Je Suis Paris Trash Talk
It is a little hard to get too excited about this weekend’s games with all of what is going on across the pond in Paris. My daughter had been scheduled to be in Paris yesterday and for the weekend until a last minute change in one of her classes left her still in England. You cannot imagine how relieved we were that she was not there. But there are friends of this blog that do live in Paris and/or have significant family there, and our thoughts go out to them.
With that said, we’ll take a brief look at the sporting festivities this weekend, even if the realities of the world have brutally reminded us that games are just that. In fact, there was a rather large soccer match in Paris between France and Germany that got that reminder up close and personal yesterday.
In the college ranks, by far the biggest matchup is in the Big-12 where Oklahoma travels to Baylor. The Bears are a home favorite by 3, but Oklahoma is more than capable of pulling off a win. Baylor was once in the top four in rankings, but now is not. If they want a spot in the playoff, the push starts today. The Ducks are at the Tree in the Pac-12 in another make or break game. The Ducks are having a really down year for them, but they are getting healthier and they can really wound the standings by felling the Tree tonight. I look for an upset here, though will be rooting for the Trees. Alabama is a Mississippi State, where the Bulldogs are tough, but there is no reason to believe the Tide won’t keep rolling.
In the NFL, the game of the week is obviously the Lions at the Pack on the Tundra. Naw, just kidding, the Kittehs haven’t won on the Pack’s home turf in 24 years, and they are not going to start now. The real game of the week is the Cards at Seattle, which is the Sunday Night game on NBC. Unlike last year, the Cards are pretty healthy for their trip to the Northwest. But so are the Squawks, and both teams are coming off a bye week. I am going to go with Seattle here simply because they are at home, if it was in Phoenix, the edge would go the other direction. The other big game is the Patriots at the Gents. Eli has always been Good Eli against Bel, Brady and the boys, and the Giants as a whole sure don’t fear them. But New York’s defense is not what it once was and Brady is on a mission. Take the Pats here, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
The Brazilian Grand Prix is this weekend. Practice has been fairly predictable, and qualifying has not gone off yet, so no grid to report. But the racing is almost always good at Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Interlagos. Personally, I am hoping for a big race from Felipe Massa in his home country. And Massa usually does race well at Interlagos.
Lastly, the second Democratic debate is, for some idiotic reason, Saturday night. Are the Dems trying to be irrelevant, or just stupid? One thing is sure, the Paris attacks will loom large over the affair. Hard to see how this doesn’t favor Clinton, as Bernie and O’Malley have nowhere near the chops to hang with her on this kind of subject. Sanders, distressingly, still has little to no meaningful foreign policy in his stump speeches. That was always going to catch up to him sooner or later, methinks it is sooner now.
The music today is the French national anthem. La Marseillaise is a gorgeous anthem. I had not heard it in many years, and had forgotten how beautiful it is. I usually hear national anthems from other nations in relation to Formula One, but there have been no winners from France in a while.
Stepping aside from the Paris news, does anyone know whether Amherst’s president knuckled to the anti-speech-not-mine “Amherst Rising” kids?
Ah, La Marseillaise; thank you. I personally like the “Casablanca” rendition for context, as I’m otherwise not a great historian. (Of course, those were the days when you could actually defeat an enemy army rather than have them simply melt back into the general populace until you leave) And I always wonder how Rick can sport a perfectly cleaned and pressed white dinner jacket in such conditions.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l_3AM_fncs
Yes. I was torn between that and a classic version. Thanks for putting up the link though, as the Rick’s version has a whole different kind of power behind it that is pretty useful about now
bmaz, thanks for another great post.
