2014 Wildcard Weekend NFL Trash Talk
It is wildcard weekend and there are four awesome games on tap. Let’s get to them.
First up is the snake bit 11-5 Cardinals visiting the 7-8-1 Carolina Panthers. In a sane seeding system, this game would be in Phoenix as the Cards have 4 more wins than Carolina. This may actually occur with some playoff reforms the NFL is considering for next year. But this is Roger Goodell’s NFL and things are not necessarily sane. That said, the edge has to go to the Panthers. They have been on a late season roll and playing very good ball. Both Cam Newton on offense and Luke Kuechly on defense are just killing it. Newton is not running up big numbers at all, but he is managing the game and not hurting the team any longer. The Panthers allowed the second fewest points in the league over the last four games, and the Cardinals struggled to score points at all over that stretch. Ryan Lindley is back at QB for Arizona. He is not good, but certainly played a lot better in the regular season finale against the Niners. Hey, if Ohio State can wax Bama with a third string QB, maybe there is hope for Lindley and the Cardinals. But I don’t think so; Panthers are a six point favorite, and that sounds about right.
Next up is the late game today, Ravens at Steelers. Pittsburgh is hit hard by the loss of Le’Veon Bell, who was really balancing out the load for Roethlisberger. Everybody knows about the Ravens’ knack for getting on a playoff roll, so they are a scary team. But Big ben and the Stillers can do that too, and they are at home, where they are 3-0 against the Ravens in playoff games. I’ll take the Steelers again in a close one.
The early game Sunday is Cincinnati at the Colts. The Bengals haven’t won a playoff game since Ickey Woods and Boomer Esiason were leading them. And the Colts are at home and have Andrew Luck. Still, something has seemed off about the Colts down the stretch and the Bungles seemed to be getting their groove back a little…other than when they played the Steelers. I think the Bengals will get the job done in an upset.
The last game is maybe the best one, Detroit at Dallas. Somehow, the appeal reduced Ndamukong Suh’s penalty for stomping on the Most Valuable Player in the NFL to a fine, so he is not suspended for this game, which is huge for Detroit. The Lions will need Suh to keep DeMarco Murray from running wild. Murray proved last week that he can play with his injured thumb. Romo is on a serious roll, and playing the best QB of his career. Detroit also gets center Dominic Raiola back from a one game suspension too. Everything seems to be in the ‘Boys favor in this game, with the exception they are an average home team at best. Dallas is a 6.5 point favorite, and that sounds right. It will take a hell of a game out of the Kittehs to win this, and I just don’t see it.
Those are my picks, what you have to say??
[ew: WTF with Trash Talk with no music YouTubes? Added Lou Reed cause you gotta have something.]
You gotta explain the Suh thing correctly. You see, he’s not a repeat offender, because his last offense (besides the one rescinded last year) was 33 weeks ago, and the repeat offender clock resets after 32 games.
Also, there is a WAY OUTSIDE chance that Nick Fairley will play tomorrow, after being out for weeks and weeks. If that happens we win, not least bc he has apparently lost weight while being out and now he’s a svelte 290 points.
Anyway, my picks are the same. So something must be wrong.
From your link: “A Monday search of past NFL-issued punishment revealed no known incidences where the league suspended a player for a postseason game because of on-field rules violations.”
Yes! Just like the US gummamint – rewards for the wicked. NFL football truly is “America’s Sport”.
I know I was saying it somewhere last week, but not sure where.
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Let’s be clear. With respect to Suh, King Roger the Arbitrary Clown was busy putting his arm on the scales to make sure that one of his favorites, Jerry Jones, would win a playoff game. That, and Aaron Discountdoublecheck is one of the faces of the No Fun League along with Peyton LosingFeelingInMyToes and Biebs. Rodgers is pitching for a big sponsor and one must do everything possible to protect the big earners.
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Fortunately, Suh will get to play.
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But all this serves to highlight the fundamentally arbitrary nature of No Fun League punishment, not discipline. Just today, Stafford’s fiancée is headlined in a Yahoo piece noting how the Packers who stepped on her beau and otherwise fouled him are not getting any press, league notice or, horror of horrors, punishment. But, then again, Stafford’s ad pitching revenue is nil in League-wide terms. I’m sure he pitches for something or other in Dee-troit but that’s irrelevant at League HQ. So, he gets no protection. He’s not photogenic enough and probably can’t read a script as well as Peyton or Rodgers. (Biebs doesn’t pitch stuff AFAIK but surely gets special love from other guys doing pitches by getting out of the way for them to make some coin. Biebs has a rich wife who lets him take pay cuts and doesn’t need pitchman money.)
