There is one line of “Waiting for Godot” that shakes me deeply: “Never make a decision hungry, angry, or tired”. Which is self-fulfilling for a lazy and contented middle class—but I digress. Sometimes decisions need to be made angry, in the heat of the moment.
There is a great injustice being tolerated and it’s the current overtime rules granting a coin toss winner an opening possession TD for the win. Professional football is worse for Josh Allen being out of the playoffs without touching the ball in OT after those frenetic…
Ah, who am I kidding. That line is from “And Just Like That”. I could never get through Beckett.
YOU: But it’s a play that you can read in a single sitting.
Read… During the NFL playoffs?
Also shameful: liking the current OT format. I think this is the right time to discuss it, not when everyone has critical distance and crap.
Each team having the ball in OT, at least for playoff games: that’s what I propose. In terms of awesomeness, no problem there! A team forced to match an opening TD, and contemplate going for two afterwards, is too exciting to dismiss outright.
The counter point is all centered on defensive “should’ves”—stopped the team in the 4th QRT, force an opening OT possession punt / kick…
Being honest with myself, the purists sound close to macho posturing. C’mon. The current system does favor the coin toss winner, and the best argument in favor of it is “Suck it up”
The current rule favors efficiency and good defensive teams. But I find no competitive harm in giving each team an offensive possession. At the end of two possessions, higher score wins; if tied, sudden death.
But first possession safety wins anyway because that is fucking badass. That’s my proposal.
NFL NEWS
Per espen:
-Sean Payton’s future in Nawlins is uncertain, while Dennis Allen is getting traction.
-Tom Brady and Qaron, out of the 2021 playoffs, are out of the 2021 playoffs.
Qaron will be a-Favrening in the offseason, while Brady doesn’t know what to do yet. A quote from Brady “I’m still waiting to see which team with a bad offensive line is my best fit”, per my limited imagination.
-Bruce Arians said the Bucs “are reloading, not rebuilding”, with the confidence of a Democratic fundraiser.
-Chiefs open as -6.5 favorites against the Cincinnati Bengals, Rams at -3.5 against the San Francisco 49ers. I haven’t forgotten that the Bengals beat the Chiefs in Week 17, which I’ve found hidden under the rug amid the Mahomes elegies, the paeans to Kelce, and the Tyreek uncomfortable silences.
LESSER SPROTS
All times Central.
Australian Open Tennis
Yes, Grand Slam tennis deserves top billing. Seriously! No Djoke
Women’s Singles Quarterfinal
4 B. Krejcikova (CZE) v. M. Keys (USA) – 7:00
Men’s Singles Quarterfinal
14 D. Shapalov (CAN) v. 6 R. Nadal (ESP) – 10:00
NHL
Ducks @ Bruins – 6:00
Kings @ Rangers – 6:00
Stars @ Flyera – 6:00
Golden Knights @ capitals – 6:00
Canadiens go Wild – 7:00
Blackhawks @ Avalanche – 8:00
Blues @ Flames – 8:00
NCAA Womens’ Roundball
Vanderbilt @ South Carolina – 6:00
San Diego @ Cougars – 6:00
Pre-Madness Flotsam
Louisville @ Virginia – 6:00
Texas Tech @ Kansas – 8:00
Arizona State @ USC – 10:00
January Jetsam
Knicks @ Cavs – 6:00
Pacers @ Pelicans – 7:00
Bulls @ Thunder – 7:00
Jazz @ Sun Ra – 8:00
In short, I’m coming around on the one-possession-per team thing—at least only for the playoffs. Yes it would be more complicated to have another rule for the regular season, but the NFL has never been keen on simplicity. (See, fumbles inside two minutes, “Catch”…). It just seems equitable and provides for dynamite spectacle.
Colts brass cried their way to change the DB rules during the early part of the Pats dynasty. Bills fans filling this spring owners’ meeting with broken tables would be much more dignified.
Gifs by giphy.com, banner via here
I think we are all Waiting for Godot.
Who knew so many Buffalo fans would be such whiny babies about losing? Such losers.
Let’s just look at the positives: At least some tables have been spared until next season.
