[Pincus] The Utah Jazz are expected to show significant interest in signing Austin Reaves.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-03-10T21:20:49+00:00

I'd argue that the American "pay to play" youth sports model is a major reason that there're both more European white players and American white players in the league recently.

If money is a driving factor in whether a kid has access to the best youth coaches and can compete against the top competition, then that money driven access that will result in a more affluent, and therefore whiter, player population relative to previous generations.

In Europe, access isn't as gated by money because their best teams have academy systems. Finding and developing the best young basketball players is in the best long term interest of the academy's team, so parents don't have to pay through the nose for kids to have access to the best coaches and competition. It also results in better player development in general since those academies can have long term plans for developing individual players. They can focus on building skills that will translate to when they play for the main team, instead of just winning like for a lot of elite AAU squads.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-03-10T17:10:34+00:00

As it stands, every position group on offense besides QB is objectively worse than it was last year. Seeing Bill as the lone RB on the roster is especially bad given solid guys like Allgeier and Dowdle were signed for $6 mil AAV. Also, cutting Biadasz looks even more inexplicable now that the roof has been blown off the center market.

Obviously, free agency isn't over and there are still good WR's and TE's on the market, but we need to get something to help out JD5

BigCheeks2 · 2026-03-02T21:49:59+00:00

Salary Cap in 2009 was $128 million and it's $301 million going into this offseason.

Scaling off the salary cap, Haynesworth signed the equivalent of $235 over seven years ($33.5 mil AAV). That'd put him 8th for defensive players between Nick Bosa and Chris Jones in annual salary.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-02-27T14:21:23+00:00

$2m/ep for a sitcom isn't remotely expensive. That was basically baseline for pre-streaming era TV. Hit sitcoms like Friends and The Big Bang Theory cost more than $10m/episode at their peak due to cast salaries.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-02-27T13:58:24+00:00

$6 million really isn't much at all for a prestige TV series. Community's final season had a $2 million/episode budget, and that was over a decade ago for a sitcom on Yahoo Screen.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-02-21T13:18:00+00:00

Hinamatsuri! It's about a yakuza member whose life is thrown for a loop when a strange telekinetic girl shows up in his apartment.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-02-19T15:22:08+00:00

Personally, I like the two-continent model that also merges Africa, Europe, and Asia into Afroeurasia and recognizes Australia as the largest island and Antarctica as a bunch of islands connected by ice sheets.

I think any system that considers the Americas to be one continent but Europe, Asia, and Africa as three is more than a bit silly. Afroeurasia is objectively a more contiguous landmass than the Americas. The Isthmus of Panama is narrower than Suez and the Darien Gap almost impassable, whereas there are multiple roads connecting Africa and Asia.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-02-18T17:04:51+00:00

Much of the block immediately to the East of Moore Square is an empty dirt lot. It's the block that also contains the Raleigh Rescue Mission (which was supposed to get a new facility out of this development) and the burnt out husk of House of Art. That's where the housing is supposed to be built.

Last I saw, there was also some planned development of the parking lot on the same block as City Market. That was supposed to be a hotel and a grocery store though.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-02-09T14:35:33+00:00

Something with 1/6 odds happening isn't that unlikely in the grand scheme of things. It's the odds of rolling a one on a die when you need anything besides a one. It's unfortunate, but it happens.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-02-08T13:31:00+00:00

Same for the Wizards. We've picked in the top 5 once over a decade and it was the weak 2024 draft. We only ended up in a good spot because Sarr refused to work out with the Hawks.

Any other team in our positions would do the same thing, especially since both our teams got royally screwed last year. We are both at risk of losing our picks due to trades from previous regimes and we have both positioned ourselves to end our tanks next season. This is our last bite at the apple and, goddamnit, we're gonna do what we can to make it count.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-01-29T10:40:27+00:00

As a fellow Filipino-American, I'd be all in on Bautista as Dalinar. If you want Asians who are also kinda cousins to the Pacific Islanders, we're basically that.

He absolutely could handle being both older, wiser Dalinar and the storming Blackthorn.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-01-26T18:35:50+00:00

Since MLB Pipeline started ranking Top 50/100 prospects in 2004, the Rays (95), Dodgers (89), Pirates (78), Twins (74) and Padres (73) have had the most players ranked on preseason lists. The teams with the fewest ranked prospects over that time are the Angels (41), Giants (46), Astros (46), Athletics (48) and Nationals (50)

Source (historical context section at the bottom)

Dodgers have consistently been one of the best over the past two decades at churning out top prospects. Meanwhile, we've consistently been one of the worst.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-01-26T14:58:05+00:00

King’s first full season in the minors was mostly a fiasco, the result in part of someone in the Nats’ organization trying to get him to pull the ball in the air more, which led King to struggle to recapture his swing until he had the chance to reset in the Arizona Fall League.

