Smackson Lake

The Cast

Date: 23 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 my wife watches her shows (mainly, The Politician just came out).  Then, some final edits and released on Tuesday morning before work time.

1. EVERGREEN 1: BUBBA.  Unless you live in a bubble (not the COVID kind), you are aware that someone put a noose in the garage stall of NASCAR racer Bubba Wallace.  Bubba is the only black NASCAR racer on the circuit.  This was right before and during someone flying a banner over the racetrack that said “Defund NASCAR” next to a Confederate flag, and while people were still selling those Confederate flags outside of the venue.  First, on the action itself, people truly sadden me.  I would love to say that it is horrible to still be that way in this time and age, but that implies that it was ever right at all ever.  I don’t care what type of upbringing or town you started from, there is no excuse for this abuse and closed-mindedness.  It is absolute ignorance.  Look at what is going on globally, in case you thought you are still in the right.  You are not even in the ballpark, and the BLM movement will succeed and eventually touch the farthest reaches of racism.  For now, you can go back to your racist home and sit by yourself, dwelling in any thoughts about thinking a noose was, is, or ever will be anything but something to be absolutely disgusted with.  Second, the show of solidarity of the NASCAR racers the next day was moving beyond belief.  And the fact that weather postponed the event and gave them a day to think of an action that was suitable for Bubba was perfectly in the cards.  And Jimmy Johnson’s idea of pushing Bubba’s car to the front was a good one.  Richard Petty, The King, stood next to Wallace during the anthem.  Sure, there were probably some racers who weren’t fully bought in, but the show of union was effective and helped the sport overall.  I hope they find the person who planted the noose, but if not, I hope that person watched the race on Monday.  Their stubborn ways sure looked stupid then.  Get with the system, and stop hating, all.
2. EVERGREEN 2: MULTIPLE.
   1. HOME.  We play entire sports seasons to get one more game in a single series or a playoff game at home.  Everything we have learned about home field advantage will need to be relearned and it will be tough to figure out winners in games.  Think about how many home teams that you just worry about the spread and not whether they win or not.  Think about how the points will need to adjust in betting.  Think about how many lesser teams will feel like they have a chance with no crowd noise.  Think about no waves.  Think about how fan bases that will push the COVID envelope and increase the advantage of their team and the ones who are safer and stay home will hurt their team.  So many things to adjust to, and this is a small other one that is a season changer in so many ways.
   1. MUSICIANS: I am a musician.  So, I get inspiration, situation, and non-scheduled creativity.  But, the last three months have changed things in all areas of our life.  And, fans have needs also, after not being able to gather for three plus months.  All I am saying is this.  I am sorry that your creative juices had to be forced in your lonely home, but you have to adjust with the rest of us, musicians.  I better hear about new albums coming out right and left from all of these quarantined musical geniuses.  I don’t care if the entire album is about home sweet home, taking out the trash, how your chef burned your casserole, or the need to get out.   You better have tried.  We all now know what it is like to be trapped, and we all found stuff to do and hobbies to take up.  So, although some of us went nuts on NetFlix and although I do support your need to live like normal folks to some degree, you better have planned time each day for new material.  We are counting on you.
