The Frankish Reich

I really do feel bad for EJ. There were a few moments where he almost - almost - had me convinced he could be the guy. Remember that drive against the Browns where he was suddenly moving, improvising, playing with some real feel for the game? That drive when he hurt his knee running out of bounds? In retrospect, that was the last time I had any faith in him. He briefly looked like that again when he came in for the Raiders last year, until it all fell apart.

I had no idea it was still around. I remember looking forward to these annuals (baseball/football) hitting the newsstands when I was a kid. That was ... a long time ago.

Right - a guy who truly seemed to love his life and what he was doing. That's why I watched him. Sad.

Maybe of all time. The competitors: https://www.si.com/vault/1996/05/20/213037/heaven-help-marge-schott http://www.newser.com/story/16793/rams-owner-georgia-frontiere-dies.html Seriously, though, kind of astounding that by 2018 the number of women who've been major sports franchise owners can still be counted on one hand.

Yeah, weren't his kidneys shutting down just a couple months ago? Is Shroom Tech a cure for kidney disease with the unfortunate side effect of crazy?

Same here. The offense was different - just plain better - in those rare moments when a reasonably healthy Benjamin was on the field. He even made Nathan Peterman look o.k. in that snow game. And this is his contract season, which never hurts, particularly with guys who have a reputation for sometimes not staying in tip top shape.

Wishful thinking? Actually, I don't think so. Key players are reaching the end (even the weirdly extended end) of their runs. The open dissension between Belichick/Brady/Kraft - three huge egos, each of whom wants to be given primary credit for the Pats' incredible run - is a sign. There's no succession plan for Brady; part of Belichick was probably ready to do a Favre/Rodgers things and just hand the reins to Jimmy G. There's no succession plan for Belichick; I imagine Josh McDaniels stuck around because he believes he's the crown prince, but we have no reason to believe he could be the equal to his mentor. Right now they give the feel of "great team, aging, trying to squeeze out one more championship before the inevitable rebuild." That's why the loss to the Eagles seems to have hurt so much. They're still in a great position this year because, let's face facts, the Jets/Bills/Dolphins aren't ready (yet) to compete fully. But the Bills and the Jets at least seem to finally have management teams in place that know what they're doing and that have an actual plan for success. So, against all history, this time I think you're right: the Pats are in the last couple years of their run. It could end with a bang (another SB win, or even two), or with a whimper (a 9-7, early playoff exit, followed by a 5-11 - think of what happened to the Broncos post-Peyton Manning), but, finally, it's coming ...

And remarkably like the TB 12 crackpot theories! I looked at it - not really starvation, but pretty much a recycled Dr. Atkins/Paleo low carb thing with some added claptrap about inflammatory responses. Good news: my wife tired of it in about a week, well before the fecal transplant (!) stage ...

Thank you. I am not about to pull my newly-planted tomatoes out of the garden.

The Beyond Meat burger is actually kind of o.k. Texture's good, a little bit of an aftertaste, but handles the toppings well. About 3 bucks each. My wife suddenly started talking about avoiding "nightshades" because they cause inflammation. I interrogated her for a good 20 minutes, suspecting that this was the TB 12 system. She showed my the book, by some Dr. Gundry. Divorce averted.

This question - Pegula skill or Pegula luck? - is interesting. From what I can find, I'd say it's probably on the order of 30% skill, 70% luck. The luck part seems to come not from "dumb luck" as we'd generally consider it. No, there was definite skill involved in knowing what land/subsurface rights to acquire. And that skill can easily translate into riches. But usually those riches are on the order of tens of millions of dollars, or even hundreds of millions. Not billions. That's where the luck comes in. Plus, think about it: you could be Pegula's equally skilled twin, and you could have acquired (a long time ago) subsurface rights all over the same Marcellus shale field but on the NY side, and that would have turned out poorly given the politics of NY vs. PA. As for Kim: well, I just don't know. She may be a talented manager of people; she may have just married well. There's really nothing out there publicly to reach any kind of informed opinion.

That Jerry incognito name - abillsfanwhoknowshowtospell - was pretty funny. And he could write. He had style, although the constant press to produce “content” drives even the good ones into putting out formulaic crap. When I think about which sports or news writers to read, I find that this is now my key factor: can he write in an entertaining style? For a long time it’s why I subscribed to the Wall Street Journal and not The NY Times, despite the fact that my politics tend somewhat more toward the latter. The WSJ has Brett Stephens and Holman Jenkins and other preppy jackasses who could always come up with a clever/insightful phrase. It also had James Taranto lurking behind the scenes adding his quips. Meanwhile the NYT had those leaden/lifeless editorials and Tom Friedman cliches. They’ve now stolen Stephens and others, and they’re worth reading again. So if the BN model is cheapo content for $2.99 a month (“Lorenzo Alexander won’t eat a piece of chicken without weighing it to the gram first”) there’s really zero attraction. You can (and they do) hire any 23 year old to crank that crap out. Did I agree with Sully most of the time? No. Did he at least offer the hope of an entertaining and occasionally insightful use of my 5 minutes at breakfast? Yep. He’ll be missed if only because the alternative is so incredibly bland. Don’t kid yourselves, this is about going bare minimum cheap in a last ditch effort to save the BN. It isn’t a pretty way to die.

Good point.

Yes, every one of us who considers ourselves to be "good" has done things that - in looking back on them - are embarrassing, or at least things not to be proud of. But let's not getting carried away with this moral relativism thing. Things I have never done, or haven't done since about 6th grade: - Harassed and berated a coworker, using slurs related to his race or sexual orientation. - Got in multiple fights, including one that caused me to be sent to anger management classes by school official, and one that caused me to be charged with three counts of assault and convicted of one - Gone into a uncoerced fury at a gym, throwing weights toward another guy - Been voted the dirtiest employee at my workplace by my colleagues Maybe some of it is mental health problems. A lot of it is just being an obnoxious jerk. Is that a bad person? If not, what is?

From someone who came of sports fan age in the 1970s ... 1970s: Pats irrelevant. Loved the Red Sox, partly because I hated the Yankees, but also because, well, Luis Tiant and Bill Lee and Carl Y and Fisk. Those were teams with character(s). Loved the Celtics and Bruins for the same reason. 1980s: Pats (largely) irrelevant. Loved the Red Sox, now mostly because I hated the Yankees. Bruins: didn't think a whole lot about them. Celtics: I definitely sided with them in the Lakers-Celtics wars. 1990s: Pats (largely) irrelevant because the Bills were so superior. I imagine Pats fans over the last 15 years feel the same about the Bills now. Red Sox: not so interesting anymore because the Yankees were too good. Celtics: ditto, because the Bulls, and even the Knicks. Bruins: meh. 2000-current: Didn't actually hate the Pats with Bledsoe at the start. Actually thought the first SB was kind of a fun team. Didn't become despicable until Brady and Belichick got super cocky and cheat happy about, well, a year or two later. Quickly supplanted the Cowboys as my most hated team. Red Sox: loved, loved, loved them when they blew it with the Yanks the first time, then even more when they finally took out the Yanks. Then they gradually became the Yankees. Morphed into generally negative feelings about them until today I actually find the Yankees (who I must still hate for historical reasons) more likable. Celtics: looked good, looked not so good, never really captured my imagination. Bruins: trending toward hate-able throughout this time; may have more to do with ineptitude of the local team than something specific to the Bruins.