News Round-Up (11/12/2024)

 Promising to be an "election free" zone....

Texas, pay-for-play, Michelin Guide is being revealed. Although you probably did not get an invitation to the roll-out.  My reaction is a huge "meh".  Although I was surprised to see tiny BBQ joint Brisket and Rice included in the mentions.  Have to go by there some time.

There was a time when nutritional science did discourage consumption of seed oils.  That was obviously before the "wrong" people started speaking out against them. It's amazing how politics infects seemingly everything. (And the depths to which "science" has devolved)

Just a quick reminder that we're not yet out of Hurricane Season.

For some reason I'm having a hard time getting fired up about the DC Reboot. Maybe it's because James Gunn is running things? I'm not sure.

That said. I'm not that enthusiastic about the upcoming Marvel stuff either. Disney just doesn't know what to do with it now.

I liked the Big Bang Theory, except for the horrid ending.  Yes, I would like to see a follow-up special that fixes that, but I don't think it's going to happen given the career arc of the actors. Sometimes you just have to let things be.

I am, actually, looking forward to Landman. Almost enough to get a subscription to Paramount+

I'm starting to think the Houston Texans are not all that good.  I'm also starting to think that some teams might have dodged a bullet in Bobby Slowik. They are also seemingly trying to get CJ Stroud killed.

This just in. Willie Fritz is a good coach.

It's not that he's lacking in results (he's not, HISD is actually improving) but Mike Miles might be in the running for most unlikable political leader in Houston.

If you own a home in Harris County your property taxes are going to go up, a LOT. You don't need this calculator. Rodney and Lina are going to tax you until your eyes bleed.

Sigh.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming. (SPORTS!!!!)

Now that we have the election nonsense behind us we can return our focus to sports, and sports gambling, which is the focus of this little corner of blogging and what I enjoy writing about the most.  I'm just going to touch on a few things today that have happened while I was out in Las Vegas and relatedly, while I was sick with the travel crud afterwards.

1. The CFP early ranking remain crap. Nothing against them really, but they don't mean shit at this point. The only thing that we really learned from them are two things. First, the CFP committee understands their marketing obligations to the B1G and the SEC. They are in love with brands, not teams. I don't think this will change any in the future. Second, I'm not as upset about Boise State being close to BYU as most people are. While I feel for Indiana, they have it all in front of them. But if Boise State and BYU played on a neutral field I feel the former would be favored.  Who I feel for is Army, who might be the best of the Group of 5 teams but who might not get a chance to show it.  The CFP committee says that they "watch all of the games" but that is certainly not true. Otherwise the rankings would look far different than what they do.

2. The NFL is top-heavy this year. Kansas City, Baltimore, Detroit, Buffalo. Those are the 4 teams right now that seem like they are Super Bowl Contenders. Teams that we thought might be good (Houston, San Francisco, Tampa Bay) don't seem to be all that good. There are other teams out there with winning records but they don't seem to really have a shot. The fact is the NFL is not very entertaining this year. Most games are poor, the officiating is borderline awful, and the fact that you only get three games per day without paying for a package that's not available unless you subscribe to a certain service makes Sundays must-miss TV.  And no, NBC, we are not waiting all day for Sunday Night, we're using that time to get ready for work on Monday.

3. College basketball is BACK. There have already been upsets, the return of Calipari and a handful of teams that looked REALLY good so far. This is going to be a REALLY good season, and Big XII Men's Basketball is going to be fire.

4. The NBA is back.  Zzzzzzzzzz.  Call me when the playoffs start.

5. The NHL is starting off hot. Scoring is up, there are some amazing things happening on the ice, there's a new(ish) hockey team in Utah. Oh yeah.

We're currently in the best time of the year, a time where football is on TV 7 nights per week. There's not day without a football game until almost Thanksgiving. Yes, some of it is bad, really bad, but it's a needed reprieve from the noise that surrounds the world right now. And, if you don't like the football games, there's basketball and hockey on if you're looking for something to do.

Since I was in Las Vegas and then down with the travel crud there will be no discussion of sports gaming this week. I honestly have not had the energy or time to re-run my numbers but I'm going to get them updated Sunday morning so I should be ready to go next week.

Good luck this week however you choose to play. 

This is no longer a political blog. (Election Day 2024) [Updated, the morning after]

But I will leave you with one, rather important, political reminder as you go out and cast your ballot today.

It matters not they who vote. What matters is they who are counting the votes. 

Remember that as events unfold over the next few days/weeks/months.

In my attempts to be pithy I undersold some pretty important things:

1. The meltdown of the Democratic Party last night and this morning has been a sight to behold. It's almost as if their attempts to hide Biden's declining mental capacity, thwarting the will of their primary voters during the run-up to Harris' "nomination" (coronation) and their terrible campaign strategy had nothing to do with the loss blindsided them.

2. Make no mistake about it, Harris was a terribly flawed candidate. I imagine that, after the emotion is finally spent, Democrats will (in their quiet places) admit to this. That said I doubt they have the self-awareness to really understand the voter's message here.

3. Speaking of self-reflection: Will the pollsters, especially in Texas, take a good, hard look at how they got everything so, so terribly wrong?  Doubtful.

4. More importantly, will the media have the ability to take an honest looked at where they effed all of this up?  Again, doubtful.

5. In an election where one party ran on "we don't like him" it's no surprise that the voters sent mixed-messages. Apparently being told you're awful is a powerful reason to vote against, even IF you agree with many of the proposals.

What a world.