Saints Report #1 - September 12, 2021

The Saints opened their season with a football nation-stunning 38-3 victory over the highly regarded Green Bay Packers.  Leave it to the Saints to provide a shot of adrenaline to the hurricane-beleagured who-dat nation.

Who could have seen this coming?  Well I did, because when your supremely talented but aging MVP Quarterback spends the offseason trying to beat out Blossom to host a game show, while courting his latest movie star girlfriend and complaining about his rapport with his bosses, that’s a recipe called “too much on your plate that doesn’t included training.”  As amazing as Aaron Rodgers is, he’s 37, and he looked it today, mostly because of the Saints smothering defense.

Dennis Allen is in his 7^th year as defensive coordinator and is it is a luxury to have someone this good for so long.  Usually they get hired away, but the maturity, schemes, and disguises he employs allows him to overcome the occasional shortage of personnel.  Saints fans have been worried all year about the cornerback position, but 3^rd round pick Paulson Adebo picked off Aaron Rodgers In his first NFL start.  Someday he’ll be telling his grandchildren about that play as a career highlight, or the first of many interceptions.  Next week the Saints will be joined by another top flight cornerback they just traded for, Bradley Roby.  Don’t look now, but the Saints looked like the best defense in the NFL on opening weekend.

On offense, they were just as good.  Hopefully all year, the Saints will execute the run-first, time chewing, ball control offense they used this day.  Limited possessions, keeping high powered offensive superstars watching from the bench with growing impatience, as they methodically worked the ball down the field.  It’s a great formula.  Early in the game when Jameis Winston was unexpectedly running for first downs, and the Saints running back tandem was grinding away, I knew Sean Payton had landed on one of his formidable game plans.  He did it each time Brees was sidelined the last 2 years.  He did it to Tampa Bay twice last year.  The Coach can flat out put a game plan together.

So, how will you know if things are going the Saints’ way?  If the Quarterback is perfectly set up for success the way Jameis Winston was today.  Five Touchdown passes with only 148 yards passing is simply unheard of.  The statistical edge the Saints had in all areas was amazing today, and I could recite them, but will just let them speak for themselves.  The Saints theme for the year should be "no shootouts."  It will put every opponent in Jeopardy.

When a Hurricane like Ida just ravages its way through the land you love, leaving varying degrees of devastation in its wake it is a helpless feeling, like there’s nothing you can do up against a superior force. 

The Green Bay Packers just got a taste of that feeling.

 

NFL Preview 2021

The Thurman Thomas Helmet curse of Buffalo will end the night of February 13, 2022 with a city-wide party/riot that is only dampened by the blizzard conditions and sub-zero temperatures.  Fortunately, it will be hard to turn cars over in 4 feet of snow.  When your fifth Super Bowl trip finally results in a 35-30 victory led by NFL MVP Josh Allen, you are entitled to a celebration.  It was Allen's 28 yard touchdown strike to Stefon Diggs with 1:01 remaining in the 4^th quarter that effectively ended the Brady era.  Brady had apparently stiffened up during the hour-long halftime show "the greats of hip-hop." Buffalo’s notoriously big four straight Super Bowl losses are a distant memory, after they beat Nashville in the AFC Championship to get back to the Super Bowl.

That it was Buffalo that emerges as the champion after a season marred by injuries and disease is pretty amazing, as the revolutionary play of young quarterbacks with over 5000 yards passing dazzled America.

The NFL continues its March towards a March Super Bowl with a money-grabbing 17 game schedule.  By 2050 expect the Super Bowl nickname to go from “The Big Game” to “The Spring Game.”

I know this prediction is counter to my previous instinct that Patrick Mahomes would survive the State Farm curse to go to 10 straight Super Bowls.  I think Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, and Ryan Tannehill are in his rear-view mirror gaining at Dominic Toretto speed, and anything can happen, especially if Mike Vrabel can keep new acquisition Julio Jones healthy with a little prudent game rationing.  Would you like to tackle Derick Henry and cover Julio Jones in the same game?  I think there will be a lot of noise in Nashville, and it won’t just be Country Music. 

