Chabert Watch: Hometown Legend (2002)

Watched:  12/05/2025

Format:  DVD

Viewing:  First

Director:  James Anderson (I fully believe this is an Alan Smithee name for someone)

Editor's note:  we've decided to Thelma and Louise our way through the remaining Chabert filmography.  I've been looking to see if I can find the Chabert films I haven't seen yet via very cheap used copies or online one way or another.  This one set me back about $6.10.

First, this DVD, purchased as "used" from a Goodwill had never been opened.  Not since the movie was released in, like, 2003 on DVD.  It was wrapped in some sort of transport wrap from the seller, then the original shrink wrap, and THEN still had the vertical AND horizontal security stickers across the packaging intact.

This movie was produced by a Christian production company and some involved are still in movies.  As I bought this on a 2000's-era DVD, it has bonus features including a full Director's commentary I really want to listen to.  But, more importantly, there's all kinds of bonus content about Jerry B. Jenkins - which the DVD itself says is the most famous writer you never heard of.  Apparently he's the mastermind behind this movie?  And (deep sigh) the guy who wrote the Left Behind books.  And a bunch of other stuff.  This seems to be the Jenkins family parlaying their book money into movies.

But, yeah, he essentially uses the bonus features to promote himself.  Amazing choice.

Maintenance Post: Work, Sports, Comics and TV

Let Emmylou be my co-pilot

Hey all.  

The pic above is just the new pooch, Emmylou.  No news there.  I just like my dog, and y'all won't click if there's no picture.

It's not a secret that this here blog is used for many things, but that I've moved more personal stuff back to League of Melbotis.  Should you wonder - nothing in particular personal is keeping me from blogging - it's just that this site is mostly movies, and I haven't watched many movies of late.  

Why?

Well - I have a fairly recent new job and this last week was a crunch week.  It wasn't miserable - I kind of liked it, honestly.  But I also was tired and not in the mood for movies, exactly, at the end of each day.  And my days were starting at 7:30 this week and ending around 9:30 PM.  With large breaks for dinner, but nonetheless, stopping for a 2-hour movie wasn't really in the cards.

Comics

I've been reading comics again at a greater pace.  This summer was DC's Summer of Superman which saw a lot of Superman material put out in celebration of the movie and to monetize casual fan interest.  But we're also completionists, so this summer has not been awesome on my wallet.  

Action Comics and Superman were already pretty good titles of late, but I feel like the titles are in a wave where now is a very good time to be reading Superman comics.  We also have a new Supergirl title that is *very* promising, the confusing Power Girl title is disappearing (I have a few issues, and... no thanks), and we're getting everything from original graphic novels to Treasury Editions (love those) to mini series and one-shots out right now.  Include a Krypto The Superdog mini.  

Sports

This summer I've also been watching a lot of Cubs baseball and WNBA, as mentioned over at the other blog.  Cubs are gonna Cub, and after a remarkable first half of the season, we're now struggling, and will never catch the Brewers for the NLC title at this point (f'ing Brewers, man).  

And the WNBA has been a trip to watch.  There aren't that many teams, so I've been keeping up with a few, which means I've watched all the teams at least twice.  Dallas has a player as good as Caitlin Clark. Paige Buckner, but it will take a while to build a team around her.  Caitlin Clark has been injured all season - and I doubt she'll play again in 2025 - but the Indiana Fever have brought in reinforcements who have made them play-off eligible.  But those players, too, have been victims of injury.  Similarly, the Golden State Valkyries have been plagued with injury, taking out stars Kayla Thornton and Monique Billings.  It's a rough season.  

Oddly, I've kind of fallen into the New York Liberty camp.  Did not see that coming, but here we are.  I kind think they're the most fun to watch, as Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones rule, Natasha Cloud makes it seem effortless while absolutely delivering, and when she's healthy, Breanna Stewart is dynamite.  But YMMV. 

I have a few beefs with the WNBA as a league, from player exhaustion, to how flopping has made playing inside almost impossible, to horrendous reffing across the board (which has led to the flopping to no small degree), but overall - it's good basketball.  And rather than pick a team, I've more or less just found favorites on several teams, and watch *a lot*.  Up to 5 or 6 games per week.

