Ghoat

a, b, c is the same thought, rephrased 3 times. (A) d, f, g is the same thought, you don't care for the guy (B) e not sure where twitter comes from, it's not mentioned anywhere. Or maybe it's just part of (B) So (B) - you have low opinion of him, I have no problem with that whatsoever (A) - I do not know if you are referring to the left/liberal wing in Australia, the US or the UK. I took his thoughts in context of American politics (and yes I know he is a Brit). US Politics I understand because I lived in the middle of it for 50 years, the others I plead ignorance on. I try to follow the Brexit and General Election thread, but honestly, I have a hard time wrapping my head around most of the discussions. So I'll hold any further thoughts, before I realize I'm ignorantly in a discussion about oranges, when I was discussing tangerines.

That's huge. I'm starting to think Delph's leg fell off.

I don't think he's wrong on any of this really. Or at the very least, it's points worth considering.

BB was great. You had a feeling, eventually, where the conclusion of characters were heading (with some surprises) as the writers begin to narrow the character's options, but it was still fantastic television. In BCS, you know EXACTLY what happens to most of the characters we meet, and it's a trainwreck. But the fact that the writers keep you so riveted to see the series of events from seemingly divergent character, that lead to the trainwreck...and all the "ah, that explains" moments. It remains to be seen if BCS could be a "stand alone" series, but for me it has surpassed BB, which is a phenomenal feat. And depending on what they do with the final couple of seasons, there is certainly the opportunity for a third installment. Maybe on Gene, maybe Jessie who knows.

I usually explain the Cup competitions, especially the FA Cup to my confused compatriots as being similar to the NCAA Basketball Tournament - March Madness. For those not familiar it's a 64 team (college) basketball tournament at the end of the year that includes the best 40-50 teams and another an15-20 that only qualify from winning other tournaments, played over about 3 weeks. They are put in 4 groups/regions, seeded best to "worst" 1-16 where 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15 and so on, knockout/single game style. The winner of each 16 team regional advance to the Final 4, then championship. An "8" seed has won it once, never a 9-16, it's set up for the best teams to advance. But every year some unfancied "Cinderella" 15 beats a 2, or a 12 beats a 5, then a 4 etc which is like a Newport County knocking Leicester City. So most colonials do "get" the giant-killings, especially if they follow March Madness. But you are correct in that our professional sports have no possible scenario for lesser/lower teams to even play, let alone beat the big boys. Only baseball even HAS a "lower divisions", but they are more analogous to U-23 and U-18 teams, not lower divisions. We simply have no professional equivalents. You don't want to be a proud part of a smaller team's history......

