NFL 2026: Week 9 Power Rankings & The Rest

Tier I - The "Man, the AFC Bad is Really Bad" Quadro

32.) Los Angeles Chargers  =  0-7  (99-175)

31.) Miami Dolphins  =  1-6  (117-181)

30.) Indianapolis Colts  =  2-6  (161-222)

29.) Tennessee Titans  =  1-7  (144-199)

It's funny that the AFC is so stratfied. To be honest, the entire league is - there are a lot of 1/2/3 loss teams, and a bunch of 1/2 win teams. Not too much in between. Anyway, the Chargers are now even by point differential one of the worst teams in the league. We are way beyodn the point of assuming this is just a funk. This is a clean house, including maybe your broken QB, type of year. The Dolphins tried hard, the offense is finally getting some rhythm but that game just showed the lack of talent. The Colts are trying to be as simialrly untalented at this point - I can't believe they aren't benching Jones at this point. For the Titans, nice performance and a great sign for Cam Ward to have a few good games in a row, but the defense is broken when Amani Hooker is not intercepting passes.

Tier II - The "It's Starting to go South" Trio

28.) Philadelphia Eagles  =  2-6  (137-202)  

27.) New Orleans Saints  =  2-5  (162-194)

26.) New York Jets  =  2-6  (170-188)

The Eagles are broken. McKee is not useless and I do think as they get some of the missing talent back they can steal a few games, but also I do wonder if they just axe Sirianni at some point before the season ends, because otherwise not sure what the point of keeping him aroudn to maybe get them back on track without Hurst is? For the Saints and Jets, decent starts to the season have become fully undone at this point. The Jets defense has started to collapse which is really troubling since that was the one area that Glenn could point to. The Saints hopefully rested up a bit on their bye, and technically they got a bit closer to first place (just a game back) but I do think there is a separator between them and their other three NFC East compatriots.

Tier III - The "Another Lost Year....?" Uno

25.) Baltimore Ravens  =  4-4  (179-203)

It's funny that they replaced Harbaugh and nothing really changed - teh defense is iffy and playing below the sum of their parts. The offense looks amazing when Lamar is in there, but he just isn't in there enough. Now he is missing at least four games and honestly, probably the season. If anything, hopefulyl this forces a bit more change in terms of the players. Something has to change, more than just Lamar staying healthy. This ranking is a reflection of where this team is assuming Lamar doesn't come back. However, even if he was there, not sure how much higher I would have them.

Tier IV - The "Somewhat Spoilers" Trio

24.) Washington Commanders  =  2-4-1  (159-192)

23.) Arizona Cardinals  =  3-5  (175-238)
22.) Cleveland Browns  =  5-3  (139-173)

21.) Las Vegas Raiders  =  4-4  (221-230)

The Commanders needed to show out and just easily handle that Eagles team, and while the Eagles hung aroudn for a bit, the Commanders ability to put them away was impressive - at least in teh sense of this team being potentially lively in teh second half of the season. For teh Cardinals, great win and a nice Minshew performance, but let's be real he is no different than Brissett long term. The more exciting piece is how much better that offense looks without MHJ. For teh Browns, rough loss but not a shocking one. They were way over their heads at 5-2 against a soft schedule. The softness is largely over, but the defense is good enough to keep them in games. For the Raiders, nice showing by Kirk to push off any benching push, but that defense is still worrying in its inability to cover. Offense is good enough to hang around .500 for much of the year.

Tier V - The "Don't Know What To Do With You" Quadro

20.) Houston Texans  =  2-5  (165-170)

19.) Atlanta Falcons  =  3-5  (171-189)

18.) Dallas Cowboys  =  3-5  (219-213)

17.) New York Giants  =  4-2-1  (163-161)

There's a good chance this group includes one playoff team, and a decent chance it has two (Falcons). Hell, I wouldn't still be shocked if teh Texans close 8-2 and go 10-7 or something. Or they could all go to hell. The Texans hopefully figured some stuff out during their bye on why their defense has fallen off so much outside of Will Anderson. Similarly for the Giants, so curious to see how much of this JJ McCarthy renaissance is true (and him just leaving Minnesota), or how much was mirage. For the two in the middle - both had just dreadful losses. If anything, the Falcons is easy to just throw out and move on - the rain, the ridiculousness of the picsk. Granted, maybe stop the run... For the Cowboys, that was just a disaster and it seems this is basically no better than last years team. The only reason I have any faith in ranking them as high as I have is the NFC East is still winnable (2.5 games behind is tough though...).

Tier VI - The "Mess of the NFC South" Duo

16.) Carolina Panthers  =  3-4  (178-193)
15.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers  =  3-5  (178-151)

I guess these are still the two favorites in teh NFC South. What I'm looking for is that do we get a second straight sub-.500 division winner from the South. The Bucs probably have more upward momentum - for a team two games under .500, them having a +27 point differential is a good sign, and Mayfield has barely completed passes. Could be a cause for concern, I guess. The Panthers looked a bit overmatched in Green Bay, but the offense has a nice ryhthm overall. The DC firing was a bit odd though given how banged up they've been, especially at cornerback which used to be a strength.

Tier VII - The "Less of a Mess of the AFC North" Duo

14.) Cincinnati Bengals  =  5-2  (206-158)
13.) Pittsburgh Steelers   =  6-2  (180-144)

It's been a while since we had a Bengal v Steelers NFC North race. We had a few back in teh day - 2005, 2014, 2015, but not for a while. It was a fun rivalry - not Ravens v Steelers good, but not too far off at its peak. Anyway, both of these two are just generally quite good. This is the other problem of the league - too many teams that look genearlly good to very good right now. The Bengals defense is worrisome, and it would be nice for the Bengals offense not to take a half to wake up each game, but man when Burrow and Chase & Higgins are going they are awesome. For teh Steelers, the defense remains strong, the run game remains consistent and Rodgers is limiting mistakes (other than some bad bounce interceptions). They are generally just quite good.

Tier VIII - The "How Good Are They?" Trio

12.) Los Angeles Rams  =  4-4  (194-168)
11.) New England Patriots  =  5-3  (184-162)
10.) Green Bay Packers  =  5-3  (171-164)

It's hard to rank these three, and to be honest you could easily argue to me the prior two taems (Bengals, Steelers) are better than these three. Certainly they have better recorrds and point differentials. Actually, I probably messed up. Anyway, all three teams played weaker opponents and won without too much stress. The Patriots took a half to wake up but were a bit unlucky in teh first half and dominated the second. The Rams a bit the same but the offense had its best game in a while. The Packers defense was stellar and looks upwardly mobile if Parsons does come back. It is troubling they have a tough time scoring more than 27 points in any given game.

Tier IX - The "How Good is a Defense" Trio

9.) Seattle Seahawks  =  4-4  (185-159)

8.) Denver Broncos  =  6-2  (172-165)

7.) Minnesota Vikings  =  6-1  (140-93)

The Seahawks still seem so good down to down often, but if anything their offense was more worrisome than Caleb throwing a few lazers against the defense. The OL was rough and Darnold was awful against pressure most of the game. I still think they are a quite good team, but 4-4 in the NFC is rough given who tehy are up against for Wild Card spots. The Broncos defense hasn't been consistently amazing, but at its best it has been tremendous up front. They won that game with their pass rush late, and of course the ongoign drama of a Bo Nix offense being amazing in close games. Nix has thrown deep a bit more these last two weeks, so there is hope for teh future in that offense. For the Vikings, it was bound to happen. The defense remains strong, they were able to win most of their matchups against that offense. I do wonder if KOC feels any pressure to try Wentz again, or if there is a push to make a trade. At some point you have to try something, no? Kyler Murray is just not good enough and its wasting what still is on pace one of the best defenses of the decade.

Tier X - The "Panic of the Week" Uno

6.) Kansas City Chiefs  =  5-2  (167-131)

I think people are being a bit too extremem on the Chiefs. Back to Back at Seattle and at Denver is tough. Yes, you wish they go 1-1, but if not for a confluence of things in this game (including that very iffy false start) they do anyway. The offense looked way better with Rashee Rice back - and yes I still do wish they went out and got someone. Their inability to run a QB sneak, or even get a TE to run them, is a problem.

5.) Detroit Lions  =  5-2  (203-180)

4.) Buffalo Bills  =  6-1  (233-181)
3.) Chicago Bears  =  6-2  (214-160)

The Lions defense is really coming together (and quick prayer for Jack Campbell). The secondary looks good. The offense remains strong, including their more varied use of Jameson Williams this year. I may be a bit too high on them, but I can see them ahving an even stronger second half of the season, at least in overall play, than teh first. For teh Bills, a bit of a similar story, though of course it is impossible to take much from that game. The offense looked fine but also gets way too cute. They run tue Allen version of the tush push all the time, but then didn't in obvious situations a lot. In this season, their dominant offense may be good enough to paper over the defense. Beating the Seahawks in Seattle in prime time is one of the toughest accomplishments in the NFL. Doing it rather easily is even more impressive. Caleb and the offense once again looked excellent, but to me the revelation is the defense, and more than even the apss rush with Simmons, was the linebackers and speed of the defense overall. This is a complete team, and with Caleb back, a great team.

2.) Jacksonville Jaguars  =  5-2  (196-111)
1.) San Francisco 49ers  =  6-1  (197-139)

The Jags did what they should do - anhillate a team that is basically trying at this point. There was never a second where they didn't look like the dominant team. Lawrence and the offense were playing in half speed. The Texans loss remains a bit of a mystery, but to be honest the Jaguars have been the most dominant team down to down of any this year. Clean up the penalties, and this is to me the best team overall. I kept the 49ers #1 because it is hard not to when I had them there before their bye. I do hope they can get a few guys healthier, because at their best they have been excellent. Really nice top two teams - even if yes I wouldn't classify either as dominant. Then again, the 196-111 point differential after seven games is pretty damn good....

Looking Ahead to Next Week's Games

10 Favorite Things from You Can See Everything, Pt. 2: The Dinner

5.) Pamela Handerson

It is funny that the scene started with a bit of nice comedy combined with I guess Billy wanting to show how great a husband he is that he hasn't I guess cheated on his wife, but instead that he masturbates a lot. I did find the Pamela Handerson line well - I'm sure that was a common refrain back in her prime. Also loved that Amanda got it immediately, especially after seeming fairly saddened by Billy saying it was Day 899 without sex. Again, these small moments do paint Billy in a good light (assuming he is telling the truth of course). 