In the NFC, all eyes will be on Matthew Stafford, who will suddenly be the senior citizen of the circuit surrounded by more talent than he is accustomed to.  It will be interesting because, once the season starts, the media has to cover teams other than the Dallas Cowboys, and Colin Cowherd has to talk about quarterbacks other than Russell Wilson.  We will find out that Sam Darnold is no better than Josh Rosen, Justin Fields may be the football Michael Jordan Chicago has been waiting for, and Aaron Rodgers has his suitcase packed.  Buyer beware.  Many would like to be Aaron Rodgers.  He wants to be Alex Trebeck. 

So how will the Saints do?  Probably better than you ‘d expect.  My prediction is that the Saints finish 11-6.  How do I figure?  Well, with their lack of depth, particularly in the defensive backfield, I would peg them as a .500 team – let’s say 6-6, and Sean Payton is worth 5 games.  Remember the Saints are 7-1 in games started by Teddy Bridgewater and Taysom Hill over the last two seasons when Brees was hurt.  Now that Brees has retired, Payton has the much more talented, but less decisive Jameis Winston at the controls.  I would be pegging Winston for a 5000-yard season if Michael Thomas were starting the season.  If Marquez Callaway a) stays healthy, and b) is as good as he looked in the preseason, the Saints just need one more receiver to step up, maybe Lil’Jordan Humphrey, or the even littler Deonte Harris. 

What am I worried about?  I’m worried that the Saints extended quarterback battle will actually cost us the productivity of Taysom Hill, who has prepared all season to be a quarterback, not a multi-use player. I’m also a little worried about the length of schedule as it pertains to the aging roster.  Do you give Cameron Jordan, for example, a game off to keep fresh?

Everybody has penciled in the Brady Bucs for the Super Bowl, but at some point, Brady has to slow down with age, doesn’t he?  I ask this as someone who has recently had “old age” take a bat to my knees and back.  How long can he go?  Could the Bucs really go undefeated?  Well, I’ll say this – if healthy, their defense is good enough.

Am I writing the Saints off from a 5^th straight division title?  Not really.  The Saints made Brady look human for 2 and a half games last year, until a certain tight end, whom we will never mention again, fumbled the ball and momentum over to the Bucs.  It was a shame, because it is obvious that Payton is a great one-game coach, until the playoffs arrive.  Deep down, I think that will be the case again this year. 

The breaks have gone against the Saints in the playoffs, and while we are not as haunted as Buffalo, It’s almost as if we live in a football cone of uncertainty, never quite out of danger while that clock is still running.

At the Cinema - August 2021

CODA - 10 

I don’t know how to define “heart” in a movie, but I know it when I see it.  My favorite movie of the year so far is this Apple TV exercise in joy.  Just as Apple TV+ has a hit with Ted Lasso, now in its second season, they hit it out of the park with this movie directed by Sian Heder.

If you see only one movie this year, see this one.

Emilia Jones plays Ruby Rossi, the title character, a Child of Deaf Adults.  Her schedule consists of getting up at 3 am to go fishing with her family, then attend high school.  When she signs up for choir, her gifts as a singer are revealed, and she adds private singing lessons to her already packed schedule.  Unfortunately, her parents and older brother have no way to assess or witness this talent, because they can’t hear. Her family inhabits a world of financial desperation in the New England fishing industry, and she is their voice and ears as they try to navigate it.  It is often heart-breaking, and as the details of her harried existence unfold, you will get a depth of understanding of the deaf community.  Like last year’s Sound of Metal, and A Quiet Place, it’s only a partial glimpse, but it is insightful.

There isn’t a false note as Ruby juggles her responsibilities, adding in a romance with another singer, and they both aspire to go to the Berklee school of music in Boston.  While the plot is predictable, its execution is not.  The acting is tremendous, particularly by the deaf cast headed by Troy Kotsur as Ruby’s father.  I don’t want to give too much away, but have a box of Kleenex handy.  If this doesn’t move you, check your pulse.

