Redefining Income "Inequality"

There's a difference between income "inequality" where someone is better than you at creating wealth and government taking away money from those who create wealth because of class war mythologizing..

Parkland Denies Right To Defend Itself

Parkland schools refused to report student incidents to police, showcasing the philosophy behind opposition to arming teachers - they're afraid to defend themselves.

Continuing Discouragement For Work

President Trump's new budget makes the mistake of increasing spending, notably on infrastructure the US does not need. Such approaches never work; all they do is discourage the real answer - work.

MeToo Equals Inferiority

A by-product of the insane #MeToo movement is demand for more favoritism toward weaker and less accomplished types instead of making people advance on objective merit. It shows anew what modern feminist fascism entails.

The Democratic Party And Soviet Collusion

The investigation into collusion with Soviet Russia has proven the Democrats to be the ones colluding. It is the real disaster here.

Arizona's Minimum Wage Backfire

Arizona is now finding out that "Fight For 15" is a failure.

The Gun Control Fraud Continued

The Parkland massacre has spawned yet another paroxysm for stricter gun restrictions and as usual the facts  (and the science) support nothing for gun control. The frequency of mass shootings in the US is lower than in eleven other nations, just two percent of US counties (all with strict gun controls) account for over half of killing, gun ownership rates and lower murder rates are a direct correlation with nations such as Honduras, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, and Venezuela with far lower rates of gun ownership breeding far more murders than the US, a vast and grossly underreported file of crimes stopped by defensive gun usage, and the simple fact these mass killings all take place in gun free zones.

Then there is the phobia against arming teachers, even though this is the case in Ohio and in 2013 a Michigan township was training teachers as armed guards while an Arkansas school was also arming teachers in 2013. And emerging evidence of widespread cowardice by local police and the FBI only makes opposition to arming teachers all the more foolish - and in keeping with the culture of cowardice in Leftism.

Gun control is a myth that keeps on giving, especially when phony analogies are made with other nations, notably London, where gun crime has escalated.

The Difference For Bubba Wallace

The surge of Darrell "Bubba" Wallace to the cusp of superstardom in racing has come rather quickly and in some circles there remains skepticism of his true ability. Certainly with so small a sample size at the Winston Cup level predicting the future is a risky call





As far as racing bona fides go, though, Bubba Wallace has already established legitimacy as a racer.   The difference for Bubba Wallace is a simple one - there clearly is substance to his racing, something a number of others cannot claim.

The Beatles- The Night Before live in BBC 1965

Another Girl - The Beatles remastered

Bubba Wallace Beyond Daytona

The Forbes website authors a piece on why the success of Bubba Wallace has more clout than people may realize.

Daytona Blockheads Throwbacks And That Black Car Reborn

The 2018 Daytona 500 will go down as a seminal event in NASCAR history as a spectacular race ended in the kind of bizarre fashion that racing often gets and which sparks a lot of reaction.

One theme permeating the week was throwback - Petty 43 vs Ranier 28 in the ARCA race; Elliott 9 vs RCR 3 in the Clash and throughout the Cup portion.   The ultimate throwback then erupted at the finish.

This was one of those races where the official lead changes - 24 - don't quite do justice to the repassing and nose-to-nose combat that permeated over half the race and especially the final ten laps.   NASCAR made numerous changes for this race - a gear change to allow the cars to suck up better in the draft and also lower ride heights.  The way they raced this change seemed to be geared more toward Talladega because it was substantially harder to pass there last season; the effectiveness of the package at Daytona augurs well for the Winston 500 weekend. 

This was a race of contrasts as was Speedweeks in general.   The first 100 laps of the 500 were frantic dicing for the lead, then after the Chase Elliott crash everyone just pounded out laps single file until the William Byron crash set off some of the best racing Daytona has ever seen.

The absurdity of NASCAR's field freeze rule showed again when they let the leaders race to the line after Aric Almirola's crash after not doing so five times in the Powershares 300 while ARCA likewise messed it up in their Lucas Oil 200.

The cynics before qualifying predicted the RCR 3 and Petty 43 of Bubba Wallace would get the front row, and all week promotion for the race noted the 20th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's 500 win; the upshot is the 3 vs 43 dichotomy didn't happen in qualifying, it happened in the race.  

The other upshot is Austin Dillon's history at Daytona was defined by plowing for the grandstands in 2015's Firecracker Fiasco - another irony is it was Hamlin getting spun out (by Harvick) that exploded that disaster.

