An offense in hibernation is a recipe for disaster: Super Bowl 60

 I'm happy to be wrong this morning.

I honestly thought the New England Patriots had come all the way back to being an elite team in the AFC. It took the Seattle Seahawks all of a quarter to prove, nope, not yet.

2nd year QB Drake Maye continued his postseason hibernation until the 4th quarter when he tried to bring New England back, but the Seattle defense had his number. 3 turnovers, including a fatal pick 6 in the 4th quarter. 7 sacks. No, these Patriots looked like the deer-in-the-headlights Pats who were blown out 40 years ago by Chicago. Maybe the motivation in the 4th quarter for New England didn't come from coach Mike Vrabel, but, rather, rookie receiver Kyle Williams, who helped security take down a thrill seeking fan......

When will morons like this one ever learn?

Maye threw the first of his two TD's two plays later, to Mack Hollins. After Rahondre Stevenson's touchdown, the Pats failed with an onside kick, and that was pretty much it. Seattle won its 2nd Super Bowl, 29-13. Running back Kenneth Walker III was named MVP.

For New England, there's always next year.

Reports estimate that Bad Bunny's halftime show, with special surprise guests Ricky Martin and Lady GaGa, drew anywhere between 125-135 million viewers. Compare that to Turning Point USA's alternative show, headlined by has-been rap-rocker Kid Rock, which got more than 4 million views on Turning Point's YouTube channel. Chump change by comparison. President Pampers (Donald Trump) rage watched, and whined about Bad Bunny, and couldn't be bothered to watch the TPUSA show.

And, then, there were the commercials, of course.

Kellogg's called on ageless wonder William Shatner, now past 90, to plug Raisin Bran.

Kellogg's, remember, acquired Pringles from Procter & Gamble a few years back, and signed singer Sabrina Carpenter to do a pretty funny bit with some CGI bringing to life a sentient can of the chips in human form.

Ben Affleck likely produced & directed another star-laden spot for Dunkin', joined this time by Jaleel White (Flip Side, ex-Family Matters), Jason Alexander (ex-Seinfeld), Alfonso Ribiero (America's Funniest Home Videos, ex-Silver Spoons, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), Ted Danson, looking like he did in his Cheers days, likely via AI or CGI, Tom Brady (showing again he can't act), Matt Damon, and reunited Friends Jennifer Aniston & Matt LeBlanc. Apparently, LeBlanc also went to the hair dye. Jasmine Guy (ex-A Different World) rounded out the ensemble...

Kurt Russell shilling for Michelob Light, along with past Olympians Chloe Kim and TJ Oshie.

Lay's signed up Bowen Yang, Scarlett Johanssen, & Jon Hamm.

State Farm gained a license to parody Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer", with Danny McBride & Keegan-Michael Key, and a cameo from Jon Bon Jovi.

Everyone has their favorites, of course.

The lesson that conservatives need to learn, yet again, is that Bad Bunny, being from Puerto Rico, is an American citizen, and that their racism is misplaced intentionally. The idiocy of the MAGA crowd is just ridiculous.

Next year's game should be even better.

What Might've Been: Brotherly Love (1995)

 After Blossom had ended its run, Joey Lawrence moved on to another NBC sitcom, designed largely for him and his brothers, Matthew & Andrew, Brotherly Love, from the same studios, Witt-Thomas Productions & Touchstone Television.

However, the series lasted just two seasons, one each on NBC & WB, before resurfacing on cable on the Disney Channel. Joey sang the theme song, and directed one episode. Matthew, fresh from the ABC Saturday morning bomb, Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad, and Andrew were getting wider exposure.

The plot: The boys' father had died after he'd remarried, and Joe meets his new half-brothers, and his stepmom (Melinda Culea, ex-The A-Team).

Bryan Cranston, pre-Malcolm in The Middle, guests in this sample episode.

Andrew Lawrence would get into cartoons, joining the cast of Recess in 1998.

No rating. Just a public service.

Sports this 'n' that

 Former NFL defensive lineman Chris Long (Inside The NFL) offered a piece of last minute advice to Grammy winner Bad Bunny ahead of tonight's Super Bowl halftime show.

Long, son of Fox analyst and Skechers pitchman Howie Long, suggested that Bad Bunny have no less than The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, open with "Born in The USA", Springsteen's seminal 1984 anthem. The idea here is that opening with such an iconic 80's track would get the audience on Bad Bunny's side, opposite the conservative screwballs who have their collective briefs in a twist. Speaking of.........

Boxer and YouTube "star" Jake Paul took offense to some remarks made by singer Billie Eilish at the Grammys, saying he wished that Eilish had her house broken into, but that Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) wouldn't be able to help her, after she slammed ICE. Apparently, Paul is getting ICE and local police mixed up, which prompted Yahoo! commenters to crack that Paul, 29, may have already contracted CTE after getting destroyed by Anthony Joshua last month.

