Thanks for Something
Happy late Thanksgiving. Or early Christmas. Take your pick. I’m personally biased towards Thanksgiving, because it’s just a better holiday. I’ll still eat your cookies though.
It’s been a few weeks since I last wrote here. Lots has happened. The annual Easton-Phillipsburg football game went to Easton, and the week before that I was at the Lehigh-Lafayette game, won 17-16 by Lafayette this year. About a week ago, I went to my first home Sixers game in about two years too, and man is it a show now. There was the normal family holiday, some intriguing talks about joining Presidential campaigns, the Eagles humiliating themselves in Miami, and of course Black Friday.
And all the stuff below…
A child born 18 years ago in Easton, PA on the night of my senior sleepout (November 20th, 2001) would now be 18, an adult, and probably just have completed their own senior sleepout and Thanksgiving week. I can’t tell those of you not from Easton enough about our Thanksgiving tradition here to do it justice, other than we sell over 20,000 tickets to watch a high school football game every year, and we just played it for the 113th time. The main bar on College Hill (neighborhood around Lafayette College), CHT, opens at 7am and is packed all day. To an outsider, random adults tailgating in the streets before a high school football game is ridiculous. If you’re from the Easton-Phillipsburg area, it’s just what we do.
Anyway, I celebrated high school being half a life ago by going to CHT and having some cold ones. The game was entertaining this year, but ended with an ugly bench clearing brawl when Easton was kneeling out the clock. But even then, it was entertaining.
Anyway, I guess I’m an adult now. Happy Thanksgiving.
Well, the Presidential race is pretty wild. Senator Kamala Harris is out. Michael Bloomberg is in to the tune of $37 million on television. There are still 15 people running for the Democratic nomination, and believe it or not, three Republicans. That seems like quite a lot this late in the game.
There is a clear top tier at this point of Biden, Buttigieg, Sanders, and Warren. Then there is the billionaire wild cards, Bloomberg and Steyer. Behind them comes the rest of the debate stage, Senators Klobuchar and Booker, entrepreneur Yang, and Congresswoman Gabbard. Then there’s the last tier of candidates still in- Bennet, Castro, Delaney, Patrick, and Williamson- who are not on the debate stage at this point. The polls basically match up to this. Iowa polls show the race as Buttigieg, Sanders, Warren, Biden, and Klobuchar, then everyone else. If I were a betting man, I’d bet right now that Biden wins South Carolina, Warren or Sanders wins New Hampshire, Iowa is a jump ball between Buttigieg and a surprise, and Nevada is a total crapshoot.
Admittedly, I’m unhappy to see Kamala go, she was one of my favorites. I remain quite high on Biden, Klobuchar, Booker, and Bloomberg, of what’s left. By the same token, I’m a hard no on Bernie, Warren, and Tulsi, of the semi-legitimate candidates (I’m a no on Tulsi in a general election too, I’d write in Hillary.).
I love my Eagles, though they disappoint me so much in losing to awful teams like Miami. The truth is, the Eagles aren’t good. I love the Sixers, and I expect them to make a run at a championship in June, but basketball isn’t remotely serious before Christmas. The Flyers are a young, exciting group that is surprising the fans right now, but I’m at least a couple months from true belief yet after their worst decade in my lifetime.
I’m unapologetically a Phillies first guy. I go see 30+ pro baseball (major and minors) games a year, and the bulk of them are Phillies games. With today’s five year, $118 million signing of former Mets’ pitcher Zach Wheeler, the building of the 2020 Phillies is under way. Wheeler is exciting because he has a ton of potential and has been pretty good the last two years. He’s a huge upgrade for a team with literally one good pitcher last year. I’m still sad to see Phillies hero Cole Hamels sign in Atlanta, but I see the upside of signing someone six years younger. The Phillies can’t stop now though and call it an off-season. They absolutely need another pitcher. It’s non-negotiable if they want to make playoffs. After letting two starting infielders go, they must sign another starting infield bat too- if not two. With the Winter meetings this week, my free agents to watch list for the Phillies is Anthony Rendon, Didi Gregorious, Madison Bumgarner, Josh Donaldson, Dallas Keuchel, Dellin Betances, and of course Stephen Strasburg. There are others that might sneak on the radar, those that I doubt will (Gerrit Cole), and the possible trade market (Starlin Marte?), but I think the names above are the Phillies targets.
