Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

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

You cannot shame the shameless.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

This fight is for everything.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Infrastructure week. at last.

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249Comments

  4. 4.

    the Conster

    LOL. That was all ridiculous. I’m sure they cheated though and made Pete Carroll make that call somehow.

  6. 6.

    Villago Delenda Est

    As I said in the old thread, if that had worked, we’d all be talking about how ballsy it was to pass 3 yards shy of the goal line.

    But Pete’s going to be second guessed from now until the middle of Spring Training for that one.

  11. 11.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    Perhaps the most call of a play I’ve ever seen. No, definitely that, but perhaps the most indefensible ever.
    @Villago Delenda Est:

    But Pete’s going to be second guessed from now until the middle of Spring Training for that one.

    Or forever.

  12. 12.

    Elizabelle

    Most exciting football game I’ve ever seen.

    Never tempted to check in on the Puppy Bowl this year. It was “what comes NEXT?”

  14. 14.

    chopper

    You’ve got the football equivalent of The Juggernaut on the half yard line and you pass. I just…Christ.

  16. 16.

    Jay C

    Not a football maven: not even much of a football fan, but even I could tell that that was astoundingly the wrong call for the game situation. After being practically handed the game chance by sheer fncking (good) luck.

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    But Pete’s going to be second guessed from now until the middle of Spring Training forever for that one.

  18. 18.

    Violet

    What kind of person is Robert Kraft? They’re interviewing him and he looks like he’s straight out of central casting for a rich guy in a night time soap opera. Probably one of the villains.

  19. 19.

    Jerry O'Brien

    I don’t believe that game. Was this secretly produced from a script within the last two weeks and then passed off as real?

  20. 20.

    Suzanne

    I don’t even watch football, and even I could tell you that that was fucking ridiculous.
    And the fighting is just ludicrous.
    Okay, everybody, it was nice having y’all visit my fair city. Now go home.

  21. 21.

    Elizabelle

    Very end: everyone standing around with mouths open (speaking of audience) at game end — and there is the Koch Industries ad. “From the heartland to 50 states …” — click goes mute.

  25. 25.

    divF

    The boarded us for the Newark-Hartford flight ( mostly rabid NE fans) with 1 min+ left. The catch, the interception and Pats win all happen while we are on the plane. Then they announce there is a maintenance problem, 2 hour delay, please deplane.

    And it’s starting to snow heavily. I don’t know what happens next.

  27. 27.

    patrick II

    Throwing the ball was dumb, but if you must throw it at least play-action to Lynch. Everyone would have bit on that.

  31. 31.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Heliopause: Well, whoever does screwed up, and Carroll’s the head coach, so he gets to explain the decision. He’s in charge, he’s paid the big bucks to be accountable for both for the glorious victories and the agonizing defeats.

  32. 32.

    Andrew

    Belichick is incredibly lucky that Seattle went insane, because letting them run out the clock there and not calling your timeout is SO STUPID.

  35. 35.

    2liberal

    @Heliopause:

    Carroll doesn’t call the offensive plays, BTW.

    who is the offensive coordinator? no head coaching job for him. Their DC is heading to Atlanta i think.

  36. 36.

    vvictory

    Too cute for his own good. “The whole world expects Beast Mode here, I’LL be clever and go for the slant. HA HA HA!”

  37. 37.

    Quaker in a Basement

    Bill Buckner has to be pleased. Now he won’t be first on the list of biggest board in sports history.

  42. 42.

    hilts

    Thank you Pete Carroll for your clueless play calling. Fuck Richard Sherman and fuck Marshawn Lynch.

  47. 47.

    Jay C

    @JPL:

    Yeah, parading the Lombardi Trophy by with all the players pawing and kissing it like some medieval relic with a saint’s skull in or or something.?.. weird

    And is Robert Kraft the CEO of Putz Industries, or what….?

  49. 49.

    Violet

    @JPL: They always slow walk the trophy in. It’s pathetic. All the peons are on the field, even though they’re the ones who played and won the game. Then the owner and coach and MVP get to be up on the giant podium thing. They act like royalty. Hate this shit.

  50. 50.

    JPL

    Now Tom Brady is giving his academy award speech. I hope they have Giselle say something.
    congrats pats, btw

  54. 54.

    The Dangerman

    Green Bay had to choke bigtime to get Seattle to the Super Bowl…

    …and they turn around and shit the bed on the 1 yard line.

    Karma.

  56. 56.

    Violet

    @Jay C:

    And is Robert Kraft the CEO of Putz Industries, or what….?

    Like I said above, he looks like he’s out of central casting for a bad guy on a night time soap on TV. Like a “Dallas” type show.

  58. 58.

    Jeffro

    I’m having some navy blue t-shirts printed up, with a big ol’ white asterisk in the middle. Does that work on its own, or do I need the red-circle-with-diagonal-slash through it to get the point across?

  60. 60.

    Elie

    @chopper:

    I totally agree… I just don’t get it… that was just stupid — not balsy. STUPID

    Instead I have to hear about what a “genius” the brady/belicheck duo are… It just sucks.

