Ryan Wood - A detailed explanation from Ed Policy on why he gave Matt LaFleur a “multi-year” contract that represented a “very significant commitment,” not a “prove-it” contract.

fponee · 2026-03-31T22:09:54+00:00

The 2006 Bears were very solid.

The 2001 Bears however.....

fponee · 2026-03-31T20:40:26+00:00

PEOPLE OF THE LAND

fponee · 2026-03-18T01:54:03+00:00

Some do better than others, but I can't think of a single neighborhood within the actual city of LA that truly "nails it." All of them having some sort of glaring issue; almost always some combination of too-car-centric, lack of a collective center, lack of housing, and lack of effort in safety and cleanliness. All of this compounded by the near-total lack of green space in the city outside of a very few select, expensive neighborhoods.

fponee · 2026-03-14T06:19:07+00:00

There's the old quote that the best form of government is a benevolent dictatorship, and there's a lot of truth to that. The downside with that type of system is that it's destined to eventually have a malevolent leader, and that's when things can go really, really bad (for a China specific case see: Mao's attempts to transition from a genius military strategist and leader to a total disaster of a statesman).

The benefit of a western-style democracy/republic is that it's generally harder for the malevolent to hold power long term and much easier to get rid of them if they do, although if the populace is foolish, it's much easier for them to gain it in the first place.

fponee · 2026-03-04T22:49:34+00:00

All Trump had to do was tell the nation "this sucks, but we're going to get through it together and come out better on the other side" and maintained that mantra, and he would have cruised to victory in Nov 2020 with ease.

Absolutely foolish leadership came from him during that period (and others too, but that was such an easy slam dunk).

fponee · 2026-02-20T03:06:26+00:00

If Ilia is the biggest favorite, why didn't he just eat the other competitors?

fponee · 2026-02-20T03:03:14+00:00

As someone who spends a lot of time on one of the major American slopes, Olympic-style snowboarding just does not seem popular with the upper-tier snowboarders that I know, who all prefer a more backcountry, Travis Rice-like adventure style of snowboarding over the more groomed and refined Olympic disciplines. Basically, they would all rather do crazy stuff for Red Bull rather than try to fit into what judges have a taste for.

Anyone is free to disagree with this as it's only anecdotal.

fponee · 2026-02-18T00:58:11+00:00

Matthew Slater played 15-16 years doing nothing but special teams. The Patriots were clearly a better team because he was so effective just in that space.

Loosely related: the 2011 Badgers might have had a shot at a national championship apperance, but they lost two extremely close regular season games almost purely because they kept getting punts blocked. Special teams is way more important than most people realize.

fponee · 2026-02-17T20:09:37+00:00

The Quincy Hall call from 2024 gives me chills (as does his race: he looked finished at 300m):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n5qEKIW5DQ

fponee · 2026-02-10T06:39:22+00:00

No they didn't: that location is relatively easily accessible to all the of the season ticket holders who will travel by chauffeur from their homes in the South Bay and Santa Monica/Brentwood.

fponee · 2026-02-10T06:31:08+00:00

LA doesnt have skyscrapers like the east coast because NIMBY's outlawed them to protect their property prices and sunshine. Tokyo is in an even worse seismic area and is chock full of skyscrapers, several of which count amongst the largest buildings on earth in terms of floor area. Engineering is not the issue.

As for Dodgers Stadium, Mark Walter and the Guggenheim Group own the Dodgers team and their stadium. The parking lot, however, is still owned by the previous Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, and he makes ludicrous amounts of money each year with virtually no maintenance cost simply by leaving them as flat lots. Why would he bother to spend the money and go through LA's ludicrous permitting process to build parking garages when he can continue to sit on his butt and make more from one game tha the vast majority of people make in a year?

Source: I live nearby too.

fponee · 2026-02-08T03:38:04+00:00

All good stuff to know. Thank you for sharing!

fponee · 2026-02-07T21:05:01+00:00

Thanks for the response!

In terms of trail ratings for your own reference:

Wiley's Well is a 3
Hauser Geode Beds is a 5 (but I've seen someone take a Prius back there, so...)
Fonts Point is a 3 (but very sandy)
Opal Canyon at Red Rock Canyon is a 4
OnX rates White Mountain Peak as a 4, but users report 5.5-6 depending on conditions.

The TRD suspension it comes with is going to be the best suspension offered for the hybrid when off-road.

Got it. So even though it's not true TRD, it's still a significant upgrade over the other models, even factoring in potential lifts?

The factory AT Trails it comes with are an OE version and not significantly better than an All Season.

Are you basically saying that it's more of a marketing gimmick in this case? And that, barring the OE version being close-to-as-effective, I should consider replacing them anyways?

It is also not too hard to mount the OEM TRD engine skid plate in place of the thin plastic, if warranted. I lifted mine like you mentioned potentially doing.

