Usually Thanksgiving is a time to reflect and get back to my folks for a day of turkey and watching the Detroit Lions lose and copious amounts of Jerry Jones hogging the camera on the Dallas Cowboys games. I really don't remember those games but rather the Thanksgiving games of the 1960s. Green Bay rolling in the mud in 1961, then getting owned in 1962 to which Lombardi had enough and told the NFL to get some other team. The 1962 Lions played the Packers tough, they just lost to the wrong teams to get bounced to the Playoff Bowl and they owned Pittsburgh that season. The two Thanksgiving games that do stand out was the Baker's Dozen, to which Philadelphia came in and shut out the Lions in a monsoon that turned Tiger Stadium into Lake Tiger Stadium, then the 1969 snowbowl, and having the Minnesota Vikings carving up Greg Landry and company 27-0. Next year Detroit shocked Oakland during the classic George Blanda season. Once the Lions moved to the Sliverdome, the games weren't much fun.
This Thanksgiving is more bittersweet than ever and may be the last Thanksgiving for my family to get together. It's like taking part of being with the Bickersons but at this stage in life, my parents are sick of seeing each other. Like last year my girlfriend is once again sick with a viral infection or asthma. She rarely wants to go out anymore for fear of catching somebody's germs or cold. Her theory of even when you sneeze, you have some sort of cold or flu going on, even tho it doesn't matter if you have dry air or dust particles to deal with. I'm in line for the COVID booster, which means I'll be sick three days from getting the shot so I better prepare myself for that. On the music side, I do have a couple of women that would like to date me or even better have more fun but my loyality to my GF is solid. Even in misery, I would never consider cheating on her. Percy Sledge is right, loving eyes can never see. My GF has yet to meet my folks, I doubt that she'll ever will at this point. She still misses her Bestie who passed on six years ago, his replacement isn't been suitable enough to help her get over his loss. I miss him too. Everybody would be more happier if he was still living.
Usually this year, I take a look at the big jokes that happen this year. To which the Jan 6th uprising, encouraged by the defeated Joke 45, who called the election a big lie. The insurgents that went into the Capitol are not being sentenced to jail time. We have our own jokes here in Farmtown. Covid Kegger Kim, Joni Ernst, Mariette Miller Meeks, Ashley Hinson and the corpse of Chuck Grassley defeating anybody who challenges him for next year. This state still voted for the Big Joke and still have Big Joke 2024 signs out and while we thought Joe Biden would be the lesser of the evils, he hasn't done much to entice us to vote for him in 2024. Which might be ripe for another GOP person to come in and screw things up. Biden's too old but the Qanon folks are dumber, with this come on Brandon bullshit. To which we countered with Come On Brannon, for the guy who is back in jail again. Still, gas prices jumped up over a dollar from last year and Biden, like Obama, Joke 45, etc get blamed. Or the Keystone Pipeline, which had nothing to do with our oil or gas. It was dirty Canadian oil for other countries. We can blame it on Supply and Demand. Biden is finding out the hard way that change is hard to come by, when you have the GOP stonewalling him every step of the way. Joe Manchin, the GOP in democratic name only has been the biggest pain in the ass. As well as the dumbfuck from Kentucky Ole Turpentine Face McConnell. A bigger problem than China or Russia, or even Joke 45. I'm surprised we haven't heard from Hee Haw Hawley of late but I've heard enough from Ms. Taylor Grenne. And gave them too much credit by talking about them.
For music, I don't think I listened to an album that disappointed me at all, but then again, I did not buy much new music anyway. Perhaps Kacey Musgraves' latest might be the least album that I have heard but in all fairness, I don't go much into the pop side of music, which is why I didn't noticed Taylor Swift's re recording of her Big Machine albums. I've been too busy loading up on 2 dollar finds and cheaper stuff. To which I did find some turds of note but they all got donated back to Goodwill anyway. If we are talking vintage turkey albums, The Ars Nova Sunshine And Shadows might be one of those albums, I'd played it a couple times and it still didn't move me, nor did Rickie Lee Jones' first album with Chuck E's In Love, or Kate and Anna McGraggle's Dancer With Bruised Knees. Blake Shelton's Loaded might fall in the turd catagory as well but I liked his Some Beach and Ol' Red. Kiss My Country Ass is his downfall. The digipaks, the softpacks still suck for packaging, you can't beat a good ole jewel case, till it cracks or breaks. As long as I live, I'm not about to go total streaming. Even with my ears of tin, it still sounds compared to CD or LP or 8 track for that matter. As long as I have a cd player, I won't listen to the radio and the corporate bullshit that goes with the same 200 songs each and every day. It sucks we live in a world of so much music but the Corporations continue to stranglehold the playlist with the same songs over and over. Since giving up cable five years ago, I don't have to witness the evening news, brought to you by Big Pharma. I usually watch You Tube, tho the commercials there are beginning to be as annoying.
The big Gobble Gobble Gobble goes to the Alex Spanos family for their efforts to keep the Baltimore Orioles in the basement and for another 110 loss season in 2021. Till the Spanos sell off the O's or pass on, Baltimore will continue to suck. Turn the time machine back 50 years please.
Of course, we couldn't leave out the Chicago Cubs and their schizoid year, fooling us when they were in first place and fooling us that Jake Arrieta would return to be his old dominant self five seasons ago and fooling us that Zach Davies was going to be the cornerstone of the starting pitchers. After his no hitter of the LA Dodgers, The Cubs went south with a 11 game losing streak, which started a fire sale of the beloved Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez, plus Andy Chaflin, Ryan Tepera and Craig Kimbrel, who saved Davies' ass in that no hit game. The Cubs dried up in August with another 12 game losing streak, but folks like Frank Schwingel and Patrick Wisdom did hit and Wisdom got the rookie record for most home runs but he struck out a ton as well. Give the Cubs some credit, they did win four of their five last games of the season. By then, they were done. In the meantime, Carter Hawkins is the new GM. So far Wade Miley has been the only new signee for the Cubs. I think we do need more pitching but the frugalness of the Ricketts and Jeb Hoyer looks to be the same old same ole.
