More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Understanding the "wealthy working class."

- Jonathan Turley on Sergeant Jay and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The more people who learn of his dedication the better.

- Victor Davis Hanson - the decline and fall of of so-called degreed experts.

- Randy Moss will return full time to ESPN's NFL Sunday Countdown. Great news!

Antonio Brown

I'll be honest - I didn't want New England to sign Antonio Brown. I was in agreement with Tom E. Curran that "the Patriots should run like hell away from Antonio Brown."

And, again to be honest, I thought this was both funny and probably true.

But then the Patriots signed Brown. Now I have to concede that my opinion doesn't count for much and that in Bill We Trust.

Antonio Brown and his agent are, of course, saying all the right things. He's going to be accountable, do things the right way, the Patriot way, yada yada yada. But the proof of that will be on the field. And in the locker room.

Everyone seems to want to make the Randy Moss comparison to the Brown signing. But the voice in the back of my head keeps reminding me that Randy Moss did not win a ring with the Pats. Granted that was through no fault of Moss who was a great player for New England. I'm then conversely reminded by that little voice that past Patriots personnel gambles Corey Dillion, LeGarrette Blount and Darrelle Revis all did win Super Bowls. 

One under-reported aspect to this whole scenario could be the potential impact Patriots great Troy Brown could have here. Troy's been helping with the coaching this season and what a perfect project Antonio could be for "Coach" Brown in helping Antonio become acclimated to the New England playbook and way of doing things.

As a side note - if this does work out for the Pats then it could make Tom Brady a favorite to win the MVP. Brady was a 20-1 shot before the trade (and yes I did put some money down on that).

Go Pats! (I have my fingers crossed that this doesn't blow up on them.)

Linky Links

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

- YouTube now has globally 2 billion monthly users, who watch 250 million hours of content daily.

- This is some football royalty - what a great picture

- The Munger operating system: how to live a life that really works. Great life advice.

- Couple of years old but always makes me chuckle.

- Excellent points - the errors I don't see. (Via A Layman's Blog)

- Steven Pressfield - write what you DON'T know

- Heh Heh

Top 5 - New England Patriots Trades

Recently Mike Reiss ranked the top trades in New England Patriots history. I've been thinking about his ranking off and on ever since reading the article. Let me first say that I think Reiss is top shelf and I think he did a fine job with his ranking but here's my Top 5 ranking.

1. Trading 2007 1st round pick (28th overall) to 49ers for 2008 1st round pick (which Patriots used to draft LB Jerod Mayo) and a 4th round pick (which Pats later traded to get Randy Moss). 49ers used Patriots 2007 pick to draft tackle Joe Staley.

2. Trading 4th round pick to Raiders in exchange for Randy Moss. Reiss doesn't treat this as a separate transaction but it was. In fact you could easily make this the top trade in Patriots history and I wouldn't argue.

3. Trading 2004 2nd round pick to Cincinnati for Corey Dillion. I rank Dillion's acquisition higher than acquiring Wes Welker for two reasons - Corey Dillion was a major part of a Super Bowl winning team and Dillion also proved a player with baggage elsewhere could play in New England in part paving the way for Randy Moss.

4. Acquiring Wes Welker from the Dolphins for a 2nd and 7th round picks.

5. Getting Aqib Talib and a 7th round pick from Tampa for a 4th round pick. Reiss has this transaction lower on his list than swapping picks with Baltimore which led to the Pats getting Vince Wilfork and the trade that brought in Ted Washington. I think the Talib trade was more of a steal than those deals or maybe Reiss just has a thing for huge nose tackles.

A trade that Reiss doesn't mention and which I'm not sure would be top 10 anyway was trading Randy Moss to the Vikings for a 3rd round pick which the team used to draft backup QB Ryan Mallet in the 2011 draft. Everything about Randy Moss in New England was a steal for the team.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Little known fact but by tradition at the after Royal Wedding reception whoever catches the new princesses garter becomes the ambassador to Sweden... I think most Patriot fans were braced for Bill Belichick to trade the pick that ended up being Ryan Mallett to a team that needed a QB but ended up being very happy when the Pats actually took the QB for their own. That happiness was compounded with the realization that the move basically came down to trading a pretty much washed up Randy Moss for Ryan Mallett (the Pats used the pick they got from the Vikings to pick Mallett)... Wow - this is a pretty cool move - Bose Founder Gives Majority of Company to MIT... If the Reds Mike Leake was a normal guy I could see doing the diversion program which will get his record wiped clean as 1st time offender. However, given the fact that I'm doubting that he'd be this stupid again and that nobody is going to forget he stole that T-shirts - the program probably isn't worth the time... In my opinion Roy Firestone getting Rod Tidwell to cry in Jerry Maguire still greater than Suzy Kolber getting Mark Ingram to cry at the end of the first day of the NFL Draft... The only question I have regarding the Royal Wedding is whether Richard Petty invoked his right of prima nocta.

