Our Pistons won their 14th game of the season last night, trouncing the Mavs 107-89. It’s not often you can say “Pistons” and “trouncing” in that order. Let’s savor it. The Mavs were resting their superstars, but we were resting ours too! (Oh, wait — we don’t have any. D’oh!) It brings our record up to 14-67. Ouch! The season ends tomorrow. We expect good things from the boys next year — 30 wins or bust! Will definitely try to catch another game in B’klyn or Motown. Guess I’ll go back to rooting for the Knicks in the playoffs now.
Say hi to Riley — Cade Cunningham’s little girl. We sent Philly off on an assignment to get some shots of the Pistons in action. We all agreed this was the best one.
Ever play PADIDDLE? Like on a car ride? Me neither, but a lot of folks have. It was in the puzzle today, right smack dab at 1D: “Game played on a road trip.” Rex railed about never having heard of it, but many folks chipping in from all over the country have. So it’s hard to say it’s regional. You play by looking for cars while you’re on the ride. If you see one with one headlight out you have to be the first to yell “padiddle.” Then you have the option of kissing or hitting the other players.
In his tirade, Rex opined that only I SPY and PUNCH BUGGY should count as acceptable road games. I’ve played I SPY. Lianna loved it when she was little. It was our go-to when waiting for the food to arrive at Smashburger. But I hadn’t heard of Punch Buggy, also called Slug Bug. In that game, you are looking for VW Beetles. When you see one, you punch the person next to you while shouting “punch buggy.” That earns you a point. If you are mistaken and it’s not a VW, you lose a point. Keep score to determine who wins.
Commenter Andrew shared this funny historical note: Fun fact: I Spy was a favorite Hollywood game of the ‘70s. Peter Falk and Sammy Davis, Jr. would spend HOURS riding in a back of a limo declaring “I Spy with my one good eye…”
The puzzle was by Jess Rucks and he said “Padiddle” was the “seed” for the puzzle. He thought it’s a midwestern thing and his goal was to expand the Midwest’s puzzle presence. He was surprised to find that folks from all over play it.
Padiddle!
A highlight of the puzzle for me (and our Dirty Old Man Dept) was at 50A where the clue was “Musician who once joked ‘I’m not offended by all of the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb … and I also know that I’m not blonde.’” DOLLY PARTON
With Owl Chatter fave Stormy Daniels back in the news (Lock him up!!), we’ve been thinking of Dolly lately. They sorta look a bit alike, don’t they? (No disrespect intended towards either.) Here’s Dolly when she was young, and Stormy five years ago.
Commenter Anoa Bob shared: In a game of pocket billiards such as Nine Ball, if nothing goes in on the break it’s called a DOLLY PARTON, all bust but no balls.
He also had a good note on 31D: “Really open up in therapy.” The answer was GO DEEP.
Here’s Bob: The answer GO DEEP reminded me of one of my favorite scenes from “Cheers.” Woody was telling Frazier about a phobia he had and asked him if there was anything that could be done about it. Frazier (who is a shrink) said yes but it would take many lengthy sessions of in-depth therapy. Woody asked if there wasn’t something faster, and Frazier said “Yes but nothing quite so lucrative.”
I loved that show. Here’s the later cast, after Diane left and Coach passed away. “How’s it going Normy?” And Norm says: “It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and I’m wearing Milk-Bone underwear.”
The following was posted on our neighborhood website: “There has been evidence of a bear at our house for a week or more. Last night the neighbor across the street chased off bears that were rummaging in their garbage. When the neighbors yelled etc. the bears were nonplused. Apparently, when they were done there, they wandered into my yard.”
I couldn’t resist. My comment: Porridge missing?
These guys seem to like the slide.
A bit of a brew-ha-ha arose on Rex’s blog and I’m unhappy about how it turned out. It started with long-time irreverent commenter Andrew making some weak padiddle-related joke involving Jerry Sandusky, convicted sex offender. I thought nothing of it, other than to note it wasn’t funny enough to share on OC. Later, an anony-mouse comment took him to task, stating that Sandusky abused many young men and it was not right to make fun of it. Another commenter agreed and requested Andrew’s comment be removed! Andrew replied that he should at least get credit for not making fun of some incest situation and said he was actually surprised he didn’t get heat for his Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Falk joke “from the congenitally humorless.” When I went back to re-read all of the comments for OC, I found that they had in fact all been deleted by Rex’s moderator.
Owl Chatter’s position — it’s censorship and it sucks. Lighten up folks. It was a fucking joke. Can we not joke about drunks because alcoholism is a serious disease? Half the cartoons in the New Yorker would have to be removed. Geez Louise. I posted a comment in his defense and opposing the censorship in that instance.
Last, we received some complaints directed at Phil! Highly unusual. Apparently, many of you thought his photo of Maya Hawke that we recently shared was too “artsy” and didn’t show off how pretty she is. We do recall him mentioning that Maya was an unusual subject in that she tended to be less pretty when she smiled. But, to put it mildly, Phil does not handle criticism very well. So, after conferring with George, we decided not to tell him. And we did find this shot in the ones he submitted. Hope it satisfies the complainers.
See you tomorrow, everybody!
The Wellington Files 