Are the Redskins Finally Moving In The Right Direction?

May 18, 2018

By Richard Rogers

We don’t have to re-hash the plight of our dear old burgundy and gold over the last two decades.  It’s been putrid, with a sprinkle of hope here and there.  But are things different now? Only wins and losses will tell, but are the Redskins positioning themselves for success? Finally? I remember year after year, game after game, I’d listen to local sports talk radio after Redskins losses, and fans were exasperated.  The main complaint was that the Redskins were not “building the right way” and they didn’t have “football people in charge”.  For years, and still to this day, Dan Snyder has buffered himself with “yes men“ and minions he could control.  His “circle” knew little about football and even less about the fan experience.  But maybe, just maybe, that’s changing.

The Redskins are coming off what many have lauded as a B+ to A draft. That means nothing until September, but the Redskins finally seem to be building during the draft.  They have kept their picks over the last three years, and plenty of them.  There looks to be a plan. The Redskins have drafted heavily on defense, drafting four defensive lineman in the last three years.  Prior to drafting Matt Ioannidis in 2016, the Redskins had not drafted a defensive lineman at the top of the draft since 2011 when they selected Jarvis Jenkins.  Now, the Redskins have hired one of the best defensive line coaches in Jim Tomsula and given him some talent to work with. Anthony Lanier, Jonathan Allen, Matt Ioannidis, Daron Payne, and Tim Settle have potential to be stout.  The commitment to the defensive lines was unheard of just five short years ago.  It’s still early, but last season before all the injuries, this Redskins defense looked dominant. Could it be the tide is turning? Where are the “sexy” picks and trades that look good on paper but do nothing to fill needs?  I think those days may be gone.

There have been a lot of personnel moves lately among the Redskins brass. Doug Williams has been way out front and refreshingly transparent with fans and the media. Jay Gruden is the first coach to head into a fifth year under Dan Snyder. He’s not great, but fans and players can see that he’s a great offensive mind that hopefully, can put together the full puzzle. Gruden is far from the problem with this organization, unlike coaches of years gone by. Kyle Smith is a young stud that the Redskins had to promote to keep around.  Brian Lefemina has recently been hired to “improve the fan experience”. Could it be that Snyder is finally listening? More notable, these hires are respected around the league. No more laughing stock hires of years gone by like Pepper Rodgers, Sherm Lewis, or Vinny Cerrato. There are football people in place.  I won’t speak on Bruce Allen, because I think too much has been made of his role in personnel acquisition, but Snyder probably knows he stirs the wrath of fans.

We don’t know what the Redskins are until they start playing football games. The Vegas line has the Redskins between 6 and 9 wins. I can’t see a 6-win season. I just can’t, but I’m not a professional gambler. I’m a fan like most of us, who are eternal optimists hoping that they will get it right one day, REALLY right.

1,120 comments

  • Different_Cat

    sackmanlivesThe real reason I haven’t signed is because I’ve contemplated retiring. I have 3 Deals Currently on the table and will Plan Accordingly. All my fans i promise this will be my Best I’m not saying nothing else God Bless All I’m BACK #NuLa
    -Junior

  • noonefromtampa

    WTF?

    A man is in custody after he allegedly rammed his car into a Gaston County restaurant Sunday afternoon–two people were killed and several more were injured.

    The incident happened at the ‘Surf & Turf’ restaurant, located at 808 N 14th Street in Bessemer City. Police described the incident as intentional and domestic related.

    One of the deceased victims was identified as 26-year-old Katelyn Self, a Gaston County Sheriff’s deputy. The suspected driver is Roger Self, Katelyn’s father.

    According to the Gaston Gazette, ‘Wait staff reported that Self took his family into the restaurant and had them seated. He then went back out to his vehicle and drove at a high rate of speed into the area where they were sitting. The Jeep was several feet inside the building.’

  • Different_Cat

    Grilled halibut steaks, yellow peppers, endive, brown rice.

  • Blue cheese sliders n beers here you fancy fuckers.

  • noonefromtampa

    NY Strip steaks, steakhouse potatoes on the grill, mixed salad

    yummy dinner

  • Evenin’

  • Ribeyes on the grill, happy Sunday peeps.

  • noonefromtampa

    RIP Billy Cannon, 80, won the 1959 Heisman Trophy during his tenure at LSU

  • Salutations from Michigan

  • Happy Sunday!

  • Onion Sports Network Verified account @OnionSports Apr 13

    Report: Dez Bryant Could Be Perfect Fit For NFL Team Lacking Locker-Room Cancer https://trib.al/QHxAwYb

  • Different_Cat

    Houston Police Chief:

    “Art Acevedo
    on Friday
    To all my Facebook friends. Today I spent the day dealing with another mass shooting of children and a responding police officer who is clinging to life. I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve shed tears of sadness, pain and anger.

    I know some have strong feelings about gun rights but I want you to know I’ve hit rock bottom and I am not interested in your views as it pertains to this issue. Please do not post anything about guns aren’t the problem and there’s little we can do. My feelings won’t be hurt if you de-friend me and I hope yours won’t be if you decide to post about your views and I de-friend you.

    I have never accepted the status-quo in anything I do and I’ve never accepted defeat. And I won’t do it now. I will continue to speak up and will stand up for what my heart and my God commands me to do, and I assure you he hasn’t instructed me to believe that gun-rights are bestowed by him.

    The hatred being spewed in our country and the new norms we, so-called people of faith are accepting, is as much to blame for so much of the violence in our once pragmatic Nation.

    This isn’t a time for prayers, and study and Inaction, it’s a time for prayers, action and the asking of God’s forgiveness for our inaction (especially the elected officials that ran to the cameras today, acted in a solemn manner, called for prayers, and will once again do absolutely nothing).

    I close by saying, I wish those that move on from this page the best. May God Bless you and keep you.”

    • Acevedo used to be Austin Police Chief. Good guy. I was a little bummed when he moved on to Houston.

    • “The hatred being spewed in our country and the new norms we, so-called people of faith are accepting, is as much to blame for so much of the violence in our once pragmatic Nation.”
      This is what made your little winky hard, isn’t it? It may not mean what you think it does…

  • Capitals choke is full on. They suck

  • I’m having trouble getting through all of this. But, because I know you’re all dying to see the trailer….

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMmv9JFOEB0

  • Bandolero!

  • Alex, I have a movie to nominate for selection on MST3K

    One More Train to Rob 1971

  • 19 seconds into the game and the Caps are down already?

    Gay

  • My new favorite show, Bong Apetit

  • A minor rant about the announcer/audio at the Cap center for games, from someone who obsesses with audio:
    First, there’s 1500 people there at this point, stop with the constant music and noise for noise’s sake, just let the game be. But for some reason their Defense chants are wrong, like they were recorded by someone who’s never been in a sporting event. Typically when people do a D-Fence chant than are more or less even or they punch on the 2nd syllable. “d-FENCE”. For some reason the announcer keeps putting all the emphasis on the“D” and they go so low pitch on the “fence” part that it sounds like someones slowing down the volume. Frankly it’s disturbing.

    Finally, stop playing Sweet Caroline. Just, everyone stop.

    • WHHHAAAAAAAAAAA!

      J/k

    • Poor baby, I smuggled my own drink in for two games against Boston in the playoffs, never paid any attention to the music……….bom! bom! bom!

      Answer: have another beer, we’re gonna lose anyway.

  • “black-eyed Susan” the official flower of Baltimore.

  • Dude looks like Ric Flair

  • Justify is just kicking ass.

  • Good Magic just can’t get that last burst, 🙁

  • It’s over

  • 5!!!!!

  • lol…the stands can’t see a damn

  • 5555555555555555

  • The horsemen are drawing nearer!

  • Bring in some truck loads of fresh dirt. Turn on the jet fans. This is garbage.

  • Good Magic

  • Bob Costas?

    Eat horse shit dude

  • Your kids need to know that they can trust you, too. Keep it real. Honest work = honest reward. Lead butt half-assed work = nil.
    Always try to show them that being honest with you will have a better outcome then lying, or keeping things from you will.

  • This race should have been delayed

  • Off to fly fish northern Michigan bright and early in the morning. Excited! Looking forward to some large Brookies and Browns

    • That’s a perfect picture too, he looks like a father who’s asking himself “where did it all go wrong?” Lmfao

  • I was impressed with k0n’s “mop up your own urine” post, yesterday.

  • It goes deeper than the video games. We’re witnessing the side effects of becoming a consumer society. Marketing is, in more cases then not, raising our children. Global Capitalism without morality, unchecked progressive liberalism in our public education system, and here we are, a society that encourages freedom from accountability. Without some great war, or exploration of new frontiers, this world will die. Our math is fucked up.

    • To be clear… I stated that video games was but a small portion.

      • To be clear…I wasn’t aware that this was a fucking contest.

      • I tend to believe it’s the inattentiveness of parents and the ostracization from children. But don’t tell those Parkland kids that… can’t be anything they did or didn’t do.

        • The main issue I’ve always struggled with in regards to Christianity is that whole “turn the other cheek” deal. The Church twisted that shit up to conquer the spirit of our ancestors. It’s a tricky thing, picking through the add-ons.
          I always make time to sit and talk with my daughter about her life, what’s going on, who is who at school. Sometimes it’s really hard to do, being tired, in my own foul mood, whatever. Our kids need it, though, they require it. The most important thing is for them to have self esteem, a feeling of worth, confidence…there will always be fucking assholes, arm them for life in this world.
          The points you made about reaching out to troubled kids are SPOT ON.

          • Turn the other cheek… but also arm yourself for battle. Turn the other cheek on insults… but fight for security and safety

          • Right, pick your battles. This is the part that we have to fill in for them. Never underestimate the nature of things.

          • I was mainly speaking about what the Bible says… I don’t turn the other cheek on almost anything

          • What the Bible says, and what many churches say, don’t always jive.

          • This is true

          • The funny thing about it is, the hard left is following the same outline that they mock.
            I think it’s funny, anyway.

          • it’s hard to do that as well.

          • hardest job there is trying to be a good parent . really , really , hard .

          • Yes, but you have the strength, just gotta do it.

          • You do. Knowing the best way to do it is challenging to say the least.

          • Just be involved… not mother hen involved… but involved. Pay attention… let them make some painful mistakes and teach them that there are consequences for their actions. I swear these helicopter moms… nothing is ever their kids faults.

          • I might be wrong, but what I always struggled with as a kid, was converting hard times into anger. My Pop was pretty damn harsh on us, too, so when I saw daylight, I wanted it all. I didn’t mind the whippings as much as that sharp tongue of his. He could cut you down with it. My kids will never hear that kinda shit from me. They know what I say goes, but they also know their worth.

