5 Things on a Friday: Wrestlemania, the AEW, & the XFL

There’s no sports since the outbreak of COVID-19, but there’s still some sports entertainment, and in a pinch, that’ll have to do.  Truth is, it’s been a good, long time since I was more than a cursory fan of pro-wrestling.  But if you’ve known me long enough, then maybe you’ll remember that time I was a pro-wrestling super-fan.

My grandfather introduced me to pro-wrestling back in the late 1970s, and yeah, I marked out to Hulk Hogan like the rest of my cohort back in the 1980s.  However, it wasn’t until I got married to a girl I’d met at my folks’ hometown church in 1995 in the tiny town of Tullahoma, Tennessee, that my interest in wrestling turned into anything like a genuine personal interest.  I’d been a casual fan like a lot of folks, but once Misty and I walked down the aisle, shit got real.

5 Things on a Friday: Cancel Everything

I wrote this on the train yesterday on my way in to work.  It's been so totally overcome by events in the last 24 hours that I'm just gonna publish it as it was originally intended, and you can all laugh or cry as you see fit.

The original into said simply, "Well.  That escalated quickly..." 

XFL: Offenses at the Halfway Mark

We’re five weeks into a ten-week XFL regular season, and despite the coronavirus outbreak and a predictable drop in TV ratings, America’s newest football league is off to a seemingly strong start.  We’re seeing regular mainstream media coverage, power rankings, podcasts, and -- after a slow offensive start -- an increasingly interesting product week-to-week.

Let’s discuss.

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‪This is where things stand halfway through the regular season‬

A post shared by XFL (@xfl) on Mar 10, 2020 at 6:35am PDT

XFL Pics: NY Guardians vs. LA Wildcats

I don't know how many folks read my XFL recap yesterday.  Emma and I had a lot of fun despite the cold, but maybe my favorite part of the game was taking a bunch of football pics.  I started working on photography because I wanted to better express what it feels like to watch Army at Michie Stadium, and being at MetLife gave me the chance to practice my new favorite hobby in an athletic context.

I ran some of these as part of my recap.  Others got cut because I flat ran out of space.  Regardless, these were my favorites from the game.  The good thing about running them here is 1) I can talk a little more about them, and 2) I can spend a little more time considering the display in terms of size and aspect ratio.

As always, pics after the jump.

5 Things on a Friday: Panic?!

Hi folks.  Happy Friday.  As you read this, I am skiing Mount Snow.  As I write this, though, it’s Thursday morning, and there’s precipitation in Vermont.

So.  Was it rain or snow?  Am I having a good day or a bad day?

With Josh & Rob at Killington.  I'll be with Josh again today.

These are burning questions.  But by the time you read this, we’ll know the answers.  As I write it, however, I can only worry and wait.  Kind of like the Coronavirus.

5 Things on a Friday: The ‘Stick to Sports’ Edition

With the State of the Union, impeachment, and every other thing going 24/7 on all the major new channels and Internet sites, we’ve decided to stick to sports here at Casa Cabeza.  Not because we don’t have opinions -- we definitely do have opinions -- but rather, because it feels very much like the best thing we can do collectively as a society is to just suck some of the air out of the room.  

EVERYTHING is politics, all the time.  It doesn’t feel like that’s helping.

For all the outrage, the actual Will of the People has become a forgotten concept.  No one cares what people actually think.  The only thing that matters is that we stay mad -- about anything.  It doesn’t matter what you’re angry about, just that you’re angry.  There are a million places to post an opinion, but just so we’re clear: NO ONE IS LISTENING.  We’re relevant only to the extent that we can be commoditized, and not one inch further than that.

Thankfully, it’s been an interesting sports week.

The XFL is Coming Back. Where to Put Its Teams?

The XFL is coming back, and I for one am delighted.  This world has long needed a minor league of professional football, there’s plenty of room for it in the spring and early summer sports seasons, and Vince McMahon and company got very close to getting the brand off the ground the first time they tried this, way back in 2001.  This despite lots and lots of issues, most of which have been well-documented.  This second go-round looks about as well-funded as the first attempt and seems far better-conceived.  With all the cable and Internet sports networks out there nowadays, and with all of them just aching for football content, the XFL appears to fill a void in the national consciousness that is in dire need of filling.