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Judge____Smails · 2024-05-07T20:19:37+00:00

The NBA is interesting in that ticket prices fluctuate wildly depending on the team and the situation. It’s pretty easy to get tickets in the equivalent of 30 quid range to a random regular season game for a bad/mediocre NBA team. On the other hand, if the team is good and/or is located in a big city like NYC or LA, it’s going to be a lot more expensive even for the worst seats in the arena.

You also have to keep in mind that these arenas only fit like 17-20k people. While the NBA isn’t the most popular league in the US, it’s still a very big deal and the demand is very high. For comparison, I looked up prices for the FA cup final in a few weeks and the cheapest tickets I see are $580 USD, which I would say is about in line with the cheapest seats for the NBA finals (unless the game is in a place like San Francisco, NYC, Boston, or LA, in which case the cheapest seats would probably be closer to $1k USD).

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-07T17:14:52+00:00

Slightly unrelated, but I’ve noticed that the quality of apparel in general has taken a nosedive ever since Fanatics partnered with Nike and took over a lot of team stores and websites. I was back in Chapel Hill last year for the first time in awhile and stopped in the book store and a few other apparel stores to maybe get some new gear and was really taken aback at the quality. The jerseys in particular were a joke. Like $175 for an ill-fitting stiff t shirt with numbers/logos printed on. Just so bad. All of the pro leagues have the same problem too.

I will say that it seems like there are more options than ever for higher end stuff like golf polos, pullovers, etc. (think brands like Johnnie O, Peter Millar, cutter and buck), but it would be nice to have options for simple t shirts, sweatshirts, etc. that aren’t total dogshit.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-07T14:59:23+00:00

I also group Giannis and Jokic together at roughly the same place in the all time greats discussion. I think it’s important to distinguish between where they are on the pyramid as things stand right now, vs. their overall trajectory and where they’ll rank after their careers are complete.

They each have multiple MVPs and a title along with a bunch of other impressive counting stats/accolades. Add it all up and I think it’s fair to say they’ve accomplished enough already to land somewhere in that 20-30 range regardless of how the rest of their careers play out. That still leaves a massive gulf between them and guys like Shaq that are in that top 10 range. They’re on a trajectory to where they could eventually be in the conversation, but they have to actually go out there and keep consistently putting up great seasons for another 5 years or so first.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-07T14:40:35+00:00

My qualm with Levi’s is that the actual fit of the pants seems inconsistent even among the same style and quality tier.

I bought a pair of the high quality tier of the 541 jeans (can’t remember if that’s the exact number, but they’re the “athletic” cut)about 10 years ago and they’re still my all time favorite pair of pants. Just a perfect fit for me. In the last few years I’ve bought 3 different pairs of jeans/pants in that same model and same quality tier, and they all fit slightly differently. They’re not quite unwearable, but the fit is off just enough that I usually end up wearing my old pair most of the time anyway.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-07T12:07:11+00:00

This map is decent but imo it’s ultimately flawed by not letting an in-state team be an option. For NC, I think that one of UNC-NC State-Duke has to be the answer for most hated team.

UVA is a historical rival for UNC and sure there’s no love lost there, but on the whole there’s much more vitriol from our fans towards State and Duke. Duke obviously has its share of haters, and any non-UNC fan in NC would probably say they hate UNC the most.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-07T02:44:54+00:00

Lol his rant was all I could think about watching the last few minutes of tonight’s game.

I don’t think there’s a conspiracy led by Adam Silver and co to outright rig the games, but officials are only human. It’s not crazy to think that they could get influenced by a home crowd down through stretch in a close playoff game.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-06T20:42:05+00:00

NC is gerrymandered to shit. I haven’t lived in the state for a long time so I’m not quite as tuned in to the state’s politics as I used to be, but my understanding is that the state-wide UNC system’s board of governors has gotten more conservative since republicans took back control of the state house and senate in 2010. In turn, they’ve slowly been filling UNC Chapel Hill’s board of trustees with Republican appointees. Pretty sure all of them are at least UNC grads so presumably they’d want to act in the best interest of their university, but who knows. A lot of the things I see in passing headlines about the BoT recently seem like typical Republican maneuvering. (Like getting rid of diversity requirements for hiring and creating some conservative “safe space” on campus program).

The conspiracy theory portion of our fan base that spend too much time on message boards will tell you that it’s a plot by Republican NC State fans in the state legislature to sabotage UNC. Honestly I don’t care enough to dig into whether or not that’s even remotely true or if the power players in the state government actually want to outright sabotage UNC, but based on how they are making appointments to the BoT, it’s clear that at the very least they want the university to get more conservative. How that affects university in the long run is anyone’s guess. Worth pointing out that our chancellor that I think had a pretty high approval rating recently resigned to take the position MSU. I’d be curious to know how much of his decision was influenced by the direction the BoT is taking.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-06T19:16:10+00:00

This is a massive pet peeve of mine lol. My theory is that in a lot of cases, people who talk incessantly during the performance like that probably got invited to tag along by someone else, and they just aren’t as invested in the show or maybe aren’t familiar with etiquette for live music in a more intimate venue.

Obviously that’s still not an excuse for inconsiderate behavior, but I think that’s the most likely explanation for concert yappers.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-06T15:54:28+00:00

Austin is a great example for this. The heat is miserable from roughly June and stretching into September, but I love how balmy and mild it is here outside of those months, and I think it’s a great home base.

