Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

You cannot shame the shameless.

Consistently wrong since 2002

It’s the corruption, stupid.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Second rate reporter says what?

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

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137Comments

  9. 9.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Newbie. How do I decide now between Seattle (where I have several friends, including most prominently Yutsy) and Denver (where I have some friends and a sister)? What’s the fan calculus here?

  11. 11.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Christie strikes me as the kind of guy who really appreciates advice from someone he can’t tell to fuck off

    “I conveyed the importance of the decisions he makes about the people around him and their qualification and their competence, including common sense,” said Mr. Langone, who called the politically motivated closure of lanes onto the George Washington Bridge “beyond the pale.”

    ETA: From Krugman http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com

  14. 14.

    Corner Stone

    After watching Marshall Faulk talk some on the NFL network as an analyst, I am surprised he survived his time on the field.
    Because he seems like he was a down, deep, dirty, trash talking MF-er. And he’s a nasty piece of business.

  17. 17.

    Corner Stone

    This little rat faced fuck. Don’t wear those stupid headphones to the podium! Scampernick for the loss!

  20. 20.

    Suzanne

    I’ve already heard Stoner Bowl, though I prefer Smokea Bowl.

    For this non-football fan, this already sounds WAAAAY more fun.

  21. 21.

    Betty Cracker

    I saw a crappy bootleg version of the first Sherlock episode online a couple of weeks ago. Now I’m watching it properly.

  22. 22.

    rda909

    Erin Andrews was really unprofessional in her post game accosting of Richard Sherman. He grew up in Compton in the land of Bloods and Crips, and just made the biggest play of his life, and she reacts all disgusted while he’s still hyper, from having just beat one-on-one, one of the best receivers and quarterbacks in the game. Basically, he still had his game face on and was totally jacked up.

    She’s acts all offended by his bluster. She should go back to her nice, polite privileged suburbs if she can’t handle dealing with the raw emotions of someone who came from squalor, and built himself up to the top of his field purely from extreme and consistent achievement. It’s an aggressive, violent sport, Erin. Go cover baseball if you can’t handle it.

  25. 25.

    pseudonymous in nc

    Given that Colorado and Washington both legalised pot, the NFL’s trademark-defending lawyers are going to have an entirely new set of targets for unauthorised use of the phrase ‘S*p*r B*wl’.

    @rda909:

    Erin Andrews was really unprofessional in her post game accosting of Richard Sherman.

    Agreed. QBs can generally switch from Game Mode to Interview Mode in five seconds, but it’s stupid to poke a microphone in the face of someone straight after a game-winning moment and expect them to do the same. Dear me.

  26. 26.

    gogol's wife

    @Botsplainer:

    We have to get up early in the morning so I just had to turn it off. GAAH! It’s so good! I wouldn’t have turned it off, but they’re supposed to repeat it later this week.

    Martin Freeman’s actual girlfriend is playing his girlfriend, and she’s a wonderful actress.

  27. 27.

    PsiFighter37

    Go Broncos. I love Seattle the city, but the football fans are stuck up as hell, self-important, and their defense is pretty much all on the juice.

    (not any BJ Seattle fans, mind you. Just the generic sense of inflated self-importance the 12th Man shit gives them)

  29. 29.

    Suffern ACE

    Watching the Following after the NFC game. God, what awful dreck. Why would someone wind down the week watching women stabbed to death?

  31. 31.

    Cacti

    Obama becomes the first POTUS to acknowledge that pot is no more dangerous than alcohol.

    Actually a fairly big deal.

  33. 33.

    hitchhiker

    @PsiFighter37:

    Stuck up? lol, we’re all stunned at the very idea of success. The folks you see on television ain’t representative . . . most of us are clawing the tv, going what, What, WHAT??? We won???!! REALLY???!!!!

  35. 35.

    gogol's wife

    @gogol’s wife:

    I haven’t felt like this since I had to walk out of an arena in which Bruce Springsteen was singing, because I had to go to work in the morning.

  36. 36.

    James E. Powell

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    All other things be equal, I usually go with the team from the city that has never won the championship. In this case, that would be Seattle.

    There are many other methods, most of them irrational and unrelated to the game itself.

