Of Course I Have To Bring You Bad Lip Reading For The Super Bowl

This year's NFL Bad Lip Reading is totally worth the watch and listen.

It's Super Bowl Sunday, and I suppose I have to celebrate the occasion somehow, though I'm not the most rabid NFL fan out there.

I'll do so by giving you "A Bad Lip Reading Of The NFL"  

There's a whole YouTube channel in which they "put words in people's mouths" by dubbing in silly statements into videos of people who are often out of earshot.

The schtick is these are revealing videos of what was really said, except the lip reading is so awful that they what they people "say" is hilariously absurd.

They've done NFL lip reading for each of the past several years. This year's NFL one is excellent.  For instance, we have a sideline coach exclaiming, "In my bag! Poetry and French art!

In those NFL clips in which NFL players say something about themselves, one says. "I sleep on the happiness tree." Another says, "I melted a lot of people." One more says, "Humans shouldn't go into the labyrinth."

Yeah, everything they say is out of left field, if I may interject a baseball cliche into a football story.

Out on the field, "spoiled" New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady barks remarks like, "I'm an icon!" "Poke his eye!" "I'm the star!" and, "He's a spy!"

Another exchange:
Reporter to player: "I hope you feel good."
Player replies: "Not you, I hope you fall on a machete later."

Well, football is a violent sport, right?

I only gave you a small taste. Here's the full eight minutes of NFL bad lip reading that will convince you that people are strange:

"Crisco Cops" Coating Philly Telephone Poles Because Football

"Crisco Cops" coasting telephone
poles in Philadelphia with
vegetable shortening because NFL

If you're in Philadelphia today, don't touch the telephone poles.

I know that's strange advice, but really, listen to me. Because of the NFL utility poles in Philadelphia are now coated, in of all things,  Crisco.   

No, they're not going to bake pies on the telephone poles, and it's not some weird sex thing. No, the issue is that late this evening, the Philadelphia Eagles will face off against the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship.

Especially if the Eagles win, there will be big celebrations in Philadelphia. In the past, such parties involved lots of people climbing utility poles.

Which of course can be dangerous. A drunk guy climbing a pole and getting entangled in the wires above? With a crowd below. Yeah, you can see the problem.

So, if the telephone poles are coated in Crisco, people won't be able to climb them so easily. They'll be too slippery. So the "Crisco Cops" were out today, coating the poles with the vegetable shortening. 

Of course, I think Crisco can burn, so I'm not sure what will happen if people light the poles on fire. You never know what people will do.

So, if your favorite team wins, enjoy the celebration. Just try not to climb telephone poles, whether or not they have Crisco on them.

World's Biggest Anti-Take A Kneel Guy A Hit On Social Media

Talk about insincerity!

A little hypocritical maybe?

The photo in this post went viral this week. It shows a guy at the NFL New England Patriots vs. New York Jets game wearing a "I Stand For the National Anthem" shirt.

As you can see, though, he decided to take a break and sit down, using the American flag as a picnic blanket for his fat butt.

The fact that he's drinking beer out of a straw is a nice touch, too, but that's besides the point.

So let's see if I've got this straight: If a black NFL player kneels during the National Anthem to protest police brutality against African Americans, that's totally disrespectful. If a white guy gets tired walking around with his warm, flat beer, he can use the American flag to sit on to keep his butt comfortable.

Got it.

Trump's NFL Protest Statement Sticks In My Craw More Than Usual

NFL players in pretty much all of Sunday's game
took the knee in solidarity against Trump

Donald Trump doesn't like it when people disagree with him. And he always sounds off on it.

We should be used to it by now. And the latest dust up should be just another in a long series of stupid Trump sideshows. But for some reason, the NFL protest comments Trump made in Alabama just stick in my craw.

And everybody else. He stepped in it, and everybody is rebelling. It's amazing how many NFL games today are doing the whole kneeling and locking arms thing in defiance against Trump.

Friday night, it was NFL players who kneel during the national anthem to protest how police often treat African-Americans.

As related in the Daily Kos:

"'That's a total disrespect of our heritage. That's a total disrespect of everything that we stand for,' he said, encouraging owners to act. 

'Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flags, you'd say, Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He's fired,'" Trump said to loud applause.'

