As in, let me go blind so I don't have to watch that.
All walls are tall if the roof doesn't fall.
I'm back from seeing the elderly parental units for a couple of days. I know that there are many here who have lost one or both parents, and I know that I am fortunate to still have them in my life. Having said that, dealing with elderly parents, especially stubborn, prideful elderly parents, is not always the most fun thing to do.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
There are five playoff spots in the league. It is August 29th. Houston is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.
Five playoff spots per league is ridiculous. MLB only understands math if there are dollar signs attached to the numbers. But it's great that in the first year with two wildcards, the Yankees probably won't make the playoffs.
Only one way to fix that for next year.
But it’s great that in the first year with two wildcards, the Yankees probably won’t make the playoffs.
Didn't they have two wild cards last year?
Yup.
Oy, I wonder if Walgreen's sells home dementia tests.
I read you as meaning "in one of the first years with two wildcards"
Right because the NFL has six per conference, which means that six per league would be the correct number.
Two more teams total: two more playoff teams. Sounds fair.
Having playoffs after 162 games already decided the best team is ridiculous. I'm fine with more playoff drama if we're going to have it.
Yeah, at this point, I've decided that if they're going to have playoffs at all after a season gives you a pretty clear indication of how good the teams are, they may as well load them up, increase ticket sales and give fans something to go crazy over.
Yes, but they don't all play the same 162 game schedule (unlike the 38 games in the EPL).
I'm fine with the fifth playoff spot, because it devalued the wildcard spot quite a bit.
The Divisional Series should be best of 7 though.
Yes, no.
5-game series are the best way to open the playoffs. They can be short and cruel.
I'm fine if they keep a 5-game LDS if they move to a 9-game World Series.
If that's what it takes to get a 5-game LDS, then I'm all for it.
How would you break up the games?
I think I'd go 2-4-3.
11 Games would break up better: 3-5-3.
I like the 2-4-3 break better since they're all number of series of games that get scheduled during the season. Having a five-game series in the middle feels too long.
i like your line of thought, but i think i like 3-4-2 a little better in that scenario.
That was the question: 2-4-3 or 3-4-2?
One rule I have for playoff series size 2n+1 is that each team shall have had n games as the home team before the team with "home field advantage" hosts the final game.
9 games? Cash. Grab.
Have to pay Buxton somehow.
Just an update--I had hoped to have Minor Details all caught up this morning, but it looks like it'll probably be this afternoon instead.
.
.
new Twins baseball card player autograph acquisition Justin Olson*
*who?
Seemed to have a decent 2006, if you ignore the ERA.
For those of you who enjoy a Sci-Fi short story or two.
To celebrate their 5th birthday, tor.com has collected all their published stories into an e-book that you can get for free (if you register at tor.com) - I mention it today because they're taking it down on Tuesday.
Here's the table of contents and the download link - 150 stories, including some by John Scalzi, Kij Johnson, Charlie Jane Anders, Brandon Sanderson, Elizabeth Bear, etc.
Cool, thanks DG. Done and done.
4,000 pages? Damn. That's a lot of sci-fi.
That would explain why its taking so long to download to my phone.
About two weeks worth for DG, I'm assming.
I have to say this month has been a lot slower reading-wise than any other this year.
Apparently having a full-time job really cuts into my sitting-around time.
DG hates First Monday.
No, he loves it, which is why he's giving us all something to read before the next one so we have more to talk about.
I would have saved it for then, but
they're taking it down on Tuesday.
No worries, I've still got stuff to talk about for Monday.
That's all I ask. 🙂
Thanks for linking it, DG- I downloaded it a couple weeks ago when they said they were taking it down later that day, so I didn't mention it, since I figured it was gone. I love extended deadlines!
Commendable, yes. But it was a commitment to donate, not a donation, and I'm always a bit skeptical when I see that.
I'm gonna cross-post this from FB just for more eyes to see it:
Does anyone know how to read Chinese? I'm not sure if it's Mandarin or Cantonese. I have a picture at the museum library I'm trying to catalog, and I can't read the front nor the handwriting of the English translation on the back.
I have really become much less aggressive in my driving, which I think coincided with my move to Minnesota generally. The state is running some ads showing this dude acting like a dickwad outside of his car. No one would actually act like that outside of their car, so why in their car? I think they are pretty effective, but I've already got religion on being more respectful of others on the road.
I got it a few years ago, myself. Its been pretty amusing figuring out how much time I'm really not losing by driving slower and not passing all the time compared to the more aggressive jack-asses out there. Also a lot less stressful with not having to worry about cops.
