It would be a good thing if Green Bay won. It’s not that I’m a Lion hater but I am a Falcon fan and would rather not face the Saints in the first round. That’s all.
2.
Baud
@JPL: As a Saints fan, I feel the same way. I would rather not risk a third meeting with the Falcons.
3.
Phylllis
I’m a Buccaneer fan, so yeah, my team totally sucks.
4.
BGinCHI
In real football, Sunderland upsets Man City in the EPL.
Huge result.
Green Bay is gonna win that Super Bowl thingy anyway, so put your terrible towels away.
5.
Svensker
Jets. They must all be Repubs because they are honorary legitimate members of the Klown Kar.
6.
UofAZGrad
Here’s to a Cincy playoff spot and Steelers making the Ravens go on the road for their playoff games.
7.
Raven
Da Bearz
8.
JPL
Since I was raised in MA, I’m a supporter of the Patriots also. I just wish they wouldn’t start 21 points in the hole before deciding that it was time to play. That’s not gonna work so well during the playoffs.
Kraft is a heck of an owner and the players appreciate that also, too. Personally, I think the Falcon’s owner Arthur Blake is an ass but that’s just my opinion.
My team is Liverpool Football Club, and they do not suck. They just need more consistent strikers, that’s all. I’ll wager you any amount you like that they can thrash the next Super Bowl champions at association football, so there.
11.
donnah
Please o please let the Bengals win! I’d like to see them make a good showing this time.
12.
JPL
@Raven: thanks… proof read is my friend that i don’t use enough…
13.
Irving
I’m from Cleveland. Tell me something I don’t know.
14.
Baud
GO RAMS! They’re coming back!!
15.
Amir Khalid
@BGinCHI:
That’s both Manchester clubs defeated this week. United managed to lose to bottom-of-the-table Blackburn Rovers, and on Sir Alex’s 70th birthday too. A little too much Christmas celebration, maybe…
16.
Woodrowfan
Your team sucks. Unless ESPECIALLY IF your team is the Steelers.
The Green Bay Packers are the only professional football team that is publicly owned: fans are the stockholders, Stocks aren’t manipulated by the Wall Street capitalist system and they don’t give out dividends. Stock ownership transfers happen only through immediate family members. A 200,000 individual share limit keeps any one person from majority ownership.
I could never support another of the teams, all owned and operated by the someone firmly ensconced in the 1%!
Hmm. I’m seeing Steelers O making the same noises and moves they did on the trip to SF.
Lets see what happens when Big Ben’s meds start wearing off. If he does that “lumbering around like a drugged coyote with his leg caught in a jaw trap” imitation again, it will be up to the Steelers D to score all the points.
The hapless Browns, love ’em as I do, are still … without hap.
Your team sucks. Unless your team is the Steelers.
Sadly this is true.
Go Giants!
24.
Off Colfax
I can’t believe that I’m actually using these words, but…
GO TEBOW!
Listen, the way my Chargers have been playing, the only way to keep those damned Raiders out of the playoffs is for those damned Broncos to get in instead. Yet I loathe and despise the whole Media-Annointed Heir to the Throne of Elway blitz that has been going on, and…
Oh look. The sack leader of the Chargers has just been ejected from the game for brushing past a referee. I think this game will call for Everclear and ether.
25.
cathyx
Too many close minded Obamabots in the previous thread to bother even reading.
Go Steelers!
26.
Spaghetti Lee
My Bears actually were minimally competent enough to beat the Vikes today. Maybe that means we’ll drop a spot or two in Teh All-Important Draft, but I’m the kind of fan who just wants his team to win under whatever circumstance. Besides, the Bears front office sucks at drafting anyway, so no big loss.
27.
jl
fuhbawll.. wanner eff izz to erlifer fooball. Where ammi anyway. Wha happen lass nigh
Just an aside: I am always surprised that people can divide their political and entertainment lives so efficiently.
Reminds me of the fact that Sunday mornings are the most racially segregated hours of the week. During pro-ball season, Sunday afternoons and Monday nights are the oddest hours to be a liberal.
32.
Villago Delenda Est
Yes, my team (the Seahawks) suck.
But they’re not the Steelers. That’s a point in their favor.
Furthermore, the Packers’ ownership system has been outlawed for any other team in the NFL.
Think about that for a moment. A system of the fans, by the fans, controlled by the fans…prohibited by the NFL. Only billionaires need apply for NFL ownership. If cities owned teams, a lot of grifting would come to a screeching halt, just by greater transparency in who exactly profits from concessions, parking, merchandising, etc.
I am always surprised that people can divide their political and entertainment lives so efficiently.
I can only be angry so many hours of the day. At some point, I gotta stop and take a breather by screaming at the high snap by the Texans center on the two-point attempt that would win the game in the last 20 seconds of regulation.
ETA: I can’t decide which offense is more appalling, the Browns or the Steelers. And Pittsburgh is thinking “playoffs”?
On other hand, that is the job of our overlords, to protect us from crazy systems that obviously do not work (for them).
No more fball for me today. Duh Raiduhs is playin’ but, meh.
I think they have to win, and Broncos have to lose by eleventy billion and a football has to turn into an actual wounded duck during at least two Tebow passes for duh Raiduhs to go get creamed in their first playoff game. So, who cares.
But, go niners!
39.
Three-nineteen
@goblue72: 1) Yes, Brady is so good that 1) Drew Brees beat him for the all-time passing record this year and 2) the Green Bay back-up quarterback threw for 130 more yards and 3 more touchdowns today against a playoff team.
40.
jl
@Palli: huh, wha? You hung over pretty bad too, huh? I have no idea what are you talking about. Are you confusing church with football? (probably, given some of the commenters here) Try it again later.
41.
Bago
The best game to watch today? Skyrim.
I had a random dragon attack in the courtyard of the Mage college while there were three other apprentices there. And I had just gotten the staff that doubles magic damage.