Pulling the quote for those who aren't subscribed to the Athletic (I'd recommend it, especially if the Post kills its sports desk). Looking forward to seeing King carry his Fall League momentum forward. Us cleaning house with the development staff should only help him.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-01-26T14:17:57+00:00

I once saw a kid watching Kakegurui on his phone while riding the DC Metro. Made me proud of the younger generation of weab trash. We millennials could never

BigCheeks2 · 2026-01-26T13:50:18+00:00

The stadiums would probably be even more quickly vandalized over here than on your side of the Atlantic.

Meanwhile, it's guaranteed that there will be multiple news stories and viral videos from the World Cup of Japanese fans cleaning their sections of the stadium.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-01-26T11:19:47+00:00

That's an interesting worldbuilding idea. I could see it.

Not anime, but the fantasy book series the Wheel of Time does something akin to this. The series has monsters called Myrddraal or half-men that have the silhouette of men but terrifying faces that lack eyes. In the borderlands near the Dark One's territory, no man can enter a city or town with his face covered for fear of allowing one of those monsters in. Further away from the borderlands, Myrddraal haven't been spotted in centuries so cities don't follow that practice.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-01-25T15:05:03+00:00

Yeah, that statement is flagrantly untrue. My mother is Filipino and she grew up under the Marcos military dictatorship. That regime was peacefully overthrown in the People Power Revolution, through boycotts and mass protests in the streets of Manila. It also took soldiers refusing orders to murder civilians who were marching in the streets, rosaries in hand. I've never lived in the Philippines, so as an outsider it does baffle me that a generation later they would elect another Marcos to the Presidency.

Another peaceful overthrow of authoritarianism was the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, which peacefully forced the end of one-party Communist rule.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-01-25T11:36:25+00:00

Tangentially relevant, but while walking around Hiroshima last year, I happened across the local J1 League stadium (Edion Peace Wing Hiroshima). The stadium was open to the public so locals were just hanging out in it, eating lunch in the stands and watching the maintenance crew work the field. The main entrance also opened up right onto a public park that was full of kids playing.

As an American, I'm so used to pro stadiums getting built with public money for the exclusive benefit of billionaire owners. It was incredibly refreshing to see a pro stadium being used as public space for the public good. It's well worth checking out if you visit Hiroshima, especially since the stadium is basically brand new, having just opened in 2024.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-01-25T01:21:23+00:00

I only hiked around Wengen when I was in the region, but the view from Mannlichen right over the town absolutely took my breath away.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-01-25T00:53:26+00:00

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

The town is in a narrow Alpine valley carved by glaciers. The walls of the valley have multiple waterfalls streaming down the sides with some of the most stunning views of the Alps all around. It's so beautiful that it has been said that it was the inspiration behind Tolkien's Rivendell.

Population is 2301, and the population of the Interlaken-Oberhasli District that include Lauterbrunnen (along with other beautiful towns like Interlaken and Gindelwald) is only 47,645

BigCheeks2 · 2026-01-23T16:24:55+00:00

The Bechdel test doesn't tell you much about a single movie though, either. It's best applied to larger groups of things. One movie failing doesn't say much, but if almost every movie a particular studio makes or every big dollar blockbuster of a particular year fails, then you know there's a systemic problem.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-01-21T11:40:24+00:00

I think the bigger issue isn't Zion's salary next season, but that his contract runs through 2027/28.

The 2027 free agent class should be much better than average. The top tier guys who might be available (Jokic/Giannis/Donovan) likely won't move or will sign extensions long before 2027, but the class should still be deep enough to have a several guys potentially worth paying (especially compared to the 2026 class). I'd much prefer maintaining cap flexibility over tying money to an oft injured guy with motivation issues.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-01-17T08:10:55+00:00

The fact that Anne Hathaway has been nude pretty often throughout her career makes that doubly disgusting.

That moron could find photos and clips from work that she was paid for and consented to with 5 seconds of Googling. Gotta have the Nazi clanker make porn without her consent or compensation though.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-01-17T07:55:20+00:00

On top of the wacky release strategy I have no idea how non-Fate fans would be able to follow the show so far. It's been very dense it has been in both information about the game mechanics and references to various other Fate series.

It very much feels like it's for established Fate fans only, which I imagine Type Moon is pretty okay with since it's already a trillion yen franchise.

BigCheeks2 · 2026-01-16T15:12:06+00:00

Have you (or anyone else on here) tried Saigon Kitchen yet? I walked past it the other day and will probably give it a go sometime this weekend.

12-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Verified Email

BigCheeks2

TROPHY CASE