So a peaceful protest - protected by the First Amendment - is a bad thing that should be criticized, but marching menacingly as a neo-Nazi white supremacist in Charlottesville is OK?

Twitter the cable "news" outfits and other outlets have been a shoutfest ever since the comments made the light of day.

Once again, Trump - or one of his evil, dumb minions, are trying to get people fired from doing something completely benign: Peacefully protesting, without causing injury, harm or a lot of disruption, really.

That's really something. And so un-American.  A president trying to get private employers to fire people who have viewpoints that he doesn't like.

In the grand scheme of things, when things like Trump's warmongering with North Korea, the suffering of people in post-hurricane Puerto Rico, and Russia's meddling are going on, a jerk like Trump insulting NFL players is not the biggest crisis in the world.

But this has really touched a nerve.  People really cherish the right to speak out, even if they disagree with others speaking out. Sure, some of the right wing wackos on those cable shoutfests say the NFL players who 'take the knee" during the national anthem are somehow disrespecting the flag, which is nonsense.

They actually ARE respecting the flag by participating in their own way to improve the nation. Efforts to make this a better nation are by definition patriotic.

But Trump only cares about his ignorant base. So he caters to them, because the deplorables can only understand the red meat Trump throws at them.

The National Review admits this:

"(Trump) takes a commonly held sentiment - most people don't like the NFL protests - and states it in an inflammatory way guaranteed to get everyone's attention and generate outrage among his critics. When those critics lash back at him, Trump is put in the position of getting attacked for a fairly commonsensical view. 

Of course, NFL owners firing players on the spot for protesting isn't necessarily common sense, but this where 'seriously, not literally' comes in. Since everyone knows that owners aren't going to do this, Trump's statement registers for his supporters merely as forceful opposition to the protests, not as a specific plan of action."

The flaw with this argument is the critics seem to outnumber the base. A lot of people who once disliked the NFL protests suddenly see their value, or at least can muster some sympathy for them.

Which is why the number one hashtag on Twitter overnight and today has been #TakeTheKnee.

That even NFL owners who supported Trump and even donating to him are not happy with the so-called president's whines.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who previous called Trump a very good friend, said he was "deeply disappointed by Trump's comments."

"I think our political leaders could learn a lot from the lessons of teamwork and the importance of working together toward a common goal.... Our players are intelligent, thoughtful, and care deeply about our community and I support their right to peacefully affect social change and raise awareness in a manner that they feel is impactful."

At today's Detroil Lions game, not only did the team take the knee, so did singer Rico Lavelle when he finished singing the national anthem.

Donald Trump loves to cause division. It diverts attention from his misdeeds. So the more we argue among ourselves, the more he loves it. He started another big argument. And he did it classlessly, as usual, by using words like "bitch" and such.

It seems people are still more united than he would like. A few Trump partisans are appalled by the NFL protests, yes, but most of us are watching the First Amendment at work at NFL sidelines of all places.

That's a great thing to watch.

Teresa Kaepernick @B4IleaveU

Replying to @JamilSmith

Guess that makes me a proud bitch!

Eric Ebron 

✔@Ebron85

Does anyone tell trump to stick to politics, like they tell us to stick to sports? Smh.

Ben Gardner @BenGardner87

To be clear, Colin Kaepernick's "crime" is protesting systemic racism and police brutality. Trump called him a "son of a bitch" tonight.

Manny Fidel 

✔@mannyfidel

Trump on Kaepernick: son of a bitch!

Trump on Nazis: they're bad but like lol idkhttps://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/911407560938442757 …

More Bad Lip Reading For Super Bowl Weekend

:What to NFL players, coaches and refs really say to each
other during a game? Find out with Bad Lip Reading

I know, I know, I  just offered up a Bad Lip Reading video for the Trump inauguration a week or so ago, but I can't resist another one.

Bad Lip Reading is a YouTube channel where the makes take clips of something that was going on, without the sound.

They judge the way the lips of the people in the videos move to come up with lip reading of the action.

The lip reading, though, is hilariously off kilters, strange, absurd and just plain wacko.

NFL action is totally low hanging fruit for the makers of Bad Lip Reading videos, so in honor of the Super Bowl this weekend, we have a special NFL edition of Bad Lip Reading.

