Podcast:DC Comics

We talk DC Comics from the 70's,80's and early 90's with Chris And Reggie from the Cosmic Treadmill and Weird Comic History Podcasts!!

Cleveland adds and drops

The Indians and Browns each made moves with one adding a player and the other adding one player and dropping two from their roster...

The Browns gained some salary cap space with the release of two high priced veterans in quarterback Josh McCown and defensive back Tramon Williams.
The 37 year old McCown was under contract for another year at over three million with a 750.000 dollar roster bonus due if on the roster on March 11.
McCown was winless in three starts with the Browns in 2016 and was battered around and missed time with a broken collarbone.
McCown threw six touchdowns and six interceptions,but looked to be finished as a starting quarterback at least,if not period.
Over his two year run in Cleveland,McCown will be best remembered for setting two team records-most passing yards in a game-457 and for being the 1st Browns quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards in three consecutive games.

The other release was that of veteran defensive back Tramon Williams,who after being released saved the Browns a March roster bonus of one million and 5.7 million in 2017.
Williams was signed to start at corner,but was beaten out by Jamar Taylor after Taylor was obtained from Miami.
Williams spent most of the season as the third corner and was spending some time at safety as well.
Williams intercepted one pass in each of his two seasons with Cleveland,but was generally thought to be a disappointment as a Brown.
The soon to be 34 year old Williams might be of value as a dime back on a good team,but his starting corner days appear to be finished....

Cleveland made a very popular waiver claim as Clevelander and former Ohio State Buckeye safety Tyvis Powell was claimed off waivers from the Seattle Seahawks.
Powell was surprisingly undrafted in the 2016 draft and signed by the Seahawks as a free agent.
Powell played in eight games as a special teamer for the Seahawks and was reportedly thought of highly by Seattle,but a roster crunch forced Seattle to waive Powell before their playoff game due to a urgent need at another position (Seattle brought kick returner Devin Hester to the team after the waiving of Powell)
When a player is waived during the playoffs,the process is not announced until the conclusion of the postseason,which is why it took this long (Seattle lost in the NFC semi-finals to Atlanta) for the official announcement to be made,although the Browns having the number one claim and used it,knew that they were going to obtain Powell.
The 6'3 Powell brings some size to the safety spot for a team that needs safety help and clearly wants to be a Brown.
Powell spent a season learning from some of the best defensive backs in the league in Seattle,so hopefully some of that will rub off and help the Browns....

Meanwhile,across town,the Indians added a badly needed lefthanded reliever as they signed Boone Logan to a one year deal for 5.5 million and a team option for 2018.
Logan is expected to be the LOOGY for a bullpen in need of one since Andrew Miller is far more than that role for the Indians.
Logan was 2-5 with 3.69 ERA for Colorado last year,but whiffed 57 in 46 innings and lefthanders (which Logan will almost always face) hit just .142 against him.
If the 32 year old Logan can approach his usual numbers (with relievers is not always the case),he should be a perfect fit for just what the Indians largest pitching need was.
Logan is not a guarantee,situational relievers rarely are,but I feel pretty good about the Indians trying to shore up their weaknesses entering 2017....

Richard Hatch

Housecleaning before I start-Our podcast on DC Comics was postponed one day at our guests request.
Look for it late Wednesday or Thursday morning.
If you are a DC Comics fan from the 1970's,80's and early 90's-this is for you!!

Jason Christensen was the first of a few to send me word of a sad day as
actor Richard Hatch passed away at the age of 71 from pancreatic cancer.
Long before someone of that name was the first star of reality television,Richard Hatch was a star of late 1970's television from the ABC soap opera "All My Children",the replacement for Michael Douglas for ABC's "Streets of San Francisco and the ABC sci-fi cult attempt to take advantage of the Star Wars rage-"Battlestar Galactica" in the main role of "Apollo".
Hatch also was one of better participants in the various "Battle of the Network Stars" competitions as well,so during his time,Hatch was pretty visible..

