League Weekly Rewind (Week of December 8th)

A'ja Wilson Gets Her Flowers

A'ja Wilson is Time Magazine's Athlete of the Year:  Time Magazine's article.

She also won AP's Female Athlete of the Year:  AP News article

We at League of Melbotis couldn't be happier.  And based on performance and accumulation of honors, it's hard to argue that she isn't the most accomplished athlete in their sport (across all US Sports) in 2025, while also taking the stage as a face for the WNBA during a crucial and messy period.

Christmas Pals: Mari Lwyd

Ah, Wales.  Beautiful.  Ancient.  Brave.  Steadfast.  Home of a baffling language and a horse-skulled excuse to get drunk.  

Apparently this is not some ancient character - it's just something some drunk Welshmen came up with.  Make a hobby horse out of a skull and go a-wassailing.  Horse skulls are kind of jolly, I suppose, and when you show up at someone's door with it, they kind of have to address you, so you sing and drink.  Not bad.

The Mari Lwyd is a skull affixed to a pole like a hobby horse and then you bedazzle that skull.  One person under a sheet carries it around, and another speaks/ sings for it as a leader.  And then a bunch of other drunks join in, singing in a small crowd around the figure.  You knock on someone's door, and you carol for booze.

No one is quite sure where the tradition started, why, or, indeed, what "Mari Lwyd" refers to - but it might just mean "The Gray Mare".  She ain't what she used to be, indeed.

So, no, don't fear the Mari Lwyd.  It's just here for your booze and snacks. 

Wait... am I Mari Lwyd?

Christmas Show: The E(Xmas)ist

 

Lifelong pal CB Goodman - former film school collaborator and sometime roommate - has gone on to become a director and producer of local plays.  The nice thing is, I don't have to be polite.  I actually like her work when I've been able to catch it.  It is not a new idea that I think CB, indeed, has a terrific sense of comedy, conceptualization and design.  She works with a collaborative called Gracklejack Productions, and they stage shows pretty regularly.

A few months back she informed Jamie and I that she was working on The E(Xmas)ist, which she described as a mash-up of The Exorcist and Krampus, and I said "well, yes".   

We caught the opening night show on Thursday 12/11 at the Crashbox in Austin.  I guess the shows are now all sold out, but you never know.  Tickets may be got here.  

Written by Vince Kelly and directed by CB, it was what she advertised.  Hilarious, great stuff.  It did not hurt that I'd just revisited The Exorcist during October, so it was all very fresh.  True team effort, I wouldn't single anyone out of the cast as they all delivered, and all of them had highlight moments.  

After way too many Hallmark movies and Christmas cheese, it was great to revel in a show that was absolutely as described:  

The ultimate campy Christmas parody, The E(XMAS)IST is everything we ever wanted in a holiday show! It’s got drag, sass, and ridiculous DIY special effects.

Anyway, I can see this becoming a sort of Christmas tradition.  Not that I want to saddle CB with more work, but I'm just saying.  The audience loved it, and I can see other players want to try on some of these parts.

Amazing show.  If you can still get a ticket, Austin, do it.

Enjoy Some Holiday Tunes

I don't know what I was expecting, but I haven't heard much new Christmas music.  But, that doesn't mean I've not heard any.  Also, there were some highlights the past couple years we'd be remiss if we didn't share.

Some Final Girls are here with some Christmas cheer (found via Barbara Crampton's social media)

Kylie Minogue has a whole new Christmas record.  I quite liked the song and video for Office Party

Minogue also has a video coming end of the week for her new song, XMAS, but this live performance is pretty keen.

For the rockingest Christmas music, may I recommend 

Who would we even be if we didn't give Ms. Hannah Waddingham's Apple+ Christmas special a shout-out?

Last Christmas, before anyone knew who she was stateside, Raye performed at the NBC Rockefeller Christmas Tree lighting

In 2023, Cher herself had a new song she performed at the Tree Lighting.

Christmas Pals: The Yule Cat

Iceland is a place of curious myths and legends.  I won't get into all the western gods and monsters that have come out of Iceland, but here for the Christmas Season, I'll introduce you to The Yule Cat.

Sure, the German mountains may have given us Krampus, but over in Iceland there's multiple Christmas folk characters, and, for my dollar, there's nothing says Christmas more than a cat larger than a house who will stalk and murder you on if you (checks notes) did not receive new clothes under the tree.  

Suddenly that ugly sweater from Aunty Gertrude is pretty nice, right?

