I do dabble in the US Stock Market and do look up stocks (and companies of interest)  like LYV here, parent company Ticketmaster.  The big news they just resigned the CEO for 5 years and a $3M annual salary a performance bonus from $10 to $17M (a lot in stock) and a signing bonus of $6M sounds like nice sports numbers,  eh ? So what does this all mean ?  Well from that same LYV report they expect a booming comeback for live events  like the NFL EU.  Same thing as sports,  right ?    .......LYV shares, which nearly tripled during the pandemic as investors bet on a booming comeback for live events, are down 30% so far this year to $84.63........    AND would I buy it, maybe.    

@hoorta said: For the non wine folks,  a "vertical" collection of a wine is having bottles of the same wine from different years. I have bottles of Clio from the first year it was produced- 2002, every year.. up to... LOL, I'll let you guess.   Needless to say I like it a lot.  I do that with my California Cabernet favorite Honig. I'm now drinking them from the bottom up as each one reaches it's peak. Time to open the 2013. soon. The 2012 was excellent just as expected. The 2018 is currently in stores. Naturally another highly rated year for it. Almost never misses. I first bought it on a visit to the winery around 15 years ago or so. Just as good as my other favorite Napa Cab Grgich Hills, but about $20 less per bottle. And for about another $30+ more than Honig is Vine Cliff. Very interesting place to visit. All the barreled wine is stored inside the main cliff. They use a gravity system throughout the wine making process with the grapes being dumped and crushed at the highest level and barreled at the lowest with storage vats in between. Then they wheel the barrels across the way into the opposing cliff for aging. Eventually they then bottle after so many months in the oak barrels. If you are ever in Napa, this is one great place to visit and relax.  https://www.vinecliff.com/vine-cliff-winemaking

@dutch-oven said: our schools don't feel the need to teach the opposing view to "the Holocaust was a bad thing"... ? And if anyone ever thinks there's "Only One Story of History," ask them to reconcile three different authors' military history books on world war 2 regarding any one day's men lost / tanks knocked out of the other guy / places marched by one specific division etc.  They're all different.. but none of them are intentionally lying..

We had Robert Jackson playing corner at the end of last year.     If we’ve learned anything from the past couple years you can’t have enough Secondary and offensive line depth.  Quite honestly, if it takes a selection in each area in every draft somewhere between rounds 1-4 so be it. 

@tiamat63 said: You're in Jersey, correct?  "States" is pushing it  But ditto that offer for you, London. ??

@dutch-oven said: All the dude ever does is whine... if the Browns are doing well, he's nowhere to be found, the second something goes wrong, "Falcon17 joined the chat" appears.  He sounds alot like Herpes

@tour2ma said: Read one note earlier that the average hourly rate for NFL Officials in their full-time jobs was like $16.50... That works out to just over $34,000 per year. The fact that some are teachers, Attorneys, etc. and then Refs on the side is ludicrous to me.  The NFL is a massive business that makes massive dollars and they are a huge cog in the wheel.  Pay them...and put incentives in place for better performers to make higher pay. 

Good read in Steelerland... Reinforces many of Vag's critiques of his beloved team and introduced to me the Surrender Index... Here's the opening... The Steelers’ problems run deep, and there aren’t many easy fixes There are plenty of problems with the Steelers, and there are no easy fixes for those problems either. By KARLLUDWIG Jan 16, 2021, 6:00am EST Imagine for a second that your favorite football team is trailing by 12 against a hated divisional rival, who has a delightfully disgusting historic-playoff-drought-snapping story on their side, entering the fourth quarter of a playoff game. That hated division rival jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter, with your favorite team having maybe the worst start in NFL history, but yet with the ENTIRE fourth quarter to go and having outscored your rival 23-7 over the past quarter and change, getting one yard on 4th & 1 at just about midfield would set up the chance to bring the game within six points. Man, what a chance! What an opportunity to scratch and crawl back in the game! In today’s NFL, it’s all about taking ris— wait, your favorite team’s coach decided to punt the ball? If such a decision were to take place, there just so happens to be a Twitter account dedicated to determining the “cowardice” of every single punt in the NFL based on “arbitrary metrics” from SB Nation’s own Jon Bois. This hypothetical punt would have ranked in the 94th percentile of all punts in the 2020-21 season and the 92nd in all punts since 2009. Well, I guess it’s no surprise that my hypothetical situation was the Steelers and Browns on Sunday night. Tomlin didn’t go for it, the punt was a touchback for just over 30-yards net, and the Browns marched down the field to essentially put the game out of reach with a 40-yard scamper from Nick Chubb. Man, imagine a Steelers’ halfback doing something like that. (More at https://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2021/1/16/22226395/the-steelers-problems-run-deep-and-there-arent-many-easy-fixes-ben-roethlisberger-nfl-news-update )

@sdbacker80 said: We need some pass rushing mavens with the scheme we run (4 coming/7 dropping).  And we have Garrett and Clayborn.     We have tremendous needs to fill on defense.  I wouldn’t be opposed to bringing in a Stud DTackle in the first round that can get to the QB.  from the looks of it, they can find one in the third round. Maybe the fourth... need blue chip S, CB, or LB the first two rounds.

