Musing of the Moment: My Fantasy Football Draft

I took part in our league's annual fantasy draft at Buffalo Wild Wings on Saturday. 

I've been in this 10-team PPR league for a good while. And I'm pondering how I did. 

Since it's an ESPN league, they send you an email afterward with a draft grade. I got a B. 

I wasn't thrilled about the draft spot I got, which was 7th. I would have preferred 9th or 10th. 

Regardless, I usually just draft the best player available, and with the seventh pick, I drafted Lamb and picked Josh Jacobs in the second round. It's a snake draft.  

I'm a homer for Alabama players, and I had Jacobs last year when I won the league. 

In the third round, I went with Kenneth Walker because it sounds like the Seahawks are going to be run-heavy this season, and when he's healthy, he's good. 

I have never taken a quarterback in the early rounds, but there was Jalen Hurts sitting there as my best available. I also wasn't thrilled with the RBs and WRs in that part of the draft. 

I picked DeAndre Swift in the fifth round. We'll see how that pans out.

Even though I don't have to have a tight end in my league (we have three WR/TE spots with one Flex spot), Kittle was there, and he's one of few healthy pass catchers for the 49ers right now. 

In the seventh and eighth rounds, I picked Ridley and Jameson Williams, respectively. I'm hoping Ridley breaks out with Cam Ward, and I like Jameson. 

In ninth round, I went with Olave, who had a down year last season because of concussions. Someone has to catch passes in New Orleans. 

I possibly reached for Jordan Mason in the next round, but Aaron Jones rarely plays a full season, and I'm hoping Mason takes over the starting job. 

I snatched Egbuka in the eleventh, and if he breaks out like some pundits think, he could be a great value. 

I got some good news today that Daniel Jones is going to start Week 1 because I selected Pittman Jr. in the twelfth round. Supposedly Pittman has a good rapport with Jones. 

After that I nabbed Charbonnet to handcuff Walker and Drake Maye in the next round for the hell of it. 

Then in the next-to-last round, I picked the Seahawks D, which I've already dropped for the Cardinals D in Week 1. I usually stream defenses. 

And I finished it out with Alabama alum Will Reichard. I'm also a Vikings fan. 

Musing of the Moment: Celebrating Son Hueng-Min

Last night I watched this video of all of Son's goals for Tottenham. 

It's sad to see Son go to LAFC, but after ten years at the club, it sounds like he wanted a new challenge. 

I think he has at least of couple of solid years in him for the Premier League if he were to stick around. 

To my mind, I think he'll tear up the MLS because he got overplayed in this past season because of all of the injuries with Spurs. But he's going to Los Angeles, which has a huge Korean immigrant population. 

He's my favorite Spurs player. 

He stuck around and won a trophy for a club. 

COYS

Musing of the Moment: Golden Hami Melons

I shopped at Aldi the other day, and there was this melon I'd never seen. It's a Golden Hami melon. 

From my vantage point, it looks like a football-shaped cantaloupe. And I like melons. 

I cut it up this afternoon, and it's colored like a cantaloupe. However, it tastes more like a honeydew. 

It's like a cantaloupe and a honeydew got busy and had a baby. 

Musing of the Moment: Bark Box Adjusting to Tariffs

 

We got my dog's bark box the other day, and this was the message we got because the toys and treats were not in a box. They came in a bag. 

My hope is that more companies make similar moves in regard to Moscow Don's tariffs to expose the stupidity of his economic policies. 

Musing of the Moment: Father's Day Thoughts

There's a common saying that goes, "Happy wife--happy life." 

I don't like that expression at all. It's based on common gender stereotypes that women direct their husbands' happiness and that the husband's (or father's) mainly depends on keeping the woman happy. 

In addition, the expression is heteronormative. 

Just think if there was an expression that started "Happy husband"? 

People might think, "Wait, why is he happy? What's he up to?" 

It's still uncommon for people to think that husbands/father's can be sad, which is a point Bill Burr makes in Drop Dead Years about the "male sadness epidemic."

I too have the "regular depression," not the clinical kind. I can be "sad." 

Today on Father's Day I'll be drinking the last bottle of wine I took from my father's assisted-living apartment after he passed away.

He died years ago. A couple of years I drank the other bottle I had from the apartment, which was a Chardonnay. 

The one I'm drinking today is a Pink Moscato, which isn't really on-brand for me. I'm more of a drinker of Zinfandels, Cabernets, Merlots, Syrahs, and red blends. 

Regardless, cheers to all the sad dads out there. 

