The Top Ten of 2022

This was the year where life got back to normal. There were so many points throughout this year where I exclaimed out loud: "I love my life!"

Keep stacking good months to make good years. Keep stacking good years to make an incredible life. 

As for blogging, not as many posts as usual but not a lot of filler. Maybe I'm getting better at this thing after 17 years. 

I had like 25 posts that I wanted to include in the top ten. So instead of having 15 honorable mentions, I'm combining a bunch into topics. I suppose that's cheating, but it's my blog and my rules and I get to cheat when I want to. 

Honorable Mentions

Reliable Joy

The Wrong Picture in My Head

holy shit, is it 5783 already?

10. Work Trip to NYC

Worth it for the pastrami and pizza alone, but the surprise Chris Rock stand-up pushes it over the top.

9. Chess

Had a solid 6-month run of chess and this was the peak. 

8. NFL Legacies and Fixing NFL Overtime Again

One of the better points I've made about how we view NFL careers and being one step ahead of overtime solutions. 

7. Judging Cities by Sports Teams

Where else are you going to get this kind of original data?

6. Vegas Sportsbook Getaway

A vacation in the making since 2006 lived up to the hype. 

5. The Best Drink and Foods I Made This Year

• Buffalo Pulled Pork
• Killer Garlic Bread
• Christmas Bourbon Cream

4. Starting Letterboxd and The Best Movies I Saw This Year

3. I Write A Lot About The Chiefs

• Bills at Chiefs: 13 Seconds Game
• One Title Changes Everything
• AFC West Shitpost
• MNF Raiders (hall of fame gif)
• Mahomes for MVP over Titans
• Birthday Win over Chargers

2. The Avs Won the Freaking Stanley Cup

• Premonition
• Getting Past the Second Round
• It's Glorious
• Stanley Cup Champions
• Completionist

and the best post of the year: Number One

Scorigami Fun Facts

https://nflscorigami.com/

A team has never finished with 1 point. 

Only one time has a team finished with 4 points.

Only one team has ever scored 50+ and lost. (Chiefs vs Rams, 2018)

No game has ever finished 8-7. Seems like it wouldn't be that unusual for a team to go for two instead of a tie in a bad weather, low-scoring game. 

We've never had a field goal fest that ends 18-9 or in a 9-9 tie.

The one we haven't seen surrounded by the most completed scores is 25-18. 

This one is really surprising. We've never had a 14-8 game. Lately the move when down 14 is to go for two. 

Christmas Bourbon Cream

I teased this out at the start of December. I finally made my own batch of a drink I've been enjoying for years. 

Homemade Bourbon Cream

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup (235 ml) heavy whipping cream

1 (14-ounce or 415 ml) can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup (235 ml) bourbon (I used Woodford Reserve)

pinch of brown sugar

I carefully followed the method of making the cocoa cream paste and slowly whisking it in. I assume this was to make sure all the cocoa got incorporated. Well perhaps because I used a heaping teaspoon of cocoa, it didn't all get incorporated and I was left with cocoa dots on top, that gives it a cookies and cream appearance. Which was a happy accident as I had planned on shaving some chocolate (but didn't have any) to give the top a little garnish. 

As for the taste, it was identical to the Irish Whiskey one. So go ahead and use whatever whiskey you have on hand, it's going to be just fine. I tasted it before and after adding the pinch of brown sugar, and it was not enough to be noticed. I love how the condensed milk adds sweetness and a satisfyingly thick texture. 

I think it tastes more like a chocolate shake than Bailey's but that's just me. 

In the future I could consider adding some hot chocolate powder or extra cocoa powder to see what happens if you make it more chocolatey. 

Could also try instead of chocolate, giving it a maple syrup vanilla profile. Or perhaps (inspired by Niraj's comment) some cinnamon to give it a mexican hot chocolate vibe.)

