Author: boom booms room staff

What Changed?

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Helping America get back on its collective feet is a noble cause of our invaluable government.  In fact, there is a report from Politico this AM that a $900 billion stimulus package (the second of its kind in the year of our Covid) is expected to be announced today.

Yesterday’s stock market rally foreshadowed as much.  When you pump money into consumers’ and businesses’ hands it eventually lands on corporate bottom lines.  When bottom lines go up, stocks go up.

You might question why $900 billion and why today?  Perhaps you should question $900 billion and why today.  President Trump countered and countered Pelosi’s pork-filled relief bill in September and October.  She wanted a robust $2.2 trillion.  Spendthrift Trump only wanted about $1.8 trillion.  Pelosi tore into the miser at every turn.  In fact, she ripped up the pages (not really but to revisit the visual is worth the reach) of the Trump counter saying it wasn’t near enough back then.

What changed?   An election is what changed.  Why help Trump and the peasants before the election when you can delay, anger the peasants, blame it on Trump, and have them vote your way?  Now that the dealing is done, open the cash spigot a bit and make it rain all be it far less than the president was willing to do to help.

Speaking of peasants, the black lives matter movement spearheaded by the BLM organization is now impatiently waiting for a meeting with the Biden/Harris team that they peacefully protested for in many cities to ignite those same peasants to vote them in.  It’s been 32 days and counting they say.  Enough already.  Where is our seat at the table they ask?  Don’t they know that the Biden/Harris transition team is very busy?  At the sound of the tone leave a voice mail, please.

Extra busy and awfully quiet is Kamala Harris.  Remember BLM to enunciate it as “Comma Lah” when leaving the voice mail, but we digress.  In six months’ time, she accused Biden of racism and her campaign soon fell on its face.  She got up four months later, answered Biden’s call, and was nominated as the first black woman to run as VP.  Depending on from which direction the wind blows she claims to be either African American or identifies as a Black American.  What changed?  “Only in America” Don King once said.

And that isn’t the only busy signal that BLM calls have received.  Yesterday Biden announced his choice for Secretary of Transportation.  It’s none other than Mayor Pete Buttigieg.  When last we heard a peep from Pete he was dropping out of the Democratic Presidential race and holding raised hands with Biden on a stage announcing that the future was bright.  Heck, he didn’t even wait till Super Tuesday.  What changed?  A backroom back scratch for his obvious sway with the Gay Community is what changed.

Could it be more ironic that in South Bend, IN, where the honorable Buttigieg reigns, the roads are said to have some of the worst potholes of any city in America?  As Secretary of Transportation maybe Pete can grab a bit of the above-mentioned $900 billion for some asphalt?

In addition, Buttigieg faced opposition from the local black community and the local BLM organization after he demoted the city’s first black police chief, and after a white police officer shot and killed a black man named Eric Logan. Black Lives Matter activists followed Buttigieg on the campaign trail and protested him repeatedly.

Hmm.  BLM denounced his nomination loudly yesterday.  After all, isn’t that at the very core of the BLM movement?

The number that you have called is either disconnected or no longer listed.  Please hang up and try again.

What changed?  You know what changed.

The saying “politics makes strange bedfellows” need not change.

It always answers the call.

Fourth and Long

Posted on by boom booms room staff

When the NFL calendar turns to mid-December the season is all but lost for those that have lost way more often than they have won.  Desperation, despair, depression, and disgust are all prevalent on the teams that won’t be present during the playoffs.  It’s fourth and very long.  We sample five Hail Marys and the like below.

