Ferrum Aeternum

Yes, the contract is worth it. To a team with a hope of contending. If all he's doing is helping the Angels win 80 games instead of 71 games, then it's not worth it to them.

Dumb. Trout is a generational player, but in baseball you need a lot more than one guy to sustain any kind of success. They will have to continue shelling out boatloads of cash to other FAs, cross their fingers and hope they put it all together before Trout's inevitable decline. The flipside is that they're doing this for leverage - lock him up now so that you maintain the ability to trade that gargantuan contract 2 or 3 years down the road to a Yankees/Dodgers type huge spender who's willing to eat the back end of that deal. I can't think of another logical reason for the Angels to do this.

The funniest part of the map is that mighty Duke controls like...3 counties.

Your last sentence can't be quoted often enough, and I'll go ahead and quote the one before it as well for good measure. We as a society (Americans) need to eliminate the stigma of two-year degree and trade programs. I'm not sure exactly when the perception arose that these education choices are "undesirable," but it needs to stop. One reason I feel this way is because in talking to my clients, mostly medium-sized US corporations, the jobs they have the hardest time filling at present are the skilled labor positions. Meanwhile they have more overeager white-collar office job applicants than they know what to do with, most of which will undoubtedly end up disappointed with whatever position they eventually manage to snag. It's been 25+ years since I went through this process myself, and since I don't have kids of my own I can only relate stories I've heard through others since then. All I can say from reading through all these responses is that the environment today is an even bigger nightmare than I thought. The simple fact is that the market is oversaturated with degree holders who have always believed that earning that piece of paper is the golden ticket to a better life. Instead, many of them find themselves overwhelmed with debt and forced into whatever low-paying starter job they can manage. As others have pointed out, the ones with built-in financial advantages start out the race several laps ahead. In addition to the points already raised, they're also the ones who can afford to take the unpaid internships which have become the surest path to the most desirable entry level jobs in the market. I was 2nd in my (small, public) high school class and had excellent test scores, but otherwise my high school "career" was rather unremarkable. My parents were blue collar and sure as hell weren't about to pay extra to anyone for my education. They always wanted me to go to college, but made it clear that I would be mostly responsible for getting myself there. Pretty much the only way to do that nowadays is to bury yourself in debt and hope for the best. What a dismal fucking racket.

I saw earlier today that Hans Zimmer will be scoring the film. He does Big Epic Movie exceedingly well, so I think he's a great choice.

Good point, and the more I read about NMSU the more convinced I am that they are the most likely 12/5 upset pick regardless. Lots of size and depth, two things Auburn doesn't have much of, relatively speaking.

Ha well I don't know much about NMSU other than they're a 30-win team and a 12 seed, always a dangerous combination come Tournament time. I think y'all will be okay. You seem to be gelling at the right time. I'm just happy Ole Miss is in the field and has a winnable first round game. I hold no illusions of us beating UVA if we get past the Sooners but hey, you never know. Kermit has worked magic in the Tournament before...

Definite upgrade over Tannehill!

He would at least be a somewhat adequate stopgap.

Apparently the Titans will only have to pay Tannehill $7 million guaranteed (with a playing time escalator to $12 million), which is fine for an experienced backup. It makes sense for them. As for the Dolphins, I guess they're in full blown tank for Tua mode? Because nothing else about this makes sense.

Correct. There is a massive groundswell of this shit through various Internet platforms that are easily and readily accessible by anyone, including the disillusioned, entitled failures who inevitably consume it. The meme culture you mention has turned the whole thing into a sort of game for these people. Spreading hate through "humor." That's how these ideas have spread so quickly and have largely evaded public notice. If anything positive can come of this horrific event, perhaps it will serve to shine a light on these cockroaches that up until now hasn't been bright enough.

Look no further than the Patriots for proof of this.

Are you sure if Washington loses in the Pac 12 tournament, particularly to a team other than Arizona St, Oregon or Colorado, that they would get in as an at-large? Cause I'm not convinced of that. Which bubble team's resume do they surpass? As I see it, they have a bunch of wins against mediocre-to-bad teams and no horrifically bad losses. Not a compelling case. ETA: Oops, sorry, they lost to Cal. So there is one staggeringly bad loss to boot.

All awards that aren't directly based on a statistic (e.g. a few of the NHL trophies) are by their very definition, subjective. I get that you're pissed about your team getting disrespected by a bunch of jerkwad sportswriters, but that doesn't invalidate all awards.

OK? By that logic, all awards are dumb. That's all.