Pride and Prejudice -- an FOF9 Lions dynasty, starting 1966

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Saturday. October 26, 1968



Big win for the Raiders.



3 sacks for Ben Davidson!

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Sunday, October 27, 1968



I had a bad feeling about this game when I clicked to simulate. And it started off badly for me -- once it started running, the "pause game" button didn't show up, and it wouldn't let me switch the speed, or who calls the plays. I've been watching the game "owner-style" these days -- as if I'm hobnobbing in the owner's box, and only slowing down to pay attention if it's within a score as the 4th quarter begins. This game looked like it was headed toward a fast fun celebration when it was 24-10, then slowly fell apart. I could only see the time occasionally, and what quarter it was rarely, but I caught when the 4th quarter began and we were down 31-30 (I was super relieved to see that was not the end of the game). I saw us go down 41-30 and did not feel good, then the sudden flips to see us up 45-41 was great!

Also, FWIW, my son had Jurassic World Evolution going on his profile and I didn't realize.



Bass with a huge day after I finally recognized his Super Bowl performance. Also, props to FB Mike Lind for recovering the onsides kick.

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Monday, October 28, 1968

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Tuesday, October 29, 1968

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

Nothing new to report here. We're obviously hoping Griese will be ready to go against the Baltimore Colts.

YPR UPDATE



Bass is up to 4.74!
Coia -- 2.26
Malinchak -- 1.57
Flatley -- 1.07
Moses had no routes this week. Maybe we took him off too much.

Malinchak and Flatley went down hard here.

It's also maybe time to look at TE. I've been thinking of them all as basically equal, but McLeod has a much higher YPR, and Kocourek is just a blocker. McLeod's blocking ratings are better though, so that's a surprise. Maybe it's just that McLeod is better, though -- he has a higher block percentage. But there's only been 4 opportunities for McLeod and 3 for Kocourek, so this is pretty much not meaningful or worth considering. But anyway, feels like McLeod is just better and needs to be in as much as possible.

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Wednesday, October 30, 1968



A few more charts here after the shootout game. Mason is #3 in yards, and Baltimore's Don Shy is way ahead of everyone. He's also averaging 7.96 yards per carry! Mason is doing better than last year, he's up to 5.59 yards per carry. Marsh is actually #4 in yards with 587 yards, and he's dropped to 4.81 yard per carry. Mason and Marsh combined is more yards than Shy, but still, we wouldn't have the high yards per carry he does.

Parilli is still up there in INTs, but he's also up there in TDs now!

Kearney up to #2 in tackles.

Bass is #3 in receiving TDs.

Van Horn dropped off the list (to #4) in key run blocks, and Leo moved up to #3.

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Thursday, October 31, 1968



I wasn't familiar with Eddie Floyd, and I might have missed some songs by him since the dynasty started. I'm not sure if it's worth going back and adding him retroactively (like I did with a couple others). We'll see.



So we've got a chance to talk about other sports here! The Detroit Tigers just won the World Series! Good for them. Hopefully we get our turn in February.

And for us, Bob Griese is back to full health! Let's goooo!

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Saturday, November 2, 1968

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Sunday, November 3, 1968



Raiders beat the Chargers, and the Chiefs win, to put them on top of the AFL West.
Dolphins get a win to keep within a game of the Bills.
Big win for the Redskins, beating the Browns. Eagles lose too, so they have a 2-game lead.

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Monday, November 4, 1968



Crazy game here! I was ready to chalk this up to some rust for Griese, or to shrug and say you can't win them all, but we somehow pulled it out! So pumped when we tied the score and expected overtime, but Allan Webb gets an INT and returns it 6 yards to the Baltimore 37, just close enough for Garo to hit the FG on the next play!



Colts are still 2nd place in the West at 6-2, and they get to see us in Baltimore in 3 weeks. And we get a much deserved bye.

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Tuesday, November 5, 1968

LICKING OUR WOUNDS



Bob Stem is a loss, but luckily we have a pretty good backup C, too. Both of those TEs will stay active, but it's going to be rough with them both hurt.

YPR UPDATE



Bass -- 4.17
Coia -- 2.39
Malinchak -- 1.61
Flatley -- 0.98

Bass falls to earth, which has to be expected. It's good to see Coia moving up, though. Flatley continues to be a disappointment, though. He's just sucking routes without doing anything. Dude was over 3 YPR in Minnesota, his 130 routes should be getting us 390 yards, not 127. And we can say maybe it's because of Bass getting all the targets, but Coia is still able to be well above 2, while Flatley has slipped below 1.



We've got Flatley signed to a long-term deal, but the bonus is not that bad -- if we release him before 1969, it's only a 90K hit for 1970. We need to seriously consider doing that, because paying 370K for this is insane. For now, we're replacing him, giving more routes to everyone else, including Moses -- maybe we can see him develop more.

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Wednesday, November 6, 1968



Let's have a look at the probabilities!



I guess it makes sense that Washington is the highest, with the 2-game lead, but 92% seems high. I've always been curious how these simulations decide the winner of each game -- if it's just 50/50, or if it's playing the actual games, or using some kind of preview, or what. I should look at this before the season starts sometimes to see what it says. Also, we're obviously up there with a very good chance. I feel like we're basically in the same spot as Washington -- a good lead, with one win over our opponent, but we still have to play them once, so they can close the gap and tie up the head-to-head series if they win that.