Potential Super Bowls

Andy Reid Matchup: Chiefs vs Eagles

Wings vs Cheesesteaks: Bills vs Eagles

Super Bowl IV Rematch: Chiefs vs Vikings 

Cursed Franchises Seeking First Super Bowl: Bills vs Vikings

Dallas Franchises: Chiefs vs Cowboys

Super Bowl XXVII and XXVII Rematch: Bills vs Cowboys

Super Bowl LIV Rematch: Chiefs vs 49ers (Mahomes vs the GOAT)

Best Movies I Saw In 2022

So Niraj got me into Letterboxd. Which got me into watching a lot more movies than usual. Especially from August to November it became my latest fad, following a series that includes chess, crosswords, pasta journey, Medium, daily favorites, etc. I recognize that these are short-lived phases and I embrace that. 

Anyways, I have some public-facing stats from the year. 

I watched 215 movies this year, easily the most I've ever done. 

141 were movies I had never seen before, bringing my current total up to 1,070 unique movies that I've marked as watched.

Just like I do with blog posts, I thought it would be fun to do an end of the year recap with movies. I lot of serious movie buffs focus only on the movies that came out in 2022, but I only saw a handful from this year. 

So instead, I'll organize my lists in a few categories around what I saw this year. First up...

Top 10 Movies I Watched for the First Time in 2022

10. Captain Phillips

9. The Next Three Days

8. The Invisible Man

7. Glass Onion

6. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

5. Run

4. Before Sunrise

3. Upgrade

2. Prisoners

1. RRR

Top 10 Movies I Watched in 2022 That I Had Already Seen

10. Zero Effect

9. Air Force One

8. Naked Gun

7. Ocean's Eleven

6. Source Code

5. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

4. Airplane

3. National Treasure

2. Social Network

1. Ex Machina

(Honorable Mentions were Moneyball and Talented Mr. Ripley)

Best 2022 Movie I Saw

RRR

- - -

Also just for fun, this is really more of a work in progress, but I'm keeping a running list of my all-time favorite movies: 

Searching

Ex Machina

MI: Fallout

Fight Club

Inside Man

Lebowski

Shawshank

Edge of Tomorrow

Groundhog Day

Get Out

Upgrade

Prisoners

RRR

National Treasure

Now You See Me

Social Network

Eternal Sunshine 

Almost Famous

Vegas Sportsbook Getaway

For as long as I've know Brittany's Aunt Paula we've bonded over our shared love of football and gambling. We've talked forever about meeting up in Vegas to spend a NFL Sunday in the sportsbook. We had plans in 2020. Well, we finally made it happen. 

Let me rewind a little. Got a good shot of the desert as we're coming in for a landing.

Had to visit my Mom's favorite machine, the Hot Roll video poker.

Had dinner with Paula and Neena at Prime, the Bellagio steakhouse.

Went for the 18 oz dry aged bone-in ribeye. Very nice.

Wisely got all my morning bets in the night before.

Paula had two prime seats reserved at the Bellagio sportsbook for us.

Great view of all the games.

Spent 7 hours in the sportsbook and come out it and it's still 5pm and a whole night ahead of you.

Got the Frozen Bailey's from the Bar near the Linq.

On Monday we met up again and had a great lunch at Joe's Seafood (not to be confused with Joe's Crab Shack).

I did like the machines at MGM which allow you to build parlays, and do live bets. When the Chiefs were losing, the live spread was Chiefs +4.5. I was walking up to the machine when they changed the line to Chiefs +3.5. I decided not to bet it but I should have. Chiefs only lost by 3. 

There were some bets that I didn't make that would have won (Eagles, Broncos under) and that would have lost (France to go to extra time for one) so it all evens out.

It's not easy to make money in Vegas but it is easy to have a good time.

USA Advances

Just like in 2010 and 2014, the USA advanced to the Round of 16 with a thrilling/nervous 1-0 victory over Iran. They advanced despite only scoring two goals in three games. But it counts. 

I made a chart to show what kind of teams have advanced in 3 of the last 4 Cups. 

First thing that leaps out at me. Italy zero. USA three.

Okay, let's do a proper deep dive. 

