Viking Sunday!

Vikings-Eagles Sunday at noon. In the family, one Vikings fan, one Eagles fan and one pseudo-Eagles fan who is actually a Bears fan but willing to wear the Barkley jersey to support Max in hostile territory. But hey Minnesota Nice right?

The light rail was packed like sardines. It was hot, it was claustrophobic and someplace around Lake Street the goddamned thing broke down. The power went out, the air went out, the lights went out and you were stuck in the weird position you were crammed into. 20 Minutes later they announced a new train was coming on the southbound track, which must have been thrilling for the people on it who now were forced to go back to the stadium while the football freaks crammed in. The whiplash on the train as it stopped and started about sent Max's Mom flying. My neck hurts.

Finally, we got to the stadium. you must walk up steps, lots of steps to get over the street then back down to get to the lines to enter. Then once you get past security, it's into this glass enclosed wonder of a stadium. Escalators to the top of the stadium with the rest of the steerage. Then up to the 2nd to the last row. Jesus, I was done. I am not moving from this seat until this damn thing is over. But there's really not a bad seat in the house. Surrounded by both Eagles and Vikings fans, we did the Skol Vikings chant, the singing of the Viking song (which I memorized by quarter 2), Skol Vikings lets win this game Skol Vikings honor your name...., Fight Fight Fight V I K I N G S Lets go. And I was in an Eagles jersey.

The Eagles looked like the Super bowl champs and won the game 28-22. It was an entertaining game; unlike Friday nights blow out. We had long TD passes, pick sixes and long ass Field Goals. You forget how good these players are, compared to college.

After the game we stood waiting for Max's Mom bathroom break. Some Vikings fan was drunk, angry and a real bro. As Eagles fans finished the E A G L E S chant, this bro said it was the gayest thing he's ever seen (yeah like Skol Vikings is so manly), and said he was gonna go beat up some "fags". I don't like that word any more than I like the N bomb and I glared at him to which the bro said "Don't look at me fag" and I realized de-escalation was probably a good idea, rather than an old man getting throttled by a guy 40 years younger. I ignored him. He went away. Back to his MAGA basement closet. 

Then came Bro #2. He reached his hand out and then did the combing his hair Fonzie deal. Then we got the double bird. Ya got us dude. Happy Days!

Fans are nuts but as Max pointed out, it was two guys out of 60,000. Yes, but why do we have to meet them every time? 

The degeneration of fan behavior I have noticed over the last few years, 9 years maybe, is getting worse. Nebraska fans are becoming the same as all. They boo teams they will beat 59-0, they boo other teams bands, they act worse and worse. We used to applaud the other team leaving the field, win or lose. That's over. Now its people screaming at the other teams, win or lose. Maybe it's a good thing to lose season tickets and watch it from a 50-yard line seat in your living room. 

Hmmm wonder what happened about 9 years ago that would cause this incivility to become commonplace. Minnesota Nice and the so-called Greatest Fans in the World has much less gravitas. 

It's a shame. Well at least nobody dropped poop on us from a fighter plane.

Driving Miss Minneapolis!

Saturday is a drive around day in Minneapolis, St Paul and every suburb known to man. The No Kings protest was huge in Minneapolis but when we got there, it was breaking up, and people were walking home. So off we went.

Driving thru Minneapolis and there, with a line of people was Matt's Bar, home of the Juicy Lucy, a hamburger full of cheese. It's famous, it's a wait of 1-2 hours and the line had nothing but Philadelphia Eagles fans looking for their cheese wiz and beef. Down the block is 38th Street and the George Floyd Memorial. Now you may think Floyd was a criminal, a counterfeiter, a druggie, a domestic abuser or anything else, but the fact remains, being murdered by a sworn Minneapolis cop is not the sentence for any of that. It is interesting to see the scene of the crime. Floyd was a lot of things, but a murderer like Derek Chauvin he was not.

The U of M campus is on both sides of the Mississippi. Rowers were out and so were protestors. Give em a quick shout out, a honk and a thumbs up and we were on our way. The campus is very nice and clean. I wonder if the frat boys had gotten over their hangovers.

St Paul is the capitol of the state. the capitol building is typical. A big white capitol that looks like this.

Back to the Mall to find the plaques that identify where certain things were at the old Met. Metropolitan Stadium was on the site of the former home of the Twins and the Vikings. It took a while and that Mall was still hotter than hell but Max found them.

I went to the Met once in 1967. I found it so cool. Being a child, anything would be cool. I'm sure the Met turned into a dump, but nonetheless, the Met could never have been as big of a shithole as that Metrodome turned out to be. A gigantic cement tomb. It is also gone. US Bank Stadium is there now, home of the Vikings. Tomorrow.  

