NFL23 Update: Hail to the Chiefs (Again)!

Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs! When I searched "Kansas City Chiefs" on Google a second ago, fireworks flew across the screen of my laptop.

And deservedly so! For my money, not I of the previous LVII Super Bowls was any more entertaining than last night's event featuring the Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, Travis Kelce, Harrison Butker, Chris Jones and the rest of the victor Chiefs; the worthy San Francisco 49ers; Taylor Swift and (hopefully) her future in-laws; Jim Nantz and Tony Romo; Andra Day, Post Malone and Reba McEntire; Dan Marino; Usher and Alicia Keys, and the rest. Starting at about 5 Central, I watched with my family virtually every second of CBS's remaining five hours of TV coverage from Las Vegas, and, my gosh, I felt so thankful to have gotten to experience the thing.

Furthermore, the Chiefs have now won two Super Bowls in a row, played in four since 2019 (winning three) and now are now 4-2 in all-time Super Bowl appearances. All time, that's the sixth-most Super Bowl appearances and fifth-most victories (along with the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants) for Kansas City, which also won more AFL championships (three) than any other team. What a franchise!

Did you know that the Chiefs' defense from 1966 through 1971 was apparently nicknamed "The Redwood Forest?" I did not. In fact, I don't think I exactly knew that the Chiefs' offense from 2018 through 2021 was apparently nicknamed "The Legion of Doom." I remember hearing Nantz and others say "The Legion of Doom" when I happened to be watching football games off mute during that time period, but I guess I always figured they were just making something up out of thin air to promote some comic-book movie that was out at the time and never paid much attention. Anyway, I learned both of these notes this morning from the Chiefs' Wikipedia page, which I intend to read over the next several days as I think back over my favorite memories from my very fun Sunday night.

Of course, at my typical HP pace, that will likely take me right through to kickoff of the Miami Dolphins' victory in Super Bowl LIX (Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans). Hail to the Chiefs, and comments flow!

NFL19 Update

While the crew was filming, a Bengals employee noticed that the camera was focused on the sidelines for most of the first quarter and notified the media relations team. https://t.co/04fKDsMNtS

— NewsRadio 840 WHAS (@840WHAS) December 10, 2019

Before he was hired by the long-cheating New England Patriots in 2000, Bill Belichick's career record as an NFL head coach was 36-44. When he was drafted by the Patriots in that same year, Tom Brady was selected with the 199th choice. It would be interesting to know how successful these two might've been without all of the cheating. In an NFL explicitly engineered for parity and razor-thin competitive margins, would Belichick have been closer to the subpar NFL head coach his actual NFL record showed him to be before 2000, or would he have achieved the genius-coach status he has acquired over the last 19 years and the Patriots' multiple instances of exposed cheating and presumably many, many more instances of unexposed cheating? Would Brady have turned out to be the marginal quarterback prospect all of the NFL teams concluded him to be when he left the University of Michigan, or would he have still come to be widely considered as one of the league's absolute all-time greats? For that matter, what might've been made of the careers of the dozens of players and coaches who have excelled in New England but have proven unable to replicate those successes with other teams?

But, of course, we never will know, and that's a shame. What we do know is that cheating is wrong, stupid and no fun and that we don't have to pretend otherwise. So, anyway, this seems like an opportune moment to catch up on the race for the NFL19 championship.

AFC (five or six legitimate teams will qualify for the playoffs)

1. Baltimore Ravens (NFL00, NFL12 champ; NFL11* co-champ) 11-2
2. Buffalo Bills 9-3*
3. Kansas City Chiefs (NFL69 champ) 9-4
4. Pittsburgh Steelers (NFL74, NFL75, NFL78, NFL79, NFL05, NFL08 champ; NFL01*, NFL04* NFL16* co-champ) 8-4*
5. Houston Texans 8-5
6. Tennessee Titans 8-5
7. Cleveland Browns 6-6*
8. Oakland Raiders (NFL76, NFL80, NFL83 champ) 6-7
9. Indianapolis Colts (NFL70, NFL06 champ; NFL03*, NFL14* co-champ) 6-7
10. New York Jets (NFL68 champ) 5-6*
11. Denver Broncos (NFL97, NFL98, NFL15 champ) 5-8
12. San Diego Chargers (NFL07* co-champ)  5-8
13. Jacksonville Jaguars (NFL97*, NFL17* co-champ) 4-9
14. Miami Dolphins (NFL72, NFL73 champ; NFL85* co-champ) 3-9*
15. Cincinnati Bengals 1-12

NFC (six teams will qualify for the playoffs)

1. San Francisco 49ers (NFL81, NFL84, NFL88, NFL89, NFL94 champ) 11-2
2. Green Bay Packers (NFL66, NFL67, NFL10 champ; NFL97* co-champ) 10-3
3. New Orleans Saints (NFL09 champ) 10-3
4. Seattle Seahawks (NFL13 champ, NFL14* co-champ) 10-3
5. Minnesota Vikings 9-4
6. Los Angeles Rams (NFL99, NFL18 champ) 8-5
7. Chicago Bears (NFL85* co-champ) 7-6
8. Dallas Cowboys (NFL71, NFL77, NFL92, NFL93, NFL95 champ) 6-6*
9. Philadelphia Eagles (NFL04*, NFL17* co-champ) 6-6*
10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFL02 champ) 6-7
11. Carolina Panthers (NFL03* co-champ) 5-8
12. Atlanta Falcons (NFL16* co-champ) 4-9
13. Detroit Lions 3-9-1
14. Arizona Cardinals 3-9-1
15. Washington Redskins (NFL82, NFL87, NFL91 champ) 3-9*
16. New York Giants (NFL86, NFL90 champ; NFL07*, NFL11* co-champ) 2-10*

*Losses against cheaters don't count; wins do.

On Andrew Luck

You can if you want listen to the NFL Ringer emergency podcast that went up yesterday.
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In that podcast you'll hear a comment from Kevin Clark that really hit home with me. In Luck's first three seasons he was hit 60 more times than any other QB in the League. Clark points out that it only takes one hit to end a career or begin the process of ending a career. Just think Bo Jackson. When you get hit 60 more times than anyone else you are really increasing your chances of ending a career early.

The people who should really be sweating things after Luck's announcement are the Houston Texans fans who have to sit and watch Deshaun Watson get banged around game after game in part because the Texans seem incapable of fixing his offensive line, just like the Colts could never fix Luck's.

I don't watch much football these days, but I read about it and listen to people talk about it all the time. You can read the piece Kevin Clark wrote on Luck's retirement. Luck is beloved by the young writers I follow and their frustration over how his career was managed is quite apparent when they talked about it and will talk about it. All these writers were so happy for Luck last year that he finally found himself in a system where he wasn't getting hit all the time, but it seems it was too little, too late.

NFL19 Update

The Miami Dolphins are playing a live, professional-football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on national, prime-time television. Comments flow!

Forty First Podcast

The forty first podcast is up. Thanks to freemidi.org for the audio files. Eric and Matthew finish simulating the Fake CBK.

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Oh, Kentucky

$25K to "Grow Rural Education" in Ballard County.

Solar-powered wine, from Pulaski County.

"Load your guns, lock your doors," says the sheriff in Martin County.

Rallying for Paradise.

Kentucky's infrastructure report card: C-minus.

Retiring in Kentucky? Keep looking.

Kentucky is big for Sasquatch sightings, with Anderson County leading the way, per an interesting Marie Mitchell column for the Richmond Register.

Turning to sports, John Wall is coming back, and Matt House reportedly couldn't leave.

Hiring in Madisonville and Central City (part-time MCC faculty in all sections).