          • Gotta build them up, too.

          • Yeah, that’s where he failed, and he’s since said as much.

    • do kids recite the pledge of allegiance anymore ? Can’t remember the last time i saw anybody doing it . I remember doing it everyday in elementary school .

  • I saw a headline from WaPo:

    April was Earth’s 400th warmer than normal month in a row

    These clowns…

  • Google blows donkeys

  • Mass shootings are contagious.

    Gun homicides are contagious.

    Concepts are contagious.

    Shit gets copied. Spreads. Repeats.

    How do we inoculate our society from mass shootings?

    Come on America. Let’s have some uncomfortable, rigorous discussion!

    We landed on the moon. We’re going to Mars. Hellz, we trained whales to splash crowds ffs. We can do this!

    • I don’t own guns, I’ve never known someone involved in a mass shooting… but I DO have a child.

      This is my impression… I see all these helicopter moms babying and protecting their children yet the fathers are almost NEVER involved. The moms let video games babysit the kids a lot… and the rest of the time the mom gaggle is down their collective throats. There’s always a kid or 2 that you see outside the hive of normal seeming kids. Everyone ignores that child or, even worse, bully or purposely shun that kid.

      I try to reach out to those kids… get them on a team and make them part of something. Give them somewhere to fit in. All kids want to be accepted… feel like they belong to something.

      Is this the only solution? Certainly not… is it even helping? I don’t know… but I push my son to befriend the kids that don’t have a lot of friends. My son’s best friend is one of those kids. My kid is super outgoing… and he’s managed to integrate this child, who I suspect has a small degree of autism, into his group of friends. I see the kid has really grown. To the point of actually joining the football team this year. It’s sad that his father is more interested in surfing and selling real estate than in his own son.

      Again, obviously this is anecdotal, but all these people screaming about guns are missing the personal point of this. This isn’t about guns… it’s about interaction and a healthy environment. Gun violence is a symptom of a much larger problem. You can take away the guns.. these kids will just run someone down or build bombs.

      It’s always easier to point at the inanimate object… that alleviates your responsibility to actually have to do anything.

      Does that mean you have to be a saint? No… it just means you have to get off your fat ass and actually DO something.

      • I believe the saying is something along the lines of…

        It’s easier to build strong children than fix a broken adult.

        Kids being neglected, not made a priority by one or both parents. Abused, abandoned…those things certainly are not new to society. However, something happened. And here we are, the murder rate is down and yet….mass shootings are frequent enough that the shock is or has worn off.

        Can we figure out where our society turned? If we do, are we willing to address the cause? I mean, if it’s as simple as a parent always being home when the kids get out of school…would we be willing to adjust the economy to allow that?

        That there is so much violence in media. Are we willing to censor ourselves?

        That there are more guns than people in the US…are we willing to remove the excess while protecting a person’s right to bear an arm?

        People in churches being gunned down. Kids in schools being gunned down…and we’re doing nothing substantial to find or prevent the underlying cause of these things happening.

        • I think with the advent of social media, uber violent video games, coupled with this weird enabling of this shoot em up generation, and the lack of responsibility of parents that own guns has poured gas on flame. Sure, single parenting or absentee parenting isn’t new, you’re right there, but the ability of kids to bully while at and now away from school, the content you can find instantly online that kids never had access to before… is part of the problem.

          Seriously people… lock up your fucking guns if you have them. If you can’t teach your kids to respect life then maybe you shouldn’t have kids… and you certainly shouldn’t have guns out for those kids to get a hold of.

      • It has always started with the family, always. My own life experience speaks to this, as I’ve had both good, and bad family groups to influence me in my life’s journey. Luckily for me, the good ended up outshining the bad. I could sit here for hours and name specific events that, had they gone the other way, would have just as easily rendered me a millionaire, or on death row, depending.

  • Damn, I live in the Misty Mountains, today…all this rain.

  • I own a few handguns myself and I am a defender of the Second Amendment. I do wonder why we are the only country in the world where this happens? Students and teachers being killed routinely?

    • We aren’t… we’re the only country where the media glorifies it to this extent in order to push an agenda. We are also a country whose parents have taught their kids that they aren’t actually responsible for anything they think, do, or say. We’re also a lot bigger than a lot of other countries.

    • How much you wanna bet Austin was just sitting around waiting for something political to post on because he’s clueless when it comes to football?

      I can’t remember a single thing he’s posted football related in at least a month

      • You need to work on your memory.

        • You need to work on not being a loser

          • Why don’t you head on back over to WaPo… I’m sure they’d love you back there. You guys can group think together

          • Hey, I thought this was a pretty good discussion.

            Bottom line is that I’m not sure what the solution is, if there even is a solution. The reality is that we live in a country where you can get mowed down if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. Could be a school, where your child gets killed. Could be a concert. You could get mowed down tailgaiting at FedEx field.

            What bothers me the most is that Federal and State governments don’t have the political cojones to have an honest discussion about it.

          • What bothers me is that citizens don’t actually DO anything to change their communities issues… they just expect government to do it. That’s a fucking lazy ass cop out. “Hey, you guys do something because I don’t want to get off my fat ass and do it myself.”

          • I recommend you barricade yourself in the house and never leave .

  • noonefromtampa

    Houston area taking it on the chin again

    Twenty people were injured in an explosion and fire at Kuraray America Eval, a plastic fabrication company in Pasadena, Texas, according to Jeff Suggs, the corporate emergency manager for Kuraray.

  • noonefromtampa

    JJWatt to pay for Santa Fe H.S. victims’ funerals

  • noonefromtampa

    Frisco police arrested Dallas Cowboys receiver Terrance Williams
    early Saturday morning for public intoxication, a Class C misdemeanor,
    after he crashed his Lamborghini into a light pole and left the scene of
    the accident.

    Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/nfl/dallas-cowboys/article211498769.html#storylink=cpy

  • noonefromtampa

    “We monitored the situation and are satisfied that it is a civil matter that was resolved,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told PFT via email. “Not a [Personal Conduct Policy] issue.”

    — Of course it’s not, F Mara

    — Total BS, Jurrah

    • noonefromtampa

      Zeke gets suspended 6 games for being a young man and doing stupid young man things

      Eli commits an ongoing fraud of football merchandise 0 games suspended

  • Yay, Valor game today… Gonna go watch another L.

  • noonefromtampa

    Should we worry about Alex Smith since he came from KC?

    https://twitter.com/YouHadOneJ0B/status/997613049593958401

  • noonefromtampa

    If I’m Trey Quinn, I call Brian Mitchell and ask him about how to be a better punt/kick returner

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaL3EEWspLo

    Guns, hunting, Finding Hitler, new Discovery shows, Special Forces, UFC it’s a great listen. Worth a 2nd listen. Tim Kennedy on Joe Rogan Experience

  • One reaction video channel I kept seeing belongs to PinkMetalHead. Young woman, med student, reacting to tons of bands from the classics to newly released tracks. Her home page is a video of her putting her face while she’s jamming along to her playlist. I’ll link that below. (her face transforms) (also, she’s into makeup and hair)

    But check out this clip I lifted from it…cracked me right the hell up

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUZNN7LlHJQ

    Here’s the entire video

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWJOa787ZTE&feature=youtu.be

  • Different_Cat

    Johnny Football signs with the Hamilton Tiger Cats.

  • Rolling with Good Magic, again.

  • Im not in to metal at all, but I like watching these guys listen and critique it. seems like some of you guys are into metal where would Iron Maiden fall? They keep talking about Metallica versus Megadeth is Iron Maiden not close?

    • All those years ago, in the early 80s…metal was British and Iron Maiden definitely ruled the roost. For me though, I was never a fan of Bruce Dickinson’s vocals. If you could take him out of the track, you’d hear some strong jams.

      For a lot of people, simply because of leading that second wave of British metal, lots of people rate Iron Maiden high on their lists. I don’t. But that’s me.

      Where they really pioneered was album art. You didn’t have to like Iron Maiden to love Eddie.

      • I graduated high school in 1983 so definitely the 80s early 80s I’m familiar with. One of the guys in my neighborhood was a drummer and he loved Iron Maiden. I was just curious since I hear you guys talking about every other band other than Iron Maiden thanks for your feedback!

    • Iron Maiden is one of the all time great metal bands. Dickenson can belt it out… BUT… a lot of times their sound is a little thin… especially for a band with 3 guitarists. Metallica is simply the pinnacle.

  • I love that YouTube channel, lost in vegas…thanks to y’all for turning me on to it!

  • Pimlico looks waterlogged, another day for a mudder.

    • GIve the horses an extra week and do it when the track is dry and the skies are blue

  • Different_Cat

    J.J. Watt has offered to pay for the funerals of the Texas high school shooting victims. This guy has really stepped up.

  • Happy Saturday!

  • The Skins are quiet. The Caps are quiet. Everything else is the shooting in Santa Fe.

    Soooo…..

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLsYHpaKfXY&t=13s

  • #BefriendAnOutcast

  • ack

  • Alright… quiz question… who are the top 5 teams all time winning percentage in college and in what order?

    Get them in order if you can without google. One will really surprise you.

    GO!

  • Hokies open on the road vs. FSU

  • Sports / activities
    Responsible parents / the general assumption that my foot = your backside if you mess up
    Good friends

    Kids are so far ahead of the game with these things

  • wife came home today with a story or two like she often does . Some kid took a shit in the bathroom sink . All i could do was laugh .

  • I just talked to a kid today who purposely pisses on the floor of the classroom bathroom…going through a lot at home.

  • My son started first grade with a heavily autistic boy . They went all the way through school together and graduated . The boy was actually on the HS FB team. Naturally he struggled and got brushed aside quite often . You know that environment, the practice field , locker rooms , etc . He got picked on quite a bit and my kid has a soft heart about those things so he protected him when he could . looked out for him. Turns out the kids father is very rich and he knew the relationship between his kid and mine . The guy was originally from pittsburgh and a huge steelers fan and he knew mine was a big Bengals fan. Long story short , he has his own private jet and he flew me and my son to Heinz field to see them play each other . Wouldnt take a dime . Pretty damn sweet . Flew on a private jet , had a limo waiting beside the plane , took us to the game . Pays to be kind to the less fortunate is the moral of the story .

    • Back to the good ol daysBruce

      Cool ass story

      • It was a cool experience as well . probably once in a lifetime thing unless he calls and invites me again , LOL . Known that guy for over 25 years and i still don’t know how he made his money , but he has a ton of it . He never said , so i never asked him, but i wanted too.