In this Speedweeks blocking became a massive problem and it caused several crashes, including the last-lap melee that eliminated Aric Almirola.

The irony is Almirola crashed in all three races he ran in - and still showcased he is far superior to his predecessor Danica Patrick, who ended her NASCAR career the way she personified it - by plowing into a wreck after running in the back all day.

Bubba Wallace's comment ripping the sanctimonious Denny Hamlin caused a stir after the race and is the kind of controversy the sport has long thrived on.   It also served notice that Wallace and Richard Petty's #43 are ready to attack.

He also got hugged in the media center by his mom - which appeared to surprise him and he had to pull himself together - aloud.

Chase Elliott's reputation as a driver who can fight for the lead but not finish  the job continues to grow.


This race finished with some other eye-popping trivia -

Overlooked all week was the Rick Ware Chevrolet of Justin Marks, finishing 12th.   Marks, a native of  Rocklin, CA, won at Mid-Ohio in Chip Ganassi's Busch-Xfinity car in 2016; he also won at Palm Beach in a 2010 ARCA race.

This was the first plate win for Chevrolet since the 2015 Firecracker Fiasco and RCR's first plate win since the 2011 Diehard 500.

After Fords seemed to dominate all day Chevrolets took four of the top ten, including the overlooked Brad Daugherty Chevys of Chris Buescher (fifth) and AJ Allmendinger (10th). 

Richard Petty had a striking day - his present team finished second and two of his former drivers (Allmendinger and Almirola) finished in the top eleven.   It also served a larger storyline of the sport's mixture of old school and new - The Black 3 and Petty's 43 showcased young drivers as youngsters and veterans went at it for the lead all weekend.  

This was RCR's first Daytona win since Kevin Harvick's 2007 win.

Ryan Blaney finished seventh after leading 118 laps - and because of stage points (he earned 18 of those plus one playoff point) he is now the point leader ahead of all six cars who finished ahead of him.   Stage racing was meant to incentivize going for the lead - it's clearly working. 

Despite Keselowski's crash, Penske Racing still had a solid Speedweeks as Joey Logano came back from trouble and finished fourth with Blaney seventh. 

Joe Gibbs Racing salvaged third from Hamlin after his other three Toyotas crashed.   Hendrick Motorsports had it even worse as all four of Slick Rick's Chevrolets wrecked; the upshot is polesitter Alex Bowman acquitted himself superbly after he stunk up the joint in the 150 and got himself some trash talk from Harvick about it.


And the end result is the most exciting Speedweeks since..........irony of ironies, last year.   It goes to show that in racing, when the thrill seems to be gone, it comes back.

Daytona Trucks Along In Two Thrillers

Daytona Speedweeks 2018 began with a bang in the ARCA Lucas Oil 200 and with that it also saw a great exercise in throwback as a Richard Petty #43 (Sean Corr) and a Ranier Racing #28 (Sheldon Creed) make it like 1984 all over.    The Advance Auto Busch Clash and Can-Am Gatorade 150s raised questions going into the 500 and then the features provided answers -

But Speedweeks is not just the Daytona superoval.   Surrounding tracks like New Smyrna Speedway offer delicious competition as well  and following the Busch Clash NASCAR's K&N/Busch East tour squared off at New Smyrna and squared into a Todd Gilliland-Harrison Burton showdown that got physical and ended in a terrific win for Gilliland, slated to drive in the Truck Series for Kyle Busch later this season

 


The Nextera 250 turned into a torridly competitive affair from the opening lap onward.   Unable to run due to not being old enough, Todd Gilliland gave way to dad David in Kyle Busch's Toyota and David squared off in a gigantic sidedraft war for the lead that raged almost all race until a shunt by his Kyle Busch teammate Spencer Davis with seven to go ruined his race.   Given his employment with Kyle Busch's team the nickname of the larger organization can now be The Spencer Davis Group, except it was Maury Gallagher's Chevrolets given some loving with their 1-2 finish.

An eye-popping stat - Maury Gallagher has now won three straight Nextera Truck 250s, giving Chevrolet three straight after going 0-for-lifetime in the race until 2016.    



Another eye-popper was the ejection of two Busch-Xfinity Series crew chiefs - RCR's Nick Harrison plus his car chief Mike Searce, and Robert Scott of Mike Harmon's team - for multiple inspection failures with NASCAR's new laser-based inspection scanner.  

