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I think he's a good GM too, and the record backs this up. But he's not a good evaluator of WR talent. People can't be everything. But what he needed to do, several years ago, was to bring in a true WR guru to his scouting dept. A person who knows a good WR from a bad one. One who can say, "et me look around, just stay out of my way". It was known since his fist year here, when he traded a 3rd round pick for Kelvin Benjamin. To me, it was bolstered when he used a 1st round pick for Diggs. It was a way of saying, "I can't find one in the draft, I need to trade for one". Personally, i thought that was a good decision. The Shakir pick was more of an outlier and more of a case of a guy falling into his lap than it was finding a diamond in the rough. I remember watching Senior Bowl practices, watching the CB's and saying "who is this Shakir guy, no one can cover him". Damn, even i knew he was going to provide something to the table. I saw last year's draft as missing a golden opportunity on a very good draft class. It was the wrong pick on the wrong player and the wrong philosophy. There is no shame in understanding your strengths and weakness. And wr evaluation is a weakness for him. So bring in someone to help who has that talent as a strength.

Former Columbo Capo, Michael Franzese, and creator of one of the best Mafia scams ever, weighs in. He does provide a unique perspective.

Ill probably have that draft choice on my tombstone, or at least have enough people say, "oh shut up about it, already". It was really watching BTJ fall into the 20's. I thought for sure Beane was going to trade up for him. He was easily the best WR in the draft after the big 3. I looked it as he was there for the taking. He had what they were looking for in Coleman, i.e. the contested catch ability (which Coleman really doesn't have) but, also blows Coleman away in the speed department and the ability to create separation. Apparently Beane did try to trade up, but he said teams wanted his 2nd. To an extent, I understand that, the D needs players. So we got Bishop. Um, wonderful. In the trade down, we got Carter, a guy who might not have made the roster even if he was injured. What Beane didn't mention was whether he offered one of the 2 2nd round picks in 2025 to move up in 2024. Instead, we didn't and waited til 2025 and then used both of them on Saunders. Who is now on IR and wasn't showing that much to begin with.

Roy Clark has fun with Folsom Prison Blues in an oldie... It'll make you smile.

i heard a cool story from a union official when they were filming The Natural. Redford wanted a farm house, somewhere where he could keep his horses while filming. So they scouted the Buffalo rural areas. When he found one he liked, he approached the owners and offered them an ungodly amount for the early 80s. Say, $5,000 per week or something. Then, he said he wanted to bring in his own furnishings. He would put all of their furniture in storage, and when he was going to leave, he would put everything back just the way it was. Or the owners could keep the furnishings he brought in. In another quick story, I had a friend who was working on the film as a driver. One day, he was driving some film big wigs from Cali around Buffalo. He had to drive them around downtown for a while and places like mansion row on Delaware. He said they were utterly amazed at some of the architecture in Buffalo and they had no idea Buffalo had some really nice areas.

Allen Coleman Oliver O-line. Allen threw 46 times and was sacked once. 1 holding call on Brown, one false start by Dion.

I have a friend who was buying a new Blazer two years ago. He was going to pay cash for it. the salesman wouldn't let him and told him that. He insisted that the car be financed. They went around for 20 minutes. He didn't buy from him and went to another dealership. the salesman lost him when he said, "look, you aren't leaving today without a financing agreement". "Yes, I am. Goodbye". My oldest son's first car purchase was my favorite. He bought it off of FB marketplace and talked to the lady online before he bought it. He asked me to take him so he could finalize the deal and pick it up. I had to drive him 40 miles to this little town and meet the seller in front of a Dollar General. I knew he was paying cash. I said, "You know, this is how Craigslist horror stories begin" "yeah, I know, that's why I'm bringing you" "Gee thanks" I made sure to park as close to the front door of the DG as possible. The car had an out of state title, owned by this lady's boyfriend, signed in blank. Not a good feeling. On the good side, out of state cars need to be inspected at a Highway Patrol office and there was one down the road. The trooper I talked to assured me that hot sheets are checked in both Kansas and the state where the vehicle comes from. It took a while, but the mutual distrust between me and the lady dissolved after a bit. It all turned out fine. "

It was a different situation because he wasn't on the field and wasn't playing...but Josh did it last week against the Giants. The timing couldn't have been better either. Early 3rd Q I think, Dawkins was being interviewed on the sideline. The reporter was asking him how JOsh has grown over the years and his leadership. As Dawkins was talking about Josh's leadership, the camera went on Josh, who let out a good 10 second yawn. I chuckled to myself and thought, "if that was anyone but Josh, that might be a little concerning"

-The Tre and Benford segment in the ice cream shop was great. Great is special. -Hailee does NOT turn into a vampire...yet. Maybe its a later episode. -Dion's gonna get some crap for taking his kids grifting

One cheaply made Youtube commercial into a billion dollar company in less than 10 years. Now that's a shaving game! I can't say I really have a shaving game. A triple blade razor usually, soap instead of shaving cream or shaving butter (whatever that is). A few whacks against the sink or shower tiles and Im done.

Yeah, my high school had a strange tradition among the male athletes that we would walk around with our sneakers untied. I never grew out of that. I've had enough people over the years tell me my shoes were untied but I've never tripped from it. I bring it up because I was at a KC Royals game a week ago, talking to friends on the concourse by our seats. An attractive hispanic woman in her early 20's was sitting in front of us and said, "sir, can I tie your shoe"? I chuckled and was just getting out "no, I'm fine", she was out of her seat, bent down in front of me and tied my shoe. Then smiled and sat back down. I told one of my friends "that's how I meet women". He said, "I'll have to remember that one." I said, "don't bother. Its the first time it happened in over 35 years. It doesn't work really well."

