Nurse the Hate: Best Life and NFL Week 15

 

I was speaking with The Land Sailor a couple of days ago.  This is a man who has been impacted by The Great Pandemic of 2020 more than almost anyone.  His life is a series of scams to obtain free travel from science agencies to quench his wanderlust.  He has little interest in speaking at conventions unless he discovers it is being held in a previously unvisited corner of the globe where he can leverage great amounts of free time amongst minimal work requirement.  He was quite simply, living the dream.

The problem with being a scientist is understanding the data involving the pandemic.  He knows he cannot gamble with his travel as the data behind the virus is unavoidable.  The more exposure, the greater the certainty of becoming ill with a disease with inconclusive long term effects.  He is now faced with the worst case scenario for his own life.  Stuck in one place with little to no stimulus to hold his interest on a timeline with no certain end.  It's like he has a sentence in a pleasant minimum security prison with no parole hearings on the schedule.

He told me about a friend of his, a woman that is determined to live the millennial ideal of her "best life".  Now I believe the idea of "best life" is really just an excuse to do whatever the fuck you want to at the moment regardless of the circumstances, but then again I have a childhood of Catholicism banged into me.  She, like a few other people I know, is not going to let something like a global pandemic get in the way of her recreation.  She spent a month in Turkey working remotely.  Went kayaking in Costa Rica for a couple weeks.  Had a nice leisurely time baking in the sun in Greece.  Checked out the scene in Dubai.  Her Instagram feed looks like 2018.  There are no apparent precautions or regrets.  Best life.

It reminds me of that scene in Apocalypse Now where Robert Duvall's character Lt Col Kilgore walks around a beach being shelled by the Viet Cong, oblivious to the danger.  Martin Sheen's voiceover says it all.  "You knew he would get though it without a scratch."  I have no doubt whatsoever that The Land Sailor's friend will get through covid without any problems besides slightly sunburned shoulders.  She could sit on a 16 hour flight next to a woman bleeding out any and all of her orifices and hop out of bed the next morning to go surfing.  Meanwhile I will probably get sick for two months just because I walked past someone at Home Depot with a sniffle.  

I think the key to Covid Life is a reasonable amount of confidence.  The less you know, the better off you probably are in 2021.  These Trump flag waving stupid hillbillies down the road from me might have it right.  If you don't believe in it, maybe it just doesn't exist.  I'm stuck in a windowless room typing this while a woman is sailing the Mediterranean smiling from ear to ear.  Why let facts get in the way of a good time?  2021 is all about making your own truth.  

Here's a great example.  The Buffalo Bills are probably the second best team in the AFC right now.  They just bullied the Steelers for a win on national TV, and now they are going to pop on over to Denver to get a quick "W" before the holidays.  This game is a speed bump for the Bills.  That's why I'm on Denver.  I am making my own truth with a team that has covered 3 of their last 4, the only loss where they had to start a practice squad receiver at QB.  This will probably be an ugly game with points at a premium.  Denver +6.5

At this time of year, it is prudent to look for teams that have packed it in.  Ideally I am looking for a matchup of a team that is playing for something going against a team that has packed it in who is starting a backup quarterback.  Bingo.  The Bengals are going to start one of their two shitty backups.  I am hoping for Ryan Finley, a man that has no business cashing an NFL check.  The Bengals face the Steelers, who are coming off their second straight loss.  Defense is about effort, and I think the Steelers put in max effort versus the Bengals this week.  The Washington Football team is going to be forced to start Dwayne Haskins, their season starter that they soured on so completely that they try to pretend he doesn't exist.  Haskins had a buzz about him that he didn't prepare to the level of an NFL QB.  How much prep is he going to put in coming off the bench at a place that has made clear they don't want him?  Seattle meanwhile is playing for the NFC West and potentially the #1 seed.  I am going to take the UNDER in both of these games.  Seattle UNDER 50.5/Pittsburgh UNDER 46.5  

Season Record:  21-19-1