thependulumswings

It’s cold outside this morning regardless almost of where you are.  Time to make a pot of soup, or a Ten Piece Nuggets.  What do you want in it?  Everything but the kitchen sink sounds good.  So, we’re going deep in the panty to give you ten random thoughts, in no particular order, and covering no particular subject matter, though sports and the political madness are the roux.  If we cook them slow enough maybe they’ll all come together.  If they don’t we’ll go get an Impossible Burger later.

1.  How long is the list before you get to Drew Brees as the greatest all time QB in NFL history?  It’s hard to measure this objectively.  Different periods of football, rules changes, differences in the order of importance of the metrics?  How important are Super Bowl wins?  For the sake of argument let’s afford him one more before he goes.  Where would you put him then?  We’d go with third best ever.  Tom Brady has to get the nod given the Super Bowl performances and wins.  Joe Montana would be second for much of the same plus his accuracy.  Peyton Manning and John Elway aren’t far behind.
2. What fundamentally changes after Donald Trump is impeached, tried, and acquitted? The Republicans did a nice job of digging in and combating the Trump named “witch hunt.”  Democrats insisted on a ready, fire, aim approach.  They sure have a lot of bullets, but we aren’t sure that any hit a bullseye unless you don’t like him to begin with.  Dislike doesn’t rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors, hence America’s collective yawn.  If you were for it or against it before this started, you still are from whence you came.
3. The college bowl season gets underway this weekend.  Forty one bowls are on tap in all.  Eighty teams in all as two will play two games including the last one for the biggest prize.  If you win as many regular season games as you lost or win one more, you’re in.  If you are already feeling college football withdrawals, you might tune into something named the Bahamas Bowl brought to you by Meineke Mufflers featuring Idaho St. v.  William and Mary.  Or, you might not.
4. Coincidence or not?  Elizabeth Warren’s polling numbers peaked in late October.  They’ve slid since.  The collective pharmaceutical stock prices slid until her numbers peaked.  The stocks have been sharply higher since late October.
5.  For the first time since 2010 Alabama did not have a first team All American named.  Injuries, graduation and youth played a role.  But at Alabama injuries, graduation, and youth hasn’t ever got in the way before.  Is this the beginning of the end of the greatest 10 year run in college football history?  Or is it a one year aberration?  If you don’t think Nick Saban is working well into the evening to insure it’s the latter, they you don’t know much about his work ethic and burning desire to achieve.
6. Joe Biden is apparently the clear front runner again in the race to face the man with the orange face.  It’s been nearly a week since Sleepy Joe has mixed up the decade that we are in or the state that he is in.  He’s been in Iowa for two weeks straight.  So, that part might be a bit easier for him.  Trump needs no one to tell him how to run a race for President.  But, he’d be wise to challenge Biden to more than the usual number of debates if Biden gets the nomination.  Anyone remember how tired Hillary Clinton was at the end of it all?  How tired was she?  Glad you asked.  She was so tired that she forgot to make a concession speech the evening of the election.
7. The NBA season is nearing a third complete.  League viewership ratings are down significantly.  Questions abound and answers need to be found.  Have the early season matchups coincided with marquee players injuries making the matchups less interesting? Sure.  Have the number of people who have cut the cord (no more cable or satellite tv) made it harder to find the games?  Sure.  Will the end of the football season have the ratings go up for the NBA?  Sure, but it always does.  Is the NBA concerned?  Damn sure.  Did the NBA turn off the fan who supports the freedom protests in Hong Kong?  Sure, but to what degree and for how long?  Did the NBA fan appreciate the LeBron lecture on China and all that is right with it?  Not sure.
8. It seems like the persona that James Comey wanted you to know and feel with his testimony, tweets, Trump attacks, book, and book tour might have taken a hit in the last week.  Even Comey himself was forced to admit on Chris Wallace’s Fox News Sunday Show that the FISA process (the keys to the engine that drove the “Russian interference” investigation in the 2016 election) was rife with problems as the proper process was not followed.  That’s being kind to the process actually.   Criminal proceedings, maybe not against Comey, will result after AG Barr has his final say.  The investigation, like the deep state that caused it, goes deeper now.
9.  MLB calls this time of the year “The Hot Stove League.”  It’s been hotter than Hades for one team.  The Houston Astros lost game seven of the World Series in late October.  Since then they have lost Gerrit Cole, three major league scouts, the team President Reid Ryan (son of Nolan), advisor Nolan Ryan (dad of the President),  and significant credibility.  The investigation into the allegation that they were stealing signs electronically after being warned repeatedly to not do so continues.  When it’s complete astute league followers expect suspensions of manager AJ Hinch, GM Jeff Luhnow, and perhaps others.  Fines in the millions and lost draft picks are almost a certainty as well.  It was a model franchise in the eyes of many not long ago.  No more.  The mess must be dealt with, and dealt with strongly.  It’ll be late February or early March of 2020 before the investigation is complete we are told.
10.  Their is an age old saying in politics.  People vote their wallets.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed 28,332.74 on Monday, meaning it has rallied 10,000 points, or more than 54 percent, since Trump’s election victory on November 8, 2016.   There are 11 long months to go till we find out.

I’ll have the Impossible Burger, no mayo please.