Paul currently is in Italy at the Olympics, cheering on his fiancee, Dutch speed skater Jutta Leerdam, and was photographed alongside VP Just Dumb Vance at the hockey game between the US Women's team and Finland, which Team USA won, 5-0. When Vance left the venue, he left to boos for the 2nd day in a row after he'd been jeered during Friday's opening ceremonies.

Jake Paul, meanwhile, will have a Dunce Cap waiting for him when he comes home, due to his ignorant remarks.

Speaking of Dunces, that brings us to a punk named Jack Doherty. If you don't know who he is, he's a 22 year old livestreaming prankster, who thinks what he does allows him to avoid accountability. It doesn't.

On Friday, Doherty was ejected from the PGA's Waste Management-Phoenix Open after paying a fan $100 to try to distract one of the golfers.

He's 22, and a moron.

Like, unless Empty-V plans on relaunching Ashton Kutcher's Punk'd down the line, and there'd been rumors a few years ago, Doherty is wasting his talent being an imbecile with money. He won't be able to take his act on the PGA tour any further, as reportedly, he received a ban from all PGA events. He thinks what he does is really cool. Not anymore, it ain't. He's the kind of punk who'd livestream his own arrest if he was to hand off his camera phone to a friend, and he probably did.

What that gets you from this desk, bub, is a set of Weasel ears.

Former WWE announcer Craig Minervini (fka Craig DeGeorge in the late 80's), who last worked for WWE during the original XFL's run in 2001, resurfaced on MLB Network this week, calling the Caribbean Series, which closes out the winter baseball season. I'd think he's looking to audition for a MLB job this season, unless he already has one......!

Super Bowl 60 preview

 The underlying question in this year's Super Bowl is this. Redemption or revenge?

For more than 2 decades, the New England Patriots were football's Evil Empire. None of their wins were really without controversy for a variety of reasons, absent the scandals that emerged. Some felt that the Patriots were getting preferential treatment from officials due to owner Robert Kraft being on some influential committees. The ineptitude of opposing coaches (Atlanta, Seattle) was something New England benefited from.

Now, Seattle stands in a prime position to avenge their loss.

Everyone remembers how Pete Carroll botched it in the 4th quarter, leading to a game saving interception by Malcolm Butler, who, rightfully, should've been named MVP, but that honor----of course---went to diva QB Tom Brady, now with Fox and a shill for Pizza Hut. Butler ended up in Bill Belichick's doghouse the very next season, and disappeared.

Today, Russell Wilson is on the back 9 of his career after flopping with the Giants. Sam Darnold, who caddied Brock Purdy a couple of years ago in San Francisco, gets the start for the Seahawks, despite the fact that he has never beaten New England, dating back to his days with the Jests. Marshawn Lynch does the occasional commercial, not much else. Seattle's defense isn't exactly on the same level as the Legion of Boom a decade ago, but it's still formidable.

Mike Vrabel came back to New England with some past postseason coaching experience in Tennessee. He would've been back sooner had Kraft not decided on Jerod Mayo as head coach in 2024. Mayo bombed and was let go, opening up the reunion with Vrabel, a past Super Bowl hero. 2nd year QB Drake Maye hasn't been playing his best ball in the playoffs, bailed out by an opportunistic, swarming, ballhawking defense. Aside from journeyman receiver Stefon Diggs, the Patriots don't have any real stars, operating more as a team than in the Brady years.

And, then, there are other factors that could motivate New England, specifically the fact that Kraft & Belichick were both denied induction into the Hall of Fame for a number of reasons, including lingering suspicion of foul play during the Brady-Belichick era. If Vrabel adopts an "Us against the World" mentality, in addition to flashing his own rings, that may be the last piece of the puzzle.

One other upside. One of Kraft's closest friends, president Trump, won't be at the game, polluting the air with his presence. He bailed out last year at halftime as Philadelphia dominated Kansas City. Trump's increasing unpopularity would be another distraction that the NFL doesn't need.

If the pre-game marathons on NBC & ESPN don't thrill you, there's always the Olympics on USA and the Puppy Bowl on TBS. Kraft wants to prove he can win a Super Bowl without Belichick & Brady, who delivered six tainted titles. Brady's record at the Big Game was 6-3 as a Patriot, losing to the Eagles and Giants, the latter twice. New England has otherwise fallen to Chicago & Green Bay for an overall total of 6-5.

Vrabel & Maye are making believers out of former haters, and they'll need plenty of those to thwart a bid for revenge from Seattle.

The pick: New England in a shootout.

Of course, I could be wrong.

On The Shelf: A Disney crossover misfires, and other stuff

 Disney and Dynamite Entertainment must've bought into the Reese's Theory, that two great tastes would look great together.

Darkwing Duck and Gargoyles, two hit series from the 90's, are joined together in a miniseries that, in all honesty, may leave a black mark on the resumes of Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman, and on Tad Stones, who shepherded Disney's comedy-adventure toons like Darkwing and DuckTales. Stones plotted the story, with Weisman scripting, and Ciro Cangialosi drawing.

