Another aside:

In my view, the GOP tends to listen to its base to a far greater degree than the Dems listen to their own. The GOP tends to push aggressively for things their base wants, while the Democratic Party seeks “compromise” at every turn, often going against the wishes of their own constituencies. They seem not to be all that worried about a backlash from that base. The GOP, OTOH, appears to care. This, in general, means the GOP is more in sync with the thinking of their base — and/or the base is more in sync with them. The Dems have been caught mocking theirs, even before the Sanders/Clinton food fights.

I think this is because the Republicans have suffered political consequences when they ignored their base–the Dems have not.

The Republican base will burn the ship down to have their way.

The Dem base would rather try to keep the sinking ship floating for one more mile.

The establishment understands that so they can play to them during the election and put them on ignore afterward.

Husband: Okay, honey—-mouse problem is solved.

Wife: Oh, great! Can I get off the chair now?

Husband: Well……

Well, I saw some things in Hard Knocks that concerned me a bit.

If they blew this pick the franchise will suffer for years. When you go all-in on a player like they did for Goff–you’d better be damn sure about him. Either they can’t evaluate properly and just rolled the dice, or they were just that desperate.

Either way–sooner or later, you gotta take the cloak off and show what’s there.

Maybe it won’t be this year.

nittany ram wrote:

PA Ram wrote:

By the way Emma Stoltzfus was fantastic as Reno–the saucy dame in the play.

Emma Stoltzfus is a no-talent hack who wouldn’t know her arsch from eine hohlen in der boden.

You speak the devil’s tongue.

You know–I knew about three or four phrases growing up–and I am not sure I was ever really told what they mean–although I’m pretty sure one was cussing. But don’t ask me to spell them–no clue.

By the way–the dancing Amish sailors made you BELIEVE.

I also think Gurley himself is just having a bad year. I don’t know exactly what’s happening with him–but even when he slips through the line he seems easily tackled. Or he seems to trip up easier. Yes–the line isn’t opening gaping holes. But I don’t think Gurley is making the most of what he does get. Maybe last year was a bit of a fluke? Maybe–and this is a scary thought–he isn’t a great runner.

PA RAM: Dammit I broke the eggs! Now what?
ZN: Make scrambled eggs.

Absolutely not! I will only eat eggs in the shells. If I can’t have them in the shells I will make the switch to pancakes. Maybe it’s time to turn to pancakes. Trying to pick up the broken shells from that gooey mess never goes well.

But okay–I will stick with the broken shells for now. It isn’t their fault anyway. The pot I was going to boil them in ran the wrong route. I’ll replace the pot before I replace the eggs.

Author’s Note: Sometimes I read something I’ve just written and I think: what the hell was I smoking? This is one of those times. Carry on.

sanbagger wrote:

bnw wrote:

Since this is the bye week when can we start posting threads about something other than this loss?

And 3-4 is not in competition for a playoff spot. 8-8 is rarely good enough. Seattle had to win the division to get in sub .500.

3-4 is still in the hunt…maybe a bit of a longshot but still in the hunt.

9 games to go and we can look back at 2-3 of those losses that could have easily been wins…just turn those around the 2nd half and get on a run.

If a team get’s hot and builds confidence they can roll off 3, 4, 5 wins in a row.

There are a lot of things I can tolerate: dogs sleeping with cows, melted marshmallows on a sirloin, banging my toes on the edge of the bed and falling to the floor in screaming agony while the wife yells at me to “shut the hell up–I’m tryin’ to sleep!”.

But—no sir–I will not accept “Hope” when it comes to the Rams.

This is a room of soul crushing sadness and a little thing like “hope” can ruin that whole mood.

By the way–I haven’t officially welcomed you to the board. Welcome to the board, sanbagger.

I am PA Ram—the board optimist. Some of these other guys–a little dark–but you’ll get used to it.

I got back late this morning from a weekend trip so I came in at the Rams with a 10-3 lead. Watched from there. I didn’t have much emotion except for some frustration. But I’ve mostly checked out emotionally at this point.

So just a few things.

Why is this run game struggling so mightily this year? The offense should be going through Gurley–not Keenum–but the Rams don’t seem to have a choice. I don’t know.

Yes–Keenum threw 4 picks. To be fair they were not all on him. If this offense didn’t have to rely on Keenum to win he’d be fine. He is the game manager type of QB we’ve talked about–but if all the weight is on him—forget it. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was SUPPOSED to go through Gurley. But some passes were certainly horrible today.

And why on earth would you throw that on 3rd and ten? Basically it was a jump ball. You hope that Quick gets the message and runs the correct route but even if he does–it’s a jump ball. There have to be better options.

Hey–it is what it is. They are 3-4 and will be lucky to hit 8-8.

At this point Fisher has no choice–he has to play Goff now. You’ve wasted 7 games playing a guy who will be gone next year. What do you have to show for it? I’m not saying Goff could have won those 3 games–but 3-4 or 2-5 or 1-6—who cares? Use the rest of this season to play Goff. Let him develop pocket awareness, let him work on getting in sync with the receivers. And yes–let HIM make those mistakes and hopefully learn.