  • SCamp….is that you? You’ve cussed out everybody on this blog at some point. Yet, you speak with love and empathy.

    • I don’t ostracize anyone… except D_C and Walter. But they should be grown enough not to go shoot up a school over it. Kids aren’t well adjusted enough yet for that.

      • Not you…but if you talk like that around your kids, what are they going to do to other kids.

        • True enough… but I try to separate adult conversations from kids.

          • …also, I tend not to run in circles with people I don’t like. The only place I really run into them is here.

      • …and to back that up I coach… and that requires a whole different skill then dealing with whiny ass adults whose whole purpose in life seems to be to bitch and moan

  • And now…beer

  • While we’re arguing about whether it’s guns or not, more CHILDREN are being shot up in schools.

    • Precisely…so let’s put the proper security in schools.

      • also the kid had been wearing this trench coat outfitted in Nazi symbols for awhile . That’s a problem .

      • Locked doors, bulletproof glass, and metal detectors would’ve gone a long way towards stopping what happened today.

      • Different_Cat

        Here’s an idea: let’s do both.

        • I enjoy, appreciate, and value my 2nd amendment rights, and so should you and the ACLU.

          • Different_Cat

            And that’s fine. Gun laws can be tightened up quite a bit without infringing on anyone’s 2nd amendment rights.

          • Gun laws are already tight enough.

          • Different_Cat

            And I would say they are not. In this case we have a number of people arguing, vehemently, that the parents should be held responsible because they failed to secure their guns. But there is very likely no legal redress against them because gun laws, at least in Texas, don’t require it.

            Do you think people would be more careful about securing their guns if they *could* be charged as accessories in a case like this? I do.

    • security . where was the security

    • So teach your kids to reach out to the shunned. While people sit around blaming objects they are completely oblivious to the pain their actions cause.

      Everyone wants to blame something or someone else… no one wants to look at the root cause.

    • You are part of the solution Rick… search out these kids and make friends with them

  • Back to the good ol daysBruce

    Guns arent the issue. Sorry media…

    • Different_Cat

      Disagree. Guns are part of the issue. We should have tougher gun laws but it will take a very long time to have an appreciable effect on violence.

    • Yeah. Crazy is gonna crazy. Exhibit A = today’s pipe bombs.

    • Back to the good ol daysBruce

      Guns are a tool. They are part of our culture but aren’t the root cause. The thought of taking life is the issue and actually following thru with it

  • Scott Dworkin

    Verified account

    @funder
    Follow Follow @funder
    More
    BREAKING: DC area high school students have entered the US Capitol building, and are heading to Paul Ryan’s office to demand he pass legislation for gun reform now
    ____________________________________________________________________
    GO!!!! YEAH!!!!

    • BWAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!!

      Good luck

    • Lawdy!

    • I applaud the kids for trying to do something, but more and more gun laws isn’t the answer.

      As an aside, those Parkland HS kids who are the self-styled activists have become the most annoying kids on the planet.

      • Of course it isn’t…you love guns. 🙂

        • It’s not that I “love” guns. I’ve been shooting under controlled circumstances while taught by professional coaches since I was 5 years old, and then later trained again by the military. I just understand firearms and what’s right and wrong about owning and operating them.

          • That’s the same as responsible drug use…sure a joint here and there won’t hurt anyone, but there are those who must smoke the whole bag and buy the whole gun shop

          • Back to the good ol daysBruce

            Ok? Your point?

          • Different_Cat

            I think his point is that, unfortunately, you have to legislate for the worst case scenario, not the best case scenario.

      • Funded and directed by leftists whackos

    • If one man could pass legislation, he’d be king.

  • Talk to your kids.
    Keep your guns locked up.

  • Back to the good ol daysBruce

    I dont have any kids but it must be terribly difficult to raise em now a days. I was a prick growing up with no social media and all that crap. My mom probably rejoiced when i finally left the house for college…i can only imagine the various ways kids can get “lost”

    • I’m telling you , cell phones and the internet can be the devil . make it much harder on a parent .

      • You have to take every precaution you can to limit their devices on what can be seen and truth be known the kids are smarter than the adults when it comes to devices and the net .

        • Back to the good ol daysBruce

          Speaking without any real life experience it takes a good foundation i think. There will always be deterrents. Just have to hope they have the tools to handle most situations. I’m sure parents try. Easier said than done

          • Gotta keep those kids in activities… obviously not the complete answer as this kid was apparently on the football team. But it helps keep them from being ostracized

          • man , that’s it right there . keep them as busy as possible all the way through school as long as you can

          • and hope they get a passion for something you exposed them too. Sports , music , some other hobby , whatever .

          • So true . Even that’s not enough sometimes but more often than not , thats the difference .

          • Back to the good ol daysBruce

            I’m also a believer in it takes a village. Assuming family is around or close friends, having them always surrounded by family and/or community. So if they are having troubles maybe the larger community would take notice. Now a days it seems people are so private are so focused on how they want to raise their child in isolation they never develop that sense of family or community. My opion anyway

          • That’s the reason I’m getting the hell out of dodge in Cali. Place is seriously backward

          • Sounds like some of the citizens have had enough of Gov moon beam.

          • California is at a crossroads

  • If you pussied out with the whole suicide thing after committing this kind of act prison isn’t going to go well for you

  • Back to the good ol daysBruce

    In meetings most of day and just catching up on the news. Fckn awful. Where are the parents, cousins, neighbors, community on this kids state of mind? How can someone walk around ready to take life without any intervention? So sad

    • No Punt Intended

      What about an obese kid who decides he’s had enough and takes out dozens while he crams KrispyKreme’s down his piehole?

      Free country.

      Like you said man, it starts at home.

    • I know Santa Fe. I’m in that town on a reasonably regular basis. It’s very near my part of Houston. I’ve been in that high school building for a basketball tournament, and I’ve been at their baseball fields for baseball tournaments. My kids played Santa Fe in baseball every year in Little League All-Stars and later after that. It’s a pretty country place with a high lower-income hispanic population. I’ve never seen any kids there that look like this lunatic. It’s mostly poor folks and country folks.

      • Back to the good ol daysBruce

        Understood but just in general. As a community there are signs. It’s intuitive. I know kids can be kids but it feels like the people close to these murderers missed all the signs or opportunity to intervene.

        • I wasn’t really disagreeing with you.

          • Back to the good ol daysBruce

            I know. Just blabbering lol

          • The biggest thing I remember about Santa Fe is when my kid ran over their catcher while coming in from 3rd base, dislodging the ball and sending that catcher (who was short) flying backwards at the annual LL district championship game, and it almost caused a big fight between the coaches and parents, with their coaches threatening retaliation against my kid and me yelling at those coaches before our coach told me to shut up and let him handle it. In the end, we got the run and won the game, but they passed a no-contacting the catcher rule for the next season.

          • Back to the good ol daysBruce

            Lil steve was a wrecking ball. Nice

          • He demolished that kid. But he also was just following the direction of the 3rd base coach, who never should’ve sent him. He later told me that he knew he’d be way out if he had slid into home, so he thought the only thing left to do other than just surrendering the out was to run over the catcher.

          • I think i told you that two kids on my sons HS team and little league teams made it to MLB . Indians and the A’s .

          • Yeah, that’s awesome.

          • One of them is doing real good . Chad Pinder , Oakland A’s . You tube of him crushing a few into the upper deck. Never surprised me one bit that he made it that far . Most focused and determined kid i have ever seen from a young age . Phenomenal .

          • Younger brother got drafted this past year from Clemson . can’t remember what team though .

          • Back to the good ol daysBruce

            Well coached. Good job Steve…

  • Granted , even though i tried , i didnt know everything my kid was doing when he was seventeen . Probably better off not knowing now, but if he had Nazi emblems on his clothes , i damn sure would have known about that and it would have come to an immediate end . I just don’t get it . You are gonna know if a seventeen year old kid under your roof has these hateful and bizarre things going on with his clothing and whatever the hell else he is doing .

    • Not only that but supposedly it was on Facebook . If that’s true you can’t not know , unless you just don’t give a damn

  • Duck carnita tacos

    Duck, pickled onion, roasted poblanos, micro cilantro, chile morita on flour tortillas…

    Damn these things are tasty

  • There is NOT enough money for mental health services in schools.

    • There needs to be money for metal detectors and armored guards along with bulletproof doors

  • The kid from Stoneman Douglas in Florida fell through more cracks in the justice system than should ever be allowed by law. Ridiculous how many times he escaped the law .

  • This is off topic a but in the same vein…

    I rarely recommend kids to repeat a grade, but I did in this case with a 2nd grader. He missed 72 days of school this year, 61 of them in a row because her mother didn’t like the teacher of the class I put her son in. Took her to court and that was a joke.

    She says it’s our fault that we allowed him to fail.

  • nobody is accountable for anything these days…if I haul you in for a parent conference, 8 out of 10 of them the parent of the kid in the wrong is gonna deflect blame from their kid.

    • Yeah, but there’s a difference between trying to protect your kid from the consequences of breaking a school rule in front of a principal, and murder.

      But I don’t think it matters. Call them stable, unstable, crazy, hateful, whatever. They’re murderers.

    • every teacher i know plus my wife says the same thing . Huge problem .

    • Our parents were raised by people who largely got up with the sun and down with the moon. they only began to have the concept of considerable leisure. Our parents had to deal with leisure time, but still didn’t have the concept that we did for the most part. We, our generation, is having kids like 10 – 15 years later, and is accustomed to having copious amounts of leisure and “me” time long before a serious relationship and kids. So, when we get married we “sacrifice” some of that time, and with kids’ it feels like a further sacrifice. But, even with what is left, we go from M-F gym, work, commute; and we leave a sliver of time for the kids during dinner before bed, rush them to bed, so we can get in 1-2 hours of leisure before the rat race again. And thus, they have every intention of parenting, but they don’t. They end up filling the awkward weekend with their kid’s sports and activities and spend very little quality time with them. So, they are raised by TV, Youtube, Facebook, and their peers. And they are not taught nor have very much experience in dealing with peer conflict. And don’t have anyone to go home to because their parents get home from work, workout, and then spent a rushed dinner in front of some screen with them and don’t really have converstations about it, and we don’t let them get any experience with it in school because they are taught to quash conflict rather than deal with it… the right way or even maybe the wrong way, instead it ain’t dealt with.

      And this is my theory, because you don’t have kids who are abused in the traditional way doing this. You don’t have inner city stereotypical thugs doing this. You have the frustrated suburban middle class emotionally orphaned kids doing it.