If church is sitting in the cold, drinking shots of Jack while trading barbs about fantasy picks, bitching about the shitty protection, jumping up and down and screaming like a little girl when the QB takes off down an open field, while the wind blows the kicks, the garbage and the fans all over heck and back, well then, yeah, I guess I got the two confused. Put another way: what the fuck-all else is there to do on Sundays? Ain’t any church gonna take this sinning wretch, just ask MrsFromOhio.
@Raven: Oh boy, is he blowing it bad enough for duhRaiduhs lose in the playoffs?
Edit: never mind. Raiduhs down 21 to 13 going into halftime. Tebow is up against real competition today. I think Tebow will more impressive than duhRaiduhs.
The other day I finally got to 100 in smithing (God it was tedious) only to find out I should have been saving those dragon bones and scales to make the dragon armor.
49.
Wyrm1
I’m watching the Balt-Cinci game, and I gotta say that if the way the officials called the last Baltimore TD drive is how the playoffs are going to be, I’m out.
There were 2 “Illegal contact” plays where the Cincy defense brushed a Baltimore player, and a helmet to helmet hit that wasn’t even close. I know that the NFL wants offense, but there is no way to defend if the league orders their officials to call every touch foul.
EDIT: Don’t care who wins the game, but I hate watching games with a zillion flags.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Broncos never won another game with Him. Live by the whims of a capricious and vengeful sky fairy, die by the whims of a temperamental and spiteful sky fairy. Let there be separation of church and football, forever and ever amen. [tebowing pose]
51.
Raven
@Cat Lady: I didn’t realize Illinois football had gone that way but their QB is wearing “cross eye black and the interview with the outgoing interim coach was a fucking bible meeting. Ugh.
52.
Joel
Gronkowski sets TD and receiving records (tight end). Love it. Especially love that people are whining about Belichick giving him a pass play to earn those records, especially when Jimmy Graham amassed tons of yards in consecutive Saints blowouts.
Especially love that people are whining about Belichick giving him a pass play to earn those records, especially when Jimmy Graham amassed tons of yards in consecutive Saints blowouts.
And therein lies the difference: For New Orleans its a team effort and a labor of love. For Pats its all business and hubris. Love to watch ’em play, though, both of ’em.
ETA: ‘Bout time for a Steelers turnover….
54.
SW
I’m not sure about the Steelers, but I live near Denver and the first part is pretty much true.
@Villago Delenda Est:
Explain to me how this stock thing works. The only story I read said the share price is $250 and it will never go up. Further the stock will never pay a dividend. So what has happened is you just gave GB $250 for a fancy piece of paper. Do they have regular shareholders meetings? Do shareholders have a say in the draft? Who gets the profits? Who gets to claim the depreciation on their income taxes?
I’m really not trying to be a smart ass, I have to assume I missed some information on how this works.
Nothing says God is Great more than manifesting exclusively in a QB and interim coach of a mediocre midwest university football program.
61.
JWL
My team doesn’t suck, but is no great shakes, either. Still, they earned a first round bye today. Go figure.
This team reminds of the 1970 Niners. After a decade spent floundering, the team coalesced into a formidable opponent. They shocked everyone by winning a playoff game 7-0 against Joe Kapp and the Purple People Eaters in a Minnesota snowstorm.
Come what may, I’m glad they won’t be heading to the Big Easy Carpet that the Saints compete on.
Ugh fuck me, is there nothing on but football??? I’m watching Terminator 2 cause there’s nothing else on!
Ahh well…GEAUX SAINTS!
65.
Schlemizel
@Cat Lady:
I always felt the reason the world is so fucked up is because the great cosmic muffin is more interested in making sure your team wins (and who wins a Grammy/Oscar/Country Music Award) than about the human condition.
12 million people into the ovens – PFFT! But gotta make sure Timmy pulls off that come back.
The Green Bay Packers Is a publically owned non-profit corporation, and has been so since 1923. Unlike every other team in the NFL which requires that at least one private owner controls 1/3 of the team, the Packers do not have a single owner with 1/3 of the stock, there are a shade under 4.75 million shares. Follow the link to the wiki article on the board of directors.
71.
JPL
Raven..how are you watching tebow..I only get the Falcons. Do you pick up SCar channels?
That explains the bitterness, but not the ignorance.
My team is going to get relegated from the Championship to League One, but you don’t see me mindlessly lashing out at Obama.
73.
Schlemizel
@Villago Delenda Est:
OK, I’m still not sure what the value is to the investor. Anybody know what kind of compensation the BoD or executive committee gets? As a non-profit where do surplus revenues go? There should be 10’s of millions in depreciation every year based on player salaries, if that all goes only against income of the team (instead of being taken by owners as usual) I’d expect them to pay almost no income tax.
They release a public financial statement but it does not appear to be as complete as a normal company would have to do. I didn’t find a copy on line so I don’t know what happens to their profit but this is an interesting introduction: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/sports/football/28packers.html
OK, now that’s a non sequitur comment. “That explains the bitterness, not the ignorance”? WTF?
The Seahawks sucked this year. Not as bad as in the classically sucky early 90’s when the Behring assclown owned the team, but still, the late season surge came a bit too late after early bleech play.
That’s neither here nor there as to the NFL’s rules about you gotta be a multi-millionaire to play in our league. Isn’t one of the features of real football that it’s not organized like the NFL is…instead a bit more like the Green Bay Packers?
The info at that link re Arsenal is out of date. Kroenke now owns almost 70 percent of the outstanding shares. He bought a fairly large block from the estate of a director who died earlier this year, and under LSE rules was required to do a public tender offer for the remaining shares. He got just about all of them other than Usmanov’s block.
I was a member of Manchester United Football Club for the 2010-11 season, because it is the only way to get access to tickets. I could have showed up at the annual meeting, but I had no voting rights.
80.
Schlemizel
I admit to being a cynic – I would like to think there were some good people in management but past experience has demonstrated that they would be more rare than 1 in 32. If it turns out the Packers are that rare it could make me a fan of 1 NFL team. BTW – I had a distance cousin who played for the Packers back in the late 50’s, maybe the early ’60s. He quit when Lombardy got there because “That sawed-ff wop expected us to WORK!” He claimed to be either drunk or severely hung over in every game he played.
