Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

He really is that stupid.

A consequence of cucumbers

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

The words do not have to be perfect.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

The willow is too close to the house.

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

No one could have predicted…

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Bark louder, little dog.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Consistently wrong since 2002

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NFL Playoffs Open Thread

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Better late than never. The Pack needs to get it in gear and defeat the evil Dallas Cowboys. The late game is an all-equine affair, Broncos vs. Colts. I’m just hoping for a good game — no real rooting interest.

Who are you rooting for? Any interesting game day food on tap? I’m making beef on weck later, a Buffalo specialty for my Buffalonian spouse. I don’t make the weck from scratch — I just coat kaiser rolls in kosher salt and caraway seeds. It’s good!

Reader Interactions

150Comments

  1. 1.

    West of the Cascades

    Go Buffalo! Go Bills!! Not sure whether Rex Ryan is a good hire (I hate all things Jets), but it makes a splash and distracts from having the Cowboys on the teevee.

    ETA – for the fifteenth year in a row, my interest in the NFL pretty much stopped the day the Bills were eliminated from the playoffs, so not really rooting for anyone today (don’t like the Cowboys on principle).

  8. 8.

    Tommy

    @raven: Yeah you got a game with maybe the best RB and QB in the game today playing (not to mention DeMarco & Matthews). Also it is the freaking playoffs. Now I will admit I don’t have much desire to watch a game where it is a 3-10 team playing against a 4-9 team, but two “quality” teams like this, I don’t have to like either team to enjoy watching.

  12. 12.

    JPL

    According to the announcers, we might have just seen the play of the game. Of course, that will be until the next play of the game.

  14. 14.

    Tommy

    @JPL: Yeah I am a fan of and former season ticket holder for the NFL team where it isn’t even PC to use their name. Brother a huge, huge Cowboys fan. I think a 2-year-old could figure out who I am pulling for in this game!

  15. 15.

    MomSense

    We are watching the best game ever. Kids are rolling the ball across the living room floor, puppy bounce runs and slides to grab the ball, and bounces back with ball to the giggles of the adoring crowd.

    Everybody wins!

  20. 20.

    Villago Delenda Est

    FOUR solid reasons to hate the Cowboys:

    1. Jerry Jones.

    2. “America’s Team”

    3. Beat the Rams and prevented them from getting into the playoffs somewhere back in the 70’s.

    4. The Outlaw Joisey Whale.

  22. 22.

    Tree With Water

    The Cowboys continue to get they calls- which is not to say that Packer lineman who killed the drive didn’t act the bonehead.

  24. 24.

    JordanRules

    Seattle is going to play against a hurt QB either way I guess.

    I wish I could put a Christie blocker on my tele during the game.

  28. 28.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    Gophers and Badgers still scoreless after the first period. Hoping to make it fifteen in a row over Bucky.

  29. 29.

    Tommy

    What a pass. My gosh Rodgers is really, really good. A pleasure to watch play, even though I am nothing close to a Green Bay fan.

  31. 31.

    Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)

    Reading a book (“Crucial Conversations”) to help me prepare for an upcoming unpleasant conversation with one of my co-workers. It’s actually really interesting — much better than the last book my boss recommended.

  39. 39.

    Tommy

    @Betty Cracker: Well Fox’s expert says it wasn’t a catch. If that isn’t a catch then I don’t know what is. And by football move isn’t it a “football move” to pull the ball down, move it to one hand, and extend towards to the end zone. I HATE the Cowboys, but I HATE even more terrible calls (or maybe rules) like this.

  40. 40.

    Tree With Water

    I don’t like the Cowboys, and have always thought Tony Romo to be a strictly decent QB throughout his career. But I’ll give him this- he is one tough SOB.

    Well, Dallas didn’t get the call on that 4th down play. So much for my conspiracy innuendo.

  43. 43.

    Tommy

    @raven: I know, why I mentioned it. But isn’t it a “football” move to bring the ball down from a jump catch, to one hand, take a step, and dive towards the end zone?

  58. 58.

    Violet

    @raven: I don’t care either. Was eating lunch and doing a crossword and totally missed a Green Bay touchdown. Looked up, and “Hey, when did they get that touchdown?”

    At least the game wasn’t boring.

  59. 59.

    jharp

    What a beautiful way for Dallas to lose the game.

    I’m only sorry they didn’t put the camera on that fucking asshole Jerry Jones. Would love to have seen him and Christie pouting and whining about the officiating.

  61. 61.