  • Look man…this is my wheelhouse. I have parents all day whining about their child being bullied, when it’s not “bullying” at all.

  • So in order to “hate” you have to be “mentally unstable”?

    • No, but you have to be mentally unstable to shoot up a school and murder children.

      • But why does it matter? This kid is a murderer, period, and the law needs to treat him as such, mental stability or not. I doubt he’s crazy enough to meet the legal standard for the insanity defense.

        • My orginal point was that you all ASSUME that you have to be mentally unstable to shoot kids…not necessarily.

    • Dude… plenty of people hate without shooting up schools.

  • Naturally the kid had a journal describing he was going to do things , that his parents never saw . Stuff on his computer as well.

    • Different_Cat

      Pagourtzis has a social media footprint that included an image of a custom T-shirt emblazoned with the words, “BORN TO KILL” posted on Facebook and several images of a black duster jacket with Nazi, communist, fascist and religious symbols.

      • That’s nice .

        • all that shit comes from the internet , i don’t care what anybody says . I don’t know what you can do about it . Nothing .

        • Notice how D Bag Clown threw the religious symbols thing in there with those other things.

          Don’t tell me lefties don’t have an agenda.

  • Why do you think there are “kid bullies”? Because there are adult bullies.

    Hell, I hear ya’ll talk here all the time about “being sensitive and politically correct”, yet you wonder why kids are “mentally unstable”.

    • there are bullies

      I think part of the issue is not knowing how to deal with them.

      And I use my experience in HS. One school, there were fights all the time, organized crime units would occasionally escort a bus home, and nobody ever got shot or stabbed on campus. The other school was the prime rival and facsimile of Combine. Completely opposite. The kids who did fight would circle and never throw a punch. You had rich valley girls, and middle class loser white dudes pretending to be the Punisher or whatever comic book guy in a trenchcoat.

      You never had some prototypical breakdown at the former school because dude would get gunned down, beat down, or whatever, himself before he could get his second of glory and revenge.

  • There are a LOT of reasons why kids are “mentally fragile”. Trauma, molestation, pre-natal issues.

  • Nah…no mice issues at my house…only at work…LOL

  • This kid is just an average normal looking kid . Some of the others from the past have looked screwed up for lack of a better description

  • So here’s an update on Rick’s bird situation…

    The good news is that he didn’t have to cut into my paint job, only the top white part of the bathroom. He said there were FOUR dead birds in the wall. Won’t charge me any more money (just a tip).

  • Why these kids desire to carry out these mass shootings and ruin their own life forever is beyond comprehension for me . I can’t wrap my head around it . It’s almost some kind of sick epidemic. I am going to assume each one is mentally unstable because that’s the only explanation that even comes close to making any sense .

  • Different_Cat

    There’s no legal obligation in Texas to report lost or stolen guns. That’s messed up.

    • There’s not some state-wide master registry in the capitol building in Austin of every gun in the state. Probably a good idea to report a stolen firearm, yes, but I’m not in favor of more regulations.

  • Different_Cat

    The Texas high school shooting suspect used both a shotgun and a .38 revolver to kill 10 people in Santa Fe this morning, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said at a press conference.

    “Neither of these weapons were owned or legally possessed by the shooter,” Abbott said, noting instead they were legally owned by his father.

    “I have no information if the father was aware the son had taken these weapons,” Abbott said.

    • Dad didn’t properly secure his firearms…he’s at fault, too.

      • Different_Cat

        Or he did and the kid new the combination to the safe, or where the key was.

        • Which means that he didn’t properly secure his firearms, and he’s at fault, too.

          Most people don’t have a big gun safe. Trigger locks cost $5 each and prevent the weapon from being fired.

          • Charge the dad with accessory to murder
            Take that family apart piece by piece

          • With Greg on this one.

          • Different_Cat

            You better get some stricter gun laws if you want to do that.

          • Different_Cat

            I don’t know. It’s not like the kid was an infant. Might depend on whether the dad had reason to believe he was a danger.

          • No.

            I trust my kids, and they know where the guns are, but they also know that all the guns have trigger locks and that only I have the keys. It doesn’t matter how much you trust the kids.

          • Different_Cat

            Legally it will probably matter a lot. AFAIK Texas has no age limit on firearm possession.

          • I’m not talking about legality. I don’t think the dad will be charged, most likely, unless some crazy facts emerge. I’m talking about practical reality. Secure your firearms, always, period.

          • Different_Cat

            Okay, I’m with you 100% on that.

          • Good Point Steve…I keep my glock locked up, but also with a trigger lock. I’m the only one who has the key.

    • Lock the guns up. His dad owned a sawed off shotgun?

      • Different_Cat

        Kid might have sawed it off himself. Otherwise the dad is in trouble.

        • Yup. If your kids aren’t part of your enjoyment of guns, or, properly trained with firearms and trusted, lock them up in a safe.

  • Glad to see that the Santa Fe and Galveston County police went forward, not backwards, and got to the guy before he killed anyone else. Good response so far from the state of Texas to an awful tragedy.

  • Scariest fight I ever had as a teenager, was with my stepdad. He’d just got home from a 4 year bit, came in one night fucking zooted, smashing up the place. Came at me with a meat cleaver. I ran across the street and asked my neighbor for his gun “fuck no”, lol “take that ball bat” good enough. Had a bit of a Mexican standoff in the driveway until I convinced him that I’d throw the bat away if he dropped the knive (he had traded the meat cleaver for his favorite sticker while I was across the street, don’t think I could have faced him with that cleaver), he threw the knife over the fence, I threw the bat away, and we commenced to throwin’ down. I finally caught him on the button and he kinda fell back on his knees….never let him up. I beat that man till he quit moving, just kinda laying there blowing blood bubbles out of his mouth. I was 16, if memory serves. He was a real life bad motherfucker, and he scared me enough that I beat him. That was an awakening in my life, a realization of possessed power.

    • Wow
      He had it coming sounds like

      • Yes, he did. He’s old now, and has straightened out his life. The best part about it was my mom’s relief, and words, that her strong son had beaten him. I know that sounds fucked up, but she wasn’t always the saintly creature she is now.
        I’m not gonna lie, though, the real best part was seeing him try to pick blood clotted boogers outta that smashed up face for weeks, WOOT!

    • Dayum…

  • Bullying…

    I was being bullied once while in the 5th grade. I’d never been in a fight before. And a kid I thought was a lot tougher than I kept threatening me if I didn’t tell him the answers to spelling tests we needed to pass.

    Told my parents about it at the time and my mother wanted to report the kid, while my step dad told me to stand up to him! I followed my step dad’s advice… it resulted in us both fighting and getting suspended. He got a good shot in on my face and it didn’t hurt like i thought it would afterward. To add to Bucks point earlier, getting hit in the face like that really eliminated any fear I had of getting hurt in a fight or at the very least standing up for myself. That probably sounds stupid to a millennial nowadays and I’m super chill at this point in my life after serving in the military, getting out and discovering maryjuwana. One side note though…not being scared did lead to me getting hit in the face with a bat! My nose has been a lil crooked ever since and I have a half inch scar at the end of my right eye socket.

  • “Shooter planned to take his own life”

    Then he chickened out…

    What’d I say?

  • noonefromtampa

    Only head shot I ever took was from Jimmy Smith’s (fake name) sister when I was squared off against him
    which was typical behavior for that family 99.99% of the time it was one of his 3 brothers
    this time it was his sister, she punched me in the back of the head

    I spun and knocked her out cold before I realized it was her
    the whole group of people went silent
    it was like oh shit you just clocked a girl
    I felt bad for about 10 seconds until I realized how much my head was hurting
    she had a bunch of rings on, which was like someone wearing brass knuckles

    • she fights like a girl!

    • I took several good shots from this neighborhood smut type one night when I was like 16.

      There was a woods party my younger brother was at, and this skank was all slinking around him.

      I called her a couple not nice names and told her stay away from my brother. She hauled off on my and I just ate it like a cookie and called her another name. It was rinse/repeat for about 4-5 shots. Then I started getting pissed. (I was drinking and she hit like a girl, but it was starting to hurt.)

      I told her brother he better haul her off, and when he did, she flopped onto the ground and tried to bite my calf. I seriously almost kicked her. I’m glad I didn’t. Mostly. 🙂

  • Different_Cat

    Police ID the suspect as Dimitros Pagourtzis, 17. Greek?

    • Never trust a Dimitros.

    • 17….hopefully will be tried as an adult.

    • Yeah, Greek

      Here is what we know about Pagourtzis:

      He was wearing “trenchcoat and big boots,” according to a student who said he saw the shooter. Police have not confirmed what he was wearing.
      He is 17 years old.
      He was injured in the attack.
      He is in the 11th grade at Santa Fe High School.
      He threw pipe bombs into some classrooms, witnesses say. Devices were found in and around the school, officials said.
      The weapon Pagourtzis used was described as a shotgun by witnesses, but police have not confirmed that.
      Law enforcement says a pressure cooker with an explosive device was found at the scene.
      A Facebook page under the same name as Pagourtzis, has been taken down.
      A witness said students and coaches at the school would bully Pagourtzis and “call him names.”

    • I would have also believed Ukrainian or Turkish; someone generally from the shady side of the Black Sea region?

    • noonefromtampa

      beware Greek wearing trench coat with USSR on the back

    • Different_Cat

      A second person is custody and believed to be a possible accomplice to the suspected gunman in the Texas school shooting, according to a law enforcement official said.

      This person, who is 18 years old, is not the shooter, the law enforcement official said.

  • Kids just need a good mosh pit. Get all that physical aggression focused and burnt up in a mostly controlled environment.

    • At 47, I still mosh.

      • I’ve been to a Thousand Foot Krutch show where a mosh pit broke out. at first everyone is hesitant (because half the crowd is a bunch of Protestant Youth Groups), but then everyone gets into it, makes sure anyone who falls is immediately picked up, and thank goodness, much more respectful to the girls who just want to crowd surf and not go home with her innocence completely shattered.

    • You probably bruise like a peach

      • omg…not a bruise!

        Dude…just shut up. D_C gets on your nerves for crying out loud. Silly ass snowflake.

        • If you are ever up this way let’s see what you’re made of

          • Different_Cat

            Wow, we got a lot of Red Robin business today. ROFL

          • Oh here we go….Red Robin

          • After the ‘hooks’ I’ll buy the winner a tall IPA.

          • Sammy

          • Different_Cat

            I’ll have a double after BC frees me from jailhouse slavery.

          • In all seriousness, if you listened to advise, and didn’t stir up shit you may be fine. I know you have moments of common sense (the hurricane coconut removal). Prison isn’t all like C3PO reports on here, but you have to be smart, and you must stand your ground.

