I Say We Haing 'em!

Many of you want to hang Eric Wright. Ever since, the Ravens game, you are seeing what you want to see. Ward is never late or out-of-position, the front seven are neve allowing quarterbacks too long, Wright is never assigned to cover a different reciever when he chases somebody around with the ball...

No, if he's visible on the TV screen, it's "Wright again!".

You see what you want to see. He's the fastest guy on the team, and he shows up near a lot of recievers--whether he was supposed to cover them or not.

Brian Daboll? Well, Hillis has been running over stacked fronts all season, and had been doing that in the first half here. You never expect this guy to get stuffed even twice in a row. I mean, you double-down on him--the defense tires and he breaks through.

You might pass some more with a two-legged quarterback. It gets harder when he can no longer escape the pocket, and you don't want to make his injury worse. McCoy completes many of his passes between the numbers when he's outside the pocket.

Objectively, rationally, the guy you finally get a legit shot at bashing is Mangini. Just as he put Delhomme back on the field when he was limping around on his plant-leg rather than use Wallace, last week he put peg-leg McCoy back out there rather than go to Wallace. In both cases, the injuries probably turned from one-game blips to several weeks out-of-action, and both quarterbacks were ineffective thereafter in their games.

Wallace was always effective coming off the bench, and he's been taking all the second-team reps in practice. He was about 90% last week and ready to go. What is it with Mangini's refusal to protect an injured quarterback? Why does he think that any physicly-handicapped quarterback gives him a better chance to win than Wallace, especially given what he's seen from the guy up close and personal?

And how can you clowns list the entire defense anywhere on the "goats" list when they scored about a third of the points in the game and stole the ball six times? They did all they could, and they wore down. Off the field--back on after three plays. Again and again and again. Yeah--it's all their fault! Ahh, shaddap!

I believe they would have won had McCoy been kept on the bench after his initial injury, and Wallace been used. Wallace is actually pretty similar to McCoy. He's not as accurate (but nobody is)--but he can scamble, and the same game-plan works for him.

As it was, the defense quickly adapted to McCoy's obvious lack of mobility and went instantly to kitchen-sink mode. Trapped in the pocket, he can't see as well. Max protection equals min. recievers.

Daboll knew it too. That's why he went to the big hammer, and stuck to it.

To me, it's remarkable that Hillis didn't ultimately break their backs.

On that front, it's partly the Cribbs factor. Cribbs on the offense has to be watched. He's quietly mutated into the Browns most reliable wide reciever, and takes handoffs sometimes. He makes it much more dangerous to run-blitze, and the back safety has to keep an eye on him. without Cribbs, they can kitchen-sink Hillis and the quarterback.

Harrison was being disruptive, so I can accept his trade. But what did James Davis do? Nice move, Heckert/Mangini/whoever! Davis could do some of what Cribbs did. Why does EVERY back have to be a big power guy? Davis was quick, made big plays, and was an excellent reciever. Now you lose ONE GUY (Cribbs), and see what you get!

See? I can bash Mangini too! But these are his only warts--overall he's a damn good coach. If you have to go overboard to extremes on everything, you're a simpleton. Black and white. People who use their brains think in color.

Daboll had to do what he did with McCoy's injury. It was Mangini's fault, because he had no Wallace. Hillis was stopped, because of that and because there was no Cribbs (or James Davis) to take heat off him. Also Mangini's fault. But the fight in the guys, the game-plans that beat the Pats Saints and almost the Jets? Overall good coaching DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

You guys are around the bend. The analysts who like Mangini are ex-players and coaches, and you call them "koolaid drinkers". My freaking God I tell everybody that if they need a new coach or GM all they need to do is hit any bar in Cleveland--there are thousands of them, and they're all smarter than all the ex-players and coaches.

OK--I believe Mangini lost this game, but should not be fired.

I got my fingers crossed with Delhomme. He actually looked pretty good til HE was injured, and he knows this team. Think we'll win.

