The Frankish Reich

Well, I have to assume you just don't like basketball. I'm not a Mavs fan, but I watched games in the bubble and the playoffs just to see the amazing talent of Luka Doncic. Watch and enjoy. EDIT: watching Luka and the Mavs right now. The reincarnation of Rick Barry? This time born in Slovenia. Sometimes I watch sports because my team is playing (Bills/Nuggets/Rockies/Sabres when they're competitive, otherwise the Avs) ... sometimes I watch just to enjoy to remarkable athletic ability and game sense of the great players. That's Luka Doncic. And Damian Lillard is in this game too. Hoisting up 35 footers where you say "what the hell is he doing?" And then they go in. Greatest super long-distance shooter in the history of the world. I do feel sorry for folks on in the eastern time zone. The best basketball has been in the West for years now. Nikola Jokic: best passing big man I've ever seen. LeBron: I'm not a personal fan, but really - 36 years old and probably playing as well as he ever has. Steph Curry. Doncic. Lillard. Hell, even the amazing crossover breakdown of CJ McCollum. Epic battle in the bubble playoffs of Jamal Murray (Nuggets) vs Donovan Mitchell (Jazz). I don't know that this particular style of basketball is sustainable, but this is peak 3-ball/pass-and-shoot basketball. Currently the most entertaining sports league out there, and that's from a guy who is usually not a committed NBA fan. Watch! You're missing a great moment if you don't.

Well, say what you will about Fauci since the COVID outbreak. But it's preposterous to claim that he was some anonymous low-profile bureaucrat before that. He was front-and-center in the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, and it's to his credit that he never shied away from his critics coming at him (at that time) from the left. He is a major figure in the world of infectious disease studies and mitigation strategies, and he has never avoided the public eye. Maybe you just weren't paying attention ....

One of the mysteries of 2020 style politics is the veneration of JFK by Trump Republicans, particularly those who are Q-inspired. Kennedy was the ultimate Cold Warrior. Trump loves that powerful, powerful little former Soviet KGB man hell-bent on restoring some manner of the Russian/Soviet empire. JFK pretty clearly likely won the presidency through the type of electoral fraud that Trump continued to harp on regarding the 2020 election, which showed no evidence of anything similar. JFK relished the quasi-royal trappings of the White House and rose to power through some shady dealings of his family. But that's where the Trump comparisons begin and end. One served honorably in the military; the other, well, he got bone spurs.

The best analogue to the storming of the Capitol was not antifa riots last summer. It was the "occupation" of the Wisconsin State Capitol in protest to Gov. Scott Walker's elimination of union rights, etc. It's fair to compare those two. Thankfully those did not result in death and destruction. But they were aimed not just at protest, but also at slowing or stopping the operations of the legislature in support of a certain goal. Street rioting last summer that was more about unfocused attacks on private and public property isn't analogous to a storming of a legislative session with the purpose of preventing the operations of government from reaching a pre-ordained result. We need to compare apples to apples. The Dems in Wisconsin share some of the blame for providing a kind of roadmap for Trump and his supporters. The antifa rioters, not so much.

Reported Cases Compared with a national peak of 314,093 cases reported to CDC on January 8, 2021, the daily number of cases has declined by 69%. The current 23% decrease in the 7-day average number of daily cases reported also provides an encouraging sign of recent progress. Even with these declines, however, the 97,309 cases reported on February 11 remains higher than what was seen during either of the first two peaks in the pandemic. 97,309 New Cases Reported 104,217 Current 7-Day Average 27,127,858 Total Cases Reported 134,524 Prior 7-Day Average 314,093 High -22.5% Change in 7-Day Average Daily Trends in COVID-19 Cases in the United States Reported to CDC 7-Day moving average More data. resize iconView Larger

