The Skolney Blog

GOPHERS 35 LOUISIANA 24 I didn't blog about it, but last week the Gophers suffered one of those all time bad losses. Up 31-10 in the 4th quarter at lowly.Northwestern, they let the Wildcats come all the way back and beat them in OT. Just an astonishing meltdown, even for this program. It left them at 2-2, and with Michigan, Ohio State and Fleck's curse Iowa left on the schedule, they needed to win this homecoming game against the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns to even have much of a shot at getting to one of Peej's bad bowl games. It sure didn't look good early. The Cajuns went right down the field for an opening TD. Then the ensuing kickoff was for some reason fielded at the 4, where the return guy stepped out of bounds. A 3 and out and a punt gave Louisiana great field position.  But the Gophers defense got a stop and they were able to get on track then with a tying TD drive, ending in a Kaliakmanis TD toss. Louisiana got a field goal. The Gophers drove for another TD and the...

Thursday: LIONS 34, PACKERS 20 Okay, 4 weeks in you do probably have to give it up to the Lions. They're the best team in the north so far. This game really wasn't even as close as the score. Jordan Love was awful. The Lions defense was pretty good.  Sunday: JAGUARS 23, FALCONS 7 The London Jags easily dispatched the Falcons and their bumbling sophomore QB Desmond Ridder.  BRONCOS 31, BEARS 28 In the week's other clash of winless teams, Denver spent a half making Justin Fields look elite, before staging a 21 point rally to steal a win.  BILLS 48, DOLPHINS 20 Buffalo, whose week 1 loss looks like the fluke of the year, made a huge statement by making it clear that they are still the big dog in the AFC East, turning an early track meet into a laugher.  EAGLES 34, COMMANDERS 31 A hell of an effort by the Commies, rallying for a tying TD at the buzzer (should have gone for 2) only to then fall in OT on a long field goal.  RAVENS 28, BROWNS 3 Cleveland ha...

1993: I didn't really know it at the time, but True Romance was my first exposure to Quentin Tarantino.  The screenplay for this film pre-dated Reservoir Dogs. Quentin used the money from selling this script to help make that film.  I saw this one first, but not in theaters. Very few saw this in theaters actually. But like so many early 90s gems I saw it first on video. It was probably the following spring when I rented it. I'll admit this one was definitely more of a slow burn. I liked it right away but it took years for it to elevate to one of my favorites from this year.  Directed by Tony Scott, his follow-up to The Last Boy Scout, this is a classic "lovers running from bad guys" tale. Christian Slater falls in love with neophyte call girl Patricia Arquette. His attempts to free her from her pimp (a wild, dreadlocked Gary Oldman) lead to them stealing a bunch of drugs and being chased across the country by the aforementioned bad guys. Much of the film ...

Movies can not be perfect. A song, sure, but perfection is something that can't be sustained for 90+ minutes. Even my absolute favorite movies are not perfect. They all have something in them that doesn't work (hell, there's like a 10 minute chunk of Pulp Fiction I skip over every time I watch it). So no, no perfect movies exist.  But none come closer than Richard Linklater's now 30 year old classic Dazed and Confused. I didn't see this in theaters. Few did, as its distributor Universal only gave it a small release. I caught it as a rental the following spring. And in those days, if I liked something I rented I usually watched it twice. I watched Dazed 3 times.  It's an awesome movie. Set on the last day of school in 1976, and all taking place on that one day, it follows a huge ensemble of characters. Plot? Not really. There are story threads that weave in and out, but there is no overarching story or even lead character. Linklater based a whole lot of this on h...

Thursday: 49ERS 30, GIANTS 12 The 49ers steamroll another patsy. Hard to dispute that Brock Purdy is really that good.  Sunday: COLTS 22, RAVENS 19 OT Seems like the Ravens have 1 or 2 perplexing losses a year, and a home loss to a Gardner Minshew-led Colts squad qualifies.  BROWNS 27, TITANS 3 The Browns defense just completely destroyed the Titans, who couldn't even get to 150 yards. Even Mr. Massage had a good game.  LIONS 20, FALCONS 6 The new dynasty gets the win as the Falcons offense does basically nothing all game.  PACKERS 18, SAINTS 17 Well isn't that nice. The Saints had a 17-0 lead, but then lose Derek Carr to an injury, which lets the Packers come back and win. 🤮🤮🤮 TEXANS 37, JAGUARS 17 A rather stunning blowout of the so far very unimpressive Jags. CJ Stroud with his 1st real good game.  DOLPHINS 70, BRONCOS 20 One of the most stunning final scores, well, ever, as Miami was the first team to drop a seventy burger since the 1960s. The...

