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Future of the Olympics


MaybeACoordinator

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I think if you can't find enough teams in a sport maybe don't play the game in the Olympics.  It leads to fielding teams, in whatever sport, with players not from your home country.   

https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/08/why-some-olympians-compete-against-their-home-country/494648/

https://hiplatina.com/mexico-softball-team-jerseys-olympics/

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2 hours ago, Moby Ric said:

First off, that is like your option man, not a fact.  Yes, Freedom of Speech.  Just like it is every American's freedom to turn off the tv.  I don't know anyone who is rooting against teams, in fact most people are rooting for them.  But many are not going to support or watch some pampered athletes who on one hand have made millions of dollars in endorsements by being a capitalist, and then bash it, and this country.  That is why they don't watch, it is a few bad apples that are spoiling the bunch.  People are tired of the belly aching that it's not fair from millionaire athletes, when these people live a privileged life.  You play a fucking game, you don't actually work a shitty job for a shitty wage.  Did you work hard to get there, yes, there is no arguing that and you have been very rewarded for it.  But don't go someplace and "represent" this country if you are going to turn around and disrespect or bash that very country that gave you the opportunity to be there.  Those entitled few are representing only themselves and their interests.

And don't preach "feelings hurt".  JFC people had to endure 4 years of the biggest temper tantrum ever seen.  Christ that is just flat out hypocrisy.

Rant over, take it to the CR, go bitch to a mod and hide under their skirt and report my post blah blah blah.  

 

173D0AE5-141A-41CB-BD8C-C08C9DC19C63.jpeg

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8 hours ago, orange dream said:

Having said all that... the time difference is a beating this go around. Anticlimactic knowing most results in advance.  I would also be in favor of either sticking the summer games permanently in Athens and the winter somewhere in the Alps or having a set rotation of (Athens / Tokyo / Rio / LA & Sydney) for the Summer and something similar but cold for the winter so the venues can be built once and then reused.

The time difference really sucks these days, because in the past, it felt like you had to actually search out the scores/results if you wanted results outside of the time it was broadcast in the evening (or afternoons/evenings on the weekend).

Now you know everything seconds after it happens.  I didn't bother going in and tweaking my news feeds after I started seeing results before it aired here in the States, and I'm sure I could have turned some of that stuff off, but it just felt like the results were everywhere and so there was no point.

It was pretty magical when I was a kid though.

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8 hours ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

1984 was peak Olympics for me. I was just out of high school, it was in LA, I didn't yet understand how corrupt the IOC was or how much cheating was going on, and it had big US stars all across the board, including the US basketball team made up of college players.   (That michael jordan kids seems like he might be pretty good). 

And it was the fucking '80s; everything was better in the 80s. Dawn of the technology age.

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Today I learned that

  • The Iron Sheik is still alive,
  • Is actually from the Middle East
  • Competed for a spot on Iran's Greco-Roman wrestling team for the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
  • He then moved to the United States and became the assistant coach of two U.S. Olympic squads in the 1970s.
  • He was the assistant coach to the USA team for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
  • His twitter is exactly what I expect out of the 79 year-old Iron Sheik.

The_More_You_Know_0-0_screenshot.png

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7 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

The Olympics are great. Especially awesome is the ability to watch an entire event's qualifying rounds and finals in their entirety. Avoiding NBC's feel good, personalities and interviews focus is awesome for minor sports fans.

The actual future is that there will be set locations for the games.  No one any longer has the stomach for losing billions on it.  Brisbane won the '32 bid because they were the only bidder.  The idea is that Paris, Los Angeles, Beijing or Tokyo and Sydney/Brisbane would rotate the games and host using mostly existing facilities.  

This exactly why the 1984 Olympics in L.A. were the most successful.   Of course they were compared to the previous two which Montreal in 1976 was way over budget to the point they are still probably paying for it 50 years later and of course Moscow in 1980 was boycotted by the USA and several others. 
 

Peter Ueberroth did a wonderful job utilizing existing sports infrastructure in L.A and Southern California for the games.  They didn’t build a new stadium for anything.   They used facilities on the USC and UCLA campuses, The Forum, Dodger Stadium, and of course The Coliseum which will be used for its third games in 2028 which is pretty darn cool.   The 1984 games were the first games I really paid attention to as teen and was hooked since then.   This year?  Meh.    Maybe the time difference?  But that didn’t bother me with the Seoul games in 1988.   I think taking the crowds out of the equation hurts watching the games on Tv just as it was hard to watch the NFL, NBA and MLB last year when they played in empty stadiums.    Don’t know why the Tokyo organizers didn’t at least try for limited capacity to get some crowd noise going?   

