#Kadar moved to California | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

felisss · 2 years

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B39 is not an apartment, not a place, but a state of mind, and I had to learn that the hard way.

2019′da, tam da zamanında, sürekli kulağımdaydı Lana Del Rey: “So I moved to California but it's just a state of mind. It turns out everywhere you go, you take yourself, that's not a lie”.

Ama neden olduğunu çok uzun süre anlamadım. Sürekli tebdil-i mekandaki ferahlığı aradım. Yeterince uzağa gidersem, B39′dan dönmemek üzere son kez çıkarsam her şey düzelecek sandım.

https://felisss.tumblr.com/post/182494113340/sevin%C3%A7ler-z%C4%B1plamalar-beotuzdokuzlar

Bazı yanılışlar ucuz, bazıları da çok pahalı oluyor. B39 pahalı yanılışlardan. Üstüne üstlük, tek seferde ödeyip kurtulamayacağınız cinsten bir yanılış. Ödeyemeyeceğim bir kredi çekmişim de yıllardır güç bela taksitleri ödüyormuşum gibi.

Aslında bir depozito, nakliye bedeli ve üç parça mobilya taksidiyle kurtulabilir miydik?

Bugünden, "too little, too late" diyarlarından bakınca hayır, ama bunun ihtimalinin dahi güzel olduğu zamanlarda yaşadım. Yaşamanın, yaşlanmanın, ve geçen zamanın bir trajedisi de bu: Yaşayamadığın ihtimallerin kendisinden ziyade yaşayabileceklerinin de pırıltısının her gerçekleşmemiş ihtimalle parça parça dökülüp azalması, gözden kaybolması.

Hayatı hiçbir zaman güvenli modda yaşamadım. Tanrı biliyor ve siz biliyorsunuz, yanılmak ve yanlış yapmak hayatımın merkezinde oturuyor. Şikayet etmiyorum (ya da etmiyordum). Hatta alametifarikalarımdandır yanılıp yanılıp ama çok da güzel yanıldım, iyi ki yanıldım, yine olsa yine yanılır ve aynı yanlışları tek tek tekrarlardım diyebilmek. Genelde de çok güzel yanlış yapar, sonuna kadar yanılır, üzülür, yasını tutar, kıçımın üstüne düşer, sonra da kalkıp şöyle bir silkelenip devam ederim. Bu cesaret ve gücün nereden geldiğini bugüne kadar pek anlayamamıştım, bu düşer, şaşar, yanılır, kalkar hallerimi pek sevmiştim. Mesele asla altında kalkamayacağım kadar yanılmamış olmamdaymış.

Bu sefer kalkamadım. Ve bu sefer ne tebdil-i mekanlar, ne tebdil-i zamanlar bana ferahlık verdi.

Riverside, California’da saat 3.32 ve sabah 7′de şov devam edecek, dersimi anlatacağım. Şu andaysa bir ay sonra döneceğim yerler ve zamanlar uykumu kaçırıyor, nefesimi kesiyor. Her zamanki sihirli çözümler, psikiyatristler, terapistler, ilaçlar, chain smoking...

Ve ilaçlar, 15 senemin hikayesi:

https://felisss.tumblr.com/post/19423074816/sevgili-metabolizmam-lithurili-mi-%C3%B6zlemi%C5%9F

https://felisss.tumblr.com/post/104181982805/seroquel-for-a-dream

https://felisss.tumblr.com/post/15045195165/nane-limon

Latuda’nın hikayesi ayrı bir yazıya çünkü Latuda, Latuda’ya Övgü isimli kendi yazısını hak ediyor. ama ilk kez bir ilaç beni öncesinde yere vurup sonra ayağa kaldırmak yerine koluma girdi, beni adım adım yürüttü. Kafamdaki sesleri susturmadı, derleyip topladı.

Yetmiyor, çare olmuyor. Kanserli bir uzvu kestirmemek için salt kemoterapiyle ölümü yenmeye çalışıyor gibi hissediyorum. Yenemeyeceğini biliyorsun ama denemeden de yenilgiyi kabul edemiyorsun.

Neyse diyorum, yeni koltuk, o benden sonra geldi. Onun için çok savaş verdim. Bi yatak olmadı ama koltuk da olumlu. Yerden iyidir. Orada uyurum, en azından gözlerimi kapatırım.

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bewareofchris · 7 years

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Sass prompt! Cool Uncle Kadar takes the kids to his favorite mall food court (or something) then somehow manages to lose them in the crowd (nothing bad happens, they just gorge on samples or whatever), and since it took Kadar hours to convince Malik that he's a perfectly responsible adult able to handle 4 kids, Kadar is in more of a rush to find them than he normally would be.

G | Sass Verse | Terrible mall manners

Kadar had said the phrase: ‘you raised good kids, they won’t be any trouble,’ no less than fifteen times in a single conversation just to convince his brother to take a god damn day off. It wasn’t a lie because all four of Malik’s kids were well-behaved little demons. If one of them wasn’t, they had a way of policing themselves that required very little effort on the part of the adult watching them to resolve. (As long as Jaida was present, without her the triplets were likely to devolve into a mob of in-fighting.)

Altair was over-seas on business that was taking him (thus far) a week and a half longer than projected. (And Kadar assumed that meant someone had pissed Altair off and he was systematically dismantling the entire senior staff because of it. Or he might just have gotten caught in boring meetings, it was very difficult to tell.) Malik had a cold and colds made him miserable. Altair had called Kadar to retrieve the kids and take them somewhere for the day so Malik could sleep.

So here he was, one adult in a mall food court at an empty table. The table shouldn’t have been empty. There should have been an eight year old girl sitting on one side, glaring at her brothers. There should have been three almost seven year olds glaring back at her. Kadar had literally walked six feet to retrieve a plastic fork and come back and in the less-than-a-minute it took him to go that far, all four children had disappeared.

