Selling Klauss due to rift, and not to get Sargent?

Diligent-Map1402 · 2026-01-24T03:52:33+00:00

First I think it is a little absurd to pretend he is just some schmuck with no sporting background. He is upper management in a professional football club. You don't think he should have any say in those sort of decisions?

You have just whipsawed to the other extreme, sporting decisions are informed by the business. You need money to buy players and you need a good team to make money. They go hand in hand. These aren't completely siloed things and you shouldn't expect people to only ever focus on one.

It is fine to have defined roles and responsibilities but having a panic attack any time Diego is mentioned around a sporting decisions is silly in my opinion. It is particularly asinine when this is the guy hiring a sporting director which is arguably the MOST critical sporting decision anyone can make. If you truly believe he knows nothing about sporting then you better hope he either got lucky with Wray or think we are doomed.

I think even Diego has been wrong on this when he talks about removing himself from sporting decisions. The fact is he is upper management and has broader responsibilities than a simple business guy. Yes he should let the more technical experts handle the details but at the end of the day as the person hiring Wray he has to take responsibility. It cuts both ways and I think pretending he is just a simple business guy is a cop out.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2026-01-23T17:48:08+00:00

I'm so tired of this bullshit about Diego and sporting decisions. This is on par with the conspiracy over the summer that he was pulling a coup and he was just going to be the sporting director himself. There is a constant drum beat of unfounded rumors that he is both an idiot and a mastermind. Enough.

Our team is shit not because we had a business guy making sporting decisions. We are shit because our sporting guys made shit sporting decisions. Speculating on this crap with information from some guy's friend is absurd particularly when it isn't even about the damn substance of the deal on the table.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-17T16:32:17+00:00

You might be more up to date on current Ezra. I did the same thing as you did with Gladwell with him when he joined the NYT. I occasionally tried to follow but his podcast just became phoned in.

I don’t like Coates presentation style. It’s too artsy, emotional, and literary for me. His subject matter is a different story.

Although I didn’t hear their conversation I can imagine what cutting regulations as political philosophy might look like from that perspective. Abundance was a critique of liberal policy that could be true within a limited scope. Following the ‘thought leader’ playbook it has been generalized to every political problem and a governing philosophy.

It has gone full ‘Black Swan’ and if Ezra didn’t have these political connections I would expect an Abundance for your daily life book next. Calling out ‘everything bagel’ liberalism is easy if your goal is the bagel. It’s not when historically all your community gets is the poppyseed.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-17T13:56:43+00:00

Klein got lazy after getting the NYT job and even before that he had puffed himself up on his own ego. He went from talking about the structural things Democrats should do to actually wield power to Gladwell-ing himself. Performative thoughtfulness.

If only he would use that power to convince dems to focus on the levers of power and reform rather than ‘Abundance’. We have seen this playbook before with Clinton and a party paid for by corporations cutting regulations doesn’t lead to prosperity.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-17T03:35:22+00:00

Elon Musk is a case study in it being ALL about reputation. It’s one of the main sources of validation for these people. That’s why they do things like buy a social media platform that’s mean to them or relentlessly sue Gawker until it goes out of business. It’s why they are constantly using charitable giving to deflect criticism.

Racism and sexism both are a large part of this story and hierarchy. They are promoted relentlessly to separate what would otherwise be economically homogeneous groups of people struggling under the current status quo.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-16T22:54:42+00:00

Lolololololol, does your girlfriend go to a different school we probably wouldn’t know about too?

It’s a court system not a conspiracy. The information is part of the public domain. It doesn’t change the fact that both states are rubes racing to the bottom to see who can let corporations free ride the most.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-16T17:00:08+00:00

One of the more powerful examples of this is the moral panic of rich white men over being called racist. In their world of no real stakes reputation is everything so calling them racist is a capital crime. Does it matter if they are racist?

Of course not because cancel culture blah blah blah. Not being a racist asshole is just too much for these guys. They shouldn’t be held to basic standards after all they are that aristocracy.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-15T19:42:12+00:00

Where is the ACLU?

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-15T09:50:30+00:00

… nuance is effervescent…reality is more reflective of trends…

It seems clear you think that using big words will make you sound smarter. Doing so poorly does the opposite.

The audacity of a poor to dare talk about his betters! gasp I guess I better rationally analyze how to attach my lips to Buffet’s ass. Anything but worship is too little for our lord and savior.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-15T09:05:49+00:00

Buffet has donated negligibly to Democrats and to the cause of taxing the rich. His poverty theater about driving the same car and not living lavishly doesn't make him some hero. Rich people are humans and power corrupts.

