Super Bowl-winning Franchise QBs

Here is the complete list of Super Bowl winning quarterbacks since 2003, sorted by draft year.

P. Manning - 1998

Brady - 2000

Brees - 2001

Roethlisberger - 2004

E. Manning - 2004

Rodgers - 2005

Flacco - 2008

Wilson - 2012

Foles - 2012

Mahomes - 2017

So what's the point? Since Rodgers was drafted 15 years ago, there have only been 4 QBs to enter the league and win a Super Bowl. Flacco and Foles can both kinda be taken out of the equation as they were really guys that got hot for a playoff run, not true franchise QBs. 

So that leaves Wilson and Mahomes as the only Franchise QBs that have entered the league since 2005 and already won a Super Bowl. 

The opportunity to get a Super Bowl winning QB doesn't come along very often. 

Also it's really wild to think that in 2016 Mahomes throw for over 5,000 yards, 41 touchdowns, 10 interceptions at Texas Tech...and had a losing season at 5-7. 

Then he sat out 2017 on the bench behind Alex Smith. 

In his first season as a starter, he was NFL MVP in 2018, as only the second player ever to throw 50 touchdowns and 5,000 yards.

And in 2019 he became Super Bowl MVP. 

EDIT: One more thought I had. The Seahawks won the Super Bowl in the 2013 NFL Season, in Russell Wilson's 2nd season. Their success seemed to create a new blueprint for winning a title: spend your money on a great defense and then employ a serviceable QB on their rookie deal. It's that easy!

So far the only team to win a Super Bowl with a new QB...was the Chiefs. 

As it turns out, this whole modern idea of you don't need a great QB, just a QB on a rookie deal....looks like a joke. Wilson and Mahomes are MVP candidates every year now. Yes it helps that they were on a rookie deal, but this is not a replicable blueprint. Just ask the Bears or Texans who also drafted QBs in 2017. 

So the blueprint is actually what it's been for a while. Get a MVP QB and build around them the best you can. And even with Rodgers or Brees or Favre, you might only win one, but be happy you got that.

8-1

Chiefs get to the bye at 8-1 with conference wins over Ravens and Bills. KC doesn't play Titans or Steelers in the regular season.

The bye is at a great time as it should allow their OL to get healthy.

The next game is Sunday Night Football on my birthday, a chance to avenge their only loss to the Raiders. And it's after the bye, so Reid has an extra week to prepare while LV plays next week. 

The Steelers schedule is pretty soft so it seems likely the race for the #1 seed will come down to Chiefs and Steelers. Not sure who will own the tiebreaker if they have the same record yet. 

- - -

At any rate, the Run It Back campaign is right on track. Love to see that the Patriots are a non-factor. Ravens are still dangerous but so far seem to be taking a step back from last year. 

If it comes down to Steelers and Chiefs in the AFC Championship, I'll feel pretty good about Big Ben vs #MVPatrick.

Weight Loss by Month: October 2020

August:       12 pounds

September:  7 pounds

October:       8 pounds

So that's 27 in the last three months. I started 80 pounds above my goal weight which is crazy and awful to think about...but only 40 pounds above what I was in Colorado. By losing these 27, I've already gotten to the lowest weight that I've been at my current job, so that's something. 

And it's not like I have to get to my goal weight to see a difference. I'm already down a shirt size. It's a noticeable change. 

So for now, focused on two things: keeping the progress going through a season that includes my birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas and reaching that 40 pounds lost total, back to where I was when I left Colorado. 

- - -

Every month that I'm losing weight I'm gaining wisdom. A couple realizations about special occasions. 

1. The first is one that learned a long time ago. If you have a tendency to overeat and give yourself permission to do so on special occasions, you can find special occasions all the time. Just in October alone, I had an anniversary, good news from work, bad news about Rocky, Halloween, primetime Chiefs games and more. If you count Friday nights and meeting up with friends as reasons to treat yourself, well, you might have more special occasion days in a month than non-special occasions. 

2. On the other hand, when you do have a legit special occasion. Anniversary, Thanksgiving, Christmas, it's not the one day or one meal that's going to throw you off. It's turning an anniversary into a weekend of eating or Thanksgiving into a week or Christmas into 2 weeks. I mean, I've had some good Christmas runs where I eat a ton of Hickory Farms meat cheese and crackers followed by slices of pie when I'm not even hungry all between meals. But that's where I get into trouble. In October, I was able to have a big anniversary dinner and get right back on track the next day. Gotta keep that same energy through the holidays. Easier said than done, of course. 

video game console timeline

 I did this for my cell phone history, figured I should keep track of my video game consoles too. 

