I almost wonder if leagues have determined that imperfect referees and umpires make more money than perfect ones, they certainly make the news more. We may be at a point where, with enough camera angles, AI could probably be taught to make objective calls at home plate and the line of scrimmage. And might not be far off from being able to watch more complex parts of plays as well. Would it make the game better or worse if every instance of holding in the backfield was called? Hard to say. But what we can say with certainty is that the Astros and Patriots would be first in line to try and find some way to cheat or confuse the technology.

I didn't know that. How long do helmets last in service? I might have thought helmets were unique to the wearer, or do they last longer than any particular player? After spending some time in an MLB locker room where even the jockstraps were a take one/leave one community property situation, nothing would surprise me now.

I like the matte lol better than the gaudy mirrored gold from a couple years ago but my favorite is still the classic uniform - blue jersey, gold pants, gold helmet with script Davis. It is interesting to me that football helmets are “painted.” My construction site helmets have to be integrally colored or inkjet printed because paint or large decals could obscure hairline cracks.

Now that Fox Sports is inserting digital fans in the stands that can cheer, boo, and leave early when the game stinks, makes you wonder if we’d really notice if the players were all digital inserts as well. Arguably an AI umpire or ref would be far more objective.

I've got 30 years until retirement, but getting a taste now I guess since my job is indefinitely furloughed. On one hand I was working 60 hours a week and too busy to take vacation so the break is nice but also stressful to both wait by and simultaneously want to avoid the phone on Friday afternoons. As far as TV, thankfully we don't have any cable news in the house, but I enjoy re-watching 90's sitcoms and catching jokes I didn't get on their first run. Disney+ has a pretty good catalog. My guilty pleasure is watching Netflix trash reality shows, where I can find some solace in watching people who have much bigger problems than mine.

I've been doing a lot more yard work to tame my backyard jungle. There is something kind of cathartic about going to town with a pickax and having something complete to look at afterward. Side effect I've noticed that when I get the power equipment out, Mrs. Fugawe tends to leave me alone for a few hours at a time.

I've also been working on learning to cook some new things. Partly because Mrs. Fugawe decided we are going to be "healthy" now, I've been working on making things like quinoa edible. Also got a new grill and have been trying some things out. Pretty low key to practice grilling for myself without a bunch of other men hovering around the fire like cavemen and critiquing the flame and meat management. While I do miss my office, removing two hours of stressful driving a day and the associated junk food stops hasn't been the worst thing ever.

I would guess a spring season might be shortened and maybe no playoffs if every conference is doing their own thing. Do you think teams take it serious or use it as development games to try out some young guys for the fall?

Idk, I’m not in the area anymore but they may. Years ago I did find t-shirts at Dixon Walmart.

I think you’re right. COVID may have been the last nail but it’s probably the internet helping to end this kind of store. Was nice to have an alternative to the campus store where the average sweatshirt price is over $60, but there are more reasonable licensed online dealers now too. I don’t know if it was a factor in this one but I’ve heard from other downtown businesses that over the past few years a couple of deep pocketed out of town interests have been buying up all the downtown real estate and jacking the rents to push out the local shops and they are willing to let stores sit empty to force the city’s hand on letting more corporate chains in.

I think we are in alignment that the comment in question is inappropriate and a warning is in order.

My point is that perhaps we better define what this community considers inappropriate. For example, a few years ago opponent look-alike photo threads were common. Probably wouldn't be a good idea by today's standard.

The Terms of Service mostly focus on copyright, spam, and liability but do say the moderators can remove any material they find objectionable or harmful. "Objectionable or harmful" I think is reasonably well understood in polite society but is ultimately subjective. Perhaps insensitivity comes from a place of misunderstanding expectations and an articulated community standard could clear up what is acceptable in a more objective manner. The OT board doesn't need to be like an HR convention, but shouldn't be Reddit either. There are some interesting discussions here so I wouldn't want the moderator to just lock the thread.

I think debates are useful when you have candidates with critically nuanced proposals that undecided voters need clarity on. When you have polar opposites it becomes more a spectacle of both sides hoping the other guy makes a disastrous gaffe. I think we should have the debates on the America's Got Talent set and give the moderators a buzzer button every time a candidate won't answer a yes/no question or gives an answer totally unrelated to the question at hand. You are correct that Perot made things interesting and perhaps if ranked choice voting ever caught on, we might see more outside candidates reflective of people's realities become viable. Should Biden win the day, I think he will look a lot like Clinton and Obama in who he appoints to run things, for better or worse. Given the age and health of both candidates, VP picks may be more relevant than most years, and no guarantee Pence gets the nod since he has the charisma of a limp cucumber.

Won't the debates more or less LIKE dinner with the in-laws? Old men interrupting each other to argue about things they don't understand or remember, not really seeking to change anyone's mind but hoping to get an entertaining rise out of other people at the table.

Millennial here. Regrettably we got old and for most of us our partying days are sadly behind (and ahead) of us. While there will always be boys among men, most of us have some combination of careers, kids, spouses, mortgages, and elderly parents to deal with. In the last year I have spent more time on hold with insurance companies than at drinking establishments. For the record, we do not understand Gen Z or what the hell their parents did them either.

I love how without prompt, Florida State and the Seminole Tribe of Florida released statements saying they were both still good with the status quo there. Interesting how the mascot is not offensive when casino licenses are in play.

And there's no demand for hotels. Unless there is some fundamental change in the ecosystem, you could probably walk into any property on the day of and get a room.

Big 10 just announced they are playing a conference only schedule. Some anticipation that at least the other P5 follow suit, whether it ends up fall or spring. Curious what that means for the FCS-FBS matchups, do they get bought out or do they have some other out? Every school’s finances are in the toilet but could be a gut punch for FCS if the annual wealth transfer evaporated.

when I rented Putah Creek Lodge a few years ago they said it was indeed to cut down the funk and to be an educational hydrology demonstration. https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/waterway

As to the size of Lake Spafford, it is fairly big but not deep. Many years ago I may have been party to a failed attempt to sail it on a sheet of plywood lashed to some inflatables. Key learnings were that OSB doesn’t have the buoyancy of regular wood and the lake is only waist deep.

The dedicated field hockey facility was built in 2014, apparently because the sport requires a “faster” turf than football or lacrosse. I know there has been work on sections of Putah Creek for about 5 years to install small weirs and pumps to make the water less foul along with rebuilding some paths and bridges for ADA and traffic reasons. While it might take me a while to paddle across Lake Spafford, I’d think rowers would want the mileage of the Sac or American rivers.

Field Hockey has never made sense from a travel perspective, even less so now. I'm sure the powers that be run analysis on costs and revenue per athlete seat for each sport and would look first to the sports with the worst margins. At least at the high school level, the field hockey clientele skews pretty wealthy so there could be donations happening in other parts of the university that make it worth while. In regard to Title IX, starting this fall NCAA is recognizing a form of cheerleading as an emerging sport. I would imagine schools will jump at the opportunity to claim their already-funded cheer squads as female athletes, which could buy latitude to ax a different money pit sport.