Linky Links

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

- Jonathan Turley's article on the Adam Rubenstein piece on the NYT that ran in The Atlantic. Was going to post the original Rubenstein piece yesterday but that was behind a paywall.

- Time with a cover article on The New Anti-Semitism.

- Peter King throws Roger Goodell and the NFL under the bus for making up Deflategate against Tom Brady and the Patriots.

- Apple stops investing in an EV car. They should have invested in Tesla when they were first asked.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

This is cool... I think the expectations in Boston have become such that any Bruins season that ends before the anniversary of Bobby Orr flying through the air to beat St Louis in the Stanley Cup (May 5, 1970) is a disappointment. This season is no exception as the Bruins lost to Tampa Bay on May 6th... Interesting anti-aging news out of MIT... Peter King has recently revealed that he offered to resign at SI over his reporting on Deflategate. This is crap and was basically an empty gesture because King knew SI was never going to accept his resignation. If King was really angry or upset over his baseless defamation of the Patriots and Tom Brady he would have revealed the source that fed him such obvious lies. But King did not do that because he's a spineless coward... Another study confirms no impact on groundwater from fracking... Just saying but I really like the Celtics chances against the Cavs and LeBron James... Old digital copiers loaded with secrets...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Think I'm over the Patriots loss on Sunday. I will be avoiding Boston sports talk radio until after the Super Bowl though... Heh heh - best take I've seen on the GOP Iowa debate... Oh and for the Super Bowl - I will be rooting for the Panthers to crush Denver... Vengeance Quakers would be a good name for a band (or for rational Patriots fans rooting for Carolina in the Super Bowl)...  Heh heh... Am I the only one who reads Peter King's columns but hears them in my head in the voice of Fat Bastard from Austin Powers?... The 30 players listed in this article would make very good fantasy baseball targets (many will probably be bargains)... Speaking of fantasy baseball - Schtup With People may be my fantasy team this year... If you've seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens then this is pretty funny... I have always had a problem with the Fleetwood Mac song You Make Loving Fun. as opposed to what? You Make Loving Feel Like Working in a Coal Mine?...WTF?...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Who in Boston could have guessed that going into March the Celtics would be better positioned to make the playoffs than the Bruins? The Celtics were supposed to tank this year to get a high draft pick. The Bruins were supposed to contend for the Stanley Cup... Peter King is a horrible human being...  Keith Olbermann was suspended by ESPN for comments made on Twitter. I'll say it again - after the masterful lampooning of Olbermann on SNL by Ben Affleck - Obermann became a joke to both the Left and the Right... Heh heh - What color is the dress?... "I went to my doctor and told him 'My penis is burning'. He said 'That means someone is talking about it.'" - Gary Shandling... Sad but fitting joke to the situation in Russia today... Who knew? Burt Reynolds was supposedly the first choice to play Han Solo in Star Wars....

Linky Links

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

- Heh heh - Harry Shearer got fooled by fake congressman from non-existent congressional district. I love the fact that there was not just a fake twitter account for the fake congressman but also one for his "Chief of Staff".

- This week would have been Elvis Presley's 80th birthday. Here's the story of when Donald Rumsfeld met the King.

- After seeing this - I'm guessing Peter King won't be getting an interview from either coach in today's 4:30 game.

- Funny - Nick Dipaulo's Mitch Hedberg story

- Heh heh

- Holy crap what a shot!

- Definitely lost some respect for Mark Jackson after reading this

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Alex Rodriguez's actions this season seem like the actions of a man laying the foundation for an insanity plea... Heh heh - the Royal baby introduced to the public... Andy Pettitte just passed Sandy Koufax on the all-time strikeout list but it took Pettitte 912 more innings to do it. Meanwhile Pettitte now has 719 fewer K's than Curt Schilling in basically the same number of innings... George HW Bush shaves his head in support of the son of secret service agent. It should be recalled that George and Barbara lost their first daughter Robin to childhood leukemia. History will be kind to this good man... With NASCAR going to NBC from ESPN - will Brad Daugherty now start doing more college basketball games for the Mothership?... From now on I am going to intriduce myself as a "minor celebrity" - Chris Lynch Minor Celebrity. Who is to argue the point? I may even have cards made up... Peter King did a Reddit AMA (ask me anything). I really hope someone asked him how many NFL coaches have a foot fetish. He'd have to answer at least one...

