63 thoughts on “March 17, 2015: Erin Go Bragh”

  1. Does anyone have a recommendation for a Twin Cities company that puts in concrete driveways? I am getting tired of the mud pit in the middle of our driveway--part of it had to be removed in the winter due to a highly annoying and expensive plumbing problem.

    1. Borland made about a meeeeeeeellllion dollars last year. Not enough to quite set him up for life, but a pretty good downpayment. I'm surprised he didn't try to stick it out for another year or two, but not shocked. I'll bet that he won't be the last one to do a quick profit-taking and get out.

        1. Does he have to pay back any of the 600k signing bonus? If not, he got a million last year.

          1. Under the salary cap rules, the signing bonus is "allocated" across the life of the contract (4 years, in his case). But it's a signing bonus. I don't think he's obligated to pay anything back.

            See, e.g., Questions 1.7d and 1.11b

          2. Ok, so he got a million. But he is not rich, by modern pro athlete standards because he is under rookie level contracts.

            Anyway, good for him. Im just surprised how much play this is getting today given outside of B1G country and San Fransisco, Borland is not really a big name.

            1. From everything I've seen over the past 12 hours, I guess he was basically taking over the starting spot and was looking to make big money after his rookie contract. So there's that.

              1. His rookie contract was for four years. I suppose it could have been renegotiated at some point, buuuuuuut....

                1. Oh yeah, certainly. I'm just saying he walked away from the potential of millions. Basically, there should be zero backlash against his decision and lots of worrying from those who support/make tons of money because of the NFL.

    2. The reaction has been fun to watch. Hacks like Mike Florio, who probably "would" be living in his mother's basement without the NFL, are going all out to stress that this will have no impact on the league's future. Maurice Clarret of all people has had some real good commentary on his twitter feed. Obviously the NFL isn't going to shut it's doors anytime soon but remember Sidney Rice retired recently a few months (?) ago for the same reasons. You get a couple of these a year and the big impact will be on parents allowing their boys to play organized football. We are already seeing that as Eden Prairie of all places has seen a 20 percent drop in its youth football numbers.

        1. In regard to Chris Borland.They should do a study on his upbringing and education. See how he defines success. He probably has a backup plan. Lots of guys don’t have a backup plan. They get shuffled thru the college ranks and only see football as an option to succeed. They often tolerate the trauma for the paycheck….

          Even if players continue to go this route, the NFL won't have a problem finding people who don't have a backup plan to fill the positions on the field.

      2. The NFL stays so popular that it's hard to imagine it even declining significantly, but many times things that seem unsinkable sink in a remarkably short period of time.

      3. I do wonder if I'll even have to tell my son that he can't play football or if it won't even be an option around here in 15 years.

        1. The only thing about this...so few kids will ever be good enough to make it to a college level or beyond where the forces truly start to be scary.
          Is there really an epidemic of Pop Warner, middle school, high school athletes who are doing themselves lasting harm? Should these kids avoid playing or be told they can't because they might get good enough to play at a more dangerous level? With improved emphasis and techniques, aren't such injuries likely to be even fewer?
          There might be some athletes who reach elite levels who have to recognize their limitations or conditions and choose not to continue playing. I think we underestimate the NFL if we think that some players hanging it up will be enough to do it significant harm. The draw and the spectacle will still be there for enough players and spectators to keep it going, even if it does wane a bit.
          I did have a lot of fun playing football.

          1. I think the drive for the NFL tends to make those other levels more dangerous, though admittedly they aren't at NFL danger levels. That said, my hope isn't for the NFL to sink, but rather for it to change. Safety first at NFL level should also trickle down. That's how the NFL can win my viewership back.

          2. I say this as I'm staring at the "Athletic Association" baseball signup page and wondering if I could stand 3-4 days per week of household and kid drama.
            It's one thing when they're enthusiastic, but it's another when they tell you they want to, but will have to be dragged away their other immediate interests and hurried off for each game/practice...but you can't not give them the opportunity to participate...ugh.

          3. so few kids will ever be good enough to make it to a college level or beyond where the forces truly start to be scary.

            I think the emerging research says almost the opposite, ZG. While the kids in Pop Warner/peewee football may be small, the forces imparted to their brains can be quite large, thanks to (a) large heads relative to body sizes; (b) weak musculature; (c) poor coaching and technique; and (d) poor equipment and field conditions.

            See, e.g., Head Impact Exposure in Youth Football: Elementary School Ages 9–12 Years and the Effect of Practice Structure
            The Epidemiology of Sport-Related Concussion and
            this interview with neurosurgeon Robert Cantu, author of Concussions and Our Kids and chief of Neurosurgery at Emerson Hospital in Boston and medical director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research.

            1. and more responsive to ZG's substance...

              I too had "fun" playing football in high school and college at times*, but the game is inherently dangerous, like any other contact sport but made more so by institutional factors (the afore-mentioned factors of weak musculature, poor coaching/technique, and poor equipment and field conditions) and social factors (the tough-guy culture that drives so many kids to participate and so many to continue to play when injured).

              Football is deeply imbedded in America's social fabric and the culture of our schools, particularly in certain regions of the country. I am appalled by peewee football. It's just a horrible, horrible idea to have these tykes slamming into each other. Middle school football is at least as bad, with puberty striking so variably and creating huge physical differences between kids in the same age cohorts. If it were up to me, nobody would play tackle football before high school.