Gooooo Gophers!

 Off to Minneapolis with the entire fam damily to watch the Huskers beat Minnesota (oops). The drive is between 5-6 hours from Omaha to the cities and seems like 5 of it is Iowa. 

The Mall of America is a giant hell hole. It's levels high, it's huge, it's full of people of all stripes, and it's hot as hell. But man, do you get your steps in. We killed off time before the hotel would let us check in without charging us $40 for being early. 

The game was at the Huntingdon Bank stadium on the campus of the U of M. The light rail (gawd I wish we had one here) is a quick and easy way to get around the cities. The stadium is newer, it does have steps, but it also has seat backs. Lots of Husker fans were there to watch our victory and bowl eligibility game. Whoops! Minnesota dominated the game from beginning to end. The Huskers got slapped around and it was pathetic to watch but Go Big Red always.

Notes from Game

There was an older Minnesota fan sitting across the aisle and whether he was all there or not is debatable. Every single play he would exclaim in the most Fargo like accent...."Gooooo Goooophers!  Yes, every play. I guess they heard him.

After the debacle was over, leaving the venue, here comes the drunken frat boys, decked out on Gopher hoodies and chanting "Fuck Nebraska"! Ok boys, but you've beat us 6 years in a row so act like ya been there. You're a better program than us and have been for years. But the frat boys needed to be de-escalated because they looked like they were lookin for a fight. High fiving the winners seems to work as they changed from "Fuck Nebraska" to "I like your sweatshirt" with a fist bump. Another band of drunks decided to give Max shit for wearing an old 15 jersey. "Hey man its Raiola, how many tampons you got in?" Max responded 8 (which at the time was the number of sacks he endured) and said "I can barely walk". Playing along and taking your lumps is always the best strategy. Not like me in 1976 when Iowa State fans got into it with us and we went to jail for a few hours. Those days are over.

The stadium has the greatest popcorn ever at a sporting event. It's movie theater like in many ways. Both in taste and price. 

Minnesota's band is solid. They have a top 5 fight song, the Rouser, and they have a great mascot, Goldy Gopher. I could easily become a Minnesota fan if I lived there. It's a fun atmosphere.  

Watch Out ICE! It's a Frog!

 As Portland "burns", invaded by T Rex's and frogs and unicorns and cats and wiener dogs, Trump the Impaler blowhards himself into a alleged "peace deal" that's really nothing more than a ceasefire and the completion of a real estate deal between Jared Kushner, Bibi Netanyahu and Donald Trump. Gaza is destroyed by choice. Tens of thousands of Palestinians are dead, including children, buildings are in rubble, and the opportunity is there for real estate worms to move in and develop. Develop of course means catering to the rich at the expense of the poor. So excuse me if I don't get all fuzzy inside because the murder has stopped for a day or two. And by murder, I mean October 7th AND the utter destruction of Gaza. One was a planned attack on innocents by a gang of terrorists, and the other was a planned attack on innocents by a US supplied war machine led by a crooked politician desperate to stay out of jail. Sound familiar? 1200 died on Oct 7 and tens of thousands died in the revenge, 99% of whom had nothing to do with the Oct 7 murders. Sounds fair (eye roll). 

ICE, some with swastika tattoos, continue to keep their stuffed into locker in middle school revenge tour by smashing into cars, provoking people dressed as mascots, chasing down people who've been her 30 years, arresting guys who spent 45 years in prison wrongfully convicted, and being general assholes. Theres not a doubt in my mind that these thugs were hired by Secretary Ice Barbie to crack heads and further the J6 coup by violence with a badge. Noem is an asshole for sure, but her photo ops prove it. She is truly performing for that audience of one, Stephen Miller, to impress upon him her hatred of all that is not white. She's been banned from South Dakota Lakota reservation for chrissakes because she's such a bigot. So fuck ICE and fuck Kristi Noem.

Deranged ass kisser, Grindr Mike Johnson, has nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 along with some Knesset Kiss Ass/ Christ, Grindr Mike it's a two-day old "ceasefire" that has a slim to none chance of holding. Now some of us know that Joe Biden started this ball rolling, freeing 105 hostages in 2023, and when this one fails, they'll blame Biden somehow. Johnson is absolutely the worst Speaker of the House ever, in fact he's not even Speaker, he's just Trump's bag man who does whatever he's told by President Miller. Grindr Mike, a man of many secrets, refuses to swear in the newest member of the House, an Arizona Democrat named Adelita Grijalva recently elected, because she would be the 218th House member to demand the vote on the Epstein list. And being a pedo protector, Johnson continues to do the devils work on his road to Hades.

