Life Is Confusing, And People Are Insane.

The Cast

Date: 09 June 2020

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 who 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.

SETTING: This is written on Monday night while the Wife watches her shows (Dateline, Dead to Me, Hawaii Life, home renovation shows, 20/20, etc.).  Edited and released on Tuesday morning before work.

1. EVERGREEN 1: SCHEDULE.  We are used to certain allocation and cadences of sports.  It has been that way for decades.  New Years Day is a day for college football games.  The US Open’s final round traditionally is played on Father’s Day.  Late June is the NBA Finals, the first weekend of April has that Masters feel, and early February is the Super Bowl.  That is now out the window though in 2020.  As the major sports start to map out dates and locations to make up this lost time from COVID, my brain is about to explode, thinking about the crammed schedule when sports return.  I might have a Saturday in September where I wake up to a college football game, catch the back nine of a golf Major, switch over to the NBA Conference Finals, watch the third period of an NHL Stanley Cup playoffs game, and then catch a late season baseball game.  Watching the processes in place post-COVID will be strange enough, but the meshing of sports schedules throwing us into overload will be an event in itself.
2. EVERGREEN 2: STATEMENTS.  This is a simple, to the point opinion.  Vic Fangio had to backtrack after an overarching statement making him appear blind.  Drew Brees had to apologize after his statement indicated that he had no idea of why Colin Kaepernick was kneeling.  Jake Fromm talked about “elite white people” and somehow thought that it wasn’t really bad timing in whatever context he meant it to be in.  Basically,people, you are overcomplicating things.  When an event like George Floyd occurs, and if you are not a minority, FOR THE MOST PART, then don’t say anything.  Or say as little as possible.  Or run what you want to say by multiple people.  You are going to dig a hole possibly if you try and make a “statement.”  You might mean well, but the simple truth is that no one out there cares what you have to say.  You can be the most equality driven, aware, fair, and nicest white person in the world, but you do NOT understand fully, I don’t understand fully, and stop making elegant “statements.”  Racism sucks.  We hate people who hate.  Let people who should talk…talk.
3. EVERGREEN 3: COVID.  It is amazing how we couldn’t read anything BUT COVID, and then the protests almost got us past that point.  We all hope that we were far enough into social distancing that the protests won’t cause a second wave, but the virus almost vanished for a while for a good reason in the media.  Fauci says we are close to a vaccine, and let’s hope he is right.  Bike sales are now up, since people want to be out in the fresh air.  Hope you bought some stock in one of those companies.  Worlds collided as George Floyd was found to have COVID during his autopsy.  Some states are getting a rise in cases this past week.  Latin American cases are still rising.  I saw a video of people entering a Vegas casino, and no one had masks on.  The Bellagio fountains are going again, and that is normalcy I like to hear about.  There are sinks in MGM casinos.  Lots of sinks.  The latest workforce numbers were supposed to be at almost a quarter of the workforce, but came in at 13% instead.  Billionaires made $565 billion during COVID, as the rich somehow get richer.  And I didn’t know there was one more cruise ship out there.  MV Artania finally docked this weekend, and they were at sea during this whole debacle.  That must have been one expensive cruise that totally went off the rails. 
4. EVERGREEN 4: FLOYD.  My random notes.  First of all, reading Twitter can be depressing on this subject, but good is still out there.  There are not enough GOOD stories being told.  The Tennessee National Guard putting down their shields was awesome.  The kid bringing the police a case of water was compelling.  The Dallas officers who went on bent knee was moving.  The DC resident who took in 62 protestors and fed them, charged their phones, and gave them space to sleep was refreshing.  The murals in L.A. of Kobe Bryant were left untouched after the more aggressive initial protests.  It was great to see the angry protests quickly turn to peaceful protests.  Glad all of the best sellers on Amazon last week were race books.  The LA Galaxy released Aleksandar Katai after his wife was angry on Twitter.  Trump just doesn’t have that caring way in situations like this, does he.  Let’s move on to sports talk.
