To people in the Northeast, my title is accurate – with Super Bowl LII pitting the defending champion New England Patriots against the Carson Wentz-less Philadelphia Eagles. The rest of the country are just jealous of their success – 10 Super Bowl appearances and five wins so far. While familiarity does breed contempt, I hate the Patriots for more than that.
First, I used to work for a company headquartered in Boston, and Boston fans are more than a little bit obnoxious. To think, I used to feel for them when they never won anything. I must admit that people outside of Chicago probably hated us during the Bulls and Blackhawks championship years. Still, there’s something about the Boston attitude that’s more grating, second only to New Yorkers.
However, it is the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick/Bob Kraft connection that is the worst. The reputation for cheating, with Spygate and Deflategate, and their appearance that rules don’t apply to the Patriots is certainly a point. Also, the three men’s support for Donald Trump doesn’t help.
Not that anyone has a real love for Philadelphia. Fans of the teams from the City of Brotherly Love show as much love as Klan members to a black family. The stories are long standing and, they say, unfounded. Eagle fans booing Santa Claus; Phillie fans booing Darren Daulton’s kid at a father-son game because Daulton was playing poorly; the first stadium not only with a mini-police station (they all have that), but Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Eagles has a courtroom with a judge to exact quick justice. The reputation is assisted by the bottle throwing hooligans who pelted Minnesota Viking fans yesterday after the Eagles routed the Vikings.
Much like the Patriots, Philly teams are generally despised by every part of the country other than Eastern Pennsylvania. Fans however love an underdog and the Eagles are 5.5 point dogs to New England, the largest margin since the Arizona Cardinals were 7 point underdogs to Pittsburgh in 2009. It could be a dream story: Eagles rush to best record in the sport with second year quarterback Carson Wentz having an MVP award worthy season. Wentz blows out his knee and on comes Nick Foles, who had a great season with Philadelphia in 2003, couldn’t play that well consistently, was traded and played for St. Louis and Kansas City, was even a backup for the Bears for awhile, before returning to Philadelphia and has played well enough to get the Eagles back in the Super Bowl for the first time in 13 years.
If Wentz hadn’t been hurt, this would have been an awesome matchup – the older QB against the young gun. Now, with a defensive minded coach like Belichick who loves to befuddle quarterbacks, at first look, Foles looks to be in a lot of trouble. But the Eagles have a stout defense, a solid running attack and good wide receivers. The Pats barely defeated Jacksonville who has a better defense, but had the wildly inconsistent Blake Bortes under center. There is also the chance that the Patriots don’t play well. Belichick coached teams generally don’t do that, but there’s always a first time.
The NFL and NBC expect a big audience and it will get one, as usual. The question is, will people stay for the second half? If the Patriots have a big lead, much of the country will turn the game off in boredom and disgust. If the Eagles keep it close, or are winning late in the game, the Patriot haters will be out in force, as well they should.

First – Happy New Year to everyone. I hope that everyone had a great holiday season. Now, let’s get started in 2018:

There has been no NFL coach on a more perennial hot seat than the Cincinnati Bengals’ Marvin Lewis. Already, the Lions fired Jim Caldwell; the Bears, as expected, fired John Fox; the Raiders fired Jack Del Rio. The season just ended, and every year, the day after the season is called Black Monday as coaches get canned left and right. While Lewis is the winningest coach in team history – 125 and 112 record, the Bengals have either been underachievers of just bad. Even when the team won during the regular season, the team has gone 0-7 in the playoffs. The past 2 seasons they’ve underachieved after going 12-4 in 2015, the Bengals went 6-9-1 and 6-10 this past season.
Also, the Bengals have been controversial. Years ago, Bengal players were regularly getting in trouble with the league and the law. They had a reputation for being lawless, with the worst offenders were African-American, which bred the impression that Lewis, the second longest tenured head coach in the league (behind Bill Belichick) and also African-American was letting the brothers run wild, or the Bengals drafted bad characters under Lewis’ stewardship.
