Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

He really is that stupid.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

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

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

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

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

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

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Nothing worth doing is easy.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

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

You are here: Home / Open Threads / NFL Open Thread

NFL Open Thread

by | 54 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Pictured is part of the Miami skyline as seen from Rickenbacker Causeway. (Edited to try to fix buggy photo display.)

Just made it back home a short time ago after a harrowing drive. Some asshole in a box truck started swerving all over the place in front of me — I swear the fucker was on two wheels at one point before he finally regained control.

Mind you, this was on Alligator Alley, the road that cuts across the Everglades, which is as straight as a ruler. You can tie your steering wheel to the door handle, crawl in the back seat and take a nap until Naples. Unless you’re box truck asshole.

Got home too late to make NFL game picks, which is just as well since I’m about as good at that as box truck asshole is at driving. 

Did I miss anything? Open thread!

Reader Interactions

54Comments

  5. 5.

    FlyingToaster

    @Jerzy Russian: Oddly enough, I am seeing it. It’s a semi-familiar sight, since HerrDoktor (off taking WarriorGirl to a trampoline birthday party) grew up there.

    And also, the formatting buttons just reappeared.

    Though that might be the vertigo (I’ve spent the past day-n-a-half reacting to my flu shot — the room goes widdershins whenever I stand up).

  6. 6.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Betty Cracker: It somehow appeared right after I submitted that comment. Upon a page reload, the picture seems to be mostly hidden behind some ads. I need a better hobby than reloading Balloon Juice every few minutes.

  7. 7.

    Amir Khalid

    Is Rickenbacker Causeway named after Eddie Rickenbacker, the WWI ace pilot, or his relative Adolph Rickenbacker, of Rickenbacker Guitars?

    ETA: Ah. Wikipedia says the Causeway is named after Eddie.

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    @Amir Khalid: The very one, but Miami probably was inspired to call it that because ER founded Miami-based Eastern Airline rather than his other exploits.

  11. 11.

    Jerzy Russian

    I am pulling for the Steelers over the Raiders, and so far, so good on that one. I kind of wanted to see the Foreskins beat up on the Patriots. I also want to win the lottery, have world peace, etc.

  12. 12.

    some guy

    SEC East Champions!

    got a sunburn in the Swamp watching my team become SEC EAST CHAMPIONS!

    Go Gators

  13. 13.

    benw

    Coming down off the adrenaline jag after can near-accident like that can ruin a day. I was driving with a friend on a ruler-straight road between Vegas and LA when out of nowhere the car started swerving back and forth violently. It somehow got locked into the front tires jamming back and forth, and we were also on two wheels at least once before the car did about 270 degrees of a spinout in the middle of the highway. It was a miracle we didn’t flip over or get slammed into. And we were complete nervous wrecks the rest of the way home.

  14. 14.

    Roger Moore

    @Betty Cracker:

    The very one, but Miami probably was inspired to call it that because ER founded Miami-based Eastern Airline rather than his other exploits.

    Of which there were many; he accomplished an amazing amount in his life.

  15. 15.

    JWR

    Yeah! A brand new Open Thread! Here’s the prob:

    My system, (XP SP3 w/ the latest version of Firefox), sees the front page as something I’d once seen on a site with the option to switch between Mobile and Desktop versions. Thing is, BJ appears to be stuck in Mobile mode, or whatever. Is this part of the transition to the new format, or is this the finished product?

    PS. Where’s the button labeled “I Don’t Like New Stuff”?

  17. 17.

    Renie

    Here’s a weird issue I keep having: I normally use FF on a PC and starting either yesterday or Friday night whenever I use the arrows to advance to a new post I get a message site is unavailable or too busy to load. So I switch to IE and it doesn’t happen. Since I LOVE the arrows, any suggestions? Is it something to do with FF that I can fix?

    BTW why are there boxes with pencils on the home page for each post – makes it look like an error that image is not loading.

  18. 18.

    The Other Chuck

    I hope the new comment system fixes the back button issue, because I give up trying to fix it in JS. I know exactly what’s broken and two different ways to fix it, but the fix only works randomly in the console, and never works from a userscript. And I’m done fighting it.

  19. 19.

    bystander

    The formatting buttons are back. Is the website just mirroring Cole’s health? Would it help if we all clapped?

    Whenever we see somebody on the highway weaving like a drunk, listing to the gutter, almost invariably when we pass them in an effort to get out of their sphere of danger, they’re texting.

  20. 20.

    Scout211

    Removing the tags or categories from the beginning of the FP posts is a really good move. I like! Much easier to read. Thx!

  21. 21.

    Josie

    @The Other Chuck: Me, too. Oh, I don’t mean I tried to fix it – I’m too computer illiterate to do that. I never realized, however, how much I depended on the back button to follow conversations until it was gone. I tried using the tab and also tried anchoring the comment by clicking on the date like someone suggested. Neither of those worked for me and I am bereft.

  22. 22.

    RSA

    @Renie:

    BTW why are there boxes with pencils on the home page for each post – makes it look like an error that image is not loading.

    Gives a nice “Web site currently under construction” effect, don’t you think?

  23. 23.

    Duane

    A lot of coaches and sideline personnel are wearing camo gear.Veteran’s Day,I suppose.
    Wonder what the NFL is paid for that.

  24. 24.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    I can’t sportsball. Dog Walkies are over. Gonna take a nap. Which means the neighbors on both sides will now unlimber their leaf blowers.

  25. 25.

    Feudalism Now!