   1. THE JUNGLE: I have been a clone since 1997, when I moved to Denver, worked at S&P, and had a lot of radio time while I compiled company stats.  I became addicted to the Jim Rome Show, and even was a little sad since he was kind of what I missed the boat on myself as far as sports talk radio personalities.  Anyway, what he did was combine intelligent sports talk with pure abrasiveness.  He developed words such as “takes” and “smack” and “rack” and “clone” and “run,” and set the bar high for any callers on the show.  This developed into a contest on a daily basis, where the big event was once a year.  The Smackoff.  You had to listen to him for a month or two before you even got any of the jokes from callers.  Terms came into play spontaneously by Jim or a caller and would be ridden for years.  Callers would bust other callers and combine that into knowledgeable sports takes.  It was clever how Rome created this culture.  Anyway, I listened to my first one in ten or so years on Friday.  It was awesome and depressing at the same time.  Heck, it had new blood to the point where one caller created a tandem call with Greg from Vegas, and the newbies had no idea who that guy was.  I actually remember his calls from 1997.  Anyway, my point on this is the following.  The callers were great, but lacked sports content.  Jim created a Smackoff initially where sports takes and then ALSO calling out others for their lack of sports takes ruled.  That won it for you.  But, the Smackoff has become simply a 3-4 minutes call of busting the chops of every other caller on the show and then MAYBE a sports take or two, and who did that the best won.  No sports takes, with only limited references and opinions to anything sports-related.  Sad.  Did I enjoy it on Friday during lunch?  Sure.  Was it entertainment at its finest?  Yes.  Were the top three callers the best at “smack?”  Yes.  But, I heard very limited sports content, it has devolved to a lower point than it started in the realm of sports, and although I congratulate Jim Rome on this creation, the callers have gotten away from the initial concept.  Leff won this year and can certainly talk about other callers well, but I walked away not even knowing if he knew sports. War JT The Brick, War Terrence From Sierra Madre, War Trapper, War Greg from Vegas, War Steve Carbone, War J Stew, and old school calls with content.  And if you don’t know where War ____  came from, that is also old school.
   1. LINK: Not saying I want to bring you down, but I stumbled on another depressing article about COVID and sports.  Watch something on TV funny after.  It will get you past the reality this might portray.  https://deadspin.com/coronavirus-is-telling-sports-world-to-shut-it-down-1844098379
3. EVERGREEN 3: COVD.  My random notes as we have done since March when this whole party started.  I hope you had a fun trip before COVID where you could relax and use some drink tickets on a flight, because we are far away from returning to that normal now.  How does one chill with an adult beverage without a mask for that long?  Lots to figure out.  Sad to see the legendary Pacific Dining Car in Santa Monica shut down permanently.  Another great historical place bites the dust because of COVID.  Sixteen friends in Florida who went out on the town spoke out to everyone else about how we should NOT go out and live through what they are experiencing.  The problem is that those sixteen people are a good sample for the entire nation, and those people will not be watching that blurb and switching stances suddenly.  Too many people will end up being their own version of those sixteen people.  Rentals are now being grouped into something called “pandemic pricing,” Nieman Marcus is the next store to file for bankruptcy, and Beijing is canceling flights again because of a new outbreak.  Cow’s blood vaccine is now the hot new drug, unless there is a new one in the last day or two.  Trump decided to have a big rally during all of this in a state that has increasing COVID counts, and he somehow hurt his election chances because no one showed up, had a gathering that will probably start new COVID cases, and created a K-Pop conspiracy theory all in one motion (K-Pop had a video that told people to register but not GO).  Oh, and four of his staff people are now COVID positive.  If you are bored one day, check out the prototype double decker designs of possible future air travel.  Bad news is that they will have to build all new planes, and the good news is that it reminded me of an airplane fort.   Dr. Fauci says that football will need a bubble too, and we haven’t even figured out the details of the NBA bubble.  Let’s see if that magic NBA ring works first.  I feel like we saw pictures of Florida beaches and knew they would have another first wave hit, as they are joining California, Texas, Arizona, and Oklahoma in being reckless.  Texas had dozens of bars over the weekend breaking distancing rules.  Meanwhile, Iceland and New Zealand have done it right and are back to almost normal life.  It occurred to me the other day while watching a wife’s compromise show that Impractical Jokers, along with many, many other shows out there, can’t exist moving forward.  There will never be a time where strangers coming up to people and being close and personal will be cool.  Sad.  What are my fellow hippies going to do with no dirty, green, cool festivals?  I guess we don’t have to worry about city fireworks rankings for wherever we go since we will only be hearing the individual people doing it out of rebellion.  Will there become a time before the end of the year where people will MOVE to states that don’t require masks?  Will I be mad at other states for keeping this going nationally?  The PGA Tour plays on, but Nick Watney competed and had to back out of his Friday tee time because of testing positive for COVID.  UCLA athletes want a health oversight committee to guide them through these times.  Towns like Santorini in Greece are getting hit hard financially, as that town in particular relies on 90% of income from tourism.  And, check this out.  Gila River Casinos opened like everyone else, but already shut down because of a security guard dying from COVID and other employees testing positive.  FAR from out of the woods, folks.  Also, cashless gaming was already in the works, but now is being pressured to move faster because of COVID.  Deep thoughts.  Will a football team with almost all players having had COVID be determined to have a competitive advantage playing against a team that has remain unscathed?  They kind of DO.  That is weird.
