Saturday, May 7, 2011
Invasive Species?
The Last Gasp of a Dying Man
So Panthers actually went and did it… They drafted Cam Newton with the #1 pick overall in the entire draft. I ought to be happy for the kid, but I am not. I think they made this decision for all the wrong reasons. I think the plan going forward is wrong also. I think this is going to be a historic disaster for all concerned.
What were the reasons? Let catalog them for you.
- The failure to identify and fire the real source of their failures last season: the General Manager Marty Hurney.
- The spectacular error of fingering former Head Coach John Fox for the disaster of 2010.
- A very quick surrender on their 2nd round pick last year, Jimmy Clausen… a dude I warned you about.
- The 48% owner Jerry Richardson got involved in the process deeply this year, insisting they settle their problems at the QB position, regardless of where that might take them.
- The popularity of SEC football in the North Carolina region almost assures the Panthers a few sell-outs in the beginning of 2011.
- The further error of hiring defensive coach Ron Rivera, a man with no particular plan offensively speaking.
- Having just been granted a temporary stay of execution, Hurney did his owner's bidding, and selected Cam Newton. This is the last gasp of a dying man.
First of all, let’s call a spade a spade. The wheels fell off the Panther machine last season because Marty Hurney is a wretched GM. The guy constantly mortgages his picks, converting 1st rounders into 2nd rounders, 2nd rounders into 3rd rounders. This is a magic trick any fool can perform, but why would you want to? Further, he allowed marquee players like Julius Peppers to get away in free agency without obtaining any real compensation for them. Given one bad move after another, the talent pool finally dwindled down. This is why they lost in 2010. They were empty of offensive talent, but the defense also lacked punch.
Surely, Marty Hurney should have been identified by owner Jerry Richardson as the source of the team’s difficulties. Surely, Marty Hurney should have been fired. Surely, John Fox was not the source of the bad moves identified above. Somehow Jerry Richardson identified John Fox as the problem, and fired him. Somehow, he decided Marty Hurney was not the problem, and should be allowed to continue.
I would call that a serious fuck-up. I would consider that evidence of straight-up incompetence. Nothing more, and nothing less.
If I didn’t have plenary evidence of incompetence before the draft, I sure do now. After finishing at the bottom of the league in offensive, the solution was to select a new (defense-oriented) head coach, and select Cam Newton in the draft.
So what is the plan going forward? Logically, I think we have to conclude that they are going to go with the Ryan-Cunningham offense this year. What is that offense? Once upon a time, a great defensive coach named Buddy Ryan slapped his new QB (Randal Cunningham) on the back and said “Go out there and make 2 or 3 big plays, kid, and my defense is going to make it stand up.” That was the entire offensive game-plan each week and every week in Philadelphia, once upon a time. We call that sandlot improv style the Ryan-Cunningham offense. The secret is that there is no secret. We’re just going to allow our athletic QB to run around and make some plays ad-hoc.
Will it work? It might work, and it might not. We’re going to see if Cam is a better prospect than Cunningham. I think they are comparable in many ways. Just remember, Cunningham never developed and blossomed as a true passer until he got together with Dennis Green. That was his first stay with an offensive coach who was interested in developing Cunningham’s ability to orchestrate a sophisticated offense. He could have been one of the greatest of all-time, but the Ryan-Cunningham offense was his ruination.
You may see Cam Newton run around a lot this coming season (if there is a season) and he may be able to get the Panthers 6 or 7 wins. Unfortunately, I think the Panthers will take a pass on developing Cam as a true pocket passer. I think the Ryan-Cunningham offense will be his ruination.
Once upon a time, the Titans hired a sophisticated offense coach named Norm Chow from USC. Norm wanted to select Matt Leinart from USC in the 2005 draft. The owner said “No” and insisted the team select Vince Young. Norm was fired after his first year because he couldn’t get Vince to learn and accept the discipline of a sophisticated pro-style offense. The owner chose Vince over Norm. It took a couple more years for the disaster to develop, but in the end owner Bud Adams lost his head coach Jeff Fisher, his quarterback Vince Young, and his former OC Norm Chow. Now all four men have careers in serious question in the year 2011. Leinart is also a casualty of this error.
Life might have been better for Bud Adams if he had not insisted on Vince Young, and if he had allowed Norm Chow to select Leinart. History could have been very different for all concerned. There may be a parallel universe where the Titans are a great team in 2011 with Leinart as their franchise QB.
In 5 years I think the Titans’ history will repeat itself in Carolina.
Friday, May 6, 2011
The Mighty Thor


