[2016-2017 NFL Thread]

They expect the cap to go up a lot soon.

 

The NFL is about to sell online broadcasting rights for a s*** ton of money. This will be a completely new revenue stream that by itself will add a bunch to the cap.

[2016-2017 NFL Thread]

Via Adam Tiecher @adamteicher

Wow. Chiefs have been docked two draft picks for their premature contract agreement last year with free agent WR Jeremy Maclin 6m

 

DAAAAAAMMMNNNNN

 

They are appealing it, which they should, because it's complete bulls***.

 

Ignoring the fact that every team does it, it just doesn't make sense. Detroit got hit with tampering a few years ago, they were docked a 6th round pick and forced to swap 5th rounders. SF got docked a 5th rounder and had to swap 3rd rounders. So both teams just lost one pick (5th/6th) and had to swap with the other team in the same round. KC loses TWO picks, with one being a 3rd rounder in 2 months.

 

Atlanta lost a 5th rounder for illegally pumping in crowd noise during games. Cleveland lost no picks for their sideline cell phone use.

 

Clark Hunt has always been one of Goodell's most supportive allies, so it really is weird how the NFL is choosing them to make an example out of. In Troy Vincent's statement he even acknowledges that Kansas City was fully cooperative and had no past history of league violations. So would these penalties have been even worse otherwise? The NFL is wildly inconsistent and they apparently are now going to get to have another legal battle with another franchise because of their absurdity. Good job, Roger!

 

edit: Also, new Eagles coach Doug Pederson was publicly talking about Chase Daniel for weeks leading up to the signing period. Then Chase Daniel signs with the Eagles. Not sure how that's not tampering.

[**2016 TV Watercooler Thread**]

Yeah - I was shocked at how quickly they moved.

 

Maybe they are finally getting it that the fans have hated their glacial pace of past years? I thought everything flowed greatly and hope they continue this kind of speed. Like someone else said, in seasons past that church scene discussion would have been half the episode.

[So, hypothetically, lets say their ends up being a brokered convention]

A little off topic but I just thought of something somewhat interesting.

 

What if Trump and Bernie both do 3rd party runs and it's Hilary and Rubio/Cruz/Kasich/Romney(etc.)

 

Who would win that election?

 

That would be a fascinating situation, that's for sure.

[All New Soccer Thread ~ All Levels ~ All Leagues]

Tottenham give up a goal when Arsenal was down to 10 men. Could of been on top of the table. Unreal.

 

That was so disappointing. They were completely dominating at that point in the game and could have had 3 or 4 goals at that point and then out of nothing that happens. Wasn't the easiest of saves but Lloris probably wants that one back.

 

Leciester has to finish with West Ham, Swansea, Man Utd, Everton and Chelsea so that's a rough way to end the season. Up 5 points now though is gonna make it tough for Spurs to get them.

 

I'm excited for MLS starting up. Might not be as entertaining as the other leagues but I have zero emotional ties to those clubs so I don't really care who wins or loses.

 

So anyone else into MLS?

 

I've moderately cared for the past few years but I plan on making more of an effort this season and this first weekend did not disappoint. Some great games, great finishes and great goals (f**undez, Higuain, Piatti). Definitely a good look for the league that's for sure.

 

[**SPOILER THREAD** GAME OF THRONES ** SPOILER THREAD **]

Who else has started to prime again for the return of the show?

 

The more and more I watch/reread the more I believe that the wall was built to keep humans out of whitewalker territory, not the other way around.

 

I'm more excited for the book but we all know how pointless that is. I'm excited for the new season. I'm surprised there hasn't been a trailer yet though. So pumped they're doing the Greyjoy stroyline this season though.

 

 

[All New Soccer Thread ~ All Levels ~ All Leagues]

First half was miserable. Not too worried, though. City and Arsenal dropped big points and I don't think any Spurs fans had three points written in for this fixture.

 

Yep, pathetic effort for Tottenham. They were clearly looking ahead to Arsenal. Going in, I felt they would leave Upton Park with a draw. They did not deserve a draw at all. Must play much better on Saturday. Cech has been ruled out so that's actually a big blow to Arsenal

[All New Soccer Thread ~ All Levels ~ All Leagues]

US has to be a slam dunk for 2026. Asia and Europe probably don't even submit bids after hosting in 18 and 22. Can't see any potential African or South American country beating out the US. It's not out of the question that there isn't even formal competition for the US in 2026.

