Week 14 Trash Talk
Going to be a fairly quick Trash today, have some other things requiring attention. No college football this weekend, save for the Army Navy game. Have to say, it was as good of a Army/Navy game as I remember seeing, certainly anytime recently. Army broke their 14 year losing streak with some incredibly tenacious play down the stretch in the 4th quarter. Good for them.
In the Pros, the game of the week is arguably Ravens at Pats on Monday night. The Pats are at home, but are without Gronk the rest of the way. And Marty Bennett is banged up too. Still, Brady at home in the limelight, not going to pick against that and Bill Bel. Maybe tied for game of the week is tonights SNF match between the Gents and Boys in Metlife Stadium. Weather is intermittent snow today and cold tonight. Dallas has been so clutch all year, but I’ll take the home dog Gents in an upset.
Also of serious interest is the Squawks at the Packers in Lambeau. Green Bay is not out of the playoff hunt, but they will be if they lose tonight. Seattle can afford the loss, but not the Pack. Rodgers is clicking better now, and the Cheese is coming to some life finally. But Russell Wilson, healthy again, can play in bad conditions too and the Packers are just beat up everywhere with injuries. Rodgers may be their best ground option, and he still has a bit of a hammy. That’s not good, I’ll, reluctantly, take Seattle. The Cardinals are playing for their lives in Miami in another do or die game. Like the Pack, the Cards seem to have finally found some urgency and team play. Enough to top Miami? I dunno, the Fish are doing way better than expected, but not necessarily against the best teams. That’s a pick em. Last game is for Lefty. Skins at Philly to visit the Iggles. No clue how to lean on that, but will go out on a limb and say the Skins get the road win.
That’s it for this week. Music by Janis.
What is this all about? The union finding a better way to increase its members’ ability to market themselves without going through the League? If so, good for them.
“The NFL Players Association said Tuesday that it has launched a new business incubator that will look to help emerging sports-related companies grow by leveraging the licensing rights and advice of pro athletes as well as resources from venture capital and technology partners. The union has launched the OneTeam Collective, along with founding partners the Harvard Innovation Lab, Intel Corp., Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Madrona Venture Group, LeadDog Marketing Group and the Sports Innovation Lab, according to a statement announcing the initiative. OneTeam will look to acquire equity stakes in new sports businesses in exchange for licensing, marketing and content rights for football players, as well as funding and mentorship for research, product development and marketing.”
So, the stands are about empty at Hard Rock stadium in Miami, it is about 99.9% humidity, rain is coming and the Fish are gonna need a bigger boat to hold all their injured.
So the Cards have already thrown an interception.
Dubious beginning.
Tell me again, why are we watching this?
Because that’s what the rat in bmaz’ doghouse is watching. Rat Zapper must make a fine digital antenna. ~laughing~
Okay. Seriously, what the fuck is your deal?
I appreciate you as a good voice on a lot of subjects, and as a consistent and dedicated commenter. Those are worthy values and incredibly appreciated here.
By the same token, football, F1, sports and trash talk has been a consistent feature at this blog going back to before it was even in the Emptywheel iteration, and way longer than you were ever around.
I am sick of people asking “why” we acknowledge that. It is because the people who actually run this site want to, and are interested in that. YOU are NOT one of them. If you do not wish to participate in Trash Talk, fine, then do not. There are plenty of other threads for you to go blather on.
But I honestly do NOT give one flying fuck whether “you” appreciate our inherent love of sports or not. You can just flat out stop whining with that baloney.
Touché, understood, and mea culpa. Ten Hail Marys for me.
Cardinals truly suck.
Kittehs, however, are riding their best rushing option, Matt Stafford, successfully so far.
On this Russian sports doping thing, my question is this. If WADA (who are independent and are supposedly the best) couldn’t figure it out, then how good can the NFL (which is grossly conflicted on the issue of whether to punish its stars) be, at catching cheats? Of course, the Russian sports authority likely has ten thousand times the cheating budget of any one US athlete, but still, I imagine some players are both rich enough and smart enough to be able to locate and tap into the knowledge base. Are the reported PED violations only the tip of the iceberg?
On the other hand, does doping matter that much on a team with 22 players on a side?
Here’s some sites from Russia on your topic.
https://sputniknews.com/
https://www.sott.net
Has info right now on their site
https://www.rt.com/
http://tass.com/
Fun site
http://englishrussia.com/
Enjoy
Go Niners but sadly there is a second half.
Welp. The Packers have really shown up today against the SeaSquawks. Yes, it is a homer win, but it is a win, and an impressive one.
Meanwhile, and my appreciation of the Kittehs has been honest this year, Stafford seems to have a bad finger, and it is not a pinky off the ball like Derek Carr had tried to ply for two weeks.
The NFC Norske is really fascinating this year. Lions still WAY in control. Pack akin a run at a wildcard though. Fun times down the stretch.
9ers find another way to lose. I can’t figure out why head coach changes the play calling when they’re ahead? They aren’t good enough to do that. There’s lots of rumors about the team management at this time but only time will tell.
I guess Aaron Rogers is a wish up just yet, Great Q.
Way to go bmaz, you called the Iggles, ‘Skins! It wasn’t pretty but in the end, on their own ’14 and with about 20 seconds left the ‘Skins much maligned defense sacked Wentz, recovered his fumble and saved the day. Go figure. How do you predict ‘Skins/Panthers next Monday night?
Skins!
I like the way you think. Spread sure favors them too. OTOH, they’ve sucked so bad on Monday Night football it’s a bad omen.
Joplin was great, nice choice. Boy, Big Brother and the Holding Company behind her was as bad as the ‘Skins on Monday Nights.
Too early to call, I think. The money line isn’t even set. All you can really say now is that the Skins are favored to cover the spread by anywhere from -3 to -4.5. But maybe you got some tasty info? Or maybe a gut feeling – I have used those, too. However, I always end up mangled when going with my plus-sized gut or team loyalties. Anyway, what the heck do I know – I’m just passing the time until MotoGP season starts again. :-) EDIT – Oops! Money lines coming in now. The VI consensus is Skins -225.
And I STILL say that SOMEBODY had to buy those Nickleback records, even if they did it ironically!
Gut feeling.
And NO! Nobody “has” to buy Nickelback records. That strikes me as a universal agreement that nobody should ever have to poll.