More idle thoughts

You can't help but laugh at some of the TV commercials these days. See one that claims the participants are "real people" -- not actors.

Well OK. But by just doing the ad -- see reading a script someone else wrote --they BECAME actors. Second, it implies actors aren't REAL people. So what are they? Cyborgs? Aliens? Cocker spaniels?

Just when you think it can't get any worse department.

It's no secret the Detroit Tigers have waved the white flag of contending and gone into full-blown rebuild mode. They've dumped their best pitcher and three best hitters.

But holy cow. They just got absolutely pounded by the last place White Sox who put up 17 runs while pounding out a whopping 25 hits, and left another dozen or so on base?  If there was ever a case for the "mercy rule" being applied to Major League baseball games -- this would be it.

It's an oft-used cliche, but the Tiger pitchers, one after the other, appeared to be throwing batting practice indeed.

The Tigers have not only gone from bad to terrible, they're downright embarrassing these days.

And don't look now, but those same Chisox are only a single game behind the Motown puddy-tats for last place in the entire American League, with still a few games left to go in the current series.

Tiger manager Brad Ausmus surely knows he's gone after this season mercifully ends. He probably can't wait for it to get over.

Watching the Tigers these days is like watching a rock thrown out of a high flying plane. Down, down, down it goes, picking up speed on the way. The only thing that remains is the thud (see the conclusion of the regular season) at the end. Pitiful.

Along the same line, here's a question. How is it that Marvin Lewis continues to keep his job as the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals?

Year after year they've stunk it up.

They just turned in another yawn-fest, bonehead game, at home, against the Houston Texans, who aren't very good themselves. Another loss. Like their feline cousin Tigers, the Bengals don't look like they can beat anybody either. Every facet of their game is sub-par, and that's being kind.

Lewis, and by extension his staff, are clearly clueless what to do about it.

So why, tell me why, does the Cincinnati ownership/front office (notice I won't use the phrase "brain trust", because it would be laughable) keep sticking with him?

He's proven over time, years and years, that he's WAY over his head as an NFL head coach.

It's shameful.

Of course, if the good people of Cincinnati are dumb enough to keep ponying up big bucks out of their hard-earned money to watch such a clown show at the stadium -- they should be ashamed of themselves too.

Maybe that clueless thing is contagious.

Lord knows Detroit Lions' fans have had a bad case of it for over half a century.