    You might rely on your own personal experience. For example, say if a person from one of the cities was rude to you. You might refuse to support that city’s team, even if the person who was rude to you doesn’t live there anymore. You could hate the coach, or one or more players for some perceived moral failing.

    You could despise the city or state because its voters failed to support your candidate or agenda. You could dislike the owner for his politics or for the way he made his billions. You might choose the city based on whether the conductor of the city’s orchestra was foreign born. You could go with uniform colors. You could go with famous things or people associated with the city.

  38. 38.

    Calming influence

    Stoner Bowl, Weed Bowl, Smoke A Bowl; whatever you call it, it’s arguably an improvement over the traditional Drunk and Drive Bowl.

  39. 39.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @efgoldman:

    He’s a highly paid professional; he’s supposed to have more self-control than that.

    See, this is where I disagree. There’s this bullshit belief that you can have an extremely violent sport that somehow doesn’t fray at the seams because “highly paid professional” or something. You want a sport where people bash the shit out of each other, then you get what comes from training people to bash the shit out of each other in highly-paid professional ways.

  40. 40.

    p.a.

    re:Sherman. Excited and talking smack is one thing. Unhinged and spit-showering is another. Even Erin Andrews doesn’t deserve that.

  42. 42.

    rda909

    @efgoldman: The replay I saw seemed to show Crabtree instigating. Whatever. Sherman has risen to the level he’s at, and overcome the obstacles that he has, because of his intensity, so it’s hard to just turn it off immediately. Andrews could’ve reacted with laughter or simply gone onto another question and Sherman would’ve just gone along. Instead, she rolled her eyes with condescension. Sherman, based on his accomplishments, has earned more respect than Andrews showed him in that big moment in his life.

  43. 43.

    cyntax

    @efgoldman:

    He’s a highly paid professional; he’s supposed to have more self-control than that.

    I believe Lombardi had some advice for that sort of situation…

  44. 44.

    ruemara

    @Cacti: From him, it’s just words. Now if it was from groups of people you like, it would be important words, even if it doesn’t change anything and there’s no real plan.

  46. 46.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @James E. Powell: I love the way you think! These are all completely rational ways to make a decision, and I will take them all under consideration between now and February 2nd.

    When I was married and living in Florida, my ex and I used to go to jai-alai games occasionally. He spent hours poring over previous records, how many rounds individual players had played that day and how tired they might be, and similar arcana, and wagered accordingly. I would choose lucky numbers or uniform colors, and place my own bets. More often than not, my method prevailed :-)

  53. 53.

    Heliopause

    @rda909:

    Richard Sherman is unquestionably the best corner in the league right now. He was the difference in the game today, barely targeted for 59.5 minutes and then making the game-ending play when he finally was. His bravado is comparable to Muhammed Ali’s, who is now a revered figure.

  56. 56.

    cyntax

    Had to share more stuff from LGM:

    Note to the other 48 states: a state has never legalized marijuana and not immediately made the Super Bowl. You know how to direct your contributions now, Woody.

    ETA: Somehow I don’t think that will make it into the “Superbowl Facts” list.

  57. 57.

    James E. Powell

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I would choose lucky numbers or uniform colors, and place my own bets. More often than not, my method prevailed

    I stole the “foreign born conductors” thing from an episode of Cheers where Diane is consistently winning the football pool with similar methods.

  58. 58.

    rda909

    @Heliopause: Agreed. I mean, I wish he could be nice and polite for the suburban audiences, but he is who he is, and he is the best corner in league right now…there’s not much debate about that.

  59. 59.

    Corner Stone

    And I love Richard Sherman as a player. That dude brings it.
    And I actually don’t give a damn how he acted in his post game conf. He has to bring himself forward. That’s what makes him, himself.
    But don’t fucking tell me he can scream at someone after the game is over and she was the one who had the issue.
    Sorry. Not gonna wash. He’s a badass, and I dig his play. She did her job and he did what he does. Don’t talk shit otherwise.

