Messages

1

Wacky's World / Re: Wacky Ban

« on: April 15, 2024, 10:43:36 AM »

I'm pretty sure he blocked me on Twitter and I haven't tweeted in years

2

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Recent motion picture viewing - Add your own!

« on: April 14, 2024, 07:31:39 PM »

Watched RRR over a few days and just finished. Holy crap!

I gave it a shot, but couldn’t make it all the way through.

It is really like 8 short stories so I would just stop when one of them ended

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Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Recent motion picture viewing - Add your own!

« on: April 14, 2024, 03:33:07 PM »

Watched RRR over a few days and just finished. Holy crap!

4

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: maps and liniguistics, (now my master cool maps thread)

« on: April 14, 2024, 09:55:07 AM »

Nate silver you've done it again

https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1773427498367271306?t=K94FbSVLfAq4drDaChGq2w&s=19

Also just saw this and yeah I think he absolutely nailed it. The debates are over

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Essentially Flyertalk / Re: maps and liniguistics, (now my master cool maps thread)

« on: April 14, 2024, 09:49:24 AM »

I think something like this has been shared before but I like it

https://twitter.com/StatisticUrban/status/1779269590155235560

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Wacky's World / Re: SNL

« on: April 13, 2024, 11:56:40 PM »

gosling is hosting tonight, he’s always good

He's very good

He might laugh too much. Or maybe the right amount

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Wacky's World / Re: SNL

« on: April 13, 2024, 11:00:53 PM »

gosling is hosting tonight, he’s always good

He's very good

8

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Shows that have you by the balls, or vag...

« on: April 13, 2024, 05:49:19 PM »

Do you need to play the game to enjoy it?

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Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: April 13, 2024, 02:30:37 PM »

I didn't know the ins and outs of European soccer academies, but I bet many of the best ones use a lot of unstructured pickup-like games even if they aren't explicitly unscheduled and welcome to the entire neighborhood

10

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: travel thread

« on: April 12, 2024, 05:43:20 AM »

I started to type out "Lyon food tour" but then remembered you don't like onions. Maybe Monte Carlo?

I don't know if Amsterdam is too far out of the way but you can hit up the "coffee shops" (weed) and see a sex show after you go to the Anne Frank house. I'd probably do that over Rome if I hadn't been to either but I haven't been to Rome.

11

Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: MLB master thread(non-Royals related) (no longer the official Mets thread)

« on: April 11, 2024, 07:04:01 PM »

Is the name "Naturals" something like "Twin Peaks" sports bars?

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Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: The Masters

« on: April 11, 2024, 06:57:44 PM »

Guys they have silly sandwiches, a tradition unlike any other

13

Essentially Flyertalk / Re: Pet Peeves

« on: April 11, 2024, 06:56:08 PM »

I had no idea. Seems fake

14

Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: April 10, 2024, 03:53:38 PM »

this is from the handball club, I love it

In Bryne handball club, the common thread is the joy of sport, togetherness and inclusion. We have room for all types of talent.
The most important thing is to have fun - together!

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Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: April 10, 2024, 03:50:51 PM »

I saw a thread about youth soccer in the 12,000 person town Erling Haaland grew up in and that sounded idyllic.

Caveats— I don’t know if it is accurate and I am generalizing

They had kids in youth soccer from about 6 on. They built a dome for soccer in the middle of town (it is Norway). They had an excellent coach. They only practiced 2x a week but left the doors unlocked to the facility so it was open access pretty much 24/7. They had pickup games every Saturday. They did not cut, they let kids choose how often they came to practice when they were like 11-12, 2x a week or 4x a week. Again they didn’t cut and they only started competing in tournaments regionally at 13+. I don’t know what the fees were, but it seemed like most of the expenditures were public not pay to play.

That sounds better in pretty much every way.

And it produced several pros, not just Haaland. I don’t care if my kid plays beyond HS or even in HS if they do more than ride the bench tbh, I just want them to have something they can get better at that is active and with a team.

Are there facilities and a set up like this in this town for football, basketball, hockey, baseball, softball and volleyball as well?