 

Asia can't bid (2022 - Qatar) and that includes Australia since they moved to the AFC 4 years ago. Under the old rules, Europe would not have been able to bid (Russia - 2018), but it appears they have changed the rule to only affect one cycle and not two now. Still, they don't appear to be favorites. Uruguay and Argentina are lining up a joint bid for 2030 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first world cup (held in Uruguay). And Africa won't be getting it again for a while. Kenya wants to host but even they have acknowledged that is a goal for 20 years down the road. Outside of maybe Morocco, I can't see any other country capable of hosting this event right now. It really does seem that it is CONCACAF's "turn" (1994).

 

Mexico is probably out and Canada doesn't have a realistic chance outside of a joint bid with the US that used 1-2 Canadian cities with no automatic bid. With Infantino wanting to expand the World Cup to 40 teams, that means more games. With all the controversy surrounding the last 2 World Cups, plus the upcoming two World Cups in regards to spending, infrastructure, human rights etc, you'd think FIFA would take a safe bet. Also, a 40 team World Cup in the US in 10 years would basically make FIFA all of the money.

 

I think the schedule is going to look something like this:

 

2026 - USA

2030 - Uruguay/Argentina

2034 - England

2038 - Australia

[2016 Republican Thread]

Yes more genuine. It's all relative. No one in politics is really genuine whatsoever. With Hillary, you can go down her list of donors and find deals she's brokered on behalf of those companies. Legal bribery. Well, not even legal, the Boeing stuff in particular is enough to throw anyone else in prison. Trump is doing it for his own power, yes. It's sad its taken a man with billions of dollars himself to even take a small step towards getting rid of corporate influence. Whether he can remains to be seen. He's destroying one party as we speak. The death of the GOP will be a great victory for politics going forward, no matter what happens from here on out. I hope Bernie can do the same to the Dems, but that's not looking good.

 

Like, for example, Trump?

[Adam Eaton "Racial" Tweet Controversy]

Yeah this thread title really needs to be changed. You can claim his comments were dumb, shortsighted, unnecessary or whatever you want, but in no way were they at all racist. Very misleading.

[All New Soccer Thread ~ All Levels ~ All Leagues]

Better than the alternative. Probably helps our chances of getting the World Cup in 2026 as well.

[2016 Republican Thread]

Every time Kasich spoke, he looked and sounded like a guy who knows what he is saying makes sense, but is just completely flummoxed and annoyed that no one is taking him seriously in favor of a bunch of imbeciles

[2016 Democratic Thread]

I also don't really get the Bernie Sanders has these super far left crazy ideas narrative. What has been the most radical thing that he has proposed? Probably making college tuition free at public schools or raising the minimum wage? Those aren't really far out crazy ideas. It's not like he has been quoting Marx on the means of production or something.

 

Some of this is his own fault for calling himself a democratic socialist. He really isn't and people think different things when they hear that.

 

Stating that he isn't opposed to a 90% top marginal tax rate is pretty radical.

 

Look, I like Bernie the person. I think he is a man of his convictions and he truly means well. But, I vehemently oppose most of his ideologies. If he had Hillary's political leanings, I, a Republican, would gladly vote for that candidate this fall since it appears the GOP is going to be nominating an idiot.

[2016 Democratic Thread]

A person with a flat out racist platform.

 

I really don't need to see anything else, I'm going to lose all respect for anyone who votes for that.

 

I think Trump is a buffoon. He'd be a terrible, terrible president. But so would Cruz. And probably Rubio. And so would Sanders. And as much a slimy human being I believe Hillary Clinton, she's actually fairly moderate and would basically be an extension of Obama, which is not this terrible thing most Republicans like to convince themselves of. But when you compare Trump to the rest of the clowns, there's not much separating them. I know I've lost all respect for those I know who I see touting Sanders on facebook every single day.

