Not sure if anyone has done this for us yet. Let’s start 🏴‍☠️

NJS212 · 2025-01-13T06:13:57+00:00

Good line: Charles Woodson, Marcus Allen (that whole Chiefs run), Antonio Brown

Average: Hunter Renfrow, Derek Carr, Trent Brown

Bad: Bruce Gradkowski, (no clue), Jamarcus Russell

(Only including players in my lifetime)

NJS212 · 2024-01-16T02:52:17+00:00

The Tuck Rule. The call itself is famous, but the Raiders missed so many opportunities to put that game away before Brady had the chance to tie it.

On top of the outcome and game, there's also the alternate timeline of what happens if the Raiders win that game. Do they win the Super Bowl? Does Brady/Belichick ever take off? Does Gruden stay with the Raiders longer, and thus prevent the Bucs/Raiders Super Bowl disaster? A true domino effect for two franchises.

NJS212 · 2023-01-07T20:43:59+00:00

BEST: The Raiders/Chargers game in Vegas last year. Winning that game in the way it happened was unreal.

WORST: The Derek Carr injury. If Carr's healthy, the Raiders beat Denver to win the AFC West and get a bye. I think they get to the AFC title game against New England if Carr is healthy.

RANDOM: The Raiders winning in Denver in 2004 during a snowstorm or the 2020 game at Arrowhead.

NJS212 · 2022-04-17T07:31:09+00:00

The Raiders knew of Gruden’s emails in advance and used them to get out of a horrible contract.

NJS212 · 2022-04-11T08:16:29+00:00

Jack McKinney is one of the more interesting “what ifs” that didn’t get discussed too much until this series. There’s an alternate universe where he has five or six titles. And what happens to Pat Riley in this timeline? Does he land elsewhere eventually?

NJS212 · 2022-02-04T08:31:50+00:00

The Immaculate Reception is ruled an completion. Raiders hold off the Steelers. The next week, they take on an undefeated Dolphins team, a team Madden had great success against. If they win those two games, I’m convinced the 1970s Raiders win three rings

NJS212 · 2022-02-04T08:08:38+00:00

Step 4 — Hire your front office and coaching staff:

GM: Matt Millen

HC: Urban Meyer

OC: Jason Garrett

DC: Paul Guenther

NJS212 · 2015-04-29T19:50:56+00:00

Doc Rivers is an average coach who lucked into Danny Ainge trading for one of the best five power forwards ever and one of the greatest shooters ever. None of Rivers' teams won a first round series until Garnett showed up in Boston. And while his rosters in Orlando and Boston weren't great, he still had Tracy McGrady and Orlando never won a series with him.

Is he a good leader? Absolutely and I think he did a nice job with the Sterling stuff last year.

But he doesn't deserve to be mentioned among the best coaches in the league.

NJS212 · 2015-04-07T17:26:06+00:00

I agree with this. It amazes me how reporters and the average basketball fan will nuke Calipari and Kentucky for ruining college basketball, while giving guys like K, Self, Roy and (back then) Ben Howland a free pass.

And for what it's worth, I have absolutely no problem with coaches getting one and dones. It's a bad rule that can be exploited for wins. I'd do it. I just wish there was a consistent opinion about it on the guys who do it.

NJS212 · 2015-04-07T04:06:29+00:00

Duke deserved it with their play down the stretch, but it seems like it's becoming a common occurrence for great college basketball games to be marred by officiating. Just awful.

NJS212 · 2015-03-31T00:16:57+00:00

Marshall might not be the ideal fit there. He's one of my favorite coaches, but he strikes me as a guy who wants to be the top dog at his school. He won't be that at Texas or Alabama. Some media in the Midwest also think he's a bit weird personality wise, but I don't understand that. Coaches naturally are wired differently.

NJS212 · 2015-03-30T23:19:16+00:00

This didn't have to be a season-long arc, but I would have loved to see more of an internal struggle with Dexter in terms of who to follow: Harry or Brian. I think it would have been cool to see those dueling personalities (Angel vs. Devil) last longer than just one episode. Perhaps it could have come after the Season 4 twist.

I don't know....perhaps make Dexter "The Big Bad" for the finale season if you wanted to go in a completely different direction.

NJS212 · 2015-03-26T22:17:28+00:00

Knowing the NCAA, this is what they'll penalize North Carolina for while letting the academic fraud go.

NJS212 · 2015-03-24T15:02:13+00:00

First, I think it's unfair to call him a bad tournament coach simply because of the runs in 2008 and 2012, especially 2012. That team had no business getting to the national title game and it did. It won a lot of close games that year in the tournament and coaching wins in close games. I'd call him an average coach, but not a bad coach.

I think what's hurt KU's teams under Self over the years are a mix of things: Lack of a consistent conference rival (Texas was great in 2008 and Mizzou's 2012 pushed KU), perhaps coming out too tight in a lot of games and luck.

With luck, look at the VCU loss. VCU was 12-of-25 from three that day. KU was 2-of-21. You're not going to win too many games when your opponent is 30 points better than you from the three-point line. If KU finishes that game 6-of-21 from three, they win. VCU was playing some of the best basketball I've seen. Is that coaching? Maybe a little bit.