Children flipped this particular switch in me.
Yeah.
when God created cruise control, he performed a miracle. I wish more people would learn how to use it.
Apparently he didn't bestow his gift upon the state of Illinois.
Amen.
I hate having to re-pass someone several times.
non-cruise control driving on long stretches of highway is a particular peeve of mine.
My main commuting vehicle ('96 Jetta) doesn't have cruise control. I definitely drive it more aggressively than I drive my truck, but I'm still way down on the low end of the "I wanna go first" hostile-meter.
and you are contributing to bettertrafficflow by driving like an old man! Win-win!!!111one111!!!
Meh, I'm in rural South Dakota. 65 mph the whole way, with the only things impeding traffic flow the occasional tractor or a couple of deer.
This, plus pheasants.
mmm, pheasant!
Passive-aggressive? Oh my goodness yes. Aggressive? Not so much.
My wife accuses me of driving like an old man, which is sort-of accurate if she means I'm slow and cautious. All this being said, I've been doing 45 minutes - 1.5 hours of commuting per day, M-F the past 9 months. I've noticed that I'm starting to slide into less conservative driving habits.
I get the old man thing too, but I've never had an accident and haven't had a moving violation in over ten years so I accept it as a compliment. I also save on gas by not accelerating as fast as humanly possible (gotta get to the next light first, I guess) and save on tires and brakes. Old men totally have it figured out.
Old men have a lot of things figured out. Too bad it takes so long.
Breaking: NFL agrees to $765 million settlement of concussion lawsuits by former players.
Wow. Just wow. Of course, the NFL has now "put that behind them". Just think about what the NFL must have known and kept from players to agree to a settlement of that size.
Wowzers. Maybe they realized they'd have lost way more if it had gone to court and they need to save as much as they can once the sport starts slowing dying.
Yep, the league admitted no wrongdoing and insisted that player safety has always been a top priority. Plus, what they knew and when they knew it will never be revealed.
When you can write a $765 million check to make nasties like this go away, only one thing needs to be said: It's good to be the King.
From the 4ltr:
The timing of the settlement allowed the NFL to drop the issue from the national conversation before the start of the new season.
Are you ready for some football!!!??!!?!!!One!!!!!
Plus, we'll probably hear players complain about the league's insistence on new rules related to hits to the head. That mean NFL, making it so hard to play the game!
Well, I'm going to do my part by keeping it out of my house to try to prevent my son from playing. Futbol it is!
My parents didn't allow me to play organized football. Playing catcher was fine, and if we'd had the money when I was a kid, hockey would have been fine, too. I plan to institute the same policy with my kids. Concussions aren't avoidable in any sport involving some kind of contact, but there's a difference between accidental and incidental.
As for soccer, it seemed like an undue number of guys on our high school team sustained some pretty serious MCL/ACL tears.
Fortunately, we won't have the money for hockey, so I don't have to worry about that. Also, living in Southern WI means there is no hockey anyway.
Curling it is, then!
Oh man, duh. Can't believe that wasn't my first thought.
The Boy was making noises about going out for football at one point, mostly because some of his friends were trying to talk him into doing it. I took him to the park to play catch, throwing the ball hard at him. He figured out all on his own that he didn't want to play football after all. 😉
Is that little lesson why you need shoulder surgery now?
I can't rule that out.
I tore my ACL the old-fashioned way: playing flag football on the SBG College of Law's lawn!
(More seriously to CH's point, teenage female soccer players do seem to have a bizarrely high rate of ACL/MCL injuries, but I only knew of one teenage boy who needed the surgery from soccer - and that's from a pretty decent sample with both of my brothers playing soccer all the up through DIII college. Heck, I knew the same number of boys who had to quit playing soccer because of a persistent concussion problem!)
Consider these estimated injury statistics for 2009 from the Consumer Product Safety Commission:
Basketball. More than 170,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for basketball-related injuries.
Baseball and softball. Nearly 110,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for baseball-related injuries. Baseball also has the highest fatality rate among sports for children ages 5 to 14, with three to four children dying from baseball injuries each year.
Bicycling. More than 200,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for bicycle-related injuries.
Football. Almost 215,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for football-related injuries, with nearly 10,000 of those hospitalized as a result of their injuries.
Ice hockey. More than 20,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for ice hockey-related injuries.
In-line and roller skating. More than 47,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for in-line skating-related injuries.
Skateboarding. More than 66,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for skateboarding-related injuries, with more than 4,500 children hospitalized as a result of their injuries.
