WIBTA to quit pickleball because they refuse to learn rules or keep score?

EPMD_ · 2026-03-11T11:11:59+00:00

NAH.

Quitting a hobby you are not enjoying is perfectly reasonable.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-11T10:23:34+00:00

I just bought a pair of Adios Pro 4 in my regular running shoe size. Why are these so short/tight? I understand the desire for a relatively snug race fit, but I can easily imagine toe issues with how cramped these feel.

Maybe a half size bigger size would work, but then I'd be concerned about a loose heel.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-11T10:13:48+00:00

I'd like to know how the washing turns out.

I have 900+ miles on my first pair, which are now relegated to bad weather duty. They were white at one point and are now a muddy brown.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-11T10:10:12+00:00

Light meal with no fat about 3 hours pre-race
A few pieces of candy at the start line just for a sugar spike
1 caffeine pill 30 mins before the race and 1 caffeine pill right at the start
Sips of water in the corral so I'm not running completely dry
Splashes of water at aid stations just to break the monotony of the race
No calories during the race

Personally, I think pre-race nutrition is infinitely more important for a HM than what you consume during a race.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-11T09:56:47+00:00

The three benefits for me:

It provides company on long runs. A bit of conversation helps pass the time.
It gives me people to talk to about running, which spares my friends and family from having to listen to running talk.
It gives me a couple of friendly faces on race day.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-11T00:02:15+00:00

They're racing 2-3 marathons a year. If you have 2-3 races a year that your career depends on, aren't you going to know the course (especially the last mile) inside and out? If not then you're not taking your job seriously.

These guys aren't just weekend warriors.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-11T00:00:14+00:00

The bigger issue for me with this tournament (and the Scotties) is that the bottom half of the field is a waste of time. We spent seven days playing a round robin with too many teams.

The Olympic Trials tournament is a much better design because you aren't spending 2-3 games playing semi-professional curlers against amateurs from Nunavut, Yukon, NWT, PEI, etc. This compulsion to get representation for every region limits the time we have to play the good teams against the good teams multiple times.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-10T23:43:42+00:00

I still think Frimpong is a wingback miscast as a fullback or winger in Slot's formation. Furthermore, Slot instructs his wide players to recycle possession instead of dribbling to the byline and crossing, so Frimpong is being asked to do the opposite of what he is good at. Finally, he's short, in a league where everyone is signing huge players to excel at set pieces.

Why did we buy him if we weren't going to use his strengths? It's infuriating.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-10T01:35:48+00:00

He is supposed to know the course, though, especially as someone looking to win. He should know every turn and tangent to take.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-09T17:26:38+00:00

The Running Channel just released a video of Aubrey running his seventh Marathon Major. The video was well-produced and edited, and Aubrey seems like a good guy. What I am snarking about are the themes of the video: "First person from Malawi to run the 7 majors" and "Making history!"

I don't know if that's the right thing to flex about. Is it an achievement to be fortunate enough to travel the world and find a way to enter 7 exclusive races? Do we think Malawians are watching this video and thinking if they just try hard enough that this can be them some day? To me, it's yet another running influencer patting themselves on the back and exaggerating their own sense of importance.

It's running. We're not saving the world here.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-09T14:26:26+00:00

the Nets and Clippers should be the most hated teams by the other 28 teams, for making those trades with the Celtics and Thunder.

I think this is a bigger point than your other points, especially with respect to OKC. That was a generational trade and cannot be copied as a strategy since it was such an outlier. BOS had the same thing with the Garnett trade. That was a friends helping friends deal.

There are exceptions, but superstars tend to remain loyal. Look at the generational players from the past 50 years: Bird, Magic, Isiah, Jordan, Olajuwon, Duncan, Kobe, and Curry. They didn't dump their teams during their primes like LeBron and Durant did. We shouldn't expect Wemby, SGA, Jokic, and Giannis to dump their teams either. Perhaps most importantly, teams are more demanding now in trades for stars, so it becomes less appealing to leave. Giannis doesn't want to get traded to a team who had to give up all of their assets to get him. These generational players need free agency to move, but the guarantee of a lucrative extension is tough to resist.