Their food was still present. Their toys were scattered on the floor. Three chairs were even pushed up to the table.

“Fuck,” Kadar whispered. His hands were still held out to either side of his body because he’d been half-way to saying that he thought they should maybe find an indoor playground sort of thing after this. Maybe laser tag or a bounce house. Something to keep the demons moving so they’d fall asleep early.

He looked left (and no children) and he looked right (and no kids). He dropped the fork on the table, tried to think through the sudden panic, and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Claudia answered him on the first ring.

“Yes?” she said.

“I lost them,” he said. “They’re gone.”

Claudia had sounded somewhat preoccupied when she answered the phone but there was a noticeable shift in her tone that meant she’d turned her face into the phone to ignore whoever was speaking to her. “No,” she said. “You cannot lose Altair’s children, Kadar.”

“They’re gone,” he repeated. He took two helpless steps to one side and stopped because the only thing in that direction of the food court was sushi and he didn’t think the kids even liked sushi. There was ice-cream on the other end and also a store full of shiny jewelry things that both Sef and Jaida had spent a solid ten minutes trying to talk him into. So there was a better chance they’d gone that way. (God knows, Jaida could make her brothers do anything.) “They’re not here,” felt like it needed repeating.

“Why did you leave them?” sounded so exasperated.

“They were eating! Aren’t kids supposed to just sit and eat when you provide them with food.”

He didn’t need to see Claudia to know she was covering her face with her whole hand. “Not all children are you,” she said.

“Uncle Kadar,” was a voice from just behind him that accompanied a sharp pull at his jacket. There was Tazim looking up at him with such disapproval. “We hide,” he said (as if it were so obvious), “you find us?”

As if summoned by some kind of magic, Jaida appeared from around the opposite end of the food court with her fist wrapped up in Darim’s hair as he shrieked his outrage at being yanked. One or two adults were staring in outrage and the spectacle had drawn the hesitant-but-amused attention of a security guard.

“It’s fine,” Kadar shouted down the aisle. He grabbed Tazim’s wrist just so he didn’t evaporate into thin air again. “They’re with me,” he shouted as he tried to side-step a couple that were too busy looking horrified to get out of the way. “Jaida,” he called (with as much fairness as he could manage), “let go of your brother’s hair.”

Jaida made a deliberate show of loosening her hand from Darim’s hair and then reaching down to wrap her whole fist into his shirt before she started yanking him forward again. She didn’t let him go until they were back at the table. “Stay,” she said to him. Then she glared at Tazim who shifted so he was half behind Kadar’s body (and who wouldn’t want to hide when being looked at like that).

“Sir,” the security guard said.

“We’re fine,” Kadar assured him, “we’re going.”

Jaida stomped over to a trashcan, one of the big round ones that people threw their paper trash and half-drank sodas into. She reached up to wrap her fingers around the inside lip of it (and Kadar saw his whole life flash before his eyes as he imagined what Altair would do when he found about this) before she yanked it as hard as she could. The lid popped off after a bit of complaint.

“Jaida!” Kadar shouted. He dropped the phone and Darim dove down like he was going to pick it up but Kadar grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him a bit sideways so he could get both boy’s hands with just one. That gave him a free arm to reach out to get Jaida.

Only, there was Sef, popping up out of the trash with ketchup and soy sauce and marinara and God knows what all over his clothes. “Jaida,” Sef said with his hands on his hips. “We said Kadar was it.”

This was it. This was his cause of death. This was the end of his life. Tazim popped up at his right hand (funny because he should have been holding Kadar’s left hand) with the phone pressed to his ear. “No Aunt Claudia we weren’t trying to get anyone in trouble. We were behaving.”

Kadar said, “Jaida, hold Darim,” and he could have predicted that she’d grab him by the shirt front. He picked Sef up out of the trash while an aghast looking custodian clutched her white rag against her chest looking like she wanted to offer help and she didn’t want to get involved. The whole food court was nothing but whispers of inadequate parenting while the security guard was saying:

“Sir, are you sure everything is okay?”

“Yes,” Kadar said. “Usually my wife’s with me. I just expected the kids would behave a bit better. We’re very sorry.” He set Sef down (with a grimace) and took the phone from Tazim long enough to say, “I’ll call you in a bit, everything’s fine.” Then he grabbed Tazim’s hand. “Jaida come on.”

They didn’t stop walking, and the boys didn’t stop complaining about lost food and toys, until they were out in the parking lot, protesting how they were being physically lifted into the car.

“That’s not fair!” Sef was shouting from his booster seat in the back-back seat. “Because it’s not just a Hot Wheel! It was a limited edition roadster and its very hard to find one of those.”

“Your Dad’s a billionaire,” Kadar said as he lifted Darim into the car. He’d finished putting the boys. Jaida stood outside the car with her hands on her hips, head cocked to the side and foot all but tapping on the ground. “What?” he asked.

“Let’s start with thank you,” Jaida said. “I found them all.”

“Tazim came back on his own,” Kadar countered.

“No he didn’t,” Jaida said. “He heard Darim crying.”

“She pulled my hair out!” Darim shouted from inside.

“I came back on my own!” Tazim shouted.

“Thank you?” Kadar offered. It was not even a little bit what Jaida was angling to get out of this situation but he was willing to offer that to see what else she might want.

Her smile did not make him feel better. “You’re welcome, Uncle Kadar. Don’t worry, they did the same thing to Father.” Then she climbed up into the vehicle on her own. Once she was buckled into place, she pulled her sunglasses out of her purse and slipped them on her face. “I want ice cream,” she said. “Maybe Father doesn’t hear about this.”

Kadar leaned against vehicle with one hand on the handle of the sliding door. “You can’t keep them quiet,” he said.

“No,” she agreed, “I can’t. But I can tell them I helped you find them.”

“Hey!” Sef shouted, “you weren’t it.”

