Since there will be movies...

Donald Trump - Bob Odenkirk
Bob Mueller - Sam Waterson
Don Jr. - Will Arnett
Eric - Paul Dano
Melania - Penelope Cruz
Ivanka - Katherine Heigl
Jared Kushner - Colin Hanks
Mike Pence - John C. McGinley
Kellyanne Conway - Laura Dern
James Comey - Vince Vaughn
Steve Bannon - Brendan Gleeson
Michael Flynn - Matt LeBlanc
Paul Manafort - Colin Firth
Michael Cohen - David Duchovny

I am open to other possibilities and additional casting.

Marvel seems to just make good movies

For most of us, I think, the superheroes we grew up with were Batman, Superman and to some degree, the Justice League. That is to say, DC Comics really dominated the 80s and 90s, from TV shows, including cartoons to movies. Heck, they probably had a firm grip on things before that, too. Spider-man was perhaps the lone Marvel superhero in the mainstream, and that turned into two different movie franchises, even predating the current glut from Marvel.
Now just think about how the comic industry has turned on it's head in the last decade plus. Sure, we were vaguely aware of, if not terribly excited by, Iron Man, Captain America, and the Incredible Hulk. Now, they are the centerpieces of a historic movie franchise, which is presently dominating the silver screen.
Sure, next month the next round from the Avengers is going to be released, and that gets its fair share of fanfare. But it's Captain Marvel, this months blockbuster, that is most indicative of the success of Marvel's franchising.
I'm not particularly surprised that a superhero movie with a female lead is doing well. Wonder Woman was an excellent film and did very well at the box office. The difference is that people heard of Wonder Woman before Gal Gadot donned the outfit. Until the movie was announced, I had never heard of Captain Marvel, despite the enthusiasm of so may comics aficionados.
Even other lesser known characters, like Black Panther, had been introduced before their standalone movie, but Captain Marvel's logo was merely seen on Nick Fury's beeper in an credit cut scene. The best comparison, I think, would be Ant-Man, a not so well known character who now has a pair of movies.
And they both did great. Hype was created essentially from nothing, and these movies, first Ant-Man and now Captain Marvel did very well. Heck, Captain Marvel was eagerly anticipated. It's pretty clear that the excitement is simply that Marvel is releasing a new movie, rather than the desire to see a particular character (at least for the general public). Marvel's reputation is wonderful after a long track record of good movies. They aren't getting lazy, only better, and we're all just going to keep eating them up until they stumble.

The Oscars: Grammys 2

Sometimes, I feel an investment in the Oscars, especially if there is a buzzy movie that is nominated, or I hear a lot about some of the nominations before the ceremony begins, even if I haven't heard much about them when they were initially released. Sometimes I will hear about performances from a particular movie, or more rarely, I will have seen a film that is nominated even before nominations are released.
This year, I'm not even interested in the best picture or acting categories. I haven't seen anything except Black Panther, which really wasn't as good as some other best picture films but way better than most superhero flicks. It explores complex issues in it's own way, but perhaps not as explicitly as BlacKkKlansman, and those two films likely compete in the same space for ballots.
That's about the extent of my introspection on best picture nominees, and I have zero thoughts on the acting categories.
Perhaps for the first time, I am very excited to see what happens with the music categories. I've been open about my appreciation for the entire soundtrack to Black Panther, and am on record as saying that Kendrick Lamar deserves an Oscar for his work. Three Six Mafia has an Oscar. It's not unheard of for a hip hop performer to win one, and Kendrick Lamar is significantly more talented, and there are a handful of songs that are better than It's Hard Out Here for A Pimp on the Black Panther soundtrack.
But then A Star is Born was released. The movie's feature song "Shallow" was so good that it actually won a Grammy for best performance in the pop category, not just the music for visual media. It was a better song than almost all other pop songs released last year. Black Panther and Kendrick Lamar suddenly don't have the award as locked up as I expected.
Ultimately, the Oscars are likely to play out how the Grammys did. Black Panther was nominated for Album of the year, which is an incredible accomplishment, and a credit to Kendrick Lamar and the other artists on the album for a well rounded body of work, and won for the best score. All of the Stars was nominated for many best song categories, and King's Dead was nominated for best Rap Song. Neither won.
That's how it will go at the Oscar's, I suspect. Black Panther won't win anything for the best song, that will go to Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, but the score will go to Black Panther. Any other result will be a surprise. I'll be rooting for the favorites.

