1984Echoes

This was not 100% Very unlikely, yes, but there were deaths, and there were those that suffered long-term damage or "extended Covid" (I forget the actual term they were using) who were young and healthy with no co-morbidities. Athletes were felled low by Covid, as well as there were deaths amongst those that were unexpected.

How many deaths were in the US? Over a million? I don't even know how many there were from around the world since we're not getting those #'s from China or Russia. It was a pandemic and there's a vaccine against it so I'm taking it. Any other answer is asinine.... The next plague will be the Bubonic Plague and we'll, what, be asked to look at the Bubonic vaccine in hindsight and wonder whether it should have been taken or not? Can we interview all the dead who didn't take the vaccine and wish they had? In both cases? Could be some interesting answers there...

In accounting that would be called "full disclosure", the opposite of "cherry-picked stats".

Or: PDP = Fake Patriotism. I don't want to say 9 times out of 10... I'd have no idea of the actual percentage... but fake patriotism absolutely exists.

And the Wicca = WITCH demonization tradition in order to defeat paganism/ female-led non-Christian civilizations.

Santa Claus and presents are... Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas in Dutch... which is where Santa Claus comes from) was known as a gift-giver, leaving gold coins in the shoes of the needy, presents to children, etc. Sinterklaas evolved/ conjoined into Santa Claus/ Christmas in America. That may be part myth-making... but that and the celebrations (office parties/ decorations) don't necessarily make it non-religious as much as "celebration of" whatever that celebration is for, including the birth of Jesus. That doesn't negate the religious element per se. But I'm not going to disagree with you in the sense that, absolutely there is less of a religious element today than there was decades ago, which is why we see all these "put Christ back into Christmas" signs. I'm just saying, the reasons you are citing don't in and of themselves make something religious or not (an office party could be a religious celebration of the birth of Jesus, like a prayer meeting or a bible reading); it is the general overall attitude of the populace that is becoming less religious (that the office party is NOT religious and is instead secular is not caused by the "office party" but rather the participants themselves). Secularism in America is on the rise. That alone means less religiousosity in any celebration. And I think that in particular (more secularist) is driving the holiday to be more secular rather than religious. I'm going to guess that Santa Claus, presents, office parties and decorations in the 1950's did NOT reduce the religious aspect of Christmas. And they did exist back then...

I wouldn't go so far as to say secular... But if you wanted to dig deeper... It's not a Christian holiday, in the original. It was a massive pagan holiday centered around the winter solstice. The most famous name I can remember (in my studies) is the Feast of Mithras. Mithra, Roman god of the sun, was born on December 25h (Roman winter solstice). The celebration was on the date that literally was the last of the days shortening (going into darkness) and the beginning of days of lengthening/ getting brighter ("rebirth" of the life-giving sun). Jesus was not born on December 25th according to the bible ("shepherds were watching their flocks in the fields"). Which doesn't happen in winter. But in spring at the earliest. So Christmas is an untrue attempt to usurp and co-op a Pagan festival. It is not Christian, per se, but rather, Christian theft. In modern times, if we are speaking only thus: SOME Non-Christians I believe are celebrating Christmas exactly as you have outlined it. Modern pagans are celebrating it again as winter solstice celebrations, there are "Jews for Christmas" who celebrate it not as birth of Jesus but rather as the season of family, and giving... and my own personal experience is that of a Roman Catholic-in-training until the age of 10 (agnostic.) The training decidedly did not take as at the age of 11, I knew absolutely that it was all man-made myth-making/ story-telling with no basis in truth and so... I "saw the light" and became an absolute atheist at that age of 11... I celebrate "Christmas" secularly as family and the giving spirit (yes, presents... but I like the "spirit of giving" as much as gift-giving, which I try to downplay whenever I can). I'm certain a lot of non-Christian people think differently than that... I'm just saying I know of a definite existence of exactly what you stated...

Yeah.. I think we're getting mid-way through the 2023 season at least, before teams really get interested in E-Rod.

Also OTOH, if you are trading away guys that you are not keeping around for long, for whatever the reason, and therefore lose 2 WAR in 2023; but gain 15 WAR from end-of-2023 through 2028 from the guys you get back... if you are continually adding WAR to the organization... then the Organization is getting better (in a rebuilding scenario). And overall career WAR (winning or losing) is less important then what WAR you are trying to add into the organization. And as oblong pointed out, if you're shooting for the playoffs an Org may very well be willing to lose WAR in a deal because they're chasing a Championship. Even if you don't really know at the time that you'll be on the losing end of that WAR comparison. So.. objective also matters here...

Just a wild guess... I think she's going to run for Arizona Governor whenever that comes up next...

F the Raiders.

Ugly.

Think they might try to get something for him at the deadline and resort to other guys (Hellberg or whomever) as backup just to finish out the year...? I know they might want to hunt the playoffs because it'll be good for everyone's growth on the team... And I don't know what value Ned has at the deadline but... just wanted to throw the thought out there...

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You don't think Big Ben will have any issues getting in? Just wondering...

Of course... but that would be after the presidency so not related to campaign promises... Nowadays, with a post-presidency desperation for whatever cash he can bilk... Say... how many Trillion$ do the Saudis have BTW...?

I would say Schwartz was one of the smartest guys in the room... But not a good manager of emotions and the team...

There's been several comments I've seen from insiders (even players and coaches IIRC...) who are stating that Campbell is a whole helluva lot smarter than people think... I think there was an Atlantic article on all the adjustments Ben Johnson AND Campbell made when they took over the offense... and a LOT of it was Campbell. And there were those types of comments in that article coming from multiple sources... As a general statement on Campbell... I think we are seeing that play out right in front of our eyes...

Orlovsky has long been a cheerleader for the Lions... Keep up the good work dude... We hear ya'!!!

I don't even have the energy to whinge/ wince/ complain/ or strangle myself over Casey any more. When can we broom him upstairs? Who can we get that is the next upcoming dynamo in team Head Coaching AND X's and O's...?

Oh he was already fulfilling campaign promises to Putin DURING his presidency...

That's the dangerous question in all of this; and one that no one would be surprised if Trump has actually sold our National Security documents, probably to Russia or the Saudis... for money.

Right... I know that... I was just attaching them, and might as well throw Joe Flacco in there as well because they each "won one Super Bowl". That's not enough is my point. And looking at the stats also isn't enough. Stafford has monster stats. That is no longer enough because a boatload of QB's have monster stats too, so... Flacco, Rivers, Stafford, Eli Manning, Matt Ryan... all big numbers, but don't think that's enough to get them in. Brady, Rodgers, and Peyton were the elite QB's and, yes, the starts show that they are superior... But where does that leave the above secondary guys. And here's a couple above the 5 guys above but... do they get into the HOF? A) Roethlisberger? B) Drew Brees Brees I think is a definite yes but Big Ben has better numbers than the listed 5 and he's a lot more uncertain...

Right... And what that does to Stafford is... Just makes him "another guy" in terms of stats because in this generation of QB's there's a shitload of QB's with similar stats. And therefore... ignore the stats, it has to be "other things" that will make someone want to vote a guy into the HOF. Will Rodgers get in? He won only one Super Bowl. But... the perception of him versus Stafford is that Rodgers constantly drove his team to victory and Stafford didn't. It doesn't even matter what the stats say. And therefore, similar QB's to Stafford might be Eli, Rivers & Ryan, not Peyton, Brady & Rodgers. And Stafford, Eli Manning, Ryan & Rivers will have a hard time getting in.

This is what I was referring to. Is that not claiming victim status?