oblong

My random thoughts, for what they are worth as someone who didn't watch a lot of football for a long time until this year: Going for it? On one of them it would have worked if the ball was caught, which it looked like it should have. I personally wanted the field goal because I figured at that point in the game you try to match point for point. The only time I let a "Wow, they might actually win this" was when they held SF to a field goal to start the third. On the end zone play where the ball bounced off the face mask, a flag was thrown. What was that? I assume even if he'd have caught it they would have called PI? Why did the ref throw it? I mean.... would it have shocked you to have that called if the Lions caught it? The one thing that really bugs me about all of this is the fans thinking "Well you gave back 6 points so that means the Lions would have won by 3". Even I know that's not how it works. The game would not have progressed the same way if they kick a field goal on 4th doan in the third. The final TD would not have happened the way it did if they were within 7 points. The defense plays a different game in that situation when it takes 2 scores to tie or win. The other team wants to win too. SF is good. Their offense was pretty much doing what they wanted. Even if the Lions had taken the points I can easily envision a scenario where SF marches down the field and scores a winning TD to close it out. Remember SF missed a FG. This is the team and coaches that made it this far. Do I think they blew it? I guess so in the sense that in a playoff game that ends with a 3 point margin... the losing team probably blew it. Every losing team in a close game can look at this or that play or decision as the difference. That's sports. Yes it would be easier to stomach if the niners jumped to a huge lead and the Lions clawed back to fall short... but would that have been fun? Is that why you are a fan? I just don't have time for armchair radio hosts second guessing the going for it decisions. If they didn't go for it and lost by 3, they'd turn around and say crap like "You played a certain way all year then changed your mind and don't trust your players that got you there...." This was fun and I hope you all are doing ok. I haven't been this amped up for a sporting event since the 2013 ALCS and 2009 SCF. I couldn't fall asleep. I got up in 3:30 to go to the bathroom then started thinking about 2 dropped passes and 2 missed tackles...

Understandable. Maybe he wants immediate security and peace of mind with his fiancé so they can start their own life right now and mentally as he takes the next steps he doesn’t begin to get nervous or anxious about their future.

Charlie Batch!

Is that Biff from Back to the Future II?

Take joy in knowing in 9 hours the Lions could be Super Bowl bound and best of all it wouldn’t be a shock at this point. It’s how you as a fan feel right now that should be savored. It might not ever be topped.

One of the displays in the drone show was “decker reported”

So file and trial eh?

They did one on the last Friday in lieu of fireworks. Miggy themed.

We had dinner in midtown. Ride rhe Q Line down to watch. Then drove by the train station. It as bumper to bumper by the station. Cars turning every which way.

You spelled stolen wrong

I reject the concept that “my **** doesn’t stink” which is what I think you are concluding. There’s no moral purity in being a leftist.

It’s also a dark side because sometimes making a team is contingent upon going to X camp run by Y person and that camp costs a lot of money. a co worker would tell me stories of hockey tournaments. Kids all huddled in a few rooms playing video games. Parents huddled in other rooms getting drunk.

Yes. That’s the only other option that exists.

I agree. Not everything is a single decision point and doing one stupid thing means it’s all stupid things. I can state that Eastern Michigan getting rid of Huron as a mascot was idiotic while sayings it’s racist to use redskins and Indians and Braves. There’s no contradiction. We shouldn’t keep up statues of those who fought against the nation because we think some other group went too far with Jefferson.

I saw the alert on my phone when on my walk today, finally I got to walk, and was pretty sure it was the band you had posted. But I forgot to double check.

I never understood the lure of youth sports to the extent or sacrificing entire summers in lieu of constant traveling for tournaments and camps and all of that… just to get a scholarship at some mid level school. I’m talking division 2 or 3 l, if NCAA at all. It seems to have become a big thing with my generation raising the kids. You spent more on the sport and sacrificed more than the scholarship is worth. Live life. Don’t make your kid spend their childhood on the road. as much as I love baseball and playing it as a kid I am not upset my son didn’t care for it if that’s what it takes to be good at a sport today as a youth.

He testified under oath he’s $400M liquid.

On the topic of Ichiro, last fall I read Poskanski’s Top 100 players book, which was fantastic. I took a screenshot of this passage on Ichiro.

I would be disappointed only in the sense of being deprived a fun game to watch, the ups and downs, but in terms of feeling towards the team, no. They gave this city something it's never had before. This team will always be special no matter what happens the rest of the way.

And for the record I think Nethanyahu has gone too far and Israel should do more to avoid civilian casualties. They aren't helping the situation either, for their own people or for innocent Palestinians. But the broader world and this pseudo global court don't understand that Israel is not dealing with rational people. It's a ****ty situation with no good solution. A Palestnian state could be created and recognized with appropriate amounts of land and it will never ever be enough and eventually the radicals will be voted in power and we'll be at war again. As long as Israel is a country there will never be peace in that region.

Last week I noticed my TV feed was about 45 seconds behind. that was annoying. I knew about one of the touchdowns before it happened b/c of Twitter. And the Detroit News sent out their "Lions beat Rams" alert before the events on the screen indicated the game was essentially over. So this week I'm staying off social media and the phone is muted.

I know you consider yourself a lefty and there's nothing wrong with that but a lot of your political brethren on most other issues are on the wrong side of this conflict. It's not meant as an attack on lefties in general but each side has its own crazy people to contend with. For every Jan 6 denier on the right there is an Oct 7 truther/anti semite on the left. That's my point here. You see it all over the world and on campuses here. No token is given to Israel's right to defend itself and the atrocities of Hamas are brushed over by this lot. Israeli hostage flyers are defaced almost as soon as they are put up. "Sure Jan" is the phrase, a play on the Brady Bunch movie when Jan talked about her assumed mythical boyfriend.

There's more of them than you might think. I wouldn't be surprised if 30% of my city's population believes it.

Part of the "nobody wants to work" mantra which I get so tired of hearing about. Now some states are pulling back on child labor laws. These boot straps jagoffs think they are entitled to a work force.

For reference, in 2012, I sold my game 3 tickets to the WS for $500 a piece the night the Tigers beat the Yanks in the ALCS. That was an early game because it was postponed from the night before, even though it never rained until after midnight. I remember it well becaus I went to the bar after the game and got the alert that they sold, which made me happy. I was worried for the reasons you state. The face value was $190, so it covered my game 4 tickets, which is good because by that point they were down 0-3, and while I wanted my team to win, I knew a win would cost me another $190, so I wasn't disappointed when they lost game 4.