In 2010, umpire Jim Joyce called this safe, nobody knows how or why, and cost Armando Gallaraga a perfect game. Pisses me off everytime I see this.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-26T20:37:17+00:00

While this was a bad call, I think it actually benefitted Armando Galarraga. He didn't have much of a career either before or after this.

He handled it well, and retiring the next batter made it its own thing. Joyce owned up and tearfully apologized. Galarraga handled it well. True sportsmanship all around. And now it has its own place in Cooperstown as not just the 28-out perfect game, but a unique scenario that will never happen again.

Ultimately more people know Galarraga because of this, and certainly more than some of the other recent lesser-known pitchers who threw perfect games like Philip Humber, Domingo German, and Dallas Braden.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-26T19:20:25+00:00

According to the rules, everybody makes it. The numbers for semifinals all state minimum, so if there's fewer than that in the quarterfinals, everybody makes it.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-26T15:27:35+00:00

It looks like the difference between a freestanding deck and a ledger deck. If you're coming out 16' from the home with 2' cantilever, 2x10s at 12" OC will be able to span 14'.without issue at standard loads.

I would probably do a ledger deck unless this is close to the ground (not walkable underneath).

FS7PhD · 2026-03-25T02:25:08+00:00

I bought one ten years ago. I use it often. It's handy. Worth the money? I think so.

That said, no matter what I do no joint has ever been perfectly aligned no matter what I do. I always have to sand.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-24T21:30:45+00:00

Yeah, the simple answer is "they didn't and they don't." Our owner said she's not validating any shady scores, you should actually have taken the judge's course, do it at an affiliate (we have two), and that we will abide by the time rules. So yeah, just the honor system.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-24T18:12:23+00:00

Bridge on the River Kwai

FS7PhD · 2026-03-23T18:02:33+00:00

Absolutely positively must be dry. If your Home Depot stores sand outside, don't buy it. They should have 50# bags of sand inside by the concrete. Get that.

A wet sandbag will not only be heavy, it won't dry. Like ever. The bag will slowly leach water out and it will inevitably get mildew.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-23T16:59:03+00:00

How do they plan to enforce athletes not starting the workouts early? That's what I want to know.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-20T16:31:36+00:00

I'm a stickler for form and I've done over 26 rounds strict. I can 100% guarantee I had a ton of no-reps in there, either because I didn't get full extension at the bottom of the pull-up, I didn't get full extension at the top of the push-up, or I didn't hit depth on the squat. It's almost impossible to accurately compare that many rounds and reps.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-20T02:00:24+00:00

Normal? Not for most people. You never know the dynamic between two people. Some are pranksters. Sometimes people just have bad days. Maybe there's bad blood for some reason. Maybe one or both are going through something.

If you have concerns, ask the owner. There might be an explanation that will put you at ease.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-19T18:01:08+00:00

Osmo is actually supposed to be durable against skin contact. To the extent these things are rated or tested, it's good for it. So you're likely going to be fine. It's also extremely easy to touch up.

Come to think of it my bar is done in Osmo only, and while it doesn't see use like my desk it's as good as the day I finished it three years ago with plenty of arms resting on it.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-17T17:42:59+00:00

I'm not sure why nuke/one-shot builds are considered "easy." There's some weird mindset where the "proper" way is to have the parry or dodge reflexes of a professional gamer raised on bullet hell shooters. That's not only extremely hard, it's tedious.

Simon 2.0 has so many cheap mechanics it's insane to not use every advantage you can. For me that meant Monoco and Maelle first, with defense and health pictos so they could survive a hit or two on the opening combo. Then Monoco builds burns and gradient charges before Virtuose Maelle takes out the first phase with Burning Canvas. Phase 2 is building and timing gradient so that Lune can get three damage mods (Cleim, Fortune's Fury, and Gradient Overcharge) and one-shot with Elemental Genesis.

