Musing of the Moment: Next Steps for the Vikings

With Kirk Cousins going down for the season and the trade deadline happening today, the Minnesota Vikings are in an untenable situation. 

They're technically in the playoff picture as a seven seed (I think) because the team's record is 4-4, but without a proven QB to lead them, the future ain't bright at all. 

I doubt they go out and splash a bunch of money on a proven quarterback, especially because the options aren't that good. 

If they do anything, I think they just stay pat with Hall and Mullens and Mannion, or they could sign some veteran QB off a roster or the broadcast booth to help out in the quarterback room. 

As much as I'd hate to see them have a bad record this season, they'd probably garner a decent position to draft in the first round. I'm not saying they should tank the season, but I'd rather see them keep their draft and real capital and just see how the season shakes out. 

I know next to nothing about Jaren Hall, but I guess it's worth giving the rookie a shot. He'll have plenty of good receivers to throw to, and I hope he's mobile. 

The Lions are going to win the division anyway. 

Music Friday: "Burning Down the House"

This semester has provided a decidedly negative point of view about people doing what they're supposed to be doing and people's willingness to follow pretty simple directions. 

The stuff I'm asking people to do shouldn't be that difficult. 

They need to get their shit together. 

In light of that mood, I've providing this video mainly because I watched four members of the band talk about the rerelease of Stop Making Sense on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I don't know why all these razor blade companies are making razors with five blades. The cartridge is just too large to get around the small spaces on one's face, such as around the nostrils. I had to use my son's razor a while back when I forgot mine when we rented a lake house when visiting my daughter in Southern Illinois, and I much prefer my Mach 3 razor. 

I can't find the article because the whole GOP fiasco to nominate a new speaker has taken so many twists and turns, but one of the reasons Moscow Don and other GOP clowns opposed his nomination to be the next Speaker of the House is because Emmer apparently supports the movement to move to a majority vote for the President of the U.S. and eliminating the arcane and stupid Electoral College. 

I'm a huge proponent of moving to a majority vote for President. 

If you're voting for a Republican candidate for President, say, in Illinois, your vote doesn't count. If you're voting for a Democratic candidate for President, say, in Alabama, your vote doesn't count. 

Those votes don't really count because of the outdated Electoral College, which should have been thrown in the dustbin of history, screws the minority voters in certain states. They should have moved to the majority vote for President sometime in the early 20th century. 

It's ridiculous. 

Sure it's our tradition. But it's, as Thoreau wrote, a "foolish consistency." 

As traditions go, it's DUMB. 

Unfortunately, going to a majority vote for President doesn't address the other problem in our country: two parties don't really represent the political leanings of most voters. 

For someone like me who is strongly liberal on a number of social, educational, and environmental issues but is kind of middle of the road or somewhat fiscally conservative, I almost always side with the Democrats because the views of GOP candidates on various aforementioned issues are abhorrent. 

I'd like most Democratic candidates to be more frugal about some economic issues even though there are some lines I won't cross for GOP talking points about publicly funding private education and their "voodoo" economic theories that make no flippin' sense, among other legitimate concerns about their asinine trust in the so-called free market. 

For example, even though a number of people were taken with the ideas of Bernie Sanders, I backed Hillary Clinton because she was actually asking, "How are you going to pay for that?" Grandpa wanted to let the kids eat whatever they want, but Mom wanted the kids to eat a nutritional meal and then have dessert. 

My work this semester has made me become quite jaded about students' willingness to do the work that's necessary to improve. As much as some people have grading contracts or labor-based grading (based on Marxist principles, which is problematic), it's hard to give people grades on work when they turn in their work. 

Sunday Hangover: Tennessee

The first half of this game made my dog go into hiding in our walk-in closet because I was yelling so often in anger at the TV. 

Then Mrs. Nasty and I went to a retirement party for her former boss, so I only followed the game via my cell phone in the second half. When we got back, I watched the second half.

And what a second half it was. Tennessee didn't score, and Alabama scored 27 points. 

As crappy as Alabama's offense and defense were in the first half, they really got their shit together in the second half. 

The defense played like I expected them to do. 

The offense played much better because of the offensive line, and the OC ran more designed runs for Milroe, which I think is key to keeping opposing defenses off kilter. 

Another key was that Alabama only had one penalty. 

I'm hoping the bye week helps Alabama focus on playing a complete game because they'll need it when LSU comes to town in two weeks. 

Music Friday: "I Just Want to Celebrate"

I heard the is song a while back when my son was at a baseball camp/showcase. The coach in charge was playing tunes while kids were doing their drills. I had forgotten how much I liked this song. 

After we got back home, I bought a greatest hits album from Rare Earth. It's good stuff. 

Sunday Hangover: Arkansas

The second-half offense of the Crimson Tide in yesterday's game did not inspire confidence. 

The offensive line is just giving up too many sacks. 

The Tide ran the ball well for the most part, for 217 yards. But they lost 40 yards on five sacks. They have to get better in pass protection. It's that simple. 

The one drive in the second half in which a stupid facemask penalty kept the Arkansas drive alive resulted in a touchdown that kept the Hawgs back in the game. 

And then the Tide's offense sputtered mightily in the second half. They only scored a stinking field goal in the third quarter, which was the difference in score. 

I haven't watched a Tennessee game at all this year, but the Tide need to get it together if they want to win at home this coming Saturday. 

Music Friday: "Kristine from the 7th Grade"

I finally got around to buying the new album by Ben Folds, What Matters Most. 

