Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, April 5, 2016

  • I only caught the last three minutes of last night’s game and my goodness that was one amazing finish. Those last two shots were simply amazing and that game has to have one of the best finishes ever. And sometimes these things are more fun to watch when you have no rooting interest whatsoever.
  • Twitter Video – A North Carolina fan with great seats says “Oh, s—-” right before the final shot goes in.
  • Man, anyone that tweeted the sad Jordan meme last night sure picked some low hanging fruit.
  • I like how the player who made the game-winning shot answered the question on whether he knew it was going to go in. He simply said, and without any arrogance, that he expects all his shot to go in just like the last one.
  • I love puns – One Shining Moment. And I’m glad TBS, in their first year hosting the finale, continued with the actual One Shining Moment. They took it one step further, after coming back from commercial we got to see the players still on the floor watch it live/
  • Howard Hamlin sure was wearing a lot of purple in last night’s ‘Better Call Saul’. And even though I’ve heard of “Svengali”, it was used in a context last night in which I had to research him a bit.
  • I was craving BBQ on Sunday evening but I have this “rule” no good BBQ places are open on a Sunday night; however, I caved.  Someone recommended Smoke in Plano since he knew I love me the hard to find beef rib, so I decided to give it a try. I didn’t know it was one of those places in which you have a waiter and just can’t order meat and sides, you have to order designated plates of food that’s paired with a particular side. That’s strike one. It seemed like a smoke house designed for affluent hipsters who prefer style and atmosphere over substance. All their meat wasn’t smoked enough, the connective tissue wasn’t dissolved enough, and they like to put weird pickled or fermented garnishes on all their meet, which totally screwed up the taste. Good BBQ needs no garnish or even sauce. Also, due to price, we have to eat in for the rest of the month.
  • A conversation yesterday lead me to look up Judge Wapner, who is still alive at 96. I was surprised to learn that Rusty the Bailiff (he died back in 2002) served as bailiff during the trials of Caryl Chessman, Charles Manson, and Patty Hearst.
  • The Masters will be played this week and it’s a major turnoff for me despite having an appreciation for golf. I guess it has to do with the pretentiousness of venue and the event. Loosely related, it reminds me of the pretentiousness of alumni of the SEC or all college alumni that worship their alma matta. I always thought it was strange that people are more connected with their college in which they spent about four years and paid money to go to as opposed to their hometown where many spend most of their formative years. But if I were to really examine my thoughts and feelings about his, I’m sure there’s some jealousy on my part.
  • I think I’ve gotten to the point I don’t really care for sports all that much. Sure, I have an interest in my local and state teams and enjoy championship games, but I tend not to get attached anymore. Perhaps that’s just me getting old and understanding how unimportant all of it really is. Heck, in the 90’s when the Cowboys lost, it would wreck my entire week, which is really silly when you think about it.
  • Dr. Joe Medicine Crow, the last Plains Indian war chief, dies at 102 – I first heard of this man when he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Not only was I fascinated that he had a connection with the Battle of Little Big Horn, but how he became a Crow War Chief:
    • It was on the European battlefields Medicine Crow completed all of the four tasks needed to become a Crow War Chief. As a scout he led several successful war parties deep behind enemy lines; he stole German horses; he disarmed an enemy; and he touched an enemy (counted coup) without killing him.
  • All the President’s Men premiered 40 years ago this month. Despite being a fan of presidential history, I still haven’t seen it. I want to, I just never made the commitment.
  • GIF – How a river in Peru changed shape from 1985 – 2013.
  • Vietnam’s Bikini Airlines Set To Create Country’s First Female Billionaire
  • Bill Simmons and HBO are making a Game of Thrones recap show – After the Thrones premieres on HBO Now on April 25th
  • On last night’s ‘CBS Evening News’, John Dickerson, the network’s political director and host of ‘Face the Nation’, stated he was briefed on convention rules by RNC officials because “the party wants to make sure the public understand how it works.” That leads me to believe there’s no way Trump will be their nominee and that he will indeed run as a third party candidate.
  • Erik Bauersfeld, Admiral Ackbar Voice Actor in ‘Star Wars’ Films, Dies at 93
  • Results of a U2 fan survey for the year from the band’s biggest fan website.
  • Unique stadium in Brazil – Estádio Milton CorrêaThe name (and the fame) come from the unusual circumstance that the midfield line supposedly lies exactly on the Equator – zero latitude -, thus causing each team to defend one hemisphere.
  • The Atlantic [Video] – The Inevitable Fallout of Naming Your Son ‘Hitler’
  • The New Yorker – THE VOYEUR’S MOTEL – This opening paragraph gives me the creeps, but also reminds me of one of the new ‘X-Files’ episodes:
    • I know a married man and father of two who bought a twenty-one-room motel near Denver many years ago in order to become its resident voyeur. With the assistance of his wife, he cut rectangular holes measuring six by fourteen inches in the ceilings of more than a dozen rooms. Then he covered the openings with louvred aluminum screens that looked like ventilation grilles but were actually observation vents that allowed him, while he knelt in the attic, to see his guests in the rooms below. He watched them for decades, while keeping an exhaustive written record of what he saw and heard. Never once, during all those years, was he caught.
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6 Responses to Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, April 5, 2016

