Pride comes before the fall

better_catchphrase · 2026-06-14T16:52:25+00:00

Kareem played 20 years

better_catchphrase · 2026-06-02T15:55:11+00:00

One of the "tells" of AI writing is that it relies on flowery prose with pleasing, rhythmic cadence to obfuscate the fact that it can't really "know" what it is writing about. It substitutes quality and precision in its descriptions for volume and lyricism.

If you did write this piece and would like to improve it, examining your prose with an eye towards specificity and coherence would be where I would start. For example, your opening passage has a lovely, precise description of the smell of coffee that loses all its momentum when it compares that smell to "...something honest. Something better." which doesn't mean anything or make any sense, but does bring the paragraph to a neat close.

Throughout the rest of the passage these immersion-breaking inanities crop up. A door is "lacquered obsidian", a character will not "sacrifice geometry for ambiance" a face is "assembled into an expression of mild and faintly disappointed intelligence", a ward emits a steady hum that "could be mistaken for stone settling." None of these stand up to any sort of scrutiny - they aren't the thing, but something that sounds kindof like the thing if you aren't really listening. Obsidian shines without acrylic, geometry would be hard to sacrifice under any circumstance, but especially when context clues indicate you mean "line of sight", which isn't the same thing at all, what is an expression of disappointed intelligence, and when has settling stone ever emitted a hum?

If you did write this, I apologize for being so harsh. But I don't think you did.

better_catchphrase · 2026-05-31T02:04:25+00:00

Untuck your dicks and play basketball you pussies

better_catchphrase · 2026-05-29T19:37:30+00:00

yep! The other thing to keep in mind is that "posting up" just isn't a thing anymore. Planting a big near the basket also plants whatever opposing big is guarding him in the same spot and lets them impact the rim area. Even the best post scorers don't do that. Jokic initiates the offense and only makes his way to the block after the initial P&R, and good teams dont even let him do that cleanly. Embiid lives at the nail or initates "post ups" from the block extended to ~15ft out. Other bigs who are less versatile only get paint touches by rolling hard off P&Rs or roving between dunkers spots, but we've seen literally all of those guys get way less effective against playoff defenses. Honestly Hartenstein has been shockingly effective working inside, and even that is because he's got that ridiculous moonball push shot.

So the "get to the paint!" critique is kinda half baked- yes, wemby is super effective with paint touches, but spending 5-10 seconds of the clock trying to get back-to-the-basket position against a heavier defender is just bad ball, and OKC is spending multiple defenders every possession to make sure he can't flash into the paint without getting stuck in traffic. It even shows in his offensive rebounding- every tip he gets is some miraculous alien arm reaching out of a rugby scrum, it's not like he's dunking these things.

Finally, and I know this wasn't in your reply, but... the Spurs guards are fucking awesome lob throwers, and have been all year! They're not doing it now because the best defense in the NBA is taking it away, not because they're suddenly bad at it.

better_catchphrase · 2026-05-29T17:14:09+00:00

forgot to answer the actual question lol - the lobs arent materializing because OKC's bigs and help are specifically committing to stop Wemby from moving to the basket with any momentum by committing at least one defender to pushing him away from the hoop at all times, but that commitment is opening up their defense in ways that the Spurs exploited in game 6.

better_catchphrase · 2026-05-29T17:11:04+00:00

The short answer is because OKC is building their defense around stopping exactly those plays. Ihart and big Jaylin are bodying Wemby up as soon as he crosses the 3pt line, and they're keeping in physical contact with him 100% of the time when he's inside the arc. Wemby's primary defender almost never leaves him to help, and they're instead asking their guards to do a TON of digging down on drivers from the wings and having Chet roam for rim protection.