[2016 Catch All Thread]

Got a replacement Sirius radio installed on my car yesterday. I needed a new one because the old one stopped working a while back. I was gonna cancel but they offered to send me a new radio for free included with a $100 one year subscription so I took that. So I had to call to get the new radio activated. It took 10 minutes for the customer service representative to get the idea that I did not need or want to bundle this with a new package or purchase this or that. It was frustrating. Finally, she got it and then this interchange occurred.

 

Sirius: Oh, so you just want to swap out your old radio for this new one?

Me: Yes.

Sirius: Ok, there is a $15 flat service fee to do that. Is that okay with you?

Me: No.

Sirius: Oh. . Ok, I will waive that fee for you.

 

I wish you could do that with everything

 

[**2016 TV Watercooler Thread**]

Jesus is Jason Bourne like

 

He's a great character. He'll be a great addition to the show

 

ON TWD, Was I the only one who found it sitcom-ish that

after Rick uses the van to chase Jesus he just 'happens' to leave the van up an incline so it can be knocked out of gear and roll into the lake??

That was the worst moment in an other-wise pretty good episode

 

Yeah, you're right, that was really corny.

[Vacation/Travel Thread.]

Getting married this July--but we're not going to do a full/big honeymoon until summer 2017. Neither of us are beach people at all and are more into cultural sights...we've narrowed it down to two options: Quebec or the Pacific Northwest. Any thoughts? Obviously not your typical honeymoon destination so anyone who's travelled there in general would be appreciated.

 

We're also looking at just doing a couple of days to get away for a "mini-moon" this summer. We were thinking of Galena, or Lake Geneva...something not too far away from Northern IL. Any other suggestions there?

 

Quebec City is beautiful. It's basically a European city in North America. If you're referring to the province of Quebec, then including Montreal is even better. Lots of stuff to do and very interesting culturally from the rest of the country/continent. I don't know anything about the Pacific NW but I've been to Quebec a few times and it does not disappoint.

[**2016 TV Watercooler Thread**]

Did not see that hookup coming from the Walking Dead. At least not that soon..

 

It looks like she's filling in for Andrea's role from the comics. I saw it coming, but I'm not sure I like it.

[Best Proxy Sites?]

Try changing the web address from http:// to https://

 

It doesn't always work but I know if works for Yahoo's fantasy sites and works with most sites that my office has blocked

[Relationship Advice Thread]

I'll keep this brief and not go in to much detail, but.....how many years younger than a guy is "too young" would you surmise? Or is it probably more likely based on a sliding scale. Long story short, I am talking to a girl younger than me and while I feel weird about it, no one I work with seems to care. It's my family/friends that I worry about. I'm almost afraid to introduce her to them for fear they will question her age.

 

For anyone who doesn't know my age, she's 18. How old would I be if I was too old for her?

 

I'll hang up and listen.

 

Ok, so I've kind of been there. Long story short. Met a girl on my 26th birthday. She worked at the bar. I assumed she was at least 21. She gave me her number that night and I began talking with her later that week. Spoke for about a week before finally able to get together. Went out a few times and realized I may have been wrong about her age. She was 18 almost 19. We got along great, she was fun, interested in things I was, somehow followed the White Sox (seriously, upstate NY girl, it was unreal), it was great. Hung out for a couple months. However, it became clear a few weeks in that it was odd. At least to me. It was fun, no doubt about that, but we were in different places. She wanted to go out on days like, you know, Wednesday, I had to get up at 6 for real life in the next morning. Stuff like that. It just wasn't gonna work. She also didn't seem to be interested in anything serious, which makes sense since she was 19. We remained friends afterwards. It really may have worked had we met 8 years later, but at that point in life, it's really hard to get anything out of something like that other than a temporary good time. So I'm not saying don't go forward, just know what you're doing and don't expect much other than some probably temporary fun.

[All New Soccer Thread ~ All Levels ~ All Leagues]

It's not the same thing, but it was definitely exciting. I love this Leicester team, both in strategy and the story. Watching them press so efficiently is a special thing to witness. They were driving Arsenal crazy before the red card. Arsenal was never comfortable on the ball.

 

Still, that Man City finish is truly unbelievable. Throw in the rivalry dynamic, that Man U was top of the table when they finished their match only to see Man City score after the United game was over and that Man City hadn't won a title in forever. The whole season of Leicester is better if they win, but that finish was truly remarkable.

