GAME05

CenturyLink/Brightspeed won't service my house anymore. They're replacing all their copper line with fiber and they just don't want to or can't get to my house. All that I have available is Starlink, but I have enough tree cover that it's reallllly slow and somehow getting worse. Took about 30 seconds to open this page up. Trying to find an antenna installer to get it above the trees but nobody has picked up the phone, plus I worry we're talking about $10k and not more like $1000. Last hope now is we have a contractor at my work and maybe I can pay him to push the trees over or maybe he's already using a bucket truck that I can top the three big trees that are in the way. Contractors tend to have clever solutions to things so maybe he has some ideas.

I'll try this again on the chance people might appreciate it. I'm just thinking a thread to ask for gift suggestions or to throw out ideas or maybe what's gone over well for you in the past. The Brother is always a challenge. I'm known for the odd-but-good gift and I don't have much for ideas this year. Last year it was good boots and the year before was a Canadian board game. One year it was indian clubs which were great. Sister in law a Sassenhaus bread slicer, as she's into baking. It's in the "fancy but useless" range. Pre-teen girls I guess an air diffuser and a slam ball and a weighted blanket (both anxiety aides). Teen nephew a castable fish sonar. Sister a really nice pen or potentially a nice scarf. Tried the heated doormat last year, but the water just ran off it and froze immediately off the mat which kinda defeated the purpose.

I don't really see any scenario in which the Bucks are really any better than they are now. You could have done a youth movement and not re-sign Middleton and Lopez, but so close to a Championship the fans would have revolted, or a Giannis you were hoping to extend revolts that his friend was traded. You could keep Jrue and we'd have a great defensive team with a one-dimensional offense and Giannis breaking down from the workload. We needed a #1 scorer and who else are you choosing but Lillard? If Haliburton were available, he's a great player but who is he passing it to? Young, emerging scorers don't grow on trees and it tends to be their teams won't trade them for a lockdown defender who shoots 5-20 each night plus a bunch of late first rounders who are typically more like Beauchamp than the late rounders Toronto manages to find. It is what it is. In a year or two we'll probably get to see Giannis asking to leave and we can drool over what sort of return we can get for him.

I figure he just needed to talk out his firing and his career options with his good friend MlF, who just casually invited him to hang out at practice and that's all it ever was. Saleh notices some things and makes a few comments, because that's just instinctual for any NFL coach, and the media just takes it from there.

I get the idea of the Panthers playing Andy Dalton--it's a good way to evaluate Bryce Young to see how a different QB handles the same players. But hasn't the Andy Dalton Experience lasted a few weeks too long already? It's not like they're making the playoffs with Dalton, or have they so totally given up on Young already? And if they've given up on Young, do you change strategies and draft the rest of the team first like Chicago or try for a QB again? I'd guess with a weak QB draft class next year they draft a WR, instead. I also presume Atlanta will be shopping Cousins in the offseason.

I presume Hafley has always considered FS/Slot Corner fairly interchangeable considering they added so many safeties in the offseason while not addressing CB. It seemed pretty clear Bullard, in particular, was going to be spending solid time covering Slot.

Drake Maye looked decent. This could end up being the historically best QB class.

But if you ship him out now doesn't that send the message that if you complain just a little bit you'll get your way? Or this is all very normal for any player and Packers media just picked it up and ran with it?

It's gonna be a long Bucks season, isn't it? Older than dirt, nothing we can do about it, on our 17th HC in three seasons, and maybe we see the second round this time. Giannis, Dame and 'etc.' vs. the world. I'm expecting Middleton to be stiff and Lopez a downright liability for a lack of motion and Giannis to be completely overused. Giannis can't be both the 4/5 and the lead-dunker the whole way through because that's too much to ask any one person to do. We're gonna be desperate for a 5 come trade deadline. Hopes aren't high. Giannis will do what he does but it just doesn't work when he has to be the primary weapon. I expect Lillard to be over his personal issues, but two stars aren't really enough when the remainder aren't really capable of playing the roles they should play. Gary Trent is a fantastic pickup, but too much is going to be demanded of him since he's going to end up having to be the 3rd best offensive player. You can do it with two stars when the others perfectly fit their roles, but here it's more patchwork. I think we're really going to struggle to stop anyone defensively.

I respect that on a passing down there's two option routes and two decoy routes, and sure, maybe Doubs is the decoy more often than not. But it's not like teams have these superstar All-Pros who just aren't being used. If you aren't getting used that's on you. And 51 catches is nothing to scoff at. Maybe he'd get more targets on Carolina, but would you really want to go there? We'd all like to be President but darn if we can't get the votes. Suck it up for a couple more years and then you're a FA and can go wherever you want. To be a malcontent only hurts your future salary. I get that to be a professional athlete you need ludicrous-speed levels of confidence and cockiness, but reality is something different. Not everyone is Davante Adams. Others are just Romeo Doubs. A perfectly good WR, better than average even, but still Romeo Doubs. Four targets, three catches and there ya go.

I don't like a Lawrence trade because we really aren't in a position to need to fix our DL by adding good players so much as just needing the good players currently there to step up. Thus not a position group of need, as opposed to a group LB where McDuffie and #7 probably are playing to their standard and so there's a bigger need for more talent in the group. Plus a big trade now would likely sap our assets and hamstring us if a bigger need suddenly appeared like a key player getting injured.