I spent about 5 minutes on google maps and it looks like there is for handball and karate and basketball and a town 10 minutes away has ice hockey. from the hockey club website it looks like they have a similar philosophy

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START
We want everyone to experience how fun it is to rush across the ice and put the puck in the goal. As new, there will be a steep learning curve, a good dose of mastery and a lot of sporting joy. Ice hockey is a social team sport where we have fun at training, matches, camps and tournaments. At the youth hockey school, some have played before, often for several years, while others are completely new. No matter what level you start at, we build up your skills. For some it is adaptation and basic skills, while for others it is further development and a focus on progression. Some activities everyone takes part in, other times we divide into groups so that everyone gets challenges and experiences mastery at their own level. The hockey school has two training sessions a week and plays matches against other hockey schools. Check the ice schedule about which days there is training.

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Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: European Club Soccer Thread! (EPL, Champions League, Europa, etc... :D )

« on: April 09, 2024, 08:43:56 PM »

The line of security and a tarp separating the away fans made me lol

At Anfield, the visitors section is completely walled off from the rest if the stadium and they won’t let you in if you’re wearing anything supporting Liverpool.  Anfield also has super narrow entrances. It almost seemed like entering a prison.

It looks like you had a great time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah when I went to a Tottenham vs Chelsea game the entire section of Chelsea was surrounded by security.

Also same for when we were walking to the stadium, basically an entire house mounted police brigade made sure the Chelsea fans didn't just like eff with crap in the streets.

Will say the new Tottenham stadium is pretty premium and had a huge (short side of the field long) pub area. Can attest prices were very reasonable but you only could only drink outside the stands and not within. Nothing really could be brought in. Also the gender makeup was like 99% guys. Like I get sports are more dude driven but it was incredibly one sided. I feel like most K-State football games are at least 65-35. It was seriously like 99-1 there.

A great read on soccer hooligans is "Among the Thugs"

It's absolutely wild

https://www.amazon.com/Among-Thugs-Bill-Buford/dp/0679745351/

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Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: April 09, 2024, 01:41:30 PM »

My affinity for pickup games and lack of specialization has nothing to do with nostalgia, I think it's a better way to get kids good at sports and leads to less burnout and fewer injuries. There's a lot of research on it

Same with me. I'm fine with the "good" kids moving on. I ended up being a pretty decent smaller town baseball player. I sucked ass my first couple of years of kid pitch though. Had all my friends moved on to other teams or if my only other option was to hope to get on a competitive team that practiced every day, I may have not stuck with it, who knows. Some kids just need some time for it to click. I'd love my kid to be one of those hyper competitive dudes he plays with and against, but he just isn't. Sure I could dump him on a random rec league in JOCO where he would probably whoop ass again, but I highly doubt he will want to join a random team where he doesn't know anyone.

FWIW, I also think "good" kids would benefit from playing a variety of sports in less-structured environments with various levels of competition. Specifically it's a way to take on different roles, improvise and experiment in a no-risk environment, and of course reduce injury risk due to repetitive movements.

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Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: April 09, 2024, 12:14:47 PM »

I also think kids can have a great experience in the current pay for play/travel/specialization era

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Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: April 09, 2024, 12:07:17 PM »

My affinity for pickup games and lack of specialization has nothing to do with nostalgia, I think it's a better way to get kids good at sports and leads to less burnout and fewer injuries. There's a lot of research on it

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Jerome Tang Coaches Kansas State Basketball / Re: Coaching Carousel Master Thread (MAYBE FEATURING THE KSU CATS?)

« on: April 09, 2024, 11:37:38 AM »

Seems weird to build up a program to be a perennial top 20 team, win a Natty, and bail for another program.  How often does that happen?  I don't think very often which is why I don't see Drew leaving Baylor.  Seems like he has a good thing going and he can be there as long as he wants with limited pressure from fans/AD/UP.

This is true but Baylor is arguably the "lowest profile" school to win a championship in recent memory. Villanova is probably the closest comparison?

Not sure school's profile matters anymore if you have NIL support + fan/AD/UP support.  I think this is why we have seen some hall of fame coaches retire in the last couple years.  I don't think Kentucky/KU/UCLA/Duke/Michigan State/North Carolina names will continue to hold the weight they used to.  The "name" is no longer needed to bring in great players and contend for titles.  The last two years represent the new NIL landscape, and I don't think many of us would have predicted not a single Blue Blood (UCONN is now BB though) making the FF. 

2024 FF Teams:   
Bama, Purdue, NC State, and UCONN

2023 FF Teams:
SDST, Miami, FIU, and UCONN

I think long term, NIL support will be more closely related to profile. Higher profile/blue bloods will win in the NIL/Portal era.

