Sports this 'n' that

 The Philadelphia Eagles have officially hit rock bottom.

The Eagles saw their 13 game home winning streak against the Giants come to a crashing end on Sunday, as the NFC East leaders made life miserable for QB Joe Milton III, on his 3rd team in as many years, en route to a 19-11 win, solidifying Big Blue's hold on 1st place in the division. The Giants have a rematch with Washington on Thursday, while the Eagles get to the bye week, hoping to rest their wounded players & egos.

Proving he has learned nothing from the midterms, president Trump suggested hiring UFC frontman and Ram Truck shill Dana White as his new press secretary. White, luckily for us, said no.

Now, there are rumors that Trump had the UFC boss confused with another Dana White, a woman (natch), but now he can correct that mistake. Maybe.

I've ranted about strength of schedule when it comes to high school sports, but it seems that is also a problem with college football rankings.

Fans are up in arms because Alabama was ranked ahead of Tennessee, a team that beat them last month, in last week's rankings, before beating LSU on Saturday, effectively ending the Bayou Tigers' chances of reaching the College Football Playoff. In this writer's opinion, it's a combination of strength of schedule, and political favoritism toward 'Bama, still a favored nation with the SEC and ESPN.

They can promote saving college sports, but take the politics out of it, thanks.

ESPN bloviator Stephen A Smith proved again last week that sometimes he doesn't know what he's talking about.

Smith is suggesting Secretary of State Marco "Polo" Rubio as the GOP Presidential candidate for 2028, claiming that he "doesn't see any Democrat who can beat him", referring to Rubio.

Oh? I think Alex From The Block would like to have a word with you, Stephen.

Insight Sundays: Confrontation (1968)

 A priest (Carl Betz, Judd For The Defense), a college dissenter (Brandon de Wilde), and a social worker (Earl Holliman) join forces to protest the Vietnam War in "Confrontation":

This might've been the first and only time Leonard Stone (Dragnet, ex-Camp Runamuck) played a reporter. I guess the producers thought he looked enough like one of the Kalb brothers, and.......!

You've heard of sore losers? How about a sore winner

 It took nearly 3 full days before Blake Gendebein conceded defeat to Anthony Constantino. Gendebein patiently waited for all the votes to be counted, and accepted the loss with dignity, something the Sticker Mule founder lacks in abundance.

It seems as though, based on post-election social media, that Constantino knew he wasn't popular in his own party. The insults are right out of the Donald Trump playbook, but the attitude needs to be softened or amended before Constantino leaves for Washington in January.

Check the venom.

Sure, he's like the rest of us, dancing on Bruce Blakeman's political grave, but it won't be long before he, too, is a footnote in political history if he ends up a 1-term wonder.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Dumb Donald proved he's learned nothing from Tuesday's midterms. Susie Wiles has been removed as Chief of Staff, reassigned within the administration, and Trump's Luthorian consigliere, Stephen Miller, takes her place as Chief of Staff. It could've been worse. Miller could've been inserted to replace Just Dumb Vance as Vice President. Miller, remember, is the architect of Trump's extreme anti-immigration policies, and has been referred to by critics as a "shadow president". Wife Katie had reportedly made suggestions to Trump staffers to promote her husband.

The bottom line: The Republicans continue to elect the worst of their party (i.e. the foul mouthed Constantino), and ignore reality. In 2 years, it'll come back to haunt them even worse.

On The Shelf: A new look for the ThunderCats, and an old comic strip returns in comic book form

 Dynamite, following the lead of its competitors, rebooted ThunderCats back to #1 with new writer Greg Pak and artist David Coussens. 

The plot? Something has made Lion-O go completely feral & savage, something Pak should be familiar with from his time writing Incredible Hulk at Marvel. Coussens conveys this with a raw, gritty style different from his past work on the franchise. The series continues the expanded Rankin-Bass universe, as the Silverhawks are involved as well.

If you're looking for something akin to the TV show from the 80's, well, there's a book coming out in January that will address that. Dynamite is rolling the dice here, so we'll see how it goes.

Rating: B-.

Think of the name, Alex Raymond, and you're bound to remember his work on Flash Gordon in the newspapers in the Golden Age. In 1946, Raymond created a PI character in Rip Kirby, who hasn't been seen since his strip ended in 1999.

Well, Mad Cave has Kirby as a complement to Dick Tracy, with both books set in post-war America. Artist Tango recalls the likes of the late Darwyn Cooke and Mike Parobeck, which is a good thing. We are so digging.

Rating: A.

Oni Press' 2nd Archie collab brings Sabrina back to her origins, as she discovers her powers. Artist Kano has worked for DC in the past (i.e. Action Comics), so this is new ground for him. Sabrina also figures into Archie in Hell, just out, so to say she'll be busy is an understatement. Kano's art here suggests some chibi influence, recalling the manga period of the late 90's and Tania Del Rio. We'll see how long that lasts.

Rating: B.

It's been a bad week for a discount Trump clone.........

I refer to Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County Executive who got smacked down at the polls on Tuesday in an unsuccessful bid for governor by 20 points. Today, he's whining that soon-to-be-former Rep. Elise Stefanik didn't do enough to help him in his campaign.