  62. 62.

    danielx

    Stupidest play in the history of professional football. No, in the history of professional sports. That was about as bright as Pickett’s Charge, for chrissakes.

  63. 63.

    Len

    As I recall, I told y’all two weeks ago that New England would be “defeating” Seattle today.

    I cannot believe the Patriots are all going in front of the cameras acting like they actually won this thing. They didn’t win. They had this game handed to them on a silver platter.

    Still, though, Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback to ever play the game and Bill Belichick is the greatest coach to ever coach this game. Right? Get used to it. That’s the story line from here on out.

  64. 64.

    Corner Stone

    That Liam Neeson commercial was the best ad out of this whole thing.
    The rest were fucking lame ass.

  65. 65.

    Tree With Water

    This is the caliber of analyses you get when listening to a Stanford grad. “You got to think about running the ball down there”. So John Lynch just explained on NBC.

  67. 67.

    Charles Pierce

    I never thought I’d see Grady Little and Pedro Martinez in ’03 surpassed, but that’s the worst coaching decision I have ever seen, bar none.

  68. 68.

    Jay C

    Pete Carroll being interviewed about that last-minute call – if anyone understands WTF he’s said, please translate in a comment: all I can hear is rapid-fire word salad Not that I can blame him…

  69. 69.

    Corner Stone

    @Len:

    I cannot believe the Patriots are all going in front of the cameras acting like they actually won this thing. They didn’t win. They had this game handed to them on a silver platter.

    How does one say this?

  70. 70.

    Elie

    @The Dangerman:

    why is that karma? Do you know the meaning of karma? They played well against Green Bay and tonight.. What is karma about? They should lose because… ? The Patriots have to win?

  71. 71.

    ed_finnerty

    Pete carrols incomprehensible interview

    It makes it sound like some unidentified third party made the call

    WTF

  73. 73.

    The Dangerman

    Not only do they fucking throw on the 1…

    …they run a pick play. Would have been justice for the Pats to loose on a play that was cheating…

    …and I guess we were robbed of seeing if a person in stripes would throw a flag for a blatant pick (would have never happened, with possible exception of Tallahassee).

    They played well against Green Bay…

    Green Bay gave that game to the Seahawks, platter was silver. Seattle ddn’t win it.

  79. 79.

    lol chikinburd

    Glad I watched none of it. An outcome that could please only Massholes, white supremacists, and Skip Bayless was of course the only way this NFL season was going to end.

    Seriously, everyone? It’s time to stop giving this shit any more of our mindshare. It literally destroys human brains while robbing municipal treasuries and lying to all of us. If any organization deserves on of those tumbrel rides y’all keep talking about, it’s the NFL.

  80. 80.

    Elie

    @The Dangerman:

    Ah c’mon. Are you saying that the Seahawks didn’t deserve to play today? If so – Fuck you.

    They deserved to be here and very nearly, except for their hubris, won the damned game.

    And fuck you again, in case you missed it the first time.

  81. 81.

    different-church-lady

    And now that’s established, I’ll just leave this here:

    >> Eleven of the 12 footballs used in the first half were judged by the officials to be under the minimum of 12.5 PSI, but just one was two pounds under. Many of them were just a few ticks under the minimum.

  83. 83.

    Cacti

    That final play call has me wondering if Las Vegas really does determine the Super Bowl champion.

    1-yard for the championship, Marshawn Lynch in the backfield, 2nd down, time to spare and a timeout left to burn.

    Then the OC, Pete Carroll, and Russell Wilson all agree: “Hey, let’s run a quick slant here”.

    U-n-b-e-l-i-e-v-a-b-l-e

  84. 84.

    ? Martin

    I’m glad the Pats won simply because my mom is happy, but not giving the MVP to Butler is insane. Brady’s interceptions are why they were in the spot they were. Without Butler, the Pats would have clearly lost.

    I think you guys have the karma gods all wrong on this one. This was retribution for Manning shitting the bed 3 minutes into the game last year and giving us the most boring football game ever. This game made up for that in spades – and would have no matter who won.

  86. 86.

    Morzer

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/polltracker/scott-walker-leads-iowa-poll

    Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) leads his GOP rivals among Iowa residents likely to vote in the Iowa caucuses, according to a new Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register poll released Saturday night.

    Walker garnered 15 percent support among Iowans, up from only four percent in an October Iowa poll. Fourteen percent favored Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY); 13 percent favored Mitt Romney; 10 percent favored former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R); 9 percent favored Ben Carson; and just 8 percent favored former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R)

    Even more alarmingly for those fluffing Hashbully Bush (hello there, CornerStone!), he’s in 6th place in the second choice category, which suggests his potential for picking up votes as rivals falter/quit/fail the latest purity test is fairly limited.

  89. 89.

    Morzer

    Another Superbowl with an asterisk next to it and the Great Pigskin Extortion Juggernaut grinds pointlessly on.

  90. 90.

    The Dangerman

    @Elie:

    Are you saying that the Seahawks didn’t deserve to play today?

    Not at all. They scored more points than Green Bay and that means they get to play…

    …but don’t tell me Green Bay choking wasn’t the key factor. If that’s your argument, fuck you in return.