Take a look at the stats - we ARE turning the corner. Now, if it turns out the vaccines are not effective against new mutations or something similar, we may be back where we were a year ago. Thankfully the doesn't appear to be the case: https://covid19-projections.com/path-to-herd-immunity/ The best projections show the US getting somewhere close to herd immunity in the summer of 2021. Yes, it's been a horrible year. No, we don't have COVID-19 under control yet. No, even if the USA turns it into a controllable disease, like seasonal flu, we aren't anywhere close to that for the world as a whole. But the scenario is pretty optimistic right now. Obviously prudent mitigation efforts are in order until we approach something like herd immunity. And that includes masks, minimizing large potential superspreader events, etc. But we are moving toward what will look like a relatively normal world sometime this summer. I actually think large OUTDOOR events this summer are perfectly feasible barring something unforeseen (like a more virulent strain taking over). Lighten up. We are winning. I don't care who takes credit or blame anymore. And if supporters of the past administration could only stay on message (and that includes the former president himself): Operation Warp Speed has been an amazing success story.

Agreed. I had a friend from the UK tell me about the old days, meaning up until about the early 1970s. They played God Save the Queen before movies started. He just thought it was weird in retrospect, the theater all standing up while a recorded anthem played. But why was that weird while playing before a sporting event isn't? I'll admit it: I kind of like the pomp and circumstance before major events. I would always go the MLB opening day - the huge flag unfurled on the field, the flyovers, the fireworks as we hit rocket's red glare ... but before ordinary events, it's more of a "where do I put my beer and hotdog so I can take off my cap." Not exactly an inspiring or patriotic display.

I imagine you didn't watch last year's bubble playoffs. Right up until the finals (which really weren't competitive) it was fantastic basketball. The start of the regular season hasn't been up to the same standards, but that's typical. I don't watch much until the playoffs. If you missed the whole bubble restart and the ensuing playoffs, you missed some of the best entertainment out there since the COVID pandemic hit. Give it another try when we get to the playoffs again!

Marjorie Taylor Greene. The gift to the Dems that keeps on giving: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9246917/Marjorie-Taylor-Green-openly-cheated-husband-men-gym.html The Tantric Sex therapist AND the personal trainer? When Trump is your Jesus, it seems you will do anything to emulate him.

My thinking about why so many posters here are ex-WNYers: it's an age thing. Specifically, people in their mid-40s to mid-60s. My impression is that posters here skew a bit older. Add it up and that coincides with entering the job market between the mid-1970s and the early 1990s - pretty much the steepest decades of Buffalo's industrial and population decline. People moved away but clinged to their Bills and occasionally their Sabres too. My family dragged us out of Buffalo when I was just a kid during this time period. And here I am. Clinging. Bills only.

I’m sure they do see it. But it’s like trying to maintain a conspiracy (or to use a less sinister term, price-fixing) involving 32 companies. Will 2 owners see the personal/team gain in breaking discipline? History says it’s a matter of time. And nobody mentioned Miami? Time for a Dolphins Have Something Up Their Sleeves freak out!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.si.com/.amp/nba/2021/02/10/mark-cuban-mavericks-stopped-playing-national-anthem Nobody noticed till now?

I am old enough to remember when Presidents didn’t say “I have a pen and I have a phone” so just pass the damn law or I’ll do it without you. 2011 wasn’t so long ago. I am also old enough to remember taking a law school class where a Reaganite prof lectured on how we are in a new age of “Congressional Supremacy” that makes the occupant of the White House more or less irrelevant. That was during the time of Bush 41. My how things change.

It’s almost as if we are nominating and electing a bunch of septuagenarians!

^This. I kind of thought that the lack (well, lessening) of SB parties would drive up ratings. Instead of a dozen people watching on one TV, they’d be watching on 6 TVs. But I guess not. I think I watched more televised sports last year than I have in any year in my life just for lack of other leisure activities, but I guess I’m in the minority. Hey, there was a post-COVID baby bust too. So some things weren’t substitutes. Eating? That was way up. I saw that Frito-Lay sales were up about 30%. Which may also explain the baby bust in addition to the COVID 15.

