Maybe It’s Kansas After All

Back at Roma, belly full, glass full, novel almost to 50K, and the local news is on the television behind the bar. I have a theory. I think every local news broadcast around the world really only needs to be produced once. You have a pair of talking heads, one blonde with a frightening amount of makeup, the other a distinguished-looking gentleman with just a little gray at the temples. The glamor and the stability.

It’s the holiday season, so of course you spend five minutes of the broadcast showing people putting up trees and other decorations. There is the shot of parents hiding the presents, another shot of the kids finding them. Some guy is droning on over the whole thing. Blah, blah, blah. For this spot language matters not at all. You’ve heard the same crap year after year. Finally the tape is over and we find ourselves back in the studio. The blonde turns to the gentleman and says, blah, blah, blah. He chuckles and says back, blah, blah blah. You could use Charlie Brown wah-wah-wah dubbing and then use the same clip the world over. No one would even notice that it was not in their language.

And now, the sports.

6 thoughts on “Maybe It’s Kansas After All

  1. How is the Ukrainian situation playing out over in Eastern Europe? Or can you tell?

    Without Thanksgiving, how do the Czechs know when the Christmas Season starts?

    And while we’re on it, be my almanac and tell me what the predominant religion is over there. By the timing, I take it it isn’t Greek Orthodox.

  2. John, don’t wory, I’ll be rubbing it in your face especially when I see a hockey game.

    Keith, I can tell you that the Ukraine thing is getting lots of airtime when I’m at bars, ut I hinestly don’t know what the press is saying. November being a non-social month for me anyway, I haven’t had a lot of contact with people over here yet. It took me quite some time to even work out that it was the Ukraine that was being discussed.

  3. Sure, rub it in Jer. It’s almost December and still no National Hooligan League games in sight. There is however one upside to it all (and no it’s not me losing weight by not sitting transfixed in front of the tube screaming “Fight damn it you Nancy-boys!” whilst chugging down the amber nectar. The local minor league is getting more than a few NHLers playing for them. It is really increasing the quality of play. Now the ECHL has always had a higher number of major PIMs handed out but the speed of play has usually been a bit slower than the average NHL game. The addition of the NHL guys is bringing faster skating and harder shots (towards the net). San Diego is sporting a center from the Blackhawks. Anchorage has All Star Scott Gomez from the Devils.
    With the recent spate of brawls in the NBA, I’m getting a strange new respect for the sport. I guess without the NHL, somebody has to take up the slack.

  4. They put hockey on for me in the bar last night (seems odd I’d even have to ask, but whatever). Boy is the ice big over here. During one of the intermissions they showed a “highlight” from another game. After the game was over the teams were lined up to shake hands, but rather than a handshake one of the players gave the opposite member a facial. And away they went.

  5. Hmmm…. For a while, Jan Hus and many Czechs tried to be Protestants, but Emperor Charles (Karlov) of the Austro-Hungarian Empire decided to make good Catholics of them with a bit of gunpoint persuasion. Then the Russians tried to make good atheists of the Czechs. Now the Czechs can be whatever they want to be, thank you very much. Catholicism is probably the biggest choice of those who have denominated themselves but Lee & Marianna could give us a better idea of what Czechs think about religion.

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