We'll see what happens in the playoffs, but it's hard not to the Lynx are just going to crush everyone.

Television

We've watched all of Derry Girls, and the latest season of The Bear.  We started King of the Hill and Poker Face,  and I'm watching The Yogurt Shop Murders doc series on HBO, and Alien: Earth on Hulu.  I'll do posts on those last two.  

This week, I think Jamie has agreed to some JLC watching and I may go see Freakier Friday.  

Ryne Sandberg Merges With The Infinite

Hall of Famer baseball player and beloved Cub favorite Ryne "Ryno" Sandberg has passed.

Sandberg played for the Cubs through the 1980's and 1990's, and during those days when I'd watch on WGN, he was one of the names I recall, even as a kid who knew nothing at all about baseball.

Sandberg was a Golden Glove second baseman, and was one of the best players the Cubs has seen since the heyday of Ernie Banks in the 1950's.  He played until 1997, racking up all sorts of very baseball-ish records and stats, and was only the fourth Cub in the team's storied history to have his number retired.  

For years, Sandberg sort of drifted around as all star players do in retirement, coaching, managing, trying his hand at baseball columns and whatnot.  And, befitting his beloved position in Chicago, has been a goodwill ambassador for about a decade.

Sadly, he passed on July 28th at the age of 65.

Sandberg is just a beloved figure around The Friendly Confines, and he'll never be forgotten.  

Chabert Watch: Off-Season - The Lex Morrison Story (2013)

Watched:  05/22/2025

Format:  Amazon

Viewing:  First

Director:  Steven K. Tsuchida

I did not have NBA-player Vanity Project down on my Chabert bingo card, but here we are.

Look, I didn't like Rick Fox when he played for the Celtics and rolled my eyes when he went to LA.  I liked him less when he married America's precious angel, Vanessa Williams.  He became dead to me when he divorced Williams.

How dare you, Rick.

So, yeah, I was immediately not excited about this when I realized this movie was about Rick Fox wanting to be in a comedy and throwing money at it until it was a reality.

I have no idea what this movie is.  It looks like a TV movie, but I can't figure out who it's for.  It feels very much like people goofing in front of a camera more than a TV show or movie.  

late edit:  I forgot the casual racism toward Asian people.  It was incredibly yikes and all out of Fox's mouth.

The story is that Our Hero is part of the PR team for an NBA team.  He's assigned to keep an eye on Lex Morrison (Fox) over the summer and get him in shape for the next season.  If he doesn't, he'll be fired.  Lex is, of course, wacky and out of control and not living up to his potential.  We are continually told Lex is in bad shape, but he is Rick Fox.  

Our lead guy, Zack Lively, is probably fine.  But weirdly and wildly bland.  He has a sort of partner-in-crime who is asked to play doofy/zany very, very broadly, and feels like a high school kid doing improv.  

I guess Fox was dating Eliza Dushku when the movie was made, so she's in it as a brief supporting role, and she's honestly the funniest part of the movie.  

There's a subplot about Lacey Chabert as a sports reporter who our lead wants to date.  Chabert does not embarrass herself.  Which I can't say for pretty much everyone else.

The movie was not for me.  But it was short at 75 minutes.  

But it is entertaining seeing them try to frame Rick Fox and Lacey Chabert in the same shot.

Also, this movie seems to be about how much Rick Fox didn't like living in Boston.  It's very weird.

My suspicion is that Rick Fox just thought this idea was good and wanted to have his own Hollywood project (he does appear in TV and movies) and decided he could be in a comedy, so he spent some of his Lakers money and made it.  He has the Executive Producer credit, and it's budgeted at $650K, so he could have easily financed it, especially using his own house as the set for half of the movie, if that is his place.  Write-offs, ahoy.

Noir Watch: The Set-Up (1949)

we always stan Totter and Ryan

Watched:  04/21/2025

Format:  Noir Alley on TCM

Viewing:  fourth?  fifth?

Director:  Robert Wise

It's been years since I watched The Set-Up (1949), and while reading Eddie Muller's new book, an updated Dark City Dames - a collection of bios of several stars of the noir movement, I was pondering rewatching it when TCM's Noir Alley showcase went ahead and programmed the film for last weekend.  