4.) Billy kind of threatening to Kill Them

With all of the other craziness (still to come) I feel like the fact taht Billy alluded to having some special skills, or at least knowing people who do, who could basically end (kill) Amanda and Nathan got too little air time/ Like maybe it was all bluster and bullshit (it probably was) but also just a wild set of sentences for Billy to air in public. Granted, this was when he was fully ranting at Amanda and of course the various drinks they were having seemed to help. Nathan kind of picked up on it with a wry "what do you mean" type response. Just a great final bit of escalation to cap the scene.

3.) Power of Attorney

2.) I Know She Wants Me To

1.) The Charlie Kirk back and forth

The 10 Favorite Things from You Can See Everything

10.) Elizabeth's Dad Hating Billy

It was a fairly small moment, but I think such an interesting one in retrospect. Billy by this point was already pretty clearly a weirdo and controlling, but the fear/trembling of Elizabeth's Dad in front Billy was so interesting to watch. So was the Dad's bluntness about a lot of it - him pegging Liz's issues at starting out from her being raped (somethign I don't know if I knew), and of course the strange parallels to Billy being controlling and what we know of Sunny Balwani (or at least what Liz wants us to know). I do wish we got a bit more time with teh Dad, or the parents as a whole. There was more to mine there.

9.) The Eggs Scene

Similarly the scene of teh eggs, and Billy taking it over - ostensibly to let Liz focus on answering teh questions fully, but also because he is controlling and seems himself as someone who can whisk eggs better. This was as a revealing scene as any in the entire picture - mainly because of Elizabeth's reaction. Her trying to make Billy look better in that scene is a keen move, something far more observant and normal of Elizabeth than the simple dunce who was taken advantage of that she likes to portray. Put me in the camp squarely that all of this is a ruse by Elizabeth - that she is in on everything, and this small moment shows a bit of that. She knows how things are being perceived, and this little moments of taht reality escaping the fake facade are so interesting to watch.

8.) The Ongoing Weirdness of Why This is Happening

So, after doing some research, it seems clear that this was just one of the great coincidences of all time, in that Nathan Fielder believed Elizabeth Holmes to be an interesting subject to explore at teh same time Elizabeth and Billy were looking to shop their story. Still, it is just so bizarre that (a) they would allow Nathan to do this without seemingly doing a ton of research on who Nathan is (in that he will go deep, deep, deep into things), and maybe more importantly (b) how much access they would give him in those days leading up to her incarceration. From having him be there in taht backyard scene the day of (where he lovably suggests that he should excuse himself so they can have sex for the last time), to their awkward scene before she gets into the van. Add to that the weirdness around why no one else that was around Elizabeth in those days (e.g. news cameras at the prison) chose to ask the question to the world of "why is Nathan Fielder here?" Anyawy, just crazy any of this happened in teh first place.

7.) Elizabeth's Staring Contests

Obviously, Nathan is the king of awkward scenes. That was a good 30% of the fun of Nathan For You, and an even higher percentage of the fun of The Rehearsal. It is nearly impossible to get him to break and to admit teh awkwardness. Well, truly he met his match in Elizabeth (and to some degree, in Billy as well). It is insane how long she can keep those bug-eyes focused without blinking, with that wry smile on her fa Jzce, with those red cheeks. That view will haunt my dreams. Elizabeth was a striking, notable presence in teh old turtleneck, Steve Jobs cos-play days, and even more so now. Those moments were awkward, but that is the point - try to read behind what that stare, that glare, that vapid focus means. You can see it, but can you really?

6.) Seeing Amanda Seyfried

Look, I was spoiled on Seyfried being in the movie. I am also a huge, huge fan of The Dropout - naming it my #2 show of 2022. It was a phenomenon, and damn was it good to see her play that character again, but also so amazingly weird and captivating to watch her watch Elizabeth watch her perform the original character. There has been a lot of online hand-wringing of Seyfried trying to come to terms if she did anything wrong - and I found that fascinating but also more humanizing than revealing any actual issue with Seyfried's 2022 performance. The last bit I would love to know is all the moments in teh film where Seyfried is not acting as Holmes, was she acting in any capacity (e.g. some scripted lines or ideas) or was that all natural. I would love to think Seyfried is that inquisitive, cool and real in real life - she was honestly to me the star of the whole thing (other than Billy, in a very different way). 

5.) The Weird Crypto Billboard Guy

The side story of Holmes Billboards showing up in major cities using the photo that she proclaims she hates of herself, was a small bit to show again how weird, controlling and hollow Billy was - and certainly it did all of that. But damn couldn't we have gotten more backstory into the grifter crypto-scammer guy who seems to be putting on dramatic re-enactments in strip clubs (or as Billy would call it "a club that has strippers"). This whole thing was right out of Tiger King (in teh best way), or the weirdest elements of Nathan's past work. Some shine was given to it but man I wanted more of an expose on what the hell all of that was about.

4.) Who's On First

First off, something I hate to admit, but I had never seen the actual clip of Who's On First before that - so that itself was thrilling. I knew the routine and the joke (certainly more than Elizabeth...) but never the actual clip. Secondly, I do think that him watching the clip was the closest we would come to seeing a real Nathan in the movie (that or his "no you don't" reaction to Billy). But in the end, the whole thing was brilliant. If you are on the side of Elizabeth being someone on teh spectrum and someone who was largely taken advantage of, man did her realizing the clip is funny but not being able to explain the joke made your day. That said, if you live on earth and realize she is fraud upon frauds, you realize this is someone who in the span of a couple seconds realized she needed to pretend not to know what makes it funny. Watching the actaul scene - we see her laugh, we see her get it (same with Nathan). That little dichotomy arguably was the most interesting moment of the whole thing.

3.) The First Re-Enactment

This was the one with Nathan, Lance and the A24 execs (I assume actors?) going to the house Billy and Liz were staying in, where Liz reads her awful memoir, and Billy then hustles them for a cut of the profits. The scene itself is great in that it uncovers such a key element of the whole second half of the doc ("Did Liz know about the deal?") but also because the re-enactment took teeh best part of Nathan's famed re-enactments in The Rehearsal. The best being the actor who played Billy looking and somewhat acting nothing like him, but still so striking. Same with the kids, same with the nervous laughs of the execs. That whole scene was just so well done in a perfect Nathan Fielder way, taking the whole idea of a re-enactment and highlighting everything ridiculous about the idea itself. Also, damn if Seyfried doesn't so easily slip back into that role.

2.) Billy and Liz Being Good Parents

This is not a novel thought, but seems to be one of the few areas of consensus that are positive for our friends Billy and Liz - that they seem to be really good parents, adn if anything further very supportive of each other. Yes, they are both likely psycopaths and much more, but they support each other, and they support the kids. Yes, it was a bit heartbreaking to see these two very young children have to say goodbye to their Mom to go to prison, but let's remember the fact the kids were in teh documentary had to be explicitly agreed by Billy and Liz, and secondly while of course the nightly routine of chatting with Mommy in prison is not normal, that is their normal. Billy also seems like a really committed parent, effectively largely single parenting for 11 years. At the end of the day, Liz can be a monster who defrauded the world, and Billy can be as complicit as seemingly wanted to start Theranos 2.0 with as little idea of what the hell he is building as Liz did the first time, but behind all of that is this weird family unit taht works quite well together.

1.) The Dinner Scene with Billy

I could honestly write a whole 5-10 part piece on just this scene, wich may be the greatest piece of filmed content in years. In fact, let's do that.... off we go to Part 2, the deep dive on the Dinner Scene.

NFL 2026: Week 8 Power Rankings & The Rest

Tier I - The "Where Did It All Go Wrong" Uno

32.) Los Angeles Chargers  =  0-6  (90-151)

While they were on the bye they now become the sole winless team, and with underlying numbers more or less as bad as the Titans or Dolphins also. The clock is ticking on Harbaugh and probably well past that point for McDaniel. Most interesting thing for me to watch is if there is any reality to the idea they could explore a Herbert trade. I doubt it, but something that could definitely be on the table in the offseason.

Tier II - The "League Doormats" Quadro

31.) Tennessee Titans  =  1-6  (108-156)
30.) Miami Dolphins  =  1-5  (98-157)
29.) Arizona Cardinals  =  2-5  (142-208)

28.) Indianapolis Colts  =  2-5  (154-280)

They all have wins; heck, some have two of them. I don't know how many more will come - which is sad for the Colts given they don't have their first round pick (or a GM). The Titans still look lost on offense, and while I imagine Saleh gets more than one year, the heat will be fully on. The Dolphins looked competent and may be building something, but that roster is just so threadbare. I geuss there is a certain optimism if your team is openly roster poor. The Cardinals actually may be in a similar position. The talent is just lacking, but I do like the coaching staff. Ironically, a few similar things could be said of the Colts, as I do think there is a good coach hiding within Steichen, it just seems pretty clear it will be the next team to benefit on this if I am right. I do also wonder if at some point there is a pivot to at least give Richardson a few games, if only to generate some trade value.

Tier III - The "Unlikely To Spoil, But It Will Hurt" Quinto

27.) New York Jets  =  2-5  (137-150)

26.) Washington Commanders  =  1-4-1 (132-172)
25.) Philadelphia Eagles  =  2-5  (127-175)
24.) New Orleans Saints  =  2-5  (162-194)
23.) Las Vegas Raiders  =  3-4  (183-197)

It's amazing I had some optimism on the Jets early season start - as even in their 1-2 start they were generally competent. That is long gone, with two straight sloppy, sloppy, sloppy games and division losses. The Pats game was more frustrating (turnovers, short yardage) and thsi more embarrassing, and for the first time, I agree questions should be asked about Glenn. The Commanders get back from their bye with the good momentum of not giving up against the 49ers. I guess the division is theoretically in play as it is hard to know if the Giants are for real, but more theri goal should just be getting 11 more healthy games from Daniels. The Eagles are in a lost season, the main question now is does this became the opportunity to axe Sirianni. McKee had some moments, but doesn't help that he is missing any realistics weapons outside of Saquon. Dark season ahead. The Saints are a frustrating team with some highs but way more lows at this point, and I fear Tyler Shough is just not going to cut it. I do like Kellen Moore however, and hope he finds a better QB to hitch himself to. Speaking of QBs to hitch yourself to, I would give Cousins just one more game to put things relatively back on track as if he can't show up against this version of the Jets than it deserves to be Mendoza time. The defense is also super underperforming at this point.