I've talked about my childhood of watching soaps with my late Aunt Edna and remember the character that Hatch played,but he was gone from the soap by then,but I wasn't a Streets of San Francisco watcher and despite watching Battlestar Galactica,I wasn't a passionate fan as a child.
It wasn't terrible,but it wasn't all that memorable to me despite it being the first thing that I remember seeing Dirk Benedict in before "The A-Team" and the last thing that I remember seeing Lorne Greene in that I watched (Greene did a few more things that I passed on),though thankfully Greene didn't sing in Galactica (Although I wouldn't have minded a little "Ringo")....

So,why a post on Richard Hatch then?
Well,Richard Hatch was part of the introduction to something that I continue to be a fan of to this day.
In 1978,I was in 5th grade at rockin' Fountain Rock Elementary and with the days of the three networks on television,things like made for television movies were far more frequently televised than today.
This leads to one night that my mom watched a CBS Movie of the Week entitled "Deadman's Curve",which was the story of the 1960's music duo of Jan and Dean.
Richard Hatch would play Jan Berry with Bruce Davison of "Willard" fame (another late night viewing from the younger R.S) as Dean Torrence,but I had never heard of them.
Two hours later,I was asking my mom,if she had any of their albums,she had two and I wore them out!
To this day,those two albums are framed and hang in my hallway (along with another J&D album that Ryan found for me) with my fandom set forever.
To this day,I still have J&D CD's in my car to listen and I've never met a bigger fan of the pair than me.

I bought Deadman's Curve on VHS years ago and it didn't quite age as well as I remember,but it was solid enough for a movie that fudged a few facts (those weren't easy to find out in the non-internet age) and Hatch and Davison looked enough like Jan and Dean to get by and their lip-sync was pretty good for the film as well.
Without that film,I wouldn't have been introduced to the group,which I've been such a fan of since then-from albums to cassettes to homemade dubbed cassettes to cd's and now some youtube videos as well-Jan and Dean has been background music to much of my life.
I've always been a person that when I like something,I mean really like it,it stays forever.
One time,a person that I know told another person "I bet he (me) still listens to Jan and Dean'.
My response was upon being told this-'Yeah,I do,I like what I like" and it all traces back to that movie,the music and the performances of Richard Hatch and Bruce Davison to hook me and leave me wanting more...

Pigskin Picking Machine

The final PPM for the 2016 Football Season

Last Week 1-1
Season: 119-48

Super Bowl
New England 31 Atlanta 21

Devils trade Fiddler

I missed the Devils loss to Calgary (Had to work) and their win tonight over Columbus due to being in Harrisburg for the Senators Hot Stove Banquet,so not much on the game front.
As I have written before,I don't feel comfortable writing about games that I haven't watched.
In my opinion,that does not add analysis,I'm just rehashing numbers and other peoples thoughts that watched the game..

However,there is Devils news as the Devils traded veteran forward Vernon Fiddler to the Nashville Predators in return for a fourth round draft pick.
Fiddler had recently returned from a foot injury and scored one goal with two assists in 39 games with the Devils.
Fiddler had been signed over the summer to a one year contract from the Dallas Stars as a checking line forward and for help with the penalty kill and was exactly the type of low cost free agent signing that you hope could provide some help and leadership before potentially being moved to a contender for an asset at deadline time..

A fourth round pick doesn't seem like much,but more late round picks add up,can help in getting a prospect by moving up on draft day and when you are in the middle of a rebuild-the more picks for journeyman players that you can obtain,the faster the process can move.
Vernon Fiddler may have not produced as much as the Devils may have wished for,but we don't know what the pick obtained for him will bring-Hope springs eternal...

The XFL!

Recently was able to watch the 30 for 30 on the one year wonder that was the XFL.
Owned and operated by Vince McMahon,the XFL had one night of huge ratings and was followed by the worst ratings ever seen by a network by the end of the season.