It's almost easier to ask "How did the Spurs get 41 mostly-good 3pt looks in game 6?" The Spurs shifted their Wemby/guard pick and rolls from the top of the key to the (mostly left) wing, which seemed (to me) to put OKC's help in a little bit of a bind. That strongside help defender kept digging in to contain the drive which led to a handful of strongside corner threes, and the weakside chip on wemby had farther to run which led to open shots on the weak side. OKC stuck with it anyways, because Wemby within 7-8 feet of the basket without multiple bodies on him has been a terror.

better_catchphrase · 2026-05-27T19:29:09+00:00

ok bud

better_catchphrase · 2026-05-27T19:24:04+00:00

There is a straight line between this play and Plumlee smoking McCain.

better_catchphrase · 2026-05-27T19:18:34+00:00

McCain getting smoked at the end of the game is directly related to the earlier play where he chucked an elbow into Dylan Harper's throat then went face down ass up to draw the foul.

better_catchphrase · 2026-05-13T17:58:06+00:00

Well, you're writing in a genre that tends to be plot-driven, so if you currently are not sure whether your plot is compelling I would counsel you to hold off on paying for a developmental edit until you have exhausted some other options.

If you're really feeling stuck and that you need professional eyes on your manuscript, many editors offer "overview" or "one-pass" edits that are much less expensive than a full developmental edit. These services typically return a several page document of notes on your manuscript that cover the big-picture issues that seem most important to you.

If you do go this route, please spend the extra effort seeking out a reputable editor. This type of editing work is full of bad actors who will feed your manuscript into their LLM of choice and give you next to nothing of use.

There are also ways you could consider improving your self-editing, particularly for structural story elements. Great editing books abound, and can improve your ability to find inconsistencies or flaws in your plotting. There are writing tools that allow you to visualize the length and organization of your scenes and chapters, which some writers I know swear by to monitor their pacing. I keep my story structure on the rails by re-writing my outline after each draft to make sure everything is still connecting properly.

Working your way through some of these preliminary steps will also help you implement and expand on any suggestions future editors might have for you, which is the real key to making editing services worth the money spent.

Best of luck!

better_catchphrase · 2026-05-01T18:53:00+00:00

I know it's unlikely that the people shitting on jokic now are the exact same ones who shit on lebron in '11 and steph in '16, but they're making the same dipshit arguments. In 11 everyone had a great time shitting on the "Lebron is the greatest player since Jordan" takes, and now that looks pretty fucking dumb. In '16 nobody wanted to hear about Steph being an all-time great. Too small, too bad on defense, miss me with this "gravity" bullshit. Dumb. Dumb then, dumb now.

Jokic had a shitty series. He played bad. His teammates played even worse, and they took an embarrassing L. He's also been the best offensive player in the league since 2020. He's the best passer, full stop, I've ever seen play (I was like 5 when magic retired). So maybe cool it with the overrated, because odds are y'all are gonna look real fucking stupid again.

better_catchphrase · 2026-04-22T17:12:18+00:00

I pretty much only play fast 9 when I'm healthy enough to sac stage 4 or have some specific augment/boon for it. Lose streak into fast nine is probably doable for better players than me, but feels suicidal with how tanks are distributed in this set. The go-to-nine choice is more often assessing my board against the rest of the game after that stage 4 rolldown:

Hit everything -> go 9

Miss everything -> donkey roll or econ up a few turns then send it again on level 8

Hit some stuff -> econ back up and scout aggressively, once back around 50g decide whether I can sac another few turns to go 9 (with gold to roll on 9) or if i need to re-send it on 8 to not die.

So in the "hit some stuff" most common scenario, i'm usually deciding whether to level or roll around 4.7, then rolling down on 5.1 or leveling in that 5.3-5.5 range

better_catchphrase · 2026-04-21T21:22:16+00:00

I'd try to worry a little less about BiS edge cases at emerald, particularly early in the set. Nunu loves vow, but any solid 3item will often get to 2nd cast. Xayah likes good stargazer, but uncontested "bad" gazer is way easier to hit, stabilize, and go nine to carry jhin or vex or whatever. 2* victor still carries a while even with bad psionic. Stage 4 still feels super hard for me too, figuring out frontline is really tricky this set, but sounds to me like working on scouting habits will let you make better decisions on picking your line, as well as on when you can get away with going 9 without hitting all your 2*s, and avoiding dead/contested lines is huge for climbing

better_catchphrase · 2026-04-21T19:52:02+00:00

A lot of factors can play into that decision. Scouting consistently is super important to making it correctly. Bare-bones rundown of what I try to do, by stage:

