Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category

Five Thoughts Under the Fedora: Graham over McConnell, Ignorance isn’t bliss, Yesterday’s Outrage is Today’s Ho-Hum, Planter Political Death and in Egypt yet another Islamic Conspiracy

Posted: July 12, 2026 by datechguy in culture, politics, Sports
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While everyone has been on the Mitch McConnell death watch the entire political world was caught completely by surprise by the sudden death of a seemingly healthy & vigorous Lindsey Graham.

It’s an important reminder that nobody is promised even tomorrow or even the rest of today.

Plus you never know, back when the Catholic “Sacrament of the Sick” which is now regularly given to those who are ill, was the called “The last rites” given to people expected to die my mother had received them 7 times before she was 50 due to illness & incidents.

She lived to be 88.

Of course Graham will get a full autopsy because he was considered “young” & that he was on Iran’s kill list but in my youth a person dying at 71 would not have elicited a 2nd thought.

A lot of people complain food is killing us or the environment is killing us or manufacturing is killing us but the truth is that we are living longer and longer because western civilization gives us a safer & cleaner life than than even the richest people 100 or 150 years ago.

As a biographer of Churchill, William Manchester, noted in the first of his three volumes on his life, the food served to the lords of the Manor in the 1890 would not pass a basic safety muster of today.

We live in what most people in history would consider a paradise & the only reason why so many young are discontented is because they’re too ignorant & uneducated to realize it & it’s in the interest in those who wish to use them to keep them that way.

The reaction to the death of Lindsey Graham is a great example of the new rules of culture and how they are applied.

As recent as two decades ago the idea that any person with a national platform would speak ill of the dead within 24 hours after they died unexpectedly was considered beyond the pale.

Today the fact that I completely expected to see it online, both by people who want to get credibility with their fellow haters & by their opponents to get clicks by saying how nasty they are for doing so, doesn’t move or outrage me at all.

It’s the natural results of the new rules. I disagree with these rules & I would like them to no longer exist but one must live in the world you’re in even if you wish it changed.

I can’t get angry at people when I don’t expect better from them.

Since we’re speaking of death it’s worth noting the political death of Graham Platner in Maine.

I was actually surprised that he pulled out of his race as he had nothing to lose by staying particularly since the left is completely terrified of the violent DSA types, not to mention his overwhelming victory over a sitting Democrat governor. Whatever incentive they offered must have been really something.

The only thing that really surprised me is how fast the media played the “boy were we stupid” card so soon after they had done so with Joe Biden.

That anybody falls for it is amazing, but it shouldn’t be. It’s amazing how much you don’t see when blindness fits into your political or financial desires.

I don’t blame fans of Egypt for being disappointed. After all they were up 2 goals with under 12 minutes to play for a chance to get to the final 8 in the World Cup before the defending champions with perhaps the single best player in the world managed to put three goals in the net

I don’t even mind them questioning the calls.

What I do mind is trying to turn their defeat by the defending champions into a Jewish conspiracy against Islam in general & Egypt in particular & also going after Argentine “football” as something corrupt.

The only thing funnier is how they champion the “Palestinian” cause while having one of the tightest fences & borders to keep Gazans out of their country.

Egypt’s team had a great run that it should be proud of. 150 countries would have celebrated a team in the final 16 & their fans would be right to lionize their players & coach’s skill. Alas that’s coupled with pulling this kind of idiocy because since they attributed their victories to calling on Allah to curse the Christians & Jews before each game it’s impossible that they might actual lose a legit match.

Fortunately they don’t care about losing the respect of outsiders like me as long as they’re able to lie to themselves.

No wonder today’s left embraces Islam so.

Five Up too early for a Saturday Thoughts Under the Fedora: World Cup Highlights, The Hardest Part, Musk’s Trillions, Iran Trickling down and Big Finish to the Rescue?

Posted: June 13, 2026 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, doctor who, employment, Sports, under the fedora, war
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I spent some time watching World Cup Highlights yesterday and those highlights demonstrated why the sport is not worth my time.

The highlight reels ran 15-20 min with several replays in them so maybe 10-12 minutes of play. That from a match that runs 90-100 minutes. That’s 80 minutes of dead time where there is no much happening but a guy kicking a ball back to another while they look for a chance to make something happen,

Contrast this with Baseball which while not having a clock has the potential for a run to be scored & a highly happening on every single pitch.