Revised W/L prediction: 9-7.

One of Those Days

0800: Wake up at rest area in Oka-something, AR. Brush teeth etc. and do pre-trip. Got flat trailer tire. Fortunately I'm 17 miles from TA in Prescott, and am well ahead of schedule for my deilvery in Texas.

0830: I get in line for the service.

0930: They get me pulled in. We find another flat trailer tire, and three more appear to be leaking. I must have driven through "something. I'm hauling 44,000 lbs. and this could have turned into a major problem, and I'm glad I caught it now.

OK so I'm now paranoid about my truck tires, and sure enough an inside drive is flat.

I tell the guy as long as he's doing that, better give me a pre-alignment check. That shimmying problem is driving me nuts, and the mechanic said he'd "never heard of" a broken radial belt in a tire causing it (as another mechanic--unable to find anything wrong--told me last week).

1300: The trailer tires are knocked out. None of them needed to be replaced, so the company saved a bunch of dough. But MY tire had a hole in the sidewall and needed to be replaced. Brand freaking new tire. Figures.

Okay so they're busy, and I have to wait three hours to get it in for my inspection/alignment.

They immediately find a shot wheel bearing.

Am I mad? Not really. I'm glad that the problem has been identified, and even gladder that it didn't ruin my life by getting me into a huge wreck (and catching fire).

I once had a wheel bearing go out on me. fortunately it was at low speed, and by some miracle I was able to get stopped without hitting a bunch of parked cars. The right wheel was tilted out at at least a 25 degree angle, and tried to pull me into the cars.

The grease inside the bearing was also on fire, so I got to use my fire extinguisher, which was cool.

I was lucky then, too. Not only did I not hit any cars, or have it happen at 65 mph, but I also put out the fire before my tire or wiring caught.

Ok--I've got til 1300 tomorrow to get about 700 miles, so I'm not worried about it. I have the money to pay for the repairs...

1800: "You have an oddball wheel bearing. We don't have it in stock. We can call Freightliner tomorrow, or we can put it back together and let you go".

Well, I call Korena immediately to ask her if we can move the appointment time back. I'm kind of fanatical about being dependable and early all the time, and for me this is about as bad a thing as can happen. But Korena wasn't troubled at all and said no problem.

So now I feel much much better. She's going to move it back til monday.

This would also bother a lot of drivers--they aren't making any money for the down-time. But me? I get to pick out someplace enroute and watch the Browns game.

I think...I'm going through the boonies--maybe outside Houston...

Anyway now that I'm doing the long runs, I'll make up for the lost time pretty quick. On longer runs, you can cover up to 800 all;eged miles in a day. I could do more, but of course don't since regs prohibit that.

Anyway, this is going to cost me money, but not as much as a huge accident and tow would have cost (assuming I survived). I won't have to worry about the bearing anymore, I'll be aligned with ten good tires, I'll watch the Browns (I believe) whup the Jagwires.

I'm adaptable. I can outrun everybody, but I have equal talent at being lazy.

In hotel room. time to conquer the world in Sid Meyer's Civilization again. Okbye.

Phoenix, AZ

First I need to mention this: Among the "failed policies of the past" were massive spending increases, including bail-outs, originated by a Republican congress and rubber-stamped by George Bush. They betrayed conservatives, and were punished by them for it, including/especially John McCain.

The real failed policies of the past gave the new President the "mess" he inheritted. Hard to imagine how much worse it would have been had the Bush tax cuts not nearly doubled revenues to the treasury.

All the same, government interferance protracted and worsened a normal cyclic recession, as it did under Hoover, FDR, and Carter.

Another point: There is no such thing as a general welfare clause in the US Constitution. "In order to promote the general welfare--" is the preamble to the list of ennumerated powers, which specificly and clearly lists what the federal government can do. It says, finally, that whatever isn't listed here falls to the states--leaving the states their sovereignity, within the confines of the Constitution.

