Benster and D Pick Your Games----Vikings Are For Real Edition

 We welcome you back to our regularly scheduled HYYYYYYYYYYPPPEEEEE! Joe Barry should be on the unemployment line, but to discuss that disaster is for another date and time.

I'm okay with that. Rather not think about it. I try not to think about root canals, either.

As much as I mock KFAN for their Viking triumphalism, after what happened in Buffalo I have to admit that the Vikings are for real. So why are they a home dog against Dallas?

Well, it's less about their relative merit and more about getting people to bet on the game. Gotta keep Caesars buying those sweet, sweet ads. 

That makes sense. I'm ready to pick some games. Watch me work.

Iowa Hawkeyes (+2.5) vs. Minnesota Golden Elite Rowers of the Boat The Gophers are in contention to win the Big Ten West, but there is one problem that PJ has. He has never beaten Iowa, and despite what he is selling you, beating Iowa is something that matters to the Gophers. Iowa is better offensively lately, and their defense can keep them in games. Sorry Gophers, get ready for another failure to beat the Hawkeyes. Even if Tanner Morgan plays, I don't see them winning even though the game is up here. Iowans 30, Row Row Row Your Boat Elitely 10.

No one wants to see Iowa win this game, but it is indeed the sort of game Iowa tends to win. They are opportunistic and they don't make mistakes. Our man Fleck is trying to build something similar here and he's done a lot of that, but it always seems to come a cropper when the black helmets come to town. Will it happen this time? Gophers 24, Iowa 14.

Beloved Wisconsin Badgers (-10) vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers Bobby Engram's playcalling last week was atrocious. I get that the Iowa defense is tough, but throwing the ball constantly was a terrible idea. Nebraska is going to hang tough, but they are easier to run on, and the Badgers are going to go into Lincoln with a point to prove. Jim Leonhard should get the job permanently, as the worst kept secret in the program comes out. It would also be a good move for the Badgers to report all the tampering to players already in the program that has been going on in recent weeks to the NCAA and the Big Ten. If both organizations don't do anything, then call them out publicly and release all of the evidence. Any school that has tampered with our players should face harsh punishments and be charged with not fostering a climate of compliance with NCAA rules regardless of how much of a cash cow they are. Badgers 35, Tom Osborne Isn't Walking Through That Door 14.

Big time college football is a dirty business, young fella, and the recruiters are now able to essentially tamper at will. It doesn't mean anything and NIL has changed everything. While it happened way before either of us were born, Michigan stole Elroy Hirsch from the Badgers. It was during the war and there were extenuating circumstances, but you can look it up. I am not convinced that Braelon Allen will want to do the same thing, but the incentives are certainly there. As for the game itself, Nebraska remains what they have been for the last decade -- muddled. Badgers have to have this one and they'll get it. Badgers 28, Nebraska 20.

Dallas How Bout Them Cowboys (-1.5) vs. Minnesota Vikings Before last week, the Vikings weren't considered a Super Bowl contender because they had played an easy schedule, played in a trash division in the NFC North, and had flunked badly in their road test against a Super Bowl contender. After last week, the Vikings should be regarded as a legitimate contender. That was the type of game that in all honesty the Vikings would have lost in the past. Don't lie, Vikings fans. I will admit that I was dead wrong about the Vikings last week and don't mind eating some crow. Meanwhile, the Cowboys are stuck picking up the pieces from their worst collapse since Matt Flynn's comeback from 26-3 at the half in 2013. You love to see it. I don't want to hear another word about the Cowboys being a Super Bowl contender. The Vikings won't have a letdown this weekend, and even though Zeke is back, I expect that the Vikings will continue to get the hopes of their fans up. Brad will probably call my advice if you like to gamble bad, but if you like to gamble, take the Vikings and get some easy money. Vikings 35, Cry Your Heart Out Skippy 24.