4. EVERGREEN 4: BLM.  Random notes from the nation as we continue to get hit by COVID and George Floyd’s death at the same time.  I remember the Aunt Jemima maple syrup out every time I ate waffles.  Not anymore.  That is gone.  Abrasive movements like Boogaloo are sneaking into OTHER protests, and protestors in Compton were carrying their OWN rubber bullets and pepper spray.  There will be an iPhone app that can record traffic stops.  UVA altered the sabers on their logo to escape a slavery reference to fences.  I hate to hear about defunding and the quitting of police personnel nationwide.  The officer who killed Rayshard Brooks is being charged with felony murder.  Incidents involving police, past and present, are popping up on social media all the time.  Shaq and Gronk team up to host a virtual party for social justice.  Kaepernick continues to be a martyr and there is a part of me that thinks he SHOULDN’T come back, as he has changed the world, and that is better than being a bench QB carrying a clipboard on some NFL team.  UNLV will remove “Hey Reb” from logo.  QB Kellen Mond calls for removal of Lawrence Sullivan statue at A&M, the Twins have removed a statue of their ex-owner, the Skins have done the same, Florida will stop their Gator Bait chant, and Mississippi is finally being called out for its flag.  Monmouth is taking down Woodrow Wilson’s name, the NBA made Juneteenth paid time off, the toddler video became famous and infamous (after being manipulated), Teddy’s statue is coming down outside of the Museum of Natural History, and even Black Sabbath is making shirts to fight for the cause. Even my hippy Southern band, Widespread Panic, put out a classy statement.  https://widespreadpanic.com/2020/06/16/black-lives-matter/  Some acts, like removing police cars from Fortnite, and petitioning to change the name of the city of Columbus might be a little over the top in some people’s view, BUT we ARE taking legitimate steps in the right direction finally.  Keep it going.
5. NFL: Did everyone else outside of Tampa Bay get slightly irritated at the amount of mediums we were getting hit with by Tom Brady in Bucs uniform pics?  Aldrick Rosas committed a hit and run at 825am in the morning that was alcohol caused.  Early bird gets the worm I guess on the road.  He is the Giants placekicker.  If there weren’t enough kicker jokes in football before, we are about to overload after this one.  In GOOD Giants news, the team wrote a letter to its season ticket holders, making sure they were aware that they will NOT be penalized for not buying tickets this year.  Classy move.  Kyle Shanahan got extended by the 49ers, as he should have been.  Let’s not go crazy though, as I believe we were talking about Sean McVay being the new genius in coaching before his money and then lackluster season.  Kyler Murray will kneel all season, and I like these guys just coming clean and saying they will do it.  Preemptive strike that is needed.  I am glad Jamal Adams is finding free time to complain about his contract, demand a trade, and then list out the exact teams he would like to go to.  I hate when players dictate negotiations and get this detailed.  The teams on his list don’t exactly suck.  Dak Prescott is about to sign the franchise tag, but doesn’t he have until July 15^th?  Not sure why this week is the decided upon time.  And I feel bad for 49ers WR Deebo Samuels, who JUST got back practicing, and already broke his foot.  Not the way you want to get back to business.
