The Bears won the division this year and I think they will have a good chance to win it again. The rest of the division is strong, but the Bears are strong too and they can compete with every team in their division. The Packers did win the Super Bowl, but I don't care and that won't make a big difference, they can only go down from there so I'm fine with them winning it. The Vikings aren't the same without Favre, but they will have a chance this year. The Lions are up and coming and will probably have a good year, but I can't guarantee that because the Lions always find a way to screw things up. The Vikings were not good last year. The Bears swept them and the vikings did not live up to the high expectations for the team. Brett Favre was expected to lead them back to the NFC Championship game and farther and he did not. I like the quarterback that they started to play towards the end of the season. He played well and seemed like the right guy for the Vikings. Adrian Peterson was expected to fix his fumbling issues to be solved and they just got worse. I do think they will be better than last year, but I don't think they have a huge chance to win this division. They are a big question mark, because when you think they will be good they are bad and when you think they will be bad they are good. I don't know what to expect truthfully, but I don't believe that they will make a run at the division. The Packers are probably the best team in the division, as much as it pains me to say that it is true. That doesn't mean they won't make a mistake along the season and end up not winning. The Saints ended up losing there division this year and losing to a bad playoff team. The Packers could make that same mistake. Championship hangovers are real, look at the Blackhawks this year. A championship hangover is more likely with a young team, and the Packers are a young team. I don't want to sound like a stupid Bears fan, so I'm being honest. They are a good team, but sometimes good teams make mistakes and end up having bad years, I hope the Packers make those mistakes. If the Packers win the division, don't call me an idiot, they are contenders but I have faith in the Bears to get better this offseason and win this division again. The Lions are always a big question mark. I think that they will be a contender, and then they have a bad season. I think the problem last year was that from the first game when that call was made against them they lost all their momentum and hope. Matthew Stafford got hurt in that game and they didn't think they had hope from then on. They do have good players and a pretty good team, they need to figure out how to get over the Lions curse. The curse that every Lions team must be terrible. They have drafted well in the past few years with Stafford, Suh, and Calvin Johnson but that still hasn't been enough to push them to be contenders in the NFC north. Next year will not be their year to climb to the top, because the other teams will be too good, but I think eventually they will be included in division winner talk.
All this talk about the NFC North is only going to be true if the Lockout ends before the season starts. I don't want a lockout, I want football. This is the first I have talked about the Lockout, but I don't want it to happen. People keep asking me which side I am on and I say that I am on the football side. I don't see why Billionaires can't agree with Millionaires about playing football. Just keep things the same, everything was fine. As a fan, I don't care if there is two more games and I don't care if the preseason is boring, it is still football and I want football. Just give the money to charity and play football. This is just getting ridiculous.
Bears YouTube Video Of the Day -----------------------------------
This was my reaction when I found out the Bears clinched the Division. Just kidding, this is a crazy Nets fan that I love in a non-gay way.
This guy knows a something about what happens when we let ideas divide us and lead us to hate.
Divided We Fall
I want to make this very clear before I start: I am, and have been for years, a person who considers himself without a political ideology. For me personally, I was once extremely conservative, but time and actual experience living in the world taught me that subscribing to any ideology is like enslaving your mind, and that embracing a centrist, moderate point of view gives a person more leeway to change their mind or have their mind changed, which contrary to current belief, is actually a good thing. Believing in an ideology the way I did, the way so many people do, means your mind is made up, it cannot be changed, you are a slave to your political beliefs, blindly following them to wherever they lead, even if it is the darkest recesses of humanity, and that is an idea that is now anathema to me.
With all of that said, the question that is on my mind right now is: What the hell has happened to my country since I joined the Marine Corps in 1998?
I may no longer be an active duty Marine, but the love I have for my country has never wavered, and I cannot help but notice the shift in national fervor towards more ideology on the fringes, that marches away from the middle, from moderation, in the last 13 or so years. When I graduated from Parris Island, I may have not personally liked the President at that time, but I never felt such vitriolic hatred towards him that it seems half the country felt towards Bush, and now half the country feels towards Obama.
When did our country become so divided, allowing the radicals on both sides of the political aisle control of so much of the message each side blindly believes in?