The Vikings hired out an expert for a pregame pep talk: 

So should we respect the Vikings? Maybe. I think they've had a substantial rabbit's foot and horseshoe combo going for most of the season, but as the great Branch Rickey said, luck is the residue of design. Perhaps this year the Vikings have the right design. Put it this way -- if Matthew Stafford can win a Super Bowl, then Kirk Cousins can, at least in theory. Beating the overrated Cowboys would help. Vikings 31, Cowboys 27.

United States (NL) vs. Wales, in Al-Rayyan, Qatar This World Cup is going to be a complete disaster. The European calendar is all sorts of screwed up, it's still too hot in Qatar, and the hosts bribed the corrupt blazers at FIFA to host this event. Speaking of disaster, the United States roster is just baffling to me. Zack Steffen is probably one of our best goalkeepers, and Berhalter doesn't include him? Ricardo Pepi has been in great form for Groningen, but Berhalter includes Jordan Morris as an attacking option? I realize that the USMNT golden generation is going to be at it's peak for 2026 here, but at least call up your best players. Wales is going to be at a World Cup for the first time since the 1950s, and Gareth Bale is going to be a tough ask. But I will back the US to do well. One more thing. Monday is November 21 on the calendar. Don't screw this up for me, lads. Even though England and Iran will be interesting matches in our group, this will be important to get 3 points. United States 3, Wales 2.

I have no idea. I do know the U.S. is getting better at the Beautiful Game. And I'll agree with you, because you actually follow this stuff. USMNT 2, Wales 0.

Enjoy your football of all kinds this weekend. Ben out. 

"Oh, I'm fine Mom, how's Washington?"

 Game on:

Best comment of the day, from a guy I know on FB:

It's a good thing when the ruling class has to have its head on a swivel.

If this sort of thing sends you to the fainting couch, I would suggest you'd better get the ol' fainting couch reinforced. For all his bluster and suboptimal bedside manner, it's important to understand that, for the last four years, Trump was asking nicely. 

Tommies Go to D1

So the Tommies are going to the big-time, at least in athletics:

The University of St. Thomas is heading to Division I.

The university announced the NCAA's Division I Council approved a motion on Wednesday to allow St. Thomas to make the jump from Division III to Division I -- the first program in the NCAA's modern era to make the direct leap.

“Our St. Thomas community is excited to embark on this journey of building Minnesota’s first private D-I collegiate athletics program and the second D-I program in the state,” said University of St. Thomas President Julie Sullivan in a news release. “St. Thomas has a long history of academic and athletic excellence and embracing change with an entrepreneurial spirit. This move continues that trajectory.”

According to the release, the Tommies have officially accepted invitations to join the Summit League, the Pioneer Football League and the Women's Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). A conference decision for men's hockey is still pending.

Yes, the Tommies have been dominant in sports at the D3 level. As a practical matter, they outgrew the MIAC a number of years ago. They didn't necessarily dominate in football, but in all the other sports they were crushing the other conference schools on a regular basis. This particular event probably the signal it was time to move on:



You have to understand -- St. Olaf is not a doormat. They haven't contended for the top spot in the MIAC, but they are usually respectable. From the linked recap in the Sporting News:

You would think that in such a mismatched game, St. Thomas would acknowledge how much better it was and take things a bit easy. Nope. St. Thomas went for a two-point conversion three times, and was 5-of-5 on fourth down. St. Thomas knew it was better, and wanted to prove it.

And that, at bottom, is the real point. St. Thomas is an ambitious school and St. Thomas has something to prove. With an undergraduate enrollment over 6000 and a variety of graduate programs, they aren't really competing for students with Hamline and Gustavus. Their actual competitors are other midwestern metropolitan Catholic universities -- think Marquette, or Loyola-Chicago, or Creighton, or SLU. Being a D1 school will guarantee St. Thomas gets its name on the newscasts more often, even if they lose games initially. The games on the field or the courts are more about alumni pride and marketing. You can go anywhere in the country and find people who have heard of Marquette. Most people outside of the Midwest have no idea about St. Thomas. If the Tommies make the leap to D1 successfully, people will.