It's no secret we're fans of stars Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter, or director Robert Wise.  But because Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter aren't really household names, and it's a grimy boxing picture of its surface, I'm not shocked if you haven't heard of or seen this one.  

The film comes in at a taught, trim 73 minutes.  And, novel for its era, the movie unspools in an approximation of real-time - taking place in one night of crisis for an aging boxer and his wife, who can't take watching him get beaten every night.  Not anymore.

George Foreman Merges With The Infinite

This man of God is gonna also put you down for a 10-count

Boxer, father of many Georges, enthusiastic grill monger, Olympian, minister and generally good guy, George Foreman has passed.

Back in the 1990's, former 2-time Heavyweight Champion boxer (back when boxing was something we all kind of followed), George Foreman, became a staple of television as he began to market the George Foreman Grill.  I doubt many folks could tell you about Foreman's more famous bouts, but everyone knew that the grill was reasonably priced, could be used indoors, and let the fat just drip right out of your food and into a washable plastic tray.

Did I have one?  You know I did, and I used it on the regular from circa 1999-2007.

Foreman's boxing career is extraordinary.  He earned the Heavyweight Title in the 1970's, retired, became a man in the community and became a minister.  In the 80's, he came back in his late 30's and in the early 90's secured the Heavyweight title again, whilst in his 40's.  

Foreman and Ali in Zaire

Y'all can read up on it, because it reads like a movie.  Not least of which was Foreman's near-death experience and immediate religious conversion.  He became a minister and made a lot of difference to folks in the Houston area and beyond.

George Foreman was a lot of personality, like a lot of boxers of his generation (see: Ali).   And in the 2000's-era, generally just a beloved figure.  

I'm genuinely sad he's gone.  

Hackman Watch: Hoosiers (1986)

Watched:  03/17/2025

Format:  Prime

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  David Anspaugh

So, this movie was a staple for us middle-school basketball boys in the 1980's.  I watched it a lot during a certain period in my life, but I don't think I've seen it since those magical days of knowing "I am not very good at this, but I am tall".  We are now, of course, further from the release of the film than the movie was from the period in which it occurs.  Because I am old.  And tired.

I'll say it:  Hoosiers (1986) is an odd movie.  It stars three actors who were big at the time - Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey and Dennis Hopper - but almost everyone else is local Indiana talent.  It's also a basketball movie that focuses on the coach and gives backstory to 1.5 players out of 8.  I couldn't tell you the names of half the players.  One of our main players, the star, has maybe three lines. It also has the burden of having some unspoken issues with race that just sail on by, and were uncomfortable when I saw it as a kid in 1986.

Hackman is, of course, perfect.  As a basketball coach dealing with a past where he had a moment of absolute failure - take heed fans of Bobby McKnight - he's getting a second chance to do what he loves.  It just happens to be out here in the middle of nowhere with half the players he needs and placed in a small town that thinks coaching is a democracy.  

Holidaze Watch: Holiday Touchdown - a Chiefs Love Story (2024)

Watched:  12/01/2024

Format:  Hallmark

Viewing:  First

Director:  John Putch

When Hallmark announced its slate of 2024 Christmas movies, it was a bit of an eyebrow raiser that they had this one on the docket.  Holiday Touchdown: A Chief's Love Story (2024) seemed like it was just begging for trouble in some ways.  

Usually, Hallmark avoids discussing real-world things, even naming specific teams, if sports are mentioned at all.  Of course, we figured the movie would echo the Taylor Swift/ Jason Kelce romance - something even I know about, and I don't follow the NFL, the Chiefs or Taylor Swift.*   So, to base an entire movie around the fact the Kansas City Chiefs, one of America's most discussed professional football teams has a player in a famous, tabloidy romance, seemed kind of wacky.  

But, heads up - the movie does not acknowledge, reference or spoof the celebrity couple. In fact, the movie is in no way about either a musician or a player at all, not even an assistant coach.  

