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I'm trying not to remember the last few basketball seasons either. 2016-2017 was Butler trade, 2017-2018 was Portis breaking Mirotic's face. It all blends together when the Warriors rigged it all anyway.

Those summer travel baseball leagues where they travel all over the region/country and cost at least $5000 per summer for parents to fund...that's what is killing youth participation. It's winnowing down the numbers earlier and earlier. It might not be a "white sport" because of the growing influence of Latin America, but no matter how much MLB puts into Reviving Baseball in the Inner City, the Bulls/Sox Academy, ACE...other sports are still drawing more kids, not just the NBA/NFL, but some of the secondary sports like soccer (in America), golf, tennis, etc.

Anecdotally, I was coaching youth baseball until a couple years ago. I loved it, there was a fair amount of interest from kids starting from the lowest ages until the first year they do live pitching, then at age 10-11 (proper "Little League" age) there was a sudden, sharp dropoff in the numbers of kids. I don't know if that was overall participation or just the league I was playing in, but I was really surprised and kind of disappointed to see that. That was the age I taught myself to be a switch hitter so I could swing like Ken Griffey Jr. Also the environment was different from what I remember growing up... we used to ride our bikes to practice by ourselves and our parents were barely involved except as coaches or to come to games, these kids' parents would drive them to practice and watch them the whole time. I would be thinking "GO HOME AND COME PICK THEM UP LATER. DON'T YOU HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO?"

Adam Amin was refreshing last night replacing Funk. Liked funk on radio loads more than I do on tv.

I think Sox fans by and large are still supportive and on-board with the rebuild. But their patience won't last forever, progress needs to be starting to show in 2019, certainly by 2020 or they'll be leaving the bandwagon in droves and this also comes from a member of the front office when I discussed this point with them. They agree with that conclusion.

Im not saying illegal is a roadblock, Im saying that is one of the main things that gives bitcoin its value. If a drug dealer wants someone to wash money, they are probably going to pay 30% or more off the top. Its a lot easier to deal in bitcoin. And the reason why its hard to buy a car in bitcoin is because its volatile (the same reason it makes an investment.) A car company wants to sell a car for a certain value. It doesnt want to sell the car for a babe ruth rookie card. That doesnt mean that the babe ruth rookie card may not one day be worth more than the original value of the car, its just that companies arent in the business of collectibles. I think your last sentence is exactly right.

They rarely got blown out last year too. They still won 5 games. So? Whether is is 1 point, 3 points, 7 points, or 24 points it is still an L.

It was always a currency idea. Basically trying to remove a central bank who had authority to regulate the currency.

Fair enough.

The Bears of the last 5 seasons were not one or two plays away from any good record. They were getting blown out. This year their three losses have come at the end of games and within one score.

It's the same type of fan base a lot of teams have.

SS2k makes a great point. If you have a 20% (just a hypothetical) interest rate credit card, its better to pay that off first. And dont look at your stocks today.

Most teams are a play here and a play there away from being 5-1 or 4-2. Yet, they aren't.

Not true. They're pretty much a lock for at least 6 wins right now. They have 2 more that are winnable after that. I don't think they're overrated, so to speak but I do think the defense has been disappointing, to say the least. Offense has been surprisingly good. Mitch looks like a keeper, we'll see if he keeps playing decently. They're a season or two away from being really good, but I think expectations for this season in particular are out of whack. You have a rookie head coach, a 2nd year QB in his 1st season in a new offense, that had played 25 games since graduating high school coming into the season. There are going to be peaks and valleys. I wasn't happy with the game vs. Arizona, because they are really bad and the Bears barely squeaked by in that game. I also wasn't happy with allowing Osweiler, who is a bad QB and a known commodity as such. They absolutely earned the wins vs. Seattle and TB. the AZ game was a red flag. It isn't a shock to me they lost the 2/3 of the games after that one. There are plenty of positives, I don't deny that. I think the most likely outcome for the Bears is that they win 7 or 8 games. That is still a massive step forward from 3 and 5 games the last two seasons. I don't think you're ever going to respect me as a poster again so just put me on ignore if you don't want to read my posts. Leave me alone and quit attacking me. If you can't because you're a mod, then just don't respond unless you want to have a constructive conversation. Explain yourself. I have. I admit I jump guns every now and then. w/e. Not afraid to admit I'm wrong. Nobody is infallible. If I jump the gun and look stupid, that is nobody's problem but my own. I can look back at it and say, "That was really fucking stupid" and move on.

Which should be not be surprising at all.

I think it could depend on Sale's health. If he is sub-par, then I think the series could be a 6-7 game dogfight.

Don’t worry greg... I still wub you.

lol, this same fan base that joins the Marlins and Brewers fan bases as the ONLY THREE FAN BASES IN ALL OF BASEBALL who have NEVER experienced watching their team make consecutive playoff appearances.

Given you are in a target 2050 fund, meaning you have another 32 years until your "target retirement date", I'd say you should not even look at the returns and be more focused on the contributions and match. That said, if your 401K has options, you should look to see if there are any low cost target funds out there. Given that you mentioned you aren't financially savvy when it comes to investments, I think the leave it in a target date fund in your retirement works best. The target date fund will be diverse and ensure you are taking enough risk while slowly moving to less risky assets over time. Do note that a 1.4% YTD drop is nothing and there will be a point where the markets drop more...just continue making your contributions and invest with the long-term in mind. Do not try to time the market as the steady contributions will serve as a balancer...sometimes you will be buying at "low's", other times at "high's", but over the long haul this strategy should reap very positive returns (6-8% would be my best guess but that is based upon past history and future history could always look much different). Also, since these are "long-term funds" set aside from your retirement, even in that down market, resist the urge to sell off and continue contributing your funds. It is the contributions which matter most as the LT returns should be positive (and any day to day / year-to-year volatility should be ignored....at least for the next 15-20 years). I'd probably give the same advance to a "financially" savvy person as well. I think in many cases a financially savy person can make an even worse mistake because they think they know more than the average joe, but reality is, timing the market is a difficult thing to do. A lot of "financially" savy people thought markets were hot 2-3 years ago and if you believed that, you would have missed out on nice returns. I tend to think markets are hot now, but again, I'm investing for the long haul and taking a strategy of making steady contributions, albeit I might be a little defensive at this point in time (in the sense that I want to make sure I have some liquidity for an eventual recession to target potential opportunities).

The Hawks defense is an embarrassment. Gustaffson, Manning, and Rutta have no business in the NHL.

Well he’s literally not even striding so it’s definitely some kind of drill and not his actual swing.

Hawks Euro scouts are fantastic. Their NA scouts on the other hand....

A team that everyone knew was going to suck, did indeed suck. Is that earthshattering?