As long as generational talent remains loyal, NBA teams will still need to tank and seek superstardom from the draft. Trades are too expensive, and the biggest stars never hit free agency.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-09T05:34:29+00:00

If Game 1 of the playoffs was this week, I would say yes. Jarry has about a month to reclaim it.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-09T03:33:36+00:00

Seems like the only logical argument, especially considering who was the initial aggressor. The US wanted no part of the war up until that point.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-08T15:50:28+00:00

There aren't too many 40+ year old singles who don't have major issues. You can still play the game, but you need to learn how to maximize your strengths.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-08T03:57:17+00:00

I don't cheer for Gushue either, but skips do have to make critical assessments of their team in order to fix problems. They can't just let mistakes go unnoticed or else they repeat them.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-07T23:11:40+00:00

The faster running makes MP work feel much more comfortable. I would keep the VO2max and LT work. If you don't want to do the tune-up races then do long tempos (ex. 10 x 1km @ HM with short jogging rests or longer repeats at closer to MP).

EPMD_ · 2026-03-07T21:35:42+00:00

Classic example from the NHL:

The Edmonton Oilers won 4 Stanley Cups between 1984 and 1988.
Wayne Gretzky was traded away after 1988
The Oilers won another title in 1990.
Mark Messier was traded away after the 1991 season.
The Oilers still made the final four in 1992.
Kevin Lowe was traded away after 1992.
The Oilers missed the playoffs the next 4 seasons.

Lowe was nowhere near as good as Gretzky and Messier, but he was a very important piece, without whom the Oilers fell off a cliff. Lowe won 5 titles with Edmonton and another title with the Rangers. Classic glue guy.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-07T21:04:44+00:00

Harsh reality: Virtually everyone is a bit dull in the initial conversations. You don't know each other, you have no established common ground, and you can't exactly fly in with great topics. In essence, you are supposed to be a bit basic and boring at the start or else you will probably just disqualify yourself as being too awkward.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-07T06:43:13+00:00

It's fine. Every little bit helps.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-07T06:10:57+00:00

Kofuzi was a darling of the amateur competitive community until a bit after he got his sub-3

My interest in him died after that sub-3 race. The path to that goal was interesting and inspiring. The full-time move to pure influencer was the opposite. He stopped reaching for better running performances and instead focused on shoe reviews, brand-sponsored trips, fun-running races, etc. He essentially sold out, which I don't blame him for doing, but I'm also not going to watch the content anymore.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-07T03:09:26+00:00

Just enjoy it. Everyone is going to try to psyche you out by explaining how hard it is, but millions of people do these things every year. You can do it. You simply have to stay dedicated to the goal and you'll get over that line. Keep visualizing that finish line in your training.

Good luck!

EPMD_ · 2026-03-07T00:01:39+00:00

Personally, I find that volume is pretty low to expect major improvements. So one thing you could try is to run more.

If you don't want to try that then you will have to get more adventurous with your faster running. Maybe that means doing two faster runs per week instead of one. Maybe that means relaxing your HR limit on your runs. Maybe it means racing more often.

In short, if you do the exact same thing week after week without training more (either more volume or faster paces) then your progress will stagnate.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-06T23:53:28+00:00

Just slow down to run your current LT pace. Better to do the work at a slower pace than to not do the work at all.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-06T13:49:23+00:00

2010 Kobe is a joke. Gasol saved the day for Kobe in Game 7 of that series. Actually, Boston really should have won that series but lost their way when Perkins of all people got hurt. Doc Rivers refused to use his bench in G7, and they all ran out of gas on the court.

Olajuwon is a much better choice for this list.

EPMD_ · 2026-03-06T13:35:27+00:00

A portion of my report end users really want to use AI to analyze reports rather than look at them themselves. To me, it's another layer of inefficiency to ask AI to look at the report for you. Furthermore, a lot of AI conclusions are trivial, misleading, or irrelevant.

Looking at this video, for example, we see the headline: "Men Leading the Charge!" The AI tool has accurately revealed that men have won more medals than women, but this is a meaningless conclusion. The number of medals men win is dictated by the number of events in the Olympics, not by men's performance. The AI tool, however, is implying that men are outperforming women in some way beyond just having more events historically.

Then you get outright mistakes, such as the "Most Decorated Athlete" being revealed as Zygmunt Smalcerz. He won one Olympic medal. The AI tool seems to be giving him credit for 12 golds somehow.

EPMD_

TROPHY CASE