Over the last 4 World Cups, here are the teams to advance to the Knockout Round at least twice, sorted by tiers:

4 Times

Argentina

Brazil

3 Times

England

France

Japan

Mexico

Netherlands

Portugal

Spain

Switzerland

Uruguay

USA

2 Times

Belgium

Chile

Colombia

Croatia

Germany

South Korea

That's absolutely wild. By this measure of recent and consistent World Cup success, Brazil and Argentina stand alone. Then there are 10 countries in the next tier. And then another 6 in the conversation. 

USA doing better than Germany, Belgium and Italy. That's nuts.

We'll be longshots against Netherlands, but that's okay. I'll take this over not making out of the group any year. 

Boozy Christmas Drink

For a couple years in a row, Mrs. Hoagie Central received a boozy Christmas drink as a gift and it was always delicious. I finally asked her to ask for the recipe and here's what it is:

Homemade Irish Cream

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup (235 ml) heavy whipping cream

1 (14-ounce or 415 ml) can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup (235 ml) Irish whiskey (I used Jameson)

 

In the bottom of a pitcher, whisk cocoa powder and a spoonful of cream into a paste. Slowly, whisking the whole time, add more cream a spoonful at a time until the paste is smooth and loose enough that you can whisk the rest of the cream in larger splashes. Once all of the cream is in, whisk in condensed milk, whiskey and vanilla. Cover with lid or plastic wrap and keep in fridge for up to two weeks, possibly longer. Serve in a tiny tumbler filled with ice, or splashed into coffee.

 

To make less sweet: Add more cream and more whiskey, 1 tablespoon of each at a time.

To make less boozy: Add more cream and condensed milk, 1 tablespoon of each at a time.

To make more boozy: You know what to do!

In case, you're curious, I found a video with a very similar recipe. 

 

I'm planning on making it at the start of Christmas break. I have a ton of bourbon and no irish whiskey, so I'll be making that substitution. I also might add a pinch of brown sugar. But wanted to share it in advance in case anyone wants to join me. 

now that's a festival

Instafest calculates what I listen to on Spotify and created this little poster. Fun! 

Buble and Vince Guaraldi Trio is because they have the best Christmas music. 

Imagine Dragons is my kids. Taylor Swift is my wife. But I do like the idea of Taylor on the smallest stage on a Tuesday.

MAHOMES IS INEVITABLE: Birthday Win over Chargers

When the Chargers scored with 1:46 left, they put up a graphic. 

Chargers expected win percentage: 74%
Chiefs expected win percentage: 26%

I laughed. Do they know who the Chiefs quarterback is? My concern was not whether Patrick Lavon Mahomes was going to go down the field and score. The only concern was would they leave the Chargers too much time. 

Remember when Chargers were so excited to beat the Chiefs in the regular season that they printed t-shirts? LOL. 

Mahomes and Kelce were fired up after that score. I hope somebody was mic'd up. 

Winning my birthday game is always the #1 regular season I want to win. Thank you, Patrick. Excellent birthday present. Best QB in the league does it again. 

Mahomes to Kelce for 3 TDs. The Hat Trick for Patrick. 

Nike World Cup Adverts

1998. This is the one that started it all for me. The '98 World Cup cemented my love for the event and this commercial was a decent chunk of where that love came from.

 

2010. The storytelling in here is so great. Possibly the best one.

   

 2014. My least favorite of the four on this page, but still worth including.  

 2022. A fun installment for sure.

There are others, but these are the ones that stuck with me.

Great Football Day

The title of this post should be Josh Allen Choke Artist. While that is true, there was so many good things that happened today, I'll be generous. 

First up, the Chiefs. 

In the start of every season you see all these stats about how ridiculous Mahomes is in September. Then today they start the November/December stats:

So the only month where defenses have a chance is October, got it. 

Today Chiefs win easy. Mahomes already the MVP frontrunner puts up 331 and 4 tds. They're the only AFC team with only 2 losses. But that's not all that happened today:

The Raiders lost to the Colts coached by someone with no coaching experience. Now 2-7. Just win baby.

The Broncos lost to the Titans. Let's ride to 3-6. (Russell Wilson put a QBR today of 22.3.)

The Chargers lost in primetime. Preseason favorites, regular season frauds. 