Gobble Gobble Gobble, worst service ever remains Arby's inside the Pilot Truck Stop once again. At least the goofy Beavis dude got let go, but they still continue to fuck up your order and some of the help has been there for four/five years. They can't seem to count that when I want two Arby's roast beef, they only get out one. Tony is the best of the bunch, he knows what I want and gets it to me fast. Runner up, the Mount Vernon Hardee's to which a certain person always fucks up the tea order. Sweet Tea, No Ice, it should be simple right? Not to her. We try our best to tip those who are on the front line serving up the food but sometimes we get poor service. It happens, but when the waitress is too busy watching Tic Toc on her smart phone, no tip for her.
This Thanksgiving may be the last for the family due to health issues. I found out that Bud the Cat had to be put down due to a kidney disease, he might have been in his teens. For the first time ever Mom didn't cook but I did go out to Kiwk Star to give them a chicken dinner. We watched a John Wayne movie. My GF was sick and couldn't show up. Afterwards, it was a WKRP marathon including the flying turkeys episode. The DVD didn't have the original music due to copyright issues, therefore no Pink Floyd or Eagles and the production is dated but I had a few good laughs. And then of course, Alice Restrauant Massacree. In the end, this was a bittersweet Thanksgiving but we are all still alive. And of course the general annoyance of Aunt Jenny aka Sarge, leaving three telephone messages that were 5 munities long and were the same damn message. I think somebody else has a bad case of Demetria as well. Like a bad case of hemorrhoids, Aunt Jenny continues to come up at the worst time.
The Black Friday Finds.
CDs
Best Of Arlo Guthrie
Vince Gill-Pocket Full Of Gold
Kacey Musgraves-Star Crossed
Willie Nelson And Family
Robert Plant/Alison Krauss-Raise The Roof
LP
Paul Mariat-Blooming Hits
Target had their 3 get 1 free music sale so basically it was time to check out the new Plant/Krauss Raise The Roof. While reviews have been mixed I thought the record might be better than Raising Sand. The version of Price Of Love is very moody than the Everly's version and how did I forget that my old band did Can't Let Go done by Lucinda Williams? The Paul Mariat's Blooming Hits are muzak version of the pop songs we know best, tho' Love Is Blue got him a big hit and a good listen. This does bring back the days of Muzak. The CD is hard to find and overpriced, the record is a 1.38 at Goodwill. Arlo Guthrie remains one of the most frustrating artists that I know of. His Alice Restrauant Massacree is classic as well the silly Motorcycle Song which is the live version here. I also love his Coming Into Los Angeles and his cover of City Of New Orleans, which made Steve Goodman a household name. I got the Vince Gill simply of Liza Jane. I'm sure another bargain hunt will be forthcoming.
I avoided the Black Friday rush and went to the Goodwills and Thrift Stores later. Target was somewhat busy but not as overbearing as it was in the morning. Prepare for crappy Christmas music for the next month.
When Iowa went to Lincoln to play Nebraska, there were rumblings that the Cornhuskers would be ready to play and they did, skirting to a 7-0 lead and got referee help when a tie scoring TD was overturned. Then Tyler Goodson fumbled and then the Corn Poppers had a 14-6, then 21-6 lead. And then, they self destructed in the second half, getting a punk blocked and ran in for a TD and then a safety. Spencer Petras, took over for Alex Padilla and guided the Hawkeyes offense into a winning touchdown going over from the 2 yard line. Caleb Shudak, who is having a great season as Iowa kicker hit four field goals when the IA offense died in the red zone. Jermari Harris intercepted a Logan Smothers pass on the 2 yard line and Iowa ran out the clock and the game. As feared, Smothers had a good game filling in for the injured Adrian Martinez, going 16-22 for 198 yards and had 64 rushing yards on his own and scoring 2 TDs. But it was the special teams that did the Cornhuskers in. And Nebraska is the hard luck team of the big ten, those 8 losses, were not blowouts, they lost to Ohio State by 9 points but the other losses were 7 or less points. They were in all of the games, they couldn't get the job done. So the Heroes trophy is going back to Iowa City for the seventh straight time. As for Scott Frost and company, he's done for the year.
If anything this season has seen Scott Frost being rewarded with another year to come back but at the same time, a few coaches got let go and the results were still the same. If Nebraska had a lead on anybody, they'd find a way to lose it in the end. They battled Ohio State, they led and should have beaten Michigan, they blew that game. Ditto Michigan State and Minnesota and yes, Iowa as well. The referees screwed them out of the Wisconsin game, but the referees helped them on the Iowa game. Next week will be shit or get off the pot time for Scott Frost. He might have Adrian Martinez back for a fifth season but the future is much more brighter with Smothers at the helm. The above drawing could also apply to Iowa State, which played their best game of the season, blowing out TCU 48-14 with Brycee Hall going wild, scoring four TDs and rushing for 242 yards, to which the Cyclone finish 7-5 and will go bowling. For the Iowa Hawkeyes, they finish 10-2, tho the losses to Wisconsin and Purdue did diminish things a bit, but Iowa did win the final four games. But the chances are to play Ohio State in the Championship are remote but not out of the question. Minnesota has got to reclaim the Paul Bunyan axe and beat the Badgers in Minneapolis.
