Happy Super Bowl Sunday! In four hours, some dreams will have come true and others will not. The important thing is never to stop dreaming, just like Charlie Brown in the scene from A Boy Named Charlie Brown!
Never stop dreaming, Charlie Brown! Enjoy the game!
I’m torn. I don’t want either team to win.
I don’t want the Chiefs to win because they’ve had the referees on their side for the entire season and I think its debatable whether the Chiefs would have even made it to the Super Bowl if the refs hadn’t rigged things for them. The NFL views Taylor Swift as being good for their ratings. When people talk about Taylor Swift cheering for Travis Kelce, they aren’t talking about concussions, the off-field behavior of the players, or anything else that could reflect negatively on the league. I feel like a Chiefs victory would be a victory for the rigging of a once great sport and, in future years, it will be seen as a significant moment in the downfall of the NFL.
I don’t want the Eagles to win because they’re the Eagles.
I’m going to predict a score that’s not as close as many are expecting.
Kansas City Chiefs 41
Philadelphia Eagles 21
I won’t be happy that Chiefs won but I will be happy that Philadelphia did not.
Because today is Babe Ruth’s birthday, I wanted to watch a movie about the player who is still considered to be one of the best to ever play the game of baseball. Specifically. I wanted to watch a film that was made about him while he was still alive, The Babe Ruth Story (1948). in which the very presence of Babe Ruth on a baseball field causes a previously crippled child to walk again.
I couldn’t find that movie streaming anywhere online but I did watch two other Babe Ruth movies. First, I watched Babe Ruth Story: That Ever Livin’ Babe (1962). It’s available on Prime and it’s a documentary that was made about Babe Ruth. Actor Pat O’Brien narrates the life of Babe Ruth, from his start at a school for wayward boys all the way through the end of his career. It was a good good documentary and one thing that I found interesting is that the documentary didn’t try to sugarcoat any of Babe Ruth’s later problems with gambling or that he liked to live large. (That was the reason why, despite his success on the field and his popularity off the field, Babe Ruth was one of the few former stars not be offered a management position after he retired from playing,) The documentary even admits that, having grown up so poor that his own family sent him away, Babe Ruth was determined to enjoy his fame. More importantly, the documentary also featured a lot of footage of Babe Ruth both on and off the field, including his first game at Yankee Stadium and also he and his wife selling liberty bonds during World War I.
Then, on YouTube, I found Just Pals (1932), a nine-minute film starring the Babe himself. Babe Ruth returns to the “orphanage” where he grew up and watches a group of boys play baseball. When one of the boys strikes out and walks away dejected, Babe Ruth takes the time to teach the boy how to properly hold and swing a bat. That’s not quite as good as magically curing a cripple but Babe Ruth still offers some good advice and an important lesson. He teaches the kid how to hit a ball like Babe Ruth. The team wins the next game and Babe Ruth is there to see it. Then he drives away with one of the orphans stowing away in the trunk of his car.
What I’d really like to see is Babe Comes Home (1927), a silent movie starring Babe Ruth that supposedly featured a lot of footage from Babe Ruth’s games. Unfortunately, it’s believed to be a lost film.
Artist Unknown
Babe Ruth was born 130 years ago and he played his last game 90 years ago. He was the first baseball player and one of the first athletes to become a celebrity in America and he’s still considered to be one of the best to ever play the game. I don’t know if he actually called his shot at the 1932 World Series but I like to think he did.
Happy birthday to Babe Ruth, the man who epitomized the the spirit of baseball! As for the rest of us, Spring Training begins on February 20th, the Dodgers and the Club will play in Japan in March 18th and 19th, and then the Regular Season runs from March 27th to September 28th! Go Rangers!
