The Ultimate D*ck Move

 Hello, everyone...except those at Charter Communications and Walt Disney. Tonight, I was about to settle in for some pre-Labor Day weekend college football, and a gigantic interconference matchup from Salt Lake City between the Utah Utes and the Florida Gators. As I stepped away from my TV to grab a Coke Zero Sugar, the TV screen which was on ESPN (who's carrying the game) suddenly and unexpectedly went dark. After trying to ascertain on social media what was going on, I get this picture:

Turns out because the Disney Company wants to be greedy, Spectrum Cable decided to be petty, and not Tom Petty either, and most of us Gator fans in Tampa and Orlando are screwed. As well as CFB fans in New York, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Charlotte, Raleigh, and other media markets that have Spectrum as their main cable provider. So, unless you have ESPN+ or the Disney Bundle (which is an additional $10 per month along with cable programming), if you live in a Spectrum market, you're SOL. My questions are why didn't most of us (myself included) know more about this mess beforehand, and why did Spectrum not even give the viewers watching a heads up that they were going to pull the plug RIGHT AS THE GAME WAS KICKING OFF?! I can partially answer those questions, as most of us in Tampa Bay (and Orlando) were a bit preoccupied the last few days with Hurricane Idalia. But talk about a dick move. Instead of fighting the so-called "war on woke", Governor Pipe Dream should focus his wrath on the Disney Corporation on fleecing cable customers like this. And Spectrum, no we don't want your cell phone service for $29.99.

BS

GOP Candidate Drinking Game

 Hello, everyone. Thought I'd come here this evening since the first of way too many Republican Presidential Debates take place tonight (sans Trump, who's apparently woofing down covfefe), and I'd thought I would give you a drinking game for anything that the candidates talk about tonight.

And of course, the preferred drink of the night is Fireball, or, if you're really depraved, MD20/20.

If Vivek Ramaswamy breaks out into any rap, take a shot.

If Ron DeSantis talks about the "free state of Florida," take a shot.

If any candidate talks about the Covid pandemic, take a shot.

If Chris Christie shows up in a beach chair, take two shots.

If Asa Hutchinson or Doug Burgum gets more than a minute of camera time, take a shot.

If any of the candidates bring up Trump's ongoing legal troubles, don't drink.

If Disney gets mentioned take a shot.

If "woke" or "war on woke" gets discussed, take a shot.

If CRT gets mentioned, take a shot.

If that damned border wall gets mentioned, take two shots.

If a rogue fly lands on Mike Pence's head, take two shots.

...and finally...

If DeSantis starts malfunctioning and explodes like a fembot on "Austin Powers," guzzle the entire bottle.

Of course, you could stay sober altogether and not watch the debate altogether like yours truly.

Enjoy your Wednesday evening.

BS

How It Started vs. How It's Going.

 Hello again everyone. Today I thought I would take a look at some things that are going on this week and compare them to how those things started off. Not to dissimilar to those "how it started vs, how it's going" comparisons that you'll find throughout social media. 

Let's start off with this hurricane season. How it started:

How it's going? Well, I didn't expect a tropical system to potentially strike California before one smashed into the Atlantic/Gulf coast, but here we are. 

Oh, by the way, the Atlantic basin may finally be warming up, so stay informed.

Let's go on to our local major league baseball team, the Tampa Bay Rays. Here's how their 2023 started:

...and here's how their 2023 is going:

From best record in baseball to second in their division with a bunch of injuries and social media drama to boot. At least they haven't fallen to below .500, like their heated rivals have:

Now on to our least favorite governor, Ron DeSantis. Here's how his Presidential campaign started:

...and here's how it's going:

Last but definitely not least let's look at Donald Trump, here's how it started for him:

...as for how it's going, I would post a GIF to describe it, but I don't want ketchup all over this blog post. So instead, here is his lawyer sweating bullets, and Just For Men gel:

Man, what a mess. Well, I guess I should stop here and smell the roses.

Have a great day.

BS

Hot Enough For You?

 Hello everyone, and man is it hot. As of right now, it is 94 degrees in Spring Hill, FL, but with the heat index, it feels like 111 degrees. That is obscene, even for Florida standards. Earlier this week, the heat index in Texas was above 120. Picture from social media showed street signs in Arizona melting, but they actually aren't...yet. I guess you could say that we're all getting crazy from the heat, which come to think of it, could be the name of an album.