I wish Sendejo on his best day could be as good as Peppers is on his worst..

@jiggins7919 said: Oh well...can't have them all. ? Why not? Lord knows we've gone without for a very long time...

@typicalbrowns50 said: LOL scheming to protect Burrow isn’t good coaching your right. Maybe not be so damn opened ended with your posts while leading off with how the praise on Burrow isn't warranted and you wouldn't be so misunderstood.  

How is it that Garret is being held EVERY PLAY, even went as far as having his helmet ripped off his head and NO CALL yet they flag Garret for hands to the face for touching a players shoulder pad? These refs need to be killed 

@hoorta said: Um him getting close to the Super Bowl means nothing. That one year was an aberration, if you look at Ryan's coaching career as a whole.  He got fired by the Bills too. So you're willing to give him a chance at strike three with the Browns? Sorry, I'm not. Fortunately for the Browns, it's never going to happen.  Dan Quinn got the Falcons to the Super Bowl, and is probably going to get fired, FWIW. That's the way coaching works in the NFL, win, or you're fired. Rex didn't win much his last couple years.   Plenty of great coaches can't get a job.  Take Rick Barry.  He knows BBall inside out and no one ever gave him a job.  Some people just rub other people, especially those with money, the wrong way.  Baker is wasting energy going after some pundit on TV.  Look what Rogers did with an undrafted Lazard after Shepard tried to give the game away.  Both are undrafted free agents.  Spending money on prima dona wide receivers is dumb.   Also the Browns fantasy about Kitchens being wanted by other teams is just that.  Baker likes him because he talks like a good 'Ol boy from the South.  But everyone down there talks like that.  They say nothing of importance with a slow cadence.  Kitchens is bathroom material.  Face it.  Time to either get rid of the wide receiver devas or trade Baker for Cam Newton.

@texasag1969 said: Top two that appeared available to us. SB was going well before them, but we needed a decent RB. They were the top two where we were choosing, but NE took Michel before he reached us. Prior to his injury Chubb really was the better of the two. All I can say is he appears fully healed now for sure. And ironically Michel has been injured a lot his first two years. That isn't what you said, but that makes sense. And Michel wasn't available then. I honestly thought you just forgot about Barkley 

@gumby73 said: taking a 2nd look at 2 things..my tavern concern was Joel's head turned right pre-snap, looking at Bake, feeding Tretter when to snap or line changes..just looked odd & surprised we were not flagged on a few that Joel seemed to roll out of.. 2nd..I don't get all the chatter about Baker not getting the play in or out of huddle... I logged when Baker walked out of huddle..Bakes got more time than Hue ever allowed for Kizer .. only 3 snaps were under 5 secs..which 2 could have got flagged..16 were snapped 6-10 secs..25 with 11-15 seconds left on play clock.. Annyy-who?..over 60% of the snaps he had time to read & adjust..he might not be there yet after Lincoln Riley & Baker wrote the book on up tempo jumps starts a QB's rhythm..                        On to Robinson.Joel's head turned away from Robinison inside gap is bothersome at the sight of it. The only chance Robbie & Hub have got is when they get their hands inside..ask the refs.. did see the better line play, but it was a banged up Jets front. And we want no part of that Jags D' front from last night. Also add D'Ernest Johnson to a game pass pro blocker..Ernie cracked 2 in the hole, that never came back?       I don’t know if this has anything to do with anything, but l notice Bitonio is typically the last guy to get into his stance pre snap. Kinda like he’s part of the timing mechanism of the play, and possibly a last minute checker outer of what the defense is doing.

@calfoxwc said: speaking referee calls..;. what in the hell was that quick whistle on Baker being grabbed by the shoulder? what...in...the...hell.....was.....THAT ?>??? Baker pulled away just fine. But when Baker got driven into the turf, banging his head on the turf...no call? and another tackle...Baker was on the ground and another player hit him? THEN you hear the whistle? Something is wrong with the NFL referees. Some teams get screwed with questionable calls, and other....favorite teams laugh when their falgrant fouls are not called. It isn't just the Browns. Its called 'in the grasp' another save the quarterback pussy rule.

We were probably a 3 or 4 win team with average/competent QB play (think back to the McCown year) but we had awful play from that position.  We also had a string of tough calls from the zebras that hurt us I think I counted probably 2/3 games that year that the zebras probably impacted the win column 

@hoorta said: Running of the bulls is in Pamplona.  Too busy to Google it?   It's every year around the feast of San (Saint) Fermin (Sanfermines, get it?) Big week long festival, the running of the bulls is just part of it.    I'll let Nero elaborate if he feels like it.   Yeh, that bull running is pretty dangerous. From the website...   "All sections of the route are overlooked by a large number of security guards and first aid assistants. Since 1924 a total of 15 people have died and more than 200 been injured by the bulls. The most recent occurrence was 2009, while the previous death before that was 1995." Most dangerous thing un the bull running a are not the bulls, but the people. The streets are overcrowded so many injuries are due to missteps or people falling.  We have every day for 9 days fireworks, bull runnings, bullfights and a lot of music and entertainment.