MattM

Whatever gets you through the night, but most of the data shows otherwise. Tough to reconcile the xenophobia of much of the Republican party with the need to be more open and inclusive, for example. Combine that with offering nothing but bootstraps platitudes (usually delivered by plutocrats such as Ryan or Romney or, at minimum, folks who grew up "comfortable" yet still look down on others less fortunate in initial circumstances) to the middle and working classes, which some folks are beginning to understand, and soon you may find yourselves circling the toilet bowl. Read Kristof's NYT op-ed from this morning--he nailed it....

The more appropriate analogy is probably Dems changing tack and nominating a centrist in Clinton after losing 3 straight elections, but go ahead, be my guest and "Stay the Course" into irrelevancy....

He most certainly does--for ex., does anyone think the Republicans in their present condition can take being blamed for the middle class losing their tax cuts because they hold out for those making over $250k/yr (or higher amount the Dems offer)? That would be the definition of walking a party over a cliff.....

Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.....

Insularity--living in a bubble with only people like yourself, so much so that you become so out of touch with mainstream America and don't understand what you can or cannot say. Remember the George Allen (thank God that idiot lost) "Macaca" moment? When he said something so obviously offensive/racist he was laughing and smiling among his brethren. Kind of like PPP (the insularity, not the racism, although that does appear sometimes unfortunately)....

My dad and I are making the trip West. Love the Bay Area, but it's too bad we're coming for what sounds to be a funeral....

Tannehill's a rookie and may get better, so cut him some slack.

Many thanks--we're staying at the Westin near Market Street/downtown. It looked like the Caltrain station was about a mile away. For the Bills game we're meeting some WNY HS buddies and one of my law school roommates and his kids, so I suspect we'll be able to bum a ride. In terms of Stanford, is it easy to get tix? Looked like it from Stubhub, but I'd rather buy them there if possible.

Count me among those who kind of wish the replacement refs lasted one more week so we wouldn't have to worry about the regular refs doing their usual New England* screw job....

My dad and I will be flying in for the game. Couple of quick questions-- 1. Do I need to rent a car? I was thinking not, as I recall SF having pretty good public transit/cabs and bad parking situation. My estimate is I'd need to spend $500 for a car ($300 for rental plus $50 a night parking plus gas, tolls, parking); 2. Linked to number 1. Are: A. Am thinking of catching the Stanford or Cal game on Saturday. Looks like Caltran runs to Palo Alto and we're about a mile from the Caltran station in SF. BART goes to Berkely I believe (or it did when I lived there 20 years ago.) Is that easy to do? Are there problems getting tickets to those games?; and B. In terms of the Bills game, same question--can one get to the stadium via public transit? Muchas gracias for the info--looking forward to the trip (and hopefully a W to go with the one tomorrow!)

I'm sort of sick of the Pats* apologists on this board. Facts are, they were the only ones caught doing this and were suspected of doing a whole lot more. As this article from the NYT points out, citing two unnamed NFL Competition Committee sources, the Pats* were suspected and accused internally over and over again of doing scuzzy things, much more so than anyone else. I also recall folks like Ross Tucker as noted above (who played for them during the period in question) as saying they pushed the envelope whereever they could and got themselves to sleep at night with the "but everyone does it" mantra when folks like Ross who played elsewhere knew that not to be true. How about Del Rio and Marinelli saying that their headsets conked out at mysterious key times during key drives, all of the "referee malfunctions" we've seen with our own eyes over the years and on and on. Personally, I suspect that they got away with more than they were caught with and that they are a far outlier in terms of the Bell curve of questionable behavior in the NFL: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/sports/football/11nfl.html?_r=0 Personally, this quote says all I need to know: "The N.F.L. team executive said the Patriots were the subject of most of the accusations discussed in the rules committee’s deliberations. The team’s recent success and tight-lipped approach, as personified by Belichick, has played a role. “They were the only team, really,” the executive said. “Clearly, they were the team mentioned far more than anybody else.”

Anyone else remember that atrocious Monday nighter between the Pats* and the Ravens during the "Undefeated Season" and how many hankies got pulled out to make sure that the Pats* scored on that last drive to win? Absolutely disgusting. That said, I must admit that the officials' love of the Pats* seems to have waned a bit over the last few seasons, but there was a period there in the early to mid-00's that it seemed like the Pats*' opponents couldn't sneeze without being flagged 15 yards, particularly late in a close game.....

This

Yeah, those happened over about 20 years, yet the replacements managed to add one to the "completely blown" firmament in a mere three.weeks. Just sayin'...... Well said....

I saw him on some real estate show here in NY last month looking at 8-10m Manhattan apartments. With that stat line maybe he ought to start looking in the outer boroughs (or maybe Jeremy Lin's couch is available)....

There was the usual potential game-changing garbage pro Pats* call (a clear catch by Cards ruled a catch by the closest ref and waived off by another ref), but the Cards overcame it, God bless 'em!

I was at the game with my family yesterday (wooh, boy, that was fun!) and was being ridiculed for not wanting to leave around that time, but I pointed out the exact same thing. We ended up leaving shortly thereafter when the Jets got a first down that was going to allow them to kill much of the clock....

You know, I might agree with your logic if we'd lost a close one on the road against a good team, but we didn't--we got manhandled in almost all phases of the game by a team that I personally don't expect to be anything north of 8-8. That's what hurts today. We thought we had our first decent team in ages and they got exposed today, brutally, and in front of everyone, over and over again. Will it turn out to be an aberration? I hope so, but until they show that it is, they aren't going to be getting the benefit of many doubts, unfortunately.....

Are you a time traveler? Last night was Friday night--games are played on Sunday last I checked....

You're all assuming the OP is male, but "not telling" is the gender in his/her profile......

I watched him in the third game and any time an offensive lineman got anywhere near him it was over. He did, however, have two good plays where he got into the backfield and chased the QB around, to no avail. One was actually a pretty good stunt up the middle. Other than that, however, he was pretty ineffectual when I was watching, and I was specifically watching him. All he's really got is his "quicks"--once a blocker gets anywhere near him, he's done....

Isn't she more than twice as old as his last media-reported "girlfriend" from last summer, the Greenwich, CT HS senior? EL's certainly attractive, but she's almost old enough to be his mom. OK, slight exaggeration, but she is 11years his senior.....

They're all counting on the perpetually injured Vollmer and the return of Brian Waters, who hasn't reported yet and may retire or be asking for more $, to turn their OL train wreck around.....

Anybody else notice Pat Moran glomming onto the tweet breaking this story, trying to make it sound like he's a real journalist?