And the Bills got the inspired double choke by one of the best choke artists in the league. After your defense bails you out with a goal line stand, you fumble in the end zone AND throw a pick in the end zone. Truly chef's kiss. 

The Kansas City Chiefs are alone in first place in the AFC. 

The Buffalo Bills are currently in 3rd place in the AFC East. 

Sometimes deleted tweets are the best tweets.

Here's your updated standings. 

And here's the overall league standings:

The first two are my Calcutta teams and the third is the Chiefs. That Vikings win over Buffalo was doubly sweet.

World Cup 2022: Who I'm Rooting For

Tier One

USA

I'm a US Soccer fan first and foremost. In things like Olympic Basketball, it's not really fun to root for USA because it's typically a forgone conclusion. But in Olympic Curling or the World Cup? Yes, it is absolutely fun to compete with the best on an international stage. 

Tier Two

Spain

Belgium

Croatia

Serbia

Ecuador

Tunisia

Qatar

These are my Calcutta teams for this year. So I'm absolutely rooting for my teams to bring me a title that only comes around every four years. 

Tier Three

I did my 23 and Me and my ancestry results give me in this order:

Germany

Poland

Sweden

Denmark

England

The only team that didn't qualify from this list is Sweden, so there's four more countries I'm rooting for. 

My three favorite countries I've visited are Italy, Jamaica and Argentina. Of these, only Argentina qualified. 

So including Argentina that's 13 out of 32 countries that I have a reason to root for. 

Of course, I think Brazil is going to win. If that happens it would prove me right, but it would mostly sting that I didn't have the balls to bid them up all the way.

Knockout Round Update: My original 13 is down to 6.

USA

Spain

Croatia

Poland

England

Argentina

World Cup Big Board

I didn't want England because they always choke.

I didn't want France because it's hard to repeat. 

The only time Argentina did well in the WC was 2014 when it was in Brazil. Messi is 8 years older (now 35) so despite my affinity for them, I didn't think they had the best odds of winning it all. 

So I had Brazil in the Top Tier by themselves. 

I had Argentina, Spain, Belgium and Netherlands in the next tier with Netherlands being the best value pick. 

My next tier was Germany, Portugal and Denmark. 

My bottom tier was Croatia, Uruguay and Senegal. 

- - -

My plan was get Brazil no matter what. Then get the Netherlands. Then see how it shakes out trying to get as much of the other teams I had marked. 

I went up to $11.50 on Brazil but thought if I went up to $12 that I would only be able to get one other decent team. So I let Kirat have Brazil at $11.61. 

Instead I was able to get Spain and Belgium for just over what Kirat paid for Brazil. But then when it was time to get Netherlands, I went up to $6.70—my max at the time—even though they were supposed to be a value pick, and Matt still outbid me.

- - -

Happy to get Spain and Belgium, but the only other team that I had marked that I ended up getting was Croatia. 

- - -

Mark spent most of his money on the two teams I didn't want. But they'll still get to the quarterfinals. France could lose in the title game, I thought they would go for more. 

Kirat is top heavy but comparing rosters, probably has the best 1st team and the best 2nd team. Kirat did well. But we'll have to see.

The Mahomes for MVP Game

Coming into Sunday Night Football, there was a logjam of 5 and 6 win teams. Buffalo lost so the 1-seed is back in play, but there are 9 teams with 5 wins. Meaning that if the Chiefs lost, they could suddenly be thinking about just making the playoffs. 

In short, this was a big one.

After taking a 9-0 lead against a team with no passer, things seemed pretty great. Until King Henry made it 14-9 in the blink of an eye and the Chiefs started to stall. 

The Titans were doubling Kelce and getting pressure on Pat. Receivers are dropping passes. Butker is missing kicks. Mahomes is getting sacked. And then there's the inaccurate pass that Kelce tried to reach for it and it became a tip drill—interception. 

There's 10 minutes left and the Chiefs are down 8. They take over on their own 7. 

They pick up a few first downs but then take a sack on 2nd and 10. It's 3rd and 17. 

Wait. Hold everything. Where have I seen this before?

