The Cleveland Browns have announced that Johnny Manziel will not start the season under center, but that Brian Hoyer will get the starting nod at quarterback from first-year coach, Mike Pettine. Manziel will be the starter no later than Game 4. In fact, on a Vegas prop bet, take the under for Johnny Football’s first start. 

I love that Manziel gave the finger to the Washington Redskins’ sideline.When did cursing and crude hand gestures become a criminal offense on a professional football field? The NFL will reach into Manziel’s pocket and get some cash for the use of his middle finger, but the NFL also fines its players for wearing their socks at an improper length. 

Johnny Football

When speaking about the militarization of local police departments, in conjunction with the violent protests in Ferguson, Missouri, it has become common to report there are over 300 million guns in the United States of America. If that figure is correct, and there are over 300 million guns in America then there should be well over 300 million bullets available to Americans. With those numbers, how does the U.S. not survive a zombie apocalypse? Do the math and we should be okay. 

Did Robin Williams’ death raise awareness of depression or Parkinson’s Disease? When someone dies tragically, I cringe when someone states that this will “raise awareness.” Did the mass school shooting in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, raise awareness on our inept mental health system or the inadequacy of our gun control laws? I hope it raised something, but did it motivate change? Most people will mourn the loss of Robin Williams’ comic virtuosity, but it will probably make little impact on our society’s view of mental illness. 

Everyone has a favorite Robin Williams’ movie, and living in or just outside of Boston for a long time the natural pick would seem to be Good Will Hunting, but I’m going to dig a little deeper into the early part of Williams’ movie career and select another film set partially in New England, The World According to Garp. Williams plays it fairly straight as T.S. Garp, who is the only son of feminist icon, Jenny Fields. Director George Roy Hill stays true to John Irving’s  novel – Williams plays Garp as a teenager and as a father of two boys as the movie skillfully captures the full life of T.S. Garp. 

To quote Jenny Fields: “You know, everybody dies. My parents died. Your father died. Everybody dies. I’m going to die too. So will you. The thing is, to have a life before we die. It can be a real adventure having a life.”

John Irving raising the arm of Robin Williams (T.S. Garp) in victory. 

There will never be another stand-up comic like Robin Williams. His stand-up performances were a work of true incomprehensible genius. His improvisations were mind-blowing. 

To share my inner fantasy geek with my very large readership, I am a habitual viewer of TNT’s Falling Skies and FX’s The Strain. 

I want to go on Charlie Rose and converse with him in American Sign Language. 

Johnny Manziel should date Khloe Kardashian. 

If Steve Ballmer wasn’t worth approximately $18 million dollars after purchasing the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, would his 5-Hour Energy salesman motivational shtick be more appropriate for a late night infomercial, a sales seminar event at your local shitty motel ballroom, or found Sunday at a mega church? 

Ballmer

The last Super Bowl won by New England’s Bill Belichick and Tom Brady was on February 6, 2005. The Patriots defeated Freddy Mitchell’s Philadelphia Eagles, 24 – 21. The Patriots are once again anointed perennial contenders for a 2015 Super Bowl win, in Glendale, Arizona, but the Belichick and Brady show is going on nearly ten years without another piece of NFL hardware to put in owner Robert Kraft’s office. I get tired hearing of the Patriots’ superiority.  

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony both have clothing lines at Kohl’s. Apparently their divorce does not extend to this department store.