buddha

and so it ends. not with a bang, but with a whimper.

exciting to watch the last game of this season. best part of the year is stacey king convincing himself the bulls are a title contender.

those states have warmer weather and - except for cali - lower taxes. burbs are burbs, imo. living in a city with public transportation has spoiled me. i wouldnt want to live somewhere where i have to drive everywhere all the time. that really limits your options in america. of the cities ive been too, id rather live in detroit than vegas, houston, anywhere in florida, albuquerque, cleveland, louisville, oklahoma city, anywhere in louisiana other than new orleans toss ups: philly, atlanta, LA, pittsburgh better than the d: dallas, san francisco, boston, new york, portland/seattle, san diego, charlotte, new orleans. i'd love to live in san diego if i could afford it. alas...

agreed. and its going to get even worse now.

there are nice suburbs in every city in america. detroit's arent better or worse than anywhere else's. you can find nice places to live there if you look for them. but as a calling card for athletes? with michigan's weather and high taxes? i doubt it.

i dont care. i would never offer that to begin with. that would be really stupid.

no need to apologize. where you live now is a much better place to live than detroit.

there is no way the lions should give up 18 and 6 for 3. none. that is highway robbery.

jake walman doing all he can to help the tank cause.

dallas actively trying not to make the playoffs. and failing.

now we'll get five articles from every pistons writer about how he "could" turn it around...

give me mazi smith or keanu beaton over jack campbell. build those lines.

if cade had "issues" it was his 3 point shooting and his habit of waiting until the 4th quarter to start dominating. he would spend 3 quarters watching bey and grant go one on one and then tell them to go stand in the corner in the 4th.

its 50-50 they even draft a linebacker considering how they seemingly downgrade the position. we say all that and watch them take a tight end and a linebacker in round one.

theyre going to have to institutionalize him.

another meaningless point.

true, but the good/popular teams average more than that. now "good and popular" are usually synonymous. if youve been good for a while, you usually have lots of fans. that said, i wonder if the pats will be popular now that they suck again? i dont think so. usually teams with dominant runs maintain some popularity (steelers cowboys, niners dolphins, broncos) but i dont see the pats being a team like that.

the point is the draft industrial complex and you and me all saw the okudah pick as a positive. he was seen as a sure thing at corner. until he wasnt. there are no "sure things." devon witherspoon is not a sure thing. what he IS, is someone with less visible red flags. none of us know him personally or have delved into his past so we dont know what's there. but in the public realm, there is less to be concerned about than with jalen carter. on paper. as for okudah's future, i think he's done as a corner. i think he might have a future career as a safety because he played really well there at times last year. he was good at run support a few times i can remember. but corner? he was so bad he got benched for amani oruwariye at the end of the year. he's got a lot of work to do there and no amount of tweets showing him "practice hard" are going to change that.

dungeon of doom podcast has an interview with the georgia beat writer for the athletic. something in there for everyone. carter isnt a problem. he's a shy kid who keeps to himself. if he were lazy, he wouldnt have been playing over the kind of talent they have on georgia. he's a supremely talented player, he changed the game he played in because he was constantly double teamed and the other teams would specifically game plan around him because he was so good. the driving stuff is what it is, lots of teenagers and college kids have driving issues at that age. his teammates and coaches all came to his defense and said he had no character concerns. mcshay shouldnt have said he had character concerns, he should have said some believe he may need to be motivated. otoh, any team that drafts him will have to do some digging. he's not a local kid so they dont know as much about him as other players. as noted above, he may need to be externally motivated because no one really knows what he's thinking because he's so quiet. he's not a lockerroom or team leader. would he take a chance on him at 6? maybe. he's so gifted at such an important position that you can take a chance on that talent, but it is possible he could flake out on you. ymmv.

there are no "sure things" in the draft. if holmes thinks gonzalez or witherspoon are better than carter, take em. i trust him more than me, a guy who reads what other people write and forms opinions on it.

like jeff okudah was? and dont pretend like you didnt like that pick when they made it.

there is a difference between attention cause you might be good and popularity the lions popularity is the same as before: a strong loyal fanbase on the smaller side for nfl teams with no real national cachet because they never win anything. the lions chances of winning look better than before, so that's something in their favor in garnering more attention. i dont hear about the lions any more than the jets or chargers or even the bears. i DO hear a lot more about them than usual (which is usually next to nothing nationally). i hope they get some monday night games, those are always exciting.

you're picking in the top 10, take a swing at the most talented player. that's carter or anderson or richardson. if none are there, take a corner. but that's the "public" board. holmes et al might have a different board.

the lions might get some games because the league thinks they'll be successful. i doubt jamaal williams makes anyone watch monday night football. the lions had barry sanders and barely got any monday night football games. people watch their favorite teams and major market teams. the most games on monday night: dallas, pittsburgh, miami, san francisco, chicago, washington, denver, giants, raiders, packers. a mix of big markets and successful franchises. lions arent there yet. but they are possibly an up and coming team and they have some attractive matchups against good (kansas city, dallas), national (denver, green bay, raiders) and big market (chicago, chargers) teams.

hopefully it heals and its not a problem next year and moving forward.