Daily Archives: February 6, 2017

A team never knows ifthey are giving up on a player too soon. Whether because of injury, logjam at the position or just not enough performance, teams walk away from players without knowing what more they are capable of. For the Cowboys, three such players have survived and thrived without them, poised to try and win a Super Bowl on Sunday in Houston.

In 2008, Dallas continued itstradition of drafting complements to future Hall of Famer Jason Witten at the tight end position. This time it was Texas A&Ms Martellus Bennett. Bennett was an athletic marvel but never gave full effort into development. He would later admit a great deal of frustration with his role and figuring out he would never get the chance to be the lead dog with Witten in Dallas. He played out his rookie deal, went to New York and then Chicago and proved he was an upper tier talent at the position.

Talent was never his problem, and at each of the last two stops he proved to those teams his attitude rendered his talent notworth the trouble. Of course, at Reclamation University, Bill Belichick had a perfect plan for him. Bennett was brought in as Rob Gronkowskis complement to replace Aaron Hernandez, but in an offense that knows how to feature two tight ends. When Gronkowski was lost for the year, Bennett slid right into the No. 1 role seamlessly. Hes no Gronk, but he should be featured Sunday evening.

That same year Bennett was drafted, the Cowboyssigned a diminutive and shifty wideout from Texas Tech by the name of Danny Amendola.

That year, the Cowboys were featured on Hard Knocks and the football viewing public fell in love with the 5-foot-8, 183 pound receiver with just 4.68 speed. Amendola made it to final cuts but was released.

He signed with the Cowboys practice squad but took an opportunity to go to camp with the Philadelphia Eagles the next season. Amendola was placed on their practice squad originally as well.

St. Louisneeded wideout help midseason and Amendola got his chance. He played 14 games and caught 43 passes. A few years later, New England was scooping him up as a understudy to Wes Welker. Amendola has become a major contributor for the Patriots, sliding in and out of the starting lineup but always making his presence known with Tom Brady.

Atlanta isnt without former Cowboys as well. Last year, the Dallas secondary was inept at best. They didnt record an interception on the season until late in the season. A practice squad call up by the name of Deji Olatoye did the honors. Still, it wasnt enough to keep him in Dallas, and he spent most of 2016 on the Falcons practice squad.

Hes not a key part of their defense, but he played in five games down the stretch and has gotten action in each of their playoff games.

It happens to every team in the NFL. They think someone can no longer help their team and once in a different role for a different coach, the player finds a niche. Its not a sign of a bad front office, stuff like that just happens. Still, it means plenty of current Cowboys players are going to be sitting at home watching former teammates get their opportunity at immortality.

See more here:

3 former Cowboys ready to fight for immortality in Super Bowl LI - Cowboys Wire

We saw him laugh this Super Bowl week and we saw him cry. The closer Tom Brady has drawn to superhuman achievement, the more human he became to us.

The closer he has drawn to football immortality, the more he appeared to embrace his mortality.

On the cusp of becoming the first quarterback in history to win five Super Bowl titles, never has he been more compelling.

Brady never has been the braggart, never been the bumptious boor. Yet in his humility and good nature, neither has he opened the vault to his emotions. If you cut the Patriots quarterback, he did not bleed. If you pressed him, he smiled and deferred.

He usually has spoken in the moment and as if he needed to hurry off to a meeting with Bill Belichick. Reflection rarely was in the cards. We have known more about the unique diet that fills his stomach than the deeper feelings that fill his heart.

And then a 7-year-old boy named Joseph Duarte, who had won a contest to be a Super Bowl reporter, asked Tom Brady a question Monday night at Minute Maid Park.

Who's your hero?

The rules for this Super Bowl week changed right there.

"That's a great question," Brady said. "I think my dad is my hero because he's someone I looked up to every day and, ah my dad."

Brady, to the astonishment of hundreds of reporters, started to choke up.

The thought of his son accepting the Lombardi Trophy from commissioner Roger Goodell at NGR Stadium did not thrill Tom Brady Sr. Still upset with all the ramifications of Deflategate, he told a San Francisco television station recently that anyone "that has Roger Goodell's ethics doesn't belong on any stage that Tom Brady is on."

"He went on a witch hunt and went in way over his head and had to lie his way out in numerous ways," Brady Sr. said.

He said it is a different story when charges of cheating and deceit are leveled against your son or daughter. He said he'd rather take the arrows to his heart than have his kids absorb them. And while many of us have different views of what happened with those deflated footballs, every parent can identify with Mr. Brady's paternal instincts. The sentiment seemed to touch his son's heart, even if he didn't want to publicly subscribe to his father's harsh, harsh words.

