dave mcbride

Di Fara is pretty great (their Sicilian, that is), although I haven’t been in years. The thing is, there are four dedicated pizza places and two Italian restaurants that make their own pizza (as part of a broader menu) that are all within a 3-10 minute walk from my house in Park Slope, and they are all excellent in their own ways. So I pretty much stick to them. Roberta’s in Williamsburg is the bomb (and my favorite). I actually took a cooking class with the two owners about 8 years ago and can make a pretty fair version of their pie myself. I learned a ton about the importance of ingredients. For instance, for the sauce, you gotta use San Marzano whole tomatoes (no other type is nearly as good) and puree them yourself. They said that all tomato companies basically save the best tomatoes for the whole-tomato cans and relegate the second-rate ones to the puree/crushed tomato cans. I did a taste test afterward, and they were absolutely right. Same thing about using the right flour (00 super-fine mixed with good bread flour) and mozzarella. Thankfully, there is a great Italian store up the block that makes their own incredible mozzarella. Lombardi’s on Spring Street and Grimaldi’s in Dumbo are both fantastic too. Long lines, however. Di Fara has long lines too, but if you get there early on the weekend (10:45 am or so) it’s not too bad. I haven’t tried the other ones you mention. Sounds like I should!

If you come, don’t hesitate to ask for recs!

Hondo, I have lived in Brooklyn for a quarter century but grew up loving pizza in Buffalo. I have to report that pizza in NYC is ... a LOT better than pizza in Buffalo. I don't even enjoy eating the latter anymore, although we always end up with Bocce's on Thanksgiving weekend. I certainly don't DISLIKE Bocce's or La Nova, but it's only a moderate cut above the pizza you can get in anywhere USA. I did live in LA for 8 years, and the average pizza remains terrible there. Buffalo is definitely a better pizza town than LA. The flipside is that the Mexican in LA is out of this world. I do like Chicago pizza a lot, but my view on that is that it's really a different food group and shouldn't be compared with regular pizza.

I'd far prefer it to be Josh vs. Trevor Simien, Jalen Hurtz, or Cam Newton.

If you don’t like the actual Promo the Robot, you must have a sad life. Also, it’s not as if you’re name is referring to something more recent. And Torquemada was a cruel villain who sent tons of innocent people to their deaths 500 or so years ago. Basically, a genuine villain in history. 😎

Flores is doing some really strange things now. Once you file a suit, don’t issue charges in the media that you know probably can’t proven (re Belichick *probably* advising the Giants to look favorably upon Daboll—which is not problematic anyway). Apparently he approached the law firm he’s using rather than the reverse, but that firm’s filing ain’t doing him any favors. That filing is a throw it all against the wall and see what sticks approach. He took down Jersey/AFC in epic fashion in 2000, and now he’s taking out Jersey/NFC in epic fashion. Rabid Boston fans gotta love it. Who’s next? The Yankees? The Knicks?

At the risk of comparing apples and oranges (baseball and football in this case), Knox strikes me as a player with a good FIP relative to his ERA: https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/what-is-fip-era-pitching-baseball-mlb-stats-statistics-advanced-sabermetrics/d5p48p6z6us51lqbo0wvgigto. There are things he can't control, like how many passes are thrown to him and what the winds are like in Buffalo in any given game. But when called upon, he makes plays, including explosive ones. In other words, I think the trajectory points upward.

Good thread. I'd also add that you have to look a little beyond the numbers and look at what he offers physically. He's really fast for a TE and a true matchup problem. That perspective is important, I think, because I think it may tell you more about future productivity. I'm not saying he's going to be Kelce, but he's also not going to be Scott Chandler. He's just more talented than the latter, and frankly more physically gifted than most TEs in the league. In other words, there's real upside with him with regard to future growth.

This. Your backup is a guy who can get you to 2-2 over a four game stretch (or 3-3, but you get my point). Trubisky was ideal this year, but he's likely a goner. Fitz can do that provided the hip injury he had didn't basically end his career. It may have; we just don't know.

Well, one of those losses to MSU was one of the most ridiculous losses ever (the blocked punt one). Harbaugh coached well in that game and lost on a complete fluke in a game that Michigan had in the bag (btw, my wife went to MSU).

