IN MEMORY OF POPS...

This week's newsletter is a little different. If you read this regularly, you have heard me talk about my buddy Mike up in the Bay Area. Mike was one of my first readers, going back to when this rag was started last August, right before football season. For those of you who don't know the story, I was doing promotions for a Burger Chain in NoCal and I started writing a newsletter of horrible football picks. After they fired me, it eventually morphed into this monstrosity.

Anyways, Mike used to read my newsletter every week with his Pops, who was having some health issues. Mike told me this week that Pops had passed away quietly in his sleep, and it brought up a tremendous well of emotions. First, immense sadness for Mike. The loss of a parent is brutal, and while the vast majority of us will experience it at some point, there is nothing easy about it. Second, my dad--who we also called Pops--passed away before this newsletter was born, but I thought,, "What would I have done in that issue?" A lot of that is in here this week. I would have tried to be funny (both Pops' had great senses of humor), and honest, and somehow find a way to express just a little bit about the man I knew.

I never got to meet Mike's dad. I consider that a loss for me. But he was a HUGE fan of the Chargers, and I would sometimes throw in little Chargers jabs just to tweak him. Seems like he always got the joke.

So this week will be a Chargers-themed week in memory of Pops. May the Chargers win some games on the other side...they never won many on this side. 😀😀😀 Also, I am now down a subscriber, so if anyone has a recommendation...(Listen, it's still a comedy newsletter...!)

Here is some stuff I like and hope you like too...

AS ALWAYS, REPLY TO THIS EMAIL WITH YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS AND STUFF YOU WANT TO SEE! I FEEDBACK IS ALWAYS APPRECIATED!

MY ROOKIE YEAR...

I thought I would start with my 1965 rookie card. I was sure playing in the NFL would be a great way to stay out of Vietnam. I was right. Turns out all you have to do is ruin your body playing the most brutal game in the world to not go fight in a war. When we didn't make the playoffs, LBJ tried to draft me, but luckily Canada was just forming a team--the Montreal Maple Syrupers. They did not last long, but the perks were worth it. I eventually returned to San Diego where I retired in ignominy after dropping 11 straight passes and blowing our Super Bowl chances. To be fair, our Quarterback John Hadl was garbage-- he was a Kansas graduate after all. Can't count on them for anything.

SOME OF MY LEAST FAVORITE MASCOTS

Mascots are a different breed...usually literally. They are meant to inspire or strike fear in opponents, but often they just leave me confused. These all fall in that latter category..

Tree

Some of these picks make sense in the way that they make no sense. Such is the case here. Of course Stanford has an incredibly non-treatening mascot named after a material many early stadiums were built from. I suppose The Nerds was already used somewhere else. Nothing like a bunch of eggheads infiltrating dumb school sports to ruin it for us all. Tree, meet ax.

STALEY DA BEAR

I know this will be sacrilegious in some circles, but there is so little I enjoy about Chicago. Truly nothing I can think of. Both days of summer were the only bright spot. So this bear makes total sense. Reminds me of every person who lived in that city: ferocious, unpleasant natural predators. Of course, Staley honors original Bears owner AE Staley and goes back to their days in Decatur. Best part about Decatur??? It's not Chicago. Enjoy the summer. Winter starts tomorrow.

PHILLY PHANATIC

Outside of It's Always Sunny doing a hilarious bunch of shows the the Phanatic and GreenMan, there is nothing anyone can ever say that will make this whole thing makes sense. Makes me want to use the D.E.N.N.I.S. System to get rid of him... (only fans of Sunny will get that one but its a good one--trust me).

OSKI THE BEAR

The best part about Oski the Bear is just exactly how much like Berkley it is. The original mascot was an actual bear cub. I assume at some point the cub grew and tried to maul someone as bears do. Also I can't imagine Berkley allowing keeping animals restrained against their will in any way, so this was their next best option. I love the idea of NoCal folks handing off a toddler to a bear. Nothing's gonna go wrong with that...😀😀😀

BOLTMAN

Pops, I can understand loving the Chargers. I cannot understand loving this thing. Boltman is an odd mix of Jim McMahon (a former Charger), Mr Clean and Mac & Cheese powder all rolled into one. He is frightening, and absolutely will be the star of a horror movie franchise soon.