              I recognize that we can't and shouldn't just wrap our kids in bubble wrap. Risk is a part of life and learning to manage/react to risk is an important part of growing up. There ARE positives that can come from playing football, such as learning about teamwork, how to handle disappointment, and how to handle success.

              Of course, most high school programs are poorly equipped to teach any of those things.

              *My bona fides on this: two knee surgeries, a facial scar, and life-long neck problems all directly attributable to playing football. 🙂

              1. Middle school football is at least as bad, with puberty striking so variably and creating huge physical differences between kids in the same age cohorts.

                I remember very clearly (for the most part) when I got my "bell rung" in the 9th grade by a kid who was far stronger than I was. (I was bigger than most, but did not put in any effort in the weight room.) It was a tackling drill in which I was supposed to tackle this kid at a full sprint from straight on. I ended up on my back and don't really remember what happened after that. So yeah, I agree that that is a major problem.

                1. I had a incident on special teams in 11th grade . I don't know whether it was the contact from the player or the impact with the ground, but I don't remember much about the minutes following that.

                  In retrospect, the scariest thing for me was that I played offensive line for six years, two years on the practice squad where our job was to continue to get beat up by the first team defense (a la Rudy). I remember a week when we were preparing to play a team that relied heavily on pulling guards. That meant rep after rep of me attempting to pull and getting annihilated by a linebacker who was bigger than me and knew exactly which play was coming.

                  2. And I remember being a pulling guard in that situation and loving it, because the defense wasn't sure it was coming. I can see running it periodically so that the defense learns to identify it, but what use is it to run it when the defense knows it's coming?

                    I enjoyed playing football in HS, and yes, I'm a hypocrite.

                    1. In my case, the linebacker in question could have been cast as the dumb jock in any 80's high school movie and had difficulty following his assignments so he needed the reps. There were a few dummy plays thrown in to keep the defense honest, but I believe that I served as the tackling dummy in a situation where a coach was trying to send a message to a player, and said player was trying to prove himself to the coach.

                      If you asked me at the time I would have said I enjoyed it, because I bought in to the "be a man" culture as much as anybody. In retrospect it is not such a fond memory.

                    2. I remember my coach screaming at the offense one day in practice because we were screwing up something. Got me pissed off and I ended up unloading on a cornerback on the next play (as a pulling tackle on a kick-out block). Said cornerback bit back, saying basically, don't take it out on ME. I felt bad about that immediately. Thankfully, we are still friends.

      4. Eden Prairie is getting older. That is a big reason for the drop.

        I think youth baseball numbers have dropped as much as football.

  3. Dia daoibh* buachaillí agus cailíní. Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh.

    *I incorrectly used the singular "duit" earlier instead of the correct plural "daoibh". Those responsible have been sacked.

  4. A friend (from long ago... She was a year younger than I was, but we had a class or two together in high school, and she went to CSB, and graduated with my wife) passed away today/yesterday. It was one of those "we could have been close friends, but it just never quite happened" levels of friendship. Our overlapping circles on FB are extensive enough that it seems odd we weren't FB friends. Anyway... It has me thinking a lot today about the limits of this world, and the fact that we don't have time enough to meet everyone, try everything, see everywhere, etc. and that we're going to miss out on some good people, experiences, and sights. Not the deepest thought, but a weighty one all the same.

    I hope heaven is the place where you get to be close friends with everyone.

    1. condolences, Philo.

      Today was the birthday of a college friend who died several years ago from colorectal cancer. I'm thankful to FB for reminding me of her each year on her birthday.

  5. I'm listening to the Tigers broadcast, and when Joe Nathan came into the game he got booed. I don't remember anyone getting booed by the home crowd in a spring training game before.

    2. Unfortunately, Nathan was getting booed by fans last year when he was struggling and he made the poor decision to respond with a gesture which the fans haven't forgotten, apparently. If the Tigers don't want him, we'll take him. He's still better than all but maybe two of our relievers.

  6. My reward for cleaning up my son's puke all night last night is that I got to stay home from work today and catch up on some archived games of the Women's World Curling Championship. ESPN3 shows the TSN feed, so it is has been all Team Canada all the time, but still fun.

    1. Could be worse: could be stuck watching team USA.
      (Note: may only apply at the 2014 Winter Olympics.)

      1. Nope, team USA isn't much worth watching this week either.

        On another note, hipster glasses are alive and well in women's curling.

            1. I may be overly influenced by the Canadian broadcast crew (and by the fact that I have binge-watched one team today) but Team Canada seems awful lucky to have lost just once so far.

              1. This is the first game I've been able to watch, but up until the end that just happened, I'd say that was a reasonable comment.

                  1. Yeah, sixes are pretty fun. The shot from Sweden getting Six they showed was pretty awesome.

    1. 11.2 fWAR to lead the AL that year (Nolan Ryan was second at 8.9; Palmer, the winner, was 17th at 4.9).

        2. Clearly.

          In 1973, he pitched 3 complete game 9 inning losses, a no decision-pulled after 9, and 4 more 8 inning complete game losses.

    1. I bailed on the third period because the Wild looked gross through two and Justified was starting.

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