This tune got my attention on the first listen. 

We all know some Kristines, who might be the new Karen. 

Sunday Hangover: Texas A&M

What a second half. 

But as Mrs. Nasty likes to question, "Why do we always have to wait until the second half to get it together?"

Fair point. 

The Aggies had 17 points at halftime, and they ended the game with 20 points. The defense really stepped up in the second half and even did so with one of their leaders in the defensive backfield, Malachi Moore. 

The return of Lawson to the linebacking corps helped. It was good to see him back playing. 

With A&M's stingy run defense pretty much shuttling down the Alabama running attack - and this Alabama team really wants to run the ball - the weight of the offense rested on the shoulders of Milroe. 

And he looked good. He threw for 321 yards, three touchdowns, and one unfortunate interception that was quickly followed by an interception by true freshman safety Caleb Downs. 

A defensive lineman, Tim Keenan, led the squad in tackles. In the second half, the defensive line and backers turned it up a notch and shut down the Texas A&M offense for the most part. 

But if you think back to the first half, A&M had two early drives that only accounted for 3 points. 

The Alabama offense found a weak link in A&M's coverage, which created a great day for Jermaine Burton. He was Milroe's go-to receiver for a good part of the game, garnering 9 receptions for 197 yards and two TDs. 

And Isaiah Bond featured prominently with 7 receptions for 96 yards and a TD. 

The incident that burned the hell out of me is when the refs denied a block, scoop, and score for Chris Braswell. 

They called Alabama on a blindside block, a call that is utter nonsense if you watch the play. All the Alabama player, and I believe it was Dallas Turner, did on the run-back was give an A&M defender a meager side nudge while Braswell was running ahead for the score. 

Total crap. 

Music Friday: "Find the River"

R.E.M. is one of the bands I listened to a lot during my formative years as a teenager and twentysomething. I was first drawn to them because I was an avid reader of Rolling Stone, and their albums were typically in the college radio album charts. 

Remember those? 

Life's Rich Pageant is probably my favorite album from the band, but I like them all. 

Automatic for the People was one of their more popular albums that had big songs like "Drive," "Everybody Hurts," and "Man on the Moon." 

I listened to that album this week. So here's the final tune on that fine album in official video format and live from Koln, Germany in 2001. 

Stay Positive: Embracing Agnosticism & Atheism

I read an opinion piece in The Washington Post today that I had to share.  

It's titled "America Doesn't Need More God. It Needs More Atheists" (gifted article) It's an article reformulated from Kate Cohen's book We of Little Faith: Why I Stopped Pretending to Believe (and Maybe You Should Too). 

The article speaks to me in many ways. 

If I had to describe myself from a faith-based standpoint, I'd call myself a skeptical agnostic or, if you go by the bar Cohen has in the article, I'm basically an atheist. 

I guess it's possible that there's something going on with the "thousand faces of the hero" (Joseph Campbell's work) and the similarities of many different religions, but the likelihood of there being some divine being or set of beings who created the universe and have a hand in what people do in their lives is highly improbable. 

Slim chance. 

If anything, if we consider Jung's archetypes and Freud's idea of wish-fulfillment, perhaps myths/religions are simply a manifestation of some massive human wish-fulfillment that there's something after we die and that there is some kind of higher meaning to everything. 

I doubt it. 

Cohen has some great points for her thesis that the world needs more atheism and less religion. 

Here are some good points to be positive about being an agnostic or atheist:

• "My children know how to distinguish between fact and fiction - which is harder for children raised religious. They don't assume conventional wisdom is true and they do expected arguments to be based on evidence. Which means they have the skills to be engaged, informed and savvy citizens." 
• "We need American who demand - as atheists do - that truth claims be tethered to fact." 
• Researchers have done the appropriate data crunching, and it seems the percentage of atheists is around 26%. 
• "In some ways, this [being atheist] makes life easier. You don't have to work out why God might cause or ignore suffering, which parts of this broken world are God's plan, or what work is his to do or what is yours." 
• "But you also don't get to leave things up to God.... Atheists believe people organized the world as it is now, and only people can make it better." 
• Apparently atheists are "more politically active" and "about 30 percent more likely to vote than religiously affiliated voters." 
• Basically, instead of relying on a divine being, atheists think people need to do good in the world. 

Cohen does an excellent job of providing the perspective that many atheists are unlikely to share their dispositions because they are a minority in a world where lots of people want to share their religious ideas and force their religious/political viewpoints on others. 

As a result, we need to rebuild the "wall of separation between church and state" that Jefferson talked about and Cohen references.  

And like Cohen relates, people should embrace their agnosticism/atheism because there are a lot of us out there. 

Sunday Hangover: Mississippi State

I haven't gotten to watch the whole game since we were on the road the spend the night in a hotel before my son went to college baseball clinic/showcase today. I was able to listen to the first half in the car, and once we got to the hotel, I was able to watch the second half. 

The Tide put the game away basically in the second quarter. 

However, the Bulldogs' first drive in the third quarter didn't inspire confidence in the Alabama defense. 

But Alabama righted the ship and closed out the game. 

I don't have a lot of analysis to provide right now. 

But I know Texas A&M, who is up next at their place, has a good offense the Crimson Tide will have to contend with. 

Now Alabama needs to show more consistency on offense and a stronger defense. From what I saw of the game, I didn't notice Lawson at the LB spot. I hope he can get back for this next game.