A Large Regular

The US Navy remembers.

The air traffic over the US on September 11th.

The Daily Stoic Remembers.

Tonight Boston College hosts number 5 Clemson in the annual "Red Bandana Game" held to honor the sacrifice of Welles Crowther on September 11th.

That article does a good job explaining the significance of this year's game. But if you want to know the significance of Welles Crowther - watch this video. 

Phil Steel has the updated college football Vegas Power Rankings up on his site. These would be the hypothetical point spreads between teams on a neutral field. Two things of interest jumped out at me:

• Ohio State would be an almost 10-point favorite over Michigan on a neutral field but this year that game is AT Ohio State.
• Boston College would be just a 2-point favorite over Buffalo but Holy Cross beat Buffalo at Buffalo this season. Does that mean a hypothetical BC/Holy Cross game this year would be a pick-em?

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations. 

Unbeaten Notre Dame (4-0) should be ranked above 2-loss Clemson but so too should unbeaten (4-0) and currently unranked Boston College if the rankings are truly based upon performance on the field and not past reputation... USA! USA! USA!... Amused by the words "Chamber of..." because I can only think of two usages - Chamber of Commerce and Chamber of Secrets (from Harry Potter). Personally think there should be many more "Chamber of..."  I'd eat at a place called the Chamber of Pizza. How cool would a Chamber of Comic Books be? How about Chamber of Asian Delights? That could be the name for either a Chinese food restaurant or a massage parlor. Come to think of it I wonder why nobody has ever combined those two businesses... The Countries that are Going Nuclear on Climate Change.... Exajoules of Rock would be a good name for a high energy band... 

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Our descent away from representational government may have started with the appointment by a President of a Czar for this and a Czar of that. Who elected a Climate Czar for example? No more Czars... Not sure if there's any truth to the rumor that FaceBook, Amazon and Apple next have their sights set on the Farmers Only dating app because of the role farmers played in the Whiskey Rebellion insurrection... Boston College fired men's basketball coach Jim Christian on Monday. Even though he was the coach for seven years if you gave me a hundred chances I could not have told you who the BC coach was on Sunday. The job seems to be cursed since the Eagles fired Al Skinner all those years ago... Good baseball debate: who was the better player - Dustin Pedroia or Chase Utley? Offensively Utley has the edge but Pedroia has 4 Gold Gloves to his name... One fallacy of Social Media is that your voice is actually being heard. People like Joe Rogan, Matthew Ridley, Bill Simmons, and many, many others NEVER look at the comments or mentions. And regular users like you and me are more and more likely to mute others we find disagreeable. There's a very good chance your response is never even seen...  

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations on the day after September 11th.

Next year will be the 20th anniversary of the attacks on September 11th. Is it to much to ask that the day gets its proper due? Is it too much to hope that with the election behind us and people waking up to the toxic effects of social media that the country will be more united once again?... Mark Cuban is obviously in the first stage - denial. Will the next stage of anger get him kicked off Twitter?... My hope is next year the nation will be more united but in the age of "Social Justice" even September 11th can be divisive - as the NFL found out (look at the comments)... One of the things that always comes to mind on September 11th is Wells Crowther - The Man in the Red Bandanna. Boston College has a red bandanna game every fall in his memory. Never bet against BC in that game because the emotions are just off the charts... 

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Heh Heh - Boobies!

- I predicted that about 4 Democratic Congressmen would end up switching parties because they represent Districts in which Trump is popular. Looks like we've just had our first to switch.

- The next nuclear reactors will be small, svelte, and safer.

- The new California employment law is starting to crush freelancers - I would say "unexpectedly" but people were warned about this.

- Tough not to root for new BC football coach Jeff Hafley

- Cool - The Spaghetti Western trailer for The Mandalorian

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Heh heh - eye candy (via)

- The four curves that put us on the moon.

- This is cool. And I swear I yelled Patrick! at the end.

- Definitely going to at least one BC home game to check out AJ Dillion. Jonesing for some football.

- Heh Heh

- So black tea is the equivalent of meditation in a cup?

- I actually want this t-shirt

Here are my Top 5 thoughts and observations about this past weekend's NFL Draft as it relates to the New England Patriots.

1. Nobody really knows who the "winners and losers" are from the draft and won't know probably for five years. That's how long it takes to see if draft choices actually pan out. (Unless you're the New York Giants then yes you're a loser in this draft. Daniel Jones WTF?)

2. The New England Patriots are pretty unique in that once the players are assembled it is what you do on the field that determines if you play or not - not where you were taken in the draft or how big your contract is. It starts with a sixth round QB unseating the number one pick in the entire draft and extends to the entire roster. That's one of the reasons it appears that the Patriots don't do a great job drafting. If an undrafted free agent performs better than a second round pick then in Foxboro it is the undrafted free-agent that plays.

3. New England didn't draft a tight end but they did take N'Keal Harry with their 1st pick and Harry might have been the best receiver at catching balls in traffic in this year's draft. Catching contested balls was one of Rob Gronkowski's strengths and while Harry doesn't play TE he can possible replace the retired legend on some of those jump balls Brady used to throw Gronk in the corner of the end zone.

