Jump to content

Needle

Community Member
  • Posts

    303
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Needle

  1. On 5/10/2019 at 7:02 AM, Gugny said:

    In my twenties, I took the time to become a wrestling referee.  In one season, I was rushed by a drunken parent (at a morning modified tournament); berated by an angry mother because her son was pinned; and had to send an 8th grader to the locker room because, during a match, he was at the edge of the mat chanting "buuuulll ... shciiiiiit," whilst sitting NEXT TO HIS COACH.

     

    The drunken parent, I was able to quietly suggest that he leave the area and he obliged.

    The angry mother, I explained that her son was likely more embarrassed at her chewing out a ref than his about getting pinned.

    The 8th grader was suspended from the first baseball game of the season, because this occurred during the last match of the season.  He actually went to the same school I did (and where my son goes now) and I knew the coaches very well.  I had a talk with them that they should know better, especially with kids that age.

     

    I was done after that.  It was not fun.  The coaching thing is what pissed me off the most.

     

    ----------------------------------------

     

    Then there was little league for my son.  He was probably 7.  HORRIBLE.  And he just didn't really like the game.  But he played the whole season.  During the season, I was talking to another dad.  We were talking about one of the coaches (someone we'd both gone to HS with).  This coach deliberately delayed his son starting school so he'd be older than the competition.  

     

    Who the hell thinks like that when their kid is 4-5 years old????

     

    Same coach had two sons.  The older one is a gifted athlete.  Both football and baseball.  Crazy good.  The younger one is my son's age.  During on LL game, the coach's son made an error.  The coach yelled, top of his lungs, "you'll never be as good as your brother."

     

    Same game ... same coach ... this guy makes a pitching change mid-inning.  That NEVER happens in LL.  They don't even keep track of the scores/standings at that age.  Anyway, it's near the end of the game and there are 2 outs.  My son ... who never got one hit, mind you ... was up.  This douche brings in "that kid" who's bigger and stronger than everyone, to face my son.  The kid blew him away with three fast balls, which was no big deal.  But the fact that this a-hole took a kid out mid-inning because he gave up a hit or two, THEN brings in Mariano ***** Rivera to strike out the least-talented player on the team .... 

     

    I always hated that mother *****. That made me hate him even more.

     

     

    Parents are holding kids back for sports constantly in my kids school district. I had so many people tell me that I was making a mistake sending my daughter to school when I did. Totally insane and pathetic.

    • Thank you (+1) 1
  2. On 6/7/2019 at 9:00 PM, GoBills808 said:

     

    I hate to keep repeating myself but it really sounds like the majority of people’s issues lie with the owners rather than the dog.

    This is true but we can't eradicate morons from society unfortunately. Go to any shelter, in any city, and spend a couple hours watching the people drooling over this breed. I have very little faith in the average dog owner. 

     

    They get a bad rap because of the long well documented history of violence. There are far too many outlets that hand these dogs out to anyone.

    • Like (+1) 1
  3. I used to be very competitive but as I have gotten older (40 this year) I find less outlets to compete. Most of my peers use their kids to compete and I can't get into that. I want my children to push themselves and compete for themselves but I don't feel like it's my own accomplishments.

     

    The best way to be competitive as an adult is with your own self. Push your limits in whatever makes you happy and help others improve as well. You will live longer with this approach.

    • Like (+1) 2
  4. 1 hour ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

    I just don’t understand how this helps the running game.  You have a guy who is not a threat in the passing game so you just load up on the run when he’s on the field.  It’s like with Star.  You just spread the field and he can’t play/ is a non factor.  It’s not like Oakland had a good rushing attack.

     

    i mean it’s a back up TE so it’s whatever.  But much like paying veteran 30 year old rbs, it’s not what smart teams would do.

    I think you might be getting a little too worked up over this and I don't mean that to sound like I'm calling you out (many seem to be annoyed). I honestly think we are picking up a guy that offers zero mystery. The Bills staff knows what he brings to the table and what he can't do. That is valuable to an offense that is loaded with question marks. Smith is going to be an example of how to work and do the ugly things. He wasnt much money either.