  1. Texan’s safety Justin Reid is done for the season after suffering a hand injury in Sunday’s 36-7 loss to the Chicago Bears, a source confirmed to ESPN on Monday.  Their number one cornerback Bradley Roby was suspended for the final five games of the season for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. Cornerback Gareon Conley has been on injured reserve all season, and they were without cornerbacks Phillip Gaines and rookie John Reid because of injuries.   When a secondary can make Mitch Trubisky look good you’ve got problems.  And, the Texans at 4-9 have plenty of problems.
  2. As he prepares for the final three games of the season — and perhaps his New York Jets career — Sam Darnold said Monday that he still envisions himself as the franchise’s long-term solution at quarterback.  Of course, he does.  His agent told him to say just that.  The 0-13 Jets envision yet another fresh start.  And, it’s one without Darnold at QB and Gase as the head coach.
  3.  Gardner Minshew is back as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ starting quarterback.The Jaguars (1-12) have lost 12 games in a row, and coach Doug Marrone said he’s going to do whatever it takes to snap that streak and win the remaining three games.  Pride is good, isn’t it?  Minshew got plenty of praise at the end of last year and the first game of this one.  In between that, he hasn’t gotten much.  Mike Glennon and Jake Luton have started all of the games in between.  Who and who?
  4. The Eagles have a 109 million dollar problem.  They benched quarterback Carson Wentz last week after his season-long struggles. Jalen Hurts ran for over one hundred yards in his first career start and threw well enough to beat a very good New Orleans defense to earn a second start over the $109 million dollar man. Wentz is a former first-round pick and rumors have it that he’s been disenfranchised with the franchise ever since they chose Hurts in round two this past spring.  Should we say that the move they made hurts his feelings?  Ahem.
  5.  And, how ’bout dem Cowboys?  On a day when Stephen Jones said head coach Mike McCarthy will return in 2021, defensive coordinator Mike Nolan said he has not given thought to his future as the Cowboys’ defense has struggled this season, allowing the most points and rushing yards in the NFL so far. “I just take it a day at a time anyway,” he said. “I’d prefer not to answer the question just because it’s not what’s on my mind.”  Picking Cee Dee Lamb in round one looks like that Cadillac in the driveway when you needed a few Ford trucks upfront on D.   Steve and Jerry got caught up trying to keep up with the Joneses when the defensive side of the ball was in great need.  Now, Nolan will be the sacrificial lamb for the pick of Lamb and other personnel moves gone wrong for the franchise.  Remember, in Dallas, the Joneses are never wrong.

The good news for most of the above is that they’ll be put out of their misery in a few short weeks.

The bad news for future picks for some of the teams above is that the endless cycle of mediocrity will continue.

What’s In a Name?

Posted on by boom booms room staff

“That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

The MLB Cleveland baseball franchise had trouble picking a sweet nickname that would endear them to their fanbase at the outset of its now 120-year run.

Born in 1901 they were named the Cleveland Blues.  The expansion team that year gave their followers the blues finishing 54-82-2 (no lights and train schedules were to blame for tie games back then).

Just a year later in 1902, they changed to the Cleveland Bronchos.  What’s with the letter “H” you ask?  Way back when “broncos” was spelled “bronchos.”  Who knew?  The fans did, and apparently, this wasn’t the answer for them either.  It lasted one season as well.

Just a year later in 1903, they changed to the Naps.  What’s in the name Naps?  Napoleon Lajoie arrived in Cleveland on June 4 and was an immediate hit, drawing 10,000 fans to League Park. Soon afterward, he was named team captain, and in 1903 the team was renamed the Cleveland Napoleons (soon shortened to Naps) after a newspaper conducted a write-in contest.

The Naps nickname lasted from 1903 till 1914.  A dreadful season in  ’14 put the Nap nickname to bed (see what we did there?) for eternity.

Since 1915 and for 95 seasons and counting the franchise has been known as the Cleveland Indians.  They’ve won exactly 51% of their 16,482 games, 6 pennants, and two World Series.

Seems like they’ve been average at best for a long time.  And, they’ve been Indians for a long time as well.

But no more.  Well, technically they will be for one more season.

Amid accusations that “Indians” is racist, the organization is expected to announce the change this week, sources said, continuing a years-long process in which it abandoned its Chief Wahoo logo and committed to exploring a new nickname, as well.

The upcoming season of 2021 is expected to be a transition from the old to the new name. You have just 12 short months to get your Indians $125 replica jersey before the new name ones retail for $135.   Perhaps they could follow the NFL’s Washington Football Team lead and identify as the Cleveland Baseball Team for a year?

At the intersection of Brand Name Blvd. and Politically Correct Circle, the train known as Cancel Culture chugged through.  So for about 96 years being known as “Indians” was good, but now, it’s bad.

“This is the culmination of decades of work,” the Oneida Nation of New York, which led the Change the Mascot Movement, said in a statement to ESPN. “Groups like the National Congress of American Indians (it’s ok for them) passed resolutions for decades on this, social science has made clear these names are harmful and Cleveland got out in front of it and they’re leading, and rather than having this hanging over their heads, they’re charting a new path.”

They’re leading says Oneida Nation!  Not really.

What took them so long?  Well, they last won a World Series in 1948, or 72 years and counting. Good things come to those who wait.