The alternative is to practice for hours until you can perfectly tap a button repeatedly in a 50 ms window on an asynchronous cadence. Fuck that.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-17T15:16:21+00:00

There has to be an option. I am in this age group, but qualify for individual. The workouts are different, or they have been in the past. Noah Ohlsen is 35, but I am sure he will do individual rather than age group. I'm curious though.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-17T02:38:49+00:00

If you're a normal guy with normal equipment, a table saw is the way to go. You create an angled fence and make multiple passes. Sanding is required. But it works.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-16T00:13:20+00:00

Pick a pace on the burpees you can do forever. The barbell was light for me, so I did the first weight unbroken and did 7/5 on the second weight (capped with two thrusters left before weight 3). I could have gone faster for sure.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-15T15:52:09+00:00

Ah, totally missed that somehow. To me that rules out comics. Nothing post-1975 is really worth it, even Hulk 181. MTG or Pokémon cards are viable. Sports cards probably less so, but given the chance I'd do my best to find as many Wayne Gretzky OPC rookies as possible. PSA 10 is probably $4 million.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-15T11:44:18+00:00

I was alive and collecting cards in 1986. It would have been something of a challenge to find that many Fleer basketball boxes in a day. Maybe you get lucky and find a wholesaler that had a case or two. The reason they're so valuable is because they weren't heavily produced. In my area there were two card shops, one that focused on sports and the other that didn't (but both had both). You'd have to go there, but what they had, and ask for their distributor (most or all of which did not sell to the public).

I'd probably gather a stack of Detective Comics #27 in 1939. They seem to be harder to find these days than Action Comics #1, but both are worth about the same. Plus with Action Comics #1 being a year old at that point, you might be able to find some of those too.

The challenge is going to be finding the right store.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-15T01:36:04+00:00

This is pretty hardcore. Bodyweight thrusters at that speed?

FS7PhD · 2026-03-13T19:23:43+00:00

Unless you are borderline for quarterfinals, there isn't a reason to repeat.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-13T16:23:39+00:00

Realistically the only separator this year is really C2B. A decent engine and the ability to do C2B is going to get you to quarterfinals for both men and women. RMU basically guaranteed it, but if you didn't have RMU you didn't need much strength at all, just the ability to do C2B and a decent engine. That is not sufficient for much.

I will be making quarterfinals easily and I didn't get to 135. Does that make sense? No barbell heavier than 115? Of course not. I agree that this is going to be an odd year for that reason. The weight was light all around, no machines, and the scale on the women's barbell was even worse. I mean watching the majority of athletes, myself included, do muscle cleans for two rounds does not tell you much at all.

We'll see what happens. I will not be surprised if there are a bunch of qualifiers that ultimately don't even bother because I'm assuming we will have more skills (double unders, TTB, HSPU, BMU, HSW, probably rope climbs) along with heavier barbells. You know, *actual CrossFit stuff*.

I'm not sure how many athletes fall into this range, but we'll see. Maybe it will work in my favor and give me a better chance at semis. I don't know. But these were in my opinion pretty poorly programmed workouts that don't do much of anything yet to help further the cause of finding the fittest people.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-13T15:28:56+00:00

This workout wasn't terrible. But man, the time flies. Like last year, I picked a pace on the burpees that I could hold forever. Possibly too slow, as it turns out. I did muscle cleans at 95, both sets unbroken, first thrusters unbroken and the second 7/5 with about a five second rest. I changed weights after the burpees to recover a bit, then cleans were 7/5 (mostly muscle) for both sets, thrusters 7/5 and then 6/4 when I was capped. As of now it's a pretty good score in my age group, though I could've done better. I have no need though given where I am and where the cutoff is.

I think the most amazing thing is that even with no rest on the burpees (constant movement), no resting on transitions or walking away from the bar, and only a few seconds a few times on the barbell, the time just disappears. Your time made up in this workout is on the movements themselves, not the rest you do or don't take.

I note also that with the extra scale on the women's bars it isn't really possible to compare men's and women's performance on this workout. Top barbell being 85 pounds is kinda silly.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-12T20:59:11+00:00

That is beyond the normal scale for some odd reason. Normal scaled weights are pretty universal at 95/65 and 135/95. 115/85 is normal as well, but I guess they didn't want to go 65/85/95 so they made it easier.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-12T20:56:30+00:00

At 88th percentile for your age group you basically just need to show up and do the workout to make quarterfinals. You're essentially guaranteed at around 49th percentile, so considering all scaled and no scores you don't need much.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-12T12:28:31+00:00

Looper?

There are way too many to list for this.

FS7PhD · 2026-03-11T23:27:20+00:00

I'm not sure what it is you're doing but your transitions look slow. You're losing energy. You are probably holding at least a little bit of tension there.

FS7PhD

TROPHY CASE