Jaida cocked her eyebrows up behind her sunglasses.

“Fine,” Kadar said. “Ice cream, then we have to find somewhere that sells kids clothes.”

–

He called Claudia back while he was scrubbing Sef with a handful of paper towels in a family bathroom at Target. There was a bag of new clothes that looked suitably similar to what he’d already been wearing. The other three were standing with their backs against a wall. “Crisis averted,” he said when Claudia picked up.

“Was Sef really in a trashcan?” Claudia asked.

“I’m cleaning him up,” Kadar countered. “He’s fine.”

Claudia hummed. “Where are you going next? I’ll meet you.”

The truth was, Kadar didn’t want to take the demons anywhere but straight home to their bedrooms. Except that the two boys not being vigorously scrubbed with paper towels were looking at their shoes. Jaida was looking fed up with the world. “I was thinking the bounce house,” he said.

“Fine, I’ll be there. Do not let them out of the car until I get there.”

That settled, Kadar finished cleaning up his nephew as best he could before dumping his dirty clothes into the trashcan.

–

While sitting in the parking lot, Jaida and Sef climbed into the front seat next to him while Darim pressed his face against the back window and blew fart noises into the glass. Tazim sat on the center console and asked him what every individual knob and button on the car did.

Claudia appeared next to the driver’s side window, shaking her head at him (but smiling). He rolled the window down far enough to hear her say, “this is reasons one through fifty why we decided not to have children,” wasn’t accusing but amused. “Let them out.”

Once all the kids were out of the car, Claudia assessed them (and saw they were unharmed with her own eyes). She crouched in front of them, reached out to take Tazim’s hand on one end and Jaida’s on the other. “If you act out here, I’m calling your Father. Do you understand me?”

The thing about Claudia was that she could make anything sound like a nuclear apocalypse. The worst Malik would do was be disappointed in his kids but all four of them (even haughty Jaida) nodded solemnly. So Claudia smiled at them. “Good, lets go. Everyone hold an adult’s hand.”

–

Kadar took the kids to a pizza bar before he returned them home. Malik still looked like shit, but well-rested shit, when his kids came to hug him in the kitchen. Thanks to Claudia’s parting instructions (I better get a call saying you took a shower and went to bed) all of the kids left their Father immediately to go and prepare for bed.

“Is Sef wearing a different shirt?” Malik asked.

“No,” Kadar said. “Don’t think so.”

Malik didn’t believe him for a minute. Maybe he just didn’t think it was worth debating. Rather than protest he said, “thanks for taking them. Altair’s on his way home. And Lucy’s coming tomorrow.”

“No problem,” Kadar said. “You know I love the kids.”

Tazim chose that exact moment to bounce down the stairs wearing nothing but his underwear to proclaim, “Sef climbed in a trash can today!” He was delighted to share that.

“Well I’ve got to go,” Kadar said before Malik could start with the questions.

#sass verse #mall anon #and the next day #Kadar moved to California

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junker-town · 4 years

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The Ravens’ offseason is all about setting up a Super Bowl run

Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images

The Ravens still have Lamar Jackson, but upgrades on defense and at wide receivers are a big priority this offseason.

The Baltimore Ravens are on the doorstep of a Super Bowl. Many thought they could make it this year on the back of MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson. Then the Ravens were run over in the playoffs by Derrick Henry and the Tennessee Titans.

Baltimore has always been a team focused on defense. That is until it traded back into the first round of the 2018 draft to take Jackson. Now the Ravens are one of the most diverse offenses in the NFL.

Baltimore Ravens (14-2), lost in Divisional Round

For much of the 2019 season, the Ravens were considered the best team in the NFL. They’re one of the favorites to be in the Super Bowl, but they would be smart to address these positions this offseason.

Before free agency

Pass rusher: Over the years, regardless of the head coach or defensive coordinator, Baltimore’s best defenses have had a good pass rush. With Matthew Judon entering free agency for the first time, Baltimore is faced with needing to address that aspect of their game. If Baltimore doesn’t land someone in free agency, it could turn to the draft. Terrell Lewis of Alabama in the first round or likely Day 2 picks like Zack Baun of Wisconsin or Josh Uche of Michigan make sense.

Defensive line: Baltimore’s defensive line played well last season and led one of the NFL’s better run defenses. But nose tackle Michael Pierce is a free agent, as is midseason acquisition Domata Peko. The team could find veteran help on the open market.

Wide receiver: The Ravens used two of their first three picks in last year’s draft on wide receivers, grabbing Marquise Brown in the first round and Miles Boykin in the third. Still, the Ravens could use another pass catcher. There are a few veteran options in free agency, but there will be even more value in the draft, especially when the Ravens pick at No. 28. Clemson’s Tee Higgins is not known for his speed, but the 6’4 outside receiver makes plenty of plays going up and attacking the ball. If Colorado’s Laviska Shenault should fall — and it’s possible in a loaded wide receiver group — he should be in play.

What Baltimore Beatdown wants most this offseason: The Ravens have been effective in recent years at moving back to accumulate picks while still getting their guys. I believe this is the year to take the opposite approach and be aggressive targeting blue chip players while utilizing their 10 picks to move up the board in the first round. Depth is not an issue and getting a day one starter in the first round gives them all kinds of options with their available cap space. — Eric Misotti

After free agency

The Ravens addressed their need of a pass rusher by picking up Calais Campbell from the Jaguars, who had 31.5 sacks over three seasons in Jacksonville. There are still some needs Baltimore needs to fill during the draft, though.

1. Defensive tackle: If Baltimore wants a squatty plugger like Pierce, who signed with the Vikings, Benito Jones of Ole Miss would be a good Day 3 pickup. A four-year starter in college, the 6’1, 316-pound Jones can get leverage and driver blockers backward.

