I’m Gonna Drop Him Like a Bad Habit…

I’m Gonna Drop Him Like a Bad Habit

The Cast

February 2, 2024

by The Fillerbuster

Eleven things on my mind today, or because it is my lucky number, I might have molded the things on my mind to exactly eleven things…whatever.

1. The spread is small.  Stories are abundant.  Legacies are on the line.  And what we have is a Super Bowl with two of the best teams in the league.  There are no Cinderellas dragging themselves into this contest.  You have the new Tom Brady in Mahomes, who just went through the two best QB’s in his conference on the road to get here.  They will be classified officially as a dynasty if he pulls this rabbit out of the hat.  You have Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, and the merging of pop music into the NFL…as if the NFL needed any help.  You have the fact that the DEFENSE is the reason the Chiefs are really here, with some occasional clutch actions by Mr. Dad Bod.  Many coaches have won two Super Bowls, but the list thins when you talk about three.  Reid might get there.  On the other side, you have the last player selected in the NFL Draft trying to show he is not a game manager/plug and play QB.  You have the team that might have made the Super Bowl last year if they didn’t run out of QB’s.  You have a rematch from a couple years ago, when the Chiefs won.  Give us Christian McCaffrey, the most dangerous weapon and best trade in years, and the only weapon that might outrank him is ON HIS OWN TEAM.  Deebo Samuel continues to change the position.  Then, you have the VENUE.  Vegas, baby.  All elements point to a really great game.  Weird that the spread still hovers at Niners minus 2 when EVERYONE I have read or talked to is pitching the Chiefs.  The whole “don’t bet against Mahomes now that he has made it this far” talk has begun.  Me?  I am on the Niners side.  I think I respect what the Chiefs have done, but the amount of weapons on the Niners makes me think they will break one or seven big plays and take this one home.  27-23 Niners, with a classic last minute drive by Mahomes that will finally make him look mortal.
2. In tennis, we are used to cycles.  There was the grouping of Borg, McEnroe, and Connors.  Then, we had Lendl, Becker, Edberg, and Wilander.  After that, Courier and Sampras had some fun together, and Agassi chimed in later.  Federer came about, and Nadal and Murray joined the party too.  Once Djokovic joined in, you pretty much knew the winner of every Slam would be one of these gents.  But, it is also fun to watch a cycle end, and we are witnessing it right now.  Jannik Sinner has owned Djokovic in their last meetings, and he just took it all in Australia.  He is young and not going anywhere.  Carlos Alcaraz, Sinner, Zverev, and Medvedev are that next cycle.  Djokovic will sneak in one more at some point, and Nadal might take down one more French before he sails off into the sunset, but know that these youngsters are about to take over.
3. My updated Final Four after what I have seen.  Although I think UConn can repeat, and Houston is due, I am on these teams instead for the moment.  I think Purdue might pull a UVA and win it all after losing to a 16 seed.  I like North Carolina, and they are evolving like Kentucky teams from 5-6 years ago typically do.  I think Arizona is off the radar now, but they will remind everyone come tourney time why they look so good on paper.  Too much talent.  Finally, we need a wildcard pick.  I think, at this point, I lean, without seeing a bracket, Creighton and TCU as sleepers. All four of these teams have the goods to make a run.
4. Jim Harbaugh is with the Chargers now and it must have been so hard to tell his family that they were moving from cold Michigan to warm SoCal.  Right now, he is watching tape, choosing his staff, choosing his Malibu mansion, and buying a trailer right by the stadium for no commute.  He is at the adult table at Thanksgiving for winning a national title, but now wants to do what his brother already did at the NFL level.  Super Bowl.  I personally am not a fan, but I respect the heck out of him.  How he teaches toughness is amazing.  All of his teams end up gritty somehow.  He did that at STANFORD, a smart school that also happened to play football.  You could see him literally mold Michigan over the years, and it went probably just as he planned in the progression.  Now, he inherits the fullest cupboard in the league of a team that didn’t make the playoffs.  He has a QB.  He has weapons.  He has defensive stars.  He will make the AFC West really, really fun again.