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25 minutes ago, Billy Pilgrim said:

Why the hell is USA network showing a replay of the Latvia-Brazil beach volleyball game instead of USA vs Dominican Republic baseball quarterfinal game live?  NBC has just done a monumentally shitty job of broadcasting these games?

Not only this, but they do the same thing with Basketball.  They want you to cough up money and subscribe to their Peacock streaming service.  

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15 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Oh for fuck's sake, you would have flipped out at the '68 Olympics.

John_Carlos,_Tommie_Smith,_Peter_Norman_

 

I think there's a tiny bit of difference in legitimacy between protesting against race-based discrimination instituted explicitly by multiple nations, vs complaining about pay inequality because you play a sport fewer people want to watch

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17 hours ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

i'd like it more if the guns didn't look like toys. 

Ha.  Those are Onschutz .22s.  I was on a rifle team for 2 years in Canyon and we used them, as did most of the teams, but we only had one of the high dollar models, like those.  Even in the early 80s, they were very futuristic looking and just fuckin' fun to shoot.  Our best shooter used that one.  One time, we shot against the Air Force at a meet in El Paso.   All chicks...and they had MUCH newer models of the Onschutz.....and they whipped our asses.  Every team we ever shot against...the best shooters were chicks and an Air Force team of all chicks it wasn't even close.  

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20 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Sure Grandpa.  Go continue rooting against your country for reasons. 

i watch la liga.  dont care about american soccer, men or women, olympic or domestic or international.

but go on sir white knight! 

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12 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

The Olympics haven’t changed

Wait, what? 

There's, un, no crowd.  Maybe we start there.  To pile on NBC coverage is warned over kitten shit.  Rating are down, what...50%%  Set to lose almost $30 billion? 

Many athletes don't seem like they want to be there are the story lines are uncompelling and dry.  Petulant athletes are a minor diversion to the greater flop that is this years Olympics.  

 

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All I watch are some of the men’s track & field events. But bygod they should post the heights & distance results of the field events in feet & inches for the US audience. Mainstream team sports in the Olympics are ok but I don’t sit & watch them.

Idgaf about all that other mickey mouse “competition” crap. Trampolines? WTF? Skateboarders? (Rolleyes) A chick waving a ribbon around while pole dancing without a pole? JFC

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3 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Wait, what? 

There's, un, no crowd.  Maybe we start there.  To pile on NBC coverage is warned over kitten shit.  Rating are down, what...50%%  Set to lose almost $30 billion? 

Many athletes don't seem like they want to be there are the story lines are uncompelling and dry.  Petulant athletes are a minor diversion to the greater flop that is this years Olympics.  

 

I think it is all of the above. I have watched the Olympics Prime Time coverage but I switch in and out and miss some days due to work schedule, tiredness, and ambivalence. The big story this year was Simone. They kept talking about her being the goat and looking forward to the challenge and putting the insignia on her shorts. Then she opted out and the few times I saw her on the sidelines she looked like a petulant athlete. Then the media continued to talk about her. I couldn't really give a shit - next man up. I'd rather see someone compete and fail than hear her story. 

I like a few track and field events like the 100/200/400/800, long jump and high jump. I like swimming. I would probably like boxing if it was set up more like a pro fight. Clean and jerk in weight lifting. Women's volleyball on and off. Men's cycling. Probably kayaking and surfing would be fun. A little gymnastics. Dueling (like Brisket showed) would be bad ass but I guess it would teach bad lessons to the younguns. Actually, that is a lot of events. But, only maybe a week's worth not 2 weeks full of what I would consider filler.

So coverage sucks. I don't care for a lot of the athletes and they couldn't give a damn about me. Too many events. No crowds and no cheering. Time change and internet and news ruin some of the events by giving away who won before being able to watch the event. Rampant drug use by athletes. I can foresee a time where most participants compete as individuals instead of for country. The times they are a changin'.

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4 minutes ago, Bevo said:

The big story this year was Simone. They kept talking about her being the goat and looking forward to the challenge and putting the insignia on her shorts. Then she opted out and the few times I saw her on the sidelines she looked like a petulant athlete.

Heard she has always battled ADHD, etc and taken Ritalin her whole life.  Japan apparently does not allow this as a substance that athletes can take (never new the host country could set certain guidelines?) so she was banned from her legal meth?

She really struggled in warms ups.  As we know, Ritalin does many things - one of which that contributes so much to it's abuse across a spectrum of disciplines is the ability to focus.  Seems like something an athlete in her discipline might need?

