by John Walters
Tweet Me Right
“Get thee a snubbery!”
Starting Five
Wuhan Clan
A deadly virus breaks out in China, as officials there do their best to contain information surrounding the epidemic. Then it spreads across the planet. Is this current events or the first chapter of Max Brooks’ zombie pandemic thriller World War Z?
Turns out, both. I’m rooting for the coronavirus, by the way. Wuhan, incidentally, is a cozy city about 200 miles inland from Shanghai that you’ve never heard of (perhaps) and never visited (definitely) and yet it has a larger population than that of New York City.
Delta Force
Number-one overall draft pick Zion Williamson at last made his NBA debut for the Pelican West last night. The game tipped off at 9:30 and then Zion sputtered through the first three quarters with five total points. Then, after 11 p.m. local time, long after many had gone to bed, lightning struck.
In a brief window, Zion scored 17 consecutive points for the gulls, including going 4-for-4 from beyond the arc (something he’s not particularly renowned for). Zion finishes with 22 in his NBA debut as the Birds fall to San Antonio.
When The Schiff Hits The Fan
It’s going to require a 2/3 vote in the Senate to remove Donald Trump from office. That means at least half the Republicans in the chamber will have to vote to impeach.
That ain’t happening.
But with every minute of time Adam Schiff gets at the podium, the congressman from California is laying bare just how open-and-shut this case against the president is. He’s concise, he’s direct and he’s even-tempered. But he’s also candid: a vote against impeachment is a vote against the Constitution. You’re voting for power, not for integrity.
Here’s The Washington Post on Schiff. Two lines stand out in case you’re not in the mood to click on the link. One…
“… that is what the trial is about. It’s about making clear to the entire country that Trump did exactly what he is accused of, but that his own party, suffering from political cowardice and intellectual corruption, do not have the nerve to stop him.”
And two…
“If abuse of power isn’t impeachable, then the president is king.”
Aztec Camera
There’s still an unbeaten in men’s Division I basketball. Did you know that? I did not know that. Moreover, this 20-0 squad is not one of the seven schools that has at one point this season occupied the nation’s No. 1 ranking.
All hail San Diego State.
Granted, the fourth-ranked Aztecs have not played a ranked opponent. It will be interesting to see if they can somehow land a No. 1 seed if they never meet a ranked foe and go through the regular season undefeated. No opponent has come within 9 points of them since early December.
Yanni Wetzell, the team’s leading rebounder and No. 2 scorer, is a 6’10” Kiwi grad transfer with previous stops at Vanderbilt and a D-2 school in San Antonio. He’s a former world-ranked junior tennis player.
Five Films: 2000
- Almost Famous: How could we put this one any lower when it inspired the name of this daily exercise in pedantry? The only fast note for me was when Bill Miller rips Russell a new one over Penny Lane’s near-suicide. But the final scene redeems it. “To begin with… everything.” 2. Gladiator: Were we not entertained? We were. The opening battle scene was Braveheart in a wintry Bavarian forest. Awesome. 3. Sexy Beast: Ben Kingsley won an Oscar for portraying Gandhi. He deserved one here even more for portraying a character that couldn’t be any further from that one. Love this film. If you’ve never seen it, change that. Ian McShane is also excellent. 4. You Can Count On Me: Sweet little film about adult siblings played by Mark Ruffalo and Laura Linney. 5. Traffic: Muy depressing, but in terms of vehicular-related one-word titles, way less pretentious than Crash.
Re Adam Schiff and the presentation of the case against Trump — I saw some tweets noting that, hard as it may be to believe, this week may in fact be the first time that Republican senators have heard all of the evidence against Trump. Those that rely on Fox or other filtered sources for their info (and there are many of them) may well not have had all of the dots connected for them. Not that it will matter, of course.
Today & for the next 4 days we will be entering SPORTS OVERLOAD territory! I would be even more excited but I just found out that f*cking NBC (owned by even bigger F*CKING COMCAST) will NOT telecast one of the events LIVE on TV or even on a delayed broadcast! I guess this is yet another attempt to extort folks into PAYING for their gdamn “NBC Sports Gold” bullshit.
Anyhoo, today starts the US Figure Skating Championships (for 4 days/nights), then this weekend begins with the most anticipated annual men’s alpine skiing event – the HAHNENKAMM (an infamous semi-suicidal ski run down a mountain; THE marquise Downhill on the World Cup. Just WATCHING ON TV can give one vertigo & THIS is the event f*cking NBC will not be broadcasting on TV!). We at least will get to see Mikaela Shiffrin tackle 2 speed skiing events of the Women’s World Cup. Also, the XC Skiing World Cup continues & over the past 3 years, I have shockingly become a huge fan! American Jessi Diggins got me watching 3 years ago, for the 1st time in a non-Olympic or World Championship event & now I watch every event that’s on TV. The American women are having a very good year & on the men’s side, I’m addicted to watching Viking cutie Klaebo against the dreaded Russkies. Then of course, the weekend is topped off by that “little” annual American semi-holiday known as the Super Bowl & I’ll be rooting for Mahomes & the Chiefs.