And people, it is not just about politics. We see it in sports, especially now, with the NFL labor strife. People have taken sides, and they have taken sides with a vengeance. While I am impressed with those people who have passion and who have intelligence in arguing their side, I am thoroughly not impressed by those same people when they act like the other side possesses not one single valid point or intelligence of their own. That kind of slavish devotion to their ideology in this matter is a microcosm to the bigger political and cultural problems facing America today.
I guess I just feel disheartened today.
You know, people like Richard Dawkins, the famous British Atheist, who claim that the world would be so much more peaceful without religion in it are so full of crap. They just use that line of bull to further try and prove their cause for atheism, when the truth is, human beings will always find a reason for war, for fighting, for wanting what someone else has.
Because it is humanity, not religion, that is the problem. Religion is just the excuse. If people were to actually follow their beliefs in Christianity or Hinduism, for example, there would be no war; there would actually be harmony. But human beings who have political ideologies, who are frightened of people who are different, who want what others have, and who cannot stand living in a world where everyone else does not think like they do will always find a reason, an excuse, for war; to fight, to take, to kill.
People with the most extreme point of views will always have the loudest voices. Rush Limbaugh, Keith Olbermann, Glenn Beck, Dan Rather (a wolf in sheep's clothing if there ever was one), just about every idiot actor in Hollywood, Paul Krugman, Sean Hannity, Richard Dawkins… these people shouldn’t be the voices we listen to or follow. They are the same people throughout history whose voices carried the messages that showed the very worst humanity had to offer: Burn the witch! Blame the Jew! Burn the book! Kill the pig! God is dead!
We must rise above our need to enslave our minds, to follow the loudest voices, and we can start in the smallest of fights, like with this NFL-NFLPA standoff, in which both sides have valid arguments, both sides are not behaving as they should, and both sides share blame in how negotiations fall apart.
Fans, do not hurl insults at writers who are defending the NFLPA, calling them “pinko” or “commie,” there is no reason for that. These people just have different ideas than you do, and hurling insults without arguing logically makes you seem unintelligent. That goes double for some of those same writers (let’s face it, most writers) who side with the NFLPA and act as if the Owners or those arguing for the Owners have no legitimate point of view or arguments, and who act like all of those who say that the Owners have a legitimate argument have bought into the “propaganda” of the NFL. It is okay to be on the side of the NFLPA and admit that they are just as complicit in these matters as the Owners. It is not only okay, it is the truth.
Let us all be civil to one another. Start with the NFL labor mess, and maybe someday soon, move that into the political arena. It is possible to disagree without hate. It is possible to negotiate without vitriol. It is possible to speak to someone who does not agree with everything you believe in and find them to be pleasant company.
We have to move the discourse back to the middle and away from the extremes. Reject Jerry Richardson and DeMaurice Smith. Embrace Robert Kraft, Arthur Blank, and players who, well, who haven’t made themselves known yet because of NFLPA solidarity, but who are moderate and would have preferred to keep on negotiating.
If we can do it with this small argument (in the grand scheme of things), we can move on and reject the politics of Nancy Pelosi and Sarah Palin, and embrace the politics of Joe Lieberman and John McCain.
Then, maybe, the people who make up the country I love can get back to disagreeing with each other on a more peaceable level, such as it was when I was a boot Private back in the day.
Gameday Predictions (March Madness Edition)
So, it is now Friday, and the NCAA Tournament has been live for a day.
Whose bracket besides mine is now busted beyond all reason?
Why oh why did I buy into ODU? Why I oh why did I buy into the Big East (looking at you, Louisville)?
I am incapable of predicting anything when it comes to college basketball. At this point, I am just praying my Georgia Bulldogs win a single game.
So what’s my prediction for this Tournament, which EVERY sports writer and blabber told us was going to be boring, but has already given us three upsets and two last--shot wins?
Madness.
Oh, and a Duke-Kansas Final. The Dookies win their second in a row, which will probably cause more hate from Jalen Rose and his non-Uncle Toms.
Today in History
On 18 March 1893 former Governor General of Canada, Lord Frederick Stanley pledges to donate a silver cup to use as a trophy to be awarded to the best amateur hockey team in Canada.
