Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- VDH: Universities have a 2025 rendezvous with reality.  

- Andrew Luck to be Stanford football's new GM.

- The greatest media psy-op in history? Hard to argue he's wrong either.

- Javier Milei's privatization of Argentina. 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

So there was a COVID outbreak on Martha's Vineyard with about 63 people testing positive just after Obama's maskless birthday bash but very little has been made of that fact in the media. Remember last year when 500,000 maskless people gathered in Sturgis for Bike Week and the media had an orgy calling it a super spreader event even though there were just 70 positive COVID cases in the aftermath? Gross hypocrisy anyone?... The Golf Channel is an older man's porn for many (except with less shame)...  The withdrawal from Afghanistan literally happened over Donald Rumsfeld's dead body. Meanwhile Dick Cheney had lots to say about Trump being mean to his daughter but oddly quiet over Joe Biden's FUBAR handling of Afghanistan. Cheney is a pimp... Petrified Lizards would be a good name for a band... It will be interesting to see how much, if any, campaigning President Biden does for candidates in the 2022 elections. My guess is very, very little. Candidates will probably tell VP Harris point blank to stay away... Andrew Luck retired just before the 2019 NFL season and we haven't heard anything from him since. My guess is that he's happy in retirement... 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

How come Taylor Swift hasn't commented on Andrew Luck retiring? What is she trying to hide?... Heh Heh... Speaking of Andrew Luck - pretty sure he could shave his beard and put on a pair of glasses and become 100% anonymous in almost any city in America... Heh Heh... "Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our responsibility for the future." - John F. Kennedy... TV show idea - take off on Cash Cab but contestants get into van with Snoop Dogg in back and after 10 minutes of being hotboxed they win money if they can answer questions - including what their original destination was...  Had my first Pumpkin Spice beer of the year this week. Almost made it to September...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

President Trump saying I hereby order US companies to look into moving their operations out of China is like me hereby ordering the New England Patriots to win the AFC East. Those outcomes were happening anyway but the difference is I won't get to take credit for the Patriots success... Heh Heh... Was shocked but not surprised at the news Andrew Luck is retiring. His body has taken a lot of punishment and he's earned enough money to have the luxury of not needing to do it any more. To me Luck deciding to retire at 29 is not much different from Rob Gronkowski deciding to save his body and retire at age 30... Carnal Acquaintances would be a good name for a band or a fantasy football team name... Note to self: from now on only bet on the ponies if I'm at the racetrack and only bet on golf if I'm the one swinging the sticks... Heh Heh... The news of Luck retiring should make Patriots fans extra grateful for having Dante Scarnecchia coaching the O-line and protecting Tom Brady so successfully over the years. The one year Scar "retired" is the year Brady took the worst beating of his career. Coach Scar should be in the Hall of Fame...

Russell Wilson and the NFL's Top Paid Players

Now that Russell Wilson has signed a new contract with the Seahawks - Albert Breer tweeted out a list of the last 8 highest paid players in the NFL (including Wilson). All 8 players were QB's which was not surprising. Also not surprising  is the lack of winning their teams have done after the contract was signed.

Andrew Luck signed in June of 2016 for an average of $24.6 million per year. He then missed all of 2017 and last year "led" the Colts to a 10-6 record.

Derek Carr signed in June of 2017 for an average of $25 million per year. Since then he's "led" the Raiders to a 10-21 record.

Matthew Stafford signed in September of 2017 for $27.5 million per year. Since then he's "led" the Lions to a 15-17 record.

Jimmy Garoppolo signed in February of 2018 for $27.5 million per year. Since then he's "led" the 49ers to a 1-2 record before getting a season ending injury.

Kirk Cousins signed in March of 2018 for $28 million per year. Last year he "led" his team to a 8-7-1 record on a team some had pegged to go to the Super Bowl. Instead the Vikings missed the playoffs.

Matt Ryan signed in May of 2018 for $30 per year.  Last year he "led" his team to a 7-9 record and the Falcons too missed the playoffs.

Aaron Rodgers signed in August of 2018 for $33.5 million per year. Last year he "led" his team to a 6-9-1 record and the Packers also missed the playoffs.