And yet that got forgotten in the wildest Busch-Xfinity 300-miler at Daytona in years.   Kyle Larson in particular became a major issue with blocking and it led to a major crash with two to go on a restart.    Blocking in general has become more and more of an issue in NASCAR the last few years.

Yet another problem refocuses on the folly of NASCAR's insistence on overofficiating.   NASCAR's Green-White-Finish rule has become a fiasco with a preposterous number of restarts because NASCAR won't let the cars race to the flag and thus finish the race, the same problem that ruined the finish of the ARCA Lucas Oil 200.  

And yet the end result was the most amazing finish in recent memory as youngster Tyler Reddick barely edged popular veteran Elliott Sadler in a photo finish, a striking illustration of one of the overlooked sub-themes of 2018 Speedweeks - the synergy of kids battling with longtime veterans.   The investment into young drivers in the sport has angered a striking number of fans, yet the sight of veterans more than holding their own in some of the most furious combat in motorsports is a spectacle that can only benefit racing.  

2018 Daytona 500 Preview

So the Daytona 500 is on the horizon after the Can-Am Gatorade qualifiers, so we offer a view going in   - 

NASCAR's Box Of Chocolates package:  NASCAR mandated a gear change going into pole day and also allowed lower ride heights, leading to the spectacle of the cars resembling lowriders.   The gear change allowed the cars to suck up in the draft better while the cars are strikingly looser, especially in the draft.    The first test of this new package was the Advanced Auto Busch Clash, and the 150s were the next test.

With two such races out of the way, the result is we really don't know what we're getting for the 500.   The cars are looser all around, which led to several wrecks in the 150s.   It also saw bizarre contrasts - dicing for the lead was tight and tense, but the last 30-plus laps of the Clash were a single file line where seemingly everyone was afraid to try to pass; this was repeated in the 150s, with the first 150 less intense than the second.    We expect the 500 to be more intensely contested with segment bonus points being in play; clearly the drivers can pass, and we saw cars get runs past multiple cars in a lap or two.  



Lowriders ride the cushion - The ARCA Lucas Oil 200 saw two lanes of drafts, and when Sean Corr and Sheldon Creed went Petty-vs-Ranier throwback for the win highside sidedraft passing came back in an eye-opener.   It has now extended to the NASCAR side of things as the fields have preferred the highside.   Cars out back kept moving low to pass but seemingly no one wanted to run the bottom.



The Penske Fords, and the Fords in general, are the favorites - Penske Racing swept the Clash and their 150 and the Roush and Wood Brothers Fords also showed real muscle, notably Ricky Stenhouse, stuck striving to pass from the back in his 150 and finally succeeding at the end even as he had to dodge two wrecks.    Brad Keselowski's semi-effortless win in the Clash wasn't replicated in the 150, and in fact his wreck looked a little bit like an Ernie Irvan move, while Ryan Blaney right away established his bona fides in Roger's fleet.   Trevor Bayne and Paul Menard in the second 150 also showed genuine steam, especially a surprisingly feisty Menard in the Wood Brothers #21.   Michael McDowell's Ford also earned respect in his race and the Stewart-Haas Fords were also decent, especially Kevin Harvick, though Aric Almirola caught the Danica jinx in his #10.

A curious fact - Fords have now won eleven of the last fourteen plate races.



The Petty-RCR Chevrolets are the strongest Ford challengers -  Make no mistake; if Bubba Wallace doesn't win in 2018 it will be a serious surprise.   Ryan Newman ran good despite rear fender damage while Austin Dillon struggled in his 150, but it's Darrell Wallace Jr. in Richard Petty's RCR-aligned #43 that stole the show on Thursday night.    When Wallace rocketed from the back to the lead five in last year's Firecracker 400 in Petty's #43 that was the first true sign Wallace can hack it at the Winston Cup level having already established his racing bona fides in the Truck Series and also with respectable effort in the Busch-Xfinity Series.  

Chevrolet goes into the 500 winless in Cup plate races since the disastrous 2 AM Firecracker fiasco of 2015 and with just two wins in the last four seasons.



Chase Elliott won his 150 while Hendrick's other cars are head-scratching - Jimmie Johnson has now wrecked twice this Speedweeks and William Byron's Hendrick debut ended in a wreck.   Alex Bowman won the pole in the ex-Dale Junior #88 but he didn't race anyone and in fact stayed out of the draft altogether - which led to an interesting comment by Kevin Harvick afterward that Bowman thus learned nothing for the 500.   This left it to Chase Elliott to chase a qualifier win in easily the more hotly-contested of the Twins.   The surprise there was he cruised home basically unchallenged.