Meh, she kicks like a girl. A 37 year old girl

Now I hate me some Pete Thamel w a passion, but this is a good piece. Kinda of hot topic with we Auburn fans, as we just announced our starting quarterback, and he's a true freshman. 5 stars, ranked #1 in the nation, his Daddy was a legendary QB at Auburn (and his HS coach), he enrolled at Auburn in December went through bowl practices and went through all the spring training and now summer training...but the last competitive snap he took was 6 months ago in high school. And his next snap will come against the #11 team in the nation, when Auburn (#16) plays against Oregon in Dallas at Jerry's world. Why evaluating QBs may be hardest job in sports: 'Like putting a jigsaw puzzle together':Pete 'suck my dick' ThamelWESTLAKE, Calif. – The drafting and recruitment of quarterbacks remains the most unpredictable variable amid two billion-dollar industries that rely disproportionately on the productivity of that position. The most important position in all of sports still somehow remains the most difficult to evaluate, as attempting to quantify how a quarterback processes information, reads defenses and works through his progressions resonates simultaneously as one of the game’s most critical and difficult ventures. In the NFL and college football, there are millions poured annually into scouting, recruiting and attempting to decode football’s final frontier. “The makeup of the quarterback is such a rare and unique collection of factors,” said longtime NFL executive Mike Tannenbaum, now a draft analyst for ESPN. “Processing is so important, and until [the quarterback is] under center and taking snaps, you really don’t know.” For all that’s tangible in quarterback evaluation – arm strength, athleticism and speed – there’s so much that’s difficult to ascertain. Why were Tom Brady and Russell Wilson passed over by every NFL franchise before becoming Super Bowl champions? Why will Jake Locker, Geno Smith and JaMarcus Russell long be remembered as busts? Why did Mitch Mustain turn from a five-star to an afterthought while Andrew Luck soared to the top pick in the NFL draft? Why is it so hard to identify quarterbacks who will excel at the highest levels of football? Because processing at the most important position in sports is a science that hasn't yet been mastered. Much comes down to the intangible and unquantifiable – processing seamlessly amid chaos, adjusting to defenses pre-snap and the ability to react and think under pressure. There are some scientific attempts to quantify the brain, reaction and instinct, but for now it remains one of the sport’s great unknowns. “Whoever figures out how to teach processing and can explain how they do that to everyone is going to be a rich man,” said Will Hewlett, a Texas-based private quarterback tutor. “It's harder to put your finger on than physical traits, skills, even leadership qualities.” The unrefined process behind figuring out how well a quarterback processes information begins, in most cases, long before their senior year of high school. UCLA coach Chip Kelly has tried to crack the code of the quarterback’s mind as both a college and NFL head coach. In recruiting, he said the best way to evaluate the mind of the quarterback comes from an unofficial visit early in the prospect’s career. There’s a chicken-egg dynamic that makes this a tricky tightrope, as Kelly wants to sit down with a quarterback recruit and go over offense on the board with him to get a sense of how he processes and thinks about the game. Ideally, that would happen on campus on an unofficial visit. But sometimes recruits won’t take the unofficial visits without having already received a scholarship offer. “The [recruiting] process is going faster and faster with people offering freshman and sophomores, and I think they're just throwing offers out and hoping they hit on somebody,” Kelly said. “I think it has [made things harder]. And the kids feel like, ‘Well you don't like me because you haven't offered.’ Well, I don't know if I like you because I haven't met you yet.” Stanford coach David Shaw, like many coaches, puts an importance on getting recruits to camp to evaluate their processing ability. “I like to see when he goes from his primary to his secondary and third read,” Shaw said. “The timeframe for him to see it, diagnose it and get the ball out of his hands. That usually shows processing speed, to see it and get it out of his hands quickly.” At camps, Shaw likens giving quarterback recruits new plays and concepts to the processing speed of a computer. “How quickly can you diagnosis it and make a decision?” Shaw said. Everyone agrees that time with quarterbacks helps clear the fog of mystery in how well they process. Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald says his program takes concepts that teams use at the NFL Combine to evaluate high school quarterbacks. Fitzgerald and the Northwestern staff pull out a series of a quarterback recruit’s plays and grills them on what they’re seeing. What was called? What’s the protection? Can you check off the play? He adds: “If we call apples, do you only look left? If we call oranges do you only look to the right?” Fitzgerald says that conversations with both the high school coach, coordinator and independent quarterback coach can also help piece together the quarterback’s processing ability. “It’s like putting a jigsaw puzzle together,” Fitzgerald said. In the NFL’s quarterback evaluation, the proliferation of simplified college spread offenses has made the evaluation of processing more complex. Rams coach Sean McVay told Yahoo Sports at the QB Collective this summer that he’s always certain not to hold the system against the quarterback. “You never want to punish a guy for not getting exposed to certain looks or operating out of a certain system,” McVay said. “There are so many nuances to that position, but I think it’s a product of what he’s being asked to do. How quickly do you see him process based on what you anticipate that concept is for?” Hewlett points out that much of high school quarterback recruiting is done on pure physical talent and through traditional paradigms. For example, 6-foot-4 quarterbacks are almost always going to have more offers than 5-foot-11 quarterbacks. Hewlett makes an interesting point at the NFL level, as he notes that the physical difference between the eighth-best quarterback in the NFL and the 25th-best is slim. At that level, they look for context clues that show the quarterback’s mind is working fast. Hewlett says that a throw that arrives early with enough velocity and arc is a sign of ability to process and anticipate. A quarterback’s feet can be a window into his mind, as calm feet show a comfort in what a quarterback sees. Happy feet show a disrupted mind. Hewlett says variables offer important clues: “Is the ball coming out on time or does he look hesitant? When he connects with a receiver, is it in rhythm or is it more reactionary? Is there timing with accuracy? Is the throw late or flat?” One of the looming existential conversations about evaluating processing explains in part why it’s still layered in mystery: “Is processing innate or can it be taught?” Shaw, a former NFL quarterback coach, is convinced that some of it has to be natural. “We can't build it from zero,” he said. Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy, a longtime former NFL scout, uses Brady as the example for the “innate quality” in processing. “That’s what made Brady so good, the game has happened slow for Tom,” he said. “That’s one thing that got overlooked at Michigan.” Can technology change the mystery and help quantify the way that quarterbacks get developed and hone in on weaknesses? Shaw thinks so, as he’s an advocate of reps on virtual-reality machines. “It works,” Shaw said. “What the eyes see, the brain believes, and now that’s getting an extra 20 minutes, 30 minutes of ‘practice,’ which counts toward your 10,000 hours to be an expert at something.” Two men with PhDs in cognitive neuroscience have dug deep on attempting to quantify the brain’s processing ability in football and baseball. Scott Wylie and Brandon Ally are co-founders of SportsSense, which works with three NFL teams, three Power Five football teams and one MLB team in each division. (They also have begun testing elite quarterbacks at the QB Collective.) Wylie said in a phone interview that factors they can quantify in quarterbacks by using cognitive brain-testing techniques include impulse control, tracking capacity and how the brain picks up subtle tendencies and patterns. All are critical amid the uncontrolled chaos of the quarterback’s pocket. Wylie scoffs at tests like the Wonderlic, long a barometer for NFL intellect, and says that SportsSense can measure things like a quarterback’s likelihood to make impulsive mistakes while under pressure. “It’s like a combine for the brain,” Wylie said. “We are in the business of quantifying instincts.” While there’s serious and furious work to control the variables, the most important position in sports remains the trickiest to evaluate. And that’s why nearly every year, two billion-dollar businesses struggle to identify and develop the right people at the most important position.

