The NFL is full of parity year to year. Except for here.

Last year Buffalo, Cincinnati, Oakland, Washington, Detroit, and San Francisco finished with a combined record of 34-62.  This season those same 6 teams are off to a 25-10 start so far.  NFL teams that are good one year are often bad the next, and visa-versa.  Except for the Patriots.  They've been good for eleven straight years now.  Since the '01-'02 season New England is 126-40.  Think about that; it's totally absurd.  It means their AVERAGE record for the past decade+ is a little better than 12-4.  They have also finished with the best record in their division in each of the last ten years.  There were two seasons during that stretch when the Pats didn't make the playoffs, but in both those years they still tied for the best record in the AFC East (including the 2008 Brady-less 11-5 season).

In recent years the local dominance has also spread beyond the NFL to the other professional sports teams in Boston.  Out of the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins, no team has finished with a losing record since '06-'07.  Assuming the Pats don't collapse this year, it'll be 18 straight winning seasons and counting for Boston pro sports.  Not bad.

*As a side note, I wish I had enough time on my hands to calculate the data on A: how many NFL teams haven't had ANY twelve win seasons during the span in which the Pats have averaged more than 12 a year, and B: whether or not any other cities currently, or ever, can match Boston's 18 consecutive winning seasons across all 4 sports.  That info could make both stats way more impressive.  So if you happen to work for Elias or ESPN or something and have access to those numbers, feel free to comment.

It's weird that you can't refrigerate bananas.

Well, the title of the post pretty much says it all.  Probably this was just worthy of a tweet, not a whole blog.  But it's 4:30 am, I just got home from work a little while ago, and I have to be back in about 5 hours.  So this is all I've got for tomorrow/today, depending on how you look at it.
Think about it though: can you name anything else that doesn't last longer when you put it in the refrigerator?  Fruit, vegetables, bread, juice, milk; pretty much any food product you can think of lasts longer (or at least just as long) in the fridge.  But not bananas.  They get worse real fast.  That's weird.

Is the twitter not as mainstream as I think it is?

Yesterday I spent several hours adding new stuff to the blog page.  That facebook "like" box on the right took FOREVER.  Probably it shouldn't have, but html code and web design is not stuff I'm very familiar with.  Anyway, I'm trying to gain facebook "likes" and twitter followers.  But for some reason I get the feeling that most of my readers aren't on twitter.  A lot of people have told me face to face that they read this regularly, but by my calculations only about 14 of them are following me.  And of the 50-some people who "like" LucidSportsFan on facebook, only about 12 of them follow @LucidSportsFan on twitter.  Is it possible that only 20% of people use twitter?  I'm taking a poll starting now.  It's on the right.  And if your answer is "no," then click on the twitter button on the left or the right (but the one on the left that doesn't move when you scroll down the page is way more awesome), sign up, and follow me.  Twitter is fun, you'll like it.

My anti-Lebron campaign is gaining momentum

I've made no effort to hide the fact that Lebron James is my least favorite pro-athlete, maybe of all time.  And it looks like my views are finally starting to catch on.  Magic Johnson basically called him a career loser the other day, and just this morning Stephen A. Smith (who used to be a huge Lebron fan) ripped him for the second time in less than a week on ESPN First Take:

And from earlier this week, it get's REALLY good at the 2:00 mark:

"It's like he wants to be crowned with no rings."

People will drink whatever I tell them to

The other day a women came into my bar and asked me for a "smooth" red wine.  I asked her what she usually likes to drink, and she said "Barolo."  I smiled, picked up a bottle, and said something along the lines of "Ok, I think you'll enjoy this one, let me pour you a taste."  And just like what happens 99% of the time, she tried it, liked it, and ordered a glass.

Now here's the secret: I don't know anything about wine.  And honestly, hardly anybody else does either.  I couldn't describe to you what a "Barolo" tastes like.  And I doubt the lady who claimed that's all she likes really could either.  I've sold the same glass of red wine to people who have asked me for any of the following: big, bold, dry, spicy, full bodied, medium bodied, crisp, light bodied, heavy; and not to mention smooth.  And probably many more "characteristics" as well.  What the wine actually is barely matters.  All people really care about is the presentation.  They're pleased that I've taken an interest in trying to pick something I think they'll enjoy, and their natural instinct is to want to like whatever the bartender suggests.

St. Louis in the World Series is a fluke. Again.

There's nothing I particularly like about the Texas Rangers.  But I'm going to root for them in the World Series out of principle, because for the second time in 5 years, the Cardinals have no business being there.  I've said repeatedly in this blog that the baseball playoffs are totally random, and that the best teams rarely win.  Nothing proves my point more than the random post season success of the St. Louis Cardinals.

In 2006 the National League Central was terrible.  The Cardinals managed to win the division with a record of 83-78.  By comparison the Red Sox finished 3rd in the AL East that year, 11 games behind the Yankees.  Boston had a record of 86-76.  Out of 30 total MLB teams, TWELVE of them had better records than the Cardinals.  But when the playoffs started they got hot, and St. Louis won the 2006 World Series.

And now 5 years later they're back, and still not very good.  At 90-72 the Cardinals had the worst regular season record of the 8 playoff teams.  With just over a month to go they were 68-63, and trailed the Braves by 10.5 games in the Wild Card race.  It took an epic choke by Atlanta just for St. Louis to get in to the playoffs.  And somehow they've made it back to the World Series.  For the integrity of the game, I hope they don't win it again.

I don't understand this "occupy" phenomenon

First of all, I haven't paid much attention or cared much about this stuff; I really have very little knowledge of it.  So obviously that's a good part of the reason why I don't understand it.  But off the top of my head, here are my thoughts on these "occupy" protests:

1. It seems like here in Boston a large number of the protesters are college students.  Right off the bat I think being a college student eliminates you from being "oppressed."  You have opportunity and education and a future to do whatever you want with.

2. Even if you're not a student, you're still living in a country that allows you to do whatever you want.  If you don't like your job and don't think you make enough money, then go get a different one.  Make some choices.  Take some responsibility for your own situation.  Do you really think you'd be leading a totally different life if you paid a little less in taxes?

3. How is standing in the street going to accomplish anything?  My guess is the only result is that it pisses off other regular people who would like to use the street.