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I'm starting to think Marvin Lewis is one of the more underappreciated NFL coaches of the past couple decades. Staying 16 years in one place is TOUGH, and I feel like people have forgotten a lot of context along the way.

 In the 12 years before Marvin Lewis arrived, the Bengals were 55-137. In the two years since he left, they are 6-25-1. That's 14 years and 0 playoff appearances.

Lewis was 131-122-3 with 7 playoff appearances.
Lewis took over a 2-14 team in 2003. His first three years, he went 8-8, 8-8 and 11-5.

He got his QB in Year 2 in Carson Palmer and reached the playoffs in Year 3. But on his very first throw, Palmer tore his knee.
So, we begin the narrative that Lewis was 0-7 in playoff games. Fair criticism to a point. But here were his seven QBs for those playoff games:

Jon Kitna after 1 throw
Carson Palmer
Andy Dalton
Andy Dalton
Andy Dalton
Andy Dalton
AJ McCarron
The Bengals, who have a cheap owner as GM, not only struggled to find Marvin Lewis a QB but also struggled to get him much of anything. They consistently let good players walk, from Carson Palmer to Marvin Jones to Kevin Zeitler to Eric Steinbach to Leon Hall to Reggie Nelson.
Go ahead and find me the best free-agent acquisition the Bengals made in Marvin Lewis' 16 years there. Cedric Benson? Tory James? Bobbie Williams? Dhani Jones?

Do any of those scream, "Time to go win us a playoff game"?
But it's not just about excuses for Marvin Lewis' tenure. He won four division titles in an AFC North with the Ravens and Steelers, who combined for 8 AFC Championship Game appearances and three Super Bowl victories in those 16 years.
People will bring up the lack of discipline. It's a fair criticism. But you also take character risks as an organization when you refuse to pay top dollar.

To win consistently despite shenanigans, you need the respect of your players, and everyone will tell you Lewis had it.
Because Mike Brown refuses to hire a GM or scouting department, Bengals coaches have to do everything. They churn and burn the roster since they can't keep free agents.

Marvin Lewis hired Jay Gruden and Mike Zimmer as his coordinators and created a beautifully streamlined system
Marvin Lewis is 62 and is defensive-oriented. He hasn't won a playoff game and won't win the press conference. But those are some of the motivations that lead to awful hires.

I imagine what Lewis could do as a coach with a real GM and scouting department. I hope he gets a shot.
Casual NFL fans only tend to see the Bengals when they make the playoffs, when their lack of poise or a QB shine through. It took a LOT to get there.

Unless you're an organization saying, "We're tired of losing in the playoffs every year," you probably shouldn't thumb your nose.
This goes back to the fact that we react to the guy wearing the headset and standing at the podium and not the one who finds the players. All about visibility.

Again and again, coaches get fired while awful GMs keep plugging away.
It also shows how we judge the end of a tenure more than the full thing. Some guys are great with their second team — Andy Reid, Tony Dungy, Jon Gruden, Bill Belichick, Marty Schottenheimer.

A fresh start can be good, especially for a guy who worked for Mike Brown for 16 years.
Atlanta and Detroit feel like good matches for Marvin Lewis. Both have established passing attacks.

Lewis has the experience Dan Quinn lacked.

And the areas where Matt Patricia struggled — organization, relatability, staffing — are Lewis’ biggest strengths.

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rather is paid to the incorporated organisation owned by the clubs (with the WRU having a share, so an interest, in that organisation). The WRU share isn't dividend paying, however. That organisation then deals with all aspects of the professional game 3/

from dealing with CVC, to negotiating competition and broadcast income, to sponsors for the Autumn International series, to working with World Rugby on the World Calendar - everything. 4/

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Back in 2004, Ricky Williams, the American football player, left the Miami Dolphins after a third strike for smoking weed and disappeared. He’d had a notable career besides, but this was the capper: He said goodbye to his coach from Hawaii and vanished off the face of the Earth.

I was like, I want to be the guy who finds him. My memory is a little foggy here, but I think I got Ricky’s email address from the godfather of one of Esquire’s editors. It was an AOL account, I remember. I wrote Ricky and asked him if he’d talk to me if I found him.

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Pith: Behind the Western Guilt Complex

My take on the courage deficit afflicting us.


One of the defining characteristics of our society is a sense of guilt.

This guilt manifests itself in the way we bend over backwards for marginalised groups, and the way we defend weakness with ferocity.

White guilt, LGBT allies and male feminists abound.

Obesity is championed as body positivity.

People are villainised and ostracised for their lack of feeling for those who struggle. You are a bad person if you are against redistribution.

Our judgement of people's character primarily takes place through this lens.

Empathy, rather than courage, has the moral high ground.

I say this merely as an observation, rather than to dismiss the merits of empathy as a virtue.

I've long wondered why this is, and have been presented with various explanations.

One is colonial and slaver guilt - that we feel ashamed of the horrors we committed as the British Empire and as white slavers in the US.

Another is our culture's roots in Christianity, where the notion of original sin breeds a sense of shame.
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WARRIORS-CLIPPERS REWATCH THREAD

Okay, thought I would get into the Warriors' unbelievable comeback win over the Clippers last night. Let's dig in.

Steph Curry's first 3 of the night came off an unnecessary Nicolas Batum gamble. Shouldn't have gone for the deflection.


This is a good use of Curry as an inbounder in ATOs. Leveraging his gravity to get Oubre a drive to the rim from a fake handoff, made easier by the Clippers not having anyone to help on the drive.


Really crafty pushoff by Curry on Patrick Beverley here. Forces Beverley under Looney's screen, and that's all the space Curry needs.


Hedging/trapping Curry has become the norm now, especially with the kind of roster Curry has to work with (i.e., average-to-below-average shooting).

I absolutely love this wrinkle they've put in to prevent hedging/trapping. Somewhat of a screen-the-screener/DHO action.


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These are turn-based wargames for windows 3.x, sharing the same engine.
Battles in a Distant Desert is from 1992, and is based on the first Iraq war (Desert Storm)


and Battles on Distant Planets is from 1991, and takes place in SPACE!
I'm pretty sure this is the one I played as a kid.


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So it's a 0-2 player game!


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Know the role of Naga Sadhus

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One of the most underrated empires to ever grace India is the kingdom of Bhurshut from central Bengal.

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A medieval powerhouse this kingdom stood firm against the Pathan invasion from Orissa twice, and with each time devastating the enemy forces.

Along with this, we also have to note that this was the time when the empire was under the reign of a widowed queen named Bhavashankari.

She wasn’t even born in a royal family and yet she achieved what most of the kings couldn’t do

This begs the question, why does no one remember this great kingdom?

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Bhurshut empire thrived from 15th century till late 18th century as an independent kingdom while acting as tributary state with full autonomy.

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What’s even more puzzling is that no one knows about the great queen Bhavanshakari who thrashed the Pathans single handedly without the aid of their allies.

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Thanks, Apple! I really was nostalgic for worrying about yanking my computer off the table.

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