Sobering Thoughts |
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Comments on politics, the culture, economics, and sports by Paul Tuns.
I am editor-in-chief of "The Interim," Canada's life and family newspaper, and author of "Jean Chretien: A Legacy of Scandal" (2004) and "The Dauphin: The Truth about Justin Trudeau" (2015).
I am some combination of conservative/libertarian, standing athwart history yelling "bullshit!"
You can follow me on Twitter (@ptuns).
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Thursday, September 30, 2010
Netflix didn't kill the video store A week after Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal has an article on the decline of the video store that focuses on the challenges facing mom and pop operations. According to the Census Bureau, in 1997 there were 23,036 video-rental stores in the United States, but by 2007 there were only 16,237; in 2001, the industry raked in $8.37 billion in revenue but that number has declined since. The video store operators and the WSJ say that Netflix, on-demand programming, and the internet conspired to kill the rental business. Sure, they all played their part, but what about the low price of DVDs and high cost of renting (under $20 compared to $6 before taxes)? Why rent a movie that has to be returned in a day or so or seven under threat of punitive fines when one can own it and lend it to family and friends for about two-and-a-half times the price? With ownership, customers can enjoy the extra features on DVDs at their leisure. I once complained about the price of a rental at Blockbuster and asked why it was so expensive and the manager told me it was "to be competitive." I don't think that they understood what competing meant. What killed the video store? The free market. Video stores over-priced their inconvenient product. Greed is often self-correcting. The GM got a whole lot better Irshad Manji to replace columnist Rick Salutin at the Globe and Mail. The benefit of having Salutin occupy space every Friday in the Globe was that it was one less thing I had to read in my morning papers. Hilarious Heidi Moore: "Sometimes I dream that Malcolm Gladwell and Matt Taibbi will meet and have lots of little making-sh*t-up babies." Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tweet of the day Darryl Wolk: "I would prefer to see a reduction in per capita arts funding...not an increase. Toronto needs to get priorities in order." Four and down 4. With the usual warning about small sample sizes, I just wanted to note that the three teams the Pittsburgh Steelers have beat so far this season -- the Atlanta Falcons, Tennessee Titans, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- are 6-0 in their other games. In other words, it's not like they are steamrolling their way through the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills. 3. EPSN's NFC East blogger Sal Paolantonio says of the Donovan McNabb-Michael Vick match-up this Sunday: "What should be a nondescript Week 4 game between division rivals will now be known as the game in which the Redskins’ McNabb -- the disinherited franchise quarterback -- returns to a city he never could quite call home to play his former team, which is now smitten by the pyrotechnic skills of Vick, once an NFL outcast whom McNabb helped save from pro football oblivion." Ignore the actual writing and focus on a highly dubious proposition: that a game between any two NFC East rivals would be nondescript. Divisional rivalry aside, this wasn't going to be nondescript even before Vick ascended to the starter's job for Philly. In fact, this Sunday's contest was on a lot of football pundits list of one of the most anticipated games of the season -- McNabb against his former club. It is still that -- and more, now that Vick is playing at an MVP level. 2. I agree with Aaron Schatz about NFL Replay. 1. As Luis DeLoureiro notes at Fifth Down, defenses are usually rated by yards conceded, but turnovers are (usually) game-changing events. DeLoureiro gives different values for a fumble recovery in the end zone compared to a pick in the midfield. Last year, the Steelers were fifth in yards surrendered but fifth last in turnover "points." So far this season, Pittsburgh has 10 takeaways, compared to 22 in all of 2009. Some takeaways might not be as valuable as others, but when you recover a fumble or grab a pick three-and-a-third times a game, you're going to win. DeLoureiro also notes that turnovers are a combination of luck and skill; so teams cannot count on consistently getting the ball away from opponents in order to win. But it certainly does help a lot when it happens. Midweek stuff 1. Joe Posnanski list 32 favourite Sports Illustrated covers. The artwork is great, but if you can read the approximately 10,000 words that accompany the article, please do. It is worth pouring a coffee or adult beverage and reading it all. 2. A review of The Wire and a pair of books about the HBO series appears in the New York Review of Books. Lorrie Moore writes: "Utility versus futility is everywhere at the center of David Simon’s own view of the show. The great waste of human spirit and endeavor is dramatized, ironically, with great human spirit and endeavor." 3. From the Boston Globe: "Nestled among the towns between Carver and Harwich are more than 14,000 acres of cranberry bogs." The story is about the cranberry harvest in southeast Massachusetts. By comparison, Ontario has about 114 "planted acres" of cranberry bogs. Cranberry is the most interesting fruit industry. Here are a number of cranberry articles, including the beginning of the Dec. 18, 2004 Economist article that got me interested in the business of cranberries. 4. From the Wall Street Journal: "Elderly Zombies Win the Undying Loyalty of Their Fans: Cast of 'Night of the Living Dead' Recall the Gory Days." 5. Zoologger looks at an "Ancient air-breathing, triple-jawed fish" -- aka, the African freshwater butterflyfish. 6. Shoes by Kobi Levy. Love the banana and sticky gum shoes. 7. Greg Giraldo passed away today at the age of 44. Here is one of my favourite clips -- not often you get a Bobby Kennedy assassination joke and Muhammad Ali Alzheimer's joke in the same set. Can we prorogue Parliament yet? MPs give unanimous consent to condemn Maclean's: "That this House, while recognizing the importance of vigorous debate on subjects of public interest, expresses its profound sadness at the prejudice displayed and the stereotypes employed by Maclean's Magazine to denigrate Quebec nation, its history and its institutions."As Ezra Levant says, "Pitiful for Parliament to denounce a mag. Chavez-like. Only a notch better than a human rights censorship prosecution." If this is what Parliament is doing, Canadians don't need it. Gaston tribute The whole ceremony, especially the video tribute, was classy. Not over-the-top. I quite like it. I'll put up a link when I find one. Three and out 3. The Tampa Bay Rays are in the running for the best record in baseball, but their attendance is dismal. Players are complaining about the lack of fan support and the organization is giving away 20,000 free tickets to tonight's final regular season home game. The team needs to play in the city of Tampa, but really, is a 15 minute drive really so far out of the way to see one of the best, most exciting teams in baseball? 2. Cito Gaston is going to manage only a few more games before his semi-retirement from baseball, but tonight's contest with the New York Yankees will be the last one before the home crowd for the Toronto Blue Jays skipper. I think Gaston makes some terrible decisions in allocating playing time and filling out a lineup card. He is overly committed to veterans and distrustful of young players. I don't like his formulaic handling of the pitching staff. But you can't argue with the record: Two World Series and a 890-836 record, all with the Jays. Unfortunately, I won't be going to tonight's game. If I were, I would stand and applaud a man who had more victories as a Jays manager than any other person has managed the team. I'm not sure if they won because or in spite of him -- analytically it is difficult to gage the impact of managers -- but in pro sports the manager/coach gets a certain amount of credit, and Gaston has been the common link to most of the best Blue Jay campaigns. He has certainly been a good hitting coach -- both when he held that job and as manager -- and a great ambassador for the team and sport. He deserves the standing O he'll get tonight. 1. Is Mariano Rivera tweaking his cutter? I hope this is not an over-reaction to a few bad outings. More importantly, I hope this isn't the end of a dominant career. New York Daily News columnist Flip Bondy says: "Joe Girardi can only repeat the mantra passed on three seasons ago from Joe Torre: 'Mariano is Mariano. He'll be fine.' Probably he will." At some point, that won't be true. For the sake of the Bronx Bombers and their fans (me included), I hope he'll be fine but a pitcher in his 40s who still dominates can't be counted on being Mariano forever. Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tweet of the day Rob Silver: "Sarah Thomson: the best Mayor Toronto never had, who we never really gave any serious thought to electing as Mayor." Four and down 4. Grading the games I watched for entertainment value. B-: Dallas Cowboys 27, Houston Texans 13: Cowboys played a better game on both sides of the ball, utilized the wrong a little better. Texans obviously missed Andre Johnson, who played injured. Boys went for it on fourth down twice in the opening drive.3. Early MVP honours: Philadelphia Eagles QB Michael Vick for offensive MVP, Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews for defensive MVP, and Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu for MVP. 2. Both the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars made a waiver claim on Trent Edwards and by virtue of being the worst team in 2009, Jax "won" the former Buffalo Bills QB. If the Jets are serious about contending in 2010, and they really feel the need for a backup to Mark Sanchez, Edwards is not their answer. Jack Del Rio and the Jags did Rex Ryan, the Jets, and their fans a huge favour. 1. The ESPN Power Rankings have the Pittsburgh Steelers first overall -- that doesn't quite seem right considering their quarterback situation and a running game that isn't quite as good as it should be, but it is hard to imagine any other team in the top spot (the underperforming New Orleans Saints? a Indianapolis Colts team that was surprised in the season opener?). Their defense is stifling and if it continues to play at this level, it doesn't matter who is quarterbacking. Peter King has Pittsburgh in first in his own version of a power ranking (the Fine Fifteen). Interestingly, both ESPN and King have the 3-0 Kansas City Chiefs at 15th. That is wrong, especially in King's ratings where the 1-2 Dallas Cowboys are ranked 12th. Three and out 3. Yesterday, the Philadelphia Phillies clinched their fourth consecutive NL East division title. They are 46-17 since July 21 and 20-5 in September. For the third time in four years, they clinch against the Washington Nationals. Unfortunately for Philly and its fans, there is little correlation between how a team does in the final two weeks/four weeks of the season. 2. I sort of agree with Rob Neyer that the Cincinnati Reds should use Aroldis Chapman as much now before his electric arm gives way to the damage that his ridiculous fastball will inevitably cause to his gifted appendage. And fans should watch as much Cincy in the post-season to catch a glimpse of that fastball, which has reached 105 mph, while they can. 1. New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1 to clinch a playoff spot for the 15th time in 16 years. I am, of course, thrilled. And finally ... From Reuters: "Germany will finally pay off the last of its debts from World War One this Sunday, on the 20th anniversary of German reunification." Germany paid 70 million euros, the last payment on a 6.6 billion-pound reparation payment. Someone in Liberal HQ has to take Justin to the woodshed Justin Trudeau: "In Saskatoon, just visiting the U of S for some serious science at the Canadian synchrotron. Also at a great student session with open Q&A." Should a Liberal MP use the words "just visiting"? Why we trade From Don Boudreaux's letter to the New York Times about America's trade deficit (cargo ships full of products headed from Red China and Japan, empty ships returning to the Orient): Please tell me why such a pattern of trade – with Americans routinely getting lots of imports in exchange for relatively few exports – is something to fear. Shouldn’t we celebrate it? If as workers we strive to exchange each hour of work for the greatest possible number of goods and services – that is, strive to import ever-more goods and services into our households for each hour of work that we export from our households – why shouldn’t we also want to get as many goods and services from foreigners in exchange for each dollar’s worth of goods and services that we sell to them? Liberals do the right thing -- and then don't Michael Ignatieff goes after Quebec separatists for making voters in that province choose between Canada and Quebec. I like the tough line. Just yesterday I was talking to a prominent Canadian conservative about the need for the Tories to do what Iggy did. Challenging those who want to break up this country is the right thing to do and politically it can be a winner by wrapping oneself in the flag of national unity. It's sad that the Liberals did this before the Conservatives, although Stephen Harper might very well have been bashed for threatening national unity if he did the same thing. The next step for Ignatieff is to go after the taxpayer subsidies for political parties which underwrite the federal separatist party (isn't that an oxymoron?). It makes no sense to subsidize the Bloc Quebecois, enabling them to bash Canada, while criticizing the dangerous and false choice that party is dedicated to offering Quebecers. Iggy also said, "the genius of Canadian federalism that you can be a Quebecer or Canadian in the order that suits you." I think that's accurate, but a federal leader will probably be seen as waffling by saying it. All that said, there is plenty to dislike about Ignatieff's latest speech -- he also said the way to battle crime is to fight inequality. The Tories need to highlight such nonsense. Monday, September 27, 2010
Tweet of the day Right Girl: "Popular in India... RT @ConservativeLA: #failedsongtitles 'You Light Up My Wife'." What is Tony Clement talking about? Tony Clement tweets: "@dgardner If by this you mean do I go up vs The Establishment, my answer is that I'm one of the most anti-Establishment people I know..." How can he claim that he is not establishment: Clement is the federal Industry Minister and was Stephen Harper's original Health Minister. He served in the cabinet of two Progressive Conservative governments in Ontario (as Minister of Transportation, Minister of the Environment, and Minister of Health) and has twice ran for the leadership of a political party (PCs in Ontario, Conservatives federally). In 2000, he served on the steering committee of the Canadian Alliance in an effort to unite the right in Canada. In the early 1990s, he was part of Mike Harris' inner circle, helping to create the Common Sense Revolution and the comeback of the provincial PCs. His wife is a lawyer at a major Toronto law firm. Credit where it is due Great to see this about the mayor of New York City: "Mayor Bloomberg proposes ending automatic tenure for teachers." As the New York Post reports: Starting this year, only teachers rated “effective” or “highly effective” will be eligible for tenure, Bloomberg said, transforming a system from one in which tenure is taken for granted to one in which it must be earned. Four and down 4. The Houston Texans lost to the Dallas Cowboys and despite a week of football pundits saying the Texans are a surging team, expect a week of football pundits wondering if Houston can win with any consistency. Here is the stat that might explain why the Texans are going to have a tough season: they have allowed at least 24 points in each of their first three games. Hard to win when a team gives up an average of more than 24 points. 3. The San Francisco 49ers lost 31-10 to the Kansas City Chiefs -- but they scored seven points in the closing seconds in junk time. Chiefs flying high (3-0) in the AFC West and San Fran, a popular pick in the NFC West, is now 0-3. Who would have thought KC would be one of the last three undefeated teams in the NFL -- along with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the winner of the Green Bay Packers-Chicago Bears Monday nighter. Speedy offense and quick defense is a great combo. 2. The very good George Blanda has passed away at the age of 83. See FanHouse, New York Times and the Associated Press for obits. Andrew Das writes about the longevity of Blanda's career at Fifth Down: "Blanda played so long that he had what amounted to three pro careers. He spent 10 years with the Chicago Bears, but retired when they tried to make him solely a kicker, and then seven more with the Houston Oilers of the upstart A.F.L. When the Oilers decided he was finished in 1967, he joined the Raiders and played nine more seasons." Blanda had a reputation for being a great clutch player, but his reputation is certainly inflated because he stuck around so long: he played for 26 years as a quarterback and kicker, and eventually just as kicker. 1. After losing his starter's job for the second year in a row to Ryan Fitzpatrick, QB Trent Edwards has been released by the Buffalo Bills. I'll have more about this and the Bills in a day or so, but right now I must express my disbelief that so many teams are interested in Edwards' service. According to the Buffalo News, Edwards has never thrown for 300 yards and has amassed 250 yards in just 5 of 32 starts. Three and out 3. Who's the next Jose Bautista? Bill Hall? Stephen Drew? Hard to tell. Here's a bet I will make with the first person to email me (paul_tuns[AT]yahoo.com): Bautista will not hit 35 HRs next year. 2. According to Tango Tiger Juan Marichal and Jim Palmer pitched almost exactly the same on three and four days rest; Marichal claims to be worse on longer rest, but the numbers show there is no discernible difference. 1. This is great news for the Texas Rangers: they have signed a 20-year, $3 billion television deal with Fox Sports Southwest. That's $150 mil a season -- more than any team's current payroll, save the New York Yankees. The Rangers can now afford to keep southpaw Cliff Lee and add a premium player -- or two or three. Texas should be competitive for a long, long time with the richest TV deal for any team that doesn't also own a regional sports network. Sunday, September 26, 2010
