MichiganCardinal

First person I thought of was Dan Campbell's 20-something year old son. Couldn't imagine where he got that kind of money to support his dad's rival.

I'm really bummed to hear that. Pat would drive me crazy in recent years with his weird off-the-wall takes, it was like he had taken a page from Valenti's book inexplicably. But his voice was unmatched. You knew who you were listening to when you turned on the station and he was (and is) a voice of Detroit sports, in the same way Ernie, Ken Kal, and Dan Miller are. His institutional knowledge of local sports was also unparalleled. In his heyday, he could tell you the kicker's names at both Warren Mott and Waterford Mott, and which one would be more reliable from 40 yards out.

(2) Patriots over (7) Chargers (6) Bills over (3) Jaguars (5) Texans over (4) Steelers (7) Packers over (2) Bears (6) 49ers over (3) Eagles (5) Rams over (4) Panthers (6) Bills over (1) Broncos (5) Texans over (2) Patriots (1) Seahawks over (7) Packers (6) 49ers over (5) Rams (6) Bills over (5) Texans (6) 49ers over (1) Seahawks (6A) Bills over (6N) 49ers

Shoot your shot and expect the unexpected.

I expect Joseph will be back. Branch should be back by Thanksgiving. Though can’t foresee whether either be their former self. LaPorta should be back. My understanding is that it’s just a tricky situation and a dangerous injury so they’re being careful. I’m holding out hope there is a call between Decker and Ragnow where both agree to give it one more go. And then the call gets detailed in the documentary made about the 2026-2027 Detroit Lions.

Soldier Field was fine. Probably ranks last in NFL stadiums I’ve been to though, and around equal with the old Oakland Coliseum. Those fans are a weird bunch. Up in the 400s if you were just listening in without context you would think the Bears were 4-13 not 11-6. A real sorry bunch. (Not that they had much to cheer for for 45 minutes but still). Only one tool bag who tried to start beef though. Too damn cold for that.

it’s cold

Garrett set the record. I wouldn’t mind hiring both Stefanski and Schwartz

This is fair. “The sport” isn’t really one thing after all. What I want as a fan, versus what another person wants as a fan, versus what Warde Manuel wants as an administrator, versus what ESPN wants, versus what the NCAA wants, are all very different. For me, I’m an NFL fan above all. I have my alma maters that I will like to see win. But when they’re not playing, I’d much rather see Indiana, Ole Miss, Virginia Tech, or Arizona State win a national championship over (yet) another Ohio State, Alabama, or Georgia.

Ultimately it's just my opinion, but I don't think a 136-team league, or even just the 68 in the power conferences, should be reduced to three or four who go to and usually win the championship every year because of a dichotomy in how the sport is designed into haves and have nots. It's a similar problem that I have with baseball with five teams combining for something like 30% of all the money paid to players (and surprise surprise, two of them meeting in the World Series each of the last two years). In the four-team playoff eight teams accounted for 83% of all the playoff teams: Alabama (8/10 years), Clemson (6/10), Ohio State (5/10), Oklahoma (4/10), Michigan (3/10), Georgia (3/10), Washington (2/10), and Notre Dame (2/10). They also accounted for all but one of the champions. But since the expansion, with a limited sample size, eight different teams have appeared. Half of them (Indiana, Miami, Ole Miss, Penn State) had never appeared in the four-team format and another two (Oregon and Texas) had only appeared once. Water will find its level and I'm sure in 10 years the likes of Alabama, Ohio State, and Georgia will appear more often in the semifinals than Indiana and Ole Miss. But I do think a bit of dilution is a good thing if it means giving the "other" 60 power conference teams a puncher's chance at winning--or at least seriously competing for--a national championship.

So he’s kidnapped a foreign country’s president in order to charge him with a crime on US soil? Not exactly a precedent I might create as a felon in chief.

I’m not sure if it’s NIL, the expanded playoff, or both, but having a Final Four of Indiana, Miami, Ole Miss, and Oregon is really good for the sport.

Michigan still being #2 is silly.

This drove me crazy about Holly and Max earlier in the season. In S4, Max missed an opportunity to leave the abyss because she wasn’t fast enough to jump through a portal, and now she has a second chance and is going to take five minutes for a dialogue with Holly about how she believes in her?!

Alabama firing DeBour and hiring Kiffin would be the cherry on top of this hiring cycle.

I liked the finale more than I thought I would. [LOTS OF SPOILERS] In hindsight the lack of main character death, and the ambiguity of Eleven's fate makes sense. This is modern day E.T., not Breaking Bad. I will choose to believe that Eleven is dead, because I think a scenario where she survives in some Nordic paradise is no different than Dexter Morgan surviving in some remote lumber yard. What makes less sense is the lack of grief shown by Hopper. They built it up that he could never lose two daughters, and then he did, and then.... he's fine? At Enzo's? Getting remarried? Moving to New York? I mean, good for him I guess, but the grief of the loss of Sara nearly killed him. Does not compute. I still think they should have killed off Nancy and Jonathan in the lab in S5E7. That would have been a tragic but fitting end to their arc. And you have to set aside any notion of realism to enjoy this show, because the utter incompetence of the military combined with absolutely no one facing consequences of any kind for the mass murder of American soldiers on American soil and Dr. Kay just.... leaving? ... is a bit much. Speaking of uselessness, it also feels like Kali was brought back just to have someone to kill. I mean they gave her some important scenes, like hiding the kids from Henry, but I could have lived without her ever having been introduced to the series. And I was bummed we didn't get an epilogue from either Murray (other than his appearance at the graduation) or Dr. Owens. Setting aside my complaints, I still liked it. The Duffers did not lean into the whole "everyone is redeemable" trope with Henry that was there for the taking. He was evil, he chose to be evil, he needed to be killed. They could have done a lot worse. For having so few scenes, I thought Raphael Luce was phenomenal in his role as Young Henry. So much emotion from so few lines. Lots of good parallels to the ending too. Stand by Me comes to mind. "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" At its heart Stranger Things was meant to be a coming of age story, and we got that. I'm not sure it's a series I will rewatch anytime in the next 5-10 years like Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul were. But it was a fun run that just took probably 2-3 years too long. [/SPOILERS]