    Heliopause

    So the key to next week will be the Seattle pass rush. Dallas put precious little pressure on a nearly crippled quarterback and it cost them in the end.

  63. 63.

    Gravenstone

    And once again Dez Bryant gets to rant all over the field, sans helmet and not draw the penalty. Hope he has a miserable off season.

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    I bought it on my Kindle last night because I was getting so stressed out about this upcoming conversation. (Short version: we have a project we work on together every year and I have the same problems with her every year, but she refuses to change.) I’m about halfway through it and it’s already given me some really good ideas for how to refine what I want to say so we can work better together. The project is non-optional (I asked) so it’s either have this conversation or have the two of us sniping at each other for two months straight.

  65. 65.

    Mustang Bobby

    Glad the Packers won, and now have a tough choice next weekend since my brother lives and breathes the Seahawks and I want to keep peace in the family.

    My other brother lives in Baltimore so I don’t have to worry about annoying him.

  66. 66.

    Tree With Water

    No laws were broken, but can anyone explain why the CBS NFL pre-game show just plugged the new Clint Eastwood film? It stars Bradley Cooper, apparently. I mean, they’re minutes away from kicking off a broadcast in a divisional playoff game, and suddenly- very suddenly- it’s like it’s intermission in a movie theatre. It was almost as weird as listening to Al Michaels and Chris Collingsworth performing fellatio on Roger Goodell during yesterday’s Pats-Ravens broadcast.

  67. 67.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Mnemosyne (iPad Mini):

    Good luck. I found it invaluable for talking with low-social-skills programmers who didn’t want to talk at all (or who wouldn’t admit there was any problem to start with, much less with them).

  69. 69.

    Len

    I believe I am through with the NFL for this year. What’s the point when games are decided by the officials and not the players?

  72. 72.

    Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    It’s especially tricky because she’s a manager (though I don’t report to her) and I’m not. Luckily, our mutual boss is pretty big on flattening the hierarchy, so any protestations that she’s a manager so I should do what she says without questioning her decisions will fall on deaf ears.

    All right. I should probably get back to reading the book and finishing my laundry rather than goofing around on here.

  73. 73.

    hitchhiker

    Oh, lord. My entire family in northern Michigan are gonna hate me when the Pack gets beat by the Hawks next week.

    This is the matchup I’ve been hoping all season didn’t happen! For my 90 year old mom, a Super Bowl for the team she’s been crazy about all her life would be insanely great . . . but I don’t think Green Bay can beat Seattle.

  75. 75.

    jharp

    @Len:

    The officials called it right. It was an incomplete pass.

    There is little doubt what happened and the rule is quite clear.

  78. 78.

    Betty Cracker

    I’d forgotten Aqib Talib plays for the Broncos, the rat-bastard. Now I’m rooting for the Colts.

  79. 79.

    Goblue72

    I wanted DAL over GB, then DAL over SEA.

    IND over DEN, then NE over IND.

    Then NE over DAL in the SB.

  81. 81.

    Heliopause

    @jharp:

    Agreed, the call reversal was correct, but I’m wondering if they will revisit the rule interpretation in the offseason. Seems a little punitive in cases like this. It even has a name, the “Megatron Rule.”

  85. 85.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @raven:

    I didn’t like the rule when it was used against Johnson, and I don’t like it now. That should have been a catch. And you know where my loyalties lie.

  88. 88.

    Violet

    Any interesting game day food on tap? I’m making beef on weck later, a Buffalo specialty for my Buffalonian spouse. I don’t make the weck from scratch — I just coat kaiser rolls in kosher salt and caraway seeds. It’s good!

    I always have queso and guac at the Super Bowl. Other than that, no special food. Might do some guac tonight for the Golden Globes, which is my favorite awards show to watch.

  92. 92.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @PaulW: I think TBOGG came up with that first, but at any rate I picked it up from him. The spelling change to simulate the accent was something that one of us on BJ came up with, best I can tell.

  93. 93.

    BruceFromOhio

    Omaha! Omaha!

    Craft brew, MrsFromOhio’s baked chicken strips, and a nice salad.

    And the pagan tree is getting un-decorated, with a trip to the garden panned for later, after football.

  95. 95.

    Villago Delenda Est

    As to the late game, well, it’s all about what flavor of horse flesh the Seahawks will dine on in the Superbowl, should one of them get past the Belichicks.

  100. 100.

    Brendan in Charlotte

    @efgoldman: Amen! As a Bills fan, the first person I’d hire to coach my team is the former coach of the only team in the division we crush on a regular basis…NOT.