Give me the pine tar & the leather any day.

The worst part of being out of work is the waiting.

Last time around in 2008 I couldn’t buy a job interview. This time I’ve had quite a few. I’m waiting on three companies right now 2 of which had told me I’d be hearing back from them up or down before this point.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy that I’m getting interviews it’s the waiting that throws me for a loop.

It’s not easy at 63 to be competing for positions with people 20+ years younger than you.

Let me remind you of several somethings concerning Elon Musk’s soon to be Trillion dollar net worth.

  1. Musk employs tens of thousands of people
  2. Musk is actively using his wealth for some rather incredible things
  3. There are plenty of people who have never built anything who will critique his wealth for profit. power & clicks.
  4. There are plenty more who only started hating on him once he became a threat to the power of the left or to virtue signal to said left that they’re one of him.
  5. As the old saying goes, he will still be able to only eat one meal at a time & sleep in one bed at a time & will like all of us eventually die.
  6. The only think that really counts in the long run is his relationship with God, I’d worry more about that but I’m too busy worrying about my relationship with God.

But the real thing about Musk’s wealth is this: It’s nothing to do with me and not my concern. He has what he has and does what he does and what he so does is his own business, not mine. I have no more right or claim on what he has than the guy down the street has to mine.

Over the past two weeks gasoline has dropped .29 cents from it’s high in my area. About 9%.

While that’s nice it’s still up 57% from the low it had hit before the Iran War.

This causes me pain but it’s still worth it if Iran is emasculated. What the people who are complaining about the lack of a deal or Trump not getting said deal or bombing them on any given day either don’t understand or ignore is that every day that passes Iran grows weaker and we grow stronger.

As the tankers continue to come to the US & we keep getting tankers in the straits out Iran’s leverage continues to drop. Yeah if we were willing to commit 100,000 troops we could likely bring them down and take the country & the oil but at the cost of 1000’s of US lives that while justifiable in the long run to destroy once & for all the leading terror sponsor in the world, is a price our current society is unwilling to pay & unnecessary if Iran can be emasculated without doing so.

The price will keep trickling down slowly as the alternate supplies continue to open up. I suspect if things aren’t concluded right away it will take till the end of August to see gas at $2.99 again. By that time Iran will be capping wells and their ability to finance jihad outside will be practically finished, which frankly they are almost at now anyways.

That’s a lot less sexy than seeing the Mullahs fall just like winning the cold war over 50 years was a lot less sexy than Patton leading his army against the Soviets in 1945 would have been, but I’ll take less sexy with thousands of less casualties every day of the week.

Finally word is out that the Doctor Who Christmas special is nixed & the BBC is pretty much taking bids to see who wants a shot at running the franchise that they’ve driven into the ground once again.

Like the anti-thatcher stuff that killed it in 1989 the work stuff has made Doctor Who so Toxic that actors have no interest in the iconic role & fans don’t care.

In my opinion the solution is obvious, I’d give it to Big Finish which has been producing original Doctor Who stories for more than a quarter of a century & doing so without needing a government imposed fee to pay the way.

While they have their share of woke they are experts at making stories that people are willing to pay actual money to hear, and while they don’t have experience in TV that doesn’t matter as the special effects and or cinematography are not the problem here. it’s the stories and as Big Finish says: Big Finish, We Love Stories!

Let Big Finish supply the scripts and Doctor Who can thrive again, or let the TV show die and let Big Finish run the Time Lord as strictly audio. Remember it was six years of Big Finish stories starting a decade after the final show that caused it to return. And even if it dies here, remember the first episode was broadcast in 1963 when I was six months old.

Not a bad run.

