Are you still having trouble getting in the mood for Valentine’s Day? Allow me to help with a series of covers that combine my two favorite things, love and baseball! These baseball romances are guaranteed to touch even the outfield of your heart. Plus, if you’ve been confused about the difference between first base, third base, and all the way, these books are here to help, just in time for Valentine’s Day!
In previous years, after the Super Bowl, I’ve listed my favorite ads of the night. I’m not going to do that this year because, quite frankly, I don’t have enough ads to list. This year, the Super Bowl was boring. The game was boring and the ads were boring. There were barely any new movie trailers. In previous years, Leonard and I exhausted ourselves trying to keep up with and share all of the Super Bowl movie spots. This year, we could take things easy.
As for the game …. listen, I’m not a football person. Our longtime readers know that. Usually, when I’m bored with a football game, I assume it’s because I’m just not into football. But this year, the game was so slow that even my colleagues here at TSL got bored with it. While the biggest game of the year was being played in New Orleans, we largely used the game as background noise as we talked about everything from HBO’s True Detective to whether or not it was acceptable to nuke all of your enemies in Civ. Once I realized that there weren’t going to be any big commercials, I immediately started thinking about relaxing in a hot tub for an hour or two. It turned out to be a little less than an hour because it’s cold outside, folks!
What a disappointing game. I can’t believe that I actually pre-empted my retro television reviews for that thing. Oh well! Live and learn.
Actually, now that I think about it, there was one commercial that I really liked, just because it featured a horse.
I’ve seen some speculation online that the commercials were safe and predictable this year because ad agencies are still adjusting to how to advertise in the second Trump era. That’s possible. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Super Bowl commercials that were so determinedly nonpartisan. In the past, I think the general assumption that advertisers made was that the country was full of politically active young people with a lot of spending money and, as a result, it only made sense to tailor commercials to them. Hence, we got Zachary Quinto dramatically reading the ending of 1984 for Amazon Audible and Kylie Jenner defusing tensions at a protest by giving a Pepsi to a cop. We got a commercial for a migraine medicine in which the main character was able to go to a protest because her migraine cleared up. There was even a commercial featuring a teenage girl leading an environmental rally because she had the confidence that went along with having clear skin. All the online complaining was taken as a badge of honor. “We’re making the right people mad,” as the saying goes. But, with the recent elections, it’s now kind of obvious that the supposedly leftward tilt of the country was much overestimated. It felt like the ads this year were trying to reclaim the middle, nonpartisan ground that was originally abandoned in 2017. They did so by playing everything safe. As a result, none of the commercials this year were controversial but, at the same time, none of them were particularly interesting either. It says something about how bland things were that the most talked about commercial was another one of those flaky “He Gets Us” commercials, which feel like almost a parody of the shallow understanding most people have of theology.
(Incidentally, we watched the game on Tubi. Tubi did a very good job of streaming the game, with none of the trouble that Netflix has had with its live events.)
In other words, the Super Bowl was boring this year but I did enjoy watching it with my TSL colleagues. And I love horses! And now, on with the rest of 2025!
I am stunned! I thought there was no way they were going to win that thing but the Eagles not only won by they won easily. Normally, I don’t like the Eagles and I’ve had enough bad Philadelphia experiences to not like the city too but I have to respect the game the team played tonight. They were never behind. They never struggled. And from their first touchdown, I think we all knew who was going to win.
Final score:
Eagles — 40
Chiefs — 22
And it wasn’t even close!
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.
Through the Shattered Lens 