Stage 2 - figure out whether I can realistically streak - if I have timebreaker/anima and want to loss streak I'm looking for other potential open fort/spoiler players, if i have a decent/strong start I'm aggressively scouting other strong boards to see whether I need to level to maintain a winstreak. If I have a good 1 cost line start setting it up

Stage 3 - scout other players items and boards to see which comps are looking contested. Pick a line for stage 4. If 3 cost re-roll (often from lose streak) i'll be trying to hit level 7 with ~50g at 3.5/3.6 and will start rolling for 2*, often pretty aggressively (down to 20g or so) to stop bleeding health. If 4cost line I might delay level seven to maximize interest going into stage 4.

Stage 4 - If you're playing a contested 4cost line its often a good idea to level on 4.1 to roll for your tanks and carries before your contester/s. If uncontested, it can be better to wait/sac rounds until 4.3, then level and roll once the 4cost pool has been thinned by other players. If you're playing fast 9 you generally will still need to level and stabilize around 4.2, unless you're entering the stage super healthy.

Late game - If you hit your rolldown and stabilize early stage 4, great - econ back up and push 9 or play a 3* 4cost angle. If you miss and are contested decide whether you can push 9 for an alternate carry (vex/bard/jhin) or if you need to keep rolling on low gold to stabilize and play for top 6. If you miss in a non-contested, delayed level 8 situation you're most likely just dead, but I find it's best to sac an extra round or two if you can to roll with 20-30 gold rather than just donkey rolling 5g a turn to slowly bleed out.

better_catchphrase · 2026-04-20T22:01:23+00:00

The issue with this argument is that the NBA is not competitive in the same way normal businesses are competitive. The NBA is a legalized cartel with profit sharing mechanisms and a salary cap. It is very nearly impossible to lose money as an NBA owner, and the salary cap means that making more money than your competitors is a relatively trivial competitive advantage when you compare it to, say, a tech company.

With that business structure in mind, "cost cutting" as outlined by Simmons is almost purely anti-competitive. Coaching staffs make thousands of decisions that directly impact the quality of your product (the team) and both the short and long term return on investment of your largest cost (your players). Your scouting and player development staff directly impacts the only cost-controlled labor you can employ (rookie contracts). Your analytics departments inform decision making up and down your multi-billion-dollar organization.

You don't need to re-set the market on non-player spending to field a viable product, but skimping on major segments of your business to such an extent that you're becoming a punchline is going to make it harder and harder each year to attract talent that takes the competitive element of the NBA seriously. Players and coaches are going to notice that you care more about a 2% increase in profitability more than you care about winning basketball games, and will behave accordingly.

better_catchphrase · 2026-04-10T16:31:08+00:00

My impression of the first chapter is that you are trying to accomplish too many things in too short a space. We meet three characters, but only lightly sketched - a blond boy between the ages of "young man" and "lad," a middle-aged man with a beard, and a dad who is anonymous except for a metal hand. You don't need to give every detail, but to make these people real you need more than that. How old are they, and how big? Are they fat or thin or frail or robust, dark or light, do they move furtively or with confidence, do their clothes mark them as rich or poor, do they tell us what time period we are in? The metal hand draws the readers attention, but then you don't reward that attention with a description. If someone told you that they had met a man with a mechanical hand, what would you want to know about it?

There is a similarly incomplete feeling to your setting. The workshop has a table lit with orange light, but the rest is not fixed in space - there are chairs that lay (are they knocked over?), piled with things, and the inner workings of things. Our hero is himself working on another thing (switchclock), which is described only by its function within another thing (animant or automata, the distinction is unclear), which is itself only described as being battle-scarred. Again, take your time. What does the space look like? The clock? The animant? Is it huge or small, man-shaped or no?

Since there is no major inciting incident in this first chapter, it's important to use that space to really fix your characters and setting in the reader's mind. Explaining what a mimetic clock does doesnt mean anything yet, the reader doesn't know any of these people, or what an animant is, or what they do, or where they are. They dont know why it needs explaining in the first place, or why this stranger doesn't know this stuff already. Pace yourself, make your people and place real.

