Funny. In college I didn’t pay my FL tix either. Gotten just S of Jacksonville en route to Miami. Probably bc I was still STEAMING from recent pull off for gas nearby, while inside less than 5 minutes to pay, someone (presumably another driver) broke into my car (a college jalopy), and stole the cassette tapes scattered on seat for the long drive south. That. Quick. The tix was insult to injury. Makes sense, right?
I really dislike all this football stuff here and on the Poscast when we’re in the best part of baseball season right now. I sure wish we could go back to the days you guys had almost totally rejected the NFL due to all the violence, gruesome injuries, Roger Goodell etc. What happened?
Lifelong 49ers fan here so I despise the Cowboys, they would definitely be my -16 team, but I’m not sure by what plausible argument Jerry Jones is a worse *person* than Dan Snyder? Unless I missed a story, Jerry is just a ridiculous egomaniac who is fun to root against, but that describes about half the owners in professional sports.
Then again, Joe did get Buck O’Neil into the Hall of Fame and I have a KC Monarch’s cap that Buck autographed and the Royals had some good years while Joe was here. He is definitely my favorite sportswriter.
Should be bonus points for close games. I always get more enjoyment off a last second win than a blowout… Even if you hate the other team, it’s so much better to give them hope and snatch it away at the last minute. It’s also much worse on the opposite side of that equation…
I think you are right about letting the Baltimore hate go. If you are going to hate a team for the Browns moving to Baltimore it should probably be the Colts. First, the Irsays still own the Colts. Second, the NFL treated Baltimore so poorly after the Colts left (giving a team to Jacksonville over Baltimore, really?!?) that holding the Browns move against Baltimore seems harsh so many years later. At least Cleveland got to keep their team name/records, etc. and didn’t have to go years without a football team. Now, Baltimore is by all accounts a class organization. Steve Bisciotti, Ozzie Newsome/Eric DeCosta and John Harbaugh as a combination are as unproblematic as it gets in the NFL. Being a Baltimore fan in this era is a lot of fun. We are usually in the mix but don’t win enough to be obnoxious. For good or for bad, almost all of our games are close. You add that to the absolute joy of watching Lamar Jackson play and watching his leadership blossom, it is pretty hard to beat being a Ravens fan.
What the hell? The Giants are "New York," but the Jets are the "New York Jets"? Like we're second-class citizens (separate from our level of play). And this is why no Jet fan every called Giants Stadium anything but The Meadowlands.
Of course, when it was Giants stadium, it still was no matter what you called it. You guys were tenants for 27 years. I guess at least you are partners now.
I think that having a forced scale of -16 to +16 might be a flaw in the system. Joe you seem to dislike more than 16 teams so just let it be, man. Put the zero wherever you want! It looks like you dislike the Cardinals (+3) at least a bit. And your next team the Jets (+4) had zero comments about your own feelings towards them. But you kind of like the Titans (+5).
I’d say you have the Titans +1. So adjust everything by 4, but skip over zero. That makes your top team the Chiefs (+12), moves the Jets to (-1) and demotes the Cowboys to (-20). Your total matchup points stay the same but now you don’t dislike teams with positive points which makes more sense I think.
How about keeping the total positive and negative points from the current system but allowing them to be allocated (unevenly) as needed to the teams? There would be 136 total positive points and 136 total negative points. If Joe wants to put the Cowboys at -121 and 15 others each at -1, he can.
I was thinking about that, too... Like, if it's a game you really care about, and the team is losing the whole game, then wins remarkably at the end...wouldn't that boost the happiness factor a lot? Not sure how you could account for that beforehand, though. (You can't)
I have to say, this entire NFL Happiness Scale has be the single stupidest thing ever memorialized. And it's WONDERFUL.
Stupidity taken to the highest reaches of the art form. The beauty of Michelangelo's David, the sublimity of the Sistine Chapel, the gruesome ugliness of Guernica, and the eternal mystery of The Mona Lisa rolled into one expression of pure stupidity.
The glorious, show-stopping, bread & circuses spectacle of two **TRULY GREAT MINDS** putting on their talmudic scholar hats, firing all their synapses into one stream roller of astonishing stupidity, painstakingly constructing logically sound (and altogether entertaining) explications of UTTERLY LUDICROUS rules and regulations for what ultimately is nothing more than an objective scale of something completely subjective is one of the greatest things the readers of any website (or listeners of any podcast) could ever hope to experience.
And experiencing it we are.
So . . . bring on more! Triple-downs parlayed with double nullifiers combined with codicils to modifications to alterations to amendments of the rules.
Joe wrote a long form piece at NBC sports a few years ago about the lions. He wanted them to be the next team to break their losing drought, like the Cubs or Red Sox
If anything, I’ve always thought that he was a bit snarky about the Tigers more than the lions
Look, I know your wife went to KState, so you have to say nice things about Steve Grogan and Lynn Dickey. But now your child goes to KU, which is having a remarkable football season with a joyful and excellent quarterback, and a piece about them seems directly up your alley. So why hasn't that happened yet?
Funny. In college I didn’t pay my FL tix either. Gotten just S of Jacksonville en route to Miami. Probably bc I was still STEAMING from recent pull off for gas nearby, while inside less than 5 minutes to pay, someone (presumably another driver) broke into my car (a college jalopy), and stole the cassette tapes scattered on seat for the long drive south. That. Quick. The tix was insult to injury. Makes sense, right?
I really dislike all this football stuff here and on the Poscast when we’re in the best part of baseball season right now. I sure wish we could go back to the days you guys had almost totally rejected the NFL due to all the violence, gruesome injuries, Roger Goodell etc. What happened?
