NFL Championship Sunday

 

There's many making comparisons of Brock Purdy to Tom Brady and the Patriots magical 2001 season. I too see a comparison to that season but its in the way Philadelphia may be overconfident in the outcome of the Championship game they are hosting similar to how so overconfident the Steelers were when hosting New England in 2001. Pittsburgh even went so far as to start giving out travel advice to New Orleans to their fans. That's not to say I think the 49ers will win - just that the game is giving off similar vibes.

As far as the Bengals vs Chiefs in the AFC  - who would be surprised if either team won? Same is true in the NFC. Should be some good football on Sunday.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I still like the idea of a straight-up trade of DB Stephon Gilmore from the Patriots for  QB Jimmy Garappolo from the 49ers. I think that works for both teams. My fallback would be to trade a 4th round pick to Jacksonville for QB Gardner Minshew... There is no such thing as "White" math. Anyone who would argue that "2+2 does not equal 4" has no place in education and whatever university gave that person a degree needs to have their credentials revoked... Mitt Romney should run for President in 2024 - as a Centrist Democrat. An idea so crazy it just might work! Romney seems half-way into the Democratic Party already so why not? He'd be the only Centrist Democrat running. This would be fascinating to watch - admit it - you'd watch it too... If Aleksei Navalny doesn't qualify as a "prisoner of conscience" or a "political prisoner" then those terms have no meaning. Amnesty International is a joke. If you give money to Amnesty International, the ACLU, or Greenpeace you are actually making things worse and should be ashamed of yourself... 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Interesting how the same people who gleefully chanted "Bush lied - people died" are so upset at anyone who reports "China lied - people died"... Am I a bad person for laughing at this?... Tom Brady signed with the Buccaneers for roughly $30 million a year. Not for nothing but if Brady wanted to sell his sperm he'd probably be able to easily get $1 million a sample. He's in the wrong business... "We are often more frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality." - Seneca...  Good for Arthur Blank... As a Patriots fan it would make sense to me to sign (or trade for) Brian Hoyer to back-up Jarrett Stidham. Hoyer has 2-years left on his contract but there's also a good chance he gets cut by the Colts... Prior to the 2000 NFL Draft the Patriots had Tom Brady and Tim Rattay basically rated as equals. New England took Brady with the 199th selection while Rattay went 13 picks later to the 49ers. Can you imagine how NFL history could have been different if the choices were reversed?...

Linky Links

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

- A fittingly beautiful tribute

- Why does the Left hate Tolkien?

- 5 space companies zeroing in on first launch of tourists into orbit and beyond.

- The inside story on San Francisco's $137.5 million Jimmy Garoppolo gamble

- Where do we find such men?

- This looks delicious

-  Heh Heh

Colin Kaepernick

I am so sick about dishonest stories about Colin Kaepernick. The only reason he doesn't have an NFL job for the 2017 season is because HE OPTED OUT of his contract! A contract that would have paid him $14.5 million this season!

So why did he opt out of his contract? One assumes for more money and a chance to start for a better team than the 49ers. As far as money - there are only 22 QB's in the NFL who will make more than the $14.5 million he turned his nose up at. After that there is a big drop off in salary to rookie deals and back-up pay.

If you were in a fantasy league would you trade Kaepernick for any of the 22 QB's ahead of him on the salary list? You could argue Mike Glennon at 22 with $15 million but just behind Glennon at 23 is Bears rookie Mitch Trubisky at $7 million. Why would Chicago bring in Kaepernick when they are trying to groom Trubisky as their QB of the future. You could also argue Brock Osweiler at $18 million but that would be like trading one set of problems for another. At least Osweiler seems to want to be a football player. The same can't be said of Kaepernick.

In all the stories out there on Kaepernick - how many talk about his dedication to off-season conditioning or working with a QB guru to improve on this 26th rated completion rate? ZERO! Where's the proof he even wants to play football anymore?

If you are Baltimore do you bring Kaepernick in after his girlfriend compared the team owner to a slave owner? If you're the Dolphins do you bring this guy in for a try-out? People who don't know football will list a number of QB's they think aren't as talented as Kaepernick but the problem is these guys are all back-up QBs! If Kaepernick wanted to be a back-up he could have stayed in San Francisco. The 49ers didn't force him to opt out of his contract.

But you won't read any of the above in the stories about him being "blackballed" by the NFL. Because the truth in this case doesn't fit the wanted narrative.

Colin Kaepernick

At least one black live doesn't seems to matter to Colin Kaepernick - his own.

I appreciate Kaepernick's right to protest. We live in a free society where I too am free to have my beliefs which are mainly not to give a shit about the political beliefs or stances of back-up quarterbacks, B-list actors or comedians who stopped being funny five-years ago.

However, as a football fan I can't look away from this train wreck. And train wreck it is. A complete no-win situation.

Kaepernick has a disastrously large contract. He signed a 6-year $114 million contract in 2014 that has $61 million guaranteed. He could have used some of that $61 million to quietly become a benefactor to so very many. Instead he's become a lightning rod, complete ingrate prick, salary cap albatross or potential season long distraction depending on your point of view.