Tier IV - The "Down Bad in Texas" Duo

22.) Houston Texans  =  2-5  (165-170)
21.) Dallas Cowboys  =  3-4  (189-180)

The Texans still have that -5 point differential to pretend that things are OK, but the more that this rests on an overperforming offense, the more worrying it gets. We know that defense is more volatile year to year, but even then, this is extreme in that sense. The pass rush apart from Anderson going silent is the weirdest part. Just stunning. It's hard to know fully what to read of that Cowboys performance. The offense was excellent, the defense had a hard time really putting distance between them and a team QB'd by Tanner McKee. At their best, they still seem like a dominant offense, but they still sit 2.5 games back of the Giants at this point.

Tier V - The "NFC South, As Always" Trio

20.) Carolina Panthers  =  3-3  (159-166)

19.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers  =  2-5  (162-151)

18.) Atlanta Falcons  =  3-4  (171-173)

Ironically, I still think all three are reasonably average teams - hence their ranking. The Panthers took a lot of their goodwill and shot it right out the door with that disaster, but the season has still been a net positive given Bryce's play. The Buccaneers looked energized with Mayfield back, even if Baker himself did little to nothing in teh game. The defense has really been born again, exhibiting a lot of the good Bowles' traits - the manic pass rush, the speed. For the Falcons, a solid, if a bit predictable win, but one predicated a bit too much on turnovers. On balance, the Falcons are still having success with Penix and that offense - that was my main takeaway from taht game, that they could take full advantage of 49ers defensive lapses. I still think on balance the Falcons are the best team in the division. This week will give us a nice early look at this.

Tier VI - The "Someone Has to Win the NFC East" Uno

17.) New York Giants  =  4-2-1  (163-161)

The funniest part of this Giants season is that if not for the Skattebo fumble in OT against the Commanders, they would be 5-2 right now. Still, 4-2-1 is reasonable. They have a positive point differential. They went on the road and beat a reasonable team, and maybe, just maybe, McCarthy took his being run out of Minnesota as a challenge to give his career another real go. The base Giants talent level is good enough to win this godforesaken division with capable QB play. If anything, the McCarthy we've seen can get worse and still have a better chance of giving them that than Jameis did.

Tier VII - The "Weird, Weird AFC North" Trio

16.) Cleveland Browns  =  5-2  (133-146)

15.) Baltimore Ravens  =  4-3  (169-167)

14.) Pittsburgh Steelers  =  5-2  (153-138)  

Clearly, there is one more AFC North team to come, but I will group these three together. It is interesting because in this grouping you get two 5-2 teams who don't seem as good as their record, and a 4-3 one that seems better in theory. Of course, that "in theory" bit is the full unknown of how much longer Lamar will be out. Was supposed to be a light injury is far into the "lingering longer than it should" territory now, and the defense is unable to keep sticking up for Huntley. The rest of the division has a chance to run and hide. Including tehse other two that are 5-2 despite being outscored, but the Browns have been respectable down to down for a few games now, and the Steelers defense and top skill guys are playing well enough to do what all the recent Tomlin-era Steelers have done. In the case of both the Ravens and teh Steelers, their massive coaching changes haven't really seemed to have changed anything.

Tier VIII - The "Upwardly / Downwardly Mobile" Trio

13.) Los Angeles Rams  =  3-4  (170-159)

12.) Denver Broncos  =  5-2  (144-141)

11.) New England Patriots  =  4-3  (160-143)

Another trio where the question is if the 5-2 team is worse than its record, and the other teams are better. The Rams were dominant for most of that game and should get Garrett back at some point. The losses are in the bank however, and the division is a good amount away. Their games against the Seahawks will really be critical - luckily for them Garrett may be in play for both. The Broncos defense has returned to its excellent play in recent weeks despite still missing corners. The offense finally showed some signs of life. So much of it seems to be just mental with Nix. If (and this is a giant "if") he can get over the dink and dunk prediliction, they could still be scary. For the Patriots, another solid game from Maye (even if I didn't think it was the second coming like many) but AJ Brown looks lost out there, adn the secondary played well below its standards on a day the pass rush couldn't get home. The schedule eases up, but this is a team that might be just a step below the other top ones all year.

Tier IX - The "Some Holes Exist" Quadro

10.) Green Bay Packers  =  4-3  (144-145)

9.) Cincinnati Bengals  =  4-2  (163-122)

8.) Detroit Lions  =  4-2  (184-165)

7.) Kansas City Chiefs  =  5-1  (143-103)

As always, we are hearing the old "there are no great teams" routine that we've heard absically every year since 2007, despite that there often are great team. The more interesting finding if you look at say the last 20 years of NFL, is generally the top teams by the end of the regular season are defined by great runs to end the year, rather than start it (say the 2019 Ravens, 2023 Ravens, 2010 Patriots, 2015 Panthers, and more). Anyway, weird aside, but tehse four are all solid. The Packers need to figure out why they often can't score more than 23 points, but the team is getting healthier and steadier. The Bengals defense is remaining league average, which as their offense showed in teh second half is all they need. Burrow looks calmer playing more from the shotgun again - in the end they have to stop trying to make him someone he just is not. The Lions quietly have one of the league's best offenses - they just need to stop fumbling or turning it over on downs. Goff looks amazing and in rythym and I like the more varied route tree Jameson has at this point. Finally for the Chiefs, yes that was a disaster. Hopefully Rashee Rice is back soon, and hopefully they can just chalk that up to a night game against a very motivated Seattle team. My bigger worry is their lack of pass rush, but largely, they will be fine.

Tier X - The "NFC Beasts" Trio

6.) Seattle Seahawks  =  4-3  (168-125)

5.) Chicago Bears  =  5-2  (180-143)
4.) Minnesota Vikings  =  6-0  (125-74)

The Seahawks are maybe the best team down to down. They turn it over too much, which cost them dearly in all three losses. Those three losses are there. The big problem they have is there are seven very good to great teams in teh NFC West and NFC North and at most five of them can make the playoffs. They still have Chicago, the 49ers (in SF) and both Rams games, but maybe they found somethign in the run game. The Bears look poised (other than of course that ridiculous pre-halftime play). Caleb looks settled. That was a really nice win, including a defense that is doing just good enough manufacturing pressure. For the Vikings, they have no problems manufacturing pressure. Kyler still doesn't look too settled, and more worryingly, he has not yet found a good chemistry with Jefferson, but if they have notable holes where they could improve and are still 6-0....

Tier XI - The "Top of the AFC" Duo

3.) Buffalo Bills  =  5-1  (197-171)

2.) Jacksonville Jaguars  =  4-2  (154-104)

The Bills maybe had one of the great bye weeks of all time - the Chiefs lost and the Patriots lost, giving them now the clear path to the #1 seed and a 1.5 game lead in teh division. Yes, the only way the bye week could ahve gone better is if they traded for more defensive help, or Sean McDermott as DC. The defense is worrying, but the offense is playing at a near historic level in terms of drive success. The Jags loss to the Texans looks a bit worse, but at the end this is the ebst AFC team to me down-to-down. They have to cut the penalties but in a weakening division, staring other divisions where tops teams could knock each other around, they still ahve a great shot at a top seed.

Tier XII - The "Trust Shaken, Not Lost" Uno

1.) San Francisco 49ers  =  6-1  (197-139)

Yeah, I still have them here. That was about as predictable a loss as possible - injured, though in a state where some of them shoudl be back after their bye, along with a short week and a 1pm Eastern Time start, and it isn't surprising at all that the 49ers would have a sloppy, turnover filled game. Granted, if they didn't have the uncharacteristic turnovers (one of which was a once-a-year type play by Bates) then they may win the game anyway. The offense still moves the ball crazily well. I do hope Evans is back after the bye, or some reinforcements. This can be a special team. That one road loss against a team with notable highs doesn't change that view for me.

Looking Ahead to Next Weeks Games

Byes: New Orleans Saints (2-5), New York Giants (4-2-1), San Francisco 49ers (6-1), Houston Texans (2-5)

14.) Philadelphia Eagles (2-5)  @  Washington Commanders (1-4-1)  (SNF - NBC)

13.) Arizona Cardinals (2-5)  @  Dallas Cowboys (3-4)  (1:00 - FOX)

12.) Las Vegas Raiders (3-4)  @  New York Jets (2-5)  (1:00 - FOX)

I call it "Bad Against Bad" Sunday, as we get these three games with two teams each under .500. Usually, I save this more black and white approach at looking at games until later in the year, but this week does stand out in this way. As for the first one, still so ridiculous that the NFL did not flex out this Eagles @ Commies game. This truly might be the worst SNF game in memory. The other two are no better but at least shoved in the 1pm slot.

11.) Indianapolis Colts (2-5)  @  Jacksonville Jaguars (4-2)  (1:00 - CBS)

10.) Los Angeles Chargers (0-6)  @  Los Angeles Rams (3-4)  (4:05 - FOX)

9.) Tennessee Titans (1-6)  @  Cincinnati Bengals (4-2)  (1:00 - CBS)

8.) New England Patriots (4-3)  @  Miami Dolphins (1-6)  (4:25 - CBS)

I call it "Bad vs. Good" Sunday, as we get four games that fit that definition. The Colts are in full firesale mode, and while it would be funny if they beat a far better team off of a bye, I just don't see any way that happens. The Chargers misery will also almost certainly continue. The Bengals defense should at least give some latitude to Cam Ward, which will be interesting to monitor. Finally, on paper the Patriots on a mini-bye should see a game in Miami as a gimme mismatch, but it will be interesting to see if the house of horrors that was Miami to Brady continues to the Maye era - especially after some signs of life from Miami last week.

