RuntheDamnBall

Honestly, I looked forward to Graham's presence and contributions here, but the way he left, and the way that he has since conducted himself in Twitter measuring contests, has me less than impressed. I think he used to care and has basically checked out. Edit: And I'll agree, some posters act pretty reprehensibly in the presence of people who are volunteering their time and insights.

I would imagine she has spent at least an hour in the makeup chair and has a personal hairstylist for every shoot. And companies donating wardrobe. I'm not going to say that she isn't nice looking, but there is plenty of artifice involved in making her camera ready. There is very little real about her presentation. You know well enough that there is plenty of amazing art, literature, music, TV, design and culture being produced right now. And as someone who works in radio and podcasts I'd say we're in a veritable golden age of storytelling. But there is no unifying culture. Everything is very fragmented and splintered to suit niche tastes. So, to turn the most heads you have to fabricate scandal and excitement and the idea that boundaries are being crossed. Justin Timberlake, who is maybe one of the more talented guys in pop right now, benefited from just such a thing at the Super Bowl. The onus is on anyone who gives a sh-- about this, here. Good parents know that their kids' seeing this won't turn them into insta-skanks. This girl had zero talent to begin with. It starts with turning it off.

That video is a work of art. A work of horrible, hilarious art.

That would be tho, tho Thad.

Are they playing Washington State?

People who have been at camp feel differently.

This is about our basic freedoms.

No. For starters, the Astros have the former St. Louis Vice President of Scouting and Player Development, so they reached out to a very good organization to build things from the ground up. Really, the ground up. Like, they decided to hit rock bottom and make things hurt for awhile while acquiring high ceiling talent in the lower ranks. Their intention was not to make money while losing, but to build the organization with shrewd acquisitions and a stronger scouting system. Baseball has a luxury tax that football doesn't have where the poor teams are subsidized by the overspenders. Revenue sharing is entirely different in the NFL. And, you can turn things around more quickly in the NFL by hiring a new coaching staff that can adapt to the talent on hand. MLB rosters are significantly smaller and every piece matters more, so to speak. In baseball you also have different kinds of cost control -- arbitration for everyone as opposed to franchising one guy. Now, granted, the Astros took a lot of money to move to the American League where their lot in life is significantly more difficult. But they moved to the AL West where everyone in direct competition has some deficiencies, save for maybe the Rangers. The basic premise here is let's not base our theories on a single article in Forbes. The situation could not be more different for these two teams.

Capturing that Losman magic?

this.

I simply see the need to cross that bridge IF we get to it. I'm not even thinking about Manuel's prospects for failure. I just see this differently. Reps kind of indicates practice. He hasn't gotten a lot of that with the first-teamers.

You sort of threw him into the conversation with "loser QB picks," should he fail. That's a determination that is at least 3 years out. Does he need to produce that thread to validate his point?

EJ, after three months, is a loser QB pick? That's adorable.

Yep. I did see zero reason for letting TJax go at the time. I understand their philosophy - only so many reps to go around, want to give him a shot at catching on with another team, maybe didn't like how he looked or prepared in the offseason activities, but I don't know. Kolb does have enough of an injury history, and anything can (and does) happen in the NFL as regards the other QBs. It would have been better to keep him on board and jettison some other guy who wasn't going to make it anyway. I guess it has meant a lot of good practice time for Tuel, which is the only, and I mean the ONLY saving grace of all of this.

So, yeah, they took a QB. That's different than any team they've had since Tom Donahoe was here. They've built up the lines quite a bit, which was a perennial problem during the team's worst years. It took way too long but Nix did bring in a piece here and there. They built through the draft, added UFAs and free agents like Urbik, Chandler, big ones like Mario, Branch, Lawson. What do you want? I see a method to the team's work here. I don't like the way the Byrd thing has gone but the fact is that he is here, he is cost-controlled and the team is exercising its rights as per the CBA. Byrd is not just a guy they have to treat well, he is an asset that they can't give away for nothing and can't sign to an ungodly contract. I'm really not sure what all the complaining is about, is all. They've addressed QB of the future, they continue to address the OL, they picked up two defensive contributors in FA, they retain a lot of draft picks. Complaining doesn't really make your point. It nullifies it. Back up your claims that this team hasn't done the right things, and I think you'll get a less cranky response. This injury to Kolb doesn't change the fact that they brought in a vet QB they liked to push Manuel for the job. It just hasn't worked out. Maybe they evaluated him and decided he can't run the pace of offense they want to work with. Who knows? Do you? I'm just saying, I am not sure I want the poster boy for the last regime potentially running the team again. The Brandon crew is selling change, and they had to make good on that. EJ is their big selling point, and he will remain so despite this period of uncertainty. Look. The grass is always greener, but Fitz can really throw some duds out there, and you and I don't know exactly what kind of pay cut they wanted him to take. They took a different path, didn't work out. Onto the next one.

I can fully understand and support the move to not confuse the team with the prior regime's QB, a guy that some people on the team probably still have some loyalties towards, and is expensive.

Yes. Bad game against Cleveland, pretty darned good game against the eventual champions. Do you expect more from a backup?

But he was complaining about how people say it's too early to pass judgment on the new regime, which basically is hanging its hopes on Manuel. It's baffling.

Should of drafted Nassib too.

Uh, there is new management in charge. That management brought in the first QB taken in this draft. Do you have trouble tying your shoes in the morning?

Who cares? Better performance in spot duty than anyone else out there right now. People loved 38 year old Doug Flutie as a starter, but 38 year old Charlie Batch as a backup / mentor is a bad idea?

I hope they reach an injury settlement with him or IR him to give him another year of NFL service time, and offer their medical staff to provide him with whatever support he needs. Irrespective of his performance on the field, I do hope they counsel him to not return to football. The stakes are much higher than what can be earned on an NFL playing field. I wasn't jazzed about the guy, but I would have felt more comfortable with a veteran backup. Hopefully Leinart can step in and be that guy, and hopefully Kolb can find a life after football and be at peace with it. I am sure it's a ridiculously hard thing to give up on. This much is true.

F5 Still would have preferred Charlie Batch.