The Secret Life of Us

The Cast

Date: 062619

FILLERBUSTER’S ELEVEN

BACKGROUND:  This started as a long-winded numbered blog.  It transformed into an organized long-winded category blog.  Now, it is a quick-hitter to ease your pain.  I lack time.  So, the preparation of the blog actually made me procrastinate from writing the thing.  Let’s see what makes the cut.  Barely edited as usual unfortunately, so please excuse any mistakes during my stream of consciousness.  I feel the need…the need for speed.  Let’s turn and burn.

1. EVERGREEN:  The Greek Freak’s MVP speech.  Magical.  Genuine.  Worthy.  Listen, NBA players are known as hip, cool, trendsetters, and aloof in their own way.  They are too cool for school.  But, watching Giannis accept the NBA MVP award showed who he is as a person, and that a great, family, NICE guy can be the best at the cool man’s game.  Not only did he make the city of Milwaukee proud in his delivery, but he probably gained some fans outside of Milwaukee who will be cheering for one of the good guys for years to come to win a title.  I stayed up to watch it, and it proved all that and a bag of chips.  Watch it.  Watch his breakdown, but just tears enough to show it wasn’t forced or over the top, but not enough to make fun of.  It was real.  It was refreshing.  It was awesome.
2. EVERGREEN 2:  NBA free agency, the Rockets, and the balance of power in the NBA.  Big names are floating around for this free agency period.  True, I truly wish we would get NO news during the NBA Finals, but now is the time when the power balance shifts in the NBA.  Irving, Durant (after an injury year), Horford, Leonard, Kemba, Klay, Butler (trade), etc.  These are big time names.  Depending on whether they land because of money, team, winning, or relationships, things will change quickly, people.  The Celtics will do something weird.  Maybe Irving will talk about the earth’s flatness.  Someone will go somewhere just for money and be stuck for years, losing legacy years.  Someone will go somewhere where the team will flip a switch.  How can the Sixers pay everyone in the next two years?   Do the Rockets know that you need to add people by position and not just by big name and payday?  Do they know they were on the brink AGAIN?  And, one way or the other, the Warriors will be more mortal than they were even before.  Well, unless they pull a KD pickup like a couple years ago.  Let’s hope that won’t happen, and one way or the other, it will be fun.
3. NFL: A local writer just ranked the top 60 Broncos of all time, and the fact that Tim Tebow made #60 is absolutely disgusting and an insult to anyone not making the team.  Impact?  Yes.  Player?  No.  Josh McCown retired, became an analyst, and then ranked WR’s in the NFL as his first on air gig.  He had Edleman as his fourth best, and didn’t even have Hopkins or Brown in his top five.  Whoops.
4. NBA: My thoughts on the NBA Draft in fluid style.  The eighth overall pick has produced ZERO All-Star Game appearances, so good luck to Jaxson Hayes.  With Hunter going to the Hawks, Jerome going to the Suns, and Guy going to the Kings, don’t worry about my UVA brethren causing any new change of favorite teams for me.  Remember when Cam Reddish was a top 5 pick?  Dropped to 10-wow.  Bol Bol was a top five prediction until injury.  If the Nuggets catch a break with Porter from last year, or Bol Bol this year, they STOLE a superstar.  The Wizards reached high for Rui, but he is solid, and they are used to drafting wrong.  I liked the Pelicans trades and picks overall.  Cameron Johnson went much higher than I would have picked him.  No Luka-first international pick went 15 this year.  Hey, the Spurs took a foreign player-go figure.  I sometimes forget that high school players can still be picked if they meet the age requirement, and #23 was a high school player.  Nassir Little went 25?  What a steal if you ask me.  Big bodies don’t go high anymore, as Bruno Fernando went 34.  I love the second round for the big name, experienced players.  I think Cody Martin at 36 was a steal, tweener or small school or not.  Of COURSE the Warriors picked a positionless three point shooter in Paschall.  Ignas went 47??  Wow.  And, in case you think that bluebloods are phased out in any way, the three teams that got three players in the first round were…Duke, Kentucky, and North Carolina.
5. MLB:  Tampa Bay wanting to split their home games with Tampa and Montreal shows the lack of fan love in Tampa, and they have a regularly winning team on no salary.  Cody Bellinger has seven home runs versus lefties in 2019, and he had only six all year versus them in 2018.  Pete Alonso broke a 1983 Mets HR record (Strawberry)…BEFORE the All-Star break.  A Rockies pitcher threw EIGHT TWO pitches in 2 1/3 innings and…they won.  The Pujols curtain call at Busch was pretty freaking cool.
6. LINKS:

