Linky Links

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

- America at almost 250 - it still works (and works great!).

- He's not wrong. And the CBO uses the old tax rate and doesn't account for any revenue from tariffs.

- From the archives: The 4-7-8 breathe exercise.

- Cowboys and Texans each contribute $500,000 towards flood relief in Texas.

NFL Sunday - Week One

JJ Watt has now raised over $31 million for disaster and flood relief for the City of Houston and other surrounding affected areas. $31 million! How can you not be rooting for him and the Houston Texans as they take on the Jaguars today? I'm not going to bet on the Texans because I don't want worrying about covering the 5 points soil my rooting experience.

Speaking of the $31 million Watt has raised (and he's not done yet) for Hurricane Harvey relief - compare that to the roughly $50 million raised during the celebrity telethon for Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Some of the biggest Hollywood names and musical stars were able to raise a combined $50 million while JJ Watt by himself has raised $31 million and counting. Incredible!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Kayne West's comment during that celebrity telethon that "George Bush doesn't care about black people" and the media's letting that slide without any sort of condemnation is one of the reasons we have Trump as President today. If in the media's mind everyone's a racist then eventually in the public's mind nobody is.

Today I like Atlanta giving 6.5 vs the Bears. Yes I know the game is in Chicago and on grass but Mike Glennon is starting at QB for the Bears.

I also like Pittsburgh giving 9 vs the Browns. Yes that's a lot of points but the Steelers are motivated by a lot of things (the rivalry, the Browns starting a rookie QB and Joe Hayden getting cut by the Browns and signing with Pittsburgh). Another factor is New England's loss is also a wake-up call to Pittsburgh not to be complacent. That's a message I'm sure Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has made loud and clear. The only thing that bothers me is everyone seems to be picking the Steelers today.

Speaking of the Pats - yes the loss was a tremendous let-down and yes the team looked flat and unprepared. And yes I wasn't a fan of Mark Wahlberg pre-game presentation. But even more disgusting is the sports talk radio that the loss was sure to generate. Like puss to an uncleaned wound.

The Pats will be fine and I'll be sure to avoid the puss that calls itself Boston sports talk radio.

Top 5 NFL Predictions

Here are my Top 5 NFL Predictions for this season.

1. The New England Patriots will make Super Bowl 50 as the AFC Champions. No idea who they will face but the Pats are almost a lock to be in the game (assuming Tom Brady remains healthy).

2. Darrelle Revis will not make either first team NFL All Pro or second team All Pro. If he makes it on the Pro Bowl team it will because of his past performance. Revis was beat often in the playoffs last season (Steve Smith Sr. abused him) something not lost on the Patriots or more important on the rest of the NFL (except the Jets).

3. Both Rob Gronkowski and Scott Chandler of the Patriots will finish in the Top 10 for TD's by tight ends in the NFL.

4. Within 2 months either NFL front office honchos Mike Kensil or Jeff Pash (or both) will be fired or forced to resign for the bungling DeflateGate fiasco.

5. The Houston Texans will not only make the playoffs - running back Arian Foster will finish in the Top 5 in the NFL in rushing yards.

Bill O'Brien

Bill O'Brien is leaving Penn State to take the job as head coach of the Houston Texans. If you've been following the story - you've probably already read this excellent piece by David Jones.

As an outsider - I rooted for Bill O'Brien and his Penn State teams. I like O'Brien because he was from the Patriots but also because he just seems like a good man. Without O'Brien - I probably never would have rooted for Penn State - just the opposite. I would be wishing for them to lose every game because what they allowed Jerry Sandusky to do. And by "they" I mean both the University administration and Joe Paterno.

Penn State was Child Rape University before Bill O'Brien stepped in. His two years there haven't erased those painful memories but they have allowed the focus to come off of the innocent football players who were stuck in a very bad situation. A situation coach O'Brien gracefully helped them through.

The "Paterno people" make me sick. They make me think of this photo of a school in Northfield, MA burning while the football game continues. The "Paterno people" are so obtuse that they don't realize that without Bill O'Brien their chants of "We-are-Penn-State!" would be mocked everywhere with responding chants of "We-allow-child-rape!"

I'm done rooting for Penn State.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The Cortland Finnegan vs Andre Johnson "fight" reminded me very much of Robert Parish's takedown of Bill Laimbeer back in the 80's. Parish had enough of Laimbeer's cheap play and just hammered him down. If I recall correctly Parish was fined $1,500 for his actions and had lots of players across the league volunteer to pay the fine. I'm guessing that Johnson will likewise have such volunteers... 5 Geniuses Who Renounced Their Work... Osmium is a member of the platinum family and is the densest element. The second densest element is sports talk radio discussions regarding Derek Jeter signing with the Red Sox... Who knew? Great Britain was once the world champion at ice hockey. They won the Gold Medal at the 1936 Winter Olympics... I'm not a big Sarah Palin fan but what I find amusing is that many of the anti-Palin people are the very same ones who supported John Edwards...