The Lehigh Mountain Hawks are now ranked 4th in the FCS Standings after beating Georgetown 42 – 0 last weekend at Murray H Goodman Stadium. I actually took the drive out to the game. (I’m about 45 min from the Lehigh campus in Bethlehem, PA) Had a good time cheering on the team for their 9th straight victory (They are now 9 – 0 to start the season). They play their last home game of the year this Saturday against Holly Cross, before ending with 2 road games (at Colgate, and then at Lafayette for the 161st Lehigh / Lafayette game (The nation’s most played rivalry game)

The game could determine who wins the Patriot League and gets an automatic bid into the FCS Play-Offs, as both teams are undefeated in league play. Should be a fun couple of weeks

While Lehigh is trending up, the NY Football Giants are spiraling down. After giving everybody false hope by beating the Philadelphia Eagles a few weeks back, the team seems like it has quit on the season. They continue to struggle and play uninspired football under Brian Daboll (Who I don’t want to see return, and would fire him now if I were the owner). He has done nothing the past 3 years to show he is a competent head coach (He has a record of 11 – 32 the past 3 seasons, starting each season at 2 – 7 and being irrelevant come November). Things need to change just to try and rid the franchise of the losing culture. There is a lot of negativity out there, and a loss to the Chicago Bears this weekend could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back

I was an entertaining (but very frustrating) World Series, with the Los Angeles Dodgers coming back to win the final two games on the road for a 4 – 3 Series win over the Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays outplayed the Dodgers most of the series and had plenty of opportunities to win both game 6 and game 7. But baseball can be cruel, and they just could not get the big hit, or make the big play when needed.

All in all, it was a good season for MLB Baseball with the World Series having the highest rating since 1991. Some good young players should be fun to watch in the years to come. The New York Mets report to spring training in 108 days, and it will be interesting to see what direction they go. Similar to the NY Giants, they need to shake things up a bit to get rid of the losing culture that plagued them last season. I’m not even sure what I would do, as I like the head coach and most of the players. I just think they need to move on from some of the veterans and decide which mediocre bench players they want to go forward with, and get rid of the others.

Saw that there will be a new Gremlins movie in 2027. One of my all-time favorite movies from the 1980s, I am actually intrigued about this. I am usually not a big fan of remakes or reimaginings of old movies, but this just feels different, Not sure if they are going to try and bring back some of the original cast (Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Corey Feldman, and Judge Reinhold). Hopefully they keep the old school feeling and adhere to my Planet of the Aper Theory – That makeup and puppetry are more believable than CGI in certain cases (See images below)

It’s very hard to recreate the actual person or puppet with a CGI version. It just never looks as realistic

The producers (which include Steven Spielberg) should reach out to Frank Oz to play Gizmo.

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Survivor 49

It was an entertaining episode of Survivor, but there is something still missing with the new era. Not sure if it is the fact that they now play 26 days instead of the original 39, which gives the players less time to sit around and strategize the long game. Maybe it’s the familiarity of the challenges (Obstacle followed by puzzle). Perhaps it’s just the thought process of younger people these days, who seem to treat the game as an extended vacation where you get to meet and hang out with new friends.

In the past, players seemed more cut-throat and motivated to win, regardless of whether they upset other players. They voted more on who they thought was a threat to their game, more than on who just happened to be perceived as being at the bottom. Seems like fewer big or calculated moves are made lately. Players are content to just go with the flow and survive to the next day. I agree with Dalton Ross and others that sometimes the players voted off seem to be content and not upset that they were eliminated.

Not sure how to fix this. Maybe bring back some of the challenges where you had to vote for who you wanted to eliminate by breaking their tiles or throwing rocks in their basket. Near the end, you had to show your true loyalty. Also, what happened to the rewards where you had to pick players to go with you on a journey if you won? Just sending everybody to the Sanctuary (where good things happen) doesn’t seem to be a negative for the losers. Need to make it so they want to win and are upset if they lose and don’t get picked

I also don’t remember when the original tribes seemed to stick together at all costs. Mixing things up doesn’t seem to help as much as they hoped. Maybe start with 2 tribes instead of 2, and then have one or two players be forced to swap. Or bring back extinction island for the first 2 or 3 weeks. Just to mix things up

That’s all for now. I know I have more things to say, and I may log on later this evening and give a quick update. Off to grab some lunch before heading home to fire up the leaf blower and attempt to keep on top of my lawn

Wishing everybody a great day

AverageAndy

#Survivor
#JeffProbst
#JesseTannenbaum

#NeverTooOldForSurvivor
#GiveMeAChance

#GizmoLives
#Gremlins2027

#PEACE