SWITZERLAND FORUM

[Emeritus]

When I was in what was then called junior high school, I had a battle axe of an old maid English teacher. For some reason she picked me out as her victim to be the one in the class to master English grammar. It even extended to that nonsense of diagramming sentences. I wasn't interested, but she informed me that I would learn it, in class and for as many hours after school every day as it took. I had other things to do after school, so I got busy studying. By the end of that year I could have been a proofreader. I suddenly started noticing lots of errors in newspapers. I haven't split an infinitive since. Sadly, in this era of computer-printed newspapers I still find a lot of errors. Especially egregious are the use of the wrong homonyms, which the computer doesn't seem to recognize. There obviously are no newspaper proofreaders.

[cklaurence]

I suppose I was this century's battle axe of an English teacher, Em. I would go ballistic over the lack of skills the supposed "advanced-gifted" students arrived with in my class. They called me "The Evil Ms. L" and made no secret of it. I didn't pick out one student, though--I took the class as a whole. I would never single anyone out for fear of hurting their feelings or shaking their confidence even more at an age where confidence was practically non-existent anyway.
Oddly enough, I still hear from many of the adults (now) that I taught. Not the ones I would have expected to stay in touch with me, though--the bright ones that everything came easy to, who breezed through without a problem. I hear from the ones who toughed it out; many who outright hated me at the time. I have buckets full of stories; some funny, some terribly sad, about them when they were young and now. I must say, though, that I treasure them more than all of the brilliant students that passed through my classroom. They are the ones who actually appreciate me (now) and understand why I behaved in the strict manner, played no favorites and bought no bullshit from anyone. They are the ones who have made it without having had anything handed to them, and in the end, they are the ones who will get the most out of their success and appreciate what they have more than any of the others.

[Emeritus]

I see that the Texans have turned down an invitation to be featured on Hard Knocks, because they don't want the distraction. I'm not surprised, because both Kubiak and Phillips seem very businesslike and uninterested in media attention. Kubiak has said before that he prefers for the Texans to stay under the radar. The owner doesn't even talk to the media.

[cklaurence]

If I were an owner I'd keep my team's agenda mum, and if I were a coach, I'd have my players keep their mouths SHUT. If I caught any of them shooting their mouths off--I wouldn't care how important he was to the game, he'd be benched and that would be that for the week.Or I'd do something that'd put him out there where he was bound to get taken out (if you know what I'm saying) so he'd learn a quick lesson...

It drives me crazy when those players open their mouths up and give the other team a reason to beat the crap out of them. It boggles my mind how some of those coaches let them get away with that stuff...

[Baglady]

G' Morrning Switzerland ~

Since it's baseball season, will brag a little - got to see my favorite 7 yr old hit a 3 run home run in TN last w/e

Owners? Don't have a clue on Irsay and his "tweets" but at least he's an improvement over his Dad - ugh...

CK, honestly I think your Dolphins might surprise this season but NE had an impressive draft and as always, the team to beat in the AFC East

Em, I don't believe the TX's are 'under the radar' anymore, they are the real deal. Should be interesting season in our div, Jags have always been tough on D, they have a new HC and owner, Gabbert now has legit WR weapons. Will (can) he utilize them? Not sure if the Titans will stick w/ Hasselbeck or give Locker a shot (lots like him in dynasty fantasy leagues)? And no clue on what to expect w/ the Colts, new GM, HC, players. Realistically, I just hope the Colts can get out of the AFC South basement but it may take a few years. Patience will be tested in Indy....

[Emeritus]

I think that the Colts will be the most interesting team in the AFC South this season, simply because nobody knows what to expect. I don't know if even their own coaches know. So much depends on somebody in the locker room taking over the leadership role. Peyton Manning was the undisputed leader of the team for so long that somebody else will have to step up. I'm concerned about my Texans, because they lost a team leader when Ryans was traded away. I think that they have several replacements in their young players, but they will have to get the team behind them. I don't know about the Titans, who look great one week and terrible the next. You never know which team you will be playing.

[cklaurence]

