Crabcake

Someone before (it may have been you) suggested going back to a hotel conference room like they did in the 80’s. I say take it a step further. Let’s go all the way with the throwbacks and bring back the analog phones in the shape of the team helmets.

Browns back-to-back offseason champs

Brady to LA has seemed inevitable to me ever since most of the insiders said he was likely leaving the Pats. The Chargers desperately need to drum up some interest, and will need a stopgap to their QB of the future with Rivers gone. It will be interesting to see which of Belichick and Brady will have the most success now that they’re separated. My money’s on Belichick.

The Vikings got more for Stefon Diggs, an admittedly solid receiver, than the Texans got for the best receiver in football. Laughable.

The true impact of COVID-19: getting people to actually talk about Red Robin

I was driving when I saw the alert come up on my phone. I audibly laughed out loud. Bill O'Brien... my god.

Professional football in England suspended until the weekend of April 4. https://www.premierleague.com/news/1645173?sf231456833=1

This is absolutely crazy. Can’t remember the last time everything shut down like this... our dinner conversations for the last 3 days or so have been 90% about COVID. The world revolves around it at this point. Agreed, it is an unimportant side note in the grand scheme of things, but I can’t help but think about it. Surely you can’t just ignore a 25 point advantage with 9 games to go.

Fair play to Atleti. Not many teams in Europe can go to Anfield and keep their heads after going 2-0 down - Barça certainly couldn’t. Football is a cruel game sometimes, and Liverpool deserved to win today. Bad things happen when you don’t finish your chances. And Adrian, woof. That was a Karius-level mistake. This sucks, royally so, but if you’d offered Liverpool fans a guaranteed PL trophy at the beginning of the season with nothing else I think a decent amount of them would take it. 2019-20 LFC will go down as a Top 5 PL side of all time but I think this loss removes them from the company of Utd’s Treble winners and maybe even the Centurions on an all-competitions basis.

I've had some time to stew on the loss. First things first - Watford deserved that W, plain and simple. Better team the entire game. Liverpool haven't looked right since the Atletico game and the loss of Henderson is just exacerbating that. Despite their dominance in the league I think the lads' confidence is probably at an all time low for this season. (By the way, this should be the last nail in the coffin of anyone who still doesn't rate Jordan Henderson. Anyone who tries to say he's not good enough for Liverpool or England or is just a "sideways/backwards passer" either doesn't actually watch the games or is trolling.) I think that loss could be the best thing that happens to this team. We needed to be reminded that you don't win games by divine right - you've got to earn it. Especially with the Atletico clash at Anfield looming, it's an important reminder to the team that nothing is given on the field - everything is earned. I really wanted us to go undefeated, I think we were good enough to do it, but it does take a lot of pressure off of us now to try and match the Invincibles, and we can just go out there and focus on playing our best game. The Atletico clash is now the most important game of the season.

The Premier League is launching their own Hall of Fame, the first two players inducted will be announced March 19, with more to come. The official article only mentions players, though I’d assume managers will eventually be in too. If we’re going players though, I’d go Shearer and Giggs/Henry to start. If managers can be inducted initially Sir Alex is the first name on the sheet, followed by Shearer.

Caps got a washed-up Ilya Kovalchuk for a half eaten ham sandwich and a bag of chips. Cool, I guess?

I've only recently began really getting involved with The Ringer, as in regularly checking the website/YouTube channel and listening to some podcasts, as opposed to clicking on links every once in a while. Overall, I really enjoy their content. They have some real talent on there, who are both really informative and also legitimately funny (like Kevin Clark). Every once in a while they come across as so "hip" and "modern" that it wears on you, but overall I like their stuff. That was a really long-winded way to get where I initially wanted to go with this post, which is to say that of all the personalities on The Ringer, Simmons is easily my least favorite (so far). He just comes across with such a huge ego all the time, and I don't get any of the entertainment to balance it out. I watched a few of his Book of Basketball 2.0 videos and they were alright but I enjoyed them more for the sports history, not for Simmons' commentary.

That’s the internet for you.