 

Leave No Trace – 10

Why in the world did I watch this 2018 drama about a daughter and father living off the grid in the Oregon wild?  Because, believe it or not, it now sits atop the Rotten Tomatoes scoreboard as the most positively reviewed film ever.  My reviews don’t count in that talley.

There’s a lot going on in this movie, and it’s almost all psychological.  Ben Foster plays Will, a veteran with PTSD that has withdrawn from society completely and taken his teenage daughter Tom (played perfectly by Thomasina McKinzie) with him.  They are a formidable team in that they have developed a set of rules for living in the woods, so that they can remain undiscovered.  When you have some spare time, Google the “Leave no trace” rules for more info.  This is interesting environmental information, and I have no idea if it precedes, or has any relation to this movie.  But the movie is inspired by a true story of a father and daughter who lived in a Portland nature preserve for many years until they were removed.

When Tom breaks a rule, they are discovered and arrested.  Deemed homeless, they are subsequently placed in a workplace to which they both react differently.  They must decide their future, and this is definitely one of those “what would you do?” movies that I love so much.  Director Deborah Granik’s last feature was 2010’s Winter Bone in which she gifted us with Jennifer Lawrence.  Here she gives us McKinzie.  And yet, it is Ben Foster whose anguish inhabits this movie.  Strong and compelling, I understand why it has never had a negative movie review.

 

Shiva Baby – 10 (HBO)

Now this is how you make a comedy.  In just an hour and 17 minutes, short and sweet, Director Emma Seligman takes us on an exercise in anxiety.  Rachell Sennott plays Danielle, a young Jewish girl under pressure from her family to make something of herself.  What she has chosen is to become a sugar daddy to Max, a wall street hot shot. 

When Danielle has to attend a funeral of a family friend she barely knew, her experience begins with the usual family bickering and pressure about her future prospects, but soon escalates with the arrival of (surprise) her old girlfriend, then (surprise) her sugar daddy and (surprise) the wife and baby Danielle didn’t know about.  The wife, played by Dianna Agron (of Glee fame) doesn’t take long to catch the wind, and as Danielle moves from room to room in the cramped house where the post-service visitation is taking place, there is always a new navigation, with a hilarious result.

The night we watched this my main criteria was to find something short to watch.  Little did I know I would stumble upon a compact classic – no fluff, no stuff, just brilliance in brevity.

Inventing David Geffen – 10

Much like the David Foster documentary now available on Netflix, this biography of an entertainment mogul will amaze you.  It is now on Netflix, but first appeared on PBS in 2012 as part of the American Masters series. David Geffen wanted to be an agent/producer and he started at the bottom in the mail room of William Morris.  He misrepresented himself on his resume, and went to extraordinary lengths to keep the deception alive.  He started as an agent for Jesse Colin Young and the Youngbloods, a group that had a hit song called "Get Together" but I consider legendary because of their song “Sunlight.”  He then discovered Laura Nyro and launched her on her trajectory.  I was always a big fan of Nyro, so you could say this movie had me at hello.

Geffen is on a trajectory of his own, as a music, then movie hitmaker, as well as a political sponsor.  His contributions to the world of entertainment are varied and fascinating.  You think you know, but you don’t.  If you love music and movies, don’t miss this portrait of a guy who, live Foster and Clive Davis, has had a magic touch with acts like Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Cher, Jackson Browne, the Eagles, and many more, as well as a string of Oscar winning pictures. I’ve often spotted entertainment and thought they were going to be huge, and I was wrong.  Geffen was usually right.  PBS Stuff usually has a short run on Netflix, so catch it now.

Stop Making Sense – 10

I didn’t know much about David Byrne and/or The Talking Heads.  I knew that this movie is generally considered up there with The Last Waltz as the best documentary concert films of all time.  I saw the terrific David Byrne Broadway musical brought to HBO earlier in the year, and thought it was time to go back and catch the bookend to that experience.  It didn’t let me down.  It’s innovative approach to staging and filming a concert has held up. 