2. Wide receiver: The Ravens re-signed De’Anthony Thomas and Chris Moore, but neither of them were primary starters. Picking up a wideout in the draft would be a smart move. Beyond the first round, Baylor’s Denzel Mims is riding high after a strong Senior Bowl week and could be a second-round possibility. Southern California’s Michael Pittman should be in that range as well. On the third day of the draft, South Carolina’s Bryan Edwards has value.

3. Offensive line: The Ravens placed a low tender on OL Matt Skura, who suffered a knee injury in early January last season, as a restricted free agent. if Baltimore doesn’t end up re-signing him, drafting a lineman this draft cycle would be pretty important.

After the draft:

Arguably no team did a better job in this year’s draft than the Ravens. Their first-round pick, linebacker Patrick Queen, is the C.J. Mosley successor they were missing last year. Ohio State star J.K. Dobbins, considered by the Ravens to be the No. 1 running back this year, fell to them with the No. 55 pick, making Baltimore’s already deadly rushing attack even deadlier.

They found value in every round, but none more so than the third. Texas A&M defensive tackle Justin Madubuike, Texas wide receiver Devin Duvernay, Ohio State linebacker Malik Harrison, and Mississippi guard Tyre Phillips all fill a need. Late-round picks James Proche (SMU WR) and Geno Stone (Iowa safety) are sneaky-good additions, too.

Dan Kadar’s draft grade: A

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talkagency · 5 years

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The History of Google – Then and Now

A giant among giants. In just 25 years, Google has managed to grow from a small company to one of the most valuable multi-billion companies in the world.

Google’s logo and search engine home page are easily recognisable all around the world. Today, Google serves about 4.5 billion users in 160 countries and 123 languages.

But how did it all begin and where is Google headed in the future? Let’s take a look at Google’s history.

Early History

Despite what you may think, Google was not the first web-based search engine to appear on the worldwide web. The first search engine used to search for content on the Internet was Archie.

Google’s history begins in 1995, which is when Larry Page met Sergey Brin. Page was studying at Stanford and Brin was considering studying there. The two started working on an engine called BackRub in 1996.

Backrub alludes to the way that the engine’s algorithms rank pages. You guessed right, backlinks were extremely important even back then. The technology that they developed was called PageRank; it determined a website’s relevance by checking the number and importance of pages, mainly by checking for other pages that linked back to the original site.

Page and Brin operated out of their dorm rooms. They built a server network using cheap, used computers. Backrub worked on Stanford University’s servers for a bit more than a year, but as the engine grew, Page and Brin had to expand and grow.

Both Page and Brin wanted to license their search engine technology at an early stage of development. After a number of failed negotiations, they decided to keep Google and seek more finance.

On September 15th, 1997, Google.com was registered. The term Google is a play on words of ‘googol’, a mathematical term which is used to describe the number 1 followed by 100 zeros ( 1 googol = 1.0 × 10100) .

Funding

It wasn’t long before Google was noticed by investors. After a quick demo of the search engine at work in August 1997, Sun Microsystems co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim was so impressed that he wrote the pair a check for $100,000.

The problem was that the two founders couldn’t cash in as Google Inc. did not yet exist as a legal entity. They incorporated on September 4th, 1998 and they eventually raised $900,000 more. Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos was one of Google’s angel investors.

Google’s first office was opened in Menlo Park, California. It was attached to the garage of a friend who sublet the place to the new corporation. It was about that time that Google hired its first employee, Craig Silverstein. He stayed with the company for more than ten years.

At the time of launch, Google.com answered about 10,000 queries every day. Google now processes more than 63,000 search queries every second, which translates to about 5.6 billion searches per day.

An Old Rival

Long before Google, Facebook, and YouTube, Yahoo was the undisputed king of the internet. Yahoo reigned supreme for more than a decade, but was sold for a mere $5 billion in 2016.

Yahoo’s history is interesting on its own, but as you may have already guessed, Google’s rise to prominence had everything to do with Yahoo’s downfall. Yahoo had a chance to acquire Google in 1998 for just $1 million. They turned down the offer. In 2002, Yahoo’s CEO Terry Semel offered Google $3 million for the company. It was Page and Brin’s time to Turn Yahoo down, reportedly holding out for 5$ billion.

Yahoo’s platform was successful at the time. Its directories were designed to answer questions and view emails. They rejected Google’s PageRank algorithm because they didn’t think it would benefit their platform in any way.

In the following years, Yahoo missed several more opportunities to acquire small companies that would go on to completely change the way we think of the internet today. Some notable examples include Facebook, YouTube, and eBay.

Constant Growth

Google was no ordinary search engine. The company’s willingness to innovate and keep moving forward were key factors to its success. Adwords (since renamed to Ads), Google’s own pay-per-click advertising platform has been the biggest contributor to their success.

Improvements, such as the doodle series, multi-language support and the Google toolbar also played an important role in the search engine’s success.

In 2001, Google acquired Deja.com, an archive of 500 million discussions dating all the way back to 1995. In the same year, Google launched Google images and released their first annual ‘Google Zeitgeist’, a way to see what other people all over the world are searching for.

Google Adsense, which allowed businesses to connect with advertisers from all over the world, was announced in 2003. Google was growing at an incredible rate, and in 2004, moving to their new office at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, known as the ‘Googleplex.

Google launched Gmail in 2004. What was then an invite-only service now serves more than 425 million users. Google finally entered the stock market, offering the public class A shares at $85 each.

New Heights

2005 was another great year for Google. Google Maps was born and Google set its eyes on the mobile market. Google Earth launched in the summer of 2005.

Google Analytics changed the way businesses track and measure their marketing impact. Even today, it’s one of the most useful free marketing tools available on the market.

2006 was the year that Google bought YouTube for a whopping $1.65 billion. Today, YouTube is estimated to be worth around 75$ billion dollars. Google and ‘googling’ were added to the Oxford English dictionary in 2006.

