Jenksismyhero

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 27, 2018 -> 03:20 PM) I legit think the proposal you outline is what will happen (maybe not exactly even weighting, but pretty close to even weighting). The one spot you have to be careful is you don't want to have teams in the playoff picture bottoming out and not wanting to make the playoffs (because a 9 seed is way better than an 8 seed). Either way Tanking has gotten so bad. And whomever commented on Lakers fans embracing the tank..the was true for a year or two, right now most Laker fans are begging to get back to the 8th spot. They have only one way of getting to the top right now and that is winning big in free agency or getting lucky in the draft (since they don't have their pick in this years draft...just the Cavs). Their core they drafted (with lots of high picks) is flat out not good enough nor does it project to be very good. Pretty much every Laker fan I know is depressed about their future and resigned to the fact that their only way forward is selling the LA shtick and hoping James just wants to come to Hollywood. Otherwise they are basically resigned to the fact that they'll overpay some good players who will make them a mediocre playoff team (and provide minimal upside). Knicks fans are not excited about a "tank". They have tanked for the last 20 years (or so it feels). They have flat out sucked every which way. Bulls fans are excited now...but if they are in the spot the Lakers are in 3 years from now, they too will be begging for a Hinrich / Ben Gordon / Luol Deng Bulls team that is at least respectable. That's not totally true. They've handed out some awful contracts in an attempt to win over the years. Things haven't panned out, but it's not because they purposefully tanked and drafted poorly. Teams like Sacramento and Orlando have "tanked" year after year and still aren't any good. But it's tough to argue that the strategy doesn't work when other s*** franchises, like Seattle/Oklahoma and Golden State, sucked for a few years and came away with multiple hall of fame caliber players and are now at the top of the league.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 27, 2018 -> 03:28 PM) At some point in time, there will be a fan revolt with the idea that paying full price for halfassed [insert sport here] is bulls***, and people aren't going to want to pay it anymore. I think that is what all professional sports organizations are trying to avoid. I can't imagine paying full price for a Bulls ticket right now as they intentionally sending guys like Cam Payne and Jerian Grant out there, while benching Zach Levine. But that's on the organization, right? Not the actual practice or strategy of tanking. If the Bulls agreed to cut their prices in half for a rebuild, they could. But (1) Bulls fans still show up to see these young Bulls or (2) they show up to see the other team (like Simmons/Embid, Lebron, etc). So the Bulls can still sell the tickets and make money. And to be fair to the Bulls, they're being as open and honest about this as they can without pulling a Cuban and getting fined for coming out and saying the work "tank." I have yet you run into a Bulls fan or hear a Chicago media personality complain about what the Bulls are doing. EVERYONE is in agreement that they need to tank as hard as possible. No one cares that they're not winning. No one cares that they've benched two starter-quality players. No one cares that they traded away Mirotic to make the team worse in the short term. I just don't see why the NBA cares. They created this mess by allowing super teams to exist in the first place. And their basic model has been to have dynasties with super star players anyway. So competitive balance is a very weak argument because there has never been competitive balance.

I wonder if Silver and the top NBA brass realize that most of the fanbases of the teams tanking are actually happy with what their franchises are doing. I love that the Bulls are finally tanking, and except for that 10-15 games stretch when Dunn came back, they've tanked really well. Sacramento and Orlando may be outliers since they've been tanking forever, but for the Bulls, Lakers, Nets, Mavs, etc. this is the only way they can be decent again. Frankly I'm not sure why it's such a big deal. I suppose if half the league were tanking there would be a competitive imbalance, but since when does the NBA care about that? And it's not half the league, it's a 1/3rd of the league at most.

You guys are seeing something I don't see. Was he shocked and surprised? Yes. So what? I would be too (as would you).

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 27, 2018 -> 12:05 PM) Ryan Seacrest...COME ON DOWN! Skimming through the Variety article, there's a lot of corroboration to those claims. Lots of witnesses.

I don't think any of these guys ended up signing with this agent right? That's probably why they got leaked.

Izzo is reloading again next year. Zero chance he leaves over this or the sexual assault stuff.

