Quotulatiousness

September 23, 2019

Oakland Raiders take home no plunder from Minnesota, losing 34-14, marking the Vikings’ 500th win in team history

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

After a very disappointing result last week at Green Bay, the Vikings welcomed the Oakland Raiders to US Bank Stadium for a week three matchup. The Vikings came in to the game favoured by the bookies in Las Vegas, but last year at this time, the Vikings were in a similar situation, having played Green Bay the previous week (a tie) and facing a down-at-the-heels AFC franchise as heavy odds favourites at home. The Bills stampeded all over the Vikings in week three last year, flying back to Buffalo with an impressive 27-6 victory to their credit. Oakland was probably hoping history would repeat this year.

A view of the Minnesota Vikings’ new home stadium by “www78”
“Viking Stadium” by www78 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Chris Tomasson:

On a day for nostalgia, the Vikings won by playing old-fashioned Minnesota football.

With the Vikings holding the 50-year reunion of their first Super Bowl team, they won the 500th game in franchise history Sunday, defeating the Oakland Raiders 34-14 at U.S. Bank Stadium.

It was a victory similar to many from back in the old days. The Vikings utilized a strong running attack and played defense that made the “Purple People Eaters” proud. The legendary linemen gathered around the Gjallarhorn before the game, with Jim Marshall sounding it, and then were introduced at halftime along with teammates and coaches from the 1969 team.

The Vikings rushed for 211 yards, including 110 on 16 carries by Dalvin Cook. He became the first player in team history to run for 100 yards in the each of the first three games of a season.

Minnesota took a 21-0 lead in the second quarter and held the Raiders to just one touchdown until they scored a meaningless TD with 1:23 left in the game.

The Vikings bounced back from last week’s 21-16 loss at Green Bay, a game in which they trailed 21-0 early in the second quarter. They were determined to start fast on Sunday, and they did, scoring on their first possession on a 35-yard pass from Kirk Cousins to Adam Thielen.

Cousins bounced back after a disastrous performance against the Packers in which he completed just 14 of 32 passes while throwing two interceptions and losing a fumble. He was turnover free Sunday, completing 15 of 21 passes for 174 yards.

The Vikings won their 500th game on second try. They are 480-398-11 in the regular season and 20-29 in the playoffs for an overall record of 500-427-11.

Matthew Coller:

If you thought the Oakland Raiders’ offseaon was bad, you should have seen their first two quarters on Sunday.

Before the smoke (not fire!) from the Minnesota Vikings’ dragon had cleared from pregame ceremonies, the Vikings were up by three scores. And the Raiders went out of their way to make each score as easy as possible for the Vikings.

On the opening play from scrimmage, quarterback Kirk Cousins heard a handful of boos from the crowd after tripping on an offensive lineman’s foot. Following a crushing loss to the Green Bay Packers last week, the possibility existed for Cousins to lose confidence out of the gate.

But the Raiders simply would not allow it.

The Vikings were shut down on their first drive on third-and-9 but Oakland committed a holding penalty, providing Cousins with a restart. Cousins quickly took advantage, hitting tight end Irv Smith with a 20-yard pass down the seam. Then Oakland showed that they didn’t bother to watch the Vikings’ loss in Green Bay as they bit hard on a play-action bootleg, leaving Adam Thielen wide open for a 35-yard touchdown.

At US Bank Stadium, seven point leads feel like double digits. The Raiders made it feel like even more than that with their first two drives of the game, in which they totaled 17 yards.

Oakland’s punting game — it’s only strength on Sunday — pinned the Vikings in their own zone on Minnesota’s third drive of the game but the Raiders promptly showed everyone that they are the Raiders with two 15-yard penalties, one late hit on Cousins by Arden Key and a facemask by cornerback Gareon Conley. Both infractions came on third down.

Over at the Daily Norseman, it seems that Ted Glover let his purple pen run wild for a paragraph before getting down to the traditional post-game Stock Market Report:

Today, like they did against Atlanta … and like they didn’t against Green Bay … Minnesota started fast, jumped out to a big lead, and then used a pummeling ground game to bludgeon and gash the Oakland Raiders like Jack The Ripper used to bludgeon and gash his East End London victims. Today, The Vikings had their blood up, US Bank Stadium transformed into Whitechapel for a few hours, and the Raiders were a smelly pirate hooker that stood no chance. For a skittish fan base that was ready to bolt and stampede, this was just what we needed…

And then the Buy/Sell recommendations:

Buy: Playing aggressively to open the game. In two games, the Vikings offense has started fast. Today, they went right down the field, scored, and once again, before you could really get settled Minnesota was up 21-0.

Sell: Playing aggressively to end the first half. During the off-season, head coach Mike Zimmer has talked about how important it is to try and score points before the half, and he’s right. Well, one of the things about the Zimmer era that has bugged the ever loving hell out of me is how rarely the Vikings, you know, actually score before the half. Today, they got the ball on their eight, with one timeout and 1:06 left on the clock. The odds of a touchdown were long there, but getting into field goal range seemed very doable. Especially after the first play, which was a Dalvin Cook draw that banged for 16 yards. Yet, with a 14 point lead, Minnesota just decided to eat the clock and call it a half. Offense was clicking, so I don’t understand why they wouldn’t at least try to get into field goal range.

