Big Blue Huddle

Quote from: LennG on Today at 03:06:53 PMNot to change the meaning of this topic, but some of the great 'quotes' and other meanings remind me of things.

As we get older, especially myself, there are times when I just sit back and try and recall the decisions of my life, good or bad, and think how things might have been different if I did something a different way.
You know, shoulda, woulda, and coulda.
But what I do try to do and have tried this my entire life. is no matter how stupid or messed up I might have acted or did, to keep doing that same thing is just ridiculous. As we say, we need to learn from our mistakes and hopefully improve on them. I have tried to live by this. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes, either stupidity, or just plain stubbornness has prevented me from doing this, but over the years, I have learned and I'll be damned if I do those same stupid things again.

My father sat in his worn out recliner and looked at me and said, "You know Richard, I've made a million indecisions in this chair"...LOL. Another time when it was the night before he retired from his job in Syracuse with the New York Board of Fire Underwriters, he said, "You know Richard, I retire tomorrow and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up"...LOL

Life is a ride of decisions, mistakes, great moves, bad moves, etc. We just never know where life's highway is going to take us, but oh what a ride

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on Today at 03:22:02 PMI like cats. We have two right now. I used to not like them before I met my wife, but I grew to like them over time as she had cats when I met her and we have had other cats since.

Dogs are way better in most ways, as they are more affectionate, loyal, fun, playful etc. But they are also much higher maintenance than cats. Our cats are pretty affectionate too. I know some cats are kind of unfriendly and nasty, but not ours. There are nasty dogs too.

I am reminded of this scene from "Meet The Parents." I find it amusing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJFp272w9u8

I forgot that scene, and it made me laugh.    I thought it was going to be Focker saying he milked a cat, or when the cat crapped in Jack's mother's remains. Movie was a classic

Quote from: LennG on Today at 03:23:12 PMNot that being old enough to remember some of these people is great, but the times we lived thru, first with Elvis and then the Beatles, to put it simply, there will never be anything like that ever again. Swift has her millions and millions of fans, but the craziness that surrounded, first Elvis, and then the maniacal fans towards the Beatles. There was nothing, and will ever be anything, to compare with that --- EVER.

That is not to say, as the thread asked, who was bigger in their time, but again, the Beatles are still big today, over 60 years later.

Funny you bring that up Lenn. I just picked up my grandson and had a half hour ride in the car with him. He knows all of today's pop songs, but I have Sirius radio in my car and I paged through it and saw that "Rocky Raccoon" was playing. Nice thing about Sirius, you can hit replay, and it will start the song from the beginning, as often as you want to hear it. So I cranked it up and started it from the beginning. Anyway, he's a teen and knows nothing about the Beatles, and he loved the song. He told me that he thought most music today was "corporate music", etc., so it was a nice change for him. I told him it was kind of an obscure song by them, and explained how everyone went crazy when they came to America. He knew absolutely nothing about them or that time period. I have to have a chat with my daughter when she's back in town tomorrow and find out why she never taught her son about the Beatles, especially since he loves music. When she was growing up (and all my kids), they were subjected to tons of Beatles' songs played by me...and they could sing along with each song because they knew them so well because of their dad!

Quote from: Ed Vette on Today at 01:21:38 PMIt made me wonder what the cat sensed that night. It happened the exact time we were discussing it. Nothing the rest of the night. Cats seem to like me and will brush up against me and let me pet them. Although I've never had a cat as part of the family.

I'm the same way. I remember stopping at a girl's house one time and her cat came up to me and I scratched its head while it purred like crazy. The girl told me she never saw anything like that because no one could get near that cat except her. Cats usually like me, and I don't know why - especially my son's cats. They come running when I stop in and jump on my lap the second I sit down. It can actually get irritating

I've had cats off an on...and dogs. I favor cats only because they can take care of themselves when I'm gone. I don't need to get a dog sitter. I lost two cats in the last couple of years to the highway, Jeter and Rambo. Both Siamese (Jeter Lilac point, Rambo Chocolate point) Which really surprised me because for years, they never went near the road. Then one morning (a year apart), there they were, lying in a pile by the road. At least it had to be quick 

I only have pictures when they were young. Jeter turned into a big old Tom Cat who strutted around like a lion, only "King of the House" instead of the jungle





