Mega Linky Links

Been a while since I posted - so here's a bunch of links that I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Goodnight Westeros

- Stephen Hawking covers Monty Python's Galaxy Song

- What do you do if you find a baby bird out of the nest?

- Heh heh

- Well meaning fools are the worst sort of fools.

- Looking like the end of the road for Wes Welker

- 11 things you might not have known about Starry Night

- Heh heh

- One chart explains why Danny Ainge should be the NBA Executive of the Year

- Good for you Jason Boulais

Linky Links

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

- Heh heh - the metric system vs the imperial

- Never really thought about this - why do we have middle names?

- Oh man this is mean - Wes Welker Confident He Will Be Ready for Patriots Season Opener

- Cannibalism 

- Great version - Elvis covering Bridge Over Troubled Water

Wes Welker

Little late to the game on this but I had to say my two cents.

Like most Patriots fans I am sad to see Wes Welker leave. Especially sad to see him joining Peyton Manning in Denver. Unlike most Patriots fans - I think this was the right move. How many times last season did you hear in a bar, "Wes Welker normally catches that." The later in the season, and the more often it was said - the less convincing the person felt saying it.

People will, of course, bring up Welker dropping that pass in the Super Bowl but as I said before - that dropped pass didn't cost them the game. Rob Ninkovitch jumping off-sides on third down was a bigger mistake. And Tom Brady's intentional grounding was even bigger than that. Without that safety the Patriots would have been down just by 2 at the end of the game and a field goal could have won the game.

Still - there's no mistaking Welker dropped a lot of passes last year. Last year Welker dropped 11 passes - which was second most in the NFL. Sure he also was targeted a ton but consider that according to ESPN - since 2010 Welker dropped one pass for every 12.5 caught. Amendola's drop rate was one for every 21.9 caught over that same time frame.

Against the Titans in the second game of the season Welker was benched after dropping a pass. Back then the Patriots thought Brandon Lloyd and Julian Edelman could replace Wes' production. Now it seems they are hoping Edelman and Danny Amendola can shoulder the load. The main point is early last year the Patriots recognized the dropped passes problem

Welker's main value is catching the ball. Both Amendola and Edelman can catch the ball too but both also have younger legs which means they can also both run better than the soon to be 32-year old Welker. Bubble screens, a favorite play of the Patriots, gain more yards with younger, fresher legs. Plus there's no yards after catch if the pass is dropped.

Wes Welker will probably put up eye-popping numbers next year. I hope he does. But that doesn't change the fact that the Patriots made the right move.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Last week Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said that Kevin Youkilis was hitting the same for the White Sox as he was hitting for the Red Sox. He said this out of the blue as if to explain that Valentine wasn't the problem with Youkilis' early season batting woes. The problem is Youkilis is not hitting the same for the White Sox as he was hitting for the Red Sox. His OBP is almost 50 points higher and his OPS is 140 points better. Valentine's failure to grasp this simple fact is a huge red flag regarding his ability to manage in the major leagues today... Interesting read on the role of Wes Welker with the Patriots... Just a reminder but Art Modell was so popular in Cleveland in the late 70's that the Republican Party wanted to run his for Governor... Am I bad person because I thought this was really funny? The Cheers opening turned into Jihad.... I am still coming to grips with the Patriots losing to Arizona on Sunday. Did that really happen?... More awesome photos from the Hubble space telescope...

Super Bowl Thoughts

"Is it wrong to gamble, or only to lose?" - Sky Masterson, Guys and Dolls

For the past several years I've spend Super Bowl Sunday at my friend Tim's house where the schedule has been start playing poker around 1:00, watch first half, play poker at half and then play poker after the Super Bowl until the poker game breaks up or the sun rises. When the teams in the Super Bowl have no rooting interest for us - we often play poker during the game too.

This past Sunday we had a rooting interest - a big one. To say we were disappointed in the outcome would be an understatement.

When the Boston Red Sox lose a game I've always avoided reading about the loss in the newspaper and when I got older - I also avoided sports radio as well. I don't need "the sky is falling" negativity in my life. Needless to say - I still haven't watched ESPN or listened to sports radio never mind reading about the game in the paper. I haven't even watched the local news on TV because I knew it would be all about the game. I've gotten my sports fix since Sunday night by watching the MLB Network where the Super Bowl hasn't been mentioned at all.