          • And just in case, keep a shiv up your butt. Go for the kidneys or the liver.

          • Eyes and neck. The more they bleed, the less fight they have.

          • Damaged kidneys and liver…they’re not coming back from the infirmary.

          • You want to not go to the infirmary, ever.

          • Oh?

            Cool. I’ll file that away.

          • You want to minimize damage to yourself. Medical treatment sucks. Best weapon is your brain, obviously.

          • Different_Cat

            Jailhouse lawyer, brah. I got it covered. You need protection I’ll see what I can do.

          • Haha, I’d have to see some of your handwritten motions before I paid you.

          • Different_Cat

            Those mofo’s find out I eat frozen bagels and they won’t want a piece of me.

          • I knew some badass Jews in there.

          • Different_Cat

            I worked in a clinic when I was in law school. Once of my cases was representing a bunch of inmates at the Orleans Parish jail who claimed they got a tray of pasta with a rat baked in it. When I met them, one of the dudes says, “haaaail yeah, we got us a Jewish lawyer!” LOL

            Won the case, too.

            Another guy said he needed help with a medical condition. Didn’t want to say what it was, but he eventually told me, “I gots a leak in my peakness.”

          • Yeah, these guys were Jewish criminals.

          • Jew mobsters. Violent as any organized crime gang.

          • It’s only about race after money and power, and as long as there are ducks to eat, nobody is trying to eat something with teeth of it’s own. Sad, but true.

          • Different_Cat

            Hey, some of the baddest gangsters of all time where Red Sea Pedestrians.

          • Different_Cat

            Later on I represented a guy doing life at Angola. That is a place you do NOT want to be.

          • No, I agree

          • That’s obsolete. They’ve got internet now. LegalZoom.com

          • Who has internet?

          • Ehh, I bruise like a peach…so I’ll be needing the liquor.

    • except, a lot of the “mosh pit” is just 16 year old dudes getting a good feel on a 16 year old crowd surfing chick

      I was at a Good Charlotte concert (I had gone to see Eve6, not that that’s any “better”) and … these high school dudes kept asking me to get in the pit with them. I was 26, the best shape of my life and prob 100 lbs heavier than these guys. Bull in a China shop. And you know you’ve mistaken the music you listen to when you go to a concert on a college campus and the crowd is mostly 16-18 year old girls. That’s when you realize you’ve not gone to a rock show, you’ve gone to a boy band concert. Goldfinger was the middle band, and you should have seen the parents way back in the bleachers clutch their chests at their between-song vulgarity.

      • Um… you were moshing at Good Charlotte…

        Nuff said

        • it was a punk rock show! I swear!
          *8,000 teenage girls scream as the band hits the stage*
          *slumps shoulders*

          Nope, YOU’RE at a BOY BAND concert!!!

          • Let’s see…. Mosh with 1000s of screaming teenage girls or a bunch of dudes in black T-shirts and leather vests.

            I’m pretty sure you made the right call, Mike. 🙂

          • …and then he realized it was Good Charlotte he was listening to and not Metallica.

  • Whew it stinks in here. Smells like elephant musk or is it all the combined hamster testosterone flowing?

  • Middle school was survival of the fittest . Take your lumps , deliver some lumps , whatever you had to do to survive .Looking back it could be almost brutal .

    • Lots of kids fights on the youtubes.

      Really, it’s a rabbit hole. There’s millions of the things.

    • talk to teachers who’ve moved around a bit grade wise…
      …and listening to Tom Osborne* talk about his Team-mates mentoring program… he even acknowledged… the worst kids to teach are not high school kids, it’s middle school. 7th and 8th grade is the height of it. at least in high school some of the kids have almost matured into adults (the ones that are female). *Dr Tom joked when inviting people to volunteer as mentors… we can fine a spot for you here or there… and if you really just want to jump right in for a challenge: middle school.

      • No doubt, biggest fight I ever got in was 8th grade. Those hormones start flooding in and it’s trouble.

      • Absolutely. We’ve had guys leave here (HS) for what they thought was better gig ($$) in a middle school and they tell horror stories. They wish they could come back. I’ll never teach middle school. No thanks.

    • God forbid if you were a move in in the middle of school year . It was fight or be humiliated everyday from there on out .

      • Yea, moved to Georgia in the middle of my junior year…

        was a fighting mother fucker for the first 3 months

      • On your first day, spot the bad ass in the school and throw a desk at his head.

    • You ain’t kidding Buck…

      I remember being in the 6th grade sitting in the back of the bus–where all the kids wanted to be– and was told to move, so cooler kids could sit there. I refused, he shot a rubber band in my face and I proceeded to beat his ass. The next day his older brother approached me at school and threatened to beat me up if I didn’t stop sitting in the back seat.

  • If you are a grown man whose never took a good shot to the face at some point in your life , you most likely need one at this time . It’s not too late .

    • Don’t fuck with a man named Sue.

    • Not sure if I ever took one square to the face, a few jaw shots, a black eye maybe.

      • jaw shots count Alex . Black eyes especially .

      • I boxed a little bit in college, so I have. It isn’t fun, but the body shots that set up the punch to the face are sometimes worse.

        • They are far worse. I boxed for 12 years when I was younger… protect the body.

          • I didn’t box nearly that long, so you have far more experience than I do. I’m glad I did it, though. It was a good experience to have. I didn’t have a ton of power, but I was quick and had decent technique, so I held my own.

          • Technique and stamina makes a boxer. A power puncher always has a shot but a guy with good defense and good footwork can run you… see Floyd Mayweather

          • True in most kinds of fighting that I’ve done. tae kwon do, karate. Though when I did fencing in college that was not the case. With swords you can have some sloppy technique but if you’re significantly faster you’re gonna win.

          • That’s what I did. My opponents were normally short, stout wrestler dudes with power that I knew I couldn’t knock out, so I usually kept up my defense, tried to keep them at bay with a jab and score points.

          • You’ll never out stamina a wreslter

          • Partly why they make such good football players.

          • If you are going to be d line or o line… wrestle

          • TE’s, that’s what Cooley said made him so good at breaking tackles.

    • Excuse me, kind sir. Would you do me the honor of blacking my eye?

      I’ve always been likeable and prone to politeness, and thus have never chanced to succumb to a jolly good haymaker.

    • Define a good shot.

      Black eye? Lost some teeth? Smashed nose? Wired jaw? Life support?

      • Oh yeah . All of those with the exception of life support . I wouldnt wish that on you

        • Hey fellas! Look at me! I’m eating through a straw for 6-8 weeks! WOOT!

          • I did that to a buddy of mine during my drinking days. Scary shit… but he asked for it so…

          • Jaw was split and deflected… we thought I had knocked a tooth out and couldn’t find it… come to find out his jaw was split that it stretched and angled his mouth so that a gap between his bottom jaw formed big enough for a tooth.

          • Knocked a man out for trying to steal my wallet. Broke two knuckles in exchange for two of his front teeth. He looked like Pippy Longstocking after that.

          • I got in a big brawl with some fratties in college… we were getting the best of them… got hit in the head with a pool cue

          • Had friend in high school, minding his business when some fuckwad came out of nowhere and decked him with brass knuckles.

            That guy’s jaw was a frign mess. But no lie…he was all like ‘Ha motherfucker! Check me out!’

          • thats a little harsh . a simple dotted eye will suffice

          • There’s no reasoning with him

        • I’d also not wish the lost teeth thing on anyone, dentist bills are expensive.

    • I’d be more than happy to provide that service.

    • does it count if you gave it to yourself?

      once when I was about in 8th grade, and then a few years later, I took a jump off about the 5th step from the bottom of a residential, standard flight of stairs (into a basement)

      pretty sure there was a second or two of conscious gap on the 2nd one. went from Ivy to Good Private to State School in a matter of seconds. I coulda been great.

      drywall didn’t even crack

      • good enough in my book .

        • when you smack your head that hard mid air, I’m daggone lucky I didn’t land awkwardly and break my neck or spine. but, I was much younger, and much lighter.

          • I was hitting rocks into a car dealer from a tennis court… yea I know… and I went running out of the gate full speed. Kicked the chain link fence… it hit a pipe behind it and bounced back into my face… took the post on the rebound at a dead run.

            That hurt about 3 minutes after it happened… and then it hurt for days

          • Sounds like you pulled a OBJ…you got your ass kicked by a pipe.

          • It was serious… stood me straight up… saw stars.

          • stars… glitter… whatever you want to call it

          • You remember that part in Tommy Boy where he gets hit in the face with the 2×4?

            Yea, that.

          • exactly. that low ceiling at the bottom of a stairwell is framed by a 2 x 4, and then capped with a piece of metal corner bead to finish over the drywall.

    • Different_Cat

      Bet I’m the only one here who’s been knocked stone unconscious by an NFL Pro Bowler.

      Granted … he was a punter.

  • Simple really… I went to school in Georgia… kids had gun racks in their trucks with loaded guns in those racks. Not one person ever got shot. Anecdotal sure… but relevant.

  • So, I’m listening to some movie reviews for Deadpool.

    And it is obvious those people hated the first one, and don’t understand satire. They’d look at Spaceballs and say something like, “this movie is poorly made, it can’t compare to the storyline in Star Wars.”

  • SCamp Coach JS • 21 minutes ago
    It’s a culture of pussies and cowards.
    ——————————————————
    Isn’t that the same group that are filled with hate and swear allegiance to nihilism?

    I think we’re pretty much saying the same thing w/ different words, Scamp.

    • Maybe… it’s possible

      • Fist fights, are not the solution.

        What you want here is, prevailing against adversity and becoming confident for having overcome a struggle.

        • And some core foundation of beliefs.

          Once you believe nothing matters and there is no truth, you can do anything. And a lot of young people believe that nowadays.

          • We need a good war!

            Against the forces of evil!

            No wait…an alien invasion. Bugs from space!

        • …it’s why I recommend wrestling to all kids.

          But absent that throwing a few blows is far better than pulling a gun.

          • Wrestling is a great avenue for that. Good call there. Physicality without hospitalization. Usually.

          • It’s fighting without blows… it’s a great character builder and instills discipline. It’s more mental most of the time as well. If you have a weak self confidence or mind… wrestle for a few years. That’ll fix your problem.

          • Really any regimented exercise/sport that requires overcoming one’s own weakness/desire to quit.

            Hell, regular guitar practice with a metronome will toughen up your character.

          • It’s not the same… I’ve done both

          • Fair enough. But, anything that forces you to confront weakness/failure and overcome it will make you tougher than not.