Weekend stuff 1. Maclean's on a house made of 3.3 million lego blocks. 2. Rick McGinnis has the "The top 10 Toronto landmarks" at BlogTO. No Rogers Centre, no Old City Hall, no Eaton's Centre. Of course, CN Tower is #1, and the justification for #2 makes a seemingly strange choice make sense: "With time, it's become obvious that a curtain of condos have done more to cut us off from our lakeshore than the Gardiner's forest of columns." 3. From New Scientist: "Standing on a stepladder makes you age faster." 4. Over at NewsRealBlog, Kathy Shaidle has "Media Matters’ 9 Most Embarrassing Screw Ups." 5. From Listverse: "10 Words That Can’t Be Translated To English." 6. Buzz Feed has 10 "iconic" Pepsi commercials. 7. If you have kids, you understand this pie chart about why you go to the pet store. 8. Rotting food time lapse (from the BBC): How bad are things going for the Dems? The Republican challengers and Democratic incumbent are effectively tied in the Massachusetts gubernatorial race. Governor Devel Patrick (D) has 35% compared to GOP standard-bearer Charles D. Baker who has 34%. According to the Boston Globe, independent Timothy Cahill is pulling support equally from both front-runners and has 11%, followed by Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein who has 4%. I wouldn't bet on Baker, but the fact that this is actually a competitive race says a lot about the state of the Democratic Party in 2010. Of course, signs of what was to come began in the Bay State with Scott Brown's senatorial victory in January and if Brown was able to win Teddy Kennedy's seat, there is no reason why Baker can't beat Patrick. Rory Leishman is no longer with the London Free Press Rory Leishman has resigned as a columnist from the London Free Press after the paper's editor-in-chief spiked an anti-jihadist column. Please read the two Five Feet of Fury posts about the circumstances surrounding Leishmam's resignation (one and two) and, of course, read the spiked column at Rory's website. This sort of censorship is deplorable; there was not just a strong opinion expressed in the column, but actual news being broken. The LFP has refused to follow up on the news lead Leishman provided them (pro-suicide bomber poetry in a Muslim newspaper in which mainstream political politicians advertise). He'll write elsewhere, including about life, family and liberty issues for The Interim. Saturday, September 25, 2010
The Age of Big Government is alive and well The politicians have no incentive to shrink the state, now or in the foreseeable future. Tyler Cowen explains: Obamacare won't be repealed or declared unconstitutional, nor will Republican candidates be running against it six years from now. Trying to repeal parts of it would likely backfire and destroy the private insurance industry, given that the process would be ruled by public choice considerations rather than rational technocracy. We still would end up with a larger public sector role in our health care institutions.That's from a larger column on "The shape of things not to come." Well said Brigitte Pellerin at ProWomanProLife: Either sex is a recreational activity that adults can enjoy without consequences, or it’s a very precious thing that shouldn’t be abused. Can’t be both. Week 3 NFL predictions Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots: The switch to Ryan Fitzpatrick under center shouldn't make a difference -- Pats should shred the Bills on both sides of the ball and win their 14th consecutive against Buffalo. Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints: Have the Saints had trouble scoring or are they just getting off to a slow start? Right now, it seems they do precisely what they need to win. Falcons will miss RB Michael Turner. Detroit Lions at Minnesota Vikings: I'm not comfortable with this pick -- I think that this year, the Lions have played better offense than the Vikes. But they haven't faced a defense quite like Minny's, even if it is struggling right now. It is hard to pick against the Vikings at home against a team that has won just two games over the past 34 regular season games. Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens: Battle of current and former Cleveland Browns. The Ravens offense needs to do better than 10 points per game. Should be achievable against the Browns even if Joe Flacco shows signs of regression. Dallas Cowboys at Houston Texans: The Texas Bowl. Texans appear to be the better team right now, but Dallas is talent-laden. Tony Romo finally figures out how to use his offensive weapons better although TE Jason Witten's injury is a serious concern. At some point offensive coordinator Jason Garrett needs to remember they have a running game, too. Cowboys offense explodes to make a statement about their disappointing 0-2 start, taking advantage of a Houston D that is losing key parts to multiple suspensions. Philadelphia Eagles at Jacksonville Jaguars: Philly has a solid defense and talent on offense. Jax doesn't. San Francisco 49ers at Kansas City Chiefs: Despite the Niners near comeback victory against the New Orlean's Saints on Monday night, they don't have enough to beat the up-and-coming Chiefs. The short week after the Monday nighter and traveling to KC don't help. Tennessee Titans at New York Giants: These two teams' offense are under-performing. Giants offense is ranked 28th in the Cold Hard Football Facts offensive hogs metric while Vince Young was pulled in favour of Kerry Collins last week and Chris Johnson was held to 34 yard on 16 carries. Tenny's defense will pressure Eli Manning, and he doesn't do well under pressure. Game should be close, but the G-Men eke out the home victory. Pittsburgh Steelers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers: In terms of points surrendered, both Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay are among the top four defenses, but using any other metric puts the Steelers way ahead. Second-year quarterback Josh Freeman will be seriously challenged by the Steel Wall. Cincinnati Bengals at Carolina Panthers: Cincy's superior defense and strong secondary will make for an unpleasant debut for rookie Carolina QB Jimmy Clausen. Washington Redskins at St. Louis Rams: Skins defense keeps Rams from scoring points many points and Donovan McNabb will begin to get Washington's scoring going. Oakland Raiders at Arizona Cardinals: Bruce Gradkowski takes over from Jason Campbell under center to inject new life into the Oakland offense and the defense stuffs the Cards. San Diego Chargers at Seattle Seahawks: The Bolts are vastly superior on offense and they overcome the tremendous home field advantage for the 'Hawks. Indianapolis Colts at Denver Broncos: Indy is the most talented team in the AFC. Denver is challenges the Oakland Raiders for the title of the third most talented team in the AFC West. New York Jets at Miami Dolphins: Jets defense, even without Darrelle Revis, should stop the Fins -- Antonio Cromartie should effectively cover Brandon Marshall. Mark Sanchez needs to step up the game. Expect a low-scoring affair. Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears: The 2-0 Bears will be exposed as a fraud. Packers defense will neutralize Jay Cutler and the improved run defense of the Bears won't matter because Aaron Rodgers won't be handing the ball off to the backs much Monday night. Friday, September 24, 2010
