TMQ Watch: November 7, 2017.

One thing we’ve noticed about new TMQ in the light of recent events: Easterbrook hasn’t had anything to say in the column about recent mass shootings, especially in regard to “reasonable gun control”. Easterbrook hasn’t been shy about this before (and we’ve called him out on his bolshie bushwa before, too), so the absence of this in his Weekly Standard TMQ columns seems unusual. Almost like someone is editing him.

Not that we’re complaining: the less time we spend pressure-testing our cerebral arteries, the better we feel.

After the jump, this week’s TMQ

The NFL’s “Salute to Service” was “complete fabricated hocus-pocus nonsense”. You can now skip the first thousand words of this column.

(Did the NFL stop doing breast cancer awareness month? We seem to have completely missed it.)

In other news, college football games are high scoring. Why? Coaches focus on offense, the rise of 7-on-7, college clock management, “tired defenses”, and different rules. “In college, actions are legal behind the line of scrimmage that would be illegal in the pros.”

Stats. Sweet: Philadelphia. Sour: Kansas City. Mixed: Rams-Giants. (Why the “LA/A Rams” but not the “Jersey/A Giants”?)

TMQ likes November and December. We were prepared to poke fun at this recurring filler item, but Austin is currently in the middle of what passes for a “cold snap” after temperatures last week in the mid-80s. So we find ourselves actually just a tiny bit sympathetic to Easterbrook.

Why doesn’t Houston sign Colin Kaepernick?

Because Kaepernick would probably go over like a lead balloon in Houston? Because he’s not that good a quarterback? Because of the salary cap?

“BOLO of the Week” (ding!): Seattle’s defense, “the reputations of Julio Jones and Jimmy Graham”.

(One-Adam-12, One-Adam-12, see the man, public disturbance, Weekly Standard headquarters.)

Reserve your tickets now for the BBC Amusement Park, perhaps offering an exhibit in which park-goers can sit at a BBC news desk, stare into the camera, and blame America.

Since we’ve griped about TMQ’s sense of humor before, honesty compels us to admit: we got a laugh out of that line. Indeed, we kind of wish we’d written it ourselves.

College basketball good. NCAA bad. College football is basically free minor leagues for the NFL.

Donna Brazile bashing.

One of the structural faults of contemporary American voting is that most states treat primaries exactly as they treat general elections: same polling places, same poll judges. This creates, for voters, the illusion that the Democratic-Republican duopoly is somehow mandated by the Constitution.

Except that third parties are also listed on the ballots, so why would people have the impression that there is a “duopoly”? Also, in many areas, primary elections are combined with local and state ballot propositions, like bond issues, so why not leverage the existing infrastructure?

“Adventures in Officiating”: offensive linemen downfield.

Three of the league’s highest paid offensive linemen are Cordy Glenn, Richie Incognito, and Eric Wood of Buffalo: all possessors of extravagant contracts despite none ever appearing in a playoff game. Thursday at Jersey/B, all three were awful, spending down after down barely brushing their men, then standing doing nothing, just watching as Tyrod Taylor was sacked seven times and LeSean McCoy thrice was TFL (“tackled for a loss”).

Richie Incognito, the guy who bullied Jonathan Martin off of the Miami Dolphins, still has a contract to play pro football?

(Yes, we know, we’ve said before that talent outweighs everything in the NFL: Tom Brady could spit-roast and eat a baby on the field during halftime of a NFL game, as long as he won the Super Bowl. But is Richie Incognito that good? Doesn’t seem that way.)

Viewer mail: redolent of “wet rocks, subtle barbeque smoke, and blueberry pie.” “And how does the reviewer know what wet rocks taste like?”

The definition of redolent says nothing about taste, only smell. And don’t tell us you’ve never smelled wet rocks, blueberry pie, or subtle barbecue smoke.

The 500 Club. The 600 Club. Husson 63, Alfred 0.

And that brings things to a conclusion for this week, folks. Tune in next week for another TMQ Watch, redolent of aged Gouda, Riesling, and grilled bratwurst with potato pancake and a nice mustard.

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