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Frankly the best interests of the game, as distinct from the “best” financial interests of the owners, would dictate removal of King Roger the Clown. Favorites-playing, arbitrary rules and rulings, money-grubbing to the extreme (see, e.g., demanding a cut of future earnings as a condition of performing Super Bowl halftime shows), “sissfying the game” (quoting Troy Polamalu) and sanctimonious self-righteousness will, sooner or later, kill this golden goose. It’s really only a matter of whether it will be sooner or later.
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I’m with James Harrison on this one – I wouldn’t piss on King Roger if he were on fire in front of me.
Awesome.
But, uh, who’s gonna win in Heinz Field?
Hell if I know.
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If the Stillers had Bell, it’d be pretty clear they’d have a good chance. But without Bell, their O is pretty one-dimensional. Assuming, of course, that ex-Brown who died and went to Football Heaven Ben Tate doesn’t have the game of his life.
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It’s most likely to turn into a street brawl that winds up 24-23 or 17-16 in the last minutes. In other words good, close football that is nail-chewing agony for fans of both sides.
So you are rooting for the Ravens then?
But how do you really feel about Goodell, scribe?
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Someone, somewhere, needs to start a blog with the title “Upon Further Review”, in which the NFL’s discipline and off-field decisions are scrutinized and critiqued. You’re absolutely right that despite the blather from the PR flacks, the highest concern is not “the best interests of the game” but The Bottom Line.
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See “concussions” or “replacement referees” or ” . . .
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But it could be worse. Goodell could declare that the conference that wins the Pro Bowl will get to host the next Super Bowl. Every time I think Goodell goes over the line, I ask myself “What would Selig do?”
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OK, maybe that’s not fair. It’s kind of like choosing between stupid and evil. Neither is terribly attractive, and it seems that professional sports offers us “both” far too often.
Can’t. It’d be against the law for me to do that.
It might be against the law, but there isn’t a jury in the world that would convict you. Remember, it’s a jury of *your* peers, not Roger’s.
Quack!!!
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lol
Incidentally, Obama just announced stops in Detroit and Phoenix next week.
I take that as a sign they either both lose or both win.
Crap, what’s he coming here for? I hope he isn’t spending the night. That is such a pain in the ass.
Sheesh. You should be honored that Barry’s visiting your state
Barry Switzer is coming to Arizona? Will he get $8 million too? Oh, wait, never mind, it’s only President Obama, that’s hardly news unless Jan Brewer is going to insult him to his face again.
Who is it that can’t even properly integrate Lou Reed into the post??
Eh. The more I fuck things up the more likely you’ll make it pretty the way you like.
Welp, this is one ugly football game. Jeebus.
OOf bmaz, tough one. I’ve actually had a couple of hysterical belly laughs off the AZ QB play. That interception right after the fumble!? Ouch!
I feel great knowing it is likely my Hawks will play one of these teams. :)
Whu! The Kitties will DOMINATE the Boys and then DOMINATE your Squawks! (I wish)
If the Lions get past the Cowboys fly out here for the game ;) the crowd noise is for real (I wore earplugs both times I went this season).
If AZ had any kind of actual QB, they likely win this game. This is just brutal. Oh well.
Yeah – 6 yards of offense in the 2nd half so far. Double oof.
Just realized that this Stillers team determines who plays the Pats.
Now having all sorts of conflicts.
Why conflicts?
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You want your Patsies and Biebs to win fairly and against the best competition, right? So that means they wind up having to go through winning at home against the Stillers, right?
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Or would you rather the flat, characterless taste of sorta-winning against second-rate competition – the kind of thing cheaters long for – do for you, too?
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All that said, Stiller O line is doing their sieve imitation again.
No way they play the Stillers, I think. They’re the 3 seed.
So either they get the 6 seed Ravens (who, admittedly, have beaten them) or the winner of the Bungles/Colts game.
Mostly, though, I think the Stillers might have fun w/the Donkos (and I can’t figure out a way to get the Bungles to Denver). So I gotta root for the Stillers.