Sledding and tobogganing. More than 16,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for sledding-related injuries.
Snow skiing and snowboarding. More than 25,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for snow boarding and snow skiing-related injuries.
Soccer. About 88,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for soccer-related injuries.
Trampolines. About 65,000 children ages 14 and under were treated in hospital emergency rooms for trampoline-related injuries.
50 percent of “second impact syndrome” incidents – brain injury caused from a premature return to activity after suffering initial injury (concussion) – result in death.4
Female high school soccer athletes suffer almost 40 percent more concussions than males (29,000 annually).5
Female high school basketball players suffer 240 percent more concussions than males (13,000).5
400,000 brain injuries (concussions) occurred in high school athletics during the 2008–09 school year.6
15.8 percent of football players who sustain a concussion severe enough to cause loss of consciousness return to play the same day.8
Emergency department visits for concussions sustained during organized team sports doubled among 8–13 year olds between 1997 and 2007 and nearly tripled among older youth.12
Concussion rates more than doubled among students age 8–19 participating in sports like basketball, soccer and football between 1997 and 2007, even as participation in those sports declined.12
A 2011 study of U.S. high schools with at least one athletic trainer on staff found that concussions accounted for nearly 15% of all sports-related injuries reported to ATs. 19
High school athletes who have been concussed are three times more likely to suffer another concussion in the same season.20
Females aged 10–19 years sustained sports- and recreation-related TBIs most often while playing soccer or basketball or while bicycling.21
More than 248,000 children visited hospital emergency departments in 2009 for concussions and other traumatic brain injuries related to sports and recreation.33
tackling and being tackled were responsible for 67.6% (n = 37 113) of the concussions in football. Linebackers suffered 40.9% (n = 9464) of all concussions among defensive players, and concussions represented a higher proportion of their total injuries (13.1%, n = 9464) than for all other defensive positions combined (10.8%, n = 13 649) (PR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.18, 1.24, P < .01).
re: soccer
Girls had a higher rate of concussion (0.36 concussions per 1000 A-Es) than boys (0.22 concussions per 1000 A-Es) (RR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.08, 2.60, P = .03) (Table 1), and concussions represented a greater proportion of total injuries among girls (15.1%, n = 29 167) than boys (9.4%, n = 20 929) (PR = 1.61, 95% CI = 1.59, 1.64, P < .01). The risk factors for concussion in soccer differed significantly by sex. Among both boys' and girls' soccer players, the activity most frequently associated with concussions was heading the ball (40.5%, n = 8433, and 36.7%, n = 10 714, respectively) (Table 2). Additionally, 64.1% (19 147) of injuries sustained while heading the ball were concussions. Contact with another person resulted in a greater proportion of concussions in boys (85.3%, n = 17 857) than in girls (58.3%, n = 17 008) (PR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.45, 1.48, P < .01) (Figure 3).
bottom line: don't play linebacker in football, and don't head the ball in soccer.
That doesn't tell us how relatively risky they are because we don't know how many participants (or participant-hours) there were!
(And I'm too lazy to follow the link.)
and too lazy to look at the next two! 😉
how many players are there in total for each segment?
are concussions going up or are they being more reported?
Neither of your excerpts answered the riskiness of each sport as compared to the others.
Girls had a higher rate of concussion (0.36 concussions per 1000 A-Es) than boys (0.22 concussions per 1000 A-Es) (RR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.08, 2.60, P = .03) (Table 1), and concussions represented a greater proportion of total injuries among girls (15.1%, n = 29 167) than boys (9.4%, n = 20 929) (PR = 1.61, 95% CI = 1.59, 1.64, P < .01).
I was mostly joking, because you were right about the first two bits. Without participation data, it is hard to interpret the overall injury numbers. The last piece clearly tries to address the rate issue by measuring rates per athletic event.
Played football in 6th grade as a 5-foot-nothin', hunnert' and nothin' defensive back and didn't care for it. Ran cross country for 2 years and didn't care for it. Played football from 9th-12th grade as a 5-foot-nothin', hunnert' and nothin' defensive back bench warmer and didn't care for it...the bench warming. I loved playing the game, but I brought nothing to the table talent-wise and size-wise.
I was useful to the coaching staff in other ways though. Got popped drinking underage at 16 and did the 2-weeks ineligible. Coaches held me out of any other opportunity to see time in a varsity game the rest of the season so other players would "see how serious" it was.* I still like to toss the football around and watch games, going to the Goofs season opener today with the fam/firm, but I hope my child[ren] - especially if there's ever a boy - don't care to play. I guess I'd say that they can if they want to, but I certainly won't encourage it.