And I miss you Virg. 

Musing of the Moment: Ineptitude at Tottenham

It's June 3rd, and over ten days after Tottenham won the Europa League, fans like me are not sure if Ange is still the manager, and there appears to be a shakeup with the board. 

It's ridiculous. 

After winning the Europa League and then finishing the season with an unfortunate loss, the chairman of the ENIC board Daniel Levy went on vacation. 

He went on vacation during a time when other clubs are taking advantage of this new mini-transfer window. 

Other clubs are signing players while there's silence in N17. 

Ineptitude. 

Ange In. 

Levy out.

Why did I have to choose a Premier League club that is so poorly run? 

Musing of the Moment: Tottenham to a European Final

Tottenham beat Bodo Glimt 2 to 0 in the second leg of the semifinal with goals from Solanke and Porro. 

Spurs are in the Europa League Final and will face Manchester United. It's a Premier-League Final. 

The last time Tottenham was in a European final they faced another red-clad, Premier-Leage team: Liverpool. 

My hope is the outcome is different in 2025. 

Come On You Spurs. 

Musing of the Moment: Canada's Election as a Harbinger of Good?

The New York Times reports that the Liberal Party of Canada won the election this week, so the new Prime Minister is Mark Carney. 

See "Mark Carney's Liberals Win Canada's Election. Here Are Four Takeaways." 

As polls have shown this week, Moscow Don's approval rating is in the crapper. 

The Democrats need to take advantage of this goon's failings, overreach, idiocy, and mismanagement to take the House back in 2026. 

Get it done. 

Musing of the Moment: Oncoming Proposals to Improve Birthrates

I've read a number of newspaper articles about how the current administration has plans to boost the birthrates in the U.S. There's even talk about giving mothers a $5,000 "baby bonus" after they have a kid. 

How you gonna fund that, bro? 

I don't get the fascination with improving the birthrates in the U.S. But I do think that their proposals and plans are not probably going to address the reasons why birthrates have been declining in the U.S. for quite a while.

To expose some of the factors that probably affect the U.S. birthrate, I'm going to ask some simple questions, and as you read these, please do so in your head with a snarky tone:

• Do you know how expensive child care costs if the parents both work?
• Have you looked at how high rent is?
• Have you considered how expensive buying a new home costs? 
• Do you know how expensive it is to raise a child?
• Do people have access to IVF?
• Do you know how expensive IVF is?
• Have you noticed that people are getting married later in life?
• Do you realize how many people are in student loan debt? 
• How does parental leave work in the U.S.?
• Don't you even understand how tariffs work? 
• Have you bought a dozen eggs lately? 
• Do you realize how much the U.S. economy relies on Chinese imports? 
• Don't you know how expensive health care is in America?

Actually, if the U.S. went to universal health care like every other modern, industrialized nation in the world, that move might actually improve the U.S. birthrate. 

Instead, we have one of the most expensive health care systems because of health insurance, medical, and big Pharma lobbyists pimping owning politicians in D.C. 

Musing of the Moment: Bourbon in the Movies

I was watching Bull Durham before a March Madness game began today, and I noticed that in the pool room scene Crash Davis is drinking Jim Beam standard offering. That's not a good choice in my opinion, but the scene got me thinking. 

What other films feature bourbon drinking? 

I know the "Fast Eddy" Felson character (played by Paul Newman) drinks one of my favorite bargain borbons, J.T.S. Brown in The Hustler. 

And I vaguely remember John Wick drinking Blanton's. 

Other than those I couldn't think of others except maybe the Al Pacino character in Heat drinking Jack Daniel's Old No. 7. 

Uproxx has done the work for me though with this article: "The Most Iconic Bourbons Drinkers in Film History." 

Cheers to Four Roses, Wild Turkey, and Old Forester. 

Musing of the Moment: Resistance Gardens

I'm a gardener, mainly a vegetable gardener. 

I saw a great post on Tik Tok that talked about how during WWII people planted "victory gardens" because of the war effort, and these gardens produced 40% of the vegetables people ate during the war. 

I like the idea so much that I got a Victory Garden t-shirt from Civil Standard a couple of years back except it's in light blue. 

Considering how much of our produce is imported from Mexico, some folks might want to start planting some resistance gardens. 

President Adolf's trade wars are madness. Plant a Resistance Garden. 

Musing of the Moment: "Up and Not Crying"

Mrs. Nasty posted a reel from "wanderingbird.adventures" on social media that I also posted after I saw it.