Street View debuted in 2007 and is now available in more than 50 countries. Android made its first appearance in 2007 and was released officially on September 23, 2008.

In 2008, Google Chrome was introduced to the world. It quickly established itself as one of the fastest and most secure browsers in the market. It’s currently the most used web browser, with a market share of 64%.

Google+ launched in 2011 and Chromecast in 2013. Google’s smart home speakers powered by Google assistant launched in 2016.

Logo

Google’s logo has changed quite a bit over the past 20+ years. The original logo was designed by Brin himself using GIMP. The logo used between 1999 and 2013 was designed by Ruth Kadar. A new, revised logo was unveiled in September 2015.

The logo is regularly modified in the form of doodles. Doodles come in all forms and shapes, celebrating all kinds of different events and anniversaries.

Goooooooooogle’s Big Numbers

63,000 searchers per second, 3.8 million searches per minute, 228 million searches per hour, 5.6 billion searches per day. Wow!

Google Search was responsible for 63.1% of queries in October 2018.

Google Search’s desktop market share is 90.22% (95.2% on mobile).

15% of all searches on Google are unique.

Google owns more than 200 companies.

Google earned $39.1 billion in revenue for Q4 of 2018.

90% of all internet users see Google Display ads.

Gmail has 1.5 billion active users in 2019. Its market share is 27%.

And there’s no sign of Google slowing down anytime soon. Unless the world turns upside down, Google will continue to dominate the search and video market for a long time to come.

Learn more about Google and digital marketing by visiting our blog today!

Article first published here: The History of Google – Then and Now

#seo #internet marketing

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junker-town · 4 years

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The 9 best quarterback options for the Chargers

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Free agency, the 2020 NFL Draft, and the trade market are all options for the Chargers’ quarterback position.

The last time a quarterback other than Philip Rivers started for the Los Angeles Chargers was 2005. After two years of being Drew Brees’ backup, the 2004 first-round pick took the reins at the beginning of the 2006 season. Rivers started the next 235 games, including 11 in the playoffs.

But now the Chargers are moving on. Rivers finished the 2019 season with 20 interceptions and threw touchdowns on a career-low 3.9 percent of his passes. That disappointing season was Rivers’ last with the team.

“In anything you do, it’s the people you do it with that make it special. There are so many relationships and memories with coaches, support staff and teammates that will last forever, and for that I am so thankful." Philip Rivers to Enter Free Agency » https://t.co/njeTsCbi1D pic.twitter.com/bCKXKTRePh

— Los Angeles Chargers (@Chargers) February 10, 2020

With Rivers set to be a free agent, the Chargers will be left with two quarterbacks on the roster: Tyrod Taylor and Easton Stick.

Taylor was a starter for the Bills for three seasons, but was traded to the Browns in 2018. He was replaced by Baker Mayfield early in his Cleveland tenure and served as Rivers’ backup after joining the Chargers in 2019.

Stick was a 2019 fifth-round pick who never saw the field as a rookie.

Neither is a particularly compelling option to be the Chargers’ starter, especially with the team headed to a new home in 2020. After struggling to fill a tiny soccer stadium in Carson, California, with home fans, the Chargers will move into the $5 billion, 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium. An injection of excitement wouldn’t just be beneficial — it’s probably necessary.

Luckily for the Chargers, they’ll have some options at quarterback in the offseason. These are the free agents, draft prospects, and even trade targets who could fit well in Los Angeles:

Top three free agent options

1. Teddy Bridgewater (Saints)

The former Vikings first-round pick spent the last couple seasons with the Saints and started five games in 2019. New Orleans won all five with Bridgewater at the helm, and he finished the year with nine touchdowns and two interceptions.

Still just 27, Bridgewater can now hit free agency with his eyes on a starting role. If the Chargers sign him, they could get a long-term solution with the potential to be an upper-echelon starter.

There’s also the possibility that Bridgewater — who suffered a knee injury so bad that it kept him out for nearly two seasons — will never be the same. He had the benefit of playing for a stellar Saints offense with receiver Michael Thomas in the midst of a record-breaking season. Six starts in the last four years is an awfully small sample size.

2. Tom Brady (Patriots)

The Chargers made the playoffs six times during the Rivers era. Brady ended three of those postseason runs, including the Chargers’ most recent appearance in January 2019.

Well, if you can’t beat him, join him. Or make him join you, rather.

The Chargers have the cap space to offer a huge deal to Brady, at least on a short-term deal. Is he still worth a contract that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL? No, probably not. The team could surround him with impressive weapons like Mike Williams and Keenan Allen, though. The opportunity to move back to his home state of California could be enticing, too.

Brady’s a long shot and will have plenty of suitors if he actually leaves New England. Still, there’s no way the Chargers could find a more exciting way to introduce themselves at SoFi Stadium than by adding the GOAT at quarterback.

3. Marcus Mariota (Titans)

Options start running low quickly on the free agent market. Drew Brees probably isn’t leaving New Orleans and Jameis Winston was the only quarterback more interception-prone than Rivers. Andy Dalton is expected to join the free agency fray, but his 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 2019 aren’t exactly an upgrade.

Perhaps Mariota is a solution for the Chargers then.

Mariota is likely headed out of Tennessee. This past season, the Titans were 2-4 with Mariota under center until Ryan Tannehill took over. The Titans thrived with their new quarterback, ending the year with an AFC Championship Game appearance.

Despite the early-season struggles, Mariota’s numbers weren’t so bad. He threw seven touchdowns with only two interceptions and had a 92.3 passer rating. The Chargers could benefit from some efficient, mistake-free football, which Mariota could provide.

Top three draft options

1. Justin Herbert (Oregon)

The Bengals will presumably draft Joe Burrow at No. 1, while Tua Tagovailoa looks like a probable top-five pick. That could leave the Chargers to take the third quarterback if they stick around at No. 6 overall. Assuming they do, Herbert’s a pretty solid choice.