*two other players in my grade were also stuck with 2-week ineligibilities but were quickly reinserted into the lineup once it was served. #highschoolstartershaveiteasier
when I was a junior, several of the seniors got busted by the cops at a party. The cops couldn't legally tell the school and the parents refused to tell the school, so the school could not suspend them even though we all knew what had happened. But the coach may have made them run 'til they puked for several days.
I did not love the game. I loved the camaraderie of the game. I enjoyed some of the teamwork aspects. I got some satisfaction out of making plays. But I'm pretty sure I started playing mostly because of the social expectations. Football was mostly about pain and Stockholm Syndrome. Getting hurt in college was as much a convenient out from the sport as anything.
Where I went to school, there was no sense of camaraderie unless you were one of the "names" on the team (true for all of the sports there). Fortunately I figured that out after my sophomore year and never looked back. Stillwater's a great city, but full of dickhead coaches and athletes.
The 'jock' culture in some towns is pretty unforgiving. I always felt like the wealthier the community, the larger the jerk ratio. Hutch was not very wealthy in general and the jock culture, though present, was more about skill than name. If you were a less-than-wealthy farmer kid but could punt, pass or kick (or block), you did alright.
I couldn't do any of those things very well but got along with my teammates for the most part. It didn't hurt that I worked hard to act like I didn't care what people thought so that I could do academics, choir and theater in addition to sports.
I'd like to think I was not a dickhead, despite being one of the "names" on the team. I was more of a leader-by-example type, rather than a rah-rah type.
also, the fact that Spamtown High was coming out of a string of bad football teams might have had a social impact. My perception is that we were a pretty cohesive group.
You may not have been (and I remember there were some exceptions of some of the guys who got minutes that I didn't despise) but I'm guessing many of the bench guys thought so. I suppose I probably should have prefaced my comments by saying high schoolers aren't the best judges of character.
Yea, there's that. On the plus side, I was pretty naive in high school.
I definitely started playing because of the social expectations. Rural MN town with a pedigree of winning football games does that to a person. However, I learned how to play and enjoy the game in high school. Some of the most fun I've had has been rec league and flag football leagues in college, Navy and law school.
I loved playing HS football. We had a great coach, and we learned to play the right way. If there are more concussions now than in the past, a good part of it is because the art of tackling has been lost (plus HGH + PED means trying to stop a freight train, but that's another discussion)
there seem to be a lot more big, fast, strong kids today. More energetic collisions, plus lots of poor tackling technique.
My kids' school is in the medium-school range out here. Not many big kids. But at the big schools in the Sacramento region, I read about a LOT of linemen in the 250-300 lb range, many of whom are very athletic (I know because I've seen a lot of them wrestle in the heavyweight class, which is capped at 285)
I think we had a grand total of one starter at Spamtown my senior year who weighed over 200 lbs. The Big 9 was filled with tackles in the 185-205 range and guards in the 155-175 range. And we were the big-school division.
Sounds similar to the Pine-to-Prairie conference. I don't think our biggest guy made it to 200, and there were only a couple guys in the entire district that might have been 250, and they weren't going to be in any high-speed collisions.
I was never athletic nor tempted, and I know at least two good athletes from my class that were constantly poked and prodded by coaches to go out for football and never did because their moms wouldn't let them (even if that was a convenient excuse).
with a pedigree of winning football games
Well, New Ulm Cathedral didn't have that during my time there, or the years preceding. I think we won homecoming one of the four years I went to school there: jr or sr, and it felt like a new thing.
I just came here to post the same thing. But you missed an opportunity or two.
1. REDEMPTION!
2. Is that $765M a present-value figure, a paid-out-over-4,000 years figure, or, like most NFL contracts, non-guaranteed but announced as though it were to make the agent look good?
From what I've read, it'll be a three year payment type of thing with $675M going to the players, 75M going to medical/legal bills and the rest to "research".
Oooh. Where can I send in my research proposal?
You're the bureaucrat here.
Sorry, Doc. Almost all of that money will be sucked up examining the brains of former players who will kill themselves over the next five years.
but teh Policy considerations!
No, the lawyers already got that.
Oh wait, did I really say that here?!?
We gotta get 'em coming and going.
That's what's known as "research". Actually, I'm sure that the legal fees come out of the portion of the settlement earmarked for the players.
No actually, this will be determined at a later date, from what I read.