I mean, it seems less than chill to get murdered because no one thought to gift you some new socks, but folk beasts are not always fair.  So you make sure you're VERY CLEAR in your Santa Letter that you want pants.

Anyhoo, the idea of sitting at home and looking out the window into the hub-cap sized eye of a cat is pretty spooky stuff and not very jolly.   

League Weekly Rewind (Week of December 1)

I totally forgot I was trying to do this on the regular.  Apologies.

I already wrote last week about going to see Chorus Austin and Austin Symphony Orchestra perform Handel's Messiah.

I Need to get a 2026 Calendar

Our calendar hangs inside a cabinet door in the kitchen, and is more or less an affectation at this point.  But I do like having one.  

Over the years, we've had a variety of calendars, from sports to scenery to events to, this year, Godzilla.  

So, in 2026, I was pondering the following:

• Longhorns (the animal)
• Owls
• Chicago Cubs
• Texas Wildflowers
• Indiana Fever or Las Vegas Aces WNBA

I dunno.  Let me know in the comments.  Fresh ideas are welcome.

My Foot

I'm driving a little.  The biggest problem is that I'm in this surgery boot, and it's very wide.  Honestly, it keeps also tripping me up on carpets and corners at home.

When I drive, the wide toe sometimes doesn't entirely leave the gas pedal when I push on the brake.  And because the sandal-like support is flat like a board, it is unsubtle with the brake, so I will abruptly slam to a halt if I'm not absolutely mindful.

I cannot wait to be back in shoes.

The foot gets tired and it hurts sometimes, but all in all, progress is really good.  Also, people keep telling me absolute horror stories of broken bones, and I know I have it really good.

Golden Globe Nominees

My disinterest in award shows continues unabated.  

What I'm reading 

I've started the audiobook of 1960's Austin Gangsters by Jesse Sublett.  It's a non-fiction accounting of what passed for organized crime in Austin, Texas in the decades before I arrived.  I *just* started it, but it's off to the same popping start that got me into Sublett's book Last Gangster in Austin, which - especially for locals - I highly recommend.  

When it comes to comics, there's a few things I'm enjoying.

Right now Superman has a few titles going.  

Action Comics is taking a step back into the past to tell the story of young Clark Kent, merging the Silver Age of DC Comics and Superboy tales with a much needed modern reframing.  

Superman has been wrapped up in the meganarrative stuff that's leading into K.O., which feels creatively bankrupt and is something I could not care less about, but I need to read it to know what's happening.  Plus, I think we're getting a new Legion series on the other side.

Supergirl is a terrific fun read, and aimed at a younger and jollier crowd than myself.  Highly recommended.  It's pure, four-color goodness and much deserved after decades of Supergirl misfires.

Wonder Woman is the polar opposite of Supergirl, but has spent 27 issues telling one of the most compelling Wonder Woman stories that isn't a Greg Rucka-penned origin in 20 years.  I'm loathe to describe it, but it's worth picking up the trades now, or waiting for an inevitable Omnibus.  Beautiful work by writer Tom King and especially the issues drawn by Daniel Sampere.  

People struggle with King.  But this is a sorely needed departure from what's felt like drain-circling the past decade.

Superman Unlimited feels like a class writer who maybe doesn't know Superman all that well (Dan Slott), but he's getting there more and more with every issue.

Adventures of Superman: The Book of El knows Superman very well, and is picking up massive plot threads abandoned after Phillip Kennedy Johnson left the Super-books a couple of years ago.  It's nice to have this odd, stand-alone book that's wildly not new-reader-friendly, but worth the cover price.

I've been picking up Fantastic Four again for the first time in a while as - in conjunction with the movie this summer, they renumbered and restarted.  I have *no* idea what is going on at Marvel these days, but it's a fun read as a stand-alone.  

The Spider-Man Holiday Spectacular was really good!  The DC Christmas issue was typically bad.  I always give them a chance, and they're always a disappointment.  It feels like a try-out book, and no one involved is able to make the format work from a writing perspective, and artists don't seem to have their game down, delivering confusing and C level art.

Christmas Concert: Handel's Messiah w/ Chorus Austin and Austin Symphony

Every year we try to do something for Christmas - some sort of live show.  And most years, we include my parents.  For example, we've been to Zach Scott to see Christmas Carol and Long Center for The Nutcracker.  

And, every year, after it's already happened and I see a TV report on it, or mentions online, I say "next year I'll go see Handel's Messiah performed for once in my life".  And, on December 2nd, we did just that.