They’re following.  They always have.

They’ve been napping for over a century actually.

Abby Takes Down Vegas, Yr 3, Wk 12

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Last week Abby won just a (kibbles and) bit more than she lost. Any week that’s a plus week versus Vegas is, well, a plus week versus Vegas.

For the season wins number 29, losses 30, and ties one.  Bones won number 45, while those given back are 38.  The hunch bet finally climbed out of a season-long backyard dug hole and stands at 4 up and 4 down.

Isn’t it so cancel culture 2020 that false positives, positives, and contact tracing are canceling plenty of games as well?  Jim Harbaugh is happy about that this week.  He would have been worked over by THE lickety-split.

Next week, Abby’s going to kick in a few NFL games for good measure as well as the NCAA games will be few and far between.   Now, to the picks.

  1. Arizona St. at Arizona -11 and 1/2 – Kevin Sumlin will saddle up and ride out of Tuscon right after this one with all of his money in bags.  The sheriff (AD) will see to it.  He’s done zero there and made a cool 9 million.  But, we think they can keep it close enough in a loss to the Sun Devils.  Home dog number one of the week.  It’s Abby’s Friday night special.  One bone.
  2. Coastal Carolina at Troy + 13 and 1/2 – This is a classic letdown spot for the most upstart team in 2020.  Troy usually plays well at home.  Home dog number two of the week.  Two bones.
  3. Stanford at Oregon St +3 – Stanford has been dreadful against the spread this year.  Oregon St has been feisty this year.  It feels like they are playing with purpose each week.  Home dog number three on the week.  Two bones.
  4. Houston ML at Memphis – The Cougars have hammered bad teams and been hammered by good ones.  Memphis falls somewhere in between.  For the value of a 2 to 1 money line bet on a five-point underdog, Abby likes the spot enough.  One bone to win two bones.
  5. LSU at Florida under 68 and 1/2 – The lost season continues for LSU.  Another week and another starter opts out.  Florida has an offense that lights up scoreboards.  These two programs don’t like each other and Florida will want some revenge from LSU’s big win last year.  LSU won’t score 24.  And Florida won’t score 44.  Two bones.

The last time Army hosted the Navy at West Point was during WWII.  On a hunch, we think that they won’t be good hosts.  As Lee Corso says weekly (even when the two teams aren’t playing)  Go Army, Beat Navy!  Take Army -7.

Woof!

 

O? Or Neaux?

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Just last week we wrote about the perennial winning culture of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the perennial losing culture of the Detroit Lions, why they are who they are, and the chasm of difference in their on-field results.  It is titled Lions, Turkeys, and Culture.  Today we add Tigers to that list.

After Alabama dismantled LSU 55-17 last Saturday, we received a few inquiries from some of our VIP subscribers asking how the dramatic fall from the penthouse to the outhouse could be so severe and so swift in Baton Rouge.   So, unlike Coach Ed Orgeron we decided to listen to “what’s important now”  to our loyal fans and sent one of our best BBR investigative reporters to Baton Rouge to get answers.

LSU won it all last year by winning every one of its 15 games.  Individual awards, like Heisman trophies, and group awards, like the Joe Moore Award for the best offensive line, were collected like the marbles you had in your youth.  This year LSU has three wins against South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas.  Their combined record is 5-22.  They have five losses.  The point total differential is 222-110 or an average beatdown of 44-22 in those games.

So, what happened and why so quickly?

As is usual in such a fall there is no one answer, but a multitude of them.  And, the collective weight of them gained steam like a snowball down a hill.  The culture went from envious to toxic.

First, LSU lost five players who were drafted in the first round of the NFL draft.  No one, not even Bama can replace that talent in the next year.  Sure, there are four and five-star talents waiting in the wings, but that doesn’t make them first-round talents.  Fourteen players in all were drafted, an all-time team high mark.

Second, almost half of the 14 were early declarations.  What better time to test the market when you’ve proven your worth.  You don’t go up from 15-0, you only go down.  This makes the 2020 edition short on experienced talent.  Stated differently, most of the best juniors are gone.

Three of the best that remained opted out prior to the season.  One, Ja’Marr Chase, will go in the first round as likely the second wideout taken after Bama’s Devonta Smith.  Know where Smith grew up?  Louisiana, but we digress.

Seven more have opted out along the way in the year of the COVID-19. Three of them will get drafted, and one of them will also go in the first round.