"I'd say my dad represents his feelings," he said. "He's a dad, and I'm a dad, and, ah "

Brady began to tear up again. Later he talked about how his father had always supported him, came home at night after work to hit him grounders and fly balls. How he loved to go to 49ers games with dad and mom and throw the football in the parking lot outside Candlestick Park.

This was a Brady we had rarely seen and, it turns out, we only knew half of the story. Reports surfaced Tuesday that Brady's mom, Galynn, has been ill for 18 months. His dad has been to only one game this season, his mom none. They are expected to be at NRG Stadium Sunday.

"It's just been a tough year," Brady said. "Every family goes through different things and my family's always been a great support system for my entire life.

"I'm hoping my mom can make the game."

Sending out an Instagram photo Saturday night of his dad and him kissing Galynn at NRG Stadium, Brady made it clear his mom would be at the game.

We see the handsome face and the pinpoint passes and the remarkable poise in the pocket. We see the mansion and his supermodel wife. And we project a perfect life on him. It isn't fair, of course, for no life is perfect.

As we listen to Brady speak for at least three hours over four days, listen to him talk about his mom and dad, talk about how Gisele is the one who does everything for the kids, from 6 a.m to 6 p.m., every day for six months, reminisce about buddies from the past, talk movingly about how Robert Kraft is a second father to him We see him laugh. We see him cry. We see Tom Brady.

Yes, he has been to the Super Bowl seven times. Yes, he and Bill Belichick have formed the ultimate coach-player combination. Everyone from Troy Aikman to Jim Harbaugh is calling Brady the greatest quarterback in the history of football. And he is. Yet this week, the guy who has seemed like none of us has seemed like all of us. We came to watch for something as singular as revenge over Deflategate and instead we got a much fuller picture of a man.

From getting a chance to play at 23, through four Super Bowl titles, through seven Super Bowl appearances, through marriage and children, Brady called it a growing level of perspective. One that slapped him in the face after he missed the entire 2008 season with an injury, returned in 2009 and thought to himself, "Damn, I love this game."

"This is not a sacrifice, because I love to do it," Brady said. "There are a lot of other things that I don't get a chance to do, that when I am done playing I will get a chance to do.

"When you get to this point, walking off the practice field today, there are two quarterbacks in the world that are practicing today preparing for this game. Myself and Matt [Ryan] should feel very privileged to be able to do that. There are a lot of guys that don't have the chance and I think you do feel very humbled when you're walking off the field to say, 'Wow, we had an opportunity to go out and practice and prepare for a game that's so meaningful to all of us that we'll remember for the rest of our lives.' I feel blessed."

Even in the way he spoke of Belichick, he was more expansive. Brady talked about how Belichick has committed his life to coaching and how he has committed his life to playing. He talked about how there's no rah-rah b.s. with Belichick and how it works out between them because he's bad at taking compliments and Belichick is good at not giving many out. He said he loves the way Belichick continually challenges his team, how he likes to say, "I hope my expectation for you guys isn't more than your expectation for yourself.'"

"We're just lucky to have a confluence of situations where we wind up with the greatest coach in the history of the game and the greatest quarterback in the history of the game, keeping them together and keeping a great team around them," owner Robert Kraft said. "At least for however long the Good Lord lets me breathe, I hope they're playing and coaching."

Does vengeance play a role in this Super Bowl? It has to at some level. When you are forced to sit out a quarter of the season because of improperly inflated footballs, there has to be some lingering resentment toward the NFL. You read what Brady's father said. And while Brady said, "I'm focused on the game," Kraft said, "I think it will also be a great statement to people who are pursuing their dreams that sometimes you get treated unfairly or things don't go your way. You just hang in there."

Humans are complex. Humans harbor resentment, at least for a time. And if anything this week, Tom Brady has shown us how human he is. In the fascinating days leading up to Super Bowl LI, a game when Brady can make history, the most fascinating development was not that one side can scream about payback over footballs. It was that all sides can identify with what Tom Brady is going through with his family.

"I know where my family kind of sits at games," Brady said. "I scout that out when I have all my tickets and when I go out pregame and kind of look around I kind of know where they're going to be and I try to make some eye contact and let them know I'm looking at them.

"Yeah, this will be as special as it's ever been."

Predictions: Patriots 35, Falcons 31. Brady MVP. Goodell will try to make it seem like Deflategate never happened. Lady Gaga will make some kind of halftime political statement.