He is 59-19 there if you exclude the ridiculous covid season. The other thing is that Michigan is one of the very best academic institutions in the world (e.g., https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/ranking ), and while the Michigan football program mostly gets around this problem, they can’t get around it entirely. It is recognized by most people as an academically challenging school, which it is (although there are easy majors there too, and the football players are steered toward them). They are basically in the same boat as Notre Dame, Cal, Northwestern, UVA, and UCLA (Stanford and Duke are at a different level with regard to admissions). They can’t take just anyone, and the school does have an academic image to maintain. It makes a difference, especially at the margins.

Reporter Elizabeth Spiers, who worked for Jared Kushner at the NY Observer long before Trump became a political figure, reported that in a meeting with a close associate of Trump to try and figure out why he acted the way he did, the latter said, "Here's what you need to know about Donald: he lies to people about the weather just to stay in practice." If a better deal had come along -- and it would have, no doubt -- all of his past behavior and practices indicate that he'd have moved the Bills at the proverbial drop of a hat. Obviously and thankfully we'll never find out. I'm not talking about politics here; I'm talking about his long career as a businessman in which he lied constantly about pretty much everything.

Yeah, that's my view. Interesting that he says this, though. Also, two things can be true at once - JBJ is full of it and that Trump funded a smear campaign. Trump would have moved them too, of course. Good thing we have the Pegulas.

Good stuff, and it's pretty eye-popping (albeit basically what I intuited from watching what's going on in college ball).

The thing, though, is that this is a bad draft for QBs, Pitt drafts late, and their quarterbacks are terrible. Pitt may look for better, and they should, but meanwhile they need to win next season. Don't think Tomlin isn't aware of the fact that he's never had a losing season. If Mason Rudolph is his QB, he'll probably have one.

That's possible. I just don't know if they're done with Wentz yet. If they cut him, though, they save $13 million on the cap although he'll still account for $15 million in dead money. That said, if they cut him now, they get massive savings in cap dollars in 2023 and 2024. https://overthecap.com/player/carson-wentz/4715/

I think he's better than backup level -- he's more like a qb who falls between 17 and 27 in terms of his play to date. The Bears did win with him, and his numbers in 2018 and 2020 were pretty decent. The Bears were 25-13 in games he started between 2018 and 2020. You could do a lot worse.

It sucks, actually, which is why a lottery of the worst seven teams in the first round (with no weighting) is the obvious path forward. I can't see it not happening after this.

He was a grad assistant at PSU and an LB coach at W & M. He has never recruited anyone, and that's over 50 percent of a college coach's job.

Respectfully, I don't see it. Daboll is all in on Jones, who is a poor man's Allen. Daboll was hired to fix Jones, whom Giants management fully believes in. Not saying they are right, but the tools are definitely there. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, is a good team that just happens to not have a credible quarterback.

I don't see it. He can start in this league, and he presumably wants to be paid like a starter.

I truly don't see the Giants. They are committed to Jones. Houston's QB may well be the second best QB from last year's draft after Lawrence. Mills was the number one recruit in the country coming out of HS, after all. Maybe Indy, but Pitt makes a little more sense to me. I don't like Wentz, but he's a legit NFL starter. Pittsburgh doesn't have a starter at present. Nothing even close, actually. Rudolph is bad. Could be. Seems like a chaotic situation down there now, however.

I truly believe the Giants are committed to Jones for this season. Every report I've read is that Giants management across the board loves Jones and think his talent has been wasted. Assuming Trubisky is a competitor, he's going to where he will be the starter. Pittsburgh is the most stable organization in the league and hasn't had a losing season in forever. The receivers are good. The RB is good. The defense is generally good (albeit with some holes). It makes the most sense to me.

I strongly believe he'll be moving on, and I've thought about the best position for him to land. He is not a franchise QB like Allen, but he's legitimately decent, has won in this league, and has all of the tools. If I'm Pittsburgh, which has no credible QB, I'm targeting him hard. In my view, his best career trajectory comp is Tannehill. Tannehill is not elite, but he's good and can help get to 11 wins and maybe a SB if the stars align. Pittsburgh has most of the other pieces outside of QB. Pittsburgh would be legit playoff contender with him. They are not a playoff contender with their current stable of quarterbacks.

The NYT stat is a small sample size, but yeah, in recent years Caldwell (9-7), Lovie Smith (10-6), and Flores (9-8) were all fired after winning seasons. I think the only white coach to be fired was Mularkey (9-7), but there may be more that I'm not remembering.