Things worked out just fine.

This, via Reddit, was the power ranking by Dr. Z at Sports Illustrated immediately after Drew Bledsoe found himself injured. What's crazy is that not only did the Pats win the Super Bowl that year with youngster Tom Brady at the helm, but also, they haven't really stopped winning since. This was before the Texans came to being, so the Patriots were right at the bottom of the league.
While all of this is very hopeful that your team may one day turn it around on a dime, I also note that of the 5 teams shown here, 3 of them are still terrible, and have been for the last 20 years. You'll get 'em... some time, Cleveland! 

Colts fans should be satisfied

I made a bet at the beginning of the season. Over/Under for the Colts wins. I could set the number, and my friend would pick either over or under. I st it at 7, and he went under. When the team started 1-5, it looked particularly bleak. Then, the team rattled off 9 wins in 10 games, including a road playoff win. The mere fact that they were even in Kansas City on Saturday afternoon is pretty remarkable. The game was pretty bad, but the fact that it even happened? Fantastic. I have no complaints.
One thing that this season goes a long way towards confirming is my continued tenet that you must build a team from the inside out. After the disastrous tenure of Ryan Grigson, Chris Ballard came to town and immediately started transforming the roster. Whereas Grigson had a predilection for drafting skill players and hyped up edge rushers, Ballard saw the problem on offense was Andrew Luck's protection, and on defense, they simply didn't have the ability to compete.
To his credit, Grigson drafted Ryann Kelly, the starting center for Indianapolis, in his final season, but it was Ballard who started rebuilding the secondary, with Malik Hooker and Quincy Wilson in 2017. The team really turned it around when they acquired a slew of picks from the Jets so New York could move up, and Indianapolis drafted Quenton Nelson in the first round and used one of those other picks on Braden Smith, both of whom locked up spots on the offensive line, which was suddenly one of the best, not only this year, but perhaps in the last decade. Ballard spent the other three picks on defenders, of which one, Darius Leonard, may end up the defensive rookie of the year after leading the league in tackles.
The lessons here are this: Make sure your quarterback is upright and safe. Draft often and early. Draft well. This is a team that surpassed expectations. Expectations will be higher next year, but their schedule is more difficult. Fortunately, Ballard has 3 picks in the first two rounds again, in which to work his magic.
There is optimism in Indianapolis, despite what it looked like in Kansas City

Mood as Colts game gets underway:

Expand to 8 teams, but don’t be dumb about it

The NCAA has made a stunning discovery. It turns out, the people like having a playoff, and there seems to be an appetite for a bigger playoff. That’s perfect! It should definitely cut down on all those debates over a team’s worthiness to get into the playoffs, right? Ha! Of course it won’t.

Every year brings with it more controversy, and more questions about whether or not the SEC “deserves” more teams in the playoffs. Do you know what other leagues have controversy like this? None. None of them have these debates year in year out, at least not like this. Maybe the NCAA should take a page from the rest of the entire sporting universe when building an 8 team playoff.

I’ve long harbored a desire to see college football completely upended, with new conferences and a level playing field, but that ship has likely sailed, thanks to all the money teams have invested in their new conferences, networks and infrastructure. So I have a new request: Make concrete rules for reaching the playoffs. Boom. That’s it.

Professional sports allow the divisional or conference winners to reach the playoffs. Next, it’s the teams with the best records, until all the slots are filled. There aren’t computer formulas or anything like that. Even in college basketball, conference champions make the tournament, without any exception, and then there are so many teams that the cut off lines for in or out aren’t really as pertinent, because the team that would have been the 12^th seed isn’t a likely threat to emerge from a field of 68.’

With college football, the title game was based on a computer model, which was based on rankings which were based on whoever seemed the best. The playoffs are the same, but with 4 teams. This is the underlying problem with crowning a champion in college football. Make teams earn their trip there with a clear and concrete goal. Don’t even give the third place team in a conference a spot, if the 2^nd place team isn’t also there, is what I’m saying. 

Let us know from the outset what you want teams to do to get into the playoffs. Win the SEC? In. Win the Pac 12? In. Have the best record in the group of 5? In. Let everyone know how to get into the playoffs. Don't just let in teams that people "think" are the best. The playoffs are supposed to be about earning it on the field. Earn the playoffs on the field too.