Fantasy/Family Fridays: Lily takes up modeling (The Munsters, 1965)

 From season 1 of The Munsters:

When Herman (Fred Gwynne) turns down a night out with Lily (Yvonne DeCarlo), Lily starts looking for a job, and becomes a model. Chaos then ensues. Roger C. Carmel guest stars in "Lily Munster: Girl Model":

East Potomac Golf Links is closed because a certain fellow doesn't like being told no.......

 And that fellow, of course, is the most immature, spiteful, petty, dishonorable president of all time, Donald John Fauntleroy Trump, who ordered East Potomac closed Thursday because a judge told him he could not be allowed to cut down more trees and/or continue to make over the course as he sees fit.

A once proud golf course, ruined.

Now, as a disreputable golfer himself, Trump knows that trees are common hazards on any golf course. That's just the way it is. He wanted East Potomac made over to attract the PGA and LPGA, but taking the trees out was a big no-no, and he's throwing another tantrum because he was told this was wrong.

"WAAAAHHH!! I want to do what I want with the course! It's mine! WAAAHHHHH!"

No, it isn't. Last I checked, you don't own everything in Washington. You just think you do. You refuse to go through proper channels to get something like this approved. You think it's on your say-so, and that's that. You just don't care about the consequences.

And we won't even discuss, for now, the fact that your assistant, Natalie Harp, is living somewhere in the White House. That's for another time. So, go ahead, keep whining & crying. You've embarrassed us enough already.

Sports this 'n' that

 Most of you know that ESPN's Pardon The Interruption airs on same-day tape, so guest co-anchor Frank Isola had no idea SportsCenter was not going to follow the show on Wednesday.

Instead, they cut to Ernie Johnson, anchor-moderator for Inside The NBA, confirming what had been reported earlier in the day, that he would leave Inside after the season. Reports also have panelist and Capital One shill Charles Barkley following Johnson out the door come June. Inside The NBA is in its 2nd season on ESPN after moving over from TNT last year.

Johnson's announcement gives ESPN 8 months to find his successor, and, no, it won't be Screamin' A. Cosell himself, Stephen A. Smith, who's already polluting NFL Monday Night Countdown with his unwanted presence. ESPN let Karl Ravech walk after the Little League World Series, but he is an experienced studio host, has called college basketball among his many gigs, and would be a good fit. I think they still have his number on speed dial.

Maybe Johnson saw the writing on the wall when he cut a commercial prior to the start of the season where he was trying to recite the lyrics to a 30 year old Ja Rule rap track..........

Cheeseheads are planning on a parade in Milwaukee after the Brewers won their first World Series Wednesday, defeating Tampa Bay, 4-1, to take the Series, also 4-1. Catcher William Contreras was named Series MVP.

Photo courtesy Yahoo!.

Keep in mind that the voting for post-season awards ended right before the playoffs began, and if Brewers manager Pat Murphy repeats as Manager of The Year, a rare three-peat for that honor, there will be those unwashed types that will think winning the Series clinched it. We'll see within the next few days.

WNBA fans are up in arms over the fact that Game 6 of the finals between Atlanta and Golden State will be a matinee, setting up a split-admission doubleheader with a Hawks game being played later tonight. Chalk it up to poor planning, and it could've been worse for the league and USA Network, which is televising the game (12:30 pm), while it streams on Peacock.

Y'see, reports have come out that the game could've been pushed back to tomorrow, with a 7 pm tip, bumping WWE's Smackdown to approximately 9 pm. However, that plan went by the boards, and hoop junkies get the doubleheader today.

Speaking of WWE, next week's Crown Jewel PLE will still take place in Saudi Arabia, but not at the same venue as advertised. Unfortunately, TKO frontman Ari Emanuel is putting Saudi money ahead of the safety of talent and other personnel due to the unrest in Saudi Arabia. Some guys will never learn.

After all those commercials for Nationwide Insurance, and other sponsors, Peyton Manning is finally playing a character in a series of spots for Cintas. Problem is, "Carl" is easily mistaken for Manning, and that leads to a running gag.