Jerod Mayo vs Bill or What a Difference 18 Weeks Makes

Posted: January 5, 2025 by datechguy in media, nfl, Sports
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  • Randolph Duke: Good, William! Now, some of our clients are speculating that the price of gold will rise in the future. And we have other clients who are speculating that the price of gold will fall. They place their orders with us, and we buy or sell their gold for them.
  • Mortimer Duke: Tell him the good part.
  • Randolph Duke: The good part, William, is that, no matter whether our clients make money or lose money, Duke & Duke get the commissions.
  • Mortimer Duke: Well? What do you think, Valentine?
  • Billy Ray: Sounds to me like you guys a couple of bookies.
  • Randolph Duke: I told you he’d understand.
Trading Places 1983

Today will be the final game of the season for the New England Patriots as they will either finish 3-14 and hold the #1 draft pick next season or they will somehow manage to beat the Buffalo Bills who are resting their key starters to get ready for the playoffs (although Josh Allen will start and play at least a few series to preserve his consecutive start record) finish 4-13 and have to settle for something in the top 8. (A tie will put them somewhere between the 2nd & 4th pick).

If you listen to sports talk radio in Massachusetts there is a lot of debate on the Patriots keep the #1 pick or trade down for multiple picks as they clearly have their QB with Drake Maye and there is some mild debate on if you sit Maye who took a nasty hit last week and start your #3 guy to see if he can do the job (and assure the pick) or play him because in theory you are trying to win a game.

But there is apparently NO debate on one thing. Every single sports station is INSISTING that Jerod Mayo must go due to the Patriots pathetic 3-14 season, in fact if he wins this game they would really call for his head for blowing the #1 pick in the draft.

While he is a rookie coach who has in fact made some rookie mistakes I want to point out two factors that the real drivers for the Dump Mayo movement can be explained by this quote from Baseball Owner Bill Veeck who famously said:

“You can draw more people with a losing team plus bread and circuses than with a losing team and a long, still silence.”

People often forget that primary job is not for a sports talk radio station to help the team win or to keep you informed. The primary job of a sports radio station is to get you to listen. So being consistent or making a proper case or not being an ass isn’t what counts, what counts is how many people can you get interested enough in what your talking about and who you’re talking with to turn the dial to your station or livestream.

So when you have an audience who got used to championship parades over the last 20 years and now have a 3-4 win team, you have a better chance of getting people to listen by creating a controversy and finding scapegoats for the mob to be set upon then you know, just talking about how much your players suck.

This is what this entire controversy is, simply talk radio trying to gin up interest and the primary evidence of this assertion I’m making was broadcast live by these very same stations a mere 18 weeks ago.

Eighteen weeks ago before the season started there was some debate on if the team should

  • start the rookie QB Drake Maye right at the start (Baptism by fire)
  • Sit Maye for the season (Watch and learn)
  • Bring him in mid way (learn a bit then see what you have)

It was a good topic with valid points for all three of these opinions and made for not only good radio but a lot of varied opinions and arguments among hosts, guests and listeners.

There was however one topic that everybody, hosts, guests and fans seemed to agree on from day 1.

The Patriots were a 4 win team.

There was the odd guy who thought they might squeak out a fifth and there was one who said if they got all the breaks they may even manage 7 wins but 4 was the number that was constantly repeated. People looked at the schedule and saw this disaster coming.

By an odd coincidence these same Patriots coached by Bill Belichick the previous season finished with a 4-13 record. This was the same Bill Belichick that all of these same hosts insisted on air:

  1. Was the greatest NFL coach of all time
  2. Had to go
  3. Should have been hired by the Cowboys or the Falcons this year.

Now maybe it’s just me but if you have the greatest coach of all time or at least a contender for the title and one who developed the greatest quarterback of all time it just might have been a good idea to keep him around to develop this new one but that’s a whole different argument. The real point I want to make is this:

If you take a team that was 4-13 the previous season under the greatest coach of all time, a team that you projected to win 4 games in the new season with the rookie coach and staff that you have, how is it credible to call for said rookie coach’s head because he finishes one game worse than the greatest coach of all time did with a similar or worse roster?

I’m sorry if Bill couldn’t take this batch of misfit toys beyond four wins you certainly can’t be screaming bloody murder if Jerod only manages three in his first year coaching them. Was it really realistic to expect him to so any better when you yourselves didn’t expect him to do so.

And given that your last first round quarterback development was hindered by three difference offensive coordinators in three years is it a really smart thing to play the same game with this QB?