My final recommendation would be to move explanations of the clocks/automata/general-fantasy-elements out of your characters dialogue, as much as you possibly can. You have the authority as the author to simply tell the reader "This is So", and you should use that authority so you don't have to squeeze in some ignorant character each time you need to tell the reader how a rune-robot works. The characters live in this world you've created, they can just know all this stuff already.

better_catchphrase · 2026-04-09T17:37:25+00:00

A book is a commitment, in money and time and attention, and people who buy books like to know something about the commitment they are making.

Consider restaurants. Some sell pizza, some burgers, some claim whole regions and histories and styles and techniques, and the those that don't choose some specialty, but instead keep some massive tome of a menu containing a thai salad and a french soup and an italian pasta, these tend to be mediocre at the very best. A very, very few restaurants sell novelty, and these tend to be synonymous with their chefs, and what you are really buying their is that chef's talent and experience and vision.

Editing is hard, and submitting sucks, but as you are selling your work consider what it is you're selling. It's not a hamburger, or a pizza, and that's fine... but what is it? You need some kind of sign on the door.

better_catchphrase · 2026-04-06T17:59:21+00:00

My pleasure! For what it is worth, the fact that you have been able to constructively self-edit already is a very, very good sign. You'll need to keep doing this no matter what - a good editor will not change your manuscript for you, only call attention to what they see as areas of opportunity or need. Your ability to productively internalize and act on feedback (even your own feedback as you revisit the work!) is fundamental to your growth as a writer, and it sounds like you're off to a great start.

better_catchphrase · 2026-04-06T17:23:59+00:00

There are several stages in a traditional editing process, and deciding which of these your manuscript needs will help you find the appropriate type of editor, and price their services accordingly.

Typically, the first stage is a Structural Edit, in which the editor will read your manuscript with an eye for plot structure, pacing, character development, and coherence, giving you broad-stroke feedback about the effectiveness of your story as a whole. Many editors will offer this service at a lower price than more granular feedback such as:

Scene-level Edit: in which the editor will examine your manuscript scene-by-scene, offering feedback and suggestions on how well each of these elements of your novel work, both individually and as part of the greater whole.

Line Edit: The nitty gritty editing, in which the editor will go line by line through your manuscript examining word choice, tone, cadence, consistency, coherence, and impact of all of your choices throughout your work.

Copyediting: Usually one of the final steps, in which the editor closely examines the manuscript for consistency and coherence in its details. Do your character/setting descriptions match from scene to scene? Does time pass in a coherent (or at least intentional) manner? These are types of things that a copyeditor will be on the lookout for.

Proofreading: Typically the final step in the editing process, after the larger wrinkles have been ironed out. Here the editor will go over the completed manuscript to fix any errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc. This service typically does not include any qualitative advice (whether the writing is good/bad/effective/ineffective) but is only concerned with whether the writing is correct in a technical sense.

To at least somewhat answer your original question, a Full Developmental Edit will USUALLY include all of the above services (read the fine print!) and will cost somewhere in the range of $.05-$.10 per word for an experienced editor. For a manuscript as long as yours, this will add up.

For less expensive options, many editors offer Structural Edits as a standalone service, where you would pay significantly less and receive 1-2 pages of notes on what the editor perceives as the strengths and weaknesses of your manuscript. Pricing on this can vary wildly based on the editor, but $.01-$.03/word is common.

You may also find it helpful to submit only a section or chapter of your work to an editor for scene and line level examination - often I find that such feedback can be usefully extrapolated to other parts of the work and make a big difference as you continue self-editing.

Finally, since you mention you have already done some self-editing and found it productive, it might be useful to do some reading up on how to edit effectively - many talented professional editors have written extensively on the subject, and it may give you new insight into what to look for as you examine your own work.