            Maybe not as tough as a wrestler/boxer, but all we are going for here is non-mopey-ass losers who just want to hurt others because they’re filled with self-loathing.

          • Make you kids wrestle for at least 2 years…

            If they don’t do anything else fine… but make them wrestle

          • Tetherball FTW

  • Scamp what you said below about getting into a fist fight could not agree with you more

    It’s a right of passage that somehow has gotten stripped away
    Absolutely nothing wrong with two kids getting into a fight

    • wife works in a public school . if two kids get into a fist fight , they have to call the police . not allowed to handle it themselves .

      • That’s silly. It used to be that the teachers or the principal broke up the fight and sent them to suspension.

        • tip of the iceburg on silliness . I could go on all day .

          • my wife is pretty damn tough for a woman . She doesn’t frighten easily . There are several kids in that school she is legitimately afraid of . School can’t do anything with them . These kids are assigned a resource officer to escort them all day , every day .

          • So somebody gets paid a salary to walk a kid to each class and eat lunch with them , instead of expelling that kid and forcing the parents to deal with the situation .

        • Some older teachers like my mom still will handle things in house.

      • oh and yesterday , a kid took a dump in the bathroom sink .

    • When I was in school the teachers generally had the “if I don’t see it I won’t report it” mentality.
      We still had school shootings.

      • after my time thank god . i wish they were after everybody’s time

        • Stats wise, I’m roughly in what was the 1st generation when the mass
          shootings became common place. Columbine was my senior year of high
          school. And about 3 years before that is when they really started happening more than once a year. Whatever it was that changed started having an impact in the mid to late 90’s.

    • I’ve often said that it would do every kid some good to get punched in the face once, in some sort of controlled environment, to prove to them that they can take it and are tougher than they may have thought.

      • I’ve always said something similar. A man who’s never had their ass kicked a few times isn’t a man you can trust.

    • Most of these shooter types wouldn’t last ten seconds in a fist fight.

      A lot of them get beat up and picked on from the gate. Then they go rage on the internet, listen to some angry music, play some angry games, read about what other angry people did, and somewhere along the way they come up with a plan.

      • Most people don’t last long in a fist fight. Got to have training for that sort of thing and or just be quite a bit stronger and or faster that the opponent if not.

        We developed tools for a reason.

        We’re soft as fuck.

    • I agree. Girls beating tough guy father’s son’s ass and boys bashing girls after their dad couldn’t handle their boy getting whooped by a girl.

      What could go wrong?

    • Behind the Smith’s super market or behind Nelson’s meats butcher shop is were we would mass to fight. Awe the good ole’ days. I would miss my school bus just to partake or watch. Then have to walk all the way home.

  • “I had a good feeling it was between Josh Allen and I,” Mayfield said. “I’m not really sure why. I had a dream about it and it was all just sort of coming into focus.”

    A dream told Mayfield he would number 1. That’s cool. Just seems like the kind of thing you might want to keep to yourself if you want to be taken seriously as the face of a failed franchise. But maybe that’s just me.

  • noonefromtampa

    Cubana Airlines plane has crashed outside of Havana

  • Are the Redskins finally moving in the right direction?

    If you mean 6-10 to 10-6 is better than 3-13 and 2-12… then yes…

    …but that’s still setting the bar pretty low.

    • I’m guessing, like most everyone else here, that we have a third straight year in the 7-9 to 9-7 range.

      The mere fact that we have such a strong belief that we are firmly mediocre is progress in and of itself.

      • …but it’s not enough. Simply not good enough

        • I hear ya. I want 14-2 just like everyone else.

          But we are not far removed from knowing the season was over by week 6. At least now there’s a reason to watch the games until mid to late December.

          And hopefully, phase 3 (consistently 8-8 to 10-6) will happen soon.

    • Win at home. Compete in the division. Don’t get blown the hell up in the run game….on either side of the ball.

      Give me that and a record above .500…I’ll call it progress in the right direction.

  • noonefromtampa

    now 10 dead, 9 students & 1 teacher

    • noonefromtampa

      pipe bombs and pressure cooker bombs have been found so far

      • Different_Cat

        17-year-old suspect in custody.

        • Grab his folks too
          Shake them down and charge them as accessories

          • The sad fact is there is nothing that is going to stop this stuff. Shake down whoever you want. Take away people’s guns, knives, power tools, fingernail clippers and rubber bands.

            We have a culture of hate and nihilism. In that culture stuff like this will go on and on.

          • So now you want to get down to the meat of it, eh.

          • security and armed school resource officers .

          • It’s a culture of pussies and cowards. When we were kids, when our parents were kids, if you had a problem or you were angry you manned up and threw down with hands. Now it’s plan a raid on a large group of unarmed and unknowing innocents. That’s coward level shit… that’s a pussy.

          • Different_Cat

            Due process schmoo process.

          • I don’t care

          • Different_Cat

            I’m sure you don’t. Until the shoe’s on the other foot.

          • It won’t be

            I don’t break laws

          • Different_Cat

            Right, because innocent people are never arrested. And every accused criminal has parents who deserve to be shaken down and charged as accessories.

          • Meh. Everyone gets ticked off and spouts a little on days when this kind of stuff happens, DC.

            I’ll be more worried when we have a shooting and no one is calling for heads and shakedowns and strongarm tactics. That’ll mean we’ve truly given up.

          • Different_Cat

            I understand what you’re saying, but IMO these are the times when we MOST need to guard against vigilantism.

          • Could not disagree more

            Make an example of them

          • Different_Cat

            Dude, maybe we should take a minute and see if they’ve done anything wrong first? Sometimes good parents have shitty children. And vv. Doesn’t the Bible say something about this?

            “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.”

          • 48 years of this not happening

            I’m not the people who you need to concern yourself with

      • not to make light of it, but these HS kids waste their time on the bomb stuff. never works right.

  • This is how numb we’ve gotten in this country:

    At lunch there were supposedly educated people actually having a “debate” about which was more likely an “inside job” 9/11 or the latest school shooting.

  • walter_in_fallschurch

    lake barcroft dam cam:
    https://dam.click2stream.com/

    damn!

  • Way to totally screw up pizza party day shooter asshole. ffs.

  • noonefromtampa

    8 dead, 12 wounded, bomb squad removing “explosive devices” from the school

  • walter_in_fallschurch

    oh, gosh… i’ve just been approved for a 0 interest rate credit card! it’s like i’ve arrived or something. so glad i answered that call.

  • Metallica reaction videos by people who have never experienced them are a thing.

    It’s mostly younger people. Mixed crowd of musical interests, usually hip-hip hop-hop or whatever that shit is called and young folk realizing they stuff they call metal, ain’t metal.

    Everyone I’ve watched over the last bunch of days are genuine positive reactions.

    https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=metallica+reaction+videos

    • I’ve watched some of these. They’re great, and most people end up liking the music.

      • Yea…it’s like reliving your own moment of discovery through them.

        That and it’s reassuring to see a younger generation getting its eyes opened to how shit the music is anymore.

      • That’s the way it was for my dad. As a kid, he gave me shit for listening to them. One day we were drinking some beers, years later, and I put Kill ‘um All on for him, he couldn’t believe what musicians they were.

      • the problem I have with it, is that people grow up doing things that you or I would have done during the summer as a goof off and think they can make a career on Youtube out of it. I used to make fake radio show tapes for kicks during the summer, even did a spoof … audio version, of the Arsenio Hall / Tonight Show type thing. It was fun to do with some friends, but you’d have to have a really disillusioned, searching-for-an-identity, can’t-find-satisfying-work generation that would sit… and… watch… tha… youtu… nevermind.

    • They should pipe that in around the clock at Guantanamo

  • finding explosive devices around the school .

  • Minimize it

  • walter_in_fallschurch

    Steve Thomas Team Captain AustinSkin • 41 minutes ago
    You could say the same thing about any number of liberal lobbying organizations who’ve contributed to campaigns.
    ——————————

    imo, lobbyists and campaign contributions are THE biggest problems with politics.

    no matter how good-hearted and well-intentioned a person is going into politics, eventually they need to campaign, which means they have to beg for money, thus selling their souls to whoever donates to them. do you think politicians would be voting the way they are if they weren’t “owned” by “big oil” or pharmaceutical companies or the NRA or planned parenthood or chemical manufacturers or telecoms or name your least favorite special interest. hell, our “food pyramid” is influenced by meat and dairy lobbyists…..

    i understand the constitutional implications of preventing lobbying (“petitioning the govt”), but the system is broken. a good, honest politician who doesn’t take money from this or that industry is doomed.

    i’d support some sort of public financing for campaigns. don’t know the exact details, but i do not like the current system at all.

    • I worked for a time in the office of a certain politician. You always knew who the lobbyists were by the way they were dressed. They just about always looked like sleazeballs.

    • the candidates get a sword. the reed fence goes up. the one who survives is the new Congressman.

  • Sawed-off shotguns can be small….just sayin’

    • Yeah , but still somewhat bulky under a coat . Now they are saying explosive devices are being found at the school . Right now unfolding story .

      • if i am a resource officer monitoring the entrance , anybody wearing a coat or jacket in the type of weather they have right now is going to set off alarms . Assuming they even had that . All doors should be locked and one main entrance should be monitored

      • Well, fwiw, if it’s a pump or auto, you can go as short as your magazine tube, and a bobbed or pistol grip stock. If it’s a break-barrel, you can go to just before the forestock retaining bolt, and a bobbed stock. I have seen and shot them as short as about 12/14″, you pretty much hold down on the barrel.

  • She’s always like…’No, it’s cool. Go do your thing. I’m fine. Thanks for asking’

    But the minute she finds out I saw a movie without her….

    https://media.giphy.com/media/3x03uKc1JvWGQ/giphy.gif

  • Can’t wait to go see Infinity War tomorrow.

  • Kathleen Kennedy has got to go. Her and her screw men SJW agenda is killing Star Wars. And we all know Star Wars is a god damn sacred cow.

  • Trump got elected by being himself (and because Hillary was the other choice)…

    Doing anything different than being himself would betray his voters.

    • Yes, and he’s also pursuing precisely the agenda that he said he would in the campaign, and he’s accomplished much of it.

      • He’s done much better than I thought he would…especially considering the level of interference he’s had to deal with!

      • I don’t think he survives another year , but he is doing what he said he would .

      • Different_Cat

        Is he really doing what he said he’d do though? In a few areas, yeah, he’s trying. The wall. Tax cuts that were not the ones he promised. Draining the swamp? LOL Hiring “the best people?” Staying out of foreign wars? Labeling China a currency manipulator? Repeal and replace Obamacare with something much much better? What are all these promises he’s kept?