As the talent moved on so did the offensive co-coordinator Joe Brady to the NFL and the defensive coordinator Dave Aranda to the head coaching position at Baylor.  They were replaced by Scott Lineham and Bo Pelini respectively.  No disrespect, but the two fifty-something-year-old hires have lost a bit off of their fastballs.

All of the above was occurring while America burned during the summer of discontent.  Ed Orgeron was praised by President Trump during a speech or three.  Coach O, as is his right, returned the compliment.

Did this sit well with the team?  No.  They decided to peacefully march across campus, as is their right, calling for an end to police brutality.  Who did they not invite or alert?  Coach O.  The march ended in the president of the university’s office.  Yes, it did.  The president called a dumbfounded Orgeron who hurried to the office.

Afterward, a clearly caught off guard Orgeron said that he had learned a lot in listening to his players in the president’s office.  Afterward, he privately admonished them for not including him on the front end of such a public display.  This was much to the dismay of the players.

All of this has taken place while players have to isolate as a team to stay healthy, then isolate as an individual if they don’t stay healthy.  The weight of it all feels like the aforementioned snowball.  The spirit of the team reaches new lows weekly.

The 2020 season was a mere 1 and 1/2 games old when LSU starting quarterback Myles Brennan, an impressive redshirt junior went down and now is out for the season.  In his place is an 18-year-old true freshman without the benefit of spring practice nor much fall prep.  On the road in the SEC a “rookie” often looks like a deer caught in the headlights in the deep south.

So where to from here?  The LSU Athletic Department is accused of mishandling nine Title IX filings alleging coverup or negligence in sexual battery, domestic violence, and worse matters.  Most are alleged to have occurred by former football team members and possibly five while Ed O has been the head coach.  Internal investigations are ongoing.  It could be all of the cover AD Scott Woodward needs to lower the boom on Coach O just one year removed from on-field perfection.  It’s doubtful, but it’s possible.

Short of that, O needs to jolt his coaching staff to its core.  Good old boys need to be bought out or outright fired.  Some can’t coach.  Some can’t recruit.   Does LSU have the cash in the pandemic year revenue shortfall to clear out several?  The boosters do, but are they buying in more so than the team has?

Experienced talent is lacking v. historical norms, but two back to back top-five recruiting classes, one on campus, and one about to be signed net week will help greatly.  In Louisiana lots of four-star and a few five-star players are never too many mile markers away from Baton Rouge.

And, if he survives as is expected, Orgeron needs to take a deep look in the self-reflection mirror.

An incredible championship run likely bought him some time (one more year) to fix the many blemishes.  But trying to hide them with makeup doesn’t work well in the heat and humidity that south Louisiana is infamous for.

His often-repeated mantra of “One Team, One Heartbeat” is anything but.

 

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Sports

Posted on by boom booms room staff

On yesterday’s road trip to diversity, we got hungry.  The drive from Portland to Madison has 2000 mile markers and very few restaurants.  We yearned for nuggets.  You know the feeling.  It’s fast food for the sports-minded.  Have ten below on us.