OT, “Mom’s thank-you letter to teen skateboarder goes viral.”
http://globalnews.ca/news/2291007/moms-thank-you-letter-to-teen-skateboarder-goes-viral/?hootPostID=4e9c73bcd639d2c403288aa2658f8bc8
Dear teenage boy at skate park: You’re probably about fifteen years old, so I don’t expect you to be very mature or to want a little girl on your skate ramp for that matter. What you don’t know is that my daughter has been wanting to skateboard for months. I actually had to convince her that skateboarding wasn’t just for boys. So when we walked up to the skate park and saw that it was full of teenage boys who were smoking and swearing she immediately wanted to turn around and go home. I secretly wanted to go too, because I didn’t want to have to put on my mom voice and exchange words with you. I also didn’t want my daughter to feel like she had to be scared of anyone, or that she wasn’t entitled to that skate park just as much as you were. So when she said, “Mom it’s full of older boys,” I calmly said, “So what, they don’t own the skate park.” She proceeded to go down the ramp inspite of you and your friends flying past her grinding rails beside her. She only had two or three runs in before you approached her and said, “Hey excuse me…”
I immediately prepared to deliver my, “She’s allowed to use this park just as much as you guys,” speech, when I heard you say, “you’re feet are wrong, can I help you. You proceeded to spend almost an hour with my daughter showing her how to balance and steer, and she listened to you. A feat not attained by most adults. …
Mom is @JeaneanThomas
My brainpower isn’t sufficient to follow umpteen college teams, so I was pleased to see this SI writer tell me who to support in order to generate the most possible playoff chaos: powerhouses lose, etc. That is f-u-n. Do we want football, or do we want entertainment?
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.http://www.si.com/college-football/2015/11/13/college-football-playoff-controversy-guide-week-11
Are the Dems trying to be irrelevant, or just stupid?
We blame Wasserman Schultz, who seems to have no interest in electing more and better democrats, but prefers keeping her friends (including several GOP politicians) in office. Her debate scheduling is rocks through straws, and she won’t change it, even with pressure from inside the committee.
“One thing is sure, the Paris attacks will loom large over the affair. Hard to see how this doesn’t favor Clinton, as Bernie and O’Malley have nowhere near the chops to hang with her on this kind of subject.” I respectfully dissent. All he has to do is quote that well-known Islamophobe Bill Maher, who the other day wondered, ‘Why don’t we get out of Muslim lands?’ to prevent terrorism, adding, ‘Bombing them over there is what is causing the Paris thing to happen’.” What Sanders should also do is spend his opening statement time reading out loud this memo from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to President George W Bush in April 2001, five months before the attack on the World Trade Center, U.S, illustrating how the planning assumptions developed by the military every decade since 1900 had proved wrong, and thus unreliable.
Thoughts for the 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review.
“If you had been a security policy-maker in the world’s greatest power in 1900, you would have been a Brit, looking warily at your age-old enemy, France.
By 1910, you would be allied with France and your enemy would be Germany.
By 1920, World War I would have been fought and won, and you’d be engaged in a naval arms race with your erstwhile allies, the U.S. and Japan.
By 1930, naval arms limitation treaties were in effect, the Great Depression was underway, and the defense planning standard said “no war for ten years.”
Nine years later World War II had begun.
By 1950, Britain no longer was the worlds greatest power, the Atomic Age had dawned, and a “police action” was underway in Korea.
Ten years later the political focus was on the “missile gap,” the strategic paradigm was shifting from massive retaliation to flexible response, and few people had heard of Vietnam.
By 1970, the peak of our involvement in Vietnam had come and gone, we were beginning détente with the Soviets, and we were anointing the Shah as our protégé in the Gulf region.
By 1980, the Soviets were in Afghanistan, Iran was in the throes of revolution, there was talk of our “hollow forces” and a “window of vulnerability,” and the U.S. was the greatest creditor nation the world had ever seen.
By 1990, the Soviet Union was within a year of dissolution, American forces in the Desert were on the verge of showing they were anything but hollow, the U.S. had become the greatest debtor nation the world had ever known, and almost no one had heard of the internet.
Ten years later, Warsaw was the capital of a NATO nation, asymmetric threats transcended geography, and the parallel revolutions of information, biotechnology, robotics, nanotechnology, and high density energy sources foreshadowed changes almost beyond forecasting.
All of which is to say that I’m not sure what 2010 will look like, but I’m sure that it will be very little like we expect, so we should plan accordingly.”