Who knows what demons she's battling, but thought it was an interesting take on what happened? 

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29 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Heard she has always battled ADHD, etc and taken Ritalin her whole life.  Japan apparently does not allow this as a substance that athletes can take (never new the host country could set certain guidelines?) so she was banned from her legal meth?

She really struggled in warms ups.  As we know, Ritalin does many things - one of which that contributes so much to it's abuse across a spectrum of disciplines is the ability to focus.  Seems like something an athlete in her discipline might need?

Who knows what demons she's battling, but thought it was an interesting take on what happened? 

my kids take adderall. i understand the prejudice against it, because i was leading opponent of them taking medication, because i was fucking ignorant, but they honestly cannot focus without it. to the point where they are basically monkeys running around. i know what it's like because i'm also (unmedicated) adhd. 

if that is indeed the case for simone, then i totally get it. if she regularly takes adhd meds, then focusing on body precision without it...would be problematic.

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3 hours ago, 52-80 said:

 

I think there's a tiny bit of difference in legitimacy between protesting against race-based discrimination instituted explicitly by multiple nations, vs complaining about pay inequality because you play a sport fewer people want to watch

I read through the USWNT suit that got tossed and came away with a lot less sympathy for the team. Its clear their real issue is part buyers remorse and part anger at the “system” but they can only sue US Soccer.

Basically, the USMNT has a CBA with strict pay for play, performance incentives, marginal benefits, and no guarantees contracts to players. The USWNT wanted a CBA with performance pay for play like the men— but also guaranteed contracts, extensive benefits like health and child care, and for US Soccer to help cover some pro salaries. US Soccer said no dice— you can’t have your cake and eat it too. 

After negotiation, they settled on guaranteed pay and more benefits in exchange for lower pay per appearance and performance incentives. Then they realized after some WWC wins that they’d have made more money under a USMNT style CBA. They also don’t have any pro salaries to tap (because few people watch). And they were angry that FIFA pays more to the men than women after the WC and wanted US Soccer to eat the difference. 
 

Their suit basically said they should have been paid under a USMNT style CBA and that the court should ignore the value of things like guaranteed contracts and benefits. So it got tossed, rightfully. Don’t believe the PR.

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I know someone who could play pro soccer but opted to take an engineering job. I looked up major league soccer and the top guys get millions but the league minimum is 36,500. At $36,500, the job isn't worth it except to say that you played MLS.

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22 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

my kids take adderall. i understand the prejudice against it, because i was leading opponent of them taking medication, because i was fucking ignorant, but they honestly cannot focus without it. to the point where they are basically monkeys running around. i know what it's like because i'm also (unmedicated) adhd. 

if that is indeed the case for simone, then i totally get it. if she regularly takes adhd meds, then focusing on body precision without it...would be problematic.

Begging the obvious question about it being a "performance enhancer" - which in this case, it seems that it obviously is?  Nor did I know Japan could mandate the banning of certain substances that other venues allow?  I always thought it was a governing board like WADA that was the final voice?

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15 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

I read through the USWNT suit that got tossed and came away with a lot less sympathy for the team. Its clear their real issue is part buyers remorse and part anger at the “system” but they can only sue US Soccer.

Basically, the USMNT has a CBA with strict pay for play, performance incentives, marginal benefits, and no guarantees contracts to players. The USWNT wanted a CBA with performance pay for play like the men— but also guaranteed contracts, extensive benefits like health and child care, and for US Soccer to help cover some pro salaries. US Soccer said no dice— you can’t have your cake and eat it too. 

After negotiation, they settled on guaranteed pay and more benefits in exchange for lower pay per appearance and performance incentives. Then they realized after some WWC wins that they’d have made more money under a USMNT style CBA. They also don’t have any pro salaries to tap (because few people watch). And they were angry that FIFA pays more to the men than women after the WC and wanted US Soccer to eat the difference. 
 

Their suit basically said they should have been paid under a USMNT style CBA and that the court should ignore the value of things like guaranteed contracts and benefits. So it got tossed, rightfully. Don’t believe the PR.

According to this guy, the court didn’t even consider the 62-67k of salary paid to 22 plays for their pro league teams as part of their accounting.  Even so, they were paid more overall and per game  

 

 

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I don't know where all this "athletes don't want to be there" talk is coming from. I've seen a week of swimmers from all nations smiling, laughing, breaking records and giving grateful post-race interviews. Same for the track and field events. The top 2 female 400m hurdle runners in the world, both Americans, just ran a historic nail-biter last night that was unbelievable. A dude representing Italy came out of nowhere and won the men's 100m. A 19 year old American teen won the ladies 800m. And a fucking crazy Norwegian hipster went Hammer Of The Gods on the 400m hurdles like nothing anyone has ever seen in history, solidifying his seat next to Odin upon arrival to Valhalla.