This is, of course, the Stanley Cup, perhaps the most famous and celebrated trophy in professional sports.
The Cup would continue to be awarded to amateur hockey teams until 1910, when the various North American hockey leagues began to play for it, pitting champion against champion. The Seattle Metropolitans were the first American hockey team to win The Cup, and since 1926, the Stanley Cup has only been awarded to the Champion of the NHL.
The Jukebox
Lists about “Best Ever…” are subjective things, but they are generally fun because they bring about real passion in the way people will want to argue the merits of any such list, and unlike in most things in modern life, that passion is usually good natured, not anything like what I talked about earlier.
I think I will start to use Film Real, TV Dinner, and The Jukebox to start making some lists every now and again, not for any particular reason, but just because they are fun and lead to pretty good discourse.
Lists, of course, take time, and thought, and both of those I find in short supply at the moment of this writing, so to tantalize you (maybe) about the list you may find here next Friday, I just want to say… Nevermind.
Smart Quote
I love this quote, because in modern times I believe it stands for the slavery of the mind that the blind following of political ideology has brought our country.
A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half-slave and half-free.
Abraham Lincoln, 1858
Hey, Check This Out!
Here is the last-second buzzer-beater that destroyed my bracket this year, as I, a complete idiot, had ODU making the Final Four.
Feel free to laugh at my misery. But you know what, my day was still better than Rick Pitino’s. Heh.
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter at @UGABugKiller. Thanks!
Yeah, you need to be watching this show. It's that good.
Alternating Between Anger and Laughter
This labor mess the NFLPA and NFL have gotten themselves into can really make a sane person run through the gamut of emotions. Every day I find something new at which to be angry and at which to laugh. I think I am able to do this, as opposed to only feeling the righteous indignation of anger, because I blame both sides for their stubborn buffoonery and utter lack of acknowledgment of the real-world situations their fans must face every day that surrounds the shared supreme selfishness of the NFL and NFLPA.
When I feel anger, it’s generally towards the hardline owners that helped push both sides to this standoff; unlikable men like Jerry Richardson and Mike Brown, who seem to be running point for the owners right now. They are intractable men who do not want to negotiate; they want to dominate. These are the guys who led the league to basically blackmail their television partners to provide them with the “lockout insurance,” that Judge Doty recently declared illegal and contrary to the CBA.
I also feel anger towards NFLPA Chief DeMaurice Smith, who, through his prior words and actions in the last two years, has convinced me he spent the last two months negotiating in bad faith; always preferring the route of litigation. And of course, there are the players themselves, some of whom I now look upon as unfavorably as I did Tom Glavine from 1994 until, well, forever. Players such as Drew Brees, who in the middle of tweeting about the disaster in Japan had the cajones to interject more of his pro-union propaganda. Talk about your complete lack of priorities and situational awareness of the world around you. Shame on you, Drew Brees.
And of course, there are the guys, mostly players, who are so far up their own rear ends, who have been surrounded by yes-men and friends and family hanging on their financial teat, that they have no awareness of the world around them, regardless of the situation. These guys fill me with a burning anger that sometimes, I have to throw my hands up and laugh for their stupidity and ignorance. The latest example of this is Adrian Peterson having the gall to compare making ten million dollars a year toSLAVERY. Yep, Adrian Peterson, who makes more in two games than most people will make in a lifetime, is a slave. See, you read that, and you get so angry that you have to laugh. Otherwise, you would be tempted to hurt someone.
But folks, it is not all fire and brimstone, thanks to Twitter. Twitter has given many national, and even local, columnists an outlet for their own thoughts, frustrations, and outright comedic gold regarding the ridiculousness of this labor strife, which can help diffuse a lot of the anger football fans might be feeling right now. Guys like Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports (@MikeSilver), Bill Simmons of ESPN (@sportsguy33), or a local columnist for my hometown newspaper, Jeff Schultz (@JeffSchultzAJC), are passionate sports writers, yes, but they’re also wiseass extraordinaires, and if I find myself reading something idiotic or enraging that Jerry Richardson, De Smith, or Adrian Peterson has said, these guys will usually have something to say that’ll have me laughing instead of punching walls.