Finally, J D Vance. A fast-talking con artist without a principle in his body. He went on various shows this last Sunday to further fascism and lying about everything else. Asked by George Stephanopoulos if Tom Homan, the human migraine, accepted $50K in a fast-food bag days before the election for influence peddling. Vance, who lies just as easily as Trump, wouldn't answer and launched into the biased press bullshit. But George wouldn't let him get away with it, asking him 2 more times until as Vance lied and bobbed and weaved yet again. As the third dodge began, George S cut him off and said well he's not answering the question and cut the feed leaving Vance to go on other shows and face less dangerous opponents who refuse to stand up to these guys. 

Vance, who called Trump "Hitler" in 2016 and was way ahead of us, is as unlikable of a lunkhead than maybe any politician alive. Well, anyone with an average IQ that is. Vance who answers questions like he's selling you siding or gutters, ya know throws your first name into every sentence to show how much he cares about you, is just so full of shit he should have been a window salesman, he could have taken every penny from those hillbillies he allegedly grew up with. But what Vance doesnt get is Peter Thiels money can't keep him from himself. A dishonest empty soul who can shape shift to whatever he needs to be. So despite being Thiel's bitch, Vance cannot survive being the top of the mountain. He's appalling to most people who recognize con men when they see one. And when on top, EVERYONE sees you, not just gullible Ohioans. 

Legally Bondi!

Oh my. Pamzilla appeared before the Senate Oversight Committee armed to the teeth with oppo research on every Democratic Senator who had the audacity to ask questions. She rolled her eyes, insulted them, made up shit they'd done, made up contributions to Democrats by donors related to Epstein, stayed silent, defended her boss and did everything BUT answer questions. Pam Bondi would be the worst lawyer in any other regime, but isn't the worst because of the existence of Alina Habba Do and Lindsey Halligan, not to mention Todd Blanche. She isn't anything other than a mob lawyer keeping the wolves at bay from her mob boss employer. She is the Attorney General for all the people. Stop while I guffaw. Bondi is a dumpster fire, and nobody is going to put her out. As long as she's in office, existing as a street tough doing the mobsters revenge, she's a joke. She accepted a $25000 bribe  campaign contribution from Trump while serving as AG in Floriduh to keep her from indicting the fraud Trump over his fraud Trump University. We all know what she is and are just haggling over price now.

Meanwhile the beauty queen lawyer, Lindsey Halligan, appointed as US Attorney for Virginia because the Godfather thinks she's hot, and willing to do whatever he wants, justified or not, has indicted former FBI head James Comey for something. She's an idiot insurance lawyer who has never tried a case and boy does it show. She was castigated by a judge for being so incompetent she couldn't even file paperwork correctly for the indictment of Comey. Comey, who has the best lawyers in DC, should have no problem beating this rap. Halligan is so dumb she filed a court document setting the trial date for Jan 5, 2025, 9 months ago. This is the real men in women's sports argument. She's about to be crushed.

The Godfather Don, who just has to have a roundtable every week in which his cabinet kisses his ass, leaving their self-respect at the door, is just sitting there glowing in the praise, hitting on any hot chick he lets in the door. Yesterday it was table full of "independent journalists" also known as right wing grifters paid to further the regimes bullshit. Total frauds like Andy Ngo (Trump fell asleep listening to this dullard), Jack Posobiec and some Seattle grifter who claimed Trump had turned her views around right before he told her how attractive she was. Others like Savanah Hernandez from TPUSA and Katie Daviscourt, a blonde Post Millennial "reporter" who dressed like she had been hired as an escort for an orange businessman. And Nick Sortor, a grifter who followed Secretary Swizzle Stick Noem all over hell documenting her idiocy, insisting there is actually an Antifa, dressed as a frog perhaps? Pathetic

Finally, ICE continues on their revenge tour of Chicago and Portland and LA. Thugs, untrained clowns, right wing whackjobs and horribly nasty men who'd been stuffed into lockers in middle school are the ICE base. Cheered on by bigots and assholes but fortunately met with resistance by the people, these jokers are failing miserably at Stephen Millers 3500 people a day bounty. 10, 11 or 12 of them at a time chasing grandfathers into coffee shops to earn their bounty, shooting people who get in the way, and pepper balling priests yet they claim to be under assault. Oh yeah, they are ICE, a bunch of incompetent snowflakes who soon will learn "I was just following orders" aint gonna work as a defense. 