Lifelong 49ers fan here so I despise the Cowboys, they would definitely be my -16 team, but I’m not sure by what plausible argument Jerry Jones is a worse *person* than Dan Snyder? Unless I missed a story, Jerry is just a ridiculous egomaniac who is fun to root against, but that describes about half the owners in professional sports.
I stop by for the references to WarGames.
Mike claiming that the Vikings have won a Super Bowl on the Poscast 😥
Then again, Joe did get Buck O’Neil into the Hall of Fame and I have a KC Monarch’s cap that Buck autographed and the Royals had some good years while Joe was here. He is definitely my favorite sportswriter.
A second mathematical correction, Mike has two +16 teams, Buffalo and San Diego. Mike is cheating his own system!
Should be bonus points for close games. I always get more enjoyment off a last second win than a blowout… Even if you hate the other team, it’s so much better to give them hope and snatch it away at the last minute. It’s also much worse on the opposite side of that equation…
I think you are right about letting the Baltimore hate go. If you are going to hate a team for the Browns moving to Baltimore it should probably be the Colts. First, the Irsays still own the Colts. Second, the NFL treated Baltimore so poorly after the Colts left (giving a team to Jacksonville over Baltimore, really?!?) that holding the Browns move against Baltimore seems harsh so many years later. At least Cleveland got to keep their team name/records, etc. and didn’t have to go years without a football team. Now, Baltimore is by all accounts a class organization. Steve Bisciotti, Ozzie Newsome/Eric DeCosta and John Harbaugh as a combination are as unproblematic as it gets in the NFL. Being a Baltimore fan in this era is a lot of fun. We are usually in the mix but don’t win enough to be obnoxious. For good or for bad, almost all of our games are close. You add that to the absolute joy of watching Lamar Jackson play and watching his leadership blossom, it is pretty hard to beat being a Ravens fan.
Small mathematical correction. I believe Mike's Browns/Falcons game is a 19 point game, not 18.
What the hell? The Giants are "New York," but the Jets are the "New York Jets"? Like we're second-class citizens (separate from our level of play). And this is why no Jet fan every called Giants Stadium anything but The Meadowlands.
Giants fans also still call it the The Meadowlands. Only NFL media, networks, advertisers call it otherwise.
That's interesting. Did they start calling it the Meadowlands exclusively after the new stadium was built?
I've never heard anyone in real life call it MetLife. In fact, I had to think a moment what it's real name was.
Of course, when it was Giants stadium, it still was no matter what you called it. You guys were tenants for 27 years. I guess at least you are partners now.
I think that having a forced scale of -16 to +16 might be a flaw in the system. Joe you seem to dislike more than 16 teams so just let it be, man. Put the zero wherever you want! It looks like you dislike the Cardinals (+3) at least a bit. And your next team the Jets (+4) had zero comments about your own feelings towards them. But you kind of like the Titans (+5).
I’d say you have the Titans +1. So adjust everything by 4, but skip over zero. That makes your top team the Chiefs (+12), moves the Jets to (-1) and demotes the Cowboys to (-20). Your total matchup points stay the same but now you don’t dislike teams with positive points which makes more sense I think.
The real problem with the system is that no one actually cares about more than a few games in any given week.
How about keeping the total positive and negative points from the current system but allowing them to be allocated (unevenly) as needed to the teams? There would be 136 total positive points and 136 total negative points. If Joe wants to put the Cowboys at -121 and 15 others each at -1, he can.
I was thinking about that, too... Like, if it's a game you really care about, and the team is losing the whole game, then wins remarkably at the end...wouldn't that boost the happiness factor a lot? Not sure how you could account for that beforehand, though. (You can't)
I have to say, this entire NFL Happiness Scale has be the single stupidest thing ever memorialized. And it's WONDERFUL.
Stupidity taken to the highest reaches of the art form. The beauty of Michelangelo's David, the sublimity of the Sistine Chapel, the gruesome ugliness of Guernica, and the eternal mystery of The Mona Lisa rolled into one expression of pure stupidity.
The glorious, show-stopping, bread & circuses spectacle of two **TRULY GREAT MINDS** putting on their talmudic scholar hats, firing all their synapses into one stream roller of astonishing stupidity, painstakingly constructing logically sound (and altogether entertaining) explications of UTTERLY LUDICROUS rules and regulations for what ultimately is nothing more than an objective scale of something completely subjective is one of the greatest things the readers of any website (or listeners of any podcast) could ever hope to experience.
And experiencing it we are.
So . . . bring on more! Triple-downs parlayed with double nullifiers combined with codicils to modifications to alterations to amendments of the rules.
On a weekly basis.
Rock on, brothers. Rock on.
Well said. I love smart and philosophical, but I also need the silly and inane. Like The Good Place, here at JoeBlogs we get both!
Yes. It reminds me of Katie Baker's magnificent Sabermetric reviews of the NY Times Wedding Page.
The rules in case you're unfamiliar: https://grantland.com/features/matrimonial-moneyball/
Joe cares a lot about the LIONS? Since when? I've been reading him for years and he's barely mentioned them. Did I miss something?
Maybe there’s some Cleveland/Detroit hopeless loser team kinship going on? (See also: hastily made Cleveland tourism video 2nd attempt)
If so, he's never mentioned it and by now his Brilliant Readers know his pet likes and peeves.
Joe wrote a long form piece at NBC sports a few years ago about the lions. He wanted them to be the next team to break their losing drought, like the Cubs or Red Sox
If anything, I’ve always thought that he was a bit snarky about the Tigers more than the lions
Wow. Missed that one. Thanks!
Look, I know your wife went to KState, so you have to say nice things about Steve Grogan and Lynn Dickey. But now your child goes to KU, which is having a remarkable football season with a joyful and excellent quarterback, and a piece about them seems directly up your alley. So why hasn't that happened yet?