Broncos 2020 Draft: We'll See

I've seen the Broncos' 2020 draft grade as either an A or an A+, but to quote Michael Scott, I completely forgot there was such a thing as an A++.

I don't know how I feel about draft-day grades. If you go on NFL.com every team received an A or a B except for one. You know a lot of these guys aren't going to work out, but for now, they are all future Pro Bowlers. I don't really follow college football so I don't know one way or the other. I had never heard most of these guys before they showed up as Bronco draft picks.

Maybe Jerry Jeudy will be up on the Broncos Ring of Fame in 20 years. Maybe he won't even be on the roster in 5 years. We don't really know for sure. I like that the Broncos are trying to improve the offensive skill positions. Maybe there's only so much an offensive line can do if the quarterback has nowhere to go with the ball. It's the highest pick (#15) they've ever spent on a wide receiver, and the first since Demaryius Thomas in 2010. He was unquestionably the best-ever first-round Broncos wide receiver, earning four Pro Bowl selections during his time in Denver. The other first-round receivers have been a little more spotty.

Ashley Lelie had a couple of good seasons in the Jake Plummer era after being drafted 19th overall in 2003, but didn't last long. Marcus Nash was picked 30th in 1998 and was one of the all-time Broncos draft busts. Ricky Nattiel was picked 27th in 1987 and hung around for several seasons, but really his only claim to fame was rounding out the Three Amigos. So here's hoping Jeudy follows in D.T.'s footsteps.

The Broncos picked KJ Hamler, another wide receiver, with the #46 overall pick. The Broncos have picked up some good wide receivers in the second round: Courtland Sutton (#40 in 2018), Eddie Royal (#42 in 2008), and Vance Johnson (#31 in 1985). But they've also had their fair share of misses: Cody Latimer (#54 in 2016), Darius Watts (#54 in 2004), and Orlando McDaniel (#50 in 1982). Based purely on pick position, Hamler could go either way.

I thought this year was a real alphabet soup of a draft. Check it out: Cushenberry....Ojemudia....Agim....Okwuegbunam...Strnad...Tuszka.
 
A lot of people seem to like the center, Lloyd Cushenberry, in round 3. Hopefully he pairs with last year's pick, Dalton Risner, in providing stability to the offensive line for years to come. The Broncos have had tough luck in that area for many years. They received high marks for LB Justin Strnad in the fifth and G Netane Muti in the sixth because they would have been picked much higher if not for their injuries. Well, that's the real problem with injuries, isn't it? Sometimes you're never the same. I remember everyone being super excited about drafting the injured Jake Butt a few years ago because without the injury, he was like a first-round talent. But that hasn't worked out so well because in three years he's played three games.

So we'll see. A year from now, we'll have a pretty good idea if the high marks were warranted.

Conference Reactions

The 190th Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was earlier this month. My wife is a good example in that she pledged to stay off of Facebook for the weekend because she didn't want to see the reactions to everything. For some reason, I enjoy exploring social media to see what people are saying about conference. I guess I'm curious like a cat. That's why my friends call me Whiskers.

I'd like to address some of the negative reactions that I've run across regarding this conference.

In this time of trouble, many people were looking forward to General Conference to console their troubled hearts. However, many were disappointed to find out that the Church moved ahead with plans announced six months ago to center this conference around the bicentennial of the First Vision, instead of scrapping it and gearing everything towards our worries about COVID-19.

This attitude reminds me of the story in Matthew 26 when a woman used a precious ointment to anoint the Savior's head. She was criticized for using the ointment for such a purpose when it could have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor. Jesus corrected them by saying, "why trouble ye the woman?...for ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always." Even though there is a lot of uncertainty in the world right now, why shouldn't we take a weekend to commemorate the anniversary of what we believe to be the most significant world event of the past two centuries? There's only going to be one bicentennial. We'll see plenty more plagues in the years to come.

Some thought The The First Presidency and The Quorum of the Twelve showed poor leadership in a crisis situation. Apparently it would have been preferred for them to rewrite their talks on three weeks' notice to center around the novel coronavirus. I'm not sure how you get ten hours of material out of that, but apparently that's what some people wanted to hear. And what exactly were they supposed to say? Hey, we told you so? We told you to have at least a three-month supply of food, we told you to avoid unnecessary debt, we told you to live within your means. Maybe they should have just "played the hits" a la the Tabernacle Choir and re-ran old conference talks addressing the matter.

Many were offended that the Church moved ahead with other plans that had undoubtedly been in the works for months - the unveiling of a new symbol, the issuance of a proclamation, and the accompanying Hosanna Shout, apparently feeling that these actions were insensitive during a worldwide pandemic.