Herbert could’ve been a top-10 pick last year had he skipped his senior year. Instead, he returned to Oregon and led the team to a Rose Bowl victory. He finished 2019 with 36 touchdowns, six interceptions, and four rushing touchdowns.

Herbert solidified his draft stock by earning MVP honors at the Senior Bowl. He may not be ready to be a Chargers star from day one, but there’s a lot to like about his potential.

2. Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama)

Most are pegging the Dolphins as the team that selects Tagovailoa. They sit fifth in the draft order and could even trade up to No. 3 — like they did in Dan Kadar’s latest mock draft — to secure the former Crimson Tide quarterback.

Los Angeles could do that too. It’d cost some draft capital, but priority No. 1 has to be getting the right quarterback for the job. If they think that’s Tua, then go get him.

Tagovailoa won a national championship and threw 87 touchdowns and 11 interceptions at Alabama. Although a dislocated hip ended his 2019 season, the injury is reportedly healing up well and he should be cleared to play in 2020.

3. Jacob Eason (Washington)

The Chargers have needs beyond quarterback. The team could use its No. 6 pick to shore up the offensive line before taking a passer later on.

If the Chargers wait until the end of the first round or the early second round to draft a quarterback, Eason could be the guy. In one season with Washington (after transferring from Georgia), Eason threw for 23 touchdowns with eight interceptions.

Top three trade options

1. Nick Foles (Jaguars)

A broken collarbone derailed the Foles era in Jacksonville just eight passes into the season. Then, Gardner Minshew stole the show and when Foles was thrust back into action, he couldn’t keep the rookie on the bench.

Now the Jaguars are stuck with most of the overpriced contract they gave the Super Bowl 52 MVP, and that means the Chargers could get a starting quarterback for less than $20 million per year on the trade market. Jacksonville probably wouldn’t ask for much to offload their free agency mistake and recoup some value.

Foles has never produced outside of Philadelphia, but he hasn’t had the best supporting casts either. The Chargers may have the receivers to get the most out of a player who led the Eagles to their only Lombardi Trophy.

2. Cam Newton (Panthers)

This is only second to the Foles option because it feels so dang unlikely. While the Panthers will already look different without Ron Rivera or Greg Olsen, trading away Newton would be a titanic shift in the direction of the team.

If the Chargers could somehow pry Newton out of Carolina, he’d be a star in Los Angeles — assuming that he fully recovers from the foot injury that kept him out most of 2019.

Newton’s still just 30, and though his rushing abilities could be slowing down, it’s far too early to rule out the 2015 MVP being a dynamic playmaker once again.

3. Josh Rosen (Dolphins)

His NFL career has been a nightmare so far, but can you blame him much? The Cardinals were awful in 2018 on their way to the No. 1 pick, and the Dolphins spent the 2019 offseason tearing up the roster. Rosen was doomed to fail.

Now the Chargers could get the former UCLA quarterback and 2018 top-10 draft pick for peanuts on the trade market. He’s likely not the Chargers’ star quarterback of the future, but Rosen potentially has more developmental value than Easton Stick, at least.

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junker-town · 4 years

Text

Philip Rivers moved his whole family to Florida. What does that mean for his career?

Rivers is a free agent. Did his move tip his hand for his 2020 plans?

Philip Rivers has moved his family to Florida. This is a big deal because Rivers isn’t exactly a fan of changing zip codes.

The Pro Bowl quarterback famously balked at the idea of moving along with his Chargers from San Diego to Los Angeles. Rather than uproot his baseball roster-sized family, he chose to buy a $200,000 mobile theater and hire a driver for the hour-plus commute up I-5.

Now his base is the southeast, three time zones away from southern California. That move came just in time for Rivers to hit free agency for the first time in his career, at the spritely age of 38. The Chargers have made it clear they’re ready to move on from the quarterback who led them into “good,” but never “great” territory in his 16 seasons with the team (14 of them as the starter).

— Los Angeles Chargers (@Chargers) February 10, 2020

That leaves one massive question for the veteran quarterback: what’s next? Los Angeles is in his rear view. If a move south was part of a career shift from the West Coast, there’s one place that would be an obvious fit.

Rivers would solve at immediate problem for the Buccaneers — at least temporarily

There’s only one Florida team which could ostensibly be in the mix for Rivers. It won’t be the Dolphins, who have Ryan Fitzpatrick locked in for 2020 in the second season of his two-year, $11 million deal. He’ll likely play mentor to whichever quarterback Miami selects with one of its three first-round picks this spring.

It also wouldn’t be the Jaguars which, like it or not, probably can’t walk away from the three years and $57 million remaining on Nick Foles’ so-far disastrous contract. Cutting him this offseason would leave more than $33 million in dead money hanging around the team’s salary cap sheet like an albatross.

The Buccaneers, on the other hand, may be in the QB market depending on whether or not they re-sign Jameis Winston, whose contract expired after 2019’s 7-9 campaign. If they decide to move on from the player they selected first overall in 2015, the Bucs could be looking for a veteran passer to bridge the gap between the playoff-free Winston era and whatever comes next.

That could lead the Bucs to Rivers. And it’s kind of a great fit.

Bruce Arians may be searching for his next fixer-upper QB

Winston’s pending free agency means the only quarterback under contract with the Bucs next season is veteran backup Ryan Griffin. The Buccaneers don’t have a draft selection until the 14th pick, which is likely too late to select a passer who could make a meaningful impact in 2020 (SB Nation draft expert Dan Kadar has them drafting Iowa edge rusher A.J. Espenesa with that pick). Head coach Bruce Arians will almost certainly turn to a veteran presence to guide his team.