I’m thinking 2 weeks ahead.
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Next week the Patsies play either the 4 or the 5 unless the Ravens win in which case they play the 6 – Ravens. If the Steelers win, they play the 2 – Denver.
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At the rate this game is going, I’ll be switching to whiskey soon.
So either Ravens take out the Stillers or Stillers take out the Broncos, if Pats are lucky? Dunno. Wondering where that hapless team that has played last two weeks in purple is.
Shit Scribe, you had me convinced that the Steelers would beat Baltimore. That’s it, I’m turning tone deaf to your blah-blah Big Ben portrait. MVP, me arse.
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As we speak, Bill is reviewing the films for next Saturday 4PM (sunny, high will be 29/low 22) game. Ravens always give the Pats fits. God does not read blogs so I’m calling on Buddha to provide some ying and yang for Tommy.
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Next week will be Pedro Martinez and BillyBoy, all day, all week.
Interesting to see how many votes Roger gathers in, and we might know by Friday
when the defamation suit in Brooklyn will start to convict that bull shit artist extraordinaire. No mulligans for the Rocket. “Folksy” Rusty will not play well in New York
Actually, if you’d have read my posts, you would have noted that I made no prediction the Stillers would win. I thought the game would come down to a street brawl that would be a close-scoring game. I surely said nothing about Ben as MVP. In reality, Bell was the team MVP and with good reason – he was an offensive force all year. And we all saw how big a hole his absence left. Not only did the Steelers have a close-to-nonexistent running game, making them one-dimensional, but also there was a big hole left by the absence of a blocking back behind the sieve-like O-line.
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Going forward, this was probably the last time we’ll see Troy Polamalu. It might be the last time for James Harrison. Not for nothing, Harrison was all over the field last night and his number was one Chris and Al called repeatedly, for playing a great game.
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I’m fervently hoping the Kitties beat the Owboys today so I don’t have to put up with an Owboys fan of my acquaintance busting my chops all week about them winning and my Stillers losing. That, and for the Patsies to beat the damned crows next week.
Okay, maybe I mixed you up with the Pittsburg media gang.
Yet you didn’t throw any cold water to cool down the flames burning for Ben a week ago?
Maybe not, I guess you were neutral……………
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In any case, I’m rooting for Dallas today since I have Romo in my pool.
Well, it is a civil trial, so no conviction. But if the lying bullshit artist goes down, that would be the perjurious snitch McNamee.
Oy
Not looking good for scribe, whatever beverage is being consumed.
Vey.
Mildly hung over this morning. At least I changed the channel before Suggs gave birth to a football, so I only had to see it in replay.
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Debating whether to take down the Christmas tree, but enjoying the lights and shiny ornaments too much still.
Not an NFL story but a football story reflecting the upclose spirit of the team I grew up with — the Pay It Forward spirit. I know all will mostly be quacking in a week but for those here who will be rooting for the BIG — here you go:
http://btn.com/2014/12/12/video-see-the-journey-profile-of-2-buckeyes-fans-with-muscular-dystrophy/
Stewart Scott, RIP.
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The announcer on ESPN, bawling her eyes out, making the announcement.
Bruce Arians is so awesome. He opened up the season closing news conference here this morning by honoring Stuart Scott.
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Putting perspective up front.
Thanks to you and scribe for the news about Scott, I hadn’t heard. And kudos to Arians for keeping everyone’s priorities straight. My condolences to Scott’s family and friends…
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On a cheerier note, I would like to offer my best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year to the denizens of the Wheelhouse : ) I’ve been enjoying a nice off-line vacation this holiday season, but hope everyone in these parts had a delightful holiday!
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scribe, my condolences on the end of the Steelers season. The hubby and I turned in before the end of the game last night as the outcome looked inevitable early in the 4th.
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And bmaz, all I can say about the Cards game is… I think once everyone in AZ is healthy again next year you have something to look forward to, while I think the Panthers season will come to a merciful end next weekend, wherever they end up playing…
Conviction is immaterial, your honor. It is Roger’s reputation that’s at stake.
If Harden is serious, he should settle and have the material sent to Davey Jones’s locker.
Rocket is a man of honor and principle; he will never give in to that perjurious banana slug McNamee.
In other words, Roger’s The Client From Hell, who knows far better than his lawyer when to fish, when to cut bait, and when to settle (“never”; see, e.g., contending bat-throwing not the fruit of roid rage).
