Thoughts for the Day, February 12, 2024: No lead is safe against Mahomes.

Thoughts on the Super Bowl

• Don’t ever count out Patrick Mahomes.  He trailed by 10 points in all three of the Super Bowls he has won.
• Every point matters.  Former Wolverine Jake Moody kicked two field goals over 50 yards, plus a 27-yard field goal in OT.  Unfortunately, he missed an extra point, which might have been the difference in a game that went into OT. 
• Sometimes the ball bounces your way, sometimes it doesn’t. The 49ers got a touchdown on a ball that bounced off the Lions defender’s helmet.  Against the Chiefs the 49ers lost a punt return because the ball landed on the back of the heel of a 49er player blocking on the punt return.  The Chiefs scored on the next play.
• The football gods work in mysterious ways.  How else do you explain 49er linebacker Dre Greeenlaw pulling his Achillies as he was running onto the field?  Up until Greenlaw’s injury, the 49ers held the Chief’s offense in check.
• Travis Kelce nearly knocked over his coach Andy Reid while Kelce was yelling at Reid on the sidelines. The video of this will be played ad nauseum. I have already seen a mime of it. See my Image of the Day
• Brock Purdy may have been Mr. Irrelevant two years ago, but he showed he can play on the biggest stage.  He had a great game. He did what he needed to do to put his team in a position to win.
• I am still trying to process the half-time show.  It was like they tried to put a 2 hour show into 17 minutes.  I felt fortunate to be able to recognize more than half of the performers. 
• The over and under on the Riba McIntire’s singing of the national anthem was 90 seconds.  If you had taken the over you would have won as she finished it in 95 seconds, which is 3 minutes 20 seconds shorter than Aretha’s version at the Lions Thanksgiving Day game in 2016.
• The Christopher Walken commercial was my favorite, however, I had to look it up to remember it was a BMW commercial. The Ben Affleck, JLo, Matt Damon, and Tom Brady Dunk Kings Dunkin Donut commercial was a close second. 
• The Lions beat the Chiefs in the first game of the season and had a 17-point halftime lead over the 49ers in the NFC championship.  The Lions enter this off season knowing they can compete with the big boys.

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When was the last time a Michigan men’s basketball team was down by 28 points in the first half?  That is how bad it was on Saturday against Nebraska, a team that was one of the worst in the B1G last year.  I turned the TV off halfway through the first half when I watched two Nebraska players dive onto the floor for a loose ball while the Michigan player stood there and reached for it.

Hustle comes from the heart, and this Michigan team has lost their hustle and heart.

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Nearly three years ago I wrote in this blog how only three NATO countries were meeting the stated NATO goal of spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense spending. At the time, only the U.S., Great Britain, and Greece were meeting the goal. I shared my frustration at the time that too many of the NATO countries, especially, Germany and France were not doing enough and were too dependent on the U.S. to come to the rescue.  I agreed with the former president on this point.

Fast forward to this weekend when, per Reuters, the former president at a campaign rally on Saturday in Conway, South Carolina, recounted what he said was a conversation with the “president of a big country”.

“Well sir, if we don’t pay, and we’re attacked by Russia – will you protect us?” Trump quoted the unnamed leader as saying.

“I said: ‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’ He said: ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them (Russia) to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay,” Trump said.

Three years ago, I would have discounted the above as the typical hyperbole of the former president. Based on January 6, 2021, and how the former president tried to take down our democracy by preventing the peaceful transition of government following an election, I now take his words very seriously.  I believe he would encourage them (Russia) to do whatever the hell they want.

No matter how the former president’s supporters are trying to play this down, I know that the former president is more than willing to “encourage them (Russia) to do whatever the hell they want”.  This man must not be re-elected in November 2024.

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Quote of the Day: “Yeah, just know that the Kansas City Chiefs are never underdogs. Just know that.” Patrick Mahomes following yesterday’s Super Bowl win.

Orchid of the Day: Patrick Mahomes and the K.C. Chiefs.

Onion of the Day:  David Rosenberg, 72, of DeWitt, was found guilty Friday by a Clinton County jury after a nine-day trial, the office said Monday. Rosenberg, a Lansing-area priest was convicted last week of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from other priests, the Michigan Attorney General’s Office said. Authorities accused Rosenberg, the former director of the Lansing Catholic Diocese’s St. Francis Retreat Center, of embezzling about $830,000 from three retired priests who lived at the facility from 2018-20. Rosenberg was the director of the center from 2015 until 2021, when he retired.

He was convicted of three counts of embezzlement from a vulnerable adult-$100,000 or more, a 20-year felony; a count of false pretenses-$100,000 or more, a 20-year-felony; a count of false pretenses-$20,000 to $50,000, a 15-year felony; a count of perjury, a 15-year-felony; a count of uttering and publishing, a 14-year felony; and a count of larceny $20,000 or more, a 10-year-felony.

Question of the Day: Tom Brady is the GOAT. Has Patrick Mahomes moved into second place?

Video of the Day: