Wednesday, January 6, 2021

A little of this and a little of that

 This might be a one-time thing, and maybe the first time that the award has been given on a weeknight, but the Heisman Trophy, usually awarded in December, was given to Alabama receiver DeVonta Smith on Tuesday night, becoming the first player at his position to win the award since 1991. The last receiver? Desmond Howard (Michigan), now an analyst for ESPN, which carried the event.

Meanwhile, Smith and the Crimson Tide will be looking to add another national title when they face Ohio State on Monday. A minor scandal erupted earlier Tuesday when the daughter of Alabama coach and AFLAC pitchman Nick Saban claimed the Buckeyes, who are dealing with another COVID-19 situation, are supposedly faking to delay the game. Apparently, someone never bothered to tell her that her father had to miss a game this season because of the virus......!

Back to Smith. After the Heisman had been awarded exclusively to quarterbacks from 1992-2019, only to see a majority of them perform below expectations in the NFL (Gino Torretta, anyone?), it's refreshing to see the award committee finally remember there are other positions on the field.
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Don't look now, but the Knicks and Brooklyn Nets are off to better than expected starts.

Brooklyn blew away Utah on Tuesday night at Barclays Center, as Kyrie Irving went off for 29 points. The Jazz now move across town to play the Knicks at Madison Square Garden tonight.

But, because the Knicks are the Knicks, they may have gotten the kiss of death from ESPN bloviator Stephen A. Smith, who thinks the Knicks are better than the Nets, despite Brooklyn's 1-2 punch of Irving and Kevin Durant.
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Cable is getting in on the act with this weekend's expanded NFL Wild Card playoffs.

For example, Sunday's Tennessee-Baltimore game will air not only on ABC & ESPN, but is being repurposed on Freeform (formerly ABC Family). The Bears-Saints game, which follows, will air not just on CBS, but on cable cousin Nickelodeon (!), with a separate broadcast team, and cutaways to use archived footage of Nick cartoon stars such as SpongeBob SquarePants. It'll also be the broadcast debut of Noah Eagle, son of CBS and Brooklyn Nets announcer Ian Eagle. Noah, then, becomes the 3rd generation to enter television. Grandfather Jack appeared in a zillion commercials back in the day.

For what it's worth, NBC's Peacock streaming service is only carrying the Sunday nightcap, though that could change.
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As of press time, at least one Senate seat in Georgia has gone blue.

Reverend Raphael Warnock defeated Kelly Loeffler by more than 35,000 votes, but, as of press time, Loeffler, taking her cues from----who else?----America's Oldest Baby, President Donald Trump, is refusing to concede the election, and parroting Trump's claims of election fraud.


Loeffler plans to be in Washington today to join with the rest of the idiot brigade in a vain effort to reverse the presidential election. David Perdue won't be able to join her, as his term had ended on Sunday, and they wouldn't be able to swear him in for another term right away even if he won, and that race is still too close to call as of press time. Ms. Loeffler, by the way, gets a Weasel of The Week award for copying the losing strategy of Trump, and refusing to acknowledge defeat.

The bottom line? Trump has cultivated a subculture in the GOP, which believes falsely that losing isn't an option. The sooner that Trump's brainwashed idiot brigade is deprogrammed, the better.

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