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For Hardin’s sake, I hope he got paid in advance.
So just out of curiosity, does anyone around here care one way or another about the outcome of Bungles/Ponies?
Are you kidding, that is the only decent game on today!
I suspect our hostess might object to that claim ; )
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And thanks scribe for setting me straight on the post-Steeler playoff preferences ; ) Thanks particularly for the cavalry metaphor, I’ve been a little concerned about a polo match myself and not having enough Grey Poupon to go around ; )
I favor the Colts, because the Bungles are from the AFC North and therefore among those deeply disliked by Steeler fans. For those uninformed on the issue, the intra-AFCN hierarchy of disdain is Crows, Bungles. The Brownies are objects of derision and ridicule, not disdain.
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That, and a Colts win means we get a huge cavalry battle in Denver next week – Colts v. Broncos, plus we get Luck v. Peyton, allowing fans everywhere to pass judgment on Colts ownership. How could that be anything but great?
ahem. Team Luck!! (Stanford, etc)
I admire Clemens’ conviction to fight relentlessly, and not give into, a scumbag piece of trash like McNamee. Both he and Rusty are doing fine.
You sound like the criminal defense attorney you are.
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For the uninitiated, members of the criminal defense bar has little to lose when they undertake to fight-fight-fight for their clients. If they lose (and got paid in advance) they did their best but their client was still guilty as sin. Very little downside for the lawyers – you fought hard and lost – and a known maximum downside for the client. OTOH, for civil plaintiffs’ lawyers, there is a constant weighing of whether continuing the fight is more worthwhile than taking what money is on the table. I’ve been in cases where every day of trial included sitting down with the client, telling them “take the f’g money” and then handing them a letter reiterating the advice to take the f’g money and why.
When you come to the final day of the trial and the courtroom atmosphere is suddenly quite different than it was – and a lot more hostile to you and your client – and the client’s intransigence to continue in the face of your repeated advice to “take the f’g money” resolves itself into the jury announcing a defense verdict and watching the $500k or so that had been offered – the defense was literally begging you to take it – slide back into the insurance company’s coffers (taking your fee of around $160k with it), your thoughts immediately turn to the client’s idiotic intransigence and whether you’re going to have to file your own bankruptcy because you needed that fee after the hundreds or thousands of hours you spent on that case (which will now never be paid for and which displaced spending that time on paying work), let alone the chances of the client turning on you to sue you for malpractice. Because if you’d have been any good you would have won, of course.
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Turnarounds like that are why you gave the client that “take the f’g money” letter every day and got them to sign a receipt for it, conveniently printed on the face of the letter itself. But that doesn’t put any money in your pocket. And doesn’t immunize you from going through the worries of a malpractice suit. (Now, I’ve never been sued for malpractice, but I’ve been the guy suing other lawyers and I’ve also defended other lawyers. It doesn’t remotely resemble fun.)
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OTOH, when a criminal defendant does that turnaround and turns on his attorney and sues for malpractice (they have lots of time for that while inside), that attorney has a ready-made defense that usually works: “he was guilty as hell and a jury of 12 found him so, beyond a reasonable doubt. Go away.”
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Roger seems to me to have that never-give-in intransigence. It served him well on the playing field and, I suppose, he figures it’ll work in court. He’s wrong. He should have never brought this suit.
Yeah, maybe MacNamee is a scumbag, but Clemens hired the scumbag?
How can you be so naive?
Debbie does steroids but her hubby can’t differentiate the difference from vitamin B.
Clemens defamation suit against Mac never made it to first base, yet Mac’s suit against the Rocket is heading for trial?
The facts indicate that something is wacky, don’t you agree?
How can I be so naive? I was aware of the BALCO case way before Clemens. We have had this discussion before. You are biting off on absolute horseshit. The entire enterprise was bogus before they ever got to Clemens. The whole thing is exactly the piece of total shit, and has been from the get go, that the results have proved it to be. Nuff said.
Long before BALCO, in fact, long before he left the Sawx, the late Will McDonough was calling Clemens “The Texas Con Man” (although I think mainly because of the annual puffery about his awesome workouts even as he got fatter his last few years in Boston)
You guys clack about the “Texas con man”. You might want to stop and think about the NY con man, the lying ass snitch McNamee. And the lying ass snitches that came before him. You think you know. But you may not.