But it wasn't as if the church outright ignored the pandemic - President Nelson called for a worldwide fast for people of all faiths on Good Friday. Some scoffed at the notion that such an action would have any effect whatsoever on the current crisis. And on the surface, it doesn't seem like an earth-shattering solution to join with others in abstaining from food and drink for 24 hours. But isn't that what we're supposed to do in our own lives, when we're faced with problems that are beyond our mortal capacity to solve? To fast and to pray?

Again, I'm not exactly sure what people were expecting. I guess they were expecting President Nelson to get up and say, "Okay, here's what you need to do. Go wash yourself in the River Jordan seven times..."

I suspect what it's really all about is the Church's reserve fund - which everyone knows about thanks to "the whistleblower". They don't like that the Church has it, and apparently would like to see it spent on resolving the cornonavirus, because it's an emergency fund after all, and this is an emergency.

A fair response to all these criticisms is "hey, we're only a few weeks into this" - it's not as if this is something that has been going on for months on end. We don't know yet if the measures taken will have an effect and if things will moderate in the weeks to come. What kind of message would it send if the church just blew the whole chunk right now instead of waiting to see what happens? I'm sure that's part of the reason we're taught to have at least a short-term supply of our own...the church can't provide for everyone's needs every time we come to a bump in the road.

I for one, liked the church's controlled response - we should be concerned, we should take precautions, we should support the effort to control the spread, but there's no reason to panic. Isn't that the example we need? Calm down, relax, focus on the fact that we still have the gift of the restored gospel on the earth.

Some were disappointed that there was no earth-shattering announcement. Yes, another conference passed without any mention of ordaining women to the priesthood or a validation of same-sex relationships or a suspension of the law of tithing.

The proclamation on the restoration didn't reveal anything new, at least not to members of the church. But they aren't really hiding the ball anymore (if they ever were). Not only do we not wish to be referred to as Mormons anymore, but also, "We declare that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, organized on April 6, 1830, is Christ’s New Testament Church restored." I thought that was a pretty bold statement - hey, we aren't just another sect of Christianity...this here is the real thing.

I wonder if our church leaders get annoyed with church membership always expecting "a big announcement" and then being disappointed if there wasn't one, or it wasn't what we were expecting. I think it's okay to just have a general conference where there's nothing groundbreaking announced.

But in case you were too disappointed in everything that happened (or didn't happen) to notice, there was a big announcement.

Hey! We're building a temple in Dubai, per their request; and also, we're building one in MAINLAND CHINA.

I think that qualifies as "a big announcement".

I think the church's response to the pandemic can be summed up by a quote from Joseph Smith, Jr. himself:

"The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

In other words, we're not done yet, folks....

Domestic Travel Bucket List

I'm not very well traveled. I've never been outside the continental U.S. I didn't cross the Mississippi until I was 23 years old. I've never been further northeast than Charleston, WV. In my defense, I've lived in five states, been to both oceans, and been physically present within the boundaries of 28 of them. A couple of years ago I received a stipend for a work anniversary and so I had to go through a bunch of ideas and pick something. I wound up choosing Chicago, which turned out to be an excellent choice. But what about all the runners-up? Will I ever get to do those trips?

Anyways, here's my list of U.S. destinations:

Upstate New York. I actually sketched out an itinerary so basically the trip is already planned. Lots of church history sites so of course places like Palmyra and the Sacred Grove would be a priority, along with the Baseball Hall of Fame. Niagara Falls could be part of it. And the Finger Lakes! My wife was born in Binghamton. And Oneida seems like an interesting place. It would just be a lot of driving and spectacular scenery, is how I imagine it.

Nauvoo. I've actually been here once before. But it was more of a "passing through" thing when we were moving to North Carolina 18 years ago. We only stayed for a few hours - it was July, it was sweltering, and we had a two-year-old. So not the funnest time we've ever had. I'd like a chance to do it right someday - experience everything - Carthage Jail, the Temple, life on the Mississip, etc. 

New York City. Also was on my short list for my stipend, but kind of chickened out. Chicago seemed less threatening and more affordable. But you can't go through life without having experienced The Big Apple. . . right? I'd want to go in the late summer so I could attend the U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows. I'm not a huge tennis fan or anything, but for some reason it calls out to me.