@Egg Berry:
I doubt that would stop them but I notice they didn’t so, for that, I give them a ton of credit.
That is more a benefit to the citizens of Wisc and Green Bay than an investor. But if you knew that going in and still bought I don’t have a problem with that.
@me:
Yeah, I agree its like buying a foam cheese hat. I think that cool but I don’t think it makes that team better than any of the others.
From that link I see they gave away $250k but the Times story indicates they had $10 million in profit.
81.
me
@Schlemizel: It’s expensive to run a football team.
I was a member of Manchester United Football Club for the 2010-11 season, because it is the only way to get access to tickets.
For some reason I thought you lived in the US midwest, but clearly that is not the case. Bloody late in the day for teasing yanks about the hand egg, eh? =)
If the Jets had a lick of sense they would have hired Norm Chow before he took the head coaching job at Hawai’i.
84.
Egg Berry
@Schlemizel: I am not a Green Bay fan, but you only have to look at the extortion of team owners like the Colts, Cowboys, etc. for stadium improvements that have had little to no noticeable impact on the towns involved to see how that works.
I live in SoCal, but when I have to go to Europe on business I try to take in a football match. I’ve been to Letzigrund (FC Zurich), St. Jakob’s Park (FC Basel), Parc des Princes (Paris Saint-Germain), and Old Trafford.
86.
Schlemizel
@me:
Yet it appears they had $10 million left over after they got done. – again I am a cynic – what is that money doing? Its not (apparently) going to charity. Is it put aside for future expansion? Do the BoD draw fabulous comp packages? I don’t see that sort of cash sitting around & not engendering considerable interest from people whos intentions are less than honorable.
@burnspbesq: Hmph. You and TBogg and football and bloody SoCal. Must be the sun, sand and breezes. Or something.
Travel safe & swift.
89.
Schlemizel
@Egg Berry:
Agreed. It does appear as if they are less slimy than the other 31 owners but I am not prepared to beatify them just yet. I would like to believe but there is just enough ambiguity in the stories I have seen to allow my cynical soul to suspect the worst.
90.
lamh35
@burnspbesq: yeah not much into basketball. I woulda watched the Saints game, but I was at work so I missed it. I’m not much interested in the other teams much.
As for basketball, the last actual B-ball game I watched was the one that was played on the aircraft carrier and that was just cause it was kinda awesome to see a full sized court on an actual air carrier
91.
burnspbesq
So Duke beats Penn by 30, and the unofficial ACC-Ivy League Challenge is tied 3-3. The decider is Maryland vs. Cornell on Tuesday night. Both of those teams suck, but Cornell may suck marginally worse.
I was a member of Manchester United Football Club for the 2010-11 season, because it is the only way to get access to tickets. I could have showed up at the annual meeting, but I had no voting rights.
Hmmm. How do you get voting rights? Can you buy your way into that?
I can see how a full participatory democracy for a sports team could have some problems, particularly if the head coach makes some questionable call at a crucial juncture and the mob demands his head for it.
Still, the idea that you invest yourself into the team to get tickets has an appeal to it. Certainly people invest themselves emotionally in their team, and in the NFL season tickets (the only way to guarantee you’ll see every game in person) don’t come cheap…and include two games that don’t count, for which you pay full freight.
93.
burnspbesq
Start of the Winter Classic moved back to 3:00 Eastern tomorrow because of the weather forecast.
Apparently the Rangers are good this year, for the first time since the won the Cup in 1994. May have to tune in.
You don’t, unless you have around $1.8 billion to buy the team from the Glazers.
95.
Woodrowfan
six weeks till pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training.
yeah, yeah, not liking football on Balloon Juice is like not liking bassets on Tbogg and going on Atlas Rants and claiming Muslins [sic] aren’t THAT bad. 8-) .
96.
Joel
@BruceFromOhio: I don’t buy it. Drew Brees made a big ol’ speech about how great it was to blah, blah, blah when he broke Marino’s record. I’m much more a fan of “act like you’ve been there before”.
If you want to own a voting share in a professional football club, your best bet is Finn Harps F.C. It’ll set you back about 320 Euros, but your money will be no good in any pub in County Donegal, because you will have helped save senior football in the God-forsaken corner of Ireland from which my ancestors set forth in 1848.
That was nice football guiding by God there at the end.
100.
Mr Stagger Lee
If the Cleveland Browns looks like this in 2012 as they had in 2011, I am walking the F*** away. I have been a fan for at least 41 years and most of it has been TEH SUCK!!! Another year of SUCK and I become a FREE AGENT!!!
101.
MikeJ
The Packers ownership certs may be meaningless in one way, but it’s also what keeps an NFL team in a town of 100,000.
102.
khead
Well shit. Ravens win.
Doesn’t matter if the Steelers suck or not…..
103.
Schlemizel
@Joel:
It always amazes me when some D linesman makes a tackle, down by 20 late in the game, and acts like he just won the Superbowl. Or someone scores a TD and follows up with a 30 second dance number.
But for most classless of all time it would be hard to beat Johny Unitas who was on the broadcast when Fran Tarkington surpassed his career numbers. JU never once gave any credit to FT just went on & on about how much harder it was for him & how the teams that FT was on made passing more important. He went from hero to zero in my book.
104.
Schlemizel
@MikeJ:
I bet the $100 MILLION in TV revenue has a lot more to do with that then the ownership arrangement. FSM bless them for not threatening to move to LA but they really have a sweet deal anyway because of the value of the NFL. I think they are probably worth a lot more in Green Bay than they would be in any other city but that has not stopped the other criminals from using the threat as blackmail.
Gawd, the Count was terrible in the first half of the game. His brace didn’t come close to making up for the momentum he gave away on that foul in the box.
It’s not an investment. It’s basically like buying a piece of team merchandise.
Well, we do get to vote for the BoD.
107.
Off Colfax
Well, looks like the Chargers fulfilled the most holy duty in the AFC: keeping the Raiders out of the playoffs. And yet another year where the AFC West sends an 8-8 team to the dance.