This country is being run by a bald little worm named Stephen Miller. This Miller is perhaps the most powerful Nazi to ever be that close to the Presidency. The day he goes to prison cannot come soon enough.

Herb Alpert!

 If you are a child of the 60's you couldn't get away from radio hits by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. And you liked them. The poppy trumpet and the rest of the Brass. Now of course we know that there never really was a Tijuana Brass as he used session musicians yet who cared?

Alpert brought his latest version of the Brass to Omaha last night to perform in front of a full house. The crowd was lively, shouted out questions, stood and applauded way too much for a guy with a bad knee and loved every second of it.

Alpert is 90 years old, looks great, plays great, moves great and tells stories like a fun Grandpa. Beginning with The Lonely Bull , Alpert went right into action Above the band was a giant screen that showed old tapes of 1960s shows in which Herb Alpert appeared on, commercials that featured Alpert's music (Tea Berry gum), old music videos of the brass playing in bullrings, racetracks, on the beach, and onstage. It was a fascinating watch from the aspect of a kid from the 60's. Johnny Carson, the Dating Game, Rowan and Martin among others.

All the hits were played, many of which I'd forgotten about. Whipped Cream (Alpert has a great story about that album cover which apparently got some loudmouth in the crowd "through puberty") Spanish Flea, Love Potion #9, This Guys In Love With You (another great story) Rise, Smile, Tijuana Taxi, Mexican Shuffle. The songs are all there.

As an added bonus, the former lead singer of Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66, Lani Hall, was brought out to sing short snippets of their hits. Oh yeah, she is also Herb Alperts wife of 52 years. Another great story of how they met, how he ordered the Brass to stay away from Brasil 66's women singers during a tour so he could have Lani to himself. He's so great at weaving a story together unlike other old men we are subjected to.

This legend is 90 years old. If you get a chance, this concert is a must. You'll be smiling for 90 minutes.

The Week That Was!

The invasion of America has hit a new concern. Portland, Memphis, Chicago, Los Angeles and every Home Depot in this nation has been invaded by Trumps goons, ICE. The Mango Mussolini has doubled down by sending National Guard troops into American cities that didn't vote for this fragile Ego'd little bitch. The results are predictable. Since there is no attack on ICE in any of these places, lets manufacture one by unleashing these J6ers, Proud Boys and just plain thugs onto the normal people who say no more of this fascist shit. They march out like little goosestepping pretend soldiers, adorned in gas masks, slapping their night sticks into their hands, and flak jackets and when nothing happens, they attack the protesters. This results in videos of goons beating up hippies, appealing to the Archie Bunkers still alive, and thus, the hey what's the context questions. They show old WW II footage to the Idiot in Chief, tell him its (fill in the blank) city, he buys it and then Stephen Miller takes a break from eating mice, and orders the baboons in cool uniforms to wherever to bust heads. Then Miller takes a break from jacking off to Holocaust videos to manufacture a new "crisis". The day these pieces of dung go before a court and get life will be a great day.

Meanwhile, Pete the Drunken Dingleberry Hegseth takes a break from homoerotic speeches to Generals to bring out videos of American fighter pilots killing Venezuelan fishermen or leisure boaters by blowing them out of the water. Many of them were heading for port, not to the US to force fentanyl down your poor kid's throat. These are war crimes of course, as the evidence that these people were drug runners is nonexistent. But Hegseth just keeps showing them, which I'm sure makes him think of hairless buff shirtless men that definitely are not gay (SNL credit), and gets his Christian nationalist crank all hard. The day this guy goes before a court will be a great day.

Kash Patel, the Twitter troll, and head of the FBI has become even more incompetent as his reign of error continues. Patel was hired, along with his fellow podcasting prick, Dan Bingo Bongo, to get into bum fights with Democratic Congresspeople for maximum Fox and Newsmax exposure to appease the base of monkeys. Patel has recently ended FBI cooperation with the Anti-Defamation League, the Southern Poverty Law Center because of woke or some such shit. This means when one of those organizations comes to the FBI with credible threats from racists, anti-semites, or your general psychotic loser, Patel and Bingo will ignore it. Thus, I assume the FBI will also not take seriously what White People Are Superior groups tell them about phony Antifa and BLM activities. Yeah sure. Patel's job is to protect white nationalists aka the MAGA base. 

