Unmuted Anticipation

It’s Spring. A time of hope for football fans west of the Connecticut River that this will be the year their team makes the playoffs and the Patriots don’t.

I wonder what that feels like.

Sturm und Drang und Sturm Again

Looking at the Curious Case of Dominique Easley, you might think you were talking about a General Manager who had just gotten fired with Easley just one of the many bags of trash the new GM was taking to the curb, another example of the kind of mistake that reshapes resumes in the NFL.

Did I say mistake? I meant megalomaniacal misjudgment of apocalyptic proportions.

Going All In

The NFL zigs and Bill Belichick zags. He plays the long game better than anyone else. He identifies market opportunities and seizes them. He recognizes trends and takes advantage of them. He innovates. Sustained success isn't supposed to be possible in the NFL of the 21st century and yet, Belichick and the Patriots have proven to be the exasperating exception to the rule. Write them off as cheaters at your own peril. Fail to learn from their example and consign yourself to the dustbin of NFL history.

Still, I can't help but wonder if the flurry of free agent signings and trades is just business as usual – perhaps with a nod to the theft of their 1st round pick – or if Belichick is loading up for 2016.

Coincidentally

Remember that al Jazeera report that was total garbage? I'm sure it was garbage; no doubt in my mind. I mean, Peyton Manning wouldn't tell a lie.

I'm sure this Taylor Teagarden suspension is merely a coincidence.

Plan B Planning

Okay, I'm still hopeful the NFL's appeal of Judge Berman's judgment in favor of Tom Brady and Deflategate will fail. I'm not counting on that coming down to a lawyer being found to be lying. (Not exactly man bites dog.) Or science. The last science class most of us took was our junior year in high school and we were happy to get out alive with C-.

Recognizing that justice and the law are at best distant cousins, my hopefulness for Tom Brady playing all 16 has a palpable shadow.

This morning, I hit up YouTube for Jimmy Garoppolo highlights.

Here's what struck me.

It Is What - Well You Know The Rest

Hate the Patriots if that's what you want to do. Use "because they're cheaters" like Michael Scott used "that's what she said" if that stops your inner child from sobbing.

Sticks and stones, brah.

Please And Thank You

No worries now.

Robert Kraft has personally written a letter to Roger Goodell asking for the draft picks back that were taken away for Spygate and to have Tom Brady's four-game suspension to be lifted. Oh, did I say Spygate? Of course I meant Deflategate. Spygate was like eight years ago. Silly me.

No, it won't make a difference. Science didn't matter, why should civility?

I've got to like Belichick's style in this case. Don't even step inside the same room with that giant mutant bedbug in a human suit until he has to.

At the Super Bowl.