madbad2000

Looking for tips on Asheville. We are planning a meet up with some friends and would love some tips/ideas/things to avoid. We both have young kids (5 and under), so a craft brew weekend is not in the cards.

I'm not a big London fan. He looks like Mike Evans at times and then others completely pedestrian. I like Olave a lot and he looks like he could probably be the most NFL ready and help a team out of the gates. I also like Burks a lot. Just watching his tape shows a great football player that makes plays against anyone from multiple spots on the field. Im not sure I would bet on Pickens being around in the 2nd for the Packers. Pierce could possibly be there, but it feels like the mid first to the mid second will be WR dominated. Starting with Atlanta at 8, I have 16 teams that could realistically take a WR before the Packers come around at 52. That's just teams, not including number of picks which many of these teams having multiple before 52. It also wouldn't surprise me to see some of these teams double up on WR early to include GB (probably not likely in Rd 1) Chicago could easily take one at 39 and 48 and no one would question it. If Philly trades/cuts Reagor would it shock anyone to see them take 2 between 15, 18 and 51? Just going off my own ideas, I would bet that Pickens, Watson and Pierce all end up being top 50 picks.

I live in Northern Alabama. This is development in the Western part of Huntsville.

Agreed, makes it easier to judge overall prices and compare. Has anyone seen this tactic? In town we have a local developer who built a large commercial section anchored by a grocery store with a few other businesses. Customers are being charged a 4% developer fee on every transaction which goes directly to the developer which is a private group. I have never seen or heard about something like this which amounts to basically a private sales tax.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I do not agree that's its acceptable to pass them along. I think fees are getting out of hand across the board. I usually have cash, so if I see that sign I'll use cash for that one transaction and then very likely I won't go back. As was mentioned earlier with ticket fees, they have gotten ridiculous for no added value. So I just don't buy tickets unless it's a very small, unsubstitutable item.

No, not at all.

I'll second this recommendation. The beast is a great asset if you're into NFL Draft coverage.

I don't know with 100% accuracy, but I don't think there is a mechanism in the NFL to include salary in a trade like in MLB. I do think they would have the ability to manipulate money to do something similar. Lets say the Panthers would take on Mayfield for $5M per this year but he would hit $18M with a trade. I would think the Browns could do something like convert $13M to a signing bonus which hits their salary cap and only leaves $5M left on his deal for 2022 once he is traded. There are probably restrictions in terms of some contract details with 5th year options, etc....but it would seem like a possibility to do that type of deal.

Part of me thinks that Landry really wants back into Cleveland and may be waiting on a Baker trade to clear up his funds.

The Bears are thin across the board and that's partly a product of the redesign of the team under new leadership and the depth pieces that didn't pan out from the previous regime. The Bears need multiple WRs and multiple OL (one G - one T) for starting positions, On defense they need a Safety to pair with Jackson, a nickel CB, a #2 CB, one more LB (will or mike depending on where Smith plays) and need a starting punter. They also need another depth TE, a 3rd RB and could use another DL or two for depth plus other STs/developmental pieces. Scheme plays a big part in valuations and I like the Eberflus defense/Getsy offense coming over into Chicago. In terms of importance for the Bears scheme: the OL (any scheme really), 1 WR (at least) with deep speed, starting LB and Nickel corner are probably the most pressing in terms of success. The #2 CB is not as important as the middle players (S, LB, DT) within this new defense, but obviously you want the best you can find. I would bet the Bears still sign Ogunjobi once he passes a physical to get that disruptor 3T DT and they still have money available. Roquan Smith will be more than capable to take over that Darius Lennard role in the defense. Which means Safety could be a sneaky play at 39 if the draft starts to really hammer DE, WR and OL. I fully expect at least one WR in the 2nd/3rd rounds and one OL and double up at either would not surprise. Could the defensive player go at 39? Without a doubt, but I know this organization is laser focused on improving around Justin Fields. No matter how good this defense is, the success of that young QB will make or break everyone. Which leads back to the discussion of a trade for the established, young WRs. I think the Bears could absolutely be in that mix because it hits on one of their pressing needs and they have the money to accomodate the new deal. They have the most money available next year (as of right now) with $127M in available cap space without any accounting for roll over or further contract shedding and you reduce the risk of a draft pick bust with a 2nd round WR. Metcalf is still only 24 years old which fits with the getting younger and pairing with a young QB. I would say Metcalf, AJ Brown and then McLaurin as the order of preference depending on cost obviously.

