Rant #1,572: Bits and Pieces

Here are my thoughts on a number of topics that don't deserve a column-long examination.

Pete Rose Denied Reinstatement to Major League Baseball: One of the most talented players of all time is also probably one of the dumbest people on earth, and it was proven once again as baseball once again denied its all-time hits leader reinstatement to the good graces of Major League Baseball.

Rose had petitioned new baseball commissioner Rob Manfred for reinstatement, claiming that he had been a good boy over the past 26 years since his original banishment, understood what he did, and would never do it again, with the "it" being illegally betting on Major League Baseball games, something he admitted to doing while the manager of the Reds.

The problem was that an investigation found that Rose has continued to tell tall tales to anybody who would listen, and more importantly, found that he still was betting, and still was betting on baseball games, even though he supposedly was doing it legally this time around.

That, Manfred correctly said, meant that Rose still did not understand the gravity of what he did as Reds manager, did not understand it now, and never understood it, and under his watch, Rose could not be reinstated. He could participate in various baseball functions, with the commissioner's approval, and he could even be considered for baseball's Hall of Fame, but he could not be reinstated.

With Rose being in his mid-seventies, it is doubtful that he will ever be reinstated in his lifetime, and along with Shoeless Joe Jackson--who bet during the 1919 World Series--might seemingly live in baseball purgatory for the rest of his life and beyond that.

Too bad, Pete ... you were a great player, but as a human being, you thought you could be "Charley Hustler," to baseball, but once again, it did not work.

Fit As a Fiddle: I just had my physical exam done, and knock wood, I am as fit as a fiddle, to a certain respect.

All my major indicators are down, and that includes counts for cholesterol, sugar, and most other things they measure for. For a 58 year old man, I am in decent shape, and I have to give the credit to my wife, who cooks me things that help me out in this regard.

However, the one thing that I am not proud of is my weight. I have a penchant for cookies, and I eat them at the wrong time. I also sit all day at work at my computer, and the sitting is also helping me put on the poundage.

I am going to try to give up the cookies, and see what happens. There is nothing I can do about my job, but I never eat a heavy lunch and actually, never eat heavy at all, thanks to my wife's cooking.

But I just love cookies--Oreos, chocolate chip, you name it, I love it.

I have become a real-life cookie monster, so let's see what a little work in that regard will do. I hope I can do it, because everything else I am doing to be healthy evidently is working.

Adele Has the Number One LP and Single in the World: Pardon me if I don't get this at all, but what is the big deal about the singer's new album, "25"? All she sings about is pain and suffering, and quite frankly, isn't that all that she has sung about since her first album, "21"?

And that single, "Hello," ... I would rather listen to paint dry than this drivel.

Adele is the current flavor of the month, somebody who is highly touted in the current music industry because, quite frankly, there isn't much to tout. Current music is all full of computer generated sounds--even the lead vocals are manipulated--and the programming leaves the listener with nameless, faceless, colorless and dead sounds.

Obviously, most people do not share my opinion--heck, I bought the album for my sister for her birthday and my son bought it for his mother for Hanukkah--but I simply cannot listen to this type of music with any sense of immediacy or need. I mean, why listen to a 25 year old crying about her problems as she somehow meanders all the way to the bank?

It really is garbage. If I want to hear pain, let me step on a cat. Then you will hear real pain, I guess commensurate with the phony pain I am hearing from Adele.

"Star Wars" Movie Opens This Week: I have to tell you right out that I have never been a fan of this movie franchise. I saw the first movie, understood its significance, but didn't buy the hype.

And I still don't.

Yet another "Star Wars" movie opens this week--"The Force Awakens"--and it is probably the most hyped movie of all time. You cannot escape the hype, but I just try to ignore it.

You see, on Sunday, my family and I will be seeing the movie, having pre-purchased our tickets months ago. But I did not buy into the hype, and there is a story attached to this whole thing. Let me explain.

Honestly, I could care less about "Star Wars." As I said, I never got into it from the get go like most people did, and since then, I must have seen four or five of the films, and to me, one is worse than the other. No story, lots of special effects to hypnotize you into thinking there is a story, terrible acting and dialogue, etc.

But my wife is into it, as is my son. We found out that my wife's brother is actually going to a midnight showing of the film in his neck of the woods on December 18, and being the good soldier, knowing that my wife and son wanted to see the movie, I pre-ordered our tickets, and we are now going to see the film this Sunday afternoon.

Me, I will probably doze off in the middle of the film--"The Larry Sleeps"--because you just know that the hype is not going to match the disappointment viewers will see in this film, which already has a controversial edge to it, as many people are aghast that the "heroes" of the film are people of color.

I mean, is this really that important? Who cares? It is a movie ...

May the farce be with us all!

That is is for today. Maybe more "bits and pieces" tomorrow, maybe a full story.

Let's see where this all takes us.