Oy, what a weekend. Sitting through the AFC and NFC championships aged me plenty. First game, great weather, mile high stadium...Broncos vs. Patriots. Great game. Good football. Broncos came out on top. A much more uneven game than expected by the bettors. I was rooting for the Broncos. Can't root for the Patriots as long as Bill Belichek is the coach. Can't do it. Peyton Manning is NFL royalty and led his Broncos to a resounding victory. Second up, the San Francisco 49ers vs. the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle. Much talk all week about the 12th man, which is great for he Seahawks but is irksome for the rest of us. The 49ers got off to a quick start, but throughout the game the Seahawks came back. The 49ers couldn't shake them. Calls went to the Seahawks from beginning to end. The 49ers had 3 serious injuries occur during the course of the game to the Seahawks 1. It is a terribly violent sport. The Seahawks roared back and prevailed to top the Niners in a literal bone crushing victory. For me and "my people," it was a bitter pill to swallow. Don't like losing. Certainly don't like losing on questionable referee calls. So Super Bowl XLVIII is set. The Broncos and the Seahawks. No chance any Niner fan will be rooting for the Seahawks. No one liked the outcome or the unsportsmanlike winners. Read that Seahawks fans were tossing things at a 49er that was being carried off the field. Classy. Let's go Broncos!!!! May the media mayhem begin.
Did you hear the story about University of North Carolina? They hired a learning specialist to help the basketball and football players. Guess what she found out? The majority of the players can't read at their age level. They are reading at elementary school level. They are uneducated athletes. They were accepted to the University for one reason and one reason alone. They are there to win and bring the big money to the school. Are the kids making money? Are the kids getting an education? Most of the players won't go on to make the millions that they are so hoping to make in the pros. It's a very small percentage that go on. They sidelined the learning specialist without pay while the University looks into her allegations. Seriously? No big surprise there. I am guessing most big profitable athletic programs aren't concerned about the players education. They don't like to use the word, but college athletes are more and more like indentured slaves. The upside is all for the institution. That the NCAA goes after individual players because they got a helping had from a booster is ridiculous. Reggie Bush was wiped out of the annals of USC. Just like that. Though Jameis Winston who has been accused of rape goes on to fame and glory. We are teaching the young people the worst set of values. The worst.
Finally saw Dallas Buyers Club, August: Osage County, Captain Phillips, Twelve Years a Slave, and Nebraska. Dallas Buyers Club...great, great, great, great. Jared Leto's performance is nothing short of brilliant. Truthful, real, and sensitive. No stereotype. August: Osage County a comedy? That's how they are marketing it. Not a comedy in any way shape or form. Bleak, bleak, bleak. Great acting. Captain Phillips...good, not great. Best scene of the movie is the end. Tom Hanks was so authentic. Very moving. Twelve Years a Slave....I think that the people are selling it poorly. Everyone said how important it was to see it, but how brutal it was. I don't agree with that. I think it was incredibly valuable to see it. The acting was first rate from everyone. It was intense. There was violence but nothing unexpected in a movie about slavery. It was very moving. The injustice throughout was painful and well highlighted, but with all that said, go see it. Don't be afraid. Nebraska is very slow and snoozy. Do not be tired when you go. Interesting performances. Stacy Keach was a huge surprise. The cinematography is beautiful. After seeing August: Osage County and Nebraska, I can cross off many States that I never have to see. Unless you are born there, no reason to go.
Sidebars: Justin Bieber has got to go away. Just be gone. Go back to Canada and get one with nature. Maybe, just maybe, you can make a comeback in five years. I don't want to hear anything more about your juvenile, ridiculous, criminal behavior. The new young lady, Shameer Zamata, to grace Saturday Night Live is a welcome talent. Long overdue and Lorne Michaels was shamed into searching for an African-American female to be part of the ensemble. Seems to be a great pick. Time will tell. Drake hosted and was the musical guest. I'd say 80% of his skits were pre-taped. I'm just saying. It's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. So, though it's a day off from school, banks are closed, and there's no mail, take a moment to look back and look forward. There have been changes. Are they enough? My brain is going back on brain freeze. Two words I wish I never heard in my lifetime and now have heard them twice in three weeks...Polar Vortex. It's on its way to NYC. Below freezing temperatures again in much of the northern United States. Stay warm people.
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@DianaPodolsky
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