Winning the Super Bowl isn't a perfect formula. You have to have the talent, but you also have to have the health and be hot at the right time, along with the luck to win 3-4 single elimination games in a row, in a league where like 80% of games are decided by one score. Campbell and Holmes have done enough to satisfy the talent piece. At least they did in 2023 and 2024. Now it's about maintaining that talent, and having everything fall together in a perfect January storm. Jacksonville winning it all would be no more an indictment on the Holmes and Campbell regime than had Washington won it all in 2024, or the 2017 Jaguars, or the 2014 Colts, or the Mark Sanchez led Jets, or even the 2007 Giants. The NFL format is such that a fairly mediocre team can do little things right, capitalize on a few turnovers, and find themselves a game away from a Super Bowl... If anything, it would just be an indictment on this version of the Detroit Lions that they couldn't put themselves in the position to be that team that's just a few lucky bounces away.

Setting aside Moore being a closeted basket case for a moment, it was grossly negligent of him to not get a competent quarterback in the transfer portal. They didn't even have to be good, they just needed to be better than 9/12 for 73 yards bowl performance Davis Warren. By not doing so, starting Underwood was the only decision. Moore went 8-5 fresh off a national championship. Good grace was fading fast, he got saved by the NIL donors in landing Underwood, and his choices were trotting out Davis Warren again and hoping a worse defense could win more games, or starting a true freshman. Any coach would have started Underwood, but a good coach wouldn't have been forced to in the first place.

I'm willing to admit that despite watching plenty of high school, college, and NFL football, I am not nearly knowledgeable enough to see a 17-year-old quarterback play and say "yeah, he's worth $10MM next year." Clearly there are folks out there on Michigan (and LSU's, and Rivals/On3/ESPN) staff who fancy themselves that good. That said, I really don't know how you look at Underwood against a high school schedule including teams like Fordson, Ann Arbor Pioneer, and Wayne Memorial and say "yep he's the one. Five stars. Future NFL talent. Let's play him immediately against Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Texas." Hell, in his last high school game against Catholic Central (a very good team) he went 11/23 for 219 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs. It's not just Underwood either. I'm not convinced there is any 18-year-old in the world who should play Big Ten or SEC football as a true freshman in the year 2025, especially not at quarterback. The game is too fast, too physical, the defenses are too good, and you're just asking to get him hurt or to delay his development.

Same here. I won't be able to watch until tomorrow. Hopefully I don't stumble into a spoiler by accident.

In order: 1. Panthers 2. Chargers 3. Bills 4. Jaguars 5. Broncos 6. Texans 7. Patriots 8. Steelers 9. Ravens 10. Seahawks 11. Buccaneers 12. 49ers 13. Rams 14. Eagles 15. Bears 16. Packers

This would be much more satisfying than what I would expect. It just feels like two hours is not long enough to tie up every loose end. I'll just make death predictions: [SPOILER] 1. Henry/Vecna: I think the party will win somehow. 2. Will: I've had a sneaking suspicion that Will is Vecna's horcrux of sorts. There are a lot of Harry Potter analogies to be drawn here (e.g., Vecna / Voldemort accidentally giving Will / Harry powers after underestimating him... Young Will even kind of looks like young Harry). I think there might be a "prophecy" realization at some point (e.g., "neither can live while the other survives.") The Duffers also love them some Stephen King, and if the Losers Club can't survive their final battle in IT, I don't think the party will survive intact either. If it's not Will, I think it might be Mike. Dustin would be my third guess, followed by Lucas. 3. Kali: I agree there is a fight between Kali and Eleven brewing. The setup for them to both die feels a bit too on the nose for that to be what happens. She's also the most useless character of all time and I haven't forgiven them for S2E7. 4. Jonathan: They should have probably killed him and Nancy off in S5E7. That would have been a fitting end to the character's arc, rather than the molten rising bubbling substance just... solidifying. And then Dustin/Steve just... finding them. (I liked S5E7 more than most but I thought that was lazy writing)... Since they didn't die then, I think they'll kill him off in the final battle as he protects either his brother, or Nancy, or (less likely) Steve. 5. Murray: Feels like a supporting character death that will come as a sudden surprise. Maybe the first to go tonight. [/SPOILER]

I don't think anyone on the team is the answer at center. Except maybe Ratledge, but that just creates a problem at guard.

A coach who goes 15-2 does not get fired for going 9-8/8-9 the next season. In any NFL organization.

I completely forgot that Kelly was once the 49ers head coach.