Greatest Song Evah 4/28/23

We Can Work It Out

People sometimes oversimplify the contrast between John Lennon & Paul McCartney, labeling Paul as the romantic & John as the cynic. It’s a little more complex than that, but at the same time there was a clear difference between the two personalities which helped them bring out the best in each other and was a major factor in The Beatles’ greatness. And this song demonstrates that dichotomy so well.

Paul’s everything is gonna be OK optimism blends well with John’s life is very short realism. It’s striking to see that even at such young ages they were so skilled at changing tempos and tone to match the mood of each songwriter’s contribution. In addition, a song like this shows Ringo’s importance. This song requires a drummer with the skill to ride through the changes and seamlessly hold the whole thing together.

With a catalogue as deep as theirs, choosing the single greatest Beatles track is tough. IMHO this is one of the strongest candidates.

The Month Of May

May is an interesting month when it comes to the sports calendar. The baseball season settles into its everyday rhythm. Both the NBA & Stanley Cup playoffs kick into increasingly higher gears. The WNBA season tips off. The spring seasons of assorted NCAA sports head towards their conclusions. But the month is bracketed by two of the oldest, most prestigious events, both of which are from sports that have lost significant visibility and relevance among casual fans, but are still big f***ing deals.

The first Saturday in May is the home of the Kentucky Derby, aka The Most Exciting Two Minutes In Sports. There was a time when thoroughbred racing was one of the Big 4 Of American Sports, and even as recently as the 80s (is that still considered recent? Please tell me yes) the sport was popular enough that Wide World Of Sports would spend March and April airing many of the prep races leading up to the Derby. These days horse racing is primarily a niche sport, but Derby Day still draws a huge audience, both at the track and on TV. That attention generally only lasts for that weekend; if the winning horse goes on to win The Preakness then the possibility of a Triple Crown winner regenerates attention as The Belmont Stakes approaches.

It’s no surprise that interest in the sport has waned. Gamblers have so many other outlets nowadays other than the ponies, and the quality of the horses has suffered as generations of inbreeding have done irreparable damage to the breed. With the real money to be made in stud and mare fees, breeding stallions and mares are much more valuable to owners than champion racers are, so the top horses are often quickly retired. I myself started to lose interest years ago once I recognized that by the time July rolls around I rarely remember which horse even won that year’s race. If the results are so forgettable to me, it makes little sense to invest even that small amount of time. If I’m somewhere where the race is being shown I’ll watch it, but if I’m just lying around the house by myself I wouldn’t even think to tune in.

The month ends with the Indy 500, aka The Greatest Spectacle In Racing. Motorsports were never quite as popular as horse racing was in their respective heydays, but Indy was as big of an event as any other. Before NASCAR took over as America’s most popular racing circuit, Indy racing was the one that supplied the names that casual fans would know, and as was the case with horse racing ABC devoted so much of its May programming on Wide World Of Sports to the race qualifying. Indy’s mainstream decline was completely due to self sabotage, as a split into 2 separate racing leagues weakened the sport, further cemented NASCAR’s dominance and turned open wheel racing largely irrelevant with the exception of that one day.

The sad thing is that as huge as those two events continue to be, there is concern in both cases that they may not be sustainable. Not that either is in danger of immediately vanishing, but you never know if lack of interest the other 364 days of the year could close up the financial pipeline that makes the prestigious events possible. This year Indy Car is trying to pull a page out of the Formula One playbook by running a documentary series on the CW promoting the personalities of the sport in the hope of generating fan interest. I’m a huge fan of racing in general & the Indy 500 in particular, so I really hope this plan succeeds.

Campaign ‘24

Earlier this week Joe Biden made his reelection candidacy official, setting up the near certainty of a general election campaign pitting an octogenarian incumbent versus a septuagenarian challenger who is far from the picture of health himself. Poll after poll shows that this is not the race that an overwhelming number of voters wish for, but here we are.

The whispers over the advanced age of both men will only grow louder over the next year and a half and you have to wonder how uncomfortable party leaders feel behind the scenes. Trump has so taken over the GOP that no one can really present a challenge. If you try to counter him as a more moderate alternative, the MAGA crowd will push back and eat him alive. If you try the DeSantis method of going even further right you’re exposed as a pale imitation. Why vote for Faux Trump when the real thing is right there?

As for the Dems, clearly no candidate of any significance will challenge, and potentially weaken, an incumbent. But is it possible that there are some that are quietly putting their ducks in a row just in case something happens? In some ways, Biden’s age concerns are overplayed but in others they are absolutely legitimate. He frequently committed verbal gaffes and spoke out of turn when he was in his 40s; the fact that he does it now is not an example of cognitive decline, it’s what he has been doing his entire public life. And I myself have been a lifelong stutterer. I sometimes find myself sensing that I will have difficulty with the next word I’m about to say and have to make the immediate decision to either quickly change that next word - which may make it seem as if I’m stumbling - or stammer my way through. So when I see Biden seemingly fumble through a sentence I recognize that it’s a sign of fighting off a stutter.