We all know two or three selections from the work, but I didn't know much about it other than those bits and that it's a staple.  At this point in my life, I'm not getting younger and I feel like I should take in come of Western Culture's biggest hits. 

League Rewind (Week of November 30th)

Happy post-Thanksgiving.

That picture above is my (first) plate of food from Thanksgiving dinner at my folks' house.  Jason, Amy and the kids were visiting her parents and family in Phoenix.  Back here we had Karebear at the forefront making an amazing dinner.  Jamie made the stuffing (and it was great).  The Admiral poured wine.  My Unky B, who moved here this year, was in attendance - as was Cousin Sue.  And Jamie's Dad, DocDik, rode up with us.  My folks' friend, Janie, arrived a tad later and joined us.  

It was lovely.  Had some nice pumpkin pie, too.  

The Phoenix voyagers returned before the weekend, so we did all manage to catch dinner out (where I ate so much cheese, I needed to be rolled home).

The Thanksgiving Day Parade

Settling into the Holidays at League HQ - 2025

Well, Thanksgiving is over and we're headed toward Christmas and New Year.  

This weekend, Jamie and I managed to decorate the inside and outside of League HQ.  It was a large task, but we'd started by setting up one of our two trees last weekend, and it took a surprising amount of pressure off this weekend.

Starting last year, we quit wrapping the upstairs pillars as we had a friendly owl living in the balcony.  But the oak tree in front of our house more or less obscures the lights up there, anyway.  So, now you just get the four columns of peppermint wrap and the candy lights in the tree.  You're welcome.

Meanwhile, the living room isn't much different from prior years.

Happy Thanksgiving 2025

Happy Turkey Day, everybuddy!

We made it.  The Holiday season starts in earnest.  My mom is making a dinner in North Austin, and we'll be there this evening.  Rumor has it she got three kinds of pie, which I am excited about, but for me it's about turkey, Jamie's stuffing (she's been working on it for several days), potatoes and whatever greens are on the table.  

I love me a Thanksgiving dinner.

Thankful for so much this year.  

As always, Jamie is first up.  Especially as she's taken care of me for *months* as I have this busted foot, so I can't drive, and for a while couldn't cook or clean.  She's done *everything*.  So, thanks, Jamie!  But she's also just Jamie, and that ain't bad.  So thankful for every day before and every day to come.

Thankful for a new gig I kind of love.

Thankful for my pals near and far.  Some of you I know mostly online, and some I barely text with but we get to hang out in person.  But a guy needs to count himself rich with how many people he can call a buddy.

Thankful for parents and family!  We are a small family, but we are mighty.  And the niece and nephew are growing up strong and smart.

I've got my health, if you don't count this foot.  Jamie's had a good year, and our parents are doing well.

This year we also adopted Emmylou, and she's been a delight every day.  Good dog.

just look at that cutie-patootie

And, if I may, I'm thankful for a lot of silly things, too.  Hey, I got two superhero movies I'd always dreamed of this year.  Not grateful for my bad financial management when it came to Superman merchandise, but here we are.

And if you you read to the end here, thanks!

Now get out there and eat your favorite foods and get a slice of pecan pie.  (And I say it "peh-cahn").

League Lagniappe (Week of November 23rd)

Hey, y'all...

I'm gonna try to bring back something I did at the media site, which was the Signal Watch Rewind, over a decade ago.  

It's just a regular collection of a bunch of junk in small bits you can just scroll through and see if you care or not.  I'll include YouTube clips, links off to other sites, and maybe other things that haven't fired off a full post, but I kinda want to share.

Like...  

Animal I didn't know exists:  The Binturong

Those @#$%ers Stopped Making Pennies

Today I had to tell my co-workers, who did not see the news on social media, that the United States has discontinued the penny.*

Look, the world has a lot of problems, and apparently it costs $0.04 to make a penny, which is why they stopped, but..  dang, man.  It feels like we should have been consulted.

The penny is a huge part of culture here in the United States.  Now what the @#$% am I supposed to pick up and all the day have good luck?  Riddle me THAT, US Mint.  

What will the name now mean when we meet a Penny?  We might as well call women "Doubloon".   

What giant coin will Batman have in the Batcave?  A NICKEL?  Like a common nickel hoarder?   

Are we supposed to read the Dime Saver?  Offer a quarter for your thoughts?  At gas station cash registers, are we to give a Sacagawea dollar, take a Sacagawea dollar?   

This is bullshit.  I would have been happier had they said "no more dimes and nickels.  A penny is now a dime.  Everyone round up."  

*Thanks, Nathan!