Tweet of the day Aaron Gleeman: "Did I just see *Matt Stairs* make a leaping catch at the wall to take away a HR?" Notice what Sarah Thomson is saying -- and not saying Sarah Thomson tweets about a Toronto Star story: "@Torontostar reporting rumours today -- huge lack of integrity. For the record I have not decided to step down." This is not a denial that she is going to back out of the election to help defeat Rob Ford nor is it a denial that she will endorse Rocco Rossi. Thomson should be banned from debates until she is clear what she plans to do. Robson vs. Iggy & the UN Great column by John Robson in the Ottawa Citizen. Read it and answer the question: what sucks more, the United Nations or Michael Ignatieff? The UN is useless, but then again, so is Iggy. The Liberal leader is undermining Prime Minister Stephen Harper's attempt to persuade the UN to give Canada a two-year stint on the Security Council. Robson on UN: Wednesday's Citizen said our annual push to censure Iran's human rights record might cost us crucial votes for that Security Council seat which gives you a pretty good idea what really goes on at the UN.On Ignatieff: It is not possible to discern what the Liberal leader was trying to do. His remarks simply make no sense on any level. Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Midweek stuff 1. Creme de Canna, aka high scream: $15 ice cream with 2-4 "doses" of marijuana. 2. Bloomberg Businessweek has a slideshow of 25 most expensive new houses in the United States. 3. Amazing spider webs -- 30 square feet large with anchor lines up to 82 feet long and built over running water -- created by a previously unknown spider in Madagascar. 4. Clock blocks is a great time-wasting game. (HT: Kottke) 5. The Wall Street Journal on camel racing in the Nevada desert. PETA is not pleased. There is actually an International Order of Camel Jockeys. 6. Mental Floss has the 15 best mini golf courses. Check out the videos of some elaborate contraptions. 7. TNR reviews book that explains how kosher food went mainstream. 8. Boyanka Angelova doing a near perfect ball exercise in rhythmic gymnastics. Three and out 3. Joe Posnanski says that Minnesota Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire is the best manager in baseball. No argument from me. The Twins are going to the playoffs for the sixth time in eight years -- this time despite missing closer Joe Nathan all year and Justin Morneau for large stretches of the season, and with his best player, Joe Mauer, not playing anything like he has (MVP quality) in the past three seasons. 2. Want to know why the Seattle Mariners are doing so terribly? Hitting. Or lack thereof. Two stats (from another Posnanski column): 1) "Mariners’ No. 3 hitters are hitting .227… which is actually BETTER than their No. 5 hitters (.209)," and 2) " Mariners’ second basemen, shortstops and catchers combined are slugging .301." 1. Arizona Diamondbacks hire former San Diego Padres general manager Kevin Towers as GM. Good move, although I don't like it being a two-year contract with team options -- I don't know how a general manager turns a team around in two years without jeopardizing the long-term success of the organization. In other words, it may create the wrong incentives to win now at any cost. I would hope that neither Towers nor the D'Backs would think that way. Gun registry vote 153-151 for the Liberal motion to not proceed on the bill to kill the gun registry. Let the game of figuring out who won and who lost commence. Tories will campaign in a dozen ridings on this issue and I predict they will pick up at least one northern Ontario seat. Politically, the gun registry is Canada's abortion issue. Mercer on gun registry mechanisations Rick Mercer: "Forecast for Parl Hill, whippings and floggings throughout the afternoon followed by spankings in the morning." Gun registry The Liberal motion to kill a vote that on a member's bill to kill the long gun registry will probably pass tonight. I think NDP leader Jack Layton convinces the four remaining opponents of the registry to stay away from the vote and that six of the eight erstwhile Liberal opponents show up for the whipped vote. The political ramifications: 1) For the Tories, it helps them win some Liberal and NDP seats in rural Ontario and Atlantic Canada, but it also hurts their chances to pick up seats in the GTA (Mississauga and Brampton). Conservatives will do worse in Montreal and Toronto, where they were unlikely to to win anyway. I have no idea what this means in Quebec.UPDATE: (12:18 PM): Rob Silver in the Globe and Mail: Mr. Milliken, who is also Speaker of the House of Commons, could find himself being forced to break a tie; the vote is that close. If he does, he is expected as Speaker to vote “to maintain the status quo,” which means he would likely support the government to keep the issue alive for further debate.Or the Speaker can "maintain the status quo" and vote with the opposition -- Milliken is a Liberal MP, after all -- to keep the gun registry. Four and down 4. Grading the games I watched: A: Green Bay Packers 34, Buffalo Bills 7: Sometimes it is fun to watch a team own another team. As one of the broadcasters said, Clay Matthews was having his way with Trent Edwards and the Bill offense. The Packers defense is not just great, but great fun to watch.3. Here's a Cold Hard Football Fact for you -- and the Seattle Seahawks: "Since the beginning of 2008, Matt Hasselbeck has had back-to-back good games (90+ passer rating) only once." 2. Really bad news for the New England Patriots: RB Kevin Faulk is out for the season; he was good in the backfield and could both run and catch -- not great at either but he added diversity to the offense and put opposing defenses on their toes. The Pats probably would like to take back that trade of Laurence Maroney. Would it have been time to move on if they knew that Faulk would tear his ACL the following weekend? 1. Gregg Easterbrook's comments about concussions at the beginning of his sprawling weekly football column are worth reading. Here is the "core problem" as Easterbrook sees it -- and he's right: the coaches at all levels who "are rewarded for winning games but not penalized for allowing their players to be harmed. A coach who sits a player down out of concern for the player's health may pay a price, if a game is lost. A coach who sends a concussed player onto the field may never be penalized in any way if that player suffers another concussion. Human beings respond to incentives, and right now the coaches' incentive is to be irresponsible with players' health." Read the whole thing. Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Best reason to vote for Rob Ford It will tick off Heather Mallick. Read her column and you'll see a columnist who is seriously unhinged, but this amuses me: "His monstrous regiment of angry, old, white male voters will love this [his supposedly right-wing agenda], initially." But you can't be 45% in the polls in Toronto on the strength of old, white males. About half the city is visible minority, not every white person is old or male, and there are a lot of effete Caucasians who simply would never consider putting their X beside Ford on the municipal ballot. The regiment of angry voters goes well beyond old, white males, Heather. Anger at the dysfunction of city hall knows no racial, gender or age restrictions. Opposition politicians and political pundits note that Ford is winning because people are angry, like there is something wrong with being angry at the fact the city is going in the wrong direction. Ford's detractors and critics can't bring themselves to acknowledge that Ford is tapping into not just anger, but specific anger about high taxes, crumbling infrastructure, an out-of-touch city council, concern about safety on our streets, the war on people's personal freedom (smoking, driving a car, you name it). People are upset that the city is burning and the politicians are playing their violins (at the Rosewater Supper Club for Kyle Rae). Sure people are pissed off. They should be. And Ford is tapping into that anger because he's angry, too. Good. And if a Ford victory makes Heather Mallick angry, that will be icing on the cake. Four and down 4. Ryan Fitzpatrick will be starting under center for the Buffalo Bills instead of Trent Edwards. The official reason is that with the O-line showing holes, Fitzpatrick, who is quicker on his feet and can scramble, makes more sense quarterbacking the Bills right now. The real reason must be that Edwards is comprehensively awful: he can't throw for any distance, seems incapable of doing his progressions, looks tentative on the field, etc... Yesterday, Jeff Blair, a sports columnist with the Globe and Mail, was describing how the Green Bay Packers destroyed and outclassed the Bills on the weekend and I loved this line about Edwards: "Edwards was called for intentionally grounding on one attempted long throw. Bills fans could have told them that wasn’t grounding; all the dude does is throw the ball for 15 yards." Ouch. 3. The last time the Bills had a 300-yard passing game was 2006 when J.P. Losman was under center and their quarterback of the future. Longest current NFL streaks without 300 yards: Bills (55), New York Jets (51 -- which includes the Brett Favre 2008 season), St. Louis Rams (26), Baltimore Ravens (11), and Carolina Panthers (11). In that Bills span of 55 games, Drew Brees has thrown 300 yards ore more 24 times, Tony Romo 23, Peyton Manning 19, Tom Brady 16 (and he missed a season), and Kurt Warner 16. Aaron Rodgers who has only played two-plus seasons has nine 300 yard games. 2. I wasn't looking forward to the New Orleans Saints-San Francisco 49ers game last night on Monday Night Football. The Niners bore me, even though they have the most animated and entertaining coach (Mike Singletary, who is eminently likable) and one of the five best defensive players in the league (Patrick Willis). But it was a great game -- more tomorrow after I collect my notes, have the chance to watch a game or two I missed live, and I grade the games I watched. Anyway, the last San Fran drive was masterful, leading Cold Hard Football Facts to declare of Alex Smith, the 2005 first round pick that through five seasons has been something of a dud, "A possibly competent QB is born!" That's not an insult. 1. Hate to agree with SI's Peter King, who puts the Pittsburgh Steelers at #2 on his rankings, but has this is exactly right: "Amazing how much Troy Polamalu means to this team. His value approximates Ben Roethlisberger's." At least as valuable, as his absence proved last year. That said, the Steelers at second is a tad high considering how silent their offense has been. I'd put the Green Bay Packers 1, New Orleans Saints 2, and then the Steelers. Monday, September 20, 2010