    Go Buffalo! Not sure about the play call from Carpenter before the half. You are on the 1 with :02 on the clock, so you go for a play option pass? The O-line can get a yard when the Bills aren’t stacked, why not a QB sneak? Gah, it is just nice to see Buffalo win at home, but bad play irks me.

  26. 26.

    MomSense

    I can’t stop eating the trader joe’s gummy bears.

    Evil. I’m craving poutine even though I gave up meat a long time ago. I’m going to blame this on the change of seasons.

  27. 27.

    raven

    @Duane: Shit was over the top at the Georgia game yesterday. I was with a group of visiting Italian soil scientists and they were amazed at the jingoism.

  28. 28.

    Brachiator

    @Renie:

    BTW why are there boxes with pencils on the home page for each post – makes it look like an error that image is not loading.

    I’m curious as well. The pencils on the right with thread descriptions just take be to a blog thread, but seem redundant.

    For any particular thread, there is a pencil on the left that does nothing.

    Chromebook 2 using Chrome OS

  32. 32.

    RSA

    There seems to be an extra partial image on the front page for this post, a horizontal strip of Betty’s skyline. This might be related to a bug on this page: when you expand the image, you can arrow through two of them, but 1/2 and 2/2 are the same.

    ETA: Sorry, Mac OS 10.10.5, Chrome 46, Firefox 38.

  34. 34.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    G’s library conference is going really well — last night he hung out with Jessamyn West and the librarian from Ferguson who made a point of keeping it open so people could have a retreat from the unrest and wouldn’t feel trapped in their homes. I’m not entirely sure who these people are, but he seemed really jazzed to have gotten to hang out with them.

    He tried to save me a cupcake from the buffet, but has now learned that librarians are cupcake people, so they were all gone when he went back for one. Live and learn.

  37. 37.

    rikyrah

    Real Estate Shell Companies Scheme to Defraud Owners Out of Their Homes
    Relying on the secrecy of limited liability companies, white-collar thieves are targeting pockets of New York City for fraudulent deed transfers, leaving the victims groping for redress.

    By STEPHANIE SAUL
    NOVEMBER 7, 2015

    Partially paralyzed and reliant on a wheelchair, Ozella Campbell spends a lot of time watching television. It was under those circumstances in February 2014 that she saw a commercial urging her to call MyHouseIsADump.com, a company that offered to buy houses in as-is condition, in cash, and to close the purchase within seven days.

    She called the toll-free number and within hours, she said, a well-spoken young man appeared at her brownstone, a longtime family home in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a Brooklyn neighborhood in the throes of transformation.

    The next day, the man’s associate arrived.

    “He said, ‘You don’t have to pay any more bills,’” said Ms. Campbell, who was $1,000 behind on her electric bill at the time.

    A third man, named Alex, ostensibly the boss, arrived next. He promised, Ms. Campbell said, to pay her delinquent mortgage, provide for her housing for two years, and pay her $43,800. He also hired a lawyer for her. All she had to do was sign over the deed to her house.

    More than a year later, Ms. Campbell, 75, is in limbo. Her former home at 679 Jefferson Avenue is owned by an entity called Jefferson Holding LLC and she is left with her delinquent $529,000 mortgage.

    http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/nyregion/real-estate-shell-companies-scheme-to-defraud-owners-out-of-their-homes.html?referer=&_r=0

  38. 38.

    Betty Cracker

    @RSA: Tried to fix it in the back room, but it’s still not right. Oh well. It’s a crappy picture anyway.

  42. 42.

    schrodinger's cat

    Final Tally for the Bihar elections:
    BJP and allies – 58
    Grand Alliance – 178
    Independent – 4
    Others – 3

    Narendra Modi had made it personal, BJP did not even have a candidate for CM (Chief Minister, like the Prime Minister on the state level). They got thumped.
    Continuing my happy dance!

  44. 44.

    Eric U.

    apparently, swerving your truck is a thing in some parts of the world. Getting it on 2 wheels is the goal. Crazy videos on youtube about it, I think there’s a name for the activity.

  45. 45.

    Cervantes

    @Amir Khalid:

    Wikipedia says the Causeway is named after Eddie.

    Right, but so were the guitars!

    (It was a famous name at the time, because of him.)

  46. 46.

    Big R

    @Tommy Young: Rammer Jammer, baby! (In case people can’t follow the chain, I am replying to Tommy’s football comment, not his house-buying scam comment).

  48. 48.

    RSA

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’s a crappy picture anyway.

    I like big skyline pictures! (Though I’m trying to figure out the ripples in the space continuum in the lower right corner. :-)

  52. 52.

    Cervantes

    @Amir Khalid:

    No they weren’t. Per Wikipedia, the guitars were named after Eddie’s distant relative Adolph Rickenbacker, a founder of Rickenbacker Guitars.

    Sorry, I have no idea what Wikipedia says, or why — but what I can tell you (pardon my repeating it) is that the name “Rickenbacker” was chosen for the guitars (by Adolph and his business partner) because it was already popular, due to Eddie. See Rickenbacker’s own web-site. They make the guitars; I imagine they know their history.

    Do you play the guitar? Rickenbacker or not, it’s a wonderful instrument!

    Anyhow, I’m out for the evening — your morning, I suppose. Have a great day!

  53. 53.

    Elliott

    You can tie your steering wheel to the door handle, crawl in the back seat and take a nap until Naples. Unless you’re box truck asshole.

    LOL so true

    (I couldn’t see the text actions until I scrolled over them – re: BJ update, Chrome Win 7)

Comments are closed.