Left Coast Sports Babe

Stanford QB Keller Chryst injured his right knee in the 1st quarter of the Sun Bowl. And I am sure Christian McCaffrey both feels both very sorry and very vindicated.

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And yes, Stanford survived by 2 against North Carolina. But can the Cardinal hire a special coach in future just for the fourth quarter?    #Toomanymeltdowns  #RoseBowl #FiestaBowl …..

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Sarah Palin has called on Trump to leave the UN. And she’ll then do her part by keeping an eye on Russia from her house?

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Bristol Palin wrote a blog post attacking “A-listers” who have refused to perform at Trump’s inaugural, and saying Hollywood is chock-full of “sissies.”
Is Bristol really just upset Trump hasn’t asked her to perform a dance?

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After President Obama expelled 35 diplomats, Russia has vowed to retaliate. Wonder they are threatening – to interfere w/ our elections?

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Donald Trump’s tweet on Putin’s decision not to respond with sanctions to Obama’s sanctions “Great move on delay (by V. Putin) – I always knew he was very smart!”
Or at least Putin can count the days until January 21?

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In California, prosecutor dropped a DUI charge from last year against a man who tested positive for nothing more than caffeine. Based on experience with my friends and family members, the bigger danger is many people driving WITHOUT caffeine.

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In a British plan to cut accidents on the road, new young drivers might be forced to spend 120 hours on the road with supervised practice before getting their licenses.
If they seriously want to cut accidents, how about a plan to have older drivers who are relatively new to smartphones also spend supervised time driving with their phone in the car?

A women singer from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has resigned from the group saying that “Looking from the outside in, it will appear that Choir is endorsing tyranny and racism by singing for this man… and she “could never look myself in the mirror again with self-respect” if she performed at Trump’s inaugural.
Well, yeah, we all know those crazy liberal Mormons.
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Horrible story for any parents. But a Texas couple is suing Apple after their daughter was killed in an accident they say was caused by a driver using the FaceTime app while driving.
Have to wonder, would they sue a gun manufacturer if she was killed by someone accidentally firing a gun?

Okay, we all agree 2016 has sucked in a lot of ways. But in a year when “Loving” is a likely “Best Picture” nominee, nice to know the US has made some progress. Congrats to Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian.

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Robert Hulseman, 84, has died. He invented the Red Solo Cup. Not sure what they will be serving at his funeral, but we sure know in what they will be serving it. #cheers

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Lin-Manuel Miranda, asked by a British interviewer about bringing Hamilton to London in 2018: “It’s a rap musical about the Founding Fathers of America -are you worried that the British won’t know much about the subject? “Can I tell you a dirty secret? Most Americans don’t know either.”

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Carrie Fisher, who never got an Oscar nomination, “I’ve waited my entire life to get an award for something, anything. I now get awards all the time for being mentally ill. It”s better than being bad at being insane, right? How tragic would it be to be runner-up for Bipolar Woman of the Year?”. #oneofakind

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Explanation for the younger generation about Debbie Reynolds: Once upon a time she was America’s Sweetheart, blonde, pretty and supposedly in a perfect marriage with another celebrity, Eddie Fisher. Except that he left her for a beautiful thrice-married exotic woman, a woman who would later leave him.
Yep, in short, Jennifer Aniston and Brangelina in the late 1950s. (Although Debbie and Eddie had two children, one of them  Carrie Fisher.)

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Apparently @realDonaldTrump is writing his own inaugural speech. Presumably 140 characters at a time?

Trump on Russian hacking -“”I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly “The whole age of computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what is going on. And we have speed — we have a lot of other things, but I’m not sure we have the kind of security we need.”
Okay, fine, take out the word “computers” and substitute “guns.”

Open note to 2016. There’s still time, you could kill off an actual a**hole or two.

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Cheery words to look forward to at the end of a tough year – “Pitchers and catchers report…”

Some fans are upset that some college football players have chosen to skip 2016 bowl games. Of course, do challenge the average fan at this point if they can REMEMBER any 2016 bowl games.