Arians’ reputation as an NFL coach is as an amplifier of quarterback talent. He brought Carson Palmer back to prominence after a stop in Oakland had eroded away much of his value. In five years with the Cardinals, Palmer recorded a 38-21-1 record and led Arizona to its second-ever conference championship game, which came during the 2015 season. That was the same year he led the NFL in both adjusted yards per pass (9.1) and QBR (77.1) and snapped a nine-year Pro Bowl drought by being selected to the NFC team.

This wasn’t the only time he helped an entrenched quarterback. As the Steelers’ offensive coordinator from 2007-11, Arians oversaw the most efficient stretch of Ben Roethlisberger’s early career. His work as OC and interim coach of the 2012 Colts helped push Andrew Luck to a Pro Bowl performance in his rookie year.

Hell, he made Jameis Winston his truest self, unlocking the potential of a man who can throw for more yards than anyone else in the NFL (5,109), but also record the league’s first 30-touchdown, 30-interception season. No matter who you are as a passer, Arians turns your volume up to 11.

Rivers could use a boost as he ranges into the twilight of a strong (but rarely epic) career. He had one of his finest seasons in 2018, then failed to keep that momentum moving forward in 2019 despite healthy campaigns from both Keenan Allen and Hunter Henry in the Chargers’ lineup. His interception rate spiked over three percent for the third time in the last six years. His adjusted yards per pass fell from 8.7 (sixth-best in the NFL in 2018) to 7.1 (15th).

Arians coaxed a career-low interception rate out of Palmer in Arizona — though the less said about his 2019 with Winston, the better. Despite playing out his late-30s in the desert, Palmer’s career stats as a Cardinal are significantly more efficient that his runs in Cincinnati or Oakland. That alone could be Arians’ pitch to Rivers.

Why would Rivers want to play for Tampa?

Besides the proximity to his new home? The Buccaneers could offer him a trusted passing guru at head coach and quite possibly the league’s most talented receiving corps.

Mike Evans will turn 27 in August and is coming off his sixth straight 1,000-yard season, even though he missed three games this fall due to injury. He’s flanked by Chris Godwin, who thrived alongside Evans and en route to career-best numbers (86 catches, 1,333 yards, nine touchdowns). Together, they averaged 16.3 yards per reception. That’s the kind of deep-ball playmaking Rivers, who ranked 10th in the league in average throw depth in 2019, could ride to massive gains downfield.

The Buccaneers’ offensive line wasn’t great in 2019, but ESPN’s pass block win rate metric ranked it slightly better than the Chargers’. That unit may have to replace free agent right tackle Demar Dotson, but will otherwise remain intact. That top-15 draft slot and an estimated $91 million in cap space (minus whatever Rivers theoretically signs for) would give Tampa Bay plenty of options for upgrades. Los Angeles, for comparison’s sake, has $51 million in space and the sixth pick in the upcoming draft.

Los Angeles has officially wished Rivers well in his future endeavors. If he decides he wants to return to the field in 2020 and keep his commute short, Tampa would be a natural fit.

Or, he could just be doing what most new Florida residents have in mind: planning out his retirement.

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junker-town · 4 years

Text

Philip Rivers moved his whole family to Florida. What does that mean for his career?

Rivers is a free agent. Did his move tip his hand for his 2020 plans?

Philip Rivers has moved his family to Florida. This is a big deal because Philip Rivers isn’t exactly a fan of changing zip codes.

Now his base is the Southeast, three time zones away from southern California. That move came just in time for Rivers to hit free agency for the first time in his career, at the spritely age of 38. FOX correspondent Jay Glazer reports that the Chargers are ready to move on from the quarterback who led them into “good,” but never “great” territory in his 16 seasons with the team (14 of them as the starter).

That leaves one massive question for the veteran quarterback: what’s next? If Los Angeles is truly in his rear view and his move south was part of a career shift from the West Coast, there’s one place that would be an obvious fit.

Rivers would solve at immediate problem for the Buccaneers — at least temporarily

There’s only one Florida team who’d ostensibly be in the mix for Rivers. It won’t be the Dolphins, who have Ryan Fitzpatrick locked in for 2020 in the second season of his two-year, $11 million deal. He’ll likely play mentor to whichever quarterback Miami selects with one of its three first-round picks this spring.

It also wouldn’t be the Jaguars who, like it or not, probably can’t walk away from the three years and $57 million remaining on Nick Foles’ so-far disastrous contract. Cutting him this offseason would leave more than $33 million in dead money hanging around the team’s salary cap sheet like an albatross.

That could lead the Bucs to Rivers. And it’s kind of a great fit.

Bruce Arians may be searching for his next fixer-upper QB

Winston’s pending free agency means the only quarterback under contract with the Bucs next season is veteran backup Ryan Griffin. The Buccaneers don’t have a draft pick until the 14th pick, which is likely too late to select a passer who could make a meaningful impact in 2020 (SB Nation draft expert Dan Kadar has them drafting Iowa edge rusher A.J. Espenesa with that pick). Head coach Bruce Arians will almost certainly turn to a veteran presence to guide his team.

This wasn’t the only time he helped an entrenched quarterback. As the Steelers’ offensive coordinator from 2007 to 2011, Arians oversaw the most efficient stretch of Ben Roethlisberger’s early career. His work as OC and interim coach of the 2012 Colts helped push Andrew Luck to a Pro Bowl performance in his rookie year.

Why would Rivers want to play for Tampa?

Besides the proximity to his new home? The Buccaneers could offer him a trusted passing guru at head coach and quite possibly the league’s most talented receiving corps.

Philip Rivers isn’t necessarily done with the Chargers just because he moved to Florida, even reports suggest the Chargers are done with him. If he decides he wants to return to the field in 2020 and keep his commute short, Tampa would be a natural fit.

Or, he could just be doing what most new Florida residents have in mind: planning out his retirement.