     

    I don't think he will make much of a visible impact. At least to the fans he won't. The desire for teams to use him over the years is proof enough that he has value. 

     

    Smith on the field doesn't signal run necessarily. He pass blocks as well as he run blocks. We may be running more two TE sets this season as well. The use of play action is also something that is going to be emphasized again. I'm not worried about the Xs and Os of it. In fact, I hope teams over play the run because we have some burners to play with. On any given Sunday the game plan can change. Smith allows for a different kind of game than some of our other TEs.

     

    Crooms potential in my opinion is a dime a dozen. Every year free agency and the draft offer dozens of athletic TEs that have little impact. You can pick up 10 Crooms at any time.

    • Like (+1) 2
  5. I am another home gym fan. I had various memberships over the years and they were useful. One of the gyms was 24/7 as well and that was fantastic.

     

    Now I have kids and no ability to just take off. So I invested in a dumbbell set from 5-100 in increments of 5 lbs, a commercial bench,  and a rack. I also was gifted a pully/Smith type machine. All of this stuff was found used and relatively cheap. I've added different bars, a couple kettle weights, and other stuff.

     

    I have found my dedication to working out to be 100 times more consistent with the home gym. My life is crazy with work and 3 little kids. When the dust settles at 9 pm and everyone is asleep, it's the best way to decompress. I'm alone, I'm watching what I want on the tv, and I am pounding out sets. The dog is there though, it's his time too.

  6. For once it seems like the timing of available talent is lining up with the Bills needs. How many years have we watched them take a QB in a weak class or a RB when other positions were strong or miss a franchise player by one pick or trade up when they should trade down etc.?

     

    It's all on paper and means nothing but it feels like a positive direction.

    • Like (+1) 1
  7. 13 hours ago, SDS said:

     I have more youth soccer stories than you can shake a stick at. I have been heavily involved with my kids careers the last 12 years from rec to the highest travel level. 

     

     The two people you reference in your story know absolutely nothing about youth development. At that young age it’s all about early birthdays and early bloomers. I can tell you once they get to be around age 14 to 15 the talent range compresses significantly. The late bloomers eventually figure it out and the early bloomers were never truly anything special other than being older and well an early bloomer. 

    I would imagine that it can be a lot of fun especially if the kids are close in age or even playing together. The family is together and invested the same thing. I would imagine it doesn't work for other families with different dynamics, different finances, or different career requirements.

     

  8. 3 hours ago, RaoulDuke79 said:

    My daughter is 9 and has been playing soccer for several years. She made the travel team last year after not making the cut initially. When she finally did make the team she was one of the less skilled players. I'm probably a little biased, but she has made great strides,  and is now one of the stronger girls on the squad. At this stage of the game I have three main takeaways. 

     

    1. You're friend is doing a huge disservice to his daughter not only in soccer, but life in general by just giving up and quitting after not making the cut one time.

     

    2. There are a lot of politics that are apparent even at an early age with regards to who knows who, who coaches, who serves on which committee. 

     

    3. Damn.....who would have known how much money youth sports cost. 

    I agree with all three of your points. I played in travel baseball as a kid but it wasn't the type of traveling kids do today. In my opinion the travel sports at a young age are too much. I have to believe that most areas can field competitive enough teams without having to go all over the country. Kids really don't need to live out of a hotel for youth soccer. It is costly and a strain on family time in my opinion. In addition to that I have 3 kids, I don't mind making personal sacrifices but I'm not going to make one child sacrifice for another's travel sports. 

     

    I have another buddy who has a 10 year old son that plays baseball. The kid is a good player and loves the game. My friend is the parent who lives for this kids baseball, which is fine because right now the boy loves it. He literally plays in multiple leagues all year long. He meets with a hitting instructor a couple times a week. The newest league was an invite only tryout for a private team with a full time coaching staff. The requirements for this league are 1. Make the team 2. Pony up $6,000 and pay for all traveling 3. Quit all other teams. 

     

    The kid isn't allowed to play with his friends anymore and my buddy is never home. He admitted to me that he has missed massive amounts of time with his younger daughter and put a little financial strain on the family for baseball.

