KarateKen

Maxx Crosby now appears to be staying with the Raiders. NBC Sports reporting the Raiders have announced Crosby is no longer on the trade block. Could it be that Crosby's failed physical made the Raiders believe he isn't tradable? Maybe he would have failed the physical if he had been sent to another team. There were options, the Bears had expressed interest, according to Yahoo Sports. I am guessing they are not the only ones who would consider trading for one of the best defensive players in the league. Srange turn of events. The Vikings have signed Kyler Murray.

The NFL is now considering adding a game on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. The change could be as early as this upcoming season. Hard pass. This is a bad idea for a few reasons. One is that the elements of scheduling it with short rest, and how that will work, since college football is still playing that Saturday. Are two teams going to play on Sunday then on Wednesday night? Or is there going to be a bye week before, and two of the teams coming off the bye will play? Or one team off a bye and the other off the Thursday game the week before? Where is player safety in all this? The NFL always talks about player safety but then they add games and shorten weeks. As usual, it is money before everything in the NFL. Even if all those questions had good answers, I still hope the answer is no. It's too much. We don't need an NFL game Wednesday night, three on Thanksgiving, then another game on black Friday, all in the middle of the week between full NFL days on Sunday's and the MNF game. The NFL continues to spread out the games over more dates and more different services. Network TV, cable TV, and multiple streaming services. It's simply getting too oversaturated for my liking, and too expensive. It is likely that if the Thanksgiving Eve game were to happen, it will be on a streaming service. Sometime in the next couple years the NFL will announce an 18-game regular season, with more games going overseas. The league has scheduled nine international games for 2026, with that number expected to grow in coming years. When the NFL announces, they are going to an 18-game regular season, and they will, it is possible there will be a push for a 20-game regular season, possibly eliminating the preseason all together. Why? Because the ratings and ticket prices for the regular season are much higher than preseason games. The quality of the product will go down while the revenue of the league goes up, which, in the end, is all the NFL really cares about.

If an event has tickets that are not selling, you can often get big discounts the day of the event, as you have experienced. A concert or game ticket that is going for 500 dollars at first, might be 50 dollars three hours before the show, if they are not selling. Ticket prices are flexible depending on demand, and since they can't be restocked, meaning once the game is over the tickets are gone, you can sometimes get much lower prices if you are willing to wait. Of course, the risk is that you miss the event all together, or the event sells out and the cost of tickets will be higher because the only thing available will be the resale market.

The high cost of Metallica tickets in Vegas has not lowered the demand. Ticket sales were so good that Metallica added more shows and most of their residency is already sold out, with the shows not even starting until October. Metallica fans from all over the world were trying to get tickets to The Sphere to see the band. That is why places like Las Vegas do so many residencies. Makes sense to the venue and the artist, and the fans are happy to go, and why tickets are so expensive. As long as enough people are going to pay for it, the prices will be what they are.

Now the Ravens have signed Trey Hendrickson just after backing out of the Crosby deal. Many people questioning the timing on that, saying it's possible that the Ravens learned they could get Hendrickson so used the physical as an excuse to back out of the trade. This way they get a star pash rusher without giving up the draft choices. You know how these online theories quickly pick up steam. Crosby recently had knee surgery, so maybe that was connected to the medical concerns the Ravens were having.

It is March 10th again, so another Happy Birthday to Chuck Norris, how is now 86. I don't know what Mr. Norris is doing for his birthday this year, but I will be watching an episode of Walker Texas Ranger tonight for sure!