Oh yeah: 

Yesterday it was two less points but two more yards to go. Roughly the same spot on the field. And the time. It was 7:13 in both games. 

(Yesterday it was a running clock. SNF was fading back from graphics so at 7:13 the shot wasn't in focus yet, but it was 7:13 in both games.)

This is the point yesterday and in Super Bowl LIV that Mahomes put the team on his back and said we're not losing this game.

He made the biggest plays of regulation with his feet. And then in Overtime on 3rd and inches does this:

Here's your updated standings:

Bills and Chiefs are only teams with 2 losses in the AFC. Bills have tiebreakers over Chiefs, Chiefs have tiebreaker over Titans. 

Allen and Hurts still have strong MVP cases and there's more than half the season left to decide things, but I'll tell you this with 100% confidence: there is no other player in the league I'd rather have than Mahomes.

Tuesday Update: New Vegas odds for MVP have Mahomes, then Hurts, then Allen as a top 3. Tua is 4th but a tier below. Tyreek is 10th, the highest non-QB.

AFC West Shitpost

There will be some out there who say, "You know, the Chiefs won the Super Bowl and have at least 10 more years of Patrick Mahomes, they've won the division six years in a row and are about to make it seven...don't you think you're above all this (gestures to shitposting)?

No. I don't think I am. 

Let's start with the Oakland Raiders.

Their mantra is Just Win Baby but at the end of September they were the only 0-3 team in the league. They're currently 2-5 and 0-4 on the road. 

They made a big move giving up a first and second round pick to get Davante Adams. There was all this hype that Adams was going to reunite with his college QB David Derek Carr and it was going to be offensive fireworks. More like offensive to anybody who likes scoring. 

The 2-5 Saints shutout the Raiders last week. Come for the beautiful scoreline, stay for the delusional fan.

Fair enough guy. I won't come to the parade. 

By the way, do they have a parade for missing the playoffs?

True Story: The Raiders lost Super Bowl 37 and haven't won a playoff game since. 20 years.

- - -

Real quick, we can touch on the Chargers, sort of a palate cleanser. 

People at The Ringer are desperate to put Herbert on the same level as Mahomes and Allen. Let's check the tape:

This year the Chargers are 4-3 but have a division worst -25 plus/minus. 

Brian Robinson got shot and made it back on the field before Keenan Allen. 

Wake me up when Herbert wins a playoff game.

- - -

And then we get to the Denver Broncos. 

This team signed Russell Wilson to a five-year, $245 Million contract two months ago. This shit aged like yogurt. 

Hilarious that he's bad on the field and getting mocked by everyone for being corny off the field. I've never seen current NFL players mocking someone like they are now. 

All being lead by the guru Nathaniel Hackett. 

What's hilarious is I didn't ever believe in Russell Wilson being a tier one QB, but he did bring me a lot of joy when the Seahawks beat the Broncos in the Super Bowl. And now he's bad on the Broncos, and a financial casualty, and corny as shit. It's the best of both worlds.

Fantasy vs Real

I hate fantasy/mythical/folklore/anything with dragons.

I generally don't like superhero stuff.

I generally don't prefer animated movies either.

- - -

In my head, my best answer for those preferences as that they're "not real."

But I like a ton of things that are not real. I love time travel and groundhog day style movies. Mission Impossible is my favorite franchise and it's far from real. Things happening in Inception and Tenet are definitely not real either. 

So what do I mean by real? I think it means that the characters are real people. They might be in unreal situations like time traveling or taking each others faces off, but they're real humans. There's no dragons flying around (or trolls or orcs) or talking cats or people with mythical superpowers. For me, I'm discovering, that movies are about exploring the human experience, even into the realms of impossibility, but if it's not happening to real humans, I don't care about it.

(whispers) I've never fully believed that Russell Wilson was a great quarterback.

Illinois Football is Ranked? And Won?

Earlier this year, Kansas Football had the longest stretch in the Power Five without being ranked. And then they got ranked in the Top 25. That honor then passed to Illinois. Who promptly got ranked and even won a game as a ranked team. When was the last time that happened? What about on homecoming?