  1.  The Pittsburgh Steelers blew a 14 point halftime lead and eventually fell to the visiting Washington Football Team last night on MNF.  The Steelers seldom lose at home, and have only lost one game in the 22 years prior at home when leading by 14 or more.  And, poof goes the last undefeated team in the NFL this year.  Don Shula (RIP) and his 1972 undefeated Miami Dolphins can rest easy for at least one more year.
  2.  After the Steelers’ loss who owns the longest winning streak in the NFL now? It’s the New Orleans Saints with nine and counting.  The New York Football Giants are next with four while the Washington Football Team is third with three.  In the NFL you are either getting better or getting run over.  Suddenly two NFC East teams have come alive.
  3. Washington Football Team coach Ron Rivera fought cancer this year. When he entered the then Redskins offices he fought incompetence, complacency, good ole boys, a talent void, and a losing culture.  He’s a bit old school, a fighter, and maybe the most underrated head coach in the league.  After a 1-5 start they stand at 5-7 with four games remaining. They have the 49ers, Seahawks, Panthers (his old team), and the Eagles left.  An 8-8 record certainly is within reach.
  4. The Minnesota Vikings also started 1-5.  At home this past Sunday they needed overtime to defeat the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars.  In the NFL they don’t count how, they count how many.  The Vikings evened their record at 6-6.  Head coach Mike Zimmer is a bit old school, a fighter, and maybe the most underrated head coach in the league.  Where have you heard that before?    The Bucs, Bears, Saints, and Lions are their final four down the regular-season stretch.  It’s a team no one would like to play if they get to the expanded playoff format.
  5.  Don’t look now but the New England Patriots are 6-6 after back to back wins with Cam Newton throwing for under a hundred yards in each of the games. The Rams, Dolphins, Bills, and Jets remain.  That’s a tall task with a shaky QB.  Does anyone doubt Bill Belichick can do it?  Computer simulations give the Patriots a 14% chance of making the playoffs.  Does Belichick even own a computer?
  6. One day after his ill-advised, all-out blitz failed to take down the opposing quarterback on the game-deciding play, New York Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was sacked by coach Adam Gase in a Monday morning meeting that lasted nearly an hour.  DC Williams called the exact same aggressive and foolish play in the 2011 NFC Division Championship game sending the Saints to a last-second loss in San Fran.  At 0-12, Adam Gase will collect a paycheck for only four more weeks than the DC he fired yesterday.  Sam Darnold will need a new address too.  The Jets fell in love with Trevor Lawrence months ago.
  7. Who benefitted from Williams’s moronic call in 2011 in Candlestick Park?  Jim Harbaugh.  He was the AP Coach of the Year that year for San Francisco.  By 2014 he had worn out his welcome on the left coast and headed east to Ann Arbor, MI for a lot of green and greener pastures.  Fast forward to 2020 and Harbaugh is either in the beginning, middle, or end of the end as the Wolverines coach.  He’s 1-6 on the year and 0-5 lifetime against this weekend’s rival opponent THE Ohio St. Buckeyes.  THE is favored by a whopping 28 points.
  8. Harbaugh’s teams in college have won 68% of their games.  What percent of the games have his NFL teams won?  Sixty-eight percent.  It takes an unlikeable, polarizing guy to have to leave before he is asked to do so with that type of winning percentage.  That’s Harbaugh, khakis and all.  It says here that this is his last game at Michigan too.
  9.  Vegas loves it when the public sees the obvious.  Big favorites over bad teams are the best of the best for Sin City.  Last week there were four double-digit dogs in the NFL.  The Jets covered and blew the outright win on the aforementioned last play.  The Broncos covered easily.  The Giants won straight up.  And Cincinnati lost by 12 as an 11 point underdog.  There’s a reason there is so much marble and gold on The Strip.
  10. Speaking of which a few lines that are interesting, Coastal Carolina is favored by 13.5 at Troy.  Surely there is a letdown after the win over BYU at home with College GameDay present is there? Yes.   Bama is a 31.5 road favorite over Arkansas after they beatdown LSU.  Is there ever a letdown by a Nick Saban coached team? No.

You read.  You got fed.  Now, get busy.

Undebatable Facts

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Six or so years ago then-President Barrack Obama delivered one of his many eloquent speeches.  In it, he emphatically stated that “Climate change is no longer a debate, it’s a scientific fact.”  He added one of his dramatic pauses for the cause.  And, so it was.

It is indeed a fact that the climate has been changing since the earth was created, and actually even before, so he has a point.

In the last 18 months or so we’ve been told over and over that black lives matter by the Black Lives Matter organization, many civic leaders, elected government officials, and many politicians trying to earn your vote.  Heck, if you believe that all of us deserve equality you would agree that black lives matter as you obviously believe that all lives matter.

It’s stated overtly in the second paragraph of the United States Declaration of Independence as follows: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

And, so it is.

But, on the road to ensuring this equality, a few potholes have made the ride rough.

One such pothole is in the far northwest.   The Oregon state legislature’s Emergency Board created the Oregon Cares Fund this summer — with nightly Black Lives Matter riots raging in Portland — to allocate $62 million (or 31% of the total) in funds from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to black residents (out of $200 million in total funds).  This fund is meant to provide the Black community with the resources it needs to weather the global health pandemic and consequent recession. The most recent census shows that just under 2% of Oregonians identify as African Americans or black.

Does the community need 15 times the average of fellow Oregonians?  You bet.  Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) and AG Ellen Rosenblum said as much last month: “The data show that Black Oregonians are experiencing disproportionate harm from COVID-19.  We must not allow pernicious and ideologically-motivated lawsuits to impede our efforts to deliver critical resources to Oregonians amid a devastating pandemic.”  Two lawsuits citing inequitable distribution of federal funds, a direct violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, are pending.

