THINGS I MISS, THINGS I LIKE AND........

Cleaning off the top of my desk..........

Just got through with a delightful book, "THE BOYS," by ron howard who you might better remember on television as OPIE from the andy griffith show or RICHIE CUNNINGHAM on happy days. Co-authored with his younger brother Clint, the book follows the brothers from their very early days as actors in a 'blue collar' Hollywood family where dad and mom are also actors but not stars.

The book deals with the highs and lows of raising two boys on a bit actor's occasional paycheck and the nastiness of the entertainment world. Is he too old at 12? Is he too tall? Is he still using drugs? Drinking? Does he need a wig? Kids are kids, even in Hollywood and they like sports and girls and cars and experimenting just like you did. It's an easy read and I think you'll like it. Available on Kindle. I'd give it an 8.5.

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I miss the Kitchen Nazi's ham rolls....

and the Minnesota Mafia's beef stroganoff......

and Barb's cheesecake.......

and Aunt Lorraine's Hawaiian salad.....

and Gwen's Christmas morning biscuits & gravy........

and Donna Bartosz' corned beef......

and the Polock's cooking.......

absolutely ZERO calories in all of the above. I promise.

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Nothing beats the smell of movie theatre popcorn when you first walk into the lobby.

Except maybe the smell of a Thanksgiving turkey when you come in from the cold.

The new fangled recliner/rockers in the theatre make me fall asleep. 😴

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I'm very confused with alternative television and I don't understand streaming nor do I have a device to do that so the other day I asked the girl at the cable company about the options I might have.........boy, was that a mistake. I hear her take a deep breath and about 7 minutes later I had all the information I need about adding.............HULU, PEACOCK, AMAZON PRIME, NETFLIX, DISNEY +, APPLE + (apparently the + makes it real special....and more expensive) HBO MAX, PARAMOUNT + (THERE'S THAT + AGAIN---can you buy the service without the +?) and to finish with a flourish, DISCOVERY + . And that was just page 1 of her information sheet. The total cost of all those programs was $412.00 a month. Thanks and have a great day. I miss the days when it was just channels 2-5-7 & 9.

WHO AM I KIDDING??? I love all the cable channels and I am such a whore regarding sports, history and cop shows. Imagine if I had +++ television?😲

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Just talking the other day about all the annual tailgate trips we took to see the Bears starting with being picked up at 0500 and then eating breakfast by 0730 under the highway by Mccormick Place.......until the last few years when we improved our location on top of Waldron Deck overlooking Lake Michigan and actually having access to bathrooms with running water. Living the good life at that point! Although the porta-potties were definitely an adventure--especially AFTER the game.  EWWWWWWW!!!😩.

I also miss CHILIFEST but not the work required to run it. Thanks again to the Nazi and the Garage Girl for their many years of help.

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REMEMBER WHEN............you went to the movies and an uniformed usher would shine his flashlight on you if you were talking too loud or god forbid, you had your feet on the chair in front of you. He would even lead you to your seat when you first arrived.

Television channels used to sign off at midnight and then play the national anthem?

Saturday mornings were THE morning for kids watching television.

Snow days happened because your town didn't have enough snow removal equipment.

The outdoor charged three bucks a person and you would hide 4 buddies in the trunk.

Nuns walking around with a ruler to make sure you didn't get too close at the school dance.

The mail being picked up and delivered TWICE A DAY to your house.

You only got a trophy if you won something.

VCR's with wired remotes. Top of the line, baby.

BETA? VHS?  you choose.

Pay phones. telephone booths.

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OK, I can see the top of my desk so I'll catch up to you later.

 

THINGS IN GENERAL

 Some of you already know this but I keep a running list of the 'FIVE PEOPLE WHO NEED A PUNCH IN THE MOUTH' and you make this list by being a total jerkwad.......and my most recent addition is actor JESSE SMOLLETT, who tried to pull a fast one in 2019 while in Chicago by setting up a fake attack on himself and claiming it was committed by Trump people.

Smollett, who is gay, said the attack was homophobic in nature and the two offenders put a noose around his neck and poured some type of liquid over his head but he fought them off with all of his 175 pounds.TOTAL BULLSHIT!  I hope Smollett gets smacked at his upcoming trial and is forced to pay for the hundreds of hours spent by the police department investigating the 'crime.'

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Still planning an evening in Chicago? THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN PEOPLE  have been shot to date inside the city limits, about 12 PER DAY.  3,567 people...... and about 10% of them were under the age of 18. Sure, let's drive to the city for dinner.

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Kudos to Cook County Sheriff TOM DART who surely lost votes the other day when he correctly pointed out that more than 90% of all car jackings take place in black neighborhoods. When flak came his way, he simply responded with "Hey, I don't make the statistics, I just read them." BRAVO.

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The Chicago Police Department has hung out a 'HELP WANTED' sign and when you clear the 18 month probation, you'll be making $80,000 per year. The exam is October 21-23. Sign up at CHICAGOPOLICE.ORG.

A sad goodbye to BARNEY FIFE'S girlfriend, THELMA LOU. 95 year old actress BETTY LYNN passed quietly in her sleep this week in Mount Airy, North Carolina where she had retired in 2007. I believe she was the last surviving adult lead from the Andy Griffith Show.

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Cops and firemen refusing to get vaccinated are being sent home WITHOUT PAY.  I'm 100% in favor of that discipline and disobeying a direct order is playing with fire. When you make $90,000+ and that $2,000 dollar weekly paycheck suddenly disappears, your life changes drastically. First responders come into contact with all sorts of diseased and compromised people so you have to protect yourself first. Do the smart thing because you cannot win this war with city hall.

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STAY SAFE and enjoy the bonus weather.