I've run into some weird stuff. There was one place where the previous renter had allowed a pack of rats to live in the dishwasher. There was a place we went to look at, and when we got there, we were told by the owner it was off the market. They decided to rent it but left it on Zillow as for sale. Another time we went to see a place and the lady living there had no idea we were coming. We knocked and rang the doorbell, knowing there was a tenet, but no answer, so we went in, and a lady is standing there in nothing but a towel. She was in the shower while two strangers walk into her home unexpectedly. She was a relative of the owners who, for whatever reason, never communicated to her that we were coming to see the place. Other times the photos tell a different story from looking in person. There were two places we looked at where the photos looked good, but we got there and saw cracks in the walls, and the place was clearly not well maintained. My agent thought that one of them might have been used as an AIR B&B. One other note. A lot of people are buying up real estate as an investment. Somewhere along the line housing became less about buying a place to live in and more about maximizing profit. Problem is that when someone is looking to profit, they tend to do things on the cheap. They are not living there, and the goal is to make as much money as possible, so they cut corners. If the tenets trash the place, it is cheaper to replace the materials. Personally, I have no interest in real estate investing at all. It sounds miserable to me. Dealing with renters who don't pay on time, won't take good care of the place, ect. I hear nightmare stories from people who have had terrible renters in their properties and lost thousands of dollars because of it. No thank you.

Travis Kelcie will return for his 14th season. He signed a one-year contract with the Chiefs. Chiefs have also signed RB Kennith Walker III to a three-year contract. Walker was the Super Bowl MVP for the Seahawks on February 8th. He had over 1,000 yards rushing last season, so a big day for KC. Dolphins have released Tua. Falcons are expected to sign the QB. Dolphins have signed QB Malik Willis. Lions have traded RB David Montgomery to the Texans, getting OL Juice Scruggs, a 4th round pick in 2026, and a 7th round pick in 2027. This will make Jahmyr Gibbs the Lions primary back. The Raiders traded QB Geno Smith to the Jets. The trade includes the Jets getting a 2026 7th round pick, and the Raiders getting a 2026 6th round pick. Raiders have also signed kicker Matt Gay and LB Quay Walker. Cowboys have singed S Jalen Thompson. Bengals have signed Safety Bryan Cook. Steelers have traded for WR Michael Pittman. Patriots have signed WR Romeo Doubs, a four-year 68-million-dollar contract that could go as high as 80 million. Patriots also have released WR Diggs, who is now a free agent. 49ers have signed WR Mike Evans to a three-year deal. Evans had spent 12 seasons with the Bucs, winning a Super Bowl, and is a future HOF WR. There are many, many, more as the NFL free agency frenzy is in full swing.

Looks like Cardinals QB Kyler Murray is on the move as he was released by Arizona. No word yet on where he will end up but the rumored frontrunner is the Vikings. Murry is coming of an injury plagued season where he played five games, threw 6 TDs 3 INTs and 962 yards. The Cardinals were 2-3 in the games he started last year when he injured his foot in week 5 and missed the rest of the year. In 87 games with the Cardinals Murray has thrown 121 TDs, 60 INTs, and 20,460 yards, a QB rating of 91.6, with a record of 38-48-1. Besides the Vikings other possible teams are the Steelers, Dolphins, and Jets. Also, there is talk that the Oakland/Sacramento A's are interested. Murray was drafted by the A's so maybe he goes into baseball. Murray is a free agent.

You might have heard that Metallica is doing a residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas this fall. The ticket prices are high, with some being over 4,000 dollars a ticket before taxes. The cheapest are about 1k a ticket, but this can change, for better or worse, with the resale market. With the cost of sports, music, and other live entertainment being so much now, what is the most you would pay for your dream live entertainment experience? What is the highest you ever paid for a ticket to an event? I once paid 500 dollars per ticket for the VIP experience and floor seats (not front row) to see Guns N Roses when they partly got back together in 2016. The show was in San Diego, at the old Chargers stadium which has since been torn down. It was a lot at the time but seems like a bargain now compared to what some of the tickets are going for.

Unfortunately, they did not, Sabers won it 3-2. Fortunately, the Ducks lost 5-1 so the Knights remain in first place.