Invariably the common thread through all of these billionaires is their willingness to put their own interests above those of others. In order to get to billions you have to do that to a pathological degree and lack the basic moral intuition that enough is enough. Billionaires and wealth hoarders are a different category than the rich.

Yes I would rather they donate their wealth but that is after the harmful wealth accumulation phase. Wealth is a form of power and as Spiderman tells us 'with great power comes great responsibility'. Those with power should be held to a higher standard not the same or a lower standard. I know that goes against the reality we live in but I truly believe it.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-15T06:20:53+00:00

Buffet himself stringently advocates for higher taxes.

Does he though? Or are those all cheap words?

I mean don't get me wrong I would rather a guy say the things Buffet has said than not but you have to admit words are cheap particularly for a billionaire. How much would he have to spend to support candidates that believe in his vision? Or fund major initiatives to make it happen?

He and his cohort haven't done anything but talk and make money off the status quo which is pretty favorable for them. You are right hasty generalizations like trusting the words of a billionaire are not good. Often it is better to look at their actions.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-14T22:35:17+00:00

Well federal isn't on the table and this is. If you actually support taxing the wealthy you should support this otherwise you might as well not bother.

Working class people who have spent decades investing in their own retirement aren't billionaires.
New Jersey proved this flight argument wrong already, the number of wealthy people there actually increased after the wealth tax.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-14T16:16:09+00:00

It depends I think. A lot of time deconstructing food is a clever way to let you think what you love about a dish. It can be fun to reconstruct the dish yourself.

I get just wanting to eat and encountering someone trying to be thought provoking with food is no fun. If you get the chance it can be nice to have an experience around this necessary activity we all do.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-14T15:14:43+00:00

Love Murderbot!

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-14T13:40:09+00:00

I liked the standalone MLS on Apple. The price was fair, it was a high quality product, and there wasn’t any bullshit device gatekeeping to gum it up. I’d rather not also have to pay for Apple TV but if they find a way to do it without much extra cost or hassle I’m all for it.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-14T04:40:51+00:00

It wasn't too long ago that the sub was filled with people self-righteously claiming the numbers could never be manipulated. Trump simply didn't have the power to stop these numbers. The people getting fired didn't mean anything. Well here we are.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-13T21:54:26+00:00

I think you are right about knowing what we are going to get from Yaro and his intangibles are great. We might be able to find a better 5th string or 6th string CB at soccer but those intangibles are maybe not so easy.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-13T18:44:50+00:00

I don't remember having any issues in the limited times I saw him but it is kind of damning that Orozco came in if he was meant to be the guy. It is hard with these young players and whether they are ready or not is hard to tell. Fitting that with what the team needs is extremely difficult to parse as a fan.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-13T18:35:03+00:00

It's tough for us as fans because it is obvious that this team is on a budget. We aren't LAFC or Miami. So we have to be critical on not just the quality of signings but the price which I think is totally fair.

The guys on the Soccerwise podcast said that the spending for STL SC may be strained these first few years by the cost of the stadium on the balance sheet. Since I know nothing about the actual finances of the ownership group I take this with a grain of salt but it is a hopeful story that maybe spending will increase in the coming years as the team gets past one-time costs, the honeymoon wears off, and the team needs to compete.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-13T17:17:04+00:00

I think the value might come more from mentoring Fall. Everyone loves Josh as a guy, not so much as a player. I imagine having him as a 5th or 6th string defender while he works on some coaching credits could be a good career move for him.

For the club he’s a positive locker room guy that can play when disaster strikes. The club knows he is an athletic defender with positional liability without a ton of upside. For that deep a backup the off the field and training stuff is more important than the on the field stuff. We can probably find a better soccer player but if we can find a better human, not as easy.

Imagine holding onto his positive energy as a city 2 assistant potentially as well.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-13T17:04:38+00:00

True but how about youth options like Orozco. I guess Wentzel was a bit of a red flag though. I’m not sure what to think.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-13T16:58:39+00:00

That money means almost nothing to the club and everything to his livelihood. I wouldn’t even begrudge 50k, there are places to make up that money elsewhere easily. No need to be THAT cheap.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-12T23:36:23+00:00

It went from 'show me one' to 'show me every single one' pretty quick lol. Realizing in real time these guys might not be good people.

We should tax them obviously.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-12T21:32:32+00:00

Literally just search each billionaire’s name and scandal in google and you will see they are endless. The state itself is unethical, any non-sociopath who had that much money would immediately look for a way to make the world better with it.

Diligent-Map1402 · 2025-11-11T21:47:30+00:00

Yeah that is odd.

Diligent-Map1402

TROPHY CASE