Jordan Love and Mike Greenwell

The Green Bay 10-7 loss at Lambeau to the Eagles on Monday Night has brought out a lot of criticism on both Packers QB Jordan Love and coach Matt LaFleur. Think the criticism of LaFleur is mostly venting. He's been widely compared to the 49ers Kyle Shanahan and Rams coach Sean McVay (LaFleur even has a better winning percentage than those two "geniuses"). To the venters LaFleur should be on the hot seat though.

The case of Jordan Love is more complicated. He suffers from the fact that he does not appear to be a young Aaron Rodgers or Brett Favre (his two predecessors with the Packers). Such expectations are unfair - but they are real.

The situation reminds me of the situation Mike Greenwell found himself in with the Red Sox. Greenwell took over LF from Hall of Famer and the most feared hitter in the AL - Jim Rice who took over patrolling the Green Monster from legend and no-doubt Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski. Greenwell was an excellent hitter but just wasn't either Rice or Yaz.

Perhaps Love is suffering likewise because he's not Rodgers or Favre? Maybe that's too much to expect? Or just maybe Green Bay needs their version of Manny Ramirez.

Some Memes You May Enjoy

Many a truth is said in jest.

- Heh Heh

- Good question

- Hmmmm

- Some LOTR humor

Linky Links

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

- Interesting potential wrinkle to the Aaron Rodgers saga in Green Bay

- Very Cool

- Marc Andreessen: Technology Saves the World

- Personally I think the fear of the "Great Resignation" may be a tad overblown

- Matt Taibbi: Ivermectin - Can a Drug be "Right-Wing"?

- Strange times we live in

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

In the very near future many if not most questions by journalists will be responded to by either "I reject the premise" or "How dare you ask such a question!" These will basically replace "no comment" as the go to response... Here's an example of how the media will be dealt with going forward. Like hostile witnesses in a courtroom... In California I can see Caitlyn Jenner being the sacrificial lamb that asks all the right questions and elevates certain issues only to take all the slings and arrows. Another candidate, like a Richard Grenell, will be the beneficiary of her sacrifice.... Remember all we ask is two weeks to flatten the curve. Have we ever determined who was responsible for this monstrous lie?... So when do we see the stories that Aaron Rodgers has put his home in Green Bay up for sale? You know that story is coming...  

Linky Links

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

- Who was the greatest tactical military general in history? This report says Napoleon but the report also did not include Genghis Khan. 

- Heh heh - pretty cool

- 10,000-year old woolly mammoth skeleton sells for $645,000

- Awww - I want to visit with the quokkas

-Heh heh - awesome!

- Shane Parrish's 2017 reading list. Lots of great books on this list.

- Wrong on so many levels

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

If Martin Luther King Jr were alive today he be 88-years old and probably a past 1 or 2 term President... Cool "let it ride" story. At this point he has to see it out till the end... Extra Cheese would be an awful nickname to give a girl. Even if she is from Vermont or Wisconsin... Heh heh - speaking of Aaron Rodgers... On that commercial featuring the deaf football team - how do the deaf players hear the referee's whistle?... The comments on the Ginger C*nt's tweet are fantastic... Why Trump won - it is more likely for a DC based or NY Times journalist to personally know a person who has won a NEA grant than a person who owns a pickup truck... The beaded lacewing is my spirit animal... There should be a word for a person who is often alone but never lonely...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

My heartfelt condolences to anyone who bet on the Detroit Lions last night. That was the ultimate bad beat... This has been my favorite joke to tell the past 6 months... It has to be asked - is Abe Vigoda an immortal?... In New England the Patriots have become so big that kids don't write letters to Santa any more. They write letters to Teddy Bruschi... BTW - that wasn't a facemask last night. Never should have been a flag... Interesting - is intermittent fasting good for you?... Is the answer oral sex? If not I don't want to know the question... Heh heh... You have to think that there were a lot of  Packer fans and people who bet on Green Bay who turned off the game when it was 17-0 last night. What a nice surprise for those folks to wake up to this morning...

New England Patriots

I went to the game on Sunday night and it was awesome! And speaking of awesome the 45-7 victory now means the Patriots are an amazing 88-0 at home since 2001 when they hold an 8-point or greater lead at any point during the game.

It's hard not to think about that stat without comparing it to what happened to Green Bay on Sunday. I know the Packers were the road team but can you picture this year's Pats team or any Bill Belichick team losing a 16-point lead? Tough to picture that - isn't it? That's because Belichick keeps his foot on the gas pedal when he's winning. That 88-0 mark is proof. Some people complain that he runs up the score but Seattle showed why you have to keep trying to pour it on.

If Bill Belichick was coaching Green Bay on Sunday the Packers would be going to the Super Bowl. No doubt in my mind about that. No doubt.

The NFL Middle

Tonight's first game of the 2014 NFL season is an excellent match-up. The Super Bowl Champs Seahawks at home vs MVP candidate Aaron Rogers and the Green Bay Packers. If you were going to bet the game - who to choose? Green Bay is getting 5.5 points and the over / under is 46.5 points. The game could go either way - making this a perfect type game to play "the middle".

If you make the following 4 bets - you would create a big ole middle ground where I think there's a sweet spot for tonight's game:

6-point Tease - Seattle plus under
6-point Tease - Seattle plus over
6-point Tease - Packers plus under
6-point Tease - Packers plus over.

If you bet $100 on each - the most you could win would be $400 but the most you could lose is $200 (at least one of the bets has to come in). The benefit is you are creating a middle where as long as Seattle wins but not by more than 12 points and the total score is between 40.5 points to 52.5 points - you win! Even if Green Bay wins the game but the score remains between 40.5 and 52.5 for the total - you don't lose any money!

