SPORTS

[Dargo]

And now about the second game tonight...

Not that I really cared if the Lions continued on with their Cinderella season this year or not, but I'm YELLIN' at the freakin' TV screen, "NOOOO, don't DO IT! Just KICK the freakin' FIELD GOAL!" when I saw Head Coach Dan "Mr. Aggressive" Campbell, NOT once, but TWICE during the game shun an easy FG for 3 points and instead go for it on 4th and short but FAIL both times, and especially so when during the first instance of this, those 3 points would've extended his team's lead over the Niners at the time by THREE scores!!!

I mean, there's SIX points the Lions could have EASILY had, and what do they ultimately lose BY? Uh-huh, a mere THREE points!!!

(...and so I STILL say, these modern young Head Coaches are SO often SO damn clueless and cluelessly aggressive when it comes to understanding how during a game THE FLOW OF THE GAME at the time should be used to make these kinds of decisions and INSTEAD of relying on what I believe to be the crap science of "Analytics" they all seem to use now days and to rationalize their decisions, BUT which so often just FAIL them!)

[jamesjazzguitar]

And now about the second game tonight...

Not that I really cared if the Lions continued on with their Cinderella season this year or not, but I'm YELLIN' at the freakin' TV screen, "NOOOO, don't DO IT! Just KICK the freakin' FIELD GOAL!" when I saw Head Coach Dan "Mr. Aggressive" Campbell, NOT once, but TWICE during the game shun an easy FG for 3 points and instead go for it on 4th and short but FAIL both times, and especially so when during the first instance of this, those 3 points would've extended his team's lead over the Niners at the time by THREE scores!!!

I mean, there's SIX points the Lions could have EASILY had, and what do they ultimately lose BY? Uh-huh, a mere THREE points!!!

(...and so I STILL say, these modern young Head Coaches are SO often SO damn clueless and cluelessly aggressive when it comes to understanding how during a game THE FLOW OF THE GAME at the time should be used to make these kinds of decisions and INSTEAD of relying on what I believe to be the crap science of "Analytics" they all seem to use now days and to rationalize their decisions, BUT which so often just FAIL them!)

Not to defend Campbell's final decision to go-for-it (that 2nd time), but the flow of the game at that time, was that the Lion's defense couldn't stop the 49s offense. Thus, not taking the 3-points the first time, when the Lion's D was solid and the 49ers' offense was struggling, was a misjudgment. But that 2nd time, can be viewed as a toss-up (IMO). I.e. Lions needed those 4 "extra" points to counter the likelihood the 49s would score when they got the ball back. But I can see Campbell having the opposite post-game POV: that when his D is playing very well, why not go-for-it, and when it starts to get tried (typically in the late 2nd half), take the points.

I don't fault use of analytics for these decisions but instead lack of situational awareness. I.e. Cambell goes-for-it, PERIOD, without regard to the current situation at-hand.

[jamesjazzguitar]

Who are you predicting will win the Super Bowl?

I say the 49ers. The Chief's run defense is only average and the 49ers have a sound running game, as well as short passing game.

This will limit the amount of time the best player on the field, Mahomes has to score points. Before that last NFC game, I did have concerns that Purdy might fold when under too much pressure in a must-win game, but as we saw in the second half, he stepped up.

[Dargo]

Who are you predicting will win the Super Bowl?

I say the 49ers. The Chief's run defense is only average and the 49ers have a sound running game, as well as short passing game.

This will limit the amount of time the best player on the field, Mahomes has to score points. Before that last NFC game, I did have concerns that Purdy might fold when under too much pressure in a must-win game, but as we saw in the second half, he stepped up.

Good points made here James, but of course and as it always is, the team whose offensive line (always THE most unsung and underappreciated part of any team's roster) plays the best, will win the game. And lets also not forget that special teams play and turnovers always have a major impact upon the final score as well.

And as I view both the Offenses and the Defenses of these two teams as pretty much being on par with each other, those last aspects to this game just might and probably will be the deciding factors on who wins it.

(...my pick: while I'll be kind'a sort'a rooting to the Niners, somethin' tells me the Chiefs will win it by a close score...wouldn't it be great if it turns out to be a shootout like that memorable 2021 AFC Divisional game between the Chiefs and the Bills?!)

[Dargo]

Btw here James, I hope you know because of this lousy weather you Californians have been sendin' out this way this past week to the Grand Canyon State, I haven't been able to hit the tennis courts at all this week, and so I'm gettin' mighty bored around here lately!!!

(...why can't you guys keep those "Atmospheric Rivers" to yourself over there???!!!)

[jimimac71]

Btw here James, I hope you know because of this lousy weather you Californians have been sendin' out this way this past week to the Grand Canyon State, I haven't been able to hit the tennis courts at all this week, and so I'm gettin' mighty bored around here lately!!!

(...why can't you guys keep those "Atmospheric Rivers" to yourself over there???!!!)

Maybe you don't get CA. news, but things are pretty messed up and it's not humourous.

[Dargo]

Btw here James, I hope you know because of this lousy weather you Californians have been sendin' out this way this past week to the Grand Canyon State, I haven't been able to hit the tennis courts at all this week, and so I'm gettin' mighty bored around here lately!!!

(...why can't you guys keep those "Atmospheric Rivers" to yourself over there???!!!)

Maybe you don't get CA. news, but things are pretty messed up and it's not humourous.

Sorry, jimimac. I guess that did seem a bit insensitive on my part there, didn't it.