NES

(released 1985)

circa 1988 - circa 1993

My first console. Started on Mario 1. Played lots of sports games like Tecmo Super Bowl, Tecmo Basketball, Nintendo World Cup, NES Play Action Football, Major League II, Blades of Steel. Mario 3 was awesome. Other notables: Tetris, Excitebike, Vegas Dream, Ducktales, Hoops, Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat. 

Sega Genesis

(released 1989)

circa 1993 - circa 1998

I remember wanting to play Mortal Kombat and my mom was not on board. We also discussed if we should buy our first computer. I remember convincing my parents that a Sega Genesis was much cheaper than a computer. The first game I got was NHL '94. An absolute classic. Bill Walsh College Football 95 was awesome. Then I got NHL '96 and it was even faster, better than the 94 version. I know I had a bunch of games, World Series Baseball (1994), NFL QB Club 96, FIFA 95. Basically I just liked sports games. 

Note: I pretty much missed out on everything from Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64. Occasionally, I got to play Goldeneye at friend's house but was so inexperienced that I never really got to enjoy it. Same for Mario Kart. 

Sega Dreamcast

(released September 1999)

circa 2000 - circa 2005

My absolute favorite game from this system was Tony Hawk 2. Also played a ton of College Football 2k2. Some others I remember: Crazy Taxi, Spider-Man (2000), Sonic Adventure 2, Jet Grind Radio, NBA 2k1, Resident Evil series. 

Note: By high school I was able to visit friends and play a lot of PlayStation. In fact, because several friends had a PS1, I think that was a reason that I wanted the Dreamcast for variety. I fell in love with Metal Gear Solid, Tony Hawk 1, Driver, the Twisted Metal series, and Madden 2001 on the PS1. 

PS2

(released October 2000)

May 2005 - June 2008

So GTA3 came out in October 2001, a month after I started college. I did not have a PS2 but I wanted to play GTA3. So I did what anyone would do. Played the entirety of the game on Borello's PS2. I seriously logged 40+ sitting on his floor playing his game and system. NO REGRETS. I got through college on the Dreamcast, see above. But after I graduated, the Gamestop on campus was selling PS2 systems and games for very cheap. So I went ahead and picked one up at the end of its era. Good value. 

Got to play GTA Vice City and San Andreas, Metal Gear Solid 2, College Hoops 2k5 (including the Illinois Final Four team), NCAA 06, Burnout, Guitar Hero 3, Hitman Contracts/Blood Money and more. 

Just looked it up. I paid $16 for San Andreas in 2006. Got a bunch of great games at low prices, a few years after they came out. 

PS3

(released November 2006)

June 2008 - June 2015

I distinctly remember that I got the PS3 so I could play Grand Theft Auto IV. And it was awesome. 

I feel like the PS3 was a big step up from everything before this. This is the dividing line of modern gaming to me. PS3 is when I started playing online, there were trophies, you could even download games. 

On October 9, 2008, a little independent game called Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars came out. It seemed cool so I paid for it, downloaded and was uploading highlight videos to youtube by October 13, 2008. 12 years later, Rocket League has over a million active players. But more on that later. 

The PS3 is where I got started on the Assassin's Creed series with the brilliant AC2. Likewise with Portal. 

Another reason I consider this the beginning of modern gaming? I literally have a record of all the games I've played. Anyone can scroll down and see all the games I've played right here. 

Loved Portal 2, The Saboteur, NHL 11, AC3, GTAV, Driver SF, Red Dead Redemption and plenty more. I distinctly remember logging 40+ hours in AC3 trying to complete everything before our second child was born and video games would go back on the shelf for a bit. 

Played that system a ton and after 7 years of constant use, it finally died. The first time a system ever stopped working before I moved on. 

PS4

(released November 2013)

August 2015 - Present

As it turned out, the PS3 dying in June 2015 wasn't the worst timing. Rocket League launched in July 2015 so I went ahead and got a PS4 in August 2015. Also got Madden 2015 and The Last of Us with the new system. 

The PS4 has been great to me. Love Hitman 1 + 2, Far Cry 4&5, Firewatch, Just Cause 3, Mafia 3, RDR 2, Spider-Man, and Tony Hawk remastered. 

Playstation has been good to me for the last 15 years and I'm sure I'll get a PS5 one day. I'm happy to wait a few years, so it can drop in price. I'm sure there will be a game that's only available on PS5 that will make me pull the trigger...or maybe the PS4 will die one day. 

(I also got a Nintendo Switch for the kids, and I play it occasionally with them, but don't consider that my console.)