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QBs often give their offensive lines Christmas gifts, and this year is no exception. Eagles rookie Carson Wentz.gave each of his linemen an engraved Beretta shotgun. Maybe to protect themselves from Philly fans? #whatcouldpossiblygowrong?

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Men/women quotes of the year from the UK Times, following the break-up of Iggy Azalea and Nick Young:
Azalea on Instagram: “Unfortunately although I love Nick and have tried and tried to rebuild my trust in him, it’s become apparent in the last few weeks I am unable to. I genuinely wish Nick the best. It’s never easy to part ways with the person you planned your entire future with but futures can be rewritten and as of today mine is a blank page.”
Young on Twitter: “Single.”

History lesson for those who believe cinematic life began with Star Wars. Yes, Carrie Fisher was Princess Leia. But her father was Eddie Fisher, an incredibly popular pop singer in the early 1950s. Her mother, Debbie Reynolds, a 1950s film star. Both had their own TV shows. But their marriage broke up when Fisher had an affair with Reynolds’ good friend, who he later married, a woman named Elizabeth Taylor….
The breakup was also major news in the days BEFORE social media….. Amazing in some ways Carrie survived as long as she did.

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Thousands of people signed a petition demanding a Hunter College professor be fired after his husband heckled Ivanka Trump on a JetBlue flight..
So to show that in this country we shouldn’t bother family members, we want to fire the heckler’s family member?

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Apparently President-Elect Trump wasn’t very happy with the interview with Obama said he would have won a third term. This tweet “President Obama campaigned hard (and personally) in the very important swing states, and lost.The voters wanted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Okay, whatever you think of Trump, can you imagine his tweets if he had actually LOST? (or if we simply didn’t have the electoral college.)

You know 2016 has been a long year when you wake up and are just glad not to see yet another headline about somebody dying.  And DAMN IT CARRIE FISHER.

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Another thing that sucks about 2016. It is bad enough to lose aging icons. It is worse to lose icons who are more or less your age.

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The NBA now says that LeBron James’ dunk with 1:43 remaining in the Cavs-Warriors game should have resulted in a technical foul for “deliberately hanging on the rim” after the dunk was completed.
So what’s more surprising, that they admitted it at all, or that the league acknowledges a superstar should ever be called for anything?
What’s next, actual traveling violations?

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Some fans chanted “We want Romo,” and “Tony, Tony, Tony,” during the 2nd half of last night’s Cowboys win in Arlington. Presumably the chants were from Lions fans?

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In Santa Monica, a synagogue door was smeared with feces and food in an apparent antisemitic attack on the first night of Chanukah So is it a war on Chanukah now too?

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Thinking for #Hanukkah really to become a major U.S. holiday we need to come up w/ one standard spelling. #Chanukah

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Malls across the U.S. were evacuated due to after-Christmas brawls. Although while police were called there are no reports of serious injury. #Ifonlytheshopperswerearmed

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That “special relationship” is going so well. Headline in London Times “Use Brexit to steal UK trade says Trump aide.” The story notes how “Wilbur Ross, the billionaire incoming commerce secretary” has called Brexit a “God-given opportunity.” for the U.K’s rivals, including the US.
Well, at least we have Russia…. Sigh.

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An interesting side note from President Obama’s news conference about the election, and one I hope future Democratic nominees might heed. (I HATE HATE HATE the prevent defense.) :
“If you think you’re winning, then you have a tendency, just like in sports, maybe to play it safer.”

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John McCain, showing signs of why he used to be every Democrat’s favorite Republican, on the alleged Russian hacking: “If they are able to undermine an election, they’re able to undermine democracy”
Of course to be fair, perhaps there is a bit of sour grapes that the election they didn’t hack was 2008?

Happy boxing day. To those who observe. And to those who don’t. Happy after-Christmas sale day.

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So at the malls are the Valentine’s Day decorations up yet?