I won't link to the actual piece, since it would lead inexorably to the Forbidden Zone, but I will share this one little excerpt:
Benedikt is the managing editor of Slate’s DoubleX, which is to humorless leftism what rural Australia is to bauxite.
Bauxite mines, my go to on analogies.
A bauxite mine analogy would be hilarious to trot out in a seminar. I like keeping people on their toes.
the draft is on sunday night, and we still have 1 or 3 spots open for the WGOM fantasy football B LEAGUE. go ahead and sign up!!!11
if anyone wants to join but is having problems with this, let me know.
Hmm. I'm not sure what's still open, but my brother who's football obsessed has never played Fantasy and sort of wants to this year. Would you be okay if he joined? If he joins I may too just so he's not feeling alone.
you're both more than welcome. and then we'll need one more player after that. i thought someone else was asking about it, but i can't remember who.
EDIT: ah, it was the pirate. PIRATE! WE NEED YOU!
I'm feeling like an idiot, but I can't find a way to enter a league ID and password on the new site. From what I found, it looks like the commish (you?) would need to email an invite. If so mine is zmoney at google's email service. My brother is sauvagga at the same email service.
Same problem. Hit me up at my email. I may not be able to make the draft, but oh well... Are you guys doing this EPA style with promotions and relegations?
invitations have been sent.
DPWY: i sent it to yoru gee-double-u-you account as that seems to be all i have. if there's something better, let me know.
Nope that's the one. I got it. That gee-double-u account is a Gmail account affiliated with the school.
Conservative estimates assessed the league's potential liability at more than $2 billion, a total that struck fear among owners and gave rise to Armageddon scenarios that threatened the existence of the league.
Now, for about a third of that estimate, the league has settled the case before its dirty laundry was aired in court, and without admitting any guilt.
[snip]
The nightmare scenario, feared by owners and league officials alike, was a massive verdict in the concussion case followed by a retreat from insurance companies who back the game. Without insurance, what sort of business could the NFL run? No one wanted to think about that.
In essence, this settlement affirms the NFL's power position in the professional sports landscape now and in the future. The league agreed to compensation without admitting guilt, presumably closing the door on any past liability, while portraying itself as addressing the issue moving forward with all due responsibility.
The players have sacrificed their own well-being for the good of the league. Just as it has always been.
I would absolutely, without a doubt, go see Checkmate.
Thank you for that. Its early, but my day is now complete.
For some reason, DDL reminds me a bit of spoons on that Ponce poster.
Flattery will get you everywhere.
(I've been told I look like him before. I can't get enough)
Huh, I thought it looked like a younger version of Keef.
Peter Hindmarch is gonna be busy.
Rochelle Rochelle directed by Lars Van Trier.
Now I've seen it all!
I'm back from seeing the elderly parental units for a couple of days. I know that there are many here who have lost one or both parents, and I know that I am fortunate to still have them in my life. Having said that, dealing with elderly parents, especially stubborn, prideful elderly parents, is not always the most fun thing to do.
There are five playoff spots in the league. It is August 29th. Houston is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.
Five playoff spots per league is ridiculous. MLB only understands math if there are dollar signs attached to the numbers. But it's great that in the first year with two wildcards, the Yankees probably won't make the playoffs.
Only one way to fix that for next year.
But it’s great that in the first year with two wildcards, the Yankees probably won’t make the playoffs.
Didn't they have two wild cards last year?
Yup.
Oy, I wonder if Walgreen's sells home dementia tests.
I read you as meaning "in one of the first years with two wildcards"
Right because the NFL has six per conference, which means that six per league would be the correct number.
Two more teams total: two more playoff teams. Sounds fair.
Having playoffs after 162 games already decided the best team is ridiculous. I'm fine with more playoff drama if we're going to have it.
Yeah, at this point, I've decided that if they're going to have playoffs at all after a season gives you a pretty clear indication of how good the teams are, they may as well load them up, increase ticket sales and give fans something to go crazy over.
Yes, but they don't all play the same 162 game schedule (unlike the 38 games in the EPL).
I'm fine with the fifth playoff spot, because it devalued the wildcard spot quite a bit.
The Divisional Series should be best of 7 though.
Yes, no.
5-game series are the best way to open the playoffs. They can be short and cruel.
I'm fine if they keep a 5-game LDS if they move to a 9-game World Series.
If that's what it takes to get a 5-game LDS, then I'm all for it.
How would you break up the games?
I think I'd go 2-4-3.
11 Games would break up better: 3-5-3.
I like the 2-4-3 break better since they're all number of series of games that get scheduled during the season. Having a five-game series in the middle feels too long.
i like your line of thought, but i think i like 3-4-2 a little better in that scenario.
