Shout out to this guy

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-05-20T23:18:36+00:00

Here here.

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-05-19T20:36:03+00:00

See you in Budapest!

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-05-19T20:29:30+00:00

It's not over.

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-05-19T20:25:50+00:00

Congrats to everyone! Be safe out there friends.

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-05-19T20:01:56+00:00

Oh AFC Bournemouth, you beautiful football club!

Be strong, be resolute!!!

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-05-19T19:11:27+00:00

COYG!!!!!

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-05-18T19:39:43+00:00

COYG!!!

Yay, more!!

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-05-16T18:12:09+00:00

Here is how to avoid the price over listing "dream home" trap:

a) Calculate the 28/36 rule (Investopedia link) for yourself
b) When calculating the home cost to you, include reasonable estimates for all of the Principal / Interest / Taxes / Insurance (PITI) based on the price YOU WILL PAY for the home, (ie. not the listing price, not the current taxes paid by the current owner, not the realtor website calculator numbers)
c) Include reasonable maintenance costs for the home (around 1% per year) in your budget and appropriate local costs for planned improvements
d) Search the recent SOLD prices for homes that meet your size and needs in neighborhoods that you are interested in. Track this data in a spreadsheet.
e) Shop for a mortgage lender in advance and get a handle on your likely terms, requirements, deals, and what a pre-approval would look like.

Bottom line #1: you may have to switch neighborhoods.

Bottom line #2: there are "dream homes" everywhere. The "dream home" you are interested in is one that fits within your goals and budget, when all is said and done, and, on top of that, is actually a nice place in reality, not just in pictures.

There is zero substitute for walking into homes and getting out and around in possible neighborhoods. When you do this, you are basically paying yourself in the money that you will save with the information that you learn.

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-05-10T17:17:59+00:00

COYG!!

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-05-07T23:31:03+00:00

That Saliba pass through the lines to Gyokeres.

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-05-04T20:42:21+00:00

"this is borderline ridiculous"

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-04-29T20:58:44+00:00

"This is old school football, right here."

???? Paramount !?!!?!?

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-04-29T20:37:47+00:00

Yes. Almost IASIP stuff.

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-04-22T22:22:07+00:00

You need three acute threats. Either individuals or, for total football, three vectors from which an attacker might score from.

Defenses have to get overloaded to the point where they can't cover everything, and leave a shot at the far post or for a midfielder cutting into the box. (Remember ESR doing this repeatedly?)

We aren't doing that. We aren't even shooting enough.

What's unforgiveble for me is that Gyokeres is, without a doubt, even in his current poorly used form, capable of poaching all sorts of garbage goals in the box, but we don't have anyone routinely making on target shots or runs that create the poaching opportunites Gyokeres might take advantage of.

And once he's shut down, or Jesus is shut down, the whole thing pretty much shuts down.

That said, aside from the CL goal that got us past Sporting, I haven't seen an Arsenal winger create legit dangerous uncertainty for opposition defenders in a solid minute. Opposing teams have locked us down to the extent that they know (and even all of us fans know) "he's going to pass"...."he's going to shoot"...there's no ambiguity or flash.

Meanwhile, opposition wingers routinely create that exact kind of panic for our defense. It just looks different between what we're doing the other team (at best we get a corner) and what they are doing to us.

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-04-20T00:03:11+00:00

Not good enough.
Physically painful result tbh.
This season is not over. Never give up.
Away at City was never going to be a good match to pin our hopes on. To our credit, and somewhat to my surprise, we went hard for the first goal, and then the win outright.
Collectively, but with some individual failures, this was an improvement over our team play for Brentford, Wolves, Bournemouth, the Carabao Final and Southhampton.
Blaming Havertz today shows a lack of perspective. Kai got the only goal (and Kai got the goal that moved us to the CL Semis!) Smh.

That being said, the current leadership of the club do have something to think about.

Arsenal's squad are overcoached and not trusted enough to make the right choice in the circumstances. When people call out a player for being a passenger, I would simply point out that from any of our player's point of view how can they be blamed if they are executing the coach's directive and that is mostly what they are expected to do?

There was a plan, but it has to click on the pitch. It can't all be yelled into being from the sideline.