Was there a Bounty on Jim McMahon?

The whole bounty issue in the NFL has me wondering if Charles Martin of the Packers was paid a bounty for knocking Jim McMahon out of the game in 1986. This hit basically ruined Jim McMahon's career as he was never the same again. Notice the high-fives Martin is getting on the sidelines. Somebody should ask Martin about this. I'm guessing that enough time has passed that he'd tell the truth.

Linky Links

Some stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- How Randy Moss almost became a Packer (twice) and how that may have caused Favre's departure.

- Where Are They Now?: The 1989 WSOP Main Event Final Table

- Wow! How can you read about this and not think the idea of Spiderman is credible. Giant spider webs with 10-times stronger than Kevlar threads. Spider senses tingling.

- Heh heh - this jersey is funny than the Ron Mexico one.

- Excellent Vin Scully interview.

- How 13 American Cities Got Their Names

Proof that Brett Favre has Always Been about Brett Favre

Brett Favre and Barry Larkin

There has been lots of whoo-hah about Brett Farvre possibly coming out of retirement. My first reaction about such talk is "Jeez - enough already!" However, then I think about Barry Larkin and I think "Maybe Green Bay should welcome Brett back as the starting QB."

Barry Larkin retired after the 2004 season. That year Larkin was more than adequate - in fact he was an All-Star that season. However, many think that Larkin was partially forced out by the Reds in order to make way for the shortstop of the future - Felipe Lopez.

It is true that Felipe Lopez was an All-Star in 2005 but by the end of 2006 - he had been shipped out of town. In the end the Reds got flotsam and jetsam for Felipe Lopez but they also took his side and possibly damaged their relationship with a potential Hall of Fame player and hometown hero.

Is the comparison valid? While Barry Larkin was an MVP who led his team to a World Championship - he's not at the level of a Brett Favre who is an all-time great in his sport. In my mind, however, that makes it even more important for the Green Bay Packers not to miss out on another season of Brett Favre in favor of the quarterback equivalent of Felipe Lopez - Aaron Rodgers.

If Brett Favre wants back - the Packers should welcome him back with open arms.

Championship Sunday

That's why Philip Rivers is Philip Rivers. - Doherty head football coach Sean Mulchahy.

That's why Tom Brady is Tom Brady. - Internet legend Chris Lynch

There are who we thought they were. - Beer spokesperson Denny Green

I don't think a team winning a spot at the Super Bowl was ever less climatic then the Patriots yesterday. It's kind of sad but it was just expected. I'm sure even jaded New Yorkers went more nuts after the Giants victory than Patriots fans did yesterday.

Just a couple of observations from yesterday's game.

Screw Bill Cowher. In his pregame spot he took the Patriots to task for overlooking the Chargers. His evidence was that Randy Moss had moved his court date in Florida till after the Super Bowl. Cowher took this as evidence that Moss and the Patriots just assume they will be in the Super Bowl. This is the same Bill Cowher who made team reservations in New Orleans for the Super Bowl the week the Steelers were playing the Patriots in the AFC Championship. How did that work out for you coach jawbone? Now he's trying to paint the Patriots with the same brush.

I have to wonder if Tom Brady was sick yesterday. If you saw him on the bench - he always seemed to have his head down as if he wasn't feeling very well.

Has anyone heard from Tiki Barber lately? Who would have thought that Tom Coughlin would last longer as head coach of the Giants than Tiki Barber would last as a TV "personality." Oh I know Barber is still on the air but for how much longer?

I think everyone in the world who bets teased the Patriots with the Packers yesterday. I wonder how many people were astute enough once the Patriots end of the tease came in to take the Giants to try and "middle" the bet? I did. I needed the Packers to win with a field goal for a big payoff but since I took insurance by taking the Giants - I pretty much finished even for the day.

A friend of mine met Pam Oliver once and he told me that you wouldn't believe how big her ass is. Well - after seeing this I wouldn't say it was gigantic but it ain't small.

Packers vs Cowboys and One of the Biggest Political Issues of the 2008 Election

Tonight the Packers will play the Cowboys in one of the biggest games of the year in the NFL but it won't have close to the TV audience you would expect for a game of this magnitude. That is because the game will be on the NFL Network and not many cable operating companies offer the NFL Network to their customer bases. The dispute between the cable companies and the NFL basically comes down to the NFL wanting their network to be part of the basic cable package while the cable companies insisting that the NFL Network be a "pay" channel or part of a premium sports package.

I want to watch this game tonight but I cannot because my cable company does not offer the NFL Network. I am not alone. I want to watch this game and would love to have the NFL Network as a choice among my cable channels. I am not alone. I have four shopping channels, three Spanish language channels, and dozens of other channels that I do not want but am forced to subsidize as part of my basic cable TV package. I am not alone. I am not happy about this situation and once again I am not alone.

In fact I bet if you asked anyone whether they would prefer to pay only for the cable TV channels they want to watch and not be forced to subsidize packages of channels that could not survive on their own - better than 90% of people would opt for the "ala carte" version of picking individual channels. That better than 90% would be across political party lines - both Democrats, Republicans and Independents. This is an issue that everyone could agree on but politicians are not jumping on because (I guess) they do not want to alienate the cable TV special interest groups (and the money they donate to campaigns).

If you can order a movie on demand and have VCR-type controls (pause, rewind, fast forward) while watching that movie - then your cable company has the technology already in place to offer ala carte cable choice. To me this is such a no-brainer political issue that I am amazed that no major candidate has taken up the banner to lead the charge for cable choice. It would be an immensely popular position.