    Green Bay choked.

    Seattle choked.

    Karma.

  92. 92.

    burnspbesq

    @Violet:

    What kind of person is Robert Kraft? They’re interviewing him and he looks like he’s straight out of central casting for a rich guy in a night time soap opera. Probably one of the villains.

    Pretty much as you describe. The very model of a modern NFL owner.

  94. 94.

    danielx

    Reminded of a line from one of the daughter unit’s disney movies: “How could you miss? He was three feet away!”

  96. 96.

    Violet

    @p.a.: Them giving Tom Brady a Chevrolet truck cracked me up. Like he really wants one of those. Or couldn’t buy one himself if he wanted one.

  97. 97.

    JPL

    @the Conster: It won’t happen though. The news media will drop the discussion and next year, at least twenty seven percent will think the pats deflated their footballs.

  98. 98.

    Heliopause

    @Elie:

    Not probably, it was. If Carroll called that on the fly with the clock running, overruling his OC who has been calling plays all along, that would be quite remarkable.

    I really hate to say this but this entire conversation is moronic. Carroll almost certainly didn’t call that play. Almost 100% of NFL teams delegate play-calling to an OC, and the only time the HC would overrule him would be exceptional circumstances with the clock not running. Obviously you trust your subordinates to some degree, especially if you’re defending champions. Including trusting your subordinate playing quarterback to make a good throw.

  99. 99.

    burnspbesq

    @Len:

    Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback to ever play the game and Bill Belichick is the greatest coach to ever coach this game. Right? Get used to it. That’s the story line from here on out.

    You must be really young, and you need to get out more..

    Drive out to Towson University. You’ll see a stadium with the name of the best QB ever on it. Then return to NYC via the New Jersey Turnpike, and grab a soda at the service area named for the best coach ever.

  102. 102.

    mtmofo

    Find Carroll’s comments on his strategic thing on that play. Not defending, just saying. It will be endlessly argued over.

  103. 103.

    burnspbesq

    @Charles Pierce:

    that’s the worst coaching decision I have ever seen, bar none.

    Maybe so, but Wilson could have changed the play at the line of scrimmage. His failure to do so is right up there with Chris Webber calling a time out his team didn’t have.

  105. 105.

    Joel

    Remember when people were crying foul and demanding draft picks, suspensions and resignations for something the Patriots probably didn’t even do? That dumbassery will carry on forever, like 9/11 trutherism, so you won’t get a chance to forget.

  108. 108.

    Joel

    @burnspbesq: Sorry, but Unitas wasn’t even the best of his era (that was Bart Starr). If you’re going to make a credible argument, make it for Joe Montana.

  110. 110.

    MoeLarryAndJesus

    I know exactly what happened tonight.

    The best QB and the best coach of all time cemented their places in history.

    The best part is they’re not done yet.

    On to 2015-16!

  111. 111.

    Geoduck

    The Seahawk’s OC is Darrell Bevell, and even before this, despite the team making it back to the Super Bowl, there has been a steady drumbeat among the fanbase for him to get the boot thanks to his questionable playcalling. Whether he’ll fall on his sword for this remains to be seen.

  113. 113.

    Cacti

    @Joel:

    Sorry, but Unitas wasn’t even the best of his era (that was Bart Starr). If you’re going to make a credible argument, make it for Joe Montana.

    And the best coach in NFL history is Paul Brown.

  115. 115.

    lol chikinburd

    @hilts: I’d have thought the racial politics of this Super Bowl were impossible to miss. The type of attention focused on Richard Sherman and Marshawn Lynch in the past year? How they were “thugs” and all that, because of who wasn’t comfortable with the things they said or didn’t say? Who else were racists going to root against (especially given the designated public faces of their opponents, a pretty-boy QB and a white TE)?

    If you don’t believe me, look at @YesYoureRacist‘s feed from right after the game ended. Or don’t, if you don’t want to lose even more faith in humanity.

  116. 116.

    Heliopause

    @Cacti:

    Easy to say in hindsight.

    “If only everybody had made the right decision in the last minute of the Super Bowl instead of the wrong decision.” Well, yeah.

    Seriously. This entire conversation is idiotic. First, blame the guy who made the bad call. Second, blame the guys who executed poorly. Third, blame the guy in charge who trusted subordinates who took him within one yard of winning two Super Bowls. Then your criticism might mean something.

  117. 117.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @burnspbesq: Starr has five NFL championships. Who can top that? Aside from the trivia value, what is the point of your Lombardi comment? It seems about as relevant as the fact that the hospital in which I was born is now an old nun’s home.

  118. 118.

    Corner Stone

    @Morzer: Wow! That’s really awesome! Thanks!
    What the fuck are you even chuffing about, you fucking moron? Below 20% in Iowa in Feb 2015?
    Whooooooo!!!

  119. 119.

    Joel

    @lol chikinburd: The clownshow that organized against Richard Sherman last year was despicable and remains so. But humanity manages to shit itself daily. Reading twitter feeds and newspaper comments is like drinking from a cholera infested river.

  122. 122.

