Member for

15 years 7 months
Points
10710.00

Recent Comments

Date Title Body
I think that student…

I think that student athletes--especially those playing a major sport-- already have received more "criticism" from the general public (i.e. drunk, mouth breathing psychos screeching at them both online and in person) than 99.999999999% of all other "employees." The one exception being front line, minimum wage (or close to it) service workers.

Like, I had no idea there was this magical shield protecting a college kid from savage wolfmen descending onto their social media pages, harassing them non-stop because they made an oopsie in a sportsball match. Someone should tell every college football and basketball player ever, because they have not been using the magic shield correctly.

Most of the guys mentioned…

Most of the guys mentioned in OP's post were taken 25th pick or later. St. Brown, Branch, McNeil, Melifonwu, LaPorta, Branch, Rodrigo, Kerby, Barnes....He's hitting on almost everyone he picks. Even guys who haven't quite blossomed yet, you can see it in flashes (Jamo-granted 12th pick, Paschal, Houston).

I'm excited to see what Brodric Martin can do, since he was a project pick/tools guy, drafted in a similar vein to Iffy Melifonwu, and it's taken Iffy a few years to find his proper position and footing in the league. Same with Derrick Barnes. Brodric is an absolute unit at 6'5" 330lbs, with extremely long arms. He's still learning the game and developing strength and conditioning, but he could be another guy to add to that list.

School of mercenaries.

School of mercenaries.

Mike Hart but fast.

Mike Hart but fast.

The communication of our…

The communication of our secondary is nuts. Handing off those routes, dealing with motion, bunches, stacks, all of it. Legendary performance.

The Don delivers when it…

The Don delivers when it matters most.

We've been through a lot. I…

We've been through a lot. I've been reading since you've started this blog. I know that it's easy to narrativize life, as we are creatures who love stories, but man does this feel like the absolute culimination of....something...I don't think I can put in into words and I don't think I want to. I think I want to hold it inside and not let go of it until it inevitably slips away like all things do.....but this moment....man. This is something, ain't it?

I AM SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW…

I AM SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW. THIS FEELS LIKE THE CULMINATION OF SO MUCH, DESTINY.

Watch them win 29 in a row…

Watch them win 29 in a row and still miss the playoffs.

Cade Cunningham is a…

Cade Cunningham is a superstar.

Jalen Duren looks promising when his ankles aren't snapping in half.

Ausar Thompson looks like a winning role player who could become something more if he could develop a jumper (unlikely, IMO).

Now the Pistons just need to find like 5 other guys who are good at basketball.

Best defense in the country.

Best defense in the country.

Send them to the playoffs…

Send them to the playoffs and match us up with them so we can kick their asses again!

Hail Donovan!

Hail Donovan!

If you scripted it like that…

If you scripted it like that coaches would say "Come on now, that's too perfect." And it was perfect.

Well, that went about as…

Well, that went about as well as it could have.

Drive down the field. Score…

Drive down the field. Score to end the game. Go for 2 to make it 50-0. Bury this sorry ass program.

Oh brother these [Spartans]…

Oh brother these [Spartans] stink!

I don't care. Beat us on the…

I don't care. Beat us on the field.

I am having the most fun I…

I am having the most fun I've ever had watching football.

"What if instead of playing…

"What if instead of playing football, we wrote an essay and did homework instead?"

And they call us a bunch of soft nerds? Weak. Just play FOOTBALL.

You could also turn the event into a chairty drive or just do that on its own.

I'm not arguing against the…

I'm not arguing against the validity of any one stat. Pressures are important. I am simply talking about the context in which they are used.

I just found a perfect example just now. PFF puts out a fancy looking graphic that says, "Fewest Pressures Allowed" and has Tristian Wirfs, Penei Sewell, and Trent Williams, being used to hype those 3 guys as the best tackles in the game. Then when you look at Penei Sewell's actual PFF pass blocking grades for the season they are only solid (typically in the 70s) and far below the other 2 guys. So which is it? Is he top 3, or above average? Whatever it needs to be to build hype.

Obviously, there are…

Obviously, there are problems with any sports grading methodology. The primary one for football being you don't know exactly what the individual responsibilities are for every player on every play. You can make fairly to even extremey educated guesses based on formation. You might even be right 90% of the time, but like you said, there are different people, so there are going to be variations in scores.

It's probably a somewhat useful tool for getting a snapshot of who is playing well and who is playing poorly, over the course of a season. IIRC, a lot of NFL teams use PFF, and they're probably doing that because they do find their grading helpful in one way or another.

I think the problem arises more so with how PFF (and the NFL) contextualizes PFF's data as well as how fans receive it.