MMQB Thoughts

Here's 5 things I think I think about today's MMQB column from Peter King.

1. I agree 100% that one of the big winners of Denver's win over Pittsburgh was Josh McDaniels. He picked Tim Tebow and Demaryius Thomas just for day's like last night. That one game has maybe done more for McDaniels' reputation than for anyone else's other than Tim Tebow.
2. The Rams practice facility is in Earth City, MO. I so want to open a bar there and name it Journey to the Center.
3. The Tony Corrente story was very touching. Wishing Mr. Corrente all the best in his fight against cancer.
4. Peter King warns personnel men interested in Alabama's Trent Richardson that runningback diamonds can be found in the rough in later rounds of the draft. This is plain stupid. Of the runningbacks who gained over 1,000 yards this season - 8 out of 15 were 1st round picks. King's point is the equivalent of saying why waste the first pick on Andrew Luck when a guy like Tom Brady went in the 7th round.
5. Peter wasn't happy with Ben Roethlisberger's decision to play in the last couple of regular season games. What - was Big Ben's coach supposed to tell him "No, you can't play"? To Ben "no" means "yes" - everyone knows that.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Trent Green fills in for Peter King on Monday Morning Quarterback and does a much better job than Peter. If only we could make the switch permanent... The Go-Go's had a hit with 1981's Our Lips are Sealed. For the longest time I thought they were singing "Honored to see you". Just heard the song and was reminded of that tidbit... One bone to pick with Trent Green though - he says that Jay Cutler has a chance to pass for more then 4,000 yards this season but doesn't mention Kyle Orton. I think Orton will pass for more yards this year than Cutler. When the NFL prop bets are up - I'll even put money on it... It's tough to feel bad for a millionaire but I do feel kinda bad for Xavier Nady. He is basically out for this year while he gets Tommy John surgery and is probably out for next year too. No team will take a chance on him since he's a Type A free agent and would cost any team taking a flyer on him a first round draft pick. The way things are going though - I wouldn't be surprised if Nady qualified for stimulus money...

NFL Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous NFL thoughts and observations.

I think there must be a zombie in the Baltimore Ravens organization. This zombie feasts only on the part of people's brains that allow them to come up with offensive play calling. Brian Billick was supposed to be an offensive genius when he arrived in Baltimore - then the zombie ate that part of his brain. Jim Fassel had so much of his brain eaten that he got fired as offensive coordinator. Rick Neuheisel was an innovative offensively minded college coach but have you seen any evidence of that in his time in Baltimore? I blame the zombie.... I've been reading Peter King a lot this season and with the historic season the Patriots just had you would think King would speak with coach Belichick about the historic season and yet I've not seen any first hand comments to King from Belichick. I guess that's the price you pay for getting on your fat high horse.... Grumpy old men. Can members of the 1972 Dolphins be any more annoying? Do you know the fortune cookie game where you read your fortune cookie and then add the words "under the sheets"? I now see a comment from a member of the 72 Dolphins and add in the words "and get off my lawn."...

Red Sox / Indians ALCS Game 1

The Red Sox spanked the Indians 10-3 last night in the first game of the ALCS. Here are my thoughts and observations from the game.

The game was built up as a potential pitcher's duel between the top two AL Cy Young Award candidates. I had a feeling that CC Sabathia was going to be nervous and that the Red Sox were going to get him into a high pitch count early in the game. The over / under on runs for the game was set at 8 and I had told a friend earlier in the day that the game probably wouldn't be a low scoring affair at all. Looking back I wish I put my money where my mouth was and took the over for last night's game.

Speaking of looking back - I'm guessing there are a number of voters for the Cy Young Award who may be second guessing their vote for Sabathia over Beckett after last night's game. I think Josh Beckett deserves the award but when you look at the numbers - Sabathia is equally deserving. My guess is that Beckett would be OK with things if Sabathia got the award but Beckett got the World Series ring.