The plot?  Demona, fresh off her own miniseries, abducts Morgana Macawber, a sorceress who is also Darkwing's girlfriend, conscripting Morgana to help her steal some ancient tome.

Now, remember that Darkwing was created as a parody of Batman, a year before the Dark Knight's seminal animated series hit the air. Dynamite has gotten plenty of mileage out of Darkwing in the last couple of years, but the coupling of Darkwing, with daughter Gosalyn, with the Gargoyles, contrary to what Dynamite hoped, comes across like someone preparing a sandwich of peanut butter and relish. Not good. While Gargoyles has its share of comedy relief, I don't think fans will want to sit through 5 issues. There was a reason, after all, that I'd passed on a similar pairing of the Powerpuff Girls and the ThunderCats a few months back. The aesthetic is all wrong.

Rating: C.

Dynamite also made readers wait a month for the launch of Thundarr the Barbarian, which actually is a continuation of a sort of the 1980-2 animated series created by comics legends Jack Kirby & Steve Gerber for Ruby-Spears & ABC.

We are reintroduced to Thundarr's rogues gallery, as the hero goes undercover, returning to his past as a slave. While cover artist Michael Cho captures the aesthetic of the cartoon, right down to the Kirby-esque illustrations (and an Easter egg homage to Kirby), interior artist Kewber Baal is going for more of a Silver Age look, as opposed to the Bronze Age from whence Thundarr sprang. Writer Jason Aaron, better known for his work at Marvel (i.e. Thor), did his homework, Baal's art shifts from one style to another, and that isn't good. We saw what happened with the attempt at an Alex Toth homage with the Herculoids last year, as Craig Brousseau's artwork deteriorated over the course of the series. That can't happen here.

You tell yourself, it will get better. Because it needs to.

Rating: A-.

Mad Cave continues its Gatchaman one-shots, the final one focusing on Jinpei. While Tommy Lee Edwards' script is just fine, artist Daniel Hansen was the wrong choice. He, too, is going for a Silver Age aesthetic that doesn't belong.

To think that in the first American translation of the franchise, Jinpei was repackaged as an android. He's treated better in this series, and deservedly so.

Rating: C.

Marvel has released Planet of The Apes vs. Fantastic Four, or, another five issues of reader torture.

Writer Josh Trujillo (Who? Exactly.) must've cut his teeth on Image's style, because he drops us right in the middle of things, with the FF already prisoners in Ape City, stripped of their powers after being sent through a portal during a battle with old foe Red Ghost. Thor must figure into the plot somehow, or his appearance on the cover is misleading.

The above cover gives away the other antagonist, as you can see. Good thing this isn't in continuity. Unfortunately, Disney has laid another egg.

Rating: C.

Quick hits: Dynamite is ending the current ThunderCats monthly with issue 25, out in March, while launching an epic crossover with the Silverhawks, which will get underway, complete with attendant miniseries, in April. The event ties into the just concluded ThunderCats: Lost miniseries. Can you say, jump the shark?.........Writer David Pepose is using the 1981 Space Stars revival of Space Ghost as source material for volume 2 of the series. First, he reintroduced fans to Eclipse Woman in issue 3, reposited, as previously discussed, as an old flame of Space Ghost's. Space Spectre, in volume 1, was rebooted as a future version of Jace. Don't ask. To that point, Jan & Jace's grandfather, a scientist, is transformed into the Anti-Matter Man in issue 7, out now. In between, we had a follow up to a 1981 short about space vampires in issue 6.......Mad Cave will resume the Dick Tracy monthly in April, after a St. Patrick's Day Special in March, instead of a 2nd annual Valentine's Day number. Maybe they'll do Easter next year?.....Dynamite has the rights to Slave Labor's ill-fated run of Gargoyles, but the trades, like the books were originally, are in black & white, and more expensive than the normal Dynamite trade. Hmmmm.

Musical Interlude: Up, Up, & Away (1967-8)

 In a rare instance of The Ed Sullivan Show going on the road, the 5th Dimension perform "Up, Up, & Away" live in Las Vegas in 1968.

In memory of Lamonte McLemore, 90, who passed away earlier this week. Rest in peace.

It's never a good idea to push your beliefs on big business......

 Missouri Senator Josh "Hee" Hawley put his foot in his mouth again when Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos met with a Senate committee, ostensibly to discuss the still-pending merger of the streaming giant with Warner Bros Discovery. Hawley steered the discussion toward a discourse on how Netflix offends his supposed values with LGTBQ+ content, making it all about him (sound familiar?).

Farron Cousins explains.

So what this amounted to was Hawley hijacking the meeting to air out personal grievances. Yeah, that does have a familiar stench to it, doesn't it? What he really has a problem with is how the LGTBQ+ community has gained acceptance in general society, such that we're seeing more & more content developed for and about them. That's part of how society moves forward. Hawley and some of these other GOP stick-in-the-muds would rather move society back 70 years. Deal with it, chumps.