  101. 101.

    Brendan in Charlotte

    As to the late game, well, it’s all about what flavor of horse flesh the Seahawks will dine on in the Superbowl, should one of them get past the Belichickscheats.

    FTFY

  102. 102.

    FourTen

    Today was a win-win for me since it was guaranteed that one of my two least favorite teams lost.

  104. 104.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    Any time the Cowboys lose, it is good for America, I want Jerry Jones cry like a punk. Oh BTW is those odious NewsMaxx ads replaced by Wonkette? Praise the FSM.

  112. 112.

    Elizabelle

    May we have a fresh thread? Preferably not focusing on Jeb! Bush?

    And it might be fun to watch the Golden Globes together later.

    Who won the football games today?

    ETA: Why yes. I have become a bossy bitch.

  122. 122.

    Elizabelle

    Anne Laurie to the rescue. Fresh open thread.

    Play on.

    @raven: I’ll look for that. JeffW’s puppies are always enchanting.

  127. 127.

    Len

    @jharp:

    You are correct. The officials did call it right. Then the challenge flag was thrown and the review officials reversed the ruling by the officials.

    The winner of this game was determined before it even started.

    Oh, wanna know about the so-called Super Bowl? It’ll be Seattle and New England. The Pats will win. They already had a meeting and it has already been decided.

    Excuse me, but I gotta go put my aluminum foil hat on now.

  133. 133.

    p.a.

    What rules will the MFL (Manning Football League) change after this (probable) loss to help him next year?

  134. 134.

    Scott Alloway

    I watched the Denver-Indy game, as as 40+ year Patsies fan, hoping to see Peyton Manning do his thing. I’ve always admired the man as a QB, and today I saw YA Tittle, bloodied, on the turf, at the end of his career. No, Peyton wasn’t physically beaten, but the QB I saw today was not the one I enjoyed watching in the past. Is it over for him? Hope not. I want Peyton to go out with dignity, not with missed throws, unmade opportunities and without a chance to win at the last second. His deserves a positive ending, even if it’s a tight loss. Best to you, Peyton.

  140. 140.

    Scott Alloway

    @Betty Cracker: I agree on the HOF.. But at my age, I’ve seen too many end-of-an era people – in sports, theater, politics, et alia. Makes me saddened for some reason when the time comes. Guess it’s coming to grips with my own mortality.

  141. 141.

    Tree With Water

    @S. cerevisiae: Most NFL fans are familiar with ‘the catch’- Montana to Dwight Clark- but very few are aware that Drew Pearson nearly burned the Niners on the Cowboys final possession, on the same crossing pattern that won their divisional game the week before.

  142. 142.

    Corner Stone

    @efgoldman: He’ll either take a couple year break in the booth, then coach, or go straight to QB or OC coach somewhere.
    He can’t be seriously thinking of taking a live snap next year.

  143. 143.

    Corner Stone

    @efgoldman: I kind of agree. He’s shown a complete lack of giving any other QB one snap that he didn’t have to absolutely begrudge them. So how the F is he going to help make any offense better?
    But. He does know every wrinkle of every team’s D he goes up against.
    Whatever he does, he won’t go away. He likes the sponsorship money deals way too much to just walk away, no matter how much coin he has.
    He’ll be with us for a while.

  144. 144.

    Mike E

    @efgoldman: Simms commits teevee malpractice on a weekly basis. IMO Aikman is quite good, balanced and keeps his gaffs to a minimum. I see Manning as a quasi Jimmy Stewart, but more right wing…he has a bright future in the GOP.

  146. 146.

    p.a.

    @Mike E: Maybe doing the studio thing a la Boomer, Harrison… From all I’ve heard he really is a family man who would rather do a weekend commute to NY or LA rather than chase games across the NFL. And he sure as hell should not need the $$$.

  147. 147.

    Len

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I was kidding. I actually don’t own a hat made of aluminum foil.

    I’m not naive enough, though, to believe that the NFL is not big business and, like every other big business, they manage their business in ways that are most beneficial to themselves.

  148. 148.

    yodecat

    @Tommy: The call was more or less correct. Read the rules. Stupid rule as its. It’s is self contradictory the way I see it.

    I am very disappointed, but so it goes. I’m looking forward to next year!

    But: we was robbed.

  150. 150.

    Mack

    That was a catch. Period. And I really like the Pack.

    Glad to see the Broncos eliminated, never was a big Peyton fan. That said, the right four teams are still in it.

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