As for my Eagles- I didn’t sign the petition to make them walk home from Miami, but only because I figured they were already home by the time I saw it. I guess they still have a shot to win the division, provided they win anymore games, but there’s no guarantees. I think tonight’s MNF game with the Giants will be disgraceful for all. Sports can be frustrating, sometimes.
Some good news- you’re about two weeks from the longest day of the year, then it’s Christmas, then the New Year, and then… well, you can start counting down to Spring. It’s dreary and cold, and it gets dark early.
Looking ahead at events of interest this Winter, this week is MLB’s Winter Meetings and House Impeachment hearings, and I go to DC for Senator Dodd’s Holiday Party. Christmas and New Year’s are just about two weeks away. The NFL Playoffs and College Football Playoffs are just beyond that, I’m about a month. About 50 days from now is the Iowa Caucus, Super Bowl, Daytona Speed Week, and whatever else you are looking forward to. Two months from now Spring Training will begin, and about three months from now, St. Patrick’s Day.
There, I gave myself a pep talk to get through today. It’s increasingly looking like I’ll be spending this Winter out on the road, but I have no formal announcement for y’all yet. Maybe very soon.
I think we’ve reached the point where it’s safe to say Donald Trump will be impeached. There’s nothing to celebrate in this- impeaching a President isn’t a good thing, and the last time it was done was a national disgrace. The problem is that Trump did what he did- he withheld something of value (admittedly from Trump’s own people an Oval Office visit of value to the Ukraine, and it’s pretty obvious the military aid that Ukraine needed was withheld too, according to his Chief of Staff) in exchange for actions beneficial to himself (an investigation into Hunter Biden), which is the definition of a bribe. He’s also failed to comply with subpoenas and make witnesses available, which is textbook obstruction- you don’t get to “play defense” in an investigation. I’m not a fan of impeachment, but what happened here is clear.
Here’s what else is clear- Trump will not be convicted and removed, charged as a criminal, or resign. This was always going to be resolved at the next Election. Trump deserves impeachment, but it really means nothing. The voters still will render the real verdict.
Yesterday was the 39th anniversary of the assassination of John Lennon. In my view, Lennon is one of the greatest artists of modern times. He’s also perhaps the biggest rock star in rock history, was a major part of the anti-war movement, and you could argue those things just on his post-Beatles career.
This has me thinking though- who are the ten biggest stars in modern music history? Some seem obvious. Elvis, Michael Jackson, at least Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, if not the whole Stones, and Lennon and McCartney, if not the whole Beatles. Then you get into some interesting arguments. You have rock legends like Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, U2, and any of the early 90’s grunge bands. Country gives you choices like Johnny Cash, Reba, Dolly, and more contemporary acts too. Hip hop gives you options ranging from Run DMC, to Snoop, Tupac, and Biggie in the 90’s, to Eminem, Jay Z, and yes Kanye West this century. Can you ignore major pop icons like Britney Spears, Beyoncé, and increasingly Rihanna? How about older pop acts like Madonna or Prince? Laugh if you want, but Taylor Swift was recently named artist of the decade, and her sales back it up. And yeah, we always gloss over punk, but the Ramones and Green Day have different and compelling arguments about their influence on music. You could even take this into arguing the influence and importance of producers and managers, who shape the industry, like a Dr. Dre in hip hop. This argument gets out of control quick.
I do know this though- John Lennon is one of the most influential artists of all-time, whether as a Beatle or solo artist. His work to end the Vietnam War deserves to be studied by social activists moving forward. And it’s worth recognizing this every year on the anniversary of his death.
So here’s my Lennon play list for you to enjoy.
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/john-lennon/pl.u-11zBBg3cb0Jyxm
… and with that, I think I’ve covered everything else I have for right now. Make sure to follow along at my site, therichwilkins.com, where I’ll be doing my year and decade reviews, commenting on the Presidential race, covering events in sports, and really just writing. And maybe podcasting, soon. We’ll see. I’ll be back with more to talk about here in a week or two, and as always, appreciate the readers.