And yes, not only have the local news services here in AZ shown the devastation caused by these recent series of storms there in CA, but so have all networks national news broadcasts as well.

These recent storms there in CA have reminded me of the first winter (1991) I spent after purchasing the house in the South Bay area of L.A., and with that also being a major "El Nino" event year.

That house backed up to a cemented-in (by the Army Corps of Engineers in the late-1950s) flood control channel named the Dominguez Channel and which had been one of the natural drainage features of the L.A. Basin for eons and that eventually flows into the L.A. Harbor. It's about 50 feet across and 30 feet deep and usually has but a trickle of water flowing in it.

Well, during that first winter it rained so hard for a week straight that this channel's flow was extremely rapid and nearly flowing over its sides, and which would've then swamped my back yard and then my house if it had continued rising. Thankfully, it didn't.

And so I guess the point to this story is that I don't remember laughing at this situation at the time either.

(...although I DO remember laughing at MYSELF for even thinking how cool it would be to string up and tie a tow rope to the chain link fence that fenced off this channel and then do a little water skiing on it...my body would had been found floating face down a few days later in the L.A. Harbor IF I would've tried doing that, of course!) LOL

[jimimac71]

Okay D-Man, I forgive you.
I have my California grumpy cat face on.
Power outages can partly be blamed on our electric provider.
They are behind in proper maintenance.
Not only are trees coming down but so are some of the poles that hold the wires.
Then our phone company wants to pull the plug on land lines.
California is a mess, but we have a couple of great sports teams.
I’m okay with baseball as it is mostly compatible with my eyesight.
I can’t really follow baseball on the radio, plus it’s only on AM radio.
I think they have FM but I’m too far away.
As for the Super Bowl:

[NoShear]

Btw here James, I hope you know because of this lousy weather you Californians have been sendin' out this way this past week to the Grand Canyon State, I haven't been able to hit the tennis courts at all this week, and so I'm gettin' mighty bored around here lately!!!

(...why can't you guys keep those "Atmospheric Rivers" to yourself over there???!!!)

Not to put sunshine on the SoCal flooding as I'd already thought of you with following in advance of your tennis misstep, Dargo:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/tennis ... r-BB1hLTDk

McEnroe, of course, was once Ryan O'Neal's son-in-law.

[Dargo]

Not to put sunshine on the SoCal flooding as I'd already thought of you with following in advance of your tennis misstep, Dargo:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/tennis ... r-BB1hLTDk

McEnroe, of course, was once Ryan O'Neal's son-in-law.

Yeah, I caught this on TV this past weekend.

I have played Pickleball a couple of times. Fun little sport, but I'm presently of the mind that because I'm still pretty darn fast out there on the tennis court (for an old fart anyway) and so can still cover of lot of the court, I've told myself that I'll "resort" to playing Pickleball in earnest when I become too old and slow and can't run down shots anymore.

(...btw...one of the guys I've played tennis with for years now here in AZ is named Stan...Stan's a good ol' Hoosier farmboy who's presently 84 years old...you would not believe how fast HE still is out there on the tennis courts for his age and is still a very good player overall...I often tell Stan that he's my hero and hope to still be as good a player as he is when I get to his age...he's also one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet as well)

[NoShear]

Not to put sunshine on the SoCal flooding as I'd already thought of you with following in advance of your tennis misstep, Dargo:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/tennis ... r-BB1hLTDk

McEnroe, of course, was once Ryan O'Neal's son-in-law.

Yeah, I caught this on TV this past weekend.

I have played Pickleball a couple of times. Fun little sport, but I'm presently of the mind that because I'm still pretty darn fast out there on the tennis court (for an old fart anyway) and so can still cover of lot of the court, I've told myself that I'll "resort" to playing Pickleball in earnest when I become too old and slow and can't run down shots anymore.

(...btw...one of the guys I've played tennis with for years now here in AZ is named Stan...Stan's a good ol' Hoosier farmboy who's presently 84 years old...you would not believe how fast HE still is out there on the tennis courts for his age and is still a very good player overall...I often tell Stan that he's my hero and hope to still be as good a player as he is when I get to his age...he's also one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet as well)

That is incredible, Dargo: My mom, now in her eighties, disappointingly gets told to not play tennis.
Stan: That's a tennis name!!

[Dargo]

That is incredible, Dargo: My mom, now in her eighties, disappointingly gets told to not play tennis.
Stan: That's a tennis name!!

Yep, the great Stan Smith...



THIS Stan is presently only 77 y/o, though.

(...so, did your mom once play a lot of tennis in her younger days?)

[NoShear]

That is incredible, Dargo: My mom, now in her eighties, disappointingly gets told to not play tennis.
Stan: That's a tennis name!!

Yep, the great Stan Smith...



THIS Stan is presently only 77 y/o, though.

(...so, did your mom once play a lot of tennis in her younger days?)

Yes, she did, Dargo...
She had this model of racquet in the Neolithic Age:

[Dargo]

Yep, looks like the old Jack Kramer Wilson racquet that the young Chrissie is playin' with there, alright!

I think almost everyone played with one of those back then.

(...I did, anyway)

[NoShear]

Yep, looks like the old Jack Kramer Wilson racquet that the young Chrissie is playin' with there, alright!

I think almost everyone played with one of those back then.

(...I did, anyway)

With your post here, thought of the old Wilson white tennis balls in a laundry basket combo which my father had around the house, Dargo.