Closing out 2015

2015- It was a year.

On a personal level, it was a good year.  My parents moved back to Cleveland.  Katie joined the Angry Ladies of Improv .  I've started taking guitar lessons- after 25 years of teaching myself, there's some bad habits I need to unlearn.  We celebrated our tenth anniversary with a trip to Toronto and an appearance in a Rush Concert video.

It wasn't all great- I lost one of my oldest friends early in the year.  My weight crept up to the point that I'm now on a diet and starting up the YRG program.  

On a global level, 2015 just feels like a year where the people who were supposed to act like adults stopped doing so.  Both parties seem to embrace people that didn't belong to the parties- Bernie Sanders for the Democrats (because he considered himself a Socialist instead of a Democrat) and Donald Trump for the Republicans (because... I still don't get this one myself).

The first votes in the Primaries begin in February.  We'll see if the voters are just blowing off steam or are serious about the candidates.

And the people who were already elected didn't act like adults, either.  Terrorism is a growing threat, there is a growing divide between the police and the people they are supposed to elect, the economy looks great in the stock market yet most people think we're still in a recession... and the people in charge are busy rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.  The only thing both parties agree on is that they like to spend money that someone else will have to pay back.

Here's hoping 2016 is a better year for everyone.

A brief cameo of immortality

This summer was Katie and my tenth wedding anniversary.  We went up to Toronto (where we went for our honeymoon), saw some friends, and went to a concert- Rush, on their R40 tour.  Since Toronto is Rush's home base, they recorded a DVD of the concert, and well...

We're on the video!

Katie's headbanging- I'm the grey-haired goofy one standing next to her.

Survivor Series 2015

Survivor Series is upon us...

The WWE is in trouble.  Not only have they been clobbered with injuries and  people taking time off, they've spent the past year pushing the very people who are gone at the expense of those who are there.  The WWE has been using people who only wrestle on a part-time basis as their focus point- Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, the Rock- and that has diminishing returns.  The one active wrestler they've pushed to a long reign with the title- Seth Rollins- in out for months with a knee injury.

So they've held a tournament for the title, and the final four are the US Champion (Alberto Del Rio), the IC Champion (Kevin Owens), and two members of the Shield (Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns).  The winner will be crowned at Survivor Series.

Let's get to the matches:


WWE World Title Semi-Final match:  Alberto Del Rio vs. Roman Reigns

What should happen:  Del Rio is one of the few guys who works better as a smartass face than as a heel.  He needs to be returned to the character he was at Lucha Underground.  Reigns is the guy they are pushing to the moon, and should have a clean win.

What I expect to happen:  Reigns will win.  There's no way Del Rio gets to the finals

What I'm terrified will happen:  Del Rio advances to prove me wrong


WWE World Title Semi-Final match:  Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose

What should happen:  Owens came in red-hot, beating Cena... then lost to Cena twice in a row.  Now he's treading water as the IC Champ- still an incredibly hot heel, but not as over as he was the first two months.  I think Owens should keep the IC belt until Sami Zayn returns (because those two can have one HELL of a match)- but Owens doesn't need the World Title today

What I expect to happen:  Ambrose wins to set up an All-Shield final

What I'm terrified will happen:  The Authority comes down, what appears to help Owens, but 'accidentally' helps Ambrose win to set up Ambrose's turn in the finals.


Tyler Breeze vs. Dolph Ziggler

What should happen:  Ziggler's been booked so poorly he might as well be called 'Cesaro 2.0'.  breeze has had great matches in NXT, and can easily be a workhorse.  Give these two thirty minutes and let the audience be begging for a rematch

What I expect to happen:  This is Breeze's PPV debut.  I think he wins

What I'm terrified will happen:  Ziggler wins.  Breeze goes to Superstars.  So does Ziggler


Kane and Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt and Brau Strowman

What should happen:  I'm not sure how you restore Bray Wyatt's drawing power- he's lost too many times.  Maybe have his flock turn on him and have Undertaker take him under his wing as a protege to set up Undertaker's final match?

What I expect to happen:  The part-timers win.

What I'm terrified will happen:  Kane turns on Undertaker to set up their Wrestlemania match


Traditional 5 on 5 Survivor Series match

What should happen:  They haven't even announced who is in it, so who knows?  Either have Cesaro survive or the New Day survive, as both are the best people not on the card.

What I expect to happen:  Cesaro is the sole survivor on the face team (say him, R-Truth, Ryback, and the Usos vs. New Day, Wade Barrett, and the Miz)

What I'm terrified will happen:  Ryback turns heel and helps the heels win


WWE Divas match:  Charlotte vs. Paige

What should happen:  The WWE has botched the "Diva's revolution" so badly... and bringing up Reid Flair was low.  Forget that, have Paige win the title, drop it in two weeks to Sasha Banks, and begin the reign of the Boss

What I expect to happen:  Paige to win to set up her dominant heel reign.

What I'm terrified will happen:  Ric Flair comes down and turns on Charlotte to be at Paige's side


WWE Title match and Tournament Finale- Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose

What should happen:  The story has been the Authority trying to find their new heel champion- so I would turn that around.  Have HHH approach Ambrose before the match and make it seem like Ambrose is open to it.  After a 15-20 minute match, the Authority comes down, distract the referee, hand Ambrose a chair- and Ambrose blasts HHH with the chair.  Ambrose and Reign chase the Authority from the ring, continue their match, Reigns wins cleanly, and the Shield celebrate

Now the Authority have two faces to go after- Reigns for holding the title, Ambrose for rejecting them.  Keep them as faces and at Wrestlemania, have Reigns face Brock Lesnar while Ambrose and HHH have a street fight.