I’d feel a whole lot better if my Bolts were going into the post-season, but at least we won’t get knocked out of the first round like the Broncs will when Big Ben comes to town next week.
108.
Joel
Wonder if the Football Outsiders playoff odds changes this week. I don’t think any teams changed the equation too much with their performances this week.
Football Outsiders SB winner odds:
Green Bay 24.1%
New England 20%
Pittsburgh 14.3%
San Francisco 12.1%
Baltimore 10%
New Orleans 9.8%
Atlanta, Detroit, etc. etc. 3% or less.
In other words, a toss up between five contenders, favoring those who have earned home field and a bye. Huge odds against anyone else.
109.
FlipYrWhig
I thought Tennessee was going to sneak in there…
110.
Suffern ACE
@Schlemizel: That ownership structure does keep the team in green bay, a city small enough that they would not be able to play the “We’re floating bonds to build that stadium and taxing hotel rooms and rental cars to pay for it because we gave the owner all of the concession revenue” game. Basically, the latest stock sale is a vountary tax to pay for stadium renovations…financed by the fans of the team. Seems very fair.
@Suffern ACE: Basically, the latest stock sale is a vountary tax to pay for stadium renovations…financed by the fans of the team. Seems very fair.
…hence this structure being outlawed by the NFL. Fans are fickle, and prone to sudden outbursts. Imagine the fans of the Toledo Lions or the Schenectady Jets behaving in such ways. It would blacken the eye of every Gaia-fearing, tax-dodging, hold-your-county-bonds-hostage millionaire owner to see such loyalty and not-for-profit nobility.
I’ve been looking for one of those pins that say “Owner” on them that I’ve seen people wearing at Lambeau. But it’s obvious on the intertubes where to buy one.
115.
me
@Svensker: Maybe Denver can trade for Matt Flynn before next week.
116.
Ron
@Schlemizel: They aren’t allowed to “threaten to move to LA”
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
Can’t pat my back though: waiting for Tuesday rotator cuff surgery and only married into a football allegiance. We live far away from Green Bay and haven’t been to a game in years.
Just saying I am glad I don’t have to rationalize enjoying some small business millionaires’ past time. Packers did well today according to others. We don’t have a TV and the franchises don’t allow livestreaming.
118.
dance around in your bones
WTF? Futbol?
I just like watching guys in tight pants run around. Don’t care which team.
(May not be original version, but look up the Barnes & Barnes …gawd. I iz tooo buzzed)
122.
dance around in your bones
P.S. Sometimes I hates YouTube….ya never get what ya wanted.
I guess that can be a good thang, too.
123.
JR in WV
@burnspbesq:
How do ya get a basket to bounce? Can ya throw a pass with a basket? How far?
Just trying to unnerstan basketball… no offence!
124.
John Weiss
I’m a Cowboys fan. They suck. Looking forward to the draft. What can they do to fix their secondary? Gods! The secondary really sucks.
125.
Schlemizel
@BruceFromOhio:
Yes it is very fair but it is not the reason the Packers can stay in a city of 100k. If the NFL behaved like MLB they would not have enough money to field a competitive team.
The team can be proud of its behavior but given the way the deal is structured its pretty much a $250 gift to an entity that generates millions in profits every year. I’d still like to see where that money goes.
That they are better than the 31 crooks that own the other teams is a given but faint praise.
126.
Ken
John, as a Browns fan, I take humbrage with your headline. I also can’t disagree with it. In my case.
127.
Joel
Newest Football Outsiders playoff odds has Baltimore and Pittsburgh switching places (on account of BAL’s secured HFA) but more or less the same.
128.
CaliCat
Yeah, my Niners suck so bad they just recently beat the so-called non-sucking Steelers on Monday Night Football.
Go Niners. Go Niners. Go Niners. Go Niners. Go Niners.
Oh, and GO NINERS!!!!!
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JPL
It would be a good thing if Green Bay won. It’s not that I’m a Lion hater but I am a Falcon fan and would rather not face the Saints in the first round. That’s all.
Baud
@JPL: As a Saints fan, I feel the same way. I would rather not risk a third meeting with the Falcons.
Phylllis
I’m a Buccaneer fan, so yeah, my team totally sucks.
BGinCHI
In real football, Sunderland upsets Man City in the EPL.
Huge result.
Green Bay is gonna win that Super Bowl thingy anyway, so put your terrible towels away.
Svensker
Jets. They must all be Repubs because they are
honorarylegitimate members of the Klown Kar.UofAZGrad
Here’s to a Cincy playoff spot and Steelers making the Ravens go on the road for their playoff games.
Raven
Da Bearz
JPL
Since I was raised in MA, I’m a supporter of the Patriots also. I just wish they wouldn’t start 21 points in the hole before deciding that it was time to play. That’s not gonna work so well during the playoffs.
Kraft is a heck of an owner and the players appreciate that also, too. Personally, I think the Falcon’s owner Arthur Blake is an ass but that’s just my opinion.
Raven
@JPL: Blank
Amir Khalid
My team is Liverpool Football Club, and they do not suck. They just need more consistent strikers, that’s all. I’ll wager you any amount you like that they can thrash the next Super Bowl champions at association football, so there.
donnah
Please o please let the Bengals win! I’d like to see them make a good showing this time.
JPL
@Raven: thanks… proof read is my friend that i don’t use enough…
Irving
I’m from Cleveland. Tell me something I don’t know.
Baud
GO RAMS! They’re coming back!!
Amir Khalid
@BGinCHI:
That’s both Manchester clubs defeated this week. United managed to lose to bottom-of-the-table Blackburn Rovers, and on Sir Alex’s 70th birthday too. A little too much Christmas celebration, maybe…
Woodrowfan
Your team sucks.
UnlessESPECIALLY IF your team is the Steelers.FTFY
Palli
The Green Bay Packers are the only professional football team that is publicly owned: fans are the stockholders, Stocks aren’t manipulated by the Wall Street capitalist system and they don’t give out dividends. Stock ownership transfers happen only through immediate family members. A 200,000 individual share limit keeps any one person from majority ownership.
