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Ghost of LL

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by Ghost of LL

  1. If you're not watching right now, Ukraine is in yellow and Belgium is (uncustomarily) wearing light blue. In the other game in the group that is going on right now, Slovakia is in light blue and Romania is in yellow. And that's just really cool of all of the teams concerned.
  2. I just think it's really cool that both games in this group are light blue against yellow. Obviously, that was a purposeful scheme worked out by the four squads. And while it does make it slightly hard for me to figure out at a quick glance which game I'm looking at, I'm totally here for the underlying messaging.
  3. It's not "dastardly." It's just bully behavior. It's the behavior of the neighborhood bully when he sees the little weird kid in the neighborhood rolling around on a new bike. The little weird kid is all proud of his new bike and is letting everyone know that it's the best and that he's going to win every bike race from now til forever. What's the bully going to do? He's going to shove the little weird kid down into the mud and take that bike. And that's why aggy left for the SEC and why they're talking Big 10 now. They're getting bullied, and have been the victim of bullying for a century-and-a half. It's like they moved to a new school to escape the bullying, only to have the bully move into their school the next year. And so now they're faced with the prospect of endless nuggies from now until the end of time. And you would feel bad for the bullying victim, except . . . well, they kind of deserve it. There's the theory of pre-karma. Actually, I don't know if there's such a thing as "pre-karma" at all. I'm not a scholar of Hinduism. But there should be. Essentially, the Universe knows that were aggy ever to win anything of substance, that they would be such insufferable assholes that karma could never fully account for their fuckery sufficient to bring the Universe back into balance. So to prevent that, the Universe doles out pre-karmic retribution, both to punish on a preemptive basis, but also to prevent aggy from winning and becoming the infinite assholes that would bring about unresolvable karmic imbalance. I think that's how it works. But I don't know. Am I a guru? No. But maybe.
  4. I just can't right now. It's amazing. I don't think this could have been done in a way that was any more publicly humiliating to aggy. I'm trying to think of how, and I really can't come up with it. They manage to get themselves to the biggest stage in college baseball, and of course they lose. And before the spotlight shifts, we enter from off-stage and step directly into the spotlight, rob them and knock them down, and then walk off the stage as the spotlight follows us, never to return to aggy. Aggy is left laying on the ground. In the dark. Crying. But that's the public part. Equally amazing is the "private" part of it--what they're saying in their conversations among themselves. They've actually worked themselves into a conspiracy theory whereby Schloss has been a secret Longhorn agent who . . . and I'm still trying to understand this . . . got them to the National Championship series with the intent . . . again--I'm still trying to understand this . . . of losing. But aside from the incomprehensibility of it all, think about the psychological trauma this evidences. They genuinely think that we're in a position that is so superior to them that we would (and, more importantly, could) pay off their coach to throw a national championship. It's insane. But it's in equal part just . . . really sad. And by "sad," I mean fucking awesome and amazing to behold. I just can't right now. It's too much. Even for me. I mean, it's like if you gave Robert Downey Jr. a roll-aboard full of cocaine in 1997. I mean, he would want to do it all in one sitting. He'd probably try to do so. But really, it's just so goddamned much that even I can't do that much aggy misery in one night.
  5. Aggy. Again we see there is nothing you can possess which I cannot take away. EXCEPT, our face isn't going to melt off at the end of the movie. You hear that, aggy--no face off-melting for us!
  6. I fucking cheer for Three Lions' success, and I have to agree with you. This is just a slog.
  7. Pooooor aggy.
  8. Isn’t that both offside and a handball?
  9. These predictions are very strongly premised on the presumption that people who tell pollsters that they're going to vote Reform are actually going to do so on polling day. I'm very skeptical. The same pressures that entrench the two-party system in the United States are present in the UK--maybe stronger. And in the same way I don't think for a minute that RFK Jr. is getting 12% of the vote, I don't think Reform is going to get anywhere near 20%. You already see the two-party machinery swinging into action this weekend, with the Mirror openly calling Farange a "Putin stooge." I mean, they're right; he is. But that's the Conservative Party talking and working to get its voters back in line. And ultimately, I think they'll be largely successful.