If you keep track of the movies via such sites as trailers.apple.com, rottentomatoes.com, and imdb.com, you probably have heard that roaring thunder just over the horizon for some time now: Thor is going to be great. In fact, it's probably going to be the biggest single blockbuster of 2011.
June 9, 1981 August 11, 1983
12:00 PM 12:00 PM
Standard time observed Standard time observed
Jerusalem, Israel Melbourne, Australia
31 N 46 35 E 14 37 S 49 144 E 58
Tropical PLACIDUS Tropical PLACIDUS
Time Zone: 2 hours East Time Zone: 10 hours East
Sun 18 deg 28 min Gemini Sun 17 deg 51 min Leo
Moon 17 deg 44 min Virgo Moon 20 deg 14 min Virgo
Mercury 5 deg 13 min Cancer Mercury 13 deg 48 min Virgo
Venus 5 deg 04 min Cancer Venus 8 deg 28 min Virgo
Mars 2 deg 59 min Gemini Mars 28 deg 18 min Cancer
Jupiter 0 deg 41 min Libra Jupiter 1 deg 19 min Sagittarius
Saturn 3 deg 01 min Libra Saturn 29 deg 02 min Libra
Uranus 27 deg 15 min Scorpio Uranus 5 deg 04 min Sagittarius
Neptune 23 deg 37 min Sagittarius Neptune 26 deg 40 min Sagittarius
Pluto 21 deg 40 min Libra Pluto 27 deg 03 min Libra
Asc. 23 deg 55 min Virgo Asc. 3 deg 07 min Sagittarius
MC 23 deg 30 min Gemini MC 11 deg 29 min Leo
1. Romantic and Sexual Attraction: 32
2. Similarity of Interests and Temperament: 257
3. Mutual Success and High Achievement: 223
4. Problem Solving, Communication, and Mutual Understanding: 75
5. Mutual Kindness, Friendliness, Pleasantness, and Peace: 184
6. Aggressiveness, Competition, Power, Success, or Violence: 143
7. Adventurousness, Surprises, Disturbances: 131
8. Shared Creativity, Imagination, and Inspiration: 34
Given above are your compatibility scores in 8 different categories. A score of 100 is average. A score above 100 indicates that the trait is strong, and a score below 100 indicates that the trait is weak. More specifically, you can interpret the scores as follows:
Above 150 is very high. This trait is VERY strong!
125 to 150 is above average. The trait is strong.
115 to 125 is slightly above average. The trait is slightly strong.
85 to 115 is average.
75 to 85 is slightly below average. The trait is slightly weak.
50 to 75 is weak.
50 or lower is VERY weak!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Jason Brown a $37 million dollar bust?


So a fellow by the name of Andy Benoit who blogs for the New York Times, and is occasionally seen on NFL Films, decided to toss an incendiarist position at Ram-fans today. What was that position?
Ah-ha, so Charlie's wife is a Taurus, aye?
It's Cinco De Mayo
It's Cinco De Mayo. Besides being Mexican Independence Day, it also the 90th Day since my gastric bypass surgery. In theory, I am all healed up. My body has finished recovering from the surgery. I am no longer in the recovery phase of the game. I am now in the "life beyond surgery" phase of the game.
As you know, 262.6 is not precisely where I expected to be on Cinco De Mayo. Whilst laying in my Hospital bed, I though I would be at 237 or 238 come today. I expected the early rate of loss to continue right up to the present moment, and Doctor Quilici assured me that 70 pounds of weight loss within 90 days of the surgery was typical.
Monday, May 2, 2011
This just in: Osama Bin Laden killed Rudy Giuliani

CNN just gave us one hell of piece of breaking news. Evidently Osama Bin Laden has killed Rudy Giuliani. This despite the fact that he is dead. Based on the caption below, it would appear that Obama told 9/11 victims that justice has been done in response to this news. Piers Morgan will have more details tonight at 9pm ET.