Captroop

Pick is in! Gotta be Ick

We've got to be working the phones right now. Someone fell who someone wants bad. Let's see if we stay put

All I know is The Rock now owns XFL, and that guy is no fool with his money. And he very publicly made a "partnership" with the NFL. Really, it seems like it's in name only; some BS explanation, "The partnership with the NFL does not involve games or teams specifically but is an agreement to work together in studying the game of football and collaborating on “forward-thinking physical and mental fitness programs for players.'" But regardless, NFL is the 800 pound professional football gorilla in the room, and it's very smart on his part to have XFL and NFL co-branded in ANY capacity if you want to see your league survive. I truly believe the resurgent XFL has a shot.

Was that the conference where Rhule aggressively poo his pants on a hot mic?

USFL is doing an abysmal job promoting itself! The XFL came out with great fanfare (for a startup league) and actually did a very admirable job building up some hype. I knew DC had a team. I knew when we were playing. I knew who the players were. And I actually made a point to go watch a couple games at a rooftop bar, where I no-poo saw someone wearing a DC Defenders shirt. They had the rotten luck of launching right before the pandemic, but honestly I felt like it might have actually caught on. The USFL in stark contrast, I don't begrudge anyone for not realizing it's already several weeks into the season. I'm not sure it'll finish out its inaugural season before shuttering.

It was a Batman movie. And I mean that kind of in the "you know what you're getting" sense. But also very literally. I honestly can't remember a Batman movie that had more Batman in it. I'll have to re-watch it to get the actual percentage, but just from a rough estimate, it seemed like 80% of the screentime was Batman in costume. Your typical Superhero movie formula is lots and lots of the human secret identity business, and then costuming up for the action beats. I was honestly shocked, because almost the entire movie was Batman, in costume conducting his investigation, which took place over one week. Even the B story (Bruce dealing with his family's own imperfection) plays directly into the A story. I also like the small more minimalist approach. I like that the stakes were smaller (yeah, there were explosions, but at the end of the day, the villain's big plot was a mass shooting. Hardly the world-ending giant blue laser in the sky that usually comes with a modern superhero flick). I like the more stripped-bare technology and fumbling Batman techniques of Year 2 Batman. I found it a lot more interesting that Batman actually was in danger of falling. Even Batman himself was more minimal. His arc was personal, not macro. It wasn't the evolution of "is he the symbol the city need or the dark knight it deserves?" It was, "I need to evolve from someone bad guys fear to someone good guys respect. And to do that I need to end my fixation with vengeance." That's why I kind of love the Batmobile in this movie. It's the perfect allegory for his character; a fugging jet-powered, intimidating, collateral damage machine that is so overpowered and eager to get in the fight that it stalls out in its big dramatic reveal. I don't think it's supposed to be cool, as much as its supposed to feel unfinished and reckless. You see tools laying around, suggesting Bruce and Alfred are working on it in the garage. Before that he's just on a motorcycle. The suggestion is it's the first Batmobile. Batmobile 1.0. If there's a sequel, or even if not, I just assumed he'd take lessons away from his experiences in this movie. The Batmobile would be sophisticated. His flying squirrel suit would be upgraded to his wing suit. He'd use stealth instead of just clomping up noisily to a gang. He's a work in progress, which is an aspect of the movie I really liked. I liked it, and I'll watch it again.

Counterpoint: No.

That was Henny Youngman! You put some respect on his name.

Hopefully we're getting a sense in these conversations who and how far teams want to move up. If we get clever we might be able to trade twice; trade back to the low 10s, then trade again with Philly for 18, and end up with 2 second round picks and change.

Mel Kiper is atrocious as his job. I feel very comfortable certain we aren't going for Willis if that's what Kiper reckons.

"Raw." "High ceiling." I heard the same things being said about RGIII. Not encouraging. Especially with our track record of "developing" and protecting QBs.

Maybe I'm horrifically out of touch, but wouldn't you think it's incumbent upon the coaching staff to identify, acknowledge and address what's clearly a substance abuse problem in one of his players?