I could never support another of the teams, all owned and operated by the someone firmly ensconced in the 1%!
BGinCHI
@Amir Khalid: +1, on being a Liverpool fan.
Great weekend of games!
Joel
Good day to be a Patriots fan. Well, after the first quarter at least.
goblue72
Dear Brady-Haterz – suck on 5,000+ yards & Dan Marino a footnote.
PS and his wife is still hotter than yours.
rikyrah
I’m a Bears fan..so, today is an end to an awful season.
BruceFromOhio
Hmm. I’m seeing Steelers O making the same noises and moves they did on the trip to SF.
Lets see what happens when Big Ben’s meds start wearing off. If he does that “lumbering around like a drugged coyote with his leg caught in a jaw trap” imitation again, it will be up to the Steelers D to score all the points.
The hapless Browns, love ’em as I do, are still … without hap.
@Irving: As a transplant, I feel your discomfort.
Culture of Truth
Sadly this is true.
Go Giants!
Off Colfax
I can’t believe that I’m actually using these words, but…
GO TEBOW!
Listen, the way my Chargers have been playing, the only way to keep those damned Raiders out of the playoffs is for those damned Broncos to get in instead. Yet I loathe and despise the whole Media-Annointed Heir to the Throne of Elway blitz that has been going on, and…
Oh look. The sack leader of the Chargers has just been ejected from the game for brushing past a referee. I think this game will call for Everclear and ether.
cathyx
Too many close minded Obamabots in the previous thread to bother even reading.
Go Steelers!
Spaghetti Lee
My Bears actually were minimally competent enough to beat the Vikes today. Maybe that means we’ll drop a spot or two in Teh All-Important Draft, but I’m the kind of fan who just wants his team to win under whatever circumstance. Besides, the Bears front office sucks at drafting anyway, so no big loss.
jl
fuhbawll.. wanner eff izz to erlifer fooball. Where ammi anyway. Wha happen lass nigh
Summony turoffzlids hurz miyies.
jheesh
Raven
The Red Zone is the bomb!
BruceFromOhio
@Irving: Consider the yellow cleat on the right foot as a great big blinking target for the Cleveland defense.
This game is going to be another low-scoring defensive battle.
ETA: Oh Gaia, its the return of Marty Ball; run up the middle x 3, punt.
Off Colfax
@efgoldman:
Over the last two years, I’d gladly agree with you. Yet let’s just prune the West from both Conferences, as both Wests suck routinely.
Now once Rivers pulls his head out of his ass and stops giving out all these gawd-stupid interceptions, I may have reason to reinclude the Wests.
Palli
Just an aside: I am always surprised that people can divide their political and entertainment lives so efficiently.
Reminds me of the fact that Sunday mornings are the most racially segregated hours of the week. During pro-ball season, Sunday afternoons and Monday nights are the oddest hours to be a liberal.
Villago Delenda Est
Yes, my team (the Seahawks) suck.
But they’re not the Steelers. That’s a point in their favor.
Villago Delenda Est
@Palli:
Furthermore, the Packers’ ownership system has been outlawed for any other team in the NFL.
Think about that for a moment. A system of the fans, by the fans, controlled by the fans…prohibited by the NFL. Only billionaires need apply for NFL ownership. If cities owned teams, a lot of grifting would come to a screeching halt, just by greater transparency in who exactly profits from concessions, parking, merchandising, etc.
cathyx
@Villago Delenda Est: You’re just jealous that the Steelers are so great.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Palli: Don’t pat yourself on the back too hard, you might hurt your arm.
JPL
Falcons are looking pretty good.
BruceFromOhio
@Palli:
I can only be angry so many hours of the day. At some point, I gotta stop and take a breather by screaming at the high snap by the Texans center on the two-point attempt that would win the game in the last 20 seconds of regulation.
ETA: I can’t decide which offense is more appalling, the Browns or the Steelers. And Pittsburgh is thinking “playoffs”?
jl
@Villago Delenda Est: I could not believe that when I first heard it.
On other hand, that is the job of our overlords, to protect us from crazy systems that obviously do not work (for them).
No more fball for me today. Duh Raiduhs is playin’ but, meh.
I think they have to win, and Broncos have to lose by eleventy billion and a football has to turn into an actual wounded duck during at least two Tebow passes for duh Raiduhs to go get creamed in their first playoff game. So, who cares.
But, go niners!
Three-nineteen
@goblue72: 1) Yes, Brady is so good that 1) Drew Brees beat him for the all-time passing record this year and 2) the Green Bay back-up quarterback threw for 130 more yards and 3 more touchdowns today against a playoff team.
jl
@Palli: huh, wha? You hung over pretty bad too, huh? I have no idea what are you talking about. Are you confusing church with football? (probably, given some of the commenters here) Try it again later.
Bago
The best game to watch today? Skyrim.
I had a random dragon attack in the courtyard of the Mage college while there were three other apprentices there. And I had just gotten the staff that doubles magic damage.
Talk about a dumb dead dragon.
Gust Avrakotos
Go Rams!
BruceFromOhio
If church is sitting in the cold, drinking shots of Jack while trading barbs about fantasy picks, bitching about the shitty protection, jumping up and down and screaming like a little girl when the QB takes off down an open field, while the wind blows the kicks, the garbage and the fans all over heck and back, well then, yeah, I guess I got the two confused. Put another way: what the fuck-all else is there to do on Sundays? Ain’t any church gonna take this sinning wretch, just ask MrsFromOhio.
Raven
Tebow really sucks.
jl
@BruceFromOhio: Grantland, is that you!? Ring?
jl
@Raven: Oh boy, is he blowing it bad enough for duhRaiduhs lose in the playoffs?
Edit: never mind. Raiduhs down 21 to 13 going into halftime. Tebow is up against real competition today. I think Tebow will more impressive than duhRaiduhs.
BruceFromOhio
@jl: What number are you trying to reach, sir?
ETA: Woo hoo, Big Ben firing a bullet on the run. “When you gonna SCOOOORE?”