Here's what it says: "In Norway 'up & not crying' is a standard response to 'How are you doing?'--and I think that's a very reasonable standard to hold oneself to these days." 

I agree.

I've read or heard that Norwegians have a reputation as the Scandinavians who are the most depressed. So that response "up and not crying" tracks. And I guess you can tie in seasonal affective disorder. 

Yet the saying flies in the face of the reputation of Nordic countries scoring the best on happiness surveys, which they do according to the World Happiness Report.

An article in The Guardian from 2018, "Nordic Countries 'Happy' Reputation Masks Sadness of Young, Says Report," shows some figures. And the numbers support that those countries are doing much better than other countries in Europe. 

Regardless, I like the black/dark humor of the saying.  

Musing of the Moment: Making California Danish

In what has been circulated via numerous media outlets, there is an online petition to have Denmark buy California, a satirical jab at President Adolf claim of wanting to take over Greenland from Denmark. 

If you're interested in signing the petition, it's aptly called Denmarkification.  

Please check it out and read about "Why California?", "Why Trump Adolf Might Sell," and "The Tremendous Plan." 

Musing of the Moment: Missing Howard Cosell

I watch a lot of sports on TV, and the other day I was thinking about the legendary broadcaster Howard Cosell. 

When I was a kid, my parents let me have a small TV in my room, and one of few times they let me stay up after my bedtime was to watch Monday Night Football. 

If Peanuts comics and Marvel comic books (Daredevil, Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, Power-Man and Iron Fist) are part of my literacy narrative, then I think I should also include Cosell also because I was fascinated by his language use, the big words and interesting turns of phrase. 

He was a legend. 

Unfortunately, most people today would not recognize what is going on in these scenes in Better Off Dead, a great 80s comedy. 

Musing of the Moment: Changes in Football to be Considered

I would like to propose a few changes to the game of football, two of which are related to scoring. 

Proposal 1: Make the Safety Worth More Points

The safety has worth two points forever. However, it's more rare than a field goal, so why not make it at least as much as field goal or maybe even more? A bold proposal would be a safety scoring 4 points. 

Proposal 2: Make Field Goals Over 50 yards Worth Four Points

People are familiar with fantasy football scoring system that give different points based on how long the field goal is. For example, in the fantasy league I am part of, a field goal from 0-39 yards is worth 3 points, 40-49 yards is worth 4 points, 50-59 points is worth 5 points, and over 60 yards is worth 6 points. 

But let's keep it simple. Any field goal over 50 yards scores 4 points, not 3. 

Proposal 3: In the NFL, Change the Kickoff Rules for More Returns

This season in the NFL the kickoff rules were changed for safety reasons, which I agree with. However, teams are still mainly just kicking it into the end zone for no returns and just touchbacks. 

If the NFL wants to really get kickers getting it into the "landing zone," they need to spot touchbacks not at the 30-yard line. Instead, touchbacks should be spotted at the 40-yard line to penalize touchbacks. 

Be bold. 

Musing of the Moment: George Will on Immigration

I am decidedly a left-leaning person politically, but one of the many good aspects of having a subscription to The Washington Post is that George Will writes opinion columns for the newspaper. 

Sometimes I agree with him. Sometimes I think he's off his rocker because of his belief in traditional conservatism. 

Recently he had an interesting column that's worth your time. It talks the changing demographics in the world and how immigration, which he gets to at the end, is probably a good thing for the U.S. 

What a concept. 

Here's the article: "Amid Shrinking Demographics Worldwide, the U.S. Needs Immigration." 

Musing of the Moment: Harris as Presidential Candidate

The big news over the weekend was that Biden is no longer running for President. 

And the Democrats, surprisingly, put their support around Kamala Harris quickly. 

I have been surprised about the speediness of the support because historically the Democratic Party usually isn't that organized or disciplined. That's more of the modus operandi of the Republican Party that has become the brain-dead GOP. 

So in the presidential contest, we have a convicted felon who cannot even run a hot dog cart in the state of New York who is also a convicted sexual assaulter versus a former prosecutor and Attorney General. 

Who is the "Back the Blue" cohort of voters going to vote for? 

The answer probably isn't what it should be. 

As Rage Against the Machine sang, "Those of those that work forces/ are the same that burn crosses." 

Possibly not literally but figuratively...

But in some cases literally.

The race-based dog whistling has already started with Moscow Don's allies calling Harris the "DEI candidate." 

More of that shit is coming. 

Musing of the Moment: Tottenham's Away Kit

Tottenham's away kit got released recently. You can see it below and read about it on Footy Headlines. 