Maybe he should've started playing characters right from the get-go with MasterCard, Nationwide, et al. Next thing ya know, someone in Hollywood might actually look to exhume something like Mayberry RFD with Manning as the lead...........

What Might've Been: Ready & Willing (1967)

 Not long after Dragnet had relaunched on NBC, Universal shopped a pilot for a spoof on the detective genre. Unfortunately, Ready & Willing found no takers.

Joe Flynn, less than a year removed from McHale's Navy, and Jack Weston (ex-The Hathaways) are the titular detectives. Our cast also includes Ned Glass, Kathleen Freeman, and, if you look quick, Susan Saint James, a year before The Name of The Game.

Flynn and Weston would land some guest roles here and there, and it'd be three years before Flynn landed another series, which would reunite him with Tim Conway.

Weasel of The Week: Section II volleyball committee

 It's happened again, pilgrims.

Yesterday, we posted the pairings for Section II women's volleyball over at Tri-City SportsBeat. The Class AA field has expanded to 8 this year, with Guilderland moving down from Class AAA, and Burnt Hills trading places with South Glens Falls, which moves to Class A. In all, the breakdown of league representation goes like this:

Foothills Council champion Queensbury is its league's only rep. Same for Colonial Council champion Troy. Troy has played the most matches, 19, while Burnt Hills, the top seed, has played the 2nd fewest at 15 (at least what has been reported).

You & I know what Section II's argument is going to be. Strength of schedule.

BOLLOCKS & BALDERDASH!!!!

Strength of schedule doesn't apply, especially when you're holding down two league champions. Queensbury is ranked 5th, and will play Ballston Spa. Troy is seeded 8th, and has to travel to Burnt Hills. This illustrates the lack of respect accorded the Colonial Council.

Toss out strength of schedule, and the corrected bracket should look like this:

1. Burnt Hills.

2. Queensbury.

3. Troy.

4. Bethlehem.

5. Columbia.

6. Ballston Spa.

7. Guilderland.

8. Niskayuna.

My point? Rightfully, all three league champions should be seeded as the top three, not spread out. Under this setting, Troy would host Ballston Spa, and Queensbury would host Guilderland.

For the 2nd straight year, the Section II volleyball committee gets a box of Weasel ears for screwing over the Foothills & Colonial Councils in favor of the Suburban Council. Trust me, this will happen every year until things change. And they have to.

Death has been busy......

 Over the course of the last week, a number of stars have passed away.

The most recent passing was actress Susan Saint James, 80, best known for McMillan & Wife in the 70's with Rock Hudson & Nancy Walker, and Kate & Allie in the 80's, co-starring with Jane Curtin. Saint James was married to NBC executive Dick Ebersol up to her passing.

Trekkers are in mourning after the passing of Walter Koenig, 90, announced on Monday. Koenig joined the cast of Star Trek in season 2, and while he wasn't part of the reunion for the animated version that ran from 1973-5, he did contribute a script for the series, "The Survivor". A year later, he wrote the Land of The Lost  episode, "The Stranger".

Koenig got back into acting with the Trek movie series, then returned to the small screen on Babylon 5. His character was named after noted author Alfred Bester.

A week ago, country singer John Anderson passed at 71. Anderson's peak years on the country chart came in the 80's, when he hit #1 with 1983's "Swingin'". In 1992, he released "Seminole Wind", filmed in Florida.

Fans of the Looney Tunes franchise are also mourning the passing of voice actor & artist Eric Bauza, 46, who had been the primary voice of Bugs Bunny and other animated icons in recent years. It's likely that Jeff Bergman, who had shared the role at least, will step back into voicing Bugs and Daffy Duck for future projects. Just sayin'.

Rest in peace.

Spook Rock: Marie Laveau (1974)

 Bobby Bare hit #1 on the country charts in the US & Canada with 1974's "Marie Laveau".

Bobby performs live on Pop! Goes The Country, with host Ralph Emery encouraging audience participation.....

Bare is still going strong at 91. Turns out his lone #1 was a cover, as Dr. Hook recorded "Laveau" 2 years earlier!