SpartyBlue

Even better for me as I only have to wait until noon here in the states

I'll believe that when they win something...anything. Georgia always seems to me the most likely one to knock Bama off their perch.

it's amazing how little qualification you need for some locally elected positions. I was watching something on the problems we have with coroners/medical examiners in this country that was pretty disturbing. In one case the sheriff of a town was also the coroner and routinely didn't bother to do autopsies when a death involved an officer. Apparently, in most places you just have to be 18 with no felonies.

Full disclosure first, I attended MSU. Harbaugh is definitely starting to feel some heat about his record vs his two main rivals but I can't imagine he's going anywhere. He's a legend there and has had success on both the college and NFL level. Who are they gonna get that's a better fit? Short of Saban deciding to head north again I think he's pretty entrenched. My boys are pretty hard to gauge. We were pretty decimated by injuries last season. We will be better no doubt and we have a lot coming back but it's hard to give a prediction. I learned years ago not to doubt Dantonio so it wouldn't surprise me if they surprised me. This is a great time of year for sports. The start of football and the start of futbol. Anyone in the SEC a threat to the big dogs?

That's very interesting. I believe the ERA is still open for ratification and if I'm not mistaken i think they are up to 37 states and need only 1 more. Looking at you, Alabama. Haha, I kid.

Looks good as an attacker/crosser from what I've seen. Not sure on his defense but French International so can't be too bad.

1. The prison labor system we have is pretty messed up for a variety of reasons. I expect it’s not been challenged because there is nothing to challenge. You can’t say something is unconstitutional if it’s explicitly accounted for in an amendment. It is, quite literally, constitutional. 2. You are correct that their are various protections in place within other laws. The ERA itself has an interesting history. Cruised through Congress in the 60’s or 70’s but fell just short of the 38 states that needed to ratify largely due to the work of one woman who made it her life’s mission to oppose it. If you’re familiar with John Oliver’s show on HBO he does an excellent (and amusing) summary.

This makes a lot of sense. Judging by the Palace forum the tide is certainly turning against him now. I'd be a surprised if he played against us even if he stays so from that perspective we've accomplished something already.

I guess the question is would you rather have Iwobi and 40m or so? The net impact may be greater w/ the extra money.

Very tricky with the ball from what I know and good at driving it forward. The knock is that he lacks end product but at 23 it's still quite possible he could develop there. I see on the Arsenal forum that many people think he'd be good as a 10. Given that we are linked to Doucoure and that we are apparently pursuing Zaha AND Iwobi I wonder if he's seen as competition/eventual replacement for Siggy as opposed to a full-time winger. Silva seems to value versatility very highly.

Hey hey boo boo

I could get into that. I'm knee deep in my fantasy football/daily fantasy sports research for the upcoming season. I suppose we should contain all the American sports chat to a future thread though.

Well said. I think it's important to both recognize the success of the document and it's limitations. By doing so it will hopefully appear to people as less of a religious text and more of the insightful but changeable framework it was meant to be. One example I like to cite to people who are a bit dogmatic about the Constitution is the slavery exception in the 13th amendment. If you're convicted of a crime the government is perfectly allowed to force your unpaid labor and you are essentially a slave of the state. The consequences of this exception have directly resulted in a lot of the problems we have with our prison population to this day. Also, we still don't have an Equal Rights Amendment which I bet would surprise a lot of people.

haha.Low blow. At least we are bad enough where we should have some very high level prospects coming through in the next 2-3 years. At least I have the Lions to look forward to...

He is the Shakespeare of our time.

Well?

The palace game is gonna be pretty spicy no matter what happens, especially in their building

That’s not really how it works though, is it? As an an example look at every other major sport. A career could end at any moment and many athletes are not simply concerned with their own welfare. They are supporting an extended family and trying to set up their children and grandchildren. It’s not as if the vast majority of “regular” people would turn down a 100% pay raise.

Better drama than Game of Thrones season 8.

Chene Park is a gem. I saw Smokey Robinson there last summer. It pains me to correct you but while we did make two World Series we were unsuccessful both times. We really should have gotten a World Championship during that time but, alas, the last one was in 84' as you're obviously aware of. Mind if I ask who your uncle was?

Lobbying, in theory, is perfectly reasonable. You have a group who believes in a certain cause or has a particular ideology and they organize to make their position known to those in power and vote for those who share their views. The problem comes from the money and power some of these groups control. The NRA, as an example, supports positions on guns that even their own members do not. Their influence and their views are in conflict with what the majority of the country wants and, I'd argue, with the best interests of the nation. Same for something like the tobacco lobby which wielded huge influence and as a result contributed to untold deaths for decades. The issue though is that there isn't really a good way to stop them in my opinion. Sure, you could limit political donations from these groups but I don't see that as a real fix. There would be nothing to prevent an organization from strongly encouraging it's members to give to certain candidates who would do their bidding. No different than how a particular religious denomination can encourage it's members to vote a certain way. This scenario might be slightly more agreeable because it's up to the individual ultimately but powerful lobbies and special interest groups would continue to persist.

Personally, I feel like Zaha is significantly more likely to be successful than Walcott but I get where you're coming from. There is something to be said for people around the world tomorrow looking at transfer news and thinking "Wow, Everton aren't f*cking around." Fans see that, managers see that and future players see that and it will make an impact. Since you're an american i'm comfortable with the following analogy. I'm from the Detroit area and as such am a Tigers fan. For many years (and right now, incidentally) we were one of the worst teams in baseball. Then in 2004 we were able to coax Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez to come to Detroit, a destination that was not at all attractive to free agents at the time. That one move set a tone that would later result in signing players like Magglio Ordonez, Gary Sheffield and most notably, Miguel Cabrera. For many years after we were among the best teams in the league. Sometimes it just takes one statement of intent and one player willing to buy in to the vision of a club to change perceptions. I'm not saying Zaha is for sure that guy for Everton but I do think his signing would change the perception of us as a good mid table club to one who is a real threat to the established order.

If we do sign him, regardless of how he works out, it does put us in a different tier on the global stage. The ability to sign a player like him for that sort of money is a very clear message. In fact even launching these kinds of bids is a statement.

Bit of a snowball effect. Playing attractive football towards the end of last season and having some good results vs. the top 6, new stadium plans moving along, signing a really high level teenager like Kean, clearly having an owner who is willing to spend what it takes to push into Europe. Lot of factors all pointing in the same direction.