It was expected that Lewis would be fired at last. I read a story earlier last week that Lewis would be stepping down at the end of the season on his own. Instead, today the Bengals announced that they had signed Lewis to a two-year extension. I exclaimed “What?” when I saw the news on the scrawl on the bottom of ESPN about an hour ago.
I always said that the key to equality between minority coaches and white coaches isn’t when they get hired, but when they are held to the same standard as other coaches and get fired. I have been stunned that Lewis has been able to keep his job, and I still am. It was said that Lewis wanted to look elsewhere for a head coaching job, but it also seems that Bengals owner Mike Brown has become the 21st Century version of William Clay Ford, late owner of the Detroit Lions.
Long an NFL afterthought, the Lions between 1988 and 1996 made 4 playoff appearances, mostly because of the play of Hall of Famer Barry Sanders. The team also had some abysmal seasons and were only 1-4 in those four playoff appearances. Fontes posted the most wins in franchise history, 67 overall, but with 71 losses, and every season, the fans and the press wanted Fontes’ job. Moreover, he always looked like Ralph Kramden in The Honeymooners after one of his get rich quick schemes blew up. Every time the Lions call a press conference, with the fans hopeful of a change, Clay Ford would be sitting there at the rostrum, smiling next to a smiling Fontes announcing an extension or that he would be returning. It will be interesting if there’s a formal announcement, and it will also be fascinating if the fans in Cincinnati will be as incensed as fans are in cities with very harsh and vocal fan bases like New York, Philadelphia and Chicago?
I have nothing personal against Marvin Lewis. I am always happy to see minority and assistant coaches and coordinators get the opportunity to be head coaches, at every level and in every sport. Still, I’m all for accountability and honestly, Marvin Lewis’ tenure in Cincinnati has been a mediocre one. I think it was time for some new blood, a new voice.

One of the worst things about being a sci-fi/comics guy is the other members of the club. Besides being a “cowardly and superstitious lot” in the words of Bruce Wayne way back in 1939, we tend to care too much about our characters, their lives and continuity. We always forget that these are all make believe stories, and overall, all comics are written to maintain the status quo while appearing not to maintain the status quo. Superman died; Batman and Batgirl were each crippled in separate incidents; Spider-Man has been buried alive and also had him mind left in the body of a dead Doctor Octopus. They all got better; it’s inevitable.
Still, things occur that upset the geeks; changes that are made to old established characters leave people upset. Michael Keaton was going to be a horrible Batman, until he wasn’t. Daniel Craig didn’t “look like James Bond” and will be horrible; but he became, in my opinion, the best Bond since Sean Connery.
I understand the mentality of the comics companies, and usually just let things take their course (Wolverine, previously dead, returns soon). I try not to get emotionally attached, except for one time. The writer of Spider-Man besmirched the memory of Peter Parker’s girlfriend, Gwen Stacy who died in Amazing Spider-Man #121. For a time in the book, Stacy went off the Europe to cope with the death of her father in # 90. Thirty-one years later, J. Michael Straczynski created twins who fought Spider-Man; the twins were the offspring of Gwen and Spider-Man’s arch-enemy Norman Osborn.
When Gwen Stacy was created in the 1960s, comics were growing up, become more contemporary and true to life, but still sex was never written about, only vaguely suggested. To think that Peter and Gwen had sex at some point is not an issue, especially in these more Enlighted times. However, to have had her give birth then return to New York like nothing happened is not believable. That is bad enough, but to have a character in her late teens, early 20s seduced by a 40-something year old man and the father of one of her friends was beyond creepy. I wrote a letter that was published in a comic newspaper that strongly denounced the cynical and disturbing turn the book made and I was far from alone. Unreal characters, yes; but this was beyond decency. Fortunately, this story line has been all but forgotten.
