Can You Smell what the Blog is Cookin'?

"Tonight playing the role of Sarah Palin is Tina Fey"

I am editing yesterday's podcast but I have to stop to blog because of what my Friend John (Andy or Barney, whichever he prefers, from Dirty Laundry) just posted on his Facebook page. Apparently Fox News, in their usual fair and impartial (typed with sarcasm) reporting, has worked so hard to distort the truth that they mistakenly haven't seen one of the best political impersonations I can remember. Except for Chevy Chase's Gerald Ford, of course. While covering a story about the most famous national vacationer since Lewis and Clark, Sarah Palin, Fox News put up a picture of Tina Fey portraying Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. Sarah Palin has actually been a contributing commentator for Fox News for quite some time. I think the photo of Tina Fey may have been off of Palin's Fox News security badge. Too bad SNL is done for the season because when they do this skit in September it's not going to be as funny but I am sure there will be plenty more to come. I can't wait to see Fox's spin-control on this one; hold on tight! Thank you John Bernard P. Andrews (that's the Barney-Andy combo platter).

Remember when The Simpsons began on Fox and they were the progressive, hip network? They revolutionized television by almost single-handedly breaking up the American three networks' television monopoly. Then very original shows like The X-Files further changed everything. What the heck happened? Rupert Murdoch decided gold was more important I guess. Thank you Ted Turner for remaining who you are!

Now that I'm blogging I may as well keep going huh? And now, for the words most heard in our house..."has anybody seen my notebook?" There are always people trying to steal them to sell them on eBay and stuff.

Today is the last day of school (half-day because of snow days) for Fabio. That's too bad because the weather has just turned nice and I was enjoying the morning sausage races again and now I will have to wait until September. I guess I'll just have to head to Milwaukee (Miller Park) when I'm jonesin' for elongated meats chasing one another (nope, too easy).

I know it's been a few weeks but I didn't mention that Randy "Macho Man" Savage passed away recently. I was kind of a wresting fan when I was younger and I am a Cardinals' fan and Randy Poffo (Savage's real name) played minor league ball for the Cardinals. He also grew up in  the Chicagoland area and went to SIU (like me). I always knew that wrestling was fake and part of the enjoyment for me was watching the people who believed it was real; I think most of them work for Fox News now. Macho Man was one of my favorites but that may have had a lot to do with his manager Ms. Elizabeth who is also dead. It was a great surprise to see him as "Buzz Saw" in Spiderman too. My friend Bob Ahlgren had an in with wrestling because his dad was with the Illinois State Boxing Commission. We would get to sit ring-side at the table inside of the steel barriers. My most memorable experiences were: seeing Macho Man and Ms. Elizabeth up close, having Bret "The Hitman" Hart throw his sunglasses at us and tell us to take care of them because they were expensive (even though they were obviously crap) and to have Andre The Giant walk up to the table we were sitting at, yell at the crowd and then slam his two fists that were the size of slug bugs down on the table. Then, when he walked away, I saw that he had a mole on the inside of one of his thighs that was the size of my head (not that there's anything wrong with that). It was the size of a mole (the animal). "Hi, I'm Andre melanoma Matt In The Middle's wart!" Hulk Hogan was a pretty big deal too now that I think of it. Thank you Randy Savage and Ms. Elizabeth and Andre The Giant and Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan and Bob Ahlgren for those great memories. Now that's all that most of you are but memories are very good.

Oooooooo Yeah!!! Hey Kool-Aid

In a related story, Saturday night while I was looking for something to make me tired I turned Netflix on and started watching a movie called Beyond The Mat. I think I figured that it was about wresting and I would easily fall asleep and it also had my name in the title which is always an attraction for me because I am simple-minded and very susceptible to marketing ploys like that. I was wrong about easily falling asleep; it was actually a good movie. It followed a lot of older wrestlers like Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Terry Funk (one of Bob Ahlgren's favorites) and Mick Foley (Mankind) and Chyna. Foley was after I stopped watching wresting but I am familiar with him. It was also cool to see Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a wrestler because he was after my time too. It reminded me A LOT of the movie The Wrestler. It showed how these guys really lived when they were on top and after they were not. It showed about their relationships with their families (good and bad). It also showed up-and-comers who are treated like dirt and payed about as much as dirt. And then Vince McMahon and the global giant WWF. A lot of it was very sad but compelling. I think Jake "The Snake" Roberts must have been the basis for Mickey Rourke's character Randy "The Ram" Robinson in The Wrestler (also an excellent film). So, in trying to fall asleep, I ended up staying up much later watching this two hour movie. At the end I saw that Brian Grazer and Ron Howard produced it; makes sense that it was good. I think even if you're not a wrestling fan you would find it entertaining.

Fox News and professional wrestling...kind of redundant and both incredibly fake and pre-planned. My buddy John started the match off and tagged Macho Man who jumped out of my notebook and body-slammed the rest of the blog. Good tag-team blog guys. Have a good Monday; sorry it is a five-day workweek again. I am going to try to get the podcast(s) up today but the editing this week is going to be a little more grueling and Fabio has a 6:00PM game so it may be tomorrow. I will let you know. Thanks for being here to start your and my weeks off together. TTTT...MITM (off the top rope)