Spam Talk: The Clone War

I have noticed there has been an increase in the amount of dodgy emails - using a specific ploy - arriving in my inbox.

I'm not going to name the websites in particular, just in case, but the majority are clone sites of US clothing stores. The mail contents claim I have left certain items in my online shopping trolley and I have to pay to ensure I don't miss out on the sale.

Obviously, considering they're US stores (or rather: fake versions of them!), I have not tried to purchase anything. And if I did, I would have followed through. On the real websites, that is.

I have blocked at least six emails over the past couple of days. It's getting quite annoying. It has led me to wonder how effective these cons work.

Cardiff Down

After a twenty-two year absence, Cardiff City will be playing League One football next season.

The Bluebirds were relegated from the Championship following their 0-0 draw with West Bromwich Albion over the weekend.

In hindsight, the writing had been on the wall for quite a while. It seemed they were cast as 'potential strugglers' in season previews.

The only silver lining in all this is they get to miss out on the Wrexham circus for at least another season.

Unless they're drawn against each other in a cup game, of course.

Thoughts After The 2025 NFL Draft

I spent a lot of the weekend following the 2025 NFL Draft.

The biggest storyline of the three-day event focused on Shedeur Sanders. He was touted as a potential first round selection. However, the former Colorado quarterback was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round.

I read a lot of criticism against the NFL teams passing up on Sanders from Thursday through to yesterday. Some kind of summed it up to racism.

I don't think it could be that. There has to be another reason - or reasons - why Sanders fell so low.

Sanders, the son of NFL legend: Deion Sanders, had his own draft room built into home for the weekend. i The walls were emblazoned with the word 'Legendary',

There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance. NFL GMs and team owners might agree with that notion.

After Midnight

 I have experienced a lot of technical issues over the past few hours.

My TV and Internet was offline for five hours or so on Friday. As of the time of writing (Friday evening), everything seems to be back to normal despite my service provider stating it might take until after midnight for full service to resume.

I'm not going to risk my continuous blog posts being affected. Therefore - here is today's post. 

With a bit of luck, it'll all be back on track by Sunday.

Steve McMichael Passes Away

Steve 'Mongo' McMichael passed away a couple of days ago.

He was an interesting 'character' (there's a reason why I put that word in quotation marks - read on!) because he appeared in two of my favourite things - NFL football and professional wrestling.

I obviously first came across McMichael the pro footballer. That was at a time when Channel 4 was heavy into the NFL during the mid-80s. The team that got a lot of coverage back then was the Chicago Bears team which won the Super Bowl in 1986.

Over here in the UK, William Perry - AKA The Refrigerator - got a lot of the attention from that team. But, to a lesser extent, so did 'Mongo'.

When McMichael retired, his next job was to work as an enforcer - alongside other NFL players - for Lawrence Taylor when the former New York Giant wrestled Bam Bam Bigelow in the main event of WWF WrestleMania XI in 1995.

McMichael appeared in one of the episodes of Raw ahead of his Mania gig. On the episode he got into a brawl with Charles Wright, who was - at that time - portraying an MMA wrestler named Kama. 

'Mongo' referred to his foe as 'that Kama character' when he was on mic and it always struck me as a funny way to refer to someone. So, for quite a while after that, whenever I would talk about someone I often found myself referring to them as 'the (their name) character'.

Anyway, once Taylor's Mania match was completed, I expected McMichael to be done with wrestling. 

I was very wrong.

By the autumn, McMichael had moved to the WWF's rival - World Championship Wrestling - and worked as the company's color commentator for WCW Monday Nitro's first few months. By the summer of 1996, 'Mongo' had left the booth and had transitioned into becoming a wrestler.

He even spent a few years in the Four Horsemen - one of pro wrestling's most historic stables captained by 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair.

Over the past few years, McMichael's health had deteriorated due to ALS. He was bedridden by 2024 when he was finally voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  He was enshrined last August.

His passing has seen condolences issued by fans of the two worlds he crossed during his lifetime.

Roast'd

 I've seen a fair bit of comments regarding The Roast of WrestleMania which was an untelevised event which took place in Las Vegas over the weekend.

So many people have been critical of it because some of the jokes went over the top. Well - to those I say one point:

IT. WAS. A. ROAST.

Draft Mode '25

I cannot believe it's the NFL Draft tomorrow now.

It seems to have snuck up on me more this year than ever before. 

I suppose it's mainly because WrestleMania was late this year. Plus, I also have that American football betting idea I have working on to distract me (no spoilers - Yet).

With that said, I have been keeping up with almost everything going on. 'Almost' being the operative word in that sentence. I have yet to place any bets. I doubt I will. 

I was even concerned that Sky Sports wasn't going to air the event because it didn't show up on the on-screen guide until a few days ago.

Everything is set for tomorrow. 

I've Finally Watched Skeleton Crew

I'm a few months late, but I finally got around to watching Skeleton Crew within the past week.

The Star Wars series is available to stream on Disney Plus. It was released around Christmastime but I was too busy watching festive movies so decided to wait until all the episodes were available.

Well - that plan took a while, didn't it? It's done now.

This one is about a few children who come across as space ship. They end up starting up the vehicle and finding themselves lost in space.

On the adventure to find their way home, they come across space pirates (as you do!).

When I saw the trailer a year or so ago, I came away thinking it reminded me of The Goonies. A coming-of-age kind of thing. I saw some homages to the 1985 classic in the finished product as well.

There were other homages along the way. Unless, of course, I read too much into it. Like there was an ET vibe. For example, in the final episode the children were escaping from trouble on speeder bikes. It reminded me of the closing scenes of ET when the children were taking ET to his spaceship.

In fact, there's also a scene in one of the middle episodes with a ship landing in what looked like a playground (like where the ET bikers met up!) Yep - I might not have over-thought it after all.

The series gets a thumbs up even though I am a little bit older for it. As usual, I have to say this: I would have loved Star Wars programmes like this as a child. 

I have used that statement many times for other Star Wars programmes on Disney Plus, but it absolutely fits more for Skeleton Crew because children are bound to get a kick out of it more than they would for other, more adult-geared Star Wars programmes, like... well, like Andor.

Which leads me to what's next on the docket.

Andor's second - and final - season begins today. Cannot wait. I love it.