EL BRONX, EL BARRIO – There is a saying about late deals being made. They occurr in the 11th hour, which means just before midnight… when most deadlines are set. In the words of the great Ron “Tater” White, “I told you that story so I could tell you this story.” And this story is that in the 11th hour on Friday, I got a text from St. Matthew of MeetTheMatts-ingdom: He needed me to pinch hit. And because I’m simultaneously a good guy and it’s Festivus, I of course said yes. See, there is currently a mini-civil war of sorts going on in the American rugby world and Matt is trying to be the war correspondent presenting both sides and he’s taking fire from all involved. See this. It’s ugly. Anyway, I told him I could patch something together, so here goes… Starting with my Song of the Week (which happens to be my favorite Christmas song), I’ll then shift to: Todd Bowles, Bowl Week & 2016 Deaths.
Let’s begin with the music…
Song of the Week: It is the Christmas weekend so lets have a Christmas song. I f you have followed me on this great website, you would know that I am not really a Christmas person. However, I developed a favorite Christmas song because of an old job. I use to work for FedEx Customs Brokerage, which meant I was at my desk every day making sure the paperwork was correct for packages going through customs. It was one of those jobs where they played music from the easy listening station while you worked. This meant Christmas music started the first day of December and they didn’t stop until Christmas was over and they played one song 4 to 5 times a day. This weeks song grew on me because it was different and unique and if you actually thought about the little girl’s wish, it was insane to have pet Hippo. The song is now coming back thanks to a Visa commercial but I heard it first. That is why my Song of the Week is… Hippopotamus For Christmas.
https://youtu.be/2Dec9Jb_Ac4
Now for the sports…
Todd Bowles: According to news reports yesterday, Jets Head Coach Todd Bowles has been hospitalized. They haven’t said what for and they are not sure if he will be in Boston for today’s game. One of the assistant coaches will take over if Bowles can’t make it. I am no Doctor but if I had to guess what is bothering Bowles, I would say he is keeping all his feelings in about the team and not showing it. He must feel a bit of agita when he looks at his QB options and sees a career back-up in Fitzpatrick, a 1st-round bust in Smith, an unready player in Petty and a rookie in Mecklenberg. He somehow has to contain not throwing-up watching the Jets offense look so poor, and after repeated interceptions thrown. Then he has to avoid looking violently ill after his secondary gets beat, thanks to poor coverage and ability. That last one really hurts because Bowles was an NFL safety in his career.
Bowl Week: Earlier this week, Angry Ward brought up one of the topics from the MTM Holiday party in his article and I will do the same in my piece. We discussed the fact that there are are 42 Bowl games this year. Think of how ridiculous that is! There are about 112 or so NCAA Division 1-A (or CFB if you like) schools. 84 of them will be in a bowl game. This isn’t about Playoffs or anything it is about a trip to somewhere in the country and week off for college players. Their school makes money and some company gets publicity. The ones most complained about were the Furniture.com Bowl, which is just a really expensive 3-hour ad for… Furniture.com. We also talked about the Pinstripe Bowl with its one functional end-zone. Our very own JG Clancy wants to know why his beloved San Diego has to host the Holiday Bowl and the Poinsettia Bowl. Simple answer, my friend, Greed!!
2016 Deaths:We are at that age when celebrities we grew up watching start passing away. It is tough to go through but this is life. Nothing will match the personal loss of my dad in 2015 and losing our very own Big Al Sternberg, this year. However, so many people have passed in 2016, it would be whole new article to do a recap. We lost Ali and Mr. Hockey along with Mr. Seaver (not Tom) this year.. Going into 2016 the longest reigning world rulers were The Queen, Fidel Castro and the King of Thailand. The latter two were taken this year and we just heard the Queen is feeling ill. Not to mention Princess Leia is in the hospital and Astronaut John Glenn is also passed after trying to recover from his trip to the arctic. Last year, we lost David Bowie – and to me that kicked off the madness that 2016 was gonna bring. Now lets see where the madness ends.
That’s all I have… Please come back tomorrow for The Man That is Everywhere and Nowhere, Cheesy Bruin… And feel free to leave your thoughts below and follow us on Twitter – @JunoirBlaber & @MeetTheMatts and like our Facebook page, Meet The Matts.