7.) Carolina Panthers (3-3)  @  Green Bay Packers (4-3)  (TNF - Prime)

6.) Atlanta Falcons (3-4)  @  Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-5)  (1:00 - FOX)

I call it "The Tour of the NFC South" Thursday and Sunday, as we get our three most likely combatants for the NFC South across these two. The Panthers get a chance to get right after that disaster, but certainly the short week won't help against what should be a pissed off Packers team. The Falcons @ Buccaneers is a good matchup in a way, especially if the Panthers lose - technically the winner would be in first place. Someone will win this division - the only interesting watchout is if we ahvea  second straight sub-.500 division winner.

5.) Baltimore Ravens (4-3)  @  Buffalo Bills (5-1)  (1:00 - CBS)

I call it "Man, I Miss Lamar" Sunday, as I am ranking this off of the going in assumption that Lamar Jackson will miss the game. There is still some juice to it to see if the Ravens can avoid falling further behind their AFC North bretheren, and if the Bills can stop Derrick Henry for once. That all said, if Lamar is playing, this would be my #2. If I knew 100% he isn't playing, this would be #8 - so call this ranking the weighted average.

4.) Cleveland Browns (5-2)  @  Pittsburgh Steeler (5-2)  (1:00 - CBS)
3.) Kansas City Chiefs (5-1)  @  Denver Broncos (5-2)  (4:25 - CBS)

2.) Minnesota Vikings (6-0)  @  Detroit Lions (4-2)  (1:00 - FOX)

I call it "Still Early But Great Divisional Matchups" Sunday, as we get a preview of what late season looks like. Just a trio of graet inter-division games. Browns and Steelers is super unlikely that both are 5-2. The Browns best win by far was their win over Pittsburgh earlier in teh year. The winner will be a crazy 6-2. Super fun, even if both teams are a bit fraudelent. The Chiefs and Broncos has taken on new life after teh Chiefs loss - the winner in this would lead the AFC West. The Chiefs have an opportunity to really put the hammer down - effectively take a 3-game lead. The Chiefs also get a chacne to show that last week was a bit of a mirage. The Vikings blitz against the Lions suddenly good again OL should be fun, but more than that is just this being the Vikings real first test - a good team on the road. Excellent stuff here.

1.) Chicago Bears (5-2)  @  Seattle Seahawks (4-3)  (MNF - ESPN)

I call it "I Live For Monday" Monday, as man this is a great one. The Seahawks are still playing just dominant defense, and the Bears, given the command and calmnes of Caleb Williams at the moment, is a great test - for both sides really. Same with Allen's blitz-happy approach against a QB who can get rattled. There is obviously a 30% chance we get a classic Seahawks primetime game blowout (like of course we just did) but there is a better chance in my opinion we get a fun one in a game where if the Seahawks lose, they will be in really tough position with four losses.

The Merciful End of the Ballard Era

It was so obvious once it was clear the Colts were going to lose to the previously 0-5 Titans, easily what had been the worst team in the league. The Colts were not a good team already at 2-3, but still had some respectable moments. They've still given teh Chiefs a better game than anyone (just ignore the fact they got outgained by like 200 yards). They beat the Texans, a win that is looking better by the week. But in that desolate loss to the Titans, it was clear changes would be made, and they were made swiftly - Chris Ballard finally shown the door after nine-plus years.

It;s hard to believe he lasted nine years to begin with - in all honesty, the Grigson years seemed way longer than they actually were (just six seasons). For a few years, it was understandable why Ballard would keep his job. The Colts rarely bottomed out, except for the disastrous 2022 season (3-12-1) which I still don't know how Ballard survived. They then drafted Anthony Richardson at #4, in retrospect a diasstrous pick that was a huge gamble at the time. Somehow despite him being a bust, they went 9-8 and 8-9 over the next two seasons - not bad enough to get rid of. Then they went 8-2 to start last year, the best record in teh NFL at that tine, before Daniel Jones tore his achilles and they lost the last seven games. Another disaster. He only kept his job because after Jim Irsay's death, new owner Callie Irsay didn't yet want to change anything. Anyway, change is finally coming to Indianapolis.

I talk about that 2022 season because it was instructive in the fact it absolutely should have been the end of Ballard. It was his third straight season bringing in a veteran QB without a long shelf life. It worked with Philip Rivers in 2020 (a somewhat miracle 11-5 season), but then didn't with Carson Wentz, but the Colts still started 9-6 before Wentz absoluteyl went on a Wentzian bender the last two gaems (we will return to this). Then in 2022 they went with Matt Ryan, when he was absolutely already broken. They cratered, they did weird stuff like hire Jeff Saturday (admittedly, absolutely a Jim Irsay decision). They could've cut bait there - it had been six years with two playoff appearances and a four win season. It would have been so easy.

Hell, it would have been easier the year before when teh Colts lost in Week 18 to a 2-14 Jaguars team when a win would have won them the division. They lost in embarrassing fashion. Wentz took the blame. Somehow, despite an outcry from the fanbase, no one else did. ANd there liest the weird inconsistency of being annoyed of a team being for once quite patient. No one ever is in the NFL, but the Colts and Irsay were to a fault. It might be that Ballard was good in teh room (by all accounts he was very well liked in the community and building). It might be the contineud Chiefs success had some weird afterglow on Ballard who was around for the very beginning of the Reid era (though notably not when Mahomes was drafted). For whatever reason he did, and we were left with this crazy never-ending run of mediocrity.

The problems with Ballard were self evident and critical in terms of blockers for success. Namely, after inheriting Andrew Luck and then losing him, he was never able to find an answer at QB. You can say he got unlucky that Rivers retired after one year, but he was not unlucky that Wentz was scatterbrained, or Ryan was laundry, and his big bet on Anthony Richardson was a massive failure. He also spent a lot of resources on receivers and defensive lineman but other than Michael Pittman, seemed to have no ability to actually scout those positions. Guys like Laitu Latu and Kwity Paye are fine depth pieces - they were prime 1st or 2nd round picks. And then of course Ballard's obsession with guards - yes Quenton Nelson is a likely HOFer, but HOF guards by themselves don't do too much.

Ballard was in many ways an even more of a "don't want to talk about Star Wars Numbers" than Ryan Grigson was - Grigson was not a success but was in many ways still somewhat forward looking. He overspent in free agency, but generally targeted prominent positions (other than the Trent Richardson trade... that one I will never get). Ballard was just dull - for years the critique was not spending despite cap room. He never did spend other than on extension for non prominent positions. He just never adapted to 2020s NFL, and it fianlly caught up to him.

Likely it catches up to Steichen to, but tehre is a world where he is a good play-caller that has been just blocked by bad personnel (helps when the Eagles offense has never been the same after he left). Likely he gets fired at the end of the season, but I do see a world where maybe he can make a case for his job. The real end goal though is a turning of the page - hopefully Callie Irsay knows what she is doing, but she almost undoubtedly does more than her dad did towards the end. Hoepfully she knows what works in the NFL in 2026 and finds someone who can lead that vision. Ballard wans't the guy, and the national (in Indy, at least) nightmare is finally over.

NFL 2026: Week 7 Power Rankings & The Rest

Tier I - The "Arch in Teal" Uno

32.) Miami Dolphins  =  0-5  (70-132)

Well, I hope they enjoyed the bye before we return to theri season of sadness. Anyway, let's just move on. It will be fun in their inevitable two wins.

Tier II - The "Dark Days Ahead" Duo

31.) Tennessee Titans  =  1-5  (84-129)

30.) Los Angeles Chargers  =  0-6  (90-151)

Yes, to me the Titans are still here - a fluke win over the Colts (the fluke being the punt block) doesn't change that. Cam Ward still just does not look good. I realize he is trying hard, seems to be a respected leader, but at some point production has to be there. For the Chargers, this disaster of a season just gets worse. Herbert is completely broken. I don't know why they are continuing the McDaniel experiment when it is ruining their only positive asset. Harbaugh seems like a dead man walking. We have to get ready for a full reset.

Tier III - The "Trust Us, We're Better Than our Record" Duo

28.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers  =  1-5  (119-138) 

27.) Arizona Cardinals  =  2-4  (126-178)

For teh Bucs, it truly is impressive that they have built a passable offense with Jalon Daniels. Yeah, it requires a lot of broken plays and tomfoolery, but with their defense playing better, it is keeping them in these games. The division hasn't fully left them yet (a win this week over Carolina will really help things) but at least they aren't hopelessly boring. I do think teh Cardinals are the worst of this bunch, as the ceiling is just too low with Brissett, but once again they seem to try hard

Tier IV - The "Yuck" Quinto

26.) Indianapolis Colts  =  2-4  (144-164)

25.) Washington Commanders  =  1-4-1  (132-172)

25.) Philadelphia Eagles  =  2-4  (106-137)

24.) New Orleans Saints  =  2-4  (152-178)

23.) Atlanta Falcons  =  2-4  (142-153)

What's interesting this season is there is a startling lack of 3-3 teams. As in just two of them. Granted, there are two more sitting at 3-2, but still a really low number. That has resulted in this giant glut of 2-4 teams (with a few more to come). Generally two to three 2-4 teams end up in the playoffs, but really don't think it will be any of these. For the Colts, a full piece around the Ballard era finally, mercifully ending will come later this week, but needless to say they are in a pathetic place. The Commanders look decent at times with Jayden but also a bit worried about pocket presence. The team is still playing hard and will be feisty - and hell, in the NFC East they probably aren't out of it, partially because of the teat I'm about to talk about. For teh Eagles, similarly so with the Hurts news. I hope he recovers fine, but I do think with him out and the offense so clearly broken, thsi will probably spell the end of the Sirriani era. For teh Saints and Falcons, they have their moments, but are falling behind the Panthers right now, and their high variance play is hitting the low end too often for me to trust them any more.

Tier V - The "New York.... New York...." Duo

22.) New York Jets  =  2-4  (112-122)
21.) New York Giants  =  3-2-1  (136-140)

It's fun to keep ranking these teams similarly because while neither are good, they are both better than they have been in years (save for that fake 9-win 2022 Giants team). The Jets and Giants are both professional outfits but just a bit too lacking in talent across the board. There are pockets of excellence - Garrett Wilson, Abdul Carter, but too little there. I will say I do think the Giants should just go with McCarthy. We know what Jameis is at this point. Now, we probably know what McCarthy is as well, but there is a greater chance there is room for improvement there than with Jameis who truly looks like he has no control of the ball when throwing whatsoever. Oh, adn the Jets, maybe learn how to pick up a yard in short yardage. If you could, as that may have allowed them to get an upset brewing.