Call my answer Baltimore, hon! Because I say

I don't know if you guys have been following Bruce Willis' career of late, but over the last 2 years he's starred in over a dozen terrible direct-to-streaming "Geezer Teasers." Just to give you an idea of how many and their quality, here's his Rotten Tomatoes since 2020: No Score Yet Fortress: Sniper's Eye Robert (Character) - 2022 No Score Yet A Day to Die Alston (Character) - 2022 6% Gasoline Alley Detective Freeman (Character) - 2022 No Score Yet Vendetta Donnie Fetter (Character) - 2022 0% American Siege Ben Watts (Character) - 2021 20% Fortress Robert (Character) - 2021 No Score Yet Deadlock Ron Whitlock (Character) - 2021 0% Apex Thomas Malone (Character) - 2021 14% Survive the Game David (Character) - 2021 8% Midnight in the Switchgrass Karl (Character) - 2021 0% Out of Death Jack Harris (Character) - 2021 3% Cosmic Sin James Ford (Character) - 2021 20% Breach Clay Young (Character) - 2020 0% Hard Kill Chalmers (Character) - 2020 14% Survive the Night Frank (Character) - 2020 There's been a lot of speculation recently as to why, and some of the darker theories were confirmed yesterday when it was revealed that Bruce Willis has been diagnosed with Aphasia, and is retiring from acting. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/mar/31/bruce-willis-cognitive-state-report-aphasia-diagnosis It seems this glut of recent low-effort bombs may have been an effort to rake in as much money as possible for him and his family to live off for the rest of his days. It's an incredibly sad development, and I wanted to doff my cap and celebrate the career of one of the last great action movie heroes, and one of the first to make bald look cool!

I like it. Seems very retro; something about the combination of the block and script looks like something from the early 90s.

Not necessarily. Could trade a player or a future pick(s).

Good for him! Always liked Fox, even in his waning days as the Panthers coach. And at 67? Yeah, I'd say he's got a couple years on an NFL coaching staff left in him.

I'm not to thrilled at losing him. He was not starting caliber, but you could do a lot worse for a spell/backup MLB. And at least he knew the defense.

*Quoted wrong post.*

That will be telling. I get the feeling Fitt is making moves that a better for the team, and Rhule is making moves that are good for Rhule. Pickett is a reach at 6, so draft day will let us know who's really calling the shots.

If you took nothing away you don't know how to read between the lines, because there was a lot unsaid that spoke volumes. "They know this is a great place to live and this is a place that should be desirable." The very loud implication is that it isn't desirable. Acknowledging that they know it's not desirable for players is acknowledging that he knows the reason why. Leads me to believe it's no questions that Rhule's on the hot seat, and he not only has to win, but build a culture that's attractive to players. "The right way to build a team is to draft and develop." He followed that up by saying the best situation with a quarterback is to get "5 good years" out of them on their rookie contract, before they ask for the sky to re-sign, and then you don't have the cap space to build around them anymore. To me, that says he's not considering anyone who's not a day one starter at the QB position with our #6 pick. It's simply not cost-effective to spend a year developing a first rounder. If he's drafting a guy in the first round, he's going to want to plug him in day 1. If he's going to develop a QB, it will be someone in the later rounds. It's debatable how many guys in the draft this year are ready, or even capable of taking over the starting role from day 1. And when he said they're bringing in 30 guys, he specifically said QB and tackle. I've gotta think based on this conference we're leaning towards a tackle in the draft.

You're expending way too much energy on the team if you can bring yourself to hate the coach with a passion. I can't say I'm a huge fan, and I disagree with a lot of the moves he's made. I certainly won't shed a tear if he's replaced. But if he learns from his past mistakes and improves this year, I'm not against jumping on the Rhule bandwagon. I ultimately want what's best for the team, and I'd like to see us winning. So right now, I have to root for Rhule being able to make that happen.

Sax Man rolling in here like

I don't know much that translates to being an offensive lineman, but that move is incredibly difficult. Leg straight, and arms straight out instead of the much easier T-shape? He did it with such ease that he's either already a practicing yogi, or he's got body control the likes of which I've not seen.

Watched an interview with the drivers for their reaction to DTS, and not surprisingly, you must take it with a huge grain of salt. At the end of the day, it's dramatic television show. I think it's a great way to get an introduction to the sport, and learn about the drivers and teams, and the unique challenges they all face, and their different versions of what success means to them. But the drivers were pretty consistently saying was, "We're grateful to the show bringing more attention to the sport, and getting Americans interested, but it's almost entirely bullshit. They re-contextualize everything and try to manufacture drama and rivalries where none exist." Max Verstappen in particular refuses to take part now. It made me sad the show is made for American audiences. I long to see the non-existent European version of Drive to Survive that's more documentary. Kind of like if you ever watched the U.S. and U.K. versions of "Kitchen Nightmares." If not, this sums up the differences eloquently. https://screenrant.com/kitchen-nigthmare-us-vs-uk/