 

There will probably never be a finish like that again. I hate Man U so it was a great and exciting day. But it was a two team race for months. No surprises anywhere. Right now you have a legitimate 4 team race with a truly remarkable underdog, an "evil" new money big club and two teams that hate each other from the same London borough. It's a truly remarkable race right now. This is really fun for impartial fans and you can make a case for either of the 4 teams right now. It's great.

 

NBC must be loving this too. Just paid a boat load for EPL rights, a race like this should help attention in the states. And it's not even featuring 3 of the established fan bases around the world.

[Vacation/Travel Thread.]

Probably should start looking for honeymoon spots (little over a year away), any recommendations? We want to be on a beach, somewhere safe. Might want an all inclusive but it isn't a must. Hawaii would be fun but have no idea what the best places to go would be.

 

Southern France. Antibes (we stayed here), Cannes or St Tropez. All beautiful and a quick train ride from the closest airport at Nice or Marseille.

[All New Soccer Thread ~ All Levels ~ All Leagues]

Did you miss the year Man City won on an extra time goal in the last match of the season?

 

I'm not sure how an exciting last match day deciding the fate of the two largest spending clubs who had been the only two contenders for months is the same thing, but ok.

 

Maybe he wasn't following English soccer then lol

 

I was and had been.

[2016 Republican Thread]

I think a foreign language was required for you to graduate from my high school. I do think that requirement should remain in tact. The world's economy is global and the more people we have that can communicate with various people, the better. The curriculum of high school should be geared toward what people can expect in life. The more educated kids are, the less mistakes you hope they make when it comes to finances, life choices, and etc.

 

I know military contracts produce jobs. I just find the money spent on top notch planes, weaponry, and ships are not be beneficial to the American people (financially for some people yes). What good is a new weapon for the average American? The illusion of protection? I rather see that money spent on the infrastructure. Amtrak is a bottom feeding rail service compared to other industrialized nations. That in itself is a good investment that will produce tons of jobs. Look at the bridges and roads! They are a heartbeat away from a tragedy that could be prevented. America touts as being the greatest nation on the planet yet they lack basic fundamental services. At some point we have to look at the s*** we've got ourselves in and say, "WE CAN DO BETTER!"

 

I would love, love, love our country to invest in real rail infrastructure. That may be the thing I miss/envy the most about Europe. The ease of getting around without the need for personal transportation is awesome.

[2016 Republican Thread]

Damn, I sorta feel this thread got derailed but the admins aren't saying anything yet.

 

I don't think college should be free but it should be very affordable! If you're paying off debt for 30 years after you graduate, that's just a huge problem. I agree with the increase in trade schools as well for those who do not want to want the traditional college route.

 

I'm all for paying taxes to invest in this country's future and infrastructure.

 

Now this on the other hand... http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/16/politics/f-3...rational-costs/

 

We always have money for the biggest baddest bomb, plane, and war on the planet... but we can never fix our s***ty infrastructure and reform our schools.

 

Enough is bloody enough.

 

I agree that some form of financial planning/responsibility class as well as other real life prep classes should be offered (if not mandatory) in high school. I do disagree with cutting things like language. As someone who's lived and traveled through Europe, it's kind of embarrassing that Americans are so culturally ignorant and inept compared to most Europeans, who often speak 2, 3 or even more languages.

 

As for the JSF program and any other military program, well I don't think people realize how many people these programs keep employed. My company will supply around $20M of product in support of this program this year. But we're not supplying it to Lockheed Martin. We're supplying it to an integrator, who will then go to another subcontractor who then supplies to Lockheed Martin. At the other end, we will need to buy a sizable amount of product to help us from our own contractors this year. The military budget funds so many jobs. I don't think people comprehend that. I know I didn't before I worked in the military aerospace industry. When even one large government contract gets cancelled or program gets de-funded, the result is thousands of lost jobs. And usually good paying jobs at that.

 

I'm surprised nobody has suggested making financial aid for college (from the government) contingent on some form of either military or voluntary service (AmeriCorps or the Peace Corps, could be adjusted to include non-denominational religious charities or selected non-profits as well).

 

Do you mean more than it is currently? College is already offered to veterans for free. I'd support something similar for Americorps type organizations, but I don't know what making these mandatory for any sort of financial at all would accomplish.