Razor Thin Fantasy Football Margin

(warning: this post is not safe for mark) 

With 1:12 to go, the Falcons trailed the Lions by 2 points. Atlanta had the ball at the 10 yard line and Detroit was out of timeouts. Lots of ways for the Falcons to win this. Take two knees and kick a chip shot. Run for a few yards, take at least 35 seconds off the clock, run again—either score or kick a chip shot. 

Instead, Todd Gurley runs it up the middle and the Lions let them score. Gurly realizes a half-second too late and tries to stop but he can't. 

 

Of course, with over a minute left that gave the Lions enough time to come down and win, or enough time for the Falcons to choke another game away. 

Great news for Mark, right?

Well, as it happened, we both had a bunch of fantasy players going head to head in this game. I had Gurley, Golladay and Hockenson. He had Atlanta's kicker, Koo.

If Gurley stops at the 1 everything changes. Here's what happened in our fantasy game that really shouldn't have:

Gurley TD = 6 pts

Pass to Hockenson = 1.5 pts

Pass to Golladay = 3.5 pts

TD Pass to Hockenson = 7.5 pts

My players got 18.5 pts in the last minute of the Lions-Falcons game because Gurley scored. But also Mark's kicker would have been the one to score if Gurley had stopped.

No FG for Koo = -3 pts

That's a 21.5 point swing on this margin:

I ended up beating Mark this week by 7 points.

5-1

After Chiefs beat the Ravens and got to 3-0, I wrote that they had three tough games coming up but then three easy ones. That if they were 4-2 after six, I thought they would be 7-2 at the bye. 

They got to 5-1 despite a suspension and injuries in the secondary. And they're adding Leveon Bell so that CEH doesn't have to take 400 hits this year. 

I think they get to 8-1 and then beat the Raiders on my birthday. 

That's 9-1 plus wins over Denver and Atlanta in December. 

That leaves 4 games against Tampa, Miami, New Orleans and Chargers. Let's say 2-2 out of those 4. 

That's 13-3. With wins over Buffalo and Baltimore already, that #1 seed is looking very much in reach. 

- - -

It's kind of funny. Mahomes hasn't been his usual sensational self all year. Kinda bad last week, kinda not much passing yesterday. 

He's 4th in passer rating and 5th in adjusted yards per attempt. 5th in yards, 3rd in td passes. So that's what not his usual self looks like. Merely top five instead of #1.

Cool Thing I Just Noticed

This was the first Chiefs score in the playoffs. Damien Williams, going from left to right, holding the ball up in the left corner of the end zone.

This was the last Chiefs score in the playoffs, Damien Williams, going from left to right, holding the ball up in the left corner of the end zone.

 

HC Housekeeping 2020

The Hoagie Central 2020 Census is complete. 

I decided not to make any new world/society predictions as my 2010 predictions were for 50 years into the future and are still pending. 

So yeah, hope we're all still alive in 2030!

2020 Census: Projecting My Future

So no joke, I've thought about this post a ton over the last ten years. Not about projecting for 2030, but about seeing how close I came to achieving what I predicted back in 2010. 

From 2010: 

Where will I be in 10 years?

Well, let's recap where I'm at right now in 2010. I'm 26, a 5-year copywriter in Chicago. I'm married, no kids, and write in my free time but have nothing published.

In 2020, I predict I will be an ACD in Denver. I'll be married, have 2 kids, and I predict I'll have at least gotten one thing published.

ACD? I did become an Associate Creative Director in late 2016, but am currently a Senior Copywriter, one step below that. 

Denver? I lived in Denver for over five years but am currently in Kansas City. 

Married? I got divorced but then remarried the same woman.

2 kids? Yep. 

One thing published? I self-published 3 different books (which probably doesn't count) and then this year got articles published in other publications on Medium (which I think does count.)

- - -

In 2016, I had a choice to make: become an ACD in Kansas City or become an ACD in Denver. I chose Kansas City and that ultimately fell through. Final score on the prediction was 3 out of 5, although I did achieve the other two at some point in the last ten years. 

- - -

Okay, so let's recap where I am right now. 

I'm 36, a senior copywriter in Kansas City. I'm married, 2 kids and I make a lot of things in my free time. 

So where will I be in 10 years?

Dang. Who knows? I guess that's the point of this exercise. Okay, fine let's say Creative Director in Kansas City. I'll be married with 2 kids and my oldest starting college at NYU. I predict I'll continue to make things, including in some form or fashion that I haven't done yet. I'll go ahead and predict I'll be under 200 pounds too, something I'm not right now. 

