2024 Off-Topic Chat Thread - time for a title update šŸ˜

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Spearman

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 15, 2017
5,456
8,805
expatriated in East Asia
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
Ohio State Buckeyes
This kid has been raised right....


That brings me back to 12 years old and little league. I got hit in mouth be a pitch, (was expecting a curve, not a high and in fastball :) ) So, got knocked down, went and took my base. Have no idea what the pitcher was feeling, but the first baseman kind of laughed at me when I got down there. That is until I spit blood on his shoes. :laughv1: Anyway finished the game, went to ER to see if I needed stitches, didn't but my lower middle tooth is still crooked today, 50 years later. Jeezus I didn't realize it was so long ago.
 
I never liked the way modern US athletes swap teams so much. Probably why I watch NCAA more, but even there it's beginning to happen.
<cough> LeBron James <coughcough> overrated spoiled brat <cough>

I support the NIL (name image likeness) movement to give the elite college players a seat on the money-go-round that NCAA revenue sports have become. On the other hand, many player advocates are so completely full of BS that they tank the entire discussion.

E.g. the contention that NCAA players are effectively "slaves" because they work for nothing, what a pile of $h!+. I don't care how hot a high school player might be, as soon as they put on a prominent college jersey, their worth increases 10x.

That said, I thoroughly dislike the mercenary direction NCAA basketball has taken in the last 15-20 years, with players maybe playing a season before entering the NBA draft, or transferring. I do not like the de facto NBA development league status of the NCAA. I much preferred when players tended to stick around for a degree first, felt like much more of a team environment.

Furthermore, I'd much rather have the hot players bypass the NCAA altogether and just go out and make money somewhere (NBA G-League, Europe, whatever). NCAA-level play would decrease a bit, but we'd have a lot fewer mercenaries running around. I think it would be more fun for real fans, just not the parasitic media hangers-on.

I'm not willing for my alma mater to fall on it's athletic sword and take the first step, admittedly.
 
That brings me back to 12 years old and little league. I got hit in mouth be a pitch, (was expecting a curve, not a high and in fastball :) )
About the same age, in recreation league baseball I got popped with a wayward pitch. I bat righty, tried to dive out of the box but got smacked in the neck.

Pitcher was an acquaintance at school, I knew he felt bad, as he called me at home that night to check. I reassured him I was OK.
 

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Spearman

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 15, 2017
5,456
8,805
expatriated in East Asia
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
Ohio State Buckeyes
<cough> LeBron James <coughcough> overrated spoiled brat <cough>

I support the NIL (name image likeness) movement to give the elite college players a seat on the money-go-round that NCAA revenue sports have become. On the other hand, many player advocates are so completely full of BS that they tank the entire discussion.

E.g. the contention that NCAA players are effectively "slaves" because they work for nothing, what a pile of $h!+. I don't care how hot a high school player might be, as soon as they put on a prominent college jersey, their worth increases 10x.

That said, I thoroughly dislike the mercenary direction NCAA basketball has taken in the last 15-20 years, with players maybe playing a season before entering the NBA draft, or transferring. I do not like the de facto NBA development league status of the NCAA. I much preferred when players tended to stick around for a degree first, felt like much more of a team environment.

Furthermore, I'd much rather have the hot players bypass the NCAA altogether and just go out and make money somewhere (NBA G-League, Europe, whatever). NCAA-level play would decrease a bit, but we'd have a lot fewer mercenaries running around. I think it would be more fun for real fans, just not the parasitic media hangers-on.

I'm not willing for my alma mater to fall on it's athletic sword and take the first step, admittedly.
It's been a conundrum ever since college sports got into the big money. The athletes deserved a little more, somehow. Scholarships' scopes could have been widened for a decent 'salary' maybe. Or something similar, not millions, but a living wage.
The amount of money that the big programs rake in is obscene though. It never balanced out against how some of those athletes lived. It was especially egregious when those athletes were not there to get any kind of academic education. They lived on-campus free, etc as compensation. And risked losing it all if they accepted any sort of payment. The under-the-table stuff benefited a few, but rarely busted. Meanwhile, a player accepts a rental tuxedo for a family wedding gets nuked.
I think the new NIL regulations will be ok. The athletes can also earn from social media.
It's the modern era I guess.

another example of the changes, The Big Ten. First they expanded a little by bringing some regional rivals like PSU and Neb. Now they are taking the best known Pac10 schools. And they are still calling it the Big Ten.
So many traditions from that conference gone in a decade.:mad::(

It
 
You love to see it....

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Problem is that to the kitchen you've likely walked through the door, that's then created a new memory chapter which causes you to forget what you were doing
 

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