Four and down 4. The announcers for the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills games broadcast on CBS Sunday afternoon said after the first half that you could begin to see Chan Gailey`s influence on the offense of the Bills because they were improving. The graphic of the first five Bills series showed two drives for negative yardage, two drives for just around 20 yards, and an 80-yard drive that concluded with a field goal. Four punts and one drive that resulted in three points. Great influence. 3. The New York Jets had possession for 1:02 of the first quarter against the New England Patriots. They later won 28-14 following a run of 21 unanswered points. 2. After the Minnesota Vikings loss in the season opener in New Orleans, football commentators blamed the Vikes receivers for not quite having the timing right. Brett Favre missed almost the entire pre-season camp and yet football pundits thought it made sense to blame five receivers for failing to catch Favre's passes rather than the man who was making the throws. Today, however, the punditocracy quite rightly turned on the Purple Jesus. Three picks, and they are all on Favre's shoulders. That's one more interception in the home opener in 2010 than he threw in nine home games (including playoffs) in 2009. Finally, today, his receivers aren't getting blamed for giving up the ball when Favre throws into coverage. On the season, Favre is completing 58.7% of his passes, has one touchdown and four picks, and is carrying a 56.1 passer rating. The AP is reporting that the Vikes might be looking for receiver help, but I think they need to give the ball to Tavaris Jackson. 1. The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Tennessee Titans 19-11 despite 127 yards of net offense and didn't score an offensive touchdown. That happens when the defense forces seven turnovers. Ben Roethlisberger-less Steelers are 2-0, with the defense carrying the team which hasn't scored an offensive TD in regulation time in either regular season game. If the New Orleans Saints allow more than 11 points by the San Francisco 49ers this evening, the Steelers will have the best defense in terms of points allowed. Double standard on challenging incumbents The Tea Party is instrumental in defeating a pair of Republican politicians, Rep. Mike Castle (Delaware) and incumbent Senator Bob Bennett (Utah), and force Florida Governor Charlie Crist out of the party, and this is all a sign of the ideologically pure extremists taking over the Republican Party. But when union-man Joe Sestak knocked off Democrat Senator Arlen Specter (Pennsylvania) earlier this year, or MoveOn.org-backed challenger Ned Lamont defeated incumbent Senator Joseph Lieberman (Connecticut) in 2006, or feminist Carol Moseley Braun defeating Senator Alan Dixon (Illinois), there was no hand-wringing about the so-called moderates in the Democrat Party being defeated by the ideologically pure extremists. Two on Toronto mayor's race -- George Smitherman Both from Radio Free Canada: Smitherman's collapse is worst I've seen since Barbara Hall campaign. Which Smitherman ran! Everything he touches turns to shit.And: "Smitherman's numbers are going down faster than...well, than Smitherman on a guy he just met after snorting a line of meth." Sunday, September 19, 2010
Tweet of the day I can't believe it, but Justin Trudeau: "Arrrrr. I wish tomorrow were "talk like a pirate day" instead of today: our first day back would be coloured with more interesting heckles." Runner-up: Darryl Wolk: "only candidate who can be trusted to cut taxes, end waste, control spending, build subways & keep you safe in Toronto." Football tweet of the day Judy Battista: "Do you think Peyton is already thinking 'What am I going to say to Eli when this is over'?" Score is 31-7 for the Indianapolis Colts over the New York Giants at the beginning of the fourth quarter of Manning Bowl II. Intrestingly, this is the 13,225 NFL game and only the second time a pair of brothers have faced each other as quarterbacks. The other time? Eli and Peyton Manning in 2005. Multiculturalism before food safety The Daily Mail reports: A Mail on Sunday investigation - which will alarm anyone concerned about animal cruelty - has revealed that schools, hospitals, pubs and famous sporting venues such as Ascot and Twickenham are controversially serving up meat slaughtered in accordance with strict Islamic law to unwitting members of the public. Nothing for sale Guy is selling nothing on eBay. Reminds me of the French Revolution in History of the World, Part I. Castro`s Cuba George Will on the failed socialist experiment in Cuba -- and the need to end the failed policy of isolating the island prison. Saturday, September 18, 2010
Weekend stuff 1. Incredible picture of a mega Empire Strikes Back scene done in Lego. Other pics from the BrickExpo. 2. Listverse has "Top 10 Badass James Bond Fights." It's a pretty awful list. Putting Bond versus Le Chiffre from Casino Royale doesn't make sense -- it's not really a fight. Neither is the chase from the beginning of the film (although it is a great Bondesque scene). For me, the best Bond fight is between Bond vs. Oddjob (Goldfinger) and Bond vs. Peter Franks (Diamonds are Forever), and I would rate Bond vs. Tee Hee (Live and Let Die) higher than 10. But this isn`t a list of the best fight scenes or iconic fights (Bond versus Bambi and Thumper in Diamonds are Forever), but badass. Still, you would think one of the invasions or escapes from the villains' headquarters would rate among the top 10 (taking the volcano in You Only Live Twice or escaping from the super sub in The Spy Who Loved Me). 3. From the Daily Telegraph: Recycling noise. 4. From New Scientist: Spray-on clothes. 5. From Technology Review: "Taking Stock of the Stimulus: The technology funding in last year's Recovery Act is just beginning to reach its targets." 6. The Boston Globe has great photos from "Around the Solar System." 7. The Autopia blog has "Wired`s Guide to Driving in Kabul." 8. Nouvelle Vague's cover of Modern English's "I Melt With You." NFL weekend predictions Winners in italics Arizona Cardinals at Atlanta Falcons: Hard to imagine either team playing as poorly as they did on Sunday (Falcons didn't score a touchdown and lost in OT, the Cards barely got past the lowly St. Louis Rams), but the home squad with Michael Turner and Matt Ryan have the edge. Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals: I expect the Bungles secondary to play better, but the Ravens are the superior team on both sides of the ball. Miami Dolphins at Minnesota Vikings: The Fins are solid, but Minny's defense and Brett Favre have something to prove: that their poor performances in the season opener are not indicative of what to expect. Vikes will win handily if their ancient quarterback gets comfortable with a receiver, otherwise they eke out a grinding victory on the legs of Adrian Peterson. Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina Panthers: Division foes both looked terrible last week, but the Bucs got the win, albeit against the Cleveland Browns. The Panthers win riding repeated hand-offs to Maurice Drew-Jones in a low-scoring affair. Buffalo Bill at Green Bay Packers: Bills solid secondary will slow down Aaron Rodgers a bit and an injury to Ryan Grant will slow down the running game, but that means the Packers win by covering the 13-point spread, instead of doubling that. Philadelphia Eagles at Detroit Lions: QB controversy or not, the Eagles are the better team, but the Lions have the ability to keep this close. Philly by a TD regardless of who starts under center. Chicago Bears at Dallas Cowboys: If Dallas plays as dumb and undisciplined as they did in the opener against the Washington Redskins, the Bears will start 2-0 and the Boys 0-2. Doubt that the Cowboys can be that bad in back-to-back games so early in the season; normally they reserve such breakdowns until late December and early January. Dallas defense will exploit Jay Cutler's and Mike Martz's recklessness and win the turnover battle which will be vital for a victory until the Cowboys offense (read: Tony Romo and his O-line) becomes dependable. Expect to see more handoffs to Felix Jones who had just 10 carries last Sunday. Kansas City Chiefs at Cleveland Browns: Before the season started, this contest sounded downright dreadful. Now I want to see the Chiefs running game exploit a dismal Browns defense. Before the season started, it was possible to imagine the Browns getting off to a 2-0 start against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Chiefs. Not any more. Chiefs by more than seven if Matt Cassel begins passing the ball. Pittsburgh Steelers at Tennessee Titans: Should be the best 1 pm game. Titans were tied with the New England Patriots for the most prolific offense in week one (38 points). The Steelers were one of five teams to not allow double digit scoring. Pittsburgh's inability to score against the Ravens is a concern, but Dennis Dixon didn't have a terrible game and might be steadier in game two; he would have looked better had Mike Wallace not dropped a catch in the end zone. I know this is my heart talking, but the Steelers edge Tenny in Nashville, 16-13. Seattle Seahawks at Denver Broncos: Seattle surprised the San Francisco 49ers with a decisive 31-6 victory last week but they are always better at home. Denver is nothing to get excited about -- Tim Tebow will get a wild cat play or rushing opportunity, but don't expect him to throw the football, even when they play at mile high. Flip a coin. Up comes the home team. Won't be pretty. St. Louis Rams at Oakland Raiders. Speaking of not pretty ... someone has to win so I pick ... damn, I don't want to. Rams will beat the team many pundits were predicting could surprise people in 2010. Raiders defense might not be as good as advertised and rookie QB Sam Bradford will exploit it. Low scoring and ugly game -- even the locals are hoping for a blackout. Jacksonville Jaguars at San Diego Chargers: Speaking of blackouts, San Diego will experience its first one since 2005. Bolts are too talented and defying recent years' slow starts, beat the abysmal Jags. Philip Rivers should regain his poise after a game with terrible mistakes in KC on Monday. New England Patriots at New York Jets: The big AFC East rivalry plays out for the first time in the new stadium and I don't expect either team to play like they did opening weekend. The Pats will have trouble running up the score against this Jets defense and it is hard to imagine the Jets offense being as uninspiring as it was Monday night. The Pats are still the better team and I don't trust the sophomore under center Mark Sanchez. Pats win by seven, or more, with the final tally not quite indicative of how close the game is on the field after Sanchez marches his team up the field but isn't able to finish the job and score. Houston Texans at Washington Redskins: The Texans won't be as good as they were against the Indianapolis Colts and the Skins won't be as bad as they were against the Dallas Cowboys. Skins defense is better than Colts, plus they won't be surprised by the Houston running game. Donovan McNabb should begin finding his targets. The home team in a close, perhaps back-and-forth contest. New York Giants at Indianapolis Colts: In Manning Bowl II, Peyton has twice the weapons as brother Eli does. Needs to employ the run more to keep Giants defense honest. Colts exact revenge for their opening loss. New Orleans Saints at San Francisco 49ers: New Orleans is a vastly superior team on both sides of the ball. San Fran defense was particularly horrid in opener in Seattle, but even with a vast improvement they won't be able to keep this game close. Saints by a pair of touchdowns. Friday, September 17, 2010
Tweet of the day RightGirl: "Michael Bloomberg apologized to the tornadoes for whatever Americans did to upset them into hitting NYC. He's building a tower for them." The Buckley rule I don't necessarily disagree with Charles Krauthammer who says that Rep. Mike Castle was the better bet to win the open senate seat in Delaware, and that the importance of gaining Republican seats and therefore getting closer to the goal of control of the Senate outweighs concern for ideological purity. I will grant all that and still raise skepticism about the invocation of William Buckley's rule to support the most conservative candidate who is electable. I generally agree with that rule. The problem is there is no agreement on the calculus involved in making that determination: 1) most conservative must include a calculation about being sufficiently conservative, and 2) it is near impossible to determine who is and is not electable some time in the future. Remember, Jim Flaherty lost a pair of races for the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership to two people (Ernie Eves and John Tory) who were much more "electable" than Flaherty who went on to get trounced by a mediocre Liberal leader, Dalton McGuinty. Perhaps Flaherty would have given the people of Ontario a reason to vote Progressive Conservative instead of Liberal by differentiating himself enough to motivate people to vote Tory. O'Donnell, as much as Castle, can still provide a compelling reason to vote Republican: stop Barack Obama and the Democrats. I happen to agree with Krauthammer that O'Donnell probably can't win in a statewide race in Delaware and in this particular campaign (between O'Donnell and Castle), the Buckley rule was probably violated. My problem is that the Buckley rule is a good general principle in theory but much more difficult to figure out in specific cases. Happy birthday NFL It turns 90 today. There is a very brief article about the founding at the Football Hall of Fame website. Quiz: name the only two original teams still playing and what were their locations/team names in 1920? Hint: they have both since moved, one of them twice including, originally, to get away from the other when it relocated. Answer is in the HOF story. Keep the state out of our kitchens Ottawa Citizen columnist John Robson has an excellent column on the desire of Canada's health ministers -- including those from the federal Conservative government and four ostensibly right-of-center provincial governments -- to reduce the salt intake of the Canadian people. It is, as always, pure gold. An excerpt: So I ask you: What sort of conservative thinks the state should be telling people what to eat? For that matter, what kind of liberal thinks the state should be evicted from the bedrooms of the nation only to move into the kitchen and mess with the condiments?If the Chretien/Martin feds or McGuinty's Ontario quarterbacked an anti-sodium initiative, right-wing blogs and talk show hosts would be all over it as a communist plot. But they are silent. Robson's larger point is this: those in government do not articulate any philosophical or moral reason to justify their use of coercion to direct the lives of the people. Nagging people to reduce their salt intake isn't just about the government's "mission to desalinate the populace" but about liberty and the relationship between rulers and the ruled. It is disconcerting, to say the least, that politicians don't ever have to justify their relentless assault on freedom. Somewhere -- and I'm surprised that Robson doesn't note this -- the responsibility for this is shared by the voters who put up with it all. Best piece on the Tea Party Jonathan Rauch has a long article in the National Journal about the Tea Party and it is a must read for anyone who follow politics. A lot of pundits believe that the Tea Party movement is just the angry, extremist wing of the Republican Party. (See Wednesday's New York Times editorial.) Rauch paints a much different picture. Rauch describes in detail how the network of local Tea Party organizations operates: conference calls, social media, grassroots activism. There is no "leadership' per se, which makes is decentralized, an anomaly for an organization so involved in politics. Because there is no bureaucracy through which ideas must be worked, it is nimble, capable of reacting to changes quickly and adeptly. Rauch describes how this works by explaining the thesis of The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations. What works in one place is shared on national and state-level conference calls and if it is good and replicable is will be used elsewhere, and if not, that's fine, too. Rauch says more than an influence on policy and politics, the Tea Party might have the most impact on how politics is done. Because the Tea Party is not only not a political party but unlike most other political entities (lobby groups, think tanks, activist organizations), the media and politicians don't know quite how to cover them -- and therefore the media gets the story wrong and politicians misrepresent what the Tea Party is or fail to leverage it for maximum benefit. They simply do not know how to deal with the Tea Party because the media and political parties don't know what they are dealing with. (Rauch says there are similarities between the Tea Party and MoveOn.org -- a comparison sure to further confuse the existing Washington infrastructure.) But Rauch also points out that more than politics, the Tea Party movement is concerned with education -- changing the way Americans think about their relationship with Washington by teaching them about the constitution and American history. That is, the Tea Party takes ideas and tradition seriously. Perhaps that, more than its organization, is what confounds pundits and politicians. Thursday, September 16, 2010