Year of the Fym

Back in 2016, I consciously aspired to make my 33rd year the best year of my life. That turned out pretty well.

This year, I didn't set out to do the same, but a lot of things fell into place. Here's everything that's happened in just January and February: 

The Chiefs won the Super Bowl

I won a Gold Addy for the first time

Our whole family changed our eating habits and everyone lost a bunch of weight.

Just 47 days into the year, Mark had already crowned 2020: 

Perhaps that was a bit premature. 

Just a few weeks later, a global pandemic arrived in the United States. Many people lost their jobs. My industry was hit hard and salary affected. 

March Madness (including Illinois in the tournament) was cancelled. Our family vacations to San Diego and Peoria were cancelled. I gained back 21 of the 19 pounds I had lost. (Yep, at my highest weight during the pandemic I was two pounds heavier than when I started the year.)

It didn't seem safe to send the kids to school, so they started virtual school. Our dog is on his last legs. Working from home with all of the commotion going on is quite stressful. 

And all of that is with avoiding any personal connections to people getting sick or lives being upended in the California wildfires. 

- - -

For many people, I think it's safe to say 2020 has either been the most challenging or worst year of their lives. 

It's definitely not the celebratory year I was thinking it would be in February, having just gone to a Super Bowl parade. 

But... in the middle of such a terrible year, some other good things happened. I started writing on Medium, and even wrote a post that reached #1 on the site, far exceeding my expectations. 

I got my own basketball hoop in the backyard and play all the time. 

I've now officially lost the Corona 21 and am back at the weight I was when the pandemic started. 

And my job moved from Kansas City to Overland Park, cutting my commute time in half. It's a cool new office, so whenever I'm back in there full-time, it will be really nice. 

So is this the Year of the Fym?

Well, let's see what happens on November 3 first.

November 7 Edit: Okay, getting a normal president again is actually really incredible. 

So yeah, Year of the Fym. 

2020 Census: Favorite Movies

So I don't really rewatch a ton of movies. I feel like I used to do that more. Now there's so much content that I'm always ready to watch something new. Plus, a lot of my old favorite movies I've seen so much, that I'm not in the mood to watch them anymore, with a few exceptions. So how do I treat something that I have great fondness/nostalgia for, but that I haven't watched in 15 years? How do I compare that to a movie that I liked such as Ex Machina, but that I saw once a few years and barely remember?

Last year, I defined my wheelhouse AND made an ultimate movie calendar, so some of this work has already been done. 

Alright, I'm just going to start listing movies that I like and see where that gets me:

Groundhog Day

Edge of Tomorrow

Mission Impossible franchise

Shawshank Redemption

Inside Man

National Treasure franchise

Now You See Me franchise

Ocean's 11 franchise

John Wick franchise

Back to the Future franchise

The Game, Seven, Fight Club, Social Network, Panic Room, Gone Girl

Memento, Dark Knight, Prestige, Inception, Tenet

Inglorious Basterds

Good Will Hunting

The Martian, Arrival

Anchorman

The Big Sick

Lebowski

Anything with Hanks or Denzel and just about anything with Cruise

Okay, so that's a lot of movies. And I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch. 

I saw Pulp Fiction and Fargo a few years ago and they weren't as good as I had remembered. Maybe I had just seen them too much. 

I haven't seen Adaptation or Eternal Sunshine in forever, so I don't know how to rank them. 

And what do I do with all these franchises? It's hard to make a top 5 of favorite movies with so many franchises. 

Sorry, 2030 Dave. This list is the best I could do. 

2010 version

Rocket League Hoops Comeback

Here's a online game of hoops. I'm on top half, G is on bottom half. We were down 0-2 but came back for the win.

THPS

Here's a clip where I did all four of Tony Hawk's special tricks in one combo.

2020 Census: Favorite Video Games

 With most of the categories, it's interesting to see how things evolve over time. Do the same music, movies and books that I liked in 2010 still appeal to me in 2020, that kind of thing. But video games are different. 

My favorite video games from older systems aren't going to change.

At the moment, the only consoles I play are PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Aside from that, I'll play the occasional PC game, but that's <1% of my video game time. 

So my favorite games from NES all the way though PS3 aren't going to change. The only thing I can do is list my favorite games that I've played since 2010. 

Favorite Video Games this Decade

Hitman 1 + 2 (PS4)

Rocket League (PS4)

Far Cry 4 (PS4)

Just Cause 3 (PS4)

Firewatch (PS4)

Assassin's Creed III (PS3)

Grand Theft Auto V (PS3)

Red Dead Redemption (PS3)

Portal 2 (PS3)

Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch)

2010 version

not photoshopped