Hovering around 219 this week. Apparently I know how to pack on the muscle.

Not!

So why not talk about some sporting sporty sports instead of depressing weighing weighty weight? Buffalo has a relevant team again - the Sabres - as of this writing are still sitting 2nd in their conference, and 5th in the league. Not too shabby only seven games from the season's half-way point, for a team that finished dead last for the past two seasons. The new Eichel - Skinner - Reinhart line is near the tops of the league in goals, and points, while their young defensemen, the Rasmus Rush (Ristolainen and Dahlin) are in 4th and 5th on the team in points. They have some shortcomings, and probably aren't a true contender yet, but the building blocks are there. Now it's a matter of filling out the roster with a few more quality offensive threats, and shutdown D-men. With the prospects in Rochester (currently 1st place in their division in the AHL), and the draft picks they've horded for 2019 (potentially three 1st round picks with a conditional from St. Louis), they are setting themselves up for depth, and to be a competitive, playoff team for years to come. Their rostered forwards currently have an average age of 25.6. Six of the fourteen are 23 or younger. Pomminville, at 36, is skewing the numbers a bit. Similarly their defensive corps have an average age of 23.3. They have room to grow.

The Bills are closing out a disappointing season, considering their record, but it's one that leaves them with high expectation for the future. They have their franchise QB by the looks of it, and Allen keeps showing improvement every game, despite the offense being cleared of so many "star" players. They have $93M in cap space going into April's draft, and potentially $118M with revenue based cap expansion. There's more changes to be made, but the defense has been solid, and top performing all season. Sorting out the offense, and giving Allen some bonafide weapons gives the team high hopes for the coming seasons.

The Sabres season will continue to be exciting as they continue to grow, and remain competitive league-wide. If they make the playoffs, the playoff excitement will be met with the excitement of the NFL draft in April.

Buffalo sports is worth talking about again. That's pretty exciting! Sure, there will be ups and downs, but isn't it fun to have something to root for, aside from entry draft selections? I say, yes.

But Enough Of That

With less than a week until the holiday known by many as Christmas, the last minute Christmas shopping rush is upon us. Not to mention my family Christmas visit has been moved to Sunday, which leaves me even less time to finish my shopping, wrapping, and cleaning. So my anxiety is a bit high right now. I still have to get something more for my oldest two children, and my dad, and his wife. A challenging group to buy for. Wish me luck!

Ill Foundations

The Trump Foundation was ordered to close by the NYS Attorney General this week for, what was termed, "a shocking pattern of flagrant and repeated illegality – including willful self-dealing." Need some examples of such self-dealing? The largest reported contribution of the Trump Foundation was a donation of $264,631 to renovate a fountain located outside of Trump's Plaza Hotel. The smallest contribution was $7, noted as a payment to cover Donald Trump Jr's Boy Scout fees in 1989.

Trump himself still defends the foundation, and is lashing out against New York, and the Attorney General's office, often citing former NYS AG Eric Schneiderman for the current lawsuit against the Trump Foundation, when really this action was brought on by current AG Barbara Underwood.

Can't expect Trump to keep track of exactly who is suing him though, when he, or his companies' have been named in over 1,450 lawsuits, including notable ones such as the fraud lawsuit involving Trump University, where defrauded students sued Trump U. for $75M in damages. Rather than face an unwinnable court case, and face further legal issues for the fraud, Trump settled for $25M. In another case, Trump defaulted on a $139M loan from a Russian banking source that funded the building of a Trump Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. The hotel was never built as planned by the contractors, (although a building was eventually finished) after Trump bailed on paying back his lenders. A year later, Trump defaulted on $40M, as part of a $640M loan from Deutsche Bank to build a Trump tower in Chicago.

It is fascinating to me that anyone could ever see this person with a history of shady business practices, and outright fraudulent attempts to swindle anyone, and everyone he could, as being someone who would make a good national leader. I would hope the United States would want to collectively be a better place, but ignorance, apathy, and self-centered views seem to be very predominant, still, in American culture.

Holiday High Jinx

Ripping a page right out of Scottish book of drunken frivolity, (High jinks was a popular 18th century drinking game in Scotland. The game involved throwing a die, and if the caster got a bad score, they had to choose between drinking more alcohol or performing an undignified task.) I've watched so much HGTV lately (ahem) that I think I need to design a drinking game around it. Choose your catch-term, and drink when it is said:

Fixer-Upper:  One person takes "Shiplap" and one person takes "Subway Tile." Any time it is said, or shown, drink.

Flip or Flop: Drink anytime the couple argues over something insignificant, goes over budget, or makes more on one flip than 90% of America makes working for a full year ($62,000). Bonus: Jagerbombs if the house is a completely disgusting sty when they buy it.

House Hunters (Any variety):  One person takes "Master" and one person takes "Oh Wow!" (other options for multi-player: On-Suite, View, Over/Under Budget)

Property Brothers: One person takes "bad news" and one person takes "good news". (take good news, trust me). Bonus: everyone drinks when they have to rewire the entire house's electrical. Bonus, Bonus: have a game of Twister board? Assign house issues to a color: crumbling foundation: red, discovered mold/asbestos: yellow, water damage: blue,  Insects/Mice: Green. You have to touch the color when it is discovered (and it will be discovered) with at least two appendages, and stay there for the rest of the episode.

Come up with your own! I would love to hear your ideas. Feel free to register them in the comments section on this post.