Sounds like the master negotiator is coming to his senses. Allegedly he's told Sessions that he wants bump stocks outlawed and age limits are now on the table.

I just want to know: Are Virtue And Moir f***ing Or What?

To be clear, academic fraud = ok, strippers and escorts = not ok. Everyone understand?

Finally finished Godless. I'd give it a solid B+. Beautifully shot, well acted, decent story, exciting finish. I think there was a better story to tell in that world, or at least stories to explore more (the women, the men and women in Blackdom, etc.) but all and all it was a solid mini-series.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 19, 2018 -> 05:47 PM) Interesting. Never had any issues getting them in the car, but the hard part was as my kids got closer to when they were supposed to be able to move to forward facing was trying to keep them in a "backward" facing because it became less comfortable (and partly because they knew that if they sat the other way they could see mommy / daddy, etc). Both of my kids were/are tall for their age and it pains me putting my 1.5 year old in a backwards seat when his knees are 3-4 inches from his chest. This is a weekly argument my wife and I have. "He's uncomfortable! Look at how he's sitting!" "I don't care, the recommendation is rear-facing until 24 months, so that's what we're going to do!"

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 20, 2018 -> 09:06 AM) Overblowing the problem? Good God man, someone just killed 17 people in a school. And it is a pattern that is developing. Whether that has happened 17 times or 6 or 2, what difference does it make? Something beyond thoughts and prayers, and the NRA check has cleared needs to be done. It's too bad it's human nature to believe bad things like that happen to others. We all need to start acting like the victims of these massacres were people we know and love. I'm pretty sure Little Marco wouldn't be as disconnected if it was his kids' school that got shot up, or his brother at some concert some sick ass was mowing people down. Or his cousin at the movies when someone decides to kill people. Yeah....re-read my post, you didn't get what i'm saying.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Feb 19, 2018 -> 08:38 AM) Only in America could someone firing off a gun in a parking lot while a high school basketball game was going on be not a big deal. The point isn't to show that school shootings aren't a problem. One shooting is one too many. The point is to keep the debate honest and truthful. You should want that. The minute you start overblowing the problem and using false statistics, the other side latches on to #fakenews and all that nonsense. edit: and that example of a shooting in Michigan clearly had a specific target that happened to be located in a parking lot near a school. That's not a "school shooting" that people refer to where a gunman enters a school and starts shooting multiple people.

That 18 school shootings this year figure isnt exactly accurate... https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/no-the...m=.4e7203f9b404

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Feb 16, 2018 -> 03:12 PM) Trump made a huge campaign point of the fact that the Obama administration should have, but didn't, charge Hillary Clinton with a crime. And he seemed to receive a ton of support for that! Now, imagine the headlines on Fox News "OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TELLS FACEBOOK TO TAKE DOWN PRO-TRUMP COMMENTS!!!!!" It would have been a bloodbath. Again I ask - who cares? Fox News got upset when Obama wore a tan suit or when John Kerry or whoever it was (maybe Obama?) forgot his American Flag pin.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 16, 2018 -> 02:55 PM) They're a public for-profit company driven almost entirely on ad revenue. What's "acting appropriately" here? Do private multinational corporations have some sort of civic duty? Why should Facebook really care if they're flooded with foreign propaganda if it's driving clicks and traffics until the point it becomes unacceptable from a PR standpoint? True, I guess i'm assuming that Zuckerberg would want to help his liberal friends. But as always, the almighty dollar always trumps (ba-doom-ching) politics.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 16, 2018 -> 02:45 PM) The official White House statement continues to lie, still claiming that the intelligence community and now the Special Counsel say Russian interference had no affect on the outcome of the election. Neither group has claimed that (or would be in a position to claim that). Trump has insisted for over a year that the very idea of Russian interference was a complete hoax, so at least now they're sort of recognizing that it actually happened. Doubt they'll do anything to prevent it from happening again this year, though. e: It would apply to the government asking Facebook to pull content Obama should have come forward with what was known in the fall of 2016 and told the country that McConnell was threatening him in order to cover it up imo. Not sure that's true either. Even still, circumvent that and just provide them with the info that Russia is infiltrating their sites with false stories and ask them to act accordingly.