All the reasons for playing Keenum are gone now. If Goff is really so unprepared that he can’t even get on the field now–well–let’s just say if that’s the case than what happens this season is the least of their worries.

Play Goff. It will make another 7-9 season interesting.

And this will produce more Trumps.

People are tired of it.

I would hope we see another Sanders, but Bernie was one of a kind.

I’ve said it before though, and I believe it: if Clinton gets elected and dismisses the public and its concerns for the cool comfort of the Washington establishment, the Democrats will find themselves right where the Republicans are 4 years from now. She will make the most of this opportunity, or she will blow it.

If the system, as is, can’t be moved—both parties are in trouble.

bnw wrote:

PA Ram wrote:

So freedom is “outdated”? Typical liberal crap that has brought the nation into the gutter.

What freedom have you lost under Obama that you had under Bush or Reagan? Just curious.

Lost Liberties in the Age of Obama
— Michael Steven Smith
http://solidarity-us.org/node/2675

The Obama Legacy: Decreasing Freedom
Brian and Garrett Fahy
http://townhall.com/columnists/brianandgarrettfahy/2014/03/17/the-obama-legacy-decreasing-freedom-n1809313

I don’t have time this morning to address everything in those articles, and it wouldn’t do any good. Anything I say would not make a difference anyway because I’ve been through enough of these arguments to know how they go. So I’ll just address a couple of things quickly from my point of view.

It seems that you are most worked up about, Obamacare, warrentless wiretapping, religious freedom because I suppose you’ve had to hand out condoms or maybe you had to issue a marriage license to a gay couple, I don’t know.

I guess you don’t care about a gay couple having any freedom to share health benefits that other married couples enjoy, or other married benefits. Well–I disagree with that and many Americans do. When Hillary takes over, don’t forget–the Supreme Court will demand people marry goats and produce demon spawn.

Warrentless wiretapping has been there through Bush–who, by the way–created this whole terror mess by invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. To pretend Iraq was in great shape when he left is to create a fiction in your mind. Paul Bremer was a disaster. And he is as much responsible for ISIS than any living human being. And he was Bush’s guy. Bush also signed a status of forces agreement regarding troop withdrawl. And if he hadn’t–the only way to keep Iraq stable was to keep troops there forever–in large numbers.

And Obamacare? Let me know when you find the death panels. A lot of the bad stuff surrrounding Obamacare is just as much a part of the right’s influence on it. They didn’t want it. They wanted something crappy they could point at and say–look–that doesn’t work.

It is NOT government run. There is no health care government run except for the VA.

This was about insurance. A public option would have been nice. And single payer is the best answer for everyone.

Trump’s solution? Buying insurance in a borderless landscape. If you hate your insurance now–just wait. You did not have choice before Obamacare–you had to stick in network–people were denied life saving treatments by insurance companies and there were even lifetime maximums not to mention getting denied coverage for pre-existing conditions.

In Trump’s plan the companies would all move to the most deregulated state–like Arizona and you’d have plenty of choices–all crap.

But if that’s the freedom you want–go for it.

I believe that Rush Limbaugh has been a disaster for America. He has helped to create a “reality” in people’s minds that they are somehow persecuted and all the causes are government causes. Anything that goes wrong is always the fault of government. Climate change is a hoax. Science can’t be trusted. De-regulate everything and let the free market go wild.

Go back and look at the less regulated eras and show me where it was great for everyone. Show me this utopia.

I don’t know, bmw.

I just don’t see it your way.

Obamacare is not great–I agree. It has problems. But there are good things. Keep the good things.

Fix it.

If congress was functional that would happen. But when all you are in office to do is to make a piece of legislation as awful as possible so you can point at it and say: “Look–government doesn’t work.”, you have no business in government.

Trump is not a solution to anything. He will make government even less functional.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by PA Ram.

When I was a teen I didn’t care for him. I had a friend who LOVED “The Boss”. I was kinda like…eh.

Then I started listening to him–liked some of his songs.

Then when I became an adult I listened some more. My wife is a HUGE fan. A few years ago we went to a concert in Hershey, PA. One of the best concerts I’ve ever seen. This old guy has energy–believe me.

I’m a big fan now.

His songs are really drawn from real life. I identify with his blue collar rock music. He’s not afraid to tackle difficult subjects either(The Wall, American Skin)and as an adult I appreciate more of what he has to say.

It took me time–but I’ve come around.

I’m a fan.

Well–I sure hope they win. I won’t be home all day–going to a fall festival in Jim Thorpe, PA. So I’ll be checking in on my phone for updates. We’ll be getting some wine and meade while there. So if things don’t work out–I’ll be able to forget about it in short order.

And after all that–if he loses, these people will not accept it. They will want a revolution.

And the guy who should be calming them? I don’t know he has it in him.

Pence calls for restraint will be whispers in the wind.

I would hope that Trump comes to his senses and tries to back some of this down–but I just can’t see it.