6. NBA:  We have our first NBA player sitting out for the bubble (players have to decide by the 24^th).  Davis Bertans will not go to the playoff bubble.  He probably won’t be the only one, and the Wizards probably didn’t have a shot anyway to win it all, but missing his 15.4 PPG does sting a little.  Trevor Ariza also bowed out on Monday, citing a son’s visitation need, and although he is not a prolific scorer, his ring experience and defense will hurt the Blazers younger core’s chances in the big picture.  Quietly, the Clippers are changing the Joakim Noah contract from 10 day to end of season.  I always thought he tapered off oddly very quickly in the last few years, I think this solidifies their interior nicely, at least for some additional fouls worst case.  There is a NARC hotline in the NBA bubble, and who WOULDN’T call this line?  You have to love their attention to detail, but I would call in some fake news on someone if I played them next and they had a couple of All-Star Games under their belt.  Kyle Korver came out and said he wants change more than a title, and his delivery sounded really heartfelt.  I can’t wait for the first assistant coach to be screaming in the bubble from the 2^nd or 3^rd row through their mask.  If you have lived in a bubble (again, a hypothetical bubble (or vacuum) and not the future NBA one) and have NOT read the highlights of the NBA bubble rules, here you go.  https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29320883/inside-nba-100-page-safety-plan-big-questions-key-details  Glad to see the ESPY’s pull off their annual awards show, they did it virtually as everything else is, the racial injustice speeches were moving, and I liked Kevin Love getting love for his transparency for mental illness (he received the Arthur Ashe Award).  Apparently, Kyrie Irving wanted to start his own league before the bubble, and that, like us having a flat Earth, doesn’t surprise me.
7. MLB: What a mess this sport is.  Another blog rolls by with no resolution, the sides finally met face to face after a trending “where and when” line on social media, they publicly look like there is some big problem between 60 and 70 something games and flexible playoff schedule, and we are inching towards the fall, when a second wave of COVID might come about (if we ever get past the first wave).  On Monday, I am not even totally sure what happened.  The players denied the proposal, and the commissioner pulled some Trump Executive Power by doing a vote and saying they are playing.  The players are determined to get their pay and aren’t in a rush.  Oh, and in the meantime, 40 MLB players or staffers have tested positive in the past week and no schedule is in place yet.  Not a good sign.  The Phils and Blue Jays both had to shut down their facilities.  Maybe we should focus on two GOOD stories before signing off from the MLB hook.  First, Albert Pujols is paying his Dominican staffers still, and that is nice, but we also should expect this from this guy, since everyone and their mother knew years ago that the LENGTH of his contract would go farther than his skills.  Wait, so that was kind of a back-handed compliment.  Let’s pass along a truly good story.  Here is a cancer kid who grew up to be an MLB player.  https://www.facebook.com/607130192808673/posts/1508131196041897/?vh=e&d=n
8. MISCELLANEOUS:  This is going to be longer, as a couple other sports I squeezed in here to stay at 11 hooks.  Bill Self might sue the NCAA, and either he is really innocent, or is also doing a preemptive strike.  Smart, whichever way it is.  Andrej Jakimovski is a top international recruit and has just committed to Washington State.  Considering that school kind of started this whole international college trend way back when, it is fitting they land another one to bookend it.  Cade Cunningham will be a name you should know for the 2021 NBA Draft.  Amidst all of Oklahoma State’s football problems, and a postseason ban next year for the basketball team, he is staying committed to Oklahoma State.  It will get buried under COVID and BLM items, but it is a big story that he is staying on that path.   I guess quarantine gives you time to think about stuff.  