I bet Shapovalov is a Buffalo fan, too.
Huh. I had no idea that Jessica Pegula is the kid of the Bills owners.
So she’s used to disappointment
Shapovalov is like Nuke LaLoosh — million-dollar strokes and a ten cent brain.
“You’re paying too much.” – Bob Kraft
“Wish my husband would have one of those.” – Melania T., Manhattan
Apparently Krygios hit some kid in the face with a ball and then gave him a racket. Tennis is wild tonight.
“Just one? That’s nothing.”
–Traci Lords
Ok, I chuckled:
https://twitter.com/FoldableHuman/status/1485760645454655491?t=U1W6Vsbsxwshky2a2PkBDQ&s=19
The stock market’s going to do “Get help” to fix itself.
Things I have done today to procrastinate the work I absolutely need to do today:
–Interview prospective college students for my alma mater and complete evaluations that aren’t due for a month
–Clean three toilets
–Laundry
–Lie down doing nothing for a while
–Crossword puzzles
Speaking of college students, my nephew got into Richmond! His first choice.
Go Spiders!
Shapovalov just told the chair umpire “you guys are all corrupt”.
Yeah, I’m a little surprised he didn’t get a Code violation for that.
He’s not wrong that the stars get preferential treatment, though.
When the chair umpire yelled at Shapo for looking at him I thought we were looking at another Joey Crawford/Tim Duncan situation.
–
No shame in Nadal losing his hair, but he’s GOT to cut it shorter. It looks sad, all wispy and floaty.
I would throw carrots at you for not reading Waiting for Godot… but this is a turnip.
I had Modernist Drama class with the 2nd worst professor I had in college. It was a nightmare. I could have stuck a shiv in that motherfucker with a smile on my face. But I still got an A!
“…I kind of wish I lived somewhere nicer…” – Madison Keys in her postmatch interview, describing her current living/training situation in Florida
/her trashing Florida very much endears her to me
Almost fell for a phishing scam today. I got a few voicemails and an email purporting to be from Expedia regarding an upcoming trip. Of course I should have realized something was up when the app itself didn’t have a message for me. But they had my email address, cell number, and itinerary number, and the flight has changed a bunch of times so I figured it was possible I needed to do something. I finally clued in because of how shady the “customer service rep” was being, and before I gave any information.
You should probably let Expedia know about this in case they were compromised.
Yeah, was looking at that. They don’t make it easy, though.
Balls that OT/shootout was nuts.
1) The colts were right. Fuck Teddy Bruschi
2) Both teams deserve to touch the ball in OT.
3) I picked SF +3 and Cincy +6 before the lines came out.
4) Peter Doocy IS a stupid son of a bitch.
5) Self hatred is the broccoli of emotions.
6) Just getting around to watching “The Wire”. Pretty good!
Man, I HATE broccoli, but I will be damned if I ever part with my self-hatred.
/tries to douse self-hatred in olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast in a 425 oven with garlic
Goes well with pasta!
I’m roasting broccoli and turnips right now.
Sauteeing some purple kale in a minute
I could go for some of that too! I’m pan frying a ham steak, probably make a sauce with garlic better than bouillion and some butter, I think I have a splash of white wine in the fridge. And some dijon.
Oh you “think” you have some wine around, do you? This is DFO, you’re not fooling anyone….
I don’t drink much now that Gumby can’t anymore. I had a glass or two at Christmas, and one on New Years Eve. It’s pretty much nothing but herbal indulgences for the Gumby’s!
4) Imagine how stupid you have to be in order to be considered “the dumb brother” in that family.
6) Oh, indeed.
I also held out a long time re The Wire (less a conscious decision, more just being lazy), long enough that I found it pretty jarring how long it was in SD.
“Tell me more…” -Houston
.
Based on the “send mails”, imma guess husband used @aol.com instead of @excite.com
I really need to save the fuck the kings picture on all of my devices. Because googling that just shows me Alec Martinez and that just makes things worse.
Hee hee hee
When this pandemic nonsense ends, I’m going to LA for a game, and you’re coming to New York.
Count me in!