Stefanik, in an interview with the NY Post earlier this week, argued that she had done everything she could to help all the GOP candidates, including her presumptive successor, Anthony Constantino, in the run-up to Tuesday's elections. We should note that while Constantino has declared victory, it has not been confirmed as of press time. Per the Albany Times-Union, Blakeman had some venom for Constantino as well.

Temu Trump.

What Blakeman fails to understand is that he was exposed as a one-trick pony, a Donald Trump loyalist & knockoff who blinded himself to the fact that Trump has largely been a failure the 2nd time around, despite the president's delusional rambling to the contrary.

It gets worse.

The controversial ban on transgender athletes in Nassau County was struck down by a judge on Thursday, handing Blakeman another defeat. Word is that attorneys for Blakeman will try to appeal that ruling. Good luck with that. Assuming Blakeman runs again for county executive in Nassau County, that might be the next time we hear from this discount sore loser.

Sports this 'n' that

 This is how bad things have gotten for the Baltimore Ravens.

Starting quarterback Lamar Jackson went on injured reserve on Wednesday after suffering a thumb injury that requires surgery in Sunday's loss to Buffalo. Backup Tyler Huntley is out for the year with a toe injury.

So, on Wednesday, the Ravens traded for journeyman Jacoby Brissett, who lost his starting job in Arizona on Sunday. Not sure if Brissett will be in uniform for tonight's game vs. Jacksonville, but it's looking like the Ravens might not make the playoffs unless Jackson is able to return at the end of the regular season, though no one thinks that's possible.

Tonight's game streams on Amazon Prime beginning at 8:15 pm (ET), and will replay for the rest of us tomorrow on NFL Network.

While it's unlikely he'll win a Cy Young Award, the Mets' Nolan McLean won a Gold Glove for fielding excellence on the mound. Rookie outfielder Carson Benge is a finalist for NL Rookie of The Year, and that, of course, has Mets fans hoping he upsets Cincinnati's Sal Stewart for the honor when the awards are handed out as early as next week.

WWE gave viewers a reason not to watch NXT last night by telegraphing what would happen in the main event between NXT champ Grayson Waller and visiting challenger CM Punk. Kevin Owens, who's been feuding with Punk for a few weeks, was told to leave the Performance Center hours before the show. Savvy long time viewers could figure out the rest, and, sure enough, Owens showed up to cause a distraction to cost Punk the match. A blind man could've told you that would happen. Punk will face Owens on Smackdown tomorrow in a match taped on Monday due to the troupe leaving for Saudi Arabia.

Major League Baseball owners are now suggesting a salary cap won't be implemented until no earlier than 2028, but there's still talk of a lockout taking effect December 1. Can't have it both ways, guys.

This time, the wave was like a thunderstorm..........

 Four years ago, when the GOP reclaimed control of Congress, the "red wave" turned out to be little more than drizzle, as the party did just enough to gain control.

Tuesday, it went the other way, and, did it ever. MSN referred to it as a "blue tsunami". Oh, sure, Republicans won some regional races, like Byron Donalds succeeding Ron DeSantis as Florida Governor, and Sticker Mule founder Anthony Constantino inheriting Elise Stefanik's seat in the 21st Congressional District here in NY.

President Donald Trump kept telling supporters to "pretend I'm on the ballot". Unsurprisingly, around midnight Eastern time Wednesday morning, Trump backtracked, whining that because he wasn't on the ballot, the GOP got spanked. Some examples:

Here in NY, Governor Kathy Hochul routed Trump clone Bruce Blakeman by 20 points, according to media reports. In Texas, Gina Hinojosa upset Greg Abbott to become Governor, the first Latina to hold the seat. James Talarico, who gained national attention at the beginning of the year, defeated AG Ken'L Ration Paxton in the race for Senate. In Georgia, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms ascended to the Governor's mansion. Troy Jackson sent Susan Collins into likely retirement in a race for Senator in Maine. In New Hampshire, despite native son Paul "Triple H" Levesque being brought in by Turning Point USA to help encourage GOP voters, second generation politico John Sununu fell to Chris Pappas in the race for Senate in the Granite State.

In higher profile races that gained national attention, Amy Acton defeated Vivek Ramaswamy to become Ohio Governor, and Sherrod Brown defeated Jon Husted for Senate. To be fair, Husted was done in by Trump's bizarre obsession with the candidate's buttocks. Abdul El-Sayed earned a Senate seat in Michigan, despite the rhetoric coming from the likes of Trump and Just Dumb Vance.

In South Carolina, Darline Graham, sister of the late Lindsey Graham, failed to secure a full term, losing to Annie Andrews. In North Carolina, Roy Cooper defeated Michael Whatley for Senate. In Kansas, Adam Hamilton took down Roger Marshall for Senate. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola told supporters the final results of her Senate race may not be final for a few weeks, anticipating continued challenges from the oldest sore loser in America and the Department of Injustice.

In the final analysis, the strategy to run ads for races in Ohio, Michigan, & Texas nationally during sports, like college & pro football, for example, backfired on the GOP. The heavy emphasis on lies & nonsensical rhetoric backfired. Republican deflection of blame for high prices to the Democrats backfired. Now, it's the Democrats who can quote the last universally popular Republican President, the late Ronald Reagan, and declare, "it's morning again in America". It sure is.