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Steve Kerr last night after #Warriors loss to #Cavs – Curry “could make better decisions.” @NBA version of #Firstworldproblems

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Defensive tackle Dontari Poe just threw a TD pass last night for the Chiefs.  No it’s not just that you’ve had too much eggnog. #DENvsKC

You know 2016 has been a long year when you wake up and are just glad not to see yet another headline about somebody dying.

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Oops, Sarah Michelle Gellar tweeted out “Do u really want to hurt me? I guess you do 2016 – #ripboygeorge” Guess these 50 something English white boy rockers all look alike?

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The Cavs’ Richard Jefferson got a technical foul yesterday for winking at the Warriors’ Kevin Durant yesterday. Winking?! Even the No Fun League thinks that might be overkill.

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Best wishes to Queen Elizabeth II, who has a bad cold and was unable to make the traditional Christmas morning service near her Sandringham estate, which gives locals a rare glimpse of their Queen. Alas there wasn’t time to call Elton John to substitute.

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On a brighter note,  while  we’ve lost so many in 2016. But Keith Richards has announced he is just going to live forever.

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The latest RIP is #GeorgeMichael. Never was a huge fan but so ready to be done with 2016. #toomanylosses

Six NBA games on Christmas. Well, at least it makes it easier for players, who don’t have to decide about spending the holiday with which mother of their children.

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And the Spurs won. But in  his usual spirit, wonder how tempted Gregg Popovich was to give half his team the day off? #Bulls #Spurs #SpursXmas

Weird Christmas good news. Residents of city of Augsburg, near Munich, were able to return to their homes on Christmas night at 7p after being evacuated at 10a so experts could defuse a bomb.
Sign of the times we live in? Well, not exactly; the bomb was from World War II.

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So now we are FINALLY done with the “last chance for Christmas” marketing emails.  The post-Christmas sales start tonight.

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In all seriousness for a change, hope all my friends and readers have had a merry Christmas or whatever it is you celebrate. One of the things I most celebrate this year is friendship, and connecting with people of all kinds of different views. If you are reading this,  you probably agree with me on some things, and disagree on others. And you probably think sometimes that I am crazy.  But I value you all and am grateful you take the time to read and interact.

And oh yeah, happy humbug from Xena, aka the Voodoo Cat

Santa’s on his way. Let’s hope next year that a bearded guy from overseas with an announced plan to invade the houses of all Americans with children isn’t put on the no-fly list. #sleightohell

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At a Jersey City Mall, apparently a wild brawl broke out between shoppers last night, with Santa and kids waiting to see him nearby. Police were called, although there are no reports on arrests. #Ifonlytheywerearmed

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Christmas miracle for @49ers could be a number 1 draft pick. #Browns win! Browns win! Browns win!

So the @49ers can’t even accept the gift of a #1 draft pick?

Makes a certain amount of sense, neither Chip Kelly nor Colin Kaepernick is likely to be with the SF 49ers next year, so they might as well keep the team from getting the #1 draft pick on their way out.

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Presumably Los Angeles is calling St. Louis asking if they want the Rams back.

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So how did this @Rams team ever win four games? #SFvsLA

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Michael Floyd, who now says he has “learned” from his DUI, is active today for the Patriots. So what has Floyd learned? If you can play Bill Belichick doesn’t care what you do off the field?

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Okay, really? The guy who harrassed Ivanka Trump on a plane was wrong. But so now her supporters are slamming his husband’s book on Amazon as revenge. Can folks just grow the f*ck up?

Sidney Drell, 90, a long-time advisor to Presidents on nuclear weapons, has died. Let’s hope it wasn’t Trump’s tweets this week that killed him.

Donald Trump said today he is dissolving the Trump Foundation. I’m sure the fact that the foundation was under investigation by the NY State Attorney General’s office had nothing to do with it.

Minnesota Vikings had a fine flight today but then plane landed and slid off the taxiway. Perfect metaphor for the team’s season.

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Tiger Woods playing golf today w/h Donald Trump. So even President-Elect couldn’t help Tiger make the cut to play on a weekend?