Stuart, who is KC based, has informed me that Hallmark is headquartered in Kansas City, which I didn't know - so the pieces for why Hallmark went all in on a movie that would feature Andy Reid in a cameo kind of snapped into place.  Loving your football team is, by far, not the worst reason to make a movie.  (if someone made a movie about the University of Texas Longhorns, of course I'd watch)

The plot is, not surprisingly, whisper thin.  Instead, it exists as one part pro-Chiefs propaganda, one part family comedy about a football loving family, and one part absolute nonsense Christmas Hallmark film.  

The idea is that football is what unites us and gives us common ground and something to discuss, which is true.**  Sports are not inherently bad, no matter how many wedgies you got in high school.

Anyhoo, the movie is a soft sell.  So soft, in fact, that the story is about a missing hat.  Like, someone said "so what is the plot of this movie, now that the Chiefs agreed to it?" and Dumb Dave in the corner said "I like hats" and they made that movie, because it doesn't matter.  You know the guy and girl will fall in love, and Kansas City Chiefs will be omnipresent as a force for good.  Why not make the problem a hat?

Paralympics 2024

Ezra Frech won Gold in High Jump (and, I think, the 100m)

Like most folks, I suspect, every time the Summer or Winter Olympics came on, I'd see the ads for the Paralympics, and have good intentions and zero follow through.  The only time I remember watching anything was in a bar, but I can't even remember what year that might have been.  

But, coming off the high of the 2024 Olympics, and with no Track and Field to watch,* I figured "hey - more Olympics".  And, "hey, more Olympics" is how the Paralympics is pitched on TV.  And that's not entirely wrong or a bad way to frame it.

Add to that the viral stardom of Olympic track star Tara Davis-Woodhall and her husband, Paralympian runner Hunter Woodhall, and I think people got the poke they needed to remember to tune in. Team USA social media kicked into gear, and Paralympians and Olympians made a lot of noise online about the games (and continue to do so.)  Also, NBC really has made it easy this year to watch if you got Peacock.

So, we watched a good chunk of the Opening Ceremonies, and I watched some Wheelchair Rugby (aka: Murderball).  And then a little other coverage the first night, but we'd been to a play, so it wasn't much.  But I've been trying to watch more.  Especially track and field, because that's how I roll.  But I've watched archery, Blind Soccer, Table Tennis (doubles!), swimming and more.  

The Opening Ceremonies were subdued compared to the bombastic opening of the Olympics, but were lovely, if more traditional in form.  Lots of music, dancing, mascots, marching, pageantry.  Fewer mysterious Joan of Arcs coming down the Seine in a blaze of glory and less Gojira.  More "here is a meaningful dance about being a Paralympian".  

The overall coverage of the summer games for Paralympics 2024 is maybe a format NBC could consider for the Olympics.  It's almost all highlights - so it's all thriller, little filler - and that's better for me as a viewer than NBC's primetime coverage.  For example, I am bored to tears by Olympic diving.  And yet, every Olympics, I have to watch people flip off a board without somehow first saying "Mom!  Mom!  Look!  Look what I can do!"  But the Paralympic coverage on USA is just whipping around.  "Hey!  Check out this crazy table tennis match!  Now, there's blind long-distance jumping!  Now, 200m foot race!  Oh, look, a 4x50 swim relay!"  I mean, it ain't dull.

Conclusion: Paris Olympics - Summer 2024

Gold Medalists Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Tara Davis-Woodhall

It's been a ride!  

I've always paid attention to the Olympics, but I'd describe the approach at League HQ this go-round as "laser focused".  We took off, I think, only one or two nights to do other things, but still caught what we were trying to catch via replay.

Here, at the end of more than 14 days of sport - 16 days from open to close, plus preliminary rounds - I feel a bit like a kid at the end of camp.  It's a brief, intense experience, and you want to hang onto the vibe.  But part of that vibe is knowing:  be happy it happened v. being sad it ended.  I don't think I could live in a world where the sport I was watching was interrupted by diving coverage for 45 unwanted minutes every day.*

Summer Olympics 2024 Cont'd

Gabby Thomas takes Gold in the 200m!

It's more or less been all-Olympics, all-the-time here at The Signal Watch.  

