Freeform Friday

I watched about two-thirds of the NFL 2022 regular season debut last night between the defending champions, the Los Angeles Rams, and the team many think will win it all this year, the Buffalo Bills. Once again, I did not have a dog in the fight, but enjoyed the game until the Bills’ interception of Matthew Stafford with 11 minutes left and Buffalo ahead 24-10. I knew the game was over then so I changed the channel. (Buffalo won 31-10.)

I flipped to Motor Trend to watch coverage of the current Mecum auction from Dallas. I am reluctant to write this, but I could not watch the auction for long as there were just way too many pickup trucks and SUVs/Jeeps.

Look, I know what has happened to the “automobile” market in the US. As far back as 1996, the US Big Three car companies sold more non-cars than cars. That DOESN’T mean I have to participate.

Switching back to football, sort of…I would like to ask the football fans reading this to pick who they think would win a game between these two teams:

 

 

In the season I am playing with rosters and teams that bear no resemblance to the real ones from 2021, these two teams will play each other at some point. The game will be in “Texas” and yes, that matters in this computer football simulation.

I am waiting to play the game until the teams are at full strength. Both teams have a fair number of key players who are injured, injuries happen in this game as well, and I think it would be a better game if both teams had a full complement of players. Of course, other players could become “injured” in the meantime.

One is tempted to say this is a classic matchup of offense versus defense, but the Gilas also have a very good offense. (Yes, the Tornadoes are averaging an incredible 8.0 yards per play on offense and are converting 58.5% of their third downs.) If they [the Gilas] win, then they will have the tiebreaker in case the two teams finish with the same and best record in the conference. In this league I am playing, every team plays every other non-divisional conference opponent once. That makes it much easier to break ties for playoff entry and seeding. Oh, can you see why the OCD/Math Nerd football fan I am enjoys this stuff?

OK, football fans, who will win this game?

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Even though I distracted the readers yesterday with a second post, the first installment of If I Had To…had a decent number of readers. I suppose I will write more of those posts, if I can think of more topics. I think that for some of them I will only pick one car as opposed to the three I chose yesterday.

In a comment dialogue from that post I asked Dirty Dingus McGee for a recommendation for an interesting two-door car with good performance. Given I can’t fit a Dodge Challenger in my garage, and I have already discussed both a current-generation Mustang and current-generation Supra, I’m afraid I didn’t leave him much choice. He did mention the new Nissan Z car (pictured below), but as I replied to him they are very scarce on the ground and are marked up to hell by dealers.

 

 

One thing that bothered Todd Deeken and Paul Schmucker of Everyday Driver is that the new Z is on the same chassis as the 370Z that debuted in 2009. That side view is quite striking, though.

I have never owned a Ford vehicle. My father, a Holocaust survivor (sort of the literal definition of that concept) and automobile mechanic, was not a fan of the Blue Oval. I have never owned a Toyota although the new Supra is really a BMW and I have owned one of those. I have never owned a Nissan-badged car, but I have owned an Infiniti. I wasn’t a big fan of that car, but the main reason–the awful CVT–is not available on the new Z.

I would like to buy something from a company whose product I have never owned. Remember, so many cars just one life, after all. I guess that means in case I really can’t decide what I want to buy, then the Mustang has the tiebreaker. However, as I write this I am still heavily leaning towards the Mustang, anyway. Whether or not that is, in part, because I have never owned a Ford, I can’t say.

 

#FreeformFriday

#TooManyNon-Cars

#ComputerFootball

#NewNissanZ

#somanyCARSjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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