Sinners, the much ballyhooed movie featuring Mrs. Josh Allen, is on Max now. it'll probably be there for a while

Christine Baranski's first appearance on the Big Bang Theory. John Cleese, being John Cleese on Cheers.

TY. I've always said, if I wrote well enough, I'd write a book, or at least an essay, of how well she handled her illness and death. But really, my "grief theme song" was Garth Brooks-The Dance. It fits with the theme of the thread. I could have missed the pain, but I'd have missed the dance. I shudder thinking I'd could have missed that dance. Now.... back to our regularly scheduled collection of sad song dance music!

As a blues enthusiast I've certainly had a number of sad songs in my favorites mix. But this song I'm posting...ugh. Its not blues, its not really country either, but it has personal sentiments to me. If you want the backstory, fine, here it is. I've mentioned on here before, I lost my soulmate to cancer 5 1/2 years ago. Before she died, she wanted a celebration of life instead of a funeral. One day, she gave me a list of about 5 or 6 songs to put on a mix to play at the COL. This song was on the list. I knew the singer, but had never heard of the song. Joey Feek died of cancer a few years after recording this song. I looked at the title and said to my wife, "you must really hate me, you don't think I'll be grieving enough without hearing that song?" She said, "fine", crossed it off the list and added another. And yes, I put in in the mix. When it played at her COL, the person I was talking to at the time, I asked that it person to talk a little louder so I didn't hear it. It took me a year to be able to listen to it in its entirety. 5 + years later, I still can't hear it without shedding a tear or two. So yeah, there it is.

Probably his love of drift cars. It actually makes him a logical choice as a grand marshall...to me at least.

A traditional message that gets passed between my brothers and me annually.

And one of the strangest tributes to him you will ever see. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlieo6mM7rk (Sorry, embedding not allowed on this video..)

He's one that won't RIP. He'll heaven on the fly, his angels have been waiting to dance. Lyrically, musically, its a song that makes troubles melt away.

there are still ways to avoid/escape technology and to many, an off-grid lifestyle is fashionable. Of course, most of them have a monetized Youtube channel, a solar array and a Jackery to power their laptops, phones and other electronic items. So in a way, they are missing the point, but to each his own. I always had a certain mode of respect for a Dick Proenneke, a guy who found an uninhabited lake in Alaska and built his retirement cabin there. He stayed for 30+ years, finally leaving in his early 80s. He built his cabin with non-power hand tools and 95+ percent of his building materials came off the land. His modes of transportation were his feet and a canoe, and supplies were flown in every month or two by a bush pilot friend. His nearest neighbor was at least 40 miles away The only reason anyone knew about him was because he filmed himself building his cabin with a wind up camera to send to his family. Someone came up with a way to market his film, photos and journals and he became a PBS sensation. He was a survivalist before there were survivalists, A Youtuber before there were Youtubers An Into the Wild personality decades before that foolish young guy, Chris McCandles went Into the Wild and never came out.

Only have time to list 3, all from the Knox era: -Joe Devlin- solid, solid, solid. When Mark Gastineau was leading the world in sacks, he said he voted for Joe Devlin every year for the PB. Yeah, he was that good. Gastineau, and most others never got past him; -Shane Nelson-extremely short career due to injuries, but when he played, he was the glue of the Bermuda Triangle. Smart, fast and equally good in run and pass D; - Ben Williams-he came on during the Knox era to have double digit sacks from 1980-83 Others like Smerlas got the talk, but if you needed someone to get to the Q< Williams was the guy.

Now I'm wondering if he just stood outside the wedding, waiting to be invited in. (A Sinners reference to those that have seen the movie). Its all starting to make sense now.

But back to the topic...Janis Jopln remains the godmother of rocker queens. Her performance of Ball and Chain can still run chills through you. And Mama Cass in the audience saying "oh wow" is enough of a peer review and an inner statement by Cass that says, "I wish I could do that." Honorable mention to Joan Jett, who, after I love Rock and Roll took her to the stratosphere, went back and did a video of her older classic, Bad Reputation, giving a big FU to the 23 record companies who rejected her.

I found out a few years ago, she's a distant cousin of mine. Which makes those teen fantasies seem a little weird now. She's in the class that wanted to be a rocker queen but her producers steered her more into the diva role. I saw her on an interview a while back and it was one of her regrets. You can hear it from her early songs, with her husband/lead guitarist given a long solo. He seemed to disappear on later recordings. Her voice got softer, the songs got softer. Eh, sorry cuz!!

Like Draconator, our jackabee was named at the shelter. Garth. We decided to keep it. The lady who named him said she was on a country music kick that week. For a jackabee, he has the true coloring of a beagle. Except his ears are shorter, is legs are longer, his eyes are more almond shaped, he's not as broad in the shoulders and he's thinner. He was about a year old when we got him. IF we took him to the dog park for an hour, he'd be at a full sprint for 55 minutes. He'd want to chase, or be chased by the other dogs. And fast. the other dogs couldn't keep up. Well until the day someone brought in 2 Italian Greyhounds. After chasing them for 10 minutes, he stopped and looked at me and I could hear him saying, "did you see how fast they are"? I used to say, "he was listed as a stray at the shelter, but I know what happened. Where ever he lived he got out one day and just started running. By the time he stopped, he looked around and said, 'where the hell am I?'. He's 10 now so not quite as fast as he was, but he still has his moments. If I had had the time, he would have been great for the dog Olympics, where they do the obstacle course.