What I expect to happen:  The Authority will come down and help one of them, turning them heel.  I don't know if the fans will boo Ambrose.  I think they will boo a heel Reigns (in fact, I think Reigns HAS to win, or risk being labelled as a Choker by the fans)- but what faces will he defend the title against?

What I'm terrified will happen:  Sheamus cashes in his briefcase and wins the belt.

My Dream Iron Chef card

So here's the challenge from discussions with my lovely wife.  Come up with a Dream set of Iron Chef America matches (Basically, Wrestlemania for the Food Network).  Here are the rules:

• Pick the opponent and secret ingredient for each current Iron Chef
• Each opponent can be anyone except the other current Iron Chefs
• Pick the matchups that appeals to you the best

Here's my choices:

• Iron Chef Bobby Flay vs. Tom Colicchio  Secret Ingredient- Onions
• Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto vs. Eric Ripert  Secret Ingredient- Bluegill
• Iron Chef Michael Symon vs. Kevin Gillespie  Secret Ingredient- Pork Belly
• Iron Chef Jose Garces vs. Jose Andres  Secret Ingredient- Rice
• Iron Chef Marc Forgione vs. Scott Conant     Secret Ingredient- Dried Pasta
• Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian vs. Amanda Freitag  Secret Ingredient- Peanut Butter  (Bonus points if Amanda's sous chefs are Madison Cowan and Lance Nitahara)
• Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli vs. Stephanie Izard   Secret Ingredient- Goat

NBA 2015-2016 Predictions

NBA Predictions

Eastern Conference:
Cleveland
Atlanta 
Washington
Milwaukee
Toronto
Boston
Miami
Chicago

Indiana
Charlotte
Detroit
New York
Orlando
Philadelphia
Brooklyn


Playoffs:
• Cleveland over Chicago, Miami over Atlanta, Washington over Boston, Milwaukee over Toronto
• Cleveland over Milwaukee, Washington over Miami
• Cleveland over Washington




Western Conference:
San Antonio
Golden State 
LA Clippers
Oklahoma City
Houston
Memphis 
Phoenix
New Orleans

Minnesota 
Dallas
Utah
Portland
Denver
LA Lakers
Sacramento

Playoffs:
• San Antonio over New Orleans, Golden State over Phoenix, Memphis over LA Clippers, OKC over Houston
• OKC over San Antonio, Memphis over Golden State
• OKC over Memphis



More notes:
• Really high on Milwaukee this year
• The West will be a dogfight. Golden State’s a great team, but they had phenomenal luck last year. I think they stumble sometime this year
• Lottery: (1) Boston (via Brooklyn) (2) Philadelphia (3) Sacramento
• The Clippers are the team that is the biggest Wild Card; I could see them win the title, I could see them blow up completely.
• The Finals: I thought Cleveland would pull it off last year. Despite injuries to two of their big three and one of their key roleplayers, they took a loaded Golden State team to 6 games. LeBron’s peak window is closing- he’ll still be a great player for another decade, but the era where he’s clearly the best player in the NBA has only a year or two left. If the Cavs are going to win a title with LeBron as the best player, this is the best year to do it. CLEVELAND OVER OKC IN FIVE GAMES.

MLB 2015 Playoff preference

MLB Playoff preference:

1.      Chicago Cubs- Yes, I stopped following them after the Soriano signing.  But they finally learned how to act like a smart team.  They hired Theo Epstein.  They drafted well.  They brought in Joe Maddon when he was available.  I’m sure Harry Caray is up in Heaven, drinking a Budweiser, and having a great time watching this team.

(Giant Gap...)

2.      Houston Astros- my rule; if a team I don’t actively root for can’t win it all, go for the team that has not won it all in my lifetime

3.      Texas Rangers- hence putting the teams from Texas as #2 and #3, with Houston ahead of the Rangers because the Astros are a more impressive story

4.      Pittsburgh Pirates- They won the World Series in my lifetime- but when I was seven. 

5.      Toronto Blue Jays- the only game I attended this year was in Toronto; this was before they had a huge win streak, but even then they looked impressive with their hitting. 

6.      Kansas City Royals- Pro:  Small-market team.  Con:  In the same division as the Indians

(Small Gap...)

7.      St. Louis Cardinals- I don’t hate the Cardinals, but they win.  All.  The.  Time.  It’s boring

(Large Gap...)

8.      New York Mets- Blargh.  Not a Mets fan.  Still think they are karmically paying back all of the luck they used to win in 1986.

9.      Los Angeles Dodgers- But at least the Mets aren’t as obnoxious as the Dodgers.  Or have anywhere near the payroll

10.   New York Yankees- oh, that’s right- they already lost.

Economics- a blinding flash of the obivous

I hate to just cut and paste what someone else wrote, but Kevin D. Williamson's comment about the deficit and taxes is so spot-on that I want everyone to see it:

Every Republican tax-reform plan should be rooted in this reality: If you are going to have federal spending that is 21 percent of GDP, then you can have a.) taxes that are 21 percent of GDP; b.) deficits. There is no c. 

If, on the other hand, you have a credible program for reducing spending to 17 or 18 percent of GDP, which is where taxes have been coming in, please do share it.  

The problem with the Growth Fairy model of balancing budgets is that while economic growth would certainly reduce federal spending as a share of GDP if spending were kept constant, there is zero evidence that the government of these United States has the will or the inclination to enact serious spending controls when times are good (Uncork the champagne!) or when times are bad (Wicked austerity! We must have stimulus!). So even if we buy Jeb Bush’s happy talk about growth, or Donald Trump’s, the idea that spending is just going to magically sit there, inert, while the economy zips forward and the tax coffers fill up, is delusional.  

There are no tax cuts when the government is running deficits, only tax deferrals. 

This applies to both parties and everyone's economic plan.