Tier VI - The "Spoilers and AFC North Pretenders" Quadro

20.) Las Vegas Raiders  =  3-3  (162-162)

19.) Dallas Cowboys  =  2-4  (151-159)

18.) Cleveland Browns  =  4-2  (106-122)

17.) Pittsburgh Steelers  =  4-2  (137-128)

The Raiders showed a lot in the home losses to the Chiefs adn Bills - first, they have a great knack of scoring late TDs to make 10-point losses into 3-point losses, and second, they have a strong home field. Truly, Vegas took a while but it is Raider country now. Most evident when they leave the cozy confines and seem to get hammered (in New England, for instance). For the Cowboys, a bit of the same old, same old. Still not sure why we were all expecting a Brian Schottenheimer team to do well. For the Browns and Steelers, credit both I guess for being 4-2, but I don't believe any of it. Particularly Cleveland taht has needed mini miracles to beat backups QBs, and whose best win is against the other team I'm calling fake here. For the Steelers, Rodgers still ahs no pocket mobility and if their opponent can block, they can easily win. 

Tier VII - The "Ships Passing Through the Night" Duo

16.) Los Angeles Rams  =  2-4  (135-138)

15.) Houston Texans  =  2-4  (144-143)

The Rams and Texans are both 2-4, adn both were seen to be top teams coming into the season, but man is the commentary around these two so different right now. The Rams are broken, and now even more inured. They desperately need Garrett back and also McVay to live up to his reputation. For the Texans, if their defense plays up to its talent (which is a crazy thing to say) they can be a playoff team again. The division might be out of reach (though beating Jacksonville in their in theory Jags "home" game helps). The best piece of news from this year may be CJ STroud finally looking like the killer he was as a rookie. Again, if that defense can just play like it should, this could get interesting.

Tier VIII - The "Good, Bad Team or Bad, Good Teams" Duo

14.) Carolina Panthers  =  3-2  (146-123)
13.) Cincinnati Bengals  =  3-2  (128-109)

Both with their early byes make it heard to really know waht to think. The Panthers and Bengals offense have both been generally quite strong - the Panthers ridiculously so. The defenses are a combination of injured or somewhat questionable. They are kind of the conference versions of each other at this point. The big plus for the Panthers is the lack of competition in that division compared to Cincinnati, but both of these are teams that could go on little runs here, and especially so if the Panthers start getting their horses back on defense.

Tier IX - The "Hard To Know" Quadro

12.) Green Bay Packers  =  4-2  (127-125)
11.) Denver Broncos  =  4-2  (114-125)

10.) Detroit Lions  =  3-2  (164-148)

9.) New England Patriots  =  4-2  (136-113)

These four teams are all probably good. They all have decent shots at the playoffs. That all said, hard to really know. The Packers have now won three straight, but two were against backup QBs, and that game was a classic "The Packers look dominant on offense but somehow only score 23 against a bad defense" performance. The run game is still so inept. The Broncos whole offense is inept, but of course the defense is back to playing great and they keep winning. Something has to give here with Payton and that offense. The Lions may be the best of the bunch, but still hard to trust their defense - at some point we may start hearing about Goff as an MVP candidate given his level so far. Finally with New England, that was a weird game - AJ Brown back, Maye safe with teh ball, easy win, but they were outplayed on a per-play basis and had another few guys go down. Still, three straight wins, including taht fairly boring staid one, is a good sign.

Tier X - The "Your Reputation Precedes You" Duo

8.) Seattle Seahawks  =  3-3  (148-122)

7.) Baltimore Ravens  =  4-2  (156-132)

I still think both of these teams are good despite some troubling signs. First the Seahawks continued inability to play offense with that shell of a running game and the old Darnold. Granted, Darnold had some rough games last year and the defense remains fantastic. For the Ravens, much the same - I'm not going to get overly attached to the whole "same old blown leads" problem when they are playing a backup QB. Just let's hope Lamar gets back soon, please.

Tier XI - The "Top of the NFC North" Duo

6.) Minnesota Vikings  =  5-0  (109-64) 

5.) Chicago Bears  =  4-2  (150-119)

Really, it is super hard to rank the four NFC North teams right now, but for now these are the best two for me. The Vikings defense is still on an all time heater (that should continue this week...), and Murray gave some sign of life to that offense last week. If that lasts at all, they are a really dangerous team. The Bears look so composed in that game - they neutralized what had been a great Falcons pass ruhs, and Caleb looked composed and calm. Really promising sign ahead of what should be a great test against the Pats.

Tier XII - The "Flawed, Great Teams" Duo

4.) Buffalo Bills  =  5-1  (197-171)

3.) Jacksonville Jaguars  =  4-2  (154-104)

The Bills have the leageu's second best offense (the best is yet to come). Allen is playing about as settled as ever. The run game looks great. They are scoring on drives (TD or FG) at a historic rate. All of that is 100% necessary because the defense sucks. Jim Leonhard has done seemingly nothing for the team, and truly at this point it seems clear to me they should have just kept McDermott who at least had some interesting tricks up his sleeve. For teh Jags, their big issue is penalties. They were slightly more composed this week but then also less physical - maybe they need to play on the edge a bit more. Still, both are great teams.

Tier XIII - The "Let's Run It Back" Duo

2.) Kansas City Chiefs  =  5-0  (140-83)

1.) San Francisco 49ers  =  6-0  (177-110)

It became an early joke that we are in for a repeat of Super Bowls LIV and LVIII again but at this point that looks very, very realistic. The Chiefs dominated that game by way more than the 16 point score. Even missing guys, Mahomes looks great and of course the dominatn run game helps make it all hum. It is amazing how they unlocked the pass offense with a dependable run offense. The defense still needs to be way more consistent with the pass rush, but at their best, this could be the best Chiefs team since 2019. For the 49ers, I really hope Mike Evans is not out long term - they have a fairly mild game against Atlanta and then the bye coming up, so hopefully he can be back after that. If not, if they can find some other vertical option. The defense is playing above its level adn should improve if/when Bosa gets back, and the offense is still something special, but them turtling late in the second half was somethign to at least watch out for.

Looking Ahead to Next Week's Games

Byes: Buffalo Bills (5-1), Jacksonville Jaguars (4-2), Washington Commanders (X-X-1), Los Angeles Chargers (0-6)

14.) Cleveland Browns (4-2)  @  Tennessee Titans (0-6)  (1:00 - CBS)

13.) New York Giants (3-2-1)  @  Houston Texans (2-4)  (1:00 - FOX)
12.) Miami Dolphins (0-5)  @  New York Jets (2-4)  (1:00 - CBS)
11.) Indianapolis Colts (2-4)  @  Minnesota Vikings (5-0)  (1:00 - CBS)
10.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-5)  @  Carolina Panthers (3-2)  (1:00 - FOX)
9.) Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2)  @  New Orleans Saints (2-4)  (9:30am - NFLN)

8.) Denver Broncos (4-2)  @  Arizona Cardinals (2-4)  (4:05 - CBS)

7.) Dallas Cowboys (2-4)  @  Philadelphia Eagles (2-4)  (MNF - ESPN)

6.) San Francisco 49ers (X-X)  @  Atlanta Falcons (2-4)  (1:00 - FOX)
5.) Los Angeles Rams (2-4)  @  Las Vegas Raiders (2-4)  (4:25 - FOX)
4.) Cincinnati Bengals (3-2)  @  Baltimore Ravens (4-2)  (1:00 - CBS)
3.) Green Bay Packers (4-2)  @  Detroit Lions (3-2)  (4:25 - FOX)
2.) New England Patriots (4-2)  @  Chicago Bears (4-2)  (TNF - Prime)
1.) Kansas City Chiefs (5-0)  @  Seattle Seahawks (3-3)  (SNF - NBC)

Nostalgia Diaries, Pt. 34: 2016 World Series Game 7

I've rarely done one of these about a game / event that happened that not only happened during the time period of this blog, but in fact I wrote about it. There is a post about Game 7 of the World Series - I titled it "Game 7 and the Wildest Ride in Sports". I wrote it on November 7th, 2016, which was a good five days after the Game 7 happened. There's a very clear reason for that - I was in Peru when Game 7 happened. More specifically, I was in Cusco. I did watch the game live, as we will come to. But back to why I wanted to write about this, despite having written about this, is because that post took a very neutral perspective on it. I did mention that I was rooting or the Indians, but crucially did not mention how much I hated the Cubs, and more ridiculously, I only mentioned I was in Peru once. That isn't right - that was a central element of all of this, the weird way I (and two friends) experienced maybe the most famous baseball game of the past twenty years.

Let's start with the base facts - I was on this trip to Peru with two friends. We started in Lima (I flew down on the night of Game 3, landed on the night of Game 4). Me and one of the other two are die-hard baseball fans - he of the Yankees, which in 2016 didn't matter too much. The Astros had beat the Yankees in teh 2015 Wild Card Game, but realistically they weren't huge rivals yet (not that this really changed our friendship - helps the Astros own the Yankees which is a point in my favor, but the Astros cheated in 2017 which is a point in his). The third friend isn't a huge baseball fan, but generally a solid sports fan (biggest loves are college football & basketball, and soccer) who will get into anything.

The day we landed was Game 4, where the Indians would go up 3-1 (weird to remember that was their name at this point) and at this point we paid fairly little attention to either Game five or six - there was a new country to explore. Peru was my first time in South America. It was my first time going to a world famous restaurant - us dining at Maido during our time in Lima. It was a trip of many important firsts. It was also a trip of hostels, namely the Loki hostel chain.

There are many infamous hostels aroudn the world and in 2016, Loki was one of them, a chain of hostels scattered around Peru (maybe all of South America), including locations in Lima and Cusco. We probably could have afforded to stay in a real hotel - we all had solid jobs, but we were all 25 (or in the case of the Yankee fan, about to turn 25), and knew that staying in a hostel had other benefits. Namely, in the case of the Lokii, they had bars that were honestly more than just hostel bars, they were like actual city bars. Many people (including other tourists) would come to teh Loki Hostel Bar to start their night. in the case of Cusco, many to end the night.  Loki in itself was an experience - particularly the Cusco location. That was the pure shit.

