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Snake Diggity

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Posts posted by Snake Diggity

  1. 1 hour ago, BurntEyes said:

    I'm sure I'll be negged for saying this, but I accurately called the current playoff and how it would come to pass 20+ years ago. The writing was on the wall and if anyone was honest with themselves it was pretty easy to see coming. 

    In 20 years I think the easiest thing to predict is there will be a LOT fewer universities playing. I think the NCAA will be gone. I think some states, including universities will have opted out of football completely. 

    I think the landscape will be greatly compressed and there will essentially be one tier. It will be the playoff tier and much more limited number of universities playing will be in that division of college football. I'm guessing the west coast will largely be out of the college game, the northeast very limited and most of the teams with be in the Midwest and Southeast. You'll have some outliers like maybe Arizona, Utah, and some teams in the Mid-Atlantic regions too. 

    I think there will be NIL caps of some sort, and there might even be an opt out for classes. Those that are on scholarship don't get that option, neither do walk on players, but fully NIL funded players don't have to attend class if they dont want to. They will hopefully be encouraged to, but not required. Essentially, more of a real minor league for the NFL with NIL funding the bulk of it. 

    Then again, while I called the playoffs, there were a lot of things I didn't see happening. So, wtf do I know.

    I agree with just about all of this.  I think there will be 2 main drivers that reduce the number of schools who play: money and injuries.  Schools on the coasts will opt out because football is dangerous; they may try to start playing with much different rules that dramatically reduce injury risk, but I don’t see how that will appeal to enough people to generate the same money.  I half expect soccer to take hold as the main sport in those areas.  Smaller schools will be forced out because they won’t be making money; some of those schools may field teams that play at a lower level with unpaid players, similar to the old days.  
     

    To your point about the ability to opt out of classes, I don’t think that will be necessary; I think there will be degree plans made up that allow athletes to get credit for all the training activities they already do and will let them out of attending lower level coursework where they have to mingle with all the other students.  Those degree plans are pretty much already in place, I think they will just be taken the rest of the way such that all these guys have to do is practice and play football.

    I do think the NFL’s popularity will be a leading indicator for college football.  As long as the NFL remains popular, there will be enough demand to keep the 30-60 most viable schools going.

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  2. 48 minutes ago, 'stache said:

    I part of me would prefer that he just go full senile/catatonic and live for another decade or so and we can all just bask is how sad and pathetic his ending becomes. There would also be far fewer zealots to give a shit if he dies after ten years of being a vegetable. Yeah, there will still be conspiracy theories, etc., but it's unavoidable. But if it's ten years from now it is likely to be far less problematic, many magaites will have moved on to the next crusade.

     Another decade?!  FUCK that.  Ideal scenario is he suffers a MASSIVE stroke and spends 2-3 weeks flubbering around in a hospital bed, gasping for air and suffering while screaming incomprehensible gibberish, with frequent videos leaking out with false reports that he’s recovering.  Then he dies.  And that video leaks too.

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  3. 10 minutes ago, Bodhi said:

     

    I actually think it will make the evening bin Laden was killed seem tame.  I'm not joking at all.  I will celebrate with champagne and steak without an ounce of guilt. 

    Hopefully, its a plane crash with no survivors where Tucker Carlson was conducting a full Trump family interview. 

    Bin Laden’s death will be NOTHING compared to Trump’s.  Maybe if Trump lives another 15+ years and doesn’t die until he’s been completely out of the spotlight for 5+ years.  Maybe.  But if he dies this decade a shitload of people are going to be partying like nothing we’ve seen in the last 70 years.

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  4. 1 hour ago, Hookem2147 said:

    As a refresher, this was the lineup we trotted out in game 1 last year:

    Kennedy CF

    Campbell RF

    Brown LF

    Guillemette C

    O'Dowd 2B

    Daly SS

    Thomas 1B

    Flores 3B

    Duplantier 3B

    Also had Chris Stuart throwing in high leverage spots out of the pen the first 3 weeks or so.

    Kennedy: Farmer (downgrade)

    Campbell : Gasparino (push)

    Brown : Brown (upgrade)

    Guillemette : Schuessler/Galvan (downgrade)

    O’Dowd : O’Dowd (upgrade)

    Daly : Powell (push)

    Thomas : Thomas (upgrade)

    Flores : Flores (upgrade)

    Duplantier : Misc (push)

  5. 1 hour ago, YGIFS said:

    There are three people who could viably take the GOP nomination away from Trump if he is officially declared unable to appear on the ballot, or dies.  Now, how they sort themselves out with the 25mm MAGA base that is Trump-only, I dunno yet.  I'm not that smart.  