SPORTS OF ALL SORTS

 WOW! What a playoff game last night between the Dodgers and the Cardinals with the end coming on a walk-off home run by CHRIS TAYLOR who had been 9 for his last 72. And now on to San Francisco for DA BUMS.

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I make fun of them all the time because the optics of this league are just head scratching but CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CHICAGO SKY as they head to the WNBA finals for the second time in team history. They await the winner of the Phoenix-Las Vegas series and that will begin Sunday.

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I told you this would happen! ANDREW WIGGINS of the Golden State Warriors suddenly got vaccinated when he realized what he was about to lose in salary. I can imagine the conversation when the mother of his two kids heard about his refusal and said, "WHAAAAT? You get your black ass over to Walmart right now and get the shot! I ain't missing out on $450,000 every time you have a home game!" Wiggins, of course, is now pontificating that he "was forced" to get the shot. I imagine so.

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THE CHICAGO WHITE SOX return to the playoffs against the cheating garbage can banging HOUSTON ASTROS in a best of 5 series that begins THIS AFTERNOON at 3 p.m. and you know that most baseball fans will be rooting against the Astros, who screwed the Dodgers out of the championship in 2017 by cheating with a bizarre signaling system. How about we start it of by burying a fastball in Jose Altuve's ribs? just kidding? 😈

Let's take the SOX in 5. The Dodgers in 4. Tampa in 4. Atlanta upsets the Brewers.

LET'S PLAY SOME BASEBALL!

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Speaking of being forced to do something, I think VILLAGE IDIOT MATT NAGY got a phone call from the ivory tower and was instructed to 'cut the bullshit' if you want to stay employed and moments later, he changed his stance on who was the starting quarterback. Just 48 hours earlier, he had emphatically stated that ANDY DALTON is the #1 QB if healthy but mysteriously changed his mind Wednesday. Look for Dalton's bone bruise to last unless Fields is unable to play. Nagy is such a mutt. DEAD MAN WALKING.

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For those of you who are old enough, there was a time when Chicago's MARSHALL HIGH SCHOOL was the 'run & gun' team for the ages and defense was something that happened by mistake as the COMMANDOS regularly ran people out of the gym. Well, it appears that BILLY DONOVAN'S CHICAGO BULLS are following that model in an effort to qualify for the NBA playoffs as they fly down the court and put up shots in less than 10 seconds. For you younger fans, think UNLV back in the 90's. A great way to play ball but somebody better rebound.....EVERY TIME.

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I heard a rumor that upcoming free agent COREY SEAGER of the Dodgers is looking at the CUBS. Why in the name of insanity would anyone want to go from the penthouse to a real smelly outhouse? It makes no sense to throw your career away by signing with a team that won't see .500 for the next 4 years. And on the flip side, the 27 year old Seager will be looking for at least 20 million a year and a four year deal. Makes no sense.

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Finally, a sad goodbye to comedian/sports bettor NORM MACDONALD who made me laugh so many times with his sardonic wit and deadpan looks directly into the camera, especially while working SNL. I met Norm at the sports book in Caesars when he sat down next to me in the gallery to make his college football picks. We exchanged gambling pleasantries and I figured once he bought his tickets, he would be out of there. Wrong, Uncle Dan. He returned to his seat and had a fistful of 'free drink' tickets and asked me if I wanted a bloody Mary. Si Senor!

We had a couple of those and he continued to buy for other gamblers and before long, there were 20 guys hanging around just listening to him make us laugh. The only rule he had was when you got your second 'free' drink, you tipped the waitress ten bucks. Needless to say, that was a very happy young lady who never strayed far from our table.

He stayed two hours and all of us shared our stories about bad beats, last minute fumbles, bad calls by the referees, etc until he finally stood up and said VERY loudly, "WHAT A BUNCH OF LOSERS! I CAN'T HANG AROUND YOU ANY LONGER!!" The he gave us a quiet 'good luck' , smiling as he left the sports book.  A short footnote: The next time I ordered a drink and went to pay, the waitress informed me that Norm had left the group a HUNDRED free drink tickets but they were only good that Saturday. We did our best to use them all up but failed miserably. GOD SPEED, NORM MACDONALD.

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HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AND ENJOY THE WEATHER!

NOTHING BUT SPORTS

 Boy, it doesn't get any better than this for my birthday! Notre Dame spits the bit and I have a money line bet on the team that beats them plus it basically eliminates the irish from post season glory. SWEEEEEEEEEET!

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The Bears beat one of the worst teams in football but we'll take it. Justin Fields showed signs of brilliance that you NEVER saw with that mutt, Mitch Trubisky.  Once the Bears replace the current administrative people, things will start looking up. Now on to Las Vegas!

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Enough of the bullshit from the pro athletes regarding the vaccine. Get it or get out! Cities are mandating vaccinations to attend a large indoor event and unvaccinated ghetto rats like Kyrie Irving and Andrew Wiggins cannot play in their home stadiums, which obviously eliminates their participation in at least 41 games as well as other cities that have the same rules. Kudos to the NBA who came out Friday with their own mandate: Unvaccinated players WILL NOT GET PAID for missing games, which means Kyrie loses about $475,000 PER GAME and Wiggins about $450,000. Good move, guys. We'll see how long this lasts when they start having cars repossessed and houses foreclosed. Your future is as a Wal-Mart greeter, you dumb asses.

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Classic one game wild cards in MLB. The Dodgers host the Cardinals and Boston hosts the Yankees. I like the Dodgers and the visiting Yankees.

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The WHITE SOX open the playoffs in Houston on Thursday and that should be a classic showdown, The ASTROS swept them in early summer but that was without LUIS ROBERT and ELOY JIMENEZ being available.  SHOWTIME BOYS!

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More later. gotta run.