5. NFL: I have just one thing to comment on that starts with this sport and will bleed into the other sports as they follow.  There are quite a few articles out there on this, so I am just agreeing, and this is not an original thought.  But, I totally agree enough to include it here.  Let’s just STOP PLAYING THE ANTHEM AT NFL GAMES.  Kneeling was an issue years ago with Kaepernick and others.  It will be again this year after the George Floyd incident.  What does the anthem have to do with the game anyway?  It is traditional, and that is great.  But, aside from the curiosity of WHO will sing it, it isn’t needed in the game.  Then, when the other sports go to follow, it will be even easier for them with their larger international presence (making it even less needed).  Unless you want people like me lecturing you on why kneeling is absolutely fine all season, let’s just cut it off at the head.  Lead the way, NFL.  Let’s cut the anthem, eliminate the visual, and just get to the game.
6. COLLEGE FOOTBALL:  College football is already experiencing some COVID incidents and we aren’t even playing yet.  A couple of Bama and Oklahoma State football players came back from the break and protests with COVID.  We are at an interesting turning point if we hope to have football in the fall.  And, if we do, with or without fans, this is a great breakdown of teams with certain ”if’s” and how those pan out will determine whether they are in the title conversation or not.  https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29240770/how-top-2020-college-football-team-becomes-national-title-contender#Oklahoma
7. NBA:  My last blog was released right before Wes Unseld passed away, so sorry if this is older news.  Wes was a true Hall of Famer, and he reached the promised land once, where he took home the Finals MVP and the title.  But, let’s not forget his rookie year, and think about someone today accomplishing what he did.  He won Rookie of the Year AND NBA MVP.  That is insane.  A judge has ruled that Zion will have to fight the fight, so we will hearing much more on his possible payment to go to Duke, and wouldn’t most of us, in some odd way, really just enjoy the heck out of Duke doing anything wrong?  The way that James Dolan handled the Knicks George Floyd team statement (with an INTERNAL email that said pretty much nothing and then a weak follow up that showed he was just sending because of backlash in the media) proves that he really knows how to handle things wrongly on ALL levels.  So, the regular season “finish” would start in mid-August and that is just weird.  I am really curious to see how the league handles a home court advantage.  They HAVE to give some sort of advantage, and I am hearing that the extra foul is the best they can do.  It will be tough, and that is really what the regular season is played for.  As far as Kevin Durant changing the entire landscape, he put that to rest.  There will be no Durant-Irving experiment yet.  The Spurs are in the 22 team field, but LaMarcus Aldridge somehow just figured out he needs surgery on his shoulder, and is out for the season.  Pop is already grumpy at life events, and this won’t help.
8. MLB: This sport is becoming embarrassing.  There is a new 76 game proposal on the table, and we will see if they can reach an agreement, but neither side shows any motivation to the fans and sport itself.  It is more about finding holes in the other side’s deal, when discussing the owners and players.  They need to compromise and be visible about it.  They just need to find a 2020 solution and save the real battle on the CBA until next year.
9. MISCELLANEOUS: I was surprised that the Oklahoma State basketball story got buried on the wire quickly.  They got hit for a one season ban on postseason, meaning when March Madness does return to make us all happy, they won’t be involved.  Congrats to the Coyotes in the NHL, who landed the first ever NHL Latino CEO.  Jon Jones helped the post-protest Albuquerque cleanup, and there is no way he did that on his own.  He must have hired a new PR person, who gave him some marching orders.  Way too nice for him to do that.  If you are curious about the brainstorm on how to replace fans, this was an article in one of my work publications that gives one such idea.  Pretty cool stuff.  https://www.sixteen-nine.net/2020/06/01/danish-football-club-uses-led-boards-zoom-to-bring-fans-to-empty-grounds-on-game-day/  When we get to the horse racing later in the year, know that there is a high-profile horse named Dr. Fauci who just placed second in his first race.  Steve Stricker was honest and said that a Ryder Cup without fans would be a “yawner.”  