The film focuses more on McMahon and his good friend and often time business associate,former NBC Sports head Dick Ebersole than on much of the talent in the league (coaches,players and front office types) and that is somewhat of a flaw,but an understandable one as the director of the film is Dick Ebersole's son.
That doesn't take away from the entertainment value,what it does is take away somewhat from the overall information that can be learned about the league.
Considering the filmmakers relationship with the two main persons of interest,the film was pretty honest and fair in dealing with the problems and demise of the league,if a little sappy at the end.

I was prepared to buy into the XFL from day one because I loved the USFL,have always believed that there is a place for spring football and still to this day believe that had Donald Trump (as noted in the past,this is my starting point for my Trump dislike) not stuck his stubby little fingers into the league that the USFL might have been around to this day.
At that time,the XFL was a perfect opportunity for me and my buddies (some of those guys are still around,others were "voted off the island" since then) to pick a team together that we could all root for together,
It's rare to have a chance like that to start from scratch,so we decided on the San Francisco Demons (who wound up losing in the championship game) and I remember all of us watching the first Demons game at our old apartment and we were actually getting into the game as the Demons defeated the Los Angeles Extreme 15-13 on a Sunday afternoon.
I seem to remember the Demons winning the game on a late field goal,but it was a good time by all.
I remember having a Demons cap that I know still has to be around here somewhere,but there was a problem with the league-mainly that the football wasn't up to par.
Don't get me wrong,it was passable and I remember seeing several players that were excellent players that were CFL all-stars that didn't dominate the XFL,but it wasn't what anyone beyond the super hardcore fan (like me) was going to devote their time to.

The lack of top talent in the league was what made it look minor league.
The USFL spent money (and lost much of it) on stars out of college,developed a solid level of talent and developed more of an audience.
Vince McMahon thought that it was more about marketing and flash than actual football talent and with the exception of Rod "He Hate Me" Smart,was wrong.
What the league turned out to be was neither fish nor fowl-the football wasn't going to be a draw for anyone other than fans like me and the braintrust discovered that the cheerleaders and all the other bells and whistles weren't enough to pull in viewers that tuned into wrestling.

The television product had some innovations that the NFL wound up using (the skycam and microphones on everyone in sight for just two),but the league also had some bad announcers,less than great camera work,the persistence of the wrestling side of the promotion cutting wrestling promos on the NFL and attempting wrestling angle type issues like Jesse Ventura constantly trying to rile up New York head coach Rusty Tillman with criticism.
The uniforms were about what you expect from the time period (over the top and ugly) although the helmets were decent enough and I thought the black and red football was pretty sharp,although red with black might have been more visual.

I liked a few of the rule changes that the league attempted.
The scramble to decide possession was fun to watch,although it provided many injuries and I didn't mind the no extra point rule.
I didn't care for the no fair catch rule (sounded better than it was because players couldn't get closer than five yards of the returner until he possessed the ball) and I thought the ten yard penalty when you punted the ball out of bounds was pretty dumb.
Give the XFL credit for trying things and anytime you try things,they won't all be winners,will they?

I have every XFL game ever televised in the VHS archives,although I am doubtful on the future of those since it is becoming harder and harder to find quality machines to transfer games to VHS.
I originally planned to just tape Demon games (they finished 5-5 in the regular season) ,but Ryan suggested that I should tape every game,I took his advice and did just that-If you want XFL games and have a VHS/DVD recorder,call me at ....

I liked the XFL for all of its flaws,although I must admit that I didn't hold it in nearly as high esteem as the USFL and wished that it would have been given more time,although from a business perspective,I certainly understand how and why the decision was made in order to cut their losses and end the league.
Give Vince McMahon one thing-when he fails,he fails spectacularly..

Turning the world on...

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Mary Tyler Moore at the age of 80 and surprised as well.
Normally,you hear about a celebrity not doing well and I hadn't heard any of that type of news,so it hit me as a shock.

I was a fan of Mary Tyler Moore,mainly because of the 1970's show that carried her name.
I liked the Dick Van Dyke Show where she was married to the namesake from the syndicated episodes,but it was her show that I remembered most from childhood.
CBS owned Saturday night television in the days when Saturday night was more important in the ratings,so with no school the next day,I could watch all the shows that comprised that powerhouse block which included All in the Family,Bob Newhart and the Carol Burnett show from beginning to end without the dreaded "time for bed" call for school the following day.