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A Virgin America red-eye flight from San Francisco to Boston almost made a emergency landing when it was discovered one passenger had named their wi-fi hot spot “Samsung Galaxy Note 7_1097”
Someone, who didn’t have an actual Galaxy Note 7, finally fessed up after the captain made announcements, including “This isn’t a joke. We’re going to turn on the lights (it’s 11pm) and search everyone’s bag until we find it.”
Can you be put on the no-fly list for being stupid?

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Grinch alert: Starting in January, British Airways will charge for all food and drink on short-haul flights in economy class. Passengers who hope to get around this by bringing their own instant coffee or tea bags will be out of luck, however, as the airline WILL charge for hot water in a cup.
Most people’s reaction “That’s absurd.” U.S. airlines’ reaction: “How do we do that?”.

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Uh oh, the Airtrain connector from Newark Airport broke down this afternoon so many people couldn’t make their flights. Did someone connected with the airport piss off Chris Christie?

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The Rockettes have reportedly been ordered to perform at Trump’s inaugural, and those who refuse will be fired. Makes a certain amount of sense – showcasing women who are being told what they MUST do with their bodies.

Now @realDonaldTrump is furious that his son Eric cannot have donors “pay to play” for his foundation. Does this even need a punchline?

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Trump’s latest tweet. “Vladimir Putin said today about Hillary and Dems: “In my opinion, it is humiliating. One must be able to lose with dignity.” So true!”
So being dignified would be for Hillary to have said up front she might not have accepted the results of the election?

In Kentucky, Ken Ham, the founder of the Ark Encounter, a life-sized Noah’s Ark replica, lit it up in rainbow lights, and said “Sadly, people ignore what God intended the rainbow to represent,” which was His “covenant with Noah,” and not “freedom, love, pride or the LGBTQ movement,”
Chris Hartman, director of the Kentucky Fairness Campaign, decried the statement, but added “It makes the ark look incredibly gay.” #GodBlessAmerica

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Well, damn, reports are that #CarrieFisher suffered a massive heart attack on a flight from London to LAX. May the force be with her.

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One more comment on the Ivanka plane issue. Here’s my feeling, if someone is acting in a political capacity at a speech or fundraiser, then civil protest is reasonable. If someone is “off-duty,” then we should just all be nice.
Quite an old story but I once was a waitress at Stanford for a dinner that Casper Weinberger was attending. We were all vetted by Secret Service in advance. At the time I hated everything he was doing. But as a friend and I discussed, we were students but we were also professionals, and we treated him nicely. Funniest thing in retrospect, here there were half a dozen agents at the dinner, plus the vetting, but when I went around with coffee, Weinberger asked “could I have tea, if it’s not too much trouble.” Nice man. Horrible policies. But I did my job, and felt good about it.

The college football bowl season statts today, December 17. And if you are not an alum of one of the teams playing today, and you REALLY care, you just might have a problem.

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Former NFL V.P of officiating Mike Peirera insists now that refs regularly get assistance and advice from replay officials via their wireless headsets, before any challenges might be issued. This would be a violation of league rules. The NFL is less than transparent and honest? I am shocked. Next thing Periera will allege is that there is gambling in Las Vegas.

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Many Stanford fans were upset because the Holiday Bowl bypassed the higher rated Cardinal for Washington State, mostly because they expected more WSU fans to travel to the game. (Even though San Diego is an attractive destination and Stanford has never been.)
Now the bowl is facing a potential boycott by Minnesota players over the suspension of 10 teammates.
I suppose it would be wrong to enjoy this mess just a little

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So can anyone tell me real difference between a business sending you an e-card & sending other ad spam? Yeah, me neither.

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That moment when you shudder to hear as a now Northern Californian that the temperature is going to drop into the low 40s. And then you remember why you decided never to move back to the east coast.

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Trump tweet this morning “Are we talking about the same cyberattack where it was revealed that head of the DNC illegally gave Hillary the questions to the debate?”
Leaving aside the veracity of the accusation, so if someone can hack into any emails and discover something potentially untoward, that’s okay then? Is Trump issuing a challenge to liberal hackers?