Really -- the Grits went there Michael Ignatieff's speechwriter Adam Goldenberg has a post at the Liberal Party website entitled, "The Austerity Party? No, just the last three syllables." The Liberals apparently think that tying the Tories to the American Tea Party movement is a winning strategy. Why do the Liberals always import U.S. analogies? Goldenberg complains that the Conservatives want "you [to] believe that theirs is the Austerity Party. Now that they’ve finished digging Canada into the biggest deficit in our history — $54-billion — they say they’re ready to dig us out." But didn't the Conservatives delve the country deep into deficit spending after the Liberals threatened to team up with the socialists and separatists to bring down the government if they didn't come up with a Keynesian plan to deal with the recession in 2008? This is not to exonerate the Tories for their reckless and needless spending, but to explain that there was a political context and that the Liberals had a role in creating that context. CNN thieves Upshot reports that the Associated Press says CNN is cribbing material from the wire service after the broadcaster had dropped AP. Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Tweet of the day Craig Calcaterra: "Black Knight from "Holy Grail" would give up on this war by now. RT @BreakingNews illegal drug use rises to highest level in nearly a decade." Fixing Question Period Conservative MP Michael Chung wants to make Question Period more polite and functional, and last Spring he introduced a motion that would change QP with the hope of restoring some civility. Perhaps this is a better idea: answering questions musically. (HT: Gods of the Copybook Headings) Even good government programs become dangerous Gods of the Copybook Headings: The Broken Window theory held that by targeting petty offences, it would create an environment less conducive to crime. It basically worked, and made sense when the police weren't doing their jobs. Today such an approach looks to have more to do with bureaucratic goal setting, and policing for profit, than public safety. Times they are a changing Cato Institute's Jim Harper: "Entitlements like Social Security and Medicare used to represent financial security, but now represent financial risk." I hope Bob Dylan rolled over in his grave when he saw this connection between his song and this libertarian insight. What, Bob Dylan isn't dead; just collecting Social Security. Just saying Tyler Cowen: "If you want to find out whether Google is making you stupider, where is the best place to start looking? You guessed it: Google." Your tax dollars at work CNS News reports that the NIH used economic stimulus money to fund a study (in the NIH's words) "to evaluate the feasibility of a post-coital genital hygiene study among men unwilling to be circumcised in Orange Farm, South Africa." To be a clear: The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), spent $823,200 of economic stimulus funds in 2009 on a study by a UCLA research team to teach uncircumcised African men how to wash their genitals after having sex.People needed to be taught this? I think "researchers" are actually all perverts living off the avails of junk science. (HT: Five Feet of Fury) I hate Tony Clement Our Minister of Industry tweets: "Whoa! My shuffle feature on my iPod just threw out Straight Cold Player, a Lenny Kravitz instrumental. It's monumental..." Four and down 4. Judy Batista of the New York Times notes that there was a total of 585 points scored in the NFL's 16 opening-weekend games, down 252 from the record of 837 points set just two years ago. Without looking, I bet that if you looked over the past few seasons you could find several weekend set of games which averaged 36.6 points per. Just because the low scoring occured over the first weekend, everyone thinks it augurs something significant. 3. Here's an explanation why points are down: Brett Favre had a poor game, Ben Roethlisberger is suspended, Kurt Warner retired. That is three great quarterbacks -- the catalysts for scoring -- not playing. At the Fifth Down blog, Luis DeLoureiro notes that the eight "new" quarterbacks didn't put the points on the board. I calculate that those eight averaged just over 12 points a game, although the Philadelphia Eagles scored after Kevin Kolb was sidelined. DeLoureiro calculated a 55 completion percentage for the eight new QBs while the other 22 starting quarterbacks completed 65% of their passes and averaged a full yard more per attempt. Anyway, if this thesis that new and newish QBs might be slow to put up points, this will eventually be self-correcting. 2. According to one measure noted by Cold Hard Football Facts, Brad Childress of the Minnesota Vikings ranks among the great coaches along with Jimmy Johnson, Vince Lombardi and Chuck Noll. Really. 1. ESPN's Paul Kuharsky reminds readers: It was one game. FoxSports' Alex Marvez says that after Sunday's/Monday's games, there are five NFL teams that should panic with 15/16ths of the season to go. The Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns stink and they were shown to stink. The San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets had questions on the offense and the indications after one game were not good, but that's reason to address the problems or tweak, not panic. One game's worth of lousy offense by the Philadelphia Eagles is not enough to draw any conclusion -- it was one game. What I`m reading (abbreviated version) My eldest son went to see Ezra Levant at Indigo last night. Picked up Levant`s new book, Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada`s Oil Sands. Signed with birthday wishes (my birthday is more than a month away). Great read so far. Great gift. Four and down 4. Grades for entertainment value of the games I saw in Week 1 (the first six I watched live when they aired, but in total there is more than a day`s worth of football here). C+: New Orleans 14, Minnesota Vikings 9: It was disappointing considering the hype. Brett Favre didn't trust his targets and Vikes defense wasn't game-changing as it can be. Two scores for the Saints is a disappointing game on offense for them.3. For whatever reason I've gone back and watched the Chicago Bears game against the Detroit Lions. These are two teams I simply do not care about at all. But it was a treat. Jay Cutler handled Mike Martz's offense pretty decently. But the delicious icing on this otherwise nondescript cake was the defense of rookie Ndamukong Suh. He collapsed the interior line with ease despite being double-teamed in his first-ever regular season game. That says a lot. Someone at Football Outsiders made the comparison to Joe Greene; it's a little early for comparisons to players in Canton, but seeing just this one game, you can understand why. 2. The Jets offense was lifeless and now their defense is on life-support. NT Kris Jenkins is out for the season. Let the Albert Haynesworth speculation begin. NFL Network's Jason La Canfora does not think it likely. 1. NFL.com has the five best defensive plays of the week. How is number two not number one? And how does Gary Guyton's pick end up as a better play on the top ten plays of the week compared to higher ranking plays on the defensive top five? At least the top 10 plays of the week got number one right. Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Tweet of the day Tarek Fatah: "@DanielKitts @EricMargolis paints glowing image of Islamists, calling them true reps of Pakistan. Disgraceful apology for the Taliban & ISI." Three and out 3. Joe Morgan is about as idiotic as a person can be. Aaron Gleeman points to the Hall of Fame second baseman's chat comments about the Cy Young race in the American League: "What Sabathia has done is be the best pitcher in the AL from opening day to this point. I don't buy into the point that if Felix is pitching for someone else he'd have more wins ... The name of the game is to win and he's won. And if you're looking at a second guy, it has to be David Price. It's amazing to me that we have let computers define him rather than performance. His job is to win the game ..." For Joe Morgan apparently pitchers should be rewarded not on their own performance, but the performance of team-mates -- although he doesn't understand that is what he is saying. King Felix has done about as much as a pitcher can do to help his team win, but his team-mates aren't scoring so according to Morgan Hernandez is responsible for this even though he leads the AL in ERA (2.39 compared to 3.03 for Sabathia, who is fifth) and strikeouts (214 compared to 179 for Sabathia, good for sixth). Hernandez leads in IP (225.2 -- about a full game more than Sabathia) and quality starts. The difference is that Hernandez is 11-11 while Sabathia is 19-6. But win-loss records are a reflection of what teams do and are a poor indicator of a pitcher's performance. It's not that Joe Morgan thinks that stats are useless to evaluate performance; it is that any stat more complex than the win total is supposedly irrelevant to any discussion about who is the best pitcher. That's simply stupid. 2. Here is an exercise to make a point. A pitcher throws eight shutout innings for ten games in a row, giving up just a hit or walk every other inning, but his team is also kept scoreless. His team wins half the games in the ninth or extra innings and lose half the games. Another pitcher throws an average of six innings and gives up an average of four runs per appearance. He leaves an average of a baserunner on every inning. But pitcher two has a team of Albert Pujols and Carlos Gonzalezes in the lineup and they score an average of eight runs per appearance and over a ten game stretch he is 8-1. So according to Joe Morgan, the guy who has an ERA of zero and allows few people to get on base is the lesser pitcher compared to a guy with an ERA of six and routinely lets opponents on base but gets his butt saved by his team-mates who can actually score. This is, of course, fictional, but it demonstrates that Morgan is a moron. 1. Two good pieces about two great players. Jonah Keri makes the case for Jorge Posada's inclusion in the Hall of Fame. Rob Neyer on why Pete Rose's hit record (4,192) is safe. Way to go CNN -- stay classy Is this true? David Holtz tweets: Paul Begala on CCN says of Christine McDonnell: "If she doesn't like masturbation she's going to hate the United States Senate."I don't question whether Begala's point. What I'm wondering is whether Begala actually said this. Paglia not gaga for Stefani Germanotta Camille Paglia in the Sunday Times Magazine on Lady Gaga: Although she presents herself as the clarion voice of all the freaks and misfits of life, there is little evidence that she ever was one. Her upbringing was comfortable and eventually affluent, and she attended the same upscale Manhattan private school as Paris and Nicky Hilton. There is a monumental disconnect between Gaga’s melodramatic self-portrayal as a lonely, rebellious, marginalised artist and the powerful corporate apparatus that bankrolled her makeover and has steamrollered her songs into heavy rotation on radio stations everywhere.Very good from start to finish. Ontario PCs vs. the price mechanism Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak: "Another good day for PC team in Q Period defending family budget, taking on McG Gov expensive hydro experiments like so-called smart meters." Ignore the contradiction between headline and the point of the article Winnipeg Free Press put this headline on a Jennifer Ditchburn (Canadian Press) article: "Harper's Tories looking for new narrative as Parliament sitting looms." Ditchburn says in the story's second paragraph: Tory sources tell The Canadian Press that Harper wants high-profile policy initiatives and debates that will play on some of the party's familiar themes: law and order, the economy, respect for the military, the future of the mission in Afghanistan. Details are being held close to the vest by a tight circle of ministers and advisers.So as part of the "new narrative" the Conservative government will return to familiar themes that they've been pushing for the past five years. The government racket The Poughkeepsie Journal has a very thorough story on New York state institutions for the developmentally handicapped and the federal (Medicaid) money that supports them: State institutions for the developmentally disabled generate so much federal Medicaid money that New York's other programs for people with intellectual disabilities would be threatened without them, state officials acknowledge in an internal document obtained by the Poughkeepsie Journal ...That's one poorly designed program -- at least from the federal government's perspective; the state is making out like a bandit. (HT: Tyler Cowen) Why we can get rid of MPs Federal Minister of Whatever-Stephen-Harper-Says-He-Is Vic Toews on funding for a pro hockey stadium in Quebec: "Whatever the leader said, I stand behind what the leader said." (HT: Aaron Wherry) Canadians are tired of minority governments So apparently they'll elect a majority government next time, so says the Globe and Mail and Nik Nanos. But it doesn't work that way. Are Liberals suddenly going to vote Tory to give Stephen Harper a majority? Will Conservative voters back Michael Ignatieff? People might want a majority but their votes aren't going to change because of a collective wish. People also want lower gas prices or sundry other goodies, but it doesn't just happen. Fourth and down 4. Going into the game, the New York Jets/Titans had a franchise record of 186-186-5. They lose in spectacular fashion against the Baltimore Ravens, 10-9. The Jets offense will come in for some criticism and rightfully so. Three field goals and 1/11 in converting third downs. But that's what happens when a sad-sack offense plays the stifling defense of the Ravens. I caution against making judgements about teams or an element of their play after just one game, especially when you have the superior Ravens defense neutralizing the offense. But there are too many warning signs from this game. Jets rooters will have to re-evaluate if the team has the offense necessary to win the division and conference with Mark Sanchez under center (10/21 for 74 yards). In the fourth quarter he looked lost and confused. Or as Jonah Keri said: "Mark Sanchez is unbelievably terrible at football. On the plus side, he's dreamy." And Dustin Keller running out of bounds a foot short on four and ten was laughable: no one was pressuring him and he runs out of the field of play. Game over. For the Ravens, third-year QB Joe Flacco had some terrible throws, but he is also capable of the big play. Not as rough as I expected; there were some nasty skirmishes and a few hard hits, but I expected warfare in the trenches. As awful as the offense was for the Jets, the defense wasn't anything real special -- and that's supposed to be the team's strength. For a great report on this game, read Greg Bishop's story in the New York Times, which includes this line: "What the Jets presented to a national television audience was disorganized chaos, the opposite of their stated theme." 3. The San Diego Chargers visited Arrowhead Stadium to play the Kansas City Chiefs. Chiefs went into the half up 21-7. 12th man was a factor, with Philip Rivers wasting downs and TOs because counts were off and he was visibly frustrated. His throws were off and he made some crazy scrambles. It is hard to make judgements about a game like this, played in down-pouring rain, but I really liked the running game of the Chiefs and their special teams (kick returner and the blocking that allowed Dexter McCluster to go 97 yards). Don't know if it is the weather or trust issues, but QB Matt Cassel didn't do much at all (10/22 for 68 yards and a TD -- excluding the score, worse numbers than Sanchez put up for the Jets). Chiefs beat the Bolts 21-14 and have the AFC West division lead all to themselves (for now). 2. A note about the Indianapolis Colts game against the Houston Texans on Sunday. The Texans are in field goal range on fourth and one and they go for it. Arian Foster who ran for 231 yards in the game, was boxed in, WR Andre Johnson makes a nice block, and Foster gets the necessary distance. The Texans converted a pair of third downs to continue the drive. Loved this play if for no other reason than it slow bleeds time off the clock -- that is, coach Gary Kubiak's aggressiveness resulted in a drive that used up half the third quarter and the team doubled their lead to 20-10. Final score of 34-24 despite Peyton Manning completing 40/57 for 433 yards and 3 TDs. 1. Someone explain how rookie RB C.J. Spiller put up these stats for the Buffalo Bills in their 15-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins on the weekend: seven runs for six yards with longest play of six yards, four catches for eight yards with longest gain of nine yards. Does he know which way to run? Is he taking Reggie Bush-like routes sideways, backwards, occasionally forward. He probably ran a total of 100 yards, but only 17 in the right direction. |