Grab Bag Returns! The In Case You Missed It- Vol. One Edition! Sportsball, Movies, TV, and a drunk raccoon!

Hey gang, it's been a minute, actually almost 2 months, but the Bag is back for the new year or 2026, and as the title suggests, this and the next two, will be ICYMI versions, like condensed soup, but with words, and based on my memory- yikes!.Lets dive right in! Sportsball:

SF Giants made MLB history by hiring a college coach to be the new manager of the team for next year ( I want to say a 2-3 year contract). Tony Vitello, who has led his Tennessee college baseball team to several championships during his tenure there, will lead the Giants and one of his former players, Drew Gilbert, to hopefully a better 2026 season.

San Francisco 49ers: Last I left you, defensive star linebacker and team captain Fred Warner suffered a season-ending injury, a theme that has plagued the team all season long. Mac Jones, filling in for the turf-toed injured Brock Purdy, led the Niners to a 5-3 record before Purdy returned to resume quarterback duties. Niners FINALLY got their bye week, and the came out and beat the Tennessee Titans at Levis, to improve their record to 10-4, despite all the injuries the team had to overcome this season, and are in the think of the playoff race with three games to go! Oh, and Wide Receiver Brandon Aiyuk has played his last game as a San Francisco 49ers, as that situation has deteriorated to the point of no return. Make that 11-4, as the Niners travelled to Indianapolis to face the Colts and out of retirement QB , the 44 year old Phillip Rivers, who showed he still has some gas in the tank, as he and Purdy were trading touchdowns in the first quarter in what looked like was going to be a shoot-out on the scoring side. Niners defense made adjustments to pressure Rivers, and Purdy threw for a career-high FIVE touchdowns as 49ers went on to defeat the Colts, 48-27, and return home for a Sunday night matchup against the red-hot Chicago Bears at Levi Stadium! That Niners-Bears game was a classic offensive shootout, with Brock Purdy scoring five touchdowns, whether in the air or his running. both defenses decided to become spectators of the offensive game, and it almost cost the Niners, as the Comeback Bears , who have come back to win six games being sown with 2 minutes left in the game, took the final shot in this shootout and missed (barely), leading to a 42-38 Niner victory. easily on of the most entertaining game sof the season, though your heart rate might disagree. That led us to the final game of the regular season, as the NFC West leading Seattle Seahawks came to Levi's in a winner take all for the NFC WEST title and home-field advantage, and a bye week to rest up. Alas, the Niners offense had no answer for the Seahawks defense, and lost, 13-3. Which means Seattle has this week off, and the 49ers start their playoff push on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. A tough game indeed, especially with the injuries the Niners have.

With the regular season over, that means Black Monday, when those firings are announced! Teams looking for new Head Coaches are : Arizona, Atlanta, Cleveland, New York Giants, Tennessee Titans, and the bog shock, Baltimore, firing long-time (14 years) HC John Harbaugh after failing to make the playoffs this year. Oh, and the Las Vegas Raiders not only fired their coach, Pete Carroll, but I'm fully expecting to hear this year, at the NFL Draft: With the first pick of the 2026 NFL Draft, the Las Vegas Raiders choose Fernando Mendoza- Indiana.". Update : Add the Miami Dolphins in the hunt for a new head coach, as they canned theirs on Thursday!

Golden State Warriors: After a hot start at the beginning of the season, the team is now mired in midfield mediocrity at this point of the season, both Steph Curry and Draymond Green have already missed games, and the NBA is waiting to see if my prediction from this summer comes true, with Jonathan Kuminga (who has been on the bench last few games), will be traded in the next few weeks. Update from when i wrote the paragraph preceding: no change. California Golden Bears: What an interesting few weeks it's been for Cal Bear fans! First, the team secured a bowl birth by getting its 6th win, then in the Big Game against Stanford, put up such a stinker of a performance (I bailed at the end of the 3rd Quarter!), that after the game, they fired their coach of nine years, Justin Wilcox. In the last game of the season against SMU, who if SMU won, would play for the ACC Championship (the League both teams are in), and were heavily favored by two touchdowns. Well, the Bears were having none of that, and pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the day/night, beating SMU, 38-35, crushing their dreams in the process! With that win, the Cal Bears got one of the better bowl games, the Aloha Bowl in Hawaii, on Christmas Eve- not a bad gig! Before that game though, Cal found thier next head coach, Oregon Ducks defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi, known to be a great recruiter, and proved that by making his first priority was to secure true freshman rising star QB and typo/spelling nightmare name waiting to happen, Jaron-Keawe-Sagapolutele (I only had to correct the typo in first name on edit!) to commit to Cal and NOT enter the transfer portal, like his predecessor, Fernando Mendoza did (more on him below). For JKS, its a return to home to play in the Aloha Bowl, as that is where he is from, and knows several players and coaches on the Hawaii team.A solid sunny day in Honululu,

