STARTING FIVE
Lynch’s runs are tantamount to assault
1. Recovering the Seattleites
You only needed to watch the fourth quarter of last night’s 35-6 win in Glendale to think that Pete Carroll’s Army will be returning there in 41 days. Marshawn Lynch’s epic Son-of-Beastquake 79-yard run, the second-best “I’m also here to kick your ass” run of his career; Richard Sherman’s interception, in which he effortlessly ran it back 30 yards or so without a single Cardinal laying a hand on him before stepping out of bounds; Russell Wilson’s bootleg TD run, in which he faked not one but two Cardinals out of their jocks and never had a hand laid on him.
The Cardinals entered 11-3, needing this win to guarantee a first-week bye and home filed. They’re now 11-4, will get nothing and like it. One of the NFL’s BEST defenses yielded 596 yards, their worst showing in 54 years.
Seattle, meanwhile, has allowed 33 points in its last five games. After a bumpy 6-4 start, these birds are once again of a feather.
2. Straight Outta…Would You Believe, Brooklyn?
Took a bike ride last night to Brooklyn’s finest residential neighborhood, Dyker Heights, which is near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Over a 5-by-2 block patch of homes, the residents really get into the Christmas spirit, Thomas Edison-style. I’m told that the owner of the house above is Lucy of Lucy’s Sausage (kind of a big deal at NYC’s Italian festivals). Fuggedaboutit!
Now all we need is a little snow…
3. Kringle, Guilty?
The zeitgeisty NPR podcast “Serial” wrapped last week and Saturday Night Live paid it proper tribute with this parody. Strong work, Cecily.
4. 24-0
Get outta Towns! No Kentucky starter played more than 23 minutes and only one scored in double figures. Cal didn’t need them.
That was the score at the United Center in Chicago after 7:18 had elapsed in Saturday’s game between No. 1 Kentucky and UCLA. At halftime the Wildcats, who are looking very 1990-91 UNLV at the moment, led 41-7.
On Sunday No. 6 Virginia almost equaled that output, taking a 39-8 lead into the break versus Harvard. In no particular order, the teams to keep an eye on are Kentucky, Duke, Wisconsin, Arizona, Virginia and Louisville.
5. Films of the Year
So the people who pay me to write, Newsweek, have released a list of our favorite movies of 2014 (I get to write about Nightcrawler). Feel free to tell us what we’ve missed.
Reserves
Dior versus Armani.
Charlize versus Cate.
If you have yet to see the Armani ads (a perfume called “Si”) with the incandescent Aussie, I’m sure you will. True story (not a Barney Stinson-styled “true story,” an actual true story): I’m boarding a plane from Phoenix to JFK about 8 years ago and I espy –yes, it used to be a verb–an angelic creature in the waiting area, but she’s not really close enough to get a good glimpse. Then I board the plane and there in first class is Cate Blanchett. Holy smoke, Barney! I’m really not sure she’s human.
Remote Patrol
His Girl Friday
TCM 8 p.m.
I know what you’re thinking: JW, shouldn’t you just rename this section “What’s on TCM tonight?” Maybe you’re right. In a sentence or less, this 1940 Howard Hawkes film stars Cary Grant as a newspaper editor whose star reporter, and ex-wife, played by Rosalind Russell, is about to tie the knot again and retire. Well, I think we all know where this is headed. It’s listed as a “screwball comedy,” but seeing how an attractive dame chooses a newspaper guy over an insurance exec, let’s call it science fiction.
As a proper warning, this is just me thinking out loud. Nothing is really definitive.
So, for a “FWIW,” Harvard didn’t finish up finals until December 19, two days before traveling to Charlottesville to take on a red-hot, top 10 team in Virginia. Virginia, on the other hand, finished up finals on December 16, potentially a full three days before their counterparts — Harvard — did.
How important is all of this? It could all be meaningless, but I am also told Harvard is “prestigious,” as well as an institution that does not cut its student-athletes any slack. You could argue Virginia is a fine institution (Thomas Jefferson will concur that it is), but their men’s basketball program is also a consistently talented team.
Maybe it means something…Probably not.
As for the Kentucky shellacking of UCLA…Ha, I’m not going there.
1. The best tweet I saw during last night’s debacle? The LYNCH who stole Xmas.
2. NJ resident Thomas Edison might have been the first to string together Christmas lights in 1880, but another NJ resident, President Grover Cleveland, was first to illuminate his family’s Christmas tree in 1895. Nice to see Brooklyn amping it up!
As for earth angels Charlize and Cate, I’d add Uma to that list.
Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!
It’s too bad you & Katie are just friends as I bet when you two get together, it’s Walter & Hildy reincarnated. And no offense to Ralph Bellamy, but come ON, if Cary Grant’s Walter Burns had been a ditch-digger, Hildy would STILL have been crazy not to choose him. BEST rom-com of all time!
BTW, while I sincerely appreciate your mentioning one of my all-time favorite movies, I’m wondering if it was only to keep me from mentioning that since the day you pre-crowned Kyrie as the “best player” on a certain team, he has been completely outshone by a teammate? You aren’t a “cooler”, you’re a “freezer”. 😉 Anyhoo, I’m still not sure how I think the Cavs will do this year. The defense is still FAR from good (except on occasion) & the offense is not exactly blowing away everyone either. And maybe LeBron expected things to be just like this, but I swear, when I hear/see his post-game interviews, he RARELY seems to have a smile on his face, even when they win. They beat the #2 team yesterday (Grizzlies) by 15 & his locker room interview sounded/looked like a post-mortem! I dunno, maybe the baby is keeping him up at night.
Carol Count update – 6. ‘Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol’ was actually on Friday night. And yes, I’m a grown-ass woman & every single time I hear/see little Ebenezer sing “All Alone in the World”, I’m bawling on the sofa –
“A hand for each hand was planned for the world
Why don’t my fingers reach?
Millions of grains of sand in the world
Why such a lonely beach?”
It’s a HEARTBREAKER, I tell ya!
….but seeing how an attractive dame chooses a newspaper guy over an insurance exec, let’s call it science fiction….. Merry Christmas Porge.