Ned Luce

I suspect you may have already realized that the world is actually a little silly much of the time. This week I provide my own contribution to it.

If you are a football fan you may have heard about the mayor of Cincinnati referring to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City as “Burrowhead.” He was making a somewhat snide reference to the fact that Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow had not lost to the Chiefs in that stadium, let alone any other stadium prior to last weekend. 

This occurred several days before the Chiefs beat the Bengals, an event triggering the Chiefs’ tight end and star receiver to teach the country a new word. 

He called the mayor a “jabroni,” inspiring me and many more to be concerned about his comments being family-friendly as well as heading for the dictionary to get the meaning. 

All is well and the mayor has been reticent to be further involved even though the word has origins in Italian profanity, as do most profane words.

You may wonder why the Chinese “weather balloon” did not come close to the Seattle area. After all, there are multiple military equipment manufacturing installations and high-tech companies worthy of spying on. 

With a nod to “Saturday Night Live,” I suggest the balloon was avoiding the potential disaster of being jabbed and thus deflated by the Space Needle. 

On Saturday we bought tickets to a special brand of silliness, the movie “80 for Brady.” Supposedly inspired by a true story, three 80-year-old women plus a 75-year-old woman buy tickets to the 2017 Super Bowl in Houston. Up until now that game was primarily famous for the winner, the Patriots, coming back from a 25-point deficit in the second half. 

As an NFL fan not from the Northeast, I am not a particular fan of the star of the game, Tom Brady, though he does play a fun part in the film. 

The movie opened last Friday and you may know that Tom Brady announced his retirement, “for good,” last week. Those who watch the movie may join me is suspecting that his announcement may have been made to “juice” the movie’s attendance. 

The Grammys were on Sunday evening and we may have actually recognized a few of the performers/nominees/winners. 

Active Life also means music with their performers! 

How could the local purveyors of physical therapy not have folks providing music for our lives as they encourage us to stretch and exercise each and every day. Several times! 

In the past I have called attention to Bobby Darin’s favorite therapist “Won’t you come home, Bill Bailey?”

Havens, that is. 

Then there is Nicole, the namesake of the song by the same name done by Ween. 

I strongly recommend not listening to it since you may need hearing aids afterward. Then there is the routine Catharine will put you through. You will think you are the clown memorialized by the Everly Brothers. (She and many others at Active Life will have never heard of the Everly Brothers. You probably have, though.) Tim (McGraw) will put you through a routine “Just to See You Smile.” Unfortunately, it rarely happens. 

Brock is a newbie up front and the only tune one can find mentioning him is unworthy of the name unless you want to hear it repeated time after time. “Delta” Dawn actually reminded me of the classic by Loretta Lynn, Helen Reddy, and others. The “Coasters” gave us the classic “Poison Ivy,” a tune Ivy claims to have never heard. (A little short on her world history lessons, I see.) 

Having endured some of the Grammy Awards the other evening there was an introduction of Taylor Swift. 

The Taylor at Active Life may be swift but she wasn’t at the Grammys. In 1960, “The Highwaymen” encouraged Michael to “row the boat ashore” and all the vintage folks, like me, who spend more time than they would like at Active Life are glad he and his band made it.

The Super Bowl is next Sunday. It is reported that upon hearing Joe Jacoby of Washington D.C.’s pro football team say: “I would run over my own mother to win the Super Bowl,” Matt Millen of the Raiders said: “To win, I’d run over Joe’s mom, too.”

Love a curmudgeon and cheer for the Chiefs. 

(Ned Luce is a retired IBM executive and Port Ludlow resident who carries a song in his heart and his water in a bucket. Contact Ned at ned@ptleader.com.)