Before all of these draft picks and WR getting traded, I believe the Bears were set on WR and OL with their 2 2nds. With the way things are looking and the likely run of WR and OL in the mid to late first, he may decide it's not great value to take his 6 or 7th best Wr or OL. I would be mildly shocked if they go defense at 39. Everything is aimed at building up the supporting cast around Fields. Poles has already shown to be a patient person and he seems to have a plan in place. If they traded 39+ for Metcalf, they can easily sign him to a big extension and pair Fields up with a younger, explosive WR that fits his skill set perfectly. It's just icing on the cake that Metcalf grew up a Bears fan and would instantly be a fan favorite. Barring all of this excitement, I would anticipate at least one trade down in the second round. I see a lot of value in the end of the second through the 3rd. If there is a run on wr and ol, there will be some great defensive prospects there at 39 that a team will want to move up to get.

That is a very real concern which makes teams that need a WR possibly change direction. If the Jets were thinking WR at top of 2, maybe they grab one of the alphas of the class at 10 and further mess things up. Or maybe a team like Chicago sitting at 38 decides to make a trade for one of these studs like Metcalf because they could be looking at anywhere from 8+ WR gone before their pick. I'm very curious how things will shake out.

It's interesting, but not too crazy. I was reading some articles about how Philly was looking to move one of their 1st round picks to 2023. And to get a 2024 2nd rounder as well as a 2023 first is pretty good. I have also seen that the NYG could be interested in moving of their firsts forward as well. That could really get interesting by shaking up the top of the draft a bit if a team wants to go up for a QB (5) before Carolina at 6 or 7 to get a WR before Atlanta possibly at 8.

I read that it fulfills the Rooney rule because they only need to have one in person interview with a minority candidate and the hiring counts as a fulfillment of that.

I prefer pro football network simulator over pff, but I do mix it up. I fine it gives me more entertainment to mix it up. Otherwise you fall into the trap of thinking the board is set and then disbelief how the rounds unfold in real life.

He will be and likely already is on teams draft boards. With the lack of top end talent in this draft at TE and the increasing importance of the position, it wouldn't surprise me to see him end up in the 2nd round to the top of the third.

Soccer can absolutley be boring. Baseball can as well. There is also a big difference between normal league games vs World Cup matches/Champions League/Major Rivalries of Super Teams. The level of fan excitement is great to see and the level of play usually peaks similar to playoff level of other sports. It's also unique to see the level of Nationalism that takes place in soccer. I married into a German family, so anytime Die Mannschaft are going it becomes a major discussion in the family. The problem I have is that soccer is built to keep games close which leads to many issues such as the importance of a random bounce or penalty. My theory is that by keeping games close, it creates an atmosphere where fans of both sides are on the edge of their seats and into the match because at any moment one play can win/lose it for you. It also helps mask the huge disparity between the have and have nots (Super teams, super countries, etc). Makes it feel like you at least have a shot no matter who you are or creates small "wins." When Watford draws Manchester United (Feb 26th), Man U fans are mostly meh and Watford fans will be happy they held their own even though they are still staring down relegation. I hate the offsides rule with a passion and would probably watch more soccer if it was gone. I hate that flopping is universally loathed and mocked yet it still gets called way too much and it can be a viable strategy or turn the tide of a match. I also hate the substitution rules. I think the US is not huge on soccer because of the many options that are available. Professionally it competes against the NFL, MLB, NHl, NBA, College Football and probably even College Basketball. That is not only for viewership, but also for talent. Looking at a lot of other countries, they don't have near the professional options for competition for viewership or salary. Could soccer work here? Probably. I'd pay more attention to it over the NBA for sure. It's also hard to argue for players going overseas for major money vs staying here and dominating MLS. I would assume that basketball fans in Europe probably hate seeing their major stars come to the NBA and cash their 9 figure checks instead of staying back in Greece or Lithuania.

