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Random Thoughts for May 2019


dll2000

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On 6/20/2019 at 9:09 AM, dll2000 said:

No I have not.  

I tend to generally avoid women fantasy authors as there are very few whose writing style I enjoy.  

I read Robin Hobb and read Harry Potter and just read Jenn Lyons.  

I'll give it a try if you say its good.

 

It is really good, and it's got some of the most imaginative world-building I've read, however there is a LOT of social commentary in her work that you might not enjoy.

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2 hours ago, RunningVaccs said:

It is really good, and it's got some of the most imaginative world-building I've read, however there is a LOT of social commentary in her work that you might not enjoy.

That is a good read on me.  I will pass given that.   Thanks for the rec though.  Always looking for good new authors to read as I read faster than they write.

 

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5 hours ago, dll2000 said:

That is a good read on me.  I will pass given that.   Thanks for the rec though.  Always looking for good new authors to read as I read faster than they write.

Sounds like you should be a fan of Terry Goodkind. 

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On 6/19/2019 at 3:36 PM, dll2000 said:

Give me something to watch on Netflix or Amazon Prime.

I'm watching The Good Place on Netflix right now, Can't recommend it highly enough. The Man in the High Castle is Amazon Prime, and while I haven't seen all of it, what I did see is very good. Good Omens is supposed to be smashing, too. 

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On June 16, 2019 at 9:04 PM, Heinz D. said:

Oh gawd dude. You're not seriously that evil, right? 

Quote was in refrence to me trying to find comments in 100 page plus Packers threads which is a pain the rear. 

Reason I do it, sometimes, is they have like 2 or 3 really knowledgable and interesting posters that make some really good points.  But you have to wade through a lot of nonsense to get to them. 

I wish our group was a little bigger, but we get a lot more quality than the other team focused forums IMO. 

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I do agree with you while I'm also trying to not drink the Kool-Aid. Every pundit expects us to be at the bottom of the division. This is a difficult group of teams. You can look at each team and see legitimate reasons on why they should win the division. You can also see the weaknesses that could expose them. GB - Brand new HC, new scheme, etc. and a rebuilding defense; MIN - Cousins has struggled and Cook has been injured. Bad QB play and no run game is going to hurt; CHI - Defense had a ton of takeaways, nearly impossible to repeat. Offense heavily relied on the D to win games.

This take was from a Detroit fan, but I have seen same take in every forum and on twitter.  We heard it from Fox and other guy on that show.

You hear it on national podcasts.  You hear it in Bears podcasts when they have guests talking about their teams when asked about Bears. 

I don't get it.  They all really think Bears O is going to be that pathetic this year?  That defense is going to take a major step back? Why does MT get no benefit of natural QB growth at this stage, just because it's year three and not two? Of what benefit was year one to him whatsoever?  To me this is year two not three. 

I know I am not objective, but there are a number of Bears players that are objectively very good.  The team was objectively  young and is objectively in second year of a new coach who radically changed one side of ball and showed objectve growth.  They added as much talent as they lost, if not more.  Some of their very best players were coming off major injury, held out or were rookies.  Now they are not.

I think team is being underestimated.  Fangio was amazing against Rams and division, but he was bad in our losses.  He is a great coach, but lets not forget to give credit to guys on field who are still there and Pagano isnt nothing.  

I don't see any way offense is worse or even with last year.  Everyone is better or more experienced or healthier coming in. 

Of course injuries can ruin everything, but that is always the case.  

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2 hours ago, dll2000 said:

This take was from a Detroit fan, but I have seen same take in every forum and on twitter.  We heard it from Fox and other guy on that show.

You hear it on national podcasts.  You hear it in Bears podcasts when they have guests talking about their teams when asked about Bears. 

I don't get it.  They all really think Bears O is going to be that pathetic this year?  That defense is going to take a major step back? Why does MT get no benefit of natural QB growth at this stage, just because it's year three and not two? Of what benefit was year one to him whatsoever?  To me this is year two not three. 

I know I am not objective, but there are a number of Bears players that are objectively very good.  The team was objectively  young and is objectively in second year of a new coach who radically changed one side of ball and showed objectve growth.  They added as much talent as they lost, if not more.  Some of their very best players were coming off major injury, held out or were rookies.  Now they are not.

I think team is being underestimated.  Fangio was amazing against Rams and division, but he was bad in our losses.  He is a great coach, but lets not forget to give credit to guys on field who are still there and Pagano isnt nothing.  

I don't see any way offense is worse or even with last year.  Everyone is better or more experienced or healthier coming in. 

Of course injuries can ruin everything, but that is always the case.  

I think you are misreading that quote, not that you arent right about what a lot of the nat'l guys say.  This Detroit fan was saying that Minny is going to have bad QB play and no run game bc of Cousins and Cook always being injured.  That's probably a bad take too tbh.