That was the question: 2-4-3 or 3-4-2?
One rule I have for playoff series size 2n+1 is that each team shall have had n games as the home team before the team with "home field advantage" hosts the final game.
9 games? Cash. Grab.
Have to pay Buxton somehow.
Just an update--I had hoped to have Minor Details all caught up this morning, but it looks like it'll probably be this afternoon instead.
.
.
new Twins baseball card player autograph acquisition
Justin Olson*
*who?
Seemed to have a decent 2006, if you ignore the ERA.
For those of you who enjoy a Sci-Fi short story or two.
To celebrate their 5th birthday, tor.com has collected all their published stories into an e-book that you can get for free (if you register at tor.com) - I mention it today because they're taking it down on Tuesday.
Here's the table of contents and the download link - 150 stories, including some by John Scalzi, Kij Johnson, Charlie Jane Anders, Brandon Sanderson, Elizabeth Bear, etc.
Cool, thanks DG. Done and done.
4,000 pages? Damn. That's a lot of sci-fi.
That would explain why its taking so long to download to my phone.
About two weeks worth for DG, I'm assming.
I have to say this month has been a lot slower reading-wise than any other this year.
Apparently having a full-time job really cuts into my sitting-around time.
DG hates First Monday.
No, he loves it, which is why he's giving us all something to read before the next one so we have more to talk about.
I would have saved it for then, but
No worries, I've still got stuff to talk about for Monday.
That's all I ask. 🙂
Thanks for linking it, DG- I downloaded it a couple weeks ago when they said they were taking it down later that day, so I didn't mention it, since I figured it was gone. I love extended deadlines!
Justin Verlander did something pretty darn commendable yesterday.
Where's that like button?
Commendable, yes. But it was a commitment to donate, not a donation, and I'm always a bit skeptical when I see that.
I'm gonna cross-post this from FB just for more eyes to see it:
I have really become much less aggressive in my driving, which I think coincided with my move to Minnesota generally. The state is running some ads showing this dude acting like a dickwad outside of his car. No one would actually act like that outside of their car, so why in their car? I think they are pretty effective, but I've already got religion on being more respectful of others on the road.
I got it a few years ago, myself. Its been pretty amusing figuring out how much time I'm really not losing by driving slower and not passing all the time compared to the more aggressive jack-asses out there. Also a lot less stressful with not having to worry about cops.
Children flipped this particular switch in me.
Yeah.
when God created cruise control, he performed a miracle. I wish more people would learn how to use it.
Apparently he didn't bestow his gift upon the state of Illinois.
Amen.
I hate having to re-pass someone several times.
non-cruise control driving on long stretches of highway is a particular peeve of mine.
My main commuting vehicle ('96 Jetta) doesn't have cruise control. I definitely drive it more aggressively than I drive my truck, but I'm still way down on the low end of the "I wanna go first" hostile-meter.
and you are contributing to better traffic flow by driving like an old man! Win-win!!!111one111!!!
Meh, I'm in rural South Dakota. 65 mph the whole way, with the only things impeding traffic flow the occasional tractor or a couple of deer.
This, plus pheasants.
mmm, pheasant!
Passive-aggressive? Oh my goodness yes. Aggressive? Not so much.
My wife accuses me of driving like an old man, which is sort-of accurate if she means I'm slow and cautious. All this being said, I've been doing 45 minutes - 1.5 hours of commuting per day, M-F the past 9 months. I've noticed that I'm starting to slide into less conservative driving habits.
I get the old man thing too, but I've never had an accident and haven't had a moving violation in over ten years so I accept it as a compliment. I also save on gas by not accelerating as fast as humanly possible (gotta get to the next light first, I guess) and save on tires and brakes. Old men totally have it figured out.
Old men have a lot of things figured out. Too bad it takes so long.
Breaking: NFL agrees to $765 million settlement of concussion lawsuits by former players.
Wow. Just wow. Of course, the NFL has now "put that behind them". Just think about what the NFL must have known and kept from players to agree to a settlement of that size.
Wowzers. Maybe they realized they'd have lost way more if it had gone to court and they need to save as much as they can once the sport starts slowing dying.
Yep, the league admitted no wrongdoing and insisted that player safety has always been a top priority. Plus, what they knew and when they knew it will never be revealed.
When you can write a $765 million check to make nasties like this go away, only one thing needs to be said: It's good to be the King.
From the 4ltr:
Are you ready for some football!!!??!!?!!!One!!!!!