Olympic Peninsula. When I was a missionary I did get to take a day trip up through Port Angeles to Neah Bay, so technically I've been there already. It was amazing, but also it was January and I was wearing a shirt and tie. I didn't really get a full experience. I also did a lot of research on this area when I was making my trip selection. My dear wife (who served in the same mission) sort of pooh-poohed it, however.

Palm Beach County. Speaking of my wife pooh-poohing things, I've always wanted to visit some place where she grew up. We've been together for 22 years and I've never visited a single place from her childhood. Not one. She lived here from about sixth grade until she went to college, but her family moved and she's never been back. She insists there's nothing to see and nothing is the same. What is she hiding? I must find out.

San Francisco. Early fall is the best, I've read. I'd want to go see the giant trees and for some reason visually the Oakland Temple has always been one of my favorites. But I guess neither of those has anything specifically to do with San Francisco. Steep streets, history, and a golden bridge though.

Alaska. I've never been that interested in a Carribean cruise - they seem gross. But the Alaskan version intrigues me. They were doing an ad campaign several weeks ago and I was ready to go. Except for the paying for it part. I believe it's considerably more expensive than most cruises. 

Ozarks. It looks amazing plus I have some family history interest in the region, so you could always justify a fun trip in the name of genealogical research! I'm not sure about Branson, though. What is that about?

Mt. Rushmore. We're getting down to the more doable portion of the list. It's only six hours from our house. I've always wanted to go. We really should be able to check this one off.

Grand Canyon. My wife really wants to go and take the kids. Also, something that should fit in the budget a little more easily. We could also hit Mesa Verde and Four Corners on the way.

So there you have it, my top 10 list, in no particular order. I could definitely come up with a few more to fill it out should we ever start crossing some of these off. Of course, maybe we will never go anywhere again due COVID-19 and we will all eventually die in our houses.

Party Cheeseburger Sliders

These cheesy burgers are delicious party burgers. I've made them a couple of times for Super Bowl gatherings. Highly recommended. Here's the original source although I've made a few modifications below.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. mustard powder (or similar)
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1 cup diced onion
• 2 tbsp. minced garlic
• 10 oz. can Ro-Tel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chiles
• 6 large slices cheddar cheese
• 12 dinner rolls

Glaze

• 1/2 c. butter
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp. mustard

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9x13 dish with cooking spray. Heat pan on high. Add ground beef and season with the salt, pepper, cumin, mustard powder, and paprika. Add onion and garlic and cook until beef is browned and onions are golden. Drain Ro-tel and stir in until combined.

Glaze: Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan over medium heat until melted, smooth, and combined.

Cut rolls in half and put bottom half in the baking dish.

Top with beef mixture and cheese slices.

Add top half of rolls and pour glaze over the top.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

So Sue Me: Episode IX Review

I didn't like it. But then, I didn't expect to like it.

Like most people, I was intrigued when it was announced in 2012 that Disney was acquiring Lucasfilm and would be producing a sequel trilogy. Not long afterwards, I watched the J.J. Abrams film Super 8. Suddenly I felt concerned. Super 8 was tantalizing before ultimately collapsing into an incoherent mess.

Having just forked over a wad of money to endure the ninth installment of the Skywalker Saga, I can now say that my concerns were not without merit. I was done with this one long before the closing credits rolled.

Here are my gripes with The Rise of Skywalker in no particular order:

First off, dumb title. What does it even mean? Rey's not really a Skywalker, and Luke is dead. What exactly is rising? Of course, none of the titles of the sequel trilogy have really been clever. It would have made more sense for Episode IX to be called The Last Jedi and call Episode XIII something else. I guess it's proof that they didn't really have a plan for any of this - just throwing crap against a wall and figuring out what sticks. Maybe J.J. will fix that in 20 years when we get the special edition re-edits.

Not a single memorable line of dialogue. Nothing clever. Nothing that even made you at least chuckle a little bit. No witty banter. A few solemn words spoken about the universe and how they're all going to show up and help if they just go fight the evil.

Poe and Finn are soooo boring. I know Poe is supposed to be the new version of Han Solo, the reckless nonconformist with amazing piloting skills, but let's be honest: no little kid is running around the house pretending to be Poe. And isn't that the name of the guy in Kung Fu Panda? As for Finn, in The Force Awakens, Finn seemed like he was going to have an important purpose in this new trilogy, but it turned out to be his ability to find equally pointless female characters to run around with. His was an interesting character idea but ultimately the idea went nowhere. I don't think there's much of a market for novelizations of the adventures of Poe and Finn post-Episode 9.