CHARGERS 28 VIKINGS 24 We are 2 days into fall. We still have a week left of September. And the Minnesota Vikings season is already over.  It's a brutal truth to face, but after a gutwrenching loss to a Chargers team that was trying to hand the game to the Vikings, only for us to refuse to take it, it is the reality. This season is already a lost cause. The season is over, and with it the honeymoon period for Kevin O'Connell, who I place the majority of the blame on for this debacle. In this battle of 0-2 2022 playoff teams, the Vikings looked primed to draw first blood on their opening drive, until TJ Hockenson got the ball stripped from him. 8th turnover on the year.  Naturally the Chargers go drive 80 yards to take a 7-0 lead. The Vikings were able to nod it up in the 2nd quarter on a short TD pass to Josh Oliver.  Then we actually got a turnover of our own on a Jordan Hicks fumble recovery. The subsequent drive was maybe the most disjointed scoring drive I have ever s...

TWINS 8 ANGELS 6 In serendipitous fashion, the Twins magic number for clinching the AL Central heading into Friday night was 1. All it took was a win over the depleted, playing out the string Angels to seal the deal.  The Twins lineup was absurd, if you told anybody in April that this would be a lineup used by a team looking to clinch a division. Only 3 (Polanco, Kepler, Jeffers) are starters.  But we also had Pablo Lopez on the mound, so when we pieced together a few runs to go up 3-0 you figured that was enough. But Lopez got tagged for 3 in the 5th, including a 2 run homerun by some guy batting .146.  No matter. The Twins got the lead back in the 6th on an Alex Kirilloff laser shot over the right field wall, then bunched some hits and walks together in the 7th to pad the lead. We had a little trouble shutting the door, as Caleb Thielbar gave up a 2 run homerun in the 8th, and then Jhoan Duran had a very messy 9th inning, frustrating a packed Target Field that was ready...

Connecticut 90 Lynx 75 The quirkiness of the current WNBA playoff schedule allowed the Lynx a unique advantage after forcing the Sun to a deciding game 3. The lower seed gets a home game if the series goes the distance, so the Lynx got to play for their season at Target Center.  But that advantage quickly evaporated in a game the Sun led almost wire to wire, and were never seriously threatened in after halftime. It was clear quite quickly that this was going to be a lot more game 1 than 2. The Sun blew the Lynx off the court in game 1 with a barrage of threes. And they were shooting the lights out early here too, running out to a 20-6 lead. The Lynx found their footing somewhat, and put together their lone run of the night, a 19-6 burst, punctuated by a Bridget Carleton 3, that brought the Lynx within a point. Game on? Well, not really. The Sun got back to hitting shots, the Lynx offense went cold (making only 2 shots for roughly the next 6 minutes) and after a DeWanna Bonner buzze...

Sunday: FALCONS 25, PACKERS 24 Well well well. After week 1 everybody wanted to anoint Jordan Love, but now his Packers go out and lose to a rather bumbling Atlanta team that had often shoddy QB play and some atrocious redzone playcalling.  SEAHAWKS 37, LIONS 31 OT Well well well. After week 1 everybody wanted to anoint the Lions, but now they go out and blow their home opener to a team that had just been blown out the week before. Jared Goff threw a pick six. The Lions defense remains putrid when the other team bothers to catch a ball occasionally.  BUCCANEERS 27, BEARS 17 Well well well. Justin Fields was supposed to be a darkhorse MVP candidate this year according to the hype machine. Instead he has been terrible in 2 games. Tampa beat us in a game we gave away, and now this win. Fraudulent Tampa wins? It's like Brady is still there.  CHIEFS 17, JAGUARS 9 The Chiefs got back Kelce and Jones, but were still decidedly middling. KC starts slow sometimes, so it...