    Haley is taking the direct tack.  She is in to outlast him through the primaries and convention.  And sadly her fate is totally binary.  She's either the first female GOP nominee or dead by his hand.  Kinda sucks, but also kinda admirable.  But she is summoning more and more support behind the scenes that I could have possibly realized.  We'll know more in one month's time obviously.

    I am starting to firmly believe more and more that there are two others who are remaining in one case-dead silent.  And in one case-overly ball sucking to MAGA nation.  The quiet one may very well decide to jump in at the last moment when Trump is ineligible or dead, and he'll win the general election.  Glenn Youngkin.  The one who has been busy sucking Trump's taint without Trump even noticing is Greg Abbott.  Abbott thinks that by embracing MAGA nation, that if Trump can't run, he can slide in at the last minute.  They're both quietly counting on Trump not being around on the ballot in November.  Youngkin's only reservation is he can still win this thing down the road someday in 2028/2032, Abbott is nearly done for overall.  

    But Haley has very discretely marshaled resources in the last few weeks that I didn't think possible.  and she's showing more fight than I thought possible.  

    I’ve kinda figured for the last few years that Rubio was the one laying back in the cut waiting for Trumps time to end.

  6. 32 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

    Great list and if I can add to the Ukraine point. Some complain that we shouldn’t be sending billions to Ukraine while we have a border crisis. False argument. We can do both if wanted. But also it’s not like we send billions to Ukraine and they buy Chinese military supplies. Those billions are coming right back to American military companies and workers. Ukraine aid is also a stimulus check for workers in 38+ states.

    and the most important part, not 1 American soldier has died.

    Has the US ever gotten the economic benefits of the war machine without risking American soldiers’ lives?  Everybody wins. (Except the Russians and Ukrainians.)

  7. 59 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

    The headline/summary would be, in no particular order:

    COVID Vaccine Rollout - varied by state and to be fair you have to give the Trump admin credit for development and plans being laid out; but available to anyone who wanted one, on demand, for free, by mid-2021.

    ARPA - $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus/domestic investment (local governments, housing, transportation, education, etc) package. Probably juiced inflation to a degree but we would be in a much worse longer term economic situation.

    CHIPS Act - $280 billion investment in onshoring semiconductor R&D and manufacturing. Huge returns so far in producing business investments that will translate to quality jobs, strengthen supply chains, and materially improve national security.

    Infrastructure Bill - $550 billion of investment over a decade, largest infrastructure investment in generations.

    IRA - $900 billion; at the end of the day the name is pandering and this is primarily an energy/climate law. It has spurred unprecedented investment in the energy transition. This could end up being by far the most impactful product of this administration but also the hardest to evaluate in the moment. Impact on inflation is likely negligible but it is projected to reduce the deficit, potentially by a significant amount.

    PACT Act - $800 billion investment in healthcare and services for veterans exposed to toxic materials. This was the bill the Senate GOP had to be shamed to pass, think the Jon Stewart campaign around burn pits and all that.

    Ukraine - Uniting NATO, adding Finland and now Sweden; and weakening and embarrassing Russia with zero involvement from American personnel.

    And most recently came to the table on a border compromise, which frankly I as a progressive think is a bad deal, but exposed the Republicans for the sick, cynical fucks they are.

     

     

    The CHIPS Act and the infrastructure bill sure seems like some of the best money the US Govt will ever spend.  The IRA and PACT seem like they’re too big, but needed to be done.  ARPA seems like it was big mistake that exacerbated inflation and paid a lot of the wrong people.  Still, overall that’s a very good resume for old Joe.

  8. 21 minutes ago, boilerhorn said:

    Thank you for posting this.  I own zero rental properties, but have been considering it.  And your comments confirm my initial investigations.  Buying rentals in high-demand locations (Austin, etc.), esp. with high interest rates is going to generate negative ROI.  A simple zillow search will show you that meeting the 1% rule is impossible in most of Austin these days.  A house for sale for $500k in 78750 has a zillow rent estimate of $2100.  And there's one around the corner for rent at $2100.  All of those houses sold for $150k in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

    Right now, we are considering places in the midwest with high potential population growth areas will relatively flat appreciation.  Some of those are places that will benefit from CHIPs act dollars (NW Indiana; Indy to Purdue corridor), Columbus, OH, etc.  Many of those places appreciated greatly during the low rate and COVID days, as they are decent places to live in the midwest.

    Housing around college campuses seems interesting, but you either (1) have to have one of your kids occupy it and rent other rooms or (2) get it for dirt cheap and be tolerant of having a significant amount of wear and tear.  The "dirt cheap" does not really seem to exist these days unless you want to put another $100k to fix it.