Meanwhile, the Tiffany Network, home of Murrow and Cronkite and Friendly, under the orders of Skydance Paramount Plus pussies, have hired Bari Weiss, a disgruntled New York Times reject, to run its editorial department. Weiss is one of those frauds that suddenly realized that grifting MAGA is lucrative and ranted about cancel culture and woke. Oh the golden oldies never fail with dummies. Weiss caught the eye of the Ellisons, David and Larry, as they buy up American media to further the conservative con job. And now this right wing grifter will be stuffing the billionaire me me me culture into CBS News. Pretty soon we will be seeing anchors like Beanie Boy Tim Pool and "reporters" like Andy Ngo and Benny Johnson spewing the regime bullshit. I guess it's good the only people who watch network news any longer are old and on their way out. Like Larry Ellison.

The shutdown continues with the GOP going full Goebbels by telling a lie often enough that people start believing it. Not since the Volkischer Beobachter has a government spewed more bullshit. The Democrats want to spend a trillion dollars on illegals health care. Put forth by every GOP weasel still shilling for this Goon in Chief, this is utter garbage. They know it but outright lying, not the usual spinning, is the new GOP way. Up is down, in is out, Antifa is fascist, and a Nazi salute is a "Roman salute". Some of them when confronted with their lies go back to spinning. Illegals go to ER, have no money, and the taxpayers get stuck with the bill. Not exactly a trillion, and not even true, but the let em bleed out on the street or die of disease argument really isn't a winner. Well at least with normal people with a heart. Those kind of folks don't death threat any politician who strays from the cruelty platform.

Finally whooping cough, measles, typhoid, tuberculosis and soon smallpox I'm sure are back. As parents listen to their internet kook "research" and that gravel eating RFK Jr, about the "herd immunity" trash we've heard for years, back then from hippie weirdos, and now from dumb Magats AND hippie weirdos, back off from vaccines for their runny nosed kids. The spread of dead diseases, long thought gone, one of humanity's greatest achievements, is back. Red States like Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Missouri and Louisiana have outbreaks of these diseases. Congrats rubes. It's almost back to when America was great. 

We are fucked.

The Outsiders!

 The touring company of the Outsiders has come to Omaha before launching nationally next week. They call this a "try out" stay where the kinks and any other problems are dealt with before going national. You'd never know judging from this musical performance tonight.

Based on the S E Hinton novel and the 1983 movie, the story involves 1967 Tulsa where the city is divided by East, where the greasers live, and the West where the "soc's" or rich kids live. Whenever they catch the other on their side of town, fights ensue.

The main characters include Pony Boy (a fantastic Nolan White), his love struck kinda dumb brother Soda Pop (Corbin Drew Ross as a great straight man) and the oldest brother Darell (the glue of the play Travis Roy Rogers), Pony Boy's best friend Johnny Cade (Bonale Fambrini in a great understated role), the New York bred Dallas Winston (Tyler Jordan Wesley in another great performance) and Cherry Valance, the soc with a brain and a heart (a wonderful Emma Hearn).

The story is familiar. The greasers, the poor kids made fun of by the soc's, just want to be left alone to go to movies and malls on the west side but cannot because they get attacked if they are found. Johnny Cade is beaten to a pulp and seems to know his days are numbered. Pony Boy tries to keep him together while at the same time making an attempt to keep his brothers supportive. But Pony Boy is wracked with guilt over his parents' deaths he feels he could have prevented. The play involves this guilt turning to rage and the killing of the main soc, a brutal rich kid, by Johnny. The run from the law, the turning the kids into heroes saving children from a fire, resulting in the death of Johnny. There is no redemption here as in the opening song states, this is the way its always gonna be.

The music is good but there is a lot of copying from other musicals here. I heard Hamilton, Hadestown and Grease type music which does come together. The songs are good, the lyrics are great, and the stage presence is phenomenal. There is a scene of a rumble in a park, done in slow motion with rain pouring down, with bright lights signifying what's it like being knocked out. Its superb choreography, maybe the best I've seen in years. Another scene when the soc's try and drown Pony Boy, complete with sound effects and the sense of drowning onstage is also so great. 

But the truly great moment in the Tony Award winning musical is the goodbye song of Dallas Winston. Tyler Wesley knocks this moment out of the park. But it's ended and Pony Boy's narration takes over, denying Wesley of any applause. That was awkward but he got his due during the curtain call.

The first act is very good. The second act is great. A solid two hours of fun, sadness and wonder. This cast of young up and comers, many making their touring debuts, have no weak spots. They all act and sing like wily veterans. 

On the negative side. Not much, but when Pony Boy bleaches his hair blonde and they tell him he looks like Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry, sorry but as Max's Mom pointed out, he looks more like Beavis. Thats all the bad I got.

In conclusion, if you get the chance by all means attend this awesome musical. I expected not much and got more than I expected. That is the definition of a great experience.

Bravo! And stay gold Pony Boy.