You checked in at the bar basically, which when we arrived at the morning already had their cadre of random hot girls who are backpacking for months lingering around behind the bar or just doing stuff. Now, these weren't Insta Thots or something - most were actually quite cool to chat to and get to know, but yeah - it was the vibe. Each nigth around 10pm or so, the bar became a makeshift club with live music and merriment. Every now and then they would serve a roudn of blood bombs, which a Loki hostel staple - something of a jagerbomb with red bull. I'm sure it was nasty but it went down quick, and we would all do it after the main bartender / rabbel-rouser would exclaim "Loki, Loki, Loki" and we would all shout back "Aye, Aye, Aye." To many this may sound dumb, and looking back it probably was, but at the time it was perfect.

It was in this backdrop taht we watched Game 7 of the World Series. How did we do this? Well some ESPN America type channel was showing it and we connived Loki to put that on in the corner-most TV at one end of their long bar. It was muted of course as there was live music and DJs and all that, but wer were transfixed to watch waht was one of the best baseball games of all time. To be fair, we started watchign it at dinner at some burger place, one taht I am pretty sure is within the Gaston Acurio food empire. It was there when the Cubs took their 5-1 lead, including scoring against the heretofore unhittable Andrew Miller. By the time we got back to Loki, it was 5-3, we convinced them to piut it on and settled in for the long haul.

One thing to remember is Cusco is at an elevation of about 11,000 feet, so alcohol hits you hard, but damn us 25-year olds were going to test that theory, including the Yankee fan friend who was born on October 3rd (the game was October 2nd). We were already plying him with  blodobombs and cusquenas and whiskey sodas (along with us doing the same) while the game got tighter, and then got weird. By weird we mean the bottom of the 8th when the Indians tied it at 6, doing so with a Rajai Davis home run off Aroldis Chapman, maybe the most unlikely thing ever (more than Rojas). At thsi point we were pretty damn drunk (in a good way) and I was ecstatic - the joy of seeing the Cubs potentially blow it in this way.

Now, of course they didn't blow it in that way - they still ended up winning after a rain delay and more blood bombs and so much craziness. Because the game went to 10 innings and had a rain delay and a ton of pitching changes, it ended at 12:47 AM ET - which in Lima is 11:47pm - or in other words thirteen minutes before our friend would have his Birthday. What a surreal thirteen minutes, as you see by around the time the Rajai Davis home run happened, our hoots and hollers about this game attracted the attention of quite a few hostel-goers and Loki-partiers. We had created a mini watch party of say 10-15 of us (out of the totla say 50-70 in the bar). Most of the others weren't even American, let alone baseball fans - but exciting sports moments transcend borders. they were pumped, we were pumped, we were all drunk.

And then midnight hit, when the bar called both my friend and another person whose birthday it was (that old 35 people means 95% there is a shared birthday adage coming to life!) to stand on teh abr and down a double blood bomb as we sang happy birthday. There was still live music for hours more, during which time I started an impassioned rant about how Chicago doesn't actually deserve this because in their heart of hearts they were a football town.

Now, I should talk about why I was so anti-Cubs Shouldn't be that tough to figure out - despite the Astros now being in the AL for 15 years, and having their greatest run of success as an AL team, I grew up in a world where the Astros were in the NL. I grew up hating the Cardinals, and nearly as much hating the Cubs. Actually - in that time I hated the Cubs more - I respected the Cardinals, I feared the Cardinals. I hated the Cubs. I hated that people pitied them for not winning in 100 years, when my Astros hadn't ever won in 50. I hated that in the Astros admittedly smoke and mirrors 2008 season when they won 87 games (a complete mirage that dealyed their tear down by three years), when they were nearly catching up to the Wild Card, a Hurricane forced them to play against the Cubs in Milwaukee for a "home game" that was understandably 98% Cubs fans. Carlos Zambrano would throw a no hitter. The Astros wouldn't come that close to the playoffs for seven years.

I hated the Cubs even more because while the world got mad at the Astros for openly tanking in 2012-2013, the world didn't get nearly as mad at the Cubs for more or less doing the same thing. The world also got way more into the Cubs rise from teh tank than the Astros rise (remember, this was all before the cheating scandal would break). The Cubs had Theo Epstein, the greatest thing since sliced bread. The Astros had the dark and desolate Jeff Luhnow (again, before the scandal). I hated all of that, and hated that it paid off, and did in a year that was a disappointment for the Astros. Remeber in 2015 - both teams broke through and made the palyoffs for the first time in a while. The Astros blew a 2-1 lead to the eventual champion Royals in the ALDS (including a meltdown in Game 4). The Cubs made the NLCS - granted they got swept by the Mets (still crazy to think the Mets made the WS as recently as 2015!). The next year the Cubs just got better, while the Astros languised to a 86-win season and missed the playoffs. Looking back, it is hilarious how much more staying power the Astros rebuild had vs the Cubs, but at the time it seemed annoying the world loved the Cubs rags to riches story and ignored my team.

These pre-set feelings boiled over at Loki that night where I just decided this factoid taht Chicago is much more a football town. Now, I do think this is true. I exclaimed that most Chicago-ans would trade thsi Cubs win, despite the 108-years and what not, for a Bears Super bowl win. I still actualyl do think this is true. There are baseball towns - New York quietly is one (just so happens its split across two teams). Boston is one. St. Louis is one. Houston is one. Chicago is not - it is a football town. There's nothing wrong with taht - so is San Francisco, and Seattle, and Denver, and DC and many more places. But let's not kid ourselves - 80% of those fans celebrating in mosh pits in Chicago that night would trade that for a Bears Super Bowl. I believe that now, but I more vocally believed that then, making my case so impassionedly taht it continued when we got back to our room. It continued at probably 3am local time, when one of those girls knocked on the door to tell us to go to bed and quiet down, and thus ended one of the great nights of my life.

I don't know if there are any other days that lined up so brilliantly - a legendary sporting event with the location of a hell of a good time. In a sense, the ngith would have been amazing even if you remove the Cubs element - it was three graet friends in Cusco together at a world famous party hostel enjoying a great night where it was one of our birthdays (a special 25 at that). That's a 9.5/10 by itself - add in one of the iconic sports games of the 21st Century and you get a 10/10. The Cubs being the benefactor drops it back to a 9.5/10 - but my rant about the Cubs and Bears and Chicago fans hearts, and being told to shut up and go to bed (which should be impossible at a place like Lokie) brings it up to a 10.5/10 and a place in this list.

NFL 2026: Week 6 Power Rankings & The Rest

32.) Miami Dolphins  =  0-5  (70-132)

Obviously this season was never supposed to be anything, but even then it is surprising just how bad the Dolphins are. The best case scenario is this is something like 2019 where they were similarly, embarrassingly bad for much of it, before having a sneakily decent last half of the season. Maybe that is in Malik Willis and co's future, but anyway, for now they are the doormat we all predicted them to be.

31.) Tennessee Titans  =  0-5  (58-109)
30.) Los Angeles Chargers  =  0-5  (84-129)

The other two 0-5 teams are very bad, and deservedly 0-5, but the big difference is neither was supposed to be this bad. Hell, many had the Chargers as a playoff team if not a sneaky Super Bowl wildcard. That was always probably an extreme, but the Chargers are just lost right now. I can't believe how bad the Herbert & McDaniel pairing has gone. Yes, I realize the OL is in tatters, but still I would've thought there was some change-up. For teh Titans, to me the real goal of teh rest of this season is to figure out if CJ Ward is worth investing in further, or call it a day and dip back into the QB pool in the upcoming draft (a good QB draft, supposedly). That may seem extreme, but to me he is not developing in the least.

29.) Arizona Cardinals  =  1-4  (108-162)

28.) New Orleans Saints  =  1-4  (118-151)

27.) Washington Commanders  =  1-3-1  (115-149)
26.) Cleveland Browns  =  3-2  (93-112)
25.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers  =  1-4  (110-112)

Yes, I 100% stand by putting a team above .500 on this list, but the Browns barely won their three games and have a pretty bad point differential more in line with teams in this range. I don't but that team longer term, with a weak schedule and one admittedly great win, keeping them afloat. For teh rest, the Cardinals, Saints and Commanders are all potential contenders for me "team that plays scrappy for 5-6 games but loses most of them and then starts imploding on themselves." Not sure which of them will fall most into that - the Saints are a good shout as Shough starts having rougher games as teams have done more to cover Olave. For teh Buccaneers - shocking win for a team that has done a great job having passable offense under the backup, and they grade out by some metrics as one of the better 1-4 teams of all time. They are still just one game back in that division after all.

24.) Indianapolis Colts  =  2-3  (124-138)

It's amazing over now basically two generations of football (~15 years), teh Colts have been laughably bad playing in Pittsburgh, and that shows itself mostly on defense, where they just have never been able to stops the Steelers there. Made more sense when it was Ben and the B's, but someone the same holds true with Rodgers and Warren. On their offense, it is concerning that Jones continues to play like Giants Daniel Jones, but I guess charitably he is still coming off of an achilles tear less than a year ago.

23.) New York Giants  =  3-1-1  (109-106)
22.) New York Jets  =  2-3  (93-96)

It's funny that the Commanders blowing the late game OT situation overlooks that the Giants fighting for extra yards in wet conditions on their OT drive was nearly as dumb. That was a gimme field goal before Skattebo fumbled. Anyway, somehow this team is still at just one loss and seeing most of the division implode around them. I still don't think it is in any way sustainable, mostly because of Jameis, but they stay competent. As do the Jets, who are just a solid team in a way that Robert Saleh tried to make them, but couldn't. I don't think they are good - but the defense is above average, and they have a good run game. I don't think either New York team makes the playoffs but we may at least have interesting late Fall football in New York for once.