Not only that, but even paradise is burning to the ground, fueled in part by hurricane force winds coming relatively close to Hawaii. All in what has been a very strange year, and one of the hotteest ones I remember since 1998. 

Speaking of strange, is it just me or has something been off about the last few weeks? I got rarely sick on Tuesday (no thanks to eating at Taco Bell before my once-monthly drinking excursion). It seems like everyone and their sibling is passing away suddenly, including the fiancee of the woman I was talking to at the beginning of 2022. Doomsday sayers on YouTube are chirping about Yellowstone potentially blowing up soon, although according to USGS, all is calm for now. My former roommate's dad says that we're in the end times, which has been something that has been debated about since even before 9/11. I don't know about you, but as John Lennon once sang, "strange days indeed."

BS

BREAKING: The Pac-12 Conference (Updated)

 Good afternoon, everyone. Breaking news from the world of college athletics, the Big Ten Conference announced today that both the University of Washington and the University of Oregon have decided to join their conference and leave the Pac-12. They would join both UCLA and USC in joining the Big Ten, and with Colorado rejoining the Big XII soon, as well as the possible exodus of both Arizona and Arizona State, the Pac-12 will have five schools remaining: Utah, Cal, Stanford, Oregon State, and Washington State.

That got me wondering, what will the Pac-12 replace all those schools with, provided they even go forward as a conference? Allow me to speculate on what may come.

There are some obvious choices. Most of the current members of the Mountain West Conference come to mind, such as Boise State, Fresno State, and San Diego State. But how about another school that desperately wants to be a Power Five school? South Florida? I mean they technically are a west coast school. I suppose there could be other schools that are dying for attention too. Like Everest ITT Tech, and Connecticut School of Broadcasting. If the Pac-12 REALLY gets desperate, they could recruit Bob Jones or Prager University. And if worst omes to worst, they could utilize Trump University. The self-proclaimed governor of Arizona can vouch for that one.

All kidding aside though, late this evening the conference may have been given a lifeline...

A Big Loss For Gen X, Plus Other Stuff...

 Good early morning, everyone. As most everyone knows by now, Generation X lost a true icon this week. Paul Reubens, the man behind Pee-Wee Herman, lost a private battle with cancer this week at the age of 70. I never truly realized he was that old, but then again, the character's childlike, playful demeanor really hid that well. All over Facebook this week, tributes for Pee-Wee have been pouring in from all over. From fellow actors, to writes, and other contributors to the acting profession. Most of who were born in the latter part of our generation virtually grew up with him, and although he was disgraced after a police raid on an adult movie theater (thanks a lot, Sarasota, Florida PD 😒) and hid from the public spotlight for awhile, we'll always have Pee-Wee's Playhouse. Oh, one other thing, fuck cancer. We'll miss you, Mr. Reubens.

Photo by: Gage Skidmore

Really, WWE? 

Summerslam comes this weekend from Detroit, but it will be without one feature match. Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus, despite months of buildup, will not take place at Summerslam but on the ensuing episode of Raw instead. The article also states that the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is saying another Women's title match (Rhea Ripley vs. Racquel Rodriguez) may not happen for the same reason; not enough time. Really, WWE? What's that time being used for exactly, Roman Reigns unusually long ring intro for the main event of the show?  Something tells me this wreaks of Vince McMahon getting his grubby hands on it as usual, but allegedly he's on bed rest for back surgery, even though that isn't the worst of his problems right now.

McMahon doing his best Snidely Whiplash cosplay.

Why Don't (You) Get Drunk And Screw (Yourself)?

As some of you know, my early years were spent in the Pine Hills area of Orlando, which is now an incorporated community. As of writing of this blog, residents there are not happy. Pine Hills is a predominantly black community, although it wasn't so much back in the early 80's. So why the need for so damn many liquor stores there? FOURTEEN?! I mean, the community is still reeling from a fatal shooting back in February, and someone wants to put up another business that will only bring Pine Hills further down the spiral of despair. I don't blame these residents at all, when is enough going to be enough?

That's all I have for early this morning. I hopefully will be back later on with a Flashback. Until then, take care. 

BS