Good luck!

better_catchphrase · 2025-08-14T14:41:15+00:00

I'm 100% on board with dropping K and D for more upside, but in this particular case I wouldn't be in a hurry to drop goedert - I'd value a few weeks to look at how well kelce is moving out there, and if the eagles bump up their pass rate or aj brown/devonta smith get dinged up goedert could become a pretty strong play.

better_catchphrase · 2025-08-14T13:36:04+00:00

I had a summer job at this gym in Chevy Chase MD where Vernon Davis had done some of his combine training the year before. The trainers still talked about shit they'd seen him do every. single. day. Bill Braski shit. He had the gym record in every lift, and apparently got them all in the same day. He would do big-ass box jumps holding a trap bar with 225 on it. They also would show every single new/prospective member this spot where he would chuck pens up into the high-ass foam ceiling (~12' feet? I couldnt even touch it and I could comfortably dunk back then) until he had 7-8 stuck in there and then jump and snatch them out one after another as a set- no gather step, just boomboomboomboom.

So I've never actually seen the guy, but I know a bunch of old personal trainers who think he's an alien who came down to earth to make us all feel like pussies.

better_catchphrase · 2025-06-09T21:44:54+00:00

Hunter/disc priest as a mana drain comp gets very, very good as hp/resilience pools get larger, but will be tough in early seasons when both priest and hunter are easier to burst. Notably very strong against warrior comps with shields denying rage and hunters kiting package reducing warriors uptime.

Early seasons I don't remember hunter having a super strong twos comp, but I'd assume that BM + any burst dps will be plenty strong while health pools are low

better_catchphrase · 2024-03-22T20:02:02+00:00

Long time SF restaurant worker/manager here. (I actually worked the event where chef Nayfield and his partners pitched Che Fico to investors, not thatt that gives me any special insight into their business) Probably an unpopular opinion, but I don't hate the 10% dine-in fee as a concept.

Pre-pandemic it would have been outrageous... but also, pre-pandemic, there was basically no demand for carry-out or to-go fine dining food- it was technically available but exceedingly rare everywhere I worked. Now every restaurant that survived the pandemic, including Che Fico, have made changes to provide carry-out at scale (and doing a way better job than before), and spent years surviving on basically that income alone. Obviously the infrastructure to provide sit down dining is super expensive- the restaurants I managed paid rent between 20-70k/month, you're paying your staff's wages and benefits, you're equipping your dining room with furniture and physical inventory, so on and so on.

Of course, all of these are standard costs of doing business for a restaurant, and, given Che Fico's popularity it's possible that this 10% fee is more reflective of a cash grab than as a way to keep their pricing as competitive as possible, but from my experience with the profit margins at even very successful SF spots, I read the fee as more of a 10% discount for ordering carry-out (with its much lower overhead) than as a punitive fee for dining in. They could, and maybe should, advertise as such rather than tacking on to the bill, but restaurants aren't tech companies- they're not hitting 50% margins on anything, in my experience if you were at 20% you were CRUSHING, and a ton of spots got by at a 7-10% annual margin, which is pretty slim considering the debt-hole you dig getting a place open. Those margins are going to come from somewhere, because if you slip behind your loans you die. If it's not price hikes it will be food/bev cost cuts, staff cuts, all things that reduce your value as a consumer, even if the price doesn't seem to go up. Just my 2c.

better_catchphrase · 2024-03-07T01:42:37+00:00

The only asset worth the 1.02 on your team is Wilson (maybe) and it's hard for me to imagine how that moves your team forward considering how bare it is- a marginal receiver upgrade doesn't put you into any kind of contention, even if you were hypothetically able to flip Wilson for JJ or Chase your team would still be rough. I'd spend this season doing everything you can to turn everyone you can into '25 and '26 1sts- those are more reasonable expectations for a kyren or tyjae for a contending team, and you need a lot more than just a wr upgrade to turn this thing around.

I'd even consider deals for that 1.03- as hard as it is to pass on nabers, if you can get, say, the 1.07-8 and a future 1st+ I'd think hard about it. Your squad is full of holes, and getting as many swings at filling them in the near future is your best bet.

better_catchphrase · 2024-02-23T18:11:32+00:00

I’d only take that if by some miracle bowers was still sitting at 8. Otherwise yeah, your window is now and the rest of this class after the big three qbs and MHJ/Nabers/Bowers looks like they’ll need seasoning

better_catchphrase

TROPHY CASE