It's Time to Dream Big

Well, the draft is over and everyone is sure their team, bolstered with youth and talent, is on it’s way to the Super Bowl. Well, except for Cleveland Browns’ fans. They know better.

Most fans believe their team did well in the draft if they recognize the names taken, names they heard in the run up to the draft. Players from Top 10 programs, Combine warriors. Mentions by Mel Kiper, Jr., Todd McShay and Mike Mayock. If you’ve heard their names it was a good pick. It’s something of a self-rationalizing system.  For the most part, over the first 100 picks, it works. Sure, there are famous 1st round busts but the top talent in any field is fairly easy to identify. I remember reading an e-mail exchange between Malcolm Gladwell and Bill Simmons that Simmons posted on his site in which Gladwell posited an interesting point. While he had only a superficial knowledge of the sport of basketball, he could actually use that to his advantage and still be quite successful. He wouldn't be in a position to over-analyze, to over-think his draft strategy. All he knew was that schools like Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, etc. were really good college basketball schools so as an NBA GM, he would simply draft from those schools.

Think about that as you consider how many kids from Ohio State were drafted this year.

Dealing With It

I’m not sure how to feel about pieces like Mike Freeman’s “Deflategate Fallout Looms Large” on BleacherReport.com. So, other people get that Tom Brady didn’t cheat, science exists and the Patriots deserve to have their draft picks and straight cash money returned.

Huh.

And Tom Brady is suspended for four games, anyway.

Because Roger Goodell has a tiny, tiny penis.

Well that’s what I heard!

Justice is All About the Billable Hours

First, let me say that all of us east of the Connecticut River need to keep some perspective. On the Grand Stage of Injustice Tom Brady is merely a bit player. When it comes to Abuse of Power, Roger Goodell is little more than an offstage death. Okay, that may be wishful thinking on my part. Where was I before I imagining a Shakespearian end for the Commissioner? Oh, right. Perspective.

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of Article 46. Every hater west of the Connecticut River has a hard on. Tom Brady has already texted Adam Schefter that he isn’t going to bite the pillow and take the screwing but it’s hard to see how this ends any other way but badly for Brady, the Patriots and their fans.

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.