I think your Colts will surprise you, Ms B. Last year's collapse, IMHO, was more about the shock and awe (if I may borrow one of your old hero's terms of the dramatic and unexpected loss of Peyton. It was pretty basically the same amazing team that had year after year dazzled the NFL and kept all the other teams (especially in your division) constantly on their toes and fighting to keep up, much less beat them. In a heartbeat, Peyton was out and it was as though the heartbeat of the team had stopped. For whatever reason, they simply could not regain their composure. It's my bet that they will have recouped, regrouped and be prepared to play some serious, competitive ball this year. They may not make it to the play-offs, but I wouldn't be against them either.
As for your Texans, Em, I agree with Ms B--they are for real. You are right up there with the teams to beat now, so it's just about how well your boys hold up to being the division target--the team that all the other teams prepare harder for, and think about more often. They have stepped up to another level, which makes their lives more difficult, but somehow, when teams get there, they seem to be able to handle it.
Regarding my team? You should just hear the hype (emanating from Dolphin Central, of course) on Tannehill! They are trying to make him sound like the second coming of Christ--really. They've gone so far as to compare him with Luck! Boggles my mind (particularly because there's sure to be a number of jerks that buy into it and hang onto their seats, which jeopardizes my opportunity to move over to the other side of the stadium, dammit). It cracks me up, not so much that Ross and Ireland would come up with this hype, but that anyone with half-a-mind would buy into it. I've lost my mind completely, so when it comes to anything Dolphin, I just giggle wildly anyway. I think of myself as from Missouri, and my entire attitude is, 'SHOW ME!' Of course, everyone knows what the Dolphins have had to show over the past 13 years...

[Emeritus]

LOL,all that I've heard about Tannehill is how attractive his wife Lauren is. I wonder if he was trying to copy Brady by marrying a model. Of course she isn't a rich supermodel like Brady's wife, but I find her prettier. How that will help the Dolphins I can't imagine.

[cklaurence]

I didn't even know he was married, Em. Fins' news on Tannehill is all propaganda on his brilliant mind and what an unexpected gem of a QB he is. I'll have to go to outside news sources to check out his wife. He's kind of a doofy looking fella himself, so far as I can see...

[Emeritus]

tannehill-wife-3.jpg (127.35 KiB) Viewed 13410 times

[cklaurence]

I checked her out after your post, Em. She's a model and a big time Christian. They don't say much about his religious beliefs, but they went into great detail about hers, and apparently she has enough religion to take care of them both . She is very attractive if you like that vapid blonde look, but I guess I got blonded out with Paris Hilton and that era of ditzy, dopey broads that had nothing to offer but the blank stares and stupidity. I prefer a face with character--even flaws. It may sound weird, but I think it adds so much to the picture...

[Emeritus]

She can't be too vapid, ck. She has two degrees from Texas A&M, which is a very tough school. I mentioned her only because there has been more coverage of her than her husband. All that I have heard about Tannehill is that he has great ability, but is very raw. There are always surprises in the NFL and maybe the Dolphins will get luckier than they deserve. There was a Facebook discussion of best-ever quarterbacks yesterday and all agreed that Dan Mario was incomparably the greatest passer ever to play the game.

[cklaurence]

[b]Yes, I've often heard that if Danny played under today's rules he'd set records that could NEVER be beaten, and I believe that. Probably he'd have set records like that if he hadn't had his legs taken away by Jimmy J and David Wannstandt in their quest to get rid of him in their years coaching him as well; but they did a pretty thorough job of doing him in by taking away receivers, guards and any kind of a running back. It was a horrible thing to witness, and we haven't had a decent QB, coach or team since, so the fans are paying dearly, but so be it. It was a horrible thing to sit back and watch!!![/b]

[Emeritus]

Marino was a once-in-a-lifetime quarterback. It is very seldom that a team gets more than one great quarterback and the Dolphins have already had two of them. The teams that have won five or more Super Bowls did it by building balanced teams. For example, the Cowboys won three with Troy Aikman, who was a good but not great quarterback. They surrounded him with great receivers, the best offensive line that I ever saw, Emmit Smith and a good defense. The Steelers won six Super Bowls about the same way. The great ones, the ones who can lift their whole team (think Joe Montana) just don't come along often enough. So basically it comes down to management. If the front office can put all of the elements together, the team can win. The down side is that's the hardest thing to do in football.

[cklaurence]

Yes, Marino was very special and so unappreciated it is sad. i read the disrespectful posts all over about him and I am so saddened that he played in an era where they were able to overlook his true abilities and box him into situations that kept him from fulfilling the promise he had, and although it's true, he was enormously cocky and wore his ego as entitlement, part of it was probably because he saw it was all being stripped from him before he ever had the opportunity to wear the whole of it..,

[cklaurence]

It was like dejavu, and lo and behold, it WAS DEJAVU!!! I was using Internet Explorer this morning because I was having a problem with Chrome, and forgot I was on it when I got to Switzerland. I guess because I never use Explorer, I was no longer signed on and it plunked me in just anywhere and everyone was around. Dred was posting pictures all over the place and it was business as usual. I got so excited, I just couldn't wait to post, but I couldn't find my way on, so I started to search and that's when I saw I was early in 2011. Talk about going from a high high to a low low! (Not that I'm not happy with the three of us, but you know what I mean--seeing it suddenly so lively again, and then realizing the only one who had posted in two days was me...) Speaking of Dred, I wonder where he's been of late. He usually makes an appearance once or twice a month, posting a picture of the weather or his doggie. I hope all is well with him. I guess I'll check him out at facebook, just to be sure.