That isn’t Sanders. I’ve seen him up close and personal, and he just doesn’t want to go into foreign policy. In fairness the last time I saw him live was July, but I know people in his camp, and they struggle to get him to make a shift off of economics and onto foreign policy and security. And you can see that he really just does not even on his far more current speeches and appearances.
AFAIK, Obama clobbered Dems in the months leading up to the 2012 mid-terms by replacing his speeches about income inequality with speeches on terrorism.
Per Adam Smith and his “national opulence,” in “Wealth of Nations” (428)
“Political economy, considered as a branch of the science of a statesman or legislator, proposes two distinct objects; first, to provide a plentiful revenue or subsistence for the people, or more properly to enable them to provide such a revenue or subsistence for themselves; and secondly, to supply the state or commonwealth with a revenue sufficient for the publick services.
From economist Jerry Evensky and his “Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations: A Reader’s Guide.” http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/economics/history-economic-thought-and-methodology/adam-smiths-wealth-nations-readers-guide
Sorry, meant 2014 mid-terms.
Adding another layer of stuff to the Mizzou v BYU game this evening is the surprise announcement by Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel that he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and has decided to retire at the end of the year. The press release went out of its way to be clear that this is all about health issues, and had been under consideration for several months.
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Pinkel’s current health is good, and per the press release, the cancer is treatable but not curable, and Pinkel finds himself wanting to hang it up while he still can enjoy time with his family and friends:
I spent most of last night and early this am trying to contact family and friends in Paris. All of my family has been located and are safe but are worried about their friends. I did hear from Chris in Paris, he was home and was trying to get some sleep but the sirens were making that difficult. Other friends and colleagues from MSF were safe, some were already at hospitals that were receiving many of the wounded
I’m torn between watching the Democratic debate or “Dr. Who.” I could DVR the latter and live blog the former. I’m curious to hear their reactions to the Paris attacks since it is pretty obvious that bombing them there is not keeping us safe anywhere.
I give Rand Paul a modicum of credit for his response to the proposal of a “no fly zone” over Syria. he was the only one who understood the ramifications of trying to enforce that folly.
Je Suis Paris
Yep, I immediately thought about Chris and checked in with him last night too. It is hard to fathom what it must be like to have all that going on around you.
Glad your daughter is safe. What a nightmare.
Re: France
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The people who did that, and the people associated with them are cowards. Plain and simple – cowards. To harm innocent people is gutless, stupid and repugnant. It makes zero strategic sense, unless your objective is a personal temporary aggregation of power by a so called leader. But it turns any possible genuine allies away from your overall cause.
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Stand strong France. You’re a pillar of culture, art, and philosophy. And the world owes you a huge debt for what you’ve given it
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Re: the debates
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Really DWS?11!?? How stupid can you be? Wait don’t answer that. You’ll probably talk for 15 minutes nonstop with a gasbag politiciany non-answer (uhg! my ears are bleeding from anticipation)
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On to my 1/2 pseudoscience 1/2 gut feeling 1/2 throw a dart at a list of college teams picks (hey, I never said I was good at math)
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I took Florida, because I’m riding that Gator until they lose. I took Oklahoma State, because
they have a cool mascotjust kidding, because they keep winning, and winning ATS. And even though Alabama should win, I’m taking the safer route and taking the under, because every. single. year. these two teams have played each other at Miss State, it’s gone under since 2000. And in Washington vs ASU, I’m also taking the under because of the tendencies. And, lastly, I like the points in the Arkansas LSU game and I think Arkansas keeps it close. They prolly won’t win, but I think it’s close.
(of course, I’m just a dumb guy on teh internets, so take that for what it’s worth)
Ding! School’s in. When a quarterback uses hand and verbal signals at the line, to direct his teammates, is that explaining positioning, or a different play being called, or both? And what percentage of the time, typically, does a smart defense know what all that means? Just wondering.
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This. Is pretty awesome
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Man plays Imagine by John Lennon at piano near Bataclan at Paris attack
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynsq5ms9lvI
x2
From @ddayen yesterday.