  • Only details I’ve seen about the shooter is that the person is male and was wearing a trench coat with USSR on the back.

  • Back to the good ol daysBruce

    Re: Shanny
    Going after McNabb was so bad I’m surprised its overlooked as one of the worse trades in the history of trades. He clearly preferred a veteran QB over drafting a rookie. He admitted to wanting Peyton Manning but Peyton shunning all NFC east teams. So he was really never committed to the rebuild mode. Something you would think comes up during a thorough interview process…

    • Fucking McNabb…that was just horrible.

      Really just, an embarrassing day as a fan.

      • Let’s just hope there’s never a day when we say a similar thing about …. wait, nevermind.

  • Here’s the standard pattern for death penalty cases post-conviction
    – defendant publicly claims he’s totally innocent. This happens in just about every case, because they have nothing to lose by lying at this point
    – Defendant’s appellate attorneys, who are different than the trial attorneys, usually argue ineffective assistance of counsel, rights violations by police, prejudical lineup, improper voir dire, DNA problems, and lack of evidence. Usually, the arguments aren’t legitimate and everyone knows it.
    – Appeal goes through the state process, then to the federal habeus corpus process, which takes you through all levels of federal court. This is supposed to only happen once, but it sometimes goes 2 or even 3 times, including the Supreme Court. The cases in which the defendant’s appellate attorneys are right about something get the conviction overturned, the death sentence set aside, or a new trial.
    – Then there’s the gubinatorial clemency process, which is different in every state, but normally is left to the discretion of the governor as to the circumstances under which he/she can grant clemency.

    All of this can take up to 20 years sometimes.

    No case which finally gets to the execution phase suffers from a lack of oversight. Many, many courts, judges, attorneys, and the governor and his/her staff have looked at it. There’s plenty of time for mistakes to be caught and corrected. I’m sure one has slipped through, which is tragic, but the answer is to improve the process.

    • Different_Cat

      People are imperfect so there is never going to be a perfect process. I would rather not have the death penalty than see the government put even one innocent American to death. Personally I think life in prison without parole is worse than being executed.

      If we are going to have the death I’d advocate for an even higher standard: something like, “beyond a shadow of doubt.” Reserve it for situations where there is virtually certain DNA evidence, clear video evidence, confession, etc.

      • Well, there’s no historical basis in law for something like a “beyond a shadow of doubt”, and my experience was that in most cases they physical evidence left no question whatsoever about what happened.

        The truth of the matter is that many death penalty appeals end up being hyper-technical legal arguments about statutory and case law interpretation.

        • Different_Cat

          A lot of them end up being about ineffective assistance of counsel. Many of the successful ones result in the freedom of the defendant after years, or even decades in prison, when they’re cleared by DNA evidence.

          • But overwhelmingly, the DNA evidence proves guilt.

            There’s a mountain of case law on ineffective assistance of counsel in death penalty cases.

          • Different_Cat

            Yeah, I know. Still better to put them in prison for life than execute an innocent man or woman. The death penalty doesn’t save money and there’s no evidence that it serves as a deterrent. It’s strictly about vengeance and the price for that vengeance is going to be an innocent person’s life.

          • If it was cheaper to off them, then at least that would be an argument that was sound (I’d still be against it), but it’s not.

          • It’s justice and retribution, not vengeance, and I’m fine with that.

          • Different_Cat

            It’s vengeance pure and simple.

          • I’m okay with vengeance, too.

          • Different_Cat

            I suppose I wouldn’t be so opposed to it if the cost wasn’t an innocent person or persons inevitably being executed by the government.

          • All I can tell you is that, of the cases I was involved with in some way that went all the way through to execution, I was legally, morally, and ethically okay with each of them.

        • Back to the good ol daysBruce

          I do agree. Putting a guy in gen pop, no parole, being turned into a mid-day snack by his “buddies” is a much larger deterrent than the death penalty. Many would rather die than stuck in a cage…

    • I agree with all this.

      However, I don’t see the death penalty as the super strong deterrent that its proponents think it is.

      I mean, in a murderous rage, who’s going to think, “Wait, bro. I better not do this. I may be put to death in a humane and generally painless way after a tortuous 20 year legal process. I’ll just turn the other cheek.”

      • The sole purpose of the death penalty isn’t deterrence, though. The other part of it – maybe the bigger part is retribution, meaning justice for the victims.

        • Different_Cat

          Seems like the victims always say it doesn’t make them feel better, even if they advocated for death. Doesn’t bring back their loved ones.

  • Generally speaking, calling people “animals” is just a metaphor that indicates that a certain person or group’s behavior does not conform to the standards most folks would like to see “humans” conform to.

    It’s not a very “nice” metaphor. But sometimes heinous behavior requires harsh reprisals, such as calling said people hurtful names.

    I think it is meant as a deterrent to bad behavior, because others will avoid those behaviors, in order to avoid the hurt and shame that name calling can induce.

    • Too many animals aren’t assholes.

      And all the animals that aren’t carnivore…are having to be associated here with murdery rapey mofos.

      Is that fair?

    • People are making too big a deal out of this one. It’s not like when he stupidly called a bunch of white supremacist good people.

      • Different_Cat

        Seems to be a straw that broke the camel’s back situation.

        • I think it’s more likely a slow news week for the Dems and they needed something to punch at. the North Korea thing, they can’t punch at that because that would be stupid. Net neutrality, too complex for most people to understand, and too many D’s were for stripping it early on and on the take from the ISP’s, that’s a rabbit hole they don’t want to shine a flashlight in.

          • What’s wrong with a slow news week?

            That’s what they should ask themselves.

            Fuck cable news. It’s ridiculous to think that every day or week has to have some kind of gotcha.

          • Come on, Kon. You are not pulling advertising dollars in with that attitude! SMH

          • Shit. That’s right. Got to feed the beast.

            Forgot all about that.

          • Different_Cat

            If you think it was a slow news week you haven’t been paying attention.

    • Back to the good ol daysBruce

      not gonna get into the political talk but I must say as a sitting US president why even go there? Who cares about the tough talk? Its just stupid. And most sane people already agree that MS13 dudes are despicable. No surprise there so why bother?

      • I agree with that, let’s just start stacking bodies.

      • Well, I think he does these things because it serves three purposes all at once.

        1.) Insults MS13 folks
        2.) Rallies the rah-rah hold-my-beer crowd that actually likes the guy
        3.) Sends the uber-libs and media that he loathes into little paroxysms of anxiety

        Personally, I wish he’d shut up. But, my genie quit granting wishes toward the end of the 2nd quarter January 31st 1988. (Who knew there were more important things to wish for? Ah, youth….)

        • I think at this point, President Trump actually enjoys sending the media and the uber-libs into spastic fits and does it intentionally.

        • number three is most enjoyable . It’s a hoot .

        • Back to the good ol daysBruce

          that’s fine. Then be unequivocal. “MS-13 are thugs, bitches and animals all at once.” Dude has zero oratory skills. Not saying that’s a requirement to be successful but as a President and successful business owner his lack of comms skills is rather surprising.

      • he was responding to the sheriff of Fresno , who was voicing his concerns over dealing with illegal gang members .

  • 9 dead

  • so the word animal is a no no ? seems to cause fits of anger and thumb sucking.

  • noonefromtampa • 21 minutes ago
    It’s not that hard as a new owner even if you buy a mess of a team

    Talk to the other owners, get permission to talk with a couple of GMs about the process

    Hire a firm to build a list of good GM candidates

    Hire one that describes a good plan process to you

    Set some goals for him like a playoff spot in 3 years

    Execute and review each season
    ——-
    You should do some review each year, but I always feel like you need to give a GM 4-5 years to get a real sense for if they are any good.

    • noonefromtampa

      3 years was just an example i agree a GM should get 5 years to see what he can do

      But I would expect improvements each year

      • Depending on the state of the team sure.

        But there’s also the whole thing about the QB position. So many guys out there are really good GM’s but if they don’t find that decent QB for the team, they may never be more than average in the wins and losses.

        • noonefromtampa

          Why don’t they get a good QB is the question…

          Poor drafting, free agency, coaches could not develop one…

          • noonefromtampa

            Ravens won a Super Bowl with an average QB

          • Jets have been in QB hell for over 10 years. Even while having periods of time with a great defense, some serious offensive weapons.

          • It’s a lot of those types of things. Yet how many franchises have we seen have that happen?

          • noonefromtampa

            GM has to have plan to address that be it draft, trade, FA…

  • Rate of recidivism among the dead is zero

    • Bingo

    • In normal crimes that would make sense. But in mass shootings, I don’t think anyone goes into that act with an expectation that they will live, or that they will ever be out of jail alive once arrested. Death is only a deterrent when we are talking about people of sound mind, to be a mass murderer you’re already taking that off the table.

      • Malcolm Gladwell (I think, could be the Freakonomics guys) talks about this in one of his books. The Death penalty isn’t a deterrent, because statistically speaking, it’s never used. It is used so little that it isn’t a real threat in most instances. Most people don’t want to go to jail, either.

        • I don’t think it’s a deterrent. But I’ve got no problem with using in on mass murderers and dirty politicians

  • noonefromtampa

    In Florida it takes 10-15 years to put someone to death and that’s the quick route

  • Wash, rinse…repeat.

    Or in the US’ case….

    Bury, do nothing….repeat.

    • Mass voter registrations. Especially with the youth vote.

      Target every politician bought by the NRA

      Vote ’em all out

      Start a discussion in Congress.

      • You could say the same thing about any number of liberal lobbying organizations who’ve contributed to campaigns.

      • we should raise the age limit for voting to 25. at least then almost everyone’s brain is finished developing

  • walter_in_fallschurch

    mike,
    the calculations about the size of the sphere are correct.
    http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=361,900,000+square+kilometers+*+3.3+millimeters&t=crmtb01

    of course he is not factoring in that the coastlines are not vertical – i.e., the ocean increases in surface area as sea level rises, so, it would need to be even bigger than the 8.2 mile diameter given.

    • This is a perfect example of wasteful spending…are you ready for a grant re-up?

      Cheaper alternative: Ban scientific theory offered by Representatives from Alabama and Atlanta, Georgia.

    • Attack it from the opposite walter.

      Write these reps and tell them to counter all the rocks that are raising sea levels that they should be fighting for legislation to dredge the oceans and raise our coastlines.

    • I assumed they were in the calculations I did, however his size of the US was way off, so it could have messed with his 5″ calculation

      I think you could prob say that the upper bound for rocks and sediment is on the order of a few % of the total annually of any sea rise. That is all I was saying. Fraction of a millimeter.