Buy: You could probably call a penalty on almost every play in a typical NFL game. Look, being a referee is hard, I get it. On almost any play, if you wanted, you could call holding, or some other infraction. The game moves at a fast pace, and there is probably a technical violation of the rules committed by both sides on every play. Judgement is a big part of the job, and knowing the rules of the NFL is tough.

Sell: Calling a penalty on almost every play in this NFL game. But my God, quit throwing a flag on what seems like every play. It’s gotten so bad that no matter what, at the end of literally every play in an NFL game, no matter who is playing, I wait to see if there’s a penalty. The only thing that can kill the NFL is the NFL itself, and sometimes it really feels they’re intentionally trying to make their game unwatchable. Seriously, the only person that tunes in to watch the referee is either his wife or his Mom. No one else does, yet these guys get so much camera time they’re going to need to join the Screen Actor’s Guild and start paying union dues. Let the players play the damn game.

Buy: Eric Wilson, pass rusher guy. When the Vikings sent Wilson after Carr or had him spy him today, it was generally successful. He was credited with two sacks, and did a really good job.

Sell: Eric Wilson, pass cover guy. But as good as he generally was in run support and the pass rush, he struggled mightily in pass coverage. He was fooled badly on Oakland’s first touchdown, and on the next drive his guy was wide open, and the only reason the play failed was because of a poor throw by Carr. If Oakland completes that pass, they’re in business in Vikings territory, and it might have changed the momentum of the game.

M4 Sherman – The Workhorse of D-Day

Filed under: History, Military, USA, Weapons, WW2 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Real Engineering
Published on 21 Sep 2019

Watch over 2,400 documentaries for free for 30 days by signing up at http://www.CuriosityStream.com/realen… and using the code, “realengineering

New streaming platform: https://watchnebula.com/

Patreon:
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https://twitter.com/thebrianmcmanus
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Thank you to AP Archive for access to their archival footage

The “Global Climate Strike”

The big “let’s all play hooky from school” event’s Toronto organizers have been getting positive coverage from some of the local media, because of course they have. Here’s Tanya Mok for BlogTO, listing the totally reasonable and not in any way unrealistic “demands” of the movement:

FridaysForFuture Demonstration, 25 January 2018 in Berlin.
Photo by C. Suthorn via Wikimedia Commons.

The coalition has made a list of seven demands, which “reflect the rallying cries of the intersectional movements” they belong to. Some of those demands include:

  • Indigenous rights and sovereignty.
  • The protection of forests, land, and water sources.
  • A shift to publicly-owned renewable energy, and reducing national carbon emission by 65% by 203, reaching zero emissions by 2040.
  • A $15 minimum wage for all, and higher taxation on the rich.
  • Universal public services like health care and dental care, free university and college, housing as a human right, and free public transit.
  • Justice for migrants and refugees, allowing status for all. That includes putting an end to deportations and allowing for the full access to public services.

There will be a concert at Queen’s Park after the rally, as well as a follow-up benefit concert at the Tranzac Club in the evening. A giant street mural project run by Greenpeace will also be taking place prior to the rally, around 10 a.m., at the southern point of Queen’s Park.

Virtual Tour: Newly Renovated Cody Firearms Museum

Filed under: History, USA, Weapons — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Forgotten Weapons
Published on 27 Jul 2019

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forg…

The Cody Firearms Museum has spent many months undergoing a complete renovation and rebuilding, and is now back fully open to the public. The new layout has not just improved visibility and put the guns in better display context, but it has actually increased the number of guns on display. When I last filmed at Cody, most of the really interesting unusual stuff was back in the vaults — but during filming this past week we had to take a remarkable number of guns out of displays to film. This is a great improvement — the Cody museum was always good, but this new design has made it the best firearms museum in the United States, in my opinion.

Visiting? The CFM is part of the 5-museum complex that is the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in beautiful Cody, Wyoming:

https://centerofthewest.org

Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
PO Box 87647
Tucson, AZ 85754

QotD: Harry Truman’s second thoughts about the CIA

Filed under: Government, History, Quotations, USA — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 01:00

… it got out of hand. The fella … the one that was in the White House after me never paid any attention to it, and it got out of hand. Why, they’ve got an organization over there in Virginia now that is practically the equal of the Pentagon in many ways. And I think I’ve told you, one Pentagon is one too many.

Now, as nearly as I can make out, those fellows in the CIA don’t just report on wars and the like, they go out and make their own, and there’s nobody to keep track of what they’re up to. They spend billions of dollars on stirring up trouble so they’ll have something to report on. They’ve become … it’s become a government all of its own and all secret. They don’t have to account to anybody.

That’s a very dangerous thing in a democratic society, and it’s got to be put a stop to. The people have got a right to know what those birds are up to. And if I was back in the White House, people would know. You see, the way a free government works, there’s got to be a housecleaning every now and again, and I don’t care what branch of the government is involved. Somebody has to keep an eye on things.

And when you can’t do any housecleaning because everything that goes on is a damn secret, why, then we’re on our way to something the Founding Fathers didn’t have in mind. Secrecy and a free, democratic government don’t mix. And if what happened at the Bay of Pigs doesn’t prove that, I don’t know what does. You have got to keep an eye on the military at all times, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s the birds in the Pentagon or the birds in the CIA.

Harry S. Truman, quoted by Jeff Deist, “Truman Was Right About the CIA”, Mises Wire, 2017-03-08.

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