I haven’t been to New York in a year. The last time I was in New York was right as covid was getting under control. Dining was still primarily outside and masks were enforced everywhere. When so many people live in such close proximity, it was understandable why regulations were as tight as they were. Corpses were stacked up in refrigerated semi trailers for a time, so the city still operated with a cautious sense of dread. The visit to the city that time was sort of like walking around a New York set. There was none of the energy, but it looked the same.
To me, it seems like New York has returned to a sense of normalcy. There are a few differences though. Weed was legalized here, and as a result, the entire city smells like a Freshman dorm at Kent State. Literally at any time of day, at any location, the entire place stank like weed. It’s 815 in the morning walking to get an espresso. Weed. Kids walking out of a high school. Weed. Four business guys striding past talking about their little fiefdoms. Weed. I am fairly certain 70-80% of NYC is stoned at any given moment. Maybe because Manhattan is so expensive, all the worker bees that toil to make life enjoyable for the gilded class that actually can afford to live there tolerate their days with self-medication. I’m not really sure. But I can tell you that any block in NYC today is more likely to smell like weed than the parking lot of a Phish show.
The other major takeaway is that the city is filled to the brim with 22-30 year olds, all of whom are scrambling to scurry up whatever employment ladder they have hopped on, all of them oblivious to the fact that the only people making a real living are the ones that own the businesses. These are all 2020s serfs. Young women preen about the city with a confidence that New York is a movie set that has been constructed just for them to provide backdrop for the drama of their lives. They might not be wrong. Still, you’d have to be just out of college to endure the reality of sharing a 60 square foot living space with three people. It’s like paying $1800 a month to live in a submarine. The only way to make that work in your head is to convince yourself “I’m Where The Action Is, And I'm A Star” even if you’re only working retail and can’t afford to go out to do any of the great things everyone else is doing.
There appears to be no rock music in any of the old haunts, music having migrated to Brooklyn years ago. There are however 216,567 coffee shops, and 113,653 places to buy things to smoke weed out of. There are also plenty of places to buy cheap slices of pizza, which is perhaps the last concession to Old New York. I didn’t buy any slices of pizza while I was there, but I thought about it as I dodged young women that spoke excitedly seemingly to themselves but instead into hidden devices “…and then I was like THAT. WAS. SO. RANDOM. And then I had to fucking go all the way back to fucking Midtown because…”. It’s all people looking at their phones, stoned to the gills, listening to whatever the fuck they’re listening to, walking back and forth to low paying jobs. Meanwhile I’m focused on what they should be focused on… The New York Football Giants.
Are the Giants any good? I don’t know. It seems like their schedule is Washington/Houston/Carolina and then back again. They might play U Mass next week. But they are 7-2 and you can only beat who they schedule you to play. Brian Daboll, the new Giants coach, seemed to take a logical stance that for the team to win games they should not make mistakes, hang around in games, and make a play in the fourth quarter. They’ve got the Lions this weekend who take an opposite tactic of "fall hopelessly behind and then try to score enough points to backdoor cover". The Lions have somehow won two in a row, which is amazing because they have a fairly bleak roster of talent. The 3-6 Lions are not going to go anywhere on the road and win a third game in a row. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the team is likely trying to have a strong draft position to get a franchise QB, and with two wins in a row, a loss to the 7-2 Giants will go right under the radar. The last thing the organization wants is to draft the next Jared Goff next year. They already have that. Is that a conspiracy theory? Yes. Will it come true? Also, yes. Giants -3.
The Raiders are not in a good place. It’s Week 9 and the owner has had to say publicly he isn’t firing the new coach. The QB and face of the franchise was crying at the press conference after last weekend’s asskicking. The Raiders are 2-7. They were in the Playoffs last year playing for a coach they all loved. Every one of their preseason goals has been lost. Now they are trying to play out the string and it’s not even Thanksgiving. Does this seem like a team that is going to stand up after their season essentially ended last Sunday to go to notoriously difficult Denver to handle the Broncos? Sure, the Broncos can’t score a lick, but the Raiders defense is awful. The counterpoint is the Broncos might have the best “D” in the league. I think they can keep a dispirited Raider team in check. Josh McDaniels once again brings his tradition of losing to primetime. This game will be unwatchable. Denver -2.5
I’m on the Colts. I don’t know if Jeff Saturday can coach, but he was smart enough to start Matt Ryan instead of Sam Ehlinger. The narrative around the Colts is that Irsay is intentionally killing the season to start over, that’s why he hired Jeff Saturday. The sports media is furious that Saturday got that job without "paying his dues", which is laughable as every one of those network NFL guys is an ex-player that never had to do a weekend shift at a radio station in Flint MI for two years paying dues before being handed their high paying cushy gig. I dunno. Maybe those guys have this situation wrong. Maybe Frank Reich just sucked. The Eagles Super Bowl win with Reich coaching Nick Foles looks like one of the greatest flukes in NFL history. My focus is on those very same Eagles. Those guys lost AJ Brown, their starting TE, starting run stopping defensive tackle Jordan Davis, and have lingering injuries all over the o-line. Now they go on the road after a short week with a Monday Night loss to Washington under their belt. I’m not saying the Colts are great, but they beat the Chiefs at home. Why can’t they stay within 7.5 of Philly? Indianapolis +7.5
Season record: 16-12-1
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