Not So Gently Down The Stream

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(Posted 7-5-26)

Greetings From The Booth!

Sometimes the old days and old ways seem better. Maybe time smooths out the rough edges, as they say, but doggone it, I miss the Magnavox TV in my living room that was connected to a tall, ugly antenna outside my house in 1970s Martinsburg, West Virginia. The only channels we could get on that television set were 4, 5, 7, 9 from Washington (on a good day, channel 2 in Baltimore), and on the more exotic UHF side, WDCA channel 20 (where are you now, Captain 20 & Count Gore De Vol?). Life was good, or maybe ignorance was bliss. Who knew then the technological advances and headaches that were headed our way?

As a fan of the Washington Redskins, I knew that on a given NFL Sunday my game was going to be on channel 9, the CBS affiliate.  If the ‘Skins were playing an AFC opponent, you might have to switch to channel 4. And if Washington was featured on a Monday Night broadcast, you would get the call from Howard Cossell, Frank Gifford, and Don Meredeth on Channel 7. There were NFL blackout rules then for the home games, but the Redskins were always sold out, and I believe we were outside the blackout area anyway. In any case, I don’t recall not ever being able to watch a game.

Fast forward to this past week, when, like millions of Americans, I looked forward to watching Team USA take on Bosnia in the knockout round of the FIFA World Cup. Also, like millions of Americans, I have umpteen streaming services. My menu includes Sling, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix. No worries. Surely, I would be able to find the game somewhere. Wrong. The game was neither on Prime or Netflix, and my “Orange & Blue” Sling package did not have the channel that carried the game. I also noticed that Sling almost secretly removed my local channels from the package.

I then searched for a streaming service where I could find the game. And apparently, to get my local channels again, I needed to buy something called “Air TV’ ($80-$200) that connected to an outside antenna (that I also needed to buy). Not gonna happen. I already spend way too much money in streaming every month, and I don’t love soccer that much. But how am I going to watch my ‘Skins on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays?

My journey took me to You Tube TV, where I can still get my local channels without extra gadgetry (for now), and also had the channel showing the USA soccer game. I signed up for a 3-week free trial, during which I will make the decision to keep You Tube TV or stay with Sling (unlikely). My new cocktail of steaming services will cost me more, but I will be able to watch the Burgundy and Gold on game day.

This is the confusing and costly dilemma of the modern-day sports fan. To follow one’s team means subscribing to a myriad of apps, streaming services, and local channel doohickeys. We have become addicted to sports, and like any addiction, we will pay whatever it costs to get our fix. There have been some recent hearings about the current state of the sports fan and streaming, but I wouldn’t expect much to come from them. The mighty NFL rules.

Meanwhile, a useless old-school antenna still towers above my rooftop, maybe because I was too lazy to take it down years ago. But maybe I left it up as a fond reminder of the good old days of 4, 5, 7, and 9.

Until the next visit from the Booth…where’s the remote?

RW

SCPS alum competes in Netflix cooking show

ryan lingle

Stonewall Jackson High School and Triplett Tech graduate Sid Rubenstein is a contestant on the new Netflix culinary competition show Next Gen Chef.

Sid, 21 years old, currently resides in New Jersey and is a private chef for professional athletes in New York like the Jets of the NFL and Red Bulls of the MLS.

He has worked locally at locations like The Woodstock Cafe and The Monument in Winchester and across the country including Jackie Reys Ohana Grill in Hawaii.

The series takes place at the Culinary Institute of America in New York City and showcases up-and-coming chefs all 30 years or younger competing for a $500,000 grand prize.

The show, hosted by Olivia Culpo, features acclaimed chefs as guest judges including Michelin Star recipients, Top Chef Winners, and Food Network stars.

The finale will air Wednesday night.

For more news from across the Shenandoah Valley, click here.

Roastin’ The GOAT

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Greetings From The Booth!

I finally played my first round of golf last Sunday, an early 18 at beautiful Blue Ridge Shadows, and when I got back home, was surprised to see that my wife had the Tom Brady Roast on TV. So, I grabbed a bite to eat, and sat down to see what this much-promoted and ballyhooed Netflix event was about.

I sat in open-mouthed wonder as one F-bomb followed another in a gratuitous machine-gun fire of profanity-laced “comedy.” Comedian Kevin Hart (who I generally like) was the host, as a steady stream of comedians, actors, and athletes took their turns firing jabs at “The GOAT.” It seemed that everyone who took the podium tried to out-do the previous celebrity with the number of F-bombs and sexual references. Brady’s longtime playing companion Rob Gronkowski, who has become a parody of himself, was the undercard, as a secondary “Gronk roast” took place during the event.

At one point, Will Ferrell came out on stage as Ron Burgundy, his famous 70’s newsman alter-ego. I thought, “ok, now we’re going to see some real comedy.” But even though his appearance was my favorite part of the roast, Ferrell/Burgundy couldn’t resist firing some F-bombs of his own. Even Bill Belichick got into the act. I kept waiting for Barney The Dinosaur to come out and use some of George Carlin’s “seven words you can’t say on television.”

I get it. It’s locker-room humor, and the event was all about roasting one of the greatest athletes of all time. But, when did comedy morph into a barrage of profanity? The Dean Martin Roasts from back in the day were hilarious, and didn’t rely on dirty language. Don Rickles was one of the great roasters and comedians of his day by just calling someone a “hockey puck.” Contemporary comedy greats like Bill Cosby, Steve Martin, and Sinbad didn’t rely on filth to be funny. Even edgy comedians like Eddie Murphy and the aforementioned Carlin, who used profanity in their acts, did so with strategic shock value. Quality, not quantity.

Tom Brady has since expressed regret for doing the roast, for the effect it had on his children and family. Too late, Tom. For better or worse, kids take their cues from celebrities and sports stars, and this event was filled with the wrong cues. I hope there are adults out there who didn’t let their children watch “The Tom Brady Roast, ” but in this day of social media and the internet, “highlights” from the evening are readily accessible.

Unfortunately. the Netflix GOAT-roast was the norm, not the exception, on today’s comedy landscape.

Until the next visit from The Booth, get outta here, ya hockey puck!

RW