4. With the Pats drafting Auburn QB Jarrett Stidham you have to wonder what that means for Danny Etling who was third on the depth chart last season.

5. One of the things that bugged me leading up to the draft was the theme that the Patriots do such a poor job in drafting players that get named to the Pro Bowl. In New England the players don't play for "all-pro" or Pro Bowls. Patriots players play for championships. How has New England done in that regard?

On a local note - Boston College had more players taken in the first three rounds of the 2019 NFL Draft than powerhouse Notre Dame. Just saying.

Since Y2K the Patriots have won 4 Super Bowls, the Red Sox have won 3 World Series, the Celtics won the NBA Championship, and the Bruins won the Stanley Cup. In addition since 2000 Boston College won 4 NCAA Hockey Championships and Boston University added another. If you wanted to include New England as a region - you could also add in Providence College's win in 2015 and Yale's win in 2013 (coached by Worcester's Keith Allain no less).

We have been witness all-time greats such at Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, David Ortiz, Kevin Garnett and Zedano Chara (you can argue Chara if you like but I have a soft spot for the big guy).

I don't bring this up to brag. Just to remind myself and other Boston sports fans just how blessed we have been.

Stuff I found interesting or amusing.

- Things are pretty sad over at Boston College basketball

- I know this is childish but I don't care

- After 10 years Dos Equis is replacing the Most Interesting Man in the World

- The world's shortest horror story

- It's funny because it's true!

- Sally Jenkins nails the NFL over DeflateGate lies

I was going to post something about the latest chapter of the Holy War yesterday but I was kind of busy. You knew last night's game was going to be special starting with yesterday's beautiful sunrise over Fenway.

There were a lot of storylines attached to this game starting with the death of Doug Flutie's parents just an hour apart after 56 years of marriage and Flutie's decision to still call the game for NBC. A moment of silence were held for the elder Flutie's prior to the game. There was the return of native son Brian Kelly who got his football coaching start in nearby Assumption College in Worcester. How about Torii Hunter's son getting to use David Ortiz' locker? There was the story of the Irish trying to remain in the hunt for a berth in the college football playoffs. Then there was the very idea of a college football game at Fenway Park where Boston College had a record of 75-21-5 in 101 previous games at Fenway but were the "visiting team".

All the storylines seemed related and seemed to weave in and out of each other. The last time Boston College payed at Fenway was a 7-0 loss to Holy Cross in 1956. Decades later it was the dominance of Doug Flutie's Eagles team that led Holy Cross to end the Crusaders rivalry against the Eagles. And now another team with a Worcester connection was about to make Boston College 0-2 in their last two Fenway tilts.

You had to know that this was going to be a close game though. Sure the Eagles offense is anemic but their defense is one of the top 5 in the country. Besides this game has historically been close. The last two times these teams met the Irish were 20 and 24 point favorites but the final scores were 21-6 in 2012 and 16-14 in 2011. Boston College was getting 15.5 points last night.

Hope you enjoyed the game as much as I did.

 

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Just a reminder but when President Obama took office he was boasting about being able to stop the oceans from rising. Now three years in he's down to bragging about making it easier to clean up milk spills... Canadian teens launch Lego man into (near) space... Paul Newman would have been 87 today... Just saying but Boston College will have more players in the Super Bowl (6) than any other college... As a reminder - Rex Ryan will have to go 7-9 next season to equal Herm Edwards record in his first 4 years as New York Jets coach (35-29)... Very cool - FDR's 52nd birthday party was a Toga Party... The world's largest feet belong to Brahim Takioullah who sports a size 58 shoe (making my size 13's look pretty puny in comparison)... On this day in 1978 - New England was buried in snow as the great Blizzard of 78 was underway... Tweet of the Day from @pourmecoffee - "Goodnight Moon. Goodnight Newt colonizing the moon." I just find that so very clever and funny... Happy 51st birthday to Wayne Gretzky - the best hockey player who ever lived...

Tom O'Brien - Next Coach for Ohio State?

With the "resignation" of coach Jim Tressel - Ohio State is in turmoil. You can forget the talk about Urban Myer. There's no way he's going to a program that is bound to be hit with worse sanctions that what USC was just hit with. Luke Fickell? That makes a certain amount of sense but he has two major negatives against him - he has never been a 1-A head coach and he was part of the institution that exhibited such a lack of control in the first place.

I think in order for Ohio State to right this ship they will have to go outside the program and what better man for this job than Tom O'Brien?

O'Brien has been in this situation before. He took over at BC after a gambling scandal that rocked the program. O'Brien not only restored the pride in the program - he also turned it into a perennial Top 25 team that was bowl bound every season. In addition to making BC a program that routinely sent 1st round picks to the NFL - he also made sure BC was a program that graduated its players. He then took over a moribund NC State program and last year led them to a 9-4 record and a victory in a bowl game plus a final ranking in the Coaches and AP Top 25.