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Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced yesterday in a press conference that a 5-year investigation “proved” that President Obama’s birth certificate is a fake & highlighted what they called “9 points of forgery” on the document, which focused on the angles of date stamps, typed letters and words.
What’s Arpaio trying to do, get an appointment in the Trump administration for making the President-elect look sane by comparison?

Becoming apparent to rest of NFL that Roger Goodell’s wrist slap over Deflategate has given Patriots a well rested QB for playoffs.

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#Smartpeoplebeingstupid department  Amherst College has suspended their men’s cross country squad over an email chain that goes back to 2013 including  racist, sexist and homophobic insults.

Once again, in this day and age, isn’t the suspension not only for bad behavior,  but for also being arrogant and dumb enough to put that sort of nasty stuff in emails?

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Lane Kiffin is going to be the next head football coach of Florida Atlantic. Could be a good fit, FAU is probably not on the NCAA radar for possible suspensions.

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#Rams coach #JeffFisher has been fired with a 4-9 record. #49ers fans wonder if he was fired for over-achieving.

And actually at 4-9 the Rams have more wins than the 49ers, Jaguars and Browns put together.

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That moment when you see a headline about two people who are obviously famous and you have no clue who they are: “Flip or Flop’ stars Tarek and Christina El Moussa separate.”

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Carnival Cruise Lines doesn’t allow passengers to bring bottles of liquids on board, but they started last year selling bottled water for $2.99 a 12-pack, then raised prices in March to $3.99, and now just raised them again to $4.50 plus gratuity. So what’s the real policy here – “Let Them Drink Beer”?

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Gary Cohn has been named as director of the National Economic Council, making him the 3rd Goldman Sachs executive to join the Trump team.
Well, heck, since she was so tied during the election to those speeches, when is Trump going to find a role for Hillary Clinton?

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Oil prices jumped today after several non-OPEC countries, including Russia, reached a deal to cut oil production. Where’s the furious angry tweet from our “populist” President-Elect?

Of course we will never get full agreement in this country on who was behind the hacked emails in this election. But, on the other hand, ALL the leaked emails were to embarrass and damage one candidate. Because the RNC and Trump campaign were so morally upright, or so much more technologically advanced? #whenyouhearhoofprintsthinkhorsesnotzebras

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Some disgruntled fan or fans paid for an airplane to fly over Levi’s Stadium before the not-so-much-anticipated 49ers Jets game today with a banner saying “Jed, you reap what you sow. Fire Baalke”
Clever. But for what it costs wouldn’t you think they’d have sent the plane somewhere where people would actually show up to see it?

When you lose 12 in a row it takes a certain amount of creativity. And the 49ers are clearly up to the task.

The #Jets & #Giants won on the same Sunday? Hope this isn’t yet another sign of the apocalypse

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Well, it would have been appropriate for the #Jets #49ers game to end in a tie. #Nobodywins

After their loss today to Atlanta,  Los Angeles RB Todd Gurley said his team was running what “looked like a middle school offense”   – Did the Rams steal the 49ers playbook?

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The Stanford band’s most recent suspension will mean the LSJUMB won’t be traveling to the Sun Bowl in El Paso. Well, suppose it’s just as well not to anger a whole state full of people with guns.

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Susan Olson, who played Cindy Brady in the 1970s, was fired from a LA talk radio job for sending a homophobic private FB message to a gay guest.
Shame, and she had such a great gay dad role model. #RobertReed

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At the Nobel prize ceremony, which Bob Dylan did not attend, Patti Smith forgot the words to “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” on her first attempts to sing it.
Of course had Dylan himself sung it no one would have been able to understand if he knew the words or not.

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Donald Trump isn’t getting daily intelligence briefings, by choice. “I don’t have to be told — you know, I’m, like, a smart person. I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years.”
Can’t imagine how some people think Trump has Narcissistic Personality Disorder..,,

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And don’t we all want to go to a doctor who didn’t need to go to class he or she is a “smart person”

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