    Elie

    I do think that there was this all white guy in white hats against black folks (quarter back, etc – e.g. black thug brand – Lynch, Sherman and others ) thing going on, though I wouldn’t take it as far as purposely racial. I think Russell Wilson is consistently under estimated compared to the white “most excellent” quarterbacks.

  123. 123.

    Joel

    One last thing; Pete Carroll’s a good coach who got a raw deal in Boston. So I’m going to stick up for him (I’m ignoring the college antics because NCAA football is a fucking scam and everyone knows it).

    Nathan Jahnke ‏@PFF_NateJahnke 27m27 minutes ago
    Marshawn Lynch ran the ball from the 1 yard line 5 times this season. 1 TD, 2 runs for no gain, 2 runs for a loss.

  124. 124.

    Corner Stone

    @Elie: Revis, Blount, LaFell, B Browner, etc?
    Yeah, Gronk, Brady, Edelman are all white guys. But, damn nation.

  125. 125.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Elie: Wilson is underestimated because he is short (by NFL QB standards). It happened to Doug Flutie (who was almost translucent) despite the fact that he tended to win.

    ETA: I saw Wilson play at Wisconsin and he is something special. He also hasn’t put the time in to be mentioned with the greats. But he has the potential to get there.

  126. 126.

    Cacti

    @Heliopause:

    Easy to say in hindsight.

    “If only everybody had made the right decision in the last minute of the Super Bowl instead of the wrong decision.” Well, yeah.

    Seriously. This entire conversation is idiotic. First, blame the guy who made the bad call. Second, blame the guys who executed poorly. Third, blame the guy in charge who trusted subordinates who took him within one yard of winning two Super Bowls. Then your criticism might mean something.

    Sometimes a terrible call is just a terrible call.

    In the present case, there are NFL hall of famers, unaffiliated with either team, agreeing with Charlie Pierce and saying it’s the worst call they’ve ever seen.

  127. 127.

    Corner Stone

    @Joel:

    Nathan Jahnke ‏@PFF_NateJahnke 27m27 minutes ago
    Marshawn Lynch ran the ball from the 1 yard line 5 times this season. 1 TD, 2 runs for no gain, 2 runs for a loss.

    How many of those five times were in the SB with 3 tries to go to seal it off?

  128. 128.

    Joel

    I’d like to add that the NFL takes concussions and head injuries about as seriously as it takes domestic violence.

    Edeleman was literally wobbling for several plays after that hit from Chancellor and nobody said dick. Just like WIlson a few weeks ago after Clay Matthews leveled one into his helmet.

  129. 129.

    SFAW

    @Joel:

    (that was Bart Starr)

    If you limit it to teams that were based 200 +/- miles north of Chicago, sure.

    But if you open it up to the rest of the country, not so much.

    Starr may not have been Ryan Leaf, but he was no Unitas.

  130. 130.

    Cacti

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Starr has five NFL championships. Who can top that? Aside from the trivia value, what is the point of your Lombardi comment? It seems about as relevant as the fact that the hospital in which I was born is now an old nun’s home.

    Otto Graham had 7 championships, 4 in the AAFC, and 3 in the NFL after the Cleveland Browns changed leagues.

  131. 131.

    Heliopause

    @Cacti:

    It’s fine with me if various pundits evaluate the call as horrible, but can we at least assign blame to the person who made it? Too much to ask?

  133. 133.

    Elie

    @Corner Stone:

    sorry — just my paranoia I guess… sometimes, black people see patterns where they don’t exist. Sometimes the patterns are real.. but it is stupid to highlight it here. The Seahawks just lost the game.

  134. 134.

    SFAW

    @Joel:

    One last thing; Pete Carroll’s a good coach who got a raw deal in Boston.

    He didn’t get a raw deal in Boston/Foxborough, he was just not that good a coach when he had the Pats. Certainly not a Rich Kotite, but his performance was not unlike Rex Ryan’s – started off reasonably well, got progressively worse.

  136. 136.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Corner Stone:

    Srsly.

    I had to sit in the car and listen to Willie’s Roadhouse on Sirius when I drove home. Only old, sincere, non-ironic country music covers that level of self-inflicted fail.

  137. 137.

    lol chikinburd

    @Omnes Omnibus: No, I can’t explain every last fan’s rooting decisions. And I know I really can’t explain yours. I mean, why? Did the Seahawks commit some sort of injustice by capitalizing on the Packers’ late special teams errors? One that loomed large enough to say, I’m rooting for Robert Kraft’s and Bill Belichick’s team? Does the spite gene take up so much of this state’s DNA?

  141. 141.

    Cacti

    @Corner Stone:

    Nathan Jahnke ‏@PFF_NateJahnke 27m27 minutes ago
    Marshawn Lynch ran the ball from the 1 yard line 5 times this season. 1 TD, 2 runs for no gain, 2 runs for a loss.

    How many of those five times were in the SB with 3 tries to go to seal it off?

    Not to mention, Lynch was averaging 4.3 yards per carry for the game, and on 24 carries NE stopped him for no gain only 3 times, and none for a loss.

  142. 142.