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Feb 16, 2018 -> 02:44 PM) On (1), hasn't it been pretty well established that the Obama administration was falling all over itself to avoid the appearance of any bias in the run up to 2016? Could you imagine the outcry on the Right if the Obama administration tried to stop Facebook posts that were spreading *allegedly* false news that favored the Republican side of the aisle? Which I never understood. The dude campaigned for her (or at least made a few speeches here and there). He already has a bias. Who cares?

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Feb 16, 2018 -> 02:42 PM) First Amendment. It's different if they know for sure that it's foreigners running afoul of federal election laws. But if it might just be Joe Basementdweller creating a Facebook group and posting a bunch of nonsense, what are they gonna do? Any report of the Obama admin trying to crack down on Facebook for allowing anti-Hillary content would be a scandal. First Amendment doesn't apply to a private company like Facebook.

So... (1) the stories i'm reading state that this stuff started in 2014, before Trump even declared his intent to run. So neither the Obama admn nor the Hillary camp saw any of this coming and/or they failed to stop it. I mean the Obama admn specifically....they're buddy buddy with Silicon Valley. How does no one call up Zucker and say "hey, stop these fake websites/groups from spreading false news on your site." (2) I have to believe if the DOJ/FBI has dirt on Trump and collusion they would have presented it before, or at the same time, as these indictments. And in fact i'm sure they tried to get some of these people to flip for testimony before the indictments came down. I still don't see much more than greedy, immoral morons running a government that they have no business running and they're either ignoring and/or not aware of certain protocols and laws. That's even more evidence to show that they shouldn't be in power, but it's not proving collusion. (3) What exactly has Russia gained? I'm seeing a bunch of crap on twitter that Putin was afraid of Hillary, but I find that hard to believe. I could see him maybe thinking that Trump would be dumb (accurate!) but thus far, hasn't the Trump admn increased the sanctions on Putin? What have they gotten out of this other than to get the country more pissed off and divided? edit: i guess on 3 it's a perfect Trumpism. He signed the new sanction legislation into law but then publicly said he wouldn't enforce it.

I'm not sure what to think of Altered Carbon. Liked the idea. Liked the look of the show. Liked some of the characters, but not all. Enjoyed the T&A. Felt like the story was too condensed, and yet, at the same time I feel like it had a lot of inner monologues and side stories that could have been cut. Not sure I really understood a lot of what was going on and why (the science/tech side of things), and i'm not sure I bought a lot of the stuff between Kovacs and his sister. Still, worth the binge.

Trump only mentions mental health, not guns. I'm shocked.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 15, 2018 -> 10:15 AM) So they know he has talked about killing on facebook. Know he has an AR-15. Know he has been tagged trouble by just about everyone, know he has had mental health treatment, and yet there still is nothing they can do? Thoughts and prayers. Let's spend time, money and effort deporting pillars of the community instead. Make America Safe Again. I haven't read that they knew all of that, but maybe they did. All I saw was that they were told about a comment on a youtube video that he would be a professional school shooter. I don't think we want the government to jail people for dumb things they say on the internet unless there's some specificity to it.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 15, 2018 -> 09:59 AM) I think they should be able to see he has an AR-15 for some reason, and he is posting this crap, and he has been determined to be a problem. So either you are going to take his gun away, or follow him around pretty closely, or wind up offering thoughts and prayers and say now is not the time to discuss gun control. Obviously, it's a needle in a haystack for a lot of these guys, but this guy should have been a bit easier. He wasn't exactly sophisticated. The ACLU would have a field day if the FBI obtained a warrant to search this kids house over a comment on the internet. Unless there was more that the FBI knew, such as interviews with students overhearing things he was saying, there's no way to legally get into his house to find his guns and/or take them away. The second this kid got mental health treatment he should have been flagged and prevented from ever owning/buying guns until he was cleared by a doctor. That should be some easy gun legislation that the majority of people could support.