What I find real interesting is that it seems like ALL the beat reporters, the guys who are around this team all off season and see what happens in practice consistently all seem to expect a big jump from Tru and the offense.  The Nat'l guys just dont have that exposure to the team and they read these awful takes by PFF and other Nat'l guys and they just parrot what they hear.  I was listening to the Locked on Podcast then other day and they were talking about the WR room, then out of nowhere the guest says MT10 is a terrible decision maker and basically blamed him for the Miami loss, which floored me bc he was outstanding in the Miami game and really only made 1 bad decision that wound up getting picked off in the endzone.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm watching a different game than the pundits.  What's really interesting tho, is that the Nat'l insiders seem to go the opposite of the commentators.  They have all been real favorable to the Bears offense and to 10.  I dont get the hate, the way these guys talk sometimes you would think that Trubisky was Grossman mixed with Cutler and a sub 70 rated QB.  Not 96.8 and 4th highest QBR in the league.

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1 hour ago, Superman(DH23) said:

I think you are misreading that quote, not that you arent right about what a lot of the nat'l guys say.  This Detroit fan was saying that Minny is going to have bad QB play and no run game bc of Cousins and Cook always being injured.  That's probably a bad take too tbh.

What I find real interesting is that it seems like ALL the beat reporters, the guys who are around this team all off season and see what happens in practice consistently all seem to expect a big jump from Tru and the offense.  The Nat'l guys just dont have that exposure to the team and they read these awful takes by PFF and other Nat'l guys and they just parrot what they hear.  I was listening to the Locked on Podcast then other day and they were talking about the WR room, then out of nowhere the guest says MT10 is a terrible decision maker and basically blamed him for the Miami loss, which floored me bc he was outstanding in the Miami game and really only made 1 bad decision that wound up getting picked off in the endzone.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm watching a different game than the pundits.  What's really interesting tho, is that the Nat'l insiders seem to go the opposite of the commentators.  They have all been real favorable to the Bears offense and to 10.  I dont get the hate, the way these guys talk sometimes you would think that Trubisky was Grossman mixed with Cutler and a sub 70 rated QB.  Not 96.8 and 4th highest QBR in the league.

The guests representing other teams on beats podcast all read from same script: MT isn’t any good and defense can’t repeat stellar play of last year.  They will regress to mean and that will be bad news for Bears.  Okay sheer number of turnovers may dip, but will defense still not be one of best? 

I think you have a good point. I think a lot of people are using PFF as a crutch/easy resource to write their stories or provide their guest radio takes

It provides them with an easy access source and narrative that seemingly appears objective. 

Either that or everyone else is right and we are just blind and wrong. 

But to me Fangio leaving doesn’t mean Mack, Hicks, Goldman, Jackson and Smith aren’t still going to be good. These are elite talents and would still be if I was coaching them. 

I know it happens to some QBs, they have a let down year, but nothing indicates that MT is going to worse this year than last and a lot of things indicate he will be better and is better.  

Saying he will be worse or same, could happen, but it is based on guesswork, luck or hope and not facts or data.  

Fact says he worked with teammates in offseason on his own time.  Fact says beat reporters, teammates and coaches are reporting he has far greater command this year as opposed to last year.  

His weapons and line are at least equal to last year and on paper they are better and healthier.  

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When guys say MT is a bum it bothers me. Not because he didn’t play really bad at times on national TV, he did.  But because he is written off as just bad because of those games or moments.  Also the really good moments are discounted and they were there too.  

It was his first year.  I can’t say that enough.  People don’t grasp how much he had to learn and how fast and that is just beginning. 

Learning a concept on paper is still a long ways off from being able to execute it at speed.

Take something everyone over 35 understands in football. The option pitch. Easy to understand but it takes 2000 reps to start to get good at it.  

MT had to learn at least  12 different passing concepts with dif reads for each and different reads versus different coverages.  He had to learn to identify coverage pre and post snap.  He had to learn protections and when to change them.

He has to work zone reads and RPOs which is just like learning to get good at option pitches.  

He had to do all that in a handful of months.  Learning that is not easy, and once you learn it you have to do it which is a whole dif ball game.  

During those months there was a strong emphasis on double tight RPOs featuring Shaheen and Burton. Shaheen went down right before season started and they threw all that out and he had to go forward on concepts he had not repped much or at all.

On top of all that it turns out Howard can’t run out of gun so he got no ground help. 

Now I can't completely excuse multiple errant throws sprinkled throughout season. But you can cut those down if you are mentally more relaxed and not thinking really hard about every play you are running and how to run it.  

Exhibit A is how well he ran plays he was comfortable with and scripts.  Now do I think he is an elite physical QB talent. No.  He is a great athlete, but his arm strength is not special and he does not have special size.  But as we have seen you need neither elite arm strength or elite size to be a great QB.  He can get there if he does so mentally, but that takes time, work and experience.  

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's July and it's hot!!!!!  Yard work is not getting done.  

Some of you said you work outside.  I am sorry.

Good news is you stay in reasonably shape.   It can be depressing sitting on your butt 12 hours a day most of it in fluorescent lighting.  Grass is always greener I guess.  Everyone seems to work real hard in youth to work in an office and then most hate it.  But many working outside envy those in air conditioning.  

I think weird thoughts sometimes.  That one winter it snowed for a month including a couple of near blizzards I hand shoveled my whole cul de sac with some neighbor help like 15-20x. Each time took like 8-9 hours.   I got all muscley from the labor.  Then I think what if I was a lumberjack or a blacksmith of old?  I would be ripped.

 

 

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