6 Underground – 1 (Netflix)

This is a Netflix “action” movie that embodies everything I hate about the current state of movies.  It is all nonsensical and disjointed action for action’s sake.  With splashy colors and ridiculous and graphic violence in one set piece after another that mean little, it is tied together by Ryan Reynolds’ half-hearted charisma.  You know you are in trouble in the first scene.  It is a car chase through Florence that lasts forever. Blood is spurting all over 4 of the 6 person team because one woman is trying to extract a bullet from the other woman’s leg.  High speed surgery, while chase cars keep coming out of nowhere to be exploded, shot, wrecked and otherwise exterminated.  This is more than violence porn.  It is graphic nonsense.  If you are one of those who believe the Afghanistan war was the biggest waste of money ever, you haven’t seen this garbage, directed of course by Michael Bay at a destruction cost of $150 Million just for Netflix.  No creativity here, sound and fury.  I can’t believe I watched the whole thing. 

Binge Report

Lie to Me – 10

I am revisiting, via Hulu, this 48-episode Fox show that aired from 2009 to 2011.  I liked it then.  It is even better than I remembered it.  The primary cast of Tim Roth, Kelli Williams, Monica Raymund, Brendan Hines, and Hayley McFarland ooze amazing chemistry and the plots are aggressive and compelling.  This show is unique and I haven’t re-watched all the episodes yet, but it is in the pantheon of my favorite drama series of all time. 

Roth plays Cal Lightman, a character based on the work of Paul Ekman, a specialist on facial expression.  Ekman was a consultant on the show, so there's an air of authenticity.  The Lightman Group takes on cases where they are called on to ferret out deception and tell who is lying.  Of course, all of this is done within the constraints of episodic television in which the mystery, plus a usual secondary plot, has to be resolved within an hour-long time frame, then the world is saved for another week. In the world of tv today, it would be done much differently, and in my imagination, it could be even better.  Great series.  If you are looking for something to binge, check this one out.  Terrific cast, terrific premise, with Tim Roth's quirkiness center stage.

 

Here are my favorite TV Drama’s of all-time, in only approximate order:

Hill Street Blues
The Good Wife
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The Rockford Files
House
Firefly
Rectify
The Newsroom
The Wire
Star Trek
Breaking Bad
Lie to Me
Homeland
The OA
Billions
Six Feet Under
The Practice

And select seasons of The Sinner, True Detective, and Fargo.

I still have many I want to watch, with some surgery downtime ahead of me.  What’s your favorite TV Drama?

Two Letters

As I write this in August of 2021, we are almost a year and a half into a world-wide pandemic of a virus that is mutating as it relentlessly seeks its next host.  I hope we haven’t missed our chance to snuff it out.  Too many have died, its lingering severity is becoming obvious, and I am still frustratingly limited in things that I had hoped to be doing in this year of my life, and not just because of the virus.

It occurs to me that I can provide a valuable public service for those who have chosen to not protect themselves with an available vaccine.  Therefore I have written two explanatory pieces that can be used as a script or a letter to their future generations, should the worst happen.  Please feel free to modify, transplant, or delete sections as you see fit.

FOR GRANDPARENTS 

 

Dear grandchild,

If you are being handed this letter by my offspring, it means I am no longer present.

I felt it was important to explain why.  I trust they have given it to you at the appropriate moment, when you can understand what I’m about to say.  I made it clear to my children that the decision if, where, and when to give this is purely up to them.

Perhaps you have heard this in a history class, perhaps it has been forgotten, perhaps it has been similarly repeated. 

Back in the year 2020 a virus spread across our planet.  Our then-President initiated an unprecedented  program called "operation warp-speed" to quickly develop vaccines that could protect us against the deadly virus.  It was implemented in early 2021, and got immediate positive results.  Unfortunately, the virus mutated, as living things often do.  For a variety of reasons some chose to resist the use of the vaccine.  I was part of the resistance.  I knew there was a very small chance I could get infected and die, and if you are reading this, that is what happened.  I want you to know that I chose not to avail myself of the vaccine on principled reasons.  Because I’m gone, you may not agree with my decision, but I hope you will respect it.