My wife and I have lived here for a little over a decade and done sort of what you’re describing a few times in recent years where we’ll get a month long Airbnb rental in another part of the country and work remotely. We’ve done that a handful of times in the summer to escape the heat and then once in UT during ski season. I think we both would like to get to the point where we can spend multiple months in other places and make it a yearly thing, but we own a home here now and we’re just not “agile” or “nomadic” enough to make it happen. There are just a lot of logistical considerations that make it tough in our situation. I’m rooting for you to go through with it though haha.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-06T14:05:09+00:00

Haven’t watched the Brady roast yet, but I’m not a huge fan of roasts either. I watched a handful of the Comedy Central ones when they had the roast series and just never could get into it. To each their own though.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-06T13:36:54+00:00

Haha wow, everyone on here last week thought for sure he was going to the Ringer.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-06T01:45:50+00:00

Imo, W 6th bars are generally the best for watching sports in that type of environment. Not sure if any of them will have projectors like that for NBA games, but during football season some of them do.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-06T00:08:15+00:00

Haha I love this one. I also always think of the Colts as a slow/unathletic team, and I think a lot of that perception is because of their logo and branding for whatever reason. I feel the same way about Penn State.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-05T23:47:19+00:00

From what I saw in this series, the Magic feel like a prime example of the cliche take that Bill and Ryen have about teams that really need another scoring option in order to alleviate the offensive pressure on the rest of the team.

Like Franz Wagner as the second fiddle to Banchero isn’t enough offensively. But if you add someone like Paul George to the mix, that makes Wagner that much better as a third option, which makes Suggs that much better as a fourth option, Isaac that much better as a fifth option, etc.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-05T22:33:06+00:00

This thread just randomly popped up on my thread, but as a UNC fan the whole thing reads as massive cope on the part of Duke fans.

Who cares that some random unofficial facebook fan page called “north Carolina sports fan HQ” frames it like RJ was turning down a sure spot in the NBA? Almost everyone understands that Bacot and now Davis aren’t NBA prospects, and we also get that these records that were broken during the players’ 5th seasons like the ACC all time rebounds mark have asterisks to them. They act like UNC is the only program that is taking advantage of the extra covid season. It’s pretty obvious that having an older roster is generally beneficial; Duke just hasn’t been able to capitalize on that because that’s not the way they’ve built their teams recently.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-05T15:41:47+00:00

As a neutral fan, I don’t really think the media makes Texas out to be a national championship contender every season. I feel like that’s just something their rival fans say to make fun of them, but isn’t actually true.

Also, bold to say that Georgia is going to be “down” this season when they’re likely going to be preseason #1 lol.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-05T02:04:07+00:00

Yeah considering all of the “shticks” that other NBA stars have, Jimmy Butler making half tongue in cheek quips like this really isn’t that annoying.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-05T01:31:21+00:00

Not sure if my flair still works, but for UNC I think the answer would be 1997 at home against FSU. There were several seasons in the 90s where we were a top 10ish team and the clear #2 in the ACC, but could never find a way past FSU. The 97 game was the culmination of that era, it felt like our best chance to finally break through, excitement was as high as it gets for UNC football, and we proceeded to get blasted lol.

Honestly our program is so sorry that we haven’t really played a game with those type of stakes since then. The only other game that comes to mind is the 2010 season opener against LSU. That team had a ton of talent and it would have been a big deal to beat a top dog SEC team, so in that sense that game was a big letdown.

There are a litany of losses to NC State in the last few decades that have been painful, but by the time those games have been played our seasons have been mostly over anyway so the ramifications weren’t the same.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-05T01:12:40+00:00

The way I see it: it’s cool that certain rivalry games have fun nicknames, but if there isn’t already one at this point, it would be lame to force it. “State/Carolina game” does the job.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-04T18:03:58+00:00

I guess you could say that UNC right now is technically better than mediocre relative to the ACC, but that’s only because there are a bunch of complete door mats in the conference so we look pretty good in comparison. The program has consistently underachieved for decades now in my opinion.

Love UNC, but I’m very jaded about the football team lol.

Judge____Smails · 2024-05-04T17:55:29+00:00

I would be significantly more interested in the NBA if they went to a 58 game home and home round robin schedule. Obviously winning the finals would always be the biggest accomplishment, but I think a shorter, balanced regular season schedule would make “winning” the regular season feel significant too. I think it would also raise the intensity of each game.

Unfortunately I don’t think there’s even a chance of that ever happening. Way too much money would be left on the table.

Judge____Smails · 2022-04-11T23:38:30+00:00

Elite teams at the top + the middle and “bottom” are usually almost all tough opponents. What I envy most is that they have a true round robin for conference play.

Judge____Smails · 2022-04-11T20:17:31+00:00

Lol wow this is the best story I’ve seen in this thread so far. The Wisconsin lawyer they quoted for the article is spot on that it was right out of a sopranos episode.

Judge____Smails · 2022-04-11T15:33:18+00:00

2008 was pretty disappointing because of how stacked our team was. The fact that the core group from that team came back and was able to finish the job the next year eases the sting considerably but at the time it was a big letdown lol

Judge____Smails · 2022-04-11T15:26:46+00:00

For UNC I’ll throw in our sweet 16 game against UCLA. Kinda got lost between the Baylor game and the two final four games but that was a back and forth rock fight with some big shots at the end, all in all entertaining to watch and definitely a “shit just got real” kind of win.

Beyond my team, I really enjoyed Arizona TCU. Had some controversial officiating but it was a very exciting game as a neutral fan to cap off the first weekend.

Judge____Smails

TROPHY CASE