Meanwhile, two time zones and almost 2000 miles due east, Madison, WI has some road repair to do as well.

According to a report, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has come under fire this week over the pay disparity between two recent keynote speakers. Robin DiAngelo, the author of the best-selling White Fragility, was paid substantially more than the second keynote speaker, black female author Austin Channing Brown. DiAngelo was paid nearly $13,000 for speaking at the event, while Channing received just $7,500.

Now, the university is facing criticism over its failure to live up to its own standards on “diversity and inclusion.”  Ethelene Whitmire, chair of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Afro-American Studies, refused to comment on the pay disparity when questioned.

“The department has not discussed this topic,” Whitmire said.  Like climate change, it must be another fact with no need for debate.

Perhaps Barrack Obama could use his considerable powers and discuss this topic. Even in these pandemic times he probably could deliver a Zoom speech from his home office.   His standard speaking fee is a mere $400,000.  Maybe both authors were under-compensated?

Are government and capitalism blocking the way on this drive to equality heaven?

Or, perhaps some things aren’t as black and white as they seem.

 

Abby Takes Down Vegas, Yr 3, Wk 11

Posted on by boom booms room staff

As the season coughs it’s way to the last few weeks, Abby’s picks have been a bit under the weather.  A nice parlay landed and dulled the pain of some close (but they all count) losses.  Note to doggie- Notre Dame is legit and Texas is dog $%!#.

For the season the W/L total dipped below .500 for the first time at 26-28-1.  The bones are still cashing though at a respectable 45-38.  You can take bones to the bank or bury them in the backyard.  The hunch bet which picked opposite all of the above was a hedge bet winner and stands at 3-4.

The picks below will start a gambling December to remember.

  1. ULL +3 at Appalacian St. –  Rumors swirl that Coach Billy Napier will be headed to (pick one) Vandy, South Carolina, Texas, or another step up of his choosing in 2021.  But, for now, he keeps his Cajuns ragin.  It’s a Friday night special.  One bone.
  2. Vanderbilt at Georgia over 54 – Last week the Commodores had a mason for a coach, a female for a kicker, and an offensive offense.  The kicker barely kicked and the coach was kicked out of the door.  The offense still stinks.  The ship is sinking.  Anchor down.  Dead cat bounce.  Abby hates cats but loves UGA.  Two bones.
  3. Nebraska +3 at Purdue – Nebraska has one win this year.  It came versus a winless Penn St. Tomorrow they’ll have two for no good reason at all.  One bone.
  4. Florida at Tennessee + 17 and over 63 –  The double-digit dog in this series almost always covers.  It’s at Tennessee.  Florida is due for a 40 plus point game.  Tenn needs to score 27 and the parlay cashes.   One bone to win three bones.
  5. Indiana at Wisconsin -14 – The Badgers crashed into the wall on the third turn of the season.  They annually do so.  Abby predicts a focused effort against a good Indiana team.  This line seems quite high.  Therefore, we see a zig on a zag cover. Two bones.
  6. Texas A&M at Auburn + 6 and 1/2 – The Aggie cry for inclusion (a popular word these days) in the playoffs was dented by a bland performance last week.  This week the conversation ends.  Abby sees a straight-up win for Auburn as a real possibility.  One bone.

The hunch bet has a chance to get its year-long record to .500 this week.  Texas (-7) has no business being a seven-point pick over Kansas St much less almost anybody, do they?  Remember the note to doggie above?  Abby says Hook Em anyway.

Woof!

Lions, Turkeys, and Culture

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Week 13 for the NFL is upon us.  Thirteen’s a lucky number and the NFL has been/was lucky to have this pandemic year schedule of theirs roll along for the most part uninterrupted by that damn thing that we can’t see, but certainly can feel.

With everyone walking on eggshells the season is anything but normal due to the virus.  But on the field, some franchises remind us weekly of who they’ve been, who they are, and who they’ll likely continue to be.

It began normally enough on Thanksgiving Day with a Houston Texans 41-25 rout over the perennial doormat Detroit Lions.  The Lions have looked like turkeys forever really.

It ended, strangely enough, yesterday with a Wednesday mid-afternoon game that Pittsburgh won over Baltimore 19-13.  That game was originally scheduled for turkey day night.  Covid-19 hit the Ravens team again and again and again causing it to move and move and move again.  That Pittsburgh won is normal too.  They’re 12-0 this year.