[Emeritus]

I'm not much of a Marvez fan, but I thought that you might find this interesting.

"Making the Dolphins a winner will help the healing process for Philbin and the club itself.

As the 50-year-old Philbin carves a new chapter in his life, Miami is attempting the same in a football sense. The Dolphins are reeling from 11 years without a playoff victory. Season-ticket sales are reportedly in the 30,000 range, which represents a drop of almost 50 percent from a decade earlier. There is a widespread perception in South Florida that team owner Stephen Ross and general manager Jeff Ireland are grossly overmatched in trying to build a winner. (My italics).

San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh and Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning both steered clear of Miami when Ross and Ireland made their pitch. Philbin himself is a second-choice hire after Jeff Fisher instead chose St. Louis.

The fact Fisher would rather work for the Rams — a franchise that has won 15 games in five years — reflects just how far a marquee franchise from the days of Don Shula and Dan Marino has fallen. But the Dolphins are banking on Philbin to lead the organization back to the prominence now enjoyed by his former employer — the Green Bay Packers."

[cklaurence]

I'm no fan of Marvez either, but I hope he's got something there this time. One thing though, No one I've spoken to can figure out what Philbin did at Greey Bay. He was somehow just there. He wasn't the head coach, and he wasn't exactly an assistant coach--or a named assistant; he was just there. No one knew what to do with him when his son died and it was a blessing for Green Bay when Miami took him off their hands.
Had Philbin not been available, who knows--Miami might still be searching for a coach. NO ONE wanted to come near this franchise. The only reason Tannehill was so happy is because his chances of going that high in the draft were slim to none had the Dolphins not grabbed him up.
I truly believe that Ross and Ireland have to go for the Dolphins to heal. Either that or Ross has to come down of that pole of his, admit he doesn't get "it" and take the advice of others that do get "it." He's such a pompous ass, though, I don't ever see that happening...

[Emeritus]

I am so happy that the Texans owner doesn't consider himself a football man. He got rich in insurance and he sticks to that. He got advice to hire a GM and he leaves the management of the team up to him, Kubiak and now Wade Phillips. When reporters want an interview, he refers them to his management team. I had to make inquiries to find out who owned the team.

[cklaurence]

It's great when a team has a smart owner. We haven't had one since Joe Robbie. Well, Huizenga was smart, but for himself--not for football. He made plenty off the Dolphins as he let them slide. Then he cut that deal with Parcells to suck the blood out of Ross and make a break at a profit, which he did. When Joe Robbie left the stadium, so did intelligent ownership and hope of championship teams...

[Emeritus]

ck, you sound almost as bad as the Cowboys fans, who hate Jerry Jones with a passion. They say that his ego has run off every good coach that he has hired and that now NFL coaches consider him a career poison. They say that no top coach will ever work for him again. He sure did my Texans a favor, though. When he fired Wade Phillips, he made the Texans defense. That's why the Texans pay him head coach money. Fortunately there is no salary cap for coaches.

[cklaurence]

I'm sure the Jets are happy to have Sparano and know just how to use him and get the best of his assets. Ross treated him like shit, hiring the poor man for a job that he was not capable of doing well, rather than hiring him for his expertise, then dragging him through the mud, while he openly traipsed across the Country to woo Harbaugh. As if that wasn't enough of an insult (I know I wouldn't have been here when he returned, but then again it's easy to speak for someone when you have never been in their shoes), gives him a contract he KNOWS he won't be sticking to, then firing Sparano with 3 games left in the season, as IF that solved anything at all!!! So then began the race of the morons (Ross and his boy Ireland) to make themselves and the Dolphins look even more ridiculous, as Coach after QB ran from Miami and offers of jobs, one after another. Miami took on the look of a Leper Colony, and the only coach we could hook was one from Green Bay that absolutely no one can figure out what he was doing in Green Bay in the first place, but due to horrible circumstances, the timing was right for Green Bay to get rid of him and he had no other place to go. No one even tries to speculate what's ahead for the Fins, save from that article you posted from Marvez... (Oh, and yes, I do hate Ross with a passion!!!!!)

[Emeritus]

Surprise, surprise! The Dolphins will be on Hard Knocks this year. I guess that they don't mind distractions.