Last weekend, many members of the largest fan base in the galaxy, the Star Wars fans, have shown their disapproval of the latest film – The Last Jedi. On social media, comments that director Rian Johnson should never be allowed to work on another Star Wars film. Online petitions have been circulated calling for this episode, number VIII, to be stricken from the canon of the rest of the films. Of course, these people have invested too much of their time and thoughts on this fictional world and characters. Further fueling the issue is that despite being a critical hit on the review site Rotten Tomatoes (93% positive – tied for the highest score in the series with The Empire Strikes Back); the audience poll has been at 56% positive, among the worst ratings since the prequels (Episodes I, II, and III).
I have seen the film, and I think it’s very good, and very different from the other films in the series – not copying Episode IV like The Force Awakens did. Here are my thoughts (SPOILERS ABOUND)
• I think the thing that has upset people the most is the depiction of Luke Skywalker, a sullen loner who has come to planet Anch-To to die and take the Jedi history and legacy with him. Mark Hamill said that after reading the script for the first time, he disagreed with the way Skywalker was presented, but that he would of course, play the character in the way Johnson wanted. Would the same Luke Skywallker, after failing to train more Jedi and being betrayed by Ben Solo, his nephew, chuck it all in and disappear, then refuse to return when his sister and the Resistance need him? Actually, it is in line with what Yoda and Obi-Wan did in their time in exile. However, Skywalker makes his heroic return and becomes the legend the Resistance needs. Following in the tradition of the first three films, whether Luke attacked Ben or vice versa depends on your point of view. At the end, we see that the truth is murkier.
• Luke may be dead, but I have a feeling that his story isn’t over yet.
• Many people are upset with the way primary villain Snoke was eliminated halfway through the film. There was lots of conjecture in the time since Force Awakens as to who Snoke was and how he fit into the larger story. I think that it sets up a very interesting plot point for the future: the power struggle between General Hux and Kylo Ren (Ben Solo). Solo is an unstable wielder of the Force who is fighting the sides of light and darkness. Hux is all about power and order and while Snoke was very powerful and in full command of his abilities, Solo is much weaker and can possibly be overthrown. Besides, Snoke’s role may not be over.
• The third problem that people have with the film is that Rey’s family is written off very casually. Instead f being heroes or somehow kidnapped, Kylo says that they were just gamblers who traded their daughter to pay off gambling debts. Again, there is a lot more backstory there, but do you believe everything your enemy tells you? The bond between Rey and Kylo is very strong and will certainly be explored in the next film. While Rey is not Luke’s daughter, she is not Han and Leia’s either. Taking Kylo’s word at face value is dumb.
• Others are complaining about Leia’s role in the film. She saves herself in a Force aided spacewalk. Kind of corny, but I thought it was cool and a nice sendoff to the late Carrie Fisher.
• The ongoing “chase” between the Resistance ship and the First Order went on very long. I know that they had to give time to the other stories, but it did drag quite long. That said, the casino scene was also very long and seemed pointless until the end of the film with the kids making their first step toward the Jedi.
So, a few days removed from me seeing the movie, here are my thoughts. Feel free to contact me with yours.

Well, we got the music best of list out of the way a couple of weeks ago; this time, it’s my list of the best films I’ve seen this year. As the title says, this is a best 10 list with 12 movies because there are four films that are topically or stylistically linked. Not on purpose, but there are two groups of two that I have put together. It may be wrong, but it’s my list. Being out of work allows for lots more time to see movies, plus the annual Toronto International Film Festival trip puts one film on the list that hasn’t even been released yet.
10. Atomic Blonde – I know that this is too low brow for any other Best of lists, but I enjoyed this action film as much as any film this year. Charlese Theron takes on the John Wick/James Bond role, by kicking more ass than anyone else. This was an end of the Cold War story of spies, double-crosses, and the most realistic violence for a popcorn movie that you will ever see. When people get hit, they don’t just come back immediately and keep fighting, they are stunned, hurt. It takes time for them to get themselves together and keep fighting. Ms. Theron’s body is covered with bruises. It’s a fun movie, but not for kids.