Does NBC's coverage blow? Does the Biles thing cast a shadow over gymnastics? Would this all be even better with crowds? Sure, but these Olympics have been full of some pretty amazing performances by athletes who seem genuinely pumped to be there.

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1 minute ago, ChickenSandwich said:

According to this guy, the court didn’t even consider the 62-67k of salary paid to 22 plays for their pro league teams as part of their accounting.  Even so, they were paid more overall and per game  

 

 

They were. Their argument is that if the men had played as well as them, the men would have gotten more cash under their CBA. And from FIFA. And they didn’t want to “count” the benefits, guarantees and pro salaries they actually received (that USMNT don’t). And they wanted US Soccer to eat the delta between men’s and women’s FIFA payouts. 

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The NCAA came out yesterday and had to admit they undervalued the Woman's BB tournament by millions of dollars, believing it was a giant money-loser of a tournament compared to the Men's BB tournament.  They were wrong.  

They were wrong.  There is a systemic culture of undervaluing and underprioritizing women's sports because there's an incorrect perception no one watches or cares and the female athletes (pro and college) are speaking out.

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/03/1024481199/report-ncaa-undervalues-womens-basketball-prioritizes-mens-teams

 

But there's a sub-culture of people in the US who believe a systemic culture of (insert thing here) doesn't exist.  At all.  And they should shut the fuck up. 

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Some assumptions seem made by NPR with TE guards to future projected value.  From the article. 
 

It notes increasing television audiences and female players' "huge followings on social media," and says the NCAA could negotiate far higher fees for coverage of the women's games.”

 

do they link their documents showing viewership numbers (increases and comparing to other sports/properties shown on ESPN or other networks)?

 

The hot LSU gymnast has a huge following and will make money from the NIL, but does it move the needle for college gymnastics?

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2 hours ago, hullabelew said:

Ha.  Those are Onschutz .22s.  I was on a rifle team for 2 years in Canyon and we used them, as did most of the teams, but we only had one of the high dollar models, like those.  Even in the early 80s, they were very futuristic looking and just fuckin' fun to shoot.  Our best shooter used that one.  One time, we shot against the Air Force at a meet in El Paso.   All chicks...and they had MUCH newer models of the Onschutz.....and they whipped our asses.  Every team we ever shot against...the best shooters were chicks and an Air Force team of all chicks it wasn't even close.  

*Anschutz

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11 minutes ago, smuggs said:

A dude representing Italy came out of nowhere and won the men's 100m.

He didn't really come out of nowhere. There just wasn't much coverage about him. The network could have done a little story about him being from El Paso and having an Italian mother and a black american military father, but it didn't. Personally, I think it is the network that really doesn't want to be there.

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11 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

They were. Their argument is that if the men had played as well as them, the men would have gotten more cash under their CBA. And from FIFA. And they didn’t want to “count” the benefits, guarantees and pro salaries they actually received (that USMNT don’t). And they wanted US Soccer to eat the delta between men’s and women’s FIFA payouts. 

This is what I was referring to in the video. The “exclusions”

51358022815_407ddc02ca_b.jpg

 

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1 minute ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Some assumptions seem made by NPR with TE guards to future projected value.  From the article. 
 

It notes increasing television audiences and female players' "huge followings on social media," and says the NCAA could negotiate far higher fees for coverage of the women's games.”

 

do they link their documents showing viewership numbers (increases and comparing to other sports/properties shown on ESPN or other networks)?

All you need to look at are rankings.  Eyeballs bring in ad dollars and ad dollars pay out in revenue.  If 50M people tuned into see people shave poodles week over week they'd make pro soccer money doing it.  

Menz

WINDOW GAME RTG. VWRS. NET(S)
2021
Champ. Baylor-Gonzaga 9.4 16.922M CBS
Late semi. Gonzaga-UCLA 7.6 14.942M CBS
Early semi. Baylor-Houston 4.4 8.178M CBS

 

Wimmenz

 

WINDOW GAME NET(S) RTG. VWRS
2021
Champ. Stanford-Arizona ESPN 2.0 4.077M
Late semi. Arizona-UConn ESPN 1.5 2.692M
Early semi. Stanford-South Carolina ESPN 1.0 1.676M
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Just now, Bevo said:

He didn't really come out of nowhere. There just wasn't much coverage about him. The network could have done a little story about him being from El Paso and having an Italian mother and a black american military father, but it didn't. Personally, I think it is the network that really doesn't want to be there.