[cklaurence]

Rub it in, Em. I went berserk when I heard the news. Just when I thought there was nothing he could do to further turn this year into a circus, he finds "Hard Knocks" and goes where no team with half a brain dares go. This man is a total moron and when I got my season ticket holder letter telling me of this latest bout of ridiculousness, I wrote back saying exactly how I felt about it. Even with their season ticket crisis, they'll probably refund my money and cut me from their list, but at this point I just don't give a flying f*ck. He has taken stupid to the highest level. A brand new head coach who has never been a head coach anywhere else; a three headed QB controversy; a team full of rookies, and a new staff of assistant coaches--all of who need molding, melding and so much more, and this knucklehead chooses to sign with "Hard Knocks." Beyond idiocy...
I wish Try Thinking were around right now. I'd love to get his take on this (although I'm pretty sure he'd be right about where I am).

[Emeritus]

When I saw the news I wondered if Ross thought that the publicity would help ticket sales. He doesn't seem to grasp that wins drive attendance. It's the same with all of the movie stars and other promotions. That stuff might work if you're selling soap, but football fans want victories. He just doesn't get it.

[cklaurence]

Nothing seems to get through to that man. His movie star ploy failed miserably. Two years of nothing but Margaritaville and movie stars entering the stadium on his ridiculous orange carpet--big screen shots of them dancing and doing 'fins up' instead of replays of football plays, less than half-full stadiums and fans booing him every time he comes anywhere near the field, season ticket sales down by nearly half and he still thinks it's all about Hollywood. I don't know who is advising him--must be Bill Bellichek, for sure. Or some other coach in our division. He can't be getting it from anyone that wants to see him ever win again. With all the crap that's going on in that building, you'd have to be either a) purposely looking to sabotage any bit of success; b) suffering from serious mental disease; c) either an alcoholic or drug addict to the point of being unable to function, or d) working as an agent from one or all of the other teams in our division to make sure that this team is never competitive so there is at least one team never in the race.

There just are no logical reasons that someone could make so many errors consistently and not get help. Sure, new team owners often flounder awhile, but eventually they find their way, butched up and made something of their teams. This asshole continues to decline to the point that coaches and players were literally running away from him this year. I've never seen anything like it, and probably, neither has anyone else. You should have heard the guys on the radio yesterday--Sirius Radio, not the local boys. I've been trying to hear news about the Fins for months, but they never talk about them, but there was no shortage at all yesterday. In between laughter that is. They were as astounded as I was--it's like, "What is this guy thinking?????"

I dunno, Em. It's just my rotten luck that football is my passion and the Dolphins are my team. What to do, what to do???

[Emeritus]

What to do? I have always been careful not to make a big emotional investment in any sports team. I'm pleased when the Texans win and disappointed when they lose, but it doesn't affect my happiness either way. I'm not going to commit myself to something over which I have no control. I am convinced that it is all about attitude, not circumstances. I get up every morning and decide to have a good day and I do. Things may not always go as I wished, but I don't let it spoil my day. For all that I know, it could be the last day that I have, so why should I waste it on things that really don't matter? The sun is shining and I know where my next meal is coming from. I'm happy.

[cklaurence]

Aw, making an emotional commitment to football for me was a must. I get so much anger out over football that I might have used on something really important in life--it's the perfect diversion. Since Ross has owned the team, unfortunately, I've gotten way more anger out than I've needed. The Robbie days were perfect. You had a bad quarter every now and then--got to vent here and there, shout out about a loss (but not too often), just the right amount without going over the top. Then came Huizenga and the anger factor moved up another notch or two, and kept moving until he finally pulled that stunt with Parcells, sucked that knucklehead Ross in and then, well there's enough anger to go around for every team in the NFL! And I don't see myself ever giving up my attachment to the game or the Fins...

[Baglady]

G' Morning Switzerland

CK, kind of figured that would be your reaction to 'Hard Knocks' coming to Miami - lol! Colts were apparently offered 'Hard Knocks' and declined. Some actually speculated it would have been a good idea, me - ah, no thanks. That kind of distraction (imo) for a team and organization w/ new names everywhere .... Get the feeling at this point any decision by Ross / Ireland isn't gonna go over well with you CK, g' luck regardless.

Em, great attitude you describe where the NFL doesn't dictate your life / demeanor.

Think I'm somewhere in between. Sure I'm passionate about my teams but realize there are things I have no control over...

Enjoy your Saturday

[cklaurence]

Ms Bags--always great to see you here!

Yes, this "Hard Knocks" thing is really floored me. Just when you think he's done about all he can do--he finds one more thing to cause distraction and problems for this young team. This brand new group, with a virgin head coach (who no one has been able to figure out ANYTHING about what he did at Green Bay--just know that GB breathed a huge sigh of relief that they could get rid of with the loss of his son; the three-headed QB controversy; an entire group of new assistant coaches, and a ton of new players that have never played together. I believe twelve teams had already turned "Hard Knocks' down before numb nuts jumped at the opportunity to have this added chaos to the mix. So demoralizing... My thought was to just fax all our moves to the teams we'll be playing--why bother making them watch "Hard Knocks?"

Happy Saturday to you as well!!