The Newspaper and NFL Week 17

 

I used to get the daily newspaper delivered to my house.  I think not having a widely read daily newspaper, something which centered all discussions on current events on facts, has been a societal loss.  I talk to people now and again which have taken the bait on the idea that the media is some sort of enemy who can't seem to wrap their heads around the idea that the people that keep telling them not to trust the media are the ones pulling all sorts of scams that need to minimize the impact of what happens once they get caught.  When there are no solid facts, how can you even debate an issue much less hold anyone accountable.  Here's an example...  

Every once in awhile I think about the alleged suicide of Jeffrey Epstein.  This is a guy that was a total cockroach, who scurried on top of the shit heap by leveraging connections to free himself from consequence.  He had no discernible morality, thus felt no shame or remorse in a traditional sense.  The scenario that the American Public has accepted is this:  "So, that guy who was involved in wrangling teenage girls for powerful guys to fuck on his island killed himself.  Yeah, it was before he even went to trial.  It was quite a surprise he didn't try to just ride it out and get his crimes pardoned like everyone else in the country, but he just went and acted totally out of character.  Yes, it turns out he managed to kill himself in a maximum security prison.  Where were the guards?  Oh, they were sleeping.  Hell of a thing.  They just went to sleep on the job.  The security tapes?  Amazing thing, the video tapes from that tiny period of time are missing.  Yep.  The machines just didn't work for that tiny slice of time.  Oh well, that's what happened."  Meanwhile the American Public just shrugs and says "Ok".  Doesn't that seem worth looking into?  Seriously, the vast majority of our population are so fucking stupid you could present any news item, lay it out in painstaking detail, and they will still be either unable to follow it or just attach some fantastical illogical counterargument that they got fed to them on whatever bullshit social media platform that has broken their brains.    

It's sort of like the Golden Age of Yellow Journalism again.  It really was a better time when you could open up that tangible newspaper, point to the story and say "There it is" without wondering if they just were making shit up as part of some maximum grift.  It was a big deal if a newspaper fucked up a story back then.  All the crackpot shit was in those newspapers you'd glimpse at the grocery store checkout lines, understood by everyone except my college roommate's mother to be entertainment.  (Actual phone call from his mom once... "Be careful if you go out tonight.  People are stealing kidneys from teenagers.  It's true.  I read it in the paper."). From a selfish standpoint I liked to walk down my driveway first thing as some sort of "first person instant weather report", back in the days before we looked at our phone to confirm it was cold outside in the winter months.  There's a satisfaction to walking barefoot in freshly fallen powder to retrieve the NY Times Sunday edition, your feet getting numb and painful as you do that herky jerky high step walk as if you can keep your feet off the snow by high knee lifts.

I started re-watching MadMen over the holidays.  I remember the tail end of that culture, men smoking cigarettes opening the newspaper to find out what had happened.  When I watch that show I get flooded with sense memories.  There were some distinctive smells to that era, a combination of old tobacco, men's hair tonic, and whatever industrial cleaning product that had dominant market share.  It's odd what you remember from childhood, so much of it these sharp little details that float in your brain without context.  The sound of a leather shoe turning on freshly waxed tile.  The feel of a worn leather bound menu at a dimly lit big city restaurant.  The sharp taste of ginger from a cookie.  The sound of a manual car window being rolled down.  Also in my case, the smell of a cheap cigar being lit at Veteran's Stadium by the man behind me watching the 2-11-1 Eagles futility.

I have been watching shitty pro football teams for almost my whole life.  Geographic proximity has doomed me to rooting for the horrific Eagles teams from 1968-1974 where the best team I saw in person was the 1974 team that won three at the end to finish 7-7.  We moved to Erie in 1975 and had to choose between the Steelers (couldn't get tickets), the Browns (they sucked) and the Bills (Hey, they had OJ!).  In 10 years backing the Bills, I saw two winning seasons (1980-81).  I went to college, and didn't really follow anybody because I didn't have a reliable TV.  Then I moved to Cleveland and made the worst mistake of my life, going in on Bleacher tickets on the Browns.  I have seen 6 winning seasons while staring at the Browns for 36 years.  To summarize, I have had great interest in pro football for 57 years and my teams have had winning seasons for 8 of them.  I have never had a team I support get past the divisional round of the playoffs and into the conference championship game.  Not once.  I am an expert on what losing organizations do.

This is why I am focused on betting against losing organizations this Sunday.  The real whopper of the week is where the loser of the Raiders v Giants game gets the #1 pick.  The Giants give all appearances of the organization actively trying to sabotage the team's chances, but the Raiders won't be outdone and just sat their two best players in Bowers and Max Crosby.  That game is a wilderness of mirrors.  The question there is will Pete Carroll, who is sure to be fired, try to win more than that Giants interim coach who needs to show he's not incompetent.  The hell if I know.  I'd like to say I'm staying away, but all the way back in August when I thought the Raiders would win 8 games or so I took an early line of Raiders -2.5 as I was sure the Giants would suck.  That line is now Raiders +2.5, so I'm five points the wrong way.  Ye Gods.

The Jets are clearly tanking.  They, as usual, need a QB in the draft.  I don't know why they think they can turn around the fortunes of this team by ruining some poor kid's life by drafting him, but they will make that same mistake they've made with Zac Wilson/Sam Darnold/Christian Hackenberg/Geno Smith one more time.  That spread is up to two touchdowns, so I am going to take the Patriots in the first half -7 as I assume Vrabel will want to crush the Jets spirit early.  Quick reminder, the Area Youth is still in at QB for the Jets and he's bad... real bad.  NE -7 First Half   

The Browns are the absolute worst franchise in American pro sports.  Despite all the evidence, they have decided they can "lose to victory".  I'd like to point out the 76ers tried this concept and failed.  The Jets have done this and failed.  The Browns themselves have done this and failed only a decade ago.  I will likely wait and see what the Ravens do tonight in their "I guess I'll watch it" game vs the Packers in the exciting Snoop Hundley v Malek Willis head-to-head.  If the Ravens lose, they're done so Pittsburgh might take off the gas on Sunday.  If the Ravens win, Pittsburgh will come into town to deliver one of their patented bully-kick-to-the-nuts games they love to do in December.  Side note, the Browns and Steelers roster is almost the same, yet Pittsburgh is about the win the AFC North and the Browns will pick #2 in the draft.  The Browns organization is a fucking bunch of losers and they always will be until the hapless dumbshit Haslam grifter family sells the team.  The Browns will do what they have to do to lose is my prediction.  If Baltimore wins, Pittsburgh -3. 

Current record:  31-29