The undead Emperor Palpatine being all creepy down in the Sith cave was kind of cool. And the way they used him to tie up some loose ends worked fine. But it also seemed like they were admitting, "You know what? We tried creating some new characters, and they all suck." Did we need to see Han Solo again? (Nope) Did Lando really need to be in this to make it work? (Nothing against Lando, but the answer is no) If we think BB-8 is cool, why are C-3PO and R2-D2 still prominent? Threepio had way too many lines and was cringeworthy throughout. And when Luke showed up, I was fit to be tied. I'm so done with crusty old man Luke. I did not need to see him again.

Not much of a story. Just rushing from one video game sequence to another. It reminded me of a Marvel movie. And I don't like those either. Whatever story they try to tell is borrowed from the earlier movies.

I know it's science "fiction" but it doesn't even seem like they're trying to get you to suspend your disbelief anymore. I'm not a physicist, but fighting a battle on the surface of a Star Destroyer? Is that a thing that could happen, even in a galaxy far, far away?

Maybe they were using the force, because what can't the force do? Apparently it can pass physical objects through some dimension of space. And do video chats. And blow up ships. And heal. And suck the life force from people. Are Jedis in fact mutants from X-men? I've had this opinion for awhile but I think the Jedi have been weighing down the movies for too long. Rogue One and Solo were better films because they didn't have to be preoccupied so much with the force.

If Rey is the ultimate powerful Jedi, why did she need ghost Luke to pull his crappy X-wing out of the water with the force? Rey was blowing ships to smithereens using the force just an hour earlier. You know she had to use the force to get that forty year old piece of junk running. How many years had it been submerged like that? And she didn't even have a droid to help her fly it.

The Death Star ruins were also kind of cool. But it introduced a bunch of recycled ideas from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi: the Death Star throne room, Luke going into the cave and seeing his image in Vader's mask, Vader's deathbed repentance. Really? Nothing original?

I've always wondered about passage of time in these movies. And this is a gripe with all of them and not just the latest. It bugs me that they send out a signal and the entire fleet is on the scene in like 15 seconds but yet they're always losing maps and can't figure out where some of the worlds are. Rey never changed clothes once the entire film even though she'd been training and crawling around in an old Death Star and fighting lightsaber battles out in the rain. She probably really needed a shower.

No romance at all in this trilogy. We had Han and Leia in the original trilogy and Padme and Anakin in the prequels. Young Han and Qi'ra in Solo. But this trilogy? Nothing. They waved at it a few times, like with Finn and Rose in the last one and Poe and the Keri Russell character this time around, but nothing interesting or ongoing. I guess they would say Kylo and Rey, but that's still super weird. Did anyone really want to see them kiss? Not me.

The lesbian kiss wasn't that subtle. They might as well have zoomed in for the close-up. But if you're going to be woke, J.J., let's be woke! Don't waste the big moment on a couple of throwaway characters! I'm sure they could have figured out a way for Rey to kiss a CGI Leia or something. It wouldn't have been any more uncomfortable than her kissing Kylo and no one cares about any of these characters anymore anyways.

The ending was interesting. Return of the Jedi brought up questions of incest in a galaxy far, far, away when Leia and Luke were revealed to be twins. The last scene in The Rise of Skywalker could have been interpreted a little differently if they hadn't already spelled out Rey's parentage earlier in the movie...

Maybe I'm just too old and grumpy.  I had to be the guy afterwards who didn't like it when everyone else did.  Maybe if I go see it again I'll appreciate it a little more and I'll be like, yeah, it's so great. It doesn't matter because none of this is of any significant consequence to my life. And I'll be back in a couple of years when Disney releases the next one. Because I don't like the comic book movies and I have to have at least one movie event in my life that I can go participate in. So the joke's on me.
 

Denver Broncos 2019 Recap

I'm reposting my Broncos preseason outlook here with my postseason comments. I think I was pretty spot-on, if I do say so myself.

The two biggest changes in 2019 are new head coach Vic Fangio and new quarterback Joe Flacco. Fangio has received good reviews thus far, but he's still unproven as a head coach. Flacco has a nice resume, but he's also 34 years old. There were reasons to be concerned about the F&F Connection heading into this year, and certainly Fangio had some rough patches although the strong finish ended talk of a one-and-done season. Flacco's Bronco career ended halfway through his first season due to injury and mediocre performance.