5. Embiid got 70.  KAT got 62 on the same night.  Luka just recorded 73.  This offensive explosion is amazing, and making the 90’s Heat and Knicks teams, along with the 80’s Pistons, roll their eyes and ask for someone to put a forearm into their guts.  Listen, first of all, there are a lot of players in the league who could light up 50 plus if you gave them the ball enough in a meaningless game.  Second, the rules have changed to help the player on offense.  Third, players are soft these days, and can dictate trades, moves, playing time, nights off, etc.  Is it enjoyable?  Sure.  Would this happen in the 80’s and 90’s?  Nope.  Maybe an occasional night when a player truly was on fire and was unstoppable, but coaches would change things up to at least minimize these explosions.  By the way, this crying about playing 65 games to win an award?  I love the rule.  You need a large enough sample size for an award.  Load management didn’t exist in the 80’s and 90’s.  Look up the stats of Bird, Jordan, Magic, Thomas, etc.  They ALL played at least 70 games a year on average.  Suck it up, new guys.
6. Todd Helton became the second Rockies player in the Hall of Fame.  And the only people who are complaining are the ones griping about his away batting average.  Listen, I get it.  It is significantly lower, but still respectable.  And, the trump card is his defense.  He won three Gold Gloves, and that puts him over the top.  Throw in his team loyalty, team leadership, and exceptional batting form and skills, and he should be in.  Well done, voters.
7. What is WRONG with the Milwaukee Bucks brass?  They fire a guy (Mike Budenholzer) who won a title just a couple of years before.  He lost in the playoffs with his star getting injured in the final series.  Then, they hire  Adrian Griffin and then fire HIM in his first year when he was second in his conference in record.  Sure, the defense lagged behind the offense, but I would have at least given him the season to figure it out, or whispered in his ear that he needed to listen to others a little more on defense before just firing him.  Now, they bring in Doc Rivers, who has one ring from a super team, and plenty of Game 7 losses.  Way to set up Doc for failure or success.  He either has to win or he failed.  Tough.  Good luck with all of that…
8. Any concerns about the Avalanche should be kicked to the side.  They are hitting stride at the perfect time, and that natural hat trick (actually FOUR goals) by McKinnon a few weeks ago was off the hook.  The local talking heads KNOW that getting an NBA champion and NHL champion within weeks of each other is definitely within reason.  Good luck, rest of the leagues.
9. What an odd NFL coaching hiring cycle.  The Hoodie can’t buy a job, new names rise to the surface, more defensive coaches are hired even though the league is definitely trending towards offense, Vrabel still is unemployed, and Ben Johnson says no to jobs.  Very odd things.  With Saban and Carroll stepping aside too, we have witnessed a mammoth shift in the coaching cycle names.
10. Poor Things is one strange movie. I get all of the metaphors and innuendos, but that movie goes places I never thought it would go.  I won’t give it away.  You should just watch it, and be surprised.  Enjoyable, quality, but totally strange.  But, not as surprising as Saltburn.  We were heading to a birthday party with that as a theme, so we had to knock it out the night before.  THAT movie is out there.  I wore fancy clothes with wings, wife wore glitter stuff, and other dudes stuck to the antlers.  Again, I won’t give anything away, but it is out there, folks.  Enjoy and you WILL be offended at some point in either movie.  We are watching Oppenheimer and The Holdovers this weekend, so we can enjoy The Oscars a little more.  We might get to Flowered Moon too.
11. Carl Weathers died today.  If you don’t know, I perhaps am the biggest Rocky movie fan in the world, so this hurts a little.  His Apollo Creed character was one of the main ingredients that made those movies special, and the Creed movies after the Rocky ones continue to thrive using his character’s son.  Plus, his death in Rocky 4 contributed to the end of the Cold War in real life, so there is that.  Most people of the masses probably knew him more for his role in Happy Gilmore.  Younger people know him from The Mandalorian. Really OLD people remember him for his two seasons with the Raiders. I never watched Arrested Development, but I think he played himself in that show. But, Predator had one of his best roles, in my opinion.  Dillon was one of the fine gentlemen in the woods on Arnold’s alien killing team.  My buddy, who thinks that Predator is the greatest movie of all time (I can’t really disagree with him on that one), just texted me this five minutes before I started typing this blog.  “May America never forget the sacrifice Dillon (his character) made to stop a serial killing Alien in 1987 in the jungles of Guatemala.” Rest in peace, Action Jackson.

Editor’s Note: Carl technically said the title line in Rocky 2, but just merging that with the great Rocky 4 pic. Alternative title was “I want YOU!”