Let's go back. 

2011

Illinois won three games as a ranked team, two Big Ten wins. They even won a homecoming game over Northwestern as a ranked team. On October 15, 2011, Illinois was ranked #16 and Ohio State was unranked! They played each other and Ohio State won. The first of 6 straight Big Ten losses for Illinois. They wouldn't be ranked again until 2022. 

2008

Illinois won two games as a ranked team but they were both non-conference games. 

2007

Illinois won one game as a ranked team over Northwestern. This would lead to an appearance in the BCS Rose Bowl.

2001

Illinois won four games as a ranked team, all Big Ten games. This would lead to an appearance in the BCS Sugar Bowl. Two were even wins over ranked teams. (They did win on homecoming this year, but they were not ranked at the time.)

- - - 

To recap, since I became an Illini in 2001:

11 wins as a ranked team (2001, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2022)

8 Big Ten wins as a ranked team (2001, 2007, 2011, 2022)

2 homecoming wins as a ranked team (2011, 2022)

2 wins over ranked teams as a ranked team (2001)

The last time Illinois was ranked and beat a ranked team was November 17, 2001. I was 17 years old. I am now 38. 

Definitely didn't know how much I needed to appreciate that 2001 season in the moment.

- - -

6-1 Illinois became bowl eligible with their ranked win on Saturday. Still have a chance to win the Big Ten West for the first time.

NFL Top Ten Records Are Wild

If you sort by best records in the NFL right now, this is what you get:

These are the only teams with a record above .500.

This is insane. The Colts and Titans are bad. The Jets and Giants are bad. 

Top three teams in the league are Bills, Eagles, Chiefs. Who is the 4th best team?

The 5-1 Vikings? Have they looked good in one game yet?

The fraud Giants? The injured Chargers or Cowboys?

I think the Ravens are better than the Vikings. Are the 3-3 Ravens the 4th best team? What about the 3-3 Dolphins if they get a healthy Tua back? What about the Bucs?

This is nuts.

Bills were better on both sides on the ball when it counted. Allen went down the field, got the signature highlight (in this case, a hurdle), and scored with a minute left. Mahomes had a chance to match and win the game, but threw a pick. 

The Bills were favored in Arrowhead and covered. 

If these two teams meet again, it will most likely be in Buffalo. Good game Bills. 

So I do think the Bills are going to win on Sunday. Their offense is just as good if not better and their defense is better as well. It's a home game for KC, but that MNF game feels like it just ended. Wouldn't surprise me if it's not that close either. Bills won by 18 in the regular season last year. They could win by 10 or 14 this year. Of course, they would love to win by exactly 13. 

If I was in Vegas and could get some insane odds I would put money on Bills to win by exactly 13. 

Chiefs-Bills

Mahomes has played 40 games at Arrowhead.

Next Sunday will be the first time he will be an underdog at home. 

MNF: Raiders at Chiefs

This game had it all. 

First a little context. Here's Mahomes record coming into the game vs AFC West teams. Typically, divisional games are close. You're familiar with each other so it's hard to catch anyone off guard. 

The Raiders have beaten Mahomes once. The Chargers twice. The Broncos never. 

- - -

The beginning of this game was all Raiders. Still without Butker, the Chiefs missed a 41-yard field goal and it was 17-0 Raiders early. Vegas was dominating on the line on both sides of the ball. 

At 14-0, Raiders had a 4th and 1 from the KC 34. They lined up to go for it. I was praying for a momentum-changing stop. Instead they kicked the field goal, making it a three-score game.

But in a sense, that was a 3rd down stop by the defense. An opening for the offense. 75-yard drive capped off by a throw to Kelce. 17-7 in the second quarter. 

Ensuing drive, is the momentum-changing play of the game. Carr is strip-sacked on 3rd and 8. Here's the video. The Chiefs will have the ball on the Raiders 40 with over a minute to go. From here you expect the Chiefs to go into halftime either at 17-14 or 17-10. Instead, the refs call a roughing the passer penalty. 