NIL money will be king, program pedigree will be down the list of priorities for top recruits.  What WILL be a deciding factor is the number of players the program that land in the NBA.  McDonalds All-Americans don't go to Lawrentucky because of it's atmosphere or tradition, they go to KU because KU have a lot of players that make it to the NBA.  When the number of players KU puts in the NBA declines, so will recruiting.

I don't disagree with anything you're saying, I just expect that in the long term NIL money and program pedigree will be more closely related than they might be now.

21

Jerome Tang Coaches Kansas State Basketball / Re: Coaching Carousel Master Thread (MAYBE FEATURING THE KSU CATS?)

« on: April 09, 2024, 10:40:10 AM »

Seems weird to build up a program to be a perennial top 20 team, win a Natty, and bail for another program.  How often does that happen?  I don't think very often which is why I don't see Drew leaving Baylor.  Seems like he has a good thing going and he can be there as long as he wants with limited pressure from fans/AD/UP.

This is true but Baylor is arguably the "lowest profile" school to win a championship in recent memory. Villanova is probably the closest comparison?

Not sure school's profile matters anymore if you have NIL support + fan/AD/UP support.  I think this is why we have seen some hall of fame coaches retire in the last couple years.  I don't think Kentucky/KU/UCLA/Duke/Michigan State/North Carolina names will continue to hold the weight they used to.  The "name" is no longer needed to bring in great players and contend for titles.  The last two years represent the new NIL landscape, and I don't think many of us would have predicted not a single Blue Blood (UCONN is now BB though) making the FF. 

2024 FF Teams:   
Bama, Purdue, NC State, and UCONN

2023 FF Teams:
SDST, Miami, FIU, and UCONN

I think long term, NIL support will be more closely related to profile. Higher profile/blue bloods will win in the NIL/Portal era.

22

Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: April 09, 2024, 10:27:16 AM »

Do they not just have, like, YMCA leagues anymore?

they exist but I would say they start too young and end too young. (at least for like, basketball). Like I think organized basketball for 5 year olds is just absurd and they seem to really drop off before middle school. Our local soccer org started with a select travel team in second or third grade. We were pretty lucky to have a low-key local swim and water polo club that let our daughter fall in love with those sports in a relaxed environment and led to more competitive clubs in high school

23

Other Sports (Tiger's Back) / Re: competitive little kid sports

« on: April 09, 2024, 09:43:41 AM »

IMO what would be best for kids would be more pickup/unstructured play and less specialization and travel in general for younger kids especially. I think most people agree with this but it won't ever change significantly in the US because there is too much money in tournaments and clubs and private coaching and stuff.

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Jerome Tang Coaches Kansas State Basketball / Re: Coaching Carousel Master Thread (MAYBE FEATURING THE KSU CATS?)

« on: April 09, 2024, 09:30:41 AM »

Seems weird to build up a program to be a perennial top 20 team, win a Natty, and bail for another program.  How often does that happen?  I don't think very often which is why I don't see Drew leaving Baylor.  Seems like he has a good thing going and he can be there as long as he wants with limited pressure from fans/AD/UP.

This is true but Baylor is arguably the "lowest profile" school to win a championship in recent memory. Villanova is probably the closest comparison?

25

Jerome Tang Coaches Kansas State Basketball / Re: 2024 NCAA Tournament Thread

« on: April 09, 2024, 08:57:24 AM »

UCONN now with 6 Natty's (more than Duke, Indiana or KU), tied with N. Carolina, all in the past 25 seasons.

College basketball teams with the most national championships
UCLA — 11
Kentucky — 8
UConn — 6
North Carolina — 6
Duke — 5
Indiana — 5
Kansas — 4
Villanova — 3
Cincinnati — 2
Florida — 2
Louisville — 2
Michigan State — 2
NC State — 2
Oklahoma State — 2
San Francisco — 2

That's pretty wild.

Also I've mentioned this before but UConn might be the most rural school of its size in the country. Like, calling Storrs a "town" probably makes it seem more significant of a place than it actually is.

Interesting, wikipedia lists the population of Storrs at 15K. I had always assumed that it was situated inside an east coast megalopolis.

Edit: some more crazy UConn facts:

https://twitter.com/awaytoworthy/status/1777546473795621311

I always assumed it was just outside NYC but nope!



Most of that is Uconn