Rams Fan Ana Cheri Kicks Off The 2022 NFL Season, John Daly Throwing Smoke & Ray Lewis On A Bike Ride
I don't have some grand statement for the start of the NFL season
The fantasy drafts are finished. The Gauntlet drafts -- I nearly had to step in to fill a spot last night in Matt in Nashville's league -- are done. The quarterback battles have been decided -- good luck to Seattle fans this season. The garage fridges have been cleaned out and re-stocked.
I have nothing more to say besides bring on the hours upon hours of football I'm about to watch. It's a completely out-of-body experience to go into the 2022 season with my Bengals coming off a Super Bowl they could've won after running through the AFC in a dream season.
Yes, the Bills are supposed to destroy the AFC and Josh Allen is supposed to be the MVP. I get it and it doesn't bother me. At least my team is in the playoff conversation and I can actually walk around grocery stores these days without being bullied. It's weird being a Bengals fan and actually being respected for once.
What I need out of this community this season is passion. I need to see Moments of the NFL. Perhaps a neighbor has painted a giant logo into his yard. Maybe a co-worker is a superfan and drives a truck covered in wild team logos.
NFL-themed license plates. NFL game trip reports. Tailgating photos. Videos of fan fights in the stands. Things you see on your TV. The local news screws up the name of the head coach. Instagram models in team colors.
I want all of it for the next six months.
Let's have some fun.
When is it chili season?
• Guy G. in western New York writes:
It is my belief, that chili should not part of opening weekend unless your team is playing Cincinnati. (we’re not starting the chili debate again!)
As the ‘official’ Bills fan of Screencaps, I am here to give you the first 3 weeks of football food. Basic rules for us. All games feature opponents' food, except for home division games.
@Rams Steak tacos, with fire-roasted peppers, onions and tomatoes (Sunday due to prep)
vsTennessee Meat Plus 3! Country fried steak, with biscuits, corn, potatoes and mac&cheese
@Miami Sesame Seared Tuna, with rice, ginger and wasabi
Of course, we don’t get pizza and wings for a Sunday until December 11th, but I think we’ll survive. And, we don’t have (skyline)chili until 1/2/23.
Game day is food day, and we (I) take it seriously, even if I get eye rolls from the wife.
Guy G. needs to give us his full food schedule for the season because I feel like some of you jump on this bandwagon. You get the idea. Guy develops a menu based on the delicasies from each city and challenges his culinary skills.
More responses:
8-man middle school football update & it's great news
• Caleb S., the 29-year-old rookie middle school head coach, is back with a report on his team:
Due to scheduling irregularities, we played last Thursday and tonight (Tuesday). We faced a much better opponent last Thursday and were beaten soundly. With a running clock, we scored on the final play to avoid the shutout. I was proud that we fought to the end, but we all felt it was far from our best effort.
We had a shorter practice Monday and really challenged them to play to their potential. Although it was cut short due to lightning, Monday was the best practice so far. It’s awesome to see even middle schoolers dial it in and focus on the task at hand. I owe a lot of that from a coach's standpoint to a new coach on our staff. Our third coach is a college student that wants to help in any way he can.
He’s been a tremendous help and has a great football IQ that I’ve found invaluable. That leads me to Tuesday. We came out and could tell something felt different from our mindset and preparation. We were aggressive and executed and took the lead on the first drive and didn’t give it up. Everyone made plays and did their job.
We had the smallest kid on the team (6th grader) come one defender away from scoring a touchdown in a tight ball game. It was awesome! That kid is fearless. Offense and defense made plays when we needed them and we finished the game up 10. We had to call a timeout to go over the victory formation.
This is the first football win of any kind at the school since 2008. I could not be more proud of the kids, my fellow coaches, and the fans who made it feel like a high school game; this included high school players serving as water boys just to encourage my guys. It was one the funnest games I’ve ever been a part of. Hopefully there’ll be more nights like tonight, but I’m definitely going to enjoy it now.
Did you guys read that? Caleb had to make sure his boys knew how to go into a victory formation. What a story. I'm pumped to hear more about this journey. This is pretty much Hard Knocks for Screencaps.
Keep it coming, Caleb.
Bill C. can't remain silent any longer on his dislike of Costco
• CPA Bill C. really took me behind the woodshed on this one:
Screencaps overlord Kinsey, I wanted to wait until at least TNML season was over but the recent repeated references to Costco have pushed my buttons. I know you love Costco and their selections and pricing since you have mentioned going there since the inception of screencaps.
I understand that and there may not be other options in your area. I have sworn off Costco since 2012 and have never set foot in one of their stores. It was easy at the time since we didn’t have one locally but one soon moved in a couple of years later.
I know that may seem bizarre to you but let me tell you why. Nothing rubs me the wrong way more than hypocrisy and Costco co-founder and former CEO Jim Sinegal is one of the biggest hypocrites. Sinegal is a Democrat and that is fine with me. Probably more of a by-product of his upbringing than anything else.
His support for Obama and his tax policies during the 2012 campaign would have been fine with me as well if he only practiced what he preached. He spoke at the 2012 DNC convention and donated millions to the Obama campaign. It turns out that after Obama was re-elected in November 2012 (so he could have more flexibility) but before his new planned higher tax rates would kick in on January 1, 2013, Sinegal and the board voted for a special dividend of $7 per share payable in December 2012.
That way he would be subject to the lower tax rates. Sinegal owned around 2 million shares so his tax savings were substantial. Another aspect of this move was that Costco BORROWED $3.5 BILLION to pay for this dividend. It wasn’t paid out of retained earnings or profits like most are. Now, this is a smart tax move and many companies did likewise, however, not all of them supported a president who endorsed higher tax rates and “tax fairness” and preached to us about it.
For this reason, I will never set foot in the local Costco and will take my business, however small it is, to Sam’s Club. I have attached a few links to articles about this from late 2012 so you can see from what I speak of. If repeated references keep being made to the price club whose name shall not be spoken, I may need a trigger warning in future Screencaps.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324705104578149012514177372
https://www.dailysignal.com/2012/12/04/costco-to-pay-out-big-dividend-before-obama-tax-hikes-hit/
To be fair and balanced, I have to add that Jim Sinegal, who left the company as on January 1, 2012, severed his ties to Costco in 2018 when he didn't stand for re-election to the company's board of directors.
Hopefully, you guys don't take the Screencaps Costco thing too seriously. Most of it is a complete goof on suburbia and its love of big box stores and businesses that start selling Christmas stuff in August.
Bill did write back Wednesday saying "I don’t want to come off looking like some blue checkmark type that mows the yard on Saturdays."
It's all good, Bill.
You have a stance. There's nothing wrong with that.
And with that, Screencaps is in the books.
Go give 'em hell today at work. Get home. Fire up the smokers. Eat well. Get comfortable. We have a long road ahead of us that starts here in a few hours.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com