Rip (J. Richey Nash) is a veteran baseball player who started strong and then become mediocre, kind of like this film. He had his chance in the majors but then he injured his knee and now, he plays in the minors. One game, he comes close to hitting the cycle, just missing out on his chance to hit a home run. Immediately afterwards, he told that he’s been released to make room for some young players. That’s baseball. Players come and players go. I thought I’d never get over Elvis Andrus leaving the Rangers and I never did. When Andrus retired last year, he signed a one-day contract with the Rangers so he could retire as a Ranger. We love you, Elvis!
Rip goes back to his small town, where he’s still a big deal because he used to be a pro baseball player. His father (Bruce Dern) is in the hospital but Rip still resents the pressure his father put him under while he was growing up. It’s all really predictable.
I liked the baseball scenes at the start of the game, even though Rip’s batting stance seemed all wrong. They still captured the excitement of watching a good game and they reminded me that, even though football and basketball may get all the attention, baseball truly is the nation’s pastime. Baseball is Americana and I’ll always love it. But once the movie stopped being about baseball and became about Rip being a jerk to everyone in his hometown, I got bored with it. Bruce Dern was good but everyone else was forgettable.
The important thing? Only a month to go until spring training!
Elvis Andrus, once and always a Ranger!
“Juuuuust a bit outside!”
Rest in peace, Bob Uecker, one of the great voices of baseball. Every team should have been as lucky as to have a broadcaster like Bob Uecker.
60 years ago today, the Cleveland Browns and the Green Bay Packers met in the 33rd Championship Game of the National Football League. The Packers were led by Vince Lombardi while the returning champions, the Browns, were coached by Blanton Collier and had all-star fullback Jim Brown on its offensive roster. The game was played at Lambeau Field in Wisconsin, in the middle of a snowstorm that soon turned the field into a mud pit. 50,777 fans showed up for the game, braving freezing weather and paying ten dollars per ticket. The Packers defeated the Browns, 23-12.
This game was significant for many reasons. It was the last NFL Championship Game to be played before the Super Bowl era. With the exception of that year’s Probowl, it was Jim Brown’s final game before he retired to concentrate on his acting career. It was Lombardi’s 3rd NFL Championship. (The next year, he would catch the Packers to victory at the first Super Bowl.)
It was also the first NFL title game to be broadcast in color. Airing on CBS and announced by Ray Scott, Ken Coleman, and Frank Gifford, the game was broadcast into American household in full, glorious color. It was both a worthy send-off to the Championship Game era and a welcome to the future of the NFL.
Previous Moments In Television History:
You can’t always get what you want.
Last night, almost every true fight fan wanted to see Mike Tyson knock out Jake Paul. It didn’t happen, because Tyson is 58 years old and Jake Paul is 31 years younger. Tyson started out strong but, after the third round, it was obvious that he was exhausted and it even looked like Jake Paul was going easy on him as things reached their conclusion. Mike made it 8 rounds without collapsing, which was a personal victory considering how tired he looked by the end of the fight. Jake and Mike both got paid and I imagine that was their main concern.
Last night was hardly the worst thing that I’ve ever seen as far as boxing is concerned. I lived through the 90s and the era when Don King would shove any fighter, regardless of how mentally unstable or drug-addicted, into the ring. I am old enough that I can remember Oliver McCall having a nervous breakdown in the ring and refusing to defend himself against Lennox Lewis. I can remember Andrew Golota throwing away two certain victories because he just couldn’t stop hitting Riddick Bowe below the belt. I can remember Mike Tyson biting off a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear. I can even remember Montell “Ice” Griffin. Trust me, I’ve seen a lot worse that Paul vs. Tyson. But watching Iron Mike lose to a YouTube star, that’s definitely the type of thing that will hurt the soul of any 90s kid. The new generation has arrived and the man who was once the greatest boxer in the world lost to a former Disney star.
The biggest loser last night was not Netflix, despite all of the technical difficulties that they had trying to broadcast a live event. The biggest losers were the people who purchased a Netflix subscription just to watch the fight and instead spent most of the night staring at error messages and a buffering image. Did the Netflix engineer not consider that Mike Tyson coming out retirement to fight a YouTube star would put added stress on their servers? Netflix still made their money, though. They got what they wanted, even if fight fans didn’t.