Randy Moss

Here's my take on the Randy Moss situation.

It seems to me that Randy Moss is very much like the spoiled - talented kid who switches from one high school to another in his senior year. The kid was just as talented and spoiled at the first school as at the second but the first school had all his friends from the past three years and it had adults who he respected enough not to completely go off his meds.

The kid had to switch schools and at first he was happy about it. But being insecure he had to build himself up by knocking other people (and catering services) down at this new school. His friends weren't there anymore to tell him to shut up. He starts pouting and saying publicly how much better his other school was and how the adults at the other school were so much better than the adults at his new school. The adults at his new school are just stupid (anyone with kids has heard things called "stupid" by unhappy children). Then the adults at the new school decide to suspend the kid.

Now the kid can't go back to his old school and his new school just kicked him out. Other schools don't have to take him in but some school eventually will because as petulant as the kid is - he is still very talented.

The adults at his first school are silently relieved to have him out of their hair and shake their heads at any school willing to put up with his crap.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Given how dominating Roy Halladay was last night - I have to wonder if people really should be talking about Johnny Vander Meer and back-to-back no-hitters instead of Don Larsen's World Series perfect game... Report: Moss dissed Belichick on plane back from Miami... I'm not even a Donovan McNabb fan but I wonder what will go down as the bigger NFL mistake - the Eagles picking Kevin Kolb over Donovan McNabb or the Browns drafting Tim Couch over Donovan McNabb?... The movie St Elmo's Fire was based on Tip O'Neil's autobiography - they just changed congressmen into Georgetown college students... Tiger Would Beer, the beer for philanderers... Happy 25th birthday to Tampa Bay Rays' Evan Longoria... Did you know that Dick Vermeil was the first ever Special Teams Coach in NFL history? He became that in 1969 for the Los Angeles Rams. Vermeil has been retired for 5 years now - I hope he makes the Football Hall of Fame. I think it is an honor he deserves... I loved Speed Racer as a kid - I'd really like to own one of these... In the first 10 minutes of the Burn Notice pilot Michael Westen kills 2 guys off-screen. I don't think he killed 2 more people in the next 2 seasons... The Red Sox match up with all of the teams in playoffs really well. Of all the words of tongue and pen - the saddest are it could have been...

Flotsam and Jetsam - Randy Moss Edition

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Surprised that Bill Simmons isn't getting any credit or at least being discussed for his role in opening floodgates in the Randy Moss story. It was his Twitter private message that he accidentally posted that made this story public... Phrase of the day: drinking with Godot adj. drinking while waiting for friends who may or may not arrive... Randy Moss could play 17 games this year if he is traded to the Vikings. Last week Minnesota had their bye week and still has 13 games to play. Moss has already played 4 games for the Patriots this season. Does he get an extra game check?... People think guys like Andy Kaufman and Jim Morrison faked own deaths but wouldn't it be funny if the guy who really faked his death was Ted Knight?... 11 High School Dropouts Who Found Success Anyway... For the record I'm not sure how I feel about the possible trade of Randy Moss. On one hand you can't replace a talent like Moss. I like Brandon Tate and all but he's not Randy Moss. On the other hand I think Tom Brady had been pressing at some times this season to get the ball to Randy. I think that's one of the things that bogged down the Patriots in the second half of the Jets loss. I guess it comes down to trusting Bill Belichick... The things you learn on the Internet: In the mid-1950s, Kurt Vonnegut ran a Saab dealership in West Barnstable, Massachusetts... Quote of the day: "If you want something done right, do it yourself. That’s all fine and dandy, but it doesn’t really work for fellatio" John McGuirk... Wouldn't it be funny if the Randy Moss trade turns out to be nothing but an overblown rumor? I know at this point it looks like a real deal but wouldn't it be funny if it was just something Bill Simmons made up?

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

Internet Trivia

Interesting bits of trivia I've learned from surfing the Internet.

- In the wilderness dusk with crickets chirping in harmony? Count their chirps in 15 seconds. Then add 40. That will give you the air temp in degrees Fahrenheit.