It provokes the loudest and most sustained booing from a crowd that I've ever heard. 

The Raiders end up kicking a field goal with 17 seconds left in the half, 20-7. 

The Bills learned in January that 13 seconds is too much time for Mahomes. The Raiders learned tonight that 17 is also too much time for Mahomes. 

20-10 at the half. 

Three drives later it's 24-20 Chiefs. Ever since the terrible call on Chris Jones, the crowd was into it, the refs were shook, and the Chiefs were cruising. 

At 30-23, the Chiefs were celebrating Kelce's record 4th TD and were a 2-point conversion away from making it a two-score game with 7 minutes to go. At this point, the game seemed like a party. 

KC had scored on 5 straight possessions. But that might not be enough. 

Adams burned the KC secondary again and all of a sudden it's 30-29 with about 4 minutes left. 

KC finally punts and the Raiders have 2:30 left and only need a field goal. Not feeling confident in the defense. 

On a 3rd and 1, the ruling on the field was Adams caught a 15 yard pass to put LV in field goal range. But the replay showed he didn't have possession until he was out of bounds.

So that brings up 4th and 1. This game is on a razor's edge. Carr throws up a deep ball and there's a moment where it's possible for Adams to maybe get to it. And then this happens:

I had to make this gif because I will never get tired of watching it.

- - -

Absolutely wild that Mahomes is now 23-3 against division opponents. What a great feeling to have every team in the division living in fear of you. 

- - -

One more layer to this. Back in 2019, a writer for the Athletic pointed out how Mahomes was on pace to crush Aikman's career TD totals. Aikman didn't like that and replied:

Of course, that very season Mahomes would win a Super Bowl. 

Well, last night Mahomes passed Aikman for career touchdowns, while not yet reaching half the number of games played. And who was calling the game? Buck and Aikman. They did not acknowledge the milestone.

- - -

On a night where Kelce got me a big fantasy win and is setting franchise TE records, and Mahomes is passing Aikman for TDs, it would have been a real shame to lose at the end and tarnish the night. 

- - -

Going to bed last night, I once again reflected on how lucky/fortunate I am as a sports fan now and what an absolute turn around it's been. 

For decades sports just seemed like one of those "we'll get 'em next year" things where I'm just always going to live with pain and "what ifs." And then the Chiefs get Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. And the Avalanche win the Cup. And even Illinois is doing well in football and basketball at the moment, and it's just wild to see. 

- - - 

This MNF game immediately goes in the books as one of my favorites. Which got me thinking, there have been a lot of favorites since we got Mahomes (see previous paragraph). Since I can't have double digit favorites, I'll just refer to them as Elite Wins, ones that really made my whole week or month. Let's go back and identify some of these.

Elite Wins since 2016

2016: Mile High Magic

2017: Chiefs Take Down Champs

Mahomes Era Begins

2018: Mahomes Left-Hand vs Broncos, 4th and 9 Comeback vs Ravens

2019: Beat Brady in Gillette, Playoff Comeback vs Texans, Super Bowl LIV

2020: Raiders Birthday Comeback

2021: Comeback vs Chargers on TNF, 13 Seconds

2022: Refs Hate Chris Jones, Mahomes Takes Over vs Titans, Mahomes is Inevitable vs Chargers, Mahomes on One Leg vs Bengals AFC Championship, Super Bowl LVII

2023: 3-0 vs Bills in Playoffs, AFC Championship in Baltimore, Super Bowl LVIII

Chiefs Blast Bucs

Clearly inspired by Yom Teruah, the Chiefs went out and blasted the Bucs on Sunday Night Football. One of my favorite things is opening up Twitter and seeing a timeline of mostly national voices going nuts over Mahomes. 

By the way, winning the AFC West this year would be the Chiefs seventh consecutive division title. That would tie the 1973-1979 Rams for second-longest streak of all time. (First place: 11 consecutive titles for the 09-19 Patriots.)

Speaking of Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes just Fetty Wapped Tom Brady in Tampa.

holy shit, is it 5783 already?

Happy Jewish Day of Blasting to you and yours. May all your shofars get blown extra hard.