  1. Towski says:

    Fun Fact: The lake you see form center right in the river gif is called an oxbow lake. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxbow_lake

    – Your friendly neighborhood geography major.

  2. Ben W. says:

    I am right there with you re: sports. The older I get, the less I care. I think there are several reasons: maybe I just have less time, or maybe I am bothered by just how much money is spent on those pursuits. I've also been greatly troubled by the CTE/concussion issue and the NFL's handling of that, as well as the NFL's handling of the Ray Rice issue. I didn't go to big-name sports universities (Lamar & SMU), at least not while I was there, so I don't even have a competitive alma mater to really root for, either. My son is really captivated by sports of all kinds now, but he's more interested in playing than watching, so he and I will watch occasionally, but not regularly. There are just so many other things I'd rather do at this point.

    Now I wonder if Admiral Ackbar will be in Episode VIII?

    I think the most emotionally impactful moment in last night's Better Call Saul was about 30 seconds long, as Howard talked about what might have been in his life. What a fantastic job by Patrick Fabian. Maybe it just resonated with me personally, but the sheer emotion and power behind that moment was breathtaking.

  3. The Center says:

    I'm in agreement on fading interest in professional sports, based mainly on the enormous amounts of money players make. Now even players with mediocre seasons are granted mega long-term deals. What is particularly jarring is that large amounts are guaranteed. I keep thinking of A-Rod making more than Tom HIcks and the Rangers having to pay him even while he was playing for the Yankees.

    There was a time when middle class person could appreciate how fortunate an athlete was for being able to do something he loved for a living, even if he wasn't making all that much money and his career was short. It's increasingly more difficult for a middle class person to appreciate that athletes are paid tens of millions guaranteed even if they don't perform well or never even get on the field.

    TV and radio sports jocks are currently trying to mess things up further by stridently arguing that college sports would be better if the players were being paid.

    And…

    "That leads me to believe there’s no way Trump will be their nominee and that he will indeed run as a third party candidate." Oh, please be right about this!

    • Ben W. says:

      Great point about the player salaries. It called to mind another reason I've lost interest – it's too expensive to actually go to a game. Would my family of four enjoy going to see the Rangers? Probably. Would we enjoy it $200+ worth? Doubtful.

  4. The Center says:

    " Howard Hamlin sure was wearing a lot of purple in last night’s ‘Better Call Saul’."

    What really bothered me was when Jimmy visited the WWII B-29 bomber. The Air Force captain who was giving them the tour had his captain's bars on several inches back from where they should have been and they were at an angle. If there had been just one person who served in the military on the film crew they should have been screaming at him to fix it. The military are very particular on how they wear their uniforms and this is something that is pounded into your head on day one. The captain bars looked as though someone just threw them at the hat and then pinned them on wherever the landed. At the least it should have been corrected digitally in post production editing 🙂

    • RPM says:

      Ya know I didn't catch that. I'll have to go back and rewatch it. But was he an actual Air Force Captain or a Captain with the Commemorative Air Force? Either way, you would have thought the liaison for the CAF would have said something.

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