9. Blade Runner 2049 – the public didn’t jump on this film, but then again, it took a long time for the original film be considered a classic. However, this film ranks up there with Ridley Scott’s original. Ryan Gosling’s stoic acting, often not suited for other films, works here as a replicant hunting other replicants. It was good to see Harrison Ford continuing his Deckart role, and Denis Villeanuve’s vision of the future was truly striking. The film gets released in January, 2018 – it deserves to be the same sleeper classic as the first.
8. Logan – the finale of Hugh Jackman’s time as Wolverine (if reports about his reappearance if Disney buys 2oth Century Fox notwithstanding are untrue) is R-rated, violent, semi-post-apocalyptic, neuvo-Western, with Wolverine being old, the X-men gone or killed and Professor X an invalid. Still, Logan is trying to protect young mutants. While still having superhero action, this was more than just comic book action movie.
7. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – I loved Martin McDonagh’s first long form feature In Bruges, one of the funniest mob films you could see. I saw his second film at TIFF, Seven Psychopaths, another odd, amusing film, but one that didn’t stand up as well as the earlier film. Now, McDonagh has written a great part for Francis McDormand, who plays a mother whose daughter was raped and killed and the case remains unsolved 1 year later. Frustrated, she takes out three billboards to shame the local sheriff played by the always reliable Woody Harrelson. Sam Rockwell plays a racist cop who changes in the course of this film and Peter Dinklage was also outstanding. My only drawback is that the story remains unresolved at the end, but other than that, it is a fine film.
6. It – I love horror movies, and have been a Stephen King reader since I was a teenager. One of my favorite books was It. While the television movie was a small budget filled with television stars, Tim Curry’s performance was outstanding and memorable. The strongest part of the book was the beginning as King established the horrible monster and the six kids who face the monster. The 2017 version was done extremely well and was one of the better King horror adaptations. The challenge is for the second half, showing the kids growing up to face the monster again. It was the weakest part of King’s book and the TV show. I only hope that director Andy Muschietti and the writers can come up with an end that is worthy of the rest of the book/film.
5. The Shape of Water – I am a Guillermo del Toro fan and this was a unique vision, the story of a mute woman who falls in love with an aquatic creature. I usually hate fables (Forrest Gump), but this movie about the power of government and the safety of outsiders, was touching an completely original. It’s not del Toro’s best film (Pan’s Labyrinth is his best in my opinion), but it is touching, but not necessarily for everyone. (Also, at TIFF, this film was shown only in the Elgin Theater, which is where the theater portions of the film were filmed. It was very cool.)
4. Wonder Woman and Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (tie) – Wonder Woman was the best DC comics movie yet, as Gal Gidot expanded on her relatively small role in Batman vs. Superman and made the role her own. Director Patty Jenkins brought a female sensibility to the most feminine of heroes. The period piece worked well to set up the character and once again, Chris Pine (Star Trek, Hell or High Water) showed that he is once again an extremely talented actor. The counterpoint film is a story about Wonder Woman’s creator Dr. William Marston and his unusual family, consisting of his wife and their lover, a student that they both fall for. Again, a female director, this time it was Angela Robinson, who wrote and directed this story. Also a period piece, it showed how the three adults’ interest in bondage made its way to comic books. Not an in depth story of how the comic came to be, it was the love story of a very different family.