• 7. WORLD CUP:  Embrace is, people.  The women’s team is advancing, and the France match will be HUGE.  I rarely agree with Trump, but him calling out Rapinoe about denying a White House visit BEFORE they win it all, I agree with (and wrote about it last time).
• 8. THIS AND THAT:  Movies.  Us.  It had me forty minutes in.  It started out nothing like the previews said it would.  It escalated into something I thought it wouldn’t touch.  Then, it totally lost me.  Then, at the end, the floor dropped out like Usual Suspects, reviving it slightly as the entire paradigm totally switched.  So, my ranking is a B.  Was it worth watching?  Yes.  Did it try to do too much and rely on gore instead of our imaginations?  Yes.  Secret Life of Pets.  Brilliant and nice separate plots by the different characters involved.  Kevin Hart’s pet was awesome.  Then, it tried to do too much at the very end.  WHY do movie makers need so much going on at the end of a PET movie?  I can’t really say that a cartoon movie can be “unrealistic,” but that is what it kind of was at the end.  But, overall, it was good.  B+ overall.  It would be a B, but the cat teaching the dog how to be a cat was priceless.  Not sure how much the Imagine Dragons are paying hard rock station KBPI, but some money is being exchanged, because it just sounds weird to hear them play that band every 20 songs.
• 9. THE FILLERBUSTER:  I park in front of my house, and some drunk driver hit my baby/ my 4Runner.  Sad.  Still drivable, but the beauty has been tainted a bit.  My best bud came to visit with his kid.  One, the kid was adorable and I stocked the fridge with chocolate milk and lunchables, which I will eat the leftovers.  Two, I still don’t want kids even though he was adorable.  Three, it is nice showing a visitor the staples of your town.  You forget things and discover other things.  When did that trolley start running at Confluence Park?  When did the farmer’s market start going down the street from me?  Why does the “new” Punch Bowl Social suck so much when it is new?  What do I do with all of the leftover marshmallows from the Smores fire?  Why did it decide to be Seattle and rain all weekend?  His mission was to see snow for his kid.  Mission accomplished in the mountains.  I can predict my weight within a pound from the way my wedding ring slides on my finger (good, these days).  My brother is doing a surprise visit to my mom and dad in FL this weekend., and that is pretty cool.  I think there are two types of people in the world:  people who think Rocky IV stopped the Cold War and those who don’t. I think about this daily when I shadow box at work.   Reading what people say on NextDoor is painfully funny, as I have no idea how they have the time to ask stupid questions.  I tried to install The Nest, The Ring Doorbell, and a trash disposal tonight, and failed at all three, so I just went and mowed the lawn.  I didn’t bike to work today even though I am in shape and live relatively close to work.  Props to you people who did.
• 10. TWEET OF THE WEEK

• 11. QUOTE:  Still on Get Up by Shinedown for workout AND pick me up song.  “Hard to move mountains when you’re paralyzed, but you gotta try.”

ALTERNATE CATEGORIES NOT MAKING CUT THIS WEEK:

1. THE BEST WORKOUT SONG EVER FOR THIS WEEK (because the best song this week IS the best song ever…for now):
2. TRAVEL
3. THIS WEEK’S LIST
4. MY NUMBERS
5. GONE FISHING (the riddle for money):
6. PICS BY MY PIXEL (pictures from my phone):
7. LIFEGUARD ENTRY:
8. COLLEGE BASKETBALL
9. COLLEGE FOOTBALL
10. PROBABLY MANY OTHERS

SFNO. 1348550628.

The theme?  This week is because of the movies.  Secret Life of Pets.  Us.  And my loving relationship with my broken car.  I talk to my car during drives, and apologize during bumps.  I love my car.  Since I head to Cabo on Friday morning, I would say there is about a 99.55% chance the next theme will be something regarding Cabo Wabo, Sammy Hagar, and how Van Halen rocked more with him.

The format?  This thing took me about 10 minutes to organize, and 30 minutes to write.  Glorious, and it gives me back another three hours of my time in life. 

That’s it for today.  Hope you enjoyed or are at least more informed.  Remember two things.  First, feed yourself, feed your family, but always, always remember to…feed the wolf.  Second,  if you can’t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker.  Will I blog again?  That is a CLOWN question, bro.  As one shepherd said to the other shepherd, let’s get the flock out of here.

Bob Ley retired this week, so I will also add his tagline, which is “I’ll catch you on the flip side.”

Talk to you all next week when I will have some Cabo pictures to make you jealous. In the meantime, here is the little guy that came and visited:

Bob ley retiring

Kevin Durant opts out of 31.5 million

Rockets shopping others to make room?

UFC’s Green manslaughter charges

Luongo retires after 19 seasons

Trump calls out rapinoe, invites uswnt to WH

Nba looking at shorter season

Crabbe arrested DUI

Vandy wins college world series

Dodgers martin records k in scoreless inning