- Combined the 27 countries that make up the European Union still would cover only half of the USA

- In 1946, convenience store chain Tote'm changed its name to 7-Eleven to reflect new, extended hours—7am to 11pm.

- In the 3 yrs since Randy Moss left Oakland, he has 47 Rec TDs. In that same time, the Raiders as a team only have 40 passing TDs

- This was the most interesting factoid of all. It is funny because it is so true.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Mike Leach never played college football. I'm not saying that coaches need to be all former players but I am saying that not knowing what it's like to have a concussion or being dinged up from playing should not be an overlooked aspect of this story. If you're not happy with a player's effort - send him off the field. You don't lock him in a closet... Former Red Sox minor leaguer Jeff Bailey signed with Diamondbacks. Bailey is 31 but was the 2008 International League Player of the Year. Don't be surprised if Bailey ends up as the starting 1st baseman this season for the Diamondbacks. Conor Jackson is no lock to regain his starting job after his bout with Valley Fever which cost him 5 months of the season in 2009 and the $4 plus million Jackson will cost the budget minded Diamondbacks may be a consideration... Happy 74th birthday to Sandy Koufax... If you haven't seen the video of Randy Moss and the fan in Foxboro - you should really check this out... Tweet of the day:

@FrankAdman Overheard at lunch " I've got a trophy wife, but she isn't what you'd call first place."

Holy crap - this was a real Super Hero? And his name was Codpiece? Too funny... FWIW Mike Leach also hasn't been real good at producing pro players at Texas Tech. Only Wes Welker and Michael Crabtree come to mind. I'll even give you Danny Amendola but that's not much from a supposed offensive powerhouse... Fantasy baseball players sleeper pick alert - Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies could be a 25 HR / 25 SB guy in 2010. He should be available in later rounds too... Happy 34th birthday to Tiger Woods. And happy 25th birthday to LeBron James. I never noticed that Tiger and LeBron have the same birthday. This must be a very big day up at Nike headquarters...

More Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Tomorrow is National Coffee Day. I know it's a made up holiday made to get you drinking more coffee but I plan to be fully caffeinated anyway... President Obama is going to Denmark to lobby the IOC in support of Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. I wonder if President Obama would be spending the time and the resources if this was for another American city other than Chicago? Just another job that Mitt Romney would have been better qualified for. Dick Pound indeed!... Heh heh - from @Adam_Schefter Best headline about the Lions victory over the Redskins: "Washington Bails out Detroit Again."... When Sean Connery met Michael Caine... The Patriots won yesterday so I am loathe to link to something negative but I do have to say that this column on Randy Moss points out things that people I was watching the game with noticed as well...

Morning Links

Some stuff I found interesting.

- Interview with Mike Lowell who brings up the interesting point that a HGH test that was 99% accurate would still lead to 7 false positives among major league players.

- It really looks like a shake-down attempt on Randy Moss. I hope his attorneys go on the counter-offensive and go after this seemingly slimeball attorney.

- Interesting look at school choice and where it stands in the country. I had not considered how the closing of Catholic schools due to the cash crunch caused by the priest sex scandals had harmed school vouchers before. Long article but very informative.

- Interesting look at the people who set the Vegas lines and their thoughts on the BCS:

“We laugh a little,” White says. “You just have to make a line on Hawaii and Georgia. The whole time you’re thinking, why are these two teams playing?”

Randy Moss

I have to say that my instincts tell me that Randy Moss is telling the truth regarding the allegations of battery his lady "friend" has brought forth. Here is my reasoning in the matter:

1. It is battery and not assault and battery that is being alleged. Based on what I remember from Mr. Paul's Criminal Law class in high school - that tells me that there was no intent in any contact or harm that may have occurred.

2. There are no criminal charges pending - so it wasn't criminal battery. Randy mentioned an "accident" - so my guess is that there was some accidental contact and now his friend is trying to cash in on it.

3. I have heard that his lady "friend" was asking for six-figures in compensation and the timing seems funny. If it was a legitimate injury - I doubt the woman would know the full medical costs she would be faced with since this just happened last week. It sounds to me like she is trying to cash in on Randy Moss as her one shot to hit the lottery. Maybe she thought that Randy would be easy pickings because he'd be anxious to avoid any bad publicity or distraction to the team. If he was guilty - I'm sure that would have been the case. Instead he seems pissed off that a friend of 11 years would try and pull this "extortion" job on him.

There's nobody worse in my eyes than a person who would harm a child or a woman but I'm afraid that I have to believe Randy Moss and give him the benefit of the doubt here based upon what facts have been made public.