From the San Francisco 49er's point of view this is a distraction they didn't need from a player with an almost $20 million cap hit if they cut him. For their back-up QB! And if the team cuts him there will be people who complain that it was because Chip Kelly doesn't like black people. If Kaepernick keeps on sitting during the National Anthem then the boos will increase and even his teammates who support him will be put in a more and more uncomfortable situation especially as the losses start mounting (as they will). If Kaepernick caves and starts standing during the anthem - he will be viewed as a coward who lacked real conviction in his beliefs. Kaepernick can't even hide in the locker room during the anthem because he'd be a huge target for missiles thrown from the stands as he runs on and off the field.

I have to wonder if this is some sort of diabolical genius on the part of Kaepernick. Say if he no longer wants to play football but wants to collect all of his guaranteed money. This would be almost the perfect plan. Just sitting during the anthem isn't against the law or even team policy. Sure many people will hate him but this might be a way out of playing football and maybe even into some high paying speaking gigs for clueless kids at liberal arts colleges. I haven't seen anything this diabolical since Al Gore made millions pretending to care about global warming.

One prediction - at one of the 49ers road games this year a country singer (it will be a country singer) will sing the anthem and then shout "Fuck Colin Kaepernick" at the end to extremely loud applause. This country singer will simultaneously become famous overnight and banned from ever singing at another NFL game.

And I won't give a shit about this singer's political beliefs either.

Future of Football

Like many football fans - I had not heard of Chris Borland until he announced his retirement after just one-year in the NFL. [As an aside can you actually retire from a job you've only had one year? Changing professions, quitting, moving on, etc. all seem more appropriate than "retiring". "Chris what are you going to do now that you're retired?" "Get a job of course." How does that equal retirement?]

Here's an interesting post from this morning where the take-away is that agent Leigh Steinberg basically predicted behavior like this.

The article got me thinking of the golden days of boxing where it was the immigrants on the bottom socio-economic rung of society that were willing to put their bodies at risk in order to gain "a way out". The Irish, the Jews, the Italians all had great champions back in the day when they were the newcomers. Then came the great black fighters along with the Latino and other minorities. Then boxing started dying out because nobody participated in the sport for recreation and there weren't many, if any, boxers society at large could identify with.

Is the NFL now staring at a similar cycle? Could be. It wouldn't be surprising to see major college programs start scouting overseas for athletes that could be taught the game because the pool of suburban kids willing to play starts drying up. It also wouldn't be strange to see a resurgence of baseball as parents begin the appreciate the minimal contact aspect of the sport.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I did not know that Jared Harris (Lane Pryce on Mad Men) was the son of Richard Harris who I guess never clubbed his son over the head with a cane. Jared Harris has been tabbed to play Moriarty in the next Sherlock Holmes movie... The word “alamo” is Spanish for the cottonwood tree. "Remember the cottonwood" just doesn't have the same ring as a rallying cry though... Hard to believe Manny Ramirez will be Type A free agent while David Ortiz and his 32 HR / 101+ RBI will be Type B. Not that it will make a difference since I'm sure the Red Sox will pick up Ortiz' option for 2011... True Grit trailer - I can't wait... JD Drew has a limited no-trade clause to 2 teams. I'm assuming the Phillies are one but I wonder who the 2nd team would be? The Cardinals maybe?... Very interesting - Hells Angels photos from unpublished LIFE story in 1965. Be sure to read the captions. Interesting stuff... I did not know this - the federal government owns approximately 85% of the land in Nevada, 69% of Alaska, 57% of Utah and 53% of Oregon... If I believed in conspiracy theories I would suggest that San Francisco is tanking their season on purpose to get Stanford QB Andrew Luck in the draft so that 49er fans can forget that their team took Alex Smith instead of Aaron Rodgers in the 2005 NFL draft.

Patriots' First Round Draft Pick

As I've mentioned before - I'm rooting against the San Francisco 49ers this year because the Patriots own their first round draft pick. It looks like that pick will be a top 5 pick and my thinking prior was that the Patriots would trade that pick for 2 picks further down in the first round.

After reading this reminder from Chad Finn of past Patriots history - now I'm not so sure the Pats will be trading that pick. I'm confident, however, in whatever Scott Pioli and Bill Belichick will do with that pick.

Stream of Consciousness

It was a long weekend and I'm still "recovering". I drank many beers and bet on many games (at one point I hit seven straight games) plus I played lots of cards. Obviously I haven't had any time to post here but I figured I'd just toss out a bunch of miscellaneous thoughts.

- The NCAA BCS championship game is shaping up to be Missouri vs. West Virginia. I've been on the Missouri bandwagon from the first game of the season but to me the real story here is the almost certainty that a team from the Big East is in a great position to win the National Championship. When Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College bolted the Big East for the ACC there was talk that the Big East was done as a football conference and some people were writing that the Big East's automatic BCS bowl bid to the league champion should be taken away. For the Mountaineers to be in a position to come away with the National Championship is a great story as far as I'm concerned.

- The college football polls are a mess. Can anyone explain to me how Virginia Tech can be ranked ahead of both Boston College and LSU when those two teams both beat Virginia Tech? The polls are a joke.

- I'm rooting for San Francisco to lose the rest of their games. How great is it that the Patriots own the 49er's first round pick? The Pats could be looking at getting a Darren McFadden or a Chris Long or they could trade the pick for two picks further down in the first round and wind up with a Mike Hart and a top offensive lineman.

- I am so sick of people saying that the Eagles gave the rest of the league "the blueprint" for how to beat the Patriots. Yeah sure - all you have to do is "hold" the Patriots to 31 points and have your QB throw for well over 300 yards without throwing any interceptions. Yeah sure - that's a blueprint all right.