Suggested new nicknames for the NFL team in Washington

Redskins is out, or likely will be. So what should replace it? Herewith, a baker's dozen suggestions:

Washington Gridlocks (per Benster)
Washington Red Tape
Washington Assistant Deputy Undersecretaries
Washington Orange Man Bads
Washington Weasels
Washington Ivy League Masturbation Society
Washington Deep States
Washington J. Edgars
Washington Swamp Thangs
Washington Strzoks
Washington Fanne Foxes
Washington Dirty Painted Whores*
Washington Fighting Hasterts

Vote for your favorite choice in the comments, or certainly suggest your own.

*per a certain former colleague of mine

You had to know it was crap

In this racially fraught moment, the notion that someone would put a noose in the vicinity of the only black driver competing in NASCAR seemed, well, dubious. There are security cameras everywhere and by all accounts the driver, Bubba Wallace, is a popular figure in the racing community. And, sure enough, the incident wasn't what it seemed:

The FBI has determined that NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace was not the victim of a hate crime and that a pull rope fashioned like a noose had been on a garage door at Talladega Superspeedway since as early as October, NASCAR said Tuesday.

"The FBI report concludes, and photographic evidence confirms, that the garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose had been positioned there since as early as last fall," NASCAR said in its statement. "This was obviously well before the 43 team's arrival and garage assignment.

"We appreciate the FBI's quick and thorough investigation and are thankful to learn that this was not an intentional, racist act against Bubba. We remain steadfast in our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all who love racing."

The 43 car is iconic in the world of stock car racing, mostly because Richard Petty drove it. I've never been much of a racing fan, but everyone knew the 43 car:

King Richard

Petty hasn't been racing for decades, but he remains a major figure in the sport and his racing team has kept the number 43. Wallace drives for Petty, so having that number means something. It's always been the stereotype that because NASCAR came out of the South, it had an undercurrent of racism. Perhaps there's some truth to that, but in the main the modern racing fan doesn't care about that. You aren't likely to hear much about this story in a few more days -- the people who were riding the hobby horse would rather you pay attention to something else now. But racing fans will remember. NASCAR is pursuing a full-on social justice model these days, as are most sporting organizations. They are free to do so, but the point of spectator sports is to provide a diversion from the dreary architecture of modern life. The audience doesn't watch sports for moral instruction. There's plenty of that going around anyway.

Just a question

So the Twins decided to take down a statue of their longtime owner, Calvin Griffith, because he apparently said racist things back in the day.

So, I'm curious -- in the greater scheme of things, who (and what) do you suppose hurt black people more. Is it Calvin Griffith and his racist musings, or is it Carl Pohlad and his lending practices?

Bonus question -- do you suppose Pohlad's offspring, who inherited and currently own the team, would be willing to take a serious look at that question?

One thing to watch

If what we've been told for the past three months is accurate, we should expect a huge ramp up in COVID-19 cases in the next two weeks. Let's see how that plays out.

Minneapolis is burning

I don't know anyone who isn't sickened by what the Minneapolis police did to George Floyd. There should be righteous anger about it. However, this isn't righteous. Images from the Daily Mail:

Burn baby burn

Nor is torching an apartment building under construction:

No way to live

Nor is grabbing smokes:

The pause that refreshes

At least the looters are wearing masks, right? That should please Mayor Frey.

Biden in Quintessence

The Scranton WTF Machine strikes again:

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday emphatically defended his ties to the African American community — telling a popular black radio personality that he “ain’t black” if he was still weighing whether to support Biden or President Donald Trump in November’s general election.

The remarks from the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee came during an at-times contentious interview on “The Breakfast Club” that aired Friday morning, during which co-host Charlamagne tha God challenged Biden over his decadeslong record on racial issues and current contemplation of a black, female running mate.

