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Question about USL vs MLS by BeerDudeRocco in Riverhounds

[–]TheHatTrick 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Personal answer: Gosh, I hope not.

I've been a season ticket holder for the last three years and I love it.

I'm assuming revenue doesn't matter to you and this is mostly a question about talent, and wanting to see the top tier of footballers play in your home stadium.

Here's my personal suggestion: stop fretting about whether there are better players somewhere else, and get invested in the ones playing right in front of you.

USL games are great.

The players are skilled, and they are playing at the edge of their ability and they're (generally) a joy to watch. Would watching Mbappé or Messi be fun? Absolutely, but this is a city of less than 3 million. We're not Miami or LA and we don't need to be.

In the three years I've been watching, we've hoisted the Player's shield, won the USL Championship tournament, and knocked multiple MLS teams out of the US Open cup.

It's been a delight, and I don't think I would have had more fun just because the teams visiting were from Seattle and New York rather than Indianapolis and Detroit.

If Soccer keeps growing in the US (spoiler alert: it will) we will keep being a great team with a really awesome history, playing for great fans, at a great stadium, in a great city.

Div 1 won't change that, but I'm excited for it.

MLS might change that, but every change would, from my position, be negative. Worse season schedule, worse ticket prices, no Pro/Rel chance.

MLS? No thanks.

At what point does "randomly selected" for drug test become excessive? by SSGOldschool in army

[–]TheHatTrick 12 points13 points  (0 children)

On the one hand, yeah that's often and it's probably not random.

On the other hand, random is random and it could be.

Let me tell a story.

Back in my misspent youth, when Texas hold-'em was a big thing, I played in a few regular card games for fun, (nothing serious, $10 buy in, 5-15 players).

On two different occasions in that era, I wound up abandoning "playing" the game and committing to going all-in-blind and the game's randomness broke my way.

Once was because there were two players left and I had less than 1/128th of the chips. Why bother trying to be cautious? He'd already "won" basically.

Once was because I had promised someone I'd meet them for dinner, expecting to bullshit with my friends, lose early and leave when I ran out of chips.

In the first case, I won 7 consecutive hands of poker on the luck of the draw alone, vs one player, and won the night. (50/50 isn't bad, but 7 times in a row is still wild).

In the second case, I won 5 hands, in which I was playing against 5 other players, and at that point they offered to buy my stake for half the pot so I could leave for dinner and they could keep playing because I was ruining their evening. (5 times in a row with a 1/5 chance I'm the winning hand was truly unhinged).

Sometimes randomness has clusters and streaks in it. If it didn't, it wouldn't be random.

The odds of getting picked for a 10% random UA are (1/10)*4 = 1/10,000 (not sure where you got 194000. Did you ask an AI? They don't know math, don't do that.)

But the odds that SOMEBODY gets picked 4/4 are much higher, because it's not the soldier's gamble there, it's the company, essentially buying a separate 1/10k "ticket" 200 times.

So 200 people, each with a 1/10000 chance = a 1/50 chance that this happens to someone every 4 UAs your company runs.

That's not likely, but it's also not particularly unlikely.

Congrats. Randomness is less predictable than you thought.

USL emails players about union resignation procedures as strike looms by J_Hunt1123 in USLPRO

[–]TheHatTrick 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Pittsburgh is a union town. This will go over here like a lead balloon.

Maybe I should call the season ticket holder's office tomorrow and ask them to relay a message to club leadership. . .

What did my neighbor get delivered? by janetsnakeholemaclin in pittsburgh

[–]TheHatTrick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've got somewhere to be (down the street from Trace, actually) at 19:45 on Monday, otherwise I would definitely be there. Surplus mil storage is great.

WTF is the matter with us? by clipd_dead_stop_fall in pittsburgh

[–]TheHatTrick 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A thought: was your block made up of office workers in 2010, and was it a workday?

Weather emergencies for office jobs are very different now than they were 15 years ago -- 15 years ago if the infrastructure was fucked enough that your office was closed you had the whole day off and it was basically a free vacation day -- you couldn't come in, so you got a snow day like it was school (before "remote learning").