I haven't seen anything grevious from VAR yet. Actually I have been pleased from what I have seen. Is not there to look over the shoulder of the ref or judge his 50-50 decisions. It's there to correct "wrong" calls, not judgement calls, as it were. And so far it's been quick, not drawn out and killing game play like we have seen on the International side.

Well they they can carry rabies so THAT'S always a concern. I have them constantly in my yard and jumping around my trees, randomly changing direction at full speed - they can't be caught. That's probably why they used to use a raccoon tail on hats instead of a squirrel's....

Breaks are for the weak, and those that missed preseason training! Peaky Blinders is next when I finish MI-5/Spooks

Time for Better Call Saul!

Perhaps most Americans were lobotomized at birth. That would explain where the "u" in color went....

Steve and Baily both make good points, not sure which is correct maybe a little bit of both. But possibly just the combination of their strengths and weaknesses and how they play make Siggy and DCL not an ideal 10-9 combo. I guess we will know as the season goes on and see different pairings. Maybe DCL comes to life with Iwobi at the 10, maybe Siggy creates havoc with Kean at the 9 or such

The "l" is fairly soft, as opposed to when it starts a word - "like" or a word ends in "ly". The only people I would expect not to pronounce the "l" in calm, would be those w a strong northeast US accent - Boston/JFK type accent, NJ or NY, which Trump has a bit of. They tend to pronounce the letter "a" hard, and stretch it out a bit. Calm would be more like "kahm", less so that the l is silent, but more the "ah" is so damned loud. The rest of us say "cal-m" (NSFW)

Agreed, but how come when y'all sing, ya sound 'Merican? But Kar-ma and calm-er?

He was pretty missing the second half, until the end until the end, when he did the Lords Work holding possession of the ball in the last few minutes

He was not outstanding but rarely put a foot wrong and he appears like he is going to be a very good player. good passer good on the ball pretty big and physical. Look forward to seeing him continue to get comfortable and settled. Kean looked really good. Strong, and dang does he spin off and get Ina shooting position quickly

Mina was an absolute beast rising over attackers and clearing with his head. That partnership looked good.

Kean has some goals in him for sure....

if it's a gathering that's all about me so to speak, make it something I'd want to go to if I wasn't in a box. Decent Dad, husband, kind to old ladies and strangers, years of volunteering in youth soccer leagues fine. But if it's going there, probably shouldn't skip over "usually smuggled liquor into functions inappropriately" and "farted in crowded elevators and then giggled like a school boy" You know, I have talked about writing mine for years, but I haven't done it, I really should. Funny, irreverent, where people would laugh out loud...with a bit at the end to make sure all those fuckers walk out in tears, bam!

Shut it MJB, I asked for an outsiders perspective! I kid, I kid And and you're probably correct, no offense taken. Also senators for the most part unless they are majority/minority leader don't tend to be as newsworthy (or bombastic) as representatives are. He has just kind of struck me as the odd duck, mainly due to the (I), kind of like your eccentric uncle you only see every couple years at reunions. And I really don't mean that in a bad way. While I completely disagree with almost all of his domestic and social policies, I will give him credit for being consistent with his core values, regardless of what me or anyone else may think about them. And he does seem like a generally decent human being. Fine, you two "liberal granola-eating pinko hippies" have swayed me a little bit on this one, but don't let it go to your head

I will agree, he absolutely change the conversation and was drastically different from his opponent in the party and the opposing party. So is that what made him an American Hero in your eyes? That is a clarifying question, because regardless of your answer I don't have a follow-up question

I think Mina gets a little bit of a bad rap. He came in fighting both injury and acclimation problems. What we saw from him later in the year and even this year has been pretty positive. I am willing to mostly give him a pass for last year, and see what he does his second year. If his form in the future looks more like his old form than his current form, I will eat my hat and say I was wrong.

On one hand, the fact that a democratic nation will tell our democratically elected leaders they are not allowed into their country is a little disconcerting, I won't lie. On the other hand if you spent the last year consantly publicly telling Israel to go suck a dick, I think Israel has the right to say no, fuck you. I'm very concerned about the precedent it sets. But Free Speech doesn't mean Freedom from Consequences. (As anyone married welln knows). I am legitimately torn on this.