The Detroit listless loss was the final nail in Head Coach Matt Patrica’s coffin. That’s normal too.  No word on whether he had to turn that pencil from behind his ear into Human Resources on the way out of the door, but we digress.  The Lions have had 17 head coaches come and go since Super Bowl I in 1967.  And, the Lions have participated in exactly zero of said Super Bowls.

The Pittsburgh win had Head Coach Mike Tomlin fuming afterward.  He’s seen better.  In fact, he’s been the HC for 219 and counting of them and won 144. That’s 67%, or two out of every three if you’re using a #2 Patricia pencil and scoring at home, but we digress again.  The Steelers have had only four coaches in the Super Bowl era.  The Steelers have appeared in eight of them and won the most (tied with NE) with six Lombardi Trophies.

Detroit has won 344 games in the modern era (since 1966) while Pittsburgh has won 490.

You see the picture crystal clear by now, don’t you?

So with league rules designed to make it hard for a good team to remain that way and for a bad team to have a hand up in improving how can one franchise be so abysmal and one exemplary?  After all, the strength of schedules, draft order, revenue sharing, and salary caps are structured in a way to make the league as competitive as possible.  This isn’t the NY Yankees payroll v the Oakland A’s.

It’s leadership.  And leadership establishes culture, doesn’t it?  The Rooney family exudes class and has people who want to work for them.  They spot talent and know value like most no other.

The Ford family?  Apparently not so much.  No head coach of the Lions since 1957 has gone on in the NFL to get a second head coaching stint.  None.  We hope Particia took a note (written in pencil of course) of that before he accepted the gig.   So the slogan went, Ford has a better idea!  Not really.

Bill Parcells is a mentor to this day for Sean Payton.   Payton proudly called and told Parcells that he got his first HC job, that with the inept New Orleans Saints franchise in 2005.  Parcells quipped, “well if you don’t fix the losing culture down there, you’ll be looking for your second one in three years.”

The Saints lacked what Pittsburgh has always had.

The Lions are still looking for it.

 

 

Diversify or Get Delisted!

Posted on by boom booms room staff

While one eye was looking at CNBC early this morning the other was fixated on the coffee being brewed to get it fully open.  And suddenly there it was.  Breaking news delivered to you by none other than Andrew Ross Sorkin.    The news was enough to get the other eye open even without the much-needed caffeine.

In bold font, it rolled.  Nasdaq will require boards to have at least one woman and one director who self-identifies as an underrepresented minority or L.G.B.T.Q.

Sorkin read on, “Companies that don’t disclose diversity information face potential delisting, while those that report their data but don’t meet the standards will have to publicly explain why.”  Cancel culture?

And he read on, “Nasdaq lobbied the S.E.C. to make diversity disclosure a rule for all companies. “The ideal outcome would be for the S.E.C. to take a role here,” said Adena Friedman, Nasdaq’s C.E.O.  Or,  she could have said, “let’s get big brother to make it so!”

“Nasdaq cites research showing the benefits of board diversity, from higher-quality financial disclosures to the lower likelihood of audit problems.”  In other words, men cheat, but when women or minorities are present they are less inclined to do so.

This was all quoted from this morning’s New York Times.

Do you know who was the lead writer recognized in the byline for the story?  Andrew Ross Sorkin.

So, to recap, an avowed liberal writer of a left-leaning paper, delivered breaking news on a left-leaning CNBC and quoted his own story in doing so.

And, to further recap, a public company that profits from every trade

that the public makes on its exchange of listed public companies wants to dictate how their boards are constructed.

Does it at all smell like another public company named Twitter deciding what is right for the public to read or not to read?  Well, it doesn’t smell like the freshly brewed coffee that is still sitting there as we type.

Is it a coincidence that this breaks just less than a month after the Biden election?  Much like the “let’s impeach Trump”  bellows less than a month after his election, the left is on offense yet again.  They always are.

And, to quote many a late-night infomercial, “but wait, there’s more!”

Not only would it be the first time a major stock exchange demanded more disclosure than the law requires, which Ms. Friedman described as “an unusual step.” It raises questions about whether exchanges could use their listing rules to force action on other hot-button issues, like climate change.

And there it is!

In the selling world you can always ask for two “orders” hoping to get one.

Make no mistake about it the left is always selling.  They’re quite good at it.

And more than ever before they have major organizations in the media, and now in the previously free marketplace, carrying their PowerPoint presentation and samples for them.

My oh my, how the business climate has indeed changed.