Plus, we'll probably hear players complain about the league's insistence on new rules related to hits to the head. That mean NFL, making it so hard to play the game!
Well, I'm going to do my part by keeping it out of my house to try to prevent my son from playing. Futbol it is!
My parents didn't allow me to play organized football. Playing catcher was fine, and if we'd had the money when I was a kid, hockey would have been fine, too. I plan to institute the same policy with my kids. Concussions aren't avoidable in any sport involving some kind of contact, but there's a difference between accidental and incidental.
As for soccer, it seemed like an undue number of guys on our high school team sustained some pretty serious MCL/ACL tears.
Fortunately, we won't have the money for hockey, so I don't have to worry about that. Also, living in Southern WI means there is no hockey anyway.
Curling it is, then!
Oh man, duh. Can't believe that wasn't my first thought.
The Boy was making noises about going out for football at one point, mostly because some of his friends were trying to talk him into doing it. I took him to the park to play catch, throwing the ball hard at him. He figured out all on his own that he didn't want to play football after all. 😉
Is that little lesson why you need shoulder surgery now?
I can't rule that out.
I tore my ACL the old-fashioned way: playing flag football on the SBG College of Law's lawn!
(More seriously to CH's point, teenage female soccer players do seem to have a bizarrely high rate of ACL/MCL injuries, but I only knew of one teenage boy who needed the surgery from soccer - and that's from a pretty decent sample with both of my brothers playing soccer all the up through DIII college. Heck, I knew the same number of boys who had to quit playing soccer because of a persistent concussion problem!)
More fun data:
still more
re: football
re: soccer
bottom line: don't play linebacker in football, and don't head the ball in soccer.
That doesn't tell us how relatively risky they are because we don't know how many participants (or participant-hours) there were!
(And I'm too lazy to follow the link.)
and too lazy to look at the next two! 😉
how many players are there in total for each segment?
are concussions going up or are they being more reported?
Neither of your excerpts answered the riskiness of each sport as compared to the others.
I was mostly joking, because you were right about the first two bits. Without participation data, it is hard to interpret the overall injury numbers. The last piece clearly tries to address the rate issue by measuring rates per athletic event.
Played football in 6th grade as a 5-foot-nothin', hunnert' and nothin' defensive back and didn't care for it. Ran cross country for 2 years and didn't care for it. Played football from 9th-12th grade as a 5-foot-nothin', hunnert' and nothin'
defensive backbench warmer and didn't care for it...the bench warming. I loved playing the game, but I brought nothing to the table talent-wise and size-wise.I was useful to the coaching staff in other ways though. Got popped drinking underage at 16 and did the 2-weeks ineligible. Coaches held me out of any other opportunity to see time in a varsity game the rest of the season so other players would "see how serious" it was.* I still like to toss the football around and watch games, going to the Goofs season opener today with the fam/firm, but I hope my child[ren] - especially if there's ever a boy - don't care to play. I guess I'd say that they can if they want to, but I certainly won't encourage it.
*two other players in my grade were also stuck with 2-week ineligibilities but were quickly reinserted into the lineup once it was served. #highschoolstartershaveiteasier
when I was a junior, several of the seniors got busted by the cops at a party. The cops couldn't legally tell the school and the parents refused to tell the school, so the school could not suspend them even though we all knew what had happened. But the coach may have made them run 'til they puked for several days.
I did not love the game. I loved the camaraderie of the game. I enjoyed some of the teamwork aspects. I got some satisfaction out of making plays. But I'm pretty sure I started playing mostly because of the social expectations. Football was mostly about pain and Stockholm Syndrome. Getting hurt in college was as much a convenient out from the sport as anything.
Where I went to school, there was no sense of camaraderie unless you were one of the "names" on the team (true for all of the sports there). Fortunately I figured that out after my sophomore year and never looked back. Stillwater's a great city, but full of dickhead coaches and athletes.
The 'jock' culture in some towns is pretty unforgiving. I always felt like the wealthier the community, the larger the jerk ratio. Hutch was not very wealthy in general and the jock culture, though present, was more about skill than name. If you were a less-than-wealthy farmer kid but could punt, pass or kick (or block), you did alright.
I couldn't do any of those things very well but got along with my teammates for the most part. It didn't hurt that I worked hard to act like I didn't care what people thought so that I could do academics, choir and theater in addition to sports.
I'd like to think I was not a dickhead, despite being one of the "names" on the team. I was more of a leader-by-example type, rather than a rah-rah type.
also, the fact that Spamtown High was coming out of a string of bad football teams might have had a social impact. My perception is that we were a pretty cohesive group.