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Jeff Jacobs: Near NFL Immortality, Tom Brady Shows Human Side - Hartford Courant

Brain implants arent anything new. In fact, several types of brain implants (also known as neuroprosthetics) are already being used. Many patients with Parkinsons disease for instance, make use of a brain implant that transmits electrical pulses to help with motor control and reduce tremors.

On a separate yet related topic, last year, the FDA approved Second Sights retinal implant which can help patients blinded by advanced retinitis pigmentosa to regain their ability to perceive shapes and motion. And then there are cochlear implants which are commonly used by deaf people or those who have trouble hearing.

Theres a common denominator about all these implants, of course. All of them are being used to help treat or manage specific medical conditions. Which, and in reference to the neuroprosthetics, makes these kinds of brain implants easily acceptable.

But thats just scratching the surface. Eventually, we will not stop being satisfied with simply using implants to restore lost or damaged functions. Why wait for something to get broken when you can just enhance it so it wont have to get broken in the first place, right? Or maybe, why not just enhance what can be enhanced so everything will simply become that much easier.

In the future, brain implants will most probably, at the very least, help us learn more quickly. Remember the movie The Matrix? Neo Keanu Reeves character simply downloaded practice from a computer and he instantly turned into a kung fu expert. Thats the kind of speed learning were talking about. Instead of taking years to become skilled at something, with the right brain implant, which can be in the form of a tiny chip a thousand times more powerful cognitively than your biological brain, it will only take a few minutes.

And then, after enhancing ones learning capabilities, next to enhance will be ones memory and concentration, and maybe even ones mood. By doing this, a person learns faster, remembers everything better, focuses better, and feels better too. And thats not so bad, right? Or is it?

Its still your brain. Its just an enhanced version. But with a computer chip in it, it will now become possible to upload your brain to the cloud. And when you die, you will continue to live on as your uploaded brain can simply be re-uploaded to someone else either some other person, or maybe a robot.

Its an extreme scenario. But with everything thats happening with our technology, progress in neuroscience and artificial intelligence, its not science fiction stuff anymore but a very real possibility. Furthermore, the process of capturing the intelligence of our brains in a machine is not a matter of if but a matter of when. So the question is, should we go to those lengths?

Even without bringing religion into the picture, theres something a bit off about tampering with the natural way the world works. Maybe thats because that is really the only alternative we know. But regardless, intervening to fix something is quite different from intervening to give someone an unfair advantage over everyone else. And isnt this exactly what nonbiological intelligence enhancement is going to result in? Unless of course everybody gets to undergo brain enhancement, then there will be a sense of fairness somehow.

But then, if everyone had super mental abilities, wheres the challenge in that? Perhaps a seriously super-advanced technological and scientific world, but can you really imagine living in a planet where everyone is a genius and everything everyone ever talks about is some kind of super-scientific or profound topic that normal people (if there will be any left that is) will not be able to understand or relate to?

And what about immortality? Who gets to decide whose brains should be uploaded and continue to live on?

We live in a troubled and complicated world. But at least, its the real world. If brain augmentation ultimately leads to everyone becoming immortal, what kind of world will we be living in? Better yet, will it still be considered living in the true sense of the word?

Were not saying progress in technology, physics, neuroscience and overall human intelligence in general fields which are unavoidably set to open up possibilities that we can scarcely imagine will negatively affect our existence. All were saying is that we just have to be a bit careful where these advancements take us as a society. But then again, and despite the risks of sounding contradictory, whos to say its not worth trying. After all, and in the words of Arthur Conan Doyle: Some believe what separates men from animals is our ability to reason. Others say its language or romantic love, or opposable thumbs. Living here in this lost world, Ive come to believe it is more than our biology. What truly makes us human is our unending search, our abiding desire for immortality.

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Is Brain Augmentation Leading The Way To Immortality? - Wall Street Pit

Aug 6, 2016; Canton, OH, USA; General exterior view of the Pro Football Hall of Fame before the 2016 NFL Hall of Fame enshrinement at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

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Sometimes, you dont know what you have until its gone. At other times, youre completely aware of what youre missing. Former Philadelphia Eagles safety Brian Dawkins spent more time in The City of Brotherly Love than any other athlete ever spent as a member of one of the citys sports franchises.From 1996-2008, he played his heart out and wore it on his sleeve, endearing him to fans and teammates. Hed spend the remainder of his playing days with the Denver Broncos, but he returned to his roots to sign a one-day contract, allowing him to retire as a member of the Eagles.

February 4th has a chance of being a very special day for him and for Eagles fans.