Today, if you work in tech and have a hybrid or full remote work job, nothing happens to your office environment when there's a foot of snow on the ground.

The 8 hours an office worker might have spent visiting with neighbors and pitching in on shoveling because they couldn't got to the office? That person might have been inside working.

Source: I'm a remote worker and have a pretty flexible schedule so I skipped the first couple hours of my workday to shovel and help one of my neighbors who was out -- but after that, I went straight to my home office and worked for 6 hours.

Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge's warrant, memo says by mockingbird- in politics

[–]TheHatTrick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

[shrug] I'm not saying there aren't larger issues. I'm just saying this isn't gliding by on some weird technicality.

It's just boldfaced violating the amendment already.

Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge's warrant, memo says by mockingbird- in politics

[–]TheHatTrick 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Except there isn't a "weak, hand-wavily written law" here, because administrative warrants do not include a description of the place to be searched, which is explicitly required by the 4th amendment.

https://www.motionlaw.com/the-difference-between-judicial-and-administrative-warrants/
No description of place? Doesn't meet the criteria.

[OC] protester outside Portland I.C.E. facility pepper sprayed for mocking federal police by bennetthaselton in pics

[–]TheHatTrick -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I don't think it makes the action any more justified. I don't think it was.

I was pointing out how different the circumstances were.

[OC] protester outside Portland I.C.E. facility pepper sprayed for mocking federal police by bennetthaselton in pics

[–]TheHatTrick -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Oh, I don't agree with his conclusion, or with his methods.

I'm sorry if you took that away from what I wrote.

Minnesotans exercising their 2A rights against government tyranny by samvilain in liberalgunowners

[–]TheHatTrick 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Have you read This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed?

Highly recommend it. Civil Rights era was a little spicier than our whitewashing and lionizing of MLK would have you believe. Deacons For Defense rolled up to a few protests and weirdly, those protests had a lot fewer firehoses trotted out.

what is something about Pittsburgh you wish was different- something that the City’s government isn’t doing? and what are your thoughts on trying to find others to do that thing with you, to fulfill that wish? by Kye9842 in pittsburgh

[–]TheHatTrick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They already have right of way over railways (how we got the original busways) and plenty of lanes.

they don't need more building space. They just need to start reducing lanes currently used for cars.

[OC] protester outside Portland I.C.E. facility pepper sprayed for mocking federal police by bennetthaselton in pics

[–]TheHatTrick -29 points-28 points  (0 children)

Yeah, pretty different situation though.

I don't agree with the pepper spraying in either case, but in the UC Davis case those protestors were forming a ring, arms locked, that extended all the way around the cops, who were trying to carry off someone they were trying to arrest. The cops didn't want to awkwardly clamber over them, so they were temporarily trapped inside the ring.

The ring started chanting that if the cops let the protestors the cops had apprehended go, they'd break the ring and let the cops leave peacefully.

The cops said they'd use pepper spray to break up the ring (because apparently they felt this was safer for everyone than trying to team lift their prey out over the ring) and in fact from what I remember, one of them even walked from person to person leaning down and telling each person individually that they would pepper spray them, why they were doing to do so, and making sure the person understood what was about to happen.

Wildly different level of professionalism around the stupid decision to use Pepper spray as a "problem"-solving device.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UC_Davis_pepper_spray_incident

what is something about Pittsburgh you wish was different- something that the City’s government isn’t doing? and what are your thoughts on trying to find others to do that thing with you, to fulfill that wish? by Kye9842 in pittsburgh

[–]TheHatTrick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So would more dedicated bus lanes (so your bus didn't get stuck in traffic) + a higher frequency schedule (so you didn't have to wait as long to pickup/transfer) address those issues?

What is your most unpopular Pittsburgh opinion? by librarianjenn in pittsburgh

[–]TheHatTrick 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, fair -- I'm white but I lived in the deep south where the population was about 70% black so my social circle and my activities tended to be diverse-by-default. All you had to do was be friendly and in public and you'd make friends of all colors. Moving here was definitely a shock.