One Week and Counting Since I Posted the Only Review of the Lacey Chabert Ornament

This year Hallmark is offering an actual Lacey Chabert Porcelain Ornament.

Maybe the ornament is a little weird, but so is Hallmark.  And as long as they make ornaments for pretty much any other media franchise under the sun, it makes sense that eventually they'd want to float a trial balloon of what they have to offer from their own networks.  And what Hallmark has leaned into of late is "Hallmark Stars" - of which Chabert is a bit singular.

And so it seems, rather than go all in on, say, the entire cast of Three Wisest Men, they've decided to go with one of their biggest stars who has more than a decade with the channel.  

So why the review?  

Foot Follow Up

I've already posted this elsewhere, but for the next few weeks it will be the biggest thing happening in my life.  

So, here's the post on how we got here.  And the picture above is what they showed me shortly after I came out of sedation at the Texas Orthopedic Surgery Center.  

This is kind of what happens when you enthusiastically agree with your doctor that the ideal outcome of surgery is that you never, ever want for your foot to break again.  You wake up with a titanium screw put into your foot that will mean your pinky toe shall ne'er bend again.  

In my head, this was going to be an inch-long screw.  For scale, I wear a 14 wide.  Apparently, and in no way does this surprise me, they learned my bones are very dense and so my surgery took longer than expected.

Surgery was Thursday November 6th, and it's now Sunday, November 9th.  

Does it hurt?  Not like you'd think.  If I have it up, there's a low ache between a 2 and 4.  Nothing I can't sleep through, and I can say that here on day four, it hurts less, and I'm only taking a real pain killer before I go to sleep.  Aside from that, I'm sticking to HEB brand acetaminophen.  I find if I take real pain killers I just fall asleep or can't remember proper nouns.  

If I move around or put my foot at an angle where the surgery site has weight on it, yeah, I can feel it, but I'm not weeping.  I've got crutches, so I can sort of lurch around.  I've been upstairs for a shower and will do so again today.  Back to work Monday/ tomorrow

Anyway, they say I should be back to normal (whatever that is) within 6 weeks.  So that literally puts me at the week of Christmas for walking around just fine.  Which would be nice.  But it does mean I am unsure what holiday decorating will look like this year, and shopping is going to be all-Amazon-all-the-time.  No holiday strolls for me.  

Anyway, yeah, it's going to be a nice, long slog to get through the holidays wherein I am sure people will be losing their shit with me for not keeping up.

Dodgers Win World Series in 10 innings in Game 7

After the Cubs lost out to the Brewers in the NLDS, I wasn't sure if I'd stick with MLB through the post-season (but I always do these days).  

As a Cubs guy, I mostly follow National League, but was vaguely aware the Blue Jays, over in the American League, were having a great season.  I was also aware the Dodgers had loaded themselves up with talent valued the highest in the MLB and some of the best players plucked from Japan on their roster.  

You can choose to be jealous of other teams having Shohei Ohtani or enjoy watching one of the best to ever do it get to do his thing.  And that's true now of Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound as well.  But the team came in at a highly respectable .574 entering the playoffs in a competitive NL West.  

I busted my foot

my fracture is further toward the toe, my skin is not invisible and I have fewer radiating concentric rings

So, a while back I was walking Emmylou and noticed my foot was hurting.  But, look, I am aware I have some mild arthritis - which I've had for a decade at least, so sometimes things just start hurting for a while.  If I adjust this or that, it gets better.  But if I do something really repetitive, like push-ups, my wrist will start yelling at me.  

Anyway, I assumed this was that, and I would just get some new shoes and Dr. Scholl's inserts and all would be well.  Well, not so much.  

I woke up one morning and my foot was just hollering at me, which is not a great sign as I am a fellow who prefers to sleep horizontally and had barely used my feet all night.  

Immediately, I got online and got an appointment with my Primary Care doctor, and that appointment was a week out.  After a ten minute visit, I got an appointment for an x-ray so she could get a look and direct me to an orthopedic doctor.  That x-ray was *supposed* to be two weeks out, but I fixed it and it but a mere week out.  

30 Years With Jamie

 

Jamie's 30th Birthday in San Diego

I met Jamie in fall of 1993 during a party off-campus at Trinity University in San Antonio.  We didn't start dating for about two years after that.  

When we met, both Jamie and I were college freshmen, me at University of Texas, and Jamie at Trinity.  My friends Denise and Madi, chums from high school and fellow Longhorns, drove us down for the evening as it was a Saturday in the dorms and we had no plans.  I called my brother in San Antonio and he knew of a party and knew Denise and Madi.  