As good as Josh Beckett was last night - I think any Red Sox starter would have earned a W with 10 runs to back them up. Those runs don't just happen either. When you have an all-time great combination of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez in the middle of the order reaching base with every turn at bat - the runs aren't accidental.

Seeing how devastating the Ortiz-Manny combo has been so far in the playoffs actually makes me a bit mad. I'm mad at all the writers who make it a pastime every spring and early summer writing about how Manny should be traded and how his antics aren't worth the production he brings to the plate. You'll hear nothing but the sounds of silence regarding Manny from those knights of the keyboards now that the playoffs have rolled around and once again Manny is the best right-handed bat in baseball.

I'm talking about morons like Peter King who makes Manny his personal off-handed comment pinyata. Yeah - keep picking the Vikings to win the Super Bowl, bitching about how your fat ass can't fit in a regular size airline seat and how "the Papelbon bubble has burst" (August 14, 2006). Manny Ramirez is one of the all-time great hitters and next year we will see him passing some significant milestone on the all-time lists as frequently as Peter King writes talking from his ass pronouncements in his Monday Morning Quarterback column.

I know I should be looking at the positives of last night's win but by the same token - I think that those writers who teed off on Manny should be held accountable and now is as good a time as any. This - of course - won't happen because other writers just let those things slide, pretend those words were never written and then they scratch their head and wonder why Manny doesn't speak with the media.

As far as the series going forward is concerned - I'd look for more of a low scoring pitcher's duel tonight with Curt Schilling the veteran who has been there before and Fausto Carmona the young gun who seems hard to phase pitching tonight. It looks bad overall for the Indians though because CC Sabathia does not seem to hold any mystery for the Red Sox batters and that was the horse the Indians really needed to ride to victory.

Five Things I Think I Think About Today's MMQB

Here are five things I think I think about today's Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback column.

1. Peter King touts Bodog.com for their Super Bowl odds but I guaranty you at some point in the next six months he will rail against the evils of sports betting.King won't even notice the hypocrisy.

2. I have to agree with King in that if Michael Vick is found to be in any way involved in the dog fighting ring that was taking place on his property - then he should face a serious suspension. I'd even say a year suspension would be fitting punishment. Not only is the practice barbarous but the people involved in the "sport" are the very people that Vick with his track record should be avoiding like the plague.

3. Sanctimonious people who live in fantasy lands get my goat. Take this quote from King:

Maybe it's me, but I'd think the troopers in my adopted state would not inch one mph over the speed limit with the governor aboard, unless there's some sort of emergency.

Do you remember the Georgia Tech students who basically shut down the Atlanta highways by simply going three-abreast in cars doing the speed limit? Have you ever seen the traffic back up behind a single state trooper doing the speed limit with everyone afraid to pass him? King must drive like an old lady and him thinking that the state troopers in his home state obey every law is like me thinking that I'm actually seven feet tall and a projected first round pick in the upcoming NBA draft.

4. I think him stating with such certainty that Marshawn Lynch will be the Offensive Rookie of the Year makes me wish there was a place I could go to bet against that happening. When is the last time any one of King's predictions have come true? This was the same guy who picked the Vikings for the Super Bowl a couple of years ago.

5. Again - what is the color of the sky in your world?

I want to say this with all due respect, because I'm an animal lover. But I wish there would be as much hand-wringing over the 3,376 American fatalities in Iraq than there is over the death of Barbaro.

The suggestion that more attention has been paid to the injury of Barbaro than to the war in Iraq and the US casualties is just plain moronic (which I guess is par for the course for King whenever he writes about anything non-NFL related).

Peter King - Always Unintentionally Funny

I was amused by this bit from Peter King's MMQB column today:

I know Eric Wright is the most seductive player in this draft. Wright is a corner from UNLV. He transferred from USC after being accused of rape (the charges were later dropped) and having 136 tabs of Ecstasy found in his on-campus dorm room. He played but 22 college games, starting 10. But then he went to the Combine, ran a 4.36 40-yard dash, and scouts started studying his six UNLV starts from 2006 like crazy. Interesting case.

Emphasis added. Only King could cluelessly describe an accused rapist as "seductive" and be blissfully unaware of the inappropriateness of it.

I would not be surprised to see the word "seductive" changed to something else by the editors at SI later in the day.