Saturday, the AFL gives us the Chiefs at the Chargers. The winner of Super Bowl I vs. the winner of Super Bowl II. Feels like the winner has a good chance to win the AFL West, and if pattern holds, Super Bowl III.
Monday Night, we've got Redskins at Rams.

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Thursday, November 7, 1968

So this is it -- a record for the most local songs on the chart!

WKNR Keener Chart November 7, 1968

So the charts I get are from a local radio station, so it's expected that you're going to see more Detroit stuff in it, but it plays national stuff as well. We've had a few 10s and 11s before, but this is the first time I've seen 12 songs from the chart that have a Detroit connection.

2. Bob Seger, Ramblin Gamblin Man -- It was #1 on this chart for a while, obviously higher than the #17 it was nationally. Still his biggest hit by far, and the first song giving him big national exposure. A 19-year old Glenn Frey played guitar and sang back-up, before moving to LA.
3. Supremes, Love Child -- Bounce back hit here, with new writers.
10. Tommy James and the Shondells, Do Something To Me -- In a string of songs sandwiched between Mony Mony and Crimson and Clover, it was on the charts here for a long time, but just reached #38 nationally.
13. Temptations, Cloud Nine -- Another Motown song not written by Holland-Dozier-Holland. Huge hit locally and nationally.
14. Eddie Floyd, Bring It On Home To Me -- A Sam Cooke song, covered by several, including the Animals. Floyd lived in Memphis at the time, but grew up in Detroit, and was part of the scene there until 1963.
15. The Fans, Roly Poly Mickey Lolich -- I'm not sure who "The Fans" are supposed to be, but I'm guessing it's just meant to mean all Tigers fans. Song was written by one of the Funk Brothers (I might as well not bother naming which one, in keeping with the spirit of their career). This feels like the type of song that would push you over the hump to having so many Detroit songs on the chart -- Tigers won the Series, and everyone is filled with local pride.
21. Little Carl Carlton, 46 Drums...1 Guitar -- Local hit only. He ends up with some bigger hits later.
22. Marvin Gaye, I Heard It Through The Grapevine -- Already a huge Motown hit for Gladys Knight and the Pips last year, but despite being a song everyone had already heard, this version was the best selling Motown single ever for a while.
29. Stevie Wonder, For Once In My Life -- Written for Motown in 1965, and recorded by a lot of acts before this, as a slow ballad, but changed to uptempo here. Motown was so huge at this point I guess, that Berry Gordy could make huge mistakes and have it not matter -- he like the Gladys Knight version of Grapevine more, and chose not to release this as a single for like a year.
30. Superlatives, I Don't Know How -- Complete local flavor here. Not even a wikipedia page for them.
31. Aretha Franklin, See Saw -- Not a big hit for her, but Aretha was already huge at this point. She'd moved to New York in 1960, but had enough Detroit connections that she was basically local.
Key Song of the Week. Merrillee Rush, Reach Out -- She wasn't from Detroit, but this probably just charted here because it was a cover of a Four Tops song. Not a popular cover, either -- this version of the song doesn't even get mentioned in its wikipedia page.

Pretty good microcosm of Detroit music -- heavy Motown, some Motown-like stuff, some garage rock, and some miscellaneous. Most of this stuff we haven't heard yet, but we'll get to it. But for this week, we're going with Little Carl Carlton.

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Saturday, November 9, 1968



Easy win for the Chargers.

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Sunday, November 10, 1968

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Monday, November 11, 1968



Tough loss for the Redskins -- but the fact that the Browns beat the Eagles keeps them in a pretty good spot.

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Tuesday, November 12, 1968



Despite the loss, the Redskins title chances went up to 94%. I know I said yesterday it's because the Browns beat the Eagles, but I'm not sure how that helps them -- the Redskins have already split with the Browns, and they are 1-0 so far against the Eagles. You'd think they'd want to have seen the Eagles win.
The Chiefs lost too, to the Chargers, pulling both teams even and a 1-1 split head-to-head. But the Chiefs don't fall too far, still at 76% likely to win, because the Chiefs have a better division record, 3-1 to 2-2. So the Chargers still don't control their own destiny, and need some help. Also, the Chargers still have to play the Raiders the last week of their season.
Buffalo jumps from 65% to 80% with the win and a Dolphins loss. The Oilers are still a game behind, and they play Buffalo the last week of their season, but they have to play the Chiefs, Raiders, and Chargers, while Buffalo gets to play just the Raiders then the bottom three AFL East teams before that.
And while we were on the bye here in Detroit, Baltimore's win dropped our chances from 75% to 71%. No big.

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Wednesday, November 13, 1968

On Saturday, the AFL gives us a good game -- Bills at Raiders.
On Monday, the NFL gives us Cardinals at Eagles. We had to dig a little deep here. Best overall records was the Packers at Lions, but since the Lions are playing on Thanksgiving, they shouldn't play Monday night. Next best would have been Colts at Rams, but we just had the Rams last week, and I'm trying to avoid two in a row primetime. So, that leaves us to the 3rd best, Cardinals at Eagles.

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Thursday, November 14, 1968