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bewareofchris · 7 years

Note

In Sass verse, how has it affected Kadar to be a part of the Auditore family? Because he seems changed in that scene where Sef met him at the hospital, but that might also just be that Sef is younger than him and the whole situation with Lamar being sick.

Writing that scene with Kadar in the hospital hallway was probably the second most difficult scene in the whole thing to write. Because there are a great deal of influences that would have happened to him in the thirty-some-odd years between the end of Sass and this story.

1 - There is no denying that being part of the larger Auditore family would change him in some way. If nothing else, simply adjusting to/acclimating to the sheer level of bullshit that that family lives by. There’s also the casual violence.

2 - He has spent the past thirty-ish years working with children that are bullies/are being bullied. Which he could probably handle pretty well but also fighting the ridiculous Government to put better standards in place to address bullying/to help children. Fighting the Government is definitely something Claudia could do without breaking a sweat but the level of attention it would put on Kadar would make him not like the whole thing.

3 - He doesn’t live near his brother or his Mother anymore. He hasn’t lived close to them for AT LEAST decade which means that he may not have had a clear, true notion of Lamah’s health because she wouldn’t have wanted to worry him and Malik would have been coasting by on denial. Also, just missing them in general.

4 - Kadar has just spent at least six months (and a year and half to two years before that) trying to convince his Brother that the world wasn’t coming to an end and that his marriage wasn’t over and that everything would be okay while I’m sure you can imagine Malik was like IT’S ALL GONE, IT’S ALL LOST. I CAN SEE IT NOW. WE’LL NEVER DIVORCE BUT WE WON’T LIVE TOGETHER EITHER. And this would be terrible because Malik would be unlivable. He would be like radioactive waste. Also, no amount of pushing or shoving or hinting or coaxing would convince Malik he was forgivable for doubting Altair. No amount of poking could have gotten Malik to go find Sef himself. (He is an adult he needs to live his own life, he clearly doesn’t want us there.) No amount of gentle persuasion could make Malik admit that their Mother was nearing the end of her life.

(4a - no joke, Lamah moved to California because she needed to just be away from Malik because he’s almost 60 in this story and still an emotional black hole. And I mean, Malik has kids and hobbies and Altair, and Kadar is better suited to care for her)

5 - much like Desmond, Kadar 100% believes Altair is capable of hurting his children. So, he was trying to be fair and supportive and failing and Sef is like: actually no it was nothing, and Kadar now has sudden guilt.

6 - Sef is an unreliable narrator because his view of the world (especially in the first chapter) is that he is a family-destroying monster that deserves to be scorned and put out to die on a street.

#sass verse #kadar anon

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junker-town · 7 years

Text

Looking for the next Dak Prescott at the 2017 Senior Bowl

Pitt’s Nate Peterman and Cal’s Davis Webb are two of the six quarterbacks with a chance to shine on a big stage at the 2017 Senior Bowl.

MOBILE, ALA. — The 2016 Senior Bowl featured the No. 2 overall selection Carson Wentz, and eventual rookie sensation Dak Prescott among the quarterbacks. It would be a surprise if the passers on the 2017 roster produced nearly as much fanfare.

While the six quarterbacks who will perform for NFL talent evaluators at the 2017 Senior Bowl have plenty of experience under center, it’s an unheralded group that doesn’t feature several of the most highly-touted passers of the draft class — including Mitch Trubisky, Deshaun Watson and DeShone Kizer.

“Last year, we invited eight quarterbacks and ultimately 15 were chosen in the draft,” Senior Bowl executive director Phil Savage said Monday. “It was a very deep class. This year there’s probably more debate about who really is the best quarterback and how they really shake out.”

While Watson was one of the few juniors invited to the 2017 Senior Bowl, the Clemson quarterback declined even after Savage asked the Cleveland Browns coaching staff to reach out to him about the merits of playing in the game.

Cleveland’s South Team roster will instead have Davis Webb of California, Joshua Dobbs of Tennessee, and Antonio Pipkin of Division II’s Tiffin University. The North Team — coached by the Chicago Bears — will have Nate Peterman of Pittsburgh, Sefo Liufau of Colorado, and C.J. Beathard of Iowa.

But without the big name quarterbacks, Savage singled out Peterman and Webb as players who could shine during the week. But he also said the quarterback position is the most difficult to scout in football and has a tendency to be unpredictable.

“For some of these quarterbacks it’s a quantum leap to go from what they’ve been doing in high school and college,” Savage said. “They’re in the shotgun, their eyes are never off the defense, there’s very little play action pass, they almost have presnap, predetermined reads with where to go with the ball. All of a sudden they’re in a pro system, they’re having to actually call plays in the huddle, go under center, turn their back to the line, play action fake — now the coverage moves and, on top of that, the guys on the other side are pretty good too.”

The stark contrast between the skill set necessary to run many college offenses and the one needed in the NFL can cause many quarterbacks to wilt. But it also can give the chance for overlooked quarterbacks to shine on a stage like the Senior Bowl.

“One of the reasons why quarterbacks that have come here over the last few years — guys like Sean Mannion, who ends up going in the third round; Cody Kessler, he ends up going in the third round — those were seen as probably day three picks,” Savage said. “But they came here and they showed a capacity to communicate in the huddle, show what they can do in the huddle in terms of taking the snap from under center, and then makes the throws into tight coverage.”

While the hunt for the next Prescott will be a common theme during the week in Mobile, Ala., the more likely scenario is that there will be a hunt for the next Kessler or Mannion: Underwhelming prospects who excelled under NFL coaching and clawed their way into becoming an early draft selection.

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime,” Peterman said Monday. “To get around the coaches and get on the field with them and play real football. It’s the only opportunity like it in this process.”

While SB Nation’s Dan Kadar projected three quarterbacks to be selected in the top 10 of his latest mock draft, none of the six playing in the Senior Bowl are projected to go in the first round. That means a big opportunity is on the table for six prospects with a chance to steal the show in Mobile.

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