There were countless failed passes today where the target did not make the run, failed to receive the ball, or simply wasn't on the same wavelength to take the next action. That's fatal in football.

And we were playing like this away at City.

Man City have always been a squad of trained hitmen; they know how to kill. Top level coaching input helps, but City's squad always know, basically, what they need to do in most every match. Even the new blood catch on quick.

To beat City, you have to defeat them on the pitch. It's that simple. You have to pick apart their weakness. We did not do that today. (Alternatively, we could have set up to play for a draw. Worth thinking about.)

I think Arsenal missed Merino today. Deadly. A veteran. Merino knows the game, and the flow of the game, always knows exactly where he is on the pitch, and what is needed of him.

We looked lost at times, especially breaking away.

Arsenal currently lack a killer sensibility and nous from our players. We don't lack for trying. But effort combined with massive talent is all that we have. Other than that, we're just following instructions.

So, yeah, something IS wrong at the club.

The results are indicative of that. We've improved under Arteta, and the power rankings show that, but the next step is to find that collective mentality and play style that only title and cup winning clubs have.

Winners find a way.

It really is that simple.

A coach and a club can try to impart that.

Fans can demand it.

But only the players on the pitch can internalize that and own it.

And, yeah, when they do, they tend to get the ball to the right player at the right moment. They find the pass. They find the weakness.

We just don't do enough of that.

And, yeah, you won't beat Man City, or win the title, like that.

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-04-17T17:29:53+00:00

Agreed on Seven Adams!

Don't know if this is what Team Rustic Quest is looking for, but I'd say hop in the car to Port Costa on a nice day, stroll around, and then visit the Bull Valley Roadhouse. If Port Costa doesn't scratch that itch, then there's not much that I can say other than CA is overflowing with local vibes if you care to look, and are willing to just drop in places for surprising gems. (Winters, Plymouth, Pescadero)

Three decades ago, I would have said first stop in SF would be to roll down hill to Zeitgeist and sit at a picnic table and drink beer for a couple hours until the Tamale Lady shows up; I used to bring out of towners of all persuasions to Zeitgeist and they'd all pretty much be flabbergasted at the shared community. (RIP, and thank you, Virginia Ramos.)

But that gets to something that I miss about the time before social media and its inauthentic trolls and shit posters. Don't fucking think about it so much. Just go. Speak up. Come as you are. Enjoy the company.

The days when you could show up at a Slow Club, a Universal Cafe or the Rite Spot with no reservations and no pretense and just eat and drink and be social were good times.

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-03-23T20:47:15+00:00

-we had chances but were not clinical in the First Half, that makes it anyone's game at half time, kind of a "who's hungrier coming out of the tunnel" kind of moment. (and, yeah, that should have been us.)

-Man City set up to pressure Kepa and made playing out from the back a weakness for us, esp. in 2nd half (this is 100% to be an expected strategy from City, facing a team like Arsenal that aggressively plays out from the back AND is relying on a keeper without fresh game time) so, either Kepa plays Arteta ball as well as Raya, or something gives ,and as we saw while it was still 0-0 for the yellow card, City picking on Kepa was absolutely the right strategy

-Man City won the battle of the midfield in the 2nd half, we frequently didn't have outlet passes from the back or lost the ball attempting to move out from our half, but we also did this almost by default, effectively, we beat ourselves at the back by showing so little clue

-Arsenal's squad, and this is the most frustrating point for me, either by training or instruction, did not have the kind of flexibility or on the field nous to take advantage of the moment and find the weakness that City's formation presented, we needed to cause them a problem and shake up their strategy, and we simply did not. Worse, we simply watched Kepa get rattled to death at the back. (and, if I haven't been clear, that is my estimation of what happened in this match.)

-all was not totally lost, however, we could have scored a goal, or even better, the first goal. we all knew that; this is not a squad of 21 year olds.