We've moved into Track and Field, which - sometime about 16 years ago - became my favorite part of the Olympics.  The "Athletics" or "Track and Field" portion of the Olympics - racing, throwing things, jumping... always feels, to me, like what I came here for.  I was annoying Jamie by watching the trials earlier this year.  I am invested in the success of Sha'Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles.  I want to see Gabby Thomas run like hell and Ryan Crouser hurl a shotput further than is reasonable.

We can watch swimming and thrill to 800 meters under water, but... a very small part of me also sees the monitors in sport coats walking along the edge of the pool at the same rate as the fastest swimmer in the world.  So, give me someone on the blocks and a starter pistol and less than ten seconds, and that's why I pay the price of admission.

And some times it's real, real close.

Olympics Broadcast Summer 2024 (so far)

We've been having fun watching the Olympics.  Gymnastics, soccer, basketball, and beach volleyball are my main things to follow.  But I've been all over the map checking out everything from Equestrian to Fencing (did you see that venue?  Holy cats.)  

Hot tip:  US soccer looks good!  Also both women's beach volleyball teams.  And I think we have really good teams for both basketball squads.

Men's gymnastics was a show stopper Monday evening.  Really good stuff.

I'm Gen-X, so my memory of the Olympics from growing up - really starting with the 1984 LA-based games - was that you essentially got 3 or so hours of coverage in primetime.  There was definitely daytime coverage on the weekends, but I can't recall if they showed daytime games during the week.  Viewers were more or less at the mercy of what the networks wanted to show.  And they showed swimming, women's gymnastics and then some track (I remember Carl Lewis and FloJo very well).  

I think it was 1992 that someone cooked up the idea to make the Olympics pay-per-view and that went over like a lead balloon.  For you kids, it's somewhat like renting a movie in Amazon Prime, but imagine having to place a phone call and pay someone $15 over the phone - and it's showing in real time.  Apparently viewership slipped and the carriers were criticized for trying to make profits *this way*.

But, yeah, the old broadcast model was partly great, partly irritating.  I got to see some amazing moments - I watched Mary Lou Retton live!  But every Olympics, you'd know there were dozens of other things happening you could be watching, but - instead - you'd have to sit through package after package about athletes who would then, inevitably, not do very well.  Or you'd be watching swimmers stand around for ten minutes - and then NBC would say "oh, and by the way, this amazing thing happened in Pentathalon, but you'll never see it.  But we did, and it was greeaaat.  Oh, well.".

I didn't and don't understand the self-fulfilling prophecy of "Americans like only these four things" they used to/ somewhat continue to do every Olympics.

Summer 2024 Games Begin - Opening Ceremony

Things I didn't know I needed:  a chorus of beheaded Marie Antoinettes singing along with French metal band, Gojira, reminding the world that France knows a little something about liberté, égalité, fraternité - and that France hasn't forgotten that liberté sometimes comes with a bad end for tyrants. 

The Paris Summer Games Opening Ceremony has officially (and finally) raised the bar for what is possible for a 4-hour long broadcast that has, now seen every two years thanks to Summer and Winter Games, become a bit of a slog.  

Rather than the usual attempt to do interpretive dance numbers that serves both an arena and a television audience and fails both, followed by hours of anonymous athletes walking in a big circle - Paris put the athletes on a variety of boats and shipped them down the Seine to the Eiffel Tower, making it more of a floating parade.  A sort of narrative was created with pre-recorded videos of what I think can best be described as "Assassin's Creed torch bearer parkouring their way across the city".  And then songs and dance along the river.  In the brief moment they included children, there was less a sense of wonder and, instead, a crocodile attack and a tour of the catacombs.

Vive la France!

Zut Alors! It's Time for the Paris Olympics

Well, you'll definitely see a lot less in the way of movies the next few weeks.  Here at The Signal Watch, we are fans of the Olympic Games, both Summer and Winter, and will tend to watch whatever we can.

That said, we've got Peacock - and it looks to be the best bet.  Looking at the menu over on The 'Cock, they have amazing coverage planned with a menu telling you what all the sports will be, and when.  And, I am sure, all of them will be available asynchronously.