  • Again make the punishment for shooting up a school the death penalty and start applying it

    • Well, this person probably will get the death penalty. Multiple fatalities on a school. And it’s going to be a conservative Texas prosecutor.

    • We have capital punishment. And for some reason, we continue to have homicides, serial killers and mass-murder events.

      Now, your preferred meting of justice aside, clearly….capital punishment is not a deterrent.

      This today happened in Texas. And Texas does indeed execute capital punishment.

      • Too many appeals, takes too long to mete out the punishment..many reasons it isn’t a deterrent…

        • Too many innocent people wrongfully accused is why we have an appeal process. You don’t just find someone guilty, take them out back of the court and put them at the end of a rope.

          • the ones we catch in the act, we should! No need for appeals imo. put them down publicly.

          • Agreed. But not publicly. That serves nothing but bloodlust.

          • DETERRENCE!

          • I’ve worked on death penalty cases at the appellate level and above, and I never saw a single one where it wasn’t abundantly clear the guy did it. Mistakes are tragic and they happen, but it’s much less than you think. And that’s why death penalty cases have a special appeals system and the clemency process.

          • 1 in 25…or 4% of captial punishment prosecutions are wrongful.

            So of the approximate 3088 death row inmates in the us, 123 of them are innocent.

            Killing 123 innocent people…that’s a lot.

          • I don’t believe that for a second. What you’re calling “wrongful” could mean a whole lot of things, from somebody’s interpretation of rights being violated, to claimed trial issues, jury issues, and lineup issues, to actual innocence. I don’t believe for a nanosecond that 1 in 25 are actually innocent. I saw people sentenced to death claim a whole lot of things, and almost all of it was total garbage.

          • Go look into the studies.

            Don’t argue against facts.

            Just because you saw this, or that…not only does it not mean their claims were false, but it certainly does not apply to every case across the US.

            Our system is flawed. Prosecutors are not perfect, but they do protect perfect conviction rates. DNA evidence is back logged out the whazoo…people are being released for crimes they had nothing at all to do with. And you’re going to sit here and argue that you don’t believe 4% of murder convictions is done in error?

            4% man. It’s about as conservative a figure as you can get.

      • First of all, capital punishment is a deterrent, but crazy is going to do crazy.

        But more importantly, the purpose of criminal punishment isn’t just deterrence. There’s rehabilitation, deterrence, and retribution. The death penalty falls into the latter two categories.

        • Steve, it’s not a deterrent. So do not come at me with any first of all nonsense.

          Greg wants murdery mofos put down. As if it would prevent these things from happening.

          • That’s your opinion, and you’re entitled to it. Again, crazy is going to do crazy and scum are going to do scum things, no matter what. But some criminals do pay attention to the level of felony they’re getting themselves into.

          • They’re animals who need to be put down.

          • Ah…. Buck!!! That’s soooo mean!! How could you??

  • noonefromtampa

    School shooting in Houston area leaves several dead

  • noonefromtampa

    It’s not that hard as a new owner even if you buy a mess of a team

    Talk to the other owners, get permission to talk with a couple of GMs about the process

    Hire a firm to build a list of good GM candidates

    Hire one that describes a good plan process to you

    Set some goals for him like a playoff spot in 3 years

    Execute and review each season

  • Squinnsamania, brother!

    Texas School Shooting

  • http://www.espn.com/blog/washington-redskins/post/_/id/36509/final-pick-trey-quinn-confident-hell-be-relevant-with-redskins

    From Keim. It has all the quotes I was talking about the other day… “Best receiver in the draft” and “I’ll prove I’m relevant” and so on.

    I do like what he said about perception: It’s all perception for a lot of people. People can get fooled by perception and they buy into it too much.

    Whatever could he mean by that, I wonder???

    • Different_Cat

      If I was a college football player entering the NFL I’d get a tattoo of a chip on my shoulder. And if I was coming from Alabama I’d get one of a banjo on my knee.

      • There was a dude who got a chip tattoo. I can’t remember who. It was a potato chip and he said people were always asking him what it was.

        • Different_Cat

          Genius. I actually have a friend who teaches college in Alabama who got a tat of a banjo on his knee. 🙂

  • 30lbs

  • https://twitter.com/vinny_cerrato

    If you can look at this picture and think, “Yep, that’s a guy I’d hire”…. You are not fit to be the GM of a McDonald’s franchise.

  • Once we had Vinny and Zorn in the same building…. think about that.

    I am not a Snyder hater, but the fact that he couldn’t see anything wrong with that is a testament to the fact that he is not a natural at putting the right people in positions for success.

    • I totally agree. I think we talked about this on one of our early shows. Snyder made his money essentially as a telemarketer. He never had a huge team of people in a massive organization that he had to lead. I suspect he’s not a natural leader.

  • How does a box of ammo fall from a chopper into a school? I assume the answer involves the words “Hold my beer”

    https://apnews.com/c02f2bab7f46492eb5c349d26eb4cc01?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP&__twitter_impression=true

    • Have you never been on a military helicopter? I could see if it somebody neglected a safety precaution or two. You don’t close the side door, because there’s a big gun there, or in the case of something like an MH-53, which I’ve spent time in (which are now all retired in favor of the Osprey) the back door either, so if a crew member didn’t properly secure something like an ammo box, I could see it falling out. I’ve never heard of that happening, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t before.

      • noonefromtampa

        My understanding is that in Vietnam things fell out all the time especially Charlie

        • I don’t doubt it.

        • Most wouldn’t medevac enemy wounded, per Airmobile veterans I know, and yes, they fell out on the occasion that they did ride.

        • Well in a combat situation I’d get it, you don’t have time to check that things are secured. I know El Paso is bad, but I don’t think it’s that bad.

          • noonefromtampa

            Across the river is worse

          • It happened in El Paso? Fort Bliss is there – massive army base with combat units. So my guess based on that is that it was probably a Huey or Blackhawk, which means open side door.

      • I assume they are talking a rather large box for them to have caused damage to a school with it falling.

        • You’d be surprised how much even a small ammo box weighs.

          • noonefromtampa

            Box of belt feed ammo dropped from a couple hundred feet would do some damage

          • see, I assume it was something like that.

          • I have an idea. When I was house hunting I found a small ammo box in a place we were trying to buy. Thing was full of rifle rounds. I was told the owner (who had died) was an MP in Korea/Vietnam, and there was random stuff like that that had been found through out the house hidden. People doing house walk through finding boxes of bullets, his old night stick, things like that. Guess when his family had cleaned out they didn’t know his hiding spots. But who would look for ammo behind the water heater?

          • So drop that from 2000 feet AGL onto a roof and you can see how that’d cause some damage.

          • I lived in a house as a kid that had been owned by a ex-border patrolman, I found two 5 gallon buckets full of .45 ACP rounds in a back room in the basement.

    • noonefromtampa

      Some 19 kid forgot to tighten a nut because he was trying to figure out how to get laid on his weekend pass

  • I’ve mentioned this before China is getting really into Arena Football. Or at least some people over there are. But that’s a darn nice looking practice facility and stadium

    https://twitter.com/ArenaFLChina/status/997420633482059776

  • noonefromtampa

    Love going to doctor 10am appt and still sitting in waiting room

    • SS DD – receptionist

      • noonefromtampa

        If I’m late, no show or cancel within 24 hours they charge you $50

        But they can suck up an hour of my time for no cost

    • Just do what I do and skip going to the doctor entirely.

      • I haven’t been to a doctor as a result of an illness since I was a kid.

        • noonefromtampa

          That’s great wait until you’re 60+ and taking 7 different prescriptions

          • Can’t get a prescription if you don’t go to the doctor. All you need is Sunkist, baby.

          • I hope I don’t ever get to that point, because I also have a big problem with taking medicine that’s anything more than something like an over the county tylenol.

          • noonefromtampa

            Prepay your funeral so the wife doesn’t have to worry about that

    • We spend all this money on magazine subscriptions and chairs, I want to make sure you get a chance to enjoy them as part of your experience here Mr. Noone. Now, hows that rash down there been?

      • noonefromtampa

        Cornstarch baby powder

        A must for Florida summers

        lol

        • I finally made the switch from boxers to the boxer-brief on hot days when I know I’ll be doing a lot of outdoors stuff. It’s the hardest commitment I’ve ever had to make in my life.

  • Need to upgrade the strength positions and medical training staff, IMO. We have had way too many injuries that I believe are preventable.

  • We were a dumpster fire in 2008, then Bruce and Mike came in and all they could do was try and put it out by throwing a mattress on top of the fire. Looked fine at first, like the loss of oxygen was going to fix the problem. But no, the mattress eventually caught fire on top of the dumpster. So Bruce kicked out Fireman Mike and Brought in Fireman Jay, who’s first idea was to pull the burning mattress off the dumpster and ship it to Cleveland telling them it was only slightly used. The fire was starting to die down in the dumpster, and was at least contained again, things looked good, but then Bruce noticed Fireman Scot was taking all the credit and threw Fireman Scots bottle of vodka in the dumpster, and that caused the dumpster fire to start up again. They still had it contained but then a lot of good furniture that was in the dumpster and somehow not charred to a crisp was taken out and absconded with, and now we’ve got to go find some slightly older furniture to try and put in our house.

    • noonefromtampa

      In all honesty Mike Shanahan sucked balls as a GM

      • noonefromtampa

        It’s somewhat sad when Bruce Allen has been the bedrock holding it altogether

        • To me, Bruce is very much like the Wizards GM, where he he spends a lot of his time fixing his own mistakes, which prevents the team from really improving.

          Shanahan came into a bad team in 2009. I thought he made a mistake early on when he went after McNabb rather than trying to work with Jason Campbell, or at least just take the patient approach and used Campbell as a bridge for a year while you draft and develop a QB. But they had to totally turn over the roster he inherited from Zorn.

    • Here’s a truism about professional sports, to me: no team can be a consistent winner without quality ownership. A team can get lucky and win in a particular year (like the Florida Marlins), but a team just isn’t going to be a long-term winner without a good owner. Snyder seems to have gotten better, but he’s still trying to build the right structure after all these years, and I don’t think he’s personally a good leader who can set a tone and get everyone on the same page.

  • noonefromtampa

    D squared S squared

  • We’ve moved from laughing stock to somewhere slightly below average, and that’s progress. More to be done.

  • Different_Cat

    I’d say the front office has improved, but there’s plenty of room for more improvement.

  • Thanks Rick, nice job.

  • Pizzast!