EDIT: Here is the restraining order complaint against Moss.

After reading it - I'm still inclined to believe believe Randy. Again - I'm no lawyer so I don't know if the person filing a criminal complaint has more potential liability or burden of proof than filing a restraining order but I have to think that if Randy Moss really hurt this woman and then kept her from getting medical treatment then criminal charges would have been in order. Yet 8 days after the alleged incident no charges have been filed. Instead a restraining order asking to keep Randy Moss 500 feet away is filed. Was the purpose protection or embarrassment? Or maybe extortion?

NFL Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous NFL thoughts and observations.

The Buffalo Bills are a tough team when they play at home. So far this season they are 3-2 at home with both losses coming by a single point in each game. Who could have guessed that half way through the season the Bills would have as many wins as the Chargers and more wins than the Bears or Eagles? Dick Jauron has to get serious consideration for coach of the year if he can somehow manage to get this Bills team to finish at .500 for the season... Every prediction you saw for the Patriots / Colts game had the game being a high scoring shootout. Everybody loved the over in the game. I thought the Colts would try a ball control running attack and with everybody going one way on the over / under I normally go the other. Yet I did not take the under in yesterday's game and today I'm kicking myself... Detroit may just be unbeatable when they play at home. The Lions are now 4-0 at home with the shellacking of the Broncos yesterday.... The Colts may tell themselves that the results would be different if they played the Patriots again with a healthy Marvin Harrison but the truth is the Colts received some very favorable calls from the referees yesterday and were helped by playing at home. If the Colts do play the Patriots again it will be at Foxboro and I'm guessing the margin of victory for the Pats will be more than 4 points... Adrian Peterson is a horse. I think he's a taller Marshall Faulk or a stronger Eric Dickerson. Yesterday Peterson set the single game rushing record with 296 yards but I'd guess that he's going to break that record at least 2 more times in his career... Randy Moss is just incredible. He had another 100-yard receiving game getting 145 yards on 9 catches. I know he could get more money elsewhere at the end of the season but I really hope he re-signs with the Patriots. With Tom Brady reluctant to do any commercials - Randy Moss can become the face of the Patriots and make up whatever salary shortfall he has with commercial opportunities... One final note - do you realize that Tom Brady has as many TD passes (33) as Peyton Manning (14) and Tony Romo (19) combined? That's incredible... Damn! Just one more thought - yesterday the Lions had Jon Kitna play the entire game even though they were up by 37 points in the 4th quarter. The Lions then scored another TD to make it 44-0 with Kitna still in the game. My question is this - where are all the talking heads today complaining about the Lions running up the score? If this was the Patriots it would be the lead story everywhere...

NFL Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous NFL thoughts and observations.

I had a friend at the Patriots game last night and he said everyone went into the stadium with a big chip on their shoulder about the cheating brouhaha. The Patriots certainly played like a team with a chip on their shoulder and the big ovation Bill Belichick got at the end of the game as he walked off the field I think shows how most New England fans think about this whole thing... Once again the Ted Knight Theory of Betting prevails. In the old Mary Tyler Moore Show Ted Baxter flummoxes Lou Grant by knowing nothing about sports but still managing to successful pick NFL games against the spread. Ted's system was to simply choose the teams getting 10 or more points under the rationalization that both teams were professional and how much difference could there be between two professional teams? Well what my friend calls the Ted Knight Theory of Betting would have been 3-4 in picking games yesterday with the only big favorite covering the spread being Pittsburgh... I remember the guys at ESPN joking about making sure you benched all your fantasy players who play for the Browns yesterday morning. 51 points later that "expert" advice sure looks stupid now. I doubt that there's a league anywhere where a guy hasn't made a waiver claim on Brown's QB Derek Anderson last night or this morning after Anderson threw for 328 yards and 5 TD's... Some people will wonder what kind of number Randy Moss could have posted in his career if he always had a QB like Brady to throw to him. I wonder what kind of ungodly numbers Brady would have had if he was able to throw to receivers like Moss his whole career instead of trying to make stars of of hardworking marginally talented players. People would be comparing Montana to Brady and not the other way around...

Randy Moss Myths

A couple of thoughts regarding the Patriots trading for Randy Moss.