That’s a great story. Even if it isn’t true, it ought to be true. But wait: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/196809290buf.htm In the Bills only win of the 1968 season, Joe Namath threw 5 picks INCLUDING 3 PICK SIXES - one for 100 yards - and Dan Darragh’s 78 passing yards were enough for the Bills to win. Marty, I think you saved us from the first winless season in NFL/AFL history. 🍻 Cheers to you and Joe Willie. And Brunners.

McD is a fine coach. But he’s still a young coach, and he’s still in the mode of “the defense we built in Carolina is the model for a successful NFL defense.” Luke Kuechly was a dominant playmaking MLB there, so he’s focused on taking the raw talent of Edmunds and shaping him into the same type of player. Star was the middle of the line wall, so bring him in here. That allowed Kawann Short to be a playmaker next to Star (11 sacks in their SB season), so make Ed Oliver the new Kawann Short. I think he’ll start to show a bit more flexibility as the problems with the sustainability of that Carolina model (without the Carolina players in their primes) is becoming apparent. The distinction with the offense is obvious, since Daboll has adapted to his personnel rather than making his personnel adapt to his scheme. Maybe a little more of a hands-off approach on defense is in order, letting Frazier (or whomever it may be) do what he thinks is optimal?

You think? They beat GB twice. They dominated not just the Super Bowl vs KC, but also the second half of that regular season game. They crushed the team that had just crushed the Bills. They ended the season as clearly the best team in football, and it wasn’t even close. Everyone important seems to be coming back. And they are 4th, behind KC, us, and GB? Was this written before the Super Bowl?

The good news for him: Dr David Chao is not actually his doctor.

Marty’s last year as a coach was 2006 in San Diego. After a career of coaching limited (Bernie Kosar) or well past their prime (every former 49er from Steve DeBerg to Steve Bono to an old Joe Montana himself) QBs, Marty finally got Drew Brees and then Philip Rivers. In 2006 he and Rivers went 14-2. Prime LaDanian Tomlinson was on that team. They lost in the playoffs to the Pats, but looked poised to make a run. And Marty got canned for the worst idea in football: “let’s bring in Norv Turner.” I wanted the Bills to hire him. Not sure if he just wasn’t interested in yet another coaching gig or if teams just thought he was too old and out of chances. He had a hell of a record: 200-126 (.613 winning percentage, basically averaging a 10-6 season for his career). RIP Marty.

Ouch. I wonder what they’ll have ready to go when Marv Levy’s time comes. It is important to remember that the writer of the story almost never writes the headline. This jarring headline is on some other staffer.

Fortunately this fan vid captures the whole field like the All 22, so I've been scouting some of the defenders away from the ball. The one White Shirt guy takes a good angle at the end. Looks like he's out of the play and our streaker will easily make it into the end zone, but White Shirt #1 never gives up on the play. We need a big guy with a motor like that.

True. "Let's do what Tampa did with its front 7" is easier said than done. Steve Young just pointed that out - high-powered offenses can be shut down when 4 guys are sufficient to bring pressure. But the examples of that happening were the Giants in 2012, Ravens in 2013, Broncos in 2015. And no team in the rest of the past decade.

Yeah, this is kind of a "let's put together a super group for one last concert tour" thing. Suh was the most dominant interior defensive lineman in his prime. JPP one of the best pass rushers. Shaq Barrett is a current Pro Bowler who just keeps getting better. All veterans, all still with enough physical talent to turn it on again for one epic playoff run. I'm not sure that's something anyone else can copy.

It wasn't so much that the Jeep commercial was preachy (it was). It was kind of a downer. I think they were going for the same thing as the Clint Eastwood Chrysler commercial in 2012 - the one coming after the great recession and Chrysler/GM rescue packages. But that one just seemed to sound a more optimistic tone, a kind of "our best days are in front of us" thing. This one? Not so much.