Otherwise, this is more or less the same team that went 6-10 last year. They've added some veteran help in the secondary, so the defense figures to continue to be solid. They succeeded in keeping the Broncos in most games, but often failed to protect late leads. Most of the question marks are on the offensive side. Will the offensive line perform any better? Mmmmm... Will any tight ends be able to stay on the field? Actually, yes. Is Emmanuel Sanders healthy? Yes, but wanted out as soon as it was apparent this bunch was not headed to the playoffs. How will RB Phillip Lindsay perform coming off a Pro Bowl rookie season? Followed up with a second consecutive 1,000 yard season. Will any of their young talent, such as Royce Freeman, Noah Fant, or Courtland Sutton, break through to stardom? Clearly, Sutton was the breakout star this year (72 catches for 1,112 yards) and Fant had some big plays which hinted of great things yet to come.

My guess is that we'll be disappointed in the answers to some of those questions. I will say the answers were more positive than negative. However, if Fangio's leadership and Flacco's experience make a difference, we could be in for a nice surprise. It's not out of the question that we could see their record flip to 10-6 in 2019. And it wasn't - this was a 7-9 team which failed to hold fourth quarter leads in four different games. We could be prepping for a wildcard round trip to Foxborough this weekend if they had held on to a couple of those.

And really, who are the insurmountable threats in the AFC, beyond the Chiefs and the Patriots? As it turns out, the Ravens. Are you really terrified of anyone else? The Ravens. The new-look Jets? Nope. The Titans or Texans? Both made the playoffs this year, but the Broncos shut out the Titans and blew the doors off the Texans in their own building. The Luck-less Colts? Not really, although this was one of those games the Broncos gave away. The Steelers and old man Roethlisberger? Nah. The San Diego Los Angeles Trash Cans? Broncos swept them this year. Some are expecting the Browns to make a leap forward, but are you sure about that? I was pretty sure they were nothing to worry about, and I was correct. Another losing season in the books for Cleveland!

Sure, a couple of really good teams will emerge as the season goes along, but we don't know who those are just yet. The Ravens. So why wouldn't you give the Broncos a shot at a wildcard spot? If not for the slow start, they would have been in the mix until the final weekend.

If they can get to Thanksgiving at 6-5, they're definitely in the mix with three home dates in December. They were 3-8 at Thanksgiving and that's why they weren't in the mix. But if Flacco gets off to a rough start, people are going to get impatient really quick and the Broncos could be drafting in the top 10 next year. Yup - folks were ready for Drew Lock before we even made it to Halloween.

Honestly, I think it seems like this year will be a modest improvement to 8-8. It was a modest improvement to 7-9. They'll look really good at times but will also lose some that they shouldn't, and will likely fall short of the playoffs in what looks to be a tough AFC West. Times when they looked really good: when they led playoff teams Minnesota and Houston at halftime by scores of 20-0 and 31-3. Times when they lost those they shouldn't: losing that same game to Minny, and losing games in the final minute to the Bears, Jaguars, and Colts. The AFC West turned out to be underwhelming outside of the Chiefs. The Broncos finished second.

Overall, it's encouraging to head into the offseason having gone 4-1 in December and not having head coach or quarterback at the top of your priorities. After two consecutive solid drafts, they need to keep bringing in good players regardless of  position. Although I think the offensive line should be among their draft priorities - the free agency route hasn't worked out so well...

Temple and Priesthood Preparation Meeting

I was recently tasked with planning the annual temple and priesthood preparation meeting for our ward. The internet wasn't terribly helpful for my situation. The church's official description didn't really answer my specific questions such as, "what exactly should the program look like" and the blogosphere was offering me mostly ideas on printables and coordinated decorations and refreshments. Which makes sense as this is a meeting typically planned by primary leaders. But I'm a young men leader. My situation was a little unique as we have five boys advancing to deacons quorum next year but no girls advancing to young women's. So it wound up a little more boy-oriented.  Here's an outline of my program which might be helpful if you ever find yourself in a pinch.

Conducting: Bishopric Member
Opening Song: I Am a Child of God
Opening Prayer: Deacons Quorum Member
Talk: Young Men's Leader on the priesthood. I gave the talk and used this video
Talk: Deacons Quorum Presidency Member on "The Duties of a Deacon"
Intermission: With some adult supervision, Deacons Quorum President takes deacons and 11-year-old boys to chapel and teaches about passing the sacrament. Parents and other leaders stay behind for questions on their children becoming part of the youth programs and activities.
Video (to bring the reverence back after sending a pack of boys out of the room)
Talk: Bishopric Member on entering the temple and receiving a temple recommend
Closing Song: I Love to See The Temple
Closing Prayer: Deacons Quorum Member
Refreshments (This is a church meeting after all)

It worked pretty well for something put together in less than 48 hours. You would probably need to adapt it somewhat if girls were invited to attend.