The Sabres oddly fired their GM as we finish Phase 1 of staying home.  Did virtual meetings and analysis over quarantine somehow help you reach your decision?  The Tampa Bay Lightning had to close their facility due to COVID tests.  Another not so good sign.  The NHL announced it will start its playoffs on July 30^th.  I find this odd that they would beat the NBA out of the gates as they haven’t even told us the plan yet.  No bubble, rulebook…nothing.  Speaking of Oklahoma State, Mike Gundy does things in three’s.  He spoke about a premature return to college football two months ago, then wore the wrong shirt at the wrong time with the wrong beliefs to practice last week, and then was called out by Alfred Williams about a racial slur in 1989.  Dude, you were the loudest guy ever to turn 40 years old, and maybe you should have a clothes and words and everything chaperone.  You know when you are lacking sports action when the newly formed Mayo Bowl (yes, it did deserve some jokes) got run for a full week and probably is tweeting something right now.  Tennis players are mad at US Open protocols, and we can almost guarantee that the field will be lacking a few high numbers in the seedings.  I hear that there will be no human lines people.  Monday was the anniversary of the 1981 rampage by John McEnroe and who would HE yell at this year if only electronic calls were made?  At least Serena has said she will play, so fence straddlers will follow her.  And aren’t they kind of already playing tennis unsanctioned anyway?  But seriously, Djokovic just tested positive for COVID on Tuesday morning and we haven’t started anything.  I don’t follow climbing as a sport, and I didn’t know the name Luce Douady, but apparently we just lost a 16 year old phenom from the sport.  Shame.  I glossed over the TBT field, and see a lot of the same team groupings, and really surprised more new teams don’t enter.  The tourney is one of the best hoops tourneys in the land, but I feel like new blood is needed, as it isn’t like people aren’t washing out of the NBA constantly.  Make some friends, washouts.  In the forum of new players, I noticed that Trey Burke is joining the Ohio State crew.  Isn’t that sacrilegious that a Wolverine is joining the defending champion Buckeye squad?  That breaks a LOT of rules.  WWE stopped filming because of COVID and then started right up again shortly after.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be in the 2021 HOF class, and that story was obviously trumped by the Bubba story.  Bayern Munich won its EIGHTH straight Bundesliga title, and how come I never hear about THAT dynasty?  I even checked it on Wikipedia.  Give that more run.  I feel like track and field and cycling are similar in that I can not pay attention to it for a long time, and not much will change.  Christian Coleman is the reigning 100 meter champion (remember when we could name the top sprinters off the top of our head?) and he will be banned from racing because of some missed drug tests.  Cheating and racing.  I mentioned the Smackoff earlier, and didn’t know about the Stucknut site, which apparently is some dude who lives his life summarizing every Rome show.  But, if you need a summary, you now know where to go.  Maya Moore was the Michael Jordan of women’s basketball who stopped playing to focus on proving a prisoner’s innocence.  Great article about it here. https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/29315369/inside-wnba-legend-maya-moore-extraordinary-quest-justice   We need to learn from the sports trying to exist post COVID, as Top Rank boxing is the latest to have some trouble with COVID and having an event go on.  DeAndre Yedlin is an up and coming soccer phenom for the USMNT, and he might quit because of racism in the US.  And present soccer stud for Chelsea, Christian Pulisic scored a goal in a comeback win for Chelsea, meaning he made the US sports wire.    Neymar lost a lawsuit, and it will cost him $7.5 million, which I assume he turned over some beds in house and found pretty quickly.  And the PGA Tour green-lighted the PGA Championship officially, and Webb Simpson had a hell of a weekend.  Nice to have golf back, and we hope the rug doesn’t get pulled.