and the Bears and the Rainbow Warriors traded touchdowns through-out this game, but it was Hawaii that got the last TD on the last play of the game to defeat Cal, 35-31- quite annoying loss for me...and it was done by their backup QB, no less! College Football Notes: Lets see if I can keep this simple: Indiana and their QB, Fernando Mendoza, completed a perfect season, finishing with a hard fought. 13-10 beating of Ohio State in the Big 10 Conference championship, and became the #1 ranked team in college football and in the playoff bracket. A week later, Mendoza won the coveted Heisman trophy, so it's been a great year for Fernando, His team will face off against Alabama in the Rose Bowl.

Below is the bracket as it stands when I published this post!

By now, its down to four teams: Oregon vs Indiana and Ole Miss vs Miami- with the big upset being Miami knocking out the current Champion, Ohio State in that match up.

I COULD talk about the San Jose Sharks hockey team, but I will save that for Vol. 2 of ICYMI! :)

Onto Entertainment! TV And movies! I have a back-log, so I'm going to do some quick hits with this area so this post doesn't become a tome scroll! TV Shows:

PeaceMaker on HBO: Odd superhero story. Latest season was entertaining to watch. Jon Cena really does make the show in the lead role. Recommend for something not as splashy as the MCU!

The Diplomat on Netflix: the 3rd season was very good, but for me, it was just a little bit "off", from previous seasons. Alison Janney is a great edition to the cast, and Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell continue to shine as the most complicated power couple of TV.. Once again, another great twist of an ending, that had me muttering , " you sneaky lil MF's!" Still highly recommend!

Movies!

Mission Impossible" Final Reckoning on Paramount Plus. So very ,very ,VERY long; thanks in no part to the gratuitous overextended action sequences, especially the plane stuff st the end. The acting is good, there are some fun parts (Hayley Atwell!), but I can only recommend this to M:I fans who want to see the conclusion of this franchise, cuz if not an Mission Impossible fan, you will need 3 days to finish this flick. Its not going on my worst list, just toooooooooo......long!

Jurassic Park: ReBirth on Peacock: This was a pleasant surprise! Kinda rebooting the franchise, with Scarlett Johansson in the lead as a bounty hunter of sorts, with Jonathan Bailey and his slutty lil glasses along for the ride. The movie doesn't try to mess with magic formula that makes JP movies great, just adds a little seasoning! The big action scenes take place on water, which was a nice surprise. for the human heart side, we have a family of4 in the wrong place at the wrong time, who also jack up the JP merch sales with a cute baby dino they come across. Highly recommend, as it delivers what one hopes from a JP flick!

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale on Peacock. Our upstairs/downstairs gang have moved into the 1930's and changes are afoot, and adjustments must be made, even if one is not a fan of change. We still get the grandiose views of the estates, the excitement and gossip at the big social events ( a horse race is very pivotol- one of my supporting characters drops her demure persona and LETS IT RIP on the scoundrel of the flick- my fave scene in the movie. Acting and the sets are superb, as as always the soundtrack. Also, gotta sprinkle in a little scandal as well (Oh, Mary!). Suffice to say, I so enjoyed the film, like your favorite blankie on a chilly night! Since there is change, there are goodbyes, so keep those hankies close. Highly recommend.

Lastly (there it is !), I move from the grace and elegance of Downton Abbey, to the filthy public restrooms of a liquor store in Virginia, where one furry critter decided to go on a bender, drank so much, that he passed flat on his back in the store's bathroom. Much could be said here about life choices, so to protect the innocent (ME!) , i'm keeping my mouth shut other than to say: Santa-con!! Animal rescue collected the furry boozecoon ( he had priors!) , and a read somewhere 150K was raised for the shelter! Anyhoo, the raccoon is back in the wild, so lock up your liquor cabinets , Virginians! After the year that was 2025, we can all sorta relate!

That's it for now, Vol 2 next week hopefully!