I just wish the people in the video really said what they're purported to be saying in the video.

Watch, because I know you need a good laugh:

Aretha Franklin Wows Again. This Time At A Football Game

Aretha Franklin wows, as always at a Thanksgiving NFL game
as she sang the National Anthem.

I can never resist posting an epic Aretha Franklin performance every once in awhile, like the time Aretha Franklin sang for Carole King at the 2015 Kennedy Honors.  

The Aretha Franklin performance making the rounds today is really something.

She sang the National Anthem at Vikings Vs. Lions NFL game on Thanksgiving Day.

Here's the video. Worth the watch and especially listen:

A Great Big Gay Weekend Unfolds

Twitter was, um Atwitter Saturday night with these three facts repeated ad nauseum in hundreds of 140-character or less missives:

Michael Sam, with his boyfriend, being told
Saturday that he is being drafted by the NFL team
St. Louis Rams.

1. A bearded drag queen singer named Conchita Wurst won Eurovision, the enormous, premier annual song competition in Europe. She's quite good.

2. Two lesbians got married in Arkansas Saturday, complete with a valid Arkansas State marriage license, thanks to a judge's ruling on Friday

3. The NFL team St. Louis Rams drafted Michael Sam, the openly gay football player. When Sam got the news he kissed his boyfriend, and the pair playfully smashed cake into each others' faces.

Needless to say, few of us, including Yours Truly, never thought we'd see any of these things happen, much less all in one bright Saturday in May.

It sure does leave me in a cheerful mood, though.

Bearded drag queens, Arkansas lesbians and gay football players might or might not be your cup of tea, but the message to the LGBTQ community is clear: You've come a long way, baby.

The world still isn't perfect for gay people, but it is slowly becoming more fair.

There will always be a virulent anti-gay crowd, still paranoid that any time a gay person gets married, or keeps a job, or adopts the kid, the Apocalpyse Is Upon Us.  So far, the sky hasn't fallen, so I think we're safe.

This anti gay crowd has long seen the writing on the wall, which is why they seem to have been getting more shrill and unhinged in their opposition to gay rights.

This couple got married in Arkansas Saturday.  

The news from Saturday will probably really put them over the edge.

I have mixed emotions about that fact. Of course I have a terminal case of schadenfreude, that sense of guilty pleasure over people not having a good time, so I'll indulge in that for awhile.

I'm sure the religious right, and probably Fox News, is depressed, angry and distraught at the moment.

On the other hand, when some people are ideologically backed into a corner, they lash out like a trapped animal. I worry that the drumbeat of great news for the gay community will increase gay bashings, as a few yahoos take matters into their own hands, thinking they're "saving the world" when they're just being idiots.

Other nations see what's going on and are joining the gay bashing wagon, too. These national leaders trying to distract their populace from their own incompetence or mendacity by exploiting anti-gay hate for their own self-preservation.

That's why Vladimir Putin in Russia has been pushing anti-gay laws. And why Brunei wants to put gay people to death via stoning.  And why Uganda is pretty much doing the same thing, pushed along by the odious American anti-gay activist Scott Lively. 

But you've got to be brave. That's how Conchita Wurst the bearded drag queen, our happy married lesbians in Arkansas and Michael Sam got what they wanted and deserve.

For the rest of us, it encourages to seek and win our own little victories.

Which is always an awesome thing

Gruff Sportcaster In Dallas Offers The BEST Reaction To Gay Likely NFL Pick

The sports world, and a lot of the rest of the world has been abuzz for a week now with the news that Mizzou football star Michael Sam is gay.   

Dallas sportscaster Dale Hansen has
this whole Michael Sam gay thing
figured out, brilliantly.  

And he's likely to become the first openly gay NFL player. Lots of people are fine with this and feel like it doesn't matter, as long as the guy can play a decent game of football.

A few people have been weirded out by it, for no good reason.

OMG! What if he sees me naked in the shower, a few big, supposedly tough (but squeally and wimpy) NFL guys are saying.

Um, he'll probably ignore you? You're probably not his type anyway.

Along comes Dale Hansen, the gruff no-nonsense sportscaster for television station WFAA in Dallas to put the issue to rest, brilliantly. No further comment from me, because Hansen says everything perfectly: