Jenksismyhero

Let's even assume he was hurt, but not badly, and still quit because he was playing poorly. So what? Why does that matter? He's not going to win, and if anything he's going to make it worse and then lose a shot at possibly playing in the PGA Championship this week. I don't understand why you think he's some terrible person or unprofessional or whatever for this. It makes zero sense to me.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 04:25 PM) You didn't watch it...I'm not going to argue with you anymore when you didn't even see it. Edit: And btw, we should discount Faldo's opinion because of those reasons but not yours? Watch what? His shot and the next 6 holes? Yes, I did watch it. I watched a guy react weirdly to the shots he was talking, at one point falling to his knees. At no point did it cross my mind that he was acting hurt (pretty convincingly apparently) so that he could leave. I thought, wow, he's hitting some terrible shots, I wonder if he's ok. And yes, you should discount Faldo's opinion that "well that shot didn't look that bad to me" = Tiger's not really hurt/hurting.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 04:00 PM) Have you never seen an athlete fail to make a play and then all the sudden he's holding his leg, or knee, or whatever? It happens all the time in sports...it's a refusal to take accountability for an athletic failure and instead making an excuse for it- injury. As for Tiger, it was an incredibly convenient excuse. Look, the guy is all over the place right now. Between his personal issues, his game no longer being what it was, his quest to win more majors than Jack in jeopardy...it's really a huge fall from grace and he's still struggling to adjust to his new reality. I certainly am not the only person to reach the conclusion that he faked the injury, considering there were on-air personalities suggesting the same thing. Not suddenly out of the blue, no, I haven't. Not when he's played poorly this year in other tournaments. He had his worst major ever this year and he finished all four rounds. Why didn't he quit then? And refusal to take accountability? Really? He had a 2 year stretch in 2010 and 2011 when he was "bad." And this year hasn't been great. But he's still been dominant despite not winning majors. 1st or 2nd in the money list 4 out of the last 6 years. People are so delusional about how good/bad he is because of how mind-blowingly amazing he was the first ten years of his career. What's funny is I was a huge Tiger fan when he first came on tour, and then at some point I got bored with it and actually hated that other guys (Duval, Mickelson, Els, Singh, etc.) could never get much attention. I began to despise Tiger because of it. I started rooting against him. I even started to think he was way overrated. But now I think he's completely underrated. He's set the bar so high that expectations are out of control. Again, the dude is winning tournaments left and right the last couple of years and it's still not enough. He's "all over the place" and had a "huge fall from grace." GMAB. And who is reaching that conclusion? Faldo? That's who you're sticking with? Again, the guy who's sitting in a booth watching a TV? The guy who doesn't have a swing anywhere near as violent as Tiger's?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 03:54 PM) That is what gets you suspended on ESPN? That is a joke. Can't risk upsetting Bron Bron.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 03:16 PM) That's not the point. The reason why tablets never took off is because they sucked for 15 years. The technology wasn't quite there yet. You're basically saying smart-watches won't take off because the technology isn't there. It clearly is. The tech was basically around for the last 10-15 years with tablets. They were a little bulkier and not as good with the touch screen, but it was more than doable. The issue was there wasn't a need for it. We didn't need tablets because they couldn't (and still don't really) replace a real laptop or desktop. Over time books and movies and tv shows and web browsing came about, thus a need was created. We still don't need anything that a smart watch provides. It also doesn't really enhance or replace the experience of the smart phone. Until the smartwatch provides a vastly different experience than the smartphone, it's not going to sell. Maybe the athletic angle is the way to go with it, but I don't see that being a huge selling point either, especially since you can by something like the fitbit for way less money. I'm not trying to be a downer. I love me some electronic gadgets. But this one, I just don't get.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 01:23 PM) The only conspiracy theory is his own; that he actually hurt his back Believe me, if you would have been watching, you would have realized how poorly he was playing. The fact that he made par after ending up in the front of the fairway on a par 3 is one thing, but then the fact that he hit an iron shot from a bunch of trees into the beer tent and then an iron to about 8 feet, where he just left the par putt short was cracking up the broadcast team. If you look at the scorecard, that is one thing, but the way he was making those scores had people talking the entire week. Trust me, it was quite embarrassing. But I still don't get how you leap to "fake injury." If anything those shots - which are very rare for him or any professional - are proof that he WAS suffering an injury that was screwing up his swing.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 02:30 PM) It's $200 (at least for the watches that are available now). A lot of people also thought tablets wouldn't be necessary and look what happened. It also took 20 years and multiple advancements in the entertainment industry for them to sell.

The songs really drag down the show now. They used to be cool (although never funny) because you thought it was so amazing that they were able to do it. But now you've seen it 400 times and it's just boring.

QUOTE (Jake @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 01:32 AM) No, the idea is that you will use it more frequently than you use your smartphone - but your smartwatch will be your launching point into real-life tasks moreso than a gateway into digital tasks. In my blog post, I compare to a highly sophisticated beeper. Traffic alert for my appointment? Better leave early. Weather getting dicey? Might need to change my plans. Think of how Google Now is often out of your way when you need it, but always just has the date and weather when you remember to look at it. Now it's staring you in the face. It also seems to be a perfect answer to the ever-growing smartphone screen. If you don't have to wield the actual phone nearly as often, you won't be as inconvenienced by its size. But you're telling people they should fork over $300-400 bucks to basically save themselves about 6 inches of movement. Your hand/wrist are already down near your pocket. The only "convenience" a watch like this provides is not having to take a half a second to reach into your pocket and grab your phone. You'll still probably have to scroll with your other hand on the watch. You'll still have to hit a button and interact with it. I use Google Now and nothing about it is perfect (often giving you information you don't need or want). Hopefully that gets better over time, but it might not. I dunno, the whole smart watch thing is, to me, another gadget they're trying to market as the next big thing when in reality it probably won't take off because it's just not necessary.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 12:28 PM) Another great thing about OSU fans is almost every one you meet didn't actually go to OSU. Meh, I didn't go to the U of I but I'm a huge fan of their sports.

Lets also keep in mind they have a rookie NBA coach. Yes, he's experienced, but he's never had to plan NBA playoff basketball which is all about adjustments. That's a big factor here too (even if at the end of the day talent wins out and they have the best player on the planet).

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 12:17 PM) Wade has been old Wade for at least two years now. If Kyrie is healthy and is who I think he is I like Cleveland's big 3 better than Miami's. Kyrie is so f***ing overrated. We'll see now once he plays against the big boys what a true star he'll be. He scored a lot of points on a s***ty team that relied on his scoring, but didn't WIN anything. He's played in about 2 meaningful games (NCAA Tourney) his entire career. He's getting rolled over by Rose and Curry at the USA scrimmages so far. People have a circle jerk about him because he played well in a glorified exhibition game. Yawn.

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 12:42 PM) The cavs have a whole bunch of players who have never played elite TEAM basketball. The cavs were a mess but everyone liked their individual pieces. Love probably is close but again was never in that fully meshed team. I'm guessing Cavs will look very beatable in nov/dec and we'll all laugh and then they'll dominate late as Lebron pulls them up to the level. Then we will justify how Bulls grit will overcome and then get sadly beaten down as Kevin love throws a perfect full court outlet pass to a streaking Lebron for a windmill dunk and we'll say "Oh man won't Rose-Butler-Durant-Gasol-Noah be so SICK next year". This day sucks. Ha, yep.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 12:23 PM) Nick Faldo analyzed that shot several times and went well out of his way to comment on how there was absolutely no evidence of him showing any pain whatsoever. I watched it several times. There wasn't. Oh well the guy in the booth 500 yards away clearly knows what someone's insides feel like. Look, believe the conspiracy theory if you want. He wasn't even playing THAT bad. He made a couple bogies and a double and a bunch of pars before quitting. That's terrible for him, but not embarrassing.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 12:21 PM) He said this "injury" was completely independent of the other back injury. Right, but going through his previous back injury, he probably knew there was a limit to how much he could take.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 12:09 PM) His play today is a revelation compared with Sunday. And he certainly did not grimace when he got out of that bunker. Why would he suddenly quit? Because he was melting down; hes never done that on the golf course before. I'm not a big Tiger guy and I think you're nuts. He's coming off a back injury. He tweaked his back. It happens. Sometimes you can play through it, sometimes you can't. edit: i'm trying to find a video of him after that bunker shot. I recall watching that live and he gave a look after he got out of that bunker like something wasn't right. And from then on you could tell he was not comfortable.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 11:50 AM) Did you see some of the shots he was hitting? I've been watching Tiger my entire life and I've never seen him shank a 5-iron a 140 yards, or skull a ball out of a sand trap. He was melting down on live television and took the easy way out. Are you watching him play today? His shots are all over the place. There's no evidence of him ever quitting in the past. Why would he suddenly do it then? It makes no sense. He immediately grimaced after getting out of that bunker and continued to play until he couldn't take it anymore. He did the same thing earlier this year.