The Toyotas are also head-scratchers -   Just how good are the Toyotas?   Denny Hamlin rocketed back and forth in his 150 and the JGR Camrys seemed to be able to pass people, while Martin Truex has been curiously quiet this Speedweeks.   Hamlin has won the last two plate races for Toyota - the 2014 Winston 500 and 2016 Daytona 500 - and right now seems the favorite in that class.  



So the 150s are done and the 500 awaits the conclusion of the Truck Series and Busch-Xfinity Series.

The Real Collusion Scandal Continued

"The peculiarities of Obamagate keep growing." And do so with such emails as Susan Rice writing to herself on January 21 about a meeting with Barack Obama on January 5, an email that is part of Obama's coverup of a Russia investigation that after two years cannot find evidence of collusion by Trump.

The Stupidity Of Identity Politics Gets Worse

A Boston political hack named Tito Jackson objected to a Tweet by the Boston PD honoring Boston Celtics legend Arnold "Red" Auerbach - showing anew that Identity Politics has no place in life.

The Fraud Of Oxfam

The way to deal with "economic inequality" is to let market forces raise the bar for the poor, yet Oxfam remains supportive of government thievery against people who create wealth.

So Michael Self Said To Himself..........

So Michael Self said to himself, "Self.....go for the win at Daytona."   When it was all over, he did.   A native of Utah - home of Mitt Romney and the singing group SheDaisy - he'd won in the K&N/Winston West series eight times - six in Chevrolets fielded by Jim Offenbach in 2012-13; after a four-year layoff he returned to K&N Winston West and won twice in Bob Bruncati Fords in 2017.  

He has also raced in ARCA, winning on the zaniest restart ever seen at Kansas Speedway in 2016, driving the  MDM #28.    He switched to the Venturini squadron for 2017, but while the cars are different - he now races Venturini Toyotas - the winning is still the same. 

As the showdown swelled forward Daytona suddenly was racing like it was 1984.   Sheldon Creed is now wielding the powerful MDM #28, now like the Venturini fleet a Toyota, and sporting teammates Chase Purdy (in a #8 curiously resembling an old Dale Junior DEI Chevy) and #41 Zane Smith .   Creed, however, was crossing swords and the sidedraft with Sean Corr, driving the Empire Racing Group #43, an ARCA team with a Richard Petty connection.  

The #43 vs #28 showdown was swelling into an epic finish that got derailed by two wrecks, the first tearing asunder the day of Bret Holmes.    The subsequent one-lap restart wiped out the leaders and opened the door for Self.

When it was all over Venturini racecars had three of the top five finishes and four of the top eight.   Creed recovered from his mess to finish an astonishing third.    One of the finishing Venturini Toyotas was polesitter Natalie Decker, who stole the early headlines thusly.   Silly commentary praising Danica Patrick for "showing the way" followed, and the irony of that statement followed when Zane Smith stormed into the lead and Decker nearly T-boned some cars on two occasions on restarts - the incar camera footage here was genuinely unsettling.   The second set-to so tore up her left front fender that she was dead meat until the spate of late yellows rescued her and numerous others.  That she survived and finished so well is certainly noteworthy and in fact is moreso than anything Danica Patrick did.


The most striking aspect of the racing going forward is that Corr was stuck on the outside late - usually a dead lane as far as winning goes - but he produced something we haven't seen at Daytona or Talladega.  Most often sidedrafting has been stopping passing, but Corr at the finish was able to rocket from third to a momentary lead in substantial part by sidedrafting reminiscent of Terry Labonte's 1999 BGN win at Talladega.    NASCAR made a gear change before opening practice that promised to allow the cars to suck up in the draft more effectively.   

That Corr and Creed's race to to the stripe was not declared the finish in this ARCA race showed anew the folly of not racing to the line for the finish of races when it is safe to do so.   By instead rewinding and staging another green-white finish the race was torn asunder with more crashes.   It thus put a damper on what was a worthwhile winner in Michael Self, and it was also an encouraging start to Speedweeks 2018.

Me Too Movement Tells Women Not To Speak For Themselves

The "Me Too" movement tells women not to speak for themselves; it treats them as children while feeding fraudulence and hypocrisy in attacking Donald Trump over Rob Porter, a White House aide who resigned following allegations of abuse of former wives.