He was the 30-1 shot in the race and had never had a sub 10 second run until three months ago. I'll give NBC the benefit of the doubt here, that's about as nowhere as it gets.

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12 hours ago, Billy Pilgrim said:

Why the hell is USA network showing a replay of the Latvia-Brazil beach volleyball game instead of USA vs Dominican Republic baseball quarterfinal game live?  NBC has just done a monumentally shitty job of broadcasting these games?

to me that is absolutely a decent reason for their shit ratings - along with the time zone issues - the shit broadcasting.

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Personally I think the Olympics should stick to the sports that don't have an existing world championship via another league. World Cups, golf, tennis, MLB, NBA, etc. But it doesn't bother me if they're included. I just don't watch them. I also don't understand why anyone gets upset that some athletes want to express their opinions. Good for them. And if you don't like it, no one is forcing you to watch or listen to their demonstrations or speeches.

As for the Women's national soccer team, is it really that bad that they've asked for equal pay and for African-Americans to stop being shot by police? For the first item, it's a legit argument on both sides depending on the viewership of said teams. And honesty, I think there is argument that the US women shouldn't get equal pay as their male US counterparts, they should get more.  

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I've always dug the olympics. As a kid I watched all 2 weeks as much as I could. I've watched less this year than any previous year because of other things going on, time difference, and the political shit is creeping into what used to be a pure competition of the best against the best (fuck the Soviet Union and their drug shit though).

The sports that get focussed on are more and more not in my wheelhouse: synchronized swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, figure skating/ice dancing, events like that.

I wish they showed more of the obscure stuff, ala Wide world Of Sports. And yeah, curling is fun as shit to watch, piss on the haters.

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I've always loved the Olympics. All of it comes from being raised in a sports loving family that had a bunch of success in wrestling and T and F, along with my Grandma being around at the dawn of Women's sports. (She was in tennis exhibitions vs. the US open champ in the late 40's, and MVP of the Navy's women's basketball team) So this was always something we took seriously, and then getting engaged to a T and F coach/D2 All-Conference athlete enhanced that. I've donated money to the USOC to the athlete funds for year, and will probably continue to do so. While the games have been weird this year, I've found plenty to enjoy, and will probably continue to do so in the future. I'll echo the sentiments that I could give a shit about the nationalism angle, and just want to see athletes doing cool shit, regardless of their flag, and my understanding of their sport. The IOC is corrupt as fuck, and bidding for games is fucked up, but what country does a good job wringing graft out of mega projects? I don't feel worse about watching it that I do any NCAA stuff. And if an athlete wants to use the podium to promote a cause, I say more power to them, because I'm not into needing to police shit because folks can't handle that things are messy, and I don't think the athletes owe me shit. 

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2 hours ago, hayden_horn said:

my kids take adderall. i understand the prejudice against it, because i was leading opponent of them taking medication, because i was fucking ignorant, but they honestly cannot focus without it. to the point where they are basically monkeys running around. i know what it's like because i'm also (unmedicated) adhd. 

if that is indeed the case for simone, then i totally get it. if she regularly takes adhd meds, then focusing on body precision without it...would be problematic.

hated taking my pills back in the day, I'd get tics like pushing my tongue against my teeth till it got bruised and cut, or I would tear the wood of my desk with my fingernails. All kinds of shittyness from my medications. The only good thing was I was never hungry, so I never ate which kept me skinny.

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7 minutes ago, workswithseed said:

hated taking my pills back in the day, I'd get tics like pushing my tongue against my teeth till it got bruised and cut, or I would tear the wood of my desk with my fingernails. All kinds of shittyness from my medications. The only good thing was I was never hungry, so I never ate which kept me skinny.

Didn't know that about her. I had AHDD as a kid, really before it was diagnosed. I couldn't focus for shit as a kid, but started to grow out of it as I entered puberty.

I still get dis..... ... SQUIRREL !!!!!!  from time to time. My brother is a basket case still, he loses track of what he's doing every 5 minutes or so.  My profession. forces me to have some tunnel vision, which helps me focus.

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14 hours ago, Billy Pilgrim said:

Why the hell is USA network showing a replay of the Latvia-Brazil beach volleyball game instead of USA vs Dominican Republic baseball quarterfinal game live?  NBC has just done a monumentally shitty job of broadcasting these games?

Was it woman’s beach volleyball?  Because if so I can think of a reason (Brazilian asses in thongs).

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