I agree.  Although I have never attended a Ryder Cup, when I watch it on TV, the big energy boost you have in that competition IS the fans being able to be more boisterous and passionate than Majors and other events outside of Arizona.  I have yet to see the new Bruce Lee documentary, but it is high on my to do list.  When reading the preview of the Spencer-Nunes fight, I found out that Spencer was Canadian.  A Canadian female UFC fighter?  Everyone is too nice up North to create that.  Also, Nunes has lost FOUR times?  I would have guessed 2 or 3 at the most.  It sounds like Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer all are having issues with COVID protocols at the US Open.  It raises a good point.  In some sports, big names will withdraw and dilute the competition overall even if the event is happening overall.  Conor McGregor retired (again) on social media, and we aren’t buying it, and talk to you in a few months when you abrasively challenge someone again in the media.  Can’t wait.  Ugghhh.
10. THIS AND THAT: India has the largest amount of locusts in 30 years, just in case your key parts of the end of the world were missing anything.  Cristobal is already the third named storm of the hurricane season, and we are literally DAYS into it.  Not good.  So, we get things opened back up and are hoping to put COVID behind us, and now the election commercials have started, so we have new pain to deal with.  A dinosaur stomach was somehow preserved, and the smart people learned that it was a picky eater eight before whatever wiped them all out occurred.  A Spanish porn star was charged for manslaughter, as apparently it was a toad venom sex ritual that went off the track.  What was more disturbing about the article was that I learned that this porn star was in 10,000 scenes in 26 years.  That is alarming when you just read the numbers.  JCPenney will close 154 stores, and I am actually amazed they made it this far into the COVID closing.  Hey, pop-up ad people.  Stop putting pictures of Paige Spiranac after an article I read.  That is just mean.  What is up with the wind in Denver this past week?  It was pretty wild driving around on Saturday, eyeballing the damage.  I had never even heard of the restaurant Public School 303, and it was pretty darn good.  We watched two movies we had never heard about before on Saturday.  The Love Birds had a really funny opening, but cooled off pretty quickly and I wouldn’t recommend.  The Wrong Missy started out really strong, tapered off slightly but still was watchable, ended cheesy and funny, and I WOULD recommend that one.  The chick who plays the wrong Missy was pretty much MADE for that role.  Gladiator got me the other night late, and still one of the best movies ever.  I think that the Netflix search mechanism is really clunky and not intuitive.  We were typing in stuff, and nothing changed on the screen.  I watched Uncut Gems in the theater.  I just thought it was OK and not great, and I am a gambler.  I got tired of hearing about how great it was from others, so I gave it another shot.  My first opinion still rides.  I don’t get how people think Sandler is incredible and award winning worthy, and the movie overall is just above average.  For the 1500^th time, Beechers Mac and Cheese is the most ridiculously great tasting thing out of a box you have ever had.  We threw our masks on and visited the Farmer’s Market on 32^nd Street on Saturday in the Highlands just to get the salsa that my wife loves.  Go to the Tamales stand on the South side in the middle and get the mild salsa on the left side.  I noticed that 13 Reasons is on season FOUR???  When did that happen?  I rely on my wife for many show updates, I didn’t mind the first season, but am NOT catching up that amount of seasons.  Too many other shows on the docket.  I was talking to a friends about The Dave Matthews band, and she had a perfect summation of his music.  “Jovial and predictable.”  She is right.  The first album, when they weren’t popular, was their only great album end to end.  We listened to more Lil Dicky the other day, and if that dude is not the next coming of Eminem, I don’t know who is.  Amazing, amazing rapper and you need to listen to him if you want clever lyrics at a ridiculous pace.  That famous treasure hidden by Forrest Fenn was found in the Colorado mountains (and it actually had about a million dollars in treasure), so now I guess some other mountain dude is going to have to hide something.  I love pools more than most.  I just discovered, when the TV was left on Lindsey’s home network, this show called Pool Kings.  They literally make pools and lazy rivers for people.  