  60. 60.

    piratedan

    @rda909: well Crabtree was walking across the end zone, away from the play and the resultant Seattle celebration. Sherman ran over, gave him a fanny pat and started to talk/yak/riff/confront. Crabtree responded by showing him in the face. You can believe that it was all nice and innocent and that Sherman was just going over to congratulate Crabtree on an excellent game, but I’m guessing that really wasn’t the case. Case in point, Sherman did the same thing last year after Seattle won on the road against the Redskins to their LT Trent Williams. He could have joined his teammates and celebrated with them, he chose to rub some salt in the wound.

    Sherman is an excellent corner and some folks say that you have to play the position as if it’s yourself against the other team and that every game is a test of your abilities/manhood/reputation (not much different than any other position imho) and he’s earned the right to talk smack because he’s backed it up, but imho, he’s not exactly the classiest fella on the field during and immediately after a game.

  61. 61.

    Chet

    @rda909: I’ll take “Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations” for $500, Alex.

    If it was a white redneck player who grew up in a Texas trailer park who acted like Sherman did, would you still be defending him and praising his “game face”?

  67. 67.

    PsiFighter37

    @efgoldman: Professional athletes, for the most part, are man-children who have basically been groomed to be entertainers and nothing else. Them acting like ‘professionals’, whatever that means, is far from what I expect of them.

  69. 69.

    burnspbesq

    @Corner Stone:

    Working with a team that is +15 hours ahead of your time zone is not really great.

    So your work week begins on Sunday night? Suck it up. At least you have work.

  71. 71.

    PsiFighter37

    @gwangung: Of course. Everyone enables these incredibly gifted physical specimens along the way, all in the name of the almighty Benjamins.

    Whole ‘nother discussion for another day, though. And I love sports just as much as your average red-blooded American male.

  72. 72.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Chet: Hey, long time no see. What trolly goodness are you bringing to the table tonight? And since Romney left us as a political figure, who is backing your play?

  74. 74.

    rda909

    @efgoldman: I was being distracted at that point, so didn’t see how that all played out, but did see Andrews interview him, and was struck by her immediate condescension toward him. That’s what annoyed me about how she treated him.

    I wish all players were like Barry Sanders, who would simply hand the ball over to the ref after a touchdown and not celebrate at all, but I’m understanding of people’s different backgrounds and personality types.

  75. 75.

    Corner Stone

    @rda909:

    I was being distracted at that point, so didn’t see how that all played out,

    So you don’t even know what you’re talking shit about, then?

  76. 76.

    rda909

    @Corner Stone: Okay, I will take your opinion and use it to inform my future decisions. You’ve helped me so much tonight, as you clearly have done for so many others.

  79. 79.

    Corner Stone

    Richard Sherman isn’t screaming at Steve Wyche.
    Does this make him a racist, or the worst racist ever in the NFL?

  80. 80.

    Cassidy

    @rda909: Just think of the good deed you’re doing. By distracting him, he’s now focusing his drunken rage at you and not physically assaulting his kid.

  82. 82.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @rda909: How was Andrews unprofessional? She asked questions of a player just after a game. The player answered her questions (not in the style that I would have chosen, but that is a personal thing). What did she do wrong?

  83. 83.

    rda909

    @Cassidy: Sacrilege! My savior would never do such and thing. How dare you?!? Plus, he’s working so hard tonight with his foreign co-workers, obviously…contributing to society, unlike us poor saps commenting on the Internet just taking and taking.

  84. 84.

    Corner Stone

    @Omnes Omnibus: Apparently she should not have asked a professional NFL player who attended Stanford, a question on the sideline after the end of an NFL game.
    So, a sideline reporter should not have reported…from the sideline.

  87. 87.

    Cassidy

    @rda909: I know, I know. It’s incredibly shocking to think that our dear CS of the [all too frequent] drunken rages might be capable of committing domestic violence, but that’s how bullies are. All that narcissism and impotence all rolled up into one little bundle; maybe he can become born again and find peace.

  88. 88.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Corner Stone: Sherman behaved in a way that does not conform to my societal norms. I doubt I shall ask him to dinner. He was asked a question and responded in the heat of the moment. Andrews did her job and Sherman didn’t do anything wrong. I doubt that my lack of dinner invitation would trouble him. We exist in different social circles.