    I bought a home in north central Austin for $128k in 2007.  It rented for ~$1300 at the time.  Now it’s worth $400k and rents for only $2200.  The math just doesn’t work right now.

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  9. 1 minute ago, Red Five said:

    I seriously had someone tell me that they went around putting those stickers on gas pumps. The story ended with "But then gas prices dropped, so I stopped doing it."

    (blank stares, awkward silence)

    It’s the clearest anecdote I have seen of how fucking stupid those people are.  I know several people who did it.  And these are people who also believe anyone disfiguring a private business with graffiti and shit should be shot.

    But it really is amazing to me how every major policy complaint about Biden from those fuckers has been addressed.  Inflation.  Boom, fixed.  Dependence on foreign oil.  Boom, fixed.  Economic growth.  Boom, fixed.  And now he’s got congress agreed to a deal to address the border.

  10. 2 hours ago, Aqua Buddha said:

    Thanks a lot, Joe:

    Our Chart of the Day is from YCharts, which shows that US oil production has surged to a new record high of 13.3 million barrels a day last week.

    The prior record was 13.2 million barrels a day hit in November, and is above the pre-pandemic high of 13.1 million barrels reached in February 2020.

    America's steady rise in US oil production has helped put a cap on prices, with the commodity down 8% year-to-date even amid a flare-up in geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, and as the US economy remains on solid footing.

    That's been great news for drivers, with the average price of gas steadily falling to $3.12 a gallon, according to the most recent data from AAA.

    The US is the largest oil producer in the world, surpassing Russia's 9.5 million barrel a day production rate, and well ahead of Saudi Arabia's daily production rate of 9.1 million barrels a day.

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chart-day-us-crude-oil-044740808.html

    Where are all your “I did that” gas pump stickers now you dumb motherfuckers 

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  11. 8 hours ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

    I'll try to make this short as it's my first foray into this thread.  I feel for those on this thread that are dealing with death and more serious issues.  My thoughts and prayers, though I'm not particularly religious, go out to y'all.

    My anxiety lately has been through the roof, and I cannot explain it.  I read somewhere that one is basically set, personality-wise, by the time they're 25.  Until about 5 years ago, absolutely nothing would have caused me any stress or lose sleep.  Hell, I went through a 5 year custody battle over my daughter and rarely lost a minute of sleep.  It kind of motivated me.  I'm very, VERY lucky in that I never get depressed.  I have extreme empathy for those that do get depressed when things go south.  Thankfully, that's not me.  

    When I moved back to the Dallas area 7 years ago, I had an incident which seems to have triggered some sort of non-stop anxiety train.  I'm a teacher.  Long story short, I had a principal that had given me nothing but high marks for 2 years.  In the spring of my 2nd year, my writing students took a "mock STAAR" test to prepare for the real one.  In a low income school, our results were 1 percentage point below the district average (suburban DFW).  (Side note: both math and reading scores in my departmentalized grade were lower than this.)  All of the sudden, I'm considered the worst teacher on the planet.  Principal chewed me out.  I had a nonstop line of school and district folks in my room to teach me how to teach.  Since then, I just cannot handle any sort of criticism.  I have extremely good relationships with my students and their families.  My test scores are always fantastic. In all honesty, I cannot think of anything that would be a negative mark against me.  But, I just can't handle anything that I perceive as criticism.

    Earlier today I took care of all 3 of the classes in my grade due to illness.  I busted my ass and went FAR above and beyond what most would do.  I get an email from my principal that has the tiniest hint of criticism, and here I am, up later than normal, drinking bourbon, and typing out personal stuff.  Essentially, I sent my class to the computer lab with login codes that didn't work. I didn't need a page-long, fucking email about it. But, JC, how about just mentioning it in passing tomorrow and/or thanking me for taking care of all the extra shit today.  According to my new Amazfit watch, my resting heart rate is 53.  After receiving the email, it sat at 111 for over an hour.   I love teaching, my students, and my families, but this crap is about to make me turn to driving a truck or somesuch.  I'll stop the tl;dr now.  Thanks for letting me vent.

    p.s. My doc put me on something 2 years ago for anxiety.  it just made me nauseous for 2 months before I finally gave up on it.  I'm not sure pharma is the right path for me.

    If you feel like your boss/principal is the source of your anxiety, change schools.  A fresh start might do the trick.  If you’re getting anxiety from criticism anywhere (including outside of work), then maybe a visit to a therapist and doc will help.  There are meds that you can take only when you are feeling acutely anxious rather than taking every day.  Xanax is the most popular but Clonazepam worked better for me; if you have an addictive personality then those might not be a good idea but they were moderately helpful for me.