Mark S.
@Bago:
The other day I finally got to 100 in smithing (God it was tedious) only to find out I should have been saving those dragon bones and scales to make the dragon armor.
Wyrm1
I’m watching the Balt-Cinci game, and I gotta say that if the way the officials called the last Baltimore TD drive is how the playoffs are going to be, I’m out.
There were 2 “Illegal contact” plays where the Cincy defense brushed a Baltimore player, and a helmet to helmet hit that wasn’t even close. I know that the NFL wants offense, but there is no way to defend if the league orders their officials to call every touch foul.
EDIT: Don’t care who wins the game, but I hate watching games with a zillion flags.
Cat Lady
@Raven:
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Broncos never won another game with Him. Live by the whims of a capricious and vengeful sky fairy, die by the whims of a temperamental and spiteful sky fairy. Let there be separation of church and football, forever and ever amen. [tebowing pose]
Raven
@Cat Lady: I didn’t realize Illinois football had gone that way but their QB is wearing “cross eye black and the interview with the outgoing interim coach was a fucking bible meeting. Ugh.
Joel
Gronkowski sets TD and receiving records (tight end). Love it. Especially love that people are whining about Belichick giving him a pass play to earn those records, especially when Jimmy Graham amassed tons of yards in consecutive Saints blowouts.
BruceFromOhio
@Joel:
And therein lies the difference: For New Orleans its a team effort and a labor of love. For Pats its all business and hubris. Love to watch ’em play, though, both of ’em.
ETA: ‘Bout time for a Steelers turnover….
SW
I’m not sure about the Steelers, but I live near Denver and the first part is pretty much true.
JGabriel
John Cole @ Top:
Uh-oh. What if you don’t have a team?
.
Raven
Tebow just got face mask gigged and no call!
Schlemizel
@Villago Delenda Est:
Explain to me how this stock thing works. The only story I read said the share price is $250 and it will never go up. Further the stock will never pay a dividend. So what has happened is you just gave GB $250 for a fancy piece of paper. Do they have regular shareholders meetings? Do shareholders have a say in the draft? Who gets the profits? Who gets to claim the depreciation on their income taxes?
I’m really not trying to be a smart ass, I have to assume I missed some information on how this works.
Raven
@JGabriel: The you suck?
John O
I’m enjoying what appears to be a herpetic lesion on Tebow’s lip (but is probably an injury) just because.
He too just got robbed by the zebras, though.
Cat Lady
@Raven:
Nothing says God is Great more than manifesting exclusively in a QB and interim coach of a mediocre midwest university football program.
JWL
My team doesn’t suck, but is no great shakes, either. Still, they earned a first round bye today. Go figure.
This team reminds of the 1970 Niners. After a decade spent floundering, the team coalesced into a formidable opponent. They shocked everyone by winning a playoff game 7-0 against Joe Kapp and the Purple People Eaters in a Minnesota snowstorm.
Come what may, I’m glad they won’t be heading to the Big Easy Carpet that the Saints compete on.
J.
@Svensker: Shorter version: Jets SUCK. (So whaddya think, will Schottenheimer be back next year?)
Raven
@Cat Lady: watch it
lamh35
Ugh fuck me, is there nothing on but football??? I’m watching Terminator 2 cause there’s nothing else on!
Ahh well…GEAUX SAINTS!
Schlemizel
@Cat Lady:
I always felt the reason the world is so fucked up is because the great cosmic muffin is more interested in making sure your team wins (and who wins a Grammy/Oscar/Country Music Award) than about the human condition.
12 million people into the ovens – PFFT! But gotta make sure Timmy pulls off that come back.
wrb
@Schlemizel:
The game was on. Give a guy a break.
MiniVanVader
My team, like about seven or so other teams in the NFC, would CRUSH the Steelers. Who Dat! NFCCG is the real Super Bowl this year.
Drum Circles And Weed
Niners, bitches.
Trakker
Why yes. Yes it does.
Villago Delenda Est
@Schlemizel:
The Green Bay Packers Is a publically owned non-profit corporation, and has been so since 1923. Unlike every other team in the NFL which requires that at least one private owner controls 1/3 of the team, the Packers do not have a single owner with 1/3 of the stock, there are a shade under 4.75 million shares. Follow the link to the wiki article on the board of directors.
JPL
Raven..how are you watching tebow..I only get the Falcons. Do you pick up SCar channels?
burnspbesq
@Villago Delenda Est:
That explains the bitterness, but not the ignorance.
My team is going to get relegated from the Championship to League One, but you don’t see me mindlessly lashing out at Obama.
Schlemizel
@Villago Delenda Est:
OK, I’m still not sure what the value is to the investor. Anybody know what kind of compensation the BoD or executive committee gets? As a non-profit where do surplus revenues go? There should be 10’s of millions in depreciation every year based on player salaries, if that all goes only against income of the team (instead of being taken by owners as usual) I’d expect them to pay almost no income tax.
They release a public financial statement but it does not appear to be as complete as a normal company would have to do. I didn’t find a copy on line so I don’t know what happens to their profit but this is an interesting introduction:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/sports/football/28packers.html
me
@Schlemizel:
Pretty much. (Disclaimer: I own a share.)
Just one per year.
Nope.
Profits go back into the team or to charity.
No one.
It’s not an investment. It’s basically like buying a piece of team merchandise.
Egg Berry
@Schlemizel:
The value to the investor is that the team isn’t going to be blackmailing the city for millions for a new stadium.
e.g. (link not working, google field of schemes)
Villago Delenda Est
@burnspbesq:
OK, now that’s a non sequitur comment. “That explains the bitterness, not the ignorance”? WTF?
The Seahawks sucked this year. Not as bad as in the classically sucky early 90’s when the Behring assclown owned the team, but still, the late season surge came a bit too late after early bleech play.
That’s neither here nor there as to the NFL’s rules about you gotta be a multi-millionaire to play in our league. Isn’t one of the features of real football that it’s not organized like the NFL is…instead a bit more like the Green Bay Packers?
burnspbesq
@lamh35:
Duke-Penn basketball on ESPNU, but it’s not much of a game, and I remember you saying you’re not much of a basketball fan.
