Mike O'Connell

Today is the first day of summer vacation ’round these parts, and this grownup couldn’t be more excited. (Tempered, of course, by the fact that I’ve got either summer school or summer camp every day from now until the first day of next school year.)

The natural order of things is for school to end, then for the NBA season to end, and that’s just what we have this year. I think the Cavs the other night merely staved off the inevitable, but you never know. Perhaps NBA Corporate will tell the boys to let Cleveland win one more so they can rake in advertising for a Game Seven.

Yup. That would be a sweet start to summer.

This past Sunday’s Loudoun County insert in The Washington Post carried a front-page feature on the newly-minted chair of said county’s Board of Supervisors, Phyllis J. Randall. She says the usual things about wanting to give people “voices” and having an “open door,” and of course gratuitous remarks about being African American. (To be fair it seemed to be in response to a leading question, but those are the questions you laugh at, not answer.)

Speaking of laughter and laughter-inducing responses, I could not help chuckling at Ms. Randall’s comments regarding her “main goal [she] hope[s] to accomplish.” First, it involves a “Comprehensive Plan.” Oh boy. Second, and I quote: We have such a dearth of housing options in this county. You shouldn’t have to make $75,000 a year to live in the county.

You ever heard of an area so wealthy they actually had in their “comprehensive plan” an initiative to dial it back a little?

Yeah, imagine the horrors and chaos that would ensue if you lived in an area where everyone was successful.

Sometimes you’ve just run out of things to worry about.

Like the passing of a head of state, the death of Muhammad Ali has sounded across the entire globe and focused the world’s attention on The Man as it has so many times before. As someone with a blog devoted to sports, politics, and entertainment, I can think of few people so ingrained in all of these areas as the late Muhammad Ali, who died Friday at the age of 74.

I’ve often wondered what I would think of Ali had I grown up in his heyday rather than a generation removed. After all, the man was not without controversy. (And this in an era without Twitter!) By the time I knew who Muhammad Ali was he was not only passed his prime but suffering from a severely debilitating disease. He was also a legend and absolutely beyond reproach, his godlike status secure. My only real memory of Ali in action (as is the case for anyone under 40) is of his torch lighting at the ’96 Olympics. More than all his moments in the ring, that’s the one people remember most. It was one of the great moments in the history of sports.

For all his ego and grandstanding and unorthodox views on race and religion and politics, Muhammad Ali was nothing if not honest and resolute. Those are qualities to be admired. And his political views? Rightly or wrongly the world came around to him, did it not?

Often overlooked is Ali’s prowess in the ring, three times the Heavyweight Champion of the World and an Olympic gold medalist.

How great was he?

The Greatest.

With no hockey and no basketball last night I found myself in need of a little entertainment. Thankfully this is 2016 and there is this thing called Netflix. In its latest foray into media dominance Netflix has teamed with those most 20th century of stars, Adam Sandler and David Spade, to bring us The Do-Over, available only via Internet streaming or so it seems.

Never mind the plot of The Do-Over… it’s a Sandler vehicle and surprisingly entertaining. There are the usual number of gay and fart jokes, yes, but somehow they don’t take away from an otherwise funny movie. And that I can see it at home? Basocially for free? This is the future.

Thank you, again, O Netflix.

Much has been made over Facebook’s supposed censoring of right-wing news and viewpoints, its supposed olive branch to conservatives, and backlash pro and con. I think we’re missing the bigger picture. There is, after all, a small part of the universe that Facebook does not yet own. Who’s monitoring their suppression of right-wing views?

I’m looking at you, mainstream liberal media!