The NFL will announce its next Hall of Fame class one day before the Super Bowl, and anyone thats ever watched him play will be patiently waiting to see him take the stage. Hell be waiting to see if his name called, much like the rest of us, and he takes with him a resume that would make any NFL great jealous.

The numbers speak for themselves. Dawkins, for his career, totaled 1,131 takles, 26 sacks (from the safety position) and 37 interceptions. Add 28 forced fumbles and being able to find the end zone three times, and you have one of the most versatile players to ever play on defense.

Hes a nine-time Pro Bowler. Hes a four-time First-team All Pro, but what he truly meant to the Eagles cant be measured in statistics. No one playing for the Eagles will ever wear the number 20 again. As we mentioned before, some people seem to mean more when theyre gone, but when Dawkins left, he left a void the Eagles struggled to fill for well over ten years.

Only time will tell if they ever find a way to add another piece as valuable, as respected or as talented as this one.

Now, if that doesnt get you going, you dont have a pulse.We at Inside The Iggles salute Brian Dawkins and wish him luck. Regardless of what happens tomorrow, hes a member of our Hall of Fame forever.

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Brian Dawkins: One day away from pro football immortality - Inside the Iggles

Rick and Morty is the fan theory equivalent of an all-you-can-eat buffet. With a universe and concept that is both expansive, self-aware, and abundant with possibilities, if you think hard enough, you'll find an explanation for almost anything that happens on the show.

A recent Reddit theory by ShadowmasterK is a prime example of this. On the face of it, the theory seems to be searching for meaning in a trait that is commonplace in all cartoons. But when you look below the surface, it begins to make sense in a way that poetically reflects the great oppositional perspective on our existence absolute purpose versus complete coincidence.

Maybe there is a god, maybe we are divine beings who share universal consciousness, maybe we're all celestial manifestations of another dimension, with this universe acting as a portal to eternal bliss. Or maybe our existence is sheer fluke, the result of billions of years of mutation that accumulated with semi-intelligent, insignificant flesh and bone hurtling through the dark abyss of space on a molten rock travelling at 1,000 miles per hour.

Wait, back to the Rick and Morty theory. ShadowmasterK believes that, in the pilot episode, when Rick injects Morty with the serum that repairs his broken legs, he also injects him with an anti-ageing serum, making Morty practically immortal. The universe canon for this lies with a dimension Rick refers to as a place where "their technology was so advanced that they had halted the ageing process and everyone there was young."

The coincidence argument, hell, the logical response to this is that characters don't age in animation anyway. But this is #RickAndMorty, a heavily meta show with a fondness for poking fun at the troupes of fiction and popular culture. This subtle reference, way back in the beginning, could well have been deliberately included by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland.

But there's something even more interesting to take from this scene. Whether or not Rick injected Morty with the serum, Rick could stop his ageing process, but he chooses not to. The inevitability of death is something he does pay attention to, after all he did transfer his brain into a younger clone of himself in "Big Trouble In Little Sanchez," creating the high-school sensation, Tiny Rick.

"He's a little afraid he'll lose sight of who he is"

So why doesn't Rick just use the serum? The answer may be found in a Reddit AMA with co-creator Harmon, who, when asked an innocuous question on what drink is contained in Rick's flask, gave a delightful "absolute purpose" response:

"I tend to assume vodka and I know it seems unlikely that Rick wouldn't use sci-fi tech to somehow augment whatever he drinks but I think in rick's mind part of the 'addiction' to the flask of good old fashioned booze is that it anchors his identity, and I think he knows that if he augmented the booze or the flask, then why not just whip up a very rudimentary nanobiotic alcohol dispenser in his body or inject himself with a plasma component that just amounts to always having a certain blood alcohol level, and I think the reason he doesn't do that is because he's a little afraid he'll lose sight of who he is."

According to Harmon, the most intelligent man in all of existence can see the importance of maintaining his identity it's the reason he keeps the flask instead of using any number of inventions to make things easier. The same can apply to anti-ageing. Rick may feel that if he used the serum and become immortal, he may lose sight of who he truly is.

There is another difficulty, too. By being immortal (or at least not dying of natural causes) certain situations could become even more dangerous for Rick. If he did live forever, he'd be extra screwed, facing an eternity behind bars following his arrest at the end of Rick and Morty Season 2.

Or, you know, all of this is a meaningless coincidence.

Is Morty immortal? Or is this over-thinking?

(Source: Reddit)

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'Rick And Morty' Theory: Rick Gifted Morty With Immortality, But Chose To Die Himself - moviepilot.com