EAGLES 34 VIKINGS 28 Well, we knew that this 0-2 was coming.  Once the Vikings blew their opener against the inferior Bucs, you knew that then having to go to Philly on a short week, and with 2 starting offensive linemen out, was likely a pre-determined loss. But these are the Vikings. So they didn't just go out there on Thursday night and get boatraced and get destroyed. No, they genuinely had a chance to win this football game, only to give another one away.  At times it was almost deja vu from last week. In the first half, the Vikings defense largely looked very strong. A Jalen Hurts deep shot set up an early field goal, but that was it for Philly til late in the half.  And again the Vikings offense was iffy. Bradbury was out, and Darrisaw was active but never saw the field for some reason. So you knew Kirk was in for a beating, and yeah, he took shots all game. But the issue was the fumbles. Brandon Powell (who is here to return punts) fumbled a return away. Alexander...

BUCCANEERS 20 VIKINGS 17 Game one of the Vikings defense of their NFC North did...not go well. A rusty offense and a few crushing mistakes led to an optimism-damaging loss to an inferior Tampa team. The first half was the first unveiling of the new Brian Flores-led defense, and those early results were terrific. It looked nothing like that pitiful playoff game. Players were aggressive, flying around, and collapsed on the ball. Until late in the half, the Bucs only had 3 points, which were gifted on a turnover. Those turnovers were all in the first half, but they loomed large throughout.  The Vikings offense started slow, but on their 2nd drive seemed to be marching towards the game's first score. On the drive, Garrett Bradbury left with a back injury, leaving Austin Schlottman to handle the snaps. And one snap just outside the redzone was that first turnover, although it turned out it was on Ed Ingram for literally slapping the ball out of Kirk's hands. Old Eddie sure likes to ...

Thursday: LIONS 21, CHIEFS 20 Most annoying NFL opener since 2004. Even without Kelce and Jones, the Chiefs probably beat Detroit comfortably if they don't have constant unforced errors, with a litany of dropped passes and a couple of inexplicably bad play calls. But now we gotta hear more slurping of the Lions. Please don't let this be an omen for the 2023 season.  Sunday: 49ERS 30, STEELERS 7 Rough start for my AFC North pick, the worst home loss under Tomlin. And the 49ers looked completely dominant. Purdy played very well too.  SAINTS 16, TITANS 15 Not all close games are good. A late Derek Carr TD pass was the difference.  BROWNS 24, BENGALS 3 Imagine making Joe Burrow the highest paid player in NFL history, and days later he can't even break 100 yards.  RAVENS 25, TEXANS 9 Workmanlike win for the Ravens, who lost J.K. Dobbins for the year. CJ Stroud was adequate in his debut.  JAGUARS 31, COLTS 21 Colts led much of this game, but the Jags pulle...

Okay...is it safe?  We are days away from the 2023 season beginning, and that wretched piece of shit Tom Brady is still retired. It might be over, finally, after 20+ years of bullshit. So this looks to be the first season since 2000 that that asshole won't ruin (well, except for the wonderful 2008). Speaking of 2008, in that season a legendary Packers QB left and played for the Jets. Wonder if that scenario might come up again.🤔 Gotta start with the Vikings. I might do an expanded Vikings preview, but in a macro sense I think the Vikings are once again the clear favorites in the north, no matter how much the media still insists on labeling their entire 2022 as fraudulent (it wasn't, sorry) or hyping up the Lions as the second coming of the Bill Walsh 49ers (they're not, sorry). Brian Flores was the hire of the offseason, and while I am not expecting him to literally work miracles in 1 season, he cannot possibly do a worse job than Ed Donatell (who, surprise, didn't tak...

In theaters: THE EQUALIZER 3 This threequel is frankly just as disappointing as the sequel was. We are here to watch Denzel kick ass. But in a 2 hour slog of a film we only really get about 3 such sequences; one is a flashback and one is in almost total darkness. Denzel is.always great, but this is such a nothing film, with a dull story and complete non-entity villains. I'm ready for this franchise to be done.  THE HILL A true story of a kid with a degenerative spinal disease who dreams of playing major league baseball. I didn't really know going in that this was a religious film, and boy does that stuff get pushed hard in the first half of the film. But the 2nd half is much more about the baseball and it is pretty decent.  A HAUNTING IN VENICE The newest and least of the Kenneth Branagh Hercule Poirot films. This one takes the form of a sort of Gothic horror movie, which Branagh doesn't quite pull off. Wasn't too into the mystery either. Cast is okay but no real stando...