Now if your goal is to create a winning team, then these points are relevant and should be made, but if instead your goal is to get people’s attention to your show when the team is a disaster area, then these point of logic go out the window, you want those fans in the stands with pitchforks and torches ready to storm the castle.

Rest assured if Mayo & company flub the upcoming draft and fail to manage to pick up and develop the offensive linemen Maye needs and do not acquire a solid 1 to 2 target for Maye to throw to and thus blow a season when you will have the easiest schedule in the league, then I might consider joining the mob storming the castle (or would if it was something important like baseball) but until then I see this coaching staff prove they can’t win with a better roster and a good young QB with a year under their belt I’ll stand pat.

5 Fun Sports Thoughts Under the Fedora RedSox Move Big, 2 players away from Judging Mayo, It’s the 80’s Celtics Again, An Icy Reality for the Bruins and Pete Rose Colored Glasses

Posted: December 15, 2024 by datechguy in baseball, dynasty baseball, gaming, nba, nfl, nhl, online gaming, Sports
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The Redsox have since the Chiam Bloom Era have hoarded prospects the way Scrooge hoarded cash. This week they spent four of them including two very high ranking ones for a legit ace Garrett Crochet. The White Sox need everything and the Redsox got exactly what they needed the most.

This automatically makes the rest of the rotation better as they move down a slot and is a strong signal that will all the young talent that broke through last year they are ready to roll. It’s going to be a great three years for Boston fans. The front office was wise to ignore the press and wait till now to strike.

It will be fun

I do not understand all the calls for the head of 1st year coach Jerad Mayo over the Patriots 3-10 start. Does anyone really think a different coach with this team was going to do better?

Their biggest problem is that with so many bad teams (8 teams are 3-10 or worse coming into this week) the best they will manage is a top 10 rather than a top 5 draft pick.

If they can draft a solid lineman or two and pick up a #2 or better wide receiver either via the draft or as they have a ton of cap space through free agency this team will be a playoff team in less than a season.

If he can’t get it done with those additions, THEN we can talk about the coaching

It will be fun

If you’re a Celtics fan if this isn’t the 2nd Bird/McHale/Parish golden age it’s pretty damn close.

While they don’t have the best record in the NBA the C’s are a devastating team with at least 2 to 3 players coming off the bench who would be starting on any other team and starters who despite last year’s championship still have a Tom Brady class chip on their shoulder.

I strongly suggest the Bucks enjoy their NBA cup final as barring massive injuries that’s the closest their team will get to the final this year.

To be sure Cleveland will be no pushover in the east and Dallas, Houston, Memphis and OKC are going to be tough but in a seven game series depth and experience will be hard to match.

It will be fun

Alone among the Boston sports teams the future doesn’t seem bright for the Bruins.

Despite yesterday’s win they are still 1-2 on their latest road trip and seem to have settled down as an average team that if lucky might win a playoff series and frankly there is no reason to believe that the ceiling will get any higher over the next few years.

Their off season signings just don’t seem to have panned out and frankly I see no sign that it will get better.

Finally we are deep into my 1973 league draft and it’s getting interesting. My own team looks pretty good but I see myself with a B+ ace instead of an A+ Ace but I’ve also added Billy Williams to support Pete Rose and Darryl Porter is now of age to make a different.

I mention Pete Rose because I’ve been watching the HBO special on him made just before he died and there is one conclusion I’ve come to.

There is a legit debate on the HOF, Rose’s numbers clearly warrant it & his gambling on Baseball as a manager clearly warrants his banning and there is was also the mercy after 30 years argument.

But it also appears to me at a time when interest in baseball is down Rose’s situation made sure he was news for thirty years and made him the single most discussed great player in the game. More people know just how incredible a player Rose was BECAUSE of his banning and the scandals are the reason why 30+ years after the fact HBO is did a special, not on Bench, not on Joe Morgan, Not on Reggie Jackson or the Beloved Brooks Robinson, or Big Papi or A-Rod or Clemens and Bonds, but on Pete Rose.

While it must have torn his guts out to be left out of the HOF the one thing all of this has established is that while you might not like him, or what he did or trust him at his word, the one thing firmly established in any person’s mind is that if you wanted to build a team to win, Pete Rose is the guy you start with, Period!

That’s a hell of a legacy!

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