No sooner had we arrived than I had enjoyed my first Goldschlager and Jagermeister.  Out of the crowd, other high school pal Erica appeared and introduced me to her suite-mate, Jamie, and my memory is that Jamie stepped in front of me and I got hit by that thunderbolt you read about but think is nonsense, something I'd say was a ridiculous bit of fiction had it not been my exact experience.  

It is very odd to have a moment that is going to change the entire trajectory of your life occur, but this was that.  

Immediately, I became acutely aware of my state, and that whatever tools I had for navigating speaking to this girl were nowhere to be found.  I was going to have to just bumble my way through.

Cubs 2025 Season Ends

Well, dang.

The Chicago Cubs made it to the 2025 National League Division Series versus the Milwaukee Brewers - something that hadn't really occurred before.  We lost two games, then won two games, but lost the fifth game in Milwaukee.  

But I'm calling it a great season.  

We started with the Tokyo Series, and then played lights out through the All-Star Game.  The back half of the season was more uneven, but we pulled out of a nose dive to make the play-offs.

Our Wild Card round was against San Diego, and I wasn't sure how we'd do, but the answer was "just fine".   I guess we had never played the Brewers before in the NLDS, so that's neat.  And we did pretty good against a team who had a lot more rest than the Cubs did coming in.

The team this year was so much fun to watch, which, really, is all you can ask for.  Pete Crow-Armstrong (PCA to fans), and my guy Seiya Suzuki, were in a weird pairing as the two outfielders wound up with dozens of home runs each, often keeping up with one another in the homerun count.  Pete would get one, then Seiya would get one the same game or the next.  Crow-Armstrong wound up with 31, and Suzuki ended up with 32 - not exactly Roger Maris, but pretty good!  

Dansby Swanson was phenomenal as Short Stop, and we got lucky with Michael Busch at first base.  Work horses Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ produced consistently all season on offense and defense.  Kyle Tucker was solid as both a fielder and at bat.  Carson Kelly delivered as both catcher and at bat, too.  And having Justin Turner in the dugout and playing sometimes was really cool.

Pitching could be spotty.  We lost Steele immediately.  Imanaga suffered an injury that he didn't fully recover from.  And the rest of the rotation was up and down and unpredictable.  But, hey, they got us where they got us.

Anyway, great season, Cubs!  Would have been fun to have made the NLCS, but I'll take a 3-2 game NLDS series against a team as good as the Brewers are this year.  

WNBA Finals: Las Vegas Aces Sweep in Four

Well, that was fun.

I mean, the whole thing.  Deciding to put down the money for the WNBA package on YouTube/ YouTubeTV, trying to pick a team, failing to do so, learning about the WNBA, figuring out the hype about A'ja Wilson was not just hype.  Figuring out who the stars were.  Figuring out who the villains were, Alyssa Thomas.  

On October 10th, 2025, the Las Vegas Aces swept the Phoenix Mercury in four games to win the 2025 WNBA Finals.

TL;DR: WNBA, The Fever's Insane Season and Collier Calls Out the Commish

Collier ponders coming for the Queen

Growing up, I watched mostly NBA basketball.  It was the era of The Lakers and Celtics when I started.  The Pistons were my team for a couple of years just to annoy Lakers fans, but I loved the Lakers (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was my favorite player), and eventually the Spurs and Suns.  I also watched the NFL on and off there for a while.  

But over the years, I've been more than happy to get into different sports.  I came very late to baseball, and y'all know I now watch a considerable amount of Cubs. I've watched Major League Soccer and National Women's Soccer League, and very much wish Austin had a women's NWLS team.

I recall the early days on the WNBA and feeling it was generally a great idea. Austin was a town where women's collegiate basketball was more important than men's as the University of Texas women's team generally did very well, and everyone likes a winner.  And I always thought it was dumb that American players had no pro league (of their own).

Flash forward to the 00's when we lived in Phoenix, and I liked going to see The Mercury.  It was inexpensive, the fans were nuts, and the play was solid.  I was there when Taurasi showed up to much fanfare, and then showed why Phoenix was so excited to get her.

But...  TV coverage of WNBA has always been spotty at best.  And when something isn't easily accessible, you kind of lose track of it.  And WNBA got back-burnered by ESPN.  You might be flipping channels on a weekend afternoon and see a game, but not much else.  And it never got mixed in with the Sports Center level coverage.  Because why talk about a whole league when you can make up stories about what's happening in football in the off-season.