The longest thread ever

[OldPhiKap]

She's a very kinky girl
The kind you don't take home to mother
She will never let your spirits down
Once you get her off the street

She likes the boys in the band
She says that I'm her all time fav'rite
When I make my move to her room
It's the right time, she's never hard to please

[OldPhiKap]

Everybody was kung fu fighting (Huh!)
Those cats were fast as lightning (Ha!)
In fact, it was a little bit frightening (Huh!)
But they did it with expert timing (Ha!)


(Starting final descent so need to shut stuff down. Thanks for keeping me company!)

[YmoBeThere]

There's not much that isn't, TBF.

I never really pictured you as a Frank, phredd.

[bundabergdevil]

I never really pictured you as a Frank, phredd.

Ba dum tssssssst.

[YmoBeThere]

(Starting final descent so need to shut stuff down. Thanks for keeping me company!)

Good luck at the tables!!!

[YmoBeThere]

Ba dum tssssssst.

Sometimes they leave the key wide open. When the dunk is there, you've got to take it.

[bundabergdevil]

Sometimes they leave the key wide open. When the dunk is there, you've got to take it.

GOT to!

[YmoBeThere]

GOT to!

Unless you are going to miss it. Then you shouldn't.

[acdevil]

Or if you’re Ben Simmons.

[ClemmonsDevil]

Big OPK night. Big OPK night.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Running on the beach is hard. Movies make it look so joyful. It is not.

Depends on the particular sand at the particular beach.

But what do I know, I'm running averse.

[ClemmonsDevil]

Wilson and I hijacked the MLB thread.

[wilson]

Wilson and I hijacked the MLB thread.

As I said over there, I really didn't mean to. But I am intrigued if anyone else has had reckonings with their relationship with big-time sports like I have in recent years. Those wheels have been turning for several years, but my personal evolution on the matter was definitely accelerated by the pandemic and the ways in which it forced reconsideration of the things and people that are important to me and deserve my time and energy.

[ClemmonsDevil]

As I said over there, I really didn't mean to. But I am intrigued if anyone else has had reckonings with their relationship with big-time sports like I have in recent years. Those wheels have been turning for several years, but my personal evolution on the matter was definitely accelerated by the pandemic and the ways in which it forced reconsideration of the things and people that are important to me and deserve my time and energy.

The college sports/higher learning conundrum is a good point. Ivys (Ivies? No wonder I didn't get in one of them) do wonderfully without big time sports. But Duke, Stanford and Vanderbilt all have big time athletics programs that seem to not conflict too much with their academic missions. And those athletic programs can offer a world class education for kids who wouldn't have qualified, or could have qualified and not been able to afford those institutions. Again, this is an exceptionally complex situation for which there is no easy explanation. Complex issues require complex answers.

[Bostondevil]

The college sports/higher learning conundrum is a good point. Ivys (Ivies? No wonder I didn't get in one of them) do wonderfully without big time sports. But Duke, Stanford and Vanderbilt all have big time athletics programs that seem to not conflict too much with their academic missions. And those athletic programs can offer a world class education for kids who wouldn't have qualified, or could have qualified and not been able to afford those institutions. Again, this is an exceptionally complex situation for which there is no easy explanation. Complex issues require complex answers.

Ivies.

Harvard has 40 varsity sports teams. All of them are majority white except for men's basketball.

[YmoBeThere]

Harvard has 40 varsity sports teams.

Do they offer full rides to a large percentage of participants?

[ClemmonsDevil]

Ivies.

Harvard has 40 varsity sports teams. All of them are majority white except for men's basketball.

I don't feel so great about that. My concentration was the American Civil Rights Movement and these are the types of things that I care deeply about. Thanks for sharing.

[Phredd3]

As I said over there, I really didn't mean to. But I am intrigued if anyone else has had reckonings with their relationship with big-time sports like I have in recent years. Those wheels have been turning for several years, but my personal evolution on the matter was definitely accelerated by the pandemic and the ways in which it forced reconsideration of the things and people that are important to me and deserve my time and energy.

My reckoning has been with violence in sports. Football, in particular, is such a damaging sport for the players, and it is soooo wildly popular. To me it is just a step or two short of watching boxing or UFC. Boxing/UFC are, IMO, really just a step or two short of watching full-on gladiators. Hockey is less damaging and more about skill, but the fights are more glorified, so I have trouble with that, too. I don't watch boxing/UFC at all, seldom hockey, and I frankly find football hard to avoid. So many people are passionate about it and could not care less about women's sports, for example.

But, to be honest, part of the reason I enjoy women's sports is that they are not popular, so they are much more accessible.

Yeah, it's complicated.

[Bostondevil]

Do they offer full rides to a large percentage of participants?

No, Harvard doesn't give out athletic scholarships, none of the Ivies do. That actually makes for more generous financial aid though for everybody. Tuition is on a sliding scale for the entire student body and although they don't give out athletic scholarships, they have plenty of financial aid to offer the admitted athletes who cannot afford to go without financial aid. That's a small minority of the admitted athletes though. Someday if you're bored, check out where the ~200 men on Harvard's crew teams went to high school. When I hear people advocating for the end of legacy admits at our more elite institutions, I argue back with the point that unless you end athletic admits as well, you won't really put a dent in the problem. 40 varsity sports teams. 40. Harvard admits less than 2000 students a year. I would say 5 freshman per team as an average is not an unreasonable estimate. That's 200 admits for athletics every year or slightly more than 10% of all admitted students. The overall acceptance rate at Harvard is about 4% now. Recruited athletes acceptance rate is not quite 100% but it's close.

[ClemmonsDevil]

My reckoning has been with violence in sports. Football, in particular, is such a damaging sport for the players, and it is soooo wildly popular. To me it is just a step or two short of watching boxing or UFC. Boxing/UFC are, IMO, really just a step or two short of watching full-on gladiators. Hockey is less damaging and more about skill, but the fights are more glorified, so I have trouble with that, too. I don't watch boxing/UFC at all, seldom hockey, and I frankly find football hard to avoid. So many people are passionate about it and could not care less about women's sports, for example.

But, to be honest, part of the reason I enjoy women's sports is that they are not popular, so they are much more accessible.

Yeah, it's complicated.

So I would watch the US Women's Soccer Team in a major match before I would watch the Superbowl , if they were up against each other. I am interested in knowing if the men's team won, but I don't hate myself enough to watch unless it's the World Cup. That's like wearing a hair shirt for mortification of the flesh. I hate myself, but not quite that much. The women's team in my top three favorite teams to watch in any sport. I don't miss a match during major tournaments. I think women's tennis is every bit as good as men's tennis. I think women's volleyball is a more compelling sport to watch than men's volleyball. I absolutely love the women's volleyball Final Four and women's indoor volleyball in the Olympics. I like beach volleyball a lot as well, but prefer indoor. I like women's basketball but not as much as men.