys (minus Brian Wilson) were on the road during most of the recording of that album....

We wrap up with another visit to the Smithsonian website for an article about good ol' SPAM, the Hormel mixed meat product that so many either love or hate.
Personally. about twice a year, I really get in the mood for SPAM and I'll grab a can from the grocery store.
I like it on bread (no rolls), yellow mustard, cheez whiz (Cheese perfected by science) and onion.
The article talks about how the products were developed, different countries love of the product and some recent variations of SPAM.
The funny thing about SPAM is that gross jell that always comes with it.
I always rinse SPAM off before using it because of the yucky film all over it!
Anyway, the really funny part is when you look at the knockoff SPAM products by competing companies such as Treet or Dak.
If you think SPAM looks or tastes bad, try Treet (which tastes like those awful Vienna Sausages, if you ground them up and then pressed them into shape) or Dak, which uses a different style of a can, but its taste is the worst of them all!!

Still plenty more from the inbox coming soon that needs to be freed from confinement!!