    Corner Stone

    @Elie: No, I obviously agree Sherm was tagged as a thug after last year, and Lynch got a bad rap because he refused to do what they wanted/expected/demanded. I’m not going to whitesplain that bullshit away. That was/is fucking bullshit.
    But I do honestly think it’s hard to get to some certain conclusions about this game.

  145. 145.

    The Dangerman

    @Elie:

    Sorry…I’m just pissed…

    No worries; if I was a Seahawks fan, or bet on them, I’d be more pissed than you.

    I have many relatives in Seattle and many of them are MASSIVE Seahawks fans. I feel for them. I went through 1986 and the Angels (FUCK David Henderson).

  146. 146.

    smintheus

    So how long before we hear from XLIX Truthers?

    Seriously, it did seem more like a scripted reality show than a football game.

  149. 149.

    Jeffro

    @Corner Stone: Yeah, but look at what percentage of the vote remains to be picked up as things continue to coalesce on the GOP side, or what the alternatives are.

    Rand Paul? Establishment won’t back someone that unstable. Ben Carson? Way too out there, even for most far-righters. And Romney’s support just went someplace – even if 3/4 of it went to Jeb, there’s still a 1/4 out there.

    Walker is a fresh face with all the right positions on immigration, Obamacare, Common Core, unions, tax cuts, and so on. Jeb is off (not aligned with the party base) on a few of these and his family name is as at least as much of a negative as it is a positive.

    I’m not saying Walker’s a lock by any means, but I have a funny feeling we’ll be seeing some serious attempts by Jeb to go after Walker (in terms of securing fundraisers, staffers) in the very short term. And I don’t think there’s gonna be a whole lot of detente between Walker’s puppeteers (the Kochs) and the Bush family…

  150. 150.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Starr has five NFL championships. Who can top that?

    Big deal. Different era, different league (in terms of structure). The Original Six have almost twice as many Cups as the rest of the league combined. So what?

  154. 154.

    The Dangerman

    For those arguing best Quarterbacks, you have to talk different eras; there was the 3 yards and a cloud of dust era and the new era where receivers get nearly a free run off the line.

    I’m a little young to evaluate 3 yards and a cloud of dust quarterbacks…

    …but new era QB’s? Joe Montana. Full stop.

  156. 156.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @SFAW: Okay then, Aaron Rodgers is the best QB ever. If we are going to go with modernity, let’s just go with the latest MVP.*

    *It is possible that Rodgers may have a career that puts him in line for the honor, but he ain’t there yet. Neither are Brady, Manning, or any other currently active player. Greatest of all time is a judgment of history, not current events.

  159. 159.

    Elie

    @hilts:

    Marshawn is — well — Marshawn.

    I think if you read Sherman’s comments, you would see more thoughtfulness than meets the broo-ha-ha from the media. He is plain spoken but he is a smart and sharp critic of the ironies in football. This is holding aside my partisanship about the Seahawks. Sherman is a thoughtful guy who has been labeled too harshly.

  160. 160.

    opiejeanne

    @2liberal: The Seahawks fans were just shown celebrating in the streets of Seattle, celebrating the team if not the win.

    I just got home, and I saw people walking away from bars, but a lot of them were still pretty full. During the game I stepped outside just after the Hawks’ second touchdown and the Wingdome, a bar and grill two blocks away, was so loud it sounded like the roof was going to come off.

  163. 163.

    cokane

    @Corner Stone: exactly, lynch, plus killing a little more clock actually woulda been a good thing for seattle. glad the narrative is that carroll blew the game. love those seattle players, for the most part, can’t stand carroll though.

  166. 166.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @hilts: Gotta disagree about Sherman and Lynch. Their style is not mine. I tend to be John Kerry-esque (if shorter in personal stature). Their style does not make them assholes. It makes them different than me. That is all. OTOH, I am glad that Seattle lost.

  171. 171.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Violet: I do like Wilson.

    ETA: I meant more that, when asked what time it is, I can tend to explain how clocks are made. My uncle once pointed it out… He said I was just like my dad in doing it. Younger brothers can be so bitchy.

  173. 173.

    Crusty Dem

    @hilts:

    You actually are a racist.

    Either one I would accept. “I don’t like the loudmouth no matter that he’s very smart”. Ok. “I don’t like the guy who doesn’t want to talk”. Ok. But both? Nope. You just hate black people. Get you white hood, dude. You’re a racist.

  176. 176.

    Elie

    @Joel:

    I bet he is plenty pissed that he didn’t get that ball. They would have been Super Bowl Champions…

    Ugh… every time I think about it — it makes me sick!

  177. 177.

    Elie

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Well, I am actually a Chicago Bears fan. The Seahawks are my default when the Bears are too rotten — which unfortunately is most of the time in recent years.

    We used to call Green Bay, the toilet paper capital of the US. That said, they go back to the founding teams of the NFL, just like the Bears —

    BTW, did anyone see Real Sports when Bryan Gumbel updated the story of the 85 Bears — the fiercest defense in the NFL. How sad and beaten up they are. Jim Mcmahon has early onset dementia. Others are just destroyed mentally or physically. It was heartbreaking and a true cautionary tale. It was something that the fiercest Bear of all, Mike Ditka, wouldn’t want his grandkids to go into football knowing what he knows… Not every player has the worst outcomes but way too many do…

  178. 178.