The show was trendsetting for the obvious reasons (Check my podcast with Jennifer Keishin Armstrong out,she wrote a terrific book on the MTM show),but I'll stay off the show,so I can talk about my memories on the career of Mary Tyler Moore.
For my money,Mary Tyler Moore in the first season of that show ranks with the most beautiful women not only of her age or era,but anytime and she was witty with the ability to play the straight person for the funny lines from the other performers as well.
The show was funny for many reasons,just not MTM,but she clearly was the glue that held the various pieces together.
Many people always go to the Chuckles the Clown episode as their go to memory,but I have two memories that make me smile.
The first is the neat set of the first apartment on the show.
It was such a nice little place that you could very easily see yourself living in and even though the inside was made for TV (the exterior shot was of a real home in Minneapolis),as a child,I could just imagine what it was like on your own.
The other was the classic theme song by Sonny Curtis,who had hits with the theme twice,with the the opening and then later with a slowed down country version.
I'm not sure if you are over 45,you couldn't sing at least some of that song....


Mary Tyler Moore also has some other memories for me.
Her Oscar winning role in Ordinary People was an outstanding performance and she was a very deserving winner in her role as a very cold mother in a family split apart by the death of their son.
That was an excellent film and one that I recommend if you haven't seen it.
Another memory is the awful "Mary" variety show from the late 70's.
Michael Keaton's skills would seem to be somewhat of a fit for that type of show,but it didn't turn out that way and this was my introduction to Keaton (other than his guest appearances on Mister Rogers Neighborhood,that is) and as bad as Keaton was in this show-Imagine this being your first time seeing David Letterman and it's in that format!
It wasn't my first time seeing Letterman (I had seen him plenty of him on the Tonight Show),but words cannot convey seeing his rampant squirming with being uncomfortable on about anything that he did on this show-So..I'll show you below,but I cannot imagine anyone thinking David Letterman would be a great selection for a variety show cast position!


However,of all these (except for the MTM show),my best memory always was a guaranteed laugh.
You see after the Dick Van Dyke show and before the MTM show,Mary Tyler Moore had struggled with some lackluster films and was looking for a hit to revive her career a bit.
Her selection was an Elvis Presley film of course,because what could be better in bringing your career back to the forefront than an Elvis Presley vehicle!
Well,this one got even better than the usual Elvis romp because they tried to play it straight in "Change of Habit" in which Elvis plays a doctor and Moore played an undercover nun (seriously)
attempting to see what the secular world was like.
Change of Habit is one of those films that is so bad,that I find hilarious in just how bad this film is...

Two memories of this film;One is this-Not long after we got married and Cherie and I like most new couples with very little money,saw me walking through the now defunct Ames department stores (Ames and its local predecessor Zayre's never did much for me) and there was Change of Habit on VHS for $4.99.
4.99 doesn't seem like much,but at that time,an excellent argument could be made for about 10,000 things that could have been a larger need than a VHS copy of Change of Habit,but we left Ames with this wonderful films and nearly 30 years later,I still hear about that day!
The other was this-back in the "olden days" of pre-cable television,if you stayed up late,there wasn't much on television other than old movies and I had scoped out the TV guide to see what was showing on a late Saturday night at 1 or 2 AM.
I knew about this film and being a good big brother (Snicker) I hyped it to Shane constantly about what a great movie this was,it had Elvis and Mary Tyler Moore in it,you have to stay up to watch etc.
So,I figure you see where this was headed and upon watching this,during every commercial break,Shane would climb down from his upper bunk and pummel me with a pillow as he told me what a jerk I was (I'm sure the words were worse than jerk) for talking him into this....

Those are a few of my memories of Mary Tyler Moore and her career.
I'm sure this is a cliche' used by many in writing of her passing-but she did turn the world on with her smile....