Perhaps before I died, I got to hold you in my arms.  Perhaps you came along after my passing.  I hope you remember me, or have been told about me.  I hope you will forgive me for not being around.  There is so much I have probably missed.  Maybe I missed your playing sports.  Maybe music.  Maybe I could have had a hand in developing your interests or hobbies.  There are certainly family traditions I would have liked to keep alive, along with thousands of little moments we would have shared.

By the time you get this letter, perhaps you have experienced milestones I could have observed.  Perhaps you have experienced heartbreak that I could have been there to help you through.  I would have liked to be there to wipe your tears away or hug you with unbridled joy.  I’m sorry I won’t be there to watch you go on your first date, go to your first homecoming, your first prom, and even watch you fall in love.  I would have liked to have danced at your wedding.  I would have liked to see what your children looked like, and watched you experience that new kind of love. If pictures are still a thing, I would be taking them, I promise.

I want to apologize for not being part of your life.  If you have been handed this letter, I have missed elections and events that were important to me.  I didn’t get to grow as old as I had intended with my friends.  We all die eventually, but we all seek to prolong life to continue drinking in what life has to offer.  I made a choice and I have missed out.  I hope my decision affected only my health, not anyone else’s.  If my decision spread the disease and caused pain to other families that would be an unwelcome legacy of my decision.

I don’t know what our country is like as you read this, but we had fought wars and diseases successfully by doing it as one nation, united and indivisible.  I can tell you that when I decided not to take the vaccine we were a terribly fractured nation.  I hope the nation has healed, but I honestly am doubtful.  I hope for your sake, I am wrong and you grow up with a patriotic appreciation for this country I love..

I want you to understand I died on a principle I believed in, just as many have died fighting for our country in bloody wars.   I hope you have been taught the principles I would have taught you.  I hope when given the chance, you will stand for something.  Sometimes, we have to take great risks.  In our case, it didn’t work out, but it was my decision and mine alone.  I know I’ve a left a void in our family.  I didn’t mean for it to happen that way.

I hope I am watching over you and you have the life I envisioned for you.

I would have enjoyed loving you.

 

FOR PARENTS

Dear (son or daughter),

If you are getting this, it was because I wanted you to know why I am no longer in your life.

You’ve probably heard the story of my death already, but I wanted you to know that when I chose not to get vaccinated it was because I sincerely believed that (fill in personal reasons here, such as government overreach, uncertainty about the research, hoax, side effects, etc.) As you read this I don’t know if in my last days I would have reconsidered that decision or not, but I do want to tell you how important it is that as you grow up, you get good information and make good choices.  Stand tall for what you believe in.  But also, consider the long-term ramifications of your decisions.  I may have lost perspective in the incredible stress and rhetoric of a most volatile and dangerous situation.  It wasn't the exit I had hoped for.

Perhaps your mom/dad has gotten help from others in raising you, assuming they survived this pandemic.  I guess there’s a chance that what got me spread to them or other family members, and that would be tragic.  I know how vital adult guidance is as a person develops and I hope they loved you.   Since you survived, I trust good people have stepped up to care for you, and if I was replaced by a step-parent, a grand-parent, or even a foster-parent, I hope you gave them the same respect you would have given me.  That’s important to me.

By now I have missed much in your life, with much more ahead.  I hope you have a happy and fruitful life and I hope I am watching over you.  I hope you have been, and will continue to be, the strong person I thought you were on the way to becoming.  I hope you are a great role model for those around you.  I had so many plans for us, and I’m sorry they went awry.  Please tell your children and grandchildren about me, hopefully with no bitterness.  I really thought I was doing the right thing.  It just didn’t work out, and you will find that life can be that way.

Wishing I was there,