Holy Judas, we get it. You know more about this than your lowly followers. My point is that Rusty and Rocket would fail miserably in Texas Hold ‘Em. You don’t browbeat your opponents, and you know when to fold……
Nothing to do with McNamee – just pointing out that Clemens had been pegged as a BS artist long before BALCO came along. McNamee being a lying a**hole doesn’t mean Clemens isn’t one as well.
Is it too much to ask for playoff, PLAYOFF, games to be interesting into the 4th quarter???
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Some of the best football I have seen has been played in pre-SuperBowl playoff games. Not this weekend, though. Sigh.
WHY IS PHRED HARSHING ON TEAM ROSALIND LIKE THAT???
Ummm, Team Ros hasn’t played this weekend, has it???
Rosalind always feels Andrew Lucky.
Geez, how have I missed that after all this time? Sorry Ros. For what it’s worth, I’m hoping for a “boring” Packer blow out next week. I only want _some_ games to be exciting ; )
Wowser, the putty tats came to play.
I’m waiting to see whether Suh steps on Precious Romo.
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I keep wondering… when he was in Dallas, Bill Parcells was always singing songs of praise about Romo, that he was the best QB he’d ever had (more or less), yadda yadda. Now, Parcells was known as – made his bones as – one of the preeminent manipulators of people anywhere, anytime, in any field. I keep wondering just who he was manipulating. It hasn’t worked on Romo all these years.
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After long and deep thought about it, I’m convinced it was Parcells’ Revenge on Jerry Jones, f’g with Ol’ Jerry’s head over football, or control, or money.
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Just sayin’.
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Romo’s taking a beating from the Kittehs’ D.
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If you’re going to get an unnecessary roughness penalty, this is the situation. It’ll move the ball … about 3 inches.
So far it doesn’t look like the Owboys will be in the game long enough for Suh to want to take out their QB, so maybe Romo will get a free pass from the Dirty Player Bag o’ Tricks…
Okey doke, I expected the Kitties to be competitive. I did not expect them to make it look easy.
I am hoping for a Kittehs win today, and in Seattle next week.
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So the Championship game will be between the Lions and Packers at a neutral field like Lambeau.
Me, three (assuming EW is hoping for Kitteh wins ; )
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That said, I am grateful to Dallas and Detroit for keeping this exciting down to the wire…
So are the cardiac surgeons in both cities. Win or lose, the increase in heart attacks will no doubt increase the demand for their services.
Just tuning in – how’s Suh doing? From the score, it looks like he be Stompin’ at the Savoy today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk1toxG81nY
So… can Stafford pull this out? …
I don’t know. Doubtful. The NFL is a complete fraud. That picked up flag was just incredible. What a disgrace.
#fix is trending big time on Twitter right now. All I can currently picture is New York calling the sidelines and saying “Roger says pick up the flag.”
how did it affect Vegas?
Don’t know about that. So far what I’ve read is that a Cowboys Green Bay game is a bigger ratings opportunity.
I love you Lois, you are so right!
#fix sounds about right.
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And there’s no way Christie could channel Nancy Reagan – there’s three-plus of her in one of him.
Arrrggghhhh….
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Sorry EW. Not the way I would have liked the game to end…
Same kind of cheap ass game changing calls that Notre Dame relies on for their false glory. that is what happened to the Lions.
Recall that Christie’s admin in NJ has been having a litigation donnybrook over the laws forbidding the running of sports books in casinos other than Vegas. He’s been trying to get sports books for Atlantic City, to save those dumps from competition from other casinos people don’t have to ride buses to get to.
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Not that anyone in that owner’s box would have an interest in gaming or anything, of course.
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In other news, having had to reinstate Suh after the lameness of his decision was revealed to all, King Roger finally gets his arm back on the scales to help His Royal Favorite Jerry win, with a call-reversal that happened entirely too quickly for the outcry to build, let alone be heard. I’m betting Chris Christie’s food tab will take up most, if not all, of the amount of Suh’s fine.
Also, can I please say, one of the great TV series ever, the Good Wife, has turned into such a contrived piece of shit I almost have to stop watching it.
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Good Grief.
Dontchya know? Sunday nights are Columbo nights on one of the digital channels (forget which)
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Sheesh ;-)