Nerm

My guess would be he will be starting week 1, but I have not really followed his progress. I expect him to be fine for the regular season. The team is so full of question marks, I don't focus too much on Dak. I may be too optimistic... but I am assuming the Cowboys' season will be terrible for reasons that are not related to Dak's health.

My first take as a Cowboys fan was that the NFL screwed Washington with those last 5 games. But, as bad as the NFC East is, there is the possibility that more than 1 team in the East will be in tank mode at that point. I hope the Cowboys are in it until the end. If they are not, I will be really hoping that it comes down to the Giants-WFT game at the end. After all the anger from Giants fans last year about how it was unfair that "Philly tanked the 4th quarter or we would have won the division"... it would be so fun to watch an eliminated Giants team approach the final game if Philly was needing the WFT to lose in order to win the division. So much salt between the teams in this division.

This whole cyber security issue is such a source of frustration, partially because I know so little about the issue. I'm a guy who thinks our justice system is far too punitive and that punishments tend to be excessive. But when it comes to cyber criminals, my lizard brain kicks in and starts telling me we need to get medieval on them. I gotta admit, I judge myself for thoughts that go through my mind, such as " I wonder if these guys would still be hackers if they did not have any fingers?" On a side note, there is a guy who has a YouTube channel where he records himself screwing over people trying to hack him. He calls the fake tech support numbers that hackers use to get people to give them control of their computer to "fix" a malware issue. But the access goes both ways, and while the scumbags are trying to hack a virtual simulation of what they think is his computer, he takes over their actual computer. He will brick their computers, or mess with them by taking a picture of them using the hacker's computer camera and show them that he knows exactly who they are. The look of panic when they realize what is happening is priceless.

I agree with the downside risk being a concern. It has been fairly common for great QBs to have their play drop off a cliff quickly after looking very good. Brees and Manning come to mind. There is also the possibility that he just decides to move on from football if he doesn't have a great experience with a new team. With all the excitement it would bring, I would want some protection on the downside. I would be hesitant to trade for him without picks being contingent on games played, making the playoffs, etc.

Does it move the needle any that Rodgers dominates the Cowboys in the regular season and post season? As a bonus, I think he is undefeated in the Cowboys fancy stadium.

My brother lives in California. He was so frustrated with Trump and the limitations on state tax deductions that the idea of California succeeding was starting to appeal to him. He is one of those guys who has to pay more than half of what he earns in state and federal taxes. He is not a big fan of subsidizing the red state heathens. So strange to me that someone gets mad about how much they pay in federal taxes, and wants his state to have more control over their own taxpayers money, thinks that they have to leave the nation so they can escape from the people whose primary goal has been lower federal taxes and increased state/local control.

Fun fact. The 49ers traded a 2nd and 4th round pick for Steve Young (who was considered a bust at the time). They did this even though Joe Montana was their clear starter.

This GME thing is a great reminder for me why I never trade in individual stocks. After the bubble burst on this stock and it dropped back to the 40-50 range, my thought was (is) that $40 per share was still more than double what it is worth. I probably would have given 50 to one odds that it would be cut in half vs doubling in price from where it was last week. I'm very glad I did not break my own rules against individual stock picking... even for what I saw as a near certain outcome. I still think the stock is a terrible investment, but this situation is a reminder that no matter how confident I am about something like this... I could be wrong.

Does anyone know if flat earth believers also think the moon or the other planets are also flat? I never thought about it before.

I watched a couple hours of the hearing. It was really boring. I think the committee leaders really struggled to make any kind of coherent rational for having the hearing. After the initial populist rhetoric about needing a hearing to hold hedge fund billionaires accountable for rigging the market to screw over middle class investors, I think someone who understood what was happening actually explained it to the outraged politicians. The big hedge funds that held the majority of short positions on the stocks had closed out their positions two days before the trading was restricted. So, it became clear that the "oligarchs" who were called to be held accountable about the restrictions actually had nothing to gain from the move. This means that the whole reason any retail investors had for buying the stock (short squeeze that would make some billionaires sad) was over before any restrictions were put in place. The only people who were prevented from buying were people that heard the hype and tried to buy a stock that would lose 80% of its value within a week. I think the politicians also found out that the answer to the question of why Robinhood restricted trading was actually..."The regulations created by this committee". So, instead of any substance you had a bunch of politicians grandstanding about who could insult the witnesses the most or ask nonsense questions. Maxine was asking questions like... Have you stopped (beating your wife) cheating your customers... it is a simple yes or no question. When the first word was not a yes or no, she would cut them off, then berate them for refusing to answer. I think AOC asked someone to commit to their company refusing to accept income in the future. Others asked hard hitting questions about if it was fair that some people live in mansions, while there are people without electricity in this country.

I have always gone with Vanguard. They are great for long term investing, and you really can't go wrong with a target retirement fund like the 2035 one. You don't have to watch it at all. Honestly, with index fund investments they have in those types of funds, there is not really a reason to watch them closely. I would think you can do automatic monthly payments, but I have not done that, so I'm not sure on that. I have never used Vanguard to buy/gamble with single stocks, so I don't know what they have for that. They tend to discourage frequent trades with their funds. The philosophy the company was founded on was to keep costs low by focusing on long term index fund investing rather than trying to beat/time the market. I would guess there are better options for the recreational/gambling types of investing.

I think it is even more awesome to have a dual threat QB that leads his team in punt return yards! 1974 Washington leader in punt returns and punt return yards... Joe Theismann.

I have never thought much about the process of short selling until this past week. I think I understand the concept of how one share of stock can result in multiple short positions and lead to more short positions than available shares. This was what I heard a lot of people saying made gme a once in a lifetime short squeeze opportunity. My question is, doesn't the same process that creates multiple short positions from a single share result in multiple short positions being able to be closed with the purchase of a single share?

