Special Forces: World's Toughest Test

In looking for something to watch on Wednesday evening, I stumbled on Special Forces: World's Toughest Test on FOX. 

I had no idea what this was, so I checked my TV guide (but not TV Guide for those of you over 35), which gave the following description of the show:

Household names really jumped out to me. When I hear the phrase household names, I think of the most famous people in the country. We're talking presidents and first ladies, Hall of Fame athletes, and A-list actors. Obama, Trump, Clinton, Bush, Biden, Brady, Smith (as in Will), Winfrey, Knowles (or Knowles-Carter), Swift, and Hanks are names that first come to mind. So who are the celebrities on this show? Let's take a look.

Danny Amendola - As a sports fan, I certainly know him, but if you asked me to name 50 current or former wide receivers who I thought could be on this show, Amendola wouldn't be one of them.

Mel B. - The Spice Girls were huge and arguably the biggest musical group in the world 25 years ago.. I'll give this one a pass.

Hannah Brown - No idea who this is.

Tyler Florence - I think he might be a chef. If you want a chef with a household name, you go with Gordon Ramsey or Rachael Ray.

Kate Gosselin - Jon and Kate Plus 8 was definitely a show I heard of before. Household name is debatable.

Dwight Howard - He's probably going to be in the NBA Hall of Fame. Not as well known as LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Steph Curry, and others, but definitely known by sports fans. Now would my mom know him? I don't think so.

Montrell Jordan - Everyone loves "This Is How We Do It." Household name is definitely a stretch though.

Gus Kenworthy - No idea. Sounds familiar, but I don't know why. 

Nastia Liukin - Oh, she was an Olympian gymnast who is not Mary Lou Retton or Simone Biles who I would consider household names. She won a lot of medals though.

Carli Lloyd - US soccer superstar. Household name in my book. And yes, I have a book with a list of people I consider to be household names!

Beverly Mitchell - An actress that I don't know. I do know Beverly D'Angelo and Beverly Hills.

Kenya Moore - A real housewife name but not a real household name. 

Mike Piazza - I mean, he's in the baseball Hall of Fame and more importantly made an appearance on Baywatch.

Dr. Drew Pinsky - He's had a long career on TV and radio and also famously downplayed COVID originally. I think he counts.

Anthony Scaramucci - He's really parlaying those several days working in the Trump administration into 15 minutes of fame. 

Jamie Lynn Spears - Now her sister Britney is a household name. Saying Britney's sister might be enough.

I'll give FOX a little credit in that their website simply describes the show as "Sixteen celebrities face challenges from the playbook of the Special Forces selection process." No mention of household names. While I'm not going to watch the show, if FOX really had a Special Forces edition with household names, I would definitely be in. If FOX is reading this, here are my casting choices in no particular order:

Beyonce

Taylor Swift

Hunter Biden

Donald Trump Jr.

Sasha or Malia Obama

Larry Fitzgerald

Ryan Reynolds

Regina King

Tom Brady

Jeff Bezos

Jennifer Lopez

Justin Bieber

Drake 

Selena Gomez

Keanu Reeves

Lady Gaga

Who would you like to see?

Photo by Pete Dadds/FOX

Raccoon Adventures

I love my community message board. Sure, it seems like many of the posts consist of neighbors complaining about people not cleaning up after their dogs, but there are some hidden gems on occasion. Recently, a neighbor shared this lovely story.

Hello neighbors, I just saw an emaciated raccoon slowly walking around looking lethargic and confused. I called the police and they came out. The officer couldn’t find it. It was seen across the street from REDACTED. The officer said if you see it again, to call the police again. He said it may have distemper, as they have been getting a lot of similar reports.

Before I go further, since this is my blog, I thought I would share my raccoon story. During my freshman year of college, I returned to my residence hall by myself very late one night (or very early in the morning) from an amazing party. And by amazing party, I mean from finishing a paper in the computer lab. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term “computer lab,” in the 1990s, not everyone had their own computers. If you were lucky, you might have a friend or roommate who had a computer and would let you borrow it. Oh, and by borrow it, I mean that you would sit in that person's room at their desk since people only had heavy desktop computers back then. If you weren't lucky, you would go to one of the computer labs on campus and sit in a room full of people and computers for hours, or worse, wait for someone to finish using a computer and then sit in a room full of people and computers for hours.