Svensker
@J.:
I’m betting he’s gone. Somebody’s head’s gonna roll and it won’t be Ryan’s and it won’t be Mark’s.
Please, please, please, please. Also, go Kyle Orton!
burnspbesq
@Villago Delenda Est:
Isn’t one of the features of real football that it’s not organized like the NFL is…instead a bit more like the Green Bay Packers?
Historically, but not currently.
http://www.epltalk.com/owners-of-the-20-premier-league-clubs-2010-11-season-26898
The info at that link re Arsenal is out of date. Kroenke now owns almost 70 percent of the outstanding shares. He bought a fairly large block from the estate of a director who died earlier this year, and under LSE rules was required to do a public tender offer for the remaining shares. He got just about all of them other than Usmanov’s block.
I was a member of Manchester United Football Club for the 2010-11 season, because it is the only way to get access to tickets. I could have showed up at the annual meeting, but I had no voting rights.
Schlemizel
I admit to being a cynic – I would like to think there were some good people in management but past experience has demonstrated that they would be more rare than 1 in 32. If it turns out the Packers are that rare it could make me a fan of 1 NFL team. BTW – I had a distance cousin who played for the Packers back in the late 50’s, maybe the early ’60s. He quit when Lombardy got there because “That sawed-ff wop expected us to WORK!” He claimed to be either drunk or severely hung over in every game he played.
@Egg Berry:
I doubt that would stop them but I notice they didn’t so, for that, I give them a ton of credit.
That is more a benefit to the citizens of Wisc and Green Bay than an investor. But if you knew that going in and still bought I don’t have a problem with that.
@me:
Yeah, I agree its like buying a foam cheese hat. I think that cool but I don’t think it makes that team better than any of the others.
From that link I see they gave away $250k but the Times story indicates they had $10 million in profit.
me
@Schlemizel: It’s expensive to run a football team.
BruceFromOhio
I was a member of Manchester United Football Club for the 2010-11 season, because it is the only way to get access to tickets.
For some reason I thought you lived in the US midwest, but clearly that is not the case. Bloody late in the day for teasing yanks about the hand egg, eh? =)
burnspbesq
@Svensker:
If the Jets had a lick of sense they would have hired Norm Chow before he took the head coaching job at Hawai’i.
Egg Berry
@Schlemizel: I am not a Green Bay fan, but you only have to look at the extortion of team owners like the Colts, Cowboys, etc. for stadium improvements that have had little to no noticeable impact on the towns involved to see how that works.
burnspbesq
@BruceFromOhio:
I live in SoCal, but when I have to go to Europe on business I try to take in a football match. I’ve been to Letzigrund (FC Zurich), St. Jakob’s Park (FC Basel), Parc des Princes (Paris Saint-Germain), and Old Trafford.
Schlemizel
@me:
Yet it appears they had $10 million left over after they got done. – again I am a cynic – what is that money doing? Its not (apparently) going to charity. Is it put aside for future expansion? Do the BoD draw fabulous comp packages? I don’t see that sort of cash sitting around & not engendering considerable interest from people whos intentions are less than honorable.
Svensker
@burnspbesq:
Big rumors I’m hearing (from totally unreliable sources) say most offensive staff gone, Norv Turner coming in.
Just spreadin’ the rumor.
BruceFromOhio
@burnspbesq: Hmph. You and TBogg and football and bloody SoCal. Must be the sun, sand and breezes. Or something.
Travel safe & swift.
Schlemizel
@Egg Berry:
Agreed. It does appear as if they are less slimy than the other 31 owners but I am not prepared to beatify them just yet. I would like to believe but there is just enough ambiguity in the stories I have seen to allow my cynical soul to suspect the worst.
lamh35
@burnspbesq: yeah not much into basketball. I woulda watched the Saints game, but I was at work so I missed it. I’m not much interested in the other teams much.
As for basketball, the last actual B-ball game I watched was the one that was played on the aircraft carrier and that was just cause it was kinda awesome to see a full sized court on an actual air carrier
burnspbesq
So Duke beats Penn by 30, and the unofficial ACC-Ivy League Challenge is tied 3-3. The decider is Maryland vs. Cornell on Tuesday night. Both of those teams suck, but Cornell may suck marginally worse.
Villago Delenda Est
@burnspbesq:
Hmmm. How do you get voting rights? Can you buy your way into that?
I can see how a full participatory democracy for a sports team could have some problems, particularly if the head coach makes some questionable call at a crucial juncture and the mob demands his head for it.
Still, the idea that you invest yourself into the team to get tickets has an appeal to it. Certainly people invest themselves emotionally in their team, and in the NFL season tickets (the only way to guarantee you’ll see every game in person) don’t come cheap…and include two games that don’t count, for which you pay full freight.
burnspbesq
Start of the Winter Classic moved back to 3:00 Eastern tomorrow because of the weather forecast.
Apparently the Rangers are good this year, for the first time since the won the Cup in 1994. May have to tune in.
burnspbesq
@Villago Delenda Est:
You don’t, unless you have around $1.8 billion to buy the team from the Glazers.
Woodrowfan
six weeks till pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training.
yeah, yeah, not liking football on Balloon Juice is like not liking bassets on Tbogg and going on Atlas Rants and claiming Muslins [sic] aren’t THAT bad. 8-) .
Joel
@BruceFromOhio: I don’t buy it. Drew Brees made a big ol’ speech about how great it was to blah, blah, blah when he broke Marino’s record. I’m much more a fan of “act like you’ve been there before”.
burnspbesq
@Villago Delenda Est:
If you want to own a voting share in a professional football club, your best bet is Finn Harps F.C. It’ll set you back about 320 Euros, but your money will be no good in any pub in County Donegal, because you will have helped save senior football in the God-forsaken corner of Ireland from which my ancestors set forth in 1848.
Raven
Stinky ass Denver is going to back in.
Nerull
That was nice football guiding by God there at the end.
