A Trio of TV Tidbits: Flawed Faves, Odious Ads, and Chess Finesse

Sign outside of The Jam Pot a bakery in Eagle Harbor run by the Holy Transfiguration Skete, a Byzantine Catholic monastery,

By Ken De Laat

I recall in late spring early summer feeling a few pangs of emptiness with minimal TV sports taking place anywhere. Oh there was  the rather surreal Korean baseball I watched at 5am and an occasional corn hole competition but not much else . Watching repeats of games is a concept I have never really embraced since one of the few pulls toward sports is the immediacy of the drama unfolding. To me the ‘classic’ replays  seem a lot like watching repeats on coverage of significant weather events.
What I missed were the teams I followed and rooted for over the past several decades. Tigers, Lions, Pistons, Wings, Wolves and Spartans.
Then sports returned.
The basketball playoffs and Stanley Cup competition began but, alas, they took place sans Pistons and Wings due to their pathetic records so there was little interest.
And then the Tigers returned to short term action…
And soon fell out of contention despite a hockey-like, nearly all inclusive playoff system cobbled into place by MLB.
But hey, then the Lions started their season and…
Well, if you’re a fan you know how quickly that has disintegrated into another lost season, another coach dismissal and the promise of better things to come via yet another rebuilding process. You realize all is lost when Matt Prater starts missing the bunnies.
But we also had a belated college football kicking off and our two Big 10 teams possibly ready to compete for the title...
Except one has been a disaster and will undoubtedly require a new coach after the season and the other just got edged by Ohio State 52-12.
Yeah, we missed them all.
But while it’s said that absence makes the heart grow fonder..
It doesn’t do much for improving your favorite teams.

Of all the things I don’t miss about the election season, and believe me there are so so many thighs I don’t miss, the commercials inundating any network programming are up there near the top. Depressingly predictable and negative they drove me to Netflix and PBS each time I settled in for some random tube watching.
But with the  political millions spent on sucking up air time suddenly vanished the return to ‘regular’ ads includes a resurrected Christmas themed car commercial when the guy buys a pair of vehicles and his wife declares her love for the one he purchased for himself.
It’s not funny, not cute, not realistic and involves a couple who are altogether unlikeable.
And thus far I have encountered it an average of 11 times per hour of TV.
Now I’m not saying there’s any longing for the recently departed cosmic debris that passed for political ads…
But  believe me neither of the characters in this oh so obnoxious holiday ad would never ever get my vote.
And when I am in the market for a vehicle in the near future?
Yeah. Won’t be the ones in this commercial. 
Just on principle.

If you have Netflix and have yet to watch Queen’s Gambit do so the very minute (well, minutes) you have to sit down and take in this captivating show that has resulted in a boom in the sales of chess sets.
Granted this isn’t for everyone and you need to be a bit open minded  but it is absolutely sublime from plot line to character development to some truly inspired camera work. This is a compelling watch  to be savored and will likely evolve into that small collection of shows one can watch several times just to capture every nuance subtly intertwined into the production.

Oh, and as for the photo at the top? No it has nothing to do with the article.  just liked the sign.

Hunker down fellow Near Northians.
When you stay safe we all stay a bit safer.

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