Hillary Clinton Wants To Steele An Election

The Christopher Steele dossier is more and more showing how crooked Hillary Clinton is. It is also showing how the media is on the side of defending actual government wrongdoing while patting itself in the ass for attacking fraudulent wrongdoing, all the while ignoring Steeles's flaws and its own double standard. The media's own elitist snobbery comes out in attacking Devin Nunes, who uncovered the dossier and has been vindicated by Senators Charles Grassley and Lindsey Graham.  

A side story is the self-pitying whine of State Department hack Jonathan Winer, part of the "deep state" that has gone after Trump. Illustrating the hypocrisy of Trump hatred is the newfound respect for intelligence agencies on the part of magazines like The Atlantic, and a minority memo pushed by Democrats merely proves Republicans' point about the dishonesty of the FBI and DOJ here.

Government Needs To Relearn Austerity

Government insists on spending - and is borrowing yet another trillion dollars to do so. When does it figure out it needs to stop?

After The FISA Memo

For leftists, what next? What's next is a bad rebuttal by Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler and ever more exposure of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and also a second document written by Cody Shearer, one of Hillary's sleaziest buttboys. Which begs the question of where it ends.

Fly Eagles Fly In Superbowl Classic

And so ends a 58-year championship drought and only the third grudge-match Superbowl in which the losing side the first time won the rematch - the Dolphins defeated the Redskins in 1972 then the Skins beat them in 1982; the Steelers beat the Cowboys in 1975 and again in 1978, then the Cowboys closed out the Troy Aikman dynasty at the Steelers' expense in 1995.  

For the Philadelphia Eagles it was decades of abuse over not winning a championship despite multiple talented teams, notably during the 2000-04 period under Andy Reid and the much-abused Donovan McNabb when they won four straight NFC East titles and lost three straight NFC Title Games, then made Superbowl XXXIX only to falter in the most anticlimactic Superbowl in memory.   The Eagles made the playoffs under ex-49er Jeff Garcia in 2006 and won a memorable Wildcard game vs the NY Giants, made the NFC Title Game in 2008 under McNabb, went one-and-out in 2009, then in 2010 won the NFC East under comeback player of the year Michael Vick and lost a bitter Wildcard affair to the Packers.  

Nick Foles' first playoff run with the Eagles came in 2013 ending in a Wildcard round loss to the Saints, then Foles faltered and in 2016 Carson Wentz took over, storming the Eagles in 2017 before being lost for the season late this past year in the Rams game.    Foles' redemption becomes all the more impressive after his strikingly slow start as starter late in the regular season and also the playoff upset of the Falcons.  

As usual in Superbowls a lot will be dissected.  My own takes -


The big picture takeaway for the NFL - finally a fresh new champion.   The seeming lack of competitive depth in the league has been an issue for a number of years now and is likely the largest reason for declining ratings.   Seeing the Titans, Jaguars, Bills, Vikings, and Panthers in the playoffs in 2017 was a refreshing change for the league's competitive depth and seeing the Eagles end a 58-year title drought is a huge step forward for a league that objectively has suffered from Patriots Fatigue; with the arrival of Jimmy Garoppolo to the 49ers suddenly expectation is sky-high for another team that fell off the map to explode forward again.  In short there appears to be legitimate competitive depth in the league again.  

The big picture takeaway for the Eagles - they've got a team that looks like a sustainable power, though they are reportedly $5 million over the salary cap, plus what to do with Nick Foles once Carson Wentz comes back may be a little sticky; we think Wentz becomes starter again.   The decline of the Dallas Cowboys helps the Eagles going forward while the collapse of the NY Giants merely reduces a team the Eagles have largely owned for the last two decades further, and the always-inconsistent at best Washington Redskins remain a question mark, though signing ex-Chief Alex Smith will be an improvement over the overrated Kirk Cousins.

There are several big-picture takeaways for the Patriots - the story is they are some $19 million under the cap, which will help going forward.  New England lost too many battles at the line of scrimmage, especially on defense, though given how much improvement the defense had shown since starting 2-2 the avalanche under which the defense got buried was a little surprising.  The offensive line played well overall but also struggled more than a 600-plus yard game would suggest.    The bigger takeaway on offense is it is time the Patriots invest in and commit to multiple big physical bookend deep threat pass catchers instead of insisting on a binky offense where too often receivers don't get enough separation while leaning too much on Rob Gronkowski - the return of Martellus Bennett should help draw heat away from Gronkowski if Bennett is retained for 2018.   Having multiple bookend deep threats is a big part of why the Eagles won.