Mr Stagger Lee
If the Cleveland Browns looks like this in 2012 as they had in 2011, I am walking the F*** away. I have been a fan for at least 41 years and most of it has been TEH SUCK!!! Another year of SUCK and I become a FREE AGENT!!!
MikeJ
The Packers ownership certs may be meaningless in one way, but it’s also what keeps an NFL team in a town of 100,000.
khead
Well shit. Ravens win.
Doesn’t matter if the Steelers suck or not…..
Schlemizel
@Joel:
It always amazes me when some D linesman makes a tackle, down by 20 late in the game, and acts like he just won the Superbowl. Or someone scores a TD and follows up with a 30 second dance number.
But for most classless of all time it would be hard to beat Johny Unitas who was on the broadcast when Fran Tarkington surpassed his career numbers. JU never once gave any credit to FT just went on & on about how much harder it was for him & how the teams that FT was on made passing more important. He went from hero to zero in my book.
Schlemizel
@MikeJ:
I bet the $100 MILLION in TV revenue has a lot more to do with that then the ownership arrangement. FSM bless them for not threatening to move to LA but they really have a sweet deal anyway because of the value of the NFL. I think they are probably worth a lot more in Green Bay than they would be in any other city but that has not stopped the other criminals from using the threat as blackmail.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Amir Khalid:
Gawd, the Count was terrible in the first half of the game. His brace didn’t come close to making up for the momentum he gave away on that foul in the box.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@me:
Well, we do get to vote for the BoD.
Off Colfax
Well, looks like the Chargers fulfilled the most holy duty in the AFC: keeping the Raiders out of the playoffs. And yet another year where the AFC West sends an 8-8 team to the dance.
I’d feel a whole lot better if my Bolts were going into the post-season, but at least we won’t get knocked out of the first round like the Broncs will when Big Ben comes to town next week.
Joel
Wonder if the Football Outsiders playoff odds changes this week. I don’t think any teams changed the equation too much with their performances this week.
Football Outsiders SB winner odds:
Green Bay 24.1%
New England 20%
Pittsburgh 14.3%
San Francisco 12.1%
Baltimore 10%
New Orleans 9.8%
Atlanta, Detroit, etc. etc. 3% or less.
In other words, a toss up between five contenders, favoring those who have earned home field and a bye. Huge odds against anyone else.
FlipYrWhig
I thought Tennessee was going to sneak in there…
Suffern ACE
@Schlemizel: That ownership structure does keep the team in green bay, a city small enough that they would not be able to play the “We’re floating bonds to build that stadium and taxing hotel rooms and rental cars to pay for it because we gave the owner all of the concession revenue” game. Basically, the latest stock sale is a vountary tax to pay for stadium renovations…financed by the fans of the team. Seems very fair.
Maxwel
Are the Steelers going to play the Tebows?
BruceFromOhio
@Suffern ACE: Basically, the latest stock sale is a vountary tax to pay for stadium renovations…financed by the fans of the team. Seems very fair.
…hence this structure being outlawed by the NFL. Fans are fickle, and prone to sudden outbursts. Imagine the fans of the Toledo Lions or the Schenectady Jets behaving in such ways. It would blacken the eye of every Gaia-fearing, tax-dodging, hold-your-county-bonds-hostage millionaire owner to see such loyalty and not-for-profit nobility.
Svensker
@Maxwel:
Polamalu up against Timmeh? Bring it!
Loneoak
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):
Did you get stock for Christmas, too?
I’ve been looking for one of those pins that say “Owner” on them that I’ve seen people wearing at Lambeau. But it’s obvious on the intertubes where to buy one.
me
@Svensker: Maybe Denver can trade for Matt Flynn before next week.
Ron
@Schlemizel: They aren’t allowed to “threaten to move to LA”
Palli
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
Can’t pat my back though: waiting for Tuesday rotator cuff surgery and only married into a football allegiance. We live far away from Green Bay and haven’t been to a game in years.
Just saying I am glad I don’t have to rationalize enjoying some small business millionaires’ past time. Packers did well today according to others. We don’t have a TV and the franchises don’t allow livestreaming.
dance around in your bones
WTF? Futbol?
I just like watching guys in tight pants run around. Don’t care which team.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Loneoak:
Yeah- in 1997.
:D
Svensker
@dance around in your bones:
Huddle!
Lots o’ cute guys in tight pants. Shiny, smooth, bulgy. I love the game but the eye candy is pure bonus. :)
dance around in your bones
@Svensker: O yea ;)
There’s a party in my pants and I want y’all to come! Voo bana vana hop bop!
(May not be original version, but look up the Barnes & Barnes …gawd. I iz tooo buzzed)
dance around in your bones
P.S. Sometimes I hates YouTube….ya never get what ya wanted.
I guess that can be a good thang, too.
JR in WV
@burnspbesq:
How do ya get a basket to bounce? Can ya throw a pass with a basket? How far?
Just trying to unnerstan basketball… no offence!
John Weiss
I’m a Cowboys fan. They suck. Looking forward to the draft. What can they do to fix their secondary? Gods! The secondary really sucks.
Schlemizel
@BruceFromOhio:
Yes it is very fair but it is not the reason the Packers can stay in a city of 100k. If the NFL behaved like MLB they would not have enough money to field a competitive team.
@Ron:
By some rules the BoD can change if needed?
The team can be proud of its behavior but given the way the deal is structured its pretty much a $250 gift to an entity that generates millions in profits every year. I’d still like to see where that money goes.
That they are better than the 31 crooks that own the other teams is a given but faint praise.
Ken
John, as a Browns fan, I take humbrage with your headline. I also can’t disagree with it. In my case.
Joel
Newest Football Outsiders playoff odds has Baltimore and Pittsburgh switching places (on account of BAL’s secured HFA) but more or less the same.
CaliCat
Yeah, my Niners suck so bad they just recently beat the so-called non-sucking Steelers on Monday Night Football.
Go Niners. Go Niners. Go Niners. Go Niners. Go Niners.
Oh, and GO NINERS!!!!!