Okay, another late start to Trash. Now if you have not heard, there is some bad bongos in Nawlins. The Hard Rock Hotel (not just a restaurant, this thing was to be huge), has collapsed in what will be an insanely huge liability claim for about thirty different fronts. People have died and their bodies still not recovered. An entire critical section of NOLA evacuated as a danger zone.

And, now, for insult onto injury, the Krewe du Boo Halloween parade has been cancelled. While not exactly the Krewe du Vieux and the other Krewes for Mardis Gras, this was kind of a thing, apparently, for NOLA. Keep your eye out for the litigation for this mammoth fuck up in engineering and development. It will be large, fascinating, and going on for a long time. Sad, in every way imaginable.

In the collegiate ranks, the Florida/South Carolina game is already interesting. After what SC did to Georgia, that has to worry Jim White. I’ll still take the Gators, but the game is in the Gamecocks stadium. Oregon at Washington Huskies is worth the watch. Michigan at Penn State is a huge game. I don’t know that it will get better for Harbaugh in Happy Valley, but it will be interesting.

ASU at Utah could, and should, be a great game. The Sun Devils of Herm Edwards are at an improbable 5-1 heading in to Salt Lake to visit a similarly situated 5-1 Utah, except nobody predicted Utah losing to USC earlier. Rice-Eccles Stadium is not a huge venue, but it is a compact and intimidating place to play on the road. Note my time in Rice-Eccles was for a couple of days on a Rolling Stones show I was working, not a football game. It is pretty, especially at the time of day the game is scheduled. If you can get the game on your carrier, it may be worth the watch.

For the Pros, the Chefs already clouted the Donkos, but lost Pat Mahomes for a couple of weeks. No problem, they just have the Packers and Vikings the next two weeks. But Matt Moore is not a scrub, Kansas City can still play with him at the helm. Speaking of the Vikings, they are at Detroit, and I smell an upset by the Kittehs. Oakland is at the Packers, and that could be a far better game than you would think. Philly at the ‘Boys could be okay. For you noisy 49ers fans, no, they are playing the Skins. They should win.

Arizona at the Gents is not a great game, but could get very interesting. Kyler Murray and the Cards offense has been better than expected, and the beleaguered AZ defense gets Patrick Peterson back, and he is still one of the best corners in football. Saints at Bears “should” be good, but Teddy Bridgewater has the Saints plugging along, I’ll take them. Ravens at Squawks is a matchup of two of the three best running QB’s in the league. Should be fascinating, but it is in Seattle, and man is that a tough place to play on the road. Lastly, the Pats visit the Jets on MNF. Jets are a LOT better with Sam Darnold back. Is that enough for a huge upset? I doubt it, but it may be close.

Lastly, MLB. It is the time of year where baseball counts, even here. The Natinals have already swept St. Louis and have their place in the World Series locked up while resting their superb starting pitchers. Astros up 3-2 on the Yanks, and heading back to Houston town for games 6 and 7. They will have the ridiculously good so far in the playoffs Gerrit Cole ready to go for one of them. It was supposed that would be for game 6, but that does not seem to be a given, they may save him for a knock out game 7. How that pitching decision plays out will be fascinating. I think I’d go ahead and let him throw game 6.

That is it for this week folks. Music by the great Lowell George and Little Feat.

Trash talk is late. I had some serious home maintenance issues here in the Cactus Patch, other distracting things, and a bunch of dopes that thought references to Louise Mensch and her band of crackpots might be fair content on this blog. Let’s reinforce one immutable concept: If you are referring to Louise Mensch, or any related endeavor, stop. Full stop.

Okay, it is a huge weekend of football. Before we get there, let’s acknowledge the weather in Suzuka for the F1 Japanese Grand Prix in 1976. The weather there is atrocious. But F1, unlike NASCAR and IndyCar, runs in the wet. It is what they do. And one of the most memorable races, and championships won, ever, happened in the Japanese Grand Prix at Mount Fuji. Bet you thought this was going to be all about football. Nope. We have multitudes here.

Eh well, back to the footballs….Oh, hey, the Natinals stunned the favored Cards behind Anibal Sanchez last night. It was indeed a stunner. Game Two of the NLCS is ongoing in St. Louis and the Natinals are, improbably, up yet again.