I can guarantee I'll watch:

• Soccer/ Futbol
• Beach Volleyball
• Track and Field - all events
• so looking forward to seeing our sprinters - we were great at trials
• Table Tennis
• Swimming
• Gymnastics - need to get a box of Wheaties to see if they're on there (yay, Simone Biles!)

But I'll watch pretty much everything!

Don't forget:

• Dressage - horse dancing
• Breakdancing
• Handball
• Archery
• Basketball
• Pentathlon

This year the opening ceremonies will be in the middle of the day on Friday with evening replays.  My belief is that the parade of athletes is taking place on a flotilla coming down the Seine.  

It's gonna be a hell of a show.  My belief right now is Beach Volleyball will be played in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.  They're really using the city as a backdrop.

My default is to cheer for the US, then Mexico and Canada, then randomly cheer for whomever I feel like.  

Mostly I cheer against any announcers who think it's s good question to ask an athlete how they feel about not getting the gold.  Them, I hope a boom mic hits them in the face.

Anyway, let's go, Team USA!  

Sports Watch: Moneyball (2011)

Watched:  02/27/2024

Format:  Netflix

Viewing:  First

Director:  Bennett Miller

Selection:  Jamie, but I was happy to do so

We're getting geared up for baseball season, so I'd expect we'll watch another baseball movie or two til the end of Spring Training and then switch over to regular Cubs-viewing.  

I hadn't seen Moneyball (2011) when it came out basically because I was busy watching other stuff.  I thought the premise - based on real-life events - seemed great.  And the aftermath of the events has wildly informed how baseball now works for MLB teams, analysts, fantasy players and even casual fans like myself trying to better understand the game (and occasionally checking on a hunch).

The basic plot of the movie is based on the 2002 season for the Oakland A's - and I can tell you now, I have zero memory of any of this happening as I didn't follow baseball at the time.  Following a great 2001 season that ends in a loss at the ALDS, the A's lose their best players and have no budget.  GM Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) sits with his scouts/ brain-trust to think about who to bring in, and he knows it will be a disaster.  Coming across a bright young man with a degree in economics and a head for SABRstatistics, Beane and Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) return to the recruiting session and put a roster down of players who are cheap, but - statistically - should be able to take the team far farther than best guesses and the weird mumbo jumbo that informs sports-think.

The team doesn't perform, and then it does.  (This is all on Wikipedia and common knowledge to A's fans, I'd guess).  

Meanwhile, Billy navigates his past and present, informing him how he should proceed.  And somehow they landed Robin Wright for what's usually a walk-on part of the ex-wife.*  

SPOILERS

Sports Watch: The Sandlot (1993)

Watched:  02/21/2024

Format:  Disney+

Viewing:  First

Director:  David Mickey Evans

Selection:  Jamie

I was wrapping up my senior year of high school when The Sandlot (1993) hit.  At the time, I was more interested in adult-oriented movies, and not at all into baseball, so the movie came and went without much notice on my part.  I'd have forgotten about it completely, but it's since become an inter-generational favorite, especially with baseball fans (which is by far the best sport to put in a movie), and has become a meme-generating perennial.  "You're killing me, Smalls" has escaped the fandom of the film and made it's way into pop culture.

Jamie pitched it for our evening viewing, and wanting to know what the hubbub was about, we gave it a whirl.

Absolutely, I was reminded of the era, circa 1980-84, when my family lived near a cul-de-sac in Spring, Texas, in the halcyon summer days when kids were kicked out of the house after breakfast, drank out of hoses, and would set up games of baseball to play all afternoon.  We used the cul-de-sac as our diamond, and our certainty we were terrible at baseball ensured we weren't putting out any windows.  My neighborhood was chock full of kids around our age, so getting a handful together to play was never a big deal.  In some ways, I was primed.

Sports Watch: Slap Shot (1977)

Watched:  02/18/2024

Format:  Amazon

Viewing:  First

Director:  George Roy Hill

Slap Shot (1977) is one of those movies that just gets repeatedly referenced and is a sort of rite-of-passage film for a lot of folks, especially big sports fans.  I've been mildly curious about the movie for a long time, but as someone who grew up in Texas, which means know exactly nothing about hockey, it just didn't connect for me before to watch the thing.  