Anyway, when I completed the paper, printed it in the computer lab, and saved it on disc (email was a thing back then, but email attachments were not), I walked back to my room. Just before reaching my residence hall, a raccoon popped out of the dumpster at probably around 4:00 AM and simply stared at me as if to say, "I'm eating here. Don't bother me, or suffer the consequences." Since I probably looked lethargic and confused myself, I turned around and walked in an entirely different direction to get back to my room.

Now back to your regularly scheduled neighborhood message board already in progress. 

The first reply: I too saw a very small sickly looking raccoon in [our neighborhood] last week.  I called the police and my husband and I followed it without getting too close until the officer arrived.  He put it down immediately.   Thank you for calling and trying to get help for the animal.  I’m keeping my eyes open. 

By "put it down," the person means, picked up the raccoon and rocked it to sleep for bedtime, right? Like, putting a child down for a nap.

Next reply: I called Animal Control last week but they weren’t open.  I then called the non-emergency number for the police.  They said they dispatch for animal control.  When the officer arrived he said he was “acting animal control.”

Who knew that acting animal control is one of the job titles and duties for police officers.

Final reply: My neighbor said that sometimes patrol officers cover for animal control officers.  In his encounter the police also implied they would put the animal down as well. Wonder how they make that call.

I never really thought of this before, but I assume that the officer is actually shooting the raccoon, right? Are there other ways of putting it down? I understand if it's a rabid raccoon that could be dangerous, but I'm not sure I want to hear (or see) police shooting a raccoon in a populated neighborhood.

Of course, maybe people were just confused between raccoons and bears again. Or they saw a fox instead and decided to publish a video of it on a blog instead of sharing it with the message board!

Steelers-Lions Recap

It wasn't always pretty, especially in the second quarter, but the Steelers defeated the Detroit Lions yesterday in a stressful 37-27 game. After taking a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, you thought (or at least hoped) that the Steelers would cruise to an easy victory. Not so much. The Lions scored an incredible 27 points in the second quarter to take a 27-20 lead at halftime. The Steelers, led by Ben Roethlisberger's 367 passing yards and 4 touchdown passes, prevailed by holding Lions' wide receiver Calvin Johnson to zero catches in the second half while and not giving up any Lions points. Here are my notes from Sunday:

- I'm an Ike Taylor apologist. Over the past decade, he has been one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. Taylor's biggest problem, at least in the eyes of some Steelers fans, is that he can't catch. Basically, all he does is shut down the #1 WR but doesn't create any turnovers. I'm fine with that and want Taylor on my team. With that written, Taylor had an awful first half. I think everyone expected Calvin Johnson, the best WR in the NFL, to make some catches against Ike. However, Taylor missed several tackles causing big plays to be even bigger.

- Early in the game, the Fox ticker showed that Chad Henne of Jacksonville was 2 for 2 for 71 yards and a TD. The ticker also showed Jags TE Mercedes Lewis as having 1 catch for 9 yards. I'd like to think I wasn't alone in wondering who had the other catch for the 62-yard TD.

- Detroit has an offensive lineman named LaAdrian Waddle. With a last name of Waddle, he probably knew as a child that he would play on the offensive line.

- Punter Mat McBriar redeemed himself in the second half, but is it too much to ask for a consistent punter? There has to be a member of the Colquitt family available somewhere.

- I think Fox went a little overboard with their "circle the player" graphic.

- The Steelers played Styx's Renegade twice. Has that ever happened before?

- I spent too much time biting my fingernails during the game. It's a terrible habit and can't be good for my teeth.

- The Steelers had multiple opportunities to score with the ball on Detroit's one-yard line. Did it ever occur to anyone to try a good old-fashioned QB sneak?

- With Festivus quickly approaching, we should all think about the final tradition of the Feats of Strength. I'd like everyone to try to emulate Ziggy Hood in his one-handed sack of Matthew Stafford.

- Does anyone know when the new Fox show Almost Human will debut?

- Did anyone else notice Calvin Johnson give up after Will Allen's interception? He made no effort in trying to tackle Allen.

- Finally, the Steelers are now 2-0 when they knew I was going to write a recap of the game.