Agreed. It's pure greed. Stick the taxpayers with the bill then make the tickets so expensive that many of the same people who helped pay for the stadium can't afford to attend. What is also terrible is that the taxpayers often don't get a vote on it. When it goes to a public vote, it tends to be shut down. The taxpayers don't want to fund stadiums for billionaire owners and millionaire athletes, but in many cases, they are not given a say. The state government simply decides to do it, and the taxpayers pay out hundreds of millions whether they support it or not. It happened in Minnesota, Las Vegas, Buffalo, and now in Chicago, as well as many other places. While a few NFL stadiums are funded with private money (such as SoFi in Los Angeles) that is the exception, not the rule. Most are funded at least in part with tax money. Both building the stadium and renovations that happen years later. There are arguments for taxpayer funding for stadiums, and typically they are that the stadium creates jobs and stimulates the local economy. There are debates as to whether or not the juice is worth the squeeze on that one. Also, state governments, especially governors, don't want it on their watch that a team left. It is bad for reelection. So, while fans and locals will be upset about the tax hike for the new stadium, they are also going to be angry if their favorite team moves because the governor didn't get a deal done. It's a catch 22 for the governor, but I think the feeling among legislature is that more damage is done if they team moves than if they stay at the taxpayers' expense. This gives owners more leverage in negations, threatening to move the team if they don't get what they want. That is what happened in Minnesota. The Vikings were playing in the Metrodome in 2010 when it was falling apart. The roof even caved in hours before a game, which lead to the game being moved to Detroit. Back in 2010 the NFL did not have a team in Los Angeles, and the owners knew how much the NFL wanted one. So what the Vikings owner did was use the threat of moving to LA to get a new stadium with taxpayer money. Give me a new stadium, make the taxpayers pay for part of it, or I will move the team to LA. It worked. The Vikings now play in US Bank stadium and the taxpayers paid much of the bill.

Despite the seller doing nearly 40 grand in renovations the inspector still found many issues. Heating and air, plumbing, electrical issues, problems with the doors and windows to name some. The water heater was ten years old and not installed properly, plus the pipes connecting it were old and corroded. That entire thing would need to be replaced. Plus, it did not have the proper protections if it were to break, and water would leak and cause water damage and likely mold. The inspector said that could happen any day. Also, the AC was 25 years old. An AC does not last forever and is very expensive to replace. It was looking at 15k-20k in repairs On the positive side it has brand new floors, a renovated kitchen with a new stove, sink, and counter, as well as the bathroom counters and one of the showers. No mold, gas leaks, pest problems, or issues with the foundation. The inspector told me these are all typical issues. I was thankful for how thorough and professional they were. I would use them again, so I understand your feeling on that one. One of the stresses of home ownership is that there is usually a problem. Something needs to be fix, replaced, or improved. This place was built in 2001, but I've known people who lived in homes that were over 100 years old, and there is always something wrong. Home ownership has its blessings, but it comes with a price. I also agree that some agents are more interested in rushing to a sale and a payday than helping you find the right home. I went through several agents before landing on my current one who is being patient with me.

After a three-week NHL break the winners on the first night back were the Lighting, Sabers, Capitals, Stars, Golden Knights, Avalanche, Ducks, and Jets. Twelve more games on Thursday.

Some of the state legislation in Indiana passed a vote 95-4 supporting building a stadium for the Bears. Next it would have to pass the state senate, then be signed by the governor who has said he agrees with the stadium. If everything does pass the plan for the stadium is a multi-billion-dollar dome covered field that could be used for events year around. Possibly a future Super Bowl as well. The NFL has requirements that need to be met for a stadium to host a Super Bowl, and they tend to like domes more than open air stadiums so that there is not weather interference. The only way a place like Chicago gets a Super Bowl is with a dome. The league likes to put the game in warm weather climates, but we have seen the SB played in places like Minneapolis and Detroit because they are indoors. They did have it in New York/NJ one year but that is not typical and unlikely to happen again anytime soon. The Illinois governor is fighting to keep the Bears, but it is trending more towards the team going to Indiana. The stadium would likely cost the Indiana taxpayers at least 885 million dollars, with the possibility of it being much higher. Meanwhile the city of Chicago still owes about 500 million on Solider Field for renovations that were done in 2023. Crazy.