3. Dunkirk and The Darkest Hour (tie) – Christopher Nolan’s war epic brought the viewer into the story of the nearly doomed soldiers on the French beach in 1940. It was big, it was loud, and it really put transported the viewer into the front lines, on the ships, and on some of the private boats that came and rescued the troops. At the time, I thought that the film lacked context – if you didn’t know how the troops got there and how it fit into the story of World War II, it became a war survival movie. If you need context, watch Joe Wright’s The Darkest Hour, which is the story of Winston Churchill’s first month as Prime Minister, fighting the politics of appeasement of the former PM Neville Chamberlain, and trying to rally the British people to defend Europe and sustain destruction and death at the hands of the Nazis. Much has been written about Gary Oldman’s performance as Churchill and the writers are all correct, this is tied for Oldman’s best performance ever (I loved him in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy). Like the earlier film for which he was nominated for an Oscar, Oldman doesn’t just give us the over the top Churchill knowingly correct and obnoxious. Oldman’s Churchill uses silence to great effect, showing the man under the larger than life figure (much as Daniel Day Lewis’ Lincoln did in the Spielberg film). Both are excellent and if you can, watch them together.
2. Molly’s Game – It’s not necessarily fair to pick a film that hasn’t been released to the general public yet, but I saw this film in Toronto and it was my favorite film of the festival. Jessica Chastain, an actress who I’ve been iffy on in the past, really brings the Aaron Sorkin script to life, as a former Olympic level skier who, after suffering a career ending injury, runs a high stakes poker game, first in Los Angeles, then in New York, where she comes onto the radar of the authorities. The Feds want her to rat everyone out, but she refuses, with the aid of her lawyer, then always good Idris Elba. The film is very honest in the character’s flaws, but her refusal to tell everything she knows becomes a little bit sanctimonious to me. But that’s a small point: this is Sorkin’s first directorial job and he does a fine job with presenting the facts. There were no show-offy camera movements or stylistic flourishes that would distinguish Sorkin for a million other directors, but I do have to give the filmmakers credit in depicting a woman who is the smartest person in any room, sexy for show, but never in need of any man to help her or save her. It was very good and I recommend that you see it when it’s released.
1. Get Out – I admit that I’m jealous. I came up with a horror story with sociological undertones way back in college, but I haven’t written it yet. Here Jordan Peele, who wrote and directed this fine film, put humor, horror and social observance in a very sly movie. Daniel Kaluuya truly deserves a Best Actor nod for holding this film together, while allowing old pros Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener to chomp a bit of scenery. It the first year of Trump, this was the perfect film depicting race relations in a different way.
As I said, one of the few perks of being unemployed was the chance to see lots more films than usual. While I hope that a job awaits that will take up much of my time in 2018, I will still be watching a lot of films.

When one mentions cheating and the NFL, invariably The New England Patriots get mentioned. Spygate, deflate-gate, various rumors and innuendo makes this link appropriate. However, I have long said that Pete Carroll’s Seattle Seahawks regularly bend the NFL rules to their breaking point and beyond. But while Bill Belichick gets the much deserved reputation, Carroll’s name is never mentioned in the same breath, and it should be.
Back when the Seahawks and Patriots met in the Super Bowl XLIX, I wrote that I had a hard time rooting for either of the teams due to their coaches. Belichick was obvious, but Carrol had been caught twice having more practices and more practices in pads than allowed by the league and the NFL Players’ Association under the collective bargaining rules. Let’s not forget that Carroll’s wins and National Championship at USC were forfeited when payments to Reggie Bush’s parents came to light. In fact, Carroll, like so many college coaches, bolted to the pros when the NCAA “posse” was after them.
Today, Carroll and the Seahawks were fined $100,000 by the leagues and the players association for failing to properly apply the concussion protocol to star quarterback Russell Wilson. In the November 9th game against division rival Arizona, Wilson took a hit to the jaw from Cardinals’ linebacker Karlos Dansby. Wilson went into the sideline medical tent for a few second before returning to play.
Wilson said that he was alright, but any player, especially a star quarterback will say just about anything to get back on the field unless they are obviously incapacitated, which is why the research on head trauma and CTE was so shocking to many players, who were going against their long term health due to the testosterone of football and enabling by the teams.
The league and players’ association are also requiring the coaching staff and doctors to take a refresher course in the requirements of the protocol and they said that they are reviewing an update to the protocol to make it clearer when players are not allowed to go back on the gridiron.