Eh, the back is a complicated animal. It's entirely possible he just pinched a nerve or altered his spine ever so slightly to cause some discomfort. It doesn't mean he suffered a debilitating injury. Chiropractor and some shots and pain meds could have him ready to go. He's been hacking his way around golf courses for quite a while now, never really being the Tiger of old, so i'm not sure why he'd just quit because he wasn't playing up to his standards.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 11:19 AM) I think that's fair. But if(huge if obviously) Kyrie is healthy, this Cavs big 3 is better than the Heat big 3 imo. No way. MAYBE the last year with Wade becoming old man Wade, but no way from 2010-2013 when Wade was at near-prime. People completely undervalue Bosh too. He's a damn good player who was forced into a really weird role for those Heat teams.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 11:18 AM) So if they sign Marion that roster will have: Kyrie, Waiters, Lebron, Love, Varejao, Marion and Thompson as their top 7? Yeesh that's pretty stacked. Pau is seriously going to have to be our number 1 weapon against them. Don't forget Miller too. And maybe the corpse of Ray Allen.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 05:05 PM) Well, if you really get into the issues in the West Bank of settlements, I see very little evidence that "They keep offering them that land" is accurate. Israel has absolutely been attempting to annex as much of the west bank as possible and I don't know how that could be denied. In fact, it plays into the Gaza problem as well. The fact that Israel is taking all this land is one major component about why the the Palestinian Authority has no respect of the people. They can't get any concessions whatsoever from Israel and Israel continues taking that land, so why should anyone respect that government instead of turning to Hamas? It is a major issue in preventing the establishment of any alternative government. It's not the only issue and the PA has long had major corruption issues of its own, but that part plays a major role. They've proposed land swaps. So yes, they'll take the settlement areas out of the West Bank, but they'll also give land back in return. http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-report...o-palestinians/ It's entirely possibly that's worthless land, I have no idea.

Aren't they going to run into the same problems as in Miami? 3 max/near max guys and then a bunch of scrubs. I would guess Cleveland becomes the favorite in the East, although I still don't know who can play defense on that team other than Lebron. Maybe they just score 120 a game and don't need to worry about it. My money is still on the Spurs to repeat. Spurs, Thunder, Cleveland, Chicago.

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 03:42 PM) Jenks, I'm not sure that's accurate. And at best, it's misleading (see the Wikipedia article I linked a couple posts back). Israel's revisions to the last "road map" for peace called for, "The provisional state will be demilitarized, with provisional borders and "certain aspects of sovereignty", and subjected to Israeli control of the entry and exit of all persons and cargo, plus its airspace and electromagnetic spectrum (radio, television, internet, radar, etc.)." That's a pretty tough definition of a "state." And look, Israel has plenty of reason to worry about giving too much control to the Palestinians. But let's not pretend that Israel has been a constant proponent of a Palestinian state. EDIT: That quote came from the Wikipedia article on the last peace talks from a couple posts back... Right, that's why I put "state" in quotes - they want a lot of control over a supposedly independent nation. But they do at least acknowledge that Palestinians have a claim to land there. And they keep offering them that land.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 03:29 PM) And again, what good is food and money and the basis for an economy if those basic necessities cannot legally enter the area? And if I'm in an area being bombed and starved I'm not going to con side fit a "pretty reasonable response". Also, what two wars have they started? This one and 2009? That seems like an awful stretch to say that Hamas has invaded israel twice in 70 years. Israel has some right to defend itself in this way, but the real problem is that what may be right for their short term defense ensures that this problem cannot and will not be solved by destroying the chances for a positive life. Yeah see my edit above re the wars. I'm combining the two to point out at that Hamas presently and Palestinians historically have forced Israel's hand. They've created their bed, now they have to lie in it. I agree with your last point. That's where this becomes a very difficult and complex problem to solve. But I think the first step HAS to be getting rid of Hamas leadership and Palestinians showing that they can live in peace for a lengthy amount of time. They have to regain that trust. Otherwise there's no hope here. Smuggling weapons and firing them into Israel isn't going to do that.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 03:15 PM) Well, first of all, they were legitimately elected as the leadership of the territory in an election the last US President pushed hard for at the time. But seriously let's just ignore that and focus on another point. You've now outlined a major problem and another Catch-22. To keep these areas from having anything that could possibly be used as a component in a weapon, Israel keeps such a tight blockade on civilian supplies and equipment that the area is in a constant state of complete economic starvation. Unemployment rates sit at about 40%. Even construction supplies, things that would "do something for the people there" can't get in because heavy construction equipment has clear military uses. Any time I try to put myself in those shoes...try to imagine being a young male with literally no opportunity to improve the lives of myself or my family as long as the Israeli blockade exists, and no hope of having the Israeli blockade lifted, I ask myself what I would do and my answer winds up being that I'd try to fight in any way I could. To keep weapons out of the hands of willing fighters, the blockade has to be so formidable as to deny basic human dignity, and the denial of basic human dignity creates an army of young men willing to do whatever they can to fight back. Yeah, they were elected, but they're also a terrorist organization. They don't recognize Israel. They publicly call for the annihilation of Israel and the Jews that live there. They've started 2 wars and invaded Israel twice in the last 70 years. (edit: sorry, they being Palestinians for the wars) I think Israel sorta is in the right in defending itself as it does. It would suck to be a young Palestinian as you've outlined. I'd probably feel the same way. But, ya know, take out your anger out on the older generation and the religious leaders that are continuing the conflict, not the country that is acting in a pretty reasonable manner given the situation. Maybe if Hamas actually cared, they'd tell the North Koreans and Iranians to provide them with food and money and a basis for an economy instead of rockets and guns. edit: keep in mind too that Israel continually acknowledges that Palestinians exist and have a right to a "state." They continue to offer them land. We can talk about the settlement issues, but really there are no borders here. Israel won the war(s), so they get to determine the borders.