Back in April of '09, Cutler & Orton were in a deal.
With the draft picks being made, the deal ended up being:
Jay Cutler to the Bears
Kyle Orton, Robert Ayers & Richard Quinn (via draft pick trade with Steelers).
Here are some notes about Ayers: http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_17009731
Richard Quinn has 1 catch in 2 years.
Kyle Orton has been benched, in favor of a QB that nobody (but me, for some reason) has any faith in.
The Bears are 11-5, and have the #2 seed in the playoffs.
I wrote a blog post at the time of the trade, basically it was short and sweet, you can see it here.
I am writing this purely to say I was right.
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
...The West Wing, again...
Last evening at around 9:45 pm, Alison and I finished The West Wing, seasons 1-7. Prior to us kicking off a West Wing commitment, I had watched seasons 1-4 on Bravo, when it was airing every night for a few years, and then watched Seasons 5, 6 & 7 live as they aired – Alison had never watched an episode.
I was guarded to watch with Al, mainly b/c if she didn’t like I didn’t know how we’d continue as a married couple – what would it say about her if she couldn’t be moved to tears by Margeret or Charlie? What if she didn’t give a crap about CJ Cregg’s love life the way I did – it was a scary prospect.
Thankfully, by a few episodes in, Alison was hooked. I own seasons 1-5 on DVD, we Netflix’d some of season 6 and then borrowed from Wizzy season 7. Last night, the process came to an end, we finished the show.
I won’t spoil any endings, I won’t ruin anything for anyone, but watching it again was incredible, it didn’t have the same progression that I had remembered. I know that seasons 1-3 are incredible TV, and I know that seasons 6 & 7 are just a different show – but I was surprised by how I actually liked 6 & 7 more than 4 & 5 – how the magic seemed to go away for a period, then come back with a vengeance.
I know the backstories of contract disputes, and writer changes, and character plotlines based on things outside of the show, but overall watching this show again solidified my theory that the West Wing was the last incredible Network drama. With the evolution of our TV watching, the fact that with apple tv, google tv, on demand, Netflix and other devices, tv show watching is disappearing in the form that we know it.
Cable networks are dominating the drama genre – Mad Men, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, Dexter, Weeds…all the critically acclaimed dramas are way outside of the reality-all-or-nothing mentality that is keeping ABC, NBC, CBS & Fox afloat.
The West Wing remains the most powerful TV viewing experience I can remember, and in my top 5 shows of all time, if not top 3.
Finally, here are my superlatives:
Best TV Show Ever: Mad Men
Most Fun Show Ever: Survivor
Funniest Show Ever: Seinfeld
Most Addicted I’ve Been To A Show Ever: The Sopranos
Not Even TV It Was So Good: The Wire
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
...Our Christmas Decorations...
We can't put anything up outside because of our condo - so we went bonkers in 2010 inside!
Still have presents to wrap, but this is our Christmas house! Here is the extent of our decorations, besides the Christmas Houses which I have a video of, below.
And here is a video of our Dickens' Village houses. This was the first video I ever made on iMovie with captions and music, it was fun to test, I obviously want to do this in bigger/better ways in the future.
Still have presents to wrap, but this is our Christmas house! Here is the extent of our decorations, besides the Christmas Houses which I have a video of, below.
And here is a video of our Dickens' Village houses. This was the first video I ever made on iMovie with captions and music, it was fun to test, I obviously want to do this in bigger/better ways in the future.
Friday, December 03, 2010
...is it okay to laugh???
Just so you know, this is about sports.
Within the last 5 days, there has been 2 separate stories about pro athletes having fun while losing, and while the contexts were very different, the crux of the conversation is the same.
Here are pertinent clips from the Arizona Cardinals Derek Anderson's laughing, then the following press conference:
and
Then last night during the sports debacle known as the Cavs/Heat matchup brought some of its own "too much fun" controversy. I have copied the URL of the story that is really scathing here
So the issue is this: Is it okay for players to laugh while they're losing. I have heard multiple arguments this week, but they are both flawed, and I'll explain why. The first story I heard was the "why it is okay to laugh while you're losing" story, from an NFL Hall of Fame Website story about Joe Montana:
And then there's the "winner's don't find losing funny" go-to guy I think of, Tom Brady. This is Tom Brady's postgame after the Jets loss earlier this year, and you can see it in his body language whenever they are struggling, he hates losing so much:
So now you have all the info, and I still haven't said anything yet. I guess my first point is that we are talking about 3 groups of people in the first 2 clips:
1. The horrible Arizona Cardinals
2. The horrible Cleveland Cavaliers
3. The Underachieving Miami Heat
1 & 2 are easy - the fact that Derek Anderson is laughing has nothing to do with their success or failures. The only reason this is a story is because it was on Monday Night Football, and an NFL Network exists, which needs 24/7 programming.
The Cavaliers were snakecharmed by Lebron for the last 7 years. They were a group that played magical regular seasons and honestly didn't stand a chance of winning. The fact that they were (or weren't) joking with Lebron during the game is not the disease - it is the symptom. They have never been really coached before this year (Mike Brown), and they were led by someone who is proving to be literally the biggest egomaniac in the history of modern sports.