Brilliant.  There was another radio burst picked up from space, and it goes every 157 days apparently.  Combine this with the other bursts and that spaceship caught on tape from those Navy pilots, and sounds like whatever is up there is getting a little pushy.  Independence Day, here we come.  At least everyone has a better idea of what should be in their bunker because of COVID.  Finally, Round and Round, the glorious breakout hit from Ratt in 1984 that is on the quarantine-timed commercial for Geico, has busted onto the Billboard charts again for real.  In an age when Ghost makes Dokken-like hits, and where I want Glam Rock to make a comeback, it gives me hope.  In the next section, you will read about life being confusing and people being insane, so why SHOULDN’T glam rock make a comeback?
11. THE FILLERBUSTER: Our huge box of Merf’s hot sauce arrived, so all is well in the house again.  Merf’s has the ability of putting all of these weird flavors in hot sauce, but having it still work and not be overwhelming.  For example, one is Blackberry, which you would never think would work…but it does…WELL.  The next to last episode in Billions was the expected slow buildup before the finale next week of the mini-season, which will involve all hell breaking loose.  Fantastic show.  My workout is still TRX and running, and I probably will be one of the later people to have the courage to hit the gym when they open.  I am on an 8 day hot streak in my Spanish studies, so the routine is in place.  I slacked on the guitar a little this week, but the last time I played I am definitely playing chords more easily.  The weekend was a fun night at home with the wife, a coed baby shower in the boondocks of Golden, visiting Lindsey’s friend while in those boondocks, and then hitting a birthday party in Broomfield while we were in the middle of nowhere.  Good to see people, and it was weird debating for those 5 seconds on my “outfit” to venture into public for the first time in months.  It is so weird greeting people now.  So freaking awkward.  It is almost like people need to wear an outfit that proclaims whether you hug, bump elbows, or just prefer to stay way far away.  Saturday night was movie night.  Sunday was porch time and games with wife. Far from exciting stuff.  Remember when this section was just telling you about all of my trips?  We still do the grocery pickup, and that might be my thing for a while still.  I put together a bookcase for my cave, and me putting together anything is worth noting.  I hate the new water process where I have to filter water, but I guess it is better than drinking lead.  I think our new thing during our bike rides is to stop by for an open-air happy hour.  When you stumble on a deal to a foreign place that will sell out, is fully refundable, is valid until 2022, and has a room over the water, then you just tell your wife “sure.”  We just booked this ridiculous deal.  Many people we know JUMPED all over this.  Maldives, here we come.  Crazy my wife booked a trip before we even learned the correct pronunciation of the place.  We are not sure if the cedar spray worked or if the moths just moved on, but the swarms seemed to have subsided.  We did a mature thing this week and started our will/estate planning.  I probably would have procrastinated some more, but I think COVID inspired me to say “sure” to this too.  Never Miss a Sunday Show was fun to watch this week. It was the one and only concert where Lindsey accompanied me to Widespread Panic and we saw both of us on some random camera angles. I heard a song on Saturday that I might quote moving forward.  It will answer anything.  When stumped, I will just say “life is confusing, and people are insane.”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4fNwPLMRqY
12. TWEET OF THE WEEK

ALTERNATE CATEGORIES THAT DIDN’T MAKE THE CUT:

1. THE BEST WORKOUT SONG EVER FOR THIS WEEK (because the best song this week IS the best song ever…for now):
2. QUOTE OF THE WEEK
3. LINKS TO SAVE YOU TIME IN LIFE
4. TRAVEL
5. THIS WEEK’S LIST
6. MY NUMBERS
7. GONE FISHING (the riddle for money):
8. PICS BY MY PIXEL (pictures from my phone):
9. LIFEGUARD ENTRY:
10. NHL
11. COLLEGE BASKETBALL
12. NFL

The theme?  Life is confusing and people are insane vs. Ratt.  So, I just combined them. The Wrong Missy comes in third.

And our weekly reminder of the greatest sequel ever made coming out this winter… Top Gun 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epgkqPJ_bc0&vl=en

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.

Dalvin cook will holdout until he gets a new contract

Michael Thomas gives donation couple of mil

Taking away funds from police??  no