5 Thoughts for November 30, 2015

1. Seattle Seahawks: The offense has apparently resolved its issues even as Jimmy Graham went down for the season. The offense scored its most points in a game, this season, with 39, which appears to be a reflection of Russell Wilson's growing confidence in his offensive line. Indeed, in the first 7 games this season, the Seahawks were giving up an average of 4.4 sacks per game, while the last 4 he's been sacked on average 1.5 times a game. The defense remains a huge question mark, as the spot opposite Richard Sherman still looks bad, regardless of who's assigned to it. So bad is the secondary, that Pittsburgh essentially gave up on the run -- 14 running plays compared to 59 passing plays -- and Ben threw for more yards against the Seahawks than any previous quarterback in the franchise's history.
2. Health Insurance: In the last month, Moda Health announced that it was in poor financial -- ahem -- health. Its finances were being dragged down by people who'd signed up for their services but who were sicker than expected, combined with a missed projection of federal financial support, as part of the ACA. As a result, they were significantly raising premiums. I believe this was a bad idea. Most of the time, you can get away with raising premiums, so long as they're relatively modest increases, but when they increase 25% or more, you've given people an incentive to shop around. In the end, Moda Health will only be further burdened by a deeper reliance on people who are sicker, and therefore more likely to drain their finances rather than fill them. I'm all but certain that OHSU will have to exercise their option to own a piece of Moda, and then eventually buy out Moda. Two years ago, Moda signed a 10-year, $40M contract for the naming rights of the Rose Garden; that OHSU made a 10-year $50M loan which was then converted into an option to own a portion of Moda, seems to highlight greater issues with Moda's management, no?
3. Health Insurance, part II: Once again, Republicans are looking to repeal the ACA, aka Obamacare, but this time they're using a December 11 government spending deadline, to do so. You see, straight up they can't pull it off, so they're gambling that an omnibus spending bill, that is required in order to keep government running, will be the leverage to repeal the ACA. That is to say, that they're of the mindset that President Obama would rather destroy the centerpiece of his legacy, than allow the government to close. That seems like an odd way of thinking, given how President Obama stood by his ACA during the debt ceiling fight that shut down government, a few years ago, yet this simplistic thinking appears pervasive in the GOP Congress.
4. Cyber Monday: There's a different kind of Cyber deals going on these days, and they're discounts for online services. Moo has a spectacular 30% deal (automatically applied price), Shapeways has a 20% off coupon (code: cyber2015), and Ponoko has 35% off laser cutting (code: E3RFAQ). These are much more valuable deals, to me.
5. USC football: Well, it turns out we didn't have to wait long to figure out who the next head coach would be. Monday, USC announced that Clay Helton would lose the interim title and become the *permanent* head coach. As much as a big name hire could have been the popular choice, you could see how settled Helton was, and how his confidence and inner peace had an effect on the team. I personally think that his fourth quarter decision to pound the ball on the ground against UCLA was what sealed the deal; watching USC thoroughly dominate on the ground in the 4th quarter, was nostalgic, to be sure. Will Helton keep Wilcox? Against UCLA, USC *finally* ditched the 3-4 and used a 4-3 with hybrid end, and moved Su'a Cravens back to safety, covering the bigger slot receiver -- it was vintage Pete Carroll. If Wilcox reverts to 3-4 and USC loses to Stanford, Wilcox will surely be fired; if he keeps the 4-3 hybrid, I think Helton might retain Wilcox.