I dig the new away kit. I like the mixture of three different blues and how the cockerel atop the ball is in the middle of the shirt. 

My only question is why Nike went with the kind of strange-looking v-neck. Why not just do a regular v-neck? I don't understand. 

If I were to get a Tottenham jersey, I think this would be the one I would get. However, the damn thing costs $95. That figure is astounding. 

Musing of the Moment: The Summer Transfer Window for Tottenham Hotspur--Outgoings

Tottenham finished fifth in the Premier League, which is probably a fair result considering Ange has installed a totally different system, and we lost the club's best player of all time two days prior to the start of the season. And all the injuries...

Here's my take on possible outgoings from the club. 

I'm an avid watcher of the We Are Tottenham TV videos along with Chris Cowlin and Barnaby Slater's videos on YouTube. I highly recommend them if you're a Spurs fan. Slater's videos, however, are just about transfer rumors around the Premier League. 

Most Definitely Out of the Door

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg

He's been a solid squad member for many years, but Spurs can garner some good money for the midfielder, and there are a number of clubs interested. He's wants to play regularly, which is understandable because he's Denmark's captain. He deserves a move away for consistent playing time. 

Giovanni Lo Celso

I've always liked Lo Celso because has a bit of shithousery to his game. But he can never stay healthy, and he's got a year left on his contract. I see him ending up somewhere in La Liga. 

Sergio Reguilon

He's played admirably for Brentford, but he didn't seem to impress Ange. I could see him ending somewhere in La Liga, but he's on high wages, so moving him to a smaller club in the Premier League would be difficult. 

Bryan Gil

It's a shame he hasn't gotten more playing time, but the staff has gone elsewhere for wingers when needed. He's going back to La Liga I suspect. This signing has not worked out at all. 

Joe Rodon

Leeds are staying down in the Championship since they couldn't muster any goals against Southhampton, so I don't know what will shake out here. Leeds fans rate him highly, so I would think he's going there although there may be some competition for acquiring him because he had a solid season in the Championship. 

Japhet Tanganga

I've always liked Tanganga, but he seems to have found a home a Millwall. We have Romero and Dragusin able to play at right center-back along with youngsters Alfie Dorrington and Ashley Phillips as hopeful possibilities. 

Tanguy Ndombele

Acquiring him has been a disaster. And all the loans have been disasters. We need to just cut him. 

Probably Out the Door

Djed Spence

It sounds like he's done well on loan this season. I was excited when Spurs signed him. To me, I think he would be a solid back-up for Porro or even Udogie. However, for whatever reason, Ange isn't impressed by him. There are rumors of attitude issues, but those are just rumors. 

Emerson Royal

He's worked well when he plays although he's limited from an offensive perspective. There are a number of clubs interested in him, so I suspect Tottenham will cash in. 

Troy Parrott

He really hasn't gotten a look from Ange since he was hurt during pre-season. He's a striker who has done well on loan in the Dutch league, so it'll be interesting what happens with him, Scarlett, and Veliz. 

Check the Magic 8-Ball

Manor Solomon

I thought he did well when he played on the left wing in the early part of the season. We got him on a free transfer, but he's rarely seen the pitch because of a number of injuries. I don't know what Tottenham would even get for him in a transfer. 

Timo Werner

The price is right for this guy for a transfer, but I think he's on high wages, which might be a stumbling block. 

Ben Davies

Every manager has liked this guy, and he always works hard for the club. Are he and Son the only guys remaining for the Pochettino era? This season he filled in at center-back admirably, but he does not have the attacking quality of Udogie that Ange's system demands. 

Musing of the Moment: Tottenham's 24-25 Kits

Footy Headlines is at its usual work. Tottenham's home, away, and third kits were leaked by them here. 

Let's take a look. 

Alasdair Gold and the fellows at WeAreTottenhamTV weighed in on these, but I'll do so also. 

There's not much a designer can do to jazz up a team that wears white for its home jersey. It's safe to assume we're going back to navy shorts instead doing the all white kits like they did this season. 

I like this jersey with the navy sleeves and piping down the sides. 

I'm fond of the away kit. I like the lighter blue with navy, and I prefer football jerseys with a v-neck rather than a crew look. If I were to get a jersey, I'd probably get this one. 

As for the third kit, I like the old-school logo and Nike logo facing downward for whatever reason, but I'm not fond of this mint-green look. If Spurs is going to go with green, I'd prefer they go back to the forest green look we had a few years ago. 

What I really want for an away or third kit is a purple one.