Unfortunately, I think that Pete Carroll would put Wilson on the field in a coma if the game was on the line. The man is as corrupt as any coach in the game.

For whatever reason, the ownership of the Miami Marlins major league baseball team has been passed around among millionaires. Despite two World Series Championships in its history, the team has had four different ownership groups, and none of them have been able to consistently successful. It is simple: first, Florida has rain nearly every day, it seems. This issue has been settled with the new ballpark, which has a retractable roof.
The other issue has been a problem for all of the Florida franchises except for the Dolphins – people don’t support the teams unless they’re good. It has always been the opinion that retirees from other parts of the country would come out and support the teams or at the very least, come watch the teams they used to follow before they moved to Miami. More than the other franchises I think, there’s not much die-hard fandom in Florida.
The new ownership group, led by former Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter came into town saying that they needed to cut salary despite poor showing over the past few years. Jeter and his minions have backed up the truck, and also sending a poor message to the fans that do care about the team. Jeter, the CEO was shown at the Miami Dolphins/New England Patriots game last Monday. That wouldn’t be especially problematic normally, even positive as a new member of the Miami establishment. However, Jeter was at the game on the first day of the baseball winter meetings. Of course, the GM and other people are there, but ifit was your first meeting as CEO, perhaps you’d like to be there?
If that wasn’t enough, as I wrote above, the team has traded its most valuable assets especially power hitter Giancarlo Stanton. He’s young, just hit 59 home runs, this past season, and at 28, has 267 career home runs. He also has the largest contract in sports history – 13 years, $350 million. The Dodgers and the Cardinals were the teams that had the need and the money to afford Stanton, but suddenly, the Yankees ended up getting the slugger in return for former Cub Starlin Castro and a couple of prospects. Pundits feel that the Marlins got fleeced in the trade, and on top of it, suddenly the best slugger in the game is traded to Jeter’s former team, New York, the team that he will always be identified with.
Of course, the Yankees unite Stanton with rookie slugging phenom Aaron Judge, and the two are being compared to Ruth and Gehrig or Mantle and Maris. The Marlins have a lot of kids and Castro, a good shortstop, but not a guy that you can build an entire team around and won’t put extra fannies in seats. And Jeter, who needs to make the fans happy about the ownership change, isn’t exactly giving fans the warm and fuzzies. The job is even harder if the fans think hat the Marlins are the Yankees farm team.

I feel sorry for the Ball brothers. They are young, they are talented, and their father is an egotistical jackass. Lonzo is playing well for a rookie with the Lakers. Younger brother LiAngelo has left UCLA after the Chinese international shoplifting incident. The youngest brother LaMelo was committed to also attend UCLA (Lonzo went there also) but now, father LaVar, who, besides giving the boys names like his, has taken the younger boys and signed them to play in Lithuania. The team, apparently, isn’t very good, but I guess it works well for the upcoming reality series that the older Ball has set up.
The show hasn’t even been on yet but already LaVar Ball is setting himself up as being the most hated celebrity parent since Kris Jenner set up the Kardashians with a television show. Ball obviously sees himself in the Jenner role, the mover and shaker, the power behind and in front of the curtain like the Wizard of Oz.
Despite what he thinks of himself, he may be closer to the horrendous tennis parents like Michael Chang’s folks, or Mary Pierce’s or Steffi Graf’s fathers. In the latter cases, the fathers remain estranged from their famous daughters. I may not be the first person who will not watch the reality show (which isn’t hard since I never watch reality shows), and I will be actively rooting for the elder Ball to be hoist on his own petard.
Other than LiAngelo’s stupidity and arrogance thinking that he could get away with criminal activity in a foreign country, especially a country harsh on criminals, my thoughts are with the boys. They may be good basketball players, and they are apparently dutiful sons, but their father isn’t helping his boys; he’s just fueling his own out of control ego. Eventually, the boys will have to succeed or fail on their own. Their Dad is only making more and more people root for them to fail, which is not what fathers are supposed to do for their kids.