In the collegiate ranks, Oklahoma edged Texas in a game not really living up to the “Red River” thing. But a win is a win. Michigan finally scored a few points and won, while the Dawgs of UGA fell short. Ooof. Wisconsin and Clemson rolling despite the carping of people over field goal kickers. People, if you have dozens of points of lead, your field goal kickers are irrelevant. Florida at LSU is clearly the game of the day. It is in Baton Rouge though, and that may be a problem for the Gators as LSU has a functioning quarterback. If the Gators win down there, they are truly legit. Penn State and Iowa may be interesting on a lesser scale.

In the Pros, it is also a huge week. Pats beat the Gents in a throwaway game on Thursday night. The Houston Texans is a matchup of two truly exciting QB’s from the 2017 draft, Pat Mahomes and Deshaun Watson. I’ll take Mahomes at home. Skins at Fins…which team will be the biggest loser? Dallas at Jets and Steelers at Bolts might be interesting in some other year, but not this one.

Lions at Pack in Lambeau is far more interesting. I think Matt Stafford and the Kittehs are better than they are being given credit for, as is the Green Bay defense. The question is whether Aaron Rodgers and the Pack offense really shows up. That never used to be a question.

Music this weekend by Rod the Mod. Also look for a young, pre-Stones, Woody on guitar.

As the kids are wont to say, that was a hell of a week, and I’m only talking about Thursday and Friday. Also, too, there seems to be a second IC whistleblower on the horizon, per the NY Times. Things are happening fast, and in real time.

First up is the collegiate athletics. By the way, I honestly think all the Fair Pay to Play acts are, well, not good. They will give a very select small few rights to earn big money, and be seen as different by all the other college athletes that will never benefit. It is a caste system, and empowerment of the 1% off of Wall Street and onto the NCAA landscape. That is not a good thing.

Here is a piece by Michael McCann at the newly decimated Sports Illustrated, that I actually agree with. If Fair Pay to Play is to be enacted, it is absolutely necessary that it be done on a national basis, not a bogus piecemeal state by state basis, as some over aggressive voices are pushing. If you are going to do it, do it right. Join the national effort, not just try to make a name for yourself in your particular state.

Fair Pay to Play Acts are really ratifying that only a select few will ever profit off of the toils of the many. And the only recipients will be, with very few exceptions, in only football and basketball. The theory is not as evil as the result it will create. Irrespective of that merits discussion though, the siren song of state fame seems to be stronger for some noisy advocates than joining in a legitimate national plan. Shocker!

Alright, back to actual college football. It is a rather weak week for interesting games. Iowa at Michigan may be one of the best,and that is pretty telling. The best game is, arguably, Auburn at Florida. Jim White’s Gators have been a bit of a surprise, while Auburn was maybe larger on the preseason radar. The game is in the Swamp, which is huge for Florida. Auburn seems for real this year though, on both sides of the ball. That is the one game I will be truly watching. Mostly a whole lot of nothing after that this week.

As to the Pros: The Squawks beat the Rams in a great Thursday Night game. Off the top of my head, I think the Thursday Night football this year is already of a better quality than past years. Scribe said Vontaze Burfict should be banned from the NFL. I did not necessarily disagree, because his miscreant conduct goes back to college, and he played a couple of years here for the Sun Devils. He is a bad character, banning was arguably a fair result. Instead he will be suspended for the remainder of the year.

The Patriots have a lot of injuries, but they are playing the Skins, who are simply, and totally, fucked. Washington will be starting Colt McCoy, who may actually be their best option. If the Cards and Kyler Murray cannot beat the Bungles, they may not win a game this year.

The game that may be the most interesting is Tampa Bay at New Orleans. Teddy Bridgewater is no Drew Brees, but the Saints are seriously good, and playing at their home dome. Give Jameis Winston a smidgen of credit though, he is markedly better under Bruce Arians’ tutelage. This could be an excellent game. Vikes at Gents could be interesting, even though irrelevant mostly.

In a nod to Scribe’s coming comments, the Ravens at Steelers should be very interesting. Mason Rudolph did well last week; the Ravens not so much in a blowout loss to Baker Mayfield and the Brownies. Two different styles, and two teams that really don’t like each other. Excellent!

