thependulumswings

If you’re already done with the Keto diet New Year’s resolution, or if even if you never committed to it, a good serving of protein never goes out of style.  Our first 10 Piece Nuggets of 2022 are right below and right for you.  We start with the NFL, visit where the world turns, and end with the end of the college football season.

1. Today in NFL circles is known as Black Monday, the day coaches are terminated.  GM’s are exempt either. But the clock has accelerated.  Urban Meyer and Jon Gruden beat their brethren to the punch.  One got a little handsy in his bar, the other got a little wordy in his emails.
2. Urban’s former Jacksonville team shocked, and we mean shocked,  the NFL “experts.”  And, with that, the Indianapolis Colts got bounced right out of the playoffs.  The Colts stunk up the joint yesterday, losing 26-11 in a game that was 26-3 till late in the fourth.  WWFICJMHS?  What would former Indy Coach Jim Mora have said?  Playoffs?   It never gets old.
3. Meanwhile, well west of there, Indy’s loss was The Las Vegas Raiders gain.  They beat the LA Chargers as the OT clock struck zero and backdoored their way into said playoffs. Interim head coach Rich Bisaccia is making the go-forward decision for Raiders owner Mark Davis harder by the week.  The game got very squirrelly at the end as a tie could have put both teams in.  Is that a squirrel on Mark Davis’ head?  We digress.
4.  The Denver Broncos ousted Vic Fangio on Sunday.  Will the Minnesota Vikings push Mike Zimmer out into the northwest winter today? It’s very likely.   And, expect one or two surprises as always today or tomorrow.
5. Who?  Bears Coach Matt Nagy would not be a surprise.  Pete Carroll would be a mild surprise.  How about Matt Rhule of Carolina?  He sacrificed Joe Brady, his OC, six weeks ago, but he’s done little to turn the Panthers around. Nothing that the Texans would do would surprise anyone.  The rudderless franchise ousted Bill O’Brien a year ago.  Is first-year coach David Culley safe?   Probably.  He’s cheap labor and the Texans aren’t going anywhere next year even if they had Nick Saban at the helm.
6.  What were the chances that the San Franciso 49ers would make the playoffs after punting to the Rams while trailing by seven with 1:57 remaining in the game?  To win they needed to force a three and out, prevent the Rams from scoring in regulation, score a TD with no timeouts left, and win in OT.  Next Gen Stats, the authority on such matters, pinned the chance at 0.4 percent.  To state the stat differently, the chances were 1 in 250.  Bingo!  And, just like that the playoff air in New Orleans went poof!
7. Changing gears, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a board member for Pfizer, agreed with Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel’s prediction that people will likely need a fourth shot of vaccine after the initial two doses and a booster. Gottlieb told Barron’s that Covid-19 vaccines will likely become an annual shot people get every year going forward in the fall.  Money, money, money, goes the Abba song.
8.  Why as more and more double vaxxed and boosted folks test positive do government officials get angrier at the unvaxxed, even threatening them with economic harm?  Also, why are asymptomatic peeps standing or driving in long lines in the cold to get tested?
9. Will we have a mandate that holds up?  We’re guessing that Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor thinks so.  Friday she claimed that over 100,000 children were “in serious condition” because of Covid -19.  The CDC has a slightly lower count at 4,132.
10.  And, it seems like Alec Baldwin is out there just like Orenthal James Simpson once was looking for the real killer.  Baldwin is publically blaming right-wing zealots(reasons unclear)  and “cooperating” with the investigation of the Rust filming death by refusing to turn over his cell phone.  Both are accomplished actors, for sure.
11.  And, a little lagniappe as we call it in the biz, Georgia is favored by 3 in Indy this evening over Alabama for the FBS Championship.  How can you bet against Nick Saban?  Vegas is telling you something.  Are you listening?  Georgia 30, Bama 24.

Bundle up.