     

    Insanity to me

     

    • Like (+1) 1
    • Sad 1
  9. I am a parent of a 7, 4, and 3 year old. I have been warned for years about the ridiculous intensity of kids to high school sports today. I played a few sports as a kid up through highschool. I spent most days playing games in the neighborhood. We invented quite a few games as well. I'm 39 years old and I would guess most of you around my age and older have similar experiences.

     

    I have no clue about today's world. 

     

    I was blown away by something I heard from a friend last week. I told him my daughter is into soccer right now and she has been playing for a couple of seasons. She scores most games and is really confident on the field. This is low skill 7 year old soccer. She hustles and never stops running but that's all you need at this level. My friend told me his 8 year old got cut from the travel team tryouts last year. I said no big deal, she has a whole lifetime of soccer if she is into it. He said that as they were walking off the field on cutdown day he heard the coach say to the 8 year olds....."look at the faces around you, this is your varsity team". I laughed and said the guy has to be the biggest douchebag ever. He told me point blank that I was wrong and they were going to try another sport!

     

    The conversation blew me away. Does anyone else have any interesting stories of youth sports? Good or bad?

  10. 17 hours ago, ricko1112 said:

    We Pats fans are expecting him to come back around Thanksgiving. I believe he'll only play for NE. BB was entertaining trading him to Detroit at one point, but Gronk made it clear that he'd retire rather than play for any other team. Once a player retires, they remain the "property" of that team for the duration of the contract. 

     

    BTW, Gronk has yet to cash a single game check from NE. $$ isn't what drives him. It's winning. The "shell" of Gronk is still a top 5 TE in the NFL. Just as a "declining" TB12 is still a top 5 QB. At least for 2-3 more years. 

    Gronk has not cashed a single game check yet. I'm not making this up. He's got millions to spare.

    That's only because Gronk written in crayon on the back of a check is not an accepted signature.

    • Haha (+1) 4
  11. I love the show but was disappointed in the last episode. I have no problem with Arya killing the NK. The WW have been the threat being pushed the entire show and I thought it was ended too quickly. I also didn't care for all of the major characters making it. Winterfell had been overrun by the dead and everyone is slaughtered minus our favorite characters. They just dust themselves off and hug each other. It was a little soft.

  12. 1 hour ago, #34fan said:

    :blink: Did these kids not learn a thing from Ray "ruined career" Rice?

    For every Ray Rice dozens more get away unscathed. You have to be caught on camera or tee off on others to the point it can't be ignored. League doesn't give a rats ass. Chiefs just rolled out the red carpet for Frank Clark. 

     

    The viewing public doesn't really care either.

     

     

    So no the kids aren't learning a thing.

    • Like (+1) 1
  13. 21 minutes ago, Joe in Winslow said:

     

    No, because he was the only athlete more pompous than Tom Brady in that timespan.

     

     

    I guess I don't find either of them to be overly pompous in comparison to other great athletes.

     

    Barry Bonds, Deion Sanders, TO, Antonio Brown, Bubba Watson, Michael Irvin, Big Ben, Serena Williams, Floyd Mayweather, Conor Mcgregor, Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, John MCenroe, Andre Rison, Brett Favre, Randy Moss, Jon Jones, All 90s Bills, Roy Jones, Isiah Thomas, Ochocinco, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Bernard Hopkins, Sugar Ray Leonard, Lebron James, Sergio Garcia, Albert Belle, Gary Sheffield, Peyton Manning, John Elway, Dan Marino, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Shaq, Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis, Phil Mickelson, Sidney Crosby, Eric Lindros, Yasiel Puig, Madison Bumgarner, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Rickey Henderson, Emmitt Smith, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Gronk, Aaron Rodgers, Jim Brown, Charles Barkley, Desean Jackson, Odell Beckham, Darrelle Revis, Lawrence Taylor, Tito Ortiz, Leveon Bell, Latrell Sprewell, Paul Pierce, etc. etc. etc.

     

    This could go all night.

     

    I didn't include arguably the most pompous athlete of all time. He also happens to be the most beloved as well.

    Muhammed Ali

×
×
  • Create New...