I have spent a couple, hours in that wallstreetbets sub the last two days. The drama is intense. The SEC said they would be monitoring the sub and investigating about other large investors using the sub to manipulate prices. Long time moderators are being banned for not going along with the situation. The redditor who started the whole GME play says he will not be posting for awhile, likely on the advice of his lawyer. But in the past hour, it has become like lord of the flies. Everyone accusing each other of being plants from the opposing hedge funds, or SEC operatives. To top it all of... there are many people blatantly taunting SEC investigators who may be reading with pretty vile stuff. I'm going back to keep watching. Don't judge me.

The aftermath of this GME story is going to be fascinating to watch. It is going to be amazing watching congress shred Wall Street "fat cats" for refusing to sell a stock, that they know is about to crash, to middle class investors who don't understand what they are buying.

This is how I think about most of this too. I have always avoided trading individual stocks. I was enough of a geek that I was reading books on efficient market theory in my teens. I really dislike the idea of shorting stocks, and I also think people are being really stupid if they are investing in "meme stocks" based on what they read on reddit. As much as I dislike these things, I think people should be allowed to make their own decisions, and accept the consequences of their choices. As for Robinhood, I can understand how people see their behavior in stopping people from buying GME as rigging the game in favor of the elite. However, I can also see reasons they might do that which have nothing to do with that characterization. We have seen a lot of financial people brought in front of congress and being told they should be put in jail for loaning too much money to people for school or houses that they should have known was too much for " the little guy" to pay back. If I am making decisions at Robinhood, I would feel fairly uncomfortable with the idea of letting massive numbers of people who have no idea what they are doing spend their savings buying a stock that everyone knows is going to crash at some point in the near future. If you read through the reddit discussions on this, you see acknowledgment from so many people that they don't understand what they are doing. If Robinhood had not restricted trading. How do we think someone like AOC would have treated them when they are called to congress to explain why they allowed people that had no idea what they were doing when buying a stock that everyone on Wall Street knew was going to crash in the near future.

I wouldn't lower my expectations on Young just yet. Reminds me Dallas fans during Demarcus Ware's rookie season. He only had 4 sacks in his first 14 games. Lots of hand wringing by Cowboy fans. In the end, he became the HOF guy they hyped him to be. I think Young will turn into the dominant force he was touted to be.

If it helps take the stress off you, I can start posting about how dominant the Lakers are. I had not watched the NBA in the past 15 years, but I have followed the playoffs this year. The Lakers were my favorite team back when I watched the NBA in the 80s and early 90s. I have also been rooting for them since the bubble started, so as both a Cowboys and Lakers fan, I think I can take some fire for being the most disliked type of fan ever. It is amazing how my thinking is when it comes to being a fan. Even though I have not followed the NBA throughout LeBron's career, and Lebron has only been a Laker for two seasons... I get bothered by criticism of Lebron... and excited about potential achievements for him. For example, I am excited that LeBron is only 11 assists away from passing Stockton for 2nd place all time in playoff assists. After not watching LeBron or the Lakers for the past 15 years, I can't logically explain why I am excited about this, but I am.

I'm a sucker for 80s nostalgia, and I love Cobra Kai regardless of how cheesy it is. I find it interesting that the trailer for season three focuses on the injured kid. Wasn't there a line in season one or two about Ali (the girl Johhny and Daniel fought over)being a pediatric surgeon? Hmmm.

Looking at what transpired with Houston trading so much for Tunsil last season, then trading Hopkins for so little, it seems like such a missed opportunity for both the Texans and the WFT. Both Houston and Washington could have come out better if they had been able to find a way to make a deal with Williams and Hopkins as the main pieces. If I was an NFL GM, I would be talking to Houston about every week, just to see if they have decided to do something crazy. It sounds like they didn't even look for a better offer for Hopkins. https://sports.yahoo.com/cardinals-acquired-deandre-hopkins-ron-141250361.html

I think it is very likely that Ertz will be a free agent, maybe even a guy that gets traded near the deadline this season. I think there was tension between him and Philly because he wanted a contract extension. Philly is way over the cap next season, and I don't see any way that they pay Ertz with Goddart being the future there. I don't know much about Ertz blocking, but he would help out as a pass catcher.

The flip side of that is it has been even more years since he has been a pro bowl WR... let alone a top 5 wr. Just my opinion. I could very well be wrong. I read that the Browns have denied any trade attempts, so this may not have any basis in reality anyway.

During his last year with the Giants, I think there was a photo of OBJ and a girl sitting on a bed with a pizza box that had lines of "an unidentified white powdery substance" on it. But I don't think he has ever had any official legal issues or drug related concerns. His disciplinary issues have mostly been for unsportsmanlike behavior and conduct detrimental to the team.

Despite the need at WR,I would stay away from OBJ if I was the WFT. The on field / sideline primadonna stuff is not what you want when you are building a new culture. Haskins doesn't need the distraction of OBJ throwing a fit because he does not have enough targets, he also doesn't need a WR who will go on national TV and throw his QB and the rest of the offense under the bus when things are not going well.

I have been following the games this year in the playoffs. I had gone a lot of years without following the NBA, with the exception of the occasional game 7, or the last quarter in close finals games. This year, I have followed most of the playoff games through the ESPN game tracker. I am surprised how much I have enjoyed these close games. I forgot how fun it can be to see shifts in momentum where teams come back from a potential blowout to having the game come down to the last few posessions. I had a question about the playoff format. It seems strange to me that some round 2 series have started before all the round 1 series are finished. Is that how it always is, or is this a change because of the bubble/restart?