21.) Houston Texans  =  1-4  (110-112)
20.) Dallas Cowboys  =  2-3  (138-136)
19.) Carolina Panthers  =  2-2  (121-109)

18.) Las Vegas Raiders  =  3-2  (132-129)

17.) Atlanta Falcons  =  2-3  (119-122)

I like pairing these five together because all things are possible here. One of these may end up 11-6 (mostly likely: one of the two NFC South teams). One may end up 5-12 (most likely: somehow maybe also one of the NFC South teams). Just hard to know which. The Texans defense finally settled (playing Cam Ward helps), and I do like the buy-low potential with MHJR, but that 0-4 start is probably a step too far to dig out of. The Cowboys loss was pathetic, as was the Raiders. Don't trust either of those teams over sixteen, but either can have a great game/. The Falcons really let that one slip away, but the offense when Penix is in there, remains strong and something to build around. Just have to hope he can stay healthy, which admittedly has been a big concern for him for years now. For the Panthers - fun bye week to exit it now being atop the division.

16.) Pittsburgh Steelers  =  3-2  (111-109)
15.) Philadelphia Eagles  =  2-3  (92-112)

14) Green Bay Packers  =  3-2  (104-112)
13.) Denver Broncos  =  3-2  (97-111)

Call it the slightly better pedigreed version of the five teams before, with also some unpredictably where these end up, but some more upward momentum (e.g. wouldn't be shocked if any end 12-5 or better). The Steelers are a weird team where it seems they will get 9+ good Rodgers and run-game games to continue that .500 streak. The Eagles need to get healthy quick - a gutsy performance that they had no business almost winning, but it is clear the overall talent, when healthy, is still there. The Packers finally played like we expect - but how much of these last two weeks was playing adn dominating two backup QBs - and Love's deep ball over-corrected to somethign not sustainable in this one also. Finally for the Broncos, Payton taking the reins back didn't fix much, but teh defense remains excellent, and you just have to expect the offense to gel a bit more as the season goes on. If it doesn't, will be an interesting offseason in Denver as Payton may have to come to terms with his hand picked QB just not having it.

12.) New England Patriots  =  3-2  (110-94)

11.) Detroit Lions  =  3-2  (164-148)

10.) Cincinnati Bengals  =  3-2  (128-109)
9.) Baltimore Ravens  =  X-X  (XXX-XX)
8.) Chicago Bears  =  3-2  (119-96)

7.) Minnesota Vikings  =  5-0  (109-64)

6.) XXXXXX

5.) XXXXXX

4.) Seattle Seahawks  =  3-2  (134-105)
3.) Jacksonville Jaguars  =  4-1  (123-70)
2.) Kansas City Chiefs  =  4-0  (118-77)

1.) San Francisco 49ers  =  5-0  (154-93)

A Weekend in OKC

With my parents still out of the country, and me being in Chicago one week and Atlanta the next (both for work) thought this was a nice random weekend to pick up and a find a place in our great country and explore. I avoided my normal spots (Denver, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, Phoenix) mostly because I've already done them all this year. I thought about Nashville or Houston or just staying in Chicago, but instead settled on Oklahoma City. Why? Fair question - but it was a combination of (a) close proximity to Chicago, (b) get to add a new airport, and more improtantly, a new state and (c) I'd heard decent things.

I landed around 10:30pm Thursday Night from Chicago, in their small but lovely little airport, got into my uber in a couple minutes (a tricked out Tesla) and had a deep conversation with teh driver with a great Southern accent for ten minutes on the way to my hotel - an airport Marriott for the first night. In that time, he gave a lot of facts about Oklahoma City - it is the 3rd largest state capital by area, the food is lovely including some recommendations he threw out, and that a significant portion of the town would be gone this weekend becasue it is the Texas v Oklahoma game, the Red River Shootout itself, in Dallas. On that last part, he may be absolutely right because it was a fairly quiet week, but also given how calmly spread out Oklahoma City is, and how everyone drives, it might just be like this.

Let me start by saying that Oklahoma City is not likely to enter the rotation of the four other cities I threw out earlier. I wouldn't say this is a surprise. While those four aren't New York or something, they are generally still seen as regional tourism and life hubs. Oklahoma City is not that. I don't expect to make another trip back out here in the next couple years (pending work travel, I guess) but taht does not mean in any way I regret coming here. Seeing new places and learning their stories is fun, and in the "their stories" part, Oklahoma City has a lot to offer.

I lighter than expected workday on Friday gave me a few more hours than I was expecting to kill sightseeing on Friday, to which I went to two Art museums - teh first the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, and the other the Oklahoma Contemporary Collective. The second one is smaller, free and a bit light, but had a nice "whismy and funny" exhibit on the top floor which had some really striking paintings. The main Art Museum, however, is a nice example of what I mean about Oklahoma City. It is a lovely museum, with most rooms having a discernable theme that takes your through hundreds of years of art styles in one go. The contemporary and modern section towards the end has some great stuff. They have a couple Warhols and Renoirs and, of course, a Monet. The real star though is their large semi-permanent collection of Dale Chiluly, the world famous glass-blower artists. It is the biggest collection of his in the world and it is phenomenal. OKC did a good thing, finding one specific area to highlight where it can be world class.

The other main museums in Oklahoma City are also quite excellent as well. There are three main ones that make up the normal tourist hit list, and all have some wonderful aspects. First is the First Americans Museum (ironically, went there last) which is a lovely modern building that houses two floors on the history of the Native Americans. Unlike the Heard Museum which is more of an art museum on the topic, here the bottom floor is mostly about telling the story of the Natives slowly losing their land to the US Government in pretty painstaking detail. The museum isn't all negative - half of the bottom floor is about their culture, particularly contributions to sports and war. The top floor is more traditional museum, stuff with art, clothing, tapestries, etc., All in all, a nice museum to a graet topic.

A better museum to an even better (if more harrowing) topic is teh National Memorial Museum which is the current Memorial Fountain/Park and then Museum taht sits at the site of the Murray Building which was bombed in 1995. I knew loosely the story of it, but to be honest forgot it was in 1995 (for some reason thought it was the late 90s), forgot how quickly McVeigh was caught, forgot just how much damage the bomb immediately caused, and just didn't plain know that there were co-conspirators and what not. The museum is just hauntingly well done. The first room a run through of OKC up until 1995 and then a bit about the Murrah building itself, and then the second room which is a makeshift room of the Department of Water where there was a water-rights hearing going on at 9am. You sit there and they play the tape of the hearing until the two minute mark when there is a loud, loud explosion. That was so bone chillingly well done. The rest of the museum, from talking about teh damage, the historic recovery efforts, the manhunt around McVeigh and then the recovery, was all great. Truly, this museum was reayll well done, and is getting an expansion next year as well.

The final museum was probably my favorite. About a ten minute drive North of teh city sits the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, which is a giant museum on a giant plot that goes deep, wide, broad, and everything in between on life on teh West and the history of the Cowboy. The first few rooms are more art museum in style with incredible paintings, sculptures and what not of the Western scenery - stuff that I just love. There was also a showcase of handicrafts for sale (all like 10,000+) of custom beautiful saddled, bits, spurs and boots. Further back in the museum it becomes more about history and culture of Cowboys, of Natives, of Cowboys in Film and of so much more. They also have these large, beautiful giant sculptures littered about as well that are all so well done. As well done is "Propserity Junction" a fake mock-up of an outpost style town befit with mock schoolhouses, churches, saloons, mercantiles, stables and more - all indoors. Truly, this place was insane, in the best way. I cannot recommend the National Cowboy museum enough, In terms of Museums, OKC stacks up with my Big four from above easily.

Where OKC starts to fall off a bit is the lack of any great outdoor sights. Now, I should be clear it isn't like there are none - there are a couple nice ones. The Myriad Botanical Garden is interesting, especially the "Crystal Bridge" large glass tropical biome, which is just lovely. Also the canal winding through Bricktown is nice to walk around the banks of, and could easily be way more played up and commercialized than it is (this is to OKC's credit), but there is only so much you can do in the large expanse of middle America with its flat land everywhere. Oklahoma City surprisingly (to me, at least) is at a 1,100 foot elevation, but all of it is basically at that elevation. The exterior of OKC is just a bit staid.

The food is quite good - starting with my lunches that were at three different BBQ places, the best of which was Edgecraft, a wonderful BBQ spot serviing great crusted brisket, but also random other asides, from czech sausages to tri-tip to so much more. Their sides are also great, includ9inga  really inventive, gourmet-i-fied version of cole slaw. The other standout was King's Custom Smoke Meats, which had probably better sides (a really great Mac & Cheese) but maybe not quite as good brisket - bigger portions though. From speaking to a few locals, I was told that OKC is surprisingly less of a BBQ town than you would think given its location and how often Oklahoma BBQ is played up - apparently that is more of a Tulsa thing; speaking of which, Tulsa trip in 2027?

My dinners were all excellent. Two were local tasting menu spots - one a bit more avant garde in Nonesuch, and the other a bit more formal and played up in Grey Sweater, though oddly the meals themselves were fairly similar (in a good way). Both also had quite interesting setups, housed in what from the outside look like fairly empty urban buildings, shrouded behind black curtains and tinted windows - both places welcome you into this room of magic. Both had most diners setup on a long rectangular bar front with space in teh middle to watch the cooks and barmen operate (Grey Sweater also had normal tables). Both were 10-course meals that were all lovely. Not especially "Oklahoma" in terms of produce or whatever (like no big steaks) but both quite good.

Grey Sweater was probably the better of the two (also the more expensive, but not by much). Their duck pre-main was one of the best duck dishes I've ever had. Their pavlova dessert was so interesting in terms of the fruits they added in. The pork belly main had one of the best pork head sauces I've ever had. Overall, Grey Sweater was awesome. Nonesuch was nearly as good - their own pork main with galangal and cilantro was one of the better pork loin dishes I;ve had (they really cooked it well in teh sous vide). They also had some amazing fish dishes, and a wonderful dessert. On the whole, both of these two showcase that great food is available anywhere. I should note, I'm not some trailblazing discoverer here, as Grey Sweater is a James Beard winning place, and after going I can see why.

The nightlife and adult beverages scene in Oklahoma City is quite nice, if few standouts. The craft beer scene is plentiful - IPA and summer ale heavy, given that this was, as a few locals told me, the first week that it dropped below 90 in quite some time. For this reason, there were few stouts, other than at Prarie OKC (probably my favorite brewery I went to) which had three, all 13% or more. The other stops were all large, a nice collection of indoor and outdoor space, and all as friendly and inviting as you would expect. It is clear that craft beer is not religion here the way it is in say Minneapolis or Denver, but it still is really strong.