You may not have been (and I remember there were some exceptions of some of the guys who got minutes that I didn't despise) but I'm guessing many of the bench guys thought so. I suppose I probably should have prefaced my comments by saying high schoolers aren't the best judges of character.
Yea, there's that. On the plus side, I was pretty naive in high school.
I definitely started playing because of the social expectations. Rural MN town with a pedigree of winning football games does that to a person. However, I learned how to play and enjoy the game in high school. Some of the most fun I've had has been rec league and flag football leagues in college, Navy and law school.
I loved playing HS football. We had a great coach, and we learned to play the right way. If there are more concussions now than in the past, a good part of it is because the art of tackling has been lost (plus HGH + PED means trying to stop a freight train, but that's another discussion)
there seem to be a lot more big, fast, strong kids today. More energetic collisions, plus lots of poor tackling technique.
My kids' school is in the medium-school range out here. Not many big kids. But at the big schools in the Sacramento region, I read about a LOT of linemen in the 250-300 lb range, many of whom are very athletic (I know because I've seen a lot of them wrestle in the heavyweight class, which is capped at 285)
I think we had a grand total of one starter at Spamtown my senior year who weighed over 200 lbs. The Big 9 was filled with tackles in the 185-205 range and guards in the 155-175 range. And we were the big-school division.
Sounds similar to the Pine-to-Prairie conference. I don't think our biggest guy made it to 200, and there were only a couple guys in the entire district that might have been 250, and they weren't going to be in any high-speed collisions.
I was never athletic nor tempted, and I know at least two good athletes from my class that were constantly poked and prodded by coaches to go out for football and never did because their moms wouldn't let them (even if that was a convenient excuse).
with a pedigree of winning football games
Well, New Ulm Cathedral didn't have that during my time there, or the years preceding. I think we won homecoming one of the four years I went to school there: jr or sr, and it felt like a new thing.
I just came here to post the same thing. But you missed an opportunity or two.
1. REDEMPTION!
2. Is that $765M a present-value figure, a paid-out-over-4,000 years figure, or, like most NFL contracts, non-guaranteed but announced as though it were to make the agent look good?
From what I've read, it'll be a three year payment type of thing with $675M going to the players, 75M going to medical/legal bills and the rest to "research".
Oooh. Where can I send in my research proposal?
You're the bureaucrat here.
Sorry, Doc. Almost all of that money will be sucked up examining the brains of former players who will kill themselves over the next five years.
but teh Policy considerations!
No, the lawyers already got that.
Oh wait, did I really say that here?!?
We gotta get 'em coming and going.
That's what's known as "research". Actually, I'm sure that the legal fees come out of the portion of the settlement earmarked for the players.
No actually, this will be determined at a later date, from what I read.
I won't link to the actual piece, since it would lead inexorably to the Forbidden Zone, but I will share this one little excerpt:
Bauxite mines, my go to on analogies.
A bauxite mine analogy would be hilarious to trot out in a seminar. I like keeping people on their toes.
the draft is on sunday night, and we still have 1 or 3 spots open for the WGOM fantasy football B LEAGUE. go ahead and sign up!!!11
League ID: 451476
Custom League URL: http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/footsandballsguys
Password: wgom.org
if anyone wants to join but is having problems with this, let me know.
Hmm. I'm not sure what's still open, but my brother who's football obsessed has never played Fantasy and sort of wants to this year. Would you be okay if he joined? If he joins I may too just so he's not feeling alone.
you're both more than welcome. and then we'll need one more player after that. i thought someone else was asking about it, but i can't remember who.
EDIT: ah, it was the pirate. PIRATE! WE NEED YOU!
I'm feeling like an idiot, but I can't find a way to enter a league ID and password on the new site. From what I found, it looks like the commish (you?) would need to email an invite. If so mine is zmoney at google's email service. My brother is sauvagga at the same email service.
Same problem. Hit me up at my email. I may not be able to make the draft, but oh well... Are you guys doing this EPA style with promotions and relegations?
invitations have been sent.
DPWY: i sent it to yoru gee-double-u-you account as that seems to be all i have. if there's something better, let me know.
Nope that's the one. I got it. That gee-double-u account is a Gmail account affiliated with the school.
Seifert on the importance to the NFL of this settlement.
The players have sacrificed their own well-being for the good of the league. Just as it has always been.
Nos morituri te salutant!
Is the bacon craze over? Yes. Definitively.
Gophers give up a touchdown on the first drive.
its gonna be a long season
/overreactions