So please, if this NFLPA-NFL stupidity fills your body with anger to the point where you want to kick the dog, or punch your stupid neighbor at the thought of missing football games this fall, get on Twitter and find your favorite wiseass sports writers. They will help you find the funny.
Or, if you get angry enough, just do as I will: cancel your Sunday Ticket and buy ESPN’s College Football Gameplan instead, because especially in the South and on the West Coast, the NFLPA-NFL War benefits College Football the most, but we will get to that later.
College Football (College Basketball Bracket Edition)
There is no point to talk about College Football today. Spring Practices do not begin in earnest until next week, and today is all about finally filling out your brackets for the NCAA Tournament, the axiom that proves the stupidity and exclusivity of the BCS, but again, we will get to that at a later date.
As for any bracket advice I may have, look for upsets in the 7-10 games (Go Dawgs!) and the 5-12 games in the Round of 64. Most brackets this year may be top heavy, because so many sports writers are telling us this year’s tournament is going to be boring, but all it takes is one or two hot teams at the right moment to make a good run into the Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight to make it seem that once again, anything is possible. Look for Clemson and Georgia both to win their opening games (well, for Clemson, after winning last night’s play-in game). Look for one (or more) top-4 seed to lose in the second round; perhaps Texas, Florida, Syracuse, or UConn, who all look susceptible to a round of 32 upset.
After that advice, y’all are on your own. Have fun.
Today in History
On 16 March 1935, Adolph Hitler, Chancellor of Germany, orders the rearmament of his country in direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
And much like the UN and Hans Blix with Saddam Hussein in the early part of the 20th Century, the UN’s predecessor, the League of Nations formally protested this development, but did absolutely nothing to stop it.
Of course, the world had nothing to worry about the rearming of Germany under Hitler, right?
TV Dinner
There is a television show on FOX that everyone needs to be watching, and no, it isn’t the horrible, grating mess that one-year-wonder Glee has become.
The show is called The Chicago Code, and along with Justified on FX, this show has become my go-to-show to get my cops & robbers fix on television.
Created by Shawn Ryan (@ShawnRyanTV), the brilliant creator of The Shield, The Chicago Code crackles with great action and even better dialogue, all shot on location in Chicago, not in L.A. pretending to be Chicago.
The show stars Jason Clarke from the gone-too-soon Brotherhood on Showtime, as hardened CPD Detective Jarek Wysocki, a devoted public servant and South Sider (which means he’s a true-blue White Sox fan for those not in the know) who has trouble trusting his partners since Theresa Colvin, played by the still smokin’ Jennifer Beals, who is tough as nails and was made the first woman Chicago Police Superintendent (analogous to Tom Selleck’s Police Commissioner on the good, but not great Blue Bloods).
Fans of Friday Night Lights will recognize Matt Lauria (the former Luke Caffrey) as Wysocki’s latest partner, Caleb Evers, but it is character actor Delroy Lindo who is this show’s break-out star as Ronin Gibbons. Gibbons is a menacing, corrupt Alderman unafraid to dirty his hands when wheels need greasing, or when people step out of line to his thinking.
From the locations, to the accents, to the wardrobe (all of the street cops and detectives wear their bulletproof vests on the outside of their clothes, adding a tenseness to the proceedings not seen in most police procedurals), The Chicago Code feels just as real to me as does Justified, and I’ve never spent a large amount of time in rural Kentucky or in Chicago, but these shows feel real to me, and that makes them all the better, particularly in The Chicago Code, which bring that city to life in a way I haven’t seen since the last time I watched The Blues Brothers. In this show, Chicago itself is an important character, and I love that Ryan and his writers understand that.
As most midseason shows are, it is looking like The Chicago Code is on that all-important renewal bubble for the Fall 2011 season and needs all the support it can get. I urge everyone to watch this show, to catch up with it on www.fox.com or at www.hulu.com, and make it a regular part of your weekly viewing habits. The Chicago Code is worthy of your time and attention, I promise you. Mondays at 9:00 pm. Be there.
Plus, Shawn Ryan got Billy Corgan to sing the theme song, which sounds so awesome I am praying for a full version to be released on iTunes as a single. How is that for awesome?