Plus, PLUS – Sweet Pea will pass Kobe for #3 on the All-Time NBA Scoring List in roughly 2 games! He needs 45 points to pass the guy. The only question is WHEN he will decide to do it. His team plays the Nets tonight in the back-end of a back-to-back & then the Sixers on Saturday in Philadelphia. It would seem he would accomplish the feat on Saturday but he MAY just decide to wait till they are back in LA again & do it when they play the Clippers next Tuesday. In Kobe’s old home & in front of Kobe’s old fans… What to do, what to doooooo. I will watch the game, whichever one it is! However, I had planned to watch all of the game last season when he passed Jordan to be #4 & was so upset, that I had to stop after halftime. I’ll see how it goes.
So, I know ya’ll are dying to know – just WHO will win the US Figure Skating Championships! 😉 🙂 😉 Don’t worry – I got you covered! Unless he breaks his leg, comes down with the flu, or is hit in the knee with a lead pipe (hey, it’s happened BEFORE…), Nathan Chen will win his 5th consecutive Men’s championship. His Free Skate program is to Elton John’s Rocket Man & he does some hip-hop MOVES near the end that really gets the crowd going – it’s pretty awesome. As for the “women”, the 14 (yes, 14) year old DEFENDING champion Alysa Liu is the frontrunner but she’s not as big of a lock as Nathan. She’s young, she’s grown a bit (extra height & weight NOT GOOD in this sport these days) & defending is much harder because of all those expectations. I give her chances at 60-40. If she flubs, former champ Bradie Tennell will probably take the title. BTW, if Liu does win, she will once again NOT be able to compete in the World Championships in March as she’s “too young”. So, WHY is she allowed to compete in the Senior US Championships then? Good freakin question. Anyoo, Liu is the only American “woman” that has even a shot at getting on the podium at Worlds or the next Olympics because SHE can complete a Triple Axel & a quad jump, which all the millions (perhaps a teensy exaggeration) of tiny Russkie girls now do just for “fun” (& possible payback to us [i.e. America] having Simone Biles & dominating the sport that they once OWNED for decades – women’s gymnastics. 😉 )
Who wants to break the bad news to Susie B. about the Super Bowl?
Er, yea, when I was driving home last night, I go “WAIT, WHAT DAY IS IT?!” – the Super Bowl is NEXT Sunday! Oh, well, not my only mistake in the above! I left out the Australian Open AND I just found out last night at 11pm that the Winter XGames started last night (& continues thru Sunday) & I missed my fave event – the men’s Halfpipe! However, it was apparently contested in the “jam session” format which I do NOT like & NO AMERICANS WON A MEDAL! I don’t think I’ve ever seen the latter at an XGames Half-pipe contest! What the heck is going on with Men’s Snowboarding?
Also, Nathan Chen will be winning his 4th (NOT 5th) consecutive US championship this weekend.
Anyhoo – Sweet Pea scored 27 last night so he is 18 away from passing Kobe. Which means I guess I’ll be watching the Lakers-Sixers game Saturday night (assuming he plays). Of course, he COULD still decide to wait till next Tuesday at Home to become “#3” & score under 18, which he has done a handful of times this season, just to irritate ME ( 😉 ) into having to watch TWO Lakers games. Humpfh.
In a breaking news update – skier Mikaela Shiffrin won a Downhill this morning! Whoo-hoo! She’d been having a bit of a “slump” the past month or so (for Mikaela this mostly means ‘just’ being on the podium & not winning), so this win in her non-specialty must perk her back up! After last season’s UNPRECENTED DOMINANCE, poor Mikaela has entered “Michael Phelps territory” – i.e. it’s BIGGER news when she LOSES than when she WINS. That must irritate but is the price you pay for transcendent greatness. I still believe that if she keeps competing, she will not only pass legend Ingemar Stenmark’s 86 World Cup race wins, but go on to win 100 World Cup races. With today’s win, she totals 65. She could win another 3-9 races this year. Whether she keeps competing until or after age 30 is the question.
And thanks Jacob & Ruth for the welcome back! Luckily, no snow drifts for me, just work, stress, ‘work stress’ & assorted life crap. 😉
Good to see you back, Susie B.
I’m not breaking any bad news. It’s (not) All Happening until Susie B. weighs in.
Glad you weren’t buried under a snowdrift! 🙂
And I definitely agree with the house critic’s #1 choice for 2000, Almost Famous. “I didn’t invent the rainy day, man. I just own the best umbrella.”