RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS (Vol. 1, No. 15)

In this "TV Rots Your Brain" Edition of "RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!!", we begin with the unfortunate failure of political agendas in children's programming.  Allow me to start off by saying this: PBS Kids' Peg + Cat wins on its own merit as being one of the best educational cartoons in the game, especially when they pay homage to a legendary singer like Billie Holiday or celebrate renowned talent of the modern era like ballet dancer Misty Copeland.  When the two-part "Peg and Cat Save the World" episode premiered in March, they continued that theme of empowerment by featuring a woman President, voiced by Sandra Oh.  Perhaps the thought was 1) it's been high time for a woman to be POTUS and 2) judging from the pool of qualified candidates at that time, Secretary Hillary Clinton seemed to have the best shot at winning the Oval Office and they wanted to endorse her without official bumper stickers and lawn signs.  (Whole time, she's even wearing a pantsuit.)  Unfortunately, young ladies who were sure such a prediction would come true, especially because Peg + Cat said so, will have to wait at least another four years.  Nice try, Jennifer Oxley and Billy Aronson...too bad most of the South which contains a large share of the country's racists and sexists didn't take heed to your animated memo.  Perhaps the perfect segue for the first segment...

Love & Basketball? The Fallen Romance With My Ex-Favorite Sport, Part 1

So early last week, Big Little Brother Scribbler sent me a text saying that he was on his way to Houston for the announcement of Allen Iverson's possible induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame along with four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal.  When he mentioned those names, it reminded me of two things: 1) being happy when the Sixers took Game 1, but being disappointed when the Lakers swept the rest of the series; and 2) when basketball was still competing with football as my favorite sport.  Although Michael Jordan had retired for the second time in 1998, Dominique Wilkins (my favorite player of all time) retired a year later and Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing were on the downside of their careers, the new breed that included Iverson, O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett were keeping the party going.  However, somewhere along the way, I stopped watching as many regular season games because 82 games just became too much to follow and I simply focused my energy on the playoffs--treating what was once my favorite sport with the same attentiveness that I give the MLB.  So what made me trade in what seemed to be an undying love for basketball for just a casual and sometimes strong like?  Well, in the first of what has become a two-part series, "Love & Basketball? The Fallen Romance With My Ex-Favorite Sport," I will discuss the more personal reasons why I am no longer as smitten with hoops as I was in the 80s, 90s and early 00s...

The American President: Donald Trump & The Societal Exposé, Part 4

YouTuber Tashya Tummings had perhaps one of the most interesting quotes of the year on the sneak: "The more public you are, the less talent you have."  If that's the case, then Republican presidential candidate and famed businessman Donald Trump is the most talentless hack in the 2016 presidential election.  Even with the candidates remaining on the GOP side, Senator Ted Cruz or Governor John Kasich aren't the "sexy picks" because they aren't as entertaining as Trump.  Sure, they could write tangible policy in their sleep with their hands tied behind their backs, but because Trump and Cruz have been too busy taking shots at each other's wives and giving news outlets even more fodder, nobody cares.  With the help of the media, Trump has effectively turned the GOP debates and town halls into nothing more than reality television for politics without having any teeth to his bombastic claims of making America "great again".  With that said, Trump isn't a lone ranger when it comes to giving the people what they want.  The difficulty in filling an arena with people interested in watching a science experiment versus the ease in packing those same stands with football, basketball or boxing fans immediately comes to mind.  It's not to devalue the greatness of sports or entertainment because, obviously, I have made a living from writing and discussing those things ad nauseam.  Nevertheless, when Americans turn on their televisions, log into their social media accounts and turn on their radios and media players, they often want a show, not a lecture.  Hence, in the fourth and final installment to "The American President: Donald Trump & The Societal Exposé", I will manifest the last reason why he is merely a byproduct of a society that routinely values style over substance...

Are You Not Entertained?!?! The Glorification of Gruesome Sports Injuries



By now, most of you have heard about or seen the lower leg injury that Louisville Cardinals' guard Kevin Ware suffered playing against the Duke Blue Devils in the NCAA Midwest regional final on Sunday.  With a little over six minutes remaining in the first half contesting a three-point shot, Ware came down awkwardly on his right leg, which bent at a 90-degree angle and led to an open fracture where nearly six inches of bone protruded through his skin.  In a scene filled with coaches crying, teammates regurgitating and an arena full of people praying for the sophomore guard, it is arguably the most horrific injury ever seen on a basketball court.  CBS, who aired the game, may have shown the replay a total of three times and that's it.  Other media outlets like ESPN showed it afterwards and gave warning to their viewers of its graphic nature.  I didn't actually see it as it happened, but once I heard about the specifics the next morning, I had no desire to see any replays.  Only by research for this particular post did I come across a few of the bone protrusion pictures.  To date, I still haven't seen the video and don't want to see it.

Dirk Scribbler's 1st Annual Grammy Wrap Up

So I totally didn't plan on watching the 55th Grammy Awards last night.  I tend to have a love-hate relationship with award shows: I hate to love them because there are often so many disappointing moments.  However, Mrs. Scribbler convinced me to watch them--truthfully, she had the remote and wasn't gonna win that battle.  I must say that I ended up enjoying some very stylish folks strut their stuff on the red carpet and, subsequently, the actual Grammy Awards itself.  My issue regarding some of the coverage was that folks were "riding" certain artist's you-know-whats because they are who they are.  Therefore, a Grammy wrap-up wouldn't be complete without the more-self-proclaimed-than-world-renowned music aficionado in Dirk Scribbler giving you his take.