Texas has no income taxes, and not a lot of regulation on business. Over 350 businesses left California for Texas so far this year alone. California would get it's head out of it's butt in short order if they didn't expect Uncle Sam to take money from states like Texas and give it to them. This is the larger version of welfare. Hey Jerry Brown--you got two years to get a damn job.

The constitution isn't living and breathing. That is a code-phrase for "inconvenient". And the founders look smarter and smarter every freaking day.

OK...I deliver monday and I got here sat. afternoon. I had found several sports bars in the area on the internet, and went to the reciever. This is another tricky one. The reciever is a construction company located in a predominantly residential neighborhood. It's definitely not set up to recieve big trucks.

So I parked on the street, and walked a half mile to the nearest sports bar to see if I could watch the Browns game there today. I could. Then I ask if there's someplace closer that I could park a big truck.

A guy speaks up and says "yeah". He's a fellow trucker. He gets up and takes me for a ride in his pickup to first show me where to park, then take me back to my truck. How cool is that?

Anyway, this is right behind a Red Roof Inn and point-blank 30 yards away from a better sports bar.

When I got back here, the last parking spot had just been taken. I was able to slide in next to the sidewalk at the side of the lot, near the front--sort of like starting a new row in front, right? Except there wasn't enough room behind me for trucks to make a turn out of their slots. I was okay because the truck on the end behind me could get by me when he left with just a little turning.

I wake up this morning and there's an moron next to me and an idiot next to him. They are both blocking the truck behind me, and probably the truck next to him as well. I had intended to look it over this morning myself, and back into any slot that had cleared, but now I can't do that, either.

The lowest common denominator will always fill up any available space, eventually, and make it hard on everybody.

The authors of the Constitution understood this, as well.

However, unless the blocked-in drivers are dumb enough to call the cops and get us ALL kicked out, I'm good here.

Meanwhile, I checked on ceramic engine coatings again and turned up Xado again. The lrice has come down, and I can re-coat my engine for 400 bucks (instead of 2 grand).

The ceramic additive is slicker than glass and more heat-tolerant than metal. It actually sinks 30 microns deep into metal, and fills every scratch and pit to restore compression and cut friction, restoring factory tolerances.

I first checked on it because when I forst checked out HHO generators, there was an assertion that the gas could cause corrosion inside the engine--an assertion I now think was false. However, the additive is worth it.

It lasts "up to" 65,000 miles. In context, those of us who run synthetic oil normally change the oil every 35-40,000 miles, and it costs more than the Xado treatment. I have an optimized purification system which extends that change interval much further.

Because I invested this 1,200 bucks into my truck, I can now keep my truck ceramic-protected for much less money than I would have had to spend on oil-changes. AND this will give me back some power, increase my mpg's, and greatly extend the life of my engine.

The fuel savings will probably be nominal, since my truck's still in good shape inside. But .1 mpg's is not at all unrealistic or insignificant.

I found out that I'm supposed to add distilled water to the HHO generator I'm going to finally get each time I fuel, but that the catalyst additive is only added one time, so that thereafter just plain distilled water is good.

But I talked to the big boss on the phone, and he said that I could have it all put together in a steel box, per my specs.

This got me to thinking that I could maybe have a bigger reservoir and have it inside my cab woth a tube running to the generator. I wouldn't have to refill it as often and could do so before I went to bed every other night or so. It gets cold outside and I'm lazy.

I've already got the money for the Xado and probably the HHO Generator too, but I'm holding back a little in case I break down or something.

Speaking of which, my wheels sometimes act like they want to fall off, shimmying terribly. I had it checked and re-checked, and all the linkages etc. are good, so I think I snapped a belt in one of my steer tires. The new wear pattern looks like it--dammit.

For now, I can stop it by tapping the brakes or accellerating, and it only happens occasionally.