17 thoughts on “5/27/25: Never Odd Or Even”

  1. well, this season was fun while it lasted (well, the Lakers and Warriors series, anyway). I think I'm done with the NBA altogether, they can have fun with their Most Valuable Flopper.

    1. So this is only my second season of watching the NBA since, I don't know, since KG left for Boston I guess, and the game has definitely changed. But I can't walk away from it again while we have Ant unless the new owners screw things up beyond all recognition.

      1. Part of what's going through my head is the disgust of the ongoing melding of professional sports and gambling, I'm starting to feel more and more distance from pro sports, generally. As far as I'm concerned, NBA has never de-controversied from Tim Donaghy (Scott Foster is my evidence), meanwhile there was that Liam Hendricks article that came not long after Pete Rose's HoF eligibility was re-instated and there's constant gambling ads everywhere. Like everything else, its all becoming anti-fan(customer). Plus, the prevalent foul-baiting is so hard to watch that it kills any caring I might feel about the league.

        1. I’m routinely conflicted about encouraging my kid’s interest in baseball because of the myriad toxicities of gambling. But MLB doesn’t care about lifelong fans who are teetering on the edge of forsaking the game for well-grounded ethical reasons as long as there’s another sportsbook to service.

    1. I don’t watch basketball, but borrowing an idea (declining the penalty) from football seems silly when the power play/shorthanded play of hockey & handball are right there.

      Define a “enhanced penalty” window within the fourth quarter. Player committing the foul goes to the bench for a period mandated by the type of foul, the fouled player gets three free throws if outside the 3-point line, and then the play resumes with the offending team shorthanded. When the offending team comes back up to full strength, the player entering the game cannot touch the ball until it crosses mid-court in possession of another player on their team.

  2. Parenting is hard.

    I'm meeting with the district tomorrow to discuss bullying of my daughter (going into 8th grade). The problem in our case is that we're in a small enough school, with a small enough student population, that each grade often establishes their own culture. Her own grade has established a very strong culture of bullying, wherein probably 75% of the student population is actively, frequently mean to each other. Unfortunately, she and one of her friends have been singled out even within their class, to the point where, literally, every time she speaks - even when a teacher calls on her or makes her speak - other students insult her, shout her down, make negative comments, etc. She's a perfectly lovely student, excellent grades, involved in extra curriculars (though not the popular sports), etc. But for some reason, she's been identified as the acceptable victim. It absolutely kills me.

    I genuinely don't know if there's a solution - they can't kick out all the other students. She can't be in her own class with just a small handful of kids, right?

    Anyone have experience with this stuff?

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