And destroying the couch while sharpening his nails 


Can't find any pictures of Rambo...they're somewhere, just can't find them

Cats are mysterious creatures that see themselves as the highest order of the food chain. While dogs look up to humans and think, "they feed me and give me shelter, they must be God"; whilst a cat thinks, "they feed me and give me shelter, I must be God"

Here's another example:

Two dogs and a house cat die at the same time. Standing at heaven's door, God asks the German Shepard what he believes in. The German Shepard says, "Discipline, loyalty, and obedience". God says, "you may enter"

Next, God asks the Doberman what he believes in. The Doberman says, "Loyalty, obedience, and love of my family". God says, "you may enter"

Next, God asks the house cat what he believes in. The cat says, "I believe you're in my seat"

Anyway, it's quite normal for cats to have one person they trust in, no matter what, and see others as a nuisance or just in their way. Cats take a long time to earn your trust, unless you've raised them from birth. They especially hate strangers (in most cases). As far as your friend goes, cats are intuitive and can sense things we can't. If they sense that she is nervous around cats, they pick up on it immediately and will want nothing to do with her. The more she feels that cats don't like her, the more it becomes part of who she is and cats sense it. Having a cat screech while talking about it is coincidental, but very funny. That's all I got 

The Athletic did an exhaustive poll of Giants fans and this is the result:



WR wins by a landslide. Kind of taken aback that 10% would trade no.6 and next year's first for Maye 

Quote from: Ed Vette on Today at 09:44:34 AMI started investing in Gold when it was a contrarian play at $180 an ounce. The US Central Bank was selling Gold to keep the price low. There were several mining companies that did well over time but the real money was made in coin. Unfortunately, purchasing and storing gold bars was unattainable. The Highs and Lows of Miners is not a good long term investment.

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/GOLD/barrick-gold/stock-price-history

My kid brother did something I thought was crazy, but it turned out to be genius. Here's what he did

He took out a second mortgage on his home and spent the entire proceeds on gold when it was about 600 an oz. Each month he'd sell off enough gold to cover the cost of the mortgage payment (basically, betting the ranch that gold would go higher faster than the interest rate on the mortgage). In less than three years, gold was a little over 1200 an oz., so he sold off enough to pay off the mortgage while still having about a third of the gold still in his pocket. Capitalism at work, lol

Quote from: y_so_blu on Today at 12:17:50 AMImpossible to say, as I wasn't around for Elvis or the Beatles. And I couldn't have picked Swift out of a police lineup until she started dating Travis Kelce.

In the political spectrum, the elitists are not happy at all with Taylor dating Kelce...why??? Because she's the biggest influencer in the world, with billions of fans. Not because of her average looks, or even her voice (which has a teenish sound to it), but because she writes and sings ballads that every girl from 8 to 80 can relate to. But back to why elitists are unhappy with her: There is a movement to emasculate men and "gender fluidity" is the "jelly of the month". Because she is so influential towards billions, they did not want her to grab onto a "machismo" guy, a brute, a man's-man, etc. They prefer her to be with an artsy type guy, not a gorilla

Anyway, she's also incredibly smart and knows exactly what she's doing - even as a teenager, writing songs in her bedroom. As an example, Seth Myers on The Howard Stern Show, discussed how brilliant she is. He worked at SNL for a dozen years and used to kind of make fun of the guests, because they were always confused about what they should do. But he came back a decade after leaving SNL and discovered how hard it was to follow script and get the gist of what's going on. He said the opening monologue was one of the most difficult things for most guests on the show. He used to sit with Lorne Michaels to come up with the opening monologue. But when 19 year old Taylor Swift hosted SNL, she had already written her own monologue and when she presented it to Michaels and Myers, they were blown away that someone (especially that young) could do something like that, and it was the best opening monologue they could have ever come up with. So they just let her do her own thing. Stern agreed that she is smart and savvy beyond her years

As far as who's biggest: they all were at their time and were hugely influential to music, style, etc. A nod probably goes to Taylor because of her influence across the Far East, South America, and virtually every corner of the world, not just the U.S. and Europe

Here's her opening monologue and a funny skit on the Fox NFL Sunday crew and football

Quote from: y_so_blu on Today at 12:15:05 AMThe study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises, and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false.