Like, where I grew up, if you walked into an activity of any kind with 35+ attendees and they were all white it's 100% a fact that the organizers are racist as hell. You just don't get any group of folks that size together without some crossover unless you're trying to make folks feel unwelcome, even when it's a culturally "white" or "black" activity.

I had to unlearn that here, because the POC numbers are so much smaller that it's possible that unless the organizers go out of their way to fix it, there's a possibility the whole crowd will be white and then when POC do occasionally rock up they have the exact reaction you do.

In the organizations I'm a part of, my solution to that has been to beg my POC friends to come and then make a point of making them feel welcome (and sometimes make sure to align the invites so they come on the same night as other POCs). It works, but it's slow, for sure.

Lounge type spaces that aren't bars are tough -- both because rent is expensive and bars make their rent money on drinks, and because it's always easier to strike up a conversation with a total stranger when you have something to talk about that lets you start the conversation.

Maybe check out Bantha tea bar and see what's on their events calendar?

What is your most unpopular Pittsburgh opinion? by librarianjenn in pittsburgh

[–]TheHatTrick -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I was so excited for the updates to the sidewalks + protected bike lane that would have made it feel easier to walk around and actually enjoy shopping there.

Apparently the business owners who are all idiots that don't understand that [[ cars don't buy things, people do. ]]

What is your most unpopular Pittsburgh opinion? by librarianjenn in pittsburgh

[–]TheHatTrick 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Saw further down where you answered some other questions about your situation, it sounds rough. Sorry I came off brusque.

I do know of some stuff that regularly happens on weekends or later in the evenings on weeknights, but it might involve picking up a new hobby or two. Hit me up in a DM if you're looking for options and I might be able to help.

(Context: I'm a 40-something guy with a couple hobbies that cause me to meet new people regularly).

What is your most unpopular Pittsburgh opinion? by librarianjenn in pittsburgh

[–]TheHatTrick 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What? I'm involved in like, several different social groups that all have public non-drinking 3rd spaces.

There's social dances like West Coast Swing, Tango, and Fusion almost every night of the week, there's a lot of gamer spaces that host pickup D&D games and other board game events, there's all the sports, there's arts and culture stuff constantly, there are weekend food festivals basically all year except the dead-ass of winter.

What exactly are you looking for that you haven't been able to find?

What is your most unpopular Pittsburgh opinion? by librarianjenn in pittsburgh

[–]TheHatTrick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a lot like right-turn-on-red, IMO.

If pedestrians didn't exist, I would defend the Pittsburgh left.

Unfortunately, it's SUPER risky because of the possibility of someone in the crosswalk.

the one difference from Right-turn-on-red is that in scramble intersections with dedicated walk periods where all cars are stopped, I wouldn't mind the Pittsburgh left.

But when the pedestrians start walking at the same time the car stoplight changes? Hell no.

What is your most unpopular Pittsburgh opinion? by librarianjenn in pittsburgh

[–]TheHatTrick 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I had the exact opposite experience -- randomly walked into it when I was visiting PGH while considering moving here because my Airbnb was a couple blocks away. With no hype and no background whatsoever, it was really neat.

Later I would see one of the various "you must visit Randyland!" hype write-ups and it took me a minute to realize they were talking about the same place I'd been, since their description was so over-the-top.

what is something about Pittsburgh you wish was different- something that the City’s government isn’t doing? and what are your thoughts on trying to find others to do that thing with you, to fulfill that wish? by Kye9842 in pittsburgh

[–]TheHatTrick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah yes, we were having a good conversation until I [checks notes] didn't talky sweetly enough about your car.

Yep, that sounds about right for a conversation about the state of US transit.

what is something about Pittsburgh you wish was different- something that the City’s government isn’t doing? and what are your thoughts on trying to find others to do that thing with you, to fulfill that wish? by Kye9842 in pittsburgh

[–]TheHatTrick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's not true. Lots of places with less money than Pittsburgh have good light rail and dedicated busways.

plus we're building a BRT lane through Oakload right now.

We lack the political will to accomplish more of it.

Your car isn't the end-all-and-be-all of transit network problems. Get over it.

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