  89. 89.

    rda909

    @Omnes Omnibus: He did his first aggressive answer, and she rolled her eyes and acted all disgusted and condescending toward him. Seemed uncalled for to me, considering he just had made that play and was on an adrenaline rush.

  93. 93.

    Suzanne

    @SiubhanDuinne: I had an ex when I was in college who was a HUGE Raiders fan. When we met, I didn’t even know the rules of football, so he and his friends taught me, and I spent many hours watching games with them. They invited me to join their football pool, and I agreed. They asked me what team I wanted to pick, and I saw an issue of GQ on the coffee table with one of the Denver Broncos on it, and he was wearing a new uniform design that I liked. So I said that I wanted to pick the Broncos. My ex was SO UNBELIEVABLY PISSED and wouldn’t let me join the pool because he said my method was dumb and I should know better by now and blah blah blah. Anyway, we broke up, and the Broncos won the Super Bowl that year, and I would have won about $500.

  94. 94.

    Hal

    I don’t follow football, but based on what I’m seeing on twitter, a mean black man said something to a white woman and now some people are all upset. But then again, twitter brings out the real dregs of society sometimes.

  99. 99.

    Suzanne

    @Omnes Omnibus:I know, I’m being pedantic. Bit it does bother me how that word has become devalued over time. Like, if you accept money to do something, you’re apparently considered a professional. That means hitmen are professionals.

    On second thought, hitmen DO make more money than I do….

  100. 100.

    Suzanne

    @Roger Moore: Now that I know a bit about football, I know that all my relationships after that were/are with artists and/or nerds who have no interest in the game at all.

  102. 102.

    Annamal

    *sigh* yet another earthquake here (6.2) , this one took out one of the gigantic eagle figures at Welligton Airport (Hobbit promotion).

    There’s something very surreal about a picture of a giant eagle slumped over a food stand.

    No huge damage or injuries or tsunamis though, so this probably counts as a win (except for Gandalf).

  103. 103.

    Yatsuno

    @efgoldman:

    He went to Stanford, for cry-eye

    That’s kind of the breaking point for me. Yeah Erin Andrews is a twit but you’re going to get more heat for what you said than she will Richard. You graduated from one of the best schools in the country, and you have a brain. It probably was in football mode, but still Richard, you’re better than this.

    He had a second interview after the game. Much calmer and articulate, and he can rock a bowtie with the best of them.

  106. 106.

    Suzanne

    @Cassidy: Technically, a professional has to have a license from a governing body to practice. Doctors, lawyers, architects, etc. The license was historically granted on the basis of education and/or internship. Nowadays, people often use it to refer to anyone who is paid to do a job, but that if you’re being precise, that isn’t what it means.

  109. 109.

    Suzanne

    @Cassidy: The word has become overused and now most people don’t know its meaning. The licensed professions were historically those that directly contributed to the health, safety, and welfare of the public and required a higher ethical standard. But now, in common usage, it’s just about getting paid, and the social responsibility and ethics aren’t really part of the meaning of the term anymore, which I consider a devaluation of the word. Playing sports for money would more accurately be called an occupation.

  110. 110.

    gwangung

    Heh. FOlks should check out Michael Crabtree’s twitter feed…if I were him, I wouldnt be using the #fake hashtag….

  111. 111.

    Cassidy

    @Suzanne: I think that’s a pretty narrow outlook and that devalues people who work hard. Not your intent, I get that, but I can think of a lot of jobs that aren’t “licensed”, but are filled with hard working people.

  114. 114.

    Joel

    @PsiFighter37: Two things: All fans are unconscionable douchebags. It’s part of being a fan.

    Another thing is that Peyton Manning is schilling for Papa Johns. Papa… Johns.

  115. 115.

    Suzanne

    @Cassidy: That is the historical meaning of the word, and actually the technical “dictionary” definition. Strictly speaking, a professional does not give guarantees or warranties, because their license indicated that they had good character. I am certainly not saying that other people do not work hard, but a doctor or a structural engineer fucking up at work is a lot different than, say, a graphic designer fucking up at work. The original meaning of the term is useful and I believe that we have eroded its meaning because we came to consider the exchange of money as the most important thing, rather than education, training, and ethics. Occupations are also vital to society and differentiating between the two is not intended to imply disrespect.