His verbal issues are not a sign of aging, but there is some obvious physical deterioration. His squinting has grown more pronounced, and his gait has gotten noticeably slower and stiffer. A President has an intense schedule, but he is driven and flown to wherever he needs to go, so it is very possible to do the job with physical limitations. Even with that in mind, it’s reasonable to worry if he can keep up this pace for another 4 years.

It is precious, however, to hear so many Trump supporters criticize Biden for these issues. They’re doing this while defending a man who is grossly overweight, who has trouble walking down a ramp, who needs two hands to drink a glass of water, whose cadence starts to go haywire the longer he talks, and who actually bragged about passing a cognitive test; a test that he would not have been given in the first place unless people had been expressing concern about his functions.

Still, at the moment Biden/Trump rematch is as inevitable as Thanos. And looking far ahead, consider this. In 2028, the oldest Millennial will turn 48, making it a strong possibility that our 2028 winner will come from that generation. If that’s the case, the Presidency would completely skip over Generation X, which might the most perfect example of “oh well, whatever, never mind” that my generation could possibly show.

NBA Playoffs Check-In

Ken or Mayim I’ll take Bad Predictions for $400. Remember when I said that the first round of the NBA playoffs is uninteresting? And that a 7 game series makes an 8 versus 1 upset increasingly unlikely? About that…

It’s not just that the Heat defeated the Bucks it’s also the way they took it to them. (I’ll pause and once again say that division titles should mean something. As the Southeast champs, despite their mediocre record Miami should have been seeded in the main playoff bracket and not relegated to the play-in.) Sure, Giannis was injured, but a 4-1 victory? Including 2 furious comebacks/stunning collapses? Amazing. Jimmy Butler was playing at a whole ‘nother level. A lot of this depends upon how far Miami advances, but if this result sparks an extended playoff run, Butler’s performance will go down as one of the most legendary playoff performances.

And look at who they will be facing next. It’s hard to call 5 versus 4 a major upset, but the Knicks knocking off the Cavs in only 5 games is pretty impressive. Now we’ll have 1990s Knicks/Heat flashbacks, with plenty of showings of the clip of Jeff Van Grundy hanging onto Alonzo Mourning’s ankle. Let’s all hope they don’t fully duplicate those classic playoff matchups; no one wants to see a series filled with grueling 79-75 final scores.

As for the West, the Lakers are a game away from pulling off a major upset in their own right, although I don’t know if you can call a team with LeBron that big of an underdog. Dillon Brooks is learning the hard way that you shouldn’t poke the bear with a stick; the overall immaturity of the Memphis Grizzlies is showing itself at the worst possible time.

I still insist that the league drags out the first round of play much too slowly, but if what we’ve seen so far is a preview of what the rest of the playoffs have in store, we’re in for quite a ride. Finally, I really liked Giannis Antetokounmpo’s thoughtful response when he was asked if the season was a failure. There can only be one champion per year, it makes no sense that any season without a title should be considered a failure. Disappointment, yes. Failure, no. And he did pause a couple of times to make sure he wasn’t making it personal with the reporter who asked the question.

The Flash

When the hubbub over Warner Bros’ scrubbing of the Batgirl movie exploded last year, a lot of focus turned towards the upcoming Flash movie, particularly as it concerned star Ezra Miller’s problematic behavior and how much of it would damage the brand. (No one listens to me but I thought the obvious solution would be to pull a Kevin Spacey/Christopher Plummer and simply replace all of Miller’s scenes with Leslie Grace.) And then once it was officially announced that James Gunn was taking over as head of DC Films, the Miller project seemed even more superfluous. Let’s be honest, movies from DC property don’t exactly have a high batting average. With Gunn about to reboot the DC Film Universe, this movie could be a multimillion dollar white elephant.

For months Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav has been claiming that he has seen The Flash footage and that it promises to be the greatest superhero movie ever made. Of course, a studio head is going to be hyperbolic; Robert Evans wasn’t exactly known for his modesty. To be fair, others that have seen the footage and don’t have the same financial stake agree that it looks outstanding. Well, the trailer was shown at CinemaCon this week, and while it’s true that a good trailer doesn’t necessarily equal a good movie, hot damn does this look like a keeper. Yeah, seeing Michael Keaton back in the Batsuit made me happy. Back in my comic collecting days, I was a DC loyalist, so needless to say I’ve watched the Marvel dominance with a bit of envy. Could the future of DC finally be in good hands?

That’s All For Now

Have a great weekend everyone. See ya next week, and thanks for reading.