MY SPOTIFY PLAYLIST OF THE WEEK...

CO2ISFUNNY | Songs For and About San Diego, the Superchargers, and Whale's Vag**nas...

It is not easy to find songs about San Diego. It's easier to find songs about Wichita. Now that's one that will leave you scratching your head. But for Pops, we are dragging out all of the gems I can find. Hopefully he will be somewhere enjoying the tunes...

San Diego Super Chargers Theme Song | San Diego Chargers Band

San Diego | Blink-182

San Diego Serenade | Tom Waits

San Diego Zoo | The 6ths

San Diego | South Park

Thirty More Milers to San Diego | Dean Martin

Pretty Girl From San Diego | The Avett Brothers

Balboa Park | Bruce Springsteen

Blue Cafe | Brian Seltzer

Afternoon Delight | Starland Vocal Band

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE SPOTIFY PLAYLIST

THE SHOW I AM WATCHING

I love Will Ferrell. It makes me laugh when people say his movies are dumb. I find them to be the exact opposite. Absurdist, yes. Broad? At times. But also sharply hilarious and universally appealing, which is not easy to do.

That is why I love Anchorman so much. There are so many sophisticated jokes ("60% of the time, it works every time") that you absolutely miss a lot, and repeated viewings are always rewarded.

The cast is, of course, amazing. Will, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell, Christina Applegate, David Koechner, Fred Willard... the list is endless, like all legendary comedies are.

This movie helps cement San Diego's place in movie legend to me (along with Almost Famous) and I find it absolutely brilliant.

SUSAN WARE CLIP OF THE WEEK

Aaah San Diego. What times we had on the set of the silent 3-reel western Kill Pancho Villa Without A Trial and No Semblance of Justice. It was a huge hit. Susan had to learn to ride a horse for the film. At first, she was confused, saying up to now she had only had horses for dinner. But the movie folks were gentle with her. They started her on and ol' mare named Glue before stepping her up to her movie pony, Evil Devil Spawn. Turns out Spawn had not yet been broken, and went about trying to break Susan instead. She was thrown off his back and landed almost 30 yards down a dusty lane. Anyways, the entire area has since been rezoned and is now a Home Depot parking lot. The times they are a' changin' but the ol' classics never do. Anyways, check out Susan by clicking HERE.

I hope you enjoy these as well! Feel free to subscribe if you want. I will also include them here, but the posts that come from her site are hilarious and go out on Mondays and Thursdays!

SUSANWARECOMEDY.COM

HERE'S A RECIPE

America went crazy for last week's recipe, so I decided to up the stakes- tomato soup:

Open can

Pour in bowl

Heat in microwave for 2 minutes

I know I am showing the soup with the grilled cheese, which may confuse some. This recipe is only for the soup. To make the grilled cheese part, see last week's edition. This is not false advertising. I am letting you know--sandwich sold separately.

A NOTE ABOUT MY POPS

I won't say too much. If you knew him, he was a helluva guy. If you didn't, you missed out. I miss him all the time, I talk to him when I am driving, I take long 24 hour + road trips just because he used to go the same way--through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. We both find something pretty in overlooked things. We both have a dry, lowkey sense of humor. We both love to argue, often with each other. We are also both very introspective, and never let an argument sit for long. He wrote poetry when he was younger. I still write songs. He never missed football games as he loved a Friday night flipping burgers for the booster club and laughing that I just threw an interception. "You'll probably throw more. But you'll get some touchdowns too. Don't be afraid to keep throwing", he would say.

I know everyone has their own story and I do not mean to monopolize the time with mine. Just wanted to share some memories and what has been a thoughtful week. I hope somewhere, you are all enjoying memories of loved ones past and present.

CLIP OF THE WEEK

A football bit form last season...

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE VIDEO.

As always, you can check out my clips on the site (co2isfunny.com) or YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@co2isfunny).

LOTS OF LOVE TO ALL THE FOLKS THINKING ABOUT THEIR POPS OUT THERE.

FORWARD TO A FRIEND, ETC

Please do me a favor and forward to a. friend. You get no prize other than my undying gratitude (and maybe a free ticket to a show when I am in your area if you let me know!).

I am very grateful to each and every one of you for your support and follows and likes, etc. You all are the best!

See you next week!

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