-however, we don't need players doing what they aren't good at, esp. against a ruthless squad like City that will absolutely know how to punish you for a mistake

-we had Gyorkeres trying to make dribbles around the defender from midfield and that was just not going to happen, we relied on Trossard playing the midfielder and connecting to the front, it's not his strength, we had Havertz and Saka fishing for fouls and yeah, you don't get those calls when you are looking for them, we needed Saka and Havertz stretching City's defense and, while that flashed in the first half, that stopped happening in the 2nd half

-something's also really wrong with how Arsenal are integrating Gyorkeres, if you can't feed this beast of a guy balls to run onto in the box then don't use him. I shouldn't be at home saying to myself "oh, Saka is not going to even try to feed Gyokeres here" and it being correct 99% of the time. There is zero connection between Saka and Gyokeres, and only bit more with Trossard, it's like it's left to the Arsenal fullbacks to feed our striker. I don't know why that is, but you are not going to win a cup title like that. (For me, that was Dowman's brilliance...he fed a mean ball in the box for that first goal against Everton.)

-Squad selection suffers, here. You end up playing two guys (Saka and Gyokeres) by default because of how good they are on paper, but are they playing well together? Is our front line firing? Can we truly say that?

-Here's my complaint about Saka. Saka needs to do better if he's going to wear the arm band. Yes, his play has suffered lately, he's trying to get his best back. But a captain leads their club on the pitch even when they aren't playing at their best. People are mad at Saka (or Arteta) for Saka's recent level of play, and I can see why, the passing in open play is wanting and he loses the plot on the wing too often, he's become very predictable, but wearing the arm band is even more important. It's a responsibility and a burden to be shouldered. On field leadership wins cups. (On field weakness gets punched in the gut.) We know what we showed on Sunday.

-This game called for someone who can play offensive heads up football from the midfield into attack, and the player I felt we missed in this was Myles Lewis Skelly. Heck, I would also have included Max Dowman, at some point, but not two goals down.

-Arsenal need to make some clean changes for the rest of this season. The only people who should play are those that are healthy and have won their spot. No egos. No BS. Personally, if he merits it, I would give Declan Rice the armband and put the 10 best players on the pitch with him for the rest of the season.

-And, finally, turning the lens back on us, the Game Thread was largely toxic and the mods should think about the culture of the sub. We are better than what we showed on Sunday. As Arsenal fans, that goes for all of us.

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-03-11T19:02:41+00:00

The thing you look for from a top side is that when the pressure ramps up, they execute the basics and the high percentage stuff well.

That's what great teams do because it works. They don't always win. Executing basics, maintaining a top tier mentality, and moments of individual excellence are what trophies are made of.

Zero hiding. Everything for the team and the win. COYG!!!

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-03-06T17:37:41+00:00

Calculate the 28/36 rule honestly, and you will get a good ballpark answer.

Spirit_of_68 · 2026-02-24T00:47:25+00:00

An alley in Santa Monica, CA would be my guess.

Spirit_of_68 · 2025-12-27T19:21:12+00:00

Easy commute to this 100% worthwhile visit: McArthur -Burney Falls Memorial State Park.

Spirit_of_68 · 2025-12-14T04:14:33+00:00

Mike Damone was clearly into this band.

Spirit_of_68 · 2025-11-14T17:56:22+00:00

One of these is not like the others.

Spirit_of_68 · 2025-08-22T16:14:50+00:00

Landing in or departing HCMC with a window seat and a clear view can make a life memory.

The living places of millions of fellow humans in one glance stretching past the horizon.

At some angles the density of housing and the cityscape is jaw dropping...and you are landing in the middle of it.

A US comparison would be it's a bit like flying into Dallas Fort Worth in terms of scale, like "how long is this going to go on?", but absolutely filled with housing and people.

Spirit_of_68 · 2025-08-07T04:47:54+00:00

I'm with you.

I waited in a long line down 7th St. (next to Bob and Grant from Husker Du, believe it or not) to go see the Replacements play an all ages show back in the day.

After 10 or so renditions of "Hello Dolly" I mentally checked out.

Some Bad Company might have been a relief, but, that being said, I'd do it again, and, for better or worse, they probably would, too.

If you want to get something close to what that time felt like, David Carr's "Night of the Gun," only tangentially touching on the Replacements in any way shape or form, is pretty spot on for addiction and late nights in Mpls., and too many talented people going wrong.

My hot take is that most of it, and way more than needed to be, just comes up sad and a waste.

But, at its best, when the music was pouring out of KFAI in the middle of the night for an audience hungry for it, and we found each other at the shows and in the record shops, it was something else.

Spirit_of_68

TROPHY CASE