PFF and the NFL use their grades to hype players to the moon and target fans to get them excited. Sports journalists/reporters will also do the same thing to rip on a player. X player who the fans have been hating had a terrible grade according to PFF. Now it isn't just an opinion or a feeling that you suck. There is a chart, with numbers. Charts and numbers are official. Charts and numbers don't lie (lol). People love charts and numbers. This is entertainment, after all. 

The fans will just throw around random PFF grades, and only remember the good or the bad, and fail to follow up. Y player had a grade of 90.1 this week! It was hyped by my team's beat writer. The announcers talked about it all the next game. Other fans I talk to are excited, "Did you see Y? He's been a monster this year. Had the top graded week for his position!" Then the next few weeks he gets graded at an average score, and no one talks about it. If anything, they've moved on to Z player, who had an 88.9! Wow, he's going to be a star if he plays like that consistently. Player Y? I forgot about his scores or what's going on with him.

PFF tends to focus on the extremes (what generates eyeballs, clicks, and revenue). How many EDGEs are in the top 5 at this point? It seems like there are 20 top 5 EDGE rushers in the NFL. Which leads to another problem with PFF, which is data overload.

They (by design) have so many different stats and metrics they keep track of, so they can sell you just about any narrative you want to hear at any given time. Do you want us to hype your EDGE rusher to the moon? Well, he's got 0 sacks, but his "pass rush win rate" is super high. He is also getting a high degree of "pressures." Don't forget his block shedding win rate in the run game! 

It's all just to drive conversation at the end of the day.

7 catches 168 yards 2…

7 catches 168 yards 2 touchdowns now. He just caught another bomb from Stroud.

Not so fast my friend...

Not so fast my friend...

Nico is having the best game…

Nico is having the best game of his pro career and is turning himself into the guy we all thought he could be for the Texans right now. 6 catches 116 yards and a touchdown.

Great post.

Great post.

Hit 'em with the line of the…

Hit 'em with the line of the day, my guy.

Super happy for them. As…

Super happy for them. As much as national pride makes me want to see the USA to win (plus, it's not like we sent the A team), I think it's awesome for the sport of basketball to have other countries get some shine. Germany has been pumping out NBA players lately. Hopefully more of them pass through Michigan thanks to the Wagner bros before going pro.

I mean if going into the…

I mean if going into the draft people said you're getting...

Brian Branch at 12

Hendon Hooker at 18

Jack Campbell at 34

Jahmyr Gibbs at 45

Sam LaPorta at 68

...and we picked up a bunch of mid to late round draft capital (especially given Brad Holmes' ability to hit on those picks) people might not have liked that we didn't go harder on D early, but I think the overall reaction would be much more positive.

I would love there to be a…

I would love there to be a tournament to get the number 1 pick.

Full disclosure: I have spent exactly the amount time figuring out how this would work as I have writing this post.

You could do a lottery system for all of the teams who don't make the playoffs (they all get the same odds), but if you "win" the lottery, you get one of 4 spots in a single elimination tournament for a shot at the number 1 pick. Whoever wins gets the pick. The rest of the teams (the losers of the tourney and those who didn't "win" a spot) then would just participate in the lottery like normal, with the odds determined by record.

Imagine the drama. You're probably never going to fully erase tanking, but if you want that extra bit of spicy seasoning this would surely be a lot of fun. If you're bad, but too bad, you definitely aren't going to win.

It  would discourage the embarassing levels tanking to an extent because you as a total bottom feeder have a chance of getting matched up with the best team to not make the playoffs if both of those teams win a spot. 

Give us USC. I want to play…

Give us USC. I want to play the best teams.

We run away from USC because the schedule is too hard and give OSU USC then we are defacto admitting they are the marquee member of the conference and get to play with the big boys, while we are terrified of own shadows. Too many people here seem to have PTSD from the last decade.

Let OSU have the dregs.

We are here to play the best and beat them. 

Hopefully he doesn't hold a…

Hopefully he doesn't hold a grudge for a long, long time or anything. 

We know.

We know.

This is an excellent post in…

This is an excellent post in response to largely a-historical drivel. I just want to let you know that I appreciate you.

Unfortunate for Hutch that…

Unfortunate for Hutch that Sauce Gardner is having one of the best rookie seasons ever, and is not only the best rookie, but already may be the best corner in the league. If it were any other year he'd win walking away. 

I can't remember what sports writer came up with the idea, but it was essentially that some years an award should be like one of those platters you get for being a runner-up in tennis (because somebody has to win X award, like the year Michael Carter-Williams won NBA rookie of the year). While other years it should be a 12 foot tall statue (due to an epic duel, like last year's NBA rookie of the year race, where the top 3 or 4 guys would have all beaten out MCW had they been rookies the same year as him). 

This was a 12 foot tall trophy year.