Trust me, you won’t be sorry.
Smart Quote
The last two blogs I wrote, I urged and pleaded with people to donate to help the disaster relief efforts underway in Japan, and I will continue to do so in this space, because there are so many people who still need help, need charity, that I cannot imagine not helping in some way.
In charity there is no excess.
Sir Francis Bacon, Essays, 13, “Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature.”
The quickest, easiest way to donate is still to text REDCROSS to 90999 for an instant $10 donation.
If you have not done so, please do donate. It is the right thing to do. It is the human thing to do.
Hey, Check This Out!
Here is the aforementioned awesome, original Billy Corgan-sung theme song for The Chicago Code.
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter at @UGABugKiller. Thanks!
This is the guy who's supposed to coach Matt Ryan?
Falcons Fumble on QB Coach Hire
I wrote here that the Mike Smith and Thomas Dimitroff had a chance to make a bold move with their choice for QB Coach for the Falcons, that they could bring in an offensive mind with a fresh perspective, someone willing to offer a new voice and perhaps signal a move away from the ultra-conservative, vanilla, play-not-to-lose offensive philosophies that Mike Smith cherishes, but that has doomed the team in games that matter. I was looking for someone like Ryan’s former college coach Jeff Jagodzinski to get the job. Instead, Smith and Dimitroff hire recently fired former Cincinnati offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski for the crucial job of further developing Matt Ryan as his QB Coach.
And all I can say to that is, ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?
Bob Bratkowski is perhaps the single-worst hire the Falcons could’ve made. He has never been a QB Coach, on any level, college or pro. His trade as an assistant has been as a wide-receivers coach.
In his NFL career as an offensive coordinator working with the Seahawks and the Bengals, his offenses have finished in the lower half of the league more than half the time. As an offensive coordinator, he’s had some of the NFL’s biggest QB disappointments under his wing in Rick Mirer and Carson Palmer. This is a man ill suited to bring out the best in Matt Ryan, and this hire is yet again proof of Mike Smith’s play-it-safe, play-not-to-lose football philosophy.
Mike Smith went for the guy with a lot of time in the NFL, who doesn’t make waves, who does a job, but doesn’t necessarily do it well. Mike Smith hired a guy who isn’t going to challenge his or Mularkey’s insane Martyball philosophies that have kept the Falcons from winning games that matter. Mike Smith hired a guy who is vanilla, when the Falcons needed someone who is rocky road.
The worst thing about this hire is that this guy, who’s never been a QB Coach, is supposed to shepherd Ryan, supposed to be the guy Ryan can lean on in practices and in games. How the hell can Bob Bratkowski, wide receivers coach and middling offensive coordinator for two teams, by that guy for Ryan? This is the guy who ran offenses featuring Rick Mirer and Carson Palmer for crying out loud!
What a horrible hire by Mike Smith, Thomas Dimitroff and the Falcons organization. This is not the kind of message this coach or this organization needs to sending to paying fans after losing another playoff game in which the team was favored.
How terribly disappointing.
Seven Things I Know
1)With all apologies to @WhitlockJason and his personal crusade against the Pro Football Hall of Fame voting practices, but this righteous indignation that people seem to have both against and for the way it’s currently handled is ridiculous. It’s ridiculous because it won’t change. It won’t change because there people who have power, and they’re not going to do anything to give it up. Not Peter King. Not Len Pasquarelli. None of these guys are going to demand or seek changes. This is the same group who refused to vote in Art Monk for years; who discounted exactly why he was so valuable to his team and worthy of HOF honors.
Art Monk was the heart and soul of the Washington Redskins. He was their unquestionedleader on three Super Bowl winning teams, and on each of those teams, he caught passes from a different QB, meaning that QB was an interchangeable part for those teams, but Monk was truly indispensable in the locker room and on the field. Peter King argued for years that Monk didn’t deserve to be in the HOF because he was only a stat compiler, that his catches never averaged as much yards as Rice or Largent. King refused to dig any deeper, to find out what each and every catch meant for his team, like how Monk led the league at times in catches for first downs, and first down catches on third downs.