Green Bay at Dallas you would think would be a great game. But, even though I am a lifelong Pack fan, this is a tough road to hoe. Have to favor the ‘Boys. Lastly, the MNF game of Cleveland versus Niners in Santa Clara (yeah, that is still a dumbass location for the Niners to be playing in; what a joke), could be very good. Mayfield versus Garrapolo. Both teams are really looking up this year. Edge to SF though. I think…..

This week’s music is Boomtown Blues by Bob Seger, and it is from an under-appreciated early 80’s album, The Distance. Not sure what made me think of it, I have not thrown that album on the turntable for years, but here we are. Making Thunderbirds is also a truly killer cut on The Distance.

Since blowing the whistle is all the rage currently, I am including a second Seger cut, Let It Rock, this from the much earlier Bob Seger System, and it is an old song originally credited to Edward Anderson. Thing is, Edward Anderson was an early pseudonym for the one and only Chuck Berry. Seger’s version is awesome.

Rock on folks.

No, there is not yet a voted resolution for a formal impeachment inquiry, despite all the rhetoric from Pelosi and idiocy by the gullible press. So what can a poor boy do, in addition to singing for a rock and roll band? Trash Talk, that’s what!

Last night, the ASU Sun Devils actually played well and pulled off an upset on the road at 15th ranked Cal in Berkeley. If ASU had not have stunk up their home field last weekend against Colorado, they would be 5-0 and looking good. But they are young and look to be up and down all year. As for today’s games, Virginia at Notre Dame might be interesting, but I think ND is actually good for once, despite their close loss at Georgia. USC at the Washington Huskies may be the matchup of the day. And Washington State at Utah could be really good as well. Rare that there are two Pac-12 games in this category.

In the pros, The Iggles beat the Pack in Lambeau. Should not have been so, but between some horrible refereeing and even worse coaching by Green Bay’s rookie head coach, that was the result. A wasted effort by Aaron Rodgers and Devante Adams.

Believe it or not, the undefeated Patriots go to undefeated Buffalo for the right to first place in the AFC East. Don’t see that very often! I’ll take the Pats. Keep in mind that Tom Brady has won more games in Buffalo than any Bills QB since Jim Kelly. Chiefs at Lions might…might…be interesting, depending on the health of Matt Stafford. Skins at Giants, Lol. Squawks gonna kill the Cardinals. Cowboys at Saints would be a killer game if Drew Brees were not hurt. It still looks to be a pretty decent Sunday Night Football game.

Music is, of course, the Stones. We opened with a reference to it, and so the song is here too.

As pretty much everybody knows by now, the Patriots have released Antonio Brown. He has been jettisoned by two teams in two weeks. That has to pretty much be a record for a player with actual ability. You can find all the particulars in this ESPN piece, including some of the implications, such as salary cap space.

I don’t have a lot to say on the subject. The Patriots should have never signed the erratic jerk in the first place. So why did they? As Brown proved immediately in his one game with them, he is really, really good, that’s why. One other point I would add is that I think the league and team was correct to have not suspended Brown, or placed him on the Commissioner’s exempt list previously. Setting that precedent based on an unsworn civil complaint about long past conduct, with no criminal case whatsoever, would be to sanction an extortion racket on NFL players and personnel.

The threatening and menacing texts he issued to a second accuser this week made the situation untenable though. That was happening in real time and cannot be permitted under the personal conduct policy. I am sure folks will have plenty to say, but that is it for me.

USC upset Utah last night in a pretty good game. The Trojans might be better than people thought, though they did take a hit on their QB in the process. As for today’s games, Notre Dame at Georgia is big, as are Michigan at Wisconsin and Auburn at Texas A&M. Locally, Colorado is in to visit ASU, can the Herminator keep the Devils rolling after their big upset of Michigan State in East Lansing?

On to the pros. Speaking of the Patriots, they have some serious O-Line issues – Fullback James Develin is out, right tackle Marcus Cannon is questionable, as are both top line tight ends Matt LaCosse and Ryan Izzo. Gonna be a lot of three and four wide receiver packages with quick throws. On a positive note, however, it is the Jets they are facing.