Watson wasn't suspended because the NFL was waiting out the criminal investigations before making a suspension choice. They also didn't need to suspend him in the interim because the Texans basically did that for them the whole year. The Browns gave him that contract because that is what put them back into the running for Watson. Once Carolina and Cleveland were out, the Browns power move of a fully guaranteed deal obviously moved them back to the front. This was a very unique deal because Watson had a no trade clause. So it doesn't matter what you were willing to trade Houston, you basically had to court Watson like free agency and the Browns went over the top obviously. The acquiring team had very little leverage in this weird situation.

Adams traded to the Raiders. Had to make sure it wasn't April fool's.

I would say Pat O'Donnell has been a bit of a disappointment over his career. He has been very pedestrian/average when he came in with big hype. You can't have a nickname of Megapunt and not back that up with a big leg. His 46.2 yard average last year was the second highest (47) of his career and he came in at 17th in the league. I haven't seen the dollars, but not the worst either.

I don't get caught up in Titles. It's all about your experience and what you can do. Titles are not uniform and hiring managers can see through fancy/fluff pretty quickly. I work in the Defense sector and it seems like companies have more Vice Presidents than normal employees at times. I personally watched a company give an employee a VP title with zero change in responsibility or pay solely because they thought they could get this person an audience with a GS-15 to sell a product. Another small business was like 10 people and 8 of them were VPs outside of CEO and CFO.

Because it benefits the owners financially and they are using it as a bargaining position to get what they want. You also have former international signees who want the system to stay because it brings a lot of money to their country and communities regardless of how well those players perform. These 16 year olds get their bonus straight up which means more people benefit within their country. A draft will suppress that influx of cash and put a cap on earnings for the vast majority since it will have hard slotted bonuses. The top prospects will still get their millions, but those players towards the middle and bottom will be phased out of their life changing money comparatively. A 16 year old with a $100k bonus has changed the trajectory of their whole family in the Dominican Republic, et al whereas MLB teams throw that around pretty easily to hopefully hit on a gem. A draft will limit that for the vast majority of players.

I want resumes that speak to the job and your experience. If you have a one page that speaks to your skills and experience, fantastic. If you need 2 to demonstrate over the multitude of jobs you had, that's fine too. What I don't want to see is a drawn out resume that has experience that isn't applicable to what you're applying for. List your jobs in chronological order so no gaps..or explain a gap is fine too. I have had resumes where they had employment gaps due to school or moving, but it was explained easily. Always put the meat of your write up in those experience blocks that you're trying to highlight for the posting. And I agree that every resume needs to be tailored to that job opening. Use keywords from the posting and make sure to highlight the good stuff right up front in a summary of qualifications of some sort. For example, if you are applying for a job that needed a security clearance, put that right at the top to make it stand out. The last hiring process I was a part of required a Secret with TS preferred. There were probably at least 10 resumes where the candidate most likely had a clearance due to the job they were doing, but didn't get an interview because they did not list a clearance anywhere in the resume.

Wydermeyer as a top ten overall prospect?!! Wow, I was not too impressed with his tape and probably have him as Te 3 or 4. I don't see him as the next Martellus Bennett or anything. I was expecting more out of Isaiah Likely too. Perhaps a Kyle Pitts-lite was too high of a bar, but I didn't see anything popping off film with him either. Even his 99 yard TD catch seemed flat. If he comes out and runs really well, his stock will boom though. I really like McBride out of CSU. It's not too often that a TE becomes the focal point of your offense, but they definitely ran things through him and he responded. Makes a lot of nice catches in tight spaces too. I don't see him as that big open field threat, but a great security blanket with strong red zone ability. Ruckert has the pedigree and flashed at times. I think a good system will make him shine. I would bet at this point we see two gone in round 2 (Likely and McBride). One other could sneak in there too Wydermeyer.

That's an interesting policy because I've seen the trend going away from references. I have never had a bad reference from either my personal applications or for hiring actions I have been involved with. I have only had a couple in the past year where references were even contacted at all and none had any impact on the selection because it was simply procedure to contact them via email whether they responded or not didn't matter.