These guys who vote for the HOF are ridiculous; they hold grudges, they’re petty... they’rehuman. So when guys like Jason Whitlock crusade against “unfair” practices of voting forthe Pro Football HOF on behalf of a player like Willie Roaf, I just can’t seem to care, because while the system is broken, there just isn’t anything anyone is going to do about it. Wailing about this particular system of HOF voting adds up to sound and fury, signifying... nothing.
2)Roger Goodell needs to shut Jerry Richardson up, and he needs to do it quickly before he turns public opinion against the owners. Men like Jerry Jones, Arthur Blank, and Robert Kraft need to be the voices heard from the owners; men who built billion-dollar businesses from nothing. Short-tempered blowhards like Jerry Richardson, who is one of the cheapest owners in the league, does not need to be speaking to players, the press, or the guys at the coffee shop about labor issues.
3)We haven’t heard a peep in a few days from De Smith. That’s smart. Keep it up, NFLPA.
5)Cam Newton’s “media-only” workout, which was brokered by his father Cecil Newton, has toput Cecil in the running for Pimp of the Year, 2010-2011 pimping season. I mean, first he tries to pimp his son for $180,000 to Mississippi State, now he’s pimping his son to ESPN and SportsIllustrated. Cecil gotta keep his pimp hand strong! Stay away, Panthers. Stay away.
6)I think if the Cardinals don’t want to lose Larry Fitzgerald and half of their season ticket base,they need to throw their high second round pick at the Eagles for Kevin Kolb. Before March4th would be good.
7)Weekends without football SUCK.
Today in History
On 14 February 1859, the State of Oregon came into being, the 33rd state in the Union. From the Snake River, to the beautiful Pacific Ocean, Oregon straddles mountains and plains both. Oregon was founded as a state of refuge from the question of slavery, in fact, Oregon’s original Constitution only allowed for “white” habitation, so that slaves could not be brought into the state.
If any of y’all have never been to Oregon, I highly recommend taking a trip there, exploring the Pacific Northwest. I’m partial to both Western Oregon and Washington, and the cities of Portland and Seattle, two of the best, most interesting cities you’ll ever find in the United States, not to mention the cleanest.
Film Real
Today is a good day to go out and pick a film about love, whether it be a timeless classic such as Casablanca or My Fair Lady, or perhaps a funnier take on the subject matter, such as one of my favorites: When Harry Met Sally…
Even if you’re alone, suffering through another St. Valentine’s Day without someone to love, someone to kiss, or someone to hold, you can throw in Bonnie and Clyde, and see the crazy that love can make people do, and be happy to not be in love at the moment.
The fact is, romance films, specifically, romantic comedies are seen in modern times as, well, crap, and that’s not the true case at all. I know it seems that way, what with the proliferation of horrible romcoms staring Sandra Bullock or “romantic” films about fey vampires that glow in sunlight instead of bursting into flames like proper vampires should when exposed to sunlight. These films are poorly acted, poorly scripted, poorly plotted, and poorly paced. They speak down to their audience because the people who make them think we're stupid. Yet women and teen girls (an insane sub-species of human) continue to eat them up like candy, because they’re all Hollywood offers.
Instead of watching Twilight or The Proposal today with your girlfriend or boyfriend, why not turn on Netflix Instant Watch and watch His Girl Friday, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, instead? It’s a smart film, and you’d be much smarter for watching it instead of the lame Sandra Bullock-Hugh Grant-Reneé Zellwegger movie you were probably going to watch. Yes, it is in black and white, but it’s funny, it’s romantic, and above all, it’s a good film that doesn’t assume you’re a moron. Trust me. You won’t be sorry.
Smart Quote
In honor of St. Valentine’s Day, an apropos quote (used frequently in the film Moulin Rouge!):
The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return.
eden ahbez, Nature Boy (1948)
Hey, Check This Out!
Here’s a clip from His Girl Friday. This is an outstanding film that happens to also be a romantic comedy. I know, we’ve been taught by a mountain of modern romcom crap that this is impossible, but it’s true. Check it out. The snappy, rapid-fire dialogue, the chemistry, it’s all there.
And please, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter at @UGABugKiller. Thanks!