“About to tweet something substantially similar, couldn’t find the words, my editor did.
Dan Froomkin @froomkin
What you do after a terror attack defines you. Do you get terrorized and make bad choices? Or do you resist fear and rally the peaceful?”
Yes, great music is everlasting. In 2001, the programming of the last few days of the Proms was modified in light of 9-11. One piece added to the final program was Samuel Barber’s ‘Adagio For Strings”, a lament of great sadness; the performance was conducted by the American Leonard Slatkin. Some time soon, devote eleven minutes of your life to it; you won’t regret.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjvVqtffz7I
After alonso’s two lap qualif, he sat down and the best F1 hashtag of the year was created. #PlacesAlonsoWouldRatherBe
I thought Michigan was supposed to be good this year….
Well, Michigan is winning now. You want good, or you want winning!
Never mind. You want losing, or you want winning? You got losing.
And now you got tied. Sheesh. Get it over with, already.
Hah – the Qs and the Tree traded the lead 6 times in the first half. The Qs batted away a two point conversion pass attempt to win – a mixed blessing, but it endears us to Cal fans for a spell.
“It is a little hard to get too excited about this weekend’s games with all of what is going on across the pond in Paris. ”
“But there are friends of this blog that do live in Paris and/or have significant family there, and our thoughts go out to them. ”
Never heard any condolences for the people suffering from the everyday massacres committed by our friends. Funny how that works.
Welp, Kentucky looks to be back to being the Mildcats now, losing to Vandy (at Vandy) 17 – 21. ‘ cats have to be Carlotte and Louisville now to be bowl eligible.
Hilltoppers have the week off
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How Formula 1 Teams Use Big Data To Win
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http://presurfer.blogspot.com/2015/11/how-formula-1-teams-use-big-data-to-win.html
Yeah, this is pretty much a no brainer report. F1 teams have literally been traveling with effectively mainframe setups with peripheral workstations for most every team component to every race for decades. While things like NASCAR had one Dell laptop in their pit. The tech that goes into F1 is mind numbing.
Bmaz, I’m relieved to hear about your daughter. I hope that all our friends and loved ones in Paris are safe.
We still haven’t heard from a few friends in Beirut, although some have called.
I expect France to move NATO to support an aggressive campaign against Daesh. I hope that our new PM can stress the importance of increasing diplomatic pressure to prevent an all out War.
I’m looking forward to a shoot out @ 4:25PM
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Here is Peter May’s take on the game:
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“Everything has gone according to Hoyle for New England so far. Pittsburgh had players out. Dallas lost Romo. Indy had a sub-par Andrew Luck and a team which executed maybe the worst play in NFL history (the fake punt that fooled no one).
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Giants coach Tom Coughlin has been a burr in Belichick’s saddle more than once. Eli Manning isn’t going to lose sleep over this one. Then again, neither is Brady or Gronk.
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All I’m asking is for an honest-to-goodness competitive game on Sunday in MetLife Stadium where the Patriots’ mettle will be tested. Is that too much?”
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Not that I have anything against them, but, the moneyline is too good, with the Giants history of matching up well, with the Pats, I took the G men; then have Packers bouncing back; and the Bears over the Rams; not a homer again, but I like the Vikings as a team with Bridgewater, and ATS; have the Cowboys / Tampa over; and the Squawks / Cards under
The backup quarterback for the Steelers is playing very well today.
Indeed. Coming in off the bench Ben has a couple TDs and seems to be picking apart the Brown D. Not that I can watch, given the f’d up map the No Fun League is using this week. I.e., any week I can’t watch my Stillers is by definition a week the No Fun League’s map isf’d up. Thank you, King Roger. You’re still a f’g clown.
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Iggles doing well, too. Tape of the tackle on that safety will be the fodder of highlight reels for years, and Tannehill’s nightmares even longer.
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Owboys’ O is quite impressive.
Sanchez in for Iggles.
Sanchez throws pick in end zone, ‘fins defender makes exceptionally stupid play of trying to run it out, gets 2 yards before going out of bounds.
ew, congrats on a great win at Lambeau.