I'm sure the co-host appreciated the tutorial. There's more:

“I’m not acknowledging anybody who is being considered, but I guarantee you, there are multiple black women being considered. Multiple,” Biden said of his search process for a vice presidential nominee.

It was then that an aide to the Biden campaign could be heard interjecting into the conversation, attempting to cut short the interview. “Thank you so much. That’s really our time. I apologize,” the aide said.

“You can't do that to black media!” Charlamagne retored.

“I do that to white media and black media because my wife has to go on at 6 o’clock,” Biden shot back, apparently referring to a subsequent media appearance by Jill Biden, before adding: “Uh oh. I’m in trouble.”

Trouble, trouble that's the name/of Biden's pop-off-a-matic game. He wasn't through:

“Listen, you’ve got to come see us when you come to New York, VP Biden,” Charlamagne said. “It’s a long way until November. We've got more questions.”

“You’ve got more questions?” Biden replied. “Well, I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”

A photo of Charlamagne tha God:

Ain't saying

Another step on the road to Torricelliville.

Mr. Lotter, he gone

After four months in position, former New Brighton honcho Dean Lotter gets the pipe in Eureka, CA:

The Eureka City Council at a special meeting Tuesday will accept the resignation of outgoing Eureka City Manger Dean Lotter, who was placed on administrative leave on May 1, after holding the position for just over four months.

Following a national search and rigorous interview process, Lotter was selected to replace retiring City Manager Greg Sparks. In December of last year Lotter and his wife moved to Eureka from New Brighton, Minnesota, where Lotter served as city manager for 13 years.

We aren't likely to get the "why" in this case, at least right away, but his act probably didn't go well out there. He was able to get by with a lot of nonsense because of the Keystone Kop nature of New Brighton politicians, but that act doesn't work everywhere.

This should be obvious, but. . . .

Via Instapundit, the unreliable narrator Peggy Noonan makes the salient point:

It’s not that those in red states don’t think there’s a pandemic. They’ve heard all about it! They realize it will continue, they know they may get sick themselves. But they also figure this way: Hundreds of thousands could die and the American economy taken down, which would mean millions of other casualties, economic ones. Or, hundreds of thousands could die and the American economy is damaged but still stands, in which case there will be fewer economic casualties—fewer bankruptcies and foreclosures, fewer unemployed and ruined.

They’ll take the latter. It’s a loss either way but one loss is worse than the other. They know the politicians and scientists can’t really weigh all this on a scale with any precision because life is a messy thing that doesn’t want to be quantified.

Here’s a generalization based on a lifetime of experience and observation. The working-class people who are pushing back have had harder lives than those now determining their fate. They haven’t had familial or economic ease. No one sent them to Yale. They often come from considerable family dysfunction. This has left them tougher or harder, you choose the word.

It's easy to write checks on other people's accounts. As for the politicians:

Meanwhile some governors are playing into every stereotype of “the overclass.” On Tuesday Pennsylvania’s Tom Wolf said in a press briefing that those pushing against the shutdown are cowards. Local officials who “cave in to this coronavirus” will pay a price in state funding. “These folks are choosing to desert in the face of the enemy. In the middle of a war.” He said he’ll pull state certificates such as liquor licenses for any businesses that open. He must have thought he sounded uncompromising, like Gen. George Patton. He seemed more like Patton slapping the soldier. No sympathy, no respect, only judgment.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called anti-lockdown demonstrations “racist and misogynistic.” She called the entire movement “political.” It was, in part—there have been plenty of Trump signs, and she’s a possible Democratic vice presidential nominee. But the clamor in her state is real, and serious. People are in economic distress and worry that the foundations of their lives are being swept away. How does name-calling help? She might as well have called them “deplorables.” She said the protests may only make the lockdowns last longer, which sounded less like irony than a threat.

Those deplorables elected the Bad Orange Man. And there's an excellent chance they will do it again. Why is that?