You know a person is deplorable when I agree with Reggie Miller's "the hole has been dug deeper" sentiment.
I guess what I'm really getting at is that in the Montana excerpt, we see that levity, fun, laughter, motivation techniques of any kind are okay if employed by winners. They aren't if they are employed by losers. That's not anything new, there just isn't a consistency in diagnosis is my main problem. If the 49ers lost the Super Bowl to the Bengals that year, a really good Bengals team I may add, would Montana have been vilified for making a joke about John Candy to Harris Barton? No, for 2 reasons. 1, there was no NFL Network/ESPN/Podcasts/Youtube to focus on that aspect, and 2, Joe simply knows how to lead.
It isn't in Tom Brady's DNA to joke about a loss, but it is in Joe Montana's to joke as a motivation tool. We don't need or care to know what is in Daniel 'Boobie' Gibson's DNA with the Cavs, or with Derek Anderson's, because in the grand scheme of things they are role players, players of no consequence, and don't need to be measured in these conversations. They are not relevant.
All of this is not relevant. A leader is a leader, a winner is a winner, and ultimately measure athletes on championships, which is a biproduct of guts and determination. Sometimes humor is involved in the chemistry too, but that chemistry has long passed Derek Anderson and the remaining Cleveland Cavaliers windows.
Within the last 5 days, there has been 2 separate stories about pro athletes having fun while losing, and while the contexts were very different, the crux of the conversation is the same.
Here are pertinent clips from the Arizona Cardinals Derek Anderson's laughing, then the following press conference:
and
Then last night during the sports debacle known as the Cavs/Heat matchup brought some of its own "too much fun" controversy. I have copied the URL of the story that is really scathing here
So the issue is this: Is it okay for players to laugh while they're losing. I have heard multiple arguments this week, but they are both flawed, and I'll explain why. The first story I heard was the "why it is okay to laugh while you're losing" story, from an NFL Hall of Fame Website story about Joe Montana:
A humorous example of his poise under pressure occurred in Super Bowl XXIII against the Cincinnati Bengals. Trailing 16-13 with 3:20 left in the game, the 49ers had the ball on their own eight-yard line.
"Some of the guys seemed more than normally tense," Montana recalled, "especially Harris Barton, a great offensive tackle who has a tendency to get nervous." As usual, Montana was just focusing on the situation, how far they had to go and how much time was left. Just then he happened to spot the late actor John Candy in the stands. "Look" he said, 'isn't that John Candy." It was hardly what his teammates expected to hear in the huddle with the Super Bowl on the line. But it definitely broke the tension. "Everybody kind of smiled, and even Harris relaxed, and then we all concentrated on the job we had to do."
And then there's the "winner's don't find losing funny" go-to guy I think of, Tom Brady. This is Tom Brady's postgame after the Jets loss earlier this year, and you can see it in his body language whenever they are struggling, he hates losing so much:
So now you have all the info, and I still haven't said anything yet. I guess my first point is that we are talking about 3 groups of people in the first 2 clips:
1. The horrible Arizona Cardinals
2. The horrible Cleveland Cavaliers
3. The Underachieving Miami Heat
1 & 2 are easy - the fact that Derek Anderson is laughing has nothing to do with their success or failures. The only reason this is a story is because it was on Monday Night Football, and an NFL Network exists, which needs 24/7 programming.
The Cavaliers were snakecharmed by Lebron for the last 7 years. They were a group that played magical regular seasons and honestly didn't stand a chance of winning. The fact that they were (or weren't) joking with Lebron during the game is not the disease - it is the symptom. They have never been really coached before this year (Mike Brown), and they were led by someone who is proving to be literally the biggest egomaniac in the history of modern sports.
You know a person is deplorable when I agree with Reggie Miller's "the hole has been dug deeper" sentiment.
I guess what I'm really getting at is that in the Montana excerpt, we see that levity, fun, laughter, motivation techniques of any kind are okay if employed by winners. They aren't if they are employed by losers. That's not anything new, there just isn't a consistency in diagnosis is my main problem. If the 49ers lost the Super Bowl to the Bengals that year, a really good Bengals team I may add, would Montana have been vilified for making a joke about John Candy to Harris Barton? No, for 2 reasons. 1, there was no NFL Network/ESPN/Podcasts/Youtube to focus on that aspect, and 2, Joe simply knows how to lead.
It isn't in Tom Brady's DNA to joke about a loss, but it is in Joe Montana's to joke as a motivation tool. We don't need or care to know what is in Daniel 'Boobie' Gibson's DNA with the Cavs, or with Derek Anderson's, because in the grand scheme of things they are role players, players of no consequence, and don't need to be measured in these conversations. They are not relevant.
All of this is not relevant. A leader is a leader, a winner is a winner, and ultimately measure athletes on championships, which is a biproduct of guts and determination. Sometimes humor is involved in the chemistry too, but that chemistry has long passed Derek Anderson and the remaining Cleveland Cavaliers windows.
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