Tom Brady’s 7th Super Bowl and 5th MVP award was not most outstanding achievement this weekend by someone associated with Ann Arbor. Hobbs Kesler a student at Ann Arbor Skyline High School set a record with the fastest indoor mile by a high school runner. Kessler finished in 3:57.66 mile on Sunday at the American Track League meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Kessler beat the previous record of 3:57.81 set five years ago. It was only the 16th sub 4 minute mile by a high schooler and only the fourth ever accomplished on an indoor track which usually has 8 laps and tight turns to a mile, versus 4 laps on an outdoor track.
I know very little about football, but Tom Brady’s performance yesterday was close to perfect. After the first two series, the Bucanneers only punted one time. His handoffs were crisp, his fake handoffs froze the linebackers and safeties. His looking off receivers and going through his checkdowns in quick succession allowed him to find an open receiver. His check-offs at the line of scrimmage seemed to always work. Even when he through an incomplete pass, it was always in a place where only his receivers had a chance to catch it. It was a classic Brady game. Death by a thousand cuts.
A big shout out to the NFL for pulling off a season in which all 269 games were played as scheduled once the season started. In order to accomplish this, the players, coaching staff, training staff, families and everyone else associated with a team had to be on board with the self discipline it took to stay safe. It is estimated that over 1 million covid-19 tests were provided to players and staff during the season.
Former Michigan standout and Heisman Trophy winner, Charles Woodson, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. His selection was a no abrainer as Woodson is second only to Deon Sanders as the best defensive back in NFL history (counter arguements accepted), It is also fitting that he was inducted with Peyton Manning who also was selected in his first year of eligibility. Manning was runner-up to Woodson for the 1997 Heisman Trophy.
In the political world, Ambassador Ron Weiser, survived a late, ugly challenge by outgoing chairperson Laura Cox, for the chairmanship of the Michigan Republican Party. Cox accused Weiser of improper payoffs to a fellow Republican in 2018 to get the person to not seek the nomination for Secretary of State. Weiser denied the allegations and indicated the payments were appropriate for the work that was provided by the the person. Weiser received 2/3s of the votes cast on Saturday. He has tremendous challenges ahead of him as he tries to unify the party between established Republicans and pro Trump Republicans. while trying to raise funds and develop a strategy to keep both legislative branches and defeat Whitmer, Benson and Nessel in 2022. Whitmer, Benson, and Nessel continue to have very high approval ratings.
In Friday’s NY Times there was an article that should scare the hell out of us as private citizens. Here are segments from the article documenting how phone data was used to track the movements of those who participated in the attack on the Capital on January 6.
“While it was no secret that cameras were documenting the attack, another type of technology was also keeping a close watch — and making a detailed record — of the people who walked from the National Mall, where the president gave his speech, to the halls of the Capitol building. This location data, consisting of millions of pings — a record of the location of a given smartphone at a given time — was being dutifully collected by companies that specialize in such things. The data is supposed to be anonymous. But, as past reporting from Times Opinion has demonstrated, it’s ludicrous to describe it this way. The movement history of each smartphone is as unique as a fingerprint. In the case of the riot, the smartphones they carried could be traced from the Capitol back to the owner’s home in many instances. That’s why it was so easy for my colleagues Charlie Warzel and Stuart Thompson to match smartphones with their owners, after a source leaked the data set containing millions of pings from Jan. 6. The availability of this data raises its own set of questions. The source was outraged by the attack on the Capitol but also outraged that the tracking technology is now as pervasive as it is unregulated. What today could be used to identify insurrectionists could just as easily be turned against peaceful demonstrators and other innocent Americans.”
Your smartphone is like having teather on you leg. Every place you go is documented and available for the right price.
Stay safe. Wear your mask. Social disftance. Wash your hands regularly. Schedule your vaccine.
Quote of the Day: “I’m coming back.” Tom Brady after winning his 7th Super Bowl.
Orchid of the Day: Calvin “Megatron” Johnson, the Lions all time greatest receiver for his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Onion of the Day: The NFL for the half time show from yesterday. They should have just replayed the the pre-game show of Amanda Gorman reading her poem, H.E.R singing America the Beautiful and Eric Church and Jasmine Sullivan singing the National Anthem.
I think Tom was great, but kudos to the TB defense. Todd Bohls’ did a great job.