Ravens at Kansas City should be pretty interesting, and Jackson versus Mahomes may be a rivalry to watch for many years to come. Saints at Seattle is interesting, but less so without Drew Brees, who looks to be out for at least six weeks. Teddy Bridgewater is a great kid, and seeing him come back from a catastrophic injury has been fantastic. But he is no Drew Brees, and Seattle is brutal to play in. Rams at Cleveland also could be interesting in the Brownies are really back in synch. Dunno about that.

As we opened with Antonio Brown, we shall close with James Brown. All down with Brown today. Get funky.

Trash Talk is back baybee! The NFL season starts for real tonight with the first game of the league’s centennial season. And, proving that even Roger Goodell and the NFL can occasionally get something right, the season starts with the Packers at the Bears. On Soldier field. Now that is a start to the season.

Honestly, the Bears are at home, and are probably, overall, the far better team. But the Cheesers have that Rodgers guy. If Green Bay’s O-Line can hold, they have a chance. If not, they don’t. It is pretty much that simple. Even a couple of Khalil Mackers to Aaron Rodgers will slow the Cheese train down. But, either way, it is one hell of a season opener.

There are a myriad of additional games on tap for Saturday in the college ranks, and Sunday, in the pro ranks. Not to mention the timeless speed of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Last weekend at Spa was a sensational race at, perhaps, the most beautiful circuit on the Circus calendar. Monza is not far behind, even if it is not the same as it once was with the feared steep banking.

So, Saturday is a big day here at Casa de bmaz as our daughter is coming home in the afternoon after six months on work assignment in India. We are extremely excited, but will try to get some more content up in the morning. If not, now you know why. The NFL sun is coming out starting tonight at Soldier Field. So the official Trash Talk season opening music is Sun King by The Cult. It is one truly kick ass song. Let’s rock and roll peoples!

It seems as if both Marcy and Jim White (where has that guy been lately?) are harshing on me for some Trash Talk. So, off we go!

The Florida Gators seem to have won a football game. Over other Florida men, the crossfire Hurricanes. Of Miami. That was Mr. White’s concern.

Marcy wants me to talk about the Patrick Chung case. I will likely come back to that later, when there is more information available. Like departmental reports and search warrant affidavits (if there are any!). For the meantime, there are serious questions as to the propriety of the actions of the Belknap County, of New Hampshire, officials in entering Chung’s house, not to mention searching it without belief there was a suspect inside and ongoing crime being committed. It is, for now at least, hard to see how they could have thought that. We shall see, but there are some serious questions needing to be asked and answered on this one.

And, then, the Luck ran out. Of Indy. From the great Gregg Doyell of the IndyStar:

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck announced Saturday night he was retiring, and for a moment he couldn’t breathe. He was crying. He was catching his breath and apologizing.
…
Luck was booed off the field Saturday night when the Colts played the Chicago Bears in the third preseason game, the news of his retirement breaking on Twitter during the second half. The fans who stuck around, they booed Luck off the field. And he heard it.
…
Even so, Luck sounded like a man at peace, a man who has stared into the abyss and turned away. Football, once his favorite hobby, the source of such childlike joy, had become his dark place. He said he had been thinking about retiring for about 10 days, calling it “a moment of clarity” when the idea finally started to take shape. He said he’d been tired.

“I feel exhausted,” he said, sounding very much that, “and quite tired.”

This is stunning. And it changes the AFC calculus dramatically. Good for Andrew Luck. He has always seemed like a cerebral chap, and if he thinks it is time to move on, then it is time to move on. That is truly gutsy though.

So, there are two musical selections today. The first is, in honor of Andrew Luck, The Luck Of The Draw by the incomparable Bonnie Raitt. Along with early (think Derek And The Dominoes era) Eric Clapton, and Lowell George of Little Feat, Bonnie is as kick ass of a slide guitar player as I have ever seen in my life. She is so good.

And, the second is the Stones. They are still Rolling.

And in just over 24 hours from now, Mrs. bmaz and I are going to be visiting with the Glimmer Twins, and the other Stones. Because if the Stones are in town, you go. And they are not some over the hill geriatric second level casino act, they still absolutely kill. The attached video is from 2006. A tour I saw, though here as opposed to at Copacabana Beach with half a million people in Rio. I wish I had flown down to Rio. Because, damn, that looked like some serious fun.

Well, here it is, Super Bowl LIII game day. The last time Atlanta hosted a Super Bowl, it was basically a disaster. It was freezing cold with frozen rain, transportation was sketchy, many integral events had to be cancelled, the game was a thriller and Ray Lewis was arrested for double murder for an altercation after the game. It was a black eye for Atlanta of epic proportion. Things have, by all reports, gone much better this time, and the newish Mercedes Benz Stadium looks beautiful and ready for today’s action.

There are a LOT of people who think the wrong teams are in the game, and it should be the Saints and Chiefs. The Saints fans actually have the better argument, they were robbed and jobbed at the end of the NFC Championship game. The Chiefs may have deserved to have a chance to get the ball after the Patriots’ touchdown drive in overtime, but those are the rules, and the Pats did what they had to do.

As to the the teams that are in the game, they both seem extremely healthy with little of note on the injury reports. Even the always nicked up Gronk seems at full speed and energized. And Julian Edelman will be on the field after being noticeably absent last year. Same for Dont’a Hightower, notably absent in the Pats’ De last year. The Rams’ biggest concern seems to be how to allocate snaps between Todd Gurley and the white hot CJ Anderson. If you have to have a concern, that is a pretty good one to have.

Both teams have potent offenses capable of taking the game over. So this game will be won on defense. The better D is going to win the game. The Rams quartet of Aaron Donald, Ndamukong Suh, Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters, while maybe not the Fearsome Fousome of old, is pretty fearsome. The Pats have less (if any) big names on defense, but have been playing very well down the stretch and in the playoffs. As far as coaching, Sean McVay is a wonder kind and worthy of all the accolades he has received. Hard to envision that the edge still doesn’t go to Bill Bell with all his caginess and experience,and with Josh McDaniels still coaching up the offense and Brady.

The blueprint for beating the Pats is to get such immense pressure on Brady that he is rattled or hit constantly. It is no secret, that has always been the plan. The plan for avoiding this is for Brady to get the ball out fast in midrange and get the running game going with Sony Michel, James White and Burkhead. Look for a lot of play action and short flat throws, with an occasional shot to Gronk or Dorsett.

The trend line has the Pats favored by a couple of points, but I don’t see it. This is a complete pickem.

The national anthem will be performed by Atlanta’s own Gladys Knight, and that is a fine choice, but she should kneel in support of Kaepernick while doing so. That will never, of course, happen, but it should. The halftime show looks to be absolute rancid bullshit. So, today’s music will go back to a better time for Super Bowl halftime shows with a little bit of the Boss from ten years ago. Rock it up!

There are notable football weekends in the year, both for the Pros and the Joes. In college, it is the rivalry weeks, usually late in the season, and the CFB semi-finals. In the Pros, it is the last week or two of the regular season and, then the Wildcard and Divisional weekends. But nothing matches the conference championship games weekend nor the Super Bowl.

So, here we are at Conference Championship Sunday. The best four teams over the regular season are still standing and ready to play today. No outliers. It is really who should be playing today. When the “final four” are who they should be, that is a good thing, and so it is today. The national media is framing it as really old QB’s versus young second year QB’s. I am not sure that is fair, the coaching styles and defenses are every bit as important. Sean Payton has a lot more experience than Sean McVay, while Bill Belichick and Andy Reid are a lot closer (with Bill Bel having the edge historically).

Let’s see what is on tap:

First up is Rams at Saints. They are the two best teams in the NFC, and New Orleans deserves the home site via a head to head earlier win. While most focus on the head to head Brees versus Goff passing matchup, I think it comes down to the running game. If the dual headed Rams attack of Gurley and C.J. Anderson get untracked, and the Rams outstanding O-Line run blocking might provide that, it could be a long day for the Saints in their home Superdome.

But the Rams have enough defensive line attack and pass rush to neutralize the incredible Drew Brees and make him throw into a very competent Rams secondary. It is really a great matchup. I have no idea who wins this, and would not want to bet real money on it.

Second game is Pats at Chefs. While, as noted above, the coaching history favors Bill Bel by a mile, Mahomes is a more accurate and mobile Brett Favre freak, and Reid is truly a great coach. The Pats, still, are as healthy as they have been all season, are playoff pressure battle tested, and have the likes of Brady, Edelman, Gronk and many other players. If they get beat, it will not be because they were too new for the stage. And let’s note again the relative health of the roster, which was not the case a lot of the regular season. The defense is picking up too.

