Who is the biggest a-hole edition of The September Month in Review
Another month has come and gone. There was plenty of political, music, sports and entertainment news, so let’s get to it.
We had a few strange moments at the U.S. Open tennis tournament. An environmental protest disrupted one of the matches for over half an hour. One of the protestors glued their feet to the concrete floor. Coco Gauff, who was one of the players at the time of this said she was okay with this as she says she’s an environmentalist. It really didn’t bother her as she went on to win the match.
While the two U.S. Open singles champions, Gauff and Novak Djokovic were the big stories, the runner-ups had their own story. Daniil Medvedev is from Russia and Aryna Sabalenka is from Belarus, but you wouldn’t know that if you were watching them play. The scoreboard on your television screen had nothing listed under their name. Because of the Russia-Ukraine war players from those countries are allowed to compete, but not allowed to claim their country. If this was professional wrestling they would be announced as being from parts unknown.
We’ll come back to more sports news, but let’s move on to politicians acting stupid. Trump aide Peter Navarro was convicted of contempt of Congress. This didn’t have to happen. All Pete had to do was show up and plead the fifth to every question. He could do multiple interviews with Ari Melber but couldn’t make it to Washington? Apparently, that was too much for him so most likely he’ll be going to prison.
We know the former guy and others were indicted in Georgia under Rico statutes, but this story isn’t about them. The list of those whom the grand jury wanted to indict but were given a pass by Fani Willis also came out. Included were current Senator Lindsey Graham and former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler. Their responses were the same. Both said they did nothing wrong and if given the chance would do it again. Well, kids, you may get the chance for a repeat in thirteen months. Give it a try and see if you’ll share a prison cell with Donald. Hmmm…are there co-ed prisons in Atlanta?
Talking about dumb politicians, meet Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson. Usually, he likes to talk about Russia but not this time. Now he claims that windmills are killing whales. Sounds like it’s time for another Jaws sequel.
We’ve all seen the photos of Lauren Boebert and her date getting down and kind of dirty at a play. Lauren was embarrassed by her behavior and she apologized. She said she’s been on edge since her recent divorce. The only thing I saw on the edge was your date’s hand at the top edge of your dress as he was copping a feel.
The music world was dominated by sickness and death. Jimmy Buffett died of a rare skin cancer. Gary Wright, of “Dream Weaver” fame, died from Lewy Body dementia. Bruce Springsteen was forced to postpone his current concert tour until next year because of an ulcer. Aerosmith has put a hold on their supposed final tour because Steven Tyler fractured his larynx. Jazz guitarist Al Di Meola suffered a heart attack during a performance in Romania.
In better news, the members of the band Talking Heads reunited for the first time in decades. The occasion was the reissue of their classic concert film “Stop Making Sense.” According to reports, everyone got along fine and seemed to have a good time. My cynical side says it’s easy to do that when a lot of money is involved. Can you see a reunion concert tour? My cynical side again says money talks. We’ll see.
How about that Republican debate? Did you have to wash your eyes out when Mike Pence said he’s been sleeping with a teacher for the last three decades? Do you have to do it again after reading this? Then Nikki Haley went after Vivek Ramaswamy again, “Honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say." It’s a great line but it’s not getting her any closer to the White House. But, it did get her some attention from Donald Trump. He called her a ‘birdbrain’ on Truth Social. Haley then found a birdcage outside her hotel room. This would be extremely entertaining if it wasn’t so dangerous.
I now get to trash a Democrat. Senator Bob Menendez was indicted…again. This time the repeat public corruptor was found with gold bars and stacks of cash. The calls for his resignation have been almost unanimous in his party, but surprise…Bob’s not going anywhere. I guess the only ones who take that seriously are Al Franken and Richard Nixon. Bob’s daughter Alicia is a weekend anchor at MSNBC. She opened her Saturday program with this: "Last week, a grand jury indicted U.S. Senator Bob Menendez. This past week, dozens of members of his own party have demanded his resignation. I have been watching, along with all of you, as a citizen and also as his daughter. I will not be reporting on the legal case. That said, my colleagues across MSNBC and NBC News, they have aggressively covered the story, and they’ll continue to do so, as they should." Pretty classy. My guess is she didn’t get it from her dad.
Then there are these final three stories, all might qualify as being titled the asshole of the Month of September:
Danny Masterson, of “That 70’s Show” fame was given a thirty-year prison sentence after being convicted of two rapes. Before his sentencing, the judge was sent letters asking for leniency from his former co-stars Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis. After taking heat in the press for doing this, they tried to back it off, but it was too late. Even Wilmer Valderrama, who has a reputation as the biggest womanizer of that entire group refused to do this. When he was asked, he probably said, “Good day…I said good day.” Obviously, Masterson wins the a-hole award in this case, but give some big points to Mr. and Mrs. Kutcher.
You can’t be surprised that Donald Trump would do something that would get him into this group. Friday night he gave a speech to the California Republican Party. He started by going after Joe Biden, "If somebody is beating you by 10, 15, or 20 points, like we’re doing with crooked Joe Biden -- let’s indict the motherfucker." This was met with raucous cheers and applause, and Trump wasn’t done. Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul were next. “How’s her husband doing, by the way? Anybody know? And she’s against having a wall at our border even though she’s got a wall at her house. Which, obviously didn’t do a very good job.” My only surprise is he didn’t say anything about Diane Feinstein, who died earlier that day.
But, the biggest asshole of the month has to be Curt Schilling. The best description of Schilling comes from Josh Brogadir of the WCVB sports department, “A fantastic pitcher and a shameful individual." Since his retirement from baseball, he has lost commentating jobs for some of his outrageous views. He says he’s just a conservative, which is fine, but making homophobic, transphobic and anti-Semitic comments is way past the line of being just a conservative. But, nothing Schilling has done is as despicable as what he did last week. Tim Wakefield pitched in the major leagues for nineteen years, seventeen of those were with the Boston Red Sox. Schilling and Wakefield were teammates from 2004 through 2007. Together they helped the team win two World Series championships. Tim Wakefield had been going through a major health crisis. His plan was to keep it a secret and try to deal with it in private. Schilling got wind of this and on his podcast, he outed that Wakefield was dealing with brain cancer. He also let it be known that Wakefield’s wife Stacy is battling pancreatic cancer. Schilling’s actions have made a tragic situation even worse. He’s been universally condemned. Sadly, Tim Wakefield died on Sunday. He’s being remembered not only for his baseball career but for all his charitable work that led him to win the Roberto Clemente Award, given to the player who best reflects the spirit of giving back to the community. Curt Schilling is going to be remembered as a shameful individual.
That’s enough for September. It’s going to be tough to beat this month, but I’m sure October will give it a try. Watch this space.