    Cacti

    @Elie:

    The fact that Seattle just won a Super Bowl keeps it from being a Bill Buckner-esque painful moment. But damn, that play call took another ring off of everyone’s fingers.

    Former Wide Receivers like Michael Irvin, Andre Reed, and Torry Holt all say it was a terrible call.

  179. 179.

    opiejeanne

    @Omnes Omnibus: Thanks for the kind words about our guys. Marshawn, a lot of us think, is terminally shy about cameras.

    And Richard Sherman is a very intelligent person, wonderful with kids’ programs around the area, and while not the best-paid player in pro football, he is the single most generous player when it comes to charity, as well as giving a lot of his time in community programs.

    The whole Seahawks team is involved with the community in ways that I’ve never seen before, and I’ve lived near several major market pro sports teams, more than six.

  180. 180.

    Corner Stone

    @Cacti:

    Former Wide Receivers like Michael Irvin, Andre Reed, and Torry Holt all say it was a terrible call.

    Butler made a great play, no doubt. Just balls out great defense.
    But who the F thought they needed to trick anyone inside the 2 yd line?
    This isn’t a trick FG turned into a pass play. Just hand the ball to Lynch. At least twice. You have a minute left and one time out. Give that fucking Beast a couple chances.
    Just doesn’t make any sense. I thought it was over after that nutso catch by Kearse.

  184. 184.

    John Revolta

    The only way I can explain this call is- they must have been thinking, like everybody on the planet, that everybody on the planet KNEW that they were going to give it to Marshawn. That, and the 20% success rate on that play from the rest of the year, must’ve scared ’em into trying to get sneaky.

  185. 185.

    JMV Pyro

    @hilts:

    Putting the rhetorical dodge at the end of the sentence instead of the beginning does not make the statement any less suspect.

  186. 186.

    opiejeanne

    @The Dangerman: Oh, you’re one of the Angels fans here. We moved to Seattle from Anaheim. I miss living there and being able to go see them play. Took us about 15 minutes to get home from a game, and we always stayed until the bitter end. Lesson learned early in the 1979 season.

  187. 187.

    Elie

    @Cacti:

    As long as you are not quoting Chris Collingsworth who had THE WORST FUMBLE IN THE WORLD in his Super Bowl with the Bengals against the 49ers.

    No one wants to fuck up. Especially when the eyes of the world are on you. Give it a rest, ok.?

  188. 188.

    Elie

    @John Revolta:

    Except, why not at least make it a play action pass?????

    Just wasn’t meant to be, I guess.. The Pats would not have been able to stop Marshawnif they had put 22 men on the field. sigh

  189. 189.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Villago Delenda Est: No, that was just stupid. Best possible case is that there’s a completion that scores too quickly and gives Brady more time to respond. Next best case is an incompletion that stops the clock. They had time outs and downs to score on a run play from 18 inches. Even without the benefit of hindsight, it was the worst play call in the history of sports. I assumed Russell called an audible in the heat of the moment (which would also have been stupid, because int that time out, everyone should have been drilled on not turning the ball over).

  190. 190.

    opiejeanne

    @Omnes Omnibus: That’s actually acceptable to me. I am a newish fan, moved to Seattle and they started catching my eye three years ago, and they were fun to watch. I haven’t lived near a football team from 1992 to 2001, and then it was the Raiders, whom I hate the same way you hate the Hawks, and the 49ers. The Raiders moved back to Oakland during that period.

    I don’t hate the 49ers but after the Rams left LA we sort of stopped watching football because it wasn’t fun anymore. Even college ball didn’t seem as fun after a while. This year was different on that score even though my school doesn’t have a team anymore. I think they shut the program down the year after Jim Zorn graduated.

    I’m just thanking you for not imagining that the image of our players as presented by media outside the Seattle area is cause for hatred.

  193. 193.

    Corner Stone

    Man. How much did the peeps have to bribe the Gatorade guy to use the blue juice for the prop bet?

  194. 194.

    Elie

    @Corner Stone:

    It was. But maybe it just set up the hubris of the final call… maybe thinking (stupidly), that they could dodge the fates just one more time since they had been given so many breaks…

  195. 195.

    Violet

    I really cannot stop looking at pictures of 1980’s James Spader. The ads for “The Blacklist” got me thinking about him and I’m well down the google rabbit hole. I love me some 1980’s bad boy James Spader.

  196. 196.

    opiejeanne

    @Corner Stone: I think it was Bennett who said after the game that that last play shouldn’t have mattered, that it shouldn’t have come down to that single play.

    Russell Wilson is saying it’s on him, Pete Carroll who only directed whether to run the ball or pass it says it’s on him, and the offensive coordinator who called the specific play says it’s on him.

    The 12s are out in the streets of Seattle celebrating the team right now, after they recovered from the shock of seeing the game within grasp and then losing it.

    You know what? The play before that, the completed pass to Kearse (?), that was a shocker too.

  198. 198.