As much as the Bolts were kind of compelling underdogs, the two best possible teams are playing today in KC. Note that the game is in KC where it will be seriously cold, but not as bleak as earlier thought as to weather. But it is not in Foxborough, it is in the cacophonous Arrowhead. On the flip side, if there is ever a well coached and experienced team to walk into that, it is Bill Bel, Brady and the boys. Something has to give.

For the Chefs, they cook on with their redshirt frosh Pat Mahomes blowing up the NFL passing game. He is really a freak. And really good. Tyreek Hill is in a similar category, and they still have a running game and Sammy Watkins on offense. Justin Houston and Eric Berry are back, apparently at full speed, which transforms the KC defense. Special teams seems to be a wash with both playing well. Also, remember, Belichick has a record of scheming for these kind of games. So, who wins? No clue! Chefs are home in the imposing Arrowhead, but if anybody can take them there, you would never bet against Bill Bel and Brady. I have no idea.

As we often do, I would like to notice a relevant sports story that is outside of the traditional games talk. Today, it involve a superb report by friend to this blog Adam Klasfeld at Couthouse News (he really is excellent, follow him). It involves NBA big man Enes Kanter, and it is an ongoing story, but this is an absolutely great interview and report:

Sitting on the same sofa where he watched his teammates lose by a point the previous night in London, Turkish Knicks star Enes Kanter opened up about why he missed the big game – a story he wants to share with Sen. Lindsey Graham.

“First, I would talk to him about the issues in Turkey and then, just meet him and talk about what’s going on, talk about my experiences and share my own personal stories,” Kanter said in an extensive interview on Friday from the lounge of his apartment building.

With their star center an ocean away, the Knicks squandered a one-point lead at the buzzer to the Washington Wizards at a matchup in London on Thursday night. Kanter skipped the game after the Turkish government put out a red notice and sought his extradition and prosecution.

“I put on my jersey because I still wanted to feel like I’m part of the team,” the 6-foot-11 basketball player recounted, arriving for the interview in a Knicks shirt.

Read the whole thing. And then think about how Trump, and his closely held administration, relentlessly sucks up to the tyranny and authoritarianism of Erdogan. Sports really intersects life more often than people think, but this is a blaring example.

Okay, that is it for Championship Sunday. So, laissez le bon temps rouler. Music by BB King. Roll it baby.

Getting close to the home stretch in the NFL. There are four games this weekend, and the first one up is Colts at Chiefs. The weather looks to be very nasty, with below freezing temps and snow already accumulating. It will be interesting to see how young Pat Mahomes fares in this environment for his first playoff game. He has such a strong arm,that my guess he will be fine, and same for Andrew Luck. But the Colts have a far better running game than the Chefs, and KC run defense is not the best. Oh, and KC has not one a playoff game at home since the mid 90’s when Joe Montana was their QB. This has a real potential for a Colts upset.

The second game Saturday is Cowboys at Rams. Dallas really is starting to play better lately, and the Rams seemed to stall a little toward the end of the regular season. That said, hard to see the Boys having enough offense to keep track with Goff and Gurley, and the Rams defense is superior.

The early game Sunday is maybe the most interesting game of the weekend with the Chargers at Foxborough to visit Bill Bel and the Pats. The Bolts have the offense to make this very interesting, and have solid defense too. The Pats will need a big game from Sony Michel, and Brady and Gronk have to get out of their funk. And the Pats are basically at full health finally. It is tempting to take the Bolts in an upset, but not going to bet against the Pats. Nope just not gonna do it.

The late game Sunday has the Eagles at the high flying Saints. Drew Brees is simply a machine, and he has a hot running back duo in Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram. Fun fact, Brees and the Eagles’ Nick Foles both went to the same high school, though obviously separated by quite a few years. Foles has been absolute magic for the Iggles, but I think that luck runs out in NOLA.

As a fun little parting shot, today is the 50th anniversary of Super Bowl III in Miami, where Joe Namath and the Jets shocked the world by beating the heavily favored Colts. Here is a fun story looking back at that game and the really earth shattering consequences it had for pro football.

This weekend’s music courtesy of Van the Man.