 

The punch finished him off,…

The punch finished him off, but if you look at all of the replays I think it was a combo of Hami Diallo forearm shivering Mo who crashed into Beef Stew's head/shoulder which KO'ed Mo. He looked like he was basically out on his feet at that point to where a stiff breeze would have knocked him over and Killian's punch finished the job.

Mo is lucky Killian looks like he has never thrown a punch in his life as that could have been really bad. Unacceptable from Killian and also Hami, who should both receive fairly decent suspensions.

That being said, if you are going to consistently play like Mo plays, and take on the role of being a jackass/complete antagonist on the court, who is constantly making borderline dirty/questionable plays a la Draymond Green, Grayson Allen, or Bill Laimbeer, the odds of someone decking you are going to exponetially increase. Doesn't make it right when it happens, and especially not a blow to the back of the head, but if you instigate enough somebody is going to retaliate eventually.

Enjoy him while he's here…

Enjoy him while he's here. Who knows what the future holds. I remember when Max Martin was the next guy. High 4 star recruit who we pulled from down south, only for Mike Hart to come along and take the reigns from both him and David Underwood.(guy who was technically next in line after Chris Perry). Underwood's was more injury related, but no one saw Hart coming.

Cabana is the highest rated recruit we have committed.

CATHARSISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS…

CATHARSISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

A young and talented squad…

A young and talented squad is going to play to the level of competition, which is going to result in a lot of fairly uneven performances at times that ultimately result in a W because we are going to be one of the two best teams in the country by season's end.

We are winning the national…

We are winning the national title this year.

Every hater can kick rocks or take a long walk off a short pier.

I hope all of these early games are as close as this one, because I think we need it for our young guys to rise to the challenge, and I think they will amalgamate all of that experience as the year goes on, until they reach a point where they can draw from it, but don't necessarily need it.

"Who cares?" Don't you know…

"Who cares?" Don't you know that we are their biggest rival in football? Well I didn't either. Apparently it's true though.

My sister went to Illinois and she says that they are "kind of weird" when it comes to sports rivalries so I have to take her word for it.

If you think about it, they kind of don't have any natural rivalries (Northwestern, but NW isn't typically good in any consistent capacity in big money sports), so they've kind of had to invent rivalries in their own minds, so why not Michigan?

I mean, they have an article on thechampaignroom.com where they are confused about who their own rivals are...https://www.thechampaignroom.com/2019/6/9/18647288/illinois-fighting-illini-rival-indiana-northwestern-iowa-ohio-state-michigan-purdue-wisconsin

Why?

Why?

Lamar Jackson

Lamar Jackson

Amazon absolutely plays fast…

Amazon absolutely plays fast and loose with your data. YOU are the product, not the things they sell.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/23/21233121/amazon-employees-seller-data-private-label-products

Retail isn't even a big revenue generator for Amazon.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/02/19/how-amazon-actually-makes-money.aspx

AWS is their big money maker. That's all of your information. It's what they make their bank off of.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/insights/090716/7-ways-amazon-uses-big-data-stalk-you-amzn.asp

"Other companies may benefit from Amazon Web Services by using them to analyze customer demographics, spending habits, and other pertinent information to more effectively cross-sell company products in ways similar to Amazon. In other words, it’s not just Amazon that can stalk you. These retailers can, too."

They absolutely sell your information. 

 

 

 

Most people don't know that…

Most people don't know that Amazon actually makes a lion's share of their money not from retail, but from selling the data they collect from you.

This is why when I'm…

This is why when I'm discussing things with people I say, "Let's get out of the minutiae. Let's talk about bigger concepts and ideas." You can cherry pick any set of facts/stats to make a thing/person look good/bad. This usually works quite well because it forces people off of their manufactured talking points and gets us to a point where we can have a conversation about things on a more conceptual level and find common ground.

How do you think society should be structured? What are your values and how do you connect them/how are they connected to what you believe we ought to do as a society? Etc..etc..

If you go down that particular rabbit hole I've found that conversation is much more productive. If the other person is incapable of having a conversation on that level, that is typically a sign the other person is not worth engaging with.

 

 

Good on them. No more …

Good on them. No more "escaping" from the reality of the world we live in. 

Cooking my dad's favorite…

Cooking my dad's favorite meal that he hasn't eaten since his mom died.

Not sure how Ford works, but…

Not sure how Ford works, but for most boards and CEOs, "cutting" or "deferring" salary is a PR move. Stock options and bonuses/benefits are where a lot of these guys rake in the real cash. 

Their salary might be $1-2 million, but through bonuses and stock options they'll rake in $15-20 million.

They wouldn't be a part of…

They wouldn't be a part of the numbers. That doesn't mean they wouldn't be contributing to the overall spread of the virus. How does that not track?