Threading the Needle

Mark and I play head to head in two fantasy leagues. 

One where we pick new players weekly, Eliminator. 

One where we draft players and keep them all season, Ironman. 

In Ironman, at this very moment, we're tied. We each have one player left on Monday Night Football, both Vikings. I've got Dalvin Cook and Mark has Justin Jefferson. Pretty simple, which ever Viking scores more, that's your winner.

In Eliminator, I'm up 7.5 points and I've got Buffalo's kicker Tyler Bass. But Mark has...wait for it...Dalvin Cook. 

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So Mark needs Dalvin Cook to outscore Bass by more than 7.5 in one league. He also needs Jefferson to outscore Cook. A bad game by Bass and good game by Jefferson takes care of that. 

I need the opposite. I want Cook to outscore Jefferson but not outscore Bass by more than 7.5.

If Cook is trash or amazing, then each of us will win one game, and we'll both be okay with that. But if Cook is average, that opens the door for the possibility of either one of us threading the needle and going 2-0 this week. 

Update: 

Well Bass put up 12 for me and Jefferson only put up 7 for Mark. So the needle eye was open for me. 

If Cook put up 7.5 or more that would be enough for me to win Ironman. 

If Cook put up 19 or less that would be enough for me to win Eliminator. 

And there's a big sweet spot of 7.5 to 19 where I could win both. 

He put up 4 points. 

I won Eliminator by 15.5 and lost Ironman by 3.

Killer Garlic Bread

This is not healthy enough to be a daily favorite, but this turned out so well, that I wanted to capture the method and recipe. 

I was loosely following this recipe, but didn't have fresh parsley or green onions. I didn't have good parmesan either, so I substituted a little shaker parm and a little shredded mozzarella. 

But what made this so good was the fresh garlic — this was my first time using my garlic press and it was great. I used half a stick of softened butter, stirred in 3 cloves of pressed garlic, pinch of kosher salt, mix of dried parsley/oregano/basil, bit of shaker parm and shredded mozzarella. Stirred into a beautiful spread and covered the split soft french bread. 

(We did a test taste where we tried slices of the baguette vs the split loaf, and the split loaf narrowly won on texture.)

I baked at 400F until it was golden, took maybe 8 minutes, can't remember. 

I think what made this so good was that it was garlic-forward and wasn't overpowered with cheese.

Update: Just made this a second time. Mixed everything together except for the mozzarella, spread it out on a split loaf, topped with more mozzarella than last time. It was equally good. The key here is the garlic press and combining it with the softened butter. 

Hilarious how every offseason everyone wants to pick the Chargers to win the division, everyone is hyping up Herbert as just as good as Mahomes, and then it never pans out on the field. 

Super Bowl-winning Franchise QBs

This was one of my better posts (and it didn't even crack my "best of" recap). 

There have been two Super Bowls since that post and the only addition is Matthew Stafford - 2009.

Which means that still in 2022, the only franchise QBs drafted since 2010 to win a Super Bowl are Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes. 

It is entirely possible that after Super Bowl LVII in February 2023, the only QB drafted in the last ten years to win a Super Bowl is Mahomes. 

- - - 

2022 Week 1 Starters sorted by Draft Year

Brady	2000
Rodgers	2005
Ryan	2008
Flacco	2008
Stafford	2009
Wilson	2012
Cousins	2012
Tannehill	2012
Smith	2013
Carr	2014
Winston	2015
Mariota	2015
Prescott	2016
Wentz	2016
Goff	2016
Brissett	2016
Mahomes	2017
Trubisky	2017
Watson	2017
Allen	2018
Jackson	2018
Mayfield	2018
Murray	2019
Jones	2019
Herbert	2020
Burrow	2020
Hurts	2020
Tagovailoa	2020
Jones	2021
Lawrence	2021
Lance	2021
Fields	2021
Mills	2021

So if one of Brady, Rodgers, Ryans, Flacco, Stafford, Wilson, Cousins, Tannehill or Mahomes wins SB57 then this will come true: the only QB drafted in the last ten years to win a Super Bowl is Mahomes.