Paul Johnson

That's a mouthful that is spot on. In short, "those who don't know history, are doomed to repeat it". And at great cost when following notions with a track record proving it doesn't work and is disastrous - over and over again throughout history. I'm always reminded of my professors with a white board explaining how a system (proven to fail throughout history) can work with a couple of adjustments. Earth to professors: "EVERY SYSTEM WORKS ON A WHITE (or black) BOARD"

Unfortunately, I made more than a few decisions with my portfolio based on Woods, as she was a risky investor in new technology...right in my wheelhouse. Not that I didn't like Buffet's plan of attack, but Buffet tends to invest in stodgy stocks (oil, trains, petroleum, and chemical giants) that sell for over a 100k per share, and me - being inclined to invest in tech (and lower priced stocks) - invested primarily in NASDAQ, trying to catch a ride on an upcoming technology. Bit me right in the ass! Should have rolled it all over into gold after the election to ride out the huge drop. It was around 1700 per oz in '21, and now around 2400 per oz 

Glad to see she has somewhat recovered. NASDAQ really crashed hard back in '21...much worse than the big board

Quote from: Bob In PA on April 18, 2024, 02:05:52 PMThose other teams believe what I believe... pick six is good slot to be in this year. Bob

When you consider the top shelf (4 QBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE, and at least 1 OT) that would all be top 1 or 2 picks in many other drafts, you can see why. Hence, if trading down, don't trade down too far unless you get a ridiculous offer that includes multiple pics in the first half of the draft, coupled with first round draft picks in coming drafts

If you think the naysayers on DJ are old and tiresome, wait until a year down the road and a QB like Bo Nix or Pennix, or Pratt turns out to be the second coming of Herbert...or worse, we pass on JJ and he becomes a star like Tom Brady. I can't imagine this board if DJ struggles and one of the QBs we passed on jettisons into a superstar. It won't be fun for the next decade with all the "We could have had Nix (or some other QB who grows hair on his chest and becomes a stud franchise QB). Even worse, we trade DJ, draft JJ, and DJ turns into the second coming of Brady with a good team around him and JJ sucks. Oh what fun that will be 

Ahhh...the good old, "time will tell" must be adhered to here. Draft can't get here soon enough

Quote from: MightyGiants on April 18, 2024, 09:58:23 AMI think the claims of DJ being a slow processor are more the result of fans claiming they see that on film (they don't) rather than a reflection of reality.  Unless you are at Greg Cosell level tape grinder (with access to the full 22), the average (and even above average fan) is not capable of discerning processing speed.   I would also suggest that if fans' claims about the slow processing were true, Schoen would have never signed DJ to the contract they did.

My biggest concern with DJ moving forward is that the Giants did such a horrible job protecting him over the years he is starting to see ghosts.   It's possible that DJ's ACL tear may prove to be a blessing in disguise because it gave him some time off from the beatings, and perhaps he will recover from his previous trauma.  That is a big question in my mind.  I'm not sure how DJ will react when he starts getting hit again.  So traumas become ingrained, and I don't care how tough you are; they just keep impacting you.

My take FWIW, is that the coaches analyze everything, and then DJ does what he's told to do based on the play called from the sideline. He isn't Roger Staubach calling plays in the huddle on his own while Landry watches to see what he decides to do. Giants coaches know DJ's limitations, and they also know the limitations of the OL and receivers. And they call the shots based on their own analysis and what they think will work. If DJ was a loose canon who did what he felt like doing instead of sticking to the play calling, he would have been cut a long time ago

I have no worries that DJ can't read the defense or that he processes slow. He's balancing doing what exactly what he's told, while usually running for his life...and don't forget, he has been told to NOT THROW INTERCEPTIONS after a bad start of turning the ball over

Not trying to be a stick in the mud or rain on anyone's parade, but to address the original post, there is no such thing as an accurate mock, let alone "the most accurate". And trying to bless someone's mock before the draft as "#1 most accurate" is beyond silly. Like picking the "most accurate March Madness bracket" before a single basketball is dribbled (note: the mathematical odds of getting a perfect bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion; the equivalent of winning Powerball several times in a couple of years)

Everything we think...will radically change on draft day. The top 3 or 4 picks are likely to be right (but could be a different order), but after that...it's one surprise after another

Great stuff...love the H. L. Mencken and Bertrand Russell quotes. They are spot on!

Not quite the same, but the Jewish Proverb told differently by a comedian said, "Love is temporary insanity, cured by marriage"

My own quote I've used for years: "The road to wisdom is paved with humility"