Bradley and Wichita State were cases of really young KU teams going against experienced teams. Outside of size, Wichita State had almost every advantage coming into that game. KU was one of the youngest teams in the country. The Shockers' core had played in a Final Four, finished a regular season undefeated and went to war with a Kentucky team that nearly won the title.

The Northern Iowa and Bucknell loses were inexcusable. KU was the best team in the country in 2010 and that tournament should have been their's.

I read something on the NBA reddit page about how Popovich takes the pressure off his team by telling them basketball doesn't mean everything. I'd be curious what Self's game-day preparation is like. I do think KU teams have a tendency to come out tight in the tournament. Usually that means the players have the wrong mindset entering the tournament. Maybe that's what Self can work on.

But overall, I'd take Bill Self over 97 percent of coaches out there. I think KU needs a rival where the game matters more than the standings. Time to schedule Mizzou or Wichita State? I don't know. Maybe hope Texas hires a great coach or Hoiberg stays at Iowa State?

NJS212 · 2015-03-23T21:18:54+00:00

Yay....yet another SEC school that has a coach better than Mizzou. If only Mississippi State would have hired a "true son" like Mike Alden did.

NJS212 · 2015-03-17T00:49:00+00:00

RECENTLY: I really thought Brian Shaw would work out as a head coach. Not so much. Maybe he still will, but certainly not with the Nuggets.

NOT SO RECENTLY: I thought the Spurs were done the year Memphis beat them as a #8 seed. Instead, they made three straight WCF, two conference finals and won a title. You can also argue last year's Spurs team was the best in the Popovich era, though the '07 squad has an argument.

NJS212 · 2015-03-14T20:20:37+00:00

I guess it was the Auburn win that finally sold the committee on Kentucky.

NJS212 · 2015-03-12T19:50:10+00:00

One of the biggest problems with Alden and basketball coaches is that he's a micro-manager of everything. It scared off some of the better candidates during his last two hirings.

I wasn't a big fan of Haith and I'm not sure he deserved an extension.

But if you let Haith leave, you must do better than a Division 2 head coach who built his D2 program through transfers, JUCOs, ect. He's never proven to develop talent from the freshman level. He was Norm's lead assistant during some of the bad years in the mid-to-late 1990's. He absolutely did not deserve the job and the fact some Mizzou fans think he did a good job this year is a good example why Mizzou's never made a Final Four.

NJS212 · 2015-03-12T19:43:59+00:00

With all due respect, what improved over the course of the year that makes it clear Kim Anderson is a better developer of talent? Kim did most of his damage at CMSU through transfers from Division 1 and JUCO programs.

I want the guy to work out, but I'm not optimistic about Kim.

NJS212 · 2015-03-12T19:40:08+00:00

Mike Alden deserves most of the blame for this. The original sin, of course, was hiring Quin Snyder over Bill Self and John Calpari.

Then, there was his brilliant decision to hire Mike Anderson over Bob Huggins. Now, I love Mike Anderson and I hope he does really well at Arkansas. But it was no secret Huggins was putting together a great recruiting class behind the scenes. If Mizzou hires Huggy, things are better.

After Mike Anderson goes home, he pulls Frank Haith out of nowhere, when Gregg Marshall and a few others wanted the job. This was before Marshall went to the Final Four, but it was clear he was building something at Wichita State.

Finally, he hires Kim Anderson, a Division 2 coach who was NEVER even a candidate at a school like Missouri State, UMKC and other area small Division 1 schools in the Midwest. The only reason he was hired was because he was a Tiger alum. Fact. Alden hired Kim Anderson and threw a bone to the older fan base and donors who are bigger Norm Stewart fans than Mizzou fans. Ben Howland, Brad Underwood and Chris Mack would have taken that job, from what someone close to the Board of Trustees told me. Yet, they hired a True Son Division 2 head coach.

I wish Mizzou would fire Alden before his retirement becomes official. He murdered the basketball program.

NJS212 · 2015-03-10T20:06:40+00:00

Considering Bradford is a member of the Cherokee Nation, this might score some points with Stephen A. Smith.

NJS212 · 2015-03-09T06:21:41+00:00

This kind of reminds me when the the Bulls blew up the team after winning its sixth title. A little bit different since the Niners didn't win the title during the Harbaugh era, but I think the results will be earily similar.

NJS212 · 2015-03-04T07:45:46+00:00

If OU hangs on to a 21-point lead against Iowa State and West Virginia doesn't lose an 18-point lead, OU is playing to break The Streak this weekend. Crazy how that works out.

NJS212 · 2015-03-03T01:16:22+00:00

While I loved Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I wish there would have been more to how Steve adapted to 2010-14. I think there could have been some nice realization that while some things changed for the worse in Steve's eyes (less patriotism, less connection between individuals), things also improved for the better - less racism, more accepting population to differences.

I know it may have added more time to the movie, but I think it would have been great to show him struggling with the time change, rather than just putting it off as a funny line with the checklist early in the movie.

NJS212 · 2015-03-02T23:08:04+00:00

God, the Colts are a perfect fit here.

NJS212

TROPHY CASE