    Elie

    The only blessing was that this did not happen to the Chicago Bears. The media in that town would have roasted Carroll live — they would never ever forget it and it would be shitty to listen to the radio or tv for a decade. In the Northwest, folks are so mellow, in two weeks the topic will be gone.

  200. 200.

    Corner Stone

    @opiejeanne: Come on. In all great final contests it always (should) come down to one signature play.
    The catch by Kearse was fucking nuts. That was craze balls. But it happened.
    Now you have the ball inside the 2. With Lynch. And a trophy to go.
    If we’re going to go to the rewind then, yeah. Shit at the end shouldn’t decide the final outcome. But, guess what? Those plays count also, too.

  201. 201.

    Elie

    @Violet:

    Yeah — what happened? He has the persona but looks like a whole other person. Kinda weird — people don’t usually change that much

  202. 202.

    RP

    The thing that’s missing with all of this is credit to the CB who made the pick. That was a great play.

  204. 204.

    Corner Stone

    @Elie:

    Yeah — what happened? He has the persona but looks like a whole other person. Kinda weird — people don’t usually change that much

    He’s old and bloated. Shit, it happens to the best of them.

  206. 206.

    opiejeanne

    @RP: Yes it was. The Seattle announcers talked about how that guy had been delivering pizzas, hadn’t been on the team, and that that was his first pick ever.

  212. 212.

    PurpleGirl

    I watched the Kitten Bowl one and a half times and parts of Puppy Bowl once. I like the animals. What made it even nicer was that my house guest watched with me and he really likes kittens and cats. We squeed a lot. Kittens are Cute.

  213. 213.

    Rex

    The football gods giveth and the football gods taketh away. All Hawks’ fans got the ride of their lives. That was not a bad play call. The Hawks weren’t sure if the prior play was going to be challenged on review. They then expected the Pats to call the timeout but Belichick said “fuck it, you’re going to beat us here or you’re not”. So the play went, and if it had failed, the clock stops with an incompletion or they get a TD 99 times out of 100 and then you run it two or three times with Beast Mode and two timeouts. If it had succeeded it was a great call. If it had failed in any conventional sense, it’s a decent call and stops the clock. Look at the All-22 footage and Lockette is wide open. The DB Butler was hiding behind Browner and had done his homework . He remembered the play from the Hawks goal line playbook and jumped the route. He gambled and won big. The Hawks are friggin’ warriors and this was an epic SB.

  214. 214.

    Geoduck

    @Elie: Plus, Carroll took a perennial doormat/also-ran and turned it into one of the most feared and hated teams in the league. He led the team to a winning Super Bowl. People in other cities not named Cleveland can’t begin to understand how much local good will that stockpiled for the man. But as I noted above, the OC Brevell is well on his way to turning HIS name into a curseword.

  216. 216.

    Elie

    @Corner Stone:

    Yeah — I know that for sure. Is he that old? In any case, he projects an interestingly sinister persona. Maybe its better that he isn’t so slick looking?

  218. 218.

    Violet

    @Elie: I still think he’s fantastic. He and Rob Lowe are not that far apart in age and Rob Lowe looks like he’s hardly aged at all since the 80’s, which is just as weird.

  219. 219.

    Corner Stone

    @Elie: He’s always been a better bad guy. Although he was awesome in the OG Stargate and Supernova (totally fucking underrated awesome ass role in a totes cool sci-fi flick!).
    His part in Two Days In the Valley, along with Wolf and Sex, Lies and Videotape were the bomb. Diggity.

    Eta – “Oh, I’m coming for ya.” – Supernova
    I squee everytime.

  222. 222.

    Violet

    @Corner Stone: I love him in “sex, lies and videotape.” If you haven’t seen “Secretary” it’s another fantastic role for him. Maggie Gyllenhaal is great in it too.

    I first fell in love with James Spader in “Pretty in Pink” so that’s what I’ve been looking up tonight. I might have to watch it again.

  223. 223.

    Violet

    @Elie: Yeah, I’m sure Rob Lowe has had work done. It’s just an interesting comparison. James Spader looks “real” and Rob Lowe looks like a wax figure.

  225. 225.

    Elie

    Lowe always looked phony to me… there was always a doll like plasticity to him. He never projects any real “soul” — like a dancer who only does the steps but doesn’t get the play with the music and his partner.

  226. 226.

    Corner Stone

    I’m just always pissed James Spader got to hug all up on Angela Bassett and lovingly share their DNA for a few years before that damn regenerating wave recreated life as we knew it.

  228. 228.

    Arclite

    @Joel:

    Nathan Jahnke ‏@PFF_NateJahnke 27m27 minutes ago
    Marshawn Lynch ran the ball from the 1 yard line 5 times this season. 1 TD, 2 runs for no gain, 2 runs for a loss.

    That’s interesting. Didn’t know that. Would have thought the options were in this order:
    1. Beast Mode
    2. Wilson play action to run it in
    3. Slant throw

  231. 231.

    Suzanne

    James Spader is ridiculously hot. Now I want to go watch “Secretary” and, uh, well, bake some cookies. Yeah, that’s it: cookies.

  232. 232.

    Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)

    Well, I’m sad that the kids at Seattle Children’s Hospital won’t get a Seahawks-themed visit from Captain America, but Chris Evans is a nice enough guy that I suspect they’ll get a non-football themed visit from Cap anyway.

  233. 233.

    Vanya

    @Rex: Exactly, it actually was a justifiable play call. If it had been executed correctly no one would say anything. Butler made an outstanding play disguising the coverage and then grabbing that ball for the INT. Everyone moaning about “stupidest call EVAH” is being incredibly mean spirited towards Butler.

  236. 236.

    Full metal Wingnut

    @Heliopause: Bullshit. You hear the OC calling that and you should be yelling STFU idiot we’re running the ball! The buck stops with him, period.

  237. 237.

    Full metal Wingnut

    @Andrew: They both got lucky. I thought the Patriots had it in the bag and then Kearse got ridiculously lucky with this year’s equivalent of the Helmet Catch (is that stadium cursed or something?) Then the Pats got lucky with a terrible play call.

    I don’t know what it is with Belichick. He’s not the type to give up, he must’ve done so for a reason. Maybe he figured a time out would’ve given Seatte more time to think-if that was his gambit looks brilliant. But I don’t want to give even him too much credit.

  238. 238.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Rex: That call was just plain stupid. In order of priority, they needed to (1) protect the ball, (2) score 7, (3) take time off the clock so that Brady couldn’t set up a game-winning field goal. Any pass play was stupid because it completely failed the third goal and was insufficiently deferential to the primary goal. That particular pass play was moronic. Shit, spiking the ball would have been better than that and it still would have been incredibly stupid.

  239. 239.

    karen

    I will admit right now that I am not very knowledgable about football. Can someone explain to me why the Patriots really didn’t win. Is it because of Ballgate?

    Who is Peter Caroll? Why was the last 30 seconds of the fourth quarter controversial?

    Can someone please dumb it down for me?
    Thank you in advance.

  240. 240.

    Bobby Thomson

    The Patriots really won. A lot of people want to think it’s tainted because of ballgate, but those are people whose understandable hatred of the Patriots causes them to lose all objectivity.

    The last 30 seconds aren’t really controversial. The Seattle coaches made a really stupid mistake by doing something with a high risk of disaster and a low probability of achieving their objectives. Running the ball (1) minimized the risk of turnover, (2) was a pretty safe bet to score with the way Lynch had been running that night, and the knowledge that they had time outs to stop the clock if necessary, (3) took time off the clock to make it harder for Brady to set up a game-winning field goal. Instead, they passed the ball, which had a much higher risk of turnover (duh), a lower probability of success with the way Wilson’s short passing game had gone that night, would stop the clock (giving Brady more time) if it was incomplete, and wouldn’t take as much time as a running play.

    A few individual players then started throwing punches, which is indefensible. There are a handful of people defending the decision to call a pass, but no one is defending the fight.

  241. 241.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Okay then, Aaron Rodgers is the best QB ever. If we are going to go with modernity, let’s just go with the latest MVP.

    I believe I saw a study – possibly in the Journal of Irreproducible Results — correlating mental illness and being a Cheesehead. Something about holding on to a patently ridiculous belief, no matter how overwhelming the evidence to the contrary. I don’t think they exactly correlated it to being as Republican, but that was an implied conclusion.

    Look, I’m a Jets fan (save your half-witty ripostes for another thread, OK?), and have no love for Brady, but he has clearly been a better QB than Rodgers. The only question, for the last 10 or so years, has been whether he was better than Eli’s brother. His performance yesterday was a one-off of his better days — he never would have thrown that first INT before 2010, I’m thinking — but at 37, he’s still doing pretty damn well. Is he the best ever? Probably not, but it’s not hard to make that case

    You just hate him because he’s wolverine, and badgers are their poor cousins.

  242. 242.

    SFAW

    @Bobby Thomson:

    Excellent synopsis. Only quibble is that it would have been a game-tying FG, not a game winner. Of course, then Brady would have marched them down for a TD on the first series in OT, so I guess technically, you’d be correct.

    (That last bit about the TD in OT is just to bust Omnes’s stones.)

  243. 243.

    different-church-lady

    @karen:

    Can someone please dumb it down for me?

    It is impossible to make ballgate ballgazi any dumber than it already it.

  247. 247.

    SFAW

    @Vanya:

    Exactly, it actually was a justifiable play call.

    Not really, unless you’re Matt Patricia

    If it had been executed correctly no one would say anything.

    Possibly correct. More likely they’d say “Pretty fucking lucky/ballsy.” But the percentage of persons thinking it was a good call is on a par with the percentage of rational wingnuts/Cheeseheads, or people who think Joe Pisarcik was justified in trying to hand off to Csonka..

  248. 248.

    Howlin Wolfe

    @Corner Stone: So, is there a standard against which you are measuring this assertion? Or is it cornerstone subjectivity? I like the one with Walter White, and with Mindy whatshername, too. They’re commercials, and they make me laugh. I don’t know what makes them “lame ass”. I don’t want to know either; too much internet-commenter supreme confidence in one’s own view packed into it.

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