  116. 116.

    Joel

    I enjoyed the Sherman interview myself. He is nowhere near the shit talker that “Honey Nut Cheerios” Kevin Garnett is, though. The tragedy in all this is that Harbaughs “A man can be destroyed, but not defeated” quote will be forgotten.

  117. 117.

    opiejeanne

    @Suzanne: and there used to be only three categories for the term “professional”: doctors, lawyers, and engineers. I don’t know when that expanded to include anyone with a license.

  118. 118.

    Joel

    I will also add that I prefer a Richard Sherman out and out asshole to a Gitmo-loving dickbag like Drew Brees or a homicidal maniac like Aaron Hernandez or Marvin Harrison.

  119. 119.

    Suzanne

    @opiejeanne: Yep. Over time, more and more occupations made the case that what they did directly impacted health, safety, and welfare of the public, and states started requiring their licensure.

  120. 120.

    SenyorDave

    Guy just made the football biggest play of his life, helped his team to go to the Super Bowl, and the first thing this POS does is make the choke sign to another player. A classless piece of crap.

  121. 121.

    goblue72

    As a Pats fan (living in Seattle), I’m looking forward to the Seachickens defense giving Manning fits. (and hoping to see the Manning Face by the end of it). Go Hawks!

  123. 123.

    Cassidy

    @Suzanne: I don’t think you were. I also can’t help but think the original meaning was designed to keep the riff raff out of the country club.

  124. 124.

    Suzanne

    @Cassidy: Perhaps. I still find it useful, however. Professionals are in fact expected to turn down money/work if they can’t do their work safely. Ultimately their first responsibility is supposed to be to society rather than to themselves. Apparently we don’t need a word for that anymore.

  125. 125.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Cassidy: Actually, it is the opposite. Professionals were looked down upon, while amateurs were revered. Social class thing. OTOH, it doesn’t surprise me that you don’t know this.

  126. 126.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Omnes Omnibus: see for instance Downton Abbey, where the titled aristocrats needed to be persuaded it wasn’t a ghastly development for one of their daughters to marry a… [shudder] lawyer.

  127. 127.

    eric k

    @piratedan:

    Uh your memory of last year is totally wrong. After the game Sherman and RG III were having a friendly conversation and the LT jumped in between them and started yelling at Sherman.

  128. 128.

    Joel

    Are we really having a discussion as to the professional status of athletes?

    They’re (insufficiently) paid, they’re unionized, they’re professionals.

  129. 129.

    YellowJournalism

    @Joel: You mean the majority who are not in the spotlight are insufficiently paid, especially if their bodies deteriorate as much as thy seem from playing the sport. The others (Ahem…A-Rod) may actually be overpaid and just need to make sure they manage their millions well to last into the later years.

  130. 130.

    Wally Ballou

    @Omnes Omnibus: Same reason all the very best employers in fields like finance, art, media, etc. insist on unpaid internships. If you actually need to support yourself while networking and learning the ropes, you’re clearly NOCD.

  133. 133.

    WaterGirl

    Seems pretty simple to me. There are professionals and there are licensed professionals. Just because you aren’t a licensed professional doesn’t mean you are not a professional.

  136. 136.

    Mnemosyne

    @Cassidy:

    Doctors, lawyers, and engineers are still looked down on by the aristocracy (or, as we call them in the US, the 1 Percenters) as being mere tradesmen who work for a living. Remember the story Howard Dean told about having to take his father out for a three-martini lunch in order to break the news that Dean was leaving the family business to go to medical school?

    That’s why the only one of the Romney spawn I have any respect for is the one who became a doctor. He had to buck a huge amount of family pressure to make that decision.

  137. 137.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @efgoldman:

    Funny, we’ve seen hundreds of these interviews in all sports; hell, even in-game interviews in hockey and baseball. I’ve never seen that kind of response before, have you?

    I’d like to see a few more of them, as opposed to the media-training week’s set of learned clichés. Like I said, it’s a violent sport and perhaps we ought to be exposed to a bit more Game Mentality.

    Oh, but he went to Stanford? Please, spare us that Huck Finn sivilize narrative.

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