The cocktail scene is great, even if my first spot I tried going to - Good For a Few - was too busy. Weird, since it clsoes at midnight, but anyway, it's reviews were slightly worse than both of teh places I did go to. First was Lunar Lounge, which is very nice but also the weirdest combination of things - a speakeasy type door where you have to press a hidden button to get the door to break from teh wall, but then inside it is a semi-arcade, futuristic type spot, that also happens to have craft cocktails. The drinks were sharp, if a bit too fruity (the two I tried), but the whole experience was just interesting.

The real star, however, was Palo Santo - wihch was not a surprise. All my reddit based research on best cocktail bars in OKC kept repeating taht name time and time again, and it is a fantastic place, They had a menu of about 15 cocktails - some seasonal, some standards (aong with an extensive bar menu otherwise) and crafted the hell out of them. Many were Japanese inspired - like a Tokyo Old Fashioned or a Japanese Peppercorn laced martini, but then you had some great ones like a "Basquerac" which is a Basque fortified wine style Sazerac. On the whole, Palo Santo was great and is making my cocktail list whenever I next update it.

The one place OKC was lacking was EDM - or at teh very least a dependable spot. There is an Instagram EDM.OKC that tracks and showcases the various bar and lounge shows that happen all the time, but it seemed a bit too clubby or mellow, with no real in between (at least this weekend). There is one strange spot - an after-hours club (12am - 6am, no alcohol) called Flux, which was as described. It very much is teh place many come to after the rest of the city shuts at 2am - far busier when I left each day around 3 then when I got there. The music the first day was great, teh second a bit too mainstream, but overall a nice spot, but would've rather had a more traditional setup.

In the end, OKC probably exceeded expectations, even if it did not rise to its other flyover state favorite spots and enter into my work weekend rotation. It's still a town worth visiting, especially for someone wanting to check off all the states. There is absolutely 2-3 days worth of things to do to make it worthwhile, including as mentioned some of the better focused museums I have been to. My memories of the city will be of its cloudless blue skies, the brilliance of the National Cowboy Museum, the solemn brilliance of the Memorial, and of drinks at Palo Santo. There are definitely worse ways to spend a weekend.

Nostalgia Diaries, Pt 33: Pitching Against My Couch

This post is going to get personal and introspective and emotional, because it is something that hit me recently that I have completely left behind. Now, many will say I should have left this behind years and years before I actually did. Two things caught me offguard this week that made me remember it so fondly - first was realizing this was the first playoffs I was watching in my parents new house. Now, we had already moved out of the old house by last year's palyoffs, but it was still during this transitory period. Now they have a new house, in some ways I have a new house, but it doesn't have a basement. Why that matters? I have no place where I can setup a makeshift pitchers mound to home plate setup and repeatedly throw baseballs against. Yes, I did this often from about 2003 through I would say, realistically, 2022 or so, in my parents basement. I won't ever again. But it is the second element that really hit me - that these are the 2026 playoffs, a year away from the start of a fake dynasty that I created in my head and old notepads and then computers twenty years ago.

Both of these things sound a bit confusing and strange. They both are. So let me explain one by one - first the pitching in teh basement thing. That isn't all that weird - that is, after all, the origin story of many a pitcher - granted its usually kids no a farm pitching rocks against a barn until their old man or the town crank exclaims "By Golly, that boy's got a cannon!" or some such. I guess sometimes it was in the basement. It was for me, starting around that 2003 point when I really got into baseball, and my parents had a TV in the basement, and I was old enough to watch playoff games until late. It was a nice setup, me standing in the middle, facing the wall on the short end, with the couch in front of me. An old,, fairly useless couch for its stated purpose (comfortably seating people) but wonderful for its true purpose - eating fastballs. Now, it was probably only 20 feet away, so even if I could throw heat there wasn't enough room to reach max velo - but I threw all types of junkballs at that thing - eventually wearing out the springs (I also played tennis - teh couch height more or less the same as a net!). I did this from that 2003 or so date through around 2012, when the couch finally just gave out beyond repair.

This should've been the end of it - I turned 21 taht year anyway, so a natural point to stop. But that year we replaced the couch with a large screen TV that I bought with my sign-on bonus money from my first job. That TV is god well beyond its years - it still wroks really well in 2026. That sits where the couch did - but that just made me get more inventive. You see, if I stood where I used to when pitching at the couch (now TV), I could turn 90 degrees to my left and face the further wall - this one about 40 feet away. Now, there was nothing on that wall but a dresser. But you see, that's when i got the idea that I could atke one of the four mattresses we had in teh basement (a lot of extra sleeping space!), prop it up against the dresser and alas, a slgihtly less springy version of the couch, at alength a bit closer to actual home plate. Thus was born the second era of this game - one far less frequent as it would match up only with the few weekends in October that I was at home (so say two to max three a year), but oh so fun.

If anything, more fun - the extra space made the pitching more real, if anything. The weirdest part of all of this is I didn't play little league. Not that I would've been some star never to be discovered. But who knows? My parents weren't anti-sports - I just never asked to play baseball I guess. I played youth soccer, tennis and basketball (my main love), and even outside of organized sports, was a crack roller hockey player (honestly, if roller hockey was a school sport and not "ice" hockey, I would have been varsity), but other than this pitching against the couch thing, never really played baseball. I loved baseball though - I still do even if my "watching the games" interest has waxed and waned more than maybe any other sport. The pitching against the couch was a magical release, and as no one would be hitting the balls but I could see the movement of my curveball or 2-seamer (the change-up was always out of my grasp...), I could pretend I had the great command.

And this brings us to the second part of this - the 2027 thing. See, when I was a kid (and this is like from 10-15 at its peak) I would make up players and teams and stats and built out storylines way into the future. Since that was 2001-2006, I would often pick the late 2020s for baseball, and weirdly the 2030s-2040s for football to create these conconted leagues and worlds. Actually teh delay on football makes sense as that definitely happened a few years after I started doing this for baseball. Now, this is definitely spectrum behavior - but I'm fine with that - it was glorious and fun to go back to. In this world, I had created a San Francisco Giants ultimate dynasty that went from 2027-2033 in which they would win four World Series, including three straight from 2027-2029. It started after an epic loss in seven to the Mets in the 2026 NLCS. The dynasty Giants would peak at a 110-52 record in 2028, led in all three years by their star all-time great Center Fielder Joe Montero, and their nearly as great pitcher Jeff Freeman.

Looking back at my fake stats for these teams - it is a great time capsule of how the game has changed. The stats Montero put up would be in-line with say prime Albert Pujols when I made him up, but would be earth shattering today - his magical 2027 season was a .361 / .456 / .728 with 56 HRs, 141 RBIs. Now, that was his best year, but to take a more on-the-nose comparison - his 2026 was .325 / .415 / .626 with 46 HRs and 134 RBIs. Obviously these are comical lines, but in the mind of someone in 2010 or so, they were just "a bit better than the best player", not something out of a dream. If anything, the stats for pitching great Jeff Freeman were even crazier. His best year was 2030, where he went 24-5, pitching 257 innings of 1.89 ERA, with 339 Ks and a 0.83 WHIP. Funnily enough, the WHIP and ERA aren't crazy - players had better seasons thereafter like from DeGrom or more recently Miz, but the innings count is just not possible. This is less possible than a Montero season.

My fake stuff wasn't limited to just this dynasty Giants team, though for no other did I go that far of making up full careers. There was a close-to-dynasty that would follow from them in the name of the Portland Bogies - what's weird is I don't think I ever defined if this was an expansion team or someone relocated to Portland - but they were the Bogies, they played in a riverfront ballpark with a makeshift Evergreen forest beyond the left-center field wall. It was all a dream, but so damn fun. But it went back to that fake dynasty Giants team, where I would generally throw against the couch by pretending to be the Giants, either Freeman or their #2 John Palyout (no idea where I got taht name from....). I even had made up pitching motions for them, that of course weren't based on any real pitcher to any degree (other than Freeman had some loose correlation to Cliff Lee - but right handed). This was all weird, I admit, but all so fun the darkness of my basement.

What really hits home is we are finally at the precipice of a year where these fake years are now reality. I would mock pretend to be pitching Game 4 of the 2027 NLCS while watching Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS and we are almost there. In a way, its thrilling to see how different everything is, but also sad that the fantastically great careers I made up for Freeman and Montero are all but impossible in today's game. But in that way I am so glad their fake career existed to document what we may have lost, or what I have lost in finally growing up (way too late) from this whimsy.

**quick aside - teh football version of this is teh 2037-2046 Houston Texans dynasty, QB'd by Jake Wright - which while other not predicting the advent of a 17-game season, has numbers that would look not out of place in 2026, or in 2009 or so when I first invented him. If anything, the most ridiculous version of this is in Tennis, as I've written about previously, concocting a guy named Juan Marino Icar taht would win 16 slams - which when I made him up would be the record, but doing so by 2022 or so. I made him up in probably 2006, of course in no way thinking Nadal himself would win slams in 2022**

It's interesting since both of these phases of my life are over, mainly for the same reason - and that reason is not that I am 36. It is because I no longer have a basement. The making up fake careers and what not hasn't been a thing in probably 10 years - it is notable that when I post a pic of Joe Montero's career later, that I had him as a rookie in 2018. We are well into his career. But the throwing baseballs at a mattress continued thereafter, and gave me a reason to load up those files once a year and marvel. And also have fun, and ultimately that is what it is about. Throwing baseballs at a matress in dim light in a basement, with actual playoff baseball going on 90 degrees to my right on a large screen was a fun glow up from when it was throwing baseball at a couch with playoff baseball going on a small screen 90 degrees to my right. That's connective right there, and one of those memories that I will never not forget, and more than that, never not regret that I squeezed every ounce out of.

Jeff Freeman's Career (and yes, in my weirdness, I conconcted a weird medical story of why he had a gap between 2030-2033)

And Joe Montero's career which would probably rank him as like the best baseball player ever, or 2nd to Willie Mays.

And finally - the Giants dynasty - my stats from earlier were wrong, they would win five world series spanning from 2021-2025.