Woot!
Was thinking the ass-kicking from Martha Firestone Ford might have an effect. Now I can yell at all the assholes in DC who suggested a woman couldn’t run and football team.
Congratulations.
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Grrrrrrrrrrrr
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Mason Crosby. Go figure. Guy is usually money. Go Raiders!
Packers self-blocked it. Like Pats self-tackled Amendola on that kickoff return.
I’ll give Amendola the game ball.
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Take away on Brady yesterday from Ben Volin
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“Brady looked a little out of sorts on Sunday. He didn’t get the ball out of his hands quickly enough, taking three sacks, and also fumbled twice and threw a killer interception along the goal line with five minutes to go. The throw was so far behind Brandon LaFell it looked like there was a communication mix-up. The Patriots had a chance to at least kick a field goal and go up by 4 points, but instead committed a turnover at the worst possible time.”
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All true but Brady has that horseshoe up his arse.
Nicely done on Pack, EW.
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In other news, even though he was nowhere near this play – possibly on the sidelines, even – James Harrison will be penalized and fined for this hit on Young Mr. Football: http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/11/15/9739284/johnny-manziel-nearly-gets-head-ripped-off-by-brutal-facemask
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Because he’s James Harrison and King Roger is a clown. Still.
Oops. I meant Detroit. A couple of asshole commentators suggested Martha should sell the team, sort of suggesting that girls can’t run football teams.
After which she read the riot act and got a win in Lambeau.
Should we thank the CheatHawks, now that Officials ignore flagrant ‘hands in the face’ fouls?
Looks like Good Eli showed up today.
Breaking News: PEYTON MANNING BENCHED!
So, are they still making you watch Ol’ Noodlearm’s replacement or are they letting you watch a very interesting game, where Cheatin’ Bill’s Cheating Cheaters have just taken the lead over an increasingly-sourpussed Good Eli and his Giants?
Gronk
They switched us over to Pats/Giants. Looks Good for Eli.
You were saying?
Gostowskiq
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Two words: Firrrrrrst place!
Raiders let me down and I do believe the play calling needs to be more west coast. Please throw on first down.
F-1 watched a few minutes all well. I see Amerikas only race is in trouble because of the wonderful state of t austerity program and they lost money on f-1 this yr. The fans of South of the border saying we are not fans of tsa and now have races in the region.
Then again good news on the 9ers it’s a bye weak?
Oh it’s reported the F-1E had more viewers than f-1 in Amerika. Then are rule changes coming to F-1E.
Formula E is just unwatchable for me. Can’t stand it.
Echoing jo6pac…I count is as good news that the 9ers did not lose this week!
They won last week, so it’s good. Or better, at least.
I’ve been saying for 3 years now, Kaep needs a new Sports Psych. He has incredible talents, but is woefully out of sync.
The new QB looked good, let’s hope they can salvage the season.
The Chefs picked off Ol’ Noodlearm four times, and he ended the game with a QBR of zero. After years of the Donks and Noodlearm owning the Chefs, there be dancin’ in lots of KC tonight.
Charcandrick West is the best. KC is lookin good.
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What is his nickname?
Bad news
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Wide receiver Julian Edelman broke a bone in his foot in the first quarter, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media. Fox Sports’ Mike Garafolo said his season is “in jeopardy,” but he could return for the playoffs.
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Garafolo adds the injury is to Edelman’s fifth metatarsal and is believed to be a true Jones fracture.
Dismal, crappy F1 season is finally over. Hamilton is an ass. Certain football fans need to die: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2015/11/15/aaron-rodgers-is-very-disappointed-in-fan-who-yelled-about-muslims-during-moment-of-silence/
Oh good grief, you have no idea how much I agree with you. Jeebus, it is all just brutal, especially F1. Though It Ain’t Over Until It’s Over according to the recently departed Yogi. By that, there is still the execrable Abu Dhabi Faux Prix. WEhich, like Bahrain, should not be on the Circus calendar.
Damn, I had forgotten that. One more to go. Life sucks, at least, I’m not Alonso.