When you are reasonable with people and show them respect, they will want to respond in kind. But when they feel those calling the shots are being disrespectful, they will push back hard and rebel even in ways that hurt them.

As a rule, we aren't comfortable talking about class in this country, but the stratification of class is stronger today than it has been a very long time. And our Betters aren't particularly magnanimous.

I am an older fat dude with a horrible family history for heart disease -- if I get the 'rona, it could be very bad for me. But having a third of the country on the dole is going to be a lot worse for all of us. And those who would deign to protect me aren't doing me, or anyone else, any favors. But self-affirmation is a helluva drug.

Are You Team Joe?

Join us!

Never mind

I know all about the Borgias

Chill-dren!

Here's Johnny!

You have no idea

You can be, too! Just go to the link and make yer own!

Wash yer hands

This was going around social media yesterday. You can go to the website and create your own, but this seems like the right choice:

Australian schoolboy outfit optional

Don't fall in love, fall in line

So Joe Biden, fugitive from Madame Tussauds, is now back to being the frontrunner in the 2020 Dem circus. Is there a deeper meaning to Sooooooooper Tuesday (borrowing a little Benster HYYYYPE here)? Not really. Whatever the party apparat wants, it ultimately gets. And Bernie Sanders isn't what they want.

I was able to get exclusive video of the discussions before Super Tuesday among top Dem officials:

And just as William Holden portrayed it, Joe gets to empty the ashtrays.

Le mot juste, headline style

Politico is a typical lefty outlet, but give them credit for having the proper headline on their debate synopsis:

It's who they are, it's what they do

The primary (no pun intended) reason the donks are having trouble getting much traction in this cycle is because they are guilty of most of the sins they ascribe to the Bad Orange Man. Frankly, every person on that stage yesterday was a repellent person in one way or another. And the key word in the headline? Scold. Do you enjoy getting scolded? Do you want to listen to any of these people for the next four years?

Welcome to Thunderdumb

So I watched most of the debate last night. Everyone who watched has an opinion of what they saw. So here's mine.

• Bloomberg may have more money than King Canute, but as a debater he was even worse than I thought he'd be. Warren tore him to ribbons from the outset and he never really got his footing again. He took one good shot at Bernie Sanders about his three homes, but that wasn't enough. You can tell he hasn't been challenged much in his life.
• Warren was tearing down everyone in sight. While her scorched earth approach was effective on Bloomberg, after a while it got wearing. She's a deeply unpleasant personality and she still doesn't have the proper responses when others challenge her on substance. As an insult comic, she's got potential, though.
• Biden was better, but he's still a bit befuddled. He wasn't a good candidate in 1988 and 32 years on, he's worse. Bob Dole without the gravitas.
• If the trendline continues, Bernie is gonna win. He's a loon, but he has strong support from his droogs and that is likely to make the difference. No one really laid a glove on him last night.
• Buttigieg let his Eddie Haskell mask drop too many times last night. His repeated exchanges with Our Amy were sulfuric. He's the A student suckup we all hated growing up and I suspect he's already hit his high water mark for this cycle. His future as Harold Stassen beckons, although I did appreciate the Walter Mondale diss.
• Our Amy let her Karen mask drop too many times last night. She let Buttigieg get under her nerves at least twice and resorted to whiny woe-is-me responses. I don't see a way forward.

In short, Bernie has to be the favorite. Bloomberg can continue to suck up all the oxygen from the other candidates and keep them off the air, but he's never going to win the hearts and minds of the Dem base. The more interesting question is whether he'll be willing to subsidize the campaigns of the people who kicked him in the balls last night. 

Blago gets outta jail

I'm not sure why the Bad Orange Man commuted the sentence of Rod Blagojevich, the corrupt (is there any other kind?) former Illinois governor who essentially put Barack Obama's senate seat up for auction back in the day, but here you go:

After more than one false alarm raised and dashed the hopes of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, President Donald Trump finally answered his pleas and commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year prison term Tuesday, springing the Chicago Democrat from prison more than four years early and writing a stunning new chapter to one of the state’s most notorious corruption cases.