Michael Silver makes a point that I've been saying since the trade happened - namely that the idea that Randy Moss volunteered to take a "pay-cut" to play for the Patriots is a myth. From Silver's column:

...Because of owner Al Davis' shaky cash-flow situation (sources say he has been trying to sell a 30-percent share of the team for more than a year) and desire not to undermine new coach Lane Kiffin, Moss almost certainly would've been released by the Raiders had the Patriots not stepped up to make the trade. So much for the argument that Moss was taking a "pay cut" by offering to reduce his salary from the $9.75 million figure he was due to receive in '07; he was never going to see that money, anyway.

As for the rest of Silver's column - Silver tries to disprove "the Patriot Way" idea which I find dishonest on Silver's part. First off - the "Patriot Way" is mostly a figment of the media's imagination who need to label anything they touch. Yes - the Patriots operate a certain way but they have exceptions to rules and they make decisions based upon circumstances not upon some hard and fast set of rules. I also very much dislike how Silver uses an un-named former Patriot player to make his point. Silver also quotes Willie McGinest who is also a former Patriot player but McGinest doesn't support Silver's assertion. Anonymous sources are the bane of modern journalism and who is to say that Silver's expert witness for his case against "the Patriot Way" isn't some punter who was with the Patriots for 10 days. We have no way of knowing but Silver wants us to trust him about his source. I say no thanks to that.

The other myth about Randy Moss that I'd like to discuss is the idea that with Randy Moss the Patriots now have the best set of offensive weapons they ever had. I recall the 1977 Patriot team that had Steve Grogan at QB, Sam "Bam" Cunningham at RB, Russ Francis at TE and Stanley Morgan at WR. Even with the clear advantage of Tom Brady over Steve Grogan - this year's group of weapons isn't as good as the 1977 version. Cunningham was better than Laurence Maroney, Russ Francis was better than Ben Watson and consider the fact that as good as Randy Moss is - the four-time Pro-Bowler Stanley Morgan averaged better than 20 yards per catch for the first six years of his career. The five-time Pro-Bowler Randy Moss has never had a season in which he averaged better than 20-yards per catch (his best was his rookie year when he averaged 19-yards per catch). I still give the edge to Moss but its closer than you think and what Morgan did is a concrete fact whereas what Moss will do is pure conjecture.

This year's Patriot's team will be better than the 1977 version though. That's due to the fact that Bill Belichick is miles above Chuck Fairbanks in coaching ability. You also have to factor in that the rosters are more watered down today than in 1977 (due to the expansion from 28 teams to 32).

Randy Moss

So the New England Patriots acquired talented receiver Randy Moss for just a 4th round draft pick. With Moss in the fold - the Patriots now have perhaps the deepest and most talented receiving corps in the NFL.

The big concern with Moss is not just his on-the-field performance but also his off-the-field-behavior. Many people are comparing this trade to the deal that brought Corey Dillion to Foxboro after 7 seasons in Cincinnati. I, however, think there is a better comparison to make here.

In 1980 a Boston area team traded for a tall, talented player from the Oakland area. This player had a poor reputation due to supposed attitude problems and we know now that this player also enjoyed an occasional bong hit in his spare time. This player was Robert Parrish and he worked out just fine for the Boston Celtics. I don't think anyone would dare think Randy Moss will have the same sort of Hall of Fame impact as Robert Parrish had on the Celtics but I think it is not unreasonable to hope that Moss will help the Patriots raise another championship banner like how Parrish was able to help the Celtics to their 14th, 15th and 16th championships.

Randy Moss also gives Tom Brady his own personal "big three" receiving corps with Moss, Donte Stallworth and Ben Watson (at tight end) with Wes Welker and Kelley Washington playing the roles of Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge receiver wise.

Looking at the Randy Moss as Robert Parrish analogy in full is not without its downside. Like how the arrival of Robert Parrish convinced Dave Cowens that it was time to retire - the arrival of Randy Moss probably will have a similar effect on Troy Brown.

It looks like the Patriots will have Moss, Stallworth, Welker, Washington, Reche Caldwell, Jabar Gaffney and last year's number-one draft pick Chad Jackson on the depth chart. I don't see the Patriots carrying 8 receivers into the season - so that probably leaves fan favorite Troy Brown on the outside looking in.

Randy Moss has an under-publicized history of spending his time and money on charitable endevours and that will endear him to the Kraft family (who own the Patriots). His ability to gain yards after the catch and his ability to catch jump ball passes in the end zone will endear him to Tom Brady and the Patriots.

With the acquisition of Randy Moss - I will make the following three predictions:

1. Randy Moss will have double-digits in TD catches this season.

2. Tom Brady will easily top his career best 4,110 in passing yards.

3. The New England Patriots win this year's Super Bowl.