  10. In Russia, there is no separation of church and state. The Russian Orthodox Church is explicitly and emphatically an organ of the Russian government. And its "priests" are government agents who are frequently directly employed by the FSB. So they not only disseminate government propaganda, they also inform on their parishioners (and, in an area like Dagestan, probably on other members of the community). So don't think of a Russian Orthodox priest as akin to a Catholic priest in Austin. He's much more analogous to an imam in Saudi Arabia.
  11. Oh, Jesus--I didn't think it was possible for me to cheer against aggy tonight any more than I already was. But between the prospect of getting Schloss in here countered with the threat of Vitello coaching my team (he may be a great coach, but he's also a fucking tool), I'm going to be cheering for the Vols every much as though it were the Horns out there.
  12. Counterpoint--it's not up to the Turks to impose onto English-speakers a diacritic that is completely foreign to our language. I don't think it's necessary to spell "São Tomé and Príncipe" with all those little squiggles, even though I understand they're proper in Portuguese. It's enough that I address the country as Sao Tome and Principe, which is how it is styled at the United Nations. Perhaps I'd give more of a shit if the Turks would address my country as the United States of America rather than the "ABD." And I understand that they want to call Germany "Almanya," because that's just in keeping with Constantinople's Roman heritage. But unless the Turks are going to start calling Norway "Norge" rather than "Norveç," I'm really kind of uninterested in their histrionics over the deal. Final funny note on all this--the United States Department of State has adopted the "Türkiye" spelling, but also made clear that the pronunciation remains the same. That is, American diplomats don't adopt the overwrought Canadian-ified "Turkey-eh" pronunciation that you heard on the broadcast. And I just personally think that's really funny. edited to add: These days without a morning match to distract me from these little flights of irrelevancy really suck.
  13. Oh, you chocolate-eating watchmakers thought you were going to beat die Mannschaft. But you’ll get an outcome as neutral as your foreign policy.
  14. Holy shit
  15. There it is. Maybe a bit overdue, but definitely not surprising.
  16. Es verdad.
  17. Ok, I’m now strongly cheering for Portugal just because the Turkish fans’ incessant whistling is making me insane.
  18. That would be helpful. From the side angle, I think I agree with the call. But I'm not particularly passionate about it; it's arguable either way. Does the 6-yard box have any meaning when the ball is in play? I think that's the philosophical question at issue here. I think under the black letter of the rule book, but answer is "no." But I think the reality has generally been quite different, with the keeper getting a lot more latitude in the six-yard box than he would, say, at the outer edge of the area.
  19. Good God--absolutely stunning to me that neither of these teams have scored into the 71st minute.
  20. I just got back from a three-week family trip during which I started picking up some of the GenZ lingo from my 15- and 13-year old. My 15-year old was generally pretty chill with it, but the 13-year old was less enthused. Finally one day, she got so frustrated with me that she glowers and says, "Dad, you're so cringe." "Daughter--just remember that today's slay is tomorrow's skibbidy cringe." She sits back, and after a moment's thought just says "frl frl." Frl frl, indeed, my friends.
  21. We stayed there last March on the trip that gave rise to this thread. Unfortunately, I don't have any specific recommendations for restaurants; just recommendations on areas. Just on the other side of the Shimbashi train station (which is about a three block walk from the hotel) is the Shinbashi neighborhood. It's full of little bars, restaurants, and izakayas that are worth checking out. Particularly on a Thursday, when all the salarymen are starting to get their weekend drink on, the place becomes amazing. Otherwise, for breakfast or lunch you definitely have to do the Tsujiki Outer Market, which is just one metro stop away (or a slightly longish walk). Mrs.LL and I did eat at China Blue in the hotel. It was exceptionally good and disappointing all at once. I know that doesn't make any sense. But that was the feel that both Mrs.LL and I came away with.
  22. Yeah, but on a corner here is where you'd really love to have Kane still on the pitch.
  23. I wanted to see that, but I was outvoted by the family, which unanimously wanted to go across the street and see Six. It was good. Probably not my favorite. But I was entertained. Notwithstanding @PenelopeWitherspoon's sage advice, we ended up staying at the Ritz-Carlton in NoMad, and that ended up being a good decision as we ended up at Bazaar afterwards. That's a great place, and I'd definitely go back. All around, a fantastic property that I'd highly recommend.
  24. The Fifth Circuit has stayed the contempt order, holding that the district court likely exceeded its legal authority. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca5.211751/gov.uscourts.ca5.211751.232.1.pdf
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