Personally, I wouldn't have done it, but my assumption is Trump is simply showing his ass to the various grandees who put Blago away, especially Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. Attorney who took the lead in the case. The linked article from the Chicago Tribune suggests as much:

Also issuing a statement were the attorneys who made up the team of prosecutors who handled the Blagojevich trials in U.S. District Court in Chicago. That group included former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, and his former assistants Reid Schar, Chris Niewoehner and Carrie Hamilton, who is now a judge, who pointed out that both the appellate and Supreme Courts affirmed the conviction and sentence.

“The appellate court described the evidence against him as ‘overwhelming,’” the statement read in part. “Extortion by a public official is a very serious crime, routinely prosecuted throughout the United States whenever, as here, it can be detected and proven. That has to be the case in America: a justice system must hold public officials accountable for corruption. It would be unfair to their victims and the public to do otherwise.”

Emphasis mine. That's right. Now do Andrew McCabe and Hillary Clinton. Trump has hinted as much:

In August, of Blagojevich, Trump said, “And a lot of people thought it was unfair, like a lot of other things — and it was the same gang, the Comey gang and all these sleazebags that did it.”

The president was referring to former FBI Director James Comey, a frequent Trump target who he contends sought to politicize the nation’s top law enforcement agency in the 2016 election in which Trump faced Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. After taking office, the president fired Comey amid the investigation into Russia’s interference in the election and whether the Trump campaign was involved.

Again, I wouldn't have made the same decision. But Trump does everything for a reason. And my guess is the reason will become more clear in time.

No kidding

The struggle is real

President Otto West

AG Barr had to remind the POTUS that, sometimes, it's easier to get things done without the accompaniment of tweets:

Barr said “the president has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case.” However, he argued that having public statements and tweets made about the department, pending cases and its prosecutors “make it impossible to do my job and to assure the courts and the prosecutors in the department that we are doing our work with integrity.”

In a statement following Barr’s interview, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said that Trump “wasn’t bothered by the comments at all and he has the right, just like any American citizen, to publicly offer his opinions.”

“President Trump uses social media very effectively to fight for the American people against injustices in our country, including the fake news. The President has full faith and confidence in Attorney General Barr to do his job and uphold the law,” Grisham said. 

Yeah, I'm sure Barr's job would be easier without the tweets, but you have to know going in that's how Trump operates. Barr is essentially saying this:

I was dealing with something delicate. I'm setting up a guy who's important to us, who'll tell me where the loot is and if you'll be arrested, and you come loping in like Rambo without a jock strap and you dangle him out a fifth-floor window! Now, was that smart? Was it shrewd? Was it good tactics? Or was it stupid?

You make the call. Thankfully, Barr doesn't dress like Jamie Lee Curtis.

il miglior fabbro

Matt Taibbi, writing for Rolling Stone, tells the Dems what they need to understand, but don't want to hear:

Yesterday’s really gone.

In 1993, liberal America sang along at the Bill Clinton inaugural ball with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks (and Michael Jackson, whoops). “Don’t Stop” was “Ding, dong, the witch is dead!” for the smart set. The New Democrats ushered in a new reign for youth and modernity against Reagan-Bush reaction.

That’s done. After a vote in Iowa that reeked of third-world treachery — from monolithic TV propaganda against the challenger to rumors of foreign intrusion to, finally, a “botched” vote count that felt as legitimate as a Supreme Soviet election — the Democrats have become the reactionaries they once replaced.

Coinciding with the flatulent end of the party’s impeachment gambit, and the related news that Donald Trump is enjoying climbing approval ratings, the Blue Party was exposed as an incompetent lobby for doomed elites, dumb crooks with nothing left to offer but their exit.

Much, much more at the link. Taibbi is no friend of conservatives, but when he's correct, he's correct.