I have no problem acknowledging that, even past his prime and two years away from sixty, Mike Tyson could easily beat me up. But now I have to live with the knowledge that Jake Paul could beat me up too. That’s the real tragedy of Paul vs. Tyson.
I’ve managed to avoid most of the hype surrounding tonight’s boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. That was intentional on my part because I found the whole idea to be incredibly depressing.
When I was growing up, there was no athlete more fearsome than Mike Tyson. At the peak of his career, he was the best boxer of all time. You can count me in as one of the people who believes that Tyson, at his best, could have easily defeated Mohammed Ali. What Tyson lacked in finesse, he made up for in pure power. As Tyson got older, he got slower and was no longer as impressive as he used to be but that happens to almost every boxer. Even after he retired, Tyson remained a boxing icon. I don’t care how old he is or how slowly he might now move, I would not want to get on Mike Tyson’s bad side.
And then there’s Jake Paul. I had to ask Lisa who Jake Paul was. Apparently, he’s a YouTube star who has decided that he’s a boxer and who has won a few sketchy fights. Paul vs. Tyson is going to be his debut as a heavyweight.
Friends and fellow readers, let me just be blunt.
If “Iron Mike” Tyson loses to Jake Paul tonight, my childhood will be over. If Mike Tyson, the most fearsome boxer of my lifetime, loses to a YouTube star, I am just going to give up on everything and start my mid-life crisis. It would be one thing if this was an exhibition match. Everyone knows that an exhibition doesn’t mean anything. This is an officially sanctioned boxing match. This fight will forever be a part of Mike Tyson’s record. If Mike Tyson officially ends his career losing to Jake Paul, what’s the point?
And it could happen. Mike Tyson is 58 years old and Jake Paul is 27. There’s a big difference between 58 and 27. By his own admission, Mike Tyson also doesn’t like to train. In Tyson’s last officially sanctioned match, he lost to Kevin McBride. Remember that? Tyson quit the fight after the sixth round. And after he lost, Tyson said “I’m not going to disrespect the sport anymore by losing to this caliber of fighter.” Mike’s looking for a payday and so is Jake Paul. If Jake beats Mike Tyson, that’ll mean that anyone could beat Mike Tyson if they pay him enough. That would be the ultimate disrespect to the sport that Tyson says he loves.
I have faith in Iron Mike, though. I think Tyson will let the fight go to the end but I think he’ll win on points. I think that the universe or karma or whatever you want to call it will cut all of us fight fans a break.
At least, I hope it will.
And just like that, the 2024 MLB post-season came to an end.
Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the 2024 World Series champions. For five innings, it looked like the Yankees were going to pull off a miracle and keep the Series going to at least a Game 6. But, during the fifth inning, the Dodgers tied the score, the momentum shifted, and they never really looked back. Even when the Yankees briefly reclaimed the lead, it felt like the an eventual Dodgers win was inevitable. The final score was 7-6, Dodgers.
Watching the World Series is a lot different when your team isn’t on the field. I hoped the Yankees would win, because I’m an American League girl but what I really wanted was to watch was my team playing for the championship. Unfortunately, the Rangers did not make it this year. Maybe next year.
Now, how long do we have to wait for Spring Training to begin?
Hooray for the Yankees?
Yesterday, the Yankees finally showed some life and defeated the Dodger for the first time during this World Series. The Yankees have got a long way to go and the odds are against them. The Yankees have won one game but the Dodgers are still just one victory away from winning the Series. But I was still proud to see the Yankees actually playing the game as if they cared last night.
Game 5 is tonight. The Yankees are playing to keep the series going. The Dodgers are playing to bring it to an end. I really hope the Yankees pull off another victory. I’m not ready for baseball to end.
Go Yankees!
Through the Shattered Lens 