Mr. Scot

If they buy their kids a game without checking it out ahead of time, it's their own fault.

I'll settle for just being the guy that watches the results.

One caveat... If we found a guy who's poised to break out that wasn't well known enough to require high value, then yes it could happen. (that's probably about as likely to happen as my parrot learning Portuguese, but technically it's possible)

I'd probably watch it. But man, has boxing fallen off from where it was when I was a kid.

Know what I'd like to see? Spelling bee.

Have never forgotten that feeling, and I'm just a fan. Imagine what it's like for the guys who play the game. I'm not a big fan of generic pop songs you could write with a book of Mad Libs. If she wasn't nice to look at, I don't know that she'd have a career as a 'music artist'. (go ahead and call me a grumpy old man if you wanna)

Been busy, Among other things, girlfriend's birthday and Valentine's Day both coming in short order

The hell?

I think this is a lot of us. there's just as much Super Bowl hype as ever. I'm just not paying attention to it. Back in 03-04 I was riveted from the moment the NFC Championship ended till the second the Super Bowl started.

I wish I were as confident of that as you are

I'm gonna resist the urge to say that I already believed all of that. I'm not gonna resist it that hard, though. The unit that finished the season is definitely stronger than the one that started it, and the only real glaring need that remains is at left tackle. That said, the free agent tackle market is terrible. It'll be no shock if the only two guys really worth plunking down decent money for (Dunlap and Bulaga) are both signed back to their current teams before free agency even starts. My best hope this year is for a really good tackle to fall in round one, and honestly that's not much of a hope. We might have to settle for a stopgap this season, which I can deal with as long as it isn't Byron Bell.

The World Cup is a series of games. The Super Bowl is a single event, and it's not just watched here.

The Super Bowl has been the single most hyped event in the world for decades now. Don't see that changing anytime soon.

Sal Paolantonio characterized Kraft's statement as reminding Goodell who he works for. Florio pointed out something about the standard being met here. The thing about the NFL is that, thanks to the way things are set up, they don't have to meet the kind of standard you would in court. Sufficient evidence to believe something happened is enough for Goodell to inflict penalties. Not only is there plenty of evidence here, but we're talking about an organization that already has a history. Throw in stuff like how visitor's headsets and radio equipment have an odd habit of messing up whenever there's a close game at Gillette Stadium. Stuff like this is why I always chuckle when people talk about how great the Patriots and Belichick are. If they were really as far ahead as they're hyped to be, they wouldn't need to cheat.

But I'm sure it wasn't for anything improper. I mean, it's not like the Patriots have a history of cheating or anything, right?

Which is garbage. The refs didn't do anything but inspect the footballs, after which they were improperly taken by a Patriots employee to a bathroom. None of these "it's magic" explanations have offered any explanation as to how it only occurred to one team's footballs.

One, your link doesn't actually say what you claim it does (were you figuring no one would check it out?) And two, the people who actually manufacture the footballs say the Pats explanation is bulls--t. Wilson: Patriots explanation is BS

Slightly underinflated footballs are easier to grip, throw, catch and hold onto; all of which means better ball security which is a significant advantage in a football game.

Trying to intimidate Goodell, perhaps?

Balls inflated in a sauna or other hot room? That has to be absolute stupidest theory I've read in a while.

I will laugh my ass off if the Pats try to say some lower level equipment handler acted on his own. You'd pretty much have to be an absolute moron to buy that notion.

Torrey might not want to be in the locker room with that other Smith' guy anymore.

From what ive seen, there's a lot of things that aren't this guy's "strong suit".

Saw that Amazing how those weather conditions only affected one team's footballs, eh? (conditions must vary a lot from one side of the field to the other)

Who says you can't do both?