I’d love to follow them on the west coast swing and hit SJ and Anaheim as well over a week
Similarly, it would be great to hit up a game in Madison Square Garden and in the new arena for the Isles.
Let’s skip Newark though.
Yeah, fuck that dump.
But it’s in the Garden State! It must be beautiful!
Here’s my counter-argument to all those whining that Buffalo lost without getting the ball: (ahem) ITS CALLED DEFENSE, YOU WHINING ASSHOLES! ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS KEEP THEM OUT OF THE ENDZONE AND THEY’D GET THE BALL!
I don’t recall Redshirt being this high and mighty when the Bengals were perpetually mired in last place in their division and couldn’t win a game to save their lives. You’ve changed man…
On the contrary, I’ve had these beliefs long before Gus Frerotte forgot which arm was his throwing hand.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb9VLnbB8fk
..
Most shocking thing about this highlight is that it was more than 4 seconds long, entertaining, featured more than the one star player on each team, and you actually got some insight into the flow of the game
Is the clip 3 hours long?
That one was and so is this one.
ALL 12 STAR WARS MOVIES (at the same time)!!! (4K) – YouTube
Just have both quarterbacks come out and sit at a table at midfield to armwrestle for it like real men — best of 3 and the ad revenue for the commercials after the first go gets sent to CTE research.
I’m not a fan of the whole “each team gets a possession in overtime” business but if you’re going down that road, the advantage of going second needs to be eliminated. Perhaps put them at the 20, the objective is to score a touchdown and a field goal is worthless. No conversions, either.
–
Uh oh, they’re speaking in tongues.
He was a Hungarian gold medal gymnast. I figured it was more respectful to make the announcement in his native tongue.
Saw that Neil Young told Spotify, it’s me or Rogan,,due to the crap from his show. I assume that Rogan will stay but love it. Off to stream me some Neil Young
Today would have been Warren Zevon’s 75th birthday. Remember to enjoy every sandwich.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7Mirkd3CT4
I cried the whole way through that Letterman show.
I’m going to stick with the idea I came up with last thread. Let teams move the line of scrimmage back to score more than 2 points after a TD. If you are 8 points behind in regular time, you can choose to go for 3 and the lead, but it’ll be more difficult than going for 2 and the tie. Hell, if a team is down 15 or something and they score last minute, why not let them try to tie with a hail mary? If teams do tie, then we go to RTD’s method of the first drive going to the team with posession at the end of regular time
Didn’t the XFL have some version of this?
The “guaranteed one possession (except for safety), after that next score wins” rule would make for an interesting dilemma: if you win the OT coin toss, do you want to receive the kickoff? Probably yes, because it means you’ll get the 3rd possession when it’s sudden death, but going 2nd means you know what you have to do (i.e. if opponent has scored a TD, you’re obviously in four-down territory the whole way).
I have two alternatives:
1) the college system, which is based on the old California HS football system from when I played.
2) Play an extra quarter. Score at the end of the quarter determines whether you stop or keep going for another quarter. Rinse and repeat.
I like the second option. College football rules ruin the over, so Vegas will never allow that (BROUGHT TO YOU BY DRAFTKINGS/SI/CAESARS SPORTSBOOK APP, GIVING PETE ROSE A CONNIPTION SINCE 2021)
They could make it so the scores don’t actually count. Like shootout goals in the NHL. They don’t count for player statistics. You could make it so team B needs to match team A’s score. if they dont, the winning score (TD or FG) becomes official, without any affect on individual scoring, and thereby keeping Vegas happy with point totals since thats what it would have been with OT anyway
Come to think of it, an extra quarter doesn’t sound bad.
The only real arguments against playing the full extra quarter is the increased risk of injuries with the extra time, and the fact that in the playoffs you could end up with some really long games
🤣😂 The NFL caring about injuries? Oh, that’s a good one, Dok!
I like the current rules. The tweak made (in my mind) to ENCOURAGE MOAR REGULAR SEASON DRAWS? That fixed all the problems.
A good part of success is luck, and you can’t really remove that from the game entirely. Trying to do that gets you abortions like JV NFL running up and down the field trying two-point conversions.