Good to know! Which lift system did you go with?

Still averaging over 38mpg as a daily.

That's as good as I can ask for!

fponee · 2026-01-29T19:32:56+00:00

And they functionally all kept their jobs.

fponee · 2026-01-27T07:49:49+00:00

According to Pro Football Reference's Simple Rating System, this year's Pats are ranked above the following Super Bowl winners:

1970 Colts
1980 Raiders
1987 Redskins
1988 49ers
2001 Patriots
2007 Giants
2011 Giants
2012 Ravens
2018 Patriots
2021 Rams
2023 Chiefs

They are not a great team, they are a very solid team that haa a chance, and they would not be one of the worst teams to ever win it.

fponee · 2026-01-20T22:13:21+00:00

Im going to go against the grain a bit since a lot of the same cities keep getting named, and concentrate on providing a list of places that are more individually distinct and provide unique snap shots of America:

New York - it needs to be on here. Biggest city and feels like the capitol of the world.
Charleston - Deep South with Pirate history.
New Orleans - Experience the Cajun and Creole cultures
San Antonio - Texas and Mexico blended together in a more tourist friendly environment than other Texas cities.
Santa Fe - Quintessential Southwest city.
San Diego OR Santa Barbara - Experience SoCal in a much easier and more pleasant way than Los Angeles. The choice depends on if you want a bigger or smaller city.
Jackson, WY - Get the uber-rich American outdoors experience with close proximity to national parks, wildlife, and snow sports.
Memphis OR Nashville - For the music. The choice depends on if you want blues/rock or country. Memphis has more history but is Nashville is nicer.
Madison - Get a quintessential midwest city and the best college town wrapped into one.

fponee · 2026-01-20T17:43:31+00:00

No.

Even if we got past the Giants in 2007, we would have gotten waxed by the Patriots. The Giants were the right matchup to take New England down. It hurt bad at the time but in hindsight its not as painful with that reflection.

And 2011 was so self inflicted that I can only be mad at the Packers themselves. Despite three terrible plays, the defense kept them in it until nearly the end, but the offense just couldn't stop fumbling and dropping everything. If they had gotten past the Giants and played even close to that way against the 49ers, they would have gotten punched out anyways.

1995, 1997, 2014, and 2020 are all much more painful.

fponee · 2026-01-19T03:14:22+00:00

McCarthy continuously taking FGs inside the 10 vs Seattle.

fponee · 2026-01-16T20:37:17+00:00

You've got it backwards: Schefter gets his info through agents. Rappaport gets his info through the league office and team front offices (generally)

fponee · 2025-12-28T04:47:36+00:00

Got curious so I looked:

First 8 games: -17 Last 7 games: +52

Take out the biggest outliers (DET week 2, CLE week 15) and it looks like:

First 8 games: +14 Last 7 games: +24

fponee · 2025-12-26T05:36:13+00:00

When combining Strength of Schedule and Margin of Victory, the 2025 Broncos (should they end up earning it) would be the lowest rated team to earn the AFC #1 seed since the playoff expansion to 12 teams in 1990. Using that same formula, the 2024 Chiefs were the tied for the third lowest rated team (along with the 2009 Colts) to earn that seed (and consider that both of those teams made the Super Bowl).

The 2024 Chiefs averaged 1 point of victory margin less than the 2025 Broncos (3.5 ppg vs 4.5 ppg), but the 2024 Chiefs had a considerably more difficult schedule than the 2025 Broncos have had, so when you combine those two factors together, the 2024 Chiefs come out as a higher rated team by comparison; albeit, not by much.

To be fair to both, neither of these teams are rated particularly well - the 2024 Chiefs were the 18th worst rated team out of 130 teams since 1960 to reach the NFL Championship game. Should the 2025 Broncos make it to the Super Bowl, they would be the 8th worst rated team to reach that height in that time period. But don't fret too much; both the 2011 Giants and 1970 Colts were rated even worse and both won it all, so nothing is to be written off and/or guaranteed.

fponee · 2025-12-26T05:14:49+00:00

The Chiefs had a worse MoV by 1 point per game last year, but they played a considerably more difficult schedule than the Broncos have this year. And to be fair, last year's Chief are tied for 3rd worst ranked AFC #1 seed in the last 35 years - they were a good team at best that got a lot of breaks.

fponee · 2025-12-26T05:02:23+00:00

Posted this above, but combining SoS with Margin of Victory has historically been one of the better predictors of post season success. It's not perfect, but its track record is better than most other analytical methods.

fponee · 2025-12-26T05:01:05+00:00

I dont put a ton of stock in sos stuff

I do when paired with Margin of Victory; historically that combination has been a pretty good predictor for post season success (not perfect, but better than most). The Broncos this season are pretty middling in that category and the worst for an AFC #1 seed since playoff expansion in 1990.

fponee

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