Keep in mind that O'Brien is a former Marine who is drill instructor tough. There may be no man in college football who can match him for integrity, toughness and success. With Ohio State under NCAA sanctions they will have to get used to the second tier of recruits - the kind of recruits O'Brien has shown he can win with at BC and NC State. On top of everything else - Tom O'Brien is from Ohio. He was born in Cincinnati.

I haven't heard or seen anyone mentioning Tom O'Brien to Ohio State - so I wanted to note it here so that you will remember where you read this sort of outside the box thinking first.

As an aside - someone hacked Tom O'Brien's Wikipedia page and added this little nugget:

According to many legitimate sources it was actually him O'Brien who saved the world from apocalypse and not Jesus, many people have also said that he once culled over 4,000 Iranian children.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Those Dominoes commercials are stupid. How about having one where they secretly bring customers to a slaughter house to see where their meat ingredients come from? That would be a fun one... Monday night I couldn't help thinking that Jeremiah Masoli had to be sitting at home thinking he could have done a better job at QB for Oregon. I wonder if he felt any remorse for his missed opportunity?... There is one very deserved medal missing from Major Dick Winters military awards - the Medal of Honor... Boston College has been to a bowl each of past 10 years - 5 of the Bowls they went to technically no longer exist. Good luck Humanitarian Bowl! By the way - is the Humanitarian Bowl sponsored by the Human Fund?... I know some people on Monday saw Nick Fairley and thought Albert Haynesworth. I saw Fairley and thought of Charles Jefferson - the Forrest Whitaker character from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Every time Fairley made a play in my head I heard, "Fairley's gonna shit! Then he's gonna kill us!"... My name is Larry Page. Millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht. I want to live on this yacht - full time... There are many males (and some females I guess) in Red Sox Nation who are saddened by the news that Hazel Mae is off the market. She recently got married. Sorry boys... I laughed at this. It is pretty accurate...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I find it amusing that many of the same people who are criticizing Andrew Luck for returning to Stanford for his senior year are the same people who will rip Terrelle Pryor when he changes his mind about returning to Ohio State... Caution? More like WTF?... From 1000 BC to 1830 AD there were about 100 generations of people and yet no significant changes in transportation. That makes what has been accomplished since simply mind blowing. Having said that - I'm still not happy that we don't have flying cars and jet packs... Very Cool Bill Murray story... With Matt Hasselbeck starting for the Seahawks on Saturday - that means Boston College is the only major college football program with two starting QBs in the NFL playoffs (Hasselbeck and Matt Ryan for Atlanta)... Rafael Palmeiro made over $89 million in career. Explain to me again why I should feel bad that he only got 11% on the Hall of Fame ballot... This is why I never leave my all my money or chips at the table if I have to step away for a minute at a casino. The idea that the casino will be responsible for your money if you step away from a table is a myth...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I've long held that George Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps is perhaps the greatest of the Beatles songs. When I listed the greatest Beatles covers I should have included this version - perhaps even at the top of the list (Prince's guitar solo is killer)... Just saying - Derek Jeter may now be the Yankees all-time hits leader but he's still 697 hits behind Carl Yastrzemski who is the Red Sox all-time hits leader.... Happy 42nd birthday to one of the funniest guys in the world - Louis CK... Today in college football I like Boston College (-21) over Kent State. The Eagles beat Kent State 21-0 last season on the road and held their main weapon 5-foot-5 senior running back Eugene Jarvis to just 51 yards. Today the turf at home in Chestnut Hill should be slick (because of the rain) making hit hard for Jarvis to cut on a dime plus BC is still trying to decide between two QB's meaning that each will be trying to put points on the board without letting up... On this day 50 years ago - Bonanza - the first regularly scheduled TV program in color premiered. Many people can recognize the music of the theme song but did you know the song also had lyrics?... I really wish I could be at this - the First Beer & Bacon Festival (on Talk Like a Pirate Day no less!)... Johnny Cash died six years ago to the day. The passing of an American icon still "hurts"...

BC Eagles the 2008 NCAA Hockey Champs

Congratulations to the Boston College hockey team for winning the 2008 men's NCAA hockey championship.

Nathan Gerbe was the team's Josh Beckett. Gerbe lost out on the Hobey Baker Award just as Beckett lost out on the Cy Young Award but like Beckett - Gerbe will have a championship ring that trumps any individual award.

BCS Rankings

Bob Molinaro does a nice job pointing out how subjective the BCS rankings are.

I remember earlier this week asking the same questions of how Virginia Tech could be ranked ahead of both Boston College and LSU - two teams with identical records to the Hokies who both beat Virginia Tech this year. I was also scratching my head wondering how Missouri could be number 1 in the rankings yet be an underdog against number 9 Oklahoma for a game on a neutral field. Bizarre.

Some would say that Virginia Tech is ranked over BC because of reputation as a better team than BC. But what have they done to earn that reputation? Boston College has beaten Virgina Tech 3 out of the last 4 times they played and is 7-1 against the spread in the last 8 times they have played. The line for this game today is up to 5 points but does anyone feel comfortable with Virginia Tech in close games? According to ESPN - Virginia Tech since 2001 is 6-8 in close games (less than 7 points).

Just saying.