9. THIS AND THAT: The Jurassic Park series started filming their new movie again, and I feel like we learned from some other movie about treading on nature too much or too quickly, respecting nature and not trying to own it, and that chaos will reign.  Hmmm.  Can’t place the flick.  It had a really cool theme song.  The Billions finale was…odd.  You could tell they had to end it in the middle, and the plot was slightly off the beaten path.  I DID hear a COVID mention in the script that turned out to be an understatement.  Something like “this will spread like the Coronavirus.”  Still love the show though.  Keanu Reeves did some bidding for a 15-minute Zoom call for help against cancer.  Who would pay for a Zoom call with a guy who has like 3 out of 50 hits for movies?  The new Ford Bronco will debut on July 9^th, which happens to be OJ Simpson’s birthday.  Is that a blind accident or implied public sarcasm?   Harvard is dropping test requirements for this year’s applicants, and they got press for it, but actually Princeton is the only one to not drop them in the Ivy League. We had some prime rib at Mount Vernon with the Colorado family, and we were literally the only group in there for a while.  Distancing was very, very far away.  We hit our first bar on the way back, Local 46, and it was educational on the new social distancing etiquette, complete with the green indicators for service like Texas de Brazil does.  I was impressed by their process, and depressed for anyone in the service industry these days.  I feel like Tenet might be Inception 2, but we do need some new blood on the movies front.  Cheetos now has popcorn, and I have added that to my next grocery list.  The MC Hammer Can’t Touch This reference was funny also in the commercial.  JoJo from Widespread does Thursday bits now, and look it up under “Shut Up and Play.”   Jamie Foxx is looking physically ready for his Tyson biopic and sounds exactly like him already.  The Grateful Dead, yes the jam band, is making Vegan deodorant, in case you were somehow worried about how regular deodorant is made.  I never heard of that movement.  We saw another new Family Guy, and I still feel like they are making more than one per week, considering we watch it as a “filler show” frequently when multi-tasking.  For your list on ways the world is ending, a Saharan dust plume is heading towards the United States, but will only affect how the sky looks and how bad people’s allergies are apparently.  How have I missed this place called Freddy’s??  Fast food with better meat, awesome custard, and jalapeno fry sauce?  Wow.  I will be making the trip there more than I want to.
10. THE FILLERBUSTER:  I am still in season 2 on The Wire.  Not much progress made, as it is on the wife’s schedule.  I created a username online, but haven’t played a game yet on the chess front.  Spanish continues, but missed all weekend because of camping and being tired from camping.  We went to Jackson State Park to camp and pictures are below.  Basically, it was get there before dark on Friday, set up tent, campfire fun, dance party 1, wake up and lake fun with paddle boarding, come back and wait for new person coming into site, more lake fun with paddle boarding, grilling, dance party with bonfire, sleep, and head back home on Sunday morning.  We ran out of paddle boards, so I was the dude riding on a unicorn tube.  My wife and I went with her four girlfriends.  Got to be secure in your manhood to do that for a full day.  I have made a list of stuff I will always have on hand for future camping trips, and have learned that investing in 4Runner outside accessories is an expensive path I won’t do quite yet.  Actually, I had a little sticker shock and need to weigh on my spending on something I will use 3-4 times a year.  Wow, that stuff is pricey.  Workouts have been fine aside from some camping/ lake injuries pausing them this week, along with a sudden lower back problem that makes me suddenly feel old and that I need to take up yoga.  Guitar and piano hit a pause for this week.  We would have been at the Telluride Bluegrass festival this past weekend and that is sad.  But Telluride will happen for the Fourth, and we are about to book a place.  I finally got my hair cut, as the curls were out of hand, and impressed by Floyd’s barbershop protocol.  My wife loves HGTV and I think I am learning some renovation and fixer-up terms because of it…just can’t DO any of it.  My cats have suddenly forgotten how to go in the litter box, making us put them on some cat form of cleansing with rice and ground beef (never had heard of that one either).  Got a new SI mag, and I don’t know how I still get them, to be honest.  I haven’t paid them in a year or two, and maybe they are just glad that there is one person out there that reads a magazine here and there.  Maybe, I will help out Subway this week, since they either have been quarantined too long or they are desperate enough to bring back $5 footlongs AND that damn song with that mentor dude from The Voice.
11. 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 FOOTBALL: 
12. COLLEGE BASKETBALL

The theme? Jim Rome “Smack” plus Jackson Lake equals Smackson Lake.  I like wordplay.

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

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.

PICS FROM JACKSON LAKE:

(note no pictures of me actually IN the unicorn, as no one took their phones out on lake)

Man city has white lives matter banner flown