Having said the above - here are my thoughts (and some from my friends):

- On the ride home we mused that the loss sucked but anyone from New England who complains hasn't been paying attention these past several years. Boston fans have been blessed like no other fan group in the history of pro sports. All my friends were in agreement on this.
- Under Brady and Belichick - the Patriots have won 2 Super Bowls in the last minute and lost 2 Super Bowls in the last minute. All you will hear on sports radio are the yahoos complaining about the 2 that were lost.
- On the ride home I predicted that some idiots would even go so far as to say Tom Brady (who just passed for over 5,000 yards) is past his prime and that maybe one of the other QB's should be given a shot. My friends laughed at this as ridiculous but I'm sure some jackass has waited an hour on hold to make this point on WEEI. I also predicted that Wes Welker's dropped pass may actually help with his contract negotiations. My friend cynically agreed to that.
- When it comes to Welker's dropped pass - we all agreed that if he catches that pass then the game would have been over and the tune everyone was singing would have been different. But we also agreed that blame should not be placed on Welker. Rob Ninkovitch jumping off-sides on 3rd down was just as big a play. And if Brady hadn't had an intentional grounding in the end zone then the Patriots probably would have been down by just 2 points and a fieldgoal would have won it.
- When the Giants were called for 12 men on the field - everyone in the room thought the Giants did it on purpose and since it ran the clock down it was more like a penalty on the Patriots. Everyone figured this was a rule that would be changed in the offseason (and it seems like we were not alone in thinking this as Large Bill was thinking the same thing in Ohio).
- On the ride home, the three of us in the car all agreed that losing sucks but we were all happy for Tom Coughlin. He's a class guy and the job he did at Boston College has not been forgotten.

Still not ready for ESPN or sports radio but I did want to get these thoughts off my chest so that you wouldn't think I was locked in some bunker somewhere.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share. 

Nice math trick - if you divide 1 by 998,001 you get all three-digit numbers from 000 to 999 in order 

Example of life imitating art or vice versa  "As God as my witness - we will have casinos on the moon" 

Who said it: Steven Wright or Mitch Hedberg?

This was so unnecessary - LA Confidential was made into a TV movie in 2003

So it looks like I have 50 brands of beer I need to try -  RateBeer top 50 best beers 2012

Unlikely to recapture the Monty Python magic but I do like the idea of the gang getting back together

Comparisons like this are what the Internet was made for - Exploring the strange parallels between the writing of mythologist Joseph Campbell and the first 4 Police Academy films (HT Big Stupid Tommy)

Kool - 6 Hugely Successful Products Originally Invented for Something Else

So jealous -   Wes Welker is engaged to this woman:

Patriots vs Jets

Three points I'd like to make about this Sunday's playoff game between the Patriots and the Jets:

1st - Many people are saying that the Jets will need to run the ball to chew up the clock and at the same time keep Tom Brady off the field. That's all well and good but if the Jets get down by a touchdown or 10 points - then they will have no choice but to go to a passing attack.

2nd - Everyone always says one of the most important keys to a game is turnovers and they are correct for saying so. Who do you think is more likely to turn the ball over on Sunday - Tom Brady or Mark Sanchez? Sure Sanchez cut his number of interceptions down this season but Tom Brady's lack of interceptions has been historic. For their careers Sanchez throws about 1 interception for every 25 passes thrown which probably means an interception on Sunday while Brady has averaged about 1 interception for every 50 passes. Also this season Sanchez was three times more likely to fumble the ball (9 fumbles to 3) than Tom Brady. Given all that - who do you think is more likely to win the turnover battle on Sunday?

3rd - In regard to Wes Welker's foot reference laden spiel from yesterday - I couldn't help but be reminded of the under-rated comedy Super Troopers. I wonder if someone in the locker-room bet Welker on the number of foot references he could make similar to the bet on the number of times the trooper would say "meow" during a traffic stop.

Red Sox Magic Number - 82

The Red Sox magic number now stands at 82. I blew it. I had a window between Wednesday night and Thursday when the Yankees lost to the Mariners where the magic number was 83 and I was going to compare this Red Sox team to Patriots receiver Wes Welker who wears number 83.

I was going to point out that he's Texan like Josh Beckett. That he's fast like Jacoby Ellsbury. That he's a small man excelling at a big man sport like Dustin Pedroia. That he leads by quiet example like Jon Lester and Tim Wakefield. I was going to do a bunch of those comparisons. Now the magic number is 82 - and I don't even think there's even a player on the current Patriots roster who wears number 82.

The comparison idea has gone down like a lead balloon. Oh yeah - by the way - the atomic number of lead is 82.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations for a Tuesday morning.

Doug in Hillsboro, NH is right. When I was speaking about Rajon Rondo and Dustin Pedroia being small in stature but large of heart and courage - I should have put Wes Welker of the Patriots in the same group. Nobody is more fearless going over the middle than Welker and now he's in elite company becoming just the 8th receiver in NFL history to have back-to-back 100 plus reception seasons... I have to agree with Charles Barkley - Turner Gill's resume is more impressive than Gene Chizik's. I don't know if race played a part in the choice but I really can't understand how Turner Gill hasn't been snapped up by a big program yet... Jamie Moyer was given a 2-year contract by the Phillies. Most of the reaction has focused on Moyer's age. What seems to be lost is the fact is that Moyer went 16-7 with a 3.71 ERA last year. Without Moyer the Phillies may have not made the playoffs last year and never have gotten the chance to win the World Series.