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  12. 14 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

    ESPN rated Jacob Melton #74 in their top 100. Making the comparison to Josh Reddick, but with the ability to steal bases. Reddick's career high was 11.

    Melton will strike out a lot more than Reddick ever did.  Melton will also hit more HR and steal more bases.  Other than being fairly athletic lefthanded OF, they’re not very similar.  Melton might be the midpoint of Reddick and Joey Gallo.

  13. 20 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

    Thomas 1B, Powell 3B, Gasparino RF, Brown LF, SS Flores, 2B O'Dowd, DH Sanders/Belyeu, C Galvan, CF Farmer

    That is my lineup prediction. Not sure they would go 3 consecutive lefties at the top of the order so had to find someone to put between them. 

    Are Werchan and Cummings not expected to be in the everyday lineup?

  14. 2 minutes ago, Js1 said:

    My dude, what? 

    The GOP is not taking Sinema’s seat. @Zonahorn

    Michigan GOP is in shambles. As is NV. They do not have good candidates running in those states. They don’t even have decent ones - the worst of the worst. 2022 out front says candidate quality matters.

    Same in Wisconsin - every big name decided not to challenge Baldwin. 

    Holy fuck is the AZ GOP really going to run Kari Fucking Lake??? Yeah never mind, they’re not winning that seat.  One can dream that the only seat they pick up is Manchin’s.  I’ll take 49-51 all day with Harris as VP.  

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  15. 8 hours ago, Js1 said:

    2023 Q4 Approval Ratings for Senate:

    2024 Dems:
    Jon Tester: 56/33 (+23)
    Bob Casey: 47/32 (+15)
    Jacky Rosen: 45/34 (+11)
    Sherrod Brown: 45/36 (+9)
    Tammy Baldwin: 44/42 (+2)
    Kyrsten Sinema: 41/45 (-4)
    Bob Menendez: 25/59 (-34)

    2024 Reps:
    Ted Cruz: 47/44 (+3)
    Josh Hawley: 45/38 (+7)
    Rick Scott: 45/41 (+4)

    Tester and Brown are truly gods in their states. I really cannot just write off either seat which how powerful those brands are.  Same with Casey in PA, but that isn't a risk seat to me.  

    Yep, I will be really surprised if the GOP picks up more than 2 seats.  They’ll pick up Manchin’s and probably Sinema’s. I am actually thinking they have a better chance of unseating Jacky Rosen in NV than beating Brown or Tester or Casey.  Seeing Baldwin at only +2 is discouraging but I think she’ll pull it out.  I’m also a little worried about Stabenow’s seat in Michigan.

  16. I think Trump is delusional.  But if he’s not, his best chance at becoming president is for Biden to die or become incapacitated sometime in the next 9 months, and for the Democrats to fail to quickly rally around another candidate capable of beating Trump (not Harris, likely Newsome or Pritzker).  
     

    Otherwise his hopes rest on funny business in Arizona and Georgia and Wisconsin, which seems kind of unlikely.  He’s not winning Pennsylvania or Michigan.  So he has to win all 3 of AZ, MI, and GA, regardless of what happens with Nevada.  He lost in 2020 and nothing has changed in his favor since then.  His base has shrunk, his opponent has succeeded, and the rules have gone further against him.  If Biden lives, Trump loses, barring a gigantic geopolitical shift.

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  17. “It’s a mute point.”  She busted out that gem for the 12,348th time yesterday.  My response was “Shit I wish it was. Nothing with you is mute.”  She has also begun grossly overusing the word “narrative”.  At the slightest disagreement she’ll say something like “stop trying to control the narrative!”  Drives me fucking crazy.

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  18. 38 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

    I understand. Probably for the best. It’s kinda foolish to keep rolling out a defense of the system based on its inherent “decency”. Really requires a complete suspension of reality. 

    Can you name a person who has ever run for president or is running for president who you really liked and did or would enthusiastically vote for?

  19. 25 minutes ago, slorch said:

    If you're a host, maybe.  Or the self-check attendant in retail.  Otherwise, this assessment is way off.

     

    I’ve had jobs at 5 different restaurants and 4 different retail businesses.  A lot of retail is standing around doing nothing.  Restaurant work is often hectic if you’re a server or bartender, but the kind of restaurant job a retiree would take would very likely be much slower paced.  Think server in a shopping center lunch spot or weekday bartender in a hotel bar.

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