NFL News:

• Someone made the Grumble Lord mad by asking about the ESPN piece on the alleged dissention in Cheattown.
  • Funnier still, they asked if he was considering the vacant Giants position. He responded by saying he was absolutely coaching the Patriots in 2018.
    • There aren’t enough available moms in the tri-state area to make that happen.

• The Panthers have fired OC Mike Shula & QB coach Ken Dorsey, a purely coincidental move given how the Panthers lost to the Saints.
  • Somehow, Mike Shula lasted seven years with the Panthers.
  • Don’t fret for Riverboat Ron: He’s gotten a two-year extension.

• Antonio Brown is back practicing with the Steelers.
  • He was working out with Ochocinco in Florida prior to returning to the team.

Finally, in a genuinely touching gesture, the Vikings have gifted tickets to their playoff game to a 100 year-old lady & lifelong fan.

• She attended games back in the Bud Grant era, in the old Metropolitan Stadium. She was 59 the last time the Vikings played in a Super Bowl.
• From reading about 4-5 versions of the story, it seems a granddaughter wrote the team to mention she was turning 100 and was a lifelong fan, but had never been to a playoff game.

World War One Armistice Anniversary:

1918 2018 (thanks SoS & WCS) marks 100 years since the end of the First World War. As a History teacher, and with the looming offseason content mine needing another tunnel, I thought I’d fill in certain dates on the calendar with historical remembrances in the Open Threads. Since I devoted 2017 to some Canada 150 observations, I feel I can get away with this too.

Yesterday, January 8th, marks the 100th anniversary of President Woodrow Wilson’s “Fourteen Points“.

The US joined the war in April 1917, due to the “unrestrained, unprovoked aggression of the Imperial German government”, which was the German campaign of “unrestricted submarine warfare” they began in February 1917 in an attempt to starve Britain into surrender. [An published secondary reason was that the US needed to protect its investment if Britain and France lost, the US government would lose all the credit it had both extended and guaranteed to those two countries, resulting in a possible economic collapse from a war they never participated in.]

To sell the war to US voters, President Woodrow Wilson conceived his “Fourteen Points”. These points stated desired US outcomes in exchange for their participation in Europe’s war. They were needed as a ‘reason’ for why the “New World” had to go assist the “Old World”, to convince skeptical, isolationist US voters, to whom US politicians are beholden.

The 14 Points can be broken down into 4 components:

1. how to prevent future wars → Sections 1-4
2. dealing with Germany → Sections 6-8
3. accommodating oppressed nationalities → Sections 9-13
4. post-war war prevention and conflict resolution → Section 14

The document is consistent with US isolationist beliefs, because the proposed “League of Nations” (Section 14) and redesigned world would hopefully prevent the US from having to fight in future wars. It helped sell the people on the necessity for joining the war, and the brevity of time the US was involved prevented the rise of a large anti-participation movement.

Counter-argument: World War Two.

Tonight’s sports:

• NHL:
  • Oilers at Predators – 8:00PM | NBCSN / Sportsnet
• NBA:
  • Heat at Raptors – 7:30PM | TSN
  • Portland at OKC – 8:00PM | NBA TV
  • Kings at Lakers – 10:30PM | TSN / NBA TV
• NCAA:

  

  • Georgetown at St. John’s – 6:30PM | FS1
  • Baylor at West Virginia – 7:00PM | ESPN2
  • Texas A&M at Kentucky – 7:00PM | ESPN / TSN2
  • Butler at Creighton – 8:30PM | FS1
  • Iowa State at Kansas – 9:00PM | ESPN2
  • Purdue at Michigan – 9:00PM | ESPN / TSN2
• WWE:
  • Smackdown – 8:00PM | USA / Sportsnet360

I’m actually okay with last night’s Championship game result. Alabama actually had to play hard to win, unlike previous seasons where it seemed like the trophy was pre-ordained.

Plus, to reiterate Brocky’s point from last night:

You’re surprised? This is hardly the first time we’ve seen a team based in Georgia that blew a halftime lead in a championship game against a team made of pure evil.

Besides, everyone knows the true national champions are UCF. UNDEFEATED, Y’ALL!