Halloween is over, in all its joy and glory, which for my neighbors, included fireworks.
To each his own, but please, not next door. Not as the 10 o’clock news is coming right up. Not on a school night.
That’s among the head scratchers I’m dealing with heading into All Saints Day.
- DirecTV – I am relieved that one of the two “representatives” of DirecTV who called this summer turned out to be legit, and moreso, that I sniffed out the scammer. So I liked the $60 cut to my exorbitant monthly bill. However, despite slightly wonky wireless in the Dugout, I’m on the verge of leaving DirecTV for Fubu or YouTube or whatever will be cheaper, and WILL NOT wipe away a major network in a game of chicken with the local/regional provider. It’s easy and, BTW free for me to watch Fox programming – little things of interest like college football, the NFL and the World Series this time of year – on this very same computer. Which makes me wonder, why pay Direct a cool hunny-plus every month?
- The Saints – Did the Black & Gold’s previously accomplished defense just take off for the first seven weeks? Happy to see Sunday’s shutout. Now, to see if it was a fluke next Monday night against Lamar Jackson’s Ravens.
- The Cowboys – Not that I care much, but lost amid the 49-point explosion Sunday was the Bears, not an offensive machine, putting up 29 on the 2022 version of the Doomsday Defense. Da Bears?
- Coach Prime to Auburn – I give Deion Sanders great credit for turning around a bad Jackson State football program. He also tells his team a lot about life that is tremendous. But before he’s a viable candidate for a Power 5 football program that has won a national championship not too long ago, he needs to show he can win somewhere between the FCS and the SEC. No other FCS coach with his resume could make that leap. If Coach Prime can elevate Charlotte or another Group of 5 program to success, he’s validated. And Elon Musk won’t bill him $20 a month.
- High school football games moved to Thursday to avoid rain – Really? John James Marshall pegged it in his Friday column. Football schedules are announced far in advance for a reason. Game days are BIG. It should take something extreme to reshuffle them. Not a 50-60 percent chance of showers (nobody called for severe storms or torrents of rain). Not a “slight” risk of severe weather mentioned at the start of Week 9.
- College basketball season starting in early November – It used to be Thanksgiving week launched college hoops, and that made sense. More is not necessarily better. If you’re trying to grow the game, wait to play when sports fans aren’t still watching the World Series and aren’t focused on college football.
- Why did ESPN spend the money to hire Joe Buck and Troy Aikman for Monday Night Football, when they had the Manning Cast on ESPN2?
Back to my initial point.
This is NOT Independence Day. Fireworks fit here and now just as well as turduckens are the right pick for dinner on July 4.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com