But, the movie came up as I was sorting through back-issue bins at my local comic shop, Austin Books, as the manager is a huge film nerd and the owner is a sports buff (and I think enjoys that I am not a person who says "sportsball" who shops there).*

What I knew was the movie starred Paul Newman, Michael Ontkean and three guys who weren't pro actors who everyone talked about playing three weirdo brothers, the Hansons.  And that was about it.  Some things I could infer were that it was from that mid-70's period where it became a bit trendy in movies to make it feel like it was shot on-location and live in a bar with everyone talking.  And, to be honest, it is not to my taste, Robert Altman.  

Women's World Cup 2023 Starts

Sport is funny.  If you are paying attention to a sport, it can appear everywhere.  But the minute you tune out, it's just a thing that exists that occasionally enters your line of sight.  

I don't watch NFL or NBA anymore.  NBA made itself too hard to watch via their TV strategy, and if I'm going to spend one day a weekend watching football, it's going to be college ball. But y'all know I also spend a ridiculous amount of time watching the Cubs and now Austin FC.  

Way back in '99, I somehow got wrapped up in watching Women's World Cup.  And, honestly, it's hard to top the excitement of that WWC win.  But I don't really even remember how I tuned in, I just remember being very onboard watching the team playing a sport I fundamentally didn't understand except for "ball goes in net gets you points".  

It's not that I didn't play soccer as a kid.  We all did.  But the rules for kids were different, and I played defense, so the "strategy", such as it was, was to stop whomever was driving the goal from doing so.  It wasn't brain surgery.  But once you start watching soccer a lot, you realize how *hard* this game is, how much strategy is in play as an absolute constant.   But I also know and understand how to folks watching, it can just look like 20-odd people in matching shirts running around a field of grass.     

PodCast 247: "Ted Lasso: Season 3" Therapy Session w/ Mrshl, Maxwell and Ryan

Format:  Apple+

Decade:  2020's

For more ways to listen

MRSHL, Maxwell and Ryan have heard the final whistle on Season 3 of everyone's favorite show about a very well adjusted soccer team. After two wildly popular seasons, this season drew a wide range of opinions. Join us as we line up for a set-piece and see if we can't get it in the goal.

SoundCloud 

The Signal Watch PodCast · 247: "Ted Lasso: Season 3" Therapy Session w/ Mrshl, Maxwell and Ryan

YouTube

Part 1:

Part 2:

Music:

Ted Lasso Main Theme - Marcus Mumford and Tom Howe 

Fight Test - Flaming Lips

Checking In and Sportsball Happenings

your world champion Houston Astros!

Hi all. 

With Halloween over and the World Series now concluded (featuring the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies), Longhorn football in late season, AND the Major League Soccer Cup match... we've been TV busy this weekend.  

At League HQ, Halloween is a marathon as we queue up movies starting in summer - resulting in 9 episodes discussing at least 12 movies covered on Ye Olde PodCaste.  You're welcome.  On top of that, we also watch other Halloween movies during October, including hosting a few Friday Watch Parties.  

There's also Halloween TV things to see, and increasingly YouTube videos, so much media has been consumed.

All of which is weird - because I'm actually not a huge horror nut.  It's just how things seem to play out.

These days I generally don't post much about TV and sports here, but with Halloween on Monday - this week we watched new episodes of one of my favorite shows,  Documentary Now!, and the surprising return of Sherman's Showcase, which I assumed was canceled as it had been a while since new episodes appeared.  

One thing I checked off on Saturday was the MLS season.  Major League Soccer is, of course, fairly new to me.  Last week, Austin FC - my entry point to the league - lost to LA FC in the Western Conference Championship.  While of course one hopes that that your team will win, Austin FC's second season went shockingly well, and I'm new to all this, so how upset can you be?  

The MLS Cup, which was Saturday afternoon, is essentially the Superbowl for American soccer.  And as it's soccer, I think I saw one ad for it?  LAFC wound up beating Philadelphia in a penalty kick shoot-out.  It was a great game, and it was nice to watch one where I wasn't pulling super hard for anyone.  If you were looking to check out a game this year, it was a good one!  

Anyway - I guess I'm into soccer now?