Now Russell Wilson has signed a contract that will pay him $35 million per year. The previous 7 QB's that held the title (however briefly) as the highest payed player in the NFL have gone a combined 57-71-2 a less than 45% winning percentage. Only Andrew Luck was able to even lead his team to the playoffs after signing the mega-deal. Vegas has Seattle's over/under at 8.5 wins next season which doesn't exactly scream playoffs.

Meanwhile Tom Brady never ends up on one of these highest paid lists yet the Patriots have been to three straight Super Bowls and Vegas has New England's over/under at 11.5 wins next season.

Just saying.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Wow - Ty Cobb could be the most misunderstood athlete of all-time. Really changed my mind on the man.

- Chart to help determine risk of bear attack.

- How funny would it be if the Laugh Factory asked the ACLU to file a First Amendment complaint against the Clinton Campaign? Just another reason to vote against Hillary.

- Could blueberry powder help with memory?

- Heh heh

- Really enjoyed this Bill Simmons interview with billionaire investor Chris Sacca

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

If Milan Lucic was still with the Bruins - his 23 points would put him 6th on the team in scoring... Heh heh... Beats at the Heart of Chaos would be a good name for a band or for a retro Beatnik coffee bar... At some point I'm going to type "Norwegian Beaver Cheese" into the search box on PornHub and RedTube just to see what videos come up... In the future the word "distaff" will be replaced by the word "nodick" because people in the future will be stupid... Two months later and the NFL still doesn't have anything to report on the Andrew Luck injury "report"... I'm going to have business cards printed up that say "Chris Lynch - Public Intellectual" because why not?... If I were President - I would pardon Bill Cosby if he he agreed to kill that super annoying Dr Pepper vendor guy from all the bowl game commercials... How you all probably feel about me for typing that last bit about Bill Cosby... I might be in the minority on this but I feel that women who get their periods during the December holiday season should be made to wear Krampus masks...

Should We Trust the Colts?

First there was Jay Glazer saying that Colts QB Andrew Luck was playing with broken ribs but was not being listed on the team's injury report. Now the Indy QB will be out 2-6 weeks with a lacerated kidney. That's a similar injury that has put Chargers WR Keenan Allen out for the season. Why should we trust the Colts' report on this?

Could the Colts be saying 2-6 weeks for Luck because they don't want to adversely affect ticket sales for the last two home games of the year against the Texans and Titans? Neither of those teams is a real draw and would be even less so if the Colts were to be playing without their franchise QB. The Colts do have a motive to lie.

What if Indianapolis knows Luck is done for the season but is misleading the public again? Will the NFL punish them for this fraud? Will they punish them for treating the injury report as a joke? Does the NFL and Roger Goodell have any integrity at all?

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- Airship Ventures grounded by lack of funding. It is my dream to some day own a lighter than air airship. Some day.

- Tom Brady vs Andew Luck - through the eyes of their fathers. Jackie MacMullan is always a great read.

- If you've ever posted anything online then this was awesome.

- The wit here was so dry - possibly my favorite Wikipedia entry ever.

- Unintentionally Consequential. A new economics blog by Lee Bailiff. Good stuff!

A Very Nice Story

Good for Andrew Luck and the Colts. This was a very nice story.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I find it amusing that many of the same people who are criticizing Andrew Luck for returning to Stanford for his senior year are the same people who will rip Terrelle Pryor when he changes his mind about returning to Ohio State... Caution? More like WTF?... From 1000 BC to 1830 AD there were about 100 generations of people and yet no significant changes in transportation. That makes what has been accomplished since simply mind blowing. Having said that - I'm still not happy that we don't have flying cars and jet packs... Very Cool Bill Murray story... With Matt Hasselbeck starting for the Seahawks on Saturday - that means Boston College is the only major college football program with two starting QBs in the NFL playoffs (Hasselbeck and Matt Ryan for Atlanta)... Rafael Palmeiro made over $89 million in career. Explain to me again why I should feel bad that he only got 11% on the Hall of Fame ballot... This is why I never leave my all my money or chips at the table if I have to step away for a minute at a casino. The idea that the casino will be responsible for your money if you step away from a table is a myth...