This would be a good time to trade Wicks or Doubs to KC for Chenal +4th. Plus KC plays a 4-3 so Chenal would be able to adjust fast enough. I like that this thread is separated, too. The Packers thread is big enough to start branching out.

Jones and Jamaal Williams, too. And if we go far enough down the good dude RB tree, also Samkung Gado.

Well that was fun. Felt like the first rain after a long drought. Hopefully people were able to load up throughout September. Looks like BTC finally broke out of that lower-highs trend. Maybe also from folks getting in early due to everyone else excited about historical October. The six-month boredom seems like it allowed the historical cycle price action to catch up and we're set up for the typical run of a new high in 1Q/2Q, a 25-40% crash in summer and then one huge run in Q3 2025 before the bear market starts. Though still reasonable speculation now that 1Q/2Q 2025 may well be the cycle height and that we won't go as deep into 2025 as the standard cycle would dictate. Obviously I don't know but I'll be DCAing heavier and heavier as time passes. Actually getting out and not eating the bear market is what destroys most people. And options trading was just approved for BTC, which I think is really going to tamper its volatility going forward. Not sure if for this cycle but certainly for the next one. Some people happy about that but I don't see that as good at all. That could potentially make this the last big cycle we'll have since upward and downward pressures could well temper the madness going forward. Was up big with a 2x BTC ETF but the fees slowly destroyed me so I moved into a regular one. Nothing like buying BTC at 38k and selling at a 4% loss. Was lucky to catch the Karrat run and also lucky to have timed my sell at a good time. Will buy back in once it settles back down. Also looking forward to In The Game, the first crypto game to push for mainstream XBox/Playstation adoption. Pretty sure that was the studio which fired Dr. Disrespect live on air.

The Jets would only be slightly over the cap if they added Davante Adams today. Not sure where the Packers would be at, but I can't imagine Oakland is going to wait too long to begin the rebuild. I guess now everybody in Charlotte assumes Bryce Young was the problem all along and it wasn't just a bad team, though I'm sure the Panthers will be back to their losing ways soon. And there aren't any panthers in North Carolina, so why the name? The "Hellbenders" woulda been a way cooler name and they actually exist there (the biggest kind of salamander). Or even the Flying Squirrels. Maybe it's the WI bias, but if you want your team to represent your area, shouldn't the name follow suit and not just be some random thing? vikings and Packers are apt. The Chicago RoadWorkers? That'd be a good name. Detroit Engines?

Every now and again I run into youtube videos where they delete the backing music and play the standalone vocals. It's unbelievable how talented many of those singers were, particularly knowing it all was pre-auto-tune. Marvin Gaye was especially impressive.

Maybe we can make a trade if the NIL money can be worked out.

It came as an addition to other small stuff, which became a frustrating few days. Death by small cuts kinda thing. Put their food in the carrier this morning and they spent 30 minutes looking confused. But they BOTH fell for it and I got them to the vet this morning. Nice to know I'm at least marginally smarter than a cat. Big plus to be able to do both when the vet is an hour away and I had to take off work for it. Vet couldn't make them eat the flea pill, but I've used Capstar at home with some success. That and covering the carpets with flea powder and just leaving it there does the trick after a week or so.

But how accurately can you really measure a QB if he's on a team that's so bad? Granted, Bryce Young also misses easy throws which have nothing to do with his WR or OL. I kinda wonder if half the reason for benching Young is just to see how much better/worse Andy Dalton is and give the team someone to measure Young against. Maybe the QB pay gap issue will be addressed once a new teambuilding strategy comes about. Maybe it just takes the next Heath Shuler to win a SB or two for teams to opt for the cheaper veteran who just doesn't make mistakes, or low-ceiling college Senior QBs who can play ok on the cheap but on a great team who focuses on the run.

And is Brock Purdy the opposite case? Would he be as successful on any other team? And if not, should SF use that as leverage or will he just get $55M a year like everyone else?

Co-worker brought in fleas which eventually made their way to my house and onto the cats. Also discovered the fleas came with worm larvae, so now the cats have those, too. Can't do topical medicine for the fleas because they freak out. They won't eat any human food so a flea pill is also difficult to give (but did manage that eventually). They even refuse most cat treats. Won't let me trim their claws, either. A vet could do all that but they also hate the carrier and fight that. And all the vets around here only go by appointment, which won't work if it takes days to actually lure them into the carrier.

Like what if Sam Darnold started his career on this current Vikings team instead of the miserable Jets? Only a matter of time before a presumptive #1 overall QB doesn't declare for the draft and takes his $20M+ NIL money for another year of college ball just to avoid being in another Bryce Young situation.

If that movie is up your alley (and of course it would be for all of us) be sure to read "9 Innings: Anatomy of a Baseball Game" which is a detailed, drama-focused look at a single 1982 Brewers game.

Audience scores definitely suffer from an amount of review-bombing. Without looking, it's a safe bet The Acolyte has a lot of no-commentary 1* reviews or 1* reviews which only copy-and-paste comments made by Critical Drinker or Nerdrotic, because someone just wanted to jump on the hate though they never actually watched it, themselves.

I hope Tua retires for his own sake. Go on IR for the rest of the year to secure the big paycheck and the Dolphins can trade for Kirk Cousins.