Your Thursday Night Open Thread

Welcome back.

Do you have a specialist/lawyer/mechanic/parole officer that you see in a ‘professional’ circumstance (therefore your fave barkeep is excepted and he/she was always wanting your tip money in the beginning anyway) that you have a rapport with? They’re not a friend outside the office but you guys riff together while you both try to figure out your problem?

I once had a podiatrist that let her hair down once I started with the jokes and banter but now it’s my eye guy. He’s the rare fella that is politically engaged but doesn’t spew anything from the right or left and instead focuses on issues that affect northern Ontario and he talks about grass roots stuff he does and timelines to get things done (like the complete 4 lane-ing of Hwy 69, just shut up!) He ended up telling me I had “the eyes of someone, at least a dozen years younger”. My response to him was, “Ok, now do my liver”. I got my first guffaw out of this fella and that made me feel good.

The pickin’s are super slim regarding the football that we love but here we go.

Naber’s Timetable?:

There isn’t one because he’s had (I think?) three surgeries since he went down, with the last being a wee cleanup of meniscus debris. (I’ve had the same and he’s a top tier athlete so it’s really nothing) “He’s fine”, says the voice in my head.

Good News Yinzers!:

Qaaron says he’s done after this year and what with the one year deal in place you’ll finally be rid of him. Let some other pathetic, needy football franchise bend over back backwards to court him. Now-pour a shit-ton of energy/teaching into Will Howard and Drew Allar over the next 16 months so that you have a youngster over center for the first time in forever.

Mendoza’s Line:

Is that he’s all kinds of wonderful and I wouldn’t expect anything else. First overall picks always get this treatment. I’m still waiting for the story of him running into a burning building to save Mark Davis’ backpack.

Games Tonight!:

NHL:

Los Canadiens (they’re trying to reach out to the Latino market, give them a break) go to the Hurricanes house and try to steal game Uno. As per the usual when one team has had a long-ish break, the question is “Do they come out sluggish or do they bury the road team?” This is a bit more interesting to me because Montreal’s top 6 is on the young side so I just can’t decide. The other thing I think is that Montreal gets valuable experience here and if the proper pieces fall into place they’ll be a force two years out from here. Carolina in 5.

NBA:

To those that can stand to watch. I’m very much surprised at how the Knicks Brunson keeps working on/elevating his game. I was listening to a sporty podcast earlier today and the oldy host, trying to be relevant, asked, “What do you think of these ‘ball-dominant’ guards these days?” The fella being interviewed said, “You want to just call them ‘ball hogs’, don’t you?” After a slight hesitation the answer was, “Yes”.