The big buzz revolves around the de facto benching of Malcolm Butler by the Patriots.   It was unexpected - yet unsurprising, for Butler has been playing his way downward the last two seasons, especially after the Stephon Gilmore signing; worth remembering is Butler was benched in the game at the Saints and earlier this season a story attributed to Albert Breer suggested Butler might be a trade piece for Mychal Kendricks of the Eagles.   Of course Butler's subpar play vs the Jaguars in the AFC Title Game only made his future in New England all the murkier, and the notion advanced in some circles that he could have helped the Patriots defense in the Superbowl seems wishful thinking - subsequent scuttlebutt alleging serial insubordination to Butler makes it even worse for him despite media spin in his favor.

Murkier also becomes the future of Josh McDaniels with separate Mike Florio and Scott Zolak reporting indicating the assumed deal to become Indianapolis Colts head coach may not happen - this has led to speculation (always a mug's game) that Bill Belichick's future with the team is uncertain, but that's just gossip unsupported by any credible evidence (with a reported signing of Greg Schiano to replace Matt Patricia indicating Belichick is staying).   More likely the idea of working for the unstable Jim Irsay has more to do with McDaniels' future than any gossip about Belichick.  

Ironically both the Patriots and Eagles - regular preseason opponents - face the AFC South on their 2018 slates; both face the division champion Jaguars, the improved Titans under new head coach Mike Vrabel - Vrabel's hiring looks to be a coup for the Titans as it has a lot to do with his player experience with the Patriots, the team every other AFC team has to overcome first and foremost - and also a Houston Texans team where rookie sensation Deshaun Watson should be able to run the full season; what he produced in his foreshortened rookie year was eye-popping and a tremendous sign going forward.   What the Indianapolis Colts will look like is still in question, though Andrew Luck we think will finally be able to suit up again.  

Both teams will also face the Minnesota Vikings, vastly improved in 2017, though their quarterback situation is a bit murky going forward with Teddy Bridgewater healthy again.    One can expect the season-opening Thursday Nighter to be Vikings at Eagles.   

There is clearly no evidence Tom Brady is in any decline; indeed reaching the AFC Title Game will be an upset if it doesn't happen.   Right now the premature prediction is the Patriots once again storm to the AFC East but  the Miami Dolphins get Ryan Tannehill back and we believe the Dolphins make a playoff run again, while the Bills' quarterback situation may be in flux, as we doubt Tyrod Taylor will be starter in 2018; the NY Jets remain a murky deal.    Elsewhere in the AFC the Jaguars, Titans, and Texans look to make the AFC South the deepest division in the conference the way the NFC South presently in in that conference; we're not yet sure what to make of the Steelers with rampant blame-assignation and little to no accountability shown by anyone there, while the Ravens may be in some desperation mode with longtime GM Ozzie Newsome retiring after 2018; the Bengals still don't look like more than a 9-7 team and the Browns just can't get anything going; the Broncos likewise suddenly are a big mess while the Raiders try to rebound with a new coach - though what to expect out of Jon Gruden is a complete mystery - the Chiefs look to the future with Patrick Mahones, and the Chargers showed more than expected to where they may actually be getting better.

As for the NFC we expect the Eagles to stay on top in the East with only the Redskins showing improvement with a new quarterback, while the Giants deal is a mess and the Cowboys aren't in much better shape; in the North the Vikings are top dogs and the Packers may be in trouble with more pessimistic talk from Aaron Rodgers - talk at times sounding like subtle blame-shifting - about whether he'll stay in Green Bay, with the Lions presently stuck as a 9-7 team and the Bears wondering if they'll ever get better; the South is the deepest division in the conference and we think Carolina and Atlanta will stay as playoff contenders while New Orleans showed huge improvement in 2017 as the Bucs regressed; the West meanwhile gets wilder with the steady erosion of the Seahawks, murkiness about the Cardinals, the surge of the Rams, and the big potential story in the eruption of the new-look 49ers.


A John Wayne line from The Green Berets comes to mind - "first we get some sack time, then we start all over again."  For the Patriots and everyone else some rest is needed and then the grind renews with free agency, the Draft, and finally July training camps.  For the Eagles it's the song Don't Dream It's Over.